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Ep. 13: Auction Night

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"Ok so this is the game plan! You out bid everyone ok! I'll give you $100 make sure you out bid everyone!" Sano pleaded desperation in his voice.

"Wow you really don't want to date someone huh." Tsubame smiled pocketing the money. Ever since Yahiko said it was ok Sano had been hanging around her all the time. Picking her up from class, eating with her during lunch. Amidst Yahiko's gagging noises and grossed-out stares it was going ok. Tsubame was actually touched when Yahiko started acting all jealous because Sano ate up all of Tsubame's free time. She couldn't ask for anything more.

Her crush of over 5 years has finally noticed her, not only that he was on the varsity and half of the girls were cursing the freshman. Also her best friend finally acknowledge her worth to him. There were times when she thought all she was to Yahiko was a copy sheet, now she knew he really did care for her and she couldn't stop smiling.

Kaoru laughed watching as Sano panicked. Enishi was his usual distant self while Tanada still acted like the idiot. Everything was back to normal. She sighed, underneath the table Enishi held her hand for a moment and smiled a little when she looked at him.

Since the night he came to her crying his heart out, their relationship changed considerably. Now that Tomoe was leaving, Enishi transferred his need to be babied to Kaoru. He was constantly touching her and stealing kisses from her, much to the other guys' disgust.

"Aww gross!" Tanada threw his napkin at the two. "I thought the two of you can't get any worse! Now you just make me nauseous." He laughed standing up to go to the counter. He was going to pay for the candy he took when Misao arrived at the counter the same time as he did.

"Hey." She smiled. True they had gone back to the usual banter at school but they had lost their closeness. They didn't talk anymore and he barely noticed her out of the classroom.

"Hey." He mimicked. "You wanna go first?" he asked looking at the cashier.

"You go ahead."

"No you." they stopped. None of them were going to give up, both of them stubborn as ever.

"Tanada just ignore the weasel and get me my chocolate!" Sano yelled from the table.

"His highness has hollered." He smiled apologetically.

"Good luck tonight!" she called as he walked away. "Uhm on the auction."

"Oh yeah, nah I'm gonna buy myself out." He smiled. "I'm not really in the mood to go on a date."

She watched him walk away. She hated this. She wanted Tanada back. The real Tanada.

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"Hey sweetheart!" Tari pounced on Aoshi the moment he entered the cafeteria. "I'm gonna bid on you tonight!"

"Great." He said stoically.

"Oh yeah I've been saving up these past few months!" he winked. Aoshi broke into a cold sweat.

"So busy practicing huh." Soujiro smiled as the two joined the table.

"Yeah Aoshi here is really serious about the finals." Chou commented.

"I won't lose this time. I wanna be champion just once before we graduate." He answered opening his sandwich.

"If hard work was all that was needed to win then Aoshi would win the championship for us single handedly. He practices 2 hours extra from our school practices plus an hour at the gym everyday! Talk about crazy!"

"Yeah well somebody has to save your ass." He laughed.

"Ugh as if! Me and Aoshi can win it without you!" Tari stuck his tongue out at Chou.

"We're gonna win this baby!" Chou hooted.

"Good luck then." Tomoe smiled at the three. Aoshi had finally started to join them, although it was evident to everyone a wall had been built up between him and Tomoe.

"Oh yeah Tomoe, there are funds left over from the Drama club play. We thought we'd donate it to the Christmas party." Soujiro smiled.

"Yeah Tari was the bomb!" Chou said doing a little dance. Tari kicked his behind and started chasing him and yelling at him.

"Why don't you use it to bid on someone?" Tomoe smiled. "We'll still get it and you'll get a date out of your money too."

"Uhm no thanks I don't really wanna bid for anyone." Soujiro laughed. "Why don't you bid with the money?" Tomoe blushed at the idea.

"No. I couldn't" she refused.

"I insist." Soujiro was adamant. "It's not enough but may be you can pool it and buy me out." He bribed.

"Oh no you're one of our largest draws!" Tomoe laughed.

"Please just use the money."

"I could give it to Tari" She said turning to look for her friend.

"USE IT!" Aoshi almost shoved the money in Tomoe's hands the thought of Tari having more money to bid for him left his mouth dry. Soujiro and Tomoe were stunned at Aoshi's outburst. All three simultaneously laughed.

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"So you gonna bid for Soujiro tonight?" Sano asked walking over to her.

"As if!" Misao huffed trying not to turn red. "I would if I had the money though." She sighed.

"Haha you're hopeless Makimachi!" Sano laughed.

"I know!" she stuck her tongue out at him. After the scandal and when all the other girls' fury was turned to Tsubame, she and Sano actually became friends. He stopped bothering her all the time. In contrast to Shiro who seemed to become more and more distant to her.

"So Mr. Himura who do you wish will bid for you tonight?" Kaoru asked. She was hanging around the teacher's table watching Kenshin. He kept looking nervously at Enishi who didn't seem to care.

"Er hopefully no one will." He said embarrassed.

"I saw you're name on the tally sheet! You have the most number of votes!" she smiled sweetly at him.

"Yeah I was afraid of that." He smiled. The tally sheet determined who was to be auctioned off first. The more votes you get the later you will be sold so that everyone will be given a chance to bid. He didn't know if it was some cruel joke or some cruel joke. It must have been a joke. He couldn't fight off the suspicion that his class had something to do with it.

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Aoshi.

Tomoe watched him disappear in his deluge of fans, girls vying to gain two seconds of his attention. She laughed inwardly, he could never escape it. Everyday it was the same. She sighed.

What was she going to do? She could go on pretending like nothing happened. Be friendly and pretend nothing was wrong. But she knew she couldn't.

Suddenly her heart felt tight, as if something was choking her. They would go to the same college and yet it wasn't the same. She knew they would see each other less and less. Was he starting to disappear from her life forever?

She hated this, it sounded as if she needed Aoshi with her all the time. Which was absurd! She had lived all her 18 years on her own, why couldn't she think of living the rest that way? Actually that wasn't right. Aoshi had been with her in the last 12 years.

Was that all he was? A security blanket she had grown used to?

Aoshi looked up, searching for her. She smiled and gave him a little wave. He gave her an apologetic smile and waved goodbye.

He didn't ask her to save him this time, he just turned around and walked away.

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"Makimachi." Shiro called jogging up to her. "Mr. Himura wants to talk to you."

"Oh what about?" she asked looking up at her classmate.

"I dunno." He shrugged his shoulders. "Hey" he started to say something but shook his head and walked away.

"Tanada" Misao called after him.

"Uh yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what you weirdo?" Tanada laughed uneasy. "I'm obliged to do what the teacher tells me too."

"For being my friend." Misao said turning red. "If it weren't for you I'd still be the butt of every joke."

"Uhm earth to Misao you still ARE!" he laughed much more comfortable.

"Yeah but I wouldn't of gotten to know everyone and probably have resented the entire class for the rest of my life" she started to babble.

Tanada put his hand on her shoulder. "You're a great girl Misao, you made those friends all by your self." He smiled. She was stunned, she never really got a compliment from Tanada before, plus he called her by her first name twice inside a minute. That was a first.

"Well I gotta get to practice. See yah!" he smiled turning his back.

"Thank you" she whispered. "You were a great friend too, for a while."

Shiro stopped, frozen where he was. "Don't' fall in love with me ok!" he laughed nervously without looking at her. Then he sprinted towards the gym, without looking back.

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"Tell the class the auction begins at 8pm and after that dates begin at 9 so does the dance, I might not be able to make homeroom today since the semis are next week we need all the practice we can get." Kenshin dictated to Misao.

"Who will you bid for?" he asked his president.

"Oh no one in particular." She smiled.

"Is there a chance the class will buy me out?" he teased.

"Of course not!" Misao exclaimed as if the idea had been preposterous.

"Fine!" Kenshin uttered in defeat.

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The team had to practice on only one side of the court that day. The student council had to set up for the auction that night. Much to coach Makoto's annoyance, aside from the fact he was on the list.

Tomoe was busy with the decorations, making small paper hearts that they would dangle all around the room. She was so caught up with making the pink, red and white confetti that she didn't notice the ball coming straight at her head. She turned around let out a small "eep" while shielding her face expecting the dirty rubber to hit her hard. To her surprise nothing happened and felt someone sweating on her hands.

"Sorry about that" Aoshi grinned catching the ball in his big hands.

"Thanks" she smiled. "Your shoelace is untied." She pointed down.

"Oh thanks." He threw the ball to the other guys while he bent down to tie the laces. "So you gonna get a ride with me later or are you going with Enishi?" he asked

"I'm riding with Enishi, I've already stored my stuff in his car. But I will check your attire before I leave so please be ready by 7." She smiled. "Perfume and all."

"Ugh perfume?" he groaned getting up and returning to the game. Tomoe laughed. She looked over at Enishi, a forlorn look on his face as he watched his sister and Aoshi. He snapped out of his reverie and nodded to her before returning to the game as well.

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"Hey To!" Chou jogged up to her leaning on his knees to catch his breath.

"Oh hey Chou." She smiled.

"Pretend you're telling me something important so I don't have to go back there yet." He motioned over to the practice on the other court. She laughed and shook her head.

"Hey To?" he asked straightening. "You alright?"

"Of course I am why do you ask?"

"You looked kinda spaced out."

"Oh its just the whole auction thing." She said cutting more paper hearts.

"It's almost valentines you know." he continued watching her. "Who's yours?" he smiled mischievously.

"Uhm valentines isn't for two months!" She said. " I don't have one and shame on you for asking!" she laughed waving the scissors at his face.

"Ok guys hit the showers." Coach Makoto barked. The both of them turned in the direction of the team. Aoshi and Mr. Himura were the last ones to leave.

"You know you can never really be sure." Chou said after sometime.

"Hmmm?" she asked distracted.

"Love"

"Huh?" She asked looking at him.

"If you're waiting for a sure sign, forget it. You won't get one." He said looking at her seriously. "Love is never really sure. But you have to risk it. It is the only way one finds out. And in the end when your heart is breaking and the pain is eating you up inside, your one solace is that you once loved with all your heart. And not many people are brave enough to do that."

She looked at him as if he had gone crazy. "What? I watch a lot of Oprah." He smiled waving as he sprinted towards the showers.

Tomoe watched him. Stunned.

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Enishi waited for Tomoe to finish, he was tired but he loved the feeling after a day's practice. He saw Aoshi walk out of the gym alone. Usually his sister would be with him but it seems he had been the one waiting for her nowadays.

"Hey." He greeted his senior.

"Hey." Was all he said. Actually most of their conversations over the last ten years were like that. Except for the rare occasion wherein they would talk about basketball, then they seemed like they were best friends.

Enishi had always respected Aoshi. After their conversation in the locker room his respect was multiplied a hundred times. He saw much Aoshi loved his sister and how painful it was to let her go. In some ways he wished he had known Aoshi more before he left for college.

But that didn't mean he wanted Aoshi for his sister.

She came walking towards them, Aoshi finishing loading his car.

"I'll come by around 7 ok?" she called to him.

"Ok." He waved back.

Enishi looked at the two of them. They acted normal but something was missing, something was out of place. But then you can't really choose who you fall in love with. And Enishi felt sorry for Aoshi, for the first time in his life.

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Tomoe looked at the money Soujiro gave her. It was around $50 it wasn't much but hey it was still a good bet. She sighed what was she going to do?

She didn't know if her longing for Aoshi stemmed from her need to be with him. He had been such an integral part of her life that she couldn't think of a day without him. But then that didn't really mean she was in love with him.

Mr. Himura on the other hand was just a crush. Something she didn't have before. Was it worth risking her best friend? Then again wasn't love worth the risk? Was it love?

"Hey oneechan." Enishi smiled going into her room. "Ready to go?"

She smiled at her younger brother. He had dressed up for the occasion. He was in a dark pinstriped suit a white shirt and a thin red necktie.

"Who are you and what have you done to my brother?" she laughed.

"Kaoru picked it out for me." he said somewhat proudly.

"May I make a suggestion though?" she asked. Enishi nodded. Tomoe removed his tie and unbuttoned his coat. She pulled the sleeve of his white shirt out so that the coat looked like it had a cuff. She opened up the first three buttons and pulled out a pair of dark denims. "Less formal, more Enishi!"

"I never thought I'd see the day when my older sister would pimp me." he shook his head.

"It's for charity." She smiled.

"Wow you dressed up too." He said combing his hair. His sister had on a simple white tube-top dress. She had on a shiny silver necklace that moved like a ribbon on her neck. She pulled her hair in a French knot behind her head.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Enishi asked laughing.

"Ok."

He took two small rose buds form her flower vase and cut off the stems and placed them in her bun. "Don't break too many hearts oneechan." He smiled.

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"Hey!" she smiled as he opened the door to his room. "Your mom let me in."

"Wow you look great!" she smiled. Aoshi had on a white turtle neck which he rolled up his sleeve. He put on his black suit and smiled back at Tomoe.

"Hey we match!" he laughed pointing to her dress.

"I knew you didn't need a check-up. You always turn out handsome." She smiled smoothing the wrinkles out of his shirt. Aoshi cleared his throat. Tomoe looked up at him. He was looking at her, a sad look upon his face. Tomoe's heart sank, she hated seeing him sad. She put her head on his chest and breathed in his scent. Aoshi always smelled of soap.

For a brief moment she stayed there, Aoshi rigid as a rock. And then finally he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her in the briefest of hugs. Tomoe felt safe, for the first time in her life she felt like someone would take care of her. She spent her life taking care of Enishi and worrying about him. But in his arms she felt like she was the one being taken cared of. She was the one who would always be safe. So this is what it feels like to be in your arms.

Then he pulled away.

"You gotta go Tomoe. You have to be there early." he reminded her. Tomoe looked up at her best friend, when had things changed so much? Suddenly her heart no longer knew what it wanted.

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notes: sorry this installment took so longahh! And I knew I said there was only one chapter left but this was just too long already. Sorry for the delay but I promise I will finish this before november! And since I'm home from school I will definitely have time.