Hey again! One thing… I have to say, Jamo, I feel so special, you'll take time off DOAU for Snob School… woo hoo! –Note to self: Must pre-order DOAU! Argh!-

Anyway, about the 'end'… it leaves things unresolved, but that's the point. Otherwise, where would I have a sequel? LMAO. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Oh, and later in the story, excuse the lack of flamboyant writing... the new thing doesn't allow many different fonts...

When she got home, Ayane stormed straight through the front door, past the curious, giggling girls and up the stairs to her room. Everyone downstairs jumped when the door slammed shut hard enough to rattle windows. Five pairs of questioning eyes turned to stare at Ryu and Hayate, who were still standing in the doorway.

Shifting uncomfortably under the piercing, almost accusing gazes, Hayate glanced around trying to find a way out, and quickly.

"Uh, we… I… uh… Ryu, want something to eat?" Hayate turned begging eyes towards him.

"Please. That'd be wonderful."

Making a hasty exit, he led Ryu to the kitchen. Grabbing two cokes from the fridge, he passed one to Ryu before opening his own. Sighing, he took a big sip of his coke, before noticing that Ryu was still staring at the can, unopened, in his hand.

"What's up?" he queried gently.

"Just… nothing," Ryu waved his hand negligently. Opening up the coke, he took a long swig, then smiled at Hayate.

"You're not fooling me buddy, now c'mon, spill," Hayate crossed his arms over his chest and glared.

"Okay, okay, but not here," Ryu gave in after a few minutes of strained silence, broken only by the odd shriek and giggle, echoing down the hall from the living room.

What on earth am I going to tell him? Just make something up? Or the truth. Then again. The truth sounds silly, even to me, so maybe I'll tell him the truth and hope he believes me.

Sighing, Ryu followed his friend up the stairs, still debating on exactly how he was going to tell Hayate the truth.

Just as they were passing by Ayane's door, it opened, startling them both.

"Keep it the fuck down you blockheads. Honestly, it's like having Kasumi trying to dance in clogs down the hallway," Ayane snapped at them, before slamming the door in their faces.

Grinning, Hayate proceeded to bounce the rest of the way down the hallway and slammed his own door once Ryu was safely inside the room. Indicating the bed, Hayate motioned for him to seat himself.

"Aight, spill."

"Well, I know this is going to sound extremely ludicrous and immature to you, but…"

"Just get on with the story," Hayate interrupted.

"I will if you give me a chance to," he said, glaring at his friend. "Now, as I was saying, well, when we were at the cinemas, Ayane got really frightened and grabbed hold of my…"

"Thing!" Hayate declared happily.

"No you imbecile, my hand. Anyway, she was squeezing my hand, so I squeezed her hand back…"

"Big mistake," Hayate interjected, unhelpfully.

"Do you want to hear the story not?"

Hayate fell instantly silent.

Sighing, he continued.

"So after I squeezed her hand back, she pulled away like she had grasped a red hot poker. So I was pretty sure she wasn't feeling too pleasant towards me. However, later on, she knocks the popcorn over and it falls all over my lap. Instead of letting me scoop it back into the box, she just eats it straight off my…"

"Gross!" Hayate shouted, jumping up.

"…my lap." Ryu finished.

"Still gross," Hayate said, shaking his head in Ryu's direction.

Ryu decided to forgo saying anything and contenting himself with an icy stare.

"So, what do you think I should do?"

"Aside from getting the popcorn off your pants?" Hayate pointed down at his pants.

"Yeah, like I'd fall for that," Ryu stated scornfully, "Now what should I do?"

"No, seriously, the first thing you should do is get that popcorn of your pants."

Ryu rolled his eyes.

"Look, Hayate, there is no… oh." Cutting his sentence of short, flushing slightly with embarrassment, he picked the piece of popcorn off his pants.

"Well… that wasn't there before."

Hayate rolled his eyes.

Recovering his composure, Ryu cleared his throat.

"So… what's the next thing I should do?" he finally managed to ask.

"Get over it." Hayate replied promptly.

"Gee, thanks, big help," he grumbled.

"Ryu, for real, you're making a big deal out of nothing here."

Before he could reply, the door flew open, spilling Kasumi and Helena into the room. Helena paused a moment to straighten her pyjamas and rearrange her pyjamas.

"Hello boys," Helena purred.

"Hayate, Ryu, I just came up to give you these… uh… here." Kasumi flushed, fumbling with two pink slips of paper.

Turning his over Ryu stared at the flamboyant writing.

Kasumi turns seventeen!

Next Saturday you are invited to

Celebrate this glorious day with me

Where? My house

When? 7pm till 10am

Bring? Sleepover gear and B.Y.O

RSVP ASAP

Dare I accept? Staying over here isn't anything new to me, but will we have to sleep out with the girls. What if… no, don't even think it.

"Can you make it, Ryu?" Kasumi broke into his thoughts.

"I would be most delighted Miss Kasumi."

"Ever the formal one," teased Helena, "We'll see if we can change that on Saturday shall we?"

Not knowing what to say, he said nothing. Helena laughed and pulled Kasumi out of the room.

"C'mon, we're missing the movie!"

After the two girls had left, Hayate walked over and shut the door. Turning around, he was too surprised to find Ryu staring sadly at the invite.

"Now what?"

"I've just got the feeling that I made a big mistake."