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Chapter 7 - Getting used to having friends

Kouji was sitting on his seat with his arms crossed, remembering the event that happened during Christmas last week.

'Should I tell her?' He thought, creasing his eyebrows, 'I might still have a chance' (A/N He's still THINKING!)

"Morning Kouji!" Somebody's cheerful greeting interrupted.

Kouji looked up and saw his new friend beaming at him.

He smiled back at the blonde, "Look here. I am sorry again about last week, shouldn't have slept on the same bed with you," He sighed, not again another interruption.

"It's okay," Izumi smiled while putting out her ten fingers, "You've apologized more than 10 times."

Kouji sweat dropped, "Did I apologize so many times?" Kouji said out aloud, rolling his eyes while Izumi giggled.

"Did you tell your mother?" Kouji asked, uncrossing his arms and placing it on his lap. Izumi shivered at the thought of the week ago.

*Flashback*

Izumi's mother closed the door silently behind her and locked it. Izumi shuddered when she heard the click and turned her head gradually to look at her mother. She.had.an.evil.look.

Scary.

Izumi's face turned as white as sheet as these terrifying thoughts started bombarding her mind.

Torture.scolding.grounded.slap.nagging.

Izumi was having a difficult time choosing the 'best' option out of the worst which caused her mind to be blank for a few seconds.

With a bang on the table, Izumi snapped out of her thought and jumped in a hilarious manner.

"Izumi Orimoto!" Izumi's mother harangued

"Yes.yes.mother?" Izumi stammered, her voice shaking, so was her whole body.

"What do you mean by 'yes'?" Izumi's mother narrowed her eyes and gave Izumi that look of you-better-tell-the-truth-or-you-are-going-to-die.

Knowing her mother's attitude, Izumi knew what she had to do. If not, she knew that she's going to get into big trouble, a huge, enormous.GIGANTIC trouble. Izumi shivered, a chill running through her spine. She took a big gulp before spilling out the truth, every little detail of it, not leaving the most important part of her and Kouji sleeping together. Because she knew that she's not a good enough actress to swindle her mother.

"That's all?" Izumi's mother roared, still having that terrifying look on her face that was now so close to Izumi that she could see every detail on her face, all those wrinkles...

"Yes.Yes Mother." Izumi answered honestly, taking a big gulp, "Can I go now?"

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!" Her mother sent a loud and high pitched scream that caused some of the glass to break.Oh well.that's a bit too exaggerating. "How about Kouichi? Did you tell him?" Her mother's attitude suddenly changed drastically and asked Izumi in a very concerned tone. After all, she's her precious daughter.

"No, I think I will tell him next time," Izumi retorted, looking at the ground, wondering what caused her mom's mood to change.

"Okay. But you have to tell him sooner or later," Izumi's mom smiled at the younger version of her, "I am sure he doesn't want to be in the dark about this." She placed both assuring hands on Izumi's tensed shoulder.

Izumi gave an awkward nod for her reply and went straight up to her bedroom, afraid that her mother would change her mind and torture her.like Kouji.

However, before she could even reach the staircase, her mother called her back. No.

"Izumi! Come down here after bathing!" Izumi's mother said slyly, "Don't think you can escape your torture easily!"

Izumi rolled her eyes.She just knew.She can't escape from her mother.

*End of Flashback*

"And what happened?" Kouji inquired curiously, narrowing his piercing deep blue eyes.

"Nothing much. Just nagging and usual stuffs." Izumi shrugged and said plainly, sitting down on her seat and making herself comfortable, "It was quite bad, it went for about 2 hours."

Kouji sweat dropped. "So did you tell Kouichi?" He asked guiltily, hanging his head low.

"Yes I did." Izumi sighed

"What did he say? I hope you don't get into much trouble."

"Trouble? OBVIOUSLY! We had a fight over it two days ago. Although he seems to be still a bit mad at me," Izumi answered with an acute expression on her face, turning her attention back to Kouji.

"Sorry." Kouji alleged, "So had both of you made up yet?"

Izumi didn't reply as she glared at the group of fan girls who were surrounding Kouichi. Kouichi tried in vain to shrug them off to no avail, they were just like irritating 'butterflies' that would always stick with a flower.

Izumi darted towards Kouichi with a clenched fist and gave each of the fan girls a swift and painful slaps, "Don't mess around with my boyfriend!" She grunted, short but firm.

Fearful of the enraged Izumi, the fan girls scampered away, back to their respective seats. The whole class of students was gawking at the blonde, including Kouji.

"I guess they had made up." Kouji muttered, scrutinising Izumi with his surprised midnight blue eyes. He watched as Izumi walked towards Kouichi and hugged him by the hand, mouthing something like, 'He's mine!' He saw Kouichi blushed while scratching his head.

Wow.Izumi could be loud if she want to.

Soon, the teacher walked in and everybody hurried back to their own seats and settled down. Izumi sat down, frowning, giving everyone that you-better- don't-bother-me look.

*Break*

"Have you joined any club yet?" Izumi asked while shoving her books violently under her desk, she had turned back to the usual Izumi that everybody recognised, not a berserk Izumi.

"Nope. But I'll try for soccer later in the afternoon," Kouji replied curtly, copying what Izumi was doing while students poured out of the classrooms like a bunch of bees.

"Soccer huh? Good choice! My best friend, Takuya is the captain of the team, I'll introduce him to you!" Izumi commented, as she prepared to leave the classroom.

"There's no need for that, Ori." Kouji paused and hesitated before calling out Izumi by her name, "Izumi."

"Yes, call me by my name!" Izumi said in a flirtatious tone, as she gave a tug at Kouji's hand and pulled him out of the classroom which was now completely empty.

"Hey. hey!" Kouji complained but he didn't struggle.

********

"Hey Takuya!" Izumi shouted from a distance, still dragging a reluctant Kouji, "Do you think Kouji could make it to the Soccer team?"

"Of course! One of our players have just transferred, so we have a place," Takuya smiled as an exhausted Izumi and Kouji arrived in front of them, "If you are free this afternoon, you can try playing with the whole team."

"All right." Kouji said.

"I am Takuya Kanbara, the captain of the soccer team!" Takuya held out his hand.

'Friends? When is the last time I have them? Excluding her that I had known 8 years ago.' Kouji took Takuya's hand and shook it, "Kouji Minamoto."

"Meet you at the soccer field this afternoon!" Takuya said in a cheerful tone as he walked towards the canteen.

"Make sure you're punctual, Kouji. Takuya hates people who are late, although he's always late himself," Izumi whispered with a wink.

"I HEARD THAT!" Takuya suddenly appeared behind Izumi and smacked her on the head.

"Sorry! I just found out that I had leaked out one of your BAD habit! Haha!" Izumi smirked, one hand covering her mouth and the other rubbing the spot where Takuya had placed a painful blow.

Takuya smacked her on the head again, "Make sure you don't do it again!"

"Stop smacking my girlfriend's head!" Kouichi shouted in disagreement, red with anger. The usual calm Kouichi was now so frustrated.

"Look at this, what a lovely couple." Takuya smirked as he prepared himself for some running.

Come back here!" Izumi and Kouichi shouted as they started chasing Takuya all over the place with Izumi's mallet pointing the sky.again. Poor Takuya.

JunPei snorted as he looked disgustedly at the three running figures. "Sheesh.Why must that Kouichi be so close to Izumi?"

"Because they are a couple?" Kouji answered curtly and innocently, clearing all Junpei's 'doubt'

JunPei turned his gaze from the three teens to the person standing beside him. "I am not talking to you!" He snapped irritatedly, pulling Kouji by his black tie that wasn't properly worn around his collar.

"JUNPEI!" Izumi suddenly stopped chasing Takuya, instead ran towards JunPei in full speed as fast as her legs could carry her with her mallet held up high over her head.

"Not that!" JunPei screamed in a girlish voice. (A/N That'll be cute. ^- ^;;;)

"Yes, I'll do it if YOU." Izumi shouted, giving JunPei a stop-it-or-you- will-die glare.

"All right.I am sorry," JunPei sighed and shook Kouji's hand for one second before pulling it away, "not." JunPei squeaked, not intending to let Izumi heard what he had just said. Too bad for JunPei.Izumi heard it and she looked as if she would explode anytime, her hand shaking with rage.

"JUNPEI!" Izumi shouted, with her mallet out again.

"I am sorry!" JunPei screamed apologetically , "I won't do it again!" The rest of the gang stopped what they were doing and laughed except for Kouji who didn't say anything.No comment, nothing.Blank expression.

*** After school

"You ready, Izumi?" Kouichi asked, the strap of his bag slung over his shoulder.

"Yeah.why?" Izumi inquired while chucking her books into her bag.

"Today Kouji has soccer tryouts, right?" Kouichi asked, confirming.

"Yeah.So?" Izumi questioned her boyfriend with her curious eyes as she pushed in her chair.

"Want to go and watch?"

"Sure!" Izumi clapped her hands together as she slung her own bag roughly over her shoulder, "Great idea! Let's go!" And both of them bolted out of the door.

Both Kouichi and Izumi walked down to the soccer field and saw Takuya instructing the whole team. Kouji was standing in the corner with his arms crossed, listening intensely. He was wearing his school T-shirt, making him stand out from the rest of the soccer team who had their own jerseys with numbers on them. For the first time in this story, his bandanna was not worn on! Or is it 2nd Or 3rd? 4th? ^-^'''''''

Kouichi and Izumi looked for a nearby bench to sit on and placed their bags on the floor.

Meanwhile, Takuya blew his whistle and the whole team started the game.

"Go Kouji!" Izumi shouted.

"You can do it!" Kouichi shouted after Izumi.

Kouji was fast and within a few minutes he had scored a goal.

Takuya and the others looked dazed.

"Wow.good shot Kouji." Takuya stammered, still not believing his own eyes, so does the rest of his team mates.

"It's such a long time since Takuya praised anybody," Izumi giggled silently while covering her mouth.

"Kouji must be really good!" Kouichi continued, impressed.

"GO KOUJI!" Both of them shouted, cheering for Kouji. Although they were sitting far away from where Kouji was now, Kouji could hear it clearly, it was ringing in his ears.

After the whole game (A/N I am not good in soccer!!!) Kouji and Takuya had managed to put in more than 5 shots each.

Takuya approached Kouji who was sweating profusely, but doesn't seem to be as tired as him, and shook his hand, "Kouji, good job! Come for practices every Tuesday and Thursday 2 to 5!"

"Does this mean I got the place?" Kouji asked plainly while wiping his sweat with a towel.

"Obviously!" Takuya grinned, "If not, I would have shouted at you to scram off already! Like what I did to that the poor JunPei who had joined no club yet," Takuya added with a wink, whispering so that only Kouji could hear. Kouji smiled.

The whole team cheered, one by one, all of them went to shake Kouji's hand.

"With you and Takuya around, we are going to win the next match for sure!" One of them said excitedly.

"We look forward in practising with you next week, Kouji!" The other exclaimed

Kouichi and Izumi ran towards Kouji and cheered.

"You did it, Kouji!" Izumi squealed, giving Kouji a friendly hug. Kouji blushed and took a quick glance at Kouichi, he looked jealous but didn't seem to mind too much.

"Yeah, you did it!" Kouichi smiled and smacked Kouji's back playfully as soon as Izumi had let go of him.

Kouji forced a smile that seemed so real that it managed to deceive everybody. 'Friends.'

***

"Kouji, want to have lunch?" Izumi asked, thrilled of Kouji's performance today.

"All right. I am starving!" Kouji said, his stomach growling while zipping his bag.

Izumi laughed, but at the same time, her stomach growled as well.

"Come on, I'll buy you lunch!" Kouichi beamed proudly at his friend.

Takuya who suddenly appeared behind him, nudged him by the arm. "Count me in!" Takuya grinned impishly, pointing at himself.

"Sure!" Kouichi shrugged, not agreeing inwardly. He was broke.

"Hei! You treated your best friends to lunch. Aren't you gonna treat your girlfriend to lunch as well, Kouichi?" Izumi asked in a flirtatious tone while fluttering her eyebrow, "I don't have much money today you know." Izumi grinned evilly and started tickling Kouichi.

"Of. hahaha. Course. HAHAHA!" Kouichi laughed so hard that he fell to the ground.

Kouji laughed along as he saw Izumi still insisted on tickling Kouichi who had begged her to stop.

Kouji sighed after a while, 'Maybe it's not so bad after all. to have friends' He smiled one of his real smile and plodded towards the door with Takuya behind him. "Come on! I don't have much time!" He asserted, quite sick of looking at the two flirting away.

*** At night in Kouji's house

Kouji was in his bed (A/N look away perverts! Kouji is MINE.ermm.uh.sorry. Kouji is Toei Anime's!!) thinking about today.

"It's fun having friends, but." Kouji whispered, "Shouldn't I tell Izumi about my identity? I can't keep it from her forever, can I?"

After a few minutes of thinking, he dozed off to sleep, guess the try-out just now was tiring him, his decision already made.

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Eevee: OK! I have changed most of the thing! I hope this is really good! Please review whether should I rewrite this again!!!!