Spring Fever
IX. White Day:

It wasn't easy to catch Kikumaru Eiji alone during lunch, but Fuji was currently off somewhere, presumably noting down the people who were receiving a White Day present from Tezuka, so Oishi took the opportunity share a private moment with his partner. Even though, it was perhaps also for the best that he was not aware of the many girls lurking in their general vicinity, quietly squealing over the cuteness that was the Golden Pair.

"This is for the Valentine's cookies you gave me, Eiji," Oishi said with a smile as he handed Eiji a gift box wrapped in gleaming white paper and adorned with a single red ribbon tied in a neat bow.

Eiji grabbed the proffered gift and shook it lightly by his ear, grinning as he heard the telltale rattle of what was sure to be candy. "Wai! Sankyuu!" he gushed cheerfully. But then he reached into his bag and pulled out a white-wrapped box as well. "I have something for you too!"

Oishi stared at the new box held out to him in confusion. "Eh? But Eiji, I didn't get you anything on Valentine's Day…"

Eiji grinned mischievously. "Nya, Oishi. You let me have all your other Valentine's chocolates, so that counts too!"

Well, it was more like Eiji had eaten all of his other Valentine's chocolates, permission or not. But as Oishi looked up from the present at his partner's cheerful face, his confusion melted away into a soft smile.

"Aa. I guess it does," he agreed warmly and took the present, carefully placing it into his bag. "Thank you, Eiji."

In complete synch with one another, the Golden Pair picked up their respective bentos, and started on their nice quiet lunch together.

-.-.-

Meanwhile, Ryoma frowned in annoyance as Momoshiro shuffled him off from where he'd been having lunch with the freshman trio. Finally, he pulled his arm out from his senpai's grip and voiced his disgruntlement.

"Momo-senpai! What do you want?"

Momoshiro looked around to see that there wasn't anyone lurking within hearing distance. Then, looking rather embarrassed, he reached into his pocked and pulled out a small gift bag.

"Ne, Echizen. This is for you." He shoved the bag into Ryoma's hands and shuffled a bit on his feet, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else at the moment.

His curiosity piqued, Ryoma reached into the bag and took out a small white box of store-bought candy. The younger boy blinked up at his still nervous senpai.

"What's the present for?" he asked. "I didn't give you anything for Valentine's Day."

Momoshiro scratched at the back of his head, looking rather sheepish. "Well, um… I heard Eiji-senpai say he was going to get Oishi-senpai a White Day present because Oishi let him have all of his Valentine's chocolates and that counts as a Valentine's gift too. So I thought since I ate all of your Valentine's chocolates…" Momoshiro looked away in embarrassment, blushing slightly.

Ryoma stared at his senpai, then stared at the present, and then stared up at Momoshiro again. Finally, he looked back down, his hat covering his eyes.

"Aa. Thank you… Momo-senpai."

Momoshiro looked at Ryoma in slight surprise. The younger boy simply pulled his hat down lower to hide his smile, which for once was lacking his usual snark.

-.-.-

Later that afternoon found Kaidoh finishing up his daily training regimen by the river. Finishing his last round of stretches, the second year quietly gathered up his things in preparation to depart. He was aware at all times of the intent gaze that was pinned to his back, but still jumped when the presence that had watched him throughout his exercises finally spoke aloud.

"Kaidoh."

Kaidoh paused in his steps, but didn't turn around. He heard soft footsteps behind him, but kept his gaze steadily downwards, staring at the movement of the second shadow that moved up to join his.

"Kaidoh, thank you for the White Day present."

He felt the light breath that carried those words flutter across his neck… or was that simply the evening breeze?

Inui simply stood there as Kaidoh suddenly sprinted away. He hadn't expected the carefully wrapped box of crudely homemade marshmallows in his locker, especially not after the minor disaster that his Valentine's Day gift had been. But at least he had correctly predicted the results of this confrontation, right down to the faint flush that his highly observant eyes had caught sneaking up Kaidoh's neck that had nothing to do with the other boy's recent exercise. Amused and content, he merely watched the quickly departing form of his kouhai silhouetted against the golden sunset.


Next Up: ...and then the not-so-happy endings.

Author's Notes: In case some people were curious about the Valentine's party that Atobe threw, that's going to be told in a separate companion fic to this one. My friend says she wants to write it, so I'm not quite sure of the specifics on that. I'll try to get it up to ffnet anyhow when it comes out.