Blushing Courage

"I'm so bored!" stretched a teenage girl, her slender arms reaching for the ceiling of the room, her long slender legs stretched out and knees bent slightly. Hitoshi blushed slightly at one glance of her. Sixteen. How many times did remind himself that she was sixteen? Tall, lovely, long black hair, silver eyes, an ample chest that stretched almost all her blouses, slender legs, small waist. She was perfect. All too perfect. And her personality was just glamorous. Kind, sweet, smart, a cool edge, while staying Goth all the same way. Dark romance. Why did he find it so perfect?

Every now and then Hitoshi found himself going down to memory lane. All the memories of them as friends. When he was in high school, he and FD were the best of friends. They were sometimes as close as siblings were. Perfect, sweet, and joyful. That was before he left her and his family. Now he wanted more than anything to relive those moments, and take what should have been his. His kiss from her.

Sure, he had dated tons of girls before, and sure, he had kissed each one of them, but never had wild fantasies about them. Then, after he saw FD after all these years, they had grown. The wild fantasies, the crazy dreams, and even a few memories he made himself recapture.

"If your bored, then go battle my brother. He's never seen you in battle besides that one time down by the river," Hitoshi pronounced. FD shot up straight, grabbing a pillow off the couch and throwing it at his face.

"I can't believe he told you about that day! That pisses me off!" she yelled. Hitoshi couldn't help but smile at how playful she now was. Like a wild cat, ready to play with a ball of catnip or yarn. Very adorable. Hitoshi turned and walked away. But a gentle tug came on his shirt and he was forced to turn around to find FD on her knees in front of him, looking up into his eyes sweetly.

"Will you play with me?" she asked innocently.

"Sure. What game?" Hitoshi asked. It was a little too innocent. She was acting like a child. And that always seemed to work with him.

She stood up and gently snatched the pillow out of his hands. Then she began beating his face with it. He laughed playfully, falling back against the wall. Then he reached out and grabbed her wrist, trying hard to grab the pillow, and he eventually began a tug-of-war with her over it.

"Let go!" she said, half laughing.

"Sure, whatever you say," Hitoshi spoke naively. He easily released his grip on it, and she fell backward onto the floor, clutching the pillow to her chest. She smiled up at him.

"I win!"

"Oh, no, you didn't!"

Hitoshi pounced on her and tried hard to grab the pillow away from her. He didn't even realize that she was on her back, him on top of her, pinning her to the ground. All he cared about was getting that pillow as far away from her as possible. She cried, laughing, as she tried to keep the pillow away.

Suddenly, though, Hitoshi heard voices outside of the dojo. Before he even realized it, the door opened and standing in the doorway was Hillary, Tyson, Max, and Kenny, all four staring at them. Hitoshi then realized that he was sitting right on top of her, the pillow brought up to her chest, their hair messed up wildly. Faint blushes surrounded their faces, and Hillary began yelling at them angrily.

"You know, if you guys wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask!" she yelled. Hitoshi then felt FD push him off her.

"It's not like that, Hillary! We were playing!" she cried.

"Right, sure," Hillary spoke sarcastically.

Hitoshi stood up and fixed his hair. Then he found himself blushing. He stepped out, his face glowing bright red. Did he just do what he thought he did? He sure as hell hoped not.


"Come on, Ra! I know you can do it!" FD yelled during her battle against Tyson. It was only three hours later, and she had to explain to them twice that she and Hitoshi were only just playing around like friends. But she knew that they didn't believe her all that much. Would you blame them? They practically walked in on them, Hitoshi sitting on top of her, while a pillow was lying over her chest, as if trying to hide something.

But half of her kind of was curious of what that would have led to? Her and him on the floor….

"What are you daydreaming about, FD!" yelled a voice. FD looked up and smiled shyly.

"Nothing," she spoke.

"Thinking of Hitoshi?" came a stern voice. FD turned to see a boy that was older than the others with the most serious auburn eyes and multiple blue colored hair ever. A white scarf trailed behind him, and he approached them with a mood of total irritability.

"Kai, what's up?" she asked.

"Nothing, but rumor around BEGA is that you broke up with Mystel," he said.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, that leaves you available to anyone. Even Hitoshi, your old best friend."

"We're childhood friends, Kai, not sweethearts."

A smug smile crossed his face. "That isn't what I hear. Turns out you had a crush on him when you were younger."

"Yeah? So? I did."

Kai just smiled. FD turned away from him and focused on her battle. She beat Tyson easily, but something about what Kai had said was true. She did use to like Hitoshi, and now that she and Mystel had broken up, that left her available to anyone. And that included Hitoshi.


Hitoshi opened the door slightly, and peered out into the courtyard. He watched as the pre-teens battled the teenager with enthusiasm. It was beautiful to see FD out in the sun like that, her mocha-tanned skin shining brightly. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he couldn't stay away. No matter how hard he tried. He wanted more than anything to take her and kiss her.

"Welcome to the planet

Welcome to existence

Everyone's here

Everyone's here

Every body's watching you now…"

Hitoshi knew that somewhere that somehow, he and FD were meant to be somewhere. And as he watched them battle, that emotion became so much stronger. He turned and closed the door behind him. But as he did, he came face-to-face with an elderly man, scowling at him. Hitoshi groaned, and out of nowhere, the man hit him across the head with his bokudo, wooden sword. Hitoshi fell hard to the ground, rubbing his head with one hand. He remembered when he was little, whenever that man did that to him, it would be he had done something wrong.

He looked back up at him, and then felt a wisp of memories come flooding in. He stood back up, but kept his head bowed.

"You love her," the elderly man spoke. Hitoshi did not respond. He expected the man to strike him down like he did before when he was a kid. But no, he didn't. Instead, the man opened the door and looked out into the courtyard. "So it's her?"

Hitoshi nodded slightly. He would normally just take his punishment like a man. But to his surprise, the elderly man just closed the door and looked at him sternly.

"Hitoshi, when are you going to learn? If you love someone, you can't just keep it bottled up. Eventually it will consume you completely. Tell her, Hitoshi, otherwise, no one will ever know," the man spoke.

"Thanks, Gramps, but this is something I have to deal with on my own," Hitoshi spoke. He took one last look at her before disappearing into the dojo.