A Tangled Love Affair

Disclaimer: I don't own SD boys, Inoue does. The events that follow are not included in the original plot but enjoy anyway.

A/N: Thanks to the reviewers; I really appreciate your nice comments. It's not like everyday that people have the patience to read my works, you know. And to ivy; hell yeah, damn news stories.

My love is like a stone tied around my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone.Anton Chekhov

At first, Mitsui thought of him as someone he had only dreamed about, someone he'd never attempt to touch. But circumstances afforded better chances than that; at his first rehearsal, he was able to make physical contact with him, to exchange a few words of introduction, and even to register to his memory what kind of body spray he used. It was a little funny that he would squander so many thoughts about Kaede Rukawa that very same night as he buried his head on the covers together with the heavy pictures inside it. But of course it was even harder to fathom why he should ever think of him so anxiously. As a resort, Mitsui didn't bother digging up the reasons; he just went on nursing that attraction without knowing if he was planning to make it permanent. He told himself that there were parts of it that are essentially hard to find out, and some that he wouldn't know at all. Like if Rukawa had ever felt the same at first glance. Naturally, the freshman seemed indifferent at being ignorant about it or maybe, he knew better underneath this snobbishness; what with Rukawa's face permitting only a limited range of expressions. Something told Mitsui then that Rukawa was only trying to be evasive while being very aware of him. But still there was always a possibility that what seems to be isn't always as it is.

It mattered little, however; if it didn't count at all. Yeah, it didn't count if Rukawa wasn't in love with Mitsui. What was in the scales was that he would fall in love with Mitsui in one way or a difficult another. And Mitsui could find that way and operate on it rather effortlessly, and if he chose he could take the roundabout route of it for the sake of protracting the torment. Or so that was how his popularity was defined.

'Hi,' Mitsui said one time during dismissal. They were in the parking lot and Rukawa was in the point of unlocking his bike. Mitsui smiled and continued, 'I can fix that for you.'

'What?' Rukawa said, puzzled.

'That chain. I see it's broken.' Mitsui said. He was referring to a certain damage on Rukawa's bike without even looking if there was any.

'Nothing's wrong with it.' Rukawa said blankly.

Mitsui returned a confused stare at the freshman as he let his eyes fall on the bike; to his surprise, it was perfectly fine.

'AAARGH! BASTARD!' Just then a female's voice rang shrilly from the other end of the parking lot; her finger pointing at a pink bike that seemed to have been run over by a bulldozer. 'SOMEBODY FUCKED MY BICYCLE!'

'Oh, fuck.' Mitsui muttered. A little earlier he had asked his gang to detach Rukawa's bike's chain. He had told them precisely what the bike looked like; it was pink with slender wheels. Apparently, and unfortunately for Mitsui, Rukawa wasn't the only owner of that kind of bicycle.

'That's cheap.' Rukawa said, glaring at the senior.

'Yeah, I'm cheap because you're being hard to get.' Mitsui said with a smile.

'Loser.'

'Well now that you know,' Mitsui flashed a wider smile at Rukawa, 'I guess it's enough effort to earn me a night out.'

'Confound you.' Rukawa seethed, 'Confound you like the bloody cats I run over the streets.' And with the longest sentence he had ever managed, he zoomed off.

Next day.

Mitsui had optimistically slurred the screw-up that happened yesterday. To assert his audacity he smiled a lot, and smiled differently too but never wore one that waves the flag of permanent defeat. It's fine really; first tries aren't always the best. He told himself repeatedly until it was the only sentence he had mumbled for the last 2 hours. It never occurred to him that what he did was stupid, an immature act that could've shamed a nine year old. But his self discipline only allowed him to repeat the act in another version; a joke in connection with Rukawa's cuss.

'I got what you mean.' Mitsui mocked him; this time the scene is set in the locker room. 'You love cats. You don't run over them.'

'So what?' Rukawa spat irritatingly.

'Well, you can't confound me like "the cats you run over the streets" because, you've guessed it, you don't run over them.'

'And?'

'Therefore I conclude that you don't hate me.' Mitsui grinned triumphantly.

'I don't.' Rukawa paused. 'Because I loathe and contempt you.' He finished and slammed the door behind him.

'That's nice.' Mitsui said to himself.

'I can't quite tell whether it's just for fun that you annoy him, or do you really…?' Kogure's words rang behind him suddenly.

'Both, maybe.' Mitsui said and faced him. 'Is he really like that? Or is he just being the fastidious bitch in my life?'

'He's like that, alright. But you're being annoying too.' Kogure told him. He was startled to feel that he still wanted to preserve the fading continuity of their past although it had been blurred in Mitsui now. If that was a verified fact, then he was going back to the stereotyped Kogure people knew; the flaccid martyrized image of a fool.

'Yeah, I'm annoying. I always am, you know. But sometimes it gets too tiring to be too honest; sometimes you really have to make things roundabout and funny so you wouldn't bore people that you like.' Mitsui said bluntly. And though he might've meant it the words just came too childishly that Kogure had to give a look of quasi filial concern.

'Everyone loves a goofball but nobody takes him seriously.' Kogure answered solemnly.

'You did.'

'Huh?' Kogure looked straight at Mitsui. Did he just say what he thought he did? Now how offensively candid was that? Kogure hadn't prepared for this; he had trusted the supposition that the rancor would be overwhelmed by time. But to bring it up like this, almost comically and meaninglessly, was just un-thought of.

'Never mind. It's stupid of me to say that.' Mitsui said mechanically. Kogure had the notion that the blue eyed boy didn't even realize what his words meant.

'It's not stupid. It's true. But you shouldn't have said it that way.'

'Like what?' Mitsui asked.

'Saying it like it's the least thing that mattered in the world.'

'No I didn't.' Mitsui denied.

'You can say that.' Kogure sighed. 'I just reckoned of it lately; you never seemed to understand how you screwed up this relationship. God, you made me feel helpless.'

'I didn't know that.' Mitsui said, frowning. This time he had assumed a look of deep concern; depending on how Kogure saw it however.

'You never asked.'

'But you never reminded me in the first place. I would've listened to you, y'know. You're different; I can ignore people like Akagi and Hotta but you…I just can't. You want me to mature, alright; I understand that. But did you ever give me the room to mature into?' Mitsui protested. His color rose to a deeper red and he seemed exhausted even if he hadn't had any physical load yet.

'So that's how you see it, then? That I'm an obstacle?'

'I didn't say that.' Mitsui said.

'But that's what you imply.' Kogure said, peeved. 'Listen, I don't want to spoil your comeback by arguing but I want you to know that you didn't have to ask me just to see what was wrong. And please don't allow this affront of mine to be a conduit of your anger because…because I'm not mad at you.' He decided to cut short the rhubarb with slight fear of Mitsui's temper.

Mitsui paused. Something in the wind had whispered that he left a loving heart behind. Here was a person whom he never understood nor tried to, but this very same always did understand him even if he screwed up a million times. The magnitude of his disparity was turned against him and yes, he did little justice to Kogure; and this wasn't the first time or the only time. Ever since, he had been unfair to him. And now what he felt for this man was an unclassified affection felt by many; a mixture of pity and a strange, lingering or perhaps resurrecting, devotion.

'You're making me feel guilty. I hate it. And please don't tell me you're jealous.' Mitsui said finally.

'I am. But what does it matter?' Kogure said, his words' vagueness begging for more literary meaning.

'It does, you know.' Mitsui answered as if surprised by the question. There was a parallelism between them now; Kogure's heart in shreds and Mitsui's conscience hewn to bits.

'Nothing matters besides Rukawa. I've seen how girls go like that, like you.'

'You say so. But I'm not yet sure; I'm still in the early stages of enchantment, so to speak. As of now, well, could anyone really say that I like him as much as I liked you before? I can't really say that's true but…it can get true. I need time.' Mitsui said.

'I'll give you that time, fine. But be sensible; Rukawa's as hard as a kettle. If you can get him softer I'll be there to salute you.' Kogure said in a warning tone.

'I know, I'm not blind, you know.' Mitsui broke a smile. 'And why are you assigning me what to feel for him, huh? I don't remember lecturing you about your dear Ryonan guyfriend.' Mitsui teased.

'Sendoh? Who the hell told you that?'

'Connections.' Mitsui winked at him.

Mitsui might've been the first to waddle out of the door because Kogure recalled being left alone before catching tune of Ayako's whistle. He remembered Akira Sendoh, a sophomore from Ryonan High, and this guy had been bumping in to Kogure in instances that accounted for more than just plain coincidences. Since that bedamned practice game…yeah, that was how it started. And now he had imagined that face, imagined it with that plastered infamous smile that seemed as natural as his folderol. Akira Sendoh, how good did it feel to say his name aloud?

TBC

A/N: I plagiarized a couple of lines from Charles Dickens and Maxim Gorky so don't sue me, okay? Thanks for reading. Have a nice day!