Stuck
Written by Miko-chan
Summary: My only advice...NEVER, ever scold someone with your umbrella (If you don't want to get a cold.)

Author's notes: This would be composed of five one-shot stories about various couples. It must have three main contents: a) The umbrella b) The darn rain *sneeze* and lastly, c) The romance...Make sure you have a blanket there. This fic is dedicated to those who continue to support any of these pairings.

*WHAM!*

A banging noise echoed throughout the empty halls as Pilica slammed her locker shut with a swift push and an impatient hand. Obviously, he had another those stupid squabbling resulting into an all-out war in the entire campus. All of the things that both men would fight over...

Was a stupid bento box left out in the middle of the classroom.

Well, you know, Oniichan claimed the 'blessed' object as his. While that another opponent, had picked it out earlier and told her brother to get lost since it was for him. (Well, there were the Chinese characters imprinted upon the cloth covering it, so she guessed that he was actually telling the truth) Then the brawl started, which resulted in whipping one's weapons and throwing curses at each side of the four-cornered room. That resulted into total mayhem.

The only things that had been a problem was the desk was mutilated, the teacher was aggravated....

And yes. How can she forget? The girls' minds decapitated when they swooned at how far his muscles could shiver when he stretched them. That was another irritating scene earlier.

Yech.

Thank goodness, there were no casualties. But it seems that sometimes that the Chinese shaman was getting a little bit too far with dealing with her brother.

It was already quarter to five in the afternoon. And she had assumed that it should do her some good to simmer down her boiling blood if she want to return home with her presence of mind still intact. With the hazel azure umbrella on her hand, she walked on the vacant corridors silently. Her brother would have left already, and she could have some time to catch up with something to watch at home. And if she was lucky, then she could have blown that arrogant little squirt into tiny bits for being such an absolute pain in the ass.

She sighed exasperatedly.

If she could only give that baka a piece of her mind and listened to her.... THEN it would be more different.

It was somehow quite impossible to find then halls so depressingly empty as she was accustomed to the chatters of the crowd almost everyday. As a perfectly model student in the whole Funbari University, she was extremely easy going with the rest of the people. Wearing the dark navy skirt and emerald jacket that this school famous for, she could blend in with the ground unnoticed except for mentors or few boys alike.

She was not a shaman after all, despite her background might be very closely related to that matter.

She was ordinary.

She, alone, in that group was the weakest among them. Weaker than Tamao-chan.

She could never harness the powers of such spirits, neither tread the patterns of time. However, they all welcomed her, even though her brother obviously did not seem to be comfortable with her presence. She does not have to train like the men do ,be as terrifying Anna-san could be, controlling lifeless people or be swarmed by people because of the ability to predict the future. Even Manta-san, in his slowly growing little body, was capable of using Mosuke-san even once or more. Maybe this was a partially an advantage to her. For this she was able to live a life where she can both sympathize with the both sides of the world.

That was how everything revolves. She was only seen as the annoying trainer of the her ever-so-humble brother. The secret apprentice of her Anna-sempai. A woman who constantly brawled and fought a vicious war against that arrogant Chinese sha--

There was a sound of a sharp edge cutting the trail of each falling drops.

A young man with glowing amber eyes that glowered unconsciously against the dark afternoon. Although there was light shed to illuminate the figure outside the glass doors, the ever famous edge of that hair had completed the image even in the middle of the school gardens. His uniform was pierced with slight slits at his side from the momentum of his blade, which produced splinters to graze though the fabric. However , it did not covered the faint outline of his body.

Tao Ren.

What in the world was he doing outside with this downpour?

*CRACK!*

A thunder stroke in the bleak grayish horizons. She flinched, taken aback by the sudden painful strike of the rain. He abruptly stopped form his position, which was lunging to break a withering, old trunk in front of him. The young man then turned to this uninvited woman. He glared at her, with one arm outstretched with his spear.

"What are you doing here?" He drawled. Those golden orbs squinted further. The glass doors that was separating between them was starting to form a small drops trailing over its surface.

"Wasting my time on glaring at you." She replied swiftly, knowing that her voice was sarcastic.

"Leave me alone, woman." He reproachfully said, twitching his head back to her former position.

"I am not stupid to leave with that." The Ainu lady retorted with a huff. "What in the world were you thinking when you almost chopped my brother's head in the corridors earlier?"

"What do you care about it?" He shrugged off. "That pig still breathes"

"My brother is NOT a pig!" She raised her voice in admonishment.

"..."

Raised eyebrows.

"Sure, he acts one." she added hastily "But still, he is NOT really a pig."

He turned his sculptured back on her, with an annoying scowl on his face. "Suit yourself"

"WAIT a minute," she nearly shouted with a growl. "You need to give me an APOLOGY!"

"A what?"
"A-PO-LO-GY!"

"For what?"

"For being such an annoying JERK!"

He halted. His ears and the slight drooping of his visible, pointed hair gained an inch.

"Your brother caused it." Irritation crept in. He was not liking this conversation at all.

"BUT, that thing is NOT allowed here in school." She flipped the umbrella open, with a forceful flap. She was underneath the compact shelter, overshadowing her from the buckets of rain pouring from the horizon. The Ainu marched across the doors towards him, every pace flaring her light sky eyes with anger. " Most of all, I have told you that YOU do not whip that OBJECT in front of anybody else as if you were playing with it!" Her index fingers were waving at him threateningly, as she had halted in front of him with a stomp. "Why don't you act like YOUR age?!"

Within a flash, something happened that was not controlled by circumstances.


He swerved, and placed the blade of his naginata underneath the pale ivory chin. Her cerulean eyes were widened with astonishment as she can practically feel the coldness of the blade near her throat. The vertical rod that was supporting her umbrella was divided into a half. It fell upon the ground with clutter, as the wind drifted the outstretched object in the mud spluttered ground.

"Shut up.." His low voice was barely audible to be heard "and mind your own business"

She lowered her shivering arm, as it still held the handle of the shattered umbrella.

Silence. Unnerving silence.

She gazed at him as he was also startled with himself. His mouth was wide and agape, disbelieving that those words had came out of his mouth.

Her bewilderment changed drastically to resentment, as her brows drew together.

With determined finger, she gradually lowered the tip of the razor from her neck. It had punctured her, but the sting was nothing compared to the flames that enraptured her chest.

He allowed her to do so, gazing at her face intently. The rain seems to drown them both.

Then a fist came to swerve at his face, along with the handle.

A hand strayed to his jaw, as he swayed a little from the hard impact.

"Rude." She whispered harshly beneath her breath, her upturned fist still trembling. ".....Arrogant...... Egoistic." Her cheeks were suddenly brightly crimson, with her tears seemingly flowing. They were undistinguishable, as they passed through like raindrops, trickling and silently tracing her face. But in those unfathomable orbs, it cannot hide the slight sparkle of that silver lining beneath her lids.

"IDIOT!" She bellowed. throwing at him the remaining part of the umbrella in her hand.

With a maddening stare, she ran off back towards the entrance of the campus. She only meant to reprimand him, to tell him that he was really not making the right way to impress people. Although that many females had fantasized about him, to get a snip at his hair, he was still that rotten, spoiled kid beneath those masculine figure. He shunned himself away from anybody else, for he was afraid that barrier of his sanity would be shattered away from him.

But what makes it worse, that she had felt that too.

How many times did she deny it? She still paced noisily along the path. How many times did she told herself that he was nothing more than what she thought of him was? He always wore that mischievous smirk, those accusing eyes, that irritating scowl, now even the sight of that mauve-colored tresses...

I WISH the thunder will STRIKE his HAIR!

She hiccupped at that, knowing there is a possibility in that notion. Since the ominous thunder had always attracted pointy things, and if that happens...She would not be in this pain anymore. After all, maybe in his one of his deaths, he could have changed a bit.

She was now upon the pillars of the university, overlooking between them was the steel doors of the gate.

And leaning against that cold metal, was him.

She was taken a back suddenly. Those flickering golden eyes were swirling something that she could not name, his scowl radiating a different kind of sadness that she could not decipher. He brought a dark cobalt umbrella with him, as his face darkened at the mere sight of her. Walking along the mud-splattered ground, he was nearing towards the flabbergasted woman.

He never meant to hurt her. That was the truth, it was just...

He cannot understand the sudden squirming in his stomach each time the vibrancy of her voice came within reach of his ears. There was the reflexive reaction of his insides when her orbs flashed in fury, making him absolutely terrified. The spicy aroma of herbs had always cleared his mind of anything in particular, except her. That was not a good sign for a Clan leader, but he could not help himself whenever their proximities were so bound together. He was so blurred to his thoughts, that he had actually heard his mind tell him why the hell should he bother himself with her?

Yet, he would not dare to

He was now in front of her, she was still in the refuge of the shadows of the cemented roofs. He was still clutching this damned object in the rain.

She scrutinized him disdainfully.

"I don't need it." She frostily told him. It was true, she was wet already.

"I didn't said that I will hand it to you." He broke away from her fiery gaze. "The Onsen is waiting"

"Leave me alone." There was the thickness of her tone, from the reddening tip of her nose.

There was a twitch of impatience on him. "What do you think I am? Stupid?"

He would not left her drenched, bitterly freezing and coming up with a head cold.

That would be blow to his dignity, at least.

"Didn't you heard me?" She whispered fiercely, trying to forget the cold. "I said---"

Whatever she was going to say, she was held back again.

*achoo!*

His elevated tresses twitched again, as a small grin that was hidden from the shadows formed.

She rubbed her nose disdainfully. annoyed at how the congestion starts to take place.

He threw her a silky, ebony jacket.

"What's this?" Her eyes inquired as she held the jacket gingerly.

"Wear it." Surprisingly, when he grabbed her arm towards him, not a jolt pain elicited to its gentleness.

Her cheeks started to get warmer than the usual.

He cannot bear to gaze at her, with those damp cerulean strands clinging to the every curve of her face...

And he did not want to emphasize on the OTHER things that the strands had adhered to.

"What are you staring at?" She gesticulated at him, when he seems to be out of his zone for a while.

He mentally slapped himself for doing the exact opposite of what his brain told him.

She was now wearing the given material. Good. He had enough with distractions.

It was not a perfect apologetic gesture, but in that moment...

... it made her shake her head helplessly with a smile.

If you are wondering, almost of the Mankin gang are now living in the Funbari Residence. And it never meant free lodging...with the likes of Kyouyama-sama in existence...*sweats*

Right now, I'm wishing for rain. Mainit. Sobra. *sweatdrop* Dedicated to the one who bullied me for this, Imouto-chan...=3