"Aoshi have you seen my- oh never mind."

Soujiro found his miniature silver cell phone behind a pillow on the couch and flipped it open to stop the persistent ring. Aoshi was sitting in the recliner next to the couch reading a thick worn book. His ears couldn't help but perked up when Soujiro started talking.

"Hello…Oh hey, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon…I'm okay. How are you doing?…" He laughed. "So how about we get together for lunch…Yeah I know its already 11:50. Do you wanna?…Great. Okay, I'll come by your room now…Yep, talk to you soon. Bye."

He pressed a button and flipped it shut.

Aoshi looked up to Soujiro with interest. "That wasn't a girl was it?"

After running into the bedroom and sifting through the many plain solid colored t-shirts, finally settling on a dark gray one with the stone blue jeans he already had on, did Soujiro respond. He wanted to keep Aoshi in a little suspense. "Yeah…so what if it was?"

"Well good. Its about time I get a little quiet time, an I was starting to wonder if you were really interested in girls," said Aoshi calmly with a great deal of amusement.

Soujiro steamed red, "WHAT! You're the one who can't get a girlfriend!"

Aoshi opened up his book again and looked down at its creamy pages. He knew he could get almost any girl he wanted especially the ones that asked him for 'tutoring', but he wasn't compelled to spend his time so carelessly. "Would you stop acting like such a child. This is the reason why I don't get any quiet. So who is the lucky girl, squirt?"

Trying to shrug off the raid of insults, he regained his composure. "You know her, Makimachi Misao."

Aoshi, being his emotionless self, barely gave any signals to show he recognized the name, but Soujiro picked up on how his grip on the book quickly flinched and how his eyes suddenly stopped moving across the page, with much satisfaction.

"Yeah, I thought she was interested in you. But the other day we met in the library and started talking and she said that we should get together for lunch sometime. Speaking of time, I better go. I told her I'll be by right about now." He put his wallet, and keys in his wide pocket, hooked his phone on his studded belt and headed for the door. "Well I hope you have some nice quiet time all to yourself Shinomori. Oh by the way don't wait up for me," he added with a wink before leaving the room.

As soon as that door closed Aoshi snapped his book shut and set it onto the side table. Why would Misao want to have lunch with a dolt like Soujiro? I thought she was all upset about what happened between me and her, so how did she bounce back so quickly? Oh why the hell do I feel concerned anyway? Misao and me are finished. There never was anything to finish in the first place…then why did I flinch when I heard her name?

English class with Misao, hadn't stirred such complicated feelings inside Aoshi all week, so why now on a weekend? During class she would come in with firm expression and seemed to put all her concentration on the lesson and Aoshi, as would be his usual behaviour, did the same. Though they sat next to each other, they said nothing and rarely looked in the other's direction.

So why now did he feel so unsettle knowing she was in the company of Soujiro? Confusion and frustration were mounting. He snatched the remote from the side table and flipped through the channels, talk shows, sports, anime, and soaps, anything that would be a suitable distraction. Nothing was holding his attention that continued to drift to ideas of Misao and Soujiro.

"That's it," he said sternly, slamming the remote onto the coffee table. I need to go relax…

So Aoshi got off the couch and grabbed his keys and walked out to his car without taking time for another thought until he was cruising down the road. Maybe a ride will do me some good. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands and gradually stepped on the gas. Weaving in and out of traffic and making all the right turns he seemed to subconsciously know exactly where he was going.

Meanwhile Misao sat at in a small simple tavern that featured a European buffet, and Soujiro was taking full advantage of the free range of foods by returning to the table with two plates filled with mountains of food.

Soujiro sat down and rubbed his palms together. "Where should I start?"

Sighing Misao picked idly at what was left of her Caesar salad when she heard the familiar ring of the bells hung on the front doors of the tavern. Soujiro glanced over her shoulder towards the doors and smiled mischievously.

"Look who it is," he said to Misao.

She turned sluggishly then gasped and smiled. Now standing by the door, with his hands in his pockets, looking and feeling quite out of place was Aoshi. His eyes were darting around the room and after receiving a few odd looks from the customers he started to walk toward the buffet and picked up a plate.

"How did he know we were here?" she asked Soujiro who nonchalantly started eating his large serving.

"I'm surprised myself, I didn't think he'd remember that this was my favourite place to eat," he said stuffing his mouth full of chicken prepared in a French manner. "I guess me taking you out really got to him."

Misao watched Aoshi dish some fresh fruit out. "I can't resist!" she squealed as she got up from her seat. "Soujiro, get another chair for Aoshi."

Soujiro just nodded and made some grunting noises from his overstuffed mouth in response. Misao started to walk toward Aoshi slowly and couldn't help but think of how she looked. So she quickly smoothed her hands over her hair until she felt her braid, pulled on her silky black shirt with kimono style sleeves and made sure her jeans weren't too low.

"Aoshi?" she said in a surprised voice.

Aoshi looked beside him to see the short girl piling cake on her plate was in fact Misao. "Oh, hey," he said softly, not trying to sound too eager. "I thought Soujiro was taking you out for lunch."

"Yeah, we're having lunch here." She gestured to the small round table behind her where Soujiro was hunched over his mounds of food. "You too?"

"Uh," Aoshi looked down at his plate, a few pathetic pieces of cut melon and a skinny slice of cheesecake that wouldn't satisfy a mouse. "Yeah."

Misao smiled up at him, "Well since you're here why don't you sit with us?"

"Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea Misao," he said as he continued to add to his plate.

"Oh come on, don't worry about what happened between us. I've completely forgotten it all. We just friends and Sou won't mind." she coaxed.

Aoshi's eye twitched. Did she just call him 'Sou'! "Very well," he said with his teeth clenched.

"Great. Come this way." Misao grabbed his free hand and pulled him to their table. "Soujiro, Aoshi's decided to eat with us."

"Hey, you didn't tell me you were going out for lunch Shinomori," said Soujiro.

Aoshi grabbed a chair from an unoccupied table and sat down at the square table. "I didn't feel like cooking."

Misao sat next to Soujiro and across from Aoshi. She drank some juice from her glass and observed both of them while they ate. It was a wonder how the two managed to be roommates, they seemed like total opposites. Soujiro gorged himself and didn't seem own any table manners where Aoshi was very proper. He used his fork to take small pieces of food and cleanly slip them inside his mouth and every once in a while dab his mouth with his napkin or sip his green tea, all in a very methodical manner.

"Misao? Aren't you eating?"

Misao snapped out of her people-watching-mode and looked up to Aoshi.

"Misao, aren't you eating anything?" he asked again.

"Oh, no I already had my fill." She pushed back her chair and stood up. "I need to use the little girl's room if you guys don't mind." As she walked around Soujiro she ran her hand across his back.

He seemed to busy with his food to notice, but Aoshi's eye twitched again. The knowledge of her touching him even so briefly made his insides churn. No, there's no reason to feel that way. Like Misao said, we're just friends now. Just friends…

Finally Soujiro's stomach gave the signal that the tank was full with a loud echoing belch. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and patted his round belly. "That's good eating."

Misao returned and stood next to Soujiro, "Well you guys ready to go?"

"Yeah I think so," said Soujiro as he got up and threw some money on the table.

Aoshi did the same, "I suppose I should be going now."

"Oh, no Aoshi you don't have to go. We were just going to check out a movie," said Misao as she wrapped an arm around 'Sou's'. "You're welcome to tag along." She squeezed Soujiro's arm close and smiled.

Aoshi considered.

"Well first thing's first," chimed in Soujiro, breaking the silence. "Let's get out of here."

The trio walked out of the tavern and into the parking lot. Conveniently Aoshi parked his car next to Soujiro's.

"So what do you say Shinomori?" asked Soujiro as he and Misao got into his car.

Aoshi got into his car, rolled down the windows, and started the engine. He looked over to Soujiro, "No I don't think so, three's a crowd."

Misao leaned over so Aoshi could see her and pouted, "Oh well, maybe next time eh Shinomori?"

He nodded weakly.

"Well we don't want to miss the start of the movie," said Soujiro as he started up his engine. "You back out first Shinomori."

Aoshi put the car in reverse and looked behind him, it was safe, and he started backing out until his car was perpendicular to Soujiro's. He looked back to Soujiro and Misao through their back window.

Through the window, he saw the silhouettes of Soujiro and Misao, both leaning to the middle of the car...kissing. His grip on the steering wheel tightened and his knuckles turned white. Growling inwardly he quickly put the car in drive and sped away, leaving the two in his dust.

A/N: I'm really sorry everyone! Okay I'll explain why it took me so long to update, first Friday I was ready to go but the server was down due to an upgrade or something. Then Saturday we had a terrible snow storm, yes in April, and it knocked out our power from eight in the morning to 4 the next morning. So Sunday since the power was on I tried to update but it seemed that there was something wrong with the telephone lines so only today was the problem fixed. So I apologize and hope that the wait was well worth it. Can't wait to hear what you guys say about this chapter! Toodles!