A/N: New chapter, longer chapter. We're closing in on the end of the story! Yay!

10 Things You Hate About Me

Chapter 6: How Small…He Is

Tsubaki looked at the sign-in sheet outside the detention room, making sure she wasn't running in without a purpose. She smirked; so he hadn't skipped it after all.

Walking into the room, she saw Toutou-sai walking across the isles, stopping at a desk. Once he returned to the front of the classroom, she walked inside.

"Mr. Toutou-sai…I have some suggestions on how to…uh…improve the soccer team," she lied.

She walked around, so his back was to the class. "Oh, really?" he asked.

Over his shoulder, she made eye contact with Renkotsu, trying to gesture for him to go out of the back window. He nodded in understanding, slowly getting up from his desk. She hoped Toutou-sai hadn't heard it, or else her plan would go to hell.

As Renkotsu approached the window, she turned Toutou-sai around forcefully. "Your arm! It's huge!" she exclaimed in a voice that was obviously fake.

"Uh, yes, thanks…"

"You don't take steroids do you?" she asked. "Because I heard it can really…shrink your…uh…package."

At this, his buggy eyes went twice as wide. Unfortunately, he heard the window scrape open and as moved to turn and look, she grabbed his arm.

"So, my plan to improve the soccer team…have the offensive get the ball and run one way…and the defense distract the other team!" She was coming up with stuff on the spot. How could the old geezer not tell she was making it all up?"

He raised an eyebrow. "And how do you do that?" he asked.

"Like…this!" she said, pulling up her shirt in the last-ditch effort to keep him from looking over his shoulder. When Renkotsu had completely escaped, she pulled her shirt back down and walked out of the room, acting as if she hadn't just flashed the soccer coach.

"How did you keep the old man distracted?" he asked her dully as they walked through the city. He knew already, of course. He was just trying to see what outrageous lie she'd come up with for the sake of her dignity.

"I dazzled him with my…wits," she told him, rolling her eyes.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why did you come bail me out of detention?" he repeated, looking annoyed at having to explain.

"I think you have balls, is that enough of an answer?"

"You've got balls too, girlie," he retorted. When she glared at him held up a hand. "I meant figuratively."

"Oh?"

"And since you've got balls…I don't think you'd be objected to a game of paintball?" he asked, gesturing to a sign atop a multi-colored fence.

"As long as it doesn't get on my clothes or hair."

"It won't," he told her. "Pay-up, this isn't free."

She handed him some money to pay for them getting in, the guns and protective gear they were supposed to use. They ran out on their assigned field, which was pretty big and had plenty of places to hide, and started firing at each other.

Tsubaki was happy her hair, clothes and face were covered; she would hate to get paint all over herself.

She wasn't half-bad at this; she got Renkotsu right in the stomach on her first try. It was very mentally rewarding to be pelting him with balls of bright green paint.

Currently, he was out of her sight, which was a bit frustrating. Then she felt the impact, turning around she found a stain of paint right across the front of the mask she was wearing.

Shooting at Renkotsu at close range wasn't very easy, but she managed to hit him a few good times.

The gear they were wearing didn't protect you from hurting; it only protected your clothes, and Renkotsu learned this the hard way.

"I'm never giving you a gun, ever, ever again!" he grumbled after about five minutes.

"I told you! It was an accident!" she protested.

"You. Shot. Me. In. The. Nuts. Twice!" he snapped, enunciating every syllable as he grimaced in pain.

She frowned. "I didn't mean to," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, but doesn't mean you won't do it again."

She smirked. "I admit, the look on your face was brilliant," she told him matter-of-factly.

"It couldn't have hurt that bad."

He glared at her.

Suikotsu looked around the parking lot. "Renkotsu's car isn't here…I know he stayed after…"

"I'll give you a ride home, if you need it, Suikotsu," Kikyou said, hearing him mumbling to himself.

"Oh? Thanks," he said.

"So you can't find Renkotsu?"

He shook his head. "He's nowhere to be found," he muttered.

"Tsubaki's gone too. Do you think they left together?" she asked calmly as she slowly pulled out of the parking lot.

Suikotsu looked surprised. "Well, it's a possibility," he said, directing her in the direction of his house.

"They don't seem to get along very well, though. So we can't be too sure, can we?"

He shook his head. "Renkotsu doesn't like anybody, that's fact. I don't think he'd run off with some girl unless…" he broke off, a bit of a blush rising in his cheeks.

Kikyou mentally finished his sentence for him. "Trust me, Tsubaki is too proud for that," she told him, the smallest of smiles appearing for a moment.

He nodded. "Well, that's good," he said. "There's my house," he told her, pointing to one of the many houses along the street.

She parked and he let himself out. "See you later, Kikyou, thank you for the ride home," he said, waving to her as he walked inside.

Tsubaki and Renkotsu sat on her front porch. Kikyou was nowhere in sight, Kagome was at Sango's and Souta was at his soccer practice with their grandfather, so it was just the two of them.

They were just kind of talking. Kind of. Conversation wasn't exactly the word for it, occasionally one of them would…say something, the other would reply, and there would be a minute of two of no talking.

"Go to prom with me," he offered after a minute. "For the hell of it, let's go."

"Is that an order?" she asked him, eyeing him.

"No."

"I don't know. I don't think I will. I was planning to stay home," she told him. "And I don't think Kikyou is going."

"So? Let's just go."

"What if I don't want to?" she snapped back, getting defensive.

He didn't say anything, he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and went to light it. She snatched it out of his mouth and threw it down. Then she stood up and walked inside, the door slamming behind her.

He swore under his breath and walked back towards his car.

"You're not going?" Kagome cried incredulously. "But I really want to!"

Tsubaki just rolled her eyes. Kikyou walked up at that moment and looked at the two of them.

"You aren't going, Tsubaki?" she asked calmly.

Tsubaki shook her head, looking annoyed.

Kikyou didn't say anything and Kagome's shoulders slumped. "…Kikyou…" she started. "…Tsubaki…why won't you go? This might be the only time I'm ever invited to prom! Please go! For me?"

Tsubaki suddenly looked very, very tired. "Naraku never told you…when you were around him…he never told you he dated both of us, did he?" she asked.

Kagome blinked. "You're joking!"

"No."

"But you two…you hate Naraku…" she stammered.

Kikyou and Tsubaki exchanged looks. "We do now."

"When? Why? What…?"

"Eighth grade, just after Mama died. You know, we wanted to be…well, popular, just like you do now. And…well…" the look on Tsubaki's face turned very sour. "Then we found out he was using us and we dumped him."

"You didn't!" she exclaimed, nearly toppling out of her chair.

"We did."

Kagome gaped. "Why didn't you tell me before!"

"We wanted to forget about it. We threatened that if he told anybody, the cheerleading squad would know how small…he is."

Kagome nearly laughed at that. But then she began to think. So this is why her sisters had become so mean? This is why they hated the male population?

"But…the thing is…I don't want to go to prom with Naraku anymore," she told them slowly.

Tsubaki and Kikyou looked surprised. "Well…maybe we can…show up for a minute," Tsubaki said, thinking back to Renkotsu's offer.

Kagome cheered, hugging them both (earning a disgusted look from Tsubaki) and asking them about dresses.

A/N: FINALLY! Woohoo! One more chapter and this story is finished!