Chapter 9: Good Morning

A Lei Fu Yang found himself waking up on a futon smack dab in the middle of a room that wasn't familiar to him. He slapped himself to shake of some of the drowsiness. The events of last night were still fresh in his memory, he was planning to give the roses as a sign of peace but… That went awry.

"Better clean up." he reminded himself.

Lei forced himself up but noticed a pink jacket draped around him.

"Huh?" he was genuinely curious, who's jacket was this. The carefully placed it aside and found a lock of brown hair on it.

"Yukino eh?" he smiled "Thanks…"

First thing's first, he put away the futon and hid away the sheets. Still disoriented and groggy the teenager haphazardly made his way to the bathroom. He stumbled inside, he noticed the dampness of the air but shook his head, it wasn't possible that anyone would be awake this early, especially on a weekend.

The mage stretched his limbs. All he probably needed was a long hot shower to drown his troubles and this drowsiness away. He clenched his fist, nodded and smiled. Yes, that was precisely what he needed. He quickly discarded his boxers and slid open the doors to the showers. Steam greeted him, then the sound of water splashing against the tiles, then the naked body of one Koizumi Azami.

"Eeaahh!" the kendo master screamed at the top of her lungs.

Lei knowing what was coming next spun around, he sprinted towards the door—as his hand was about to reach for the doorknob someone opened the door, Yukino blinked at him stipidly, a look of suprise registered on her face. Lei slipped on his boxers, which sent him sliding towards Yukino who was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her body. Both were knocked unto the floor, Lei found his face right between the brunette's legs, her towel lay on the carpet and was all but forgotten.

The raven-haired mage swallowed hard.

He fumbled with his words "Sorry…Accident…Good Morning?" he would have punched himself then and there for saying something so stupid, unfortunately for him, someone else was going to do that for him.

The raven-haired mage looked up. Azami shot him a menacing stare. The raven-haired girl had hastily put on a white hakama, her hands wrapped firmly around the hilt of a katana.

"Good Morning? That's all you can come up with!" her blade glinted in the morning light.

"Waaaaa!"

Today's practice for the upcoming school play had been an exhausting experienced, and Yukino and Lei were once more making their way back to their room. Lei hung back a good nine feet, this time he was going to make sure there would be no accidents like before. He felt sorry for what had transpired that morning.

He kept his eyes on Yukino as they walked down the hall, he stuffed both his hands into both pockets and kept his head bowed down. He kept on cursing himself, he should really apologize. The girl stopped to a halt, he raised his brow and followed her gaze.

"Elevator…" he muttered under his breath.

The brunette looked at him and smiled weakly. "Are you alright… Lei?" she asked, though obviously with great effort. Lei shuffled his feet nervously.

Lei scratched his head and pretended to look outside the window. "I-Im…"

"Yes?"

"Im very sorry!" he said, bowing apologetically.

"…"

"About this morning."

"It was an accident."

"I know, but still, I can't help but feel guilty."

The two remained silent for awhile.

"I know!" he suddenly exclaimed, eyes lit up.

The girl cocked her head giving him an inquisitive gaze. He approached her took both of her hands in his causing her to blush furiously. He drew her close and looked into her eyes.

"Would you…" his voice sounded so… she couldn't find a word for it.

His grip on her hands grew tighter. Yukino felt her heart start beating wildly, whenever she looked into his eyes she felt like drowning in them, the next moment every breath felt like a chore and… and…

"Would you like to have lunch with me?" he asked.

She blinked at the question, that caught her off-guard.

"My treat!"

"…"

"If you don't want to it's alright…" he said in a defeated tone.

"Alright." Yukino said weakly.

Lei's eyes lit up, a smile crept back into his face and he looked genuinely happy. And because of that, Yukino couldn't help but smile. She didn't know why she felt like she did, but seeing him like this made her heart skip a beat.

"Yukino-chan." he said with that almost hypnotic voice.

"Y-Yes?" came her nervous reply.

"You look even more cute when you smile, did you know that?"

She turned even redder with that comment.

The elevator doors slid open with an audible click.

"So? Shall we?"