Chocolates & Balloons

Part III

"Oh! Misao! The whole school has heard!"

Kaoru accosted me the moment I stepped out my front door.

"What? What are you doing here this early!" I yelped as she grabbed my arm.

"Huh? Oh, well I couldn't sleep last night, so I had an early start today. Yesterday, after you got taken away the principal actually announced over the loudspeakers that you were out for the rest of the season!"

I blinked. "Really? I got a whole announcement? Whoo hoo! So anything interesting happen?"

Kaoru thought, tapping her finger against her bottom lip. "Well, Takamoto-sensei wanted to know why you weren't in class. Apparently, he hadn't heard the announcement."

"Maybe he just doesn't like me. He gives me little evil glares when he thinks I'm not looking."

Kaoru's expression almost defied words. "Did you bump your head? Takamoto barely takes his gaze off his books to teach us! He doesn't have time to give you evil little glares."

"Kaoru, you silly girl… he can and he does, you just don't pay enough attention." I smirked to myself.

"Are you saying you pay more attention than me? Than ME?" her voice gradually rose in pitch and by now we were half way down the street. I could see that red haired geeky guy that Kaoru liked and in order to distract her from what would, no doubt, become a scene, I called out.

"YO! Himura!"

He paused and turned back and Kaoru abruptly quieted, her mouth snapping closed so quick her teeth snapped. Her face went from a red flush to a faint pale, eyes wide in potential mortification.

"Hey! Walk with us!"

I was totally shameless most days… or all of my days perhaps. Himura didn't seem averse to the suggestion and waited while we caught up. He was alone today, I noted, usually he was walking with someone.

"Good morning, Makimachi-san, Kamiya-san."

I nodded. "You know they're having a festival over by the Kamo river, something about fish, are you going?"

He paused and sort of gaped like a fish. Oh, he'd fit right in at the festival for sure. Was the question so shocking? I almost laughed at how astonished he looked. So astonished he actually stopped walking. I was puzzled as to why and the look on his face wasn't giving anything way.

"Um… Himura?" I asked hesitantly. What was his problem?

"Ah… I… hadn't thought about it much," he admitted. He took an odd sidelong glance at Kaoru.

I blinked quickly. Did he think I was about to ask him out? Kaoru looked a bit flushed again and I could see the warning signs of irritation on her part. There were little tics in her expression.

"Right," I continued on. "So, think about it right now."

Again, he glanced at Kaoru and the wheels in my brain shifted into high gear. Oh! This was so good!

"Well," he started. "Maybe."

He stared to walk again and I followed. Kaoru was glaring at me so I didn't look at her. I followed Himura through the halls and all the way to the classroom. I even followed him to his desk.

"Uh… Makimachi…" I could see his discomfort, he was practically sweating, it was so great!

"Right! Did you decide yet? The festival will be so pretty, you just have to go!" I gushed. I felt like an idiot, but I was also having fun, so, green light. I'd continue until I got my answer. I was persistent enough.

"Excuse me."

My little world, perfectly bright and wonderful, darkened abruptly. That voice was-!

Shinomori!

I all but whipped around and there he stood, tall, dark, beautiful, and positively glaring.

Glaring?

"Excuse me," he repeated.

Oh! Right, right… I forgot he sat in my row like four seats back. Heh. Why didn't he just go around?

I forced myself to keep my mouth shut and instead merely stepped aside. He brushed by me, our clothes rustling against one another. Was… was that on purpose or was it just close? Shinomori and I had never well… touched before, not in any way at all. He was so picky about people getting too close. I sighed and turned back to Himura.

I was NOT thinking about Shinomori! I wasn't.

I leaned down and dropped my elbows on Himura's desk. "So, about the festival… going? Hmmmmm?"

He glanced around, left and right. The classroom was practically empty. Shinomori was behind us, Kaoru was close by glaring daggers and there were a few others at the front who were reading.

"Well," he started, yet again, looking twice more uncomfortable as more people began to mill about in the hall. I glanced toward the doorway, but there was no one really looking. I refused to glance up and see if Shinomori was staring.

"Festival!" I snapped.

Now I was just getting irritated. I turned around and faced Kaoru and spoke loudly. "Sorry, Kaoru, I guess he doesn't want to go."

Her face turned cherry red and I chuckled, all but skipping to my seat. She'd kill me later.

In a span of time that was really surprising to me several things happened. Yahiko started bugging me even more, Himura asked out Kaoru, Yukishiro started dating a really snotty girl who wouldn't let me flirt with him, and I, of course, was off the soccer team and boyfriend-less.

Kaoru made it a point of her week to call me and gush over Himura. I would set the phone down and instead play card games on my computer occasionally picking up to see if she was still gabbing about him. Several times she hung up on me and I'd have rather been hung up on than to hear about that idiot boy she was dating.

Maybe I was being a bad friend. Maybe it was immaturity on my part. Maybe it was jealousy, but it was something and it wouldn't stop eating at me and I did the best I could with it. I couldn't give anything else, what did she want, anyway? She could get a new best friend if she wanted, one that had a boyfriend and they could simultaneously annoy one another, but I wasn't having any part of that.

I was convinced my life was horrible. For a while I even stopped doing my homework. That depressing escapade resulted in almost two weeks worth of detentions from Takamoto-sensei who had had enough of my "slacking off". Twice, I got into an argument with Sanosuke in class, four times I got caught arguing with Yukishiro's girlfriend in the hall and once I'd been turned in for fighting in the school yard. That had been especially stupid because it freaking killed my wrist, the pain was amazing. Never fight when injured, it was a good 'you're being stupid' lesson. Okina yelled and I was grounded. Detention and then sent to my room. I was forced to have two meals a day for two weeks as he forbid me from eating dinner with the family. Lousy… those two weeks sucked.

As March began I was not feeling good and trying to arrange it so that things only got better instead of worse.

Almost a week into March I was feeling a bit icky about school. One of my instructors was making us read a play and he was insistant upon us acting it out on the stage. In one day she had forced me to participate, and then she barred me from the stage, banished me to backstage before then deciding I was a "menace" and banned me from the project. I was put in charge of placing school flyers. Yay for me. Batty old-

"Makimachi. This yours?"

I turned back to see Yukishiro was standing behind me. In his hands was a purple cup that had my name and a picture of a scowling elf. Inside the rim of the cup it read in flowery letters "drink me!" It was a bit of an odd gift from Kaoru one year… it had been tucked into my lunchbox, how had Yukishiro gotten it? I didn't ask, I just took the cup, nodded, thanked him absently and walked off. My arms were full enough with the stupid play flyers I didn't need to carry around a cup, too!

How I managed that isn't even important. Actually I stopped by my locker and tossed it in. By the time I got back to the main hall I was feeling even gloomier but my gloom had given way to irritation and now I stomped like an angry elephant daring people to get in my way. No one did. The fight I desperately wanted didn't materialize until Sano appeared. I could've crooned in happiness and had the whole school stare at me like I was a psycho, so I kept that part inside.

"Yo, weasel, what's up?" He grinned at me with that half-cocked grin and I felt my anger give way to amusement and annoyance. It was odd mixture of feelings but it was good. I dropped the flyers gaining some odd satisfaction from seeing a few of them fly, swooping haphazardly to the ground. Most of them landed in the stack. Bleh.

"You know what? I'm tired of you grinning at me like an idiot. I'm going to punch that expression right off your face!"

His grin widened and he actually had the audacity to laugh at me. I advanced menacingly, as menacingly as I could and he pushed away form the locker. His lanky body was so smooth moving, I hadn't noticed it before now. Not that he was any comparison for Shinomori. Shinomori could pound him into cement, I grinned at that and it caused Sano to tense a bit.

"Oh, you really want it, eh? Come on, weasel, always wanted to see what you were really made of."

I launched into attack and he dodged and dodged and dodged. Not once in the course of my would-be assault did he hit me back. Not until I heard footsteps did he switch from offense to defense and then I was slammed back against an open locker.

My head slammed against the metal rim and my mouth shot open, a gasp of pain escaping my parted lips. Hitting the locker didn't hurt as much as it had that my fractured wrist had just been slammed, along with my head, into the locker. The pain evaporated as Sano swooped down and crushed his lips against mine in a brief, shattering kiss.

Then he was gone.

I was instantly cold. Cold all over and hot. It was an experience beyond words.

Kissed.

By Sanosuke! After the shock, I was sort of repulsed.


Eeeeewww!

My first kiss stolen by that dirty mouthed hooligan?

I fell back against the locker again having taken to swaying briefly on my feet. My skin felt warm along my cheeks and I pulled my arms across my chest. What on earth had he been thinking?

I looked up suddenly fearing we had been witnessed in that embarrassing display. The worst thing happened…

The worst thing ever.

Standing a few feet away was Shinomori.

He just stood there. His eyes were half lowered. He wasn't wearing a particular expression, he didn't look tense, he didn't look angry, he didn't look like anything, he was just there and well… looking.

"Uhm…" I shifted. My nerves flared and tingled in my body. Ah! How could he just stand there? I had to get away…away from him!

I whirled around and just ran. Whatever happened to those flyers was the last thing on my mind. It wouldn't be for long, the next morning the instructor would verbally rip me open in front of the class, including Shinomori.

Could I be any more lucky?

AN: I think 2 more chapters.