Hello everyone! I'm back with the forth chapter of "Gray Stones"! I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to review, and I'd also like to thank everyone who offered constructive criticism and even flames to help me improve! Thank you all very much; I shall take your comments to heart when writing fictions again!

Also, I'd like to thankthat one reviewer, cuteplushie,for the vote of confidence. Don't worry! I happen to have taken an extreme liking to this story, and there's no way I'm going to continue! I'm glad you like my writing, and I hope you will continue to read in the future.

So, although this is not my most popular story, I'm afraid I'm continuing. I'm sorry for those of you who do not appreciate it, but you don't have to read if you don't like. I'd like to send my sincerest thanks that you even hit the little button at the bottom of the page to help me improve. It really means a lot.

In truth, I got kind of tired of "Kawai! Super cute! Continue!" reviews. I'm glad to see the Hikaru No Go section is full of very competent people who are not afraid to voice their opinions. Thank you very, very much.

And now, for the fourth chapter!

Chapter Four: Black Jeans

"Akiiiiraa!"

"Sanami, I'm going to change my phone number if you keep calling me."

"Let's do something tomorrow!" It was Monday evening, and Sanami had not failed in her constant evening calls to Akira. Since it was Monday night, it was begging time. Akira had actually begun to see a pattern. "C'mon! It'll be fun! Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with sugar and marshmallows and candy on top?"

"I said no! I'm too busy. I've got to practice."

"You ALWAYS practice…it's SO boring. Maybe if you took a break from Go, you'd realize that there are better things in life."

Akira ignored that comment. He was not in the mood for a misinformed lecture from Sanami; that was for sure. He just kept silent, hoping that she'd drop the subject.

"Seriously!" Unfortunately, Akira's hopes were not answered. It seemed Sanami could blabber to a wall for hours on head, let alone Akira. "You go to school, play in the Go club, read Go books, go home and play Go, do other…Go stuff! I bet you, you like, have a pool in the shape of a Go board!"

"That would make it squarish. Many pools are square."

"Oh shut up!" Sanami said jokingly, and Akira grimaced. Why wouldn't she leave him alone? "Anyway, let's do something that doesn't have to do anything with Go!"

"I'm not interested…"

"I bet if I said that I was going to the National Go Museum of All Things Go you'd want to go!"

"Actually, no..." Akira mumbled, not noting that sucha museum didn'texist. "I wouldn't want to go, because all you'd do is whine about how boring it is."

"…Do I whine a lot…?" Akira paused. Sanami sounded oddly sincere. Akira guessed that he had hit a soft spot.

"Well…"

"Tell me the truth!" Sanami snapped over the phone. "Don't sugar coat it! I'm trying to become a better person after all!"

Akira could think of a huge list of things Sanami could improve upon, but decided to leave it at the whining. "You do whine a lot. To get your way."

"Oh…" Sanami murmured. "But how else am I supposed to get what I want?"

"Try asking nicely."

"…like…how?"

Akira sighed. This was tougher then planned. "Say "please"."

"I did say "please"!"

"Say it like you mean it. Don't just say it to be annoying."

"Oh…okay! How?"

Akira slapped his forehead. This was going nowhere, fast. "Didn't your parents teach you any of this?"

"Well…Daddy's never around, and he and Mom are divorced. Mom lives in England, so I never see her…" Sanami trailed off. "Nah. All I've had is Kosuke."

"Is Mr. Shibahime your…guardian or something? I thought he was your father's secretary."

"He is. But Daddy forces him to take care of me. Like whenever I want something, Kosuke gets it for me."

"I've been going to your house for a while," Akira thought out loud, leaning back in his chair. "But, I've never seen your father. Is he not there on Saturdays?"

"Hah! Daddy's never here. He's usually on business trips or something like that."

"Don't you miss him?" Akira asked. He thought about his own father. His father was never the warm type, but at least he saw Akira more then Sanami's father saw Sanami.

"Not really…I remember one time. Daddy came home and left for China, and I didn't notice he was gone until three weeks later!" Sanami's laugh came over the phone, and Akira felt a sting of sympathy in his chest. Sanami never, ever saw her parents, and yet she laughed about it. But the laughing died down quite quickly. "So…uhh…yeah…I never see my parents a lot."

Her last sentence gave it all away. Sanami didn't appreciate the fact that her father was gone for months at a time, and that she never saw him, or that his secretary (who obviously did not like her very much) acted as a surrogate parent. Then it struck Akira rather sharply, but, inside, he had known it all along.

He was all Sanami had.

"Sanami…"

"So, what are we going to do tomorrow?" Sanami asked, and Akira could almost feel her smile widening as she spoke over the phone. "We have to do something super fun!"

"We have no time," Akira told her. "I've…I mean…we've got Go Club after school."

"Let's ditch school!"

"I'm NOT ditching school!"

"Then let's ditch Go Club! All you ever do is read and play by yourself, and all I ever do is annoy you!"

"That's another thing. Annoying people isn't good."

"But you're my best friend, so it's okay!"

Akira gave a heavy sigh again. "I can't ditch Go Club either."

"Then let's go after Go Club!"

"It's too late, and my mother will be expecting me home."

"You're right…all the good stores will be closed by the time we get out…" Sanami gave a small groan.

"Why don't we go on a weekend?"

"Cause that's when all the school-kids go!"

"We are in school…"

"Well, I suppose there's really only one option…" Sanami sighed. "We're going on Wednesday, okay?"

"I told you, we have Go Club."

"Geez, geez, you never leave anything alone do you," said Sanami, obviously annoyed. "Everything'll be fine! Just wait!"

"What do you mean? Sanami?"

"Love ya best bud! Bye!" And with that, Sanami hung up the phone.

"Oh wow!" Sanami frowned as the Go Club meeting the next afternoon finished and Akira packed up his stuff. He looked up to where Sanami was looking to see that she was staring at the rain that was pouring outside. "It's raining!"

"Clever observation," Akira rolled his eyes, grabbing his school bag. He was still angry that Sanami had someone forced him into some sort of shopping spree with her that was supposed to magically happen the next day. Now, it was raining, and the weather matched Akira's sullen mood towards the blonde girl next to him. He pulled out a small umbrella and walked swiftly out of the room with it, hoping Sanami would not follow him.

His hopes were really being shot down these days.

"Akira!" Sanami called after him, jogging to catch up with him. "I don't have an umbrella!"

"You should have brought one," Akira snapped as they stepped outside. He opened his umbrella and held it above his head. "The weather report said it was going to rain."

"Who watches that dumb crap?" Sanami asked, her eyes narrow.

"I do, I guess. Good day," he stepped out into the rain, and, surprisingly, Sanami followed him, shivering in the cold. "Sanami, what are you doing?"

"I left my cell phone at home! I can't call Kosuke!" She told him. "I have to walk home! Let me go under your umbrella!"

"No," Akira snapped, not even bringing up the fact that she could probably find a phone in the school. "Your house is in the opposite direction of mine. It would take a half an hour to walk there. An hour to get back to my house. My mother will worry."

"C'mon! You're just going to leave a poor damsel in distress?"

"Do I look like a Knight to you?" he asked, and then, stomped off.

"JERK! IDIOT! I HATE YOU! SEE IF I'LL EVER BE YOUR FRIEND AGAIN!" She screamed after him, and Akira walked even faster as to get away from the shrieking girl in the rain. "OH, AND BY THE WAY, OUR TRIP IS STILL HAPPENING! SO THERE!"

"Darn…darn…darnit!" Akira kept muttering to himself as he walked down the sidewalk towards his house. The rain had only gotten heavier and Akira stomped through the deep puddles, muttering as he went along. "DARN!" He finally shouted, turned on his heel, and then jogged back towards the school.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Akira shook his head. "Sanami is going to get a sharp thrashing for making me come all the way out here to help her!"

Akira was half angry, half upset. The angry part of him was buzzing in his ears, telling him that it was her own stupid fault for not getting an umbrella. It was also her dumb stupid fault for joining the Go club. It was also her dumb stupid fault for following him around school and changing her schedule. It was also her dumb stupid fault that she called him every night. It was also her dumb stupid fault that she pulled him into her car that day, saving him from one nightmare and throwing him into another much worse one.

The upset half of him was telling him that no matter how silly, how superficial, how ridiculous, how outlandish, and how selfish Sanami was, she was still a person, and a scared one at that. She acted selfish, seemed only in it for herself, but he could tell that inside, she just needed a friend.

"Sanami!" He called through the rain. "Sanami, where are you?"

He kept walking, passing the school. "Maybe she went back to the school!" He nodded, then jogged up to the school and noticed someone standing in the front. "Excuse me?"

The person, who looked like an authority figure, turned around and noticed Akira. Smiling, she nodded to him. "Yes?"

"Did a girl with really light blonde hair come in here? After school I mean. She's a student."

"Oh, I remember that girl," the woman nodded. "She left a while ago, without an umbrella. Did her parents come to pick her up?"

"Thank you!" Akira didn't answer her question as he dashed off, cursing Sanami's stupidity. "Sanami! Why'd you leave? Stupid!"

"Sanami! Sanami!" It had seemed like five hours, when really it had only been about ten minutes that Akira had been searching for Sanami. Even with his umbrella, he was becoming soaked. Water had gotten through his shoes, into his socks, and drops splattered his jacket and hair. "Sanami!"

He rounded another corner and stopped. Dead stopped.

"Hey, are you all right?"

"Hmm? What's wrong Akari?"

"There's a girl over there!"

"You need your eyes checked, I don't see anyone."

"Right there, Hikaru!"

"Oh woah, you're right! Hey, are you okay?"

Sanami was there, shivering against a fence, soaked to the bone. But two others were there. One was a girl, obviously named Akari (Akira thought he recognized her briefly, but his image was very fuzzy), and the other was none other then Hikaru Shindo.

"Are you all right?" Akari asked, running over to Sanami, who looked up at them both. Her face was pale and lips were turning slightly blue. Hikaru offered her a hand and she took it.

Akira felt his face burn with some sort of locked anger as he watched the scene.

"Man, you're freezing!" Hikaru shivered, putting his umbrella over her head. "You okay? Why are you out here without an umbrella?"

"I…I don't have one with me," Sanami muttered.

"Here, where's your house?" Akari offered, smiling and holding out her umbrella, hovering it over Sanami's head. "We'll take you home."

"Huh? We will?" Hikaru asked, obviously not bargaining for this.

"Of course! Don't be mean, Hikaru!"

"Okay, okay, okay! C'mon, let's take you home."

"That won't be necessary."

All three looked up to see Akira, standing there, in the rain, his eyes narrowed at Hikaru. Hikaru looked rather shocked and slightly embarrassed to see Akira. Akira stomped forward, thrust his umbrella into Sanami's hands, then walked off, not giving them a second look.

"Was that Akira's sister or something?"

"No way! Man, you're an airhead! They look nothing alike! Probably his girlfriend!"

"Are you jealous or something?" Akari asked, him, eyes narrowing. "Expecting that she's his girlfriend and all."

"Hey!" Hikaru defended. "Don't jump to conclusions like that! I'm not jealous or something!"

"Oh yeah right, I bet you wanted to be her knight in shining armor or something! Well why don't you just follow them?" Akari asked, then walked off, Hikaru following her, a frown on his face.

Akira stopped watching them from the corner and kept walking with Sanami. "H-Hey! You came to my rescue, thanks!"

Akira didn't respond, he crossed the street, ignoring passers, and kept walking, holding onto Sanami's wrist.

"Man! Are you jealous that that boy came to save me or something?"

Once again, Akira didn't respond, even after Sanami teased him. She looked rather miffed by that, frowning.

"What's your problem, dude?"

"That boy was Hikaru Shindo."

Sanami stopped, her eyes widening. "Him?"

Akira nodded.

"Him?"

"Yes."

"Man! He beat you? He doesn't look like anything special! Goes to Public Junior High."

"Yes, he beat me. Twice. Easily."

"I thought he'd be some dork with glasses who has a "I Love Go More then My Own Mother" shirt on or something! He seems really laid back."

"He is."

"And that pisses you off right?"

Akira stopped, but didn't answer. In a moment, he kept moving towards Sanami's house. "My mother will worry if I don't hurry."

"Akira!" Akira walked through his door about an hour later, soaked to the bone and dripping water all over the front porch. He took off his shoes, not saying anything as his mother ran over to him, obviously extremely worried. "Akira, what in the world happened? I got so frightened, your father and I were about to go looking for you! You're soaked!"

"I'm sorry Mother," Akira said.

"What in the world were you doing?"

Uh oh…time for an excuse on Akira's part. "My…my sempai…lost his cat."

There was a pause from both Akira's mother and his father, who sat in a chair reading a book. "Cat?"

"Yes…it was…umm…'Bring Your Pet to School' day…for…the second years…"

"...and…your…sempai lost his cat?"

"Yes, so I looked for it. Luckily, we found it…" Akira forced a smile. "I'm going up to do my homework!"

And with that, Akira bolted up the door; leaving both his mother and his father extremely confused.

"Hey Akira! Thanks for getting me home again!"

"Sanami…please…if you really want to thank me, hang up…"

"No way! We've got to discuss our plans for tomorrow's outing!"

"What plans? What outing?"

"Okay, be up by nine!"

"School starts at eight, so that should be no problem."

"We'll leave at ten!"

"Sanami, I told you a million times," Akira snapped. "I'm not ditching school!"

"We're not ditching school!" Sanami snapped back. "School's going to ditch us!"

Akira paused, quirking his eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Meet me in front of Oikawa Mall at ten o' clock sharp! It's close to your house, so you can walk!"

"Sanami, what are you talking-"

"Bye bestest buddy! Love you to bits!"

"Sanami, don't hang-"

Too late.

"Akira, you can sleep in today." Akira walked down the stairs, already dressed and ready for breakfast, only to see his mother smiling at him and pouring his father's tea.

"Hmm? Sleep in? But…school starts in an hour," Akira murmured.

"The school just called," his mother told him, sitting down and sipping her own drink. "It seems that they have an important meeting today, and school has been cancelled in order to let the faculty attend."

Akira stopped, dead in his tracks. "Umm…what kind of meeting? Did they mention?"

"Something to do with financial issues. That's all they told me."

Akira bounded up to his room just after his mother finished her sentence. It was obvious what had happened. Too obvious.

"Sanami!"

"Akira! You actually called me this time!"

"Sanami, what did you do?"

"I'm officially the hero of Kaio School!" Sanami giggled. "I got school cancelled!"

"You WHAT?"

"Why are you so upset? Don't tell me you're a geek who actually enjoys school or something."

"How in the world did you get school cancelled?"

"I told Kosuke to take some money out of my account and hold a meeting with the school on how to disperse it among stuff," Sanami told him. "And I told him to make sure that the teachers came too! Now school's cancelled and we can go on our outing!"

Akira couldn't wiggle his way out of this one. Sure, he could jump in his bed, go to sleep for the entire day, and pretend that Wednesday had just been skipped in the process of the week, but he knew that Sanami was going to be extra persistent today. "Fine…" he finally muttered to a squeal from Sanami. "Ten o' clock, right…?"

"Yep! See you then, best friend!"

Akira hung up the phone, then hung his head. "Something tells me…nothing good will come of this…"

"And – here – we – ARE!" Sanami shouted as she grabbed Akira's arm that morning at the mall. Akira had arrived just a few minutes earlier to see Sanami completely decked out for the occasion dressed in more expensive clothes and jewelry. Of course, the look was completed by the grin on her face. "C'mon! I know the perfect store to go to first!"

"When can I go?"

"When we're done!" Sanami snapped, pouting. "Our schedule's completely packed today Akira! There's not a moment for dawdling!"

"All you ever do is dawdle!"

"Oh man, I thought you'd be more fun to go to the mall with, but I guess I was wrong," Sanami pouted. "You're so dry!"

"What do you mean by 'our schedule's completely packed'?" Akira asked, a little afraid at the answer he might receive. "All you're going to do is goof off in this mall."

"Goof off? I'm insulted!" Sanami gasped jokingly and then gave a short laugh. "No, Mr. Toya, we're on a mission today!"

"And what's that, may I ask?"

"To have a boat load of fun, of course! We're going "incognito"!"

"Incognito?"

"It means in disguise!"

"Yes, I know what it means…" Akira said tersely, not mentioning that Sanami didn't know the meaning of "naïve". "But what are we going to do "incognito"?"

"Put these on!" Sanami snapped, then threw Akira a pair of sunglasses. Akira looked at them oddly, then at Sanami.

"What are these for?"

"Put them on! They're part of your disguise!"

"Disguise? Sanami, these glasses aren't going to fool anyone, and there's no need to disguise myself…"

"Man! You are SO dry! Just put them on! I'll tell you what we're up to in a little bit, okay?"

Akira sighed, then complied with Sanami as to quiet her by putting on the glasses. Sanami smiled at him, then flipped out a pair of glasses for herself and fitted them on her face. "There!"

"Now where are we going?" Akira asked tersely, obviously very angered that he was wearing ridiculous looking sunglasses indoors.

"To a store!"

"Which store?"

"My favorite store!"

"Which store is your favorite store?"

"That store!"

"WHICH IS THAT STORE?"

"This store!"

Sanami stopped Akira and pointed to her right. Akira's head slowly turned to see none other then what looked like to be a gateway to hell.

The store had flames surrounding the door, the inside was black and dark, with fake blood covering the walls. Customers and attendants with huge amounts of piercing in odd places roamed the store, which was full of dark leather clothing. "This is your favorite store?"

"Isn't it cool?" Sanami asked, running in. Akira took a wary step forward, expecting to be attacked by one of the customers, but no such attack came, and he assessed that it was safe to move forward. "Hey Keiko! I'm looking for something for this guy here!"

Akira turned to see Sanami waving to an employee with dyed pink hair and a skull ring through her nose. The attendant smiled at Akira, and Akira sighed knowing that she was at least nice. "Sure Sanami, I know the perfect thing for him. That rack over there.But he looks like a bit of a prat. The sunglasses don't really suit him."

"Yeah, but wait until after I give him my makeover!"

"He your boyfriend? You always come in here alone."

"N-nope! Akira, my boyfriend, please!" Sanami blushed, waving her hand. "Nope, he's my bestest buddy in the WHOLE world!"

Akira was glad to see none one in this store recognized him, and actually was relieved that its goers didn't seem to be interested in Go. Or maybe it was the sunglasses…

"Isn't this place cool Akira?" Sanami asked, taking his arm. "I know everyone who works here, and they're really nice!"

"Uhh…yes," he bowed to Keiko, who bowed back, flashing a pearly white smile. "But…Sanami, what did you mean by "make-over"?"

"This way!" The next thing Akira knew, he was being dragged across the store by Sanami to a section with clothes for men. "Ahh! I knew it! Take this, and this, and this!"

Sanami stuffed clothes into Akira's hand, all colored black. He couldn't even see what she was picking out, but the next thing he knew, he was being dragged over to the fitting rooms and thrown into a small stall.

"Try it all on! Even the hat!"

Akira noticed a baseball hat in the pile and put it on his head, feeling extremely ridiculous. "No! I don't want to try this on! I'm not buying anything!"

"I'll treat!" Sanami snapped.

"You don't understand…I…uhhh…these clothes aren't my type."

"Just put them on!"

Akira rolled his eyes, then began to take off his shirt. There was no way getting around it. He would try on the clothes, put his real clothes back on, then leave. Sanami would be satisfied and he would be free.

"So…" Sanami's voice drifted through the stall as Akira tried to piece together what article of clothing went where. "That Hikaru Shindo guy. You don't like him much, do you?"

Silence.

"He's nothing like you. Or at least that's what I got from him."

"Yes. He and I are…very different."

"So…he beat you…and you want to play him?"

"Yes."

"But he won't play you?"

"How did you…"

"I guessed. If you wanted to play him, you would've asked when we met yesterday."

Akira didn't respond as he put on a black tee-shirt with intentional rips in the sleeves.

"Akira! I'm going to get some stuff to try on! Be right back!" Sanami's footsteps echoed off, and Akira gave a huge sigh of relief that she was finally gone.

Hikaru Shindo. Akira remembered…when he had seen him yesterday, they had barely spoken, and yet, he felt a certain boiling rage inside of him. Whenever he looked at him, or thought about him. It was most likely because of what he had said about his casual attitude towards Go.

To Akira, Go was everything. His passion and his dreams for the future. But to Hikaru, whose skills were so far above his own, Go was a merely a past-time, something to joke about. Something about that made Akira's head spin. He couldn't stop thinking about Hikaru.

How could it possibly be, that someone like Hikaru, a person who didn't seem to care for Go much at all, could possibly have beaten Akira, who worked hard days at becoming extremely skilled at it? Not only beaten, but demolished. It was obvious that Hikaru's ability was on par with pros, if not even better.

He was wasting his talent…throwing it away as a mere trifle…and that angered Akira.

"Akira! I'm back!" Sanami's sharp voice interrupted his train of thought as he heard the door in the room next to him bang shut. "I got some really cute stuff! Just wait! Oh, yeah, what were we talking about?"

"Nothing."

"Hikaru Shindo! Oh yeah!" Sanami said cheerfully. "I thought about it in the racks, and I think I've figured it out!"

"Figured what out?"

"Why he's better then you!"

"Why's that?"

"Because he takes Go for what it is," Sanami reasoned. "A game."

"That's true…but that is not why he's better then me."

"Maybe that's why you're playing so bad. Remember…I found out about your slump awhile ago. Before we even met. I think you've been playing bad because you take it too seriously."

"I am not playing poorly."

"Are too! You're losing to me, and I'm a beginner!"

"I'm not even getting into this."

"Hey, I'm seriously trying to get you out of your slump!" Sanami snapped. "And all you do is ignore me! Thanks a lot!"

"Sanami, I'm not in the mood."

"Now, as I was saying," Sanami ignored Akira's last comment and continued. "Maybe, if you played Go like it was a game, then you'd be able to beat Hikaru!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You never have any fun playing Go," Sanami told him and Akira stopped. "It's obvious. You sit at your dumb table during the Go Club and read your stupid books. You never have any fun."

"I'm practicing extremely hard, I don't have time to-"

"I bet that Hikaru really, really likes Go!" Sanami said excitedly, as if she had just made a breakthrough.

"I like Go too!"

"No you don't. Not anymore! All you want to do is beat Hikaru, and that's taken the fun out of it! You don't have any fun playing anymore!"

Akira stopped and looked at his feet. Was what Sanami was saying true? He retraced his mind. Playing games by himself, with others at the Go Parlor, and even with his father… Sanami had a point. Go never longer held any sort of fun for him. He didn't have the passion that he had remembered… It was…slightly odd.

"I'm done Akira! Are you done?"

"Yes…but I'm not coming out…"

"Why not?"

"This is ridiculous."

"Come on! Let me see!"

Akira gave a long sigh, then opened the door and saw Sanami waiting for him.

Sanami obviously was a veteran shopper, as not only had she returned quickly, she had been able to find pieces that matched each other perfectly in matters of minutes. Sanami now bore a completely white outfit. A white tube top that cut off above her navel, a short white skirt, tall white platform boots, a white leather jacket, and white hoop earrings. Her black sunglasses made her entire outfit scream a sort of punkish look, but her childish grin set that off quite quickly. "I knew it! I knew it! That outfit is perfect!"

Akira grimaced as he looked at himself in the mirror. His black hair was now topped with a black baseball cap and he had on that ripped tee shirt from before. But the tee shirt was covered by a black leather jacket and extremely baggy black jeans that Akira had to hold up by the pockets to keep them from falling down. Sanami, however, looked completely delighted.

"You look awesome!" She giggled, ramming the cap onto Akira's head backwards. "This is the GREATEST! We are ready to fulfill the rest of our mission!"

"I'm not staying in these clothes…" Akira said, walking as fast as he could in the black jeans back to the changing room. "I'm changing right now. I look ridiculous."

"Keiko! We're buying these and wearing them out! Can I have a pair of scissors?"

"What? You're actually buying this horrible outfit?" Akira asked, eyes wide. "I don't have any money!"

"I told you, it's my treat!"

Sanami was handing Keiko a credit card, and Keiko was running it through the machine, gazing over the clothes they were wearing and typing something into the cash register. "Grab your clothes Akira!" Sanami told him, opening her large white bag. "Put them in here! C'mon! We've got to hurry! It's already past noon!"

"What does it matter?" Akira grumbled, walking back the stall and gathering his clothes. "And can I please have a belt?"

"I told you!" Sanami snapped. "We're on an extremely tight schedule! We have to be there at one o' clock sharp!"

"Where is there?"

"Here you go Sanami," Keiko gave her the card back and smiled. "Have fun!"

"We will Keiko! C'mon Akira! We're going!"

"Going where?"

"There!"

"WHERE IS THERE?"

"Here is there!"

Akira could not believe his eyes. It was almost one, and Sanami and Akira now stood, smack dab in front of bar.

"What are we doing here?"

"This place is supposedly full of shady characters!" Sanami said overdramatically.

"Where did you hear that?"

"The internet!"

"And you believed it…"

"Now!" Sanami smiled and put her hand on Akira's shoulder. "Here's the plan! We're going to walk in and act all bad! Demand drinks, you know the type!"

"But we're minors!"

"Why do you think I had us buy these clothes?" Sanami asked, raising her eyebrow. "We look totally older then thirteen!" Akira did not bring up the fact that Sanami didn't look any older, and neither did he. "So! Here's your part! We're going to walk in, and I'll be hanging all over you, because I'm your Punk Whore!"

"My what?"

"So, then you'll make a huge scene and we'll demand drinks and gambling!"

"I doubt there's gambling at a bar…"

"And after that, if he challenges us, we'll reveal our secret identities! Then, we'll get all over the tabloids! It'll be so awesome!"

"Sanami…we're not tabloid material. We're not movie stars…"

"But we're famous, right?"

"Sanami, this plan is complete fantasy," Akira tried to reason with her. "There's no way it's going to work."

"Just do it!" Sanami pouted, then grabbed Akira's arm. "Let's go!"

Akira couldn't believe he was doing this. Sanami's brute force dragged him into the bar, where only about four people were sitting around at the tables. Mostly elderly men, or those who looked like they were stopping in for a bit after lunch. The bartender stood behind the counter and raised his eyebrows as the two, or more appropriately, Sanami came waltzing into the bar.

"Uhh…are you lost?" he asked.

"Akira! Your line!" Sanami whispered. She had already obviously put on attitude, shaking her hips and winking to the men at the tables. Akira thought she looked ridiculous. "Akira!"

"I'm not going to say anything!"

"Fine! I'll say it!" Sanami waltzed up to the counter and sat down, throwing Akira into the seat next to her. She leaned all over him, making Akira blush crimson. "Hey bartender! We want drinks!"

"Umm…I'm going to have to see some I.D."

"Drinks and craps!" Sanami insisted. "My honey here wants to gamble his paycheck away!"

"We…don't have gambling here ma'am."

"So…you refuse to serve us, eh?" Sanami cackled. Obviously, Akira thought, she had been waiting for this. "Well! I'll have you know, that we happen to be none other then…" She whipped off her sunglasses. "Sanami Matsu'ura and…!"

Akira stopped, got up, and started to walk away, but Sanami was took quick. She whipped off his glasses and shouted, "Akira Toya!"

"…What?"

"I knew it! He's shocked! Tabloids here we come!"

"Matsu'ura? The billionaire? And Toya? As in Toya Meijin?"

"Yep!" Sanami nodded. "I bet you're shocked to find us here in a bar! Rebellious aren't we?"

"I'm sorry, we don't serve minors."

"HUH?"

"Please leave."

"Man! Why didn't he call the Police? Or Public Safety? OR AT LEAST OUR PARENTS?" Sanami had been complaining to Akira all the way back from the bar about the bar tender's low reaction. Akira had been expecting this, but obviously, Sanami thought the entire bar would gasp in some sort of huge disgust. "This bites! Do you still think we'll make the tabloids?"

"No…" Akira sighed. "Sanami, we're not going to get in the tabloids…"

"Okay, maybe not front page, but we'll at least of some sort article, right?"

"Why do you even want to get in the tabloids?" Akira asked, narrowing his eyebrows. "And why did you need me to fulfill this ridiculous ambition?"

"Because!" Sanami stuck out her tongue. "It's fun! And I wanted to do it with you, my best friend!"

"Fun…huh?" Akira sighed, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, it's almost two o' clock, I think I'll be leaving, thank you."

"Okay…" Sanami sighed. "You can get home okay, right?"

"Yes, I can."

"Thanks for the day Akira!" Sanami smiled widely. "Let's do something again!"

"Yes…yes…now…give me my clothes."

"Oh yeah!" Sanami rifled through her bag and handed Akira a wad of clothing. "You can change in that restroom over there!" She pointed to a building and Akira nodded. "Bye Akira!"

And with that, Sanami ran off, in very high spirits, leaving Akira alone, looking very silly in a pair of black jeans.

"Hey Akira! Guess what? The funniest thing happened when I got home! I realized I still had your pants!"

Akira's eyes were bloodshot as he sat in his room, struggling with the black jeans and the phone pressed against his ear by his shoulder. "Yes! Yes I noticed that! My mother nearly fainted when she saw these pants!"

"Hey! Black jeans are cool!" Sanami laughed. "Oh and guess what? I think we might make the tabloids after all!"

"Why's that?"

"Because I ran into some guy with a camera on my way home! I think he was following us!"

"Sanami…he was not following us."

"Just you wait Akira!" Sanami pouted. "We're making the tabloids for sure! Just wait until tomorrow!"

"Funny…" Akira smirked as he stood next to Sanami the next day in school. Sanami was frowning at a Tabloid magazine. "I can't believe it. We didn't make front page."

"Shaddup."

The End! The Longest chapter of the story so far! I hope you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun writing it.

Oh, did I mention we're already half-way through the story? That's right! This story contains eight chapters! The next one's going to be fun too! Don't miss it!

-Sammy