Memo: I'm so sorry for the late update...Again. I finally finished changing the story a little so it should make more sense. Thanks again for all those who've read and reviewed my story. I'm glad to know that there are some people around here who enjoy reading my writing. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this, but then again, that's what I thought last time to...Heh heh. Well, hopefully after this chapter I'll know what I'm doing. Speaking of that, here's the sixth chapter.

Chapter Six: The Dangerous Shopping Spree

"Do I really have to do this?" I groaned as Tsubame held my hand and lead me towards the place she was taking me. The place that every girl loves to spend hours shopping and a place where us guys get dragged along. This certain place is called the mall. Not that I have anything against it, I mean, I admit that I like going there once in a while. Just to trash it of course...And maybe get a few nice things too. But I never would've guessed a couple of weeks ago that I'd have a girlfriend who'll drag me to the mall the day before the huge festival.

"Of course you do Yahiko-chan. I told you before, we both don't have anything to wear, so we might as well but something together. And besides, Misako said that we should get something that matches...But we don't have to if you don't want to," she laughed, after seeing the expression in my face. It was hard to believe that it was just a couple of hours ago when I asked her if she wanted to go to the festival with me, and now, I'm already shopping with her and I didn't need to buy clothes that need to match with hers.

"Good...And can you please not call me Little Yahiko?" I asked, looking around to make sure that no one heard her call me that. I already knew that if anyone found out, I'd never hear the end of it. But then again, the way she says it kinda sounds cute in a way. What are you thinking Yahiko? Of course it's not cute you baka! I growled under my breath when I realized that she didn't even hear me. She gasped as she looked at a dress store full of beautiful traditional kimonos and other unique and beautiful dresses. How I despise it all... I looked from the dresses to Tsubame, who's eyes instantly lit up, making me smile a little.

"Umm...Yahiko? If you don't want to go in here, you don't have to. I'll just pick a dress and I'll meet you here in about an hour okay?" she said as I nodded my head, thankful that she didn't drag me into that store. I was already walking off when she said, "Why don't you buy something formal to wear too and we can show each other's thing later?"

I groaned. Every school festival always comes with a catch if it's this good. I guess I had no choice but to look around and see if there were anything good enough to wear. After all, I wanted something nice, but not too nice so that it will impress other girls than Tsubame. Then again, that'd be a hard thing to do because most of the girls at the school agreed that I'd look good on anything. I casually walked around the stores and looked for something that would look good on me and be appropriate for the school festival. Something cool that will also impress the guys but something that won't attract too much attention. Finally, I found it.

A dark blue gi and an almost black colored hakama that matches perfectly together and with a small black dragon with red eyes on the side of the gi. It looked awesome and was totally perfect...Except for one thing. It probably was more yen than I have with me right now. I sighed and reached into my pockets.

Empty.

It caused a lot more yen than I have with me right now.

How am I supposed to get the money for that thing? I know that I could always ask Tsubame, but I didn't really want to. One thing is the danger of walking inside that store she just went too. That girly evil place. And if I ever want that kiss from her, I might as well make an impression on her. And asking for money isn't the best way to impress a girl.

"Yahiko? Is that you?" a voice said from behind me as I slowly turned around to come face to face with Megumi Takani, Sanosuke Sagara, and Misao Makimachi. Megumi was a doctor and Sanosuke's girlfriend. Sanosuke was a really good family friend of ours and often came over to visit us...And mostly because of the free food. And Misao was kind of like a sister to me and an old family friend from Kanto.

"Hey you guys. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. Sanosuke willingly offered to come shopping with us," Megumi said with a content smile on her face as Sano gave her the stare of doom. I noticed that he had several shopping bags in his arms while Misao and Megumi didn't even seem to see him struggling under the weight of the bags. The only things they held were their purses.

"Why is Misao with you two?" I asked out of curiosity. Misao isn't the type to buy everything she sees like Megumi and Kaoru. She gave me a smirk.

"Well, Sanosuke owes me money so he could buy some stuff at the mall and I was thinking that I should go out and look around a little. And I just happened to notice Megumi and the man that owes me money at the entrance of the mall. So I thought, I might as well go shopping with them for a little while Sano pays for everything."

"Sano's paying for everything?" I asked in surprised as I looked at the man, blinking. I couldn't believe my ears. Sano was always broke because he loves gambling. Sometimes he doesn't even pay for food at some of the restaurants around town. "How...How did you-"

"Get the money?" Sano said with a proud smile. "I won a bet last night and won a lot of yen! Isn't that great? I'm finally rich!"

Then, an idea popped in my head. "Hey Sano...Since you're rich, you wouldn't mind buying something for me would ya?" I asked casually as he raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want Yahiko?"

"Okay, here's the deal..." I said, grabbing Sano and pulled him away from the girls who were looking at me curiously as Sano dropped the bags. Once I took him to the other side of the store and made sure that everyone I knew wasn't around, I started tell him, "Okay. I'm here with this girl-"

"Ooh...You have a girlfriend Yahiko? Well, it's about time you hung out with a girl your own age. Not that Kaoru's bad or anything, and I know that a lot of girls like you. So, how far did you get with her? Did you guys get your first kiss yet? C'mon, man. Let me in with good details."

"No, no. It's nothing like that. I'm just doing her a favor. Anyway, there's a festival coming up and I really need the money to buy an outfit. It's a formal one you see and-"

"And you want to impress the girl so you want some money to buy the clothes and use the extra to buy gifts and stuff for her, right?"

"I...Umm..."

I can't believe it, but Sano was right. I needed the money to buy the outfit and I was gonna ask him if I could have a few more so I could play some games at the festival. But when he said to use the money to buy some gifts for her, my heart lifted slightly as if that was what I wanted to do all along. Yahiko you baka! You can't do that! It'll seem as if you really do like her. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Suddenly, Sano put some yen in front of my face. It was more than enough to buy the outfit. I grinned and took the money gratefully. "Arigatou (Thank you). You're the best."

"No problem. But you owe me."

"Okay. I'll give you the money later."

"No. It's not the money I want from you Yahiko. I just wanna know who this 'girl' is..." he said with mischief dancing in his eyes. Suddenly, I heard giggling behind me as I turned to see Misao and Megumi standing behind me. I glared at Sano and knew by the look of his face that he knew they were there all along. God I hate myself.

I sighed. "Fine...Her name is Tsubame Sanjo. But it's not like we're going out or anything. We're just friends..."

"Hey, isn't she that waitress who works at the Akabecko?" Megumi asked.

"Yeah! Oooh...Looks like Yahiko has a little crush on a certain waitress..." Misao grinned widely and nudged my ribs. I gave her a stare of doom.

"I told you already, WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!" I shouted loudly as a few people nearby looked over at me with interest. But I gave a low, dangerous growl that warned them to back off, which, thankfully, the did. But before Megumi tried to talk me into the whole 'Don't break her heart' and 'How to become a better boyfriend' talk and before Misao or Sanosuke teased me again, I heard someone call my name.

Well, at first I was glad someone did so that I won't be trapped with these three, but as soon as I realized who called me, I felt like I just wanted to run away from the mall. "Oh no..."

"Come on Yahiko! I think I found a great outfit...Actually two...So you have to tell me which one looks the best!" she said as she took my arm and started pulling me towards the store. I wanted to be released from her grip because we were just a few feet away from that store, but once I did that, those three will probably torture me again. So it looked like I had no choice. How bad could a store be?

When I got there, however, there were a lot of girly merchandises, giggly girls all laughing and pointing at me, and a few other guys who seemed to be dragged in this store as well. This is almost as bad as a beauty salon, only worst. It had a beauty salon, make-up stores, dresses...You name it. The total paradise for those girly girls all in one store. It's torture...

I was too busy looking around the evil place that I didn't notice that we actually stopped. Tsubame looked at me curiously and laughed at my expression. "Don't worry Yahiko-chan. It's not as bad as you think it is. Misako, Keiko, Yumi, and I come here at these kinds of places all the time. Misako said this is one of the best places to find really nice kimonos for the festival."

"Well...You're girls..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing...It's just that I'm a guy and I'm not really into those kinds of stuff..." I said truthfully while glaring at a couple of girls who were staring at me with adoring eyes. In their hands were tons of dresses and clothes.

"Oh I see. Don't worry, it'll be quick. Just wait for me here and I'll go put on a kimono."

And with that, she took a few kimonos and went straight to the waiting room. Can you believe it? She left me here, all alone, surrounded in a place that should have a big sign that says GIRLS ONLY; BOYS ENTER IF YOU DARE or something like that. Not to mention that a few of those girls nearby were really starting to creep me out as they started whispering things to one another while shifting glances towards me. Creepy.

Suddenly, Tsubame finally came out in a soft pink kimono and a red ribbon around her waist. The design had white flowers at the side and to be honest, the kimono looked a little too big on her. One of the sleeve of her kimono was slipping slightly off her shoulder. "Well, this is the first one. But I think it's a little too big, but it still looks really pretty. Umm...Yahiko? Yahiko!" she called as she came right in front of me, as I came back to reality. "Yahiko, what are you staring at?"

"I-It's nothing..." I blushed and looked away. I can't believe that she caught me looking at her bare shoulder. But I was glad that it didn't slip all the way or else we'd have problems. But as I looked the other way, I just happened to look at those annoying girls who were now waving and winking at me. Then, one of them came up towards me.

"Hi...My name is Jaylin. What's yours, Cutie?" she asked in a giggly voice. I blinked at her and raised an eyebrow. I tell ya, some girls are really strange these days.

"None of your business...Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"Ooh...You're the mysterious type. Playing hard-to-get eh? We'll see about that..."

"Look lady, I don't know what you're talking abo-"

But I didn't even get a chance to finish talking as she squeezed my arm in a tight grip and puckered her lips, coming close to me. I roughly shook her off, narrowly missing getting kissed on the cheek. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I don't even know you!"

"Then let's get together and talk about us..." she said with a giggle.

"Yahiko!"

I let out a sigh and saw Tsubame out with her next outfit, which was a dark blue kimono and a darker blue ribbon tied around her waist and a light blue strip at the end of her sleeves, at the bottom of her kimono, and the point where her kimono crossed and tightened over her chest. There was also a white shooting star at the side too

She spun around, with that bright smile on her face a couple of times. But her smile instantly turned into a frown once she saw Jasmine, or whatever her name is, clinging on my arm.

"Uh...Yahiko? Who's she...?" she asked, her eyes narrowed slightly at the other girl.

"Mmm...Yahiko huh? Cute name. But the real question is...Who is she..." she said.

"Tsubame, it's not what it looks like. She just came on to me, I swear!" I said, desperately trying to shake the other girl off.

"Sure you are..." she rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you'd do this to me, Yahiko! After we've been dating for two whole months! I knew that you were hiding something behind my back. You're nothing but a no good, filthy, rotten cheater! The second I turn my back on you, you go off with another girl! I can't believe you just lied to me like that! You were never really a good boyfriend anyway..."

"Wha-?" I said. We haven't been dating for two months. Maybe two weeks, but not months. I almost was completely convinced and hurt until I felt someone quickly let go of my shoulder and pushed me away.

"You cheat on girls? Eww...I can't believe I thought you were cute!" she said.

"Yeah. I mean, he thinks that he's all that because he has good looks and thinks he's the most charming guy in the city. I tell ya, he has such a huge ego..." Tsubame said, winking at me secretly. I grinned a little, showing that I understood.

"Well, thanks for the warning. I'll keep that in mind that looks aren't everything..." she shivered as she looked at me again. Am I really that bad looking...?

"Totally! You should watch out for guys like him..." she said, watching her and her friends go away. Then under her breath, she muttered, "...Because he's mine..."

"Thanks Tsubame. I owe ya one..."

"No problem. I got your back. So...Now that that's over...Which one do you think is the best?"