Authors Note: Baack :D. I'm actually supposed to be doing chores right now, but lala XD. Thank you for the review ne, it made my day -huggles and hearts-. Here's the fourth chapter:

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its' characters (though I love it) :). I do own Aoi and storyline :D.

Reference:
Gomen - Sorry/I'm sorry
Gomen-naisai - I'm really sorry.
- - - - - - - - Time interval/Scene Change.

CHAPTERFOUR: Waiting for the Stars to Shine.

So, the 'Fuji-senpai' scheme, or plan, or whatever you brand it as, was working preeetty well. Sakuno and I didn't even have to avoid him, since we rarely saw him anyways. The only encounters were during tennis practises, and it was pretty much a 'hi/bye' type of thing.

My paycheck would be coming in a week, and I could owe back the iPod. Seven days and it'd all be over!

..But I should've gone over some consequences before getting ahead of myself.

Normally, encounters with a classmate outside of school perimeters would drop to a percentage of about.. letsay, 48? Nono, wait, that's too high. Maybe 23. Yeah, that's better, a 23. I don't bet stakes on a number as low as 23, but Fuji-senpai taught me otherwise.

There was this new recently-built mall near the school premises, and Sakuno and I promised eachother we would go together on Sunday. Our plan backfired. Rumours said on Friday the mall was completely filled, so much as you had to literally squeeze yourself through the crowd and make it through in one piece. Minako-san in science class told me she was stuck lurking around in a 'Leon's furniture type of store. Sakuno and I then agreed we'd stick to next week.

So she suggested, Why not go to an amusement park instead? And don't get me wrong, that was a completely perfectionate idea!

..But not if Sakuno got lost on the way.

Sighing, I threw a pebble down the pavement and leaned back onto the bench. 'Maybe I should've escorted her,' I thought.

Pause. 'Of course you should've, Aoi! STUPID STUPID! It's Sakuno!'

I gave myself a smack on the forehead and scowled. Whatta day this would turn out to be. That girl really needs to get a cellphone. A meet-up place just won't do.

For a good 2 hours, I constantly changed positions in my seat restlessly. Every 15 minutes, there'd be a quick glance at my wristwatch, but that was pretty much it.

Somewhere in there, it reached the point I stood and walked around in semi-circles. But I got back down and waited again.

And again.

And again.

And again and again and again and again and the 'agains' never ended.

Until unknowingly, my eyes started to feel really heavy all of a sudden. Shrugging, I curled up into a ball and rested on the wooden figure. A quick nap couldn't hurt.. and Sakuno would wake me up when she spotted me.. she'd definetely come.. even if it had to be at 9 in the night, she'd make it.. she just would.. because she was like that..

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Mmmhmm..

"...Aoi-san..?"

Yeeees that's me.

".. Aoi-san? Aoi-san?"

That's what people call me.

".. Aoi-san? You awake? Aoi-san? Aoi-san?"

You know, if you keep saying "AoiAoi" for a long while.. it sounds like your saying, "A wheeeee!"

I heard a laugh.

".. Weird girl."

Oh. Oh damn. Don't tell me..

Doooon't teeeell meeee..

Blink. I lifted my eye to a half-lid. Oh funny, that guy looks a bit like Fuji-senpai. His face resembles him juust slightly. And that laugh, that voice, is scarily identical. Oh, and how can I forget the eyes? They're like swirls and pools of cerulean blue and you just seem to get lost in them.

And, oh heck, is that seriously him?

"..Aoi-san," he chuckled. "You seem to be mumbling in your sleep."

Flustered, I darted upwards and jerked away from him. 'Run away!' were the first words I imagined in my head. But the next thing I knew, I felt a hard, strong something that came in contact with my wryed forehead. And the next thing I saw was Fuji-senpai's head thrown back.

Rewind, rewind rewind. I just headbutt Fuji-senpai's face. And heck, it was an embarrassing thought.

"Gomen-naisai, Gomen-naisai!" I nervously squeaked, bowing my head repeatedly.

Unexpectedly, he reacted very akwardly. Regaining his composure, he just pressed onto the bridge of his nose and smiled, "Oh, don't worry, it's all right."

I looked closely. "FUJI-SENPAI!" I pointed an accusing finger. "YOUR NOSE! ITS BLEEDING!"

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Fuji-senpai must truly hate me. He despises me, and I just know it! I broke his iPod, I broke his nose, how many more things do I have to break? It's like, whenever I'm with him, something always breaks, or something bad always just seems to happen! Somehow, I get the feeling we were just made to live on opposite ends of the earth.

And if he didn't hate me now, he would learn to hate me later on.

"So.." I striked up a conversation. "Does your nose feel better? Like, does it feel umm.. fractured in any way?"

"No, it feels fine really," he re-assured me. "Don't worry yourself over it."

I innerly sighed. I felt so poor. He probably thinks I'm some cheap, ego-centrical bastard who can't afford to take him to the hospital. But really, he was the one who refused! So I just offered him some extra pocket tissue I had to stick up his nose or something and stop the bleeding.

And we just sat on the bench together.

"Ermm.. it's a surprise to see you here," I commented.

"You too," he laughed. "I actually just came back from that new mall and I spotted you. You seemed dead, so I walked over and it turns out you were sleeping!" The laugh again.

I felt un-easy listening to him say that, while he just kept on pressing the bridge of nose with his head lay back. Well, all the better to converse without eye contact!

"Oh, haha I see. I was actually waiting for Sakuno and I ended up falling asleep."

He nodded.

".. Have you seen her by any chance?" I asked.

"Not at all. Sorry."

I slumped in my seat and dipped my head. She was starting to worry me. Where was a girl like her at 8 in the night?

"Don't you think you should be heading home now?" hewent on. "It's nearly midnight."

"Gomen, senpai. I'm still waiting for Sakuno.. I wonder where she is, it's starting to worry me."

"I'm sure she'd be worried too, knowing you're out here alone in the night, waiting for her."

"I'm not alone Fuji-senpai," I corrected. "I'm with you."

He opened his eyes and tilted his head over to look my way. There was a tint of surprise in his eyes, I think. I couldn't tell with the midnight sky wavering over it.

"You're right," he flashed another smile. "I forgot."

I blurted, "Oh, not that you have to stay here with me! Actually, shouldn't you get going now too? I don't mean to hold you up or anything!"

"I'm waiting for something too," he admitted.

I withdrew. "Oh. Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh.. okay then." Putting some wit upfront, I implored, "What're you waiting for?"

A brief silence interrupted our conversation.

"Something. I'm waiting for something."

Fuji-senpai, I learned today, is a very mysterious guy. There's just these things about him that seperate him from the rest of the crowd. It was a feeling that edged me away from him, for some reason. Maybe it was because I didn't like getting involved with people I couldn't read.

Those are the kinds of people you really regret having problems with.

"Do you think Ryuuzaki-san will come?"

I answered confidently, "Yeah, of course!"

Sakuno never did come. Nevertheless, we waited with eachother aimlessly. We just sat either talking, or having our small reminiscing moments. For some odd reason, it only occured to me after that he started to adress me as 'Aoi-san', not 'Miyanami-san.' I didn't read too much into it, though, and figured he just felt comfortable around me like that.

Some time before we parted ways, he commented, "Look. The stars have come out."

We both averted our gaze to the silhouettes and streaks of the night skies.

I wondered if that's what he was waiting for.