A/N: This is probably the longest chapter I have ever written in my entire life. But do NOT expect anything great, dear readers, because the even more fluffy stuff will continue on to the next chapter. Hihihi~ I updated late again orz I actually have plans for this chapter but it got so long without me knowing it. So there, I cut the chapter, sooooo that we can have something fluffy to look forward to! HAHA. Yes, there. Thank you for reviewing the last chapter though. It means a looooot! *throws chocolates at y'all*

Fanart alert! Mai drew and colored a pretty portrait of Yuhi with a blushing Killua on the side aksdjfkfjdkjsk! Thank you Mai, you are so awesooooome! Check it out! Link is on my profile :D

Doki/Ba-dump/Thump = sound of a heartbeat

Disclaimer: I only own Yuhi, Sejin, Roroturo, and other characters except from Gon and Killua.


TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCE

CHAPTER TEN
Sweet Rain, Don't Go away

The big bright sun finally shined its rays on the lands of the country after four days of gloomy weather. It was another Friday, and another end to another school week. Yuhi woke up with a sunny smile on her face, beaming when she saw the sun's rays gracing the interior of her room. Getting up, she reached for her windowpane and pulled it open, inhaling the fresh morning scent in the atmosphere. The harsh and heavy rain from the night before added the fumes of dew into the air. It smelled nice, and refreshing.

Yuhi smiled and hugged herself as she felt the cool wind touching her exposed skin. She nodded firmly once. Today is going to be great. Turning her gaze to the calendar that hung at the back of her door and scanning through the dates with her eyes, she giggled, remembering her plans for her guardian's special day. Roroturo-san will be so surprised!

It was finally the day she had been waiting for; Roroturo's birthday.

Each year Yuhi has always been pulling off surprise birthday celebrations for her guardian, and in that year, she planned to give Roroturo something he really liked. Yuhi was excited. She saved up and anticipated what will happen for the day. She had already planned everything weeks ago, and she was thankful that the weather was cooperating—so far.

Taking a deep breath, Yuhi nodded to herself again. Her smile was stagnant, bright as the sun's rays. But turning her gaze towards the small clock on her study table, her face froze. Yuhi inwardly screamed. I'm late!

Getting ready for school each day was a fast event for our auburn-haired protagonist–especially when she was late. Yuhi would bathe and get dressed as fast as fifteen minutes if she wished. It has been one of her remarkable records. Yuhi was always late and cramming when she was in grade school after all. At that time, it took her 20 minutes to get everything done before heading for the stairs. It was then 8:10 AM. Classes start at 8:00.

"Roroturo-san!" Yuhi exclaimed as she searched for her buff guardian, carelessly grabbing the attention of the costumers inside.

Hearing the lively and loud call from the kitchen door, Roroturo peeked from his counter and saw his exuberant kid beaming at him. "There you are!" He immediately went out. Noticing the costumers who were looking their way as he walked, he gestured for them to carry on with eating. He met Yuhi's big light auburn eyes with a smile, ready to greet the girl.

But she beated him through it. "Happy birthday, Roroturo-san!" she exclaimed, running to her guardian as soon as she saw him walking and giving him a huge teddy bear tight hug.

The man laughed heartily and patted the girl's head. "Don't say it aloud. People here might question my age, you know!"

Yuhi returned the laugh, leaning away and looking at Roroturo. Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

The latter then stroked his chin. "Though I don't look like my age at all." He looked at the girl with a proud grin on his face.

Yuhi laughed at him. "Nope, not at all!" she exclaimed with a firm nod.

Roroturo chuckled and pulled the girl's arms gently from securing him. "You're late, young lady!" He stepped inside the kitchen, grabbing Yuhi's lunchbox from the long table. He handed it to her. Yuhi reached for it. "Go now. You don't want to be going home late today, now, do you?" Roroturo gave the girl a small playful grin.

And Yuhi understood it in an instant. She nodded cheerily and tip-toed forward, giving her guardian a quick peck on the cheek before sprinting out while shouting "See you later, Roroturo-san! Happy birthday!"

Yuhi hopped onto the bus while inwardly giggling, thinking of how Roroturo would react to her surprise the moment she got home. She found a spot in the fifth row of the bus and seated herself next to the window, looking out at the wet pavements and greeneries. Yuhi rested her back comfortably on the soft cushion of the bus seat and watched the quiet streets as the bus moved.

Turning to one corner, her eyes lightened up when she saw something walking along the pavement. It was a little white cat. A small smile slowly paved its way into Yuhi's countenance. The smile turned into a wide one as she bit her lower lip to suppress an upcoming giggle. A certain white-haired boy went past her thoughts. His face was annoyed and blushing in her head–one she had seen before; when Gon announced that he is his best friend in the world. Yuhi pressed her lips together to refrain from giggling loudly. However, afterwards she sighed slowly, remembering something she should not forget.

It has been a day since she gave Gon Mitan's letter to Killua. That day, after completing her mission, the strange crazy mix of melancholy and excitement infiltrated her chest. She wanted only to be excited that time, for Mitan, but she still could not do it. In the afternoon, Yama called her to see him while he was at class session with 2-A. Yuhi figured it would be about the exam papers, which was true. And she knew she should be feeling nervous at that time, but she just felt… oddly even—even when she got scolded by Yama in front of the class for forgetting the papers that day, even when she heard some students snickering, and even when Killua looked away when she glanced at him. It was a great thing Gon was there, or she would completely question her sanity; because when the lively raven-haired boy greeted her she greeted him back with her usual, equally lively self. And she would feel normal again.

However, Yuhi felt frustrated until she got home, thinking about the root cause of the feeling and how to solve it. But it only flooded her chest, choking her. She did not like the sensation it gave her insides. The day after that, for the first time in her sophomore life, she wished not to see the white-haired boy, even just for a day, to lessen the passionate emotion she knew was already building strong blocks in her chest. Yuhi did not plan to result to that, no. She just did not want to fall completely for Killua–not when her dear friend Mitan officially made her a bridge between them. She did not want to be partial to the girl by saying words of courage and not meaning them inside. She needed to support Mitan. She wanted to, because she gave her word. That is why she was gratified–with the outcome and with the black-haired girl–when Mitan talked to Yuhi about her feelings for Killua.

At first, the auburn-haired girl thought her heart would start beating gravely the moment she hears Mitan's story of love for the white-haired boy. But when they sat on the bench-like structure in the rooftop of the campus building at lunch, when Mitan started talking, Yuhi felt completely awed about everything. She felt the girl's pure admiration for the white-haired boy through her gentle tone, speaking with emotion, with careful passion–almost as though she was deeply infatuated by the boy's charms, deeply in love. Yuhi was astounded by it all. She felt like crying happy tears at that time, and hugging Mitan for being so brave and strong, yet so affectionate and romantic. She wanted to cheer for the black-haired girl, to be on her side, to capture the development of everything in her love life. At that time, Yuhi did not mind her abnormally beating heart–she ignored the strange melancholic feel in her chest, because she knew that her emotions were irrelevant at the moment. No, her emotions will be irrelevant even in the future, but she chose not to think about it. Yuhi was contented, and comfortable, like a piece of rock had been, a little, pulled out of her system. Though it was not completely pulled out, she felt her chest become lighter, and at ease.

A light and funny feeling; that was what's in her chest all the while riding the bus to school a day after–the present day. She was glad about the fact that the strange and uneasy feeling was somehow gone–that, or she had completely immuned herself to it. But whatever the case, Yuhi was still thankful that she could manage it now. She decided to go back from the start, to how Killua shined through in her life without him knowing all about it, and remain that way. She decided that she should stay in the sidelines, and watch him from afar; because letting herself fall deeper would lead into something pointless, and impossible… right? Yuhi returned to her usual cheery and happy mood since then. She just hoped that divine intervention would not put her in a situation wherein she would be daintily breaking her resolve.

Yuhi ran along the corridors of the campus the moment she reached it, sprinting up the stairs and along the 2nd floor hallway to their room. She paused in front of the closed door, and taking a deep breath, she slid it open, meeting the unison gazes of her classmates first. A sheepish smile escaped her lips. She shrugged, and turned to look at their Economics teacher. He was Mr. Pironst–a 75-year old graying teacher from a foreign country who taught only for the sake of spreading knowledge to the youth. It was a good thing the old-aged man was a considerate person. He only asked Yuhi why she was late. When the girl told him the reason with pure honesty, she silently retreated in her seat, meeting the fiercely moral stare of her president seatmate.

It was an hour of Gross Domestic Products and Gross National Products until the break time came. Yuhi was fixing her desk immediately to grab some snack in the canteen–for not eating breakfast before going to school–when a small, shy voice called her attention.

"Yuhi?"

"Yep?" The addressed looked up, instantly smiling when she saw who it was. "Mimi-chan!" Yuhi carelessly put everything in her bag and stood up, facing her black-haired classmate.

Mitan gave a small sheepish smile. She looked around before grabbing her friend's wrist and and pulling her arm to follow her out of the room with all her tiny strength.

Yuhi's eyes grew wide with surprise as she walked through the spaces in the room. She blinked when Mitan paused in the hallway, making the auburn-haired girl look around to find any signs of presence. They were alone. Yuhi figured it was about her friend's letter.

The black-haired girl again shot a sheepish smile towards Yuhi's direction. Looking at the auburn-haired girl with her big black eyes, she shrugged. "It's about the letter."

And Yuhi's hunch was right. She nodded seriously and leaned forward a bit to listen to what her friend had to say–noting that Mitan needed to drag her outside to talk about that. She could have just silently asked for it inside the room like the day before. Something must be up.

Mitan took a deep breath. "D-Do you think… K… he has read it yet?" she inquired silently.

Pursing her lips was necessary. Yuhi wanted to laugh, not at Mitan, but at herself–thinking of how she also could not say his name aloud like her friend. Yuhi smiled reassuringly. "I can ask Gon again today," she answered gently. The spiky-haired boy did tell her the day before, when she inquired about it, that Killua 'forgot' to read it, adding that he would make sure the white-haired boy would have read it by Friday–and that day was Friday.

Mitan's eyes sparkled. She beamed as she looked down. "Thank you, Yuhi-chan." Here she bowed. "I'm sorry for the trouble!"

Yuhi's eyes grew wide as she leaned back, shaking her hands in front of the black-haired girl. "No, you gave me no trouble at all!" she wholeheartedly exclaimed with a smile on her face.

Mitan smiled purely as she looked at the auburn-haired girl. She then played with the ends of her school sweater as she silently spoke. "I really hope he has read it by now. I-It's kinda important… for me to know his… response today."

"I'm sure he has read it! Gon said he'd make sure of it, so I believe he did." Yuhi smiled as questions about the letter swarmed in her head, because though she was the 'bridge', she did not actually ask Mitan what the letter was about. Yuhi did not ask for information about the content–what Mitan wrote in there, what she needed so badly to know within the week and what she possibly asked Killua. Our auburn-haired protagonist thought of the letter as a private conversation between two people. She need not interfere by inquiring things about it–and she did not want to feel insanely weird by knowing what the content was. But at that time, it started to get her thinking. Just what was in the letter…?

The black-haired girl beamed once more, nodding and shrugging with pure anticipation–hopeful.

Yuhi smiled widely at that again. Mitan looked so optimistic and excited about conveying her feelings to the one she truly and romantically adored. The auburn-haired girl inwardly applauded her for her bravery. It made her raise her fist in the air and nod firmly once. "I am also going to make sure he reads it today, Mimi-chan!"

The latter heartily chuckled. She nodded again. "Thank you, Yuhi!"

Yuhi released a hearty chuckle of her own. She then sighed with awe, and beaming at the black-haired girl she instantly stood straight, jabbing a thumb to the left. "Hey, wanna get some snack? I haven't had breakfast yet." She declared sheepishly, rubbing her belly. "Ah, and we never know! We might catch Gon in the canteen. I can ask him about it then!"

Here, Mitan's expression transformed into a surprised one–her small mouth formed a small 'o,' pink colour painting her cheeks immediately. In an instant, she was inside the room, peeking through the doorframe as she looked at Yuhi with her blushing face. "I'm sorry, Yuhi. I-It would be embarrassing if we s-see them in the canteen, you know…" she silently mused, stuttering immensely.

The latter released a quiet laugh. She's so cute! Locking gazes with Mitan she nodded. "Alright, I'll ask him when I see him. Would you like me to buy you something downstairs?"

A small shy smile escaped the black-haired girl's lips. She shook her head. "No, thank you. Go buy something to eat now, Yuhi-chan. You must be hungry."

Mitan's tiny voice made her giggle. Yuhi smiled and shrugged as she nodded, turning and waving a hand to head for the staircase. She then looked down as she walked along the hallway, thinking of the mystery behind Mitan's letter. Could it be a full-blast confession; asking him if he could accept her heart or not? Yuhi tapped her chin curiously with her index finger. Then why did Mimi-chan hoped for an answer within the week? It was a deep question, touching the heart of Mitan's affection for Killua. Yuhi thought she should not be dwelling onto that. So she shrugged and smiled, cheering for Mitan in her head. I just hope that Mitan would stay strong whatever the outcome may b—

Bump.

Yuhi paused in her tracks as she stroked the part of her forehead that bumped into something hard… but soft. She looked up, only to feel all kinds of butterflies flapping their wings crazily inside her guts and chest. She gasped, cupping her mouth shut with both of her hands.

Doki.

DOKI.

It was a person, and his name is Killua.

Yuhi started palpitating, hyperventilating. The boy's physique was so close to her face. However, Killua's wide-eyed surprised gaze made her look around. She was walking along the corridors of 2-A, and stopped in front of the class' door. That might explain it all. Killua might be sprinting out of the room while the auburn-haired girl was busy thinking without looking at where she was going. With scrambled brain cells, Yuhi returned her gaze to the blue orbs of the boy with her equally surprised, and shocked, and tensed, and terrified, and whatever gaze.

Killua raised his eyebrows to question.

This made Yuhi get back to earth. She blinked and finally leaned away, immediately turning around to check if her black-haired friend saw; because she would not want that. To her fast beating heart's relief, the hallway behind her was empty. Yuhi released air from her mouth and turned back around. A reflex smile was instantly plastered on the girl's face, followed by a reflex action. Yuhi bowed. She was to apologize. But before she could utter a word a call halted her.

"Killua! Let's go!"

Yuhi looked up to inquire from whom the unfamiliar voice belonged. There she saw a group of boys standing by the staircase at the end of the hallway, waiting for their white-haired friend to come around. With a heavy ba-dump in her chest, Yuhi turned her gaze back at her angel, and wondered why he was still standing there in front of her. Yuhi then blinked, and looked down, and looked back at him. Killua's blue orbs were suddenly very, very intense as he looked at her. It was piercing, stabbing her straight in the heart. Yuhi did not know what was going on inside Killua's mind at that time. But he definitely looked like he was reading her, analysing her, like he was waiting for her to do something dumb and silly, however in absolute gravity, in seriousness–in pure attractive seriousness, as Yuhi would define it.

Intimidated by the boy's lovely face, the girl hoped to open her mouth for a question. But Killua shifting his gaze from her auburn eyes towards their classroom stopped her. Yuhi turned her gaze as well in unison with Killua. The boy called out "Gon!" with the same old weary tone in his voice. Then hearing a faint "Go ahead! I'll catch up!" from inside the room, the girl returned to the white-haired boy.

Killua only glanced at the girl with the same indifferent expression he beheld on his face, before throwing his hands inside his pockets and sprinting to the staircase.

A very massive amount of air was released from Yuhi's lungs when the white-haired boy was out of sight. Her heart was beating so fast–faster, and faster–so fast, that she needed to press her palms hard against her chest to somehow calm the nerves down. It was bad event–a very, very gloriously bad event for her, because she knew then, that her passionate feelings stepped up higher. It was so close, so, so close to pushing her by the edge of the river, and making her fall deep into the waters, pushing her, without control, to flow with the current and clash with tidal waves. And she could not belive it. Because although she was holding herself back, Yuhi liked the feeling it gave. It made her chest swell in a felicific kind of way. She was… happy. But she knew she should not be. It must be, must be, unfair to her dear little black-haired friend.

Yuhi took deep breaths as she stared with wide eyes at the tiled floor. The impact was grave. She was absent-mindedly breathing hard. But she wanted to smile, so badly, because of the gleeful feeling she could not anymore contain in her chest. So smile she did, and it made her feel amazing.

"Oh, hey Yuhi!"

The adressed's expression intantly changed the moment she heard someone calling her name. Yuhi looked up, meeting the sparkly brown eyes of a spiky-haired friend. It relieved her. She smiled widely. "Gon!"

The boy's smile was excited. "What are standing here for? Are you waiting for someone?"

This made Yuhi blink. For a second she tensed, but she laughed it off. "No, I was on my way to the canteen and I… I bumped into K… Killua." The girl giggled inwardly. How could she say his name with so much tenderness? "Are you going somewhere?"

"Ah!" Gon chuckled heartily. He nodded. "Yep! We're going to help Mr. Tenoshiru with the equipments in the gym. He said he needed boy volunteers so, we're the boys! You said you're going to the canteen? Let's walk down together!"

Yuhi felt like laughing. She nodded and followed Gon to the staircase, thinking that she should inquire for something right there and then. When they reached the staircase to head down, Yuhi finally spoke. "Hey, Gon, before I forget. How's the letter, by the way?" Her voice was silent and hopeful, wishing that she would receive a positive response.

The spiky-haired boy almost jumped as he turned to the girl, raising his index finger in the air. "That's right! I almost forgot! Thanks for reminding me." Gon laughed sheepishly, rubbing his nape as they stepped down the stairs.

Yuhi felt like she would receive an opposite response to what she was hoping, but she was still wishful.

And her expectations were met. Gon was excited. He beamed. "Killua said yes!" he exclaimed, as they paused in their tracks, reaching the ground floor of the building.

Yuhi blinked, and she did not know what to feel about that. But a huge part of her was equally excited. Mitan should be extremely happy of the news! With a stagnant enthusiastic face, Yuhi waited for more of what Gon had to say.

The latter turned around to eye the gym. There, several meters behind him was his waiting best friend. Yuhi hesitantly released a small smile at his direction. Gon waved a hand at him and returned to the girl. "Tell Mitan it's a date!" He grinned. But before Yuhi could ask what that meant, he sprinted away.

The girl was left standing there as she watched Gon enter the school gym with his white-haired best friend, wondering even more what Mitan's letter was all about. A date? She pondered as she walked to the canteen. A smile then crept onto her face while she imagined how Mitan would react the moment she told her about the good news. Yuhi shrugged and giggled silently as she stepped in the canteen, excitingly grabbing a slice of banana cake in a wrapper and a small carton of milk. She then immediately ran up the stairs and towards their room, ignoring the sullen feeling roaring inside her chest.

The moment Yuhi reached their classroom, she immediately pulled Mitan outside to tell her what Gon had said. The auburn-haired girl was extremely happy beyond compare upon seeing her friend's reaction. She had never seen a girl look so much in love in her life. Mitan was incredibly overwhelmed, her black eyes sparkling like marbles–so much that Yuhi thought she was going to cry of absolute joy.

A hug concluded their conversation, a hug Yuhi was the first to give. She wanted to embrace Mitan–for her amazing fearlessness, and to wish her the best of luck–saying that no matter what happened she would still root for her. The black-haired girl was giggling all the while Yuhi was stating her words of courage. And she gave her thanks with pure words, for everything.

The conversation ended with the topic of food and breakfast, with Yuhi mentioning the need of eating when she felt her stomach grumble. The girls parted with smiles on their faces. Yuhi knew Mitan must have been so incredibly satisfied with everything going on around her, and she felt equally happy about that, happy for her. The auburn-haired girl hummed as she ate her small breakfast, giggling and shrugging each time she caught Sejin looking at her with a disbelievingly confused look on her face. Yuhi wanted to share to the world the happiness her friend was feeling, she wanted to tell Sejin, but she could not because of the promise she gave Mitan. She then would turn to look out the window after shooting goofy smiles towards the president's direction, assuming that Sejin would probably think that she was in the good mood because of the white-haired boy again.

Yuhi sighed, though, as she recalled her encounter with Killua ealier, and her encounter with the strong passion that roared within her. However she decided to gather them all, and lock them in a vault, where she could ignore it, because she knew that if she would think about it more, figure it out within herself, the feeling would only grow into something uncontrollably strong, solid, and intense. Yuhi did not want that to happen–not yet, perhaps–for Mitan. She gave her word, and although the black-haired girl never mentioned anything about what the letter was all about–to which Yuhi did not inquire further–she decided to cheer for her. Because for Yuhi, friends should come first. She was the one that needed to adjust, even though that meant she had to ignore what she was feeling deep within her.

The day went on normally once more for everyone in school. The weather was fairly nice all throughout the first half. Teachers only reviewed the students some of the past lessons of the quarter saying, repeatedly, that those were for the upcoming exams, and the students were, as usual, in their normal class routines. At lunch, the whole school was in normal rumble as the students take full advantage of their break time. Yuhi was equally enthusiastic as she talked to her classmates, declaring the special day of her guardian when something related came into the conversations. From time to time, she would check the sky, hopeful that it would remain sunny until she got home, at least. Five minutes before the second half of school, she looked out the window again, noticing gray clouds that started hovering over the lands. Yuhi took a deep breath at that, praying over and over again for the sun to stay–and reassuring herself that everything would go well according to plan nevertheless.

In the afternoon it started drizzling, enough to wet the courts in the campus grounds. It made Yuhi think of a quick compromise. She decided to head immediately off the moment school was dismissed. In case the drizzles turned into rain, she should be coming home while the sky still emits light from the setting sun behind the dark clouds. Yuhi's resolve was solid at that time, and her sweet plan for Roroturo was what occupied her mind all throughout. However, it seemed that no matter how resolute Yuhi's resolve may be, it did not keep her away from her delinquent habit of sleeping in class. Maybe it was because of the cool and slumberous aura the atmosphere gave, or the lullaby sound in the voice of their old Language teacher. Yuhi feel asleep again, twenty minutes before the last class ended. She woke up by the sound of Sejin calling her name. Immediately after blinking and realizing what she did, Yuhi fixed her things, before rushing to where the broom was.

"You're in a hurry," Sejin noted as she scanned through the papers on her desk, glancing at Yuhi who sweeped the floor of their room as fast as she could.

The auburn-haired girl was thankful that class 2-C and 2-A were neat. She skipped them, rapidly moving inside their homeroom. Yuhi carelessly lifted the chairs to scoop dirt from under them and dropped them to move on to another one. She glanced at the class president. "It's Roroturo's birthday, Sejin. I need to get home fast." Then glancing out the window she emitted a sharp sigh before returning to her work. The sky was becoming darker, not because of the twilight, but because of the weather.

The raven-haired girl pushed the bridge of her glasses as she shrugged. "You should have never slept in class in the first place. I would have bailed you out, you know, but Mr. Yama saw us while I was attempting to wake you up."

Yuhi pursed her lips and smiled sheepishly as she walked towards where the dustpan was. "I'm really sorry, Sejin. But I swear I planned to go home early today. Sleep just… possessed me again, I think." She laughed as she swept all the dirt into the pan. "Sorry, pres." Yuhi turned to look at her seatmate, giving her a wide grin.

Sejin shook her head in disbelief and returned to her papers. "Well, finish that so you can go home already."

The auburn-haired girl then threw the content of the dustpan into the trash bin outside their room and returned in, placing the cleaning materials in their respective space and aligning the desks and chairs properly. Yuhi was fixing the third row chairs when she stretched her neck out to look at what Sejin was doing. "What's that you're writing about?"

The raven-haired girl sighed as though she was carrying the heaviest load on earth. "I'm calculating my expenses for the next month. With all the things we needed to pay for school, I need to budget. And the cultural camp trip or whatever Mrs. Malu was requiring us to attend is just plain annoying. We have to pay for it, by force, even though we know she's not even doing a good job in teaching history."

Yuhi pouted as she moved on from the third row to the fourth row. She nodded slowly, reminding herself to tell her guardian about the camp trip Mrs. Malu explained earlier that day. They had to pay fees for it. Yuhi understood why Sejin was annoyed. But instead she chuckled at her moralistic seatmate. "I'm sure it'll be worth it, Sejin."

The latter looked at the girl in pure disbelief. "Oh, they should definitely make sure of that or I will report to Mr. Chango." When Yuhi laughed, Sejin cleared her throat. "I just remembered, all second year students are required, right? That must be why you are so cool with this."

With this, the auburn-haired girl's eyes grew wide. Did she not pay much attention or did she just miss that tiny detail earlier? All second year students are required. All second year students. All. Yuhi was beyond ecstatic inside. She smiled wide–quite goofily–as she looked away from their president, thinking about how the camp trip would turn out to be. But turning her gaze back at Sejin, she replied with something even she herself knew was unlike her. "It should be fun then, right?"

Sejin's eyebrows creased when she heard the calmed and composed tone in the normally enthusiastically high-pitched voice of Yuhi. She wanted so badly to ask what happened. But immediately she dropped the thought, feeling that Yuhi would eventually tell her about it–if ever there was something to tell about. "Are you done?" she asked indifferently, changing the subject in an instant.

The girl was fixing the last two chairs of the last row when she nodded. "Yep!" She looked at Sejin who was already zipping her bag close, walking through the spaces in between the chairs to reach her desk. "Let's go?" Yuhi asked with a smile, grabbing her bag and hanging it around her.

Sejin nodded once as she stood up, following Yuhi out of the room and out of the campus building. It was then 4:57 PM.

Walking out of the school gates, Yuhi looked up at the sky. She frowned upon seeing tiny lightnings scattering behind the dark clouds. Pressing her lips together, she nodded once to herself and turned to her raven-haired friend. "I'll go on from here, Sejin," she mused, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder.

The addressed blinked–a puzzled look hovering over her face. "Why? I thought you said you needed to get home early."

Yuhi chuckled. "I need to buy something for Roroturo-san, of course!"

Sejin looked up and around before nodding. "Okay. Take care on the way home, then. It might rain."

The auburn-haired girl nodded cheerily. "I've prepared myself for the rain!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, raising her tiny fist in the air. Yuhi then waved a hand at her seatmate before turning to the opposite direction. "Take care on the way home too, Sejin! Bye! See you on Monday!" She then sprinted off, turning around once to check if her friend had already walked off home too.

Yuhi ran until she reached a right turn on the pavement. It was then when she started walking slowly that she felt tiny drizzles falling from the sky. Yuhi looked up and spread her palm out. It got darker. The drizzles grew into huge droplets of rain, until a massive amount poured hard in an instant. Yuhi ran to a nearby shed, immediately hoisting her white umbrella from her bag. She stared out at the rain as it poured, imagining the sidewalks and turns she'd have to run along in order to get to where she intended to go as fast as she could.

The girl then nodded once with a determined, solid look on her face. No matter what happens she must buy Roroturo the sweet gift she was saving up for. She could not back up only because of the rain. Yuhi spread her umbrella open, and taking a deep breath she charged into the rain. The town's pastry shop was not that far off.


"Good afternoon! Welcome to Fondant Garden!"

The auburn-haired girl nodded cheerily at the smiling lady who greeted her from the counter of the luminous pastry shop she entered. Yuhi shut her folding umbrella close and placed it on the rack by the glass door. Looking up and around, a wide smile slowly paved its way across her excited face. It was the first time she entered the shop since it opened a few months ago. It somehow appeased the cold and dark weather outside. It was warm inside, and the smell of sugar and sweet things instantly filled the air as soon as she entered.

Yuhi looked around, her auburn eyes sparkling with amusement as she scanned through the interior of the place. The walls and ceilings were painted white, with a little dash of baby pink and yellow swirls on them, and faint drawings of uniquely designed cupcakes in light blue, light green, soft orange, and gray. The floor was tiled in beige, infused with pink and purple, shining as the small chandelier lights that hovered above reflected on it. To her right were the chairs and tables, designed in a French café-like fashion; metal also painted in white, matching the walls that enclosed them all. To her left was the colourful glass counter where the adorably designed cupcakes and cakes were displayed.

Yuhi immediately stepped towards it and crouched down a bit, scanning through the pastries with a huge, excited smile on her face. Roroturo-san is definitely going to like this! She shrugged of delight and held her hands tight together against her chest. She remembered Roroturo mention how much he loved sweets and cakes a couple of years back. Yuhi was so excited back then, because she found out something about her guardian. In the past year of Roroturo's birthday, she attempted to bake him a cake. But to the girl's dismay she failed at it–terribly–earning her playful and teasing laugh from her guardian. That was the time she promised that she would give Roroturo an amazingly looking, and tasty cake in the future. Fortunately, a few months ago, a pastry shop opened its doors to grace confectionary desserts to the people in town. It immediately gave Yuhi a sweet idea. She should absolutely buy Roroturo something he liked.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

Knowing that the question was for her, the auburn-haired girl looked up, meeting the smiling face of the woman from the counter. She was wearing a pink ruffled apron above a purple long-sleeved shirt as uniform. Yuhi thought they looked cute. She beamed at the lady. "Hi!" she greeted cheerily, returning to scanning among the pastries behind the glass counter. There were many cupcakes–all designed in a unique, and crafty way–topped with fluffy icing and different pastel coloured and different shaped frostings on top. Yuhi hummed to herself as she tapped her chin with her inex finger; her eyebrows creased. She found it hard to choose. Smiling to herself, she looked up at the lady employee. "I'm buying sweets for my father. Can you help me please?" she asked nicely.

The lady nodded. "Are you a student?"

"Yep!"

"Well…" The employee then leaned over and pointed to the set of cupcakes in the upper left corner of the counter. "We have a combo set of pretty much all of the small cupcakes you see in here." She then moved her gesture towards the lower part of the display.

Yuhi looked at them. The small cupcakes she was referring to really were small, about two inches high, and three inches in diameter. The designs were adorably cute. There were some with red swirly frostings on top, some with mangoes and strawberried and other fruits, some with chocolate, and even some with carrot-shaped designs. It made Yuhi giggle excitingly. When she looked back at the lady employee she was beaming. "Can I choose what to include in the set?"

The employee nodded again. "Yes. You can choose up to six small cupcakes and three regular sized cupcakes."

"Okay!" Yuhi then started pointing out differently designed sugarcoated desserts from the glass counter as the lady listed them. She had asked the employee how much it would cost, and luckily, the combo set was just right on her budget. She paid for the sweets as soon as she was done.

"Please wait a little while we wrap these up for you, ma'am."

Yuhi nodded and turned around, walking to the chairs and taking a seat by the table next to the glass window. She leaned back and looked out. It was getting darker and darker by the minute, and the rain was still pouring hard, but it did not hinder her from feeling great inside. Although she knew she was going to be lectured for spending her money on something that looked expensive, she was still excited. She was so excited to give Roroturo her gift. Yuhi shrugged of delight and smiled to herself as she thought of how Roroturo would react upon seeing the cupcakes. She then saw a person looking at her from the outside as he walked, holding his umbrella tight with both hands. Yuhi instantly flashed the person a sheepish smile, thinking of how ridiculous she must look like to people who happened to glance at her.

Sighing, Yuhi turned to look ahead, noticing the menu book of the shop on her table. She hoisted it and scanned through the colourful cakes and other pastries therein. She noted that the shop not only sold cakes and cupcakes, but also candies and chocolates, in different designs as well, and can be personalized. Yuhi pouted when she read that she could buy a custom-made candy in the shop. Aww, too bad, I should have browsed through these weeks before. She then shrugged. Oh well, there's always a next time. Yuhi thought of what the possible personalized design she could come up with for Roroturo when the shop's entrance bell rang.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to Fondant Garden!"

With human reflex Yuhi looked up to see who the person who entered was. Then she froze. What…? Yuhi could not–she could not–believe her eyes. She even blinked and inwardly pinched her cheeks to make sure she was not dreaming. No, she was not. Heh— Her heart started racing.

Killua.

Yuhi instantly hid her face behind the menu book she was holding. It was a silly thing, she knew, because the boy's back was facing her. He should not notice the girl, unless she did something dumb. Yuhi was careful. She absent-mindedly held her breath and ceased to move her muscles as she tried to hide her whole persona behind the tiny menu book, praying that the lady from before would not call her name yet to claim her order. Oh no, she dared not make her presence known to the white-haired boy at that moment. She would not know what to do then if that happened. She would not know how she would feel.

A twisted expression painted her face as she inwardly whined. Why? She asked the heavens. Why did you have to pick the perfect setting and the most perfect boy to appear in it while I'm here? Yuhi pressed her lips together as she peeked through the menu book to look at the physique of the white-haired boy. It made her want to cry even more. Killua wore this purple jacket over a plain white V-necked shirt, a pair of beige pants and gray sneakers. It matched his fluffy white hair and deep blue eyes perfectly. Yuhi had pictured the boy in normal clothes before in her head, and it made her giggle of delight then. Now that she was seeing him in a boy-next-door kind of fashion, she could not help but feel so… so… attracted. The feeling was too much to contain she wanted to cry, because she was praying, hoping, that not an event should ever happen that could make her fall deeper for the white-haired boy. Yuhi breathed out roughly while she watched Killua hand his payment to the lady by the counter, noticing the droplets of rain on his right temple and sideburns. She also noticed that his jacket was a little wet. Yuhi eyebrows creased. She suddenly got worried without her knowing it.

"Thank you for coming, sir!"

Yuhi blinked as she watched Killua receive his small bag of… candies? The girl cocked her head to the side in wonder. Why is the bag so fat and full?

"Thanks!" the white-haired boy muttered as he walked out of the shop. His voice stepped an octave higher, and he was smiling. He was excitingly smiling.

The auburn-haired girl sat straight as she turned her gaze to where Killua disappeared. A smile then crept across Yuhi's face. She cupped her mouth with her right hand to hide it from people. He so cute… like a little boy.

Doki.

It was a plus point. Yuhi was pushed near the edge of the river again.

"Ms. Nagame?"

The addressed immediately hopped out of her seat and walked towards the counter with a smile on her face.

"Here you go. Thank you for coming!" The same lady from earlier handed the girl a square box wrapped inside a purple and pink crepe bag, tied tight with a white ribbon.

Yuhi received it with both hands gently–careful not to ruin the beautiful folds of the crepe bag. She beamed at the lady employee. "Thank you!" she exclaimed before heading for the glass door. Yuhi's eyes were sparkling while she looked at the pretty cupcakes from the clear plastic in the middle of the box. Roroturo-san will be soooo happy! She paused by the door for her umbrella. But scanning through the rack her smile faded. Where is it?

Panic filled the girl's chest at that time. She looked around, below, and in between the rack but her umbrella was not anywhere in sight. She even asked the employees whether they saw a person take it. Maybe they have just mistaken it for their own. To her dismay, they did not notice anything. Yuhi thought about it. Then she remembered the man who was looking at her in a suspicious kind of way from outside the shop. She remembered seeing his umbrella. It was just like her white one. Yuhi felt her knees becoming weak upon realization. So, that's why he was looking at me that way! She then ran outside, looking at the direction the man was walking a little while earlier, hoping he would still be there. Seeing the empty streets, she closed her eyes and gripped the bag of cupcakes with her tiny shaky hands. She then looked up, stepping backwards when crazy droplets of rain touched the back of her hand. The downpour was strong. Yuhi literally hit her head with her fist. Stupid…

"…Oh? Ramen girl?"

Eh—? The instant she heard this, the auburn-haired girl's heartbeat started galloping. She shot her head up, turning her gaze to the right, meeting the wide blue eyes of a white-haired boy. Yuhi blinked, several times, before gasping silently, blood rushing to her cheeks immediately. "Eh!?"

-CHAPTER END-


Sooooo, how was the chapter? Quite long and boring? Cliffhanger too soon? Well, if you have something to say, why don't you scroll down a bit and type that in the cute little review box down there. Teeheeee~

Replies:

Nispedana-san! Hello! I wanted to personally reply to your wonderful reviews but your PM is closed, awww. Anyway, I should reply to you here. Hihi. Thank you again so much for reading this. It means a lot. And your reviews... tehehe~ Thank you for saying that this has potential and for saying that Yuhi is likable :') Yep, I think the development will be slow, for suspense. XD Thank you again so muchhhh!

Mai! Awww, really? I'm so glad you think of it that way. Killua's reaction at the rooftop. Ha- Hahahaha! Gon's such a gent, he's adorable 3 LOL Then I'll give you a Killua realistic life-sized doll so he can be soft and huggable!

2102032! I thought about Yuhi carelessly dropping the letter and someone picking it up, reading it, and completely thinking that it was from her to Killua. Then her secret crushing will be revealed. Hahaha! But no, that would end abruptly XD Yes, Killua's weak in math. Let's take advantage of that lol Thank you again for the reviewwww!

Guest! Hello! Thank you for the short review. I will surely take note of that :)

NEXT CHAPTER: What could possibly happen between Yuhi and Killua amidst the rain? Will the girl get home as planned? Why did they have to meet at the same place, time, and with such a weather?

The next chapter will be... *goofy smile* Oh, let's just wait for another week and see what happens. But before leaving, drop a review once more, please? I might update a little earlier if this long chapter receives more reviews than usual. Hohoho~ Thank you so mucccchhh! Bless you all :)