Note: I have lost sooooooo many reviewers because of my laziness! Nooooooo! I think the main reason why I don't really update is because probably I don't want to end this story. But look on the bright side!

THANKS TO YOU GUYS I HAVE MORE THEN 500 REVIEWS! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!

Chapter 28- Photographs and… Bandages?

After that little freak accident, Coach was freaking out.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID SUCH A CHILDISH THING MACCHI!" He yelled, his face turning bright red with anger. "AND TO YOUR OWN TEAMMATE!"

"Sorry, sorry." Macchi said with looked away with boredom. "I didn't mean it and Mari is ok."

"Sorry is not going to keep you in the tournament Matilda Matisse." Macchi twitched at the sound of her full name. Not even her parents called her that. The only time she was called by her full/real name was when she was in big trouble. Come to think of it, she never really liked that name that much to begin with.

"Ugh, please don't call me that!" She yelled. "Look, I said I was sorry. Gosh, you are making it look like there is no tomorrow. I just got a little carried away is all!"

"You watch your mouth young lady or you will be disqualified. You are lucky the judges didn't find out." The coach said, folding his arms.

"Yah whatever…" Macchi mumbled as she stomped towards the elevator. Coach tapped his foot angrily.

"Hao, get over here right now." He said. Hao walked over calmly. "As captain of the team I expect you to handle all of this. There should not be fighting of any kind!"

"Yes, sir… I'll have a talk with them…" Hao muttered.

"Please do and see to it that stuff like this won't happen again or else we will forget all about the tournament and pack our bags and go home."

"Yes, sir…" Hao muttered.

"Macchi seems out of it lately." Pirika said sadly.

"Mari is worried." Mari looked up at the sky and then back towards the others. "Macchi was asking Mari weird questions."

"Like what?" Tamao turned her head to face her to distract her from staring at Horo. Mari didn't answer. The pink blush on her face said it all.

"Ooooo…" Anna muttered. She looked up at the sky. There was something she forgot but she wasn't sure what it was. She spotted Yoh on the other side of the pool talking to Chocolove and Lyserg and blush. Then a light bulb light in her head and she let out a wail. Everyone jumped and looked at her.

"I forgot!" She yelled and shot up, running inside the hotel and into her room. Everyone was speechless until Ren broke the silence.

"Will someone PLEASE go calm down this sudden burst of craziness? I need to relax here and I can't do that with all this noise." Yoh sighed.

"I'll see if she's ok." He said as Horo chucked and mocked the Chinese boy who violently shoved him in the pool.

"H-Horo-Kun!" Tamao clasped her hands over her mouth and watched as the Aniu stood up, his hair wet and messy.

"Nice… Very nice Ren…" He muttered. "I SPENT 2 HOURS ON MY HAIR!" Ren smirked at his accomplishment.

"Good, spending another 2 on it will give us all enough peace and quiet." Horo glared at the Tao who glared back. Pirika sighed and watched with folded arms.

"Oh gosh Onii-Chan." She muttered. "Tamao, bring him inside t "gel" his hair up again." She then turned to Ren. "And Ren, leave Onii-Chan alone for now." Ren muttered something under his breath about being bossed around by a girl. At this, Pirika glared at him and pulled him by his ear.

"Listen here Ren!" She yelled. As she was lecturing Ren about this and that, Tamao pulled Horo out of the pool and they both traveled inside.

"Gah! I don't get what his problem is." Horo muttered as he dried his hair with a towel that Tamao handed over to him. As he kept complaining about the Tao and walked into the bathroom, Tamao wandered nervously around his room. He had a few pictured out so she took a look. She smiled at his baby pictured with Pirika bullying him around. There was even a few with Kororo too. She especially liked this one with his winning 1st prize at a hot dog eating contest back home. She lifted a picture up at was with him and the boys. She studied him and looked at the others. She scanned each one carefully and stopped at Yoh. Yes, she still had feelings for him, but those feelings inside her were fading. True that your first love or crush rather will never fade but they will eventually. Maybe not entirely but in time, they will fade. She looked back at Horo and smiled back at his wide grin in the picture.

A sudden sound caused her to let out a gasp and jump, dropping the picture and separating it from its frame.

"Ah! My cell phone!" Horo yelled. "Tamao, do you mind getting it for me?" Tamao looked around the room and walked towards the little device.

"Do you want me to pick it up?" She asked. "It's Hao."

"Sure." Horo said. Tamao flipped open the cell-phone.

"You can't be Horo." Hao immediately said. "He never picks up until I call him 2 times." Tamao laughed.

"No, no it's me. Tamao." She said.

"Tamao neh?" Hao asked. "What are YOU doing with Horo's cell phone?" Tamao blushed lightly.

"Uh, um, well you see-"

"Anyway, enough of that. Since he is busy, tell Horo that you guys have the day off." Hao said, cutting her off. "Coach is still lecturing Macchi I think, so he told us to rest up."

"Oh… umm, ok…" She mumbled and looked towards the door of the room where Horo was currently in, fixing his hair.

"Have fun you two!" Hao said cheerfully. "Oh and tell Horo not to fight with Ren or it's my ass. And if he does, and I get blamed one more time, he's going to get it. Ok? Ok, bye!" Tamao stared at the phone for a while and then closed it and placing it down on the table top. She turned and bent down to pick up the fallen photograph along with its frame. She carefully placed it back and looked down, noticing a hidden photograph that had fallen out with the photograph. Curious, she picked it up and noticed that it was a picture of her. Her eyes widened as blush rose to her cheeks. Written behind it were words so simple even Horo would understand in his sleep.

I want a girlfriend… I want Tamao to be my girlfriend.

She dropped the photo as well as the frame that she was holding. Her face was flushed with both embarrassment and excitement. Was this some kind of joke? Or is this for real? This was what she wanted all this time but yet she is full of doubt.

"Hey Tam… What did Hao say?" Horo asked, finally emerging from the bathroom with a towel around his neck and his hair all gelled back to the dangerous spikes that Horo usual has them in. He froze when he saw the photo Tamao was holding. Both of them stood still and silent, staring at each other and faces flushed.

"Ummm, well I can explain." Horo said finally, breaking the ice. "You see, umm… Well, it was this dare Hao made me do last year for Dare Night." Horo laughed nervously. You are from the North dude! You should have no problem staying cool!

Tamao, for the first time glared at him. Horo gulped nervously.

"Horo, for once I wish you would just tell the truth…" She said angrily before throwing the photograph at him and stomping out. Horo bit his lip.

"Alright, alight. I know what to do…" He mumbled and turned around to see Pirika smiling by the door.

"Good Onii-Chan." She said. "And if you hurt her, I will kill you." Horo rolled his eyes and ran out the room to find Tamao.

"I wonder why Onii-Chan didn't just tell Tamao that he likes her. It's so obvious." Pirika said as she entered her brother's room. Ren chuckled behind her.

"He's a coward." He said with disgust as he saw the mess in Horo's room. "Doesn't he ever clean up?"

"Nope." Pirika quickly said. "Onii-Chan is a slob. I'm sure you know that by now." Ren made a disgusted sound as he glanced at the pictures on the table.

"I told him to burn that picture!" He muttered, picking it up. It was a picture of him and Horo standing side by side but neither looked happy. Annoyed rather and they looked dirty. Horo's hair was ruffled and Ren had some mud on his cheek. One stood with his hands in his pocket while the other's was folded. Ren looked down at it, remembering that it was the first time he had met Horo. It was an accident actually. He was playing in the park back home when he accidentally bumped into Pirika who fell and scraped her knee. She started crying and not knowing what to do, Ren just bent over and kissed her cheek.

"The only thing that can heal boo-boos are kisses." He remembered telling Pirika who stopped crying and stared at him. "Don't worry. You boo-boo will go away soon." He remembered Pirika smiling at him and hugging him. It was a cute and tender moment if he doesn't say so himself… Until Horo showed up, thinking Ren had hit his sister. They got into an argument, then started wrestling in the sand box. In the end, their parents separated them and said that they were leaving. Pirika started crying again because she was separated from her new friend so she started running back towards the Tao and holding onto him for dear life. Pirika, even at that age was pretty strong and was pretty much squeezing the Tao to death. When she let him go, she grabbed onto him arm and looked back at her brother with a sniff.

"Wen is my fwend." She said. "Nii-Chan is mean!"

In the end, their mothers allowed them to play for 5 more minutes. Ren placed his little hand on Pirika's head and kissed her on the forehead and smiled.

"You see? Your boo-boo is all healed now." He said with a smile. He carefully took out a pack of bandages that his sister INSISTED on making him bring. "But to make sure that it will never come back…" Pirika looked at him as he showed her the bandages. "What color?" Pirika hic-upped and pointed at the pink one. Ren smiled lightly and pulled that one out and carefully placed it over her cut. Pirika slimed and looked down at her leg.

"I Wove You." She read and grinned before giving him a big hug. "Tanks Wen!" Ren smiled softly as he thought back. That was a perfect definition of "Good times." What was even better though was that he kicked Horo's ass in wrestling.

"Ren, what are you smiling about?" Pirika asked, looking at the Tao who jumped, forgetting where he was.

"Ummm… Just thinking…" He said. Pirika looked at him with disbelief.

"Thinking about when we first met?" She asked. Ren turned red.

"N-No…" He said, his eyes twitching.

"I was thinking about it too." Pirika said turning to look out Horo's window. "Those were good times." Ren stayed silent as he placed the photo down.

"You were so sweet." She continued. "Do you still remember?"

"Not really…" Ren muttered quietly. Pirika smiled and pulled something out of her pocket.

"This might help you jog your memory." She handed him something that looked like a slip of thin paper. The edges were torn but the writing wasn't that worn out.

Pirika, it was nice playing with you in the park. I hope your boo-boo is gone. Miss you and I hope we play together again real soon!

Ren Tao

P.S- Tell you baka brother that I won!

Ren blushed and turned his head, handing the piece of paper back to her.

"Mom made me write that…" He said quietly. Pirika giggled.

"But look under it." She told him. Ren looked at the letter and under it was a fresh bandage that was attached to the letter. The design on it was the exact design as the one he had given her with the same simple 3 words… I Love You.

"T-That was… T-That was the only bandage I had left." Ren said, fumbling around for words to say. Pirika giggled and gave Ren a kiss on the cheek.

"No need to say more." She said with a wink. "I love you too."

"Gosh, if I was a shy girl, where would I go?" Horo muttered, looking around for Tamao. "Dammit, why couldn't I just tell her the truth? Why couldn't I just stayed cool and tell her? Why couldn't I just tell her how I feel and get it over with?"

"And why couldn't you just stop talking to yourself?" Horo turned to see Hao standing there with a smirk.

"Shut up Hao." He muttered. "I am not in the mood."

"So I see…" Hao said, his eyes twinkling. "Well, if you are trying to find a certain pink haired girl, I saw her walking with her bags to the train station."

"Don't fuck with me Hao…" Horo growled angrily. Hao shrugged.

"Don't wanna." He said and turned to walk away. "Believe me or not. It's your choice. Just don't blame me if you never get to see your "sweetheart" ever again." Horo rolled his eyes and walked off.

"Tamao isn't that stupid. She wouldn't just pack her bags and leave." He muttered. "She has a tournament to play…" Then again, she was never mad at him before… Horo looked up at the setting sun and started running towards the train station. "Please… Please let Hao be joking." He prayed.

"Where is Horo running off to?" Jeanne asked.

"I don't know. Must be something Hao said." Lyserg said, glaring at Hao who grinned and waved at him.

"Maybe it has something to do with Tamao." Jeanne looked around.

"I'm sure they are ok." Lyserg said, smiling.

"Oh I hope so…" Jeanne said with a worried look.

Horo ran as fast as he could, faster then he actually imagined he could actually. When he finally reached the train station, he stood there panting and praying that Tamao wasn't really leaving. He took in a few good last breaths before walking in.

"Tamao! Are you here?" Tamao lifted her head and looked towards the door to see Horo walking in. She got up and ran towards the opposite exit.

"Gah! Tamao! Wait up!" Horo yelled, running after her. The place was empty since it was sun down. He caught her by the arm and tried to catch his breath before speaking.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked. "Why are you leaving?"

"Because being around you…" Tamao stopped, unable to find the right words to fit into the sentence.

"Look, about the picture… Sorry ok?" Horo said. "It was a lie. Hao didn't dare me to do that. Well he did but… Ugh, look, that isn't the point. I like you ok? If that is what you wanted to hear form me, there you have it. I like you! Now can we please just forget about this and go back to the hotel? Please?" Tamao stayed silent for a while. "Tam… Please?"

"No…" She finally said. "I don't want to forget…" Horo blinked. "I don't want to forget what happened… I don't want to forget about the photo… I don't want to forget about what you said to me. I don't want to forget anything…" Tears streamed down her face as she said this. "I don't want to forget because… Because…" Horo, having no idea when she would be done with this just cut it short by turning her around and kissing her lightly.

"Was that what you meant by the speech because it was kinda getting too long." He said with a sheepish grin that he spent hours of studying Yoh. "Any longer and I would have been sleeping." Tamao stood there speechless until finally she snapped out of her daze. She slapped Horo across the face.

"Don't interrupt me Horo. I don't like it when you do that when I am giving an important speech." She said with an angry look. But her angry face expression quickly softened. "But then again, if you didn't do that, you wouldn't be the Horo I like and love." She place her palm over the area she slapped him and smiled nervously. "Sorry about that…" Horo grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess I deserved that." He said. "Come on, let's go back to the hotel. The buffet table is about to open." Tamao giggled.

"Ok, let's go." They started walking but Horo stopped.

"Wait…" He looked at Tamao. "Where are your bags?"

"Bags?" Tamao blinked.

"Yah, Hao said you were leaving." Horo said. He blinked and growled. "DAM YOU HAO!" Tamao giggled.

"That's the Horo I know and love."

Ok… Let's see…

NichromexMari

RenxPirika

HoroxTamao

LysergxJeanne -Was too lazy to type out a chapter about them haha-

Okie then. So the next and final pair will be who Anna will be paired with. Gah! I took the romance ideas from many different animes. D.N Angel, Pita Ten, Onegai Twins, gah! A lot of anime lol. I plan to end this in a total of 30 chapters. XD Wish me luck on that!