A/N: Still stuck on my other fics oh my God.
Anyway, the fluff begins!
Yukue 4
"Toushi..."
Kondo was staring at him and the offending bento box. His expression was unreadable.
Hijikata was at a loss for words. Not that it would have made a difference anyway, as without warning, Kondo sprang towards him, with a strangled cry.
"How could you!"
As the girls of the class screamed and the boys (some of them) cheered, Kondo hauled the shocked Hijikata up from his seat, pushing the tables and chairs away, and delivered a good punch to the still in-shock Hijikata.
"Stop it!" Tae tried to pry the two boys away. Startled by the sound of her voice, Kondo let go, promptly propelling Hijikata to the floor where Hijikata took a table and some chairs with him.
Books and random materials crashed down towards Hijikata from the impact.
"What's going on here!"
The entire class froze. Standing in the doorway was Tsukuyo-sensei - their Mathematics teacher, as well as the teacher-in-charge of both kendo teams.
Tsukuyo took one look at the scene - Hijikata lying on the floor amidst the rubble of fallen books and whatever else - and Kondo, arm still somewhat drawn in a punching stance.
"Hijikata, Kondo. Come with me. Now." Tsukuyo snapped.
Wordlessly, Hijikata scrambled up to his feet, trying to ignore the stares from his classmates, and stalked out of the class behind Kondo.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Explain." Tsukuyo glared at the two students standing in front of her in the nurse's office.
Neither Kondo nor Hijikata uttered a word. Tsukuyo sighed impatiently.
"So close to the Regionals. Do you seriously want me to kick you off the team? I don't know what happened in there, and I really don't care. You sort it out on your own and I don't want to hear any more trouble from you or any other kendo team member. Shake hands."
Kondo and Hijikata stood still.
"Now," she snarled.
Reluctantly, Kondo and Hijikata shook hands for about a millisecond before quickly letting go, without even as much as a sliver of eye contact. It was more a handslap than a handshake, but Tsukuyo decided that she would take what she could get.
"Now where is this nurse of ours..." Tsukuyo looked around the small nurse's office, but it was empty. "I should really drop a word about her to the school administration. Anyway, the two of you." She peered at the two students, then looked at her watch. "It's not serious, so treat yourselves. You know first aid, right? I have to go back to class. I'll be speaking to Ginpachi-sensei about this. And mind you, if you ever stir up any trouble like that, be assured that I'm not going to let you off lightly."
"Yes ma'am."
"Yes ma'am."
"That's all. Get back to class immediately after you're done here." With a last warning glance, Tsukuyo-sensei walked out.
Now that he was somewhat over the shock of being attacked, Hijikata immediately looked to Kondo. "Kondo-san-"
"I don't want to hear anything from you." Kondo started towards the doorway of the office. "We may still be on the same kendo team. And you're still my vice-captain. But from now on, our relationship remains as that only." With that, he stalked off, slamming the sliding door shut behind him.
Stung, Hijikata sank onto a stool.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Hijikata-kun?"
Hijikata slowly looked up from where he was sitting. He had no idea how much time had passed since he had spaced out in the nurse's office by himself.
Standing at the doorway was Tae.
"Oh. What are you doing here?" he asked dully.
"Ginpachi-sensei asked me to bring you both back to class," Tae replied, entering the nurse's office.
"Aa," Hijikata muttered. "Well...Kondo-san's not here."
Tae looked around. "...where's the nurse?"
"Saa."
Tae let out an impatient noise. Grabbing a stool, she placed it in front of Hijikata and sat down facing him. "You're bleeding," she stated.
Hijikata looked at her, nonplussed.
Reaching for the first aid kit, Tae rummaged around until she found bandages and antiseptic. "Why didn't you fight back?"
Hijikata forgot momentarily about Kondo-san's words. "Huh?"
"You were last year's district champion weren't you? You should have some kind of fighting instincts. Instead of fighting back you just took his punch. Are you a guy, or what? Or were you trying to act cool?" Tae poured antiseptic on a cotton swab and proceeded to dab at his cheek.
Hijikata winced. "Ow!"
"Don't be a baby." However, she thankfully put the antiseptic away.
"...It happened really fast, and anyway...I have no intention of fighting with Kondo-san," Hijikata mumbled.
"Mm." Tae was now wadding up some bandages.
"Because we're...friends."
Tae held a wad of bandages to his cheek. "Here. Hold this to your cheek."
"..Aa." Without thinking, Hijikata brought his hand up, and inadvertently covered Tae's, which was currently holding the wad of bandages to his cut.
At that moment he realised how close she was sitting to him. She had leant in close to attend to his injury, such that he could actually see his reflection in her huge, brown eyes, which were now focused on treating the cut on his cheek.
Blushing, he immediately looked down - and regretted it, as he now found himself looking at her long, smooth legs. Mentally, he cursed the girls' school uniform for being so damn short.
Tae, not noticing anything, had let go and now turned back to the first aid kit, looking for another piece of bandage. As she did so, Hijikata valiantly tried to empty his mind, trying to ignore Tae's bare knee barely brushing against his inner thigh as she continued with whatever she was doing with the first aid kit.
"So? Was he angry?"
Her question brought Hijikata back to the crushing memory of what Kondo had said to him before he left. "Of course. Obviously."
Tae cut a small piece of bandage and now looked for tape. "That sounds promising. This might actually work."
"Seriously, Shimura-san..." Hijikata cut in. "Couldn't you let me off just this once? I don't want to spend my senior high year in a war with Kondo-san, for god's sake. He's my friend."
Tae turned back to look at him.
Hijikata swallowed. He rarely said it, and it pained him to say it, but it pained him even more to think of losing Kondo's trust. "...P..please."
Silently, Tae applied tape to the bandage, her fingers cool on Hijikata's warm cheek. Her face was devoid of all expression.
"...one month."
Hijikata blinked. "...huh?"
"One month is all I'm asking." Tae started to pack away the materials she had removed from the first aid kit. "If he still hasn't given up on me by the end of one month, I promise. You can tell him everything, and I won't ask Kyuu-chan to deprive you of your mayonnaise."
Hijikata thought it over. "One month is too long-"
"No bargaining, Hijikata-kun. Take it or leave it." Fiery brown eyes now met cool metal-blue ones.
Hijikata buckled. "...fine."
"Great! It's settled then." Tae was back into sunny-mode. "Let's go back. Ginpachi-sensei must be wondering why we're taking so long."
"I seem to always end every chapter off being pushed around by you," Hijikata muttered as he got up to follow Tae.
"Huh?" Tae turned towards him.
"Nothing. Let's go."
tbc
A/N: It's actually very difficult to write in English. I've been imagining their entire dialogues in Japanese and trying to put them back into English is a huge challenge...sigh. So sorry if it comes off weird. Try putting them back into Japanese if you can - I find it suits the atmosphere so much more! Haha!
I know it's short. Make the font bigger so that it seems longer haha!