Yukue 8

The last bell rang, and the classroom slowly stirred to life as the teacher droned out last minute instructions about the day's assignments.

Hijikata packed slowly. He was never in a hurry now, being friendless.

Although he did have a fake girlfriend, who was now heading towards him, blatantly ignoring (and probably enjoying) Kondo's apparent dismay.

"Will you be here?" said fake girlfriend asked as she stopped beside his table.

"Um, yeah," Hijikata replied. "No, actually, I think I'll go to the library. Just let me know when you're done."

"Okay." Tae hesitated as though there was something else she wanted to say.

"You want me to take your bag?" Hijikata offered.

"Nah, that's okay. I might need my stuff during the meeting." Tae stayed where she was, however.

"Okay." Hijikata resumed the leisurely packing of his own bag.

"Tae-chan, you coming?" Kyuubei came to join her, her face unsmiling.

"Hai." Tae looked down at Hijikata. "See you later."

"Aa." Hijikata continued to gather his things, watching Kondo out of the corner of his eye. Kondo too, left the classroom shortly, trailing after Kyuubei and Tae, his face a poorly disguised wreck.

Hijikata felt a pang of guilt, watching his oldest and closest friend (though not anymore) trudge off forlornly. Was their friendship salvageable? Would Kondo forgive him even if he found out the truth? But somehow, any such notion felt like an extremely distant possibility.

Hijikata waited for the class to empty before he slowly got up and made his way to the library.

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"So, make sure you discuss with each other after you have all the ideas and submit it to me," Tsukuyo-sensei called out. "Next Friday is the deadline. Dismissed."

Tae already had her phone open before Tsukuyo-sensei had finished speaking.

"Tae-chan, ato de."

"Un, bye bye!" Tae said cheerily, looking up and smiling. "Have a good practice session. Don't kill anybody."

Kyuubei gave her a small smile and left Tae to continue with her email.

"A-anou…Shimura-san."

Tae stiffened and looked up. "Hai."

Up close, Kondo Isao looked positively pathetic. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot, ringed with dark circles. And was that stubble?Tae wondered if he had been told off by a teacher or if his pitiful appearance had saved him. Facial hair was against the rules. Still, Tae was satisfied to hear that he was using her family name, instead of her given name, as he had while she was still the object of his stalking.

"About the school festival-"

"We'll discuss it with the class during homeroom tomorrow," Tae said, turning back to her phone and pressing Send.

"…Wakatta."

Tae stood up abruptly. "Otsukaresama deshita." Grabbing her schoolbag, Tae brushed past Kondo.

"Shimura-san, wait."

Tae stopped.

"Are you…is it true that-"

"I'm going out with Hijikata?" Tae turned and looked at him as coolly as she could, trying to hide the triumph she felt. "Yes it is."

Kondo's face crumpled. "You mean…all this while you two had feelings for each other?"

"We are in love, yes," Tae answered. "So please leave us alone, Kondo-san." She turned back to leave.

As she walked as fast as she could to put as much distance as possible between herself and Kondo, she heard him call out, "I won't give up, Otae-chan!"

Scowling, Tae picked up her pace. "Arrrrrghhhh! What is with that gorilla!" Tae fumed to herself as she practically ran to the library.

Is Hijikata right? Will this never work? Will anything work?

In her haste, Tae accidentally shot past the library doors.

"Oops." Tae backtracked and pushed the library doors open. Almost immediately, she spied Hijikata, seated by the windows, his head resting on his arm. Clearly asleep.

Tae walked towards him quietly. No one else was around.

As she approached him, Tae raised her hand to shake him awake.

And stopped herself.

Instead, she quietly withdrew the chair diagonally opposite him and slowly lowered herself into the seat.

Hijikata stayed asleep.

Tae stared at the mop of black hair.

It's seriously black. Even the sunlight doesn't lighten its tone.

Absentmindedly, she rested her chin on one hand and continued to stare at her pretend-boyfriend.

What do I do? Stop the act? He's throwing away his friendship with Kondo, for no good reason, because Kondo simply refuses to give up. All I wanted was one last, peaceful year in high school without being stalked. At this rate, the only way I can have that if he pretends to be my boyfriend until we graduate.

As Tae pondered her options, she unthinkingly reached out and played with some loose strands of black hair sticking out over Hijikata's elbow.

Or, becomes my actual boyfriend. Wait, what?

Tae blinked, and accidentally pulled the strands of hair she had been playing with.

Hijikata suddenly sat up, awake. "Ow!" He rubbed his head. "Why'd you do that?"

"I saw white hair," Tae said smoothly as she tried to recover from her own mangled thoughts.

Hijikata glared at her. "You did not. I don't have white hair. Just wake me up normally next time, please."

"Hai, hai." Tae watched him pack his things, and got up as he did. "What were you doing?"

"Math."

"Is it hard?"

"Quite," Hijikata Admitted. "You any good at Math?"

"I need help from Shin-chan, but I survive."

"Okita's good, but I can't ask him now."

"I can help you after Shin-chan helps me."

"Okay."

They walked in comfortable silence towards the shoe lockers, looking like a young high school couple in love for all intents and purposes.

"What was the meeting about?" Hijikata asked, suddenly remembering.

"School festival," Tae answered, cringing. "Help me."

"Let's do ghost house."

"That's popular. We're almost certainly not going to get assigned ghost house."

"I don't want to do maid café, we did that last year."

"And we did reverse gender café in our first year."

"What other kinds of café can we do that hasn't been done before?"

"I don't know."

They split up to change shoes, and Hijikata joined Tae at her locker. "So we're discussing this at homeroom tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"Hey, um…how was Kondo-san?" Hijikata asked, trying to look unconcerned and failing.

Tae grinned evilly, pushing Kondo's parting yell to the back of her mind. "He looked like a wreck. He looks like he hasn't shaved in a few days. Or slept."

"….I guess that means this is working?"

Ignoring her conscience, Tae nodded. "Yeah. I think so."

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"Put these in while I unlock the bike," Hijikata said, handing his bag to her.

"Un." Tae obediently tried to stuff the bags in. "Can't we just hang them around your neck?"

"Ha ha."

Much to Hijikata's surprise, Tae managed to cram their bags in much more successfully this time. Hijikata wheeled his bike out, Tae following close behind. "Are you going to ride like a demon again?"

Hijikata smirked. "Shall I?"

"I'll give you all the wrong answers for Math."

"Okay, okay," Hijikata conceded. "Normal riding." He got on, and waited for her to get on behind him.

"Okay, I'm good."

"Oi. Kondo-san's up ahead," Hijikata said in a low voice, over his shoulder.

Tae looked. "Oh, right." She put her arms around his waist, locking her fingers. "How's this?"

"Fine," Hijikata answered, although honestly he did not feel so fine. He took off, pedalling fast, not really wanting to see Kondo's expression.

He felt Tae shift closer to him and tightening her hold as they overtook Kondo before the school gate. Whether it was from his increase in speed or for show, he had no idea, and decided not to care. He was doing that a lot these days – deciding not to care.

As promised, Hijikata kept his speeds normal. Tae however, kept her arms around him throughout the ride, even when he stopped at a light. As they rode, Tae randomly chatted about the school festival, which Hijikata only half-listened to.

She must be really terrified of riding shotgun on a bike, Hijikata mused. Or she likes gripping my waist. Okay, not going to care. Let her do whatever.

The ride to Hijikata's house was not far, and before long they were approaching Hijikata's street.

"We're here," Hijikata said over his shoulder.

"Un."

Hijikata slowed his bike down and cruised to a stop in front of his gate. Tae got off, followed by Hijikata.

Hijikata wheeled his bike to his gate and blinked at the padlock. "Hmm? It's locked."

"Your mom's not home?"

"Well…she didn't say she was going anywhere," Hijikata muttered as he yanked his bag out from the ill-fitting basket and searched for his keys.

"Maybe she called you?" Tae suggested as she extricated her own bag.

"Hmm, yeah," Hijikata found his phone first. "Can you check?"

"Un." Tae flipped open his phone as Hijikata continued digging his bag for his keys. "Oh, you have an email – oh, that's mine."

"You emailed me?" Hijikata asked as he finally located his elusive keys.

"Yeah, when the meeting was ending."

Hijikata unlocked his gate and wheeled his bike in, followed by Tae, still holding on to his phone. He parked his bike by the side of the gate and unlocked the front door.

"Tadaima," he called out to no one as he entered and removed his shoes.

"Jama shimasu," Tae mumbled from behind him as she mirrored his actions.

Hijikata dumped his bag in the hallway and headed to the kitchen. "Oh, she left a note. She says she had a quick errand to run and will be back soon. And erm," Hijikata rolled his eyes as he read the last line and quickly crumpled the note up and shoved it in his pocket. "Yeah, that was it."

"Hai." Tae had followed him into the kitchen, her school bag clutched to her side.

"I'm …uh…just gonna change. Give me a minute," Hijikata muttered, and left the kitchen.

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Tae hummed as she sat leisurely in the living room. Hijikata appeared to have forgotten that he had surrendered his phone to her, and she was now enjoying herself looking through his emails.

There were the emails they had exchanged recently, emails from Kondo….nothing remotely interesting or juicy, or from anyone who might be called Mitsuba. Tae wrinkled her nose. Gosh, he's kind of a boring guy.

The phone suddenly vibrated, causing her to nearly drop the phone in shock.

Shit! His mom!

Without thinking, Tae sprang up and dashed upstairs. "Hijikata-san! Your mom- Eeep!"

Hijikata turned around to witness a red-faced Tae, clutching his phone. Who had inadvertently walked in on him changing out of his uniform.

"Kyaaaaa!" Tae shrieked and whirled around, running back out of his room. "Why didn't you close your door!"

"It's my house!" Hijikata retorted. "Why would I close the door when I change? And why the hell are you up here anyway? And for goodness' sake, will you please calm down. I've still got my pants on."

Tae held out his phone, from her hiding place outside his doorway. "Your mom! She's calling."

Hijikata walked over to his doorway and grabbed his phone from her outstretched hand, just as it stopped vibrating. "Ch'. Too late."

Tae huffed and stalked past him back downstairs.

Hijikata tried not to laugh as he put his phone down on his desk and pulled a T-shirt over his head.

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Back downstairs, Tae willed her tomato red cheeks to return to normal, as well as her brain to banish the image of a shirtless Hijikata from her memory.

Think of something else! Think of…Bargain Dash ice cream. Yum. Which Hijikata's mom bought for me. Argh! Don't think of him!

Okay, cool it, Tae. It's not like you've never seen guys without shirts before. The guys are basically shirtless during the sports festival. You've seen shirtless guys.

Well, yeah, but Hijikata shirtless is-

"Oi. What are you doing pacing around?"

Tae jumped (again) and turned to glare at a smirking Hijikata. Who looked like he was enjoying himself way too much for her comfort.

"I'm going to make iced tea," Hijikata stated, and left her to her pacing.

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Hijikata couldn't help grin to himself as he spooned ice cubes into a jug.

She always acts tough, but at the end of the day she's just a normal chick. Sort of.

Tae suddenly appeared at his elbow, nearly causing him to drop the container of ice cubes. "I'll help," she muttered.

"I'm fine. Just go and sit down."

"I said I'll help," Tae growled.

Hijikata sweatdropped. "Alright, alright. Just….dry those glasses."

Just at that moment, the sound of a key turned into the lock. "Tadaima."

"Okaeri," Hijikata replied.

Tae set down the glass she had been holding and rushed out to greet his mother.

Hijikata shuddered at the thought of Tae and his mother becoming best of friends.

"Toushirou, why don't you go up and get started studying? I'll bring up the snacks," his mother said as she entered the kitchen, Tae behind her helpfully carrying her grocery bags.

"I'm almost done-"

"You haven't even gotten the iced tea made yet. Go on."

"Haaai."

"Oh, and you'll be studying in your room, yes? I want to watch TV."

"Hai, hai."

"Don't try anything funny."

"Okaa-chan!" Hijikata protested as Tae giggled. Why the hell is she giggling? Hijikata fumed. And anyway, she'd totally beat anybody up if they so much as laid a finger on her.

"Thanks for helping with the bags dear. Study hard!"

Hijikata rolled his eyes and left the kitchen, Tae following close behind. He picked up his bag which he had dumped in the hallway. "Where's yours?"

"Oh, it's over there." Tae headed to the living room and took her own bag.

They trooped upstairs to Hijikata's bedroom in silence.

"Make yourself comfortable," Hijikata mumbled, gesturing towards the tiny table beside his bed.

Tae chose the cushion that was right next to his bed, so that she could lean against it. Hijikata sat down on her left. "So what do you need to review?"

"Everything on the last test." Tae extricated her last test from her school bag and pushed it towards Hijikata.

"Whoa, you seriously flunked," Hijikata remarked. "I think even Kondo-san did better than you."

Tae made to throw her textbook at him.

"Put it down, I'm no use unconscious."

Tae glowered, but put the book down.

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"No, but remember, every force has a …" Hijikata trailed off and stared suspiciously at Tae, whose eyes had glazed over. "Oi, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Tae snapped back to attention. "Yes?"

Hijikata sighed. "Let's take a break."

Tae immediately plonked her head down to the table, which Hijikata thought was rather rude, given as she was the one who had asked for help. Still, he let it go and got to his feet, picking up the empty glasses off the table.

"You know where the toilet is, right?" Hijikata asked as he put the glasses back on the tray his mother had left on his desk.

Tae simply raised her hand in an "OK" sign.

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When Hijikata returned, after spending time arguing with his mother over what he wanted to eat for dinner and a leisurely toilet break, he was not surprised to see Tae now asleep, her head resting on her arm on his bed.

Hijikata too, looked longingly at his bed, but decided that it would be too difficult to explain to his mother as Tae's head and arm was already there. Instead, he settled for resting against his bed, making sure to be at least 2 feet away from the sleeping Tae.

Yawning, Hijikata rifled through his schoolbag and took out his Math homework.

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Hijikata's eyes flew open.

Crap, I fell asleep.

He tried to move to a less uncomfortable position, and then realised that something was on his shoulder.

He turned his head, felt something tickling his cheek, and sweatdropped.

Great, she's fallen asleep on my shoulder.

tbc

A/N: Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

I know HijiTae shippers are fairly uncommon. GinTae is more common, as is GinTsu and even KonTae *gag*. There's really only one reason I love them so much together. I love Tae and I just want her to end up with the most eligible bachelor. Apart from random HijiTae moments like Togorou, he'd be able to eat her cooking by dousing it with mayonnaise. I know Kondo loves her but I am do not want! I refuse to accept that she would love his hairy ass and all! Nevarrrrrrrr!

Anyway, I'm in the mood to escape reality (aren't we all), so you'll be hearing from me soon. I can't believe it's coming to almost a decade since I started writing this. Gahahaa.