AN: I agree with my reviewers. It is really hard to continue a story after leaving it for months. Hopefully this chapter is more in line...beats it with a whip! I'm glad I got this out before Thanksgiving! Consider it my turkey gift to you…or cranberry sauce. Whichever floats your gravy boat!

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"Ready, Set, Go!"

chapter 5

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Ha ha! You can't catch me, Deki-chan!

The voice of his older sister echoed in his mind every time he ran. Sato Hideki remembered her in the backyard, her feet so graceful that the tips of the grass seemed to support her like a feather. Her taunts were light and playful, but he was impudent and easily angered. She was only fifteen, her manners innocent and often impetuous. When she had taken his favorite baseball, he had chased her around the yard like a wild dog.

Finally she turned with a severe expression as if she realized how old she was and how silly their game had been.

All he could say was, "Don't call me Deki-chan."

And she smiled prettily as her long hair was caught up in a gentle breeze.

"Sato's in la-la land again. Hey, Deki-chan, wake up!" Sato turned from the window to see his friends poking him with a pencil He rolled his eyes and got out his English text book. Daydreaming wasn't a habit of his, but when he did it, he did it well. Class was about to start so the students were getting in that vital last bit of gossip and idle chatter. Someone's voice caught his ear. Pretty and light...so much like his sister's had been. Her laughter made him turn quickly. Ah, Yamada Ai. But she was talking to Kudo Kazahaya, who was much more attractive than Sato ever hoped to be.

Sato looked at his legs and frowned. His body felt like it had been split in half, so disjointed and irregular. Feelings of suicide had come and gone, feelings of guilt and utter remorse. Hate had been there as well, but it had faded to be replaced by acceptance. Still, it was hard not to miss what he had once been physically.

At least he could enjoy being alive...

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"I said...one cup! Not two! Kudo start over!"

"But you said two!"

"I said one."

And then Kazahaya said the thing that permanently solidified his status as the kid who couldn't control his temper.

"You...you're a HORRIBLE teacher!"

A collective gasp echoed in the cooking lab.

Someone dropped a glass measuring cup.

"Kudo-kun..." Someone whispered.

Himura-sensei, or as Kazahaya knew him, "asshole," smirked at his student's lack of propriety in the classroom. The students who had already prepared their batch of cookie dough held their tongues. Something was amiss between their teacher and the prettiest boy in the whole school. They had all clearly heard Himura-sensei call for two cups of flour and as he appraised their work quietly, student to student, each beamed in pride that their teacher actually approved of their food.

It wasn't that they cared that they could make a good batch of cookies, but it just so happened that the previous home economics teacher hated everything they cooked.

To call Himura-sensei on his obvious mistake would single them out like poor Kudo-kun. Forced to start over under sensei's brooding presence, Kazahaya used one cup of flour instead of two. His cookies came out flat and stiff while the other students presented their perfect cookies to Rikuo.

Yamada Ai blushed when he praised hers the best above all the others. When the last bell signaled their release, Rikuo ordered Kazahaya to sweep and clean all the dishes as punishment for his obstinate behavior. When everyone was gone, Kazahaya started to say his piece as he grabbed a broom but was interrupted when Yamada came back into the class and bowed lowly.

She said shakily without making eye-contact, "Himura-sensei..."

"Yeah?"

"Um...I-I..." She looked up finally and met Rikuo's dark green-hazel eyes. Swallowing and forcing out the sentence, "IheardyoutellKudokuntoputtwocups!" She bowed again and looked to Kazahaya for reassurance that what she had done was the right thing (even thought she was scared witless).

"What?" Rikuo asked confused. Kazahaya sucked in a breath and nodded at Yamada behind Rikuo's back. She smiled slightly and turned more boldly to her teacher.

"I heard you...you did tell him, and all of us, to put in two cups of flour, Himura-sensei. I-I don't think that it's right that you...lied!" Rikuo was incredibly surprised, so much so that he whipped around and gave Kazahaya a peculiar glare that was neither angry nor apologetic; the other boy withered under the stare as he held his broom. The crumbs and splashes of milk and water on the floor made good distractions from that strange look.

Yamada did not wait for a response and she was quickly gone with another bow.

Kazahaya thought that he would definitely get it from Rikuo, but all he got was an amused smirk.

"You're making a lot of friends." He tugged the broom from Kazahaya's hands and nodded towards the door.

"Get out of here. You'll be late for practice." Kazahaya opened his mouth to say something, but it was lost before his tongue could even move.

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What were Rikuo's motives in playing such juvenile games?

The answers were coming slowly as the weeks passed. After the incident with the cookies, Kazahaya was forced to clean the cooking lab almost every other day for no reason. Sometimes they would cook something especially messy, in which Kazahaya found himself on the floor scrubbing dried spaghetti sauce--Rikuo, of course, could be found watching smugly with his feet propped on the desk.

Kazahaya scowled and scrubbed harder when he saw that Rikuo's eyes were on him. What did he think he was, a slave? Students were supposed to help clean, but not to this extent, so said Yamada. Her face from the bleachers was becoming a constant while running his laps; it was a usual sight to see her skipping towards him after he finished, yet today her gait was slow and she seemed almost melancholy. He wanted to ask why she looked so sad, but she instantly averted his questions by bringing up Himura-sensei...of course.

"I think sensei likes you." She smiled at him sadly after saying it, as if it were a tragedy.

Kazahaya scoffed at that as they walked back to the school. He had to grab his stuff from the locker room.

"Yeah, right. If he likes me he wouldn't be so mean!"

"No, that's not what I mean, Kaza-chan." She grinned broadly at her new name for him. "He picks on you more than everyone and he makes you stay after class."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

Yamada smiled sadly again. "It's his way of getting your attention. I liked to think that he complimented my food because he liked me, but he only says it quickly like he has to say it, you know? Ha! What did I just say? I think I admitted that I like Himura-sensei!"

Kazahaya laughed nervously as they entered the school, "I think we all know you like him, Ai."

In truth, it was a well known fact that Yamada Ai had a crush on Himura-sensei...along with every single girl in the whole school, but because Kazahaya was friends with her, he felt her nervousness and sadness more strongly, for he knew her feelings would not be returned.

Or would they?

What if Yamada confessed her love to the bastard and he reciprocated? What if they joined forces and tried to destroy him?!

Kazahaya turned to his friend before entering the locker room. Here they would part, but he wanted to leave one last piece of (melodramatic) advice to his naive friend. Catching her by the shoulders, he said, "Don't let him pull you into his twisted mind! Fight him! And for goodness sake, don't fall in love with him...please?"

"Ah, but he's so nice and handsome...stop shaking me, Kaza."

"Sorry." He released his emotional death-grip. "But, he's such an asshole!"

"Who's an asshole?" The men's locker room door swung open and Yamada's beloved sensei stepped out. She could only muster a hello before running away without saying good-bye to her friend. Kazahaya groaned and faced his nightmare.

"What were you doing in there?"

"Waiting for you. What took you so long?"

"None of your business...asshole."

"Whatever. Here." Rikuo handed Kazahaya a note from Kakei.

"An offer for a side job. Gah, I'm so tired. I'm not taking it." Kazahaya thrust the note back into Rikuo's hands. He pushed him aside and entered the locker room.

"That's the first job you've turned down," Rikuo said as he followed. "I thought you needed the money."

"I do, but this is too much. I have to work today, too. That means I'd have to work and then do my homework then do a job? I'll never get any sleep. I already feel overloaded with the homework. I dread it more than anything." Rikuo threw his arm around Kazahaya's shoulder and gave him a friendly squeeze. Kazahaya didn't say anything; rather, the warmth and the strong body to lean against felt nice.

"It'll be alright. Besides, now you know how I felt when I went to school."

Kazahaya grinned evilly. "So...just what kind of high school student were you, Himura-sensei?"

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tbc.