Ah, the third chapter! Hmm, I got one comment asking where the romance is in the story. It's coming up.

Chapter 3: Mr. Kimura's House

"Why isn't he moving?" Kaori grumbled to herself.

She was crouched down between Yomi and Chiyo, peaking through a bush at her target, Mr. Kimura. Sakaki was sitting against a concrete pillar relaxing and waiting for Kaori the give the next command.

"How long is he going to stay here? It's been a half hour." Kaori scowled impatiently.

"Maybe he knows that we're trying ta follow I'im home." Osaka suggested.

"I don't think so. I think he is just a pervert." Kaori responded.

Suddenly, Kaori caught eye of a stone flying through the air. It was headed toward the target. It barely missed him and landed next to his foot. Kimura bent down and picked the stone off the ground then looked around confused.

"Did somebody drop this?" he asked.

With no response he set it back down and continued watching the swim team as they gracefully practiced in the pool.

"What in the world is wrong with you, Tomo" Kaori shrieked as she rattled the girl by her shoulders.

Tomo smiled as she was shook and responded, "I just thought he might get frightened and head home if I hit him."

"He isn't a wild animal! Rocks won't frighten him!"

"My bad." Tomo admitted, still smiling, and Kaori let go of her.

She spread the bushes apart with her hands to continue watching the man hoping that he would make a move. Nobody had any idea that Kimura spent so much time watching the swim team after school. Kaori had been looking forward to following him home since Osaka thought of the plan, but it was quickly becoming a failure.

"This is dull." Yomi yawned.

"At least we know he will leave when the swim meet is over." Chiyo encouraged everybody.

"That's true, but when will it end?"

"I'll ask." Osaka offered.

She stood up and cupped her hands around her mouth ,"Kagura!" she whispered in a loud tone, "Kagura!"

Kagura didn't respond. Osaka tried a little harder to get her attention, "Kagura!" she yelled.

Everybody on the swim team looked over in the direction from which Osaka's shouts were coming. They didn't see anything. Kaori had already yanked down Osaka before she blew their cover.

"You can't yell like that! Kimura might find us here."

"Sorry, Kaorin."

"Never mind it."

"Kaorin seems a little stressed out about this." Yomi whispered to Chiyo.

Chiyo nodded in agreement.

Then, from behind the, a voice questioned their doing.

"What are you girls doing here, shouting like that?" Miss Kurosawa asked in a firm voice.

"Huh?!" Kaori gasped, "It's all over!" She thought.

Then, Miss Kurosawa's attention shifted to another target. "What are you doing here, Mr. Kimura?! How many times have I told you…grr, just all of you, go home! School is out! Enjoy yourselves at home not outside the gates of the pool."

"I'm sorry, Miss Kurosawa!" Kimura yelled as he jogged away.

Everybody fled the outskirts of the pool gates onto the sidewalk. Their cover was blown. Kimura was right beside them staring at them.

"Did one of you drop this?" Kimura questioned holding out the stone Tomo threw.

Kaori slapped her forehead, and Tomo silently walked up and grabbed the stone from Kimura's hand, "Thank you, sir."

She placed the stone in her school bag and backed off.

"So, you girls like watching the swim meet, also?" Kimura asked.

He didn't get a direct answer, but he got a lot of mumbles and unfinished sentences.

"It brings back old memories." He blurted out with sigh.

"Memories?" Chiyo repeated.

"Yes, old ones."

"What kind?" Chiyo interrogated.

"I already told you, old ones."

"Old memories of what?"

"Of old things." Kimura answered.

"But you just said-"

"Just forget I said anything." Kimura interrupted, "I have to get home. See you girls in school tomorrow."

He walked off quickly without looking behind him.

"That was weird. Was he joking?" Kaori wondered.

"Let's follow the man!" Tomo exclaimed as she pointed to him.

"Yeah, let's go before he gets away." Kaorin ordered happily.

The girls silently followed Kimura as he journeyed to his house. They obscured themselves from sight with bushes, lamp posts or anything that could hide them. It was not easy because most the streets on the way to Kimura's house were bare except for the slim and practically useless lamp posts. In such a case they watched from behind a wall until he turned a corner and then make dash to his previous position to watch until he made another corner. Most of the stalking was done in this fashion. In about half an hour they found themselves watching their teacher enter his house. Everyone felt relieved to see the end of their mission.

"What do we do now?" Sakaki questioned Kaori.

"Now we go knock on his door and ask to speak with Mrs. Kimura." She explained.

"Oh, but…" Sakaki began, but didn't continue.

"What, Sakaki?"

"Well, wouldn't Mr. Kimura know that we followed him if we knock on his door this soon after he arrived home. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of following without him knowing."

Sakaki's words shot a bullet of realization straight into Kaori's brain, "What?! You mean…?! I can't believe it! We just follwed the man around for who know's how long-"

"It was 34 minutes." Tomo stated.

Kaori looked at Tomo angrily, "You are just trying to make me want to kill you."

Tomo smiled proudly.

"Anyway," Kaori continued, "Sakaki's right! There was no point in making ourselves unseen if he would have come to the conclusion we followed him home"

Everyone suddenly went silent trying to think of something to justify their work so that Kaori could calm down. The only problem was that they knew the work they did was pointless because, of all the teachers, Mr. Kimura would have no problem letting a group of girls follow him home. There was no doubt in anyone's minds that Kaori had come to the same conclusion and they didn't want to risk mentioning the facts to her. Well, at least the girls with common sense restrained mentioning it to her.

"Ya know," Tomo began, "We could have just asked to follow him home and spared ourselves the trouble."

Kaori's head shot in her direction. Her stressed filled eyes meet with Tomo's gleeful face. Tomo knew that what ever was about to happen would not be pleasant, but she couldn't control herself. For some reason she got a sense of joy upsetting Kaori. She wasn't sure exactly what it was that made Kaori so much fun annoy. It could have been the way the normally shy girl freaked out in such an extreme manner, or maybe the way she shrieked when she yelled in anger. Whatever the reason was, Tomo was anxious to see how far Kaori could be pushed before she exploded.

"or…"

"Don't say what I think you're going to say, Tomo!" Kaori commanded.

Tomo had a huge grin on her face. Yomi knew that Tomo would not stop what she had already begun and she could have stopped the crazy girl from making Kaori any more furious than she already was. Yomi, though, was looking forward to Tomo receiving the punishment she deserved.

"or...we could have just asked Mr. Kimura for directions to his house and saved the trouble of even walking with HIM to his house."

Kaori dropped her school bag to the ground and stood in place quietly. She glared at Tomo with fierce animosity. Her eyes were red and a bit a sweat drizzled down the side of her forehead of a bulging vein. Tomo's smiled quickly faded when as she looked back at the furious young girl. Such a reaction was not expected from Kaori or anybody for that fact. Yomi never gave Tomo angry looks like that, all she ever did was make a good comeback or hit her at most, but every second Tomo looked at that face she felt regret build. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a satisfied smirk on Yomi's face. Tomo now knew that she was in over her head. Yomi wasn't going to bail her out on this one. A smile like that meant Yomi was ready to sit back and watch whatever Kaori had in store. Tomo only knew one thing to do in this situation. She opened her mouth and let out one word.

"or…"

When the sound of Tomo's stupidity hi Kaori's ears she went mobile. Tomo had already begun running. She knew that if she wanted to milk the situation to it's fullest she would have to run as soon as she said her last word. Kaori chased Tomo with the intent to harm the source of all her annoyance. Yomi was nearly on the ground laughing at Tomo. Osaka and Chiyo watched unsure of whether to watch her take her punishment because she deserved it or to try and stop her attacker. Everybody was a bit surprised, though, that Kaori could react with such violent behavior. She always had seemed low key and benevolent, but Tomo did tend to bring out the worst in people at times.

"Yomi, help me! She wants to slit my throat!" Tomo yelled.

"I don't want to slit your throat, Tomo, I just want to kill you!" Kaori answered in place of Yomi.

Sakaki, in a split second decision, chased down Kaori and grabbed her by the arms. She successfully restrained and let Tomo free of her killer. Kaori immediately calmed down when she realized that she was being held by Sakaki. Tomo fell to her knees gasping for air. Nobody was harmed, only tired from running.

"Thanks…Saka…ki." Tomo panted.

"Are you ok, now?" Sakaki asked Kaori peacefully.

"I fine." Responded Kaori dreamily.

"She sure has a lot'a stamina." Osaka mention about Kaori.

"I won't argue with that." Chiyo agreed.

Yomi stood up firmly and adjusted her glasses with a smile.

"Wasn't that hilarious!" She laughed.

Osaka and Chiyo stared at her oddly.

"Ya have a weird sense of humor, Yomi." Replied Osaka.

"Hey, you know it was funny! Chiyo?"

Chiyo smiled sheepishly, unsure what to answer. Her kind nature didn't want to make Yomi feel alone with her sense of humor, but she didn't find it all that humorous. At most, the event was amusing enough to crack a smile.

"It was…entertaining."

Yomi blushed and lost her gleam, "You guys just don't know comedy." She muttered as she straightened her glasses again.

"So, Kaorin, what should we do?" Sakaki questioned.

Kaori sighed before answering, "I guess we should just knock on the door and talk with his wife. It would be a waste to just leave."

With a decision reached the group of girls walked up the short distance to the Kimura residence. The front door to the house seemed large and menacing, but not as large and menacing as Kimura did. Behind the door answers hid and Kaori was determined to find the no matter what the costs. Not even if one of them had to die, although she would not mind if it was Tomo who would perish. She began to think of the wondrous adventure ahead and what it would be like if Tomo did end up missing her head.

"Kaorin is slow!" Tomo shouted as she pushed the leader aside and knocked on the door herself.

"Hey, I'm not slow I was going to knock!" Kaori defended herself.

"No, you just stood there smiling like this." Tomo made a distorted face purposely to try and insult Kaori.

"I was just imagining what it would be like if you died."

"Ooh, little Kaorin has a mean streak in her." Tomo teased.

"Tomo, stop picking on Kaorin, she was nice enough to let you come along." Yomi gently scolded Tomo.

"Alright, fine. I'm sorry, babe."

"Babe?" Kaori repeated.

As soon as Tomo nodded to Kaori signifying that she actually did say "babe" to her. The front door swung open. Lucky it opened inwards; if anyone was to get hit by that speeding door they surely would have a broken nose.

"Who are you guys?" A small voice asked.

Everyone brought their attention person at the door. It wasn't Kimura and it wasn't his wife. It was a young girl with long, dark hair and a somewhat dull expression on her face. Tomo was shocked to see a young girl like that. She look awfully familiar. Tomo looked at her friends. She didn't look like Chiyo, though she short like Chiyo was. Then she looked at the only girl she knew with hair like that. A huge smile grew on her face.

"Hahahaha! This girl looks like Sakaki if she was little kid!" Tomo pointed at the girl who just stared at her as if she was some sort of moron.

Yomi took a look at the two and suddenly burst out in laughter. Tomo's comments always made her want to laugh, but she never did. The two laughed for a bit and everyone who was not laughing waited patiently for them to quiet down. Yomi was first to come to her senses. Then Tomo quickly grew bored of her own joke.

"So, who are you guys?"

Kaori spoke up, "Your name is Yuki, right?"

The young girl nodded.

"Ok, well, your father is our teacher and I just wanted to ask you mother a few questions."

"You do? What do you want to ask her?" Yuki interrogated.

"I was just going to ask her-"

The door slammed shut in front of them cutting Kaori off mid sentence. Then it swiftly opened again.

"Sorry, about that. I didn't mean to slam it shut on you."

"It's fine, but I was just going to ask you mother why-"

Again the door slammed shut. Yuki quickly opened it again.

"Nah, I lied. I did mean to slam in your face the first time, but this time it really was an accident. Please continue."

Kaori was beginning to get annoyed by the child's behavior. She was acting just like Tomo, "Alright, why does your father-"

The door was slammed shut by the young girl. This time it didn't open as fast, but it did open. Yuki wasn't the one who answered, though. This time it was Mrs. Kimura.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry about little Yuki's behavior. She does like to cause trouble sometimes."

"Mommy, I only did it because that girl was making fun of me." She pointed to Tomo.

Mrs. Kimura took a look at the girls standing in the entrance way, "I remember you guys, you're in my husband's class. I just saw you earlier today Kaori. Come inside, all of you. Takeshi will be so pleased to have visitors."

"Actually, Mrs. Kimura we where here to see you." Admitted Kaori.

"Oh?"

"I needed to ask you a question."

"Um, sure." Mrs. Kimura smiled.

"Truthfully, why does Mr. Kimura like me the most?"

"I already told you the answer to that, Kaori, because he thinks you are cute."

Kaori was surprised to hear the same answer again, "You're serious?!"

"Yup."

"Does he not like me the most because I'm not cute?" Tomo asked, but she wasn't joking around this time.

Kaori looked at her. She could see in her eyes that she had an idea.

"No, no, no, not at all. He likes Kaori just because…" Mrs. Kimura went silent.

Tomo smiled at Kaori. They knew that they had just gotten closer to an actual answer.

"Alright, girls. If you are really interested in knowing, then have seat in the living room." Mrs. Kimura gracefully directed them to the direction of the living room.

The girls walked in the house feeling a bit uncomfortable. Tomo did trick her into giving the answer. Sakaki was feeling guilty along with Chiyo. Mrs. Kimura walked into another room. Yuki stayed behind and followed the girl into the living room.

There were two large couch and a two large chairs set up neatly around a coffee table. All of them matched. A blanket was draped over the back of the couch. It was a perfect place to visit with company, very warm and comfortable. On the floor was a large expensive looking rug with an elaborate design. After everything Mrs. Yukari had told the about a teachers salary, they began to doubt her. The living room looked very expensive.

"You tricked my mommy." Yuki said as she plopped down into a chair.

"We're sorry, we didn't mean to." Sakaki apologized.

"Don't feel bad. I do it all the time. Heehee" the child giggled.

Tomo sat down in the chair next Yuki's. Sakaki and Chiyo continued to stand. They still felt like intruders in the home. Kaori andYomi had already sat down.

"Sakaki, why don't you sit down?" Kaori patted the empty area next to her.

"I guess." She fell right into Kaori's trap and took the seat next to her.

Kaori felt like melting in her seat, but she tried to keep her composure. Chiyo quickly took the seat on the sofa across from Kaori and the others, Osaka was sitting there already. A few minutes later Mrs. Kimura walked in holding a tray full of cookies. She set it down on the coffee table and took a seat next to Chiyo and Osaka.

"Please, get as comfortable as you can. Takeshi is upstairs working his computer. So, he won't be down."

"Thank you for the cookies ma'am." Sakaki said politely bowing.

"Don't worry about…hm, you look strangely like my daughter."

Yomi was about to burst out in laughter, but quickly covered her mouth. She made an unusual noise as she attempted to stop her laughter, "Sorry, I just remembered something funny."

"I see." Yuki said in a stern voice.

Mrs. Kimura did not understand what Yuki was getting at, but began speaking, "Ok, girls since you want to know the truth about why Takeshi likes Kaori, I will tell you, but you have to keep it to yourselves. It's a bit personal, but I don't mind telling you since are students of my husband."