A/N: I failed telling you guys that their school's a dormitory school, so yeah. Oh! And also that their ages and the dates are different from the original series. It's AU after all—I can do whatever the hell I want to with it! Oh! And I change my mind about this story not containing Digimon. I need some way of putting action and plot into it. :P

P.S. If anyone could tell me the name of their school please? Thank you :D

P.P.S. And also, if anyone could help me with the conventions of –kun, -san, -sempai et cetera, it would be great. Thanks!

P.P.P.S. Waaah, I also had to steal a few favorite characters of mine from a certain manga that I'm sure you'd recognize. I'll disclaim them the moment someone points them out. That would be Daisuke's best bud and Takeru's new sempai.

A Friend

The school knew Daisuke-kun as a cold-hearted person. Everyone seemed to know about Dai-kun's abused past, and no one was too keen on getting too close to him. No one has really gotten to that status with Daisuke-kun, Ruka-kun the only exception. They seem to have been friends before entering this school. It was strange to everyone how Ruka-kun could befriend such a loudmouth and mischievous Daisuke, when he himself was quite the opposite.

Ever the quiet and taciturn Ruka-kun, he never talks Daisuke out of his latest and most diabolical plans, because Ruka knows that this way is the only one Daisuke knows of getting revenge at the school.

But lately Ruka-kun has been on the edge of acting up, especially when the new boy Takeru had been receiving Daisuke's end of spite.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Takeru liked the food they had at their school. He liked the curriculum and facilities. He liked Hikari-kun and Miyako-kun. He certainly did not, by any means or aspects, like Motomiya Daisuke.

Takeru was trained (forced to learn) high tolerance of anything that can be considered a waste of time, and anything considered to be an obstacle to his goal. Despite that, Daisuke-kun has been strumming every raw nerve Takeru has for patience. Most of the time it was irritating, but there were also times that Daisuke-kun pushed past the private boundaries Takeru had, and had physically hurt him.

There was that one occasion at the end of lunch when Daisuke-kun was poised to fling a glob of mashed potatoes towards Takeru for no apparent reason. Hikari-kun warned Daisuke by threatening to tell a teacher. Daisuke-kun shrugged it off.

"I'm warning you, Dai! Mr Tachibana's gonna have your head the moment those potatoes take to the air!"

Daisuke-kun scoffed and then he smirked. "As if I would care what any of the adults here think! They'd never get rid of me anyway," he said, casually placing peas onto his mashed-potato-catapult spoon. The boy next to him, awfully close to Daisuke-kun compared to others, eyed him disapprovingly. Takeru was watching the exchange of words with horrified anticipation. His almost empty plate has long been forgotten.

Hikari-kun turned to Takeru with sympathy. "You should get out of here quick, before he does anything," she muttered. Takeru's head jerked in hasty agreement, and, flushed, stood up and briskly walked away.

Ten steps and sticky, gooey stuff smacked onto the back of his head. The student body laughed without consideration, all except Hikari-kun, Miyako-kun and the boy.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The next class period found Takeru crying in one of the bathrooms. He had removed most of the mashed potatoes and peas from his hair, but he still felt sick and disgusted. The whole school laughed at him without any empathy, and now Takeru couldn't help feeling empty and downhearted. He had thought by then his infamy would go down, but no, Daisuke-kun had to pick at him. Why him, anyway? Was it because he was new and a smart-ass, like he refered?

Takeru pricked himself when he reached for the kerchief he had in his pocket. His index finger was bleeding. He dug in more carefully and found the razor Daisuke threatened him with earlier that day. He stared dazedly at the wound for a while and reveled at the slowly flowing blood. It somehow made him feel calmer and more conscious. It…made the pain real.

His eyes looked dead as he looked at himself at the mirror, raising the blade and positioning it on his right arm. The metallic sheen barely touched Takeru's skin's pale glow. Soon enough, he had closed his eyes, which were at the brink of tears, and blindly dug the razor in.

He felt only a second of pain before his left arm was forcibly yanked away.

When his eyes jolted open he was face to face with a tall person leaning down, his face firm and irate. He was wearing the same school uniform, with slightly a different style--it was halfway unbuttoned and the undershirt was untucked at the side. Round, purple eyes met his blue ones, and the black strands of hair sticking out of the purple bonnet he was wearing was tickling Takeru's cheeks slightly. There was a purely black star etched under his right (the guy's left) eye.

The guy was still holding onto Takeru's razor-wielding arm.

"You--"he prodded Takeru's forehead with a finger"--should not, under any circumstance kill yourself! Got that?"

Takeru took a few dumbfounded seconds of silence before weakly nodding, at which point the guy had removed the razor from his hand and thrown it into a nearby receptacle.

He then swiftly returned to Takeru and swept him into a bear hug. "Kids these days," the older teen said," They should be taught proper resiliency."

He then placed both his hands onto Takeru's shoulders and held him at arm's length. He smirked and then patted Takeru's clump of hair before saying, "Now tell me what happened, suicidal brat."

Takeru found his voice then. "S-suicidal!? I'm -not- suicidal!"

The guy's face teemed with worry. He grabbed Takeru's right arm and showed the wound. "Exhibit A," he said. He then went to the receptacle and fished out the razor, naming it 'Exhibit B' before throwing it back in again. "Now, c'mon. Let's...take a walk or somethin'."

Takeru got the guy's point. He should have contemplated what he was about to do at the time. Despite Daisuke's tactless approach, he should not have even thought of doing that. A sudden feeling of combined guilt and stupidity washed over him, and it wasn't a good combination.

Tsubasa, who was internally having second thoughts whether to take the boy to his dormitory and comfort him there, was examining Takeru's sad features, when Takeru began to cry again. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Tsubasa became panicky and didn't know what to do.

"H-hey, don't cry! Look what I can do!" And he ran through the hall, did a somersault, and ended up standing on his hands. He then felt them weaken ad give up, and found himself collapsing, a heap on the floor. Takeru stared another second before launching himself into a fit of giggles.

"Owie," Tsubasa said, rubbing his bum. Takeru drew near and helped the teen up.

"You didn't have to hurt yourself like that," said Takeru, chuckling between words. Tsubasa huffed and stood up, puffing his chest to remain dignified.

"Well it made you happy didn't it?" Tsubasa countered, sulking. Happy to be somehow aware of himself again Takeru brightened up and grinned.

"Thank you,...erm,"

"Tsubasa's the name," he replied cheekily and then grinned with painted cheeks.

"Thank you Tsubasa-sempai."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"So why were you out during classes?" Takeru asked as they lounged on one of the stone benches surrounding the school area. Tsubasa looked at Takeru for a while, at loss of words.

God those eyes...and that beautiful clump of hair... he mentally shook himself off that train of thought and returned his focus to the real world. He clawed his eyes of the sticky gaze he was giving Takeru and looked at the beautiful canaries and blue jays on the nearby tree instead. Those golden birds....same as Takeru's hair...and those sea blue plumage...like Takeru's striking eyes...

"Err, I always cut class when I feel like it," he replied offhandedly. He pointedly avoided looking at Takeru's direction. Takeru deliberated the answer and shrugged.

"Yeah but, you know that's something wrong to do right?" Takeru said, closing his eyes. His body was spread on the stone bench and he was breathing in the fresh breeze that swept through the campus.

"Hey, if I hadn't snuck out today, you would've been found dead with potatoes on your hair, wouldn't you?"

Takeru sighed. He was right. And Takeru was grateful for that.

"That's true," he muttered. He took a glance at Tsubasa's direction and found the older teen with two dead leaves up his nose. Takeru immediately burst out laughing. Tsubasa grinned wide and laughed with him. Somehow, his newfound sempai made the school less hellish for him.

"And now, you owe me."

Takeru stopped laughing and looked at Tsubasa with surprise. Tsubasa's eyes were staring rather uncomfortably at him and his position told Takeru that Tsubasa was going to pounce.

"What do you mean?" Takeru asked tentatively. Tsubasa stood up and approached Takeru slowly. His eyes were more or less predatorial now.

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that..." Tsubasa mumbled darkly. Takeru was getting nervous now. The voice and the hungry expression told him may suggestive instances of what Tsubasa might want with him. When Tsubasa had finally reached Takeru, he was hovering over the boy, his shadow cast over the teen.

His eyes glimmered, and then, just when he was face to face with Takeru--

he poked Takeru's forehead and grinned.

"You're gonna eat with me for a month, Takeru-kun!" he exclaimed, before howling with laughter at Takeru's horrified expression.

"You...you meanie!" Takeru pouted, and Tsubasa patted him on the head.

"And you, brat, are going to eat with me for the whole of October!" Takeru stuck his tongue out and crossed his arms. Then he realized that they were only halfway through September.

"October!? But this month isn't even over yet!" he whined. Tsubasa stopped himself from staggering over that cute whine. Instead, he held himself firm and answered firmly.

"Then you'll still be eating with me 'til then!" Tsubasa exclaimed jovially. Takeru knew there was no escape to this ridiculous request. Why that request anyway? What's so special about eating with him?

"Meanie."

"Brat."

After that, the bell rang, signalling the end of the last class of the day, and dinner. Both of them walked towards the dining hall with Tsubasa playfully prodding Takeru's sides, tickling him, and also playing with Takeru's shiny hair. He has grown very fond of Takeru-kun, and somehow he had developed a soft spot for the adorable teen.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Takeru was really happy to have his first sempai at the school. Tsubasa was awfully entertaining, yet quite mature and wise. While walking towards the dining hall (which was at the other side of school) Tsubasa took the time to give Takeru the grand tour of their school. He knew of the art that surrounded the school grounds, such as the 'Promenade of Our Ladies' situated in front of the school, a statue of Saint Cecilia and Saint Barbara(*) holding a harp, and a square and compass, respectively, the astounding clover archs that opened everywhere, the large ornate oak doors that used knockers and handles instead of doorknobs, and also the intricate weaves of marble spread over the ares of every ceiling and wall.

They also passed the many music rooms where, despite the bell, students still played to their heart's contentment. His new sempai told him of odd, scary stories surrounding the school, such as the headless priest and white bear(*), but he always twisted them around so that they came out as hilarious instead of terrifying.

They passed the dormitories next, where Tsubasa pointed to his dorm room, three floors up the east building. Takeru was amused of the fact that there were eccentric clothes hanging on the balcony, and that there was a big potted cactus obtrusing the pathway towards the other rooms. He guessed they were unoccupied, because both of their facade looked empty and devoid of boarders.

The tour of the dormitory buildings made Takeru think of which room their teacher was going to assign them.

A/N: Ah yeah! Don't be miffed if you found out where my the two characters came from! R&R!

P.S. I didn't proofread this. Soweeee!