My throat hurt so bad. Cold, winter wind burned at it as I ran to school. The mornings were beginning to start late-which is why I thought I'd woken up just in time, but sadly, I was mistaken. I had forgotten to set up my alarm, and my body tends to wake up by itself the moment the sun rises. You can guess what happened after that.

So now, I was running like my life depended on it. The first bell of the school began to ring; I picked up my pace. As I got closer, I could see the stupid gate watchers beginning to close the gate. Just as the gate closed half way, I managed to slip in.

"Better hurry up, four eyes! You're late!" they sneered at me.

Ignoring them, I ran to class.

Once again, what's the point on running to school when you know you're going to be late? That, and-considering all the skipping I've done and my torn uniform (which I'd forgotten to sew back)-coming to class only to be given three days of detention?

Geez, I seriously need to sew this sleeve.

As of now, I was in my usual detention classroom. It was a lonely room really. Nobody but me and Ms. Oregano. Since I was a 'regular' but 'minor delinquent', I've been given my own room for my daily confinements. Seeing that I'm a regular, teachers didn't want to waste their time keeping watch on me, so they settled on poor Ms. Oregano. She was a substitute for this school; a rookie at teaching.

"So, what'd you do this time?" she asked, putting aside her novel.

I shrugged, "The usual: skipping. Oh,"-I picked up my torn sleeve-"and this."

She raised an eyebrow, "How'd that happen?"

"Some idiot yanked at my sleeve," I told her. Idiot? More like jackass.

"They must've had some strength to have torn it that bad," she'd walked towards me and picked up my sleeve, examining it. "I could patch it up for you, if you want."

I nodded. "Fine by me." I removed the green jacket and handed it to her.

"This'll be a good way to pass time," she added as she walked back to the desk.

I took my seat by the window and read a book; not that it caught my interest. I could've been finishing my late assignments, but the teacher had decided to hand them to me after my detention.

I sigh. Man, what a pain...

I ended up falling asleep soon after.

. . .

A faint but noticeable sound woke me up. It was the sound of trash cans crashing onto the floor. Then I could hear shouting.

"Get back here you ungrateful twit!" a man growled.

"Not a chance officer!" a boy sneered...aw geez. Really?

I took my chances and got up from the desk. I noticed that Ms. Oregano had fallen asleep from behind her book. Looking out the window, I saw the commotion going on outside. An eye twitched in annoyance when I saw the spiky hair of the blond's.

He was tipping trash cans and anything else in his way as he ran away from-gulp-Officer Hibari. What is he, crazy? He's got some serious guts...

I looked behind me, to Ms. Oregano; she was sound asleep. I saw my jacket hanging by the coat racket. Mind as well leave it there. I focused my attention back to the window. I removed the latches of the window and slid it open. Very carefully, I stepped out onto the thin ledge. I took a breath and jumped down onto the school's brick wall. I landed perfectly, even though I was up a two stories.

I got off the brick wall and started at the street. Quickly, I headed towards where I'd last seen the chase take off. A turn here and there later, I heard the blond shout cussing out at the officer. As I was about to turn left, I immediately screeched to a halt and ran back over to a post box and hid. I could hear consistent steps of Officer Hibari as he walked by the postbox; amazingly not turning to the street I'm on but onto the next street. I waited a couple more minutes before heading back to the street I'd been heading to. Up ahead, there was a dead-end and a few trash bags. A patch of spiky, blond hair was sticking out from underneath the dump. I stood there, admiring the comical scene, before bending over to pick up a stick. I gave the patch a light poke and continued poking it every second. Finally, the patch quivered and lifted out.

"Oi! Who the hell do you think you're poking at? Hu-eh?" the blond's mad face was replaced with a dumbfound expression.

"Yo," I greeted.

"Oh hey. Aren't you supposed to be at school?" he asked as he got himself out of the dump.

"I'm skipping," I answer. Did he seriously have to ask about school?

"That's obvious," the blond flicked off any trash on him and dusted himself off.

"Then why ask?" I sigh.

The blond suddenly grinned and said, "Hey, remember those two favors?"

I nodded, a little nervous.

"I just came up with one."

I waited for him to tell me the favor. I'd forgotten that two days ago, I promised him two favors for saving my life twice.

He grinned wider. "You might want to sit down first."

Confused, I did as told.

Boy was I glad I sat down; for the next thing he'd told me, was something that would knock anyone off their feet.

The only thing I could reply with was, "Are you crazy?"

He only laughed.

. . .

That crazy bastard, he's lost his mind!...Though I should be saying that to myself. What am I doing? Oh...I'm paying a favor. Tch, great. Just great.

I sitting on a tree branch, about ten feet off the floor. I waited for the signal. The signal was actually a person. 'The person', was an officer. The 'officer', was none other than the freakishly feared, Hibari.

I sigh, "This is definitely not the way I thought I would die."

A loud crash echoed throughout the empty neighborhood. I heard someone whooping and chortling with laughter. Soon after I heard that, the blond came rushing past the street, holding up a thumbs-up. My hand trembled as I flung a banana peel at the center of the street. I instantly huddled in the branch, bracing for whatever the outcome.

Looking out to where the blond came from, I saw Officer Hibari running closer to the street. He had his killer tonfas out, and a strong scowl embedded on his face. He looked ready to murder some one-and that some one would be-

He neared the street. I don't think-no. No, he didn't. He didn't see the banana peel, because he stepped right on it and slipped. His legs flew out and his arms flailed. A loud thump resounded in my ears as his butt made contact on the ground.

I was horrified when a small stifle of laughter made it past my lips; I immediately cupped my mouth, but it was too late.

He heard me.

His head jerked towards the tree where I was hiding. Remember when I said he looked ready to murder someone? Yeah, well now he actually did look ready to murder someone. Right away, before he stood up, I jumped out of the tree and ran like my life depended on it-literally.

I could hear him running after me, the air around me was heavy. I begged for my legs to move faster, and gasped for more air. I could've started choking from the cold air, but I forced myself not to. I tried to shake this guy off my tail, but he kept close. I would take a sudden turn or climbed over a fence, but nothing would work; I even copied the blond by swatting the trash cans down. This guy really wanted to kill me.

The chase had led me to the abandoned warehouses. I almost tripped a couple of times but managed to get up in time; though I was lucky when he tripped also. This place had lots of dead-ends, and I did get trapped in them. Somehow though, my scaling talents kicked in at the nick of time and I would find myself on top of a weary warehouse. Somehow though, he too would be up there; and he would relentlessly keep coming after me. This guy is not human.

My stamina was wearing down and my legs were getting heavy. At the last minute, I was able to stall him by bringing down a shelf of broken pipes. I knew he'd quickly get back on track, so I kept running. A small yelp escaped my lips when something grabbed and pulled me into a crack of a warehouse. I struggled a little but was shushed to be quiet. Officer Hibari ran past the crack without stopping.

. . .

"Whew, that was close."

I shook off the person's arms and got out of the crack. It was the blond, and he was grinning like crazy.

"And look! You're alive!" he gave me a thumbs-up. "Good job!" he congratulated.

My only response was a long stare.

He noticed this and frowned. "What?"

That set me off.

"What do you mean 'what'? I was nearly killed because of you! Are you crazy or something? He's probably gonna come after me tomorrow! All thanks to you!"

He snorted.

"What's so funny?" I was really pissed right now.

He bit his lip to stop smile, failing. "I didn't think you'd react like this. Heh."

It was then that I realized I was clutching his collar and had raised him up a little. I sighed and calmed down. "Sorry." I said while slowly releasing him.

He patted my head. "It's fine, Four Eyes," he said.

I shook my head and started walking home.

The blond followed me. "Where're you going now?"

"Shower."

"Why?"

"Because I'm all sweaty."

"You don't look sweaty."

"Well I am."

"You are?"

"Yes."

"You're a weird guy," he started laughing.

I waited for him to stop and was about to ask him something, but he asked it first.

"I just realized something," he looked at me.

"What?"

"We don't know each other's name."

"Kakimoto Chikusa," I answered.

"Joshima Ken. Chikusa, huh?"

I nodded.

"Hmm," he put a finger to his lips and wore a thinking face.

"What is it?"

"You're names too boring," he replied, still with a thinking face.

We continued walking in silence until he spoke.

"Hey, Kakipi."

"What?" I deadpanned. I can not believe I responded to that. "What did you call me?"

He beamed at me, showing his teeth. "'Kakipi'. That's your new nickname."

I sighed, "Whatever."

He went on talking about how he came up with it; not that I cared or anything. Although-I can not believe myself for saying this-'Kakipi' fits me, in a way.

This day was not a necessarily horrible one, but it was unpleasant. Well, the good thing is that we now know each other's names.

Hopefully the next favor won't be so crazy.