Kaori sighed in relief. She was inside of the limo with her dog Ichiro lying on the seat beside her. As soon as she ran away from those suspicious men, she was soon found by her driver/guardian Masahiro at the entrance. "Dear miss, did you meet with Bunta-san?" the driver asked politely, looking at her from the mirror.

She shook her head slowly, looking a bit sad. "I wasn't because some guys came up to me and asked me my name…I got scared and ran off as soon as possible. I hope Bunta-kun isn't mad at me." She told him.

"I'm sure he'll understand you, dear miss. Let's go back to the mansion."

"Yes."

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the Ogawa Mansion. The blind girl felt the handle and pulled it, opening the door for herself. She got out slowly, assisted by Masahiro and went inside the house, greeted by the maids inside. "Miss Kaori, your friend Marui Bunta called just now. He says he wanted to talk to you." Ami, her personal maid, informed her.

Kaori nodded and said, "Please call him now. I would like to speak to him."

"Right away miss."

When she arrived in her room, the maid assisted her in sitting down on the bedside and took a cordless phone, dialling the self-proclaimed tensai's home number. In a short while, someone answered the phone. "Marui's residence, Bunta speaking. Who is this?"

Ami handed the phone gently on Kaori's hand and left the room briskly, giving her privacy. "It's me Bunta-kun, Kaori." She spoke.

"Kaori?! I didn't get to see you at the park!"

"I'm sorry…it's just that--"

"--some guys came to you and asked your name?" Marui's voice chuckled from the other line.

"Eh? How did you know that?" Kaori questioned him.

"Actually, the ones who talked to you are my teammates I've mentioned you way back from Junior High until now." He told her.

"Oh I see…so, why did you call me?"

"I almost forgot about it!" Marui said suddenly, earning a giggle from her. "I was thinking of introducing you to my teammates this week. Is that all right with you?"

"Really? That sounds really nice. How about this Thursday? Your practice ends early at that day, right?" she suggested.

"Thursday's good. Where do you want to meet up?"

"I don't mind anywhere. How about you?"

"How about the Jufuku-ji in Kamakura? We usually go there when were kids, right?"

Kaori's lips curved into a small smile. "Sure. What time?"

"Hmm…4:35pm. Is that alright with you?"

"Hai." She said happily.

"Hey Kaori-chan, you'd better listen to me closely on this one. I'm going to tell you bit of information about my teammates so that you'll be ready when I introduce them to you. There are eight of us in the team. We have a first year named Kirihara Akaya and he's a total idiot. He always sleeps in the bus and whines a lot since Junior High so if he tries to get to your good side, avoid him at all costs."

"O-okay…"

"Then there's Kuwahara Jackal. He's a good guy, really. Actually, he's the one I'm supposed to introduce to you moments ago. He's part Brazilian and you can be friends with him. And Yagyuu Hiroshi's a good guy too…he's always a gentleman around anyone, whether male or female but I still doubt his sexuality."

"Eh why?"

"Because he always hangs out with Niou Masaharu. Speaking of this guy, I'm telling you this and keep this in mind. Never let yourself be with him alone at all times. He's a total flirt and he likes to fool around with girls…He may sound kind but in fact he's a pervert. Be warned."

"I will…I guess." Kaori sweat dropped. It sounds like he's badmouthing almost everyone in the team except for Jackal-san.

"Next is Yanagi Renji and he's one of the sannin bakemono of our team. He likes to calculate things and most of the time he does not speak that much. He's an oddball if you ask me but you can be friends with him. Oh yeah, if you're with Sanada Genichirou, he's the fukubuchou of our team and man, he's damn strict! Sorry about that…"

"Oh it's okay…"

"Anyway, fukubuchou a total demon and he always frowns…actually, he looks like 30 years old! He always likes us to see us suffer and he bitch slaps us when we lose a game and he usually shouts 'Tarundarou!' when he caught us goofing off. I guess he's a nice guy but he's dead boring…he acts like an old man, really."

"I'm sure he's not that boring…"

"Okay lastly but not the least is Yukimura Seiichi and he's our buchou. He's really gentle and kind towards everyone and pretty much he's a overall good student since he's the student council president of our school and almost all of the girls in school go ga-ga over him…you can be friends with him if you like but seriously, the way he acts is likes he's a girl…I also doubt his sexuality…"

"I think you doubt all of their sexuality, Bunta-kun…" Kaori pointed out.

"And that's everyone! And I'm excited to meet you again though almost every week we actually meet each other but you know, you're my best friend and I promise to visit you since junior high, right?" Marui said finally, not hearing her at all.

"Yes. You're still kind to me…"

"So I'll tell the guys about it. See you on Thursday, Kaori-chan."

"See you too."

"So tell me why we're here again?" Akaya asked the redhead annoyingly.

Marui shot him a glare and answered, "Because you and the others promised to come with me and introduce yourselves to my best friend today and ask that question again for the 12th time and you're dead meat."

The first year rolled his eyes. "Right, as if you can."

Yukimura walked up to him behind and whispered kindly and at the same time threateningly to his ear, "You'd better behave yourself when you meet her or you'll suffer tomorrow's afternoon practice."

Akaya gulped and replied quickly, "Of course I'll behave buchou!"

They were at the Jufuku-ji at Kamakura and they arrived there 5 minutes early and they were waiting for the self-proclaimed tensai's friend to come. Two minutes after the meeting time, they heard a bark and footsteps from the stairs. "She's here!" Marui said brightly.

The whole team except Akaya noticed the changing mood of the redhead and noted that he had something with his best friend. "Aww Marui's like a five year-old…tell me, you a crush on her, don't you?" Niou teased him.

Marui flushed and glared at him but to no avail he just said quickly, "She's my best friend and the two of us haven't seen each other for quite a while!"

"So you're saying that you've been meeting her almost every week?" Hiroshi's asked him amusingly.

"S-shut up!"

He's obvious. His teammates thought to themselves.

Soon, they heard a female voice speaking. "31…32…33…34…35!" She finally arrived at the top, a smile on her lips. She held the golden retriever by a blue leash and the dog barked happily as it wagged its tail excitedly. She wore a violet and light violet stripped shirt, beige-coloured puff shorts and purple and white striped high leg socks that covered most of her legs, three inches apart from the shorts, and black shoes.

Ichiro looked up and saw Marui, barking.

"Ichiro! Come here boy!" Marui called the dog to him.

The dog complied and went to him, guiding Kaori at the same time.

"Good boy!" Marui grinned while petting him. "Kaori-chan, you arrived late."

"Eh? I'm sorry Bunta-kun." She said sadly.

The self-proclaimed tensai smirked. "I'm just joking. You arrived here two minutes after the meeting time…you're not that late. Anyway, you look great. Did Ami-san chose the clothes for you?"

Kaori nodded. "She did. Are you sure it looks okay with me?" She shyly asked.

"Of course. Anyway, we should let Ichiro roam around for a while. I'm going to introduce to you to my teammates." He held her hand and both of them walked together, Marui assisting her. "Ne minna, she's Ogawa Kaori and you'd better be kind to her. Especially you Niou." He told them.

"Yo/Pleasure to meet you/Ah/We meet again/So you're his friend/Hn/Nice to meet you, Kaori-san." They greeted at the same time.

Though she cannot see them, she bowed to them politely and greeted back, "My name is Ogawa Kaori and it's a pleasure to meet you, Bunta-kun's teammates."

"So you remember me, Ka-o-ri-chan." Niou smirked, taking her hand and shaking it gently.

"Umm…yes." Kaori said slowly, remembering what Marui told her few days ago.

"Hey stop that!" Marui said annoyingly, flared up.

"What's up with you? I'm just talking to her." The trickster said teasingly.

"Bunta-kun, it's okay…he didn't do anything bad like you said." Kaori said quietly.

The gentleman and the rest of the team heard her and asked, "What do you mean, Kaori-san?" Hiroshi asked her politely.

"W-well, Bunta-kun told me something about you guys one day when I talked to him few days ago…" Kaori trailed off.

Marui felt something bad was going to happen so he butted in and said quickly, "It's nothing special! I'm just telling her about you guys. Nothing bad about it, is there?"

Yanagi and Hiroshi glanced at each other and the data-expert said, "Of course there's nothing wrong about."

"So Kaori-san, what did Marui talked about us?" the gentleman said inquiringly.

"I'm going to tell you guys instead of her--"

"Bunta, let her." The Rikkai buchou gave him a I'll-punish-you-if-you-don't-keep-yourself-quiet look.

"W-well…he told me about Akaya-san…" she started.

"What about me?" Akaya perked up.

"He said that you're…umm…an…an…"

"What?! Tell me!"

"He said that you're a total idiot! He added that you whine a lot!" She answered quickly.

Everyone stared at her then to the self-proclaimed tensai who was shaking.

"Anything else?" the gentleman asked.

"Umm…Jackal-san's a good guy, he said. And Yagyuu-san's a gentleman and added that he doubted his sexuality because he always hangs out with Niou-san…and Niou-san's a natural pervert and that he should never be trusted at all times…then Yanagi-san's an odd person and Sanada-san's an old man. And then Yukimura-san's a good guy too but he said that he doubts his sexuality because of his actions…that's all." She told them.

Everyone stared at her again and turned their attention to Marui, shooting glares at him. "So I'm an idiot?" Akaya's voice shook.

"And I'm gay because Masaharu's with me most of the time?" the gentleman's glasses glint.

"A pervert, you say? So that's how you think about me huh?" the trickster said maliciously.

"I'm odd…? That's an overstatement, Bunta." Yanagi said quietly.

"Marui." Sanada glared at him.

"Is that how you think of me, Bunta? I never knew…" the Rikkai Budhou chuckled, a dark aura surrounding him.

"A-ah…it's not what you think…" Marui said shakily.

"At least he said that I'm a good guy." Jackal shrugged but everyone else ignored him for a while.

Kaori can tell that she said something that upset them so unconsciously she grabbed Yukimura's sleeves and tugged it a bit. Seiichi looked and gaze down at her, curious. "Please don't punish Bunta-kun…I know that not everything he told me is true and he only did that because he cares a lot for my safety so please don't." she said softly.

Surprisingly, his face softened and replied, "Ah. I promise." He faced the self proclaimed genius and said genuinely, "You're lucky today, Bunta. You should be thankful that Kaori-san is here, ne minna?"

"Buchou's right. You're just plain lucky this time." Niou hissed.

"Spread unsought information like that next time, you'll know what's going to happen to you." Hiroshi said sternly.

"And you won't like it." Akaya growled.

Marui pouted and then hugged the young girl tightly, "Kaori-chan you're such a life-saver! I'll never leave you ever again!" He said thankfully.

"You're embracing me too much…"

"Oi she can't breathe, Bunta." Jackal told him.

"Ah sorry Kaori-chan!" He quickly let go of her and blushed a bit. "Anyway, what do you want to do?" he asked her enthusiastically.

"I want Takoyaki for some reason…"

"There's a nearby stall. Want to go now, Kaori-chan?" Niou offered his hand to her.

She nodded. "Let's go…Niou-san, right?" she asked audibly.

"Ah. You guessed right." He then took her hand and both of them walked first.

Marui whistled hard and the dog returned. He tied the leash to Ichiro's collar and followed them, watching her best friend closely because of fear from the trickster's plans. The rest followed, feeling rather hungry as well. Seiichi, walking side by side with Yanagi and Sanada, glanced at Kaori who was having a good time talking to Niou, tried to remember a certain fleeting feeling he felt few moments ago but he can't seem to grasp it again. Sighing, he decided to forget about it and enjoyed everything that was going to happen.

Of course, he won't forget the thing Marui did so he thought of a good enough punishment for the regular. Chuckling, he finally thought of one.

Chapter four here! Marui's such a bad boy!

What do you think about the way he describes his teammates?! He's exaggerating them too much, don't you think? Well, I think he did it big time! Hmmm I'm thinking of something exciting here to add more drama in the upcoming chapters but the drama starts around chapter 9-11 so right now until chapter 8, you'll be having humour and slight romance!!

Thanks for the wonderful reviews and alerts! Again, Please review!