Disclaimer: I do not own Flame of Recca; they all belong to Nobuyuki Anzai. The ones that are mine are Aurora, Cassandra, their friend(s), and teachers, etc.

Chapter 4: Predicament

By the time Tokiya woke up the next morning, while he was getting dressed into his uniform, he felt refreshed and freed from his thoughts about a certain ebony haired girl. He met up with Aurora and Cassandra who were dressed in their uniforms (he couldn't help but unconsciously think that Aurora looked cute, with her hair tied up in a braid, and while as he did, he mentally kicked himself) as he met them at the front of their house as they waited for him. The walk there was a silent one, well until they reached the front doors, where the whole Tokiya Mikagami fan club waited for him to arrive.

He stalled them, until Aurora and Cassandra finally had a chance to get away. Once they did, he found an opportunity and gave them the slip. At least he made it to Akira sensei's class in one piece; he was thanking Kami-sama for that. But there was one problem, even though he was refreshed, he didn't get much sleep last night.

Aurora gave him a worried look. "Are you alright Tokiya?" She asked as he just yawned suddenly.

"No, I'm not," he answered sounding a little irritated. His icy blue eyes glared at her.

"Let me guess, I'm the cause that you didn't get enough sleep last night, right?" She predicted as she saw his expression change from anger to surprise and shock.

"How did you…" his voice left him after those three words, and he could only stare at her.

She grinned. "Just got lucky, I guess," she answered as she copied the notes that Akira sensei wrote on the board into her notebook.

This left Tokiya speechless for the rest of the day, and it made him wonder, about what Aurora said. Little did Tokiya know that he was being watched by a girl who had short shoulder-length red hair with amber-yellow colored eyes. Her name was Riya Mikara, and she was the president of Tokiya Mikagami's fan club. She had a major crush on him, but he didn't even seem to notice her, because the only two people he seemed to notice were Aurora and Cassandra Hikari. What is it about Aurora that makes Mikagami-sempai notice her? She wondered as she followed him onto the roof, while trying not to get caught.

He took his spot next to Aurora as usual, but today, something was different, it was because Cassandra and Tokiya didn't get into a fight at all. Aurora noticed this, but didn't ask about it, because she knew that the fights that they were having were slowly disappearing.

Cassandra knew that something wasn't right. It wasn't because she and Tokiya didn't get into a fight, but someone was watching them. And that was when she spotted Riya Mikara standing behind Tokiya. She really didn't know Riya, but the only class that she had with her was in phys ed/gym.

Riya stared at them for a while and opened the door and went down the stairs to her next class. And they didn't see her for the rest of the day, but Aurora did once she walked to her locker. Aurora also knew that Riya wasn't in a good mood.

"What do you want Riya?" Aurora asked as she opened her locker.

Riya just smiled and said, "Oh, nothing, I just want to ask you a few questions."

"Then ask away," Aurora answered as she closed her locker door and leaned right up against it.

"Do you think that Mikagami-sempai likes you?" She wondered while Aurora thought for a moment.

Aurora smiled as she replied, "No, I don't think so."

"Why do you ask?" She inquired as Riya stared, speechless.

"Let me guess, you have a crush on Mi-chan, right?" She predicted. And Riya could only nod. But she heard the nickname that Aurora gave him and that was when she snapped.

"How is it that you get to talk to him in a formal manner?" Riya hissed the said question under her breath.

Aurora didn't look phased by the fact that Riya looked ready to kill her. She knew that she could handle a mad Riya with no problem. Before she could answer Riya's live or die question, she heard a familiar cold voice from behind ask, "Where in the heck were you baka neko?"

Being snuck up upon while being asked a question would scare any girl to death, but not Aurora, because once she turned around to face Tokiya and smiled such an angelic smile that it made his heart jump up into his throat.

"By my locker," she answered. "Why, were you looking for me Mi-chan?" She wondered as he turned away from her stare. She didn't seem to notice this, but Riya did.

"Yes," he answered. "Remember, we promised to meet Cassandra at the front gates today, because we were going to my place today," he reminded her.

A puzzled look crossed her face for a few moments, but it quickly disappeared as she answered with a slight nod. Then she turned to face Riya and answered the question in a voice so that only Riya could hear, "It's because for some reason, he lets me."

But little did the two girls know that Tokiya and Cassandra were listening to the whole conversation as Aurora was by her locker. That was when they stared talking.

"So, what do you say if we hang out at my house after school?" Tokiya suggested out of nowhere, not expecting to get a positive answer from Cassandra.

"Sure, we can," she answered as Tokiya stared at her with shock written all over his face.

"So, after I go and get that baka neko, we'll meet you at the front gates, okay," he stated.

"Okay and I'm just going to pretend that I didn't hear you call my sister a stupid cat," Cassandra answered as she glared at him.

Maybe we're really getting used to being around each other, he admitted the thought in his mind. Once they agreed to this, Cassandra went to go and wait for them at the front gates.

"So, should we get going?" Tokiya questioned as Aurora nodded.

This left a fuming Riya behind plotting Aurora's demise…as she saw Mikagami-sempai and Aurora meet up with Cassandra at the front gates.

Cassandra glanced back at Riya for a moment and then asked them, "Did something happen earlier?"

Aurora stared, while Tokiya retied his ponytail. "Nope, nothing," they both answered at the same time. At this, they stared at each other for a good five minutes. Tokiya was the first to look away, then Aurora. Cassandra had to stifle a laugh, as she thought, Tokiya, you'll realize what true love really feels like soon enough…once you finally understand how important my sister is to you.

Once they reached the front door, Tokiya took out the key and opened it, and let them in. As they walked in, he shoved the key into his pocket. He showed them around, everything was well furnished, and not a speck of dust or dirt was in sight. Cassandra couldn't believe how clean his house was, but there was one thing that she couldn't imagine, and it was how filthy rich Tokiya Mikagami really was.

While Aurora went to explore the rest of his house, Cassandra and Tokiya had a chat in his huge kitchen. Mostly all the appliances were shoved to one side, but the table, which was a dark brown mahogany color was big and long enough to fit approximately the whole student body, since that took up what was left of the kitchen.

"So, how rich are you?" Cassandra questioned as she surveyed the kitchen and everything else in her line of sight.

He smirked. "Why should I tell you?" He answered her question with his. "Besides, a girl like you who has a temper that rivals a volcano shouldn't care," his eyes shined like sapphires as he said it in a way that made it sound like a snide remark. That's because it was one.

Cassandra knew that he was provoking her, just for some fun and she tried not to fall for it, but it got to her. "Jeez, you're so cold-blooded that it sounds like you don't care at all," she hissed under her breath.

"So what if I am?" He asked as he crossed his legs and folded his hands as he stared at her straight in the eyes.

Cassandra was about to answer his question when they heard Aurora walking down the stairs. Once Aurora reached them, she said, "Then you're a heartless jerk, Mi-chan." This made him snap out of his thoughts and he smiled at her, while he glared. She returned his glare; her eyes were the color of midnight, colder than his. He couldn't understand why Aurora was acting this way

Tokiya walked up to her and looked her straight in the eye. "What is that supposed to mean?" He whispered the question in her ear with anger laced in his voice. She didn't even flinch at the tone of his voice even the slightest when he looked into her eyes again.

She smirked. "That means that you're plain heartless," she clarified as he stared at her with his icy blue eyes.

He glared at her and folded his arms across his chest. "Like I said earlier, what if I am?" He stated again.

Aurora stared into his eyes and argued, "Well, I can't see how all the girls at our school could fall in love with you, because I know that I wouldn't if I knew that you had this kind of personality." "Besides, Tokiya, you're nothing but heartless, uncaring, and emotionless jerk." she added.

After Aurora and Tokiya's explosive argument, none of them said anything for a while, because Tokiya went for a walk outside while Aurora walked the other way so that she wouldn't run into him, and now it was Cassandra's turn to explore the house. But while she explored, she watched them, and wondered, does Tokiya remember that both paths meet right at the garden?

It turns out that Tokiya didn't remember, but soon did once he crashed right into Aurora at the gate, which made her land right on top of him. He was then looking at her, and she was still glaring at him, but unconsciously twirling his hair around her fingers. "I know that you're still mad at me, but why are you unconsciously twirling my hair around your finger?" He whispered the question into her ear.

"Maybe because I want to," she answered.

"So does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?" He inquired as he saw her smile.

"Yes," she replied as she helped him up.

Little did they knew that Cassandra saw the whole thing from her seat in the living room, boy was she going to have fun teasing them about this…

But she was happy that their predicament was over…