Disclaimer: Takaya Natsuki is the rightful owner. I'm merely borrowing her creations for my own diabolical ideals. No, really.

A/N: Yuki and Naohito should really become friends. LoL :3 And I'm still alive and kicking with this, although at a very sluggish pace. XD Please keep reviewing! Thank you!

Life's Many Indulgences
Chapter 5: Supposedly A Welcoming Party For Two

"Feeling much better today?" Tooru knelt down beside her brother's bed so she could have easier access to his forehead. She placed one hand there when she came close enough. "Your cold seems to have broken down a little."

"After barfing up most of the leeks I actually felt somewhat better afterwards." Kyo snorted; that wasn't something he should consider as reliving. While he was throwing up his stomach was doing summersaults, and his head was spinning like he was in an endless daze that ceased to go away. "I think I might be able to go back to school next week."

"Hmmm, I ought to tell you today's Friday."

"I know that, Tooru. That's why I said I should be able to go back to school next week," Kyo said.

"Oh, I just remembered," Kyo watched as his sister's eyes lighted up - he knew she was going to tell him something he didn't care for much, but he was going to listen to her anyway, "yesterday two new students transferred to our school. I haven't met them yet, but I do know that both of the students are males."

"Gee, how many more guys do we need to walk all over you?" Kyo joked.

"That's so mean, Kyo! How can you say that about me!"

"I was just kidding." Kyo laughed. In any case, his little joke did hold some truth to it, because his crazily nice sister would let just about anyone walk all over her without her realizing it. Yet, he didn't have to worry about it too much; he knew that her friends Saki and Arisa would keep her in check. "You know I wouldn't tease you purposely to hurt you."

"Yes, you have," Tooru reprimanded. "When we were younger you always teased me in mean ways."

"We were kids."

"I know, but . . ."

"Let's just say I should have known better," Kyo told her.

Both of the siblings looked up when they heard the knob of Kyo's bedroom door turn. Mr. Mizunashi poked his head in; he had a small smiled plastered on his face.

"Hi, kids," he said.

"Dad?" Both Tooru and Kyo said at the same time. They were thinking the exact same thing: shouldn't he be at work instead of at home?

Placing one hand behind his head, Mr. Mizunashi went onto explaining himself. "Well, I took the day off so I can watch over you, Kyo. You're recovering wonderfully, but it's just that I'm never there for you when you need me or your mother the most." Kyo was touched by his step-father's attempt at bonding, and it was a nice feeling. "Ah, Tooru, you should get going to school if you don't want to be late. I can take over watch from here."

"Oh my god, I totally forgot about the time!"

Kyo and his step-father shared a laugh when Kyo left the room. Once she was gone and out of the house, Mr. Mizunashi said, "I know I'm not your real father, however, I do want you to like me."

"I never said I didn't like you," Kyo supplied. "I've lived with you for like practically my entire existence thus far. You're more of a real father to me than anyone else. You should also stop putting yourself down all the time. Makes me wonder where you come up with so many things to badmouth yourself to begin with."

Mr. Mizunashi nervously looked this way and that; it didn't take Kyo long to figure out that his step-father was having problems coping with himself as of late. His blunt remarks were more frequent than usual, too, so that was a given sign.

"Your words--"

"Are too kind?" Kyo questioned.

"Yes," Mr. Mizunashi fixed his gaze on the carpet flooring, "I suppose that's how you can put it."

"Don't worry about it so much." Kyo grimaced when what he got in response was a sigh from his step-father. "You're not going to make me feel better if you keep acting the way you do."

"Ah, sorry. I'm sorry."

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Come on, Yuki, it can't be that hard to speak through the mic," Kimi told the irritated gray-haired teen.

"Do it," Kakeru added.

"A party for the two new transfer students, huh." Naoto suddenly appeared behind Kimi and Kakeu. "What exactly is going to be at this party? Food-wise, I mean."

"I've got that covered," Kimi quickly said.

"You're getting off the subject. If we want this party to happen we need Yuki to make the announcement." Kakeru wasn't going to be easily dissuaded. "Come on, man, do it on the behalf of the council. Everyone's expecting you to, anyway."

"That's because without my consent, Kimi told everyone that I would," Yuki combated.

"As your first vice president of the student council, I sometimes gotta take the initiative if we ever want something exciting to happen."

"Then are you implying that I don't know how to arrange fun events?" Yuki asked, voice dripping with annoyance, yet allow-it-to-roll-off-me Kimi wasn't going to let what he asked bother her. Not in the least, really. "You're quite a despicable one when you want to be, you know that?"

"Here," Naohito seemingly disappeared and had just come back with a mic; it was hooked to the intercom through a series of chain-like wires that lead out the front door of their council room, "I've prepared everything for you."

"Great . . ." Yuki didn't sound too enthusiastic at all. Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to back out of this one, he decided to begin. "Excuse me, everyone, I apologize for the sudden announcement I am about to deliver . . ." Kimi thrust a piece of paper in front of Yuki's face ". . . I, Yuki, the student council president is throwing a welcoming party for the two new transfer students Kishida Momiji and Shimazaki Hatsuharu. They will be properly invited later in the day by a council member. Again, there will be a . . . argh . . . Um, sorry for the interruption. Have a nice day."

"You didn't sound so welcoming," Naohito made sure to note.

"I didn't make up the announcement. Kimi did." Yuki crumpled up the sheet of paper and threw it in the trash bin. He hit the ledge of the bin, but managed to fall in without fail.

"But you didn't finish saying everything." Kimi could only wonder why.

"It's because you wrote: (now laugh heartily!) then say, "it's great to get transfer students to our school! They make the campus a better place!" There is no way I was going to say that into the intercom for everyone to hear."

"Yup, that does sound like something Kimi wouldn't say though," Kakeru said. "She wrote it specifically for you, Yuki, since you're not as negative."

"Is that right?" Yuki wanted to strangle Kakeru . . . If only he were given the luxury to.

"More importantly, since Yuki did pretty much say it through the intercom, how are we going to let all the students that want to come attend?" Naohito asked. "It doesn't seem like it'll be just us student council members that will be attending; that wouldn't be fair to anyone else that might want to show up."

"Kimi?" Yuki liked Naohito's way of thinking - he at least put the frustrated gray-haired teen at stifling ease. Both Naohito and Yuki were giving Kimi expectant looks.

"Ah, I haven't thought that far yet." Kimi put her hands up in the air as a sign of defeat, but Yuki wasn't going to let her off the hook.

"You are the one who started this mess, so you better figure something out to fix it."

"The gym doesn't sound so bad," Naohito murmured.

"That's it! The gym! We can hold the party there! That should be enough space!"

"Permission issue." Yuki deflated her not so ingenious plan down the drain. Besides, Naohito was the one to mention it.

"Oh . . ." Kimi pouted. "Oh, yeah . . ."

"Don't worry, Kimi, because I'll get the permission we need." The other three stared at Kakeru like he had gone insane. Even though they were the student council it still wasn't easy to appeal to all the gym teachers to let them use the gym where their classes were held daily. Kakeru was one tough cookie, though, so he might just be able to persuade them. "I'm not pathetic and whiny. This should be a piece of cake."

"That's so great, Kakeru!" Kimi practically threw her arms around the boy, and as a result, they both fell to the floor. Many of the other student council members looked at them, but it didn't take very long for them to resume their work.

Kimi and Kakeru were known to being very over-zealous with one another at times. It was to be expected . . . Naohito and Yuki exchanged strange looks. They both respectfully never dated a girl before, and it seemed a little scary to do. With the way Kimi was literally squashing her partner made them think twice about getting a girlfriend.

Naohito sort of came to the rescue. "Looks like Kakeru could use some fresh air . . . Ahem."

Kimi didn't pay him any mind.

"Kakeru is going to pass out if you're not going to get off of him." Yuki was being quite straightforward, unlike his unusual I'm-never-indirect council member standing beside him.

"Oops," was all Kimi thought of to say as she stood up. A air-deprived Kakeru was wheezing beneath her.

Naohito and Yuki sweat dropped. Getting a girlfriend was a really faraway dream now.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Oh, look, I think she's the person they sent," Momiji whispered to Hatsuharu.

"Seems like it," Hatsuharu replied.

"You two must be Kishida and Shimazaki?" she asked.

"That's us," Momiji answered.

"Hi, I'm Toudou Kimi and I am here to cordially invite you two to the welcoming party." She smiled and raised her hands to give them a small pink envelope. Momiji smiled at the color of the envelope, while Hatsuharu grimaced.

Couldn't there be a better color to be used?

"Thank you." Momiji took the one addressed to him.

"Thanks." Hatsuharu took the other one.

"I'll be excusing myself now. Have a wonderful day." Kimi bowed before walking away.

"I think I saw her earlier today," Hatsuharu noted. "By the shoe lockers."

"Oh?"

"She was talking to this dark-haired guy - I think he was probably her boyfriend."

Momiji laughed. "You didn't have to analyze them that much! There must have been something to tip you off into thinking that the person she was talking to could be her boyfriend."

"She said, "I love you", so it's quite obvious."

Momiji decided not to comment and instead went for the sealer of his envelope. It was merely a heart sticker - very girly indeed - Momiji didn't mind. He pulled out a single piece of paper that was a pinkish color - again, too girly - again, Momiji didn't mind at all. Hatsuharu couldn't grimace any more than he already was if he wanted to. Girly things sort of bothered him whether he wanted to admit to that or not. However, he only tolerated them at the moment, because his best friend was with him. They were really opposites when it came down to what-I-like and what-I-don't-like things.

"Awwwww, there's a cute panda sticker right beside my name!" Momiji was enthralled.

Hatsuharu looked at his own. "Mine has a monkey. Why does it have to be a monkey?"

"Monkeys are cute, too."

"That's not the point," Hatsuharu said.

"Hmmm, also says the party is being held at the school gym right after school on Monday." Momiji looked at his friend. "I didn't know it was so easy for them to get permission to use the gym."

"Maybe it isn't." From a distance, Hatsuharu noticed that he and Momiji were being watched by six pairs of eyes. They were hiding behind a wall, but he knew they were looking nonetheless. "I think we have some visitors, or at least people who want to meet us. Come on out."

A tall blonde-haired girl was followed by a dark-haired girl who was followed by a brunette-haired girl. The blonde, seeming to be the least nervous one walked over to them casually. The other two followed after a few seconds.

"Seems you caught us."

"Wow, you're quite tall," Hatsuharu said.

Momiji was expecting his friend to get slapped or yelled at, but none of those happened. Instead, the blonde-haired female was laughing like it was very funny.

"I know I am, and it doesn't bother me. I'm Uotani Arisa and these are my friends," she pointed at the dark-haired girl first, "Hanajima Saki, and the other girl is Mizunashi Tooru."

"I'm Shimazaki Hatsuharu, but you can just call me Haru for short if you want."

"And I'm Kishida Momiji. It's nice to meet you."

"Haru, eh?" Arisa laughed again. "I think I'll stick with your surname; don't want everyone thinking there's something going on between us if you know what I mean."

"I know exactly what you mean," he replied.

When he had first met Rin he called her by her first name, and everyone thought they were dating even though they hardly knew one another. The reason he paid the onlookers no mind was because Rin didn't like her last name, so she rather be addressed by her first. It didn't matter though; after a while when all the gossip became too much Hatsuharu suddenly asked her if she wanted to be his girlfriend. However, he really did like her. She had smiled warmly and nodded her head. Her smile may have been warm, but her eyes weren't; yet, that was something Hatsuharu didn't notice.

"So, Shimazaki, Kishida, how are the both of you liking this school so far?" Arisa asked.

"It's very clean, and everyone seems so friendly," Momiji chirped. "Haru and I are really going to like it here. Let me tell you, the both of us coming here was merely by coincidence. We transferred here for different reasons. We are also friends, but we didn't attend the same school ever since our last year of middle school."

"Wow," Tooru began, finally speaking for the first time, "that's great that you're now reunited!"

"Your fates were initially strongly tied to one another to begin with," Saki added. "My electric ways told me so."

"Electric waves?" Momiji asked.

"Sort of like a psychic?" Hatsuharu asked.

"No, I'm not a psychic. My electric waves sometimes tell me things, is all."

"Ooookkkkaaaaayyyyyy . . ." Both Hatsuharu and Momiji said in unison.

Chapter 5: END