*Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! It really did give me a boost of confidence and motivated me a lot to get this chapter done. If you can, please take a little time out of your day to leave a review or even a short comment on whether you liked this chapter or not! Enjoy!

Chapter 8 – Focus On Me

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!" yelled Tsubaki as she tried her best to push Watari out of her house. 'There's no way I'm spending the whole night with him!'

"Stop pushing me, I'm getting soaked! Can't you see there's no way I can go home when the weather's like this! AHH!" Watari quickly ducked as the gale blew a restaurant sign right over his head. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! THAT WAS THE YUKIHARA SIGN FROM DOWN THE STREET! I'M GONNA FREAKING DIE IF YOU MAKE ME GO OUT THERE!"

"I don't care! Get out!"

"Is this how you treat the person that saved you, not once, but twice?!"

After almost losing his life Watari decided that he's going to have to force his way back into the house so he started pushing back. Despite being a girl Tsubaki still was able to keep him at bay for some time until her injured foot gave out on her. She fell backwards along with Watari who fell as well due to the sudden lack of resistance.

"Oww…" Tsubaki slowly opened her eyes and felt the weight of the boy on top of her. That's when she realized that Watari was lying right on top of her! She stared at him angrily and blushed crimson red.

"Oh c'mon, this isn't even my fault," said Watari before he got punched in the face and pushed off.

The telephone ran in the Miyazono bakery and Kaori's dad quickly picked it up. "Hello? Kaori?"

"Hey dad…"

"Oh thank God you're okay! Where are you right now? Do you see the weather outside?"

"Yeah…uh about that…I'm still at Kousei's house right now…and I think I might have to stay um for the night…"

There was a pause. "I'll be there in a second."

"Wait, honey you can't go out there in that weather," said Kaori's mom.

"But, my poor Kaori must be so scared right now and want to come back home."

"I'm not being kidnapped here! Look dad, me and Kousei aren't going to do anything. It's just one night and this situation was purely circumstantial."

After a long time of thinking and debating with his wife, Kaori's dad finally agreed. "Pass the phone to Arima-kun for a second."

"Hello? Yes…Yes I understand…No absolutely not I-I wouldn't…No I didn't create this storm…Okay…Bye."

"What were you guys talking about?"

"Treats about killing me if I did anything to you, along with suspicion of if I planned all of this," said Kousei as he breathed out a sigh of relief. "Your dad is really something else."

"Yeah…" said Kaori as her stomach grumbled and caused her to blush.

"It's pretty late so I'll start preparing dinner," said Kousei as he gave her a smile.

"Wait, are you sure you want to cook? Because your baking skills were…"

"You can't judge someone's cooking by their baking, okay? Plus I've been living alone for a couple of years now, I know how to cook." Kousei walked off into the kitchen and took out some ingredients from the fridge. "Wanna help?"

"Uh sure…" She hesitantly walked into the kitchen.

"Can you prepare the soup?"

"Y-yeah of course!"

"You do know how to cook, right?"

"Kousei I grew up in a bakery of course I know how to cook."

"Okay…"

"Is the soup done?" asked Kousei after some time passed.

"I think so."

Kousei took a spoonful and tasted it. "Why is this so sweet?" They exchanged eye contact for a second and Kousei realized what she had done. "Kaori, did you mistake the sugar for the…"

The answer was clear from the taste and Kaori simply nodded shyly as she blushed. "Hey they look the same so you can't blame me, okay?"

Kousei simply sighed. "Fair point, next time just taste it before you toss it in." He took the spoon and stirred the pot slightly and whole uncut vegetables floated up.

"What the…Why is there an uncut carrot and potato…Kaori!"

"You had to cut those?" Her question was answered with Kousei's petrified face.

"When do you cook vegetables without cutting them? These aren't even peeled…"

"I'm sorry…"

"You suck at cooking, don't you?" She was about to rebuttal but closed her mouth and nodded.

"You don't have to lie about being bad at cooking."

"But…doesn't that mean that I'll make a bad wife?"

"What? No of course not! Look I can cook just fine so just let me take care of you then." Right after the words left his mouth he blushed bright red. 'Did I just insinuate that I want to marry her?'

"Then you promise you'll always cook for me?" Kaori blushed as she held her pinky out.

"I promise," said Kousei as he took her pinky in his.

"Tsubaki is this how you treat a guest!?" yelled Tsubaki's mom as she found her daughter beating Watari.

"Did you not see what he just did?!" said Tsubaki as she held Watari by the collar of his shirt.

"Put him down right now, he's the one that carried you all the way back and gave you first aid. You should be thanking him."

"Yeah Tsubaki you should be thanking me." His comment earned him a stern stare which caused him to cower back in fear. "S-sorry."

"I'm so sorry about that," said Tsubaki's mom as he got up from the floor, "Tsubaki can be very…impulsive sometimes so I thank you for looking out for her."

"Ah no it's nothing," said Watari humbly, "I should be thanking you for letting me stay for the night."

"Oh please, you and Tsubaki have been friends for years, this is nothing. Dinner is ready so you two should get seated at the table."

"Your mom is nice," said Watari after her mom went back into the dinning room.

"Don't start having weird thoughts about my mom."

"Whoa, okay, that's going too far! My guy friends don't even go THIS far when teasing me."

"Well my mom looks like me and since you like…" Both of them blushed as she tried to say the last part of her sentence. Awkwardness washed over the two of them and suddenly she realized that her point made zero sense. 'What the hell am Isaying?!'

"Anyway…moving on! Let's go eat," said Watari as he tried to salvage the rest of the night from being spent uncomfortably.

"Y-yeah good idea."

"You have the EQ of an ant, you know."

"Shut up," said Tsubaki as she punched Watari in the arm out of embarrassment.

"Bon appétit!" said Kousei as he set the plate in front of Kaori.

"Look at you, going all French," said Kaori teasingly.

"Sorry I've always wanted to say that."

"It better be good!" She picked up her spoon and drank the soup. It had a heartwarming flavor and a light taste. "Mhmm…"

Kousei smiled as he looked at his girl enjoy the food. He sat down across from her and began his dinner as well. "How is it?"

"It's delicious!" The two of them continued to eat in silence, unlike most people they enjoy the moments when nobody is talking. It made the moment feel normal but made both of them feel special since it was their company that mattered.

"I'll do the dishes, since you cooked." She picked up her bowls and plates and walked to the sink.

"Wait, you don't have to. You're the guest." He quickly finished his bowl of rice and went to join her.

"Just dry the ones I finish washing then," said Kaori as she passed the washed bowl to Kousei.

As the two washed the dishes together, a thought suddenly popped in her head which made her blush. "What's wrong?" asked Kousei as he noticed that Kaori suddenly stopped.

"This…makes me feel like we're married…or something."

"M-m-married?" stuttered Kousei as he blushed as well.

"Did I say something weird again?" She looked back at him with a smile.

"N-no, but please don't tease me like that."

There was a loud thunder followed by a flash of lightning, and then suddenly the house went completely dark. "AHH!" screamed Kaori.

"Calm down, the power lines probably got hit…K-Kaori?" He noticed that Kaori was hanging onto his arm tightly. "Are you okay?" She shook her head as she kept her eyes closed.

"I'm…scared of lighting."

"O-oh…" 'Cute…'

An idea popped inside his head and he held her hand and led her back into the piano room. "Sit here," said Kousei as he patted the space beside him on the stool. "I used to be scared of lightning as well when I was little so my mom used to do this for me. Just focus on the sound of the piano and you'll forget about the lightning in no time."

She gave a small nod and sat down next to him, still holding onto his jacket. He began playing, rather than trying to drown out the thunder, he played a soft and relaxing tune. As she listened, the notes conjured a completely different environment. The dark clouds dissipated and moonlight bled through. The shy stars showed themselves and the night went back to its quiet peacefulness.

"The power went out."

"Thank you Captain Obvious."

"Now you can't just ignore me by watching TV."

"I wasn't ignoring you…"

"So the person that refused to talk and look at me while I was trying to start a conversation was a different person, right?"

"Alright fine, what do you want to do?"

Watari paused to think for a moment and an idea popped into his head. "Let's play Three Card Monte!"

"What's that?" asked Tsubaki as Watari took out a deck of cards out of his pocket.

"So we have the Monte, the money card, here. Queen of Hearts. All you have to do is find this and you win. The catch is there are two other cards; I'm going to take out two Jokers."

"We got one Joker," said Watari as he showed her the cards, "two Joker, and the money card. Ready?"

"Yeah, what are we betting with?"

"Hmm, if you get it wrong, you have to answer a question I ask you truthfully and if you get it right then I'll do the same. Deal?"

Tsubaki hesitated, 'What is it that he wants to know?'

"Is this Tsubaki…hesitating? Is she afraid to lose?" taunted Watari. "Don't tell me her eyes are not fast enough to follow three cards."

"Shut up, I'll play your stupid game!"

"Alright Round 1!" Watari held one card facedown in his left hand and held the queen and Joker face up in his right. He flipped his right hand and gave Tsubaki a facedown card out of his right hand with the Joker remaining. "Where is the Queen?"

"It's obvious! You had the queen and Joker in your right hand and you gave me a card. You still have the Joker in your right hand so you had to have given me the Queen! It's here!"

"Well…you just lost one round," said Watari with a smile as he flipped over the facedown card in his other hand to reveal the Queen of Hearts.

"WHAT?! Then what do I have here?" She flipped over the facedown card in her hand and revealed a Joker. "No way…but…you gave me the…"

Watari simply laughed at his confused friend, "Onto Round 2!" This time Watari placed a card in her hand and had the Queen of Hearts face up and another card facedown left in his. He flipped them over and revealed the Joker that was facedown. "Where is the Queen?" asked Watari as he held the facedown card in his left and the Joker in his right.

"It's right there," said Tsubaki as she pointed to his left hand.

"See you just lost again," said Watari as he flipped over the facedown card in his left to reveal another Joker.

"What the hell!" Tsubaki flipped over the card in her hand and revealed the Queen. "How are you doing this? You're cheating for sure!"

"How am I cheating? You see the three cards," said Watari as he tried to contain his laughter while showing the brunette the Queen of Hearts and two Jokers.

"I don't know! But you're doing something!"

"Alright I'll take this as an 'I'm done playing this game'. Now time to the two questions I have."

"What do you want me to answer?" asked Tsubaki as she nervously gulped.

Watari took a deep breathe and looked at her seriously. A bolt of lightning illuminated the room for an instant. "Tsubaki…what is…" 'What is it that you don't like about me?' "…the color of your panties?"

"Wh-"

"White?"

"WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT YOU PERVERT!"

"Ow, ow, it was a joke, a joke! HELP!" At that moment the soft sound of the piano resonated through the room which made Tsubaki stop.

"What's wrong?" asked Watari as he noticed the clear change in her mood.

"I used to listen to him play all the time and I thought I meant something to him…but now I can't hear a single note played for me." Her eyes filled up with tears once again.

"Then stop listening," said Watari as he put his hand behind her head and placed his forehead against hers, "and focus on me."

"I'm so sorry," said Tsubaki as she began to fully cry and hugged Watari. "I'm being so selfish right now. I can't even give you a proper answer to your confession and now I'm relying on you. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," said Watari as he hugged back. She continued to cry in his arms and the sound of the piano slowly disappeared from their world.

*Author's Note: I know once again I'm another two weeks late so I hope this chapter was worth the wait. I had trouble coming up with what Tsubaki and Watari would do and how they were going to break the silence. If you had trouble following the magic trick, search up David Blaine Three Card Monte (I apologize if my description wasn't good)!

rex4487: And as always thank you for the supporting comment! The idea you gave me was genius as well, I didn't even think about having them call their parents!

Mermaid Monster: Wow your reviews are getting longer and longer…I love it! I'm happy someone liked the scene between Watari and Kousei; I wasn't really sure how to have Watari transition from hurt to determined. Once again I'm happy that my writing made you smile and I thank you for leaving another encouraging review!

HaveYouSeenThisOtaku, Aiyoukhyra: Thank you for the continuous support!

fromplanetpheromones, AliciaPinkyDolls, SkulK1, LovingThisCrapXD, ElementumInfragilis, bankai117: Thanks for taking time to support this story and I'm glad you guys liked it! I hope my writing can continue to earn your support in the future!

AOE: Thank you for leaving a review this time then, and thank you for the support!

DeathByReading: Thank you for support! Best Shigatsu fanfic out there huh? XD

ryan1jr: Of course we're going to keep it upfloat! Thank you for the support!

ramsey: Thank you for your review, I appreciate the time you took out of your day to point out the OOC (yeah maybe I went a little too far with that scene XD). I also thank you for the support and I hope my writing can continue to earn it!

Writ3r's 8lock: Thank you for the support! And yes you were right;I took the storm idea from Nisekoi :P