Title: Appreciating Things of Beauty [Chapter Four
Author: Endless-Kaoru
Pairing: None yet.
Rating: Overall: PG-13. This Chapter: Pg-13-ish

Warnings: Sexual harassment, and a little OOCness on Kyohei's part.
Disclaimer: I don't own Wallflower characters. None. Not even a single one.
Summary: Maybe keeping 'Aya-kun' around isn't such a bad idea…

Chapter Four: Fired?!

"What are you doing? You come to get me fired, too?" Kyohei glanced up with an irritated frown as Aya wandered into the sub shop. The morning rush of Kyohei-fans had yet to appear.

She blinked at him, "…You work here? I just got a job here today."

The boss, a woman in her forties, appeared, "Good, you're here, Shuiro-kun. Suit up and help Takano-kun."

"Yes'm." she headed for the locker rooms. Moments later, Aya and the boss reappeared behind the counter.

"Takano-kun…" the boss nearly cooed, "Show Shuiro-kun the ropes, would you?"

He nodded mutely, and Aya moved nearer him. A frown crossed her features, "Creepy woman… she wanted to watch me change!"

Kyohei made a noise of disgust, "She has a husband, but she's always hitting on me. Since she thinks you're a guy, you'll probably get that, too." He moved about, idly explaining various tasks.

Eventually, customers began to trickle in and Aya watched as Kyohei became more and more annoyed when most of the customers were girls come to check out the 'two hot guys.'

An idea hit, and Aya whistled, quieting the crowd. Everyone turned to stare at her.

Smiling, she spoke, "Look, if you aren't going to buy anything, get out! Do you want us to get fired, go broke, and become depressed because of you? No? Then scram! We're busy!"

A murmur went through the crowd, and finally the girls retreated in defeat with various good-byes and apologies. A few resilient loiterers remained, but were easily ignored in the face of actual customers.

She sighed, "Finally… peace and quiet…"

Glancing out of the corner of his eye as he assembled a sandwich, Kyohei said, "…How did you know that would work?"

"I may not be a model female or anything… but no girl wants the man of her dreams to be upset because of her. Besides…" she huffed, "It's stupid to assume that someone is perfect just because they look great. There have been serial rapists that looked like… like… male models!"

Kyohei just laughed uncomfortably, not sure if he'd just been insulted or complimented.

The boss returned as a customer left, drawing up behind Aya, "Hello again, Shuiro-kun. How are you doing? If you ever need anything, you can come to me." The woman's hand rested between Aya's shoulder blades, deftly sliding along her spine as she spoke. "Shuiro… I've heard that name somewhere. Do you live in the area?" The woman spoke directly into Aya's ear, voice low and purring.

Aya shivered and clenched her fist on the washcloth, voice breathy, "P-please…"

"Yes? Please what? Do you want something…?" the woman asked eagerly, leaning closer, hand slipping around the girl's waist.

Aya just shut her eyes and breathed raspily, overcome with sudden fear, "L-Let… go…!"

"Let Aya go!" Kyohei demanded suddenly, moving to pull the woman away.

Aya looked up at him, frightened, just as the woman's hand inched under the girl's shirt. Aya made a noise and tried to jerk away, face flushed with embarrassment.

What happened next, Aya wasn't really sure. The woman's hands were suddenly gone, and Kyohei yelled. The woman made a noise, and there were footsteps running away, and when Aya finally opened her eyes, she was on the floor and Kyohei was staring intently at her.

"Aya, are you okay? Did she hurt you? What happened?!" he demanded.

"N-No, I just… I got scared… I…" she turned to her hands, ashamed and confused.

Kyohei tossed an arm around her and squeezed briefly, "Come on, I'll get you a soda and we'll go home."

She nodded mutely and Kyohei left her there to retrieve her soda, and the two slipped out. Aya sipped serenely on the drink, occupying her mind with the taste, as Kyohei walked beside her.

"I'll have to keep you around more often." Kyohei said suddenly in the last leg of their trek home.

Aya glanced up, "Huh?"

"There aren't as many girls clinging to me as usual. I think it's because of you."

Moods lifted by the caffeinated drink, she glanced mischievously at the girls taking pictures of them, "Yeah, because we look like a couple. Hitting on a guy with a girlfriend can be scary, but hitting on one with a boyfriend is downright suicide!" she snickered, "Hey, wanna get your picture online?"

"What?" he frowned warily.

"They're taking pictures. If we do something outrageous, they'll post it online."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know, like if we just start making out or something." She smiled sweetly.

Kyohei laughed, "Oh, you're just looking for an excuse to kiss me, aren't you?"

"And get that blasphemous tongue stuffed down my throat? No thanks." She taunted.

He drew himself up to his full height, "You're just afraid of my—"

"If you say anything about 'mad skills', I'll punch you." She cut off warningly.

He laughed nervously and didn't reply.

"I thought so."

After a moment's debate, Kyohei spoke up again, "Maybe you're just shy, then.

She rolled her eyes, "Now you're looking for an excuse to kiss me."

"Well, since we're in agreement, let's skip the excuses, call it mutual, and go for it!"

"Horny." She laughed, "Who says I wanna kiss you?"

He raised an eyebrow, "You say it like its some shady secret. Okay, fine. What is it you want to do to me?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"C'mere." She summoned him down to her level. Curious, he obliged.

Tenderly, Aya cupped his face and drew him closer until their noses touched. He blushed slightly and tried to pull away, only to pause when she touched her lips to his.

Kyohei was left blinking when she released him and turned away, grinning like a fool, "Well, that got those nasty memories out of my head. Say, do you think we got fired?"

Slowly, he shook his head and straightened, ignoring the squealing girls, "I thought you didn't want to kiss me?"

"That wasn't a kiss… We merely touched our lips in friendship." She smiled, "I would waste my first kiss on you."

"Wh-What?! What's wrong with me?!" he yelped.

Aya mysteriously disappeared the next day. Her things were still in her room, and she hadn't said anything about leaving. For a moment, Kyohei had had a flashback of the serial rapist's attack on Sunako, and in his wave of panic, happened upon a scrap of paper in her room, lying innocently on her dresser.

"She…went home…" he said aloud rather dully, reading the note.

"What? Did you find something?" Ranmaru looked in, and Kyohei passed him the note. "I guess she forget to tell us."

Annoyed, Kyohei stalked from the room, followed closely by Ranmaru.

Aya didn't return home until later, with a dog at her heels and a small backpack. Her hair was windblown, and she limped slightly, supported only by her uncle and sheer stubbornness.

"Aya, you're back!" Yuki cried out, spotting her as he passed the front door.

She looked up and smiled lopsidedly, "Oh, hey Yuki."

"Young man, are you one of her friends? Could you help an old man out?" the man called out hopefully.

Yuki came over and finally noticed her limp, "Aya, what happened to you?" He looked from the girl to her uncle.

"Nothing, just a tumble with the horses." She smiled and tried to walk on her own only to stumble into the blonde, "Eh heh, guess I'm a little worn out. Sorry…"

"She fell off a horse and got trampled." The man informed him, pleading, "Take her to her bed and make her stay put, would you? I can't reason with her!"

"I'm fine, uncle. Just fine. Just a little sore, that's all. You worry too much… you know how parents are, right, Yuki?"

"Aya, if you were trampled, maybe we should take you to—"

"No, no, it's all right." She moved away stumbling unsteadily down the hallway and out of sight.

"I'm sorry, young man. She has her mother's bullheadedness in her. If I thought something was horribly wrong, I would have taken her to a hospital, but she seems okay. Tell her to call me tomorrow." Apologetic, he handed Yuki her bag and glanced at the dog, "She seemed down, too, so I let her bring Toki with. We already cleared it with the landlady, and Toki is a very well behaved dog. I hope no one's allergic."

Yuki smiled, "No apologies needed. Thank you for bringing her back… um… Shuiro-san?"

The man just laughed and bowed, bidding him farewell.