Disclaimer: Don't own KOF or Fatal Fury. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.
Sore ga Ai, Deshou?
Chapter Thirteen: Genki Tanjoubi
As it happened Mai couldn't go to the Homecoming dance anyway. Flu season had decided to come early that year and Mai caught a particularly nasty strain. She had to stay home sick from both school and dance. Mai regarded her illness as both a blessing and a curse; it was her salvation from having to stand through a "date" with Koinosuke but her salvation came at the price of being bed-ridden ill for five whole days, almost a whole week.
Andy, for his part, stayed as clear away form her as possible. He had no desire to lose five days of his own training from an illness. He was determined to stay healthy and grow stronger. A simpering weakling would not defeat Geese.
He did lament having to tell Sagara-kun, the boy whom Mai had chosen from the list he provided, that she wouldn't be able to attend the dance with him. Sagara had given him a scrutinizing glare when he'd told him, as if the boy suspected that the two of them were ditching the dance to be together alone. Andy had tried his best to ignore the boy's glare and brush off his suspicions. He didn't care what others thought of him.
…
After Mai recovered the first semester of that year seemed to fly by and before either of them knew it, it was already winter vacation with New Years and Mai's birthday fast approaching and for the first time since coming to Japan Andy wondered if he should get her a gift.
He had no idea what might have prompted this new dilemma; he didn't regard Mai with any particular sort of affection (least, none that he was consciously aware of). He was allowed a small allowance out of the Shiranui Dojo's account so he had the money to buy her something small but he had been saving that money for his trip back to South Town. He would be travel halfway across the world to kill a man and wouldn't have the time to stop and get a job; he'd need all the money he could get for travel and expenses. He shouldn't waste it on trinkets for a girl he only barely liked.
But she had been so forlorn and downcast ever since her engagement to Koinosuke and she was always so lovely when she smiled… His train of thought was interrupted as Mai dive-bombed him with one of the aerial attacks she had just been newly taught.
"Keep your head in the game, Andy!" She admonished him from behind her fan, punctuating it with a high-pitched laugh that had become her taunt.
"Hn." He got back to his feet, shaking his blond hair back as he did so. It was starting to get rather long; he wondered about cutting it but hadn't seemed to find the time to do it. Instead of reassuming his stance he flipped backwards as if doing a handstand but then sprang into an impressive and difficult aerial kick with both feet forward. "Chou Reppa Dan!"
Mai raised her fan to block the oncoming human projectile but she only succeeded in lessening the damage. The ninja-girl was flung backwards to skid across the training ring. "Andyyyyyy!"
Hanzo-sensei clapped his hands twice for attention. "I think that's enough for now." The aged master said, entering the ring and placing himself between his apprentice and his granddaughter. He reached a hand down to help Mai to her feet. "Daijobu desu ka?"
"I'm fine." She insisted.
"Su-sumimasen." Andy stuttered. He didn't know why but he was suddenly having a relapse into his initial horror at the idea of hitting girls, only instead of 'girls' it was 'Mai'. The young ninja-in-training suddenly found that he didn't much like the idea of hurting her.
"I'm fine, really." She insisted. "This is so embarrassing, I must look a mess." Mai lifted her broken fan that would now only open halfway and tried to hide her face which was quickly developing a dark purple bruise along one side, following the path of a small trickle of blood.
"But you're…"
"She say's she's fine, puppy. Let her have her pride." Hanzo ordered.
Andy obediently shut-up and watched Mai stager slightly off the training field and into the house. He counted to three before Kazutaka's exclamation of horror reached his ears and he felt another wave of guilt. The boy turned to his master, her grandfather and said, "Sensei, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"Let it alone, puppy. Its one of the hazards of ninja training." He turned to the boy and clapped him on the shoulder. "That was a wonderfully executed Chou Reppa Dan! I think we just might start ki techniques earlier than I had planned, if you keep progressing like this."
Andy didn't quite know how to react to that. Of course he was happy to be advancing in is training, any step forward was a step closer to avenging his father. But he was concerned for Mai and didn't understand how Hanzo-sensei could be so casual about her injury. If he had been in South Town and sparring with Terry under the carful eye of Master Tung, a hit like that would earn him a reprimand and a lecture on how fighting was meant to protect not to harm (a concept which had never really made sense to him).
After thinking about it for a bit, Andy realized that that must have been one of the reason's why the old master had sent him here to train instead of teaching him himself. Within the way of the ninja Andy could grow and flourish, developing his own natural fighting talents that were, admittedly, more vicious than his brother's.
Though, as vicious as he was naturally he really should have gone easier on Mai. She had just recovered from being bedridden ill and besides that, he did spend more of his time training than she did. Now he had to give her a birthday gift, as an apology for mussing up her face.
…
"What exactly did you need me for?"
Andy had asked Sagara-kun to help him sop for a gift for Mai. He was still in his classmate's ill graces for 'concealing his relationship with Mai' but the blond ninja hadn't really had much of a choice. He knew very little about girls aside from what he had observed in school and his observations only ever raised more questions that they answered. He needed help, so he had bit the bullet, as the saying went, and asked Sagara-kun to help him.
"I need to buy a birthday gift for Mai, I mean, uh, for Shiranui-san." It felt odd referring to Mai by her family name, especially considering that there were dozens of Shiranui but only one Mai. But he wanted to start making it a habit to formally distance himself from Mai in the eyes of his classmates. Maybe that way the rumors about them would stop, or at least die down.
"A New Years gift." Sagara crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't see why you need me for that. She's your girlfriend. Why don't you just get her one of the standard generic New Years gifts?"
"Its for her birthday." Andy corrected. They were walking through Mino's shopping district and he was finding it annoying to have to divide his attention between Sagara's prodding questions and scanning windows for items that were in his price range that Mai might like.
"Oh! When's her birthday?" Sagara was suddenly very interested. Of course he was. Almost every boy in school had a crush on Mai by this point.
"New Years." The blond ninja answered dutifully.
"Wait, I thought you said this gift was for her birthday."
"It is for her birthday." Andy snapped, getting a little annoyed at his fair-weather 'friend'. "Her birthday is one New Years, January first."
"Ah." Understanding finally dawned and Andy had to roll his eyes at the boy. "Jewelry."
"What?" The American ninja had to blink at the seemingly random statement his classmate had made.
"Jewelry." Sagara repeated. "Girls love jewelry. Ya see, Bogard-kun, girls are allot like crows, they like shiny things." He said in a mock-sagely tone. "If it sparkles or shines they'll love it unconditionally based solely on the fact that it's pretty. Girls are shallow that way."
"I don't think Mai's all that shallow." Andy shook his head.
"Oh, really?" Sagara flicked a strand of Andy's golden-blond hair so that it caught the muted winter light. "Shiny."
He understood where the boy was coming from, there was just one flaw in his explanation: he and Mai weren't really dating she didn't really like him. Shiny hair and all, Mai didn't like him like that. "I don't think…"
"Let's check in there!" Sagara cut Andy off. He pulled the ninja-in-training into a teeny-bopper shop. The kind that sold plastic jewelry painted to look real and brightly colored scarves or arm-warmers that either shrank, fell apart or lost all their color after a single washing.
Andy had to hold back a gag at the sheer brightness of everything and the fact that a good majority of everything was pink (or a variation there of). He couldn't imagine Mai liking anything that came from here. Sagara strolled over to a turning rack displaying earring studs in various shades of 'bright'. He selected a pair of bright pink heart-shaped studs and passed them to Andy.
"Here, these are cute. She might like these."
Andy had no idea whether or not Mai would like them, he knew very little about her tastes but he did not like them, no one bit. He wasn't about to shill out a portion of his meager allowance on something that would be an affront to his eyes every time they were worn.
"I think not." He replaced the studs on the rack from which Sagara had pulled them.
Unfortunately for him the earrings hung precariously from their over-stuffed racks and when Andy's had accidentally brushed the sides of the earrings hanging on either side of the one he just replaced they all came tumbling down off the rack to litter the floor with their sparkly and obnoxious brightness.
"Shimata." He cursed.
The fail-ninja bent down to pick them up, suddenly feeling very self-conscious, as he had just drawn the whole store's attention to himself. It was bad enough that he and Sagara were the only men in the store but that he had to make a complete klutz of himself as well… it was not very ninjaly of him to say the least.
A sales woman walked up to them and politely asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Uh, no thank you." Andy replied, feeling himself blush. Damn him and his stupid alabaster skin. His fair complexion colored far to easily for his own good.
"He's looking for something for his girlfriend." Sagara said.
"Ah, young love. How cute!" She smiled at Andy causing his blush to deepen. He muttered some sort of non-committal response and went back to picking up the sparkling plastic jewelry he'd knock all over the place.
"What sort of things does she like?" The saleswoman asked trying to help Andy as well as make a sale.
"Lots of different stuff." He answered cryptically; not really knowing what Mai was into he didn't have a hope of answering the saleswoman's questions. His best bet was to be as vague as possible. "She's kinda eclectic."
In an attempt to avoid eye contact with either Sagara or the saleswoman he turned his attention back to picking up the last of the earrings when one pair caught his eyes. It was a pair of plain pearl shaped studs tinted red. Not a obnoxiously bright cherry-red that most of its compatriots were but a darker, more earthy tone, almost the same shade as her red fighting out fit. They would match both Mai's natural coloring as well as her favorite fighting costume, which was good for her, and they weren't irritatingly bright which was good for him.
"I'll get these." He announced.
"Those?" Sagara asked. "But they're so… they're not girly at all! Are you sure she'll like them?"
"Wouldn't she prefer something a little more feminine?" The sales woman asked. "Or perhaps one in a brighter shade?"
"No. These." Andy was quite firm about it. He quickly finished putting back the remaining earrings that were on the floor, not wanting to spend another minuet in the glaring brightness of the colorful store and made his purchase.
…
December came and went and before anyone knew it, it wads New Years. Andy had wrapped his gift for Mai, or rather; Andy had tried to wrap his gift for Mai. The hapless ninja-in-training quickly learned that wrapping a bit of colored paper around an object wasn't quite as easy as it looked, least not if you expected it to look nice. Andy's wrapping did not look nice, it looked like he had taken white and red "Genki Tanjoubi" paper and crumpled it up into a ball and then covered said ball in scotch-tape.
He examined it several times over the course of the night trying to figure out what he'd done wrong. He picked it up while he was putting on the hakama and haori he would wear to temple with Hanzo-sensei. He had taken it out of his pocket to examine after prayer. He stared at it all the way back from the temple. Hanzo-sensei had asked him what was so interesting and he had hidden it quickly, feeling irrationally self-conscious.
He wanted very much to take it out one more time and maybe fix it before they all climbed onto the roof to watch the sunrise but he didn't get the chance. He felt it in the pocket of his sleeve the whole time they sat there watching the sun, like it was burning a hole in his haori. Finally, when Kazutake went to go prepare Mai's birthday breakfast and Hanzo-sensei went to take a nap he got his chance.
"Uh, Mai?" He prodded tentatively after they had climbed down from the roof.
"Yeah?"
"I, um…" He once again felt his face turning red and he hoped she'd think it was from the wind and the cold and not because he was nervous. Besides, he didn't have a reason to be nervous. He was just giving her a gift as an apology for bruising her face the other day on the training field. That was all, nothing more.
Andy withdrew the poorly wrapped package from his sleeve and flushed a deeper shade of red at the site of his own shoddy wrapping. The suddenly very self-conscious ninja-in-training turned away as he extended his arm out, presenting the gift to her in the least personal way possible.
"This is because… that is to say… I, um…" He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of what to say before hand. It was just a stupid apology gift anyway; it shouldn't have been this freakin' hard! "Just take it!"
"Andy…" She wrapped her hands around the messy wad of paper and was about to reach for his cheek and turn him to face her but he pulled away the moment he felt her hands on the package and ran, not ran, bolted from the room.
Mai was left standing alone, her hands still wrapped around what looked like a rather pretty piece of trash with far too much tape on it. Her curiosity out weighing her confusion she began pulling strips of tape off as neatly as she could (which wasn't very). The paper had been a very glossy white with what appeared to be the words "Genki Tanjoubi!" printed all over it in bright red letters that varied in size and seemed to follow a sort of cross hatching pattern.
He had gotten her a birthday gift?
Finally she reached the core of the wade of paper and out tumbled a pair of red pearl-style earring studs. She wasn't one for dangly jewelry, they could get caught or snagged on something to easily and they were nothing but an opening and a weakness when fighting. But she did have pierced ears and wouldn't mind having an alternate pair of studs. Mai fastened them in the vacant holes in her earlobes and shook her head a few times to make sure they were secure. Then she went in search of a mirror to see just how they looked.
…
Andy had barricaded himself in his room after that. He didn't understand why giving something as silly and trivial as a bit of plastic jewelry to Mai was such an ordeal for him. The blond ninja decided it must have been because he was self-conscious about his wrapping and left it at that. There was no reason for there to be any deeper reason and even if there were it didn't matter, she was already engaged.
'Don't get attached, don't get hurt.'
It had been forever since he'd had to remind himself of his old mantra but he began chanting it firmly now. Mai was his master's granddaughter and nothing more. They lived in the same house and trained together often, that was all.
'Don't get attached, don't get hurt.'
Besides, she was engaged. As soon as she tuned sixteen (the age of majority in Japan) she would marry Koinosuke and there was nothing he could do about it. Even if he did want to marry her, which he didn't, he would never be allowed to.
'Don't get attached, don't get hurt.'
He had been begrudgingly adopted into the Shiranui clan only because he was being trained in the the Shiranui-ryu and Kappoujitsu, that did not give him leave to have feelings for the Shiranui heiress.
'Don't get attached, don't get hurt.'
Besides, it wasn't like he actually liked her in that way, anyway. Sure, he thought she was pretty, but that was probably just hormones. He was at that age. Yeah. That was it! He was nervous in giving his gift to Mai because of a hormonal imbalance due to the fact that he was just 'at that age'. It meant nothing. That was it. That was all.
Having decided this and fixed that belief firmly in his mind, Andy relaxed. He wasn't becoming attached to Mai in any way. He was just going through a phase and it would eventually pass, like water through his cupped hands. No. That wasn't an accurate metaphor; his cupped hands indicated that he wanted to keep his 'feelings' for Mai that he didn't want to louse them or her. No, it was more like water under a bridge, yes. It was just a natural order of things. It would pass.
Just as he was finally relaxing, comfortable in the knowledge that he wasn't really liking Mai none other than the spirited little minx herself came barging into his room. Sliding the door open without even bothering to knock.
"Domo!!" She threw her arms around him in a warm hug, her breasts pressing against his chest in a way that elicited a feeling of inappropriate excitement in him.
"M-Mai!" He exclaimed while trying to pull himself away from her. Or at least, if she wouldn't let go to at least distance his lower half from hers enough so as not to disturbed her with his… solid adrenaline. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to thank you for my birthday present." She said hugging him tighter and refusing to let go. "Stop struggling and let me thank you. I thought you got over you thing about hugging."
"I…" God, had her hair always smelled that nice? "You're welcome. But you should go." He managed to get his hands up under her armpits and push her away, his thumbs brushing against the wire of her bra. His face turned an even deeper shade of crimson than it had before when he realized what he had touched and what that particular item of clothing contained. He quickly turned his back to her and adjusted the front of his hakama so as not to cue her in to the nature of his discomfort.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" He hadn't meant for it to sound snappy but it did and he regretted it.
"Look I'm sorry I hugged you, okay." She sounded dejected. "I was just so surprised that you gave me a birthday gift, you've never done that before. I guess I got a little overly exited."
Oh, she was exited, if she only knew the effect she was having on him right now. "It wasn't a birthday gift, it was an 'I'm sorry I mussed-up your face' gift."
"Oh." She touched the side of her face where the dark bruise he had given her was just starting to fade. "Well, thank you." She turned as if the leave then turned at the door. "Andy… um, wanna go out for ice cream latter?"
"What?" He turned back around to face her, momentarily forgetting the original reason why he had tuned his back in the first place.
Her eyes flecked downward and back up again that he almost didn't notice but it was clear from the subtle coloring of her cheeks that she knew what it meant. Still, he had to commend her for her composure; she made no comment about it and maintained a strait face while repeating her offer (with only one slip-up).
"Do you want to go and get some ice cream with me latter? The first ice cream of the new year. It can be much later if you prefer. Just come and get me when you're done- ready! Just come and get me when you're ready."
The subtle blush that had colored her own cheeks turned its own shade of vibrant pink at her slip-up and she bolted from his room, shutting the door behind her afterwards, not even bothering to hear his reply.
…
A/N: I had drafted like, a million different versions of this chapter and I hate them all. This one is the one I hate the least but I still think it was crap. Maybe if I hadn't agonized over it as much it would have been better, but whatever. What's done is done.
Critiques are always welcome.