Chapter 2

Eiji did a back somersault as he shot after a little yellow ball. Ryuzaki-sensei had designated that day to be doubles practice, so naturally that meant that she was trying out various possible doubles combinations against the Eiji and Oishi pair. This, of course, meant that Eiji was determined not to lose while doing practice at his own home courts. After all, he was a part of Seigaku's Golden Pair, wasn't he? Even if he did hold Oishi down at times.

"There it is! Kikumaru-senpai's acrobatics!" The freshmen trio plus one Ryuzaki Sakuno and one Osakada Tomoko cheered excitedly as Eiji finished his somersault and landed with a laugh and 'Hoi, hoi!' looking quite proud of himself.

"Good job, Eiji!" Oishi said enthusiastically as he slapped high fives with his doubles partner. On the other side of the net, Fuji and Taka-san were busy plotting how to get past the Eiji's acrobatic maneuvers and Oishi's strict guard in the back of the court.

"Here's the next ball, nya!" Eiji said happily as he served the ball over the net. It was returned easily enough by Fuji, who was stationed besides the net, his trademark smile ever present on his face. He was still playing around, not in the least bit too serious, Ryuzaki Sumire noted with a sigh. What would it take besides Tezuka or Echizen to make him 100% serious? She could only wonder.

"BURNING!" Taka-san roared as his two hands gripped the handle of his racket in a death grip and he stepped forward. The shot immediately following his outburst was the powerful two-handed Hadoukyuu, except it didn't go where it was supposed to. Oishi had put an abnormal spin to the ball, so the Hadoukyuu had been redirected, with the same amount of destructive power, up and over the fencing surrounding the courts.

And the one who had the pleasure of walking right by the courts was Asa, having found another girl who had taken pity on her and led her to the principal's office, where the old man had succeeded to give her another three large manila folders. Their contents she could only guess at, although she figured it had to do with makeup schedules when she had to leave school for hospital visits, since as soon as she had entered and stated her name he had said: 'We've worked very hard and managed to make a schedule to accommodate your special needs.' She had cringed inside when he had said that, feeling like a freak. So now she was walking with the other girl and thanking her when her eyes flashed to the ball heading straight for them, followed by a warning from half of the members of the boy's tennis team.

"Watch out!" Fuji's eyes had snapped open and Taka-san's jaw had dropped in shock as they watched the ball. It was going too fast for anyone to even have a chance to run up to block it with another racket, and the only ones who could come close to returning or blocking Taka-san's Hadoukyuu was he and Momo, both of which could move not even an inch at that point in time.

She had stopped to a rigid halt and the ball smashed into the billboard in front of her. Her companion uttered a strangled shriek and both girls turned to face the courts. Taka, having lost his grip on the tennis racket that was his source of burning power, instantly ran over, apologizing.

"It's alright; no one was hurt, right?" Asa asked lightly, trying to calm the power player.

Her companion was less than happy. "What do you mean it's alright?" she fairly shrieked. They winced; she was quite loud. "We could have gotten hit… or, or…!"

"Yeah, but we weren't, were we?" She fell silent when Asa flashed a radiant smile, tugging at her arm as she murmured about treating her to an ice-cream while handing the tennis ball back to a flustered Taka. "Sorry for causing a disruption," Asa apologized to Fuji, Eiji, and Oishi who had come up to join them. "Did we take away too much practice time?" She looked genuinely worried.

Oishi, being who he was, instantly kicked in to reassure the girl. "No, not at all!" the fuku-buchou of the Seigaku team said hurriedly. He glanced at Tezuka, who offered the world's tiniest nod (it was nearly impossible to see his head move at all, Asa noted). Ryuzaki-sensei nodded as well, and Oishi pushed on. "In fact, we were just about to end. Today was simply a bit of doubles practice."

She sighed, and then perked up. "That's good. I'd hate to interrupt practice." Turning to the girl besides her, she murmured a soft, "Let's go," and they headed out the school gates.

Tezuka called everyone in and dismissed them for the day, and the regulars dispersed to head to the changing room while the freshmen picked up. Eiji was excited, bouncing up and down as he entered the room and pulled out his school uniform from his cubby. Fuji's regular smile widened slightly; his friend obviously was excited about going to that store. And indeed, three minutes later he was dressed and ready to go, waiting impatiently for Fuji to finish changing as well.

"Nya, Fujiko-chan!" he whined. "Couldn't you hurry up? Please?" Fuji emitted a low chuckle and stood from the bench, brushing a few stray bangs of his auburn hair from his smiling eyes.

"I'm ready. Let's go."

A "Yahoo!" tore itself from Eiji's throat and he careened out the door, fairly blazing a trail in the asphalt paved path as he shot out the gates. "We wish you luck, Fuji-senpai," Momo said with mock seriousness as Fuji left to follow the energetic redhead. He stopped briefly in the doorway with a nod and then proceeded on.

When both boys had left, Momo turned to Oishi. "Ne, Oishi-senpai," he began, "just exactly what store did Eiji-senpai want to visit?"

Oishi blinked in surprise, then shrugged, letting out a breath that said 'I don't know.' "Wherever he's going, I'm sure Fuji will take care of him," he said confidently, putting the last of his stuff away.

***

"Pet store?" Asa echoed as she looked up at the board with the store name painted on it with bright blue letters. Her invitation to ice-cream had turned into an all-out tour of the immediate area around the school, which included all the parks and stores. This went without saying that she was exhausted from running around everywhere after her excitable companion, who she learned was a second year. Where does that put me, I wonder?

"Of course!" The girl whirled around to look at her like what she had just said was the stupidest thing in the world, which Asa did have to admit, was pretty stupid. "It's a new store that just opened last week," the second-year proceeded to explain, almost as if talking to a five year-old. "They've just got a new litter of kittens yesterday, and I've wanted to see them for a while. Do you like cats? I think they're cute." She continued talking as she walked into the shop, and Asa was going to follow had her name not been called from someone behind her.

"Ijuuin-chan! You're here, too!" Turning, she came face to face with Kikumaru Eiji, who was waving madly with his usual happy grin. Following close behind him was Fuji.

"Oh, hi, Kikumaru-san, Fuji-san," she said politely as the two boys came up to her.

"Ah, so this was the store you wanted to come to, Eiji," Fuji said lightly as he looked up at the sign. "I should have known that it had something to do with animals."

Eiji nodded enthusiastically. "I wanted to see the kittens!" he said. "Hopefully, my mom will let me get a cat."

Fuji chuckled lightly. "Somehow, I don't see that happening," he said sweetly, making Eiji droop in disappointment. Although a few seconds later, he perked up.

"Nya! It's nice to see them, anyway!" And then he proceeded to dash into the store. The bell attached on top of it jangled in a pleasant noise as it opened. Fuji openly laughed and followed, holding the door and giving a slight inclination of his head for her to go first. She did, and he shut the door after them, the bell jingling merrily behind them.

"I'll be with you in just a few moments!" A man behind the counter spoke up without even looking up. A squirming puppy was on that counter and he was trying to coax a few drops of milk into its mouth.

Asa's eyes fairly shone as they swept over the shelves jammed with colorful goods. I'll get Seika something, she decided, digging with a hand in her schoolbag for some money. What should I get her? Her cat was quite picky with toys.

Fuji had trailed after her as she moved to the aisle where various styles of cat toys were on display. "Ijuuin-chan has a cat?" he asked when she picked up a toy and then put it down.

She blinked in surprise, turning her head to face him with a quizzical expression on her face. A short nod came from her. "Yeah, her name is Seika. I got her when I entered junior high school. She's the best." She selected a cat toy which looked suspiciously like a tennis ball. "This one will do," she announced as she headed to the counter. The man had finished feeding his puppy, as the canine was now a fluffy ball curled up on a chair with a comfy cushion to lie on.

"That will be 200 yen," he said, and she dug out the money and handed it to him.

"May I see it?" Fuji asked suddenly when the bag with the toy was handed back to her, and she handed it over. "Tennis ball, eh?" he asked, faintly intrigued. It was the first time he had seen a cat toy shaped like that.

"Oh? Fujiko bought something?" Eiji bounced up and pounced on his classmate. "What is it? What is it? Oh… it's a tennis ball." He sounded faintly disappointed.

"Iie, I didn't buy this. Ijuuin-chan bought it for her cat."

Eiji glanced over in interest. "You have a cat? Can I see it?" Asa blinked again; wasn't this a little early? They had just met, after all.

"I'm afraid that will be rather… difficult," she squeaked out.

Eiji sighed. "It's just one disappointment after another today," he grumbled. Fuji and Asa both couldn't think of anything to say to this statement, but ended up not having to as Fuji glanced at the clock and stated:

"It's getting late; we had better get going. Is your companion coming with us, Ijuuin-chan?"

"Narohigu-chan, are you coming with us?" she asked the girl who helped her find the principal's office.

The second-year turned around with a grin. "Nope. I live nearby, so it shouldn't be a problem for me to leave later." She stood with a coal-black kitten in her arms. "Just remember, Ijuuin-senpai, if you ever need any help after school, I'm usually around the halls."

"Ah, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

***

"Who knew we lived on the same street?" Fuji asked lightly as he walked next to Asa on their way home. Having passed a vendor who was selling ice-cream, the two of them plus one Kikumaru Eiji had decided to buy a cone each. Too much sugar is bad for you, she had thought, so she had declined to buy one, only to have Fuji buy her a cone instead. His reasoning? "Making new friends are a good excuse to treating yourself to extra sugar, ne?" To say the least, it was kind of strange, but seeing as he had already bought it and she couldn't return it, she had taken it.

She licked her ice-cream half-heartedly and replied, "Who knew?"

This phrase induced a small chuckle from the boy walking besides her. "You enjoy using that phrase, don't you?"

She shrugged. "I suppose." The truth was that she didn't know how else to answer him. He was being friendly, she knew, but it just felt… awkward in a sense. She had never been blessed with the best social skills, she would admit. Sometimes being around people made her nervous, too. Her father had joked and said that that meant that she needed to get out more. Her doctors said that it was just a phase that she'd grow out of. And she?

She blamed herself for her lack of social skills. She was afraid of people finding out about her secret and then leaving her alone. A childish fear, she knew, but she was terribly afraid of being left alone.

Heaving a sigh, she almost crashed into Fuji, as the boy had stopped suddenly on the sidewalk. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he murmured. "I… just remembered something, that's all."

"Am I taking too much of your time?" Asa asked worriedly. She barged on before he could open his mouth to protest. "If I am, you can just go ahead of me. I know this street, so I won't get lost."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry for making you forget whatever it was you had to do."

Fuji looked slightly embarrassed at this. "If you're sure, I'll go now." Her head bobbed up and down and he offered one last apology as he turned and ran down the street. How could he have forgotten that Yuuta was coming back for a visit today? He was getting forgetful.

Asa watched his retreating back and felt a smile tug at her lips. He was certainly rather interesting, she would give him that much. Continuing her walk, she finished off the rest of her ice-cream cone and licked her sticky fingers. "I'm home!" she announced to an empty house when she stepped into the front hall. Her eyes instantly fell on the whiteboard placed on the wall not too far from the front door. "Take Seika to the vet," was written in black dry erase marker. She reached the conclusion that they had all gone, seeing as both Kurumi's and Narumi's backpacks were lying at the base of the stairs. Although, honestly, she didn't think three people, four at the most, needed to go to see Seika to the vet. It wasn't like the cat was going to claw anyone.

Hopefully.

A hurriedly scribbled footnote was written underneath the vet entrance on the board, and she kicked off her shoes, slipping her feet into the house slippers to get a better look at it. "We'll be late running errands. I'm afraid you'll have to settle with making dinner for yourself."

"Ah, I see," she mumbled under her breath as she went upstairs, setting her schoolbag down on her desk. Why her? She was lazy; her father should have known that. What do we have, anyway?

She was digging through the refrigerator and frowning. They didn't have a lot, it seemed. She did find a package of dried soba noodles, though. Do we have any sauce? She pawed deeper in the fridge until she found it, a small dish of leftover tsuyu. That was all she could find that didn't require too much time to prepare. Her massive amount of English homework was enough to make her gag and she just wanted to grab a bite and then tackle all those words.

Zaru soba it is, then, she decided, setting a pot of water to boil on the stove. When the water started boiling, she added enough of the soba noodles to satisfy her and then tucked the rest securely away. Grabbing another, smaller pot, she filled it with cold water, transferring the boiled noodles to the cold water as soon as they were ready.

"Itadakimasu!" she murmured when she had cleaned up and sat down at the table to eat. Hmm… it would taste better if I had more things to sprinkle on it, she thought as she slurped up the noodles. When she had finished, she deposited the dishes in the sink to wash. Her bowl washed and dried and tucked into the dishwasher, she trudged upstairs to tackle her English homework.

Three paragraphs in English aren't so bad, she thought as she sat at her desk, extracting a clean sheet of paper and her dictionary. It could have been worse.

An hour later, the front door clicked open when the rest of the Ijuuin clan returned home. Seika, thoroughly unhappy with the trip to the vet, immediately shot upstairs. Asa's door was slightly ajar, so the cat squeezed in through the crack, leaping up onto the unoccupied bed with a grumpy "mrrow." Hunched over the desk, her owner stirred but didn't wake up. Seika curled up into a tight, fluffy ball on the pillow, and in time her occasional meows turned into satisfied purrs. The last of the lights in the house were turned off as the twins headed off to bed and their parents did whatever it was that they did.

Night brought peace to the house,

Of course, that was until the alarm clock rang early the next morning.