Chapter 11

"Good morning, everyone!" One excited Oshitari Miho was standing at the school gates, waving enthusiastically to Fuji and Asa as the two of them walked up to the gates. "Did you enjoy your breaks? I've been waiting for you two for five minutes, now!" And she proceeded to berate them, much to Fuji's growing amusement.

"You have…?" Asa was finally able to put in when Miho paused for breath, contemplating whether or not she should be worried about the way Miho had so easily attached herself to her. Although Miho's lively personality did wonders at times, Asa couldn't help but have to pinch herself a few times whenever Miho had spontaneously shown up at her doorstep in the duration of the break in order to ensure that she wasn't still sleeping. Oftentimes, her brother had been dragged along, and the two girls found a bit of amusement in proceeding to plan a shopping spree or something like that and forcing Oshitari to come along. She heaved a sigh. He was so agreeable most of the time that it wasn't much fun to do that. Pity.

Ah… I really am starting to be like Fuji-kun, she thought with a faint smile to herself, though promptly stepping back as a hand entered her field of vision.

"Earth to Asa-chan!" Miho said, glancing at her new friend. Fuji noticed with an amused little lift of the corners of his mouth that Asa had to tip her head upwards, a frown making itself perfectly at home on her face as she regarded Miho. "Ne, you spaced out," Miho explained, "I didn't think the cold could do that."

Asa shook her head. "It doesn't. You must be thinking of something else. Possibly something from those manga books you bought yesterday afternoon?" Miho huffed at her rebuke, crossing her arms across her chest and exclaiming that there was nothing wrong with the content of the books she had bought.

Fuji cocked his head to one side. "Oh? You went shopping yesterday, Miho-chan?" he asked. Normally, he wouldn't ask, but since they were discussing books, his mind suddenly remembered something that he had previously forgotten. "Did you stop at the bookstore…? You know, the one across from the sporting goods store?" He refrained himself from adding 'the one that never has the equipment you look for,' especially with a sour tone in his voice. Miho nodded, a few quick movements of her head. Her hair, put up once again in its cheerful little ponytail, bounced up and down against the nape of her neck as she did so. "Did you happen to see if they had any new photography books on sale?" He had wanted to get one for himself for a long time now, but had never really had the chance to go to that part of town.

Miho shook her head, a tad bit embarrassed. She hadn't really looked. "Ne, Asa-chan… did you see any?" she asked, giving a faint tug at her friend's wrist.

Asa chuckled lightly, reaching into her schoolbag. "Well… this one looked really nice when I was browsing, so I decided to buy it." She brought out a leather-bound book, not too thick but still not incredibly short in page numbers. "See? It's quite nice… the theme is flowers." She flipped it open for Fuji and Miho to see. Photographs of different kinds of flowers in all different directions filled the glossy pages.

Fuji let out a sigh. "Saa… they had this one? I wish I could have gotten it…" He was surprised when the book was suddenly placed in his hands, giving Asa a curious glance as his fingers curled around the edges of the book.

"I'll let you borrow it!" she said brightly, grinning up at him, "since you seem to like photography so much. Maybe I should have bought a copy for you; they had more for sale."

Miho gave a dramatic sigh. "If we had gone earlier you could have bought it and given it to Fuji-sama as a Christmas present," she said, pivoting on her leg to head into the school building. She hadn't gone more then two steps when she stopped. "Presents! I totally forgot about them this year!"

"You mean last year, don't you?" Fuji asked gently, tucking the book into his bag and promising to return it as soon as he finished looking through it.

Miho whirled on him. "This year, last year, they're all the same," she retorted. Fuji looked slightly taken aback, but otherwise said nothing. Not that Miho cared anyway, because she was furiously scribbling into a small journal she had pulled out of her bag.

Asa coughed politely as she searched for something to say in order to interrupt Miho's stream of incoherent mumblings, although Fuji interpreted it as something entirely different, and instantly both girls found themselves being steered towards the warmth of the school. The warmth was welcoming, washing over cold cheeks and freezing hands. "The joys of heating," Asa said happily. She paused momentarily to look out the window at the snow covering the grass just outside the window, and Fuji, not quite paying too much attention to where he was going (trying as he was to look at the flower photographs and walk at the same time), nearly bumped straight into her. "Gomen, Fuji-kun!" she squeaked when her shoulder bumped into his chest. He offered a light chuckle, brushing it off as if it never happened before continuing to attempt to make his way down the hall and stare at the pictures without any further near accidents.

And he was nearly successful, too, except for one tiny problem.

Kikumaru Eiji.

"Mou, Eiji-kun must have had a wonderful night's sleep to be this excited this early in the morning," Miho noted dryly as the two girls watched Eiji attach himself to Fuji's back (or rather, Fuji's tennis bag) while emitting an incredibly loud ''Morning Fujiko-chan!' Everyone who wasn't a third year jumped and gave them odd looks, muttering darkly under their breathes. The third years just continued walking as if nothing had happened. They were used to Eiji's antics by now, and knew about his habit of glomping his friends. It was nothing new.

Asa smiled as she tipped her head to the side. "It certainly seems that way," she said happily, "but it would be worrying if Eiji-kun didn't act like that, wouldn't it?" At this, Miho gave a nod. Yes, it would be worrying if Eiji didn't act like he normally did. The warning bell suddenly rang, and Asa jumped. "Classes are going to start!" she cried. Both girls groaned, not relishing running up three flights of stairs and then to the opposite side of the school in order to make it to their classes.

Miho grabbed her wrist and proceeded to drag Asa down the hall to the nearest staircase, bypassing Fuji and Eiji in the process. "C'mon, let's go! No time to run to our lockers; we'll just have to make do with getting into the classroom on time." The rest was a blur as Miho dragged her friend up stairs and down the third floor of Seishun Academy. Behind them, Fuji and Eiji gave each other a look before following suit, Eiji making good use of his acrobatics (although how he did it with his schoolbag and tennis bag, Fuji would never know) as he went. "See you later!" Miho called out to Asa as class 3-2 came into view and she shot into the classroom in a whirlwind of activity. Asa slowed down and smiled before opting to walk the rest of the way to her class, only two doors down, only to have Fuji and Eiji shoot past her on either side.

"Good morning!" both boys said brightly when they slid open the door, looking as if they had not just sprinted the whole way from the main entrance to their classroom. The wonders of training on the Seigaku tennis team, she thought as she followed more slowly. The final bell to signal the start of classes rang as she draped her coat over the back of her chair, putting her schoolbag on her desk and sitting down in her seat. The teacher walked in as the bell stopped ringing, and the class stood up. "Good morning, sensei," they chorused obediently, and then sat down.

The teacher leaned over his podium for a desk and smiled at his assembled class of students. "Good morning, everyone," he said lightly. "We'll begin with English. Please take out your textbooks and turn to page 73. Fuji Syusuke-kun, please begin with the reading." There was a collective rustling of pages as everyone flipped to the proposed page, and then Fuji stood and began to read in nearly flawless English. There was a collection of dreamy sighs from his fangirls, and Eiji grinned back at Asa, earning him a smile. Fuji finished his allotted section, and the teacher thanked him. "Kikumaru Eiji-kun, please read next."

He jumped up excitedly. "Hai!"

***

Fuji let out a sigh as he extracted his lunch from his schoolbag, opting to stay in the classroom and eat his lunch. Eiji moved his desk next to Fuji's and opened his own bento, exclaiming in delight at the happy little faces that had been drawn on his onigiri with leftover pieces of seaweed. "Nya, isn't it cute, Fujiko?" he asked him, holding up one of the smiling riceballs.

Fuji chuckled. "Ah, it is. It would be a shame to eat it."

Eiji looked at his riceball, sitting innocently in the palm of his hand. "But I'm hungry…" he whined. And it just looked so delicious…

"Saa… I was joking, Eiji." Eiji huffed and then popped the whole thing into his mouth, much to Fuji's surprise. "Eiji, be careful! You might choke!" the genius said worriedly, watching the redhead's throat area closely in order to insure that it all went down in a smooth manner, and should it get stuck, Fuji would have to opportunity to practice his new Heimlich maneuver. Of course, that would be if it became a worst case scenario. He wasn't quite in the mood to actively torture anyone today.

A scraping sound behind him made the brown-haired tensai turn around. Asa was getting up, her Chemistry book in one hand and a handful of pens in another. "Aren't you going to eat, Aa-chan?" he asked curiously. Eiji looked up as well, his cheeks bulging from the riceball that filled his mouth and thus unable to say anything except: 'Guu mff grff!'

She shook her head. "Iie. I promised Miho-chan that I would meet her in the library so we could work on Chemistry. I'll buy something to eat later." Eiji swallowed his mass amount of rice and made a face, beginning his rant against Chemistry and all the cursed elements that they had to memorize. Fuji just smiled at his friend, patting him on the back once and trying to calm him down as she slipped out of the classroom. Personally, she, too, hated Chemistry. Sometimes it was just a tad too difficult to keep all of the formulas straight in her mind.

"I'm sorry I'm late," she said to Miho as she moved to the table in the library that the other girl was currently occupying.

Miho's head shot up from her open Chemistry textbook, and her brown eyes lit up. "Asa-chan!" she said brightly, getting a glare from one of the other students using the table next to them. "Oh, sorry," she sighed, dropping her voice down in volume. Asa chuckled lightly as she walked over, placing her book on the table and sitting down with a sigh of her own. "What's wrong?" Miho asked, flipping the page of her open book. "Is it about Chemistry, or is about something else?"

"Who knows?" Asa asked resignedly as she opened her book to the assigned page. She had completely given up on trying completing any of the assignment over break. Thankfully, Chemistry was last period today, and with help, she'd be done and ready to go by the time that class came.

Miho slammed one fist into the palm of her other hand. "I know! Is it about a boy?" A blank look ensued. Miho smacked herself lightly on the forehead with one hand. "I wasn't clear, was I?" she asked, before launching into an explanation. "You know, like unrequited love? You like the boy, but he doesn't like you, because he's stuck on some other girl. And to make things worse," she stood, both hands on the table and leaning forward to stare straight into her friend's puzzled blue eyes, "that girl isn't even half as good as you."

"You've been reading Romeo and Juliet, haven't you?" Although, really, she couldn't think of any instances where Shakespeare said that Rosaline was half as good as Juliet. "And besides, this is not an issue of unrequited love," she retorted hotly, yet still managing to keep it in the acceptable range of noise for the library. She leaned back against the back of her chair, arms folded over her chest. Miho, on the other hand, looked positively thrilled.

"But it is an issue with a boy, isn't it?" she hissed excitedly, sitting back down. Asa groaned; trust Miho to twist her words around and attack her with them. "Who is it? Eiji-kun?"

There ensued a mixed noise between a snort and a cough.

"Nii-san?"

Next, a tiny 'I don't even know your brother that well.'

"Tezuka-kun?"

Finally, there was a collapse off of her chair followed by a glare at Miho, who was currently trying to think of more likely candidates. There was a reason she wasn't mentioning Fuji's name. Make your prey nervous, and then they will plead for their life and tell you all the answers. That was Oshitari Miho's current game plan. A devilish smirk was on her face, and Asa shivered, beginning to feel mildly unnerved.

Back in the classroom, Fuji sneezed, causing Eiji to ask him if he was feeling alright.

There was another slam of Miho's fist against her palm. "I know!" she announced. "It's Oishi-kun!" This time Asa didn't even bother to pick herself up off the floor; she was doomed either way.

There was a moment of silence as Miho racked her brains, and Asa finally couldn't take it anymore. "Are you done yet? If so, couldn't we just work on our Chemistry?" One of Miho's fingers on her lips effectively shut her up. Blue eyes traced the contours of her face as Miho struggled to contain her glee, since there was a lack of other places to look at. What a predicament, she thought with a sigh to herself.

"I've got it now!" she whispered dramatically. "It is definitely, Fuji Syusuke!" Miho had abandoned her original plan, seeing as Asa wasn't being responsive. Now she was going for a direct attack.

Asa's blue eyes widened, and Miho grinned like a satisfied cat. Except that grin quickly faded and was replaced with an irritated scowl when the other girl just repeated dumbly, "Fuji-kun...?" That was all. There was no blush, no excessive stuttering, just a puzzled look.

"You're hopeless!" Miho wailed, grabbing her friend's shoulders and shaking her, forgetting about the rule with noise in the library and was glared at by the student again. This time she didn't really care. "That was a complete failure..." she sighed under her breath.

Asa chuckled nervously, patting her friend on the shoulder. "It's alright, it's alright," she soothed, wanting to melt into a puddle of liquid and flow away. Her Chemistry paper on the table seemed to mock her, and Miho looked utterly dejected.

Maybe I can see if the nurse will let me go home early today...

***

Inui looked up in surprise to see Fuji and Eiji standing before him. A puzzled look crossed his face as he studied his two teammates, having to lower his head in order to see their faces. "Can I help you, Fuji, Eiji?" he asked, a bit on the tentative side since he was dealing with Fuji, tensai extraordinaire. Who knew if he was in a current sadistic mood? Inui's life was precious to him. If he died now by means of Fuji, he wouldn't be able to collect data. He wouldn't be able to play his data tennis.

He wouldn't be able to make new Inui Juices...!

He shuddered at the thought of it. Not being able to make new Inui Juices would be like a nightmare come true. And frankly, he did not want that to happen. Making new Inui Juices was his favorite hobby, after all, next to collecting data on other people.

"So," he said briskly, pushing his glasses to a firmer position on the bridge of his nose. The glass gleamed for a moment before he took his finger off of the nosepiece, opening his notebook and picking up his pen to poise it over a new, blank page. "What can I help you with?" There was still a hint of wariness in his voice as he regarded Eiji and Fuji.

That was when he noticed that Fuji didn't quite look like his usual self. Though his head was bent, Inui could tell that his eyes were open (some inner instinct, perhaps?). Fuji's hands were folded together behind his back, and overall, he conveyed a sense of a disconcerted young boy. And when asked to describe Fuji Syusuke, one does not use disconcerted.

Never.

"Uh... I thought..." Now Inui was puzzled. Was Fuji stammering? He was so startled by this new thing that he nearly forgot to write it down. Two seconds later, though, his brain remembered and he hurried to scribble it down onto the page. "What do you do if you like someone but you're afraid they won't take you seriously when you tell them?"

The sudden abruptness of his question stunned Seigaku's master of data. Had he heard correctly? So stunned was he that this time he totally forgot about recording it into his notebook. And this time, his brain didn't kick in and tell him to do it. All of his normal functions seemed to have malfunctioned upon hearing Fuji's question.

"Are... you serious?" he asked, just to make sure.

Fuji didn't answer except to nod his head, and Inui's jaw dropped. A moment that seemed like eternity passed before he regained his composure and shut his mouth, pushing his glasses up yet again, seeing as they had fallen slightly down his nose. "Do you want an honest answer, or a more calculated one?" he asked seriously, notebook so forgotten that he had shut it and held it now casually at his side. Eiji's eyes were wide open in mute shock at this. Inui not taking notes? This was as rare as Fuji stammering.

Slapping his hands over his mouth, Eiji muffled his laughs and turned momentarily away from the two boys. Only his shaking shoulders signified his attempts to subdue his laughter. In a moment, he straightened up and spun around again, bright smile plastered on his face. Neither Inui nor Fuji noticed Eiji's bout of laughter control, Inui's glasses covered eyes were focused solely on Fuji, while Fuji's eyes suddenly noticed something particularly wonderful about the ground he was standing on.

"I'd like an honest answer, please, Inui." Fuji's voice was tiny, so different from his usual cheery voice.

Inui cleared his throat, thinking hard about how he should answer the prodigy. "I'd tell them anyway," he said finally. "And if they don't take you seriously when you tell them the first time, I'm sure that you being you would have a way of making them see that you were serious." Fuji lifted his head and Inui was slightly taken aback when he saw those brilliant blue orbs not shining with the usual malicious intent that they showed whenever their owner wished to reveal them. Inui watched quietly as Fuji's mouth stretched into a smile.

"Ah... thank you, Inui," he said finally, then walked past him. Eiji looked from Inui to Fuji and then back to Inui before offering him a cheeky grin, pointing at the notebook that was being held uselessly in his hands.

"You forgot to take notes," he said brightly before taking off down the hall. Inui was puzzled for a moment before realizing what he said.

"Kikumaru! Why didn't you tell me this before?" he nearly screeched down the hall as he hurriedly flipped to the page and started scribbling like a madman.

***

Miho had taken it upon herself to escort Asa back to her house after school that day, even though she knew that Fuji was perfectly capable of doing it on his own. But he didn't complain either way, since possibly deep down inside he felt a bit guilty that he was taking up so much of her time. Yumiko always said that girls needed girls for friends in order to get certain points across.

A figure in a tidy looking brown school uniform was leaning against the gates of Seigaku, a bored look on his face as the trio drew closer. Miho waved cheerfully, calling out a greeting. "Hi, nii-san!" she said brightly, hurrying up to him. Oshitari gave a faint nod but otherwise remained silent. Fuji raised an eyebrow. Hyotei was placed a good distance away from Seigaku, and even though his sister attended Seigaku, Oshitari didn't strike one as the kind of person to purposely go out of his way in order to walk his sister home.

"Hello, Fuji," he said coolly, pushing off of his section of wall to look at the rival tensai.

Fuji gave a curt nod, his usual smile in place on his face. "How are you today?" he asked politely.

"Quite fine, thank you."

They continued to trade simple one sentence statements as the four started walking. Asa and Miho alternated looking at each boy as they exchanged their words. "Ah... this is my house," Asa offered, pausing at the gate to point down the walkway to her front door. "Thanks for walking me back, Fuji-kun, Oshitari-kun, Miho-chan." She gave all three of them a bright smile, and suddenly she took a step back in surprise as both Oshitari and Fuji stepped forward. She was pressed against the wall with one of their arms on either side of her head, Miho standing behind them with a look of utter confusion on her face. Both boys leaned forward so that they could speak in her ear.

"I like you." Miho's jaw dropped in shock behind the boys and Asa could only stare straight forward. Her? They were joking, weren't they?

There was a light brush of their hair against her face as they moved back, and Fuji offered his usual smile before turning to walk to his house. Oshitari gave her a small smile as well before turning to walk the opposite way. Miho's head turned from side to side as she looked after her brother and Fuji before she took one of Asa's hands in her own.

"I apologize for my idiot of a brother," she sighed, giving her hand a shake while her head shook from side to side as well. It seemed like her neck was replaced with a bobble head currently.

Asa cracked a smile. "That would make him a hypocrite, wouldn't it?"

Miho grinned and gave a vague wave of her hand. "Yeah, something like that," she mumbled. She let go of her hands and started to walk to her own home. "Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow!" she said brightly, giving her friend a smile. "And don't worry; I'll get to the bottom of this whole love thing! Just leave it to me! I won't let you down!" So saying, she ran down the street, calling out for her brother to wait for her.

Asa just stared after her friend. "When did I ask for help?" she asked quietly as she started trudging up the walkway to her house. "Tadaima!" she called out; it resonated throughout the silent house, and only Seika came up to greet her. The cat twined around her ankles as she toed off her shoes and slipped her feet into the house slippers. "Hello, Seika!" She knelt down on the hardwood floor and picked up her fluffy pet. The cat responded with a happy purr, her tail twitching.

I like you.

She blinked, startled as her mind brought up the three simple words. "Baka," she sighed. Seika's ears flicked as she looked at her owner curiously when she was set back down on the floor. "I have so much homework tonight," Asa complained to her cat as she headed to the kitchen, setting her schoolbag down on the kitchen table. Seika rubbed against her legs as she pulled out her English homework. She had to write an essay with the theme "enjoyment." Inwardly, she groaned. This was going to put her minimum amount of knowledge of the English language to a huge test.

"Right, I'll work on this right now," she said fiercely under her breath as she pulled out her dictionary and grabbed a pencil. Hopefully, if she exhausted her brain with English words, she could forget all about Fuji and Oshitari.

"Life is so confusing sometimes, ne, Seika?" she asked the cat. A mewing sound was her only answer.

A/N: So... that whole Oshitari and Fuji thing was going around in my head for a whole week now, so I decided to throw it in. I'll probably refine the idea later, right now it's kind of sudden and just... there... So, yeah. ^^

End of my ramble thing. Please review! =)