Chapter-2

Fuji came back to his room from the shower to see his entire team lounging there. Echizen didn't seem too interested but the others were clearly waiting for something. Ignoring them, Fuji reached out to grab a shirt.

"What was that about?" Tezuka asked since no one else was brave enough to question the tensai's personal affairs. "Yeah, tell us Fujiko! How do you know that cute girl, nya?" Eiji urged. Fuji groaned inwardly. He didn't want to discuss it. But his team was certainly not having any of that. "Let's order something to eat first-"Already done!" Momoshiro and Eiji quipped. Fuji sighed in defeat. For the first time he didn't have a way and couldn't even smile his way out of this.

"Fine. What do you want to know?" Oishi was the first to reply. "How do I know her from before? It was kind of awkward that she remembered me and I didn't." "You all know her." He said. "She was in Seigaku since middle school. She left school in the middle of last year and joined Rikkai. I didn't know she joined there until today." Everybody looked at Inui. For once the data man didn't have any previous data on an ex-student. Tezuka gave him a look. Go on it meant. "She was always laying low, hence the lack of data." Tezuka stopped him there. "But why was she laying low? Inui has data on every single person in school, no matter how insignificant they are. No one knows when Inui is gathering data on them. But this girl clearly knew about that. How?" Everybody in the room stopped whatever they were doing. No one had thought of that.

Fuji stared at the floor long and hard. "We...we were dating before she left. I didn't want anyone to know." The room suddenly became pin-drop silent. "Li data" was the only sound. "Fujiko?" Eiji asked in a sad voice. "Did you guys break up?" "It wasn't like that. We just went on a few casual dates at first. Nothing serious. But then, things started to get…" "Complicated?" Momoshiro offered. "Heated." He said. Momoshiro and Kaidoh sat there with their faces turning red. "After a month or so, she decided that she wanted a stable relationship. I wasn't ready. So I broke it off. She really didn't create any problems for me but..." he trailed off. "But what?" Oishi inquired. "Do any of you remember a rumor that some girl forced herself on me?" Except for Echizen, who has fallen asleep, everyone nodded. "Well, some girl saw us together and spread the rumor to distance us. But we were already over by then. But the reason it spread like wildfire was because I, um, may have sort of given a hint… that it was not just a rumor." "WHAT!" Everyone (sans Echizen and Tezuka) screamed. "How could you do that Fuji?" Oishi asked, disappointed. "Knowing your fangirls, they're almost as crazy as you senpai. They must've made her life a living hell." Kaidoh hissed and Momoshiro nodded. For once they agreed on something.

"But why would you do that? Everything was over between the two of you by then. And she wasn't even forcing you to stay." Kawamura said, still finding the entire thing hard to believe. Fuji kept quiet. "Well?" Tezuka urged.

"From what I've gathered so far," Inui intervened "Takahashi san is very pretty." Fuji's sharp cerulean eyes snapped towards Inui, but he continued. "The reason might be because though Fuji wasn't ready for something stable, he didn't want her to move on with someone else either. She could have any guy falling for her if she tried. But a rumor like that would have boys avoiding her like the plague. What better way of keeping her in hand, no?" Fuji proceeded to leave the room to get their food, thinking Inui was done. But he certainly wasn't. "You didn't think it would get so out of hand that it would make her shift schools in the middle of the year. She went further away from you than you ever thought." Inui concluded.

Fuji slammed the door while leaving.

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"HE WHAT!" Sanada shouted. "Please Sanada senpai, don't shout in my ear." Asuna retorted as she went back to the kitchen. They were all at Renji's place waiting for Asuna to serve them dinner.

Apparently the girl was kidnapped by them from the bus which was taking her home. On a random stop, they all got on her bus and took her away. She was certain that it wasn't just her past with Fuji they wanted to discuss. They have come to like her cooking way too much for her liking. They were always finding absurd reasons for her to cook for them.

The whole team had decided to 'help out' in the kitchen while she told them her story. But the rowdy bunch was creating such a ruckus that she was eventually forced to kick them all out.

"If you don't believe it then don't. I refuse to talk about it any further." she simply said as she handed Yagyuu table mats. "Please set the table senpai. I'm coming with the food." Yagyuu did as he was told.

The dinner table was awfully quiet. "It's too quiet." Kirihara muttered. "I agree." Asuna said passing the salad over to Niou. Yukimura cleared his throat. "Suna chan, I really don't know what to say at this point- "Why do we have to talk about that? I came to Rikkai to forget about it. Not to remember it." Asuna sighed. "I believe we have more important things to worry about." "Do you want to go against Fuji?" Kirihara wondered out loud. "Hell no!" Niou yelled. "No way are you going anywhere near that bastard. That's final." "Oh my God! Will you guys drop it? I thought I was going against Echizen." She huffed.

Renji was quiet the entire time. Observing her every move, her every expression. How she talked about the bitter incident. Trying to figure out what she felt for the tensai now. Why am I obsessing over her? I'm not obsessing. I'm only gathering data. He had just convinced himself that his intentions were nothing but professional when his eyes fell on the person beside him. Yukimura was observing him the way he was observing Asuna. Yukimura knew.

After a while everyone decided to go home. After seeing them off, he turned to the two boys who didn't seem like they were going to go any time soon. "Let's sit, ne Renji?" Yukimura and Niou invited with their scary smiles. Renji could only hope he'd get through this evening in one piece.

They sat for a long time without saying anything. Renji was actually beginning to think if their sole purpose for staying back was only to annoy him.

"You should talk to her." Yukimura finally said. "Don't try to deny it. We can tell." Niou smirked. Am I that obvious? Renji sighed. He didn't want to think about it so soon. "She's not completely over him. And don't question me on how I know. I'll talk to her when I deem right." Renji's words made it clear that the matter was closed.

Yukimura and Niou only hoped that he'd act in time.