Red Roses: Hello, again. Welcome back to a new chapter of "His Yin and Her Yang". I will start off with asking a Sket Dance character to remind the readers I don't own any of the Sket Dance series. Here's the main character himself, Fujisaki Yusuke a.k.a Bossun.
Bossun: *nervous* H-H-Hey, Red R-Roses don't own S-Sket D-D-Dance s-s-so don't f-forget!
Red Roses: You know, when you're nervous, you don't look anything like a main character, especially with that face. Your face is just too funny to take you seriously.
Bossun: THAT'S CRUEL!
Red Roses: I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be mean but I had to say it.
Also to LightSpeed Athlete24, Shinako didn't join the Kendo Club because she quit Kendo when she was 14 and now, she practices Kenjutsu. Plus, it seems like such a boys' club. One more note, I didn't mind your "xDD" one bit.
If any of you have questions about my weird characters, feel free to ask me and I'll answer them in my introductions.
Now, onwards with the story!
"Takeshida-sensei, please wake up." Shinako said, gently but sternly pushing the older man's shoulder, persuading him out of sleep but to no prevail. She found the school doctor, Takeshida-sensei, sleeping on one of the infirmary beds, as usual.
"Five more minutes." He grumbled through the pillow. He turned in his sleep, slightly wrinkling his white coat.
"You said that five minutes ago." the black-haired student reminded him, continuing the pushing.
"Then, give me ten more minutes."
"Takeshida-sensei." Shinako sighed. She had only met Takeshida-sensei recently but it was easy to sense his work habits.
He was quite young, only 25, but he had the energy of a 90-year-old and the stubbornness of a 10-year-old. Sure, he was good at his job and when he's awake, which is rarely, he is a good teacher towards the Health Committee members but he always comes to school looking like a mess.
His black hair looks like he combs it half-heartedly so it's just barely neat and he always shows up with his maroon eyes laced with sleepiness and his tie always hang loose. if it weren't for the white coat, she would have thought he was some college kid who had nothing better to do.
"Why don't you just talk a walk outside and leave the infirmary to me," Takeshida said tiredly lifting his head up, showing his youthful yet so lazy face. "I'll handle it."
The female samurai finally gave up and decided to take a walk since it was a slow day for the Health Committee. Before she left, Shinako told the sleeping doctor to text her if a patient arrives in which he grumbled in response.
Shinako sighed but then let out a smile and hummed as she walked down the hallways, already decided on a destination. She was told by her master to come by the Student Council Room that day and she was almost skipping her way towards her destination.
"Why are you standing so close to the president, woman?" Katou glared at the female samurai, who was standing diligently beside Tsubaki. Katou is on Tsubaki's left and Shinako on his right. Tsubaki looked less of Student Council president and more of like the president of the United States kind of way.
"I have given my code to Tsubaki-sama, I cannot leave my master with..." Shinako gave a quick glance to Katou before looking away.
Cue the irk mark. "What are you implying?" Katou growled through his clenched teeth.
Shinako turned to face the white-haired boy with her own glare. "I believe you know exactly what I'm implying."
"Troublesome samurai."
"Delinquent ninja."
The four other occupants of the rooms sat silently as the heat turned boiling point between Katou and Shinako. This glaring competition between ninja and samurai happens so often, it would strange if it didn't happen. Tsubaki, who was sitting between his overly faithful friends, sighed, contemplating on stopping this meaningless stare-down.
"Enough, both of you," Katou and Shinako instantly stopped at the sound of Tsubaki yelling like trained dogs. "It's time to start the meeting."
One of the discussions during the meeting that day was of Shinako's destruction of one of the school window and her punishment for it.
"Kikuchi Shinako, you shall be punished for the destruction of school property and for the assault of a student." Tsubaki said as Shinako kept her head down, ready to accept anything.
"Since Unyu already decided to pay for the repair expenses herself, your punishment will be assisting the softball team for the entire week starting tomorrow. Understand?"
Shinako nodded. "I understand, Tsubaki-sama."
"Also, Kiri will be monitoring you." Tsubaki continued in which Shinako lifted her head in surprise.
"Wait, he will be following me everywhere?"
"You and Kiri are in the same class so it would be the obvious choice to choose him." The black-haired president explained but it still didn't help Shinako one bit.
"This is unacceptable, Tsubaki-sama. I won't run away or anything. Why would you need that delinquent ninja to follow me? Do you not trust me?" Shinako was getting both annoyed and upset at the same time. Not only does she have to spend more time with her hated rival, she feels like Tsubaki, her master, doesn't have faith in her.
"This is standard procedure, Kikuchi. It is mandatory for one of the Student Council member to company the punished offender."
"But-" Tsubaki cut her off before she could say anything else.
"This is an order, Kikuchi. Not buts."
With that said, everything seemed settled. Shinako held her tongue and agreed to her punishment. Helping the softball didn't seem so bad but the idea of spending more time with the general affair manager was the real punishment for her.
Then, Shinako's phone rang, signaling a text message. She wasn't all that attached to her phone but she still kept it for communication purposes. Shinako pulled out her phone and flipped it open to read her text. It was from Takeshida-sensei.
Shina, come 2 infirmary now. ASAP
"Is he that lazy he can't spell out my full name?" Shinako thought, putting back her phone into her pocket. "Excuse me, Tsubaki-sama. I must leave." She headed for the door and bowed politely before closing the door and rushed to the infirmary.
"Ok, let's continue the meeting," Tsubaki said and Unyu raised her hand with a smile as always. "Unyu, is there something you like to say?"
"Well, I wondering if I could add gold plates to the new window?~"
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
"...then marble?~"
Shinako reached to the infirmary and saw two men in there; an older man sitting lazily on the doctor's chair backwards otherwise known as Takeshida-sensei and a younger boy, a student who was injured and was looking anywhere but her and Takeshida-sensei. He had messy brown hair and matching eyes but one of his eyes was bruised and swelling. His hands were also bruised and he seemed to have taken a lot of beatings.
"Why didn't you treat him?" Shinako asked the school doctor softly, trying to avoid being heard by the patient.
"I tried, but he won't even let me touch him and he keeps ignoring me when I tried to talk to him," Takeshida explained, annoyed with the boy. "He's a little brat."
"Takeshida-sensei, you shouldn't say something like that!" Shinako chastised her teacher as she walked to take a seat next to the silent boy's bed and gave him a smile.
"My name is Kikuchi Shinako. Are you ok?" Shinako started off gently, trying to coax him into a conversation. He stayed quiet though.
"May I know what happened?" The black-haired girl asked but still, the patient was silent. Shinako tried another approach and slowly took his hand in hers and rubbed it softly. He flinched and tried to take his hand back but Shinako continued talking.
"You are really hurt. Why don't you let us help you?" Shinako tried looking into his face, but he kept turning his head. But, Shinako wasn't about to give up.
"You fought very hard," Shinako said, keeping her voice soft. "You were probably fighting for something very important."
By the way he flinched, Shinako knew she was right. Finally, the injured student looked towards her general direction and Shinako smiled and began treating his wound. Takeshida was watching the whole thing, and decided to leave the room so the boy felt more comfortable.
After a while in silence, Shinako heard a voice; it was soft, broken and slightly angry.
"He didn't deserve her."
"Pardon?"
"That jerk. He didn't deserve her. He always left her behind and always chooses his friends over her." The boy muttered under his breath, his hands clenched in anger.
"I see, you were fighting for a girl."
"He doesn't understand her like I do."
Shinako smiled and held his fist sweetly as he looked up. "Well, that was very brave of you to stand up for her like that. She's very lucky."
"Really? You think so?"
Shinako smiled and nodded in which he blushed in response. Next he fell silent for a while as Shinako continue to dress his wounds, wrapping his injured eye with bandages.
"...My name is Akiwara Yoshio."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." the female samurai smiled.
"You're...nice."
"Nice swing, Shinako-chan!" Captain yelled out as Shinako ran as fast as she could around the diamond before sliding onto the home plate. Shinako was helping the softball team practice for a tournament and since a member couldn't play due to minor injuries, Shinako offered to fill in for that day as part as her punishment.
"You're really good, Shinako-chan." Captain praised to which Shinako blushed a bit.
"It was nothing, Captain-san. It was you would help me understand the game."
"But you're a fast learner, isn't she, Katou-san?" Captain and Shinako looked to the stoic man who was watching over Shinako and he shrugged in response.
"It wasn't bad, for a girl."
"Excuse me?" Shinako glared as Katou looked up in the sky, ignoring the shorter female.
"She really changes her personality whenever Katou is involved." Captain noticed Shinako glaring daggers at Katou's chin since he refuses to look at her. Then, a softball player ran to the three with a envelope in hand.
"Someone asked me to give this to you." She said, handing the envelop to Shinako who, though surprised, took the envelope and examined it. There was no name or anything written on it so Shinako opened it and saw a letter folded neatly inside. She looked to the girl who gave her with a confused expression.
"May I know who sent me this?"
"I don't know. He was some guy, said he knew you and he just told me to give this to you right away." the softball answered before walking towards the softball field.
Shinako unfolded a letter and it was neat and well-written.
Dear Shinako,
You are the sweetest person I've ever met. You have treated me with such kindness and your smile gave me strength. You are strong yet warm-hearted. I will never find another one like you. I will never give you up.
Shinako was blushing heavily while she was reading this. Captain and Katou was reading over her and showed very different reactions. Captain was smiling as she squeezed Shinako's shoulder while Katou was just...Katou.
"Congrates, Shinako-chan! You have an admirer." Unfortunately, Shinako was too dazed and shocked to hear Captain properly. Shinako only snapped out of it when Katou whacked her on the head.
"Hey!"
"Go change. We need to report to the president." Katou said, annoyed.
"Fine."
Went unnoticed, a figure was watching the three behind the school building, wearing a hoodie and a frown on his face.
As Shinako went to change, she could have swore she saw a figure inside the room. When she opened it, she saw an unoccupied room with the window opened. Though strange, Shinako convinced herself it was just the moving curtains she saw from outside. She shut it close and quickly changed into her school uniform.
The next day started as usual, Shinako met up with Tsubaki and Katou, gave Tsubaki a homemade bento, Katou and Shinako argued, both of them escorting the president to his class and both of them reluctantly walking to class together. What was out of the norm was when they got to there class, everyone was crowding around a desk, Shinako's desk.
"Excuse me." Shinako said, trying to get through her desk when she saw the reason for everyone gathering around her desk because normally, you don't find a bouquet of roses sitting on your desk so often.
Again, Shinako started to blush and saw her childhood friend, Shinpei, in the crowd.
"Shinpei-kun, when did this get here?"
Shinpei shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. It was here when I got to class."
Shinako was getting really embarrassed, not only does Captain and Katou knew of her secret admirer, now everyone in class knew. Thankfully, the teacher came in and everyone went back to their places. Shinako placed the bouquet beside her table and tried to take her mind of it by listening to her teacher's speech.
Time passed, and lunch soon came. Every girl was rushing to Shinako, asking her of her secret boyfriend and squealed in delight and slight jealousy. Shinako, though blushing, assured them with a straight face she had no boyfriend and she had no one in mind, disappointing some of girls' fantasies.
After a while, the girls finally left Shinako, to her relief, and Shinpei came by instead.
"So, you have no idea who this secret admirer might be?"
Shinako shook her head and looked down to the bouquet on the floor. She was flattered, yes but shouldn't this mysterious admirer reveal himself by now? He has already given her so much.
"Well, I wish you luck on your search." Shinpei said before heading back to his seat. From afar, Katou was looking out the window, thinking to himself.
FLASHBACK
After Shinako left and the window case was over, the Student Council had unfortunately encounter another disturbing case.
"A student has reported that she was stalked by someone for the past few days." Unyu said sadly as she read from the report files.
"How disgusting." Daisy commented angrily.
"I agree." Usami said softly, only meant for Unyu and Daisy to hear.
"Well then, we need to keep an eye out for him," Tsubaki said with full determination. "We will stop this menace so he won't harm any more of the students!"
"Yes, president!"
END FLASHBACK
Katou's flashback ended when the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch so everyone cleaned up back went back to their seats.
"Today was good practice, everyone! Time to pack up!" Captain yelled out to her teammates and everyone relaxed and started to pack up. Shinako and Katou went to the girls changing room as usual, Shinako went in to change and Katou would stay outside by the door.
Shinako opened the locker in which she left her school uniform in but then she gasped. All of Shinako's clothes were gone, including her bokuto and her two blue hair beads.
Shinako panicked. She searched through the room and any opened lockers but none of her belongings were found.
"Oi, woman, what's taking so long?" Katou yelled out from the other side of the room.
"My...my clothes...there are missing!"
"What?"
"I think someone might have stolen them."
"Tch..."
Shinako called Unyu, who luckily was able to bring a spare uniform and even a turtleneck for Shinako and then walked to the Student Council Room.
"Thank you so much Unyu-san." Shinako thanked the sweet vice-president who smiled back at her.
"It's no trouble at all."
Shinako felt the fabric of her new uniform; her new turtleneck was softer than her old one and her school uniform was much smoother than the other ones.
"Unyu-san, this uniform feels kinda different from my old one."
"Well, that turtleneck was made from the finest wool in Europe, your beads in your hair is made of the same silver used in the Olympics painted blue and that uniform is made from the best cotton from Japan. It's only about 6 million yen."
Shinako's eyes widened as she froze in her tracks.
"I'm wearing a uniform worth 6 million yen!"
"Suddenly, I feel very uneasy."
"Are you unhappy with your uniform? I will call the Unyu company to find the best uni-" Unyu was cut off when Shinako was desperately waving her hands to stop.
"Please, you don't have to!"
"I should also call someone to find you another bokuto since it has gotten stolen as well." When Unyu went to reach for her phone, Shinako stopped her and gave her a sad smile.
"It's really unnecessary, Unyu-san. It's not that I don't appreciate your kind help but you cannot put a price on my bokuto," Shinako's sad smile still intact as she bunched up her skirt in a fist. "My father gave me that bokuto when I was starting Kendo and to me, it is irreplaceable."
"Shinako..."
"I appreciate everything what you're doing for me but I must find my treasure alone," The black-haired samurai grabbed her bag and headed for the door. "I'll be leaving now, Good bye."
The sadden girl left the room, in which the other occupants turn silent.
The next day, Shinako came to school with an uncharacteristic frown on her face. Everyone knew immediately that Shinako was not herself that day; she didn't greet Tsubaki with the same eagerness, she didn't bother with Sakura's pervert comments and worse, she didn't argue with Katou...not even once!
The day went on like that and Takeshida-sensei got annoyed with it. Normally, he would have love it if Shinako wasn't going to disrupt his sleep but how can he sleep with a dreary aura looming over the infirmary. So, he did what any normal adult would do, he whacked her on the head with an annoyed expression.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" He asked, irked.
"Ow..." Shinako mumbled, rubbing her head from the whack. "My things were stolen yesterday, including my bokuto."
"You mean that weird wooden sword you carry around?"
"It's not weird!" Shinako pouted then frowned again. "It's really special to me and I feel naked without it."
Takeshida-sensei sighed. "Why don't you get those Student Council brats to help you? Isn't this part of their job?"
"They're busy with a stalker case. I wouldn't want to bother them."
At that point, the conversation seemed to have caught Takeshida's attention (he was only listening half-heartedly until this point). "A stalker case, you say?"
Shinako nodded. "Apparently, someone was stalking a 3rd year and now, they're trying to catch him."
"Do they have a suspect?"
Again, she nodded. "But they still can't be too sure."
"Hmm..."
Shinako turned to the clock and saw that it was time to head for the softball practice. She grabbed her things and bowed politely to Takeshida-sensei before leaving the infirmary.
Takeshida-sensei was quiet for a while, thinking of something when he seemed to realized something and rushed to the Student Council Room. For a lazy guy, he was pretty fast.
"So, any reports?"
"None, no one seems to be following Kitoshi-san anymore." Unyu reported with slight relief but she knew this wasn't over yet.
The Student Council was discussing the stalker case. As it seems to be going nowhere, Takeshida abruptly opened the door, startling some of the students.
"You kids are working on a stalker case, right?" He panted a little bit.
"Who're you?" Katou asked, readied a kunai just in case.
"Kiri, that's our school doctor, Takeshida-sensei." Tsubaki said, fearful of Katou's weapon. Why he never confiscated those yet, he has no idea.
"If you cut yourself with that, I'm not fixing you up."
"What's the matter, Takeshida-sensei?" Unyu asked in slight concern. Takeshida straightened himself up before speaking.
"Tell me the name of your suspect." Takeshida demanded.
"We believe to be Akiwara Yoshio. Kitoshi's boyfriend reported that he had beaten up Akiwara when he saw him sneaking around behind Hitoshi. But recently, he stopped following Hitoshi and he seems to be acting normal around her." Tsubaki answered.
"IDIOTS!" The Student Council was startled when Takeshida yelled out in annoyance.
"What do you say?" Katou growled. He was really getting pissed off.
"Your problem isn't the suspect, it's his target."
The Student Council was all ears as the irritated doctor sighed.
"I've seen that kid in my infirmary. The first time, Shinako treated him and I'd overheard their conversation. I knew he was very obsessive but childish. Brats like this are very unstable and once he feels bored with something, he searches for a new purpose. A new love per say."
"What are you saying?"
"This Akiwara is mentally still a kid; he grows obsessive over a toy but once a new one shows up, he redirects his obsession over to the new toy," Takeshida looked down in sadness. "I've seen him standing outside the infirmary for the past few days, but he never stays long. Only when Shinako was there. I thought it was nothing..."
The Student Council is getting worried. "Wait! Are you saying that he...!"
Takeshida nodded and soon, Katou was already out of the room, Tsubaki and Takeshida following close behind.
Shinako gloomily walked down the hallways, heading towards softball practice. It was the last day of her punishment but the week was just terrible. She lost her precious gifts and some boy is secretly crushing on her.
Shinako sighed but then she saw a shadowy figure in front of her. She couldn't make out much besides that it was probably a guy with dark hair wearing a hoodie.
"Shinpei-kun?" Shinako tried calling but when the mysterious figure walked closer to her, she was mistaken.
"Oh, Akiwara-san, it was you."
Akiwara stood quietly but he was holding Shinako's bokuto which brought back Shinako's joy into her eyes.
"My bokuto! You found it!" The newly joyful samurai tried to reach for her weapon but Akiwara kept it away from her grasp. Shinako was confused.
"Akiwara-san?"
"Who is Shinpei?" The boy's voice was low but demanding.
"Just a friend of mine. I thought you were him for a moment." Shinako answered, feeling rather cautious.
"And that white-haired jerk?"
Shinako was definitely getting confused. Why would he ask about Katou?
"You mean Katou?"
Then, Akiwara lift his head and Shinako gasped in shock. Akiwara was still bandaged like the first day she met him, he had bags under his eyes with were fill with some emotion Shinako couldn't tell. His hair was messy and unkempt like he hasn't slept in days.
"Why are you betraying me, Shinako!?" Akiwara screamed at Shinako in which she flinched in surprise.
"B-Betraying you?"
"You...hanging out with all those guys, shamelessly flirting with every single one of them. I'm supposed to be the one you should look at! Not them!"
Akiwara ran towards Shinako like a madman and Shinako quickly evaded him but he kept chasing her.
"Akiwara-san, what are you trying to do?" Shinako was scared. She never encountered a situation like this. She doesn't know what else to do. She can't hurt him and she didn't know what the unstable boy capable of.
Akiwara was desperately trying to grab her, using her own bokuto to knock her down. "You said I was brave, you were nice to me! Why are you running away from me!?"
"Stay away!" Shinako cried and in the midst of her fear, she tripped and now helpless on the floor. Her fear froze her onto the floor, shaking slightly in panic.
"Someone...help!"
Like an answered prayer, a figure suddenly appeared in front of her. His white hair tousled a bit from the wind, his charcoal eyes were glaring solely on the obsessive student.
"K-Katou..."
Then, she felt two pairs of arms lift her up and she looked to see her master and her teacher.
"Tsubaki-sama, Takeshida-sensei!"
"No! Stay away from her, she's mine!" Akiwara yelled out and he ran to attack Tsubaki and Takeshida but Katou quickly immobilized him with a clean punch to the gut. Akiwara felt the air escape from his lungs as he collapsed onto the floor.
"Shinako, are you alright?" Takeshida asked, holding her up.
"I think so." Shinako looked to the insane boy lying unconscious on the floor. She felt her fear fading but she didn't want to imagine what would have happened if her saviors didn't show up.
Akiwara's parents came to pick him up. He confessed to stalking Hitoshi and stealing Shinako's belongings the day before. He returned it all to Shinako and his parents decided to sent him to seek help. Akiwara hasn't come to school after that.
Shinako stood silently against the wall, looking out the window. She absentmindedly caressed the tip of her bokuto with thumb. She didn't noticed Katou leaning against the wall beside her.
"Oi, woman. You caused us a lot of trouble."
"I get it. You do not need to remind me."
"For a proud samurai, that was pretty disappointing." Katou smirked.
"What are you trying to imply?" Shinako questioned, irked.
"I believe you know exactly what I'm implying." Katou repeated the same words Shinako said a week ago, before the incident began.
Shinako glared at him over her shoulder for a while before looking back to the window, again. The two became silent again for some time until, surprisingly, Katou spoke up.
"You're ok, right?"
Shinako raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I'm surprised you would actually care."
"I don't. I'll kill you if you cause any more inconvenience for president, troublesome samurai."
"You don't have to worry about that, delinquent ninja."
The two looked away and the silence between them returned. Although, without Shinako's notice, her lips curled upward for a moment before disappearing into a frown again.
Red Roses: Wow, this is my longest chapter yet. Why do I like to write drama and insane people? I might need to seek help myself someday. Anyway, one of my relatives is getting married and my family is invited so I may be slow on updating my story. Please understand and I really hope my cousin doesn't come to the dinner in a monster truck like the last family wedding bride did...my family is really weird.
Unyu: I wonder how much a monster truck would cost?~
Red Roses: Please don't...
Anyway, to add to the list of foreign countries that read my stories are people of Brunei Darussalam and Panama! Nice to meet you!~
See you all very, very soon (hopefully...)
