Chapter 8: Grocery Shopping

"You actually eat Cocoa Pops now?" Fuuko pointed to the box Tokiya was placing into the grocery cart he was wheeling.

"Tanya asked me the same question this morning." came the reply. "And the answer is yes, I do. If I recall correctly, you didn't give me much choice back at the tournament. You threatened to skin me alive if I ate the last of the doughnuts. "

"Hey, eating hocolate cereal didn't kill you. It proves you're human." Fuuko followed him to the bread section of the supermarket.

Tokiya rolled his eyes at her and turned to pick out a loaf of bread from one of the shelves.

'Wonder if Tanya likes wheat bread…. She seems to have a big appetite…..'

"Hey, Tokiya? When does your semester break end?" Fuuko's voice broke into his thoughts.

"My classes resume in three weeks."

"Oh. Well, I was just wondering why any of us didn't bump into you during the past semester."

"Freshmen have fixed schedules. Once you get to sophomore year, you'll get to pick out your time slots." Tokiya began wheeling the cart away to another aisle.

"I see." Fuuko mused. She found him two aisles from the bread section, bent down to look at the selection of peanut butter. She squatted down next to him.

"How are you holding up with Tanya? She seems to be quite a handful." Fuuko chose a jar of chunky peanut butter and handed it to him. "This is a really good brand."

"Thank you. And she's not that much of a handful. As I've said earlier, you should all try sparring with her, though I have to teach her how to hide that aura of hers. It's as fiery as her temper, which I only saw today."

"She's a kid, Tokiya." Fuuko laughed as they stood up. "Did you expect her to act older than her age?"

"You should hear the way she talks most of the time." Tokiya said, softly. "You can easily forget she's only seven."

Fuuko gave him an understanding look and walked along beside him.

"So, why'd you volunteer to help me with grocery shopping? Thought your specialty was eating food, not shopping for the ingredients necessary to prepare them."

"Very funny, Ice Prince." Fuuko punched him in the arm so hard, he knew it would leave a bruise. "I wanted to talk to you in private."

Tokiya stopped in the middle of an aisle. "What for?"

Fuuko turned to face him. "You said you owed us an explanation, Mi-Chan, and you did explain about leaving without saying good-bye, and about Tanya, but there's one other thing I want you to explain."

Tokiya gulped uncharacteristically. "And what's that?"

"Why didn't you even try and get in touch with us again?"

Tokiya sighed. 'I guess I wasn't ready..."

"I see." Fuuko brushed her hair out of her eyes.

They walked on in silence till they came to the snack section.

"My favorite place in this enormous, air-conditioned warehouse." Fuuko grinned.

"You sure?" Tokiya wheeled the cart ahead, "The bananas are located in the fruit section."

He felt something that crunched collide with the back of his head.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR?" He picked up the bag of crisps Fuuko had thrown at him and turned to face her.

The expression he saw on her face made him want to laugh out loud, despite his anger a few seconds earlier. Fuuko looked rather cute when she was angry. Her expression however, was moving down more along the lines of boiling mad, which made her look more than cute.

Steam was practically gushing out of her ears as she stomped towards him. "Thanks!" She snapped, angrily. "After we get my monkey food and pay for your shopping, I'm going to get a new thick hoodie jacket when we pass by a nice boutique. If I'm going to see more of you around, the temperature's probably going to go below a sub-zero degree."

"Kirisawa-"

"Come on." Fuuko trudged down the aisle. "We'd better finish up. Yanagi's good at picking out clothes, but Ganko will probably put everything cute she finds on Tanya."

T okiya watched her retreating figure, his mind filled with the fact that he noticed her figure looked even better than before, plus her longer hair really suited her, and she didn't walk like a tomboy anymore, and the skirt she was wearing accentuated….

'Ohhhh no. Don't even go any further than that!' Tokiya thought, furiously.

Fuuko was waiting for him at the end of the aisle. He hurried to catch up with her, picking up a few bags of chips on the way.

"You need anything else?" she asked, when she reached him.

"No, this is all."

She nodded and led the way to the cashier. They began to unload everything in the cart. Once or twice, Tokiya felt his fingers brush hers. His skin tingled at the contact. He hoped she wouldn't notice how fast his heart was hammering against his chest.

The cashier lady, a matronly sort of woman, gave them both a disapproving look.

"Aren't you two a little too young to be married?"

Fuuko dropped the can of corn beef she just picked up. Tokiya caught it before it hit the floor. He felt himself smile inwardly as he placed it on the counter.

He turned to the cashier and said. "We just had the ceremony at City Hall this morning. After last night, there really was no turning back."

Fuuko gaped at him for a few moments, then she bent down to the cart. Flushing deeply, she put the last of the groceries on the counter.

"That's what they all say." The cashier rang up Tokiya's purchases and the bagger boy handed him two large plastic bags.

"Thank you." Tokiya said. Fuuko took one and preceded him out of the supermarket.

"You think that was hilarious?" She turned on him when they were finally outside.

Tokiya smirked. "If you didn't like what I was saying to her, you should have spoken up. Only I don't think she would have believed you anyway."

"An ice-block pretty-boy marrying someone like me. That sounds really unbelievable. Thanks a lot for that spiteful memory. Next time, I'll have to clarify to her that I'm not married to you." Fuuko retorted, shifting the plastic bag she was carrying to her other hand. "Maybe she would have approved if you were with one of your fangirls." Something beeped. Fuuko fished her cellphone out of her purse and read the text message.

"Come on. Yanagi just texted to say they're in Pretty In Pink."

Tokiya absently started to follow her. Why did it sound so wrong when she said the words 'I'm not married to you' ?