Chapter 21: Photo Opportunities

Fuuko hurried into the showers of the ladies' locker rooms. Honestly! Her sense of direction was completely haywire in this place.

She turned the shower handle to 'Warm' and let the water cascade down her body. Unexpectedly, her thoughts turned to Tokiya Mikagami. Nice abs indeed. Of all people she had to see clad only in a towel, it had to be him!

It wasn't supposed to be a big deal. She'd already seen him half-naked before, at their Team Hokage pool-party-slash-get-togethers back in high school. But back then, he'd been a gangly nerd, with only a hint of muscle brought about by all his Ensui training.

She had seen Recca and Domon, and even Kaoru countless times without their shirts on. Even when Tokiya left for college, the rest of the team still trained together. It wasn't a big deal to her to see them like that. She even teased them about it. As a joke, they even switched Domon's navy boxers with zebra-striped ones, which he was forced to wear while training with his Madougou.

Fuuko tilted her head up so that the warm water from the shower hit her face.

'It's not a big deal.' She thought to herself over and over. 'He's just an old friend who's finally found his way back to us. And he's really been working out...'

For what felt like the tenth time that day, Fuuko felt a blush color her cheeks. Darn that outrageously handsome
Eskimo!

"Nice abs, Mi-Chan!" Domon enunciated in a high-pitched, girly voice.

"Yeah, you've been working out, handsome!" Recca cheeped as he elbowed ahead of them all.

"Did you bump into her on purpose?" Kaoru piped up.

Tokiya sighed, but he was still smiling. "Lay off. Alright?"

"Sure we will..." Recca turned around and pointed at him with a finger gun.

"NOT!" Domon finished for him.

Shigeo shook his head, chuckling to himself. "Kids these days..."

They guffawed and trooped down the hall to Room 3 and found Kurei waiting for them, already submerged in the hot spring.

"Come on in. Water's great." He leaned his head back and watched the rest of the boys step into the spring.

"Thank you again for inviting us here." Shigeo told him. "You even went through all the trouble to arrange transportation, meals... "

"No trouble at all." Kurei inclined his head courteously. "Neon and I thought it would be great to finally get everybody together."

A knock on the door interrupted them. "Master? It's me."

"Come in." Kurei called. 'They're all here."

The sliding doors opened to reveal the last person Tokiya wanted to see.

"Raiha." Kurei looked up. "So glad you could join us."

"Thanks for inviting me." The Raijin master closed the doors behind him and joined them in the spring.

'So that's what the receptionist meant by 'party of seven'.' Tokiya thought, meeting the looks his friends were giving him. They all had the same expression: Anger.

Shigeo could've sworn that the water's temperature had dropped by a few degrees when the young man named Raiha walked in. He watched each of his young charges in turn. They were all giving the newcomer looks of icy steel, and the coldest look of all came from Tokiya Mikagami.

"Been wanting to do some catching up with you guys." Raiha surveyed them all with his usual green-eyed thoughtfulness. "How've you all been?"

There were mumbles of "Fine." and 'Good." from Recca and Kaoru.

"Heard you had quite a drinking session at the bar last night." Raiha stretched, making his muscles bulge in the soft light.

'Show off.' Tokiya muttered.

"Not just at the bar, they raided the...OUCH!" Shigeo rubbed his foot, which throbbed from a well-aimed kick by his son.

Raiha seemed to take this all into stride before changing the topic. "So, Master Kurei, you wanted to talk to us about something?"

"Yes." came the reply. "Neon has been quite insistent that I get my groomsmen for the entourage fitting. It's going to be be done in my suite, day after the engagement party. And don't worry, it's not as torturous as it sounds."

They all laughed at that.

"Of course, little brother, you'll be best man?" Kurei turned to Recca.

"Me? Really?" The younger flame master sat up. "That sounds great, bro. I'd be happy to."

"Thank you." Kurei grinned and rested his arms behind his head. "You'll have to do a speech at the wedding reception."

"A speech?" Recca's jaw dropped.

"It's customary for the best man to give a speech about the bride and groom at the wedding reception." his brother winked. "Don't worry. You have two weeks to come up with one."

Recca looked as though he'd rather have a UBS rematch.

The Green Fir Mountain Resort picnic area was a circular shaped grove surrounding a small, raised hillock of hydrangeas. Picnic tables were spread out in a clock formation for the guests who wanted to enjoy a meal out in the glorious sunshine.

The weather was warm enough to wear shorts, but there was still that bite of cold that always came with an increase in altitude location in the mountains.

Fuuko pulled on her blue hoodie jacket and knelt down to bundle Tanya up. They were helping to set up the picnic lunch that Kagerou had prepared. Yanagi and Ganko had gone to get some extra food orders at the restaurant.

"Thank you." Tanya gave Fuuko an appreciative smile, as the latter adjusted the beanie on her head.

"Of course, sweetie." The wind-princess said. "You hungry? I think it's gonna be awhile before we get to eat though. The boys still aren't here, and the food-"

"Girls, could you set up the dishes we have here? I have to go back upstairs and get the other pot." Kagerou called, cutting her off.

"Sure thing." Fuuko replied, taking the two large platters from Kagerou's arms.

"I'll be right back." Kagerou hurried towards the hotel doors.

Tanya relieved Fuuko of one platter. "Neesan says I have to take a nap after lunch."

"He noticed, huh?" Fuuko set down the dish she was holding and unpacked the paper plates and plastic utensils from the picnic basket.

Tanya pouted as she set down the platter she was holding. "I didn't tell him why I looked so tired. I don't want him to worry."

Fuuko sat down and put a hand on the younger Mikagami's shoulder. "Either way, he'll worry. Why won't you talk to him about it?"

"I've never told anyone that I have nightmares." Tanya mused. "He already has too much to worry about, with me just suddenly arriving into his life. And... there's this look in his eyes. Like he's seen the pain that everyone hopes to get through a lifetime without... he looks so lost..."

'No arguments there.' Fuuko pulled the little girl into a hug. Tokiya was right. It was easy to forget that Tanya was only seven. She noticed that look in her brother's eyes too.

"Both of you went through a huge loss, sweetie. It's alright to say it."

"I know." Tanya rubbed her eyes, tiredly.

"And you have each other now. Not to mention us. The entire team!" Fuuko smiled.

"Thank you." Tanya returned the grin with one of her own. "I wish my brother would fully accept that. He seems less lonely now, but whenever I catch him staring at Mifuyu-neesan's and our parents' photos, he looks like the whole world just crashed down on him..."

"It seems like you're really worried about him too."

"Can't help it." Tanya leaned forward to rest her chin on her hands. "After all the stories that my sensei told me about you guys winning the UBS, I thought that he would've been happy now. You know, moved on after such a hard trial."

"Well, we did get that Snowman to open up a bit, but then..."

"He left for college without saying goodbye." Tanya finished for her. "I don't blame you guys for wanting to beat him up for that. I would've felt the same way." She laughed.

Fuuko joined in.

"We're back!" Yanagi's voice announced. She and Ganko were carrying two large paper bags apiece. They were followed by Kagerou, who was carrying an enormous pot.

And coming out of the building where the hot springs were located came the boys, looking fresh from a dip and a warm shower.

"Right on cue." Fuuko winked at Tanya, who laughed louder as they went to help set up the rest of the picnic.

Delicious meats and heaping piles of fried rice were unwrapped. Kagerou uncovered the lid of the pot she had brought to reveal a scrumptious-looking chicken curry. The packages of paper plates and plastic utensils were torn open and passed around.

"Itadakimasu!"

Tokiya didn't suppress his grin as he looked around the picnic table. His friends were piling up the food on their paper plates and attacking the curry pot at the center. Even his sister, who was normally so well-mannered (like himself) was joining in the fun as the different dishes were passed from person to person.

Get-togethers like this always made him feel like he was part of a huge family. He couldn't deny the fact that he was part of this crazy, squabbling bunch of thug-thrashing galoots.

"Hey, Fridge-Boy!" Recca lobbed a napkin in his direction. "You said you weren't on a diet! Eat up, man!"

Tokiya caught the napkin inches before it hit his face and threw it back at the flame master. He let it thwack onto his friend's face before nochalantly reaching for a large bowl of fried rice.

His hand happened to brush Fuuko's as she was reaching for the same dish. They both blushed and withdrew their hands simultaneously, as though stung.

"Go ahead." Fuuko pushed the bowl towards him.

"No, please. You first." Tokiya pushed it back.

Both of them looked up as the whole table had gone quiet. When the rest of the team saw they had been caught staring, they returned to whatever they were eating and attacked it with a vengeance.

Tokiya felt his blush deepen as he picked up the serving spoon and leaned over to serve a helping to Fuuko first before putting some on his own plate.

"Thanks, Mi-Chan." Fuuko's smile nearly made him melt into a puddle.

"S-sure..." Tokiya gulped and tried to eat a spoonful of his food.

Unbeknownst to the two, several celfones vibrated under 'Silent' mode.

SEND TO: RECCA HANABISHI, ISHIJIMA DOMON, GANKO KIRISAWA, KAORU KOGENEI, SHIGEO HANABISHI, KAGEROU HOSHI

PICTURE MESSAGE FROM: SAKOSHITA YANAGI

All the recipients sneaked a look at their celfone screens. Sure enough, Yanagi had captured the moment wonderfully:

It was the exact instant Tokiya and Fuuko's hands touched on the bowl of fried rice. The moment when their heads looked up to meet each other's gazes.

"Ha! Beautiful!" Kaoru grinned like a monkey with an entire bunch of bananas. He nudged Tanya, who was seated next to him, and showed him the captured photo.

Tanya grinned and mouthed 'Facebook' in Yanagi's direction.

The healer winked.