Chapter 3

I couldn't believe that my jealousy had taken me over, how much I had hurt taiga with my actions. Maybe she was wrong? Now this was all my fault as the man, I have to own up and take responsibility. The next time I see her will be my chance, stirring from the bed. My hazy mind was slowing registering the morning straight up at the ceiling and stretching my body awake when I felt someone close to me. It was a soft, petite and was able to fit on my bed without a problem.

When I raised my sheets to look down at the figure, it was Taiga is cuddling up to me so closely. I felt my cheeks flare up just by staring at her, what was I going to do now? She always looked like a doll ready to play house, my hand caress her cheek lightly as I enjoyed the warm it gave me. Despite me being jealous, she still came back to see me and wanted to make up...maybe?

It doesn't matter if her friend is around, she said that I would be the only one for her. When she gives her word, it meant that I could only trust her. Looking over to the alarm clock it was about to be eleven in the morning. Lucky for me it was Saturday, so I didn't need to head to school. I was graduating Monday anyway, hopefully nothing would go wrong by then.

Wandering back to taiga, I didn't want to wake her. So using my ninja like skills, I gracefully pulled away from her and wrapped the covers around her. Walking into the living room and noticed my mother under the table. She was sleeping peacefully with a bottle around her arms, I only could smile at this scene as she might have let taiga into the room.

She wasn't proper when it came to that sense, but that was how I was born...just the mention of such a thing put another blush on my face. It was too soon for such thinking, moving past her prompted me to remove the bottle and leaving it on the side to throw out later. It was my duty to destroy the enemy that was mold and anything that was dirty in the household!

So I went on to doing my work around the house, cleaning the bathroom, the kitchen, the rooms, glassware, and inko's cage. What felt like a few minutes was in reality an hour, before everything was spotless. Looking over to the clock it was noon now, the two were still asleep in their own little world. This was how it should always be, looking over to the kitchen I should prepare breakfast for the three of us.

Raiding the fridge there was some meat and rice...it would be one way to make it up to her. Aside from that was all the food I had to offer, it was a bad day to forget to get the groceries because of our fight. It was too late to regret the decision, so the only thing that I could do was to move ahold of the rice, I prepared it to be cooked in the machine, when that was done, it was time to slice up the meat. It didn't take too long for the rice to cook and the beef to fry.

When it came down to the moment of truth, it would be known be shown on her face. Yet, I knew better because she was one to never turn down food that was innocent in her view. I could hear Taiga in the other room, as she slides open the door to face me. She instantly perked up at the food that was being served, but didn't want to look my way. We had fights like this before, so this didn't put me off on a bad note, but I knew better than to go against her wishes.

I only sat down in my usual spot at the table, eating the food like normal. Taiga took her proper seat on the opposite side of me, but she didn't dare look up from the food. She was about to start eating, when I decided to speak my mind.

"Aren't you going to say thanks?" I said with a soft smile on my face.

"...Thank you rice god for this food!" She yelled throughout the room, before she started to chow down.

"You never change." I said in my usual layback tone.

"Dog, don't treat me like some child."

"Well with your height, that won't be too hard to believe."

"Shut up!" She slammed her hands on the table, looking at me with a an angry expression.

Then she blushed at her reaction, as she was now forced to stare at me. I found it to be refreshing to get one of her usual outbursts, she was strong and always spoke her mind no matter the results.

"Good to have you back, Taiga." I said with a laugh.

"Yeah, it's good to be back."

"I'm sorry about what happened, I believe in you one hundred percent."

"Really?"

"...What do you mean really? If I say, I mean it!"

"I think you said that before!"

"No I hav….."

It was then that force of another being became apparent to us, she crawled out from under the table with a fierce look in her eyes. She was staring at the two of us with her drowsy expression on her face, as she prompted us to get out of the house. Her help was great last night, but she wasn't going to deal with it early in the morning.

It was long before the both of us were running out the door, standing right next to each other. We both locked eyes, then started to laugh at what just happened. It was just like Yasuko doing such a thing early in the morning, we were being too loud anyway. She came in at the right time, as I wondered what we should do now.

"Want to walk around the town?" I asked out of the blue.

"Yeah, it's been a long time."

So instead of really talking to each other, we just walked around the town together like old times. Taking our time just relaxing from the hard day at work, we talked about the old days like it was only yesterday when it's been about a year. It would seem that we just got lost in time, before we knew it was already getting dark and I remembered that there was a sale going on for some pork chops.

So we hurried over to the supermarket snagging the last set of pieces, before heading out. Then we heard a cry for help in a nearby alleyway, as it sounded like someone fell pretty hard. I didn't want to check it out, but Taiga on the other hand, braved the journey, which meant I had to tag along. When we reached the man he was on his side hurling in pain, as some guy came around from behind us. There were a total of three of them, it was your usual biker dressing gangs when we turned back to the man his hand lunged out and grabbed taiga.

"What do you guys want!?" I asked in a concerned tone, as I tried to look strong.

"Your money kid, then we will let the poor girl off without hurting her." He ordered like some sort of monster.

I could only think of protecting taiga, when the man that grabbed taiga started screaming. Taiga had bashed his nether regions, then kicked his face into the wall. He was out cold, when the other three were shocked at the power of the girl, I knew that she could always take care of herself. The next guy came forward, lunging at her and I decided to get in the way blocking the punch with my stomach.

I felt the wind get knocked out of me, then he backed up. It was my turn to show them what I got, but Taiga only pulled me back. We could just make a run for it from the back, but something made me want to fight them off. To prove to myself that I could stand beside her! I tried for a Haymaker of a punch, but the one in the middle dodged it with ease and the other two returned fire with two swift kicks to my stomach causing me to fall back a bit.

"Ryuji, stop it you can't take them!"

"Shut up, I can protect you!"

It was then that I could hear the words that sprout out of my mouth, as the look on her face snapped me out of my stupor. Yet, it was too late to get away as the middle one came in with a heavy uppercut to my jaw, causing me to fly back into a pile of trash. Taiga was about to step in once more, when someone else came into the fray. He punched the guy closest to the back, knocking him out like a light. When the other two turned, the stranger's fist came rapidly hitting him one of them a few times, before finishing him off with a right hook.

The boss in the middle looked at the guy with a frown on his face, then came forward with a Haymaker punch of his. Expect the mysterious hooded stranger dodged with ease, letting it slide past his head and countered with a left uppercut into his stomach, then a right hook in his head as he reeled away from the bashing and then a fast straight punch right into his nose. Knocking down the thug as the stranger looked towards Taiga, walking past me like I was nothing.

"Are you okay,Taiga?" He asked softly.

"Yes, thank you Alex."

My eyes widened as this stranger's voice was one I knew, and made me clench my hand. Alex throws off his hood, exposing his true identity to us as he grabbed Taiga hand. This caused me to step towards him, but looking over to Taiga she was looking away from me…..like I was the one at fault.

"Takasu, I think you've done enough. I'm going to take her home, you need to think of your actions." Alex said to me, as he walked past me leaving me to think of what I have done.

(Author Notes- Man it's been a long time, I've been on and off with changing cities and college life. So I've just been a little held back, but now I'm back and really trying to get this story back into full swing. If anyone is still around hoping for this story, it's coming back, looking for a beta and stuff. I already have written another two chapters after this one, but I will be typing them out and revising them. So who is still around give a shout out review of you like or don't! or follow to get some Toradora goodness, and expect some more twists and turns!)