I'll Move Into Your House, I'll Move Into Your Heart Also

by CeruleanKiss

Tora enjoys being his rich, stunning self. Of course he fakes his way through most of what he does, but he's learned to live around the lies, absorb himself in the worst of his ways. But this girl... She's something entirely new to him. Michiyo Akari sees through it all, and surprises herself by falling in love with the guy who's been pissing her off ever since she moved in.

40. Yumesaki's Winter Festival

A/N: Second-to-last chapter! Aww say it ain't so! ...but it is so. The chapter after this one is the end. *sniffles*

Well, since this is the last author's note for this entire story, I guess this is good riddance-I MEAN-good bye, my dearest, beloved peasants.

It was a good run while it lasted, and you know what, I really did have an amazing time with this story, and with you people who read along :) A lot has happened from beginning to end as I wrote this, and I feel that I've developed my skills further as a writer. This will be my first finished story on this site... and it's been such a fun and promising experience.

I appreciate you all, I truly do. Loyal peasants are what makes any tyrannical author happy and motivated. So thank you, to every single one of my readers. And of course, to those of you who leave reviews.

Thanks a billion! ^.^

Whoa. I just realized, I published this story on November 11th of last year.

November 11th was just last Tuesday. Which means it took me pretty much one full year to finish this story! XD Huh. How about that?

---

Chapter Thirty-Eight. Yumesaki's Winter Festival

"Look, there they are!" Akari squinted, pointing in some random direction.

Tora didn't really care who or what she was talking about, but when his prize was suddenly gone from his side and running off on her own, then he took notice. Blinking twice, he pivoted in the direction she had run off to, eyes narrowing when he saw just who it was she was approaching.

They'd only just arrived on the Yumesaki school grounds, and already he knew he wasn't going to enjoy himself.

Akari, however, was fully prepared to have a good time and came equipped with a smile to prove it.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in." Aika said dryly, a small smirk on her face as Akari came up to stand beside her. The raven-haired girl had on a beige coat with several pockets sewn into the front of it - each pocket seemed to hold some sort of musical device - ipod, mp3 player, zoon - there was even a spare pair of earbuds spilling out of one of them.

"Nice to see you too, Aika." Akari rolled her eyes at the other girl, and then nodded to the girl's boyfriend, who stood there listening to music from his own ipod. He nodded in her direction with a smile, but for the most part stayed immersed in his music. "Where's Seiji?"

Aika glanced over her shoulder, as if said-boy should be there. "Hmmm. Funny, I didn't really notice he left our side..."

"Akari! Akari, you finally got here! Hey, look who I found!"

Both girls turned to the left, seeing Seiji with his usual broad grin, ponytail, and a heavy-looking fur lined coat on his shoulders. He was approaching them quickly, two other boys following behind him. And when Akari cocked her head to the side and got a better look at the two, her eyes widened in surprise and delight.

The first of the tag-a-longs was a very tall, sapphire-eyed, glasses-wearing boy who was bedecked in his usual light grey, hooded sweatshirt. The second wore a hunter green jacket that looked a little too big on his small frame - he was a much shorter boy with a smooth-edged, feminine face and wide copper eyes.

Once the three boys had made their way over to where she stood, Akari could not withhold her joy at seeing old friends again. "Kanou, and Yukimura! I wasn't expecting you guys to be here, it's really good to see you two again." She felt like she hadn't seen those two in forever... seeing them again was a pleasant sort of surprise. She found she couldn't stop smiling.

Kanou just gave her a small, shy kind of smile, and Yukimura cheerily exclaimed, "It's really good to see you too, Akari-san!" His smile was bright and he appeared as girlish as ever. It made Akari laugh inwardly. He was just so cute, for a guy.

She of course had the urge to bring them each in for a hug, so she reached out her arms and stepped towards the both of them expectantly. Yukimura stepped forward with a blush, and Kanou looked away first before accepting the hug as well. The three embraced a bit awkwardly, but it was still rather nice in Akari's own opinion.

"I never really said goodbye to you guys before I switched schools, did I?" She glanced up at Kanou, who, as always, towered over her. He might even be as tall as Tora, she thought. "Sorry about that..." She shrugged as she pulled away from the embrace, feeling suddenly very guilty.

The tall boy only blinked at her, then also shrugged, as if it wasn't that big a deal. "It's not as if we couldn't guess where you had gone. How is Miyabigaoka?"

Yukimura was giving her a concerned look. "Are the other students there being... nice to you? We had some trouble with Miyabigaoka in the past..."

Akari blinked at the two in slight shock. Seika had trouble in the past? With Miyabigaoka? She'd never heard of it. Then again, it didn't seem like something Tora would just go around spouting to anyone - the word 'trouble' was not supposed to be associated with Miyabigaoka.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, she decided it didn't matter to her. The past was something she no longer had to worry about. "Oh no, the students are just fine there. And the school itself... well, it's big. Very, very big. Most days I still can't manage to find the bathrooms without assistance..." She laughed, trying to make a joke of it so Yukimura could relax.

Kanou nodded thoughtfully while Yukimura stared at her in a sense of curiosity rather than worry now. She smiled at the two of them, and could hear Seiji laughing at her about getting lost all the time as Aika made some sort of comment about 'lousy schools for rich prudes'. Ryuunosuke was too busy listening to music to take any part in the conversation.

"Oi, Akari." Aika rather abruptly changed the topic. "You texted me earlier and mentioned you were going to be bringing someone along with you." Her eyes narrowed. "It's not that Igarashi prick, is it?"

Akari rubbed the back of her neck and fiddled with one of the buttons on her coat. "Oh... yeah, actually -"

Before she could finish, Seiji suddenly grabbed hold of her shoulders. "Wait. You were gonna bring that guy with you? Did you? I mean, I hope not... It's not like he can become friends with us - we just can't hang out with someone like him -"

"Yes, because that would be so awful." A bland, sarcastic tone spoke up.

The whole semi-circle of people jumped, as Tora interrupted/joined in the conversation. He had walked up to stand behind Akari, and the way he suddenly appeared next to her made a shiver run up her spine unexpectedly. Tora simply stood there, quietly observing her friends, a look that was a mixture of boredom and distaste on his face. He made no further comments as he slowly placed both hands in his coat pockets.

Seiji went silent. And only a split-second before Aika could start her usual rant about how much she hated Tora and what a rich bastard he was and what not, Kanou spoke up with a question posed at Akari. "Why did you bring him?" He asked, rather simply. It wasn't meant to be rude, in fact, his voice had nothing more than a small note of curiosity in it.

"Well, you see," Akari took a deep breath. "It's kind of a long story, but basically this is his punishment for messing with me. He has to hang out with us at the festival."

"That's more like a punishment for all of us..." Aika muttered, shifting as far away from the Igarashi heir as possible and pulling Ryuunosuke along with her.

"Messing with you - how?" Seiji asked in suspicion, to which Tora smirked at him enigmatically.

With a sigh, Akari began to explain. Although Aika and Seiji already knew the basics about how she was engaged to Orochi, Kanou and Yukimura did not know, so they both listened intently with widened eyes. She explained Tora's plan, and how he had bribed her father, and gotten rid of Hayate for her. She went through how angry she got with him over not consulting her before taking action, and how this was his punishment. And then she suddenly quieted herself, seeing the looks on her friends faces as they all gaped at Tora in shock.

"So..." Aika was the first to speak, trying to take her eyes off of Tora long enough to address Akari. "What happened from there? Did he break off his engagement to that one girl? And you're not engaged anymore to that other guy, right, Akari?"

"We, you know," Akari made this gesture with her hands, as if to help explain. "Switched. Fiancés, that is. I mean, me and Tora aren't engaged now or anything! But, and, yeah." She sighed deeply, looking to the ground. This was all too complicated to have to explain to five people at once. "Tora's fiancée and my fiancé are sort of together now... I think. So, yes. We kinda switched everything around..."

"You took my advice." Aika nodded with a smug mile, as if she was the most brilliant person in the world. "'Switch'. Told ya that was the only way."

Akari nodded, peeking up to see how her other friends were doing. Each boy more or less looked shell-shocked, still trying to register the whole of the story. Kanou was looking at Tora in the strangest way - examining him as if he were an experiment he couldn't quite figure out. She could understand that... she often wondered why Tora had done all of that for her as well, but at least she knew what Tora claimed about loving her. Kanou didn't know about any of that, as she had made sure to not involve her and Tora's... complicated... relationship, in any of her explanation. So he was probably trying to figure out what Tora's motive was.

Suddenly, Tora rested a hand on her shoulder and she looked back at him, blinking. His face was unreadable, golden eyes staring intently at her, and then at each of her friends in turn. "Well, I didn't come here to simply stand around. This is a festival, so I was expecting to at least go along with the festivities, despite the lousy company." He received several glares from her friends, and his attitude made Akari want to kick him in the shin hard enough to leave a bruise. She had told him to behave today, and he was doing just the opposite!

Deciding, (for once) to not be so childish, she withheld her urge to kick and instead nodded her head to him. She turned back to her friends with a smile appearing on her face. "C'mon guys. Just, forget about all the complicated stuff I just told you. Let's go enjoy the festival!"

---

The sky was overcast and the day was grey, but the school grounds were littered with so many different stalls - all decorated beautifully - that the atmosphere seemed warm and inviting. Everything followed the theme of winter - large paper-made snowflakes seemed to dance along the top of every stall, and silver tinsel was strewn along the ground practically everywhere you walked, either having been dropped there by people or meant to be apart of the decor. Lanterns were hanging overhead, giving off a lovely orange glow of light and standing out in stark contrast to the gloomy sky above. The sound of different conversations filled the air due to the crowds of excited people traveling here and there, speaking and jumbling all their words together. Somewhere on the school grounds, band music could be heard playing - a voice was doing mic checks and instruments like guitar and drums seemed to be going through warm-up sessions.

Ryuunosuke had taken the lead with Aika, they both walked at the front of the group with their arms linked together. Aika kept pointing at things and laughing (she was probably rudely making fun of people), and he would just smile at her and admire the way she laughed. Directly behind them walked Yukimura and Kanou, and while the taller of the two boys seemed content with quietly walking along and enjoying the sights, Yukimura was gazing at everything in wonder and tugging on Kanou's arm insistently when he saw something that really caught his interest.

And then, following up at the back of the group, there was Akari and two very troublesome blondes.

"Why are you walking so close to Mana, huh?" Kai said, walking along on Akari's left while Tora took up the right. For some reason, Seiji had reverted to his alter ego Kai, after momentarily separating from the group to go check out one of the stalls, he came back some time later with his hair down and his eyes glinting darker than usual. Whatever triggered the personality switch would remain a mystery, but both Akari and Tora were not happy with the change.

Tora chose to merely give the boy a look, but said nothing. In his head, he thought, Why shouldn't I be walking so close to her? She is mine. I have every right to do whatever I want with her.

Kai was getting frustrated now. "Oi! I'm talking to you, ya know!" He called over to the other boy again, rather loudly.

Akari felt she needed to intervene before the idiot Gemini got too worked up. "Hey, look over there Kai, a really pretty girl is looking your way."

This didn't faze the dirty blonde even slightly, surprisingly. It seemed he was dead-set on getting on Tora's nerves at the moment. "Dude, what's with you sticking around her so much huh? Are you and Mana-chan dating or something?"

Feeling Akari stiffen beside him, Tora looked over at her to see that she was now avoiding anyone's gaze. A blush was barely visible on her neck, and he smirked. "Oh, what makes you think that we are?" His tone was light and airy.

"You guys act weird around each other." Kai commented, eyes narrowing on the Igarashi heir. "So you're either dating, or..." He suddenly grinned. "Heh. Or you two have sex with each other. Which is it, then?"

Tora noted that his prize's blush was slowly crawling up from her neck to her cheeks, and he decided he wanted to see it spread all over her face. And so, he looked the other boy in the eye and spoke clearly and bluntly, "She can barely keep her hands off me. We have sex, plenty of it. In the morning, after school, late into the night - so much sex, that she can barely -"

"IGARASHI!" Akari screeched, shoving him away in order to shut him up. Tora's smirk broadened when he noticed that a nice, deepening pink color was splashed all across her cheeks, nose, ears and neck.

While he enjoyed looking at the sight of her, blushing and flustered, she marveled at how he could say those things with such a straight face and with such even tones. Inwardly, she cursed him, Baka tiger! God dammit, Tora! Don't say stuff like that!

The rest of the group in front of them had stopped walking at hearing Akari yell out Tora's name, and was now turned around and looking to see what exactly was going on.

Kai was smirking at Tora's answer. "You don't have to lie like that just to spare me of humiliation, I've shagged plenty of chics before, maybe even more than you. You shouldn't talk so big like that ya know."

Tora felt that he could say the same of Kai, about talking big. "You asked me a question, I provided an answer." He said simply.

"Hah, yeah. And your answer was a lie." Kai folded his arms and his smirk turned into a smug smile.

"I may have stretched the truth, but it wasn't a complete lie." Tora countered, sending the other an intense stare.

Again, Kai's eyes widened, and he switched his gaze over to Akari in disbelief. "Wait a minute... then, Mana-chan, you really had sex with him!?" His tone wasn't angry, he just sounded incredulous and whiny now.

The Igarashi heir watched in amusement as Akari shh'd the other blonde, telling him not to say stuff like that so loudly and looking nervously over at her other friends. He (Tora), also, glanced over at the rest of the group - and wasn't surprised to see that all of them were staring between him and Akari as if trying to imagine the two of them together. That girl, Aika, was smirking knowingly as if she had suspected this all along.

"Aww, man!" Kai was complaining very loudly still, jerking a thumb at Tora. "This bastard slept with you already? I thought I had dibs!"

"You can't have dibs on a person!" Akari gritted out angrily. Her blush had become even darker because of her rising temper, and the poor girl looked terribly uneasy and awkward. So much so, that Tora almost felt bad for starting this, but he was having too much fun to stop now.

Stepping forward, he swung an arm around Akari and rested it comfortably on her shoulders. Pulling her in close, he gave Kai an especially dazzling smile. "Dibs? 'Dibs' does not apply to me. You see, I have another method. I find what I want, and then I take what I want. It's very effective." His eyes glimmered while he stared the other boy down.

Kai made a face at Akari. "What do you see in this guy eh? He's some sort of punk."

She snorted. "And you aren't?" Shaking her head at him, she looked down to the ground and murmured quietly. "He's not all bad, okay?"

Hearing this, Tora couldn't withhold a smile. He also just had to say, "That's true, I'm not all bad. In fact, one of my many outstanding traits is that I'm exceptionally good in bed, isn't that right Akari?" He pulled her closer to him and whispered the last four words into her ear breathily.

Akari stood there, frozen in mortification and on the verge of face-palming.

Kai laughed loudly, mocking Tora. "Yeah right, buddy. I bet you just talk big in order to make up for how small your package is."

Tora looked at Kai with both eyebrows raised, and a cruel smile twisted his lips upward. "We could always check and make sure of my size." He turned Akari towards him, and grabbed her hand while gazing at her suggestively. She immediately knew what he was going to do, and tugged her hand away at once.

"No way, not here, not now, no way!" She fumed, smacking the rich blonde upside the head, causing him to chuckle at her, right before turning towards Kai and smacking him as well. "You two are the most idiotic, inappropriate beings on the planet!"

"H-hey, Akari-san."

All eyes turned to Yukimura, who had stepped forward and was nervously trying to speak. Akari's gaze softened and she encouraged him with a small smile.

"Yes, Yukimura?"

"I -" He looked back at Kanou, who gave him a small nod to continue. Copper eyes made their way back to Akari's face and the small boy sighed before standing up a little straighter and asking. "There's a stall we passed by a while ago that was selling some -" He cringed. "- jewelry. Do... do you wanna go look at it with me and Kanou?"

Akari blinked. "You want to go look at jewelry?"

Yukimura looked completely abashed. He stared at the ground. "Y-yeah..."

She looked over at Kanou, who was looking back at her. She then tilted her head to gaze back at Yukimura, and then it clicked. They were helping her escape this god-awful pair of blonde menaces!

"Oh!" She was quick to step forward and take the small boy's hand, dragging him off in a random direction. "Yeah, yeah. I would love to go look at the jewelry stall with you, Yukimura. Where did you say it was?" She looked back at Kanou. "Kanou, aren't you coming?"

The boy with glasses followed directly after the two of them, only pausing long enough to glance back at Tora and Kai before disappearing into the crowd.

Tora stared after the three of them, wondering what had just happened. And then, right as he was about to follow after them -

"Oi, you, dork with the glasses! Get back here!" Kai zoomed after the three, yelling and waving his hands. "Mana-chaaan! Wait for me dammit! I HAD DIBS!"

Rolling his eyes, Tora started after the four of them now as well. "Dibs." He spat, going after the dirty blonde. "What a useless concept."

Soon, he had disappeared into the crowd as well, fully prepared to slap Kai around a little bit should he have to, in order to get his prize back.

That just left Aika and her boyfriend, standing there in the middle of a crowd of people, blinking at where the rest of their group used to stand.

Ryuunosuke just shrugged. "We can always meet up with them later."

"In the meantime.." Aika turned to smile up at him slyly, looking excited about something. "You wanna go find Kōma from UxMishi? They're practicing for the concert tonight."

He met her excited gaze with one of his own. "Hell yeah!"

And so the two of them skipped off together, linking arms and singing about how they were going to have a threesome with the hot bassist from Japan's popular indie band.

---

Yukimura had actually become immersed in the sight of pretty jewels set out before them on the stand, and Akari had to suppress a giggle as his eyes seemed to sparkled in awe, and his cheeks attained a warm, embarrassed glow to them when the sales clerk asked if he'd like to try on a necklace, referring to him as 'Miss'.

Beside her, somebody cleared their throat. Blinking, Akari looked up to see Kanou standing close by; he was looking directly at her and she couldn't help but become entranced by the beauty of his sapphire eyes. For a moment, she recalled that one time that she had seen him without his glasses on, (when he had tackled her into a pile of cardboard back at Seika High School, when Kai was chasing after her) and wished she could see him like that again. His eyes were much too pretty a color to be hiding behind lenses.

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself now." He said, giving her a very small, friendly smile.

She returned the smile kindly. "Yeah, thanks for saving me back there." Her smile turned into a smirk of sorts, and she nudged him playfully. "You seem to do that a lot, you know?"

He looked puzzled. "Um, I don't know what you mean."

"I mean, this isn't the first time you've saved me from Kai. Remember the incident when you opened that door to the supply closet, back at Seika, and then I was able to get away from him? And you helped me hide in that mess of cardboard so he couldn't find me. And you also caught me that one time when I jumped over the stairs in order to get away from him." She pointed out.

Kanou was blushing now. He stared at the ground, looking uncomfortable about being put in the position of 'prince charming' so many times. "I - those were all simple coincidences..."

She shrugged. "Coincidence or not, you still helped me out." Trying to reach up to pat him on the shoulder, she realized she was too short and placed a hand on his arm instead. "Thanks for being such a good friend."

He suddenly turned his head away, the glow from the lanterns above their heads creating a sheen over his glasses. "..."

"K-Kanoouuuu!"

Both of them turned, seeing a very sparkly Yukimura hurrying towards the two of them, tears of embarrassment and shame brimming in the corners of his eyes. He sniffed twice when he stopped between Kanou and Akari, and stared up at his tall friend with a pleading look.

"The - the lady at the stall wanted to keep me there to showcase all of her jewelry!" He sounded very upset, pointing at all the jewels he wore. There were sparkling crystals adorning his neck, a broach on his jacket, some bracelets on his arms. "Sh-she even tried to get me to wear earrings, but I don't have my ears pierced!" He sniffed once more, trying to take deep breaths so that he wouldn't cry. "I-I'm a guy!"

For a moment, Akari wanted to reach out and hug the poor kid. But Kanou reached over, putting a hand out to stop her. She looked at him curiously, wondering how exactly he was going to comfort their friend.

He gazed down at Yukimura, looked him up and down slowly, taking in the image of the feminine boy dressed up in sparkling jewels, and calmly spoke. "I know you're a guy."

Yukimura sniffled again. "Yeah, but the other guys at school are always teasing me, and dressing me up as a girl - and, and the saleslady actually thinks I am a girl -"

"So?"

Copper eyes blinked in confusion.

"So... they treat me like a girl and think I'm a girl! But I'm a guy!"

"Does it matter though?"

Yukimura looked even more confused. "What gender I am?"

Kanou shook his head. "No. Does what other people think matter?"

"I -" The other boy still looked confused, but his sniffling had stopped. He looked down in thought. "I don't know..."

Kanou placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, and their eyes met again. "Then you don't need to worry about it."

Akari was smiling softly at the two of them, and she too decided to place a hand on Yukimura's shoulder. He looked over at her with the tears now gone from the corners of his eyes. "Yeah, you don't need to get so worried, because you know what? What other people think really doesn't matter. What does matter, is what you think of yourself. You know you're a guy, right?"

He nodded.

"Then no matter what others say about you, you'll always know who and what you are." Taking her hand off his shoulder, she glanced over at Kanou. "But if it makes you feel any better, Kanou knows you're a guy too. And I don't see you as a girl either, I know you're a guy."

Though I do think you'd make a really cute girl. She thought, making sure those words didn't come out of her mouth.

Yukimura looked as if he were fighting back tears again, but he managed to smile in relief. "Y-you're so nice, Akari-san." He told her, before looking up at Kanou again. "And thanks, Kanou. Thanks, you guys." He looked at his shoes, suddenly shy and embarrassed again.

"Not a problem. Friends support each other." Akari turned him around and patted him on the back. "Now you better return all those jewels, because it looks as if you've stolen them. And if she tries to put anything else on you, stand up for yourself this time, okay?"

Nodding his head, and seeming to be filled with a new-found confidence and determination, Yukimura ventured closer to the jewelry stall again.

As soon as he wasn't within earshot, Akari looked up to Kanou. "Hugging him would have just upset him more, huh?"

Kanou met her eyes, but the sheen was back over his glasses again so she couldn't see the sapphire color she enjoyed looking at so much. "I watched this girl try to console him once with a hug, and he complained that it just made him feel less manly and then cried even more."

She nodded her head in understanding. "So you cheer him up by building up his self-confidence?"

"Yeah."

"That's smart of you."

"I guess so."

"Hey, Kanou?"

"Yeah?"

"You're an amazing person." She gave him a genuine smile.

"..."

"Kanou?" Akari looked up at her friend again, but he had turned his head away from her. She frowned. "Are you okay?"

Blushing uncontrollably, the tall boy coughed and took off his glasses. "Uh, yeah. J-just cleaning my glasses off, is all."

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Turning her head, Akari barely had the time to widen her eyes before she was yanked out of the way as Kai tackled the spot where she had just been standing.

She smirked up at Kanou again, who had grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him just in time. "See? Told you. It happens all the time. Can't be coincidence."

All he could do was blush and look away, though he didn't release his grip on her arm.

When Kai was on his feet again, he turned towards the pair of them and scowled. "Mana-chan, what're you doing with this guy when you could be enjoying yourself with me?"

"What are you doing trying to tackle people to the ground?" She countered in annoyance.

Just as he opened his mouth to answer, Tora appeared on the scene as well. Akari was the first to notice him - he had just made his way through the carefully parting crowd, and was standing in between stalls. Their eyes met, gold on silver, and she thought he looked severely pissed off, seeing her standing there with two other boys.

"Hahahaahh, you know what?" She laughed nervously and turned to Kanou, tugging on his arm. "Let's get out of here, it's really crowded and you know, that lady was so rude to Yukimura -"

Kai latched onto her free arm and linked it with his. His smile was confident, his gaze haughty, and oh so irritating. "How about you come with me instead, Mana?"

It appeared as if a vein in her forehead had snapped. Gritting her teeth, she told him firmly. "For the last time, Kai, my name isn't Mana! I made that up like forever ago and I was kidding!"

"Whatever you say..." He smirked. "Mana-chan~"

Akari dead-panned. She turned to look at Kanou. "Would you hurt him for me?"

"Wh-what?" Sapphire eyes blinked slowly.

"Hurt him. Maybe punch him. In the throat, would be good. Then he'll finally shut up."

Kanou's mouth had dropped open, and he looked unsure of what to do.

"Oh, c'mon." She sighed, looking down at the ground. "I've got him holding onto my left arm, and you grabbing my right. I'm a bit tied up at the moment, so as much as I'd love to make him shut up myself, I can't."

"I could, let go of your arm." Kanou pointed out, and immediately released it for her.

She nodded to him. "Thank you, Kanou." And just as she turned to give Kai a hard bonk to the head with her fist, she felt another hold on her right arm once again. Frustrated now, she turned to face her friend. "Kanou, let g -"

Golden eyes stared back at her, and an eyebrow arched high as he tightened his grip on her arm.

"Oh, hey there, Tora." She practically whispered, while he leaned over her, successfully somehow pulled Kai from her left arm, and then pulled her a safe distance away with him. Kanou stood off to the side, watching quietly.

"Hey there." He repeated back to her, looking down at her and smiling widely. "Akari."

She shivered. That tone he used - the look he was giving her - that smile - she didn't trust any of it. He was mad, he was doing a good job of covering it up, but he was mad. The way he was smiling at her was so fake it made her uneasy, and her palms became clammy when his hold on her tightened the slightest bit.

"Heeey, no fair." Kai practically growled, glaring at the two of them with murky green-blue eyes. "Mana-chan is mine, alright? So back off already."

"Yours?" Tora's eyebrows furrowed together. "That's strange, I don't see a label placed anywhere on her person." He held her at arms length and looked her up and down, then spun her around and pressed her back up against his chest. A smile was playing at his lips, a sly, cunning little grin. "Hm, but that is a good idea, labeling her. I really should make sure people like yourself know who she belongs to."

"Stop speaking about me as if I'm not standing right h -" Akari broke off with a choking gasp, as Tora leaned down and placed his lips over her skin, right in the juncture between her shoulder and neck. He sucked lightly, not too hard, just enough to make a point. And when he pulled away, the skin where his mouth had just been was colored a dark red where the blood had rushed to the surface.

Kanou tilted his head away, another bright sheen crossing over the lenses of his glasses. Kai just grit his teeth, sending both Tora and Akari a heated glare.

"You really are a bastard." Kai spat, and then he was back to whining in disappointment. "Come on, I mean really man! I had dibs and everything."

"I already told you that the rules of 'dibs' do not apply to me." Tora smirked in satisfaction. When he had pressed his lips to Akari's neck, he had felt her pulse immediately pick up speed. He always enjoyed her reactions to him - at least her body knew she was his. "She's already mine. She belongs to me."

Akari felt she should say something, rebuke Tora for acting this way, and for giving her a hickey in a place so visible (not to mention in front of her friends!). She also felt she should apologize to Kanou since he seemed so uncomfortable with the public display of affection. But just as she had the first syllable on her tongue, Kai interrupted anything she was about to say. (And she was going to start with telling the both of them to stop referring to her in third person again, because it really got on her nerves.)

"If you're gonna be that stubborn about it..." Kai rolled his eyes, and sighed. "I guess we'll share her."

The answer to that was perfectly blunt and harsh. "No."

"Haven't you ever heard of the saying 'what's yours is mine'?" Kai complained, frowning.

Tora smirked. "I never was good at sharing."

Suddenly, as if to ease the tension, Yukumura appeared (now without all the jewelry), smiling at the four of them and completely oblivious to the strained situation. Akari smiled at him in relief - her temper was just about to reach its boiling point so she was glad he had interrupted. "Oh wow great, you guys found President Igarashi and Seiji-kun! That's convenient, because Ryuunosuke-kun just called me and asked me to have us all meet up again by the stage, where they'll be having the concert later in the evening."

That seemed to snap Kai out of his infatuation with Akari for at least the time being. "Concert? Concerts mean hot girls rubbing up against each other and getting wasted!" Grabbing Yukimura's jacket, he dragged him along after him through the crowds. "C'mon short-stack, lead me to the babes!"

Kanou was the first to follow after the two, glancing back to make sure Akari was right behind him. She shrugged Tora's arms off of her and aimed to follow, and just as she was about to fall into step beside her tall friend, Tora grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backwards unexpectedly.

"You stay by me." Was all he said, in a voice like a demand. Sighing and not wishing for anymore arguments, Akari fell into step beside Tora instead.

---

To say Tora was annoyed was the understatement of the century.

That cocky, multi-personality dirty blonde couldn't seem to keep his hands to himself. He was hitting on Akari in not-so-subtle ways, doing his best to get in Tora's way, and seemed to think that the only way to flirt was making inappropriate comments and grazing a hand over Akari's ass; or 'accidentally' brushing some part of his body against her chest - first it was his arm, then his hand, and then he had 'tripped' and 'fallen', face-first, into the front of her coat.

Tora wanted, badly, to pummel him into the ground.

And then there was that boy in the hoodie and glasses. He wasn't so obviously trying to pursue Akari, but it was apparent to Tora that he had taken a liking to her. He often stood a bit too close to her, and when she noticed, he would blush. He also blushed and looked away whenever she looked at him, or smiled. Tora knew they were friends, but they seemed to be a bit too friendly towards each other. Akari nudged him playfully and cracked jokes that would embarrass him, she was so willing to be close to him. She openly smiled at him. And the boy, he enjoyed it, Tora knew that he did.

And another thing that bothered him about the guy, besides how close he seemed to be to Akari, was that he was as tall as Tora. Younger than Tora, yet as tall as him. Tora didn't like to be able to look people in the eyes, he liked to look down on people, it was easier to intimidate them like that.

Tora wanted, badly, to send him away on a very long 'vacation'.

So no, he wasn't just annoyed. He wasn't simply irritated. He had become an insanely jealous wreck within the first half of the day and didn't know what to do with himself - it would be easier if these people weren't Akari's friends, but they were so it's not like he could get rid of them or seriously maim them both without upsetting her.

At least he was there to supervise though. He never thought he'd be happy to come along to the festival with her and her friends, but he was glad he was there now, since he could keep on eye on her 'admirers' and make sure they didn't get too close to his prize.

Speaking of his prize, she was suddenly yanked from his side. He turned his head sharply to the left, only to see the the person to abduct her was another girl. Her one female friend, to be exact.

"Akari! Akari, AkariAkariAkariAkariAkari!" Aika was panting, falling over herself and dragging her friend down with her. She had this ridiculous smile on her face and was obviously giddy.

"Whoa - yeah- Aika - what the hell is it?!" Akari gasped out, as the music-lover twirled her around. "You're kinda freaking me out!"

"I saw him! Oh my god you will not fucking believe me but me and Ryuunosuke - he - and then - gaahhh!" The girl looked a little dazed, so Akari reached out to steady her. Tora, for his part, was amused to see her struggling with her friends like this. At least he wasn't the only one suffering.

Catching sight of Ryuunosuke out of the corner of her eye, Akari made her way with Aika over to the guy. "Mind explaining to me what happened? Why is Aika acting like this?" She asked him carefully, looking a bit unhinged at seeing her usually rude friend squealing like an idiot.

His eyes seemed to sparkle and shine, as if he were a kid on Christmas morning. "We saw Kōma Yabu!"

"Who?"

"The hot-as-fuck bassist of UxMishi!" The couple both explained at the same time.

Akari released herself from Aika's strangling grip of happiness and wondered just what had went on when they had been separated earlier. "Um, it's great that you saw him and all, but you act like it's a bigger deal than that." She stared seriously at Aika. "You didn't break into his dressing room or something crazy, did you?"

Slowly, Aika held up a light purple scarf. Her grin was absolutely devious now. "This is his scarf."

Ryuunosuke smiled broadly. "We have his scarf!"

Akari looked from her friends, to the scarf, and then back again. "That doesn't really answer my question..."

"It doesn't matter how we got the scarf okay, it just matters that we have it." Aika rolled her eyes as if to say 'duh!'.

Sighing, Akari looked up at the sky. "For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to tell myself that you in fact did not break into his dressing room."

"So here's the plan!" Aika went on to explain. "We have his scarf, right?"

"And he'll be cold without it, so eventually -" Ryuunosuke continued.

"He'll go looking for it -"

"And when he does -"

"We'll just appear out of no where and save the day, giving him his scarf back -"

"Which will eventually lead to us having a conversation with him -"

"And then he'll decide he really likes us, so -"

"He'll invite us to his room, or a hotel, or his house after the festival's concert tonight -"

Akari felt like she should have stopped listening to this story a long time ago...

"And the three of us will take off our clothes and -"

"Okaaay, I get it, that's some master plan you guys got there." Akari interrupted them before they could finish. She really didn't need to hear the rest.

"Thanks," Ryuunosuke smiled kindly. "we came up with it together."

"It is a good plan, huh?" Aika prodded.

Akari gave them both a thumbs up. "Rock solid."

As the music-obsessed, starstruck couple turned away from her and snuggled up to the scarf they had stolen, Akari turned around and sighed, her gaze full of pity. "That poor guy Kōma isn't gonna know what hit him..."

"Akari."

She looked up, seeing Tora standing directly in front of her with a serious look on his face.

"Tora?"

"I've decided that your friends are all mentally unsound." He gave her his most polite and formal smile.

"...You know what? I think I agree with you on that."

His smile morphed into a smirk, and he was looking as if he were about to say more, but just then Kai came over and interrupted the two of them. Tora felt the strongest urge to kick the young man in the groin, but he withheld the urge when he noted that, for once, he wasn't coming over to hit on Akari again.

"Where's the food?" The dirty blonde groaned, peering through the crowd of people they were all standing in the midst of.

Akari took a shot at mocking the boy. "What's the matter Kai? I thought you would have filled up on 'hot babes' by now."

He grumbled something unintelligible.

Tora leaned closer. "What was that?" He asked in a plain sort of tone, as if he really didn't care either way.

"I said none of them will talk to me." He said, angrily pouting.

"That's because they all think you're a gross pervert who acts like a dirty pig when it comes to women." Akari pointed out clearly, scowling when he rolled his eyes at her.

"Yeah, well whatever. Where's the damn food, I'm starved!"

Admittedly, Tora himself was growing hungry. After they had set off to meet up with Akari's two other friends, the five of them (himself, Akari, Yukimura, Kanou, and Kai) had continued to get lost or distracted by the many stalls at the festival. And after they had finally made their way to the large stage where the band would be playing tonight, but then they had to search through the growing crowd of fangirls and boys in order to find the foul-mouthed girl and her boyfriend. If he could take a wild guess, Tora would say that they'd arrived at the festival around three hours ago, which was disappointing because even though that much time had passed, they had yet to do anything of interest or what he would consider fun.

And now that they had finally found Akari's two other friends, and the group was back together again, he wanted to at least head somewhere he wanted to go. Like the food stalls.

But at least he could withhold his complaints about being a bit hungry - unlike Kai, who was chewing everyone's ear off by repeatedly insisting they go get something to eat before he dies from malnutrition.

"You are not going to starve to death you fucking idiot." Aika whacked Kai on the head harshly. "You're a perfectly healthy seventeen-year-old boy. You're just a little hungry so shut the hell up already!"

"Hmph." He folded his arms, but said nothing for a moment. And then, that sly smile of his appeared. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, ya angry bitch."

"I SAID TO SHUT UP!"

---

A few minutes later, the group of seven was headed to the other side of the school to get something to eat. For the most part, they all remained relatively quiet, and Kai had shut up ever since Aika had shoved that mp3 player up his nose.

Tora walked side-by-side with Akari, who had that boy Yukimura on her other side and was deep into a simple conversation with the boy. Tora was alright with this, but only because the boy wasn't someone he would consider a threat - he wasn't even someone Tora would consider a male. The guy was too short, too scrawny, too... well, girly. But perhaps even the cuteness factor about him could be considered threatening, since girls liked cute things.

He eyed the two of them carefully for a moment, and then looked away with a grunt. He was being jealous, and now paranoid. There was only one thing he could call himself at the moment - a fool. Honestly, what had become of him? Love changed people, and it had changed him a bit too much for his personal liking. As far as he was concerned jealousy was a petty emotion, but ever since Akari, he couldn't seem to ever shake it and it had only gotten worse.

"Mmm, do you smell that?" Akari caught his attention by grabbing onto his arm suddenly. He looked down at her, blinking. "We're getting closer to all the food stalls!"

Inhaling deeply, he took in the aroma of several different meals at once. These scents soon became overpowering as he and the rest of the group found themselves walking through an area on the school grounds covered with all sorts of different stands, with all sorts of different vendors selling all sorts of different foods. Smoke from a grill swept right up into his face as he walked by, and he coughed and waved a hand in front of his face, scowling.

It's not like he'd never been to a school festival before - Miyabigaoka had plenty of those, and parties as well. But he was accustomed to restaurants, tables, waiters, menus... not grills, food on sticks, the chill of the outdoors, and people bumping into each other.

Akari though, seemed perfectly happy in this sort of environment. She released Tora's arm and grabbed her friend's shoulder, pointing past the small boy's face. "Look Yukimura! Doesn't that look absolutely delicious? All those different kinds of soups... makes me a little warmer just thinking about it."

Yukimura nodded his head and smiled with a blush. "Yes, it does! And look over there, isn't that Karumeyaki?"

She gave him a funny look, and then smiled, ruffling his hair. "You're such a kid. Do you like Karumeyaki?"

He was blushing bright red in the face now, and stuttering. "Y-yes... I- I know that's not very manly of me -"

"Forget that! I like Karumeyaki too." She smiled at him reassuringly, before her eye caught something else. "Oh yum! Over there they're selling Taiyaki, and next to that they have Crêpes, and - look over there, they have what I think is Takoyaki! I can't really read the sign from over here though..."

Kai suddenly interrupted by walking up between the two of them and pointing to something up ahead. "No, I can smell it from here and that's not Takoyaki. It's Yakitori, and I love Yakitori! We have to stop there!"

Akari raised her eyebrows at him. "You probably just like it because it's good with beer." She had barely finished that sentence before Kai was running off in the direction of the Yakitori food stall.

Tora couldn't withhold a smirk, and leaned down towards her. "How would you know what's good with beer, Akari?"

She glanced up at him and shrugged, sticking her chin out defiantly. "Common knowledge, Igarashi."

He straightened up, still smirking. He was glad she was acting this lively once again. It was like when she had first moved into his estate.. she was acting free once again. And he had helped to make that happen, getting rid of all the trouble in her life. He frowned at the memory he had of seeing the bruises on her body that her half-brother had left there. He'd never let something as cruel as that happen to her again.

"Akari!"

Tora looked over to see that girl - Aika - now standing directly beside them.

"Kanou and Ryuunosuke are going back that way -" She pointed over Akari's shoulder. "- let's go follow after them. We passed this sign over by the Ikayaki stall that read 'Lobster Rolls'. Sounds like something a rich bastard would eat, and I wanna try it because it looked damn tasty." Aika started to walk in the direction she had pointed in, yanking on Akari's arm roughly.

Out of all that, Akari had only heard one word. "Lobster?" Her mouth went dry and her taste buds suddenly felt defective. Tora stood idly by, watching Yukimura leave her side - he had gone off to follow that tall boy with the glasses.

"Uh, yeah, that's what I said! Well, the rolls, or wraps or whatever they are, have lobster inside of them. Anyway, Ryuunosuke thinks he saw these crab cakes that looked good too, and they also had some sort of food that has like crayfish or something in it, or maybe it was just scallops or - I dunno, we'll have to go back and check it out again."

This time she visibly paled. "...Crayfish?"

Tora glanced between the two girls carefully, hearing the way Akari's voice had changed tones. Akari looked as if she were suddenly going to throw up, and her friend had failed to notice and only continued to try to drag her along with her. He stepped forward, firmly taking her friend's arm in his hold and pulling her away from his prize.

When Aika looked over and up to see who had pulled her arm away, her eyes narrowed and she hissed at Tora, "If you like having your dick attached to your body, then you will let go of me, understood?"

"Threatening to castrate me." Tora mused, slowly letting go of her arm. "How mature of you."

When Aika only scoffed and turned to face Akari again, she finally seemed to notice how green in the face her friend looked. "Uh... Akari, what the hell's the matter with you?"

Shaking her head as if it were nothing, she straightened up to the best of her ability. "Nothing, I just... suddenly lost my appetite." Silver eyes glanced over at Tora. "I think I'll just walk around with Tora for a bit while you all eat, and then meet up with you guys later for the concert."

Aika looked between the two of them suspiciously, before nodding her head. "...Alright." She turned around, but yelled over her shoulder, "If he starts misbehaving and you need me to dismember him for you, just shoot me a text."

And with those pleasant parting words, she was gone within the crowds of people. Tora gave Akari a look with raised eyebrows. "I always get the feeling, every time I'm around her, that she doesn't quite like me."

Akari laughed a little bit, but her mind was still on the mention of the word 'crayfish'. She withheld the urge to dry heave and instead placed a hand on his arm. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't do anything reckless."

"She stole an idol's scarf."

"To you I mean. I'll make sure she doesn't do anything to you and your... you know." She gestured to what lay below his belt.

He was smiling loosely now. "You're... going to make sure to protect my manhood?" His tone was light and filled with amusement.

"Please don't word it like that. It's more like, I'm going to keep her from ripping your penis off your body."

"To make sure that doesn't happen, could I stick it in you for safe-keeping?"

She punched him hard in the arm - like, really hard - and it actually hurt a little, for once.

"Too far?" Tora chuckled lowly.

"You always seem to take things too far." She mumbled, starting to walk ahead of him so that he had to pick up the pace in order to keep up. "It's like you don't have a filter for your brain and all the dirty thoughts just seep through all the time."

"I have a filter. It just chooses to let things through when I allow it to."

Akari simply shook her head back and forth, mumbling something under her breath about him being an idiot, along with several other offensive words.

As the two walked at a leisurely pace, they were soon out of the midst of food-scented air and stalls where people huddled around to eat, and were now passing into another area where even more stalls stood in rows upon rows, all lined up and decorated with merchandise. A shrewd wind had started to blow through the air, passing between the stalls and blowing back people's hoods, whipping hair into faces and making the lanterns lit above sway and tremble. Tora moved the slightest bit closer to Akari, half-wishing they could just walk like all the normal couples and hold hands and cuddle for warmth, but knowing what a foolish wish that was when Akari was in a foul mood and he was, well, not really the hand-holding, cuddling type.

Akari would occasionally sneak glances up at Tora, wondering what he was thinking about and why he was being so quiet. They were passing by so many different people, and so many wonderfully decorated stalls filled with interesting items. Yet, he seemed bored and disinterested in everything, hands in the deep pockets of his black designer coat, a listless look in his eye as he did nothing more than stare straight ahead. Briefly, her brain came up with a curious thought - did he even know how to have any fun? This was a festival, and they were alone now without her friends whom he disliked so much. He should be enjoying himself now.

Abruptly, he stopped walking.

She stopped as well right beside him, cocking her head to one side and staring at him questioningly. "What are you -"

"Look up ahead." He said softly, staring at something in the near distance. "It's our ex-fiancés."

She stared to where he was looking, and her jaw dropped a little bit at the sight there was to see. Chiyo with Orochi. At the Festival. Alone together, and seeming to be enjoying themselves.

Orochi had his arms around Chiyo in what was definitely considered an affectionate way. They were standing beside a stall that had cute little bears and other stuffed animals with bows around their necks. She was leaning back against him and smiling, loosely, happily, for the first time looking free and careless. And he was pointing out different stuffed animals, and seemed to be asking her which one she wanted. Neither of them noticed Tora and Akari standing just a little more than a few feet away.

"They - together? I mean, uh, the two of them..." Akari was a little taken aback. "That was... soon."

"Not really, when you consider how long they've known each other." Tora commented. "He's always loved her, and she's just now giving him the chance to show his affections. She's never been properly loved, what with having me as a fiancé, and Orochi wants to do nothing more than shower her with love. Of course they would immediately be happy together."

"Oh." Akari continued to stare, still trying to process. They both just looked so in love, so meant for each other... it almost seemed too good to be true, but there the two of them were, laughing together, being a couple.

Tora spoke up again. "I will say this though, Chiyo seems strangely accepting of Orochi. I can't help but wonder why, when she knows better. He's nearly just as bad as I am."

"...Perhaps," Akari marveled, eyes bright with a strong sense of understanding. "it's for the same reason I've come to accept you. You may have a perfectly twisted personality, but I can look past it and see something... more."

There was a sudden, silent pause - the kind of careful pause that leaves both people lost in many thoughts, yet left thinking about the same exact thing.

"More?" He inquired.

Akari shrugged, the tint of a blush flushing over her cheeks and onto the bridge of her nose. "Yes. I don't know, just - something more." The wind caused her hair to whip gently along the side of her face, obscuring his view of her.

Tora lowered his chin, staring at the ground as if to question it as well. More... something more. There was something more to him than what meets the eye? Well, he had always known that. Maybe she meant that she could see something about him even he couldn't see - something good, something worth more than the lies and deceit and fake, material things he'd built his life upon. She saw... more to him than the wealthy heir, or perverted tiger, or lying bastard that he was. She saw... what did she see? He couldn't see anything more than all of that. So what did she mean by something more?

"We should head back now, I guess." Akari spoke up, not looking over at him. Her hair was still in her face, and Tora had the urge to move it back behind her ear. He didn't.

"Back to the group? We left not even ten minutes ago."

"Yeah, but my stomach doesn't feel so queasy anymore. I think walking around helped, so let's just go back to the others now and get something to eat."

"You're right. Hn, what do you think sounds appetizing? Maybe something in the crustacean category?"

Akari groaned, looking pale all over again, imagining prawns and lobster and crab and, worst of all, crayfish. Finally, she looked up at him but with a gaze of frustration. "Why would you say that?!"

Smirking at her, Tora turned around and began to walk, headed in the opposite direction of Chiyo and Orochi. "Because I don't wish to go rejoin your little group of friends."

Sighing, Akari followed along behind him, trying to keep up with his long stride. Then suddenly she grabbed his arm to stop him. "Igarashi, may I remind you that this whole date is what counts as your way of making things up to me for what you did behind my back -" She let her words slip away from her when she noticed him grinning. "What?"

"You're calling this a date, then?" He cooed, thoroughly enjoying the way her eyes brightened due to the heat rushing into her cheeks.

"Well what else should I call it?" She countered snappishly, her tone going from stern to defensive in an instant. "What would you call it, huh? Tora - ahh..." She trailed off again and peered at him oddly when he began to shake his head at her, and light bouts of laughter filled the air - a deep, lovely sound that she recognized as his laughter.

"You're a delight, you know." He said during his last sigh of a laugh, golden eyes shining as they stared at her admirably. A look like that only succeeded in making her more flustered, heating up her face further, and worsening her embarrassment and the loud thudding of her heart in her chest. And he seemed to smile as he noticed this.

"And you're - an idiotic striped jungle cat." She countered weakly, trying to calm herself and failing when he continued to look at her so intensely.

"Let's make a deal." He suddenly told her, in all seriousness now.

"I don't make any deals with the devil, sorry." She muttered, looking over at a stall that was selling key chains and other small trinkets and toys.

"I am not the devil himself, although I am devilishly handsome, devilishly charming, devilishly -"

"Oh be quiet, baka." With a sigh, Akari met his gaze again. "What do you have to propose, hm?"

"Spend the next hour with me until the concert starts." He said, plain and simple.

She arched one eyebrow. "And then we'll go meet back up with my friends?"

As they kept walking, he stepped closer (a bit too close), and leaned down to her ear. "Only if you show me a good time..." He murmured in that wickedly seductive way of his.

"Just for that comment, I'm making it only half an hour."

Tora sighed and pulled away from her slowly, but he had a small, sneaky smile on his face that said he was satisfied. "Fair enough."

Half an hour alone with her, with no other boys around to flirt with her or steal her attention, means that he should be able to quench his envy for a while.

---

"Ryuunosuke! Could you quit it with the comments about what a nice butt Kōma has? You're making Yukimura very uncomfortable."

"But he really does have a nice ass though, and the way those fingers strum his bass turns me on!" Aika admired openly, causing a burning blush to completely cover poor Yukimura's face.

"Annnd now we're all a bit uncomfortable..." Akari sighed, giving up on trying to stop the music-loving couple's talk about threesomes and nice asses and basses and other inappropriate things. This was a concert. She figured worst things had happened or been spoken of at concerts.

After spending half an hour with Tora simply walking around, sight-seeing, chit-chatting and actually enjoying themselves, Aika had called Akari asking them where they were and complaining that if they didn't hurry the concert would start without them.

That had been a lie. The two of them had arrived fifteen minutes after getting the call, and after finding their small group, they stood there standing in a large crowd of people by the stage set up outside, where the band wasn't even playing yet. The band was actually taking a break from warming up, so they weren't even on stage.

It was now a full hour later, the sky had become even more overcast (if that were possible), and the concert had only just started. They were close enough to the stage to see the band members but not make out their faces, but far enough away that about half a mile of screaming fans stood between them and the stage. Akari would say they were somewhere around the middle of the large crowd. Presently she was squished up behind Aika and her boyfriend, and sandwiched between Tora and Kanou. Yukimura was perched on top of Kanou's shoulders, and Kai was no where to be found, (so she figured that he must be rubbing up against some girls somewhere in the tightly packed crowd.)

Tora kept continually bumping hips with her, which would then bump her into Kanou - and she still wasn't sure if it was an accident because of the swaying crowd or if it was being done on purpose. Based off of the tiger's annoyed scowl, she would assume and say that it's been a very persistent accident and he didn't like being pushed around so much with no sense of control.

It wasn't just the movement and cramped quarters of all the people compacted together, though, that was getting on their nerves... the overall sound surrounding them was also unnerving. The music from the band could barely make its way through the thick crowd and to their ears - the noises around them were loud, what with most of the crowd (Aika and Ryuunosuke included) singing along to whatever song the band was playing, and the other half of the crowd chanting 'I love you's' and screaming out the names of different band members.

Suddenly, in the middle of the next song 'Yume no Hana', Akari felt an uncomfortable rumbling in the inner workings of her stomach. She clutched it tightly, squinting at the feeling that could definitely be recognized as hunger.

Tora bumped into her hip again, causing her to stumble against Kanou as well, and then straighten up once more. She looked over at the blonde, and then a thought came to her.

If she was hungry, wouldn't he be too? Neither of them had eaten anything since that morning... Come to think of it, it was pretty selfish of her to just take him away from the food stalls like she did, even if she was feeling sick. She should have asked first, if he was hungry, she would have let him get something to eat. She didn't need to take him with her on her little walk to help ease her stomach, but she just automatically figured where she went he followed. He was a possessive and aggressive tiger, so even if she hadn't had him accompany her, despite his hunger he would have followed her anyway.

Still, that didn't change the fact that she should have asked him, at the very least, how he was doing. If he was hungry, or enjoying himself at all. She knew him coming with her to the festival was supposed to be his way of apology, you know, by doing something he doesn't like, but she admittedly did want him to have a good time with she and her friends.

Akari looked back over the crowd in front of her and at the brightly lit stage. Fangirls screaming and loud music playing - was this even Tora's sort of crowd? No, he was much more classy than that. Tora had refined taste, so attending an indie rock band concert was probably not on his to-do list. Maybe he listened to music, but it probably wasn't anything like this.

Oh god, he must be miserable then.

And he was. Tora growled deep in his throat, tossing a glare back at the girl behind him who kept grinding into him. There was also another girl to his left who kept bumping into him as she danced, effectively making him bump into Akari, which would make her bump into her friend Kanou. This was not his sort of scene at all, and even if he were to attend a concert like this, he would have the best seats in the house, back stage passes, all the good stuff. But this... being stuck in the middle of a massive crowd... no. He would never (under any normal circumstances) agree to this.

But he was doing this for the girl he loved. So he'd just have to suck it up and try not to complain too much. He supposed he owed her that much.

When someone stepped on his foot though, a bit of his calm reserve ebbed away, and he spun to his right to face them, his teeth bared and murderous intent in his eyes.

Golden depths met and melded with silver-blue orbs, and the agitated look in his eyes faded a little bit. It was Akari... he looked down. And she was the one stepping on his foot. Still, stepping on it, in fact.

"Your foot." He told her firmly, really not bothering himself in covering up the slight edge to his tone. "Remove it, would you?"

Looking down, Akari seemed to startle at the sight of her foot placed atop one of his, and she inched back a little in order to give him space. "Sorry, sorry." She half-shouted over the sound of the crowd chanting and singing.

Tora just shook his head, playing it off as no big deal. She had small feet, he would be fine.

"Tora... since we skipped out on eating with everyone else earlier, do you want to go back to the food stalls with me?"

He seemed a little taken aback, blinking at her. "Now?"

Didn't she want to enjoy the concert with her friends?

"Yeah, now." She shrugged, or at least attempted to, but such close quarters made it difficult. "I'm not really into big, noisy crowds, so I won't mind leaving the concert. So I was thinking, we should go grab a bite to eat, because I'm starving and so are you, right?"

Nodding in confirmation, he allowed himself a small bit of a smile and chuckled. "I wouldn't say that I'm starving, but I think I'd be in a far better mood if I had some food in me."

Akari smiled back and turned to her friends, telling them where she was going so that they didn't worry about her. Once that was all settled, and she turned back to face Tora again. He looked at her with eyebrows raised expectantly.

She jerked her head to one side. "This way."

Together they pressed through the crowd - peoples bodies pressed in on them from all sides though, and it was pretty hard to stay with each other when so much of the crowd was moving and dancing and jumping around - at one point, Akari looked back and Tora wasn't even behind her anymore. She caught sight of him again when he suddenly appeared beside her, his clothes ruffled, hair a mess, and golden eyes flickering through the crowd in unbridled fury before his gaze met hers and he became somewhat tame.

"What happened?" Her gaze was the slightest bit concerned, but she winced as her stomach rumbled again.

Tora looked very put-out as he spoke his next words. "Three women grabbed me and... I believe that's the first time I've ever been sexually harassed."

Her eyebrows raised significantly high up, practically resting in her hairline. "With your looks, plus your reputation with women, I'd have expected that many girls have touched you inappropriately before."

He smirked. "Never without my consent. Besides, I'm normally the one doing the sexual harassment than having it the other way around."

His smirk was returned by one of her own. "I believe it." Suddenly, she reached out to him and grabbed one of his hands, holding it. "Don't get lost again, or else I'm not coming back for you. Food is my top priority right now, you know."

The moment their hands were clasped, Tora's eyes widened a smidgen and he found that he couldn't form an answer to her words right then. She started through the thick and pressing crowd again, moving step by step ahead of him, the only thing keeping them together and connected through the jostle and jolt of moving bodies being their hands. Tora noted that the feel of their hands placed together was warm, and getting a bit sweaty, but somehow it was a very comfortable feeling. It felt nothing less than natural - it just felt right.

She continued to shock him lately, what with the way she had been acting more and more comfortable around him. For a while there, she had been trying her best to avoid him - locking herself inside her room, burying herself in her studies and school work, doing what she could to ignore his presence, his voice, any or all thoughts of him... But ever since yesterday, and maybe even for a short time before that, she had been acting as if she was enjoying his company more and more, and she seemed to be allowing herself to accept him. To accept the idea of him, and maybe even the idea of them. Together. The two of them together. Hn...

Peering ahead at the back of Akari's small figure, watching his prize lead him carefully through the disorganized isles of people, Tora felt a deep longing for her. It was strange, because she was his, so he shouldn't have to long for her, but he did. His heart was full of longing, and he didn't know what else he had to do to fulfill it. She was too stubborn to admit her feelings for him, and he couldn't provide any more proof of his feelings for her. They were at a stalemate, and he didn't want it to be permanent, but it might be. She may never fully accept him or believe him and he couldn't blame her. He knew he wasn't exactly boyfriend material - he had never even been someone's boyfriend before because for so long, he didn't believe in relationships, at least, not lasting ones. But now... with her...

He shook his head, frowning slightly as she tugged on his hand, forcing him to quicken his pace so that they didn't lose each other. And here was another thing to think about: she was leading him through this crowd. She had taken his hand, and had taken it upon herself to lead the way with him in tow. It was completely out of his comfort zone to hold hands, let alone allow a woman to drag him around like this. So why was he allowing her to? He could easily pull his hand from her grip and follow separately from behind her, or surpass her and then lead the way himself. But instead, he was letting her, a woman - no, a girl, really - who was nearly a full head shorter than him, lead him after her like some sort of lost puppy. And just why did he let her?

He focused his attention right then solely on the feeling of their hands pressed together. Her palm was smooth like felt, radiating warmth against his own. Her fingers, frail and slim, grazed over the back of his hand and rested there softly. Akari held their hands together carefully, as if she was afraid to lose him again in the midst of people, and exerted a gentle but firm sort of pressure.

Again, why did he let her lead him?

Because of the plain and undeniable reason that he liked the feeling of his hand in hers.

---

As soon as they had gotten their food, Tora had suggested that they should find somewhere less crowded so that they could eat in peace. Akari had figured that was a good enough idea, since the stalls were much too cramped to sit down and eat there anyway, and so together they had journeyed away from the hustle and bustle of the festival food and other festivities.

Not much later, the two of them now sat alone, in a relatively quiet place behind the school building where the sound of the band playing could not reach. There were hardly any other people in sight as well.

Akari sat with her back up against a wall, eating from a bowl of Yakisoba with chopsticks. Since Tora had seen the noodles and figured they looked good enough, he sat beside her eating the same thing. He ate the food with an eyebrow raised skeptically, and all the while Akari wondered if he had ever even tasted fried food before.

It would have been quiet as they had their meal, had she not been gobbling her food very ungracefully because of her intense hunger.

Tora caught her eye just as she was raising the chopsticks to her open mouth again. He could not help his smirk as he heard the loud slurping sounds she was making, and she glared in his general direction but kept on eating as she was.

"You know," He said, a small bit of laughter escaping from his lips as she slurped up a noodle too quickly and it flicked her on the tip of her nose right before disappearing between her lips. "as... attractive, as that is, I wouldn't say that it's very lady-like."

She swallowed, turned her face towards his own, and stuck her tongue out at him - not exactly an action that could be considered lady-like either. To spite him and his words even more, she raised another string of noddles to her lips and persisted in slurping them in the most loud, disrespectful, and annoying way possible. Her eyes burned a bright silver, shining as if to issue some sort of challenge towards him.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be?" He quipped, right before calmly setting down his bowl, and then swiftly moving over to straddle her.

He took her bowl from her as well and put that aside, comfortably perching himself atop her and forcefully pressing her down against the wall; her wrists held in his grasp on either side of her body, pinned to the ground.

He watched her features intently, seeing the way she struggled to quickly swallow her food so that she could have her mouth free to scold him. Her cheeks went from pale to cherry red as he ground his pelvis against her once, just in order to taunt her a little bit. His grin could only be translated as lascivious as he stared down at her with cruel yet pleasant golden eyes. She swallowed, and bared her teeth at him in warning.

"You are..." He released one of her wrists so that he could tilt her chin up towards him. "Quite the handful."

Lowering his head, he moved in to kiss her.

However, a pair of chopsticks quickly clamped down on his lips, pressing them firmly together and pausing him a few inches from her mouth. Tora's eyes widened considerably before immediately narrowing, and he lifted a hand up to encircle Akari's free wrist in his own again.

And she just started to giggle uncontrollably, smiling as she stared at him while holding up her chopsticks and trapping his lips between them. Her light giggles spread into fitful laughter the longer she stared at him; and even when Tora pulled her hand down, effectively making her drop the chopsticks and thus releasing his lips from their hold, she continued to laugh.

"You looked so ridiculous just now!" Akari gasped out, smiling and sighing as she tried to regain control over herself.

Tora was mainly annoyed... but partially amused. His lips twitched as he watched her grin, and he was currently thinking about how there seemed to be this healthy glow about her when she smiled and laughed like that. Slowly, he removed himself from his position over her and instead sat across from her, extending his legs out before the both of them in order to stretch his limbs as he leaned back onto his hands. He stared directly at her as she calmed herself, studying her every aspect as if there would be a quiz on what she looked like in a few minutes.

Akari, after settling down, reached back for her bowl and dug into her food again. She forced herself to slow down and try to eat properly, not because of what Tora had said to her but because she didn't want to choke. A faint smile still remained on her face as she enjoyed her meal, her mind stuck on the image of Tora's wide eyed look he had given her when she had halted his advancements on her by entrapping his lips between chopsticks. He had looked utterly foolish and it made her feel silly and giggly all over again just thinking of it. After all, it was a rare and wonderful thing, to see Tora in such a laughable state.

While his prize went back to eating, Tora stared at her openly, allowing himself several minutes to sit, relax, and enjoy the view. His mind was enveloped in thoughts consisting of her, and him, and he found himself wondering where they were headed in their relationship of sorts. Thoughts of how everything could go wrong plagued him, and ideas of everything working out perfectly between the two of them made his heart spasm ever so slightly.

Akari glanced up, her gaze filled with unease. She had felt his eyes on her for a while now, and as she peered at him staring at her she found the look on his face to be strange. As always, it was unreadable, but the way his eyes gave her that unwavering stare was making her feel as if he was slowly picking apart every detail about her, delving into her thoughts inside her mind and reading the feelings in her heart. It unsettled her greatly.

Clearing her throat, she watched as his golden eyes blinked once, and he seemed to recognize what he was doing yet still remained that way, sitting there, looking at her. "Your food is getting cold, you know." She told him firmly, wondering just what it was he was thinking about. She couldn't tell at all and suddenly wished she were a mind reader. "You should eat it."

He tilted his head to one side, lips parting. When he spoke, his words had a very low, serious vibe to them. "Have you thought about it at all, Akari?"

She blinked a few times at him, puzzled. "Have I thought about what?"

"Admitting your feelings for me."

Her heart began to race. "What feelings?"

Tora smirked cruelly, his eyes flashing in distaste at her little act of ignorance. "The way you feel about me, the fact that you want me to hold you, make love to you, be with you, stay with you." His gaze did not even for a moment leave hers. "It's those feelings that I'm talking about. You love me -"

"Don't just assume things!" She sat up straighter, her defensive mode kicking in upon hearing his claims.

"- You love me in the same way I love you. Admit it."

"..." Akari avoided his gaze completely, because when she looked at him, she felt the overwhelming urge to say it. To admit it. She had trouble saying her next words. "There's - there is nothing to admit." She bit her lip harshly.

His gaze still locked on her, Tora asked quietly. "What do you think of me then?" His voice turned gruff when she did not attempt to answer. "Answer me."

The rhythm of her heartbeat was pounding so loud in her ears she had barely heard him speak, and when she glanced up at him again, the intensity of his gaze nearly burned her. "You've asked me that once before, remember? The answer is still the same. I think nothing of you, Igarashi."

At this point Tora sat there silently. In all honesty, he was amazed by her stubborn will. Would she never admit to anything?

He knew the truth. Hell, they both knew they were probably in love, but surprisingly enough he was the only one good at admitting that fact. He didn't like to admit it, no - and using the word 'love' made him cringe because he still didn't fully understand the concept other than the fact that it made him feel weak, and a little hopeless. Because if he didn't have her in his life, he knew he couldn't go back to his old ways. And his old ways were all he knew, all he was familiar with. Other than her, there was no other woman he wanted to be with and that... unsettled him. Maybe it even scared him, though fear wasn't an emotion he often associated himself with.

So he needed her to admit her feelings. If she didn't, what were they then? Friends with benefits? Hah. He wanted more than that. Much, much more.

After a painstakingly long silence had ensued, Tora finally responded. Arching an eyebrow, he asked in a questionable tone, "Nothing?"

Akari nodded her head mutely. She wondered why she couldn't just tell him that yes, she loved him back, and yes, her feelings were the same as his own. At this point she had to know that what he claimed was true, he did have those feelings for her. If he didn't he would have left her long ago and gone back to his womanizing antics. So she should believe in him. But... doubt still existed somewhere inside her being. She had no idea why, because part of her knew the truth. But that smaller bit of doubt she still held onto made her always so hesitant. She couldn't admit anything until all hesitancy and doubt was gone, until she felt completely free to speak up about her feelings.

Akari sighed, heavily. What an idiot she was. She wasn't scared of his feelings, she was terrified of her own. This was all so foreign and the change intimidated her. Feelings this strong intimidated her. She didn't know what to do anymore so she defended herself by denying everything.

"I thought you had claimed that there is 'something more' to me that you can see." Tora stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

She avoided his question by finishing up her meal - stuffing the rest of it into her mouth. Reaching to her right she grabbed his abandoned bowl of food, and stood up. Akari was now standing in front of Tora and looking down on him expectantly, but he stayed as he was sitting and leaning back, watching her. Swallowing her mouthful of noodles, she bent down a little bit and offered his bowl of food to him.

"You should eat this is you don't want to starve for the rest of the evening."

He eyed her for a second longer before moving his gaze to the offered bowl. Peering at it emotionless, he sat up straight and moved forward, reaching out his arm. When his hand took hold of the bowl as well and he gently took it from her, their fingers brushed; Akari quickly pulled away almost dropping the bowl at the contact.

Tora noticed this, and it became apparent to him that she was beginning to go into her defensive mode again and was trying to shut him out. He made to stand up, and she backed a few steps away, like a scared animal who's fight or flight instinct was about to kick in. Once on his feet, he made no move towards her and merely stared down at his food, lost in thought, planning, putting ideas together in his head.

Akari, who already felt uneasy, suddenly became annoyed with him. In order to relieve herself of the pressure she had been feeling and ease the awkward tension in the air, she began to pointlessly nag him. "Since we payed for it you should eat it, Tora. I know it didn't cost that much but letting your food get cold and refusing to eat it is just wasteful and I'd hate to waste such a well prepared -"

"I give up."

Her mouth remained open, but the words stopped spurting forth. She stared at him, her silvery-blue gaze one of consternation.

'I give up'. Tora Igarashi had just muttered these three words, something considered a very rare phenomenon. And he didn't flinch or cringe in distaste when he said them. And he did, in fact, sound serious.

When Akari could finally speak again, her voice was softer and, to her surprise, raspier than before. "What do you mean by that?"

"It is only obvious that you aren't ready to admit your feelings for me, and perhaps you still don't believe what I said when I expressed my own feelings." Tora's voice was tart, his tones deep. He was looking at her carefully, yet seemed to be looking right past her at the same time. "I don't know what other proof there is that I can show you, and I certainly can't make you believe me. At this point it has come to my attention that you may never change your mind about me, and you will most likely continue to think that my feelings for you are fake - no matter what I tell you, or how I try to convince you."

Akari sucked in a shaky breath when his eyes met hers directly, realizing how vacant his gaze appeared. She did not like where this was going.

"A prize has to be won, and I never did successfully win you over. Not completely. I suppose you're not mine after all." He stepped towards her, closing the distance between them and lifting a hand to play with her hair. His eyes watched as the strands slid their way between his fingers, until they fell back into place below her shoulder.

"Therefore... I give up on you, Akari Michiyo."

---

IMPORTANT NOTICES YOU SHOULD PROBABLY READ:

*Smut: I know some of you wanted more smut before the story ended, but I hope you can understand that there wasn't anywhere to fit it in unless I wanted to ruin the way the story was flowing naturally to its end. :/ Sorry my fellow perverts, I just couldn't disrupt the flow by adding in a random sex scene. My apologies- and please take this basket of fruit, muffins, sparkly sodas and other delicious goods as compensation - *hands basket of goodies*

*Renovations: I know this story isn't perfect, (I mean, nothing can ever truly be 'perfect', ya know?) and I will eventually be going back and changing quite a bit of it. I will try not to mess with the story line too much, but there are some scenes I may tweak and of course typos that my perfectionist-grammar-nazi side with scream at me to fix. I am my own chief editor, and with it being a one-person job I know it'll take a while to go back through each individual chapter and edit the crap out of this story... so it may not happen for a while, and once I do get started on that it will definitely take some time to fully complete. But eventually, I'll have all of it revised and ready for you guys to read again, if you want c: I'll probably post on my profile when it has finally been re-written, or something like that. Isn't that the best way to tell people about it? Putting the news on my profile page...?

*New Stories: I have numerous stories I am currently working on right now in secret, (meaning that I have not yet posted them on fanfiction) several of these stories being more ToraxOC fics. So, if you enjoyed this story and would like to join me for the next one I'll be writing, keep a close look-out for it :)

*Advertising: Might I give you peasants some reading suggestions? If you are interested in the anime Kamisama Hajimemashita/Kamisama Kiss, then check out my story Alphabetical. If you are a fan of Kurama's character, then check out my story The Cursed Doppelganger & That Damn Tengu. And if you want, check out any other stories I've written as well, though the rest I am either not too proud of (because they are some of my earliest work) or ones that I am no longer all that interested in writing.

If you enjoy Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji then keep a look-out for when I post one, two, or both of my Black Butler fics. One of them features a female version of Ciel, the other will feature an OC for Sebastian.

If you enjoy Ouran Highschool Host Club, then keep a look-out for when I post any one of my fics for that. The one I'm thinking of posting first will be a KyoyaxOC story.

Lastly, if you have not already, I suggest adding this story to your favorites (if you enjoyed it) and adding me as a favorite author (if you enjoy my writing) ^_^ Also, follow me as an author if you want to receive emails that alert you about any updates on the stories I have posted, and any new activity that goes on with me (such as me posting a brand-new story). Oh and if you don't have an account on fanfiction, then you can simply check out my profile whenever you like in order to keep tabs on me and my stories.

Thanks readers. You are and have been the best support any author could ask for. (notice how I didn't call you peasants this time;)

Signing off-

CK :*

p.s- the last chapter will be up soon, I promise. I've already started on it. The reason this chapter was so late has to do with technical difficulties, our internet has been rather faulty as of late but hopefully it's fixed now.