And In Another Life

Chapter 6: I Am Confusion

Takemichi can leap through time. I can see the future. He puts himself through hell to save us all. I live through hell to save myself from heartbreak and in the end, I can't even do that. My best chance at life is to live without you, but I don't know how to do that. No matter who I love or how far you push me, I don't want to. In this life and the next, you always pull and I push too deep then I fall right back to you.

The restaurant is crowded when they get in, but Yukari had called ahead and managed to reserve a table. "Six for Tamura."

The hostess clicked through her computer before flashing the brown haired girl a smile. "I have you right here. Follow me."

"Awesome, Kari. Way to think ahead." Mikey nudges her side as he comes up from behind to walk beside her. "You can be so mature sometimes. And then you act like a little kid. It's so weird."

She tugged on the sleeve of his shirt, shaking her head. "You're one to talk. You're a gang leader but half the time you're like toddler."

"Hey!" Mikey protested sticking his lips out, "I am not!"

Yukari poked his puffed cheek, "See! Look at the little baby!"

"You keep treating me like this, I won't sit next to you at our table." He told her holding his head high in the air, cheeks still swollen with air.

"Okay. Don't." Yukari shrugs, walking a step faster. She turns back to him with a smirk just to rile him up. "I'd rather sit next to Baji anyway."

Mikey ticked his head to the side. "Why, because he has black hair?"

Yukari choked on all the saliva and air in her mouth. She had to clear her throat as she regained her composure. Shit. Am I really that obvious? "What does that have to do with anything?"

Mikey quietly examined her, before deciding to resume his place by her side. "I change my mind. You can sit next to me."

She rolled her eyes, "Glad I got your permission." A real fucking Casanova, this guy. Yukari grinned, taking her seat by the window. Emma squeezed past Draken to sit across from her. Draken wordlessly sat down next to Emma.

Mikey moved to take Yukari's right, but Chifuyu placed his hand on the seat. "Actually, do you mind if I sit there?" He asks innocently, behind him, Baji rolls his eyes with a groan. "I want to be close to the window."

"Hmm? The window?" Mikey looked down at the spot like it had just sprouted legs. "We're only going to be here an hour max."

"I know. It's just a thing I have." Chifuyu explains with a nod. Baji grounds his teeth together but doesn't say anything as he glares daggers into Chifuyu's head.

Mikey considers this, until he laughs, "I don't think so. If I don't sit next to Kari, she'll be sad. And you wouldn't want that, would you?"

"That's not true!" Yukari yells, throwing her hands up. "Look, how about I just shift down a seat? Hmm? You too Emma. Then, Chifuyu can have the window and be near his bestie. Are we good? Does that solve everyone's issues?"

Draken, who had already started going over options with Emma, jumped back into the conversation. "What are we doing?"

"We're shifting down a seat." Yukari said again, standing to demonstrate and taking the seat Mikey had his hands on. "Mikey, you sit there, next to me."

Mikey gave a shrug, plopping down where she pointed. "I was gonna do that anyway!"

Yukari's face lit like a flame, his words throwing sparks on something deep in her chest. She grinned, "Whatever, Mikey. Do you need me to order for you too?"

"Could you?" Mikey leaned onto his elbow, in her space as always. "I like kids meals."

"This restaurant doesn't have kid's meals." She explained, running her fingers down the options they did have. "But…they do have smaller portion sizes if that's what you want?"

His nose wrinkled, "No. I'm extra hungry today. Pick out something big."

Yukari hummed, and then leaned closer, enjoying their little game. "What about this seafood surprise?"

"It sounds delicious…but looks expensive." He pouted, putting his big head on her shoulder. She laughed.

"Don't worry. I got it. I'm paying for everyone since this was my choice." She told him, petting his head. "Get whatever you want."

"Yay!" Mikey threw an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close so quickly she gasps. "You're the best!"

She laughs, pulling his arm off her shoulder. "Behave. Or you'll get a glass of water and that's it."

"I thought I was being a good boy." He says, his tone teasing as his eyes.

She swallows, overwhelmed by his…presence. He just…he takes up so much space! It's like he overtakes the room, blocks out the sky. "You need to do better." She decides to say, and then takes his hand which was trying to crawl back over to her and places it in front of him. then she reaches around for the other and places it on top of that one. "Stay like that and then, you'll be being a good boy."

He throws his head back with a cry, lips split into a smile. "No fair. That's mean."

"That's fair enough." She tells him as their eyes meet. That electric current sparks through her whole being, and she swears the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She did not, she noticed, have a vision. She supposed it wouldn't happen all the time, but still. She half expected something to happen, especially since she was getting high on endorphins. And that was it, wasn't it? She had it right the first time. Talking to him, interacting with him felt a lot like being at the height of a roller coaster. Poised for the fall, waiting for it. Wanting it—

"You guys gonna keep staring at each other or order?" Chifuyu asks, yanking Yukari out of her own head. She cleared her throat, face burning, and manages to look past Mikey to the waitress behind him. "Oh, um, we'll take the seafood surprise and the ginger chicken. Thanks, sorry about that."

The woman smiled, giving her a wink. "No worries. I was young once too. I know what love looks like."

Chifuyu choked on his water so hard, Yukari had to reach over and whack his back. Baji reaching over with a frown to help out.

"What the hell is up with you?" He asks venomously. "Get your shit together."

Yukari eyes him, before Mikey turns her back to him.

"You hear that?" he says teasingly, "She thinks we're in love."

Yukari grins back, both of them ignoring the woman as she takes the other's orders. "Poor woman must be blind."

"Or…" Mikey hedges, and then widens his eyes, "she can see into the future."

Yukari considers this before patting him on the head, "Blindness seems far more likely, am I right?"

Mikey reaches up and clamps his hand onto hers.

Nothing made sense anymore. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it would turn out like this. I didn't know he would try and hurt Draken."

"I know." Mikey says as she grappled onto him.

"Please…please don't leave me. I didn't mean for this to happen. I just…I love you so much! I lost it! I wanted to hurt you for all the shit you put me through!" she screamed, "He didn't tell me he'd hurt Draken!"

"I know…I just don't know what I'm going to do now that he's—" Mikey cut himself off, untangling her arms from him to push her down onto the couch, her arms pressed above her head. "Promise you'll never betray me again. Swear on your life."

She'd betrayed him more times than she could count. She'd kissed Baji. Ripped apart his bedroom and had his bike stolen, blamed it on a rival gang. It was thanks to her that her brother was paralyzed. Thanks to her that Mikey had beaten him within an inch of his life. She didn't lie on her brother. Her brother did break her wrist, but she knew how Mikey would react. She also knew she'd probably hate him a little for it. Her brother was a psycho, but he was her psycho. Only she could decide how he was dealt with, not Mikey.

Maybe what he did was not as bad or worse, she couldn't tell anymore, but she didn't have to rise to meet him. she didn't have to respond. She did anyway. Everytime.

Yukari blinked the tears out of her eyes, a hollowness bursting over as Mikey's own tears splattered onto her face. she swallowed as she spoke what she knew to be a lie aloud. She just hoped that this time, it would be true. "I promise." She then cleared her throat. "Promise me…promise me that you'll never let me down again. Swear it on your life."

Mikey blinked once before capturing her lips. "I promise." Both of them were the worst kind of liars, but that was okay so long as they had each other—

Yukari pulled her hand back, staring down at the lines. Oh. So…it's not just him…It's me too. I'm part of the problem.

Her eyes fly over to Draken, chatting with Emma, laughing at whatever she's saying. What kind of person does that? What did I do? What—

No. no point in wondering. Whatever it is, didn't matter, because she was not in the future now. She was in the present and whatever it took, she would keep herself from being that person. That monster.

"Bleh," Mikey's tongue hung out of his mouth as he turned to Yukari, scaring the living hell out of her. she jumped her spoon full of rice tossed backward into the window as she leaned forward to grab a napkin to keep Mikey's chewed food from falling onto the floor.

"What the actual, hell, Mikey?" she hissed looking around at the other patrons with a pleasant smile before glaring daggers at him.

"I don't like this."

"Ugh!" she groaned, "here. Spit it out." With the poor cloth napkin she pulled the mess from his mouth and balled it up, placing it between the two of them. "What was wrong with it? Undercooked? Drink your juice." She grabbed the cup, right before Draken did and helped him hold it.

"Draken," she called to the taller teen as he watched her with an amused expression. "Does he have a food allergy?"

Mikey seemed to be off on his own island, swishing the juice around in his mouth before swallowing.

"Again?" she asked, and he nodded, taking another deep sip.

"Nah. It's probably just spicy." Draken says casually eyeballing his friend who was now drawing more than his fair share of eyes at this point. "He hates spicy foods."

Yukari closed her eyes, "You should've said something. There were two peppers beside the dish. That means its spicy. That's the seafood surprise."

After sucking on his lips and testing out the burn on his tongue he took another drink, finishing it off. "I thought you knew."

"How would I know that?"

"You did offer to order for me."

"That was sarcastic. I didn't expect you to actually agree." She sighed, and then waved to get the waitress' attention, "Sorry, but can we have the menu back? My friend here doesn't like spicy foods and can't eat this otherwise delicious looking meal."

"I want omurice."

She turned back to the waitress. "Do you have any assortment of omurice?"

Her eyebrows were pushed together in sympathy, "We do."

"Then, I'll get a box for this and that order of omurice please."

"Of course. I'll be right back."

"Thank you," she smiled, watching the woman retreat until she turned back to Mikey. She flicked him hard on the forehead, "Next time speak up, why don't you!"

"Ouch." He moaned nursing his forehead. "That's mean."

"I'll make it up to you one day." She tells him with a cheeky smile, her mind half remembering that vision from seconds before. That person from before. Whatever happened, she couldn't be her. she wouldn't me. "I promise."

Mikey didn't question her words, whatever she said seemed to work for him. For the rest of their meal, he hummed as he ate, inviting Yukari to taste.

After much moaning, she finally agreed, forcing the flavors down her throat. She quickly followed it with water to rinse the taste off her tongue. Omurice was one her most hated dishes, but one bite wouldn't kill her.

Mikey bumps her arm with his, "What's up with that expression?"

"What expression?" Could he tell? she quickly wrinkles her nose and then winks at him. "It's probably because you're all in my personal space."

"No." He says, cockily, "You love when I'm this close to you."

She bursts out laughing, shoving her arm into his side, "You are full of yourself, you ass. And that's not true."

"When you lie, you avoid my eyes."

She immediately corrected that and stuck her hazel eyes to his black ones. "We'll see how much of a liar I am when Baji and I switch seats."

"No!" He whines, startling their neighbors.

"Shush! Keep it down," Draken hisses, turning from whatever conversation he and Emma were having. By the look on Emma's face—irritation—it was just getting good. "I'm dragging your ass out of here if you don't stop playing around."

Mikey ignores him, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, "Just kidding, Kari. Don't leave me."

"Alright then." She says, settling back down and crossing her arms.

Mikey keeps his arm around her shoulder as he finishes his meal, and this time, she lets it sit there. it was kind of nice…

When she glances up, she feels Baji looking dead at her. after a moment, he turns his eyes back to Chifuyu and doesn't say a word.

In the pit of her stomach, something turned.

The urge to throw Mikey's arm off her was so great, she'd started to reach up before she knew it but…shook her head.

There is no reason to do that. No reason at all.

When Mikey finally finishes their meal and Yukari pays. The other's give her thanks outside of the restaurant and she gives a spin and curtesy. "You're welcome. It was fun."

Draken says something to Emma and she yanks at his arm. She answers back, a giggle wrapping around her hushed words.

She's maybe watching a little too closely when she feels a hand slip into hers and pull. "Want to race?" Mikey asks with a grin, and, it's strange but, she swears he's thinking the same thing she is.

"Yeah." She takes off with him, holding onto his hand as the wind whips around them, he pulls her around a corner and they finally slow. She fumbles into his side, breathless, but he just laughs like they didn't book it down the street, ignoring their friends' yells behind them. "Do you run a lot?" she asks. "I dance but that was a lot, even for me."

His eyes flash with mischief, "Something like that."

A chill runs up her arms, and her face his heating. "Sometimes you can be really—"

"Look who we have here."

Not this again. Yukari can't help but sigh as she the voices burst from their left side. Two guys with short black and blonde buzz cuts lounge against a bike rack like they're keeping watch for the afternoon. Both with fat grins and beady, wandering eyes. She feels their slow attention from her feet all the way to her head.

When Mikey slows, she keeps up the pace, reaching out with her left hand to grab his wrist and move him along. He tugs back but she Yukari doesn't take no for an answer, pulling him along without glancing back. They shouldn't have taken off without the other four. Normally, she'd feel pretty invincible with Baji by her side. Now, she could feel her heartbeat speed, her entire body bracing for conflict. This area wasn't her favorite. She never just walked around this way, not without Baji. No, never without Baji.

She only went with him to the record store he usually frequented. The first time they went, crossing in front of the very same bike stand, the two guys hit on her and became hostile when she said no. Baji grabbed the larger one's face and slammed it into the wall with a demonic smile. The rest…went pretty easy after that. They didn't get up. Didn't bother us again. But they remembered. Shit. They remembered her.

Maybe we should go back to—

No. I'm being silly. He's not too far behind. When he catches up, we'll have a laugh about it. He'll look for them and I'll say no and…it'll be…it'll be…fine.

Keep a brave face for Mikey. No point in getting him involved. Baji will come in a second. She took a deep breath and let it out. Keep walking, she told herself. They'll get bored if we don't engage.

"That's that hot chick that got your jaw messed up, Rise." The one with a scar on his lip said.

Rise licked his lips, feeling up his chin. "Oh, yeah. Looks like it. Where's your boyfriend now—" he stopped, and then his grin widening, eyes falling onto Mikey. "Tch. Man, you move fast. What happened to your last one?"

She wants to say, 'Oh, he got arrested for beating your ass.' But that would only exacerbate the situation.

Scar lip rose off his station to jog a little in front of her. "Why aren't you saying anything? We not good enough for you? If you want another upgrade, I'm always free."

"I'm sure." She says and immediately regrets it.

"Oh, so the hottie can talk. I like that." Rise joins his friend, cutting off their advance completely.

Yukari tightens her grip on Mikey's hand and steps in front of him. "We're just leaving."

"Not yet, you're not." Scarface says, leering down at them. She never noticed hall tall he was, how much older. He looked so little in the fetal position. He whistles. "This one sure is little."

"He makes up for it ways I'm positive you will never understand." She says, attempting to step between them. Rise reaches for her shoulder but she slaps the hand away, "Don't touch me."

He grins, leaning closer, "I was just trying to—"

"You heard her," Mikey's voice is heavy and dark as he speaks, "You filthy piece of shit."

What the hell, Mikey? NOT helping. She thinks, griping him tighter as he tries to walk around her to get at the grabby one, but she steps in front of him again. Unless you want to fight these two, let me handle it.

"Oh, so this one has an attitude." Rise laughs, cracks his knuckles. Not far behind, she can hear a rush of footsteps. "I can fix that."

"Leave him alone and let us through." She says, adamantly, holding their beady eyes. "Don't you guys have better things to do than to bother a couple middle schoolers?"

"Not really," Scarface admits, "Plus I'm in the market for a new little girlfriend."

She breathes out finally as the rush of steps reaches a crescendo. Dragging Mikey along with her, she steps to the left, partially into the road while Baji flies through the two of them like butter. His fist makes contact with Rise first and he seems to completely lose consciousness when his heads smacks into the concrete. Scarface doubles over onto Baji's fist, eyes bulging out. Baji grabs his hair and pulls him back only to slam his knee direct into his nose. He drops to the ground in a pile, and Yukari can't help but feel he walked right into it.

"I did warn you." She says and then steps over them, keeping Mikey out of the road. Knowing him, he'd find a way to get hit.

She then spins to her black haired friend who's grinning. "What took you so long? I was scared out of my mind."

His eyes lose some of their gleam at her tone, "What do you mean? Mikey was right there."

"Yeah, and I was trying to deescalate but-I swear to God—he was trying to fight the two of them."

"Yeah." Baji responds, clearly not knowing up from down, high on his ass kicking.

"Yeah…there were two of them. I wasn't going to let him get hurt." She said

"He could handle those scrubs."

"Mikey's just…" she turns to him and squeezes his cheeks, "too cute to be fighting high schoolers. He's not a brute like you, Baji…no offense."

"No offense?" Baji roared.

"And anyway," she turns back to Mikey with a smile and then pinches his arm, "What the actual hell? What even was your plan, smart guy?"

"To kick their asses." He says with a grin that makes her want to pop him in the face.

"Okay. We'll I'm never going anywhere with you again."

"You let Baji fight."

"Baji's a vicious housecat." She says but, "You…you're a cute chipmunk. Adorable…not deadly."

Mikey makes an expression like she's just insulted his honor which prompts Draken and Emma who finally decided to catch up, to laugh.

Seeing the red rise in his face, she decides to grab his shoulders to keep him from busting, "And that's okay, because I'll look out for you but you can't escalate situations like that. It's not good for your health."

Absolutely dumbfounded, he removes her hands and marches down the street, eyes zeroed in. "I'll go start a fight and you'll see."

"No!" she shouts, grabbing onto his arm and surprisingly he drags her along, scrapping her heels against the ground as she leans back.

The peanut gallery is having a grand time. "Guys!" she yells, "Why are you four just laughing? Do something! Help me out! You are all terrible friends!"

Still, she goes an entire block before she realizes he won't just suddenly stop walking. "Come on! Please! I'm sorry okay. I didn't mean it. You're not an adorable chipmunk. You're vicious with claws and everything—wait! Um…uh…if you stop I'll…I'll be your best friend!"

"Girlfriend?" he throws over his shoulder with a smile.

"Uh…no. You know that's unreasonable."

He shrugs, continuing to drag her down the street, not at all concerned with the passersby ogling them.

"Damnit, Mikey. Um. What if we hang out? Wednesday?"

He continues on.

"Thursday?"

Nothing from him.

She throws her head back, "Wednesday AND Thursday?"

He stops and she slams right into him.

Her face almost smacks into his chest but he stops her right before the crash. He gives her a full shit eating grin. "Deal. Can't wait."

She glares up at him. "I swear sometimes I just want to throttle you."

He tilts his head innocently, "You can't throttle me, I'm a cute chipmunk, remember?"

"Well, not any more! You're vicious and vindictive and…stop laughing you jerk." She hits his arm, laughing herself now, "I'm never hanging out with you again."

"Not true. You'll be hanging out with me Wednesday and Thursday."

She snorts. "No, I'm not. I have dance practice."

He just looks at her. At that moment, not ten feet away, three high schoolers talking animatedly about something, decide to cross onto their side of the street.

Mikey gives her an outlaw's grin before calling for their attention, "Hey—"

"Mikey, I swear to God!"

In the end, she agrees to hang out…after practice. The group finally make it to the record store and browse the selection. Yukari flies to the American releases and places a pair of headphones over her head when she starts the song. It's an older song, but she loves to hear it whenever she comes in, even if she has it already.

A tap of her shoulder and she whirls around with her fist raised only to shove it into Baji's shoulder when he walks up beside her. "Baji…we talked about this."

He grins, not sorry in the least, "What are you listening to?"

"Crazy in Love," she says still bobbing her head. His lifts an eyebrow at her, "Don't make that face. You know you like it too. Even if you don't know what it means."

He sucks his teeth, "Yeah, I do."

"Alright," she turned and grabbed the second pair of headphones and placed them over his ears. "Translate."

Baji pulled on his serious face, furrowing his brow as he closed his eyes, biting down on the bottom corner of his lip. "Huh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. So crazy. The love is…so good. Yes. Real good. I like it."

Yukari burst out laughing, snatching the headphones off, "You do not deserve these. God, you're such a boy. Go ruin someone else's music."

He winked at her as he turned, proud of his good work. Her cheeks warmed as he turned away. Baji paused, reaching over to pull her headphones off her ears. "Don't forget about later."

With his hands trapping her in on both sides she suddenly felt a little claustrophobic, "I didn't forget. As soon as we're done here, we can go."

"I'll tell Chifuyu."

She grabs his arm, "We're not done yet, you dork. Listen to some more songs. You love this place. You dragged me like the second time we ever hung out. Why're you in such a hurry?"

He loses the pretty gleam in his eyes, "I just need to talk to you."

She swallows, dropping his arm, "If it's that important, we can talk now."

"It can wait."

"You sure? Because we could step outside," she then gestures to the furthest corner where Draken has put on a pair of headphones and while Mikey and Emma squabble over who's going to give him his next listen. Chifuyu is seriously focused on the Spanish section for some reason. Yukari didn't even know he spoke Spanish. "I doubt anyone would notice."

Baji seems to consider this, but ultimately shakes his head. "It's fine."

"Are you positive?" she asks, "Because I don't mind. I feel like we've barely spoken this whole day and anyway, I need to apologize to you."

"What for?"

She sheepishly looks to the ground, "For being weird the other day. I was…just out of my mind for a second. So…I'm sorry." She looks up at him, peeking like a child through her lashes.

He holds her gaze as he looks down. And she feels him, she swears, take up all the air around her. Her lips part into a grin. She reaches back over to the pair of headphones she took from him, offering them up. "Want to listen?"

Without a second thought, his eyes blaze again and he takes them from her grip, his fingers brushing against hers. In that second, she thinks he does it on purpose but…Baji's not that kind of guy. Any flirting he does is never on purpose.

She let's the moment pass and she presses play again, sliding her headphones onto her ears. Baji surprises her by choosing to replay the song. And instead of just listening like good customers, they sing along—Yukari quite expertly—Baji slipping over the words and half-shouting the words he did know in her ears. Which, of course, was mostly sounded like ad-libs.

"I look and stare so deep in ya eyes—"

"Eyes!"

"I touch on you more and more every time—"

"Time!"

"When ya leave I'm begging you not to go—"

"Don't go!"

"Call ya name two-three times in a row—"

"Crazy!"

"Baji, she never said crazy. Pay attention."

"So crazy!"

"Oh, my God. Can you not?" she sighs giving in, "Whatever. Got me looking so crazy right now—your love's got me looking so crazy right now—"

"Right now!"

"Your touch got me looking so crazy right now!"

"Right now!"

Before long the two were laughing and dancing around in their little corner with no shame whatsoever weighing them down. And they didn't stop until the end of the song, at which point, Baji went to replay it.

"Hey, maybe you two should tone it down a bit." Draken says, coming out of nowhere with Emma and Mikey in tow. "I know you think you sound good, but…it's just screaming to everyone else."

Yukari slips off her headphones. "That was Baji. I can sing."

"I sound like freakin' angel." Baji declares and Yukari laughs, hitting his shoulder.

"Yeah, right." She says as Chifuyu begins to slowly makes his way over as well. "Is everyone ready to go? I have to get the kittens from the park before it gets too dark."

"We should head back too." Draken says.

"That's not fair. Kari hardly spent anytime with me." Mikey says, "first she was all about Emma and you Ken-chin—"

"What?" Yukari asked, "You were with Draken at the mall."

"And then Baji hogs her here. Ruining our date—"

"We're not on a date."

"and singing our song—"

Emma cuts in, "You've never heard that song before in your life."

"How's that fair?"

"Mikey." Yukari says, "We're friends. We can hang out whenever. It's fine."

He crosses his arms.

"Plus you forced me to hang out with you, Wednesday—"

"And Thursday."

"Right." She says, and pats him on the shoulder, "You'll live."

"Maybe if you give me a hug?" he says, stretching out his arms and wagging his fingers at her.

"No. You've been a brat. You don't get a hug. I'll give you a fist bump for being a good sport at the restaurant."

"Come on!"

"Chill, that's harassment Mikey. She can literally sue you for half the shit you did today. You were all over her," Draken says. "Let it go."

He gives her an innocent face, "Kari…"

"No. I'll give Emma a hug. I came to hang out with her, but you hogged me all lunch. Not you. You got enough attention for one day."

"You'd give Baji a hug."

"No, I wouldn't. He's done nothing but sing off key all day—"

"Hey!"

"Maybe later." She says with a smirk, and then begins walking towards the front door, "You guys ready?"

"You're so mean." Mikey protests.

"So," Yukari reaches into the cabinet and pulls down three glasses, keeping her eyes down to avoid his reflection in the glass. "What did you want to talk about?"

Rooms away, little paws flew across the floor. Chifuyu whispering and playing as the kittens explored their new home. Yukari counted to thirty, before turning toward the refrigerator. "You want juice, water or soda?"

"Soda. Chifuyu'll take whatever."

She laughed, turning to grin at him. something stopped her mid-way through. His expression punched through her stomach. His brows were pulled together, lips pulled up at one side in a frown, eyes downcast. Her own heart was pounding against her chest. Her mouth, dead dry. Wetting her lips, she began dispensing ice into the glasses.

One…Two…Three…Five…twenty….thirty—

"Did i…do something?" Yukari finally asks as she whirls around, startling the frowning boy. She slides him his glass across the island that separates them. Instead of catching it, he lets it bump into his fingers, coming to an abrupt and clumsy halt. "You're being really weird, Baji. You're scaring me. I feel like," she threw a hand up, as she wracked her brain for words, for anything to fill this silence between them. "Like—I don't know—like you're going to tell me you don't want to be my friend anymore or—

Yukari paused as realization hit. She stilled, eyes finding hazel still staring at that island. Uncertain, nervous, so un-Baji like.

I see.

She was stupid to assume that, of course. The one thing about Baji was that when he said you were friends he meant it. Meant it more than anyone. It didn't matter if he'd known you for a day or an hour, the moment he placed that sash over your head…you won. No take backs. You got the trophy

Which led her to finally acknowledge the truth. Why else would Chifuyu need to leave the room? Chifuyu knows so it only stands to reason that Baji too, would know eventually. They're best friends aren't' they?

Yukari's fingers tightened around the remaining glasses. Her eyes prickled, as her mouth filled with a sour burn. Rejection sucks. It really, really sucks. Yukari stepped back to reach into the cabinets below the island, opening the doors to grab a water and an orange juice. "Have you ever read the play Romeo and Juliet? My mom read it to me when I was little. It was her favorite and it became mine too. She read it to me in English to test my understanding even with all the outdated words."

Baji said nothing as she continued her ramble, and she pushed the bottles around, pretending to search deep within the confines even if she had them at her fingertips. "She was weird like that, but I appreciated it. Now, I can speak it without hesitating—no pauses. Just like she wanted….Anyway, they have this scene where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. They're at this ball—it's like this huge party and they see each other and it's like…"Yukari finally grabs both the water and juice and stands, keeping her eyes down as she begins to fill the glasses. "perfect. They like each other immediately—are kind of obsessed really. And its all over the place and crazy and…wonderful and they speak to each other in sonnet form and…I just really, really like that scene. You know? How your entire relationship is defined in a moment?"

She glances up in time to see Baji finally, actually look at her. eyes wide, mouth parted, words at the tip of his tongue.

Yukari trucks on, getting it out before he can break her heart. "Life…isn't actually like that. It takes more than a couple looks and few conversations to have that. For most people anyway. Most people need maybe more than a week, maybe a year…" she shrugs, listening to the clinking of the ice, "I don't really need that long," she laughs, "And that's okay. And it's also okay that other people aren't there or will never be there when you get somewhere first. That's cool too. People can still be friends even if that's true—no, especially if that's true."

She finishes with a flourish, forcing light into her eyes. She takes a long sip from her water, before meeting his eyes again. He's still looking at her, brow drawn, questioning. Dear God I hope he understood what I was getting at because I do not want to have this conversation again. She lifts her brow, smiling as bright as her lips would allow. "What did you want to talk about again?"

Panic began to claw at her senses a moment. His mouth opened and closed again. The furrow in his brow loosened.

She snorted a laugh, walking around to press her pointer finger between his brows. It faded immediately.

His frown turned up into a smirk, all rain clouds pulled from his eyes. "I'm starving. You got any yakisoba?"

Yukari gave a genuine laugh then, throwing her head back with the force of it. "You're always starving."

"You always make me hungry."

"Me?" she protested, slapping her hands onto her hips. "What did I do?"

He rolled his eyes, blowing a strand out of his face. "You have any or not?"

"You can get it yourself! You've got two hands."

"Yeah, and I don't live here. That's rude as hell." Baji elaborated, leaning down on his elbow, "What if your parents walked in and found me shifting around your cabinets like a squatter? I'd go to jail and you'd feel shitty."

Yukari stuck her tongue out at him, "They wouldn't call the cops on you. They know what you look like."

His eyes flickered in surprise, "You told them about me?"

She had to resist the urge to bite her lip (baby steps). "Duh," she said, turning from him to go to the pantry, "We're friends, aren't we? Do you think I just let randoms come into my house without telling them?"

"Well, you do write your name on total stranger's arms—"

She groaned. "Why do people keep bringing that up? It's so normal."

His look seared her with its blatant disbelief. "That's not normal."

"What do you know? You just assaulted a guy because he was missing a sock the other day!"

He jammed a finger at her. "Yeah, and you laughed!"

"Because I'm allowed to laugh. I thought the cameras were going to come out and Chifuyu would turn around and yell 'gotcha!' and we'd all have some ice cream. I didn't know all his friends would rush over and you'd have to brawl with them too." She shook her head, "I'm still surprised you won. There were like eight of them."

"And none could fight worth a damn either." At that, he looked genuinely disappointed but not so disappointed that he'd regret hitting any of them. That was Baji. Back to form.

She wrinkled her nose. "You say that about everyone." She reached over and pushed his shoulder. "Hell, you said that about me!"

"Was I lying?"

Yukari gasped, smiling harder now, "Nice. I forget how sweet you are."

"You think you could've taken that guy?"

Her eyes dart to the island, her teeth pulled at her lip. "Let's not turn this around—"

"Exactly!" He says, sliding closer, eyes charged with all that reckless abandon she's used to, pulsing with potential energy begging to be let lose. He was a live wire, sparking and spitting, searching for release. "But you don't have to worry about that. You got me. I'll always look out for you."

Baji was close, so close their noses seemed like they were seconds from touching. She could see smooth liquid bourbon of his iris, feel their burn flow down her throat. When his words left his mouth, they seemed to wrap around her, giving her heart a squeeze it didn't need. They held eyes a beat and in that beat his iris seemed to—

No. she thinks, closing her eyes. We're not doing this again.

Made speechless, Yukari pulled away from him. pulling up a wall so his words wouldn't get through and make false promises to her confused heart all over again. She grabs the glasses, keeps a few feet between her and him as she gestured toward the door. "Let's get Chifuyu his drink before the ice melts and he complains."

Baji's back to being quiet, watching her. then, he surprises her by nodding toward the door, "You never answered my question."

"What question?"

"When you wrote on Mikey's arm, what was that about?"

That…felt weird coming from him, like she'd been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. "Uh, why do you ask?"

This time, he didn't sink down into the island, his gaze nailed her. it was focused and hardened to a point. He doesn't waver, "I wanna know. Why'd you do it?"

Something about the question felt unfair, like he was accusing her of something without evidence, but that didn't make sense especially since he didn't return her feelings. And, if he didn't, she could write her name on a thousand guys and it shouldn't matter. He had no real right to ask.

Feeling irked, she felt some venom slip into her stomach. Furious indignation she couldn't begin to explain. Impulse hung around her shoulders like a chain, wanting to thrust forward with the first insult she could manage something to cut him. but something else, another voice bubbled up from the shadows.

It's Baji. You could never do that to him. You wouldn't. It's Baji. Keisuke.

Yukari had heard the voice before, when she was speaking to Kiki and Hina a day ago. But, now, it sounded familiar and she didn't know if it was familiar because she'd heard it yesterday or because it belonged to someone she knew. All she knew for certain was that the voice was right. It's Baji.

If he's asking, she reminded herself, he's not doing it to be cruel. Hell, if he's asking he probably wants me to like someone else. He just doesn't want to hurt me by pushing me that way.

That thought, in itself, was painful in its own right, but she could deal. She's delt with much worse, after all. At the end of the day, it was all just a crush, a big, daunting crush.

The venom leaked out of her like a plug pulled from a half full tub. She took a deep breath and let it out. "It was impulse. I just felt like I'd done it before, you know? Like…" she shrugged, "déjà vu."

He gave a nod, slow and steady, the frown loosening.

"Plus—and you'll like this part," She added with a smile, walking over to nudge him with her elbow, "He's pretty easy on the eyes. He's so full of charisma too, it was like he put me in a trance or something. It was like I was doomed from the start, you know? Fated. Like, well, you know where I'm going with this—Romeo and Juliet vibes—minus the dying part because…yikes." She laughed.

The frown was back in full force now, his nose pinched with irritation. "Why would I like that?"

She gave him a confused look, stepping back from him like a lion about to pounce. "Because then we can be friends without it being weird. I won't like you anymore and we're back to being buddies and you won't look at me like a kicked dog."

"I don't look at you like that."

She rolled her eyes, stinging suddenly with random ass tears, "Yes, you do. You were acting like you were about to tell me the world was ending and I had a day to live. You did look at me like a kicked dog. Why do you think I gave you that whole soliloquy? It sure as hell wasn't for me."

"I never asked for that."

Tick. Tick. Boom.

Yukari blinked. "What so you'd rather tell me to fuck off yourself?"

Baji did a double take, his eyes looking around wildly. "Where the hell are you getting this?"

Word vomit was sprouting from every orifice, and it wouldn't stop. That voice didn't make a single appearance either, not this time. Speaking through her teeth slammed both glasses down onto the island. "From you! I'm getting it from you!"

"Okay, fine." He said evenly, deciding to walk around the island to face her head on. Eyes sober. "But why are you yelling at me?"

"I'm not yelling," she pressed a hand to her chest, "I'm not yelling! You are!"

He made his move then, placing his hand firmly on her shoulders right as she lunged toward him to scream at the top of her lungs. It was as if all the air had been seized right out of her and she'd been grabbed out of her environment and placed in a bubble. One that muffled all sound and put the world in at an odd angle.

Baji gazed evenly at her as she came down from her fury, sudden as it was. Her fingers, pulled back like claws, relaxed by her sides. A full minute passed. Baji spoke, "I'm sorry. But, I wasn't looking like that because I felt sorry for you. I'm sorry it made you feel like shit."

A snort escaped her, shoulders dropping, hands coming up to cover the warm ones on her shoulders.

"Are you good?"

Yukari closes her eyes, nodding. "I'm good. I'm sorry, for yelling at you. I don't know what came over me. I was just…angry and I took it out on you. You didn't deserve it."

"Don't sweat it." He grins, "I've seen Mikey do way worse."

Nodding again, she tightens her grip on his hands. Embarrassment painting her cheeks red. "Do you hate me now? For acting crazy?

He rolled his eyes, pulling her into a hug. "Don't say stupid shit, Yukari. Or I'm gonna lose it next."

"You wouldn't," she says, wrapping her arms around his waist to breathe him in. "But, I'm sorry. I won't say any more stupid shit." She laid her head on his chest, pulling her arms from around his waist to loop them around his neck.

"Oh—shit!"

Both of them turned to see Chifuyu quickly retreat from the room with a fat grin on his face. he practically skipped backwards.

Yukari lifted her brow, "Why is he smiling like that?"

Baji narrowed his eyes at his friend's retreat.

"Stupid shit?" Yukari asked, pulling away from Baji.

Baji said nothing about it, "We better go."

Yukari fell into step beside him. "I am, really sorry. Can you let me make it up to you?"

"Just shut up."

Yukari laughed, accepting that their friendship was okay and even at her worse, he'd always be her friend.

Always.

Author's Note: One of my best friend's is like Yukari, the whole love at first sight thing. Poor thing, it never works out for her. Well, this is angst for a reason lol.

We should start cooking now. Also, just so you guys are aware, I am in the camp that agrees with Wakui about Mikey being a bad boyfriend.

I mean…just in case you guys need the heads up. I've looked through other fics where he's a pretty good boyfriend but…sorry guys. That's not really my style. Angst is. Just fair warning.

Also, the song mentioned is Crazy in Love by Beyonce which came out in 2003.