HYM, Part 6
Misao rolls over at the sound of her alarm. "I'M LATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She
screams, bolting out f bed. She rushes around the room mumbling under her
breath and gathering her belongings. She almost kills herself getting to the
kitchen.
"Jiya!!!!!! I'm late!" Misao cries as she butters some toast and grabs a
miniature Sunny D bottle from the fridge.
"I would have never guessed?" Jiya says jokingly. Misao sticks out her
tongue at him and heads for the door. Slipping on her shoes, she runs down
the restaurant stairs and starts her usual late run. She passes by a group
of elementary kids. Among the group, a little girl is struggling to carry
her heavy bag. Fortunately for her, the boy walking with her took pity on
her. He took the bag from the girl and heaved it over his shoulder. Misao
smiled. "Kawaii. That reminds me of something Shinomori would do." She
comments to herself. "Oro.....why would I compare that act of chivalry to
that guy?" She pondered. Afterall, she did like Soujiro.....right?
"Makimachi-dono?"
"Eh?" Misao says, turning to see who was calling her. "Ah
Himura........Ohayou."
"Ohayou gozaimasu. I see we are both running late today." Himura comments as
they run side by side.
"Hai. I set my alarm wrong last night. What about you Himura?
"My car didn't start this morning." Kenshin admitted.
"We better haul it. We have five minutes until the bell." Misao warns,
picking up speed.
"Why don't you drive to school, Makimachi-dono?" Kenshin asks as they round
the corner.
"I don't have a car. And since we live above our jobs, we never felt the
need to get one." Misao says, climbing the stairs.
"I see. How do you get around?" Kenshin askes. He seemed amazed that she
didn't have a car.
"The bus" Misao says matter of factly.
"Oh." Kenshin says in a polite voice. Misao could tell that he was feeling
sorry for her.
“Daijoubu. I’m not too bothered by it. Besides, I don’t really go anywhere
to require a car anyway. As you can see, everywhere I go is in running
distance.” Misao says with a laugh.
“I see what you mean.” Kenshin says, joining in with a laugh.
Aoshi stands, arms crossed at a window that is overlooking the courtyard.
His eyes are blazing with fire as he watches the two laughing together.
“Makimachi?” He says in a deep and calm tone.
“Shinoromi? Nani…?” Misao starts in shock.
“Don’t you think you are late enough?!?” Aoshi says bluntly, cuttng her off.
“Hai. And what about you? Why aren’t you on the college campus?” Misao
questions.
“I was waiting for you. You can never find it in yourself to be on time, can
you?” Aoshi comments, his voice still masking the anger he was feeling.
“You are so funny, Shinomori. So why were you waiting for me?” Misao asks.
Kenshin, who had been watching the interaction between them silently, waves
a hand in the air to Misao.
“I quess I willl be seeing you later.” Kenshin says as heads into the
building.
“Ano…hai.” Misao says before turning her attention back to Aoshi. “Well??”
“Don’t ever associate with him again!” Aoshi states coldly.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean it. Stay away from Himura.” Aoshi orders.
“What’s this? You are giving me an order? Just who do you think you
are?”Misao snaps, defensively.
“Makimachi, you don’t understand…”
“You’re right. And right now I don’t want to. Ja ne.” Misao says as she
rushes inside.
Aoshi stands in shock at the brush off. He was Shinoromi, Aoshi. He owned
this school and the university. He deserved respect. This was not something
he normally tolerated. So why was he now? "Damn Makimachi. What are you
doing to me?"
-Makimachi's Locker-
"Misao-chan. Ohayou"
"Ah.....Ohayou Kaoru-san." Misao says, still fuming over her confrontation
with Aoshi.
"Daijoubu? You look upset." Kaoru says concerned.
"I'm fine. Just had a run-in with the king of Eitoku Gakuen!" Misao says
sarcastically.
""Shinoromi-san?.....demo...I thought you were getting along fine?" Kaoru
questions.
"We were, as strange as that is. I don't know what his problem is. He just
jumped down my throat because I was talking to Himura this morning." Misao
moans, taking the remaining books from her locker to Kaoru's. "By the way,
arigato for allowing me to share your locker."
"My pleasure. I know how tough things have been for you lately. Be careful,
Misao-chan."
"Eh?"
"Shinomori is not the type of guy that you want as an enemy. I have heard
some horrible things that he and his friends have done to people that
opposed them in the past." Kaoru warns.
"Daijoubu Kaoru-san. I'm not afraid of Shinomori. His bark is worse than his
bite. And even if it isn't, I can always bite back." Misao states matter of
factly.
"Brave words, Misao-chan. Just don't get yourself into a bad situation."
"Hai" Misao says. Kaoru frowned at Misao's lack of interest.
"I'm serious! I want you to promise me!" Kaoru snaps.
"Kaoru-san calm down. I promise to be careful around Shinomori."Misao says,
holding out her pinky.
Kaoru holds her pinky out to Misaos and shaked it. "Good. Now with that out
of the way, I have something for you." Kaoru says as she digs around in her
purse. After a few minutes of discarding items, she pulls out a pink,
plastic kitten. "Hai"
Misao stares at the object that Kaoru is offering. "Ano........what is it?"
"It's suppose to be the new rave. When I went to Tokyo with Yahiko to visit
my grandfather, all of the kids were sporting them." Kaoru explains.
"I see. Well, what does it do?" Misao asks, taking the toy and twirling it
around in her hand.
"According to the box, you can get your horoscope daily, it has a love test
and a tape recorder."
"Sugoi. And you got this for me?" Misao asks
"Hai. Why wouldn't I? I mean you are like a sister to me." Kaoru states.
"Kaoru-san......" Misao felt like crying. Kaoru could be the sweetest girl
and she was happy that she was her best tomadachi.
"Ne Misao-chan. How about we get to class before we are tardy again." Kaoru
says, linking her arm with Misao's.
"Hai." Misao says as Kaoru drags her towards class. "You know, Kaoru-san. I
thought today was going to be a bad day, but now I think I can handle
anything."
-An hour later-
Misao is staring intensely at her mathbook. "Whoa....when the numbers start
flying around on the page than it is definitely time to go home." Misao says
in a whisper. She is snapped out of her daze by a small laugh.
"S-Soujiro-san?" Misao gasps at the recognition.
"Oy Makimachi" Soujiro says with a smile.
Misao blushes and looks away from him. She didn't know what to say around
him. She was shocked that he was even speaking to her after the way she
embarrassed him at Megumi's party. "Ohayou gozaimasu."
"I haven't seen you since the party? How are you?" Soujiro asks. Misao
notices that his eyes look sincere.
"I've been great. And you?" Misao asks nervously.
"I can't complain. So I see you are having difficulty in math. Not to brag
or anything, but I am taking senior levels so I am in a pretty good position
to tutor you." Soujiro suggests.
Misao's eyes grow wide. "You would tutor me?" She asks, he heart pounding
heard against her chest.
"Of course I would. I mean, we can't have you failing. I'm looking forward
to seeing you on the University campus." Soujiro says with the serious eyes.
"Honto?" Misao asks, disbelieving her ears.
"Hai." He states simply. "So what do you think?"
"I'd love you" Misao answers. Soujiro gives her a strange look.
"Nani?" Misao asks hesitantly.
"Ie. I just thought you said something else. So we can start after school,
if you like?"
"Hai. Arigato." Misao says dreamily. I can't believe this. Soujiro is going
to tutor me in math. He is going to be sitting with
me....alone......together. Misao felt like doing cartwheels but she settled
for the wide smile forming across her face. She felt around in her pocket
and pulled out the rabbit doll that Kaoru had given her. Careful not to
disturb the class, she flipped the one switch and chose the love test
option. Putting in her birthday and Soujiro's age and height, it gave her a
result of a definite love match. Sugoi. Misao was finally going to find
hapiness. She put away the rabbit and turned her attention back to her math
book. "I think I'm going to like math." She says with a smile.
-Lunch-
Misao and Kaoru decided to have a picnic at lunchtime. They spread a
blanket that Kaoru had in her car (for reasons unknown *eg* Kenshin), under
a cherry blossom tree. Misao spreads out the contents of the basket Kaoru
had prepared.
"This was a great idea, Kaoru-san." Misao says as she passes Kaoru a drink.
"But you made enough for a small army."
"I know. Only....I didn't really make it. I ordered these from a caterer and
had it delivered to me during my geography class."
"Oh. I understand now. You needed an out." Misao says, laughing.
"You know me. I am always trying to find some way to get out of going to
that boring man's class. I still don't see how we are not all in comas by
now. I mean the man speaks with three spaces in between each word." Kaoru
exlains.
Misao almost chokes on the sandwich she was eating, "That is a bit
exagerrated, ne?"
"Not in the least." Kaoru says simply. Misao cracks up even more.
"Mind if I join you?" Kenshin asks, towering over the two girls. Kaoru
blushes and nodds her approval.
"Arigato gozaimasu, Kaoru-dono.......ano.....is she alright?" Kenshin asks,
as Misao's face starts to turn blue from laughing so much.
"She'll be fine. She just has this tendency to over exhaust herself when she
laughs." Kaoru reasures him.
"Oh." Kenshin says. Kaoru smiles at his confused face. Kenshin cold be
pretty cute when he didn't have a clue what you were saying.
"So.....how has your day been going?" Kaoru asks, striking up a
conversation.
"I can't complain. Though my car sure picked an akward time to die on me."
Kenshin replies.
"It shouldn't shock you. Most things have a way of dying around you." Aoshi
says bitterly from behind them. Misao's laughter too a rapid halt.
"Shinomori? What the hell are you saying?" Misao yells out.
"Stay out of this, Makimachi! I thought I told you to stay away from him?!?"
Aoshi demanded.
"You did! And I didn't!" Misao yells back.
"You'd better listen to me, Makimachi." Aoshi warns
"Or what?" Misao asks in defiance.
"Or I could make things very difficult for you!" Aoshi threatens.
"Honto? So, looking at your face everyday isn't difficult enough?" Misao
says spitefully.
Aoshi's eyes become to dark slits. He gave Misao a look that sent chills
through her and she instantly regretted making the comment. Unfortunately,
she was also too stubborn to take it back. She the two stood glaring at each
other.
"Ano....Misao-chan? Maybe we should start back soon, be?" Kaoru says
uncomfortably.
"Demo..." Misao starts but is cut off my Kenshin rising to his feet.
"Sumen Kaoru-dono, Makimachi-dono....."
"Misao" Misao adds, "Call me Misao"
Kenshin smiles and nodds his head...."Misao-dono. I didn't mean to bring
this on you. I will leave so that you may enjoy what's left of your lunch."
Kenshin says, excusing himself.
Disappointment flashes across Kaoru's face, but she remains quiet. Misao, on
the other hand was pissed!
"Himura.......you don't have to leave! This guy should be the one! He
certainly isn't welcome here, ne Kaoru-san?" Misao asks, pleadingly.
Kaoru stays motionless, showing no signs of protesting. Upon seeing
Kaoru's reaction, Shinomori throws an arrogant and satisfied look at Misao.
Misao glances from Kaoru to Aoshi and back. Her body shook with anger and
she fought to stay in control.
"Makimachi?"
Misao freezes, suddenly embarrassed. "Soujiro-san..."
"Aoshi, what is going on here?" Soujiro asks in confusion.
"Just setting a few things straight." Aoshi says in a cold and detached
voice.
"Makimachi? Is everything alright?" Soujiro asks, realizing he wasn't going
to get anything from Aoshi.
"H-Hai. Everything is fine." Makimachi says, not meeting his eyes.
Soujiro frowns and walks over to Misao. He places a hand on her chin and
raises her face so that she is facing his. "Daijoubu?" He asks gently.
Misao gazes back into his concerned eyes. There was so much sincerity in his
eyes. When he looked at her, she felt at ease. She wanted to stay in this
moment forever. But reality is cruel, as was the obnoxious voice that
seperated them.
"Soujiro. Let go of her! Now!" Aoshi yells out angrily.
Misao glances at Aoshi. She sees his face has flushed from anger and his
fists are clenched at his sides. She quickly looks back at Soujiro, who had
ignored Aoshi's order. Misao was shocked. For a member of the F4 to ignore
their leader....it was....it was unheard of. She felt herself falling for
him even more.
"If you need anything at all....don't hesistate to find me." Soujiro says as
he pushes a strand of Misao's hair behind her ear. "I will meet you in the
parking lot after school. We can study at my house." Soujiro says as he
flips his bag over his shoulder and walks away from them. Aoshi's eyes
shoot daggers at Soujiro and Misao had the feeling that there was going to
be a type of ruffling of feathers in the F4 nest. She just wondered how bad
the end result would be.
-At the same time-
A meeting is being held by some of the top students of Eitoku Gakuen. They
usually meet to decide what type of school laws should be past or the best
ways of preserving the honor of their beloved school. But today they are
meeting for a different reason.
"Does everyone know what to do?" Megumi asks, rolling a strand of hair
through her fingers.
"Hai" They answer in unison.
"Good. Now let's get to it. Operation:Drive Out Makimachi has begun. Let the
games begin.
TBC
