A normal school day. He glanced out of the classroom window, bored. As he slowly felt his eyelids drooping, a flash of red caught his eye. His eyes snapped open. The girls who were staring admirably at him from a distance were startled by his sudden action. Azure eyes scanned the schoolyard for that familiar flash of red again. The target was spotted walking briskly towards the school gate. As the pair of eyes followed the redheaded figure earnestly, the owner had the urge to leave his seat immediately and give chase. He had longed to tell his best partner at court about how he really felt about him. But somehow, he could not find the courage to do so, for fear of rejection, added on by the fact that his crush was more popular than the boy expected. As the other students dispersed, he saw something that made him narrow his slanted eyes.
Unhappy with what he saw, he made his way down towards the redhead who was pinned against the wall by someone else. Someone tall.
Hanamichi was in a hurry to meet Youhei and the rest at Danny's after his detention class. There was no basketball practice that particular day, and it was quite some time since he had the chance to hang out with his guntai. He hastily made his way to the school gate. He was supposed to meet them half an hour ago! Kuso...he cursed the teacher for keeping him in class longer. Walking briskly towards the school gate, he was too occupied to notice someone tall leaning against the school gate. As soon as he stepped out of the boundaries of school, he was tugged roughly and slammed against the wall non-too-gently. Fortunately, the school grounds were empty, or Hanamichi would have died, having someone in school see him being pinned down by someone else. A guy, nonetheless. He glared up at the smiling face of his 'attacker', who had him firmly pinned to the wall, with both hands on either side of Hanamichi's head.
"Koniichiwa, Hana-chan."
He flashed a smile that could have sent anyone, guy or girl, melting right
there and then.
"What do you want Sendoh? I'm in a hurry!!"
Hanamichi struggled even harder against the cheerful Ryonan player, but the
taller boy had an advantage.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing, Hana-chan"
Hanamichi winced at the name Sendoh called him by. Sendoh had told him that he
liked him a few weeks ago, but he did not gave a definite answer. Which was
the most possible reason why Sendoh was making his moves on him so fast. But
how could he answer something like that when he himself was confused about his
sudden change in feelings for a certain fox-eyed boy? He was really confused,
especially when his heart still felt like it had run a hundred miles when he
saw Haruko. Rukawa and him had become better partners after his back injury,
but nothing more than that. He still did not know why he seemed to like the
fox a whole lot better than before. So how could he give an answer to the
smiling boy in front of him when he did not even know who he liked? So far, he
had not resisted any of Sendoh's advances, all because he wanted to know if he
could escape from his winding feelings and like someone else.
He struggled some more and finally caught hold of Sendoh's arms by his side
and asked distractedly.
"What do you want!?"
Sendoh was so surprised at Hanamichi's sudden outburst, he lifted his arms slightly, loosening the space he had Hanamichi trapped in. Seeing a chance to escape, Hanamichi ducked under Sendoh's arms, and made a run for it. Unfortunately, Sendoh grabbed his arm and pulled on firmly, a sweet smile still plastered over his face.
"Before you go, Hana-chan, mind telling me if you like
mint-chocolate?"
Hanamichi looked at Sendoh disbelievingly. A dumb question to ask, but how did
he guess correctly?
He quickly nodded.
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Valentine's Day is close and I was just thinking of announcing my love for you to this school with my cooking skills, Hana-chan. ^^"
" gulp errr....whatever." Hanamichi tried flinging Sendoh's arms away and succeeded barely this time. He ran away quickly, already much later than he should be. Sendoh watched the retreating back of the redhead in amusement. 'Kawaii...' He grinned to himself and walked away, whistling a cheerful tune. At this point, another tall figure stepped out from the shadows. His hands were shaking in anger, furious that he was always one step too late when it came to Sendoh Akira from Ryonan.
"Valentine's Day chocolate eh? Well...we'll see about that." Rukawa walked away with a deep resolve to get a crash course on making chocolates within five days time.
Five Days countdown...
First Day.
Rukawa was browsing through cookbooks in the bookshop. 'Chocolate....chocolate...' Usually, he would not have stepped into a bookshop, but now, he was standing here, browsing through COOKBOOKS for heaven's sake! He sighed. 'The things I do for love... ...' But at the thought of Hanamichi's shining brown eyes looking at him when he received the mint chocolates made him feel euphoric. And so, the search went on...
'Aha!' Rukawa finally found the book he thought he wanted.
" Seven easy steps to making mint chocolates for your Valentine"
He bought the book immediately, and went straight back home to read the book.
However, after flipping through the first 3 pages, he found himself dozing
off.
'Oh hell. There are still four more days to Valentine's Day. I'll do it
tomorrow."
And Rukawa drifted of to a land where he was kicking Sendoh away and dragging
Hanamichi to do things that are better not said here.
Day Two.
Rukawa bought all the groceries necessary for making the chocolate. He set them down and flipped through the book until he reached the so-called seven easy steps to make the chocolate. He read through the short instructions carefully.
" First step: Melt chocolate in a pan until liquefied
Second step: Do the same with the peppermints. Melt and stir, with a slow fire on.
Third step: Fill one-third of the heart-shaped trays with chocolate.
Fourth step: Fill a thin layer of peppermint mix.
Fifth step:..."
Rukawa was drooling over the book, his head on the kitchen counter, and his body leaning against the counter.
Day Three
Rukawa finally got to starting to do the practical. He rolled up his sleeves and looked at the bowl with rich liquid chocolate. Somehow, they reminded him of Hanamichi's honey orbs. Trying not to get distracted, he turned back to stirring the chocolate while looking at the recipe. He was supposed to mix the chocolate until the mixture was fine. What the hell did it mean by fine? Crap. Just have to do it until I think it's enough. And then, he went back to the monotonous stirring. Suddenly, his cat, Do'aho, leaped onto the kitchen counter upon smelling something sweet. Rukawa was too busy dozing off, and this caught him by surprise. There was a loud crash and an empty bowl spinned on the floor for a while, dark chocolate liquid spilled onto the blue marble tiles and formed a small pool. Do'aho leaped down and licked at the chocolate. Rukawa blinked a few times, before kneeling to the floor to clean the mess with a moist rag. He stroked Do'aho softly, thinking,
"Hope that the do'aho will like the chocolate just like you sigh "
Day Four
The final day. It was night time, and the light of the Rukawa kitchen was still on. Rukawa pushed the final product of his masterpiece into the freezer. He was supposed to freeze teh chocolate for 4 hours. But. Oh well, a few hours more wouldn't hurt, would it?
Day Five: THE BIG DAY
Early in the morning. It was rare that he would wake up this early, but he hoped that all his efforts would not be wasted. He quickly pulled on his uniform and ate his breakfast. After that, he got a nicely prepared box out and set it on the kitchen counter. Then, he pulled open the the door to the freezer compartment. The cold mist cleared, revealing all the hard work he had managed to put in the previous night after basketball practice in order to complete his present. He took the two brown hearts out an tried one of them. The other, of course, was for his Hana-chan. He bit into the chocolate. Ouch. He winced and brought the chocolate away from his mouth. There was a bite mark there, but the chocolate was as intact as ever. He stared at the chocolate. WHAT!? If he were going to give Hanamichi a piece of extra hard chocolate, the ahou would think that he was trying to play a trick on him...now what would he do?
He paced his way to and across After moments of thinking, he gave up and just wrapped the chocolate up as planned. Hopefully, and he WOULD be praying to whoever throughout the day, the chocolate would just melt. He tied up a small ribbon to confine the box and went his usual way, cycling to school.
The bell had rung. Many students were walking away from the school grounds in pairs, or in groups. Blushing couples, loud, chattering cliques of friends going out together. No one bothered to notice a rather prominent figure wearing another school's uniform, entering into the school like no one else's business. He had a sweet little package in his hand.
Hanamichi was yawning away, while walking down the corridor between the classrooms. Envious of those loving couples who were exchanging gifts all day in class, Hanamichi gave a sigh. Even Youhei was gone, after some cute girl came by yammering about how she had always like him. He reached his locker and slammed it open. This day sucked. Big-time. He tried to look for Haruko during break-time, but her classmates told him that she had dashed out of the classroom once the bell had rung. He wanted to give her something for Valentine's Day. Not as a guy who had a crush on her but someone who treated her as a best friend.
'Hmph. What kind of best friend are you if you like the same guy as her!? Maybe I should consider Sendoh...but it won't be fair to him...' Slamming the locker door shut with much force, he turned towards the stairs. And to his utmost horror, he came face to face with the scene he dreaded the most. Haruko and Rukawa were standing together, talking. Actually, it was more like Haruko stammering and Rukawa staring down at her. Haruko held something in her hands, shaking in fear.
/ No. / Hanamichi could not believe that his worst nightmare had come true. he stood rooted to the spot, about 2 metres away.
Rukawa was trying to look for Hanamichi when the annoying girl with the squeaky voice stepped in his way. The chocolate could not melt, it seemed, and he was already prepareed to be humiliated and cursed at by the fool for trying to pull a fast one over him. He was staring around the area while Haruko was trying to gather some courage. He spotted Hanamichi's legs and shoes below a nearby locker door. (Don't ask me about the thing abt shoes. He's the obsessed one not me, even if i CAN identify pple by shoes ^^;;;) Delighted that he had found the redhead at last, he impatiently waited for Haruko to finish her stammering. It was clear what she wanted to say, and he thought that it was a good thing to settle this once and for all. What he did not expect was for Haruko to thrust a small package into his hands, blushing furiously.
"Rukawa-kun!! Please accept this!"
He fumbled the package for a split second and looked up and saw Hanamichi staring at the scene with mixed emotions. But the message " Hurt her and I will kill you" was evident in those beautiful, honey eyes. Rukawa thought for a moment before approaching Hanamichi quickly, while Haruko stood dazed and confused at the side. He felt the little parcel in his pocket jiggle a bit and his resolve hardened. It was now or never. He opened Haruko's package, took a bit of one of the chocolate. Haruko's eyes sparked up for a moment, but widened in horror when Rukawa did something totally unexpected.
Sendoh stepped up the stairs quickly, hoping to catch Hanamichi in his classroom. Upon arriving on the floor, he stared in amazement as he saw Rukawa pull Hanamichi in for a deep kiss.
Rukawa chewed on the piece of sweet in his mouth, and reached a long arm to grab Hanamichi and pulled him towards himself, his other arm circling Hanamichi's waist and pulling him even closer as he pushed his mouth firmly against the redhead's own. Upon feeling the soft lips, and sensing that Hanamichi was not going to struggle, Rukawa slid his tongue along Hanamichi's lips, prodding them to part. The redhead tasted Rukawa's own taste, as well as the refreshing and sweet taste of chocolate and mint meshed together. He gave a sigh, and parted his lips, unable to think rationally. Rukawa pushed his tongue in, and while tasting Hanamichi's mouth, he pushed the chocolate in, literally feeding the chocolate to Hanamichi. instinctively, he moved his tongue about to taste and swallowed the melting chocolate and mint in his mouth. Rukawa felt the movements and returned them with fervor, deepening the kiss. Finally out of breath, Rukawa released Hanamichi's mouth, but tightened his grip and hugged the redhead tightly. He reached to Hanamichi's ear and nibbled softly before whispering into his ear,
"Do'ahou. I love you." He then loosened his grip around Hanamichi's shoulder and reached for the parcel in his pocket. He placed it in Hanamichi's hands.
"Here. Happy Valentine's Day." Hanamichi could not believe his eyes or ears. The Kitsune loved him!? And judging from the parcel that was in his hand, the kitsune had made whatever it was inside himself. He was so touched, there were tears forming in his chocolate eyes, and he did not even notice that Haruko had run away crying, and Rukawa was suddenly bumped off by a huge massive blur. Well, not until he felt a pair of arms winding around him and hugging him so tightly that it could be described as a -glomp-. He struggled when a spiky head was on his shoulder and started nuzzling his neck. Suddenly Sendoh looked up, serious.
"Hana-chan! You won't give me a chance?"
Hanamichi felt sorry for Sendoh, but his heart had already belonged to Rukawa long ago. He nodded slowly and hugged Sendoh back. Then, he heard a slight sound of something cracking. He looked over Sendoh's shoulder and saw that Rukawa had kicked Sendoh in the back, and it seemed that the Ryonan captain had acquired some back injuries as well. Rukawa glared and shoved Sendoh away. He looked at Hanamichi, who was staring back blankly. Looping an arm over Hanamichi's shoulders, Rukawa dragged Hanamichi towards one of the nearby classrooms. Hanamichi blinked and blinked again. Then the reason why Rukawa was dragging him towards a classroom dawned upon him.
Apparently, Hanamichi was last seen sporting a very red face, and a very massive sweat drop was making its way down his head, while Rukawa had a very uncharacteristic gleam in his eyes.
--- THE END ---