Standard disclaimer applied. Seems like I am going to write a rather long fic this time as there are so many little things I want to put in! Thanks for the support minna-san! Email me your thoughts, ok?

Love Love Aishiteru,

Pink Yuki

Futari no Merry-Go-Round
by Pink Yuki

Chapter Three - Rumors

Fuuko woke up to the knock on the door. She looked at the sunlit bedroom and called out, "Come in!"

Yanagi walked in with a bright smile on her face. "Ohayo, Fuuko-san. Did I wake you?" She sat down on the edge of the bed, toying with one of the stuff toys Ganko left behind.

"Nah... It's about time I should wake up anyway." Fuuko stretched and stood up. It said 12.00 on the clock on the bedside table.

"I have made lunch for us, so go get change and come down alright?" Yanagi looked at her best friend. "Oh, would you mind getting Mikagami senpai also? I have woke him up before coming in for you, but you know how he needs to get his hair perfect each morning... Just drag him down with you ok? I don't want to wait an hour before we can start eating." Yanagi smiled and walked out.

Fuuko quickly brushed her hair and washed her face. She is still wearing the dress but she decided to change back into the jeans and T-shirt she had on yesterday. After all, she is Fuuko the tomboy, dresses do not fit her in bright daylight.

She walked out of her room and knocked on the Koganei's door.  "Mi-chan! Are you ready? Yanagi wants us to get down NOW!" She opened the door and found Mikagami brushing his hair. *God he looks good in the morning. Wait, Fuuko, what ARE you thinking?* "Mi-chan!" She called.

"Just wait will you?" Mikagami gave her one of his icy glares and started tying his hair in a low ponytail. 

"Yanagi is waiting." Fuuko suddenly remembered how passionate Mikagami's kiss was and unconsciously brought a finger to her lips. 

Mikagami looked at her with the corner of his eyes. "Monkey got a kiss last night from someone?" Fuuko looked up to his comment and a slight blush came onto her cheeks. "Whoever that is, he must be blind. Was it Rasshen?"  Mikagami snickered and stood up. 

*Obviously he forgot everything last night.* Fuuko bit her lips and turned. "Yes I got a kiss but it's not from Rasshen. Thank you so VERY much for your nice comment first thing in the morning." Fuuko said with slight sarcasm  in her voice. "Just hurry up will you? Yanagi won't be pleased." She walked out of his room and proceeded to the dining room.

"Hmmp." Mikagami muttered. *So she got a kiss from someone?* He noticed a frown appearing on his face. *Why would I care anyway? That monkey!* He looked into the mirror and thought his hair looked good enough for the day, and walked out of his room.

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"Hime! This is great!" Recca was putting everything he had in his plate down his throat in a second. "I love it!" He shouted with his mouth full and bits of food could be spotted falling from his mouth.

"Recca, get some table manners and don't talk while your mouth is full!" Domon commented in a tone of disgust. After months of tutoring by Aki, Domon could now pass as the perfect gentleman in every elegant restaurant with ease. Heck! He can even order from a French menu these days!

Fuuko walked in and sat down next to Recca. "You know, Domon has a point there." She smirked while carefully avoided all the nasty bits of food coming her way when Recca muttered more swear words.

"Is Mikagami senpai coming down?" Yanagi looked over to Fuuko, and handed her a plateful of curry.

"I guess? He is still fiddling with his hair when I knocked." Fuuko quickly ate the food in front of her. *It's good as always. Yanagi has the talent to make simple food taste like it came from a five star restaurant.* She thought.

"What are you planning to do today?" Yanagi poured a large glass of water for Recca, who was currently choking as he ate too fast. "I have to work this afternoon, at Kagero-san's store. I will be finished by 6 though, you think we can get together sometime today?"

"I promised Ganko I would go to the mall with her this afternoon, but that won't take all day. How about I come to pick you up at work? We can have dinner together." Fuuko finished the last spoonful on her plate. "Go-chiso-samadeshita! "

"Let's do that! You have no idea how much I have to tell you!" Yanagi enthusiastically smiled. "Ah, Mikagami senpai." She looked over to the dinning room entrance.

"Yanagi, I guess I would go home now." Fuuko wiped her mouth one last time. "I will see you later, ne?" She stood.

"OK." Yanagi smiled while preparing Mikagami's plate.

"Hey, can you call a cab for me? I don't really know how to get back from here..." Fuuko looked over to Recca.

"I'll take you home, Fuuko-han." Joker stood from his seat. "I need to go to the mall too, so why don't we go together?"

"Sure. I will meet you at the door in 5 minutes, ok?" Fuuko smiled and left the room to collect her stuff.

Mikagami was munching his food. *She could have asked me to give her a ride, since we only live two blocks from each other... Why should I care? That monkey.* without noticing, he was eating way too fast and choked. Recca laughed hysterically (until Mikagami shot him the iciest stare in the world) while Yanagi quickly poured the fridge boy a glass of water.

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"Thanks for the ride, Joker-san." Fuuko settled herself in the red Mercedes SLK.

"Ah... it's my pleasure to have a lovely lady next to me." Joker skillfully made the twists and turns down the hill. "So you enjoyed the party last night?"

"Yeah, seeing Mi-chan drunk is one of the funniest thing in the world." Fuuko recalled the giggling Mikagami and laughed.

"Mikagami isn't a light drinker… but seems like he has been drinking all night before Kurei-han and Recca-han forced five bottles of red wine down his throat." Joker smiled. "He seemed to want to be drunk." He glanced over at Fuuko and saw her concentrating on the scenery outside. "You know, sometimes you need alcohol to boost up confidence."

"When have you EVER seen Mi-chan lost confidence?" Fuuko diverted her attention back to Joker, "The day Mi-chan lost confidence Tokyo Tower is probably going to collapse!" She laughed at the thought.

"Well, men need confidence boosts time to time." Joker turned the corner. "Especially when you have something you really want to say and can't say it in your usual self. You know how the saying goes, drunk men always tell the truth." He stopped the car in front of Fuuko's house.

Fuuko gathered her stuff and opened the door, "Well, if that's the case you don't need to think about getting any from Neon ever again. Just park the car and wait for me in the living room will you?" Fuuko winked at the surprised assassin and ran into the house.

*I hope he is not implying anything about Mi-chan and I… * Fuuko walked into the house and called, "Ganko! Ganko! Are you ready? Joker is downstairs waiting!" She ran into her room, took a quick shower, and changed into her leather pants and fuzzy turtleneck.

"Sorry for the wait." Fuuko ran downstairs to the living room and saw Joker and Ganko playing…. BARBIES!

 "Oh, Barbie-chan… we have to go now." Ganko tried to fake a deep voice (and failed miserably) and put her Ken-doll into the Barbie house.

"Ken-kun, wait for me!" Joker made his voice 8 degrees higher and put the Barbie back to the dollhouse, "Mou… it is still bright outside and we are going into the bedroom already? You're so impatient!"

Sweatdropped from both Ganko and Fuuko.

"Ano… shall we go then?" Joker looked at the two bewildered girls and started to get a little embarrassed.

"Oh yeah, let's go." Fuuko recovered from the shock and walked out of the door.

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They had a pleasant time in the mall. Fuuko bought the biggest teddy bear they could find from the toy store for Ganko. "This is your Christmas present you know." Fuuko smiled lovingly at the girl, who was so happy that Joker thought Ganko's head was going to fall off because of the nodding too much.

"Fuuko neechan, what do you want for Christmas?" Ganko looked innocently at Fuuko, who just smiled back. "If you can teach this teddy here not to make rude comments like Kondo did then it's good enough a present already!"

"Are you sure? That's not hard at all; I just need to readjust the Kata Kugutsu before I put it on teddy-chan here."

"That's good enough." Fuuko reassured the little girl while waiting for Joker to tried on his seventeenth outfit in Armani.

An hour went by. Joker was in Versace's changing room.

Two hours went by. Joker was in D&G's changing room.

Three hours went by….

"Domo arigatou gozaimasu! Joker-dono!"  Four salesgirls stood in a straight line in front of the Moschino store, bowing slightly as a beaming Joker, amazed Fuuko, and a totally bored Ganko walked out of the store.

"Joker-san, can you really wear all those clothes?" Fuuko looked at Joker, who was struggling with eight huge shopping bags. "Here, I will carry some for you."

"Oh thanks!" Joker handed Fuuko three bags, "Of course I wear all of them. At least I have fewer garments than Neon-han or Tsukishiro. An amazingly cool bishounen like me have to keep up with the latest fashion trends!" Joker said with pride.

"It must be an Uruha thing…" Fuuko whispered to Ganko, who just nodded in agreement. "Maybe except Raiha…"

"Fuuko-han, now you are wrong. Do you know all Raiha's clothes are custom made? He is the trendiest ninja I have ever seen!" Joker heard the whispering and said.

"Hey, can you take Ganko home for me? I have somewhere I want to go." Fuuko looked at her watch, it was barely four. "Plus, I don't think we can still fit three people in the car with all these clothes and Ganko's new toy."

"Well sure. You sure you don't need a ride there?" Joker took the shopping bags back in his hands.

"I'll be fine." Fuuko smiled and walked away.

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"Ichi, ni, san, yon! Ichi, ni, san, yon!"

Bokkens were flying in the air. The couch was standing in the front, shouting instructions.

"Right. That's it for today. Dismissed!" The couch shouted once more and the group of students shouted a loud "Arigato gozaimasu! Sensei!" in unison before running away.

The couch lowered his men and let his purple hair down. He looked up and saw a figure in the doorway. "Fuuko-san!" He exclaimed.

"Raiha, long time no see! Hmm…. I should call you Raiha sensei now huh?" Fuuko walked over to her ex-boyfriend and gave him a big hug.

"Fuuko-san." Raiha petted her head, "I hate to tell you this, but I am all sweaty right now so your clothes are going to get all ruined if you hug me any longer…" Fuuko jumped back and looked at her clothes.

"Ever so considerate, Raiha?" Making sure her clothes were free from any sweat stains, Fuuko smiled at Raiha.

"So how come you know I am here? I doubt Recca-san or Domon-san would tell you that." Raiha packed up his kendogus and asked.

"Joker told me." Fuuko settled herself on the wooden floor. "So how have you been?"

"The dojo is operating well and that keeps me rather busy."

"Girlfriend?"

Raiha turned and saw Fuuko grinning like mad. "Ano… Fuuko-san…such personal question…" Raiha blushed.

"So you have a new girlfriend?" Fuuko asked with more enthusiasm.

"No. " Raiha finally replied, still blushing furiously at Fuuko's forwardness.

"Then… do you have a boyfriend?"

"NANI?" Raiha jumped at the question. Remembering all the advances he had came across before, Raiha's face turned from bright red to pale white. "Fuuko-san, you mustn't think of me that way! You mustn't!"

"Just asking." Fuuko shrugged. "My best friend in Boston is gay, and he is the nicest person on earth!"

"Fuuko-san, you KNOW I can't take such questions." Raiha gave a sigh of relief. "So you have a boyfriend now? Or a girlfriend?"

"Neither." Fuuko smiled.

"It's not because of me…" Before Raiha could finish the sentence, Fuuko had burst out laughing. "Raiha, oh Raiha…. Haha… don't flatter yourself too much! Of course it's not because of you…Haha…"

"Oh well…" Raiha had once again turned crimson, "I will just go behind the curtains to get changed. Keep on talking, I can hear you from there."

"Okay… Raiha, I just come here to tell you that I understand what you told me now. I didn't love you as a boyfriend but a friend, or brother even, before, and I guess you felt the same way too. So… " Fuuko turned as she heard Raiha stepping out, "Are we still friends?"

"Of course we are, Fuuko-san." Raiha smiled warmly at the wind master.

"Cool. After all Raijin and Fuujin are supposed to fight each other, not to be with each other. Ne?" Fuuko winked.

"Then you want to fight now?" Raiha teased and Fuuko smiled. "Maybe another day. You want to join Yanagi and me to dinner?"

"Sure."

The two of them walked down the street, totally unaware of the black Porsche Carrera behind them. Inside the car was none the other but Recca and Kurei.

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"Yanagi-chan! Kagero-san!" Fuuko and Raiha walked into the Japanese food store 'Kage Houshi'.

"Ah… Fuuko-san, Raiha-kun." Kagero appeared from the kitchen in a kimono. "How nice to see you two. Yanagi-chan will be out in a minute." She poured the visitors two cups of tea.

"Domo." Fuuko sipped the tea and felt herself warming up from the cold. "It was so cold outside this really helps!" She looked up and saw Kagero smiling at her.

"Fuuko you never watched the weather channel. They said the cold breeze is coming in today! So much for a future meteorologist…" Raiha said in a concerning tone. "Take my jacket for now, and be sure you remember to wear a jacket tomorrow!"

"Hai hai! Raiha-sensei!" Fuuko looked over at Raiha and gave him a smile. "Thanks anyway." She snuggled to the big puffy jacket Raiha put on her shoulder.

"Sorry for the wait! Raiha-san?" Yanagi walked out of the kitchen and looked puzzled seeing Raiha and Fuuko together.

'Raiha is joining us for dinner tonight." Fuuko simply stated. "Is that ok?"

"Sure! I haven't seen Raiha-san for a while also." Yanagi put on her jacket and gloves. "Raiha-san, are you sure you won't be cold in this kind of weather? You are only wearing a sweater!"

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Later that evening in Uruha mansion's Living room.

"Two hundred. I bet they are getting back together." 

"Recca, are you that sure?" Kurei looked at his brother.

"Two hundred. I bet they are getting back together also."

"Neon, you too?"

"From what I've seen tonight, I bet they'll get back together. Two hundred."

"Yanagi-chan…."

"Hmm… one hundred. I bet they are getting back together."

"Koganei?"

"Fifty. Back together."

"Ganko?????"

Kurei swiped the sweat on his forehead. At this rate he is going to lose big time…

"Kurei-han! Two thousand. I bet they are not getting back together."

"Joker?" Everyone turned with an astonished look on his or her face, except for Kurei, who gave a sigh of relief. *Guess I won't lose much after all.* Kurei smiled.

"Well, 'not getting back together' has a rate of 1:100 and 'getting back together' is 1:2 right?" Joker flashed his fang grin and shrugged.

"Moron." Neon murmured to no one in particular.

"Anyone else?" Kurei jotted down everyone's bet in his little blue book -- the Uruha gambling journal.

"Should we call Mikagami niichan for his bet also?" Koganei asked.

"Oh yeah, give him a call will you?" Kurei barely looked up and started counting the bets he had collected. "Getting back together -- Recca, Yanagi, Neon, … Totaled 17 bets. Two thousand fifty dollars. Not getting back together -- Joker. Totaled 1 bet. Two thousand dollars." Kurei stared at his little notebook and thought, "Ah, the total doesn't look half bad." He smiled.

"Mikagami niichan said he doesn't want anything to do with this stupid bet thing!" Koganei shouted across the room when he hung up.

"Did you describe to him how they were though? Mikagami senpai usually needs a little facts before he would join the game." Yanagi added.

"Yeah, he just kept on muttering 'baka, baka' then shouted 'I don't want anything to do with this!' then hung up." Koganei shrugged.

Meanwhile, at the Mikagami residence, an angry kenshi can be spotted drinking beer while cursing mercilessly at the TV.

"Who cares about a damn monkey??!!!!!"

The neighborhood within one-mile radius of the Mikagami residence heard this phrase every 15 minutes for the rest of the night until someone actually picked up the phone to call the police.

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