K-chan-heres chap 2 of Ikari ni Ai. Do me a favor...send me the 1st chapter again?


Hikira shook the rain out of her hair in a headbanger swoop, pulling the ponytail out of her hair as she did so. More rain just pelted down on her head, but she didnt care. She danced and skipped, the long blue skirt of her uniform clinging to her legs and she gymnastically hopped down the street. God knew what provoked her to do this, but so what? she lived for fun, after all. Not like anyone was watching her or anything-

"Nani?" A chill ran up her back. She flipped her head around. A figure stood, turned away torwards the glinting wet street. He appeared to be wearing a Sakana uniform (she could see the symbol for "fish" on the breast pocket) but his was turned away from her. hs black hair was pelted to his head by rain, and he was tapping a foot in a puddle.

"Oy!" Hikira yelled. "Oy, over there!"

He turned. His earlobe winked sliver. 

"Matsakura?" She waved, yelling as hard as she could but being drowned out by the crashing downpour.

The figure dashed across the street, ignoring the angry honks of motorists. 

Hikira turned red. "Geeze...I was way out of character!" she stared up at the churning sky. "Did he see me doing that?"

The falling rain was her only reply.

_

"Da, da, da...hate the rain."

"Odd name for someone that hates the rain."

"Oh, shut up. Youre just jealuos of my imaginary friend. Hes waterproof, y'know." Sakana grinned eerily at his twin. They were walking home, bookbags above heads to protect their blode-white hair from the downpour.

Blonde ahir was an oddity in Tokyo, that was sure. Rin passed it off as errant genetics, Sakana said it was because he was really from the kingdom on the moon. This was typical of the twins perspectives. Rin was more realistic and grounded then Sakana, who spent most of his time in school doodling almost uncontrollably instead of studying. Lucky for Sakana, alphabetical order put him in most of Rins classes.

Sakana's marked oddness made him a target for the teaeasing of his calssmates, who found him eerie. Rin hastily put a stop to all this, of course. While Sakana had an uneasy acceptance at the elite Sakana High (despite him name, which made him all the more a target)Rin, for his good looks and charm, was almost instantly made the "in" twin.

Rin rolled his eyes at his brother. "When will you EVER grow up?"

"When Gohran-san does?"

"Masaka...whos 'Gohran-san'?"

"My imaginary friend."

*Smack*

"Oww..." Skaana rubbed his head (the back, which unfortunately wasnt covered) and glared at Rin. "whyd ya go and do that?"

"You have to grow up! Its SOPHOMORE YEAR, Saka!" Rin galred at him. "Going around with Matsakura everynight insteead of doing your homework is stupid, not to mention it gives YOU a bad reputation!"

"How so?"

"Everyone knows what a punk he is! Hes gotta be the only boy in an elite school with a police record. God only knows how he got INTO an elite school like Sakana!" Rin sighed. "Youve gotta make better friends."

"What, like yours?" Sakanas voice, usually lighthearted, turned to a knife's blade. "No thank you. I hafta go."

"Sakana!" Rin turned and grabbed Skakanas sleeve. He jerked it away angrily. "I need some time off. Why doncha go try to get me some *elite* friends?"

"Saka, I didnt mean-"

Sakana sped off down an alleyway. "Ja, aniki."

"Wait! Sakana!" Rin jogged after his borther. "Gomen...Ill take you out for Ramen,you and Gohran-san!"

He had emant it as a joke, but Sakana turned and gave him a galre as cold as ice. "What do you know about anything." He said in a cold, low voice.

"Saka-"

"YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING!" Sakana screamed, bringing the busy sidewak traffic to a halt. He dashed down the alleyway.

Rin watched his brother retreat.  Feeeling very alone, he continued home.

_

"Why dont you just kill hm and get it ovwer with?"

"Nani?" Rin looked with suprise at the figure staning before him, arms crossed,leaning against a building. He was staring at him with contempt and pity. It was a gaze Rin wasnt used to, and he wasnt happy about it either. "Matsakura."

Matsakura rolled his eyes as he whiped some of the moisture out of his hair. "Cmon, I know where to find Sakana."

"Its not youre buisness."

The glare increased in anger. "Hes my best friend. Its definetly my buisness. Do you understand how much you saying that stupid shit hurts him?"

"You dont need to cuss." Rin lowered his eyes to the sidewalk, satring at the glistening pavement. He tried to keep walikng, but one muscualr arm stretched out and held him at bay.

"Fine. Leave 'kana in the lurch again. Its hard to change old habits." He turned, arms behind his head, as he strode down the street.

"What do you mean!?!" Rin turned and screamed at Matsakuras retreating figure.

Matsakua cast a bored glance over his shoulder. "I know things were nice for you freshamn year. With a face like that, how could they be bad? But ask yourself...while things are fun and good for you at school, hoiw fun are they for Sakana?"

He began to walk again. "Hey! wait!" Rin yelled, jogging to keepup with Matsakuras retreating figure. He soon dissapeared into the sheeting rain spalshing down, soaking and cleansing Tokyo.

_

Kimiko walked down the sreet, whistling and twirling a plaid umbrella. "Ah, what a pretty day..I love the rain!" She trwiled her umbrella,watching the droplets spin off the sides onot the glistening sidewalk. The neon lights buzzerd cheerfully overhead as she wandered itno the ain part of Tokyo.

She stared up at one of the advertisements with awe. "Kakkoi..." A huge video screen of Every Little thing! Wai!

she rushed forward to see it better, singing along with the familiar words. "My love is forever, Anata no-"

"Ooof!" Kimiko slammed head on into a golden-haired boy. "Gomen-" She cut herself off, seeing the "Sakana elite" patch on his breast pocket. She looked up into the concerned face of Sakana. 

"Sakana-kun!" She quickly flipped up the plaid umbrella to cover the both of them.

"Why, Kimiko-chan! I had no idea you felt that way!You alright?" Sakana grinned his infectios smile at her. 

"Hai!" She stared up at the board. "Every little thing is SOOO cool!"

"Pika!" He cheered in agreement. 

Kimiko's eyes widened. "How many anime charactes can you do, anyway?"

Sakana did an eerily apt impression of Tuxedo Kamen, swishing hib bookbag like a cpa.e "Look into your heart, Sailor Kimiko-chan, and you will find the answer!"

"Tuxedo Sakana!" Kimiko laughed. 'I didnt know you liked Every Little Thing..."

"Hikira played one of their albums for me...the one with this one on it...Time to Destination, I think. I fell in love! I have all their albums now...speaking of Hikira, how is she?"

Kimiko rolled her eys. "Shes Hikira. Waht did you expect form her? Shes made it qwuite obvious she doest want our support."

"You really wanna let her handle it alone?"

Kimikos hughty smirk collapsed to a look of worry. "No."

"Cmon!" Skana grabbed her hand and began to lead her out of the crowd. "I know where she is!"

"wach the umbrella!" Kimiko screeched as Sakana lead her away from the video screen and the last seconds of the video.

"Kisetsu ga kawattemo,Kitto iroasenai hazu da yo..." Skana sang, the stopped.

"Nani?" Kimiko said, then looked over to Sakana. 

"Matsakura! Mtsakura!" Sakana jumped up and down and waved at his friend, who was hip-deep in the singing, waving crowd. 

"Yo, 'kana!" Matsakura weaved through the crowd and gave his freind a high-five. "I knew youd be here!"

"You read me like a book...feel like takin a road trip?
_

Hikira sucked in her breath. The blaching solution was mixed. The blue was in a little can marked "Hoshi kikari no Aoi" (star shine blue) from Pretty-pretty, the hairsalon down the sreet. 

It was time.

She had been swearing she was gonna do it since the 9th grade, when she had gained knowledge of hairdyes. When she had finnaly saved enough money up to buy the pot of dye (expensive, but Yukiko, the head salonist, assured her it was the best she coud get for her money) she had been waylaid by her crush on Rin. Rin didnt like the hair of shoujo ravers, he though hair dye in different colors looked weird on girls.

Finnaly, she had realized how ridiculous her crush on Rin was. Finnaly, she had walked into Pretty-Pretty and put her yen down.

Now, it was time. With this symbolic gesture, she would forever seperate herself from her suppoeed "chances" with Rin. 

Plus, she would have wicked-cool streaks in her hair.

She sucked in a breath, and dipped a paintbrush in the solution-

*ding-dong*

"Damned doorbell!" She ran into her room and hit the intercom button. (No use in interruping my experiment for someone I dont want to talk to.) "Who is it?"

"I just took a kasa in from Tokyo Square, and boy are my arms tired nan no da!"

"Sakana!" Hikira giggled. "Whats up?"

"Its me, Kimiko, and Matsakura. We were just bored, and felt like visiting..."

Hikira sighed. "Well, im kinda in the middle of something-"

A deep voice she didnt recognize came from the intercom. "Hikira-san, are you dyeing your hair up there?"

"How do you know?"

KImikos frantic voice came over the intecom. "Youre actually doing it Oh, no! Not without ME! We'll be right up!"

"Um. O-"

The door clattered open. In a few minutes, Sakana and Kimiko had burst into her room. She sighed. "Konnichiwa, Sakana-kun, Kimiko-chan."

"I cant belive your actually going trough with it!" Kimiko giggled.

"I thinbk it'll look cool." Sakana grined, patting Hikiras shoulder.

"It WILL look cool!" Hikia said defensively as she got upto walk to her bathroom. "It a real dark blue-"

"Tadaima!" Matsakura yelled as he walked in her anime-coated room, nearly kncoking Hikira down with suprise.

"Wah!"  she yelled as he came in the room. "Couldnt you be a little less loud?" She put her hair back with a rubber band, save two strands hanging on either side of her face. 

Matsakura laughed. "Streaks, eh? I used to have those. Bright yellow ones. Thats how I could tell you were dying your hair...the smell is killer."

"That would look cool!" Kimiko said. "Why didnt you keep them?"

Sakana broke in, laughing hysterically. "Becasue the swim teacher had a FIT. he said 'No freaky haired freaks gonna be on MY swim team! And then Matsakura said-"

Matsakura sighed, blue eyes creasing with regret. "Lets not go over it again, ne Sakana? That was definetly a low point...plus, I wanna see what Hikiras hair is gonna look like."

"Hai! Hai!" Hikira yeleld with exaspreation, slamming a fist down on her pillow. "Im going to dye it NOW! So either come on or stop following me!"

They all loked at eachother for a second.

"Ill help!"

"Da!"

"Why the hell not?"

They all crammed into Hikiras tiny blue bathroom. Sakana and Matsakura sat on the edge of the bathtub, and Kimiko grabbed the bleaching brush. 

"hey!" Hikira grabbed for the brush back, but Kimiko shook her head. "No WAY. I said I was gonna help. Now hold STILL."

Hikira sighed and allowed Kimiko to paint bleach on the peices of hair, wrinking her nose at the smell. "Ugh."

"I know..." Kimiko timed 30 second, then began to paint the blue on. "Wow, this is an OBTRUSIVE blue..."

Hikira giggled with a maniacle glee. "I know...isnt it great?"

Kimiko laughed, and wrapped the tinfoil around the newly-dyed hair. "Now, were supposed to let this sit for a half an hour...so what can we do till then?"

"Do me!"

"Sakana-kun?" Hikira looked over at him with shock, one eyebrow raised. "What?"

"Give me  blue streaks!" Sakana cheered, holdinng a clump of his whitish blonde hair out to her. "itll look so cool on my hair!"

"I want one too, just a blue streak up on of my spikes."

"Well, I guess I could have one...a SMAll one..." Kimiko sweatdropped as Hikira gave her a hug. "All right Kimiko-chan! Itll look cool, I promise!"

"Well, i guess its only fair, anyway. After all, I DID dye yours." Kimiko sat down on the toilet gingerly, and put frizzy blonde hair behind her ears.

"Thant wont work!" Hikira gave ehr a rubber band. She winced at she slipped it in her hair. Sakana watched the process with intrest. "What am I supposed to do?" He had a point, his hair just barely fell over his ears.

Matasuka sook his head. "That wont work. we'll have to cover your whole head with tinfoil!"

Skakana grinned, pumping a fist in the air. "Yo-SHA! Ill be a mecha at last!"

"What about you, Matsakura?" Hikira turned to him. He rummaged around in his bookbag and came out with some pomade. "Simple, Ill just put the spikes up-"

Hikira shook her head. "No way. You think dye goes through pomade?"

Matsakura sweatdropped. "Tinfoil it is, then."

_

The experiment was a sucsess. Hikira had two, bright blue stripes running down the front of her shoulder-length brown hair. Kimiko had a single blue streak donwn the side of her head. Sakana had opted for tiny blue lines all around his head. "NOW theyll be able to tell me apart from Rin!"

They were all sitting on Hikiras bed, weaiting for Matsakura to come out from peeling the tinfoil off of his head. It had been a fun afternoon, despite Kimikos obvious fear of annoying Hikira and/or Matsakura. But after a few minutes of Hikiras good natured teasing, it had been easy to talk.

Everyone was enthusiastically talking and laughing, except for Matsakura. Hikira noticed he had been unusually scilent, except for teasing Sakana a little bit. Hikira grined, wiping away thoughts of Rin, Mtasakura, and all of the other things that were currently bothering her, and turned to Sakana."Like it was previously a big chore, Chichiri-moon-prince-pikachu!" Hikira laughed. "Your personalitys are so different, y'know...its so weird that your twins!"

"It is weird." Skakna gave her a sad little half smile.

Hikira looked angry. "Geeze, was Rin yelling at you AGAIN?!?"

Sakana shrugged. "Maybe hes right...I spend too much time goofing off. Rins guarantted an acceptance to Tokyo U, but what am I gonna do?"

Hikira shrugged. "Pass?"

Sakana grinned. "I wish...Rins right, tho. I shouldnt spend so much time on swim club and Matsakura...after all, whats going to happen to me after high school?"

"Good greif, Sakana-kun!" Hikira rolled her eyes and leaned against him. "Thats like asking whats going to happen to ME when i get out of high school. Or whats going to happen to Kimiko, or whats going to happen to Kyo...noone really knows, do they? Its not really worth worrying about."

Sakanas heart fluttered as she leaned agaist him, but it gave way to sadness. (Im not the one she wants to lean on. She likes Rin..damnit, and he likes Kyo...why are things always so complicated?" He put an arm around her absentmindedly. "I guess."

"hey, hey, none of that!" matsakura walked out of the bathroomm. He had varied from his original plan, instead opting to give himself blue tips on his balck hair. The effect was striking. Sakana jumped up with glee. "Sugoi! That is the coolest thing I have ever seen, 'kura!"

Mtsakura grinned, shaking out his blue-black hair with the pride of a peacock shaking out a new crown of feathers. "sharp, huh?"

"Ka-KOII!" Kimiko cheered. Hkira nodded. "Mr Tsur's gonna freak."

"Tsur?"

"The one who took your boots."

"Oh." Matsakura wrinkled his nose. "Bastard."

"Yeah."

The group of maseru passed the afternoon easily, laughing, talking, and wasting the afternoon in Hikiras tiny room as it was pelted by the dense Tokyo downpour.

oawri-chapter2