Sakana reached his house at approximately 8:00. It was dark outside, 
but the streetlights lining his way home had provided enough light 
to see by. He banged up the iron stairs to his and Rin's shared 
apartment, high-tops clattering as he skidded to a stop outside the 
door. He grabbed the handle and banged it open. "TADAIMAAAA!!" he 
hollered, and walked inside.

The apartment was small, but nice. The walls were blue, the carpet was white,
 and there was a small color TV on a cart in the living room. Rin was at the 
table, standing guard over two cups of ice-cold ramen. "I thought youd 
never get home." Rin sighed, walking the cups over to the microwave. "I made 
theese an-"

"Look!" Sakana scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. "Im sorry I 
yelled. It was stupid of me to blow up at you just cause you care about me, 
right?"

Rin gave a small, stunned smile, hitting the buttons ion the microwave. 
"Youre LISTENING to me?"

"hai." Sakana bowed. "Ariga-tou Gozaima-suu!"

Rin shuddered. "Saka, If youre gonna impersonate anime characters....please, 
PLEASE dont impersonate Chibiusa!" he paused for a minute, staring at Sakana 
boweed head. He gasped. "Saka! What did you do to your HAIR?!?"

"Dyed it! Isnt it COOL?" Sakana ran his hands through it gleefully, 
the kitchen light catching in the shining blue strands.

"Saka..." Rin stetched out a tentative hand and touched one deep-blue strand.
 "Matsakura isnt even allowed to wear BOOTS. Why do you think Tsen-sensei-"

Sakana shrugged. "Not my problem." He looked up at the clock, and his eyes 
widened. "Oh my gosh!" He dashed for the TV. "Im missing Ranma! Im missing 
Ranma!"

He clicked it on, and was soon bathed in the TVs warm glow. The microwave 
beeped, and Rin grabbed a pot-mit to lift the cup o ramen out. "Saka...you 
said youd study!"

Sakana nodded, eyes fixed on the TV. "Yeah, yeah, Rin...after the show!"

Rin shook his head as he carried the ramen over to Sakana. "At least EAT!"

"Fair enough." Sakana lifted the cup of ramen to his lips and slurped it down
 whole.

"Saka! Spoon! SPOON!"

That was the way it usually went in the Kurenai household. Rin and Sakanas 
father was a trademark Japanese buisnessman, eternally on a buisness trip. 
The mother having left them at an early age, the twins had learned to fend 
for themselves. Rin, being the level headed one, often made sure Sakana was 
eating right and studying instead of reading manga(which, about 95% of the 
time, he was much more accoustomed to do). Sakana took care of most of the 
housework with relish, even having purchased an apron and naming it "Kasumi
" after the Tendo-tending older sister in Ranma 1/2. Rin looked at his brother
 and sighed. Sakana turend around, a creepy grin on his face. "Ne, Rin, is 
that Kyo as affectionate as Akane?"

Rin glared at his brother. "Oh, grow up!"

"Well, I think you missed the bus in any case." Sakana turned his attention 
back to the screen. "Hikiras much cuter than HER."

"Just cause you got a crush on her dosent mean-"

"I do NO-OT!" Sakana whined. A commercial came on, and he trned back to Rin.
 "Shes just a good friend, thats all. And she IS cuter than Kyo."

Rin gritted his teeth. "I am NOT having this conversation! Hikira is not girl
friend material!"

"Girlfreind material?" Sakana snorted. "Oh, i didnt realize you had such 
HIGH standards! Tell me, which one has to do with being as dumb as a-"

"Okay, so maybe shes not all that bright!" Rin pounded a fist on the table. 

"Chill!" Sakana put his hands up in a peace gesture. "I was just KIDDING. 
Seriously, though..."

Rin just shrugged. "Kyo is just...Kyo. Shes alot SWEETER and NICER that 
Hikira."

"Hikiras nice."

"Yeah sure." Rin mixed around his ramen noodles with an errant spoon. "Shed 
probaly yell "Hurry up!" during a funeral eulogy."

"thats an exageration." The show came back on, and Sakana diverted his 
attention back to the TV. "Shes nice...its just not an immediate niceness.
 You hafta stick with it."

"Maybe Im not that patient."

"Maybe I am." Sakana murmured. He flipped the TV's volume up higher, 
effectively blocking out anymore of Rin's commentary. The discussion was 
closed for the night.

_

Hikira sat outside, sniffling. She was on her porch, the dusky twilight 
covering the still glistening streets like a cape. "That...dumb...jerk!" 
She screeched, bringing her fist down on the table. She winced in pain. 
"Ouugh.." She walked into the yeard, kicking the shining green grass. "Stupid
 boys..." She walked to the sidewalk, looking for an inanimate object to vent
 er fustrations on. She saw a puddle glistning in the moonlight. She turned 
on it in rage. "I hate boys! I-HATE-BOYS!" She jumped up and down, gorlwing 
the mantra under her breath and eventually building up to a yell. 

"I HATE BOYS! I HATE BOYS! I HATE-Oh, shoot! My skirt!" She lifted up a 
corner of her brown Sakana High School uniform skirt and sighed. "Now Ill 
hafta spot it..." She wandered over to the other side of the yard. A large 
yard by Japanese standards, it was about 10 yards long and ended in a hill. 
She sat at the top of the hill, ignoring the wetness and sighing. "I just 
dont get it. Why Kyo? What, am I not cute enough?" 

It was at that point she reached an epiphany. She grabbed a handfull of 
grass and threw it into the air. "Well, screw him! Who needs a jerk like 
that anyway! Who wants to be CUTE like THAT?!?" she laughed in self 
satisfaction. "Get ready to suck it up, Rin, and meet the shoujo raver!" 
She laid back in the grass, the wetness seeping into her uniform. She didnt 
even notice. "Tomorow...Ill tell you just what I think of you. 
Then...whatever."

_

It was lunch at the Ma-Maseru. Again, for some unknown reason, Rin was 
sitting with them. They all knew it was for Kyos sake, and it made things 
all the more strained...especially the not-too-bright Kyo, who opened the 
conversation.

 "Gee, Hikira, whats up with you? Youre sure in a funk."

"A funk. Yeah, great word there, Kyo." Hikira snorted and slammed open her 
obento. Rin looked concerned. "Can I help?"

"I seriosuly doubt it. Go talk to Kyo." Her voice was like a sword of ice, 
the blade running across the cheeks of anyone who looked at her crosseyed. 
Rin actually flinched. This was not a Hikira he was used to.

Kimiko looked equally concerned. "Whats up with you? Fail a test or 
something?"

"No, those two just amke me nauseous." Hikiras words made her shudder 
inwardly as seh attacked her obento, but she continued without raising her 
eyes. "So cute, so cute...Am I the only one annoyed by all of Kyo's fawning?"

Sakana pikued. "Umm..." He was stunned. Hikira was mad, this was natural. But
 she had never been that blunt, or that...well, MEAN. He glanced over to 
Matsakura. He just watched the scene with impasive eyes, munching on a rice 
ball.

Rin slowly stood up. "Well, if its such a problem...Kyo, wanna go eat with 
the art club?"

Kyo was a shoujo oblivious, however, to her boyfreinds pleas. She quickly 
dashed over to Hikira and put hands on her shoulder. "Wahts wrong, Hikira? 
You can tell me, Im your FRIEND!"

(Oh, if only I could.) Hikira raised her eyes to give Kyo the full effect of 
her glare, and found she couldnt. Kyo just looked too...nice. Her face was 
even slightly flushed with compassion, her large eyes blinking back tears. 
"Is it your hair? Did they give you a hard time? I think it looks really 
cool-"

Hikira blinked the anger out of her eyes. She blushed and gave Kyo a half 
smile. "Its..nothing."

"You sure?" Kyo smiled a little. "Are we really that bad?"

"No, no." Hikira resisted the urge to pat Kyo on the head, like a small 
child who wanted appeasement. Instead, she just gave her a breif hug and 
sat back down. "Im good. Just that damned Tsen...youd think hed never seen 
hair color before, huh?" 

Kyo, satisfied, went back to glomping onto Rin. Rin, however, was not 
satisfied. He stood up. "Cmon, Kyo...lets go sit at the art table."

"Um...okay." With an apologetic look on her face to her friends, Kyo 
followed her boyfriend.

 Kimiko, obvously unsatisfied, gave Hikira a quick "what-the-hell-was-THAT" 
look out of the corner of her eye. Sakana merely scootched over to Hikira, 
holding out a pork bun. "Want some candy, little girl?" he cackeld evily.

Hikira shook her head. "Im watching my feminine form."

"So am I! Im watching your feminie form too! What a co-inci-OW!" 
Sakana winced, rubbing his head where Hikira had whacked him with the obento 
box. "hentai yo."

"How can you call me a pervert, that I would openly date you both? Oh Akane, 
and my pig tailed goddess..." Sakana exclaimed gleefully, putting arms around
 Hikira and Kimiko.

"Hentai, hentai, hentai!" Hikira and Kimiko raised 
obento boxes high and twacked Sakana over the head, chanting in unison. 
"Hentai, Hentai, Hentai YOOO!" 

Matsakura watched the show with a smirk. (Good show for your friends, 
Hikira-chan...you can fool them easily, but Ill be harder than that, 
I belive that Hikira I saw a few minutes ago was the real one...noone can 
fake those kind of eyes.) Matsakura rolled over on his back, staring up at
 the tree. It was budding, and would soon be in a full pink skirt. He smiled
 at the thought. "kakkoi..."

"Hmm?" Sakana writhed away from the obento assault and went to lay down by 
Matsakura. "What? Cherry blossoms? What IS it with you and cherry blossoms?"

"What is there to be?" Matsakura shrugged. "I like...the peace."

He heard rustling beside him, and looked over to see Kimiko. 
"Thats neat,a guy who likes cherry blossoms, very sensitive."

"He just likes em cause it means more girls out to watch with their 
'sensitive' boyfriends." Hikira stuck her tounge out.

MAtsakura laughed. "Think what you like, Hikira-chan...maybe I just like 
flowers?"

"Maybe your gay?"

"Oh, that is IT!" Matsakura sat up and mock glared at her. "Im as manly as 
Sakana-wait, thats a bad comparison."

"Oh, stop picking on me! Rei, youre so MEAN!" Sakana put two buns on his head
, making odango and whimpering.

"I said it, youre a-augh!" Matsaukra ducked the airborne buns. Sakana giggled
 eerily. "Hmm, more fun to throw then wear..."

"I agree!" A pork bun sailed out of nowhere, smacking Sakana in the back of 
the head. He looked behind him to see Hikira giggling and making a peace 
sighn. "Hehe..."

"Okay, youre goin down!"

"NOOO!" The four friends commened to a pork bun assault free-for-all. The 
meaty treats flew through the air and smacked heads like nobodys buisness. 
Luckily they were tough, so they didnt break open and ruin any uniforms, but
 they did make a few grease spots here and there..

*RIIING*

"Shoot. bell!" Hikira dropped her pork bun in mid assault. "Come on, minna!"

"Hai!" they all followed suit-

"HEY!"

They all skidded to a domino effect stop in front of Takashi Mikado. 

Mikado was the captain of the vollyball team. He was also the captain of the
 baseball, basketball, and boxing teams. He was worshipped by male and 
female alike...save the mazeru, who regarded him as a pure form of evil. 
This was evident in Hikira's face when she scowled up at him. "Ne, Mikado,
 am I good enough to talk to you yet?"

He laughed. "Dont be so sour. I dont begrudge anyone my company..." 
He tunred away from her, a huge grin on his face, to Matsakura. "Hey, 
Matsakura! Whats up?"

"The testosterone level of this lunch place."


Mikado laughed and clapped him on the back. "Good one, my man."

"My man?" Sakana raised his eyebrows. "I dont think Matsakura's like that...
unles..that time he slept over...EC-CHII!" he squealed. Hikira and Kimiko 
giggled, and even Matsakura found it hard to keep a straight face. 

Mikado glared at Sakana. "Nice joke, kid."

Sakana bowed. "My PLEASURE."

With annoyance, Mikado turned back to Matsakura. "So anyway, I heard you were
 pretty good at volleyball back there in your old school..."

"I wasnt bad." Matsakura stayed neutral.

"Not bad, man? You were the captain of the team!" Mikado cuffed him on the 
back again. "Dont be modest!"

"Yeah, Matsakura! Dont be modest!" Sakana crowed from the back. "Be like 
Mikado, and change in the midle of the gym floor!"

Mikado turned a full force glare back on Sakana. "You know, Im getting sick 
of you."

"Funny! Me too!" 

"Watch it, Sakana..." Hikira hissed. Sakana had hated Mikado for a long time,
 ever since last year. The year before, Mikado had lead a fleet of teenagers 
on vandalisim raids (TPing and Egging) on the Kurenai apartment nearly every 
Saturday night.This had all ended when Rin had jined the art club and gained 
status in the student body. Thusly, Sakana and Mikado were supposed to become
 friends, or at least aqquantinces. Sakana was unwilling to compromise, 
hating the phoniness of the frendship attempts. After all, it wasnt like 
Mikado hadnt tried to beat him up before....thank god for Hikira. One of the 
reasons he liked her so much was her guts. Sakana quickly nodded and stepped 
back.

"So anyway..." Mikado turned to Matsakura again, the phony grin still 
plastered on his face. "How would you feel about joining the volleyball club?
  We'll skip your audition."

Matsakura shrugged. "Sure...if you skip Sakana's too."

"NANI?!?" Sakana grabbed Matsakura's shoulder, but he kept his eyes steady on
 Mikado, whos fake grin had slipped a few notches. "Is it a deal or not?"

(I was told to get him on the team, any means necessary..damnit.) Mikado 
shook his head. "Deal. Ja, minna." He turned and walked swiftly back to 
school. 

"Matsakura!" Sakana hissed. "What are you DOING?!? You know theyll
 never let me on that team!"

"They have to now. Youve always wanted to join-"

"I know, but-"

"and Ive played you before. Youre GOOD, Sakana."

"But..." Sakana sighed. It was what he had wanted to do for qwuite 
sometime...but he couldnt shake the feeling there would be consequences...

owari chapter 3