Strangers In A Toilet

"When this ends, I will say this beautifully to you. You broke me."

Everyone shouted at them when it began, "No!"

He was the sarcastic, cynical guy who's hopeless in romance and thought 'Gone with the Wind' was the most boring movie he had ever seen.

She was the hopeful, romantic girl who just knew her Prince Charming would come one day, despite the scoundrels for boyfriends she dated and dumped.

He had no friends, and everyone was her friends.

His clothes were all in black, and her clothes were as colourful as the rainbow.

And the list went on and on.

If you suggest they were perfect for each other, everyone will laugh at you. And oh, ask if you were mental.

So what happen when they finally met?

They fought, of course.

He was annoyed at her hair.

"Do you have to fix your hair all the time?" A sceptical eyebrow rose.

She blinked at him in the mirror. "Who are you?"

"I'm the guy you should bow to and whose feet you should kiss."

She gaped at him. "Why should I?"

He frowned.

"I'm the owner of this apartment and you're my guest."

"No you're not and no I am not. Takeru's the owner, and I'm his guest."

"Well, milady, my little brother's currently on my father's bed with some brunette. Fumbling with their clothes, may I add?"

He sauntered towards her, a mocking smile on his face.

"Does that qualify me as the owner now, girl?"

"How dare you speak badly of your own brother-" she backed away from him and hit the wall.

"Sweetheart, it's the truth."

He cocked his head sideway.

"Whatever. And her name is Hikari and my name is Mimi, not girl, not sweetheart. Who are you to call me that?"

Her face was flaming red as she pointed her finger at his chest. Somehow, her red face made her pink hair less peculiar to him. It seemed they were right for each other.

It shocked him. He liked angering her.

"Well, darling, my name is Yamato. Though I'm not sure your tiny brain can remember that."

He grinned as she gaped at him.

"How dare you! You-you-"

"I think the word you're looking for is vile, but charming would fit in better." He smirked. "Don't you agree?"

What she did next made it all worth it.

She seized the bottles of shampoo on the counter and threw them at him.

"Get out!"

"Ouch, you hit my head there, princess."

He ducked but another one hit his nose. A nasty idea struck his mind. He didn't know why he did it, but he said,

"Naughty girl, let me a give you a farewell gift then."

He grinned at her as he approached her. The dim lighting shadowed his face.

"As long as you're going-" she started when he yanked her to him.

His heat overpowered her. His strong arms gripped her. He feasted on her lips. His cologne intoxicated her. He was rough.

And she liked it.

But she pulled away and glared at him.

"You jerk! Bastard!"

She ran out of the bathroom.

He just grinned like a cat that got the cream.

"You're the girl I've never wanted."

"And you're the guy I've always hated."

There was that sound again.

She screamed.

Jumping off her bed, she glared out of the window.

"Don't you ever sleep, Dracula?"

He grinned up at her.

"Ah, milady. I see you're still awake."

She bit her lower lip.

"You. Woke. Me."

"Ah." He nodded. "That's bad of me."

She growled. "I'm glad you noticed! Now can you go make someone else's life miserable?"

He tilted his head. "Not as fun as making your life hell."

She glared at him. He smiled at her.

"You give me headaches, sore eyes and a sore throat, do you know that?" she yelled.

She regretted it. He brightened up, pleased with himself.

"Oh, thanks!" He shouted.

She closed the window loudly and jumped into her bed.

After a while, she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Why do you have to throw stones at my window?" she shouted down at him.

She heard her father swore and her mother soothing him, but she ignored them.

Lit only by moonlight, he grinned at her. It irritated her. It maddened her even. He could make her go insane.

"I just want to say hello, good night, have a nice beauty sleep for your not-so-lovely hair…"

She picked up one of the stones he'd thrown and threw it at him.

He ducked, still grinning. "Alright, alright, I'm going."

He walked away and she watched. He was almost hidden by the darkness when he stopped.

He glanced back and waved at her. "Kiss the teddy bear for me, princess!"

With that, he gave her a flying kiss.

She threw another stone at him. He ran away laughing.

He made her remember that kiss though.

That night, she couldn't sleep.

"I can't sleep because of you. I can't watch TV because of you. I can't even take a bath because of you. Simply because you like throwing stones at my window."

She groaned in the cafeteria line.

"You."

"Me." He grinned as he snatched her sandwich. "The stranger in the toilet."

"The guy I will always hate." She tugged at her sandwich. "Why do you have to haunt me? Why don't you haunt Taichi instead? You can do me a favour. All I did was to go into your bathroom. It smells, by the way."

He gripped the sandwich. People stopped to stare. And chattered.

"Ah. The jock you don't like. I suspect he's my contender for the guy you hate the most."

She sighed. "You guys are like twins. You just cannot leave me alone, can you?"

For the first time, he smiled at her.

"No. Annoying you is my job. It's not Taichi's. It's mine."

Her face reddened.

"What should I do to get rid of him?" she looked upwards, pointing at him.

He loosened his grip on the sandwich.

"You can come and hear me sing."

She gaped at him.

"You? Sing?"

"Come and I'll let you have the sandwich." He winked at her.

She blew a strand away from her eyes.

"Fine. I'll be there."

He let go of the sandwich.

Grinning at her, he skipped away. "Be there, Mimi!"

"Right!" she shouted after him. "We'll see!"

The sandwich grew limp in her hand.

Despite people's stares, a warm feeling grew in her as she chomped on the sandwich.

"I tried to get away, I tried to forget, I tried thinking about another girl. It didn't work. And that's weird."

She was there, anxiously dressed in clothes that revealed little. She was a weird sight and the only teenaged girl in the crowded bar, so he spotted her easily.

When he spoke into the microphone, he announced her as his special guest. Everyone stared at her and one man bought her a Coke. She nervously thanked the big, balding man.

When his voice filled the bar, she stared at him. It wasn't because he was bad, no. He was good. She just couldn't believe the cocky guy in the toilet could sing.

Song after song, she thought he was great. His voice was husky and addictive. She wanted more. So was everyone else.

They protested when he announced his last song. He just smiled and said,

"I wrote this song for the girl with the pink hair and pink clothes," he smiled at her. She just noticed how blue his eyes were. "With hopes she won't stop kissing that stranger in the toilet, because that stranger certainly enjoys it."

People laughed. She blushed, looking down at her empty glass.

It was the only ballad in the whole night. He sang about a crazy girl who only cares for her hair. He sang how this made him mad. He sang how he wanted to kiss her.

Inside of her, something tugged.

"So this is how you spend your nights," she said to him later as the crowd applauded him. "With thunderous applause."

He smiled. It lit up his eyes. His lips enticed her.

"With a kiss, too." He said to her later after they have pulled away.

It was you who picked the pieces up, when I was a broken soul and then glued me back together, returned to me what others stole.

Everyone looked at him askance when he put his hand on the small of her back.

He glared at them, sending them scurrying away.

Why do they have to judge them? Couldn't they accept them as they are?

"Hey, you," she whispered against his lips. "Mr. Grumpy, why so grumpy today?"

"I'm not." He murmured against her ears, running his hand through her hair. "You have to smell like strawberries everyday, huh?"

"Because I know it drives you crazy." She grinned playfully. "Because I will have you wrapped around my finger everyday."

"Hmm." He kissed her hair lightly. "You drive me wild, and I will have you driven to the wall."

"Isn't that," she murmured against his skin. He shivered at her warm breath. "What I want?"

"I thought girls like you like hugs and kisses."

She laughed softly. "It's not like I could get those from you, can I?"

"But you could with other guys." He gazed into her eyes, searching.

She kissed the tip of his nose. "Being driven to the wall beats hugs and kisses everyday. Being with you beats being with an angel any day." She stared into his eyes. "That is what I want, after all. Nothing could beat you, Mr. Grumpy, and you might not believe this, but you mean more to me than my lipsticks and eye shadows." She rested her cheek on his smooth face. "Is that what you want?"

He kissed her madly, making her moan. "You don't know how much I want you." His warm breath touched her lips. "You don't know how much I need you." He held her face in his hands gently. "You simply don't know how addicted I am to you, every single day in a year."

He cupped her hands in his, gazing at her earnestly. "You don't know how much rules and caution I threw into the wind for you."

Her skin was warming against his skin, and she blew gently on his hands. "I want to be with you, and nothing anyone says would change that."

And her promise, however fragile, was good enough for him to keep on glaring at other people, scaring them into scarpering.

"I love black butterflies. They look like you."

Mimi Tachikawa knew it was going to end. She knew when she woke up on Valentine's Day, reaching for her cell phone.

There was no message from Yamato Ishida.

They had been fighting for weeks. It began with the small things, then about her friends. She just knew this wouldn't last.

Mimi smiled at her tearstained face in the mirror. "Oh well. He's going to be one of the scumbags I dumped."

She took a deep breath. Her body shook. "We're never mean to be together after all."

She broke down and cried.

Because the stranger in the toilet had crawled into her heart.

"You're weird. There's the war, politics, and a whole lot of other things you can care about other than your hair."

Mimi munched on her sandwich. She was hiding from her friends, so she chose to eat at the rooftop.

She had not seen him all day.

A tear fell on her cheeks. She continued to eat her sandwich as she cried.

"Why does it all have to end this way?" Mimi wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

"You tell me."

She jumped. The sandwich flew from her hands. Her pulse quickened.

"I did knock." Yamato motioned at the door.

She made a face. "Funny. How long-"

"Since you start crying." He scratched his head.

"Why are you-"

"To give you a gift." He tried to smile at her. It made him look helpless, hopeful.

"For-"

"Valentine's Day."

"What?" She stared at him. "I thought-"

"No, we're not." Yamato looked maddened.

"Can you let me finish?" she shouted. A few birds took off.

"Sorry." Yamato looked down at his feet. "For everything. Really."

She peered at him. "Are you on crack?"

A sceptical eyebrow rose. "No."

Mimi took a deep breath, crossing her arms. "Why?"

"Why should I break up with you?" Yamato looked incredulous. "I love you, you know."

She blushed. "You didn't message me this morning."

"So?" The eyebrow rose higher.

"It's Valentine's Day." She pointed out. "You not messaging me on Valentine's Day mean you want to break up."

He stared at her. "Whose theory is that?"

Mimi's face turned redder. "Mine."

Yamato burst out laughing. It lit up his whole face, starting from the lips, to the cheeks, to the eyes she loved so much. The sun shone on his golden hair. It was maddening.

It was his first.

"What?" Mimi was defensive as he sat down, still laughing. "It's true."

"No it isn't." Yamato smirked.

"Why?" She sat down beside him.

"Because I've been busy making this."

It was a little book. Mimi flipped through them, realising they were tear-out coupons. It stated the actions she could make him do, like kissing.

She tore one out immediately.

But this kiss was different. It wasn't rough.

He leaned into her. His fingers held her face. She breathed in his cologne. It was soft and lingering, the way all first kiss should be.

And Mimi knew they would be alright.

"Say," she said later when they broke away. "Where have you been all day?"

Yamato stared at her. "Looking for you. Where have you been?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Where I am now."

A chuckle escaped him.

"I can't believe you cried because I didn't message you."

Yamato yelped as Mimi hit him.

With her limp sandwich.

Note: Uhhh... It's five o'clock in the morning here. I can't believe I've been sleeping this late for days now... Doesn't matter. I could always sleep through the afternoon. ;) It's holiday! Yes!

This story's a spur of the moment and the only thing I want to focus on was the coupon book and how people always say they're not meant together. This is 'Autumn Tale' after the renovation. :) I'm sorry about the confusing writing style. ;)

Thank you for reading this! I really hope you enjoyed it!

Oh, and please comment will you? ;) (here's a smiley for you)

All standard disclaimers applied!

Updated on 17th of May, 2008