Disclaimer: I do not own Itazura na Kiss in any way, shape or form. Because if I did, this Texas girl would have smacked a 2x4 alongside Naoki's head a few times.

Chapter 1

"What am I doing here?" Aihara Kotoko asked herself. All afternoon she and Sudo-sempai had been trailing Irie-kun and Matsumoto-san on their date. The movie, the restaurant, the shopping trip—all of that spying effort—just to have thrown in their faces, repeatedly, how well-suited the pair was.

"I'm going home," Kotoko quietly announced to Sudo.

Of course, he did not take her statement rationally or calmly. If she had not known better, she would have sworn that a tennis racquet was in his hand. "What?! Why now?!"

"I can't stand to see them together anymore," she stated, eyes to the ground, blinking to keep tears from falling.

"But that's why we're here—to put a stop to it," Sudo argued.

"If they're truly in love, then there's nothing we can do about it … I just realized that."

"So, are you saying that you accept them as a couple?!" Sudo grilled her, his mustache quivering in frustration.

The tears finally succumbed to gravity. "I … I just … I just don't want to feel more pathetic than I already do!" Kotoko declared, sniffing. "Sorry, sempai, but I'm dropping out!"

Hand to her eye, Kotoko reversed direction and began walking away. With unusual adroitness for someone normally clumsy, she managed to swerve around a large man in a garish shirt. Sudo-sempai produced a growl of protest which was followed by a loud thud and the sound of splashing liquid. Unwilling to further embarrass herself by showing a crying face on a public street, Kotoko did not turn around and continued toward the train station.

Recognizing a familiar voice in an angry discussion rapidly increasing in volume, Irie Naoki stopped and turned.

"What is it, Irie-kun?" asked Matsumoto Yuko, eyes on the composed face of the man beside her.

He chuckled softly. "It's just that idiot Sudo," he replied. "Unbelievable."

"What is he doing here?" she exclaimed, standing on her toes to see over the crowd. "Do you think he followed us?"

"Didn't you notice earlier?" Naoki asked absently, his eyes shifting from the now-physical altercation to observers nearby. His brows moved together slightly, giving him a worried look when he failed to find whom he sought.

Matsumoto tightened her grip on his arm. "Don't tell me that you plan to help that fool?"

"Not at all," he replied smoothly. "Let's go on, shall we?"

With a satisfied smile on her face, Matsumoto led him on towards the next shop. She never noticed that he gave one last glance over his shoulder before proceeding.