Number Eight: I Never Thought I'd Come To This

Kiyoko waited for a perky blonde girl to finish tying the triple bow on the back of her kimono. Kiyoko looked in the mirror. Umi-chan had been right – the fake hair extension matched her hair perfectly. Her ruby red lips formed a grin as she turned to the blonde girl.

"Domo arigato, Maureen-sama," Kiyoko thanked graciously. Maureen adjusted the bow that tied Kiyoko's hair extension into a ponytail.

"You're so polite, Kiyoko," Maureen told her. "You must have been taught well." Maureen adjusted the wide, red center strap on her kimono, which was crimson. Maureen smiled, her green eyes glistening. "Don't be nervous, Kiyoko. We've been doing so well. This dress practice will go fine."

"Thanks, Maureen," Kiyoko bowed. Her blue kimono rustled with the movement. "The bow is perfect." The bow and the wide center strap on Kiyoko's kimono were light blue. Kiyoko's sandals clacked with her small movement. "I think I'm going to go get a drink of water."

"We have twenty minutes until the practice starts," Maureen told her as she walked out of the room. Normally, Kiyoko would have never walked out of the tea ceremony room wearing her kimono. (She didn't want guys staring at her, perverts that they are.) But it was seven o'clock in the morning on a Friday. The school was practically deserted.

Kiyoko stopped in front of one of the water dispensers and stuck in her two hundred and fifty yen. A cup fell out of the machine, and the water began to pour into it.

Kiyoko waited for it to stop, and then took the cup and drank from it. "I have to calm down…"

"You're red again. Why?"

Kiyoko didn't have to look around to know who it was.

"I though that you had morning practice today, Hiruma," Kiyoko grimaced. She knew she was red now.

"That kimono looks good on you," Hiruma said, ignoring what Kiyoko had told him. Kiyoko blinked.

"Uh… thanks, I guess…" Kiyoko responded, startled. Hiruma's version of a compliment was usually a swift kick in the back. A verbal compliment was something that was completely out of his realm of comprehension.

"And I haven't asked you out because if you were 'with me', bad things would happen to you," Hiruma explained.

Kiyoko frowned. "I hate how you go from point A to point Z without so much as an explan – what…?"

"I know you heard me," Hiruma grumbled. "And it's true. If we were to be a couple in the traditional sense, you'd probably get killed by… well… a lot of people… my enemies, I mean…"

"I don't understand," Kiyoko mumbled to herself before turning back to Hiruma. "So you… like me?"

"You're so slow," Hiruma groaned. "Get with the program, damn manager!"

That sounded more like Hiruma.

"Sorry, I'm a bit startled right now," Kiyoko admitted cautiously. "So… you like me, and you want to be with me, but you don't want me to have to deal with the consequences of that?"

"How many times are you going to say the same thing?" Hiruma mused.

Kiyoko drained the water out of her cup before narrowing her eyes. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Hiruma pressed. "You're unbelievable, you know that, right? Not everyone is out to get you."

"This just doesn't seem like something you'd do," Kiyoko defended herself. "Can't I be a bit suspicious?"

Hiruma rolled his eyes. "Okay, since you won't let me tell you, I guess I'll just have to show you…"

"What are you –?"

Hiruma kissed Kiyoko on the lips gently and quickly. He pulled away rapidly, a red tinge to his skin and a small, almost undetectable smirk on his face.

"Okay, now do you get it?" Hiruma asked roughly. "I need to get down to the field, and I can't spend any more time explaining myself to the likes of you."

Kiyoko smiled dumbly. "I get it… I think…"

Hiruma shook his head. "And five seconds ago you were angry… what the hell…" He turned away from Kiyoko and began to walk away. "Don't tell anybody about this, okay? It's more for your sake than mine…"

Kiyoko watched him walk away before she realized that she had been gone ten minutes and ran back to the Tea Ceremony room.

Maureen seemed a bit concerned that Kiyoko had gotten so giddy because of a cup of water, but she waved it off as hormones.

Kiyoko had calmed down considerably by the end of school. She fished 250 yen out of her jacket pocket and walked over to the broken soda machine by the football field. She stuck her yen into the machine and waited for it to give her a soda. The machine clanked oddly, but no soda fell out. Kiyoko frowned.

"Oh, come on," Kiyoko murmured, crouching down and looking up the shaft that the soda came out of. (Normally this is a stupid idea, seeing as the soda could come down and hit your head, but Kiyoko wasn't thinking about that.) Nothing but darkness. No noise emanated from the machine.

Kiyoko bit her lip, trying desperately to keep her calm, but it was no use. She kicked the machine.

"Oh come on! Do you know how much money I've given you, you piece of crap!" Kiyoko yelled, kicking the machine again.

Hiruma was walking by (actually going home at a humane hour…) and noticed Kiyoko destroying the soda machine. He frowned, walked up to the machine, and kicked it on the right side. Kiyoko looked over to Hiruma expectantly.

The machine began to whir. Kiyoko whirled around to face it. Hiruma walked away indifferently. A dull thud ensued from the machine. Kiyoko went to retrieve her coke when she noticed that two had fallen out of the machine.

Kiyoko picked up the second one and thought about what to do. She turned around.

"Hey!" Kiyoko yelled at Hiruma. "Hiruma! Two cokes fell out! Do you want one?"

Hiruma turned his head slightly to look at Kiyoko. "Sure, whatever."

Hiruma stopped to let Kiyoko catch up, and she ran after him. She reached his side, paused to catch her breath, and gave him the second coke. Kiyoko opened her own bottle and smiled.

"So that's the trick to getting a coke out of that thing," Kiyoko smiled. "I thought that it was just me."
"Coke machines are inanimate objects," Hiruma frowned. "They don't hold grudges."

Kiyoko took a drink of coke. "Sorry about earlier. I kind of… spaced out."

"Obviously," Hiruma shrugged. "You're red AGAIN. God, you're such a freak."

"What does that make you?" Kiyoko asked pointedly. Hiruma glared at Kiyoko. She glowered at him, taking another sip of her coke.

"Hey, why are you walking this way?" Kiyoko asked suddenly. "Don't you usually go down the main street? This is my way home."

"I need to go to the convenience store," Hiruma shrugged, drinking his coke. "Why do you care?"

"It seems like you're walking me home."

"I'm not."

"But you could have taken that street we just walked past to get to Son-Son quicker. You ARE walking me home."

"You seem to be enjoying it fine. If anyone saw how excited you were now, you could pretty much kiss your life goodbye. For someone who's supposed to be keeping a secret, you sure are acting spastic."

"I'm not being spastic," Kiyoko protested spastically. "I'm just questioning why we're keeping our relationship a secret, but you walk me home anyway. Hypocrite."

"I'm not walking you home. I'm going to the convenience store. Stop being so weird."

Hiruma and Kiyoko's conversation went on like this for quite some time. Had anyone happened to chance upon them as they walked, they would have gotten the impression that those two were closer than their conversation let on.

But no one saw them. For, despite what Kiyoko might have thought, it was six o'clock by the time she got home, it was NOT a humane hour to be at school, and most everyone had left Deimon High already.

Except for Mamori, who had to investigate the stolen sink for Disciplinary Comittee. Ah, youth…

The End

A/N: Yeah, it only took an eternity to get this up and up. I'm really sorry. It's been done for quite some time, but… well… my computer is retarded. Eheheh…

A/N 2: Since I brought it up, here are all the chapter titles and what song they're from:

'She Asks Me Why' – from the song 'Hair' (from the musical of the same name)

'Where Was My Heart?' – from the song 'I Drive Myself Crazy' (by NSYNC… I know, passé, but I still have them on my mp3… sweat drop…)

'Why Should I Care?' – from the song 'Why Should I Worry?' (from 'Oliver and Company', which is one of the best Disney movies ever made, natch)

'Scary Conversation, Shut My Eyes, Can't Find the Break' – from the song 'What You Waiting For?' (by Gwen Stefani)

'It's Kind of Crazy, But It's Nice' – from the song 'Every Lover' (by Garth Brooks – I don't know if that's the song's actual title, but I'm fairly certain it is)

'Cessa Crudel, Tanto Rigor' – from the Italian aria 'Caro Mio Ben' (which is an absolutely heartbreaking, beautiful song, and if you ever get the chance to listen to it, it's truly amazing)

'Windmill, Windmill…' – from the song 'Feel Good Inc.' (oh come on. Do I have to tell you who sings this! …It's by Gorillaz, BTW.)

'I Never Thought I'd Come To This' – from the song 'I Don't Know How To Love Him' (from the musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar'… incidentally, Jack Black recently performed in a version of it. I love his work. Hahah.)

A/N 3: Thanks to all who read this humble and somewhat crazy story. The number of positive reviews is spectacular, especially for a community that used to have only fifteen stories when I started writing. Truly a blessing.

A/N 4: Now my energy is going towards my Naruto fic, Coming to America. Please, R&R, and I'll be back!

DISCLAIMER: For the last time, you simpering fools, I don't own Eyeshield 21!