A/N:
*takes deep breath*
Hey guys. It's been awhile.. Like a few years.
Let me start by saying, I'm so sorry for neglecting this for so long the way I did.
I'm going to give you a warning before you dive into this chapter, that because I'm older than I was when I first wrote this story, my writing has also changed.
I hope you guys will still enjoy it despite that.
Thank you for the encouraging messages and reviews - you guys didn't give up on this story even when I did.
You guys are simply the best.
This chapter is unedited so forgive any errors grammatically or spelling-wise.
Without further ado, I present to you, the new chapter of Tsukushi Makino in Disguise!
"Okay so you will be with your group for some of the activities but for the exercises, you will be with an assigned partner from your group," Mrs Sato said.
Tsukushi groaned inwardly, dreading the 'partner' bit of this.
"Okay, the first exercise will be to build a fire," Mr Kimura clapped his hands, as he walked around the groups, "This is a most necessary skill to know if you want to survive in the wild. Mrs Sato, if you will announce the assigned partners," He gestured towards the students.
"Very well Kimura-san." She nodded, proceeding to look at the sheets in her hand, "Kenji you will be with Abe."
"Mori, you're with Nakano."
"Domyouji-sama, you will be with..."
30 minutes later ~
"Tsukasa, what are you doing!" Tsukushi growled, grabbing the magnifying glass.
"HEY!" Tsukasa shouted, "I was at that for like, 2 minutes already!" He glared at her, grabbing it back.
"You were at such a bad angle, there's no wonder no flame is appearing," She spat, grabbing it roughly, "The sun wasn't even making that dot it was supposed to on the newspaper!"
"Give that back woman!" He yelled, snatching it out of her hand but she held on tightly so now, they were playing tug-of-war with the magnifying glass.
"Tsukasa, you useless pig!" She said through gritted teeth as she pulled forcefully.
"You stupid bitc-"
"AHEM!" Mr Kimura stood over them, with raised eyebrows, "What seems to be the problem here?"
"She won't give it back!"
"He won't give it back!"
They shouted at the same time, their hands still gripping the poor magnifiying glass.
Snickers and muffled laughs arose and both Tsukushi and Tsukasa looked around, confused. Everyone had stopped what they were doing once they heard the argument they were having and now, they were all laughing at the childish behaviour the two displayed.
Mr Kimura sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "All of your efforts in these exercises will add points to the winning team in the end. This all leads up to the Navigation Competition, so I suggest you two try to get along and make this work, or you will be losing valuable points for your group."
Tsukasa's eyes narrowed in anger, "Do you want to be fired Kimura-san? Because I can do that with a little whisper to the princi-"
Tsukushi cut off his threat by slapping her hand across his mouth, "Sir, we'll try to get along. Thank you for the warning."
Mr Kimura nodded quickly, grateful for having the feisty young girl cut off the warning of possibly losing his job. He walked away with a brisk pace, barking at the students to get on with it.
Tsukasa slapped her hand away, glaring at her, "He will lose his job. I swear."
"Don't you dare Domjouji. I'll challenge you to a fight if you do," She hissed.
They glared at each other, having an intense staring match and all the while losing valuable time.
Another 30 minutes later~
Everyone had finished the activity. Everyone was now enjoying the lunch hour.
All except one pair, still struggling.
"Even the teachers abandoned us because we were this slow," Tsukushi muttered, focusing the little dot more, encouraging the strong afternoon sunlight to make a flame.
Suddenly, slithers of smoke started to appear on the newspaper.
They gasped.
"Oh thank God." Tsukasa moaned, "I'm so hungry. I'm going to sue someone if I get sick of being deprived of food."
A little flame flickered up and Tsukushi let out a cry of joy, ignoring her whiny partner.
"Yes! We did it!" She cried, jumping up and laughing.
Tsukasa opened his mouth to say something but he froze.
All he saw in that moment was the girl with the black hair jumping up and down, shimmering in the sunlight. Her happy smile seemed like the most radiant thing he'd ever seen. He inhaled sharply as he felt his heart speed up a little. What in world-
"Tsukasa? Tsukasa!"
He snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat, looking away. "Right, uh sorry, I just uh-" He got up slowly but suddenly his foot slipping on the newspaper and he fell forward.
"SHIT!" He yelled, pulling his hand to his chest. "OW OW OW!"
Tsukushi couldn't believe her eyes. The idiot had actually managed to fall forward, his hand landing right on top of the mini flame, putting it out.
She groaned at the sight. Tsukasa was now clutching his hand to his chest and rolling around like a constipated dog.
"All right, stop whining you big baby," She sighed, walking over to get the first aid kit the teachers had left just in case. She grabbed it and walked back to the writhing Tsukasa.
"Tsukasa," She shook him, "Come on, I'll help you, just stop moaning."
He groaned, sitting up and holding out his hand. "Ugh, it hurts."
Tsukushi held it gently and examined it. She let out a gust of wind and smacked him across the head.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
"Your 'injury' is tiny!" Tsukushi exclaimed. Indeed it was. The flame was small enough to create a swelling red circle at the top of his palm. "By the way you were moving about, I thought the skin of your hand was burnt off!"
He glared, "It still hurts. Shut up."
"You had me worried, you idiot." She muttered, dabbing Sudo cream onto the swelling part.
"Worried?" He said, confused, before a slow smirk crawled up his face. "Worried about me huh?"
Tsukushi's eyes widened in horror. She didn't say that.. did she? "Yeah well, you looked like a constipated dog there for a minute so of course I was worried," She retorted, hoping the slight blush wouldn't be noticed.
"Constipated dog?!" He sputtered.
"Yep," She smirked.
He narrowed his eyes, "You're a pain in the ass Nakamura. Just admit you like me already."
Her face contorted with a mixture of disgust and horror, "In your dreams Domyouji." She faked a shiver, "And you're not exactly a rainbow of happiness either."
"Glad to know we're on the same page." He glared.
"Likewise," She retorted.
Lunch Hour ~
"I can't believe how long it took for you guys to finish!" Sojirou laughed, his mouth full of lasagne.
"And dude, everyone was just listening to your petty arguments most of time. It was entertaining as hell," Akira slapped Tsukasa's shoulder.
"Shut up and eat you morons!" Tsukasa growled, grabbing a cupcake, wincing as it made contact with the small burn.
Tsukushi noticed this and slapped his hand away, "Tsukasa, use your other hand."
He begrudgingly dropped his left hand and picked up the cupcake with his right.
Shin, Akira, Sojirou and even Rui looked at each other, bewildered at their calm, strange exchange.
"What's up with not using your left hand man?" Sojirou asked.
"I burnt myself on the flame." He muttered.
"What was that?"
"I burnt myself on the flame," He raised his volume but barely.
"What?"
"I BURNED MYSELF ON THE FLAME!" Tsukasa stood up and yelled at Sojirou, beyond irritated now. He quickly glared at everyone who started giggling and soon, he shrank down to his seat, the tables all quiet once again.
Sojirou and Akira laughed in unison. Getting their best friend so angry sure was fun.
"And you took care of him Tsukushi?" Shin asked curiously, biting into an apple.
"Yeah," She said, somewhat embarrassed.
Sojirou and Akira, knowing they'd already pissed off their leader, kept their lips tightly shut. That didn't mean they didn't exchange sly glances though before eventually crack up, getting another rise out of Tsukasa.
Rui stared intently at Tsukushi, his gaze never wavering despite the ruckus at the table.
Tsukushi glanced his way and was immediately unnerved by the intensity of his gaze. Her hand reached up to touch her face consciously, "What is it Hanazawa-san?"
His gaze stayed on her face and she felt even more flustered as he said, "Nothing. I just feel something somewhat familiar about you." With that, he went back to eating.
Tsukushi's heart had sped up and she was internally panicking at what Rui said.
There was no way he knew. There was no way he knew. She kept reassuring herself and soon, she began to believe her own mental ramblings.
The next day~
"Okay, we have decided that the Navigation Contest will be done in partners instead of groups."
Cries of outrage were heard when Mrs Sato said this.
"We have figured that making decisions with one other person is much easier than with 5 other people. Now, no more protests because this is final. Mr Kimura will now explain the Contest so listen up or you'll be lost in the forest."
"Alright!" He barked, "It's simple. You are given a compass and a map. You use the compass to lead you east, if you think the map says east and likewise with other directions. You have studied compasses in school so you should know how to use them. You have 3 hours before it gets dark. All right let's get on with it!"
3 hours later~
"Domyouji, it's getting late. The sky's getting dark," Tsukushi bit her lip nervously, looking up at the dark blue sky.
"I have a flashlight, don't worry," he said distractedly, moving the compass this way and that.
"Face it! We're lost!" She cried, "We've been going around in circles because of that stupid compass! Someone must have magnetised it because it won't work properly!"
Tsukasa whirled around, ready to get mad at her outburst but he stopped when he saw her desperate expression.
He sighed, "Okay, maybe we are lost."
"How are you so calm about this then?!" She shook his shoulders, "How?! This forest is huge! They'll never find us!"
He looked at her evenly, "I'm Domyouji Tsukasa. They'll cut down the entire forest to find me."
"Ugh! Now isn't the time to be arrogant!" She cried, pulling away and nervously pacing back and forth.
He grabbed her hand, pulling her to a stop. He gently grabbed her face with both of his hands so her panicked eyes would meet his calm gaze.
"Nakamura. What are you scared of?"
"What?"
"What are you scared of?" He repeated.
"What do you mean-"
"Is it the dark? Is it the bugs? What's scaring you the most in this situation?"
Tsukushi met his gaze before groaning in defeat.
"I don't like to be lost okay? It scares me. What if we never find our way out? What if no one finds us?"
Tsukasa's eyes softened as Tsukushi's panicked self returned. The tough, strong girl he knew was now in front of him, in her most vulnerable state. Who knew Nakamura Tsukushi would be scared of being lost of all things?
He gently pulled her to his chest and held her tightly when she struggled against him.
"I'm just trying to calm you down, okay?" He convinced her, or was it himself he was trying to convince? "My older sister always did this for me back when I was young and got scared of little things."
Tsukushi stopped struggling and whimpered softly. Jeez, she was so pathetic right now. In her enemy's arms! How much more pathetic could she get?!
She sighed. Shin would have done this for her whenever she was upset and he wasn't here now.
But Tsukasa was.
"Domyouji?" She murmured against his chest.
"Yeah?"
"Why aren't you scared? And why are you helping me? I thought you'd be freaking out like a mad animal by now."
He chuckled, the sound reverberating in his chest and it was almost soothing in a way. In this situation, who would have thought this boy would be good for comforting?
"I don't know." He said after awhile. "I'm helping you because.. you helped me earlier."
Was that it? Tsukushi shook away the ridiculous tinge of disappointment.
"And I'm not scared . . because . . because I'm in this situation with you," He admitted quietly.
Tsukushi's brows pulled together, "What? Why? But you hate me."
"I don't." He said automatically, in a surprisingly firm tone. "I'm not scared because whatever situation you're put in, you always make it out okay. And for me, being with that sort of person right now . . that's the biggest reassurance of all."
She was stunned at his words. He pulled away and she stared as he dropped down to crouch near the trunk. He took out a blanket from his backpack, before laying it out at the base of the huge tree they were under.
"What are you doing?" She croaked out before clearing her throat.
"We went too deep to find our way out tonight. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Or better yet, they find us tomorrow morning," He said gruffly.
He laid down on one side of the huge blanket and folded his arms behind his head.
He smiled at her, a real genuine smile and she felt her heart skip a beat.
"Come on, don't make a fuss. We're just sharing a blanket that's all."
Tsukushi opened her mouth to list out all the cons in this current predicament she was about to commit herself to (such as, what would the teachers think if they found them like this tomorrow morning), but she closed it, realizing she really didn't care at this point.
She laid herself down, as far away from him as possible. She didn't miss the slight frown on his face when she did that.
Tsukushi caught his gaze on her and she quickly turned her eyes to the sky.
She was getting way too weirded out by what was transpiring between her and her enemy right now. Weirded out and confused. Not to mention hungry, she thought, as her stomach growled.
Before she could reach into her backpack to search for any remaining food she brought that she hadn't ate yet, Tsukasa already pulled out a pack of Oreos from his backpack and tossed them to her.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
They could both hear the smile in each other's voices.
Tsukushi looked up at the navy nightsky and the twinkling stars as she munched on the Oreos they were now sharing.
"Domyouji?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't hate you too."
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