(2) Alone in the darkness

When Iku opened her eyes, she was in her bed. Slowly she turned her head and looked around. Shibazaki didn't return yet. Wait… The girl caught a glance of her friend's black hair beside her bed. It's a bit messy, she thought amused. That meant she took care of her the whole night… The wet flannel on Iku's forehead validated that. She removed it and peered to her alarm clock.

"4:01…", she murmured, "I should put Shibazaki to her bed and then sleep the remained two hours…"

Suddenly Shibazaki seemed to wake up because a quiet rustle came from her place. Iku sat up and frowned. She looked straight in "Shibazaki's" face and blushed.

"Iku, you're awake?", said a definitely manly voice.

The girl could only utter a: "Doujou?!" What did he do here? In HER room? That was the girl's dorm!

Doujou stood up and yawned.

"Damn, I fell asleep…", he mumbled.

"W-what…w-why are you here?!"

The man glanced annoyed at her.

"Maybe someone had a fever because this person was too careless and looked oneself in the gym?", he answered angry.

"What?! Do you really think I'm that stupid?! I-…", she began to cough violently.

"Blockhead! Do me a favor and stay in your bed today!", Doujou pushed her back in the pillows, his hands forcefully on her shoulders while looking right in Iku's red face.

"Did you underst-…?"

Just in that moment the real Shibazaki entered the room.

"Argh my head…I think I shouldn't drink that much next ti-…", she broke off, "uhm, sorry for interrupting your…uhm…"

She stopped and they starred at each other. A shade of dark red spread on Doujou and Iku's faces. An unpleasant silence filled the room until Iku broke it.

"No, that's not it! That's not it!", she burst out.

"Shibazaki would you please take care off her, she caught a cold…I leave…then", he explained quickly and hurried away.

"Doujou! Don't you dare leave me!"

But the man had already closed the door. Outside he slapped his head. How did it come to this embarrassing situation?

After two hours Doujou went to the training area to manage the morning class. He obviously was in a very bad mood and had dark circles under his eyes. The men stood in a line right in front of their bad-tempered instructor. They straighten their backs and greeted him with the military greeting. Doujou glared at each of them with narrowed eyes and inspected their clothes.

"Your cap isn't placed oblique!", he shouted.

"I'm really sorry, Sir! I'll correct it immediately!", the man answered stiffly.

"Just do it!"

"Y-yes, Sir!", he uttered and looked a bit confused. The instructor REALLY was in a bad mood!

Doujou went grumbling along the line of soldiers, shouting and complaining about each of them. The only girl in the line stood at the very end. Iku's back was straighten, her hand on her forehead while looking a bit too serious. She sniffed and tried not to cough, but the girl was definitely not in her best state of health. Under her eyes were dark circles looking similar to her instructor's. That was because she couldn't sleep after Doujou had left.

First Shibazaki had asked her a lot of questions about their "relationship" and then Iku tried to sleep, but it didn't work… while her friend slept noisy in her bed, Iku tossed and turned in her one. It was impossible for her to fall asleep because every time she closed her eyes, she had to remember the embarrassing occurrence and think about how Doujou had been able to find her in the gym.

Of course Iku joined the morning class especially because Doujou had said she should stay in her bed.

He hadn't seen her yet, but the instructor came unavoidably closer. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

Doujou stared stunned at the familiar face in front of him. Iku looked right in his dark eyes with an overly serious expression on her face. A sudden silent followed. All the soldiers glanced to the two waiting for something to happen. Iku who was a bit confused that Doujou didn't say a word started to question him.

"Sir, I hope my clothes accord to the rules!", the girl said with a strict voice.

At this moment the man's eyes widened and he began jelling at her.

"YOU ARE A COMPLETELY FOOL, BLOCKHEAD! DIDN'T I TOLD YOU THIS MORNING TO STAY IN YOUR BED TODAY?", he took a breather.

"S-sorry…", was all Iku could answer.

"DON'T MAKE FUN OF ME!", Doujou was breathing heavily with an angry look on his face. But he also seemed to be banged up even if he didn't want to show that.

Iku couldn't help. Her eyes became watery and tears started to roll down her cheeks. Quickly she tried to hide them behind her hands. She didn't stand stiffly anymore and her whole body was shaking. The girl didn't want to cry, but she couldn't stop the tears from falling down. That was all just because Doujou had screamed at her… She hated herself for the fact that she was such a crybaby. But when Doujou screamed at her, Iku's heart felt like it was going to break.

She had realized that she had fallen in love with her instructor a few weeks ago. First she couldn't believe it, but then she had to accept the truth and she had been really happy until now.

"He made her cry…", mumbled one of the soldiers.

Doujou stood there in shock. He just wanted to say that he was worried about her. He hadn't expected her to cry. He looked around. Wasn't there anything or anybody that could help him? The man glanced at the faces of the other soldiers and recognized that he had to do something otherwise he would lose his honor.

"Iku…don't cry, ok? I'm truly sorry…", he said while lying a hand on her head.

"Doujou…"

Suddenly he felt her falling forward against his chest. Quickly he caught the girl to prevent her body from falling onto the ground.

"Iku!", he went into the squat position touched her forehead.

"Damn, she caught a fever!", he murmured and turned his head to one of the soldiers, "you have to manage the morning class today, I'll bring her to her room!"

"Yes, Sir!", the man answered.

Why hadn't he noticed her red cheeks before?

While the soldiers began with the exercises, Doujou carried Iku in his arms towards her room.

He put her into the bed and looked around. Shibazaki was nowhere to be found, but the flannel lay on the floor. He picked it up and went to the bathroom. Tiredly he leaned his head against the mirror while holding the flannel under the running water.

Iku awaked from a cold, wet feeling on her head. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked right into Doujou's. This time she didn't start screaming. She just looked at him and he looked back.

"Thanks…", she mumbled and turned her head. Her cheeks were red again, but not because of the fever. Doujou set beside her on the bed.

"Why did you come to the training?", he asked, but looked worried.

"Because I didn't want to miss it and didn't think about the after effects?"

Doujou didn't seem to believe her.

"I think, you went there because I forbad it."

The girl focused one of his fingers while speaking.

"U-uhm…maybe…a little bit…"

"You're such stubborn idiot!", he grumbled, "I should teach you more respect!"

"Just try!", she answered scornfully.

Suddenly Doujou leaned forward and placed his lips on her ones. Iku's eyes widened, but she didn't resist. Instead she laid her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. First Doujou was startled, but then he became more forcefully. The kiss became more and more passionate.

The girl felt her heart beating faster. Even Doujou couldn't hold back anymore. They both never felt as happy as now. They couldn't describe the feeling the kiss created in their hearts.

But at this moment Doujou broke the kiss. Iku was disappointed and tried to kiss him again, but he jumped back looking to the door with an awkward red face. The girl would have laughed if she hadn't seen a frozen Shibazaki standing in the doorframe.

She stared paralyzed at her roommate.

Suddenly Shibazaki began to curse.

"Damn!", she screamed, "Now I have to pay Komaki 1000 Yen! Couldn't you wait a few days?"

"W-what?!", Iku uttered.

Shibazaki glanced annoyed at her.

"I bet with Komaki after that incident in the gym, how long it'll take until you two come together. He bet two and I said four days…"

"You two did what?!", Doujou didn't know whether he should be angry or appalled.

Shibazaki sighed annoyed.

"Do I really have to tell you the whole story again?", she didn't wait for an answer and turned her attention back to Iku, "ah and I wanted to apologize…Komaki, too"

Surprised the girl looked at her friend.

"Because of the bet?"

"Nope. Because we locked you in the gym for an hour."

Silence. Then Iku and Doujou began yelling at the same time.

"That were you?!"

"Why are you surprised, Doujou? We told you about it earlier…"

"No! You told me there were some strange looking guys near the gym!", he complained furiously.

"Ah, you're right…my fault. We didn't want you to argue with us because Iku was locked in the gym for one hour and we didn't want her to endure another one."

"That wasn't only one hour…", Iku added quietly.

"Hm, are you sure? Maybe you're right, but it took such a long time to find Doujou…"

The girl glared at Shibazaki in disbelief.

Iku hadn't realized the whole situation yet. She set in her bed looking confused from Doujou to Shibazaki and back.

"So it was really you?", Iku thought how lonely she felt and how desperate she sat there in the darkness.

"Yeah, but I already told you, didn't I?"

"SHIBAZAKI! You and Komaki, you're the biggest idiots I ever met!", she wailed and pointed accusingly at her friend.

"I think I'll go and look for Komaki…", Doujou said with an dreadful grin crossing his face. Without paying attention to Shibazaki, Doujou went to Iku and placed a kiss on her forehead. Then he whispered in her ear: "I have to tell you something really important and besides I want to continue where we were interrupted."

"D-doujou…!", Iku's face turned dark red and she didn't know what to say.

He gave her a wink and smiled amused.

"What about tomorrow at 9:30 pm?"

"Ah, t-that's fine…"

"Ok, then I'll meet you at the main entrance", he said and left with a happy smile and lightly rouged cheeks.

THE END

(now it's late and I'm too tired to search for mistakes today... i'll check it tomorrow)

Ok, this was the second and last chapter.

Thank you for reading :)