He opened the door slowly. No one left. He entered the room and went to his locker. He narrowed his eyes. Somehow, the room looked different.

    'I must be imagining things...'

He opened the locker in front of him slowly. The first thing he felt was a strong orange odor from inside. He stared confusedly.

    'Hey, this isn't my locker...'

He took a plastic bag in the locker and raised an eyebrow.

    'Underwear...?'

A sound of an opening door startled Kaidou. He turned his head intuitively.

A girl was standing in front of the door, eyes widened, mouth hanging open.

    "UNDERWEAR STEALER!!"

A Foolish Love

    "I told you, DON'T FOLLOW ME!!"

    "Fushuu..." the snakelike boy hissed. "What can I do? Boys' and girls' tennis courts are next to each other."

    "Well, you can use a different route!"

    "Why don't you use a different route?"

    "This is the shortest way to the tennis court."

    "See? We have the same reason."

    "Ugh!! Whatever!" the girl let out a shout of stress. "Just... don't get near me!!"

    "Fushuu..." he hissed again. "Like I want to..."

    "Che," she said. "I wonder what people like you were born for."

    "What did you say?!"

    "Hey, aren't I right?"

    "You're looking for a fight?"

    "What if I am?"

    "Why you—"

    "Atsui ne~" Momo—from inside the tennis court—grinned. Kaidou and the girl glared.

    "Momoshiro, what's that supposed to mean??"

    "Awww~ Don't be like that -cha~n..." Momo replied playfully, only to make the girl's lips to curve a frown.

    "You two are such pains..." she turned her head and walked away in hurry.

    "Fushuuu..." Kaidou narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to warm-up."

Momo shook his head. His fighting-partner could never be honest to himself.

had been Kaidou Kaoru's newest arguing-partner since Momoshiro. They first met when Kaidou accidentally came into girls' changing room. Kaidou had told her a countless times that he didn't do it on purpose, but did believe him? Of course not! She didn't tell anyone else about that, but they became enemies afterwards. Kaidou was mad at her because she did not believe him, and was annoyed because she thought Kaidou was a pervert.

    "Arguing with -chan again, Kaidou?" Eiji asked as he bounced to the bandanna boy.

    "Fushuuu..." was Kaidou's only reply.

    "She seems to like arguing with you ne, Kaidou?" Fuji grinned.

Kaidou glared. "What's that supposed to mean, senpai?"

    "Nothing, nothing..." the tensai said as he opened his tennis bag and took his racket. "Demo... It's really strange that although she says she hates you, she's always near you."

    "That should all be coincidences. Neither of us want to see each other since that time when—" Kaidou stopped.

    "'That time when' what?" Momo grinned.

    "M-mind your own business," he frowned.

    "Maa, maa," Inui appeared from nowhere. "It's not all coincidences that 's always near you, Kaidou," he opened his data book. "According to my data, she often follows you around at school everyday."

    "Follow me? That ? Heh, that can't be possible."

    "Nya, why don't you just admit it Kaidou?" Eiji uttered. "Don't you like -chan?"

    "W-WHAT?!" Kaidou took two steps back, a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. "There's NO WAY I like that sadist and maniac girl—"

    "Who the heck are you calling ‘sadist' and ‘maniac'?!" a tennis ball hit Kaidou right on his head.

    "Wha- ?!" he cried. "Aren't you practicing tennis right now?!"

    "Ba-ka," she stared at him with half-moon eyes. "Today you're practicing with us."

Kaidou raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

    "We're practicing together today, baka! Girls' and boys' tennis clubs! Haven't your buchou told you?!"

His mouth hanged open. Practicing together with girls' tennis club meant practicing with . And meant trouble for Kaidou.

He cursed.

    "Aww, isn't it sweet, Mamushi's happy because he can practice with -chan!"

    "Uwah! Momo! Does that mean our Kaidou finally gets a girlfriend?"

    "Well who knows ne, Eiji-senpai!"

    "Heh, what are you two talking about?!" frowned. "There's no way I can be this baka's girlfriend! No, not in a million years!"

    "Aw~ C'mon -chan~ Don't be like that~" Eiji blinked his puppy eyes.

    "Fushuuu..." Kaidou hissed. "And I don't want this tomboy, sadist, maniac, and psycho girl to be my girlfriend!!"

    "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

    "I'm telling them the truth!!"

    "Why you..."

    "K-kaidou! -chan! Mou, please stop it!" Eiji held 's hands while Momo wrapped Kaidou's waist from behind so they couldn't hit each other.

    "Let go off me!! I want that Baka Mamushi to feel lots of pain for saying things like that!!"

    "Fushuuuuuu...!! Let's see if you can...!!"

    "Now what nya, Momo?"

    "This is bad. Neither Buchou nor Oishi-fukubuchou is here today..."

    ", what do you think you're doing?"

    "Uh-oh..." she mumbled and turned her head to the voice. "Errr... Yo-Yoshimura-buchou..."

    "Didn't I tell you that we come here to practice, not to play around?! 10 laps, now!" the girl who was called ‘Yoshimura-buchou' yelled.

    "Ha-hai!!" quickly let go off Eiji's hands and ran.

    "I-I didn't know girls' tennis club's buchou is like that..." Momo stared in disbelief.

    "She's exactly like Tezuka, ne?" Fuji said.

    "Kowai nya..."

The practice that day—surprisingly—went quite well. Though there were times Kaidou and almost went to a quarrel, the regulars had ways to stop them.

Like this time.

    "I know you did it on purpose!! Admit it!!" cried.

    "I did NOT! It was an accident!! How should I know you'd walk there?!"

Kaidou's ball accidentally hit 's head when she walked to get her drink.

    "Admit it!! You did it on purpose, didn't you?!"

    "I did not!!"

    "Admit it!!"

    "Fushuuuuu!! I said I did not!!"

    "Aaa... Here they go again..." Momo sighed.

    "Fuji! The racket!" Eiji shouted over.

    "Hai, here it is, Eiji."

The catlike boy quickly gave the shy-mode Taka the racket.

    "BURNING!! You are so hopeless! You call that a fight? That's not even close!! ORA ORA!! C'MON!! GREAT!!"

Everyone sweat dropped. It looked like Taka just made it worse.

    "Taka-san..."

    "Che. Why do I have to fight someone like him? It's not even worth my time," muttered.

    "What did you say?!" Kaidou clenched a fist.

    "I only said the truth, baka!!"

    "Say that again, psycho!"

    "Baka!!"

    "Maniac!!"

    "Baka Mamushi!!"

    "Sadist!"

    "UNDERWEAR STEALER!!"

    "Wha—"

Everyone turned their heads to Kaidou.

    "U... Underwear stealer? Kaidou?" Eiji stared in shock.

    "Ma... Mamushi's an underwear stealer?"

    "N-NO!! I-it's not what you think!! !" Kaidou glared. "I've told you, it was an accident! I didn't do it on purpose!"

    "Feh, I'm bored hearing the word ‘accident' from your mouth!" she scowled defiantly. "It sounds like everything you do is accident!"

    "Why do you always like that to me?! Why do you think everything I do is wrong?!" he hailed back. "I hate you!"

After hearing the last sentence, suddenly the court fell silent. 's eyes widened, but her expression of surprise quickly changed to an anger.

    "Well, I've never liked you, too!"

With that, she rushed away to outside.

    "Fushuu..." Kaidou hissed. "What's with her...?"

    "Mamushi! You baka!!" Momo shook the bandanna-boy's body. "Run after her, baka!"

    "H-huh??" he blinked confusedly. "Why should I...?"

    "He's right nya, Kaidou!" Now Eiji, too, shook Kaidou's body. "She's really mad at you now!!"

    "H-how do you know...?"

    "Just... GO!! And apologize to her!!"

    "Aa... I... I understand!!"

Still confused, he ran outside. 'Now, just where the heck is that girl?!' He muttered in his own mind, about how come became angry like that, and how come his friends always ordered him around, and...

Kaidou stopped walking. was sitting on a bench, trying her best not to cry.

    "..." he called.

    "What do you want now?!" she cried.

    "I..." For some reason, Kaidou wanted to say ‘sorry' to the girl. But... "Why did you run away?" was the next sentence from Kaidou's mouth. stood up and glowered at Kaidou.

    "Why do you care? Don't you hate me?"

Her attitude angered him a bit. He tapped her shoulder.

    "Hey, listen to me—"

His words were cut as he felt her lips on his. He stared in shock before finally pulled away. Her cheeks were pink.

    "I told you, baka. I don't like you, I never have!" she looked directly to his eyes. "I love you!"

    "W-what?" he blinked. Ah. It now made sense now. She loved him. She was mad because he had said he hated her. But... But... Why? Since when?

    "From the first time I saw you playing, baka," she answered, like reading Kaidou's thoughts. "You might not know, but you looked really cool that time! That's why I was surprised when I saw you at the girls' changing room! I actually believed you wouldn't do something like that, but if I said it, I wouldn't have something to talk to you about! So I decided to keep it for myself and acted like I hated you! Do you understand now, baka??"

Kaidou was silent for a moment, trying to understand what just said.

    "Oi, baka!"

    "Stop calling me that..." Kaidou suddenly spoke. "Call me ‘Kaoru'..."

He wrapped the girl's waist and leaned in for a kiss.

    "Oi, oi, who said you can kiss me just like that?!" she pushed Kaidou's face away.

    "But you did it first! It's not fair!"

    "HA! Now you say it!" she let go off him and rushed away. She stuck out her tongue. "Catch me if you want it, baka."

    "Why you..."

Kaidou's lips curved a rare smile. He speeded up to the girl.

Well, who said fighting couldn't lead you to be more than friends?

[ owari ]
// ichigo akira 2005.09.11