Hikari spent half the week texting Shoon and planning and going on dates with him, much to Hayato's annoyance. This morning at school, somehow word has already gotten out that Hikari got herself a boyfriend.

"WHAT?!" asks a shocked Omoori. "Hikari's cute, but she's so boyish!"

"Pretty, but no appeal!"

"Maybe she dressed up ily for him?"

"Idiot, she still acts too much like a guy!"

"Could he be blind?"

"SHUT UP!" Hikari growls, knocking everyone in the head, except Ryu and Takeda. "I finally got a guy, maybe my charms finally pulled through?" The class stared at her for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter. "OY BUNNY BOY! What did you put into their minds?!"

"Hikari, sweet little innocent Hikari," taunts Hayato. "Every guy wants a girly girlfriend who dresses pretty and acts like a lady." He traces curves of his 'dream girl'. "But you, you fight, you act like a guy, and you seem to be gender swapped. I think he's just playing you. No guy ever wants a girl that's actually a guy."

"We love you Ri-chan, but we really think something's up with that guy," Kosuke says sadly. PUNCH "Yeah I know, don't call you Ri-chan."

"Yeah, the other day Ryu stated that he doesn't seem to like you as much as you like him," Takeda confesses.

"Ri-chan, I'm not calling you unattractive or anything, but Shoon really strikes me as odd," Ryu tells her in a pitying tone. At this statement, Hikari had to pause. Ryu isn't the type to tease with lies. Now she knows she has something to worry about.

"Well they care about you," Hayato corrects. "I don't really care about 3D's ugly toad."

"You wanna go Bunny Boy?"

"Where?"

"Obviously a fight, BAKA!"

"Don't call me an idiot, idiot!"

Once again, the two threw punches and kicks in the classroom, causing their classmates to beg for Ryu's help again. As soon as Ryu got involved, Hayato and Hikari found themselves sitting back to back in chairs and forced to hold hands.

"Say it," orders Ryu.

"Ri-chan is not an ugly toad, but a nice and pretty girl," Hayato recites through his clenched teeth.

"And Hayato deserves the most respect for he is our beloved leader," Hikari chants.

"Okay done," Ryu says, and the two shudder, throwing each others' hands away from them.

"I got tomboy germs on my hands!" sobs Hayato.

"Takeda, save me!" mocks Hikari. "I got cooties!"

"Sit down," Ryu states calmly.

"Yes sir," they immediately said and sat down.

"Only Ryu can control them," sighs Kosuke. Takeda slowly walks over to Hikari.

"You really should ask Shoon about his true feelings for you," he says. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Thanks, Takeda," replies the deflated girl. "Thanks for not teasing me like them."

"Hey I know how sensitive the female species can be," Takeda says proudly, but slaps his hand over his mouth. He knew Hikari didn't like having girls generalized like that. Grinning evilly, Hikari holds him by the ear.

"You're lucky you're cute and that I love you Take..." hisses Hikari before letting go. Her phone suddenly rings, catching the group's attention. "Oh speak of the devil, Shoon wants to meet me after school." Smilng, Hikari texts back to him while Ryu looked at her with pity.

 

~After School~

 

"Shoon!" Hikari cries as she waves to him and runs him into a hug. "What'd you want to talk to me about?" However her smile fades as she looked at him.

"Ri-chan, sorry to call you out so early after school, but I was wondering if you wanted to go karaoking with me tonight?" he asks shyly. His question brought a smile back to her face.

"Oh thank goodness!" she sighs with relief. "I thought you were going to break up with me!"

"What made you think that?" Shoon asks shocked. "You're such a nice girl, you're pretty, and you seem very loyal."

"Well it's kinda silly," Hikari says, looking down. "But my classmates kept teasing me today saying that I'm too manly for any guy to like seriously. So when you called me out, I thought for sure you were going to break up with me."

"I could never dump my little dumpling," jokes Shoon as he pinches her cheeks. "Although I wouldn't mind if you'd dress up in a skirt for me once in a while." He winks at her but receives a light punch.

"ert," Hikari states, sticking her tongue at him.

"I'm kidding darling, but I do want to see you dress up a little girlier on dates," he says with a sad smile. "Can you dress up in something girly for me tonight for our fifth date?"

"I guess if it makes you happy," she replies and hugs him. "I'll see you tonight Shoon. Bye!"

"Bye, Ri-chan," Shoon says before waving. Hikari stands there looking at him walk away. He suddenly stops, picks up some trash on the sidewalk and throws it into a nearby trashcan.

"Wow, he's really a perfect guy," sighs Hikari, and she heads off to Yankumi's dojo for her training session with Tetsu.

 

~Hayato~

 

"Idiot, never listening to me," he rants as he walks down the street, kicking a can. "What's so great about that girly looking guy anyways? Well now that I think about it, manly girl, girly guy, guess it is a perfect match." As he walks down the street, Hayato pauses when he sees Hikari and Shoon saying good bye to each other.

"Bye Ri-chan!" Shoon calls to her. As Shoon walks away, Hayato watches as Shoon picks up trash from the ground and throws it away. He then turns to look at Hikari, who seems to be sighing at Shoon.

"What's so special about that? Anyone can throw trash away," complains Hayato as he picks up the can he was kicking the whole time and throws it into a can nearby. "Hippie Shoon... I bet that punk isn't as perfect as Hikari says he is." Suddenly an idea pops into his head. "I know! I'll follow Shoon and show Ri-chan that he isn't perfect!" Feeling eyes on him, Hayato turns to see a baby staring at him. "What haven't you seen a grown man talk to himself before?!" Unfortunately his outburst causes the child to cry, causing him to try to calm him down but only makes it worse when the baby begins to wail for her mom. "Nice going Hayato, you made a child cry." When he hears a woman coming, Hayato takes off running in the direction he saw Shoon go. "That was close!"

"Here you go," Shoon's voice says. Hayato looks out from behind the wall to see Shoon feeding a stray with some dog food he just bought from a pet store.

"How fake," Hayato scoffs and continues to follow Shoon down the streets. Before he knew it, Hayato had followed Shoon for about two hours, still no signs of any imperfection with Shoon. "There is no way that kid is perfect! He can't fight!" After another hour, Hayato began to lose hope. Finally, Shoon seemed to be slipping up.

"Yeah, I'm gonna get some tonight," Shoon laughs into his phone. At this, Hayato perks up his ears. "Yeah, she has no clue! Yeah, that plan again. Yeah, uh huh, yeah. Yeah, so if you guys want a part of it, just wait in rooms 2 and 4 of the karaoke bar. Yeah, I'm gonna slip some into her drink, then when she's unconscious we can do whatever we want with her. Yeah she's really cute and has a nice body, but if she's conscious she's going to kill all of us." Hayato didn't even notice his knuckles were white until Shoon paused to hear something from the other side. "Dude, I don't care if Hikari gets pregnant from it! She can't anyways, I got some protection so she won't have any proof in her that will prove we did it. Just meet me at the karaoke bar if you want to be a part of it. Alright, bye guys." Laughing Shoon hangs up the phone, still unaware of the angered Hayato hiding nearby.

"Now I can finally expose to Ri-chan what a complete fake you are," Hayato grins and sprints to Hikari's house. "RI-CHAN! RI-CHAN! RI-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" His screams were heard from his inital start all the way to Hikari's house. One can only wonder how he could run with his mouth open and never had a dry mouth. "RI-CHAN OPEN UP YOUR DOOR!" The door opened alright, but behind it was also a fist that connected itself to Hayato's shoulder.

"Don't call me Ri-chan," states Hikari dully. "You still haven't earned the rights to that nickname." However Hayato ignores her statements and walk into her room. "Hey what do you think you're doing?"

"Is this what you're wearing for your date with that guy?" demands Hayato, holding up a skirt that laid on her bed, next to a jacket and a tank top.

"How do you know about our date?" asks Hikari, a little creeped out. "And yeah, why do you care?"

"Wear something you can fight in that doesn't give you easy access," he commands her. "I overheard Shoon saying he was going to... do that to you tonight on your date."

"Do what?" asks Hikari, confused, causing Hayato to growl and run his hands through his hair several times due to her stupidity.

"DO THAT!" he yells through clenched teeth."You know, the that to the that!" He awkwardly tries to demonstrate with his hands.

"What?" she asks, still confused. Sighing in frustration, Hayato realized she was probably too stupid to understand a guy's mind so he had to tell it to her straight. He walks up to her, leans down, and whispers the deed into Hikari's ears. "EW! WHAT? Why would you make up such a ridiculous story?!"

"I'm not making up anything!" Hayato defends. "I really overheard him say that to a friend over the phone on XXXX Street!" Hikari narrows her eyes at him.

"How'd you overhear it? Were you stalking him or something?" she asks suspiciously.

"Actually yes, for three hours," Hayato admits, embarrassed. "But it was because I knew he was a no-good-faker! You should go break up with him!" Hikari stands there, staring at him intensely for a few seconds. Beginning to feel uncomfortable, Hayato shifted in his spot, trying to break the eye contact. Even though he acted like someone who was lying, she only saw truth in his eyes.

"I believe you," she says quietly after a few minutes, surprising him.

"What?" Hayato asks, still not believing it.

"I said I believe you," repeats Hikari. "If you were pranking me, you wouldn't have ran all the way to my house screaming like that. And for stalking Shoon for about three hours just for me, thank you." Now both of them were uncomfortable and trying to avoid eye contact. Suddenly Hayato whips his head up.

"I'm not a stalker!" he yells, sending her a challenging glare.

"What do you call a guy that follows someone around, watching their every move, and then takes a mental note of it?" retorts Hikari, returning the glare.

"Someone who cares about their--" he pauses, trying to find the right word. "Friend?" However Hikari continues staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "Okay fine I was a stalker for today! But at least it was for a good reason, can you just break up with that Shoon guy?" She stands there thinking about it.

"Well of course I'm going to break up with him," says Hikari, "but only doing that is too easy. Considering last time, I don't think he knows how to fight, so I can easily take him to teach him a lesson. Besides, Tetsu taught me a few things that I wanna try out today."

"He has friends joining him in the rooms next to your room though," Hayato reminds her. "So if you wanna go teach him a lesson, at least let me follow you in case you need back up."

"Thanks Yabuki, I didn't think you'd care," Hikari replies, and goes in to give him a hug, but on instinct Hayato jumps into self defense mode. "I was going to hug you."

"Oh," he simply lets out and the two went in for a hug. However since they've never hugged, the two found it awkward trying to find the correct way to hug. After many tries, they decided to just slap the other on the back quickly and separate. Hikari allows Hayato to help her decide on a new outfit for the 'date' and the two start going over the plan. Hikari would go into the room with Shoon, and Hayato will head into the room if he sees anyone else entering. He also gave her warnings about how Shoon was going to drug her, so Hikari was on guard. Right when they were done planning, the doorbell rings.

"Here comes Shoon, just wait behind the couch," instructs Hikari. "Remember to lock the door on the way out." Hayato sends her a quick nod before hiding himself behind the couch. She opens the door, revealing a very well-dressed Shoon.

"Hey Ri-chan, ready to go?" he asks with a smile, but frowns when he looks at her clothes. "So you're still not going to dress girly?"

"I tried for you, but it just didn't feel like me," pouts Hikari. "Is that a problem?" Outside she seemed shy, but on the inside she was praising herself for the good acting skills.

"Oh no, it's nothing!" Shoon says nervously. "Just hoping you'd make tonight a little easier."

"What was that?" asks Hikari with a smirk as she began to close the door.

"Nothing, Ri-chan! So shall we go?" he asks and leads her out. Hayato waits about 30 seconds before leaving Hikari's house and sneakily following the two.

 

~Hikari~

 

'It's so sweet of Hayato to wait this long to give me back up,' thought Hikari as she glanced at the clock. It's been almost an hour and Shoon was beginning to get frustrated since Hikari wouldn't drink anything he gave her. 'This is bad, I'm getting really thirsty. Oh well, a little sip wouldn't hurt right? Besides, Hayato's right outside. I trust him to come to my rescue if I need it.' She hesitantly drinks a bit out of a cup that Shoon hands her, causing him to smile. Sadly in just a few minutes, she felt the drug take effect.

"Ri-chan, why don't we move on to another kind of activity?" he asks her.

"What kind?" Hikari returns, knowing fully well what he meant. "Are we going to watch stars on the way back home?"

"No silly," he laughs, "this." Without another word, Shoon leans forward and kisses her. What surprised her was how gentle he was, she was expecting Shoon to be a little rougher, since he wanted to drug her. "And this." Hikari felt his hands trail down to her hips, and uses that to her advantage. She grabs his hands and kicks him right in his stomache. "WHAT THE?"

"Nice try, Shoon, but I know what you're up to," Hikari smirks and jumps to her feet, ready to fight, but due to the drug from her drink, she tilted to the side, unable to maintain her balance.

"I guess you do, since you only took a small sip all evening," Shoon observes. "But that doesn't mean it'll help you. That's too bad though. I was going to be easy on with, but I guess I can't now. Guys!" A few seconds after he presses a button on his phone, 8 guys entered the room, surrounding her. "You might think I don't know how to fight from our first date, but I assure you that I can pretty well. Get her, boys. After I'm finished you can have your fun." Two of the men charge at her, attempting to grab her arms, but Hikari ducks, causing them to tackle two men behind her. As she got back up, she trips over her own feet, trying to fight the drug's effects.

"Bring it on!" she challenges and begins to put Tetsu's training to the test. 'Where's Hayato?' As people charged at her, Hikari kicked them down one by one, giving them an upper cut, or threw them at each other.

"You're handling 8 guys pretty well, now let's see how you handle 9," challenges Shoon as he gets ready to rush at her, but the door suddenly bursts open, hitting Shoon in the process. "WHO IS THAT?!"

"Sorry I'm late, you guys took so long so I fell asleep," Hayato says, grinning sheepishly.

"Remind me not to trust you as back up again," growls Hikari as she tried to loosen the guy's grip on her arm. "Now come help me!"

"Got it!" Hayato says and jumps at the guy holding Hikari. Once she was released, the two stood up back to back. "I get the five on the left, you take the three and fake one on the right."

"Let's see who can finish them off quicker," she bets him and the two shake before fighting. Hikari does a quick round house kick on two of Shoon's friends while Hayato just knocks out one with random punches. They all continued fighting, not even wondering why the karaoke bar's manager hasn't called the cops yet or why no one even noticed.

"Hey, Yabuki, I suggest you put down your fists," Shoon suddenly says. Hayato turns to see Hikari half knocked out in Shoon's arms, bruises beginning to form on her arms and one on her face. He slowly lets down his fists and turn fully to face Shoon.

"I suggest you put her down," Hayato mocks. Without warning, he runs at Shoon, attempting to kick him him in the face. However Shoon is only startled and throws Hikari up in the air and rolling to the side to save himself, causing Hayato's foot to collide with with her arm. "OH SORRY!"

"You dumb fluffy headed Bunny Boy," Hikari hisses. "If I wasn't in this condition, I'd--" she gets interrupted when one of Shoon's friends throws a kick at their direction. Luckily she was able to intercept his kick and send him up into the air for Hayato to kick away. "Yabuki, I'm getting really dizzy." She begins to sway back and forth, forcing Hayato to fight while helping her keep her balance.

"You are not making this easy are you?" he asks her frustrated as he grabs her hand and kicks a guy at the same time. "Okay let's end this quickly!" At his words, everyone except Shoon charges at them.

"Lift me!" Hikari yells and Hayato obeys, allowing Hikari to run and kick all the guys away like a top. "Behind you!" Hayato ducks and Hikari punches the lackey running at him from behind.

"Hey watch out!" Hayato cries and turns Hikari as he jump kicks the one behind her. In turn, Hikari knocks out a guy in front of her. In just a few minutes, all of Shoon's friends were on the ground. "We make a pretty good team."

"I guess we do," she admits weakly. "Let's not tell the others about this though, we'll never hear the end of it."

"Deal," Hayato agrees and the two fist bump.

"Hello? Forgetting someone?" Shoon's voice rings. "I'm still here, and you two are nearly wiped out."

"I trust you got him?" asks Hayato, ignoring Shoon's comment, to which Hikari nods and gets in a fighting stance. "Good, I got a show now." He jumps onto the couch and begins to eat the food on the table. Hikari rolls her eyes at him before turning back to her opponent.

"Hikari, dear little Ri-chan," Shoon says in a taunting tone. "We could've ended up as more if you'd just be a good girl and do as I said." Hikari swings at him but misses when he threw her arm away. "If you think about it, I'd be doing you a favor." Once again, Hikari misses her swing. "No guy in their right mind would want you." Frustrated, Hikari jumps at him, but misses when he simply steps to the side.

"Shut up!" she screams at him, nearly in tears. Hayato cringes at the sight, remember how upset she was when he and the guys about the same thing this morning.

"It's the truth," Shoon states and just stands there. He was hurting her without even having to hit her. "There are so many girls out there who are lovely, yet you're hiding your beauty in male clothing and a tomyboy attitude." Hikari begins to clutch her head as tears streamed down her face. "No man would even see you as a choice the way you are. If I didn't plan this night out, your beauty would go to waste. The way you act isn't attractive at all." Once more, Hikari stands up and does a move Tetsu taught her, but misses as the tears blur her vision. "No one likes a tomboy, Ri-chan, no matter how pretty she may be. I was doing you a favor."

"Don't you dare say things like that!" Hayato yells, knocking Shoon to the ground.

"What was that for?!" hisses Shoon, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"For making Ri-chan think of herself in such a way!" Hayato retorts, dragging Shoon up by his collar. "Look at what you've done to her!" He points to the tough girl that everyone saw, who was now on the ground, hugging herself and crying with empty eyes. "I may be seen as trash to society, but you're worse than me because even I know how to see a girl's value! Yeah I call Ri-chan unattractive and ugly a lot, but that's because I'm only joking with her! I know when I've gone too far! But you, you don't even deserve the efforts that she had put forth for you when she was getting ready for her date!" Hikari watches in shock as Hayato criticizes Shoon. "Stay away from her from now on." Hayato lifts a fist up, ready to knock out Shoon, but Hikari reacts fast.

"NO! STOP!" she cries as she latches onto his arm. "Please stop Hayato? He's not worth it." Sending her a pleading look to give him permission to knock the daylights out of Shoon, Hayato soon gave up when he saw how different she looked from the everyday Hikari he knew.

"Fine, you're lucky she's here," he growls at Shoon. "If you ever come near her again, I'll skin you alive." He throws Shoon down and slides one arm over Hikari's shoulders. The two walk toward their apartments silently. Hayato rarely saw a girl cry before, and he never enjoyed it when they do, even if it was the girl he fights with everyday. In fact it scared him.

"Thanks Yabuki," Hikari mumbles lowly. "For helping me out and for standing up for me."

"Hey it's a man's job," he states proudly. "Even if it's for the manly Hikari." Unfortunately his joke was too soon, because Hikari drops to her knees, crying. "I'm sorry! I take it back! You aren't manly! You're just independent!" Suddenly he feels himself at a loss for words when Hikari embraces him in a hug and begins to cry heavily on him.

"I don't get it, I don't even like Shoon that much, we were only together for a few days!" she whimpers into him. This is completely new to Hayato, the only time he's seen Hikari even close to this was when Ryu turned her down, other than that, never. "Why would I cry about Shoon saying those things when I don't even like him that much?"

"Well no matter how tough you are, you still are a girl," Hayato reminds them as he returns her hug. "I can kinda connect with you after what happened with Maya. I guess it's because we both never really felt that way before so when someone finally seemed to have noticed and accepted us, we didn't want that feeling to end."

"Wow," Hikari breathes. Is this really Yabuki Hayato? That same leader from 3D who only knew how to fight and screams whenever someone touched his collarbones? When did he mature? She took a good look at him and noticed that he didn't look childish like he does everyday, but actually seemed more like a mature man.

"What? I have my moments," pouts Hayato.

"The world must be ending when you can be like this, Yabuki," laughs Hikari, wiping her tears. "Thanks, I don't know how I'd feel if you weren't here."

"Why don't we try to be a little friendlier to each other? You call me Hayato from now on instead of Yabuki and I call you Ri-chan?" he asks.

"Sure," answers the girl without a second thought. "Thank you Hayato."

"No problem Ri-chan," Hayato returns and the two continue walking. The rest of the walk was silent until they reached Hikari's house.

"Hikari what happened?!" her mother cried when she opened up the door. Hikari's face was stained with dry tears and both her and Hayato had bruises forming on their bodies. Luckily Hikari had Hayato's jacket covering her, so her mother didn't see much of her bruises. However Haytato's face had bruises that couldn't be seen. "Did you two get jumped or something?!"

"I bet Hayato tried to do something so sis just beat him up," suggests Sayo, standing there and eating a popsicle.

"I did not!" Hayato defends.

"Actually, Shoon tried to do something and Hayato beat him up," she corrects Sayo, who only looks at their mother with a shocked face.

"Oh my," gasps her mother. "Well in that case, thank you Hayato, please come in! I'm making dinner, please have some dinner as our thanks. Hikari, go help him clean up." The two nod, and Hayato, who'd normally make a erted comment and annoy the sisters, now followed behind Hikari like a little puppy. Hikari silently gets out the first aid kit and begins to clean Hayato's cuts and put ointment on his bruises.

"You're not thinking about what Shoon said, are you?" Hayato suddenly asks, looking at her surprised face.

"What do you mean?" she asks, trying to hide her answer.

"I know you're thinking about what he said about you being unattractive. I see you looking over at Sayo's side of the room," he points out. "Don't you dare change how you are just to seem wht that Shoon calls 'attractive'." Nodding, Hikari looks down, but Hayato forces her to look at him. "I mean it. Don't you dare change yourself from the Hikari we all know and love. If you're no longer that tomboy, who's going to fight with me every day? Who's going to beat Tsucchi at videogames? Who's going to bet on fights with Kosuke? And who's going to keep Ryu from killing me when I make him mad? Well?"

"I'll still do that stuff," Hikari answers quietly. "It's only my appearance that will change."

"That's what you think! Of course when you dress girly the guys are going to go crazy and stop thinking of you as one of the guys," Hayato lectures. "Remember last time during the campus day thing? They couldn't act like they normally do around you! Stick to how you are now. Don't change because of that guy okay?" She silently nods to him. "No, I want you to promise me you won't change because of him."

"Fine I promise not to change myself," Hikari states with a hand over her heart. "Happy? There you're done now." Hikari finishes cleaning Hayato's wounds and they walk out to the kitchen together for dinner.

"Hikari, how's your training at the Oedo dojo?" asks her mother.

"It's going pretty well, Tetsu's teaching me a lot of self-defense," she answers. "Great-grandpa's beginning to train me too. He says I'll be able to take over once I graduate."

"Un," her mother grunts sadly. Everyone knew how much her mother detests Hikari becoming a part of the Oedo family, but she's learning to accept it. The dinner dragged on with Sayo trying to solve the awkward silences by talking about her day or asking about their school. Finally the dinner ended and Hikari thanked every divine being she knew for ending the awkward night. She led Hayato out to the door and closed the door behind herself.

"Sorry about that awkward dinner," apologizes Hikari.

"It's fine," Hayato says. The two stand there in awkward silence again. "So..."

"I wanna thank you one more time," Hikari blurts out. "For everything you've done today, thank you Hayato." She quickly pecks him on the cheek, whispers a quick 'Good night', and closes the door after running in so Hayato can't say anything.

As he walks home, Hayato's fingers lingered on the place where she had kissed him.

"Why'd she do that?" he wonders to himself. "And why do I feel so happy? I must've done what I did for a reason... Why'd I stop her? If Ri-chan really changed her appearance, yeah it'd be a nice view, but she wouldn't be interesting anymore. Could it be I like Ri-chan?" He began imagine himself being lovesick over Hikari, them fighting if he really did liked her, and them as a couple. He then remembered back to how he acted today and how they normally are. He then curses aloud. "I really do like Ri-chan... I'm so screwed."