She glared at him.

...

Okay, so it wasn't a glare – it was more of a look – but really, the glare-look was quite well-deserved.

Mr. Amazingly Perfect Nagihiko Fujisaki the Amazing – or, barf, Nagi for short – was the reason she was here, on a bench somewhere out in the middle of nowhere instead of at the guardian meeting with everyone else.

"Rima," he said in his sickeningly sweet voice – the kind a butcher might have before he slaughtered several cows – "Do you know what today is?"

Mashiro Rima stared at him, about to say that she obviously knew what the day was, because she could clearly keep track... and then she realized she didn't. It was March. Yes, March, that sounded right. It was somewhere in the double digits, she remembered it being singles last week, so—

"I don't keep track," Rima said, trying to put a note of coolness back into her voice.

"It's the fourteenth, for future reference."

"Alright, March fourteenth, so..." Rima paused. Amu had given her cookies this morning. Everybody, actually, and she had been saying something about Valentine's Day... and about how...

It was White Day?

... IT WAS WHITE DAY?

IT WAS FUCKING WHITE DAY ALREADY?!

"It's White Day?"

Nagihiko gave a smile. "Don't you own a calendar?"

She chose to ignore this comment. "Well then? What does White Day have to do with anything?"

His smile faltered a little, and she started – seeing Nagihiko unsure of his smile was about equivalent to Yaya questioning her love for sugar or Tadase considering a career in taxidermy. "Why?" she asked bluntly.

"The truth is..." he looked extremely uncomfortable now, shifting in his seat and gnawing on his lower lip. "I guess I haven't been really honest with you."

What was that supposed to mean?

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!

What did he mean, 'I haven't been exactly honest with you?' about what? As far as she knew, Nagihiko Fujisaki wasn't honest with anyone. So why would Rima be singled out for observance of his crime?

... oh, yeah.

Because she was the only one, not counting Tadase, Kukai, and his creepy uncle what'shisface. Was Nagihiko still feeling guilty about lying to everyone? Well, he should be. Just thinking about how upset Amu would be if she knew made her want to kick him.

He was looking extremely nervous for somebody who was on a conversation topic that was a comfortable subject between them. She'd never have guessed that this was that important to him.

"It's okay, Nagihiko," she said, patting him on the shoulder. She felt him stiffen underneath her hand. "As much as it pisses me off, you know I won't tell anyone."

This didn't seem to calm him down at all; on the contrary he turned a little paler. "H-huh? You mean... you know?"

"Of course, dummy, I found out a while ago... remember? I guess it couldn't have been helped," she hopped off the bench.

"B-But..."

"Although, you really should tell Amu. It's getting kind of awkward, you know?"

"Was it really that obvious?!" he blurted out.

"Are you... feeling alright?" she frowned at him for a minute before hiding a laugh. "You basically admitted it to me! A long time ago! Don't you remember anything?"

*

"I'm serious, that's what she said!" Nagihiko cried, flinging his head onto the table with the air of someone who has found out they only have six months to live. "She's known this entire time and I was so nervous and—"

"Uhhh." Tadase gave the darker-haired boy a vacant smile. "But did you get an answer?"

"..."

There was a pregnant pause, and then Nagihiko lunged for the bowl of cookies on the table and stuffed two in his mouth.

"Fujisaki-san!" Tadase jumped up, ready to perform the Heimlich maneuver, but to his shock the other boy chewed them both resolutely and gave a huge swallow. "Since Rima-chan clearly doesn't like me I can get fat!" Nagihiko wailed, reaching for another cookie. In a feat of amazing strength, Tadase swatted his hand away. "Please don't! You'll choke and die!"

Nagihiko gave him a look of loathing. "How can you even care about a petty thing like choking when the girl I loved just rejected me?"

"You're acting like a teenage girl who got dumped!" Tadase cried, feeling tears prick his eyes – this was a daily occurrence, usually triggered by overuse of the persuasive puppy eyes. Irritably wiping his face, he kept talking in what he hoped was a stern and commanding manner. "What obviously happened, Fujisaki-kun, is that Mashiro-san misunderstood you."

Nagihiko glumly looked up. "How the heck could she misunderstand me? I made my feelings perfectly clear!"

Tadase gave a weak smile. "Actually, you said, 'I haven't really been honest with you'. That could be... interpreted several different ways."

"What's your point?"

"She thought you were talking about being Nadeshiko," the blond boy said bluntly.

"I-" Nagihiko seemed to relieve their dialogue in his head, before letting his head hit the table again. "You're right."

"Mmm-hmm." Tadase went back to sorting papers.

"So... what am I supposed to do?"

Tadase paused for a minute, wondering if it was really wise of Nagihiko to be asking him. Finally, he said slowly, "Well, I guess you should just be a little more... direct."

He couldn't mess up something like that, right?

*

She had just been minding her own business, when he came up behind her. "Rima?"

She turned around. "Oh... Nagihiko. Wha-"

She saw something creepy in his eye when, without a word, he hoisted her up into the air and pinned her against the wall.

"NA-GI-HI—WHAT ARE YOU—" Rima attempted to get several incoherent noises out. Amu, who had been walking beside her, stopped dead as her eyes bugged out. Rima could practically hear the "heroine's" inner voice screaming, "EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH???!!" Several people stopped and stared in awe. One boy yelled out "RIMA-SAMA AND FUJISAKI-KUN ARE A COUPLE!" and that was all it took for everyone to start either squeeing, mourning, or whispering.

"Rima-chan," Nagihiko said in a low voice, letting his bangs drop over his eyes, obscuring them from view. He was talking very, very fast. "I-didn't-mean-that-I-haven't-been-honest-with-you-in-terms-of-being-Nadeshiko-I-meant-that-I-really-really-like-you-and-would-you-please-please-go-out-with-me."

Fortunately, Rima was very skilled in translating from speed-talk to regular speech. "G-go out with you?" she stuttered (and later, many people would express shock over the fact that she was momentarily uncollected enough to stutter – it was a rare sight). "I... don't understand. At all."

"Oh!" he said in a regular voice, straightening up and quickly putting her down so that she was standing, stunned, against the hallway wall. "That's the bell – I have to go – bye, Amu-chan!"

And he ran around the corner.

Rima quickly stood up straighter, and turned to Amu.

"R-Rima?" the pink-haired girl said tentatively.

"Do you like him?" the smaller one asked aggressively. Her hazel eyes widened. "E-ehh? Of course not! Nagi's just a friend!"

"Well then..." she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Why did he say he wanted to go out with me?"

Amu stared at her, nervously playing with her fingers. "E-Errr... doesn't that mean he likes you?"

Rima froze, blushing furiously. "But why would he like me?"

"Beats me," Amu said flatly, and quickly rethought the statement when she got a hurt crocodile-tears look. "N-NO, I didn't mean that you're not pretty or anything, just that I can't read his mind, you're perfectly attractive—"

"I am going to class now," she said serenely, walking toward the direction of their classroom. Amu sighed and let her head drop. She never knew that having lovesick friends could be this exhausting. She probably should have asked Utau about this kind of thing by now...

*

He probably should have asked Kukai about this kind of thing by now... Tadase sighed and made another half-hearted attempt to pat Nagihiko's head, only for the boy to jerk up again and give a little giggle. "I actually did it~ I really did it!"

Hotori Tadase was very afraid.

After all, Nagihiko was so utterly gleeful that his voice was slipping up an octave mid-sentence, and he had never thought he'd have to put up with a lovesick Nadeshiko. Besides, he had always imagined that the femaleFujisaki-san would have beaten up the object of her affections like some kind of angry tsundere.

"Y-Yes, you did do it," he said, trying to smile (which wasn't hard – he was well-practiced at faking smiles). Only to see his grin freeze again. "Will she give me an answer?"

"I- maybe?" he replied unhelpfully. To his unsurprised, his head flopped back onto the Royal Garden table and his violet-black hair fanned out around him. "I really like her," he mumbled. "I don't know why, but I really do."

"I... I know," he said lamely, uncharacteristically stuffing a cookie into his mouth.

"I know that she's really bitchy – " Tadase choked on his cookie. He had never heard Fujisaki say the word bitchy. " – and she's always really cold to everyone and stuff, but she's so tiny and cute... and she has so much confidence in herself, not like me. She can basically talk anyone into being confident in themselves." Tadase was going to observe the order in which he listed Rima's good qualities, not to mention the fact that she boosted Nagihiko's morale by shouting at him, but he had such a peaceful smile on his face that he decided to just fake-smile some more. "That's good, Fujisaki-kun."

He was asleep.

Clearly – Tadase rolled his eyes – he had been overworking himself at dancing again. He should just let him sleep.

... Well, it seems that he's not going to get much rest, he reflected sadly as he passed Rima on the way out. She had a very unsettling look on her face.

Not my business, not my business, Tadase started chanting to himself, but couldn't resist stopping for a nanosecond so that he could hear her go, "Wow, I didn't know you were such a slacker that you actually slept during break."

"I – wasn't sleeping," he heard him say sleepily. "I was resting my eyelids." The blond boy hastily made himself scarce.

"Same thing," Rima crossed her arms and suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Now, Nagihiko, there are several rules we need to establish."

"Eeeeeeehhhhh?" he said, sounding uncannily like Amu. He rubbed his eyes and Rima stifled the urge to squee like a fangirl. "Number one – I am the man in this relationship."

"Why do you get to play the ma – wait, WHAT?!" Nagihiko said louder, sitting up straighter and staring at her.

"Rule number one, I am the man in this relationship. Rule number two, I am stunningly beautiful and I need reminding of this fact several times a day – "

"What are you talking about?"

" – Rule number three." Rima looked at him with a mildly confused look on her face. "Clearly if you're going to date the amazing Mashiro Rima, you are going to have to get some discipline, Fujisa – Nagi-k-kun..."

"So you... wait." He stood up and stared at her. "So you accept my confession?"

"Naturally, the feelings are reci-pro-ca-ted," she was blushing so furiously that the final words were finding it difficult to escape.

"Can you say that in... in normal language?" Her vague vocabulary was really hard to understand sometimes.

"I... I like you!" she barked. Nagihiko's face broke out in the first smile she had seen all day. "Really?"

"Of course." Rima smoothed her skirt and gave him a shy look. "You like me, don't you?"

He nodded silently, and then gave her an odd look. "Can I ask you something, Rima-chan?"

"... Sure?"

"Can I hug you?" Without waiting for an answer, he swept her up and laughed. "You're so cute and tiny, I always really, really want to hug you!"

"Put me down right now! This is demeaning to my dignity! – " She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep herself from falling down. "Really, is this the way you're going to treat me all the ti – Oh." The two of them were nose-to-nose, and she found his dark hazel eyes closer then she had never seen them.

"..." Nagihiko also seemed kind of speechless, which made her feel a little better. At least she still had the upper hand. She quickly closed the space between them with a small experimental kiss, and he gaped at her. "What was... that?"

"Don't you know what a kiss is?" she asked huffily. She thought she had done fairly well, considering that was her first. "What did you think it was?"

Nagihiko smiled.

"This is exactly what I mean about being the man in this relationship," she said, jumping down from Nagihiko's arms. "You act all cool and everything but you're really just an uke when it comes down to it."

He froze. "But this isn't a yaoi pairing."

"Really, Nagihiko?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Really?"

Nagihiko, missing the point entirely, suddenly looked shocked and startled. "No! You're not a guy, are yo – "

"I'm not. But you broke Rule Number Three – Do not argue with Mashiro-sama."

That seemed to shut him up, she noted happily. Until Nagihiko widened his eyes innocently and said in his Nadeshiko-voice, "So, is Mashiro-sama going to punish me now?"

"I – " she went red. "Rule Number four, no masculine innuendo jokes."

"Oh, see, look! What happened to your seme attitude?" he dropped back to his normal octave as a predatory grin started making its way onto his face. "I have ascended my rightful place as man of the relationship!"

"N-" Rima was speechless again as he backed her up against the table. "This is non-consensual!"

"You make it sound like we're in a hentai anime," he objected. He leaned closer and whispered huskily, "You want it, don't you?"

"I – mayb – Don't talk that way!" She blushed as he wound his arms around her waist and lifted her up onto the table. "We're still in elementary school."

"So?" he left his mouth about an inch away from hers and she exhaled sharply. "Fine."

"Mmmmm." He quickly kissed her again, deepening it quickly, and she held onto his shoulders and tried to get used to the strange position. A hand found its way onto her jaw, where it tilted her head slightly, and it quickly became easier.

(A/N: LOL I write way too many stories where they kiss and get interrupted T_T)

"... Fujisaki-san?" A voice said, and they broke apart awkwardly to see the whole assembled Guardians, plus Kukai, staring at them with a look of reverence on their faces.

"Yaya's never seen one except on TV," Yaya whispered in a hushed voice.

"I- what- that-" Amu stuttered. Kukai just looked like he was resisting the urge to laugh, point, or otherwise make an aforementioned masculine innuendo joke.

"Mind if you give us a couple more minutes?" Nagihiko inquired innocently.

"Of course not!" Amu bristled suddenly and glared at Nagihiko. "He's trying to steal my Rima-chan!"

They could practically read everyone's mind.

Role-reversal.

Happy White Day, everyone!!

I almost forgot that this was due in today, until liek... noon. In case anyone's wondering, I'm still in my pajamas and it's almost 1 o'clock in the afternoon T_T;

You see, I've been on Spring Break for the past week, and spent most of it sleeping in until eleven in the morning, wandering around in my jimjams until three -- basically I've been a slob. *fails*

Not to mention I have two chapters to complete by April 14th, one of which I have no idea what to write on, and I can't start my new exciting story until I finish those two!

The work of a fanfiction author is truly never done! //No, not really//

Anyway, besides from that rant, nothing new in life. What new with you? *sideways glance*

Like always, don't hesitate to drop me a comment on the story //as long as it isn't just "Update!!!!!"//.

The next chapter is more like an easter-egg bonus, and it's gonna be Yayairi. I was planning for it to be Kutau, until... KUTAU BECAME CANON ADFSLDFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS LIKE, BEAUTIFUL, PACKED WITH SYMBOLISM AASDFGHKLASSL.

I'll stop fangirling now.

But yes, bonus Black Day chappie coming out April 14th~

- Kimi~* //ZOMG I TTLY MISSED DOING THE FIREWORKS THING//