AN: Hurahh! A new fic. I've previously written a fic where Miyagi becomes 15 years younger (it's still not finished… sigh) so now I want to write one with Miyagi who is actually Shinobu's age. An AU, of course. Lol. But right now, they'll be 13 and 14 years old.

While reading this, please keep in mind the following things:

- I don't know much about the school system in Japan, and I'm not willing to do extra research when I'll never fully become familiar with it. So, the way the school is in this story will basically be what school is like for me, where I live.

- Rating was originally M, but since there won't be any of that stuff in a very LOOONG time, I switched it to T, for now. Rating will probably go back up once Shinobu and Miyagi grow older by a few years, in this story.

- The thing about "Shinobu's past" and "the bullies" that I've included won't be a huge focus point for this story. I will randomly have chapters that will be mainly about it (like the first few chapters), but I'm not going to write about that stuff in every chapter.

And… I hope you'll like.

Disclaimer: I do not own Junjou Romantica, obviously.

All sorts of thoughts were running through his head one he arrived at the designated place. Outside the since-ancient-times building were dying trees, swarms of zombie-like creatures, filthy pollution and over-flowing garbage bins, and a random dead bird on the ground.

The blonde, thirteen years old, took a deep inhale, which was quickly converted to an exhale once he noticed the place smelt like a blend of rotting lunches, pollution, and sickly strong cologne from the guys.

Shinobu stood; his shoulder bag carelessly draped around his shoulder, as he knew right away that the inside wouldn't really be any better. It was only his first few minutes, yet he already felt a strong urge― no, a strong need― to run away from this wreck as soon as possible.

But he couldn't. He had to face it like the man he was. It was what his parents expected, it was what all boys attended to at a certain age.

It was an all-boy's high school.

There was no avoiding it.

Shinobu nearly jumped right out of his skin when the eighth grader heard a piercing ring boom into his ear. The next moment, the random groups of other high school victims disintegrated and were shuffling to get to their first classes.

An indicator that Shinobu should do the same thing.

He was standing under one of the oddly-shaped trees when he glanced down at his class list in his hands.

English 9, it read as his first class. Room 107.

When the school mailed him an envelope with the schedule and all other shit they sent, it included a map of the school. But, Shinobu didn't need it. His elder sister taught him where each room was, since the sometimes members of the all-girl's school arrived at Shinobu's school― mainly for sport activities.

Room 100-something's were on all on the first floor, 200-something's on the second floor, and 300-something's the third floor. Plus, there was a math building way at the back, behind the main building where room 500-somethings were.

And an art building to the left of the main building― rooms 600-somethings were there. Lastly, room 400-somethings were between the math building and the main building where classes such as Auto-mechanics, Woodworks, and all that stuff was.

Generally, it was fairly complicated and his sister told him it would probably take some time getting used to.

Shinobu folded his schedule into one slopped fold through the middle and jammed it into his pocket. He tore himself away from the half-dead tree and made his way into the building, trying to push past the taller mobs of grade ten's and higher.

Great. It was only a second that he came into the building, yet already he picked up on something that he hated: idiots chose to hang out in the most inconsiderate places. Right in front of the door, for instance. Or, in front of stair cases.

Shinobu cursed as he shoved his way past the many people who should've been getting to their classes. One person nearly knocked the poor blonde over, but Shinobu didn't expect otherwise.

Eighth graders were always thought of as annoying, useless shits by all other grades. That was one rule Shinobu would always have to remember during his first year.

Looking up at the signs posted above the door frames of each classroom, he counted his way over to the correct room.

Room 105… room 106… room 107!

The door was already open, so Shinobu hesitantly stepped inside, not knowing what to expect. But, there were only a few people there. He must've been sort of early, or the students liked to waste as much time as possible before attending to their class.

The teacher didn't seem to be present, and there didn't appear to be a seating-plan, so Shinobu stepped forward and slowly strolled past some desks to go sit at the back, looking down at his feet.

The desks were all in rows, facing the front, connecting to each other. Making his way over to the back, the blonde tilted his head up and right away, he noticed something― someone.

Thick, straight hair― almost like his own, only black― a great, yet almost dorky, smile, deep violet eyes, perfect face, flawless. Shinobu flushed a bit and looked back down shyly at his feet.

First impression = Hot.

"Look, Kamijou! If you place the sharpener here, and the pencil directly on top, and the eraser on one end of the pencil, and slam your hand down on the other end of it…"

Shinobu gawked, dumbfounded, as an eraser flew right past his head, missing him by less than a centimeter.

"… It'll fly out across the room!" the guy proclaimed, laughing alongside the poor soul beside him.

Second impression = Absolute dumbass.

Shinobu pivoted to a turn and saw where the eraser landed. This was a grade nine class, and Shinobu was a mere grade eight. If he wanted to fit in with this group of people, he'd have to set good impression on everyone.

That was why; he went over and picked it up for guy. He went over to the guy's desk on reached out to hand it to him.

"Here's… your eraser," Shinobu muttered, heart skipping a beat when the person looked at him. Seconds passed, as he examined Shinobu's face, until he finally took the eraser back― his fingers brushed against Shinobu's. The guy smiled attractively.

"Thanks," was the brief reply. "It nearly hit your face!" The guy then began chuckling mercilessly at Shinobu expense. Shinobu glared at the maniac and at the moment, all good he briefly saw in the guy was nothing.

"Whatever," Shinobu huffed, annoyed, turning to sit down at the corner, a few seats down. He took a step, but was stopped when the back of his sweater vest was tugged at the bottom hem.

"Just sit here," the guy encouraged. "This seat's empty, and you look like a loner, no offense."

"That didn't sound like you meant no offense…" Shinobu muttered. But, he didn't have friends. And for the first time since third grade, someone was actually offering a seat next to them. Well, this person was older than Shinobu was, so he wouldn't know him like people of his own generation did.

Shinobu clumsily dropped his shoulder bag at the side of his desk and sat down.

"Thanks." It was only then that he noticed much more people had come in.

"No problem, Blondie." The guy then turned back to his brunette friend sitting on the other side on him, and Shinobu's brow twitched.

Maybe he shouldn't have sat down next to this guy. He… seemed shameless.

Shinobu gazed up at the clock, which read 8:34. One minute until class would start. Shinobu crossed his arms atop the old wooden desk, and nestled his head in it. His school was definitely going to be an adventure. Most likely a bad one.

Shinobu jolted straight back up when the sound of earth-shattering bell crashed into his ear. Beside him, he heard snickers at his reaction from a certain good-looking idiot. Shinobu narrowed his young gray eyes and glared at him from the side. He was always told that his glares were intimidating.

"S-sorry…" the guy said, feeling his effects.

"Hmph."

"Are you new?" he asked, as Shinobu glared down at his lap.

"Yeah."

"Ah." He propped an elbow on the desk, ignoring his friend, and turned his full attention to Shinobu. "Where are you from? What school?"

"Suto Elementary," Shinobu muttered.

"You're grade eight? This is a grade nine class."

Annoyed, Shinobu explained, "I'm in the right class. I took English 8 in summer school. So now I'm ahead of them."

He snickered while saying, "You actually waste your time in summer school?"

Shinobu turned to him, his glare going nowhere. "I did. So?"

They guy shrugged. "I wouldn't want to waste a summer there. Ten out of twelve months is enough school for me."

Shinobu didn't feel the need or want to reply and the guy continued staring at him.

"What's your name, Noobie?"

"Takatsuki Shinobu. Stop calling me weird things."

"I'm Miyagi Yoh," he introduced.

Shinobu looked at him and Miyagi smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Shinobu," he said. Then, Shinobu's heart unwillingly began to flutter uncomfortably within his chest. He sat there, gazing unblinkingly at Miyagi, his new classmate.

He knew this was probably bad… he didn't want to gain any unrequited crushes. And up till then, he was doing fine.

"Y-you too…"

"You'll get used to this dump in a few weeks. It's really weird at first, though. You'll adapt soon," Miyagi assured, turning his attention to the front of the class when their teacher entered the room.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I'll be your English sensei for this semester and…"

"Stupid teachers tell us not to be late, yet they're always late themselves. Fucking hypocrites," Shinobu muttered, irritated, slouching back against his seat. Miyagi glanced down unnoticeably at the eighth grader.

"…"

"… and with that said, we'll begin class with a little Icebreaker activity to help you guys get to know each other better," the teacher announced, starting to hand out some papers. "The way this works is: everyone gets up and find another person in the class who matches a description in one of the boxes. Write the person's name in the box, but you can only use a person once and you can't write your own name down. The first person who gets all their boxes filled in wins a candy. Straight forward?"

When Shinobu received one of the icebreakers, he held it in front of himself and scanned the sheet. There were several boxes with a short description in each of them. Underneath the descriptions was a bit of space to write someone's name in. Shinobu read a few…

Has been to more than three countries…

Knows two or more languages…

Has ridden a horse before…

How lame. Shinobu matched every one of those descriptions.

"I hate these dumb activities…" Shinobu heard Miyagi complain beside him. "Kamijou, have you been inside a palace before?"

Shinobu glanced over at the guy on the other side of Miyagi. He didn't seem very happy to be there. He had an average appearance of brown hair and brown eyes. Miyagi seemed to be friends with him.

"No, you idiot," Kamijou responded to Miyagi, slightly turning away in aggravation.

"Cruel. But you've been bungee jumping, right?" Miyagi inquired.

"No, and I never will. Geez, just write my name down for something you already know about me."

"Like whaaat? You've such a boring life."

Kamijou snapped and shoved the sheet of paper in front of Miyagi's face and pointed to one of the boxes. "Like this one! Kendo! I've done that when I was little!"

Miyagi pouted and slowly inscribed Kamijou's name on the box as Kamijou stormed off. Miyagi turned to Shinobu.

"What about you?" he asked.

"You can put me in any of them," Shinobu muttered.

Miyagi sniggered. "So you've earned mostly A's in school all your life?"

Shinobu nodded. "I've never received a B or less."

"And you've flown in a helicopter before?"

"Yeah."

"And you can ride a bicycle with no hands? Miyagi asked, flabbergasted.

"I was able to do that since kindergarten."

"And you've taken summer school?" Miyagi inquired, reading off of each box.

"… I already told you I did," Shinobu muttered, brow twitching. Maybe this guy had ADHD.

"Wow…" he chuckled and stated, "You're pretty amazing."

Shinobu flushed and said, "N-not really. Most of it's because of my parent's expectations."

"If you're telling the truth, of course."

Shinobu glared at him and said, "I wouldn't lie about these trivial little activities."

"Whatever you say. I'll put you down for 'Has blonde hair,'" Miyagi stated, scribbling Shinobu's name down.

"What about you?" Shinobu asked.

"You can put me down for: epically sexxay!"

Shinobu frowned, flushing nonetheless, as there was no such box.

"Kidding. I speak two languages, so you can put me there."

"…" Shinobu quickly dotted Miyagi's name down.

He couldn't help but hate the fact that if there really were a box that said "epically sexxay," he wouldn't hesitate to write down Miyagi's name.

Foods and Nutrition 8, Room 215.

Already, Shinobu picked up on another thing he hated about high school: in between classes, the hallways were sufficatingly crowded. The damn school needed wider hallways. Either that or fewer students.

The blonde entered his second classroom, which was already halfway full of students. Shinobu swallowed as he immediately recognised some of the people from elementary school. Clutching onto his notebook in hand, he casually strolled over to an empty table at the back.

The classroom has about eight tables. All around the walls were either cabinets or pictures of various types of food. It was a Food's class, after all.

A large group of Shinobu's former elementary classmates were huddled into a group near the door. As Shinobu passed, one of them turned around, noting his presence. He smirked, straightening his posture, trying to look superior.

"Hey, homo," he said, laughing with his group. Shinobu didn't spare a second to even stop or turn towards him; he just kept going on his way to the table furthest away.

Shinobu never gotten along with any of his own age group of classmates since third grade. It wasn't like he actually cared anymore, though. Shinobu was hardly in the wrong.

As time passed on, nobody willingly joined Shinobu at the table he was at. It was only until every other table was full until anyone bothered to sit with him. It was just as Shinobu had expected.

When class started, every table had the maximum of four people sitting in each one, but Shinobu's table only had three people in it.

His sister told him that in Food's class, everyone's supposed to have a group of four and a partner within that group. If there was an extra group of three, then one person from the group would fill in for anyone who was away on that lab day.

That meant that each time the class would cook up a recipe, someone in Shinobu's group would have a different partner each time. There wasn't a doubt in Shinobu's mind that that person will be himself. And that was very bad because there wasn't a person who Shinobu liked in that class, nor was there a person who liked Shinobu in that class.

The main reason why he took summer school was to get ahead of his classmates, in hopes of not seeing them often. But he was only allowed to take two full-credit courses. That was why Shinobu only gotten into English 9 and Math 9. All his other courses were grade eight classes.

As his other classmates were chattering away, Shinobu leaned back against his chair. If only he could just skip this stupid phase of his life.

Lunch time came around and the first thing Shinobu wanted to do was open his new single locker and dump some of his notebooks into. His locker was on the first floor. His combination number to the lock was in Shinobu's hand. It was 02-38-24.

If some certain people in the school knew his combination code, bad things would be bound to happen. He'd have to quickly memorize the numbers then trash the piece of paper, in that case.

The eighth grader placed a hand onto the lock dial… now he just had to figure out how exactly to open it.

First, he tried turning it to the right a few times, and stopped at 02. Then, he made a complete guess of twisting it two times to the left and got to 38. He had no idea if he was doing it correct, so he made one last full twist and landed the arrow on 24.

Nothing happened. He tried pulling the lock down, but it didn't budge.

Maybe he turned it wrong?

Determined to figure that thing out, Shinobu tried again.

And again…

And again.

Shinobu was fuming as he violently yanked at the lock, which wasn't going anywhere. Shinobu readied a pissed off fist and held it in the air next to him, in preparation of showing the stupid locker who its master was.

Shinobu swung his fist and―

"What are you doing?"

―Shinobu flinched. What perfect timing to be interrupted.

Shinobu made a full turn, coming face-to-face with a grinning Miyagi. He was munching on a brownie.

"What do you want?" Shinobu snapped out of irritation of his dumb locker not opening.

"Some more of this brownie… fuck, this shit's good!" Miyagi took a monstrous bite out of it.

"…" Shinobu glared back at the locker, grabbing a hold of the lock to try again. Miyagi eyed the random turns Shinobu made and knew right away the younger kid was going it completely wrong.

"Do you need help?" Miyagi offered.

"No. Go over to your friends," Shinobu responded. He tugged down on the lock but once again, it didn't budge. His eyes began to well up from the irritation. He avoided eye contact with the lingering ninth grader beside him.

"I can help you do it."

"No!"

"You need help."

"I don't―"

"What's your combination number?"

Shinobu gawked and stiffened. "Wha―? That's… That's personal!"

Shinobu saw Miyagi frown for the very first time. Shinobu blinked, feeling somewhat intimidated, when Miyagi took a big step towards Shinobu and placed a hand against the locker. His other hand was placed on his hip as he towered over Shinobu.

"Spill it, kid."

Miyagi was no doubt taller than Shinobu was… maybe about half a foot or so. It didn't help at all in Shinobu's case because Miyagi looked… scary?

Miyagi's frown faded when the younger boy avoided his gaze and hesitantly handed him the piece of paper with the number.

"J-just make sure you don't―"

"Steal from you? That's nothing an eighth grader would have that I'd want so badly," Miyagi huffed.

"But other people… especially in my own grade…"

Miyagi sighed and began to twist in Shinobu's lock code.

"You really have no trust in anyone."

"I don't like it when―"

Click.

Shinobu stared in absolute amazement when the lock came loose.

"How did you do that?" he exclaimed.

Miyagi smirked in satisfaction with himself. "I'll show you."

Snap.

Miyagi locked it once again.

"Why'd you close it? What if we can't get it to open again? Jerk!" Shinobu bellowed.

"Just relax, Shin-chin, I have to teach you this," Miyagi stated, giggling at the furious new kid.

He waited until the kid calmed down a bit before he continued.

"Okay, it goes like this," Miyagi explained. "Turn the knob twice around to the left and stop at the first number. The reverse the direction and turn it once to the second number. Lastly, to straight to the last number to the left again…"

Click.

It loosened again.

"Oh… I get it," Shinobu muttered, embarrassed at his first attempts.

"You try it," Miyagi said, snapping it locked again.

Shinobu braced himself, and then followed Miyagi's instructions exactly. He mimicked each and every one of the older boy's moves and…

Click.

Miyagi glanced over at Shinobu, seeing his smile. For the first time. That in itself made Miyagi believe that wasting five minutes of his lunch to help some eighth grader may be actually been worth it.

"I did it!" Shinobu happily exclaimed. The proud blonde turned to Miyagi, his radiant gray eyes glowing.

"Good job. Just remember what I taught you… and don't try to punch hard inanimate objects anymore." Miyagi laughed as Shinobu flushed in embarrassment.

"Shut up. I wasn't gonna―"

Shinobu gasped when a strong force suddenly slammed him again the locker from behind. He grabbed his lip, where he had accidently bitten, and turned to see what it was.

"Look where you're going," Miyagi sneered at the snickering person who bumped Shinobu.

"Sorry, faggot." It was one of Shinobu's former elementary classmates. Also one of his classmates from Food's class.

Miyagi stepped in front of Shinobu, irritated. He was… standing up for Shinobu? Not one person had ever done that since third grade.

Shinobu wasn't quite used to it.

"Watch your mouth, ass wipe. Don't think you can just―"

Shinobu placed his other hand that wasn't on his lip on Miyagi's arm. Miyagi looked at him, confused, and the bully guy smirked.

"It didn't hurt. It's fine, Miyagi," Shinobu assured, watching his classmate walk away. Shinobu didn't taste any blood on his lip, but it was bitten pretty hard. It would probably swell up, at least a little.

"Why's your hand over your mouth? Lemme see."

"It's fine. I just bit it, that's all."

"No, that's not just all. That's bullying," Miyagi huffed.

"It's not bullying when I say it's fine," Shinobu grumbled, taking his hand off of his mouth. "So let's just drop it."

"… Whatever you say, then." Miyagi took a bite out of his brownie. Shinobu just stood there, not knowing what to do next. He looked around to see what other people were doing, but they were just sitting down on a bench or on the floor with their friends and eating their lunches.

But… Shinobu couldn't do that… because he had no friends.

"Want some brownie?" Miyagi offered. Shinobu looked at his handsome face, then at the brownie.

"… I don't like eating other people's food."

"C'mon. You'll love it," Miyagi stated, optimistically holding it out in front of Shinobu. "See all the chocolate stuff?"

"I don't like chocolate."

Miyagi blinked, taken aback. "What? Who the hell doesn't like chocolate?"

"Lots of people."

"I made this brownie at home," Miyagi explained, seemingly very persistent. "Just try it."

Shinobu didn't know this guy very well. What if he drugged it?

"It's not poisoned, is it?" Shinobu bluntly asked.

"Shin-chin, you have to learn to trust."

Shinobu frowned. "Fine, I'll eat some. But only if you stop calling me 'Shin-chin.' It's annoying."

Miyagi shrugged. "Fine, then." He used to his hand to roughly divide the remainder of the brownie in half, keeping the side he already bitten and giving the other one to Shinobu.

"…" Shinobu took it and popped it in his mouth. And… it actually didn't taste too bad. "It's good," he fessed.

"Aww… thanks, Shinobu-chin," Miyagi teased.

"You said you wouldn't call me dumb things."

"Nope. I said I wouldn't call you 'Shin-chin.' You didn't say anything about 'Shinobu-chin.'"

The blond frowned. The guy was clever… in a sneaky, annoying way.

"So, where's your friends? Aren't you going to eat with them?" Miyagi inquired.

"Eh? Oh… uh… yeah," the blonde boy lied. "They're waiting for me… upstairs…"

"Really."

"Mm hm." Shinobu swallowed, nervously, as Miyagi quirked a brow. "W-where's your friends?" Shinobu turned to table over on him.

"Normally we'd meet at the cafeteria. But today, I happened to find an incredibly clueless―"

"Shut up," Shinobu muttered, darkly.

"There's no one waiting for you upstairs," Miyagi stated completely out of nowhere. Shinobu blinked, flabbergasted. Maybe Miyagi had mind-reading powers.

"How'd you know?"

Miyagi shrugged. "Random guesses are random."

Shinobu's brow twitched at the stupid response. This guy… pissed him off in ways most people couldn't…

"…"

"…"

"…"

It was just so awkward. Miyagi had convinced the boy to walk around the school with him… but he didn't stop to realize that they knew nothing about each other.

When Miyagi would ask him something, Shinobu would give a small response, but that was it. Miyagi would try to say something funny, but Shinobu didn't seem to know how to laugh. So in the end, they were just walking side-by-side outside the school in the sunshine.

"Besides English, what other class's do you have this semester?" Miyagi asked.

"I have Food's… and social studies… and science," Shinobu responded, kicking a small pebble out of the way.

"Any other grade nine courses?"

"I have Math 9 next semester," Shinobu stated.

"Ah…"

More awkward tension. The movement of their feet was all that was producing any noise.

Miyagi didn't have much of a first impression when he first saw Shinobu. Just some short blonde boy who nearly got knocked in the head by his eraser. But the kid sort of acted nice and appeared very smart… despite not being able to open his locker by himself.

Shinobu seemed like an interested person in general, so Miyagi thought it would be good and beneficial to know someone smart like him a bit better.

"Miyagi." Shinobu stopped walking and Miyagi turned to him, confused.

"What is it?"

"You should go to the cafeteria with your friends," Shinobu said. "You don't have to waste your time doing this."

Miyagi quirked a brow. "I'm not wasting any time."

"But you must be bored doing this. And I wasn't really looking for any friends."

"We're not friends," Miyagi stated. The two stared at each other. "But it a little time, I think we can be."

"What makes you think that?"

Miyagi shrugged. "Random guesses are random."

The fourteen year old boy watched Shinobu's eyes narrow. The blonde started up again and walked past Miyagi, without saying a word.

"…"

Miyagi jogged to catch up again.

"But you don't have any friends here, Shinobu-chin. It'll be boring for you if you don't start making any." Maybe Miyagi was just being annoying to the small eighth grader.

"Then I'll… get some with my own grade…" Shinobu silently muttered.

"Are you… sure?"

"Yeah."

Miyagi wasn't convinced… the boy was the type of person who can easily be caught lying. But, he decided to let him off anyway. It was the boy's own decision, after all.

"… Alright, then," Miyagi said, silently.

"So go back to your friend where you actually belong," Shinobu ordered.

"If you ever change your mind, I'll be at the caf every lunch."

"Yeah. Thanks."

Miyagi slowly and hesitantly turned around, stepping towards the school. It was obvious to Miyagi that something happened between Shinobu and his peers. The slam the kid received at the locker and the fact that he didn't have any friends was enough proof for Miyagi to tell.

Miyagi would probably find out soon enough what the kid's problem was. Those kinds of things always aroused Miyagi's attention and curiosity.

Afterschool, Shinobu was drained. He went over to his locker to take a couple of text books off his back. He smile widely when he successfully opened his locker on the first try. He quickly dropped off his things and then closed his locker.

When he turned around, it was then when he first realized that he wasn't alone. Shinobu leaned back against the locker and frowned at the four classmates surrounding him.

"Hey," one greeted. "We didn't know you've come to this school."

Another one smirked and said, "Well, it's an all-boy's school, so what do you expect?"

The four of them laughed together and the first one said, "That's true."

Shinobu knew these people from elementary school, along with so many other eighth graders he had seen that day. He didn't particularly care that so many people didn't like him, but it got annoying sometimes how they'd always verbally abuse and tease him.

Sometimes they did it physically, depending on the location.

"…"

"Where are you going, faggot?"

"Do any of you really give a shit?" Shinobu huffed, already knowing the answer. He was almost hoping that when high school started, he wouldn't have to deal with this shit anymore. It got old so long ago.

"Want company?" Another one of them asked.

"No." Shinobu nearly managed to slip out from the side, but one of the guys stepped in the way.

"Brat," he sneered.

"Do something else, you guys," Shinobu grumbled, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Chill. We're just seeing how you're doing. No wonder you're such a loner."

Shinobu attempted to more past them, but one of the taller ones grabbed Shinobu's shirt collar and shoved him back against the locker.

Shinobu's gray eyes were clamped as he knew the impact of the lock sticking out of the locker would most-likely leave a small bruise on the back. The hand over his throat never left, keeping Shinobu stuck in place.

Due to the noisy hallways and the guys back people's views, no one really seemed to notice what was going on. But Shinobu preferred it that way. It wasn't anybody else's business.

"Actually… to be honest, we're low on money right now. We need about 150 more yen. You think you can help?

Shinobu couldn't believe the audacity of the brain-less idiots. How could they honestly believe that he'd willingly give any of them money?

"I don't have money," he lied.

"You gotta have something. Your father's like fucking rich," one muttered.

"He's not rich. And neither am I. So fuck off," Shinobu snapped, slapping his hand off his him. The blonde wasn't sure if that was the right decision or not… because all four of them glowered at Shinobu and closed in on him more.

It wasn't often when Shinobu would touch them― normally he'd just take whatever bullshit someone wanted to give him and be done with it. Although, there were those times when Shinobu would get into big trouble when he'd fight physically with them.

"Don't touch us. We don't want your AIDS."

Maybe since it was not high school, Shinobu should actually fight back. But he didn't want those guys to get to him like they did in elementary. Also, he didn't know what the punishment would be in high school if they were caught.

"Then back up and fuck off," Shinobu hissed, annoyed.

"Crude shit. You haven't talked to us like that in a long time."

Shinobu gritted his teeth, trying to stare each of them down. He wasn't scared, nor was he intimidated. Those guys were much too cowardly to even do anything, anyway.

He gasped in surprise when one of them shoved Shinobu back flat-out against his locker like before― only much rougher.

… Or maybe they weren't too cowardly to do anything.

But even so, Shinobu wasn't scared and was in no way going to show any fear.

The blonde opened his mouth to protest.

"Let go."

Shinobu blinked, confused. It wasn't him who said that… and it wasn't any of the four bastards trying to gruff up some cash out of him. But if it wasn't him or them, then…

"What?" the guy holding Shinobu's sweater vest collar asked, turning around to meet contact with the mingling person. One of the guys was in Shinobu's way― Shinobu couldn't see who it was.

But, he recognised the voice slightly. Not a whole lot, but slightly.

"I said. Let him go." The person gently and calmly nudged one of the guys out of Shinobu's way, giving Shinobu a clear view of who it was. Shinobu's cheeks instantly lit up in a rosy pink colour.

"M-Miyagi…"

The fist that was clenching onto Shinobu loosened, due to the distraction. Miyagi broke off the heated stares between him and them and gazed at Shinobu. He smiled, caringly.

"C'mon, Shinobu-chin," he purred softly, grabbing a hold of Shinobu's wrist. The younger one blinked and wore an embarrassed, bewildered expression when he got pulled away from the guys.

He stumbled to Miyagi's side and Miyagi wrapped a friendly arm around Shinobu's frail shoulders.

The four guys frowned and some sneered. "Butt out, nosy brat."

"Che. Is that any way of talking to your superiors?" They continued to glare at Miyagi. "It's not my business, but public abuse like that is annoying. And risky for you guys, too. So leave this kid alone," Miyagi ordered.

"Shinobu's our buddy," one of them blatantly lied. "Maybe you should be the one to leave him alone."

Miyagi giggled. "Are you kidding?" The arm around Shinobu's shoulders crawled up Shinobu's neck and began to ruffle Shinobu's silky hair.

Shinobu batted his eyes, utterly confused and not in the least used to that sort of contact.

But Miyagi continued to grin widely and proclaimed, "I think Shinobu-chin's cuuuute!"

"EH?" Shinobu gawked at him and the four guys' faces dropped, irked out. Miyagi didn't seem to notice the awkwardness arising throughout the air and appeared content.

"Anyway, take my advice," Miyagi said, more serious again. "High school is different from elementary school. If you get caught ganging up on a crumb, staff won't go easy. They won't let you off with a simple half-assed apology. You'll get suspended, or if it carries on, expulsion. Especially at this school," Miyagi darkly explained.

". . ."

Shinobu glanced up at him and Miyagi became cheerful again.

"Let's go, Shinobu-chin!"

The two scurried out of there― Miyagi tugging at Shinobu's wrist― and came to a halt outside, at the back of the school.

"Miyagi…"

Miyagi ran a hand through his hair, groaning. "A bullying scene against a fucking locker? That's just about the most cliché thing I've seen all day!" Miyagi bellowed.

"…"

"I thought you were going to make friends with your classmates. If that's your idea of making friends, then you're doing it all wrong!" Miyagi huffed, annoyed.

"… And I thought I made it clear to you not to talk to me anymore," Shinobu said, glaring at Miyagi.

"What do you think would happen if I hadn't stepped in?" Miyagi inquired, appearing irritated.

"Nothing," was Shinobu's nonchalant response.

"Nothing?"

"You shouldn't have done what you did," Shinobu said, sternly, pulling his hand back out of Miyagi's.

"Of course I should have. I hate public disturbances like that. It affects everyone."

"You shouldn't have. I wanted you to stay away… but you didn't listen. And now… you just had to do that."

"The hell's wrong with that?"

"The way you acted!" Shinobu bellowed.

"Saying you're cute? I told the truth. So what?" Miyagi huffed, folding his arms.

"They think you're gay now!" Shinobu exclaimed, hoping the goddamn message would jam into the older boy's empty head.

Miyagi gawked. ". . . Eh?"

"The things you said! The holding hands! Playing with my hair… putting your damn arm around me… To them, it's all signs of being homosexual," Shinobu explained.

The word stupid was written all over Miyagi's face. "A h-homo? I do those kinds of things with all of my friends," Miyagi uttered, flabbergasted.

"We're. Not. Friends."

"But with a little time, I think we can be."

"What makes you think…? Never mind. We've already been through that," the blonde muttered, annoyed.

"Random guesses are―"

"SHUT UP!"

"I think you're making a big deal of this. Are you worried that they'll think you're gay?" Miyagi inquired, leaning against the side of the school main building.

"I couldn't care less of what those bastards think of me." Shinobu decided to leave out the part that they already thought Shinobu was a homo. "But I don't want them to think that of you."

"I have a feeling you're not telling me the whole truth," Miyagi huffed.

"Whatever. Stop following me from now on."

Miyagi blinked. "What makes you think I was following you?"

"Because…! You're always there at my locker and butting in when you think I need help."

"My locker is across the hall from yours," Miyagi stated bluntly. "I kept going to open it, but I'd keep finding a certain eighth graders in need of my assistance."

"Not once have I asked for it," Shinobu grumbled.

"I gave it to you anyway."

"Don't anymore. I don't want to cause unnecessary trouble for you, so stay out of my life."

Miyagi continued to casually lean up against the school― Shinobu couldn't tell what he was pondering about.

"I'm going home," Shinobu declared, putting an end to their little debate. The younger one turned away from the ninth grader and began his little walk home.

Miyagi stayed in place, watching the kid leave from behind, until Shinobu was completely out of sight.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

End of chapter one.

Almost everything that was described about the school is basically what my school (or my old school, in this case) was like for me. Like all the different buildings, the way the locker works, the Icebreaker activity, the overcrowded hallways. Except… I don't go to an all-boy's school, lol. And, there's hardly any bullying.

I'm not sure how high schools are like in other countries, so if anything was confusing, I apologize.

And, I hardly did much editing, so sorry for mistakes. I'm only human.

Please Review.