Kaoru may feel confident in her friendship with Miyuki, but that did not mean he wasn't still a bastard Tanuki.
It actually seemed like he may have gotten worse. Miyuki was everywhere Kaoru was, at school, taking papers to the faculty office, boom! Miyuki was there to share the load.
He was at every tutoring session, waiting to walk her to her dorm. She couldn't get away from him. All of her friends called her lucky, "he clearly likes you so much!" they would say.
Kaoru wanted to scream at them, how were they not seeing that this was all a teasing ploy? Every time she blushed, his tanuki smirk grew.
Every time she would try to ignore him to focus on something else, he would be there, so close physically Kaoru would lose her train of thought and stutter through a sentence with a glare aimed at Miyuki.
For Miyuki, this was all part of the fun of liking someone. Sure, he didn't want to actually embarrass or make her mad, but a part of him loved seeing her face scrunch up in annoyance at his presence.
He felt a wave of satisfaction when he was the cause of the blush on her face. He loved when he was on the receiving end of her glare, her cheeks still red with embarrassment.
This teasing phase of their friendship was fun for her, he knew it. For all her sharp looks and complaints to Kuramochi and Chiyo, Kaoru didn't back away from his close proximity.
She didn't hide from him when walking in the halls or tell him to get lost. No, Kaoru was enjoying this just as much as he was, her playful shoulder bumps and harsh banter was all the reassurance Miyuki needed that his feelings were reciprocated.
But today, he may have pushed it just a bit too far. Kaoru was focused on writing a training regimen for Haruichi's hitting. He showed so much promise for more power at the plate if he just worked on a few things.
Kaoru had been in deep thought, scribbling exercises and drills down in her notebook for a few hours now. She was spending this time away from the noise of people by hiding away in the athletic classroom.
The same room she tutored the baseball players in weekly. Kaoru was jotting down her thoughts, excitement flooding her veins as she thought of the outcomes. 'He'll be really dangerous at the plate after this,' she thought.
Headphones in and lost in thought, Kaoru didn't notice a certain tanuki approaching behind her, a devilish grin on his face. Miyuki pressed an ice cold coffee can to the back of her neck, causing Kaoru to jump to her feet in surprise.
The shock of the cold can on her warm skin caused Kaoru to knock her thighs into the table as she jumped to her feet. A screech erupted from her lips as she watched in horror as her own coffee wobbled on the table before spilling.
The dark liquid spilled all over her meticulous notes. Cursing quietly, Kaoru quickly tried to separate her notebook from the growing puddle of coffee. A sinking feeling filled her stomach as she looked at the smudged writing.
She heard the shifting of feet behind her as Miyuki returned with several napkins. It appeared to Kaoru as though he wasn't entirely useless since he did go get tissues for the mess he created.
"Kazuya!" Kaoru growled, "my notes are ruined thanks to you!" For once, Miyuki actually looked sheepish, a guilty look on his face that at any other time would have made Kaoru squeal with delight.
Miyuki diligently began cleaning the mess, apologies falling from his lips. He could feel the rage emanating from Kaoru. Unsure of how to respond to her grievance, he tried his best to salvage some of her notes.
"I didn't know you already had coffee, I thought I could bring you some," he said softly, Kaoru took a deep breath, "that's nice of you, but now hours of hard work have gone to waste!" she replied, aggravated.
With a groan Kaoru covered her face with her hands, "why do you always need to pick on me? Most of the time it's fine but are you incapable of simply saying hi?" she asked, a whine in her voice.
Miyuki furrowed his brows at her comment, "it never seemed to bother you," he replied softly, his own temper starting to pick up. "I don't see how a simple mistake is my fault," he added.
Kaoru remained silent in response, her arms crossed over her chest. She wasn't entirely sure either, but her aggravation over the ruined papers needed to be directed somewhere.
Miyuki straightened at the silent treatment he received. Cleaning the spill long forgotten. "I don't like to fight Kaoru, so don't try and make one happen just because you're upset," he responded.
His eyebrows were furrowed and his amber eyes glowed dangerously, nearly daring her to push this further. With a groan, Kaoru glared at him in return, "so what, I'm the bad guy here for being upset about my notes?" she asked, a sarcastic lilt in her voice.
Miyuki gave her one last stern look before he turned away with a sigh. "God, Miyuki, we've been dancing around for months now, and here we are fighting and you just walk away?" she yelled after him, halting his movements.
"I get that this was a stupid mistake, and an even dumber fight," Kaoru continued, "but the fact that you wouldn't even stick around to salvage our friendship - or whatever you call this, is troubling to me," she said.
Miyuki stood by the door, his back facing her as he fought against his body. His brain screamed at him to turn around, and run to Kaoru, wrapping her up in his arms as he wanted to do so badly.
But Miyuki is nothing if not stubborn. So he stood there, without turning around, and prepared himself for Kaoru to walk away. He really did have a shitty personality.
Would he really rather risk losing her just to save some face? That's what his dad did and that's why he hasn't seen his mom since she left. Maybe he really was too much like his father.
He heard Kaoru's footsteps walk in the other direction, a sad sigh leaving her lips as the back door to the classroom opened and closed. Miyuki shut his eyes tightly. Cursing his fear of intimacy, cursing his parents for his warped perception of conflict.
"So you do have feelings under there after all, huh?" said a soft voice in front of him. Miyuki's eyes shot open, revealing a grinning Kaoru, his brain trying to process how she got in front of him.
Stepping back, Kaoru crossed her arms once again, "I went around the back since you clearly weren't going to turn around and talk to me like an adult," she said with a bit of agitation.
Her expression softened slightly as she took in his scrunched eyebrows and the nervous twitch of his fingers. 'I always have liked the difficult ones,' she thought with a chuckle.
"Kazuya, I'm sorry I blamed you for the ruined notes. I overreacted because of stress and the amount of time I put into them," she started, "but this whole thing blowing up has really opened my eyes."
Miyuki felt his heart begin to break, she was going to leave him. She was going to tell him that he was too much, too difficult.
"We definitely need to talk about this," she said, gesturing to the space between them. "I guess I kind of thought with the semester almost ending, something would have already happened," she said.
A smile formed on her face, her eyes shining with vulnerability that had Miyuki's breath caught in his throat. "I like you Miyuki Kazuya, I'm tired of dancing around this and hoping you will say something first."
"Relationships are hard work, maybe even harder because of your shitty personality," she added with a cheeky grin, "but I'm willing to put in that work."
Reaching out to grasp one of his hands, Kaoru's eyes gleamed with hope, "but I really would like someone to do that with," she said softly.
Miyuki thinks he may have died and gone to heaven. Sure he was certain his feelings were returned, but he definitely didn't expect Kaoru to reach out to him when he had shown her his emotional incompetence.
Grasping her hand in return, Miyuki gave it a squeeze as he fought off the blush on his face. "Well then, sounds like you need a partner," he replied, internally cringing as his voice cracked with nerves.
"If you'll have me," he began, lifting their joined hands to his lips, "Kaoru I'm all yours." pressing a kiss to her knuckles. Kaoru felt her face turn 10 different shades of pink in return as she blinked in surprise.
Pulling her into his embrace, Miyuki relished the feeling of her in his arms. Finally, after months of pining, he could run his fingers through her hair, and hold her close. A giggle broke him from his thoughts as the melodic laughter flooded his senses.
"Who knew you were such a sap Kazuya," Kaoru laughed, "have you been reading Sawamura's shoujo manga collection?" she teased while hugging him tightly.
Miyuki pulled back slightly, a smirk on his face, his cheeks dusted pink. "Sure have, and that's where I learned this move," he said, reaching a hand up and removing his glasses before leaning in.
Kaoru's eyes went wide before snapping shut and meeting him halfway. Their lips brushing against each other gently. Her insides exploded as her brain short circuited.
'Miyuki is a dangerous man indeed,' she thought as they pulled away from one another, a genuine, dazzling smile forming on the man's face. "I could get used to this," he said, intertwining their hands.
Extra Innings!
Chiyo watched from the sidelines as Kaoru walked hand in hand with Miyuki out of the baseball team's classroom. Her eyes widening in surprise as a gentle smile graced her features.
"About time," she whispered as she pulled out her phone to sneak a picture of the couple. She was definitely going to send one to Koutaro.
Looking at the picture, she let out a squeal. The image she had captured revealed a smiling Miyuki, looking at Kaoru as the girl used her free hand to gesture wildly.
If love had one single expression, that was it on Miyuki's face as he gazed at Kaoru. Chiyo had seen that look before many times from Koutaro. And it warmed her heart to see her cherished friend on the receiving end of that love.
'I hope you can handle this Miyuki,' she thought as she pressed send on the picture. Within seconds, she could hear Kaoru's phone ringing. Chiyo laughed, she didn't need to hear what was being said to know that Koutaro was having a meltdown.
"I can't wait for him to meet Miyuki, a double date would be so fun!" she cheered to herself.
The End
Thank you to everyone that took the time to read this story! I originally had planned on making this longer, but it felt much more organic for it to end here with the two characters!