Data Error

Chapter Four

“She went out?” Inui asked standing in front of . “I am sorry to have troubled you then -sama.” He bowed politely. He looked at the older man’s face and calculated the weary lines across his forehead. He had come to the conclusion that something was indeed wrong in the household. “I hope she is fine though; she was rather upset last night.”

looked at him. “She did not tell you boys anything, Sadaharu?” he asked Inui who still stood there. He rubbed his jaw lightly and frowned. If his daughter had not told the two boys she trusted so much about his announcement, then she must be more distressed about it than he thought. 

“No.”

“Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?” offered. “Maybe you can help me with and see how I can talk to her.” He said, knowing fully well that Inui was also one of the people that can break through her stubbornness.

The invitation surprised Inui, but out of respect he nodded. “I will take up that offer, -sama.” He accepted walking in after the older man. They went into the kitchen as put a pot of tea on the stove.

“You know Sadaharu, this house always lacked a woman’s touch.” He remarked. “After ’s mother passed away, she always tries so hard to pretend everything was fine, but I knew she wasn't.”     

Inui was quiet as he took a seat and nodded quietly.

“I can imagine how hard it is for her to cope. She has school, she helps the tennis club with activities, and then comes home to cook, clean up and do her homework.” He explained, waiting for the water to boil. “I can’t let her high school years be this hard for her. She has exams coming up.”

Inui was slowly beginning to understand what might have upset last night. The way he was speaking indicated what was to come next.

“She came home last night and found the woman I was seeing for a while.” He placed a cup of tea in front of Inui. “She is someone I am going to marry, Sadaharu.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” muttered sitting down sipping his tea. He almost gagged at the taste and was wondering how the boy was drinking the disgusting tea he had just made.

“She did not take the news calmly, did she?”

A sad smile spread across ’s lips. “No, she didn’t.” he answered. “Since you know her very well I was hoping maybe I could talk to you. I feel like such a failure for a father. I don’t even know how to talk to my own daughter.”

~~~

“What do you think of these earrings?” asked Renji as she held a pair of earring next to her ear. “I think they’re cute and they’re the right color.” She said admiring the curved cut to the accessory. “Yukimura-san?”

“Rei’s sworn off earrings for a while.” Renji remarked as put down the earrings. “Yukimura Aya is a tomboy.”

Yukimura laughed at that. “As much as I hate to admit that, but he’s right.” Yukimura agreed. “My sister will not go near earrings yet.”

let out a sigh. “You two are more difficult than I thought.” She muttered as she walked out of the store and looked around. They were at the shopping mall and so far anything that she had showed the boys they had either said too girly or complained about something else.

She glanced at Sanada and admired how quiet he was being. He wouldn’t even comment on anything she kept showing Renji and Yukimura. “We checked clothes, accessories, and games. What else do you guys have in mind?” asked turning around to face them.

“Let’s just walk and we’ll see what we come across.” Yukimura suggested as he started walking.

The rest followed across the crowded mall. Renji was walking with Sanada while conversed with Yukimura. He stopped though when he saw her stop by a store window and her eyes seemed to focus on something. He left Sanada’s side and walked to her while Yukimura looked at the window of another store. “Do you see something you like?” he asked as she stood in front of a fashion accessory store.

didn’t look at him. “I was just admiring something.” She replied softly. “Don’t worry about it.” She turned her face to look at him.

“Show me.”

shook her head. “It’s alright.” She said embarrassingly. She knew if she showed him something she liked, then he would feel obliged to buy it for her. Renji was always like that, but she never accepted any of his gifts. Many times, he had told her to show him something she liked, because she was hard to shop gifts for.

Renji leaned closer to the window. “Show me.” He repeated firmly.

let out a sigh. “You’re so stubborn, Yanagi.” She mumbled. She normally used his last name when she was annoyed with him. “I was just looking at that bracelet.” She pointed.

“The one that has your zodiac sign hanging like a charm on it?” he asked, studying the piece.

nodded. “Yes.” She nodded. “Now let’s go.” She said changing the subject. “Yukimura-san and Sanada-san are waiting.” She remarked, pulling him away from the store.

He followed quietly as she stopped in front of the two other players. He liked how friendly they were. Well, Yukimura was, but he knew Sanada liked her, for if he didn't then he wouldn’t be listening attentively to what she was saying.

"Renji?"

He turned his face and looked at , who was looking peculiarly at him. "You dozed off." She smiled at him.

"No. I was just thinking."

put her hand on his upper arm. "About?" she asked curious. "You don't normally space out." She remarked looking at him worriedly.

Renji shook his head. "No need to worry about me." He assured, leading her to a store on the second floor. "I'm always fine." He said quietly, just for her ears. "And you still need to tell me what upset you last night."

"My~ My~ Renji…" chuckled. "You're being somewhat nosey today."

Before he could say anything, Yukimura intervened. "I think I know what to get Aya. The new Play Station III is out." He remarked, noticing the advertisement on the store window.

"Maybe it's something you want to get for yourself, Yukimura-san?"

All four turned at the new voice that was directed at them. immediately scowled and clenched her fists. Her eyes narrowed at the newcomer and she was going to say something, but she felt someone put a hand on her shoulder. "He's not worth it."

looked at Renji and her eyes softened.

"You are Mizuki Hajime from St. Rudolph?" Yukimura asked as the mischievous looking boy stood there twirling one finger through his hair while he observed them. He was more intrigued by the pair that stood on the side. "I see -chan that you are seeing Yanagi Renji still?"

"Listen to me you…" began as she almost charged into him, but an arm stretched in front of her and stopped her. "Violence is not the answer." Sanada stated firmly. "Renji, take her away and we'll handle this person."

"I am not going anywhere." snapped irritated pushing Renji's hand away who wanted to take her as far away from Mizuki. "This idiot's gossiping …."

"Gossiping?" Mizuki asked with a frown. "I only told the truth."

"The truth?" Yukimura asked with a frown. He didn't know this person very well, but even he was starting to get annoyed, because he had an aura of discomfort-ness nearby him.

Mizuki raised an eyebrow. "Were you not kissing Yanagi Renji in the park that night?"

"Oh…" Yukimura whispered. Since he was in the hospital for a while he hadn’t heard of this and Sanada, who visited regularly, was not one that gossiped about things that had happened.

flushed into different shades of color. "That…." She hissed. "That was something that did not concern you…." She said meekly. She had almost forgotten about that incident and now he was making it worse by reminding her of it and he was doing it in front of Renji.

Mizuki was going to retort, but stopped when he saw Renji stand in front of him. "Mizuki…." He said firmly. "I suggest you find a better use of your time." He threatened, nearly glaring at him.

Mizuki looked unmoved.

Renji took out a small notebook which he carried around with him. He flipped the pages, took out a photo, and held a picture in front of him.

Mizuki's eyes widened. "Wh….! Where did you get that picture from?!" he demanded, wanting to snatch it, but Renji moved back.

"Do we have an understanding, Mizuki Hajime?"

Mizuki gritted his teeth and his eyes narrowed dangerously at Renji. "Where did you get that picture from?" he repeated.

Renji ignored that and tucked the photo back into the notebook. "That's settled then." He stated.

Before Mizuki could say anything; Renji whisked , away while Yukimura and Sanada followed him. He swore softly and knew he was in for. If that picture got out in any way, he was done for.

~~~

"No."

pouted innocently at him. "Please?"

Renji shook his head. "I am a man of my words. I will not reveal this to anyone."

Yukimura smiled while Sanada let out a sigh. It had been a while since they encountered Mizuki and finally both Yukimura and Renji had bought gifts for their sisters. However, throughout the whole voyage, had done nothing but beg Renji about the picture.

"Yanagi~" exclaimed, hugging his upper arm. "You have to show me! You have to show me!" she repeated, shaking his arm. "That idiot ruined my life for two whole days and I deserve to see that picture….'

"No."

"Renji is stubborn." Yukimura added. "He will not give in."

"You think I don't know that?" said with a sigh. "Aren't you two curious?" She asked looking at Yukimura and Sanada.

"No." They both answered at the same time.

"Oh well." She shrugged. "I'm going to go home then." She announced, looking at the three of them. "I hope I was able to help Yukimura-san and thank you Sanada-san for the company."

They both nodded and bid her farewell.

"I'll drop you home." Renji told .

nodded.

They decided to walk the distance home. Renji glanced at her and found her deep in thought. "Fa…"

"I'm such an idiot, Renji." She whispered, interrupting what he wanted to say.

Renji put a hand on her shoulder assuringly. "Although you have been smiling the whole day; you have not been yourself. I knew that there was something that was bothering you a 100%."

"Yes." She agreed. "I…." she began, but stopped. "My father's getting married, Renji." She finally let out. "I can't believe he would do something like that." She added bitterly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm such a selfish person. I don't want anyone else to live with us. I don't want anyone else to have his time. I want him for me only."

Renji took out a piece of tissue and handed it to her. "Tears don't suit you."

She wiped them, sniffing quietly and nodded, but they burst out again. hid her face with her arms and looked away, but Renji smiled and turned her to face him. "It's alright." He soothed. "Let's go somewhere quiet." He led her to a quiet area where they could be alone.

Later

"Better?"

"Yes." sniffled. "Thank you, Renji." She said in a croaky voice. She had cried for quite a bit and he just sat there next to her watching her. "I feel a bit better."

"You've been ignoring him, haven't you?"

She remained soundless.

"I thought so." He said out loud. "All your gestures indicated that."

"It doesn't matter." She muttered. "I was rude to her as well."

Renji put his hand on hers. "So the first thing you're going to do is apologize to him."

"No."

Renji frowned. "You have to." He stressed. "He probably had good reasons not to tell you." He assured. "You are not angry at him because he is getting married, but angry because he hid the fact that he was serious about someone."

"No. I don't want him to get married to someone and disturb our lifestyle balance."

"You're being egocentric."

nodded not looking at him. "I know that, but it's not wrong of me to think that way."

"Don't you want your father to be happy?"

kept quiet.

"…"

"What about me?" She asked softly. "I want to be happy too." She added. "I don't want someone else to take my mother's place." She fought her tears back.

"You're looking at it in a wrong way." He remarked. "You're going to have someone who will love you. You're going to have someone who will take care of you and be there for you to listen to you."

"I have that already." She stated. "You and Sadaharu are always there for me."

Renji smiled. "Yes, you do." He agreed. "However, she is on a special level. Why don't you give her a chance before going all judgmental on her?

She looked at him still not convinced, but she didn't say anything to contradict him either.

"Here." Renji finally said, taking something out of his pocket.

blinked looking at him. "What?" she asked, then her eyes narrowed while she frowned. She recognized the shiny object he was holding in his hand. "Renji….you know I will not…"

"Shut up." He ordered softly as he took her hand and clasped the bracelet she was admiring earlier onto it. "Accept it because if you don't then no one else will get it." He explained standing up. "I think it's time you start accepting gifts and not treat us equally anymore."

~~~

Inui had not only ended up staying the whole day, but he found himself making dinner as well. He didn’t say no though. This was a great opportunity for him to experiment with a variety of ingredients that did not exist in their kitchen at home.

It also gave him a chance to think over things. was tampering with his mind more often during the last weeks. He was also data enraged that he attempted to kiss her at the camp. He was surely expecting her to slap him 98.25%; instead she had stood there stunned at what had occurred between them. He also felt worse because he didn't give her a chance to say anything, but just turned around and left.

"Oh my god! What are you making?" exclaimed, walking in frantically.

Inui smiled. "Dinner."

grimaced and slapped his hand letting him go of the wooden spoon he was using to stir something in the pot. "Please sit down." She pleaded. "You're not feeding this household. Not after how you managed to poison my teammates."

"Poison?"

"Yes. Poison." She answered as she looked at the ingredients that were all over the place. Although he had been experimenting, she liked the fact that he was reasonably neat.

Inui didn't budge. "I was just making some soup."

"With paprika?!" She asked sarcastically. "You know I'm allergic to spices."

"Sadaharu, you cook?"

Inui turned around to see Renji enter the kitchen. There was no expression on his face, but he nodded. "Yes I do, Renji. I was trying out that thing we tried to make perfect last time."

"There will be no joint venturing in my kitchen!" announced.

"What did you use?" Renji asked.

"I added some paprika, spinach, salt, pepper, baby cereal, parsley, and green peppers."

gagged.

"No wonder it looks like that." He remarked as he noticed the green liquid bubbling in the pot. "You need to add Soy milk as well." Renji explained, taking some Soy milk and adding it in. "Give me some of your Sodium Nitrate."

looked surprised as Inui took out a small jar from his pocket and handed it to Renji. had a bad feeling as Reni opened the jar and she saw gas come out of it. He started pouring it in... "Renji, no it will…."

[BOOM]

~~~

and Sakamoto Rin stared in bafflement at the sight in front of them. was on her knees scrubbing the floor with a sponge. Her trousers were covered in a black dust, her hair was pulled back, but the ends looked like it was burnt, and she was not happy one bit.

Renji was washing the dishes or whatever was left of it, while Inui was mopping the floor. All three of them looked like a bomb had hit the kitchen. Both of the boys' clothes were half torn as well. The three of them had still not acknowledged the couple's presence.

"I told you two a million times, don't experiment in my kitchen!" snapped angrily as she scrubbed vigorously at a spot on the floor that was refusing to move. 

"We should not have used Sodium Nitrate." Renji remarked.

threw the sponge at him. "You should not have used anything!"

Inui let out a sigh. "It was my fault!" he took the blame. "Your ingredients inspired me to make something."

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" added. "You were going to use us as guinea pigs."

Rin looked astonished at the exchange between the three. "Is this normal?" she whispered.

smiled softly. "As normal as you want it to be." He said out loud.

All three members stopped as they heard and looked at him. "I apologize, -sama." Inui bowed.

"I know it wasn't your fault, Sadaharu." smiled at the boy. "It's none of your fault." He chuckled. "I shouldn’t have left you here by yourself in the first place."

Inui blushed a bit.

reassumed back to her scrubbing.

Renji bowed as well. "My apologies to you as well, -sama."

nodded and put his hand lightly on Rin's back making her step forward. "This is Sakamoto Rin, boys." He introduced.

Rin smiled mildly at them. She was feeling out of place mainly because had done nothing yet to admit her being there. She was still busy scrubbing the floor ignoring everyone around her.

Both Inui and Renji bowed and introduced themselves.

looked embarrassed and he started rubbing the back of his head. "I brought Rin here for dinner…"

Inui blushed again.

"How about we all go out for dinner?" He invited looking at Renji and Inui.

stopped scrubbing and sat up. "I'm not hungry." She announced abruptly.

Renji and Inui looked at each other and nodded. "Excuse us, -sama." Renji apologized as he walked toward . He and Inui each grabbed an arm and pulled her up. "Come with us." Inui ordered.

"Hey~" said surprised as they dragged her out of the kitchen.

Needless to say, found herself sitting between Renji and Inui opposite her father and Rin Sakamoto an hour later at a restaurant her father had taken all of them to. She was not smiling.

"Smile." Inui hissed in her ear.

gave him a smile and Inui almost fainted from the scary look on her face that she portrayed.

"Not like that." He whispered.

looked down. She knew she was being a brat. She knew she was causing her father distress, but she just couldn’t get along. Her stubbornness was getting the best of her. She looked up and found Rin looking at her. "That's a pretty bracelet." She said softly.

looked at her bracelet and her cheeks flushed. She had forgotten about Renji's gift to her. She fiddled with the bracelet and let out a sigh. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Do you want a pepperoni and cheese pizza, ?" asked her with a warm smile.

looked at Rin then back at her father. She felt her heart tug, but she nodded. "Yes." She answered quietly. "I'd like that."

She felt a hand on her knee reassuringly and found it to be Inui's. Her gaze softened and she was starting to feel a bit guilty because she was wearing Renji's bracelet. Thinking of the bracelet, Renji's words came haunting her again.

< I think it's time you start accepting gifts and not treat us equally anymore>

Has it really come to this?

Is it time for me to actually choose?

Everyone keeps expecting me to choose one of them…

Is my heart ready?

Her mind was swirling now. She shook her head and looked up she saw Rin looking at her with alarmed eyes. She blushed frivolously, looked away, and just busied herself.

~~~

"You look tired." Kurobane told the next morning as she walked into the club room.

looked at him and yawned. "I'm fine." She mumbled. "I slept late last night." She explained. "My father took us out to dinner." She said. That was partly true, for she had stayed the whole night trying to figure out where her heart lay.

"Us?" He asked looking up at her from the clubroom floor.

"Don't ask." She said annoyed. "What are you two doing on the floor?" asked suspiciously as she saw him sitting opposite Saeki on the clubroom floor crossed legs.

They both looked at her and Saeki grinned. "We're playing a game."

raised an eyebrow. "A game?"

"Yes." Kurobane nodded. "It's not that easy. This is a game where your subconscious takes over." He explained. "You ask a series of quick questions and let your subconscious decide for you."

"Sounds like crap." remarked as she crossed her arms.

Saeki pulled her down, "Then sit down and try this crap with us."

looked at him annoyed, but shrugged. "Che…" she mumbled. "What do I need to do?" she asked not in the mood for them.

"Sit down and focus." Kurobane told her.

"I'm focused."

"Okay, you don't think." He said firmly. "You just answer. It will be a series of either this or that and you choose pick one without thinking too long, okay?"

"I get it!" snapped through gritted teeth. "Let's get this over with."

The boys looked at each other and nodded.

Kurobane started. "Apples or Oranges?"

"Oranges."

"Tea or coffee?"

"Tea."

"Do you like red or yellow?"

"Red."

"Do you think the new practice method will help the team?"

"No."

"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

"Vanilla."

"Do you love Yanagi or Inui?"

"Ya…" started, but stopped. She covered her mouth in shock and stared at Kurobane in bewilderment. "I didn't…" she whispered. "I…." she looked at him, still in shock. stood up with shaking legs and a look of dismay on her face. Did I just….? She thought her heart pounding at the realization.

Kurobane looked alarmed at what they might have done. "…"

"Don't!" She shouted covering her ears. "I can't believe you did that?!" she yelled clearly hurt. "I…I can't look at you right now." She said, fleeing from the scene. 

"!" He repeated as she ran out of the door.

ran for her life. Did I just…. Did I just say…. She finally stopped by a tree, shaking. I was thinking about choosing, but not like this….she thought. Was my mind already made up? Her heart was beating fast….No! She thought stubbornly. I will not let Kurobane's stupid game make me choose!

Then why…..

Why…..

Why does it feel so right?

~~~

DeVeliCious

Edited by Anon