Title: 17 Days

Author: Ayakaishi Fei, aka. FireDemon

E-mail: Ken_Dai_

Rating: PG13

Category: Original Manga. Romance, Fluff.

Warnings: Shoujo ai. Shounen-ai hintings.

Summary: When naïve, studious Yuriko gets asked out by the boy she's been crushing on for over a year, she thinks that everything is perfect. Unfortunately even the best plans go astray.

Part One: Introducing the Players.

Yuriko's brown eyes were wide with trepidation behind her long blond bangs. Her cheeks were flushed an attractive shade of pink, as she shyly smiled at the boy who was standing in front of her.

His dark hair was spiked, attractively frosted with blond streaks. His dark blue eyes were earnest, and, in Yuriko's opinion, absolutely breathtaking.

"Me?" She finally managed to ask.

He grinned, a flash of white teeth against sun-browned skin, "Yeah, you."

"When?" She breathed warmly.

"Are you doing anything on the weekend?" His voice was mellow, charming.

"Only my homework," She giggled nervously, mentally cursing herself for the sheer nerdyness of the statement.

He let out a soft low chuckle; "You really are something else Morisoto- chan."

"Call me Yuriko!" She cried spontaneously, then blushed.

"Alright, Yuriko," His eyes sparkled and he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

Yuriko froze, her hands nervously twitching as she tried to work out whether to touch him or leave them by her sides.

His fingers tangled in her hair as he angled her head, and his other hand caught her waist. Her cheeks flushed even darker, this was the kind of kiss she had been dreaming about.

He pulled away after a few seconds, leaving Yuriko blinking.

"Saito..." She whispered breathlessly.

He gave her a rougish wink. "Come meet a few of my friends, I feel like showing you off."

Yuriko blushed again, her brown eyes alight with happiness, "I'd like that very much Saito-kun."

"Call me Sai, you are my girlfriend after all."

"Sai," She whispered, as if the name was precious, and then followed the taller brunette across the basketball court to where the 'popular' students sat.

~~~

Yuriko Morisoto was not, by definition, unpopular. Nor was she ugly.

At any high school one will find a group of students dubbed 'the popular kids' and in all likelihood a group dubbed 'nerds' or 'geeks'. Yuriko did not really fit into either of these categories, nor did she fit in with the 'goths and freaks', 'troublemakers', 'artsy types', or even the 'druggies'. She simply drifted from group to group, counting none as true friends, while remaining more than just an acquaintance to most of the school.

She seemed, at least on the surface, to be a fairly normal teenage girl. She was 16 years old, a good student who nearly always did her homework, and completed the assignments that were set. She attended parties whenever she was invited, and drank alcohol if it was being offered by an acquaintance. She got along well with her parents, and nearly always did as she was told. She was perhaps a little shy, but that was not too unusual.

All in all, she was just, normal.

Saito Yurigami, the boy who was tugging her across the basketball courts however, was not.

He was popular, not quite a 'jock', but good at sports nevertheless. He did well in his studies, represented the school as a member of the student representative council, dated girls, held parties, drank alcohol nearly every weekend and sometimes cut class to do something stupid with his mates.

He was the dream date of about a quarter of the school.

He wasn't THE golden boy of the school, but he was one of them.

~~~

"Tish, Alyssa, Ruki, I want you to meet someone!" Saito called as they came within hearing distance of the seated group.

The three aforementioned girls stood and bounded towards the couple.

"Yuri-chan!" Tish squealed, "Are you and Saito together?"

Yuriko blushed, as Saito leant down to peck her lips again, "Damn straight we are. She's my date to Tomo's party Saturday night."

Alyssa giggled, "So cool! Yuriko, come sit down with us and watch your boyfriend play basketball with the rest of the boys."

Yuriko smiled shyly, letting the girls drag her over to the seats.

The mixture of seniors and juniors sitting at the seats gave her appraising looks as she sat down. Tai, considered by most to be school-clown or super- cute jock, grinned at her, "Hey hot-stuff, what's goin' on?"

"I just came over to watch you guys play basketball," She gave her bravest grin.

"That's mighty sweet of you babe," Another of the jocks laughed, tugging the rest of the guys out onto the court.

As soon as they'd gone the girls turned to Yuriko.

"So, what happened?" Ruki prodded.

"He asked me out," She blushed slightly, "then he kissed me."

"Smooth!" Téa, a girl Yuriko barely knew, broke in, "Dream come true for you, huh chickpea?"

"Yes. He's so wonderful."

"You guys are like super-cute!" Tish crowed.

"So, like, what are you wearing to Tomo's party?" Alyssa asked, "It being your first date and all."

Yuriko paled, "Well... Uh..."

"Come over to my place!" Tish cried, "Are you getting your hair done? You really should get it cut."

"I..."

"Tonight." Ruki said firmly, "I'm getting mine done, so you have no excuse Yuri."

Yuriko nodded gamely, why, oh why was she doing this. It felt like her life was suddenly completely out of her control.

~~~

"Yuriko Morisoto? You're game Yurigami!" One of the Saito's friends joked.

"That was a terrible pun," Saito felt obliged to point out, before he addressed the comment, "And what? You got a problem with my new girlfriend?"

"Chill dude, I mean yeah, she's pretty enough, but ain't she a bit too high and mighty for you?"

"Lay off dude. What are you, jealous?"

"You think you can put up with her for 17 days?"

"You think you can put her aside after 17 days?" Another voice chimed in.

"You think you can fuck her in 17 days?" A third voice mocked.

Saito smirked cockily, "Course I can. 17 days is perfect."

~~~

Yuriko gazed at her reflection in the mirror; Ruki had directed the hairdresser to cut her hair to a point, shorter bangs at the front, sloping back to a point. Streaks of dark blue gave her an intriguing 'fun' look, and her dead straight locks feathered her face attractively.

"You look *so* cute Yuri-chan!" Ruki giggled, tossing long dark auburn hair, cut in the same style back out of her face.

"Yeah. It looks really good. Thank you Ruki-chan."

"No problemo! I'll see you at Tish's tomorrow night then? We're all getting ready together, right?"

"Oh, yes, of course." Yuriko smiled hesitantly.

"Ace. You gotta learn to relax Yuri, this'll be fun."

~~~

"Oh my god! You're here! Brilliant, come in! Have you got any money?" Tish pulled open the door and ushered Yuriko in.

Yuriko pulled out the $20 note her mother had given her for a birthday present, "Yes, a little."

"Great, with this we can get utterly smashed. You are crashing at Tomo's tonight, right Yuri? You and Saito can get cosy!"

"Oh, ah, yes," Yuriko offered a shy smile. Her mother had been so thrilled at the idea of her going to a party with her friends that she hadn't even questioned her desire to stay the night. "I need to get a present for... Tomo though...?"

"Eh, share ours, it's from all of us girls, and you're one of us now. You like to drink vodka Yuri?"

"...Sure," Yuriko agreed with a slight smile.

"I'm gonna go drive out and get it, Ruki and Ali can do your make-up and help you pick your outfit!" With that Tish disappeared out the door.

Ruki grinned at her, "Have you got your outfit?"

Yuriko pulled the short, black, very sexy dress she'd "borrowed" for the occasion out of her bag and held it up nervously.

"Oh mi god! So cute! Put it on!" Alyssa squealed.

Everybody stared at her until she tugged off the sweatshirt she was wearing and slid the dress on over her jeans, before she tugged off the jeans.

"I like it," Téa grinned, "You look scrumptious sweetheart, I could just eat you up!"

Yuriko smiled nervously, "You guys really think it's okay?"

"Better than okay Yuri. Here, borrow my pumps, they'll match and you'll look so hot Sai will swoon!"

Yuriko accepted the proffered black suede pumps, embroidered with blue butterflies, and pulled them on, before giving the assembled girls a 'what- do-you-think' type look.

"Perfect Yuri-chan. Ali, you do her make-up while the rest of us finish up. We are going to have the best time tonight. I'm gonna get off my face and go for Tai. He's been eyeing me lately, and I feel like getting laid."

Trying not to let her slight shock show on her face, Yuriko forced a cocky grin and turned to Alyssa, "Think you can make me look cute Ali?" She tried to fall in with the easy camaraderie these girls seemed to have, but it didn't come naturally, and it was with a tinge of uneasiness that she prepared for her first date with the boy of her dreams.

~~~

20 minutes later Tish had returned with a carton of some kind of alcoholic drink, which she called cruisers, and the entire group of girls were ready to go.

Yuriko was propelled towards the car by Ruki, who'd already started drinking one of the bottles Tish had supplied, and squashed into the back seat with the rest of the girls.

Ruki shoved a bottle into her hands, and trying to relax she took a drink. It tasted just like ordinary soft drink. Without even thinking about it she finished the bottle off, and pulled another one out of the carton.

The girls in the car laughed, all of them except Tish were drinking as well.

Alyssa grinned from her spot in the front seat, "Tonight is going to go off. Let's party girls!"

And with that she turned up the radio, and Yuriko grinned, feeling more relaxed and at ease then she had in a long, long time.

End Part One.

Authors Notes: Don't have a clue where this came from, but it was fun to write, and I write because it's fun. I guess the school "hierarchy" is close enough to the one at my school. For anyone who's wondering where I fit in, I'm probably bordering the 'freaks and goths' label. I'm too chirpy to be truly nerdy, and I'm friends with most of the popular people in senior year, so yeah, a little like Yuriko without the shyness or the crush. *smiles*

I hope you enjoyed it, and, if so, please review, or I'll abandon this as the dumb ass idea it probably is. It's not exactly going to stay like this for long. There's gonna be a lot of sexuality issues, but not until next chapter.

Review? Please?