A/N:

Hello, good people! There's not much to be said about this one, except that it was inspired by too much school life manga and Ed Sheeran's song "Lego House". I'm assuming since you're reading in the "Manga" section, you're familiar with honorifics. If you aren't, well, some things will be lost on you (not to the point where you can't understand the story though). Either way, I do hope you enjoy!

Chapter warnings: mentions of violence, blood, and minor sexually suggestive situations (still T-rated, of course).

-Reddie


Of all words in English vocabulary, Yuuko's favorite word was "masochist".

The language was truly intriguing to her, and so there were simply so many pretty words: "resonance", "era", "dialect", "incarnation", "cellar" and so many more. She didn't know what most of them meant.

But particularly, she was especially fond of the word "masochist".

Every time she said that particular word, she said it so gracefully; then she would smile and sometimes laugh a little. Sure, she may not have been a mastermind with English grammar or definitions, but she adored the way it sounded, the way that one word fell from her lips. It was such a fancy word. Fancy words like "masochist" were very hard to pronounce, but she had the best pronunciation in her class. Her English teacher told her so.

"Good job, Himura-san." he'd always say.

"Thank you, Ito-sensei." She'd smile, humbly.

She strolled through the hallway to her locker blithely, her fingers wiggling gleefully as she gripped the straps of her backpack.

"Yes. What a word. 'Masochist'." She hummed to herself with a faint sense of pride. She pronounced it perfectly. "I love that word, 'masochist'. I say it so well! I practically own that word. I practically am that word… am that word! Bet it's something really awesome. Yuuko Himura the 'masochist'. Yeah, that has quite the ring to it!"

Of course, she didn't understand what she was even really saying.

She went through the whole week singing, "I am a 'masochist', a 'masochist'!" with utter delight in every classroom and hall and stairwell until Ryuu laughed at her.

Urgh, she thought she'd found the right route to avoid him!

"What do you want, Jackass-senpai?" she glared, calling him by his special nickname to denote her anger. She always gave him a warning of her anger first, not that he ever took it. How rude it was of him to mock her for saying her favorite word!

"Do you know what you're even saying," he snickered with a hand over his mouth, "Yuu-chan?" Oh, how she hated him for addressing her so affectionately! Sure, they'd been "childhood friends", so to speak, but to refer to any girl as "chan" when that level of personal closeness had most definitely not been achieved was utterly insulting to her.

Knowing a girl for ten years didn't simply mean he was automatically in her circle of intimacy, especially when all he'd ever done was harass her for ten years for her "too-short" hair!

"Himura-chan, if you must use that cutesy suffix to address me." She scoffed. "And no, I don't know the meaning of that word, but it sounds wonderful. Now if you'll just leave me be." Yuuko began to turn away, but he cornered her between his arms by setting them up against the lockers. She noticed his first tattoo on his right arm, one he must've gotten from the previous weekend: an orange dragon with his name lined along it. She gave a soft mocking laugh at the sight.

"You can't say that word anymore." He commanded decisively with darkened eyes. She ignored the command altogether.

"Ryuu Tachibana," she read aloud with great exaggeration, still looking at his tattoo. Ryuu meant "dragon" and Tachibana meant "wild orange". "How conceited, a tattoo that matches your name! That's practically like shouting 'ore-sama' at the top of your lungs!"

"Hey, you forgot to add 'senpai' to the end of my name."

"Ha! Like I really do think you even deserve that much." Yuuko spat, a rebellious smile plastered on her face.

"You're in for it now…" he spoke darkly, taking hold of her shirt.

With a menacing growl in his throat, he brutally crushed his lips against hers. She was immediately flooded with shock. He had never done anything like this before. Though, as he suffocated her ability to breathe and bit down unforgivingly on her lip, Yuuko couldn't help but think that this was just another tactic used to torment her, a new gesture of hatred. After all, kissing gourami would do the same when engaging in conflict.

She shoved him off, gasping for air.

"You jackass!" She banged her fists against his chest. Yuuko sucked her lip. "My lip is bleeding! What's wrong with you?"

"You said you were a masochist, didn't you?" he chuckled. She paled at the comment. Oh no, what had she been saying then? "I guess that teaches you to watch what you say."

"What did I say?" she blurted.

"Go look it up." He turned his back on her as he wiped his lips dry of her blood, using his tattooed arm. A faint streak, the color of scarlet sunsets, adorned the eye of the dragon. "I was gonna tell you, but you can just forget about it now."

"Hmph. Fine then." And the two parted ways and continued on with their school day.

Then later that night in the darkness of her room, she stared dejectedly at her laptop, at the translated definition.

"Masochist: a person who derives pleasure from pain, especially of the physical variety." She read aloud, before placing a finger on her lips. "That jackass. That… jackass! I… hate…"

She moved a hand to her hair as angry, bitter tears began to form in her eyes.

He had stolen two things from her that day: her favorite word and her first kiss. Both were things that rightfully belonged to her, and that jackass stole them.

And she screamed into her pillow, enraged to find that she still couldn't say she hated him.


After school on the day that followed, Ryuu hadn't seen her anywhere. He waited half an hour at the gate to see if she might run into him there, but she never came around. Was she… intentionally avoiding him? That was a first.

He let out a careworn sigh before finally turning to leave.

When had Yuuko become so hateful of him? He knew full well that it was his fault, but she'd never gone to such lengths until now. What exactly was it that pushed her to this point? He thought that to himself, walking along the road to the train station as he sunk his teeth into the mochi skin of the ichigo daifuku he'd bought from a vendor earlier. The strawberry inside was lusciously juicy and dripped red down his chin.

"The jackass who invented these…" he complained, wiping his face clean with his arm. "Seriously, who would put a strawberry in the middle of perfectly good sweet bean paste? Was it not sweet enough for him or something? Jackass… maybe I should've bought matcha daifuku instead."

But he knew why he bought the ichigo variety: because Yuuko loved strawberries. When they were kids, he once stole a couple of strawberries from her birthday cake and they ended up fighting over it. She screamed they were the best fruits in the world and for that reason he couldn't take that from her. He told her he was going to feed them to her and she called him a liar because she saw him put them on his plate. He chuckled at the memory.

He'd never been very good with getting much anything across to her.

"Young man." A stranger's voice emerged. "Are you troubled?" he looked up and saw a woman with long salt-and-pepper hair, dressed in a lavender komon kimono patterned with burgundy roses.

"Is it any of your business, Madam?" Ryuu mocked.

"Only if you need it to be." She smiled innocently. Just as Ryuu began to continue away, she stated, "I can help you in your dilemma with that girl. Yuuko Himura-san."

He stopped dead in his tracks.

"How do you know her name?" he hissed.

"It's written all over your face." She smiled mischievously now. Upon closer inspection, Ryuu saw the glint of fox's eyes and teeth. "If you step into my shop, I can help."

Was she that wish-granting witch that his older brother had been going on about last night?

"I'm broke, Madam. Sorry I can't afford it." Ryuu started to walk away again, but was immediately frozen in place once there was a fox in his way. He turned to go the other way, but the fox merely blocked him, not letting him through. He tried to step over it, and then it lunged at his leg. It caught hold and sank its claws into his pants. He let out a snarl, trying to shake it off, but it wouldn't budge. "Dammit, call your pet off! I already said I have no money."

"You don't need to give me any money." She chortled, watching in amusement as Ryuu struggled with the fox. "Just a small portion of your time will suffice."

Ryuu looked to the growling fox on his leg, then to the woman, then to the fox again.

"Alright, alright." He submitted and followed her inside.

Before he could even ask her what was going on, the door closed behind them both without any help from human movement. The fox let him go. The next minute, it disappeared, as if it had never even existed in the first place.

Immediately feeling trapped and tense, Ryuu tried to calm himself. The door closed on its own, so what? She probably installed an automatic door.

But that still didn't explain what had happened to the fox.

"Follow me, young man. There is nothing to fear." She laid a hand on his shoulder in attempt to set him at ease.

"And yet, with all due respect, you're really creeping me out right now, Madam."

"Worry not. My only intention is one of well-meaning aid and guidance." And she smiled toothlessly and sincerely.

Even so, it was incredibly difficult to trust a woman with such predatory, bordering even on wicked, fox eyes…

He was led into a living room, a rather spacious chamber of sorts with walls painted in cream and gold. A kotatsu table, with the blanket removed, sat dressed in a simple thin white drape. A small varnished ebony chest seemed to be both the centerpiece and paperweight holding the drape from sliding off the table.

She commanded him to sit down, and he immediately complied, knowing there were obviously no upsides in crossing a witch.

"What's in there?" Ryuu pointed with his index finger, his imagination running wild with disturbing thoughts as to what the chest contained. He was worried there might've been animals' eyes or feet in there. The daifuku was turning in his stomach just from thinking about it... he concealed a shudder.

"Just charms: lockets and rings and amulets. Things of that sort." She replied, the corners of her lips tugging upwards ever so slightly.

The comment and her casual, soothing tone set him at ease. And finally, he was able to breathe in relief.

"Alright then." Ryuu situated himself comfortably on the floor, crossing his legs.

"What is it that you want, young master?" the woman inquired kindly.

"I would like very much for Yuuko Himura to fall for me."

"Umm, say again?"

"I want her to fall for me." he shortened it, raising his voice slightly. He thought that she was, perhaps, hard of hearing in her old age.

"Umm, try again. Be more specific."

Ryuu now breathed a sigh of agitation.

"I, Ryuu Tachibana, want Yuuko Himura to feel what I feel!" he declared, blushing up to his ears.

"Ah, are you sure that's what you want?"

"Yes."

"Be careful now. Are you very sure that's what you want?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" he affirmed impatiently. Ten years, he grew up alongside her. The countless thoughts of her which had crossed his mind, the countless nights he spent thinking about her, the countless dreams he had of her since the inception of his feelings… they were all meaningless because he'd never be able to voice them aloud to her in real world. But now, knowing that her very heart was within his grasp now, he didn't think he could wait a second longer to have her.

The witch stood up.

"As you wish, Tachibana-san." She bowed politely.

Fiercely, she then lunged and tore off his shirt.

The fox flashed before his eyes, before a deep stabbing pain struck him like an arrow through the heart. He looked to see blood on his chest. He almost screamed, but the witch put a hand over his mouth, shushing him.

"W-what…?" he trembled, his voice muffled.

"Calm yourself. Does it still hurt?" in reply, he shook his head, but the sight still terrified him.

She uncovered his mouth and from one sleeve, she pulled out a thin-reed stylus, and from the other, a small white sheet of rice paper. "Use it to write her name." She offered forward the two items. Reluctantly, he took them shakily and did as he was told. The blood then dissipated, leaving behind no visible scar.

"Name something she is incredibly fond of."

Ryuu groped for words, "Umm… strawberries? Yeah! Strawberries!"

"Good. I have those. Wait here." Before he could even touch his chest to make sure that he was still alive, the fox pounced on him with a strawberry in its mouth and a happily wagging tail.

"Well, go ahead. Wrap it in the paper. And then Kitsune-sama will eat it."

"'Kitsune-sama'? You named your fox 'Master Fox'?" Ryuu looked at her in disbelief.

"Don't mock him or this won't go well. Now do it." He obeyed once again and Kitsune immediately devoured it. The witch stroked him behind the ears.

"I humbly ask of you, Kitsune-sama: make Yuuko Himura-san feel what Ryuu Tachibana-san feels." She requested sweetly. And the fox nodded soberly, before scurrying from the room. "Splendid! You can go now."

Ryuu perked up, "That's it? Really?" and she simply nodded, looking slightly uneasy. Ryuu didn't notice. "Alright, sweet! Thanks, Madam."

"Alright then… you're welcome, have a nice day. Feel free to come back anytime, young man."

He left with full confidence, but with every step he took homeward, a thought of doubt crossed his mind. What if the witch didn't know what she was doing? What if… she was just some delusional old woman? Was he excited for nothing?

Going aboard the train, he heaved a disappointed sigh.

He'd wasted his time, hadn't he?


Ryuu threw his bag into the room and slammed the door shut behind him. His mom would've griped about it, but she wasn't here at the moment. She'd be back tomorrow morning.

He flopped onto his bed and slid his arm to touch is forehead.

"That's right. My siblings aren't here either. Kazuki is still at training camp with his team and Naomi is sleeping over at a friend's house… so I'm all alone until morning."

Thoughts of Yuuko raced through his head. It was never a good idea to think of Yuuko on such a hot afternoon alone in his room, especially during spring, a season when pheromones fly free. And now envisioning Yuuko with a flushed face, his hormones begged for a release.

Guiltily, he looked to the bottle of lotion standing on his dresser, contemplating for hours if he should.

Excluding mornings where it was simply a matter of relief, only when he was especially down or discouraged would he… do things like that at any other time of day. It merely took such thoughts of Yuuko to give him a rush. His fantasies were surprisingly gentle for one who'd been yearning for years. He treasured his imagination for that, because there he could predict what Yuuko would say and do next. In his fantasies, he could live in denial to the way she truly felt about him. In his fantasies, he could hear those three words, words she'd never utter to him in real life.

"Yuuko…" he groaned softly as he finally gave into indulging in his guilty pleasure, "Ah, Yuuko…"

He'd never let her call him that in real life. He let out a wry, weak laugh when that bitter thought passed as soon as it had arrived. And he continued on with his ministrations, soon forgetting his true situation, her true feelings of hatred.

Yes… it was always a pleasant way to escape the truth.


Her parents were gone for the night, and would be for two more weeks, celebrating their anniversary. Something interesting caught her eye as she finished up her homework. After putting her school supplies away, she got up and approached it. There it was, almost ghost-like. But it was really there…

"Well, hello there, little guy…" Yuuko bent her knees and looked down at the fox crossing through the garden as the moon rose. "What are you doing here? You seem far from home…"

The fox looked up and her, yawned wearily, and immediately decided to take a nap, curling up comfortably like a cat in the dirt. And Kitsune-sama left the fox's body to possess Yuuko.

She clapped a hand over her mouth when a burst of immense pleasure engulfed her as abruptly as a heart attack. She fell to her knees and panted, frightened. Her pulse raced and her right palm tingled, felt warm with sweat. She gnawed on her lip, fretting mentally in disconnected thoughts, until it passed. But then she bit her lip again and realized she couldn't feel the bite at all. Immediately, she rushed up to her room and locked the door.

Now, she felt a hand on her chest, though both of her own remained curled in fists at her side. Exhaustion swept over her, but she couldn't muster up enough peace of mind to allow herself to rest. She stayed up the whole night.

What was wrong with her body all of a sudden?


A/N:

Reviews are very deeply appreciated. Have a lovely day/night, readers.

-Reddie