Author’s Notes: Laa dee dahh..

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           Chapter 2: The Memo

           “Makimachi-san, have you seen this memo?”

           Misao looked up from her desk as she went over plans for the culture festival at the underclassman before her.

           “What memo?”

           “From the Student Council President about the festival budget.”

           Misao took the memo from his hands and crumpled it up, tossing it in the garbage.

           “Ahh, Makimachi-san....shouldn’t you have read that?”

           She sighed.

           “I already know what he wants to say. If you don’t mind I’m a little busy.”

           The underclassman put a hand to the back of his head and laughed nervously.

           “Ah ok! I’ll just be off then.”

           Misao nodded and went back to her plans, rolling her eyes.

           Aoshi had been annoying her all week over the festival, making sure she KNEW about the budget rules.

           And he felt the need to drive the reminder into her head daily.

           “Misao-chan, how are plans coming along?” Kaoru asked, hopping onto the desk next to Misao and looking over the plans.

           “Really good, I think this is going to go well. I just need to get our esteemed Student Council President to stop breathing down my neck.”

           At least not metaphorically.

           “Does he know about your plans?” Kaoru asked, filing her nails.

           “Nope! And he won’t know because I have a little plan to distract him. He can send all his little minions he wants with his damn memo, but there’s no way he’s ruining my plans.”

           Kaoru set her file down and laughed.

           “This whole festival thing is really bringing out your devious nature. I hope for your sake he doesn’t find out. You’ll be in sooo much trouble with Student Council.”

           Misao waved her hand.

           “Whatever, they bug me enough as it is over everything else, and besides! The minute Shinomori-senpai graduates I plan on replacing him as Pres.”

           “God, you’re going to be this nuts even after he leaves school?”

           Misao laughed.

           “Of course, I’m going to leave my mark on this school! And anyways, Student Council knows not to piss me off too much since I can basically dig up dirt on them and write anything I want being editor of the paper.”

           “High school politics..is ugly.” Kaoru decided.

           “Enough of that! How’s your little mission coming along?”

           “Really good! The florists gave me some good prices and a lot of fabric stores had what we needed.”

           “Excellent. That just leaves tea shops and bakeries.”

           “And art supply stores.”

           “Yes, thank you Kaoru-chan.”

           “So what exactly did you plan to do to keep Shinomori-senpai pre-occupied?”

           Misao gave a laugh similar to Megumi.

           “You’ll see. Actually I’ve managed to get your Himura’s help on this one.”

           “Kenshin? Howso...”

           “He agreed to do what I planned on pre-occupying Shinomori-senpai with.”

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           Aoshi looked up from his desk as the young year 1 student entered his office.

           “Myoujin-san?”

           “Makimachi-san didn’t read over your memo, sir. She...tossed it in the garbage. She says she gets the idea basically.”

           Aoshi adjusted his glasses.

           “I see. Thank you Myoujin-san.”

           “Ah, you’re welcome sir.”

           He watched the young boy with spiky black hair leave his office and leaned back in his chair.

           So she threw it out? We’ll see about that. She better understand clearly that I don’t want any elaborations to make her class outdo everyone else. She’s most likely up to something. Probably why she hasn’t wanted to spend time together lately.

           As much as they made it a note to keep their relationship casual, lately he wanted to see her more and more. He supposed she brought out the nympho in him that he never knew existed. He supposed their rivalry had something to do with it. It made things interesting.

           But lately they’d been busy and the festival always put their rivalry at its peak.

           She always wanted to outdo everyone, he tried to make sure she played fair. He eluded her every year and now as President, he wasn’t letting her get her way this year.

           And it was....almost fun. Like a game of chess.

           Amazing how such juvenile things were amusing him. He supposed her influence was really rubbing off on him. Though at the moment he’d prefer her rubbing him.

           He sighed.

           I’ve got to stop thinking about sex or I’ll be like every other teenage male. And anyway you have work to do.

           He looked over his paperwork for the festival. Misao was handling 80% of the paperwork as Festival chairperson, and he handled the 20% that Student Council dealt with. That entailed setting a budget, making sure it was followed, being notified of sales and money raised for the school, ticket sales.

           Basically he got copies of things Misao had approved and looked them over.

           He checked the budget reports she had sent him earlier and everything seemed in order, but he was going to keep his eye on her. Glancing at one of the many copies of memos he had, he grabbed one and stood up, walking out of his office.

           Looking for the correct locker number, he opened the locker and used a random make-up compact to hold the memo in place as he shut the locker door.

           He was probably driving her insane with his memos. He smirked slightly. He made a mental note to buy Post-It notes on his way home.

           He remembered Kenshin wanted to talk with him about something later tonight when they hung out with Sanosuke later at the coffee-shop. Something about asking Aoshi a favor or something like that.

           He sighed as he walked back to his office. His paperwork was almost done, after school hours always helped him catch up. As soon as he was done he would go home and change and wait for Sanosuke to pick him up, though he didn’t exactly trust the roosterhead’s driving skills.

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           Misao hummed as she walked to her locker, thinking over her busy agenda for the afternoon. She needed to get paint brushes and acrylic paint for starters.

           Opening her locker door, she blinked at the small sheet of paper inside, and then narrowed her eyes and crumbled the paper in a ball and threw it down the hall with a quiet shriek of annoyance.

           He was done for. Soooo done for.

           She was more sure of it now, she was going to one-up him and there was nothing that would stop her.

       Storming off towards the student council office and surely missing her math class, her obvious anger was making some students afraid to even look at her as she stormed by, braid swinging, eyes afire.

           The door slammed open and Aoshi barely looked up as he rested his chin in his hand, lips quirking slightly.

           It really was so fun to vex her, it was good to know she wasn’t genki 24/7 and could actually get mad. Maybe he just got off pissing her off.

           ‘But she does make me smile...a rare thing..’

           “If you send me one more damn memo....” she said, teeth gritting.

           “I’m just doing my job, my dear Festival Chairperson.” he mumbled, tapping a pen against the desk.

           She stalked over to him and grabbed him by the tie, yanking his face towards her as she glared down at him.

           “You are trying to drive me insane and this is the last thing I need right now. I’m a busy woman, knock it off!”

           He grabbed the back of her head and kissed her briefly.

           “I know you’re busy. We both are. This always makes you so high strung, Misao. Perhaps you should plot less.”

           Misao frowned and crossed her arms.

           “I’m not plotting anything! Knock off the annoying memo stalking or else I won’t play fair.”

           Aoshi sat back, almost tempted to roll his eyes.

           “Misao, when it comes to competing, you seldom play very fairly. Like when you arranged me to be locked in the closet so you could have your class put on an impromptu and expensive show.”

           “Ah, but everyone loved those little French Maid outfits and songs.”

           “Misao, do you think I enjoy playing the ‘bad guy’?”

           She looked at him as she put her hands on her hips.

           “I know for a fact you do. You really do get a kick out of pissing me off!”

           He smirked a bit more.

           “I suppose everyone has a fetish.”

           “Fe...tish...you...ugh. You are so annoying.” Misao mumbled and turned to leave.

           “Misao...after the festival is over...you owe me a couple days.”

           She narrowed her eyes.

           “We’ll see. Though I don’t think I ever agreed to put a tab on sex.”

           Aoshi took off his glasses to wipe them off.

           “Misao, don’t deny the fact that you miss being with me too.”

           She stiffened then walked out the door.

           She hated how he was seldom wrong.

           As much as she threw herself into work and wanted to do her best to beat him, in the end, she did miss getting naughty with him.

           ‘Oh the allure of the forbidden. Stupid Aoshi, he’s like that last stick of pocky you can’t help but want.’

           Realizing the halls were empty after a moment, she stopped and frowned.

           “Ah, damn Aoshi...I’m missing class.”

           She looked the left and right, then pursed her lips.

           ‘Well....nothing really else to do but...’

           Turning on her heels she headed back to Aoshi’s office to get a jump start on his ‘couple days’.

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           “You know Misao-chan, I’m starting to be amazed at how well you’re keeping all this under wraps. You must be distracting Shinomori-senpai somehow.”

           Misao smiled a bit as they walked down the aisles of the art supplies store.

           “Oh, I have my ways in keeping him preoccupied. I just make sure he works hard behind his desk.”

           ‘With me. Teehee, bad thoughts!’

           “Well I hope this works out. I’m getting pretty excited over this.”

           “Same here, though the sewing’s going to be a bitch and half.”

           “Well, if we can convince the drama club to give us a hand, we should be okay. Though I’ll have to bargain with Soujiro and that bastard’s had his eye on my doujinshi for months.”

           Kaoru sighed, patting Misao on the shoulder.

           “I’ll say it again, school politics isn’t pretty.”

           “Hmm. I probably can just Xerox them and trick him. He is not getting his hands on the originals.”

           Kaoru stopped before the acrylic paints and pursed her lips as she looked over the section.

           “Remember Kaoru-chan, blues and violets.”

           “Ohh....Cadmium Red...looks like Kenshin’s hair..”

           “Kaoru-chan?”

           “Ah, Orchid! Looks like Kenshin’s eyes...”

           “Kaoru....chan....”

           “Ah, magenta...it reminds...”

           “Kaoru-chan!!”

           Kaoru laughed nervously.

           “Ah, sorry. I can’t help it.”

           “I hope I never get so ‘la la’ over a boy.”

           “Che, you need to find one first.”

           Misao rolled her eyes and grabbed a tube of cerulean blue and smirked a bit.

           ‘Kaoru-chan, if you only knew...too bad you can let things slip easily.’

           “What color is this?” Kaoru asked, holding a tube in Misao’s face.

           “Indigo. It’s pretty, isn’t it? Both blue and violet. A mix of a warm and cold color that has mostly cold color.”

           “Indigo...warm and cold. Shinomori-senpai’s name means ‘indigo’, but he seems more blue than violet. Though more cold than warm...”

           “Can we stop talking about him. You’ll jinx us.”

           “Ah, sorry!”

           “Okay Kaoru-chan, look for Ultramarine or Phtalo Blue, Violet, Orchid, Lavender...”

           “Blues and violets. Got it.”

           “And if you see them, grab some nylon brushes, like #8 and #12 flats.”

           Kaoru looked over a section of pain with a whimsical smile on her face.

           “You really have a knack for this Misao-chan. Ever think of becoming an artist?”

           “Hm, set design maybe, but art programs are pretty tough. Besides, I talked the art club into helping us.”

           “What did you bribe them with?”

           “They’re own double-booth.”

           “Oh...how are you getting that approved?”

           “By pointing out they’ll be using large canvases and need the space.”

           “Good one.”

           Kaoru looked over paint more, and a thought hit her.

           “Misao-chan...did you have anything to do with all those post-its that were on Shimori-senpai’s back?”

           Misao blinked, suppressing a giggle.

           “Why no, Kaoru-chan! I would have to be one: close to him and two: around him long enough to even place them on his back.”

           “But still...it was a caper that had ‘you’ written all over it.”

           “No, I believe they had ‘I Love The Cock’ written all over them. Regardless, we have work to do woman!”

           “Hai hai chief!!”

           Misao smirk to herself.

           ‘I Love the Cock...so brilliant of me. Muahahahha...’

           Meanwhile, in the semi-darkness (which was created via blacklight), the tall figure of Shinomori Aoshi sat with hands folded in his lap as he sat in his computer chair.

           “Makimachi Misao...I’ll get you for this.” he grumbled.

           As now he had to spend the next few days explaining that he, Shinomori Aoshi, did not in fact love the cock.

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 DAHHHHHHH. Two down. Two to go.