Another night, another week gone by. Hanamichi stood up from his seat and bowed to the audience after his final song for the night. Upon instinct he let his eyes lift and in that moment he saw someone he did not expect to see in that place ever. If that guy had not came in through the door and lit a cigarette just as Rukawa was standing up from his seat, Hanamichi would not have seen the fox-eyed boy's pale face illuminated by the lighter's flame through the dimness at the back part of the room.

(I know you see me watching you - And I see you watching me)

Ignoring his friends' confused looks as he left them abruptly on the stage, Hanamichi made his way towards the changing room, placed his guitar in its case and ran out the backstage door to detour to the front part of the building. He scanned the entrance and saw a few of the regulars going in and out of the café but there was no sign of the raven-haired boy. The cold night wind was already making his cheeks red from the harsh stimulation and his exhalation was clouded by the warmth of his breath as he made his way hurriedly across the street and turned around the corner thinking that probably Rukawa has gone there when he suddenly bumped into somebody's back in front of him. Wincing, the redhead rubbed at his nose and looked up to see the person he was chasing after looking at him in surprise.

(But boy your body's callin - The temptation is killin' me)

"Hey," said Hanamichi offering Rukawa a nervous grin, " Fancy meeting you here. I thought you'd have gone home to sleep by now."

Rukawa at first seemed to be at a loss for words but then he snorted his usual insult, "Do'aho. I do whatever I want with my own time."
And then he was turning around and began to walk away from Hanamichi.

(I'm thinkin' to myself - should I even take a chance? Should I do what's on my mind?)

"I know that," said the redhead persistently, walking after Rukawa with his guitar case under his arm, "But you always sleep! Unless you spend your night time in cafés so it makes sense if you sleep in school a lot. But it does make you think, y'know, what the fox does in his free time to make him so sleepy in the day. What can possibly be the reason for ice-boy to waste his time in a small joint like that? It can't be the drinks and it can't be the company. Ooh, I know! Maybe it's the music..."

(I know you see me watching you - And I see you watching me)

"Do you have a point in all this? If not then shut up," said Rukawa coldly. This insistence of the redhead to annoy him tonight worked. He just wanted to enjoy the night leisurely like every other week, drinking decent cappuccino and listening to some decent music. If he had to take up with the do'aho's behaviour for this he might as well forget going into that cafe again!

As Rukawa was busy trying to ignore the redhead's presence, Hanamichi was grinning behind the boy's back pleased that at least his enemy was not denying the fact that he came into that café presumably often if not every week. Maybe it was Rukawa who made him feel slightly conscious lately as he performed on the stage with his friends. Hell, he and Rukawa hated each other enough to fall in tune to the other's presence in the same area, let alone in the same room.
Heh, at last he knew something of Rukawa that no one didn't know of and that gave him a feeling of power, although minute because he couldn't actually think of a way to use this information to hurt the fox-eyed boy's reputation. If Rukawa had some sort of clandestine romance going on that probably would have made him look more mysterious and alluring and not disgusting at all - at least in the ever romantic teenage girl's point of view...
Dammit! Can't he ever be dispicably repulsive for once?

Apparently not...
Hanamichi silently sucked in his breath as his eyes meet the blue ones of Rukawa when the raven-haired boy stopped to regard him with a look of irritation. Although with that look of displeasure on the boy's pale face, Hanamichi couldn't help but admire Rukawa's handsome face with it's strong chin, high cheekbones, thick eyelashes that every woman and man would kill for to have and oh those eyes...
Hanamichi has seen those eyes before up close during their petty quarrellings and they were not plain as he had thought they were. Even with its colour as cold and dark as the near blackest sapphire, they were far from lifeless. Like the blue gem Hanamichi compared them with they seemed to spark fire with slivers of silver and lighter blue behind the darker hue. He felt increasing jealousy of the fox's beauty but didn't that also mean he acknowledged that Rukawa was indeed beautiful? Hanamichi squashed that thought as he gave the boy in front of him one of his condescending smirks.

(But boy your body's callin - The temptation is killin me)

"Are you going to follow me home, ahou?" sighed Rukawa.

"I might," said Hanamichi arrogantly, "Unless you tell me that I was the best performer that you ever saw."

Rukawa scoffed, "You've got to be kidding me..."

"Eh?" Hanamichi asked, skipping forward to walk side by side by Rukawa before he ducked his head towards the boy's face in a show of straining to hear what Rukawa has to say, "What as that? You forgot 'Wow, I'm in awe of your abilities, tensai...'"

"Get lost, Sakuragi," growled Rukawa warningly as he turned his head to glare at the redhead, "Before I turn you black and blue from head to toe."

"So you're able to speak more than 10 words per sentence after all," chuckled Hanamichi, not shying away from Rukawa's angry look. Brown fiery eyes met with crystalised blue ones, sparks flew and muscles tensed waiting for the other to make the first move for their usual round of rough-housing. Rukawa was the one who broke the tension of challange but it was not with a flying fist. Instead the fox-eyed boy merely turned and walked away, leaving Hanamichi staring at the back of the fox-eyed boy's back in surprise.

"It's cold. I'm going home," Rukawa mumbled that Hanamichi nearly didn't hear him.

The redhead scratched his head before he called out cheerfully, "Yeah, whatever fox. If you wanna hear the great tensai play again, you're more than welcome."

The raven-haired boy's steps seemed to falter but he didn't stop walking. Hanamichi thought he heard the boy give a snort of amusement and felt like wanting to pick a rock to throw at his team-mate but before he could do so the fox-eyed boy has already disappeared into the night.

Hanamichi shrugged and walked to the opposite direction whistling the tune to the song he has just played a few minutes ago in the café. Unknowingly, a few feet away a certain fox-eyed boy was humming the exact tune under his breath and was already planning to go back to the café next week never minding what the do'aho would think of him.

(Temptations is callin' - I be wantin' you so bad I could cry)

It's the music that you make, ahou. It's enough to make me keep going back.

~the end~

Lyrics are from Destiny's Child's song "Temptations". I picked only certain words to fit the fic but the whole song is just great!