Chapter.36: Birthday Surprise

Koutetsu finished making a chiffon cake for himself and Tsurara. He figured he'd at least have a birthday cake for them in case Natsume brought an exaggerated one as she did for the girls at school.

Tsurara was enjoying the piece she was eating. Koutetsu was happy to see she liked orange flavors since it was the only one he practiced at the cafe.

"Not so fast little one I can cut another piece for you."

'God I really hope she doesn't have an appetite like me. It already costs me a fortune to feed myself as is.'

Koutetsu heard a knock on the door on the door, he figured it was Natsume finally.

Koutetsu opened the door, and a small girl jumped up and hugged him.

"Kou Nii-Chan!!"

"Kaede, what are you doing here."

Koutetsu looked up and saw Itsuki before him.

"Itsuki, you're back?"

"Surprised. I pulled some favors to come home early."

Kaede let go of Koutetsu to let herself in. Itsuki was making her way inside too, before Koutetsu stopped her by giving her a surprise embrace. Itsuki got flustered, she was caught off by that hug. It was the first he gave to her in that manner. He was happy to see her. He held it together when he saw Natsume, but seeing Itsuki again made him feel like he could be vulnerable for a moment.

"Huh, what what what, what's this for."

"Nothing, It's just, that so much has happened recently that I'm really glad you're here is all."

Itsuki could hear it in his voice, the trembling in it. She wasn't sure what he went through in the short time apart, she could feel it affected him somehow. She hugged him back warmly.

"It's ok, I'm here, I'm here, it's ok."

Koutetsu heard those words and Rina flashed in his head again. Koutetsu broke the embrace for a bit to look Itsuki in the face. He didn't see Itsuki, he saw Rina. He started to remember the kiss, he leaned forward to kiss Itsuki.

Itsuki's face turned completely red, she never thought he made the first move like this.

"Wait? Are you? No wait." She was stuttering unable to say a complete sentence.

Ituski closed her eyes waiting for it to happen, she actually wanted it to happen.

Tsukikage jumped up to bite Koutetsu on the ankle. Koutetsu snapped out of it. He had no idea what he was thinking, he was trying to kiss Itsuki while imagining her as Rina.

'What the hell is wrong with me? This was dishonest on many levels.'

Koutetsu looked at Tsukikage, he didn't say it, but it was the first he thanked him for biting him to set him straight.

"Wow! So cute!"

Itsuki and Koutetsu heard Kaede, they went inside to see what she was doing. Kaede was playing with Tsurara, she was giggling and having fun with the little leopard.

"When did you get a cat?"

"Uh, hehe it's not a cat. It's technically a snow leopard."

Itsuki and Kaede looked at him confused at that comment.

"You know Tsukikage. Well, I learned recently he's actually a divine animal, that one is too. Her name is Tsurara. Named her after your power and your ribbon was the key to giving her birth."

"My ribbon?"

Koutetsu showed the necklace. He explained to her how Rina gave it to him for Christmas and how her ribbon gave Tsurara life. He left out the part about Tsurara being Byakurai's last child. He didn't need her to try and save him from a vengeful Monarch.

"Oh, so little Tsu-Chan is Nee-San and Kou Nii-Chan's child then."

Itsuki and Koutetsu both turned red at that. Koutetsu punished Kaede by tickling her like crazy.

"Hahaha stop, you're so evil."

"Here's you're punishment for that one, tickle tickle."

Kaede couldn't stop laughing from the tickling. Itsuki calmed down and smiled at the sight, she loved moments like this. Itsuki looked at Tsurara, feeling warm about the moment.

The doorbell rang again. Itsuki went to answer it, Natsume was on the other end dressed up nicely. The two stared at each other awkwardly for a moment.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take Koutetsu to his birthday party. And you're here why?"

Itsuki gritted her teeth, Natsume just knew how to push her buttons badly.

Koutetsu stopped tickling Kaede to greet Natsume. He could feel Itsuki's temperamental magic chilling his toes.

"Koutetsu care to explain?"

'Jado, I feel I'm going to die probably soon before I can fight Byakurai again.'

"Natsume decided to help throw me a late party for my birthday. It's kinda of a last-minute thing she did."

Itsuki still had her fake calm look masking her anger aura behind it.

Koutetsu tried to talk his way out of it. At least something to make Itsuki see he didn't decide it on his own

"She did it on her own I had nothing to do with this I swear."

Natsume could read the emotions, so she decided to approach Itsuki and speak calmly, wanting to change how they acted toward each other.

"Sorry, I didn't know you be here. I just wanted to do something nice for him. You should come. There's plenty of room at the venue and he would love to have you. What do you say, please come."

Itsuki stopped being scary and calmed down. She could see Natsume wasn't messing with her this time. She was being honest and wanting to do something nice for Koutetsu. Itsuki took a breath and nodded yes to coming to the party. Kaede ran outside holding Tsukikage and Tsurara in her arms.

Natsume lead her to the chauffeur to take a seat. Koutetsu ran back inside to change into decent clothes so he wouldn't look like a slob to his own party.

Itsuki got inside the car, she saw Koutetsu come out in a linen martial arts outfit. Itsuki frowned in confusion while the others were laughing hard at him.

"Uh, Koutetsu, why did you come out looking like Ip Man? Don't you have nicer clothes than that?"

"Considering I'm being jacked for a last-minute party and had no time at all to do laundry I just grabbed what was available."

'That and I have no idea if I'm getting surprised again by another supernatural being so I rather be prepared. This outfit was perfect during the training days with Megumi. Even have my gloves just in case.'

Kaede and Natsume couldn't stop laughing their asses off, Itsuki felt embarrassed, all that shopping she had done with him felt like it had gone down the drain. Koutetsu got inside sitting next to Itsuki, the car was cramped as was, and sitting next to her very up close and personal was challenging for both of them.

Itsuki gulped, Kaede could see the happiness on her big sister's face. She always knew how close they were, she was just waiting for one of them to finally say something, it felt exhausting watching them tiptoe.

The chauffeur drove them all to a small venue at a hotel. Natsume pulled a lot of strings to get it booked last minute, her family thought she was crazy, but Natsume didn't mind she was driven when it came to throwing parties for her friends.

"We're here everyone."

Natsume announced with glee as she led everyone inside. The venue was filled with most of the students at their school. Koutetsu even saw Ryuji among the crowd along with a few people he had yet to know personally.

The guests all pulled out confetti poppers with a banner being unfolded over the table they were seated at.

"Happy birthday!" The entire room echoed.

Natsume led them to their seats where everyone was being fed the venue's full-course meals and appetizers.

Party games were being conducted, with dancing, music, karaoke, and everything to make it a great party. Ryuji challenged Koutetsu to an arm wrestling match Koutetsu wasn't going to be bothered till Kaede cheered him on. He took off the jacket to wrestle Ryuji. The guests saw the muscles bulging from both of their arms.

"You ready for this, not gonna go easy on ya."

"Bring it, muscle idiot."

The two began their game. Everyone watched them try to outmuscle each other with their biceps screaming. Ryuji and Koutetsu looked each other dead in the eye not breaking their concentration, Natsume slowly walked to Ryuji's side, she used her bust as a distraction to Ryuji, he looked at her for a second drooling, giving the opportunity for Koutetsu to win.

"You cheated!"

"Yea, that's what you get for falling for her tricks meat head."

Ryuji growled and left the table to have a smoke. Natsume was jumping for joy that Koutetsu won, Kaede was covering the eyes of the little ones so they wouldn't witness the weapons of mass distraction on display.

The party went on for hours till it came time to sing Happy Birthday. Everyone sang the song raising a glass for Koutetsu who was feeling overwhelmed a bit by the crowd, he decided to go outside to get some air and caught a girl flirting with Ryuji outside. She looked into him, Ryuji not so much. The girl left after failing to get his attention, Koutetsu stood next to him drinking his cup while Ryuji lit up another cigarette.

"She looked nice. Not your type?"

"No not really. No challenge. I like a girl that won't put up with me easily. Like yours in there."

Ryuji looked at Itsuki, Koutetsu spat a bit of his drink out hearing that. Ryuji chuckled a bit at the display of embarrassment Koutetsu did.

"Man, you are nothing but predictable when comes to you two." Koutetsu looked at him annoyed for a bit before looking at Itsuki dancing with her sister.

"You really shouldn't keep her waiting. Heard you guys are long-time friends. Why don't you man up and just ask her out already."

"Not your business. Besides, I can't yet. I think maybe there's someone else. I don't know, my head is a mess. I don't want to hurt her if I can't figure my own things out."

Ryuji took a drag from his cig, he offered a hit to Koutetsu but he turned it down.

"Look man, I know me and you ain't that close of friends yet but I do respect you. The way you handle yourself at school and try to be fair to everyone on the committee, personally, I wouldn't be as tolerant as you. That and I really don't want to admit it but you're kind of badass at fighting."

"Trying to flatter me is not going to help your case. It looks bad on you."

"Just shut up and listen. The point I'm making is that if you're not sure tell her that. If you like someone else tell her. If you really want her stop being a coward and say something. Either way, you better man up before you hurt her. The worst thing a man can do is hurt a girl who's been giving her all to him."

Koutetsu was silent, he was taking Ryuji's words to heart. Ryuji put the cigarette out before heading back in. He gave Koutetsu a pat on the back, with a few more words of wisdom.

"I'll hold off Natsume for ya. At that time just talk to Itsuki. Tell her what's on your mind, if not then you'll always make her feel like she'll never be enough."

Ryuji didn't need to repeat those words. Koutetsu felt it hit him in the soul. He rejected a girl badly in his old life, and he didn't regret that but would if he did it again. He remembered the pain on her face from how he treated her, it reminded him of how Rinas face looked.

'Is that why it's been bothering me lately? All the my past actions coming back to me like some karmic justice? I can't even complain cause I deserve it in a way. Maybe I hurt Rina cause I let her go before saying anything back after the kiss. And I'm hurting Itsuki now 'cause I'm a head case. I need to do something to see if I actually want to take it to the next level or not. Damn, that meat really had some good advice, who knew.'

Koutetsu slapped himself on the head. He had to do something now or keep making his head hurt more from indecisiveness.

Koutetsu went back inside, he asked Itsuki to come with him to one of the private rooms to talk. Natsume saw them leave she was about to say something when Ryuji shoved a piece of birthday cake in her mouth.

"What was that for?" She tried to say with her filled mouth.

"Leave them alone. It's between them. If anything you'll see if you have a chance later on."

Natsume pouted, but she got the idea. She wanted to respect his decision, If he chose Itsuki she would stay friends with him still, if he chose her she would be happy if he gave her a thought.

Koutetsu and Itsuki were in the room and once again they were awkward next to each other like they were at the park bench.

Koutetsu was thinking about what to say to her, he didn't want to screw this up or have another comedy intervention mess it up again.

"So hey Koutetsu, what did you want to talk about?"

Koutetsu didn't respond he was still overthinking the words he wanted to say.

"If you have nothing to say I can go…."

"Let me say something."

Itsuki went silent. Koutetsu was nervous but he wanted to get it off his chest.

"Itsuki, I'm sorry if you ever felt like I led you on or ignored how you feel. It's just, that I've never had a girlfriend really. I don't know what to say sometimes unless it's through fighting. I suck at seeing signs, or being considerate."

Itsuki wasn't liking this direction, it felt like to her he was saying he didn't want anything to do with her.

"But, I do like you Itsuki."

Itsuki's eyes widened, never in her dreams did she imagine him saying it first.

"What did you say?"

"I said, I do like you. I don't want a relationship right now, not till I sort some things out in my head first. But, I mean when I say that I do care about you, and if someday I fix my broken head and sort out how I feel around others maybe we can…"

Koutetsu didn't finish his talk, Itsuki did what Rina did, she snuck a kiss on Koutetsu. And again, he was caught off guard. Itsuki stopped to lean her head on his chest and her hands as well.

"Don't say anymore. I'm just happy you said something finally. You have no idea how happy that made me."

Koutetsu didn't say a word, he was grumbling in his head about how he sucked at doing this stuff and letting the girls be better at showing their feelings than him.

'Oh for God's sake! Can I just have a moment where I can be the one who makes the first move or get my thoughts out?'

He sighed, but smiled for Itsuki, even rubbing her head.

The party was finally over, everyone went home after the long night. Koutetsu, Itsuki, and Kaede got a ride to his house. Natsume arranged for one, she gave a hug before taking off, while Ryuji gave a thumbs up to signal if Koutetsu did what he needed. Koutetsu nodded he did, Ryuji acknowledged, and he approved that Koutetsu had finally done something.

The driver couldn't pull up to Koutetsu's house due to traffic, so Itsuki paid her a big tip anyway for the ride. They had to walk for the next fifteen minutes to reach the house. Kaede was asleep so Koutetsu carried her on his back, and Itsuki carried Tsukikage and Tsurara in her arms. She was still happy red from earlier.

"I hope they're not too heavy for you."

"No, it's fine the little ones don't bother me at all. I hope Kaede is good to carry. She's not heavy for you."

'Not even close. Megumi made wear a weighted vest during her ten-mile run sessions this is nothing.'

"Hey Koutetsu, so you said you wanted to sort your feelings out. Is there someone else you like by chance?"

He gulped hearing that. He knew it was coming, Itsuki wasn't the type to not ask what he was thinking.

"There may be someone. I'm just not sure. It's not Natsume if that's what you're thinking we're just good friends. But I want to try and sort my feelings out so I don't hurt you on accident. I meant what I said though about you, I really meant it."

Itsuki wasn't disappointed, being honest about his feelings was all she wanted.

The two made it to Koutetsu's house, Koutetsu was confused though when they got there. There was a little girl knocking on his door. She looked about six years old, with short magenta passed her ears with shark hairpins on both sides of her hair.

"Who's that?"

"Don't know I wasn't expecting anyone but Mana, maybe she's lost."

The two made their way to the girl knocking at Koutetsu's door. The little girl heard them coming, she looked at them with her innocent eyes.

"Hello sweetie are you lost? Do you need help?"

The little girl looked nervous to talk but she answered Itsuki's question.

"Umm, is this the right address by chance?"

She handed a paper with Koutetsu's address and information on it. Both of them looked it over. It was correct down to the printed instructions to get to his house from the train station nearby.

"It is, but sweetie how did you get this address?"

"Momma asked for it from the school. She said she wrote a letter to the address beforehand. Umm pretty lady, do you know if Hayashi Koutetsu leaves here actually?"

Itsuki now taken aback by the question, she pointed to Koutetsu next to her. Koutetsu examined the kid. She was adorable looking and her eyes didn't have evil in them.

"That's me but do I know you?"

The little girl bowed her head and then looked up back at Koutetsu.

"Hello, my name is Rumi. It's nice to meet you, Onii-San."

Koutetsu and Itsuki's eyes bulged, they looked hard at the little kid. Both them examined her carefully in disbelief until they couldn't hold it in anymore.

"WHAT???"