Love by Fragrance

"And you would think that Hyoutei Gakuen would be wealthy enough to hire janitors to do this work," complained a girl who was currently sweeping the snowy ground.

was about to comment on what her friend had said but instead, she shuddered and sneezed. There was an endless speckle of snowflakes, falling from the gloomy sky. It made their cleanup seem impossible.

"How could you have not brought a jacket?"

"It wasn't snowing when I came out of the house." was shivering in her winter uniform and tried to warm herself up by alternately rubbing the palms of her hands and hiking up her shirt collar. "The weather report didn't mention anything about snow either."

Her friend sighed in pity as another gust of bone-chilling wind blew by. Just then, a jacket fell from a window above.

"Dumbass. You're going to catch a cold. Put this on."

The incident had taken place many months ago, but refused to forget. It was the day that she fell in love… with an unknown entity, only recognized by the pleasant fragrance that clung on the jacket she had received.

"I'm going to do it!" exclaimed with confidence, hugging the jacket to her chest. "I'm going find the person through the scent!"

"Huh? Are you out of your mind?" asked her friend, frowning as the two finally finished their snow-sweeping.

"I'm sure he's an amazing guy--"

As if on cue, two boys walked by and 's head turned instantly to stare at the shorter of the two.

She grabbed her friend and focused her eyes on the retreating back of the cobalt-haired male. "Ah! It's him! That person is wearing the same scent!"

"No way, ! That was Atobe Keigo! You have no idea who he is, do you? He's the captain of the boys' tennis team and the richest and most sought-after guy in school!"

yawned as she tried to rub away the sleepiness in her eyes. She had volunteered to come to school early to finish her assigned job: to deliver copied materials from the office to respective club and team rooms. It wasn't an easy job since Hyoutei had all in all, 22 clubs and 21 teams. sighed at the humongous pile of paper she had to hand out.

Without thinking, the girl stepped into the club room next on her list. She felt flustered somehow; this was boys' tennis clubroom. Was her lack of sleep getting to her? It was puzzling.

"Anou… Dareka imasu ka?" frowned at the empty room that greeted her still drowsy form. She examined the room carefully and noted a closed door on her left. As if it was pure reflex, she turned the knob and peeked in.

The heads inside immediately turned to her intrusion. She was greeted by silence.

's eyes grew big at what she was seeing. The tennis guys… changing! They were all shirtless; one guy by the corner was trying to pull up his pants. She felt the blood rush to her head, her face heating up at the sight of a half-naked Atobe Keigo.

A warm sensation came from the girl's nose as her hands instantly reached up to cover the area above her mouth. The crimson liquid from her nose seeped through her slim fingers slightly before the girl dropped everything and literally flew out of the room.

**********

"It's over. I can't face him ever again…" cried as she lowered her head in shame, dragging her bag to the door "I had a nosebleed right in his face… He must think I'm a big pervert…"

reluctantly opened the door with a sigh. Looking up through her clouded mind, her eyes widened at the figure that towered above hers at the doorway. Her cheeks heated once more, she almost bumped into the boy's chest just millimeters away from her face.

Her mind ceased functioning at the familiar fragrance. She was only half-aware that her arms were extending, intending to slam the door shut with all her might, blindly ignoring the voice and hand that tried to stop her motions… and failing miserably.

Papers fell to the floor with the impact of a half-closed door – 's arms had weakly dropped to her sides. She stared at the papers. Ah… I dropped them…

Her eyes looked up, immediately meeting Atobe Keigo's glaring orbs. She had closed the door with his right hand still wedged between the door and its frame. gasped.

"Ohmigod, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

insisted that they go the infirmary and the Atobe didn't bother arguing. His hand was rather bruised.

"The bones aren't broken, but you shouldn't use your right hand for about a week," the doctor had instructed after bandaging Atobe's hand.

avoided eye contact when she heard what the doctor said. She mentally wanted to kick herself. He's really going to hate me now. He's definitely NOT going to forgive me!

"Well, what are you going to do about it? Ore-sama plays tennis with this hand!" Atobe suddenly interrupted 's worried trance in a demanding voice.

She froze at his harsh tone and gingerly bit her lip. "Um… I… I'll be your right hand!!" She blunted out, caught in the tense moment she found herself in.

A smile lit the handsome youth's face, his expression softening considerably compared to earlier. "What's your name?"

" ." She blushed, wondering at his sudden change of mood.

"Let's get to work then."

"Ha… Hai!"

**********

"Anou, I have brought you you're lunch," announced in a small voice as she went into the third year's classroom nervously.

Atobe Keigo was sitting by the window. He looked up from his crowd of friends, probably tennis mates. "You're late."

"Oi. Ore-sama wanted it dark," Atobe sighed as he looked at his coffee with disdain as handed the drink to him.

"I'm sorry," She muttered quickly in apology.

"Go copy my notes!"

The girl nodded without a reply, sat at a nearby desk and began frantically copying the notes which she understood nothing of.

"You usually don't take notes in German Literacy. You really are a demon, Atobe," She heard someone snicker. It was a blue-haired guy with glasses watching her by Atobe's side.

**********

"You called for me?" asked as she peeked into Atobe's classroom. The room was empty and only the tennis captain, himself sat on the desk with his back against the glass window. He gave her a cursory glance.

"Yeah, fix this," he opened his palm to reveal a button and gestured to his shirt.

"Atobe-senpai… um, why do you need me to fix that? And wouldn't it be easier if you took your shirt off?" she said, crouching down trying to sew the button back onto its original place while he was still wearing it.

"Would you prefer Ore-sama naked?"

The question shot through the girl's mind like a hot knife through butter as her faced turned in a thousand shades of red. "N-no! This is fine!"

Never lifting her head, focused her eyes on the button she was trying to sew back. Her hands moved stiffly at the closeness of their bodies…

"Hey you. Do you like me or something?"

She blushed. Her hands shook and the needle she was holding poked Atobe's chest.

"Owwwww! What are you doing?!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Dumbass! You're making me a bento tomorrow!"

"Yes!"

**********

"Geez, don't worry. He doesn't know your feelings for him," 's friend comforted her. She was hugging her knees and pouting while her friend went on. "You're safe, don't worry so much."

"But I had a nosebleed like a stupid pervert…"

"The third years are looking down at us," the other girl replied. She dragged abruptly. They had their P.E. class on the track, just in the view of the third year students' building.

froze slightly before glancing at the building's upper windows with the corners of her eyes. "Eek…!" Is that Atobe-sempai looking at me?

"Wow, he's totally staring at you, . You like him so it's a good thing; maybe Atobe-senpai likes you too," her friend also noticed, with a shrug and a reassuring grin.

"No way! I'm sure he's just glaring at me again, thinking of my blunder." turned her head away. She was too afraid to keep her hopes up. After all, she was just a nobody. Unknown to the whole world how hard was hugging herself, her friend tapped the girl on the shoulder and immediately fell over like a ball.

Her friend gave a light giggle before pulling up, pushing her onto the field for baseball.

Laughers roared from the upper windows of the building. "Fight, ! Hahaha."

", you're being laughed at by the idols…" her friend gigglingly added, not exactly making the situation better. "It's the first time I seen Atobe-senpai laugh like that!"

**********

dashed up to the rooftop where Atobe had told her to wait at. She had brought bento which she had promised to make him after accidentally stabbing him with a needle.

"You're late! Ore-sama was so hungry, he thought he was going to die," bellowed a prideful voice. Atobe flipped his hair with his uninjured hand.

"I'm sorry." The girl apologized for the thousandth time that week as she handed him the bento. "Here's your bento." To say the least, this lunch wasn't easy to make. It took about 5 hours to get everything right. "Well, I'm going."

She turned and was about the leave until Atobe called on her. "Wait. I can't do it myself." He lifted his still bandaged hand and glanced at the bento.

A moment of silence overtook the air around them before reacted. "Um, I'll just go buy you something else," added quickly as she grabbed the bento she made. It was Atobe Keigo she was talking to. She had found out she was a rich boy from her friend. Surely, this rich boy ate gourmet meals everyday, all of his life. He probably wouldn't want to eat something as plain as the bento she made, especially a crappy one, her first ever.

Atobe frowned at her actions and using his uninjured hand, he took back the lunch and opened it. Taking a piece of egg with his bare hands, he bit on it softly. "It's pretty tasty. Want a bite too? Here."

Then as if taking things into his own measures, he shoved the same piece of the egg that he had bit into to her mouth. Gently. And as if it was reflex, bit on it. Her face was now burning as she swallowed.

"What's wrong? You don't look happy," inquired Atobe.

He leaned in without giving another moment to answer and pressed his lips upon hers. A second later, he moved away.

"Are you happier now?"

A smirk formed at Atobe's lips, not noticing tears forming in the 's eyes. She pushed him away, "Please don't tease me like this! Stop playing with my feelings! I don't like Atobe-senpai at all!" She was really crying now and she ran away, down the stairs which led to the class rooms.

Unintentionally, walked past Atobe's classroom, wiping her tears roughly with her sleeves.

"Hey. Did you know? About Atobe's cologne…"

That voice… Oshitari Yuushi? frowned, perking up at the mention of Atobe's name.

"He wears it for a girl he likes."

"Who's the girl?" A new voice toned in as Oshitari went up with a shrug.

"I don't know, but it seems like he keeps waiting for her. But she's got to be cuter than that girl. It's pretty obvious that she likes him so I don't see why he wants to even bother with her."

**********

To love someone hurts… thought lifelessly, her head plopped on the desk, staring off into space. It can't be Atobe-senpai who gave me that jacket… it seems so stupid, to put all my hopes in someone…

", what's up with you? There's a school-wide assembly, let's go!" Her friend dragged her from her desk and they slowly made their way to auditorium.

hesitated as her eyes fell to the ground, standing still during the assembly. The teacher rambled on as she felt her knees weaken. She wasn't listening to the humdrum droning around her. Her mind was somewhere else, an onslaught of thoughts and images of a certain boy… suddenly her eyes shut themselves and her legs gave away.

She fell backwards, only half-consciously aware that someone was carrying her. The warmth of her rescuer's body was so comforting and familiar that she slipped into a state of sleep.

**********

's eyes snapped opened and she sat up, one hand quickly reaching up to her throbbing head. "Ugh…" She swung her legs to the side of the bed, doing her best to stand.

The curtain slid open, revealing the doctor, "Ah, you're awake. You're anemic. That's why you've collapsed."

Nodding slightly, got to her feet to get ready to leave. "I'm leaving now. Thank you."

However, the girl quickly stopped in her tracks as she walked out the door. The familiar fragrance of cologne filled her nostrils. Her palm covered her parted lips in surprise as she broke into a run.

The smell of this cologne… No way… Maybe after all this time, it was Atobe-senpai all along! That's right. My heart was charmed before all of this happened!

It was almost like an impulse when decided to head outside. But there he was.

It's Atobe-senpai!

That's right. Atobe Keigo was outside with his head on his tennis bag, sleeping under the shapes of a huge elm tree with his back to her.

Trying to catch her breath, began slowly. "Senpai… are you asleep? Or awake?" Only silence greeted the girl's questions as she inhaled deeply before continuing with the deep blush.

"Is your hand getting better? I know your scent, Atobe-senpai… following your scent is like a natural gift to me. It's because I love you. I know you have a girl you like. You're waiting for that girl and I know you'll continue to wait for her… so, I'll be leaving now."

turned, swallowing down her tears, ready to run away if she must.

"It's you."

Atobe's voice was tauntingly clear.

"Haven't you always been waiting for me ever since that day?"

snapped her head back instantly, gluing her eyes to Atobe's back which faced her all this time.

"I'm going to do it!" exclaimed with confidence with the jacket in her hands. "I'm going find the person through the scent!"

"Huh? Are you out of your mind?" asked her friend who frowned as the two finally came back from sweeping snow from the school grounds.

"I'm sure he's an amazing guy--"

"Why are you smiling, Atobe?" asked Oshitari Yuushi, the blue-haired genius of the tennis team.

Atobe Keigo wasn't eavesdropping on purpose. No, he was lucky enough that he was just walking by to have listened in on the conversation. "It's nothing. Ore-sama just thought of something funny."

The girl's eyes widened as she watched as Atobe Keigo sat up from his resting position. "No way… you heard?" she asked in disbelief. So it really was Atobe-senpai back then…

"You finally came," smirked Atobe as his expression soon softened into a smile. His hands reached out to her. She took it s tears of happiness poured out of her eyes.

Atobe pulled into his arms, hugging her tightly. They leaned against the elm tree. She smiled as she put a hand on his arm for support.

The faint smell of his cologne… that small clue which brought me to him… I've finally found the happy ending which I longed for…

##########

August 14, 2006
Written by: Yuriko
Edited by: linchpin

A/N: A belated challenge fic for my friend, Mikki. The plot came from a shoujo manga called Bikou Root, drawn by Takanashi Mitsuba.