Keiko stepped out of the school building, the sunlight warm on her face. It was late spring, and her senior year would be coming to an end soon. Though a small part of her would miss it, she was looking forward to finally being able to move out of her parents' house - and straight into Ashley's. Just the thought of it made her hug the notebook in her arms closer and smile. 

She was nearly to the gate of the school when she heard a bike speeding up behind her. Ashley barely managed to brake when she turned to block off Keiko's route. She was lightly panting - clearly she'd been in a rush. She patted the rear rack of her bike.

"Get on."

"What-"

"That stupid candy store you like in the mall is having a sale today. We need to hurry if we're going to get there and get you home in time, don't we?" Keiko's face lit up and she hurried over. She sat on the rack and hugged Ashley from behind, lightly tapping her twice to let her know she could start biking. Ash started pedaling, paying little attention to the other kids on the sidewalk - they knew not to complain when she sped past them.

"Thanks a bunch! Like, seriously, you just made my day." Keiko rested her head on Ashley's back. A small smile spread on the gang leader's face as the wind whipped her hair around. Truth was, she checked Keiko's favourite stores pretty often - mostly so she could do little things like this for her. 

It was worth it just to see her smile - because of something she did.

"Yeah, well, you know..." She brushed a bit of hair behind her ear - not that it did much, since the wind knocked it out of place immediately.

"Yeah, I do." Ash felt the girl's grip around her tighten and her own smile got bigger. Too bad she couldn't let go of the bike handles and hug her back.

Unfortunately, their spell was interrupted about 5 minutes from the mall. Ashley slowed her bike to a sudden stop upon seeing several members of a rival gang in their path - some Silver Thorn grunts. On her territory. Keiko lifted up her head and rested it on Ashley's shoulder, observing the situation and sizing everyone up. They were outnumbered.

Of course, that didn't mean anything, considering this was Blossom territory to begin with.

"Do me a favour and get out of our way. There's a sale we need to get to, so we don't really have time for this." Ashley lightly kicked the side of her bike and Keiko moved one hand to her bag - right on her alarm keychain. Any other time, they'd fight, but... they really wanted that candy. One of the Thorns stepped forward - God, that shit-eating grin was insufferable - and started to speak. 

"No can do, girls. Ya see-"

"Okay, first of all, do not speak to me like that. I'm far above you in terms of position." Ashley got out her phone and sent a text to Hunter - he could send the Blossoms in this area to their location. "Second of all, that wasn't a question. Get the fuck out of our way. This is our territory, and you should know that there's consequences." Keiko saw the phone in Ashley's hand and took her hand off her keychain - she wouldn't be needing it. 

"Oh yeah? Where's the rest of your gang, huh? You're outnumbered." Keiko tilted her head slightly, a bright smile spreading across her cheeks. God, they were so stupid. No wonder they were just grunts - nobody with such little brain matter could get any higher.

"Oh, you guys are so cute! You see, we're in our own territory! Which means..." The leader of the group turned around when he heard a loud cry from one of his own. A Blossom standing over them, a length of iron pipe in hand. Several more were quickly approaching - more than the Thorns had brought with them. The smile was wiped off the leader's face as he realized the mistake he'd made.

"We're never outnumbered."

~~~

The cashier at the candy shop looked up from her phone as two girls walked in - two girls with several Blossoms standing outside. Keiko quickly ran over to the gummies and started pulling bags off the shelves as Ashley made her way to the chocolate. The cashier fumbled with her phone as she turned it off and kept her attention on the Blossoms outside the shop. Ash & Keiko made their way over to the counter, dropping the candy in front of the cashier. 

"Hi, we'll take all of this!" Keiko pulled some bills out of her wallet before Ashley stopped her. The cashier started scanning, looking back and forth between her task and the Blossoms. Ashley handed her a couple of twenties when she finished scanning & Keiko picked up the bags full of candy. The cashier put the bills in the register, getting out a couple of bills in change - but when she turned to hand Ashley her change, the girls were already gone.

"Alright, you guys sort this stuff out. You've more than earned it." Keiko handed off a couple of the bags to the members that had come with them - she'd insisted on getting them some candy as payback. They thanked her and went off to sort the candy out between each of them. Keiko waved as they walked off, turning her attention back to Ashley.

"It's already kind of late... That took longer than expected." Ashley ran a hand through her hair as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. If she got Keiko back too late, her parents would get pissed. This really hadn't turned out how she'd expected. Her train of thought was interrupted by Keiko offering her some of the gummy bears they'd gotten.

"You know, I could just stay over. I'm sure my parents will be fine with it if I tell them we're studying or working on a project or something. Besides..." Keiko stepped a bit closer and wrapped her hand around Ashley's. "I wanna thank you for being such a good girlfriend." She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed Ashley on the cheek, sparking a small blush in the usually straight-faced girl. 

"Sounds perfect."