Chapter 1

Blind Love

The cherry blossoms gracefully danced around the campus of Tokyo University as the wind brushed them through the crowds of people waiting in line. The sun was shining bright, and not one cloud was in the sky to cover the golden rays of the sun or the soft blue that surrounded it. There were loud cries of joy and sorrow as each participant searched up and down endless billboards for their name. However, as the search continued longer and longer into the day, things seemed a bit more helpless.

"Don't worry you're head off kid!" a voice said as a hand came down slapping another girl on the back,

"That's easier said than done Kitsune!" Shinobu's eyes were already tearing up, "It's hopeless! I could never make it into Tokyo U my first try! Not even Naru did that!" Shinobu ran in circles frantically blurting out alternatives to do with her life as the others continued to look.

"There's still a lot of names left Shinobu, don't give up so easily." Keitaro smiled at her with hope in his eyes and continued to look for her name. Shinobu stopped panicking and blushed a bit.

She sighed softly, "…Sempai…" her voice was almost a whisper. She smiled and with new determination she continued to look. Shinobu, now about nineteen years old, had grown fast through the rest of her high school years. Her hair grew longer, about shoulder blade length, but she fashioned it into a semi-high pony-tail to stay cool in the sun. She wore a light, white shirt and short jeans with black and white converse shoes. Everyone frantically searched for Shinobu's name, Motoko, who made it into Law School the year before, Su, Sarah, Kitsune, Mutsumi, Naru, and even Keitaro came from a huge archeological dig to see if Shinobu passed her tests.

Suddenly, just when time seemed to move the slowest, Su screamed, "There it is!" Shinobu quickly glanced up and down to where Su was at and finally spotted her name in black right underneath the number of her exam ticket.

Her face became red and her eyes began to tear up, "I… I made it…?" There was a bit of silence before an explosion of cheers flooded Shinobu's ears. She soon found herself being lifted off the ground and being thrown into the air by everyone around her.

"Great job Shinobu!" Naru exclaimed,

"You have made us all proud!" Motoko cheered,

"I want bananas!" Su cried out,

The group soon set her down and as she wiped away her tears she stood proud. "Let's go home and party! Booze!" Kitsune quickly ran to the car as the others followed shortly. Shinobu stood for a bit longer staring at the large building of her new school.

"I… I'll do my best." She clenched her fist and gave a determined smile and trotted off to the van.

* * * * * * *

`Shinobu quickly ran through the halls of Tokyo U, a bundle of books and papers in her hands held close to her body as she raced down the corridors. Her hair was still tied up, but wore nice black flats and a dark blue dress with a small black pendant around her neck. "Shit," she thought, "it's only the second day of school and I'm already lost and late to class!" She hurried down the hall and made a sharp left, bumping into someone and dropping her papers. "Oh no!" She quickly picked up all the papers while apologizing, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Please forgive me!" She bowed quickly and ran off. The man stared blankly at her as she hurried away, but smiled and bent over to pick up a paper she had forgotten.

* * * * * * *

The door to the classroom slammed open, "I'm sorry I'm late professor!" Shinobu quickly found an open seat and sat down, but the professor had stopped the class.

Glaring at her he snarled, "If you read the syllabus Miss…?"

"Maehara sir. Shinobu Maehara."

"Ah, I see. Well, if you read the syllabus Miss. Maehara you will happen to find that tar…"

Before the professor could finish his sentence though, the door swung open again, "Professor B.!"

The professor quickly looked over and his stern look became a great smile, "Why if it isn't Saygun! How are you!" They shook hands firmly, "What brings you to my class hmm?"

Saygun was a tall man with broad features with a white button up shirt with slacks on, his hair looked somewhat like Keitaro's, though it was a bit longer and slightly combed to one side.

He smirked showing his incredibly white teeth, "On the way to class I bumped into this girl and she dropped this." He raised his right hand and handed a paper to the professor,

"Why, this is indeed my syllabus."

"Uhh.." Shinobu shyly raised her hand, "I think that's… that's mine sir. I'm sorry professor!"

"There's no need to be sorry," Saygun smiled, "it was my fault completely and I know how you are with people being late. If you could go easy on her today I'm sure it won't happen again."

"Well Miss. Maehara, consider yourself lucky that Mr. Saygun came here to keep you out of trouble."

Shinobu nodded firmly, walked up to Saygun and bowed, "Thank you very much."

Saygun smiled, "It's no problem, Shinobu, was it?

"That's right." She laughed nervously, "This guy is pretty cute…" She thought in her head.

"Alright I better get going now professor, it was nice meeting you Shinobu." Saygun smiled and walked for the door, "Hope to see you around." He gave her a tiny wink and closed the door behind him. Shinobu began to blush and turned around, only to see the entire class was eyeing her, making her blush harder. Some guys snickered, and some girls gave a look of jealousy. "Oh no!" Shinobu thought, "what was that all about? Why am I blushing? Who was that guy?"

* * * * * * *

"Lunch time…" Shinobu sat with large tears falling down her cheeks, "the worst part of the day. It's been three days and still no friends yet. And why do I keep talking to myself?" She sighed, "I feel like Charlie Brown."

"Mind if I sit here?"

Shinobu looked up and saw a bright faced young man, "Oh! You're…" There was a slight pause, "Saygun!"

He smiled, "I'm glad you still remember!"

"What're you doing over here with me?"

"Well I saw you eating by yourself so I thought I'd keep you company, besides we haven't been properly introduced yet."

"Oh no!" Shinobu thought, "He knows I've been sitting here by myself! NO! I can't let him think that!" "Oh no, I'm just… waiting for my… other friends to get their lunch is all! Yeah, that's right!" Shinobu waved her arms nervously.

"Oh, well you don't mind me sitting here with you until they get back?"

"Huh?!" Well… I…"

"Good! Don't worry, I don't mind." He smiled.

"Oh God! Now what?!"

"Aren't you going to eat?" Saygun asked pulling out his lunch,

"Huh? Oh… yes of course." Shinobu shyly pulled out her lunch, "Almost forgot it was lunch."

"Wow!" Saygun exclaimed,

Startled, Shinobu jumped in her seat, "What?! I'm sorry I didn't mean to lie! I…"

"That food looks declious!" Saygun looked down at Shinobu's lunch, "And smells even better!"

Shinbou smiled, calming herself down, "W-Would you like some?"

Saygun, "Oh no it's your lunch, I wouldn't want to tear you away from that. Where'd you buy it anyway?"

"Oh, I made this yesterday for dinner and there were some leftovers so I thought I'd bring them to school."

"No way! You made this!"

"Yeah, and there's still plenty of leftovers at home, my landlord is away on a dig but it's a habit I make more food than needed, so please have some."

"Oh! Thank you!" Saygun leaned over and grabbed some noodles with his chopsticks,

"It's the least I can do for you for helping me yesterday." Shinbou looked down and saw he was at the same level as her breasts, "What the…?!"

Not noticing, Saygun jumped back up with a huge smile on his face, "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!"

Forgetting about what had just happened and excited for the compliment, Shinobu looked back at him, "You really think so?"

"No joke! That's really good!"

Shinobu blushed a bit, "I'm glad you like it!"

"Oh by the way, I couldn't help but notice that pretty pendant you have on."

Shinobu looked down at the pendant and grabbed it with her hand, "Oh this? This isn't the real thing, it's just a replica."

Saygun looked confused, "What?"

"Oh, well my old private tutor is now an archeologist and frequently brings back artifacts and gifts for my, well you could call them, my family. This was the first thing he gave me and I couldn't handle the thought of getting it damaged, so I asked one of my friends to make a replica of it for me. See?" She turned it around, revealing a symbol of three eyes in a triangular shape and a small signature that was said, "SU."

"That's very thoughtful of you Shinobu." Saygun smiled his bright smile at her,

She blushed madly, "O-oh… it's nothing really…"

"So have you dated him yet?"

"What?! No! Why would you… no! He has a girlfriend! And how do you know it was a he?! I didn't even say his name!"

Saygun laughed, "Relax! Just joking with you." He smiled again, "But it just seemed like you cared a lot about that pendant, so I figured it was given by someone you really care about."

Shinobu looked down at the pendant and laid it back down against her chest, "Yeah.." Shinobu sat there thinking for a bit, but caught herself and, waving her arms around, cried out, "Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ignore you!"

Saygun laughed, "No, don't worry about it! I thought it was cute."

Shinobu began to blush madly, "C-cute? Me?"

"Oh man what time is it?" Saygun looked down at his watch and cried out in surprise, "Oh crap it's already one thirty? I got to get to class!" He got up, putting his stuff away while doing it, "Sorry I couldn't wait till your friends got here."

"Oh it's ok Saygun, thank you for spending time with me, I really enjoyed it." She said while getting up for courtesy,

"How about I make it up to you, meet you at here at seven?" Saygun asked as he finished up packing his food,

"At… seven?" Shinobu looked shocked,

"Yeah, for dinner." Shinobu looked frozen, "What's a matter, don't you trust me?" He smiled and furled her hair around, "I'll see you there then." He smiled again and dashed off to class.

"O…okay." Shinobu sat back down, blushing, "Did he just ask me out on a date?!"

* * * * * * *

(That following Saturday)

"HE'S SO CUTE!" Shinobu cried out,

"Hey now don't hold back! Give us details!" Kitsune cried as everyone gathered at the couch.

"He's a junior right now, and the president of debate club! He's the captain of the tennis team and one of the top ten students in his class!" Shinobu placed her face on her cheeks and blushed, "And he's sooooooo dreamy! His teeth are bright white and his smile just makes me melt!"

"Aww! How cute!" Sarah laughed,

"Look it our little Shinobu, growing up so fast!" Naru teased,

Su jumped up and down, "He sounds dreamy! When do we get to meet him?"

Shinobu blushed, "Well he hasn't officially asked me out yet…"

"I knew it, it's a fluke!" Kitsune broke in, "He's not even real is he?"

"He is too!" Shinobu cried out, jumping on Kitsune,

"Geez, I was kidding! Kidding!" Kitsune struggled to get away as everyone else laughed in delight,

"So does this mean you're over Kei-Kun?" Mutsumi asked while Shinobu tried to strangle Kitsune,

"Sempai…?" Shinobu paused, "So much has been going on I almost forgot about Keitaro… he goes off so much now though… maybe it's for the best." "I… wait a second! When did you get here?"

"Fu, fu, fu." Mitsumi laughed, "I just got back with you know who!" Everyone stopped to process the thought and rushed to the front door, "Keitaro's back!" They ran outside and there waiting for them, with his van and gifts, was Keitaro. He dressed in a black shirt with a fine white jacket. He wore his glasses down a bit lower on his nose and scratched the back of his head, "Hi everyone! I'm home!"

Naru, of course, was the first to greet him, "Welcome home sweetie!" She hugged him and gave him a soft kiss,

"Um, hate to burst the happy reunion…" Kitsune chimed in, "But… who's that?" behind the van a man was pulling bags out of Keitaro's trunk. He noticed everyone stopped talking and looked up. He wore a brown, tattered, and worn out brown cloak that had a large hood over that casted a deep, dark shadow around his face, hiding it, even in the bright sunlight. The cloak ran down past the ground and revealed his dark brown boots and brown pants.

Sarah screamed, "A thief!"

Su cried out, "And he's stealing out presents!"

Motoko drew her sword and jumped through the air, "How dare you steal from this man, right in front of him and his house! Prepare to be vanquished." The man didn't seem to notice Motoko jump in the air, because the opening of his hood simply stared forward, Motoko's sword began to glow, "Split Rock Maneuver!" a wave of energy formed in a sharp U and glided towards the thief with profound speed, but before the energy touched the man, he simply moved his right foot back, becoming parallel with the strike, causing it to miss him completely. He jumped to the right as the van flew left from the impact of the attack and he landed softly on his feet. "He… he dodged it?" Motoko looked in shock as she landed,

"No worries Motoko, I got your back!" Su smiled as she aimed her fourteen shooter rocket launcher and fired.

"Wait! Su!" Keitaro cried, but no one could hear him. Fourteen missiles flew towards the brown cloaked man as Keitaro's voice was drowned out by the roar of rockets. The man pulled back his cloak, revealing a sword, and he quickly unsheathed it striking down one of the rockets. It split in half and continued past the man going both left and right, and moved far enough that the smaller explosion from the split missile barely grazed his flowing cloak. He jumped forward, springing off each missile delicately at their ends, causing the rockets to change course and push themselves towards the sky. As the last one flew towards the sky, the missiles began to collide with each other, exploding harmlessly in the sky. Motoko was ready for him as he landed, however, and swung her sword down over him. Clang! The sound of the metal swords rang throughout the front yard, shaking the leaves of the trees. Motoko swung left and right but the man was too quick and, without even using his sword, dodged every blow.

"Enough of this!" Motoko cried out angry, her sword began to glow and again and she cried out, "Cutting Edge…"

"STOP!" Keitaro jumped in front of the thief and Motoko instantly stopped,

"Kei-Keitaro?" Motoko stood confused, but ready for an attack if needed. The others gathered together and looked over at Keitaro.

"I told you I could've gotten the bags." Keitaro turned and said to the man laughing. He turned back to the girls and smiled, "Everyone, this is Masuda Kanashiro. He'll be staying with us for a while."