AN:I do not own the cover image

Graduation isn't all bad

Today is graduation, a day with tears of joy and sadness. After high school I've decided to go to college, and not because yasuko told me to, but because I want to do my best... for her. I want to be a good enough man for her to come back to, so that when she returns to my side she can be proud to stand by my side, and also, so that her parents accept me to be by her side also.

I looked up to our old classroom, 2-C, that classroom is filled with so many of our memories, the good, and the bad. Then I saw it. That golden, brown hair flowing in the wind, the hair that I would recognise anywhere, "n-no way," I whispered barely audible, then I ran, and kept running like my life depended on it, past my teachers, past my juniors, past my classmates, and straight to her.

I slammed open the door open the door to find nothing, no one, I looked around the room hoping to find some sort of sign that she was there, but there was nothing, was it all just my imagination? No, I defiantly saw her, lifting my head from its dejected position I slowly walked towards the one place in the classroom where anyone could hide easily, the cleaning cupboard. When I was standing directly in front of the cupboard door I took in a deep breath, it's now or never, I told myself inside my head and opened the door in one swift motion.

"What's with that? I was planning on surprising you." I looked down, she was really here, Taiga was right there in front of my eyes and she hadn't changed at all... literally (except for the uniform). "It looks like you've grown a bit." I said jokingly knowing exactly that what I said would rile her up, I felt a grin twitching at the corners of my mouth. "Nope, not even a millimeter, sorry about that!" she snapped at me, I chuckled a little hearing her reply, I remembered the old days, when we were together not as a couple but as friends.

Then I remembered, the text! How could I forget, I remember Ami telling me that it was what girls wanted to hear the most from their boyfriends. I took another deep breath and opened my mouth to talk, hoping I don't ruin the moment. "Listen..." Taiga looked up to face me, I suddenly felt nervous, but I wasn't going to back down, I was going to say this even if it killed me! "I love you" I breathed out finding peace when I saw her golden orbs, but lost it again when she looked to down. "...Tai-"I started to call out her name, leaning closer to her but was cut off when she head-butted me in the nose, hard.

As I stumbled backwards slightly, I clasped my hands tightly to my injured, throbbing nose, I glanced down at Taiga in confusion, through the pain (man her heads hard), and barley made out her shaking figure. I don't get it isn't that what she wanted me to say? "W-w-why w-would you s-say something embarrassing like t-that? You should have waited for a better mood or something." Oh, I thought, that's why, I started to chuckle then I broke into full out laughter, Taiga was looking at me with a confused and angry look, she thought I was laughing at her, she was about to hit me when I pulled her into a tight hug, "sorry," I sighed into her hair "I just reeeeaaaally missed you." I felt her relax into my arms and pull up her arms to wrap them around me, "it's ok... I missed you too," the last bit was lower than a whisper but I caught every bit of it.

I smiled widely at the comment and decided that our moment was over as Taiga started to shift in my arms which was a sign of un-comfort, and said "y'know, you sounded really cute just now?" Then she snapped, "Ryuuji! Don't you dare go there!" Taiga shouted in an angry but playful voice, knowing that I'm just playing with her "too late Taiga-chan~" I think that was her last straw because after I said that she let me see a world of pain and hurt, but I didn't regret it one bit.

Once she'd calmed down again she told me what happened when she left, her mum enrolled her into an all girls school that was extremely boring to her, but it was enjoyable sometimes as she was able to make a few friends(Taiga's not good in that department). She told me all about her few friends from their hair color, to their favorite number, I tried my best to remember it all because except for Minori (and Ami), I hadn't seen her that happy talking about anyone before, so it made me extremely happy for her but slightly jealous of her friends that took her attention away from me, and put it on them.

After she telling me how much she liked her new uniform she asked what happened to me in the last year, so I told her, I told her our 2-C class got split up into different classes but we were still all great friends, how our legends from last year spread and the freshmen think of us as some sort of Gods, I told her about how none of my underclassman are afraid of me and instead respect me, and also how I started a cleaning club. By the time I had finished there weren't many voices that could be heard from outside, and that probably meant that they were starting to go in for the party.

I got up from the table and stretched, I felt really stiff from sitting down for too long, I looked over to Taiga only to see she was deeply thinking about something, I used that time to really examine her face while she was lost in thought. I saw her smooth porcelain face that seemed more mature than a year ago; I took in her longer eyelashes and bigger eyes (if that's possible), her soft round nose looked cuter as did her round plump lips, I looked at her hair it looked silkier and longer than when he last saw her. "Hey Taiga," I called breaking her out of her thought bubble, "have you using a different shampoo?" Taiga looked confused but answered "no, why?"

"n-no reason" I can't believe I just asked that I thought to myself while turning my head away blushing, wait... if it wasn't a new shampoo, then what was it, is it because she matured? No that's not it, it has only been a year, then was it probably because I didn't see her for a year, maybe I just love her more so she seems prettier to me. You know what they say distance makes the heart grow stronger; so I just love her more, that's normal for couples I turned back to face Taiga, to see her staring at me, I felt myself blush harder and turned my head back away, this is awkward, I thought, especially because I see her prettier now than before.

I turned back to Taiga, ready to get my feelings off my chest in the best way I could think of, I held out my hand for her to take, she looked up at me confused "the party's probably starting now, let's go," she looked at my hand again before she took it to stand from the table when I pulled her into my chest, I lifted her small chin with my large hand, I lent down and pulled her into a gentle and lasting kiss, we stayed that way for a few seconds till I pulled away and looked at her face, she was blushing from ear to ear with a small smile on her face. I bent down further so my mouth was at her ear and whispered with a grin "welcome back, Taiga," she tiptoed and whispered in mine, "I'm back Ryuuji,". We grinned at each other for a second before I pulled her in for another short kiss, that she happily complied with, and lead her down the school to the auditorium hand in hand with identical grins on our faces.

AN: thanx for reading my story hoped you all liked it plz R&R :)