Hello everyone! This is my second fanfic and I really enjoyed writing this. A little thing I should note on though is that I am Scottish so some words will be different to American ones. Italics show thoughts from Chihayas pov.

The tatami mat was rough underneath my knees, the abrasiveness adding to the whole experience of Karuta. I strained my ears, eager to catch the first syllables of the next poem.

''As-''

My hand shot forward, instantly reacting and reaching towards the pairing card, however my arm wasn't the same. A short arm with plump fingers wavered over the cards. Confused, I looked up to my opponent. He had taken advantage of my hesitation, the card that was now plastered against the wall was proof enough. He raised his gaze to meet mine. Blue eyes as clear as a crystal ocean stared at me from behind dark glasses, exhilaration sparkling in their depths. He was young, much younger than he should have been, but then again, wasn't I?

''Everything alright, Chihaya?'' His lyrical voice was like music to my ears. I tried to reply but the words got lost somewhere in my throat.

Suddenly he aged. His childish figure elongated until the face of a 16 year old peered at me with those same eyes. His hair was no longer a short crop, it was slightly longer, his fringe framing his face perfectly.

''Chihaya?'' He leaned forward on one arm, the other outstretched to touch my face. Anxiety laced through his voice which was now a rich deep bass.

When I dropped my gaze towards my arm, they too were no longer childish but long and elegant, my fingers splayed on the mat below me. When his fingers touched my face I shivered. He chuckled softly,

''You're not running one of your fevers again are you?'' His head cocked to the side in amusement.

All I could do was shake my head, my words still refusing to be spoken.

''Your face feels hot though, you sure?'' He was suddenly a few scant inches from my face, his azure eyes close enough to see the dark lashes surrounding them. His breath was nice and cool on my face, which I now noticed was feeling flushed. I leaned into the hand which had cupped my cheek, savouring the coolness.

His face gradually got closer until his forehead was pressed against my own. The closeness of his face to mine sparked emotions within me that I had never felt before. His eyes were closed, his lips parted. I couldn't help but stare at his lips, wondering what had come over me.

''I think its time to wake up now Chihaya.'' His words confused me, wake up?

''-haya...wake...''

He had backed of instantly, the coolness of his touch still faint on my cheek and forehead. He kept moving backwards, farther and farther, until he turned his back and was simply gone.

''Chihaya? Chihaya!''

Chihaya groaned as her eyelids fluttered open. A face floated in front of her fuzzy vision;

''Arata?'' her voice was groggy and thick with sleep.

The face recoiled and she blinked to clear the fuzziness. Instead of the dark haired, blue eyed boy she expected; she was surprised to to see salmon pink hair and amber orbs instead.

''Oh, Taichi'' she yawned.

''She's awake? Chihaya! Are you alright?'' The concerned voice of Kana sounded somewhere behind Taichi.

''Oh Chihaya! You scared us, we were just practising a match and suddenly you had passed out!'' Her worried face appeared close to Taichi, she was clutching her hands together wringing them. Chihaya tried to move her head but her neck gave a protesting creak. She groaned again, rubbing at her neck and sitting up straighter against the wall.

''Thankfully you were so close to the wall, you would've really hurt yourself if you had been farther out on the floor. You should've seen Taichi though, I don't think I've ever seen him react so fast before!'' Taichi turned to glare at Kana but she paid no attention and just continued regaling Chihaya with her story, ''He was checking to see if you had a fever, pressing his forehead against yours and all that! I didn't know what was going on!''

Chihaya smiled at Kana and turned the smile to Taichi; ''Thank you.''

The slight wounded expression on Taichi's face instantly changed to one of relief; a slight blush painting his cheeks.

''No problem.''

The members of the Karuta club cleaned the room while Chihaya sat propped against the wall. She drank a bottle of water, relishing the relief it gave her parched throat. The sun had just began to set as the group left the club room, the sky was turning a vibrant hue of reds and golds. The group were all chatting excitedly except for Chihaya who had hung back slightly. She was immersed in her thoughts about the dream.

Why did I dream about him?

Noticing that Chihaya was falling behind, Taichi turned on his heel and strode to her side. He waved a hand in front of her face when he noticed she was lost in thought.

I haven't dreamt of him since I started high school, was it because of the text on my birthday?

A hand waved in front of her eyes snapping her back to the present;

''Earth to Chihaya, come in Chihaya'' Taichi mocked playfully, he then added on a serious note, ''Are you sure you're OK Chihaya? You've been pretty out of it today.''

Chihaya looked up into his concerned amber eyes and smiled, ''I'm fine Taichi, just got a lot on my mind.''

He pondered over her words for a moment and ran his hand absent-mindedly through his hair.

''You can lean on me you know, if you're still feeling weak..or...yeah..you know...'' He trailed off, running his hand through his hair again. She just laughed inwardly.

Typical Taichi, he's definitely a leader status. I wonder if he's this caring towards his girlfriend.

As soon as she thought it, she shook her head vigorously. Taichi however saw it as a refusal for his help. He flushed deeply with embarrassment, covering his face with a hand.

The group parted ways, ''Desk'' had left a while ago to catch a bus, Kana had continued walking and ''Porky'' had to take a different train. Before they had left Kana, she had whispered in Chihaya's ear, ''Phone me later 'kay?'' with that, she trotted off down the road, leaving a confused Chihaya behind.

The sky had turned a dusty navy and a few eager stars had already appeared, sparkling like little diamonds. A light breeze had picked up and caused an empty bottle of juice to roll across the platform. Chihaya and Taichi sat on a bench waiting for the train, they were the only ones on the platform and only an elderly lady sat on the platform across the tracks. The breeze ruffled Chihaya's hair, causing her to shiver slightly.

''Cold?'' Taichi asked, admiring how her hair lifted around her face before settling back into perfect order.

''Not really, just the breeze caught me off guard.'' She smiled brightly at her childhood friend.

Taichi seized the opportunity and lifted his arm as if to drape it across her shoulders, hoping to pull her closer to him. His arm was almost around her when a sharp trill startled both of them. Cursing, Taichi pulled the mobile phone from his pocket, sighed at the caller display and answered; ''Hello?''

Despite Chihaya's great hearing, she couldn't make out the other side of the conversation, but judging by the softness of the tone she concluded it must've been his girlfriend.

She felt both happy and annoyed at Taichi; happy that he had gotten himself a girlfriend, but annoyed that he didn't seem to care too much for her. Her mind began to wander back to her dream, to the coolness of Arata's touch, the closeness of his face. Her mind suddenly reminded her of the fact that it was actually Taichi that had felt her forehead but her dazed mind had told her it was Arata.

What on earth does that mean?

The train glided up to the platform and the doors swooshed open. She grabbed her bag and Taichi's, waving him off when he tried to reach for it and inclined her head towards the train carriage.

The train ride was fairly quiet, Chihaya thought more about her dream then decided to forget about it and think about the one thing she loved most, Karuta. She was just going through some of the cards in her minds eye when Taichi snapped his mobile closed. He heaved a ragged sigh and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Chihaya wasn't sure whether to venture into asking if everything was alright. She could read his body language and right now it was saying, Don't ask.

The train pulled up to their stop and the two left towards their homes. There was an unnatural awkward silence between them and it made Chihaya uncomfortable. Before they parted ways, Taichi finally broke the silence; ''I'm thinking of breaking up with her.''

Chihaya hadn't been expecting that sort of outburst and stared at him with a mixture of shock and horror.

''What? Why?''

He turned to look at her, he looked tired and worn suddenly. ''It's complicated,'' was all he replied.

''Sounds to me like you're just running away.'' Indignation flared behind her eyes causing Taichi to shift uncomfortably.

''I...just can't explain it.'' He reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind Chihaya's ear, ''Chihaya, I- I think...never mind.'' He dropped his hand and turned on his heel, turning his back on her and strode away, hiding the blush that had heated his face.

Chihaya stared at his retreating figure dumbstruck.

What was that all about?

She shook her head and headed home.

Later that evening, after a relaxing bath, Chihaya flopped down onto her bed. She felt exhausted, both mentally and physically. Just as she was about to switch her bedside lamp off, her mobile phone caught her eye and instantly a wave of guilt washed over her; she had forgotten to phone Kana. Glancing at the clock, she decided it was still a reasonable time.

Kana picked up after the third ring, irritation present in her voice; ''Finally! I thought you had forgotten!'' Chihaya cringed at the fact that she almost had forgotten. She cleared her throat, ''So, what did you want me to phone you for?'' She was greeted with silence on the other end, she counted to ten before Kana replied cautiously, ''Who's Arata?''

Her stomach clenched although she had no idea why.

''He was a childhood friend of mine, Taichi's too. He had to move away to Fukui after Primary and I've only seen him once since then.''

Kana's soft voice floated down the line; ''And you dreamt of him today didn't you?''

Chihaya felt her face heat up, her mind reeling and contradicting the wave of emotions that flooded her at that instant. She mostly felt shame; the fact that she had dreamt of a boy, even with it being a childhood friend, she still felt ashamed of herself. Before she had a chance to agree or deny, Kana pressed on; ''But you know, Chihaya, there's nothing wrong with it. Although maybe it does mean something.''

Chihaya felt momentarily relieved at Kana's words then felt her suspicions grow again, ''Mean something?'' She repeated, hating the way her voice betrayed her uneasiness.

''They say that dreams are unconscious desires do they not?''

Chihaya was stunned. Unconscious desires? Her blush heated up a notch as she remembered how close Arata had been to her face and how she had reacted and stared at his lips.

She wailed unintelligible garbles down the phone, which made Kana rethink and try to backtrack; ''I didn't mean it in a bad way Chihaya! I'd say it's something good, but if you don't really feel that way them I'm sorry I said something so shameless.'' She was beginning to panic and her voice cracked which made Chihaya sigh;

''Its alright Kana, I just think I need to think it over some more. Don't worry about it, I'll see you tomorrow ok?'' She heaved a great dollop of fake enthusiasm in her voice, hoping that Kana would buy it. Thankfully she did.

''Ok, Chihaya. I'll see you tomorrow.''

Chihaya closed the phone and draped an arm over her weary eyes. Her heart was thudding in her chest. A part of her wished that she wouldn't have another dream like that when she fell asleep.

But another small part of her did.

That's it for now! I'm honestly not too sure whether to continue this or not, just depends on any inspiration I get. As you might have found out, I favour Arata over Taichi but I didn't want to make it completely Arata x Chihaya, which is why I added little Taichi moments too. I found it quite amusing how my spell checker tried to change Chihaya to Chihuahua xD Hope you enjoyed~