A Natsume Rin x Naoe Riki fanfiction.
Chapter one, "Something I never should've heard... or should I have...?"

Ring! Ring! Ring!

The loud sound of the school bell rings throughout the school, so does the sounds of chairs being pulled and pushed back, foot steps, people chit-chatting and so on, but one of those sounds, were outstanding the others. The sound seemed like it was a chime, coming from a bell...somehow, it was quite relaxing to listen to. What was it...? That sound?

"...?" I turned my head to the door, seeing a glimpse of someone familiar. "Who...?", someone taps my shoulder. I jump in surprise, "E-eh!?", I look at who tapped my shoulder, with a surprised look on my face, it was my room mate, Inohara Masato, "O-oh... it's just you.." I giggle nervously. "Riki, is something wrong? You seem to be spacing out... do you need help from.. muscles?", Masato crosses his arms and smiles, showing his white teeth out. "A-ah..no.. umm.. Masato, I've got to go some where, see you in a while."

I walk towards the door, waving to my room mate, Masato, as I do, then touches the door, sliding it open, and walking out, leaving Masato unable to even say See you later or something like that.

As I walked out of the class room, I, then, see that familiar person, "So, it was Rin." I nodded, and scratched the side of my head a bit, feeling kind of bad that I hadn't recognized my own childhood friend. "Wait, isn't she supposed to be cleaning the classroom now...? She is on cleaning duty, after all... hmm... quite suspicious.." I speak in a soft voice, ponders for a little while, then decides to go follow her.

Once Rin had reached a place wherein there were not much objects, only trees, grass and all sorts of plants. Rin stops walking and sits down on her legs. I stop a few meters behind her, hides behind a tree, observing her, "Hmm...?" He tilts his head, observing her still. W-what's she doing...?, he thought to himself.

Rin was there, sitting down, slowly bringing out a bristle grass from her pocket, before grabbing a bag of cat nip beside her and spreading some on the ground, "Here, here... come out, everyone, I'm back~" Out of no where, a bunch of cats walked towards her and ate some cat nip, while one sat on her lap, the others surrounding her and laying down, some were even sleeping. Rin giggles and pats their heads, "Did you all miss me~?", somehow.. it was quite surprising seeing the cats reply with a Meow~

They understood her..!? Rin must have trained them well..., I thought to myself again. "That's good, I've got a surprise for all of you, then.. we're... we're going to play a game!", she slowly brings out the bristle grass from her back, "Alright, alright~ If you can catch this, you get a prize, you start, Tezuka!", Rin points at one of her cats, the cat coming closer to her as she points to him. As the cat is close to her, she starts swinging the bristle grass a bit higher the cat, letting the cat try and reach it. Meow... meow meow!, the cat struggles to grab the bristle grass.

"Go on, Tezuka! You can do it~!", Rin cheers for her cat. The cat struggles and finally grabs on to the bristle grass, "You did it!" She giggles, and throws some cat nip in front of Tezuka, "Here's your prize~", she pats Tezuka's head and says, "You know, I think it would have been more fun if Riki was here.. hehe...", she giggles slightly and blushes slightly, too.

I blush upon hearing what she just said, E-eh...More fun if Riki was here...? So, she'd like to spend time with me more often...? A-ah.. I don't get it.. I thought to myself again.. Hmm... maybe I should ask her what she meant about that...? Wait! If I do, then she'll realize that I'm following her and it would definitely make me look like some kind of stalker, plus I doubt that she'd even give a straight answer!

"More fun with Riki here, yep yep. He's fun to be around, anyway.. at least I think so." She nods and giggles, blushing slightly.

O-oh...and I thought that she might...er...I see that she thinks I'm fun to be with. Understandable.
A-ah... I should probably approach her, anyway, she might just seem kind of lonely. I walk up to her from behind and taps her shoulder, "H-hey...", in a way, I kind of blushed when I tapped her shoulder. What? Why am I blushing? I thought to myself again, losing myself in my thoughts, I totally forgot I was with Rin.

"A-ah.. sorry...! W-what were you saying again?" Crap, because of my thoughts, I didn't even pay attention to what she said! If she said something, though... I scratch the side of my head slightly and noticed that she was a bit farther from where she was, it seemed like she had jumped a bit when I tapped her.

"I asked you, why are you here?" Rin looked at me, and somehow, she had a nervous face. I giggle nervously, scratching the side of my head still, "We-well...", I look slightly away, "I took a detour...eheh...?", I giggle nervously again.

"And you ended up following me? Woah, you're one stalker, Riki." She told me with a straight face. Crap! I was caught, ah what should I say!?

Rin giggles slightly, "That was a joke, did you take it too seriously?", she asked me. "A-ahh...ahh..hehe..." I giggle nervously once more, staggering backwards a bit. "Maybe you did actually stalk me..." Rin says in a soft voice, and blushes slightly. I blush, too, in embarrassment, "A-ah! N-n-n-no! O-of of..of course not!", shakes his hands and head, leaning back.

"I see...so umm...h-how...how long have you been here...?", Rin says nervously, looking down as she does. I ponder for a while, and thought that I wouldn't reply the truth, and answer "Mm.. not that long, really."

"A-ah... so..you.. you.. didn't hear me.. say...say...", Rin blushes and keeps looking down, hugging her knees as she does, "Say what, Rin?" I tilt my head and look at her. Mmm.. I bet she was talking about what she said about it being more fun with me. "N-n-n-nothing! D-d-don't mind that, forget.. forget what I said...! So-sorry...!", she looks at me, blushing. Oh.. she actually looks cute when blushing.. I thought to myself, and shake my head, Ah.. I shouldn't get lost in my thoughts again.

I ponder for a while, and finally remember why I'm here, "Oh, Rin! You're on cleaning duty today, just a reminder.", I nod. She then, looks at me with a straight face, "Who cares about that, dummy?", E-eh!? Wasn't she just blushing a while back!? Ahh.. anyway... "..I might not really care about that, but I care about you, Rin." I reply with a look of worry on my face, "You should try exposing yourself more.", I nod. Oh, wait, why did I end up giving her some kind of lecture..

"Uuu...", Rin blushes lightly and looks at me, "F-fine!" She stands up, and crosses her arms, then looks away, "Bu-but, I'm not just doing this because you told me or anything...!", she then turns her back to me, and walks away.

I wave, "Good luck, Rin~", then I smile, she looks back at me, and blushes slightly, "Y-yeah, sure...".

Ah, I just thought.. it would've been actually nice to have been able to spend more time with her. Time flies so fast.. eh.. we're second years, now, and next year, we'd be third years and graduate.. Maybe I should spend more time with Rin, at least...we've only got a few years left...same goes for Kyousuke and the others.

Hmm... somehow, I would like to spend more time with Rin more than anyone else, actually.. wait... eh? But why...?

Wait.. "It would be even more fun if Riki was here", why did that statement make my heart skip a beat?

Why me? ... Eh...? Why... Why am I feeling like this? I've never felt this way before... it seems like what she said made my heart skip a beat..? Is there something wrong with me...?

...Is...is this what they call... love?

A/N: Well, I'm sorry if I have any grammatical mistake, English isn't my first language, and please tell me what you think~

And, it's kind of my first time posting a fanfic/novel here. So, it's nice to meet you all too.

Wait for the next chapter which I will be working on!

Enjoy~