Thin, carefully placed lines are accumulating on the smooth white page in front of me, each new line bringing the image more life. As I am drawing the curve of my bird's wings, someone bumps into my elbow and sends a dark line tearing across the page, severing feathers and sinew. This was the drawing I'd been working on for the past two days, the drawing I was going to give to her.

"Why can't you watch where you're going, you inconsiderate, clumsy…" the words catch in my throat at the sight of her. She stands behind the blue-haired buffoon who has ruined my work, apologizing for him.

"I'm so sorry! Is your drawing ruined?" She carefully steps in between Black*Star and I.

"No…" I lie. "It's alright, I'm not angry anymore."

How can I be angry when she looks at me like that?

"Thank goodness, I was so worried he'd done something terrible!"

He has.

"He hasn't."

The last thing I want to do is give her something to be upset about. Even so, seeing them together makes me angry, sometimes. He always makes her worry, makes her apologize for the things he's done that he's not even sorry for. I could do so much better. But here she is, apologizing for him, with his symbol emblazoned across her right breast.

"I'm so relieved to hear that!" Her eyes drift to him, he's moved across the room and is sitting now. "I have to go," she says, smiling. I could do so much better.

That's why I love her, though. She's patient, forgiving. She cares so much for her friends. If only I had the courage to become one of them. I know she'd let me. What I'm afraid of is that 'friends' wouldn't be enough. I'd be like a moth to a flame, caught in the comforting glow of her light only to be crippled by the flame when I got too confident and came too close.

I can see it in the way she looks at him. He's special, in a way that goes beyond meister and weapon. I don't look at Riku like that. I wonder how I look at Tsubaki.

This time, I've drawn a camellia flower. I drew it at home, where nobody could destroy it before it was complete, and sprayed it with fixative to keep it from smudging. In delicate, flowing script, near the stem and just under the first leaf on the right side of the page, there is a note.

To capture your beauty with paper and pencil would be impossible, so I will be content in drawing your name. There is something I need to tell you. Please meet me here thirty minutes after class. My only request other than this is that you come alone.

I fold it into an airplane and fly it to her. It lands neatly on the desk in front of her and she removes her attention from Black*Star and Soul's argument to pick it up. I have to remind myself not to outright stare at her as she unfolds it and reads my message. I'm glad he's distracted enough that he doesn't notice, because I know that if he sees it, there's no way she'll be able to keep him from following her to see what I have to say. I'm nervous enough without the audience.

Carefully, Tsubaki smooths the paper before she tucks it into a folder. Everyone else remains completely oblivious to its existence.

The closer thirty minutes after class becomes, the more nervous I get. What if she doesn't show? That's a silly question. Of course she'll show, she's too kind not to. I'm afraid she'll come only to turn me down. She's going to tell me that she loves him, that she's sorry. I'll tell her that I understand, even though I won't.

Exactly thirty minutes after class, she walks in. We're the only people in the room, so she finds me quickly. She smiles and my heart flutters, I try to smile back. I think it works, but I'm not sure.

"You came."

She nods. Of course she came.

"Of course I came." She takes a few steps closer and sits next to me, smiling the whole time. "It's you, after all."

"Me?" I'm confused. What does it being me have to do with anything? Another nod.

"I really like you." I can feel my face growing warm, my heart racing in my chest, my breath becoming harder to draw.

"I thought that's what I was supposed to be saying…" I remark, my voice barely more than a whisper.

"I know, but I really wanted to say it." Now that she said my line for me, I have to think of something else to say.

"I really do like you, Tsubaki. I've never met anyone as kind as you in my entire life. You've bloomed into a truly beautiful flower." My eyes lock onto my shoes as I resist the urge to slap my hand over my mouth. I can't believe I said something so cliche and sappy. Tsubaki giggles.

"You know, the first time I noticed you was when you were drawing under that tree in the park. You looked so serious about what you were doing, it was cute. I admired your dedication and focus. Sometimes I wish Black*Star could learn to concentrate like that." I flinch a little at the mention of his name, and it doesn't go unnoticed. "He's a good meister, and a friend, I'm glad that we're together, but he's more like a brother to me than anything else."

We sit in silence for a moment, while I try to think of what to say next and she waits patiently for my words to come to me.

"Be mine?" I can't think of anything better at the moment.

"Of course I will."