Just one more step

Disclaimer: I do not own Read or Die, Read or Die the TV nor Read or Dream. Out of those three, I only watched one. It's making me cry, so I'm going to end this Disclaimer.

A/N: Aha! This is my very first R.O.D fanfic and it's gonna be Romance! Alright!
Person One: So what?
Person Two: Don't use 'gonna', use 'going to'
Me: Some support. Please R&R and don't post reviews like these two. (Takes out big paper fan) Paper can be deadly even without a paper master's power, you know. He he he he he…

Chapter One: It's been a while

Anita stopped in front of the same house but there was someone unexpected on the front door. It was a guy, he was tall, had long light blue hair tied at the back and a baseball cap on his head. He wore a jacket and denim pants and all he did was stare mindlessly at the Sumiragawa door. "Hey, why don't you knock, my big sister has to be…" but she stopped when he turned to look at her. "Junior! This is surprising, I wasn't expecting to see you."

As always, Junior didn't say anything. He just nodded. Anita lifted an eyebrow to show an expression that said that she was confused. "What is wrong with you? You have to talk more often, you know, Junior?" she said as she reached into her pocket for the key and opened the door.

The door swung open and Anita entered. "What are you waiting for, come on in, and close the door behind you," Anita said as she kicked of her shoes and ran in. "I'm home."

From the wall at the side came Maggie. "Welcome home…"

"Oh yeah, Junior came over, so be nice," she said as she ran up the stairs. "I'm going to go up and change."

Junior stared at the tea cup in his hands blankly. He had a lot on his mind. He nearly didn't recognize Anita there. She was taller, most probably from all that milk drinking and sports she's been doing, longer hair, wore the high school uniform instead of the grade school and other reasons.

Anita, finally in her home clothes, sat down on the cushion on the floor and asked, "So how's Nancy? Did she come back from India yet?"

Junior nodded. He knew that they meant his mother, Nancy. "Yeah, she came back a few months ago."

"How's everyone else?" Maggie asked as she set two more tea cups on the table and, too, sat down on the cushion."

"Michelle said that she'd visit soon. Nenene and Yomiko went some place else, most likely to buy books," he said.

"So what brings you here?" Anita asked as she sipped the tea in her hand.

"Just here for a visit, that's all," he said, putting the tea cup back on the table. "Actually, Nancy said that I should move somewhere closer to the school than Saitama. That's why I'm here, I guess." Then Anita stood up. "Okay, Let's go up to my room, it'll be a bit messy, though."

Junior's cheeks reddened a bit. "Okay," he replied and stood up, following Anita up the stairs. "Careful, there are a lot of books scattered on the stairs."

He didn't need Anita to tell him that, he could already see the numerous books stacked on most of the stairs. When Anita reached the top of the stairs, she opened the door to what used to be the room of Nenene's parents. It was full of books too, and since Michelle wasn't there, all the books in that room where being read by Anita. "You've been reading… a lot."

"Yeah, I guess. It goes around a book a day," Anita said as she sat down on the bed. "So what do you want to do? There isn't much up here."

"I don't know," he replied, looking at all the titles of the books scattered on the floor. "What do you think?"

"Well, I have lots of Mr. Froggy stuff. And a lot of books too, why don't we play a board game? Then we can go downstairs and watch TV then after all that, it'll probably be dinner already, what do you say?"

Junior nodded, "Sure, why not?"

"You beat me again!" Anita whined and Junior was blushing and smiling a bit. She glanced at the clock. "It's getting late, do you want to go watch TV?"

"What's on TV?"

"There's a good movie showing, if you want to watch it, that is," she said, flipping through the TV Guide which was promoting a cartoon channel on the front cover.

"Okay," he said when he heard someone call, "Anita! What do you want for dinner? I'll just call take out."

"Um… why don't you call pizza?" Anita suggested. "Do you want pizza, Junior?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. "I don't mind. What's the movie about?"

"Let's see, it's action and adventure, so it says here," Anita replied, pointing at one of the black and white pages of the magazine.

Junior shrugged. "It's okay with me."

Anita took his hand and led him down the stairs to the living room. "Maggie! You were supposed to fix up this mess! It's already seven o' clock!" She scolded, looking at the mess and stacks of books piled everywhere. "You should have cleaned this up hours ago!"

Maggie was still curled up on the floor, reading a book. "Sorry."

Anita shoved the piles of books off the couch and cleared the area near the TV. "Here, you can sit down now, Maggie, don't you want to watch the movie too?"

"No thanks," Maggie said.

Anita shrugged and opened the TV. "Okay, Channel 54," she said, pressing the buttons on the remote control.

"Oh yeah, are you staying over tonight?" Maggie asked, standing up. "I have to see if there's a room available."

"Um, I can sleep on the couch," Junior suggested.

"On the couch? In this mess? No way! I'll get the blanket to divide the bed in my room so that you can sleep there, I'll go clean it up."

"Why don't you just go ahead and watch the movie with Junior?" Maggie suggested as she headed for the stairs. "I'll go clean up and fix your room."

Anita fell back on the couch, "Well, okay."

Minutes later, the doorbell rang. "Must be the pizza, I'll go get it. That's odd, they came earlier than they should," Anita said, standing up but when she opened the door, she was confronted by a woman with short blue hair and a dress that reached her knees. "Nancy, nice to see you again."

"Did Junior get here safe?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's in the living room. We were about to watch a movie. Why don't you join us?" Anita suggested as she closed the door behind her. Then she went ahead to the living room. "Junior, your mom's here to see you."

Startled, he turned around and stood up. "Nancy, I mean, Mom."

She's only been back for a few months now and he wasn't used to calling Nancy 'Mom' or 'Mother' just yet. "Junior, I was able to get a nice house around here so we'll be moving there soon and you'll be attending school here as well!" Nancy said, excited as she showed him the papers and the results of the test he took. "You'll be going to the same school as Anita soon!"

Junior didn't say anything. So Anita spoke for him. "That's great! Don't worry, Junior, I'm sure that you'll fit in just fine."

Junior looked at Anita and nodded. "You have to talk more often too," she added. "You'll look like a walking zombie if you don't."

"See, Junior, You'll be just fine!" Nancy said. "I already took care of all the arrangements, I'm afraid that Junior has to stay here for the night, is that alright?"

"Yeah, Maggie is already fixing my room so that he can stay there tonight," Anita said.

"Okay, I have to go," Nancy said. "I'll pick you up early tomorrow, okay, Junior?"

Junior nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Nancy slipped on her slippers and opened the door and shut it behind her. Junior picked up the papers on the table and looked at it. "High school… here?"

Hi people! I hope you like my new story, and my first from R.O.D the TV. Please review, I would love to know if you like it or not. Thanks for reading!