One shot. Just my intake of what could happen if Sano found Mizuki sleeping, the whole gang followed them, and discovered Mizuki's secret.
The final bell rang for 3rd period.
'Where is she?' Sano thought to himself, glancing around. 'Usually, she follows me around to all of our classes, but she disappeared after 2nd period…'
Worried now, he looked for Nakatsu, but Mizuki wasn't hanging out with him, either.
'Who would, after he declared his love in front of the entire school…?' Sano wondered vaguely, still worried.
After half an hour, and Mizuki still absent, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Raising his hand, he excused himself to the bathroom and started his search of the school.
Unknown to him, however, Nakatsu, Nakao, Noe, and Sekime also excused themselves at the same time, worried, but curious, as well. It wasn't like Mizuki to skip class and they all were wondering where he could be.
As Sano, followed by the other four a little ways back, passed classroom after classroom in the hallway, he attracted more curious onlookers. Nanba joined the group of followers, with Tennoji and Kujo hot on his heels. (Isn't it amazing how seven people can follow one person and he not hear them?)
Finally, Sano made his way outside, towards the gardens. Sure enough, Mizuki was there, passed out with his notebook clutched in his hand tightly.
Seeing this, Sano briefly smiled, sympathy washing through him. 'She must be so tired, with all that extra practice and training from Kujo,' he thought to himself.
Bending down, he lightly patted her cheek, hoping she would wake up. Her eyes blinked at him sleepily, then slowly closed. Sighing, he scooped her up in his arms.
Turning towards the direction of Dorm 2, he thought he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned back, no one was there and the only sound was the wind blowing through the trees.
Shrugging, he hoisted Mizuki a little higher in his arms and began walking. Glancing down at her, he frowned.
'She feels so…light. Maybe I need to have a talk with Kujo about how hard he's pushing her…' His thoughts distracting him, he almost walked right past their dorm room.
Down the hall, the group of seven silently ducked into room 203, Nakatsu's room. He took a seat on his bed, and the other six sat down in various places around the room.
"Sano's so protective of Mizuki… It's kinda of sweet, but scary at the same time," Nanba commented.
Nakao nodded in fervent agreement. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Sano had a thing for Mizuki," he said.
Tennoji laughed from the corner. "Wouldn't surprise me. They do live together. What do you say, Kujo?"
Everyone turned to Kujo. "It would be easy to fall for Mizuki. He's so cute and feminine, you could mistake him for a girl unless you absolutely knew he was a guy…" Kujo trailed off.
The seven looked at one another in silence. "It's possible…" Sekime mused.
"But why would a girl wanna go to an all-boy's school?" Noe wondered out loud.
"Simple," Nanba answered. "To meet Sano."
"Ding, ding, ding!" The words came from the doorway. The group looked up to see Umeda standing in the doorway.
"Right on the first guess, Minami. But then, I wouldn't expect any less from a nephew of mine," Umeda said.
"So Mizuki really is a girl?" Nakatsu asked eagerly. Umeda nodded, and relief spread across Nakatsu's face.
Seeing the look, Umeda chuckled. "No, Nakatsu, you're not gay. Trust me. You just fell in love with Mizuki's feminine side that she couldn't hide," he said.
"Damn!" This came from Nanba. "All this time, I was living so close to a girl and I didn't know it!" The rest of the guys groaned. Nanba glared at his uncle.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded. Umeda shrugged.
"It wasn't my secret to tell," he responded.
"And yet, you just blabbed it to Kingdom Come," a voice said behind it quietly.
Umeda froze for half a second, then stepped aside to reveal Sano standing in the doorway.
"Izumi!" Nakatsu said, standing up. He stopped suddenly, looking confused. "Wait, you knew Mizuki was a girl?" he asked stupidly.
Sano gave him an impatient look. "Of course I knew," he replied. "We live in the same dorm room. How could I not discover it at some point?"
Umeda looked at him with a new measure of respect. "And this entire time, I never guessed. You never treated her any different, except maybe a little more gently. And you never told on her or let her know you knew. Why not?"
Sano sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Mizuki can be a little…naïve. She never considered I'd find out, she just wanted to meet me. I don't know why I never told on her. I figured she had her reasons. So, I left her alone, and just started watching out for her."
Umeda and Nanba were nodding at this. Nakatsu, Noe, Sekime, Nakao, and Tennoji looked shocked, while Kujo just smirked.
"Anyway," Sano continued, "don't let her know you know. Just keep on pretending you don't know anything. I want to keep her happy."
With that last remark, he closed the door and returned to his room, leaving a thoughtful silence behind.
Inside his and Mizuki's room, he walked over to his bunk, where he had put her. She was still sleeping peacefully, curled on her left side.
Tenderly, he brushed the hair out of her face, leaned down, and kissed her forehead softly. As he straightened, her eyes fluttered open once more to look at him.
"Sano…?" She murmured softly, her eyes cloudy from sleep.
"Shhhh," he whispered. "Just sleep."
Nodding, her eyes closed once more. He watched her for a few more seconds, then shrugged, peeled off hiscoat and tie, and joined her under the covers.
Lacing his fingers with hers, he closed his eyes, breathing in her flowery scent and listening to her steady heartbeat.
As he was drifting off to sleep, one last thought drifted through his mind.
'You're the one who I want to keep by my side…'
Short and sweet. I particularly liked the ending… Is that kind of pathetic to say? But maybe I'll work up the nerve to write the shower one I've been hashing around. We'll see.
S.S.S.