His eyes wondered to her. She was sitting in her usual seat, to his right, just a seat up. Her ebony hair tied back in a loose bun. She chewed on her eraser as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Aoshi looked away, turning his attention back to his book. The shrill sound of the bell ringing reached his ears. The whole class quickly stood, packing their things to leave for home. Aoshi calmly stood and glanced at Misao. She still sat at her desk, packing her things into her bag. He watched her stand and walk out of the classroom before he followed. He trailed her until she made her routine stop at the girl's bathroom. He continued on to his locker to put away his things. He sent a small glance towards the girl's bathroom but turned away when she did not right out. He didn't know what had come over him these past few weeks.
The first day that Misao walked into his classroom, he didn't give her a second glance.
The next day, the whole class had become her friend, besides him. He liked to keep to himself.
The third day, she was made his partner in an assignment. She talked nonstop and he didn't. She did her half of the work just like him and that was it.
On the fourth day of classes, she had joined the chess team and ranked 2nd, just under him, in the 1st game of the year.
The weeks passed and he saw more and more of her. He would sometimes find himself following her with his eyes and actually listening to her when she happened to talk to him or just about anyone. Aoshi closed his locker shut and re adjusted his bag strap on his shoulder. He walked towards the school entrance and found the halls empty. He swung open the door and stopped. It was raining and he happened to have no umbrella at all. He silenty sighed and searched the sky. The sun had disappeared and replaced with gray clouds. The rain fell hard and the wind blew. He began to walk, drenching himself. "Here."said a sweet voice. Aoshi stopped in his tracks and looked to his right and saw Misao holding out an ice blue colored umbrella to him, letting herself get wet.
Aoshi shook his head and continued on his way. She caught up with him. "Shinomori-san!"she called. He looked back at her, quickly catching the umbrella she threw at him. He looked at her and saw her soaked. She had a smile on her small face before she waved and quickly turned around and walked away. Aoshi just stood in the middle of the sidewalk, stunned. She never smiled at him before. Aoshi looked down at her umbrella for a second before he held it over himself and continued walking home. He stopped after a couple of steps and looked back. He could barely make out Misao's figure off in the distance. He turned back and continued towards home.
The very next day, he walked into the school, holding up the umbrella to shield himself from the ongoing rain. He grabbed his things from his locker and made his way to his first class. He was the first to walk in everyday and so he sat and looked up at the door whenever it opened, expecting to see her face. The time passed and right before the bell rang, she waltzed in, with a scarf and a runny nose. She quickly made her way to her seat, sneezed and coughed a little before she sat down. Aoshi turned away, feeling guiltly and the only one to blame for her cold. He looked at her and almost shook his head. It was half of her fault because she didn't have to give him her umbrella. The rest of the day was spent in the normal fashion. He would arrive at each class early and she barely managed to make it in on time. She was never late and usually in class earlier but he knew that she was sick and that slowed her down.
When the final bell of the day finally sounded, he waited until everyone else had filed out the room before he was on his way. He went to his locker and then stood outside. It was still raining. He looked down at the umbrella. The door opened and he looked down, for he was the tallest boy in school so there was no need to ever look up. Misao stumbled out of the school and stopped to survey the sky. She sighed and looked towards him, her eyes widening at the sight of him. "Shinomori-san! I didn't see you there."she said. Aoshi had the strongest urge to raise an eyebrow at her. Aoshi didn't respond, but just merely held out her umbrella to her. She looked it over and just shook her head. "Keep it."she responded. Aoshi ignored her. "Its raining."he simply said. Misao smirked at him and pulled out a jade colored umbrella from her bag. "I have one" she replied and pulled it open. She suddenly sneezed. Aoshi's frown deepened. "I apologize for the cold." He said, unemotionally. Misao looked at him. "Don't worry about it Shinmori-san, it was mainly my fault." She sneezed again. "Well I better go home."she whispered as the thunder roared aboved their heads.
She made her way down the stairs, and he watched her as always. She stopped when she reached the bottom and turned to him. "Do you want to walk with me, Shinomori-san?" She smiled at him and he stood frozen. It was a sincere smile, not flirty or wanting….it was real and kind. She sneezed again and took a step back. Aoshi made his way to her and her smiled widened. "Shinomori-san, do you want to be my friend?" she asked. Aoshi blinked at her. What a random question. He scanned her pretty face before he gave her a nod. Misao beamed and Aoshi felt a swell of emotion within him. "Shinomori-san…friends also buy their friends chicken soup when they are sick."she said, a glint in her eyes. Aoshi stopped walking and looked at her. She smiled more and blinked innocently at him. "You tricked me."he said. Misao laughed. "What are friends for?" she asked. "Scamming free meals."replied Aoshi. Misao sneezed again. They stopped walking at the corner where they would part to head to their home.
Aoshi looked down the street he always took. He turned to Misao and saw her about to head down her street. "Does the Akabeko sound good?"he asked. Misao gleamed up at him and eagerly nodded. They walked in silence towards the restaurant. Misao looked up at their umbrellas and stopped. She quickly exchanged their umbrellas. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "My favorite color."she simply said and smiled at him, her eyes gleaming as she looked up at the ice blue umbrella. Aoshi looked at the jade umbrella and it reminded him of her big eyes. "Mine too."he said and looked down at her. As they finally made their way into the restaurant, a sudden thought sent a warm feeling through Aoshi. Her eyes, and her smile….were going to make him fall and fall hard he will. Aoshi looked over at Misao as she scanned the menu. She bit her bottow lip and squinted her eyes to read the menu. Aoshi felt the corner of his mouth quirk up. Misao was going to be his demise and oddly enough he would be fine with that.