"Are you still a virgin?"

Her face exploded in the cutest, most amazing way. Her eyes grew wide, her jaw fell to somewhere near the floor, and her cheeks grew strawberry red. She was silent for a very long moment and I couldn't help but smile affectionately at her. The new snack, which was way too sweet, was sitting forgotten next to her arm.

She finally found her voice and said, "Jiroh! You don't ask something like that!"

"Why not?" I asked innocently despite the fact that I knew her answer already.

"You just don't. It's so improper. I don't ask things like that do I?" she huffs. I know she's not mad, simply embarrassed. I know her through and through.

"I don't mind if you do, although I suspect you know the answer to that question already," I responded with a grin.

I had forgotten how fun it was, how different it was from every other aspect of my life. Sara exploded into my world again just a couple of months and it hasn't been the same since. We started slow, visits after school every once in a while, when I'm not out partying and when she's not at her clubs or with her friends. She would come with her snacks and her radiating smile. It was awkward at first. I had never been awkward in my whole entire life, especially not with girls, but there it was: that undeniably heavy atmosphere that settled over us. We didn't know what to say, what to talk about, especially after what had happened on that roof.

It got easier, with her bright smiles and the tea. We unconsciously consented that we would never talk about it ever again. And with that, it got easier and easier.

"I'm not answering that," she said with a pout. She was lying on her stomach while reading a magazine. It was a little weird, seeing her read magazines. Just another little change that I haven't gotten used to yet.

"Why not? It's a simple yes or no question. You know, the fact that you're not answering means that you are either a virgin, or you're not and just too embarrassed to talk about it with me. And since we're such good friends, you really shouldn't be embarrassed around me."

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Well which one is it, smarty-pants?"

I pretended to think about it for a while. "You're still a virgin," I said definitely.

Sara, despite how much she's grown over the years, have always been the innocent little girl I've always known and I don't think I could even picture her with a guy, let alone having sex.

She didn't look up from her magazine despite the fact that she was blushing. Then I got curious. She's still a virgin…. isn't she?

"Sara?"

"Yeah?" she asked, not lifting her head. Her eyes were glued to the page, like when Tsukasa saw Makino in a bathing suit for the first time.

"I'm right, aren't I?" I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and refused to look up.

"You shouldn't have sex," was the first thing that popped out of my mouth before I could think about what I was saying.

This time she looked up, except the look on her face was one of exasperation. "Excuse me?"

I blanked and when I blank, I tend to blab. "You just shouldn't have sex. You could get pregnant, contract diseases and you should definitely wait until you're ready. Don't let guys pressure you into it. Actually, wait until you get married. It's much more special that way. And if you don't get married anytime soon, at least wait until you're thirty."

"Thirty?" she asked, her eyes amused and her tone mocking.

"Thirty. Actually, make it thirty-five just to be safe. Men are pigs," I said, all in one breath. What started as a conversation that was supposed to make her embarrassed and uncomfortable has completely flipped a hundred and eighty degrees. Only with Sara do I get this overprotective.

Sara laughed, her lovely voice filling the room and bringing brightness into my silent, empty home. For a minute, I forget about our conversation and my embarrassment and I simply listen to her laugh. I missed this.

"Sorry Jiroh but I can't believe you're the one giving me this speech."

"What do you mean?"

She looked at me with that twinkle in her eyes. "How many women have you slept with, Jiroh? Are you thirty years old? Or is it thirty-five now? Are you married to any of them?"

I can't believe it, but I'm blushing. "It's different," I muttered despite the fact that it's not.

"How so?" she asked, moving closer and trying to see my blushing face, which I hid with my hand.

"It just is."

"When did you lose your virginity Jiroh?" she asked innocently, less than a few centimeters away from my blushing face. I could feel her breath on my face.

"What?" I asked, shocked as much as she was when I asked her whether she was a virgin or not.

"I thought we were such good friends that there's no need to feel embarrassed about it," she said smartly, throwing my own words back at me and sticking her tongue out.

I have a childish impulse to stick my tongue out at her as well but I resist it. Some of us are grown up.

"Are you blushing Jiroh?" she teased. She's taking pleasure in this. It's also one of those little changes that I've started to notice in Sara. She's a little bolder now, a little less timid and a little more teasing. I don't know if I like it or not, but at the present moment, I missed the shy, innocent and dense Sarah.

I stayed silent, my blush working its way down my face. Sara's the only one who knows how to make me blush scarlet.

"Okay. You win. I'm sorry I brought the subject up. Happy now?" I said in defeat.

She smiled affectionately at me and went back to her snack and her magazine. My cell started buzzing suddenly.

"Hello?"

"Soujiro? Did you forget about our date tonight?" came a female voice. Date? Tonight?

"No of course not. I just lost the address. Where are we meeting again?" I asked.

"At the Kaede Hotel near Tokyo Tower, in half an hour. Remember?"

"Of course. I'll be there."

"I can't wait to see you," came the seductive voice.

I hung up the phone and was wondering whether I should get my car or find a driver when Sarah spoke.

"You're so hypocritical."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"First you tell me not to have sex. Then the next second, you're going off somewhere to have sex."

"It's-"

"-different. I know," she responded, rolling her eyes. "So when do you have to leave?"

"Uh…in a couple of minutes," I said, perhaps even more uncomfortable with this conversation.

"Okay. I should go anyway. There's a new sale at the market on snacks and I have to finish the rest of my homework."

She got up and before I could say another word, she was out the door. Perhaps our easy going friendship was not as perfect as I had thought it was.

A/N: Although I'm a fan of Yuki and Soujiro, I've always loved Soujiro's story about his first love and I wanted to read some Sara/Jiroh fanfiction but I can't find any so I've decided to write one. It's not very good and I don't know where it's going, but it's meant to be cute and fluffy and there might even be Yuki/Jiroh stuff in here later on.