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Mikan Pov

He'd never tried to kiss me, even when we practically shared the same bed half of the summer. And then he was gone. For five tormenting weeks. I thought I was going to die after day two. But today, my torture was over. Today, Ruka Nogi returned. My best friend and future husband. Not like I had informed him about that yet, but it wasn't necessary.

Everyone knew it, and I couldn't wait to trade my last name, Sakura, for his. Ruka and I had been hanging out since kindergarten. We were inseparable, except for the few hours every day when he had soccer training and I had— well, some time to write how much I loved him in my diary for the sixteen millionth time.

Mikan and Ruka, that went like Bonnie & Clyde. Like Louis & Clark. We were M& M, really. The door bell chimed. My heart banged against my throat as I tossed my diary to the side, struggling to disentangle the quilt from around my legs. I finally flopped off the bed together with the comforter. "I'm coming!" On the way down the winding stairs, I raked my fingers through my long, blond hair to give it the last bit of oomph before I rushed to open the door.

A sunbeam hit me first, then Ruka's long missed prettiness followed. His tousled blond hair fell over his forehead, almost touching his pretty blue eyes. He wore the white shirt half open, and I always had to fight really hard not to drool over his naked skin. Hands shoved into the pockets of his shorts, he just stood there and looked at me.

Then his mouth curled into his typical sly grin. "What is it, Miki? I know you're dying to hug me." Gee! I flashed my teeth, which now were perfectly straight after wearing braces for two years, into a broad smile and gave him the bear hug he expected. He dragged me outside and twirled me under the warm sun with my face buried in the crook of his neck. Ah, he smelled so good, sun-kissed and all Ruka. I never got enough of that special brand. "How was camp?" I asked after he set me down. He mocked me by wrinkling his nose.

"Boring as hell without you, what else?" "Yeah, right. As if." To fully understand him, one had to know that, apart from cheese crackers with mayo, soccer was Ruka's greatest passion in the world.

But I appreciated his lie and stuck my tongue out at him. Ruka tsked at that. "Manners, girl. If you want to kiss me, just say so." His face was close enough that his nose brushed mine. I swallowed the urge to tilt my head and do just that. But I knew he was teasing me again.

So far, we'd never kissed.

In regular intervals, I fell asleep in his bedroom when we played video games, or he would crash at mine when his parents were out on business trips around the state. He let me rest my head on his shoulder, even played absently with my hair. But a kiss? Nah.

I was going to be seventeen at the end of this summer and started feeling a little weird because I hadn't been kissed yet. But no one other than Ruka would touch my lips, and if he needed a few more months to realize he wanted me, too, I could wait.

"Hey, want to go down to the beach? I got this pretty new swimsuit and haven't tried it out yet." In anticipation of our reunion, I had put on the neon green bikini in the morning, and now pulled down the collar of my pink tee to tease him with a glimpse. Green was his favorite color. He snarled like a jaguar, with one corner of his mouth lifted. "I'd love to see you half naked, Sakura." Just another tease, but it didn't matter.

Goose bumps shot up on my skin. "Unfortunately, I have to pass. I'm going to see some friends from the team down at Koko's." My shoulders slumped. "Seriously? You just got back, what, ten minutes ago? Didn't you see the guys enough at camp?" "Hyuuga wants to discuss tomorrow's rules." I pouted.

Ever since Natsume Hyuuga had become the new captain of Alice high school soccer team, Ruka's training time had doubled. And more training meant less time for him to hang out with me. I hated Hyuuga.

"Cheer up, girl. Why don't you come along? You know most of the guys anyway, and I'll introduce you to the rest. I'm sure Hyuuga won't mind." He gave me no chance to argue, or even trade my flip-flops for decent shoes. My hand in a tight grip, he hauled me down the path through our front yard.

"Wait! I have no money on me." "Don't need it. That single soda you'll sip on for the next two hours won't ruin me." I pulled my hair back and fastened it with a band I had in my pocket as we ambled along Alice Avenue to Anna's café and diner.

A bunch of kids sat around three tables in the shade of the wooden roof sloping over half of the outdoor area. I recognized a few of them from Ruka's team. Koko,Kitsuneme ,Youchi. Yuu' arm was laid in a cast.

The training camp obviously didn't pass without leaving battle scars. I was surprised with the many female faces there, though. "What's this?" I whispered to Ruka when we still were out of earshot. "Are you into coed training now?" "Cool, isn't it? We played a few games together in America, and Hyuuga thought it would be fun to assemble a mixed team here, too."

Some of the girls looked familiar, and I even had Science with Nonoko. But a handful of them I swore I had never seen before. Like the one who stood as we approached and kissed Ruka on the cheek with her awfully bright red painted lips.

"You're late, Ruka. I almost thought you wouldn't come." "Hi, Luna," he replied in a strange, deep voice I'd never heard before. His hands rested on her hips. He dipped his head and let her kiss his other cheek. She winked at him then gave me the strangest once over I ever got. The spite in her eyes made me feel as if I fell short in the looks and fashion department in her book.

My glance skated to Ruka's face. What the hell was that? And seriously, he didn't have to drool over her shamelessly long legs when she sat down again and swung one over the other. Her white mini dress must have shrunk in the wash, because something red flashed underneath.

Ruka shouted our order to Koko behind the bar. A Coke and Red Bull. The Red Bull certainly wasn't for me. But when did he start drinking that nasty stuff? Red-lips-and-white-dress had a bottle of that in front of her, too. I started feeling really awkward all of a sudden.

"Mixed soccer teams, huh?" I grumbled at Ruka while we sat down— he opposite Luna, and I between him and Yu with the cast. "The tryouts are tomorrow, Sakura. I can put you on the list, if you're interested," Natsume Hyuuga called out to me, a mocking glint in his deep red eyes.

The fact he even knew my name caught me off guard. "Miki and soccer?" Ruka laughed next to me. It hurt in a weird way. "You might as well try to get an elephant to dance the tango. Right, Miki?"

I directed an irritated scowl at my supposed best friend. He didn't even notice when the entire bunch joined in the laugh. "The elephant hits home," Barbie said to the redhead next to her then flashed me a cruel smile.

Sorry, what? I was a perfect size XS. My five feet four might seem a little short to her Amazonian six foot something, but I was in no way fat. I picked up my dropped stomach from the ground, deciding to punish Ruka later for pretending not to have heard that.

In all the time we had been friends, not once did he let anyone insult me without breaking their jaw. Okay, messing with Luna's face would be a little drastic, but he could at least have said something to defend me. Since he seemed to have forgotten how, I returned the saccharin sweet smile to the Barbie Clone.