Realistic Goals

Step one. In order to achieve any sort of large goal you must first set smaller goals that build up to it. This will stop you from feeling drowned by the big picture, and give you some sort of measurable progress. In this instance it is necessary to remain very studious, and look for any opportunities that can help one succeed because they can appear at any time, anywhere.

By setting realistic small goals, and accomplishing them it is possible to build up to a larger goal one could never have accomplished straight out. Baby steps seems an appropriate way of putting it. Whether the larger goal is unattainable because of sheer difficulty or maybe even fear. It is possible to climb the largest mountains by traveling a little further with each attempt.

Kagami Hiiragi walked into her sister's classroom as she usually did. As usual the blue haired object of her affection was grinning lazily as the sun beamed through the window, making her look like a particularly relaxed cat lounging in the warm sunlight. The lavender haired girl believed this comparison even more as she saw Konata raise a hand lazily to scratch the side of her head.

Konata noticed Kagami as she leaned in towards her left hand doing the scratching, and smiled broadly, calling out, "Hey Kagamin! What took you so long? I was starting to get worried you were eating somewhere else today."

A small blush appeared on the Tsundere's face as she gulped and twiddled her fingers, muttering something. After a moment she gained her composure though, and said loudly, "I."

Kagami's eyes widened as she said it, that was much louder than she had intended, but her little Kona always made her so nervous since she had realized her crush. Kagami had tried so many times to tell Konata how she felt, but her stomach would always knot up, and her palms started sweating, and she just couldn't get it out.

If Kona had understood Kagami knew she would have cracked a joke about the bigger girl's Tsundere nature, but Kagami Hiiragi was not one who gave up easily. She continued, "I took a little while because I had some student council planning to take care of, sorry about that?"

With that Kagami crossed between the desks, and sat down next to Konata, facing her sister, who said, "That's alright Onee-chan. We know you're really busy, so don't worry so much about it."

Kagami smiled at her pleasant younger sister, relieved quite a bit, but still nervous from her proximity to the little Otaku. Kagami decided to jump right in to whatever was going on by saying, "So, what were you all talking about?"

Konata's eyes widened slightly as she remembered she had been having a conversation before Kagami arrived, and said excitedly, "Oh yeah! I was just talking about getting these two to watch Death note! I bet their reactions would be great, you know Tsukasa can't handle that kind of intensity, and I'm wondering if Yuki-chan could figure out how the plot moves along as she watched it since she's so smart, I bet she could predict the ending at like the fourth episode."

The Tsundere smiled slightly, picturing her little sister hiding behind Miyuki during all of the death scenes, and yet, she was firmly against the idea when she considered how sad it would be when her favorite character died. She didn't want to see Tsukasa crying over an anime, but still Kagami got wrapped up in the Otaku's lazy gaze as she waited for a response.

The older twin said, "Well...I always liked...ummm..."

Kagami trailed off as Konata's face moved closer, only a couple inches away from the younger girl's face. It would be so easy for Kagami to quickly kiss the smaller girl, and yet, her stomach felt like a thousand butterflies were swarming inside of it, she put on her best angry face, and said, "Hey! Don't get so close all of a sudden!"

As the older twin spoke, she pushed Konata back keeping her at arms length, as the Otaku chuckled, and said, "Kagamin's so cute when she's flustered. Anyways, back on topic, who was it that you liked?"

Kagami barely stopped herself from saying Konata's name after that line. So much so that she actually opened her mouth to respond, and when she spoke, she accidentally shouted again, "L," Kagami corrected her volume after this, continuing, "I always liked L."

Konata nodded, and said, "Yeah, he was really cool. I always liked his diet though, it really reminded me of your diet Kagamin."

Such an innocent sounding sentence, and yet the evil smirk on Kona's face drove the Tsundere crazy. How could THIS girl be the one she was falling for? That teasing about her weight aggravated Kagami to no end, and yet even as she said, "Watch it," in a threatening manner she noticed how Kona's eyes sparkled as Kagami received the jab.

With a brief pause in conversation Kagami took a chance to eat some of her food as she took peeks at the blue haired girl next to her chowing down on her usual chocolate coronet. It didn't take very long for Kagami to begin feeling the heat of the room. The school's air conditioner was broken for what seemed the millionth time, and they were sitting directly in the sunlight because of the big windows that provided light for the entire classroom.

The silence was broken by Miyuki saying, "Izumi-san, have you decided on a time for us to arrive at your house tomorrow? I'm really looking forward to your birthday party."

Kona yawned a big yawn, and lay her head down on her desk, replying, "Anytime really is fine, I'll probably wake up around twelve, but if you show up earlier just come up, and haul me out of bed, I'll whine, but it'll be okay."

The pink haired girl made a mental note not to show up before twelve, Tsukasa was thinking along similar lines, but Kagami found herself lightly twirling some of Konata's hair in-between her fingers. Kona didn't react at all, but Kagami blushed as she realized she had unconsciously started toying with the blue hair next to her.

Kagami went to pull her hand away, but stopped as Konata said quietly, "Don't stop Kagamin, that really feels nice since it's so hot."

The cute distressed face Konata made, she looked so helpless, Kagami wanted to do anything to bring back that lazy smile of hers. Now Kagami remembered why she had fallen for this girl. Who couldn't, she was so cute Kagami wanted to just squeeze her tightly, and never let go.

The Tsundere smiled brightly as she stroked Kona's hair. She said, "Dummy..."

There was pause as Kagami watched Konata's head resting on the desk, the smaller girl's eyes were closed. Tsukasa smiled at her sister, and so did Miyuki, Kagami knew she wasn't fooling anyone by trying to hide her feelings for Konata. Once she could feel some of her usual self returning as she slowly relaxed, Kagami said, "I for one will have no trouble hauling you out of bed, you little..."

Konata sat up, and looked Kagami in the eyes, the sudden sight of her own eyes reflecting off of Kona's emeralds made her squeak out the word that had been following, "O," after a second Kagami stuttered quickly. "T-t-t-taku."

Her face turned red as Konata grinned at her. Even Konata had to have noticed something odd about Kagami's behavior after that, but the smaller girl just grinned, and said, "I already said its fine, so more power to ya."

The Tsundere couldn't manage a response, she felt like she was going to die of the awkwardness between them until the lunch bell rang. Quickly the pink faced girl gathered her lunch items, and left without saying a word of goodbye to anyone.

After Kagami was gone, Konata turned to Tsukasa, and said, "What's gotten into her?"

The rest of the day was spent by the Tsundere trying to keep her mind on her schoolwork even while constantly reminding herself that she would carry through with her confession plan, even though she felt like she was going to die of embarrassment every time she came face to face with her blue haired friend now.

Kagami was afraid of many things, rejection being one of them, but keeping these feelings inside was too much, she had to to say something to Kona, even if she couldn't do it directly. Still despite being moderately distressed at her predicament, the Tsundere smiled. She was almost halfway through her plan, even though it hadn't gone quite the way she had thought it would. The rest of it would probably happen at Konata's birthday.

The elder twin trembled slightly as she thought about herself actually going through with telling Konata how she felt. She really doubted their friendship would be broken over this. Konata would definitely accept Kagami, even if she didn't return her feelings, of that the Tsundere was sure.

Thinking thoughts along those lines Kagami began thinking about how she could enact the next step of her plan, making it seem natural. She was walking along slowly, deep in thought, the elder twin walked right past her twin, and Konata, who watched her confusedly as Kagami didn't even give them a glance.

Konata walked up beside Kagami on her right, while Tsukasa walked on her left, they walked about ten feet before Kona said, "Uhhh...Kagamin?"

Kagami said out loud, in a questioning manner, "V?"

Kagami's face turned pale after she realized she had spoken aloud. Konata tilted her head to the side, and responded, "V?"

"Like the English letter?" chimed in Tsukasa, hoping she could help Kagami out of her daze.

The Tsundere just barely managed to stop her blushing, so that the other two wouldn't be suspicious. She quickly responded, "Like Veemon, you know? The anime character?"

Kona then responded loudly making a victory sign with the fingers on her right hand, "HA! I've finally gotten in your head Kagamin! Now you're thinking about anime too! Soon enough you'll be a fellow Otaku, mark my words!"

Kagami once again felt her annoyance spike as she said more angrily than she really meant to, "Don't count on it!"

Kagami immediately worried, she hadn't meant that to be so snappy, but with her feelings all jumbled up she was very irritable. She had even snapped at Tsukasa a few times, knowing the younger girl had nothing to do with her anger at herself for not just confessing straight out. Kagami wasn't the type of person who could just talk about feelings without restraint though.

The three of them boarded their train, and sat down since there were still some seats available, it was very hot inside the cars also, and Konata found herself moaning, and whining about the heat. Even while whining to herself, she was wondering what was up with Kagami. She had seemed sulky for a couple weeks, and it was starting to worry Kona.

The blue haired girl really hoped that her best friend would get back to her usual self. Sure the spacey Kagami was pretty moe, but she had Tsukasa for that type of cute, Konata counted on Kagami for verbal jousting, their banter was something the smaller girl always looked forward to. She saw each conversation with Kagami a personal challenge, like a great game that was different every time it was played.

If Kagami was upset about something though, that took precedence over Konata's enjoyment. The little Otaku leaned over against Kagami's shoulder, and decided to be direct about the whole thing, saying, "Hey Kagami. What's up with you lately?"

Kagami responded tiredly, drained from the heat too much to say anything to Konata about leaning on her, "What are you talking about Konata?"

Of course Kagami would make this difficult, as much as Konata loved the Tsundere's nature, sometimes she was too hard headed for her own good. Konata sighed, and said, "You've been all distracted lately. Is there something bothering you?"

Kagami cringed inwardly, Konata was catching on. Of course she would be, Konata knew her as well as Tsukasa did, and Tsukasa had vocally expressed her concern a few times at Kagami's recent behavior. The Tsundere wanted to come clean, she wanted to say that Kona's cute facial expressions drove her mad, and she wanted to kiss and hug the smaller girl, but all she could say was, "I don't know, maybe I've been studying too much."

Konata frowned, something was definitely wrong with Kagami if she admitted to studying too much. Konata was also sure she was missing something important. She decided to analyze the Tsundere's behavior very closely, and maybe solve the mystery behind what was bothering her based on her future actions. Kona didn't get to consider herself as a detective for long though because the train stopped at the Hiiragi's stop, and the two twins bid Konata farewell before leaving.

Tsukasa, and Kagami walked side by side in silence, they walked nearly half the trip to their house before Tsukasa said, "Onee-chan. I know you like Kona-chan. Why don't you just tell her? You know she's starting to get worried about the way you're acting, I'm starting to get worried too."

The elder twin stopped walking, she envied how Tsukasa could be so direct with how she felt, she didn't think she'd ever have that kind of strength. Kagami felt a little lump in her throat, imagining how easy it should be to just walk up to her crush, and admit her feelings. Kagami wouldn't shed tears in front of her younger sister though, she would stay strong enough to avoid that.

Kagami's willpower didn't stop her voice from quivering when she responded, "I'm trying Tsukasa. I really am. It's really hard though, every time I start to tell her I get so nervous that I speak one syllable of a confession, and my mouth just clamps shut."

Tsukasa hugged her older sister, and said, "I know you can do it. Me and Yuki-chan are rooting for you."

Kagami replied, "Yeah, I figured she had noticed too."

Tsukasa released her big sister, and said, "How about we go home, and I'll make all your favorite foods as encouragement?"

Kagami just nodded in response, Tsukasa's cooking sounded great right about then, she really wanted to stuff herself so full she didn't have room for any troublesome feelings developing. Her test average had even dropped by five points since her daydreaming about the Otaku had begun, she needed to work through this soon or her whole future could possibly be jeopardized.

More than that though, Kagami had a feeling that if she didn't confess, it wouldn't be long before someone else noticed how amazing the little Otaku was. The thought of someone stealing her Kona away terrified Kagami. There was no way she was going to let that happen before she tried to win Konata herself.

Kagami decided, she promised herself, pumping herself up with determination, she wouldn't chicken out of the rest of her confession, she would try to stick to her plan which was already set in motion by their earlier conversations. She would definitely get her feelings out in the open on Konata's birthday.

The little Otaku, however, wasn't feeling so sure of herself at that moment. She had thought about the way Kagami was behaving deeper and deeper on her trip home. She had almost missed her train stop, she had even convinced herself that thinking about this issue was what stopped her from focusing on her homework.

Konata was now thoroughly pissed off, the more she thought about how Kagami was upset the more pissed she got. Why couldn't she figure it out? Konata, the master of games, couldn't figure out a little puzzle involving her friend's feelings? She had replayed their conversations over the past weeks in her head, and found nothing to work with.

Kona was angry at herself for not being able to help Kagami the one time she needed it when Kagami helped her out almost every day, it didn't seem fair to Konata that their relationship was so unbalanced. She had never given any thought to it before, but she really took advantage of Kagami's caring and protective nature.

Konata lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling as if it might contain some clue to her answers, but if it did, it yielded as much as Kagami would in direct conversation. Then a light went off in the little Otaku's head. She had to find some way to ask indirectly about what was bothering Kagami, and even if she couldn't manage that, she needed some interaction with the younger girl, maybe now that she was aware of the existing problem, she could define it by watching Kagami's behavior live.

Konata decided to give the Tsundere a call, so she headed downstairs to get the house phone before trekking back up to her room. Kona quickly dialed the number of Kagami's cellphone, for it to be answered on the second ring. Kagami sounded happy, which comforted Konata as the younger girl answered saying, "Hey Konata. What's going on?"

"Crap," thought Kona. Already she was messing up, she didn't have a reason to give Kagami for calling at all, so she answered reflexively, "I was wondering if you could maybe help me with the math homework?"

Kagami sighed, and said, "You mean you want me to give you the answers?"

The blue haired girl said calmly back, "If it isn't too much trouble."

Kagami was won over by the unexpected politeness of the last line, but she decided Konata needed a little lesson anyways since she was never going to succeed if she constantly just pulled all-nighters. Kagami responded, "Alright, but I want you to work through a few of the problems, just to make sure you understand the material."

The Tsundere giggled at the groan emitting from her receiver. She loved how determined the blue haired girl seemed to be in dodging any sort of study, but if Kagami was going to be pursuing a romance with the smaller girl, she wasn't going to have her potential unrealized.

Konata agreed to Kagami's condition, and despite the working through a few problems for herself they managed to chat about random topics. It seemed a lot of Kagami's nervousness disappeared when she wasn't talking to Kona face to face.

On one particularly hard problem though, Konata got stuck. She was working aloud, saying, "E divided by Y over X, it sounds easy, and I know the formula, but I keep forgetting the rules for dividing fractions."

Kagami said into the receiver, "Just think of it as two separate division problems then. The bar of a fraction is the same thing as making a division between the top and bottom number anyways. First divide the value of Y by the value of X, and then put that resulting number into the formula. That way when you get over to...," Kagami trailed off, and Konata could hear some pages rustling letting her know Kagami was trying to find that particular problem on her own homework sheets, when suddenly Kagami squeaked out, "E."

The Tsundere hung up with that, leaving Konata confused, and left to finish her homework alone as she pondered on what clues might have been revealed during their conversation. Konata compared their conversation with the others they had had over the past weeks.

Still drawing a blank. Konata threw her papers to the side in a frustrated manner watching them slowly flutter to the floor as she thought, "Kagami shouldn't have to be upset like this. She's way too nice most of the time. She always wants to make all of her friends happy even when it doesn't make her happy. Not to mention..."

Those thoughts continued on and on about why Kagami should always be happy, until Konata realized she had actually shed a couple tears thinking about how much Kagami not opening up to her was hurting the smaller girl. Konata groaned loudly before giving up for the night, even with her birthday coming the next day she couldn't bring herself to get too much excitement since she was sure Kagami would still be droopy and bothered the next day.

Kona finally managed to fall asleep, face down on her bed on top of the blankets. Soon enough though her sleeping body found the comfort of her pillow, and Konata at least rested easily in her dreams.

The doorbell rang at precisely twelve o'clock the next day at the Izumi residence. Konata was already awake, and looking forward to seeing her friends despite the angst she had felt the night before. No longer confined by her summer uniform, Konata walked around wearing a green robe similar to her dad's, since she didn't plan on leaving that would be just fine.

Konata was surprised when she opened the door, and saw only Kagami there, smiling happily. Kagami quickly said, "Y," after a short pause Kagami continued, "Was equal to 32.1, I didn't get a chance to tell you that last night before my phone battery died. I think you can work it out from there today since I'm sure you didn't finish it. Sorry, that was rude, I guess I should Happy Birthday first Konata.

Konata smiled back at the Tsundere. She was really glad to see Kagami looking so happy. This was the Tsundere she loved to see. Kagami said quickly, "Miyuki, and Tsukasa wanted to buy one more gift for you so we all pitched in some money, and they're out getting it now. I would've went with them, but I didn't want you to think we wouldn't show up or anything."

Konata kept smiling as Kagami kept chatting away, the elder twin kept talking nonstop for nearly three minutes before she took a breath that was noticeable, and Konata took her chance to say, "Wouldn't you rather talk inside Kagamin? It's burning up out there."

Kagami's eyes widened, as she realized she was still standing in the doorway, and she blushed as she walked inside, and removed her shoes. Kona could tell that even though Kagami was acting really happy, something was still bothering her. Kagami didn't just jabber away without regards for her surroundings usually.

It made Konata really happy that the younger girl was making an extra effort to appear happy on the Otaku's birthday though. He grinned, and gave Kagami a big hug, hoping maybe that would make Kagami feel better, and said, "Thanks for coming, I got all kinds of snacks here, and all my games are ready in the living room, so it'll be great once we get the party started."

Konata didn't notice until after she broke the hug how tense Kagami was. Not her usual flustered self, but her body had completely tensed up while Konata had held her. Kagami still responded, "Glad to be here. Where are your father and Yutaka? They should really be here for your birthday."

Konata said casually as she walked away from Kagami towards the snacks waiting in the living room, "Oh, they went over to Yui nee-san's house. I always find my presents before the party, so they left them over there. They should be back soon, and I think they're getting a cake while they're out since I haven't seen one around here."

Konata stopped as she noticed Kagami wasn't following her into the living room. She turned to see a shadow over Kagami's face. The Tsundere was really tense, and her face was red, Konata could see Kagami's hands shaking, as the bigger girl managed to say, "So...we're all alone?"

Kona was worried, why would Kagami seem so tense? They had been alone plenty of times before, but now Kagami looked terrified. In reality Kagami was terrified. She had planned on getting Konata alone sometime that day, but not this soon, she had expected to be able to get comfortable being close to the blue haired girl first.

This was it, it was now or never, her plan was just short two more steps, and it was time. She had managed to get out so much of her feelings, and now she was choking as heat filled her body, and her stomach knotted painfully. Kagami opened her mouth, and no sound came out. She could see Konata looking at her with scared eyes, and Kagami felt tears begin to flow. The Tsundere was so embarrassed she couldn't stand it, she suddenly felt stupid for thinking she shouldn't just hide her feelings forever.

Kagami felt Kona's arms wrap around her again, and the bigger girl leaned against her friend. Here she was at the end of her plan, an she couldn't get it out. She cried on Konata's shoulder as the smaller girl hugged her neck tightly. Kagami felt terrible, how could she have done this to her best friend on her birthday, she should have just focused on making Konata happy, and waited for a more appropriate time.

Kona said quietly, "Kagamin...tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know. Don't you know how bad it feels to see your best friend hurting, and knowing there's nothing you can do for them?"

Kagami now felt even guiltier if it were possible, now she had confirmation of making Konata feel bad. Even so, she couldn't confess directly, it was too much for her. All she could do was choke out, "O."

There had been one more goal in her grand plan of confessing to Konata, but Kagami was too humiliated to go through with it. There was no way she could finish her confession.

Konata stroked Kagami's hair softly, comforting the bigger girl. Now it all made sense to her, in a way, Konata felt this whole situation was her fault. Kagami had been trying to hint all along, but her Tsundere personality had kept her from saying it straight out, so what had Kagami done, but formulate a step by step confession that would prevent her from saying the whole thing before she was sure if Konata would accept her or not.

Kona was actually amazed Kagami had managed to be as forward as she was. Now there was only one question left in her mind. Did Konata want to give her best friend a chance at being her lover? Kona's stomach felt fluttery as she imagined the bigger girl holding her close, she wondered what it would be like to have a real person saying they loved her.

Konata placed a hand under Kagami's chin, and raised the younger girl's face away from her shoulder. One last tear leaked from Kagami's eye as she stared into Kona's eyes. Kona stood on her tiptoes, and pressed her lips against Kagami's. The little Otaku briefly wondered if she should try and use her tongue, but she settled for the warm feeling she got when Kagami began pressing back. Their lips locked against each other's multiple times as they held each other.

When they broke their lip lock, Kagami looked down into her new girlfriend's smiling face. Konata said, "This is already the best birthday ever Kagamin."

Kagami replied quietly, "Kona..."

She was cut off by Konata's finger pressing against her lips. Konata smiled sweetly at the younger girl, and said, "U."

Author's Note: Happy early birthday Konata! I decided to give you your favorite Tsundere...again. Well, I've managed another one shot. I have another large story in the works, at least in the works in my head, I haven't had enough time to type anything significant on it, but I hope at least that you've enjoyed this.

If you are confused, I was assuming in this story that Kagami was too nervous to tell Konata how she felt, so she decided on a plan to spell it out for her. Since she couldn't admit her feelings in one go, she hid a message in her speech, each one was a little goal, and after she got out the last letter it spelled out what she was trying to say.

Of course Konata got the last letter in, but if you're still missing it, just go back through the story, and look for Capitalized letters standing out that Kagami said, write them down, and it'll make sense, although I doubt this explanation is necessary, I figured it's be a good precaution to stop misunderstandings.