*Sigh*

Kanazawa-sensei leaned back on the bench, let his head roll back, spread his arms out on the top of the bench, and stared at the clouds.

'When's that cold student of mine going to get here?' he wondered, 'I need him to hurry up!'

Just then someone is heard walking onto the cement beside Kanazawa.

"You needed something, Sensei?"

Kanazawa's head snapped up, as he looked at Len Tsukimori in shock. (Let's just say that Kanazawa isn't the most perceptive of teachers..)

"Sensei?" asked Len, starting to get annoyed and impatient.

Kanazawa nodded, "Hai, hai Tsukimori-san."

Kanazawa fished around in his pockets for a bit, then pulled out two crumpled pieces of paper.

"Here, this has the address, and this is the receipt for an order I placed a while back. Please pick it up... I would do it myself, but these cats need to be fed, and if the order isn't picked up today, they'll just throw it away...

Len sighed...

"Why didn't you pick it up before today?" he asked, clearly annoyed with his scatter-brained teacher, clenching the handle of his violin case ever so slightly.

Kanazawa laughed sheepishly as he ran a hand through his lavender locks...

"Gomen, Tsukimori-san... It skipped my mind..."

Len tried hard not to scoff at his teacher's stupidity and said, "Fine. I'll go. School just ended anyway. But I'm skipping practice for this. Keep the practice rooms open for me an extra two hours on Monday."

Kanazawa nodded, "Hai, hai, just go already. I need that order."

Len nodded sharply and turned on his heel, walked out of the school garden, and went on his way.

Kanazawa sighed as he watched Len disappear, and murmured, "That boy REALLY needs to find someone to make him less stiff. Right now, his emotions are about as pliable as granite."

Little did Kanazawa know that he had an audience. Floating around four feet above his head, Lili nodded his his tiny head in agreement.

Meanwhile Len was just boarding a train, heading straight downtown where the shop was...

'I know this address,' Len thought, 'It's a printing place... I wonder what Sensei ordered that was so important...'

The train slowed to a stop, and Len stepped off, looking for the store, holding his violin case on one hand, and the receipt in the other...

Len hadn't gone ten steps from the train when someone bumped into him.

On the ground, was a half awake Keiichi Shimizu, with a Barnes & Noble bag in one hand, and a score of sheet music in the other...

Keiichi looked up tiredly, and recognized Len.

"Gomen, Tsukimori-sempai," he drawled sleepily.

Len nodded stiffly.

Keiichi stood up, dusted himself off, and walked away.

Len looked after Keiichi and thought, 'What an odd person.'

He then continued on his way to the printing place himself.

Keiichi was around five paces ahead of Len when he stopped, turned to face Len, and said, "Tsukimori-sempai, why are you following me?"

Len looked blankly at Keiichi.

"I did not intend to follow you, nor am I following you. We just happen to be walking in the same direction," Len said coldly.

Keiichi nodded slowly.

"So Sensei tricked you into coming here and running his errand?" inquired the sleepy-eyed first year.

Len scowled.

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Len said coldly, unwilling to talk any further about his situation.

Keiichi smiled tiredly.

"I see," he drawled, "Sensei tried to get me to run his errand as well, but I pretended to fall asleep, so he gave up..."

Len looked at Keiichi in shock.

'Who knew Shimizu-kun could be so sly,' he thought in surprise.

Keiichi slowly turned around and started walking again..

After he noticed that he couldn't hear Len's footsteps following him, Keiichi turned around and inquired, "Tsukimori-sempai, are you coming?"

Len nodded stiffly and swiftly caught up with his kouhai.

~A few blocks away~

"NOOOOOOO!"

Kaho panted heavily as she sprinted to the printing store...

'I can't believe I forgot to pick up the stuff I asked them to copy!' she thought hurriedly, maneuvering through the thick crowds, 'I have to hurry before the time limit is up and they throw my stuff away!'

~Back to Len and Keiichi~

Len pushed the door open, and walked in after holding it open for Keiichi.

Len walked up to the counter, and slid the receipt to the employee.

He had the most extraordinary blue, but somewhat sad, eyes, and black hair, and his nametag read "Niriya".

Niriya looked at Len and muttered, "Picking up an order? I'll get it right away."

Len watched as Niriya took the receipt and disappeared into the back room.

Five seconds later, a clumsy redhead ran through the doors of the printing store, panting.

"Made it!" she exclaimed, holding the receipt up in victory, "I finally made it!"

Just at that moment, Niriya came out of the back room holding Len's order.

"Here you go," Niriya murmured, "Your order of seventy-five copies of Seiso Academy's Spring Concert Posters."

Len stared at the stack of papers in front of him, sighed, and was about to say something, when a squeal was heard in the back of the shop.

Niriya's head whipped up, just as Kahoko squealed, "Niriya-kun!"

A smile spread immediately over Niriya's sad features when he saw Kaho.

"Kahoko-chan!" he exclaimed, jumping over the checking counter to greet her.

Niriya embraced her, grasping her in a big bear hug.

Kaho looked up in shock after she wrapped her arms around him.

"Niriya-kun, you got taller!" she exclaimed, a grin stretching from ear to ear.

Niriya nodded, "I did indeed! And now you don't even come up to my chin! Honestly, Kaho, you are a great head rest..."

Kaho gaped at Niriya.

"Hidoi! How horrible!" Kaho exclaimed, grinning, "Don't make fun of me being vertically challenged! You know I can't help it!"

" 'Vertically challenged'? That's a new one," Niriya chuckled.

Kaho beamed at Niriya.

Niriya looked up, chuckled, poked Kaho's cheek, and said, "Ne, Kahoko-chan, do you know that guy? He's been glaring at us for a while..."

"Eeeeeeh? Nani?" Kaho inquired, a bit of a lost look on her face, then turned around, and looked at the guy in question.

"Tsukimori-kun? When'd you get here?" Kaho asked, completely oblivious to the death glare Len was giving Niriya.

Len looked coldly at Kaho.

"I don't see how that's any of your business, Hino-san," Len brushed her off completely.

He nodded to Niriya, "Thank-you for the posters."

Len then turned on his heel, and walked out the door, only pausing to nod a quick thanks to Keiichi, who opened the door for him.

"Ja-ne, Kaho-sempai," Keiichi drawled sleepily, as he walked out the door.

"Eh?" Kaho looked back and forth from Len's and Keiichi's backs to Niriya's amused countenance.

'What just happened,' Kaho thought.

"OH!" she exclaimed, pulling out the receipt from her jacket pocket.

She was wearing a white jacket with magenta sleeves and hemming, bellbottoms, a pair of sandal wedges, and a simple black headband.

"Niriya-kun, I'm here to pick up copies of sheet music from a couple books, and a couple copies quotes from another book... Are they still in stock? Or have they been-" Kaho was interrupted by Niriya placing his index finger on her lips, silencing her.

"Shush already," he chuckled, "I'll go get them right now. Don't go anywhere, 'kay?"

Kaho nodded, a blush tinting her pale cheeks.

A few moments later, Niriya came out of the back room, holding a small stack of papers.

"Here ya go, Kahoko-chan," Niriya handed the papers to Kaho with a grin.

"Arigato, Niriya-kun!" Kaho blushed at Niriya, just about to say something more, when a cough was heard from right behind her.

A rather old and gruff looking man was standing right behind her, hunched over from the wear and tear of time, but still as proud looking as possible, wearing slacks, and a dress shirt rolled up to the middle of his forearms.

"There are other customers here, you know," he said gruffly.

"Eeeeeh? Gomenasai! I'll be going now!" Kaho exclaimed, looking at the old man in shock.

Kaho grinned and turned to Niriya, "See you soon!"

She walked out the door, flushed and rather embarrassed to have been spoken to in that manner by another person.

'I wonder if he's still upset about that... Come to think of it, I don't remember hearing him enter the store,' Kaho brooded.

Kaho was so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed that she had entered the local park, and was, at that time, already in the middle of the park, on one side of her, a baseball diamond, and on the other side, a thicket of trees.

She sighed, and looked around, and began hearing strains of music being played on a violin.

Emotionless, cold, precise music, but music nonetheless.

'I recognize this music,' Kaho thought, 'It's something by Paganini. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's by him. Dooshite? Why? Why do I know this? Am I this much of a music lover? Oh well."

Kaho headed in the direction of the music, carefully ducking underneath branches and stepping over roots and rocks.

She stopped for a few moments, and listened, watching a bird that had perched on a nearby branch that was also clearly listening to the music being played.

The piece ended with a bang, as can be expected with music by Paganini, but a new, softer gentler piece was played.

~Five minutes ago~

Len set his stuff down on a bench, surrounded by trees. The bench hadn't even been surrounded by concrete, it was just sitting on dirt on the edge of a small circular clearing, about eight to nine feet in diameter.

Len stuck his sheet music onto a tree, using a tiny bit of sap, just high enough for it to be a good "music stand".

'Paganini's Violin Caprice No. 24 in A Minor,' Len thought, 'Not one of Paganini's most emotionless pieces, but it'll have to do. It's the only piece I have by him, and I haven't played it in a while.'

Len took his bow out of the violin case checked the rosin on it to make sure it was sufficient, then pulled out his violin. He carefully pushed the shoulder rest into position at the base of his violin, placed it at his chin, checked the tuning, then set his mind to playing the music.

As soon as the piece ended, he sighed, placed his violin gently into it's case again, but didn't strap it in just yet, for he intended to play another piece.

He pulled his sheet music off the tree, carefully wiped the dot of sap off of the center of the top of his music sheets.

'It's odd that a tree with a trunk that's thick enough that all my sheet music will fit on it is growing in this park,' Len quickly brushed this thought off, placing the sheet music back in it's folder, and pulled out another set of sheet music.

Again, he put the sheets on the tree, pulled his violin back out of it's case, placed it as his chin, and drew his bow gracefully across it's strings.

Kahe turned her face up to the sky and gazed at the clouds, all the while listening to the piece.

'It's so sad... So... Melancholy,' she kept moving forward, longing to meet the creator of such beautiful music.

'Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, Part 2,' Len thought, his hands moving skillfully, 'I feel like a dam is about to burst. All these emotions have welled up inside me.. What's wrong with me?'

Len shook his head inwardly.

'No one's listening to me right now anyway. Why not let this river of emotions flow freely?'

Len succumbed to his emotions, letting them wash away his icy exterior.

He became completely vulnerable to the world as his fingers flew across his fingerboard.

Kaho quietly stepped into the clearing.

'Tsukimori-kun?' Kaho stepped back in shock, 'He's... Crying?'

It was true. Len did indeed have teary trails running down his cheeks.

Kaho walked quietly until she was right behind him, around a foot away from the back of the bench.

She clasped the papers she was holding with both hands in front of her, and closed her eyes, letting Len's music flow over her, a blanket shielding her from the reset of the world.

'It's so sad,' Kaho thought vaguely; these thoughts came to her unknowingly, 'It sounds like his heart is crying, like it's hurting, and no one can help him.'

The piece came to an abrupt end as Len realized someone was listening to him.

He turned around swiftly, a look of panic in his eyes as he saw Kaho behind him.

'She's crying,' he thought, 'My music made her cry. My music made the one person I love as much as my parents cry. '

Len shook his head.

'I don't love her. I don't love her. I don't love her. I don't love her. Yeah. Maybe if I keep telling myself that, it's come true.'

With that thought, he turned back around, and quickly and carefully placed his violin back in it's case, shortly thereafter followed his bow.

He closed his case, and hurried back to his home, thinking all the while, 'I hurt her. I hurt her. And I think I love her.'

(Fast forward a bit)

Len had just gotten out of the shower, was wearing indigo pajama pants, and no shirt. (Insert wolf whistle here)

He crawled into bed, and let sleep overtake him as the day's events replayed in his mind.

Len bolted awake.

'Baka!' he thought, 'How could I have forgotten my sheet music on that stupid tree! Baka!'

Len hurriedly shrugged a black v-neck on, pulled on a pair of jeans, a pair of socks, and slipped his feet into his sneakers.

He sprinted out the door, and onto the pavement, and out the gate that marked the entrance of his house.

After around fifteen minutes of sprinting, he had arrived at the park.

After catching his breath, he made his way over to the thicket of trees that contained the bench beside the tree that, hopefully, still had his sheet music on it.

Len walked quickly to the clearing, and stopped short when he saw what awaited him there.

"H-Hino-san?"

Len's voice faltered, not believing what he saw.

Kaho was sitting at the base of the tree, his sheet music in her hands, fast asleep.

Len took a step forward, then another, then another, and continued to do so until he had reached Kaho.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, and was about to gently shake it to wake her up, when she began mumbling in her sleep.

"Tsukimori-kuuun," she mumbled, "Kaho daiski Tsukimori-kun."

At hearing that, Len could feel blood rushing to his cheeks.

He finally decided to gently wake her up, and his heart was sent aflutter when Kaho's amber eyes opened sleepily and gazed into his own.

Thankfully, it was dark enough so that Len wasn't afraid of letting Kaho see his blush.

Upon seeing Len clearly, Kaho's eyes whipped open, and she stood up quickly with a, "Tsukimori-kun!"

Unfortunately for Kaho, she stood up TOO quickly, and she began to fall, feeling lightheaded and weak..

Thankfully, Len caught her, but this put them both in what they would call an awkward situation. (We as the audience simply love it though.)

Kaho was wrapped in Len's arms, their faces inches away from each other, their bodies pressed tightly together..

Kaho looked away bashfully and began to stand up on her own.

"A-arigato Tsukimori-kun," Kaho blushed, "Here. You left your sheet music here..."

Len nodded, "Arigato, Hino-san."

He bowed his head slightly, turned to leave, when Kaho suddenly grabbed his from behind and wrapped her arms around hims.

Len heard her say something, but it was muffled by his shirt.

"Nande?" he said inquiringly, turning around.

Kaho hugged him full on and said, "Don't leave yet Tsukimori-kun.. I... I have something I want to say."

Len looked at Kaho inquiringly.

Kaho stared at the ground, shuffled her feet and mumbled something.

"Nani?" Asked Len, "I didn't quite get that."

Kaho continued to stare at the ground and shuffled her feet.

"Nandemonai, Tsukimori-kun," she suddenly exclaimed, "See you on Monday."

Kaho turned to leave, when Len caught her arm.

"Kahoko-san," Len said gently, "Tell me. Onegai?"

Kaho fell into Len's arms and said, "Tsukimori-kun?"

"Ah?" Len replied, looking into Kaho's eyes intently, hugging her close.

Kaho blushed and looked away again.

This time, Len grasped her chin, and forced her to look at him.

"Onegai, Kaho-san, tell me?" Len asked softly.

Kaho blushed at Len's blatant use of her name.

"Kaho daiski Tsukimori-kun," she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear.

"I don't care if you don't feel the same way about me," she began, "But I've liked you since I heard you play Ave Maria for the first time, in the practice room. I fell in love with you when I heard you play your soft music, when it pierced my heart with it's soft tunes."

"Kaho-san," Len said, shocked by her outburst.

Kaho turned her head away, and began to push him away, when Len suddenly pulled her close, and kissed her forehead.

"I... I love you too, Kahoko," Len murmured.

Kaho relaxed against Len, and rested her cheek on his chest.

Slowly, and still unsure of himself, Len took his hand, placed it under Kaho's chin, and pulled her face up towards his.

He lowered his face as he pulled Kaho's up.

Soon, their faces were only centimeters away from each other.

Kaho's hand was still on Len's chest, and Len was sure she could feel it beating.

'My heart feels as it it'll beat right out of my chest any moment now. Of course she can feel it!' he thought angrily at himself.

Suddenly, Kaho's hand moved from Len's chest to the back of his neck.

She pulled him down, and their lips became closer by the second.

Closer and closer and closer until...

Len woke up.