-- Shinobu --

How pathetic was I? Seriously. Here I was, sitting outside of Miyagi's apartment. And for what? What the hell was I doing? Did I have no life?

"What are you doing?" I heard a familiar voice say suddenly. I looked up and found Miyagi staring down at me curiously.

I felt a blush start to burn in my cheeks. Why exactly I was sitting there, I hadn't a clue. I stood up quickly, "What, I can't sit here? It's a free country, you know." I snapped.

Miyagi held up his hands defensively, "Whoa, take it easy, Tiger. I'm not mad, or anything. It was just a harmless question." He said as he moved past me gracefully and attempted to unlock the door to his apartment.

He succeeded in his task and opened the door gently. "Would you like to come in?" He offered.

I glanced down and twiddled my thumbs a bit, "Sure, I guess." I said softly as I followed him inside hesitantly.

Miyagi set his books down on the counter and flopped down on one of the bar stools. "Wanna stay for dinner?" He yelled back at me. I was still standing in the doorway stupidly. I looked at him and blinked, "Uh, sure." I replied.

I tried with all my might to unfreeze myself from where I was still standing dumbly. I finally managed to free myself and stumbled into the kitchen. Miyagi giggled. "What?" I snapped angrily. He smiled and got up, "Oh, nothing." He said as he walked over to me and took my hand in his.

He pulled me close and planted a kiss on my forehead. Surprised, and a bit flustered, I pulled back quickly, "What was that for?"

Miyagi just stood there and laughed, "No reason!"

I didn't get what was so funny, but I brushed it off and began to help Miyagi fix dinner. No more than five minutes later, we heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" I offered as I started towards the door. I leaped over our shoes, which we had taken off and left in front of the door, and opened it cautiously.

"Shinobu? What are you doing here?" I heard my sister's voice say.

Oh no.

"I should be asking you the same thing." I replied curtly.

My sister glowered at me and proceeded to push me out of the way as she marched into the place uninvited.

"Risako? What are you doing here?" Miyagi said once he noticed her standing daintily in the middle of his living room. Risako smiled slyly, "What, I can't visit you anymore?" She said playfully. Miyagi flinched, "It's not that, it's just..." His voice trailed off.

"What do you want?" I shot at her. I usually didn't snap at her like that, but she had no business sticking her nose into Miyagi's life whenever she pleased. I mean, they were divorced. Over. Done. She shouldn't even be talking to him right now. Or anytime, for that matter.

"Shinobu?" Miyagi said. I shook my head and stared at him, "Yeah?" I replied. "Do you mind if Risako stays for dinner too?" He asked.

I blinked at him. He couldn't possibly be serious, could he? Still, I nodded my head silently. Of course I wanted her to leave, but I couldn't say no to Miyagi. I sighed and went about my business, trying to ignore my sister as much as humanly possible.

After dinner, which was very uncomfortable for me because they kept talking about stuff from back when they were married, we sat casually in the living room."Wow, this sure takes me back." Risako commented while looking around the room the way a little kid does when they go to an amusement park for the first time.

Miyagi laughed, "It has been a while, hasn't it?" As they continued to exchange friendly banter, I sat in the background, awaiting patiently my chance to pounce.

I listened intently to what my sister said, "You travel much these days?" She asked him. "No, not really. My job keeps me grounded most of the time. How about you?"

"Same, except...I've had a few boyfriends who have wanted me to travel with them. I've always turned them down, of course." She paused. "You know, I've missed you."

My golden opportunity had finally shown itself.

She continued, "I realize now that you were the best thing that ever happened to me. I was stupid to have let you go...And now I want you back."

That was the final straw.

"Well, you can't have him!" I yelled out suddenly.

They both stared at me. "Shinobu?" My sister started. I flinched; maybe it would've been better to keep my big mouth shut. Their open-mouthed stares made me regret ever having said anything.

I couldn't stand to look at their faces anymore. Without another word, I bolted towards the door. "Shinobu!" I heard Miyagi yell after me as I slammed the door shut behind me.

Once I was safely in the hallway, I didn't hesitate. I darted out of the complex and headed straight for the first place that popped into my head; the park.

I made it to the park just as the nearby bell tower sounded the bell indicating the time; 10:00. The streetlights guided me to a bench in the center of the park.

I sighed and sat down gently. I couldn't go back; not tonight. I laid my head down softly and closed my eyes.

Morning couldn't come fast enough...

"Hey. Hey, are you awake?" I heard a faint voice say.

I opened my eyes groggily to find an unfamiliar face hovering over me. I sat up quickly and looked around. Yep, I was still in the park. Great, so it wasn't all just a bad dream like I had hoped it would be.

Peachy.

I looked toward the foot of the bench where the stranger still sat. I tried getting up, but he stopped me.

"Wait, where do you live? I could walk you there, if you'd like." I looked at him again. He looked to be about my age, maybe a few years older. Third year college student, maybe?

I noticed he was staring at me intently.

Oh, he wanted an answer.

I looked away, "I can't go home." I said quietly. Not after last night, anyway. Of course, I didn't voice this thought.

I looked at the boy again. He had the most pathetic looking expression I'd ever seen. "Oh, you poor thing." He said sadly.

Without another word, he took my hand and dragged me off the bench. "Hey! Where are you taking me?" I demanded. "You can stay with me a while, okay?" He replied. "At least until you can go back home." He looked back at me and smiled.

I looked him over suspiciously. Should I really trust this stranger whom I had just met five minutes ago?

Well, he seemed nice enough.

There's not a whole lot of people who would be willing to take in a homeless college student.

And I guess this could get my mind off of Miyagi, at least for a little while.

Oh, what the hell.

So, I let the boy whisk me away down the street. He seemed to be headed for downtown. Only the swankiest of the swank lived downtown.

Just who was this kid, anyway?

"Here we are!" The boy exclaimed as we stopped in front of one of the largest condo buildings I had ever seen.

I stared wide-eyed at it, "You live here?" I asked. The boy smiled awkwardly, "Well, kind of."

We went inside and he led me all the way up to the penthouse. Jeez, this kid must be loaded. Once we got inside, he lead me over to the couch and sat me down gently as if I were fragile porcelain.

He then proceeded into the kitchen. "Do you want something to drink?" He yelled at me. I looked back at him and replied softly, "Tea, please." The boy smiled and began gathering the ingredients for brewing.

Once he had started brewing the leaves, he came back over and sat down on the couch directly across from me.

"So, what's your name?" He asked me. I stared dumbly at him, "Shinobu." I told him.

He grinned, "That's a nice name." He said. I felt myself starting to blush.

Wait, why was I blushing?

I shook my head and continued the conversation hastily, "And you? What's your name?"

He seemed utterly delighted in the fact that I wanted to actually converse with him.

"Misaki!" He blurted. "My name. It's Misaki."

"Oh." I replied.

There was an awkward silence before Misaki stood up and stated that he needed to check on the tea, smiling all the while.

He did have a charming smile, though.

No! Bad, Shinobu, bad! What would Miyagi think?

Oh right, like he cared. He seemed too interested in my sister last night to focus on anything else.

So what if another boy has caught my interest? A little competition never hurt anyone. Right?

While all of this was buzzing around in my head, I didn't even notice Misaki set a fresh cup of tea down in front of me.

"There you go." He said nicely.

I thanked him and picked up the cup. It was steaming hot; just the way I liked it. But before we could even take a sip, we heard rustling coming from outside the door.

The first thought that ran through my head was that someone was trying to break in. But Misaki didn't seem bothered by it at all.

Was he expecting someone?

I watched carefully as the door opened to reveal another man standing there.

He was tall, rather built, and seemed to be scowling at something. Or someone.

"Who's this?" The man sneered.

Misaki stood up and started towards the door, "Oh, Usagi-san, this is Shinobu. He doesn't have a place to stay, so I offered that he could stay here for a while. Is that fine with you?"

Usagi-san blinked, then proceeded to wave Misaki and me away as he slowly made his way up the stairs.

That face, that name, it all seemed so familiar to me somehow.

I was sure I had seen him before somewhere. I thought back to the library where I would always go and watch Miyagi read.

That's when it hit me.

"Akihiko Usami?" I managed to muster up those words before falling deathly silent again.

The man paused halfway up the stairs. "Yes?" He answered, his voice oozing with annoyance.

He looked back at me angrily. After he figured out that I wasn't asking him a question, only stating that I knew his name, he turned back around and finished his uphill climb.

Once we heard the door close upstairs, Misaki let out an audible sigh and turned around to face me, "That was close. I think that meant that he didn't care if you stayed here. That's good! So, do you want me to show around?"

I looked into his eyes; they were wide and full of joy.

They were the prettiest shade of emerald I had ever seen.

I forced myself to not get lost in them. I nodded and he grabbed my hand and dragged me into the kitchen.

How was this all going to work out...?

I really shouldn't be starting another story.


But this one had been sitting in my flash drive for freaking ever.

So, I decided to give it a chance.


We'll see~ C:

(By the way, the point of view changes each chapter. The point of view of the person for each chapter will be the chapter title. Just saying.)