Title: 100 Moments of Kiku and Mei
Author: Hinataro
Characters: Meili Wang (Taiwan), Kiku Honda (Japan)

A/N: So, crazy!Hina decided to take a shot at the 100 Themes challenge from over at dA. All of these will be either short stories or a collection of sentences, depending on whatever plot I come up with. A mix of normal and AU, likely mostly AU surrounding the school theme. Wish me luck. ;u;

1. Introduction

Despite the wave of chatter that surrounded her, Meili could swear she could hear her own breath and only her own as she raced down the hallway, a cold sweat beginning to form on her neck. She was going to be late, oh, so late, and the tiled paths only made so much sense to her in this new school. All these faces that surrounded her were unfamiliar. What made it worse was that they were all older than her- not to mention taller, stronger, and altogether unnerving.

For example, that one really tall light blonde boy with the scarf and the creepy smile. Meili shuddered midstep. Yeah, she was likely in the wrong place to begin with.

With dread coursing through her body, she heard the warning bell go off, and the halls were beginning to clear. She went even faster, tripping over her own feet from time to time, desperately pushing her way through the various bodies as she stumbled down the stairs. Her eyes were just beginning to prick with tears of frustration- were was that room? - as she turned the corner sharply and promptly rammed right into a blur of black and blue, the sounds of her things scattering the floor and her scream really only a speck of noise in the crowd and the now ringing bell.

And to be perfectly frank, she didn't feel like getting up again. Or looking up. But then again, she did just knock someone to the floor, so she should probably apologize…

"U-Um… I'm really sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going and-"

"Please, don't worry about it." She blinked and realized there was a hand in front of her face, offering to pull her back to her feet. "Are you perhaps… new to this school?" His voice was so… deep. Relaxing. Kind. Looking up, Meili immediately took in his face. Handsome, a bit monotone yet altogether relaxing as well, surrounded by a perfect frame of black hair.

She wasn't blushing, she told herself. Odd, now why would she ever think that. You're just being silly, Meili. Purely silly. It didn't matter any if her voice was stuck in her throat, making it difficult to whisper "Yes". It didn't matter any that her hands were shaking as she took his and let herself be hoisted up from the cold floor. And it most certainly didn't matter any that she didn't want to let go of that hand, that warm, welcoming hand, or that she couldn't look at his perfect face.

She was just being silly. Silly, silly Meili.

"I-I'm really sorry," she blurted out, "I-I didn't mean to run into you- it's just that I was looking for my class and I got…" She ended up looking him in the face, just for clarity (not because she wanted to look at it again, obviously) and caught his eyes. Regrettably, as her voice got stuck in her throat again. "…Lost…"

The boy smiled (He smiled-!) and said, "That's quite alright- this school is quite confusing, even for those of us who have been here for a while." Chuckling a bit, he gave a nod of his head (did he just… bow?) and asked, "Would you like me to take you to your class? I'm sure my teacher will understand if I tell him that I was helping a new student."

Unable to say anything, Meili nodded yes.

"Wonderful." He smiled again, a small, polite smile, and, gesturing to himself, said, "My name is Kiku Honda. I am a Junior here. May I ask your name?"

"Meili." She breathed out. "Meili Wang, Freshman." She tried to smile. Rather, she tried to do it naturally. So much for that effort.

Kiku, on the other hand, broke out in a perfect smile like before and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Meili. Now, what class are you looking for…?"

"English." Meili could tell this was going to be an amazing year.

A/N: And somewhere along the way I characterized Meili to be a ditzy, love-at-first-sight type of person. Excuse me while I go cry in shame. OTL

I... apologize for choppiness in writing. Not exactly my forte, you know? :'D But please, criticism is greatly appreciated, it helps me improve! Thank you for taking the time to read~