Author's Disclaimer:

I still don't own daa!daa!daa! if I did say I own it they will surely sue me a big big big amount. The true owner of the said anime please don't get mad if I borrowed your characters for awhile for my imagination.

Peace!!!

"ROSES"

Girls like roses. Kanata liked girls. Therefore, to get girls, Kanata must have roses.

"Oyaji, how much do roses cost?" Kanata asked one day.

"That depends, son," his father said, lowering his newspaper. "Do you want a plant, or do you just want a rose to give to someone special―like your mom?"

"I dunno," Kanata said, giving nothing away. "What do both of them cost?"

"Well, you can go to a florist and pay anywhere from two dollars on up, if that's what you want."

Kanata did the math. Two dollars a rose! If you gave a girl a dozen roses, that'd be twenty-four bucks! That's a lot of money for a girl. Even for a girl named Akira.

"But if you planted a rosebush," his dad continued, "you could get roses all season."

"How much does a rosebush cost?" Kanata asked.

"They can be pretty expensive, but I'll tell you what: If you want to grow roses, I'll help with the cost and teach you how to care for them. But you'll have to do the work."

Kanata thought about it. How much work was a girl worth, even Akira, who rode her bike by his house every day? He thought again of how she always waved and said, "Hi, Kanata," and how her laughter made his throat tighten. "All right, I guess," he said, but he didn't look his dad directly in the eye.

So Kanata and his dad went rose shopping. They picked out three rosebushes and his dad taught him how to plant and care for them. Kanata fertilized, powdered and fussed over them. They grew and grew. One day he noticed rosebuds forming. "Hey, Dad! Come look what I've got! I've got roses starting! I'm going to have tons of roses!"

His dad laughed at his enthusiasm. "That's great, Kanata. Now, you won't really have tons of roses, not the first year anyway. But if you keep taking such good care of your plants, you'll be sure to have some."

One day soon after, Akira and her friend rode by. "Hi, Kanata!" Akira called out. "What are you doing?"

The perfect opportunity! "Oh, I'm just going to check on my roses," Kanata said.

"What do you mean 'your roses'?" Akira asked, smiling. Gee, she was pretty.

"Can we see them?" Akira's friend asked.

"Sure, if you want to," Kanata said, and they walked to the rosebushes in the backyard.

"Oh, come on!" Akira teased. "You didn't grow these by yourself!"

"Yes, I did," Kanata replied.

Akira's friend looked at Kanata with respect. She was quiet and didn't say much. She left that up to Akira. Akira kept teasing Kanata, though.

"What are you going to do with them? I bet you're saving them for someone, aren't you? Who you going to give them to, Kanata?"

Kanata felt himself starting to blush. "Nobody, really. I just like to grow them. Do you want one?"

"Sure," she said, "why not? Don't you want one, too?" Akira asked her friend.

Kanata wasn't sure he liked Akira offering her friend one of his flowers, but what could he say? He took out his pocketknife and selected a big, beautiful red rose for Akira and a yellow rose for her friend. The friend smiled and carefully wrapped her rose in a napkin she had in her pocket. Akira laughed. She took her rose, pointed it at Kanata's nose and waved it about. "Who were you really saving them for, Kanata?" she asked.

The large, special rose flopped up and down in front of Kanata. Akira was still talking, but he didn't see her. All he could see was his rose bobbing up and down one inch in front of his nose. Didn't she have any respect for his rose? Those roses were a lot of work!

Akira's face seemed distorted to Kanata. Horrid sounds were coming out of it―her laughter. His chest felt tight. A petal fell off the rose. It continued to wave up and down in front of him.

Akira's friend spoke. "Thank you for the beautiful rose, Kanata," she said. "I better hurry home now so I can put it in some water."

Akira and her friend started to leave. Akira was still talking and flapping her rose around. Kanata looked at her friend as she gently held the wrapped rose in her hand, carefully got on her bike and turned to go.

"Hey," Kanata called, "what's your name?"

"Miyu", replied Akira's friend. And then she wave him goodbye.

"Hmmm…Miyu… nice name" Kanata said to himself as he watched the blonde girl's figure disappeared.