A Flower that Starts to Bloom

Pairing: Mizuho x Hitomi

Genre: Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own Strawberry Panic or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Hey, there! This is my first Mizuho x Hitomi fanfic. Please enjoy! ;)

On one beautiful afternoon, two girls stand near the Strawberry Dorms, watching a certain someone walk over with luggage in her hands. Mizuho Kanou, the girl with dark violet hair and Hitomi Tougi, the other girl with short dark red hair, stand by each other as they watch their long time friend, Shizuma Hanazono pack the last bag. When she closes the trunk, she tells the driver that she needs a minute and walks over to her two best friends.

"Okay, girls," Shizuma says. "I'm off now. Are you going to be okay with all the stuff going on while I'm gone?"

"Of course, Shizuma-sama," Mizuho replies.

"We'll be just fine," Hitomi adds. "Good luck on your trip. I hope your parents will do okay."

"Thanks. It's just a slight fever, but they told me that I should take care of them." The silver haired girl turns to leave. "There's not much to do, but make sure everything's the way it is, okay?"

"We will," Mizuho and Hitomi say in unison.

Shizuma nods as she waves to her friends. Both of them wave back as Shizuma enters the car. The two turn to each other, giggle and turn back to the dorms. They enter the empty lobby, walk up the stairs and into their room. Mizuho and Hitomi had been roommates for a very long time, probably since they had met Shizuma back in kindergarden. They got along very well and eventually became best friends since then.

Mizuho sits down on the bed as she gazes at a picture of the two of them when they were very young.

"Hey, Hitomi," she says as she picks it up.

"Yes?" the dark red haired girl says as she sits down next to her friend.

"Remember when my mother took this?" Mizuho shows Hitomi the picture. "We were still in kindergarden when we suddenly bumped into each other."

"Oh, I remember that," Hitomi says. "You were playing in the sandbox that one time when I decided to join you. You were a bit lonely were you?"

"Yes, I was," Mizuho says softly. It was actually the time when they first met. While Mizuho was playing alone, Hitomi had noticed that she needed someone to play with, so she joined Mizuho into making sand castles and stuff. They had so much fun together that they quickly became good friends.

"It was great seeing each other every day," Hitomi says. "You looked so happy back then."

"Yes. Then, we met Shizuma-sama about 3 weeks after that." Mizuho says. "She wanted to join us and decided to play tag together."

"Ah, Shizuma-sama. We'll never forget that day."

Both of them sigh happily as silence fills the air. Yes, there are some good times they had with Shizuma. Mizuho and Hitomi were glad they were good friends with her. They even try to support each other whenever they can. Mizuho turns to her friend who is staring ahead at the window near her. For some reason, the dark violet haired girl begins to feel something in her chest. She looks down and slowly puts her hand up to where her heart is. She can feel it beating rapidly. Huh? she thinks to herself. What is this? Why is my heart beating so fast?

Hitomi stands up from the bed and goes to the door. "Well then, do you want to check out the green house? I'm sure Otori-san and Konohana-san had already done the flowers, but we should check to make sure the pots are in the right place."

"Oh, sure," Mizuho says as she stands up as well.

Both of them lock the room and head towards the Etoile greenhouse. Mizuho and Hitomi then split up to check each of the flower pots and water some flowers that might have not been watered yet. Then, Mizuho notices a flower that's toppled over on its side, leaving some dirt coming out of the pot. She picks it up and notices that it's a rose left out from the others. She gently puts it back in its place and sets the pot with the other roses. Hitomi comes over shortly after and notices Mizuho smiling at the rows of roses placed on the table in front of her.

"Don't they look nice?" Mizuho asks.

"They sure do," Hitomi replies while putting her hands on her hips and smiling. "Otori-san and Konohana-san did a nice job sorting them out."

"They are the current Etoile after all." Mizuho stands up and stands by her friend. "Did you water the plants?"

"Yes," Hitomi replies. "Out in the back they needed some water."

"That's good. Well, since we're done early, shall we go back?"

"Sure. I'm sure everything else is fine."

They are about to head back when Mizuho suddenly trips over a watering can that's on the ground.

"AHHHHH!" she screams.

"Mizuho!" Hitomi quickly rushes in and catches her in time before Mizuho hits the flower bed.

The dark violet haired girl opens her eyes and slowly looks to see that her friend had caught her.

"Are you alright?" Hitomi asks.

"Y-yes!" Mizuho replies. "Thank you."

Hitomi helps her friend up. "You should really watch where you're walking. You could've gotten really dirty and ruined the flower bed."

"I'm sorry." Mizuho says, softly.

"Anyway, let's go back to the dorms."

"Okay."

As both of them start to head back, Mizuho starts to get this feeling in her chest again. It's happening again. Why am I having those feelings? She couldn't figure out what that feeling is. It could've occurred after Hitomi had saved her, but that's all she could think of. Whatever those feelings were, she hopes they don't happen again.

A/N: Well, this is my first chapter. A bit short, but it will get better. I'm surprised that there are no stories about them, even though they seem to be minor characters. So, I decided to step in and write a fanfic about them. What also surprises me is the character design. They were drawn differently from the manga and anime. I had no idea that was them when I looked up the anime versions of them. And to be honest, I kind of like both of them, though the anime versions are better.

So, feel free to give out any suggestions, questions or concerns and don't forget to review! ;)