I remember the day I first met her...

It was a Saturday afternoon and I just finished my daily jog, which most people would consider a marathon. I love running. I headed home and took a cooling shower. It was still early in the afternoon so I decided to head out and train a little. I grabbed my tennis bag and left my house telling my mom I would call if I was going to be home late. As I walked to my usual training area I bumped into that stupid baka Momoshiro.

"Hey there mamushi!" he said.

Before I could retort Eiji-senpai popped out of nowhere. Everything happened so fast. The next thing me and Baka-Momo knew, Eiji-senpai had dragged us in front of some pet store.

"Hoi hoi! This new pet store just opened so I decided to drag you guys along to check it out!"

Eiji-senpai dragged us in and soon left us so he could look at the animals like an innocent child. I sighed and soon heard a soft giggle. I turned to see that a young girl about my age was very amused with Eiji-senpai's reaction to all the animals.

"Need any help mister?" she asked stifling another giggle.

Eiji-senpai looked at her and grinned.

"No no, my friends and I are just looking around. You work here?! You look so young. I like this place!" exclaimed the over-excited cat like boy.

I was surprised that Eiji-senpai didn't choke. The girl giggled again and nodded.

"Hai, me and my father and little sister just moved here." She said.

Eiji smiled brightly and dragged the girl towards Momoshiro and I.

"These are my friends!" he said.

After quickly introducing us he ran off again to look at more animals. Momoshiro and I just sighed. The girl looked up at us and gave us a warm smile. I blushed feeling a little uncomfortable.

"My, what an energetic friend you have!" she said.

"Fssssshhhh…"

She looked at me for a second and smiled again. She smiles too much.

"Kawaii!" she exclaimed causing Momoshiro to fall down in surprise.

I stared at her, blushing at the comment until she grabbed me and soon Eiji-senpai to what seemed like a back room.

"Would you guys like to hold some of the animals?!" she asked.

Before I could answer she placed a kitten in my arms and another one in Eiji-senpai's. Eiji-senpai quickly got excited and played with his kitten. I looked down at my arms and there was a very adorable grey fluff ball.

'Did this girl know I had a soft spot for furry animals?... Nah.' I thought.

It looked up at me with round green eyes and began to lick my face. I heard a familiar giggle and looked up to meet the, once again, smiling face of the girl.

"How adorable! He likes you. That is a first. Kira-chan always tries to scratch anybody but me when they try and touch him!" she said.

I just stared at her for a few moments before her smile was taken over by a surprised face!

"Gomen! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Saduko Akina." She said while bowing.

I just nodded in reply and handed the kitten back to her before dragging Eiji-senpai out of the store. I really did have to drag him. He cried like a five year old. It was annoying.

It has been a year since then. Today is my first day of high school. Oh, did I forget to mention that Akina ended up going to Seigaku? Well she did. And if you haven't figured it out by now, even though it took me a while to realize it myself, I have a crush on her. Why else would I waste my time telling anybody this story if I didn't have a crush on her?

As I looked down at my schedule I decided to head to my first class several minutes early.

I thought back about how in just a year Akina and I have gotten pretty close. She did almost everything with me, except my training. She has very bad asthma so she can't exactly run and train like I do. But she does like to watch. It always gives me a warm feeling to know that my hard work will always be greeted with her kind and warm smile.

As I walked down the halls I blushed at the thoughts encircling my mind. That is until I heard a very welcomed voice call me name.

"Kaoru-kun!" she yelled.

AKINA'S POINT OF VIEW:

"Kaoru-kun!" I yelled.

Hi there, the name is Saduko Akina. My best friend is Kaidoh Kaoru, hence I addressed him by his first name instead of last. We met a year ago, give or take, at the pet shop my family and I own. He has a very tough attitude but he has this super adorable soft spot for animals, especially fluffy ones, more specifically cats.

I ran up to Kaoru and jumped on his back. His face was a little red and my smile vanished with a look of worry. Lately he has been a little red. But he didn't seem sick at all. Every time I asked he seemed to avoid me. Maybe he thought I was annoying or something?!

"Kaoru, do you hate me?" I asked.

He looked down at me with a surprised expression. He quickly began shaking his head no.

"No! Why would you think that?!" he asked with a very loud voice.

I was very surprised; Kaoru never raises his voice this high, even when arguing with Momo-chan! I looked up at him with sad eyes. He was hiding something from me wasn't he? I felt my heart break into two. I love Kaoru, but I guess he didn't love me back. If he loved me he wouldn't hide things from me after all, right?

"Meet me after school at the front gate, alone. Ja ne." he quickly said as he walked off.

He wanted to talk to me after school…alone. Maybe he found out I loved him and was having a hard time finding a way to reject me since he thinks of me only as a friend.

Everything seemed to fit into the puzzle. My heart became even heavier at my thoughts. I quickly made my way to class trying to get things off my mind.

I didn't know that at the exact same moment Kaoru was even more nerve wrecked then I.

KAIDOH'S POINT OF VIEW:

I am going to tell her how I feel after school. Shit. I couldn't believe it. I know she doesn't feel the same way. She is always going around calling me her best friend. She doesn't know I wanted to be more then that and that it hurt me every time she said that all I was; was her best friend. But I had to face rejection. I couldn't take seeing Akina looking so sad thinking I hate her. I couldn't lie to her any longer.

Throughout the day I avoided her. It already took enough of my courage to even think about what was going to take place after school. I had her in a few of my classes but she seemed to be too absent minded to notice. Or maybe she was mad at me for avoiding her so much lately. It is just ever since I realized my feeling of…love, yes LOVE towards her I couldn't face her. I was too afraid of rejection. I couldn't put our friendship on the line.

Sounds corny right? But the situation really is scary when you are involved, my life isn't some movie, the girl doesn't feel the same way secretly.

But I had to stop being selfish now I had to be a man and sacrifice myself for her happiness. After all if I really love her I would think of her above all else right?

'I live for Akina.' I thought as I waited for her at the school gate…maybe she wasn't coming?

Before I could think about leaving or not I saw her figure running towards me.

"Sorry I am so late, I got assigned classroom duties on the first day!" she said out of breath.

"Fssssshhhh, I didn't notice." I lied.

How could I not notice she was half an hour late.

AKINA'S POINT OF VIEW:

An awkward silence took place for a minute until I finally decided to speak.

"So, what did you want meet with me for?" I asked a little nervous.

I am such a liar; a little nervous is not how I am feeling right now. I am so scared I could just pee my pants.

'Somebody shoot me now plea--' my thoughts where cut of as he spoke.

"I…don't hate you. Fsssshhh." He replied.

I looked up at his face. We were staring eye to eye. Silence filled the air again. But this time it wasn't awkward. The air was filled with a mysterious aura. I felt my stomach doing back flips over and over again.

"I LOVE YOU KAIDOH KAORU!" I screamed before really thinking things through.

I couldn't hold it any longer. I had to tell him no matter what the results. I heard him mumble something but it was too quick and soft to comprehend. I looked at him with a questioning look and spoke timidly, a blush stall plastered on my cheeks.

"Nani?" I asked.

He didn't say anything. I was getting aggravated, the longer he takes to reject me the harder it is! I was about to break the silence when he beat me to it.

"I said…" he began.

He grabbed my hand and pulled something out of his pocket. Before I knew it there was a silver bracelet with one small heart chained to it on my wrist.

"I love you too." He finished.

I looked up at him surprised. He just told me he loved me back. There was no "Let's just be friends!".

It finally sunk in.

I hugged him with all my strength and pulled away to give him a kiss on the cheek but he turned a little from the shock of my embrace that I missed and captured his lips instead. I quickly pulled apart and was about to apologize when and even more surprising thing happened.

"Fsshhhhh…"

The next thing I knew, I was in his strong arms and our lips where no longer apart. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we kissed till our lungs burned from the lack of air. When we pulled apart we heard a soft meow and looked down to see a small kitten that was injured. I picked her up and smiled down at her. Kaoru grabbed my free hand and began to walk to the direction of my house.

"Fssssshhhh, we better fix her up." He said as we walked of into the sunset.

And get this, THE Kaidoh Kaoru was SMILING. I smiled back.