As you may notice this fic is under revision. I apologize to those who have been waiting on this and those I have disappointed. I intend to finish this.

Brrriiiiiiiiiiing!

"Ugh!" Sayuri rolled over in bed. "Make it stop!"

With a swift thwack of her pillow, she knocked the annoying alarm clock clear off of her bedside table and right into her dresser. The device fluttered a few more times before giving in to the damage it sustained.

Curse any day that feels like a Monday...she thought with a frown. Into the shower she went, dragging her feet. Her morning ritual never took long: her hair—which was short and a icy blue colour—was naturally very manageable so fixing it wasn't a hassle, she had set her uniform out the night before and her breakfast usually consisted of two toaster pastries.

Yuri galloped down the stairs, careful to hold her glasses in place. She had an hour before homeroom. The bus would be at her door in fifteen minutes and take another ten to carry her to school. That leaves me somewhere around half an hour to chat with Yuuzuki and the others,she cheered inwardly. I wonder what she did over the weekend, the girl pondered as the toaster worked its magic.

"Sayuri!"

She lifted her head. Kyoko Kurosawa, Yuri's mother, stood in the doorway of the kitchen tapping her feet in impatience. Yuri swallowed guiltily.

"I know that that's not all you're going out of this house with."

"Mom! I only have a couple minutes before the bus comes." Which was, in a sense, true; she had less time between that point and when the conversation started though her mom wasn't hearing it.

Mrs. Kurosawa trudged into the room and went to the stove, turning it on before going into the fridge. Yuri let out a few more cries of 'Mom!' before she acknowledged that her wishes were no longer valid. Maybe they never were. In defeat she sat at the table. Whatever. She only has ten minutes anyway. And what did she get for her doubt? An egg, cheese and sausage sandwich on a saucer was placed before her.

She looked at her mom in disbelief. "Really?"

"Every bite," was the reply as the woman set to making another batch of eggs.

The blunette was fully prepared to argue.

"Don't backtalk your mother, Sayuri." She turned to see her dad shuffling into the kitchen.

Nowaki Kurosawa yawned unabashedly into his newspaper. Somehow he always managed to have it when he came down in the presence of his family on his way to work. In their early forties, her parents were so tightly knit that even if one of them showed up in the middle of the conversation, they'd somehow know what to say. Yet once her father was in assent, she dare not argue.

Yuri ate quickly. With as little force as possible she dropped the plate into the sink. "Thanks for the food."

"Your manners are late," her mother muttered, though she did smile.

"See ya, Dad," she went on. "I think I hear the bus."

"Mm-hmm..." He lifted his cheek to her kiss, not taken by her lie.

The bus actually was honking in front of their home by the time she got to the road, thank goodness. Yuuzuki was already seated and they chatted all the way to school about their weekends. It was not surprising to hear that her friend had spent her Saturday at the local lounge with some others from their circle. The beautiful grinning redhead's blue eyes were gleaming as she spoke. Yuri never did things like that. She listened with the same level of curiosity that she always did, reflecting on her own dull Saturday of reading and doing homework.

Sometimes she hated being such an introvert, but she'd never complain. I can't trouble her, she thought. So Yuri smiled and nodded, smiled and nodded. You'd never guess that she was withering in the shadow of the kind of girl she dreamed she could be.

During the last lull in their conversation, the white Clock-tower of Destiny came into view. Behind it stood Fortuna Academy, one of the only schools on that side of the island, pristine and elegant in its structure. The bus pulled in and circled the fountain of the school's founder, Hidekuni Saga, who was holding up an apple as a symbol of academia.

Those who were already bustling around the school grounds came out to see some of their friends off of the bus. Sayuri and Yuuzuki made their way into the halls, stepping into the fog of gossip that was in the air.

"Did anything happen at the lounge?"

Zuki shook her head. "I don't remember anything. Nobody fell. Nobody so much as sneezed. It was just a good karaoke night."

The duo finally reached their lockers. Under the guise of dutifully unpacking her bag, the blunette spared a look around. Whatever it was, it had everyone chatting too busily for a normal Monday morning. Just as she was beginning to worry that it was something important, one of Yuu's classmates ran up to them. The girl's face was alight with a flush from all the gossiping she was most likely doing.

"Why do you guys look so dull?" she inquired. "Didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?" Yuri replied. "Why is everybody so active this morning?"

The girl glanced over her shoulder as if she expected someone to be eavesdropping. Then in a hushed voice she said, "Sora and Riku are supposed to be coming back to school today!"

"You don't mean Sora Hashimoto from our class, do you, Aoi?" Yuuzuki sounded skeptical. "Or Riku Yamaguchi from Sayuri's class?"

"Oh but I do."

The blunette frowned. This is why she hated gossip. It was all a bunch of hopes spun into a cape of delusion. No one had heard from Sora and Riku in quite some time now. After a lapse in time that everyone in town decided to mark as a case of merely being unable to recall what happened after a big storm rocked the islands, they disappeared. Their parents and the local law enforcement looked frantically but came up with nothing. Even Kairi, the girl closest to them didn't have anything to say to the authorities. At least when she went missing a couple weeks ago she had the decency to return in a timely manner. Presumed dead, Sora and Riku had missed more than a year of school. What were they going to come back to do? Nothing, that's what.

Yuri pushed her bag onto her shoulder. "And how, pray tell, do you know this?"

Her doubtful tone did not go over the other girl's head. "I only got it from the horse's mouth." Aoi glanced over her shoulder once more. "You didn't hear it from me..."

"Yes, we did," the blunette chimed.

"...but Hiori told me that Yuki told her, that Ume told Len, her brother, that when she was babysitting the principal's daughter, Mr. Yamaguchi and Mrs. Hashimoto came to the house to talk to Principal Saga about Sora and Riku attending school again."

Sayuri's frown deepened significantly. Yuu, on the other hand, seemed a bit brighter. "Are you serious? No way!"

Aoi grinned at the encouragement. "Oh, yes. And Yuki told me that Kyoko told her that Kairi told Selphie, some first year girl, that she had met with them on Saturday night."

"That's amazing!" Yuuzuki exclaimed, clapping her hands lightly. "Don't you think it's amazing, Sayu-"

There wasn't a trace of amazement on Sayuri's face. If those two were to be allowed back as if nothing had happened, then what would become of the delinquents who already miss classes? Will they start to leave for longer periods now that they know that they could just come back later? How is that fair to those who've been diligently attending their classes? Those two missed their first senior term final exams and almost half of their second term. What was Principal Saga thinking?

Because of her bubbling irritation, she didn't answer the question asked. "I'm going to class." The door to her locker slammed shut.

"Hey..."

Things seemed to blur around her; the blunette marched into her homeroom and barely made it into her seat when she plopped herself down at her desk. How improper! I can't believe that they have the gall.The only place Yuri felt comfortable ranting was in her mind, so she didn't hold back. Sora is a naive, immature kid who can't so much as eat without making a joke about it. And Riku...Her hands fisted on the desk at the memories of her classmate. He was in the kendo club, he was good looking car and he was a player.

Unlike the idiotic, giggling masses, she never even wanted to sit at the same table as he did. The bell for registration rang and the rest of her classmate filed into the room still chatting about the morning's news. Yuri pulled a textbook out of her bag and proceeded to read chapter 12 of The Biological Worldfor her test at fourth period.

Somewhere in the bustle of it all, their homeroom and English teacher, Mr. Takashima, came into the room with his briefcase and a Styrofoam cup of coffee in hand. From the front of the room, the class president stood and initiated the daily "stand" and "bow" routine.

After the class had sat again, he leaned forward in his chair to sip his coffee and open the register. "I hope that your weekends went well."

Yuri's name came pretty quickly during roll call. Mr. Takashima didn't comment on her response of "Mm-hmm..." from over her book. He didn't care how you answered once you actually did.

"Wakaba?"

"Here," chimed a boy from the very back of the class.

"Yama..."

The man ended on a hum of disapproval as if he had expected something to be different. It hardly made sense that he kept that name on the register anyway. The kid hadn't shown up for over a year yet no one had been sent to take his place. It's not like there haven't been transfers.

It's not being morbid,she noted, if giving up hope is healthier than keeping it.

The orange haired man shrugged and closed the book when the classroom door was pushed open. "Yamaguchi: present, sir."

Yuri's book fell from her hands. He mouth fell open. Impossible. And yet, there, in front of the chalkboard stood a young man in a navy blue pants and plaid icy blue tie over a short sleeved white shirt. His hair was over his shoulders, much longer than she remembered, but it had been a long time. Likewise, he had sprout up like a tree. And did he somehow get more muscle over what was already fit build?

Riku looked around the room with what seemed like apprehension. But that wasn't likely. She had to remind herself that this was the most popular guy that wasn't at school. It didn't take long for the crowd to erupt into an unquenchable mob of 'I missed you so much' and 'Dude!' and 'I can't believe it'. There were even a few people murmuring 'I knew it'. Mr. Takashima wasn't surprised though he did smile pleasantly.

All of the excitement slapped Yuri in the face and made her collect herself. She retrieved her book, rest it back on her desk and buried her nose into it.

"So nice of you to join us, Yamaguchi-kun." He opened his register for a moment; most likely to mark the name of the latecomer. "On your last leg and you're still pushing your luck?"

"My apologies," the boy answered. "Sora forgot where his class was so I had to show him. And that was after Principal Saga lectured our ears off."

"You're lucky to have survived."

"Thank you, sensei." The lines of hesitation in his forehead smoothed at that.

Mr. Takashima looked out into the faces of his elated students. "Well, it's no secret that you missed quite a bit. You're going to need someone who can bring you up to speed with you work." He grinned when hands shot up into the air from volunteers; his grin widened as he locked onto his ever interesting victim. " Oh, Kurosawa-kun."

Her hand twitched, though she didn't move her book from blocking her face. "Yes, Takashima-sensei?"

He's enjoying this, she quickly realized. "I would like to appoint you his tutor. You're at the top of the class so this should be like nothing to you. I'm sure that you're familiar with Yamaguchi-kun."

"I am."

"So there should be no problem." The man gave a definitive nod that said 'And that's that'.

He assigned Riku a new seat near the window which caused everyone after that one to have to move down. Luckily it didn't move Yuri much farther from the back door, but still. Why did her routine have to be shuffled for him? She had to say something. Riku took his seat and the bell rang again for first period. Her mouth refused to open to complain.

The class rose and bowed once again to their teacher before they began to file out. Maybe she would do better with less people. By the time she had stood, half the class had already left.

"Takashima-sensei," she said loudly, hands on her desk. "I really don't want to tutor Riku!"

The man paused what he was doing. A few girls who hadn't quite gone through the doorway yet stopped to look back at her and whisper. Riku, himself, was still in the room. Perhaps, she should've waited a little bit longer before she decided to speak her mind.

But she wasn't being let off the hook that easily. "And why would that be?" Takashima inquired, genuinely intrigued as if he hadn't expected to get a response out of her so soon.

Yuri overestimated the power of her infantile bravado. "Um..." She looked down at her fingers, straining over each other. "I just don't, sensei."

"That doesn't explain anything. You're one of the best students in the school. Wouldn't you want to help a returning student?"

"You mean one who inexplicably disappeared and now wants to pop up and be catered to?" She shook her head. "No, I wouldn't, sir. I don't think it's fair."

Takashima put a hand under his chin. "You know, I hadn't really thought about it like that. You do put us all in an interesting position, Yamaguchi-kun."

The boy in question was silent for a long while. "I'm sorry. I don't want to cause any trouble. She doesn't need to do anything, sensei. I can just pick up the material by myself."

"You arebright," the teacher conceded. "But not that bright, I'm afraid."

"Well, I do have friends," he insisted. "Kairi can easily give me her notes."

Takashima tapped his lip with his finger, as if to really consider it. "Yeah, I don't think that will be sufficient," he concluded. He looked over to Sayuri who was out rightly fidgeting now. "You will tutor him, ne, Kurosawa-kun?"

She kept her head bowed, terribly embarrassed now and red to the tips of her ears. "Yes, sir."

You bet,the man's smile said. Yuri hastily snatched up her bag. She'd been humiliated enough for one day. Or so she thought. Imagine her surprise when she saw people staring through the hall window. The door still hadn't been closed so there were even more girls watching and whispering.

Even so she needed to leave the room. Once she hit the hall, the jeers came.

"Who does she think she is?" hissed one girl.

"She's so plain," sneered another. "Riku doesn't need someone like her around him."

"What a pretentious weirdo." The boy who said this shoved his shoulder into her as she passed, pushing he to one side.

Yuri shut her eyes against her tears and ran. The one time she stood up for herself, she ended up being hated by not only Riku but her fellow classmates all for her sensei's viewing pleasure.

Great. Will I ever win?