A/N: Here are chapters two and three, but I combined them, so it'd be longer, into an awesome hybrid chapter I like to call chapter tree! Gaaah, enjoy!

T r e e;

At lunch break, I was on my way to the school's front yard when I was stopped right outside the classroom by three people. One was Hinamori Amu-san, the girl I sat next to. The next had long wavy blonde hair with a thin black headband in it. She wore white tights instead of socks. She also had a weird red plaid cape-ish shaul-ish thing around her shoulders. Mashiro Rima-san, I think her name was.

Finally, Hotori Tadase-kun stood beside them. I only knew him because I had heard multiple girls squealing, "Tadase-sama!" Sama, I knew, is the ending for someone superior to the speaker. I didn't really get why they used that on him, so I just stuck with kun, a more standard honorific. Anyway, I could kind of understand why they liked him. His blonde hair framed his face perfectly and his eyes were a sort of pinkish-red, but not in an evil way. In a cute way. He was very princely. He, like Rima-san, wore a cape, only his was blue plaid.

"Hi, McCarthy-kun," Tadase-kun started.

"Hi."

He started talking again, but I wasn't really listening. Now, don't go thinking I was lost in his eyes. I'm not that kind of girl. Puh-shaw. I was lost in the eyes of the guy behind him, on the other side of the hall. Duh.

At least, if you can be lost in half an eye. 'Cause that's all I could see. He was standing sideways, talking to someone, but that half a golden brown eye was beautiful. He also had long, purplish black hair. Not just long for a guy, but it would've been long on a girl too. It went about mid-thigh, yet he didn't look girly at all. He wore a cape identical to Tadase-kun's.

Now, I should have paid better attention to Tadase-kun, 'cause I was only half-listening and therefore couldn't really translate what he said. I got something like " . . . new student…America . . . you . . . us… adjust…any questions…Royal Garden?"

I panicked, what did he ask? Not really sure what I was agreeing to, I nodded quickly.

When Amu-san replied, I paid better attention and understood that she had said, "Great! The Royal Garden is the big glass building in the front of the school. You probably saw it on your way in." Oh, so that's what that was. I thought it was a special teacher's room. I guess I was meeting them in there. Hotori-kun had said something about adjusting to Japan…maybe they were going to help me get used to it here, since I come from so far away. At least, I hoped so. What if it was a special teacher's room and we were vandalizing it? No, Tadase-kun didn't look like that kind of person. Although Amu-san . . . .

[P A G E B R E A K]

After school, I hesitantly ventured into the Royal Garden. The first thing I noticed was a huge grand fountain surrounded by all sorts of beautiful and exotic flowers. Sunlight shone majestically through the glass walls making the water sparkle and shine. A wide path, lined with flowers, wound around it and up a small set of stairs to a large open area. In the middle of the upper level was a table with five people seated around it, drinking tea and eating snacks. Amu-san, Rima-san, and Tadase-kun were there. As was the boy I saw across the hall when Tadase-kun was talking to me! I was ecstatic—I would get to talk to him!

There was also another girl, with auburn hair held in pigtails by big red bows. She chewed happily on her snacks, and, honestly, looked a little babyish. She too wore a cape, but hers had a red bow tied on it. In fact, I noticed that Amu-san and I were the only one's there without capes.

Tadase-kun noticed me and called, "Oh, hi, McCarthy-kun. Have a seat." I nodded and took the only empty chair—between Tadase-kun and the girl I didn't recognize. "We just wanted to welcome you to Seiyo Academy. We are the Seiyo Academy Guardians—a sort of special student council for the students. I'm the King's chair, Hotori Tadase. As you know, I'm in your class. Nice to meet you!"

"Hiya, Taylor-kun!" the girl with pigtails cried. "I'm Yuiki Yaya, Ace's chair! Fifth grade!"

"I am Mashiro Rima, Queen's chair. I'm also in your class."

"If you don't remember, my name is Hinamori Amu. Welcome to Seiyo!"

And finally, the most handsome boy in the world. At least, in my mind. But, I haven't met that many handsome boys (yet). "It's nice to meet you. I'm Fujisaki Nagihiko, Jack's chair and a sixth grader too, but I'm in the other class."

"N-n-nice to meet you all," I stuttered.

"If you need help finding anything, you can come here," Tadase-kun explained. "Usually we don't do this for new students, but since you're from America we figured we should help you get used to it here."

"So," Amu-san started, "do you like Seiyo Academy, so far?"

"It's nice. Hard to understand everything, but I hope I'll learn." I replied.

"Oooh," Yaya-san cried, "I would hate to move to a whole new country where they speak a completely different language!"

"Yeah, it must be hard," Rima-san added. "What's America like?"

"Um." I wasn't really sure how to answer that. "It's nice. Very different from Japan."

"I wanna go to America!" Yaya-san whined. "I wanna go!"

"Um, Yaya, didn't you just say it would be hard to move to another country?" Amu-san interrupted her.

"Oh, yeah."

I chuckled. "You guys are so funny!" I smiled to myself—I might have just met some possible friends.

[P A G E B R E A K]

When I got home, my mom called, in Japanese, "Welcome home, Taylor-chan! How was school?"

In English, I replied, "good, but I'm sick of Japanese."

This time, my mom used English, too. "I understand. It's hard for you to learn a whole new language."

"Exactly." One thing about my mom, she's really understanding. I mean, other than moving me across the world, she's really great. She doesn't get mad easily and when I'm upset, she just lets me be, unlike the meddling parents I see on TV. I don't think she realized the uniform I had gotten was for guys, but even if she did, she probably would have still let me wear it. It wouldn't hurt me to wear a pair of shorts instead of a skirt, and she understood how hard the move was for me.

Anyway, I kicked off my shoes and ran up to my room. I said I was doing homework, but I needed a break from all this Japanese stuff. I wanted to just curl up with a good, English, book. I crashed in my big beanbag chair and stared out the window, which was right next to it. I suddenly realized how exhausted I was—starting school in another country could wipe a person out. I closed my eyes and started dreaming before I even fell asleep. About Fujisaki Nagihiko, of course.

Sigh, Naghiko-kun. I knew people generally use last names to address their peers in Japan, and it may seem a little odd to call him by his first name, but I really didn't care. Nagihiko was his name and that's what I would call him.

Besides, I can always say it's an American thing.

When I finally fell asleep, I was thinking about Nagihiko-kun. His beautiful golden eyes, his wonderful smile, his long hair that was so black it looked purple. Ah, Nagihiko-kun.

Now, I want to be all romantic and say I had a dream where he swept me up in his arms and carried me off into the sunset, but I didn't. In fact, my dream didn't make an ounce of sense. In it, Hannah Montana was on tour in Japan and I was at her concert, but she was singing the Best of Both Worlds in French. Then, my French teacher from New York showed up and started correcting her. I don't even like Hannah Montana. Or French. I wish I was on a date with Nagihiko-kun to a concert, instead . . . .

Oh well, At least I could see him at school. That was the one think I liked about school. Nagihiko-kun. I mean, sure, I only met him a day before, but he already made my heart pound so loud I swore my friends back in New York could hear it. I guaranteed that I'd get busted as a girl because of something involving my aimless staring into his eyes. But, hey, they were really beautiful. How could I not stare?

[P A G E B R E A K]

As I was walking to school the next day, I noticed a familiar pink head up the street. Her face wasn't turned to me, so I couldn't tell for sure, but she looked kinda like she was talking to someone, although no one was there. "Hey! Amu-san!" I called.

She turned around. "Ah, Taylor-kun! Good morning!"

I jogged up to her. "Hi. Do you live nearby?" I asked, in Japanese.

"Yeah, I live right over there." She motioned down the street to an average-sized house two behind us.

"Really? I'm just down the street!"

"That's great, I guess we're neighbors."

"Yeah!" I tried to smile and still look manly. Well, I don't think I looked manly to begin with. I mean, first off, I'm only in sixth grade, so even if I was really a guy I won't look manly. Maybe a better word would've been "boyly". Wait, is that a word? How about "boy-like"?

"Did you get the Japanese homework?" Amu-san asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Not at all. I got straight A's in English at my old school, but I don't understand Japanese that well," I replied. "Did you get it, Amu-chan—oops. Um, can I call you that?" I had been hearing the other Guardians call her that at the meeting last night and it just slipped out.

"Yeah. We are friends, right?" She smiled.

"Yeah!"

A/N: Review?