A.N.:

hello everyone, and first of all I want to apologize for the second chapter's delay, I had a really fucked up blockade.. :/
anyway, here it is ^^'
and to make it up to you, after this, I'm gonna go start the third one, like right now!
And when I say right now, I totally mean tomorrow xD
anyway, enjoy, review, whatever you want :)

anyway, big thanks for my beta, my secretary, I couldn't do this without you :P 3

I do not own KnM o:

Chikane's eyes widen as her heart jumped a beat. 'An... an orphan?... This lovely creature? Such a pity... This world can be so cruel...' She swallowed. "I... don't know what to say... Himeko. I'm sorry..." She felt slightly embarrassed. This was the first time she got into a situation like this, where she did not know how to respond, what to say next.

Himeko's face lightened up like a setting sun when she finally realized what the dark haired girl was saying. "I... I... it's okay, there's nothing you should be sorry about. It's not yo-your fault, you know..."

"I-I'm sorry..." Chikane coughed slightly to catch her tempo, since she had just stumbled on her word, for the first time. "Himeko, I have asked something that maybe made you remember something sad... I..."

"Chikane-san, it really is okay. There's nothing to be worried about, see?" Himeko pointed at her face, smiling cutely.

That made Chikane smile gently at the clumsy girl. "Alright, you have convinced me, for now. Hm, and now, may I ask some more questions about you?" The girl nodded at her and gave her a questioning look. "I simply wish to get to know better the person who accidentally fell on me from a tree." She winked at the, now blushing girl. "And I have never met anyone like you." She smiled as the girl was still blushing. "I... may I ask how long were you at the orphanage and what was it like there?"

Himeko found herself blushing even more, if that was possible. She didn't feel uncomfortable telling this girl about her life at the orphanage anymore. She was very flattered by the girl's interest in her life and such things; being so shy and all. She didn't even thought about what she's going to say, the words just came out of her mouth, too quickly, like she wanted to subconsciously please the girl as soon as she could. "For eight years. But I've been in Mahoroba since I was nine. The... orphanage is not that bad. It's pretty fun, you can have a lot of friends over there, and we're just a big happy family, looking out for each other, teasing others, laughing together, fighting... I guess that's maybe how siblings are..."

"I do not know... from first hand. But I have some cousins that have a lot of siblings. Listening to what you said right now about how the children behave at the orphanage, made me remember my cousin's stories. They are quite similar. The children from the orphanage really do act like siblings. I am glad..." Chikane smiled gently at the blonde as she watched the girl sit next to her. 'I am glad you were not lonely...' She let out a breath. "So, you had many friends there? Many fond memories?"

Himeko thought about it for a while, and then thought about telling it to this absolutely interesting and beautiful girl. "A-ano..." The bell rang before she could say anything. "I-I'm sorry..."

"It's pretty okay." Chikane finally accepted the free hand Himeko reached out to her. She barely noticed the girl's face twitch when she was pulled up by her. But she let it slide for now, as she did not understand why the girl's face twitched like that. "Thank you very much, Himeko." She smiled at her gently. "If you wish, let's meet here tomorrow at the lunch break, I would like to continue this conversation."

Himeko blushed. "H-hai, Chikane-san!"

"Please, without the formalities, we are the same age, it is unnecessary, but also very flattering tough." Chikane smiled politely at the blonde.

Himeko flustered. "O-okay, Chikane...-chan..." Her face was getting hotter.

Chikane smiled at the -chan widely. She too wanted to call the other girl cute, but something chained her ability to speak at that moment when she was looking at those innocent-looking amethyst eyes. There was a long pause. "I... will see you tomorrow, Himeko?"

"See you tomorrow, Chikane...chan." Both girls turned around and blushed. 'This was so weird, uncomfortable; but still, comfortable... And it seems that...I don't feel empty anymore... I guess that means this will be the first night, since I got here in Mahoroba; that I won't have an urge to sneak out into the nature. Is it because of her?' Himeko looked at the dark haired girl's back as the latter was walking slowly towards the school. 'Or maybe I hit my head or something...' She inwardly giggled. 'Is she going to fill my void?' She jerked when she noticed the girl suddenly turning around and coming back to her, looking at her hand.

Chikane just realized why Himeko's face twitched when she grabbed her hand to get up. 'Her hand! She hurt her hand while falling down! How did I not realize this sooner! Foolish girl, Chikane, what were you thinking about?' She quickly came to the blonde and carefully took her swollen hand in hers. "Himeko! I just realized! Is your hand alright? I noticed you winced a bit when I took your hand and now it is swollen and changed colour. Does it hurt much?" She held that slightly purplish looking hand very careful and gently in her own.

Himeko flinched a little. "A-ano... ouchy!" It hurt a bit more when Chikane tried to move it. Himeko looked at her apologetically. "It's okay, Chikane…-chan. I can handle it, it's not like I've never broken a bone before…"

Chikane was bewildered. "You… you have… before…?" The girl nodded shyly. She sighed. "How can you be so careless…" '…to a beautiful body and skin like this? It's so cruel… If we met before, I would take care of you… Oh, this girl… I have to take her to the nurse!' She cleared her throat. "I must take you to the nurse. But first…" She turned around and went looking for a straight branch that would hold the blonde girl's hand in place. "Ah, I think this one would do." She turned to Himeko again. "May I have your hand?"

Himeko blushed fiercely at that question. "I…I…" She looked at those innocent looking sapphires and suddenly she was fine with everything she may have said. "Hai…" She slowly gave her hurt hand to the dark haired girl in front of her, looking at her tying the hand to the branch with her red ribbon. Her heart felt warm while the girl was treating her hand. She felt dizzy.

"There. It will hurt less like this and it won't move around. Now we may go, shall we?"Chikane's heartbeat had risen while she was touching the blonde girl's hand. Her skin. Her gentle and smooth skin.

Himeko got flustered once again, leaving her dazed state. "Chi-Chikane-chan! You don't have to, I can go alone. You have a class to attend to…"

"Nonsense! I can skip this one, this is more important! Or maybe…" Chikane's eyes widened. She swallowed. "Himeko, am I being a nuisance to you…?"

Himeko got even more flustered and stumbled on her words. "I… nononono, no! No, I… thought I was a nuisance to you… and we… we've just met… and I don't want you to skip classes because of me…"

Chikane giggled. "It is not a problem, Himeko. As I said, this is more important, and my studies won't be disturbed by a little non attendance. Please, Himeko, let me escort you to the nurse office. It will be no trouble. Believe me." She smiled gently at the flustered girl that was slowly calming down. The latter nodded shyly and they went on their way.

They kept on walking in silence, enjoying the comfortable atmosphere that was radiating around them. The hallways were completely empty, and Chikane finally got relieved. 'At least this hour that I'll hopefully spend with her, will be in a fan-free zone. And I think I really enjoy her presence. She is so different from the others. I hope she stays that way when she finds out who I am…'

"Ah, Kurusugawa-san, welcome back. What have you hurt this time?" The nurse welcomed the blonde girl who entered the room first.

Chikane stood still for a moment. 'This time…? She was here before? But… only a week has passed since the beginning of this school year! And the managed to hurt herself? My God, I should take care of this girl!' She cleared her throat. "What do you mean by 'again', Tsukomi-sensei? She'd been here since the start of the year?"

"Himemiya-san, what a surprise! How is it that you know our little troublemaker, Kurusugawa-san? And how is it that you are walking around without your…" The sensei saw a dangerous flash in those sapphires and stopped what she was trying to say. "..ribbon?" She added at the end.

"Ah, I have borrowed it to support Kurusugawa-san's hurt hand, as you can see." Chikane politely pointed with her head at Himeko's hand. "And she needs treatment. She fell and hurt her hand. You should check if anything else is hurt…" She was now rumbling aimlessly. And the nurse jumped in to help her.

"Himemiya-san, it's okay, I shall check her for any other injuries later, but first I have to treat her hand. Do not worry, she is in good hands."

"Please do so. I shall wait in the other room then, and see how she is after you are done with her?"

"Please, Himemiya-san, this will take a while. You may return to your class and check upon her afterwards. Don't worry, she's not going anywhere without my approval." She winked at Himeko.

Chikane's expression saddened as well as Himeko's. She turned her gaze towards the latter. "Is that okay, Himeko? May I come later to check on you? You will not go anywhere?"

Himeko stumbled on her words again. "I... yes, no problem... Chikane...-chan. Please take some rest from me..." She smiled gently at the amused dark-haired girl who seemed like she was shining.

Chikane giggled. "Oh, yes. Finally some rest from a nagging girl that fell on me. Oh, the freedom..." She answered back sarcastically at Himeko, smiling widely. "See you later, Himeko. Rest well." With that, she got out of the nurse office and sighed. 'Dear God, that was kind of... exciting? Exciting? Why was it exciting? Oh, my, that girl...' She blushed slightly. 'No, no. No more blushes, Chikane, you have to get back to class now. Come back to your senses, please.' She came slowly into the classroom, apologizing to the teacher and not answering any questions that involved where she had been until now and why was she late like this.

'I should watch the time. It would be recommendable for me to go out a bit earlier so the fans don't follow me to the nurse's office. Oh I don't want to imagine what they'd do if they found out about the two of us. They'd go insane out of jealousy!' She sighed heavily, and did not care that everyone glanced at her after that. 'Dear God, will I ever get rid of them...? Even now, they watch my every move... What am I? I certainly am not a god or something like that! Those shallow-minded people...! If they only knew how much trouble they are to me on daily basis... But, no, grandfather said to always be polite and keep it to myself. Not to show my weakness. Not to hurt their feelings. But, hey, they are hurting mine, so why not? But, alas, I love my grandfather too much to send them all flying to Hell.' Her thoughts continued on and on, so she spent the half of the class not listening to the teacher at all, and she looked like this class was the most interesting thing in the world. That mask was priceless and very useful! She could please the teacher with her attention and interest in that class, and do some of her deep philosophical thinking about some random things that came into her mind by accident.

She snapped out of her state of deep thinking after a while and looked at the clock. A smile crawled on her face. 'Right on time, Chikane! Oh, how I can't wait to get to her already!' She got up and asked the teacher to be excused earlier from the class because she needs to do something right now. The teacher, of course, fell on her bewitching smile and pleading eyes, so she went out and almost ran down the hall, with a huge smile on her face. 'Wait, Chikane! Were you completely lost there? That had never happened before! You were always half interested in the class, half thinking about something. How is that possible? Is that girl doing something to me? And the fans looked so desperate, I am so glad to be free like this. God, that girl... that girl will be my saviour hopefully! God, let her help me deal with all these fans of mine...' And she continued her route to the nurse's office, barely controlling herself not to run. 'Himeko, I want to see you again so bad...!'