Welcome to my third Strawberry Panic fan fiction, Growing Up. I've decided to focus on two of my favorite characters, Kizuna Hyuuga and Remon Natsume. I never have much to say in my introductions, for those of you who know me and my other story, "How to Fully Enjoy Summer Nights", which was recently completed. Now I need something else to spend my time with, rofl. So, here is my newly adapted fan fiction.

Disclaimer: Crap, I get tired doing this after a while. But hey, it has to be done. I don't own Strawberry Panic, or else...I don't know. Kaname would be ruling the world as...Darth Vader. DUN DUN DUN!

Chapter 1: Recaps and Reunions

Oh, Remon.

I haven't seen you so long. How long has it been...like five years? No, I'm just kidding. We haven't seen each other since we graduated. I know, we text each other like...a lot, but it isn't the same as actually seeing you. I mean, you're one of my best friends, but how are we going to stay friends if we don't even see each other? Think about it; before we graduated, we were together all the time. We were roommates, partners-in-crime...basically everything. Nothing brought us down. But now graduation ends, and we suddenly stop seeing each other?

No way, sister.

So, we absolutely have to make plans...sometimes soon. My heart simply aches for you...psh. Yeah right. That sounded all lovey-dovey, didn't it? But seriously, Rem, I want to see you. So badly. And I don't know why. I guess what I'm really trying to say is...

Fuck it. I miss you.

Kizuna crumpled up the piece of lined paper she was writing on and threw it in the trash can...again. Her trash was practically overflowing with crumpled and ripped-up paper. She sat in a slightly-more-than-dingy apartment room, at her desk. She wanted to write to Remon, but she couldn't do it without sounding overly affectionate. She melancholically lay her head on the desk, feeling the cold metal against her cheek, remembering that day when they first met...

She was sitting quietly in the back corner of the huge room, waiting to be told what to do. That shy girl with the green hair and glasses. Despite her determination to be invisible, the other kids noticed quite quickly and whispered, giggled and smirked at her. Kizuna was among them...well, not joining in, but smiling all the same. Wanting to be part of something. But she realized that wasn't what she wanted, and when the kids broke off into their little group in front of the huge room, Kizuna walked over to the quiet little girl, who was playing with her fingers and looking totally lost.

"Er...hi there!" Kizuna said, smiling brightly. If anything could win this girl over, it was her signature smile.

The girl tried to smile back, Kizuna could tell. But she was too homesick and depressesd...or at least that was what she thought. The girl looked at her through her gold-rimmed glasses.

"Hi."

"So, what's your name?"

"Remon Natsume."

"Remon Natsume," Kizuna repeated. "I'll remember that. I'm Kizuna Hyuuga. Learn it, memorize it. Got it?"

The girl said nothing.

Kizuna was a bit frustrated. Couldn't she say something other than nothing? She sighed exasperatedly and sat down next to Remon, watching her.

"New here?"

The girl nodded.

"I see."

More silence, more staring. After a while, the girls were given their dorm assignments. To Kizuna's surprise, she was rooming with Remon. Remon looked at Kizuna, watched her as though x-raying her, and smiled. Kizuna had never appreciated seeing a person's smile as much as she had just then.

"So...are we heading to our dorm?" she asked, in a soft, uncertain voice.

"You bet we are! Let's get outta here!" Kizuna said, thrusting a fist in the air, and a giggling Remon followed her.

That had been seven years ago. Seven years seemed like such a long time to others, but to Kizuna, it seemed just like yesterday. She and Remon had become best friends within a week, maybe less, she couldn't remember. A few weeks into their first year, they met Chikaru, who became like their sensei, guiding them through school and studies. And, of course, they found their calling...the Lulim Transformation Club. Or any club you could think of, really. They did random things at random times...and it was always a blast. But those times were over, now they had to focus on growing up.

"What a bitch," Kizuna said to herself, scratching the back of her head. Aside from her studies, Kizuna had many things on her mind, most of which included Remon and the rest of her friends she had left behind. While drifting off into her thoughts, her cellphone started vibrating, and she snatched it and opened it. It was from Remon, of course. She was, besides Kagome, Chikaru and some of their other friends, the only one she talked to on her cellphone.

Kizuna, Chikaru wants us to get together tomorrow afternoon. Are you down?

Depends. Are you down as well?

Very funny, Kizuna.

I'll always go down for you, babe.

Kizuna smirked a bit. She and Remon always had such a crude sense of humor. She left her cellphone perched on her desk and eagerly wated for tomorrow to come, just thinking.

--

Kizuna, Chikaru and Shion were at the train station the following day, sitting on a bench and waiting for the next train to appear. Since there were two drop-off areas for the incoming passengers, Kizuna kept turning around in her seat, alterning her views from one to the other. She heard Chikaru giggle, and Shion took her arm and Chikaru lay her head gently onto her. Kizuna's mental ego twitched and writhed at the sight of them, and she quickly turned away. This never used to bother her, she'd seen Chikaru and Shion do way more than that before. So why was it bothering her now?

Perhaps it was the fact that she longed to do that kind of thing with Remon. They had playfully touched and leaned on each other before, when they were younger, but it had been nothing above friendly. They hadn't loved each other then. But now, seeing Remon had a whole new meaning in her mind. It was a bit scary, too.

Kizuna's ears were suddenly filled with light kissing sounds, and she closed her eyes, agitated. "Do you mind?" she snapped softly, looking to Chikaru and Shion. They guiltily broke apart and smiled sheepishly at each other.

"Sorry about that," Chikaru said, scratching the back of her head. "I couldn't control myself, I guess." And then Chikaru seemed to notice Kizuna's frustrated look, and her eyes changed to a look of sympathy and understanding. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kizuna said, perhaps a bit too quickly. She closed her eyes and ironed her face with her hands, staring into the cold darkness of her eyelids. Sometimes she wished she would just disappear into that darkness...that soothing, cold darkness. It would be a better place...a place where you wouldn't feel pain, where you could feel calm and serene and happy. But Kizuna knew that, until she died, there would never be a place like that.

"Bullshit," Chikaru said firmly, crossing her arms and looking at Kizuna. It was like she was x-raying her, trying to figure out what was going on. And Kizuna felt her determination for silence slowly slipping away from her. She swung her legs back and forth on the bench and sighed.

"I was thinking about Remon..." she said quietly. Shion wasn't paying attention, she was keeping a lookout for Remon.

Chikaru nodded. "Ah," she said, and didn't say anymore. It was as though she knew the situation now, that by Kizuna's simple words, she was able to piece together her feelings like a puzzle.

It was a few minutes before Remon actually arrived at the train station. She stood there, in a professional-looking school uniform, holding a suitcase and her travel bag with her clothes. But Kizuna was too busy looking in every direction to notice that she was there.

"I still don't see her!" Kizuna said, pouting a bit. She heard some shuffling of feet behind her, but payed it no attention...until a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. She started, flinching a bit, and whirled around to see Remon's face right in front of her's. She smiled widely and jumped into her dear friend's arms. Remon looked a bit taken aback, but smiled all the same.

"Kizuna-chan, leggo of me!" she said with difficulty, trying to get Kizuna off of her. Kizuna was pretty much latched onto her for the time being. "Seriously, it's like we haven't seen each other in years or something!"

"It feels that way, my darling," Kizuna said, smiling widely and finally letting go of Remon. "I've missed you."

"We only just texted each other all day yesterday. But I've missed you too," Remon said, smiling. Kizuna smiled back, and the world seemed to go in reverse. It reminded Kizuna of each year they had come back to Astrea Hill from summer vacation, when they had used to make a big deal out of returning to see each other. When they were younger, they would probably be swinging each other around and making a lot of noise. But they were college students, barely nineteen, and they couldn't be seen doing such childish things.

A few hours later, the four girls settled down at a nearby beach area, eating ice-cream cones and catching up with each other. Kizuna and Remon were sitting slightly away from Chikaru and Shion, seeing as they had engaged in their "intimate relationship" activities. They looked nervously at each other for a moment, then Kizuna spoke.

"So...how's college?" Kizuna asked, playing with her sleeve collar. I look like a bumbling idiot, Kizuna thought to herself, mentally rolling her eyes. Are we really that uncomfortable around each other now? It hasn't even been two years since we saw each other.

"Well," Remon started, "my college has most of the classes I need to take for the profession I'm going into. And I'm getting tutoring from Momomi and Kaname..."

"SAY WHAT?!"

"Yep," Remon said, shaking her head at Kizuna's reaction and smirking. "They're tutoring me in things like English and Marketing. And International Trade, of course. And they also teach me Kendo."

"They're like your senseis now," Kizuna said, laying back on the sand. Remon being taught by Momomi and Kaname, who were the scheming queens of Japan, could not be a good thing. She and Remon had been very mischeivous in their high school days, but they had never done anything illegal. They just did little petty things that almost got them in trouble, but were still fun. It dawned on Kizuna that Momomi and Kaname might recruit her to be like them one day. Oh well, it was better than sitting around doing nothing.

After a while, the girls left the beach in search of something to do. Night was falling and many street lamps and indoor lights could be clearly seen. Tokyo was finally starting to settle down.

"So what are we doing now, Chikaru?" Remon asked as she walked side-by-side with Kizuna.

"You packed clothes, didn't you? I was thinking of having a sleepover at my house!" Chikaru said cheerfully. Kizuna and Remon cheered, and Shion looked slightly annoyed. With that plan in mind, the four of them went out to dinner and then made their way to Chikaru's house, taking animatedly to one another.

"You two can sleep in the guest room. We only have one," Chikaru said, "but I'm sure you two will be comfortable sharing a bed, right?"

"Hai!" Remon and Kizuna said, and Kizuna mentally smiled and squealed. It had been a long time since they shared a bed. Even though she shouldn't really exited about sleeping with Remon, she was. And she knew exactly why.

They stripped out of their clothes until they were wearing nothing but their undergarmets(Kizuna's face turned puce when Remon started slipping on her pajamas), and scrambled into bed. They lay there, simply silent for a few long minutes, and Kizuna finally sighed.

"Remon?" she said softly, her eyes still closed and yawning.

"Hai?" Remon's voice replied, squirming around and moving so she could face Kizuna.

"Did you miss me when you went to college?"

There was a bit of a stunned slience, in which Kizuna felt Remon flinch, and could almost feel her body heat growing warmer, emitting from her face. "O-of course I did..." Remon said softly into her hear. "I thought about you a lot..."

"Every day?" Kizuna asked, finally opening her eyes to look at Remon. Remon blushed and looked away.

"M-maybe not...but I did think of you most days. A couple of days after I started college for the first time, I was alone. And so I didn't have any friends, like back on my first day at Astrea Hill. And I thought about that day, and thought about how kind you were when we first met. I felt better after that."

Kizuna smiled a bit. Her mind, body and spirit seemed to be at ease, and she dozed off to sleep. Right before she fell into her dreamless trance, she felt Remon's arms slip around her. Or someone's arms, at least. And Kizuna knew she was safe from any sort of harm.

End. Sorry it's short. It'll start getting more interesting in the next chapter.