There was a moment of awkward silence as the color rose in both of their faces. Tomoe was afraid that she had somehow offended Sanada and embarrassed herself, when in truth he had only been caught off guard by her words. However, once her voice had registered in his head, Sanada was at a loss for a reply.

Feeling foolish, he finally managed, "You should probably go dry off, Tomoe-san. I'll go get you a towel."

Sanada nervously left the room, and he could feel Tomoe watching as he walked down the hallway. After a few moments, her gaze lifted.

Knowing that she would not see, Sanada glanced over his shoulder at Tomoe. An unexpected feeling rushed over him, and the second-year high school student could not help but smile.

Has she always been this…

"Eh, Genchirou, who's your friend?"

Sanada turned around and found himself facing his older brother, Taichirou. "This is… Tomoe-san," he stammered in reply.

"Maa, she's pretty cute," Taichirou remarked, brushing past his brother towards Tomoe.

Before the younger Sanada could stop him, Taichirou had already reached their guest, a mischievous grin on his face.

Stopping to stand in front of the girl, Taichirou smiled and asked, "You're Tomoe, right?" He made it sound as though he hadn't just confirmed her name with Genchirou, who was standing behind him.

Tomoe, taken by surprise, nodded hesitantly.

"And who might you be?" she asked, casting a curious glance first at Taichirou, and then at the Sanada standing behind him.

"Ah, where are my manners?" My name is Sanada Taichirou, Genchirou's older brother. But just so it's less confusing, you can call me Taichirou-kun."

He winked at Tomoe before turning around slightly to read his brother's expression. His younger brother seemed to be hiding, as he had expected, a look of frustration.

"Maa, but who would've thought that Genchirou would bring home someone as pretty as you?"

Taichirou reached out and tugged gently at a few strand of Tomoe's hair, circling them around his finger. He then let go, but suddenly wrapped his arms around Tomoe.

She looked just as shocked as Sanada, whose eyes seemed to widen and an expression of surprise fleeted across his face.

"Taichirou, what are you doing?" called a different, much older voice. "Moreover, who is this?"

The guilty Taichirou immediately let go. "Sorry, Otoo-sama. This is-"

"Kanda Tomoe," Sanada interrupted, "She was outside and I brought her in so she would get soaked."

"She was standing out in the rain? Well, it's lucky she's here now. There's a storm going on outside." Their father's tone was completely leveled, but that soon changed.

"Wait, Kanda Tomoe? Her last name is Kanda?" Sanada's father turned to face Tomoe.

"So you're… you're Akihito's daughter."

This caused more confusion.

"You… you knew my father?" Tomoe stammered, completely perplexed by this new discovery. Her face then lit up with slight understanding. "You're Honjou-sama, aren't you?"

The man named Honjou nodded. "I more than knew your father. I was one of his closest friends. I even helped him teach Yuu martial arts when that boy was a kid… You were too young to remember, though."

That reminded Tomoe of her brother. "Ah! Nii-sama! He must be worried sick about me. I should probably call him."

She reached for where her phone would have been, but realized her bag had been left at home.

"Can I use your phone?"

***

The three Sanadas watched as Tomoe dialed her brother's cell phone number and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello? Ah, Nii-sama-"

"Tomoe! I was looking everywhere, but I couldn't find you…" His voice sounded almost sad on the other end. "Where are you?"

"Oh… I'm at Sanada-senpai's house."

"What?! How can you be at a house full of men?"

"Nii-sama…" Tomoe paused for a moment. "Honjou-sama is here, though."

There was silence on the other end. Finally, "Let me talk to him."

Tomoe obediently handed the phone over to Honjou and waited for their conversation to end. Once Honjou hung up, he said, "Your brother said that, because of the storm, you can stay here for tonight, Tomoe-san."

"She can sleep in my room!" Taichirou immediately offered.


When she approached Sanada Genchirou's room, Tomoe's hair was completely dry and she was wearing a set of clothes that Honjou had given her.

Sanada's room was where, they had decided, she would spend the night. Taichirou's room wasn't even a considerable option, as neither his brother nor father trusted him.

Once inside the room, Tomoe saw that a futon and blanket had already been prepared for her. From her observation of the room, it appeared that Sanada would sleep a good distance away from her. Apparently, he wasn't at all like his brother.

"I'm sorry about Aniki's behavior."

Sanada was standing in the entranceway of the room, a somewhat apologetic look on his face.

"But, Tomoe-san, doesn't it bother you to have to stay here?"

Tomoe thought for a moment, and then said, "I guess it does bother me a little… But your father was a really good friend of my father, so I guess it's just that I trust him.

She trusts him. Of course it's because of Otoo-sama. It has nothing to do with… me.

The two said no more on the matter, and, after a half hour or so, quickly fell asleep.


Sanada opened his eyes, woken up by the storm. It seemed to have gotten much worse than just a drizzle of rain.

He couldn't tell what time it was, but a quick glance at his clock told him that it was an hour past midnight.

However, Sanada also noticed Tomoe wasn't asleep, either. She was sitting up, her knees brought up to her chest and her hands were held over her ears. She looked, Sanada could hardly believe, scared.

"Tomoe-san, are you alright?" he asked, walking over and kneeling in front of her. It struck him as strange that he had asked that exact same question earlier.

At first there was no reply. Then, Tomoe slowly opened her eyes, which had been closed tight with fear, and was about to say something when the sound of thunder and a flash of lightning caused her to draw back again.

"You're… you're afraid of storms like this, aren't you?" he breathed, almost startled to see this side of her. Tomoe was normally calm and perfectly composed, but now she seemed completely different.

He wanted to help her, not being able to bear seeing her like that.

"Don't worry about the storm. You'll be fine, Tomoe-san."

He tried to gently pull her hands away from her ears, but the thunder seemed to be too much for her.

"Trust me. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise," he whispered to her, surprising even himself with those words.

This time when he pulled at her wrists, Tomoe reluctantly gave in and let Sanada take her hands.

She opened her eyes and found herself staring into Sanada's dark ones. For that moment, Tomoe forgot all about the storm. She felt… safer with him.

A sudden flash of lightning cast a wide silhouette and caused the room to grow dark as Tomoe closed her eyes again.

"I promise," Sanada reassured, his voice strangely quiet.

In the silhouette of the lightning, Sanada leaned in closer and softly kissed Tomoe's lips.


Author's Notes:

I'm sorry that I haven't updated this story in a while! Also, forgive me for this chapter's short length. I was trying to continue it the best way I can. If you have any comments, criticism, praise, ideas, just review or send me a message! (I take constructive criticism, so don't be afraid!)

If any of you are wondering about Sanada's brother and father, he actually does have an older brother. His name however, is just something my friend made up.

Anyway, thank you for reading!