Disclaimer: Still not owning it..nope…La Corda D'oro is still not mine. So there! Hmm..my characters MAY make an appearance in this chapter…or not. We'll see…

Author's Note: This chapter gave me a lot of trouble, so I hope it turned out ok for you guys to read. Aish…I don't believe it liked me too much while I was writing it…argh. The scenes are pretty short, so there were a lot of line breaks. Ohhhh…and also, I was able to put this in the brand new La Corda D'oro section!!! Yay! They made one! I'm so happy! Yes! Anyone else who is a La Corda D'oro fanfiction writer can now move their story to that section! Woohoo!

"We're leaving it to you guys, Shimizu-kun and Fuyuumi-chan! You can do it!"

Shoko shook her head nervously. She and Keiichi were assigned to be the second distraction for Kahoko to keep her busy until the surprise party was set up. The plan said that either Mio or Nao would call to confirm they were ready. Shoko worried that she would fail, especially since Keiichi always managed to somehow fall asleep. When the bell rang for school to end, Shoko took a deep breath. She couldn't ruin this for Kahoko…no…she couldn't do that to her senpai.

Here I go…

She stood up; most of everyone else had already left the classroom. Quickly, she went to look for Keiichi to confirm times when they would "bump" into Kahoko together. After asking around, she finally found him sleeping in one of the classrooms. She sighed.

"Uhm…Shimizu-kun?" She shook his shoulder. "Please, wake up."

"Mmm. Fuyuumi….-chan…" Keiichi's eyes slowly opened. He looked sleepily up at her and slowly stood up.

Shoko attempted hustling him to move faster so she could think of how they were going to distract Kahoko.

"Guess what, Kaho-chan, guess what!"

Kahoko watched Mio jump up and down with excitement. A little off balance, she replied, "...What?"

Nao joined in. "We're shopping and we're taking you with us whether you like it or not!"

At first, the idea didn't seem so bad; she had been practicing for a long time now and she hadn't hung out with her friends for this kind of thing in a while. Plus, it'd be a nice diversion from the whole fairy hunter ordeal. But…she was forgetting something…what was it…She looked down at her violin…

"Tsukimori-kun! I can't ditch him!" she exclaimed. As mean as it would be to ditch someone in the first place, she got the feeling that it would be worse with Len than other people. She imagined the coldness she'd receive if she missed one of their meetings. Besides, another feeling nagged her at the back of her mind. She found herself wanting to see him…was it just out of habit? Possibly…or maybe…

"We got his permission to take you!" Mio encouraged.

"You what?! When was that?"

"Lunch, c'mon, when was the last time we were able to go out after school like this?" Nao gave Kahoko a convincing smile (almost like she was trying to sell something).

Kahoko considered this for a moment; she grinned.

"Alright, let's go!"

Len came home from an unexplainable trip to the gift shop as well as buying a town map with addresses on it. Quietly, as usual (even though he thought no one was home), he put his package on the stairwell and went into the living room. However, he was surprised to find his mother on the phone. She was supposed to be on tour; he wondered if something happened. He went to the other side of the room, and sat down on the couch. Len conveniently found a book lying on the table nearby, grabbed it, and put it in front of his face.

"Yes, it's really no problem. We won't mind you staying here at all! Mmhmm…I'm sure the girls will be fine! Seoko has just started going to Seiso anyways, right? The change of schools wouldn't be a problem…besides, with Len there…"

He cringed. Seoko? He knew that name all to well; she was his older cousin. However, whenever she was in the vicinity, he avoided her at all costs. Not only was she incessantly annoying, but she always seemed to cause him trouble no matter what. Even though now they went to the same schools, he was still able to avoid her since she was in the GenEd school. Seoko had started to attend Seiso before the concours started, but even then, seeing her had never been an issue.

His mother hung up the phone. She looked towards Len and smiled.

"Hello, Len. Surprised?"

He replied with a small shrug and with his usual respect towards his mother, "How about your tour, is something wrong?"

"No, no," she said, shaking her head. "There's just been a little break, and I'm using it to be here."

Len raised an eyebrow. Usually, his mother never took these kinds of breaks on a tour.

She continued. "You see, something very bad has happened in the family. Auntie Rin's house burned down, so now she and your cousins have to stay with us until they can find a suitable house and Rin can find a job." With that, his mother seemed a little sadder.

However, Len felt himself get a little anxious. Seoko was staying with them? Living in the same house with his cousin…he shuddered at the thought. Plus, she would be going to his school. He felt his life would suddenly take a plunge.

Looking at the clock, he noticed that if he was going to go to the party, he'd have to get changed now so he'd have time to set out and find the place. Well, he bought the gift already; he might as well go.

"I need to go out later," he said, about to walk out of the room.

Hi mother looked up at him. "Oh? Where?

He paused and looked down at the floor, as if almost embarrassed. Then… "…A party…"

Now, one must understand that Len wasn't the kind of person who went to parties unless they were the kind that were after his parents' concerts, or "obligation parties". His parents had actually tried encouraging him to go to his peers' birthday parties when he was younger. However, due to his unsociable disposition, which he had, even as a child, he never felt enjoyment or fun from any of them. His parents ended up giving up on the thought. So, when Len announced to his mother that he was going to a party, she was unsure what to feel: happy, or worried. For a few minutes, there was silence while Len still stood still, waiting for his mother's reaction.

Finally his mother inquired, "Whose party are you going to? A friend's?"

"…Do you remember Kahoko Hino…from the concours?"

She nodded fondly. "Yes, she's a very nice girl."

"…it's hers…" Len tried his best to answer calmly and without uneasiness.

Ahh…I see… His mother smiled with understanding; her smile held a kind of sense like she knew something that he didn't.

Feeling a little flustered. He excused himself and left to get ready. His thoughts were so distracted that he didn't even think or remember to ask about what happened to his uncle. Actually, he didn't even notice that his mother had not mentioned him. Little did he know that this information would later become very important and would somehow involve the very girl of whom his thoughts were occupied: Kahoko Hino.

Kahoko sneezed.

"Ohh, Kaho-chan. I bet someone's thinking about you!" Mio teased.

"No, it's more likely that someone is talking behind my back," Kahoko laughed.

Kahoko, Nao, and Mio finished up their shopping and were walking along the sidewalk towards home. Their shopping trip had been very successful as well as extremely fun for Kahoko. She hadn't totally and completely let go and relax like this in ages.

It was about 5:00. Down the sidewalk, Keiichi and Shoko were walking up. Shoko shyly waved while Keiichi gave a vague acknowledgement.

"Fuyuumi-chan! Shimizu-kun! What are you doing here?" Kahoko greeted the quiet first years warmly.

At first, there was an awkward silence, while Shoko seemed to be trying to sort out what she wanted to say. However, when Nao cleared her throat (rather loudly), Keiichi sleepily held up a ticket.

Kahoko looked at it curiously. "What's this?"

Taking a deep breath, Shoko finally found courage enough to say, "Would you please go with us to this concert Senpai?" Shoko bowed her head down quickly as if waiting for some kind of reprimand. Instead, while Kahoko wasn't looking, Mio gave her a small wink; Shoko blushed violently.

"The concert…" Keiichi explained slowly, "Its repertoire isn't too long. It start at 6:00, and ends around 7:00." Keiichi felt himself nodding off, but a determined feeling told him he had to fight the sleepiness off.

"Eh?" Kahoko took the ticket from Keiichi's hand. It was a ticket for a concert featuring a famous quartet; the local symphony orchestra was playing with them. Kahoko looked back and forth between Mio, Nao, and the ticket. "I'm sorry guys, I'm out with Mio and Nao right now. I'm really happy that you invited me though."

"Kaho-chan, it's no problem! Go to the concert! We just finished anyways, right?" Mio encouraged; Nao nodded in agreement.

"But…what about the bags? I can't carry all these to a concert!"

Nao took them from her hand. "We'll drop them off on our way home! Please, don't worry about it!" She smiled as best as convincingly as she could.

At this point, Kahoko got the feeling that Mio and Nao were trying to get rid of her. She also had a feeling that they had something up their sleeve; she was almost afraid of what it was.

She gave in. "All right, I'll go with Shimizu-kun and Fuyuumi-chan then."

Shoko sighed. All day, she'd been so worried she would mess up, and now, the hardest part was finally over with! Now, they'd just go to the concert. Shoko hoped that her guilt from lying to her Senpai would fade away.

Keiichi looked at Kahoko, dazed. "I'm glad that Senpai…can go…with us…the program consists…of mostly Mozart."

On the way to the concert, Keiichi, continued to give a small history of Mozart while Shoko took deep breaths and tried to stay calm.

When Ryotaro was about to knock on the door, he did not expect for it to be answered by Len (and neither did Len for that matter). Ryotaro raised an eyebrow. Behind Len, Nao seemed to be pulling on the collar of Len's shirt, as if to pull him back. From behind, he heard Mio saying, "C'mon Tsukimori! You just got here! You can't leave!"

Len scowled a little bit. As soon as he got there, he realized he was a bit early. After leaving his present on a table and sitting on the couch while Nao and Mio stared at him surprised, he finally ended up feeling like a total idiot and felt like he just could not say. But, now that Ryotaro was here, he couldn't run away now; he had to stand his ground.

"Ah, Tsuchiura, you're here. Good, then you can keep Tsukimori here from running away."

Ryotaro felt himself go into defensive mode. "Really? I didn't think that the proud Tsukimori would run away from a birthday party. It hasn't even started yet, and already he's scared."

Now Len couldn't take that. He definitely couldn't leave now. The two continued in a sparring match with words. Nao and Mio watched them for a few minutes; they figured that as long as they didn't start beating each other up, things would be all right. When the boys had finally gotten the arguing out of their systems, Nao looked at the clock. She looked around. Half of everything was set up or at least they had everything; streamers, music, decorations, food…what was she forgetting?

"Oh shoot!!!" Nao screamed.

Mio looked over at her. "What is it Nao?"

"We forgot the cake!!"

The two started to panic. They still needed to finish setting up. They weren't going to have enough time to go get the cake! Then, Nao looked over at Ryotaro and Len, who seemed to be involved in a glaring contest.

She pointed determinedly at the two. "You! You guys will get the cake!"

They looked pack at her, taken aback. "What?!" They said at the same time.

"Well, we can't work with you two going at it, and what better way for you guys to help out than to get the cake. You two go get it! Here," Nao got some money from her pocket, "This should be enough. As for the flavor, any kind will be ok, Kaho-chan doesn't have a favorite; I'll leave it up to you guys."

Nao and Mio pushed the two out the door. "We're counting on you!" Nao shouted.

"Kaho-chan is counting on you!" Mio said, trying to give them a little more incentive.

Nao shut the door before Ryotaro or Len could protest. The two guys sighed; both glared at each other.

I'm not giving in to this guy…

The two speed walked to the nearest bakery. At the bakery, there wasn't a line, so they went up immediately to the counter. The girl at the counter said, "Is there anything I can do for you today?"

At first, they didn't say anything because they were still glaring at each other. Finally, Ryotaro said, "We need a birthday cake for today."

"What would you like written on it, is just "Happy Birthday" ok?" she asked.

Now, Len spoke (which was rather sharply). "Yes, just please get it out as quickly as possible."

The girl felt a chill go up her spine. "Umm..ok, sure. What flavor?"

"Chocolate."

"Vanilla."

Both Ryotaro and Len said at the same time (respectively). Now, the two looked at each other even more seethingly. "Chocolate?" Len said. "Chocolate is too heavy right now for a birthday cake. Besides, plenty of people hate chocolate."

To this, Ryotaro replied, "How can you be saying that when you chose such a dull flavor. Vanilla? Oh please, that's barely exciting enough for a party."

Although neither of the boys really had anything against the other flavor, each one bickered while thinking, I'm not letting this guy win!

The counter girl looked at the two back and forth and groaned as she saw a line of angry customers building up behind them. They're just lucky they're cute.

More Author's Notes: Ok, the last section was kind of inspired by this scene in Fruits Basket where Uo asked Yuki and Kyo what color the bathing suit for Tohru should be…I really just couldn't help myself! I had to put it in there!!! Chapter 4 should be coming…although I haven't started on it yet. However, it may be a little slow because I'm busy next week and I have to get ready for my trip to Shanghai and Singapore. But anyways, please review!