Yukio had slowly stood up from the couch too and was now right behind me. I felt him turn me around by slightly pulling my right shoulder with his hand.

When I faced him, he had gently picked up my left hand from where it was at my side in response to what I did earlier and held it softly in the middle of on his palm. He then moved to look at me directly, completely facing me.

I met his green eyes and noticed how it felt different in the way he was looking at me, with such an expression that I couldn't read right away.

"No, don't be sorry Misa. It's fine." He spoke softly.

I felt my face heat up as I looked at him, who was giving me a warm smile in return.

"Would it be okay if I do this?" Yukio asked me.

He held my right hand with his left and had carefully brushed a loose strand of my hair back in place with his right. I nodded an okay to him in order to say a clear yes.

Yukio then had suddenly paused as if he was thinking on doing something or not and put his right hand down back at his side.

"Listen... There's been s- something on my mind and... It's a- about... I want to... To j- just say... Uh..."

Yukio stuttered in his words but had stopped halfway looking nervous.

"What happened? Is something wrong?" I asked.

I was confused at what was going on, including the way he stood there unable to talk clearly, stumbling over his words. From what I've always been used to, it just wasn't like him to lose his cool so easily. Seeing him like this was something new to me.

"I really hope not." He shook his head saying.

"Then why-"

He had slowly and gently picked up to move my left hand right over his chest and I was able to feel his quickened heartbeat as if he just finished running an intense mile or two. He tried to talk but just like before, he couldn't get the words that he had wanted out clearly at all.

"This is what you... What only you... Do to me and... And I... I..." Yukio spoke but stopped himself there short on his words.

He placed his left hand from holding on my wrist to over my own where it was on his chest and he had pressed it gently. He finally made direct eye contact with me again.

"I don't think I'll be able to say it... But you might understand... If you'd allow me to show you. Misa? Would that be okay with you?"

Again I simply nodded, not really knowing what I should do otherwise or what to say to him.

Blushing, I wondered what it was he meant by everything since he started talking like this and the moment made me feel nervous the same like he was, with a racing heart, in this kind of atmosphere.

"There's no going back now." He said more to himself, thinking out loud.

He hesitated and then sighed before taking a step closer towards me and put his right hand on my lower back which made me gasp at this sudden contact. I looked up at him and was able to see his face up so close for what feels like the first time and I saw his very reddened cheeks. Even I had felt my own face get hot with a blush, being like this.

"Yukio?" I asked wondering what this all meant.

"Stop me at anytime, I'll understand." Was the single reply he gave me.

He lowered the tone of his voice when he said that and then slowly pulled me more towards him that we had no gap between us. At this point I understood what he meant by his actions and behavior and my eyes had widened in that shock. There was only one thing that this had all meant, and that was the only explanation that I had been able to conclude in my head.

He leaned his face in more and his eyes were slowly closing. I was able to feel his breath on my face at how close he was to me. I shut my eyes slowly too as he did and moved myself to lean in as well.

I had no idea what to think or even what words to speak as we stood there in our own world and let the moment continue on.

In the back of my mind I was thinking how I might just wake up at any time now, that this was too unreal for me: How him and I had ended up like this after so long.

...Here was the exorcist that once upon a time I met years ago. He was skinny and even the same height as myself at that time. Yet somewhere along the line in growing up, he became noticeably taller than at what I stood and with his line of work had even gained more muscle on him making him look more mature.

Here was the person that I realized I had come to grow feelings for the more time I had spent with him over the years...

In front of me, Yukio paused for a moment, he made himself stop just in case I was going to push him away in any second and waited there for a few moments.

When I didn't make any movement to separate myself away from him, Yukio leaned in even more towards me to completely close the gap between us.

In the moment when I felt his kiss, when our lips first made contact, it was such a thing that I've never ever think to exist, or ever to have experienced beforehand in my life. Strong emotions were growing inside of me and were all so overwhelming to feel. All at the same time, the butterflies in my stomach flew about in a rush of crazy fluttering.

My free right hand moved to hold on to Yukio's upper left arm sleeve of his yellow sweater while he gripped my other hand slightly tighter in a hold still over his chest where I felt his heart beating even more strongly than before.

I felt his arm on my upper back move to grab my hip slightly. My left hand had gripped on to the front of his shirt where it was held on his chest with his hand still over it on a hold.

After staying in the moment with our lips connected, both of us had backed off slightly to face each other breathing fast from the fresh new experience. The first who broke the silence was myself after a few seconds later, facing downwards unable to make any eye contact yet.

"...I had no idea..." I whispered in my surprise thinking out loud because I had no other words I could think of at that moment.

"Misaki, I was just-"

I shook my head just when I started to hear how he was about to apologize and held onto him gently when I felt him start to move away, so he stayed to listen to what I had to say. I made myself move my face up, to look to see him directly and tell him what I really wanted to say to him.

"I had no idea... No idea that you felt the same way I did. That's what I wanted to tell you." I finished saying in a much more clearer voice.

His eyes widened at that and I smiled up at him, feeling truly happy at the moment. Yukio then moved both his arms around me in a hug and held me close, my head on his chest and both of my arms moved to wrap around his waist.

"Did this just really happen? Or am I in one of those really vivid, really realistic kind of dreams?" He asked in disbelief to nobody in particular.

"What makes you say so?... Actually, I'd like to ask the same thing myself." I asked but mumbled the last part not realizing that he had heard that too.

I heard him sigh slightly before responding to my question.

"Honestly? I had thought that you'd stop to tell me how you liked Suguro from the Cram School or even my older brother... But no, not me."

I heard these inner worries of his and held Yukio slightly tighter before I answered him back.

"It's because you're you, Yukio, that I had these feelings for you this whole time. You're not like anybody else I've met, you're just... Different. But I mean the good kind of different you see." I said against his chest.

"What do you mean by saying 'Whole time' there?" Yukio asked, noticing my choice of words.

I pulled away a bit to face him as we still stood in the middle of the room. I forced myself to admit the thoughts that occasionally came up from time to time in myself.

"Uh... You see... I... Um... Well, thinking that you probably liked Izumo... Possibly Shiemi from the Cram School too... Or maybe even another female classmate of yours, I kept quiet about it all, about anything that I wanted to let you know about, which was... This kind of thing." I finally told him, still feeling slightly embarrassed as I did and looked away again.

I heard Yukio chuckle and hearing that made me look back up at him.

"If you were thinking that, are you telling me this because that means you... Were you jealous?" He asked with a small grin which made me look away from his gaze facing downwards.

"Misa? Please, don't hide your face." Yukio asked as he gently pulled my chin up with one if his hands.

When I didn't answer right away what he asked me, he smiled even more. His green eyes looked deep into my brown and I felt my face get hot in a deeper blush, if that was even possible by now.

"Don't make me say it out loud, it makes me feel embarrassed... Weren't you the same?" I asked in return.

Yukio's eyes widened at this sudden turn of the tables and turned away to start looking at the ceiling away from my gaze stammering over his words, mumbling as he admitted his thoughts.

"...W- Well I couldn't help it... Sometimes... Sometimes I even saw how well you and Rin got along that... I just..." Yukio started.

Yukio spoke fast as he talked and trailed off realizing how he was rambling his sentences on. I giggled a little, being happy how in truth we were feeling the same kind of things.

"For one thing is that we were the same age but you were a higher ranking exorcist already. It had kind of impressed me when I first heard if it... Then how you've been so kind to me too. From that, I had started to admire you actually. As more time passed, and I got to know you better, it all grew into something much more." I admitted.

"Here you were this shy young girl who couldn't even open herself up with the people around her. Over time, you had grown into this kind and outgoing type of person right before my very eyes... I can't even tell you when it started that I began thinking about you. Meaning, that I can't say exactly when it was that I started to think of wanting to get to know you better or wanting to spend some more time with you. I just happened, and I didn't notice." Yukio told me.

Not knowing what to say to that but smile at his words, he kept talking to me.

"Wow... So does that mean we've been...? Then it was both the same?" Yukio asked in his realization.

"It seems so." I grinned understanding what he meant.

After a second in silence, Yukio took a second before continuing on.

"Then I guess it at least could be way easier to ask of this next thing," Yukio took a quick breath and released it before continuing, "I want to ask, if you would let me... If I may be lucky enough to call you my... For you Misaki, to be my girlfriend?"

I took a second to let those words sink in fully and then I smiled brightly up to him.

"Yes... Yukio, I would love for that to be so."

He sighed out in relief like if he was holding his breath and saw him relax from how tense he was when he asked that. He hugged me closer again like we were before. I realized how safe it was to be in his arms like this. How natural it felt to be around him. This kind of moment was the best kind, when I was by he side.

"Yukio?" I started to ask about a minute later.

Yukio moved to look at me and placed his left hand on the side of my face.

"Yes, what is it?" He asked me as he passed a thumb across the side of my cheek.

"Is it okay if this time I do this?"

I moved one of my hands to pull on the lower back of his neck to bring him slightly closer towards me and leaned in, and when he understood what I meant again we kissed. His hand on my back moved me towards him gently.

After a few seconds had passed being like that, we both pulled away again.

"Misa, you don't have to ask your boyfriend that now." He said while stroking on my face with both of his hands on each side gently.

To hear those words sounded so right to us and finally made us realize that the moment was real. He leaned close to my ear as he hugged me.

"I still can't picture anybody else in my future than you. I could only want you to stay by my side." He whispered still holding me.

All of a sudden, behind us, there was a loud clatter of something that fell. We jumped in surprise and we saw that from the corner of the room that, what was knocked over were a few books that were stacked high on the side lamp table. Kuro had looked up at us bowing her head down as if to saying a sorry then left.

Since when has Kuro been there?! How long? Were we really so caught up in the moment?

With that surprise, I even took notice of the clear window that now showed a darkening night sky. I gasped in realizing how long I had been here in this old boys dorm. I looked up at Yukio.

"I didn't realize how much time had passed! I should have been back at my dorm a while ago by now." I said hurriedly realizing that I was past school curfew.

Yukio understood what I meant and his eyes widened.

"I should have been paying attention Misa!" Yukio said in an apologetic tone.

I then froze in my panic when I realized something and giggled a little which made Yukio turn his head confused at me.

"If you get caught walking around these hours past the curfew by a teacher, you're sure to be in trouble so what's funny about that?" He asked me.

"Well maybe... Maybe Mr. Okumura can make sure I don't get trouble?" I suggested.

He raised an eyebrow realizing where I was getting at. He sighed in defeat when I insisted how it was okay just to walk around after hours if to get back to my dorm. If he's there, it'll be alright, especially him being a trusted exorcist.

"I see what you mean," he said chuckling, "Misa, it's okay for now but it can't be a usual thing or we'll both be in trouble." Yukio said, using his teacher tone.

"Understood teacher!" I said with a short salute and he smiled at that.

On the way out if the door he turned around to face me who still stood there.

"Are you coming along?" He asked me holding out one hand which I took.

I nodded and followed him out the door where he then took me to my building not too far now, us holding hands along the way without having run into anybody. Not speaking much as we walked to my dorms, it felt calm just to be with each other and enjoy the other one's presence. We said our goodbyes at my destination.

"See you tomorrow Yukio?" I asked before heading inside the entrance door.

"Yes, of course." He said smiling.

We waved farewell to each other and Yukio continued on to his dorms walking back.

When the door shut behind me and I made it through the hallways of the building, it just all felt so unreal to me how the day had gone by.

After walking up the flight of stairs to get back to the hallway I needed to find, I took a sharp right when reaching the door that I was looking for. Trying to be as quiet as I can be, it was already late in the day and I didn't want to wake up my roommate Ami unnecessarily.

Turning the door knob as carefully as I can, I slipped through the door that I had pushed open only so much, to reduce any noises as little as I could. It was dark in the dorm room and I surmised that Ami already was in bed.

Locking the door behind me as best as I could, suddenly I saw that light had filled the room.

"What do you think you're trying? To sneak in here like nothing? I've been worried sick! Misaki, where were you?" Said an irritated voice.

The surprise of Ami having been waiting for me had scared me and I had nearly reached the ceiling, still trying to not wake the dorm neighbors with my sudden short yell of shock.

"Oh! It's you Ami! Having trouble getting some sleep? What are you doing up?" I said hurridely, trying to get past her questions after recovering.

Standing up from the futon that was on the far side of our room, Ami made her way towards me and pointed an accusing finger at me.

"Don't you avoid my questions! I tried texting you a few times to ask where you were at, yet of all days, you just had to leave cellphone here? Now, why are you back so late?... Tell me, is something wrong?"

I took a step back from her and waved my hands in front of me.

"No, nothing's wrong! I'm okay, I promise." I said with a grin.

She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. Looking up at me, she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I was literally going to head for the Headmaster if you still didn't arrive here in ten minutes to call in for a search in case my best friend had been kidnapped by a demon... But you're all here in one piece, and in the best of moods I see." She reached out to me and put a hand on my shoulder before finishing. "You've just been so out of it lately, especially from all the stress that your normal classes are giving you for midterms that I was worried if demons had been the case."

"Ami, I'm sorry for worrying you so much. I promise that everything is okay now. C'mon, let's get some hot chocolate and sit down. It's been a long day for me." I suggested.

"Okay! Sounds good." Ami agreed.

It didn't take long for Ami to make the drinks and I had showered quickly in order to change into pajamas for the night.

Putting my hair up in a ponytail, I walked out of the bathroom to sit down on the futon right next who Ami who had waited for me and had handed me my cup. I thanked her and she wasted no time wanting to hear what I had to say.

"Talk." She said before taking a sip from her cup.

Smiling how straightforward this girl was, it made me remember how quick she was to literally ordering us being good friends when I first walked through the door when school started. I was really shy around new people at first but because of how much of an outgoing person she was, I was able to open up and be more of an outgoing and a funny person myself.

"Well, I had to study so I wanted to find a nice and quiet place." I started.

"So you mean to tell me that you've just been studying all day? Where? On the moon? Cause when I came back from lunch, you still haven't made your way back here! What were you studying? Rocket science?" Ami asked sarcastically.

"I've actually been thinking about maybe looking over the other Meisters to see if I could earn a second one in the future. Once I become a fully qualified Aria, I want to be able to do something else to help, but that's still just a thought. I haven't really decided on anything yet really." I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

I took another long sip from my drink and Ami sat there just thinking to herself.

"If you say it like that... Oh! Then does that mean that you were with Mr. Okumura? ALL day?" She asked me with a smirk which almost made me choke to death on my drink in surprise.

"Is that true?! No way! You had "Private" tutoring lessons with our teacher?! Why didn't you just tell me?!" Ami gasped in surprise.

"Don't say it like that!" I told her and felt my face getting red. "It wasn't like that... But then agai-" I tried to say but Ami in her excitement had interrupted me.

"You did, didn't you?! When's the wedding you love birds?" Ami joked.

When I didn't answer her right away, she put her empty cup down on the side table right next to the bright lamp that currently lit the entire room.

"Is that what happened?! Misaki! Tell me!" Ami questioned as she grabbed on to my shoulders and started to shake me.

"Hey! Don't break the cups!" Realizing what she meant I quickly corrected her. "That isn't what happened I swear! He's 16 and I'm only 15! Plus, I don't have any plans for those kinds of things until I'm good and married."

Ami sat back down to her side of the futon and seemed deflated somewhat.

"Ah, bummer. So you really did stay and study. No wonder you've been so stressed, you need to take a breather."

Placing my now fully empty cup down on the coffee table that laid in from of the small futon where we sat, I scratched the back of my head and slightly sighed before I started to tell her about the rest of my day.

"Well, Yukio has been so busy lately so he wasn't really tutoring anyone today. I was just really there to read on some stuff to study for because you know he's an exorcist and he has good books. Then... Some things happened."

"So you did?!" Ami joked again.

"No way!... Well, Yukio and I had talked to Rin on some very deep stuff. It was all on how much he had been slacking in the class, so now at least he's going to be working as he should be..."

"That's great! Really?!" Ami asked but then froze when she took notice on my lack of words.

"Misaki? Is there more?" She asked.

I felt my face start to blush again as she stared at me awaiting my reply.

"Uh... Don't get mad at me. But-"

"Hmph, that's gotta be the one way I start to get mad. What happened?" She asked in a more serious tone and I took a second to answer back.

"Good thing that Yukio is a Doctor, am I right?" I said indirectly.

"What happened? Are you saying you're sick? Are you okay?" Ami asked me worriedly.

"Not exactly sick, but thanks for asking Ami. I'm doing better. Way better." I assured her.

She relaxed in her relief when she heard this knowing that I was really alright now.

"Okay then, go on." She urged me, not being able to keep under the suspense.

"After that whole discussion with Rin, after Yukio and I sat somewhere else in the dorms for Rin to work quietly on his homework, it got really deep between me and Yukio. I know that he isn't really the type to really talk about himself, so it made me really happy to just know that he trusts me to that extent."

"You've always been so close those twins for many years now, haven't you?" Ami asked with a smile.

I thought to myself realizing how true that was. It was almost like we three had grown up with each other. There was a gap of three years, but when I was enrolled in True Cross Academy, we reunited. It was as if what was meant to be will always find a way.

"Yes, I suppose so. The thing is, really only you knew how I felt about Yukio, but more like guessed on point and bluntly asked after but... Yukio and myself, we've felt the same it seems." I said with a big smile.

Jumping up from her seat, Ami had to hold in her surprised scream and I was nodding at her jumbled up questions to confirm her realization of my words.

"Say WHAT?!... Really?! Are you serious?!... Are you telling me that you an him are... Oh my goodness! My little Misaki is growing up!" Ami said while hugging me happily.

"Don't wake our neighbors Saikya and Yuhima! They'll report us for being too loud after hours!... But yes, that's what I'm telling you. He asked me to be his girlfriend and I thought that I was dreaming I swear. But it turned out to be true, and I haven't felt this happy in a while, if not just never for real before now."

Ami backed of when she saw my expression.

"What? Something wrong?" I asked her when she froze and then snapped out of it.

"It just surprised me. It really is true, in my two years here as your roommate, I've never seen you glow this much before... If that's what love is, it's written all over your face Misaki." Ami said a bit stunned.

I jumped at her words and I felt my face blush.

"Me? In love?" I asked more to myself.

"Oh please, of course it's that! You always speak so highly of him and you have mentioned how cool he is, don't deny it now."

I sat there for a minute and thought it over. My eyes had widened knowing that her words are true. My heart beat rapidly again and thought about him, it really was as she said...

I fell in love with Yukio Okumura.

"Hello? Earth to Misaki Kasumi?" Ami said while snapping her fingers in front of me to get my attention.

"Y- yes?!" I asked, taken out of my thoughts.

"I've only seen that kind of look on someone once, when I was really young though. I was a child back then, but I still understood that the look my mom gave my father was something not short from true love. Ever since that time, I've wanted that kind of thing for myself in my own life one day because I thought of how beautiful it was. Still no luck yet, but I have hope. I was able to see it again just now so I know now that I wasn't just imagining it back then either."

"Ami... I do. I love Yukio, and it's something that feels so real. Is it okay to say that I'm in love someone so much when I'm still so young?" I asked.

"I will stand up for you two against the world should I have to if they tell you it's not what you know it is. It looks to be way beyond than just a crush and you're lucky, no blessed, to have found somebody like that to have by your side."

Hearing her words, I scooted closer to Ami and hugged her really close.

"Thank you. That's great to hear. You're just the best Ami!" I told her as she hugged me back.

"Of course I am! I'm not known as "Awesomemazing Ami" for nothing you know!" She answered after letting me go to give me a big thumbs up.

"But nobody calls you that." I said after laughing with her.

"Eh, it'll catch on if I say it enough times, maybe." She said with a shrug.

Standing up from the futon after picking up both of our cups to proceed into washing them off in the sink, I turned around to Ami who had also stood up.

"I couldn't have ever found a better roommate than you, I'm glad... And I could have made a better bestfriend."

Ami looked up at me in surprise, after that then grinned big.

"I'm always here for you, don't you forget that. Plus, I'll still be wanting to be at that wedding of yours in the future, you hear?"

"Who else would liven up the party like you? You're invited for sure! Nobody else can turn up a place like you can. Just be sure to invite me to yours and Bon's!" I added in.

I heard her gasp in shock.

"What?! But how did you?... I didn't say!... Am I that obvious?" She finally asked in defeat.

Rinsing out the cups and placing them away in the cabinets after drying, I turned around to face her and nodded.

"I've seen the way that you look at him. You say that I can't fool you means the same for you too, how you can't fool me. He's not a bad guy and you've had your eye on him for a while. If you ask me, he might feel the same way, like what happened with me just today. You're a Tamer with your strong demon Honshou Wolf and with him being an Aria and Dragoon, an exorcist team like that can work quite well."

"But what if that's not true and maybe he already likes somebody else?" Ami asked me, slightly worried.

"Then you got your feelings through to him and you won't live in asking yourself for the rest of your like if he ever felt the same about you or not. It does sound easier said than done, but I woke up this morning not knowing that Yukio felt the same as I have too and so I can go to sleep right now at this moment looking forward to the next day knowing that I got my answer and that we'll be together from now on. It's a critical time to confess but it's all worth it in the end. If it's meant to be then you'll have the chance to be. Sometimes in life, you just have to take a risk, all because you only get to live once so you just need to make the most of it." I explained to her.

"Girl! Saying it like that, it makes me feel like I can just walk out that door and tell him!" Ami said with a laugh.

"What's stopping you?" I asked her sarcastically.

"For starters, just like you now said, you could go to sleep right now. Seriously, you've been out all day, you need some rest." Ami had remembered.

"Fine, you got me." I said with my hands up like in a surrender.

"It's well past midnight, how'd you even get back here without getting in trouble for being out so late on campus?" Ami questioned.

"I was just lucky to not have ran into anybody on the way back here... Plus, I asked if, you know, 'Mr. Okumura' could escort me back to my dorms. No biggie." I said with a wink after turning around to jump under the covers of my bed.

"No way! I just remembered! You're a sly fox, you're dating our teacher now!... Hmm, say, could you slide me the answers of the next exam? Studying is too much work and it's taking up my watching tv time." She added as a joke, now also having climbed into her bed across the room and already turned off the light.

"Nope! Study! I don't like it either, but it's a must." I said in the darkness which resulted in Ami giggling softly.

"Ami?" I started to ask.

"Yes?"

"Should I tell Bon that you want some private tutoring lessons?" I asked sarcastically which resulted in a pillow hitting my back.

"BLAH!" She answered.

I laughed and heard her laugh too after that.

"I didn't hear a no, so I should ask him?" I asked sarcastically again.

"Maybe I will?" Ami seemed to be asking more to herself.

After a moment of complete silence, I opened my eyes and said the last thing for the day.

"Good night, Awesomemazing Ami." I said.

"Good morning you mean? It's still past midnight. Okay, just kidding, you too, sleep well girly... And could you give me back my pillow? I need it, but it's too far."

Sitting up to pick the pillow off of the floor, I threw it back to Ami and laid back down under my solid blue covers.

"Ouch!... Thank you, Misaki. 'Night."

It didn't take long for sleep to take me over and I drifted away into a comfortable dream world.