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The following references have been used in the making of this fiction and are subject to modification as necessary at any time as deemed by the author and/or administration of this site. These references may or may not be copyrighted. Credit is given both to the creators and publishers of these references: Mahou Sensei Negima; Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja; Onegai Sensei; Winter Sonata; Love Hina; The .hack// Universe


"That's not it..."

He strummed it out again, biting his lip when he found he still did not like it. He tried it again. The beautiful hum of vibrating strings filled the hollow storage house, bouncing off of rusty steel girders and ricocheting off of metal walls. Abruptly the music stopped, and the sound of a chord distorted itself.

"I don't get what's wrong with it," Karin looked up from her studies, "I like it. What's the problem?" Sado strummed out the tune again, stopping at the sixth note, "Right there... I don't like it." He played it several times more before stopping to adjust his guitar again.

"Okay, now it's getting annoying..."

She sat upright and let her legs dangle over the edge of the stairs, setting her book down on one of the steps and jumping almost two stories down to the base floor where Sado was. "Play it one more time," she demanded. She then closed her eyes, listening to the melody as he played it through. It was relaxing, surreal almost. As she took in each and every chord, felt each riff through her fingertips, she noticed Sado had stopped playing. Opening one eye, she tilted her head to one side, "So what's wrong with it?"

"It just doesn't have that feel I want..."

"What kind of feel do you want?"

"Something... happy."

Karin felt a vein rise in her forehead, "Well... I think that fills the happiness department pretty well." "No," Sado shook his head, bending over his guitar, "It doesn't feel right... Here, listen." He made another adjustment to his guitar before playing it again. The abandoned warehouse echoed a sort of sadness. Now she heard it... but it wasn't any different from before.

"It's sour..." she stared at him thoughtfully, "I like it." "Sour?"the man failed to pick up on the adjective. "Well... y-you know!" she stopped, realizing that she herself didn't really know how to describe it.

"Here, put a lemon in your mouth."

"Lemon?" Sado raised both eyebrows, looking up at her as she kicked the stairs, rattling them enough to drop her bag into her arms. From the bag she produced a lemon slice, popping it into his mouth. All this happened too quickly for him to realize what was going on. Hey... He felt his fingers draw towards the strings. She's right.

Judging from his expression, she guessed she'd been correct. Beaming, she asked him to play it again. This is nice... She sighed happily. They were alone here, with no one to disturb them. It was nice to have some alone time with Sado. Never was there a dull moment with him, and even rarer were moments were she could not smile at his easygoing attitude.

"Still, people wouldn't like a song like this..." Sado frowned slightly, letting the last strings fall still. "Then play it anyway," Karin shook her head, as if scolding, "It sounds nice after all. Why not?" The earthiness of his happy chuckle raised her heartbeat, "Well, then people wouldn't like me." Her cheeks grew red as she bent forward. Well... it was now or never, she supposed.

"Even if other people don't like you, I like you..." A pause... She kissed his forehead and stared at the floor.

"K-Karin..."

A long silence...

She felt dizzy. Still no response? She expected him to at least get angry. Without warning, he stood up.

"...!"

She felt it. Looking up, she could felt something explode far off in the distance.


"Ichigo?" Tatsuki stood up just as soon as he did. He grasped the railings of the restaurant balcony and leaned forward, scanning the horizon for as far as his eye could see. Impossible...! Here...?! There was just no way. Something of that immensity couldn't possibly be here. He looked to Tatsuki, whose clueless expression told him she knew nothing. Best not to start a panic. First priority: get Tatsuki home safely.

"We should go," he said brusquely, calling a waiter's attention. "Hey, wait a minute," Tatsuki opened her mouth to protest. "Now," he didn't even turn around, but had addressed her before she could even say a word. Something about his tone of voice sent a chill up her spine. Something was definitely wrong. She watched him hurriedly gather their food into boxes and place a sum of money in the blue envelope placed elegantly upon their table. Then he turned to Tatsuki, "I'm dropping you off at home. Make sure you don't leave it until I contact you."

"Why?!" she had to say something. What he was doing was absolutely absurd. For seemingly no reason at all, he was calling the curtains on a perfectly lovely evening. She'd been enjoying herself up until now. "Answer me, Ichigo," she demanded, her hands firmly on his collar, "What could be happening right now that is so urgent?" By now, everyone in the restaurant was looking at them. This was, after all, a more well-known place.

"I..." Ichigo tried to explain, but fell short of words. Lamely he turned his head to the side, as if ashamed. She can't know... It would put her in a world of trouble... One side of his conscience was speaking to him. The other one fired back, But she has to know eventually. It's not like she won't find out if you don't tell her... Tatsuki's glare wasn't helping much.

"Are you keeping secrets from me?" she demanded softly, her eyes trying to see beyond that misty abyss.

"No..."

"I know you're lying..." she twisted him so that he was looking at her face. But Ichigo merely rolled his head in the other direction. She grimaced, utterly shocked at this complete change in demeanor, "Lovers don't keep secrets right?" Ichigo looked up, his face tense, his expression full of guilt. She felt her chest pang seeing it.

After a long silence, he took her wrist and eased it away, sighing, "I did plan to tell you eventually... I just didn't think you'd have to know so soon." Tatsuki narrowed her eyes. He walked out onto the street, waiting for his companion to step through the doorway. As she sidled close to his shoulder he murmured quietly,

"Please... for my sake, stay home until I give you a call. Okay?"

His voice cracked as he said it. Another pang. It seemed he could not look her in the face. In silence, she could only nod and hurry after him as he dashed for the train station.