It's been a while, hasn't it? We're five years fresher, I think.

I sat in my room, just waiting around for 7 o'clock. It occurred to me upon leaving school that I didn't know Himeko's number so I could not call or text her. Good planning on my part. As much as I had wanted to march down the street and knock on her door, I didn't give in to the temptation. I had to at least try to behave myself around her.

But this was taking forever. I headed home around 5, and tried to find enough things to do while waiting for Azumi. I counted the maids, took a shower, glared at my mother when we crossed paths, and even tried to be kind when she went on about her excitement for the evening. Apparently, she deeply approved of Azumi coming over. I'm sure it looked like a sign of me coming around. She'd forgotten our fight from the day before, it seemed, but I didn't buy it.

I spun around in my desk chair at the same speed as the ceiling fan. Good Lord, I thought. This night is never going to end.

Himeko sat at the table surrounded by her parents. Kaede and Hana ate normally, while sharing stories about their day. The blonde pushed peas around on her plate absent mindedly, lazily staring off to the front door. She should just go right up to Chikane's house and apologize for her sudden jealousy. It had felt like a quick stab to the heart when she'd mentioned Azumi. It had only been two days at the Academy, but she'd seen the girl with shimmering white hair. The students flocked around her nearly as much as they did Chikane, and a part of Himeko hurt thinking the two princesses would be so close, however briefly. And to discuss poetry? She sighed. What could be more romantic?

Kaede noticed the dazed look on his daughter's face. He bent back his spoon and shot a pea that zoomed right past her nose. Himeko gasped and turned quickly to her dad. He was smiling big at her, his spoon bent backwards once more. She laughed. "No! No more! I give."

"You seemed like maybe you were in a dream!" Kaede dropped his spoon. "Are you waiting on a guest, perhaps?" He stood up quickly and craned his neck to see the front door. "Is Chikane on her way? She's always welcome to eat with us, you know! Any night she wants!" The sentiment made Himeko's heart leap.

"You haven't told us about your day yet," Hana smiled, gaining her daughter's attention.

"What about Chikane?" Kaede frowned.

Himeko sighed. "Well, she's a bit busy tonight, I'm afraid. I'm sorry I'm so distracted. She's working on a project tonight with this other girl... Azumi Yamura."

"Yamura?" Kaede sat back down and scratched his beard. "Yamura.. I know that name."

"Didn't you work with Isao Yamura in Tokyo? He is in good standing with the Himemiya family." Hana explained. "From what I recall, he and Roka were childhood friends. Their companies have partnered on many developments all over Japan. Their first work was the Himemiya mansion, actually."

Himeko was interested in the history, but groaned at the closeness of the families. Her father was not so high up on the ladder that he had ever been close to Roka. It seemed like one more thing that pushed Azumi into Chikane's life. Kaede noticed Himeko retreat back into her head.

"Don't think on it," He pointed his spoon at her. "It doesn't make a difference between the two of you."

"How can you tell?"

"It's in that girl's eyes, Himeko." He said seriously. "It's been a long time. A long, long time, and yet her eyes are still burning when she looks at you. There is nothing that can remove that kind of feeling. Especially not one night with the daughter of some businessman."

"When we decided to come back here, I'll admit I wondered what she'd be like after all this time," Hana started. "I wondered, 'what will time do to them'? It's done quite a lot, hasn't it? Just look at you now. My beautiful daughter." She reached out and brushed the hair from Himeko's eyes. She looked like she might cry. There was an unexplained sadness that flickered quickly and went out again. "Chikane... Well, she is just so happy you are back again."

Himeko beamed. She was starting to calm down and realize there was nothing to worry about. One night would go by, and in the morning they would see each other again. With relief finally flowing through her, she dug into her meal with gusto.

6:45. God, I hope she isn't fashionably sound of the front door opening alerted me. Fashionably early! I jumped over to my bedroom door and peeked through. Azumi, her mother, and the other wives of businessmen were being graciously welcomed by my mother, and the full line of maids. Azumi excused herself from the older women and made her way up the steps to my room. I opened the door even more and stepped out to welcome the girl in.

"Himemiya," She smiled. "I hope I'm not disturbing you by being so early."

"Oh no, not at all." If anything, I hope it will mean you're also early to leave. "Come on in. I have two chairs at my desk we can work at. Or there's also the library. It's up to you."

"Your room will be just fine," Azumi kept her grin, eyes lingering on me. I held the stare; I didn't want her to think she was making me ill, which she was.

"Yeah, okay. Well, in you go." I watched her nearly float into my room, hair being pushed back by imaginary wind. I'm sure Souma's punched a hole through a wall by now. All I could do was gather myself and close the door behind us.

We sat by the desk a good distance apart, reading from our separate books. I nudged my printout of the Yeats' poem over to her. "So I guess, you and I should just go on line by line and dissect this poem. Line one: 'When you are old and grey and full of sleep,' well I mean that's pretty obvious, we can skip that one.."

As time slowly passed, we got through the deconstruction and decided it was time to work on our own love poem. I noticed Azumi still furrowing her brow as she jotted down some lines then crossed them out. "If you're looking for inspiration, have you heard about how silky Souma Oogami's hair has become?"

She stopped for a moment, not looking up, and suddenly smiling to herself began writing fervently. I looked at the clock that now read 7:35. I could hear the gaggle of women laughing downstairs suddenly, and there was a knock at my door.

"Come in!" It was Otoha, here to rescue me.

"Excuse me, I have a message for Miss Yamura. Your mother has requested you come downstairs now, as she is getting ready to leave."

"So soon," Azumi mused, still writing her lines. With slow grace, she slipped her books and papers back into their cover and stood up. "I suppose it can't be helped. Pardon me, Miss Himemiya. Unfortunately we are out of time tonight. I did wish for us to collaborate a little more."

"Don't worry about it, Yamura. We've got most of what we needed anyway. Let's just work on our separate pieces for now and come together for the presentation tomorrow." I smiled at Otoha. "If you wouldn't mind escorting her downstairs now?"

"Of course, Miss. Please come this way." Azumi glanced at me once more through hooded-eyes.

"Good-bye, Miss Himemiya."

Finally alone, I could peep out the window and watch the limo drive away back to the Yamura's where it belonged. I looked across our massive yard to try and see Himeko's house. From where I stood, the house near it was blocking my view. It was unacceptable. I was still in my silly school uniform but decided to slip into more comfortable clothes to take a walk.

I managed to sneak out of my own home undetected by the remaining gawking mothers who all wanted me to marry their sons or daughters. Some I'm sure wanted me to marry both! From the street I could see the lights on in the Kurusugawa's home. Himeko had probably just taken a bath and was getting dressed for bed. I could feel my face go pink. I kept walking, half hoping she wouldn't open the door in a towel, and half hoping she would.

It's a difficult thing, walking. Sometimes you twist your foot, or step in something gross, and sometimes you just walk right into a huge yellow house while daydreaming about your potentially naked next door neighbor. Well, I'm sure that doesn't happen to most people, but it does to me. I'd made a beeline for Himeko's window and lost track of myself for a few seconds too long. She must have heard the sound of my skull cracking, because she opened up the curtains and found me outside. I took my hand off my aching cranium and waved to her, giving an embarrassed smile. She paused, staring so dreamily before opening the window.

"I thought you were learning how to become more graceful," She teased, motioning for me to come near. She was up a little higher than I was as she leaned out the window. "Did you get hurt?"

"Well I... I just bumped my head is all." I was blushing more as I noticed her hair was still a little wet. The steam from the shower wafted out, carrying that hot, strawberry smell with it. "It's okay though! Really. Next time I'll definitely knock with my hand." She smiled. She ran her fingers along my forehead and checked for a bruise.

"The house will appreciate that." She took her fingers to her lips and then back to my head. "Come inside for a while, if you'd like."

"I'd like very much."

Mai thought she heard the door shut minutes after the Yamuras had already gone. She called her favorite maid to her.

"Otoha, please find the source of that noise. All of my friends are here, and no one else should be coming or going."

"Of course." Otoha quickly made her way to the front door and looked out, spying a tall, blue haired girl bustling down the long driveway. It caused her distress to be so torn between her two mistresses. The elder Himemiya was her employer, surely, and she was scary enough alone, but Miss Chikane was, well, she was different. She was kind and gentle, always thinking and enduring. But Chikane always looked happy to see her, despite any pain and suffering she went through. She would ask Otoha to read to her as a child when her father was gone, and even now would invite her to sit for tea in the quiet of the library. It was difficult to choose between fear and love. If she lied, Mai would know about it, but she worried about her lady's temper after finding out the truth. She'd forbidden Chikane from seeing Miss Kurusugawa, and it was not normal for a child to object so matter-of-factly.

She watched for a few more seconds as Chikane turned the corner and went out of view. She sighed. It had to be done. She walked back to Mai slowly and leaned down to whisper that it had been Miss Chikane who'd left. She could see the darkness creep back into Mai and then the Lady went back to normal. She took a sip of her drink, and laughed at a joke she hadn't heard before turning to Otoha.

"We will speak about this another time, Otoha. Thank you."

"Y-You're very welcome, my Lady."

"YAHTZEE!" Kaede shouted, shooting up from his seat in victory. "THAT'S 50 POINTS! Himeko are you keeping track of this? I might finally beat your mother at something!"

"I don't know, Mom did get the large and small straight.. She's ahead those ten points." All three of us grinned up at him.

Kaede slumped. "Oh she's just so lucky, you know!"

"I've got the magic touch," Hana winked and gave the dice cup a shake. "As a child, my mother always said I was blessed."

I was trailing behind a little from everyone, and felt good to not have to win for once. Himeko was pressed in next to me on the loveseat in their living room. Her little peach sleep shorts stopped mid thigh. I tried to stop staring at the lucky schnauzers all over them. She'd caught me once as she went to hand me the dice. She chuckled and put the shaker in my hand. "Stay with us, sleepyhead."

"Come on, Chikane, together we can take Hana to the cleaners!"

"Please sit down, dear."

The time passed quickly now, and it was soon nearing 9:15. Kaede and I had certainly not taken Hana to the cleaners, but I could hear him jovially asking for a rematch as they left us.

"It's so nice to be here again," I smiled. She was so beautiful sitting there with her legs curled up underneath her, blonde hair falling over her shoulders. Oh God, like a painting. I should've asked to borrow her camera.

"Don't go just yet," She said. She reached forward and started plucking the pills from my sweatshirt. "I have to talk to you about something and it's not easy for me to say." Those amethyst eyes glanced up at me. "I haven't ever felt that way before, you know. To think of you with someone like that, to think of you..."

I tilted my head and smiled. She gave a short laugh. "Please don't look at me that way when you know what the truth is."

"It's not so bad to hear you say it like this," I admitted. I'd wanted to hear all of it for a very long time. Please, I'd practically dreamed the scenario. I had to remind myself I wasn't actually sleeping.

"I don't know what to do with jealousy. It's foreign to my body, and my heart." She'd drawn her fingers away from my sleeve and started tracing around my palm. I felt my ears get hot. "But when I look at you, Chikane, I can't help but feel all of these things. Is that all right to say? My heart races when you're near me."

"It's perfectly all right," I whispered, watching her fingers. It was unreal. Alone together in that quiet room, I wanted us to enjoy this moment. I wanted it to last forever, this beginning of a reality I never thought would be true. I raised my eyes to hers and she looked at me that way again, so very dreamy. I asked, "You will stay with me, won't you?"

She leaned in and rested against my chest. "For as long as you will love me."

"Then you'll always stay."

"You need to tell me all the finer details right now," Souma demanded as he snuck up on me. I jumped and he looked surprised.

"I wish you would figure out a better way to get my attention."

"What, you get mad when I yell and when I show off my stealth skills? I can't win with you I guess," He smirked. "But don't you stall, Himemiya! What was it like? Did she smell like vanilla? I always thought she might."

I laughed. "You're such a freak over it, Oogami! I wonder if I should tell you anything at all." He looked devastated. "You could wait to.. erm, smell her yourself this Friday at the ball."

"That's a long time to have to wait to smell someone..." He muttered. "See someone, I mean! And is it really this Friday? I haven't received my formal invitation yet."

"My mother is shirking her duties," I tsked. "We weren't supposed to have this ball for weeks, but all of a sudden she decided to change the date. She's a mysterious woman. I can't keep track of her."

"Maybe your father will show up?"

"It's possible, but unlikely. It would be nice, though. He'd keep her out of my way for sure."

He shook his finger at me. "No matter what, we're still infiltrating the kitchen and drowning ourselves in cakes."

"Oh, yeah, absolutely." I decided it was time to give him the strange story from last night's study session. I'd nearly put it out of my mind in place of the warm, fuzzy time I'd had with the real angel of my life. We found a small table to sit at and I began talking. "You see, she showed up kind of early. I did mention your hair to her..."

"No! I wasn't serious about that!" He interjected, looking mortified. I shrugged.

"Well we were writing love poems in this awkward silence, and after I mentioned you she started scribbling very quickly. That sounds like a great sign for you." Oogami looked all puffed up suddenly, like a proud rooster. He brushed his knuckles against one shoulder.

"Ha, what did I say, Chikane! You laughed then but now I'm sure you see the errors of that! What else happened? Did you read what she wrote? Don't keep it a secret!"

I waved my hands in surrender. "That's all, I'm sorry! She left nearly right after that and stared at me. Ask her to dance this Friday; I'm sure she'll agree. You're the Prince of this Academy after all."

"I'll make sure to dust off my crown."

"Oh, it's masquerade now too. A nice change. We might be able to sneak out of the party unnoticd, without anyone asking me to dance."

Oogami had opened his lunch box already and started in on his sandwich. Not stopping to swallow he said, "You don't want to dance with Kurusugawa?" The blush came back to my face.

"That's different!"

"Mhmm." He grinned. "Under a mask, with no one to recognize either of you, I'm sure you could enjoy the whole evening together." Didn't it sound like heaven? "Didn't think of that, did you? Maybe I'll be in the kitchen alone this Friday night."

Isn't this all happening so fast? Doesn't anyone want to know why they had gone, and how I knew her? I was afraid to ask, myself. But ten years went out the window to everyone. To Oogami, to Kaede and Hana, and even Himeko. I wasn't making it any better. I didn't want to fall through my own cloud. I would dance with her, of course I would, but I also had to ask her once and for all.

She had a phone, didn't she? My number hadn't changed. My address hadn't, either. And now everyone seemed so relieved... For me? Did everyone know something I didn't? It didn't take Souma long to get on board with this new side of me, this caring side. He embraced it easily as if he knew it was coming. But that's ridiculous, isn't it? A job ended, and they came back here. It can take a long time to get a development finished. It's possible it could take ten years, with all that red tape.

Even my own mother seemed more angry than surprised. Someone had to know what was going on. I vowed to talk to her right then, swearing to myself that I absolutely had to, no matter what. If the cloud bursts, the cloud bursts. I deserved the truth.

"Himemiya? Still on this planet with me?"