"At the end of the day, when it comes down to it,

all we really want is to be close to somebody."

Homework done, and breakfast over with. Sakuno patiently waited at the front door, she already had her black shoes on, all she needed to do is wait for someone to finally be ready to leave for his first day of school. It had been four days since Ryoma had come to Japan, and finally he was going to go to school leaving his cute Himalayan cat back home. It took Sakuno a day to notice that the Himalayan cat and Ryoma were really close.

Speaking of the Himalayan cat.

Karupin walked it's way towards the Ryuzaki girl, mewing as it walked. Bending down, Sakuno scratched the back of it's ear. She received a small purr while doing so. She let out a soft giggle.

"Let's go," came a boys voice interrupting the small bonding between Sakuno and Karupin. Slipping his shoes on, Ryoma gave the cat a stare, then left outside leaving Sakuno to follow behind him. Walking down the stairs, and heading to where the bus stop was at the two teenagers waited. There was silence as the two of them awaited for the bus. Sakuno tugged her long sleeve, she wanted to make a conversation, but of what?

"R-Ryoma-kun … are you excited t-to go to school…?"

A shrug. "Not really."

"O-Oh…"

Sakuno bit her bottom lip, she was really bad at making conversations. Long time ago it would be easy talking to Ryoma, but as years passed by it seemed like she was starting new with him again. She shifted her feet, she would try once again.

"W-What elective might you w-want to take?"

"Not sure."

"O-Oh…"

Failure.

This morning was going to be a very awkward one. She only hoped that somebody up there in the heavens would help her out in this situation.

"Yeah, she's one of those girls who was walking with the tennis regulars!"

"Really? But she's just a freshman…"

"Isn't she the one who was walking with the new guy in our class?"

"I think you're right!"

Sakuno hurried up to the elective class that was going to start in less than a minute. Whispers and more whispers could be heard from certain girls from the hallways. It was bothering her ever since she began to hear them. Some of the whispers contained amusement, yet there were some that were filled with hissing of jealousy. Finally arriving the room that was labeled the music room, she opened it and scanned the area.

Why did she pick music class as her elective and not home ed?

It was all due to the small argument between Tomoka and Ann two or so days ago. She had blurted the comment of joining the music elective just to stop the two of them from making a small argument into a bigger one. Nothing could be done now.

Noticing that this elective class was small, she sat next to an older classmate who was carefully reading a music book. She took some glances here and there, trying not to disturb her older classmate. Soon she was attacked by a random hug that was given to her.

"Ryuzaki-chan!"

Sakuno turned her head to face the acrobatic tennis player, who was grinning madly. Her face flushed pink at the closeness between the two. Sure she may know her senpai, Kikumaru Eiji, but she didn't personally know him very well. The closeness that he gave was very awkward, since she was never really so close to any of the tennis regulars before. He probably only knew her as the cheerleader of the Seigaku tennis team back in his last year of junior high.

"G-Good afternoon Ki-Kikamaru-senpai…" she stuttered out, she noticed that the older classmate that she sat next to was gone.

"Hoi! Eiji is fine you know."

"O-Oh right…"

"Eeh? You're taking music nyaa?" he questioned tilting his head as he had let go of Sakuno. He saw her timid nod, and his lips turned into a smile. "That's great! I bet you'll love this class as much as I do!"

"Y-You like music senpai?"

"Hm!" he nodded never leaving that energetic smile he had on.

"Alright students sit in any random seat," came a male voice as he entered the classroom, shutting the door behind him. Eiji had taken the seat of the random older classmate who had disappeared. Soon the music lessons began.

"Eh?! You have Kikumaru-senpai in your music class?" cried out Tomoka as the three friends walked to the lunch line.

"Well we had Kawamura-senpai in our class," stated Ann, getting in line between Tomoka and Sakuno.

"Really?" questioned Sakuno getting out a few yen to pay for lunch. The three friends had decided to buy lunch today since it was Thursday's special: Gyudon.

"Yeah Kawamura-senpai decided to take the class just to learn one lesson…" said Ann as her left eye had twitched.

"Making proper motherly sushi," finished Tomoka not really surprised of the answer.

Sakuno giggled, and finally paid for her lunch receiving a container filled with beef on top of rice. Thanking the lady who had given her lunch, she waited for her friends to pay. Once the three of them had their Gyudon, they walked outside and sat themselves near a tree that would be giving them shade. Tomoka had brought a small blanket so that they wouldn't sit on the dirty ground. The three opened their lunches, and gave their graces.

"Oh yeah, Echizen is in your class isn't he?" questioned Ann taking a bite of her beef.

Tomoka frowned setting aside her lunch as Sakuno pulled out three bottles of water for them to drink. Sakuno noticed the small frown on her good friend, and she began to worry that something wrong might have happened to Ryoma.

"I was so excited when Ryoma-sama came back, and I was thinking of starting the Ryoma-sama's fan club again…"

Ann's blue eyes turned to Sakuno. "Fan…club?"

"Um… it's a long story," was all what Sakuno said waving off the topic.

"Anyway, the girls in my class are so full of themselves, they already started the Ryoma-sama fan club without me! I was the previous president! Such jerks!"

The other two girls just listened to their friend rant about how the girls in her class were so mean and deceiving. The subject changed into another topic like what they were going to do over the weekend together, or what school activities there will be in the year. They finished their meal and drinks, right when the school bell had rang. Throwing away the trash, and folding the blanket, the three girls hurried to their classrooms.

"Echizen-san!"

"Echizen-sama!"

They stopped as they noticed a group of girls (mostly from Tomoka and Ryoma's class) cry with glee as the new foreign student walked towards his classroom. Sakuno frowned as she noticed the small cold look he had on his face. This morning it was just … neutral. She somehow knew that the boy was annoyed by the random squealing coming from the girls surrounding him.

Rolling up her jacket sleeve, Tomoka was ready to get those fangirls away from Ryoma. Turning to her friends she nodded. "Alright guys, see you after school at the front gate."

Ann sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to save Ryoma-sama," came the simple reply.

Ann mentally slapped herself, and looked at Sakuno. "Tell me she's kidding…"

Sakuno shook her head and pointed to the direction where the girl was running at. "She's already saving him."

"RYOMA-SAMA!!"

"Ryoma-sama! You take this bus also?!" cried out Tomoka feeling happy that her classmate was taking the same bus as her.

"Aa."

Ann raised an eyebrow, she then turned to Sakuno who was looking down at her feet. "You know I can't tell if Tomoka is a fangirl of Echizen or she's in love with him."

There was no reply from the two braided haired girl. Ann suspiciously stared at Sakuno for a bit, just as she was about to open her mouth the bus had interrupted her. Teenagers of Seishunen High School entered the bus, and they either took a seat or stood up. The group of girls and Ryoma sat together. Ann with Tomoka at one pair seats and Ryoma with Sakuno in another seat. During the ride Tomoka was animatedly chatting with the cat-eyed tennis player. Ryoma of course just stared at the window as he was hearing the rambling girl's words go through one ear and pass by the other. The chatting stopped as Tomoka had to get off, Ann right behind her. They bid farewell to their two friends and got off the bus.

The rest of the ride was silent. Once their bus stop almost came to view, Ryoma pulled the silver string to announce a stop. The two of them hopped off the bus, and began to walk their way home. However, the dark green haired boy made a sudden stop, almost causing Sakuno to bump into his back. She blinked her eyes, and just stared at his back.

"Ryoma…kun?"

He pointed to a certain direction. "Let's get something to drink before going home."

A bit surprised, she nodded her head mutely already knowing that he couldn't see her with her agreement. The two walked to a small family store, and got their own individual drinks. For the first time they paid separately since Sakun had her wallet with her for the first time around Ryoma. Leaving the store, and opening their drinks they walked in silence once again.

"H-How was your first day of school…?" she asked curious to know how his first day of school had been.

"Annoying," came the reply as he took another sip of his grape Ponta.

Biting her lower lip, she grasped her green tea drink. "You know t-the roof…"

Ryoma turned his head to look at the girl, who was looking around, not being able to see him face to face. He raised an eyebrow, questioning her actions. "What?"

"No one goes to the roof during l-lunch time…s-so if you want to get away from people y-you can always go there…" she mumbled, her cheeks turning the color pink. Finally she looked up to see either a surprised face or an amused face from Ryoma. She really couldn't tell which it was, the guy was such a mystery to her!

Then the same smile she had seen when he left two years ago appeared. It wasn't those big smiles many people give away, instead it was just small and soft. She smiled back at him as if she had done a great deed.

"Thanks."

I don't know why, but I feel like this chapter was very sloppy. So … to end it here? HAHA. NO. That would be so messed up wouldn't it? So in other news, updates will become slow. Erk, relatives are coming to America for a quince party that my cousin is going to put up. So … I'm ordered to show them around the city. Don't worry, I'm working on future chapters though! I'm also making three amv's this summer because I finally got Sony Vegas Pro 8. Gah, might make RyoSaku amv. Probably … hopefully? So anyway…go make yourself some gyudon. I made it, and it tastes awesome. It's simple to make! :D

Do review no? (: