A/N: BLEH! God, I hate homework T^T HELP ME-E-E-E-E-E! Like you could x.x

Dang... Okay, anyways! Hope you enjoyed last chapter and will enjoy this one JUST AS MUCH! I think I'm getting pretty good at this "intense" stuff =P

Read and review for cookies? =3 (I know I used a lot of faces this time; couldn't help it)

Her curled hands wiped at her face as she began to speak, "I-I thought I imagined the whole thing." Her shoulders jerked and finally twitched back into a calm position.

Shouta was baffled and downright embarrassed that his confession almost went over her head as an illusion.

When he spoke, he stuttered, "W-Why… Why would y-you think that?!" He was extremely embarrassed.

Sawako removed her hands from her face and drifted her eyes upwards to look at his face. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy; the sight made Shouta's throat constrict like it always did when he saw her cry.

"Ah, -She wiped a tear with her finger and smiled- because Chizuru and Sanada-kun took me home, so I thought…" She averted her gaze and brought it down to the floor. She shyly circled her finger on the ground and squeezed her eyes shut. She began to think that what she thought was complete gibberish, but then she saw something.

Shouta face palmed. Sawako had never seen such a reaction from Shouta and she was taken aback.

"That… Was because I didn't want your mom to meet me that way." Shouta turned his head away and covered his face with his hand; Sawako's eyes widened.

Shouta continued with more of an explanation, "When you passed out, I didn't know what to do… So I freaked out and phoned up Ryu who was with Yoshida. They picked you up and took you home." He sighed irritably at himself as he shook his head and walked over to a desk. He sat up on it and dropped his head in his hands as he stared down at the floor.

"I thought I did the right thing, but it became a huge misunderstanding." He ran his fingers through his hair and gripped it tightly. He continued to shake his head while Sawako stood up.

"But… -She began to walk over to Shouta very slowly- I think it's cleared up now and if what you said at that time was true then my…" Her steps became even slower as she came closer to him and she felt her heart begin to race. Her face became painted with red and she saw him raise his head with giant, fixed eyes on her.

"Gah," She panicked and took a step back. She fell into a crouched position and covered her head with her arms. Shouta slid off the desk to rush over to her, but then stopped dead in his tracks.

"Kazehaya-kun has made me a b-better person… H-He's taught me so many things and at first, you were my idol…" Shouta's paralyzed hand wanted to reach out so badly and pull her close to comfort her, but the words that she was speaking drummed in his ears and he couldn't move an inch.

"B-B-B-But, those feelings changed… I-I-I like you." She said it.

Sawako knew her voice trembled, but she finally said it. Her heart didn't stop its pace. In fact, it began to race even faster. A pounding bashed against her ears from the inside, making her feel a bit lightheaded, but she also felt the rapid pump of adrenaline run through her.

"I like you, I like you, I like you…" Sawako couldn't say it enough. She couldn't express all of the feelings she was feeling at this very moment that consumed her in a quilt of pressure and light.

She repeated those words. She wouldn't let them escape so he wouldn't hear them. How long did she wait to say these three words that meant the world to her? It felt like an eternity and when she finally said them she realized just how much she actually meant them. She didn't just like him. She finally understood that her feelings were more than that, so much more than that.

"I love you." She switched the word and found it fit better than the last.

Shouta was frozen as he watched her head shake side to side while she said these words. He didn't know how to comprehend this situation. His heart was furiously banging against his chest, his face felt like it was on fire and his mouth wouldn't produce any sound. He was speechless and glued to the spot. How could he respond to something like that? What should he say? He couldn't even describe how happy he was, but he knew he was more than "a lot happy". He felt like he could fly to the moon on these feelings. He thought nonsense, but it made complete sense to him.

Shouta wrapped his feelings in a blanket, so that he could still feel them hitting against the inside, but not as strong and finally come up with a way to keep moving.

"Sawako…" She hesitated to look up with her nervous, flickering eyes. She repeatedly blinked as she stared up at Shouta who smiled and held out a hand to her. Her mouth was agape and she blinked once more before raising her hand to grasp onto his.

When their skin made contact, a jolt powered through her and a spark went off in her eyes. Her face was flaming, but she hardly noticed it now as he gripped her hand and pulled her up to eyes height. They stared at each other straight on. Sawako didn't feel the slight sense of awkwardness anymore. She forgot the time she did.

Shouta squeezed her hand which caused Sawako to squeeze back without thinking. Shouta chuckled and grinned. Sawako ducked her head blushingly, but kept her gaze locked onto his. No way would she ever give up this moment to do this.

"Can I… Hug you?" Shouta didn't want to contain himself to just a hug, but he wanted to treasure her and this moment.

Sawako nervously took a step back, but as she did so, she realized that that's exactly what she wanted him to do.

She timidly replaced her foot back where it was and kept her eyes on his face. She was scared; she knew she had to get stronger though. Her lip quivered as she bit it down and embarrassedly nodded her head. A faint smile ghosted across her face as he pulled her into him and wrapped his arm around her. His other arm was in between them while he held her hand and entwined their fingers. They both closed their eyes and smiled. Synchronized, they sighed out of relief which startled them. They looked up at each other again causing Sawako to giggle and release her hand. Shouta's eyes widened as she took this opportunity to wind both her arms around him and pull their bodies closer together.

Now it was Shouta's turn to get surprised and tense up.

"She's adorable…" His eyes were wide as he felt her grip onto his shirt yearningly.

He relaxed his body and smiled. He enveloped her with his arms and closed his eyes again.

The air around them seemed to produce a vivid bubble that smothered the surrounding sounds. The clock on the wall seemed to tick slower, the rain that could be heard from inside was barely audible and what struck Sawako most was that she could hardly hear the laughter through the open door.

Shouta smelt like fabric cleaner; Sawako smelt like cherry blossoms.

"It must be her hair…" Shouta thought and smiled.

Below his head, a similar action was happening. Sawako smiled at the thought of Shouta doing his laundry and mewed out a small giggle.

"Ah," She gasped and opened her eyes.

Shouta didn't know what she giggled at, but he automatically softened the mood with his own chuckle and tightened his embrace. Sawako's eyes fell slightly while she gripped more of his shirt in her hands.

The moment seemed so long, though, Sawako knew that it was, in reality, very short. The thought made her recoil into sadness and desire. She wanted to stay like this forever. As much as she wanted to, she knew that it would be impossible. And as she knew it would be, it was over.

Shouta slid his hand down her arm and grasped her hand; Sawako felt a series of goose bumps trail along her arm and widened her eyes. She glanced up at Shouta's face and their eyes connected.

"Damn, I want to kiss her." Shouta brought a hand up to his face and looked away quickly.

"Gah, this is too much." He avoided her gaze and looked out of the window to stop the temptation.

Sawako's eyes widened before darting side to side and then down to the ground.

"Ah," She brought her other hand to her mouth and bit it gently.

"Really, I'm so happy right now." Shouta continued to stare out of the window, now finding his eyes tracing the outline of the church that poked its way out from the treetops. He felt Sawako shift in front of him and looked out of the corner of his eye.

Way too much.

The image he saw was of her standing there, biting her hand, innocently, and not intending to persuade anybody, but it was enough for him.

He felt the urge to do something that he knew would surely terrify her, so he resisted. His thoughts were of those of someone he thought didn't exist, but this is what she had made of him. She had changed him and this he realized just now. How could she say that she was the only one who had changed? Surely, she knew he had changed as well. He changed into someone who finally had something to protect with is entire life. He would give his life to her; he knew that was for certain. There was no doubt.

"Ka-Kazehaya-kun! I-I'm really happy… t-too." Her wavering eyes met his, causing him to gasp and cover his mouth.

"Ah…" He looked away again and scratched the back of his head. Suddenly, he heard voices.

He swiftly grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit beside him against the wall. He made a motion to stay silent and she did as she was told. As a group of teenagers passed the classroom, he couldn't help but glance over at Sawako and see her face in a complete red mess. He grinned to himself, thinking of how lovable she was and then returned his gaze to the other side of the room.

Sawako saw his grin and didn't know what to make of it, but decided not to keep thinking about it. It was just a grin. She felt something by her shoulder and noticed the closeness of their bodies.

"Ah, he's right there…" She realized that their shoulders were touching.

She didn't even think that this slight touch would make her so conscious about him. She noted the pattern of his breath and the way he propped himself up against the wall with his head against it. He looked over at her and saw her staring.

"Ah," She exclaimed and grew even redder in the face, evading his eyes. He widened his eyes in surprise at first, but then a gentle smile crept on his face and his eyes softened as took her hands in his. He sat up on his knees and leaned into her. He closed his eyes and placed a small kiss on her forehead. She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped his hands tighter as she winced slightly before feeling the light flower petal she thought had landed on her head.

She reached up to brush it off and realized it wasn't a petal.

Shouta sat back on his heels and tilted his head with a smile.

"A k-k-k-kiss?!" Sawako felt flutters of wing beats in her stomach and the blood rush to her head as she scotched backwards with a face of embarrassment.

"EH?!" Sawako looked down at the ground and covered her forehead with her hands excitedly.

She felt her heart rate keep a prancing beat and glanced up a Shouta who had widened his eyes and was staring at her quizzically. The eye contact just made her heart beat even faster.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" She scrambled to get up and hurriedly brushed off her skirt. As she tried to pass Shouta he grabbed her hand.

"Ah…" The difference in level caused Sawako to get pulled down and if it wasn't for Shouta she would've crashed into him, but as she stood there crouched down she couldn't help but feel the slight change in temperature.

When she opened her eyes, another pair stared into hers centimeters away.

Sawako widened her eyes, as did Shouta. Their faces were completely red as they froze in that position. Shouta's eyes couldn't focus on one eye, causing him to switch back and forth uncomfortably.

"L-Let me walk you home." He let go of her hand and as soon as he did so, she dashed out of the classroom.

She was just too embarrassed.

"Ah!" Shouta's hand inched upwards to the presence of nothing. After closing his hand into a fist, he let it fall to the ground and stared down at it blankly.

"Jeez…" He stood up and scratched the back of his head. He started to walk for the door, but before exiting he slammed a fist on the sliding door.

"Damn!..." The door rattled in its hinge and came to a stop.

He sighed and looked down the hall to the locker room. He widened his eyes.

There, stood Sawako with her back to the wall just outside of the classroom, her hands cradled her elbows in front of her as she stared down at the floor.

"You o-offered to walk me home," She said as she looked up at him nervously.

His jaw dropped as he stared with widened eyes. He thought that she had left…

"Ah, um… Right!" He nodded a little too enthusiastically, but Sawako didn't care as she gave him a warm smile.

"L-Let's go." She shyly clasped her hands in front of her, while a blushing Shouta shoved his hands in his pockets.

When they exited the school, he anxiously reached out his hand for her to grab it. He kept his other hand in his pocket as he looked up to the right corner of the sky, the opposite side of which she was standing. He closed his eyes for a brief moment before feeling the tingly sensation of her hand in his. All he could ever want was right here, beside him.

"Her hand is so small." Was pretty much all he could think as he interlocked their fingers and walked her home along the path of the riverbank.

Edit

A/N: WELL... THERE YOU GO! A sweet ending, doncha think? Stayed up late writing this chapter for you guys... BE THANKFUL :3

Haha...

Anyways, I think the people who have read up till now are AWESOME and THANK YOU SO MUCH! The thought of someone liking my story makes my heart all warm. I'm so weird. :*

Shout-out: Thank you BelleWeasleyG for reviewing my story and favouriting it! :D Cookies for you!*Hands out cookies*

(Btw, I STILL know "favouriting" isn't a word!)