Ryoma and Sakuno were studying together on the living room of the temple. They were sitting across from each other on the table. The boy was looking at her while she was concentrated, doing some math homework. Two weeks had passed by quickly. They returned to share meals and Shinji was very happy they made up. Ryoma also returned to accompanied Sakuno on dropping her little brother to school and picking him up.

There were no significant changes between them as a couple. The girl always blushed terribly if he looked at her too much or showed her a small smile. If they were too close, she would also get very embarrassed and Ryoma thought it was adorable. He wondered how long would take for her to get used to the girlfriend status. Echizen was a very respectful and patient young man, but he wanted to be able to touch her as a boyfriend someday.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, with a blush on her face, when realizing the boy was looking at her.

"Nothing." He said, gently. "I like seeing you concentrated."

"Stop it." the girl averted her eyes and he smiled to himself.

"Hey, Sakuno, can we go out tomorrow?"

"Go out? For what?"

"I want to take you on a proper date." He showed her a small smile.

"Date?!"

"Can't we? We've been dating for two weeks already."

"But…but…"

The boy stood up and sat close to her.

"Calm down. It's nothing big. I just want to take you for a nice meal." The golden eyes were so kind.

"I'm sorry, but, I cannot let Shinji home alone."

"He can come, of course. It wouldn't be fun without him."

"You don't have to worry about this. I'm still on trial as a girlfriend, so…" he touched her hand.

"I told you I will give you all the time you need to get used to it, but I am serious about you. Let's do things together." He looked at her kindly. "We could use the opportunity to talk to Shinji about us. It's time, don't you think? You already didn't let me tell my parents."

"Ah, not yet! Please! If something goes wrong, he's going to be very hurt. I don't want that." she was worried.

"Stop being so gloomy." He said, gently. "We're going to be all right."

She blushed a little and averted her eyes, but he noticed a small smile on her features.

"Okay."

"You could at least call me by my name."

"Not yet!"

He chuckled.

"You know, Sakuno, you're very cute."

"Don't say such things!" she blushed entirely and averted her eyes.

###############

Sakuno took a deep, disappointed breath. She and Shinji were all ready to go out when a sudden summer storm started to fall. The girl looked to the dark skies and it didn't seem it was going to stop any time soon. Half an hour had passed already.

Ryoma had sent her a message when it started to rain, saying the plans for going out were cancel. Althought she was very nervous about it, Ryuzaki was actually excited over their first date. She spent a long time choosing an outfit. The girl was wearing a very beautiful dark blue dress reaching her knees and her hair was tight on ponytail.

"Nee-chan, what are we going to do now?" Shinji asked, also disappointed. He was so happy when Ryoma said they were going to have a special dinner.

"There's not much we can do." She smiled, trying to cheer him up. "I will make something for us, go change your clothes and put your pajamas already."

"Okay!"

Before she could reach the fridge, he heard the knock on the front door. It could only be one person.

"Echizen-kun?!"

"Can you open up, please?"

The girl obeyed and was very surprised to see the boy with a big box of pizza on his hands. He was completely soaked and looked at her gently.

"I brought dinner."

"Eh?!" the boy entered the home. "What… what do you mean?!"

"We have a date, remember?" he looked at the hallway and shouted. "Hey, Shinji! Pizza!"

"Really?!" the little boy appeared, already on his pajamas, with a big smile.

"But, you sent a message canceling!" Sakuno was really confused.

"Just going out." He showed her a small smile.

"Ryoma-nii, you are dripping!" Shinji appointed at him.

"I'm going home to change." He gave the pizza box to her brother. "Shinji, put it on the table please, I will be right back."

"Okay!"

########

Ryoma looked at his girlfriend with the corner of his eye. They were alone on the kitchen, doing the dishes. Shinji was already sleeping. They had a very nice dinner together and he was happy the girl was finally behaving normally around him while her brother was with them, but as soon as he left, she was very quiet and he felt a little worried.

"I am sorry, Sakuno. It was a bad first date, right?"

"What are you saying? It was perfect." she finally looked at him. "Don't apologize."

The scarlet eyes were sincere and gentle.

"I thought you were angry at me."

"I am not! I'm sorry it seemed like that, it's just…" she averted her eyes. "When we're alone together my heart beats very fast and I don't know how to act."

He felt happy.

"Thank you for inclunding Shinji tonight." her voice was gentle.

"I will always include him."

"Any other guy would probably find annoying to have a small kid around and just wanted to be alone together." She said, with a small smile.

"I know Shinji and you are inseparable and I respect that very much, even before we started dating. But…" the golden eyes were serious. "Can we sit and talk a little after we done here? I'm still like any other guy. I do want some alone time with you."

She averted her eyes and blushed but moved her head positively.

############

They finished to organize the kitchen and sat on the front porch. The rain had finally stopped and the sky was clear, but without stars.

"Such a strange rain today." The boy said, looking up.

"Indeed." She looked up as well.

"Sakuno, is that dress new? Did you wear it for me?"

"It's not new at all!" she blushed. "It's just… I don't use it so often, so…"

" You're very beautiful." He showed her a small smile.

"What do you want from me, Echizen-kun? You've dated before and you probably have some expectations, right?"

"Ah, well…" he thought about it for a moment. "I'd like us to do more things together. As long as they don't interfere on your studies, of course."

"Like what?"

"Anything. Just staying here, just the two of us talking, it's nice already."

"I'm a very boring person, you know. You will probably get tired of me soon."

"You're not boring at all. Stop saying such things."

The soft night wind with scented with rain touched them and made their hairs sway.

"The seasons are changing. What is going to happen when I go away? The contract at the temple is going to end soon."

"I'm not dating you just because you live next door. Are you going to stop talking to me after you move out?"

"Of…course not!" she blushed again, but this time she did not looked away.

"It's good then."

The girl lowered her face again and he noticed the sadness on her expression.

"What do we do from here? After a first date? I have no clue. I am so sorry."

Ryoma looked at her and his chest was tight. She was really trying her best with the tools she had. The dress, the preoccupation on the scarlet eyes. Sakuno cared. Even with so many responsibilities and worries, she made an effort to show him how much she cared.

His hand touched her face and the girl didn't blink when he got a little closer to her face.

"Sakuno, can I kiss you?" his voice was so gentle.

Ryuzaki's eyes were wider in absolute shock and the boy was sure she held a deep breath inside. Her whole body was stiff. But, even so, she moved her head positively and averted her face a little, closing her eyes tightly.

Echizen found absolutely adorable the way she was so nervous but, even so, allowed him to do such an intimate thing.

Sakuno looked at him, surprised, when she felt the soft kiss on her cheek and the boy showed her a small, gentle smile.

"What…?"

"Let's take it slow. I'm also on trial for boyfriend here."

"Echizen-kun…"

"First, I want you to feel at ease on calling me by my name."

The girl was so touched with his patience. She leaned her forehead on his chest and it surprised him a little.

"Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me, Sakuno." he said, kindly.