"The last thing we did was hug. Of course, that doesn't sound like much, but it was all I needed. He wasn't really the type to show affection. Well, in all honesty, he wasn't really the type to show much past stoicism. And yet, through our years together, I somehow began to be able to read that stony face. I thought that the emotion on his face when we hugged had been affection- I'd even been stupid enough to call it love. Ah, the heart of a senior girl. The last thing we did was hug, and as I turned and left him at my door I looked forward to our date at the park the next day. I even went to bed with curlers in my hair, hoping to have them turn out right the next day. When they did, I was ecstatic. I got up, put on my cutest sundress and sandals, and left 15 minutes early. I sat in that park, on the bench under the weeping willow for 4 hours. He never showed. He never even said goodbye."

Rereading my senior year diary, I twitched as an unexpected tear hit my thumb. I wiped it away absently, sniffling a little as I set the blue journal on my desk again. My best friend, and college roommate, Kyoko walked in at that particular moment.

"Oye, spring cleaning!" I slapped my palm on my desk, conveniently covering up most of the journal while pulling myself off my knees. Kyoko glanced at my hand, then gave me a questioning look.

"I thought you were over that Kana," she said, in that tone. You know the one. Your mom uses it when she's reminding you to stay on your diet, or when she thinks you're going to have eaten too much of the appetizer and won't finish your dinner.

"I am! Just cleaning it out, was going through memories. Kinda miss those days sometimes, y'know?" I put on a chipper tone and grabbed the small book filled with all my ups and downs, dropped it on my 'to keep' pile. She put her hands on her hips. Damn, I thought, I need to brush up on my acting skills.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No. Let's just go to that thing, okay?"

"You aren't ready." She looks incredible, it occurred to me. Her hair was down, and wavy. She wore eye shadow in a light purple, which really brought out the light gold glints in her brown eyes. Her halter top was a deeper purple, with black form fitting pants. "Kana? Are you listening?"

"Uhm, no, you caught me. Actually, I was checking out your sandals, where'd you get them?" I smiled apologetically and took my hair out of a black clippie. I felt it brush my shoulders. When did it get that long? I wondered, it feels like I just cut it yesterday-

"You aren't listening again!" She stamped her foot and gave me that stern-but-could-never-be-really-stern-because-I'm-not-a-stern-person look that she does.

"Augh. All right, all right. Just help me pick out my outfit."

An hour and a half later I stepped out of a cab in front of a club in a dark blue lace tank top and black skirt. Kyoko had set me up on a double/blind date with her for one of two reasons:

1.) She was afraid to go alone, like she said.

or

2.) She wanted to get my mind off of Kunishi- The guy I've been- ah, correction, the guy I was dating for 6 months. My longest relationship yet. It's been a couple weeks, and I'm apparently "still all mopey." Thank you Yumi, our other roommate. She's somewhat opinionated.

I was banking on the second reason. We walked in and found a booth, both taking opposite sides, then scanned the room.

"So do you see them?" She said, with a hint of apprehension in her voice. Okay, maybe the first reason did play a small role.

"How should I know? I've never seen either one of them before." I scanned, then gasped. "Wait, I see two guys over there, just walking in. They're pretty handsome! Oh damn. Never mind, there are their girl-"

"There!" Kyoko stood up and waved shyly to a man that had just come into my line of vision. She'd met him at a bookstore, and that's when they'd arranged the date. Okay, so it was more of a blind date for me, but whatever took my mind of Kunishi I was willing to do.

"Hey!" He smiled a dazzlingly straight smile as his companion came up beside him and looked straight at me. Green eyes, dark hair, nice nose. Maybe this won't be so bad. "This is Akemi, and I'm Taji. He goes to school with me." he explained to Kyoko, "Ake, this is Kyoko, and her friend-"

"Kaname Chidori," I smiled and stuck out my hand for a shake.

"A pleasure," he smiled back. He shook my hand quickly and the two guys sat down as the waitress came over for our drinks.

After an hour of chatting about seemingly nothing, Kyoko and Taji stepped onto the dance floor and I lost sight of them. Ake and I began to talk politics. He was starting to charm me, with a great sense of humor and a brilliant mind, not to mention that smile. He eventually asked me to dance, and when we did it was like we were a perfect little fit. His hands a little lower than the small of my back, mine toying with the hair at the back of his neck. Eventually Kyoko came to tell me we had to go.

"What? Now? But I was just starting to really like this," Akemi smiled that smile at me again and I felt my breath catch, then my little voice of reason kicked in.

"Well, what time is it?" I glanced at my watch, "Oh my god! It's 3:30! I have class at 7 tomorrow, eh, today!" I took a step back and Akemi sent me a flash of hurt, but smiled to mask it. Kyoko smiled and head for the coat rack.

"Could I get your number, at least? I would hate to leave this and never get to see you again," there's that smile again, I thought while glancing back.

"Sure, I've got a pen if you've got paper." I sent him a beam that I hoped did to him what his did to me. He held up a finger that asked for a minute and headed back over to our table, his tall, lean body snaking through the throng of dancers. A couple minutes later he returned with a napkin. I hurriedly scribbled my name and number down. We hugged and Kyoko and I headed out.

Once we were home I crashed on my bed, sighed, and was out before it even occurred to me to change out of my club clothes.

"So, did they hit it off?" Yumi smiled as she sat cross-legged on Kyoko's bed.

"Well, they were inseparable the whole night, and he was completely enchanted by her. You could see it in his eyes." Kyoko's voice took that of a proud hen.

"I'm so glad she's finally going to have something else to talk about other than Kunishim, or that one guy-" She trailed off as the alarm beeped that it was now 5 o'clock.

"What other guy?" Kyoko's smile faded a little as she looked down at the blue notebook again.

"Let's see what his name was," she thought for a second, "Sasu? Kei?"

"Sousuke?"

"Yeah! That's it." Yumi smiled, "Boy, he sounded like an odd one. To think she spent all that time with him."

"Yumiko, she's been talking about him? That was our senior year, and he ditched her. She hasn't seen him since the night before we all graduated. She said she was over it. It's been two years." Kyoko layed back, exasperated. How long would her best friend keep the hurt inside?

"I know, but first loves die hard."

"Yeah- Well, we should get some sleep."

The two girls got up and began to get into their beds, but before Kyoko pulled back the covers she glanced down at the blue journal again. She walked over and quietly grabbed it, sticking it between her mattresses once she got back to her bed. "Sorry, Kana, but it's for your own good." She crawled into bed and rolled over to sleep.

A/N – Sorry about the choppiness, I wrote this over the past few days, coming back and forth so it might seem a bit messed up. Also, sorry it's taken me so long to get this one back out. Hope it was better than the last one. Criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive, and yes, Sousuke makes an appearance, I promise! Lot's of love!