The Story of Us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by summer dragonfly


Chapter II
Reunion and Newly Discovered Feelings



A/N: Ok, I used some Japanese terms/words in here(and in future chapters) that I kinda have to
explain for N/A readers:

-chan: A friendly(and sometimes affectionate) term for familiar females you feel comfortable
around
-kun: Just like -chan but used for males
Tousan: father.
baka: Means "idiot" or "dumb one".
Ai Shiteru: "I Love You".
Sayanora: Goodbye.
Gomen nasai: Sorry.
kawaii: means "cute" aka Calumon! Heehee.

Of course, my Japanese is nowhere near good, so if I made a mistake or two please someone email
me(Gapgurl199@aol.com) about it. And oh, if anyone knows the term for "mother", please tell me!
It's been a while since I've written Anime so I'm afraid I've forgotten. I think it's Oaksan or
Oakasan or something like that...please tell me? And is "sorry" gomen or gomen nasai? Dammit, my
memory is so bad. It's both, isn't it? If anyone knows, please tell me. Thanks! Enjoy!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



"Tousan, I'm home!" Ryo closed the door behind him.

There was no answer.

"Figures." Ryo climbed the stairs to his room where he started review his welcome packet that
he had recieved.

He reflected on the conversation he had had with Rika. *I don't think she's ever listened to
anyone as deeply as she listened to me.*

::smiles::

"Oh, Rika, if I could only tell you..."

He never thought that he'd fall for someone like Rika.

"She's so...so..." Ryo couldn't find the words to describe her.

*Sure there's smart, pretty, sophisticated, mature...*

But no exact words to describe Rika. And no words to describe his feelings for her.

He was shocked that he actually pulled off talking to Rika without telling her that he liked her.

But it was only a matter of time before he did.


* * *


Rika came into her home still feeling half-shocked, half happy.

"Rika? Is that you, dear?" said a voice from the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me, Grandma." Rika came in the kitchen. "Where's my mother?"

"At a fashion show. She'll be back later."

Rika's grandmother looked at her.

"What is it?" Rika took a water bottle out of the refrigerator.

"Nothing. You seem different today."

"What makes you say that?"

"You're blushing."

"No, I'm not!" *Damn, I'm STILL blushing?!*

"Something happened!" her grandmother said. "With a boy, didn't it?"

"Of course not!"

"Yes it did."

"That's silly, I don't know what you're talking about." Rika took a sip of water. "I--uh gotta
do homework now. See you later, Grandma."

"Whenever you feel like talking about it is fine." her grandmother smiled.

"I still don't know what you're talking about!" Rika pulled the screen door to her room close.



Rika lied down on her sleeping mat and exhaled a couple of times.

"What is with the third degree?" She said, rolling her eyes.

Just then, the phone rang. She let it ring twice before picking it up.

"Hello? Nonaka residence, Rika speaking."

"Hi Rika? It's me, Jeri."

"Oh, hi, Jeri. What's new?"

"Nothing, really. I was just wondering if you were going to meet me and the others at the
park today."

"Well..." she looked at the clock. "I was going to write my paper but...my mom's not home so
I guess it's ok."

"Ok, I'll see you there in 10."

"Bye, Jeri."

This was perfect; an oppurtunity to take her mind off of the Ryo thing!

Rika got up and changed into her heart T-shirt and blue jeans. She put on her light blue jacket
and went up to the mirror.

*This is strange. I've never felt so self-concious before.*

She twirled around. *Wait, what am I doing?*

She scoffed and tightened her ponytail. *Ryo, what are you doing to me?*

And she headed out the door.


* * *

When Rika got to the park, everyone was already there. Kazu and Kenta were arguing again, Henry
was deep in thought and Takato and Jeri were having a nice conversation. There was also another
figure in the background she couldn't make out, but she assumed it was just some guy going to the
park.

"Hey," she said, and they all greeted her back. "You guys won't believe who showed up at my
school today---?!"

The dark figure in the background emerged and she saw that it was Ryo. "Hi."

"Wha---you guys---"

"Yeah, we knew." Kazu laughed.

"For how long?" Rika sounded annoyed.

"Three weeks." Jeri said in a mousy sort of voice.

"I can't believe you guys would keep something like this a secret from me!" Rika said.

"Actually, it was my fault, I kinda asked them to keep it a secret." Ryo admitted.

"He called us three weeks ago and said that he would be moving here in a couple of weeks." Takato
laughed.

"But why---" Rika looked at all of them.

"--because I wanted to surprise you?" Ryo started to blush.

"What? Surprise me? Why only me?"

At a look from Ryo, Kenta cutted in. "Wow! Strange weather we're having, eh?" Kenta pointed at
the sky. "Just 20 minutes ago it was cloudless and now it's all gray."

"Yeah, you're right." Kazu said, looking up.

They all started to look up, except Rika and Jeri.

"Rika, can I talk to you?" Jeri asked.

"Um, sure. I kinda want to get away from these weather freaks right now." she laughed.



Jeri explained that the reason Ryo wanted to keep his coming back a secret from Rika was that
he truly had a crush on her. This had really shocked Rika, and she tried to get a word in, but
Jeri just wanted to get her part over with.

"So you see, he had this big plan for wanting to surprise you with his return and all, because
well...he really really likes you Rika." Jeri finished, taking a deep breath.

Rika sat down on the park bench. "Wow...I---I had no idea."

"Yeah." Jeri sat down next to her. "They'll probably all kill me for telling you, but I just
couldn't keep it in anymore."

"No, that's ok, Jeri, I should thank you really." Rika was still baffled. "Ryo..like me? Are you
sure?"

"Positive. He told us himself."

"But why...?"

"According to him you're the most wonderful person he's ever met, Rika." Jeri smiled.

"Oh my gosh...I'm still so...so..confused. All that time..and today..." She widened her eyes
and sighed.

"What happened today?"

"Well..." Rika started to blush. "We had a really nice talk, and he..he..kissed me on the cheek."

Jeri smiled even wider. "See? It's so obvious."

"What should I do?"

"Well, how do YOU feel about him?"

Rika looked at the ground and smiled a kind of smile that only really happy people smile.
"He's so sweet, and kind...he can be a little bit of an egotistical jerk sometimes but.."

"But?"

"I really enjoy spending time with him, and I feel that I can really trust him. It's strange,
but even when I first met him at the Tournament I felt this sort of strange connection to him...
like...like..."

"Like you were destined to meet?"

Jeri could tell Rika had a hard time saying all this. "..yeah I guess. It feels so great to
spend time with him, and talking to him makes me happy."

She had a happy glow in her eyes.


Just then, Ryo was talking about Rika to the other boys.

"Even when she had a hard time showing her feelings I knew that she wanted to...and somehow
those eyes just make all the bad things go away..."

"You're kidding right?" Henry asked. "OUR Rika Nonaka?"

Ryo laughed. "Yeah, I know it's kinda hard to believe---"

"KINDA hard? Try ferociously difficult." Kazu said.

"You guys just don't know her like I do. That's what made me develop feelings for her...her
personality. So wise yet sometimes vain. She has a caring soul, it's just that she has a hard time
believing that she does. ...just being around her is intoxicating. It makes me feel so happy. It's
weird."



Suddenly Rika felt weird.

"What is it?" Jeri asked.

"I think---I think---"

"That you like him too?"

"No..I don't THINK so..."

"Rika, I don't know what your problem is. It's perfectly fine to like someone."

"Really?"

"Totally. Just hearing you talk about him gives it away."

"I dunno...this is all to strange."

*I can't believe this.* Rika thought. *I've never felt like this about anybody else before...maybe
I just need some time to think this through.*

As she thought that, the clouds cleared up and the sun came streaming through.

"Hey, look!" Jeri got up and laughed. "Look, Rika, the sun came out!"

"Yeah, it did!"



"Oh, cool, it's sunny again!" Takato said.

The others smiled as Rika and Jeri met up with them again.

"So what did you girls talk about? Not me I hope!" Kenta asked.

Jeri grinned.

Rika looked at Ryo.



...end of Chapter II!


A/N: Bwahahahaha, I'm so evil, leaving you hanging like that. But I'll update again soon. I hope.
I've already started school, ::shudders:: so I don't know how often I'll be able to update. Well thanks for reading.
Plz keep the reviews coming and see you next time! (...if i havent got a paper to write...)