Woohoo! Look! It's another story by me! Are you guys getting tired of me yet? Hehehe, I hope not. Anyways, this is another one of my "what if" stories that I thought of. Bad Boy Akito instead of Foreign Girl Naozumi. L0L.

One more warning: There are a lot of references to the mangas in this chapter, so if you haven't read them yet… I guess you can call them spoilers. Heh.

Okay, I'ma stop babbling so you can read this. Written in Akito's POV.

Past Encounter

Chapter One: Finding Himself

By: Enchanted Pink Jade

No one was home when pretty boy forced himself into my home. I would have thrown him out if I hadn't already known the reason he'd come.

Sana.

His disheveled clothes and rumpled hair told me that he'd run all the way here. Probably from the Kurata household. He looked at me with menacing eyes, but said nothing. He took a couple of deep breaths, before demanding to know what exactly was it that I had done to Sana.

Figures. He didn't even know. It seemed that he was only able to visit Sana today, since all the other days her mother refused anyone permission to enter, except for me. He told me that the moment that Sunglasses Guy mentioned my name, he came rushing right over. I told him in the fewest words possible that I was moving to L.A.

I guess he was taken aback because he straightened up from his ready-to-fight stance. As if he had any chance against me. I walked over to the living room and sat down on the two-seat couch. He followed behind me and sat uninvited on the couch in front of me.

"Did you come here to threaten me some more? She isn't crying," I said dully.

"But she's still hurting."

Damn him. Like I didn't already know that. She wasn't the only one being affected by this though. Kamura. I knew this was bothering him a great deal, or he wouldn't have come here. Her mother. When I visit Sana, I can see her Mama holding back her tears for Sana's sake and for mine. She probably did cry in the confines of her room. Sana's manager, who usually panicked at times like these, was oddly quiet. The public also couldn't help but notice her absence. All that was known was that she was home 'sick', and that she was taking a short vacation.

It pained me to sit there and watch Sana chatting like for all the world that nothing was wrong. Her tone and voice seemed cheery enough. It was her face that remained as cold and as passive as stone. I just nodded at everything she said, all the while asking Kami-sama for guidance. I felt so powerless. I hated it. In two weeks... I'd be leaving. I didn't want to go, now more than ever. I still had to help her. Our only clue was that she'd met a "bad boy", which wasn't much to go on. What kind of a moron would say that he was a bad boy? And what was it that this guy said to Sana that could have cured her? When asked, she couldn't recall a thing.

Then Kamura asked me the question that I'd been asking myself for the past three weeks since the doll syndrome began. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

I bowed my head down and ran my left hand restlessly through my hair. Lucky Kamura. He has the honor of being one of the first people to see me in such a vulnerable state. He should win some award.

"Don't you think... that if there was something I could do... I'd have done it by now?" I watched him as he leaned his head back, his face scrunched up in anguish, probably feeling just as helpless as I am.

He'd left my home silently, without a word. I stayed in the same sitting position for who knows how long, before I decided to wander. To look and search. What was I looking for? I don't know. My legs had a mind of their own. I didn't have to worry about my dad and Natsumi looking for me. They'd just assume that I'd be at Sana's home, which was where I'd probably end up.

The whole day I walked. And guess where I stopped first? The TMO… I endured the elevator ride up and sat on the same bench from that one day. This was the place where Sana and I shared our first kiss. Running up to me the way she did with a drink in her hand, looking adorable when she was apologizing for the spill. How could I not resist? She was right in front of me, and her pouting lips looked inviting- so maybe 'shared' isn't the right word. I stole that kiss. I never regretted it once.

Then I was at the hospital my dad was in when he fell ill from exhaustion. She was the first person I called. I used to wonder why. Why her? Why wasn't it Tsuyoshi I called? Now it was obvious to me. I thought that it was just a regular crush. First crush. How often does one come across a person like Sana? It couldn't have been love. I didn't believe that such a thing existed back then. But she came even when I didn't ask her to. Her presence somehow calmed me down, and I questioned that word-

Love.

Afterwards, I found myself at the back of the elementary school, and I thought about the time when Sana's friends were ignoring her. It pissed me off, the note that was being passed around. She was sure that I'd fought my 'loyal monkeys' for her. I told her I didn't do her any favors, and I did what I did because I wanted to. I didn't know whom I was trying to convince more: her or myself.

I stayed for only a few minutes, and then kept on walking. I passed the theatre where Sana had done that one play. This was also the same place I met Kamura. He was part of the reason why I took up Karate in the first place. The way he'd said that I was 'no match' for Sana made me feel unworthy, worthless. She was way up there, a star shining brightly in the heavens, while I was down on earth, only able to gaze at her ethereal beauty. I had to do something to prove myself.

By now it was nighttime. Since it was nearby, I decided to head for the park. The lights ahead lit my way through, though I didn't need them. I knew the place by heart. So much had happened here, too, between Sana and I.

I was blackmailed here. A little ironic, really. Only Sana alone could have thought and had the courage to do such a thing… I strode a little further and I saw myself lying on Sana's lap, on a bench. I was being taken care of by "mommy". I took a few more steps and came to another bench. I saw her crying from humiliation after she found out that her manager had merely been humoring her.

My stomach felt tight and my gut had this unsettled feeling. What was I supposed to do now? Reminiscing about the past didn't help me any in the present. I couldn't go to a pharmacy and demand a remedy for the doll syndrome. I wanted to cry, but I knew tears wouldn't solve anything. I never cried anyways. Sana always had enough tears for the both of us; only- she wasn't even capable of that right now.

I kicked the nearest lamppost in frustration and frightened an old hag passing by. I ignored her indignant gasp and raspy complaints and kept right on walking. I might as well go to and see how she was doing now- to see if there was any change at all. But I refused to let my hopes up. I'd done enough of that to know that the disappointment would be just as high.

Deciding it was time to go, I turned around to head in the other direction when I saw a lone tree far apart from all the others. It was still winter, but the tree I saw in my mind's eye was still full of green. Then I saw a seven-year-old boy about to stroll by, walking home from school. There was a girl, who was just as old, sitting in the shade the tree provided, crying.

-----

What a weak little girl! All girls are weak anyways.

I'lljust poke some fun at her- the day has been boring so far. This'll lighten things up a bit. And then my day wouldn't have been wasted.

I walk up to her, but she takes no notice. Just sits there like a doll. She better not be ignoring me. That'd be rude.

"Hey you! Little girl! Go pity yourself elsewhere. Baka."

She doesn't stir at all. "Why don't you run to your mommy and-"

"I don't have a mommy!" she screams, and this surprises me. She doesn't have a mommy… like I don't have a mommy? Slowly, I sit down next to her, waiting for her to tell me to go away. But she doesn't. So I stay.

"You don't have a mommy?" I ask quietly, looking ahead.

"I have a mommy."

"Huh? It's either you don't have a mommy, or you do, which one is it?" This girl is confusing me.

"My mommy. She's my mommy, but she's not my mommy. I'm adopted."

Oh. So she's adopted. That's different. But she still doesn't know who her real mommy is…

"So why are you crying?" What a stupid question to ask.

"Because I've been a bad girl."

More tears fall down her cheeks, and drip off her chin. I wait for her to continue.

"I got a bad grade. I'm no good," she said. She opens her palm to show me a wrinkled piece of paper.

I almost snort and laugh, but I hold it in. "Just a bad grade? That's nothing."

"It's not nothing! I finish all my food. I wake up early. I clean my room. I do my homework and study hard. But that's not enough! I still get a bad grade on my math test. I wanted to be a good girl for mommy, so that she won't send me away. She will now." She sobs even louder.

To me it sounds like she's been a good girl, and I tell her so. She stops whimpering and finally looks at me. Really looks at me.

"How do you know?"

"'Cause I'm a bad boy. I've done way worse stuff. Did you really do everything you said you did- cleaning your room and doing your work?"

She nods. "Yes."

"Then your mommy isn't going to give you away. She probably loves you, no matter what."

"Honto?"

I nod. "Mm."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Then her eyes brighten up, and she smiles at me. "Don't cry anymore. It will ruin your uh... face." What am I saying? I don't sound like myself. Gotta get away from this girl. She probably has cooties.

She smiles even wider. "Thank you. I feel better now."

"Uh… good. Go home. You're too young to be out alone like this."

She laughs and waves good-bye. Such a weird girl.

-----

I stared at that one spot under the tree for the longest time. That event- it happened, in my past. And it just played over again in front of my eyes, like an old black and white flick. I was the bad boy that she had met long ago. It was me. I- Oh Kami. ME. Jeez. How stupid was I? Very stupid, a voice said inside me. I told him that I agreed.

I'd forgotten all about her because right after that, dad had gone to L.A. for two years, and left me at a relative's house. I never gave her a second thought, and I didn't recognize her- she was probably a little well known by then- but I wouldn't have known because I never cared for watching television.

But… She smiled at me, and then she was cured? All it took was a smile?

That's when I knew that I had to see her, right away. So I ran.

I barged into their home- much like Kamura did when he went to mine- without knocking. I saw Sunglasses guy about to tell me off, but Sana's mom held him back.

"I need to see Sana. Now," I demanded. I didn't care if I seemed rude. The writer must have seen the urgency in my eyes, for she nodded. I made my way up to Sana's room. I practically knew the house as well as I knew my own.

When I arrived at her door, I paused for a second to let my lungs catch up with my heavy breathing. My hands were cold and sweaty when I took hold of the handle and entered her room.

Author's Note: Such a dull cliffy. ARGH! Guess what? This was supposed to be another one of my one-shots! And now it's turned to this. A short chapter, and a story unfinished. I have managed to make myself responsible for writing about 5-6 stories at once. I've said in my bio, too many ideas come to mind… And they just won't stop. But I actually started this one right after Love's Promise. This story comes right after it… but it isn't exactly a sequel. I'm just once again, taking the original idea, and twisting it at my leisure.

Hm… what else. Oh, I can tell you how I came up with this plot. If you don't wanna know, skip and review.

I was reading the 9th manga, and I came to the part where Naozumi was explaining how he'd met Sana before, and they were all only figuring out that Naozumi was the "foreign girl" Sana had mentioned. And my first thought was "No! This can't be! It was supposed to be Akito! No!" And then I read to the end. I still thought Akito should have been the one that cured her. I was thinking "Wouldn't it have been cool if Sana and Akito did meet before, but forget about it later?" They were destined to be together. Their Fate was decided long before they were even born- okay, I'm getting carried away. I type more than I actually talk. Isn't that sad?

Then- "If Akito was the one to have met and cured Sana… of course he wouldn't be a foreign girl but a- A what? A bad boy!" That's what I came up right away, and it fits don't you think?

Thus, this story was born. Hehehe.

Anyways, this is all for now. Chapter two will come out. I just won't make any promises of when. But until then, Ja ne!

Enchanted Pink Jade