Hey all, here's chapter 2! Enjoy!

Oh, and I'm still looking for the name of Sara's mother if she has one!

Chapter 2: An Outing

As soon as Haruka shut the door, she ran straight to her room.

"What is wrong with me!" she said to herself. She sat down on her bed and stripped her wet clothes off to change into her pajamas. "I've never felt like this before."

All through high school, Haruka never had a boyfriend. Mainly because all the boys she knew were jerks. Besides that, compared to the other girls, she wasn't that pretty. Her hair was pretty short and people said she frowned a lot. She wasn't the kind of girl that would make a good girlfriend.

But then tonight she had met Seta, a guy who liked her, or so it seemed. Haruka was confused as to why he would like her. Then again, she didn't know him. He may act like that to every girl he meets.

Haruka decided to drop it for tonight and go to bed since it was nearing 11:30. She was glad tomorrow was Sunday, meaning no classes. She turned off the light, rolled on to her side and went to sleep.

When Haruka awoke the next day, it was nearly 12:00. Turning over lazily, she sat up and kicked the covers to the side. She didn't really have anything planned for the day and was still confused about Seta. So after washing up and changing, Haruka set off to town to just shop around, even though she really didn't enjoyshopping all that much. But she figured it would at least give her something to do while she thought about last night.

Just before Haruka was about to go out the door, the phone rang. She picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Haruka?"

"Yes?" Haruka immediately recognized the voice as her father's.

"You left a mess in the back room last night. I thought I told you to clean up before you closed the shop." Haruka stopped in her tracks and put her hand to her forehead. She had forgotten to clean up the coffee mug and spills last night before leaving.

"I'll be right down." she hung up the phone. Afterwards, she grabbed her coat and went out the door to the Teahouse.

About 5 minutes later, she arrived to find it empty. Apparently her father had already left. Haruka headed straight to the back to clean up as fast as she could.

"Damn, why didn't I do this last night?" she asked herself as she scrubbed at the stains on the table.

By the time they were finally out, Haruka had worked up a sweat. Putting the rag in the sink, she looked down at the floor and realized the small rug was stained to. She grabbed it on her way out and headed over to the Hinata Inn to throw it in a basket so it would be washed.

She had gone up to the Inn only a few times before, but she knew her way around it pretty well. When she got to the laundry room and slung the rug over the sink. Then she grabbed a sheet of paper to write a note telling them to return it to the Teahouse after it was cleaned.

"Oh, is that you Haruka?" a familiar voice called out just as Haruka was about to leave. She turned to find her mother, Hina.

"Yeah." Haruka turned to face her.

"What are you doing all the way up here on Sunday? You're not working are you?"

"No, just cleaning up a bit." Haruka answered back.

"Oh, are you doing anything else today?" Grandma Hina asked in a curious voice.

"Um, not really." Haruka said.

"Good, then would you mind picking a few things up for me in town?" Grandma Hina handed Haruka a list.

"Sure." Haruka smiled. She was used to doing favors for her.

Haruka walked out the door, skimming the list she had been given. The few things on the list included mainly fruit for some reason. At the bottom of the list was written 'soap'. Haruka sighed, reading through it one more time.

A voice broke her out of the trance.

"Haruka, is that you?" a voice called out. Haruka stopped in her tracks. She knew that voice.

"Seta?" Haruka said quietly.

"Yep, it's me again. I came to see if the Teahouse was open today." Seta walked up until he was right in front of Haruka. She noticed the grin on his face hadn't changed from last night.

"Uh, we're closed on Sundays." Haruka answered him, trying not to make eye contact.

"Yeah, I saw that." Seta sighed. "So what are you doing today?"

"What?" Haruka's cheeks turned pink. She mentally slapped herself for blushing in front of him again.

"I was just wondering if you were doing anything today." he said again. Haruka thought about it before answering.

"Yeah, I have to pick up a few things in town." Haruka hoped he would leave her alone after hearing that.

"Great, how about I come then?" Haruka face vaulted and blushed more.

"What? Why?" she asked him.

"Because I have nothing else to do today. I really don't feel like being bored."

"Oh... well I guess you can come." Haruka said, finally looking at his face again. It hadn't changed much. If anything, his smile had gotten bigger.

"Is this what you need to get?" Seta asked, gently prying the paper from Haruka's hands. Haruka nodded as he skimmed the list.

"It's not much. You don't have to come if you don't want to." Haruka grabbed the paper back, finally feeling the redness leave her face.

"That's alright. Besides, I know a place to get really good fruit at this time of year." Seta grabbed Haruka's arm and pulled her down the path leading into town.

"You do?" Haruka asked as she let herself be dragged away. She didn't expect him to know anything about shopping for food. This guy was full of surprises. After a moment of though, she pulled her arm out of his grasp and walked beside him normally.

During the walk into town it was silent. Seta didn't say anything and neither did Haruka. She wouldn't know what to say to him anyway, so maybe it was better this way. But the constant silence was getting very

Seta broke the ice as soon as they entered town.

"Hey, I saw a guy with an Hinata Teahouse apron on my why there last night. Does he work there too?"

"Yeah, he's my brother." Haruka said quickly.

"You're brother huh?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a family business. I don't have much of a choice when it comes to where I want to work. My father makes us work there."

"Oh, so that's why you work there." Seta pondered. "Does your entire family work there?"

"No, just me, my father and my brother." Haruka started. "My... mother manages the Hinata Inn and my oldersister has her own family to take care of."

"So you have two siblings?"

"Yeah, my oldersister married awhile ago and opened up her own Confectionary shop. I think she has a son now too. He's probably about 13 or so. It's been awhile since I've seen him"

"That's cool." Seta grinned. Haruka looked at him strangely.

"So what about your family?" Haruka asked him back, feeling the need to keep the conversation going.

"Oh, hey this is the place!" Seta stopped suddenly. Haruka nearly bumped into him. She couldn't tell if he had avoided the question on purpose or if he just hadn't heard her.

"I've never seen this place before." Haruka stated, looking around.

"Yeah, it's kinda small. But the food is cheaper here. Can I see the list?"

Haruka handed him the list and Seta set to work picking out the stuff that was on it. He reminded Haruka of a child who had just been given a handful of candy he was so happy. Haruka sighed.

"Hey, do you mind if I run down the street really quick to pick up some soap?" Haruka asked.

"No problem. I'll meet you up there when I'm done." he said without looking up. Without another thought, Haruka turned and walked quickly back up the street.

Moments later, Haruka reached the small department store and went inside to find what she was looking for. Hundreds of different thoughts rushed through her head.

Does he really like me? Haruka thought to herself. Why would he do all this stuff if he didn't though. I'll bet it wasn't a coincidence that I ran into him again today.

Haruka reached the isle where the soap was and grabbed some without even thinking. Oh, what do I do?

Haruka walked quickly up to the front to pay and then walked over to the door to leave, still occupied by her thoughts. Unfortunately for her, she didn't see Seta as she rounded the corner.

"Hey Haruka, I--" Haruka slammed into him and landed them both on the floor, their various purchases rolling around on the ground in front of them.

"Gee, I'mreally sorry about that." Seta said, getting up. He put his hand out to help Haruka up, who was still on the floor. She looked up at him, but didn't take his hand.

"No, it's my fault." Haruka said as she got up on her own. "I wasn't paying attention." she said as she started putting the items back in the bag. Seta crouched down to help.

"I forgive you then." Seta said. Haruka frowned at him. "Hey, is your arm okay?"

Haruka looked down to where Seta was pointing. Sure enough, she had scraped it.

"It's nothing. I didn't even notice it until you said something." Haruka shrugged, putting the last item back in the bag.

"Here, I'll hold the bag on the way back to make up for hurting you like that."

Haruka didn't say anything but didn't protest when Seta took the bag from her. The two of them started back to the Hinata Inn in silence. Neither of them said a word the whole way back.

After delivering the bag to the Hinata Inn, Haruka and Seta were walking, going nowhere in particular.

"Listen, I've gotta get going home now. It's almost 5:00." Haruka said finally.

"That's alright. I'll walk you home again." Seat said. Haruka didn't even try to stop him this time. She had a feeling he wouldn't listen.

A few minutes later they had arrived at Haruka's house. This time Seta walked her all the way to the front door, which surprised Haruka a little.

"Well, bye." Haruka said turning to go inside. Seta put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "What?" she paused.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to get together next Sunday? I could take you out to dinner or something like that." Seta said. Instantly Haruka felt her face turn pink and turned away so he wouldn't see.

"But we just met."

"Not as a date, but just as friends. What do ya say?" Haruka didn't know how to respond. No one had ever asked her out like this, even if it wasn't a real date. She didn't know what to do.

"Uh..." Haruka started.

"Great, I'll see you Sunday evening around 6:00." Seta said. He walked back to the road and left with a quick wave. Haruka stood there watching him, not knowing what to do.

I have nothing to say... except please review!