I'm sorry for the delay in updating! Thank you so much for all of the reviews! I am excited to hear what you think as the story continues! Have a great Easter and a wonderful weekend!

"Was school any better today?" Kuwabara took my book bag from me, walking with me toward home so we could get some studying in before he took me to Meiou High School. The administrative office had offered to meet with me around five o'clock to talk about working me into the dance team. I was nervous, but school work needed to come first.

"Not really, no. That girl I told you about yesterday, Mako, let me sit with her at lunch, though, so at least I didn't have to eat sitting on the floor again. While that usually doesn't bother me, I don't particularly care for the other children tossing things at me." I looked down at my dress shoes while we walked, staring at the shine and the ankle socks that were part of my uniform, trying to think of anything but my meeting. "I'm so nervous."

"Cous, I've seen videos of your dance recitals that your mom sends us once in a while. If they don't accept you into their program they're a bunch of idiots!" He nodded to himself, assured that he was absolute in his thinking. I nodded along, my nerves still kicking. It wouldn't do me any good to worry about it now, but that didn't stop them.

Kazuma joined me in my room for some studying, getting started immediately on showing me the alphabet. I had a sufficient headache ten minutes into the session, but I was seeing where many of my mistakes were being made. I was mistaking over half of my alphabet when I was reading. Of course, this didn't help my recognition of half of the letters on sight, since my brain was so used to reading them all wrong. At least with a few sessions I would hopefully be able to read at a fifth grade level without a headache.

Gods but I am dumb.

"You're not gonna get any better just sitting there you know." I looked up from my position with my head laying on my crossed arms, irritated beyond all belief.

"I can't focus, Kazuma. Can we take a break? I'm at a point where I feel like I can't do anything, and self-pity never got anyone anywhere." I rested my eyes down on my arm again, breathing out. Why couldn't Latin still be a universal language?

"Maybe you'd be able to focus better if you were actually sleeping at night."

"How do you know that?" I jerked upwards, feeling my face getting warm.

"Because I'm not dumb. You haven't slept in the week you've been here. It wasn't a good idea to start school right away after the funeral; you should've given yourself some time to recover instead of pacing around your room all night."

I blushed harder, staring at my alphabet again.

"So how about we keep practicing this, every night, and you start sleeping and then we can talk about what you can and can't do once you see the progress that's being made."

"You're too good to me, cous." I moved my head to touch his arm, and was pleased that he didn't move away this time. It seemed he was getting used to my lovey nature after a week of dealing with me.

"You're just too smart to get down on yourself like this. That's all. You're gonna be fine once you get the hang of things here." Kazuma pat my head, a little rough for my taste, but I ignored it and looked back to the paper.

I was relieved and anxious when my alarm went off, signaling that it was time for me to meet the administrators at Meiou high school. I ushered my cousin out of the room so I could change into a nice black skirt and a white long sleeve button up. I kept the school shoes, deciding that they were the nicest shoes I owned. I touched my ponytail, deciding on putting it in a bun rather than leaving the ends of my hair down so they would get in my face if I had to move around or dance for them. I smoothed my skirt down and breathed out, walking out to meet Kazuma, who had changed into jeans and a jacket. I grabbed my sweater and moved in front of him, walking backwards.

He talked about the fight he got into when he skipped class today on the way to the school. I listened to him explain to me the way that four middle schoolers from another school had come to his territory expecting the fight to be easy, going into detail about the gruesome layout he and his friends had given the boys. It didn't take my mind off of my nerves, but it was interesting and I appreciated the story nonetheless. I was starting to see the rebel that Shizuru had dealt with all these years.

"You want me to come in with you?"

"No." I closed my eyes, turning to face the school. "I don't want to keep you from your friends tonight."

"You know the way home?"

"I have the directions you gave me and the address memorized in case I need help." I hugged him, forcing a smile that he returned. I loved the way that his smiles reached his eyes. He really was a gentle soul.

I walked into the school, looking around at the hallways. My headache had hit a point where I didn't want to have anything to do with reading a language that made me want to throw a chair against a glass window. I wandered down the first hallway to my left, following the way I would in my school. Eventually I had to pass either a student or a teacher, right? But this was also why I had shown up early, so I could be on time to my meeting.

I wandered through most of the left hand of the bottom half of the school when I heard a locker closing. I sped up my pace and turned the corner, shocked at what I saw. There was a red haired boy talking to a teacher, waving to him as he walked away before he turned and saw me, surprise in his emerald eyes. I had never seen anyone Japanese with blood-red hair and green eyes. I felt my face heating up, embarrassed that I was staring and disbelieving at how... beautiful this boy was. Damn, I was getting hormonal lately.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where the administrative office is? I have a meeting today with the principal of this school as well as one of the coaches." I bowed, looking back up at him again. He was a great deal taller than me, which wasn't much of a surprise, and he kept a guard around his eyes as he smiled at me. Maybe I bowed too quickly?

"You're from Sarayashiki High School, aren't you? There was a rumor running through the school this afternoon that the dance instructor was meeting with someone from a rival high school to audition her for the team." He bowed. "My name is Shuichi Minamino, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Ella. The pleasure is all mine."

I smiled, and Shuichi gestured for me to follow him. "It's just down this hallway here."

I followed after him, glancing around the school. "You have a beautiful facility here. It's far nicer than in my high school." I made awkward conversation, turning around and walking ahead of him backwards so we could have a conversation.

His steps faltered a moment before he continued his pace, smiling at me with that same polite smile. "We are blessed to have such a wonderful facility to practice and study in."

I watched his body turn slightly, as if he was warning me that we were going to be turning around a hallway shortly and that I needed to follow so that I didn't hit the wall. I followed his movements, watching the wall out of the corner of my eye. Shuichi seemed amused at my awareness, and stopped in front of a doorway.

"This is the administrative office, Ms. Ella. Best of luck with your audition."

I felt my mouth turning upward into a grin, and I bowed to him again, turning and opening the door, taking a deep breath before I suffocated from nerves. I had been to countless auditions for parts in Lera May's, but never like this. This was a different country, a different group of people, different expectations that I had no idea if I was experienced enough to meet.

I stopped in front of a door that light was shining through, taking a breath again before knocking.

"Come in, Ms. Kuwabara."

I entered, facing the three teachers who were staring at me with surprisingly kind faces. I swallowed, sitting down in the seat they signaled to.

"We understand that you wish to join our dance team." The man on the left stated, and I assumed that he must be the principal. The woman and the younger man both looked to him with respect in their faces, and he carried himself in a way that was very assured without being arrogant. Such a nice change of pace.

"That is correct sir. It was decided amongst my family that I would be staying here in Japan for the foreseeable future, so I was unable to send in my request any earlier. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

He smiled at me and nodded, looking to the woman on his right.

"It's perfectly alright dear. I'm afraid that due to your late application, we will not be able to fit you into the competitive dance team, which is what you were undoubtedly trying for, but if you are qualified I would be more than happy to put you into the school's dance team until you are able to audition at the next semester."

"Thank you for this opportunity." I bowed my head, my breath coming quicker than I would have preferred.

I answered their questions, giving them my oral resume of my history with dance and my achievements. The woman, Mrs. Tanaka, seemed pleased with what I had to say, while the principal and vice principal both watched the process take place, more of witnesses than actual judges of my skill and qualification. It was a relief and a nightmare when I was ushered to the gymnasium to show my skill with a piece from Tchaikovsky, most likely to be "Dance of the Swans". I had played Odette in my studio's rendition, so I was not particularly worried when she informed me that I would not have to perform perfectly, as I did not have ballet slippers, nor proper clothing for the part.

I glanced to my left as the music started and I took my position, startled by the figure looming there. Whoever it was, they were unnoticed by Mrs. Tanaka, and I did not have time enough to point him out. I was sure it was a young man, but I could not see anything distinguishable before I began my performance, only that he was of small stature and thin framed. What unnerved me was that I swear I saw a flash of red before I lost myself in the music. This was too important to be distracted by hallucinations.