A/N: Hello all! Sorry it's taken me so long to update! School is stressing me out like crazy and I hardly have any time to write. Thank you everyone for commenting and leaving reviews! I've been asked why Hige broke up with Blue. Maybe I should have made that more clear. Well, here's the answer. In a nutshell, Hige thinks that Blue deserves better than him. Of course, I have a bigger plot behind that, but that is what I will tell you guys for now. Enjoy and please review!

-

-

"Look, I really don't think that's a very good idea."

"Come on, it'll be so much fun!"

"Blue really wouldn't appreciate that, Christie." Hige ran his fingers through his hair nervously, clenching the phone in his other hand tightly as he leaned against the wall in the kitchen.

"Oh that's just silly. It's obvious Blue feels lonely, and I don't know why you're so opposed to me cheering her up," Christie replied. Hige rolled his eyes. Right, he thought irritated at Christie, but trying not to let it show. Blue only feels lonely because she's living with me and we just aren't in a relationship any more. Plus I had no idea that Christie was in Blue's class. What a mess.

"Look, Christie, I've known Blue longer than you have. And a double date is a really bad idea right now."

"Now, Hige, don't you want her to move on? You wouldn't be dating me if that weren't the case."

Hige flushed and felt slightly embarrassed and angry at the same time. Christie had such an imposing personality, how could he say no? Especially when she was so pretty and he was certain that Blue would have found another guy long before he started dating Christie. Guess not, though.

"That's not true," Hige replied. "Blue and I were close and well, she takes things deeply. She'll recover in her own time, but you poking into her love life will not help. I know she seems pretty docile, but she has a temper. It would be best to stay away from that part of her if you want to stay emotionally stable."

"Oh, Hige, you worry way too much about me, it's so sweet!" Christie continued talking for a fair bit of the next hour, Hige replying with "hmm"s and "ahh"s in the right places, until he heard the front door open.

"Hey, I really have to go, so I'll call you later." Hige hung up the phone before Christie could continue talking. "Hey, Blue." He noticed a ball of fuzz in her arms. "I see you did get a new cat."

"Yeah," Blue beamed. "She was so precious, I just couldn't leave her. I got her half price because she was smaller than her sisters." Blue sat down on the sofa, the kitten purring in her lap.

"Are you sure she's a healthy kitten? I don't want anything bad happening to her." Hige sat down next to Blue and brushed the tip of the cat's ear gently.

"I'm sure. She's very healthy, just tiny."

Hige noticed the studded collar around the kitten's neck and stiffled a laugh. Blue seemed to be really happy for some reason and he wouldn't ruin her good mood by laughing at her choice of collars. Why was she in such a good mood anyway? "Um, I'm just wondering, but did anything special happen on your walk?"

"No," Blue said quickly, thankful that it was cold outside so her pink cheeks wouldn't look too out of place. "It was cold and no one was at the park, so I thought I'd come home instead of freeze outside."

"Ah." Hige leaned over the back of the couch and attempted to touch the kitten gently with a couple of fingers before Hitomi clamped her small, but dagger sharp teeth on his hand. "Dammit!" Hige pulled his hand away from the kitten's reach and touched his wound gingerly.

"She might need to warm up to you," Blue laughed as Hige glared at the blue-eyed kitten as it curled up in its owner's lap.

"Right. Well if I felt like donating blood to a worthy cause I would have gone downtown to the hospital." Hige grumbled as he marched to the kitchen and ran his fingers under warm water, washing away the blood that was dripping down his fingertips. Blue turned around and looked at him. "No need to be bitter," she said.

Hige sighed as he turned off the water and wrapped his hand in a paper towel. "I know. Sorry, but I have stuff on my mind."

"Like what?" Blue tilted her head to the side and Hige felt his stomach jump. Stupid, he thought, scolding himself. The whole reason you broke up with her was to get rid of those stupid feelings. She deserves so much better.

"Well," Hige leaned against the wall, avoiding Blue's gaze. "Christie suggested a double-date this Saturday." A shadow of extreme hurt flashed across Blue's face, but then vanished as if it were never there. "If you don't want to, that's cool. I told her that I thought she needed to mind her own business, but she insisted that I ask you about it."

"Hm."

Hige could practically see the comic strips of situations playing out in Blue's head and it made him nervous. Sure, she would have to put up with Christie, who annoyed the crap out of her, but then again, she could possibly find a new guy. But what if the guy Christie brought along for Blue to meet was a loser? Maybe Hige thought Blue deserved better than him, but he wouldn't let her just go date a random guy.

"Well," said Blue, scratching Hitomi behind the ears. "I'll think about it. You know Christie and I don't exactly...click well."

"Yeah, I know that. I just hope you two can get along though. Both of you mean a lot to me."

"Right." Blue stood up, obviously irritated. "I'm going to bed. And I'm off tomorrow, so if I'm not awake, don't spazz." Blue walked back to her bedroom before Hige could respond.

Once she was alone, Blue set Hitomi down on a pillow and pulled her laptop off the side table next to her bed. If there was one good thing about college and scholarships, it was the free laptops. She plugged in her headphones, opened up her music folder, and decided to work on that nasty English paper to take her mind off of things.

Blue zipped her boots up over her thick, black leggings and tucked her keys and wallet into her jacket pocket as she closed the door behind her. It was Saturday and if there was anyway she could get out of that stupid double date with Christie, Hige, and some mystery guy, then she would just have to try to find something more important to do instead.

She rushed down the stairs and slowed down only once she reached the sidewalk and was almost to the book store that Tsume had pointed out the day before. White mist became visible every time Blue exhaled and snow crunched under her boots as she collected herself and walked inside. Sure enough, Tsume was sitting behind the counter, eating a sandwich and flipping through a book on what appeared to be on Korean cooking.

"Hey," Blue said with a slight wave of her hand. Tsume looked up and gave a slight smile.

"Hey. I wasn't expecting you to show up." Tsume tucked a piece of paper between the pages of his book and closed it. "Most girls don't like this side of town."

"I can't see why not. There aren't nail salons every five stores, but it's still a nice place to relax." Blue picked up a box of honeysuckle incense and held it close to her nose, taking in the sweet scent. "I love the smell of honeysuckle."

Tsume walked over to the shelf of incense and picked up a green box. "This one is my favourite. 'Mountain path'. It smells like pine trees and fresh rain. My aunt burns it all the time."

Blue picked up a box of it herself and caught a light strain of the scent. "It's a nice one too. I've always gone for the sweeter smelling things, though."

"Well, that stuff is great on girls, but I'm a guy. As much as I like sweet fragrances on girls, it's just not for me."

"I agree. For some reason, flowery things don't smell good on guys." Blue felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. What an odd topic...

"Yo, Tsume!" A guy poked his head out from the back room. "It's time for your shift, it's been an hour."

"Wow, you're kidding." Tsume looked at his watch. "Sorry, Blue, I gotta get back to work."

"Oh, that's fine." Blue wondered if she should ask him. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

Tsume looked slightly startled. "It's Saturday, right?" Blue nodded. "I can't. My friend is dragging me somewhere. I really don't want to go, but I promised."

"Oh, that's cool." Blue hoped her dissapointment didn't show in her voice. "Maybe some other time, then." Tsume nodded and Blue waved good-bye as she walked out of the store and made her way back home. It looked like she would be hanging out with Hige and Christie tonight.