Sakuno sat on her bed and tried to calm herself down before the date. Ryoma was ten minutes late. She knew he wasn't the kind to be late. Never. What if he forgot about her like the time he had forgotten who she was? It could be that he was seeing someone else. Sakuno shook her head to clear her mind from bad thoughts. She tried as hard as she could to remain emotionally buoyant. Maybe he had gotten lost on the way to her house. . .?

"Ah!" she exclaimed suddenly, "What if I gave him the wrong directions?!"

As if on cue, the doorbell rang at that very instant. Sakuno ran to the door but stopped herself in the middle of the hall. She remembered that Tomoka had told her never to look too excited or eager in front of a boy so she stopped to take a few breaths. When she couldn't contain her excitement anymore, she threw a quick glance at the mirror, smoothed down her dress and answered the door.

"WelcometotheRyuzakiResidence!!!!" she managed to squeak out too loudly while swinging open the door.

Ryoma looked at her with a surprised face. A strand of loose hair had fallen across his forehead and it took all of Sakuno's will to stop herself from brushing it away. The prince quickly regained his composure and tucked the hair behind his ear. Smirking, he mentioned something about how good she looked. Sakuno didn't hear anyways. Her head was buzzing and her legs felt like water. It felt like she would faint any second.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She looked stunning. She really did.

Ryoma stared at Sakuno, stupefied. She didn't seem to look at all like the little child with braids and flower pins from his childhood memories but more like a lady. He suddenly became very aware about how he was a boy and how Sakuno was a girl. Too aware. Forcing himself to calm down, he greeted and complemented her. Suddenly, Ryoma remembered the blue roses he had clenched in his fist.

"H-Here," he said while holding the bouquet in front of her, "These roses are for you."

Ryoma barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes when he saw Sakuno's eyes become watery as she thanked him. Leave it to a girl to make a mountain out of a mole hill. He would probably never understand girls. All he wanted now was to spend time with Sakuno. She told him to wait inside the hallway while she went to put the flowers in a vase. Looking around, Ryoma noted that Sakuno's house was exactly how he pictured it. The colours of the furniture and walls were creamy and soft. He noted on how she had paintings of flowers hung up on the walls and how she had unfinished paintings leaning on the opposite wall.

"So she likes painting," Ryoma mused as he put that fact away for later use. Maybe he should have gotten her daisies as they seemed to remind him of that flower pin she would always wear. He sighed and wished that he had thought of that instead of blue roses.

"Ready to go?" he asked as Sakuno walked into the hall.

She nodded. In a silent procession, they went to his car. Ryoma wondered if many words would be exchanged between them tonight. So far, not much had been said. Shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath before entering the car, Ryoma hoped that he wouldn't mess up this date like he most probably would.