Credit goes to Natsumi Matsumoto!

If I recall from the many fairy tails and books I've read over the years, a knight was an armored soldier in the medieval times, who would serve and protect the royals and the people. In Japan, the term "mamoru" means to protect. I guess now it makes sense that since Tachibana's real name is "Knight", he would have a name like "Mamoru" for his Japanese name.

As he stands before me as I sat there like a complete idiot with my legs folded sideways, a close-to-finished drawing sitting on my lap, and my hands covered in graphite smudges. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"You," he said. "I met you on the train that day, didn't I?" His face was calm but his voice was stern. It also had a very faint accent, but not the kind of accent you would hear as if he came from another district of Japan. I was very familiar with it, but I would only hear it in-

"London," I said.

He blinked. "What?"

"Ah!" I scrambled to put my pencils back in the case and snapped my sketchbook shut, shoving all of them in my bag next to Astrid. "Nothing! Nothing, but yeah I did- see you on the train that is. Last week." I quickly stood, wiping grass off the skirt of my dress. "Um, I'm- "

"I know who you are." He said. "My sister told me about you, Kashino Najika; Daughter of the patissiers who were a part of the famous middle school Grand Pix championship team."

I swallowed. "Yeah, that's me..." Well, one of them. "So... Kami-chan told you about me?"

He turned and backed away from the water. My heart started to pound in my chest as he approached me. So far everyone I've met is taller than me; I had to look up at Tachibana, who was so close that I could smell the lingering sent of sandalwood radiating off his body. But his eyes, beautiful and filled with mystery. Heterochromia eyes are rare and I am curious on the story behind them- if it was genetics or something, but something is telling me that it's best to not ask at all. "What's so special about you?"

"...What?" I shook my head. "Who do you think you are?"

I gasped and clamped a hand over my mouth. Great, now here I go speaking English out of no where. I admit, being born in London and living there for my first few years, along with going back for a visit every once in a while, did rub off on me, making me practice a couple (okay, a lot) of times back at home, but even if Tachibana does happen to have an accent, I don't know for sure if he does speak English, let alone if he's British.

My cheeks were burning as I looked up at Tachibana, his eyebrow arched in a curious way. When he spoke, it was in a whisper, like he hoped I wouldn't hear, only I did. "You look like your mum and yet..."

My knees nearly gave in on me. I was confused. I was humiliated. And I felt so alone. Is that all I am to everybody? The daughter of the famous middle schoolers, the youngest child of the well-known patissiers. Why? Why can't any one just see me for who I am?! "R-really..." I stuttered, my lips trembling as I spoke. "What does everyone want from me?!" When I gave him one last look, his eyes were wide, looking surprised, not expecting a reaction like that at all.

I ran before he could say anything else. I heard him call out, "Wait!" but I didn't want to. I wanted to go back, go back to my dorm, my home, my old life. Tears blurred my vision as I ran. In the distance I could see the light from the school and headed towards that. I was panting and my side hurt from my bag repeatedly hitting against me. My heart dropped. Something didn't feel right. I looked down at my and noticed that it was because of my sketchbook hitting against me that I was in pain but that was it. Astrid was gone.

~xXx~

No. Please no. This is not happening. My friend- my first friend, my best friend is lost. She most likely fell when I was running but I hardly remember the path I took. I panicked. She couldn't be too far off, right? I tried to steady my breathing, but I also felt the pain in my feet. I took off my flats and saw that they dug into my skin. I wanted to cry out in pain but I fought it. I can do that later. I took off again in the direction I came from, but immediately backfired. Because it was dark, of course I couldn't see Tachibana before I bumped into him. I gasped and stumbled back, almost completely falling backwards if he didn't grab me in time, pulling me close.

"Oi!" he exclaimed. "Watch where you're..." His voice faded when he felt me tremble in his arms. "What is it? Are you okay?"

My breaths became ragged and my head felt like it was exploding, everything that happened today finally came at me at once. "N-no!" I cried. "I- I have to f-find her- I can't find her my- " My knees gave in again and I sunk to the ground.

"Kashino, look at me." Tachibana cupped his hands on both sides of my face. I knew I looked like a mess in front of him, but he didn't seemed bothered at all. His face was hard, eyes serious. "You're panicking, alright? I need you to relax, please. Breathe in and out- slowly."

I tried, really tried to do what he said but I couldn't. I needed to find- "Here." Tachibana reached behind him and a wave a utter relief washed over me as he handed Astrid towards me. "She fell out of your bag when you ran off. I tried to call you back but you never did so..."

Despite it being a rude gesture, I snatched Astrid out of his hands, pulling her and hugging her against me as close as I could. I buried my face in her fur- the faint smell of my home in Kanagawa, the memory of when I first saw her, and the look on Dad's face when he knew I didn't want to leave that day without her. I sobbed. "Thank you... Thank you so, so much Mamoru..."

I started to take deep, slow breaths myself. I felt a more relaxed now that I had Astrid again, although that didn't mean my other problems were gone too. "Come on," Tachibana said, letting me up carefully. "It's almost curfew hour, if we don't get back soon we'll get in trouble." I backed away from him slowly when he stopped me again. "Use this." I glanced up and saw that he was holding out his handkerchief. My hand was trembling as I reached out for it, even though I felt alright. Tachibana grabbed my hand and placed the piece of cloth in my hand. I didn't use it right away but still kept it close, tucking it in between Astrid and me. "Thank you..."

"Just give it to me tomorrow." He told me. "Can you stand?"

I nodded and slowly got to my feet. I kept my shoes off because I knew they would still cause problems. We walked towards the dorms in silence. It was a little awkward but after what happened just now...

"...I'm sorry."

I looked at Tachibana. He kept staring ahead, knowing that if he made eye contact with me, nothing else would come out of his mouth. "I know that what I said to you earlier, back at the lake, really offended you. And... it was wrong of me to say it. So, I'm sorry."

I chewed on my lip. What should I say to that now? Time was running out as we approached the dorms closer. The girl's dorm is closer than the boy's dorm so I would be basically leaving before him.

When we finally reached the girl's dorm, I stopped. Without turning to face him, I said, "I guess I have a little bit of faith in you now, Tachibana. So... Good night." And I walked into the dormitory, not waiting for a reaction from him.

~xXx~

I walked into my room and saw that Kami-chan was already asleep. It wasn't that late for me to take a quick shower so I took one. When I got ready for bed, I noticed Tachibana's handkerchief next to Astrid on my bed. I guess I ended up not using it after all but, the thought of him still lending it to me was nice enough. I took it and placed it on the side table before crawling under the sheets. It smelled fresh and clean, but it wasn't familiar. I pulled Astrid close to me and held her tight. Earlier she smelled like home, but not it was faint and more like Tachibana. Even though, it helped me fall asleep.

That was the first time I wasn't able to write Lia a letter to send to her the next day.

Next chapter is where everything really starts! :) Classes, cooking, drama, and maybe Sweets Spirits?

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