Slow updates bringing you down? Well, you lived through the first story and that took me three years! You'll live through this one sure enough!

Chapter Begins

I watched on in amusement as some of the confused faces dissolved into ones of happiness as my once former teammates slowly recognized who I was. Of course, it came to no surprise to me when Momo quickly opened his mouth, his eyes still showing his confusion as he asked the one question they all wanted to ask upon first seeing me.

"Hey, Fuji-sempai, is she your girlfriend or something?"

I gave Momo a deadpanned look, causing his expression to twist more into confusion as he thought over where he had seen me before. I looked around the room seeing that he was the only one there still pondering it over; all the others had already figured who I was.

"Honestly Momo," I sighed in a questioning tone as I placed a hand to the back of my neck, "You were the first one I met back in Seigaku. It would've been nice if you were the first one to recognize me."

The guys chuckled at Momo's still confused nature as I sat down across from him. Crossing one leg over the other, I stared silently at him as he sifted through his memory, trying hard to remember if he's ever seen me before. I twirled a strand of hair around my finger, wondering if I had really changed so much that he wouldn't recognize me. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, pointing at me with a satisfied smile plastered on his face.

"I know who you are," he said confidently, "You were that one girl in my science class!"

"I wasn't in any of your classes," I groaned, giving up on him as I finally told him who I was, "I'm Tsuki! You know, the girl who bumped into you on her way to class and you decided to introduce her to your two friends, Fuji and Eiji, since they were in my class?"

Momo went silent for a couple of seconds before he burst out laughing, "Of course I knew it was you, Tsuki-sempai!"

Momo stood up, walking over to me as he ruffled my hair slightly. His loud laughs clued me in that he was only lying about knowing who I was, but I decided to let it slide as I glanced around the room at the rest of the people at the little get together. All the friendly faces I had known in one point of life had all changed in one way or another, all of them maturing to fit the age they were at now. I felt the feeling of nostalgia coming over me as I remembered all the good memories behind those smiles.

"Hey," I said, noticing something off about our group of friends, "People are missing. Are we still waiting for them?"

"Normally we would be, but not this time," Oishi explained, "You see, Tezuka and Ryoma no longer live in Tokyo anymore."

I nodded, wondering to myself where they had moved to and what they might be doing now. "What about Eiji? He didn't move anywhere, did he?" I asked, noticing that the bubbly redhead I once knew wasn't in the room. It would really kill my mood if he had moved without me knowing.

"Saa, no, he hasn't moved," Fuji said, sporting a barely noticeable frown; he knew it was important for me to see Eiji again today, "He was here earlier, but his boss called saying that they were one person short at his job so he had to go in."

I frowned, sighing softly at my missed chance to meet Eiji once more. A lone hand on my shoulder made me turn to Oishi, his soft smile reassuring me.

"I'm sure he would've tried to stay if he knew you were coming."

I nodded, smiling once more as I stood up, "Enough of this now, let's get this party started!"

Eiji's POV

Turning away from the customer in front of me, I sneezed into my arm. I laughed lightheartedly as I turned back to the young woman at the counter, continuing to ring up the items she was trying to make a purchase for.

"Sorry about that. Maybe I'm coming down with a cold," I told her, noticing the many items she was buying. They all seemed to be items a new pet owner would buy, "Did you recently get a new pet?"

"Yeah," she said, twisting a strand of honey blonde hair behind her ear as she smiled at me, "I just got a darling little Maltese. She's such a sweet little puppy, very cheery and playful."

I smiled, nodding as I rung up the last of her items, placing them into a plastic bag next to me. After telling her the total for her items and giving her change back, I gave her a polite, curt nod as my smiled widened slightly.

"Thank you for coming to Second Chance Pet's Shop. Please do come back if you have any questions about animal care or if you're just in need for some supplies," I paused, turning to sneeze again before waving a cheerful goodbye to my customer.

"Thank you, I think I will come back." She looked at me with hazel eyes, smiling softly as she made her way out the door. "And don't be so sure that you're coming down with a cold. Someone might just be talking about you."

I stared as she walked out the door, thinking about her words. Who would be talking about me at a time like this? My thoughts were soon interrupted as the sound of a person clearing their throat reached my ears. Turning to see one of my coworkers, I smiled when I noticed it was the person I had been filling in for.

"Hey Eiji," he said, ushering me out of his work space, "I know you like your job and all, but you can go ahead and leave now. Sorry for being late in the first place."

"Ne, it was no problem," I said, smiling at my coworker, "This place is pretty fun to work in! So many cute things to see!"

He smirked at me, nodding a bit as he looked at the door my previous customer had exited from. "Yeah," he agreed, "Although not many of them come through here that often, there are some cute ones to see in here."

I looked at him with confused eyes. "What do you mean? They come in here all the time," I said, referring to all the cute animals that always come through the small pet store, "They come at least twice a week."

He looked at me with wide, surprised eyes. "Man, Eiji, maybe we should switch shifts one of these days then, huh? They never come in when I'm here."

I nodded, agreeing to let him switch with me one of these days as I took off the apron I was required to wear for work. Placing the bright red apron onto a hanger in the back room, I sifted through the locker assigned to me and grabbed my bag and car keys. Waving a goodbye to all of my coworkers still left in the pet shop, I checked my watch to see that I still had some time left to catch the end of Oishi's little get together party. Maybe if I drove fast enough, I would be able to get some of the delicious food I saw before any of them eat it all.

"Yosh, now all I have to do is find my car," I said, stepping out to the shopping center's parking lot, "Ne, where did I park it again?"

Placing a hand over my eyes to shield them from the blinding sun, I searched the large parking lot for my little red car. I easily spotted it between two black SUVs, making me chuckle quietly to myself; it was like I was being escorted by the CIA. I looked both ways, making sure there were no oncoming vehicles as I walked across the parking lot to my car. Parked in front of me, I noticed the honey blonde woman I had been helping only a few minutes ago at the pet shop. I watched as her hazel eyes looked up to me and she instantly smiled, stepping forward towards me.

"On a break already," she asked, gesturing to the car keys I still held in my hand, "Either you're a really great employee, or an extremely lazy person."

I laughed, waving my hands in front of my face, "No, I was just covering for another employee since he was late. Now that he's there I was allowed to leave."

She smiled, nodding at my answer as she stared at my little red car. "You go to the local college, right?" She asked, a single brow rising, "A history major, right?"

I nodded enthusiastically, "Yup, how did you know that?"

"I'm a history major as well. We're in the same class." She reached a hand towards me, softly twirling a strand of my hair around her finger which caused me to blush lightly. "It's kind of hard not to notice you. I guess I just never really felt the need to speak to you until now." Releasing the lock of hair she had coiled around her finger, she turned back to her own car and unlocked the driver door. "Anyways, I should be getting back home now to take care of my little puppy. I'll see you around okay?"

I nodded, unable to form any words with my mouth. My eyes followed her car for a while as she drove silently out of her parking spot and away from the shopping center. When I finally snapped back to attention, I noticed that my mouth had opened slightly and there was a light blush on my face. Blaming it on the cold winter weather, I shook my shocked expression off my face and turned to my own car, unlocking it so I could slip into the warm interior. I touched the strand of hair that the woman had twirled around her finger, my blush returning once more.

"Ne, I didn't even get to know her name!" I frowned, determined to find out the mystery girl's name the next time I went to my class.

Putting that thought aside, I quickly put my keys into the ignition and switched on my car. After all, I still had a party I had to hurry to. Pressing my foot against the gas peddle, I made my way out of the parking lot and started my short drive to Oishi's apartment.

Fuji's POV

"I should probably be on my way right about now."

I looked over at Tsuki, watching as she glanced at both her watch and the clock hanging up on Oishi's wall. She stood up, dusting off imaginary pieces of dust and crumbs off of her clothing as she smiled at us all. I also glanced at the clock, noticing that it wasn't at all that late. Glancing out the window that was besides me, I noticed that the sun wasn't setting at all and that the sky had only grown a few shades darker than it was a couple of hours ago.

"Leaving us so early Tsuki-sempai?" Momo asked, the crumbs from his food still on his face.

She laughed, pointing at his face to give him a little hint. "I'm sorry, but I have to study for this major test I have in a couple of days. It was nice seeing you all again after so many years. We should keep in touch more often."

We all agreed as she gave us a short wave, turning to walk out the front door to the apartment. I watched out the window as she slipped into her car and drove away. Turning back to the conversations that were going on with the rest of the group, I failed to notice a red car pulling up into the once empty parking space. When the unexpected knock had interrupted the conversations, Oishi stood up to answer the door.

"Oh, Eiji, you're back!"

Hearing Oishi state the redhead's name made me groan inwardly as I watched them enter the living room. It was like Eiji and Tsuki were purposely avoiding each other.

"Hey Eiji-sempai," Momo said happily, "You should've got here earlier! Then you would have been able to—"

"Have more food," I interrupted Momo.

Everyone but Eiji looked at me suspiciously, their eyes a bit wary at my intentions to hide that Tsuki was here. I simply smiled at them, thinking that it would be better for the both of them if Eiji found out Tsuki was here on his own.

"What? Did Momo eat them all?"

With that said, Eiji immediately ran over to the table filled with food and the rest of the party ensued.

Chapter Ends

They missed each other again… Twice! In one day! How unlucky is that folks? Oh well, until next time! See you all around!