Author's Note: Hello, friends! As usual, I am extremely late with the new chapter, but better late than never... I want to take this story in a different direction, just because I don't want the story to get too boring if it keeps going the same way it's going. I'm sorry that it's a bit disorganized (although to begin with, I never really had any sort of plot laid out for this story, it started out as a one-shot). I hope the information I used was accurate XD

Anyways, enjoy!


Shun awoke to the smell of pancakes as he uncurled himself from his blankets on his little couch bed. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes, resting his gaze on the opened windows, letting in the fresh smell of spring inside the room, as well as the warm sunlight. Pushing the hair away from his face, he craned his neck and lifted his head up over his pillow, in the direction of the kitchen nearby. A lemony scent was wafting in.

No doubt about it; Alice was busy cooking away.

"Are you awake yet, Shun?" Alice called from the room. He could somehow hear her over the sound of the oven and pancake-flipping combined; her soft voice just carried so nicely.

"Yeah, I just got up," he called back, shouting extra loud to make sure she heard.

"Great! Would you mind coming in the dining room in a few minutes for breakfast? I have some important news to tell you!"

Shun flopped his head back onto his pillow, grimacing only slightly. Ugh, getting up in a few minutes? He could maybe get up in an hour on a regular day if he was lucky. "Sure!" he yelled back.

After about five minutes, Shun was able to will himself out of bed. But before going to the dining room, he made a quick trip to the restroom, mainly to take a leak but also to take a good look at himself in the mirror and fix up his messy hair so he looked at least somewhat presentable. Eventually, he made his way into the dining room, where Alice had already set the table with their food.

Today, it was pancakes, evidently. But he noticed little dark specks showing up inside of them, even if they were dressed in thick syrup and topped with strawberries. He bent over to get a better look.

"They're lemon poppy seed pancakes," Alice explained, coming in from behind him and brushing against his side. "I thought just making regular pancakes wouldn't be too special, so I tried out a new recipe." She went around to the opposite end of the table and put her hands on her chair, smiling meaningfully at him. "Tell me what you think of them, okay?"

Unlike most mornings, Alice looked pretty well-dressed. Usually she was still wearing a nightgown, typically a sleeveless, white frilly one that made her look like a princess (it happened to be Shun's favorite). But this morning, she was in regular clothing; today it was a dress, a strapless one that didn't quite make her bust out on the front, but instead revealed a pair of lithe shoulders and a structured collar bone. The pattern was checkered, with blue and white squares covering every inch of the fabric, the skirt ending above her knees and an attached sash tied into a bow on the back. Her thick orange hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a matching blue and white checkered bow accessorizing it. Her brown eyes glimmered at him, her pink lips curved into a smile.

"You seem dressed up today," Shun said instead, sitting down in his chair.

A pink glow rushed to Alice's cheeks. "I guess I just wasn't feeling as lazy this morning," she joked. Shun gave a small smile in return as she sat down with him.

"So, you said you have some news for me?" Shun began, stuffing his mouth with some pancake.

"Oh, I sure do!" Alice replied enthusiastically, putting her fork down for a moment so she could let her hands so some of the talking. "I was going to tell you way earlier when you first got here several days ago."

"What's up?" he asked.

"Did I ever remember to tell you that I was still in school, Shun?"

Shun stopped eating, lowering his wrists to the edge of the table. Nope, this was definitely news to him. "What?"

Alice smiled, giving him that sweet grin of hers that gave his stomach butterflies. "I guess I never told you, did I… Silly me," she giggled, laughing at herself as she took another bite of her pancake.

"Wait a minute, you've been in school this entire time while I was here?" Shun demanded, incredulous.

"Well, I haven't had school this week," she corrected. "You just happened to show up during Spring Break; but I start classes again on Monday."

"How come you never told me?" he sighed. "I figured this entire time you were on some sort of gap year. Your house is so far away from town I thought you just did some kind of homeschooling…"

Alice laughed. "That kind of was what I was doing for a bit of time; but three years ago, when I was fourteen, Grandpa found some new science projects to work on at his laboratory. The details are sort of complicated, but basically there was a lot of research he had to put into it, at least a few years. So he told me that he'd sign me up for regular school, that way he wouldn't have to worry about looking out for me."

Shun frowned. "You never told me why you didn't tell me you're in school, you know."

She tilted her head to the side. "Well… I was busy taking care of you…?" She phrased it like she was contemplating the reasoning behind it for the first time. She cracked a smile. "I guess it goes to show how much I make school a priority."

Shun chuckled lightly, but he still came off as concerned. "But, you're still gonna go to school this week, right?"

Alice pulled a corner of her lip up, doubtful. "I don't really know," she said. "I thought that maybe I'd take a couple of days of to spend some time with you. I wouldn't want to leave you here alone…"

"Are you serious?!" Shun sighed, exasperated. "Don't take days off of school just for me. Education is super important these days. I can just stay here, maybe even do some of your chores so that way you can do your homework."

Alice was quiet. He wondered if the sudden silence was something he had brought on himself, and it was embarrassing him: he didn't want to make things awkward, after all. "You didn't have any homework over Spring Break, did you? Since you start tomorrow, I can take care of things around here. I kinda know how to cook too."

"Shun, how old are you?" Alice asked calmly. Her pretty brown eyes, like small, glittering pools, stared through narrowed lids at him, prepared to analyze his next response.

Shun paused. Was this some kind of test? "Um, 17?" He didn't sound so sure of himself.

"I see," she murmured. Shun felt his hand twitch; her lowered voice reminded him of melted chocolate falling down slowly like in a Ghirardelli commercial.

"And what are most 17 year olds doing in Japan?"

Shun gulped.

Shit, she caught him.

He bit his lip cautiously. "Going to school?"

Alice's lips curled into an amused smile. "And where are you, right now, Shun; a 17 year old high school student?"

Shun sighed, trying his hardest not to get frustrated. "Moscow."

"A-HA!" Alice lifted herself up from her seat and leaned forward, spreading out her fingers and pinching Shun's cheek. He dropped his fork and knife, blushing furiously as he put a hand on her slender wrist, feeling her fingertips dig into his skin. "Don't you dare tell me that I shouldn't skip my classes, when you're the one who's busy fooling around in another country so he doesn't have to go to his!"

Shun covered his mouth with his other hand, hoping the pancake inside wouldn't show. "Who said I was fooling around?" he protested, pulling on her wrist to make her hand move away. Alice grinned, her face flushing slightly at his comment, her eyes sparkling.

She finally let go of his cheek, so Shun let go of her, while she seated herself back down in her chair. Shun rubbed the side of his face tentatively to try to even out the pain, remembering the feeling of her skin clamped in his palm.

Alice looked him back in the eyes again, staring pro-longingly at him. "Why did you really leave Japan, Shun?" she asked, her voice edged with a small sense of despair. "What made you want to abandon your home town and come all the way over here?"

Abandon. Shun had never really liked that word. His father had abandoned him after his mom got sick. His mom had abandoned him once she moved to the hospital. He had abandoned his friends when they needed him the most. He wished that word had never existed, so it wouldn't remind him of all the guilt and sadness he had built up inside of him over the years.

He let out a shaky breath before he began his reply.

"Alice, there's something really important that I have to tell you. That I have to tell everyone. It's a secret I've been hiding for only a few weeks, but it's something that everyone would freak out about if they heard." Shun paused, realizing he was getting too close to telling the truth. "But I can't tell everyone right now, because now is not the time. I figured most of our friends in Japan would find out over time, and I… I know this sounds selfish, but I didn't want to have to deal with it. I needed to think."

She was silent, her eyebrows somewhat furrowed as she gazed back at him. Their eyes were locked.

"I know it's not the answer that you deserve, but that's the reason why I'm here," Shun continued. "I don't want you to think that I just decided to randomly leave Japan and come out here because I was in a bad mood. There is actually something going on. But at the moment, it's something I can't give away." He bowed his head low. "I'm sorry."

Alice remained quiet. Shun tried to examine any changes in expression on her gentle, beautiful face, but he could see none. Nothing but concern and worry were the only emotions to be seen. Then she took out her hand and reached over the table, placing it on his. Shun's body warmed up like an oven.

"Shun, I care about you," she told him. "And I'm here for you. I understand that your privacy is really important, but if you ever need to tell me anything, I'm willing to listen." Her thumb lightly stroked the side of his hand.

"Thank you," Shun responded. "I mean it so much."

"I'll tell you what." Alice removed her hand (Shun's body cooled down) and leaned forward over the table. "I'll talk to my teachers at school and tell them that you're my correspondent who's visiting from Japan. If I can, I'll get them to give you your own schedule so that way you won't have to always be following me around campus. That way, you won't have to be alone at home, and then if you need me, I'll be nearby."

"Are you sure?" Shun asked. "You'd go through all the trouble just for me."

Alice smiled. Her rosy cheeks and glowing eyes could light up any room. "It's trouble worth going through."


So that was it! Let me know what you think of the whole school idea; it'd help me out immensely so that way I have an idea of the "right track" that I'm trying to go with. Please feel free to leave a review, thanks so much for the favorites, and thanks for reading!