A fallen leaf. Such a shame. He opened the palm of his hand, grasping on to the small object with closed eyes. "Such a shame..."

"Kouichi!"

"Uh...huh?" He turned to look back to the driveway, watching as his friend fumbled to hold a box up to chest height. He blinked once or twice, looking down to the leaf then back to the boy, then back to the leaf, then back to the boy. Finally dropping the leaf on to the pavement with a moments hesitation. Kouichi was at the boys side in a flash, gripping the bottom of the box as a gesture of support. A grunt sounded from the other side as the two shoved their "luggage" into the backseat of their, barely affordable, mini-van.

"Phew," Naoya whipped a hand over his forehead, grinning stupidly as his back fell against the door in an attempt to shut it, "That seems to be the last of it." He opened his eyes, pausing before crossing his arms with a lazy tilt of the head, "Will you miss it here?"

Kouichi lifted his gaze to the sky, shrugging, "In a way, yeah." It was the truth. In a sense. It was hard to describe what happened through the year he spent here. He hardly remembered it, actually. It was just another regular year; something unimportant and possibly wouldn't mean anything once he was shipped off to high school.

"Yeah, me too..." Naoya gave up on the slouched position, sighing heavily. "I-"

"Wait!" A new voice greeted the conversation, causing Naoya to stop abruptly, dropping his hands to his sides. Kouichi as well dragged his gaze away from the skies above, cocking a brow in the slightest bit. "There's still one more box." Yuuya pointed a finger to a small box he settled to the ground, smiling awkwardly at all their eyes being on him. The typical Mochizuki thing to do.

"Ugh, why'd you put it off so far to the side! I'm not a dog, I can't see that far!"

"I thought that was cats-"

"Whatever, just give me the box." Naoya grumbled, snatching the cardboard from the ground. He grummbled to himself, growling when he noticed there was just no room in the car. "Is this box /really/ important?"

"That's all my clothes..."

"You can buy more." Naoya threw the box over his shoulder, grinning smugly, his arm latching around Yuuya's shoulder. Kouchi muttered a few words, shuffling into the passenger seat of the car. Junior year here at Yomi North was over and it was time to start high school. Only. The three of them had bigger plans for themselves. All the others stayed back, thinking they'd get along just fine here in a small town. But not Kouchi, Naoya, and Yuuya. They wanted more. Kouichi's dad, as careless as he was, found a great little school, an academy actually, for the three to transfer to. He had finally left India and found business in the town "Ouran" was actually in, so it made great convenience for him to help with the bills and a place to stay. Yuuya crawled beyond a few boxes, squeezing into the seat by the window in the back, Naoya following him but into the drivers seat.

The drive wasn't all that long. A lot longer than he had hoped, but it was worth it. The town they entered was so pretty. A few trees scattered here and there along the sidewalks, the pavement smoothed out to a fine colour of grey. It was really pretty on this part. So calm and welcoming. BAM!

Naoya slammed on the breaks, a thundering roll hitting the car hood as a body flipped over and onto the floor after hitting their window. Yuuya screeched, covering his face with his hands, Kouchi reaching back to grab his knee with a panic stricken expression. Naoya gripped the steering wheel, his veins popping out in his hands, the knuckles turning white from the strength at which he held the material. Kouchi watched the sweat trickle from his temple, his face flushing pale as he dodged out of the car in a hurry. This seemed all too familiar. But, agh! His head hurt, throbbing pain literally was surging through his head. Why did it remind him so much of something?!

"Kouichi!" Yuuya's small yelp pulled him from the pain in a swift wince. The boy had climbed up to the front seat, shoving all the boxes aside to make it there, "Come on, Kouichi!" He tugged on Kouichi's arm before hopping out. Kouichi followed after a moments pause, swerving into complete view of the hood of the car, spotting the fallen victim immediately.

"Are you alright!?" Naoya shouted into the man's, no, boy's ear, curling him up into his arms like a child.

"I'm fine, haha! Really!" The boy smiled awkwardly, rubbing the top of his head with a small laugh. He squirmed, staring up at Naoya, "Can you let me go, though? I don't think my boyfriend would be too happy about this."

"Akihisa!" Another boy, one really odd one, charged over to the boys aid, shoving Naoya out of the way immediatly, "The hell do you think you're doing! Akihisa, are you okay!?" He jumped up on to his feet, about ready to throw a swing at Naoya, "What'd they do to you!?"

"Kid! Wait up! How dare you leave me like tha-oh, and what do we have here?" Yet /another/ boy jumped out of the blue, huffing with crossed arms and slanted hips.

"Naoi, I thought I told you to hold our spot in line."

"I got bored, besides, reserving spots is a job for peasants, not God."

Yuuya held onto one of his arms, squirming away from the newly formed crowd. Naoya scratched at his head, staring at the three with no words in his mouth. Kouichi on the other hand smiled. He smiled at the strangers. He smiled and broke into a piercing laugh. It felt good in his throat and made this trip all the worth. They truly were quite the bunch. He just wanted to know which was the boyfriend! His eyes watered, the laugh ringing in his ears as he gripped his stomach, throwing his head back out of amusement. Through the slits of his eyes he was capable of seeing the uncomfortable smile creep up on Yuuya's face, also taking into consideration the faces he was getting from the others, not really minding the awkwardness on Naoya's expression. His hand swiped a single tear from his cheek, a deep breath being inhaled with a lazy smile, "I'm Sakakibara. Kouichi Sakakibara." He held out one hand in greeting.

"Diegad Kidashio. Please, call me Kid." The odd one took his hand firmly, giving a curt nod upon releasing their hold. All business and no play. Hm.

"Naoi. Hayato Naoi." Next came the one with the hat, his hand was warm and soft. Very feminine like, only with a twinge of cocky, "You may call me-"

"Don't even go there." Kid peeped in, shooting a glare at Naoi.

"Naoi will do fine." He forced a grin, bowing before curling up next to Kid. His arm latched around the boys torso. Hm?

"Akihisa Yoshii. Feel free to call me Aki!" The injured one dusted off his pant leg, holding up a still wave and a cheerful grin, taking up the other side of Kid with an arm latched around his shoulder. They were all so...beautiful. And...and...gay? It wasn't a problem if they were, it was just..new.

"Naoya Teshigawara." He rolled his eyes, hoping off the floor and crossing his arms. Yuuya smiled peacefully, scooting his way back up to the lot of them, his hand extended. "Oh, this is Yuuya Mochizuki."

The rest of the day was quite eventful. Aki, Kid, and Naoi led them around town up until they reached an ice cream stand. The bunch of boys were actually really nice, they even offered to have the car picked up and taken to their place. Well, at least, Kid did. Apparently he was some sort of rich. The town was quite and appealing for the most part. The roads were shaded light pink to add an elegant glow, the grass almost perfectly green along every sidewalk. It was fun to get a personal tour on foot, but soon they needed to get back to Kouichi's dad. He would be worried eventually. The 6 boys circled around a table outside the ice-cream shop, taking up seats on every side possible. Kouichi dipped his spoon into the thick desert, twirling it around for a few moments before popping it in his mouth. Yuuya sipped on his lemonade, smiling widely as Naoya shoved his face full of cookies. Gee, at an ice-cream shop and no one bothered to get actual ice-cream?

"So, which of you three are dating?" Naoya leaned on his forearms, licking the crumbs from the corner of his mouth as he directed the question at their newly found friends.

Kid's face tensed up, "None of us are dating."

"But, he sai-"

"I lied! I was just, I don't know." Aki sunk down in his seat. fiddling with his fingers awkwardly.

Naoi jumped up, arms above his head in a threatening pose, "You told them what!?"

"I told them I had a boyfriend..."

"You couldn't have said "girlfriend"!?"

"They were holding me, it wouldn't make sense for a girl to get jealous!"

"Baka." Kid facepalmed, shaking his head, looking back to Naoya who looked almost intrigued by their personal bickering. "We're all straight."

Naoi rolled his eyes, sitting back down with a huff, "He's lying."

Kid paused, looking to the boy, "Excuse me?"

Naoi leaned into the table, ignoring Kid's statement, "Kid's my boyfriend."

Everyone grew silent. Naoya pulled back with an honest nod, "I knew it."

"You didn't know a thing." Kouichi piped in. The look on Kid's face was disgusted. They weren't dating. Well, not so openly, at least. Kouichi didn't want to make him feel like they were /making/ him come out. That'd be wrong. It'd be an invasion of his personal privacy, and it would be incredibly rude to make him say anything when he wasn't ready. But, it was plainly obvious that he had feelings for someone here. Just by the way he looked at his friends. Kouichi could tell, but he would never judge.

Akihisa broke out laughing, "You actually believe him?"

Naoi and Kid both looked at him in astonishment, Kid stopping before resting a hand upon the boys shoulder with a smile, his own laughter creeping in on the conversation. Naoi just stared at them both, clenching his fists and turned red, "How dare you laugh at your God!"

"They're not laughing /at/ you." Yuuya smiled, shaking his hand as hew slapped a hand to his mouth, the laugh leaking through his fingers. Naoya watched Yuuya adoringly, breaking out into his laughter. Soon enough each were laughing all except Naoi who was getting frustrated beyond belief.

"Stop!" Naoi hopped up, tears licking his eyelashes as they made an escape attempt down his face. He wiped at the salt water with his sleeve, "Just stop!" He took off running. Everyone stopped. First thing, Kid took off after him. Kouichi sighed pleasantly as he watched the boy take off after Naoi. He was gay. Maybe he didn't want anyone to know. Maybe he didn't want Naoi to know. But Kouichi could see it in the way he dashed out of that seat. The way he tensed when it was mentioned. That boy had feelings. Not gay feelings, per say. But he had feelings.

Akihisa showed Kouichi and his friends back to the car, leaving them with a bright smile and a very acceptable apology for face planting the hood of their vehicle.

The three boys took off on the road to find where Kouichi's dad was. It wasn't that long of a drive. But it was a silent one. And so was the unpacking of their junk. It wasn't an awkward ride. But it was plain to see that Naoya felt kind of bad for making Naoi cry and Yuuya was simply feeling hurt because Naoya was hurt. It was like a chain reaction. Pain, y'know? One person gets hurt, the feeling is mutual to all those who care about them. Maybe that's what was meant to happen. Maybe sorrow was the key to love. Either way, the three boys were kind of ashamed once they entered their new home. Kouichi left his boxes downstairs, going up to find his father, only to come back down with no luck at all. He must've been out doing something more important than throwing a welcoming party for his newly arrived house guests. The boys didn't do much the rest of that evening. They had to iron their uniforms for school that had arrived about a week ago. They were bright blue. That was a big step from the black they so previously wore in Junior High. But they'd get used to it. After all, Kid, Naoi, and Aki had all said they were in the same school. How cool, huh? They even invited them to this club thing in an old Music room. Without even knowing what the club was, they had accepted the offer and would stop by after the weekend was over. Kouichi couldn't wait.