Disclaimer: I don't own La Corda or any of the people in it... :(
'This is nice,' thought Len, gazing at Kaho's sleeping form, her head on his shoulder, her legs curled up beside her.
Len took off his jacket and awkwardly placed it on her shoulders, kissed her forehead, and leaned his head on Kaho's closing his eyes and gradually falling asleep.
Although Mr. Hanimoto had surprised them all with a surprise trip, he had wheedled the headmaster into getting them a large charter bus so all the students could fit on it.
Luckily, there were a few extra seats, so everyone had a lot of space to move around in.
In the back, Kazuki had fallen asleep, and was mumbling sleepily.
"Bunny-chan, don't hop away... *mumble mumble* bunny-chan... NEKO_CHAN!!!!!" Kazuki shouted the last phrase, sitting up straight and wide eyed.
The sudden noise awoke both Kaho and Len, and they both sat up straight, turning towards the back, wondering what in the world was wrong with Kazuki.
Kaho rubbed the sleep from her eyes and asked drowsily, "Hihara-sempai, doo shita? Why did you yell 'NEKO-CHAN'?"
(A/N: Neko means Cat in Japanese.)
Kazuki embarassedly placed his hand behind his head, blushed furiously, and said, "Neko-chan ate bunny-chan."
Mr. Hanimoto heard Kazuki's exclamation and explanation, and shook his head forlornly.
"How you ever ended up as the first-chair trumpeteer stumps me," he said, shaking his head.
Kazuki grinned sheepishly.
"Gomenasai sensei," he mumbled.
Mr. Hanimoto nodded curtly, still half asleep (Kazuki's yell had startled him awake), and turned on his side and fell promptly back to sleep.
Kaho suddenly got up from her chair, getting a quirked eyebrow from Len, to which she replid with a grin, stood up on her tiptoes, opened the luggage compartment, and grabbed her dark blue duffel bag.
'I wonder what onees-an packed for me,' she wondered, cautiously opening her bag..
"EHHHHHHHHHH???" she explained, turning bright red, "ONEE-SAN!!!! IIE!!!!"
Everyone turned to look at Kaho, and Len just stared at her.
'I wonder what her sister packed for her,' he thought.
Kaho looked up and saw everyone glaring at her for disturbing the peace.
"G-gomen minna-san," she stuttered.
They all huffed and turned away.
Kaho looked down at the clothes her sister packed.
'ONEE-SAN!!! BAKA!!!!!!!!!' thought Kaho angrily whilst gripping her clothes.
'I TOLD ONEE-SAN TO DONATE THESE CLOTHES!!! I NEVER KNEW SHE KEPT THEM!!!!!'
In Kaho's duffel bag, were the clothes she wore in her first year at Gakkan Urayasu High....
Just so you know, Kaho's style was much different back then.
Black skinny jeans made up most of her wardrobe, and either dark tank tops or t-shirts made up ALL of her shirts.
Most of the time back then, Kaho had worn her hair up, with black eyeliner, making her look exceedingly goth/emo/scene.
(A/N: I'm not using this description to make fun of goth/emo/scene people... I wouldn't do that... I've been there, and it sucks... Back to the story...)
Kaho rummaged through her duffel bag a bit more, and there she found her old eyeliner, mascara, and nail polish...
'It's a good thing I don't HAVE to wear this along with my outfits,' thought Kaho uncertainly...
The bus suddenly screeched to a stop next to a huge (over 40 rooms) mansion surrounded by a huge beige cement fence that sheltered acres of gardens.
"We're HERE!!!!!," called out Mr. Hanimoto, "Grab all your gear and let's GO!!!"
Len stood up.
"Exactly where is 'here' Hanimoto-san," he questioned, a blank look on his face.
Without warning, the bus doors whooshed open, and a redhead with glasses popped his head through the bus doorway.
"Are you guys coming or not," he questioned.
"O-OUSAKI-SEMPAI?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" exclaimed Kaho and Kazuki.
Ousaki Shinobu smiled at everyone.
"Konnichi wa minna-san... Hino-san, Tsukimori-san, Hihara-san, Tsuchira-san, Kaiji-san, Fuyuumi-san, Shimizu-san, Yunoki-san, and Kazuo-san, I trust your trip was uneventful," smiled Shinobu.
Kazuki stood there with his jaw on the ground (anime style)...
Len, Aoi, Azuma, and Ryo stood up, trying to regain their composure, their eyes wide in shock.
Keiichi and Shouko were sitting next to one another, Keiichi's head on her shoulder, Shouko blushing at her predicament.
(A/N: Everyone in the surrounding area was staring at Shouko and Keiichi because Shinobu had said their names and drawn attention to them.)
Kaho stood in shock, looking towards the back of the bus, where Kazuo sat calmly, a book in his hands, gazing up with a small smile on his face at the predicament everyone was in.
Kaho turned slowly to Shinobu.
"Ousaki-sempai, do you know Kazuo-kun," she questioned, a thoughtful look on her face.
"Hai," Shinobu nodded, "I used to give him violin lessons until he decided to give it up to play piano."
Kaho turned to Kazuo with widened eyes.
"You used to play violin?"
Kazuo nodded mutely.
Suddenly comprehension dawned on his face.
"We're at Ousaki-sempai's mansion," he said in a monotone.
Len nodded curtly, "It would appear so Kazuo-san."
Kazuo turned to Shinobu.
"Where is Hitomi-sama," he questioned tentatively.
Shinobu smiled.
"My sister is inside attempting to bake cookies for all of you," smiled Shinobu.
Suddenly, another head popped through the bus doors.
A girl with dark maroon hair and shocking blue eyes with gold flecks around the pupil stepped onto the bus.
"Konnichi wa minna-san," she blushed, "My name is Ousaki Hitomi. I will be observing you guys for a while, kay?"
Suddenly, her electric blue eyes widened. She stepped onto the bus, passed her brother, and walked up to the seat where Kaho was standing.
She reached up her hands, grabbed ahold of Kaho's cheeks, and squeezed.
"You're REAL!!! It's really you!!! You're Kahoko-sama," exclaimed Hitomi.
Kaho just stood there in shock, unmoving, her cheeks red from Hitomi's pinching and her amber eyes wide in shock.
Shinobu quickly stepped forward and grabbed his sister by the shoulders.
"Gomen Hino-san! I don't know what came over my sister, gomen!!!"
Kaho shook her head; at that point, she had recovered and was ready to explain.
"Iie Ousaki-sempai, daijobu desu. I'll explain once we're all inside, ne," said Kaho.
Shinobu nodded and stepped back.
"Minna-san, if you all would step out of the car and into the house. Our maids will show you to your rooms, and you can rest or explore the mansion while our cook prepares dinner," said Shinobu smilingly.
A figure suddenly came running out of the cast iron gates that provided the exit to the large estate and his head popped through the bus doors as well.
"Hitomi-chan!!! Your cookies," exclaimed the bishounen.
Kaho's eyes widened yet again as her eyes settled on the blond boy.
"Kaiji-kun," she exclaimed, "What are you doing here?!?!?!?"
"Ah, konban wa Kaho-sama... I see your bus finally came... Ousaki-sempai invited me here until friday to help out with his sister," said Aoi.
Len's eyes narrowed at Aoi.
'Great... ANOTHER guy that happens to like my girlfriend.... What am I going to do?????,' thought Len.
Kaho shook her head.
"Too many things are happening at once," she exclaimed.
She grabbed her bags and violin case from the overhead compartments, and marched off the bus.
Everyone else's eyes were either wide with incomprehension, closed (Keiichi), or smiling, their facial expressions depiction how happy they were.
A couple moments later, as everyone got their senses back, they began standing up and grabbing their luggage and turning to walk off the bus.
Mr. Hanimoto turned to the bus driver, gave his thanks, paid him, and walked off the bus with a, "I'll call you again when we need a ride back."
*************
As soon as everyone was settled in their rooms, Kaho waslked down into the living room, sat in front of the fireplace, looked out the window, and was astounded by what she saw...
She tentatively stood up, walked out the french doors into the garden, walked over to the railing, and looked out onto the sea.
'I didn't know that we were close to the ocean,' she thought excitedly, 'I thought we were in the middle of nowhere...'
She felt arms encircling her waist.
She looked over her shoulder in surprise and saw Len behind her, looking out onto the horizon as well.
"Isn't it beautiful," murmured Kaho, "It's so peaceful and serene here."
Len looked at Kaho, his eyes sparkling.
"Yes. Yes, you are beautiful," he murmured, kissing her head.
Kaho blushed and looked back out to the ocean.
Suddenly, Hitomi appeared beside them.
"We're right in between Chiba and Ichihara... My parents chose this site for our house so that every night, we may be able to see the sunset," Hitomi said, her eyes shining as she looked upon the couple.
'I hope that I may be as happy as they are one day," she thought.
They stood there for a couple minutes, looking out onto the sea, Len's chin resting on Kaho's shoulder, his hands around her waist, Kaho's hands on the railing, and Hitomi about 4 feet away from them, her hands on the railing as well.
Suddenly Hitomi's figure straightened.
"Oh, I almost forgot," said Hitomi, blushing at her forgetfulness. "Onii-san wanted you to meet him in the living room to tell him how we know each other..."
Kaho loked at Hitomi and nodded. "Hai Hitomi-chan," she said, a smile playing out on her lips.
Kaho turned to go when Len grabbed her hand.
"We'll go together," he said, "I want to hear this too."
Len's eyes were gentle as he said this to Kaho.
Kaho smiled and nodded as she turned to enter the living room.
(A/N: Cliffie?!?!?!?! SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!!! I had a buttload of hw, and I didn't have much time to work on this... :( SORRY AGAIN!!! I know the characters may be REALLY OOC, but my brain isn't working, so yeah... :P Anywayz, I'm gonna gat to work on the next chapter!!! :P Ja ne!)