AN: uhm it takes a while for the plot to get rolling but trust me I know where I want this story to go. just hang in there. please... i just having problem keeping everyone in character. help me...

Chapter 3

"What!?" Tomo yelled into her phone. "You're with Ryoma!?"

She was rushing down the street to her house when she decided to call Sakuno to tell her she was on her way. To her dissatisfaction, her friend had already grown tired of waiting and had took Ryoma with her shopping as well.

"How did you convince him to come?" Tomo asked with a hint of incredulity.

"Well," Sakuno began. "He was bored and so he agreed."

Tomo's eye twitched as she heard a faint voice she recognized as Ryoma saying "mada mada dane".

"Well, don't blame me if you have an ugly dress!" the lass replied.

Sakuno retorted, "Tomo-chan shouldn't I be the one mad at you? After all you're the one who stood me up!"

Tomo blushed embarrassed but replied in a nonchalant manner. "Well, I had tennis."

"Yeah I know," Sakuno sighed. "Look, Ryoma and I will be by later with the dress so you can look at it then, k?"

"Sure," Tomo said bouncing up the walkway to her house and fishing for her keys in her tennis bag. "I'll be looking forward to it! Have fun you two!"

With that Tomo hung up the phone call and opened the door to her house. It was oddly silent but she welcomed it nonetheless. She let out a sigh and kicked off her shoe. Tomo padded down the hall and turned into the living room, expecting to be able to flop down onto the couch. However she was greeted with a horrendous mess.

"KYA!" It was a scream heard around the world!

Suddenly doors were flung open as Tomo let her rage fly out at her two younger brothers. She found them n their bedroom playing video games and eating chips and drinking iced teas.

"Eating and drinking in your rooms, huh?" she snapped.

"N…neesan!" the boys gasped. "You're home!"

"Of course I'm home and the living room is a mess! Is this what happens when Mom has to work?"

"Sakuno was here and we had to entertain her," one of the boys managed to get out.

Tomo merely rolled her eyes at the poor excuse and set the boys to work at cleaning up their mess. It didn't take long for her dictator-like ways to get the boys in gear. She was busy supervising their work when the doorbell rang.

She pushed back some of her hair that had fallen out of place and headed for the door shouting, "Coming!"

She opened it to see her boyfriend, Momoshiro, grinning madly.

"Eh!?" Tomo gasped, stepping aside and letting him in. "What are you doing here?"

"What? I can't come here? Today's the day your mom works late. I gotta keep you guys company!" Momo slipped off his bag and shoes then slipped on the slippers for the house guest and walked into the living room where the younger Osakada boys were wrestling with a vacuum bag.

"Momo-chan!" They chimed and Momo proceeded to wrestle with them on the floor as Tomo stood in the doorway.

"Hey! You two get back to work!"

"Why? Don't you see they're having fun?" Momo asked.

"No. They made this mess now they have to clean it!"

"Slave driver!"

Tomo narrowed her eyes at the boy who said that and quickly turned on her heels. "if Sakuno comes send her to my room." She disappeared up the stairs expecting Momo to follow.

"Finish up ok?" Momo admonished the boys who readily complied. Anything to please Momo! Momo smiled, happy to help Tomo in some way, and then followed her up the stairs.

When Momo got up the stairs Tomo was already in her room so he joined her there. She was sitting on the floor against her bed and he sat down beside her. She turned to him, leaning her head against the mattress.

"I didn't expect you today."

"Well I already told you why I came," Momo said turning his head to meet her gaze.

"And I told you I was going out with Sakuno."

"Well you're here so I guess it worked out! What happened anyway?"

"Guh I totally forgot! I hope she's not too mad at me. You know how Sakuno gets. She won't say outright but you know it's all inside and then she KABOOM!" Tomo threw her hands up. "It all comes back in your face."

"Yeah. So what made you forget?"

"Tennis," Tomo sighed.

"Aa," Momo leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

Tomo sighed and wrapped her arm around his waist. She knew he was really tired, having likely just dropped by from his cram school.

"Takeshi, you want to lay on the bed?"

Momo cracked open one eye and grinned, "Aa, I see what kind of a mood Tomo-chan's in today!"

"What ever you wish--ahh!" She was interrupted as Momo hoisted her up and onto her bed, pinning her down. "I was being thoughtful. You looked tired."

Momo seemed to entertain the thought for a while but then his grin returned.

"No, never too tired for some fun!"

He placed a kiss on her lips and his hands released her arms, one landing at her waist and the other supporting his body over her. Tomo's hands shot up and onto his chest, feeling his strong and unyielding muscles and the curving around the clutch at his back. Momo was first to break the kiss.

"See isn't this better?"

Tomo rolled her eyes and Momo kissed her again, this time moving his hand under her t-shirt and trailing up to cup her small breast. Tomo placed her hand over his roaming one and shot him a dirty look. She had to be responsible like Sakuno said.

"I bet you don't even have a condom," she said.

"What does it matter?" Momo asked moving down for another kiss.

"It matter a lot," Tomo moved her head.

"Ok, next time I'll use one."

"No."

Momo ignored Tomo's complaint and massaged the breast in his hand, before bending down to nip at her neck. Tomo's right leg involuntarily wrapped around Momo's waist.

"See, you want it too." Tomo could feel his grin against her neck as he said that, and that only made her angry.

She pushed him away.

"Go to sleep," she said sitting up and fixing her hair.

Momo frowned and grabbed a pillow.

"Why you gotta act like that?" Momo asked.

Tomo sighed, she knew what she had to do but she didn't know how to approach the subject. She decided the best way to tackle the situation was right on the head, so she tried just that.

"Uh I have something I gotta tell you."

Momo sat up eagerly. "Yes?"

"I… well I had a close call."

"What?" Momo asked, not quite grasping what she meant.

"I almost… I thought.. I might have been pregnant but… I'm not. So… we gotta be more careful."

At this point Tomo was looking down at her lap, afraid to meet Momo's gaze. They had been dating for a long time and yet sometimes such intimate matters were still a bit awkward to discuss. Momo didn't reply so she wasn't sure if he even heard her at all. She knew she had spoken softly.

"It's not the first time either… but I was scared to say anything so--"

Tomo stopped talking as she felt her throat close up and she felt a shift in the bed, as if Momo was turning a bit.

"Tomo-chan," he began--

"Neesan! Sakuno's here!"

The door to her room flew open and there stood Sakuno and Ryoma holding a shopping bag.

"We're here!" Sakuno greeted.

"Ah, Sakuno-chan!" Tomo jumped up to greet her friend, happy to dismiss the earlier topic. She busied herself with apologizing to her best friend about earlier and took the bag from her hands!

"Let me see! Let me see!" she beamed.

"Ahaha, we have time for that. Settle down, Tomo-chan!" Sakuno sat down on the edge of Tomoka's bed where Momo still sat with a wide eye look.

"Momo-chan-sempai-buchou," Sakuno greeted. "Hard day at cram school?"

Momo immediately came out of his shock and put on his classic Momo smile, "Yeah you could say that!"

To be continued…

AN: thanks for reading. i don't want Tomo to be OOC. A reviewer told me if she becomes so OOC she might as well be an OC. I kept that in mind the entire time i wrote this. review please and tell me how I'm doing with all of the characters so I may improve. Hiyoshi would like that very much. I overheard him telling Ohtori so. REVIEW... plz