It's been a while. I truly am sorry, to the people who added this story to their alert list and favourites list. It's been over a year since I last updated! I feel so awful. My brain just had severe constipation for this story. ):

Okay, so you won't get confused. And I won't get confused. __

Narrative

"Regular speech"

'Thinking'

Flashback

"Flashback speech"

"Emphasis emphasis"

Yeah. That should be it. Enjoy! (:

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"I love the smell of beef in the morning!"

Katakura smiled. Her brother's friends were so funny.

"It is seven-thirty at night, you idiot."

It is seven-thirty, just is the morning. That night at the Yakiniku restaurant was quite enjoyable. Katakura rolled out of her bed and crawled to the adjacent bathroom – literally. She whined, "I'm so tired..."

After washing up and changing, she went downstairs and made herself some breakfast– toast is good. She sat at the dining table, for four people, and looked around the warm, empty room. She hummed, "Breakfast by myself again..." she said to herself in the desolated silence. "Well, at least it's finally a Friday," she said optimistically. She finished her small meal quickly and left the house, walking to school at a slow, relaxing pace, replaying the events of that night.

There was a lot of noise, Katakura thought fondly. The restaurant was almost empty, being a Monday night, there was only another table, which consisted of the Seigaku Tennis regulars. She giggled to herself, recalling when Saeki and Momoshiro had an eating competition. Echizen, Tezuka and Kaidoh were being anti-social, while Eiji and Momoshiro were actively challenging the other members of her party for that night. It was awkward being the only girl there though, but it was nice.

'Momo's and Kaidoh's friends were very nice,' She decided. Fuji intrigued her the most with his constant smile and closed eyes. You'd expect him to see nothing, when he actually saw everything.

"You shouldn't feel awkward," he said softly, though his voice went across the table to her. She looked up in confusion. He smiled; eyes closed as usual, "we don't bite."

"How'd you know I was feeling awkward?" she wondered aloud. No one was aware of their conversation even though they were sitting at the centre of the long table. Eiji and Yagami were enough distractions. Fuji gestured to her hands, "You pull on your fingers whenever our attention averts to you and you tend to look down often. You shouldn't feel nervous."

"I can't help it," she confided, "I don't like being the centre of attention. I don't belong in the limelight." He chuckled, "Oh, I wouldn't say that. Don't shoot yourself down like that." She laughed.

It was a nice, albeit short conversation with her sempai. He was interesting; perhaps she'll get along well with him. As she slowly made her way towards the half-point from her house to her school, she spotted a yellow house, with someone from her school walking out with a tennis bag slung over his shoulders. Speak of the devil, she thought. He closed the gate and turned to her, "Good morning, Katakura-san."

"Good morning, Fuji-sempai," she greeted back, stopping in front of him. She commented pleasantly, "I didn't know you lived here..."

"Ah, yes," Fuji smiled, "I've lived here for quite some time. I've never seen you walked along here before though."

"Neither have I," she murmured, checking her phone for the time, "I came out a little early today..."

Fuji chuckled, "That's weird; I came out a little late." She smiled and they continued down the route which led to their school. They found out that despite them living at their houses for more than 5 years, and going to the same school, they have never met each other before until that day in the art room. Fuji scratched the side of his face, "I don't remember seeing you around..."

"Me neither," she admitted, and then laughed, "How queer..." Fuji nodded, "Maa, where do you live?"

"About four blocks from your house I think. I live in the little yellow and white house with the dull, red roof." Fuji smiled wider, "Ah, the house with the hand-prints on the letter-box!"

She laughed, "Yes! Those were my brother's and my hand-print. We did it when we first moved there... my hand was the one with yellow paint, while his was the one in red paint. My dad wasn't really happy about it at first, but he decided that it was cute in the end. Besides, he couldn't resist the adorable looks of his ten-year old son and seven-year-old daughter."

Fuji raised his eyebrows, "You've stayed in that house for a while now." She nodded, "Yes, well, my parents started making frequent overseas trips ever since I was thirteen, so we don't move around a lot."

"I see. I've lived here for almost eight years I think. Much less than your ten years, but still quite some time..." She nodded. Fuji continued conversationally, "My father works overseas too, except he doesn't come back very often. Once in a few months..."

"That must have been tough for your family," she commented. Fuji nodded, "Yes, but it was okay. My siblings and I had each other and our mother. You only had your brother."

"Oh," she started airily, "Oh, it wasn't that bad. I needed more time to do things since the chores couldn't be split up anymore. So I had to change to another club that only met up once a week."

"What was your previous club?"

"There's a leaf in your hair," Katakura pointed out. Fuji stopped to pull the leaf out of his head and laughed. Katakura thought that green was nice against his brown hair. Fuji repeated his question.

"Mm... choir. We had practices three times a week, so at first it was a little tough keeping the house clean. When my parents came back after two-three weeks, the house didn't look very nice... they were afraid I'd be unable to take care of myself if brother left. So I quit choir and joined the art club instead. I still miss it sometimes..."

Fuji smiled, "Saa... You must have a nice voice then. Perhaps you'll sing me a song one day."

She laughed, "No, I doubt I'm any good... especially since I've been out of shape for more than two years."

"I'm sure you're fine," Fuji assured. The school building began to come into view, as did their fellow schoolmates. Katakura turned to him, "I'll see you soon, Fuji-sempai. It was nice talking to you, honestly."

"Yes, I enjoyed myself too, talking to you Katakura-san. We should make this a daily routine," he suggested happily. Katakura smiled, "Sure! Good bye for now then..." She gave a little wave and skipped off cheerfully to the second level of the east building. Fuji nodded to himself, "Yes, very nice."

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"Katakura-san has very nice fingers," Fuji murmured randomly. Eiji looked up from his desk, raising an eyebrow, "Okay..."

"It's... very tiny, her hands. With tiny nails..." Fuji observed from this morning. Eiji blinked a few times, "Alright."

Fuji hummed while nodding and continued with the problem the teacher gave out. Eiji shrugged and muttered to himself, "Weird..."

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"Fuji-sempai has nice hair," Katakura commented randomly. Natsu looked up from her book and stared, "Okay..."

"It's... dark, his roots. But soft and light as it goes..." Katakura said, recalling the way his hair whooshed about that morning. Natsu raised an eyebrow, "Alright."

Katakura nodded to herself, and continued reading a passage the teacher told them to read. Natsu stared for a moment then continued reading, "Funny..."

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During lunch, Momoshiro and Natsu went down to the cafeteria to buy some food, and in the line, they met Eiji. Momoshiro waved, "Yo, Eiji-sempai!"

"Hoi! Momo and his scary friend," Eiji grinned sheepishly, tongue sticking out adorably. Natsu smiled politely, "My name is Akisuto Natsumi." After introductions and discussion on food, Eiji decided to tell Momoshiro about Fuji's weird behaviour earlier on. Momoshiro raised an eyebrow, "So he just randomly said that Kata had nice fingers?"

Eiji nodded, "It was really weird... he was just absent-mindedly saying it too. I don't think he realised he said it, he looked so... in his own world."

"Ah!" Natsu exclaimed, "Haru-chan did the same thing this morning, she was talking about Fuji-sempai too! She was saying how he had nice, light, hair. She was very... far-off than usual."

"Unconventional people, they are," Momoshiro said. Natsu and Eiji nodded in silent agreement. They ignored it because food was more important.

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After school, Katakura finished her homework in the library and went straight to the art room and pulled out a 20 by 30 canvas out then she sat in front of it on a stool. She hoped that something would come to her today. She hasn't painted anything in over a week.

"Inspiration..." she murmured to herself. 'Draw from your own emotions and experiences!' Her teacher had said. She smiled, "Crazy Numiro-sensei..." Going backwards about her day, she approached the memory of her walk to school with a certain blue-eyed genius.

Katakura pulled out a few silver tubes and squeezed the contents out onto a palette and started with light and dark brown swirls with little flecks of green. Green specks against a brown background reminded her of green leaves stuck in brown hair.

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"I have a sudden liking for purple," Fuji said cheerfully to Tezuka who arched an eyebrow. "Why?"

The sun was lowering slowly, casting long shadows along the hallways, but it wasn't very late yet. Fuji shrugged, he honestly didn't know. He and Tezuka were walking towards the exit of the west building, heading home after practice. As they went through the first floor, Fuji questioned, "Why do we have so many empty rooms?"

"These are the multi-purpose rooms for after school activities and clubs like the choir, or the art club," Tezuka explained, "The band and the choir use the biggest room at the end; they have padded walls."

Fuji blinked, "How about the art room then? Momo dragged us here but I've never really paid attention to the first floor of the West building. It's been a while since we were first-years in this building."

Tezuka stopped at a room and pointed. Through the window of the sliding doors, Fuji saw Katakura painting. He smiled, "Oh, look, it's Katakura-san."

Katakura stopped and turned at the mention of her name and waved to the two, beckoning them to come into the Art room. Fuji happily dragged Tezuka in. Katakura bowed, "Tezuka-sempai, Fuji-sempai."

Tezuka nodded in acknowledgement while Fuji greeted back. "That looks nice," He said, gesturing to the painting she just did. Katakura flushed, "Oh... it's not that great... it was just, painted on a whim..."

"It looks nice," Tezuka complimented and turned to leave, "I have to go; Fuji, Katakura-san." After Tezuka left stiffly, Fuji turned to ask, "What is it suppose to be?"

'You,' A voice at the back of Katakura's head said, but instead, she said, "I'm not really sure... I was just thinking..." Fuji just smiled and pulled a chair from the back and set it behind her stool, sitting down, "You should continue."

"Eh?" Katakura stuttered, "Uh, well... I feel uncomfortable when people watch me..."

"You shouldn't feel uncomfortable," He said and his repetition of words sent a shiver down her back. "I can't help it," his repetition inspired hers. Fuji smiled wider, "Mm... sounds like the other night. Just pretend I'm not here."

"I can feel your stare."

"My eyes are closed."

"They are still seeing," she accused. After a moment of silence she queried, "Why don't you open your eyes?"

"Oh, they're not entirely closed; just very small, from smiling," he stated. Katakura turned around on her stool and look down at his face, "What colour are your eyes?" Fuji blinked a few times and showed her the brilliant blue of his eyes. Katakura stared for what seemed like the longest time to Fuji, but it gave him a chance to study her features at a closer range. She was very pretty. Suddenly, Katakura jumped off her seat and continued painting, only this time in a combination of light blue and purple, and some darker shades of blue.

After a while, her pace slowed and her head tilted to the side a small fraction, eyes peeping from under long lashes and behind hair, "Your eyes are blue..."

"With little flecks of purple?" Fuji observed from the canvas and palette. She nodded, "In the mornings when the sun is shining brightly. A little bit of green sometimes too," she observed, "Especially at sunset." Only then did Fuji realise that the room was turning dark with orange, he looked to the windows and indeed, it was sunset. The sun was almost gone, much lower than when he first entered the room with Tezuka.

"My eyes are purple..." She murmured, stepping back to his side so as to look at the finished painting; a beautiful blue, green and purple mess on a brown background.

"With little flecks of blue," Fuji noted, looking deep into her eyes, "A little... especially at sunset."

She smiled and cleaned her brushes and palette at the nearby sink then quickly kept all her things. Fuji got up and helped her take her bag while she wasn't looking and walked over to the main exit of the west building. A little after five minutes, Katakura approached him slightly flushed, "You don't have to take my bag..."

Fuji just smiled and walked back to her house, despite her protests on him walking past his own house. Katakura sighed, "I'd really appreciate it if you'd return my bag to me... You're making me feel bag for letting you carry my bag back to my house. You even past your own house..."

"Just making sure you'll be safe," Fuji stated, "Momo told me that you're usually home alone, because your brother went off to University two years ago."

"Big mouth," she muttered under her breath, but Fuji caught it anyway and laughed. "He's just concerned."

"He's paranoid. My brother's overprotective enough of me; I don't need another person breathing down my neck... Natsu does that too, she sometimes insists that I stay over at her house," Katakura informed. "It's nice of them... really and I love them dearly for that, but they shouldn't keep thinking that I am unable to take care of myself... I'll survive."

"Live," Fuji suggested and she laughed, "Yes, live..." They continued down the road talking about school, family and whatever they could think of with complete ease. It was a pleasant change for Katakura to be with someone after school. When they reached her house, Fuji happily pointed out the painted letter-box, saying that her hand was still the same size. He finally returned her school bag and they bid each other goodbye. As he walked back in the opposite direction, he remembered something she said.

"My eyes are purple..."

And something he said.

"I have a sudden liking for purple," Fuji said cheerfully to Tezuka who arched an eyebrow.

He stopped and let everything pass by him for a moment. "Her eyes are purple... purple, with specks of blue; especially at sunset," he said as the sun fully set, leaving only a dark blue and purple sky.

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Well, that was a little confusing. It isn't very long I know. Quite short actually. But I guess that's when Fuji realises that he's attracted to dear little Haru-chan! (:

Thank you for reading! :)