A/N: Warning! FLUFF in italic, bold, capital letters. If you cannot stand fluff, have sour candy drop or a glass a lemon juice without honey or sugar in hand before reading this chapter.

"Ja, we will leave you, Echizen-chan," Rei said. She had came with a couple of Ryoma's classmates to visit so that they could bring Ryoma homework as well as a copy of her notebook.

"Hn. Arigatou," Ryoma replied.

"We will come back again," Hanako said.

"Rest well," Mio added, waving.

"Bye bye," Ryoma greeted them.

Left alone, Ryoma pondered over her classmates' visit. Though she didn't understand what she had done to earn their kindness, she was happy for the visit. The girls even brought her a huge hand made card with notes from all her classmates. It was Rei, the class representative, who initiated the project. Rei even had all of Ryoma's teachers to write her something too. Ryoma read all the little messages one by one, twitching her eye at some, blinking at others, laughing at the next and smiling at the last one. Ryoma rarely paid attention to girls, but today, she saw a new side of them.

'In the end, girls are not that bad,' Ryoma thought.

Ryoma took her homework and notebook and scanned over. She grimaced. Each of her teachers wrote her a nice little message, but it hadn't stopped them from piling up her homework. She shrugged. Despite her complaints, she knew she should be grateful to them because, behind their actions, Ryoma understood that her teachers were helping her keep her scholarship. Her classmates also did not want her to loose her scholarship and leave the school. Everyday, they kept making a copy of their notes and diligently collected her homework from the teachers to bring them to her after. But this (huge) pile of homework…

'Ha…' Ryoma sighed. 'That's why I hate being sick and missing school. There are always more homework to do after…'

She sighed again and picked up the notebook Rei had put on the top.

Knock knock knock. Someone knocked on her door.

"Huh? Please come in," Ryoma invited absentmindedly. She close her notebook and put the pile of homework she had completed on the table next to her bed. She heard her visitor open the door of her room, but that was all. The visitor did not step into the room nor did they say a word. Finding it strange, Ryoma turned to see who it was. And gasped like a gold fish out of the tank. Her visitor was the last person she expected to see.

"Fu-Fu-Fuji-dono…?" Ryoma stuttered. She blinked several times, thinking that she was seeing illusion. However, the image of the elder woman standing in her door frame didn't disappear. It was really Fuji-dono.

"May I come in?" Fuji-dono asked. Ryoma shook herself to wake up her mind. Her mother wouldn't be proud of her for letting a guest stand at the door.

"Yes. Pl-pl-please take a seat," Ryoma hurriedly said, blushing at her lack of manners. Fuji-dono closed the door and walked to Ryoma's bed. Without a word, Fuji-dono sat on the chair next to Ryoma's bed and crossed her hands on her lap.

". . ." A heavy silence settled between them. No one said a word. They didn't know what to say or how to start the conversation. After what seemed to be an eternity, Fuji-dono was the first one to break the silence.

"Th-thank you…" Fuji-dono muttered.

"Huh?" Ryoma wasn't sure she heard right. There was no way Fuji-dono was thanking her.

"Thank you…" Fuji-dono repeated again, but more clearly. Ryoma blinked. This time, she had heard correctly, but couldn't understand what she was being thanked for. "Thank you… for saving my life…" Fuji-dono continued. "If it wasn't for you, I would have certainly died in the accident," Fuji-dono finished in a whisper.

Ryoma gasped. Ryoma had never thought she would see this day: the respectable Fuji-dono putting aside her pride to say 'Thank you' to a person she used to despise. Who would think that Fuji-dono was capable to do this? On the other hand, Fuji-dono just showed Ryoma how great the people who carried the Fuji family name were. She saw Fuji-dono's hands trembling. It took a lot of courage for Fuji-dono to do what she was doing and she did it to the end. Ryoma was touched by Fuji-dono sincerity. Such effort deserved to be praised.

"I'm happy I could prevent you from getting hit by the car, Fuji-dono," Ryoma said in a sincere voice. Fuji-dono's hands stopped trembling and the woman raised her head to look at the younger one.

"B-but why did you…?"

"If anything bad happen to you, Fuji-dono, Fuji-senpai would be very sad," Ryoma answered. "And that would hurt me more than anything…" she softly finished for herself, unaware that Fuji-dono heard her. Fuji-dono's eyes wide.

'She… She…'

Now Fuji-dono understood why her grandson was so strongly attached to this girl. This girl wasn't after the fame and fortune of the Fuji family as Fuji-dono had first thought of her.

'She really loves Syuusuke…'

The world Fuji-dono lived in was a complicated life. For Fuji-dono, it was impossible for virtuous values such as love, loyalty or anything alike to existe in this kind of world. To survive, people needed to build strong and unbreakable ties between themselves. Convenient marriages had always been the most perfect tie between partners. With this perspective, it was to be expected that greedy and untrustworthy people would seek to become the in-law of a powerful family. Over the course of her life, Fuji-dono had seen many, many gold digger in-laws or two faced grooms, after succeeding to infiltrate through a marriage based on 'love', completely destroy the in-law family later. Fuji-dono didn't want to see her family destroyed that way. She wanted to protect her family. She must protected her family. And she would do anything to protect her family. Thus, to prevent gold diggers from infiltrating, she had decided that she would choose the future grooms and brides for her children through a very carefully selection. Because love caused people to be blind in their judgement, which resulted into the destruction of the family, Fuji-dono discarded love from her criteria. In her eyes, love only brought sadness and misfortune. Echizen Ryoma showed her that she was wrong.

'If she was really after Syuusuke's name, she could have ignored me and let me be hit be the car. That way, no one would be in her way to steal Syuusuke's heart. Yet, because of her love for Syuusuke, she… she saved me from death …'

Massive tears rolled down Fuji-dono's cheeks. Ryoma's eyes popped out of her head and her blood froze. She panicked.

'Wha-wha-what…? Hiyaaaaaaaaah!' Ryoma silently yelled in her head. 'She is crying! She is crying! What did I do wrong? What did I say wrong? KAA-SAN, PLEASE, HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'

But alas for Ryoma, Rinko wasn't anywhere nearby to help her distressed daughter. Ryoma was left to solve her problem alone. Ryoma had always been capable of solving her problems on her own, but she never face this kind of problem… She gulped.

"Fu-Fuji-dono, pl-please don't cry," Ryoma stuttered. "I'm sorry if what I said hurt you. I'm really sorry, but please, stop crying…" Ryoma desperately pleaded. Fuji-dono just cried harder. Ryoma cringed. When Miyabi cried, Ryoma didn't feel embarrassed and just simply let Miyabi pour out her pain. She didn't need to say anything and it was fine. Ryoma suddenly had a bright idea.

'Then why don't I just simply do the same thing as I did with Miyabi-senpai?'

Ryoma relaxed and let Fuji-dono cry without disturbing the old woman. And, like Miyabi, Fuji-dono liked it that way.

After about fifteen minutes, Fuji-dono managed to calm down. Fuji-dono found it awkward. It was Echizen Ryoma, the girl that she used to despise, who had freed her of her sadness.

'This Echizen Ryoma girl has a strange power. She can make people around her feel comfortable,' Fuji-dono thought, smiling. She no longer felt sad. After having poured out all her sadness through her tears, she felt incredibly good, her heart light. It had been more than fifty years since she had last felt like this.

"Thank you, Echizen-chan," Fuji-dono told Ryoma. Ryoma blinked. What did she do to deserve the 'thank you' and a '-chan' from the old woman? Nonetheless, Ryoma remembered what Rinko taught her when someone thanked her.

"D-Dou itashimashite (1)," Ryoma clumsily said. Fuji-dono tipped her handkerchief to wipe off the last remaining of her tears, smiling at the girl's clumsiness.

'It's refreshing, this side of her,' Fuji-dono thought. 'Could this be one of the reasons Syuusuke like her too?'

"It was a pleasure to talk with you, Echizen-chan," Fuji-dono sincerely said, once again amazed by Echizen Ryoma's power to make people around her feel relax.

"For me as well, Fuji-dono," Ryoma replied. Fuji-dono stood up.

"I will leave now so you can rest. Thank you for everything."

"Thank you for visiting me, Fuji-dono. And please, be careful on your way back," Ryoma cautioned, bowing her head to Fuji-dono. Fuji-dono turned on her heels and walked to her door. Just before opening the door, she stopped. Ryoma looked curiously at her. Fuji-dono turned back to Ryoma.

"When you get well, will you come to visit me?" Fuji-dono hesitantly asked. Ryoma smiled.

"It will be with pleasure, Fuji-dono," Ryoma said. Fuji-dono returned her smile, happy. The old lady opened the door and left the room.

Left alone, Ryoma pondered over the visit from Fuji-dono.

'It was certainly unexpected, but I'm happy that she visited,' Ryoma thought, smiling.

Click!

Ryoma's door opened again. Ryoma turned her head to see that she had another visitor. Seeing the new visitor, Ryoma's face brightened.

"Fuji-senpai!" she happily greeted him. Syuusuke smiled softly and closed the door. He walked to Ryoma's bed and sat down on the chair.

"Ryoma, how do you feel?" Syuusuke gently greeted her.

"Very well now, senpai."

They chatted for a moment. They talked about nothing and everything. The subject of the conversation wasn't important. For them, the most important was that they could spend some time together without anyone around. Each time Syuusuke visited, Ryoma felt happy in a particular way. She was happy each time her family and friends visited her, but she was twice as happy when it was Syuusuke who visited her. Of course, Ryoma was aware that whenever he came, she wasn't her normal self. First, she smiled more ('Too much' her old self would say). Second, he made it impossible for her to be her hard and cranky old self ('Che' old-Ryoma retorted). She felt completely lovey-dovey towards him ('Sigh…'). But she was like that only when she was alone with him. And Syuusuke wanted the exclusivity of this side of Ryoma for himself only. He didn't want to share this side of Ryoma with anyone else. He cherished every single second he spent with her. As he was listening to her, Syuusuke smiled, amazed.

'The first day I met her, I despised her. Today, she has become so precious to me.' he thought, smiling. Syuusuke's smile caught Ryoma's attention.

"Senpai, why do you look so happy?" Ryoma asked. Syuusuke came back to Earth and gave his attention back to her.

"What do you mean? I'm always happy when I see you," Syuusuke teased, smiling wider. Ryoma cringed and blushed.

"That's not what I mean," Ryoma muttered, embarrassed, much to his amusement. "You look happy in a different way today." Syuusuke's smiled soften. He stood up from the chair and sat on her bed. Ryoma instinctively tensed, not used to be this close to him.

"Ryoma, thank you for everything…" Syuusuke whispered, looking in her eyes.

"W-W-What do you mean?" Ryoma stuttered, dumbfound. Syuusuke only smiled, but not answering. He just locked his eyes with her. He had heard the conversation between Ryoma and his grandmother. He knew that Ryoma had succeeded in cracking the shell around Fuji-dono and freed the old lady from the loneliness of the past weeks. When Syuusuke heard Fuji-dono asked Ryoma to come to see her again, he too felt freed from his sadness and the torture done to his soul. He was torn between his grandmother and Ryoma. But now that his grandmother accepted Ryoma, that meant that she was willing to accept his love for the Ryoma. Syuusuke felt immensely happy. He would never forget these few seconds of happiness he felt for his grandmother. For Ryoma. And for himself.

Syuusuke leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. He inwardly smiled when he felt her tense again underneath him. He knew he was being bold and that Ryoma wasn't yet ready to take such a large step in their relationship, but he wouldn't retreat either. He knew that the object of his affection was the kind of girl to be dreadfully slow in these kinds of relationships. If he waited for her to be ready for him, it would take him over twenty years. He knew that if he waited for another twenty years, other rivals would show up and he might lose her, just as Yukimura told him. In this kind of situation, a pea brain was smarter than her. Syuusuke wanted things to go faster for him. So, it was up to him to bring her to take bigger steps in their relationship.

"Ryoma, I love you…" he whispered in her ears. And waited. Waited for her to give him her answer.

After the first seconds of shock, Ryoma completely froze underneath him. But seeing that he wasn't doing anything and that he was patiently waiting for her, Ryoma relaxed. They stood like this for a long moment. Syuusuke gave her time to get accustomed to their closeness. When he felt that Ryoma had become comfortable, Syuusuke decided to take another step. He detached himself from her forehead to look in her eyes. Ryoma returned his glance, just as he hoped she would. She was ready. She was no longer scared of him. Slowly, he bent down and brushed his lips against hers, asking her for permission to continue. Ryoma felt her blood rush up in her face again and a tingling sensation ran down her spine from where his skin touched her. It wasn't a bad sensation. It was actually an amazing sensation. And she liked it. Her shyness ebbed away as a little smile appeared on her pink lips. He expectantly waited for her answer. She gave it to him.

"I… I… I love you too, senpai…" Ryoma softly said. He smiled. Happy. She accepted him.

Encouraged, Syuusuke firmly pressed his lips against hers once more in a more passionate kiss, a kiss he had longed to give her so long ago.

Miyabi calmly made her way toward Ryoma's room, smiling, a bouquet of flowers in her arms. She planned to change Ryoma's old ones. She was so happy to see her kouhai getting better day by day. And it was always a pure pleasure to visit the young girl. Arriving at Ryoma's room, Miyabi turned the door knob when something made her stopped. There, through the split of the door, she saw Syuusuke's silhouette leaned over Ryoma's form. Syuusuke's arms were on both side of Ryoma, supporting his upper body.

And Syuuske's lips and Ryoma's were connected.

After a second of surprise, Miyabi smiled and silently closed the door.

'I can see her later,' Miyabi thought. She turned on her heels to leave and jumped at the sight in front of her. "Oh!"

Behind Miyabi stood Kirihara and Momo with their jaw hanging all the way down on the floor. They had seen what was happening behind the door before Miyabi could closed it. Kirihara and Momo were going to burst when-

BONK! BONK!

Marui and Ootori bonked Kirihara and Momo a good one on their heads.

"Shhhhhhh! Don't disturb them!" Niou admonished.

"But-But…!" Kirihara and Momoshiro were immediately shut up with tape over their mouths. Next, Marui, Niou and Ootori jumped on the two boys with ropes and duct tape in hands. They proceeded to tie the two younger boys quiet.

"Ah…" Tezuka and Sanada sighed as they massaged their foreheads, feeling a headache coming up. Atobe's eyebrow twitched repetitively as he wondered why he was with these morons. Only Yukimura, who was chuckling, found the situation amusing. Yagyuu, impassive on the outside, was suppressing his desire to sigh like Tezuka and Sanada at his cousin's antics. Ryoga was crouched at Yagyuu's feet with Nanjirou. Facing the wall opposite of Ryoma's room, the two Echizen men were sulking. Gloomy spirits floated over their head.

"Boooouuuu houhouhouhou!" Nanjirou and Ryoga cried against their knees.

"Oh my! What happen to them?" Miyabi asked.

"Huhuhu!" Rinko chuckled behind her hand. "Ryoma just turned into a woman and they are sad because they just lost their little princess to someone else."

"Bouhou wuaaaaaaaaaaa hahahahahaha aaaaaaaah!" Nanjirou and Ryoga continued to wail.

Kikumaru was also crying along side them on Ooishi's shoulders.

"Woeeeeeeeee!" Kikumaru whimpered. He too just lost his favorite human plushy toy 'Ochibi-chan'. Ryoma wasn't an Ochibi-chan anymore. She had become a girl now. "Woeeeee! Woeeeee! Woeeeeeeee!"

"Hora hora!" Ooishi pet Kikumaru.

Marui, Niou and Ootori finished ducting Momoshiro and Kirihara and threw the struggling packages next to Nanjirou and Ryoga.

"Hmmmmn! Hmmmmn! Hmmmnn! Hmnnn!" Momoshiro and Kirihara struggled to be freed, but Marui, Niou and Ootori ignored them. Instead, the three boys tiptoed to Ryoma's door and glued their ears against it. They hoped to hear something interesting thing through the door.

"Ah…" Tezuka, Sanada and Yagyuu simultaneously sighed in exasperation.

'They are hopeless…' Tezuka, Sanada and Yagyuu thought. Looking outside the window of the hallway, Jirou just simply smiled.

'I'm happy for you, Fuji, Echizen-chan.'

"WUAAAAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA AAAAAAAAAH!" Nanjirou's, Ryoga's and Kikumaru's wails could be heard all the way down the street.

1) Dou itashimashite: You're welcome.

Post on Friday March 12, 2010. Beta-ed on Monday March 29.