Time skip! I'd rather this story not become incredibly long, so I figured I'd jump through the very, very slow friendship rebuilding stage and cut to the chase. Hope nobody minds too terribly. (^_^)

*sigh* I know I should be working on "Just a Little Holiday Blackmail – White Day Edition," but I just couldn't stay away for a whole month. *sigh* Maybe with this, I can get back to writing about Azuma, or is it Keiichi at this point? I don't know anymore. (-_-)

"So are you and your violin students ready for the recital next month?" Noriko Ohno asked as her little sister's phone began to ring.

"Yup! Everyone's excited," Kahoko chirped as she shuffled for her cell and looked at the caller ID. "Sorry, I have to take this."

"No problem."

"Hello? Hihara-senpai? Is something wrong? No? Oh good…. Uh huh…Oh, don't apologize. There's no hurry." She smiled warmly. "I'm glad…. Okay, see you in twenty. Bye!"

"Who was that?"

"Just a friend who's watching Yuji for me," she replied evasively.

"Hihara…Hihara…wait," Noriko's gaze sharpened, "not Hihara-kun from high school?"

Kahoko cringed a little on the inside. "The one and the same."

"Didn't he drop you almost six years ago?"

She braced herself for a repeat of the lecture from their mother. "Um, yes…."

"Huh…." Noriko took a moment to process the new information. "You two seem pretty buddy-buddy." She shook her head in mild exasperation. "You always were too nice."

"I hardly think calling him a grass-for-brains imbecile was nice," Kahoko muttered under her breath.

"Really?" Noriko laughed. "You called him that? When?"

In the interest of both time and hopefully lessening the amount of teasing she'd get, Kahoko gave an abridged version of what had been happening the last six months.

Noriko leaned back with a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, he certainly seems to be sincere."

"He is. And he and Yuji just clicked. They're wonderful together, some kind of mysterious male chemistry or something." She smiled. "He's been so good for Yuji."

Noriko blinked in surprise when she saw that flicker in the eye and faint flush of color. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Swallowing a chuckle, she gave her sister a wolfish grin. "Y'know, it's been ages since you've gone on a date…."

"Please," Kahoko held up a hand, "let's not start this again. I don't have time to waste on fielding the random men you throw at me."

"But it sounds like you already see him plenty. What's the harm of a little bit more?"

"What are you-?" She clued in after the first half-ton of bricks fell on her head. "What? Hihara-senpai?" she asked aghast.

"It's like fate, don't you think?"

Kahoko groaned. "I should have known. You always were the largest proponent of, 'Don't you think you two are awfully close for being "just friends"?'" she mimicked in disdain.

"Hey, everyone said it," Noriko countered. "You just remember me the most because we lived together."

"And thus I heard it from you the most," she shot back.

She just shrugged with an unapologetic look on her face.

Kahoko sighed. "Look, Hihara-senpai and I…we're just grateful to be friends again."

"I can understand that, but-" This time, it was her phone that rang. Glancing at the caller ID, she picked up.

Kahoko breathed in relief. Saved by the bell.

"Mama! Auntie Noriko!"

She smiled as she was tackled by a ball of energetic five-and-two-thirds-year-old. Even better, an extra distraction.

"Guess what? Guess what?" he piped up eagerly as he beamed at her. "I can shoot a basketball!"

"Really?" She hugged him. "That's great! Looks like all that practicing is paying off." She looked a little more serious. "Did you finish your music theory homework?"

"Yeah, Hihara-san helped me with that part I was stuck on. Anyway, did you know Hihara-san can also play soccer, baseball, and volleyball?" he asked, slightly in awe of the man who sidled up unassumingly behind him.

"Wow," she smiled warmly at her friend, "it sounds like he's very athletic."

Despite his joy at being the object of one of her smiles, he blushed and scratched his head in embarrassment.

Ruffling her nephew's hair, Noriko asked, "Ready to get some new shoes Yuji?"

Yuji looked thoughtfully at his sneakers. They were worn, but still in good repair. "I suppose so." He'd rather get a new toy car, but shoes were good too. Turning on the charm, he asked, "May I please have the rest of your tart Mama?"

Kazuki laughed. "What? More dessert? Like mother like son, I guess," he teased.

Unable to act like a mature adult and stick out her tongue at the same time, she just sent him a playful glare as he and Noriko enjoyed having a joke at her expense.

"How have you been, Noriko-san?" Kazuki smiled. "It's been a long time."

"It has." She looked him up and down. "You must be, what, thirty now?"

"Thirty-one this past December."

"What? Not thirty for the second time?" she joked.

"No, unlike you, I continue to age," he bantered with a winsome smile.

She laughed, her grin stretching from ear-to-ear. "Well, what do you know? When did you get to be so suave?"

"Actually, I stole that line from Yunoki," he admitted sheepishly. "It sounded so smooth, I wanted to try it out, but I haven't had a chance 'til now."

"I see," she chuckled. "Tch," she shook her head, "still the same honest-to-a-fault goofball. And here I thought you'd grown up to become a lady-killer."

"I'm glad he hasn't changed," Kahoko defended as Yuji polished off the last of the tart. "He wouldn't be Hihara-senpai if he became a Casanova."

Yuji swallowed. "What's a Casanova?"

"Someone girls like to kiss," Kazuki answered, easily homing in on the best way to move the conversation along.

"Ew," Yuji wrinkled his nose, "I'm glad you're not one either." Looking hopefully up at him, he asked, "Are you coming shopping with us too, Hihara-san?"

"I'm sure Hihara-senpai is very busy," Kahoko answered quickly. She wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of all of them spending time together. Noriko was sure to blow something out of proportion to her in private later.

"Let the man speak for himself," Noriko chided, her sister's nervousness blipping onto her radar immediately. "The more the merrier, right boy-o?" she asked as she hid a smirk.

"Right," Yuji affirmed. "Can you come with us, Hihara-san?"

Kazuki eyed Kahoko uncertainly. For some reason, she seemed intent on avoiding eye contact with him. Praying that he was making the right choice, he smiled at Yuji. "Sure, I'm not doing anything."

"Yay!" he cheered and jumped off to pull his mother up. "Let's go!"

Despite also being a guy, Kazuki's opinion on shoes was quickly overruled by the moms, so he became the official runner, going to get this box or that according to the whims of the women. He didn't mind. For some reason, Kaho-chan seemed weirdly nervous, so he wanted to be extra helpful to make the experience easier on her.

Kazuki sighed guiltily as the others walked away to go pay for the shoes. He was still crazy about her. Or maybe he was just plain crazy. That was entirely possible. It wasn't like she ever gave him any real encouragement. She always seemed to be holding back a bit. There were a few times he thought she might finally be loosening up, but maybe she was just grateful for the attention he paid Yuji-kun.

Despite his blue mood, he smiled more brightly. Fun, smart, and interesting, Yuji-kun was a complete pleasure. Even if he weren't madly in love with Kaho-chan, Kazuki would have happily spent time with him. Having missed out on so much of his godson's life already, he enjoyed every second spent making up for lost time.

His eyes turned wistful. He wished they could be a real family. But for that to happen, he'd have to get Kaho-chan on board, and judging by the current record, that didn't seem to be happening any time soon, if ever.

He absently brushed some hair out of his eyes as he thought of the vow he had made himself. He thought he had been doing a pretty good job of keeping it. He had been focusing on getting to know Yuji-kun and Kaho-chan (again), and from the results, it seemed like it had been a wise decision. Things had been a little stilted at first whenever it had just been the two of them, but that had slowly faded with time. There was still some distance, but he was grateful for how much the gap had closed. Their friendship wasn't what it was, but he'd say that they had probably managed to get themselves back to about what would be a normal close friendship between a man and a woman who aren't romantically interested in each other. And he had a feeling he was most of the way forgiven, even if her trust was still a bit hesitant. For only six months, he thought that was phenomenal progress.

Yes, he had most of his vow down pat. Loving her, being with her, standing by her, and trying to help her when she needed it (though she was understandably more likely to turn to family than him if there was anything big that she needed help with), those were easy; they came naturally to him. Recognizing that he didn't deserve this chance to be with them like this? Completely covered. Knowing that she'd never love him back and that he'd only ever be her friend? That was a bit eh, but he just dealt with it the way he had throughout their whole relationship and tried not to think about it too much. After all, it had always been a possibility, so while he didn't have that totally figured out, in some ways, it was old hat.

But the being completely satisfied with what he had part? Horrendous. Terrible. To-tal-ly sucking. He'd always been kind of bad at it, but especially recently his progress in that department had been abysmal at best. He frowned. He'd have to work harder on that. But it was hard. Especially with Yuji-kun as an added bonus, he couldn't help but want more.

"Hihara-kun?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Noriko-san." He shook his head and stood. "I guess I was spacing out."

"No problem." She resisted the urge to pat him sympathetically on the shoulder; even now, he was still in love with her. Poor guy. She smirked to herself. Maybe it was time to put those old matchmaking skills back to work.

Kahoko frowned at her sister as she sent Hihara-senpai and Yuji off to play about fifteen minutes later. "What's going on? Weren't we meeting up with Masaki-san and the kids to do something together?"

"Change of plans," Noriko quipped easily. "You could use a little one-on-one time with your boys."

"They're not both mine! Just Yuji!"

"Oh chill, you won't even be alone with him. Don't tell me you're nervous." Noriko teased.

Shoot. Now she was nervous. Budding romances—potential, theoretical, and especially actual—were not in her life plan right now, if ever. She huffed, "Even if I was nervous—and I'm not—we had plans!"

"So?" She nodded to the two males as they romped in the grass, "I don't think Yuji minds." She grinned with a wave. "Go join them. Who knows? Maybe you'll enjoy yourself."

Kahoko sourly waved back. How was she supposed to enjoy herself when Noriko's teasing was going to hound her all afternoon? With a resigned sigh, she headed across the lawn toward what looked like a game of Hero vs. Monster.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Yuji cried as the swords clashed.

"Ah…! I'm dead…!" Kazuki groaned as Yuji pushed his stick into his stomach.

"Yeah!" Yuji cheered, jumping up and down excitedly. "I'm the winner!"

"Counter attack!" Kazuki cried, jumping up and grabbing his shoulders.

Yuji just looked at him blankly. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Oh…." Kazuki looked a little embarrassed, but fell over gamely. "Ah…! I'm dead…!" he moaned again.

Yuji frowned. "Mama is better at this than you are."

"What am I better at?" Kahoko walked over with a slightly strained smile.

"Dying," Kazuki replied with a laugh. He grinned impishly up at her. "Yuji-kun killed me with his sword, but I was bad at dying. Want to give me some pointers?"

She tamped down on the chuckle and shook her head. He always could make her smile. Stupid sister. Even making her wary of laughing at a joke. "Why don't we take a walk around the park instead? Maybe we can find a playground or something."

As Yuji and Kazuki happily chattered beside her, Kahoko turned inward to peruse her own thoughts. The first was that this was all her sister's fault. Leave it to her to turn something as innocent as reconnecting with an old friend into a possible romance. She didn't have the time or desire for romance.

Okay, that was partially a lie. I mean, what woman wakes up in the morning and thinks to herself, "I hope I will not be swept off my feet today?" But she certainly didn't have the time. She was a single mom! And a romance with Hihara-senpai of all people! Now that was just crazy talk. He didn't think of her that way. They were friends: F-R-I-E-N-D-S. At one point, they were even best friends. If he had ever felt that way about her, he surely would've told her before she got married. He wasn't sleazy enough to be the kind of person who only wants someone after she's off-limits. Noriko was insane, and was doing a good job of driving her insane. Honestly.

She rolled her eyes. After a bunch of badgering, she had tried dating for a while. And sure, it had been kind of nice to have someone pay romantic attention to her, but she had no time, patience, or interest in the dating game. Yuji was her top priority. "'But it sounds like you already see him plenty. What's the harm of a little bit more?'" She had a sudden, intense desire to go and strangle her sister. Even if she was interested—and she wasn't—dating Hihara-senpai would be…complicated. She needed fewer complications in her life, not more. So off-limits. Her eyes darkened as she thought back to a box in her room that held her wedding rings. Way off-limits.

She was drawn out of her reflections when Kazuki slowly stopped and looked around. For some reason their surroundings had started to look vaguely familiar. His eyes widened. "Could it be…?" He quickly raced ahead, bounding across the quad.

Glancing at each other in confusion, his companions wordlessly followed.

He skidded to a halt before a large staircase. For a moment, he just stared at it until his eyes lit up in recognition. Then, with a light step, he began to climb. "Hihara-san!" he heard Yuji call after he had gone up about seven flights of stairs.

He turned with a grin. "Kaho-chan! Yuji-kun! Up here! Hurry!" he turned to continue eagerly ascending the steps.

"Hihara-senpai! Please, wait up a bit!" Kahoko called, panting as she and Yuji tried to catch up.

With an apologetic laugh, he cooled his heels on the landing. "My heart feels so much lighter than the last time." He looked down at the pair below him and smiled. "I wonder why…."

"So…many…!" Kahoko panted as she and Yuji joined him.

Yuji stared up at the long flight ahead of them. "And there're only more!"

"Eh?!" Kahoko looked up in disbelief, feeling her heart sink as she saw that indeed, the staircase continued quite a ways.

"But check the view," Kazuki grinned.

Yuji looked around, less winded than his mother. It was true; they did have a pretty cool view of the park.

"And just wait! At the top, there's a place that I've been saving for a special occasion. You won't regret it," he winked.

Kahoko chuckled and smiled. "You seem pretty confident, don't you senpai?"

"Yup! Now come on you two," he grabbed Yuji's hand and began to pull him up the stairs. "Let's go!"

"Is it really that amazing, Hihara-san?" Yuji asked, starting to get excited himself. It was like going on an adventure.

"Yeah!" Kazuki nodded enthusiastically. "When I was about your age, I went exploring near here and happened to find it."

"It sounds like a lost city or some kind of secret world when you say it that way." Yuji's eyes lit right up at the prospect.

"Exactly!" Kazuki nodded vigorously. "That's exactly how I felt!" He grinned just thinking about it. "At that time, it was probably the most moved I'd ever been in my life. It was like…when you're so hungry you think you're gonna die and suddenly a huge feast appears right in front of you."

Kahoko laughed as she joined them. "That example is so bizarre I'm not exactly sure what to make of it."

Kazuki chuckled. "Maybe. But in any case, after that, I just stayed there, completely blown away, and before I realized it, it was dusk. You can imagine how shocked I was."

"By any chance…was that because you realized you were lost?" Kahoko teased as she suppressed a smile.

Kazuki paused for a second and flushed. "Yeah," he admitted sheepishly.

They all laughed. "That seems like something that would happen to you," Kahoko giggled.

"Ah man, that's so uncool," Kazuki pouted. When his companions had stopped giggling, he gave Yuji a wink. "But I guess as long as it's just you two who know, it's not so bad." As they resumed their climb, he continued to talk. "So anyway, at that point, I got the idea that the next time I came, I'd bring the girl I liked with me. After all, taking in such a great view with the person you like has to be the best feeling ever!" He smiled at the other two conspiratorially. "So I decided that until then, this place would be my little secret." A faraway look came to his eyes. "It's been so long…I didn't even recognize it at first."

Kahoko's steps slowed. "Umm…senpai…does that mean…?"

"Huh?" he looked at her blankly before realizing exactly what he'd said. "Ah!" he cried as his face turned beet-red. "Wh-wh-wh-what a-a-am I-I s-s-s-saying?! I, ah, umm, err…Man, isn't the sky big, Yuji-kun?" He cringed. "No, that's dumb. Uh…gee, feel that wind!"

"But there isn't any," Yuji looked at him strangely.

"Erm, right…uh…the…" he suddenly spied something, "the flowers!" He hauled the boy over to the side of the staircase. "Aren't those flowers really pretty?!"

Kahoko tapped him on the shoulder. "Senpai?"

He barely managed to look her in the face. "Umm…yes…?"

She looked at him dubiously. "Is it really okay for Yuji and me to go there with you?"

"Of course!" he cried earnestly. "I mean…if it weren't for the two of you, I wouldn't have found it again."

Kahoko blushed a little as she smiled at him. "In that case…thank you, Hihara-senpai."

He returned it with a small smile of his own. "No. Thank you." He looked between the two. "Shall we?"

For a while, they continued with a moderate amount of chatter, but eventually, the conversation flagged as everyone focused on moving their feet upward.

"Ha…" Yuji flopped on a landing. "I'm beat." Kazuki crouched down beside him with a nod and looked up at the redhead that had just caught up. "You want to sit too, Kaho-chan?"

"Ah, no, I'm fine thanks," she declined despite her heavy breathing. She looked up the staircase. "There's not that much more left anyway."

He straightened up with a nod when something caught his eye. "Hey, Yuji-kun, check it! I think I see a café!"

"Huh?" his head shot up immediately at the prospect of dessert. Catching sight of the shop, he ran to get a closer look. "It is! Look, Mama!"

Kahoko walked over to see as well. "How pretty! The roof and the parasols over the tables make it look like a flower garden!"

Kazuki grinned at the pair. "Whaddaya say? On our way back, shall we stop in for a snack?"

"Oh yeah!" Yuji agreed enthusiastically.

"No arguments here," Kahoko laughed. She and Yuji shared a grin. "It'll be our little reward for all this climbing."

"Alright!" Yuji cheered, fired up again. "Let's do this!"

"That's the spirit!" Kazuki grinned. Without really thinking about what he was saying, he told them, "It's always been a dream of mine to eat cake with a girl in a fancy café like that."

"Why?" Yuji asked quizzically.

"Mmm…" Kazuki thought about it for a minute, "I like sweets, and girls like sweets, so eating yummy desserts together with a girl I like should be a lot of fun, right?"

"Hmm…? I see…" Kahoko murmured with an enigmatic smile.

"What?" Kazuki asked curiously as he cocked his head.

"You're still quite the romantic, aren't you senpai?"

Kazuki scrunched up his face a bit as he thought about it. "Maybe. People have always said I am, but isn't it normal to daydream about going on a date with a girl?" His eyes widened. "Ah…d-date…d-did I just say…" he nervously laughed as panic crossed his features. "Ah…man, I'm just saying all kinds of weird things today."

"Hey, Hihara-senpai," Kahoko had turned back to look at the view. She took a step forward and leaned out, craning her neck. "Isn't that Seiso?"

"Ah! Mama!"

"Kaho-chan! It's dangerous to lean out so far-" his voice cut off as she lost her balance and screamed. He didn't think, just leapt to her and wrapped his arm around her waist, catching her and pulling her to his chest. "Whew…" he sighed in relief. "Man, that was close! I think my heart might've stopped for a minute." He looked down at her in concern. "Are you alright?"

She blushed furiously. "I…I'm fine," she assured him in a faint voice. "Sorry about that."

As she turned her head, her scent filled his nostrils. And suddenly, he was seventeen again. For a precious moment, he held her to him and relived the memory, letting it wash over him and fill him with light.

But of course, all good things must come to an end.

Her face now a distinct shade of deep crimson, Kahoko awkwardly murmured, "Umm…senpai…?"

"Ah!" he yelled, scrambling back so the whole landing was between them. "I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-so sorry! I sh-sh-shouldn't have h-h-held y-y-you so tightly!"

"I-it's okay, senpai!" She bit her lip in embarrassment. "It's my fault for leaning out like that. If you hadn't caught me, I really might have gotten hurt-!"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Kazuki vigorously shook his head. "I should've let go right away!"

She pushed some hair behind her ear and clutched Yuji who had run over to hug her. "Oh, goodness…I still feel a little weak. That was really scary."

Kazuki paused for a second, his heart rabbiting a hundred kilometers a second. "Umm…Kaho-chan…if…if it's alright with you…maybe…." He walked over to them before he could lose his nerve.

"Senpai…?"

Taking her hands, he placed one in Yuji's and the other in his. "Maybe…" he looked earnestly into her eyes, "maybe the three of us can hold hands like this?"

"Eh?"

His face felt like it was going to be permanently burned. "If…if you don't want to, that's fine, but I thought maybe we could walk like this until you recover." He bit his lip and let go. "Ah…perhaps that's not such a good idea."

In retrospect, considering everything she had said to Noriko about not liking him and her own self-lecture before-hand, she had to admit that what she did next didn't really make sense. She chalked it up to the nerves from her almost fall. "I…I don't mind." With a shy smile, she gently slipped her hand in his, making him start. Her cheeks flushed a slight shade of rose as she felt warmth and security flood her body. "Umm…shall we continue climbing?"

Dumbstruck, he just nodded, and they resumed their ascent. They were holding hands. Was he dreaming? He must be. But as her sleeve brushed against his, he knew it was real. All of it was real. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled to himself. "This happiness I feel walking like this with Kaho-chan and Yuji-kun…this really is as good as it gets."

Despite his height disadvantage, Yuji saw it first. "Look! Is that the top?!" He beamed excitedly to the adults. "We're almost to the secret place, right?"

"That's right!" Kazuki grinned. "Just a little bit more! Get ready to be blown away! The sunset there is amazing!"

"Really?" Kahoko's eyes lit up.

"Would I lie?"

Scooping Yuji into her arms in answer, Kahoko began to run up the steps. "Come on, you two! We'd better hurry! The sun's going to start setting soon!"

"W-what the-?! W-wait for me!" Kazuki cried, for once left in the dust.

As he lay in his bed later that night, Kazuki smiled contentedly at the ceiling. "Being there with them was so much better than when I was there just by myself. We may have had to go through a lot to get there, but it made it that much more worth it." He grinned as he thought of how awed they had been and the three-way pinkie promise they had made to keep this place a secret between the three of them. His heart warmed. Rather than detracting from the romance of the moment, having Yuji-kun there had somehow made everything more perfect than he had ever imagined.

"And that moment when she put her hand in mine…." As he remembered, his heart filled to bursting. Maybe…just maybe he was closer to that dream of being a family than he thought. Maybe it was okay to hope for more. Like the stair climb, the way into her heart wouldn't be easy, but if it would allow him to be with them, he'd endure it. For her and for Yuji-kun, he'd do anything.

He examined the hand that had held hers with a determined look on his face. "I'll do my best." He smiled and closed his eyes. "Just like today, I want to always be with them."

So…I cheated. I admit it. So much of this chapter is ripped off of Kazuki's Character CD (basically from finding the stairs onward), it's embarrassing. But since most people don't understand it anyway, I feel a little less bad about it. I also had to modify the dialogue some to work with three people instead of two and dropped some sections, so I suppose I cheated a smidgen less. Okay, okay, I'm done with trying to justify myself. It's done. I cheated. I shall do a real translation of this scene and post it here at some point as penance. (T_T) Please forgive me!

But even if the source material isn't mine, isn't it such a sweet scene? I mean the handholding, the stuttering, the playful banter, the daring rescue, and the youthful enthusiasm. *happy sigh* It honestly was just begging me to adapt it.

Looks like we're back to happy. Happy and determined really suits Kazuki better than sad. Next up, I think we'll take a peek at what Yuji's thinking in that little head of his.