Hey Tomoka-fans, thank you for reading! Some of these ideas are pretty straight forward, but I'll try to change it up. This story is mostly about friendship and Tomoka's own personality. I don't know about her being paired up with someone just yet.
It's probably going to be a short story, I don't have anything really planned yet.

I know I haven't updated anything in like a months, but I'll try to get to it as soon as I can :)
~Yuka Hara

Tomoka walked on the left of Fuji as he had insisted before that he wanted to be allowed to walk her home on such a dangerous night. She in fact, was grateful for his own concern, but she felt like she walked into a trap. He had not said a word since she had accepted his offer, and that didn't change for the rest of the time. With gentle steps, she made sure she walked around or over things that was laid on the ground.

"Osakada-chan?" Fuji asked calmly. His voice was cautious, as if he was pondering on every word before he spoke them. Tomoka looked at him, and stared at him slightly. For a second, she scanned her senpai from head to toe. He was indeed taller, but he didn't change that much. His hair was still long and his skin was still fair for someone who played sports under the sun, she was surprised he wasn't as tan as others. He became leaner and wore his uniform so neat, there wasn't even one small crease on it. His old smile never change and still was worn on his face. "What's wrong?" He questioned as his eyebrows furrowed.

She realized her mistake for staring and quickly shook her head. "It's nothing, nothing at all." She spoke laughing slightly at the end. "Huh? What's that in your hands, Fuji-senpai?" She asked lightly as she saw a flash of colors in the older boy's hand. Fuji took out two small bears, the exact ones that she had made in home economics.

"Saa...these are sure interesting. You never told anyone you were into crafting." He spoke smiling, as he carefully examined the small hat on one, his eyes widened and he looked at the girl. "Don't these-"

Tomoka quickly grabbed the bears away from his hands and stuffed them inside her bag. "Sorry Fuji-senpai, but I made these as gifts. I d-don't want them to be ruined." She managed to seethe through her teeth. She let out a mental relief as she quickly made an escape. She knew he was on to her, and she didn't want him to go even speak it out loud or she cold have reacted the way he wanted her too; shocked. She smiled slightly and moved her arms, "Come on Fuji-senpai! It's getting dark and we should get home." She spoke.

Fuji was fixated at her bag, but she couldn't really tell much as his eyes were closed. With nothing else to say, the two walked home and she thanked him. Tomoka slumped on the coach as soon as she got into her living room. 'What a hectic day' she thought to herself. She took out the two bears and smiled, "You guys...Ah. Fuji-senpai seemed as if he was interested in these." She scrunched up her face and thought for a second then stared back at the dolls. "It wouldn't be a trouble..."

Tomoka shook her head before hurrying up to her room. She needed to get everything out and prepared. She would start after dinner.

When dinner came around the corner, Tomoka sat with her family that included her dad, mom and two younger brothers who were eating quietly.

"My, it's such a quiet night." Osakada Suzu spoke out, trying to make some type of conversation. Even if her younger brothers were in their second year of middle school, they were daredevils. Because they always liked to make pranks, they always had to have someone watch them.

Tomoka laughed softly to herself before shaking her head and going back to her dinner. She pushed her vegetables along the the corners and swirled her chopsticks in her bowl. "Ara, Ara, Tomoka-chan." Her mother called out to her, "Are you feeling well?" Tomoka only gave a nod to answer her mom. To be truthful, she usually finished everything on her plate. This was no joke. Ever since she was little, she had been tricked by her two friends. One gave her the idea that if she didn't finish her food, a monster will come to eat her up because she wasted food. She didn't know why she was scared from that type of lie, but she was only a little girl back then and she believed in almost everything people around her said. The other one was actually brought up in quite a strict home and always told her say stay honest.

Tomoka let out a sigh and told her parents that she would be up in her room. "Thank you for the meal." She smiled and quickly rushed up the stairs. She shut door behind her a slumped towards the ground. Many thoughts rushed through her head. She was happy that Fuji had came and talked to her. After a year or so of not talking to any of her old friends, she was sure that they had all forgotten her, but they didn't. On the other hand, she wasn't ready to meet them all again. She wouldn't know what to say to Sakuno anymore. Would she be mad at her for breaking their friendship? Would she be crying her eyes out for missing her? She didn't want to deal with this right now.

"I have Narumi-chan now.." She muttered to herself, "I-I changed! That's right!" She said, trying to cheer herself up with some positive motivation. She bit her lips and thought about her plan before. "I better get started." She took a seat on her chair and turned the lamp on, taking out a scissor, she started to cut the soft brown fabric. She added the necessary accessories such as the school's name, their tiny strings on their rackets and the color of white and blue. "Perfect..." She muttered under her breath and placed them in decorated plastic baggies. She placed them all in a basket near her desk and left them there. "I wish I could say go back in time, if I could change it I would give these to them right now. "I'm so tired..."

Tomoka jumped into her bed and went to sleep, ignoring the knocking on the door.

Tomoka woke up, feeling terrible. Her hair was all tied into knots and she could feel her eyes dropping. Suddenly, she sniffed the air and wore a confused expression, the smell of something burnt. Her eyes widened as soon as the thought entered her mind and she rushed down towards the kitchen.

"Ow, Ow ow!" A voice shouted in a childish tone, "Mou...Utou! You added too much of this oil! Mom only puts a spoonful! Now it's attacking us."

"Be quiet Sora! Do you want to wake up Tomo-nee because we made a mistake for breakfast?!" Utou shouted, completely unaware of the older girl standing behind them. "What's wrong Sora?" He asked at his brother before turning around, "T-TOMO-NEE!?"

Tomoka sat in the table with her two younger siblings, she gave each of them a stern look and crossed her arms. After cleaning the large mess in the kitchen, she was glad that all the smoke was gone with the use of the fume hood and that it didn't turn the sprinklers on or even catch the whole house on fire. "Explain yourselves." Tomoka said, "You know how dangerous it is to cook with a watchful eye around. You two haven't even learned how to cook yet." The two boys pouted and looked down. They looked at each other, mentally talking. "Just because you two are twins, you guys can't really use telepathy..." Tomoka said and watched the two blush in embarrassment. She sighed and knelt down in front of them, she gave the two each a pat and smiled. "Tomo-nee isn't mad at you two alright? Just be careful. I'll fix breakfast for you two."

She was glad that her two younger siblings cared for her and wanted to make some breakfast for her even though it came out disastrous. In fact, Tomoka was surprised that they woke up so early. Usually, they would still have been fast asleep. She looked at the note on the fridge that said that her parents had to leave for work early and she was suppose to take them to school. She turned back to see the two twins talking happily to each other. "Ne, ne! Tomo-nee!" Sora said in a cheerful tone as he bounced towards the girl, "Can we help you?"

Tomoka eyed them for a second before nodding. "Sure, just always listen to my directions alright?" The two children looked at each other and nodded to her.

"Hai Tomo-nee!" The chorused together and stood on wooden stools to watch her crack the eggs into the pan. The twins gathered the plates and table ware to set it up while she cooked the meal.

Tomoka quickly whipped up bacon, three sunny side eggs, toast and some sausages. She took out three cups and filled them up with milk and handed it to them. They sat together at the table and started to eat. "Itakdakimasu." While eating, Tomoka allowed her mind to wander, she would occasionally steal a glance at her younger brothers and her heart would be filled with complete warmth from seeing their smiles. "I'm so happy that you two like the food." She said cheerfully.

They all stood up in a rush and Tomoka scrubbed furiously at the plates. "I know it's almost time to go, so let's hurry alright?" As the three stood by the door, wearing their shoes, Tomoka giggled to herself as she watched Utou and Sora fumble with their shoe laces, she couldn't see their smirk that was hidden, "You guys still don't know how to tie your shoe laces?" She asked in confusion, "I was sure I saw you the other day tying it with no trouble."

She laughed at the actions Utou and Sora showed as they tried to keep a straight face. "It's fine, I'll be happy to tie your shoe laces for you." She said.

Tomoka walked to Seigaku High using a separate path from her brothers and wondered to herself if she spoiled them too much. Truth to be told, her younger brothers should already know how to tie their shoe laces. She was sure that she just saw them tie their laces all on their own the other day. She shook her head as she felt her head throb from thinking too much. She smiled when she had a small stuffed animal dangling on her school bag. She was always jealous of other girls, since middle school, when they designed their bags with cute chains and stickers. She never got the time to do so, and now that it was highschool, she was glad she found some time to do it.

"Good Morning, Narumi-chan." Tomoka said with a bright smile as she saw her friend by the shoe lockers.

Narumi glanced up and grinned, her hair was just everywhere, and her glasses were off and in place was warm brown eyes. "Morning, Tomoka-chan." She greeted, "Surprised?" She asked pointing to her face, "I always thought high school was scary." She said with a sigh and continued to switch her shoes, "I wore those glasses thinking it would make me smart. I just never fit in with the crowd of girls even in Middle school. But then I met you Tomoka-chan, I was really glad we became friends."

There was a sniffling sound and Narumi stopped from her long talk, and her eyes widened when she saw Tomoka's eyes filled with tears. "Uh..." Tomoka moaned as she took out her handkerchief to wipe her tears, "Sorry Narumi-chan. I- I'm just crying out of happiness."

Narumi smiled and giggled a little, "I never knew you could be this emotional." She said, "It's not a bad thing though. I would cry bucket of tears over sad romance dramas." She gave a lop sided smile and watched and Tomoka laughed along.

"We have to head to class. I'll see you at lunch Narumi-chan! I'll go visit your class, 1-A was it?" Tomoka questioned as the two girls started to walk to their homerooms. Narumi gave a quick nod before disappearing into her room.

Tomoka opened the door to her class, 1-C and was surprised to see most of the students still standing around. She took her seat and scanned the room for an annoying boy with uni brows, but then she realized that his appearance changed. She frowned slightly when she couldn't find him, since he was probably the only person in the room whom she could start a proper conversation with. Her reputation wasn't a real good one. She 'magically' left during the school year of her third year in Seigaku Middle, and no one knew why. She remembered the angry voice of Horio's when he was shouting at her about her disappearance/ He had said to her how hurt Sakuno was. Yes Tomoka was frustrated at herself for hurting her friend, but she was also hurting badly. She saw how Sakuno had spent with theh girl Hanabi, they were both tennis regulars. There was barely anything Tomoka could say to Sakuno except a 'Good Morning' or 'How are you'.

Tomoka sighed and when she closed her eyes to relax for a minute or two, she was screamed when she opened her eyes to see brown eyes staring back at her intently. She glared at the boy and slamed her fist down on his head. "What the heck are you doing Horio!?"

"Mou! You didn't have to hit so hard Osakada!" Horio whined as he rubbed his tender head, "You just looked like you were asleep so I thought to give you a fright."

Tomoka's eyes twitched at his insensitivity. "I need my personal space, everyone does!" She said and then they started to bicker, ignoring the sighs of the students around them.

Then the sensei came into class to see two of their students causing ruckus in class. 'Osakada, Horio!" The two barely gave a glance to the teacher before turning back into their heated argument, the sensei slammed on their desk, "Both of you, sit down!"

Tomoka sighed in relief when class finally ended and it was time for lunch. She picked her bento from her desk and started to walk to class 1-A. The classes assigned were usually by grades and people in class A were usually pretty smart. Sliding the door with her free hand, she spotted Narumi sitting in the corner of the room. "Narumi-chan." Tomoka greeted as she walked up to her friend. She grabbed a chair from the back of the room and dragged it next to her friend's desk. "Next time, let's go to my class or the roof top."

Narumi smiled, "Alright, I don't mind. Class isn't really crowded since everyone else goes to the cafeteria."

The two girls opened their bentos and Tomoka's stomach grumbled at the sight of the food. She had a few onigiris, some octopus sausages, boiled eggs and vegetables, hamburger and tamagoyaki. "Narumi-chan, your bento is so kawaii." She said as she looked at the pikachu face on Narumi's bento, "Did you make them on your own?"

Narumi shook her head as her face flushed in embarassment. "Iya, my mom did. She was so excited when I talked about having to meet you."

Tomoka stared blankly at the girl before breaking into a grin. "Thanks Narumi-chan. Let's eat!" Tomoka clasped her hands together, "Itadakimasu~"

"Itdakimasu." Narumi whispered and took out her chop sticks. "What should we talk about?" She asked after swallowing her food. "A-Ano...Tomoka-chan, you should really slow down your eating. You might choke."

Narumi was concerened about her friend's rush in eating. Tomoka, feeling like she was just jinxed, swallowed a grain of rice through the wrong pipe. You started to cough and grabbed hold of her water bottle. "GAH! I thought I was dying." She smiled and closed her bento box while Narumi raised a brow in concern.

"You're not going to finish your food?"

"What are you talking about?" Tomoka asked in confusion.

"But- you just closed your bento."

"Yeah, I did."

"Doesn't that mean you're down."

Tomoka stared at the girl for a few seconds before laughing, "I already finished. I guess I ate too fast." She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, but Narumi just went on about how amazing it was to eat so fast. 'An Awesome Talent' she said.

The door was suddenly opened with a loud slam and Tomoka felt a deja vu. "Echizen!" A loud voice shouted. "Echizen!"

"Shut up Momo-senpai! Echizen isn't even in class right now!" Boy A shouted.

"WAH! It's Momo-senpai! I love how he wants us to call him by such a cute name!" Girl A screeched before fainting in her friends arm.

Tomoka sweat dropped at the scene of the swooned girl. She felt something strike her in realization that perhaps back in middle school, that was how she acted like in front like others. A crazy student who was the president of the Echizen Ryoma fan club. She never felt so stupid in her whole life. If it wasn't for Narumi's warning of her face burning up like fireworks, she would of sworn she would faint that minute.

"Momo~" A voice spoke. Red hair could be seen from the older third year student, Kikumura Eiji as he skipped (or literally hopped) towards Momo,his kouhai, with a wide grin. "Have you found Echizen yet? Mou~ Ochibi really doesn't want to hang out with us? It's the last year for us!" He whined like a child, but it wasn't annoying to anyone years. It was strangely pleasant as it held a playful tone in it.

Tomoka could feel her lips tug upwards on her face. She was smiling and radiating positive vibes like a turned on lamp. Then her eyes caught those of Eiji. For some reason, her stomach did a 180 degree flip. Something just wasn't right, she could feel it. She knew instantly how right her gut feeling was when she saw Eiji grin from ear to ear and point out her figure to Momo who smiled along with his senpai. She could see their eyes twinkle with mischief.

"Hoi, Hoi!" Eiji shouted, "You're coming along with us!"

With another word, Tomoka's world seem to spin a little as she was hauled up from her seat by two strong arms. She stood on her feet, and was face to face to Momo. "Let's go Osakada-chan. Maybe we'll find Echizen with your luck." He said before turning to Narumi, "We'll be borrowing her for today!" He then bowed before running off, and dragging the girl behind him like a sack of potatoes.

The students were struck silent and they could hear shouting just outside.

"Stop it Momo!" Eiji's voice bounced through the hallway, "You can't drag Osakada-chan, what do you think Oishi or Tezuka would say if they were here?" His voice held authority, finally showing his reign over his kouhai as the older one. "W-Wait Momo!"

"Jya, Eiji-senpai! I'll see you later at the roof when Echizen's found!" Loud footsteps were hear outside, like they were chasing each other.

Finally after how it piped Narumi's interest, she looked outside to see Tomoka all alone, and standing in the middle of the hallway. "Good luck, Tomoka-chan." She called out to the brunette before going back in the classroom to finish her food.

PHEW! I finally managed to finish the third chapter.

I'm so sorry ! I write so slow, I shouldn't even be called an author for making my readers wait so long! T.T
...- Well, whatever. Let's move on to Chapter 4!
Thanks for reading everyone!

~Yuka Hara