Sakura-sou was quiet and dark on a night in late January. Everyone was huddled under their blankets, even the cats. So no one saw or heard as the door to Room 202 opened and Mashiro Shiina slipped out. Dressed in a flannel nightgown, she padded quietly but quickly down the stairs and headed straight for Room 101.

Inside, Sorata Kanda was asleep under his comforter, Hikari the cat curled up at his feet. His computer's screen was off and the shade to the window was drawn, making his room as dark as the rest of the dormitory. He did not wake as Mashiro entered and shut the door behind her. It was only as she started to climb under the blanket that he and Hikari were stirred awake at her presence.

"Mashiro?" he murmured blearily. "What are you-"

"I had a nightmare." Her voice was her typical even, breathy cadence, but she had buried her face in his shoulder and her hands were clutching at his pajama shirt. "I was very scared.

"Please let me stay with you."

Sorata was still pretty asleep, but he could hear the need in her voice and feel the tension in her body as she pressed close to his side. He did have the fleeting thought that Aoyama and Kanna-kouhai and Yuuko-chan would give them grief in the morning, but he decided he didn't care.

"Stay," he murmured, "stay."

He felt the tension leave her body, and she snuggled just a little closer to him. He reached over with his left hand and put it on top of her hands on his shoulder. "It's all right, Mashiro."

She said nothing else, just let out a quiet, satisfied murmur and then they were both asleep again.

When Mashiro awoke, the window's shade was still down, but sunlight was beginning to fill up Sorata's room. The air was still cold though, and the sensation tickled her right cheek and ear (the side that wasn't lying on the bed). The rest of her was warm and comfortable, but she immediately sensed that something was missing. As she opened her eyes, she realized what it was: Sorata was not there.

She sat up quickly, the comforter falling away. He wasn't at his computer; she was alone in the room. Her heart began to thud.

But just a second later, she heard the door to the room open, and then Sorata emerged from the entryway. He was carrying his toiletries and a towel, and his hair was still wet. "Good morning," he said in a soft voice when he saw her sitting on the bed. "I didn't get a chance to take a bath last night, so I took one this morning. I'm glad I didn't wake you." He smiled kindly and moved to put down his things on his desk.

Mashiro couldn't wait any longer. She stood and came right up to Sorata. Her hands clasped his free one, and she pulled it to her chest.

Surprised, Sorata moved a small step back, but he was already up against the wall. "Mashiro?"

"My heart hurts when I'm not with you," she said. She was looking him directly in the eyes; her voice was normal but with just a slight tremble to it.

Sorata was stunned; he didn't know quite what to say.

"All day, no matter what I'm doing, when I'm painting or drawing manga, I'm thinking about you," she said. "Even at night, when we're only on different floors ... I miss you."

"Mashiro-"

"And we'll be graduating soon," she said, her voice becoming a little more strained, "and I can't bear the thought of us not living together." She squeezed his hand a little tighter. "I want to stay with you, Sorata, even after we leave Sakura-sou. I want to be with you."

She ducked her head and a few tears slid down her cheeks. "Please, Sorata, even after we graduate ... can I keep being your pet girl?"

Her eyes were shut tight as tears leaked out of them, her forehead nearly resting on top of her hands which still clutched his. Her heart was pounding: she felt so afraid, so hopeful, so cold and warm at the same time. It seemed an eternity before Sorata spoke.

There was a slight thunk as Sorata dropped his bath things on the floor. Then, in a move that thrilled every part of her, his now free other hand was laid on top of her head and gently stroked her hair.

"Of course you can, Mashiro."

She dared to open her eyes and look at him. Even through her tears she could see his kind smile, and her heart soared.

"Really?" she said, her voice cracking.

"Yes," he said. "I want us to stay together too."

Mashiro let go of his hand and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him close. He made a small noise of surprise, and then his arms wrapped around her as well.

"Was that what you dreamed about?" Sorata said gently. "Us being apart?"

She murmured in agreement. "It was the worst."

"We'll get a place together after graduation," Sorata said. "We'll keep living the Sakura-sou life together."

Mashiro sighed. "Thanks goodness."

They stayed that way for a moment longer. Mashiro wanted to savor the moment. The day he'd embraced her at the airport had been over too quickly; she hadn't known how to react. She want this to last.

But there was one more thing she needed to say.

"Sorata," she whispered, "I love you."

Sorata's arms pulled just that much closer. "Me too. I love you too, Mashiro."

Sorata's mind was racing, falling all over itself. He'd said those words to her before at the train station last year. He'd meant them then, and his feelings hadn't changed. But that day he'd said them in a moment of desperation, and to be honest he wasn't sure she'd even heard him. But today, now, this felt real, this felt right. And as he said it to her again he realized how much he'd longed to hear her say it back.

Mashiro's heart was thudding in her chest. It had been since she'd woken up the night before, scaring her with its intensity. But now her fears were gone and her heart was so happy. The feeling of being in love was so strange, and in some ways so new. She'd known she wanted to always to be with Sorata for a long time, but only now was she really coming to understand what her heart really wanted, what it had really wanted to say.

Her grip on Sorata relaxed and she pulled back just enough to see his face. A blush crossed both their cheeks as they gazed into each other's eyes. And then Mashiro closed her eyes again and Sorata leaned in and kissed her. His lips gently pressed against hers and it was the greatest feeling in the world.

The kiss lasted only a moment, and when their heads moved apart they were both still blushing. Sorata blinked, and then he chuckled.

Mashiro cocked her head slightly. "What is it?"

"This is such a important moment," Sorata said in bemusement, "but I can't think of anything to say."

Mashiro lips raised into her small, lovely smile. "You said we can be together. That's enough."

Sorata smiled back, and then chuckled again. "Well, actually, I think one thing I need to say is that we'll be late for school."

Mashiro nodded and released her grip on Sorata's neck. "Right. I'll go change my panties."

They left Sakura-sou a few minutes late; not so much that they needed to hurry but enough that everyone else was already gone. Sorata was relieved - he didn't feel like explaining things to the rest of them yet.

As they left Sakura-sou, Mashiro slipped her hand into his. He was a little surprised, but he squeezed her hand back and they walked the whole way hand in hand. They didn't say much - there was a intimacy in their quiet companionship, and Sorata didn't want to break the spell.

Mashiro only said one thing on their walk, as they approached the school: "Sorata, this means we're dating now, doesn't it?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah I guess it does."

"Excellent. I have graduated to pet girlfriend."

Sorata grinned sheepishly. "I'll do my best to be a good boyfriend."

Mashiro nodded and squeezed his hand in reply.

There was a brief moment of awkwardness when they had to go to their separate classes: Sorata wasn't quite sure of the right way to say 'see you later' in this situation, so he just said, "Um, lunch on the roof today?"

"We forgot to bring lunches," Mashiro said matter-of-factly.

Sorata grimaced. "I knew we were forgetting something. Don't worry. I'll buy us some lunch and meet you up there, okay?"

Mashiro nodded. "I will be waiting for you."

She squeezed his hand again, and then she left for her class. Sorata smiled to himself and went to his.

As soon as he entered homeroom, he saw Aoyama sitting in her usual spot. He swallowed, then came and sat down as his usual place next to her. "'Morning, Aoyama."

She looked up at him with a mixture of pleasure, annoyance, and relief. "Morning! Hey, where were you and Mashiro this morning? We didn't even see you before we had to leave."

"Ah, well, um, you know Mashiro," Sorata said nervously. "She had trouble getting going and I had to help her and it took a long time."

Aoyama eyed him a tad suspiciously. "Is that right?"

Sorata grinned uneasily. "Say, Aoyama, don't you have some auditions after school today?"

"Your efforts to change the subject are quite transparent," Aoyama said grumpily. But then she smiled and winked at him. "Also, the auditions are tomorrow."

"Ah, right, of course. Well, be sure to work hard on your practice!"

At lunch, they were joined on the roof by Yuuko, Aoyama, and Iori. As usual, Yuuko's non-stop chatter kept the rest of them from saying much. Mashiro and Sorata exchange a few knowing glances, but didn't say much to the group or to each other. Aoyama noticed some of their looks and they made her feel a little uneasy but she said nothing.

After school, Sorata went up to the studio to meet Mashiro. She was in the middle of a project, so he told her to keep going and he would wait until she was done. The afternoon sun was dipping down and the sky was turning orange by the time she emerged from the studio. "I'm ready to go now."

Sorata was reading a game design manual. Without even looking up, he said, "You forgot to wash the paint off your hands."

Mashiro looked down at herself in surprise. "Oh, I did, didn't I?"

After Mashiro cleaned up they walked home together, hand-in-hand again. Sorata asked Mashiro about her day and she told him about the painting she was working on.

As they rounded the last corner for Sakura-sou, Sorata stopped. Mashiro took another step before she noticed, leaving her standing a little bit in front of him with their outstretched arms linking them. She looked back at him curiously.

"Sorata?"

"How do we ... how do we tell everyone we're dating now?" he asked nervously.

Mashiro blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well Yuuko-chan will say she's gonna fight you," Sorata sighed. "Kanna-kouhai will probably tell us that two people living under the same roof shouldn't be dating, Iori will probably say something perverted, and I have no idea how Chihiro-sensei is going to react."

"Chihiro-sensei?"

"Well, I mean she is your cousin, right?"

"Oh, I remember now."

"How can you forget a thing like that?!"

Mashiro cocked her head. "What about Aoyama?"

Sorata looked away, unsure of what to think. There had been times over the last year when he felt that Aoyama wanted to confess to him. He was still not sure if that's what she had been trying to do that day he drove her to her big audition on Miyahara's bike. There were other times that he thought he must be fooling himself, that Aoyama was a friend, a very close friend, but nothing more. (It certainly didn't help things that Chihiro-sensei and Sorata's mother would occasionally try to push them together.)

"I ... I don't want to upset Aoyama," Sorata said cautiously.

"Why would Aoyama be upset?"

"Uh, well, that is-"

"Does Aoyama like you?"

Sorata looked up at his girlfriend and said sheepishly, "I think she might."

Mashiro dropped Sorata's hand and straightened up slightly. "Sorata, do you have feelings for Aoyama?"

"No! Aoyama is a wonderful person, but I don't have those kinds of feelings for her! She's my best friend, but she's not you!"

Mashiro's eyes widened, and a blush crossed her face. "N-not me?"

Sorata reached out and took her hand back in his. "Aoyama *is* special to me, Mashiro. But it's you that I love."

Mashiro's surprise gave way to tenderness. "That's right. You're Aoyama's dear friend, but you're my owner."

"At some point you are going to have to stop saying that," Sorata said in feigned exasperation.

Mashiro nodded in her solemn manner. "I understand, boyfriend-owner-san."

"I give up."

"I will talk to Aoyama," Mashiro said.

"Huh?"

"I will tell Aoyama," Mashiro said, looking at Sorata very seriously. "It will be better if I do it."

Privately Sorata was not too sure that was true, but he couldn't deny feeling relieved.

Dinner passed uneventfully, and afterwards everyone went off to their various rooms to study and do homework. Aoyama was reading over a script when there was a knock at her door. "Yes?" she called.

"It's Mashiro," came the even voice.

"Ah, come-in, Mashiro-chan!"

Mashiro stepped inside, then came and sat down on Aoyama's bed. Mashiro was still in her school uniform, while Aoyama had changed into sweatpants and her glasses before dinner.

"Nanami-san," Mashiro said, "there is something I have to tell you."

"Uh, okay," Aoyama said, "tell me what?"

"I'm Sorata's girlfriend now," Mashiro said, "and we plan on moving in together after we graduate."

Aoyama could hardly believe she'd heard right. "W-what? What are you saying? When did this happen?"

"Last night," Mashiro said.

"L-l-last night?" Aoyama sputtered. "What do you mean?"

Mashiro opened her mouth, but Aoyama immediately waved her down. "Nevermind, nevermind, I don't want to know! P-p-please don't tell me anything intimate that might have happened between you and Kanda-kun!"

Mashiro looked a tad puzzled, but she nodded. "Okay then."

Aoyama's mind raced. "So, you're-you're dating now? Is ... is that what Kanda-kun said?"

"Yes," Mashiro said. "He said so."

"O-okay," Aoyama said. She looked away. She couldn't think straight. It was all too sudden.

"Why are you telling just me?" Aoyama asked. "You could have told everyone at dinner."

Mashiro looked down at her hands. "I don't want Nanami to hate me."

"H-hate you?! Why would I hate you?"

Mashiro looked up at her with sad eyes.

"W-wait, you think I - you think I have feelings for Kanda-kun? Oh no, it's not like that at all, Mashiro-san! I don't-"

But then the protest, the lie, died in her throat, and Aoyama looked down at the ground. "No, that's not true. I ... I do have feelings for him. I wanted to confess how I feel to him. I tried a few times, but I always got too scared." She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Why?" Mashiro asked.

"Because ... because deep down, I knew what he would say," Aoyama said, the tears quietly running down her face. She looked up and smiled so sadly. "Because I knew he was in love with you, Mashiro."

Mashiro's eyes widened. "You did? How?"

"You dummy," Aoyama said, still weeping. "He said so. At the train station that day. Didn't you hear him?"

Mashiro clutched her hands to her chest. "No, not at all."

"He shouted it as loud as he could," Aoyama said, her heart breaking again at the memory. "And he's shown it, every day before and since. Didn't you know from the first time he begged you stay at the airport?"

Mashiro seemed to fold into herself. "I am a dummy."

"You're not," Aoyama said, wiping her eyes. She laid a hand on her friend's knee, and Mashiro looked up at her in trepidation. "You're just Mashiro."

"But how can you not hate me?" Mashiro's eyes filled with tears. "I would hate anyone who took Sorata away from me."

Aoyama opened her mouth to say that she could never hate her. But then she stopped and sat back, because she wanted to be honest. She didn't hate Mashiro. But there had been nights when she'd lain awake, wishing Kanda-kun was next to her and resenting Mashiro. Like Rita, like even Kanda a few times, she'd felt so bitter that Mashiro got everything so easily, that the success and benefits Aoyama had to kill herself to achieve were just handed to Mashiro Shiina.

But that bitterness had always passed with the morning light. It always passed when she saw how Kanda cared for Mashiro and how she always put herself next to him so easily. No one could see Kanda and Mashiro together and not think they were cute. So even when she wished it was her instead, Aoyama couldn't be angry at love.

"Kanda-kun was never mine," Aoyama said sadly. "So you're not taking him away from me."

Mashiro wiped her eyes. "Nanami."

"Kanda-kun is my dearest friend," Aoyama said. Her smile was broad and sincere, if still a little watery. "And so are you, Mashiro-chan. I want us to always be friends, no matter what. I never want to lose any of my beloved friends of Sakura-sou!"

Mashiro smiled a watery smile of her own. "Nanami!"

"Just-just don't go being all love-love in front of me," Aoyama said, "and I'll be fine."

Mashiro nodded. "I understand."

Mashiro Shiina and Nanami Aoyama stayed in her room for a long time after that, talking and studying and practicing together. And when Mashiro left, Aoyama was not exactly happy, but she knew she could handle it, and she knew that she could move on.

Maybe not tonight, but someday.

It was around midnight when Sorata pushed back from his desk and rubbed his eyes. He'd finished his homework, but this latest game design was not coming along the way he'd like. He should ask Aoyama for help, but she was probably already asleep and he didn't want to talk to her until he'd heard from Mashiro about how that talk had gone. No, he'd just go to bed and approach things again in the morning.

He had changed into some night clothes and was making his last preparations when the door to his room opened and Mashiro came in. She was wearing the same pink flannel nightgown and holding a pillow under her arm.

Sorata blinked at her in surprise. "Mashiro?"

"Are you ready for bed?" she asked.

"Uh, I suppose so. Why are you asking me that?"

Mashiro's face fell a little. "You said I could stay with you."

Sorata looked down awkwardly. "Mashiro," he said gently, "I don't know if it's a good idea for you to stay here every night. We *are* still high school students after all."

"We're both eighteen years old now."

"That's true, but you know that won't make a difference to the others."

Mashiro looked down at the ground. "Sorata, do you want me to go back to my room?"

"That's not what I want," Sorata said hurriedly.

"Is this too much?" she asked softly. "Am I doing this wrong?"

Sorata stood and laid his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him nervously.

"I don't know that there's a right or a wrong way to do this," he said. "It's my fault for being indecisive, Mashiro. You're not too much. I want you to stay. I'm just ... nervous."

Mashiro looked relieved. She brought up her free hand and balled it up like a paw. "Pet girls just need warm places to sleep at night."

"Of course," Sorata said with a smile. "Go ahead and get comfortable, I have to take care of one more thing."

A few moments later Mashiro was under the comforter, this time on the side against the wall, her pillow tucked under her head. Sorata finished putting his stuff away and moved to turn off the light. But just before he did, he paused and said, "Umm, Mashiro?"

"Yes?" She did not sit up, her eyes were already starting to droop.

"I ... I just need to tell you that ... I'm not ... I'm not ready yet."

"You need to do more before bed?"

"No, I mean, I'm not ready ... to ... to go all the way yet."

There was a long pause, and then Mashiro said, "You mean sex?"

Sorata sighed. "Yes, I mean sex."

"That's fine," Mashiro said. "I'm not trying to seduce you, Sorata."

"I didn't think that," Sorata said hurriedly. "But with us sleeping in the same bed, I just thought it was something that-"

"Sorata," Mashiro said, her voice low and drowsy, "your pet girl is sleepy and cold."

He smiled to himself, then turned off the light. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

He got into bed, lying on his back. Mashiro snuggled up to his side, sighing once with contentment. He debated a moment, then he gently pulled his arm out and wrapped it around her shoulder. She made a small noise of surprise, then repositioned herself so her head was resting on his chest. Her hair was tickling his nose, but he didn't mind. "Good night," she whispered.

"Good night."