Kogure watched Mitsui round the corner to the grocer in the vicinity, before he carefully made his way across the lawn and pressed the doorbell. After a long pause, a muffled "Coming!" was yelled and then the sound of heavy footsteps and grumbles.

"Yes?" the woman asked curiously. Her flaming red hair, streaked with threads of gray, was tied back neatly, and her strong features and smiling, wine-colored eyes reminded Kogure strongly of Hanamichi.

"Good evening, Mrs. Sakuragi. I was wondering if Hanamichi was around?"

Mrs. Sakuragi beamed at him. What a polite young man he is. Never met one of my Hana's friends who were so well mannered. "He is in. Upstairs, doing his work. What is your name?"

*Flashback

Her son threw a pillow at the door just as she opened it and it smacked her right in the face. "No visitors, no interruptions!" he insisted, as he reached out and randomly grabbed a book from the table. "I have to study!"

"No exceptions?"

"As long as nobody named Rukawa Kaede knocks on our door I can handl-" his voice trailed off as he realized what he was saying. "Nani!? I mean, no interruptions! No one at all!"

She was disturbed to see tears form at the corner of his eyes before he turned and buried himself in the bedsheets.

*End of Flashback

"My name is Kogure Kiminobu, Mrs. Sakuragi." He wondered why the older woman flashed a brilliant smile at him. "I will call him down immediately! Do wait here a moment…or would you like to come in?"

"That is not necessary," Kogure suppressed a smile at the woman's energy. "I will wait outside."

@@@

"Glasses-boy?! You're back!"

The shout of disbelief, the loud and familiar guffaw, was all the warning he had before he turned just in time to take the blow full on his back. Kogure coughed as his glasses swung down, hanging by one ear, and spun to take in his old friend. "Sakuragi!" Laughing, he turned and hit the other boy lightly on the shoulder.

If anything, the younger boy had grown taller, and his unkempt hair longer. He grinned boisterously at Kogure, and the latter would have dismissed anything being wrong with him had it not been for the young man peering cautiously behind Kogure and down the street, his gaze darting nervously from side to side.

"Sakuragi?" a yelp told him that the redhead had completely forgotten him for a moment. "What's the matter with you?"

"Me? Muahaha! What could be wrong with the Tensai?!" As Hanamichi turned his face away, it was all Kogure needed to tap his shoulder lightly and walk around to face his friend. "Mitsui told me about Rukawa."

"Teme?! How did that toothless boy kno-" the surprise in the redhead's voice died down suddenly to a mutter. "It doesn't matter now anyhow."

Kogure looked at him for a moment, then hugged him impulsively in pity for the boy's obvious unhappiness. "Tell me about it."

@@@

All the way, Rukawa had been rehearsing what he would say. What would he say? As he pulled his bicycle silently to him and parked it against one of the trees which framed the compound of the park in front of the row of houses, he turned and faced the bright light streaming from the windows, and jumped as the door opened.

Rukawa froze. Kogure? Hanamichi? He couldn't breathe, the tightness in his chest growing. He watched Hanamichi nod, then the two move down the steps and sit on the lowest platform, talking intently. His heart twisted and shattered as Kogure pulled Hanamichi close.

What…what…

Ice blue eyes blinked again, then filled with sudden jealousy and fury. Rukawa turned and fled into the night.

To Be Continued

End of Part Two of the RuHana trilogy