CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.

Ukyo smiled when she noticed her boyfriend waiting for her outside the school building, as he did every day.

He had gone to Kobe that morning to find his parents; they had called him letting him know they had finally arrived. They'd found an apartment for him last week, and even though it was a bit far from her house, it was perfect. His parents couldn't have come in a better time.

Judging by the smile on his face, they were probably waiting in the restaurant now. Ryoga would take them back to Osaka so they could sign all the paperwork for his apartment and then she and her father could meet them.

Aisha waved them goodbye as she walked past them, promising she would be bringing that book they had been talking about to lend her tomorrow. Coming back to school in Osaka hadn't been as hard as she'd thought thanks to that girl. She had automatically welcomed her into her group of friends and they had received Ukyo with open arms. Ryoga had been right: making new friends wasn't as hard as she thought it'd be.

"Hey, sweetheart," she greeted, pecking him on the lips.

After a month and a half of dating, she still couldn't believe how things had turned out for them; but she wouldn't change it for anything.

"Hey," he linked his arm with hers and started walking back to her house. She noticed this and frowned.

"Aren't we going to the restaurant?"

Ryoga shook his head, annoyed.

"Did you really think they could just stay put and wait for me for over an hour? By the time I got to the café they were supposed to be in, they had been gone for long. The waiter said they didn't even make it to a table."

"Oh, no! What are you going to do now?"

"Don't worry, they've let me some papers that I'm supposed to give after explaining their situation. I guess it'll work out, or I'll have to wait for two years to finally have a place on my own…"

"I'm sorry honey, I know how excited you were to see them…"

"I wanted them to meet you," he pouted, "but I guess there'll be another time, right?"

"Of course, they might actually wander around town some time; you've managed to do so before, remember?"

"Ah, that was just fate leading me into your arms…" He said solemnly, his gaze lost in the distance, and she was about to say how romantic that sounded when he peered at her and laughed.

"You're such a jackass," she chuckled.

It was true, though, she realized. If it hadn't been for those times she ran into him in Osaka and the forest outside Nerima, they wouldn't be there now, walking arm in arm towards her house, boyfriend and girlfriend.

When she decided to come back to her father's house to think about what to do with her life, she never had thought she'd find love so soon; and definitely not in this wonderful young man who had been her scheming partner for so long…

He had gone from acquaintance, to someone who cared, to friend, to best friend, to something in between, and finally boyfriend in just a few months; when she'd been engaged for over eleven years.

Before becoming friends, her only friend in her whole life had been also her fiancé and she'd been in love with him; and Ryoga's only friend in his whole life had been the girl he'd been in love with, as well. It was understandable that they wouldn't have any idea about friendship and what was normal and what was not between friends, and they been so confused about their relationship.

She had talked with Aisha once, when the other girl had asked her and she had told her the whole story. The blonde had laughed at her and told her they had been falling in love with each other since the very beginning, but they both had been so busy worrying about their friendship that they didn't even realize it.

She should have known she was starting to have feelings for him when she'd started hugging him and holding his hand, Aisha had said, since friends usually didn't do that. To her defense, she had claimed that she had been going through a hard time and had had to take the most difficult decision in her life; aside from having no idea of anything involving friendship except for the matter that she had wanted to be closer to him. Well, considering things now, it should have been pretty obvious that she had started caring about him and consequentially loving him since the day he appeared in her house.

She had also realized that everyone around them had been aware of their growing feelings for each other, even her dad; the only blind idiots had been just the both of them.

"Hey," he nudged her side with his elbow, "where's that mind of yours?"

"I was just thinking about how we got here." She smiled up at him. "Of how things have changed in such a short time."

He chuckled, "Who would've thought we'd be together?"

"Everybody around us, apparently."

"Well," he tugged her closer and put his arm around her shoulders, "I'm glad things turned out this way."

"I bet you are," she snickered, leaning on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek; "I love you, silly."

"I love you too," he said with a grin.

They looked into each other's eyes and she saw how much she came to mean to him there, and she knew he was seeing the same in hers.

She rustled his hair and held his hand, tugging him back into walking since they had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk like two love fools staring at each other's eyes.

"Come on Hibiki, let's get you an apartment…"

The End.

Well, it's finally over. I'll be posting an epilogue soon, maybe (let me know if you want to read it), but the story has finally come to an end.

It hasn't been easy to write because it's not the usual style I choose for my stories, but I guess that was the catch, doing something different. If I keep writing all my stories in the same way, what fun would they be? I think this one was sweet and cute; they got to know each other through friendship, even when they didn't realize their friendship started to change into something more and they both didn't know how to deal with it. I have to admit I have rewritten a lot of chapters, but still I had a lot of fun and I'm going to miss it.

Anyway, I'll be posting a new story soon, and I'm finishing Falling as well, so you'll read more of me in the future (hopefully).

All I've got left to say to all of you is a huge thank you for your support, your encouragement, your corrections and always reviewing and keeping me going.

Read you soon!

Hugs.

Anya.