Naoto looked up at the sky and sighed. Large raindrops fell heavily on the concrete outside of the school. She was sure she had watched the weather report before she left; they hadn't said anything about rain. And now she found herself about to walk home without an umbrella. Naoto tugged her hat snug on her head, took a deep breath, and soldiered on into the weather. But as she took her first few steps out onto the wet concrete, she noticed rather quickly that no rain was hitting her. When she looked up to investigate the phenomenon, she saw a bright pink umbrella above her head. The handle of that umbrella was being held from just inside the doorway by a tall, blonde young man whom she knew well.

"Hey," Kanji said. "Forget your umbrella?" Naoto blushed at her mistake and nodded. He smiled, taking a few steps so that they both stood below the umbrella. "Come on, I'll walk you home." The two started heading towards Naoto's house. Even though there was enough of a height difference between them for the walk to be comfortable, they were forced to stand quite close to each other. It had only been a few days since they had become a couple and Naoto wasn't quite use to it yet. Social interactions were never her strong suit, so being in a relationship was a new experience. She could feel the warmth of Kanji's body next to her and it made her heart beat faster. He took off his school jacket and placed it over her shoulders. It smelled like him and there was something comforting about it being so oversized on her. Naoto smiled to herself and reveled in these new feelings.

"You OK?" Kanji asked after a little while. "You're being awfully quiet."

"Oh! I'm sorry..." Naoto apologized. "I'm just...enjoying it.""Enjoying what?"

"The feeling...of just walking with you. Being...b-being near you." Naoto looked down, embarrassed about admitting it. Kanji blushed as well.

"U-um, w-well t-thank you! I think it's nice being with you, too..." The walk fell into awkward silence. This disappointed Naoto; she didn't mean to ruin the mood. She tried her best to think of something to talk about.

"So...would you...like to hang out at my house for a bit?" she asked. "That is, if you don't have other plans..."

"N-no! I was just gonna go home and study. I guess we could do that together. Studying with you sure would benefit me!" Naoto laughed at him.

"Ok, that sounds like a plan!" Naoto was happy that she was able to move the conversation along. They were about to pass the hill that looked over town. It was still drizzling, but the sun managed to find a few cracks in the clouds to shine through and a rainbow was spanning the valley. "Wow! Look at that!" They stopped to enjoy the view."

"Wow..." Kanji said, smiling. Naoto absentmindedly put her hand up to the handle of the umbrella, but put her hand around Kanji's instead. Startled, she turned from the rainbow to look at him, but didn't pull her hand away. Kanji was looking back at her, his face flushed and cheeks red. Before she knew what was happening, Kanji leaned towards her and Naoto instinctively rose up on her toes to met him. As their lips touched, a shock ran down her back. She suddenly realized that this was something she never knew she had always wanted. Kanji's lips were soft and warm against the chilly air, yet his nose was cold against her cheek. The contrast was striking. He moved his lips slowly and she copied his movements until they found a rhythm. It seemed the Kanji phenomenon applied to kissing as much as it did to his hobbies; for being such a rough looking guy, his kiss was surprisingly gentle, almost delicate. After what felt like both a lifetime and less than a moment, they pulled away and looked at each other, dazed. Naoto gave him a soft smile, trying to remind herself to breathe. Kanji smiled back, leaning forward again and resting his forehead on hers.

"So..." he said

"So...?"

"Was that..."

"It was...nice."

"Just nice?" Kanji sounded a little disappointed. Naoto giggled.

"No, more than nice. We may have to do that again...in the future."

"Y-yeah. I think so, too." Kanji stood back up and looked back a the rainbow that had caused them to stop in the first place. He placed his arm over Naoto's shoulder and squeezed her tightly. In that moment, she felt safe, happy. She didn't want it to end, but knew it had to.

"Come on, let's get to my house, before we catch colds." Kanji agreed and they continued on to Naoto's.