Dedicated to: Ri
Happy 18th Birthday~

Rima stares out the window, resting her head on her hand and paying no attention at all to the teacher.

Why should she listen to him drone on and on when she already knew the material anyway? Sometimes she wondered what kind of curriculum the guy was teaching.

Probably for the younger grade levels, she thinks as she rolls her eyes. Besides, I already know this stuff.

Going back to staring out the window, she sees a drop of water fall. Faster and faster, the drops of water fall, until the rain finally comes down hard.

Around her, her classmates are seemingly aware of the sudden downpour. They are murmuring things like "Eh, it's raining hard today" and "The weather man said it would be nice today. Turns out he was wrong." and "See! This is why I don't watch the weather channel!".

Behind her, she hears a certain indigo-haired boy talking to another classmate. "It's okay Hotori-kun, you can borrow it. I always keep two umbrellas anyway," he says with a smile.

Nagihiko. Ever since they met those few years ago, they've been . . . enemies? Or perhaps it was just a mutual dislike.

Enemies, huh? Practically everyday, she manages to spit out that word at him during their arguments.

And yet Rima found it funny - actually, extremely hilarious - that she's had a crush on the "enemy" ever since they met.

Hahaha.

She still wonders how she manages to have a huge liking- err, small "crush"- on the indigo-haired cross-dresser who carries around two umbrellas.

"You've got to make a move on Nagi-kun someday, Rima-tan!" Yaya says as she licks her lollipop during lunch. "The chance might slip from your fingers!"

Rima cringes as she sits and picks at her bento. Why, oh why, did she have to tell Yaya about her crush on Nagihiko? Yaya, out of all the people?

Oh right. It's because Amu would go all spazz-tastic on me. Rima thinks. At least I can bribe Yaya into not fangirling about it.

"But Yaya, how am I supposed to show signs of liking to Nagihiko when all I do is treat him like the enemy?" Rima asks, sighing.

"Rima-tan, all you've got to do is believe!" Yaya pumps her fist in the air and smiles widely.

Rima just glares at Yaya, causing her to shrink back down in her seat.

"Ah~" Yaya reverts back to her usual self and sighs. "What would tsunderes do in the shoujo manga?" she asks herself as she looks into the distance.

"Yaya. I am not going to read any of your shoujo manga," Rima says bluntly. Yaya turns suddenly and grins.

"No! No, Rima-tan! Yaya just thought of the best idea yet!" Yaya yells loudly.

She sees Rima's interested look and continues on. "You see Rima-tan," Yaya whispers and leans closer, "in all of Yaya's shoujo manga, the tsundere usually has several clever plans to be near the person she likes but not admit anything to him."

"So you're saying that I have to cleverly hatch a plan to be near him? Why don't I just stand next to him? It's much easier."

Yaya shakes her head furiously. "No, no. When Rima-tan's next to Nagi-kun, Rima-tan should do something that proves she likes Nagi-kun without any words!"

"Are you serious, Yaya? Never mind, I'm not doing anything like that."

"Mou~ But Rima-tan," Yaya whines, "Yaya already thought of a super-uber mega plan!"

"No. Besides, it's probably going to involve you pushing me on him again." Rima picks up her lunch and stands up from the table.

Yaya's mouth opens to say something, but it quickly shuts. "Mou~ Rima-tan always knows what Yaya's thinking..." she mumbles.

"I'm going to go back to class now Yaya." Rima glances away, but quietly says, "It's a good idea though, but next time you should just think of a better plan. Okay?"

Yaya's eyes sparkle as she stares at Rima. "Roger!" she says as she puts her hand up in solute.

As Rima leaves, she realizes that although she's happy that she gets to confide in Yaya (somewhat), the fact that she likes Nagihiko and she doesn't know what to do about it still bothers her immensely.

If only she wasn't so darn tsundere all the time.

Nagihiko's hand scribbles rapidly on his test. Just five more questions...

In front of him, a petite girl with long blonde hair is struggling on the last question of the same test. Staring hard at it, she racks her mind for the correct answer.

Sighing, she slams her pencil down and rests her head on her desk. Nagihiko notices and looks up, chuckling as he sees her slamming her desk with her fist in frustration.

Rima's so cute, he thinks. He looks down and flips over his finished test and moves it to the side. A shiny black mark catches his eye and he looks down on the desk closely. There is a little drawing in the corner: an umbrella. Nagihiko smiles to himself.

Who knows? Maybe someday his dream of sharing an umbrella with Rima might just come true.

"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you didn't bring an umbrella?"

The two of them are standing in the front of the school, the girl next to the door and the boy under an umbrella in the rain.

Rima pouts and glares at him. "Well, how was I supposed to know it was going to rain today?" Seeing the look of bewilderment on his face, Rima defends herself. "And you know how I don't trust the weather guys on TV!"

"So are you trying to say," Nagihiko smirks, "that you want to share an umbrella with me?"

"Ugh I just want to-" Rima starts, but seeing as she is defeated, she sighs angrily. "Yes Nagihiko. I would absolutely love to share an umbrella with you," she spats out sarcastically.

"I'm glad you asked politely, Rima-chan. Then shall we go?" The smirk on his face is replaced with a sweet smile, which makes Rima's knees weak as she tries to protest against herself.

Bad knees, bad, she scolds herself.

"Fine Cross-dresser, we shall go." She reluctantly moves under the umbrella, while to her side, a chuckling Nagihiko stands by her.

"Yes, princess."

THUMP

"Oww, that hurts Rima-chan!"

Rima smirks at him and walks on, with Nagihiko hurrying to keep the umbrella over her head.

The two walk the road to Rima's house, which is conveniently in the opposite direction of Nagihiko's neighborhood.

Nagihiko realizes this and huffs, catching Rima's attention. She looks up at Nagihiko, who is standing to her left, and puffs up her cheeks.

"A proper gentleman wouldn't complain," Rima scoffs, fighting to hide a smile. Nagihiko raises an eyebrow and quickly walks a few steps forward, leaving Rima a few feet behind him, rain drops falling on her hair.

She shouts a "Fujisaki!" and he stops as she runs back under the umbrella, accidentally bumping into Nagihiko in the process. His hands fumble, accidentally letting go of the umbrella to grab Rima.

It hits the ground and creates a splash of water in the opposite direction.

The rain falls on the two teenagers until they realize that Rima has buried her head into Nagihiko's chest and has clutched the sides of his shirt while Nagihiko holds Rima protectively towards him.

Eyes wide, Rima scrambles backwards and snatches up the umbrella. She holds it over her head and walks over to Nagihiko, blinking at him until he ducks under the umbrella as well.

They continue walking in silence.

"It's raining so hard," Nagihiko asks out loud, breaking the tension between them.

Rima clutches the umbrella handle a little tighter, and Nagihiko can't help but notice. Is something wrong?

"Every time it rained when I was little, my dad would always tell me that no matter how the rain, it will eventually pass. It always does. And when it does, there will always be a rainbow after the rain."

Nagihiko frowns and looks down at Rima, who has on an expressionless face. Ever since her parents divorced when they were in middle school, Rima had confided in Nagihiko less and less.

It was a shame, Nagihiko thought, because they were finally starting to become closer.

"Are you living up to that, then?" he challenges Rima coolly, sticking his hands in his uniform pockets. "Are you waiting for the hard rain to pass so you can see that rainbow again?"

"I..." she trails off. She feels a warm hand cover the hand she is using to hold up the umbrella, but she doesn't need to look up to know it's Nagihiko's hand.

She looks up anyway and meets Nagihiko's eyes.

"For a long time, I've noticed that you're always troubled by something," he stares straight into her golden-colored eyes.

He stops walking, and Rima halts in surprise. "If something is bothering you, you can always tell me," he says, honesty dripping in his voice. "Even if I can't help you with it, telling someone can make you feel better."

Rima takes a deep breath. "But you've already helped me," she gives a small smile. "We're under this umbrella right now, aren't we?"

Nagihiko blinks in confusion, wondering if her words have some sort of hidden meaning. It can't be that the fact she didn't have an umbrella was bothering her this whole time, he thinks. Unless I was misreading something?

His lips curve up and he grins. "You do know that a boy and a girl sharing an umbrella means they're a couple, right?"

Two smacks on (Nagihiko's) arm and three blocks later, they finally reached Rima's house.

"Finally," Rima scoffs, "we're here. It took us forever to get here from school."

"Well Rima-chan," Nagihiko interjects with a grin, "if you hadn't repeatedly clutched onto my arm like a lovesick teenage girl whenever we passed other girls our age-"

"I was not clutching on your arm because of that," Rima cuts him off as she rolls her eyes. "I was simply being precautious around strangers."

Nagihiko gives her a wink. "Whatever you say, Rima-chan~"

"Why do I bother being around you..." Rima murmurs, loud enough for Nagihiko to hear her.

He just laughs, a twinkling sound compared to the loud sound of the heavy rain surrounding them.

The two make their way to Rima's front door, and Rima digs into her bag to find her house keys.

Their hands are still clutched together on the umbrella's handle, and when Nagihiko lets go to let Rima's hand loose, his hand suddenly feels cold and alone.

I hope it rains tomorrow.

After giving Nagihiko a single glance, she hops out from under the umbrella and stands next to her front door.

"If it rains tomorrow, you need to share your umbrella with me again," Rima demands. Nagihiko just smiles.

Of course, princess.

"I'll be waiting here tomorrow morning with the umbrella, Rima-chan," Nagihiko says instead. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Rima sticks her key into the doorknob, giving it a turn. Her back is to Nagihiko her hand is shaking, and the inside her screams, Take this chance!

Before she realizes what she is doing, Rima rushes back to Nagihiko and looks him straight in the eye.

"You know how you said that I could tell you my problem if it was bothering me?" Rima asks, her voice suddenly a pitch higher. "That it would make me feel better if I told you even if you couldn't help me? And then I said that you already did help me?"

Nagihiko nods, staring at the girl in front of him.

"I can't bring myself to say it out loud. But-"

Her body reacts against her will and she tiptoes and kisses Nagihiko in the cheek before rushing back into her house and shutting the door.

Nagihiko's mouth gapes as he watches Rima run away from him, then robotically reaches up to his cheek before grinning widely.

Safe inside her house, Rima leans back on the door and slides down slowly before rolling up into her ball formation. She can't stop smiling as she shakes her head gleefully.

Reaching into her bag, she unzips the top zipper and opens it. Her cheeks flush as she stares inside of it.

Thank you, Yaya's shoujo manga.

Inside her bag is a small red umbrella.