04/26/2012 Update: I'll be honest, I was planning of ditching on my fics since I was having one of the biggest blocks of my life and I couldn't bring myself to pay attention to the recent KHR chapters for a while... But I got suckered back in by the Representative Battle ` v` I mean, who isn't curious about Col/Lal (okay, maybe a bit of personal bias on this one) or Reborn's past? And Dino as a teacher? Yesyesyesyesyes. Anyway, I didn't want to be like half of the authors on this site who drop out without giving their readers ay warning. It kind of doesn't feel fair to the people who are still favoriting and reviewing for Summer Serenade ; v; So thank you to all my readers old and new because your continued interests are what motivate me to continue writing m(_ _)m

Note: First KHR fic~ I recently started the series and have yet to get all up to date yet so this story should seem borderline au. Just think of it as taking place between the KHR arcs. Anyway, I'm never good with explaining things before hand so lets get right down to the story! Of course, we all know by now that I own nothing in the KHR universe except my own original characters. Enjoy and please leave me any thoughts or feedback!

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Papa had been acting strange lately.

A girl moved into the empty room across from papa's window. She has long black hair like the woman holding papa as a child in the picture on his desk. I don't know the girl's name, I don't know if papa does either. She likes to keep her window open; I hear her sing sometimes and I like to sing along with her every now and then. Papa listens too. I think she's a little careless, the way she sometimes forgets to close her window at night. Papa watches her from time to time.

I was dozing comfortably at the edge of papa's desk when papa came back from his shower. With nothing but a bathrobe and a damp towel tossed over his head, he fell onto his back on his bed. He did that a lot lately, just lying down and staying still. I flew over to his shoulder and settled down comfortably to roost.

We passed a few minutes in silence, papa with his eyes closed peacefully as if he were asleep. It was the girl's voice that roused papa from his trance. She was humming but it sounded kind of sad, I wondered if she had a bad day. Papa stirred silently and slowly sat up. I hopped down onto the bed and snuggled right up to his side.

He had that look in his eyes again. That strange look I hadn't ever seen on papa's face before, it was an expression even I couldn't decipher. It was just strange to see papa like that.

Leaning his backside to the wall next to the curtained window, papa seemed to listen to the girl's music. I wondered why papa was so attentive when it came to the girl. She looked a little bit like the woman in papa's photograph; the woman who holds papa close in her arms, kissing the cheek of his sleeping face. She and the girl had the same flowing black hair and the same bright blue eyes.

For a long time after the girl left, papa didn't move a muscle. It was like him and not at the same time. Papa was a man of few words, he didn't waste any excess energy on anything either, but there was something different about this stillness.

"Noisy," papa stated evenly, but her song had long since ended and his tone lacked the usual sting.

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Weekday mornings were all the same, but this one morning was special; because papa found the girl at his school. Papa and I had gone to our school early as usual and were simply in papa's office taking it easy before classes started—not that papa often went to classes (his teachers knew better than to question his less-than-consistent attendance). I was perched on papa's head, singing his favorite song for him (that's the Namimori Middle School anthem) when someone suddenly dared disturb papa's tranquility.

"Ah, sumimasen. I must have gotten the wrong room!" The female voice was eerily familiar, and papa recognized it too, for he suddenly opened his eyes—his expression unreadable as always. The girl with the blue eyes stood in the doorway of papa's office, looking very uncertain of herself. Had it been just any student stumbling into his office papa would have 'bitten them to death' but the girl with blue eyes was special.

"Never mind it," papa said as he waved her away and leaned back into his seat. She didn't leave as we were expecting she might, though. The girl lingered in the open doorway. Papa raised an eyebrow as she didn't disappear from his sight.

"Could you, by any chance, tell me where the vice principal's office is?" the girl asked cautiously. "I can't seem to be able to make sense of the school map I was given." She smiled shyly.

Papa smirked and let out a small scoff but rose to his feet nonetheless. Papa, could it be that you were actually pleased to have been asked such a thing? I hopped down onto his shoulder as he wordlessly made his way out to the hallway where the girl with blue eyes stood. The girl seemed slightly confused, I didn't blame her. Papa, why couldn't you simply verbally offer to help her? Did you really expect a stranger to understand each action?

"Oh!" the girl exclaimed in surprise as she pointed at his arm. I cocked my head and papa eyed the girl before glancing down at his arm. "You're a prefect, what luck!" The blue eyes girl looked straight at papa as she smiled.

Papa almost smiled back. Almost, but not quite. Of course, he didn't actually end up smiling back at the girl with blue eyes. His gray eyes were still stone cold as he simply closed the door behind him. "This way," he stated as he lead the way down the empty hallway. His silence must have unnerved the girl, for she didn't make a single squeak on the way to the vice principal's office.

I rode backwards on Papa's shoulder, to watch the girl. She kept a polite distance of an arm's length behind papa as they walked. It was my first time seeing her up so close; it must have been papa's first too. Her eyes seemed even bluer up close. It was a deep, dark blue like the evening sky. Pity I was the only who got to actually see her since papa was too busy leading the way. The girl had better be honored, having my papa escort her around our school like this.

As if finally noticing my observation of her, the girl with blue eyes gave me a small smile. I turned away not wanting to seem suspicious of anything. It wasn't as if I was being strange, it was just that papa's intrigue must have rubbed off on me—or at least, I would have liked to know what it was about the girl with blue eyes that made papa go all funny.

"Over there," papa said as he extended a finger in the direction of one of the doors along the wall. He didn't wait for her to thank him or anything; he just turned away and headed back to his officer.

"Thank you!" the girl with blue eyes called after us. We heard her, but we made no effort to let her know that we heard her thanks. What's the point? It's not as if she and papa would really get to know each other; papa never liked crowds.

Papa and I didn't need anyone else.

That's what I thought.

That morning sure was strange, though. Papa decided to grace his classmates with his presence for a change. He ordered me to stay out of his way so I flew out his office window and found the window next to papa's seat in class. I nestled myself down comfortably on the sill of the closed window where papa sat just a few inches away. I wondered what made today so special as I blinked lazily (it was so boring and tiring when I was separated from papa, I usually slept until his classes were over—or until papa felt like walking out on his teacher).

"Nice to meet you all, my name is Kuroyama Natsumi!" It was the girl with the blue eyes. I turned my head at the sound of her voice. She was suddenly popping up everywhere, this girl. "Uhh, well, I recently moved here from Fukoka and I really hope to fit in here," the girl said, introducing herself. Papa, could it be that you knew she would be here?

"You may take the empty seat over there," the teacher said as he pointed to the seat in front of papa. Well, this could be interesting. I swore, for a moment, papa smiled to himself.

The girl had a good personality and she soon made friends with a bunch of her new classmates. She didn't seem to recognize papa, but then again, he had his head buried in his desk—pretending to be asleep. I could tell he wasn't asleep though, my papa isn't one to let his guard down and just fall asleep like that. For some reason a part of me wanted to follow the girl with blue eyes and her new friends when they left for lunch, but I flew back to papa's office to wait as usual.

That's the day papa suddenly started going to classes more.