Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters.

Ironically enough, this story was started because of a scene (that will not happen this chapter) being dreamt up by me the night before my fall finals started. And now I'm done with my second semester of grad school and graduated :D Ah, how the time flies!

Taking a deep breath, a blue-haired girl entered the old brick building. The place was old, dark, and musty, but there was a couch against the opposite wall. Sighing, the girl took out a folded slip of paper that contained her schedule.

"Let's see," she said, "Experimental Design room 012." She took in her surroundings and saw that one of the rooms was labelled "101." "Well…that's not helpful. Isn't this the bottom floor?"

But of course, she received no answer. She breathed out another heavy sigh. There was no one around, and she knew it was her fault she came some early. She just didn't want to be late to her first graduate school class. Shaking her head, she gathered her belongings to continue her search. After all, the floor looked very small. There needed to be some room labelled "012."

There wasn't.

The girl frowned and checked her schedule again. There wasn't even a room "112," and there was literally no one present in the building. Well, she had expected as much.

About to give up, the girl stumbled across a narrow staircase heading to yet another lower floor. "Don't tell me…" she muttered.

As she descended the stairwell, she couldn't help but think to herself that this was the making of a great horror movie. A young, twenty-three year old woman in an old, dark building descending the stairs into an unknown basement.

And action, she mentally scoffed.

And behold, the first door to the right was, in fact, room "012."

"They really expect us to have class in a basement?" she asked herself.

"Do you make it a habit of talking to yourself?"

The girl paled slightly and then walked into the room and saw a young, red-haired man sitting in the corner reading. He was smiling at her causing her to smile back. "Um, hello," the girl greeted. "I didn't realize someone else was here."

The man chuckled. "Naturally," came his smooth reply as he put his book away. "You didn't answer my question."

The blue-haired girl blushed, but kept her smile. "I do talk to myself, sometimes. It's perfectly healthy, I'll have you know."

His shoulders shook, but he held back his laughter. "I agree," he replied. "My mother will occasionally make a statement when she believes no one is listening."

The girl didn't say anything more, but took a seat at the front of the room and started getting out her notebook, folder, and writing utensils. She even took out a voice recorder.

From the back of the room, the man observed her movements. He could tell just from the materials she had that she was a studious girl, much like himself. She also sat at the front of the class, meaning she was attentive. Much like him, she was there a half an hour early. She had not wanted to miss a second of class.

He decided to move his spot before others showed up and sat right next to the girl. "Why do you have a tape recorder?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

The girl was clearly startled. He frowned when he realized she had been deep in thought, and then he realized how exhausted she looked. "Oh," she said, looking down at the recorder. "Well, I have a long drive, so I figured I could listen to lectures on the drive if I need to."

"How long is the drive?" he continued to question.

The girl thought about it for a moment. "About an hour and a half," she told him. "I'm…sort of staying with my mother for the time being. Couldn't get housing."

The redhead understood well since graduate housing had been taken away. "I'm staying with my parents as well, though they live close by."

The girl smiled slightly, but said nothing more. The boy wanted to keep the conversation going, though. "I am Shuichi, by the way."

She turned to him again, clearly shocked at him giving his name, but then she relaxed again. "I'm Botan. It's nice to meet you, Shuichi," she replied sincerely. "So…why are you here so early if you live close by?"

"I was already awake," Shuichi replied. "I figured that if I was going to spend time being awake at home with nothing to do, it would be better to just arrive early and force myself to get other work done."

"Other work?" Botan asked. "But classes just started. Well, for me at least. I know that classes technically started yesterday, but my classes are just a couple days in the week."

Shuichi showed her the book, and it didn't look like a fun read. "Why are you reading a book on accounting?"

Shuichi released a slight chuckle. "Well, my stepfather is involved in business, so I try to help him out when I can. My passion, and what I am actually here for, is botany."

Botan nodded, but her frown returned, and the pensive look returned to her face. "My father worked in business as well."

"What does he do now?" Shuichi asked in interest.

She turned to look at him, a pained expression on her face. "He…he passed away earlier this year," she said awkwardly. Then she shook her head and looked away ashamed. "I'm sorry…I still don't know how to hold a conversation without bringing that up. It's…difficult not to think about it or have it come up somehow."

Shuichi placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him skeptically. His expression was serious, but held warmth towards her. "You do not need to apologize for that," he told her. "My father passed away when I was younger, and it took quiet a long time for me to act somewhat normally after that. Most of the time, now, he doesn't come up in conversation, but making new friends in elementary school was slightly challenging, even though he died when I was quite young, because, as you said, I didn't know how not to bring it up. It was easier not to converse at all and remain quiet."

Botan flashed him a half-smile. "Yeah," she agreed, "thanks. That's pretty much exactly how I feel right now." After releasing a sigh, she held herself up. "Now, maybe we should change topics for now. We can talk about what we think we're getting into with this class, huh?"

"It won't be that bad," he assured her. "I took a similar class to this in my undergraduate work. I've already taken a look at the syllabus and the work will be a synch."

"Good," Botan replied, "because easy is very welcome right now…"

That one, random conversation had been the start of a friendship. Botan and Shuichi would always be the first ones to the class, early in the morning, a half hour early. It gave them plenty of time for small talk and conversation before other classmates started straggling in for class. After class, they would usually spend a little time together before their next classes and would even grab lunch together. It made passing the time while Botan had nowhere else to go bearable. She hadn't expected someone new to enter her life, but she was kind of happy Shuichi had.

It had been a difficult year for the girl. After recovering from surgery in her hometown, she had a couple of internship opportunities lined up. It required her being far away from her family, living alone which in and of itself was challenging. She had just found out she had gotten into graduate school. It pained her slightly because she couldn't share the news with her father. The year before, he had completely written her off as his daughter. The way he spoke to her was cruel, much like how their interactions were since she had become a teenager. Things were always difficult, but, when he died, Botan was inconsolable. She had moved in with her mother twelve hours away from where she went to college, and kept herself busy with the internships. It was almost as if she was trying to leave the pain of the past behind.

And it failed.

Her emotions continued to be all over the place. Some days she was calm and content, others excited, sometimes sad, and sometime angry and moody. She didn't even have to be thinking about the past to cycle through all those emotions. It upset her that she didn't have complete control of herself or her demeanor around others.

She had always prided herself in her ability to form conversations out of nothing, making friends easily and giving good advice. Now, she could barely recognize herself. She could only have conversations with her longtime friend, Yusuke, and her mother, and everyone else was a challenge. She even had Yusuke attend the barbecue for graduate students with her just to be a conversation buffer. He kept her engaged with other people, but Botan still felt so distant.

It surprised her that she easily found a friend in Shuichi, without Yusuke's help. It was lucky for her that he could understand her pain. It really helped for her to talk things out with someone who hadn't been there the entire time watching her go through everything like her best friend and mother. He was unbiased and was able to help her sort through certain emotions that she couldn't explain to either of her two confidants.

As quickly as the semester had started, finals came. Most students were panicked. Botan, however, was calm as anything. She remembered a time where finals week terrified her as well. The thought of failure was not something she could tolerate. Her father had always made her feel like a failure. Instead of feeling anxiety, she felt guilt in the sense that she was no longer feeling that anxiety. She still missed her father, but there were times where she felt relief, knowing he couldn't do anything else to send her into spiraling depressions.

She only had two exams and two papers. The papers were easy to get in quickly, before she ever had her exams. The two exams were on the same day. The only thing that irritated her was that she had a few hours between her two exams and wouldn't be able to go home until late in the afternoon. The hour and a half drive had been sucking her energy dry, but after today she wouldn't have to make the commute. Luck would have it that she found an apartment nearby. It would be a relief to not have to get up at 5:30 in the morning the following semester.

She had seen Shuichi in the late morning for their experimental design final. Her friend had been right about the coursework. It had been a very easy class, as long as you kept the concepts and math straight. Math had never really been a problem for her, and concepts were easily absorbed into her mind. With her year, an easy A had been a pleasant surprise. Her courses had all had their easy topics, and it helped her get back into the feel of school after her year off.

Her last final was at the same time as Shuichi's. Botan was kind of sad about that, because it was possible she'd be done before him or after him and the other would have to head home. She really wanted to see him before they parted for break. It was her hope that they would run into each other before she had to leave campus. If not, it would be a whole month and a half before they could hang out again.

What Botan hadn't known was that her hope was Shuichi's as well. He had sort of kept track of her schedule from the things she had told him, and he had been waiting quite a while to make his move.

He found Botan fascinating, sweet, and funny and, though he had learned a lot about her from the moments they spent time together, he wanted to know more. He was hoping that he would be able to catch her when she finished her final. That way they could talk without the pressure of school added onto their conversations. He had given her advice, yes, but he still didn't know everything that he wanted to: her hopes, her dreams, and what made her who she was.

It was the reason he rushed through his last final, to catch her before she headed home. He surprised his teacher by making a break from the classroom, slamming the paper down on the man's desk. He hadn't even responded to the professor when he nervously told him to have a good break.

Botan was outside of her building after her last final waiting for the shuttle to come and pick her up. It was starting to snow, and she really didn't want to get stuck there for the night. It was supposed to stop in a few hours, and she was tempted to wait around, but there was nothing much for her to do there except sit in her car and wait.

"Botan!"

The girl froze slightly before looking around trying to find the one who called her. Eventually, her eyes caught sight of Shuichi running across the street waving to her. She smiled at her friend and waved back shyly. When he had reached her, she could tell he was out of breath and wondered how long he had been running for.

"I'm glad I caught you," he said. "How are your finals going?"

"Well, they're gone," she returned with a small grin on her face. "I just got out of my last one."

"What a coincidence," he remarked. "I just finished my last as well. I was actually hoping to go out somewhere and celebrate. Would you like to join me?"

Botan thought about it for a moment and could only see positives. She was quite hungry, and she knew she wouldn't eat until she returned home. By the time they finished eating, the snow would stop and it would be safer for her to travel home. "I'd like that," she agreed. "Just let me text my mother that I'll head home after the snow clears."

Shuichi nodded and watched as she let her mother know what was going on. The two of them then walked to his parking lot. He promised to drive her to hers when they returned from the restaurant, and then the two of them headed off to celebrate their winter freedom.

A/N: So this is a short chapter in my opinion. I would have made it longer, but I figured I'd put the restaurant scene in a chapter all its own. After all, that what the scene I dreamt during finals week. I feel that's appropriate. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will enjoy the next one just as much.