A Much Needed Confrontation

A/N Please note, these notes are from when I'm STARTING the chapter, notes from when I've finished the chapter will be at the end :) So, its only been a few days since last chapter and I'm already working on the next one?! What am I, an actual dedicated writer :p Jokes aside, this is the much awaited meeting between our two main characters, and I hope I can do a decent job of keeping them close to their original characters. In terms of sticking to canon, this story is completely NON-CANON following the Central arc, as I thought that's where things went downhill in the manga. I don't plan to change Erina's mother's name, because I want to keep my story away from canon post-Central. Anyways, hope you enjoy :)

It was windy; incredibly so, in fact.

Erina had requested all the car windows to be lowered, so she could get a breath of fresh air after the exhaustingly long flight. Now however, with the car moving at the pace it was, the headmistress was regretting her decision with every fibre of her being. She couldn't think at all! All she could do was focus on her breathing so she didn't freeze to death. Strong gusts of wind shook trees right to left almost violently, and the black limo was almost swaying due to its sheer force. She had just wanted to think! Reflect! Try and figure out what on earth she would say to the annoying redhead who was on her mind a lot more as of late!

But, with her mind as distracted as it was right now, she settled for once again trying to get more of her memories back. In the short time she had known about her lost past, the blonde had discovered simply closing her eyes and clearing her head; meditation, if you will; helped her add more pieces to the incredibly large puzzle that was Erina's childhood.

The headmistress was pulled out of her thoughts; rather abruptly, no less; by her door opening, and she heard the driver say they had arrived at the dorm. Trying her best to calm her very annoying nerves, and the faint feeling of butterflies hammering against the walls of her stomach, the young chef stepped out of the car, straightened her skirt, and walked towards the doors of the student residence, head held high. She knew her confidence would instantly disappear once she saw Sõma, but she wanted to feel like her usual self, where she was most comfortable, for as long as possible.

Sõma didn't think he had ever run so fast in his life. For anything.

Once he had left the greenhouse, he hadn't looked back once. Now inside the dining room, which was only lit dimly since nearly everyone else had left to go to Marui's room, the first seat urgently picked up his phone and read over the blonde's messages. How can she be angry at me! She cut the phone! Sõma thought in his mind, although he knew it was just the way she was.

Now the redhead was stuck in a dilemma. He could call the princess back, since she had asked if he could reply to her messages, or he could try and figure out what he wanted to say to her first. He had learnt so much over the past few hours; finding out he shared a large portion of his childhood with the Nakiri princess and her family and being told by his dad that he had romantic feelings for the girl. He didn't know what the more important issue was, but the thing that was bothering him most was: how to talk about the second piece of information.

The pep talk from his father had helped; a lot, actually; but he was still so scared. The chef had never had the time to care about feelings and relationships, and now he was finding out he had feelings for one of the most pursued girls in his year! He had no clue what to do. After much thought, he finally decided. With his finger hovering tentatively over the call button, he pushed down, determined to talk to the blonde girl, whether the outcome was favourable or not.

However, the boy didn't even get to bring the phone to his ear, because he saw the call had been disconnected. He was lost for words! She had been the one who wanted to talk, not him!

"I… I think we need to talk, Sõma-kun…"

The redhead in question looked up suddenly, utter shock painted on his face. His eyes met hers and he knew there was no way he was getting out of this.

Aldini Takumi had always been against high school relationships. He had joined Totsuki with the intentions of learning more about the art of cooking so he could further improve his family's restaurant; he hadn't joined to crack on with girls. Plus, his incredibly annoying fan club really didn't help too much.

However, when he had headed to the garden with the hopes of clearing his head after having a tiny bit too much of his friend's rice juice, he hadn't been expecting to find Tadokoro Megumi standing near the entrance of the greenhouse, looking absolutely beautiful. Slowly, carefully, he approached the bluenette, a stunned silence brought upon the blonde boy.

"Y… you know the party is going on inside, Tadokoro-san." Takumi didn't know why, but he found it quite annoying that his redheaded rival could call the girl Tadokoro, while he was using an honorific. Nevertheless, he maintained his formality as he got closer to the girl, and he could see dried tears surrounding her eyes. Who on earth hurt her?

"Oh Aldini-kun, I'll… I'll just be a minute. I guess I let Ryoko's rice juice get to me, huh?" Her voice was rougher than usual, and Takumi couldn't help but notice how she quickly rubbed at her now very red eyes. What happened?

"Hey, you know friends are here to lis-ten." He exaggerated the syllables to try and lighten the mood, and the joy he felt when her eyes ever so slightly brightened, and the corners of her lips twitched upwards in what he could only describe as the single cutest thing. Ever. "There we go, smiling isn't that hard is it?" He pulled his mouth up in the most animated grin his normally deadpan face could muster, and this time she burst out laughing. So beautiful…

"Wh… what was that Aldini-kun?" the girl squeaked, sure she had misheard. Did… did he call me beautiful? No… I must be imagining…

"Ah, I'm sorry Tadokoro-san. I must've been thinking out loud." Cheeks tinted a very red tint, the blonde said, "I… I think I'll head back in. Can't leave Isami hanging around forever now can I?" He forced himself to laugh, irritated at his previous words but he didn't think he'd be able to stick around and bear the awkwardness of the situation. "I hope you'll come back in soon, Tadokoro-san."

"I… I think we need to talk, Sõma-kun…"

Firstly, he didn't think he'd ever get enough of the honey blonde saying his name like that. Secondly, considering how she had all but ran (he assumed) from her car, her face had this… alluring flush that he didn't think he'd ever really seen before. Sure, everyone at Totsuki knew that Erina was beautiful, but this was the first time he was really taking in her looks.

Her sideburns were cutely pointy as always, but her hair seemed longer than usual. He noticed how her uniform seemed uncomfortably tight, and thoughts that he really shouldn't have been having flowed through his mind. Focus, Sõma!

"Yo, Nakiri. I didn't expect you to be coming to Polar Star. Uh… how was your trip?" He knew his attempt at making small talk was pathetic, but now that he was face to face with the princess, Sõma's calm and collected demeanour had all but disappeared. "Find out anything interesting?"

"You know very well why I went Yukihira-kun, and you should also know why I came to the dorms first." Sõma hated how she had gone back to using his surname. He hated how she had gone from being kind to him for once to being as stern and stoic as she usually was. He hated how he couldn't find it in him to be just as rude to her because of how much he liked her.

"And here I was thinking we were both gonna keep quiet about all this. Well, there go my efforts at making small talk and pretending nothing happened," Sõma sighed exaggeratedly, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks yet again as he heard the princess giggle. This has got to be unhealthy, Sõma thought as he stood up straight and looked at Erina properly for the first time since the final of the RdC. "I just… I just don't want things to change, y'know? If we have to leave this… situation undiscussed, I'm happy to do that. I'm scared we'll lose what we have, Erina."

She was slightly taken aback by his sudden change of tone, and she couldn't help but leave her gaze hanging slightly too long over his incredibly sharp jawline. Now's not the time, silly! Erina told herself as she looked back at the redhead. "Who said anything's going to change, S-õ-ma-kun?" The blonde was on her tiptoes now, and despite having not drunk any of Ryoko's rice juice yet, she felt more intoxicated and more daring than ever as she ran a soft hand over the boy's cheek. She revelled in the way the 1st seat seemed to shiver at her touch, how a soft breath escaped his mouth as he ran his tongue over his lips.

"Y… y'know Nakiri, you really shouldn't say dangerous stuff like that to me," Sõma almost growled as he clenched his fists in… annoyance? He wasn't too sure himself. "I'm gonna start getting feelings that are too deep to go back from, okay?"

"Why would you want to take them back, Sõma-kun? I… I just want to talk about us, our families. Whatever happens after that, happens," Erina finished decisively. She had avoided many issues with the redhead over the last year, but this was one she wanted to sort out, for better or worse.

Okay, I know, I know. I said I'd update soon and then I didn't update soon but at least I got one out. Can't make any promises about an update schedule, but I'll always be in the process of writing a new chapter so just hang tight. Other than that, R&R, hope you enjoyed, and I'll catch you guys later!