Disclaimer: I do not own School Rumble

Itoko sipped her tea calmly as a plate went flying across the room. Her cousin was having another one of his moments just because his breakfast was too hot. "You need to settle down." She said softly. "You almost hit a maid…again."

"Screw the maid." He said and sat in his chair, taking a drink of wine.

"You know," Itoko said and dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin, "Your high ranking position may have women throwing themselves at you, but with that attitude, you'll never get any young lady to love you for you. A loveless marriage is an unhappy one."

"I don't plan on falling in love or getting married."

"I don't believe that for a minute." She said. "There has to be someone you like."

"Not at all." He told her, leaning back."

"Kenji, you should at least try to look." She thought for a second. "What about that girl you were engaged to? Eri?"

Kenji Harima nearly choked at the mention of Blondie. No way in hell he'd marry her. "That stuck up brat? Not on my life. Our parents tried to arrange it but I put a stop to it.

"You're so stubborn." Itoko said. "One day soon, you'll meet a girl who'll knock you right off of your feet; you won't even see it coming.

"Whatever." Kenji said standing. "I need some air."

Elsewhere:

"Oh Yakumo," Tenma sang, looking over the grocery list one more time. "Are we going or not?"

Yakumo hurried and slipped her shoes on. "Yes, I'm sorry to keep you waiting sis."

"No big deal." Tenma said and checked her pigtails in the mirror.

Tenma and her younger sister Yakumo lived together in a small house near the woods. They lived alone, their parents died long ago in a fire when the two of them were just children. They worked hard and looked to each other for support, both financial and emotional. Sometimes they had trouble making ends meet and were a little late on the rent but the son of their landlord, Kentarou Nara, liked Tenma and convinced his father to be patient with the girls.

They never worried much about living alone; they had neighbors looking out for them. Everyone in their village knew and loved them, they loved Yakumo's polite ways and how she was so helpful and they loved Tenma's bubbly demeanor and how she could cheer even the most depressed person up.

The two of them left the house to get something for dinner tonight, usually Tenma shopped alone because Yakumo fell ill so easily but today Yakumo insisted that she felt well enough to tag along and pleaded to go.

"Come on Iori," Yakumo said to the little kitten she kept. Iori followed Yakumo faithfully and Yakumo followed Tenma.

Tenma looked at the list once they got into town and looked at Yakumo. "We can get strawberries today if you like Yakumo, we have enough and our rent is paid, I think it would be a nice treat." Tenma smiled happily, her pigtails bouncing.

"That sounds nice Tenma." Yakumo said softly. "I've wanted to get some."

Tenma and Yakumo got their strawberries and almost everything on their list, they knew shopping would take a while with all the friends they had living here who stopped and talked to them. It was all going fine and well.

Until Iori jumped from Yakumo's arms

With Harima:

Harima rode his horse into town, not really caring where he went, as long as he had a little quiet time. He had threatened the guards into not following him so closely but he knew they were nearby, watching.

His ride was going smoothly until a little back cat ran across the street, startling his horse and nearly causing him to fall. The horse was soon followed by a girl. "Iori!" she called ran, startling his horse even more.

"Hey!" he snapped at the girl, getting the attention of her and everyone who was nearby. "Watch where you're going kid!"

"I'm so sorry…" she whispered, shaken. "I didn't mean to-"

"You're in my way!" he snapped again, but the girl didn't budge.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered.

"I'll show you sorry," he said, grabbing a whip and raising it, perfectly ready to strike the girl down, she tensed up as he raised it high but he never struck her, the whips didn't get to reach her, it was being held by someone.

The girl looked royally pissed with him as she held the business end of the whip. "You okay Yakumo?" she asked, worry in her voice. The girl she ran in front of didn't respond and that only seemed to piss her off more as she turned her head to glare at him. "You could have killed her!"

"She should have watched where she was going!" Harima yelled, by now, all eyes were on them.

"Tenma!" a woman in the crowd yelled. "Let it go!"

"No!" Tenma yelled back. "He owes my sister an apology!"

Someone came up to Tenma and put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down Tenma, do you know who he is?"

"I don't care Nara." She snapped. "Yakumo apologized for running into the street, now he needs to apologize for this!" she yelled, tugging the whip that she never once let go of. "I don't care if you are prince Harima! You apologize!"

"Tsukamoto!" Another person in the crowed yelled. "Get away from him!"

"Mikoto!" A girl yelled. "Come get Tenma!"

Tenma's blue haired friend hurried out to her and gripped her hand. "Come on Tenma, let's go get your shopping done."

"Not yet." Tenma told her and pulled her hand away, motioning for Yakumo to stand beside her. "Now," she said up to Harima. "Apologize and I'll leave."

Harima growled lowly, but still, Tenma didn't move or flinch as so many girls had. "Fine." He barked. "I'm sorry…"

"Her name is Yakumo." Tenma said. "And tell her what you're sorry for."

"I'm sorry Yakumo," he growled through his teeth, "For losing my temper with you."

"It's alright," Yakumo said and grabbed Tenma by the elbow. "Sis lets go."

Tenma dropped the whip and let her friends take her across the street where a crowd immediately surrounded the girls.

"Tenma!" A middle aged woman scolded. "What were you thinking?!"

"Look at poor Yakumo," a younger voice fussed. "She's still shaking."

"Look at Tenma's hand." A man said. "It's starting to welt up."

Harima took one last look at the girl that stood up to him and rode away.

Later:

Tenma walked into the house with Yakumo after they had gotten their shopping done. One of the women that had seen Tenma's injured hand bandaged her up, so now, her hand was wrapped tightly.

"Tenma." Yakumo said, looking at her sister, Tenma stopped and looked at her. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Tenma asked, confused and her pigtails swayed slightly.

"Don't you know who that was?" Yakumo asked. "He was the prince!"

"So what?" Tenma asked. "That's no excuse for behaving that way."

"But…You got hurt." The younger girl said grabbing her older sisters wrapped hand.

Tenma smiled and hugged her sister. "Yeah, but I'd do it again to protect you." Yakumo was silent, not knowing what to say now; she hugged her sister back tightly and looked downwards, still feeling guilty. "Hey," Tenma said cheerfully. "Let's get dinner started."

Elsewhere:

Harima punched the wall forcefully in anger. How dare that girl disrespect him?! Who was she and what was she thinking?

He slid down into his chair and took a deep breath, his hand still throbbing. He should have the girl arrested and her sister too. They caused a scene in front of the whole village! He was furious…but still…he couldn't believe how cute she was.

A/N: Well, here's my first School Rumble story. R&R and tell me what you think.