Disclaimer: I do not own Hana-Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi E) but I do own my love of the characters. I am not using any of the characters to gain money or anything else.

Listening to her MP3 playing Mizuki sat at the desk in her and Sano's room working on her paper due tomorrow. Recently it seemed the only way she could find relaxation was to listen to the music Julia had sent her. American music always seemed to relax her more than what she had bought in Japan. The project was for English. Specifically stories that were about princesses, the guys were always sighing and booing the stories but Mizuki knew the stories by heart, being a girl raised on those stories. It seemed their English teacher was trying to get everyone in the romantic mood before Valentine 's Day.

The project was to take one of the stories and write what you personally took from that story. Mizuki had a hard time picking which story to work with. She loved so many of them. She thought about going Cinderella, but she wasn't sure she could get to much herself from it. She wasn't really sure what it was like to have stepsisters, she had only a half-brother. And he wasn't a rival in her love life. Chewing on the eraser of the pencil Mizuki tapped her foot to the song. Maybe Sleeping Beauty, she was sure she could sleep through anything. But she wasn't sure she wanted to have to wait for someone else to save her. She was learning to be self-dependent. The MP3 player switched to the next song, Mizuki quickly switched songs. She wasn't in the mood to listen to sappy songs.

Sano opened the door to see his roommate subconsciously gnawing at the pencil eraser and listening to music. She looked so feminine just sitting there. It was getting harder for him to spend his days near her and pretending they were just friends. He had such desires to wrap his arms around her right now and tell her how much he cared. But he couldn't. If she knew he knew…well she might leave him. He couldn't risk that. Clearing his throat loudly Sano tried to announce his presence.

Mizuki remained oblivious to her roommate. The next story on the list was Beauty and the Beast. Mizuki felt her face blush softly. Sano was far from a beast, and in her mind her prince was always Sano. She also wasn't sure what to do about the idea that she had to break his curse. She wasn't really the type to think highly of her own abilities. Snow White…Well she definitely wasn't surrounded by dwarfs. She was by far the shortest person around. Plus she wasn't sure she'd eat an apple from a creepy old woman. Sighing Mizuki went to lay her head on the desk when she felt a hand touch her shoulder.

"AHH!" Mizuki fell from her chair clutching her heart, "Sa—Sano. Sorry I wasn't paying attention. I was working on tomorrow's English paper. I'm sorry." Mizuki tried to hide the blush on her cheeks and stood up taking out her ear buds.

"You shouldn't think so hard. You'll make yourself go bald." Sano tossed his coat over the chair and patted Mizuki's head affectionately, "I'm going first to the shower."

Mizuki nodded and sat back down at her blank piece of paper and started to write…

Princess Aurora, Sleeping Beauty, was raised as a commoner ignoring what she really was, a princess. She lived a lie for 16 years just to keep herself safe. …Her paper went on for many pages about the story of Sleeping Beauty and what the symbolism meant to her… But once she was in love she broke down her lie. Love caused her to fall victim to the curse laid before her years ago. She gave up her life, literally, to be with her one true love. It took that love to save her in the end. Living a lie is the hardest thing possible, especially when it's love that gets in the way of it.

Mizuki leaned back in the chair her paper done. She glanced at the bathroom and could still hear the shower. Sano always took long ones. Guessing he would finish soon Mizuki didn't bother to get changed and just climbed up to her bunk and shut her curtain to sleep, dreams came quickly that night.

Sano looked around the room and realized that Mizuki was already in bed. But her paper was out on the desk. He had finished his before practice, but he wondered what she had written. Glancing at her closed curtain he could hear her steady breathing. Walking to the desk Sano sat down and read her paper.

Lying in his bed Sano remembered what her paper had said, one phrase stuck out miserably. "Living a lie is hard enough, but lying to the one you love is the worse. It can't bring anything but sadness." Sano covered his face in his hands angry. Why was her paper making him feel like a bad guy? Did it really mean because they were living a lie that it would end badly? Sleeping beauty ended well. Would they be able to too? He knew right now he was living in sadness, but it wasn't a bad sadness. Sano was happy to have her by his side; it just hurt when he thought about the ability that they couldn't go out like a normal couple. Actually they weren't even a couple. That night sleep didn't come easy to Sano unlike Mizuki who was snoring contently above.

This is my second fanfic and again Hana Kimi (yay!) This time I am planning
a lighter story. I hope you enjoy, I promise longer chapters to come. ^_^
Comments and Constructive Criticism is welcome! Flames will be used
to turn the offender into a human s'more ~_^ So please be nice.