Hey everybody, Thanks for being so patient, I know I have been away for quite some time. I had a girlfriend for the past few months, 5 months, and what is today? the 25th of july as I write, so that means 5 Months, and 12 Days. She broke up with me rather recently, as in about 12 hours ago. I am kind of doing this to help me get by, selfish, huh? Many of the things in here will be based on our relationship, with changes, probably to the ending too. I like happy endings, cliche, but hey, they're still fun, better than what I dealt with, anyway. I hope those of you out there have better luck than I, I hope the next girl will be able to understand love. I should look for a foreign girl like my dad did. Anyhoo... uh, this is a story of my favorite (and hopefully eventually canon) couple, Kamikoto, thanks much. Oh, also, this could be seen as a separate, alternate storyline from Happy Ending, please keep that in mind. Who knows, if it ties in, Sweet! Thanks for listening internet.

Understanding Love

'Hey, are you busy? I need someone to talk to.' That's what Touma's SMS said at first.

"Nononono, that seems too weird, maybe 'a friend to talk to.' yeah, that sounds better." muttered Touma to himself in his room before correcting his text message.

'No, I'm completely free, we're on the drive back right now, so there's plenty of time. What's up?' The message from Mikoto came back almost instantly, the girl had been messaging him during her entire trip with her family. Mikoto's mom didn't care, she actually thought it was good of her daughter to finally be opening up to a boy, her father didn't care, but not on the same basis, he was buried in his work as ever.

'Ah, sweet, nothing much. It's just nice to be hearing from somebody, most of my friends are vacationing, too.' Touma responded just as fast. He was beginning to realize how fun of a girl Mikoto was to talk with, They had been talking for the duration of her trip, just about the little things, like how each other were doing, or how the trip was.

'Haha, you enjoy hearing from me now?' Questioned Mikoto.

"Well, of course, I love talking with such a well refined lady.' Retorted Touma.

There was a slight pause, due to Mikoto reading the word "love" and reactionarily blushing. 'Ah, hey! You're being sarcastic, aren't you?"

Touma picked up on the short pause in the texts, even as minute as it was, time to play off of it some more. 'Well, I don't know, what do you think? ;-)' He even put in a smiley face, Motoharu said that women lov- wait, why does that matter to him?

'Yes. :-|' Mikoto responded so fast that before Touma could put away his phone her message had already arrived.

OK, that backfired... Wait a second, she sent a smiley back! Motoharu and Pierce were talking about this. Maybe she's interested after all!
'How do you feel about dating someone?' Touma instinctively hit the send button. Wait. "I HIT THE SEND BUTTON! OH CRAP, OH CRAP! IS THERE A CANCEL BUTTON? WHAT DID I JUST DO?" He started to yell aloud.

On the other end, the freakout wasn't as outward, but it was there just as much. Mikoto let out a little peep in astonishment of what the text message said. Her mother heard the peep and looked at her in the side rear view mirror and smiled silently. Mikoto looked through her phone frantically, could she find someone who could help? Ruiko? Kazari? No, they're too young, Kongou? No, she went to take a nap shortly before. 'Oh god, I'll have to wing it!' she thought.

'Uh, yes.' That was the best she could come up with. She hit send without even remembering the question in his text.

His phone rumbled silently on the bed, his ringer didn't function anymore, most likely due to his frequent run-ins with a girl who is a hyper powered conduit. He loathed at what she was going to say, "Knowing her personality, it would be something like, 'I'm going to find you and kill you' or 'My friend Shirai would not like to hear that.' Oh god, here we go"... Touma clicked the button, not sure what to expect.

"Huh?" He read the answer, but couldn't make any sense of it. "Wait, maybe she read my message as me asking her out. If that's the case, *gulp*. I'll have to find out now, I guess, before I hurt her feelings, and she annihilates me." That really was the dense boy's way of thinking.

Mikoto's eyes widened at the next message. ' Umm, Would you want to hang out with me?' Mikoto was full out blushing at this point. She typed slowly and precisely, as though her life depended on it.

'Sure. What time?' Her message said. That was it, confirmation. Touma didn't know how to react, he really expected a response like, "Why would I ever hang out with someone like yourself?" but instead he got this.

'Uh, maybe tomorrow? How do you feel about that? You pick where you want to go.' Touma asked.

'Yeah, sure, but this isn't a date or anything! .'

'Haha, of course.' Touma breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't want to kill him after all, and now they were going on a dat- uh, a not date. He was truly glad that he was a guy and let instinct run amok. But he's not interested in her or anything, right?

On the other end of the line, Mikoto was ecstatic, but hiding it well, she was still in the car after all. Now, it was still a long ride back to Academy City, so she had a while longer to talk with him. They talked for hours, at least 10. They talked about everything during her car trip back, their interests, their embarrassing moments, their faults, and had fun doing it. 'Maybe he is a really good gu... Ah, what are you saying Mikoto? Jeez.' Mikoto thought.

The next day came, and Mikoto frantically raced around her room. "Oh no, what should I wear, would he like this? Or maybe this?" Said the girl, now holding up two blouses.

"Oh-ho-ho, is my little girl finally having thoughts about a young man?" Asked Misuzu, who had walked in unannounced.

"EEP! Ah, no, I'm just going to hang out with a friend." Mikoto hastily responded.

"Ah, who is it ?" Furthered Misuzu's interrogation.

"Ok, fine, It's Touma, the one who you met at Daihaseisai. We're not going on a date or something of that nature."

"So, basically, what I've gathered from this is that you aren't a couple yet, but you are really hoping that something does." Says Mikoto's mother, keen on her daughter's true will.

"Ah, no, of course not! He's not even my kind of guy. Jeez, mom! Always jumping to conclusions." Mikoto tried to defend her outward feelings.

"Ok, ok. Tell me what happens, and the one on the left is better." Misuzu says, walking away, with a wink and a grin lining her face.

Mikoto looked down at the two blouses, remembering her earlier predicament.

She was now waiting at the corner where they usually "coincidentally" met up, it hadn't been terribly long before a certain spiky haired boy came running across, believing he was late. When he heard his name called from the girl to prevent him from running to the next part of town, he turned to see a very cutely dressed girl.

"Wow." That was the only thing on his mind. Wait, did that just come out of his mouth? Did he just drop the Wow Bomb? Jeez, why does she seem so attractive right now?

Mikoto had not noticed Touma say wow, she was rather preoccupied by the fact that she was essentially on a date with a boy. Not that that was what she wanted or anything. Now, she remembered that she had to decide where they would go. Maybe the mall? No, that seems like something a couple might do later, plus there's a chance that someone like Kuroko might show up. Ah! Maybe the Park, yeah, quiet, relaxing, away from the people they know. Good.

"Come on, I just figured out where we should go." Explained Mikoto, tugging at his hand.

"Just figured out? Oh, jeez." Touma didn't know how to react to these kind of things, his experiences with girls usually involves saving them or being nearly killed by them, this girl being both cases.

They stopped at a quiet outset in the middle of a park. Touma recognized this park, it's actually rather close to his house, he used to walk there as a kid, and just enjoy the place. Touma was lost in his mind, and hadn't realized that Mikoto let go of his hand, and had already climbed to a branch a little bit up from where he was standing.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?" He asked the young girl above him. The sun was lined up right behind her, it was a sight to behold. Ah, um, that's what someone who would be in a relationship or something would say.

"Ah, nothing much, just enjoying the view, why don't you come up?" She said with a smile, offering her hand. Touma smiled back. Mikoto felt like there was the biggest drum in existence beating away in her chest, and she didn't know why.

"Hey, I didn't heed it earlier..." Touma quietly said, leaning in, placing his hand on hers. Mikoto was not sure what was going on. She wanted something romantic to happen, but not so quickly. She mentally braced for impact. Touma continued, "but you never really answered my question from last night. Well, you answered, but in a way that didn't clarify anything."

Mikoto held her mouth open, she had no control over doing that, it was just a natural fear reaction. Snapping back to reality, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, and checked the message. She chuckled to herself, seeing how silly her answer really was.

"Umm, well I'm not really sure how good of a girlfriend I would be. I am not sure I understand love." Mikoto finally answered the question.

Touma's will to help kicked in, and he felt the overwhelming need to put his arm around her. At that moment, Touma realized it was futile to resist it, this girl was just too perfect. He was in love. "Well then, I'll help you."

"Wait, wait, wait. What are you saying, Touma?" That was the first time that she said his name, it was a neat feeling.

"Ah, well, this is my first time asking a girl this, so bear with me. Would you be my girlfriend? Ah, jeez, that seems too direct, Maybe I should have sai-" Touma rambled on, but Mikoto put her finger on his lips.

"Haha, I get it, I get it." She paused and looked down for a bit, glanced a bit into his eyes, and looked away again before continuing, "Umm, I'm not sure, just give me a bit to think about this, okay?" She said with a smile on her face, now looking at him.

"Ah, yeah, sure." Touma smiled, but it was rather obviously burdened, he thought her saying that was the kiss of death. He felt something nuzzle up against the front of his shoulder. It was Mikoto, she had the single most relaxed smile he had ever seen. Her eyes were closed as she nudged in tighter, in response, Touma pulled her in even tighter.

'I love this feeling.' Was the mutual thought.

Before they knew it, seconds became minutes, and minutes became hours. They stayed out until the sun was beginning to set. Mikoto looked up at him, and Touma looked down at her.

For Touma, time was close to a standstill, 'Is the moment perfect? Should I try for... for, a... kiss?' was all that was running through his mind.

In Mikoto's mind, everything was a blur. She was so occupied with the feeling of being so close to someone.

Touma tested the waters, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. The blush on her cheek became so apparent. She put her arm around his back. The spiky haired boy kept placing kisses on her cheek, but took a short pause for no particular reason. He looked out at the park, where he had been enjoying the past few hours with this wonderful girl. Then, something special, he felt the kiss returned on his cheek. He looked to the source, who was blushing furiously. He smiled, and her blush only kept on going, and her face became a cute combination of happy and pouty.

"Ah! It's not like I'm in love with you or anything!" She said, turning away. She felt a comfortable pair of arms slip around her abdomen.

"That might only be one of us now." Touma replied, with a lovestruck face on. Mikoto leaned out to the side and looked at him, she didn't know how to react anymore, tsundere overload took over and she froze, but deep down inside, she enjoyed being there, in a romantic situation with him.

"Hu-" Mikoto began to question what Touma was saying, but was cut off by his next action. A full out kiss on the lips. His eyes were closed, but hers were wide open, and she was in a blissful state of shock. She never predicted being held by Touma, let alone being kissed on the lips. It was both of their first kisses, and it felt like it lasted hours, which if they didn't have to go home at some point, might have actually happened.

"Hey, Touma?" She began to speak as she leaned back into his chest, leaning both of them against the trunk of the tree.

"Yes? What is it?" Touma furthered.

"After being here with you like this, it made me realize..."

Touma instantly thought of the worst possible outcome, considering his luck. He expected to hear that she hated him for doing that.

"I can't live without this feeling, When you asked me to be your, umm... to your earlier question, yes, I happily accept."

Touma's heart slowed back down to a regular rate after being on such high alert. He placed his head on her shoulder and kissed her on the neck, and worked his way up until just under the ear, at which point he whispered, "I love you." gently into her ear.

She whispered back, "I know." before leaning back a bit to fit in another kiss on his cheek again. There was no way she was quite ready to lead a full kiss, in fact, now that she thought about it, how did she work up the courage to do even that?

Touma looked over her shoulder to his arm, and checked the time, they had been there for 4 hours and about 30 minutes.

" I guess we should get out of this tree, huh? It's pretty late." He said, chuckling afterwards.

She looked down at the arm around her waist and saw the time, too.

" Ah, yeah, it got pretty late, didn't it?"

" Yup, that's why I said it. " said Touma with a silly smile.

Mikoto lifted her finger to his nose and let out a small shock, akin to touching a doorknob after walking on a carpet. "Shut up." That was the Mikoto he knew.

They hopped out of the tree and began the short walk home. Even though she insisted otherwise, Touma walked her home, his actions being guided by his sense of justice.

Stopping in front of the entry to her dorms, Touma was about to speak, but Mikoto spoke first.

"Touma, it will be hard for you to be my boyfri- um, for us. I still don't know what love is, and I'm not sure I'll ever know."

He held on to her tighter than ever. "Mikoto, it's okay, we'll figure out together, I'm still not exactly sure what it means to me, either."

"Ok. When do you want to hang out next?" She smiled.

"Whenever you're available." He smiled back at her. Touma leaned in and kissed her for the last time for that night. Mikoto looked up for a little bit and caught a glimpse of someone's twintails returning inside the window.

"I'll be seeing you, Good night!" Touma said, walking away.

"Ah, good night!" Mikoto said, entering the building.

Although their locations were different, the thought was the same, both of them were replaying the memories of the day. Mikoto lay on her side, comfortable in her bed, smiling. Touma walked home, his smile masked by the scarf he wore to fend off the chilly October weather.

Hey everybody who made it this far. Thanks so much for reading. Expect a few more chapters to come up somewhat quickly. Also, if the characters are a tad off, I'm sorry. I'm trying a bit to graft my experiences onto other characters, so chances are pretty good that will happen. I'll try harder next time, I'm still in a bit of disarray. And sorry, I guess this is kind of how I am dealing with the breakup, I Hope all of you enjoyed! Keep reading if it didn't end up too bad. Thanks, you guys are the best.