Of all the things she hated on Saturday mornings, Rina would have to say that she hated the birds the most. They woke her early in the morning with their incessant chirping directly outside her window, as if begging her to come out. Saturday mornings, however, were not for going out and playing with birds; they were meant for weary students to sleep in, to have a break—if only for one day a week—to put aside their alarm clocks and laze about until noon. Then they would have a hearty breakfast of whatever they could put their hands on—a candy bar and soda, most of the time. Rina was satisfied with this kind of routine.

The birds, however, would have none of that. They flew about outside her window, occasionally sitting on nearby tree branches and conversing with each other in the way of birds. Then they would resume their ever-increasingly-irritating flight about Rina’s dorm room window, beckoning to her—calling her out, and only her, it seemed. The tiny girl grumbled and begged them, silently, to be quiet. They would not cease, however, until they had completely ruined her lazy Saturday and brought her out of bed.

Rina did could not understand how her roommate, Chieko, could possibly sleep through all the noise and hubbub outside their dorm room. For a moment, the tiny blond considered simply throwing a shoe at her roommate, thus ending the girl’s slumber and causing her the same misery the birds were putting upon her. She thought better of it, though, and drowsily slipped from her bed, appraising the wishes of the birds. She noted, with some kind of frustration that the birds’ songs stopped the second she had risen from her bed.

"Probably off to torment some other helpless student," Rina mumbled to herself, yawning and stretching luxuriously. She did a few stretches on the spot—a kind of morning ritual—then proceeded to the bathrooms for a good, warm shower.

First one there. The restroom was desolately empty, yet again. For the past week or so, Rina had inevitably been the first to the bathroom in the mornings. She had also, it seemed, been the first to rise in the mornings. In a way, it made sense, as the tiny Student Council President highly doubted that any student in their right mind would rise at seven o’ clock on a Saturday on purpose.

However, she found she liked it this way. It wasn’t very often that Rina could simply find herself alone with her thoughts anymore; responsibility kept her from doing that. It was only in the cold of the early morning that she could think of the little, irrational things, things that didn’t matter. Rather than wondering about matters of her school, she could ponder absently on the color of the sky, and how very blue it was. Rather than fretting over the little problems she had yet to solve, she could concentrate on the mellow fragrance that wafted through the bathroom from her various bath soaps (mostly peach-scented). Though she still loathed the morning birds outside her window for their tactics in awakening her, she was grateful for the peace the early morning brought to her.

It was only once she had finished washing herself and scrubbing her hair free of the previous night’s sleep that Rina, rather cautiously, approached the mirror.

Often, Rina made it a habit to avoid contact with mirrors. It’s not that she was ashamed of the way she looked—she wasn’t. However, she wouldn’t admit to herself that she was pretty, either. Her height was something she was not pleased about, for one thing. Her whole life, she had been shorter than everyone else. Every time she even glanced at her reflection, it made her wish, with all her heart, that she could gain at least a few inches, to at least get to the five-foot line. It also made her think of her headmistress. She would murmur to herself, dreaming of the day she would look like her beautiful headmistress, be like her headmistress… if only.

The tiny blond sighed as she inspected herself in the long mirror. She wore only a large, pink towel around her gracious figure, with another towel wrapped about her head like a turban. Quite deliberately, she lifted up the part of the towel that covered her thighs. She inspected her legs quite carefully, remembering, with a small blush, the comment that Amuro Anji had made only a few days before. She released the towel and covered up her thighs again, blushing furiously. She was being silly! She shouldn’t pay attention to the things that any Amuro ever said. She then picked up her things and walked back to her dorm to change.

Chieko was awake when she entered the room. Her roommate sat upright on her bed, yawning and stretching, attempting to shake away the sleep from the night before. The girl smiled when her tiny blond roommate reentered the room.

"Birds again?" Chieko teased, rising from her bed and doing a few stretches. Rina smiled in response, then walked to the closet to pick out the day’s outfit. After a moment’s inspection, she carefully selected a short, plaid skirt (similar to their uniform), and a light pink blouse. She changed quickly and asked Chieko’s opinion. Her roommate smiled and nodded her approval, though one thing seemed to vex her.

"You should do something with your hair…" she said, holding her chin between two slender fingers. Rina instinctively held her hair away from her roommate. She liked her hair fine the way it was… however, it seemed almost second nature to Chieko to always find something wrong with someone else’s appearance, Rina had noticed. Her roommate gave up the instant Rina had touched her hair protectively. She then gathered her bath supplies and left toward the bathrooms, intent on a warm shower just as Rina had been.

The tiny blond girl was then left alone in her dorm. Feeling that she’d had quite enough solitude that morning, Rina was very tempted to follow her roommate and talk while she showered. She thought better of it, though, as she usually did when she thought about something twice. Instead, she made up the blankets on her bed, then sat on them, furrowing her brows in thought. One of the things about the freedom of Saturdays is that one, when left alone, has a hard time thinking of something useful to do with one’s time.

Rina decided that the best plan for the day would be to go to the tennis match that day. However, the match was not until one o’ clock that afternoon. She glanced at the clock, and grimaced. Still eight-thirty in the morning. She had more than a few hours to do something else.

Chieko caught her roommate midway through a sigh as she entered the dorm again, a half-hour later.

"What’s the matter, Rina-san?" she asked in a sister-like concern, as she rummaged through her part of the closet to locate a decent outfit for the day. Rina let out another long sigh.

"Are you doing anything today, Chieko?" she asked hopefully, putting aside Chieko’s question and asking one of her own. Chieko, for some reason, looked somewhat startled. Then she frowned.

"I’m sorry Rina," she said sincerely, "I’ve got a date today."

Rina nodded in understanding, though a twinge of envy made its way through her body. For once, she wished she could use that as an excuse. She wished even more fervently that she could use it as often as her roommate tended to. Chieko furrowed her brows at her tiny roommate.

"There’s always next Saturday, Rina-san," Chieko said brightly, drying her hair with her already damp towel. She smiled brightly. "We can make it a girl’s day out."

Rina grinned outwardly at her roommate, though her eyes still revealed a kind of disappointment. Chieko sighed inwardly, before reaching for her brush and pulling it through her damp hair.

The rest of Rina’s morning proved to be horribly uneventful. She had decided to take a long walk about the grounds in an effort to cool her desperate restlessness, which proved to be somewhat of a mistake. She was immediately mobbed with students, putting on a barrage of questions concerning the co-ed weekend and its abrupt cancellation. The tiny Student Council President tried her best to answer all of the questions, though, by the afternoon, she had become exhausted with the effort of talking. By noon, she had once again retreated back to her dorm where she grabbed her purse and money, intent on a meal in the nearest restaurant.

She ate alone that afternoon in a tiny little coffee shop. She didn’t mind the solitude she was experiencing all that much, though she did wish, with a small, helpless sigh, for someone to at least pass by and acknowledge her presence. She had passed by several students on the street as she made her way toward the coffee shop, though every one tended to ignore her, she thought. At first, Rina had convinced herself it was her height that caused her fellow students to simply pass by; being a few inches shorter than someone tended to do that, since most people tended to look at eye level then focus on the sidewalk. However, when the students continued to pass her by, she became suddenly embarrassed. Perhaps it was because she was alone? Nobody liked a loner. She walked down the sidewalk in silence after she had finished her meal, determined to keep her eyes on the sidewalk.

As is a well-known fact, when one does not look where one is going, one ends up gaining a sudden habit of running into things. The most common of things that these people with their heads bowed find themselves running into is, inevitably, people. And, in most cases, these are people they can identify and recognize, either as friends or enemies.

In Rina’s case, it was Staci.

The tiny girl, of course not paying attention to anything in front of her, had walked headlong into what she had thought was a post. However, as she soon discovered, posts do not groan or fall over when force is put upon them, especially the force of a 4’ 8" blond girl.

Staci had fallen to her bottom from even the small impact of the tiny President. She quickly regained her composure, however, and rose to her feet. She rubbed her head absently, as if doing so would make the pain in her hindquarters lesson. She looked around, and spotted Rina lying on her back on the cold sidewalk.

"Rina!" she squeaked in way of apology. "I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I didn’t see you!" she took the blond girl by the shoulders and picked her up to her feet, an easy task considering the girl’s obvious height and weight. Rina blushed as she took in Staci’s immediate apologies.

"N-no, it’s okay," she mumbled, eyeing the ground where she had fallen. "It’s my fault."

"No it’s not!" Staci was determined to have her apology accepted. "Don’t be so humble, Rina."

Rina blushed even deeper. Absently, the tiny President wondered if all the blushing she did in the contact of humans was good for her health. She knew, with crimson cheeks, that she blushed at least once or twice a day, no matter what may have caused it. Most often, someone complimenting her on something would cause her blushing. Or, even more often than most often, a boy would be the cause. For some reason, the opposite sex had always intimidated Rina—even more so than was natural, she gathered. It was not natural to blush as much as she did, and she knew it.

Her face continued to glow crimson.

Staci, noticing that a small silence had fallen between her and her tiny friend, decided that it was time for something to happen. She smiled slightly.

"You going to the tennis match, Rina-san?" she asked almost politely, so as not to startle her blushing friend. Rina looked up at her, her water-like eyes going suddenly wide. She let out a tiny gasp, and looked at her watch.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, "I was going to be there at 12:45! Now it’s almost 1:00…"

"Oh no!" Staci also exclaimed, shaking the watch strapped to her wrist. "My watch must have died! I thought it was only 12:30" Quite abruptly, she grabbed Rina by the wrist and pulled her toward the direction of the school.

They managed to find reasonably good seats when they reached the school, and the first serve was about to start. Rina felt for some reason, as she watched the current player on the green-colored court swing their racket, very excited. Though she would never actually play herself, the tiny President had always admired the sport. It rather impressed her the way the ball flew through the air, only to be caught and flown back by something so insignificant-looking as a tennis racket. She watched in a respectful kind of awe as the players, looking almost elegant, swung their arms fluidly through the air, then managing to regain themselves quick enough to bound across the court. The motions of their arms and bodies, Rina guessed, are what impressed her the most. It was almost graceful the way these players could move, the way they seemed connected to their rackets—their instruments of play. These were artists in motion, not players in a simple game.

Then the first bout was over, and Rina watched with baited breath as Anji stepped onto the courts. He bounced the ball carelessly in one hand as he prepared to serve, then swung his racket with such lurid grace; it made Rina gape helplessly. The green, hand-sized ball flew across the court and straight into the racket of Anji’s opponent, who had been waiting expectantly. The ball again made its way across the green court and thus across the net, and Anji retaliated, almost absently, it seemed. This time, his opponent did not hit the ball.

The bout was over almost as quickly as it had started, and Rina was left in a state of dumbfounded awe. Staci, however, much preferred to stand up in her seat and call out as loudly as she could to her boyfriend, who stood on the courts wiping his face with a towel. Rina could not remember Anji ever breaking a sweat in his match, and she wondered fleetingly why the towel was at all necessary. Then she, too, raised herself and cheered for Anji, TUA’s superstar.

After the match was over, Staci took her Student Council President by the arm and nearly dragged her out of the bleachers. Rina nearly tripped with every attempted step, but she made it down the stairs alive.

Anji was just making his way to the lockers when Staci caught up with him. He smiled, and briefly hugged her about the waste before turning to Rina.

"Rina?" he asked quietly, "What’re you doing here?"

The blond girl once again lapsed into her awful habit and blushed a deep red. "Oh, just… representing my school… You know how it is…"

The red-haired Amuro eyed her suspiciously, then grinned. "I bet you were hoping Jiro would show up," he said snidely. Rina raised her head in surprise. Was that a hint of bitterness in his voice? No, imagining things again…

"I-I was not!" the tiny girl stuttered, bringing herself up indignantly. "I just wanted to see the match, was all."

Anji was still grinning as he turned his head toward the bleachers. "Well, here he comes—Mr. Bigshot President."

Rina immediately ducked behind Staci.

"Nice game, Amuro," Jiro said as he approached them, heartily shaking Anji’s hand. Anji, looking slightly disgusted by Jiro’s formality, pulled his hand away quicker than would have usually been polite. Rina shyly stepped out from her hiding place.

Jiro blinked as he noticed the tiny blond girl creeping from the protection of her friend’s back. "Why, if it isn’t Rina-san herself!" he said, a smile crossing his face. Rina tried her best to smile back. For some odd reason, TUA’s Student Council President’s friendliness toward her somehow made her nervous. Rina was thankful when Jiro turned his attention back to Anji.

"What’re you going after this, Amuro?" Jiro asked of the redhead. Anji scratched his head thoughtfully.

"Nothing, really," he answered. "Why?"

Jiro shrugged. "I was just thinking it might be nice to take some friends out to get milkshakes, since I’m not doing anything else today."

Anji arched an eyebrow suspiciously. "Friend?"

"Yeah. Is there something wrong? Are you busy?"

Anji thought for a moment, then nodded his agreement. Jiro smiled an almost uncharacteristic kind of smile, and turned to Staci and Rina.

"I would like it if you both came, also," he said, almost formally. Staci nodded cheerfully as Rina did the same, trying her best to conceal a blush. Jiro grinned.

"All right, then," he announced, "Let’s go."

"Waitasec!" Anji stopped his friends from leaving the stadium. He plucked at his shirt. "Wait for me to change and shower up." He sniffed at the sleeve of his shirt. "I still smell, y’know."

The little restaurant Jiro had chosen for them to get their milkshakes was almost secluded. Rina wondered, fleetingly, why he had chosen such a small shop to treat his friends, but was distracted when her shake arrived. She sipped at it absently through a straw, and her taste buds nearly burst. So this was why Jiro had taken them here! It was probably the best milkshake Rina had ever tasted, and it was nearly half-gone in a matter of seconds.

"Slow down, Rina-san!" Jiro laughed, reaching across the table, to clap the tiny girl on the back, as if she were choking. Anji watched from beside Rina with an odd expression on his face, then turned back to his own chocolate milkshake.

"These are really good, Kanzaki-kun," Rina murmured from behind her tall glass. Jiro smiled.

"This is the best place I know for milkshakes," he said absently, pushing aside his empty glass. He then rested his cheek on a knuckle and watched as Rina finished her shake. "You know, you sound so formal, calling me ‘Kanzaki-kun’." He told her, "’Jiro’ is just fine, you know."

Rina set aside her now-empty glass next to Staci and Anji’s, noticing, absently, that all three were apart from Jiro’s glass. She looked the TUA President in the face, considering his comment. "No…" she decided, with an uncharacteristic note of finality. "I would really rather call you ‘Kanzaki’, if that’s all right."

Jiro merely nodded, then turned to Anji to question him about the day’s match. Rina, unsure of whether to feel uncomfortable or simply nervous, noticed that the redhead’s eyes tended to drift over to her, from time to time. Had Rina been paying more attention to the conversation, she probably wouldn’t have noticed his subtle eye-movements. Staci, the blond girl observed, took notice of none of this, but rather absorbed herself fully into the conversation.

Jiro casually paid the bill as they left the tiny restaurant. Anji, in an attempt to appear more gentleman-like, had offered to pay half of the bill. The TUA President adamantly refused, then offered to walk Rina back to the school. It took a moment for this offer to register in the blond President’s head, and she blushed a furious crimson color.

"I-I can walk with Staci!" Rina sputtered, looking hopefully to her American friend. To her relief, Staci consented, though Anji remained at her side. Jiro shrugged then prepared to make his way back to his own school.

"See you soon, Rina-san!" he called over his shoulder with a small wave. Rina blushed even deeper and headed her own way. Staci was giggling devilishly at her side.

"What is it, Staci-chan?" Rina asked inquisitively, though cautiously. Her dark-haired friend gave her a wry smirk.

"I think Jiro’s got a crush!" the American whispered, bent over to whisper in her tiny friend’s ear. Anji overheard this, and chuckled to himself, though a glint in his eyes betrayed some other emotion Rina could not quite pinpoint. Staci, however, had paid no attention to her boyfriend’s actions. The tiny girl noticed, just then, that Staci could be extremely unobservant at times. She shrugged that off as they began to make their way toward the Phoenix School.

"Anji, you don’t have to walk with us, you know," Staci said pointedly, staring at her boyfriend over Rina’s short head. "We can take care of ourselves."

Rina was surprised at her friend’s comment. She was actually rather enjoying the company of both her friends; she would have hated, just then, for one of them to leave. However, she didn’t want to argue. This seemed strictly a boyfriend to girlfriend matter. She walked in silence between them and waited for Anji’s comment, hoping that Anji had some good reasoning for staying there.

"Well, it’s starting to get dark, you know," Anji retorted, almost unsure of himself. Rina knew that that was his first mistake; it wouldn’t be getting dark for nearly two more hours. Staci had noticed the same thing, and pointed this out to the redhead. They continued to argue over the matter for quite some time.

It was Rina who had to point out to the pair that they were at the gates of the Phoenix School.

"Oh…" Staci murmured, while Anji smiled smugly beside the tiny blond. "So we are…"

"Well, I’ll be seeing you both later, then!" Anji said in way of a good-bye, and hurriedly jogged away before Staci could harm him in any way. Rina concealed a giggle behind her hand as she watched her friend fume.

They ate dinner together at the school that night. Rina found that this was a rarity for her on a Saturday evening and, for her friend, and even larger rarity. Having a boyfriend, Rina noticed, had altered her American friend’s routine in many ways. For one, Staci usually had a date on a Saturday night. However, with Anji, they usually spent time during the day together, then left to their schools at night. So it was that the two feasted on macaroni and cheese at their beloved school, amongst the small crowd of girls who hadn’t managed to grab a date for that night, or who simply preferred school food.

As nine o’ clock drew near, Rina decided that it might be nice to retire early. Staci agreed and, with an obviously feigned yawn, bid her tiny friend goodnight. The blond Student President courteously escorted Staci to her dorm, then headed for her own.

Rina was surprised to find her roommate already in bed. Though she wasn’t asleep, Chieko lay in her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Rina set down her purse near the closet and studied her blank-faced roommate closely.

"Everything all right, Chieko?" she asked.

Chieko sprang from her bed in a rush, giggling happily. "I thought you would never ask!" Eyes aglow with mirth, the blond girl’s roommate began to thoroughly explain her day—how her first date of the day had been a flop, and how, on her second date of the day, she had ended up meeting another guy, who had promptly asked her to be his girlfriend. As it turned out, Chieko had actually known this boy when she had been younger, but had forgotten about him. She went on to explain the things that she and her new boyfriend had done that day—in detail that made Rina blush a deep shade of pink. She changed into her pajamas to conceal her face.

"So, what’d you do today?" Chieko asked after she had finished her story. Rina flopped ungracefully onto her bed, and brought her legs up to sit cross-legged. She quickly ran through the events of the day—how she had gone out for breakfast, then met up with Staci and gone to the tennis match, then gone with Staci, Anji, and Jiro for milkshakes. All in all, her day could not quite compare to her roommates, which had proved to be entirely eventful, and she felt slightly embarrassed. Chieko, however, was grinning maliciously.

"Sounds like these guys like you, Rina-san." She narrowed her eyes slyly at her blond roommate. Rina held back a blush, amazingly.

"They do not!" She denied heatedly, though her roommate continued to grin at her.

"We’ll see…" Chieko murmured, reaching to her bedside table to switch off her lamp. Rina did likewise, and turned over her covers to lay down. She looked at her clock, and noticed, with a small shock, that she and her roommate had been talking for nearly and hour and a half. She turned over with her back toward Chieko, remembering her words.

"You’re blushing, aren’t you, Rina-san?" Chieko murmured from underneath her covers. Rina quickly brought her covers over her head.

"No, I’m not!"

Chieko giggled sweetly. "Good-night, Rina-san."

Rina found herself unable to conceal a smile. She made herself comfortable underneath her covers, fluffing her pillow occasionally, then gave a small sigh of contentment. However uneventful her day had been, it had still worn her out none-the-less. Without thought of what morning might bring, she allowed her mind to drift her off into dreamy slumber.

Had she been awake, she would have heard the tiny flapping of wings directly outside her window. The flapping always stopped there at night, as they, too, drifted off into slumber, awaiting the sunshiny rays of first light to let out their mirthful twittering. They almost knew how much their tiny, blond-headed girl appreciated their song each and every morning, so they waited, patiently, for the dawn, when their blond girl would wake and thank them through the closed window of her room.

**eh… sorry, very short, with a very bad ending… and the writing gets worse as it goes along. prolly cos I had no clue what I really wanted to do with this after the first coupla paragraphs… ::shrug:: I’ll come up with somethin’ better really soon! Gotta go, now…**