He was sitting alone at lunch, as he always did, and Tanaka almost
 sat with him. Almost. As she reached his table, she could have sworn 
she
 heard him growl at her, or maybe he was arguing with a tough bit of 
meat.
 He didn't have the best table manners in the world, she'd noticed, but 
a
 boy as cute as he was could afford to be impolite now and again. After 
 all, she told herself, everyone was entitled to one or two faults. He
 had brought his own meal, not that anyone blamed him, school lunches 
are
 notorious for tasting horrible, which consisted of spareribs and some 
 teriyaki steak, it was a lot of meat for a Japanese meal, but he was an 
 exchange student... and was tearing at them, growling with each bite, 
like 
 some wild animal enjoying its meal and warning off scavengers. The 
growl 
 was frightening and Tanaka told herself he was obvious not in the mood 
for 
 company, so she sat at a nearby table, keeping her eye on him. When he 
was
 finished, he licked the teriyaki sauce from his hands and then 
lickgroomed
 his face to clean off any teriyaki sauce that might have got there. He
 quickly finished and took a sip of his milk. A moment later, he crushed
 the small carton in his hand as if he'd suddenly realized what he'd 
done
 and was angry at himself for such a major slip-up. He got up and walked 
 over to the door with an amazing amount of dignity considering how he'd 
 been acting during lunch, slipping a hand into a pocket so he appeared
 almost regal, then tossed his milk carton into the trash as he left the
 room.

    'Naoki' studied his face in the bathroom mirror. A little pale 
compared
 to most of the other students there, but quite handsome otherwise. It
 was his eyes that troubled everyone. He'd had a pair of contact lenses
 that would've helped matters considerably, but they'd been lost along 
 time ago. He recalled vividly the events surrounding the loss. He'd 
been
 attending an medal-giving ceremony at which the being who had saved his
 life when he was a child, a being whom he was later reunited with as a
 youth when he'd first arrived after graduating at the Academy, was 
being
 honored. When he had returned to his cabin, down the hall from the one 
 belonging to his rescuer and friend, he had discovered, to his 
amazement,
 that he'd been robbed! Several items had been taken from him, including
 his contact lenses and, to his embarrassment, his diary. 
    Of course the thief had never mentioned any of the entries in his 
diary.
 'Naoki' had never spoken of these facts to anyone and talking of them 
would
 have given the thief away, and so his private life had remained at 
least
 mostly private, known only to himself and the thief. He'd never 
recovered
 his lost property, but in the years that followed, his work had earned 
him
 more than enough money to replace the items he'd lost. He never, 
however,
 started another diary, and he also failed, entirely, to replace the 
contact
 lenses. He hadn't really thought they'd be neccessary. He'd only gone 
to 
 Earth once before, and then no one had ever looked him in the eye. Not 
even
 just once. 

    "You know," a student observed, walking into bathroom and lighting 
up a
 cigarette, "you're never going to win her over with this shy routine. 
If I
 were you, I'd stop moping about and go after her."
    "And if I were you, I'd put that damned thing out before I shove it 
 down your throat." His enhanced senses had their drawbacks and one of 
them
 was the smell of cigarette smoke. He had nothing against smokers, or 
their
 habit, and to be fair he had spent more than his share of time in the
 proverbial smoke-filled room, that was inevitable in his line of work. 
But
 today, he wasn't in a very accomodating mood. Already he'd had managed 
to
 embarrass himself at lunch, and he was sure he'd been recognized by 
that
 damned blue-haired girl. Why couldn't she keep her mind on what she was
 doing and just leave him alone. She was going to blow it, he knew, and 
it
 irritated him. And now this mere boy was presuming to try to give *him*
 advice like he was an idiot.
    Within a few seconds of the boy's rather expected comeback of "I'd 
like
 to see you try it.", 'Naoki' was on his way back to class while the 
other boy
 was lying sprawled out on the floor of the boys' room.
    
    In her next class, Tanaka found herself seated next to the boy who 
 she had been daydreaming of all day. With him so close, she found it
 difficult to concentrate on her studies. He was very handsome, she
 reasoned, that's why she couldn't keep her mind on her schoolwork, and
 she was falling in love with him. She blushed at the thought, knowing
 that he would've blushed, too, if he could've read it. 
     Something, perhaps the latent maternal instinct in all women,
 told her that he had clearly faced more than his share of traumas. 
 Despite this, she was sure that he was as pure as she was.
    "That might be a problem on our wedding night." she remarked,
 not realizing at first that she'd spoken aloud.
    He looked over at her with a bewildered expression on his face and
 his head cocked to one side in puzzlement. 
    Tanaka realized she'd spoken out and blushed, deeply, turning red
 all over. 
 She looked totally flustered. "Oh my!" she gasped, in a state
 of near-panic. "Oh dear..." The boy put a hand onto hers, meaning to
 soothe her and ease her mind. Instead, the act had just the opposite
 effect. Her heart leaped up into her throat and the butterflies that
 were in her stomach began to dance the minute waltz. Then he looked at
 her and she saw the twin slits of his pupils up close for the first
 time. Those eyes, entrancing, exotic... They held her spellbound for a 
 moment and she gazed back up into them, Her own eyes shone with love
 and admiration, and perhaps just a twinge of fear. He leaned forward 
and
 she wondered if he was going to kiss her. The butterflies gave up the 
 minute waltz in favor of mimicking the combat of her favorite anime
 series' mecha and she thought she would faint.
    Just then, the schoolbell rang.
        "Damn," she though to herself, though she was too polite to say
 the word aloud.
    The boy pulled away and started off for the next class on his
 schedule and Tanaka did likewise. As it happened, they were down the
 hall from each other, a fact that Tanaka made note of as they entered
 their classrooms. She wondered if she could get herself transfered into
 his class. But what reason would she give the teachers? She surely 
could
 not tell them she wanted to attend the class because she was in love 
 with this student.
    She politely asked to be excused, lying about having to use the
 facilities, and quietly made her way down the hall. She knew it was 
wrong
 but she could not get his hypnotic eyes out of her mind. She had to see
 him again. She stopped at the door of his classroom and peeked through
 the small window atop the door, she was a little too short to do it on 
 her own and needed to stand on a chair.
    The new janitress joined her and she stumbled back in surprise,
 falling off the chair. The woman caught her with surprising ease and 
 Tanaka thought she must be a Martial Arts student, a brown belt at the
 very least, probably in Judo.
    "Is this what they mean by falling in love?" the janitress
 kidded her.
    Tanaka blushed, deeply. Was it really that obvious? She tried 
 to make a witty comeback, but it died in her throat. She had fallen
 in love. There was no denying it. But who was he? She realized she
 had no idea of this and it took her by surprise. She'd heard a few
 rumors in the locker room. One of these suggested that his parents had 
 abandonned him at birth because of his strange eyes. Another rymor said
 that they were both dead, A third combined the first two, saying they'd
 killed themselves because they'd believed they'd brought a demon or 
 monster into the world. The first and third of these made Tanaka very 
 angry. She could not believe anyone could abandon a boy as handsome as
 he was. She wanted to marry him, to give him a family and perhaps let 
 him take her last name if he didn't have one of his own. If this boy 
 had spent his entire life unloved, she wanted to be the one to give him 
 all the love he'd missed, to make sure he was never without it again.
    "Don't worry," the janitress smiled, "your secret's safe with me.
 So, which one do you like?"
    "The chestnut haired boy." Tanaka whispered back.
    "'Naoki'?" the janitress asked.