"You're up early." The suspicious tone had Sasaki turning his head.

Hirano was beside him as they walked the path toward school. The blond yawned stretching as he fell in beside the wizard. Sasaki watched him intrigued by familiars. They looked so human! He didn't know how they changed. Whenever he asked all he got was that, that's what they did. He sighed.

"Yeah, school..." Sasaki grumbled.

"Never knew you to make it before first bell." Hirano stated.

"Well, same to you!" Sasaki glared over at the blond.

He recalled how, in their last school, Hirano never got up early. It was like waking a bear! If he fell asleep after class, that was it, no one could wake him up. Sasaki almost burned him alive trying! Hirano yawned again. He turned his head away.

"... friend asked me...." He muttered.

"What was that?" Sasaki asked leaning down to hear him better.

Hirano spun to face him. He yelled in Sasaki's ear. "A wizard friend asked me to wake him." He screamed.

"Ouch!" Sasaki rubbed his ear, it rang from the others voice.

"You found your wizard then?" Sasaki asked.

"I, I dunno..." Hirano looked away.

"Awe is that a blush!" His friend teased.

"You know I am a bird, right!" Hirano flung his eyes toward the ginger, glaring.

Sasaki laughed he ruffled a hand through his hair. "Yeah, so?" he chuckled.

"So I can shit on you whenever I want." Hirano threatened.

"That ain't nice!" Sasaki cried.

By this point they had reached the school. The academic halls were a two story building with lots of twist and turns to it. It did resemble some sort of squat Gothic castle, if you squinted just right. The pair walked up the front steps to the doors. A younger teen pulled them open. He backed away to allow the wizard to enter first. Hirano walked in at Sasaki's side.

"I could roast you." Sasaki huffed pouting.

"Sasaki, that's not nice." Miyano suddenly appeared before him.

Hirano scowled at the ginger teen. "No it wasn't. Why would you say such things?" He demanded.

"You said you would..." He mimed a bird pooping on his head.

Hirano huffed turning away. He glanced at Miyano, seeing how the smaller boy gazed up at Sasaki, he wondered... Keeping his thoughts to himself, Hirano began to walk away.

"Don't be late, you made it to the building in time." He called behind him.

"Hey, you got back to the dorms ok last night?" Sasaki asked the dark haired teen.

"Oh yeah!" Miyano giggled. This made Sasaki smile.

"What?" Miyano asked, the smile still on his lips.

"Oh, I have these friends... wait did Hirano say he was going to poop on you?" Miyano stopped to gawk up at him.

"Well, he was a bit more vulgar than that, but yeah." Sasaki confirmed.

"Well, that was mean, but you can't cook him!" Miyano warned. Sasaki sighed.

"I wouldn't. Knowing him he would haunt me from the beyond." Sasaki insisted. Miyano chuckled again. The bell rang.

"Oh, I have to go!" Miyano dashed down the hall.

"You never told me what your friends did." Sasaki muttered to himself as he turned away.

He thought about finding a hidden alcove to sleep in, but what if he didn't wake up in time for lunch. Felling sluggish, Sasaki meandered down the hall toward his class. Miyano. Why had he looked so disappointed when he saw his flame? This had kept him up most of the night.

He flopped into his chair, ignoring the voices around him. Hanzawa said something to him, but all he could do was groan. Miyano was a cat familiar. Cats didn't like fire much, unless it was to warm themselves by it. He picked at a chip in the desk. Not many fire elements had cats as familiars. Sometimes the larger predatory type cats would pair up with a fire wizard. Most of the fire wizards he knew had Phoenix or bearded dragons, animals that complimented their element.

Miyano wasn't going to be his familiar. This had been the conclusion he had come to sometime during the night before. He frowned out the window as he rested his head on his wrist. What was he going to do when Miyano found his wizard? Sasaki would most likely be shipped off to another school. Should he not hang around the adorable little cat boy? He winced as the pain in his chest throbbed whenever he thought of that.

"No, I can't do that!" He muttered. "Not yet." He whispered to himself.

"Sasaki wake up, the bell rang. You're going to be late to lunch!" someone called out to him. He sat up blinking.

The morning had passed in a blur of misery for him. He recalled shuffling from class to class but sleeping during most of them. Miyano. The name ran through his head again. What could he do?

"You are a wizard." A voice spoke beside him.

Hanzawa picked up his pace, easily maneuvering around the tall ginger. He didn't say anything else to him. Sasaki wasn't even sure if he had been talking to him. It was true. Sasaki was a wizard. Until he found his familiar he could request the help of an unclaimed familiar. But, would that be fair to Miyano? Why become friends if they weren't going to he around each other much? The thoughts swirling in his head were becoming too much for him.

Sasaki wanted to run and hide. Sometimes things just overwhelmed him. He was about to turn around to go find a place, when a small voice called out his name.

"Sasaki!" Miyano was before him.

"Hey, I got enough food for both of us, do you want to eat outside?" he held up a large wrapped parcel.

"Yeah sure!" Sasaki smiled down at him.

Miyano took hold of the cuff of Sasaki's sweater. They wound their way around several students, before getting to an empty hall. Miyano let go of Sasaki, but the wizard caught his hand. The fingers were delicate. Sasaki saw it had been his injured wrist. He let them slip from his grip so as not to hurt the smaller teen.

"Sasaki, are you alright?" Miyano asked.

"Mmm, sure." He smiled.

"Ok, is this good?" Miyano had led the way to a stone table hidden in the shadow of some tall trees.

"Oh, this is nice." Sasaki smiled.

Miyano smiled back up at him. They sat facing each other. Miyano tried to undo the knot on the wrap of the box. His small fingers were to swollen to work it out. Gently, Sasaki slipped the box out from under the outstretched hands.

"Here, I got it." Carefully, Sasaki undid the knot.

Inside he found two bento boxes. Both were packed with delicious smelling food. He smiled down at them. It looked like a wonderful lunch.

"Did you make these?" he asked.

"Oh, no. I'm horrible in the kitchen. I cut myself or hurt myself in some way. Kuresawa and Tashiro made them. They always make mine for me. They were fine with making an extra one, we got a surprise shipment in last night." Miyano shut his mouth concerned he was rambling.

"Oh, well that's nice." Sasaki beamed down at him.

"Yeah." Miyano picked up his chopsticks as they both expressed their gratitude for the food.

They ate in silence for awhile, both lost in their own thoughts. Sasaki kept sneaking peeks at the other boy. He wondered what type of wizard usually pairs with cat familiars. Miyano was watching something off to the right of Sasaki. The ginger turned his head but didn't see anything. When he looked back, Miyano was concentrating on his food.

"Miya?" Sasaki asked.

"Mmm?" Miyano looked up with a piece of shrimp sticking out of his mouth.

Sasaki giggled at how adorable he looked. Miyano sucked it into his mouth pouting slightly. Sasaki picked up his napkin to wipe some sauce from the others cheek.

"You were afraid of my fire last night..." Sasaki began.

"It startled me, that's all. I'm sorry." Miyano looked away.

"Cat familiars don't typically pair with fire elements, do they?" Sasaki asked.

Miyano looked down at the table top. He was surprised that the friendly wizard had been thinking about that as well.

"No, not usually. We typically pair with earth elementals." He offered.

"But, now you know I am a fire element so, it won't startle you again, right?" Sasaki asked.

Miyano flashed a smile up at him. He nodded. Sasaki couldn't help but grin back. Maybe he could begin to hope...

"... then the smoke just filled up the room. It was crazy! The teacher had to go get a wind element to come clear it away." Miyano was explaining how his potions class went.

Apparently one of the students mixed two opposing chemicals together. It had made a smoke screen all around the room. Many of the students had to scramble to get out. Some almost got trampled because they fell or couldn't see where everyone was. Miyano had been helped out by his friend Kuresawa.

"I will need to thank him later." Sasaki offered. Before the familiar could respond the bell rang that ended lunch.

"Miyano, I'm going to go out in the cemetery after classes today to finish up my art project, would you like to come?" Sasaki asked.

"Oh, yes, I still have to finish my grave rubbings!" He grinned.

With their plans made they waved goodbye to each other. What was the next two weeks going to be like until the autumnal equinox? Sasaki wondered. He felt his stomach twist. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to the familiar any time soon.