"I'll be leaving now!" Mathias bolted for the door as he finished his breakfast. "I don't want my honey Norge to be late because of me!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure!" Gilbert barked. "We don't care! Get lost!"

"You guys are mean," Mathias pouted. He opened the door to the front porch and went out.

"He left already?" Alfred said as he looked over from the kitchen. "Bummer. I didn't even give him his Danish-style burger yet!"

Gilbert snorted. "Pfft, if you did, he's probably gonna ask Berwald to put it up on a museum, or something."

The rest of the morning, Sakura stayed silent. She felt awkward to start a conversation with them, especially with Alfred. It's been a month and a half since she first moved here, which meant that the first term of college had already started. Everyone was busy over the weekdays, so the streets more or less mellowed out. Sakura still found it hard to strike up a conversation with Alfred.

"Do you always drink tea, Sakura? Even in the morning?" Alfred leaned in close to look at what Sakura was drinking. Sakura's cheeks slightly tinted pink. Even after being here for quite some time now, she still wasn't able to shake off this uncomfortable feeling building up her chest. "Is there anything wrong with it, Alfred-san?"

Alfred shrugged. "I just find it weird, that's all. No hate or anything. Most people would prefer a good ol' cup of coffee."

Sakura turned away from him and continued to sip her tea. She gave a little startled jump as a girl suddenly hopped inside from the kitchen window. She had caramel-brown hair, pink flowers clipped on one side, and emerald green eyes. In her hands, she held a frying pan.

Gilbert spit out his coffee, his red eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

Alfred threw a piece of bread at him. "Hey, now, it's not nice to be rude to other neighbors. Especially those who saved us from Swiss Cheese's ass. Speaking of Swiss Cheese, how did you get past his lawn to get here?"

The girl smiled. "Oh, let's just say that I was a ninja back in the olden days...it doesn't really matter now, does it?"

"Scram off, Elizabeta..." Gilbert muttered to himself. He received another piece of bread to the face by Alfred. "Will you stop it?"

"Rule five, Gilbert," Alfred said. "We appreciate those who saved us from Swiss Cheese."

Gilbert rolled his eyes and shook his head. Elizabeta stuck out her tongue at Gilbert.

"Well, Elizabeta? Come in, you're always welcome here!" Alfred held out a cup of coffee for her to drink. Elizabeta stepped down from the windowsill and sat down on Mathias's empty chair.

For a few moments, everyone was silent...until Alfred coughed and stood up from his seat.

"Well, it's been good," Alfred said, "and uh...I'll be leaving now..."

Elizabeta looked up from her coffee. "Oh? Well, goodbye. Tell Matthew I said hi."

Alfred ran to the door, shouldered his backpack, and looked back at her. "I won't forget! Okay, bye, see ya later, dudes!" and with those words, he exited the door.

Sakura stood up as well. "I'll be going too."

Elizabeta pouted. "After Al just left? Bummer."

Sakurs picked up her bag from under the dining table and followed Alfred out the door.

When Sakura was gone, Elizabeta suddenly sighed happily. She buried her face in her hands and swayed from side to side while squealing. When she was done fangirling, Gilbert's red eyes stared at her strangely.

"Don't you think that Sakura would make a cute match for our dear friend Alfred?" Elizabeta said. Gilbert rolled his eyes and cracked a small smile, placing his feet on the empty space on the table.

"You have the weirdest assumptions."

.

"I'm home," Sakura said plainly as she closed the door behind him. She looked at the living room, where Gilbert and Mathias were playing video games on the couch and yelling. Elizabeta can be seen on the carpet reading something.

"Where is Alfred-san?" Sakura asked Elizabeta. She looked up from her book and smiled.

"Oh, welcome back. He's in his room upstairs. Wants to be left alone, the poor fellow," she replied. Elizabeta leaned in close to whisper something and pointed at the book she was reading. "Oh, and I borrowed this from you."

Sakura looked at the boke she was reading. It was Hitorijime My Hero. Hmm, a good find. "It's fine. What's he doing upstairs?"

Elizabeta looked at the ceiling. "Doing an essay, or something. Not really sure."

Sakura nodded. "Thanks for your help, Elizabeta-chan."

"Anytime. Oh, and I'll return your book tomorrow, if that's okay with you."

"No problem." Sakura said as she climbed the stairs to the second floor. Even from across the hallway, she could hear the sounds of someone typing on a keyboard and groaning in frustration. Sakura walked towards the door of Alfred's room, making sure that her shoes made no sound and pressed her right ear against the door softly.

"Damn it, I'll have to start over again...why is writing an essay so God damn hard?"

Sakura's heart fell. She didn't want to see Alfred in pain. It strangely saddened her. Suddenly, an idea clicked in her head. Sakura quickly plopped her bag down her bed and ran towards the kitchen.

"Whoa, where's the fire, Car? You okay?" Gilbert said from the living room.

Sakura looked at him from the kitchen. "Yes, I'm okay, don't worry about it! I'm just going to get some tea."

"The tea bags are in the freezer," Mathias shouted.

Sakura stifled a laugh as she heard the sound of Elizabeta smacking Mathias with her book. "Who the hell places tea bags in a freezer?" she said.

"Matthew refrigerates maple syrup!"

Sakura opened the refrigerator's freezer and took out a frozen teabag and stared at it in disbelief while sighing in exasperation. Brewing it might be a little longer than she expected.

Sakura set a coffee mug on the dining table and poured hot water inside it. She then placed the frozen teabag inside the mug and waited for five minutes.

"What are you doing, Sakura?" Elizabeta sneaked up behind her and tapped on her shoulder lightly. Sakura gave a little shudder at the touch.

"Please don't sneak up on me like that, Elizabeta," Sakura said once she calmed herself down. Using her free hand, she brushed Elizabeta's hand away from her shoulder.

Elizabeta chuckled softly. "Oh, don't be such a hedgehog like Vash! Who are you brewing tea for?" she asked. Sakura suddenly felt wary inside. She did not want to let anyone know about these...unfamiliar...feelings shr harbored. "For myself, why are you asking?"

Elizabeta had a knowing look in her green eyes as she looked at her. "Oh, sure it is."

"You have the weirdest assumptions!" Gilbert shouted from the living room as Mathias and he cursed under their breaths due to the video game they were so fixated on.

Elizabeta rolled her eyes and looked back at Gilbert. "Stay out of this, and watch your profanity! I can hear you swearing from here."

"Who cares, the awesome me does as the awesome me wishes!"

Elizabeta turned back to Sakura and waved her hand dismissively. "So Sakura, what do you study at college?"

Sakura used a small spoon to stir the tea. "Me? Electrical Engineering."

"Ooh, interesting," Elizabeta said. "My other friend Roderich...he's Austrian, by the way, lives beside me...takes Fine Arts."

"Fine Arts?"

"Oh, he's quite the musician, I tell you. Give him a minute on the piano and he'll play your ears off, he's amazing!" Elizabeta had a faraway look in her eyes.

Sakura's eyes fixated on her tea. She had no idea who Roderich was. Perhaps Yao was right...she needed on work on her socializing skills.

Elizabeta stared at Sakura brewing tea for a few minutes, her green eyes trained on the Japanese girl. Sakura felt really uncomfortable with this and coughed to get her attention.

"Please don't stare at me," Sakura said softly, her voice almost a whisper. "It's uncomfortable."

Elizabeta blinked twice. "I was...oh! Sorry, sorry, I was just thinking about something."

Sakura nodded involuntarily at Elizabeta's statement and picked up the coffee mug. "I'll be going upstairs. Oh, and tell Mathias and Gilbert to keep it down," she said. "I'm giving this to Alfred-san."

Elizabeta had a knowing look in her eye. "I thought you were brewing it for yourself."

"Changed my mind. See you later." Sakura didn't wait for Elizabeta to say anything more and cautiously climbed the stairs to Alfred's room. Once she got there, she pressed her right ear against the door softly once more. She could still hear frantic typing and constant muttering. Sakura waited a little while longer out of shyness, but after only a few seconds, she couldn't contain the overwhelming need to support Alfred, and so she knocked.

The typing sounds stopped. "Mathematics, if that's you, what do you want?"

"It's not Mathias," Sakura said, loud enough for Alfred to hear her from outside. "It's me, Sakura."

"Honda? Well, come in. And do lock the door behind you."

Sakura opened the door and stifled a gasp at the state of Alfred's room, completely forgetting to lock it.

It was messy.

Books were randomly opened everywhere, crumpled paper was strewn all over the floor, and a broken plane model stood on a shelf. Even Alfred himself looked like hell. His dirty blond hair was messy, he had stress lines underneath his now dull blue eyes. Sakura felt more concerned for Alfred now more than ever. Sakura wanted to help him in some way - she didn't want to see Alfred like this...not after he allowed Sakura to live under his household.

"Alfred-san..." Sakura said. "What happened here? Are you okay? How can I help? Oh, look at you, you look sick..."

Alfred scratched the back of his head and turned back to his computer on the desk, resuming his typing. "English?"

Sakura nearly dropped the coffee mug in her hand and suddenly realized that she was speaking in Japanese - a nervous habit of hers. "Sorry...I was just worried."

Alfred stopped typing and turned to look back at her. He raised an eyebrow. "Ya don't say?"

Sakurs walked up to Alfred's desk and placed the coffee mug there. "I think you should drink this."

Alfred looked at the mug's contents in confusion. "Tea?"

"Yes. It can help calm you down...it also tastes good, trust me. It does."

Alfred took a cautious sip from the mug and grimaced. "It's hot."

Sakuea chuckled softly. "Of course it is, it's tea after all. So..." Sakura sat on Alfred's messy bed. "How does it taste like?"

Alfred took his lips from the mug and smiled. "I guess it does taste good. And...wow, I feel calmer! Thanks a lot, Kura."

Sakura stood up, walked to the door, opened it, and looked back at Alfred. "I'll just be downstairs. I'm glad you like it."