Two years later:

Sunlight flittered through the clouds, landing on a small cottage situated on sloped land carpeted with emerald green grass which was coated lightly with the early morning dew. In that cottage lives a young man called Kogure. Actually his real name was Belle because his mother had named him before he was born, thinking that the baby would be a girl. Now Belle... I mean Kogure, lives alone with his father, the basketball coach, Anzai-sensei. Kogure managed to get most of the people to call him Kogure but there are some who calls him Belle out of habit.

The window of the cottage flew open and out peeked a young man with twinkling brown eyes under a pair of spectacles.

"What a glorious day!" Kogure commented to no one in particular. A light breeze played about his face, ruffling his soft bangs as he leaned forward to better breathe in the fresh morning air.

Taking a basket along the way, he walked out of the house towards the town nearby.

The townspeople greeted the nice boy as he walked past them and being a polite boy that he is he greeted them back and even stopped to exchange a few words with some of them.

One of them was the baker, Uozumi. The tall man asked, "Where are you off to this morning, Bel.. uh Kogure?"

"Ohayo, Uozumi-san! I'm off to the bookstore! They got these great textbooks on computer cost analysis and I know I must have them. To know if the system is worth investing in is very important therefore the system should be efficient in the running and we have to take consideration its cost…"

"Uh, yeah…"

"And that's not all the bookstore got! They got these neat programs CDs, although most of them are pirated but cheaper for us, eh? And the cheap bargains like floppy disks and ink…"

"Ding! - Ops, I think I hear the oven timer going off. I better tend to my bread then, eh?" Uozumi said, hastily running back into his shop as he mumbled under his breath, "He's been hanging out with Hikoichi too much."

"Timer? I didn't hear any timer going off. Oh well," Kogure shrugged as he went on his way to the bookstore.

The bell to the bookstore tinkled as the door opened. The young boy behind to counter greeted him with a smile as he laid down the book he got in his hand.

"Ohayo, Hikoichi-kun!" Kogure greeted him.

"Ohayo, Kogure-san!" the other boy greeted in return, "I see you have already finished reading that book on the design systems analysis… why are there marks on the covers?"

"Oh! Et~o… I was using the book as a mouse pad. I guess I was dragging the mouse too hard," Kogure told him sheepishly. Then his eyes brightened up, "So have you got that new book on systems cost analysis?"

"Well, yes I do and I'll lend it to you if you promise to not use it as a mouse pad," warned the bookstore owner.

"Oh, I promise and I'm really sorry about the book," Kogure bowed, apologizing profusely.

The bookstore owner sighed and reached behind him on the first shelf to take out a mint condition textbook and laid it on the counter. Kogure took the book and held it reverently in his hands and as he opened the pages with joy.

"Oh….." he nearly cooed, "I hope I'll get a good grade for this..."

After thanking the storeowner he left the bookstore, his nose in the book.

"Hiyaa!!"

A duck fell from the sky and landed with a thud near Sasuke's feet. He happily picked it up and stuffed it in a bag held in his hand which already contained a dozen dead duck.

"Wow, Master Kuno! You wind attack had not missed one single duck that you aimed for!" the ninja exclaimed running towards his master.

"Of course! As the master of the Kuno house, my skill should be perfect if not more," the young man replied straightening his blue and black uniform on his well-built body.

"Ah, master! You are the best!"

"Of course I am the best," Kuno said, his hand running through his dark hair as his other hand held his faithful boken, "and I deserve the best of everything!"

Sasuke nodded vigorously when suddenly he realised that his young master was looking at something intently. Twisting around he only saw the townspeople going about their usual business and of course there's Bel... that is Kogure...

"And she is the best!" proclaimed Kuno.

"Who?" asked Sosuke scanning around for any beauties.

"Why Belle, Coach Anzai's daughter. Who else?" Kuno said about to walk to the aforementioned boy.

"But Belle... I mean.. Kogure is a bo.. urk!!"

Kuno grabbed his collar and proclaimed, "I will have the best!"

"But she's a he!!" Sasuke tried again.

"Her name is Belle," sniffed Kuno letting go of the short whiskered ninja, as if he didn't listen to a word Sasuke said (which is true), "and that's enough for me."

Sosuke's jaw dropped.

(HANAMICHI: I don't get it? Why does his name got to do anything to do with it?

NOOR: Belle means beauty in french.

HANAMICHI: So?

NOOR: Good point.)

Kogure was too engrossed in his book that he didn't notice someone step in front of him until he hit a broad chest and fell to the ground on his butt.

"Ooof!" he cried when he hit the ground, the book fallen from his hand.

Another pair of hands picked it up and Kogure looked up to see the Master of the Kuno House looking curiously at the cover.

"Ah!" Kuno exclaimed, "a cook book! That's good! Girls should be studying every new recipe for the sake of their husbands!"

Kogure sighed, "Oh, it's you." Getting up, he took the book quickly from Kuno's hands and said, "It's not a cook book"

"Oh yes it is," sing songed Kuno waving his index finger at the bespectacled boy, "I saw a picture of an oven and a cookie on the cover"

"No, it isn't," he told him, tempted to use the same jeering tune the other young man had used, "it's a picture of a computer and a chip"

"Now, Belle, although I am a man I know the difference between a potato chip and a cookie when I see one!"

Kogure rolled his eyes and started to say something rude when suddenly something fell on his head with a THUMP.

"Ouch! What the …!" a basketball landed near his feet and suddenly three more came falling near the group. The three ducked and ran away from any more dropping balls as Kogure's eyes flew about trying to find out where those wayward balls might have come from. When he did, he got a big surprise.

"Otousan!" Kogure cried out as he ran towards the cottage where basketballs flinging outside the windows can be seen all the way from the town.

~to be continued~