"What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-

Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

Like a heavy load

Or does it explode?

———- Harlem by Langston Hughes

...'...

Sweat pastes the young girl's brown bangs to her face as she leans forward, hands placed on her knees as she tried to regain her normal breathing rate.

A giggle slips from her thin pink lips even though her legs felt like rubber and could give out any moment. That kind of thing happens when you run nonstop for close to four hours around a town. No matter how small it is.

But the feeling of euphoria that Tamaki felt after running made it worth it.

Just then, a wind blows just as she straightens up, which sends her opened grey jacket fluttering. Closing her blue eyes, Tamaki breathes in the smell of the morning air along with the slight smell of Cherry blossoms from the trees not too far from where the teenager stood.

I love Monday mornings... A content smile comes to her face before the familiar ring and vibration of her cell phone makes her smile drop ever so slightly.

Sighing, she reaches into her pocket for the silver electronic. The name Hikaru lights up the screen as she puts it to her ear.

"Talk to me, babe." Tamaki says as greeting and a familiar sigh from the other side of the phone makes the girl smirk slightly.

"Get home. Now. You do realize that it is late, right?" Comes the irritated tone of the male on the other end of the line.

"So what? I'm not the one who has to start their first day today. It's suppose to be you." Tamaki still begins to walk back down from the pretty view on top of the very high street toward her home.

"Oka-san is beginning to worry. Besides, you have to see me off." Hikaru answers and Tamaki can't help but roll her eyes. "Don't you wanna see your onii-san off to school?"

"Nope." Tamaki quickly hangs up before her overly dramatic brother begins to whine in her ears. It was much too early for that.

...'...

"Have a great day, Tadashi-kun!" Tamaki can't help but roll her eyes at her parents' exaggerated way of saying good-bye. The two adults wave quite enthusiastically after their first born at their front gate as said boy rides away on his newly bought bicycle. She was even surprised that they didn't argue about dropping him to school. It was his first day after all at a school.

It would be hers next year too. At the thought, Tamaki can feel her stomach do a squeeze to her that has her even more excited about the fact of attending a school.

"Claude-chan, are you okay?" Looking up from her place on the bench located on their porch, Tamaki finds herself staring into her mother's brown eyes. It seems her father had already found his way back into the Kashiba household, leaving his wife to check on their youngest.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine, Oka-san." Tamaki gets to her feet and begins to walk into their home. "I just already miss him, that's all."

"Don't worry, Claude-chan!" Hearing her famous nickname once more, Tamaki finds her father standing in the doorway, a comical look on his face. "Although Tadashi-kun is gone for at least ten hours, you have your Otou-san!"

The clearing of a throat behind Tamaki makes her father quickly add on: "And your Oka-san too."

"I know that. It's just..." Trailing off, Tamaki shakes her head. "Ah never mind. I'm gonna go take a bath."

"When you're done we'll look over your english!" Haruka calls after her daughter before sighing and looking to her husband who just gives her an encouraging smile that she can't help but return.

Closing her door behind her, Tamaki throws herself onto her bed, not bothering to remove her sweaty clothes. She finds herself turning over to look at her light blue walls that held posters upon posters of different track stars.

From Naoko Takahashi to Asahara Nobuharu. Even the famous Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt had a place on Tamaki's 'Wall of Fame' but her eyes glide over all these athletes before it lands on a picture to the right of her very big poster of Yoshihide Kiryū.

A light skin man stands with a bright smile on his face in his Japanese Olympic jumpsuit with a gold medal hanging around his neck. Why her eyes landed there?

Well that's because it was a picture of her grandfather, Claude Kashiba.

...'...

"Jii-chan! Jii-chan! Did ya see me? Did ya see how fast I was?" A small Tamaki runs head first into her grandfather, who chuckles as he lifts her up.

"I sure did, Tama-chan. You sure showed them how fast you are." His blue eyes are warm when Tamaki looks up with her matching ones and the girl lets out a giggle.

"One day I'm gonna be an O-o...Olympic gold medalist like you!" Even though she had a hard time pronouncing the big word, Tamaki finishes her proud statement with a big grin.

Ruffling her blonde curls, Claude can only laugh before responding.

"I'm sure you will and you're gonna make ole Jii-chan proud, right?"

"Yeah!"

"That's my little girl."

...'...

Tamaki blinks the old memory away before getting to her feet with a tired sigh.

"I sure will, Sofu. I'll make you proud. I just gotta make through this year before I can begin that dream."

...'...

Although it's short, I hope you guys don't mind >.< Will upload maybe tomorrow... not sure!