A Name
By Wolfic
A/N: Takes place the morning after Minori stays over at Ami's house (Episode 24).
She woke up in a daze, as if nothing around her made sense.
The fact that the room was not her room and the futon was not her futon, and everything else that she saw was not hers, hadn't registered to her yet.
Shifting slightly, she sat up, and the thin sheets fell around her, exposing her bare skin to the chill morning temperature.
Instinctively she drew the sheets around her as if to ward off the cold. It was then that she noticed that the futon she was in was actually made for two people. The pillow next to her had a deep impression in it.
Reaching out one finger Minori touched the material, feeling warmth flow from the material.
Someone had been sleeping next to her, someone that had left the futon recently.
Suddenly the pieces of the picture started to come together, crashing violently against one another to paint a jagged image she didn't want to see.
She was naked and had shared the night with someone.
"Finally awake?"
A voice nearby broke her thoughts and shook her from her speculations. It was a voice that was airy, floating high above her and was also very familiar.
Sickeningly familiar.
The troubled feelings within Minori intensified, as she looked up.
Leaning against the open doorway was Ami, dressed in nothing more than a large white T-shirt.
Though the shirt itself was very large, it didn't cover all of Ami and certain areas of her body were exposed. Minori took in the sight of her long bare legs and her exposed collarbone and neck.
Ami was beautiful, a type of natural beauty that Minori would never be able to achieve no matter how much she dieted or played sports. It was a fact that Minori hated to admit, but often could not help but realize.
"Hmmm," Ami hummed, her eyes frighteningly observant of Minori.
Minori suddenly wanted nothing more than to hide under her sheets and slam her pillow over her head, hoping to hide from those eyes that caught her in such a sight.
"You're awfully spacey this morning." Ami observed offhandedly.
"What–," The word flew out of Minori's mouth before she knew what to say. Her mouth hung open as she struggled to think of what to add to that word.
"Wha-what happened last night?" she finally managed.
"You don't remember?" Ami smirked, her smile was sinister and terrified Minori.
She knew she didn't want to hear what words those lips would produce.
"Remember what?" Minori asked, hesitant.
"What you did? What I did? What we did?" Ami walked closer, something foreboding in her slinking gait.
"I –"
"Let me help jog your memory," Ami said playfully as she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it up, exposing her flat stomach and her bare chest.
There were bruises, red and puckered, all over her skin. Some on her stomach, some on her breasts and some trailing off in various directions, forming a broken trail over the expanse of her pale flesh.
Minori stiffened.
"Oh wait, there's more." Ami turned around and displayed her back, slender and beautiful.
There were red jagged marks down her back. Marks that only sharp fingernails could've made.
"Wha–who did that to you?" Minori couldn't look away as her eyes remained fixed on Ami's body.
Ami turned around and smiled. "You did."
It was almost as if those two words had physical form the way they affected Minori. As if they themselves were punches and slaps. She curled up, her hands tightly gripping the blankets, as if to ward herself from more pain.
"You're lying." Her voice was dark and deep and heavy.
Ami maintained her smile. "I'm not."
"Don't mess around with me!" Minori looked up this time, eyes enraged. "Is this another game of yours? Are you trying to mess with my head again? I would never do such a thing unless I was drunk or –" she stopped suddenly and stared at Ami.
Ami knew what those eyes were saying. She laughed.
"Don't be so melodramatic. Do you really think you were drunk or something? I don't have any alcohol here, I'm not old enough, remember? And plus, you don't have to be drunk to have sex with someone." The word slid off her tongue sharply, a horrible sound to Minori's ears.
"I would never –"
"Never what? Have sex with another woman? Yeah right, we both know how you felt about Taiga. Or is it that you would never have sex with me?" Ami leaned in close and stared Minori deep in the eyes.
Minori couldn't look away. She knew what Ami wanted. She wanted her to say it, to say that she hated her, despised her, and the very thought of them doing anything intimate made her want to vomit.
"I–" Minori looked away. "What happened last night?"
For a few seconds Ami didn't say anything. She just watched Minori, as if she were searching for something. And then when she found what she was searching for, Ami sighed under her breath as she drew back slowly.
"Don't play stupid," she said sharply. "Like I said, we didn't drink any alcohol. I'm sure you remember, so stop pretending like you don't."
"I told you I don't remember anything."
"Alright, we'll play this game." Ami leaned back her voice suddenly casual, unfitting for the situation.
"What do you want to know? Who was the seme and who was the uke? What your fingers did to me and what my tongue did to you? Or perhaps you'd like to know whose name it was you called out for. Was it Ryuji? Taiga?"
Minori's eyes widened, her mouth wordlessly moving, but no sound was produced. Slowly her head began to tilt down, as if she was tired and her eyes remain downcast.
It was that question again.
That one question she had never wanted to consider because it was a question with no answers. It was a question that drove and stirred so many different emotions inside of her it was as if her mind, her heart, her body, her soul couldn't take it in. Couldn't process it. And so she resigned herself to her position, her eyes seeming seeing and not seeing, as if the reality so abrupt in her face didn't exist.
Ami slowly moved away from Minori and started to watch her again, the sadistic playfulness she had slipped off her face. And for a few quiet seconds they remained that way.
Eyes that searched and eyes that hid, almost dancing invisibly around each other.
Giving a sudden long angry huff, Ami got up from her spot and stomped over to her closet where she tore it open roughly. Quickly and with precision, her fingers yanks clothes off of hangers and other types of fabrics from drawers. Sorting and swapping fabrics, there was a strange efficiency in what she did. Pink clothes for blue ones. Blue clothes for pink ones. Soon she had a bundle of clothes made.
Grabbing the roughly made bundle she chucked it at Minori's head. The sudden yet soft impact of the clothes didn't stir Minori the slightest however.
"Get dressed," Ami commanded sternly. "When you're done go to the kitchen. I've already made you some breakfast."
With that said, Ami headed for the door.
However she stopped, right at the door, her hand barely touching the handle.
She had heard Minori speak to her.
It wasn't a sentence or phrase, but a word and a question, spoken in a voice so small and fragile it was almost like it never existed.
That word, that question, could never be answered.
It was a question that drew more and more questions until the one asking and the one answering spun around in a never ending circle.
"Why?"
Why what?
Why are you treating me this way?
Why did you ask that question?
Why can't I find an answer?
Why am I here?
Why did last night happen?
Ami didn't turn around. She didn't look at Minori. She just spoke.
"Because it's not good to lie yourself," she said softly. "You may think it's easy to run away from reality, but reality will always be there. Watching you, reminding you, and always waiting. And when you cause problems for people and do things to people that will change them, those consequences will be there for you as well."
Grabbing the door handle sharply, Ami slid the door open and left.
She had never intended to answer Minori. But now that she had her mind was all clogged up and twisted again.
Full of thoughts of last night. A night that she clearly remembered.
Somewhere, somehow, amid all the tears and heartbreak they had formed a connection. A small feeble connection that lead to that.
And amid all the passion and heated flesh, touching, feeling, connecting, there was a name.
A name that Minori called out for with such love–lust–desperation that Ami felt something small shift inside of her. Something small that crumpled up and fractured itself into something she didn't understand.
In a short, small, heated whisper was the name.
"Amin."
