Heartfelt Twist

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Pacing seemed like the best thing to do, she couldn't think, couldn't sit still, everything seemed so confusing. Looking in the puddle of water in the dirt road, Hiromi noticed her reflection and saw a faceless figure of a man standing beside her. She couldn't understand why the figure who stood beside her had no face... his shape seemed familiar...and very comforting. Looking down at her shoes, Hiromi choose a black shirt with the neck outline and wrist outlines that where pink, brown shorts and white knee high socks with brown oxfords. Her chosen accessories was a blue beaded bracelet.

Hiromi crossed her arms over her chest and thought back to just a few days ago...

"Takao-kun!" yelled Hiromi, looking almost peeved at him.

"Eh...? What...?" moaned a voice from on the couch in the living room of his Grandfather's dojo.

Stomping her way to Takao, Hiromi stood in front of the TV, turned it off, and kneeled in front of the coffee table.

"Listen! I DID my homework, so stop pestering me for once!"

"We need to talk!"

Takao's eyes widened, then narrowed, "Why?! I've done okay on the last test, so there's no reason to nag on me!"

Hiromi blushed, "Not about that, baka..."

"Wha...?"

Hiromi looked to Takao who now sat upright on the couch blushing and fists clenched in the cushions of the couch. Hiromi looked away and looked to the floor and looked back up.

"H-how...can you tell if you like someone?"

Takao's blush deepened, "I dunno...I guess you just know..."

"Um...what if the person you like doesn't know you like him, but you've dropped a few hints...and he still doesn't know..."

"Dunno...never had that feeling before..."

Hiromi looked away, "Oh..."

"Who is it that you like, Hiromi?" asked Takao, looking away from her gaze.

Hiromi screamed, grabbed the coffee table and started to swing it around, "A GIRL SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TELL A GUY!!!!!!"

"Gah! It's Kai isn't it?!" yelled Takao, shielding his head from the coffee table weapon.

Hiromi stopped, blushed, dropped the coffee table from it's spot above her head, and kneeled back on the ground, "How...?!"

"I dunno!!!! Geez!"

Hiromi blushed more and covered her face in her hands, "What do I do?!?! He's not open about his feelings so I don't know what he's feeling!"

Takao looked away from Hiromi, "....Listen...."

Hiromi looked to Takao who continued his previous blushing, "Takao-kun?"

"Just tell him...if he feels the same then you'll know..."

"And if he doesn't feel the same?"

"Um...then you can talk to me if you need a shoulder to cry on..."

"Takao-kun....thank you...."

"No problem..."

Hiromi smiled at Takao and walked out of the dojo.

Takao whispered, "I guess..."

Hiromi shook her head trying to get the memory of that day out of her head. She sent a note to Kai saying for him to meet her at the spot where Yuya defeated Dunga. She prayed that he would, and feared his answer of rejection, but her heart pounded in hopes that he would say that he felt the same. She kicked at a spot in the dirt and sat on the bench. She never really noticed her feelings for Kai...not until he protected her after a rock slide on the island.

"Kai-kun..." whispered Hiromi, seeing Kai's image in the sunset. Shaking her head violently, she heard footsteps on the steps leading to the area. Looking up, she saw Kai halfway down, looking at her, his cold gaze still there.

Blushing, Hiromi waved slightly giving off and unintentional goofy grin. He walked down the steps and Hiromi got up and when to the middle of the small area. Kai walked to Hiromi with a puzzled face, and stood to her, almost being a few inches taller than her.

"...You asked me to come here?" said Kai, narrowing his gaze on her.

Hiromi looked away for a second and thought, 'Maybe I should rethink this...! But he's here, so I can't away...!'

"Um...! Yeah! I did! I wanted to talk to you...! Obviously...! But...! Um...!" stuttered Hiromi, unable to say anything more.

Kai sweat dropped, 'Why is she acting so weird...? It's not like her...'

Hiromi walked to the bench, "Sit!"

Kai sighed out and sat down beside her, "You said you had something to tell me...what is it?"

Hiromi looked to her feet, placed her hands on her knees and her knees rubbed against each other is nervousness, "Well..."

Kai leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at Hiromi, trying to see her face to see what emotions played on it. Hiromi looked through the corner of her eye and saw Kai give off an intense stare. Hiromi breathed in, and straightened her back. She turned to Kai, who also straightened his back and looked into Hiromi's eyes.

"I..." started Hiromi before blurting out, "I'm hungry!"

Kai almost fell over, got up from the bench and walked, "I should go..."

Hiromi panicked, "Wait Kai-kun!"

Kai turned back to Hiromi who stood behind him, "It's just...I...I love you...I have for a while now... and I...I needed to know you feelings...If you don't l-like, or love me...I understand...! I can get annoying..."

"Hiromi..."started Kai, "I'm...sorry...."

"Why?"

"I can't...and don't... love you..."

"Wha...?!"

Kai looked away, and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "It's just...a pitiful fool like me doesn't deserve love, nor should I deserve to feel it after everything I've done...I betrayed my team mates more than once...and I walk alone in the darkness, something you shouldn't do...and I betrayed Dranzer..."

Looking to Hiromi to see how she was taking it was probably his mistake, because he could feel Hiromi's hurt. "I'm sorry...but what you probably felt for me, was more a of a big brother feeling, and you accidentally misunderstood it..."

Hiromi mumbled, "I understand...there's no need to explain it, Kai-kun... I'm sorry I bothered you!" and Hiromi ran past Kai up the stairs away from the boy.

Running from the small spot where Kai still stood, Hiromi felt she couldn't ever face Kai again...not after her outburst....she wasn't sure if she'd ever find the guy she loved...fearing she would mistake another feeling for love.

Takao walked out of the conveyance store, and saw a blur of a chocolate hared girl, and he instantly knew it was Hiromi.

"Hiromi?!" called out Takao, and he ran after her, dropping all of his stuff to catch her.

Hiromi stopped at the spot where Takao fought Ozuma a second time, and found a tree to lean on. Breathing in heavily, Hiromi wasn't sure how far and long she ran around town for, but knew it was long enough because she had just noticed her exauhstion from all the running.

'I swore I'd never cry about something like this...but I can't hold it!' thought Hiromi, letting tears steam down her face, clutching the tree she leaned on. After a few minutes of crying, she looked up, 'That's right...I promised Takao-kun...'

Starting to turn, she bumped into a figure and looked up to find Takao looking tired from running after her. He puffed and after seeing Hiromi's pain struck face, he wrapped his arms around her. Unable to hold back the rest of the tears from the recent development, she buried her head in Takao's chest and lets the rest of the tears flow freely. Takao placed his head on Hiromi's head and unnoticed by Hiromi, placed a small kiss on her head. They stood in place for a few minutes before Hiromi took notice that it was dark, and realizing Takao's warm gesture. Pushing herself from Takao, and putting distance between them, Hiromi smiled at Takao.

"He...didn't feel the same did he?" asked Takao, hoping that Hiromi wouldn't start crying again.

"He didn't...and...I think I finally understand how I really feel about him..." smiled Hiromi, "And I think I found the man I truly love..."

Takao looked suprised, "Really? No more morning over him?"

Hiromi shook her head, "Nope! There are plenty of fish in the sea!"

Takao smiled, "That's good!"

Hiromi stepped one closer to Takao, "Thanks for helping Takao-kun!"

"No problem...!" Takao cheered, "Glad to help! But..."

"But what?"

"Who's the new guy you like?"

Hiromi smiled, stepped right up to Takao and placed a kiss on his lips, pulling away quickly, "He'll...have to find out, and hopefully he does! But he's a slow guy to catch on, so I don't expect him to catch on too fast!"

"Wha...?! I'm not THAT slow at catching on! Geez Hiromi-chan!" growled Takao looking away from her with a blush on his face.

Hiromi smiled, "So now you're adding a 'chan' to me name? Well, I shouldn't be surprised since we're like...boyfriend and girlfriend now!"

"Yeah...well...hopefully you don't drive me insane...!"

Hiromi grolwed, "WHAT WAS THAT?!" and with a simple push, she knocked him down. She kneeled, "Think again, sweetheart!"

Takao smiled, "Heh heh...only joking!" and placed a small kiss on her lips.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Spinel's Notation: Man...that ending sucked beyond belief....well...I'm pretty happy about this set of fiction, so yeah! XD Happy days are here to stay! XD What fun! Anyhow...I really wanted to do something with Hilary / Hiromi's feelings about Kai and Takao / Tyson. She seemed to have a small crush on Kai, so I worked on that XD