(Edit: Me forgot disclaimer and I skipped through it again, correcting some typos.)

Disclaimer: I seriously do not own K-On. Would be cool and epic, but I don't.

Pairing: Ritsu x Mio

Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Humour, One-shot

Pounding

It was a cloudy and cold day, the clouds shielding the dying plants from the warming sun. So cruel. Autumnl was fading into winter, slowly, but steadily, seemingly killing all the plants' lifes. All those wonderful lifes. How could the world be so cruel? Always killing the beautiful scenery, drying out it's warm colours, replacing it with nothing but white, gray and black.

Averting her gaze from the world outside her window, a tall black-haired girl, Mio Akiyama, sighed inwardly. She had been down for the past month or something like that. She could not really remember for how long, but it did not matter to her anyway. The only thing interesting her right now was how she should possibly deal with her twisted problems.

"How did it turn out this way anyway?" she thought, apparently fighting with herself. "I mean, geez . . . I'm so stupid . . ." Another sigh escaped her lips before she slumped down onto her bed, distressed. Tears were building up in her eyes, threatening to overflow any second. Mio was extremely upset with herself. So upset that she had been down for this past month, so down everyone around her had already taken notice of it and had asked her if she was fine.

Of course she had told them she was fine, what else could she do? She could not just say No, because I'm the biggest idiot in the world, having fallen in love with my best friend! No, that would be so unlikely.

And embarrassing. Really embarrassing. Mio could not imagine how much embarrassment, how much pain she would have to go through if anyone was to find out about her loving her best friend. It seemed absurd, seemed so wrong and weird for others, she was sure of it, but for her, it was perfectly normal.

But this love was not the only problem and not the only reason why she was sad. No, there was another reason. A reason that frightened her so much her heart felt like it would stop any minute. Ritsu was avoinding her. And that was something she had no explanation for. However, her mind started to torment her with thoughts like Ritsu might have found out about her feelings and was disgusted by them.

Though, that could not be, right? Ritsu was Ritsu, no way she found out something Mio had been hiding for nearly a year now. This mere thought was enough to torment Mio throughout every passing day this past month and it was eating away at her, terribly chewing on her feelings, paining her.

Suddenly Mio could hear rain trickling against her window, the soothing sound of the rain making her lose her will not to cry. The tears held back found their way out of Mio's eyes and down her face. She was sobbing, shaking in agony. If their friendship were to disappear, Mio was sure she would not know how to continue her normal life anymore. If this mere incident of Ritsu avoiding her was already driving her near the edge . . .

Calming down a bit, Mio laid down onto her bed, hugging pillow. She stared into her room, her eyes not focusing on anything. Her mind was blank, and her heart was thankful therefore. With her mind blank, the pain creased more and more, leaving her with nothing. And that was better than the pain inside her heart.

"Idiot, Ritsu . . ." Mio muttered against the pillow, only bringing it closer to her face, burying it into the soft farbic. The tears just would not stop, would they?

She heard her door being opened, but she did not look up. She did not want to face any of her parents right now, not even any of her friends. That would be only more paining, because they would ask her about what was wrong.

"Nee Mio," she heard a familiar voice whisper softly. Mio knew who it was. To recognize this voice no eyes were needed for her. She just knew whose voice that was and it terrified her. Hugging the pillow even closer, so close that she could feel her hot and wet breath on the pillow in front of her face, she shuddered. Why did she, of all people Mio knew, have to come in a moment like this?

Mio felt how that someone sat down onto her bed, the weight pushing the mattress down slightly. "Ya know, I'm sorry . . ." she heard her mumble, her words just above a whisper, barely audible. She looked up from her pillow, tears in her eyes, just to be proved right that it was Ritsu who had come to pay her a visit. Her friend was not looking at her, she was rather more staring down at the floor, her hair shadowing her eyes. Mio was not able to read Ritsu's expression, neither could she even see it in the first place.

Silence engulfed them, tormenting Mio's heart even more. It was thumping in her chest, her eyes were hurting from crying and her head was aching, throbbing painfully, hindering her on thinking clearly.

And so they continued to sit in silence, neither one of them daring to speak up, though Mio wanted to. She just did not know what to ask first. What are you apologizing for? Why are you here? Why have you been avoiding me? Did you notice my feelings? Those questions were swirling in her clouded mind, with her unable to really pick the right question to ask now.

"You have noticed, right?" asked Ritsu, turning her head towards Mio, smiling faintly. A hurt smile it was, piercing through Mio's heart at once.

"Have noticed what?" she asked, clearly confused. She racked her brain, trying to find an answer to her own question. Her headache was not benefitting her attempts at all here.

Ritsu looked at her, her eyes gazing off into space. Her hand reached out to Mio's head and stroked her soft black hair. If felt nice to Mio. She really liked it, but could not show it due to her utter confusion. Not that she really noticed this little gesture anyway. It seemed so unreal.

"You know, Mio," Ristu started "I've thought about it for the past month, and I'm sure you've figured it out. Or I at least was sure of it. Seeing you like this now. . . I'm not too sure anymore." A light-hearted laugh escaped her lips, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

"Huh?" Mio sat up, causing Ritsu to pull her hand away. "I don't get it."

"Nah, Mio, you don't have to," the brown-haired girl retorted.

"Now I want to know! Ritsu!" complained Mio, leaning closer to Ritsu's face to look her in the eyes. In this moment all her worries about her feelings being discovered vanished and were replaced with happiness about having Ritsu right next to her.

"It doesn't matter, really."

"But-"

"I'm telling you, it doesn't matter," Ritsu said camly, trying to keep her composure.

"Ritsu. . ." Mio begged, her face now dangerously near to Ritsu's.

"Nee, Mio, it's okay, really."

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Mio blurted out. It nagged her. She had to know at any rate, at any cost. And better now than later, or never. Horror struck Ritsu's face and the young girl darted backwards, obviously in panic.

"Uh. . ." was the only response Ritsu was able to give her. She was fumbling with the hem of her shirt, her eyes looking through the room, trying to find something to distract her from that question. Mio was now sitting right next to Ritsu, their legs brushing slightly, neither one of them really minding this mere touch. However, the drummer was flinching, squirming in her place, unsure of what to reply. Her eyes were clearly showing what was going on within her. Horror, angst, and obvious pain, and, what bothered Mio, she had no possible explanation for any of them.

Suddenly Ritsu turned towards Mio, her eyes opened wide and she screamed: "Oh my God, there's a ghost behind you!"

Horrified, Mio jolted forward, crashing into Ritsu which resulted in both of them tumbling to the ground with a loud thud. Mio was clinging to her best friend for her dear life, scared to death, mumbling things like Help me! Is it still there? and Make it leave, Ritsu! Oh God, was she scared. Scared to death.

Ritsu, on the other hand, was a bit amused by the fact that her tactic to change the subject actually worked out, though she seemed to not be all that content with the current situation either. Her best friend clining to her, laying on top of her, her hair tickling her face was nearly too much to bear. She slowly wrappd her arms around the frightened girl and stroked her hair yet again to calm her down.

"Geez," muttered Ritsu, an apologizing tone lingering in her voice. "And here I thought you were used to me teasing you, you big cry-baby, Mio. . ."

Again, she was smiling faintly while calming the girl in her arms down who had now lifted her head to look into Ritsu's eyes, her face strained with tears. Mio should have known, really. They had known each other for so long, and yet she had to believe every scary thing Ritsu told her, not caring about the situation or atmosphere either way. All that counted was to believe her, at least to some extent.

"It's all your fault," Mio sobbed, burying her head in Ritsu's neck. She felt comfortable with the feeling of being so close to her, so comfortable with having a reason good enough to be so close, and above all, she loved how Ritsu was stroking her hair ever so gently and caring. Right now nothing really mattered to her but the feeling of being this close to her loved one. It sounded strange regarding the fact she wanted Ritsu not to find out about her feeling, but whenever they were close, she could not care less.

She snuggled even closer to the girl beneath her, her heart thumping with pure excitement, while her mind was wondering where the teariness and the throbbing pain had wandered off to. With Mio's sobs dying down, a content smile crept onto her face, her whole body relaxing more and more. In this one moment was she happy, truly happy, even without mutual feelings. What were mutual feelings anyway? No one needed them, right?

Time passing by, Mio relaxed more and more, nearly nodding off, when she noticed something kind of strange. Ritsu's heart was beating hard, she could even feel it. It was throbbing, aching, nearly bursting out of her chest and just in this moment Mio noticed that Ritsu was occasionally squirming beneath her, obviously uncomfortable somehow.

Realizing this, the black-haired girl tried to get up, but something hindered her. Ritsu's arms. They were keeping her in place, holding her firmly. Sh raised her head to look into the brown-eyed girl's eyes, trying to figure out why she would not let her get up.

"Ritsu?" asked Mio quietly, looking deeply into her friend's eyes. Asked person averted her gaze from the bassist, turned her head to the left, a small blush gracing her face. Ritsu's grip tightened around Mio, pulling her even closer, if that was still possible. Mio, in return to Ritsu's actions, blushed like made and tried to wriggle out of the smaller girl's grasp, but wasn not very successful with it.

Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, drowning out any other sound, deafening her. Her vision was getting blurry and her head started spinnng. Just what was going on? She had no explanation yet again, but her mind was working it's fastest possible in her condition to find an answer, but would not. Then, ever so suddenly, Ritsu turned her head again, now gazing into Mio's eyes, insecurity showing in her brown eyes.

"Nee, Mio, we're best friends, right?" asked Ritsu shyly.

"Yeah, why do you ask anyway?" And again, Mio was in a state of utter confusion.

"Promise me you won't ever hate me, then I'll tell you why I've been avoiding you." A stern response, a pair of brown eyes looking right into her soul.

"Of course I won't hate you. I never could."

"Uh. . . Here goes nothing, huh?"

"Huh?" Mio squeaked as Ritsu's arms suddenly moved from her back to her neck, pulling her down. Their heads were now right next to each other, warm breath caressing the skin of her neck ever so slightly, sending shivers through her body. She was trembling, inside and outside. Her mind was blurry, her head spinning as she felt Ritsu press her lips against her neck.

Pulling away slightly, Ritsu mumbled something against Mio's neck. Mio did not understand what she said, her mind too blurred to register anything at the moment. Her body was running hot, the blood in her veins was pulsing through her body, her heart beat beating at an unhealthy speed inside her body. Her face felt so utterly hot, even her ears felt like they were burning now.

"W-what?" Mio stumbled over her own words, her mind unable to think clearly. She had just blurted that question out because her subconscious somehow registered that there had been something said.

She could feel Ritsu squirming underneath her, clearly uncomfortable with the question asked. The drummer's arms only tightened around her neck, not showing any interest in letting her go any time soon.

"I. . ." breathed Ritsu against her neck "love you." Suddenly her neck was released and she was gently pushed off of Ritsu by her arms. The brown-eyed girl moved away from Mio, head held low, one hand reaching up to her hear, removing her head-band. Her bangs fell over her face, shadowing it from Mio's stare.

From what Mio could see, the other girl was shaking slightly, flinching and fumbling with the hem of her shirt. Seeing her looking so vulnerable just made her want to hug her, cradle her, but her body seemed to be frozen in place. She could not move, nor could she speak up. Her breath had caught in her throat, her mind was yet again swirling like crazy, her thoughts messed up. This was a turn of events she never would have thought of. This had never crossed her mind even once during all the time she had known of her love for the girl in front of her.

The possibility of mutual feelings had always seemed so extremely low to Mio. And now here she was, her feelings not being unrequiered, but mutual. She was left speechless as she sat there, watching Ritsu sqiurm. She heard her heart pounding loudly in her chest, threatening to burst out of it's cage any moment at this rate.

Ritsu on the other hand was terrified and did not dare to look up even once, while silence hung between them, overwhelming them. Tears threatened to overflow, her body shaking slightly in fear of rejection. This had been what she had come for. This had been her plan all along, confessing, getting rejected, leaving heart-broken. But she had never imagined it to be this painful, this tormenting silence, while her heart clenched in pain, making her suffer.

Death was nothing in comparision to this fear and pain she was experiencing in this particular moment. What was even more tearing her up inside was the fact that she could not see Mio's expression, because she was missing the gut, was missing the courage to look up once again. She was sure all she would see would be disgust and rejection in the eyes of her beloved one.

"I. . . better leave. . . now," Ristu choked out, her voice trembling. Her body started to get up, shaking. Her body felt numb to her, her vision was blurred because of the tears she was restraining to let flow. She wanted to start moving towards the door of Mio's room, but her body was shaking so badly, causing her to fall back to her knees. This was it. She sobbed, tears streaming down her face. She could not keep them any longer, because any second longer would kill her more and more inside.

Suddenly she felt arm wrap around her in a soothing hug. Warm started spreading through her, a tingling sensations running through her vains, though her tears did not stop. Ritsu wanted to hug back so badly, but she could not. The thought that this was just a mere act of friendship swirled in her head and stopped her from any actions. Yet the arms around her tightened, pulling her closer, her head resting on Mio's shoulder, buried there.

"Idiot Ritsu. . ." Mio mumbled into her hair, stroking her back soothingly. "Getting scared for nothing."

The drummer bit her lip, sobbing. One of Mio's hand found their way to Ritsu's hair and stroked it ever so gently, playing with the short hair. Teares wetted her shoulder, but she could not care less. Her body was trembling slightly with excitement, pure bliss, a honest and happy smile plastered on her face. Ritsu was still refusing her hug, but why should she care? She had just been confessed to, had just been told that her feelings were mutual, that she was loved back. But she knew she had to say something soon, or else Ritsu would be hurt too badly.

"You truly are an idiot," she stated, gently pushing Ritsu a bit away form her, but still holding her in her arms. She now saw the tear-strained face of her best friend, those reddened eyes puffed up looking at her in fear of rejection. It was all so clearly visible on Ritsu's face, Mio could not help but smile even wider.

"Please. . ." Ritsu begged, her voice full of hurt "just get it over with."

"I will, I will," Mio said calmly, leaning in closely, her face slightly reddened. "I love you, too."

Dumfounded, Ritsu sad there, looking at her with an expressionless face. Registering what she had been told just now, her face started to shine, a relieved smile creeping onto her face. She pounced Mio, hugging her tightly. She laughed, laughed so light-hearted like she had not had in a long while. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest, yet again threatening to burst out, just like Mio's.

"What the hell?" Ritsu laughed, pressing her lips to Mio's, surprisingly.

Pulling aways, she grinned sheepishly at Mio whose face was graced with a great blush. They looked at each other happily, neither one of them wanting to say anything. Their hearts were pounding, their bodies felt hot with excitement and bliss and in this particular moment they could not care less about anything else. Even the bothersome draining of the colours were long forgotten to Mio, her mind now centring about Ritsu and what would happen next to them.

"Ah, and Mio. . ." Ritsu stated slowly after a long pause of silence between them "The ghost's still behind ya."

A scream, a loud thud, and they were lying yet again on the floor, Ritsu laughing while Mio clung to her. Though she loved her so dearly, she could not help but tease her.

"Make it leave, Ritsu!"

"Uh-huh. I love you."

"I know, idiot."

So, yah, this was it. Is it just me or do one-shots always kinda have a ending that seems rushed? Anyways, the ending was planned a bit differently.

There's a break in the story where Ritsu shouts "There a ghost", ya know, that wasn't planned. The story would have stayed in a gloomy atmosphere all throughout and you would seriously not have a happy ending there. I just felt like writing a nice ending, for I really need experience in happy endings. I suck. Especially at romance.

Dunno, but I think I'll be writing another K-On! Fiction. Probably again a one-shot, but I never know what I wanna do. I just start writing with nothing really in mind. That's also why my stories always end differently from what I planned. Duh!

You can make pairings-suggestions for the next fic, if you wanna. I had Yui x Azusa in mind, though. But I'm not dead-set on it.

I hoped you enjoyed reading it and maybe you'll leave a comment ;) Would be glad to hear what you liked and what not.

Vaira~