Pictures of You
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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A smile that shone from an old photograph caused her to smile back at the girl that was forever frozen in time as she remembered what it felt like to stand next to her.
How many years had passed since that picture was taken? How much had changed?
A friendship that became something more. A friendship that became something less.
How she'd regretted that day, the day when everything they'd built together had been wrecked. And for what?
So that she could express something she'd sworn to herself to keep hidden, something she'd known would hurt her.
It was a betrayal, and how she'd longed to make it right. To mend things, so that they might smile together again, but she'd been so scared to make it even worse that she could only sit by and watch.
Friendship had saved her. Not only the friendship between them, but also the one that they shared with those around them. The ones who refused to simply sit by and watch them tear themselves apart.
How could she ever repay them for that?
Of course, there were things that could never be fully mended, and even if the wounds healed, they still left scars. Even so, they'd been able to laugh again.
She'd never really thought of herself as the emotional kind of person, and looking at the image in front of her, she couldn't help but chuckle a little at her own smile, a smile that battled with the joyous tears that refused to stop streaming down her face.
This was a picture of the first time since then, where they'd been able to laugh together.
There were other pictures, joining the first on the wall, some were of friends, some were of family. But one sort of pictures easily outnumbered the others.
"Well, it's good to have at least some kind of common hobby," she smiled a little as she raised her voice loud enough to be heard outside of the room, "But… given the amount of images of each other, it almost seems like they're stalking each other…" she could hear something falling to the floor with a soft 'thud' in the other room, and then Hikari was there.
"Yaya-chan, that's not a nice thing to say," her face was flushed red with the embarrassment that she was currently trying – quite desperately – to hide.
"I wonder who'd make the best stalker though…" she continued her loud musings, ignoring Hikari's attempt to interrupt her.
"I'm usually the one that sends flowers, so I suppose it'd be me," Amane looked slightly amused by the idea, but the smile on her lips was clearly a result of the indignant pout that was forming on Hikari's face.
"Hmm…" Yaya faked being in thought for a moment, "Does that mean you get to peek on her in the bath?" an odd 'eep'ing noise could be heard from the blond-haired girl's direction.
"I would not do such a thing," there was a faint tinge of red on her cheeks as she answered.
"As expected from a prince, noble until the end," she nodded in an overly understanding kind of way, pointedly overlooking the signs that the older girl was lying.
"Yaya-chan, don't forget the time," smiling sweetly – in a way that didn't make you feel as if she'd just dismissed a very embarrassing topic – Hikari began to move back towards the other room.
"Ah, right," she smiled in response as she began to get up to her feet. Then she suddenly halted as if she remembered something, "Oh, yeah. Amane-san, I suppose this is tradition for us…" she sighed in an overly dramatic way before she turned towards Amane with a serious expression, "If you ever hurt Hikari, in any way, I won't hesitate to steal her away from you."
"Yaya-chan…" Hikari looked slightly confused.
"Don't worry, I won't let her get hurt," Yaya smiled at the prince-like girl's calm response.
"Good, because it'd be really hard for me to explain it to Tsubomi afterwards," she grinned, waving happily as she set off for the car in which said person was already waiting.
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A/n: Hikari belongs to Amane – though I don't particularly like either of them – and Yaya will just have to deal with that. But, since Yaya's my favorite character in the entire series, I want her to have a happy ending too. Hopefully, I didn't screw it up completely.