This was supposed to be one of the best days of her life. It was her final year in high school before going off to University, and it was her class trip. Aside from graduation day, this was the last time they'd all be together. Graduation was next weekend. To make things even better, Sae was sick, so she couldn't go on the trip. So, why was she so miserable?
For their class trip, all the upperclassmen decided to go camping. It was the perfect bonding experience. They had all arrived at the campsite and their teacher began giving out instructions.
"Alright, everyone listen up! Those of you whom I had told to bring tents, please step forward."
Dozens upon dozens of students stepped out, all with tents in tow. The class had a little over two hundred and sixty students, so roughly eighty seven students came forth.
"I'm going to assign you all to a tent. There will be three people per tent. Once you have three in a group, you may go off and begin setting up."
As the teacher began rattling off names, Momo tuned him out. She let her thoughts wander back to a few weeks ago. She had gone on a date with Toji, and it didn't go so well.
Momo and Toji had decided to go see a movie for their date. Toji let Momo pick the movie, get whatever she wanted from the concession stand, and pick their seats. About halfway through the movie he made an attempt to put his arm around her. He wasn't trying anything bad, just simply wanting to have his arm around her, but she must have interpreted it that way, because she stood up abruptly and then mumbled something about have to use the restroom.
Then after the movie, Toji took her out for ice-cream. He let her get whatever flavor she wanted, and while they were walking down the street, he tried to hold her hand. Again, it was an innocent gesture, but Momo jerked her hand up to her ice-cream cone and placed it in that hand. Then she forced a smile at him and continued to lick her frozen treat.
And finally, when he dropped her off at home, he had enough. They were standing on her front porch, after a not-so-smooth evening, saying goodbye.
"Well, thanks for taking me out, Toji. It was fun."
"Yeah, it was. Would you like to go out again next weekend?"
"Um, I don't know. I think I have plans."
"Oh, well let me know when you have some free time. I'd love to see you again."
"Yeah, O.K."
Just as Momo was about to open her front door, Toji leaned in and kissed her. It wasn't rough, or possessive, but Momo rejected it anyway. She pushed Toji away a little more violently than she had intended, and stared at him, apparently horror stricken.
"T-T-Toji, w-what was that for?"
Toji looked her square in the eye, obviously hurt by her reaction, but answered her question anyway.
"I was just saying goodnight. Look, you've been acting strange all evening. If you don't want to see me anymore, just say so."
His tone was ice-cold and his hurt expression changed to one of anger. He stood there, waiting for Momo to give him a response. When none came, he turned on his heels and began walking away.
"Toji, wait!"
He stopped dead in his tracks, but refused to turn around and face her. Again, he waited for her to speak.
"I… I never said I didn't want to see you again. It's just that… I… I don't know."
"You don't know? You don't know what's been making you reject me all evening!"
His voice was escalating along with his flaring temper. He had felt completely rejected and worthless, and the person who made him feel the way had the nerve to say she didn't know why.
"You abruptly stand up and walk off when I try to put my arm around you, you jerk your hand away from me and occupy it with something else when I try to hold your hand, and when I kiss you goodnight, you push me away! And you claim you don't know why."
Toji had wanted to say more, but when he turned around to face Momo, he saw her face covered by her hair and tears rolling down her cheeks. He felt bad for making her cry, but he knew he had every right to be angry. He gritted his teeth.
"Goodnight, Adachi."
And then he walked away.
After recalling all of the events from the evening, Momo heard her name.
"Miss Adachi will be paired with Miss Uskaba and they will be in Okayasu's group."
Once she heard who she would be with, she began walking towards Kairi. She started to blush as soon as she realized she would be sharing a tent with him. Granted, there would be another person with them, but still. She tried to hide her blush as she neared him.
"Hey, look who it is! Momo! How convenient is it that both you and I will be sharing a tent all weekend."
Kairi had a suggestive look in his eyes, but Momo's sudden hold on his collar scared it off.
"Look here, Kairi. Just because we coincidentally got paired together, does not mean anything is going to happen. Got it? So get rid of any perverted thoughts you may have been having and get the tent out so we can start setting up."
Momo released him and turned to talk to their other tent-mate, who had heard their entire conversation. Kairi just smirked and straightened out his collar. He loved teasing Momo, and now that high school was nearing its end, he had to get in every bit of it as he could. Who knew if they'd see each other after high school was over.
Kairi pulled the tent out from its bag and began setting it up. He had connected a few poles before becoming completely frustrated. Then he looked up to see Momo and her friend staring down at him as if he were the biggest idiot in the world.
"Jeez, Kairi, haven't you even pitched a tent before?"
"Um, not exactly…"
"It shows."
Momo grabbed the mess of poles from Kairi and began reconnecting them the proper way.
"Hey, Sanyo, can you get the instructions and read them to me. I forgot what I'm supposed to do now."
Uskaba Sanyo grabbed the instructions that had fallen out of the bag when Kairi pulled the tent out and began flipping through the pages. When she found the spot that Momo was at, she began reading. Within a few minutes the tent was pitched and secured.
Momo and Sanyo grabbed their stuff and unzipped the tent. As they were setting up their sleeping bags, Kairi crawled in after them with his stuff and began setting up too.
"Wow, Momo, I never knew you could pitch a tent. Where'd you learn that?"
"This isn't the first time I've been camping, Kairi."
After everything was set up, the class all gathered around their teacher again. He set up a list of activities that they would be doing over the course of the weekend. Today consisted of a nature walk, canoeing, and free time. It was too late in the day to do anything more than that.
And through the course of their schedule, Momo had managed to smack Kairi three different times, either because of something he said or did. He would always complain about her being too harsh and unfair, but in the end he would always smile and put his hand to his cheek where she had struck him. Momo didn't know it, but Kairi did the things he did to make her smile. He knew there was something bothering her, but he also knew she was too stubborn to tell him.
He picked up on her discomfort during the nature walk, when she had accidently tripped and fell into Toji's back. She corrected her stance and apologized to him. He just glared coldly at her and kept walking. Kairi saw the look on Momo's face and instantly connected her problems to Toji. She got the same look when she found out that she'd be sharing a canoe with him and when he passed her by at dinner time. You wouldn't think that Kairi was so observant, but when it came to Momo, he was.
Now that it was their free time, everyone broke off into their own groups to go do something. Momo decided that she needed to be alone for awhile, so she went back to the tent and grabbed her stuff. She came back out and headed into the woods.
As she got farther away from everyone she started to analyze everything. She wanted so desperately to figure out her reasons for rejecting Toji, the boy she had liked since junior-high. It didn't make sense that when she finally got the chance to go out with him, she wanted nothing to do with him. What changed?
He was still the same sweet, charming, handsome boy that she had fallen head over heels for all those years ago. He hadn't done or said anything to upset her that she could think of. She couldn't think of any logical reason for her to act the way she did. She couldn't even blame part of this on Sae, her so-called best friend.
She kicked a rock that she saw lying in the middle of her path. Her eyes followed it to see where it would end up. Unfortunately, while watching the rock instead of where she was going, she tripped on a tree root that was sticking out of the ground. She let out a small scream and landed face first with a thud. She picked herself up and whipped the dirt off of herself. She wasn't injured, but she was embarrassed. At least no one was around to see it.
She walked on for another few minutes until she found a big pine tree. There was nothing special about this tree, except for its large size, but Momo decided to sit underneath it anyway. She took off her gear and made herself comfortable at the base of the tree. She was still trying to find her reason for rejecting Toji.
Then, all of a sudden, she started getting flashes of someone else. After awhile it became clear to her that, that someone else was Kairi.
Kairi? Why am I thinking about him, of all people?
She sat there contemplating forever. She knew he had something to do with this whole mess, but she wasn't sure what yet. He hadn't said anything to her to make her not like Toji. He certainly didn't do anything, so how was he connected?
She started to remember all the times he would show up or his name would be mentioned and how she would start blushing. Or how every time he got really close to her she would blush and get butterflies in her stomach. There was always something he could do to make her blush, stutter, or feel like butterflies were fluttering like crazy from inside her. And just like now, the very thought of him made her heart rate increase.
Why do I do those things? Those are the kind of things that people do when they like someone. But I don't like Kairi… do I?
Momo shook her head in order to dispose of such ridiculous thoughts. There was no way she liked Kairi. Over the past few months they had developed a friendship, but no way did she develop romantic feelings for him.
It had gotten dark some time ago. All of the kids were back at the campsite and heading off to their tents. Sanyo and Kari went back to theirs. They were both going to get ready for bed when Kairi remembered something.
"Hey, Sanyo, did you notice if Momo came back from her walk?"
"She went on a walk? I didn't know."
Sanyo kept getting ready for bed as if it was no big deal that Momo wasn't back yet, but Kairi was starting to worry. It was already dark, and everyone would be asleep soon. It was too late for her to be out wandering around in the woods.
"Hey, I'm going to go look for her. I'll be back."
"I'm sure she's fine, Kairi. This is Momo we're talking about. She's a big girl; she can take care of herself."
"I know that, but it's not like her to be gone this long. I'm going to go look for her, just in case."
Kairi grabbed his gear and pulled out his flashlight.
"Don't wait up for us."
"Wasn't planning on it."
Kairi got out of the tent and looked around. Everyone was already packed inside their tents and getting ready for bed. He looked for his teacher and found that he was also sealed away in his tent for the night. So he tip-toed passed everyone and headed into the woods. And when he was sure he was out of range, he turned on his flashlight and began his search for Momo.
After he got a ways out onto the path, he began calling her name. No one back at camp would hear him from this far away.
After walking for what seemed like forever, Kairi was about to give up. Maybe she had already headed back and he missed her along the way. However, he quickly thought different when he saw an unconscious Momo lying limply under a tall pine tree.
"Momo!"
He ran over to her and grabbed her shoulders. He was checking for her pulse when her eyes opened. She looked up tiredly at him, not fully recognizing who he was. After a few more seconds of staring lazily at him, her eyes widened in shock. She shot up and looked in every direction, as if looking for something. She looked up at the night sky through the three branches and realized it was dark.
"Oh no, I fell asleep out here! Kairi, what time is it?"
"It was a little after nine when I came looking for you. Momo, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine! Oh my gosh, I'm going to be in so much trouble! Does anyone know I'm missing or-"
"No, I don't think so. Everyone is already in their tents and asleep by now."
Momo let out a sigh a relief. She couldn't believe that she actually fell asleep in the woods.
"Well that's good then. At least now I shouldn't get in trouble. I'll bet we can both make it back before anyone notices anything."
She stood up quickly and grabbed all her stuff. She was getting ready to go when Kairi reached out and grabbed her wrist. He was still crouched over on the ground, so he stared up into Momo's eyes.
"What happened, Momo?"
"Isn't it obvious? I went out for a walk and fell asleep."
"No, not about this. I mean, what happened with you and Toji?"
"Eh? What do you mean? Nothing happened between us."
Kairi could tell that she was lying. She was talking rapidly and wouldn't look him in the eye. Clear-cut signs of a liar.
"Don't lie to me, Momo. I know something happened. If it didn't, you wouldn't have gotten that confused, hurt look on your face when you tripped and fell into him on the nature walk. Or when you found out that you had to share a canoe with him or when he passed by you at dinner time. And he wouldn't have given you the cold shoulder."
Momo looked down at her feet. When did Kairi become so observant and caring? It certainly wasn't like him to care so much as to what happened to her. They were friends, yeah, but it still wasn't like him to show this much concern or to even notice that something was wrong. He was the kind of guy people screamed at because he didn't notice things like this.
"Momo?"
"When did you start caring so much?"
Her question had caught him off guard and the only thing he could do was continue to stare up at her.
"When did you start to notice things like that, huh? You're the person that people yell at for not knowing when something was clearly wrong, but when something was unclearly bothering me, you picked up on it."
Kairi was somewhat hurt by what she had said, but he knew it was also true. He never used to notice things like that until people screamed it in his ear. And when he did finally get it, he never knew what to do to make the situation better, so he would just ignore it. It made him seem uncaring, but that wasn't the case at all. He was just unsure.
He stood up slowly, letting go of her wrist.
"Momo, I… I'm sorry that you think that way of me. That used to be true. But ever since you and I became friends, I've changed. I've always cared, but I never knew what I was supposed to do to make things better, so I just let it be. I've never been especially close to people, despite my popularity, so when you came along and made yourself an important person in my life, that changed too. Everything changed when you came along. So of course now I notice things and of course now I care. I care about you, Momo."
Kairi's words made her blush and the butterfly feeling came back. Her heart rate increased again, and this time it was her who was unsure of what to do. So she just stood there, her hair still hiding her face, and waited for him to say or do something else.
"So what happened, Momo?"
After a little while, she couldn't take it anymore. Tears started forming in her eyes and she balled up her fists. She did her best not to cry.
"You. You happened."
Her voice was broken and barely above a whisper, but Kairi heard her nonetheless.
"What do you mean I happened?"
"Ever since junior-high I've wanted to go out with Toji, and when I finally get the chance, you go and ruin it."
Needless to say that Kairi was very much so confused. He didn't recall saying or doing anything to ruin Momo's relationship with Toji. He had never once interfered with one of their dates or said anything bad about the two of them. That's another thing about him that changed when he became friends with her.
"I'm sorry, Momo, but I don't understand. What did I do to ruin things with you and Toji?"
Momo stood there in silence for what felt like forever. She remembered that before she had fallen asleep, she never did figure out what Kairi had done to ruin things. All she knew was that it was his fault.
He hasn't done anything, yet this is somehow still his fault. Is it because he gave me all those feelings? The blushing, the butterflies, all the times he's made me stutter. Is that it? I used to only respond that way to Toji, but… now I can't even smile when I think about him. Don't tell me that I've… fallen for Kairi.
"You… you made me… made me fall in love with someone else."
By this point the tears had already began falling and there was a steady stream of them coming down her cheeks. Kairi was shocked at her response and he was still beyond confused. How could he make her fall for someone else? This woman made no sense.
"How could I have made you fall for someone else? That doesn't even make sense, Momo."
"It does if that person is you, Kairi!"
Her voice was no longer broken or quiet when she said that to him. It was loud and stated very matter-of-factly.
Kairi looked wide-eyed at Momo, who proceeded to bring her hands to her face to wipe away the tears. She looked up at him, without looking in his eyes, and waited for his reaction.
"Momo, I-"
"I know, I know. All those times you said you loved me, you were either teasing me or you meant as a friend. I know, Kairi."
"You're wrong."
Now it was Momo who looked at Kairi with wide-eyes. How could she be wrong?
"I meant what I said. I do love you, Momo. I just never thought you felt the same way. After you rejected me before going out with Toji, I knew you'd never see me that way. So when I said it, I had no choice but to brush it off as a joke or cover it up, but I always meant it."
Now that Momo had stopped crying and they both said what they needed to say, they didn't know what to do. Momo had finally decided to look Kairi in the eyes. When they did that, they had a silent communication. They didn't need to speak anymore.
Kairi slowly moved towards Momo, and before either one of them knew what was going on, Kairi had Momo pinned against a tree and he was kissing her passionately. He never thought that he would be able to this again, and what made it even better was that this time she was kissing back. When they broke apart for air, all they could do was smile at each other.
Sadly, when reality hit Kairi, he knew he had to end their moment.
"It's late, Momo. We need to head back now."
She nodded at him and he let her go. They walked back to the campsite hand-in-hand, and quietly crawled into their tent. Sanyo had been passed out since Kairi left, so both Momo and Kairi decided to curl up inside one sleeping bag.
Now this was one of the greatest days of her life.
"A/N: Well this is my first Peach Girl fan fiction. I hope you liked it. I've wanted to write one of these for awhile now, but I never knew what to write about. But for some reason a YouTube video gave me my inspiration. The beginning scene is what did it, I think. I'll put a link to it on my profile. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think."
