A/N
Hello friends, welcome to my first Bloom Into You fanfiction. Firstly, I can't believe that this anime doesn't have more stories on here. Secondly, this is my first one to add to the very small collection of tales. I'll keep this brief, please excuse any and all mistakes you may find. English is not my main language and I use no Beta to check my work. I have been dabbling a little in Citrus stories recently and this actually came through as a request from another member of fanfiction. I decided that I would give in to my own needs for sleep and write this piece to satisfy his request.
It was originally going to be a standalone story, but I will post it as a multi chapter - hopefully with weekly updates. For anyone wanting to know when the updates will be, you can check my profile. Its a little darker than most stories, not just being pure fluff and takes place after the current manga chapter so if you haven't read and have only seen the anime, there is a spoiler warning. As always your feedback would happily be accepted and I will respond to any reviews accordingly.
Disclaimer: The characters involved in this story do not belong to me, I just borrow them for your enjoyment and my writing addiction.
Sirens.
Touko hated sirens. The shrill wailing sound of emergency vehicles always shook her to the very core. She lay, raven hair fanned across the crisp white sheets of her pillow, sweat beading from her brow at the noise. It shrieked in her ears, her pulse racing as the sound grew in pitch. Her heart thrummed faster at its approach, closing her eyes tightly she tried to picture something, anything but the sight of its flashing red and blue lights. She only released the breath she had been unknowingly holding in when the sound seemed to be further away once more.
Heaving a sigh of relief, she lowered the blanket she had been clutching to her chin, her knuckles white where she had entwined her fingers in the cotton for comfort.
"Idiot." She mumbled to herself, a quiver in her voice.
There was a good reason for her fear, a deep rooted one that shook her every time she heard one, every time one blazed past her in the street. She had to fight the urge to spin, wide eyed towards the sounds source every time. The night she had first crossed paths with that sound plagued her constantly, she always had to shake herself out of her fear-haze. The sirens had faded, either to a safe distance or ceased completely for all she could hear outside her window now was a soft breeze, lifting and shaking the leaves of a nearby tree. The one just outside her house.
Her house, her safe haven. Yet also the house she had first heard that terrible noise.
"Stop." She told herself angrily, "Pull yourself together."
In defeat, she swung her legs from the nice warm bed she resided in, bare calves raising goose pimples at the cool air outside the blanket and crossed to the window. It was dark out, even the nearest street lamp did nothing to illuminate the garden below apart from give it a slight haunting silhouette. As she looked on, a splash of rain water struck the glass before her eyes. It hit, spread and began its decent down the window, her eyes trailing after it.
She couldn't help but peer down the street, the only visible part of the emergency vehicle was now its distant lights, no sirens echoed in her head any more. Relieved, she pulled her gaze from the midnight world and picked up her phone from her bedside table, eyes blinking at the assault of light it created when she switched on the screen.
No messages. Of course there were no messages, what exactly did she expect at 00:34am?
She couldn't help but open her messages regardless, flicking to the last message she had read before sleep.
"Of course." Two small words, customary of Yuu's nature. She was always blunt and to the point.
Touko thought of her then, short sunset-orange hair turned loose and fluffy, baggy shirt and shorts donned ready for bed. A slight heat rose to her cheeks at the words 'Yuu' and 'bed' used in the same sentence.
She hastily put down her phone before she flushed harder.
She couldn't help it when she thought about the younger girl. Her heart just - fluttered, even whenever Yuu's name was brought up in conversation or the simple thing of catching her eye at school for a split second. Yuu brought something out in Touko that she had never felt before, an uncontrollable feeling of warmth.
With one last glance over the clock in her room, she admitted to herself that she really must get some sleep, so pulling her eyes away from her phone she crawled back into bed with a yawn.
The sirens were now the last thing on her mind as she settled down to sleep. Instead, something far better swam through her dreams for the rest of that night.
"Touko, hey, Touko!"
Touko spun at the sound of her name to see her good friend and vice student president, Sayaka, barrelling towards her. By the time the other girl had reached her, panting and waving some documents around in her face, she had already begun scanning the corridors for the girl she truly wished to see.
As Sayaka started her usual morning speech of exactly what tasks she needed the student council president's urgent help with, Touko was already openly disinterested as she searched for Yuu. Usually she would have seen the younger girl's unique hair as she bobbed along the corridor, walking in time with her two friends Koyomi and Akari.
This morning though, Touko hadn't seen so much of a sign of her.
"Are you listening to me?" Touko could almost picture the pout on Sayaka's face before she even turned to see it for herself.
"Of course!" She replied, defensive.
"Really..." Sayaka chastened "then what did I say?"
The smug smile on her lips quickly became joined by her arms crossing over her chest. Sayaka knew she had the president cornered. Touko stared at her stance for a moment before beckoning her on and raising her hands in defeat.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She stammered. "Alright, I'm listening this time."
"Is everything alright?" Sayaka asked, following Touko as she made down the corridor. "You seem distracted, did something happen?"
Same old Sayaka, always concerned.
"No no, everything is fine. I just didn't sleep very well last night." Touko said, the other girl keeping pace with her. "I also had another confession this morning, its it's getting ridiculous."
She sighed, running a hand through her long dark hair.
"I always feel, so bad afterwards."
"Well maybe if you weren't so popular, people wouldn't ask." Sayaka replied, a grin gracing her face. "I mean come on Touko, there isn't one person in this school that hasn't thought about at least trying something with you."
Touko wrinkled her forehead in a frown, glancing down at the papers that Sayaka carried while she thought.
'There is someone. There's someone that has never thought like that.' She thought, the image of the orange-haired girl she cared for so deeply filling her thoughts.
"Have you seen Yuu this morning?" She blurted out, it didn't go unknown to her that Sayaka expressed a slight scowl at her words.
"Why would I have seen Yuu?" She said sharply, the papers in her hand wrinkling as her fist closed tightly. "Its you that normally walks to school with her."
"She wasn't waiting this morning." Touko said, ignoring Sayaka's sharp tone. "I just assumed she had gone on ahead, thinking she maybe wanted to do some studying for the upcoming exams or beat the weather this morning, but I haven't seen her at all at school."
"Well maybe she's just late, or overslept." Sayaka said, her annoyance now showing through. She never did like how much Touko thought about Yuu and she wasn't particularly shy at voicing her displeasure. Even though things between Touko and her had ended on good terms, a mutual understanding that there would never be something between them, she still held sour feelings about the whole thing.
"Yuu might be many things, but she's not a slacker. I've never known her be late." Touko murmured, an uneasy feeling washing over her. It felt like a cool wind, prickling the hairs down the back of her neck.
"Well, we will also be late if we don't get a move on." Sayaka stated, "So let's head to class. I'm sure she just got caught up in something."
Her last few words were cut short by the boom of thunder, rattling the windows from outside. The storm had been forecast for last night, but had finally hit this morning. Touko had wanted to wait longer for Yuu at their usual meeting place but with the wind picking up and the rain beating down harder she had abandoned her plan and made her way to school. She had hoped Yuu had managed to get a lift in to avoid walking in the cold.
Sighing in resignation she followed Sayaka down the hall, dragging her feet with limited enthusiasm. She would have to go to class, but it didn't mean that she would be able to focus at all on her studies today.
"Yeah, didn't you hear the sirens?"
Touko stopped in her tracks, leather shoes squealing against the school corridors wooden floor at her abrupt halt. Two boys were lost in conversation as they walked past.
"I heard it was that book store, you know the little one just down the road from me." One boy said quietly, dropping his voice almost to a whisper. Tokyo's heart plummeted with it.
"I hear it was some kind of robbery while the store was closing up, some idiots looking for quick cash I bet."
Touko's blood was suddenly frozen in her veins. A book store... robbery.
Before she had time to process what she was doing, she found herself crossing the corridor and rather roughly, grabbing hold of the boys shoulder.
"What did you just say?" She stammered, squeezing her fingers down to turn him to face her. His eyes widened at the sight of the school council president and he almost balked in her shadow.
"About... what?" He said nervously, his eyes flicking over to his friend for help.
"What you were just talking about, which book store?" She growled, her heart thundering in her ears almost as much as the thunder outside as it roared once again. She already knew the answer, she knew in her veins that she feared what he was going to say.
"You said a book store near you, where do you live, which book store?" She repeated urgently, lightly shaking him. Sayaka was there, pulling her hand away as she did so.
"Touko stop." She said, panic in her voice at the intensity in Touko's grey eyes.
"Its..I... it's the Fujishiro store, its it's on the corner of my street." He stammered, rolling his shoulder where her grip had been.
"What happened?" She said quickly. "How do you know this?"
"My father, he's in the police. I heard him talking with mother when he got back from a call. We had all heard the sirens. He said the book store had been targeted by a small group of thieves and that there was a bit of a struggle. I don't know any details, only that the old lady working behind the counter had been taken to the hospital in shock." He stammered the last sentence under her scrutinizing gaze.
"I swear, that's all I know." He said, looking to his friend once more. Exchanging worried glances, they swiftly hurried off down the corridor, looking over their shoulders in concern for their safety.
Touko stood frozen, Sayaka just as still next to her.
"Touk..." Sayaka began, her hand reaching up towards the other girls arm.
Touko flinched away, curling her hands into fists. She knew something had been wrong, she had felt something had been. What had happened to Yuu?
"I have to go Sayaka." Touko whispered, her eyes wide and her voice quivering. "I have to go and see if Yuu is okay."
Sayaka nodded sadly.
"I know." She whispered, peering out the window to the storm outside. She knew it wouldn't stop Touko, once she had her mind set on something especially when it came to Yuu, there was no changing it.
"Here then." She said, pulling off her jacket and handing it to the other girl. "Mine is a little more waterproof than yours and its cold outside."
Touko accepted the coat gladly.
"Please say something urgent came up that I had to deal with on short notice." Touko said, pulling Sayaka's jacket on. It was warm, fleece-lined and smelled like the perfume Sayaka always wore. She pulled it tightly around herself, handed Sayaka her school bag and pulled her umbrella from its front pocket.
"Of course, I'll tell them for you." Sayaka added, giving Touko a slight nudge forward. "Just go be there for her."
In that moment Touko had never been more grateful to her best friend.
Touko sighed in frustration as she placed her phone back into her damp pocket. Even though Sayaka's jacket seemed extremely waterproof, the amount of times she had removed and replaced the phone had soon seen water leak into the open pouch. The rest of the coat was keeping her warm though, incredibly so. She even reminded herself to pick one of these up next time she found herself at their local shopping centre. She was sure matching jackets would make Sayaka extremely happy.
She had tried calling Yuu more times than she could care to count. Each time, the phone hadn't even connected, just headed straight to the other girls voicemail. It wasn't even personalised so she could hear Yuu's voice, just a mundane network message.
Touko had tried the book store, as she expected it was all locked up, curtains drawn. The only sign that something had been wrong was one spiderweb crack running down the window she knew sat behind the shops counter.
She had knocked a few times, on both the shops door and the one to she stores side that she knew lead to the house beyond. No one had answered and no lights had been on.
"Oh Yuu." She whispered sadly, gripping her umbrella tightly until her knuckles whitened. Her hands were the only cold part of her, perhaps seconded only by her toes where her leather shoes had allowed a small amount of water through their stitching. The rain was heavier now, beating down upon her umbrella mercilessly.
She wasn't hopeful, but she made one last ditch attempt to calm the increasing worry in her gut by checking down by the river. Their river. Where she and Yuu had first spoken truly about their relationship with each other. Where the other girl had finally admitted her feelings and where she had first felt the horror of what she had forced Yuu into. It had been the moment she realised she had made the person she cared about suffer within her own feelings through fear of speaking them. She had told the younger girl not to love her, told her not to develop feelings towards her and Yuu had tried. Yuu had battled within herself for so long to keep Touko happy that she hadn't had a chance to voice her loneliness.
Touko had been foolish and naive.
Even though she wasn't initially hopeful of finding Yuu here, next to the river which was several inches higher than normal, her heart leapt at a small glint of orange as she approached.
It leapt, then plummeted so far down into her stomach she felt it hit the lining, nausea swirling.
The storm beat around her as she stared, wide eyed at that small fleck of orange. She wasn't aware of her feet as she dashed forward, her shoes slipping and stumbling across the pavement to the stairs down. She had to catch herself several times, the soles of her shoes not designed for running in such weather. Lightning struck nearby and her first shout was lost in the aftermath, thunder rolling over her voice and into her ears, for a second even cutting out the sound of the roaring river. The rain smelled fresh and the sky was dark, far darker than it should have been for mid morning.
"Yuu!" She shouted again, this time her voice just being swallowed by the water.
Yuu was here, she was sat, sat down by the side of the water. Her orange hair plastered to her head by the rainfall. Her cropped cargo pants a dark shade of cream where the water had changed their colour. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, arms looped around them to keep them close, back arched forwards in an uncomfortable position.
The time it took Touko to reach her side felt like an eternity to the older girl.
"Yuu." She said again, reaching a hand out when she came into touching distance. The girls shirt was long sleeved but thin material, it clung to her pale skin with the weight of the rain. She wore no coat, nor sheltered herself from the storm. Upon hearing Touko's voice, she raised her gaze from the river, glanced once at the girl stood next to her and then dropped her eyes back down to her clenched hands.
"What are you doing here?" She whispered, her voice barely audible over the storm.
Touko was sure she hadn't breathed the entire sprint down the embankment to her. Yuu was so close to the waters edge. Close enough for the tips of her shoes to almost be submerged in its rising waters. It made Touko's pulse race to see, almost as if it were the edge of a sheer cliff that Yuu stood upon, capable of falling at any second.
For once, Touko just did not know what to say. So instead of words, her hand finally connected with the younger girls shoulder, her fingers brushing the exposed pale skin of her collarbone. Yuu was cold, incredibly so beneath her fingertips. The rain was bitter and it lashed down onto both of them until Touko quickly angled her umbrella so that it covered both their bodies.
Yuu wasn't shaking, not with the cold. She just looked somewhat... empty. The light that usually danced across her eyes was dead, extinguished by an intense sadness and confusion that made Touko feel like she wanted to pull her close and hold on.
She did just that. Dropping to her knees next to the girl she so deeply cared for, she wrapped her arms around her small frame with no words and pulled her towards her body, with zero residence from Yuu.
"What are you doing out here in this?" Touko whispered, her arms protectively wrapping themselves around Yuu's shoulders as she tightened her grip. Yuu didn't remove her gaze from the river, nor did she release her own knees from her arms prison. She didn't speak, she just stared on.
"I've been trying to call you," Touko stammered, "I heard something happened while I was waiting for you at school. I came looking for you as quickly as I could."
"Why Touko." She said quietly. Her voice so close to broken.
Touko's heart hammered as Yuu's golden, lifeless eyes finally lifted from the water and she looked at her. No, looked into her with such a broken expression that Touko thought she might never breathe again. Those eyes were so haunting, her face so pale in contrast to their amber colour. Her hair clung around the curves of her face, not bound by the dual ponytails she usually wore. Her lips held a tinge of blue at the edges from the cold. Touko stared harder at the line of red across Yuu's bottom lip, split and slightly swollen. Her chin to the right of it, darkened by a forming bruise.
Then she really did stop breathing. The marks stood out from Yuu's cold skin in such a bright contrast. They added to the haunted look, to her broken expression and Touko just wanted to pull her closer. She had never seen Yuu hurt before, not even a scratch from sports class. Her blood burned hot at the sight, a protectiveness flaring up in her that she had never felt before.
Touko reached for her chin. Her fingers gently raising the younger girls head as she caressed over the bruise with her fingertips. The breath she had been holding released slowly as fear and anger clouded behind her eyes, forming into tears.
"Why did this happen." Yuu continued. Her eyes were searching Touko's, pleading to help her understand. It might have been that gaze that finally cracked Touko's heart in two. She shook her head, not having the words to say, just wanting Yuu to be closer to her. She noticed then, after she had spoken that the younger girl was now trembling beneath her fingertips. The hand she braced under her chin still locking their gazes together.
She just didn't have an answer. Instead she dropped her hand and pulled Yuu closer to her. The other girls damp hair resting against the front of her borrowed coat, just above her chest, the top of her head resting against Touko's cheekbone. She was so cold, her body so damp. She must have come out here mindlessly, needing to walk off her emotions by losing herself in activity. Touko knew being here would probably have been the closest place to comfort she could find.
She needed to get her out of the cold.
"We cant stay here." Touko whispered, Yuu quivering against her warm body. "Here."
Touko released the umbrella to pull off her jacket. Cold rain instantly gripped her through her school jumper but she didn't care. She draped the jacket over Yuu's shaking shoulders with concern. How long had she been out here in the rain?
"I don't, I don't want to go back." Yuu whispered, her eyes pleading. "No ones at home" she reached for Touko's hand, needing the support. Her fingers entwined with Touko's and the older girl gasped at their icy touch.
Touko needed to know what had happened but right now, that wasn't important. The important thing was getting Yuu out of the cold. Her own hair was now slick with water and she too could feel the chill seeping through her clothes.
"We can go to my place." She said gently, forcing her limbs to comply and help her to her feet. Her legs ached where she had been knelt down on the sodden bank. She had never seen Yuu like this. The younger girl was usually calm, without worry and far more relaxed than Touko herself was. To see her so drawn in and confused just pulled harder at her heartstrings.
Yuu nodded slowly and Touko made a mental note to call her parents and explain she had taken Yuu with her. The last thing they needed was more worry right now. As gently as she could, Touko pulled Yuu upright with her, the younger girl swaying on the spot while her muscles found their use again. She was shivering harder now that the coat was providing a little warmth to her small body, enough so that Touko could hear the soft clatter of her teeth.
"Come on," Touko took Yuu's hand in one of hers and collected the umbrella off the sodden ground to brace over the both of them, ensuring she could keep Yuu as dry as possible.
"I'm right here." She whispered, giving her hand a squeeze as another sheet of lighting rolled across the sky. Cold as it was, Yuu's hand provided at least a slight relief that Touko had found her, her feeling of dread now replaced by utmost concern. The dread she had been feeling ever since the sirens had sounded last night slightly fading.
Sirens. Oh how Touko hated sirens.