Disclaimer - I don't own Mai Hime. Sunrise does
Letting Go
"Do you love me at all, Natsuki? Love me in the way that I love you?" Shizuru asked quietly, as she sat beside her best friend on the couch in her home's living-room.
Natsuki fidgeted nervously.
"I'm sorry, Shizuru...I've tried...really! I just...I don't think I can love you in the way you want me to..." Natsuki trailed off softly, while doing her best to look anywhere but at her best friend's anguished face.
Shizuru swallowed painfully around the lump in her throat, trying desperately not to cry.
"It's okay, Natsuki. I knew that at some point I was going to have to let you go. I just...I just wanted to try one last time to see if you could ever love me as I do you."
Natsuki looked up and into Shizuru's garnet-red eyes, that were shimmering with unshed tears.
"I'm sorry, Shizuru..." Natsuki murmured again, before once again dropping her gaze.
"I'll be leaving the country in the morning," Shizuru said softly, casting her own eyes downward.
Natsuki's head snapped up, and she gazed at Shizuru with her mouth hanging slightly open.
"You're leaving me!" Natsuki exclaimed as she unconsciously leaned towards the brunette, not even really realizing what she'd just said.
Shizuru looked back up at Natsuki, and allowed a slightly bitter smile to cross her lips.
"No...no, Natsuki. I'm not leaving you. I'll still always be your friend, but I can't continue to stay here in Fuuka any longer. I need to get away from here for a while."
And from you, Shizuru silently thought to herself, as she rose up from the couch and headed for the front door.
"My flight is in the morning, and I need to get some rest. So, I guess this is goodbye for now, Natsuki..." Shizuru trailed off softly, as she stood by the front door to her home with the door opened, silently beckoning Natsuki to go through it.
Natsuki stared in complete shock at her chestnut-haired best friend before she jumped to her feet, and stomped her way over to the front door and slammed it back shut.
"I'm not leaving. And you're going away tomorrow? And you're only telling me about it tonight? God, Shizuru I thought I was your best friend! How could you decide on something like this, and only spring it on me the night before you leave," Natsuki demanded, with tears glistening in her emerald-green eyes.
Shizuru lightly bit her lip as guilt sliced itself through her chest, as she felt the palpable pain that Natsuki was practically radiating.
"I'm sorry, Natsuki...I had...I had no choice. If I'd told you anytime before now, you might have tried to stop me."
"You're damn right I would have! Where did you plan on running off to, anyways?" Natsuki demanded, as she felt almost like ripping her hair out in frustration.
"I am going to stay with my cousins in America. My aunt and uncle allowed them to move out there a couple years ago, and my cousins have offered to let me stay with them for as long as I want...and need," Shizuru replied, as she turned her head away from her irate best friend, and began making her way to her bedroom.
"And if Natsuki insists on staying then she can use the couch. I'm going to my bed now. My flight leaves at 7am," Shizuru said over her shoulder, before she disappeared down the darkened hallway leading to her room.
Natsuki stood rooted to the spot before the front door, before finally grabbing her head in frustration and letting out an angry cry of "ugh!"
Shizuru leaned her back against her closed bedroom door as she heard Natsuki exclaim in anger, before she allowed her body to slip down the door until she was sitting on her carpeted floor.
Then she cried.
And cried and cried into her hand covering her mouth, her broken-hearted sobs muffled against her palm.
Tomorrow she was leaving Natsuki. And if things worked out as she planned, she would be leaving her love for Natsuki behind as well...forever.
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