Part 2
Prologue
Where am I . . .? I looked all around me. . . only to see nothingness. No light or . . . well, come to think of it, no darkness either. Just space. No one's here, I said to myself. I had no other option so I walked straight ahead.
"Hello?" I said outloud after walking for a few minutes. Hmm. . . No answer came. "Dammit . . . where the hell am I . . .!?"
"Yusuke . . ." I heard a sweet voice calling my name. The perfect answer to my call. I turned around . . . and saw. . . her.
"Keiko . . . Why are you here . . .?" I ran up to her and I hugged her tightly.
"I need to be near you . . . now . . . and forever . . ." she whispered. Keiko pulled away from my arms and placed a hand on my face.
"How long have you been waiting here . . .?"
"I don't know . . . It's so dark . . . and . . . I'm so afraid . . ." Just as she said this, the space around us grew dark. . .so dark that I couldn't even see Keiko even though she was so close.
"The hell. . ." I said quietly confused. I could sense Keiko's fear.
"Yusuke. . .?" she said back to me, her voice shaking. I brought her closer to me. I kissed her gently trying to ease away her fears.
"Stay close to me . . . I'm won't let you go . . . I promise . . ." I felt her grab onto my shirt.
"Take me home . . ." she begged me, holding on. I obeyed. We began our walk together in the darkness. As we walked, I could feel cold soil between my toes. It's coolness sent a shiver through me, our bodies cold. We have to be getting somewhere, I thought. I have to get her back to where she belongs. I can't let Keiko down . . . again. I squeezed her hand, feeling how cold it was. " . . . You're so cold . . ."
"I need . . . your warmth . . ." she said quietly. "I want . . . your heat . . ." I looked at her. Her words, though simple, were full of a strange emotion. But for some reason, I couldn't tell what it was.
"What do you mean . . .?" I asked, confused, but somehow intrigued. We stopped walking and suddenly she could be seen as could I. We looked at each other in this new-found light.
"Please . . ." she whispered. " . . . Kiss me . . ." Her voice was low and sexy. . . almost asking me to do more than kiss her. But that was exactly what I did. I leaned in and let my lips meet with hers. She wrapped her slender arms around my neck. I pulled her closer, trying to give her every last drop of warmth that I could feel within me. Our kiss ended moments later. I placed my hand on her cheek, letting my fingers brush through her hair. She closed her beautiful, loving, brown eyes and smiled as if basking in our kiss though it had already ended.
" . . . Keiko . . . I've loved you for so long . . . I'm sorry that I keep letting you down . . ." I said to her, my body hot from our kiss. I shook my head and said, "Forgive me . . . for taking so long . . . to tell you how I feel . . . to come to you . . ." She opened her eyes slowly and looked at me. I pulled her in and kissed her again. I cautiously pushed my tongue into her mouth and tried to give her the last of the heat in my body. She leaned back as I pushed on her, a quiet moan coming into my mouth as she clutched my shirt. I wanted to go deeper, but I couldn't. . . I wanted to pull her into me. . . and to be pulled into her. . . but I came up out of our kiss before that could happen. When I pulled away from her, I just looked at her again. I was shocked by what I saw.
Her eyes . . . they . . . changed from brown to green . . . then red . . . right in front of me. It reminded me of a demon's eyes when they get angry after I've kicked their ass. . . but her eyes were much more threatening. . . much more piercing. Her eyes glared at me now. . . hating my guts. . . and perhaps wishing for my death. I stepped back from her, scared. Did I do something wrong? I asked her in my mind. Again? But then her hand came up and slapped me . . . hard. I fell back onto the cold ground, my body twisted by the strength of the hatred in the palm of her hand.
" . . . I hate you . . . Yusuke . . ." she shouted. " 'I'm sorry' isn't good enough. Damn you!" I put my hand up to my face and looked at her. Her blood red eyes glowed, filling with tears, breaking me. She acted as though to say something else. She turned her back to me and started walking away.
" . . . Keiko . . . Come back . . .!"
"I never . . .want to see you . . . ever again . . .!" I reached for her . . . but . . . she was too suddenly too far away.
"Please . . . KEIKO!!" She was disappearing into the darkness, the sound of her footsteps getting further and further. "Please. . . Come back . . .!"
Chapter 1- Reminiscing
I sat up in my bed, sweating. I was breathing heavily. "Damn!" I yelled, punching the bed that sat between my legs. I laid back down and tried to catch my breath. I've had that same, exact dream everyday ever since the beginning of December. I looked over at the corner of my room. This reoccurring dream . . . I'm sick and tired of it! I laid there under my blanket twisting . . . turning . . . in some sort of torment. I couldn't get back to sleep. Angry and pretty damn frustrated, I sat back up again, dripping in sweat. I think about her . . . so much nowadays. I haven't talked to her in over a month . . . Well . . . since what happened on Christmas anyway . . .
I got out of my bed and went over to my window. I opened the curtains and peered out though I knew there was nothing to see out there. What a monthit's been. . .serious, I announced to myself.
A month without her is . . . almost unbearable. . .
I reached down and pulled my shirt up and over my head. Dammit . . . Damn women! I angrily threw my sweaty shirt on the floor and sat down on the edge of my bed. Every time I have this dream . . . It reminds me of how much . . . I miss her.
Her kisses . . .
Her hugs . . .
Her . . . love.
Oh God, I said, fighting the urge to punch myself. I sound so fucking sappy. I just wish that I could take my mind off of her. . .for just one moment . . . but its just so hard. I tried to shake away the thought of her as she danced around in my mind.
Her lips . . .
Her eyes . . .
Her . . . body. . .
My memories of her are the only things that have gotten me through this long month. I wonder . . . if she feels . . . the same way. I stood up and walked to the door. After leaving the room, I walked to the living room and sat down on the couch. Sitting in the dark, I searched for my remote. After a moment, I found it and hit the 'on' button. Bored and not really caring about shit, I just started cruising through the channels. In the end, I stopped on a channel and watched some corny soap opera.
I wasn't really watching the show. In fact . . . I wasn't all that interested. I couldn't pay attention to what was happening on the screen. I looked on, unable to focus on the moving pictures. Her name kept repeating in my mind. 'Keiko . . .' 'Keiko . . .' 'Keiko . . .' I've missed you so much for such a long time, dammit . . . an eternity is what it feels like . . . I looked up at the ceiling and slowly closed my eyes. Maybe I'm going crazy . . . but . . . I guess . . . It's worth it. I smiled to myself. I could see her in my mind. Memories of her . . . of us. Long lost memories . . .
Since our parents were kinda like good friends back in the good ol' days, we just . . . kinda . . . grew up together. It seemed like we were always near each other somehow, annoying each other. Of course there were certain barriers between us at first . . . Come on . . .! She was a girl and I was a boy. As we got older, she got boobs and I tried to touch 'em. She was smart, I was dumb. She was good, and I was bad. Well, I guess that was how it was between us. . . There was always an attraction though. . . and undeniable and noticable force that always pulled me toward her. . . Hmm. . .
But in the scheme of things, I'm jumping way ahead of myself. After our first day of school, all that acquaintances stuff was gone. I can clearly remember that day. It was about twelve or thirteen years ago. We were only five, maybe six, years old at the time. We were so young back then. I remember Keiko being picked on by some fat kid and I didn't like how he was treating her. I had been watching him all day. He was pushing her around and making her cry. I couldn't stand for it any longer. At lunch time that day . . . I was gonna give him a piece of my mind. . .at least, what bit I thought I had. . .
"Hey tubby . . . Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" I told him, holding my soda can in one hand. He turned around and looked down at me. Keiko looked at me from over his shoulder. " . . . Yeah . . . I 'm talkin' to you, tubby boy!" I said to him although he looked more like a baby sumo wrestler.
"Why won't you do something about it . . .?" asked Tubby. He flicked my forehead with his finger and I stumbled back a little. Keiko stood there, frightened, behind him.
"I think we can solve this . . . without any violence . . .y'know, like gentlemen," I told him, sipping more of my soda.
"Really . . .?" The tubby boy looked interested. "What do you want . . .?"
"If I give you . . . my sandwich and my . . . strawberry Pocky for a week . . . Will you leave her alone?" The tubby kid thought about my offer.
"Make it two weeks and it's a deal." I looked at Keiko and sipped my soda.
"Fine," I told him. He pushed Keiko toward me and I caught her before she hit the ground.
"Live up to your promise, alright?" The fat kid turned and walked away. I shook my fist at him, pretending like I was goin' to kick his ass.
"Thank you . . . Yu-kun . . ." she said to me, before correcting herself when she remembered I hated being called that name. "I mean, Yusuke. . ." I nodded to her. She was so quiet.
"Were you going to let him do that to you . . .?" I asked. She looked down at the ground.
" . . . No . . ." she answered quietly. I patted her on the shoulder.
"I can't protect you forever. First time . . . It's free. But . . . if it happens again . . . it'll cost you," I told her, sipping up the last bit of soda I had left. "I thought you were tougher than that, Keiko . . . You need to get some guts . . .!" She stared at me. Her eyes began to water. I could tell that she still felt uneasy about the turn of events.
"Yusuke . . . I'm sorry . . . You won't have much of a lunch . . .without a sandwich . . . or the Pocky . . ." I laughed at her apology. I shrugged at her and smiled.
"Oh cheer up . . . I'll survive, Keiko. I'll pack two sandwiches. And besides, Pocky's not really my favorite candy. .. "
"Oh . . . Okay . . ." She smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back.
"You have a nice smile, Keiko . . ." I said. She blushed at my words.
" . . . Really . . .?" she asked, her cheeks getting redder and redder by the moment.
"Yeah . . ." I answered. "So . . . you should spend more time smilin' instead of thinkin' about my lunch, okay?"
"O-Okay . . ." she said, her smile getting bigger.
"And don't worry about tubby anymore," I told her. I was happy that Keiko was beginning to feel a little better. So . . . I decided that I was going to make her laugh. I tried to crumple the can the best way I could with my pudgy little hands. She looked at me curiously.
"Yusuke, what are you doing . . .?" she asked.
"You'll see . . ." I aimed the best I could . . . and then I threw the empty can and hit the tubby kid in the head. Bulls-Eye! Keiko gasped . . . and then started giggling. I enjoyed her reaction.
"Who did that . . .!?" yelled Tubby.
"Sorry about that . . ." I waved at the kid. The tubby kid came stumping back toward me. I smiled as he closed in on me and Keiko. "Did you come to register a complaint, sir?"
"You'll pay for that . . ." He drew back his hand . . . and punched me square in the face. I stumbled backward and fell down. Keiko ran to me and bent down . . .
"Are you okay, Yu-kun?" she asked with worry in her eyes.
"I'm okay," I told her. "And I thoght I told you stop callin' me that!!" I added, shouting at her!
"I'm sorry!" she said. All the kids started crowding around us screaming 'Fight!' 'Fight!' 'Fight!' I stood up and faced the fat kid.
"Is that the best . . . you can do?" I asked, smiling. I ran toward him, aiming to punch him in the stomach. I tripped over his leg.
"Give up while you have the chance . . ." he said, smirking at me.
"Oh, I'll get you!" The kid punched me in the face. . . again. I hit the ground with a huge smack. I got back up and ran toward him. I was going straight for the eyes . . .
"Stop . . .!" yelled Keiko. "Stop it!" I stopped running and I looked at Keiko. She walked up to the fat kid and . . . did something that I didn't expect. She . . . she slapped him. The boy went crashing down into the ground like a bowl of ramen noodles. Keiko ran over to me. "Yusuke . . . are you okay . . .?"
"I told you before . . . I'm fine . . ."
"Oh . . . Okay." She walked over to the wounded fat kid and bent down. "Are you okay . . .?" He clutched his face and nodded. She closed her eyes and smiled. "I'm sorry . . . but you deserved it . . ." Teachers came running toward us from all directions. They took us all to the office. We all, of course, got in trouble. Neither I or Keiko got into any serious trouble though. Well, that's a lie actually. I got in quite a bit of trouble. But . . . all the same . . . I felt sorry for getting her in trouble. She forgave me and I guess you can say we were buddies ever since . . . I guess! We always did things together, but, I guess, after that incident, we started hanging out even more. Even though she was a girl . . . I didn't really care anymore. Wherever I was, she was there and everywhere she went, I came too. I guess you can say we became more fond of each other as more time passed . . .
I opened my eyes and smiled. "Fond memories, I guess. . ." I whispered to myself. Things weren't as complicated back then as they are now. I mean, she's really goin' places. . . and me? I'm just some ex-spirit detective. I started laughing as I thought about that school memory again. She probably doesn't even remember that. I laughed to myself. Hell no. . .who'd fuck want to remember that tubby little munchkin. . .? I directed my attention back to the television. Some weird Japanese prank show was on, a show that I'd normally watch. . . but it was a re-run of some old episode I'd seen plenty of times. Boring . . . I thought. I laid down on the couch and closed my eyes again . . . I slowly . . . began drifting into another . . . memory . . .
I remember after the Demon World tournament. It was a few weeks after I had returned. . . at least I think it was. . . Yeah. Well, in the days that followed, Keiko and I seemed to be getting closer . . . but we were still more like friends. We ended up at Keiko's house this one day. In fact . . . we were in her room. She was going to help me out . . . with . . . with what . . .? Oh yeah . . . I remember! She was trying to help me with some damn math and biology that was supposed to be covered on the entrance exam of the high school that Keiko was going to. She was attending this really nice school and was trying to help me finish the year, despite all that I had missed, with her. We were sitting next to each other at her work desk. The work was so boring. It dragged on . . . and . . . on . . .
"Yusuke . . .!" I heard her faintly talking while I stared out of the window. "Yusuke . . .!?"
"Huh? . . . Oh . . . sorry."
"That's the third time you stopped paying attention in the last the twenty minutes." I looked at her and rubbed the back of my head.
"Hey . . . I said I was sorry. . . This isn't really happy hour, Keiko. I mean, I gotta admit. It's more peaceful, but Spirt World definitely had a lot more goin' on. . ." She narrowed her eyes. She smacked me on the back of my head. "Hey!"
"Look here, Yusuke . . . I'm not going to waste my time helping someone who doesn't want to help themselves. You . . . you don't even want to learn . . ."
"School's just so boring . . . Too many damn codes . . . too many rules . . ."
"Well . . . I don't care if you like it or not . . . You still have to go!"
"Hey. . .I need to get accepted first. . . Geez. . ." I leaned back in my chair. "What's the rush?"
"Well, you're still struggling in all the subjects. . . To be completely honest, I don't know how you're gonna get into this high school."
"Hey . . . what the hell is that supposed to mean!?" She leaned toward me and gave me a small kiss on the cheek, causing me to forget what I was talking about.She gently rested her hand on my shoulder.
"That's why I'm here though . . . I want to help . . ." She gave me a warm smile. I turned away from her and started writing. Why'd she have to smile like that? She looked . . . well . . . she looked kinda . . . beautiful. I'll work . . . I told myself. I'll work . . . for her. I started writing down some notes on some memorization cards. I just wrote down random things here and there. She looked over my shoulder as I wrote. I felt her breathing in my ear. I closed my eyes, feeling her air brushing against my skin. "Yusuke . . . Don't fall asleep!" Her hand tapped my head. I began saying something but . . . I changed my mind.
I looked at the clock on the desk. It read 6:32. I sighed and I started writing out equations and formulas. This is so boring, I kept thinking to myself. I continued writing though. Keiko worked on her own homework along side me. She answered all of my questions to the best of her abilities. . .which was pretty damn good. I was actually getting the hang of it when I ran into a cluster of stupid questions.
"Damn numbers . . .!" I shouted.
"What's wrong?" She leaned over to see what I was doing.
"This is so stupid. I've been trying this crappy excuse of a problem for days," I said, pointing at my paper, exaggerating. She looked at my paper, trying to figure out where I went wrong. She started laughing silently.
"What in the hell is so funny?"
"Yusuke . . . Since when has twelve divided by two equal t0 five!? Is this what you call complicated . . .!? How could you have made such a . . . mistake . . .?" She started laughing really hard. I grabbed the paper from her and looked at it.
"The hell I did . . ." I looked closer. "Oh . . ." She giggled as I smiled at her.
"Maybe you should take a break . . ." she said. I pulled away from the table and stood up. I went over to her bed and sat down. I tried to let my mind relax for the first time in hours. I looked at Keiko with her back toward me.
"Aren't you going to take a break too?" I asked her. She turned around for a minute.
"I'm going to finish this first . . ." She turned back around and continued to work. I looked at her back. Damn girls . . . I thought. They always think they're better . . . that they're smarter. She's so strange . . . sometimes, I thought to myself. But . . . I find myself thinking about her . . . so much. Huh. . . I even thought about her when I was in Spirit World. I shook off my thoughts and I got up and went to go see what she was doing. I leaned over her shoulder, taking a closer look.
"So . . . what are you doin'?" She glanced at me.
"I'm doing my biology homework. I've got a huge exam at the end of the week."
"Is that so . . .?" I asked, not really caring.
"Yes . . . it is." I continued to look over her shoulder. I looked at the words in the book and started reading them aloud.
"When homeostasis, or the body's balance, is thrown off . . ." I read. " . . . there can be serious damage brought onto the body." She looked up at me. A surprised expression was on her beautiful face. "What?" I asked as I met with her eyes.
"I'm shocked you know how to pronounce homeostasis," she said, giggling.
"Wow . . . Sounds interesting . . ." I said, rolling my eyes. "You've been studying longer than I have and yet you won't take a break . . .? You're crazy."
"I don't care what you think, Yusuke . . . I actually care about my grades . . . unlike other boys I know."
"Ha . . . Ha . . . Very funny . . ." I said sarcastically. "Keiko, there's really no point in me taking a break . . . if you're not going to take it with me . . ."
There was a silence after I said that. I could almost hear the clock thingies ticking in her head. I heard her pencil fall onto the desk as she stopped writing. Moments later, she turned around and looked at me.
"If I take a ten minute break, will you shut up? Some of the brains in this room are trying to function . . ." I ignored her comment. She stood up and stretched. I watched as she walked over to me and sat down.
"Ain't that better . . .?" I asked. "If life were all about work, then I would be stuck in spirit world." I smiled at her.
"Whatever," she said, waving off my philosophy. "I'm going to go get a snack . . . You want anything . . .?"
"Do you have any . . . fruit?"
"Apples, oranges, peaches, bananas, watermelon . . ."
"Though watermelon seems tempting. . . I'll take a banana, Kei. . ." She walked out, leaving me alone on her bed."ko. . ." I finished for the sake of finishing. Man, today is taking forever, I thought to myself. I don't think I'd mind it as much if her room weren't so girly. I started chuckling to myself. I looked at the digital clock sitting on her desk. It's 7:15, huh? I looked toward the door, sensing Keiko's return. And I was right. She walked to me. She handed me the banana and sat back down next to me.
"Bananas are full of what, Yusuke . . .?" I looked at her with banana in my cheek.
"What?"
"What do you find in bananas?"
"That yellow stick thing. . ." I answered, trying to sound smart. "Ha, it's fruit . . . duh . . ."
"I talking about nutritional-wise . . ."
"How the hell am I supposed to know . . .? I really don't care . . ." I looked at her.
"Potassium."
"Pote what?"
"Po-tas-si-um," she said, laughing at me. Who the hell cares about this crap? I mean, who actually asks people about bananas . . .?
"I don't give a flying fuck about what the hell is inside this damn banana!" I said.
"It's just a useful fact . . ." She smiled warmly at me. My thoughts melted away. Keiko, your smile is so . . . cute, I said to myself. I loved her smile. . . even back then. Her smile was always so graceful and sweet, welcoming me to crack one back at her. An urge inside of me pushed me forward, wanting to get a little closer to her. I looked at how her lips curled up into the perfect grin . . . so soft those lips appeared to be. I want to . . . touch those lips, I said to the urge inside of me. I leaned slowly toward her, moving closer to her face.
"Yusuke . . . What are . . . you doing . . .?" she asked me, with apple in her mouth, leaning away from me slightly. Oh Shit! I regained my senses.
"Nothing . . ." I answered. "You've got some . . . apple there . . . on your shirt." I pointed to her chest, where one of the buttons of her shirt lay. She looked down and quickly looked back up again.
"You pervert!" she shouted as she slapped me.
"I wasn't trying to be disgusting or anything . . ." I said, rubbing my pulsating cheek. "How do I cop a feel with a pointed finger, Keiko? Geez. . . that's the last time I tell you that you're covered in food." Keiko narrowed her eyes a me again.
"You make it sound like I'm a pig . . .!" she shouted.
"That's because you are . . .!" I shouted back. I bit into the last part of my banana and stood up. I walked to the waste basket. I turned around and stood there, gawking at her. I imagined her as a pig, stuffing apples in her face, pieces flying all around the room. Her big hamhock butt just rollin' around. The mere image of it got me going. . . I started laughing to myself. She took the last bite of her apple and walked over to me. I saw her face change into a smile. I knew she was laughing to herself too. She dropped the apple core into the trash and went back to her desk. She paused and looked up at me . . . I couldn't hold it in anymore.
We both exploded with laughter. And it wasn't until a few minutes later that we finally calmed down. . .
She looked down at her work and continued to giggle quietly. I guess I should get back to work too, I told myself, still laughing. I pulled out the chair next to Keiko's and I sat down. I opened up my biology book again and started relunctantly reading. I looked over at her, peeping at the work she insisted upon getting finished. She looked over at me and quickly diverted her eyes.
"Keep your eyes on your book, Yusuke . . . Looking at my work isn't going to help you get into this school now, is it?" I went back to my studies. I just looked at the pictures for a while. An animal. . . then some words. . . and look! Some more words. . . But I couldn't keep it up too much longer . . . I started reading . . . and . . . dozing . . . off. "Yusuke!" I felt a hand pinch my cheek.
"Dammit . . . !" I shouted.
"Stay awake . . . or leave . . .!" I looked at her.
"Did you have to pinch me . . . Damn, that hurt . . .!" She went back to her work, ignoring what I had to say. I started reading the stupid words on the stupid page again, more irritated than sore. I tried to concentrate on what the lesson was about . . . 'Don' t fall asleep' I told myself, mocking Keiko in my mind. She looked over at my book and smiled. "Look at your book . . . Keiko!" I mocked her, this time out loud.
"That's the hardest lesson in the book," she said, giggling.
"If you don't have any good news, then keep it to yourself . . ." I directed my attention back to my dumb-ass book.
"Alright," she said as she shrugged, going back to her own work. I turned the page to do some more reading . . . just crap . . . I turned another page . . . more crap. . . and yet another turn lead to. . . Guess what? Yet more crap. . . again a thousand times over . . .! She closed her books and started packing them away. "You done already?"
"Pretty much . . ." she said. She sat on the floor, still packing away her things. I looked at the clock. It was about to turn eight. I continued to read. I don't understand any of this garbage, I thought. But I kept reading anyway. I sat there for God knows how long, reading word after senseless word . . . This is so damn BORING. . .! I screamed out in my over-taxed brain.Keiko sat down next to me again.
"Do you need any help . . .?"
"Yeah . . ." I flipped through the next thirty-five pages. "If you helped me with this . . . I'd be set for life . . .!" She laughed.
"We'll continue this study session tomorrow . . ." she said, still laughing. She reached up and closed my book for me. I turned in my chair to face her.
"I must study all night . . .!" I said, trying to act like some smart ass from school. I was making a pretty damn good attempt to act dramatically. "If I want to make it in this world . . . I'll have to be more than just an ordinary guy . . . I hafta be some dude that recalls shit that no one else remembers. . ."
"Yusuke . . . you'll be fine . . ." Keiko reasurred me, despite all the things she'd said before. "You're so much more . . . than an just an ordinary guy . . . already." She paused and looked away for a second. Her words took me by surprise. I couldn't help but see her cheeks glow a bit. Then she looked at me again and continued. "We'll just have to find your work pace . . . somehow. . ."
"Thanks . . ." I told her, a bit flattered that she still wanted to help me. She stared into my eyes and I couldn't help but stare back. Those eyes, though beautiful, pierced me. I enjoyed being so close to her . . . without us yelling at each other about something stupid that I probably did. The urge to get closer only tugged on my heart as I reached out and touched her hand, feeling the softness of her skin . . . Quietly, we sat there. . . and she let me rest my hand on hers without a word. Then without really giving it any thought . . . I placed my hand onto her face, her cheek so warm underneath my palm, her hair swaying against my finger tips. She gasped very quietly as I leaned in closer to her, nearing her lips.
" . . . What . . . what are you doing . . .?" she whispered, her voice quivering slightly. I stopped close to her mouth. Perhaps I intended to tease her. . . but being that close to her face proved to be a dumb bluff on my part. I felt pulled in by her eyes and I knew that what I was doing was bold, but dammit . . . I just had to do it! I could no longer fight the urge to kiss her . . . the same urge I had felt before when she was eating her apple. I could feel how nervous she was as I breathed on her face. Hey, I was nervous too! For some reason, I wanted this to be perfect . . . for her sake. I didn't want to go too fast either . . . but still . . . it wasn't like she was trying to stop me. Keiko looked into my eyes, astonished . . . yet inviting me. I moved toward her with caution, trying to give her the chance to turn me down . . . but she never did. Slowly . . . I let my lips brush against hers before I let my lips press on, softly and gently. I remember that her lips were so much warmer than I had expected; they were so soft . . . so gentle against my lips. Whether it was a short kiss . . . or a long one . . . I'll never know. I eventually pulled away and looked at her, her eyes slowly opening to look at me in return.
"Thanks . . ." I told her, moving my thumb on her soft cheek. " . . . for helping me . . ." She quietly cleared her throat. I reluctantly lowered my hand from Keiko's face. She quickly lowered her head and looked down at the ground, her cheeks glowing pink before she could hide them from me. I smiled at her as she put her hands on her knees.
" . . .You're . . ." she started, hesitating. " . . . you're welcome . . ."
I opened my eyes and looked at the television. Our first kiss . . . I thought to myself. Well, it was actually our second kiss. Our first one wasn't too long before that one; it was after I had come back from the Demon World tournament. I couldn't help but smile at one of our sweetest memories. I chuckled to myself, thinking about how so much had changed in the few months that had passed since that kiss had happened. I looked toward the window, seeing spurts of light peeking through. It's morning. I stood up and walked back to my room. I think I'll sleep-in today. I sat down on my bed and looked at the clock that sat on the dresser. Oh man . . . It's 7:35. I probably won't be able to get back to sleep anyway. I guess I should get ready to go to school. Defeated, I stood back up and walked to the radio. I clicked it on and waited for music play.
"We'll be getting back to the jams you love in just a moment! Hello . . . if you are just tuning in . . . welcome." I listened on, not very interested in what they had to say. "Today . . . We're expecting awesome weather and good temperatures all over Japan. January 31st can and will be a good day for you!" I clicked off the radio and sat down on my bed.
"Keiko . . ." I whispered as her sweet face appeared in my mind again.
My first love . . . . I said these words to myself, almost embarassed, but then I let the words come out. . . just like they were supposed to. "My . . . only love. . ." I said now, louder so my heart could actually hear it. Today is your birthday. It's my chance. . . to fix what's gone so wrong. I nodded in agreement with thought. I have to tell you, Keiko . . . Today!