Misunderstanding of Hearts
By Jared Gilman
**This story is based upon the manga story Geek Bait, written by Megan Hebert and her friends Sarah, Dillon, Sebring and the rest, but I don't own any of it! NONE! It's all theirs! The characters, the stories, they are theirs! Don't hurt me! Please! I just want to write my story! No Copyright police.I don't think its mine, I swear it! NOOOO!!!! Not the burning and the pain and the anguish of taking away my writing! NO (Author smashes little sister). That's better. Sorry, I had to take care of that. Anyway, no I don't own Geek Bait, Megan is a cool friend of mine, wouldn't want to take credit for her work. Beware.there might be some OOC, or out of character description, here. so if this doesn't sound like some of the characters. I'm sorry, haven't had chances to read the whole series through.
It was an ordinary day in Pembroke, New Hampshire, save for the fact that rain fell in sheets, sending everyone scurrying for their homes and shelters. Blank and Tushima were holed up in their house alone. The others were at a movie, while the two had stayed behind simply cause they weren't interested. Blank went to the kitchen and made a sandwich for herself, mind preoccupied with what she was watching on TV. Mouth crunching, she walked back into the living room. Tushima followed Blank with her eyes then closed them softly, envisioning a Blank that was hers, that loved her as much as she had loved him. She felt a pang as she felt Blank ignore her, watching the television as though alone in the room. She got up silently, not showing her tears and went to her room, a single whimper escaping her lips as she climbed into her bed. She cried quiescently for several minutes, holding a pillow to muffle her small gasps of sorrow.
"Oh Blank. why can you not love me? I sit right in front of you, loving you so deeply, but you ignore my presence. as though I am invisible, as though my love for you is invisible. I wish so deeply for your touch, for you to hold yourself to me and softly massage your lips with mine. so I can tell you of my love forever."
Blank followed Tushima silently to her room and listened at the door. At Tushima's words she blanched, as though hit. She walked away silently, staring at the ground, once again feeling that muffled spark in her heart that she always pushed down. She had vowed to herself after that last time she would never trust herself with love again, being hurt scarred her deeply.
She walked to the front door and out into the rain, the drops hitting her face and running down her chest as she stared up into the sky. Her heart ached at Tushima's tears, knowing that she was the cause of them. Her mind came into focus, bringing back the memories of the person that had hurt her before, and her eyes took on an unblinking glazed look of one haunted. Her body began to shake silently and her tears joined the raindrops pouring down her face. Blank fell to her knees, tears of anger and unwanted pain streaming down her soaked face and clothes. She calmed herself slowly and walked back inside, soaking wet. Tushima emerging from her room and seeing the look in Blank's eyes she immediately broke down again and ran into her room. Tears streamed down her face at the pain in she saw Blank's eyes, knowing in her heart it was her fault and hating to see it so obvious in those hollow irises. Tushima felt her mind begin to mock her, telling her that she had only brought pain to the one she loved so dear. Blank tried to follow but Tushima had locked her door behind her. Blank sighed deeply and walked away from the door slowly, arms sagging at her sides, pain in her heart for hurting the one that loved her so much. Then suddenly the door flung open and Tushima came out with tears flooding down her face.
"Why can't you see how much I love you Blank? Why? You are my heart's desire in every way possible. but you never allow me to have you. to hold you."
Tushima stepped closer and planted a soft kiss upon Blank's lips, keeping the subdued passion for a moment then running out the front door and into the rain. Like a zipper closing around her, Tushima's running form became lost in the falling drops, leaving Blank standing there, fingers to her lips, feeling as though she had been hit by lightning. She absent-mindedly pulled the fingers away and stared at them, then out into the rain where Tushima had disappeared. She sat down hard, very hard on the wood floor. She stared at her fingers, gazing into them with the look of someone in shock. After five minutes of staring she spoke one word to the dark hallway.
"Love?"
All this time Tushima was running blindly through the rain not caring where she went, legs guided by chance instead of choice. In a twist of fate she came to a playground she used to swing at, and fell under her favorite pine tree. Sitting against its roots, She cried silently, softly touching her lips in remembrance of what it had felt like to kiss Blank.
"He has such soft lips. just like his face, so kind and reserved at the same time. I love him so much. it hurts to not hold him. Why am I given such love if the one I have it for is of such a hardened heart?"
Blank stared out the window at the rain, trying to understand exactly what was going on in her own head. She had vowed long ago never to love again. It hurt too much to find that it wasn't what you thought it was. Her heart had shattered, broken into a thousand pieces and she still hadn't found them all. So on that day she had sworn to live without love, to never heal that wound and live on without the thing that people say makes them complete. But. with that one kiss her heart was reassembled and was fighting her heart for control from the pain of the past. Her fingers were once again pressed to her lips, the feeling of Tushima's lips pressed to hers still unfading from her body. Her mouth continued to softly sigh the word "love" to the empty house, mind in turmoil and heart in shambles in her confusion. The spark that she had suppressed for a long time had grown into a flame, filling her heart with the emotion she forbade it, the love for another. Tushima. The name echoed inside her mind over and over, the look of pain and anguish so evident in her eyes. Then it was as though the skies of her mind had cleared of rain, sunlight had broken through the clouds, and warmed her cold form. Her heart had won. The anger and sadness of the past left to fade in the light that is joy. She took a step to the open door, then walked outside, and stared into the rain, trying to guess where Tushima would have gone. Then a warmth spread through her again, and she ran into the rain, letting her heart guide her to the one that she loved. Her legs pumped through the warm rain, the summers heat making the pavement steam, creating a fog that was all the more hard to see in. But she ran on, heart unhindered by the rain and slight coolness that had descended upon the neighborhood.
Tushima felt something inside her suddenly warm, as though she had eaten her favorite food and all was well with the world. Then she heard the steps; the rapid scuffling that was Blank's run. She stood and saw her love approach through the rain, watching the one she had loved one-sidedly for so long appear through the silvery mist, face slightly flushed from running. Her heart leaped, and she ran to meet him, but he stopped her at arms reach.
"Tushima.I came here to say.I.I love you Tushima.and I am so sorry for all those times when I pushed you away.I had vowed to never love again, but I broke that vow.for you."
Tushima threw her arms around Blank, embracing him tightly. Blank reached down slowly and hesitantly put his arms around Tushima, one hand lightly running through her hair. Tushima looked up to Blank's eyes, tears of joy ran down her face, she leaned close to him, resting her cheek against her love's chest. Then she felt something that should not have been there, something she had never felt because she had never been this close to him. She drew back in shock and pulled open his shirt to reveal that he was in fact a she. This news hitting her harder than anything had ever hit her before. Blank.was a woman? No, no. She couldn't be. Tushima's mind told her, Blank is a man, he has to be a man. Her mind struggled to process and her mouth began to mumble, but gradually gained strength.
Blank looked confused for a moment, then realized exactly what had happened. Her face looked as though she had been punched again, sadness and anguish filling her mind as she prepared to get hurt again. Tushima looked at her with pain and confusion filling her eyes, the love she felt still evident, but confusion was dominant as she tried to process the fact that her love, that she had thought was a man, was really a woman. She backed away slowly, tripping over a branch and sitting down hard on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes again. Blank reached for her, but Tushima curled up and began to cry into her hands, her body shaking with sobs as she fully grasped what this meant, that she had fallen for someone she couldn't love. Her mind screamed at her, you can't love this person, she is a woman, it is not right! Blank sighed deeply knowing keenly the pain Tushima felt. She tried to comfort her, but in her heart Blank knew it was to no avail. Tushima would have to make up her own mind. She berated herself for falling in love when the person that loved her wasn't even fully aware of who she was, including the all important detail of her gender. Pattering softly into the rain again footsteps much slower than before, she left Tushima to figure out her own heart. Tushima cried into her hands, body wracked with shaking from her grief at the mistake.
"Why? Oh my Blank. why do you have to be a woman? I love you so much. my heart hurts to know I was wrong about you."
Her head sagged against her chest, crying even harder. Her mind kept yelling, you were wrong, you can't love a woman! What would your family say to know you love a woman? How can you possibly allow yourself to love her, when you know that it can't happen? And as she listened, so vulnerable in her pain that she was open to the lies the pain told her. Giving into her grief she collapsed against the tree and whimpered softly. Then a sound floated from the mists, a sound like water running through a stream, but in a voice. She stopped crying and listening hard to the voice.
"Follow your heart." It echoed softly, "Your heart is never wrong in it's feeling; do not hide from it and give into the lies you hear."
A strange shape moved away in the mist, the person attached to the voice smiling softly and disappearing in his black clothes, a small smile set on his normally stormy face. Tushima shook her head softly, mind still resisting those words, but knowing in her heart what she wanted and needed to do. Arguments of decency and what should be, but it had already lost. A smile slowly crept over her face as she recalled Blank's kiss and words, the scenes replaying over and over her head. As Tushima listened to her heart, she realized that it did not matter whether or not, Blank was a girl. She loved Blank for Blank, not Blank because she thought he was a guy. She felt the warmth spreading over her body again, filling her with joy as she continued to remember Blank's words. Blank loved her!
He. wait. No, she," she reprimanded herself," really loves me! She does! I saw it in her eyes. Even if she is a woman, I love her and I will not give up my heart for nothing."
She stood up and brushed herself off, drying her hands against her pants and wiping away the last of her tears on her tears. The she looked around at the misty world, the rain having stopped, but the fog now hovering everywhere. She couldn't see Blank anywhere, and she felt the urge to cry again. Holding back her worry, she went to the sidewalk and began to search for Blank, calling out her name as she walked.
Meanwhile, Blank had found herself wandering along the wet streets, forlorn with the pain moving through her heart. Tushima loved Blank as a guy, not for who she really was, her pain told her, already blaming her for getting hurt and allowing herself to fall in love after what had happened before. Loneliness welled up inside her, a sob escaping to the fog that surrounded her. A stab ran through her heart and she stopped in her tracks and stared into the silver-gray cloud around her, then glaring up at the sky. She felt a tear slip from her eye and she ran her sleeve along her cheek furiously.
"I am not going to allow myself to be hurt anymore, I don't know if I could take that betrayal of my heart again." Then a sound floated through her ears, her name being called urgently by the soft voice that belonged to Tushima. Blank turned just in time to catch her as Tushima came flying into her arms. Tushima pressed her face to Blank's chest, crying softly and holding tightly around Blank's waist. Blank's heart melted and wrapped her arms around Tushima and tilted her love's chin up with one hand, leaning down and closing her eyes. Tushima leaned up into Blank, pressing their lips together in a deep kiss that held their passions for several moments. As they slowly broke apart, Tushima sighed softly, gasping after the passion that had passed through them in that kiss, and wishing it had never ended.
She brought her tear-filled eyes and streaked face to Blank's whispering softly, "I am so sorry Blank. for the pain I know that I have caused you. I love you, Blank, male or female, it doesn't matter. I love you, not your gender. You, Blank!"
She tightened her grip around Blank's waist and Blank smiled, her eyes growing warmer as she stared down into the eyes of her love, she repeated to herself, her love. Blank buried her face in Tushima's hair, and kissed her head softly, arms holding as tight as they allowed without hurting Tushima. She smiled hugely and tears of happiness rained on her love's head, Tushima looking up into Blank's eyes. She saw the tears and brushed them away with her hands, then kissed Blank, ending the tears with a fierce kiss. They leaned together into the kiss, as close to each other as infinitely possible. They broke apart softly, eyes opening and meeting silently, each staring into the other's soul. Then Tushima extended her hand to Blank and the two of them began to walk home together, hand in hand, Tushima resting her head against Blank's shoulder, sighing gently with happiness.
"This is where I've always wanted to be, my Blank. I never want to leave you side again."
Blank smiled softly and kissed her forehead, then nodded, "I love you, my Tushima, and you will never be far from me again."
They stayed holding hands until they went inside, settling together on the couch, Tushima resting her head on Blank's chest and Blank with her arms around Tushima. They were watching TV together when the rest of the gang came in and saw their position. There were loud shouts and even a few whistles, and some sweat drops were seen, Mute's silent nod his only answer, but the situation was finally explained and the rest all congratulated the two on their happiness. Blank nodded silently and kissed her love's forehead, then rested back against the couch, cradling Tushima's head in her head. Tushima smiled up at Blank and slowly closed her eyes, the happiness in her heart warming her, and she slowly fell asleep in her love's arms, knowing that this was not a dream that she would wake from.
"I love you, my Blank, my star."
"And I love you, my Tushima, my angel."
As the two lay still on the couch in each other's arms, they slowly fell into slumber, knowing that each had found something they had never had gained before, lasting love. No matter what anyone said, they had love, and it was not going to fail. Mute smiled at them and nodded secretly to himself, then walked outside to the rain again.
By Jared Gilman
**This story is based upon the manga story Geek Bait, written by Megan Hebert and her friends Sarah, Dillon, Sebring and the rest, but I don't own any of it! NONE! It's all theirs! The characters, the stories, they are theirs! Don't hurt me! Please! I just want to write my story! No Copyright police.I don't think its mine, I swear it! NOOOO!!!! Not the burning and the pain and the anguish of taking away my writing! NO (Author smashes little sister). That's better. Sorry, I had to take care of that. Anyway, no I don't own Geek Bait, Megan is a cool friend of mine, wouldn't want to take credit for her work. Beware.there might be some OOC, or out of character description, here. so if this doesn't sound like some of the characters. I'm sorry, haven't had chances to read the whole series through.
It was an ordinary day in Pembroke, New Hampshire, save for the fact that rain fell in sheets, sending everyone scurrying for their homes and shelters. Blank and Tushima were holed up in their house alone. The others were at a movie, while the two had stayed behind simply cause they weren't interested. Blank went to the kitchen and made a sandwich for herself, mind preoccupied with what she was watching on TV. Mouth crunching, she walked back into the living room. Tushima followed Blank with her eyes then closed them softly, envisioning a Blank that was hers, that loved her as much as she had loved him. She felt a pang as she felt Blank ignore her, watching the television as though alone in the room. She got up silently, not showing her tears and went to her room, a single whimper escaping her lips as she climbed into her bed. She cried quiescently for several minutes, holding a pillow to muffle her small gasps of sorrow.
"Oh Blank. why can you not love me? I sit right in front of you, loving you so deeply, but you ignore my presence. as though I am invisible, as though my love for you is invisible. I wish so deeply for your touch, for you to hold yourself to me and softly massage your lips with mine. so I can tell you of my love forever."
Blank followed Tushima silently to her room and listened at the door. At Tushima's words she blanched, as though hit. She walked away silently, staring at the ground, once again feeling that muffled spark in her heart that she always pushed down. She had vowed to herself after that last time she would never trust herself with love again, being hurt scarred her deeply.
She walked to the front door and out into the rain, the drops hitting her face and running down her chest as she stared up into the sky. Her heart ached at Tushima's tears, knowing that she was the cause of them. Her mind came into focus, bringing back the memories of the person that had hurt her before, and her eyes took on an unblinking glazed look of one haunted. Her body began to shake silently and her tears joined the raindrops pouring down her face. Blank fell to her knees, tears of anger and unwanted pain streaming down her soaked face and clothes. She calmed herself slowly and walked back inside, soaking wet. Tushima emerging from her room and seeing the look in Blank's eyes she immediately broke down again and ran into her room. Tears streamed down her face at the pain in she saw Blank's eyes, knowing in her heart it was her fault and hating to see it so obvious in those hollow irises. Tushima felt her mind begin to mock her, telling her that she had only brought pain to the one she loved so dear. Blank tried to follow but Tushima had locked her door behind her. Blank sighed deeply and walked away from the door slowly, arms sagging at her sides, pain in her heart for hurting the one that loved her so much. Then suddenly the door flung open and Tushima came out with tears flooding down her face.
"Why can't you see how much I love you Blank? Why? You are my heart's desire in every way possible. but you never allow me to have you. to hold you."
Tushima stepped closer and planted a soft kiss upon Blank's lips, keeping the subdued passion for a moment then running out the front door and into the rain. Like a zipper closing around her, Tushima's running form became lost in the falling drops, leaving Blank standing there, fingers to her lips, feeling as though she had been hit by lightning. She absent-mindedly pulled the fingers away and stared at them, then out into the rain where Tushima had disappeared. She sat down hard, very hard on the wood floor. She stared at her fingers, gazing into them with the look of someone in shock. After five minutes of staring she spoke one word to the dark hallway.
"Love?"
All this time Tushima was running blindly through the rain not caring where she went, legs guided by chance instead of choice. In a twist of fate she came to a playground she used to swing at, and fell under her favorite pine tree. Sitting against its roots, She cried silently, softly touching her lips in remembrance of what it had felt like to kiss Blank.
"He has such soft lips. just like his face, so kind and reserved at the same time. I love him so much. it hurts to not hold him. Why am I given such love if the one I have it for is of such a hardened heart?"
Blank stared out the window at the rain, trying to understand exactly what was going on in her own head. She had vowed long ago never to love again. It hurt too much to find that it wasn't what you thought it was. Her heart had shattered, broken into a thousand pieces and she still hadn't found them all. So on that day she had sworn to live without love, to never heal that wound and live on without the thing that people say makes them complete. But. with that one kiss her heart was reassembled and was fighting her heart for control from the pain of the past. Her fingers were once again pressed to her lips, the feeling of Tushima's lips pressed to hers still unfading from her body. Her mouth continued to softly sigh the word "love" to the empty house, mind in turmoil and heart in shambles in her confusion. The spark that she had suppressed for a long time had grown into a flame, filling her heart with the emotion she forbade it, the love for another. Tushima. The name echoed inside her mind over and over, the look of pain and anguish so evident in her eyes. Then it was as though the skies of her mind had cleared of rain, sunlight had broken through the clouds, and warmed her cold form. Her heart had won. The anger and sadness of the past left to fade in the light that is joy. She took a step to the open door, then walked outside, and stared into the rain, trying to guess where Tushima would have gone. Then a warmth spread through her again, and she ran into the rain, letting her heart guide her to the one that she loved. Her legs pumped through the warm rain, the summers heat making the pavement steam, creating a fog that was all the more hard to see in. But she ran on, heart unhindered by the rain and slight coolness that had descended upon the neighborhood.
Tushima felt something inside her suddenly warm, as though she had eaten her favorite food and all was well with the world. Then she heard the steps; the rapid scuffling that was Blank's run. She stood and saw her love approach through the rain, watching the one she had loved one-sidedly for so long appear through the silvery mist, face slightly flushed from running. Her heart leaped, and she ran to meet him, but he stopped her at arms reach.
"Tushima.I came here to say.I.I love you Tushima.and I am so sorry for all those times when I pushed you away.I had vowed to never love again, but I broke that vow.for you."
Tushima threw her arms around Blank, embracing him tightly. Blank reached down slowly and hesitantly put his arms around Tushima, one hand lightly running through her hair. Tushima looked up to Blank's eyes, tears of joy ran down her face, she leaned close to him, resting her cheek against her love's chest. Then she felt something that should not have been there, something she had never felt because she had never been this close to him. She drew back in shock and pulled open his shirt to reveal that he was in fact a she. This news hitting her harder than anything had ever hit her before. Blank.was a woman? No, no. She couldn't be. Tushima's mind told her, Blank is a man, he has to be a man. Her mind struggled to process and her mouth began to mumble, but gradually gained strength.
Blank looked confused for a moment, then realized exactly what had happened. Her face looked as though she had been punched again, sadness and anguish filling her mind as she prepared to get hurt again. Tushima looked at her with pain and confusion filling her eyes, the love she felt still evident, but confusion was dominant as she tried to process the fact that her love, that she had thought was a man, was really a woman. She backed away slowly, tripping over a branch and sitting down hard on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes again. Blank reached for her, but Tushima curled up and began to cry into her hands, her body shaking with sobs as she fully grasped what this meant, that she had fallen for someone she couldn't love. Her mind screamed at her, you can't love this person, she is a woman, it is not right! Blank sighed deeply knowing keenly the pain Tushima felt. She tried to comfort her, but in her heart Blank knew it was to no avail. Tushima would have to make up her own mind. She berated herself for falling in love when the person that loved her wasn't even fully aware of who she was, including the all important detail of her gender. Pattering softly into the rain again footsteps much slower than before, she left Tushima to figure out her own heart. Tushima cried into her hands, body wracked with shaking from her grief at the mistake.
"Why? Oh my Blank. why do you have to be a woman? I love you so much. my heart hurts to know I was wrong about you."
Her head sagged against her chest, crying even harder. Her mind kept yelling, you were wrong, you can't love a woman! What would your family say to know you love a woman? How can you possibly allow yourself to love her, when you know that it can't happen? And as she listened, so vulnerable in her pain that she was open to the lies the pain told her. Giving into her grief she collapsed against the tree and whimpered softly. Then a sound floated from the mists, a sound like water running through a stream, but in a voice. She stopped crying and listening hard to the voice.
"Follow your heart." It echoed softly, "Your heart is never wrong in it's feeling; do not hide from it and give into the lies you hear."
A strange shape moved away in the mist, the person attached to the voice smiling softly and disappearing in his black clothes, a small smile set on his normally stormy face. Tushima shook her head softly, mind still resisting those words, but knowing in her heart what she wanted and needed to do. Arguments of decency and what should be, but it had already lost. A smile slowly crept over her face as she recalled Blank's kiss and words, the scenes replaying over and over her head. As Tushima listened to her heart, she realized that it did not matter whether or not, Blank was a girl. She loved Blank for Blank, not Blank because she thought he was a guy. She felt the warmth spreading over her body again, filling her with joy as she continued to remember Blank's words. Blank loved her!
He. wait. No, she," she reprimanded herself," really loves me! She does! I saw it in her eyes. Even if she is a woman, I love her and I will not give up my heart for nothing."
She stood up and brushed herself off, drying her hands against her pants and wiping away the last of her tears on her tears. The she looked around at the misty world, the rain having stopped, but the fog now hovering everywhere. She couldn't see Blank anywhere, and she felt the urge to cry again. Holding back her worry, she went to the sidewalk and began to search for Blank, calling out her name as she walked.
Meanwhile, Blank had found herself wandering along the wet streets, forlorn with the pain moving through her heart. Tushima loved Blank as a guy, not for who she really was, her pain told her, already blaming her for getting hurt and allowing herself to fall in love after what had happened before. Loneliness welled up inside her, a sob escaping to the fog that surrounded her. A stab ran through her heart and she stopped in her tracks and stared into the silver-gray cloud around her, then glaring up at the sky. She felt a tear slip from her eye and she ran her sleeve along her cheek furiously.
"I am not going to allow myself to be hurt anymore, I don't know if I could take that betrayal of my heart again." Then a sound floated through her ears, her name being called urgently by the soft voice that belonged to Tushima. Blank turned just in time to catch her as Tushima came flying into her arms. Tushima pressed her face to Blank's chest, crying softly and holding tightly around Blank's waist. Blank's heart melted and wrapped her arms around Tushima and tilted her love's chin up with one hand, leaning down and closing her eyes. Tushima leaned up into Blank, pressing their lips together in a deep kiss that held their passions for several moments. As they slowly broke apart, Tushima sighed softly, gasping after the passion that had passed through them in that kiss, and wishing it had never ended.
She brought her tear-filled eyes and streaked face to Blank's whispering softly, "I am so sorry Blank. for the pain I know that I have caused you. I love you, Blank, male or female, it doesn't matter. I love you, not your gender. You, Blank!"
She tightened her grip around Blank's waist and Blank smiled, her eyes growing warmer as she stared down into the eyes of her love, she repeated to herself, her love. Blank buried her face in Tushima's hair, and kissed her head softly, arms holding as tight as they allowed without hurting Tushima. She smiled hugely and tears of happiness rained on her love's head, Tushima looking up into Blank's eyes. She saw the tears and brushed them away with her hands, then kissed Blank, ending the tears with a fierce kiss. They leaned together into the kiss, as close to each other as infinitely possible. They broke apart softly, eyes opening and meeting silently, each staring into the other's soul. Then Tushima extended her hand to Blank and the two of them began to walk home together, hand in hand, Tushima resting her head against Blank's shoulder, sighing gently with happiness.
"This is where I've always wanted to be, my Blank. I never want to leave you side again."
Blank smiled softly and kissed her forehead, then nodded, "I love you, my Tushima, and you will never be far from me again."
They stayed holding hands until they went inside, settling together on the couch, Tushima resting her head on Blank's chest and Blank with her arms around Tushima. They were watching TV together when the rest of the gang came in and saw their position. There were loud shouts and even a few whistles, and some sweat drops were seen, Mute's silent nod his only answer, but the situation was finally explained and the rest all congratulated the two on their happiness. Blank nodded silently and kissed her love's forehead, then rested back against the couch, cradling Tushima's head in her head. Tushima smiled up at Blank and slowly closed her eyes, the happiness in her heart warming her, and she slowly fell asleep in her love's arms, knowing that this was not a dream that she would wake from.
"I love you, my Blank, my star."
"And I love you, my Tushima, my angel."
As the two lay still on the couch in each other's arms, they slowly fell into slumber, knowing that each had found something they had never had gained before, lasting love. No matter what anyone said, they had love, and it was not going to fail. Mute smiled at them and nodded secretly to himself, then walked outside to the rain again.
