Author's Note: This a sequel to my story Always and Forever. Please read that first or you'll be very confused. Also, this is a yuri/shoujo-ai story. So don't read if you don't approve of girlxgirl relationships.
Chapter One
Wavering Hearts
"Gumi!"
Gumi looked at her girlfriend as the blonde girl ran over from where she'd waited outside the courthouse. The blonde's cheeks were rosy from the early winter chill and thin black gloves covered her hands. Gumi smiled at the girl, awaiting the girl's attack, but Rin stopped right in front of her and stared at her anxiously. Gumi withheld her annoyance for the moment. She'd tease her about it later.
"How'd it go?" Rin wondered, concern in her voice.
Gumi smiled at her and rolled her eyes. "You're such a worrywart. It all went perfectly, dummy."
Rin beamed up at Gumi, her eyes glittering. "That's great, Gumi!"
Gumi smiled at her girlfriend, but she was cut off before she could reply.
"That means that, as of today, you shall call me mother!" Miku commanded, joining the two and poking Gumi on the top of the head. "Got it?"
"No way," retorted Gumi, glaring at the girl with a smile.
"But Teru is now your legal guardian, right?" questioned Miku. "Therefore, he is your father, and I, as his girlfriend, am your mother."
"I'm still not gonna call you that," replied Gumi. "And you'd be my step-mother if anything, and a wicked one at that."
"That's right, Gum-Gum!" Iroha cried, leaping on the green-haired girl's back and glaring at Miku. "Never submit to Miku, meow! Green is the enemy!"
Gumi blinked up at the smaller girl whose head was on top of hers, forming a sort of totem pole. "Aren't I the one with green hair?"
Iroha stopped to think for a minute. "Fine then, we will destroy the pink one together!"
"Isn't that you?" Piko questioned, arriving with Miki, Gakupo, Neru, and Haku.
"Ugh, you people are no fun, meow!" whined Iroha, jumping off Gumi's back and taking her place between Piko and Iroha. "I meant the pink moon, Miku."
"Too late, shorty, you've already lost," replied Miku.
"Miku's so mean!" whined Iroha, sticking her tongue out at the girl while partially hiding behind Miki.
Gumi smiled at her friends, then up at Kiyoteru, who smiled back at her. Before, his smiles would be uncomfortable when they were for her, but, after she'd returned from being missing for months, he'd been so grateful that she'd returned that his affections for her no longer held restraints. And, as of five minutes ago, Kiyoteru had taken over as her legal guardian. Her mother had moved away, and, after Rin had finally forced her to come forth to the police about her relationship with her brother, her home had been deemed unsuitable.
It had been a few months since the day when they'd all returned to their homes. The students had quickly returned to taking regular classes. However, Rin and Miki were a year above all the others as the two had missed less classes than the others. The rest of the students had missed too much of their second year of high school and had been forced to repeat the year. They would all meet in Kiyoteru's classroom for lunch, though, so it wasn't like they didn't get to see each other anymore. Plus, their groups of friend had grown larger since they'd returned.
"Hello Kitty is stupid," Neru mocked, standing on Iroha's left.
"Stuuuuupid," Miku repeated, standing on Iroha's right.
"You two are such bullies!" whined Iroha. "Go away! Piko! Make them go away, meow!" Iroha's big, tear-filled eyes stared at Piko. Miki giggled as he sighed and stepped between Miku and Neru. He lifted Iroha up into his arms, carrying her away with minimal evident effort.
"Piko's been working out," Haku remarked as Neru came to her side.
"Protecting Iroha requires constant attention and strength," Piko sighed. "And you two aren't making it any easier."
Miku and Neru stuck their tongues out at him.
Neru and Haku had been placed in Miku's class this year, and the three, especially Neru and Miku, had bonded. In another class was Piko and Gakupo. Gakupo and Piko had always been pretty close, and they spent a lot of time hanging out together since they were the only boys in the group and were never invited to sleep overs. Unless Iroha was hosting it since it would be rude to kick Piko out of his own apartment. Gumi and Iroha were in Shion-sensei's class this year, and Rin and Miki were a year above everyone else in Kiyoteru's class.
"Rin!"
Gumi froze and plastered a smile to her face as the group turned to see a girl with blue and purple hair racing toward them, waving a hand to them with a cheerful smile.
"Aoki!" Rin cried out happily, racing to meet the girl and taking her into a strong hug, a hug that Gumi hadn't gotten, much to her displeasure. "What are you doing here?"
"Daddy was just dealing with something and dragged me along," the girl replied, smiling at Rin. Aoki's face flushed red as her vision flashed across the watching crowd before swiftly returning to Rin. "So, I haven't met all these people yet, Rin. Care to let me in?"
"Oops, sorry," Rin excused, laughing as she spun herself and Aoki toward to crowd. Rin herself hadn't remembered all these people six months ago, despite having been friends with a few of them for years. The girl's memories had been abolished around that time in an event Gumi preferred to forget about. "Aoki, you know Gumi, Miki, Iroha, and Piko. This is Gakupo, Miku, Haku, Neru, and my teacher, Hiyama-sensei. Everyone, this is my friend, Aoki."
Each person nodded, smiled, or gave a quick hello when their name was called. Gumi felt herself growing tense at the red flush on Aoki's cheeks. But, before she could act, Iroha grabbed her hand and subtly shook her head in warning. Gumi scowled at the girl before forcing herself to smile for Rin's friend.
"Hi, my name's Aoki," Aoki introduced herself, her hair falling prettily as she bowed politely. "Rin helped me out when I was in a bad situation, once upon a time."
Rin's eyes momentarily darkened at those words, recalling one of the fews events that still survived in her memory, but her cheerfulness was soon returned. "Let's forget about that, Aoki. So, anyway, before you go hitting on anyone, everyone, lay claim to your partner."
"Miki's mine!" Iroha and Piko shouted at the same time, each grabbing onto one of Miki's arms. Sparks of rivalry flashed between them as they glared at each other.
"Um, Miki can explain that one to you sometime," Rin replied at Aoki's perplexed expression. "I don't even quite understand it."
"My girlfriend is . . . . She's just not here right now," said Gakupo weakly, his eyes sad. Gumi hated seeing him like that. He still referred to Luka as his girlfriend, though she'd been found dead months ago.
"Teru is mine!" Miku announced, grabbing onto Kiyoteru's arm.
"Miku," he mumbled, looking around himself. "Be careful what kinds of things you tell strangers, and out in public at that."
"It's okay, she's Rin's friend," Miku replied, nodding to prove her certainty.
"I don't think being Rin's friend is a good evaluation," Piko commented, earning a glare from both Rin and Gumi. "If I remember correctly, her last friend is the reason we're all still in second year."
"I'm in third year, actually," Miki pointed out with a smile.
"The boys have no excuse for being held back; they just decided not to go to school," Iroha remarked snobbishly.
"Idiot," Piko grumbled.
"Love you too, Piko," Iroha sang cheerfully, smiling at the boy.
"You have crazy mood swings," Piko commented.
"I'm confused," Aoki told Rin, struggling to keep up with these new people.
"You'll learn to keep up," Rin commented.
She's going to be with us that often? Gumi wondered, though she didn't say anything aloud of course.
"Haku is mine. Touch her and die," hissed Neru, grabbing onto the silver-haired girl, whose face flushed with utter embarrassment.
"Oh," Aoki said, startled. She shifted uncomfortably "So, um, you guys are like that, then?" Aoki had only actually spent time with Rin in the last six months. Even Gumi barely knew the girl
"Not just them," Gumi replied, taking Rin's hand possessively and dragging her a step closer to herself and a step further from Aoki. "Rin's my girlfriend." There was a challenge in her words that went unnoticed by Aoki.
"It's great that you guys are so open about it," Aoki offered, smiling despite her obvious discomfort at the sheer amount of taboo relationships around her.
"Gumi," Rin murmured, upset. She'd seen the jealousy in Gumi's eyes. Gumi smiled for her, but Rin wasn't fooled. So Gumi looked away and released her girlfriend's hand.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Gumi told her. "I'll be right back."
"I have to go too, meow!" Iroha cried out triumphantly.
"We're so proud of you, Iroha," Miku said, tapping Iroha on the head patronizingly. "Soon you'll have no more need for diapers."
"I don't use diapers!" Iroha cried out, her face bright red.
"Sure you don't," soothed Neru.
"Stop spreading lies, meow! You're gonna make Aoki think I'm weird!"
"And that would be a lie?" Neru wondered.
"Agh, shut up!" She grabbed Gumi's hand and dragged her back toward the building. "C'mon, Gum-Gum, I gotta pee!"
Inside the building, Iroha dragged them immediately into the bathroom. Then, she stared at Gumi, scowling, but the fact that she had to look up at Gumi to make eye contact made her seriousness less threatening.
"Don't be jealous," Iroha instructed.
"I'm not," Gumi replied stubbornly.
"Rin doesn't like it when you're jealous. She hated when you and Len would fight, right?"
Gumi looked away, feeling a sharp pain in her heart. "Please don't talk about that, Iroha. I want to forget about him."
"Then forget about him," Iroha replied sharply. "You're the one who's keeping him alive."
Gumi refused to look at the girl, who pouted and said, "Anyway, I actually do have to pee, so wait here, okay?"
As Iroha ran into a stall, Gumi turned on the tap and began washing her hands with the pink liquid soap. She stared at herself in the mirror, imagining for a moment that she was seeing Len instead. She lifted her fingertips to the glass and touched them gently to the cold surface, wondering if they'd go through. But they didn't.
Leaning over the sink, droplets of water fell from her eyes, into the accumulating mass, as she stared at the mirror. "I hate you," Gumi murmured to the him that she imagined in the mirror, her voice inaudible over the running water of the sink. "So why do I miss you so much?"
Author's Note: This has been sitting around since the time when I wrote Give Me Thirty Minutes, which were both done in procrastinating my NaNoWriMo. I missed these guys. Aoki will be a major character, along with Lily later. Sigh. I'm satisfied. Hope you guys enjoy it! I'm aiming for 30 chapters like last time because I've planned out the story somewhat so I think I can make it. Neru and Haku will be in it, too, more than in Always and Forever. So, reviews please? To motivate me so I'll write an extra chapter and you won't have to wait for the regular updating day, which is Thursday?
