Orokid: Wow, it's been a long time that I've written much of anything recently, huh? Sorry for disappearing like that, guys! I've just been really, really busy. If you want to know what's been going on for the past couple of weeks and months, visit my main page. It pretty much tells enough of it to get the gist of everything that's been going on.

Anyway… I've been reading the Strawberry Panic! Light novels by Sakurako Kimino, the original author of the story. So… I guess that's why I've felt like writing something about Tamao and Nagisa. That, and I listened to Amy Winehouse's "He Can Only Hold Her" probably more than I can count that day. Haha. Anyway… the only thing I can say about the written version (or manga, depending which you like more) is that they are extremely different from the anime. If you're expecting a similar tale, you'll be disappointed.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Strawberry Panic! and the like. The storyline belongs to Sakurako Kimino, the art to Takuminamuchi, and the manga/novel stories to the Seven Seas company. So, as you can guess, I own zero percent of it. Sorry to those sue-happy peoples! ^w^

She Could Only Hold Her

Tamao knew that there was only so much she could do in such a situation. Around her, the world was filled with life and happiness, but the room in which she and her most beloved remained in what seemed to be untouched by the whirl of the universe. In her arms was the one that she loved so dearly, the one whom she had watched grow from a child to a woman at the school that had brought both joy and tears to their lives. It was just like any other night, and the emotions in her heart remained unchanged from the years that had passed by.

But the emotions within the other's seemed to be everywhere else other than the room that they had slept in. What seemed to slowly kill her was that she knew that information far too well, and she hated just how lonely she really was in this relationship that they had gotten themselves in.

In the end, she knew and understood (whether she liked it or not) that all she could truly do was hold the young woman and hope with every hope she had that her feelings might someday be returned.

It really all seemed unfair to her, no matter how she might sugar-coat the truth to herself.

Tamao couldn't help but think back to the times before, where one's timid and unsure heart would find itself giving a misguided tour across her skin. And, despite the fact that it wasn't her the beautiful red haired girl imaged herself with, she had enjoyed each and every moment of it, her heart painfully begging for a return of such physical affections that she had often offered. Each time had become harder nonetheless, so both had opted to keep their gazes away from the eyes that yearned for something- someone even- that wasn't there.

And there were days where pacifying the young woman's passions for love seemed to be the hardest thing to do in this world- and all she wanted to do then was curl up into herself and cry.

The literature major wished silently to herself that she ad been the sun that made her rainbow glisten so and not the one that pained her beloved's heart. She longed so much to have been the one her lover adored instead, and she despised how the truth in the autumn colored orbs continued to avoid her own. And, as much as she hated it, there was only one truth that could ever remain.

She could only hold her.

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Orokid:So… what'd you think? I know that it is a bit short, but you have to see it from my point of view. I haven't written much of anything for a little while, and writing anything seemed to be a gift from God. You know? Anyway… hope you enjoyed my small story!

Reviews are awesome, and you are more awesome if you send one into me. ^u^