2

kurajima

between scoops of ice-cream

—

Hinano Kurahashi was in a foul mood, and that was a first.

She was both angry, anxious, depressed, and tired - the day had been absolutely terrible.

For one, her boyfriend, who she'd been dating for three years, broke up with her on their anniversary. In front of a huge crowd, for a petty reason. The bastard had stomped all over her present and her heart, and his laughing buddies had the audacity to kick her in the stomach.

Needless to say, Kurahashi was close to tears. It didn't help that almost everyone knew by the end of the day, save for a handful of people who didn't care about the status of Mr. Popularity, her ex.

The orange-haired almost-adult was curled up on her couch, blinking back tears. If only she was as pretty as Kanzaki or Yada or Kataoka, or had a fun personality like Nakamura or Kayano, or a quirk that people found cute, such as Okuda's chemistry skills or Fuwa's manga craze.

It sucked that she was none of those things.

The doorbell of her apartment rang. Hinano heaved a sigh. She wasn't eager for any visitors.

Wiping away the tears that fogged her vision, she mustered up all the courage and dignity she had left, which wasn't very much, and trudged begrudgingly to the door.

She opened it and was met with a wide-eyed Okajima.

"Hi," she said, a little confused as to why he was here. They had gotten quite close during the course of high school and university, as they'd attended the same schools and were often put in the same class. It was relieving to have someone from Class E with you.

"Hi," he answered. "Um…I heard about the breakup."

Kurahashi frowned. "Well, if you think you can score a date with me by sucking up after Udari'd dumped me, you're wrong!" she borderline screamed.

Okajima flinched, and the reality of what she had said kicked in.

"T-Taiga! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean…I…" she stammered, feeling guilty. Maturity had taken its toll on Okajima - he wasn't so perverted anymore. Which made the insult even worse. "I'm not feeling my best today, you see."

He nodded slowly. "You know I wouldn't do that, Hinano."

"I know," she moaned, annoyed at herself. "How did you find out Udari broke up with me?"

"I'm the photographer for the university papers," Okajima replied. "They were going to publish an article on it."

Kurahashi whimpered and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, my goodness."

"But I stopped them," he added, reassuringly. "So it's alright."

"Oh." She took her hands away. "Thank you. That was very kind of you."

He hesitated for a moment, suddenly looking uncharacteristically shy. "I-I knew you would be upset, so I brought some things for you."

It was just now that Kurahashi noticed he was holding a large canvas bag. "Oh, you did?"

"Yup. Vanilla ice cream. Your favourite. Then a book on meditation and David Attenborough's BBC DVDs."

She lit up. "You remembered!" She clapped her hands like an excited child. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"It's alright. Breakups are tough." He shrugged, seemingly nonachantly, what was evidently pleased. "Here you are. Have a good night, Hinano."

Okajima handed her the bag and turned to leave.

"Wait!" she cried.

He turned back around.

"Aren't you coming inside?" she asked.

"You know nature documentaries aren't really my thing…" he began.

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him in. "Nature documentaries are everyone's thing!"

Okajima huffed. "Well, if you say so…"

—

"This is amazing," Okajima whispered.

"I know," Kurahashi replied triumphantly, licking her spoon.

Granted, her companion seemed more interested in the camera angles than the actual content itself, but she didn't really mind.

Kurahashi was still indescribably grateful for Okajima's kindness. She was quite glad they'd become closer duirng the course of the five or so odd years.

"I never knew seagulls could be so interesting," he mused as the credits rolled.

She nodded, turning towards him, and suddenly was taken aback. He had changed so much - had he always been this tall? Was he always this focused? Actually, had he always been this good looking? She blushed at the thought.

"Actually, I never knew any birds could be so interesting," he continued. "Looks can be so decieving."

"I know, right?" she answered, still not taking her eyes off him.

Okajima stood up to insert the next DVD - Life of Mammals. She found herself watching his every move, before snapping out of it and looking away.

Bad Kurahashi! Bad!

She inwardly cursed herself. It was unlike her to be so…interested in something that wasn't nature-related.

He sat back down. She tried to resist staring at him again, and failed.

Kurahashi almost ignored Attenborough's voice completely, which was unusual. At times, she actually caught herself staring at Okajima's freaking TONGUE. Licking his spoon clean.

ARGH! Bad Kurahashi! Bad, bad, bad!

She was becoming so…unladylike! Ogling a man - not just any man, her good friend! Right after she'd been broken up with, too! What was she now, female Maehara? This couldn't do!

"Hinano?"

Her head snapped up.

Okajima had paused the documentary and was looking at her strangely. "Are you okay? You've been muttering to yourself for, like, twenty minutes."

Kurahashi blinked, wondering what to say. She looked back at him, meeting his gaze. His eyes were so brown…like chocolate, and tree bark, and—

Bad. Kurahashi. Stop. It.

"I'm fine," she answered brightly. "I'm still a little shaken up about Udari."

"Oh. Yeah, I get it. Wanna talk about it?" He flopped back on the pillows, and she peeled her eyes away.

"It's alright. Let's get back to watching it."

So for the rest of the documentary, Kurahashi did not look even once at Okajima. She resisted the urge to touch him. She resisted the temptation to stare like a creep.

Now I know how Okajima feels when he wants to stare at a girl, she thought. It's very hard to contol.

"Okay Hinano, what's actually wrong?"

He had switched the video to a pause again. She hadn't noticed.

Kurahashi gulped.

"I swear, I'm just thinking about Udari," she lied.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded.

"Hmm." He averted his eyes back to the frozen television. "Maybe I'm just overthinking it, but I'd say that you were watching me."

Hinano stared at him with wide peridot eyes.

"But then again, I do tend to get my hopes up a lot," he continued.

She still said nothing.

He moved to press play on the remote, but something struck inside Kurahashi.

"Wait."

She placed her hand over his, stopping him.

He raised an eyebrow again. She swallowed. "Can I…talk?"

A shrug. "Sure."

"About…you?"

This caught his attention. "What about me?"

"It's just…" her eyes flittered to the screen again, before falling down on the pillows. "I suddenly know how…how you feel!" She covered her face again with her hands, feeling herself redden.

"How I feel about what?" Okajima asked, moving so he was half-leaning over her. Kurahashi flushed even brighter at this.

"How you feel…when you see a really pretty girl?" she tried.

"Ah." He nodded knowingly. "You're a lesbian."

Kurahashi shot up, surprising him. "Wh-What? That's not what I meant!"

He blinked. "Then…what do you mean?"

"Um," she said, trying to word what she wanted to say as un-creepily as possible. "Okay, fine, I'll admit it. You're right."

"So you ARE lesbian?"

"No! I meant you were right about me watching you!" Hinano yelled.

Okajima said nothing for a while. "You…were?"

"Yes! I just…I find you really attractive, okay?" she blurted. "I mean, maybe I've always felt that way? I don't know! It's just…complicated!"

He was silent again. "Hinano," he said slowly. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She huffed. "Oh, for goodness sake! I'll just say it! Okajima, YOU ARE HOT!"

He jolted, as if she had slapped him.

"EXTREMELY HOT!" she continued, no longer having control over her emotions. "TO ME, ANYWAY!"

He turned to her. "You…actually think that?"

"Yes?" Suddenly she regretted what she'd just said. "I'm sorry!"

"Why are you sorry?" he asked, chuckling. "That's a compliment." He blushed. "Especially coming from someone like you."

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"Okay, look - I kind of lied too."

"You did?"

"I told you I wasn't here just to ask you out on a date. Truth is, I've always really liked you, but then that Udari guy just had to sweep in and steal you…so, I was kind of eagerly awaiting when you'd break up?" he explained, wincing. "Oh boy, I sound like such a creep…"

Kurahashi laughed in relief. "Well, I'm glad! I think I really like you too!"

"Are you actually being serious?" he said, still not quite able to believe it.

She rolled her eyes, and to prove her point, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Yes. I've never been more serious."

Okajima looked slightly embarrassed. "That's good." After not knowing what else to say, he kissed her too.

Hinano found herself ridiculously red. It felt strange. Udari never had this effect on her before, and she couldn't think why.

Avoiding eye contact, she looked down at her hands.

Her eyes widened.

"Um, Taiga?" she started, unsure what she was seeing.

"Yeah?"

For some reason, she found herself laughing. "I'm your soulmate."

He peered down on his wrist. "Oh yeah, so you are." He laughed too. "Well, I'm glad."

"It's like fate got me to break up with Udari so you could confess to me," she admitted, giggling.

"I'm happy I did," he responded. He kissed her again, on the temple this time, and Kurahashi felt suddenly so happy that she laughed again.

This was going to happen a whole lot, she knew.

Because of Okajima.

—

Forgive me! I love these two dorks so much!

Honestly, Okajima is pretty attractive after the timeskip…

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Please don't forget to review!