Hi there, and here is chapter 2! It's taken me such a long time to write this, haha. Anyway, please enjoy and review!
Chapter 2- Baby Steps
There were some things Gin must have thought he'd never have. To be surrounded by love, a warm place where he felt safe that wasn't filled with the superficial protection of the forest... these things must have seemed beyond reach. And yet, he had actually returned to me. I swore to myself that I would try my best to give him all I could.
We were still in a bundle on the ground, me crying into his chest. I asked myself secretly if I was really going to stay like this, but in reality I couldn't stop.
"Why do you think you came back as a human?" I asked in between sniffs.
Gin sighed softly. "I don't know. I remember it being pitch black, and then the mountain God spoke to me. I thought it was all over, but before I knew it, I was back here, with you..." His voice faded into nothing.
I was fascinated by his experience- but most of all, thankful to the mountain God. I raised my head to look around at the mountain forest around me, privately thanking the spirits around me for bringing him back to me.
"We should probably get up," I said, giggling.
Gin rumbled a laugh, but refused to move his hand which was now fixed on my back. I felt my face flushing, but tried not to let on. Maybe I'd never be able to understand how he felt at that exact moment, but the guesses I was making right now were allowing my mind to run away with me.
He chuckled again, and said into my ear, "You want to stay out for a while?"
I nodded a bit too quickly. "Yes. I'm kind of scared about what we should do about the future though."
"The future?"
"Are you going to stay here in the forest now that you're human?" Unable to hide the fret in my voice, I swallowed. "Where are you going to live? How do you prove your identity?" I looked at him, though this was quite a strain given our position.
He frowned. "Well, I was human once. I- I'm sure there's DNA testing... or something..."
"You didn't answer my first question," I said gently.
"Just stay out with me. I want to be alone with you, just for a little while. Don't worry, I'll get you home before your family gets worried."
The mischievous edge to his voice was slightly worrying, but in a way that made me smile.
Eventually he allowed me out of his hold and we both moved into a sitting position by the small lake. I stared awkwardly at the lily pads for a while, watching their gentle array of colour drift across the water with bugs landing on their surfaces. Their hums and flutters sliced through the silence between us. I couldn't work out whether this was a good or a bad thing.
"So, what have you been doing since I've been gone?" he asked, going to hold my hand in the grass.
"I'm in high school, so, studying. I'm in the cultural club at school, and we do a lot of research about old spirits and things like that... I... am I talking too much about me?"
He laughed. "No, carry on. You know I always like hearing about it."
I bit my lip. "Well... I'm not sure if my grades are very good, but I like to think I try hard enough to give myself some good chances. I don't have many friends outside of the club, but that doesn't matter because they're all so nice. Whenever we look at pictures and make models of spirits, I could never stop thinking of you. I even brought back your old mask to the club to show everyone." I said quickly, "I never said about you. I just told them a friend gave it to me."
He caught on to that. "So you still have it? You never stopped thinking of me, even though I just left you?"
"You left because you helped that boy when he tripped over. It wasn't like you did it on purpose. You know Gin, I can't pretend like it didn't hurt. It did, so much that I didn't think I'd ever be able to think about you again, because every time I did, I wanted to cry."
"You're just too forgiving."
"Is that bad?"
"No. Lucky for me, too."
We had never talked like this. Over the years, Gin and I have spoken of almost every aspect of my life, simply because he enjoyed hearing about the outside world. But never had we talked about emotions, our true feelings. Once, not long ago in his time, he told me about how we came to be the ghost-like thing he was, and that was the deepest our conversation had ever gone.
Although maybe now...
"Can we have more conversations like this?" I asked. Damn... were my nerves so bad that my voice had to jump up an octave at the end of all my sentences? And why were my nerves so bad anyway? I didn't even know where we stood in terms of 'us'.
"Yeah," he said. "Of course. And now... I can go to the outside world." He failed to conceal his happiness. "Do you think you could take me to see your house? I want to meet more people, so many more. And to eat all different kinds of food and be around the things that you see every day."
I laughed. "I'll see what I can do!" The boyish tone he had made me smile without acknowledging that words in front of it. It also filled me with sorrow and pity and more determination.
"Also... I want to clarify one more thing."
"What is it?"
He tightened his grip. "All those years, I hardly aged while you physically matured and grew closer to my real age. I wondered, would I ever be able to touch and hold the young woman Hotaru was becoming? Would I ever be able to tell her my true feelings for her? And then... at the very end, I heard some words that I never thought I'd hear."
"And what were they?"
"I love you."
"Oh!" I cried, slamming my hands to my mouth. Did I actually say that out loud back then?
"And what I wanted to know was... do you still mean it?"
"Yes, yes I do."
He leaned in. "So unashamed," he breathed, so close that I wanted to look away. "I waited years."
"So I can stay with you, as a human?"
"Sure."
"My mother will like you, I think."
"You're sure?"
"You're a boy. I don't think she'd care if you were Yakuza member with a buzz cut and twelve angry pet dogs."
"Well, that's good then." He paused. "Everything feels so different, so unreal now I'm human. I just want to try something."
He raised his other hand, and gingerly placed it over my chest, feeling my hammering heart underneath. I blinked at the surprising warmth and dryness. He stroked up until his hand reached my face, and then the back of my head. Then he was pulling me towards him, and he placed his lips tenderly on my forehead.
"I finally got to touch you," he smiled.
I stared at him, dumbfounded.
"When do you have to be back?"
"I guess about now," I said with disappointment, and it was too obvious.
"Can I come back with you?"
Really? Puppy dog eyes?
"I'd have to ask my uncle if you can have the spare room for the last week while I'm here..." I frowned. "We do have one. We'll explain all the situation we can!"
"Yeah, we will. No spirits, though."
My uncle opened the door to me, with Gin standing easily behind me. Well, it looked easy but why he was standing behind me was pretty obvious. He was so comfortable inside the forest, with his old friends, and this whole thing was so alien to him. Still, I would have been lying if I wasn't nervous too.
"Hi," I said in a high voice. "Uncle, this is Gin."
"Hello, Gin," Uncle said suspiciously.
Gin bowed respectfully and replied, "It's nice to meet you."
"Is this your boyfriend?"
I gasped at the insinuation. I had no clue what to say!
"Your niece is very special to me," Gin said simply.
So unashamed, to use his phrase. I decided to cut to the chase first. "Can Gin stay till it's time for me to leave? He, erm, he hasn't got anywhere to stay at the moment. I know it's a big ask, but please, if it's alright, can he use the spare room? He wouldn't be a bother, I swear, so please..."
Uncle smiled at Gin. "No funny business."
"Of course not."
He let both of us in, and Gin followed me about like a little child in his whole new world.
