Me: Hello everyone! This is Mike, and I'm here with Chapter 2 of my Shuffle fanfic "A New Life".
Primula: Good luck with your relationship.
Me: R-relationship?
Primula: Yes. With Kaede.
Me: -blushes- We're just friends! We're not dating or anything!
Primula: Sure?
Me: Yes!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that involves Shuffle!. Shuffle belongs to Navel. Besides, if I did own it, Kaede would be the one happy at the end.
Chapter 2: City Tour & Kaede's Sickness
That Tuesday afternoon, Kaede took me on a grand tour of the city after coming home from school. She showed lots of interesting sights, such as the arcade...
"That's where Rin first met Rimu." Kaede told me. She had told me the whole story on the chatroom a few months ago.
"Really? I bet he was surprised as hell when he saw her, as told by you." I replied to her.
Then we stopped at a little restaurant called Flora. I had bought her some juice while I took an Arizona. It's surprising that they sell these things in Japan.
"Hey Kaede!" a voice called out to her. The voice belonged to a girl around Kaede's age, and she had short green hair and a brown ribbon holding onto one piece of hair. She also had a really nice...chest ares. "Hey, who's this handsome boy with you?" she asked.
"My name is Michael Quinones. It's an honor to meet you." I said kindly, bowing to show respect.
Kaede and the girl giggles. "Ya know, you don't have to be so formal." The girl said. "My name is Asa Shigure." 'Ah, so that's the girl Kaede told me was dating Rin.'
"It's an honor to meet you then, Asa-sempai." I greeted her. She giggled at the sound of 'sempai.'
"You are the second guy to call me that." She replied. 'I can guess who the first guy was.'
All of a sudden, another girl wearing the same outfit as Asa came out fo the restaurant. She had light blonde hair and had the same long ears as Sia, thus making me realize she was from the realm of the Gods.
"Is he your new boyfriend Kaede?" the girl asked randomly.
"Uhh..." Both Kaede and I blushed quietly and looked down to the ground, for we were trying hard not show we were blushing. We looked back up a second later to see the blonde haired girl glowing and saying "Oh la la!"
"And she's gone again." groaned Asa.
"It's so beautiful!" said the blonde haired girl. "Kaede-san has found her new soul mate."
"That's Kareha." Asa said after a few seconds. "She does this all the time, even when she sees a boy and a girl together." she then looked over to Kareha. "I told you before that a boy can hang out with a girl without it being a date!" Then she looked over to us. "So, are you two on a date?" she asked.
Neither Kaede or I answered, thus making Kareha glow more. "So they ARE on a date!" she exclaimed with such excitement.
"But we haven't said one thing yet." I said.
"You don't need to. The silence gives me all the answers I need, which is you are dating. Oh la la!" 'Oh god.'
After our meet with Asa and Kareha, Kaede showed me more interesting sights, including the one spot that brought a small tear to her eyes. I looked at her shed tears already.
"Is that the place you told Asa how you felt about Rin?" I asked.
"Yes." she sighed unhappily. Since I didn't like seeing such a beautiful girl shed ANY tears, I grabbed her waist and pulled her to me, embracing her in my arms. She was shocked at first, but then hugged back. We stood like this for a while before we separated and continued with the 'grand' tour.
Our last stop was Verbana High School, which was Kaede's (and soon to be my) school.
"What do you think of it Michael?" she asked me.
"It's freaking huge!" I gasped in shock. "It's WAY bigger than my old school. But, then again, so are many others."
"Would you like to see the inside?" she asked.
"Might as well, since I'm gonna go here next week." I told her. She whipped out her signature smile, making me smile as well.
So Kaede lead me into the school. It was pretty quiet with only a few students walking around and doing some after school activities.
"So you've got a new boyfriend, eh?" called another voice from behind us.
I got so startled from the voice behind us that I actually jumped. "That came out of nowhere." I said quietly to Kaede. Then all I could see was flashes coming from someone's camera.
"Incredible..." that person said. I couldn't see who it was. "Kaede and Rin broke a couple of weeks ago, and now she got herself a new boyfriend. God, this is great."
At last the flashes stopped, revealing a teenage girl with short grey hair and different colored eyes and holding onto a camera. 'She looks kinda cute.'
"So who's your new boyfriend, Kaede?" the girl asked. "How old is he? Where did he come from?"
"You're just full of questions today, aren't you Mayumi-chan?" called another voice. It was coming from a teenage boy who was standing outside the door of one of the classrooms. He had brown hair and glasses.
"Just stay out of this Itsuki!" Mayumi snapped.
"To answer all of your questions, my name's Michael Quinones." I answered, grabbing Mayumi's and Itsuki's attention. "I'm 15 years old, and I had arrived here from New York on Monday. I am currently living at Kaede-chan's house." I thoroughly explained.
"You're living with Kaede?" Mayumi exclaimed in shock. Then she showed a small smirk on her face. "You sure don't waste any time don't you Kaede?"
"Mayumi-chan..." Kaede groaned.
"Hold on a second here." Itsuki spoke up. "If you were living in New York, then how the hell did you and Kaede-chan meet?"
"We met on an online chatroom. " I answered, "We've been talking online for five months. That is, until Kaede-chan invited me to move in with her." I looked at her and gave her a small smile.
"What about your family and friends?" Mayumi asked me. "Won't they miss you?"
"Some will and some won't. I'll say this though: I prefer living with Kaede-chan and Primula-chan than with my asshole of a father. Seriously, the guy treats me like shit cause I'm the youngest." This sparked their attentions again, except for Kaede's, since she already knew. "Surprising, huh?"
"Well we hope that you will enjoy living here Michael." said Itsuki. "And listen, if you ever need any advice about the ladies, then all you need to do is-"
Itsuki was cut off by something hard smacked him in the face. Mayumi had knocked the fuck out of the guy. "Enough of you crap! We don't need another jerk coming into this school who's like you!"
"That's a little harsh isn't it?" I whispered to Kaede.
"It is." she whispered back.
By the time our tour was done, the sun was going down for the day. Kaede and I walked along side by side back to the house. I had stopped, making Kaede look back at me. "Kaede' thanks for showing me around town."
"You're welcome Michael-kun." she said. "Did you have a good time today?"
"Do I really have to answer that?" I replied. "Hey, Kaede, would it be alright if we...if we could hold hands?" I asked her, blushing a bit. "I-it's okay if you don't want to."
She didn't answer - instead, she grabbed my hand with her hand. I was surprised at first, but then I smiled real wide.
"Of course we can hold hands." she answered me at last.
I rubbed a small portion of her skin; it felt so smooth. Her cheeks went red as she blush and so did mine. This was the first time we have EVER held hands, and it felt so awesome. Hell, we never let go of our hands, even when we reached the house.
At around five fifteen that evening, I walked into the kitchen to see how Kaede was doing. She was busy cooking at this time.
"Damn, that food smell amazing!" I said, making Kaede blush a bit. "So, how was school today?" I asked her.
"It was okay." I could see a small tear coming down from her right eye.
"What's wrong?" I walked over to her.
"I...I saw Rin-kun today." she said sadly. 'Doesn't she see him everyday, though?' "I know it's been a couple of weeks since that...'incident' occurred, but...I...I still miss having him around here."
More tears started to come out of her. Noticing this, I had embraced her again, this time more lovingly. Instantly, she had broken down crying in my shoulder. "It's okay. Let it all out. I'm here for you." I whispered to her. After three to four minutes later, Kaede started to calm down.
"Thank you Michael-kun." she said to me. Still seeing a few tears, I brushed them off with my thumb.
"You're very welcome, Kaede." I gave her a small kiss on the left side of her face. Realizing what I did, I blushed beat red instantly. Instead of getting smacked or getting Kaede to be as shy as she always is, she kissed my cheek back.
"Is it okay if we hug for a few more minutes?" Kaede asked me.
"You don't even have to ask." I replied, loving the warmth of her body.
She turned off the stove, and I had went to go turn on the radio that I had put in the kitchen. Then, we back to our hugging session. Surprising to me, the song "Without You" by one of my favorite bands Breaking Benjamin was playing. 'They play their music in Japan? I knew they were amazing!'
Dinner was delicious tonight and I told that to Kaede too, which made her very happy. While we were eating, I was listening and singing to the songs on the radio. The song playing right now was "Yours To Hold" by Skillet.
"That song is good." Primula said.
"I know. What do you think, Kaede-chan?" I asked.
"I think it's beautiful." she replied with a big smile.
After we were done eating dinner, I offered to wash all the dishes again.
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you?" Kaede asked.
"I'm positive." I answered her with a smile on my face.
"Well okay. If you need me, I'm going to be in the family room okay?"
"You got it, ma'am!" I said with a big smile.
It didn't take me too long to finish, so once I was done, I walked over to the family room. Kaede was in there alone.
"Where's Rimu-chan?" I asked.
"She's gone to bed already." she answered.
I checked the time, it was only seven. "It's mad early!" I said out loud.
"It is, but she said she felt a little tired tonight. Would you like to sit next to me for a while?" she offered, patting the cushion right next to her.
"You don't have to ask me twice!" So I walked over to the couch and sat down right next to Kaede.
Like I said before, I don't understand Japanese that well, so Kaede had english subtitles on. She was watching an anime show, one I haven't seen yet. The name of the anime was called "Kanon (2006)". 'Wow, now I get to watch it. Thank God Kaede has it.'
While we were watching it, Kaede had laid her head on my shoulder. I blushed deeply and looked down at her. She has a very beautiful, majestic, angelic face. I smiled really wide and used my hand to brush her hair gently. 'She really does look like an angel.' I thought.
Before long, the anime had finished its episode, and it was already time for Kaede to go to bed for school tomorrow. We both walked up the stairs and stopped in front of her room.
"I'll see you in the morning Michael-kun." she called quietly to me.
"Alright then. 'Night, Kaede-chan." I called back to her.
As soon as she ascended into her room, I walked over to my room, closed it, and leaned against it. "Now I'm sure I'm in love." I said to myself. I walked over to my bed, put my music on, and drifted to sleep. The song that made me sleep was "This Love, This Hate" by Hollywood Undead.
The next morning, I had put on a white tanktop and went downstairs to check up on what Kaede was doing. She was just making her awesome breakfast.
"Good morning Kaede-chan." I greeted her.
Kaede didn't answer me. Instead, she started to fall back. I ran over towards her and caught her just before she hit the floor.
"K-Kaede-chan! Are you okay?" She was breathing heavily. I placed my forehead on hers; it felt warm, "Your head is really warm. You've got a fever."
Kaede's eyes opened at that moment. Her cheeks were already red, but now they were blushing a deep shade of red as our faces were close to each other.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
"I-I'm fine. Don't worry about me..." she answered.
"You say you're fine, but your body says otherwise." I told her. "Come. I'll take you to bed."
Before Kaede could say anything, I had lifted her up in my arms bridal style, causing her to blush. I then took her to her room so she could rest.
Once she was laying down on her bed, I stepped out and went back to the kitchen to make sure the stove was off.
"Kaede's sick again isn't she?" Primula asked as she stepped out of the family room.
"She is, sadly." I answered.
Primula walked past me. "I need to get a few things. I'll be back soon."
"Got it. See you when you come back." So while Primula out getting whatever she needed to get, I phoned Kaede's school and told them she would not be coming in, then I went upstairs to see how she was.
I knocked on the door several times, but there was no answer. "Kaede, are you alright in there?" I said from the door.
"I'm okay." she called.
"Can I come in?"
"Y-yeah."
I opened the door and entered her room. Kaede was in bed with a clothe on her forehead. She also had some tears in her eyes. "I know I must be annoying every time I cry." she sobbed.
"Annoying? Please, Kaede-chan." I said, walking over to her bed and sitting next to her. "It's not annoying for somebody to cry. To me, it shows if they're truly feeling emotions like sadness or depression."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive." A small smile came back, but then it disappeared. "What's wrong, Kaede?"
"I hate being sick. It makes me feel useless." she said, looking down.
"Kaede, if you were useless, then I wouldn't be here." I replied to her. Then, I gave her a small kiss on her cheek. "Don't you ever say that you're useless, okay?"
"Okay." She got up and kissed me on the right side of my face, which made me blush bright red.
Throughout the rest of the day, I stayed with Kaede just to keep her company. I told her a bit about some of my friends and my family, she listened to me with great interest.
"I had a lot of friends. And all of them treated me like family. I'ma miss them." I said, looking a bit sad. To comfort me, Kaede hugged me. I blushed a bit but hugged her back. "Thanks a lot, Kaede-chan."
"You're welcome, Michael-kun."
Primula came in soon with medicine. "Here you go, Kaede." she said kindly.
"Thank you Rimu." Kaede excepted the medicine and took it. "I feel better already." she said happily.
Primula then offered to cook up dinner tonight, "I'll be back as soon as it's done." she said and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
While we waited for Primula to return, Kaede told me some stories from her childhood. She had lots of great stories to tell. She also had some bad stories. Most of them involved her and Rin.
"I remember you telling me this off Mibba. I gotta admit, Rin has balls to risk his own life to save yours." I told her. She then looked down. "Still miss him, eh?"
She nodded. "S-sorry."
"Don't sweat it! Hell, I would be this emotional if the stuff happening to you happened to me." I said with a giggle. She smiled once more.
Primula came back thirty minutes with chicken noodle soup for Kaede and noodles for myself.
"Where are you going Rimu?" Kaede asked as Primula headed towards the door.
"I'm going downstairs to clean up the dishes and then eat my food." Then she added with a smirk, "I know you two want some time to be alone." When she said that, both Kaede and I started blushing at the same time, deep red.
"Michael-kun," Kaede spoke up after she was done eating, "are you happy being here?"
"Do I HAVE to answer? Of course being here makes me happy! Besides, if you don't mind me saying this, but the best part about living here is that I get to wake up to you, Kaede-chan." Saying that made Kaede blush.
"I don't mind if you say that." she was smiling. "To be honest with you, I was gonna say the same thing."
"R-really?" I said, surprised.
"Yes."
She then got up and hugged me again. "Ever since you came here, I've been really, really happy." she said while tears came out of her eyes again. "Don't ever leave me, Michael. Please..."
"Kaede, as long as I'm here with you, I'll always be by your side. I'd never ever leave you."
I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close to me. While hugging her, a song had come into my head. As soon as it did, tears started forming in my eyes.
"Michael-kun, are you alright?" Kaede asked me out of worry.
"Y-yeah." I said, wiping the tears. "I just thought of a song."
"Really? Which one?" She was more interested now.
"It's called 'Not Alone' by Red. If you want me to, I can sing it for you." I offered. Kaede smiled really wide when I told her I'd sing.
"Really?" she asked.
"Of course. Let me just put the song on." I said. After taking out my iPod and plugging in Kaede's mini-speakers into it, the song started playing.
Slowly fading away
You're lost and so afraid
Where is the hope In a world so cold?
Looking for a distant light
Someone who can save a life
Living in fear that no one will hear your cries
(Can you save me now)
I am with you
I will carry you through it all
I won't leave you
I will catch you
When you feel like letting go
'Cause you're not
You're not alone
Your heart is full of broken dreams
Just a fading memory
And everything's gone
But the pain carries on
Lost in the rain again
When will it ever end?
It's Hard to believe
It seems so out of reach
But I
(I am here)
I am with you
I will carry you through it all
I won't leave you
I will catch you
When you feel like letting go
'Cause you're not
You're not alone
And I will be your hope
When you feel like it's over
And I will pick you up
When your whole world shatters
When you're finally in my arms
Look up and see love has a face
I am with you
I will carry you through it all
I won't leave you
I will catch you
When you feel like letting go
'Cause you're not
You're not alone
And I will be your hope
You're not alone
And I will pick you up
And i will be your hope
Slowly fading away
Lost and so afraid
Where is the hope in a world so cold?
As soon as I stopped singing, I was already on the verge of crying. And from the looks of it, so was Kaede. Only this time, it was tears of happiness.
"M-Michael..." Kaede started. "t-that song is so beautiful."
"You like it? I actually sang it for you." I told her, tears still in my arms. 'Oh God, I'm about to cry my eyes out.'
Before I could do anything, Kaede had laid her head in my shoulder, crying her eyes out. I smiled and started to cry with her. During our 'session', I was just holding her tightly as if she was gonna slip from my arms.
After a while of holding and crying, we had separated and just looked into each others' eyes. I can see some pain in her eyes, but I can also see a lot of happiness.
I hugged her tightly one more time, showing her how much I appreciated her. She hugged me back with the same amount of feeling. After that, I had gotten up from her bed and picked up her plate and put it on my plate.
"Well, I guess it's time for you to get some rest, missy. You've got school tomorrow, right?" I asked her. She nodded. "Alright then. Well, I'ma leave you to your beauty nap."
"Okay. Oh, and Michael?" Kaede shyly said.
"What is it?"
"T-thank you." She was blushing deeply as she said this, but she also had her beautiful smile on.
"No problem. It's what friends are for, right?" I then turned off the light in her room. "Goodnight, Kaede-chan."
"Goodnight, Michael-kun." she replied. "My best friend."
Hearing that brought warmth into my heart as I closed her door. I then made my way to the kitchen so that I can clean up our dishes. During this time, all I was thinking about was Kaede.
'How the hell did Rin hurt such a girl like her? As a matter of fact, why DIDN'T that bastard choose her?' I thought to myself as I finished the dishes. Then, I walked back upstairs to my room. But, not before I creaked open Kaede's door to check on her. She was still sleeping.
"Rest well, Kaede-chan." I whispered as I closed her door gently and made my way to my room. As soon as I got in there, I laid on my bed, put on "Not Alone", and just drifted to sleep, dreaming of Kaede's angelic being.
Me: Well, how was that? I hope it makes up for the long wait.
Matt: Well, I hope it does as well. I worked hard on this chapter for you.
Me: Matt, I couldn't thank you enough for this. This chapter was awesome, and I think my editing was pretty awesome too.
Primula: You and Kaede are really starting to get close.
Me: Yes, I know. And I enjoy it. But, I still want to wait before anything happens. I mean, she still misses Rin.
Primula: That is true.
Me: Once again, I thank Matt for helping me write this chapter! And I like to thank all my readers who have liked and reviewed my story so far! Well, I hope it wasn't a letdown!
So, until next time! Take care everyone!
Mike :)
