((A/N: My sincerest apologies to all those who waited so long for the next chapter. You see, I had exams. And my heart was broken by my first ever serious love. Somehow, I feel stupid now because a few months prior to that, I decided to write this story and the things I planned to happen came true somewhat. And television made psychics look so cool… Utter rubbish. So your friend here had to struggle with her own feelings while still being friends with him, now I have a friend who's ready to kill himself and my best friend is depending on me to support her as she faces some love troubles… sighs I shall stop rambling now. Thank you all for reading and special thanks to the four who reviewed my prelude.))

I believe in the man that loved me, and you live on in my heart
However, from here on
I will no longer have to say goodbye

(Translations from Ayumi Hamasaki's Heaven.)

Chapter 1: Someone Else's

A few months ago…

"Soujiro!!!" Misao jumped up and down, frantically waving her arms at her best friend who was still strolling far behind her. The bitter, biting cold of the past winter had been replaced by the dampness of fresh Earth, the first signs of spring. Of course the air was stifling, slightly humid as the frost began to thaw and melt away. Puddles of cold water were evaporating slowly, desperately lingering onto their last existence as liquids before vanishing from the Earth. The sidewalk was slippery, sticky with half frozen muck. It was anyone's guess how the weasel had managed to run through all these and yet, not slip and fall.

But Soujiro simply smiled and shook his head. It was better not to dwell on such negative things. After all, why let it ruin a perfect Sunday morning like this?

Inhaling deeply, letting the crisp air fill his lungs, Soujiro paused from his stroll to take a good look at his surroundings. They were walking through the park that was filled with endless Sakura trees. They were naked now, like new born child but as the sun grew stronger and warmed up the earth, they would bloom. Exploding into various shades of pink, the floral scene would be a heavenly treat for their tingling senses. The small smile on his face grew slightly. He couldn't wait for the visual treat.

"SOUJIRO!!! MOVE IT!!!"

The yell was loud enough to jostle Soujiro from his peaceful thoughts. Chuckling to himself, he turned and looked at the weasel who had her cheeks puffed out, frowning and pouting as she crossed her arms and stomped her feet. It was never good to cross the petite weasel. One could almost imagine the weasel ears sticking out and her tail lashing about furiously. She had always been one who would gladly exact revenge on whoever who crossed her path. Not even him, her best friend since elementary school, was spared. Worse of all, she made sure it was ten times worse. It may have been childish of her to do so but in that way, she was fair and just. In that way too, she was brutally honest. She was bad at hiding her feelings, even worse at lying. It made her readable, even to the little kids at the playground but it also made it easy for people to like the little weasel. They could easily relate to her and her bubbly nature never failed to cheer them up. She was the epitome of fun.

Optimistic, honest, just, adorable and boisterous.

Yet.

Weak, fragile, naïve, stubborn and defenseless.

Countless of events, big or small, pleasant or best forgotten, they allowed Soujiro to learn more about his best friend. Over the years, he had learnt so much about Misao. She was more than just the bouncy weasel with a cheerful attitude. She was also that innocent girl who was longing for somebody to hold her hand. Yet, even so, Soujiro felt that there was a lot more to learn about Misao.

When he was finally by her side, she dutifully smacked his head, resulting in the beloved Tenken to nearly lose his balance. "Ouch," He muttered, rubbing his head and at the same time, mumbling incoherent apologies to his favourite female in the world. She could be so violent sometimes. Even when she had finally turned 21, a full-fledged adult, she never seemed to be able to lose her tomboyish habits.

"Ouch?" She asked, exasperated by his lack of energy and enthusiasm in the morning. "You owe me more than just an ouch, mister! You're treating me to donuts!" She declared as she wagged a finger playfully at him though her voice permitted no dissent. Soujiro grinned weakly.

'There goes my money…'

Girls. Whoever who labeled them as the weaker sex obvious had no idea how they would use it to their advantage to clean their male counterpart's wallets clean. Soujiro sighed as he looked down at the petite girl who grinned back at him, anger dissipated. He couldn't help but to grin back at the girl the moment their eyes met even though his wallet was going to hurt later. But that was life. Someone else's joy was another's ache.

Her emerald orbs were filled with mirth, cheeks flushed a bright pink as she grinned broadly at him. He could feel the heat that her body generated from all that running and strangely enough, it felt cozy and warm. He took a step closer to her. With only a tiny gap between them, Soujiro could observe and admire her features more closely. Though tomboyish, Soujiro knew that if Misao dressed up, she would knock every man off his feet. Her lashes though on the thin side, were naturally long. Every time she blinked, the curved strands would kiss her cheeks. Her emerald pools were bright and huge with an exquisite shade of green. It was the green that one could only find in spring, when the first young shoots started growing. It reflected Misao's nature, forever young despite her age.

The slight perspiration dampened her warm skin and made her glossy midnight black hair stuck to her skin, like paper to glue. Smiling softly, his hand reached out and brushed her hair away, tucking it behind the ear. Her soft pink lips pursued a heart shaped pout. She hated it when someone touched her hair. Her hair was sacred; she loved it so much that she couldn't stand to cut it. While every woman's body was a shrine, to Misao, her hair was her shrine. The only time she had to chop off her tresses was when Yahiko had accidentally stuck gum in her hair. No matter how much they had tried to yank it out, it remained obstinately stuck. They were left with no other choice but to chop off her hair. Misao had cried non-stop for one whole week after that, refusing to step out of her room. To her, long hair was the epitome of beauty, it was the only visible feminine quality about her. Without it, she felt ugly and naked.

Of course, Soujiro had begged to differ but what did it matter? She never knew. He had even failed to comfort her during that week despite being her best friend.

The Tenken's fingers trembled when they brushed gently against her soft, breathing skin. The moment he broke contact, he regretted it. Now his fingers ached, skin screaming out to caress her again. He wanted so much to reach out and touch her. It was painfully unbearable.

"Sou-kun?"

"Huh?" Soujiro snapped out of his thoughts.

"Your hand," Misao motioned with her eyes at the hand that seemed to be permanently nailed to her cheek for the past minute or so. Embarrassed that he had the nerve to act out his thoughts without even realizing it, he quickly removed it and tucked it into the pocket of his coat.

"Guess I owe you another treat, huh?" Another soft chuckle to mask his shame.

"Of course!" Misao was a bit startled when he had reached out and touched her but she didn't resist his advances. It wasn't the first time he had cupped her cheeks and his skin was refreshingly cool against her warm flesh. Like iced lemonade on a hot summer's day.

The innocent girl had been blind and Soujiro was thankful for that. He was glad she didn't see the lust in his sapphire eyes. Lust, not sexually, but the strong irresistible desire to embrace her. But at the same time, he was sorely disappointed. He wished she could have known how hard his heart was beating, how fast the blood was rushing to his head, how the world seemed to be spinning in that moment.

But that was all there was.

They were just best friends.

Nothing more.

The girl spun around sharply and started walking off. Soujiro sighed inwardly. He glanced down at the hand that had the temerity to act on impulse. Previously, he had enjoyed the sensation, the warmth of her flesh, the smooth texture of her skin.

Now, it only ached.

Breaking into a short jog to catch up with Misao, he stuffed his hand back into the pocket.

It really ached.

Truly, one's pleasure was someone else's pain.

Moments later, the friends were tucking into some hot drinks and sickeningly sweet donuts, courtesy of Soujiro's wallet. Misao, of course, thoroughly enjoyed herself, stuffing her mouth full of donuts while Soujiro sipped his hot tea. Donuts were the current food fad now, having replaced Bubble tea and coffee buns a while back.

Misao playfully swung her legs as she sat on the chair, kicking Soujiro every once in a while. The popular donut chain, their usual hangout, was surprisingly quiet and empty. Soujiro had expected a huge crowd to be there when it first opened in the morning. Except for a group of giggling high school girls, pointing at him as discreetly as they could, there was no one else around. Soujiro could only shyly smile back at them when they winked at him and it made him uncomfortable. Taking another sip of his tea, he shifted his focus back to the hungry ogre before him.

"Why do you think Okina asked us to go out this morning?" Soujiro asked as he quietly stirred his tea. The old man was always up to some sort of mischief. Soujiro was particularly suspicious of him this morning, suddenly entrusting the grown up Misao in his hands and asking them to go out for the morning. It wasn't odd for the friends to go out for morning walks or for breakfast on weekends but Okina seemed particularly jittery today.

Something must be up.

Misao shrugged her shoulders as she licked her fingers clean of the chocolate sauce.

"Don't you suspect something?" Secretly, Soujiro was worried. He had been harboring a bad feeling since last night. Something was not right. It disturbed the otherwise intelligent Tenken badly. He couldn't place a finger on it. It was annoying as it was worrisome. Sighing, he knew it was futile to ask Misao anything else. Instead, he switched topic.

"Donuts are high in calories, Misao-chan."

A light warning.

"They're delicious!"

Another bite out of the sticky donut.

"High calories means higher chances of getting fat."

At the mention of the forbidden word in the world of females, Misao immediately spat out the piece of donut, sputtering before wiping her mouth clean. "Why didn't you say so earlier baka!?"

Soujiro could only laugh at her, thoroughly amused by her antics. "I thought it was common sense! Anyway," He leaned forward and reassuringly patted her on the head, "You don't have any real boobs to begin with so-"

The poor Tenken ducked a flying donut aimed straight for his face, sentence promptly cut short. But there was more to come as donuts started flying across the table, landing with a splat everywhere else but never on the skillful Tenken.

"Stay still you rotten good for nothing male! I so do have boobs!"

"If you could call them that," Soujiro grabbed a tray just in time as an unidentifiable glob flew straight for his face. It was sticky, with bits of dough in it and a mixture of green and orange. It landed and stuck itself on the shield tray instead. Soujiro didn't even want to try to identify the colourful blob. For all he knew, it could have been some donut filling that Misao had spat out.

Soujiro chuckled, still hiding behind the tray. He waited for the next donut bomb but it never came. Frowning slightly, he gingerly brought the tray down, peering over it. Misao was distracted. It was strange for her to be distracted so easily when she was in the middle of attacking a harmless prey. Curious and slightly worried, Soujiro glanced over his shoulder to follow Misao's line of vision.

His grip immediately loosened and the tray dropped unnoticed as his blue orbs grew wide with shock. His heart started beating at a godly speed, his breath caught in his throat. At that moment, Soujiro stopped breathing. His lungs screamed for air while his heart was thrashing within his ribs, yelling desperately to be released from the immense stress. Worse of all, his blue eyes ached, stinging as tears threatened to form.

The person who caused the jaw-dropping moment stood at the entrance of the donut chain. His black hair was neat and proper, in its usual sleek hairstyle. He was still wearing his trademark white coat, towering over everything in the shop. His very presence was more than enough to make every occupant in the shop to freeze. Lean yet muscular build, the sharp handsome features that adorned his face and that unmistakable icy blue eyes, Soujiro felt as if his whole world had halted.

The very man who left seven years ago, stealing the heart of his best friend along with him, the very one man who held the only special place in Misao's heart, had returned.

"Aoshi-sama…" Misao whispered, barely able to breathe herself. Although her hands were trembling now, she couldn't suppress the overwhelming joy and relief that washed over her entire being. He was back, safe and sound! He had returned to her, after so many nights of praying and wishing! The love of her life, her idol, her God, had come to bring her salvation after his abrupt departure years ago. Instantly, any heartache that she had endured over the years was healed. Letting out a cry of joy, Misao sprung up from her seat and ran towards him, arms outstretched.

Soujiro felt his heart sank. His chances of being with her were more than nil now. It was negative.

Life was fair.

Someone else's happiness was another's sorrow.