CHAPTER TWO: SHATTERED DREAM
Aisaka stared at the cookies that she was baking. Again it was a failure, that was her seventh attempt to make sweet cookies but she had always end up putting something that was not part of the recipe.
"Aisaka, when will you give up?" Ami inquired as she gazed at Taiga who was still eager to bake cookies for Ryuuji, "On your first attempt you put vinegar, on the second you put ketchup…"
"Shut up baka-chi! I'm doing my best here, so the least thing that you can do is to shut up."
"But Taiga…" Ami protested as she walked toward the tiger who couldn't even use a measuring cup.
"This is for Ryuuji, so I can't give up… I don't care how many times I will fail because if I can bake the sweetest cookies for him I know that he will be happy. I want to see Ryuuji's smile as he eats this thing," Aisaka said with determination.
Taiga you are still as stubborn as you used to be a year ago.
That time Ami admired Taiga for she was indeed cute while baking. She looked messy, in spite of this; her Barbie-like appearance was still stunning. Her face had some flour mixed with vanilla because she was clumsy in mixing the ingredients that some of it spattered to her face. Her apron was dirty because she accidentally spilled melted butter to it. She was indeed the mischievous tiger who couldn't do anything good, but she never gave up because she knew that Takasu would surely love to eat whatever it was that she made for him.
Taiga reminisced when she was still in love with Yusaku, back then she baked some cookies for him with the help of Takasu. Just like what was happening now, she failed many times. Since Ryuuji was there to help her, she managed to bake descent cookies. Her clumsiness caused her to stumble on the floor before she could give the cookies to Kitamura and the sweets that fell outside the building. She was lucky that Ryuuji was able to catch her before her head hit the ground. Aisaka started crying like a baby and cursed herself because of what happened. Ryuuji ran outside to get the cookies and returned to her side. She could never forget that moment, when he ate the cookies and said that they were delicious. His smile was not attractive because of his delinquent looks but it was sweet that she stopped crying after seeing his smile. What Aisaka didn't know was that the cookies she baked were salty because she used salt instead of sugar, but Ryuuji did not tell her the truth because he didn't want her to continue crying.
Aisaka was not good in anything: she couldn't swim, she couldn't wash the dishes without breaking a plate and she couldn't cook. Despite these facts, Ryuuji loved her even more. He was the kind of guy who would do anything that she would ask him.
Aisaka remembered when Ryuuji made foam so that their class wouldn't laugh at her for she was flat-chested. He stayed awake all night just to make her look good in her swim suit. Back then she almost drown because Ami pushed her to the pool luckily Ryuuji dived to save her. What happened next made her face even red, but she tried to focus on what she was doing.
"Common let me help you pipsqueak," Ami said as she stood beside Taiga and read the recipe.
xxx
"Whoa! Ryuuji bought all of these for Taiga!" Minori said as her eyes widened upon seeing Ryuuji's surprise for Aisaka.
"Yeah~ he did!" Yasuko proudly answered as she smiled.
"I'm sure that Taiga will be happy to see these!" Minori clapped her hands because she knew that her best friend was lucky for having a boyfriend like Ryuuji.
It was true that she used to love Ryuuji but she didn't regret of letting him go because she knew that Taiga and Ryuuji were perfect for each other. She loved her best friend so much that she was willing to gave the only person who saw the real her. And seeing them together loving each other like that was her reward.
"He saved money from his allowance and worked on a part time job so that he could afford buying these things. He really missed Taiga and I could see that he worked so hard for this day."
Minori was so delighted that she didn't know what to say.
"Okay Minori~ I will not tell Ryuuji about Taiga's surprise party for him but promise me that you will not tell her about this~" Yasuko said as she winked at Minori who was still speechless, "Oh by the way, I think Taiga and Ami are waiting for your return to the rest house."
That was when Minori remembered her promise that she would help Taiga in baking cookies. She screamed as she put her hands to her head and moved it from side to side like a crazy woman. She thought that Taiga might have burnt the house because she didn't know how to use an oven. Without looking at Yasuko, she ran out of the house and called a taxi.
xxx
"Kitamura! We ride that space shuttle for the eleventh time! Aren't you tired?" Ryuuji shouted as he glared at Kitamura. He pointed his index finger at the space shuttle to emphasize his annoyance.
Ryuuji's eyes were so fierce that all the people who saw it ran away from him. His delinquent looks made the people in the line of riding the space shuttle scrammed. He was like a yakuza assassin that they did not wish to fight. Since Kitamura was his long time friend, he was not scared at Ryuuji at all. He knew that Ryuuji was so kind that he couldn't even kill a mosquito.
"But I love it," Kitamura simply answered.
It was true that he loved the ride, but the real reason behind his crazy behaviour was because he was buying time for Aisaka and the others to prepare the surprise party for Ryuuji.
Ryuuji looked at his wrist watch and saw that it was 3:00 PM. He turned to Kitamura as he spoke, "Kitamura, there is something important that I need to do. Can you help me?"
Kitamura saw how serious Ryuuji was; he knew that it was something important.
"Sure I can help you, what are you going to do?"
"It is for Taiga."
xxx
Minori arrived at the rest house; she ran toward the kitchen and saw how messy it was. The ingredients for baking the cookies were scattered to the floor and it was wet because the vanilla spilled. The kitchen utensils were all dirty and the table was out of its place. The entire kitchen was a total mess. But what really made her more stress was seeing two girls quarrelling.
"I told you that you shouldn't put this!" the girl with blue hair screamed.
"If you said it louder then I would have heard it!"
"Stop blaming me for your stupid action!"
"You are the reason why this thing happen Baka-chi!"
"Pipsqueak! You are the one who did this!"
But their argument stopped when they saw the pink haired girl cleaning their mess. She mapped the floor as she spoke, "None of this is your fault, Ami and Taiga. Sorry for coming late, if I got here on time then this mess would have not happen."
Taiga did not answer; she just started cleaning and so did Ami, she washed the dishes.
"I'm sorry Minorin, I should have waited for you before I started baking," Taiga said as she looked at the floor.
"It is my fault Minorin, I want to help this pipsqueak but I end up arguing with her," Ami stated as she continued washing the dishes.
Minori did not answer; she hugged both of them.
"Let us bake the sweetest cookies for Ryuuji okay," Minori cheerfully said.
The two of them nodded in unison.
xxx
"Whoa! Where did you get all these things?" Kitamura inquired as he looked at the buckets.
"I bought them," Ryuuji answered as he climbed to the window of Aisaka's apartment.
"You are sweet Ryuuji, Taiga will surely be happy with your surprise," Kitamura said as the handed a bucket to Takasu who was now inside Aisaka's apartment.
"I hope so," he answered.
xxx
"Finally we are done baking!" Taiga said as she looked at the hot cookies that came from the oven.
She smiled as she imagined Ryuuji eating those cookies.
It was 7:00 PM.
"Everything for the party is now ready," Ami said as she looked outside of the rest house.
Some of their former classmates were in the rest house already. Most of them were chatting with each other: telling stories of what happened to them for one year. It was like an instant reunion for their class. Noto, Haruta, Maya, Nanako and even Miss Yuri were there.
"Miss Yuri, don't tell me that you are not yet married?" Haruta joked as he put his hand around Miss Yuri's shoulder.
The thirty-one year old woman's fury burst like an erupting volcano, she smacked Haruta's head and left him lying to the floor as she walked away from them. All the people who witness the scene laughed at poor Haruta who lost his consciousness.
"Miss Yuri is still the same…" Noto said to Maya, "whenever people talk about her love life she instantly becomes violent!"
"You are right about that Noto," Maya agreed as she nodded.
Who would ever think that Noto and Maya were now dating?
After Noto realized that he really like Maya, he gathered the strength to court her during their vacation. At first Maya hated Noto because he had always contradicted her but after few months she saw how persistent Noto was and decided to give it a try. And it worked out, the school kogal Maya and Noto were dating up until now.
"Everything is perfect now. I think it is time to call Kitamura," Ami said as she held the telephone and dialled Kitamura's cell phone number.
xxx
"Phew! At last we are done!" Kitamura said as he wiped the sweat on his face.
"Yeah, thanks for your help Kitamura!" Ryuuji gladly spoke.
Kitamura's cell phone rang; he remembered that Ami said that she would call him when it was time to go to the rest house. He answered the phone and heard Ami's voice.
"Kitamura," the girl said, "it is now time to go here."
He closed his cell phone as he grabbed Ryuuji's hand and dragged him out of Aisaka's apartment.
"Oy! Where are we going Kitamura?" Ryuuji inquired trying to free himself from Yusako's strong hands.
"We are going to have fun!"
xxx
Ryuuji couldn't believe what he was seeing; all his classmates were in there. They were all happy to see Takasu and they greeted the couple for their anniversary.
"Wow, I didn't expect that you would go this far Taiga," Ryuuji spoke as he looked at Taiga.
"Hehe…" Taiga grinned upon seeing that Ryuuji liked her surprise to him, "I want to do something for you in our anniversary."
Ryuuji smiled as he held Taiga's hand, "Thank you for everything Taiga."
Taiga blushed because Ryuuji was holding her hand; it had been a while since he held her hand like that so she was nervous. But she liked how it felt whenever he was near her, though she was sometimes speechless. She loved everything about Ryuuji: he was a good cook, he was good in cleaning, and what she loved most about him was that he showed her how it felt like to be loved.
"Umm… Taiga," Ryuuji said as he blushed, "I…"
"You?"
"I… I..."
"You.. You?" Taiga was now confused with Ryuuji's strange action.
"I l-lo… I love…" Ryuuji was really nervous but he continued, "I love you."
Taiga's face became as red as a rose; she didn't know how to respond. A normal girl would say I love you too to her boyfriend but she was indeed not normal. She was now trembling, her heart was rejoicing but the tiger didn't know how to show her feelings.
"Taiga?" Ryuuji checked if Taiga was okay.
Suddenly, Taiga punched Ryuuji. He fell to the ground because of the strong impact. Ryuuji touched his right cheek where Taiga punched him as he looked at her asking why she did that.
Taiga was indeed surprised with her action. She helped Ryuuji to stand up but since she couldn't carry him, she end up falling to Ryuuji. Her face was now lying on Ryuuji's chest.
"You are still as clumsy as usual," Ryuuji said as he smiled at her.
Taiga lifted her face; their eyes met. There was a strong electricity running to Taiga's spine as she looked at him.
Ryuuji feel the same way, he stood up as he blushed.
"Ryuuji…" Taiga said as she handed him a small bag, "I baked cookies for you."
He smiled as he accepted the cookies; he was surprised with her gift. He knew that Taiga couldn't bake so just seeing that she did something that she couldn't do made him feel her love. He could imagine her spilling the vanilla or flour while she was baking. He took the first cookie and bit it. It was the sweetest cookie that he had ever tasted.
"Wow! I am surprised Taiga, you did well," Ryuuji said as he ate the cookie he was holding.
"Minorin and Ami helped me in baking those cookies," Taiga said as she blushed.
"Thank you again," Ryuuji said as he ate all the cookies.
It was the greatest gift that Taiga gave to him.
"You are welcome Ryuuji," Taiga said as she blushed.
"Oh! I have something for you too," Ryuuji said as he gave Taiga a small box.
"What is this?"
"Open it so that you can see."
Taiga opened the box and she saw a beautiful ring. She took it as she smiled at Ryuuji, it was indeed stunning.
"It is not as expensive as it looks, the ring is silver and the stone is Swarovski. But I promise you to buy an expensive ring in the future."
Aisaka didn't know the reason but she started crying. Ryuuji made her so happy that the only thing that she could do that time was to cry. The wind blew, Taiga felt the cold. For some reason, she felt like something bad would happen. She gazed at Takasu who was smiling at her.
Why do I feel like I am going to lose someone dear to me?
The breeze became stronger; they could see the leaves of the trees dancing with the wind.
"Taiga, are you okay?" Ryuuji inquired.
Taiga tried to calm herself, but she was still anxious.
Ryuuji… Why do I feel like I am going to lose you?
"I'm not sure…" she answered.
"Will you allow me to put this ring on your finger?" Ryuuji inquired as he smiled at her trying to make her feel comfortable.
"Y-Yeah," she answered.
But because of the strong wind, the ring slipped off Ryuuji's hand. It rolled to the high way. He ran after the ring not knowing that there was a six-wheeler truck that was moving to his direction.
"Ryuuji!" Taiga shouted as she tried to warn him about the truck.
The truck lost its break and it hit Ryuuji. The impact was so strong that he flew few meters away from the truck.
"Ryuuji!" Aisaka screamed as she saw what happened to her lover.
All the people in the house heard her scream so they went out to see what happened. They were all shocked to see what happened to Ryuuji. Ami called 911, while Minorin and the others ran toward Takasu.
"Ryuuji… Ryuuji… Ryuuji…" Taiga softly whispered as she held Ryuuji whose body was covered by his own blood.
"Taiga…" Minorin said as she patted her friend's back.
The truck driver went out from his vehicle as he apologized to everyone.
But his apologies couldn't do anything.
"Ryuuji… Ryuuji… Ryuuji… wake up… please…" Aisaka said as she cried.
Ryuuji opened his eyes and saw Taiga crying; even if he could no longer speak he wiped away the tears in Taiga's eyes as he gave her the ring.
Taiga accepted the ring as she continued to cry. She couldn't help it; she hugged Ryuuji so tight like she didn't want to let him go.
"T-Taiga…" Ryuuji said while panting, "I- l-love y-you."
That was the last thing he said before he lost her consciousness.
"Ryuuji!" Taiga screamed as she jogged him trying to wake him up.
To be continued…
Author's note: Thank you all so much for reading my story. We are just starting, and if you think this chapter is touching, then you better watch out for the next chapter because it will surely make you fall in love with Ryuuji. His surprise to Taiga will be revealed on that chapter.
By the way, some flashbacks that I mentioned came from the light novel and not on the anime.
To n0 HaNa.o0o, ryuuvex, Audacity-cupcakE, Sunny Momo, SOSMeganSOS, ushichan and Hotaru, thank you all so much for making a review and believing in this story.
Do make a review because I tend to work faster and get more ideas whenever I see your reviews. It inspires me to work harder.
