Period of Transition
Chapter III

"I'm always coming over to your class, aren't I?"

"You always dart over here as soon as class is over."

Chibiusa leaned over the desk to prop herself up by the elbows. "You've got a point there. Then again, if I left it up to you, I'd be waiting forever." A smile most innocent and sweet was directed at her friend and she was rewarded with a little bop to the head. She rubbed the spot with a laugh and pulled herself back up to a standing position. "Do you wanna get lunch?"

Having just finished packing the rest of her stuff, Hotaru nodded and matched her elevation. She decided to return Chibiusa's smile after all. "Do they have anything new on the menu today?"

"Oh, you know that menu hasn't changed in forever," the shorter girl said dismissively, moving to loop her arm through Hotaru's. "It's just the same old melon bread, yakisoba bread stuff. I hear that they're trying for some new cotton candy type thing."

Hotaru looked surprised. "You sure? That doesn't sound like the best idea for a lunch."

"They were discussing the possibilities at the last student council meeting. I can speak on your behalf if you don't like it."

A smirk. "Whatever happened to representing your class?"

"Hotaru-senpai always comes first."

"That isn't the best attitude for a class president to adopt."

"You'd be surprised with the kinds of stuff I can get away with," the pink-haired girl answered with a grin, and was about to spew out a list when she was interrupted by a voice.

"You sure do come here a lot, don't you, Chibiusa-chan?"

Momoko sauntered over to her friends and made a big show of bending over to observe the tangle of arms between them. "I see you've attached yourself to our little Hotaru-chan again." She looked up and shoved an imaginary microphone into the air. "Hotaru-chan, how do you manage?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Chibiusa cried, pushing away the fist and pulling Hotaru closer to her. "What do you mean 'our Hotaru-chan'? She belongs to me! And another thing, I don't approve of your rudeness." To reinforce her point, she stuck out her tongue and the intentional hypocrisy earned a nervous chuckle from her partner.

Momoko smirked knowingly. "Possessive, aren't we?"

"Only if provoked."

"Don't mind her; she's usually more tame than this," reassured Hotaru. She turned to Chibiusa. "By the way, whoever said that I belonged to you?"

The smile, overly sweet and innocent, returned. "Weren't we going to get lunch?"

"Avoiding the question, are we?"

Momoko sighed and clasped a hand on Hotaru's shoulder. "I feel sorry for you. By the way, mind if I tag along?"

"Yes, Momo-chan," Chibiusa said dryly. "Go for an indirect insult and then ask to join us. Well, guess what? No." Changing her tone with ease, she turned from Momoko and eagerly began pulling toward the door. "C'mon, Hotaru-senpai. Let us leave this mean person."

Hotaru tapped her lightly on the head, a playful scowl on her lips. "You're not being very nice yourself, Chibiusa-chan." She looked back at Momoko. "You're more than welcome to join us."

"See? Hotaru-chan's nice." The trio proceeded out the door and began making their way down to the school store with Chibiusa clinging onto Hotaru the whole time. With a front row seat to the sight, Momoko could not help but sigh. "What's the big deal anyways? You always have her to yourself. "

"You're in her class," the pink-haired girl pointed out.

"I don't attach to her arm for all eternity."

"I don't particularly mind," Hotaru interjected meekly.

"I haven't seen her in forever!"

"You were talking with her just this morning!"

Chibiusa paused. "I was?"

Momoko laughed as she opened the door, its slight screech an indication of its need for oil. "The signs of a love-stricken teenager, huh?"

Chibiusa suddenly felt Hotaru stiffen beside her. She glanced up, watched her lips move in defense but heard none of it. It stung, wounded slight, how easily the other girl brushed it off. She had to fight down the urge to tell her right then that she was on her mind much too often, but she grimaced internally, reminding herself that it was neither the time nor the place for such words.

"Chibiusa-chan?"

She blinked and pulled herself back to reality. She looked up at Hotaru and took in her worried expression. "Yeah?"

"You went quiet all of a sudden." A hand reached over to feel her forehead. "You're not coming down with something, are you?"

Chibiusa gently displaced the hand and smiled. "Don't be such a worrywart."

Momoko looked up from her armful of melon bread, face suddenly carved with suspicion. "Don't tell me I'm actually right."

Of everything, to have her feelings revealed in this fashion was an injustice to both herself and Hotaru. She adopted a laugh and stared pointedly at the bread. "And don't tell me you plan to eat all of that! You'd better be sure to watch your weight."

Momoko turned a brilliant shade of red; the distraction was an immediate success. "No, they're not all for me! I was just doing something nice and you had to go and...!" She made a frustrated noise and stormed out into the hallway, catching glances from people who made the same accusation. The girls didn't do much about it though, knowing that they would find her waiting patiently for them in their usual spot underneath the trees.

"She's great, isn't she?"

"Yeah." A pause. "Hey, Hotaru-senpai?"

"You're still on that?"

Chibiusa laughed. "I have to stay after school for a while to discuss a little project, so would you mind waiting for me?"

"You know I wouldn't." But the soft smile faded quickly and an apprehensive light danced across her eyes. "Um, Chibiusa-chan, about that... I..."

"Yeah?"

Hotaru opened her mouth, but when nothing came out she just sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. Let's go."

When she was finally ready to leave, the sun had just begun to streak the sky orange. She waved a goodbye to her fellow group members and they acknowledged the motion with words before leaving. Instead for following them to the exit, Chibiusa opted to turn to the hall opposite and slip into the adjacent room as nonchalantly as possible. However, her foot didn't even make it past the doorway.

There the girl lay, her head rested elegantly atop clothed arms. Her ebony hair sprawled over her desk and curtained the naturally pale tone of skin. The eyes in which Chibiusa loved to lose herself resisted the last rays of light so instead it chose to embrace her form, purifying the already angelic image.

Chibiusa forced herself to let go of the breath she had been holding, forced down the heart that had leapt and caught in her throat. Slowly, she finally entered the room and made her way over to her friend's seat. The other girl did not notice her presence and Chibiusa took the opportunity to bend over and push aside the curtains. Her heart ached when she saw her face, the beauty that she had denied herself for so long, but she closed her eyes before she entertained the thoughts dancing about in her head.

She circled around so that she stood behind Hotaru, could see her back rise and fall with each intake of breath. A smile played lightly on her lips and she bent over again, this time stretching her arms out and wrapping them snuggly around the sleeping girl's form. She rested her head on Hotaru's and closed her eyes, relishing the scent of her hair. She could feel her even breaths against her chest, hear them with a little strain, and Chibiusa did her best to adjust.

She stayed in this position for a while, glad for the warmth the girl provided and when rubies peeked out again, the sun had dyed itself red. Stained clouds were slowly being shepherded by the darkness yet the sun struggled brilliantly to keep it at bay with shades of purple and red. The colours illuminated the floor before her and Chibiusa decided that if she didn't do something, her friend, like a princess in a fairy tale, would sleep forever. 'A princess, huh?' Still, she was loathe to move from comfort and was therefore surprised when Hotaru shifted beneath her, a name on her lips.

"Chibiusa-chan..."

Amused, Chibiusa pulled back and placed her mouth behind the girl's ear. Her breath brushed past as she responded, "Hotaru-senpai."

For the second time that day, she felt the other girl tense up. Hotaru slowly slid into a proper sitting posture and Chibiusa adjusted with ease. The girl didn't turn around though, choosing instead to send out an inquiring voice. "Chibiusa-chan?"

She smiled. "You were calling?"

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough."

"You didn't try to wake me up?"

"This is more comfortable," Chibiusa admitted, placing her head on Hotaru's shoulder. "Do you mind if we stay like this a little longer?" She noticed a sudden increase in heat, a sudden awareness of a heartbeat, and she could not determine from whom it originated.

Hotaru stayed silent for a while. "We should be going home. It's getting late." To reinforce her point, she stood, barely giving Chibiusa enough time to release her hold and back away. She tried to catch her expression, but Hotaru had bent to retrieve her bag and came back smiling. "Shall we go?"

Chibiusa fought the sense of loss and returned the favour. "Sure." She wanted to confirm her friend's feelings but lately―especially when they were confronted with no one but each other―Hotaru would try to drift off in some way. What were the thoughts running through her mind?

The hallway had adopted more shadow and now glowed a deep red. The girls walked in this light, side-by-side. The absolute silence distressed Chibiusa. Where were the animated words that usually filled this space? The unhesitant discussions about issues both academic and personal? She couldn't stand that she'd allowed their relationship to regress to this point. She longed for the days when they spoke freely to each other, the days their hands would naturally find each other without this weird atmosphere hovering in-between. What had changed between them? What had occurred to make everything so difficult? Or, was it difficult because nothing had changed, nothing had happened to provoke change?

Chibiusa grabbed Hotaru's hand on an impulse, fitted herself in those usual groves between her fingers. She could see the tension run its course through her body, contorting her face with a frowning brow.

"Chibiusa-chan?"

"It's nothing," she assured her. "It's just that we haven't held hands in so long, you know? I've kinda missed it, being with you like this."

"Is that all?" Hotaru had tipped her head back towards the shadows.

She did not want them to lose each other like this. "No, that's not even the start of it."

The shock wave passed through her as Hotaru fell back into the wall, but she did not pause to recover for fear that she would not follow through with her actions. Leaning into her, Chibiusa pulled herself upwards just a bit to make up for the space between their lips. There were no fireworks, no major epiphany novels always elaborate on, just the hammering of her own heart. She didn't dare open her eyes, not until the kiss was over and she had eased herself off the other girl and moved a step away.

She was seeing a lot of red, and she couldn't tell how much of it was the light. A nervous laugh escaped her and she tried a hopeful smile, though she wasn't sure where she was supposed to keep her eyes. "I like you, Hotaru-chan, and I don't mean in that casual way girls usually say these things." She took a calming breath and blushed as she repeated her words. "I really like you." Chibiusa tried to focus her gaze upwards but Hotaru was still pressed up against the wall, still hidden in the shadows, and she couldn't see anything.

She had been taught that love was capable of conquering all, strong enough to reduce even the strongest enemy to a pitiful fraction, but then why did it have to fill her with such unease? It would've been better, she realized, to have received a flat-out rejection than to endure this uncertainty.

Chibiusa smiled as best she could. "I'm sorry for telling you so out-of-the-blue, Hotaru-chan, but I... suppose I..." The smile faltered and her sentence was left to fade into obscurity. She looked away quickly, unable to look at the other girl without a blur in her eyes, and mentally belittled herself for making the situation more awkward than it was before. Was this the price of falling in love? It was too difficult to accept.

"I... have to... go," she finally managed and backed away, wanting for the first time nothing more than to get away from Tomoe Hotaru. She turned and hastened her steps, willing herself hold back the flood of emotion. Chibiusa bit her lip to keep it from trembling and broke out into a run, leaving behind the girl with amethyst eyes. The girl whose only answer was silence.

Note: Editing this chapter was a little weird, especially considering that this is different from my current style of writing. The contrast in mood between the first and second halves still throws me off, but I like to think of it as them having no distractions when alone so they can't help but think about their situations. Yup, that's my lame excuse so I don't have to rewrite the chapter. Then again, I'd really rather not rewrite something I finished and was satisfied with a year ago (because then I'd probably be scrapping a big chunk of the second half). Let's maintain some sense of 2007 in it, shall we? As always, reviews are neat ways to critique and encourage. Last chapter will be out in a week or sooner, depending on circumstances.

Written: November 2007 - November 23 2007.