彼女の涙彼女のビタースウィート

Her Tears, Her Bitter Sweetness

You taught me how to love; you taught me how to live; you taught me how to laugh; you taught me how to cry, but when you left, you forgot to teach me how to forget you.

The darkness of the night was now lit up in bright blue of the early morning. Usually, Naoko would still be sleeping but today, she felt so light as if she was walking on air. I'm so happy! She thought with a euphoric smile on her face as she skipped merrily to her locker. Perhaps the incident the day before had filled her heart with so much joy. I'm so happy she thought, though this time feeling a bit more sorrowful. Ryoko is close to crumbling those walls of hers. Once I do break them down, they'll be happily together. But if I could break those reinforced emotional blocks, why couldn't I break my own? She asked herself. Naoko brushed her hair aside and grabbed the hilt of the thin wooden kodachi kept under her shirt behind her. She slid the case off and held it in her hand. I still remember how you got this for me she thought with tears beginning to blur her vision.

"Neko-san…" she whispered to herself.

"Ha, I never thought we'd see you here." She suddenly heard a voice scoff. Slyly and swiftly, she slid the kodachi back into its case and slid it back up her shirt as she spun around. Naoko found herself cornered by three girls with smug expressions. Her focus was the one she knew was the leader of this merciless pack, Kamiko Nori. She had long straight, bleached blonde hair that ran like a curtain behind her back and blunt bangs. Naoko remembered perfectly how she had the misfortune of meeting that girl; she had taken Kitsune-san's friends and made them her underlings who were now crowding her; Kazuko Masa and Hanae Kuni.

"You're supposed to be a second year student at Tenshigashima, right Kitsune-chan? What happened, did you're grades slip or something?" Kamiko taunted.

"Did you're grades slip? Because if you actually got your head working probably you'd remember that I was a year too young to start my freshman year there, so me starting my freshman year again here makes logical sense." Naoko reasoned with flagrant insult. She scowled and then yanked a lock of Naoko's purplish hair.

"Listen up you waste of space, don't act so tall when that pathetic cat boy isn't around to save you." She warned with animosity, pushing her back to the lockers. Naoko scowled.

"Don't you dare call Neko-san pathetic!" she shouted furiously, pushing Kamiko back even harder. Fortunately, Ryoko and Ringo were passing through the halls towards their lockers when they noticed something was wrong.

"What're you guys doing?" Ryoko questioned with a menacing glare. With one glance at Ryoko's dagger sharp glower, they broke out in a cold sweat.

"Uh… um it's nothing, we were just having a friendly little chat with Kitsune-san." Kamiko lied as she shuddered. "Anyways we were about to head off now, right girls?"

"Uh yeah." said Kazuko.

"That's what I thought." Ryoko said, glaring at them as they speed walked out the door.

"Are you okay Kitsune-san?" Ringo asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Naoko lied, switching her Mary Janes for the white shoes she was to wear inside. Ryoko didn't believe her.

"So who were those girls?" she questioned. Naoko placed her shoes inside her locker then glanced up at her.

"Oh just some bullies from when I was at Tenshigashima, I didn't think they were spending their third year here at Otogi. Anyways don't worry about it Okami-san I'm fine." She lied and assured.

###

After school, Ryoko still couldn't help but shake the feeling there was something more to the incident that occurred that morning. At the moment, she was walking beside Ringo, Ryoshi and Naoko. She was dead silent which was typically unusual.

"Hey Ryoshi!" they heard someone call. They turned around and saw Saburo Nekomiya. Ryoshi waved his arm.

"Hi Neko-san!" he called back. They were happy to see him. Though, Naoko was frozen, paralyzed, her blood ran cold. Saburo took another glance and noticed her.

"Naoko… Kitsune?" he mumbled to himself, bewildered. When she saw that his green cat eyes fell on her, she shuddered a bit and suddenly bolted out of the area.

"Wait, Naoko!" Saburo called out. She didn't heed his call and she continued sprinting with tears running down her cheeks.

"Where're you going?" Ringo shouted. Ryoshi turned to Saburo.

"You… know her Neko-san?" he asked. He didn't reply he just stared out as she ran.

"It's okay, I'll go check on her." Ryoko said, running after her.

###

Ryoko chased Naoko all the way back to her dormitory. She ran up the stairs, tailing her. Naoko however was much swifter and had managed to run inside, slam the door and lock it. Panting, Ryoko started pummeling the door with her fists.

"Kitsune, open up!" she yelled, knocking harder. Naoko was curled up in bed, hugging her pillow tightly.

"Go away please Okami-san." She begged. Ryoko took a breath and calmed her nerves a bit.

"I know something's wrong Kitsune-san, just open up and we'll talk about it." she reasoned. Naoko lifted her face off her tear stained pillow. Suddenly, the door slowly began to open a bit. A bright blue eye peeked through the space of the slightly opened door.

"Alright, come in Okami-san." Naoko said hesitatingly, opening the door all the way. Ryoko smiled a bit.

"Thank you Kitsune-san." She acknowledged, stepping inside. They took a seat on the couch. Naoko curled into a ball and hugged her knees.

"What happened back there, do you know Neko-san?" she asked. She nodded lazily and began unraveling the details of her past.