Chapter Seven

Fifteen Years Ago...

"What are you thinking about?" Yuki asked her childhood friend curiously. Soujirou had an absent expression in his face.

"Nothing", he answered innocently. Yuki shrugged and turned back to the tea set she and Soujirou had been playing with. A moment later though, and Soujirou got that preoccupied expression again.

"What is it? You better tell me." Yuki threatened, not wanting to be left out.

"Do you ever think about boys, Yuki-chan?"

"Boys??? No way! Yuck!" Yuki exclaimed in disgust, sticking out her tongue for good measure. "Why? Have you been thinking about boys?"

"Huh? Of course not! Now that's disgusting!" Soujirou shouted in horror. A few minutes later, he admitted, "I've been thinking about girls a lot."

"Why?"

"Just because..."

"Why?"

"I don't know..." And after a moment, "They're fascinating." Soujirou turned back to playing and practicing tea ceremony, while his playmate mulled over his answer in her head.

"Do you think, I'm fascinating?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"You, little girl, are a silly question." He ruffled her head and gave her a knuckle sandwich, as she struggled to free herself in annoyance. He had not answered her question.

Ten Years Ago...

"Who is that girl, Jiro-kun?" Yuki asked as she joined Soujirou at the Nishikado mansion's gazebo.

"A friend", Soujirou explained without expression.

Yuki thought over his answer and said, "Do you like her?"

"What makes you say that, Little One?"

Yuki pursed her lips and told him in annoyance, "I wasn't born yesterday, Jiro. She had her hands all over you. It was beyond disgusting."

"Aww, Yuki-chan, don't be like that. It's just for fun, that's all. She knows the rules."

"What if she falls in love with you? Will she still know the rules then?" Yuki had her hands on her hips. Soujirou could not answer her statement. "I know you and Akira think you're some kind of babe magnets, but you should be careful. You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?"

"What about me, Yuki-chan? Aren't you worried I'll get hurt?" Soujirou teased after a pause. "You're gonna hurt my feelings if you don't stop this."

"Sometimes, Jiro, for all you're so much smarter than me, you don't know that the only person who can ever hurt you is yourself", she said solemnly. Without waiting for an answer, she left him, strangely depressed at the conversation that had taken place.

Five Years Ago...

"Hello? Who is this?" Yuki asked groggily. She looked at the clock by her bedside table, it was just a little past midnight.

"Jiro?" she was slowly starting to wake up. "Are you okay?"

She listened intently at his answer. "Okay I'll be there."

*****

"Jiro! Come on... It's time to go to bed. You've been drinking too much already." Yuki tried to push up a drunk Soujirou and force him to stand.

"Aw, Yuki... Don't be such a spoilsport... Come... Sit... Have a drink with me." He was slurring his words badly.

Yuki just shook her head and continued trying to push him up on to his feet.

"What happened to you, Jiro? When I left you earlier you were still okay... Where are your friends?"

"They went home. We couldn't do anything anymore... We can't find her. It's useless to try." Soujirou said tiredly.

Yuki sat down on the chair beside his and looked at him... Poor Jiro. She loved him. She always have, always will. But there was nothing she could do except be there when he needed her.

When he fell in love with Sarah, she'd felt a needle strike deep in her heart. But because of her love, she'd learned to stay by the sidelines and accept her place in his life.

"Did you tell her you loved her?" she asked him quietly.

"I didn't have to... She knew how I felt."

"Did she?"

Soujirou looked at Yuki with bleary eyes. He never thought he needed the words to let her know how he felt. None of the other girls he knew ever needed them. It was enough that he spent money on expensive gifts. That he took them all around the city and showed them off in his arm. It didn't even matter that he could show them a good time in bed. To them, that was just a bonus.

Oh God, if I could just turn back time... If I could just go back and do things all over again I would. I'd tell her how I felt... I'd tell her how much she means to me. Even if she doesn't feel the same way...

"Do you think she loved me?"

"Yes." Who wouldn't? Yuki thought achingly.

It was after the episode with Sarah that Soujirou changed. He dated women with abandon more than ever. He refused to take any of them seriously – always afraid that they would leave him, just like she did. Of course we all know that it was during this period that Yuki had kept on searching for that one last message Sarah had tried in vain to show him – hoping against hope, that maybe, just maybe, once he finds the answer to his last soul-searching question, he would be able to move on. And go back to being the perfectly flawed Soujirou she had always loved.

While Yuki watched Soujirou break down in tears over Sarah's touching message, her heart broke for him as well as for herself. As he cried and sank to his knees on the rooftop floor, she cried along with him. Regret over lost opportunities rose up and overwhelmed her.

On the walk home, Soujirou was strangely silent. The mood was strangely uneasy between them. Yuki did not know if she had managed to do her duty as his "friend" by showing him that message. She hoped that he would learn a thing or two about what had happened. She herself had learned a lot – That Life is fleeting, you have to give it all that you've got to give for moments can pass you by, and once they do, they'll be lost to you forever.

They reached her house. And Soujirou finally spoke up.

"Thank you, Yuki-chan", he said, taking both of her hands in his. "Thank you for giving me this gift. I learned a lot... This experience has changed me irrevocably. You've always been there for me when I need you, I don't know how I am ever going to thank you. But I'll find a way to."

Yuki just smiled and squeezed his hands in acknowledgment at his words. Her heart was aching though, and she turned away so he could not see her tears. The only thing she wanted from him - the only gift she would accept, is the one thing that he had given another.

His love.

*****