A/N: Thank you guys so much for all the reviews!! I was so surprised how many of you guys are actually reading this and enjoying it!! I'm sorry for the huge delay (unlike when I first started and wrote a chapter a day XD), I was quite busy with my finals. Well, here it is another chapter, I hope you like it.
The ride back to Kyoto was a quiet one. Despite how tired Shizuru was from the hectic day she had earlier, she stayed awake the whole ride. The city lights passed by in the blink of an eye and before she knew it, they were pulling up into the station.
Chihiro noticed the change in Shizuru's demeanor and left her alone. They had a long trip and both just wanted to go home and rest peacefully. Luckily, school was almost out and they both only had two more finals, one Wednesday and one on Friday, so they didn't have to worry about going to school the next day and could sleep in.
Chihiro was too tired to head back to the dorms all the way back on campus so Shiruzu offered her to let her stay at her apartment for the night. She felt guilty for never seeing her on the trip and they were both so tired that neither of them would notice each other.
They got to Shizuru's apartment around three in the morning and both of them practically hit the ground when they stepped in. Chihiro took the couch in the living room while Shizuru slept in her bedroom. Entering the room, Shizuru closed the door behind her and walked towards her bed. As she got closer, a familiar picture came into view and without knowing, she picked it up and threw it into the corner of the room. With the shattering of the glass, Shizuru felt a little relief on her heart and fell asleep within seconds.
Chihiro woke up the next morning and left before Shizuru woke up. She knew the other girl was tired and she just wanted to get home. By the time Shizuru woke up it was a little before noon and she stumbled out of bed. She was still tired, but the heat and brightness of the sun refused to let her sleep anymore.
As she approached the door, she was stopped by a prick in the bottom of her foot. She looked down like she was going to kill whatever it was that stopped her. It turned out that it was a piece of shattered glass from the picture frame she threw the night before. She had actually forgotten that she thrown it and wasn't even sure why she even threw it in the first place. Was she sad? Hurt? Confused? Or was it that she was just mad because she couldn't understand what Natsuki was doing or feeling anymore?
As of now, Shizuru had known Natsuki for about five years. What Shizuru didn't understand was that as for the first three, she was madly and completely in love with her and now that she was finally getting over it, Natsuki threw her heart into chaos. After three years of close friendship, lingerie shopping, flushed faces, and evening drives, Shizuru was happy if she could receive a simple hug let alone what happened last night. The closest feeling that she had ever got from Natsuki that wasn't mere friendship was during the carnival, and even then, Shizuru didn't understand what Natsuki really felt. Sometimes it could be interpreted as even hate.
Shizuru was too tired to contemplate on it anymore and really didn't want to think about anything right now. She yanked the glass out from the bottom of her foot, ignoring the blood gushing out, and walked to the bathroom leaving a thick trail behind her. Her mind was in such disarray that she couldn't feel any pain and she jumped into the shower.
After a half an hour shower, her mind hadn't calmed down much when she decided to take out her shaminsen. It had been almost a year since she had last touched it. She sat down on the floor and gently picked it up and carefully tuned it. She started off slow and as she got reacquainted with the strings, she picked up in tempo. She didn't think a single thought while her fingers naturally moved up and down the neck of the shamisen. This certainly relieved a lot of stress as all her emotions and pent up anxiety came out in the music. Speed and volume both increased as the seconds passed until finally the bachi (the pick for the shaminsen) flew out of her hand.
She was breathing heavily and there were slight traces of sweat accumulating on her forehead. After catching her breath, she put the shamisen to the side and fell backwards, lying on the floor. She had felt so much better, and fell back asleep like that.
Natsuki wasn't able to fall back asleep the night before after finding out that Shizuru had left. As she lied in bed, staring at the ceiling in her bedroom, she thought of what she should do next. She didn't know whether or not Shizuru still even lived in Tokyo and couldn't think of anywhere to start looking for her. She knew that if Shizuru didn't want to be found, she probably wouldn't be.
At three in the morning, she jumped out of bed and started packing. She decided she would leave already. She just wanted to get away from here and go somewhere new. She was planning on going to school early.
Natsuki was registered to live in the dorms but she wanted to get an apartment as soon as possible. She didn't mind the fact that she had to have a roommate as much as she hated the thought of sharing a bathroom with 20 or so other girls.
School didn't start for another month and a half and the incoming freshmen had to move in a month before that. Returning students didn't have to move in until the week before school started, but the dorms were open to move into in a week and that's exactly what Natsuki was planning on doing.
Natsuki packed up as much as she could until she fell asleep in the middle of the floor at a little before seven. It seemed the only way that either of the two could fall asleep right now was from exhaustion.
A/N: Sorry this chapter was extremely short and nothing really happened. I've really tired but I wanted to apologize to you guys for making you wait, and also thank you guys so much for the many reviews. I don't think I'll be able to update anytime soon again, but because I left it off in such a boring place, I'll try to get one more out soon. If I feel like procrastinating again and fucking my self over in school, you'll see another chapter in a couple of days, if not, then sorry it might be Wednesday if I'm not too exhausted. After that, I'm going to Okinawa (wai! :D) and then I'm returning to the home of the brave. (yeah that shitty place⦠jk ) So I'm pretty sure there won't be an update for that whole week. Also, please leave suggestions for this story I don't know what to write about any more (as you might be able to see from this pathetic excuse of a chapter.) So TTFN!
