All right. Somebody's on vacation. *giggle* This chappie's a bit long for me. But since I have one more chappie to write, I conceded to make it this long. To the slammin' pips that are following this story, only one more to go, guys! Enjoy! v(-,)v

toucHeart


Eighth Life: The Cat Cries

An elegant hand closed around a can of soda.

They say your works show a lot of promise, sweetheart.

Nomina Akira smiled at the girl tending the register and paid for her beverage.

You should really think about it.

"Thank you very much. Do come again, Miss." She heard as she stepped out of the store.

That's amazing, Akira! High school abroad?

Her eyes fell upon the business surrounding her. She saw the vehicles running one after another, the preschool children bouncing towards the daycare center in their cute hats and other students like her heading towards their own academies.

Akira! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

She massaged her aching temples. She didn't get any sleep last night and her eyes were sore and red as a pulp all she could do was to close them tightly.

GO! What are you waiting for?

She snapped her eyes open. She groaned. "Akira! Get a hold of yourself and wake up already, girl!" she said loudly that made other passerby look at her in wonder and a bit of fear. She paid no attention. Her soda can opened with a clink and she swallowed three huge gulps. "Aaaaah! That hit the spot!" she exclaimed, a bit perked up now.

What are you waiting for… waiting for… waiting for…

She glanced at her watch and hurriedly trotted off to school.


"Nomina-senpai, please look at this. Do you think that it's alright or should I add a bit of red to the edges?" a girl approached her holding up a painting.

She stared at it for seconds. "If you add some more, it would come out too strong. The ambiance of the painting is warm coziness. It's the best as it is now." she commented. "You did a very good job."

The girl's face beamed and she ran off back to her corner after throwing a cheery "Thank you very much, senpai" over her shoulder.

"Hey, Akira. Don't you think you need a break?" Leah, her classmate, best friend and the vice-president of the Art Club approached her with red paint smudged on her cheeks. Her apron was splattered all over with different colors as well, and her hair pulled up in a bun was a mess already.

"What were you doing?"

"Never mind that. Answer me."

"No, I don't think so. We don't have time for breaks." The year was almost ending and each president of the clubs is to give a written report on the performance of their running club activities. Not like she has too much to think about. Everything in the art club was proceeding smoothly with her running here and there about the place.

"Akira-chan. Is it time to put all the left over paint in the club cabinet now?"

"Store them away this Monday, please."

"Okay."

"President, please approve the list of art works to be displayed at the report."

"Hmmn. This is great. Thank you very much."

"President, here are the meeting records. You said you needed them?"

"Yup. Thanks very much."

"President…"

"President."

"President, please…"

"President!"

And it just came in and out, in and out in that fashion.

"Hey, Leah. Does Akira-chan have a problem?" Mia, a concerned member approached the vice-president without her knowing.

"Huh?" Leah looked up from her work spread out before her and asked, "What could possibly be wrong with her?" she dipped her brush in a container of already mucky water. Then, she proceeded to paint again.

"Well…" Mia started. "How should I put it? She seems to be forcing herself to be dedicated to her work rather than enjoying the work itself." She paused and looked up at nothing in particular, innocently. "You understand me?"

Leah sweat-dropped. "Theoretically." She dipped her brush again. Then again. And again as if contemplating how to say something.

"Don't worry." She finally said. "Leave her be for now. That's how Akira deals with her… confusion. Drowning herself with work." She gazed at Akira now helping someone carry in the pails of paint from the storage amidst the members' pushing her not to do so. She was smiling a pathetic excuse for a smile. And that is what worries her so much.


"Haaaaaaaaaaaaah! This is the life!" Akira stretched herself at the rooftop, another can of soda in her hand. "Nyaaah! You know what, Leah. This is the second can of soda I had today." she laughed. "I really must be lucky!"

"Yeah. Pure luck. Beautiful." Leah responded briefly.

"Something wrong, Leah?"

"Nothing really. Just want to tell you something."

"Okay, what?"

"Stop smiling."

Akira's smile turned upside down and she looked at her with a confused face.

"W-what…"

Leah groaned. "No. It's not what you think. I'm not mad."

At that, Akira laughed nervously. "Oh, okay. I thought…"

Leah giggled. "What I'm saying is that if you feel like shouting, then shout. If you want to cry, then go ahead and wail. Nobody's stopping you. It's one of your rights as a human. We have very few of those so, indulge."

Akira was listening to her with wide eyes, unbelievingly. She sighed at last. "Am I that easy to read?"

"An open book, so they say."

"I'm hopeless."

Silence.

"It seems as if you don't want to tell me the latest news about your life and what's on top of your confusion list."

Akira immediately denied the observation. "N-no…"

Leah held up her hand. "It's okay. I understand." She sipped her juice. "I'll wait."

The wind carried the words' sincerity towards Akira's ear, opening her heart, crashing her defenses and breaking the resolve that she had been forcing herself to bear and live by. Tears, pure and free, flowed through her eyes in torrents. She didn't notice at first. But Leah did.

Her friend was stunned at first, but after awhile, she smiled sympathetically and raised her hands to her shapely hips. "Come and get it, girl. You need it badly. Trust me." she offered her chest.

The soda can Akira had been holding on to fell on the floor with a clang just as she buried her face on Leah's starched blouse, crying.

"I-I d-don't know w-why I'm crying…"

"Me too."

"B-but… B-but…"

"Hmn."

"I-I'm t-tired."

"I see that."

"A-and l-lonely."

"Plain to see."

"I-I miss him."

"Who?"

She continued to sob. What are you waiting for… waiting for… waiting for…

"Tezuka Kunimitsu?"

Her head snapped up.

"I knew it. What'choo gunna dooo?"

Despite the tears, Akira giggled. Leah smiled in triumph.

"Nothing really."

"That jerk. I oughta fly to Germany and drag his ass back here. Would that make you feel better?"

"Not in the slightest bit." She answered absolutely, so much actually, that Leah was stunned for a moment.

She stared at her best friend's face. Akira's complexion was radiant in some way despite the setting of the sun and her eyes glowed differently. Regardless of the loneliness there was something else she couldn't quite point out yet. The endurance in her eyes was extraordinary yet it didn't feel much more natural to her- it held promise, hope and something else. Realization dawned.

"He took you away from us now, huh?" Leah said in the barest of whisper.

"What?" Akira's eyes furrowed and she straightened her form.

She cupped Akira's face, tenderly. You look beautiful when you're in love like this, Akira. She wanted to say those thoughts out loud, but she chose not to. "I asked if you told Kun-kun about the transfer thingy proposal, watchama call it already. I might reconsider my plan of dragging him back to Japan if that was the case."

"I didn't tell him yet." She said quietly.

"Well, you have to say something, at least. I mean Akira, he's moving. You're not. You're, well… here. Unmoving. I mean, do something." It seems that Leah doesn't understand what she is saying now either. It made Akira mysteriously happy and relieved in a way. It was good to know she wasn't the only person in the world who doesn't know what to do or say at the moment.

"I will tell him, Leah. Don't worry." She assured her best friend.

"Good. And come up with a decision soon or else Sierra's hell would break loose." Leah stood up to leave the now worried Akira.

"Is she still ratting on about me moving to her apartment when I choose to transfer?"

"What else could it be?" she opened the rooftop metal door. "And Akira…"

"Hmmn?"

"You look lovelier when you smile because you want to, not because you have to."

She was about to respond but all that she caught was the gentle closing of the doors. "Thank you, Leah." She said to the wind and smiled beautifully.

No matter what the reason, her energy was back. Leah had always been a great energy booster. She enjoyed the music of nature for that moment. The gawking of the birds, the rustling of leaves, and the fading chatters of the retreating students.

Answers will come on time. One week more to go…

The music of her ringtone disturbed her 'emote' time. Grrr. What?

"Hello?" she answered a bit irritated, almost shouting her jaw off. Ouch.

"Is that any way to greet a friend who came out of his way to drop you a line?" a familiar, baritone voice welcomed her ears.

"K-Kun-kun!" this wasn't the first time he called her. But every call with him is a new experience to her. It was highly exhilarating.

"Good to know you still recognize my voice."

"Don't over react, you blushing rock." Her indifferent voice was a complete contrast to the crazy beating of her heart.

"Yeah, I should hang up."

"W-wait! Stupid! I didn't say anything like that!"

"That remark was more than convincing."

"It was? S-sorry."

The other line went silent.

"Hello? Kun-kun? You still there?"

"What'd you eat for lunch, lady?"

"What?" she asked, confused with the sudden weird turn of the conversation.

"You sure that there wasn't any poison in the food? Shrubs? Garbage?"

"What do you take me for? I'm not a friggin' psychopath! Stupid Kun-kun…"

"I figured." There was a musicality in his voice. She could picture him right now with laughing eyes. I miss you.

"So, how are things in Germany?"

"Uhm- I… Actually, things are great."

"You aren't hitting on any German babes there are you?" she teased.

He sighed, bored. "That is one of the most worthless activities I could perform here in tha- this place."

He's serious. She held back her laugh.

Just then, she wanted to know what he'd do if she left. Would he be lonely too? Miss her as much as she's missing him right now? Or would nothing change in his life? Would he wait for her too? Would he want her to stay? Or would he let her go?

So many questions, so little time. And to think that her misery would end up in a wink if she just had the guts to ask him. Wait a minute. I'm Nomina Akira, for Pete's sakes. All I have to do is ask him and get it over with. Really…

"Actually, Kun-kun," she started, "I have news for you. I wanna know what you think about it. Don't say anything stupid, got it?"

"Do I ever?"

"This Academy in America saw my works and long story short they want to accept me as one of their scholars there. It's a great opportunity, right? What d'ya think?"

The other line went silent.

"Well, do you want to go?"

That depends if you want me to wait for you, which I really will. "It doesn't sound too bad." Ask me to wait for you please. She was losing her confidence that he was expecting her to wait for him- that he was actually looking forward to knowing the other half of her motto. "But-"

"You should go." The statement crumbled her hope and her world.

"Y-yeah. I should…" She tried to hide the loneliness in her voice that was threatening to break her heart. I was planning on waiting for you. I was about to say high school can wait. I'm not in a rush. My life here where we were together is already perfect but…Was she the only one waiting? Akira, you are such a fool.

She remembered what Leah said earlier. Akira, he's moving. You're not. You're, well… here. Unmoving. Was she really?

D-damn. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. Good thing Kun-kun couldn't see her state right now. Thank God for technology. "Thanks, Kun-kun. You helped me confirm my decision." She choked a forced laugh from her throat. She prayed to the heavens it didn't sound fake. "So… When're you coming back?"

"Not too soon…"

"Oh, well then. I guess we won't be catching each other by the time I leave, huh?"

"I-I guess so."

"Well then. Until we meet again, take care, okay?"


"I always do." Tezuka said. "Hmm. Sure. Take care, too. Bye." He turned his cell off and stared into space. Ryuzaki-sensei's voice brought him crashing back to reality. Back to Japan, back to Seishun Academy.

"Tezuka, I'm going on ahead to the courts and pretend in front of those monkeys that I don't know about their 'welcome back' party for me." The teacher stopped and looked at him intently. "Is everything alright?"

"Y-yes, Maam." He said indifferently.

The good old coach smiled. "It's good to have you home, Tezuka."

He nodded. His face was stoic, but his eyes illuminated sadness. And so he said to the air the words that he would have loved to say to Akira. "I'm back."