If you Still Believe

Chp8: Comforter

Disclaimer: Hey! I don't own Kodocha, I just write about it.

Sana took a minute to steady her breathing as she stared hard ahead at what was in front of her; namely, her boyfriend Akito. At this particular moment in her life, Sana was thinking everything at once, but thought nothing at all. And was trying to build up the courage to talk to him, but trying to talk herself out of it at the same time. She felt a small feeling of relief when Kai said that he would give them some space, and to meet him at the coffee place.

Sucking in one more breath of finality, she stepped forward to greet her lover, then say goodbye.

Akito saw her stepping toward him, and jumped up, and strolled casually over towards her.

Before anything, he pulled her into a tight embrace, and rocked them back and forth, like he was savoring a last moment. Sana grabbed onto Akito's waist, and squeezed hard. He pulled her off of him after a few moments, and looked her straight in the eyes, still holding her shoulders.

"Sana, please understand that this move has nothing to do with you, because I love you with all my heart," he said gently, "I just feel like I've been missing something from my childhood, and I want to... Well, I'm not sure what I want to do. But I think that moving in with my dad might help me."

Sana could feel herself breaking down in front of him, which she rarely did. She squeezed on to his elbows. In breathy whispers she said to him, "I don't know if I can do this Akito! If you leave again, I don't know if I can handle it. The last time-"

"The last time I came back. And you waited. I know you can do it again. I need to recover, Sana. I love you, and this is probably not the last time we'll see each other, and might not even be the last time I leave for L.A."

"You mean the last time you leave me for L.A.," Sana muttered bitterly.

Akito frowned hard at her. He was frustrated with her now. "Please try to understand." He checked his watch, and looked back at his teary girlfriend. "I love you. I have to go now," he told her. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, gave her a loving look, grabbed his heavy luggage, and started to walk in the opposite direction.

The sad actress turned away, "I can't," she whispered as her voice faltered on the last syllable.

Kai quietly drummed the body of the coffee mug with his fingers with his pinky finger resting right on the inside of the handle. He stared at the milky coffee, taking notice to the subtle swirl of the milk not entirely blended with the water. When the reflection in his coffee changed to the face of a concerned elderly lady instead of the reflection of the ceiling he was comfortable with, he looked into the face of the woman.

The woman laid her hand on the counter, just to the left of the beaten coffee mug. "Honey, are you alright? You look like somebody just sang you 'Leaving on a Jet Plane'," she said softly, with obvious concern.

"No, my friend just saw off her own boyfriend. I'm just worried about her," Kai admitted.

"Alright," said the woman with skepticism in her voice, and a confused look on her face. "Well, you better drink that up, people get into bad eating habits when their sad." She then left to serve a customer at the front counter with a huge grin on her face.

Kai thought about Sana at the grocery store, and the contents of her cart, which consisted of mostly yogurt. 'I'll need to help her out,' he thought to himself, 'Who else has she got?'

Sana entered the busy little airplane coffee shop, trying to look at everything else except Kai, because she was positive her face was as red as a tomato, with her usual blotchiness and puffy eyes. Sitting down next to her new friend, she sucked in a rather large breath and let it out slowly. This was her chosen way of communication rather than admitting with perfect clarity that he was gone for LA.

The elderly waitress did the same concerned old lady gestures she had shown Kai, and said "You look like you need some caffeine or sugar or something, honey. What can I get you?"

Sana didn't have the courage to look her in the eyes and see the pitying look on her face, so she croaked, "I'll have a Cappuccino." When the waitress turned around, Sana added, "With extra foam... Please and thank you." She could hear the lady give a low chuckle.

"So," said Kai awkwardly. "What do you feel like doing? We should hang out for a bit before I go home, so what are you feeling?" The slim-jeaned man could tell he was failing miserably at trying to make the mood lighter. He wanted to make her cheer up, because it was hard looking a the woman who had played the Laughing Woman being not happy. He decided he had better tread lightly.

The famous actress sitting next to him let out another sigh. "I don't really feel like doing anything," she said slowly. She took to fiddling with the classy small golden pendant rested on her chest. "How about a movie? I could use some popcorn and violence, I think."

Thrilled to see her speaking in something that wasn't croaks, Kai quickly accepted the offer, proclaiming a collection of American movies that definitely weren't his under his bed. "We can go back to my place. It's still really early in the morning, so it's not the cleanest place in the world, but I hope a few scraps won't bother you. It's only my living room."

"Your place, huh?" asked Sana solemnly. "When do you move into Akito's old house?"

Kai kicked himself in the face. Mentally. He shouldn't have mentioned his place. "Uhm, the day after tomorrow. I just have a temporary apartment for now. Is that okay with you?"

Sana shrugged her shoulders indifferently. A different younger looking waitress placed the cappuccino in front of Sana, and quickly scurried away to do other jobs, like cleaning up the spills made by the clumsy old woman who had shown concern for the both of the them. Kai couldn't help but giggle under his breathe at the display the two were making. It was as if they were sisters.

The cappuccino slowly started to be slurped away, without much conversation, or even eye contact between them. Kai was getting anxious, so he looked at his watch, and mumbled something about the time. "Uhm, oh, yeah... time," he mumbled, "We should get going, and pop that movie in before it starts to snow." He got onto his feet in one very quick fluid motion.

It didn't seem like Sana minded, since she got to her own two feet, and began to drag herself out of the coffee shop, and out of the airport while still slowly sipping her sweet tasty drink. Kai walked alongside her, but instead of being awkward, he let himself talk about things like his own family, and how the women in the coffee shop reminded him of his sisters. He told her stories about his life, which were insignificant, funny stories, about how he used to get into trouble at school, and how he got in a fight with a man at the grocery store once over some stupid politics. Sana seemed to appreciate that her mind was being kept off Akito, and every now and then when he told a funny or stupid story to her, she cracked a smile, and if he was really lucky, he would see her bring her hand to her face to cover up a laugh.

That car pulled up next to a rather tall and old looking apartment building, that was rather out of the way of everything else in Japan. Sana all of a sudden understood Kai's choice to move into a house, because this place didn't look pleasing at all. Sana was too captivated in the sight of the building that it took Kai opening the door and grabbing her hand to get moving. "Are you alright, Sana?" he asked her with confusion.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "You live here?" she said with surprise in her voice.

Kai looked a little startled by her question. With sudden and surprising attitude, he out his hands on his hips, and said to her, "Listen, miss snooty-pants. Not everybody is famous and can afford nice houses. Besides, ain't nothing wrong with my place besides it's..." finally turning around, he looked at his building, and saw it through his friend's eyes. "Oh, you're right. It is ugly."

Kai and Sana broke out into uncontrollable laughter. Kai clutched onto his own knees to keep himself from falling over, and Sana to the car door to keep herself from falling right out of the car.

Kai regained his composure first, wiping the tears from his eyes, and holding his stomach in. He held his hand out to his actor friend, "Come on in. If you can ignore the aesthetics, I'd like to feed and entertain you.

In this moment, Sana felt comforted. She placed her hand in his outstretched one, and allowed him to pull her along.