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Ep. 10- Mabudachi Trio Again!!
Black Haru stood, his eyes wide and angry with the tiniest tear shining in his eyes. He stared down at Hana, frowning intensely. Dammit, she was right. It was very true; he and Haru were the same person. It was just that he was the explosion of all of Haru's negativity, sadness and anger. And because he was still essentially Haru, he felt the same as White Haru did. He loved her.
Haru gritted his teeth and glared down at his feet. Hana breathlessly stood up slowly and moved closer towards him.
"Haru…" she started.
"What?" he glared at her, and then through his angry eyes, a little bit of sentiment crept in and he stopped looking at her so hatefully.
Hana smiled shyly. Haru's heart skipped a beat. "You know… you were wrong, Haru… I wasn't going to reject you…"
Haru's eyes widened with surprise.
"I was going to say that…" Hana calmly stepped up to him, hands behind her back, rising up onto her toes and kissing the astonished Black Haru gently on the lips.
Black Haru was surprised and turned red, and suddenly, Haru- normal Haru was back, standing there, stunned.
"…I love you, Haru." Hana couldn't help the pinkness spreading in her cheeks like wildfire as she smiled shyly at him.
Haru was overjoyed it was all he could do to stop himself from hugging her crazily right now. So he hugged her anyway.
--
Machi was only half paying attention when Momiji suddenly turned and ran from her. Suddenly, she fully realised what had happened and that Momiji had run away and now she was standing alone, in such confusion and pain in her heart, and tears running down her face.
But… what was she meant to do??
Dammit!! Why was this happening to her?? She loved Momiji, but… she never really thought of him in that way. But… then again, maybe… maybe she had. Machi shook her head in annoyance. She was just so confused!!
She looked up and down the path where she saw Momiji's blonde head passing by the other people in the busy street. There was no time for her to ponder what to do next. She had to… chase after him… and tell him that she wasn't going to abandon him. Machi knew that Momiji was still suffering from the past rejections, like what happened with his mother and his first love, Tohru. Machi knew… she couldn't reject Momiji now, or else he'd never smile again.
Machi tore down the street after Momiji, running faster than she had ever run before. She weaved and dodged past the people who were beginning to pour out onto the streets, now that it was home time.
Machi was worried as she rushed past the people. She kept looking upwards ahead of her, making sure she could still glimpse the back of Momiji's fair head, even though he was far away.
Machi made it off the crowded street and off the block. She was now in an almost secluded area. She was catching up to him now, but Momiji suddenly turned and saw her. He was surprised that she had followed him, and in his shock, without thinking, sped on ahead without a second glance.
Machi was hurt at the way he ran off like that and in her sadness, she tripped clumsily. She fell towards the ground and managed to get off with just a scrape on the knee, but she cried out, "Momiji!!"
But by now, Momiji was gone from her view and Machi was alone again. She got to her feet and was silent for a moment. Now… she really didn't know what to do. She fiddled nervously with her bag strap and her eyes wandered down to the little Mogentai accessory that dangled from the zipper.
At the thought of Mogentai, she remembered her encounter with the fake Mogentai. Even in her great distress, she couldn't help chuckling a bit at her own stupidity. But then she remembered what Momiji had said to her afterwards.
"It's all right, Machi. You're so childish! I just reckon you're cute when you're acting silly."
"But you know, I wasn't feeling too happy this morning, but now you've made me laugh and I feel so much better! Thankyou, Machi!"
She remembered Momiji's happy voice and his smiling face and felt immediately downhearted. But the sad truth was, she just… couldn't really think of him more than as a friend right now. Yet she couldn't bear to hurt him again. Right now, although her own feelings were in turmoil, she just really needed to talk to him. She didn't know what she could say, but she knew she had to talk to him and reassure him.
Momiji was gone though. Machi could only sit alone at the side of the path, hoping that perhaps he might come back. She sat there for so long that she lost track of time and accidentally fell asleep and it wasn't until the sky grew dark and the street lights turned on, when she woke up and realized just how late it was.
She feared for a moment that the last bus might've gone and she would have to find her way home in the dark.
Machi was in so much despair she just sat and covered her face with her hands. Dammit. She was so dumb! It was all her fault! She'd screwed up majorly and now everything was stuffed up. Darn it! She knew it. She wasn't meant to have friends. Haru and Momiji were the best friends she ever had, and she knew she didn't deserve it. She was meant to be a loner!! It served her right, she decided. She had been an idiot.
In the lonely and empty darkness of evening, she suddenly felt like someone had turned on a light nearby, brighter and warmer than the street lights. She turned her head and her eyes widened as she saw Yuki.
His voice was incredulous and disbelieving as well as very worried. He hurried up to her, "Machi? What are you doing out here so late??"
Machi was so relieved to see him that she almost burst into tears but she kept her composure. But she was so tired all she could mutter was, "Momiji…"
Yuki's eyes lowered with what seemed a little like sad jealousy. He helped Machi to her feet and bravely taking her hand, walked her home in the quickly darkening evening sky.
--
Momiji was so apologetic over what he had done to Machi the day before, and after hearing from Yuki that she had sat out in the street, hoping that he might come back, Momiji almost wanted to kill himself for hurting her so.
Dammit!! If he ever actually knew just how selfish and mean he was then he'd finally understand why no-one ever loved him back! Momiji was about to retire into his room and not come out for a very long time when suddenly Haru knocked on his door.
Without waiting for a reply, Haru noisily barged in and demanded, "What did you do to Machi??"
Before Momiji could reply, Haru had swiftly stepped over to him and grabbed him by the collar, angrily saying, "How could you have done that?? You know what Machi's like and what she's been through! After we even promised Manabe that we would look after her, you would dare to ditch her out in the street like that? You know that she waited out in the dark for you and all you're going to do is lock your bedroom door and hide??"
Momiji stared at Haru. Haru's eyes were burning with resolve and annoyance. "I've learnt that lesson now. Running and hiding isn't going to get you anywhere! Saki and Black Haru taught me that and I can't let you hide anymore!! You can't be afraid about what might happen, you just have to trust in yourself and go for it!! Sometimes you have to take a chance and if you fail, just get up again and keep trying!!"
Haru was so determined that tears were shining in his eyes. "We're the 2nd Mabudachi Trio, Momiji. We're allowed to be stupid and go out on a limb. But what we can't do is forfeit our friendship! Momiji, go and find Machi and talk to her!!"
Momiji met his gaze. The intensity in Haru's eyes slowly seemed to pass into Momiji's. Momiji pushed away Haru's hands from his collar and turned and strided out the door. Haru smiled a tiny smile as he watched Momiji disappearing down the corridor.
--
"Machi!!" Momiji was still afraid of facing her, but he prayed with everything in his heart that she might be able to forgive him and at least listen to what he had to say.
Machi stumbled out of her apartment and gazed with half-closed eyes at Momiji. Sleepiness was clouded over in her brain but when she saw him, she was immediately awake and aware again.
"Momiji…" she murmured fearfully.
Momiji walked softly over to her and met her tired eyes with his apologetic ones. "Machi, I… I'm so sorry…"
Machi couldn't say anything.
Momiji's blue eyes held such sadness that Machi was drowning in it. Momiji hung his head and muttered, "Machi, please understand that I'm sorry for everything I've done and all the crap I've put you through. I shouldn't have blown up like that… it's not your fault that you don't love me that way I love you… even if you don't want to talk to me ever again… even if you can't forgive me, just know that… I really do love you, Machi… and I won't give up on you."
He turned to go, but Machi called out suddenly, "Wait, Momiji!! Just listen to me for a moment."
He turned back towards her and to his surprise was electrified by the firmness in her eyes. Machi said, "Momiji, please don't stop being my friend. I know… that maybe things could become awkward if we stayed best friends but… I don't want to lose you, Momiji. I've decided that for now, I'm too immature and idiotic to handle something like love. I don't want to let it ruin my life so I decided I should wait it out and maybe one day things will fall into place. It might sound really stupid but… I'm not afraid. Momiji… if you don't mind, we could do it together! We can still be best friends… we can tackle these problems together next time they come around… it will be hard, but together, I'm not afraid of these things anymore…"
Momiji stared at her wide-eyed. Machi lowered her gaze shyly to the floor. "Can we please just take this path forward together? Can we… take each step slowly, all of us, along with Haru? Can we move slowly but steadily… so that we can handle everything that's thrown at us?"
Machi was finished now. She was staring at the ground, eyelids drooping sleepily over her eyes again. Momiji felt a burst of tears in his eyes. He ran two long steps to Machi, a smile on his face, grinning as hard as he could.
"Momiji-" Machi started but then was bowled over by Momiji as he hugged her.
Amidst the poof of wispy coloured smoke, Machi could see Haru appearing from behind it. Haru was strolling towards Machi and Momiji with his hands tucked casually in his pocket, but a beaming smile on his face.
Machi smiled as hard as she could back at him. Momiji (rabbit) shed a few tears as Machi hugged him.
"…we'll be okay," Haru said, continuing Machi's speech for her. "We'll be fine so long as we stay together, we can live out our trials and problems. We can walk slowly and find what we're looking for one day."
--
Yuki and Kakeru were strolling happily down the street when they suddenly spotted something terrifyingly shocking. Kakeru's jaw dropped open and he couldn't even yell out a dirty comment. Yuki glanced at it and his face turned a very strange shade of purple.
"It's all right, Momiji. Machi's not looking." Haru said with a devilish smirk.
"I'm not looking, I'm not looking!!" Machi repeated, face red and flustered.
Momiji (human but naked) chuckled slightly embarassed. "Where did my clothes go?"
Yuki turned away from it and said to himself under his breath, "The Mabudachi Trio. Must be in the name…"
--
We can walk slowly and find what we're looking for one day.
The 2nd Mabudachi Trio End!!
Thankyou for reading this insanely hard to write fic!! Please review!! Thanks for everything, to those few who did actually read this!! See you!!