Chapter Ten: The New Normal

I couldn't find Yukine in the Reference Room the next day, so I wandered about the hallway looking for her. It wasn't like her to be away from the RR for long, if at all, so I was worried about her.

Eventually I found her down one of the school's many hallways, surrounded by three other second-years. Even from far away I could tell they weren't being nice to her, as the distress on her downturned face was unmistakable.

As I got closer I started to hear what the other girls were saying:

"Are you going there again?"

"What, you too good to eat with the others?"

"Why're you always letting those losers into our school?"

My anger blurred any further words. I wasn't about to let anyone treat my Yukine like that!

I gave my girl a smile as I approached the quartet. "Hey, Yukine."

The other three girls' heads spun in my direction, and I could have sworn that one of them had stars in her eyes.

Yukine looked up at me, and relief flooded her expression. "Tomoya-san!"

"You okay there?" I asked soothingly. "You looked pretty upset."

"I'm…fine."

I turned to the other girls. "You weren't being mean to my girl, were you?"

Three faces simultaneously paled. "N-no, senpai!" answered the apparent leader of the group.

"O-Of course not, senpai!" another chimed in.

The starry-eyed one opened her mouth but only managed a squeak.

"Well, that's good. I'm glad to know that the three of you are treating her nicely…right?"

"Absolutely, senpai!" two of them replied in unison, while the third squeaked again.

I gave them a broad smile before reaching for Yukine's hand. "C'mon beautiful; let's go have lunch."

The girls gasped and Yukine's eyes widened as she took my hand. "O-Okay."

A few minutes and one mug of coffee later, Yukine had calmed enough to talk. "They were making fun of me for being in here so much," she explained.

"I don't care about their reasons," I objected. "They shouldn't treat you like that."

She set her mug down and stared at it. "Tomoya-san…? Do you really think I'm beautiful?"

Her question caught me off-guard. "Huh?"

She folded her hands in front of her chest. "Just before you brought me here, you called me 'beautiful'; did you really mean that?"

I took several seconds to think about my answer; I knew what I was thinking, but I needed time to put it into words.

"T-Tomoya…?" I could feel her gaze upon me, likely with a worried look.

I sighed heavily. "I'll admit that I used that word without thinking…but I wouldn't have used it if I didn't believe it in the first place." I could feel my face grow hot as I met her gaze.

She rose from her seat to stand near me. "Then…would you be willing to tell me that I'm beautiful again?" She quickly covered her face. "I'm sorry!"

I watched her as she covered her face and trembled. God, she was adorable; how could I not call her 'beautiful'?

So I got to my feet and took her by the shoulders. "Yukine? Look at me."

Her hands slid down and off of her face, forcing herself to look me in the eye.

It was embarrassing, but I steeled my nerves, and: "You. Are. Beautiful."

She gasped as she backed out of my grip, her hands moving back to covering her mouth as tears trickled from her eyes.

What happened next left me at a loss for words: Her hands fell away from her mouth to her sides, her eyes closed and her lips parted just slightly, and I suddenly saw not a second-year student in a school uniform in a dusty room full of books…but a princess in a castle wearing a long, flowing white gown, with birds and butterflies flying around her…

It left me in awe, like when the first man saw the first woman. If she was anything like Yukine, he probably said 'Wow…'

Which is exactly what I said: "Wow…"

Apparently in response, her eyes opened, and her tears glistened like diamonds in her clear blue eyes. "Thank you, Tomoya; you don't know how much it means to me to hear you say that."

My mind was feeling fuzzy, but I still managed a response: "A-Actually, I think I might."

She raised her shoulders slightly with a giggle, which seemed to break the spell. "You feel better, then?" I asked quietly.

She said nothing as she approached me again. When she got close enough, she took my face in her hands and gently pressed her lips to mine, and my senses were briefly overwhelmed by her pure femininity. The swelling in my chest caused me to respond in kind, and I could hear a whimper come from deep within her soul.

I felt her knees buckle, so I carefully lowered her to my lap as I sat cross-legged on the floor. She gripped the front of my shirt and, just before closing her eyes, looked deep into mine and said: "What a man…"

"Thanks, Yukine," I said softly.

A few minutes later the grip in my shirt relaxed, and I figured she had fallen asleep. I took the opportunity to study her face; her soft brown hair brushed her forehead, her eyelashes were a lot longer than they looked when her eyes were open, her delicate nose came to an adorable point, and her small mouth had surprisingly full lips. She was a very beautiful girl.

I don't know how long we were like that, with Yukine sleeping and me gazing at her perfect face, but the bell still rang too soon; her eyes opened, and I almost drowned in their blue depths. "Good morning, beautiful," I greeted softly.

She gazed into my eyes for a long time before reaching up to put her hand behind my head to bring our lips together. "Good morning," she replied after we finally broke the kiss.

"We'd better get going," I prompted gently. "The first bell just rang."

She nodded as she started to stretch, still seated in my lap, and I quickly adjusted my posture to keep her from rubbing up against anything that I would have had a hard time explaining.

She finished stretching, and I held my hands up so she could use them to help herself up off my lap. I then got up and shook off a tingling feeling in my leg. "My leg fell asleep," I explained, causing her to giggle.

We gathered our things and made our way down the hallways to Yukine's classroom. "See you after school, beautiful," I said.

"See you after school…stud."

"S-Stud?" Heat exploded in my face as she giggled and spun to enter her classroom.

As I stood there, stupefied, I saw Yukine's classmates giving me looks ranging from suspicion to amusement. I shook my head and clapped my hands on my cheeks. "Right!" I declared, and headed to my own classroom.