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Enecs & FanFictionReader225- Yay Friendship! And there's much more of it to come!

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~CWA

Chapter 9

The weekend brings relief and relaxation. The events of the week, as tiring and traumatic as it was, is behind me. I am showered and clean. The clothes are clean, well at least all of my binders and uniforms are as well as Dad's sweater. I can't hold it against Souh-sama or the Hitachi-samas because that's part of their personalities. They are very touchy-feely people who had never met anyone who had a diversion to physical touch. They don't mean any harm. Sure, they are a bit forget and inconsiderate, especially with how often I told them to not touch me, but I think after what happened they won't be doing it again. Not to mention that they did apologize and they were so sincere about it as well. It's kind of hard to not accept an apology that's so genuine and heart-breaking.

Sighing, I focus back on my present problem. My laptop screen is just flashing a white page with a lot of different words that form my letter. I rub my temples as I reread it over. It still sounds terrible. But then again, I don't think there's ever a good way to write a letter to a father you haven't seen for a couple of years and haven't even tried to contact in the past year. I glance toward Cuddles and Bubbles.

Bubbles is out of her cage for once. She's crawling her way around my keyboard. I wish that she can just write the letter for me. I'm almost sure that even a spider can write a better letter than I can. I reach toward her, allowing her to crawl onto my hand.

"What do you say, Bubbles? Think you can write the letter for me?"

She doesn't answer. I don't really expect her to. If she did answer, I think I'd be kind of freaked out, if I'm honest. At least she's only a tarantula and not a giant five foot spider like that one from that American cartoon. I think it's called Billy and Mandy, but I'm not sure. My English is limited and not exactly the best, so my knowledge on their cartoons is limited to the very few that I have watched such as that one.

I bite at the inside of my cheek before I use my free hand to save the letter to my father in my documents. I can't send it. Not now. Probably not ever. I exit out of the word document before standing up, carefully cradling my baby to my chest as I walk over to her cage. I set her down gently, cooing at her as she's now safe in her habitat. I glance toward Cuddles. If snake's could glare, I am pretty sure Cuddles would be glaring at me right now. Jealous little serpent. I roll my eyes with a small smile and coo at my snake,

"When I get back, I'll give you some love, I promise."

I need to get some fresh air, so I plan on going to the ice cream parlor. Sweets plus getting out of the house will do me some good. Having showered earlier this morning, I just get dressed in some not-so-clean-but-not-noticeably-dirty clothes. I really need to do laundry, but I can't bring myself to really wash anything unless I consider it dirty-dirty. Being dressed in one the few casual dresses I own since I don't feel like putting on any pants, I rub my fingers through my hair to try to make a tiny bit more decent before I glance toward my hands.

They are doing a tiny bit better, even if it's only been two days. Since school is tomorrow, I will have to remember to be extra careful. The bandages are still carefully wrapped around my wrists and palms, protecting them from infection and from getting worse. I did promise Mori-chan that I would take care of myself and I plan on living up to that promise. Though I think it will be difficult to do so considering how clumsy I am. It might be better to just wrap me up in bubble wrap. Lots and lots of bubble wrap…. Nah. That won't work. Not for the obvious reasons, but for the sole fact that if I'm covered in bubble wrap, it will probably make me more dangerous because I would to just roll everywhere.

Heh. I imagine it easily. Me looking like a giant bubble wrapped boulder with layers and layers of bubble wrap covering me. Rolling down a hill, knocking people down as I go. Fear me.

Laughing to myself, I head out the door, grabbing some yen from the desk to shove into my pocket as I leave.

When I reach the ice cream parlor/diner, I look up at the sign hanging up above the door briefly. Dennis' Diner. I was so close when it came to remembering the name. I have to remember that though. Dennis. Should be easy enough since both words start with the letter D.

Shaking my head, I open the door and head into the parlor. Since it's the middle of the day, as opposed to the middle of the night when I usually come down, there are a few other customers in there. There's some kids hanging out in one of the booths making a mess with the ice cream as their mother looks like she's just about given up on life. There's a few teens hanging out by the jukebox, looking like something straight from some sort of magazine with the way they are standing and acting. There's an elderly couple at one of the tables, giving each other lovey dovey eyes as they share a milkshake. They can't be any younger than seventy if I have to guess. Seeing them brings a small smile on my face for a brief moment. It's sweet that even at that old age, they love and adore each other as if they are still teenagers.

I briefly glance toward Janet behind the counter. I wonder why she's working day shift if her college semester isn't over. Maybe she's just working over time. No matter what the reason, she's there looking tired and absolutely strung out as she cleans and scrubs the counter with a defeated expression on her face. For a brief moment, she looks up and spots me, causing her to give me a small, though slightly confused, smile before she starts to put away the supplies to prepare herself for my order.

I walk toward the counter with stride, a small smile on my face as I greet her.

"Morning, Janet," I bow my head toward her shortly, "I'll just have a small milkshake, please."

Her eyes go wide as if she can't believe that, for the first time in three years, I'm only eating one milkshake. I give her a sheepish grin and scratch at the back of my neck, silently begging her to not comment on the small order. To be honest, I could eat this whole place out if I could, but I need to save some yen so I can't spend too much. Plus after the last ice cream parlor trip, my wallet is practically puffing out dust.

I watch as Janet spins around behind the counter, doing this and that to get the milkshake just right. I'm so caught up in watching her it takes me a minute to realize that someone is standing right behind me. Embarrassed, I step out of their way, though my red face quickly goes back to normal when I see just who it is behind me. Haruhi-chan.

At the sight of me, Haruhi-chan gives me a large smile. Sometimes I wonder how people can mistake her for a guy simply because of that smile. It's so… bubbly. I tilt my head, but give her a smile in return, pleased to see her.

"Morning, Riko-chan," Haruhi-chan dips her head in greeting, "I thought you would still be sleeping. After all I did tell you to get some rest."

I take an unsteady step back from the gleam in her eyes. Woah. Haruhi-chan is throwing some shade. She kind of reminds me of a large, overly protective mother hen. Though Haruhi-chan is more like an oblivious chick. Literally. Even I notice the way Souh-sama looks at her. And the fact that I notice is saying something since I don't really deal with the whole romantic stuff very well and aside from turning down many love-dovey girls, I don't have much experience in it either.

I gulp thickly,

"Um. I did?"

Can I be any less convincing? The way I say it sounds more like a question than a statement. Even if it's true. I did get some rest. Plenty of it. But yet under her intense gaze, I'm questioning myself. She clicks her tongue and eyes me for a brief moment before returning to the bright-eyed Haruhi-chan that I know and adore, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief. Then I notice Janet has my finished milkshake which cheers me up even more. Paying Janet and quickly gulping down my milkshake, I continue to look at Haruhi-chan. Has she always had that half-eaten ice cream cone in her hand or am I just not as observant as I'd like to think?

"Good," she nods, "I'm really sorry about what happened with Tamaki-senpai and the twins. They really shouldn't have done that to you since they know you don't like being touched, but they're like little kids sometimes. They have to learn from mistakes so I doubt that they'll do it again. If they do, just let me know and I'll have a talk with them… But are you okay, Riko-chan? I'm a bit worried about you."

Her voice trails off as she glances down toward my hands. Without the sweater and any sort of gloves, my raw wrists and hands are exposed to the public eye. I shift on my feet slightly, a bit worried about what she may say. A hardened gleam enters her eyes as she tosses her ice cream cone into a nearby trash can before she grabs my hands in her own, inspecting them closely with a critical eye.

"What happened to your hands? They look like they've been rubbed raw and that's not really a good thing. Did you put clean bandages on them? And ointment? I'm good with bandaging things up with how often my Dad gets hurt so if you want, I can help you bandage them up but you'll have to tell me what happened first. No one hurt you, did they? Because we can swing by the police station if you need to file a report, but really Riko-chan, you should be careful. You're going to give me a heart attack."

I can almost laugh with how she babbles and she continues on and on about my safety and how to keep myself safe. Bless Haruhi-chan and her big heart. She's so sweet, honestly. Like some pure, innocent cinnamon roll. I must protect her at all costs. A determined gleam enters my eyes as my expression hardens at my promise. She's two years younger than I am, making her fifteen, but she may be sixteen since I'm not too good with ages. She's like a little sister. I have to protect her from the horrors of the world.

Without even thinking, I'm swept away with the moment and I hug her tightly, nearly causing her to drop her ice cream as I swing her around in my arms with a small squeal of excitement.

"Imouto, you are just the cutest thing."

I hug her tightly to my chest with a big, shit-eating grin on my face that I can almost feel my cheeks splitting. I hear her strangled, slightly muffled gasp as I hug her so tightly. It's a full minute before I actually realize what just happened and what I'm doing.

Not only did I just call Haruhi-chan, imouto, which means I'm calling her little sister. Which means I'm accepting her as part of my family. But I'm also hugging her. I'm touching. I'm physically touching someone. Maybe it's because I recognize her as family in my soul. Maybe it's because she's a female that I trust. Maybe it's just because after everything that's happened, I need a damn hug from a family member.

And for the first time in a long time, I'm okay with it.