Sorry for the late update :) in my culture funerals last three days and so I've been...out of it? :/
No review corner this Chappie but thank you so much to all those who favorited, followed or reviewed :) I really appreciate it.
Another note:...while this story is finished I still have to go through each chapter cuz when I wrote it I didn't bother with capitals, commas, full stops, proper quotation marks, etc. So please just bear with me :)
Thanks again and enjoy! Lots of love!
CHAPTER 11
Sora's point of view:-
I blinked back a few times. Was Akaya really asking me out?! I honestly thought I would start hyperventilating until Akaya spoke up again, "...We could get Yukimura-buchou to come and maybe some of our other friends, kinda like a party."
I smiled, what was I thinking? Of course Akaya wouldn't ask me out! Out of all the girls, me? I'm his friend. "That's alright, Kirihara. A party isn't necessary we could just get a quick bite to eat, if you insist."
"Definitely! I'll pick you up, then we can go to one of my favorite places!"
I laughed at his enthusiasm, "Sure, call me when you're near Ryoma's house."
I told him as we stood in front of the house. Akaya nodded and left with a small wave. I went inside and told Aunt Rinko about my plans.
"A date with sweet Akaya-kun? Aww!" she gushed.
"Its not a date Auntie." I made a face."We're just going out as friends for a bite to eat."
"I'll take care of Talia-chan then.." Aunt Rinko's gaze softened at the name.
"It's a fake baby Auntie" I reminded her, though my eyes softened slightly as well. Aunt Rinko gave me a small smile and I then went upstairs to get ready. I first took a shower then dried my hair, once I did it fell straight against my back. I looked through my closet and for once in my life I wondered what I should wear, its no big deal right? Just a simple restaurant, and its not like I wanna impress anybody... With that being said I took out a one piece outfit consisting of a black, waist skirt that reached mid-thigh and a red wine colored attached tank top. I finished off the outfit with a black cardigan and then put on a pair of small earrings and applied a tiny bit of make-up. I put my phone and money into a small purse and put it on my shoulder then I put on my black high heels. Ryoma entered my room as I brushed through my hair once more.
"Where are you going?"
"Why don't you ever knock? I could've been changing for all you know!" I scolded him.
"Where are you going?" he repeated ignoring me.
"Why do you care?" I snapped.
Ryoma smirked, "You're going out with Kirihara aren't you?"
"Its not a date. We're going as friends." I told him with a frown.
"I never said anything about a date." Ryoma's smirk grew into a full on grin.
My eyes widened and and then narrowed into a glare, "Ugh!" I turned away from him.
"So a date with the demon?" Ryoma teased sitting on my chair.
"Shut up." I grumbled, "Its NOT a date."
"Yet here you are dressing up and being pretty defensive at the mention of 'date'." Ryoma pointed out, "Admit it. You like him."
I glanced at Ryoma with a look of pure horror on my face, "I do not!"
"Denial, denial." Ryoma shook his head. My phone then rang and I picked up after reading the caller ID.
"Hiya." I answered.
"Hiya?" Akaya's voice teased on the other end.
I gritted my teeth, "Hello, then."
"Sup, I'm downstairs if you're ready."
I could practically hear his grin. "If you're downstairs then why are you calling me!" I snapped ending the call; Ryoma grinned and went downstairs quickly.
"Idiots." I shook my head, looking into the mirror once more then scolding myself for doing so. Why do I suddenly care about my looks!?
I went downstairs where Akaya and Aunt Rinko were talking. Aunt Rinko had the baby in her arms, and Ryoma was grinning. Oh how I wanted to wipe that grin off his face.
"Sora, you're not taking the baby with you on your date? What if cries for mommy and daddy?" Ryoma teased. I swear sometimes I felt like exposing to the rest world what kind of person Ryoma Echizen really was...
"Oh hey Sora you ready?" Akaya asked, unfazed.
"Yes. Lets go before I beat my dear cousin to a pulp." I muttered walking towards the door. Akaya opened it for me before I reached for the handle.
"Thanks.." I mumbled going outside where a car was parked out front. It was a smallish Mercedes, black in color.
"Nice." I whistled.
Akaya grinned, opening the passenger door for me. I went in and waited until akaya also got in, "I didn't know you drive, or had a car?"
"I'm 17 Sora, and going on 18 soon. I do have a learners permit, and my parents got me this car on my 16th birthday. I just don't take it out much."
"Lemme guess.. it would probably attract more fan girls." I rolled my eyes, as he said this it made me realize that Akaya was indeed older then me. sure I was going be 17 but that was in like months. Akaya being older suddenly made him more…interesting I suppose?
"Yup." Akaya nodded his head grimly, "Crazy-ass fan girls."
"Girls? How about those crazy-ass fan boys?" I sighed.
"Your fan club still annoying you?" Akaya asked, stopping at a red light.
"Just annoying? They're driving me insane! Of all girls why did it have to be me?! At the beginning I thought maybe cause I was a new face, they would probably leave me alone after a bit, but they just keep on coming!"
"Yeah well try dealing with fangirls every single day of your entire school life.."
"Its insane. Getting asked out every single day, having to run away from them and watching out for any of them."
Akaya nodded in agreement, then he let out a grin, "Though its pretty fun to watch you reject all those guys every day. is it 4 guys now that ask you out a day?"
"5." I groaned, leaning my head back against the seat.
Akaya let out a laugh, "Well we'll finally be finished with school in a month. Right after the tournament"
My eyes widened, "Damn!"
"What?" Akaya asked, darting a glance at me.
"Prom! There's prom this year! And since I am officially in my third year it includes me!"
"Prom? Is that all you girls can think about, how about the graduation ceremony and…"
"This means more fan boys asking me out to prom!" I put a hand to my face. Akaya realized my point and he paled slightly, "Shit...fan girls!"
I suddenly turned to a more serious matter, "Other then that…have you filled out any university applications?" I had a couple sitting at home, waiting to be filled out.
"One for Tokyo U. where my senpai's go to, but I'm still gonna wait for any scouts at the tournament."
"Tokyo U. would be fun. Even Seigaku's old team is there and Fudomine, Hyotei and the rest of the other schools old regulars."
"yeah, it would be great to be able to train with my team again then go pro." Akaya smiled.
"You should consider it then." I told him.
"How about you? Which med schools were you thinking about?"
I sighed, "Well I didn't think I would have to worry about University for another year. But since I do now, I'm not sure where my father will send me, though I have a couple of applications for Harvard, and NYU."
Akaya didn't say anything, though he had a frown on his face, "We're here.." he broke the silence.
I looked out of the window to see a pretty cool looking restaurant. It had a sparkling sea beneath it, and the entire place was lit up and emitting vibes of calmness yet a sparkle of fun.
"Wow!" I said, smiling as akaya parked the car, "Are you sure we couldn't have just gone to Marui-senpai's favorite sweet shop?"
"This place is way better, come on!"
Akaya suddenly perking up, he got out quickly and turned around opening my door for me.
"Thank you, I'm beginning to think Yagyuu-senpai is a really good teacher."
Akaya shot me a wild grin as he closed the door and locked the car, "I'm always the gentleman!"
"Yeah, when your not being a badass jerk." I rolled my eyes. Akaya's eyes suddenly lit up, and I looked at him curiously wondering what I had said to make him look at me like that.
We got to the restaurant entrance where a waiter greeted us, he looked at Akaya in recognition.
"Akaya-kun? This is the first time I see you come in with a girl, nice one!" the guy grinned while I fought an eye-roll.
"Hey Neko-san, this is my friend Sora. Sora this is Kaze's friend." Akaya introduced us.
"Nice to meet you." I nodded to him.
"The pleasure is all mine." he bowed, "The usual place Akaya-kun?"
"Yeah definitely.
The usual place? Does Akaya come here often? And by the sound of it he comes here alone. I looked around the restaurant it was an uplifting atmosphere. It looked like a place you'd find in Hawaii, with the tropical look and the bamboo walls, the sea beneath you, and a lot of people were dancing to the music that was being playing. Neko led us further down the place, away from the all the loud music and people, to the very edge where a couple of tables were. A view of the night sky was above us and sea right beneath us. Akaya pulled out a chair for me, and with a smile I sat down and akaya turned around the table to sit in front of me.
"So you come here a lot?" I asked.
"Not all the time, but it's a pretty cool place. I came here with my family once, though we were back where all the noise was. I like this part of the restaurant better." Akaya said looking up at the sky.
I felt a bit uncomfortable. Maybe I should have taken up Akaya's offer of making this a party, but we were friends right? It was all good. Right?
OoOoOoOoO
Akaya's point of view:
I couldn't believe I was actually on a date with Sora…no not a date. We're just two friends coming out to a restaurant. Sora is just my friend...a friend who happens to look incredibly hot and who makes my heart jump and do back flips every time I come near her. Just a friend right?
Damn it.. who am I kidding? My knees practically give out every time I hear her, or every time she smiles at me. Every time I look at her I get an aching feeling in my chest, this can't be normal can it?
I really want to know what she thinks of me or if there was a possibility that she some how liked me? When she called me a badass jerk, I all but started cheering as that fit the description of her 'type'.
"So what are you two going to order?" Neko asked smiling at Sora.
MINE !
...Okay where the hell did that just come from?!
"I'll have the crab salad?" Neko wrote it down, and I snorted, "A salad? That's it? What a girly choice." Sora glared at me and I grinned back lazily.
"Fine, I'll take todays special." she folded her arms, still glaring at me. Man did that look sexy... Damn it I had to stop thinking about her like that!
I sighed shaking my head at her, "Yo Neko, two specials, one crab salad, 4 taco's and a BBQ."
Neko wrote it all down then he smiled, "Champagne? Or wine?"
Sora just stared at him, "We're only teenagers..."
"Kiddie drinks it is then!" Neko grinned.
"Just get us ponta." I told him, he nodded and left.
"Are you that hungry?" Sora asked me.
"Most of that food is for you. Your Aunt told me that you haven't been eating anything for a while now." I frowned. Even I had noticed that Sora's usually slim and curvy form had thinned drastically.
"I just don't feel like eating. Besides I have way too many subjects to study for and I get more homework then you do." she shrugged.
"You have to eat." I told her simply.
"And if I don't want to?" she challenged me, leaning in closer. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Well I don't know... I might just maybe let slip to your fanclub that your looking for a date for prom, and I could give them the address to your house and your phone number and…"
"Okay, okay I got it. Damn you, bringing out the fan club threats." she muttered.
"I'm glad you see it my way." I nodded triumphantly. Once our food came, she slowly began eating. I pushed some of the plates closer to her, earning a glare.
"So how do you think Talia's doing?" I asked just for the hell of it. Sora didn't seem to understand as she just looked at me, her intelligent grey eyes slightly wide in what seemed to be surprise.
"The baby." I said slowly.
"Oh." she realized then she rolled her eyes, "It's a plastic doll, honestly I wonder what you people would do if it were a real baby."
I got very interesting mental images at that thought, though Sora didn't notice that her sentence could have been thought of another way.
"I was wondering something.." I said suddenly remembering that I had been meaning to ask her for a while now.
"Yeah?"
"Well you talked to me about your father and I have a pretty clear image of him now. But I was wondering about your mother, is she with your father on his business trip? And does she share his opinions?"
Sora looked down at her food, "My mother died a while back."
Oh. I wanted to hit myself for being so stupid.
"I'm sorry for asking." I said quietly. Sora's eyes flitted to mine, showing a stream of emotions I couldn't quite name, though one was of relief. She gave me a small smile.
"Its alright, I haven't talked about her with anyone. Sometimes Aunt Rinko tries to talk to me, since she and mom were close friends and Ryoma's even tried."
"Are you sure you want to tell me this?" I asked her in a sincere tone.
She smiled for real, "Actually I've been meaning to get this off my chest for a while now."
I sat intently in my chair, waiting for her. I wanted to help her out and if it was listening then I would do it without a doubt.
"I was 12 years old and living in America. My father was on a business trip in Japan and I was in school when I was suddenly called out of my class and to the principals office. There they told me that my mother had gotten into a car accident and she didn't survive it... She was on the highway when a drunk driver came behind her and caused her to turn the steering wheel and lose her grip…I didn't want to be at the funeral. Everyone looking at me with pity telling me they were sorry."
I noticed she said the word 'sorry' with a bit of anger, "I loved my mother, she was the only one who understood me and my love for tennis. After mom died dad just kept going on more business trips leaving me on my own and sometimes with Ryoma's family. A lot of people tried to talk to me about my mother but I would never listen. I didn't want to discuss my beloved mother with just anyone. From then on I grew up on my own, trying to make my father proud of me. To acknowledge me." she shook her head and smiled
When I was younger I used to think that I was never a good enough daughter for my father that's why he was so absent in my life. But Mom would always tell me how much he loved me but had to work really hard…I miss my mother, that was her name, Talia."
I felt something in me melt, she said that she didn't just talk to anyone about her mother but she was talking to me. That had to mean something.
"Well Sora...I gotta hand it to you, you're probably the strongest and bravest person I've ever met." I said leaning back in my chair. Sora's eyes widened as she looked up at me.
"And I am truly honored that you would tell me about something so precious to you. Your mother sounds like an amazing and beautiful person, and I just want to tell you that even though I don't act like it...I'm prepared to listen to anything you have to say. I'm always here for you." I told her sincerely.
Sora smiled, which made my heart lift. "I know, Akaya. Thank you."
She called me by my name! Yatta!
"But you know I think I like the jerk you better then the deep, caring you." She teased.
I grinned widely and stood up bowing in front of her with an arm out, "Dance?"
Sora laughed lightly and took my hand. Grinning, I led to the other side of the restaurant where the music played. Sora and I danced for a while and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. Just the feel of her hands in mine sent jolts throughout my body.
"I never knew you could dance, who taught you that one?" she laughed as I spun her around.
I kept a straight face, "Sanada."
Sora stopped and looked at me mouth agape, I laughed at her expression.
"I'm kidding! Hey there's a lot you don't know about me." I shrugged.
Sora laughed again. I really enjoyed hearing the sound of her laughter. It made me feel good about myself to know that I made her happy. Just then some slow music started playing and the couples around us began slow dancing.
"Wanna leave?" I asked her.
"It is getting pretty late." she nodded. I paid for the food and we both said goodbye to Neko. Outside I opened the car door for Sora and once she got in I went to the other side and got in as well, starting the car.
"That was really fun. Thanks akaya." Sora told me as we drove off.
She's still calling me by my name! Yes!
"No problem." I smiled.
We talked and laughed all the way to Ryoma's house. I got out and opened the door for her, she came out of the car, and she looked up at me. We were only inches away, and she gave me a small smile. I leaned in a little closer, intoxicated by her presence. Suddenly the house door opened and the light from inside shone on us.
"Sora." an unfamiliar voice called out.
"Dad!" Sora's eyes widened.