Determined to make this a great fanfic!
Enjoy!
000
"You know what? That's it! I'm done!" Kazuha growled out loud to herself, "If he wants to avoid me then fine! Two can play this game" she stomped off. Not once looking back to see him head off again with his friends. "I mean, why bother? It's been THREE WEEKS since he last walked back home with me, or so even actually talk to me, so why should I even care!" she yelled out to no one in particular.
She began slowing down, who am I kidding...I'll always care about him warm tears threatened to fall. She bit her lip, willing them to not. "Jeez, what am I? His little follower?" she took a moment to think about it...weeelll..."No!" she yelled out, scowling at herself, "That part of me was gone years ago, the new me came back with a fresh start" she said proudly, feeling the excitement rush through her body, which made her run the rest of the way home.
She rushed to her room and went straight to her closet. As she opened it, she pushed aside the clothes she bought when she first came to Japan. She had decided that her clothes from France would attract too much attention, so she never wore them. But now it's different! She pulled out a box that was titled Old Clothes and opened it. "Oh how I've missed you!" she said, hugging the old, familiar fabric and began picking out an outfit.
Once satisfied, she quickly ran to get her phone, waiting.
Tomorrow was Saturday, and before she would just hang out with Heiji, but ever since his little "phase" she had just stayed home, reading magazines and maybe take a walk, but that was then. There was a new movie that just came out and she REALLY wanted to see it.
"Hello?"
She lit up at Ran's voice, "Hey Ran, it's me Kazuha"
"Oh hey, how are you doing?"
"I'm good, but I was wondering if you wanted to go watch a movie with me tomorrow?" please say yes!
She bit her lip, anxiously waiting.
"Sure! I'd love to!" she replied happily
"That's great! We can meet up at the theatre around 2, sound good?"
"Sure! It'll be a girl's night out, see you then, bye"
"Bye!"
Once she hung up, she did a little jump in the air, "Yes!" after realizing what she had just done, she burst out laughing and went to lay down on her bed. Once her laughter ceased, she thought about Ran's words; It'll be a girl's night out...
That's right, a girl's night out...it'd been a long time since she last had one and now seemed like the perfect time.
"I'm beginning to like the new me" she softly said before drifting off to sleep.
000
(Next day)
"Okay Dad, I'm leaving!"
Mr. Toyama looked up from his newspaper, one eyebrow raised when he noticed her outfit. "Now there's something I haven't seen in a while" he let out a small chuckle, "Are you hanging out with Heiji?"
Her smile vanished, Jeez, even he thinks I'm always with him, "Nooooo" she replied flatly, but then with a lighter tone, "I'm going to watch a movie with Ran"
He put down his paper and smiled, "Oh that's nice, but may I ask what's with the clothes?"
She smirked, "They're my old clothes, and well, I felt like wearing them again, what do you think?" she did a small twirl. She wore black leggings and a mini skirt to match and small boots, a petite plain white sweater with black stripes. Her hair was also down, just as she used to wear it back in France. She was never one for make-up, but eye-liner was always an exception.
Her dad smiled, "you know, I think this suits you more" he went back to his paper, "have fun"
She hugged him goodbye and went out the door. Once walking to a busier street, she could feel everyone's eyes on her. She shuddered, but brushed it off and walked on. Reaching the theatre, she saw Ran standing patiently in the middle.
"Ran!" she called out, waving
She laughed at her expression, "K-Kazuha, you look...amazing!" Kazuha let out a sigh that she didn't even know she was holding. A part of her still felt unsure of how everyone else would take it, but hearing this from Ran made her feel better, more confident.
"Thanks, come on, it's about to start!"
The two went in and grabbed popcorn before sitting down. The movie was a typical romance. Boy and Girl accidentally run into each other, Boy can't stop thinking about her and neither can Girl. But there's always someone who doesn't want them to end up together and makes them hate each other, but then both realize their mistakes and Boy runs after her before she leaves and proposes to her. Girl says yes and they live happily ever after.
Cheesy, yes, but Kazuha was always a hopeless romantic and these things always made her feel happy and made her wonder what her true love story will be like.
The two exited the theatre and Ran suggested that they go out for a bite, to which Kazuha happily agree.
Once seated, Kazuha immediately began talking, "I loved the ending didn't you?"
Ran grinned, "Absolutely! And the guy was pretty cute right?"
Kazuha agreed and they ended up laughing.
When their meal arrived, Ran asked, "So you look different, did anything happen?"
Kazuha took a sip of her soup, she was ready for this question, "Ran, have you noticed the way Heiji's been acting around me lately?"
Ran shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "Oh come on Ran, he doesn't walk with me back home after practice, he sits as far away from me at lunch and barely even talks to me anymore" She let out an annoyed sigh, "Look, I know he's avoiding me, what I don't get is why, but hey, if he doesn't want to talk to me then fine"
Ran gave her a look of sympathy, "I asked Shinichi about it, but he wont tell me anything, says he's not even sure himself"
Kazuha smiled at her, it was nice knowing she was looking out for her, "it's alright" she took another sip of her soup, "I decided that I'm no longer his little follower, and that I wanted to start all over again, from the time I got off the plane"
"and well," she inhaled deeply, "I feel good"
"Well I'm happy for you, besides, you look great" Ran said with a sincere smile
Their waiter came back to their table with a soft drink, he placed it next to Kazuha's plate, "Umm excuse me, I didn't order this" The waiter smiled at her, "This is for you from the young man over there" She followed his gaze and there sat a tall young man holding up his glass at her, grinning.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks so too" Ran giggled
Kazuha gave him a small smile before quickly turning back to Ran, cheeks flushed. They stared at each other until they both burst out laughing.
They waved each other goodbye a few hours later. "Man, haven't laughed that much in a while" she thought out loud. Tonight was pretty good, the cool breeze brushed past her hair, see? I don't need Heiji to have fun
She walked into her house, feeling better than she had the past few weeks
Yup, she didn't need him...
000
(Monday)
Though after wearing her European clothes for two days, she had to go back to her regular school uniform. She gave herself one last look, "Well..." she said to her reflection in the mirror, "I guess it can't be helped" But she did leave her hair untied.
Running her fingers through her hair, she wondered how she could have ever thought to just leave it up for so long.
Satisfied with how she looked, she went down stairs and grabbed a piece of toast before heading out the door. She looked at the watch, "Still have 20 minutes to spare" Deciding not to get there early, she slowed her pace.
There were a variety of buildings around her. She thought about the last time she was here in Osaka. "It's still the same, yet very different..." she murmured to herself. And for the remaining 20 min, she walked around, sometimes seeing familiar faces and eventually greeting them.
It wasn't until she heard the school bells going off that she decided to enter the school building and into her class. Taking her normal seat, she noticed Heiji had still not made it to class...Ugh, don't think about him Kazuha!
She rolled her hands into fists, who needs him right? Certainly not m- "Morning Kazuha!" said a girl, bringing Kazuha out of her thoughts. She turned to whomever it was, noticing she had mid length hair and hazel eyes. Kazuha looked at her quizzically, did she know her?
"We haven't officially me, but I'm Izumi" the girl answered, as if knowing what she was thinking
"Nice to meet you, I'm Kazuha" she mentally slapped herself, Duh! She already knows! "B-But you already know...umm can I ask how?" The girl, err Izumi smiled at her, "When you first came here, you introduced yourself, I just have a good memory, and besides, I sit right next to you" she replied, her voice sounding a little hurt
She took her seat beside her,"Oh I'm sorry, I know I've been here for about a month and a half, but I still don't know everyone" she could feel the heat rush to her cheeks.
Izumi, however, quickly recovered and lit up, "It's alright! So anyways, I saw you, or well I think it was you, on Saturday with Ran. Your outfit was super cute! Though I've never seen anything like it, and your hair is soo pretty! And long!"
Wow she talks a lot, Kazuha did her best to smile, "Thanks"
"So you said you came from France, do people there dress like that?"
Well this is nice, Kazuha thought, and the two quickly became friends, talking the whole time right up before their teacher entered the room
"Well students-" he began, but before he could finish his sentence, someone quickly rushed past him.
Kazuha's body stiffened, it was Heiji, and he took his regular seat, diagonally behind her.
"So nice of you to join us Hattori" the teacher spat out, sarcastically.
She could picture him smiling at him, but shook the image away. She was NOT going to think about him, or look at him or even talk to him! So the rest of the hour went by pretty slow, but when the bell rang, she walked with Izumi, talking the whole way with not so much of a glance towards him.
When it came down to lunch, she sat with Izumi and her friends before apologizing to Ran for not sitting with her.
"Kazuha it's fine, I have Shinichi for that, but just make sure we still hang out" she joked, making Kazuha laugh. "Thanks Ran" Ran shrugged, "Don't worry about it" She waved her goodbye before sitting with Izumi and the other girls.
Time passed and it was soon the end of her Aikido practice. Izumi was waiting for her, they had found out that they lived not too far from each other. And so the two headed home together. Halfway there, they went their separate ways, and for the remaining walk, Kazuha thought about how her day turned out to be. She had made quite a few friends who were nice and funny, and even made plans with them this Friday!
So, her day turned out pretty good, maybe even better than she imagined.
She smiled to herself, deciding to go out shopping after she changed from her school uniform.
Little did she know that someone was watching her.
000
Sooooo? What did you guys think? And I tried updating as quickly as I could, seeing as how school is about to start for me =)
Please please PLEASE Review! It helps a lot to know what's on your mind after you've just read this!
Thanks to:
marimet: it's worthless? thanks for liking the story!
salimaran08: thanks! hopefully I didn't make you wait too long =)
Animevy116: That quote was beautiful! It does sound like them, and thank you for your long review! I love long ones the most, so if you wanna give me a 10 paged review, that'd be great! ;) hahaha but I'm serious, I like that you gave me a long review =) hope you liked this chapter!
sherlock4869: Yeah I'm definitely NOT making Kazuha suffer in this story, she's tough, and I want to emphasize that in this fic. Thank you again!
KFArtyLover: I wanted a little version of how Ran and Shinichi got together so I decided to put it there, and Yeah I can definitely see her doing that, but she's gonna handle this with some dignity, and we'll see how Heiji reacts! ;) Thanks for the review!
Thanks again everyone! Especially to those who've stuck with me the whole time =D Love you guys!