YES!! I made an update in less than 7 months. I feel happy! Btw, I finished this darn chapter last Friday and tried to post it up all weekend!! I kept geting errors. Also, I take back what I said about losing my interest in this story. I actually feel totally refreshed and already have finished chapter 14. I can't wait to do chapter 15, but I have a fairly busy week. I need to seriously get a beta reader. I write all my work at like 2-4 a.m. and I don't reread my stories. Maybe I have insomnia...my friends say that, but I don't think I do, they must be exaggerating. Anyway, Even if I did reread it wouldn't change anything because I would get bored and ignore many errors. I do use spell check, though, and even try to get my friend's to do it, but they aren't interested in fanfics. DARN THEM! Anyway I hope you like this chapter, guess what day finally ends.
Chapter 13: Friday's End
"Tomo, are you still there?" Kaori questioned in a low tone.
She cupped her hand around her mouth to help muffle the sounds of her voice from the few viewers scattered throughout the theater.
"What's up?" Sakaki asked leaning over to Kaori.
"I'm not really sure myself. Tomo called me just now. She was just about to ask me something, but she isn't answering."
"Maybe the connection is bad." Sakaki suggested.
"I'm not sure that's the case. Right before she went silent I heard a loud thump and then I heard Tomo, but she sounded distant. It sounded like she said something about Yomi."
Kaori stayed on the line waiting to see if she could get Tomo back on. She was completely unaware as to whatt was happening on the other end of the phone.
Yomi was still holding Tomo's head in her palms. She loosened her grip and Tomo slide away slowly. Yomi quickly placed her hand over her mouth upon realized who her lips just let go of. Tomo was standing on weak knees with a face of red. She couldn't stand up anymore and lowered to the ground. She was trying to think of a response, but nothing could suit the situation so she just sat there with her mouth slightly open. Yomi, though, knew exactly what to say.
"I'm sorry." She apologized as she began pacing around back and forth twisting and ringing the bottom of her shirt, "I don't know what I was thinking."
"Why did you though?" Tomo finally spoke.
"It was just… I got this feeling… I didn't…I, ya know…I…" Yomi stammered on trying to say something that she thought Tomo would accept as a reasonable excuse, but what kind of excuse do you give for suddenly kissing your best friend?
"Yomi, I'm going to… I think I should go home." Tomo said in a dead tone. She was still a bit stunned and wasn't sure what to say.
Yomi began rubbing her eyes with one hand and sniffled a bit.
"Ok." She said weakly.
"I…will…see you later."
She silently and slowly opened the window then climbed out. Yomi sat on her bed as her eyes began to tear up. The window was still open and a breeze blew in. The touch of the breeze just perpetuated the thought of how Tomo just walked out on her. Yomi then, out of the corner of her eye, noticed Tomo's phone sitting on the floor. She walked over to it with tears streaming down her face. As she looked down she saw the words "Connected" suddenly change into "Call End".
"She was with her." Kaori stated with a hint of wrath in her voice.
"Huh?"
"Tomo cancelled the date with me tonight to go see Yomi."
"You had a date with Tomo tonight?" Sakaki repeated.
"Yeah, I set it up with her last week, but she cancelled earlier, but just now I heard Tomo speaking again. She was talking with Yomi. She ditched me!"
"Well, you how Tomo is." Sakaki excused.
Kaori crossed her arms angrily.
"Still, even for Tomo, that's a really mean thing to do. It really fries me. I don't even know why I agreed to go out with her in the first place, much less set up a second date. Stupid...grr… Tomo."
Sakaki looked at Kaori a bit surprised.
"Wow, Kaorin, I haven't seen you like this before."
Kaori didn't answer.
"Hmm," Sakaki began, "I think you should give her another chance. After all, Tomo has never really known much about the dating thing."
Kaori didn't want to give Tomo another chance, but she knew Sakaki had never steered her wrong before. Also, as she thought more about what Tomo had done, she began feeling guilty herself. She was out seeing someone else and of all people the very girl she liked.
Kaori suddenly took on a new mood as she felt guilty for her wrong doing. She didn't know the exact reason Tomo cancelled and she was not being faithful to her either. For all she knew Tomo was with Yomi helping her with some trouble.
"You're right, Sakaki. The phone call was a little weird. They both sounded upset. I think Tomo might have had a good reason to cancel."
Sakaki smiled at Kaori. She felt like melting her seat as she saw the soft forgiving smile of Sakaki.
"I love it when she smiles like that!" She thought.
Just after Kaori and Sakaki got their attention back into the movie it ended. The lights came on and people began leaving. Kaori didn't want to leave just yet; she wanted more time with Sakaki. Her guilt over feeling unfaithful was surpassed by her feelings for the tall dark haired beauty. Just as Sakaki was getting up Kaori blasted out a question.
"Wanna get some ice cream?"
Sakaki stretched her stiff arms above her head as Kaori admiringly watched her body loosen itself. She then answered the young girl.
"Sure, I don't see why not."
Kaori clenched her teeth hard to keep from shouting out in joy. Today was turning out just like the diary entry she remembered writing a few months back, except she and Sakaki had just finished a horror movie instead of a children's movie. This brought a question to Kaori's mind.
"Sakaki." Kaori said.
"Hmm." Sakaki answered back.
"Why did you choose to watch that kid's movie?"
Sakaki blushed and paused. Kaori was there smiling as she waited for an answer.
"The animals are…" Sakaki mumbled.
Kaori couldn't understand the end of her sentence.
"I didn't catch the end of that. The animals are what?"
Sakaki still blushed and mumbled, "The animals are c…"
"Huh?"
"Cute."
Kaori wasn't exactly sure Sakaki was trying to say, but she thought she heard Sakaki call the animals cute. She ignored it and decided to just drop the question.
Outside on the street, Tomo walked heavily to her house, repeating the event that took place in her head. She was still trying to make herself believe that Yomi actually did what she did. It seemed like such a farfetched idea that Yomi would just go out and kiss her so suddenly without warning. A bunch of thoughts overwhelmed her.
"Why did Yomi do that? Does she have feeling for me? If so, then why hasn't she told me? How long has she had secret feelings for me? What do I do about Kaori now?"
Then Tomo started clenching her teeth as a new thought entered her head.
"Did I hurt Yomi?"
Tomo felt so unsure about everything. She had to try to relax. Tomo stopped right in her footsteps. She took a deep breath. She then felt an itch on her cheek. She scratched it. Her face was wet. She didn't notice, but she had been crying the whole time. Her sleeve was used to wipe away her tears and she forced herself to stop crying. Tomo then licked her lips. She could still taste Yomi. It was a new sensation on her tongue, something very hard to identify. The taste didn't have anything particular that jumped out to help describe it. It just tasted as it did, like her best friend.
"No," Tomo said to herself and she rubbed her hand across her mouth trying to erase the taste, "Yomi's fine. She isn't upset. I bet she was just messing around. It was probably some sort of test."
Tomo clenched her fist and tried to smile.
"I bet she was testing me to see if I was faithful to Kaorin. That's the only reason she would do something like that. Yes, that is exactly it."
Tomo still felt upset, but now much more relieved. The many exhausting questions she had in her mind seemed to be answer by the conclusion she came to. She rubbed her eyes and smiled a plastic smile.
"I should finish that phone call with Kaorin, though; I need to get that date back on track."
Tomo reached her pocket. She felt nothing. She tried her other pocket. Still nothing. Then she remembered.
"I left it. I need to go back."
She turned around half way before stopping herself.
"No, I can wait. I will tell Kaorin when I see her. It's better to do these things in person. Yomi will bring my phone with her to class anyway. Yup, I'm good. Good, good, good. No problems. Everything worked out."
Tomo continued walking to her house keeping her smile plastered to her face. She was afraid that if she let her smile go she might begin to cry again, so she put all her concentration into keeping the smile on.
"I'm sorry!"
Tomo stopped walking after hearing the strange plead for forgiveness
"I'm sorry! Really!"
The sound was growing louder.
"Who is yelling that?"
Tomo tried to ignore the cries and continued walking. The cries stopped for a few seconds and Tomo thought she had heard the last of it, but then she heard another sound.
"No, No, It's fine! I'm fine."
That sound came from behind her and it was loud. Tomo turned around and saw the body of a girl just inches away from her .Her head was turned around looking behind her, she had short hair. That was all Tomo could tell because the next thing she could tell was that she was on the ground staring the frightened girl in the face.
"Ahh!! Sorry. Sorry." The girl pleaded jumping off of Tomo.
"It's ok." Tomo said in pain.
"It's you?!"
"What?" Tomo asked as she slowly lifted herself up.
"Tomo?!" said another voice in slight shock.
"Huh?" Tomo responded to the voice.
"Your Hurt!" the voice suddenly screeched.
Tomo held her the right side of her head. Her vision was blurred, but she could tell two figures stood in front of her.
"Who are you guys?"
"She has amnesia!" The one voiced screeched again.
Slowly Tomo's vision cleared up. The two figures came into focus.
"Chihiro?! Mr. Kimura?!"
"She's cured!" Kimura shouted.
Chihiro stood silent staring angrily at Tomo. Mr. Kimura looked at Tomo, also, but now he was holding his mouth.
"What's the matter?"
Tomo then took her hand of her head and saw a palm stained with blood. Her right shoulder was also soaked. It had dripped down all over her clothes.
"I'm bleeding."
Kimura turned around and took a deep breath.
"I can't stand the site of blood, but it is my responsibility as a teacher to care for my students. Tomo… let me walk you home."
"Huh, no, I'm ok. I can get home just fine. It not as bad as it looks."
Chihiro then smiled deviously, "No, Tomo, you should let him walk you home, what if you're not fine? What if you pass out in the street and get ran over by a car? "
"Chihiro has a point, Tomo. I don't want one of my favorite students getting killed in some accident. I will take you home." He then turned to Chihiro, "I'm sorry I can't finish walking you home Chihiro, but Tomo is injured and…bleh…bloody."
Chihiro responded politely, "Its ok Mr. Kimura, My house is just around the corner away."
Of course, Chihiro lied, but she wanted assure that Kimura would leave her alone. She then ran off leaving Tomo with him.
On the other side of Town a much lighter mood was in the air. There was a huge crowd out. Kids, couples, friends, tourists, all the having a good time. Kaori skipped along side her tall catch, Sakaki. Sakaki just walked smiling, wishing that she could look graceful if she ever decided to skip.
"What should we do Sakaki?" Kaori asked looking around her at all the entertainment stores and game rooms surrounding her.
Sakaki smiled, "I think we should get the ice cream."
The two girls walked around the crowds of people trying to stay together, but the hoards of people passed through them like a flood. Kaori fell behind Sakaki. She could see her sticking up from the shorter people around her, but couldn't push through to her. Sakaki had noticed that Kaori was not by her side and turned around. She saw Kaori not far behind raising her arm and jumping up and down.
"Sakaki, help!" she yelled.
Sakaki felt a sudden urge to be a hero. She wore a determined face as she made her way politely through the crowd. Kaori could see her Sakaki's grace as she glided through the crowd in her direction.
"She's looks so heroic coming to help me. Like my knight." Kaori squealed as a thought of Sakaki dressed as a night popped into her mind.
Sakaki quickly reached the girl in need and reached her hand out. Kaori looked up at her face and saw a firm, but loving look in her eyes. She was hesitant on what to do next. She couldn't believe Sakaki held out her hand towards her, assumingly to be grabbed. She didn't want to take a risk of grabbing it, though. She was, too worried that she might be holding her hand out for some other reason. Of course, not even she could think of another reason for her to stretch her arm out like that. Finally, Kaori heard two gentle words from Sakaki.
"Grab on."
Kaori shakily raised her hand up. She couldn't believe that she would get to touch her hand. She savored the milliseconds it took for her to wrap her fingers around Sakaki's soft hand. Her heart was speedily beating in her chest and she felt faint. She placed her hand over her chest. Sakaki could feel Kaori's hand shaking and see that the girl was looking red.
"Are you ok?"
Kaori immediately shouted stiffly, "Yes."
"Um…ok"
Kaori clenched the shirt on which her hand was still paced.
"Shoot, I didn't mean to shout that. I need to calm down." Kaori thought.
Sakaki continued to hold Kaori's hand to prevent her from drifting off with the passing people. She felt proud to know that she could protect her from being swept away. Looking down at Kaori, who was practically hyperventilating with bliss, she noticed something she never really thought of before. Kaori looked cute to her, the way she was holding her chest and smiling as her heavy breathes escaped her body. Sakaki blushed, Kaori reminded her of a small kitten. She felt that it was her job to keep that kitten safe and guide it.
Just minutes later they arrived at an ice cream shop. Kaori had begun to calm down from the excitement she was experiencing. Her breathing was returning to normal, but her face was still glowing.
"What flavor do you want?" Sakaki asked.
"Ah, er, I…" Kaori's mind was blank.
The man at the counter looked at Kaori panicking with concern and slight amusement. He smiled and leaned over to Sakaki.
"Is you're friend doing alright?" he said with his hand hovering over the side of his mouth.
"I think so…" Sakaki looked at Kaori still muttering over the question.
After a bit few minutes Sakaki and Kaori had ordered their ice cream. Sakaki had gotten a chocolate cone with sprinkles and a strawberry on top. Kaori ended up with some unknown flavor after saying that she would take anything since she couldn't decide. The man called "the flavor of the day", but it looked weeks old. Kaori couldn't tell if the green spots it were part of the ice cream or mold.
"Sakaki, I-I don't know how to repay you for your generosity." Kaori said bowing down.
"You don't have to pay me back. It's my treat."
Kaori was surprised back in the store when Sakaki offered to pay for both the ice creams. She was actually planning on treating Sakaki since she was the one who suggested getting it the in the first place. Sakaki's action had reminded her of the date she had with Tomo. They, too, went out for ice cream and she didn't have to pay.
"Is this like a date?" Kaori wondered to herself, "Sakaki never agreed to a date, but what I'm doing with her tonight is like what I did with Tomo. If what I did with Tomo was a date then this should be. Or does is have to be stated that it is a date before hand to make it official?"
Sakaki looked down at Kaori. She hadn't touched her ice cream and looked worried. Sakaki's protective instinct's told her to ask Kaori is she was feeling well.
"Um…Kaorin. Are you doing ok?"
Kaori broke free of her thought and look at Sakaki with a smile.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, you seemed kinda of stressed earlier and in the ice cream shop. Also, You're ice cream has gone untouched and you seem a little worried about something."
"Oh, yeah, I'm just fine."
Sakaki blushed as Kaori replied to her. She couldn't get the thought out of her head that Kaori was a helpless kitten. There was something about her tonight that made Sakaki feel strong urges to protect her from harm. She again reached her hand down to Kaori, who then less hesitantly took hold. Kaori once again began to breath heavily and turn red, but less dramatically. Sakaki watched as Kaori struggled for breath and wanted to do something, but she quickly regained her composure.
Kaori and Sakaki finished off their ice cream as they walked. Kaori didn't know what she had just eaten, but tried not to think about any possibilities that it could have been. Sakaki seemed satisfied with her treat, but Kaori was much more satisfied than anyone could imagine. She was already thinking about writing her night down in her diary, then locking it away safely from people like Tomo.
"Let's go there." Sakaki suddenly said.
"Where?"
Sakaki pointed out the location. It was a small arcade with a few crane machines and games in it.
"Sure." Kaori agreed, and then went on thinking to herself, "I bet Sakaki wants to play a cool fighting game! She's so cool; she could no doubt beat any boy at the games. She has to have some awesome butt-kicking skills. I can't wait to see. Hmm, I wonder if she plays as a female or male fighter. Probably, a-"
Kaori's thoughts pause immediately as she saw Sakaki walk over to a crane machine filled with stuff animals.
"Watcha doing?" Kaori asked innocently.
"I wanted to try and win one of these animals."
"Huh? Then you're gonna play one of those sweet fighting games and kill everyone, right?!" Kaori hand her fists balled in excitement.
"K-kill?"
Kaori then came to a sudden conclusion, "Oh, wait. I get it, Sakaki, you don't have any opponents."
The two looked around the small arcade. There were very few people inside actually playing the games. Everyone was just hanging around and talking.
"Yeah," Kaori thought, "She just doesn't have any opponents! She probably has already scared everyone away from this arcade. Maybe I'll get to see her fight some other time."
Sakaki quickly spent about 1,000 yen in the machines trying to get a little kitten doll. She had previously won a few kitten dolls from the very same machine, but the kitten dolls inside this time were colored pink with black polka dots. Today was not her lucky day. A tear came to her eye and she pressed her hand against the glass that encaged the poor dolls.
"I'm sorry I couldn't free you." She muttered.
"What did you say?" Kaori asked thinking that Sakaki was speaking to her.
"Oh, nothing."
The two Spent a bit longer together just conversing about various subjects. Then Kaori checked her cell phone clock. It was almost 11:00. An empty feeling engulfed her as she knew it was time for her to leave Sakaki. She could see that Sakaki was already letting out a big yawn. The two walked on their ways home, both with tears bubbling in the corner of their eyes. Sakaki, because she could not rescue the poor kitten dolls from their prison and Kaori, because she had to leave Sakaki. Though, they both quickly got over their loss when they arrived home. Sakaki drowned herself in the sea of stuffed animals she made for herself and Kaori immediately went to log her day in her diary.