So... I'm not a 100% happy with some parts of the chapter, but yeah... i will go mad if i change it anymore XD Also... By the way things are going it seems like i'm posting one chapter per month omg XD But like i said before I WON'T STOP UNTIL I FINISH IT :D (So don't worry :P)
Disclaimer: I don't own Uta no Prince-sama or any of its characters.
Before any sort of movement on her part, Tomochika thought about it for a moment: 'WHAT THE HELL? GET OFF ME, YOU DOUCHEBAG! Nonono, take a deep breath… HOW CAN I WHEN HIS MOUTH IS OVER MINE? YOU BETTER NOT TRY TO GET SOME TONGUE ACTION 'CUZ I'LL CUT IT WITH A SWORD! Nononono, think clearly: W.W.H.D. (Otherwise known as: What would Haruka do?) Okay, think: If you push him away, you may as well kill him, how much pain on the chest can this guy get? But on the other side: GET THE HELL OFF ME! Okay, no time to be rational, it's been at least 10 seconds now, you have better enjoyed them, 'cuz those were the last ten seconds of your life' When she made up her mind, she put her hands on his face and pushed him away from her.
Even though they weren't kissing anymore, the fact that he was still holding on to her kept them quite close. The little distance became quite awkward to handle and giving that he wasn't opening his eyes, she just felt the need to speak: "Why did you do that?" She intended it to sound angry, just like she felt. But instead it sounded sad, pitiful even, as if she thought he was a pathetic little boy for hoping like that. Of course, she didn't, but she was really taken aback by her own tone.
What happened next was more of a shock than any way of talking she could've had: Ren opened his eyes, and in them she saw tears. He was truly crying. Silently, granted, but crying still. She felt a sort of maternal instinct to comfort him, but decided against it: afterall, he was in the wrong there.
He composed himself quite quickly actually. It took no longer than a couple of minutes and some tissues that –for some reason- he carried with himself and boom! He was back to his cool self again.
"Sorry for that. I lost myself a bit there. I trust you won't mention that again"
"I… Yeah, sure… But first tell me: what was that about?"
"You don't wanna know"
"Oh, believe me, I do"
He sighed and replied: "Okay… Ummm… Let's see… The thing is: I don't take rejection quite well…"
"Is that so?"
"…" he stayed silent as he averted his gaze from her.
Feeling his discomfort, she said: "Come on, what is that supposed to mean? Do you mean you can't take me rejecting you? Or is this about Haruka again?"
"Does it matter?" he asked lifting his head. Upon seeing the look in her eyes though, he continued: "Oh, I see: You're jealous. That's it, isn't it? You can't take me being into the Little Lamb instead of you?"
She scoffed and looking at him disappointedly, she replied: "You know what? I'm really trying to help you here; I don't have time for your petty little games. If this is all you wanted from me then please tell your slow driver to get me the heck to my house"
"Wow wow, calm down honey-" he started saying but she cut him off.
"Don't you dare 'honey' me! I'm not helping you in your ridiculous plan and I am not going to give in to your horrible flirting"
When she finished talking she noticed that he truly looked hurt by what she had said, but she talked herself off of apologizing: he needed a reality check, right? But with all the awkwardness that the discussion had settled in, they stayed silent for the rest of the ride. So as the car parked close to her home, she just nodded in his direction and moved towards the door.
What she didn't expect though, was him grabbing her arm to stop her from getting off. They just stayed like that for a while, nobody talking, to the point the she was about to forcibly pull away and just leave.
But just as the thought crossed her mind, he said: "Wait, I need to tell you something…"
~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~
After all the drama of the day, Haruka just wanted to sleep, her nap had only made her more tired, and everything that happened after she woke up just exhausted her even further. So after the most awkward dinner ever, she walked quietly out of the kitchen (not before being reassured by Natsuki and Syo that they would clean the dishes) and straight back to her room.
She wasn't even going to change her clothes, she just wanted to collapse on her bed. But it seemed a certain someone had other plans. When she jumped in her bed, she instantly fell to the floor while hearing a loud: "AAAH!" coming from under her sheets.
'What the-?' she thought as she looked up from the floor. Suddenly, a handsome redhead removed the sheets from over him revealing himself to her.
"Otoya! What are you doing here?! Aren't you supposed to be at the living room?"
"… Well… Clearly… I'm not"
"Yes, thank you, I can see that"
"Cool…"
"… Are you going to tell me why you're on my bed?"
"Oh, that… Yeah… I was waiting for you, but I was too tired so I just… I fell asleep… And then you scared me so I kicked you off… Sorry"
She sighed and replied: "It's okay, I'm not mad… But don't do that again… And anyways… How did you get here? I blocked the door"
"… I know it's creepy, but… the window was open"
"Oh my God! You did not get inside my room through the window!"
"Sorry…" he said as he looked sheepishly at her while biting his bottom lip. As time passed, a thought came to him and he didn't even hesitate to share it with her: "Hey, you know… I've noticed that ever since we started dating you act more… motherly like?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"You know, you take care of me, get really angry when I do something stupid, call me by my full name… When I'm pretty sure before you would've just smiled and giggle at my idiocy…"
She put a hand on his leg in a somewhat comforting manner and replied: "I've always been like this… The thing is that now I trust you more… And in doing that, I'm showing you my true self, 'cuz I feel that comfortable around you"
He felt so moved by the statement that he couldn't help but lean in and taking her face between his hands, place a soft kiss on her lips. As he pulled away, he looked her in the eyes and said: "I love you so much" to which she replied: "I love you too"
They stayed looking at each other for the longest time, in comfortable silence, not needing any sort of touch; just knowing that the other one was there was enough for them. And in that moment, they thought: 'This is enough… Even if we have to fight to be together, to make everyone understand how happy this makes us… Being like this is enough… Loving each other like this… I can do this forever'
~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~
Saturday
The next morning when Haruka woke up, she smiled as she noticed the lovely company lying next to her on bed. She felt like no matter how much time passed, she could never get used to how angelic he looked when he slept, how the morning light made his features look even softer and how cute it was that he unconsciously leaned in closer to her as he smiled in his sleep. Even if they didn't sleep together, the literal sense of the expression was just enough for her… She really hoped it was enough for him too, but he didn't seem to mind that much, teenage hormones aside. So she stayed next to him, content to be with someone that understood her, someone that shared interests with her and more importantly: values. Even if they weren't dating, having met him was a really special thing for her. And because she didn't want to lose herself in the drama, she treasured every smile he showed as he drifted off deeper into dream land and wished she would never forget those little moments.
"Mmm… love… Haru…" he mumbled in his sleep. She smiled in response and turned to kiss him in the forehead making him smile groggily. As she pulled away though, a single tear fell from her cheek, and she could feel the tight knot coming back to her throat. 'Why am I crying?' she asked herself as she dried her eyes with the back of her hand. Moving away, as to not alert him of her state, she sat on the edge of the bed turning to look outside the window.
Only one answer came to her mind: 'I don't want this to end' and a whole lot of variations of the phrase. Haruka was quite used to people leaving her behind, moving on, while she stayed behind and wished she could do more… It was irrational to think he would do the same… Or to think that someone would force them to, but afterall: Why were they allowed to be together in the first place? Did Saotome finally take pity upon the poor composer? Or did he felt guilty for leaving his son all those years to fend for himself? Was that it? What if he grew tired of trying and just told them to break it off after all the trouble they were making Starish go through… 'No, stop it! You have enough drama as it is, "the what if's" are not important right now… or at any time for that matter' she thought. But even though she was convinced that that was true, she couldn't shake the ugly feeling at the pit of her stomach telling her that something was not right. Before she could ponder about it any longer though, she heard a slight vibration coming from her nightstand: someone was calling her.
Picking up her phone, she noticed two things: 1) Tomo-chan was calling her, and 2) It was barely 6:30 am. But if her friend took the effort of calling at such an early hour, it must've been important… Or so she thought as she pressed the 'answer' button.
"He-Hello?" she said groggily.
"HARUKA?! ARE YOU AWAKE?! I NEED TO SEE YOU" the other one screamed over the speaker.
"Ugh… Tomo-chan, it's six am, you should be sleeping…"
"NO TIME FOR SLEEP! THIS IS A LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION! I'LL BE AT THE DORMS IN ABOUT HALF AN HOUR AND YOU BETTER BE THERE TO RECEIVE ME! 'KAY?!"
"Ugh… yeah yeah, sure…"
Seconds later the only thing she could hear was the beeping tone that indicated the end of a call. 'How strange…' the pink-haired girl thought. But knowing her friend's antics, she better do as she was asked, so she slowly slipped out of bed and walked silently to her closet to pick up some clothes.
When she finally found something that wasn't too fresh nor too cold for the strange weather of the day, she put on one nice long-sleeved dress on (checking up to see if a certain someone was peeking), some comfortable socks and after softly kissing the sleeping beauty on his cheek, she walked out of her room.
~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~
By the time she got to the front door, she had crossed paths with a very quiet Natsuki and a –yet again- mean Tokiya. Haruka didn't really know what to make of that, but she guessed they had a right to be angry… Afterall, they were grounded and besides: it was barely seven am.
What surprised her, though, was that she didn't encounter Syo on her way downstairs. He would usually wake up before Natsuki to avoid a certain something from happening, but apparently not that day.
Nevertheless, she shook the bad thoughts that were pilling on her head and turned the key inside the lock just in time for Tomo-chan to ring the bell like a maniac. She quickly opened it and as she did, her friend jumped towards her, yelling nonsense.
"To-Tomo-chan! What is it?"
Hearing the question, the redhead let go of her and grabbing her by the shoulders while looking straight into her eyes, she said: "We need to talk, now"
"… We are talking"
"I mean privately… Nobody can listen to this… Let's go to your room"
"Oh, yeah… Okay"
They started heading towards the direction of the girls dorms when Haruka came back to her senses and said: "Oh no, we can't talk there!"
"What? Wh-" she cut herself off as she saw her friend's expression so she just finished mouthing a: "Oh"
"Yeah…"
Awkward silence settled in at that, but Tomochika decided she wasn't wasting any time, so she grabbed the pink-haired girl and walked her to the closest music room they could find. As they both got in, the redhead closed the door, locking it in the process to avoid any unwanted interruptions.
Tomo-chan gestured for her friend to take a seat, and shortly afterwards she cleared her throat. All this mystery was making Haruka's curiosity grow more and more.
"So… I had a date last night"
"Oh my God! Really? Do I know the person you had it with?"
She looked down and in a low voice replied: "Yeah…"
"… Was it that bad?"
"Worse"
"Oh… Tomo-chan, I'm so sorry"
"Nah, it's okay… I wasn't expecting anything… Actually, I didn't even expect to have a date up until half an hour before we actually went out"
"Eh?"
"He called me on the phone… and for some stupid reason I said yes… Oh crap, I agreed to go out on a date with little to no timeframe between the invitation and the actual date! I must've sounded so desperate!" she said grabbing her hair.
"… Who is this person you went out with?"
"That's the worst part… I went out with Ren"
"What?! Jinguji Ren? The member of Starish?"
"Yes, that one… How many Rens do we know?"
"… I just… Wow… I don't…"
"Okay no, listen up… The horrible date is one thing, but what he actually told me at the end of said nightmare is why I couldn't sleep all night and I had to ran all the way over here (not literally of course, I took a cab… But you get the hint!)"
"So… What did he tell you?"
"Well…"
Flashback ~
"Wait, I need to tell you something…" Ren pleaded as he grabbed Tomochika's arm.
"Let go of me! I don't want to hear anything you have to say! You, my friend, know no boundaries and honestly, I'm disgusted by how much of a liar you are when you say you're a gentleman, so let go of me or I'll call the police!"
"Please, just give me a second… I know I don't deserve it, and I'm really sorry for kissing you, I shouldn't have done that. But, just… let me explain"
"I don't-" she abruptly shut her mouth as she noticed the tears forming in his eyes, so with a loud grunt, she stopped struggling against his grip and said: "Fine. But be quick"
"Yes yes, of course"
He took a deep breath and when he felt like he cooled down enough, he started: "I wouldn't really know where to start, but-" at that, she cut him off.
"Start from the beginning" she said in an angry tone.
He nodded silently in response and started again: "Truth is, as you may be aware already, Masato and I have been friends since we were little. So even though we distanced ourselves as we grew up and became competitors in the business, I still care deeply for him" he stopped there to collect his thoughts so she decided to chime in.
"I don't understand… What does your relationship with Masato have to do with you kissing me? Are you telling me that you're gay or something?"
"WHAT? No, hey… If I were to go gay for someone it certainly wouldn't be for him"
"Yeah… sure"
"I AM VERY SERIOUS!"
"Of course"
He sighed inwardly while clenching his fists to avoid delving into that topic any further, he needed to finish his story afterall, and any more time wasted talking about it would only indicate that he cared.
He took a deep breath and going back on topic, he said: "Anyways, the thing is I started following him around, copying him. And it wasn't really hard 'cuz our tastes aren't really that different (as hard to believe as it may be)… Not on everything of course. So… I found out that if he feels like he's being challenged; he works even harder and… I tried to push him to give his best"
"I don't… what do you mean?"
"I mean that every time he liked something, I would get it first, most of the time not because I liked it too, but because I wanted to see him grow stronger from it, to take the business seriously, to actually be a proper competitor of mine… Even if he hated me as a result"
"… That sounds really stupid, but I don't… Are you telling me you're not actually in love with Haruka?"
"… I really don't know… I admit that I first I just hanged out with her to make him jealous 'cuz I noticed the way he looked at her… But after I actually got to know her… I can't tell, really… I think that in my own way… I do love her"
"Okay… So then… Why was all of this 'date' necessary? Did you really expect me to go along with it?"
"I… I really don't know what I was thinking… I just called you acting upon impulse after talking to Ikki and… I wasn't planning on you saying 'yes' so the rest of the events were… yeah…"
"So… What were you planning on?"
"I… Like I said… I care about the introspective-blue-haired-dummy and after all of these confrontations with Ikki and the Little Lamb… I just feel like maybe he would've been with her had I not intervened the way I did…"
"So, you feel guilty about it?"
"Yes, of course… That's why… I wanted you to help him move on, just him… He's never been heartbroken before and he doesn't trust many people with his feelings, especially after all the fighting going on lately… He surely can't talk to any member of Starish right now…"
"You're saying that you wanted me to date him? Just him?"
"No no, not date him… Heck, you don't even have to make him fall for you… But I can't see him like this and… I think you're a great friend"
"Are we friends?"
"I highly doubt it after everything I did tonight"
"Yeah, darn right"
"… But I've seen the way you interact with Na-chan, Ikki and The Little Lamb… And all of your bashing me tonight only proves my point further"
"… You know he wouldn't be happy if he found out that I became his friend because you asked"
"That's why I need you to keep it a secret… So… Will you do it?"
"Honestly? After everything you did tonight I should just kick you in the nuts and walk away, but you know what? Hijirikawa is a nice guy, and you're right, it sucks to see him sad"
"Is that a yes?"
"Yeah, but I'm only doing this for him, okay?"
"Yes yes, of course"
Right afterwards, they shook closing the deal and just as she was about to ask how long it would take to get to her house, the door of the car opened and at the distance she could spot her front door. She quickly got out of the vehicle mouthing a quick "goodbye" and practically ran inside the apartment. 'Ugh, it's finally over' she thought relieved.
End of flashback ~