Little Bird
Chapter 25
Kaen sat down across from Hiroshi, her face pointed toward the floor again. The man had never heard her voice as cold as it had been when she had told her friend to leave. Had something happened? Dare he ask?
"The maid will be up in a moment."
Yuka came in and slid the door carefully shut, her worried eyes never leaving the redhead.
"Kaen… What's wrong?"
Hiroshi watched as Yuka seated herself close to Kaen, faintly surprised in spite of the mood of the room that she hadn't lit her pipe.
"It… It's just Bear and Jin. I went to say goodbye to them, I leave the day after tomorrow. Bear, he acted like he didn't even care that I was leaving. He even had the audacity to say 'what do you want now, Kaen?' like I was going to ask him for something! And now I've gone and gotten Jin upset… He just wanted to help, and I-"
Hiroshi looked around for a handkerchief, knowing that Kaen would be needing one any second now. Her little hiccups had graduated to nearly full-blown sobs, and he knew she hated to cry in front of anybody but her father.
"Blew up at him."
"Uh-huh…"
Hiroshi looked over to see Yuka reaching over and wiping her friend's cheeks once with her own sleeve, then carefully pull a yellow handkerchief from her obi and hand it to the redhead. Hiroshi opened his mouth to change the subject, but was silenced by a glare from Yuka. The other girl knew that Kaen needed to get everything out before the subject could be safely changed.
"I didn't mean to. He was always nicer and seemed to get what I was thinking better than Bear ever did… Once, when I had a really bad cold, he brought me a packet of tea that he said would make me feel better every day. I still have no idea what was in it. I always thought they were both my best friends, but what if… What if Jin is the real friend?"
"Bear does sound like he was being very… unfair."
Hiroshi's carefully chosen words seemed to calm Kaen better than Yuka's comforting hand on hers. She raised her head, wiping her red eyes and sniffling, then flashed her friends a watery smile.
"I'll write and apologize to Jin when I'm gone."
Yuka nodded and looked at the tray that the maid had dropped off just inside the door, then motioned for Hiroshi to pour some. When he had served all three of them, she stopped Kaen before she took a sip, flicking her eyes toward their friend. The redhead looked over just in time to see Hiroshi take a big sip, then spit the liquid back into his cup, grimacing.
"Ugh, it's stone cold!"
Kaen laughed in surprise, glad that Yuka had stopped her. She knew what cold tea tasted like, and wasn't keen on drinking it again anytime soon.
After another hour, Kaen excused herself, thanking her friends and promising to write to them as often as she could.
Only one more day of being at home… Then it was goodbye, for now.
A/N
Hey there everybody! Thanks for sticking with this story (which has become WAY longer than I had originally thought it would!) and sending your reviews! I hope you all had a great holiday!