"There she goes," said Yukari, "running off again." The teacher simply sighed in disbelief. "She doesn't learn quickly at all, does she, eh Sakaki?"

"No," said Sakaki with a smile as Kagura stuck her head back in the doorway.

"Hey…where can I find Tomo anyways?" she asked the two of them.

"You really shouldn't go running off half cocked like that," Yukari berated her, "here you get so up and excited about something when you don't have any sort of plan."

"Shouldn't you know more about your best friend?" Sakaki asked, "I mean, you're supposed to know more about her than…nothing. "

"Come on!" the woman pleaded, "Sakaki you're smart!"

"Well," Sakaki tapped her pointed chin with a fingertip. Her eyes gave an impression of vacancy, "Tomo did once tell me that she likes to look at the ocean. That could be a start." Suddenly her face lit up with a smile. "She told me that her favorite place to go to is a park by the bay. She said that she could see the smooth surface of the sea…or was it an ice cream shop?"

"Sounds like we're getting nowhere," said Yukari, "Kagura, you're her girlfriend you should know where to look!"

"She is not my girlfriend!"

"What are you talking about?" Yukari seemed unconvinced. " Why else would you want to go find her after she just kissed you like two seconds ago?"

"It has nothing to do with that!" Kagura retorted, "she's over the top and who knows what she might do right now?"

"Why don't we go look for that park then?" asked Sakaki, "I'm sure that it will help to find her first of all."

"Whose car are we taking?"

"Kagura, you're the only one in this room who has a car."

"Wait," Yukari interrupted, "how old are you two?"

"Well, Kagura is nineteen and Tomo is twenty one."

Yukari had a puzzled expression on her face and asked, "But didn't Tomo say she was twenty four?"

"I don't think so," Sakaki responded, "I'm twenty by the way."

"I know that that crazy girl said that sometime not too long ago!" Yukari insisted.

"Maybe she was exaggerating for some reason," Sakaki responded. The elegant young woman stood up. She turned towards the door and after taking a few steps looked back to say, "either way Kagura and I need to go find her."

"What about me?"

"Get out of the apartment."

"That's a little cold for you, Sakaki," said Kagura, "you're not usually so…."

"Brusque," Sakaki responded before shoving Yukari out with a kick, "I'm so sick of having to deal with that crazy and insane woman almost every day. Don't you just get sick of her exuberance after having to listen to her shouting all the time?"

"I never knew that you got so sick of her."

"Let's get going," said Sakaki cheerfully.

As Kagura drove them through the heart of town she began to question exactly why they had been going in circles for the past thirty minutes. "Don't worry," Sakaki told her, "it'll come to me, it'll come to me. I just need some more time to think this through."

"But that's what you said before!" Kagura cried in despair.

"You really should know more about your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"Yeah sure," said Sakaki as she continued to doubt Kagura, "but this reminds me of the day that we went to Six Flags." When Kagura gave the woman a confused look she responded with, "I never said you were a part of we."

"Then why did you say we?"

"It was almost like that time we went Okinawa. You remember?"

"Yeah…." Kagura felt that there was absolutely no sense left to her life. "What about it?"

"It was fun," Sakaki smiled, "I had such a great time over there. I even saw some cool sights. Plus it was very warm and sunny. I'm just not sure why that comes up into our search for your girfriend." Sakaki raised a hand to silence Kagura. "But I'm so happy that in Okinawa I met Maya, who somehow managed to get to Tokyo despite being the size of a loaf of bread." Her eyes closed in glee. "We were meant to be together!"

Kagura had a bored expression on her face. "You don't have to talk about that cat all the—" She was instantly silenced by having her head shoved into the driver's side window. One of her eyes was covered by her cheek and the cold glass made her entire face feel as cold as death. "Sakaki, why did you—?"

"Don't ever say anything about Maya again," she hissed.

"You've gotta be kidding me! You can't do that to the driver!" said Kagura hoping that she wouldn't crash into something.

"Then don't push me anymore," Sakaki warned. Then the woman looked out at the dark cityscape around them. What had caught her attention was a secluded patch of grass and trees near the dark Pacific waves. "Hey, this is where I went with Ken during our one date." She noticed Kagura's expression out of the corner of her eye. "Maybe now isn't the best time to talk about that. Wait who's standing over there?" The car slowed for a moment as they attempted to look for a place to park. Unfortunately there wasn't a place in sight. "No wait, that's a man. Let's just keep going." Kagura smacked her face into the steering wheel. Sakaki gave her friend a concerned look as the woman then moaned in pain. "You really shouldn't have done that."

"You're kidding me right? I never would have guessed."

"Don't worry there's another place we can look for your love."

"Dammit you're just doing this to mess with me aren't you, Sakaki?" asked Kagura as her friend snickered, "why do people love to tease me?"

"Sorry, sorry," she giggled, "I just think your denial is funny."

"It is not denial it's the truth!" she screamed as Sakaki tried her best to suppress her laugh with her hands.

Sakaki took in a deep breath of air before changing the subject. "Is that her up there?"

"I dunno." Kagura looked at the shape on top of a small hill by the bay. "We should check it out."

"You check it out," Sakaki yawned, "it's chilly outside. I'm going to stay in here with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders."

"Are you feeling all right?"

"I feel sleepy," the woman sarcastically chimed, "does that count?"

"Never mind," said an annoyed Kagura as she set the car into park and unlocked the door, "just don't let someone steal the stereo all right?"

"Don't worry; I'll stomp 'em in the nuts," she replied.

Kagura just left the car before her friend could say any more weird things. Up ahead she could see someone gazing at the churning sea down below. A slight wind made the fringes of a dark brown jacket into ruffles that jetted towards the edge of the cliff. Kagura's foot crunched on a rock below. The figure turned towards her. "There you are!" Kagura yelled, "what the heck's gotten into you, Tomo?"

"Oh, hi." Tomo turned away from her friend resuming her inspection of the water.

"You okay?" Kagura felt a sense of foreboding as her best friend stood in front of her.

"No."

The Wildcat turned to face her fellow knuckle head. The two of them just stared at each other for an instant. Kagura noticed that Tomo's feet began to shift towards the edge. She took a step towards the shorter girl, frowning. Then she saw Tomo's legs coil up. Without a word she leapt backwards looking up at her friend that grew smaller and smaller. One moment Kagura found herself standing on the edge of the cliff, watching her friend's empty face as Tomo fell down towards the water. The next she was diving towards the surface of the water, landing inside of the wake.

She momentarily found herself inside of a dark frightening world. She couldn't breathe and she couldn't see. But she was there to save her friend. Her head shot out of the water. She noticed a dark shape in the water beside her. She grabbed it. Getting her arms underneath Tomo's she pulled her towards the shore, swimming hard to drag the two of them through the sea. Kagura dragged them both onto the sand. The tomboy stood up with an angry growl. Tomo blinked before she sat up.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"I…slipped."

Kagura's mouth gaped open before her eyes nearly became fire. "What?" She lifted Tomo up by her collar. "Are you out of your damn mind?" she screamed. Her hair was plastered against the sides of her head. "You just jumped off of a cliff? Why on Earth would you do that?"

Tomo frowned. "Shut up!" Kagura blinked in response, her features relaxing. "I told you I slipped, okay? That's what happened. End of discussion!" Kagura smiled at the angry outburst.

"You had me worried."

"I don't see why," Tomo snapped, "what do I matter to you?"

"You idiot," she whispered, "you're my friend. I care about you." The angry look in Tomo's eyes had given her a sense of relief. Just a moment ago her friend had seemed empty and lifeless on top of that cliff and especially when she had been falling. Kagura shivered. This angry Tomo was the one she knew, the one that was only angry for a moment before she was instantly happy again.

"I'm cold."

"Yeah, me too." She wrapped her arms around the woman forcing her into a tight hug. "Don't scare me like that again all right?" tears dripped from her cheeks onto the sand below.

"I won't," Tomo whispered into her friend's ear. She could feel her eyes release agony onto her crush's shoulder. "I promise."

"Aw, that's so sweet. You two make a great couple."

"Dammit, Sakaki!"