Heart to Heart
"Hey, Hinamori!" Kukai called to the girl as he walked up to the bench where he sat. He tilted his head slightly to the side when he saw that her hand was being held by the green-haired boy with glasses. "Oh, Sanjo," he noted the kid.
The boy immediately snatched his hand back and turned swiftly toward the approaching party, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Good morning, Souma-kun," he said smoothly.
Amu blushed and avoided looking at Kukai. He still didn't know about her and Tadase. "G-good morning, Kukai," she mumbled. "Utau."
"Hey," the blonde said nonchalantly as she flopped onto the other bench below the tree. Kukai followed slowly after, processing the hand-holding thing he'd witnessed. Actually… what had he just witnessed?
"Amu!"
"Amu-chan!"
Turning with gratitude as she heard her two best friends calling her name, the teen smiled. "Rima!" she cried, jumping up and running toward the smiling girl. "I haven't been able to reach you for days!"
As the girls closed the distance between them, Nagihiko not too far behind, their smiles became a bit remorseful. "Sorry, Amu," Rima apologized as her friend's arms wrapped around her. "I've been so distant lately." As they pulled back, her grin widened. "But I have something to tell you!"
"We both do," Nagi said with a smile of his own as he walked with the girls back to the benches. "Where's Yaya-chan? I know she'll want to hear this."
Kukai spoke up. "She's at the library," he informed them. "Studying for English."
Unphased by the new knowledge, Rima continued smiling as she sat on the grass beside her fiancee. "We'll tell her at lunch then." She couldn't hold it in any longer. "I went to the doctor's last night," she began, then recounted the events that had transpired the night before, taking great joy at the looks on everyone's faces when she reached the part about the– her stomach clenched in joy and a bit of nervousness– twins!
Amu was the first to comment, after the congratulations, her smile so wide she thought her face might split. "Nagihiko fainted again?" she laughed.
"'Again'?" Kairi, Utau, and Kukai said in almost-unison.
Rima giggled into her hand as Nagi blushed. "I had just run ten miles!" he defended himself. "I was just tired!"
Kukai let out a loud laugh. "Nice, Fujisaki," he commented, still guffawing. "Way to stay strong!"
As the boys stuck their tongues out at one another, Rima turned to her still-smiling friend. "Can we talk in private?" she asked.
Amu nodded and stood. "Sorry, Chairman," she addressed the boy beside her, who still had a slight grin on his face. "Excuse us for some girl-talk?" She giggled.
Kairi nodded and stood as well. "I should get to class now anyway," he said. And, with a curt nod to the others in the quad, he strode off toward his classroom.
"Wow, Rima," Amu said after she had listened to her friend recap everything that had happened, much deeper than what she had revealed to the others. Her eyebrows were lowered, touched with sadness by everything she had missed. "I had no idea that all that was going on. I'm so sorry."
The blonde girl shrugged, a sad smile on her face, and continued staring at the moving ground below her feet. "It's okay," she said, then looked up at her friend. "I wasn't there for you when you needed me."
Amu regarded the girl with a confused look.
"I know what happened with Tadase," Rima confessed, her smile fading. "I had no idea that you…," she trailed off. How horrible was that? She didn't even know what she didn't know.
With a sigh, the pink-haired girl began to slowly explain what had happened. Her mixed feelings about Ikuto and his fiancee, and the possible feelings she still had for Kairi. "I don't know how to feel about Rosalynn," she confessed, her brow knit. "She's kind, and seems to love Ikuto. But still…" She sighed again. She truly didn't know how to explain her feelings.
"You think you might have loved him too?"
Shocked that her friend had put into words the feelings Amu herself couldn't understand, she turned her wide, golden eyes on Rima. "How did you–?" she started to ask.
The girl only shrugged with a small smile reappearing on her lips. "You're my best friend, Amu," she said. "It's my job to understand you. Even if you don't understand yourself."
Suddenly, tears began to form in Amu's eyes. She smiled and threw her arms around her little companion. "You're going to be a great mom, Rima," she said tearfully.
Water filled the other girl's amber eyes too. "Thank you," she whispered, returning the hug, but she wasn't as sure as her friend seemed to be.
When class finally began, Amu's stomach dropped. There's Tadase, she noted to herself as she watched the blonde enter the classroom, smiling at a fellow class representative as they passed each other in the hall. Seeing that smile did things worse to the girl's insides, as if they were tortured forms of the lovely butterflies that once hovered there when he gave that smile to her. "I… I don't think I can do this," she breathed, backing away from the classroom door.
Rima frowned. "You have to go to class," she said firmly, wrapping her fingers around her friend's arm as she began to pull her inside. "Just stay strong."
Easier said than done, Amu though glumly, her face falling so far she doubted she'd ever be able to pick it up. However, she did have to go to class. She'd managed to skip out yesterday, so she was already probably behind in work. It would be okay, she tried to tell herself. Just don't look at him.
She discovered that would be all too easy when she settled into her seat.
"Where's Hotori-kun?" Amu overheard the blue-haired boy that sat behind her ask the tall girl that sat beside him, gesturing to the empty seat beside Amu.
"He asked the teacher for a new seat," the girl said quietly, as if to keep her words from reaching the pink-haired girl's ears. She failed, though. "I think he and Hinamori-san broke up!" Her last statement was almost a hiss.
"Really?" the boy beside her whispered back, his voice dropping as he gossiped.
The girl nodded. "The teacher said Hinamori-san was absent because she was sick, but I heard that she went to go see her new boyfriend for a date!"
There go the rumors again, Amu thought with despair, her eyes pricking, as she listened to the whispers all over the classroom begin as Tadase took his new seat in the far corner of the room.
They sound like bees, she thought, her mind wandering from the lesson as the buzzing continued behind the teacher's back. Why can't someone just fill the room with smoke so they'll all go to sleep? She sighed and leaned her cheek on her hand. I wish I hadn't come to class, she thought, closing her eyes to stop the tears from flowing out of them. I need to get out of here.
But she couldn't. She had to stay, had to pay attention. She couldn't miss more school. It would be over soon enough, she assured herself. Just hold on.
The day was not over soon enough though, and Amu found her joints stiff and tired when the final bell rang, as if she had spent days sitting in that chair instead of merely hours. The only up of the day had been lunch, when she had been able to escape the whispers and hushed conversations to be with her friends. However, that break couldn't have lasted long enough, and she now desperately needed to talk to someone. Rima and Nagihiko had to be home quickly because more baby furniture was going to be delivered (since they had, naturally, only gotten one crib and such), so they were out. Ikuto? Amu thought hopefully, but decided against it. His wedding was only a month away, barely. He was probably going over the details now that his fiancee had arrived in Japan. She didn't want to bother them.
"Um, Amu?"
She was snapped out of her deep thoughts by the deep voice of Kairi. "Eh!" she exclaimed. "Chairman!"
"Right," the boy said, nervously pushing his glasses up his nose. The sun glinted white off of them, masking his eyes. "You… Well…," he struggled to find words to tell the teen.
"What is it?" Amu asked, very curious to what he had to say.
"Well…"
"Go ahead…"
"You're causing a bit of a road block," Kairi finally said awkwardly.
"Eh?" For the first time, the pink-haired girl looked around at the sea of teenagers leaving their classrooms and filing toward the gates, and noticed that everyone was forced to detour when they reached the spot where she was standing. A large area of space had formed around her, with glares shot at her from every direction. Eyes wide with panic, Amu began to hyperventilate, arms flying wildly as she tried to get out of the way.
Noticing the girl's distress, Kairi shook off his surprise at the sudden outburst. With a quick shove of his glasses up his nose once again, he grabbed the girl's wrist and began to pull her, now suddenly silent with surprise of her own, toward the edge of the school's gates. When they were released onto the sidewalk, he brought them to a stop out of the way of the crowds. "I apologize for pulling you, Amu," he said, adjusting the strap on his schoolbag.
Instead of replying immediately, she just blinked. She wasn't used to the passive boy taking charge. She really hadn't expected it when he'd firmly grabbed her arm and guided her out of the school. "Oh, um, that's okay," she finally stammered.
"I figured it would be easier to just go with the crowd," Kairi explained, blushing slightly. "Rather than fighting through it."
Amu nodded in agreement. Suddenly, she realized that this was the perfect opportunity to finally talk to someone. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted before she could even utter a word.
"Would you like to join me at the plaza?" the boy asked quickly, his blush deepening as his eyebrows pulled up in the middle awkwardly.
Blinking in surprise, Amu was silent once again. She shook herself mentally and smiled. It was like he had read her mind.
"I– Yukari wanted me to pick up some things for my room," he rushed to explain. "Please don't feel–"
"I'd love to," Amu said with a smile.
Kairi returned the smile with relief mixed in. "R-right," he stuttered. "Then– let's go."
Nodding as her smile widened, Amu fell into step beside the green-haired boy, wondering how one day could have so many ups and downs.
Sorry it's been so long, I got caught up in the Harry Potter pandemonium when Part 2 came out ^^' I started planning a new fanfic for them and lost my motivation for this one! DX But, I'm back to the Guardians, and I've got a lot more planning to do before I get committed to Al, Scorpius, and the gang. Also, I want to finish rereading the HP series to get the feel of JK Rowling's style (and I just love them 3). And I WILL finish Later Years before I get going on any other fics.
Well, thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing! It really means a lot to me! :'D
