Chapter Thirty-Seven
Changing Lanes
3rd POV
Sicily rested her pale cheek against her fist as she waited for the class to begin; her eye's shutting tiredly every couple of seconds. The teenager was exhausted, having gotten little to no sleep the night before. Her eyes were heavy, her limbs felt like lead, and all Sicily wanted to do was rest her head on the desk and go to sleep. However she personally thought it would be very disrespectful to the teacher and being one who valued education, the girl kept her head obediently up and awake, refusing the accept slumbers embrace.
Her lack of sleep wasn't due to any punishments from Aunt Amaya, for the older woman was passed out drunk on the couch after eating the dinner that Sicily had prepared and had remained that way for the entire night. No, it was due to her injuries, which had been acting up greatly last night as she completed her daily chores, causing her body to feel discomfort, irritation, and agony throughout the entire time. Not only that, but Sicily was also feeling ill; she had not eaten anything the day before and hadn't had any breakfast this morning, so the white haired beauty currently felt sluggish, nauseous, and dead on her feet.
She was just hoping that school might take her mind off of it for a while and being outside and away from the apartment might help her feel better. After all, the apartment can get stuffy and bit rank smelling with the booze and marijuana infested air. But Sicily was just glad that Amaya was there to provide a roof over her head, for the white haired teenager knew that being homeless would not help her case in the slightest.
"Sicily, are you… alright," Yusuke asked with a concerned, hesitant tone, breaking Sicily from thoughts. The teenage girl slowly raised her face towards him, giving him an extremely forced smile as she tried to stay awake.
"Yes, I'm just tired; I didn't get much sleep last night. But thank you for your concern," she replied in her ever velvety voice, lightly squeezing his forearm to show her thankfulness.
Her red haired friend's cheeks blazed red instantly, rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish manner at both her gratefulness and lingering touch. He opened his mouth a couple times, prepared to deny being worried like he would've done with anyone else, before he finally sighed and shut his mouth compliantly. Instead, Yusuke weakly smiled back and made a note in his mind to keep a closer watch over his white haired friend. She seemed extremely exhausted, with bags dragging down her once youthful and bright deep blue eyes, and much like yesterday, she again wore layers of clothes that covered her body completely but looked extremely hot and unnecessary for the nice weather they were having outside.
"Ahem, hey, uh, Sicily, my brothers and I were wondering if you were free tonight for dinner… I mean as a get together! Not like anything else… um, heh, I-we would love to have you over," Yusuke choked out, utterly flustered and stuttering over his words like an elementary school boy.
Internally, the teenage boy was mostly flustered at the thought of his invitation sounding like a date in Sicily's ears, and the thought of asking the white haired girl on a date made him hot and flushed. He really liked the girl, and found himself unable to talk straight or think right whenever something that wasn't platonic (and that was directed towards his best friend) jumped into his brain.
Sicily smiled encouragingly throughout his flustered question, though inwardly she was frowning. As much as she would love to spend more time with Asahina's, she had already abused her aunt's generosity enough; she couldn't do it again by disappearing to take advantage of another family's kindness like she had done before. So instead of saying the answer she desperately wanted to say, Sicily replied, "thank you for the offer, but I can't tonight."
Yusuke's body instantly went slump at her answer, looking rather disappointed and sad that she said that; considering Sicily was the first girl he's ever actually talked to that was afraid of him, he had never been rejected, and while she was simply just rejecting a family dinner orchestrated by his brothers, he could help but take it a little personal. But he instantly shook away the hurt, reminding himself that his white haired friend was a very nice girl and it had nothing personal to do with him.
However, despite how fast he shook away his pained feelings, Sicily did catch them in time, instantly making her feel guilty, though she then reminded herself it was for the best. Her ruby haired friend probably didn't even realize that Sicily was just burdening him and taking advantage of his family's hospitality. She couldn't keep doing that to everyone; she needed to show how grateful she is to her aunt by respecting the rules and helping around the apartment; not go off leeching from other people like a greedy monster.
Even though he might not understand, I still can't help but feel awful. Yusuke is my first friend I've ever had that weren't my parents, I can't help but feel guilty for hurting him, Sicily inwardly winced, before letting out a small, tired sigh under her breath.
"I'm sorry Yusuke," Sicily stated softly and sincerely, grabbing his shoulder in a comforting manner, for she truly did feel horrible for putting his spirits down like that.
"Eh! I'm fine, don't worry about it… maybe another time huh?" He stated hurriedly, shaking his hands quickly almost as if he was trying to shake away the sorrowful look on Sicily's face. Though he quickly grew flustered again when he realized her pale skinned hand was still gripping onto his shoulder.
Realizing this was his chance, Yusuke gingerly placed his own rather large hand (at compared to Sicily's) over her dainty over, his heart beating rapidly, like a drum against his chest. He knew from how hot his face felt and how quick his heart beat was going, that his face was probably matching his hair exactly at the moment. But Yusuke couldn't help but puff his chest out a little in confidence when Sicily only smiled at his move.
In fact, she even turned her hand around to cup his a bit better, causing a jolt to go up the ruby eyed teenager's spine.
"Yes, maybe some other time… Thank you for the offer anyways… and could you tell your family that as well; that I thank them for the offer too?" She asked, her thumb softly, calmly stroking against the back Yusuke's hand, as if they did this all the time.
This only seemed to make the red haired boy turn a brighter shade of crimson, and made the boy twitch in both nerves and excitement. Other than the hug they had before she went home that night, they had yet to touch/do anything more… intimate. Sure Sicily may have touched his arm or shoulder, but that wasn't as loving feeling as her thumb caressing his hand.
"Y-yeah, ahem, I mean yeah of course," he smirked proudly, greatly enjoying and greedily soaking up his crush's attention like a leech. Though the smirk as well as the fantastic feeling that Yusuke would love to get used to soon dropped when Sicily removed her hand (which included the caressing that the red head had been relishing in), in favor of turning to the teacher who had just started class.
This left a secretly smiling Yusuke, who instantly felt as if his day had been made.-
3rd POV, Time Skip
Sicily discretely fanned herself as she and Yusuke walked home together, lifting the neck of her shirt to air out her chest whenever her friend looked in a different direction. While the pounds of clothes that covered her body was necessary to hide the lingering bruises and the yellowing red marks that marred her skin, the heat it provided, as well as the warm day they were having, was not being kind to her. The white haired beauty felt as if her entire body was on fire, and Sicily was just itching to pull off a layer or two, hence the reason why she was walking a bit faster than normal.
Usually she would take advantage of their walks home to spend some time with Yusuke and eventually Wataru, but now having spent the entire day dressed in clothes only suitable for winter, added to how ill she's felt all day, Sicily just couldn't wait to get back home.
"Oi, Sicily… you look a bit hot there," Yusuke commented with a frown, though he already knew the answer from the way she was profusely sweating and how flushed her face had become.
He had been trying to convince the white haired girl all day to at least take off a couple layers, but she constantly stated that she was okay, and that she was only feeling a little warm. Every time she did this Yusuke would discretely clench his fists in anger; her wasn't particularly angry at her, but he was angry over how his friend (his one and only friend) was obviously suffering, and he couldn't really do anything about it. Well, he could persuade her to take off a layer or two, but he was quickly finding that this soft hearted girl could be as stubborn as a mule.
"Oh, I'm fine," Sicily quickly answered (like she had been saying all day), the heat and the all too familiar feeling of nausea crawling up her belly causing her to become rather anxious and completely out of character.
Her red haired friend didn't look convinced, and as he opened his mouth to say as much, he was interrupted by a familiar, cheery voice. "Brotha', sista'!" Wataru yelled, running as fast as his stubby legs could towards the two teenagers, before throwing himself against Sicily. And while Wataru didn't notice his deemed older sister flinch at his impact and his grip against her secretly bruised legs, Yusuke did, which caused him to scowl furiously.
"Hello Wataru," the white haired girl greeted calmly as she ran a hand through his bubble gum tresses, not blaming the young boy for the pain that shot up her spine at his "greeting;" she knew it was unintentional. "How was your day?"
"It was great, even better now that I've got to see you," he grinned, causing Sicily to faintly ponder about how Wataru may become quite the heart breaker when he's older, saying things like that towards girls already at a young age.
"Did you do anything fun today," she asked softly, letting out a soft, pained grunt under her breath that went unnoticed by both males.
Thankfully, the boy finally released her legs (which were now throbbing in agony) in favor of holding Sicily's hand, smiling brightly up at the white haired beauty. "I had art today, and it was so much fun! We got to draw whatever animal we wanted today, and so I drawed a koala for Masaomi, because he reminds me a lot of a koala bear." The boy grinned cheekily, skipping alongside the teenage girl as they walked. "They're both calm and nice, and they both have grayish hair, though Masaomi's is more brown!"
"You drew, not drawed," Sicily corrected lightly. And while Wataru told the older girl about the rest of his day, reenacting parts of it as if it was his duty, neither noticed the pouting, sulking Yusuke who walked beside them quietly, a bit jealous that Wataru could easily talk and touch Sicily while Yusuke couldn't without blushing up a storm and stuttering like a fool. Despite the fact that they spent much more time together, it seemed his youngest brother was more confident than he was, much to Yusuke's displease.
"So are you coming with us back home? Everyone would love to see you again, I know they would! Kaname talks about you a lot; he says he would love to see "the fair maiden with the dazzling dark blue eyes" again, whatever that means. And Louis talks about how he loves the color of your hair, and that you're so much quieter and kinder compared to how our brothers act at time; Louis is really understanding and caring, but I think how our brothers are sometimes really loud kind of bothers him. He's really peaceful, and he acts like a… like a… g-gu… like a guru! Yeah, he acts like a guru some times, like Masaomi. Oh, and Masaomi talks about you a lot too-"
"Okay Wataru! I think she gets it." Yusuke quickly interrupted with a scowl, having grown instantly annoyed with how his younger brother was indirectly rubbing it in his face of his other brothers fondness of Sicily. It irked him, especially since after having to share his entire life with brothers around and no personal space he had wanted to keep at least something (or someone in this case) to himself, but even that didn't last very long at all.
"Anyways, I already invited her to dinner, and she said she can't," Yusuke explained to his younger brother, who pouted and turned to Sicily with an extremely sullen look on his face.
"Are you sure, they wouldn't mind having you! I only mentioned Louis, Kaname and Masaomi, but they all talk about you and say how they would like you to come over again. Except for Fuuto, and well Hikaru and Natsume, but they haven't met you yet, and Fuuto is just… Fuuto," Wataru quickly explained, but stopped short when he felt a familiar small hand run through his messy pink hair. He looked back up at Sicily, who continued petting him soothingly.
"I really can't Wataru, but thank you, for thinking about me." She answered back, and much to her best friend's surprise, it instantly calmed the eccentric boy down, who still looked disappointed, but now less sad than before. "This is my stop, I'll see you soon Wataru," she said, and without another thought the white haired beauty dropped to one knee and pressed a small kiss against the pink haired boy's forehead, much like how her parents had done every time she got dropped off to school.
The young boy blushed under Sicily's loving kiss, and couldn't help but think that that way she treated him felt more like how his mother treated him than how he expected a sister to treat him. It made Wataru beam, after all he rarely got to see his mother (only a couple times a year) and so he rarely got to experience motherly love.
After Sicily broke off the kiss and gave a quick hug to Yusuke who instantly stiffened up in her embrace and didn't get a chance to return it before she let go, Sicily then turned to her aunt's apartment, sending one last final wave towards the two boys, who both waved back before entering the home.
She didn't even realize until she stepped into the cool air of the apartment that she had completely forgotten about her pain and her sickness during the time she had spent with both Yusuke and Wataru Asahina.
To be continued…
A/N: Hey its been a bit, but I was extremely ill for a while (that's been off and on recently), busy with school, and had a temporary job, so that took up a lot of my time. I've already started on the next chapter so expect another one coming up soon!
Also, if you would like to keep up with updates on this story and my others I will be posting chapter progress on my bio/profile page, that way you can see whether or not another update will come soon.
To Anshika: I'm so sorry Shika-chan, and yes I'm doing alright. Like I mentioned earlier I've been very sick, one of the things I've been sick with is that I've been having stomach problems where if I eat just the tiniest bit of food I end up with an really painful stomach ache that doesn't go away until I've either digested the food or thrown it up, because of it I've been really miserable and barely have any energy to sometimes even walk to the bathroom. And I'm sorry about your friend (boys sometimes, I tell ya). I hope you two have made up, it's ridiculous that he was ignoring you just because the other boys were pairing you up. Hope you're doing well too!
To bakezorishoes: Thank you and I've taken you vote in!
To XpixieXsticksX: Cute name by the way, also I WILL NEVER ABANDONE this story. And yeah Sicily is going to have to through major therapy for a while; after all she's still grieving her parents, and was really emotionally unstable and vulnerable when her aunt took her in, add in the abuse and mistreatment… Yeah, poor Sicily.
To lizziecats: Thank you so much! Like I mentioned to the reviewer above, Sicily is going to need some serious patience and work once she's away from her aunt. Like what you were saying I think the first step would be finally realizing that not being okay, is okay. And you're not burdening someone by accepting their help; they wouldn't be offering if they thought it was tedious or something they don't want to do. Also I love your username too; I got a kitty of my own.
To tigergirl1723: Funny thing is, I actually already decided to bring in an animal knight, though it's not going to be Juli. I think bringing him in is too much of dead ringer of Ema, and so I rather make my own animal knight to protect Sicily! You'll be seeing him very soon.
To LoverGirl71793: I already PMed you directly about that, and I hope you got it. My PM has been a little wonky this past month; many friends I have made on this site said they weren't getting anything from me on the PM. So I hope you were able to get it!
To gmaya1105, Koalabear2001, The Otaku Lady Priya, and Yume T. Goreo: First of all, sorry I'm not responding to you directly, I wanted to answer reviews but I also didn't want the Authors Note to become too long. Thank you all for your kind words and I really hope you enjoy this chapter!