Ache

Oh, oh, I wonder what he wants to see me about…!

Giggling softly to herself, Uriko enthusiastically pushed open the passenger side of her best female friend's car, and called over her shoulder, "Thanks for the ride, and stopping by that diner for breakfast, Erika! I gotta run off to meet someone before first period starts, so I'll catch you later!"

"See you in class!" she heard the other girl reply with a laugh as the tires squealed off when the vehicle drove toward the student parking lot.

The feline zoanthrope dashed through the double doors leading into the hallway, and sprinted down the long corridors, her waist-length brown braid bouncing against her backpack. While she was heading for her locker, several times she almost ran into other students occupying the area, and the auburn-haired girl lost quickly count of how many people she bumped by as she ran. Muttered, non-serious threats flew by her ears, and she laughed carelessly, knowing that her friendly reputation would secure her from danger. Stealing a quick glance at one of the many clocks hanging up in each separate wing of the school's halls, the teenager quickened her pace as the minute hand ticked ever closer to the time in which the bell would ring, signaling the start of class.

Uh oh! It's almost time! She panicked, and with a feline yowl grumbling low in her throat, she somehow managed to push her pace up a notch by absorbing a bit of help from her animal counterpart. Tearing around the final corner that would only have a couple of measly feet of space to decrease and reach her locker, her lungs burned when the sixteen-year-old came to a stop at last. Adrenaline vigorously pumped through her veins, making her breaths slightly wheezy and her heart race frantically at her hurried rushing. Bending over to plant her hands on her knees, Uriko heaved a huge sigh of relief as she slowly closed her eyes, and mentally willed her pulse to slow down. If I keep going at this rate, I'm not gonna be able to see seventeen… she thought, a wry smile playing about her lips.

A starry twinkle sparkled in her eyes when she remembered the reason why, or rather the person, who had made her so hasty and frantic in getting to her locker. Kenji is such a sweetie. An adoring glint shimmered in her large brown irises while a wide grin easily formed over her expression. Other people might think he's some kinda loner, outcast, or whatever, but inside that thick, protective barrier there's a honest-to-goodness warm heart. Sigh… I wish I could go to prom with him… but Kenji doesn't like social events, especially if they're related to school. She gripped her backpack strap tightly in one hand, and straightened back up into a standing position with a small frown marring her brows. Stubborn, but then again, I guess that's something new I'll have to work on with him, hehe.

Minutes passed, and the Kenpo student occupied herself with more thoughts about her friend, while she was equally plagued with curious questions that soared through her vibrantly active mind. Anxious brown eyes scanned the surroundings, catching sight of a colorfully printed poster splayed over a wall, covering up quite a section with its largeness. Sparkled glue decorated the border; while carefully scripted words printed onto the sturdy board's surface publicly announced the prom night that was arriving in mere several days. A slightly melancholic smile grazed her lips; she wanted to attend the event as she had for the last two years, but her desire didn't outweigh the gloomy concept of going alone.

The bell rang just then, jostling her out of her train of thought, making the girl jump, startled, strands of her long bangs briefly clinging to the static of her cheeks before falling back to settle next to her ears. Blinking in momentary confusion, she gazed at the clock, surprised to find it displaying the time in which there was only five minutes left until first period began. Scratching the back of her neck in bemusement, Uriko cast one last scan around the hallway for her best friend, then her shoulders slumped down a bit. A disappointed look marring her expression, her head drooped slightly and her eyes locked onto the ground; as the crisp soles of her brown boots squeaked against the cold marble floor, her right foot suddenly found a red object.

Abruptly halting, she stopped herself from kicking it away just in time, and instinctively bent down, extending her hand to pick up the lightweight stray that was sitting just inches away from a tall green stick. Cupping it in her palm, the female student straightened her posture into her full height and quickly brushed off a wrinkle in the skirt part of her navy blue school uniform. Glancing at the maroon item, she discovered it was a rose that had been crushed, its delicate red petals bunched together to mash into the bud. Quickly sneaking a peek at the ground, she realized that what she had presumed to be a thin stick must have really been the stem that was attached to the flower at one point.

How cruel, she thought sympathetically, her lips pressing into a line of visible disapproval, ignoring the cluster of scholars that were dashing into the hallway she was currently positioned at. Shaking her head in pity of the rose's cold owner, the feline zoanthrope began walking, and at the same time smoothed out the petals as best as she could, sweeping over the creases with the tips of her fingers. Clutching the newly-formed rose to her chest, lying right next to the giant red bow of her dark blue uniform's top attire, Uriko strolled into her first period class just after the final bell rang. Sliding into her seat, she peered at the clock and groaned aloud; there were hours separating the time in which she could meet with her best friend, since their only class together was in the afternoon, the one second-to-last period before school was let out.

At least she could go find him at lunch, small compensation. But why the disappearance in the morning? His note in her textbook had asked her to meet him at her locker minutes prior to first period beginning, and yet she'd waited and he didn't show up. Had something happened to him, like if he had gotten hurt or a similar situation of the sort? She hoped not. And then again, there really were no other valid reasons she could think of for him standing her up, as it was far from his style to leave her hanging alone. Even the year before when her friend had pay little attention to her due to all the commotion related to the Tabula incident, he never made her promises that he didn't keep.

"Good morning, class. Please take out your homework assignment from last night," her math teacher spoke at that moment, breaking her train of thought.

The girl sighed and obeyed, a half-smile gracing her lips as she remembered that her friend had completed her homework; that recollection ruled out the possibility that he was mad at her, at least. And as her instructor began droning on about problems from the assignment, her mind drifted and she continued pondering over the morning's events, wanting to know where Kenji had been instead of meeting her. Tucking the rose into a small pocket of her backpack, she sat up in her chair and tried to focus on what her teacher was saying, the lecture drifting into one ear and straight out the other.

*****

I'm waiting for you.

Dark, narrowed eyes focused intently on the slender, hourglass form of the female that strolled through the quad of the school, breaking away from the groups of other students that sat around enjoying their lunch hour. She breezed past them, and occasionally waving at some of her friends that she spotted amongst the crows, then continued walking toward the back of the school. Her expression immediately lit up when she caught sight of the garden, and she hastened her pace, heading for the well-hidden corner that shielded a single stone bench, 'their' claimed spot. Backpack strap clutched tightly in her grasp, the sixteen-year-old carefully sidestepped the cluster of fresh flower embedded into the soft, nutritious earth to reach her destination.

"Ahhh…" was the breathy sigh that flowed in the air as she took a seat, stretching her legs out as the bottoms of her twin brown boots dangled close to the ground.

A low snort emitted as a figure stealthily ran along the smooth, flat seam of a mere section of the school's large rooftop, never losing balance during the travel. The enigmatic bystander leaped off the edge and agilely landed onto a thick branch protruding from the long trunk of the nearby tree, the soles of his white sneakers scraping against the bark while a leaf from above fell onto the black pad of his shoe design. Strands of dark blue hair swayed in the light-forced wind, as shadowy brown eyes glanced down and locked onto the young brunette below. An almost soundless hiss escaped from tightly pursed lips, as the watcher remained immobile, smirking when the girl periodically glanced around, seemingly searching or waiting for someone.

He could hear the wistful-ness in her sigh, and the slight frustration that was intertwined into her single vocal expression; saw her hands clench fistfuls of her skirt in anxiety. A chuckle drifted out of his mouth intentionally, and he anticipated when she twitched at the quiet noise, her ears perking up in attention. After a few tranquil moments, the female junior shrugged aimlessly and began to pick at the ends of individual strands of her long auburn hair in boredom. Now would be the perfect time to make his entrance, when she least expected it and was only partially aware of the ongoings around her.

Jumping down to ground level with a whisper, he stood at his full height and walked up behind the girl, his shadow disappearing under his feet due to the noon sun. He hovered over her head, folding his arms across his chest and slanting his eyes in her direction, wondering how long it would take before she felt his presence. Sure enough, she stiffened, the hair on the back of her neck rising, and slowly, she turned her head around to look at the person standing behind her. Visible relief aligned her facial features when the teenager saw whom it was, and she immediately smiled, springing up from the stone bench on her knees to meet his eyes.

"Kenji! Hey, there you are!" She exclaimed, not even noticing his cool exterior as she leaned foreword and threw her arms around his shoulders, hugging him warmly. "I was looking for you at my locker this morning, but you…"

"Something came up." He replied vaguely, uncrossing his arms so that he could grasp a hold of her forearms and untangle them from his form, his expression nonchalant and emotionless.

"Oh?" Uriko gave him a puzzled look, waiting for him to continue, but when he didn't offer any further explanations, she quirked a brow in curiosity. "…Um, is something wrong?"

"I have a few questions I would like to inquire of you." He informed, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Regarding this recently past Saturday night."

"That again?" She couldn't help the exasperation in her tone. "Really, Kenji, I don't get why you're so persistent on that subject…"

The ninja was silent for a moment, seeming as if he were analyzing her words. "And I in turn don't understand your hesitancy and impatience to explain to me the details of that night, or the vagueness of your sort, chopped answers."

Her expression turned uneasy as she unfolded her legs and got off the bench, standing onto her feet, glancing at him with a heavy sigh as her waist-length braid curled around her waist, pushed by way of the breeze. The fingers of both her hands laced together behind her back as she nervously prepared herself to evade his new onslaught of direct questioning. "All right… What do you want to know about Saturday night?"

Kenji nodded, seeming a little less tense than before, allowing a slouch to make his stance more casual appearing. "What happened, exactly? I only remember taking care of you at your house because you were still healing from your injury," he briefly showed remorse at the mention, but then hardened again, "but anything from the afternoon onward seems to be lost from memory."

She relaxed a bit; that she had no problem with answering. "Well, I was sleeping on and off all day, and sometime in the afternoon, I got a craving for ice cream, but you checked the freezer and there wasn't any left. So without even complaining of slave labor or anything like that, you left my house to walk to the grocery store down the block and buy some for me, which was a really sweet gesture," she grinned.

He hesitated, faintly recalling the feel of coldness in his hands during one of his earliest flashbacks of broken dialog in conversations. "Yes… that could be possible."

"Possible?" A slight frown marred the Kenpo student's brows. "It's true, that's what happened!" He stared at her blankly, showing little interest in her exclamation. She sighed and continued, "Anyway, you came home about twenty minutes later, and we sat down in the living room and shared a bowl of ice cream while watching TV. Then I fell asleep somewhere during that time, and I guess maybe you did, too."

His eyes flickered in disbelief, but he didn't contradict her statement. "And following that?"

"And… and after that, I woke up a little after midnight to find you wandering around outside," Uriko told him, somehow feeling sure that he wasn't entirely believing her. "I guess you got restless or something, but you were sick, probably from being outside at that time of night and not even properly dressed for that kind of weather."

The mole zoanthrope scoffed. "It's May, Uriko. The weather is growing warmer, not colder."

"Hey, how do you know? Nighttime's different from the day!"

"If you say so," he smirked.

Her patience was beginning to wear thin at his verbal backlashes. "What's your problem…??"

"I want to know what occurrences went on in between the time we were watching television to midnight."

"And how am I supposed to have first-hand knowledge of that? I was asleep, remember?"

"If I remembered, then I would not bother asking you, now would I?" He snapped harshly, irritation lighting a small fire in his dark brown irises.

She swallowed back a surprised gasp at his cold attitude, and shielded her wounded emotions with a hard mask of agitation. "I don't know why you're being so mean to me, seriously. Are you mad about something?"

"Was there a party on Saturday night, at Cronos Dakinasha's house?" Kenji fired with a heated glare, ignoring her question.

Her expression twisted into a look of confusion. "How… how did you know about that…?" Kenji doesn't care about parties or other social events like that… right?

His eyes widened for a split second, then a growl rumbled low in his throat as he smoothly stepped over the stone bench to stand directly in front of her, while she took a couple steps back, feeling uncomfortable at their closeness. "And now, was that event too 'insignificant' for you to inform me of, hmm, Uriko?"

"N-No," she shook her head, stammering a little as she insisted, "I just didn't think you cared about those kind of things…"

All of a sudden, Kenji shot his hand out and seized a hold of her wrist, abruptly pulling her toward him until their noses were millimeters away from touching. Mere inches separating their mouths, he spoke coolly, "I told you I wanted to know every little detail of Saturday night, and whether or not you believe they hold any meaning to me is not your business to judge."

It took her a moment to recover from the intimate feel of his warm breath fanning against her cheek; when she regained hold of her senses, she began to struggle to get out of her imprisonment. "Kenji, let go of my wrist, you're hurting me… …And probably cutting off my circulation."

"You think this is funny?!" the volume of his voice raised up a notch and his grip tightened, making her wince in discomfort. "I am being thoroughly serious, and you stand there, spewing jokes!"

"I'm not freaking joking!" Uriko exclaimed while flames of ire lashed out at him from her chocolate brown irises as she doggedly tried tugging her hand out of his hold again, "You really are hurting me! Now let go!"

"I'll let go when you tell me the truth!" He replied angrily, an odd sensation prickling at his nerves regarding the upset pout gracing her lips and the sliver of vulnerability in her eyes, making his heart jolt slightly.

"I told you the truth already, damn it!" she swore, fighting the urge to kick him in the shins to grasp her freedom, "Get away from me, Kenji, or I'm gonna yell assault on you!"

To her surprise, he let her go, and at the same time, the sixteen-year-old female was once more pulling away from him, causing her to stumble backwards a little ways when he released his grip. The heel of her boots caught against one of the foot-tall fences surrounding the flowerbed behind her, and she stumbled, yelping as she sought to twist her body and not land onto the delicate floral. Instinctively waving her arms to try and regain her center of balance, her rear kissed the hard ground forcefully, making the initial sign of tears well up in her eyes. The feline moaned softly, the impact of the fall shaking the delicate nerves of her spine, stunning her momentarily, but just then, two hands reached down and firmly grabbed her forearms, swiftly lifting her up into a standing position.

"Oh!" the auburn-haired girl felt her knees waver at the suddenness of the action and unwillingly fell into the arms of her best friend, her cheek coming into contact with his chin. She expected Kenji to instantly push her away, but instead, he stood there and calmly held her, beginning to soothingly stroke her back a few seconds later, sending a tremble tingling through her body. Sighing joyously, the tension left her stiffened muscles and she leaned against him, relaxing into his embrace - for a minute. Remembering what had caused her fall, the Kenpo student lurched back away from him, confusion and anger conflicting the emotions swimming in her eyes.

"Why, Kenji?" She questioned, unshed tears shining at him. "Why did you hurt me, then come to comfort me afterwards? Why lash out at me with such angrily spoken words, then act as if everything is all right now, like I can just easily forgive you? Why do you hold me like you care, yet you don't even trust the things that I said?"

"......" without answering her, he pivoted in the opposite direction, turning his back to her face.

He heard the rhythm of her breathing become strained at his silence, followed by a choked sob, and then the sound of her retreating footsteps rang hollow noises in his ear. Raising his chin up, he glanced at the baby blue sky, the scattered snow white clouds seemingly stretching across the vast area though it was the earth that moved. Misty brown eyes scanned the surroundings, while a hole slowly carved into his heart, the space filling with forlornness and desolation, and his hands clenched into fists, hanging by his side stiffly. He remained standing there for a while, alone, while the high noon sun beamed bright rays down on his form, glistening over the cobalt strands of his wavy hair, but he felt no emotion or comfort from the sunshine.