Chatter filled the small crowded classroom, dimly lit by only half the florescent lights. The teacher stood at the front beside the overhead projector, shouting the lesson above his student's voices'. A cool breeze from the outside slid through the musty press of bodies with the promise of rain.
Yagami Hikari sighed softly, resting her chin in her hand as she toyed with her pencil. She glanced up at the clock, which told her that she still had a boring ten minutes left.
When she glanced back down at her desk, she saw a small folded note. Unobtrusively, she opened it to see familiar hiragana scrawled down the paper. She smiled quickly at the simple note, which read: *yawn*. Hikari shot a glance at her best friend across the row. He gave her a slow wink, grinning at her.
Putting her pencil to good use, Hikari quickly replied.
'Is this class ever going to end?' She tossed the note onto his desk.
They continued their note passing until class ended, the other students effectively masking their movements. Just before the bell rang, Hikari read his last note. 'Want to come over to my place to study?'
At the ring of the bell, Hikari caught her friend's eyes and nodded with a smile. "Of course, Takeru." She said aloud.
"The function of f(x) is equal to the square of three(x) while the function of g(x) is equal to (x) minus two. Find function (f) of (g) times (x) and state any restrictions...gah, Hikari, do you understand any of this?"
Hikari bent her head over Takeru's paper with a small frown. Takeru breathed in deep of her heady perfume, and then sternly told himself to focus. "Aha!" He sharply brought himself around at Hikari's soft exclamation. "See, Takeru, you just need to put the g(x) value where the (x) is in the f(x) value..."
As she showed him, the blond began nodding with growing understanding. He shot her a lop-sided grin and said, "You make this seem so easy! Guess I'm just a dumb blond..."
Hikari elbowed him. "You are not!" She exclaimed in reproof. "Don't you dare say such things in my presence, Takaishi Takeru!"
"Yes, Yagami san." He replied meekly, and she laughed. Takeru fought hard to keep her melodious laugh from overriding his senses. He didn't know what he was thinking when he invited her over...
They had been best friends for eight years now...half their lives. And he loved her far too much to screw that over because of the urges of his adolescent boy's body.
A small smile appeared on Takeru's lips. Yes, he had admitted to himself two years ago that he was in love with Yagami Hikari. And he had also realized at that time that he could never tell her.
"Takeru? Are you still in there?" He blinked at Hikari, who smiled. "I asked if you thought we should switch to a different subject, and since you seem to lack focus towards Math..." She teased.
Takeru blushed, but he quickly covered it up behind his laughing. "Yeah...how 'bout we switch to English?" They switched their books, and Takeru settled comfortably against the wall, opening his text with the strange characters. He felt a warmth settle next to him, and he shot a quick glance to his side, where Hikari sat mere millimeters from him, her head bent diligently towards the book. Smiling softly, he turned back to his studies. No, I can never tell her. Her friendship means far too much to me. He knew that if she didn't return his feelings, and he told her of his own, they would no longer be as close as they were now. And no matter how much his heart longed and hoped for her to be his, he knew he would feel horrible to lose what they had. With those thoughts tumbling through his head, Takeru turned his attention towards his book.
After a half-hour of studying their textbooks, Hikari said, "Alright, we should probably start on our novels."
Takeru groaned good-naturedly. "It's so hard!"
Laughing, Hikari suggested, "Why don't we read it lout loud, together? We can take turns."
"Okay, that sounds like a good idea." Takeru brightened, then grinned at Hikari. "You go first!"
So Hikari opened her novel, titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone". Even though it was sometimes hard to understand, Takeru loved the book. It was fun to picture all the trouble that seemed to find the boy wizard, and to try to figure out who the main antagonist was. Listening to Hikari's voice rising and falling in pitch and giving life to the characters of the book made it even better. All too soon, Hikari finished her chapter and it was Takeru's turn. Heaving a loud melodramatic sigh, the boy cracked open his novel to the page. He was rewarded with Hikari's laughter and a poke in the ribs.
"You were supposed to be following in your book." She accused, but softened the rebuke with a smile.
"Listening to you read it was more interesting." He replied, but Takeru didn't catch his friends' quick blush. Carefully deciphering the letters, Takeru began. "Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry..."
"Hey, Hikari, do you know what 'petrified' means?" Takeru pulled himself out of the cocoon the book had woven around him when he encountered a word he didn't recognize. "Hikari?" As he looked beside him, Takeru suddenly realized his lap was very warm and it almost seemed that there was something in it. When he didn't see Hikari, he looked down to see the brunette sleeping, her head pillowed in his lap. He smiled fondly, tentatively touching her face. "Oh, 'Kari. My reading isn't that boring, is it?" He murmured, softly smoothing her hair. Taking extra care, he arranged her into a more comfortable position, and continued reading aloud...quietly.
Sometime later, Hikari woke from her slumber, disoriented. Without bothering to open her eyes, she urged her sleep-clouded brain to work. The last thing she remembered was Takeru's soothing voice reading their English assignment. Her eyes flew open. 'Of course. TK invited me over to study.' Her eyes flew open as her senses registered her extremely warm 'pillow'. Pulling her head up, Hikari flushed when she realized she'd been sleeping in her best friend's lap. Her eyes fixed curiously on Takeru's face, and she smiled when she realized he was asleep. Slowly backing away from him, she raised one hand to gently brush away his blond locks. "I love you, TK...even if I can't tell you." She whispered, then smiling, she took the book from his unresisting fingers and gently tossed it to the side. Lying her head back down in his lap, Hikari quickly fell back to dreams of her blond best friend.
A few hours later, the door to the Takaishi residence opened, and Yamato and his mother walked in. "Thanks for helping me with the groceries, Yamato."
"Just glad I ran into you after practice to help." He replied, putting his bag of groceries on the counter. "Where's Takeru?" He called over his shoulder as he entered the living room.
"Oh, he should be here...Takeru?"
Just then, Yamato spotted two figures sleeping over in the corner. Yamato shushed his mother, and motioned her over. Nancy joined her eldest son, and her hands covered her mouth in surprise. Yamato grinned. "Where's your camera?" He asked softly. She smiled, and quickly went to get it from the kitchen. Silently handing it to her son, Nancy Takaishi watched her son snap a picture of Hikari and Takeru. Yamato handed the camera back, and flashed her one of his famous Ishida smiles. "Let's let them sleep a little longer." He suggested softly, and she nodded.
"They are adorable. It's only a matter of time before he asks her out." she confided, and laughing softly, they left the two alone.
Hikari sighed softly in her sleep, and Takeru unconsciously tightened his arm around her. Though unknown to each other, they joined each other in their dreams, where they could be free of the fear of rejection, and be together.