HitomiFanel: I'm sooooooo sorry I took so long. Curse you finals!!!!
Zakyra: At least you took the hard ones already.
HitomiFanel: Yeah. I'm glad it almost over.
HitomiFanel: Now I want to thank everyone who reviewed. And please enjoy your stay in Fanelia!
1 The New Kid
Disclaimer: The Escaflowne playground belongs to Shoji Kawamori. I'm only playing on the swings. Please don't litter, please don't mess anything up, and please don't feed the unicorns, trolls, fairies, or elves ^_^
(recap)
Mamoru sat down next to her, a small smile on his own face. "So, what's wrong?" he asked.
Hitomi was going to answer when the doorbell rang. She looked up immediately as Mamoru got up to answer it. Hitomi stayed behind since she didn't want to see anybody. She just didn't feel up to talking with anyone.
She heard footsteps come up the stairs and thinking it was her brother, Hitomi went outside her room. She lifted her head when she was outside. Seeing a certain someone standing there, she stopped dead in her tracks and gasped. For the second time today, Van caught her by surprise.
"Van," Hitomi whispered.
-----
They just stared at each other for a long time. Neither said anything for a long moment. Hitomi knew she was trapped while Van knew she couldn't escape from him this time. They would solve this, one way or the other. Van was determined. Nothing was going to steer him away and nothing she said would get rid of him.
Van finally broke the silence. He sighed and began. "Okay Hitomi, this time you will explain to me why you broke up with me," Van demanded giving her a calm, but firm look.
Hitomi didn't answer him at first as she went over to her bed and sat down. She rested her hands on her lap and looked down at them. Hitomi didn't know what to say. She didn't want to deceive Yukari by telling Van how she felt about him. She also didn't want to lie to Van. She looked him dead in the eye and sighed. "Okay Van, I'll tell you why I broke up with you."
"Good," Van began as he closed Hitomi's door softly with a click, "because now we won't be interrupted by anybody."
Hitomi sighed again and decided to tell him. She looked down at her hands again and decided to concentrate on them as she talked. This made talking to him a whole lot easier. "The reason is because Yukari is in love with you."
For a long moment, Van didn't do anything. He looked at Hitomi with no expression. Then came the emotions. He felt shocked, but the greatest emotion top was relief. He thought Hitomi had broken up with him because she didn't love him anymore. He thought he would grow up old and alone, without Hitomi. Man was he wrong! He laughed in happiness. "Is that all?"
Hitomi was taken aback by his response. She gasped and looked at him with shock, but she hid it by looking angry. She glared at him and raised her voice a few decibels higher. "Is that all you have to say 'Is that all'? Poor Yukari is so in love with you and you don't care? What kind of a person are you?"
Van stopped laughing and merely smiled at Hitomi. With mischief in his eyes, he walked over to Hitomi and grabbed her softly by her upper arms. He pulled her towards him and bent to whisper in her ear, "I'm a person who is in love with you, Hitomi Kanzaki. You are the one I love, now and forever."
Hitomi's face contorted into one of sadness as Van moved his face towards hers. She knew what he was going to do and she was powerless to stop it. "Van, don't," Hitomi begged as Van moved his lips slowly towards hers, teasing her a bit by simply letting his lips barely touch hers like a whisper. Although she swore she would stay away from Van and let Yukari have him so that Hitomi wouldn't loose her friendship, she didn't resist Van's touch. He whispered "I love you," before softly pressing his lips over hers in a gentle kiss. She leaned in and kissed him as well.
-------
By the door and unknown by both was Hitomi's brother with a smile on his face. He had opened the door a crack to check on them and was merely peaking to see how it had gone between the two. 'It seems that those two are finally back together' he thought. He turned and walked away to let the two lovebirds have their moment.
-------
After all the stored passion had gone away (sort of), Van pulled Hitomi away a bit. There were still things between them that were felt unsaid and he was still determined to straighten everything out. He merely gazed into her eyes and let his eyes say what he wanted before he even said anything.
"Now will you let Yukari have me?" Van commented with a smile, knowing that Hitomi wouldn't be able to resist him after that kiss. And if that didn't work, then he would have to find some other way like flowers or taking her somewhere nice.
Hitomi turned away from Van, a sad look on her face. "I feel like I just betrayed my best friend," she responded earnestly. How was she going to tell Yukari now? She wasn't sure if she could tell her the truth.
Van put both his hands on Hitomi's shoulders and looked at her with love shining through his eyes. Even the coldest person in the world could see the love shining and even be touched by it. "You have to understand Hitomi that I don't love Yukari and I never will. I will always love YOU. Do you think it's fair that I be with Yukari when I love you? Sure, Yukari will be happy but we won't. You will watch us together and be miserable and I will watch you while I'm with Yukari and be totally miserable. It won't be fair to the both of us."
Although he had a good point, Hitomi still felt the betrayal. There was nothing that could make Hitomi stop having this feeling. But it also confused and angered her because aside from the guilt, she felt her love for Van grow. It might have grown ten times stronger since the last time she checked. She turned to look at Van. It pained her to say the next line. "But you could grow to love her."
Van shook his head dejectedly. "No I won't. I will always love only you Hitomi. You have to understand that."
Hitomi looked away and began to think about it. Perhaps he was right. Hitomi could tell that he would love only her and never grow to love Yukari. She would be happy with him but the both of them, Van and Hitomi, would be miserable and it wouldn't be fair to either of them. Just because it would make Yukari happy didn't mean they should give up on each other.
Hitomi looked up at Van and smiled. "You're right Van. It wouldn't be fair. I think we should just stay together and let Yukari find someone who will love her back. We can even help her."
Van smiled and wanted to burst from happiness because Hitomi finally understood. He bent down to kiss Hitomi again. This time Hitomi kissed him back without guilt.
--------
Hitomi went to school the next day, scared and happy. She was scared because she didn't know how she was going to tell Yukari about her and Van being back together. On the other hand she was also happy because she could be with Van again.
"Hitomi!" she heard someone yell suddenly. Hitomi stopped dead in her tracks. She knew who that was. But was she read to tell her? She had come to school ready, but as soon as she heard her voice, she wasn't sure anymore. Either way, Hitomi turned around and a huge knot formed in her stomach.
Yukari stepped up to her and bent over to breath. Luckily she wasn't as tired as she had thought and said, "Hey Hitomi, you haven't by any chance seen Van have you?" She looked up and began to look all around the school. "I keep looking for him everywhere but I can't find him."
"Here I am," someone said suddenly. Hitomi's heart jumped while Yukari smiled.
They both turned around to find Van standing there, leaning on a pillar, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at them seriously. This was the moment Hitomi had been dreading ever since she found out that Yukari was in love with Van. She took a small step back as Yukari started to walk towards him.
Obviously, Van didn't know what Hitomi was thinking because instead of heading towards Yukari, he headed over to Hitomi and wrapped his arms around her. Yukari gasped as Van bent down to take Hitomi's lips in a kiss. That made Hitomi even guiltier because she didn't want Yukari to see that. She wanted to talk to her first.
She pointed from one to the other as she had a look of disbelief on her face. "You guys are together again?" Yukari asked with both jealousy and anger.
Hitomi didn't want to say anything but Van did. She looked down while Van spoke. "Yes Yukari. We love each other so we decided to stay together."
Yukari's face contorted into one of sadness. She looked at Hitomi and glared while tears streamed down her face. It made Hitomi's heart break. "I hate you Hitomi! Your not my best friend anymore!" (Pretty powerful words, ne?) And with that she went off running.
All Van and Hitomi could do was stand there, one looking neutral and the other looking miserable.
--------
'It's not fair! It's just not fair! Why does Hitomi have to get what she wanted? Why? Why did she have to steal Van from me?' she thought miserably as she ran through the streets. Where? She didn't know. All she knew was that she had to run. Run away from everything. Yukari ran and ran until she couldn't anymore. She was so heartbroken by what she saw. Hitomi had told her that she wasn't with Van anymore. Why? Why was this happening?
When she finally stopped, she found herself right outside Amano's house. She hadn't meant to end up there but she did and now she didn't know what to do. Should she confide in him and tell him what happened? She certainly could use someone to listen to her, since a certain best friend had backstabbed her.
She decided to do it and walked up to his door. She rang the bell and waited, wiping her tears as she did. 'I hope he's home' she thought. If he wasn't then she would just go home and cry herself to sleep.
He opened after a while. When he saw her, his face turned into one of worry. "Yukari, what's wrong?" Amano asked with concern. He saw the tears in her eyes, which only made his concern grow.
She looked at him without emotion. "I hate Hitomi."
Amano was puzzled. He stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him. Why would she say such a thing? Did she really mean it? What could have happened? "Why do you hate Hitomi?"
The memory made tears flow freely down Yukari's face again. "Because she stole Van away from me," she answered, her voice slightly breaking.
Amano blinked as he processed what she had just said. She had someone who Hitomi stole? That meant she had a boyfriend. She had never told him. He also either had noticed (though that was highly unlikely) or he just hadn't seen anything going on. He felt both jealousy and sadness after the confusion left. "I didn't know you were dating someone."
Yukari looked down at floor and started to fiddle with her hands. Her face turned a light shade of pink. "We weren't. It's just that Hitomi broke up with Van so I could have him. She swore she wouldn't get back together with him. She swore it!"
Amano didn't know then whether to feel more jealous or not to that. He looked calmly at her and said, "Yukari that was wrong, to have Hitomi who is probably so in love with Van, break up with him just for you. It isn't right."
Yukari looked down and then began to feel the shame. Perhaps he was right. Both of them WERE in love and she was selfish enough to break that love just so she could have Van at to herself. What had she been thinking? She had lost her best friend all because she was jealous. What a fool she was! She didn't really think about that once she would have Van, he would be with her but he wouldn't love her. You can't force someone to love you.
--------
After a long while of just standing there, Hitomi turned to look at Van with slight regret. "Did I do the right thing?" she asked, wanting Van's opinion before she decided to think about this on her own. She didn't really trust herself to answer her own questions at the moment.
Van turned to look at her then smile. How silly she could be. He reached out and gave Hitomi a loving hug. "Of course. Why should you sacrifice your love for me just because Yukari is in love with me? I think you did do the right thing. You deserve happiness Hitomi."
Hitomi snuggled into his embrace and her hands fluttered on his lean chest. "I'm going to have to find a way for Yukari to forgive me. I don't want her to hate me forever." That last thought made her snuggle closer. She wanted Van to just hug her and make all her pain go away.
Van slowly pulled Hitomi away in order to look her in the eye and tell her what he thought about all this. He took her hand softly between his. With the sun in the sky, lending its warmth to them, Van spoke. "If Yukari is in fact a good friend, she won't have any grudge against you. I'm sure everything will be fine."
--------
After much time of talking it over, Amano took Yukari home while the wind softly blowed. Amano had always had something for Yukari, but he never imagined that she liked someone else. Perhaps he should have paid more attention. But he was glad that her infatuation with him was over. He was ecstatic in fact. This gave him even more of a chance with her.
Yukari interrupted Amano from his thoughts by beginning to shiver a bit from the cold air. Amano gallantly took off his coat and placed it around Yukari. No reason for her to catch a cold. She looked up at him and smiled, causing Amano to blush and look away.
His blush deepened when Yukari snuggled closer to him, obviously looking for warmth. What he didn't imagine was that she was looking for the warmth in his heart.
--------
The next day:
As the sun beat its rays down and the wind softly blowed to give coolness from them, Hitomi walked to school alone. Van promised to walk with her and give her a little support but his mother called in and told her that he had come down with the flu. Hitomi actually felt guilty for going to school and leaving Van sick, but she knew that his mom would take care of him. The least Hitomi could do was go to his house after school and give him flowers.
"Hey Hitomi!" someone called off in the distance.
Hitomi froze dead in her tracks. She processed the voice in a second but was confused. Had she heard right? Was that voice actually cheery and sounding happy to see her? She turned around to find a happy Yukari running up to her, a large smile on her face and no trace of anything other than happiness shining in her eyes.
"H-hey Yukari," Hitomi said nervously. She had expected Yukari to still be made and even hate her but it didn't seem to be that. But she still needed to be sure. She had to make sure Yukari HAD in fact forgiven her.
When Yukari reached Hitomi, she hugged her tenderly, making Hitomi gasp in surprise. "I want to thank you for showing me that I can't force Van to love me. And I also want to thank you because if it weren't for you, Amano and I wouldn't be together."
Hitomi blinked and pulled away in amazement. "You and Amano are dating?" she asked, almost laughing in giddiness. But she stayed composed.
Yukari nodded her head, her smile growing. "Yesterday he talked to me and convinced me that you and Van being together was actually beneficial for all of us." That caused her blush and Hitomi smiled, knowing what she meant by "beneficial for all of us". She had known about Amano's love for Yukari. She paid attention when Yukari continued. "Also, that I can't force Van to love me when he clearly loves you."
Hitomi smiled at Yukari to show Yukari that there were no hard feelings. Hitomi was glad that Yukari was her old self again. It gave her the biggest relief in the world. She now had her best friend back and she was glad. The world was looking a whole lot brighter. "I'm glad you finally found someone for yourself."
Yukari turned around and began to walk. "Let's go. I don't want to be late for class," she giggled.
Hitomi ran a bit to catch up with Yukari, both laughing so loud that the other students looked at them as though they had gone mad.
The world was now a brighter place for everyone…
~The end~
Zakyra: WHAT?!?!?!? YOU MEAN THAT'S ALL?!?!?!?
HitomiFanel: Calm down Zakyra. There's more. There's an epilogue that closes this all up.
Zakyra: I'm glad.
HitomiFanel: And if you want to read it, then…
HitomiFanel and Zakyra: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! ^_^V (HF) ^_~ (Z)
HitomiFanel: And I just want to say again that I'm sorry for not posting sooner. I had to go where there was no computer (had to be there for a week) so I wasn't given the opportunity to update. I hope you all can forgive me.
Zakyra: At least you took the hard ones already.
HitomiFanel: Yeah. I'm glad it almost over.
HitomiFanel: Now I want to thank everyone who reviewed. And please enjoy your stay in Fanelia!
1 The New Kid
Disclaimer: The Escaflowne playground belongs to Shoji Kawamori. I'm only playing on the swings. Please don't litter, please don't mess anything up, and please don't feed the unicorns, trolls, fairies, or elves ^_^
(recap)
Mamoru sat down next to her, a small smile on his own face. "So, what's wrong?" he asked.
Hitomi was going to answer when the doorbell rang. She looked up immediately as Mamoru got up to answer it. Hitomi stayed behind since she didn't want to see anybody. She just didn't feel up to talking with anyone.
She heard footsteps come up the stairs and thinking it was her brother, Hitomi went outside her room. She lifted her head when she was outside. Seeing a certain someone standing there, she stopped dead in her tracks and gasped. For the second time today, Van caught her by surprise.
"Van," Hitomi whispered.
-----
They just stared at each other for a long time. Neither said anything for a long moment. Hitomi knew she was trapped while Van knew she couldn't escape from him this time. They would solve this, one way or the other. Van was determined. Nothing was going to steer him away and nothing she said would get rid of him.
Van finally broke the silence. He sighed and began. "Okay Hitomi, this time you will explain to me why you broke up with me," Van demanded giving her a calm, but firm look.
Hitomi didn't answer him at first as she went over to her bed and sat down. She rested her hands on her lap and looked down at them. Hitomi didn't know what to say. She didn't want to deceive Yukari by telling Van how she felt about him. She also didn't want to lie to Van. She looked him dead in the eye and sighed. "Okay Van, I'll tell you why I broke up with you."
"Good," Van began as he closed Hitomi's door softly with a click, "because now we won't be interrupted by anybody."
Hitomi sighed again and decided to tell him. She looked down at her hands again and decided to concentrate on them as she talked. This made talking to him a whole lot easier. "The reason is because Yukari is in love with you."
For a long moment, Van didn't do anything. He looked at Hitomi with no expression. Then came the emotions. He felt shocked, but the greatest emotion top was relief. He thought Hitomi had broken up with him because she didn't love him anymore. He thought he would grow up old and alone, without Hitomi. Man was he wrong! He laughed in happiness. "Is that all?"
Hitomi was taken aback by his response. She gasped and looked at him with shock, but she hid it by looking angry. She glared at him and raised her voice a few decibels higher. "Is that all you have to say 'Is that all'? Poor Yukari is so in love with you and you don't care? What kind of a person are you?"
Van stopped laughing and merely smiled at Hitomi. With mischief in his eyes, he walked over to Hitomi and grabbed her softly by her upper arms. He pulled her towards him and bent to whisper in her ear, "I'm a person who is in love with you, Hitomi Kanzaki. You are the one I love, now and forever."
Hitomi's face contorted into one of sadness as Van moved his face towards hers. She knew what he was going to do and she was powerless to stop it. "Van, don't," Hitomi begged as Van moved his lips slowly towards hers, teasing her a bit by simply letting his lips barely touch hers like a whisper. Although she swore she would stay away from Van and let Yukari have him so that Hitomi wouldn't loose her friendship, she didn't resist Van's touch. He whispered "I love you," before softly pressing his lips over hers in a gentle kiss. She leaned in and kissed him as well.
-------
By the door and unknown by both was Hitomi's brother with a smile on his face. He had opened the door a crack to check on them and was merely peaking to see how it had gone between the two. 'It seems that those two are finally back together' he thought. He turned and walked away to let the two lovebirds have their moment.
-------
After all the stored passion had gone away (sort of), Van pulled Hitomi away a bit. There were still things between them that were felt unsaid and he was still determined to straighten everything out. He merely gazed into her eyes and let his eyes say what he wanted before he even said anything.
"Now will you let Yukari have me?" Van commented with a smile, knowing that Hitomi wouldn't be able to resist him after that kiss. And if that didn't work, then he would have to find some other way like flowers or taking her somewhere nice.
Hitomi turned away from Van, a sad look on her face. "I feel like I just betrayed my best friend," she responded earnestly. How was she going to tell Yukari now? She wasn't sure if she could tell her the truth.
Van put both his hands on Hitomi's shoulders and looked at her with love shining through his eyes. Even the coldest person in the world could see the love shining and even be touched by it. "You have to understand Hitomi that I don't love Yukari and I never will. I will always love YOU. Do you think it's fair that I be with Yukari when I love you? Sure, Yukari will be happy but we won't. You will watch us together and be miserable and I will watch you while I'm with Yukari and be totally miserable. It won't be fair to the both of us."
Although he had a good point, Hitomi still felt the betrayal. There was nothing that could make Hitomi stop having this feeling. But it also confused and angered her because aside from the guilt, she felt her love for Van grow. It might have grown ten times stronger since the last time she checked. She turned to look at Van. It pained her to say the next line. "But you could grow to love her."
Van shook his head dejectedly. "No I won't. I will always love only you Hitomi. You have to understand that."
Hitomi looked away and began to think about it. Perhaps he was right. Hitomi could tell that he would love only her and never grow to love Yukari. She would be happy with him but the both of them, Van and Hitomi, would be miserable and it wouldn't be fair to either of them. Just because it would make Yukari happy didn't mean they should give up on each other.
Hitomi looked up at Van and smiled. "You're right Van. It wouldn't be fair. I think we should just stay together and let Yukari find someone who will love her back. We can even help her."
Van smiled and wanted to burst from happiness because Hitomi finally understood. He bent down to kiss Hitomi again. This time Hitomi kissed him back without guilt.
--------
Hitomi went to school the next day, scared and happy. She was scared because she didn't know how she was going to tell Yukari about her and Van being back together. On the other hand she was also happy because she could be with Van again.
"Hitomi!" she heard someone yell suddenly. Hitomi stopped dead in her tracks. She knew who that was. But was she read to tell her? She had come to school ready, but as soon as she heard her voice, she wasn't sure anymore. Either way, Hitomi turned around and a huge knot formed in her stomach.
Yukari stepped up to her and bent over to breath. Luckily she wasn't as tired as she had thought and said, "Hey Hitomi, you haven't by any chance seen Van have you?" She looked up and began to look all around the school. "I keep looking for him everywhere but I can't find him."
"Here I am," someone said suddenly. Hitomi's heart jumped while Yukari smiled.
They both turned around to find Van standing there, leaning on a pillar, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at them seriously. This was the moment Hitomi had been dreading ever since she found out that Yukari was in love with Van. She took a small step back as Yukari started to walk towards him.
Obviously, Van didn't know what Hitomi was thinking because instead of heading towards Yukari, he headed over to Hitomi and wrapped his arms around her. Yukari gasped as Van bent down to take Hitomi's lips in a kiss. That made Hitomi even guiltier because she didn't want Yukari to see that. She wanted to talk to her first.
She pointed from one to the other as she had a look of disbelief on her face. "You guys are together again?" Yukari asked with both jealousy and anger.
Hitomi didn't want to say anything but Van did. She looked down while Van spoke. "Yes Yukari. We love each other so we decided to stay together."
Yukari's face contorted into one of sadness. She looked at Hitomi and glared while tears streamed down her face. It made Hitomi's heart break. "I hate you Hitomi! Your not my best friend anymore!" (Pretty powerful words, ne?) And with that she went off running.
All Van and Hitomi could do was stand there, one looking neutral and the other looking miserable.
--------
'It's not fair! It's just not fair! Why does Hitomi have to get what she wanted? Why? Why did she have to steal Van from me?' she thought miserably as she ran through the streets. Where? She didn't know. All she knew was that she had to run. Run away from everything. Yukari ran and ran until she couldn't anymore. She was so heartbroken by what she saw. Hitomi had told her that she wasn't with Van anymore. Why? Why was this happening?
When she finally stopped, she found herself right outside Amano's house. She hadn't meant to end up there but she did and now she didn't know what to do. Should she confide in him and tell him what happened? She certainly could use someone to listen to her, since a certain best friend had backstabbed her.
She decided to do it and walked up to his door. She rang the bell and waited, wiping her tears as she did. 'I hope he's home' she thought. If he wasn't then she would just go home and cry herself to sleep.
He opened after a while. When he saw her, his face turned into one of worry. "Yukari, what's wrong?" Amano asked with concern. He saw the tears in her eyes, which only made his concern grow.
She looked at him without emotion. "I hate Hitomi."
Amano was puzzled. He stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him. Why would she say such a thing? Did she really mean it? What could have happened? "Why do you hate Hitomi?"
The memory made tears flow freely down Yukari's face again. "Because she stole Van away from me," she answered, her voice slightly breaking.
Amano blinked as he processed what she had just said. She had someone who Hitomi stole? That meant she had a boyfriend. She had never told him. He also either had noticed (though that was highly unlikely) or he just hadn't seen anything going on. He felt both jealousy and sadness after the confusion left. "I didn't know you were dating someone."
Yukari looked down at floor and started to fiddle with her hands. Her face turned a light shade of pink. "We weren't. It's just that Hitomi broke up with Van so I could have him. She swore she wouldn't get back together with him. She swore it!"
Amano didn't know then whether to feel more jealous or not to that. He looked calmly at her and said, "Yukari that was wrong, to have Hitomi who is probably so in love with Van, break up with him just for you. It isn't right."
Yukari looked down and then began to feel the shame. Perhaps he was right. Both of them WERE in love and she was selfish enough to break that love just so she could have Van at to herself. What had she been thinking? She had lost her best friend all because she was jealous. What a fool she was! She didn't really think about that once she would have Van, he would be with her but he wouldn't love her. You can't force someone to love you.
--------
After a long while of just standing there, Hitomi turned to look at Van with slight regret. "Did I do the right thing?" she asked, wanting Van's opinion before she decided to think about this on her own. She didn't really trust herself to answer her own questions at the moment.
Van turned to look at her then smile. How silly she could be. He reached out and gave Hitomi a loving hug. "Of course. Why should you sacrifice your love for me just because Yukari is in love with me? I think you did do the right thing. You deserve happiness Hitomi."
Hitomi snuggled into his embrace and her hands fluttered on his lean chest. "I'm going to have to find a way for Yukari to forgive me. I don't want her to hate me forever." That last thought made her snuggle closer. She wanted Van to just hug her and make all her pain go away.
Van slowly pulled Hitomi away in order to look her in the eye and tell her what he thought about all this. He took her hand softly between his. With the sun in the sky, lending its warmth to them, Van spoke. "If Yukari is in fact a good friend, she won't have any grudge against you. I'm sure everything will be fine."
--------
After much time of talking it over, Amano took Yukari home while the wind softly blowed. Amano had always had something for Yukari, but he never imagined that she liked someone else. Perhaps he should have paid more attention. But he was glad that her infatuation with him was over. He was ecstatic in fact. This gave him even more of a chance with her.
Yukari interrupted Amano from his thoughts by beginning to shiver a bit from the cold air. Amano gallantly took off his coat and placed it around Yukari. No reason for her to catch a cold. She looked up at him and smiled, causing Amano to blush and look away.
His blush deepened when Yukari snuggled closer to him, obviously looking for warmth. What he didn't imagine was that she was looking for the warmth in his heart.
--------
The next day:
As the sun beat its rays down and the wind softly blowed to give coolness from them, Hitomi walked to school alone. Van promised to walk with her and give her a little support but his mother called in and told her that he had come down with the flu. Hitomi actually felt guilty for going to school and leaving Van sick, but she knew that his mom would take care of him. The least Hitomi could do was go to his house after school and give him flowers.
"Hey Hitomi!" someone called off in the distance.
Hitomi froze dead in her tracks. She processed the voice in a second but was confused. Had she heard right? Was that voice actually cheery and sounding happy to see her? She turned around to find a happy Yukari running up to her, a large smile on her face and no trace of anything other than happiness shining in her eyes.
"H-hey Yukari," Hitomi said nervously. She had expected Yukari to still be made and even hate her but it didn't seem to be that. But she still needed to be sure. She had to make sure Yukari HAD in fact forgiven her.
When Yukari reached Hitomi, she hugged her tenderly, making Hitomi gasp in surprise. "I want to thank you for showing me that I can't force Van to love me. And I also want to thank you because if it weren't for you, Amano and I wouldn't be together."
Hitomi blinked and pulled away in amazement. "You and Amano are dating?" she asked, almost laughing in giddiness. But she stayed composed.
Yukari nodded her head, her smile growing. "Yesterday he talked to me and convinced me that you and Van being together was actually beneficial for all of us." That caused her blush and Hitomi smiled, knowing what she meant by "beneficial for all of us". She had known about Amano's love for Yukari. She paid attention when Yukari continued. "Also, that I can't force Van to love me when he clearly loves you."
Hitomi smiled at Yukari to show Yukari that there were no hard feelings. Hitomi was glad that Yukari was her old self again. It gave her the biggest relief in the world. She now had her best friend back and she was glad. The world was looking a whole lot brighter. "I'm glad you finally found someone for yourself."
Yukari turned around and began to walk. "Let's go. I don't want to be late for class," she giggled.
Hitomi ran a bit to catch up with Yukari, both laughing so loud that the other students looked at them as though they had gone mad.
The world was now a brighter place for everyone…
~The end~
Zakyra: WHAT?!?!?!? YOU MEAN THAT'S ALL?!?!?!?
HitomiFanel: Calm down Zakyra. There's more. There's an epilogue that closes this all up.
Zakyra: I'm glad.
HitomiFanel: And if you want to read it, then…
HitomiFanel and Zakyra: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! ^_^V (HF) ^_~ (Z)
HitomiFanel: And I just want to say again that I'm sorry for not posting sooner. I had to go where there was no computer (had to be there for a week) so I wasn't given the opportunity to update. I hope you all can forgive me.
