TODOKANU OMOI- MY FRIEND'S LOVE
Chapter Four
Seiya arrived home from school to an empty home again. He threw his bag on the couch and walked over to the kitchen. The past two weeks had been painfully horrible. Taiki had buried himself in his research on his astronomy project, spending all his hours either at school, in the library, or sleeping in his room. Yaten, meanwhile, hadn't even made an appearance at the house, or school for that matter, since the incident. So now the house was always silent. Even the clash of the keys flung on the table resounded through the still atmosphere.
Something black and fuzzy was in the kitchen when he entered. "You're that cat, Luna, right?" Seiya asked, noting the crescent moon tattooed in the black fur. "If you're looking for Yaten, he's not here. And I don't know when he'll be back, so don't ask." He opened the fridge, hoping the animal took the hint.
"I heard what happened," she said, pouncing from the sink to the table.
"You're a little late," Seiya snorted. "That was gossip two weeks ago."
"I know. I just wanted to find out how Yaten feels about A.... the incident."
Seiya gave her a backwards glance, then slammed the fridge closed. "Look, I don't even know what the hell's going on with him, okay? He's not here. Find him yourself."
"Are you okay?"
Seiya glowered, as if that ray of hatred would send the annoying fuzzball home. "I'm fine. You just go back to the dumpling and tell her that whatever Yaten and Taiki feel about the incident, it's their business, not theirs. We don't need any gossip going out to the press about this."
"I came because I was worried about Yaten, not because Usagi asked me too!" Luna huffed.
"You're talking to the wrong guy." Seiya could feel the cat boring holes into him as he reached for a glass, but ignored her. "You're just wasting your time here. Go home."
Cocking her feline head, Seiya had the unnerving impression that she could see into his soul. She blinked her large cat eyes, scrutinizing him. "Maybe I should be here after all. You look like you need..."
"I don't need anything!" Seiya hurled the glass towards her, deliberately missing by inches. "Get out! I don't *need* you! I don't need *ANYTHING*!!!!!!!!!!"
Startled, Luna backed away from the force of Seiya's anger. "S-Seiya..."
"*OUT*!!!!!!!!" He flung open the cupboard, arming himself with another glass. It followed Luna as she fled out the window, barely managing to miss being hit with shards of glass. Seiya crumpled on the table, pounding his fist on the top. "Just leave me alone," he moaned, thumping to emphasize every word. "I don't know what's going on, and I don't know what to do about it! Dammit! Why does this have to happen to me! Damn you, Yaten! Damn you, Taiki!"
After a few minutes, the grief ebbed, allowing Seiya to retain control of his senses again. How could they get him involved in something this big?! No, it wasn't their faults; whatever happened simply happened. Still, he felt like the rope in a tug-of-war, obligated to help both sides and unable to help either. On top of this, there was still Usagi. And Mamoru.
"I need to run," he muttered, fleeing out of the kitchen, mindless of the shards he left behind. Running wouldn't point him to any answers, but it'd keep him from smashing whatever kitchenware they still had left.
He was stopped by a trilling sound from the microwave. Breathing deeply, masking his emotions, he pushed the pulsating green button.
Princess Kakyuu emerged on the screen, decorated in her diplomatic outfit. "Ah, Fighter!" Kakyuu gave him her usual brilliant smile, pleased to see him. "I was hoping one of you would be in. You three seem to be awfully busy lately."
"Yeah, well, we get tied up in things," Seiya answered noncommittally, glancing towards the floor.
"What kinds of things?"
"You know, work, school, protecting the universe, those kinds of things."
The princess laughed. "I see. Is everything going well?"
/Oh, yeah, fine. My best friends aren't talking to each other, or me for that matter; Yaten's heartsick; Taiki's depressed; and my heart's been trampled on, torn to shreds, and blown to the wind./ "We're fine," he managed to say as a pang of guilt struck his heart. She was his *princess* after all; he didn't feel comfortable lying to her this way, as though he had something to hide. Maybe he did. "How are the negotiations coming?"
"Very well, I believe. We should be able to set up a joint alliance with Earth very shortly, although from the way Princess Serenity describes it, our presence may not be favorable right now."
"Yeah, well, Earthlings still think of aliens as green little men with weird antennae. I wouldn't worry, though. The Dump-er, Usagi can handle everything. She always manages to, one way or another."
"That is good to hear. I am glad you three volunteered for this job; it makes mine much easier knowing I can rely on you."
Seiya inwardly winced, wondering what the Princess would think of their little problems in the home. Or of the real reason he wanted to be on Earth. "We're glad to be of service any way possible."
"Well, I have another meeting, so I must be off. Take care of yourselves, and give Maker and Healer my regards."
"I will, your Highness." The microwave returned to its normal function, the face of Princess Kakyuu swallowed in a blank screen. He felt sick, as though he was betraying his princess by keeping such a secret. Nothing was fine here, but she had more to deal with than petty little love problems with Earthlings. Building a galactic empire was a hundred times more important than this; he should keep that in mind. And still... how did such primitive people manage to trap all three of them in a web of love with no escape?
The door opened, indicating someone was home. Seiya peered out into the living room to glimpse Taiki as he hurriedly took off his shoes and fled to his room, stacks of books in each hand. Seiya watched him go, like always, unsure of what to say or even what comfort he would be. Well, *none* in this state of mind.
Maybe he ought to tell Kakyuu to put someone else on this assignment; no one here seemed capable of it any longer. *If* he managed to find out how Yaten was faring.
/Yaten, where the hell are you?/
* * *
Yaten stared at the screen as a pink haired fighter blasted a circular looking space ship into smithereens, shouting curses in the process. He wasn't really paying attention, only Jiro was rapt with attention, oohing and ahhing over both the complex spaceship design and the size of the heroine's bust.
Yaten had been camping out at Jiro's home for two weeks, tactfully avoiding his own home. It was lucky that Jiro's parents didn't mind (both usually away on business trips), and he was able to get some distraction from his problems by delving deeper into the plethora of anime Jiro owned. Jiro had been kind enough not to show him any shoujo anime with really complex love triangles; it had just been a mecha mind-blowing two weeks.
As the ending song came up, Jiro swallowed the last of his tea, looking at Yaten thoughtfully. Finally, he said, "All right, out with it."
"Huh?" Yaten blinked at him.
"You've camped out here for two weeks, bud," Jiro explained, setting aside his cup. "Something's wrong, and you're not talking to your roomies, so you might as well talk to me."
"It's nothing," Yaten turned back to the TV.
"C'mon! I know you don't like this stuff as much as I do, but you're still here starin' at the screen!"
"Who says I don't like anime as much as you?"
"All right, then what was the exact name and type module of the labor Noa Izumi pilots? [1]"
Yaten refused to answer, glaring at the space scene and rolling credits.
"You see!" Jiro triumphantly smirked. "You don't know! No true otaku would ever forget the module, so talk!" When he was answered by silence again, Jiro tried another tactic. "C'mon, man! I'm your bud, right? You can talk to me about anything!" The song on the LD finished playing and a blue screen popped up. Jiro thought for a moment on how he could get his reticent friend to open up when he spotted just the thing. Picking up the LD, he grinned wickedly. "Yaten, if you don't talk, I'm gonna make you watch "Pretty Sammy"! The TV version!"
Inwardly Yaten groaned. He *hated* those cutesy magical girl shows with the awful costumes and the squeaky voices. Jiro was not playing fair. Still, he refused to crack, turning towards the TV. "Put it in."
"You asked for it!" Jiro sang, smirking. Very soon the screen was covered in gaudy bright pink and yellow and a child's voice was drolling out a sugarcoated melody as girls with saucer eyes bounced happily around the screen. Yaten withstood the song for three seconds until he cracked. "All right! I'll talk! Just turn it off!"
Jiro stopped the LD and leaned forward, preparing himself to listen. Yaten drew a deep breath, allowing the memories he had shoved aside to resurface. "First of all, Taiki is in love with..."
"Uh, is this going to take long?" Jiro asked, beginning to fidget. "I kind of have to go take a leak."
Glaring at him, Yaten snarled, "You know what, just forget it! Forget it!"
"No, no, I want to listen!" Jiro waved his hands placatingly, rising.
"It'll only take a sec, really! Um, here! Talk to Totoro while you wait![2]" He threw Yaten a gray fluffy animal before racing down the hallway.
"Idiot," Yaten muttered to the stuffed... thing in his lap. "I'm not talking to a stupid stuffed animal. Especially a cute one. Right?' he shook the thing in his lap, turning it about to get a better view of what exactly it was. "What are you anyway?"
"It's Totoro!" Jiro grinned, plopping back on the floor in record time. "See, I toldja it wouldn't take long! Now, c'mon! Out with it!"
Yaten explained everything that had taken part, occasionally fiddling with Totoro as he did. "So, that's the story," he ended, touching Totoro on his cute little nose. He glanced towards Jiro, who had been unusually quiet throughout the explanation, wondering if he had fallen asleep. Instead, Jiro had his hands crossed over his chest, face scrunched with concentration.
"Sounds like a KOR syndrome, [3]" Jiro finally uttered, meeting Yaten's eyes. "You poor dog."
Bristling at being called a dog, Yaten refused to ask what a KOR was.
"Yeah, I'm so pathetic, aren't I. Falling in love with my friend's girlfriend."
"Yes! You have done the most horrible travesty mankind can think of! Even Kyousuke's indecisiveness is nothing compared to what you have done."
"Gee, thanks Jiro."
"I am on the side of Justice! Justice cries when it hears my name! And, I am the man who loves love and justice, the Great Saiyaman! [4]" Jiro stood, preparing himself for his speech. "You, who love your friend's love, what have you to say in your behalf. How much do you love her? Is it a mere crush, or would you be her Yuu [5]?"
"What?!"
"How deep does you love flow? Is it the deepness of a shoujou manga [6]?"
"I.. suppose...."
"Then, you have not been in the wrong, my friend, but in the right! Taiki has become the Hotohori and you have become the Tamahome! [7]"
"What's a hotoho-"
"Now, then, like in the shoujo manga, you must be true to your feelings! Declare your love like Godai, though don't do it exactly like he did [8], and write her a song to be sung only by her angel! Yes, `To my Ami!' [9]"
"Jiro, you're not making sense-"
"Quiet! I am the great fixer of love, am I not? Japan's cupid all wrapped up in jeans and the necessary means! If you don't proclaim your feelings for her, you will wind up like Issei [10]! A bitter old man with no love while Taiki goes waltzing off with your princess, stealing away your only reason to live!" Tears were starting to flow from Jiro's eyes as he barged ahead, clutching a handkerchief for emphasis. "Oh, I can see it now! The tragedy of rejection! Like Minmei, no more will you have that warm person to snuggle with at night [11]. You will just be a lost, embittered person... Yaten, do you see what I'm saying?"
The question seemed to require no answer as Jiro grabbed him by the shirt, taken away by the passion of his speech. "Don't be as reluctant as Mr. Fujisawa [12]! You must follow your heart! It will work out! And then, like Gekiganger [13], you will triumph!" He dropped Yaten in favor of a sentai pose.
Jiro held his dramatic pose for a few minutes as Yaten blinked at him, trying to figure out what the garbled mess that came out of Jiro's mouth actually meant, if anything. After the allotted time for Yaten to get over the magnificence of his speech ran out, Jiro glanced back at his friend. "You really had no clue as to what I said?"
"Something like that," Yaten smoothed out his now wrinkled shirt. "Did you actually learn *how* to speak Japanese when you were little?"
"Geez, you don't have to be so harsh," Jiro faltered, the triumphant glow surrounding him dispersing quickly with Yaten's knife-edged words. "I was only trying to help."
"What, by babbling on about your stupid anime? Give it a rest Jiro! That stuff's for Elementary school kids; you're acting like a child. You need to grow up"
Hurt, Jiro collapsed back on the floor, then, he snapped his face up to Yaten. "Taking it out on me isn't gonna help, you know."
"Who said I was taking *anything* out on you!" Yaten stubbornly folded his arms across his chest. He needed to lash out at someone, if only to ease some of the hurt Jiro had deliberately caused him to remember. "I was telling the truth."
"Then why did you watch it?" Jiro didn't wait for an answer, simply barreled on ahead, "Yaten, I'm your bud, remember? Besides, that actor's mask can't fool me; I'm a *pro*!" Grinning infectiously, he jerked Yaten into a sitting position, clapping a hand to his shoulder. "Lash out at me all you want, but it really isn't gonna make you feel better."
"Oh? Really? You know me *that* well? Then what *is* going to make me feel better?"
"You need to go and tell Ami how you feel."
Yaten's heart skipped a beat, all caustic retorts fleeing from his brain. Hadn't Jiro even been listening? "Yeah, right. You can can the act now, Jiro."
"I'm serious! If you don't, you'll be miserable for the rest of your life."
"Taiki-"
"Has nothing to do with this. He gave up, for whatever reason. Look, pal, *you* didn't specifically do anything wrong so quit gnawing it over in that rock-head skull of yours! She's a free person! So hurry up before your chance is over, and tell her how you feel!"
Yaten swallowed through a dry mouth, refusing to even look in Jiro's eyes. How could he just waltz up to his best friend's girl after two weeks and ask her out? He wanted to spit at Jiro to leave him alone, that he didn't understand *anything*! How could a person who spent half his life glued to the TV watching cartoons know about love or friendship or anything aside from how to operate the remote control?
Squaring his jaw to tell Jiro off, he snapped back to attention when Jiro's genuine smile caught him off guard. Sighing, Yaten resigned himself to fate; Jiro wasn't going to let this one go, no matter how hard Yaten struggled against it. "You sure about this?"
"Of course! It works in anime!"
"Jiro, you need a reality check. This is real life; things don't work out the way they do in anime."
"They can if you *try*. So, are you gonna fold or you gonna go after your dreams?"
At Yaten's silent thoughtfulness, Jiro swept through his mountain of LDs and videos until he pulled out an appropriate mecha show. "Here, you watch this! It'll give you the courage to fight!" He popped it into the machine.
As the theme music started (some heavy-metal ditty about finding justice) Yaten shook his head. He had already decided what he was going to do: Jiro was right, he had to talk to Ami. But, only to bring her and Taiki back together. Though his heart constricted at the thought, he *had* to fix things. After all, he was the one to mess it all up.
* * *
Ami slowly locked the door to her house, in no hurry to get to school this day, or any day for that matter. True most of the more savage gossip had died down, but there were still ashes left for people to fan back into a large matter. Stories had spread all over school as how she was the one person to break them up, dropping her popularity to zero. Not that she minded being unpopular; it went hand in hand with being a genius, but everywhere she went in school she felt stares of hatred piercing her back. If it hadn't been for her friends, she wasn't sure she would have been able to handle it.
Now that the worst was over, she was certain nothing else bad could happen. "That's right," she told herself, bathing in the morning sun's rays. "Today will be a good day." Placing a smile on her face, she prepared to face the day as Usagi would; bravely and with energy.
"Ami."
She turned towards Yaten, who was waiting expectantly at the gate to her home, her dream of a perfect day shattered.
******************************************************
Here are some explanations for Jiro's speech to Yaten, for those who couldn't catch all the anime references littered in it:
[1]- Mobile Police Patlabor; She pilots a AV98 Ingram.
[2]- Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro); A fuzzy cute animal. I haven't watched this one, but I've seen the merchandise everywhere.
[3]- KOR is Kimagure Orange Road; an anime concerning the relationship between 3 people, a young man named Kyosuke who is in love with a girl named Madoka, yet dating her best friend Hikaru.
[4]- Dragonball Z; Gohan's alter ego. He says this little speech in many different ways.
[5]- Marmalade Boy; Yuu could be called the "perfect man." (in Jiro's humble opinion)
[6] - Shoujou manga, just in case you don't know it, is technically manga (comics) for girls and women. Sailor Moon is one of them. ^_^
[7]- Fushigi Yuugi (Mysterious Play); Hotohori and Tamahome are in love with the same girl, Miaka.
[8]- Maison Ikkoku; Godai "declares" his love for Kyoko standing on a trash can and bellowing it to the neighborhood (he was drunk).
[9]- Earthian; Cliff (an angel) writes a tune for his girlfriend, titled "To my Blair".
[10]- Please Save My Earth; Issei has a one-sided love with Jinpachi.
[11]- Macross (Robotech); One of the more famous characters who doesn't end up with the man she loves.
[12]- El Hazard; Mr. Fujisawa is a typical relationship-shy man.
[13]- Nadesico; Gekiganger is a robot from an imaginary show called "Gekiganger III" which the entire cast of Nadesico loves. Needless to say, Jiro Yamada is the most obsessed with it.