Also, I hope you guys don't get confused. Helen is the main character's real name so I just thought it'd be more suitable to call her that instead of Aya, since she's not Aya.
Disclaimer: Ayashi no Ceres and all its characters belong to the Almighty Holy One, Yu Watase. I don't own anything but myself. But I sure as hell wish I owned Yuuhi Aogiri. *grins*
After the wonderful dinner cooked by Yuuhi, everybody retreated to their rooms to sleep. Helen got to know the others and noticed Mrs. Q's rather unique personality, which made her laugh. I think I'm gonna like it here...everybody's so alive and nice. She yawned and lied down on the futon, getting ready to sleep. I wonder what Yuuhi's doing....
"Hey...Aya?" Yuuhi said from the other side of the sliding door.
Helen turned to her side. I wonder how school's going to be like. Will I have friends there?
"Aya?"
"Oh...um...you're calling me, Yuuhi?" Helen asked.
"Hey...do you...have any of Aya's memories?"
"What do you mean?" She raised her upper body and leaned on her elbow.
"Like, do you by any chance remember anything I said or did a few days ago?"
Helen began to wonder what Yuuhi could be talking about. "I only have my memories. Memories from where I live."
"Oh, I see." Yuuhi said, sounding a bit disappointed.
"Why do you ask? Was it something important I should know?"
"No, don't worry about it." He began to fiddle with his chopsticks and then whispered to himself, "It's not that important to you."
She finally realized what Yuuhi was trying to point out. He probably...he told Aya he loved her recently...and she rejected him... She recalled the scene after his father and brother left.
"You'll find someone who'll love you soon," Aya said, wiping tears from her eyes.
Yuuhi couldn't hold his feelings in any longer. His feelings became so strong, he couldn't control himself.
"I want you to love me!" Yuuhi yelled as he embraced Aya with a passionate kiss and pinned her to the floor.
"Oh gosh..." Helen said to herself. Do these count as me having Aya's memories? No...they don't. It's just what I remember watching. I don't even know what Aya did yesterday.
"I-I'm sorry," Yuuhi said.
"For what? There's nothing to be sorry about." By the tone of her voice, Yuuhi could tell she was saying this with a smile.
"For keeping you up late."
"No need for apologies! I stay up this late all the time!"
"No, I should apologize. Well, goodnight."
Helen pouted and got up from the futon and walked over to the sliding door that separated their rooms. "Yuuhi," she said as she slid open the door. She smiled and slowly said, "Um...D-do you um...wanna spend some time with me tomorrow?"
Yuuhi looked up at her and just stared. His mouth was moving but words didn't come out.
She leaned against the wall and giggled. "It's a simple yes or no question. Or...is it that you have other plans tomorrow?"
Yuuhi shook his head and blushed as he turned so that his back would be facing her.
"What's wrong? Is there some kind of monster behind me or something?"
Yuuhi shook his head and pointed a trembling finger at her. Helen looked down and saw that the robe she was wearing was revealing a little more cleavage than necessary. She turned a deep shade of red and turned so their backs were facing each other. She retied the robe tighter, making sure nothing inappropriate was showing. I'm not used to Aya's body, she thought. Her body is more...curvey than mine.
"S-so how about it, Yuuhi? Still up for tomorrow?"
"Y-yeah...s-sure!" Yuuhi replied. Why is it that it's more different with her than the real Aya?, he thought. Aya would've hit me so hard that I flew out of the roof by now.
After a brief awkward pause, Helen finally said, "Goodnight, Yuuhi." She smiled at him as she slid the door closed.
"Goodnight," he said from the other side.
Helen layed on the futon, tossing and turning. I can't help but wonder where Aya is, she thought. Is she really in my body? Or is it just my soul that's taking over Aya's body. Or maybe I'm currently unconscious back home...Not like anyone would care anyway.
"Gosh, I can't sleep," Helen said as she got up. She wanted to open the sliding door to see if Yuuhi was awake, but decided not to. She sat on the edge of the hallway in front of her room, facing the garden. She let her feet dangle as she looked up at the stars. She remembered the time when she would look out the window in the middle of the night when she was supposed to be sleeping. She recalled the times she spent with her friends while they were still talking to her. She began to regret all the times she thought was miserable to her. I wasn't miserable back then. I'm miserable now. It's true you don't know what you have until you lose it.
"The stars are beautiful tonight, don't you think?" a voice said from behind.
Helen was startled and would've fallen off the edge if Yuuhi hadn't caught her. "Yuuhi! You scared me!" she said in a loud whisper.
"I'm sorry," he began as he sat down beside her. "You don't really need to whisper. Suzumi and Mrs. Q won't hear us."
Helen smiled at him and continued to look at the stars. "Everything in the sky is beautiful."
Yuuhi looked at her and had the urge to hold her, caress her, kiss her, all because he loved her, possibly more than Tooya did. He tried his best to control himself since he didn't want to do the same thing he did last time. "You like looking at the stars, right?" he said with a smile.
"Yeah, very much," Helen replied. "There's something magical and romantic about them that I just love. I can't really explain it. All I can say about it is that it gives me a soothing feeling inside. Or maybe it's because I'm a hopeless romantic."
"Why do you say that?"
"I'm not really sure," Helen said as she frowned. "I guess it's because I've been heartbroken so many times. I've never been on a date, or had a boyfriend. Hell, I've never been kissed. Pretty pathetic, huh?"
"No, not at all. Not to me at least."
"Yuuhi," she said as she looked at him, "thanks for being so nice to me. I wish I had someone like you back home. It would make things so much better."
"What do you mean 'make things so much better'?" Yuuhi asked.
"It's a long story. I hated my life. I was kind of happy to know that I was stuck here. I don't mind one bit being here. I like it better than my life at home. Back home, I felt like I was slowly losing each one of my friends, one by one. I don't know why, but it was just this feeling I had. I lost my best friend. We don't really talk much anymore. Maybe we say 'Hi' if we pass each other down the hall, but things between us aren't the same. It all started because of something little and stupid someone said." She continued to explain how her life was like and Yuuhi had the urge to hold her even more.
"I just hated everything going on around me," Helen continued as tears started to roll down her cheeks. "I just wanted to drop dead and die in front of everybody. I felt so useless and lonely. I had no one like you around. I know I haven't really known you for very long, not even a whole day yet, but somehow, I feel like I can open up to you and say whatever's on my mind. It seems like I've known you before, like we've already met. There's not very many people I can talk to like this. It probably sounds pathetic to you, huh?" She continued to cry and Yuuhi allowed her to let it all out.
I can't fight it any longer, Yuuhi thought. He wrapped his warm and loving arms around her and pulled her close to him. She found solace in them. "It's alright. Let it all out. I'll be here if you need me. I will always be here." He stroked her hair and she continued to cry harder.
"Yuuhi!" she said as she cried into his chest. "I...I don't wanna go back! I don't! But I'll have to since I don't belong here!"
After a moment of silence, Yuuhi said, "You can stay here if you like."
Helen's tears subsided and she rested her head on Yuuhi's chest. I wish I can be held like this all the time, she thought. "Yuuhi, as much as I'd like to, I can't."
"Why not?"
"It's because I don't belong here! I'm not supposed to even be here at all!" Tears began to come out of Helen's eyes, but not as much as before. "Things that are gonna happen, aren't supposed to happen," she whispered to herself.
"Did you just say something?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing." This robe isn't keeping me warm one bit, she thought. Yuuhi and Helen sat there in silence for moments longer. Things were quiet. So quiet that she could hear the sound of his heartbeat. She felt the warmth of his body, but it wasn't enough to keep her warm. A breeze came by and caused her to start shivering.
"You're trembling," Yuuhi said. "Are you cold?"
"Only a little," Helen replied. "It's nothing I can't handle."
"You better get inside soon or else you're gonna get sick." Yuuhi took her hands and helped her to her feet. He took her to the living room and turned on the light. "It's warmer in here."
Helen went to sit on the couch while Yuuhi sat on the floor next to the coffee table in front of her. She felt her body warm up. "Yuuhi," she said.
"Yes?"
"Why...do you care so much?" she asked.
Yuuhi hesitated to answer a while. He didn't know what to say. I can't say, "Because I love you," he thought. And I don't wanna say it's because she's a really good friend to me. I don't wanna be just her friend. Aya knows that. "Because...you're special to me," he finally said. He turned so that his back was facing her. " I've never met anyone like you, and I never will meet another person like you again."
After hearing this, Helen got up from the couch and sat on the floor next to him. He put his arm around her shoulders as she cried herself to sleep in his arms.