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:: Rambles ::

As promised, the next chapter. Hopefully this doesn't sound all too crappy. Opinions appreciated. Both good and bad ones.

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:: Snow-Covered Dreams – Hanagata's Side Story ::

[ 6. Winter Breezes ]

Hanagata continued to observe the girl that was standing in front of him. She was blushing furiously; the rosy shades of pink starkly contrasted against her fair skin. Her brown hair was left loose for the first time, hanging gracefully behind her. She looked beautiful. And if it were a few days ago, he would have been bowled over. At complete loss of words. Well, he had always found himself caught within a trance whenever she was around. Yes, those many effects she always had on him. But not today though. Somehow there wasn't any hint of jumpiness in him. Perhaps the earlier encounter with Miho and his best friend had dissolved them entirely. And, that was just what he needed.

"Hitomi-san?" He called out to her when he found her staring strangely back at him. He waited. There was a slight pause in between. And as she continued to be still and silent, Hanagata edged a step closer to her. He waited again. The girl remained unmoving. He then furrowed his eyebrows and waved at her. "Is there something wrong?"

The momentous hand movement broke her free from her own stupor. She blinked a few times and as her vision cleared, she found herself looking straight into his eyes. There was a bemused expression on his face. And she felt her already warm cheeks burning yet again.

"Ah! N-nothing." She stammered nervously.

She flickered her gaze away from him in an instant and only then did she become aware of her current awkward position. So, she hastily staggered a few steps behind – but only to stumble over a threshold by the edge and she fell right back into his open arms again.

"Daijobu ka?" The tall center asked; his concern over her had made him completely oblivious to the fact that he was holding her within his embrace. They were now so close to each other that he could even feel her warm breathing against the chill in the air. But he was ignorant to that fact, too. And they would have lingered much longer, lost in their own world, if only it wasn't for the …

"Hey, stop blocking the road! Can't you two lovebirds find somewhere else other than in the middle of the traffic?" An irritated driver yelled out angrily, shaking the two of them back to reality.

Up ahead the side of the road, the lights had now turned green.

Natsuko promptly pulled away from him, and he bowed apologetically to the elderly man.  The man merely shook his head. And when Hanagata turned to face her again, he was instantly amused by what he saw. It was impossible for anyone to get any redder than she already was – but she did. Her face was now as bright as the red sweater she had on. They matched perfectly well with each other.

"You know what, I think he's right." Hanagata grinned slyly. "Let's do find some place else."

~~~~~~ ****** ~~~~~~

She looked positively radiant. He could see her face glistering as the sunlight illuminated on her. Was she really that happy to see him? Fujima couldn't decide – but it didn't matter. For as long as she was there, he felt good enough. This wasn't just a dream anymore.

"Hey, you're not paying attention at all!" The girl complained. "Or are you're giving up already?"

Fujima turned to see Miho preparing herself for another attempt on the ring. She dribbled it slowly at a moderate pace, then glided pass him, and finally made a stop one step short from the basket before pushing the ball upwards to where she had set her aim. The ball hit the loop once before it sunk in, and Miho now had another point to her advantage.

Fujima grinned slightly, acknowledging her splendid effort. "Nice shot."

Miho tilted her chin triumphantly. "I told you I'd fly one day. Just like you did." She smirked. And as an afterthought, "Even when I'm wearing a dress."

The two of them promptly broke into small fits of laughter. The earlier awkwardness that had lingered between them died down as they slowly caught up with the lost time. It was surprisingly easy how they could just carry on from where they had left their last conversation hanging about. One moment, they were so silent that even the slightest echo of a fallen leaf could be heard. But by the very next, they were laughing merrily, sharing jests that only the two of them could understand. Perhaps it was because neither of them had left each other's heart nor mind. That they had each other kept deep in their memory – with each passing moment safely preserved. That time and distance were no barriers to what they had shared in the past, and what they would share in the near future.

Fujima walked to his left to pick up the straying ball, then dribbled it back into the court. Positions now swapped, with him playing offense and Miho on defense. He bounced the ball once, twice against the cement. He then carried on in circles while she had her arms spread open, gauging his every action.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. But …" Fujima's voice trailed off as he swiftly strode past Miho, leaving her overwhelmed with surprise, when he leaped high into the air. And there was nothing left for her to do in that position except to watch him swiveled his body clockwise in mid air, while he performed his infamous left-handed skyhook. The ball went smoothly inside the ring. The boy landed back onto the ground and Fujima was back on the lead. Well, he was not Shoyo High's basketball captain for no reason. " … you'll need more than that to win this game."

"Not necessarily." Miho corrected, heaving heavily. "I don't need physical strength to win this – I can think of a better way."

Fujima was intrigued. He then spun the ball around his index finger. "U-huh. What would that be?"

"I could make you give up the game." Miho teased, smiling impishly at him.

"And why would I do that?" Fujima mused.

"Because I won the bet. Remember?" And with that, she promptly snatched the ball from his grasp. "On with the game!"

~~~~~~ ****** ~~~~~~

"Here." Hanagata said as he handed her a new cup of caramel frost. "My apology for ruining your ice-cream."

Natsuko hesitated for a moment before she reached out her hand and stopped halfway. "But I was the one who ruined your jacket."

"Nah, this is nothing." He reassured her as he leaned against the bench by the park. "Don't worry about it."

She stared at him for one long moment before accepting his offer. Her mind was reasoning itself with all the possibilities in the world – but her craving for it quickly dissolved the rest of her senses. She could feel guilty about it later. But right now … And she shamelessly dug in a spoonful of it.

Hanagata beamed as he studied her every move. He could spend the rest of the day just looking at her. She was so full of surprises. How could someone possibly eat ice cream in that kind of weather? And she looked just like an easily contented, innocent child – so contrastingly different from the 'untouchable' girl he used to see everyday in school. Perhaps this was the real her? He couldn't tell. And he could go on pondering about it, or maybe even wonder why there was an ice cream parlor hanging about at that time, until something flickered briefly in his mind.

"Hitomi-san … " He spoke again.

Natsuko peeked up from her cup of rime and turned to him.

"…" There was a momentary pause.

"Yes?"

He took another look at her – and all the words drowned back into him. "Nothing – nothing really."

She frowned, now irritated. "Whatever."

She could sense the uneasiness slowly building up inside of him. He fell back to the bench and the whole park soon reduced itself into an uncomfortable silence. Why did I say that? She stared at the ground, her left foot kicking a small nearby stone. But still, she couldn't help herself from wondering what he had wanted to say to her. She looked up to him again and he looked away. Then, the past encounter suddenly dawned onto her.

// The pile of books. His cup of milk. The mess on the floor. The tone in her voice. The way she reacted. The look on his face. //

And she grew more sullen.

Natsuko strikes again! Great. He must think I'm an ignorant airhead.

She suddenly felt very, very tired. Nothing was going great – and nothing would ever be. Perhaps she should have realized from the start that it was foolish to keep that slow torch burning over things that was evidently long forgotten. It was obvious that he didn't remember a thing. And who would? Me. The 17-year-old girl who still believe in fairytales …

"Hitomi-san?" He called out again when she appeared a little out of touch.

Natsuko's eyes shone. "Yes?"

"…" There was another momentary pause.

Not again …

"Whatever happened to the books?" Too late. The words had slipped off. Hanagata silently cursed himself when the question popped out from his mouth. Of course, that was NOT what he had on his mind.

Natsuko almost fell. "What books?"

He scratched his head awkwardly. He hadn't expected this, but since he had already brought that up, he might as well go on. "The ones drowned inside my cup of milk. I never did get to apologize in the first place. Did you ever manage to get the stains off?"

Oh, no. He remembered. "Yeah – I tore all the pages away." Natsuko answered wryly.

Hanagata stared blankly back at her.

"Kidding! I told them I had defective copies – so they gave me another set." The girl confessed.

"Defective copies?" He repeated.

"Well, it doesn't really matter, does it – as long as they believed what I said." She laughed nervously. "Oh and since we're onto that, sorry about the way I reacted too."

Hanagata merely looked at her with surprise.

She heaved in a sigh. This is it. "I had no right to blow it out on you. You see, fatigue often made me lose my senses. And then you came along – and well … you know … it just came out."

Hanagata brightened up. "I was the scapegoat then?"

"Well … yeah." She admitted sheepishly. "Truce then?"

"Hmmph, now that you've put it this way, I need time to consider …" And when he saw her beginning to frown, he chuckled lightly. "Truce of course."

They let the resonant laughter of the children by the park rolled over them as they silently admired the clear view of the blue sky that hung way beyond them. Once in a while, they would break the stillness and indulge themselves with little conversations that led up to almost everything. Life felt wonderful as time passed. Even the cold gust of air that constantly breezed by felt great. And when Natsuko finally finished her ice cream, the evening sun had already basked through.

"It's getting late. I better go now." She declared, looking up to the clouds above her.

Hanagata politely took the empty cup from her hand and help tossed it away to the wastebasket at the far end. He then flipped the straps of his sportsbag over to his shoulder and stood up.  "Let me walk you home."

"No, that's not necessary." She said, declining his offer, only to regret it profoundly soon after that.

But Hanagata was not about to give up. He couldn't just stand there and watch his only chance go by. So he did the only thing he could do. Something no one thought he would do. He pouted. And the girl had to use all her might to keep herself from bursting out with laughter.

Natsuko heaved in another sigh and gave in. "Alright. Alright."

It was hard refusing Hanagata that way. Especially not when he looked so charming doing that.

It wasn't long before they finally reached the usual turning to the open court by the playground when Hanagata suddenly halted his steps. He then took a quick glance at his watch. 6 pm. They could still be there. Another thought flickered by and he grinned to himself. And who am I do go disturb them? He paused for a meaningful contemplation and then turned to the row of shop-lots at the other end.

"Let's take that route instead." He suggested, pointing to his left.

Natsuko just gawked back at him. "That route? Why?"

"Because … " He could tell her the truth. But then again, won't that sound a little too absurd? " … we shouldn't … "

She was now even more confused. So, she asked again. "Why can't we take this route?"

"No particular reason." He smiled. "Let's just take that way."

"But that's the only route to my – " and before she could finish her sentence, Hanagata had already taken her hands into his and led her away.

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(to be continued)