CHAPTER EIGHT
On the walk home, Ann explained that her father had brought Cliff and Kyo to the clinic. They wanted to talk to each of us separately, so they took care of Cliff downstairs, and let Kyo rest upstairs in bed. She hung out at Kyo's house for a while, just to make sure he'd be all right, but once it started getting late, left so he could sleep. The next morning…
*~* My View *~*
The morning was like all other mornings. I got myself out of bed at around 6:00 am, took a shower, ate breakfast, and watched a bit of TV before starting my chores. As I left the house, I noticed a figure crouching over a patch of my turnips. Grabbing my sickle for protection, just in case, I headed over to the vegetable patch.
"Excuse me? Excuse me! This is my property, and I'd kindly ask you to leave without a fuss," I called to the figure.
It stood when it heard my warning. The intruder turned around to reveal himself as Cliff. He was wearing a backpack and had two of my turnips in his hand. Cliff glared at me, his eyes filled with hate. We stood staring each other in the eyes in silence until I couldn't take it anymore.
"What in the… what are you doing here, Cliff?"
"I'm leaving this town. I can't stay here anymore. And seeing as it's all your fault I have to leave, I figured the least you could do was provide me with food for the trip," he explained, never looking away from me.
"Well, I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to help yourself."
"You honestly think if I asked you for some food, you would have handed some over?"
"Anything to get you to leave." I figured it would be best not to start another fight. "Well, take what you need, and get off my property."
I turned to walk to my chicken coop, but soon heard Cliff's footsteps come up quickly from behind. He spun me around and got me in the same hold he had had me in yesterday: holding my collar in his fists.
"I've already told Ann, and I'll tell you. If you do anything to hurt Ann, I'll find out. I'm going to stay in contact with her, so I'll hear about it if you hurt her. And I'll come back, and when I get through with you, you won't be able to stand," and with that he let me out of his grip and walked off toward the town, most likely to the docks.
I stood in shock for a moment. He was leaving. I hadn't had anything against the guy until he attacked me. There was that bit of jealousy I had felt at the Goddess Festival, but that had just been a random feeling. There was nothing behind it. The poor dope, I thought. Had he just realized that there was nothing between him and Ann, he wouldn't be in this mess.
As I went about my chores that morning, I really began to think.
All this time I've been telling myself me and Ann are just friends, always have, always will be. I've never even given myself a chance to think about the possibilities. I mean, she said in her diary that she could see me as a boyfriend, but she didn't sound all that sure. I don't want to mess anything up. So do I ask her out? Maybe she'll bring it up, and I won't have to worry about it. I might be able to work it into a conversation, make it sound very casual, as if it was just a passing thought.
"What am I going to do, Sheiko?"
The chicken didn't even look at me. I think she was still holding a grudge after I forgot to feed her that one day.
When I finished watering the crops I checked my watch. It was almost 8:00. I had made good time that day. It was time for a little reward. I grabbed my bathing suit and headed toward mother hill. There was a hot spring there, and it was very relaxing. It would give me some more time to sit back and think.
It was a clear, sunny morning. The sky was a flat blue, without a cloud in sight. The air was crisp, and it was still cool out. I slipped into the hot spring, sat back, and closed my eyes. I loved this place.
Now that I think about it, I would really like to go out with Ann. We've only known each other for a year, but when we met, we just clicked. It was like we had been friends all along. Maybe, just maybe, I could bring up dating sometime.
My thoughts were thrown off when I suddenly felt a rush of cold water splash on my head. It wasn't pleasant having ice cold water poured on me while siting in hot water. I sat in a frozen position, trying to recover. Once I managed to open my eyes, I turned to find Ann and Popuri with wide grins across their faces. Ann was holding my watering can.
"You… will die…for that…" I spit out slowly.
"Nah, you love us too much to kill us," Popuri said, still grinning.
"Cliff's leaving, aren't you two going to say your good-bye's?" I asked.
Ann's expression got a bit more serious. "After he broke your nose? Good riddance. I can't believe I used to like that jerk."
I was really glad to hear that. It almost made me forget the fact they had just attacked me with cold water. I will have my revenge…
Reaching up out of the water, I grabbed both of Ann's arms. With one quick pull, I got her off balance and sent her into the hot spring with me. Popuri jumped back to avoid getting thrown in next. Ann surfaced and spit out a mouthful of water. She was glaring at me evilly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I went to pat you on the shoulder, and I must have slipped," I told her, smirking. Ann tried to stop herself, but could help smiling.
"I hate you, have I mentioned that?" she said.
Ann gave a look to Popuri, which seemed to me was a hint to leave. Popuri got the message.
"Well, I have to be going home. Rick's taking the day off, so I have to feed the chickens," she said, and the left me with the now soggy Ann.
Ann didn't bother to get out of the water, she just sat down next to me. When she turned to look at me, I could see she had suddenly gotten very serious. "Kyo, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Ann?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't act so serious…you're scaring me…"
That got a laugh out of her which lifted the mood a little. Of course, that only meant she was smiling slightly when she started talking again.
"Kyo, we've known each other for a little over a year now. That's not really that long, but we have gotten to know each other really well in that time. I mean, I trust you over anyone in this town."
I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. Somehow I managed to keep a straight face, even though I wanted to sing on a mountain top. Instead I just nodded and let her continue.
"Well, I was thinking. I've started to realize that I…I really like you," Ann paused and waited for a reaction.
I looked up from the water and into Ann's sky blue eyes. I couldn't believe this was happening. Suddenly, I felt a rush of guilt.
"Uh, yeah, I know. I like you too, Ann."
She went silent for a second. I think I confused her a little. "No, Kyo. I mean I like you, like you."
"Yeah, Ann. I know what you mean. I like you, like you, too. I just have a confession to make." I paused to see that she was listening before explaining. "You remember two days before the Goddess Festival, I woke you up at your house?"
"Actually, it was three days before the festival. Believe me, I remember," she put in with a smile. "It was nice waking up and seeing you right there."
Great, she was making me feel even more guilty. "Yeah, well anyway… um… I hadn't just gotten there. I had been sitting there for a while." Ann looked at me curiously, so I continued. "When I came in your room, I saw your diary on the dresser. I… I couldn't help myself. I read the last entry. I read about how you felt about me." When I had finished I looked down at the water. God, I felt bad.
That's when she gave me a good slap across the back of my head. She didn't seem too sympathetic about my broken nose anymore. When I looked up at her, I noticed that she had become redder than I've ever seen her. I think it was a mix of embarrassment and anger.
"I can't believe you! I just told you I trusted you above anyone, and now I find out you've been snooping around my room! How could you be so insensitive?"
"Ann, I wasn't snooping around your room. I looked at one entry in your diary. I know that doesn't make it all right, but what can I say, curiosity got the best of me," I pleaded with her.
I had hoped she would take it better than she did. Her response to my explanation was a huff, and she got up and walked away, her shoes making squishing noises with each step. I was left, shaking in the hot springs. As warm as it was, it wasn't enough to stop me from shivering. I had just angered my best friend more than ever before.