Disclaimer: I do not claim this series or any of these characters as my own, they all belong to their creators, their production companies, yadda yadda yadda so don't sue me.



Sweet Bitterness

by: Shoujo Priestess

Chapter Four - Realization



Taka sat next to a phone that was refusing to ring, he wasn't too surprised about that though because he realized later what a complete jerk he had been the night before.

"I'm too damn cocky for my own good." He griped at himself. "No wonder I get myself into trouble with women."

Still in the back of his mind he wasn't sorry for what he had told Nuriko about him and Miaka, of course he could have thought of a nicer way to say it, but he didn't see any reason to sugar coat the truth. Sometimes the truth hurt, and sometimes the truth hurt people.

Deciding to wait a little while longer before calling Taka went into his bedroom and got ready for a nice long shower.

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

Miaka was about five miles away from her house by now, when she ran she always lost track of time and the distance she covered. This was one of the secrets of her being able to eat whatever she wanted while remaining so thin, a few of her jogs always burned off the calories. It was not unusual for these treks to last for hours, only the darkness of night or a heavy rain would stop her. It was one of the few ways she could be alone with her thoughts, something she needed to do more than ever these days.

She hummed to herself a pop song she had heard on the radio before leaving, she was in high spirits as she turned a corner and made her way down a slightly busier street. Having to dodge an elderly lady carrying a shopping bag she apologized and kept on her track, refusing to slow down for anything.

She would have been hit by a car if the car's driver had not recognized her.

"Who are you running from?"

"N-Nuriko?" Miaka stopped and stared at the man wide eyed.

"Do you have a minute?"

"Of course." Miaka said opening the passenger door and fastening her seatbelt, her run abandoned. "Where are we going?"

"You pick."

"Can we go back to your place? I could use a shower." Miaka asked looking down at herself, she saw how sweaty she had become during her jog and was embarrassed. "That is, if you don't mind."

"Sure thing." Nuriko said turning the car around and heading towards his own place. It had been sheer luck that he ran into Miaka, he was actually on his way to her house and if she had not been there he had even debated on going to Taka's apartment to see if she was there. Not that he would have considered barging in like last time, he was just curious if the girl had taken him back for good. He was glad that he did not have to go either place, like fate already had their meeting planned.

They rode in silence, Nuriko drove a bit faster than usual and Miaka did not know what to say so she stared out the window, the journey was not too long and pretty soon they arrived. Nuriko had to find his key which had dropped under his seat and then by habit he ran to the other side of the car to open Miaka's door for her. She politely thanked him and they took the elevator to the fifth floor.

"Go on and take your shower, I'm going to fix myself something to eat." Nuriko said once they were inside. "You want anything?"

"Whatever you have would be great." Miaka said disappearing into his room. "I won't be long."

Nuriko looked in the refrigerator and pulled out some sliced oranges along with grapes, apples, and a cantaloupe to began construction on a fruit salad. When he was finished and Miaka was not out yet he went into the laundry room and finally was able to change out of the white shirt and khakis, he felt 'the uniform' as he called it needed to be retired for a while. He found a pair of grey sweat pants and a navy blue t-shirt that was to his liking and put them on, glad to be surrounded by soft cotton instead of stiff, itchy material, the fabric detergent Hotohori had used did not agree with Nuriko's sensitive skin.

Walking back into the kitchen he helped himself to a portion of the salad and sat down on the couch to eat, his last meal had been the night before so he ate with great hunger. A few minutes later Miaka appeared wearing one of Nuriko's shirts and a pair of ragged jean shorts that Nuriko thought he had thrown out (they had holes in certain areas and could not be worn out in public) He couldnÕt help but crack a smile and she looked at him almost apologetically.

"I wanted something clean to wear."

"It's fine, but I do have better clothes than that."

"But these are so comfy." Miaka giggled walking into the kitchen and putting the remainder of the fruit salad into another bowl. Like Nuriko, she sat down on the couch and began to eat.

She was back to her old self as far as Nuriko could tell, she did not seem depressed or distressed in the least. This made him happy and it also made it easier for him to open up to her. "I hope you don't think I was trying to avoid you." He finally said, more into his bowl than at the girl. "I just wanted you to have all the time you needed to sort things out."

Miaka, who had finished her meal before Nuriko, placed her bowl on the coffee table and looked at him. "I wanted to call you last night but you turned your phone off, and you were not here so I didn't know how else to get in contact with you."

"I went to Hotohori's last night, by the time I got there I wasn't in the mood for phone calls."

"You went all the way out there?"

"Yep, you should go out there sometime. He might have millions of fans but his place is always empty."

"Yeah..." Miaka said softly. "So what did you talk about?"

"You of course. We decided that I should take my own advise and tell you exactly how I feel." Nuriko took a deep breath, it sounded good in his mind but to actually come out and say it was a different matter altogether. "No secrets between us, ever."

Miaka bit her lip and looked down. "Yeah, I was wanting to do that too, that's why I was trying to call you..." She began to speak more but Nuriko cut her off.

"You mean a lot to me, Miaka... So much in fact that I don't know what I would do if you were not here beside me." Nuriko said looking down at his bare feet then back up to Miaka who did not make an attempt to speak. "And I think you ought to know that I would do anything for you, I value your happiness more than my own. When I saw how distressed you were yesterday it nearly killed me, I wanted to hold on to you forever and make you forget about everything else in the world but... But I knew that I could not change your feelings about me or about him."

"Nuriko..." Miaka was sincerely touched, her heart fluttering with the kind words spoken to her. Words from the heart that were more precious to her than anything with form. "I'm flattered."

"If you choose Taka then I... I will be forced to love you at a distance. No matter who you choose my love for you shall remain the same, I don't know anything that could change my mind." Nuriko said looking back down at his feet, in a way he was glad that he had finally confessed but on the other side of the coin this meant that things could get weird between them.

Miaka sat cross legged on the couch in stunned silence, the words Nuriko had spoken had struck her deeply. They were words that she too felt about him, she knew that she loved him but it was hard for her to say the words back. She said said she loved Tamahome, and then Taka, she had meant it at the time but now that love was probably gone for good. She couldn't just jump into another relationship, or so she thought. So many new feeling flooded her young mind, so many directions this night could go, it made her a bit light headed to think about it.

"Nuriko, my precious Nuriko." She said smiling, her eyes shiny with happy tears. She touched his hands and squeezed them gently. "You're too good of a person, do you know that?"

He smiled and understood what was going thru Miaka's mind, and the fact that she had not jumped up and announced her rekindled love with Taka was enough for his to know that he still had a chance with her. Nuriko got up from the couch and motioned for Miaka to remain seated while he went into his room, he came back a few seconds later with a soft multicolored quilt. Nuriko had seen it in an antiques shop a few months earlier and had fallen in love with it, the colors were faded and told a story thru years of construction.

"You want to watch a little television?" He asked sitting back down and grabbing the remote. "Should be something good on one of these channels."

Miaka smiled and grabbed the TV guide resting on the coffee table, they decided to watch the movie classics channel because they both agreed the best movies ever made were in black and white. Miaka lost no time in snuggling up close to Nuriko who wrapped the quilt around both of them. Nuriko sighed contentedly, he liked the feeling of the girl's soft body next to his and he couldn't help but smile widely when she let out a small contented sigh of her own. In the dark with the person he treasured most, Nuriko couldn't ask for a more pleasant afternoon.

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

"Hongo residence?"

"Yui?"

"Speaking."

"This is Taka, you gotta minute?"

Yui sighed and made a face before answering. "Sure, you want to come over or do you want to talk on the phone?"

"I can come over? I'm calling from the booth around the corner."

"Fine, I'll leave the door unlocked. Come on up." She said before hanging up the phone. She looked at Tetsuya and Kensuke who were sitting on the floor infront of the PSX2, they were in the middle of a fierce battle.

"Trouble sweetie?" Tetsuya asked.

"I just want to know why I'M always the one who has to play love councilor between my friends." Yui said holding up her hands in a shrugging motion. "I mean, damn, at least I should get paid or something."

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

Taka arrived a minute later and was greeted by Yui and the others who were now sitting around the table, Tetsuya offered Kensuke and Taka each a beer and they eagerly accepted. Yui, who hated the taste of beer, made a face before selecting a soda from the mini fridge.

"So how does the twisted tale of Miaka and Taka pan out this week?" Kensuke asked. He was in a difficult situation in this matter, he was Miaka's older brother and defender but Taka was one of his good buddies. Still being in this situation allowed him to make such statements and not get his rear end kicked.

Taka looked at Kensuke but didn't say anything, he turned to Yui and asked if they could go somewhere in private. Yui nodded and the pair went into her bedroom while Kensuke and Tetsuya resumed their battle.

"Man, if I had known it was that bad I wouldn't have said anything." Kensuke said.

"He knows you don't mean anything by it, besides, Yui can handle this. My girl's smart!" Tetsuya said with a dopey grin, the man was head over heels in love with the girl and sometimes he would spout off corny lines.

Kensuke chuckled and took Tetsuya's moment of weakness to his advantage, he put Tetsuya's character at the lowest possible strength while beefing his own character to the maximum strength. "Hey Tetsuya, care to make a friendly wager on the next bout?"

"How much?"

"2000 yen?"

"Bring it on!"

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

Much to Yui's dismay Taka flopped down on her neatly made bed, she started to say something but knew that deep down he was not in his right state of mind at the moment and had not meant any harm by it. She sat down in her chair next to the computer and propped her legs on the bed.

"Let me say right now that I'm only a mediator, I'm not going to take sides." Yui said with her arms crossed. "I don't want to screw up my friendships with either one of you."

"That's fair." Taka said still lying on the bed. After a moment he sighed, "Yui... How do I get her back?"

"Back?"

"I know she's asked your opinion on this before and I don't want to know what you told her but... I just want to know if she was in as much pain then as I am now."

"Yes," Yui admitted. "She was nearly in tears and at times she nearly had me in tears as well. But to answer your question..." Yui paused, did she even have an answer for him?

"I know she's probably over there right now, and I don't even want to know what she's doing... What he's doing... It just pisses me off that they could betray me like this!" Taka said banging his fists on the bed.

"Please don't do that..." Yui said dryly. "And in my eyes, Taka, there has been no betrayal. You two broke up, correct?"

"It was her idea..."

"But did you?"

"Yes."

"And you never made up did you?"

".....No."

"Well then I don't see anything wrong with it." Yui finally admitted. She hated to make him face reality in such a harsh way but there was no other solution. "Taka, you've got to understand that in this world things like destiny and fate are not really all that important. I dare say that those things do not even exist here, people fall in and out of love all the time. It's how the world works."

Taka sat up on the bed and glared at Yui, in his mind this one was now also betraying him. "Well then fuck this world and fuck all those who live like that." He said getting up off the bed and walking dangerously close to Yui, for a minute she had no idea what was about to happen. "And I'll tell you something else, I WILL have her back. You tell her that next time you see her, I will bring fate and destiny into this world if I have to."

"Taka please..."

"Silence!" He cried storming out of the room and out of the apartment.

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

Outside a thunderstorm began to erupt.





~*~ end chapter four ~*~