It was Friday after school and Hitomi was upstairs playing soldiers with Mamoru. Their mother wasn't home yet but Hitomi wouldn't let her brother go down the stairs before she had - and her mother had taken all the anger out on her.
Finally, she heard a door slam and a loud yell. Telling Mamoru to stay upstairs, she walked down the stairs until she was three from the bottom.
"Mom?" Hitomi called. "Are you alright?"
There was another loud yell and Hitomi's mother came storming into the room. She looked at her daughter, almost as if she couldn't believe that she had shown concern. "I lost my job." There was anger in her voice but Hitomi didn't sense that her mother was mad enough to start hitting her.
"It's okay, Mom. You'll find another one. I'll get one to help if you need me to."
"NO!" her mother screamed. "IT'S NOT OKAY! I will be dead before I see you supporting us! It's my job!"
Hitomi twisted some hair around her finger. "Maybe that job just wasn't right for you. You need to find something better." But that was the wrong thing to say.
Her mother, who was angry before and now was livid, reached up and grabbed Hitomi's left wrist. She twisted and pulled until Hitomi was standing right in front of her, almost at eye level. "If you ever tell me I am incapable of providing for my own family ever again, there will be dire consequences, Hitomi."
About to protest that she had never said that, Hitomi stopped herself. What could she say to actually improve the situation? Nothing. She looked at the floor until her mother gave her a push towards the stairs. Climbing, she inspected the damage to her arm. The grip on it had been surprisingly strong and Hitomi could see a white hand print on it still. No doubt it would bruise by morning. Twisting it gently, she found that it was sore, but definitely not broken. Once she had entered her room, Hitomi picked up the phone and dialled Dilandau's number.
"Hi Dilly."
"Hey Hitomi, what's going on? We still up for a movie tonight?"
"I don't know if I can. See, I fell off my trampoline today," Hitomi looked out her window at the trampoline that was completely innocent, "and I hurt my wrist, so I'm thinking about going to get it checked out with a doctor. Is that alright? I could still come if you wanted."
"What? No, 'Tomi! Get your wrist checked, there'll be other times for us to watch movies and stuff. Call me tomorrow and tell me how it went, okay?"
"Yeah, 'course Dilly."
"Later babe."
"Bye."
With that done, Hitomi sat down and decided to start on an essay about 'Why You Should Not Waste Food' for Mrs. Walker. Knowing Van would probably just copy hers, she didn't bother to hide it when it was finished. Pulling out her math book, there was a clang outside her window. Van's black hair appeared in her window seconds later. His brown eyes came into view and he grinned at her.
"You shouldn't leave your window open," he joked. "Who knows what kind of whackos could come in." He reached out and messed her hair up. Smoothing it, she smiled. Then her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi Hitomi!" It was Millerna. She sounded like she was on her cell phone some place loud.
"Hey, how are ya?"
"Great! Dryden, get lost! Anyway Hitomi, we're at the bowling alley. Wanna join us? Is Van there?"
"Yeah, he's here. Just a sec, Millerna." Hitomi covered the phone. "You wanna go to the bowling alley? They're hanging out there." But Van was eying her wrist seriously.
"Tell her you can't. We need to talk Hitomi." Van's dark eyes looked dangerously at her.
"Hello? Oh, hey Merle. What happened to Millerna?"
Merle's voice was on the line now. "Dryden attacked her. Anyways, Allen's here and Dilly's on his way. He said something about you having to go to the doctor's so you couldn't go to his house and chill or whatever. What happened to your arm?"
"Oh, I fell off my trampoline." Hitomi's voice wavered. Van looked at her seriously. "Yeah, Van's just gonna take me to the doctor," she put her finger to her lips to signal that he should be quiet. "You want us to call when we're back?"
"Only if you want to. Talk to you later!"
Hitomi heard Millerna scream "BYE!" before Merle hung up. She turned to face her best friend. He stared at her until she started to wring her hands - which hurt - so she stopped quickly.
"You fell off your trampoline?" asked Van, incredulously. "I'm taking you to the doctor?"
"Er - no. I'm not going to go to the doctor."
Van took a step closer. "Because you didn't fall off your trampoline, did you? Hitomi, why didn't you come to me? You said you would if anything happened."
"I thought maybe you'd be busy. Y'know, with Yukari." Looking at the ground, Hitomi scuffed a foot on the rug. Van took her face in his hands and tilted it until she was looking at him.
"The day when Yukari - or any other girl - is more important than you, that's when you don't have to come to tell me. But I can't see that happening for a very long time." Hitomi flung her arms around his neck and he hugged her tightly as he breathed in her light scent of vanilla. "Anyways, I ditched Yukari tonight, she was pissing me off."
"How so?"
"Calling all the time." He put on a high pitched voice. "'Van, Oh, my God! Like, where are you? Do you wanna come over, my parents are totally out for the night!' Ugh, I think I'm going insane! I told her that my grandpa died and I had to go to the funeral."
* * *
Hitomi was laying on her bed with her head hanging over the end. On the floor, Van was rolling around to amuse himself.
"And then," Hitomi said, waving her arms in the air, "she asked me if you were good in bed! I dropped my books and almost fainted!"
Van stopped rolling for long enough to look at Hitomi. "You've never had sex have you?"
"WHAT?!" Hitomi fell off the bed. "Ow, that hurt!" she whined as she rubbed her head. "Van that's none of your business!" She was quiet for a second then said, "Have you?"
Crawling over to his best friend, he said, "None of your business," and poked Hitomi in stomach. "You haven't! I can tell by the way you're blushing! Little Hitomi… Don't worry. Soon enough you'll find a guy that wants to get in your pants."
She slapped him. "Oh, and you have? You talk like you're all experienced." Van didn't say anything. "OH, MY GOD! You have, haven't you?! How many times? With who? Was it Kelly? Melanie?"
He laughed. "Only once! I'm not some player! There was this one time with Ashleigh. No… wait. Two if you count Tiffany. Oh yeah, and Megan. And… what was her name? Uh, Linda? Larissa? Lindsay! And once with Lindsay!"
Hitomi covered her face with her hands. "That is so gross. So now what, you're out to have sex with Yukari? Then what? Grade sevens?" Van made a hurt face. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to sleep in the same bed as you ever again, Van Fanel! Every time I do I'll think of that and be all grossed out."
"I haven't changed the last time you slept with me! You weren't grossed out then."
"True. But I didn't know you were a complete hooker then! I only thought you were a tease," she moaned. When she uncovered her face, she saw Van looking straight at her, smiling.
"Do you remember your first kiss?" he asked.
"Of course!" snorted Hitomi. "It was you. We were eight. You had just moved into the neighbourhood and I had come over to play. You asked if I had a boyfriend and I told you boys were 'icky', do you remember that?"
"Yeah," Van said, closing his eyes. "Then I asked if you wanted to be mine. I guess I lied when I said you, Millerna and Merle were the only girls I hadn't dated. We dated when we were eight."
"It was only for a day! When you kissed me I was so grossed out I decided I didn't ever want a boyfriend and I would never kiss anyone again. I think that's why we've always just been friends. Because you're such a bad kisser!"
Hitomi smacked him in the face with a pillow. Shrieking, she hopped up onto her bed before Van could retaliate. His hair was all messed up and he was grinning dangerously when he sat up. He grabbed Hitomi's ankle and pulled her slowly towards him while she clutched at the bed.
"Ow!" she screamed suddenly.
"What happened? Did I hurt you?"
Hitomi sat cross-legged on the ground cradling her wrist. "No, there was just a lot of pressure on my arm." It had turned a nasty red-purple colour and it covered a good two inches of her arm all the way around.
"I'm sorry," Van whispered. Hitomi waved her hand at him as if to say, 'It's not your fault.'
She climbed silently up onto her bed and lay down. Van stood and looked down at her. He went and turned off her light and came to lie with her. Immediately, she buried her face in his chest and he could feel her small body shaking with sobs. He brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead before he encircled her waist with his arms.
(A/N: I have nothing to say but REVIEW!!! Oh, and I have a song for this whole fic. It's called So Close by Evanescence:
I've spent so much time throwing rocks at your window
That I never even knocked on the front door
I walked by statues, never even made one chip
But if I could leave a mark on the monument of the heart
I just might lay myself down for a little more than I had the last day
Wait a time to spare these lies we tell ourselves
These days have come and gone
But this time is sweeter than honey