Worlds Apart

Chapter 4- Denial

Disclaimer: Ha, like I'd ever own LOVE HINA.

Mountain Rain: * I love this show. ^_^ *

Rain. It cleanses the earth of impurities. It washes away the guilt of yesterday. It refreshes the mind of all troubles.

It's also annoyingly cold and uncomfortable. I found this out while walking through the slushy streets to school. No umbrella hovered above my spiky head, just an empty notebook with a thousand signatures on it. The events of the day before bounced around in my head. I had so many questions.

Why was Yumiko's parents' last name different? Why was she so weird?

Why the fudge was Yumi following ME!?

Yumi was running like a mad blonde scabies-infested rat-thing. I shuddered. And my day was going so well.

"Yoshi-kun!" She finally reached me, unfortunately.

"Yes?"

"I got a call yesterday from Miyuki, who got a call from San, who got a call from Lee's brother's baby's mama's cousin's best friend—"

"Get to the point."

"What were you doing yesterday walking Yumiko home?" she asked.

My mouth dropped. "W-what!?" 'How did all those people know?' I thought.

"It must have been a mistake, right?" Yumi asked hopefully. "I mean you'd never walk with a girl like her."

"Y-yeah, just a mistake…." She sighed in relief and began to walk with me to school. I didn't really pay attention to her mindless chatter. I was in deep doo doo.

Very deep doo doo.

Thankfully, when we got to school, I didn't get much attention. That was probably because I went through the trouble of climbing a few trees and sneaking in through the window. Yumiko was in classroom, though, and she smiled at me.

"Hi."

"Hey," I answered.

"Why are there leaves in your hair? And why did you come in through the window?"

I shook the leaves out of my hair. "I'll tell you if you tell me about your parents."

She smirked. Then the class walked in. That darned class.

"Yoshiaki!" shouted Yumi and my fan group. I quickly turned away from Yumiko and faced them. They practically tackled me and began to bombard me with questions about Yumiko's and my escapade the day before.

"What were you doing with her?"

"Why don't you walk with any of us!?"

"WHY YUMIKO? WHYYYYY!?"

I grinned at them. "It was just an illusion. A simple mistake." They seemed to be satisfied with my answer and hastily dispersed.

Yumiko, on the other hand, was not. Her smile melted and she said, "Even I could come up with a better excuse that that."

Despite my want to apologize, I had no other choice but to ignore her.

After school I caught up with her on the street. She tried to elude me, but I caught her easily. "I'm sorry."

"I'm so sure," she snapped. "Why don't you go with all of your popular friends and continue to ignore me?"

"I don't want to. I want to talk with you."

"Just like you wanted to talk to me in the classroom?" she questioned and quickened her pace.

"I told you, I'm sorry about that! What was I supposed to do?"

"Oh, I don't know, continue to talk to me!? If you're so worried about your precious image, then why don't you leave me alone and hang out with Yumi and your lovely fan group!"

At this I was dumb-founded. She glared at me and walked away. I stared after her and decided to break out of the grave I'd already buried myself in.

The next day, I arrived to school early. Yumiko and I were alone in the classroom once again. Every time I looked her way, she buried her nose deeper in the book she was reading. The silence was killing me, so I began to talk to her.

"Yumiko, look—"

She gave me the cold shoulder and turned away. I ran an anxious hand through my hair. The class would be here soon, and I had less than a minute to strike up a conversation with Yumiko and show her that I didn't care that much about how the class viewed me. The seconds zoomed by and my minute was up. The bell rang and in walked my classmates. Before I knew it, I was swept away in a sea of pretenders.

At lunch I knew that I had to patch things up with Yumiko. Her desire to be alone made me want to be with her even more. I picked up my lunch in the cafeteria and went outside. The sun hit my eyes and I squinted. Yumiko was sitting beneath a cherry tree.

Winter still lingered in the air. The grass near her already showed green spots from under the snow. I walked up to her but was stopped by two of my "friends".

"What are doing, Yoshiaki? I hope you're not doing what I think you're doing."

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"Going near that freak, Yumiko."

"She's not a freak." I tried to pass them. They wouldn't let me off that easy, though.

"Wait, you're telling me that you're going to sit with HER!?" they pressed on. They were getting louder, and soon most of the lunch-eaters were staring. Yumiko was looking my way, too.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna talk to her, too. Got a problem with that?"

They muttered something about me going nutso and left. I walked toward Yumiko and smiled sheepishly. "Hi."

She smiled back at me. "Hey."

And so began my life with Yumiko. Little did I know that this life wouldn't last too long.

Mountain Rain: What did ya think? Good? Bad?  I need to know! Review!