The Reconciliation

By: Chan Yoruyamatiha

Sorewa Bonsaku...

Yay... Writer's block sucks... Hope it's gone away now... I'm in a bad mood too... ..

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Disclaimer: I own Mitsukake Kagatoshi. You wanna use him, (Which I seriously doubt) then ask me first. Everyone else belongs to Capcom!

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Chapter 13 - New Feelings

Ryu watched in silence as Mitsukake held Sakura close to him and whispered sweet nothings into her ear. A million thoughts were soaring through his head. His heart was beating rapidly suddenly for a reason unknown to Ryu.

He turned to leave, but noticed a faint glow coming from Akuma's body. Mitsukake must have noticed it as well, for he turned to look at it at the direction that the glow was coming from. In the blink of an eye, Akuma's body desentigrated into a darker aura and disappeared in an instant.

"What the..."

Mitsukake's eyes widened as he sat completely still, fear running through his body like ice. Ryu had the same look on his face. He would much rather understand the situation than simply wonder about it. What in the world had just happened to Akuma?

Sakura's eyes wandered from Ryu's face to Mitsukake's; she was temporarily unable to understand much after being so close to death. She was still in shock from what had happened minutes ago...

A gentle moan startled the three of them, and Mitsukake nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard it. Instead of being Akuma, it was Ken, who had regained consciousness and was sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Wh-what the hell just happened?"

*** Next day***

At about lunch time, Sakura sat in her hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. There was school today, and she was unable to go because of her condition. It turned out that Akuma had used his dark energy to put the entire school staff into a temporary coma-like state, and each of them were found sleeping peacefully in their homes, some lying on the floor, others still in bed.

Looking out the window of Koui Hospital, she sighed in despair.

"I wonder what Mitsukake's doing right now..."

KNOCK KNOCK.

"Come in..."

Sakura's eyes focused on the door as it slowly opened, and a slightly timid figure stepped in, closing the door softly behind him. He said nothing, but glanced shyly into the room with an attitude that was new for him.

"Um... Hey..."

"Ryu?"

"I... I came to visit you..."

His voice was an octave lower and a bit softer than normal, as if there were something bothering him.

"Ah... are you okay?"

"Yeah..."

There was a strange, unusual silence between them as Ryu shuffled his feet and took a seat in the chair. He wished that Ken were there with him, but at the same time, he wanted to be alone to orally sort out his feelings.

"I want to tell you something..."

Sakura looked at the floor.

"If you've come to lecture me or something, I don't want to hear it."

"Sakura... That's not what I'm here for..."

"Well..."

As much as he had thought this through, Ryu couldn't find the words to summarize his thoughts. Instead of speaking, he gazed out the windows, feeling heat rising into his face from what he had never said.

"What I'm trying to say is..."

He found himself stupidly stumbling over his words, and tried to reassure himself that he was doing the right thing. Ryu couldn't help thinking, however, if this what she wanted to hear; should he even tell her this or keep his thoughts to himself?

Sakura noticed how uncomfortable he was becoming. Taking a quick glance at the expression on his face, she turned her attention to a button on her blouse that was becoming loose and pretended to be trying to fix it as Ryu continued to stammer out what was on his mind.

"The thing is... you like Mitsukake, right?"

Raising an eyebrow at his sudden question, she nodded her head as she noticed Ryu's face becoming a little red and a little more upset-looking.

"Ryu... what is it?"

"It's... it's nothing..."

"No. Tell me..."

"I just did. It's nothing."

"That's not easy to believe. It's about Mitsukake, right?"

("Damn... she hit it right on the dot...")

"Um... well... to tell you the truth Sakura... It is... and it isn't..."

Sakura was confused about this now. She had a suspicion about why he was atcing like this, but this blew it away. Her hands were now clutching the covers on her bed tightly, her fingers digging into it until the fabric began to tear. What was he trying to tell her about Mitsukake?

"The thing is... I've come to realize something that I need to confess..."

Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off.

"I... I think I like you..."

"...What?"

"I'm sorry..."

Ryu stood up and left the room as quickly as he could without looking at her. He was so embarrassed with himself... How could he just admit his sudden liking for her when she had just found someone to be happy with? Why couldn't he have felt this way months ago? Why Mitsukake? What did he have that Ryu didn't have?

Ryu found himself thinking these thoughts and stopped dead in his tracks.

("Why did I just think that?")

As he stood outside the Sakura's door, he looked down at the floor and sighed.

"I'm being such a coward..."

"Yeah, you are." A familiar voice came from a little ways down the hall as he watched Ken walking slowly towards him. Ryu hung his head in shame.

"Ken, how do-"

"Look buddy... Why didn't you tell me this first?"

Ryu gulped and stared at the floor.

"I... I... I don't know..."

"Dude, you know I'm the love expert!"

"Yeeeaahh..."

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Sakura sat in her hospital room and stared her hands as her stomach felt unusually light and hollow. Ryu knew that she was in love with Mitsukake now.... so why did he suddenly tell her something she would have been esctatic to hear months ago? Was it just to make her upset... or did he actually mean what he said now and had taken a liking to her?

Closing her eyes, Sakura tried to sort out her thoughts. She pictured the two... somehow, both of their faces stood out from everything else. A thought suddenly hit her that made her feel even worse as she began to remember memories she shared with Ryu.

"Oh my god... Do I like Ryu now...?"

Sakura grabbed her hair and began tugging on it.

"I just told Mitsukake that I loved him... and I do... Oh god, I've really dug myself a hole now!"

Her conscience was nagging at her, becoming more aggravating than her little brother.

"Ryu or Mitsukake?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adventures of Chan Yoruyamatiha:

*Absentmindedly*

Damn I hate triangles!!

*Looks closer at story*

OH MY GOD! A TRIANGLE!!

*Begins abusing self and takes self hostage*

REVIEW THIS THING OR YOU'LL NEVER ME AGAIN! *Runs off with self who is kidnapping self* Umm that didn't even make sense.