Oh, yeah, baby! It's time for lucky 13!!

Masami Tsuda didn't give me the rights to Kare Kano like she promised!! Aw, man!

(Oh, and everyone! Thank you for the wonderful reviews! *tearing up* They really make me feel so much better about my writing!! Keep 'em coming!!)

Chapter 13: My Circumstance Part II: Hers

Yukino rolled over in her bed, back in her own room. She couldn't stand it. Though she felt better about confiding her problems to her sisters, the past couple of days had been hard. The school day yesterday had been horrible. She and her friends had gone all over the school, squelching rumors that had been flying around. Wherever whispers had been heard, her friends were there to bring them out and extinguish them. She had discontinued her tutoring with Koichi, and his grades in math mysteriously shot up to the top of the class. And instead of disdainful looks, Arima seemed to ignore her presence altogether.

With all of these things on her mind, it had never occurred to her that she was at school, and should probably be focusing on her studies. But with all of these things being said about her, and with all of her emotions jumbled up inside of her, how was she going to concentrate on formulas? A voice in the back of her head kept telling her to switch brainwaves and let all of her frustrations out in her school work, but it was hard. She felt like a fool. She knew no amount of exertion could make her heart feel any lighter.

Yukino frowned. Bright sunlight was streaming in through her window, and it clashed and contrasted roughly with her feelings. No amount of studying or exercise could take her mind off of her broken heart. Only Soichiro could mend it. She just couldn't get him off of her mind. She felt so empty without his smile. He caused her so much happiness; how did she ever live her life without him? She couldn't seem to remember life before she had known a love like his. When their relationship began, it was like she had been born again.

She couldn't take it. It hurt so much. She could when she made him happy, and how excited she was when she realized how happy she could make him, how happy they could make each other. But she didn't know how capable she was of hurting him. This was the dark side of a relationship, the side that people rarely thought about when they started to fall in love. When people were in love, they thought of symphonies and flowers and kisses.

Yukino wasn't surprised when her pillow was suddenly wet with tears. She had cried so many times. It was a good thing it was finally the weekend. She could just lie in bed and be as pathetic as she knew she was.

The weekend. It was so strange that just last weekend, she and Soichiro had been so happy. She didn't forget how it felt to be that happy, and she ached to feel that way again. How could she lose him? How could she have been so careless and mistreat such a venerable man like him? She was so stupid!

Mr. and Mrs. Miyazawa sat at the kitchen table, sipping on coffee and hot chocolate. They kept glancing at the doorway, waiting for their eldest daughter to come jogging into the kitchen.

Yukino's mother looked up from her magazine and across the table at her husband.

"Where is Yukino today?" she asked.

Mr. Miyazawa frowned.

"I don't know. I think she's still in bed. I don't believe she's even started her morning jog yet."

Mrs. Miyazawa sighed.

"I knew all that exercise mixed with the stress of school would have her exhausted someday!"

Mr. Miyazawa shrugged and brought his coffee mug to his lips.

"No, our Yuki has always been energetic. School and exercise never gets her down."

Mrs. Miyazawa pursed her lips together in thought.

"You think she's depressed?"

Yukino choked out a half-whimper, half-sob. Her heart sank lower with each passing minute. She never meant to cause him such trouble, such pain. She wanted to tell him she was sorry, and how wonderful he was. She wanted to tell him that she needed him, very badly. If only she had told him the truth. It most certainly would have been better hearing it from her than some stupid second-year boy. She longed to talk to Soichiro, to explain the situation, to beg him to take her back. This was verbal abuse! Sure, she hadn't talked to Soichiro in a couple of days, but she felt that the silent treatment was just as bad as casting biting retorts at another person, if not worse. She felt so lost. How long was she going to be paying for her actions? How long was it going to be before she was happy again? She wanted him to come back to her. She wanted to start over again. She felt like she was running in circles.

"This is so hard," she quavered.

She felt as if she were floating in the middle of the ocean on her back, and didn't have the strength to swim back to shore.

The door burst open. Kano and Tsuki were dressed for a day of shopping.

"Hey, Yukino," Tsuki cried, "Do you want to go that new store that opens down the street?"

"It looks really great! There's a line of people waiting to get in already!" Kano chimed in.

Yukino moodily pulled the crisp, white sheets over her head.

Kano looked like she was about to say something, but Tsuki put a hand on her arm to silence her. Tsuki tilted her head and smiled a compassionate smile before turning to leave.

But Kano still looked angry.

"If you change your mind, call me on my cell and you can meet us there," she huffed over her shoulder.

Yukino heard Kano slam the door and whisper on the other side,

"This is crazy! We really need to get her to go out! What's taking her so long?"

Tsuki 'shh'-ed her.

"Poor Yukino, we need to give her more time. She's so depressed."

Yukino grimaced.

*Great. Now even they think I'm pathetic.*

Yukino stayed under the covers until her cheek became numb from being pressed against the edge of the mattress for so long. She rolled her eyes.

*When they start to feel sorry for you is when you need to do something,* she thought glumly.

Yukino tossed the covers from her head and leapt over the side of her bed. She pushed the door open, hurried down the hall, and skidded to a stop in front of the door, where Tsuki and Kano were just about to exit.

"Wait," she panted, "I'll go with you."

************************************************************************ Yeah, this was a depressed chapter, but things will be happy really really soon! So don't you worry! Please, please, please tell me what you think! Don't be shy! Just send me a review! Not that hard, right? Yay. ^^