Broken
Chapter Four: A Little Visit
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Author's Notes: Well, SPRING BREAK IS HERE! Yay! XD I'm so glad for it... stress-free for a whole week! Well... kind of... still gotta worry about the SATs and ACTs, but you know what, for today and right now, I'm just gonna let it all go. By the way, this chapter isn't all that exciting, but... things will definitely begin to arise soon, so just hold tight. Thanks to all who review! You guys make me so happy. :)
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"So how was school?"
Hitomi paused at the middle of the stairs as she turned around to find her Aunt Yukiko coming out of the kitchen to greet her. With a bright smile, Hitomi headed back down, sitting at the bottom of the stairs as her aunt sat down next to her, joining her.
"It was pretty good," she answered with a nod.
"So, did you get to see Van? Did you get to talk to him?"
Hitomi tilted her head a little with a very slight frown upon her face. "Kinda. I saw him, but didn't get a chance to really talk to him. Though, I did have the pleasure of meeting his girlfriend."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I don't think she likes me much. She keeps telling me to stay away from Van though, and I didn't even do anything. He had seen me this morning when he was walking into class and he was just struck still, probably just shocked that I was back. Kyoko saw the whole thing... and she wasn't too happy with him after class, but they seemed to have made up after school..."
Yukiko leaned sideways, giving her niece a little bump of faith as she smiled down at her. "It's expected, it's typical," she explained. "Kyoko doesn't know what kind of a relationship you two had back then, but she's not totally clueless. She probably knows that there was something there, she just doesn't know what, and perhaps she's just threatened."
"I know... that's what I thought and said. But I really wonder about Van. He's changed so much since I last saw him. Never in a million years did I think that I would return to him like this. He—"
The phone suddenly rang, interrupting Hitomi in the middle of her sentence. Slowly, with an apologetic look from the older woman's face, she watched as her aunt stood up to answer it.
"We'll talk more in a bit, alright?" she said before placing the receiver to her ear.
Figuring that it was already too late to respond, Hitomi got on her feet and proceeded up the stairs to her room, where she fell back onto her bed with a loud sigh.
Her eyes began to drift closed. It wasn't long after, however, before her silence and peace was ruined by a small knock on the door. Slowly, she peeked one eye open. What—or rather, who she saw made her sit up immediately in her bed. Her vision held a lean, built, well-tanned young man with dark hair.
"Van?"
He gave her a small smile before taking her inquiry as an invitation to walk in. "Hey."
Hitomi, excited to see him and finally able to have a moment with him alone, stood up from her bed and quickly strode over to him, hugging him with all her might. She was absolutely ecstatic. "I missed you, you know," she whispered loudly into his ear as she felt him circle his arms around her waist. "It's so good to see you again."
"I missed you too, Hitomi," he said with a smile into her hair. "I'm glad you're back."
"Me too," she said as they pulled away from each other, although his hands were still circled around her waist and her arms were still around his neck. "I haven't seen or talked to you in forever... it's been ten years, Van, can you believe it?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, seeing you for the first time now, it does seem like it's been forever. But at the same time, doesn't it feel like only yesterday that we parted?"
"You're kind of right," she said with a loose nod. Then slowly, she closed the gap between them again, resting her cheek against his chest. "How has life been treating you, Van?" she asked. "Is it all good and well?"
"It is now," he replied as his arms tightened around her. She smiled. It had been so long since they were like this—together. "Life hasn't been half bad, and it just keeps getting better. I have a feeling nothing can get better than this though."
"Aw," she said with a cute, sarcastic smile. "That's so sweet. You're still the dork I knew ten years ago. I don't know what Allen was saying when he told me that you changed."
The expression upon his face suddenly went stern, for he knew that deep within inside himself that he had changed. And he also knew, in a way, that it was not for the better. "Well... people do change, Hitomi," he said softly. "You can't escape it."
She nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. "Yeah, I know, but you're still the same to me. Or at least, you seem the same to me."
"You've changed," he said as he looked up and down at her. She laughed. "What? You have."
"I know, but physical change doesn't count because everyone goes through the same thing. But, I'm not complaining about your change." She grinned.
"Me either," he said cockily. Leaning in closer to her, he touched noses with her, and smiled. "I'm not complaining about you either though. You're absolutely adorable."
"Thanks," she said with a faded smile.
"What's wrong?" He pulled back away from her, giving her a worried look. Hitomi only shrugged under his gaze, and fell back onto her bed again. "Hitomi, what's up? Did I say something wrong?"
She shook her head. "No..." she said as she stared up at the ceiling. Van fell back onto her bed too, and he turned his face to look at her.
"You sure?"
She sighed. "Well," she started as she turned back to look at him. "I'm just wondering, what's happened in your life since I left, Van? I mean, you're not really the same shy little boy I remember leaving behind. You're much different now... and I just wanna know what you went through, you know."
He nodded. "Yeah, I understand. I'll tell you, but only under one condition."
She frowned at him. "What's that?"
"You have to tell me about your life too."
"Okay," she said with a nod. "That's fair, but you go first."
"Oh, okay... let's see... where do I start?" he asked, more to himself than Hitomi. She answered him anyway.
"Middle school. How'd you meet Kyoko?"
Van was a bit taken back, not really expecting Hitomi to know about her just yet. "Kyoko?"
"Yeah."
Feeling uncomfortable looking at her, and having her stare back at him with curious eyes, Van turned his head to face the ceiling. "Well... when I met her, believe it or not, she was actually just like me. If you've seen or met her, she's not like that now. She was really shy and quiet... and for a while, she reminded me so much of you, Hitomi. It didn't take a long time before she became my best friend... and eventually, I fell for her."
"Wow. Kyoko... shy and quiet... just like you..." she said in disbelief. "Are you sure that's your girlfriend?" she tried to joke.
Van nodded. "Yeah, that's her alright. But then, you know, high school happened... I tried out for basketball, she tried out for cheer... and before we knew it... things began change."
"It's crazy how things can change so much in such little time sometimes," she said. "But wow, Van... that's great though. See, I always knew you'd be a basketball star, but you never believed me. Who's right now, huh?" she teased as she nudged him.
He laughed and nudged her back lightly. "Well, what about you? Any special guys?"
"Only two," she said insignificantly. "They both turned out to be jerks anyway."
"Really? How?"
"Well, the first one, Brian, started off as a really good friend. Of course, that's always the first step, isn't it? We had been friends for about three years before we began to date. Then I found out that he had cheated on me. As for the second guy, it was pretty much the same story."
"Ah. Those jerks. If I could get my hands on them, I'd b—"
Hitomi let out a small laugh, shaking her head. "Yeah, right. Van, don't even start on that. You always have to be my protector, don't you? Ever since we were little kids... especially when Dilly picked on me."
"Well, I couldn't let anything happen to my ducky, right?" he laughed.
Hitomi smiled as the old memories of his nickname for her came flooding back through her mind.
"Speaking of which, do you still have that dirty old thing?" he asked, referring to her old stuffed animal duck—the one in which she took almost everywhere with her. "Man... that thing was filthy."
She glared at him playfully. "Hey, you be quiet. You were the one who gave it to me!"
"Yeah, but I didn't think that you would bring it EVERYWHERE with you. If I had known, I would've given you something else."
"Well, I brought it everywhere with me because the duck was from you, you big jerk."
"Oh," was his reply. For a moment, silence was held tight within the room, but it was broken as soon as Van started to laugh.
Hitomi gave him a weird look. "What's so funny?" she asked as she sat up.
"I can't believe you brought that thing everywhere because of me. If you had told me that earlier, I would've gotten you a dozen of them." He continued to laugh, earning a soft punch from her.
"That's not funny," she said jokingly as a smile broke out over her lips. "I actually still have the duck."
"You do?" Van asked as he sat up too, laughter shaking him from head to toe. "Oh my god! Hahahahaha! I can't believe you still have that after all these years! It is black now?"
"No!" she yelled.
"Let me see!"
"No!"
"Aw, come on."
She folded her arms over her chest, looking away at him stubbornly. "No, I refuse. You're only going to laugh more, and I don't want to clean my bed sheets."
"Huh?" He stared at her. For a moment, he had not gotten what she had just said. "Are you implying that I might went my pants? God, Hitomi, it must really be black then."
"It's not!"
"Then show me!"
"No!"
"Gyah," he said exasperatedly. "You are unbelievable."
"Thanks," she said proudly with a smile.
Silence took over the room again, for the lack of converse they had with each other. Neither of them knew what to say next, until:
"Hey, are you going to try out for any sports?"
Hitomi looked over at him and nodded. "Yeah... I was thinking about doing track again, but I've been doing that forever... and I'm kinda getting tired of it."
"Track? Track seems so... boring though."
She shrugged. "It does get kinda boring, which is why I'm thinking about doing tennis instead." She took out her racket from beneath her bed, and swung it at him playfully. "Whoosh. Sounds great, doesn't it?"
Van grinned amusingly. "Tennis sounds good to me. You should go for it."
"I am," she said with a positive nod. "I just hope that I won't suck too horribly though."
"Well, someone has to be it."
"Gee, thanks for making me feel so much better about it, Van."
"Aw, don't worry about it, ducky," he said with comfort. "I'm sure—actually, I'm positive that you'll do fine... because, well, you're just not the kind of person to suck."
"Uh huh," she said, not feeling much better about it. "Thanks for trying, Van, but you know what, no one's perfect."
He nodded. "Well, ducky, I've gotta go. I think I might just have some time left for basketball practice, so I'll see ya tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, see you, Van."
"Later, Hitomi. Call me if you get bored. We're gonna have to plan a lot of stuff and catch up on old times."
With a wide, bright smile, Hitomi hugged him once more before watching him walk out of her door. "I'll definitely do that. Bye, Vanny!"
Before she was able to completely shut her door, she heard a faint "Don't call me that!" coming from the bottom of the stairs.
Ah, the good old times.
And she smiled.
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Next update may be either sometime this week or within the next three weeks.