Chapter 4
Hoshi was sitting in the basement, which she had rebuilt into a music room a studio, since she had gotten the news and hopes of a music career two years earlier. She was sitting in the dark room by the piano with only a single lamp shining over her and her notes. It was midday and Michiru was at school. It had been seven years since the tanned woman had showed them the past, and after that, more and far more major changed had happened in their lives, to which Hoshi was more that glad. She sighed deeply over her notes and soon stretched out her arms over her head. She was wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, while her hair was hanging over her shoulders.
She soon rubbed her eyes with a deep sigh, feeling like the second song for the day was to be along and hard one. She had only made up the title. "This doesn't feel right." Hoshi sighed and closed her eyes.
At the same time the front door was closed. "Mother?"
Hoshi smiled at the angelic voice from upstairs and leaned back a little from the piano. "In the basement sweet heart!" She shouted towards the open door.
A while later the now ten year old Michiru peeked in with a bright smile playing on her lips. The girl was wearing her school uniform, it being a white blouse with a dark green sailor collar, which was in a bow over her chest and a matching skirt, which ended at her knees. "Working hard?"
Hoshi smiled at her daughter and soon sighed. "Work is working hard on me, I would like to say." She replied and soon looked at the piano again, but only for a second before Michiru sat down with her on the bench. "How was school?" She asked instead, looking at the girl.
"It was alright." Michiru replied, now leaning her head against Hoshi's shoulder while studying the notes on the piano. "Changing seas?" She smiled at the title before she looked at Hoshi.
Hoshi smiled back. "Yeah. I thought it would make a nice title... but it became a hard one to stand up to." She replied and turned on the recording machine on the piano, before she placed her hands onto the piano keys, sighing gently before she started to play on a calm melody.
Michiru watched Hoshi as she played with a smile over her lips, knowing that the woman she saw as her mother could come up with the rest of the new song with some help. She soon placed her hands beside Hoshi's on the keys, and soon they both played, Michiru following Hoshi's notes and at the same time making up her own. They had done this several times since the piano had arrived. "Tai-obasan said hi." Michiru said after a while of playing with Hoshi.
Hoshi smiled gently at the remark. "We should stop asking her to pick you up at school, shouldn't we?" She replied.
Michiru smiled at Hoshi, while still playing. "I like it when she picks me up at school. All the others students think she has a cool car."
Hoshi laughed warmly, seeing the image of Taiko's old T-bird painted blue with white stripes on the sides. "The Tai-mobile." She whispered. "It is a pretty cool car, I have to agree." She agreed. "But it really isn't as safe as she says it is." She added.
Michiru giggled gently, knowing that the old car could go into pieces any day.
The two played for some time and before they knew it, the song had been recorded and finished and the time had just flown by. The two sat at the piano for a while under silence before Hoshi sighed. "Well." She started and turned of the recorder. "Want to have dinner now, or do something else?"
Michiru smiled at Hoshi and her question. "I vote for dinner." She nodded and got up from the bench with Hoshi, who turned of the light before they walked out of the room. "I finished the sketch on Angel today!" Michiru said as she took her first step onto the stairs.
"You did?" Hoshi smiled, charmed at the sudden words. "Are you going to start painting on it this weekend?"
Michiru smiled back at Hoshi and nodded.
Hoshi sighed gently, but kept her smile. "What kind of canvas do you want for this piece of art?"
"The usual will be just fine." Michiru noted as she ran up the stairs before Hoshi, who slowly walked after the girl and into the kitchen.
Hoshi picked out the days dinner from the fridge, while Michiru took out a pot from the cupboard and filled it half way with water, before putting it onto the stove. Hoshi had always allowed Michiru to be in the kitchen when she made dinner, and the girl had always wanted to help as much as she could, to which Hoshi never had protested, thinking that the girl would need to know how to cook on her own someday. "Sweet heart, could you take out a frying pan?" Hoshi asked as she stared cutting the fish she had taken out.
Michiru nodded and took out a frying pan from the cupboard and placed it onto the stove. "I'll go change." She said and soon ran up the stairs.
Hoshi smiled for herself as she continued finishing the fish. Suddenly the doorbell rang. Hoshi blinked and looked out the kitchen window, seeing a familiar figure standing on the steps to the house, looking up. Hoshi smiled gently and sighed. "Michiru? Could you get the door?"
"Yes mother!" Michiru shouted as she ran down the stairs, wearing a gentle green t-shirt with the letter M in blue, and a pair of dark blue jogging pants. She ran into the hallway, were she opened the door. "Tai-obasan!" She screamed with joy as the brown haired woman behind the door wrapped her arms around Michiru, picking her up from the floor and hugging her tightly.
"How's my cutie doing?" Taiko laughed and kissed Michiru on the cheek, before putting her back onto the floor.
"I thought you were coming over tomorrow, not today." Michiru chirped.
Taiko winked at the girl and closed the door after her self. "I changed my mind." She noted and took of her black leather jacket. She was wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of dark gray jeans, and her hair had grown strangely much, and was now in a tight brand. "Mommy's in the kitchen?"
"Yes." Michiru smiled at the brown haired woman. "We're fixing dinner."
"Aw, and I wasn't invited?" Taiko raised an eyebrow and soon picked Michiru up again, throwing the girl over her shoulder as she walked into the doorway into the kitchen. "Hey there mommy." Taiko grinned at Hoshi who looked over her shoulder, smiling at the entrance.
"You can smell food even if it isn't done, can't you?" Hoshi asked and went back to the fish.
"I have a super nose." Taiko replied and looked at Michiru who was just hanging on her shoulder. "Want to go down, kitten?" She asked now.
"I don't mind hanging around like this." Michiru smiled at the woman.
"Alright! I just might buy you and have you as a boa around my neck." Taiko noted with a raised eyebrow.
Michiru just giggled and was soon put onto the floor. "Too bad I weight a bit too much, right?" She remarked to the brown haired woman with a smile over her lips.
"I think your mother is giving you a bit too much food, these days." Taiko grinned at the girl, while keeping an eye on Hoshi who had turned around, and was now waving the knife towards Taiko.
"Sweet heart I think obasan and I can make dinner, why don't you set the table?" Hoshi noted with a smile towards Michiru. "Give obasan the smallest plate."
"I will." Michiru smiled at Hoshi and soon climbed onto the stool by the cupboard, with the plates and glasses.
"And obasan can make a salad." Hoshi continued before she turned back to the fish. "And she'll be cleaning up after dinner."
Taiko shrugged her shoulders and did as she was told, not wanting to play around with Hoshi when she had a knife in her hand.
After dinner Michiru had gone to her room to do her homework, giving Hoshi and Taiko time to clean up in the kitchen. Taiko put the last plate into the machine with a sigh, before she closed it and turned to Hoshi, who was making tea.
"You really should cut your hair. You look like a girl in long hair." Hoshi noted suddenly, giving Taiko a slightly teasing gaze, knowing the woman by heart and that she hated to be called a girl.
Taiko just smiled at the remark and crossed her arms. "How come you like picking on me so much, Shi-chan?" She asked instead as she leaned against the water-basin behind her. "You know what they say about picking on people."
"It's not nice?" Hoshi raised her eyebrows at Taiko, while a grin played on her lips.
Taiko tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes. "That too." She agreed and looked at Hoshi again. "You haven't been out since Michi-chan arrived, you know? People are starting to miss you on the dance floor."
Hoshi sighed at the truth, but smiled at the fact that she didn't miss the messiness' of going out. "I really don't mind staying home, and having a life outside all that."
"Mm." Taiko nodded a little. "But you shouldn't live a life alone, you know?" She added, now looking at the floor. "I remember a young Shi-chan who always said that she never wanted to be alone and unloved, when we went to school."
Hoshi looked at the water, which was starting to boil. "I'm not alone and unloved." She noted and looked at Taiko. "I have what I need, and I'm glad for it."
Taiko nodded once more before she looked at Hoshi again. "I know what you mean, but don't you miss having some one there?"
Hoshi knew what the friend meant, but she hadn't thought about that. Having some one by her side hadn't really meant much after Natsumi had left her, and she hadn't been looking really either. "Of course I miss having someone there..." She replied and turned off the stove. "But my time now is for Michiru..." She added and ended up with a sigh. "But I don't want to be-"
"Heartbroken?" Taiko cut in, knowing the young woman by heart.
Hoshi smiled at Taiko and soon poured the water into three cups. "Yeah." She nodded.
Taiko nodded in agreement, knowing the feeling more than well, even if she had been alone herself for some time.
Suddenly Hoshi gasped out loud, having poured boiling water onto her own hand. She dropped the pot and jumped back in chock from the counter, holding onto her hand tightly.
Taiko's eyes widened and she quickly turned on the water, before she ran over to Hoshi and pulled her back to the water-basin, putting Hoshi's hand under the cold running water. "You shouldn't be doing two things at the same time, you loose your focus." Taiko noted, mostly meant as a joke.
Hoshi sighed while keeping her eyes on the water running over her hurting hand. "I guess you're right." She replied in a low voice, while she looked at Taiko who picked up the pot from the floor, and at the same time drying up the warm water with a towel.
A short second later Michiru came running down the stairs. "What happened?" She asked and noticed Taiko cleaning up on the floor, while Hoshi was washing down her hand. "Mother?"
"It's alright sweet heart. I just burned myself a little." Hoshi promised with a careful smile.
"I'll put on new water." Taiko noted, mostly for herself.
Michiru looked at the two for a while before she nodded a little. "I'll go finish my homework."
Hoshi smiled at the girl. "I'll call you down when teas ready." She replied and listened as Michiru walked up the stairs again.
Taiko walked over to Hoshi and filled the pot. "Where were we?" She smiled at Hoshi as she walked over to the stove. "Heart braking, was it?"
Hoshi smiled a little for herself, and looked back at the water. "I really don't want to talk about it." She noted as she turned of the water and dried her hand in a towel, hanging under the water-basin.
Taiko looked at Hoshi for a while and soon sighed. "Who does really?" She whispered, while she studied the water. "I don't think there is anything called true or eternal love, you know?" She said now, looking at Hoshi who instantly looked back at her. "Only family kind of love is eternal." She added with a smile.
Hoshi looked at Taiko for a while drying her hand. "I wont make a comment on that." She replied as she hung up the towel again.
"What? You believe in true and eternal love?" Taiko smiled a little ironically, looking back at the water. "I think we've talked about this subject several times before." She noted after a while.
"What not?" Hoshi protested. "You never know when the real love comes along, until it's over." She added and crossed her arms. "Life isn't eternal, so that can make love eternal, since a persons feelings never die out. At least I think so."
"Blah, blah, blah." Taiko gagged.
"Tai-chan!" Hoshi protested. "I thought you were grown up and that I could talk to you about everything."
Taiko was irritated by the remark, and Hoshi could clearly see it. "Sure you can. But it wont change the fact that I actually li-"Taiko's eyes widened as she heard her own voice saying words she swore never to say out loud, specially not near Hoshi. Her face turned a shade of red and she ended up looking into the pot again.
Hoshi looked at the woman with slightly widened eyes, since she hadn't seen her friend blush so often, except under their years in school and under gym classes. "Tai-chan?" Hoshi blinked and slowly walked over to the woman, whom's face turned into a darker shade of red for every step Hoshi took closer to her. "You were trying to tell me something? And I think it was something important this time."
"Forget it." Taiko mumbled.
"Tell me!" Hoshi protested and grabbed onto Taiko by the arm. "I thought we were best friends! And always would be."
Taiko closed her eyes tightly and swallowed hard, and Hoshi could feel Taiko's arm muscle tightening under her grip. "It was nothing..." Taiko whispered under her breath.
"Hey." Hoshi whispered now and slowly removed her hand from Taiko's arm. "If it was nothing, why won't you look at me?"
Taiko took a deep, shivering breath and slowly opened her eyes a little. "I really don't want to talk about it..." She whispered and turned of the stove, as the water started steaming.
"Tai-chan..." Hoshi whispered, giving her friend a slightly disappointed gaze.
Suddenly Taiko looked at Hoshi with slightly shining eyes, which could have made anyone's heart skip a beat. "Sorry, but I really don't want to talk about that..." She whispered and poured the water into the last two empty cups. "Let's enjoy this evening tea, and then I'll leave." She added in a low voice. "Alright?"
Hoshi looked at the woman for some time under silence, before she slowly walked over to a cupboard, taking out some small cookies. "If you wish." She whispered as she closed the cupboard. She sighed and suddenly her eyes widened, feeling a pair of firm hands on her shoulders. She looked over her shoulder and right at Taiko, who was staring at Hoshi's back. "Tai... -chan?" Hoshi blinked.
Taiko sighed and closed her eyes a little. "I really never thought I would tell it to you..." She whispered as she slowly turned Hoshi around. "But I guess this is the best chance I'll ever get, before I can decide anything really."
"What are you talking about?" Hoshi blinked.
Taiko looked at the floor for some time before she looked at Hoshi. "I've been thinking on moving to America." She answered. "But I really don't want to... because I have nothing there, you know?" She added and looked back at the floor again. "My brother lives there, sure. But he hates me more than the plague, just like the rest of my family."
Hoshi knew why Taiko's family hated her so much. They had talked about it over a sleep over at Hoshi's parents place when they were younger, and Taiko had slept over several nights, just because Hoshi's parents thought the girl would have been beaten up. "You really don't need to think of that, right? America is huge..."
Taiko smiled gently and slowly lifted her gaze from the floor, and back onto Hoshi. "But my life is here, you know? My friends are here... you, are here. I wont have all that there."
Hoshi blinked at the woman, not really knowing what to make of the eyes that were looking right at her, that seemed to be begging. And now Hoshi could make out by Taiko's voice that the woman was almost forcing out the words. "You don't have to talk about this, if you don't want to Tai- chan." Hoshi noted and placed the box onto the counter behind her.
"No I actually do need to say this, and I've been training it for some time in front of my mirror at home." Taiko almost protested and slowly took Hoshi's hand into her own. "I'm pretty sick of it now." She added with a gentle smile over her lips. "What do you think I should do?" She asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Hoshi blinked back.
"Should I follow my heart, or should I just run away from everything." Taiko continued, while looking into Hoshi's eyes.
Hoshi tried to make out what Taiko was hoping to hear, but she wasn't sure for the first time in her life. "You... you should follow your heart, I think." She answered in a low voice.
Taiko looked at Hoshi for some time before she nodded. "Thanks."
"For what-?" Hoshi's eyes widened, as she found Taiko's hand on her cheek, while the gaze turned gentle. The situation was puzzling, but Hoshi didn't move from the spot, she just stared and didn't say a word.
Taiko moved as close to Hoshi as she could, who just walked into counter behind her. "I hate saying this..." She whispered as she slowly moved her face closer to Hoshi's. "But I have been watching you since the first day we met in school." She added after a while, before she gently placed her lips over Hoshi's, while at the same time her free hand found its way to Hoshi's hurting hand, which she held carefully in her own.
Hoshi stared at Taiko for a second, before she calmed herself, letting her eyes close slowly and letting herself being kissed.
Taiko slowly pulled away from Hoshi, opening her eyes and looking at Hoshi's slightly blushing face. "I'm sorry if I did this the wrong way. But there would probably never had been a better time..." She whispered and bit her lower lip a little, while she gently stroked Hoshi's cheek with her thumb, which made Hoshi slowly open her eyes.
Hoshi swallowed hard and rested her eyes on Taiko's lips, which she never had thought on kissing, thinking that a relationship on the highest level with an amazing friend would be possible, but now she was slowly starting to think different. She suddenly blinked and for some reason, she looked at towards the place between the kitchen and the dining area, and there was Michiru standing, looking at the two with slightly widened eyes. "Michi..." Hoshi whispered suddenly, and Taiko jumped back as quickly as she heard the name.
The girl looked from Hoshi to Taiko, and from Taiko to Hoshi several times before she walked closer to them both with a sudden curious look over her face. "Were you two kissing?" She asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
Hoshi and Taiko blushed at the question, and Taiko ended up looking at the floor, while Hoshi swallowed hard, touching her own face and feeling that it was slightly burning. What am I supposed to say to that? She probably saw everything. She thought.
Michiru suddenly smiled at Hoshi. "I don't mind." She noted and looked at Taiko. "I mean, Tai-obasan has always been around. I was starting to wonder when something would happen." She added and walked over to the counter with the cup, picking up her own.
Taiko and Hoshi just stared at the girl, who walked to the dining table and sat down with her cup.
Hoshi was sitting in the basement, which she had rebuilt into a music room a studio, since she had gotten the news and hopes of a music career two years earlier. She was sitting in the dark room by the piano with only a single lamp shining over her and her notes. It was midday and Michiru was at school. It had been seven years since the tanned woman had showed them the past, and after that, more and far more major changed had happened in their lives, to which Hoshi was more that glad. She sighed deeply over her notes and soon stretched out her arms over her head. She was wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, while her hair was hanging over her shoulders.
She soon rubbed her eyes with a deep sigh, feeling like the second song for the day was to be along and hard one. She had only made up the title. "This doesn't feel right." Hoshi sighed and closed her eyes.
At the same time the front door was closed. "Mother?"
Hoshi smiled at the angelic voice from upstairs and leaned back a little from the piano. "In the basement sweet heart!" She shouted towards the open door.
A while later the now ten year old Michiru peeked in with a bright smile playing on her lips. The girl was wearing her school uniform, it being a white blouse with a dark green sailor collar, which was in a bow over her chest and a matching skirt, which ended at her knees. "Working hard?"
Hoshi smiled at her daughter and soon sighed. "Work is working hard on me, I would like to say." She replied and soon looked at the piano again, but only for a second before Michiru sat down with her on the bench. "How was school?" She asked instead, looking at the girl.
"It was alright." Michiru replied, now leaning her head against Hoshi's shoulder while studying the notes on the piano. "Changing seas?" She smiled at the title before she looked at Hoshi.
Hoshi smiled back. "Yeah. I thought it would make a nice title... but it became a hard one to stand up to." She replied and turned on the recording machine on the piano, before she placed her hands onto the piano keys, sighing gently before she started to play on a calm melody.
Michiru watched Hoshi as she played with a smile over her lips, knowing that the woman she saw as her mother could come up with the rest of the new song with some help. She soon placed her hands beside Hoshi's on the keys, and soon they both played, Michiru following Hoshi's notes and at the same time making up her own. They had done this several times since the piano had arrived. "Tai-obasan said hi." Michiru said after a while of playing with Hoshi.
Hoshi smiled gently at the remark. "We should stop asking her to pick you up at school, shouldn't we?" She replied.
Michiru smiled at Hoshi, while still playing. "I like it when she picks me up at school. All the others students think she has a cool car."
Hoshi laughed warmly, seeing the image of Taiko's old T-bird painted blue with white stripes on the sides. "The Tai-mobile." She whispered. "It is a pretty cool car, I have to agree." She agreed. "But it really isn't as safe as she says it is." She added.
Michiru giggled gently, knowing that the old car could go into pieces any day.
The two played for some time and before they knew it, the song had been recorded and finished and the time had just flown by. The two sat at the piano for a while under silence before Hoshi sighed. "Well." She started and turned of the recorder. "Want to have dinner now, or do something else?"
Michiru smiled at Hoshi and her question. "I vote for dinner." She nodded and got up from the bench with Hoshi, who turned of the light before they walked out of the room. "I finished the sketch on Angel today!" Michiru said as she took her first step onto the stairs.
"You did?" Hoshi smiled, charmed at the sudden words. "Are you going to start painting on it this weekend?"
Michiru smiled back at Hoshi and nodded.
Hoshi sighed gently, but kept her smile. "What kind of canvas do you want for this piece of art?"
"The usual will be just fine." Michiru noted as she ran up the stairs before Hoshi, who slowly walked after the girl and into the kitchen.
Hoshi picked out the days dinner from the fridge, while Michiru took out a pot from the cupboard and filled it half way with water, before putting it onto the stove. Hoshi had always allowed Michiru to be in the kitchen when she made dinner, and the girl had always wanted to help as much as she could, to which Hoshi never had protested, thinking that the girl would need to know how to cook on her own someday. "Sweet heart, could you take out a frying pan?" Hoshi asked as she stared cutting the fish she had taken out.
Michiru nodded and took out a frying pan from the cupboard and placed it onto the stove. "I'll go change." She said and soon ran up the stairs.
Hoshi smiled for herself as she continued finishing the fish. Suddenly the doorbell rang. Hoshi blinked and looked out the kitchen window, seeing a familiar figure standing on the steps to the house, looking up. Hoshi smiled gently and sighed. "Michiru? Could you get the door?"
"Yes mother!" Michiru shouted as she ran down the stairs, wearing a gentle green t-shirt with the letter M in blue, and a pair of dark blue jogging pants. She ran into the hallway, were she opened the door. "Tai-obasan!" She screamed with joy as the brown haired woman behind the door wrapped her arms around Michiru, picking her up from the floor and hugging her tightly.
"How's my cutie doing?" Taiko laughed and kissed Michiru on the cheek, before putting her back onto the floor.
"I thought you were coming over tomorrow, not today." Michiru chirped.
Taiko winked at the girl and closed the door after her self. "I changed my mind." She noted and took of her black leather jacket. She was wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of dark gray jeans, and her hair had grown strangely much, and was now in a tight brand. "Mommy's in the kitchen?"
"Yes." Michiru smiled at the brown haired woman. "We're fixing dinner."
"Aw, and I wasn't invited?" Taiko raised an eyebrow and soon picked Michiru up again, throwing the girl over her shoulder as she walked into the doorway into the kitchen. "Hey there mommy." Taiko grinned at Hoshi who looked over her shoulder, smiling at the entrance.
"You can smell food even if it isn't done, can't you?" Hoshi asked and went back to the fish.
"I have a super nose." Taiko replied and looked at Michiru who was just hanging on her shoulder. "Want to go down, kitten?" She asked now.
"I don't mind hanging around like this." Michiru smiled at the woman.
"Alright! I just might buy you and have you as a boa around my neck." Taiko noted with a raised eyebrow.
Michiru just giggled and was soon put onto the floor. "Too bad I weight a bit too much, right?" She remarked to the brown haired woman with a smile over her lips.
"I think your mother is giving you a bit too much food, these days." Taiko grinned at the girl, while keeping an eye on Hoshi who had turned around, and was now waving the knife towards Taiko.
"Sweet heart I think obasan and I can make dinner, why don't you set the table?" Hoshi noted with a smile towards Michiru. "Give obasan the smallest plate."
"I will." Michiru smiled at Hoshi and soon climbed onto the stool by the cupboard, with the plates and glasses.
"And obasan can make a salad." Hoshi continued before she turned back to the fish. "And she'll be cleaning up after dinner."
Taiko shrugged her shoulders and did as she was told, not wanting to play around with Hoshi when she had a knife in her hand.
After dinner Michiru had gone to her room to do her homework, giving Hoshi and Taiko time to clean up in the kitchen. Taiko put the last plate into the machine with a sigh, before she closed it and turned to Hoshi, who was making tea.
"You really should cut your hair. You look like a girl in long hair." Hoshi noted suddenly, giving Taiko a slightly teasing gaze, knowing the woman by heart and that she hated to be called a girl.
Taiko just smiled at the remark and crossed her arms. "How come you like picking on me so much, Shi-chan?" She asked instead as she leaned against the water-basin behind her. "You know what they say about picking on people."
"It's not nice?" Hoshi raised her eyebrows at Taiko, while a grin played on her lips.
Taiko tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes. "That too." She agreed and looked at Hoshi again. "You haven't been out since Michi-chan arrived, you know? People are starting to miss you on the dance floor."
Hoshi sighed at the truth, but smiled at the fact that she didn't miss the messiness' of going out. "I really don't mind staying home, and having a life outside all that."
"Mm." Taiko nodded a little. "But you shouldn't live a life alone, you know?" She added, now looking at the floor. "I remember a young Shi-chan who always said that she never wanted to be alone and unloved, when we went to school."
Hoshi looked at the water, which was starting to boil. "I'm not alone and unloved." She noted and looked at Taiko. "I have what I need, and I'm glad for it."
Taiko nodded once more before she looked at Hoshi again. "I know what you mean, but don't you miss having some one there?"
Hoshi knew what the friend meant, but she hadn't thought about that. Having some one by her side hadn't really meant much after Natsumi had left her, and she hadn't been looking really either. "Of course I miss having someone there..." She replied and turned off the stove. "But my time now is for Michiru..." She added and ended up with a sigh. "But I don't want to be-"
"Heartbroken?" Taiko cut in, knowing the young woman by heart.
Hoshi smiled at Taiko and soon poured the water into three cups. "Yeah." She nodded.
Taiko nodded in agreement, knowing the feeling more than well, even if she had been alone herself for some time.
Suddenly Hoshi gasped out loud, having poured boiling water onto her own hand. She dropped the pot and jumped back in chock from the counter, holding onto her hand tightly.
Taiko's eyes widened and she quickly turned on the water, before she ran over to Hoshi and pulled her back to the water-basin, putting Hoshi's hand under the cold running water. "You shouldn't be doing two things at the same time, you loose your focus." Taiko noted, mostly meant as a joke.
Hoshi sighed while keeping her eyes on the water running over her hurting hand. "I guess you're right." She replied in a low voice, while she looked at Taiko who picked up the pot from the floor, and at the same time drying up the warm water with a towel.
A short second later Michiru came running down the stairs. "What happened?" She asked and noticed Taiko cleaning up on the floor, while Hoshi was washing down her hand. "Mother?"
"It's alright sweet heart. I just burned myself a little." Hoshi promised with a careful smile.
"I'll put on new water." Taiko noted, mostly for herself.
Michiru looked at the two for a while before she nodded a little. "I'll go finish my homework."
Hoshi smiled at the girl. "I'll call you down when teas ready." She replied and listened as Michiru walked up the stairs again.
Taiko walked over to Hoshi and filled the pot. "Where were we?" She smiled at Hoshi as she walked over to the stove. "Heart braking, was it?"
Hoshi smiled a little for herself, and looked back at the water. "I really don't want to talk about it." She noted as she turned of the water and dried her hand in a towel, hanging under the water-basin.
Taiko looked at Hoshi for a while and soon sighed. "Who does really?" She whispered, while she studied the water. "I don't think there is anything called true or eternal love, you know?" She said now, looking at Hoshi who instantly looked back at her. "Only family kind of love is eternal." She added with a smile.
Hoshi looked at Taiko for a while drying her hand. "I wont make a comment on that." She replied as she hung up the towel again.
"What? You believe in true and eternal love?" Taiko smiled a little ironically, looking back at the water. "I think we've talked about this subject several times before." She noted after a while.
"What not?" Hoshi protested. "You never know when the real love comes along, until it's over." She added and crossed her arms. "Life isn't eternal, so that can make love eternal, since a persons feelings never die out. At least I think so."
"Blah, blah, blah." Taiko gagged.
"Tai-chan!" Hoshi protested. "I thought you were grown up and that I could talk to you about everything."
Taiko was irritated by the remark, and Hoshi could clearly see it. "Sure you can. But it wont change the fact that I actually li-"Taiko's eyes widened as she heard her own voice saying words she swore never to say out loud, specially not near Hoshi. Her face turned a shade of red and she ended up looking into the pot again.
Hoshi looked at the woman with slightly widened eyes, since she hadn't seen her friend blush so often, except under their years in school and under gym classes. "Tai-chan?" Hoshi blinked and slowly walked over to the woman, whom's face turned into a darker shade of red for every step Hoshi took closer to her. "You were trying to tell me something? And I think it was something important this time."
"Forget it." Taiko mumbled.
"Tell me!" Hoshi protested and grabbed onto Taiko by the arm. "I thought we were best friends! And always would be."
Taiko closed her eyes tightly and swallowed hard, and Hoshi could feel Taiko's arm muscle tightening under her grip. "It was nothing..." Taiko whispered under her breath.
"Hey." Hoshi whispered now and slowly removed her hand from Taiko's arm. "If it was nothing, why won't you look at me?"
Taiko took a deep, shivering breath and slowly opened her eyes a little. "I really don't want to talk about it..." She whispered and turned of the stove, as the water started steaming.
"Tai-chan..." Hoshi whispered, giving her friend a slightly disappointed gaze.
Suddenly Taiko looked at Hoshi with slightly shining eyes, which could have made anyone's heart skip a beat. "Sorry, but I really don't want to talk about that..." She whispered and poured the water into the last two empty cups. "Let's enjoy this evening tea, and then I'll leave." She added in a low voice. "Alright?"
Hoshi looked at the woman for some time under silence, before she slowly walked over to a cupboard, taking out some small cookies. "If you wish." She whispered as she closed the cupboard. She sighed and suddenly her eyes widened, feeling a pair of firm hands on her shoulders. She looked over her shoulder and right at Taiko, who was staring at Hoshi's back. "Tai... -chan?" Hoshi blinked.
Taiko sighed and closed her eyes a little. "I really never thought I would tell it to you..." She whispered as she slowly turned Hoshi around. "But I guess this is the best chance I'll ever get, before I can decide anything really."
"What are you talking about?" Hoshi blinked.
Taiko looked at the floor for some time before she looked at Hoshi. "I've been thinking on moving to America." She answered. "But I really don't want to... because I have nothing there, you know?" She added and looked back at the floor again. "My brother lives there, sure. But he hates me more than the plague, just like the rest of my family."
Hoshi knew why Taiko's family hated her so much. They had talked about it over a sleep over at Hoshi's parents place when they were younger, and Taiko had slept over several nights, just because Hoshi's parents thought the girl would have been beaten up. "You really don't need to think of that, right? America is huge..."
Taiko smiled gently and slowly lifted her gaze from the floor, and back onto Hoshi. "But my life is here, you know? My friends are here... you, are here. I wont have all that there."
Hoshi blinked at the woman, not really knowing what to make of the eyes that were looking right at her, that seemed to be begging. And now Hoshi could make out by Taiko's voice that the woman was almost forcing out the words. "You don't have to talk about this, if you don't want to Tai- chan." Hoshi noted and placed the box onto the counter behind her.
"No I actually do need to say this, and I've been training it for some time in front of my mirror at home." Taiko almost protested and slowly took Hoshi's hand into her own. "I'm pretty sick of it now." She added with a gentle smile over her lips. "What do you think I should do?" She asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Hoshi blinked back.
"Should I follow my heart, or should I just run away from everything." Taiko continued, while looking into Hoshi's eyes.
Hoshi tried to make out what Taiko was hoping to hear, but she wasn't sure for the first time in her life. "You... you should follow your heart, I think." She answered in a low voice.
Taiko looked at Hoshi for some time before she nodded. "Thanks."
"For what-?" Hoshi's eyes widened, as she found Taiko's hand on her cheek, while the gaze turned gentle. The situation was puzzling, but Hoshi didn't move from the spot, she just stared and didn't say a word.
Taiko moved as close to Hoshi as she could, who just walked into counter behind her. "I hate saying this..." She whispered as she slowly moved her face closer to Hoshi's. "But I have been watching you since the first day we met in school." She added after a while, before she gently placed her lips over Hoshi's, while at the same time her free hand found its way to Hoshi's hurting hand, which she held carefully in her own.
Hoshi stared at Taiko for a second, before she calmed herself, letting her eyes close slowly and letting herself being kissed.
Taiko slowly pulled away from Hoshi, opening her eyes and looking at Hoshi's slightly blushing face. "I'm sorry if I did this the wrong way. But there would probably never had been a better time..." She whispered and bit her lower lip a little, while she gently stroked Hoshi's cheek with her thumb, which made Hoshi slowly open her eyes.
Hoshi swallowed hard and rested her eyes on Taiko's lips, which she never had thought on kissing, thinking that a relationship on the highest level with an amazing friend would be possible, but now she was slowly starting to think different. She suddenly blinked and for some reason, she looked at towards the place between the kitchen and the dining area, and there was Michiru standing, looking at the two with slightly widened eyes. "Michi..." Hoshi whispered suddenly, and Taiko jumped back as quickly as she heard the name.
The girl looked from Hoshi to Taiko, and from Taiko to Hoshi several times before she walked closer to them both with a sudden curious look over her face. "Were you two kissing?" She asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
Hoshi and Taiko blushed at the question, and Taiko ended up looking at the floor, while Hoshi swallowed hard, touching her own face and feeling that it was slightly burning. What am I supposed to say to that? She probably saw everything. She thought.
Michiru suddenly smiled at Hoshi. "I don't mind." She noted and looked at Taiko. "I mean, Tai-obasan has always been around. I was starting to wonder when something would happen." She added and walked over to the counter with the cup, picking up her own.
Taiko and Hoshi just stared at the girl, who walked to the dining table and sat down with her cup.