Daydreamer: hi everyone!! this is the last chapter of Realizing. i would like to thank all of my kind reviewers who were so nice to encourage me and to keep me confident.this is the first story that im actually able to finish and its all thanx to you.ARIGTOU!! heres last chappie where u will all find out what will happen between Ren, Horohoro, and Maya. will Ren win? will Maya, my oc win? u will find out now.
Chapter 8: AishiteruRen walked in the forest in a slow and unsteady way. His head throbbed from all the running he did for who knows how long.
"Ren! Ren! I found her!" The Chinese heard a familiar voice call to him and felt a pang hit his heart. No matter how much he didn't want to, the boy turned around, making an expression of annoyance. The sight of the Ainu and the child holding hands made the pain bigger, but he didn't let either of them know of it.
"It's about time."
"Sorry. She was just...lost. But let's just go find everyone else and have some fun now."
"Easy for you to say." Ren muttered under his breath.
"What? You say something?"
" No." The three walked out of the forest in an odd silence and eventually met Yoh, Anna, Pilika, and Jun in the crowd. Anna scolded Maya for her for her disappearance but was stopped by Yoh's cheery attitude and of forgiveness and thankfulness of the child's safety.
As if nothing happened, the group enjoyed the festival. All but three people who were hiding their clouded minds.
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After a few hours, the gang left the festival and went back to their homes. Ren walked with Jun, the heavy feeling inside not lightening, maybe getting worse if that was even possible. His sister looked at him from the corner of her worried eyes.
"Ren, what's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"You don't look too well."
"I'm fine." Jun unlocked the door to their house and walked in after her brother.
"I don't think you are. Tell me what's wrong."
"Please neesan. I need some rest." Ren went straight up to his room, leaving his sister behind, and changed into his night clothes. He fell face down on his bed but felt no sleep creep into him.
------------------Ren's Thoughts----------------------------------
Of course he'd choose her. What the hell am I talking about, I probably wasn't a choice from the start. She may be a kid but he's probably about her age on the inside. Hyper, immature, and baka. Yeah, that adds up to a kid. Maybe that's what makes him cute. I don't know. It doesn't matter. It's too late to know and think about it now. Of course he doesn't love me. I'm always arguing with him. And that brat is right. I'm never kind to him and always hurting him. But she's able to make him so happy....so free. Like the child that he is. He's happy with her...not me. He'd never love me.
--------------------End of Ren's Thoughts------------------------------------
The boy hugged his pillow and stared out of his window. He reached out at the night sky, and pressed his finger tips against the glass. 'There's a transparent wall between us. But even if I broke that wall, I'd still never be able to reach you. Like that moon.' He closed his hand into a fist in front of the moon and opened it again. He stared at it between his fingers and closed his eyes.
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Ren lie in his bed for hours, still feeling wide awake. He got out of bed, changed his clothes, and walked down the stairs. He got out of his house and walked down the streets until he reached another, smaller but average sized house. His golden eyes stared at a certain window longingly. 'I want to tell him. I need to tell him. But his answer....'
"I guess I lost." Ren turned to see Maya standing next to him. She wore a small smile but her eyes seemed to have given up on something.
"I don't know what you're talking about but I don't care." Ren said coldly and walked passed the girl to head home again.
"I can't have him." Maya said quickly, stopping Ren in his tracks. He looked back at her and let out a breath.
"Hn, that's funny. I saw what happened in the forest." Maya shrugged and shook her head slowly.
"You didn't here what he said, did you?"
"....."
"He said there's someone else in his kokoro and he can't see me the way I see him. That it's nice I feel that way about him but he can't feel the same with me."
"What about the.....kiss?"
"Oh, that? He said since I'm leaving, he can do one last thing for me." Maya's voice was cracked and tears crawled out of her eyes.
"That's when I saw you and asked if he can kiss me. But...but...he said....I can't kiss him." Maya coughed and rubbed her eyes even though her tears continued to fall.
"Because....I have to save....my first kiss....for the right person meant for me. He said I'll eventually...meet that right person....but it's not him. So he'll just be....the only one so kiss." The girl thrust herself at Ren and buried her face into his shirt. He placed a hand on her head, a mix of pity, sorrow, longing, jealousy, and so much more swirling inside him.
"But he did kiss you, right?" Ren asked solemnly but the girl shook her head and raised her wet face.
"It was on the forehead."
"But it was the first wasn't it?"
"No! I can tell it wasn't. Don't you get it?! He's saving his first for that person in his kokoro." Maya parted from Ren and wiped away her last tears.
"Who?" He asked hesitantly.
"He didn't tell me."
"Who do you think it is then?"
"Ren, you have to find that out."
"How am I suppose to do that?"
"Well...tell him how you feel. You know, like a trade. You tell him who you love, and he tells you who he loves. You do know how you feel, don't you?" Ren turned away with tints of red on his cheeks and his eyes narrowed.
"You just want to see me get rejected."
"No....I just....want what's best for him." Ren looked back at the girl, surprised at her answer.
"What does that have to do with him knowing or I knowing? I'm not the one in his kokoro."
"But you want to know, don't you? You want to tell him, don't you?" Maya took Ren's hand and pressed it against his chest where his heart was.
"Neither of you can read each other's kokoro. It's not enough to just know the feeling. You have to tell to let them know, or they'll never know." The girl looked into Ren's eyes pleadingly and backed away. She ran back to the inn, Ren watching her until she was out of sight. He looked back at the window one last time and returned home.
"Not enough to just feel...won't know until tell...can't read each other's kokoro." Ren whispered to himself and finally fell asleep.
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A car pulled over in front of Funbari Onsen. Two doors opened, one revealing a large man with broad shoulders in a suit, the other with a tall slender woman in a blue kimono. The two opened the inn's door and walked in politely.
"Hello? Miss Anna? We're here for Maya." Anna came from behind a door, followed by Yoh, Horohoro, Ren, Pilika, Jun, and Maya tagging along in the back with a small suit case.
"Hi mommy. Hi daddy." The girl made her angelic grin and her father scooped her up and kissed her.
"Thank you so much for watching our daughter. I hope she wasn't any trouble." The mother said in a soft and polite tone, bowing as she did.
"Iie, she was no trouble at all. A good girl, in fact." Anna answered just as politely and made her customer smile.
The family left after paying full price and everyone, except Ren, waved at the car good bye. For the rest of the day, everyone was back to being in there normal days, easily shaking off the feeling of the missing child. The only people uncomfortable were Horohoro, which everyone understood, and Ren who hid his disturbance. When the sun set and the stars began to show themselves, Jun, Pilika, and Horohoro headed home. Ren walked out to his favorite park and sat on a bench to convince himself of something.
'What if it's better not to tell him? He already has someone in his kokoro. I know it can't be me...But I need to tell him. But his answer...' Ren made a long and stressful sigh and hovered over the ground as he rested his arms on his lap.
"Hey." The Chinese looked up and began to blush madly. In front of him was his problem and the core of his thoughts: Horohoro. The two stared at each other in a long silence. Ren miraculously willed his blush to a light pink. The air was heavy between them, each one not noticing the held back blush from each other. After what seemed like forever to them, Ren broke the ice.
"What?" He kicked himself inside for saying it so rudely. The Ainu looked away with his hands in his pockets, looking uneasy.
"Nothin'. Just on a walk. Can I sit there?"
"There's no law saying that you can't, baka." Ren kicked himself inside again. The two sat next to each other, not trying to look inside of each other's eyes. 'What am I waiting for?! This is my chance to tell him.' Ren's heart beat faster by each passing minute as he tried to get himself to speak.
"Hey Ren?" The Ainu spoke first.
"W-what?"
"Did you...see anything last night in the forest? Or hear anything?"
"Like what?"
"Maybe...me and Maya doing anything? Or saying anything"
"I only saw you two after you found her." Ren lied but became curious of what Horohoro wanted to say.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!! Of course, never mind." Horohoro forced a fake laugh and scratched his head.
"But what do you mean by hear or do anything?"
"Oh...nothing."
"It's something if you asked me about it. What do you mean?" Ren asked a question which was really like an order.
"Well....I kissed her." The truth was said and Ren felt a sharp pain stab his heart.
"Do you...." He couldn't say the four letter word that started with L but Horohoro knew what he was asking.
"Yeah." He answered quite loosely, making Ren feel worse than he already did.
"But it's not the same kind she feels for me."
"What other kind is there?"
"Well, I love her in a brotherly way. She reminds me of Pilika when she was younger, about her age. So cute, fun, loveable and all. But she couldn't stay that way. Nope. Now she's a lot older. She's embarrassed by some of the things I do and she spends most of her time and days with her own friends. I don't see her as much anymore. So when I met Maya, I guess I was happy from seeing the old Pilika. But it wasn't like she would stay forever so I wanted to spend as much time as I had with her." Ren felt relief fill him as the Ainu smiled at the scattered stars.
"Did you tell her that?"
"No. I guess I should've. I just told her I have someone else in my kokoro." Horohoro's cheeks turned pink and Ren's heart sank like the Titanic. 'So that part's true too.'
"Who?" Ren blurted and Horohoro got up and faced his back to him so he can hide his deep red face.
"I....I can't tell you." Ren narrowed his eyes and got to his own feet.
"Hn, I don't care anyway." The Chinese lied and walked passed the Ainu, but then his wrist was swiped.
"I can't say it." The Ainu said in a low voice and Ren was pulled back and pushed against a tree. Horohoro pinned him to the tree and brought his face closer and closer. The closer his face came, the faster Ren's heart beat, until their lips touched. Time seemed to stop between them as Horohoro caressed his lips on Ren's, paralyzing the Chinese with surprise, shock, and pure joy. The Ainu's lips were sweet and soft, but parted after some seconds. Horohoro backed away a few steps and with a face tainted red. He looked down on the ground with an embarrassed and sad expression.
"Look, you probably hate me more than you did before. And I don't blame you. Hate me, but...I feel differently, and I just had to let you know. I'm sorry for giving you your first kiss." The Ainu turned his back to the Chinese who stood still in shock. 'No...no, I don't hate you. I have to tell you too. I can tell you now.' Horohoro took a few steps to go home ,but this time, it was his turn. Ren grabbed his hand and turned him around quickly. 'I can give you mine. You can have mine.'
"Suki,no....." Before the Chinese can finish his sentence, he kissed the Ainu, unable to hold back and wait to finish. He caressed his lips, Horohoro tasting the sweetness and the soft lips, and feeling the same sensational joy. They both caressed for some unknown time, until they parted, needing to say something.
"Aishiteru." They both said in unison and stared into each other's eyes. Horohoro placed a hand on Ren's cheek and stroked it lovingly. The other hand held the boy's hand tightly, their fingers laced. They kissed again, but this time there tongues slipping into each other's mouths and moving against each other. It was passionate and the taste was indelibly greater than the last two, and the feeling was greater than joy. It was ecstasy. It was a moment of their first kiss and love shared. The only ones watching were the cherry blossom and the night sky.
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Daydreamer: yatta! i finally finished! so happy!!! again, i want to thank ALL of my kind, encouraging, and loyal reviewers. if it weren't for u guys, this wouldn't have been possible. ARIGATOU MINNA!! im sorry if Ren seemed to b a little ooc in this one.but it kinda had to happen. gomennasai. but i hope u guys liked how it ended and the fluffiness. i tried my bestest. of course Ren wins. i love Ren! Maya was just made to b cupid. but really, thank u all for ur time to read and review.thank you very much. bye-bye!