Hi everyone! I'm VERY sorry for the late update. I had so much homework in
school....And I'm very VERY sorry about the earlier promise as well. I
couldn't make it to write another chapter. So many tests! It's nothing
surprising considering it's nearing term end for me......and that means that I
would have more time to update my fics now! Three Cheers for me! Haha. Well
anyways, Please continue to support this fic! The story will bring to an
end soon enough.
Spring's Gift
Chapter Eleven: Back at Hinatasou: Confessions?
It was soon late in the afternoon and everyone had already returned to the awkwardly silent Hinatasou, which was rarely quiet for even one day! Shinobu went into her room and unpacked her belongings with Yukiro helping her. After that, Keitaro decided that it would be best for Yukiro to bunk with him, so Yukiro brought his luggage over to the kanrinrin's room and unpacked there. Shinobu, expressing unusual boldness, offered to help Yukiro in his unpacking. After all the unpacking was finished, the tenants waited patiently for Shinobu to offer cooking lunch for them.
"Why are you guys all sitting here and staring at me like that?" Shinobu intoned in the coldest voice possible, eyes darting from one resident to another whom were all sitting on couches, arms across chest, waiting for Shinobu to cook.
"Why aren't you going to cook for us?" Kitsune asked, her hunger doing the speaking,
"Why, can you not cook for yourself?" Shinobu shot back, putting on a sarcastic look, angry at how everyone was being so oblivious of her feelings. After having that said, Shinobu told the others that she would be going out to eat with Yukiro and instructed them to go toil for their own meals.
The residents stared dumbly at the empty door, which Shinobu and Yukiro had just very rashly ran out, hands held together, and thought what might have happened to their dear friend. What was going on?! What was happening to Shinobu?!
"So....." Kitsune said quietly under her breath, breaking the awkward silence filling the room, "What about lunch?"
"Kitsune! How could you think of such things when we still don't know what's wrong with Shinobu?!" Naru exclaimed, her arms creating gestures in the air.
"But I'm hungry too!!!" Su screamed, her voice shrilled and scratchy. Su was the type of person whose hunger spoke before her brains. She did not care about what others thought of her; all that mattered was that she is contented.
Later on that day, the tenants managed to fix themselves a quick lunch by going to a nearby fast foods restaurant, and ordering themselves servings of cold noodles. Everyone nibbled joyfully at their noodles, but however, Keitaro and Naru were still very worried and concerned of Shinobu. They didn't know the reason of Shinobu's sudden change of attitude and behavior, but among all the possible solutions to this, they knew that their relationship had something to do with it. Soon after lunch was finished, the satisfied tenants retired back to Hinatasou and rested there with stomachs full of noodles delight.
It was soon getting late, the sky darkened, and layers of cloud started to drift above the city, shadowing it from the setting sun, and yet, Shinobu had still not returned to Hinatasou with Yukiro. People were growing worried; and stomachs were again, subtly growing hungry. The residents were soon wondering if their friend would come back in time to cook them dinner. Su's usual enthusiasm became less active and even Kitsune started thinking about food instead of sake.
Naru saw her friends all growing hungry and yet Shinobu had not called to tell the others if she would be attending dinner or not, so she decided to make dinner for her friends anyways. "I'll go make dinner, so you guys won't starve," Naru announced, followed by all-out cheering and whistles, mostly from Su and Kitsune. Naru gave a little playful sigh and headed to the kitchen.
"Oh, it looks like we're almost out of stock here...."Naru told her friends, in which they answered with loud groans of irritation.
"Okay, ummm....Keitaro, would you mind to help buy us some fish?" Naru asked Keitaro who was standing in the kitchen with her.
"Hai," Keitaro said. "Don't worry you guys, dinner would be served very soon!" he reassured them, turning to leave.
After putting his orange large coat on, Keitaro ran out the door, heading to the supermarket. Inside the supermarket, he found himself surrounded by endless aisles of food items, and could at that instant, feel Shinobu's pain of grocery shopping. Keitaro heaved a sigh and strode along the marketplace, trying to find himself a sales person who would be willing and available to tell him where the fishes were. Unfortunately, it was during grocery-shopping time of the day, and many salespeople were already too busy with entertaining other customers to even notice the desperate Keitaro, who knew that if he did not return back to Hinatsou with a filling supply of fresh fish that he'd be beaten up by his violent tenant friends. In the end, after hours of browsing through aisles and realizing that large signs, which hung about the market, indicate item locations, Keitaro finally found himself five pounds of fresh cod. After waiting in the snaking line-up, Keitaro finally managed to buy himself his friends' dinner. Hurriedly, he rushed out the market door and into the bustling streets. He ran and he ran, and when something familiar caught his attention at the corner of his left eye, he turned his head slightly in that direction, and looked to see, finding Shinobu sitting in a table in an outdoors restaurant, talking to Yukiro. Keitaro gave a halt, and when he stared harder to try seeing what was going on, he saw that Shinobu's eyes were red with tears. Not knowing what Yukiro might have done to Shinobu, Keitaro quietly crept slowly behind them to listen in to their conversation. Keitaro crept quietly behind a bush beside the couple and eavesdropped.
"Why are you doing this?!" Keitaro heard Yukiro scream at Shinobu.
"Gomenasai," Shinobu said weakly, her voice muffled by her sobs, "but I have to this for Keitaro-sempai and Naru-sempai."
Keitaro became alarmed by the mentioning of his and Naru's names.
"You know that boy doesn't like you Shinobu," Yukiro's voice sounded, his tone softening.
"Yes I understand," Shinobu said, "I know sempai doesn't like me....but I....but I....I like sempai! And it's all because of me that their relationship is faltered. It's all because of me! I've never brought anything but trouble to them; all I bring is trouble! I want to do something to help them, do you understand? I want to make sempai happy! Sempai likes Naru- san, and I want to make him happy by letting him be with Naru-san!"
"Shinobu-chan...."Yukiro said softly.
"You don't understand Yukiro, but I---"Shinobu began.
"But I do understand Shinobu," Yukiro cut in, "I....I....I like you too....." Yukiro looked down to hide his blush as he had finally brought up all his courage to confess to Shinobu.
Alarmed, Shinobu finally realized Yukiro's affection for her. Her mind started to whirl with thoughts, thoughts that she had never even thought about before. She knew that her situation with Keitaro was growing very complicated, but she had never thought that Yukiro had secretly admired her too! The situation was growing very complex, in fact, it's too complex for Shinobu to deal with; everything seems out of her control now.
"Yukiro......" Shinobu said timidly, "but you know I......you know I like Keitaro. Why are you wasting your time on me?! And helping me get sempai and Naru- san together?"
"It's the same reason why you're getting Keitaro and Naru together Shinobu! If you can sacrifice your own love for your beloved's happiness, then why can't I do the same for you? Shinobu! I love you too! Why should you be allowed to take up all the pain?! And I'm not?!" Yukiro practically blurted out the words, which he had been suppressing in his heart during all that time.
After that said, the two of them just sat there, sipping at their drinks, silently; neither one speaking to the other, and Keitaro too was stunned by the two's love confessions. Shinobu had loved him so dearly! What was he going to do?! She had even sacrificed her own happiness and ruined her own reputation just for him and Naru to be together! And yet, Naru still hasn't told him anything about how she felt about their relationship, if they even had one that is! How was he going to choose.?! All these thoughts nibbled at Keitaro painfully and his trance was broken when he remembered that he still needed to deliver the fish back to Naru before she has a fist against him and again, send him into the sky. Keitaro hurriedly ran back to Hinatasou and after an hour of pleading, Naru agreed to not punch him and instead, she began working with the cod that Keitaro had just brought back, thinking of what dishes to could make out of them.
After dinner was finished, and that dishes were washed, the tenants went back into their rooms to past the remaining hours of the night to themselves in solitude. Kitsune went to her room to admire her newly collected collection of sake; Su went to her jungle-like room to finish up on her latest invention of her new and advanced Mecha Tama 2000; Motoko went up to the porch to practice some of her fighting techniques; and Naru returned to her studying. Keitaro, on the other hand, was still thinking of what happened that day, his mind reviewing his thoughts. Just when Keitaro was in the middle of his thoughts, noises of Shinobu and Yukiro returning to Hinatsou interrupted him and got him rather nervous.
"Arigatou," Shinobu thanked Yukiro, returning to her normal, polite self once again in front of Yukiro as she thanked Yukiro for the lovely dinner they had just have.
"Oh, it's nothing," Yukiro said, his voice concealing a tone of disappointment and his face reddening with heat due to embarrassment. "I'll go to sleep now Shinobu....umm.....good night......"
"Good night Yukiro-san," Shinobu answered softly.
Just then, remembering that Yukiro was sharing the same room with him, Keitaro quickly raced out and hid himself behind the large bonsai tree in case the two catches him eavesdropping in their business.
Keitaro could hear the sound of his bedroom door sliding shut as he listened attentively, knowing that Yukiro had returned to sleep. On the other hand, he watched closely as he saw Shinobu retiring to her room. Just then, due to an urge of impulse, Keitaro decided to confront Shinobu and to talk to her about his feelings.
"Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro called out in a loud whisper, beckoning Shinobu to come to him with his finger.
Shinobu stopped in the middle of her action of opening her door, thought for a while, and then closed the gap that she had just opened. Her curiosity had decided for her to go and see what Keitaro was asking her for. Shinobu walked slowly towards Keitaro, her gaze fixed upon his eyes the entire time.
"Shinobu-chan, I have something very important to tell you," Keitaro said, his head turning away from her gaze.
Shinobu stopped for a minute and then said, "Okay."
"Let's go to the swings outside, it'll give us some peace and quiet and we won't disturb the others," Keitaro offered.
"Yes..."Shinobu replied, feeling more belittled by each answer she gave Keitaro. How could she say no?
****************
Okay, that's it for now, I'm tired hehe. Plz give me ur comments in reviews and I'll most gratefully answer any questions u hav if you don't get wut's going on. Thanku for reading!
Next chapter: Keitaro is going to tell Shinobu the truth. Who would Keitaro choose? Naru or Shinobu? Read on to find out!
Spring's Gift
Chapter Eleven: Back at Hinatasou: Confessions?
It was soon late in the afternoon and everyone had already returned to the awkwardly silent Hinatasou, which was rarely quiet for even one day! Shinobu went into her room and unpacked her belongings with Yukiro helping her. After that, Keitaro decided that it would be best for Yukiro to bunk with him, so Yukiro brought his luggage over to the kanrinrin's room and unpacked there. Shinobu, expressing unusual boldness, offered to help Yukiro in his unpacking. After all the unpacking was finished, the tenants waited patiently for Shinobu to offer cooking lunch for them.
"Why are you guys all sitting here and staring at me like that?" Shinobu intoned in the coldest voice possible, eyes darting from one resident to another whom were all sitting on couches, arms across chest, waiting for Shinobu to cook.
"Why aren't you going to cook for us?" Kitsune asked, her hunger doing the speaking,
"Why, can you not cook for yourself?" Shinobu shot back, putting on a sarcastic look, angry at how everyone was being so oblivious of her feelings. After having that said, Shinobu told the others that she would be going out to eat with Yukiro and instructed them to go toil for their own meals.
The residents stared dumbly at the empty door, which Shinobu and Yukiro had just very rashly ran out, hands held together, and thought what might have happened to their dear friend. What was going on?! What was happening to Shinobu?!
"So....." Kitsune said quietly under her breath, breaking the awkward silence filling the room, "What about lunch?"
"Kitsune! How could you think of such things when we still don't know what's wrong with Shinobu?!" Naru exclaimed, her arms creating gestures in the air.
"But I'm hungry too!!!" Su screamed, her voice shrilled and scratchy. Su was the type of person whose hunger spoke before her brains. She did not care about what others thought of her; all that mattered was that she is contented.
Later on that day, the tenants managed to fix themselves a quick lunch by going to a nearby fast foods restaurant, and ordering themselves servings of cold noodles. Everyone nibbled joyfully at their noodles, but however, Keitaro and Naru were still very worried and concerned of Shinobu. They didn't know the reason of Shinobu's sudden change of attitude and behavior, but among all the possible solutions to this, they knew that their relationship had something to do with it. Soon after lunch was finished, the satisfied tenants retired back to Hinatasou and rested there with stomachs full of noodles delight.
It was soon getting late, the sky darkened, and layers of cloud started to drift above the city, shadowing it from the setting sun, and yet, Shinobu had still not returned to Hinatasou with Yukiro. People were growing worried; and stomachs were again, subtly growing hungry. The residents were soon wondering if their friend would come back in time to cook them dinner. Su's usual enthusiasm became less active and even Kitsune started thinking about food instead of sake.
Naru saw her friends all growing hungry and yet Shinobu had not called to tell the others if she would be attending dinner or not, so she decided to make dinner for her friends anyways. "I'll go make dinner, so you guys won't starve," Naru announced, followed by all-out cheering and whistles, mostly from Su and Kitsune. Naru gave a little playful sigh and headed to the kitchen.
"Oh, it looks like we're almost out of stock here...."Naru told her friends, in which they answered with loud groans of irritation.
"Okay, ummm....Keitaro, would you mind to help buy us some fish?" Naru asked Keitaro who was standing in the kitchen with her.
"Hai," Keitaro said. "Don't worry you guys, dinner would be served very soon!" he reassured them, turning to leave.
After putting his orange large coat on, Keitaro ran out the door, heading to the supermarket. Inside the supermarket, he found himself surrounded by endless aisles of food items, and could at that instant, feel Shinobu's pain of grocery shopping. Keitaro heaved a sigh and strode along the marketplace, trying to find himself a sales person who would be willing and available to tell him where the fishes were. Unfortunately, it was during grocery-shopping time of the day, and many salespeople were already too busy with entertaining other customers to even notice the desperate Keitaro, who knew that if he did not return back to Hinatsou with a filling supply of fresh fish that he'd be beaten up by his violent tenant friends. In the end, after hours of browsing through aisles and realizing that large signs, which hung about the market, indicate item locations, Keitaro finally found himself five pounds of fresh cod. After waiting in the snaking line-up, Keitaro finally managed to buy himself his friends' dinner. Hurriedly, he rushed out the market door and into the bustling streets. He ran and he ran, and when something familiar caught his attention at the corner of his left eye, he turned his head slightly in that direction, and looked to see, finding Shinobu sitting in a table in an outdoors restaurant, talking to Yukiro. Keitaro gave a halt, and when he stared harder to try seeing what was going on, he saw that Shinobu's eyes were red with tears. Not knowing what Yukiro might have done to Shinobu, Keitaro quietly crept slowly behind them to listen in to their conversation. Keitaro crept quietly behind a bush beside the couple and eavesdropped.
"Why are you doing this?!" Keitaro heard Yukiro scream at Shinobu.
"Gomenasai," Shinobu said weakly, her voice muffled by her sobs, "but I have to this for Keitaro-sempai and Naru-sempai."
Keitaro became alarmed by the mentioning of his and Naru's names.
"You know that boy doesn't like you Shinobu," Yukiro's voice sounded, his tone softening.
"Yes I understand," Shinobu said, "I know sempai doesn't like me....but I....but I....I like sempai! And it's all because of me that their relationship is faltered. It's all because of me! I've never brought anything but trouble to them; all I bring is trouble! I want to do something to help them, do you understand? I want to make sempai happy! Sempai likes Naru- san, and I want to make him happy by letting him be with Naru-san!"
"Shinobu-chan...."Yukiro said softly.
"You don't understand Yukiro, but I---"Shinobu began.
"But I do understand Shinobu," Yukiro cut in, "I....I....I like you too....." Yukiro looked down to hide his blush as he had finally brought up all his courage to confess to Shinobu.
Alarmed, Shinobu finally realized Yukiro's affection for her. Her mind started to whirl with thoughts, thoughts that she had never even thought about before. She knew that her situation with Keitaro was growing very complicated, but she had never thought that Yukiro had secretly admired her too! The situation was growing very complex, in fact, it's too complex for Shinobu to deal with; everything seems out of her control now.
"Yukiro......" Shinobu said timidly, "but you know I......you know I like Keitaro. Why are you wasting your time on me?! And helping me get sempai and Naru- san together?"
"It's the same reason why you're getting Keitaro and Naru together Shinobu! If you can sacrifice your own love for your beloved's happiness, then why can't I do the same for you? Shinobu! I love you too! Why should you be allowed to take up all the pain?! And I'm not?!" Yukiro practically blurted out the words, which he had been suppressing in his heart during all that time.
After that said, the two of them just sat there, sipping at their drinks, silently; neither one speaking to the other, and Keitaro too was stunned by the two's love confessions. Shinobu had loved him so dearly! What was he going to do?! She had even sacrificed her own happiness and ruined her own reputation just for him and Naru to be together! And yet, Naru still hasn't told him anything about how she felt about their relationship, if they even had one that is! How was he going to choose.?! All these thoughts nibbled at Keitaro painfully and his trance was broken when he remembered that he still needed to deliver the fish back to Naru before she has a fist against him and again, send him into the sky. Keitaro hurriedly ran back to Hinatasou and after an hour of pleading, Naru agreed to not punch him and instead, she began working with the cod that Keitaro had just brought back, thinking of what dishes to could make out of them.
After dinner was finished, and that dishes were washed, the tenants went back into their rooms to past the remaining hours of the night to themselves in solitude. Kitsune went to her room to admire her newly collected collection of sake; Su went to her jungle-like room to finish up on her latest invention of her new and advanced Mecha Tama 2000; Motoko went up to the porch to practice some of her fighting techniques; and Naru returned to her studying. Keitaro, on the other hand, was still thinking of what happened that day, his mind reviewing his thoughts. Just when Keitaro was in the middle of his thoughts, noises of Shinobu and Yukiro returning to Hinatsou interrupted him and got him rather nervous.
"Arigatou," Shinobu thanked Yukiro, returning to her normal, polite self once again in front of Yukiro as she thanked Yukiro for the lovely dinner they had just have.
"Oh, it's nothing," Yukiro said, his voice concealing a tone of disappointment and his face reddening with heat due to embarrassment. "I'll go to sleep now Shinobu....umm.....good night......"
"Good night Yukiro-san," Shinobu answered softly.
Just then, remembering that Yukiro was sharing the same room with him, Keitaro quickly raced out and hid himself behind the large bonsai tree in case the two catches him eavesdropping in their business.
Keitaro could hear the sound of his bedroom door sliding shut as he listened attentively, knowing that Yukiro had returned to sleep. On the other hand, he watched closely as he saw Shinobu retiring to her room. Just then, due to an urge of impulse, Keitaro decided to confront Shinobu and to talk to her about his feelings.
"Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro called out in a loud whisper, beckoning Shinobu to come to him with his finger.
Shinobu stopped in the middle of her action of opening her door, thought for a while, and then closed the gap that she had just opened. Her curiosity had decided for her to go and see what Keitaro was asking her for. Shinobu walked slowly towards Keitaro, her gaze fixed upon his eyes the entire time.
"Shinobu-chan, I have something very important to tell you," Keitaro said, his head turning away from her gaze.
Shinobu stopped for a minute and then said, "Okay."
"Let's go to the swings outside, it'll give us some peace and quiet and we won't disturb the others," Keitaro offered.
"Yes..."Shinobu replied, feeling more belittled by each answer she gave Keitaro. How could she say no?
****************
Okay, that's it for now, I'm tired hehe. Plz give me ur comments in reviews and I'll most gratefully answer any questions u hav if you don't get wut's going on. Thanku for reading!
Next chapter: Keitaro is going to tell Shinobu the truth. Who would Keitaro choose? Naru or Shinobu? Read on to find out!