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continue reviewing! The more reviews I get, the faster I write and update a
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Spring's Gift
Chapter Twelve: Keitaro's Decision/Keitaro's Lie
Silently, Keitaro led Shinobu out into the little playground where he had first made his promise of going to Toudai with the girl from fifteen years ago. The now-rusty swings creak to the slight current of the winds. The sky had already darkened to deep purplish velvet with diamonds scattered upon this gigantic, never-ending cloth. A few owls on faraway trees hooted away the night. Shinobu shivered to the icy breeze that brushed past her left arm. Although walking a reasonable distance away from Keitaro, she could still feel genuine warmth coming from him. Shinobu longed to hold his hand, and feel his warmth travel through her to help kill the cold. Shinobu gave a light sigh, knowing that that day wouldn't come true. Curiosity overcame her as she saw Keitaro stopped suddenly and turned to face her.
"Shinobu-chan, I have something to talk to you about. Do you want to sit there on the swings?" Keitaro offered, his finger pointing to the inviting swings on the playground.
"Okay," Shinobu said timidly, forgetting all about being cocky and rude.
As the duo finally found themselves comfortably sitting on a swing, Keitaro began, "Shinobu-chan..."
Suddenly remembering to renew her cockiness, Shinobu quickly interrupted, "I know what you're trying to say Urashima. So what if I changed a bit here and there after my break?! Big deal! After seeing life away from this crappy place, I learned what life should really be! I've been wasting my time here all along! I must have been out of my brains!"
Shinobu stopped short as she felt Keitaro's hand grasped onto hers. She gasped. Sempai has never held her hand before!!!
Keitaro had needed to stop Shinobu from talking that way. He knew she was just acting out of character for his sake. It pained him to think what pain he had caused poor Shinobu.
"Shinobu-chan..." Keitaro said, determined to continue what he was going to say before Shinobu had interrupted him. This time Shinobu was silent. She was still shocked from Keitaro's previous sudden gesture. She turned her head to look Keitaro in the eye, where their eyes caught each other's immediately.
"I know you like me Shinobu," Keitaro admitted his knowing of the truth all along, "and I know you've been acting all strange and different lately because of me. You want me and Naru to be together, so you tried to make me get annoyed of you and forget about your earlier confession."
Shinobu gasped, and then turned her head down, as if in shame, but was really just trying to hide her tears from Keitaro's sight. Keitaro saw this and quickly tilted Shinobu's head back up with his fingers tilting her chin. He tentatively brushed away the two streams of tears Shinobu had just shed out, and again looked serious, "I'm sorry."
This time, the words were too overwhelming for Shinobu to take in as she collapsed into his chest crying and sobbing, letting out all the grief she had been confining all that time. Keitaro understandingly patted Shinobu's back with sympathy.
"I love you Shinobu," Keitaro said continuing to stroke Shinobu's back.
Shocked by the words she never would have thought come from Keitaro's mouth, Shinobu stared up at him with eyes wide, still wet with tears.
"But you got to understand something Shinobu," Keitaro continued as he held onto Shinobu's head, looking deeply into her eyes as if he was going to bore holes through them, "The love between friends is not the same as the love between girlfriends and boyfriends. I love you only as a friend"
Shinobu winced and looked away, grief washing over her once again. She hated the feeling of getting something but then losing it all over once again. She hated Keitaro for doing this to her, but deep down she knew he hadn't meant to hurt her.
"I understand," Shinobu muttered quietly half to herself, "but can you tell me something?"
Keitaro silently agreed as he nodded his head.
"Do you love Naru-sempai then?" Shinobu asked, showing boldness, eager to know the truth so she wouldn't go blindly loving a man who didn't love her as a soul mate, but only as a friend.
Keitaro fidgeted and moved uneasily on his swing, finally giving Shinobu an unsatisfying answer, "I don't know..."
Shinobu got to her feet, angry with this coward for not confessing his love for the one he truly loved.
Surprised when Shinobu suddenly stood up Keitaro quickly explained, "The thing is, I don't know if Naru likes me or not. I, myself, am not entire sure of my love for her either. It seems to me as if she's trying to avoid acknowledging our relationship. I really can't say anything right now. I guess I'm still not ready to love someone right now..."
After hearing Keitaro explain, Shinobu lessened her fury and returned back to her original state. The answer Keitaro had given her was rather satisfying and pleasing. It was true that they were not ready to make any commitment and engagement yet. Tired from the day's war of emotions, Shinobu felt tired and exhausted. She had shed too many tears that her eyes were swollen and her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. She could barely keep her eyes open. Keitaro saw this and suggested for them to go back to the inn and call it a night. Shinobu was happy to welcome this suggestion as she agreed and walked slowly back into the inn with Keitaro walking beside her. Following behind the two, light footsteps sounded in the quiet playground as a tall figure advanced towards them. A quick flash of light appeared amidst the darkness as moonlight bounced off some sort of long metal object which resembled an awful lot like a katana, Motoko's katana! The tall figure that had listened to Shinobu and Keitaro's confession all along was Motoko! It had turned out that Motoko had heard suspicious noises outside the Hinatasou building, and thinking it might be demons or pranksters looking for trouble, she had decided to go out and check up on things to make sure everything was alright. However to her surprise, she found Keitaro and Shinobu in the middle of one hot conversation. After hearing Keitaro's words, Motoko wasn't sure herself if she should confess to him as well. She saw how brave Shinobu was to confess to someone whom she already knew prior to her confession, that he would reject her, but still she had gathered up all her courage and confessed her feelings. Motoko thought to herself for a long while. She knew her situation was different than Shinobu's. Shinobu knew she liked Keitaro, but Motoko wasn't sure about her feelings for Keitaro. She couldn't decide whether kendo or Keitaro was more important. Annoyed and frustrated at the thought, Motoko let out a groan and she too retired back to the inn. She too would leave everything to the next day.
The next day...
"What should we do after breakfast?!" Su exclaimed, her arms flying into the air once again. She was extremely hyper that day, knowing that her dear friend had returned back to her normal self. Shinobu had once again cooked them a wonderful meal. None of the residents questioned Shinobu why she had acted so strangely before, but were only more than happy to find their old friend back once again. Shinobu had specially made them a better meal to make up for how she had treated her dear friends. She was glad to see herself successfully bribing her friends through her cooking. Shinobu silently thanked god for bestowing stomachs to humans.
Keitaro rose to his feet after finishing his breakfast and said, "Naru, umm.....can I have a word with you outside?"
Naru was a bit surprised at Keitaro's words but dumbly agreed, nodding her head. Keitaro beamed slightly, but Naru's face on the other hand was growing hotter and pinker by the minute.
"Why are you blushing like Naru?" Su asked Shinobu in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
Shinobu felt embarrassed and quickly explained, "I just ate something very spicy!", shooting Su a menacing glare. Su, however missed Shinobu's wordless warning, and walked away. After Naru had too finished her breakfast, Keitaro quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her outside.
"OH! Look ! The love birds are going away secretly to get married!" Kitsune cried aloud, already drunk in the morning.
"They are not, and Kitsune, don't drink sake in the morning again," Motoko said in a monotonous voice.
"Hey come on! Let's go peek at what they're doing!" Kitsune exclaimed as she dragged Shinobu with her. She needn't drag Su since she was already ready for some spying business with her spying equipment already set and in handy. The three quickly rushed out of the inn with Su controlling a mecha tama through her controller, and Kitsune dragging poor Shinobu, who's wailing and screaming, out behind her. Motoko, paying no interest to what they were doing, turned her back and decided to practice her skills instead.
"Hey look! They're over there," Kitsune cried as she covered Shinobu's mouth with her hand, and instructed them all to crouch down and hide behind a bush. From where they were hiding, they could see but not hear clearly what Keitaro and Naru were saying to each other. When finally letting go of Shinobu's mouth so she wouldn't suffocate, Kitsune applied a finger over her mouth and told the others to keep quiet, "Shhhhh....."
Shinobu, after regaining her regular breathing rhythm, poked her head to see where they were, and found Keitaro talking to Naru. They were sitting quietly together on a bench that overlooked breath-taking scenery.
"I have something to give you..." the three barely heard Keitaro said as he reached into his coat pocket to dig out whatever he was digging for to give Naru.
The three gasped as they saw what Keitaro had taken out. It was a ring box.
Keitaro presented the box to Naru's view and cautiously opened the seemingly sacred box for Naru to see what treasure it beheld.
Naru too gasped. "This is...this is...this is the ring you tried giving me earlier!"
Keitaro nodded, "I want to know how you feel about me. Would you take this ring?"
Naru looked at the ring and thought for a long while, her hand left suspended in mid-air as she thought to herself whether to accept it.
She knew the ring didn't mean marriage; it only meant confessing one's love to another. Naru looked at the ring for a longer while. The three who were hiding behind the bush waited impatiently as they waited for Naru to answer. The time was simply torturing, especially to Keitaro.
Naru continued thinking. She remembered how Keitaro had cared for her while she was sick and how deep down, there was a burning passion in her that told her to be together with him. The two had fulfilled their promise of making to Toudai together, but something was still bothering Naru. Could it be she was still unsure of their future? The thing was she was still scared. She didn't know how her relationship with Keitaro would work out if she accepted the ring. However in the end, after a long struggle, she finally gave in to her heart instead of her brain, and accepted the ring. Keitaro beamed brightly. He had never felt this happy in his life. He had never thought Naru would accept his ring, which symbolized his love for her. Quickly Keitaro took the ring from its case and placed it onto Naru's finger, making a perfect fit. Naru smiled as she looked down at the ring. Then, out of Keitaro's surprise, Naru reached over, curled her arms behind his neck and placed a gentle kiss on his cheeks.
"Woot! They confessed! They kissed! They're getting married!" Kitsune exclaimed, alcohol still in its effect.
Su snickered, but Shinobu was not feeling the same way her friends were. Anger burned in her. Her eyes welled with tears. Keitaro had lied to her! He had simply told her a lie to make her not like him! He had said that he was not ready for making any commitment yet and now he's there, proposing to Naru! Shinobu jumped to her feet, and quickly ran away, wiping away the continuous streams of tears that were running down her face.
"Shinobu!" both Su and Kitsune cried out.
Keitaro and Naru heard this and turned their heads in the direction of the loud voices that had just called out Shinobu's name, sighting Shinobu running away and wiping tears away from her face. Keitaro gasped. There must have been a misunderstanding! Shinobu must have thought he was proposing to Naru and that he had lied to her about not being ready to make any commitments!!!
*********
Arghhhhh.....long chapter! So tired! Hope you guys liked it! I know some of you might hate me now for what I've done to Shinobu! VERY VERY SORRY. But you see, I still have 3 volumes: Summer's Gift, Autumn's Gift, and Winter's Gift to go. There's still plenty of time left! Don't lose hopes! The story still goes on! Please give me your feedbacks in REVIEWS! I'll try my best to round up the ending as soon as possible, taking your comments into consideration, so what are you waiting for?! Go on! Leave a REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!
Spring's Gift
Chapter Twelve: Keitaro's Decision/Keitaro's Lie
Silently, Keitaro led Shinobu out into the little playground where he had first made his promise of going to Toudai with the girl from fifteen years ago. The now-rusty swings creak to the slight current of the winds. The sky had already darkened to deep purplish velvet with diamonds scattered upon this gigantic, never-ending cloth. A few owls on faraway trees hooted away the night. Shinobu shivered to the icy breeze that brushed past her left arm. Although walking a reasonable distance away from Keitaro, she could still feel genuine warmth coming from him. Shinobu longed to hold his hand, and feel his warmth travel through her to help kill the cold. Shinobu gave a light sigh, knowing that that day wouldn't come true. Curiosity overcame her as she saw Keitaro stopped suddenly and turned to face her.
"Shinobu-chan, I have something to talk to you about. Do you want to sit there on the swings?" Keitaro offered, his finger pointing to the inviting swings on the playground.
"Okay," Shinobu said timidly, forgetting all about being cocky and rude.
As the duo finally found themselves comfortably sitting on a swing, Keitaro began, "Shinobu-chan..."
Suddenly remembering to renew her cockiness, Shinobu quickly interrupted, "I know what you're trying to say Urashima. So what if I changed a bit here and there after my break?! Big deal! After seeing life away from this crappy place, I learned what life should really be! I've been wasting my time here all along! I must have been out of my brains!"
Shinobu stopped short as she felt Keitaro's hand grasped onto hers. She gasped. Sempai has never held her hand before!!!
Keitaro had needed to stop Shinobu from talking that way. He knew she was just acting out of character for his sake. It pained him to think what pain he had caused poor Shinobu.
"Shinobu-chan..." Keitaro said, determined to continue what he was going to say before Shinobu had interrupted him. This time Shinobu was silent. She was still shocked from Keitaro's previous sudden gesture. She turned her head to look Keitaro in the eye, where their eyes caught each other's immediately.
"I know you like me Shinobu," Keitaro admitted his knowing of the truth all along, "and I know you've been acting all strange and different lately because of me. You want me and Naru to be together, so you tried to make me get annoyed of you and forget about your earlier confession."
Shinobu gasped, and then turned her head down, as if in shame, but was really just trying to hide her tears from Keitaro's sight. Keitaro saw this and quickly tilted Shinobu's head back up with his fingers tilting her chin. He tentatively brushed away the two streams of tears Shinobu had just shed out, and again looked serious, "I'm sorry."
This time, the words were too overwhelming for Shinobu to take in as she collapsed into his chest crying and sobbing, letting out all the grief she had been confining all that time. Keitaro understandingly patted Shinobu's back with sympathy.
"I love you Shinobu," Keitaro said continuing to stroke Shinobu's back.
Shocked by the words she never would have thought come from Keitaro's mouth, Shinobu stared up at him with eyes wide, still wet with tears.
"But you got to understand something Shinobu," Keitaro continued as he held onto Shinobu's head, looking deeply into her eyes as if he was going to bore holes through them, "The love between friends is not the same as the love between girlfriends and boyfriends. I love you only as a friend"
Shinobu winced and looked away, grief washing over her once again. She hated the feeling of getting something but then losing it all over once again. She hated Keitaro for doing this to her, but deep down she knew he hadn't meant to hurt her.
"I understand," Shinobu muttered quietly half to herself, "but can you tell me something?"
Keitaro silently agreed as he nodded his head.
"Do you love Naru-sempai then?" Shinobu asked, showing boldness, eager to know the truth so she wouldn't go blindly loving a man who didn't love her as a soul mate, but only as a friend.
Keitaro fidgeted and moved uneasily on his swing, finally giving Shinobu an unsatisfying answer, "I don't know..."
Shinobu got to her feet, angry with this coward for not confessing his love for the one he truly loved.
Surprised when Shinobu suddenly stood up Keitaro quickly explained, "The thing is, I don't know if Naru likes me or not. I, myself, am not entire sure of my love for her either. It seems to me as if she's trying to avoid acknowledging our relationship. I really can't say anything right now. I guess I'm still not ready to love someone right now..."
After hearing Keitaro explain, Shinobu lessened her fury and returned back to her original state. The answer Keitaro had given her was rather satisfying and pleasing. It was true that they were not ready to make any commitment and engagement yet. Tired from the day's war of emotions, Shinobu felt tired and exhausted. She had shed too many tears that her eyes were swollen and her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. She could barely keep her eyes open. Keitaro saw this and suggested for them to go back to the inn and call it a night. Shinobu was happy to welcome this suggestion as she agreed and walked slowly back into the inn with Keitaro walking beside her. Following behind the two, light footsteps sounded in the quiet playground as a tall figure advanced towards them. A quick flash of light appeared amidst the darkness as moonlight bounced off some sort of long metal object which resembled an awful lot like a katana, Motoko's katana! The tall figure that had listened to Shinobu and Keitaro's confession all along was Motoko! It had turned out that Motoko had heard suspicious noises outside the Hinatasou building, and thinking it might be demons or pranksters looking for trouble, she had decided to go out and check up on things to make sure everything was alright. However to her surprise, she found Keitaro and Shinobu in the middle of one hot conversation. After hearing Keitaro's words, Motoko wasn't sure herself if she should confess to him as well. She saw how brave Shinobu was to confess to someone whom she already knew prior to her confession, that he would reject her, but still she had gathered up all her courage and confessed her feelings. Motoko thought to herself for a long while. She knew her situation was different than Shinobu's. Shinobu knew she liked Keitaro, but Motoko wasn't sure about her feelings for Keitaro. She couldn't decide whether kendo or Keitaro was more important. Annoyed and frustrated at the thought, Motoko let out a groan and she too retired back to the inn. She too would leave everything to the next day.
The next day...
"What should we do after breakfast?!" Su exclaimed, her arms flying into the air once again. She was extremely hyper that day, knowing that her dear friend had returned back to her normal self. Shinobu had once again cooked them a wonderful meal. None of the residents questioned Shinobu why she had acted so strangely before, but were only more than happy to find their old friend back once again. Shinobu had specially made them a better meal to make up for how she had treated her dear friends. She was glad to see herself successfully bribing her friends through her cooking. Shinobu silently thanked god for bestowing stomachs to humans.
Keitaro rose to his feet after finishing his breakfast and said, "Naru, umm.....can I have a word with you outside?"
Naru was a bit surprised at Keitaro's words but dumbly agreed, nodding her head. Keitaro beamed slightly, but Naru's face on the other hand was growing hotter and pinker by the minute.
"Why are you blushing like Naru?" Su asked Shinobu in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
Shinobu felt embarrassed and quickly explained, "I just ate something very spicy!", shooting Su a menacing glare. Su, however missed Shinobu's wordless warning, and walked away. After Naru had too finished her breakfast, Keitaro quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her outside.
"OH! Look ! The love birds are going away secretly to get married!" Kitsune cried aloud, already drunk in the morning.
"They are not, and Kitsune, don't drink sake in the morning again," Motoko said in a monotonous voice.
"Hey come on! Let's go peek at what they're doing!" Kitsune exclaimed as she dragged Shinobu with her. She needn't drag Su since she was already ready for some spying business with her spying equipment already set and in handy. The three quickly rushed out of the inn with Su controlling a mecha tama through her controller, and Kitsune dragging poor Shinobu, who's wailing and screaming, out behind her. Motoko, paying no interest to what they were doing, turned her back and decided to practice her skills instead.
"Hey look! They're over there," Kitsune cried as she covered Shinobu's mouth with her hand, and instructed them all to crouch down and hide behind a bush. From where they were hiding, they could see but not hear clearly what Keitaro and Naru were saying to each other. When finally letting go of Shinobu's mouth so she wouldn't suffocate, Kitsune applied a finger over her mouth and told the others to keep quiet, "Shhhhh....."
Shinobu, after regaining her regular breathing rhythm, poked her head to see where they were, and found Keitaro talking to Naru. They were sitting quietly together on a bench that overlooked breath-taking scenery.
"I have something to give you..." the three barely heard Keitaro said as he reached into his coat pocket to dig out whatever he was digging for to give Naru.
The three gasped as they saw what Keitaro had taken out. It was a ring box.
Keitaro presented the box to Naru's view and cautiously opened the seemingly sacred box for Naru to see what treasure it beheld.
Naru too gasped. "This is...this is...this is the ring you tried giving me earlier!"
Keitaro nodded, "I want to know how you feel about me. Would you take this ring?"
Naru looked at the ring and thought for a long while, her hand left suspended in mid-air as she thought to herself whether to accept it.
She knew the ring didn't mean marriage; it only meant confessing one's love to another. Naru looked at the ring for a longer while. The three who were hiding behind the bush waited impatiently as they waited for Naru to answer. The time was simply torturing, especially to Keitaro.
Naru continued thinking. She remembered how Keitaro had cared for her while she was sick and how deep down, there was a burning passion in her that told her to be together with him. The two had fulfilled their promise of making to Toudai together, but something was still bothering Naru. Could it be she was still unsure of their future? The thing was she was still scared. She didn't know how her relationship with Keitaro would work out if she accepted the ring. However in the end, after a long struggle, she finally gave in to her heart instead of her brain, and accepted the ring. Keitaro beamed brightly. He had never felt this happy in his life. He had never thought Naru would accept his ring, which symbolized his love for her. Quickly Keitaro took the ring from its case and placed it onto Naru's finger, making a perfect fit. Naru smiled as she looked down at the ring. Then, out of Keitaro's surprise, Naru reached over, curled her arms behind his neck and placed a gentle kiss on his cheeks.
"Woot! They confessed! They kissed! They're getting married!" Kitsune exclaimed, alcohol still in its effect.
Su snickered, but Shinobu was not feeling the same way her friends were. Anger burned in her. Her eyes welled with tears. Keitaro had lied to her! He had simply told her a lie to make her not like him! He had said that he was not ready for making any commitment yet and now he's there, proposing to Naru! Shinobu jumped to her feet, and quickly ran away, wiping away the continuous streams of tears that were running down her face.
"Shinobu!" both Su and Kitsune cried out.
Keitaro and Naru heard this and turned their heads in the direction of the loud voices that had just called out Shinobu's name, sighting Shinobu running away and wiping tears away from her face. Keitaro gasped. There must have been a misunderstanding! Shinobu must have thought he was proposing to Naru and that he had lied to her about not being ready to make any commitments!!!
*********
Arghhhhh.....long chapter! So tired! Hope you guys liked it! I know some of you might hate me now for what I've done to Shinobu! VERY VERY SORRY. But you see, I still have 3 volumes: Summer's Gift, Autumn's Gift, and Winter's Gift to go. There's still plenty of time left! Don't lose hopes! The story still goes on! Please give me your feedbacks in REVIEWS! I'll try my best to round up the ending as soon as possible, taking your comments into consideration, so what are you waiting for?! Go on! Leave a REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!