Ch.3 Study Date

"Mother! I'm home!" Suichi called as he opened the front door of his home.

His mother poked her head out of the kitchen, "Hello Suichi! Did you have a good..." When she caught sight of Nagi, her smile widened "... Oh, I didn't know you were having company!"

Suichi motioned for Nagi to come closer." Mother, this is Nagi. She's new at school."

Nagi waved." Hello," Nagi said slipping her shoes off at the door mat. " Thank you for haveing me in your home. May I say that you have raised a very nice son."

His mother's smile became brighter. "How nice of you to say. You're very sweet and so well behaved. Suichi you should invite her over more often."

Suichi smiled. "Will you be staying for dinner sweetie? "His mother asked.

"Oh," Nagi said, suddenly a little uneasy. " I don't want to intrude." she said rubbing her head.

" No intrusion at all!" his mother said sweetly, " Will your parents mind?"

" My...parents?" Nagi said, a little surprised. " Oh! My parents! No no they wont mind."

" Perfect! Well, you two better get to studying. I will call you down when the food is ready."

" Thank you," Nagi said following Suichi up the stairs. " Nice to meet you."

" Nice to meet you too!" His mother grinned.

His mother went back to her cooking happily. Suichi hadn't had any friends over for some time, except his strange friends from diffrent schools. It was nice to see him spending time with new people, especially a girl. Nagi followed Suichi to his room, and sat down next to a small, black table on the floor. They got out there homework and began to look over what the assignments were.

" Thanks again," Nagi said, not looking directly at Suichi.

" Of course," Suichi said pulling out a pen and starting to take notes from the book.

They sat in silence for what had seemed like hours. Suichi fidgeted with his pen, glanceing over at her every now and then. She just sat there, defineing the vocabulary words from the chapter. Just as normal as can be. He watched her movements, her eyes, so full of concentration. He glanced down at her work, out of curiosity. Then he noticed something strange.She wasn't writeing anything! She had just written random letters into word forms. He found this behavior so odd. Why would she perpusely not do the homework assigned to her? He shifted uneasily and decided to fill the silence.

" So," he said, not really sure of what to say. "Nagi, where did you move from?"

Nagi didn't look up, but continued to pretend to write. " Northern Japan," she said flatly. " I was born in England though."

" You don't posess the British accent." he said matter-of-factly.

" My father wasn't British," she said, still not looking up." My mother was, but she died giving birth to me. So I guess thats why I don't have the accent."

" Oh." he said. realizing that the conversation was over.

" Well," he asked. " Why did you move here with your father?"

Minagi stopped writing and popped her neck. " He didn't want to live where my mother had died. So we moved around."

" I see." he said. " Is that the only reason?"

" Does it seem like there is another reason?" she asked tapping her pen on the desk.

" Well," Suichi said, feeling as if he might be getting into deep water. " A little."

Nagi sighed, rubbing her hands back and forth on her face, as if trying to scrub away a bad dream. " I thought this was a study session," she said." Not an interigation."

" I just want to get to know you." Suichi said gently.

" Well, " she said. " I guess I can tell you, I don't picture you as the 'gossip' type."

Suichi put his pen down, and sat faceing her, ears open.

" See," she said, genlty hitting her fist against her forhead. " I'm...i'm trying to find somone."

"Who?" Suichi asked. "Is it a family member or something?"

" You could say that," she said looking at him. " He was like a brother to me...my father is helping me."

" Why are you searching for him?"

"He...he wasn't what I thought he was," she leaned her head on her arms, but kept her gaze down from Suichi's,"He left when I...when we needed him the most."

"We? Your father and yourself?" Suichi asked. He felt so nosey. He didn't want to seem like he was forcing her to tell her all about her past. But he did want to know.

" No," she said. " Not my father. Another friend of mine." There was a slight softness in her voice. Would she cry?

"What happened to him?" Suichi asked, but wishing he hadn't.

She was silent for a while, then sighed. " He's around." she said. She seemed to be trying to restrain herself from crying.

" Don't look at me like you feel sorry for me," she said rather defensivly.

Suichi reached out to touch her shoulder, but she slowly pulled away. He pulled his hand back, but looked at her. " I'm...I didn't mean to butt into your personal life."

Suddenly, she shook her head. " No," she said," You didn't."

Suichi pondered a thought. "So, what will you do once you find him? I mean, will you leave?"

" If he isn't here," she said. " Then I will move on. Thats why I told you that it was a waist of time to do school work.'

Suichi's eyes widened, sounding a little more shocked than he entended. "But why? Why must you leave?"

"Because I would have no reason to stay any longer. I would have found what I had been looking for. Then I could return home."

"What about me?" He hadn't meant to say that. Why would she stay for him? He had only known her for a day. He didn't mean anything to her.

Nagi stared at him. She was a little shocked. He actually wanted her to stay. Surprisingly, she found that deep inside, a part of her wanted to stay too.

" Don't you ever feel lonely?" he asked. " Like your so alone in the world?"

Nagi looked away from him again "Sometimes it's better to be alone."

"Why do you say that?" he asked confused.

"Because no one can hurt you. No one can...betray you." She said turning her face.

Suichi reached out to touch her face, but drew back his hand quickly. He thought for a moment and then reached out and touched her chin, makeing her look at him. Her eyes.They were sparkling with sadness. She looked so frail, so weak underneath the tough exterior. Suichi couldn't bare it. He touched her cheek, not aware of what he was doing, letting his emotions take over.

"I would never, ever hurt or betray you," he said gently. Why was he so comfortable saying these things around her? He had never been this open with someone.

Nagi's eyes widened. Only one person had held her like this. He had said the same words to her , touched her the same way. But Suichi seemed different, gentler, more...loving. Could she really trust this guy who she barely know? But there was a familiar feeling coming from him. Warmth, kindness, something that she had felt once before, but a long time ago. Who was this guy? Truly.