Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Hot Gimmick, I'm just borrowing characters.
Unexpected Love Chapter 7- Rift
Ryoki saw a strange car pull up to the front doors, watched a boy he didn't know walk around to the passenger side door and let a beaming Hatsumi out. He witnessed the looks that passed between them, recognized the attraction and to his surprise, became jealous. 'What am I even thinking of? I don't have any real feelings for her. But why then am I so jealous about seeing her with another guy?' He looked back, observing the scene playing out in front of him. The boy pulled Hatsumi into an embrace and held her there for at least a minute, murmuring into her ear. Ryoki wondered what he was saying. A moment later they parted. Hatsumi watched the boy climb back into his car and drive away with a dazed look. She finally turned on her heels and headed for the entrance to the school.
When Hatsumi came near he stepped out in front of her. "Who was that and why weren't you in class today, slave?"
Hatsumi stopped dead and visibly cringed, this made Ryoki even more upset than he already was. 'Is this how I make her react to me? Am I so bad that I make her cringe?' he questioned himself silently, growing angrier by the second and almost shaking from the force of it.
"For your information, that was Asuza Odagiri, a model. What do you want with me, anyway?" she asked in an agitated voice. Hatsumi had her fists clenched into balls at her sides.
That put Ryoki over the edge. "Your impertinence astounds me, slave, that you would dare to ask such a question of me. Need you Master a reason to request your company? Need I remind you of the consequences should you wish to cease being my slave?" he asked, quaking with anger. He had the urge to slap her, but didn't. 'Who does she think she is to be using such a tone with me?' he thought, reinforcing his fury.
Hatsumi was shaking also, not from anger, but from fear. 'Ryoki terrifies me,' she realized, trying to hold back tears but not quite succeeding. One slipped down her cheek as she dared to look him in the eye. She pled with him silently, not trusting her voice.
As Ryoki stared into Hatsumi's big eyes he lost all sense of anger. He suddenly felt overwhelming compassion for her and stepped forward to fold her into an embrace, at first startling her but then she relaxed.
With Hatsumi melting into his arms, time seemed to freeze for all eternity. All that existed in that extended moment was he and his arms wrapped tight around her frail body, Hatsumi crying on his shoulder. It seemed so natural to hold her, comfort her, care for her. So natural, eve, that he didn't even recognize the instant change of emotions. All anger was suddenly gone, replaced by something he didn't even want to begin to fathom. Something completely foreign to him, until now. He was so lost in his thoughts, in fact, that he didn't even realize Hatsumi had ceased trying and now stood frozen in fear, his arms still crushing her to his chest.
Ryoki le go of her instantly and a soon as he did, Hatsumi stepped back and wrapped her arms around her body, trying to fight off the lingering effects of the embrace. Ryoki could see she wanted to run away from him. 'She wouldn't dare,' he thought with a smirk.
"Oh go ahead, laugh at me, I'm just your slave, I have no feelings," she finally said, beginning to cry again.
"Don't—don't do that," he stuttered, not wanting to see the emotional pain on her face. Pain that he had caused.
"Don't do what? Cry? Does that make you uncomfortable? Well at least you're getting back some of your own medicine. God I hate my life." Hatsumi collapsed into a pile on the sidewalk sobbing and wiping her eyes and nose with the edge of her blouse, for lack of something better.
Ryoki started toward her but she put her hand up, halting him. "Don't. Don't even think about touching me. How can you think that you trying to comfort me will make anything better? It's you who I hate, you who have ruined my first year as an upper-classman," she said, gaining momentum and surprising herself with the ferocity of it. Hatsumi paused for a moment and took strange satisfaction in the fact that Ryoki was now standing slack-jawed with amazement. She continued, taking the opportunity to express her true opinion. "Do you know how many responsibilities to friends and family I've had to sacrifice because, on a whim, you decide you want my company? 'Carry my books, slave; make me lunch, slave; walk me to school, slave'," she mocked. "I'm sick of it. Do you have any idea how to treat another human being? With dignity and respect? Do you even have any friends? I bet you don't, you wouldn't even know where to start."
Hatsumi, just realizing all that she had said, shut her mouth, making her teeth click together. She couldn't believe she had said all she had. 'Oh no, what have I done? This could make him angry enough to get me in trouble regardless of the fact that I've done everything he's told me to do. This is very bad.'
Ryoki was astounded. He had never been spoken to in such a manor in the entirety of his life. Not even his mother had dared to use such a tone. He was torn between irritation and fascination. That such a girl would have the guts to stand up to him amazed him, and also scared him. 'She could be my undoing,' he thought as he watched her arrange her hair and clothes, trying to erase the markings of her sudden mood swing.
Hatsumi looked up at him expectantly, knowing he was yet undecided as to his course of action. She was still astounded by her outburst but was proud of herself for just letting it all out.
Ryoki took one step towards Hatsumi and then turned-heel and strode back to the school, leaving her sitting in the middle of the brick walk.
Hatsumi stared after him as he disappeared through the glass doors and down the hallway.
Akane uncurled herself from her hiding spot behind the bushes. She had heard the whole exchange. She also knew that, if she was going to try to get Ryoki, now was the time to do it. She followed him through the doors, and down the hall, through the art gallery and into a discrete corner of the school. She stopped as he whirled around and confronted her.
"What do you want?" he asked angrily. "I'm really not in the mood to be followed, if there's something I can help you with, spit it out, but otherwise leave me the hell alone!"
Undaunted, Akane walked right up to him and put her hand on his waist. "It's not so much about what you can do for me, it's about what I can do for you," she said, placing her other hand on his shoulder.
"And just what do you think you have that's so special? I don't take time out of my day for freshmen. Don't you have a play date with your friends or something right now?" Ryoki said, twisting out of her grasp. "Plus, I have someone else in mind. You're too young to understand."
He spun away from her and continued down the hall, ignoring her completely. Akane was left standing there, looking like an idiot for the entire world to see. 'Oh my god, I got rejected. That's never happened to me, what do I do?' She watched him walk down the hallway, feeling very hurt. Finally, after he disappeared around a corner she turned and walked back to where she had last seen her sister. 'I need to apologize to her; I should never have said all those mean things to her. Ryoki's a jerk, I don't know what I ever saw in him,' she thought, beginning her search for her sister.
Hatsumi was not in the lobby, she was not in the courtyard. She was not in the guidance center, nor the main office, nor even the main part of the library. She had closeted herself in a little known hiding spot behind one of the awards displays, and was sitting there currently, crying.
Akane slid next to her and startled Hatsumi by putting her arms around her shoulders. "Oh Akane," Hatsumi said. "How did things get so bad? I tried to keep things under control but I couldn't. I—."
"Shh. Don't talk, it's okay, I'm the one who should be apologizing to you, not the other way around. Ryoki's a big jerk, I saw what he did to you, I'm so sorry."
"You saw that?" Hatsumi asked.
"Only part of it," she assured. "All I saw was you sitting there crying and Ryoki standing over you, then he stalked off. I saw how upset you were and he did nothing."
Hatsumi sighed, feeling wretched and completely unable to handle her own life. "So you've finally given up on him, huh?" she said ironically. "You never really were his type. I have a feeling he would like someone who has enough courage to get up in his face and argue along with him."
"Hatsumi," Akane said fondly, "you always know what to say to cheer me up."
They hugged each other, realizing that once again the bond between them was too strong to break over silly reasons. Akane was happy she had her sister back, 'I depend on her way too much to have a rift between us.'
"Come on," Hatsumi said, pulling her sister up, "we should get back to class. 8th period is just about to start and I wouldn't want you to be late."
"Okay, if I have to...you know, it's kind of comfy back here, I think I might just take a nap..." Akane said, jokingly.
"Don't even think about it!" Hatsumi teased back.
Akane pouted. "You're no fun."
"I'll see you later," Hatsumi said, grabbing her backpack and heading off.
Ryoki sat in the library by a computer. He was pretending to do research but he hadn't moved his mouse for 5 minutes. He looked over as a familiar face sat down at the computer next to his. "Hey, you're Hatsumi's friend, right? What's your name again?"
"Umm, it's Subaru Yagi," he said, uneasily.
"Do me a favor? Tell me everything you know about her."
"Where do you want me to start? I mean, does Hatsumi know about your curiosity? If you really want to know, why don't you ask her?"
"I just want to hear it from someone else. Would you mind?"
"Well, I have some stuff to do right now, but maybe later?"
"After school? Do you have plans?"
"That's fine. Where do you want to meet?"
"How about Starbucks? I'll see you later, then."
"Bye."
Ryoki stood up and walked out of the library. Subaru stared after him, puzzled. 'I wonder what he has in mind. I hope its okay for Hatsumi. At least with me as information control I might be able to find out just what he's up to.'
Author's Note These last couple of chapters have been kind-of hard to pump out. I don't have much time lately, since I'm going to be graduating in the next few weeks. Stick with me though, I'm not going to stop writing, it might just take a while to post it. Once my life slows down, though, I should have no problems. Oh, anyone have any ideas about what the hell I should do about Asuza? I still haven't figured out what yet.
