The doors of the arcade slide open automatically as the dark haired high school boy steps on the rug just before the doors of the exit. Turning to his left in order to head home, Yusuke slips his hands into his pockets and begins down the street carried by a casual stride. "Hey, did you have fun?" Yusuke leaps into the air as his body spasms, giving his surprise away. "Jeez, Amara! You scared the crap out of me!" The young fair-haired girl laughs softly as she walks a few feet from the wall she had been leaning against in order to stand beside him and walk with him once he continued. "Sorry, but the temptation was just too much." She lets out another laugh, then stops and becomes slightly more serious, but not much. "Hey, why haven't you been at school? I needed to talk to you, but for some reason you didn't show up at school for four days." Yusuke sticks his tongue out at her teasingly. "Maybe I just felt like skipping. School's dumb anyway, so why does it matter?" He begins to walk slowly, allowing her to follow before taking up his casual gait again. Amara shrugs her shoulders a little, shaking her head as she follows him. "I don't know. I can see what you mean, I just…well, I wanted to talk was all. Besides, why you didn't show up at school wasn't the point of my question, and you know that!" She scowls at him, swinging her bag as though meaning to hit him, but swinging it slowly so she wouldn't; he ducked anyway, of course. Pulling down the lower lid of his right eye, he sticks his tongue out at her once more as she misses, even though he was aware of the fact that she meant to. "Yeah, yeah, I know." They walk in silence for a moment before her impatience forces her to break it. "So? Are you going to give me a straight answer, or what?" "…Nah." Yusuke answers at length. Amara's eye twitches slightly and a vein pops out of her head, showing her anger as she brings her elbow down on the top of his head, knocking him forward and onto the pavement. "OUCH!" He exclaims after his face slammed into the concrete. "You jerk!" She responds to his exclamation of pain, the vein, or anger cross, still visible, though smaller. "Maybe violence wouldn't be necessary if you would just give me the damn answer!" As he gets up again, he too had a vein visible on his head. "Maybe I'm not giving you the damn answer because I don't want to answer your damn question!" They were now both facing each other, breathing heavily from the yelling and the beating and being beaten, both of the high schoolers with their fists clenched. After a moment of trying to stare one another down, they sigh in unison and get out of each other's faces, turning away from each other slightly and folding their arms across their chests as though mirroring one another. "…Sorry for hitting you." Amara mutters, uncrossing her arms and slowly turning to look at him as he turned to look at her. "Yeah," he mutters in response, sighing once again. "Sorry for yelling and stuff." He unfolds his arms as well, but looks away from her, as though too embarrassed to make direct eye contact. She watches him out of the corner of her eye for a moment, and then drops her bag and steps forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. This caused Yusuke's eyes to widen, and for him to stumble back in surprise, stumbling backwards into a somewhat dark alleyway, which he didn't notice until a moment later. Looking around a little to make sure no one was watching or could see them, he slowly wraps his arms around her waist, his eyelids lowering so that they were no longer wide. "…Yusuke?" She murmurs at length, turning her head so that it was resting against his chest, and over the sound of the people milling about on the street here and there she could hear his heart beating somewhat rapidly against her cheek and in her ear. "Hm?" She closes her eyes for a few seconds in order to think about what to say, then slowly opens them and stares at the darkened brick wall of the building to her left that served as one wall of the alley, without really noticing. "…A few nights ago…why did you…well, you know…?" She trails off, her cheeks turning a light shade of crimson. "…" Yusuke was quiet for a while, something unusual for him, and Amara began to wonder if he had heard her or not. Finally, he answered though. "I guess I thought if I, uh, tried to comfort you or whatever, you might tell me." He nods, and she blinks, then lets out a quiet sigh and slides her arms from around his neck. He releases her rather quickly, following her as she walks over and picks up her bag from off the ground. "That sounds like you all right: always the romantic one." She mutters sarcastically, causing Yusuke to let out an obnoxious laugh. "Yep! That's why the women adore me! Oh yeah, I just can't keep 'em off of me!" He lets out another obnoxious laugh, this time causing her to laugh as well. "You're such a loser." She giggles, shoving him playfully, causing him to laugh along with her. They continue to laugh for a while, not even noticing the people walking past them, nor the looks Amara was getting from one guy or another here or there—they were either staring because of how pretty she was, or perhaps because natural blondes were not too common in Japan. Without paying much attention to where they were heading, Amara and Yusuke wound up walking to a park that they and Keiko had always used to play at when they were younger. They both stop at the gated entrance leading inside, blinking at the fact that their subconscious had brought them there, but neither had noticed. She realized that this might be the best place to talk though, so without a second thought nor a moment's hesitation, Amara grabs Yusuke by the wrist and pulls him inside, leading him through the gates and up a grassy hill that overlooked the sand box they played in as toddlers, and the playground they used to run around and climb on during the years before Amara had to suddenly move. Allowing herself to carefully fall backwards and lie down in the grass, Amara smiles widely as she lands, gazing up at the fiery sky given its colors by the setting sun. Yusuke watches her, then grins as he sits down beside her, poking her side, something he remembered doing in their earlier years; as he had expected, it had the same affect. Amara sits up suddenly, "eeping" as she clutches her side to protect it from any more of his attacks. But Yusuke simply reaches around to the other side, causing her to roll over onto that side in order to protect it as well. Smirking in a mischievous manner, Yusuke continues pinching her sides in different spots, sending her into a fit of laughter, which he soon joined in on himself due to the look on her face. Finally laughing too hard to keep up his assault, Yusuke stops and just laughs along with her, as she continued laughing simply because she couldn't stop herself. Several moments later, they finally began to calm down, slowing their laughter to an occasional giggle, until they at last stopped altogether. Able to sit up at last, Amara uses her arms to support her, stiffening them to hold herself up. She looks to her left, watching as a gentle breeze passes them and then carries itself to the small "tunnel" of sakura, or cherry trees, that she was watching the sun's rays dance through the branches of. She smiles softly, feeling quite nostalgic all of a sudden. "Yusuke, you remember playing down there on the playground and all, right? Don't you remember watching these trees grow to the way they are now? I mean, when we were little, we always thought that this was the hill we would climb when we were older since it was too big for us then. We promised each other…you, me, and Keiko…that we would." Yusuke thinks for a minute, and then laughs with a child-like joy as he remembers. "Hey, yeah! I remember how Keiko stood there watching us because she knew the hill was too big for us, but I was so stubborn…I knew I could do it! But I was never actually able to…" He laughs, and she laughs with him. He looks at her and smiles, then continues. "I remember that I tried and every single time I came rolling back down…" This causes Amara to giggle, and he chuckled a bit. Looking down the hill as though watching this memory, he seemed to become just as nostalgic for a moment. "…You tried too. You said that we could do it if we both tried, but we still couldn't…but you tried too. Why?" Amara lowers herself back slowly onto the grass, folding her arms behind her head and watching the clouds roll by lazily in the dimming daylight. "…I don't know. I guess I just didn't want you to feel like a total idiot." He laughs at her answer, and she looks over at him before laughing as well. She stops suddenly and sits up, watching as a single cherry blossom petal floats towards them, then gently lowers itself into the palm of her hand. Noticing this, Yusuke stops laughing as well, and once it had settled completely in the palm of her hand, she gently closes her fingers over it and looks over at him slowly, more serious now. "…When did you and Keiko sit up here together for the first time? I mean, since I was gone and all, you guys must have had to come here without me." She smiles a bit, but only someone as clueless as Yusuke seemed to be wouldn't notice that her smile was fake. He had noticed though, but he knew saying something would upset her, and that was not something he wanted to do. He could only answer her honestly and not try avoiding the question anymore. Besides, if either of them hid anything else from one another, they would probably burst, so it was nearly impossible to lie or keep secrets anymore. "We didn't, actually." He answers, turning to watch the sun set at last just as she was. The conversation continued only after the sun was gone and the stars had come out, as though not only they, but the whole world as well, was on pause. "Come on, don't give me that. What really happened?" She shoves him playfully, but he just holds his hands up as though in defense. "I mean it! We never came here without you…I mean sure, after you left we came and played here now and then, on the swings and everything, but we never did come up here…We were still friends, but it was like things changed or something after you left. Keiko started getting straight A's and awards for brains and all, and I became the—" "—self-proclaimed 'number one delinquent of Sarayashiki Junior High and now High school,' right?" She interjects, laughing once she was finished reciting what she'd heard like she was reading it from a book. "Yeah, yeah, you laugh now…but you ask any punk that's crossed me if they'd do it again and unless they're really stupid, they wouldn't even need to think before they said 'no'!" He scowls as though she had offended him, but couldn't keep a straight face as she let out a snort of laughter and they once again began to laugh together. Calming down once more, Amara looks at the stars for a moment, then down at the ground. "…Just friends?" Yusuke blinks, momentarily confused and not sure what or who she was talking about. "You and Keiko. After I left…were you really just 'friends'?" Her hair was falling slightly over her shoulder, and her bangs covered her eyes, casting a dark shadow over her eyes in the twilight. Yusuke blinks again, tilting his head slightly to one side. "What are you talking about, Amara? Yeah, we were friends…" Amara sighs quietly, the shadow still covering her pretty, deep blue eyes. "I mean, you two seemed to get along really well and all, so I thought that maybe once I had left and was out of the way for a while, that maybe you and Keiko…" She trails off, lowering her head towards the ground a little bit. Finally Yusuke was pretty sure he knew what she meant, and when it dawned on him he sat up straight and his eyebrows rose. "Whoa, no. I mean, yeah, for a while I thought I liked her, but…we agreed that it was just a crush. I think she likes some guy on the student council now anyway." Amara lifts her head a little, causing the shadow to fade and disappear. She blinks once, turning her head to her right in order to look at him. "Oh…You two just seemed so—" "Nope." Yusuke assures her, smiling in his childish, goofy way. She couldn't help but to smile as well, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment as she stands up slowly. "I guess I jumped to conclusions…sorry to drag that out of you. I wasn't jealous or anything, just curious." She adds, smiling at him. He nods, waving his hand as if dismissing the mere thought, standing up as well, not really thinking about what she was doing, just readying himself to follow her if she wanted to walk around. "I know. It does happen to the best of us though. And you didn't drag anything out of me. We're best friends, aren't we? I mean, the three of us were back then and everything." She nods, smiling, and slowly begins to walk towards the cherry blossom trees, walking into the "tunnel" the branches and blossoms created. "So," he says after a few moments of quiet, bringing her out of her thoughts with a questioning look. "What about you? Do you like anyone?" She blinks and stops a few trees into the tunnel, thinking it was an odd question for a guy to ask. "I don't know." She answers after a while, still a little bit stunned. "Do you?" She asks rather slyly, even smiling slyly at him, only meaning to tease him. She didn't expect him to take it seriously, but that's just what he did. He watches her for a moment, and it seemed to her like he was thinking about how to answer, and indeed he was, but she was in no way expecting what happened over the course of the next few moments. He moves towards her with little to no sound, causing her to instinctively take a few small steps back; he continues towards her, and when she tries to take at least three more steps back, she is stopped before the second step by the pale trunk of one of the sakura trees. Amara now had her back against it, and this seemed to be just what Yusuke wanted. He places his right hand on the smooth bark, just over her left shoulder, and then very gently places his left hand under her chin. His touch was gentler than she expected, and much, much more gentle than anyone who didn't know him like she or Keiko did would think he was even capable of. Bending his elbows, he slowly lowers himself closer to her, and after what felt like an eternity to her, Amara could feel his warm body pressed against hers, and just after that she felt his lips brush past her own. He now had her pinned, but she had become relaxed by now. Her eyes were closed gently, and he had closed his by now as well. Slowly, he removes his hand from under her chin, making certain that she wasn't going to move before he finally slides his hand over her soft, silky-smooth skin, allowing his fingers, then his palm, to travel slowly along the right side of her face, first trailing along her jaw, then finally his hand paused on her cheek for a moment, gently stroking the soft flesh of the side of her face, resting his hand against her cheek for a moment. The whole time he continued brushing his lips back and forth across hers gently, giving her a tiny taste and almost teasing her, before finally his hand continued and reached the place he wanted it to be. He begins to carefully, gently run the fingers of his left hand through her hair, playing with her straight, blonde locks while making sure not to tangle them together. At last, as he rubs his thumb slowly over her ear, he presses his lips gently against her own, leaving them there for only a few seconds before moving his head back no more than an inch. But his lips did not leave hers for long. He was no longer taunting her as much as he was himself, only allowing him to taste her lips for a little while before moving his head back and keeping his lips from her soft pink lips; but he couldn't keep himself from tasting for long. Now and then he would open his eyes to gaze at her, but his desire would only allow it for a second. She on the other hand was tormenting herself with keeping her eyes shut, waiting for him to kiss her so that she could taste his lips, wondering how long he would keep them from her before he kissed her again and allowed her to feel their lips touch. At last he couldn't keep his rather greedy instincts from taking over. While his left hand continued to run his fingers through her silky hair, his right hand, which had formerly been against the tree now slowly fell and landed on her shoulder, holding her against the tree with that hand. A bit surprised at his assertiveness, Amara opens her eyes and glances at the shoulder being held to the tree, then at Yusuke as she puts her hands on his arms in a half-hearted attempt to push him off of her. "Yusuke, what—?" She wasn't given the chance to finish, because he was hardly listening anymore. He presses his lips to hers somewhat roughly, at the same time reaching down and back in order to grab her wrists. Gripping her wrists firmly but gently, he holds them against the tree, pressing his body against hers to allow her to feel more of his warmth, but also pinning her against the tree with little means of escaping or even moving. Her lips were parted slightly since he had kissed her while she had been in the middle of a sentence, giving him the perfect opportunity. Without removing his lips from hers, for by doing so he would risk losing his chance, he slowly slips his tongue forward, running it along her bottom lip, then her upper teeth, then at last slipping it into her warm mouth, causing her face to blush an even deeper crimson then it already was. Once she got over the initial shock, she allows him to continue, relaxing and making it a bit easier for him to experience the pleasure he had longed to find in her for a long time. He gently caresses the tip of her tongue with his own, then at last pulls his face and lips back from hers slowly, almost reluctant to stop. "Yusuke, I—" She begins, but he quickly releases her left wrist and places his fingertip against her lips. "Shh…" He whispers, and then leans in and kisses the left side of her jawbone gently, sending mild chills down her spine. "I need to ask you something, Amara…" He whispers softly into her ear, releasing her wrist and instead slipping his arms past her elbows, wrapping them around her waist and holding her close. She closes her eyes, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Y…yes?" She murmurs, thinking that she was ready for anything by now. But she wasn't. "…Why did you really have to move? I want the truth…Whatever happened, you can tell me. I mean, if you had moved I know you could have at least said good-bye." He could feel Amara's body tense in his arms, so he held her closer to him, not wanting her to run, or push him away. Her eyes had opened by now, and as she speaks, her voice gave away her nervousness. "No, m-my dad's boss insisted that we leave right away. There…there was no time to say good-byes; just pack up and go, that was the only option." "Don't lie to me, Amara! Whatever happened, you need to stop running from it." She closes her eyes tightly, clutching his shirt tightly as she tries to get him to release his grip on her. "No, I'm not—let go!" "Stop trying to run away! Stop trying to run from me!" "Let me go!" She cries, trying as hard as she can to push him away from her so she could run somewhere…anywhere; so she could just get away from the memories—the "things"—he was trying to bring back to the surface. She felt that she had to escape from the "things" emerging from the shadows of her thoughts, squeezing and crawling from the dark crevices of her mind. "Amara, I'm right here! Just tell me what happened. I'm here for you!" She was shaking by now with the effort necessary to keep from thinking of the past she wanted to forget. But she had begun to falter, and slowly she was calming down, focusing on nothing but his warmth. "No…!" She whimpers quietly, gradually losing the battle. "Amara…" Finally, she stops struggling, but her hands, her body, were still shaking. Yusuke waits patiently for a few moments, giving her time to tell him, knowing that if he rushed her she would only panic or become too stressed, and that could be harmful to her, something he did not want. He simply waited, holding her in his arms with the hopes that she would be comforted and perhaps stop shaking. "…The house I lived in before I moved…" She begins quietly, her voice and body still quivering. "It…it caught on fire. A few of the 'servants' working for my parents were trapped inside, and were later found dead from smoke inhalation…" She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and leave her mind blank while she spoke, knowing that if she thought about it she would only cry and feel weak and vulnerable again. "My nanny got me out safely, but she said that she hadn't been able to find my parents. She said they were sure to be safe though; after all, they were my parents…Heh…" She lets out a small laugh, remembering what a handful she was when she was younger, but how her nanny still cared for her. Without her noticing, her eyes had begun brimming with tears, and her pitiful laugh caused one of them to fall from her eye and roll down her cheek, stopping as it caught in Yusuke's shirt. As he felt the dampness against his skin, his eyes widened a bit, and he then squeezed her gently, resting his lips against the top of her head. "Amara…" He begins, but she shakes her head, knowing that since she had started, she had to finish. "I never saw them again…My nanny was the one who identified their bodies once they had been dug up from the charred, smoldering remains of my house…of my home…" They were silent for a while, and the only sounds heard were those of the wind pushing through the trees and the quiet sound of her muffled sobs as she buries her face in his chest and he holds her close to him. He could think of nothing to say that would comfort her, and even if he could he was speechless. He felt guilty now, horrible and cruel for having forced her to tell him what had happened to her and her family. If she hadn't had her arms around him and she hadn't been hugging him so tightly, he would have left with the thought that she didn't need someone like him holding her and comforting her. But she did want him with her, and she did want him to hold her and comfort her, protecting her from complete misery and devastation, so he could do nothing more for her except hold her in his arms and hope that she would be all right. He could do nothing more than wish that she would stop hurting, and that he would be able to see her cheerful smile again. After several moments of quiet and allowing herself to calm down, Amara lifts her face a little, beginning to wipe at her eyes with her sleeve. Wanting to feel that he was doing something for her, Yusuke stops her by grabbing her wrist gently, moving her hand away slowly so that he could touch her face gently. He slides his thumbs slowly across her cheeks, wiping her tears away for her. "…I'm sorry you had to see me like that, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you before—" He stops her by once more putting his finger to her lips. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I never should have forced you to talk about something that you didn't want to talk about…I shouldn't have pushed you into it. I'm sorry…" Amara shakes her head slowly, looking up into his eyes and smiling softly. "It's all right. I actually feel a bit better now that I don't have to hide it from you anymore…" She murmurs, trailing off slightly at the end of what she was saying, closing her eyes as he slowly lowers his face to hers after having lifted her chin gently. He carefully presses his lips to hers, knowing that actions really would speak louder than words right now. After about a minute, he slowly pulls away, and both adolescents slowly open their eyes to look at one another. "Come on, I'll walk you home." Yusuke whispers into her ear, wrapping his arms around her as he spoke, then slipping his arm around her waist and gently leading her down the hill and out of the park once she had given her consent with a nod.
A couple of houses away from her own, the two friends stop and turn to face each other, neither certain of what to do now. "…Um, should I walk you to the door?" Yusuke asks awkwardly, causing Amara to smile. "No, I'm sure I can manage walking a few more feet." She giggles, and he laughs a bit, but they soon fade into another silence. After several seconds, Amara breaks that silence, smiling up at him. "Well…good night!" She says cheerfully, leaning forward and kissing him gently on the cheek, and then turns in order to walk the rest of the way to her house as she waves to him. Before she could leave, Yusuke reaches out and grabs her wrist, pulling her into a tight embrace. Still holding her right wrist in his left hand, he places his other around her waist, holding her lower body against his. "You missed. This is how you say good night…" He murmurs, before pressing against her soft lips with his. He pulls away only after he was sure that he would remember the way her lips felt against his own until he saw her again. "Good night." He whispers, and as she felt his warm breath against her ear, she could feel chills traveling up and down her spine. Yusuke slowly lets her go, then takes a step back before running in the direction of his own house, leaving her standing there, watching his form fade into the darkening night. "…Good night, Yusuke." She whispers aloud, before turning around and walking quickly in the direction of her house, blushing gently at the memory of the evening. She could still feel the touch of his lips against hers.
All right, now, I did say I would start having previews of the following chapters, so here's the preview for the next one. Ahem.
Next time, on Unbalanced Kisses!
"No, huh?" She asks quietly, though it was really as though she was answering for him. "No. And I looked everywhere!" Now she sounded worried. "Maybe I should come over tomorrow and we can search together." Yusuke shakes his head. "No, you can't miss school. You're the straight-A student remember? Missing a day would count as something, and nothing good. Don't worry about it. Get some sleep. I know a few more places and I'll check them tomorrow. Keiko, I'm sure she's fine." He adds, almost able to feel her tension and worry over the phone. "This is Amara we're talking about. She can handle anything." "I know…but I'm worried. Why would Amara just vanish all of a sudden?"