A/N: Chapter 5 is up… well I still have to write the whole text, and no inspiration came since the previous update, but I'll find something, no worries! criquets hum, let's go

Chapter 5

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Life shows a funny sense of humour that makes you miserable. You wake up in morning, your toasts burn and you can't seem to find the right outfit. Then, you miss the bus… It goes on and on. It just happens all at the same time, like if someone held a grudge against you and took his time for revenge.

Kite opened his computer and sighed. What a day indeed. He truly loved Natsume but couldn't resolve himself to confess it to the twin blade girl. On the other hand, some girls in the real world were more courageous than him.

In math class, while the teacher was writing on the board, a classmate beside Kite pulled his sleeve. He gave her an intrigued look. He heard her name was Miki. With her nose always in her books and after school hours spent in the library, he never paid much attention to her except some kind smiles that people give to strangers but now he could watch her. She had curly brown hair falling on her shoulder and small glasses that made her look delicate, with piercing green eyes looking right at him. Their white and dark blue school uniforms didn't compliment her at all but it didn't matter. A strong aura emanated from her and her beauty came from there too.

The girl handed him a piece of paper and put a finger in front of her mouth, just before the teacher turned around to face the students. Kite took a last glance to her. She blushed slightly and even though she died to watch every bit of her crush's reaction, she locked her eyes on the board.

Kite delicately opened the folded piece of paper. Miki's neat writing somewhat impressed the boy, but what the paper contained confused him. She asked him to wait for her at the park next to the school after class. Before school, he checked his e-mails. Blackrose invited him to Dun Loireag later. Two invitations in the same day! He had to make it fast.

Soon enough though, the bell rang. Most of the students still hung around the lockers, unlike Kite who speeded things. At the park, he just collapsed under a tree, breathing heavily. His thought went to Natsume, the real Natsume made of skin and bones. Was she still in the library, putting books back to their original place? Was she softly singing a melody, enjoying the quiet moment?

Miki appeared next to him, playing with her hair. He got up and cleaned his pants.

"Hi, Miki"

"Hello." She definitely was nervous. Her fingers tried to hang on something, to be occupied. She looked up to him and started. "Kiyoshi, thank you for coming," she paused, "since I saw you for the first time, I just couldn't forget you, ever again."

The boy named Kiyoshi lost his face. She loved him! More than just that, she spoke exactly, word for word, what he longed to tell Natsume. He was overwhelmed by a strange feeling, his heart beat like he was confessing his love to her, Natsume.

"… I always thought you were amazing. What I wanted to tell was… I love you." She waited anxiously for his answer but he was too baffled to say anything. Her words sunk into his mind. He realised the extent of her feelings and observed her. Miki seemed like a nice girl. He hated what he had to do next.

Kiyoshi quietly advance forward, and took her hand gently. It hurt him so much to brush her off. Often, after hours of playing The World, trying to solve the mystery behind Orca's coma, he just stared at the sky, thinking about the person that made him feel better, imagining Natsume's rejection if he admitted to her his love. The tears would fall behind his goggles. The pain would clunch his heart, breaking it into pieces. It hurt so much, but it wasn't fair to start a relationship filled with lies, just to make the other happy.

Looking at her deeply in the eyes, he murmured the truth. "Miki, I like someone else. But I admire your courage. Do you want to become my friend, at least?"

Miki just nodded. She turned around and began to walk away but Kiyoshi grabbed her arms, guilt all over his face. "Please don't leave. We could, uh, chat a bit. I don't want to leave you in this state."

"He's so kind…" thought Miki, smiling a bit. She was tempted by his proposition but Blackrose organised some kind of meeting. Maybe she could talk with the heavy blade about boys, about why some boys are inaccessible, like Kiyoshi.

"I-I can't stay!" She ran away, not looking back. Kiyoshi did the same, hoping to get away from his feelings.

Kite logged in The World, still sad. He regretted what happened. It confirmed his fear of rejection. Now he just wished he didn't felt a thing about Natsume in the first place and just continued his quest without any torments.

The young hero warped into Dun Loireag, in a hurry to get over his meeting with Blackrose. He stopped dead in his tracks. Something seemed different. Something like the whole server! The usual crowded place switched to a ghost town! Few people left wandered around the nearest shop a few minutes and left immediately. Moreover, the smell in the air was so nasty that he took a few steps back. Geez, no wonder the place emptied all of a sudden. (1)

Little pink roses lead all the way to the end of the server, to a secluded spot and someone piled up boxes. After a while, he figured it was a table with chairs. The smell came from there and he covered his nose with one of his gloves before he died of asphyxia. Beside that, a big heart was drawn on the ground, with the letters K and N, separated by a plus. Kite's eyes grew wide open. Blackrose set up a dinner with Natsume!

While he frenetically erased the letters, Natsume appeared behind him. She, too, covered her face but her body became numb. Kite heard a strange noise, something heavy falling on the ground, followed by a moan. He saw his beloved Natsume barely awake and shook her, calling her name. Jumping on his feet, he grasped the jar and threw it in the clouds, vanishing into thin air.

It took five minutes before she felt good enough to get back on her feet and five more minutes before Kite let her do so. The female twin blade finally stood up and sat on a box, picking at her feet a rose that she brought to her nose. Kite observed her at the other end of the table. Natsume looked fragile, tired, withdrawn, unlike before. She lost her fire, he thought. At this moment, she turned her head to face him. They locked their eyes on each other then she lifted her head up to watch the sky. He did too. The nocturne astral appeared through the clouds, ever so silent and majestic. Nostalgic thoughts crossed Kite's mind, but he soon came back to the girl facing him. "You look depressed, is everything okay?" he asked softly.

Natsume blinked, and seemed to understand. She rubbed her eyes a little to chase away her state of sadness. Then, she pondered her words before saying them. "There's this guy I like", she started.

Kite's heart sunk deeply. He never had an idea that Natsume liked someone else. He never even thought she could be in love with someone. So already in the beginning, his chances were lost. They diminished further when he decided to keep his feelings for himself, too afraid of what her reaction might be. He glanced at her; she was waiting a sign from him to continue. He nodded. "He's brown haired, fairly tall. He's dreamy and he doesn't realise it." She giggled a bit. Kite imagined she was thinking about her crush. He was mad jealous. "He's nice to everyone, and he helps anyone in trouble. He even defended little kids being picked on by bullies in the park."

Strangely, the twin blade felt closer to the guy, because they were so alike. He remembered once, he saw a little boy crying but no one comforted him so Kiyoshi came to him. Natsume went silent, worrying Kite. "What then?"

"I never talked to him before but today, I… I asked him out. I told him that I love him. But he said that he likes someone else. I was so embarrassed at that moment…" Tears fell down her cheeks and he hugged her. Meanwhile, ideas connected to others rapidly in his head. He fitted the guy's description perfectly; he said exactly what the guy said to Natsume. Was it possible that Natsume was in fact … Miki? It amazed him and was about to tell her but something stopped him. In the real world, he broke her heart. He should try to make her feel better before and at the same time, confirmed what he discovered.

Natsume let go of Kite's embrace, wiping away her tears. "Thanks Kite. I'm better now. I hope you didn't mind me talking about this boy."

Kite protested, now very eager to learn every bit of information concerning this boy, "No, of course not! I'm here to listen and help you."

Encouraged by him, Natsume kept talking about Kiyoshi, at start shyly. The male twin blade saw that Natsume, or Miki, spied him all along. She knew he liked beef stew and that he played soccer every Wednesday. All this time, he never noticed her and he was ashamed of it.

His secret crush sighed. "Now he just tossed me. It's so hard to get over him."

Kite panicked inside him. G-get over him! He had to find a solution! "Um-ummm… didn't he say he wanted to be friends with you?"

"Yeah but what good will it make? He doesn't love me." She said sadly.

"That's because he doesn't know you as well as you know him! Grab your chance, hang out with him at least, and let him discover you."

Natsume was unsure but hope came back. "You think it would work?"

The twin blade was cheering now. He knew he succeed to get Miki back in the game. "Sure it will, don't worry. Plus, you'll get to observe him more closely."

The girl smiled, everything went back to normal. But deep inside, something was telling Kite he should have told her right away the truth. But he thought that it wasn't much of a lie. He would tell her soon. He needed to repair his mistake in the real world before.

Both twin blades continued to talk about the usual stuff, like how Kite's quest to save his friend was going. Natsume admitted she knew someone that fell into coma. At first, she ignored why her classmate missed several days of school but rumours said that he fell into a coma by playing The World. Kite knew that she was talking about Yasuhiko and promised her that they would save her classmate.

She also asked him why the server was empty and at the same time, filled with flowers and hearts everywhere. Kite blushed and turned away, as to watch the sky and answered that Blackrose opened a love dating service online in The World. She laughed at the idea and admitted it wasn't a bad idea. "If Kiyoshi plays the World, I might date him here!"

After Natsume logged out for the night, people started coming in again but Blackrose and Mistral warped into the server, enough to scare away half of the users. The heavy blade grabbed Mistral's arm, daydreaming in the pathway (2) and they hid behind a noble grunty (3). Unfortunately for them, the piggy-cow animal was friendly, and annoying. "Hellooooo mon ami, do you need me! If you like me, of course you'll trade me your treasure"

"Shut up you ugly pig, he'll see us!" whispered Blackrose, at the edge of a crisis. The other girl, on the other hand, searched in her bag something to trade; she loved gentlemen.

It didn't took long before Kite saw them, one caressing the grunty and one pulling its hair to make it stop blabbing. He approached, smirking at the funny scene.

Blackrose saw him coming without Natsume! That was it. "Where is she!"

Kite decided to play innocent. "Who are you talking about?"

"You know who, Natsume! The girl that you love, duh!"

"She didn't come, was she supposed to?" he asked, faking curiosity.

"YES!" she was becoming more and more furious. Her plan fell to pieces. "I invited you and her to put you together once and for all! But she didn't come, nOooOoooo. Everything is ruined. What will I say to all my new clients that-"

"Blackrose, did you organise this meeting?"

Suddenly, she stopped talking. Her eyes widened like huge balls as she realised that she revealed her scheming. The pinked haired girl tried to make up some excuse but it wasn't working, obviously. Seeing Kite doubting her, she explained her excuses and went deeper in her lies, until Kite burst out laughing.

She was looking at him, perplexed. When he finally calmed down, Kite took the two ladies to Blackrose's romantic spot. Mistral ran to her beautiful setting and cried over the lost candle while the two others had a conversation between them.

"Where is Natsume!" demanded Blackrose, angry for being humiliated.

"She logged out for the night. Don't worry, I think the night went well" he said.

"So you asked her out then! About time, 'little boy'", using Helba's expression.

"No I didn't." Seeing Blackrose ready to charge, he held up his hands in the air like someone surrendering. "Wait a moment. It's a long story."

After he told her everything that happen that day, and with a lot of "ooohh" and "aaahh", Blackrose still had a few questions. "So… you're going to date her in the real world, and tell her that you're Kite in The World then?"

"Yes"

"But don't you think that she'll ask you why you didn't like her in the real world?" The question was hard to answer. "I'll tell you one day." He got up and left them the yelling girl behind, alone in his thoughts again but happy.

(1) After I told my mother about my grass candle idea, she laughed and said "Mon Dieu, ça doit puer!" Translation: "My God, that must smell!" Or something like that. And so I learned that burning grass smells horrible. Great thing though, it gave me other ideas.

(2) I believe that Mistral is a daydreamer, and I picture her very well standing in the middle of nowhere, looking something without really seeing it.

(3) Who hates noble grunties? raises her hand Hey beta reader, a noble pushisago (it is how it is called in the anime?) is a grunty with long blond hair and he considers himself a gentleman. He always goes of "oh mon ami". Oh oh I would like to see your opinions on grunties! I mean, all of you dear readers.

This chapter, to me, was a big success. I started off with nothing in mind to … well, that. So read and review! I hope you'll like this chapter. Oh and thanks for beta reading my fic shiroi-miko

Kat