Lonely Smile, Cherry Kisses

Chapter 1

"Hatsumi-chan! Hatsumi-chan!"

As the girl turned to see who was calling her, her eyes brightened noticeably to see her best friend flailing his arms in vivacious excitement. She pulled on her backpack straps with both hands, stopping to wait patiently wait for him.

The little boy laughed freely, his soft locks of hair caressing the side of his smiling face as he waved and tried to catch up with her. Grinning devilishly as he reached her, he rested his hands on his knees as he bent over, out of breath from the dash. But suddenly, he was thrown slightly off balance as his friend caught him up in a big hug. "Huh?" His cheeks reddened. "Ha...Hatsumi...?"

When she finally released him, all he could think about was the way she made his heart pound.

"I'm just so glad to see you today!" she chirped happily. "We'll be late for school if we don't hurry!"

He laughed. "Let's go, then!" They both began running towards the school together, yet it didn't take long for Hatsumi to fall behind. "Wait! Wait for me!" she called out from behind him. He stopped immediately, flashing her a grin. "Of course I'll wait for you, Hatsumi-chan!"

She neared him and he grabbed her hand. "We'll go together!"

Before they started running again, all he could hear was her soft voice. "Thank you, Azusa..."

"Azusa..."

---

Azusa bolted upright, pressing a hand to his forehead as he rubbed his temple with the other. The increasing pressure in his mind meant the beginning of another headache. He was sweating profusely as he tried to disentangle himself from his bed sheets. Sighing, he reached for the bottle of aspirin sitting on his nightstand, and after downing two pills, gripped the cup of water that was also there tightly in his hand as he drank the cool relief. The red glare of digital numbers on his alarm clock indicated that it was 11:32 p.m. Fuck. He'd only been asleep for two hours.

"Damn it!" The cup fell to the ground as Azusa stiffened. He couldn't stop shaking. Why the hell did these dreams keep coming? He tilted his head back against the wall, where his bed was propped next to. Sweat rolled down his cheeks, perhaps in place of the tears that he was too selfish to shed. More importantly, why the hell would it bother him so much? The past was the past. They were just memories. They couldn't hurt him.

But the simple fact was that they did hurt. More than he could ever imagine. Azusa sank his head into his hands, recalling how brightly Hatsumi had smiled in his dream. God, what a beautiful smile...

"She still smiles like that, you fucker. Even after what you did to her," he spoke aloud, hating every fiber of his being. What the hell was he living for? Spite, revenge, hurting others? No, not "others". Only that one other. Hatsumi. His heart ached at the name.

"Azusa, did you make that card all by yourself?" Hatsumi smiled, admiring the card that Azusa had made for his mother's birthday. It had been decorated with a beautiful ivory lace, and plastic little pearls. There was a large heart in the middle of the card, made of velvet and meticulously outlined with glitter.

When he nodded with a smile, he refused to look at her. "Do you...do you think that Okaa-san will like it?" He suddenly felt the card being gently pressed into his left hand, and the soft pressure of Hatsumi's hands as she clasped his right.

"I know she'll love it, Azusa-kun. She'll be so proud of you!" Hatsumi smiled warmly.

"Yeah, I'll bet she's real proud of me now," Azusa muttered darkly. "What do I do now...Okaa-san...?" The search for the man who had destroyed his pure mother was killing him inside, and he was exhausted mentally. But the loathing kept his spirit strong. He wouldn't give up now. Not ever.

He let his mind wander, and with it, his gaze. It happened to fall on a single, everyday item sitting atop his dresser. A cell phone. Why the hell was he keeping that thing? Azusa tried not to answer that.

"Shit."

That was it. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep now, all riled up like this. He needed to take a walk. He peeled off his sweat soaked shirt and debated whether it was worth the time or effort to put on another one. The faces of all the patrons gawking at him would no doubt amuse him. And hell, he'd kill to see that witch Tachibana's face. But he couldn't risk getting kicked out. Not now, when the path towards revenge was so close.

So he settled on a plain tee shirt, nothing spectacularly model-like about it. He didn't give a damn about fixing his hair, so he grabbed his cap and hid the mess. His keys dangling from a necklace, Azusa opened the door. As he walked out, he glanced at the cell phone. Damn. He had almost forgotten to bring it. All that bull he had fed Hatsumi about how he didn't give a fuck over the stupid phone welled up in his mind. What she didn't know was that he carried it everywhere with him. He slipped the phone into his pocket, careful to hide the beaded lanyard that she had bought for him when they had been...

No, when he had been screwing around with her mind.

He broke it once. But after a week without sleep due to his stupid conscience, had secretly gotten it fixed. He wouldn't part with it.

Azusa slightly tugged his cap, pulling it down further over his eyes as he finally closed the door shut.

---

So it was now midnight, and there was absolutely nothing to do. Azusa looked up at the darkened sky, his hands in his pockets as the moonlight flickered across his face. The stars were twinkling in the sky, blanketing the horizon with glimmers of undisturbed wonder. Everyone was tucked away all nicely in their little beds, Azusa thought quietly. Lucky them.

"Azusa?" The quiet voice caught him by surprise, and he turned unevenly, nearly bumping into the voice's origin. It was her. What the hell was she doing out at a time like this?

"Yo." Azusa's fingers tightened on the cell phone attachment she had bought him inside his pocket. "Never thought you'd be the type to be out this late. Sneaking out at night? That's pretty naughty of you." His brow quirked when she blushed.

"I couldn't sleep! I...wasn't sneaking out or anything...!" Hatsumi gushed.

Azusa wagged his finger in front of her face. "Tsk, tsk, Hatsumi. I think that you being out of bed at this ungodly hour without anyone's consent classifies this as 'sneaking out', wouldn't you say?"

Hatsumi's expression slightly fell as she stared down at the ground. "Hai...you're right, Azusa..." Then, raising her eyes to meet his, she blinked, almost as if seeing him for the first time. "But then...what are you doing outside so late?"

Fuck. She had a good point. It was kind of late, even for him. "I was talking a walk, causing mischief, messing people up- whatever you want to call it." She gave him a hesitant sort of smile, one that made his heart miss a beat or two. Don't smile like that, Hatsumi, he thought quietly. Not at him. He didn't deserve it.

"I see." She glanced at him, her eyes softening. "Oh! Azusa, you must be freezing!"

Huh?

It was only then that he realized he'd been rubbing his arms for the past five minutes. He was even starting to lose some of the feeling in his fingers. Why didn't he bring a goddamn jacket or something? Shit. And then he noticed that Hatsumi was offering him her coat. The one that he had bought her. He'd meant it to be a gift, but she had paid him back in full. She didn't need his gifts, not when she had that fucking Ryoki to buy things for her. Ryoki. That bastard...

"Here, take it," Hatsumi said, holding the coat out to him.

"I can't." He crossed his arms stubbornly. "I'm a guy."

"Huh?" She suddenly looked back at it, her cheeks reddening. Azusa supposed that she had forgotten it was a coat intended for a girl to wear. "It doesn't matter! No one's watching!"

Azusa paused. "You'll be cold."

When he said this, her hand shook slightly, and she looked at him for a brief moment. It wasn't just a simple glance, she looked at him truly. Like she could see into his soul. And Azusa, who had never lost his cool around her, started to feel a little discomfort. Why the hell was she looking at him like that? Damn it.

"Well, um, I'm actually wearing two layers of clothes in addition to this coat, so I'll be fine," Hatsumi rambled, causing Azusa to blink at her sudden nervousness around him. What'd he do? "Take it, Azusa!"

The nice thing to do would be to thank her, or even hug her for her generosity. An idiot with any shred of decency would even take the time to make any move of acknowledgement for a kind gesture. What Azusa did was to shrug and take the coat from her.

"I'm the one who should be offering a coat to you, not the other way around," Azusa smirked. "Guess that shows you what type of guy I am, huh? Taking coats from girls now- I'm a real jerk."

He stopped suddenly, because Hatsumi's eyes were filling up with tears. How many times had he made her cry already? Azusa knew the number. It was just that his conscience had to force him to count, but also, his heart ached terribly every time he witnessed the waterworks.

"Azusa...I don't...I don't think that way of you at all! I mean, I know that you...hate me...but I would never think that you were..." Hatsumi sniffled, unable to finish her sentence.

Oh God. She was really going to start crying. Way to go, baka. He fished around in his pocket, pulling out his handkerchief. "Here." Hatsumi blinked again in confusion, taking it gingerly from his hand and wiping away her brimming tears. He wanted to tell her more. To say, "Don't cry, Hatsumi. It'll be okay." But he couldn't. Because the world was fucked up, and hell, so was he.

When she finished drying her tears, she attempted to hand it back to him. He brought up a hand. "Keep it. In exchange for the coat."

"Oh. Thank you, Azusa," Hatsumi replied, appearing startled. Nervously, she started to play with her hair, which had been tied up by a single rubber band. But in her discomfort, she pulled on it too hard, and it snapped. "Oh no!" Azusa only watched in mute amusement as her hair tumbled around her face.

Before he knew what he was doing, he had taken off his cap and had placed it onto her head, pulling it on gently so as not to hurt her. The last thing he'd want to do was to poke her eye out. Azusa caught her startled glance, but tried to ignore it. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to come up with a casual remark that explained the action. "Looks better on you than me."

Her cheeks flushed. Hatsumi refused to meet his gaze. "Thank you...again..." She paused for a moment, finally looking up at him. "Um, Azusa, do you know what time it is?"

Azusa glanced at his watch. "Fifteen minutes past midnight."

"It is? I've got to get home! My mom's going to kill me!" Hatsumi really started to panic, but Azusa grabbed her arm.

"Chill out. Come on, I'll walk you home. Your parents won't notice a thing." He was startled by his own offer, but tried not to look anything but nonchalant as he released her arm. But Azusa was surprised when Hatsumi closed her eyes and clung to his arm.

God, she hadn't done that in such a long time. And it felt...nice. A "walking on Cloud 9" sort of nice. Don't think, Azusa. Just move, he commanded himself, and was fairly pleased to see that he was walking without shaking.

She was unusually quiet as they made their way back to the building. Azusa knew her well enough to know that she was thinking furiously about something important, and he braced himself for the question he knew she wanted to ask.

And sure enough, he felt her tugging at his sleeve. They were a good five feet from the entrance to the apartment complex.

"Azusa...can I...can I ask you something?" Hatsumi whispered.

He shrugged. "Up to you."

"You told me...maybe my father wasn't the one who..." Hatsumi paused. "Shinogu told me that he truly believes it wasn't him...and I wanted to know...do you still hate my father?"

That was a totally different question than what he had been expecting. He had thought she would want to know who they had leads on, how he had tracked down her father, more questions about his plan. But never this.

"What's it matter? We don't know anything for sure yet." What an answer.

But Hatsumi shocked the hell out of him when she clung to his arm even tighter, probably not aware that she was doing it. She stared at him openly, defiantly meeting his eyes. "It matters, Azusa...it might not to you, but to me, it does."

He cursed mentally. What was it about this girl that could make him so uneasy? "He's off my hit list for now. That's what you want to hear, isn't it?" It was just a simple statement, no big deal. But his eyes widened as she suddenly embraced him. A hug. Hatsumi hugged him. And, just as quickly as it had come, it was also gone. She was pale now, backing away from him slightly.

"Gomenasai, Azusa. I didn't mean to...um, that is..." Hatsumi was rambling again, and he'd always thought that was kind of cute.

"It's no big deal," he cut her off. But really, it was. Not in the bad sense, though- at least, not for her. All it meant to her was a simple gesture, like her giving up her coat. But to him, it only complicated matters, and made him a guiltier fool.

"Well, I...better go before I get caught..." Hatsumi mumbled.

"...Yeah."

She turned to enter the building, but he called out to her. "Wait."

Hatsumi faced him. "Hai?"

He didn't know what he was thinking, but he wasn't going to have any regrets about it. He ran his fingers through his newly bleached, unkempt mass of hair. "Since I'm taking a break from modeling, I've got time to kill tomorrow. Let me buy you lunch."

She looked utterly shocked, but was quick to recover. Azusa's heart felt like it had stopped as he waited for an answer. What the hell was the big deal? He was just asking her out to lunch. Nothing unusual for two...people.

"I'd like that," she replied. Azusa let out his breath in a deep exhale. She'd scared the hell out of him.

"It's settled, then. Tomorrow, eleven a.m. I'll meet you here," Azusa said. Hatsumi merely nodded, opening the door to the apartment complex. Yet, she lingered for a few seconds more.

"Goodnight, Azusa...kun..." she whispered quietly. Then the door closed, and Azusa was left alone in the cold, her coat draped around his shoulders, and warmth flowing through his body as his arm tingled from her previous grip.

"Goodnight, Hatsumi-chan."

(A.N.: Hi! This is my first Hot Gimmick fanfiction- I hope that you guys enjoyed the first chapter! Ever since picking up the first volume of this wonderful manga, I have been in love with all three boys- Ryoki, Azusa, and Shinogu- and Hatsumi. So after weeks of working on other fanfiction, I decided to make time for this new obsession of mine. I know there's a lot of cussing in this chapter- I have never used any other cuss word other than "damn" in my work, and I apologize for the words. However, like I said, I wanted to stick as close as possibly to the character, and cussing is an Azusa thing. So I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, please read and review! And feel free to e-mail me with any extra comments/suggestions.)