Woot! Merry Christmas everyone! I have some time before my mom's guests come here to fillher little apartment to its brink, so I'll respond to the wonderful reviews –grins-
AllisonWalker- -claps- Yay for Michael! Guys who treat you well when you act like yourself are the best; nice decision :).
twilight eyes 8120- Yay for you, too! It was pretty much the same way with me and my crush this year. He wasn't interested in dating, but that doesn't mean I couldn't still watch him from afar! I'm starting to fall for one of my friends and he might like me in that way as well, so good luck to me and all other girls; let's hope your philosophy is correct! Thanks for the review!
Jade Wyvern- Hey, hey, you can too write like me! Do ya think I was lying in all my reviews of your story? You can write! Well –blushes- anywhoodleedoodles, I'm glad you like my story so far; take your time!
ShibiChicken- … wow. That's a lot to take in all at once 0.0; I'll answer the part about this story—yeah, this OC is definitely closer to my personality than most of my stories, even though Kinou was Edie before I changed it to avoid embarrassment in front of my brother. Though, like I said in the head note of the first chapter, this story is exaggerated; nothing like this has happened between me and my infatuation, especially not the rest of the story. Considering this is an outlet for my frustration over him, yeah, it's gonna be pretty similar to how I'd react. –whew- Thanks for thinking so much in that review 'twas amusing.
SladesDaughter- Yes, your new chapters are awesome –smiles- and thanks for the little Christmas email; I forwarded it to everyone in my address book. I'll write you back! I promise!! As soon as I get out of this stupid anti-response email thing! –punches hand- That's it; I'm emailing you tonight. I'll force myself to!
Kikoken- Indeed, especially admitting one to Seto Kaiba :) thanks for reviewing!
Skitty 2004- Yay! Another reader! I love your penname by the way. I'm happy you can go along with this!
Hikari, Lady of Light- Welcome frickin back! Don't worry about not watching my stories; life can be busy sometimes, and even when it's not, you don't think of doing stuff happens to me all the time. I'm glad you're reading! And, if you MUST know… I'm not sure if a sequel to Kiseki is up on my agenda, but you're, like, the 15th person to ask me if there will be one, so I may start one because of the demand –shrugs- I'm not sure yet, so assume it's no for now .
Samurai Angel- I shall have a great day—er—well now it's Christmas night! Thanks for reviewing and reading!
Whew! Now I must post this so that my little brother will stop hovering around me and making weird noises… enjoy chapter 4!
Chapter 4Since I was at school, I really didn't know where to go after I made it out of the classroom, so I quickly went down the hall a few doors and went inside, throwing myself against the door after I shut it. Even though I had only run 30 feet at the most, it took me a really long time to catch my breath. I slid to the floor, my bag making a dull thud next to me as I buried my face in my hands.
Oh God, he figured out that I like him. What do I do now? What'll he think about it? Will he do anything? Maybe he'll forget about it—no, that won't happen. It could, I suppose; maybe it happens so often that he's used to it, or maybe he thinks that crushes are so dumb that they're not worth remembering. I really hope so.
Then again… he really does know now. And I didn't have to tell him directly, he just assumed from the way I was acting. It would have been really awkward if I had just come up to him and told him, so maybe it was better that he found out through the note? I didn't know what to think. All I knew was that I felt really weird knowing that he had found out how I felt.
A thought struck me—he doesn't know how much I like him. He thinks it's just a crush, when really it's much more than that… I think. Maybe it's just a big crush; I'm still not entirely sure yet. The point is, if he ever knew how much time I spent thinking and worrying about him… I don't even want to think about it. A knock on the door made me jump so much that I nearly toppled over, but I composed myself and got up, dusting off my skirt before turning to the entryway.
Wait, what if it's Seto coming to talk to me or make fun of me? Does he even know I'm in here? I shouldn't hesitate if it is—no wait, if it's him I shouldn't give him the opportunity to see me so soon after what just happened; maybe he's knocked on all the other doors and waited for a response and not heard any, so if I keep perfectly still and quiet—
"Kumi-chan?"
I nearly threw the door open to see Shinobu standing there with his hand still slightly out; he took a slight step back in surprise. "Kumi-chan, what happened?" Concern was etched into the question, making me realize that I was crying a little bit. I guess it had been such a shock that I didn't even notice how much it had affected me. Shinobu came in and shut the door, immediately wrapping his arms around me without me giving an explanation.
Something about his hugs always gets to me, but they're so comforting that I'd feel calm even if I were about to be eaten alive by a pack of cannibals. I settled into him, feeling a few tears fall and hastily pressing my cheek into his shoulder to dab them off.
We stood there for a while, I really don't know how long it was, and he finally let me go, his hands on my shoulders. "You ok?" he asked.
I nodded, smiling. "He knows now," I said softly, laughing.
"Did you finally admit it to him or what?" I still don't know how the heck he does it, but when he wants to, he can make anything sound gentle.
"Not really." I gave him another story, and repeating it to him made me really start to worry some more; recalling what I had said—or attempted to say—made me wonder what Seto was thinking about me right now, because from my point of view, I sounded really annoying. I started to get over it a little, though, and I felt a little cheery as I saw Shinobu smile.
"So he figured it out then."
I nodded. "And I don't know what to do now."
"Well for starters, I really don't think you should have run out," he said, knowing that it was alright to crack a joke right then.
"I know that. Can't change it." I shrugged, feeling a slight pang in my stomach as I did so. Yeah, I could accept that I couldn't change it, but I sincerely wished that I hadn't done it in the first place.
He gave a slight laugh and put his arm around my shoulders, opening up the classroom door. "How about we go out for ice cream after school today? I don't have any plans, so afterwards we can go to your place," he said in a mockingly seductive tone, winking.
I giggled and lightly smacked him; I was feeling better. "You not getting any unless you buy the sweets," I joked back.
Seto knows about how I feel, so now it's up to him if he wants to do anything about it. He might look at me more; maybe I won't have to run into him to get his attention. I wonder how he looks when he smiles? I would have smiled at the thought had I not seen what was in front of us as we stepped out.
The girls from my class were staring at us with shocked expressions as Shinobu led me away, and it took me a moment to consider why. As he and I went down the hallway, I could hear them whispering fervently between each other, and I chanced a look back at them. The main one was giving me the dirtiest look I had ever seen; I swear it could have been painted onto a doll and put into a horror movie. And then it hit me—they just saw Shinobu and me come out of an empty classroom, I was probably still flushed, and we were joking about sleeping together.
I felt a different kind of twinge in my stomach as I saw her narrow her eyes at me, and when I looked back at her, she mouthed "damn slut" before Shinobu turned down the next hallway and hid them from view.
I was able to somewhat forget about the look after school, as Shinobu knew exactly where the best ice cream place was in the whole town, and the sweet cold treat made me feel warm inside. We talked some more about what I was going to do next, and that led to another recounting of what happened. Halfway through the introduction, he stopped me.
"Wait, say that again."
"What, the fact that he looked really good with the chopsticks?"
"No, after that." He had put down his ice cream bowl to divert his attention wholly to me—well, that may have been because he had already finished it.
"When I stopped thinking?" I couldn't figure out what he was getting at.
"Yeah. You said you stopped thinking because he had your note in his hand."
I didn't say anything, so he said it again to make sure it had filtered through my head. "He was looking at your note, Kumiko."
I had heard him the first time, but the repeat was phrased such that I was stunned. "…He…he had the note out…" What did that mean? Does he like me back? Was he just looking at it so that he could laugh some more? Maybe he needed a scrap of paper for something and mine just happened to be the right size—
"I wonder what he was thinking?" Shinobu wondered aloud, picking up his spoon and reaching across the table to get a large swipe of my ice cream.
"Shinobu."
"Hm—ah!" He pinched the bridge of his nose, dropping the spoon with a clatter. "Man, what a brain freeze! Remind me not to shovel in other people's cold food." He shut his eyes and slightly hunched over.
"Hey, Shinobu."
"Eah?"
"Don't eat my ice cream too fast." He laughed, and stayed still for a little while, still grimacing slightly. I took the opportunity to ask the first question I had, idly twirling my spoon in the ice cream. "Shinobu-kun… you're a guy—"
"Well duh."
I pulled my bowl away from his retrieved spoon and began eating it, much to his disappointment. "Why would you be looking at the note?"
He stopped his attempts at getting to my food to frown at me. "I dunno… I'd probably be looking at it to figure out if it meant anything else. That's probably why he figured out that you liked him so fast."
"Well." I shrugged. "I wasn't exactly doing a very good job at hiding it, either."
"Meh." He shrugged back, chewing on his spoon.
"Don't you think… there might be a possibility that…?" I knew it was out of the question, but coming from someone who has girls lusting after him all the time, I thought he could at least give me an honest opinion.
"Who knows?"
I sighed and pushed my ice cream towards him, smirking.
Shinobu eagerly swiped it up and took a bite, a smaller one than before. "Yeah, I suppose he could be thinking about how weird it was that you liked him, 'cause I definitely think he might like you back in a way. Don't take my word for it, though. Ask him yourself."
"I couldn't."
"Sure you could; look at yourself! Even if he doesn't like you now, a puppy face with a little Lolita effect will win him over in a second." He grinned and winked at me.
"You have the weirdest way of complimenting people, you know that?"
"It works, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess." I smiled and settled back into the booth, sighing. He was looking at the note. He must have been thinking about me. Does that mean…?
It could. Just maybe.
…Seto Kaiba might like me back.