Ooookay, the long awaited second chapter…….will be much,much shorter then they first. Live with it, please, I don't always have time to get on and update, SO LIVE WITH IT. I am sorry if you are a fan of my work, but I am busybusybusy. And so is my dad, and this is his computer.
People to thank: ThiefAngel-I know you aren't a member, but thanks! For the double comments!
Sakura Minamino-I love you girl! Thanks for commenting, and guess what? I AM FINALLY UPDATING! YAHOOOOO!
Ahem, okay. So, now come even more surprises, but I won't give them away. If you have read gravitation, then you may have an idea of what's in store, if now, then read and review, and maybe ill tell you more.
When Kaede woke she was in bed, and it was not her own. Her phone was ringing, and she figured that was what had woken her, as she had been dreaming, and her radio was on. The next thing she'd known, she was awake, and someone was calling her. She blindly rummaged around for the compact cellular phone. Finding her purse, she hit the jackpot. Flipping it open, she looked at the picture of her uncle. "Hello?" She said groggily into the speaker. "Kaede? Where the fuck have you been? I've been calling you all night! What the hell have you been doing? Where the fuck are you!" Her uncle's voice blasted profanity through her head. "Oww, you don't have to swear so loudly, Eiri." She moaned to her uncle, clutching her pounding head. "I think I'm at Hiro's, okay? No need to act like I've been kidnapped!" She could practically feel her uncle's rage as he screamed at her more. "You THINK you're at Sakano's? You THINK! Jesus Kaede, for all I knew, you were fucking lying in the damn street somewhere, fucking raped and beaten! Get your ass-" He stopped when he heard Kaede gasp sharply. Quietly, she answered. "Eiri, that's not funny. You know Hiro will take care of me. I'll be home in an hour. Goodbye." She hung up, still breathing heavily. She had remembered the night before in vivid clarity. How she had been surprised by the dinner her family had for her birthday, how she had learned of Hiro's feelings for her, how she had told him to stay away form her because she wasn't safe to be around, how she had relived that night three years ago….
Looking around her, she saw Hiro beside her, on the bed. He was bare, from the shoulders down to his…feet! Looking at herself, she realized she too had nothing on. "O GOD! Oh, no, we didn't, we couldn't, NO!" She yelped, breathing fast again, her eyes bulging, her heart racing. Hiro stirred, and Kaede raced into the bathroom. Shutting the door, she tripped backwards into the shower. "Oww…." She moaned, her head pounding again, this time sharply where she had hit it on the back wall of the tub. Sitting up, she looked around for something she could have tripped over and saw a step stool with Kaede's things – her dress, her shoes, her bra and panties – piled neatly on it. Then she remembered putting them there, but after that, everything was a blur. The last thing she could definitely say she remembered was getting into a nice hot bath the night before. Even some things before that were a blur. She remembered Lying on the ground in the rain at the park, then, she was here. She must have fallen asleep and Hiro had taken her home.
Sighing, she reached over and turned the dial on the bath head. Turing the switch to BATH, and setting the heat all the way up, she leaned back and let the water pour into the tub. Kaede sighed again as she rested her aching skull on a cool cloth, folded into a cushion. What had happened after her bath last night? Obviously she hadn't put anything else on after she had finished her bath. And Hiro hadn't either. She closed her eyes, thinking hard and trying to recall what she had done. She had told Hiro she was a virgin, even though it was a lie. But she just couldn't tell him the truth. Only Ryuichi knew the truth, and he was keeping it. She just wasn't ready to acknowledge that fact that what had happened had happened, and she couldn't change it. She had tried to delude herself. She had stood in front of her hospital room mirror and lied to herself for and hour in the morning, and an hour at night, everyday for a month and a half after it had happened. But it wouldn't go away. She couldn't believe the truth, but she couldn't believe the lies either.
She had planned on using a Virgin Pin, to make herself bleed like a real virgin, but she hadn't been prepare for it to happen like this. This wasn't how she had envisioned losing herself for real. She hadn't counted on being drunk or feverish or drugged or whatever she was last night when she finally truly gave herself away, when she let go of her own self and joined with another. She shook her head. "No" She whispered, no, they hadn't done anything, they had simply been too tired or sick to bother getting dressed again. Besides, who's to say she didn't sleep on her stomach, or facing the wall all night, and not facing Hiro? "Yes, that's it. Nothing happened. No, we didn't do anything. Nothing happened." She continued to whisper to herself until the bath was full. Then she shut off the flow of the flow of water, washed up, rinsed off, and lay back to enjoy the water until it cooled. Just as Kaede was beginning to fall asleep again, someone knocked at the door. "What?" She snapped, irritable after being woken up again. "Kaede? It's Eiri, he says you were supposed to be home a half hour ago, he wants you home in 30 minutes or he's coming to get you." Kaede sat up straight. She had forgotten about the one-hour time limit she had set for herself. Grumbling, she stood and pulled the drain. Stepping out of the tub, she grabbed a towel.
As she was drying her hair, she remembered she didn't have anything to wear. All she had were her clothes from last night, and they were still wet and filthy from lying in the grass at the park in the middle of a thunder storm. Frantically, she searched around the bathroom, looking for something else to wear. Here she was, standing in the middle of her guy friend's bathroom, wearing nothing but a bra and panties. Wrapping the towel around her, she went to the door and opened it a crack, looking out, she couldn't find Hiro. Opening the door further, she walked out into the hallway. "Hiro?" She called. "Hey, can I borrow some clothes? I don't have anything to wear. Please? Hiro?" She walked down the hall and into the kitchen. Hiro wasn't there. She walked into the adjoining living room, but he wasn't there either. Wandering into the bedroom, she came upon Hiro and another girl. The girl had long brown hair, similar to her own, and kept it back with a headband. She was wearing a simple blue dress that came to her calves. Her sandals were simple as well: a pair of matching blue flip flops. Kaede stopped dead in the doorway, clutching the towel to her damp body. Hiro and the girl seemed to be deep in a conversation. Kaede slowly took a step backwards, so as not to give herself away, but Hiro saw her. He said something to the girl and she too turned around. Kaede gasped, she knew the girl. She was Eiri's ex-fiancée, Ayaka Usami. And she was here, talking to Hiro, in his apartment, in his room. "Um, I, uh, Hiro, I was um, wondering, I wouldn't have left any of my clothes here when I moved, would I?" She stuttered, backing up. "Um, no. Why, didn't your clothes dry out? Or are they still wet?" Kaede explained that they were still wet while she continued to back up. Stuttering and explaining and walking backwards all at the same time, Kaede failed to remember about the arm of the couch and walked right into it. "Well, I really need to be getting home soon so if I could borrow some jeans and a shirt, that would be greyaahhh!" With a thump, Kaede fell over backwards and landed with a thump on her back on the couch. In her frustration and her fall, Kaede had lost her towel, exposing her bare stomach, shoulders, arms and legs. Hiro and Ayaka rushed out when they saw her fall. Quickly, Kaede rushed to find the towel; her scars were revealed, plain to sight. It was then that she realized she hadn't put any makeup on, her true face was visible. Barren for all the world to see, its crags and gaping scars pock marks on the earth of her face. Holding the towel up to her face, Kaede ran to the bathroom, leaving Hiro and his guest to gape after her.
Locking herself in, Kaede stared at herself in the mirror. Her image was hideous to her eyes. The pain and torture of the past three years was like an open book, begging to be read. The beauty that had once been was doomed to be hidden forever, forgotten and lying forlorn behind it's former master. Gasping, Kaede lunged at her purse and nearly tore it open to get at the makeup inside. Recovering her posture, she concentrated only on applying her makeup. Putting the cover up in all the correct places so the scars were hidden, covering it all with just the right amount of powder to keep it all in place and give it the look and texture of human skin. When she turned around, she was surprised to see a note slipped under the door. Walking over, she picked it up. It said simply "Open the door, look outside on the floor." Unhooking the latch, she peeked outside and saw a pile of clothing. Sighing gratefully, she reached out tentatively and snagged the clothes, yanking them inside. She put them down and unfolded everything once she'd thrown the lock again. What she found was a simple summer dress. Fitted at the waist with small cap sleeves and buttoned down the front, it had a flowing skirt that stopped at the knee. Made of what seemed to be a cotton-linen blend, it was green with tiny black buttons and a black ribbon to go around her waist or in her hair. It had a matching black bolero to cover her arms and a pair of black flip flops that matched the blue pair Ayaka was wearing now. Sighing again for what seemed the thousandth time that morning, she slipped into the dress and the sandals, and buttoned the three large buttons on the cropped sweater. Looking at herself in the mirror, she tied her hair up with the ribbon. Now she was ready to face them. Her things bundled in her arms, she emerged from the bathroom, a far cry from the young girl who had fled inside only twenty minutes ago. Ayaka clapped. "I knew that would fit you perfectly!" Her smile faded, replaced by a worried look. "Are you okay? You seemed upset before, are you hurt?" She asked her. Kaede smiled. "I'm fine, thank you. I guess it was just a shock seeing you here. I didn't know Hiro was expecting guests. Aunt Ayaka."