Last Edited: 3o.12.o5

Written: 21.11.o5

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Do You Still Think of Me?

PART TWO – Picking up the fragments

Chapter Six

By Flipstahhz

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The bell rang.

He closed the textbook that he had been reciting from and switched off the music. Before he had even dismissed the class, his students were already packing up their belongings and were racing towards the door. It was Friday, of course.

" That's it for class! No homework today cause I trust you're all revising for your other semester exams! In class, we just learnt the background information on meditation music, so give mediation a try since you'll be stressing out with your exams. It does wonders!" the teacher called after his students then let out a sigh, " But I doubt you're all going to meditate anyway."

" What's the point of meditation music?" a random pupil questioned.

" It's soothing, calming and relaxing," Yamato said the first three words that came to his mind.

" Later, Mr. I!" walking by students waved as they walked by him, he offered a tired smile as he lifted his hand to farewell them.

He was glad he was a part of the grammar school. The thing he had noticed was how it was different from any other schools was because students and teachers worked together and pushed grudges aside to achieve better marks.

Auburn streaks of hair caught his eye. He remembered. " Grace! Can I speak to you before you leave? I'll only be a couple of minutes."

" Oh a teacher-and-student-affair!" one of the younger teenage boys jested with amusement twinkling in his warm chocolate shaded eyes. Grace shot him a deathly glare, causing the boy with jet-black hair to prance out of the room. She gathered her books and headed towards the front of the classroom to where her teacher had been standing.

" Jeremy's such an idiot," she stated, displeased with her classmate.

A smile flickered on Yamato's face. The boy was the typical class clown that was always up to some sort of mischief. Whilst in class, Yamato had caught him casually stealing glances at Grace when she wasn't looking. Teachers were not fools to not know the glimpses of romance appearing with their own pupils during class time.

" Sir?" Grace raised an eyebrow curiously. " What's going on? What did you want to see me about?"

Yamato carefully took a seat, and sipped some hot coffee that he was tending to drink a lot of lately. He gave a soft grown as he edged to the ride side of the desk to fetch a brochure from one of his various folders.

" You're still hurting from the accident?"

" Yeah, just minor aches though. It'll go away soon. Nothing compared to your cousin's," he shrugged. The accident had only happened a month ago, and already plenty of events had occurred. The highlight would have to be when Grace dressed up as Sora for the interview and being there to witness Sora's delight when she found out she had been accepted for the job. He could feel Grace still staring at him. He chuckled, handing her a brochure. " Here."

" What's this …" she paused, eyes widening in excitement as a grin spread on her lips. " No way! But how?"

Yamato leaned back on the chair. He had expected this reaction. " I personally recommended you to one of the best music university's in Odaiba. Grace, give the scholarship a go."

" But…this is bizzare!" she blurted. " There is no way in hell I would get into the top university!"

" Language," he reminded, he was still a teacher after all. She nodded obediently, hushing down. He continued to speak, " Stop putting yourself down like that. There is no denying that you are one of the best music students in this school…no…one of the few talented people in Tamchi and Odaiba!"

She stood there, taken back. Being complimented by a teacher was strange enough as it was…but being told that she was one of the few music talented people in a town was beyond crazy. She frowned, " Mr. I, you're not just saying that because I'm related to Sora…are you?"

He took yet another sip from his mug off coffee. " No Grace. I've known your talent before I even found out your relation to each other. Don't ruin this opportunity. I even wish I had your talent. I could only make a band…and I know for a fact that you can surpass me and do much more! You're an expert at saxophone and any song you hear, you can pick up the notes on piano within an hour."

She wasn't going to deny what her teacher had said, but she felt hesitant to taking the move. Grace was still year eleven and had one more year of schooling left. Jumping straight into university was a bit out of hand. " But…"

" Research the school. Just try it…I know you'll love it," he advised, staring at her straight in the eyes. She silently nodded and carefully placed the brochure into her school diary. She was about to leave, but decided to stay back. There were still things medaling in her mind that she wanted to get straightened out. She was the type of person to face her problems straight away and she hated watching her cousin and Yamato beat around the bush.

" You should visit her, you know? It's been a month …ever since the accident. I've heard that you visited her everyday. But after you telling her that she got accepted, your attendance to her gradually deceased."

" She's getting better," he said quietly. " She doesn't need me. I've been far to busy anyway…correcting work."

" A pretty lame excuse, Mr. I. Corrections with meditation music? I don't think so," Grace objected. " Stop denying it, go straight there, offer a rose…and say I love you! At least do something!"

" It's not that easy…"

" It is easy, but the two of you are making it difficult!" she exclaimed.

" Fine, I'll go," he sighed. " But why does it always has to the man that confesses first? It's so old fashioned."

" It's more romantic," Grace winked. He shook his head.

" More like sappy…"

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He turned off the engine and hurtled towards the florist shop. He was still tired from work and exhaustedly attempted to pull the door open. Unfortunately, it didn't do as he willed it to do. Curiously he squinted his eyes to see through the glass door. The florist appeared dormant for quite a while. There were no flowers inside the shop and all the curtains had been drawn causing the place to be dark from the lack of sunlight. It was ironic how he was planning to buy a bouquet of flowers for Sora from her own store. He had suspected that Sora would have at least hired someone else to work while she lay inside her hospital bed, but he was obviously wrong.

He frowned. Sora wouldn't receive flowers after he confessed. Suddenly the frown wiped off his face when he realized that he had finally gained the confidence to admit to loving her. He progressed back into his vehicle and drove off to Odaiba Hospital. Jumbled thoughts sprung up in his mind, supplying him with a new source of adrenaline. It had been a while since he had been this thrilled. Though, there was always the thought of him being rejected … but he wasn't putting any attention to that.

Soon enough he had arrived to the hospital. He jogged into the building, waited in line then finally got the chance to talk to the secretary of Sora's whereabouts. The hospital always moved around their patients, and Yamato knew that Sora wouldn't be in the same room as she had been in a month ago.

" Ms. Takenouchi?" the old woman restated in a shakily kind voice. She pushed her short grey hair behind her ears and gave a small smile. " Sorry dear, she left a couple of weeks ago. We let her out. Why don't you try her home?"

" Thanks for the help," he nodded and went back to his car for the second time.

Things weren't going well on the unprepared day he planned to confess to Sora. He chuckled. Life could be such a pest. Last stop, Takenouchi Residence. She had to be there. When he arrived at the apartments, he smartly decided that he wouldn't go charging to her home straight away without double-checking that she lived there.

The last time he had been to Sora's house was back in high school…so there was a pretty strong possibility that she had moved homes. He impudently took the mail from Sora's supposedly address and frowned when he saw that her name didn't match the person that lived in the apartment. He growled. This was his first and worst confession ever. He admitted that he used to date a while back, but he never confessed. He had always saved the confession for only Sora…

Feeling really bummed out, he decided to go for a walk around his old neighborhood. He continued to walk aimlessly and then became rather shocked when he found out that he had walked himself back to 'Odaiba Park.' A wry smile glinted on his face. Yamato seated himself onto one of the swings, avoiding the disturbing strands of blond hair that fought furiously against the wind.

The park brought back so many memories. They were mainly about her. He kicked himself off from the ground, gaining more movement as he swung higher and higher on the swing. He remembered the innocent promise back in primary school about achieving their dreams and never losing hope. Yamato had suspected she had broken the promise, but was wrong when Grace had revealed to him that she had an interview with a great fashion label. He thought that Sora had given up because she was taking a course in nursing, apparently he had misjudged her actions. He remembered how Tai and Mimi's engagement party was held at that park and just seeing her there after a couple of years caused his love for her to rekindle. Emotions always managed to mentally stuff up a person, he thought.

He still could clearly picture her in his arms when they danced. The way she looked. The way she smiled - the dazzling smile that still haunted his dreams. And the laughter…the bubbly laughter that could brighten any form of darkness and dread.

He loved her…

He loved her so much that he had forgotten how he had been not loving her. Clearly the gods didn't want him and her to get together after the unsuccessful journey of confession that day. He'd wait. He had waited longer before. If only he had her address he would be with her right now, but he didn't. That was the reality behind it.

But fate was always there. Sooner or later something was bound to happen, and Yamato was going to wait for fate to take its course.

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She lazily yawned, sitting comfortably in her house that she had just moved into a week ago. That day she had sorted out all the boxes and cleaned the entire house by herself…the crutches weren't doing her any favours and was making it tough to do the household chores. She would easily be able to do the simple chores, that is if her leg hadn't been caught in the accident. It had taken her so long to sort out the whole house, but she was glad it was finally done. She lounged about, her back sinking deeper into the couch as her eyes focused onto the television screen.

After being released from the hospital, a few days ago, she had enthusiastically read through the papers and new material for her new job. She was lucky that the letter had stated that she would start designing in half three months time. That was enough time for her to recover. It was strange living out of Odaiba just for the sake of her job…but what was even more strange was that her new job was in Tamachi, exactly in the same town Yamato was teaching and living in. It frightened her at first…but she was sick of running. She had been doing that all her life and now she wanted to change. She was going to have to face him one way or another. In her heart he was her past, present and future.

The doorbell rang. Creases of worry appeared on her forehead. It was unusual that someone would come and visit her. Hardly anyone knew she had moved to Tamachi. Only Mimi and Tai knew since they were the couple that had helped her move the furniture into her house in the first place. She hadn't told anyone else.

She carefully got off the couch, snatching the crutches besides her and limped towards the door. She hated being crippled.

" Hurry up!" a muffled cry came from behind the door.

She rolled her eyes, recognizing whom the voice belonged to and wrenched open the door. She snickered as she pointed one of her crutches towards the brunette headed boy's face. " On guard!"

He smirked back and took one of the crutches off her possession, causing her to hold onto her remaining one in risk of her life from toppling over. " Tai, you tight ass! Respect the crippled!"

He laughed and slipped the crutch back under her arm. The pair walked back to the lounge room and dropped onto the sofa. " What brings you here?"

" Just bored. What's a guy to do? I wanted to crash here cause there was nothing else to do. I thought you'd be lonely living here all by yourself…ya know?"

" How about Mimi?"

" She's talking the wedding planner. I'm sick of it, I just want the wedding to get over and done with…we don't need to know that the colour handles of the cutlery will be a pale pink! I really hate that colour," he muttered.

" How about Kari…" she paused, " And your best friend?"

" Kari's with TK at the doctor's because Stevie got a fever," Taichi explained. " And Matt…well…Matt's hardly around. He's busy with being a teacher, you know?"

" Yeah," she replied then mumbled," So you just visited me because cause there was no one else to visit?"

" Oh Sora, I didn't mean it like that that," he sniggered devilishly.

" I still can't believe your getting married! You act like a five-year-old!" she declared as she stuffed a pillow into his sniggering face. Immediately, he shook it off.

" Well…that's part of the real reason why I came."

" Real reason?" Sora arched an eyebrow.

" Mimi and I…we decided to delay the wedding for a bit," he said quietly but put a hand out in front of him to stop her from interrupting what he was about to say. " We couldn't go a month after all that has happened to our best friends. Yamato's mother passing away…and then both of you crashing into each other…"

" We ruined it for you, didn't we?" she asked guiltily.

" No you didn't," his eyes twinkled. He began to tell his story, " You know Sor, I used to have a crush on you ever since I saw my name on that whiteboard back in primary school…"

" I didn't…It wasn't-" he waved his hand in her face again so that he could continue his speech.

" But then…I realized that there was something going on between you and Yamato. I always thought the both of you would get together before Mimi and I. When Yamato was in the equation I knew I couldn't compete. He is my best friend after all," he chuckled scratching his head, he found it hilarious thinking back to memory lane. " But if it weren't for Yamato and your evident love bird tension around each other, Mimi and I would have never gotten together. I would have never fallen for her charms."

Sora smiled.

" That's why…we decided to wait for you guys and delay the wedding for another two months," he said with a toothy grin as he was reaching his conclusion. " Which is why…we're going to appoint you as both our best man and maid of honour until you guys finally admit to each other."

She gaped.

" But I know you still love me, it's the Kamiya charms," Taichi winked. Sora glowered and hit him again with another of her pillows. " So what do you say? All you have to do is get together with Yamato and then you've got yourself the permanent job as the maid of honour."

Sora stuck her tongue out. " That has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard!"

" But you'll at least make an effort?" his facial expression turned serious.

" I'll make an effort," she responded firmly with an unsure shrug.

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