Tissue Box
touyaxnakuru. she'll be the tissue box he needs when he wishes to weep.
"Stop following me home." His voice boomed across the silent Penguin Park.
Three steps behind him, Akizuki Nakuru was skipping on both feet, and occasionally twirling on the spot whenever she felt like it, flinging her arms up in a wild manner when she did so. When Touya said that, the joyfulness on her face never faltered, and she continued bouncing along the way.
Irritated, Touya snapped, "Stop it, Akizuki. You're bothering me."
She said nothing still, inclining towards silence as she continued skipping.
She was testing his patience, and he knew it. Finally, his nerves grated and having reached its limit, Touya pivoted and grabbed her arm, his grasp firm. His brown eyes bore into hers piercingly. "Akizuki, I have had enough."
Firm words, probably intimidating, but the innocence bearing on her face was refreshingly girlish and naive as she feigned it. "What's enough, Touya?"
He gave a sneer that was more animal than humane, and turned, returning to pace his way home, his mood swing taking onto a category five. Instantly, the string of words bottled within him exploded.
"I have had enough, okay?" He barked, running a hand across his frustrated face, "I don't know what she wants, what she expects from me. What am I supposed to do? I don't read minds." He cried out in exasperation, practically almost yanking his hair away from his scalp.
Nakuru beamed in response, saying nothing.
"Stop it, damn! Stop acting this cheery!" He balled his fists. "How can you act so joyful when this world is so screwed-up?" His eyes shook. "What's wrong with everyone around me? Do I have the sign on my forehead that says: pick on me? Do I, Akizuki?"
She only smiled.
"I'm asking you a question, dammit!" Touya growled, his anger teetering into the territory of danger.
Her smile never faltered. She continued skipping behind him, her two ponytails bouncing by her back in long, luscious brown locks that sashayed with the blowing wind. Her eyes twinkled its brown gorgeous glow, luminescent in the evening light.
"Why won't you answer me?" He exclaimed, vexed. First day of the week, he had to endure the serious illness his father had contracted, second day of the week, he had to deal with Sakura's sudden drop in her grades and the sudden increase of visits he got from that gaki boyfriend of hers popping by at their house. Then for the rest of the week, his girlfriend had been throwing tantrums, and even Tsukishiro Yukito was away on a school expedition.
Things were taking a toll on him, eye bags appearing from beneath his eyes, and his cheeks acquiring a paler shade lately.
"Akizuki, dammit, get lost. If you're going to rub it in that I've broken up with my girlfriend, and it's now your chance to get near to me, you're dead wrong. I won't come to you even if you're the last person standing in the world, okay?"
Silence.
Touya gave a frustrated growl. Damn, he had taken things too far. That last line was totally unnecessary.
The smile on her face faltered abit, and she stopped twirling in her path.
He pivoted, his hair disheveled. "Sorry, I--"
Her recover was instantaneous, and she gave him a thumbs-up to show she was okay. Her grin was widening inch by inch. "It's okay, Touya-kun. Go on."
Go on...? A quizzical look took its place on his previously grouchy face.
When he stopped, she stopped, careful to keep a three-steps spacing in between them as she did so. His eyes implored hers, before he asked, "What?" He didn't get what she meant.
She giggled girlishly, unfazed by his last hurting comment. "Go on, Touya. I'll listen."
I'll listen...
His heart missed a beat, and he wondered if he had indeed heard right. She'd listen to him ramble on and on about how stupid and screwed-up the world was? How sorry he was about his life as he pined about his melancholy and his chaotic life situations? How pitiful he appeared to be?
She'll stay by his side, three steps behind, and listen him yell and hurl expletives at her that would hurt and sting?
The girl was mad.
"You're not making sense." Ignoring the sudden swell of his heart, and the utterly foreign emotion that was creeping into and claiming his soul, he spun on his heels and walked on.
She never answered him.
It was when he threw a frustrated, annoyed, inquiring look all mingled into one at her, "Akizuki, I'm not in a good mood, and you know it. So will you please stop bothering me?"
She shook her head. A smile, hands behind her back, dainty little figure and those bouncy, swishing ponytails. "Nope!" A chirpy voice.
"Why not?" He snapped.
"Because I'll listen." She answered simply.
The air held a pregnant pause, and there was the blow of the autumn leaves sweeping onto the ground. Brown eyes met similar matching orbs for passing seconds, before he was the first one to break it.
"Why?" His voice came out hoarse.
Just when his life appeared to be on its worst point, she had offered to be the only one who stayed by his side and listened to his complains. She had offered to be the only one willing to walk in when the rest of the world walked out on him.
Emotions choked him.
She smiled, and straightened her back, ruffling the curls of her light blue skirt. But no words escaped her lips. Obviously, she had not intended to answer his question in the first place.
It was then when he saw her for the first time. Refreshingly beautiful and arresting in the wind - cheerful, vibrant, sunny, the ray of light in his blackened abysmal of darkened tunnel.
She had been here all the time.
He glanced away, and took a first step forward. "Come on, let's head home. It's late." His voice was subdued, quiet.
But inside his heart, something was nagging for a change.
Happily, she skipped after him, her two swishy ponytails bouncing behind, the ends of her skirt played at by the wind, her brown eyes shimmering under the evening sun, her adorable smile on her petal-like lips.
In Nakuru's heart, a bittersweet feeling was singing within. Melting her bones with its sweetness, but incinerating it as well with the subtle bitter sensation as she trudged after him.
Because I'll do anything for my favorite person, Touya-kun.
The corner of her lips dipped as she thought of her unrequited love who loved another, and had been hurt in return.
And even though you don't notice I'm always three steps behind you, I'll always be here when you need me.
She twirled happily in the wind, unaware of the smoldered look Touya now cast her.
I'll catch your tears and wipe them away. I'll chase away the stormy clouds in your sky with my ray of light. I'll replace your frown with the hint of a smile.
I'll be the tissue box you need when you wish to weep your heart out.
Owari
A/N:
ah, the bittersweet feeling we all get when we fall in love with someone else who already has another! I hoped to bring out Nakuru's cheery character, and also along with her soft, lovely internal qualities that she actually possessed within. If Touya is a little OOC here, I apologize, but let's face it, facing so many ordeals in one week will surely make him snap into two! D
cheers, and reviews, and apologies for a little towards-the-melancholy-side TouyaxNakuru.
mysterio000