Hey everyone, it's time for a new update! This chapter is from Yamato's POV. I hope you like it. Reviews are appreciated.

Chapter 5: The Consequences

We stared at each other for some minutes, trying to understand what had really happened.
"We shouldn't have done this, Yamato." Sora looked at me with true despair in her eyes.
"It's too late now." The words came out from my mouth before I could even process it.
"How can you say this?!" She was nearly screaming now. "This is going to ruin our friendship! We're literally siblings!"
"Sora, you wanted this too."
"I did not!"
"Then explain to me why your hand was on my face during the chocolate syrup fight much longer than it supposed to? If you didn't want it, why did you kiss me back?"
"I don't know, alright?" She looked away and I knew it was because if she looked at me any longer, she would give in and confess the truth. "When did…" She bit her lower lip. "When did you start seeing me as more than a sister?"
"I'm not sure." I shrugged. "I think last week, when school started again."
"So that's why you were jealous of Taichi."
I didn't say a word; simply looked at Sora's beautiful cinnamon eyes. I've never really noticed how pretty they were until now. There was something different about them since we kissed each other, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. My left hand brushed her cheeks gently and she subtly tilted her head in its direction without taking her eyes away from mine.
"What are we going to do now?" She asked me. "We can't keep doing this."
"Your eyes are saying otherwise. So are your arms around me."
Sora blushed with the realization and began to remove her arms, but I stopped her with my other hand.
"Well, you should believe only what I say."
"Not even you believe them, Sora." I said firmly and grabbed her chin. "You can deny all you want, but I know better."
"Sometimes I hate you, you know that?" Sora frowned. Her hand touched every inch of my face before moving to my lips, where she slowly traced with her right index finger. She licked hers and, in an impulse, captured my lips in another kiss.
She tilted her body backwards and pulled my head along. I had to tight my arms around her, so she wouldn't fall down to the ground. Soon we returned to our regular position at the same time our mouths parted partially and our tongues met each other halfway. I was a little shocked to see how greedy she became after that. Not that I was complaining. Quite the opposite, actually. This kiss was much better than our first one, and that had already been perfect. I noticed she was beginning to pull away, so I leaned over her again and brought her back towards me. My left hand moved all the way up to the back of her neck, under her hair. She immediately did the same with hers. Eventually I retreated my tongue from her mouth and gave her a couple of more kisses on the lips before fully pulling away.
"I think that says it all."
"Okay, so you proved your point." Sora put two locks of her hair behind her ears. "So what do we do now?"
"I don't know. All I know is that I liked kissing you."
"Yamato, I'm serious!" She hit me in the arm. "We're best friends. It's a no rule."
"You keep saying we're best friends, but best friends don't shove their tongues at the other one's mouth."
"Ugh, I really don't need to hear this." Sora said annoyed. "I hope you have a great birthday today."
"I'm already having one." I held her arm and she was forced to turn around. "Where are you going?"
"Home." She said like it was the most obvious thing. "I just wanted to give your present. I don't want to ruin your plans today. We'll see each other tomorrow at school."
This time I didn't try to stop her. I only kept watching as she walked away with a smile. I understood her reasons not to want this at all, I really did. But at the same time, it felt so good to kiss her. It felt so right. I distractedly touched my lips before I was brought back to reality when the door from my apartment opened.
"Yamato, aren't you supposed to meet your mother and Takeru for lunch today?"
"Yes, dad. I got distracted for a moment here."
"Why are you acting so strangely right now? Was that Sora?"
"It was." I tightened my grip around the package. "I'm not acting strangely at all."
"Alright." My father shrugged, defeated. "Well, hurry up. You don't want to be late to meet them."
I gave one last look towards the hall before following my father inside and closing the door behind me.

.

I hung my towel over my chair after roughly drying my hair. I checked myself in the mirror while I opened the gel bottle and wondered if my mother and Takeru would notice the different glow in my face. I most certainly would. When I finished fixing my hair with the gel, I crossed the hall to leave my towel in the bathroom. My father stood by my door after he heard me singing in my bedroom.
"Okay, something must have happened outside when Sora came here."
"Dad, I already told you nothing happened." I sprayed some cologne on my neck. "She was only here to bring me my birthday present."
"Then why are you singing? And also, you seem happier than you were when you went to talk to her."
"I just really liked her present, that's all."
"Yamato, I know you better than this." He sat on my bed. "I know there is another reason for you to be this cheerful."
"Alright." I turned around and leaned against my chest of drawers. "I kissed her."
"What? What do you mean you kissed her?"
"I couldn't control myself, dad. She was about to leave and next thing I knew, I was holding her arm to make her stay and… it happened."
"And she was okay with this?"
"Yes and no. At first she freaked saying we shouldn't have done this because we're best friends and all, but then she gave in and was actually the one who initiated our second kiss."
"Sora kissed you?"
"Yeah." I could barely hold my smile. "And dad, it was so amazing! It was much better than our first one."
"Someone seems to be in love."
"That's what being in love looks like?"
"Yes, it's like this."
"What can I do if Sora is hiding from it, dad?" I sat down beside him. "I don't hold it against her, but it's so frustrating, you know?"
"I can understand what you are feeling, but you shouldn't push her. Otherwise it will only push her away even more. Respect her time is the most important thing."
"I know, but I'm afraid she will keep running away from it."
"Well, if she does that, you should still respect it. It'll mean she's not the one for you and that you should move on."
"But, dad, I just want to be with her."
"I can see that, son. But it's not that easy, is it? It's not only up to you." He stood up. "Now hurry up, you don't want to be late to have lunch with your mother. It's almost time."

.

The warm spring breeze gently passed by me when I got out of the subway station a couple of hours later. I quickly took my phone out of my pocket and sent a brief message to Takeru saying I had already arrived and was waiting for them. I sat on a bench nearby and started going through my phone. I really wanted to see how Sora was doing after everything that happened that morning, but I feared she probably didn't want to hear from me at all. I started to regret kissing her like that. I didn't blame her at all; I didn't want to ruin our friendship too. It's probably ironic to say that now. I sighed. I had no idea how things would be from now on. Luckily, such thoughts didn't stay much on my head.

A smile came into my lips when I heard my name being called. I looked around and saw my brother and my mother not too far from where I was. I casually walked towards them, with my hands shoved into the pockets from my jeans pants. Takeru didn't even wait for me to get near them, he was already coming my way and throwing his arms around me.
"I missed you, brother! It's been so long!"
"I missed you too, Takeru." I pulled a little away to check on him. "Look at you, all grown up! And your passion for hats didn't go away, from what I can see."
"Hey, this one is cool!" He took it out of his head and glanced at it. "But everyone seems to hate it. Mom keeps talking about it all the time."
"I really don't blame her for this." I laughed. "Your hair seems a little longer."
"I thought yours looks cool, so I thought why not? Maybe mine will be too."
"Maybe you can convince him to cut it, Yamato." Our mother approached me. "But your brother is stubborn sometimes."
"There's nothing wrong with my hair, it looks really nice." Takeru put his hat back on and looked at me. "There's something different about you, though."
"Different? Everything is the same."
"Takeru is right." Our mother looked at me carefully. "But I can't really tell what it is."
"Did you change your hair gel?"
"No." I was getting embarrassed about this. I thought I was hiding is pretty well, but apparently not.
"Your energy is different. You seem happier. Did something happen?"
"N-No." I said nervously. "I'm just happy to be here and see you two after such a long time."
"I'm happy you're here too. It's too bad your birthday is on a Sunday this year, so you won't be able to sleep at our house."
"Yeah, but maybe I can during the Golden Week in the end of the month."
"I would love that!" Takeru said excitedly.

"So brother, I have a small gift for you." Takeru opened his bag and took out a rectangular package and handed it to me. "It's not a big present, but I hope it's very useful to you."
"Thanks, Takeru." I smiled and took the present from his hand. Within seconds, a black box came to view and I immediately opened it. "A pair of drumsticks?"
"I realize you don't play drums, but since you're really into learning to play guitar, I thought it would be cool if you considered learning them too."
"Wow, I haven't thought about it until now. I will definitely consider it."
"Takeru wants to learn to play guitar too."
"Really?!" I asked a little surprised.
"Mom, you weren't supposed to say it."
"Why not? I think it's cute He said that he loves seeing you playing and it seems so cool."
"Is that so? I can teach something next time we're together. I wish I could have brought it with me today."
"That would be amazing!"
"It's so great to see that you two still get along so well even with the distance. Maybe in the future you can make a duo and play concerts as a profession."
"Maybe." I said unsure. "It's too early to talk about careers and such. We have a few years ahead."
"Of course, you're right. I guess I just got excited about this."
"It's okay, mom." I smiled at her to reassure I wasn't angry at what she said or anything like that. Then I turned my attention to my brother. "Thanks a lot, Takeru. I really liked it."
"You're welcome!" He grinned at me. "Mom, can we tell him now? Please?"
"Tell me what?"
"I guess it's okay now. It's pretty much settled anyway."
"What's going on?"
"It turns out mom and I are moving to Odaiba!"
"Wait, what?! Are you serious?"
"As serious as I've ever been." My mother said while looking at me. "I got transferred there for a long but temporary job. However, there's a very high chance we get to stay for many years."
"Wow, I cannot believe this!"
"We will be living close to each other again!" Takeru said cheerfully and jumped into my arms for the second time that day. "You, me and Sora can be as we were when we were kids! You still talk to her, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. But things… things have been a little strange lately." My expression turned from happy to unsure, and I know both Takeru and my mother had noticed it.
"Strange? You're not friends anymore?"
"Did something happen"
I bit my lower lip and mentally cursed myself for speaking more than I should have. Now I would have to come up with a lame excuse to get away with it and hope they'd believe it.
"No, nothing happened. It's just stress from school and home."
"Oh, I'm glad." Takeru sounded relieved. "I would kill you if you ever did something that could end your friendship with Sora."
"Takeru, don't say things like this." Our mother called him out. "Yamato loves Sora, he wouldn't do such thing."
"I hope so. But for some reason, I think there's more to it than he's been telling us."
I shifted uncomfortably on my seat and it didn't go unnoticed by my mother.
"If there is, we shouldn't push your brother to say it against his will. He will open up whenever and if he's ready."
"Thanks, mom." I smiled briefly at her and then became serious again. even though I really wanted to be with Sora, I was beginning to regret kissing her and putting us into this awkward situation. This is so not how I wanted to spend my birthday.

.

I can't remember exactly how many times I had erased that message already. I frowned. Everytime I tried to come up with a new one, it wasn't good enough and I started to believe I had really screwed things over. I had just put my phone away when my mother knocked on the door and slightly opened it.
"Are you alright?"
"Not really." I looked at her and rolled over, putting my arm under my pillow.
"I thought so." She walked in and sat on the edge of my bed. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I'm not sure if it will help anything. I think I did something bad."
"Why don't you tell me what happened? Maybe I can help you."
I sat down and crossed my legs as I thought about her suggestion. I really wanted to talk to her, but at the same I was unsure about telling the whole story to her.
"Actually, I think I know what it's about." She said before I could even begin to tell everything. "You realized you have feelings for Sora."
"I guess it's that obvious, huh?"
"I always thought it was only a matter of time." She smiled a little and then looked at me. "But you don't seem to be too happy with that idea."
"And I'm not, to be honest. These feelings are ruining our friendship. I wish I could find a way to get rid of them, but I can't."
"She doesn't feel the same for you?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I mean, this morning I was sure she did because she kissed me, but now…"
"She kissed you?" My mother could barely hold her smile at this point. I knew she was going to call Sora's mother and they would talk about it once I left. Way to go and make things worse, Yamato.
"Actually, I kissed her." I resorted to a lie to make things better, but deep down I knew it wouldn't do much in the situation. Well, it wasn't really a lie, but you get me.
"Interesting."
"Mom, you have to promise me you won't say anything to her mother." I begged, holding her arm. "Sora won't ever look at me again if her mother finds out about what happened."
"Why are you so nervous about it? I think it's amazing you two like each other, and I'm sure so does she."
"Sora doesn't want to be with me."
"And how do you feel about this?"
"Honestly… I think it was always there, I just hadn't realized it." I felt so relieved voicing it out loud for both my parents, – and to myself again – but I still felt a lump on my throat when I thought about Sora trying to deny everything and running away. The words escaped my lips before I could even process them in my mind. "I'm in love with her, mom."