I named the two OCs in this chapter after J-pop artists. Taku is from the group m-flo and Ryohei Yamamoto is one of my favorite male singers. Oh, and the unnamed nurse... She doesn't have a name, but she kinda reminded me of Misao from Peach Girl. I hadn't realized that until now.
Disclaimer: I don't own Furuba.
Fighting red was everywhere.
Blood spilled from her nose. Rosette drops crashed to the floor. Motoko continued to scream, holding her nose and jumping up and down. Tears flooded her eyes, which were squeezed tightly into crescent moons.
Attention was already ebbing from academics to the predicament in the hall. It was fortunate that no teachers were alerted as of yet, but they would be soon if she didn't stop screaming.
It really looked bad for me.
So I placed my hand over her mouth. Her angry eyes darted to mine.
"Shh," I commanded. With my arm slung around her, I led her to the nurse's office.
It wasn't easy dragging her down the corridor when she was struggling, but I managed. I let go of her mouth after we made it past all of the classrooms.
I opened the door, standing in front of it to allow her entry. " Hold your nose and tilt your head back."
Without so much as a thank you for my courtesy or my good advice, she pranced through the door.
I wiped the spit and blood off of my hand with the handkerchief in my pocket, scowling as I followed her.
The nurse wasn't here today, so there was a substitute. She was blonde and overweight, with pleasant facial features that made her at the very least a handsome woman. Nearly invisible wrinkles creased her rotund face, meaning she had to be in her early forties.
The nurse gasped, meaty hand at her throat. "Goodness. You look terrible, dear. She maternally wrapped her arm around Motoko's shoulders and gently steered her to the sinks. Motoko spun the faucet handle and rinsed the dried blood from her nose, then pinched her nostrils together.
"Good girl," the nurse said. Her pink-nailed fingers felt around the injured organ.
"Ow!" she yelped.
She made a tsking sound from the side of her mouth. "It's not broken, but it is kinda swollen. I should get you some ice..." With her back to me, the nurse said, "Thank you, honey. You're the one who brought her here, correct?" The blonde gave her the bag of ice, grinning conspiratorially at us. "You shouldn't go around letting your pretty girlfriend get hurt like that."
We turned red at the same time. "W--We're definitely not dating!" she and I yelled with violent shakes of our heads, waving our hands as if to push that suggestion far away. "Never have and never will!"
The nurse laughed heartily. "Well, well. It just looked that way... My mistake. Sorry." She placed a spool of gauze bandages in Motoko's hand. "If the bleeding doesn't stop, use this. Keep pinching your nostrils together and tilt your head back. Well, you guys should head back to class. I'll write the two of you some passes."
She gave us two blue slips of paper. I bowed, thanking her for her assistance, and left with Motoko.
Her silent, obedient act unraveled like a ribbon around a Christmas present. Motoko slapped the hand that landed on her shoulder and gave me a titanium look. Realizing my mistake, I pulled my hand back and hastily ran it over my pants leg as if she were contaminated.
"A thank you would suffice."
"Thank you? Thank you?! For breaking my precious nose?!" she screeched.
"It isn't broken, my dear, merely injured. It was your own carelessness and utter stupidity that got you hurt. A less than kind man would've left you to bleed. And what are you doing? Fingers on nose."
"What man? I don't see any man here," she said under her breath. "And don't call me dear." There was no blood erupting from her nose, but she sulkily pinched her nostrils together, muttering something about a foolish old cow and a meddling president. Her voice was pitched like a cat's yowl, squeaky and uppity-sounding. I chomped on my laughter, but I felt a wavy smile appear on my face.
Motoko's fingers were un-clothespin-like with the sighting of her beloved. Her eyes were all wide and shining, either from seeing him or from the pain she sustained, although I had to guess it was the former.
The weirdest thing was that just seeing Yuki would've gotten me excited too, but my heart didn't flutter as fast anymore. I didn't feel nervous or dizzy.
I admired him, held him in the highest regard, would admit that he'd look good in the girls' uniform, but none of those things amounted to love.
And I knew this from the beginning. I just hadn't openly admitted it until now. Perhaps... No, I knew it was an infatuation. He was everything I wasn't and everything I wanted to be. I was a commoner and he was a prince, far above me in the stratosphere, conquering the entire sky. But he had no selfish ambition with his power. He treated everyone not as his equal, but as if the ranks in superiority didn't exist. I loved his kindness, his grace, his appearances, but not the person he was.
If only Motoko could see that she was infatuated with the surface aspects of him and not everything about him. Because, as she has demonstrated time and time again, not everyone was flawless. Even the prince had shortcomings.
But she looked so love struck there.
And even though I knew that she had a schoolgirl crush on him, I couldn't rid myself of that feeling...
Jealousy.
I reflected on all the times she watched Yuki from afar and the brief times she's interacted with him. She never smiled like that...
Looked like that...
Acted like that...
When she was with me.
She grabbed my hand, her wrist coming into contact with mine. Her pulse was proof of her adoration. Without an explanation, she pulled me next to her, behind a wall. Very well. I will comply.
I am getting very compliant these days.
With him were two guys whose faces I couldn't name. A dark-haired boy waltzed beside Yuki, jovial smile and cocky eyes. The other one walked backwards, hands at the back of his blonde head. His eyes were a glittering emerald. Whether these characters were friends or simply pests, I couldn't ascertain. Yuki's face was as stoic and unanswerable as a combatant in a game of sevens.
"Why are you two following me?" the violet-haired boy asked in a strained voice.
"Model student has a pass," the blond taunted, but there was no maliciousness in his statement. On the contrary, he sounded as if we were playfully teasing his brother.
"We decided to skip," the confident black-haired boy told Yuki. "Come join us!"
"I have to go to the office," he responded. He stopped and the boys copied him. Since they were coming towards us, we felt relief at their sudden halt. "I can't imagine what it's for."
"Hey, hey. Perhaps Princey Pie is in trouble? Huh? Is that it?" the blond asked loudly as he melted over Yuki's shoulders, rocking him like a turbulent ocean upsets a sailboat.
"No." Yuki firmly pushed the guy off of him.
I felt Motoko quake with rage. "I wanna mess him up," she hissed.
"Shh." I had no idea why we were hiding, but we'd come this far. "Be quiet. Wait until they leave."
"Yes," she agreed quickly. Where was her defiance? With raised fists, she whispered, "We can eavesdrop on them to find out if that witch Tohru is with Yuki."
"What? How is that gonna happen?"
The answer to that question came in dark-haired's query.
"Hey, Yuki, how's that pretty girlfriend of yours?"
"Who?" He looked genuinely surprised.
"Tohru, of course! I'm asking for Taku though," he snickered, looking at the blond.
Taku whistled with his eyes pasted to the ceiling. "It's not cool being in love with someone else's girlfriend."
Now she was really pissed. She made a move to stride over to them, but I clamped my hand tightly around hers. She sent a dagger-sharp reprimand with her eyes. Tears dangled from her lower lashes.
"You'll ruin everything. Just wait," I ordered, shaking my head.
Yuki sighed as he scratched his head, as if baffled as to why he was still with them. "I can't waste time. I have to go."
"NO!!!" they yelled. Two arms reached for his receding form, hands landing on his shoulders. Walking to his sides, they apologized. "We're sorry. Please forgive us. We're just teasing. We know you're not interested in Tohru."
"Patience, girl. Give and you shall receive."
"But we didn't give anything."
Sigh. Typical Motoko, taking everything I say literally.
"So I, Ryohei Yamamoto, will plead on Taku's behalf. Please, please, please let him marry Tohru, big brother-in-law!"
A mischievous smile softened Yuki's grim face. "Then, as her brother, I'll have to protect my sister from guys like you, Taku. Now, I really have to go now."
Yuki walked past Motoko and me, so I doubted that he found us. I exhaled. Ryohei and Taku shuffled off in the opposite direction, talking excitedly.
"Now we can go." I glanced over at the silent girl.
I'd never seen her so ecstatic. Her whole being emitted total bliss. Her laugh was sudden and frightening, like that of an evil villain in some mindless cartoon.
"Yes! Now I know for sure that Tohru, that she-devil, isn't Yuki's true love! I've got a fighting chance!" Her raised fist fell beside her hip as her joy faded. "But I must work even harder to get her completely out of his heart."
"What?" I stepped away from her. "You've already won half the battle. Not that you have a chance of being with him... But why take away someone he cares about?"
"Maybe it's a brotherly affection now, but he could fall in love with her at any time. Knowing Tohru, she won't give him up that easily. As a fangirl, I must be prepared for anything. Celebrations are for when I've won! And Tohru, whether she's in his heart as a lover or a friend, is still in his heart, is still the enemy. No matter what, I must defeat the enemy!"
I couldn't say I was surprised, but this... I was exposed to the toxic, unedited darkness of her heart.
Selfishness, greed, jealousy, justified by "love." Why do I like her so much? This flawed girl, so petty and childish... Dammit, why'd it have to be her?
"Motoko, what you just said would disgust any guy, let alone the Prince."
"W--Who are you to judge me? Surely you have those feelings too! It's the same with me. I want to protect Yuki more than anything."
"No! Don't you dare compare me to you! Besides, I've given up those feelings! Don't you see? He might not have anyone he loves the most now, but he will! He's just the kind of person who attracts love!"
"I agree! And all he'll want is mine! Mine and only mine!"
"I can't believe this. Can one person be as dumb as you? Just what are you saying? You want to isolate him? Huh? Make him like he was before, not confiding in anyone? Will you drive away his friends, every last one? Then Hatsuharu, Kyo, Momiji-- his family? COULD YOU BE THAT HEARTLESS?!"
"I want him to depend only on me!" she shrieked. Her face was a passionate crimson as she cried. "And you're telling me my feelings are wrong? Is it that bad to love someone that much!? I'm not allowed to want to keep him all for me, just for me? Well? TELL ME!!!"
I took her shoulders captive and slammed her back into the wall. She winced, but I didn't think I did it so roughly as to warrant that response. For some reason, she didn't resist, even when my face came in close.
"You're so damn childish," I laughed. "This is why you'll never have him. Because even if he were miserable, with no one's love but yours, no one's company but yours, if he only relied on you, you'd ignore his pain and live in your own blissful world. But that isn't love, Motoko. That's imprisonment."
"Oh, so you're such an expert of love? You're so unflawed? You're so perfect? No, you're bad too! You're selfish too."
"I'm not perfect. Not at all. When I look at you, it's like looking in a mirror. I see all the worst parts of myself." In a gentler voice: "Why'd it have to be you?"
"Shut up," she moaned, closing her eyes and turning her head. Her cries were kitten-sized now. Her shoulders bobbed up and down swiftly; her whole body convulsed. "You're not so great. You're so bad, Makoto. Worse than me."
That's why.
I wanted to be with her because we're the same.
But in so many ways we were different. She was a carefree girl, without morals, without discipline.
Without my structured life.
My rules.
My goals.
She lives life day by day while I try to map out mine.
Am I winning?
Or is she, by being honest and crying what I'd wanted to say for so long?
My hand fell onto the space above her head. She was still blindly crying. In studied her face intensely the way I'd never studied a textbook.
Those were dead words and theories that interested me, but this was life.
The bad, the good. The pleasure, the pain.
My mouth hovered over hers.
Benevolence, selfishness…
I closed my eyes as I moved in.
...Ambition.
I paused.
Greed.
Motoko opened her eyes just as I was moving back. She couldn't even glare me down with those red, puffy eyes.
"Well, at least you won't have to deal with me anymore," she announced in a dead tone. "I won't be going here for the remainder of the year."