I don't own JSRF…I DO own this fic so don't plagiarize… I can't stress that enough.

Reminiscence

(Cube/Gum)

I'm glad that at least twelve people have been reading this fic (chapter one has 37 hits and chapter two has 12). I understand that not everyone likes yuri (personally I don't like yaoi) so I've been trying to keep it soft for the first few chapters so that you can enjoy the storyline.

Just to help with some possible confusion, it will always say Gum/Cube or Cube/Gum directly under the chapter title. The character whose name comes first is the one narrating the chapter.

Also I'm sorry the last chapter was so short, it's just that I wanted to get back to Cube's P.O.V. as soon as possible. I'm hoping that I'll be able to end this chapter on a somewhat upbeat note.

Gentle Arms Love Hotel Rm. 507, 1:31pm

What did I do? What the fuck did I do? I can't believe what I did. I can't believe I lost control of myself like that. Why didn't I just tell her how I felt? Why did I have to fucking kiss her? What the hell's wrong with me?!

I've been sitting here since she left. It's been about an hour since she left, maybe longer. After she left… I just didn't feel like going anywhere so I came back to the room. My face is in my hands. I've been crying since before she left but I stopped a little while ago. I take some deep breaths, my face is still wet, and I finally lift my head up and look around the room. She left her helmet on the floor… well that doesn't really matter. I'm more concerned about her telling everyone what happened than I am about her leaving her helmet.

This is fucked up. This is all fucked up. I can't help but hold out hope that this is all just a nightmare and that I'll wake up soon.

I came here because I didn't want to go out but now I don't want to be here either. I reach down and strap on my skates. I'm going to go take a walk. Maybe I'll feel better if I get some air.

99th Street, 2:15pm

I've been skating for a while now. Just skating, I don't feel like tagging. Not alone anyway. I pass a shop and see my reflection in the window. For the first time I notice the mascara streaks are still on my face. I wipe them but they are still on my face. Fuck. I hope nobody noticed. Of course nobody noticed. Everyone in this city minds their own business… or they want you to think that. I'd guess that about half of the people I'm passing have made a mental note of my face. I can feel eyes on me. Well hidden, discreet eyes. Suddenly I'm a bit self-conscious. I want to be alone again… this is the first time I've ever wanted to be alone. I've gone out of my way to avoid being alone and now I long for it… I decide to go to Dragon Plaza. I'm only about twenty minutes away from there anyway.

When I finally get there I find an empty bench and sit down. It's bright out. It's hot too. The water that's usually at the base of the dragon is evaporating. I look up and shield my eyes from the sun. I don't want to think about what happened earlier. I stretch my arms out along the bench and let my head fall backwards. My eyes close.

For whatever reason my mind starts to wander. I start to think about the day she and I took all of that hockey equipment. We got chased out of a sporting goods store when we were taking it. They called the police but somehow we made it back to the hotel. As soon as we got back we went to the roof. It took us forever (which was pathetic because the directions were so simple) but we finally set up the net. She was at one end of the roof guarding the net and I was at the other end with the puck…

"Are you sure you're ready? I can wait until you're ready."

"Don't do me any favors, bitch!"

"Gum, I'm just saying I can wait because I'm really, really fast. I just want to make sure you can keep up with me."

"Oh, I can keep up… guaranteed."

"Okay… just don't say I didn't warn you."

I launched the puck forward and charged. I rushed at her full speed. She was standing in front of the net, her legs were spread and her stick was positioned between her skates. I felt my speed building up. I was moving faster and fast, moving the puck from side to side as I went.

Left, right, left, right…

I could see her knees bend slightly. Easy goal. I hit my fifth gear. I kept track of my distance from her. Thirty yards… twenty-five… twenty… I wanted to make it seem like a game of chicken. I wanted to get as close as possible before I shot. I was going to shoot at the five yard mark. Her head wasn't moving. I thought that she was just moving her eyes to follow the puck. I was so confident that I never realized what she was actually looking at until it was too late. Fifteen… ten… nine… I didn't get a chance to shoot... I didn't even make it to the five. When I got within eight yards of her she torpedoed out of the net and she… she…

"Rahr!"

Wham!

"Ah!'

Crash!

"Ow… a-ha-ha-how!"

She wasn't watching the puck at all, she was watching me. She speared me. She fucking jet boosted at me from a standing position and shoulder tackled me right in the gut. She put me on my ass… on my back. It hurt… a lot. What was worse was that as soon as she got up she stood over me and flexed before she helped me up. She smiled at me.

"Score's zero to zero… my turn."

That definitely hurt my pride. Up until then I didn't know how close we would actually become and I figured that if anything did happen between us that we would probably fight and I'd kick her ass… from that point on the seed of doubt was planted. I didn't think I could kick her ass anymore, not for a second.

I think back on it now and I smile… I almost laugh. That happened over a month ago, why am I still thinking about it. I guess it was just funny. One of those funny little moments in life that you share with another person but not with anyone else because it'll cheapen the experience. It was small. It was short. But even so, that moment meant a lot to me.

A part of me wonders if that meant anything to her.

That thought depresses me… for the first time I realize that I'm hungry. I look around and see a man selling kabobs out of a cart. I decide to support his business and buy a few. Stealing just isn't as fun without Gum. After I buy a few chicken kabobs I take them back to my bench. I eat them with gusto. No wonder that guy wasn't selling any. They taste like crap, but I don't care. I haven't eaten since we found that Ihop early this morning (I guess when they say "International House of Pancakes" they aren't bullshitting).

My phone goes off. I'm not exactly a religious person but I do silently pray that it's Gum.

My prayer isn't answered. Clutch… I don't want to talk to him so I receive the call and hang up. A few minutes later I get another call. Soda. I just let it ring until it stops. I don't want to talk to either of them. I haven't wanted to talk to them in weeks… actually I don't think I've ever wanted to talk to them. I think about it for a moment… it's true. They were always the ones to talk to me and never the opposite. Clutch is a fucking bug. He just bugs me and bugs me and it really pisses me off. Soda… Soda was the one that I thought was probably okay but after listening to him talk and talk and seeing the type of shit he gets into and gets me into I quickly realized he's an asshole. I always knew they were both jerks and I always knew they were backstabbers. I'm serious… they talk loads of shit about me behind my back. They used to get me to talk about myself, tell them things about myself… but I found out they were telling everyone what I'd tell them about me. What's worse, what really puts a bug up my ass… they act like they own me. They act like they can have me do whatever the fuck they want me to do… like they have me on loan to the GG's or some shit. I came here of my own volition and I'm gonna have to remind them of that real soon.

I guess that's why I actually started to like being round Gum. She respects me… she respects my privacy and never opens her mouth to anyone about what I say to her or what I do with her. She understands that it's all between me and her and nobody else needs to know about what we say or do because it's nobody else's business. She's never even told anyone about our love hotel room.

That's when I realize that I don't need to worry about her telling anyone about what happened.

Why should I? I've told her worse things than I'm a lesbian. I've told her that I'm afraid of heights. I've told her that I'm afraid of the dark (I get night terrors, don't laugh). I've told her about all the cruel, horrible, perverse things my parents did to me before they died (car crash or Karma?). I've told her that I think Combo's kinda cute (that's when I found out she has a thing for big black guys). She's never told anyone about that stuff. I've never told anyone about the things I know about her. She's been a true friend to me…

That's something I've never had before.

I decide to call her on her phone but I don't get an answer so I leave a message.

"… Um… hey Gum, it's me… I just wanted to tell you that I don't blame you for reacting to me the way you did. I guess it was stupid for me to just… y'know, kiss you like that. I just kind of lost control of myself. I wanted to tell you but… I… I was afraid. I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. That you'd be disgusted with me. That you'd probably… hate me. Look… if you don't feel that way about me… that's fine, it breaks my heart, but I'm not going to hold a grudge against you or try to force you to love me. I just don't want to lose you as a friend. I need you as a friend because I've never had a friend… a real friend… like you. I need you as a friend because… because I don't want to be alone, again. Please call me back. I really need to talk to you… and I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

I hang up and check the time. It's 3:30. I decide to go back to the garage and hope that she'll be there when I get there. I don't want to take the shortcut so I head to the train station.

Shibuya, 4:07pm

It took me a while to get to Shibuya. The train station isn't too far from the bus terminal though. I decide to take a bus because I don't feel like skating all the way to the garage. I sit at the bus stop and after a few minutes someone places a hand on my shoulder. I look at it… it's black. I turn around to find Combo looking back at me. I give him a slight wave and he asks me what's wrong. I ask him how he even knows something's wrong with me. He tells me that my mascara's running. Fuck! Still?! I wipe but he tells me that it looks dried on. He hands me a water bottle and I pour a little into my hand and wipe it away.

He asks me what's wrong again. I try to answer him without giving too much away. I tell him that I'm upset because I did something to Gum that I regret. He asks what I did and I say that I did something to her that I should have never done because she wasn't ready for it. He just nods. I think he gets that I don't really want to talk about it.

"Oh… you came out to her, didn't you?" My eyes go wide and I stare at him. Hey looks back at me rather nonchalantly. "I kinda thought you already told her… guess I was wrong though."

"H… how did you…?"

"I got really good gay-dar."

I'm still shocked. I don't think I've ever even said two words to this guy. How did he, of all people, figure it out? "Does everyone…?"

"I think a couple others might have an idea but I don't think they really, y'know, know."

"Oh… hey…"

"Yeah, I know. I ain't gonna say shit to anybody. Don't trip."

I breath a sigh. "Thanks."

"Yeah… too bad for me though. I thought you were kinda cute… guess you're off limits though, huh?"

I look back up to him and I'm about to tell him that I actually think he's kinda cute but the bus pulls up before I can say anything.

He gets up and approaches the bus. He stops and turns back to me. "You comin'?"

I nod and get on the bus with him.

Just outside of the garage, 4:27pm

I explain everything to him on the way to the garage. I find out that he's a pretty good listener. He tells me something when I finish my explanation. He tells me that if I feel this bad about all of this that she might feel just as bad. He says that she doesn't seem to be the type of person that would just turn her back on me. I should just sit down and talk to her about it and ultimately our relationship might become stronger because of it. He also tells me that I should consider coming out sometime in the near future but that it's really up to me whether or not I actually do.

I'm about to thank him for his advice but we both stop when we hear something… a scream. A blood curdling, painful scream. "… She stabbed me… get her off me!" We rush into the garage to find Soda on the ground and holding his side… there's blood. I have trouble locating the cause of his wounds but I soon find it. Gum is sitting on Clutch's chest… she's punching him in the face… over and over and over again. He's still struggling but she's really going to town on him.

"What the fuck!" I turn to see Corn, Yoyo, Beat, Jazz and Garam rushing up the stairs. "Somebody grab her… pull her off of him!" Combo rushes to her and pulls her off of him. He hooks his arms under hers and locks them behind her neck. She's kicking Clutch now. Clutch rolls out from under her and grabs her feet. I look over to see Garam and Beat stripping off Soda's jacket.

Bam!

"Aaah!"

I turn back to Gum and see Clutch is back on the ground holding his face. "She kicked me! She kicked me in the face!" His usual deep, relaxed voice is now a shrill, hysterical scream. He keeps saying it over and over again. Corn is holding him down.

Jazz and Yoyo stand in shock.

Gum is usually so calm, so cheerful… so beautiful. Now I look at her and see rage personified. She's terrifying! I realize that I'm holding Combo's water bottle. I splash her and I slap her across her face. The terrible expression on her face is gone. Her face is blank. She's looking around and blinking.

"Get her feet! Get her feet!" Corn calls to me.

I do as I'm told but I don't grab her feet. I hook my arm around her knees and I squeeze them together. I look into her eyes and I can tell she's coming back to her senses. "Are you alright? What the fuck happened to you?" She stares blankly at me. "Gum! What the fuck happened?!"

She's quiet for a moment, just looking at me, but soon she prepares to speak to me. She lets her mouth hang open for a few seconds before her voice comes out. "Cube… I…"

"She kicked me! She fuckin' kicked me in the face!" We both turn to look at Clutch. He's still on the ground. Still holding his face. He's still bleeding.

"Well boo-fuckin'-hoo, she fuckin' kicked you… she fuckin' stabbed me!" We look over at Soda. I can tell he's in serious pain (for some reason my heart leaps with joy when I see that) and that he's quite irate. He always treats her like shit. I'll bet he never expected her to fucking stab his ass.

I turn back to Gum. She's still looking at Soda but after a moment she turns back to me. I'm about to ask her what happened, again.

"Combo, Cube!" Corn yells at us. "Get her out of here! Don't let her come back until she's cooled the fuck down… I'll deal with her when she gets back!"

I think he might be thinking about kicking her out for this. He's probably already pissed at her for always just disappearing with me but she's never done this before. I look at her and I'm worried. She's sad but she doesn't look that worried. She's at peace. That kind of cheers me up. I start to smile. I laugh a little and I shake my head. As we carry her out of the garage I look at both Soda and Clutch. "I don't know what you two did but I know you both deserved it." Everyone looks at me like I've just lost my fucking mind. I don't give a fuck. I know just from looking at them and at her that they had to have been fucking with her again for her to do them like that. It's really their own fault. I start to laugh as we carry her out.

We wait until we're on the other side of the garage before we set her on her feet. She hangs her head a little. She seems upset. I ask her what's wrong.

"Cube… I'm…"

"Hey!" Corn yells from where he is (keeping Clutch's head elevated) "I said get her out of here! Take her somewhere!"

I roll my eyes. I take her by the hand. "Come on. Let's get something to eat, okay?" She nods. I turn to Combo. "You coming?"

He thinks for a moment. "I should probably leave you two alone, but hey, I can eat."

In case you didn't catch on, this chapter was parrallel to chapter 3. I hope you liked it. please read and review.