Chapter # 6: Down To The Point
He finished wrapping the gift and looked to Keiko who was just finishing up as well.
"Think they'll like these?"
"Yeah, they should ..."
"I just think, it's a comforting idea ... You know?"
"Mmm-hmm, thanks for letting me in on all of this Shuichi."
"Sure. No problem."
"Shuichi, Keiko? Will you two hurry up?" Jiji's voice came through her father's bedroom door quietly.
Shuichi placed the two gifts in the closet and closed it,
"We're done, you can stop stalling your brother now ..."
Keiko walked over to the door and opened it, to find Jiji sitting on the top stair of the staircase, head in her arms.
"Jiji-chan? What's wrong?"
"I stalled Ryuichi ... But I ... I needed some way of stalling him ... I couldn't just talk about any random thing ..."
"You talked to him about your mother, didn't you?"
Jiji stood up and made fists at her sides. She gritted her teeth together and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. When she felt Keiko place a hand on her shoulder, she slapped it away and took off down the stairs, running as fast as she could. Keiko stood there, staring at her hand for a moment.
"She won't let me near her ..."
"Keiko -chan ..."
"Just, go see Ryuichi ... I'm sure he's in need of a friend ... More then ever right now ..." Her voice sounded weak and sad.
"Are you sure you want me to just leave you ...?"
"Just ... Go, Shuichi ... I'll be just fine ..."
He didn't get a chance to respond as Keiko headed downstairs slowly. Jiji had left the house, they had heard the door slam shut behind her when she left. Now Keiko went downstairs and into the kitchen, picking up the phone and dialing a number.
( MEANWHILE! )
"Ryu-chan? Can I come in for a minute?"
"Sure Shu ..."
The pink haired male opened Ryuichi's bedroom door and walked over to him cautiously.
"I'm not gonna hurt you, or anything Shu ... So why are you approaching me like I'm some kind of wild beast?"
"Sorry ... I just thought you might re-act how your sister did and take off on me ... And, that's no good at all ..."
"Jiji and I are extremely different from each other ... She gets angry and has to run away to lose the anger and cool off and think ... I am more easy-going about most things and pretty up-front about alot of things as well ... Usually, when I'm upset ... I cry and let it out ... Then, I feel better in the end ..."
"I see."
"So, what were you and Keiko doing that was so private that I had to br distracted by my kid sister?" Ryuichi questioned, lying himself down on his bed, staring up at his ceiling.
"How-How did you ...?"
"Come on Shu ... Do you think she would have come and talked to me about our mother otherwise? She hates talking about sad things and remembering things that hurt her ... That's when I knew something was up ..."
"Well ... Keiko-chan and I needed Jiji-chan to buy us some time because there was something we had to do ..."
"What was that ... That you needed to do ...?"
"Wait here." Shuichi walked out of the room and entered Mr. Sakuma's room and grabbed a present wrapped in blue wrapping paper. He carried it back into Ryuichi's room and handed it to him.
"Keiko-chan did something similar for your sister ... And this was my idea." Shuichi sat on the bed's edge and watched Ryuichi sit there, slowly un-wrapping his gift. Once the paper was torn back, he opened the box that inside and shoved aside the tissue paper. A pink, stuffed toy rabbit with beady black eyes sat in the box. Ryuichi lifted it out slowly and held it close to him, bowing his head so that his face went into one of the rabbits ears slightly and the top of it's head.
"I wasn't sure if you'd like him, or not ... But, I thought he looked cute enough ..." Shuichi said with a smile.
"Thanks Shu ... I love 'im ..." Ryuichi lifted his head again and sat, cuddling the toy close to him.
"He's soft and he smells really good too ... How did you get him home?"
"I was carrying him in my arms ... Keiko did the same with Jiji's gift ..."
"That would explain him smelling good then ..."
Shuichi went slightly pink in the cheeks at this comment and looked away, not being able to make eye contact any longer. Ryuichi smiled, moving the wrappings and box off of his bed. He moved over to sit beside Shuichi. Shuichi moved over a little bit, putting just the smallest space between him and Ryuichi. Ryuichi looked over to him,
"What's the matter Shu-chan ... Is this ... To close for you ...?"
"N - No! I - I just!"
Ryuichi filled the space, leaning closer towards him this time, placing himself so that he was pressing against him a bit. He placed his lips near Shuichi's ear,
"How 'bout this then?"
Shuichi turned red,
"Actually ... I can handle this closeness ... Though I don't see why you'd want to be this close to me ..."
"I haven't made it obvious enough for you yet?"
The stuffed rabbit was moved away and Ryuichi placed his hands on the bed on either side of Shuichi, he had his face only inches away from Shuichi's.
"How 'bout now ... Am I making myself clear now?"
Shuichi's faced burned red, and he nodded shyly,
"... Very ..."
( MEANWHILE! )
Keiko took the pink wrapped present into Jiji's room and placed it on her bed,
"She has to sleep sometime ..." She said to herself simply. Then, she grabbed her suitcase and started packing up her cloths. The last thing she grabbed ahold of, after packing all her things together, was her blue teddy bear with the beady black eyes,
"Come on now Mr. Teddy ... I've had you forever, there's no way I'm leaving you behind, not on my life ... Dad gave me you ... I won't lose you." She took her suitcase handle in her left hand and her teddy bear's arm in her right hand and stepped out into the hallway, closing Jiji's door behind herself. Then, she walked downstairs and got ready to go outside. Once she was on the porch, she put down her suitcase and just cuddled the teddy bear closely. The car pulled up into the driveway. A red ferrari. She picked up her suitcase once again and walked down the steps of the porch towards the car, noting that the trunk had been popped open already, from a button inside of the car. She slid the suitcase into the trunk and closed it, then went towards the passenger's seat, teddy bear still in hand.
"Hey Mi-cha ... Onii-san?"
"Well, get in."
She climbed in and did up her seat belt.
"Onii-san ... I thought Mi-chan was coming to get me ..."
"She didn't wanna leave the house, she had a headache ... We've been staying with mom you know ..."
"Mmm ..."
"You're going to have to stay with her too now ..."
"Mmmm-hmmm ..."
"I told you it was a bad idea to stay there ... Now you know why I was worried ..."
"Save it, please, Onii-san ... I'm upset enough as it is ..."
"What happened, that made you wanna call me?"
( Keiko's Flashback )
She placed a hand on Jiji's shoulder, Jiji slapped it away and took off as fast as she could. She stod still, staring at her hand.
'What did I do wrong? I only wanted to help her ...'
"She won't let me near her ..."
"Keiko-chan ..."
( End Keiko's Flashback )
"Keiko-chan?" He side-glanced her to see that she was staring at her right hand, sadly.
"Kei-chan?"
She looked,
"Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yes ... I'm fine ... I just ... My head hurts, that's all ..."
'What did I do wrong?'
She shook her head, 'no.' She was trying to erase the thoughts. She had done nothing wrong at all.
( Keiko's Flashback )
"Aren't you happy I'm here? And staying with you?"
"A - A little more then just happy ..."
"Ahh, does someone have a crush?"
"N-N-No ... I don't know where you'd even get that idea! I - I just ... I mean! I ...!!"
( End Keiko's Flashback )
'No, I don't want to remember any further then that!'
But it was too late. The images were already in her head.
( Keiko's Flashback )
Jiji's stutterings were too cute and soon enough, she couldn't resist. She had to save her the trouble of continuing to stutter like an idiot. Plus, this was something she wanted. She leaned forewards and pressed her lips to Jiji's gently. The kiss was soft, sweet and surprising. In other words: Perfect
( End Keiko's Flashback )
It was then that she felt the hot tears on her face, staining her skin and making their own paths to follow.
"Kei-chan ..." Her older brother cooed, feeling sorry for his sister. He wasn't exzactly sure what had happened ... But whatever it was, it was angering him now. Seeing his sister suffering like this ... He couldn't stand it. Watching her cry, was the absolute worst thing of all time.
( MEANWHILE! )
She walked into the house and headed up the stairs slowly. She felt like dirt for what had happened. For throwing Keiko off like that. That wasn't fair to her ... Keiko had done nothing wrong. All she had ever done was comfort her when she needed comfort the most. She had shown that she was open to love, no matter what either of them had been through. And yet, here she had gone and thrown her off like she was nothing to her at all. Like she didn't matter to her. Well, she would just have to gather her courage and apologize to her. She'd try to look her in the eyes even so that Keiko would know the apology was sincere. She sighed as she reached her bedroom, placing her hand on the doorknob ... She had a sudden twist in her stomach that made her want to hurl. She felt dizzy and queezy and her eyes watered as though she wanted to cry. Was this how Keiko was feeling? If so, she hated herself even more now, then she had ever before. This feeling was enough to make her want to run away again.
She turned the doorknob slowly and pushed the door open. The room was empty, besides the regular objects she was used to seeing in the room on a regular basis. She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge of it. A present wrapped in pink paper sat there with an envelope sitting next to it, with her name written neatly on the front. She picked up the envelope and pulled out a note.
" Dear Ji-chan ...
I'm sorry for whatever it is I did wrong ... I guess I'm not very good at comforting you, even if I wish I was ... I have called up my older brother ... I'm going to go stay with him, and knowing him, we'll probably be staying at okaa-san's house ... I'd rather stay here though, but I can't. Not if I'm not dong any good at comforting you, like I should be. I'm so sorry Ji-chan ... I hope you forgive me. I tried ... I really did ... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry ... I hope this brings you better comfort then I did ...
P.S: There's something I have wanted to tell you ... For a very long time now ... But I was never strong enough to say it to you ... So, I shall say it now ... That way, I can not see how you respond ... Just in case it is a negative response ... Daisuki, Ji-chan ... Daisuki ...
Kei-chan"
She put down the note and stared at the package on the bed, not knowing if she should open it, or not. She sighed, deciding it best to just open it. She unwrapped it and opened the box, moving aside the tissue paper inside. She pulled out a blue, stuffed, toy rabbit. Hot tears carelessly rolled down her cheeks as she cuddled the rabbit closely, and sniffed it. Keiko's scent was on the toy. This just made things that much worse in her case. Her depression level kicked itself up a notch more.
"Keiji ... That shall be your name ... Keiji ..."
She let out a loud sob and lied herself down on her stomach, on her bed. She began crying into her pillow, holding Keiji in one arm, tucked near her head. More loud sobbing followed afterwards.
"I miss Okaa-san!! And Kei-chan too! I didn't want either of them to ever leave me and now they're both gone!! I want to talk to Okaa-san so badly and asked her of her advice, but I can't!! I'll never see her again!! Okaa-san!! Kei-chan!! Why did you both leave me?!"
Just then, Ryuichi and Shuichi ran into the room.
"Jiji-chan? What's wrong?" Shuichi questioned softly.
"Jiji? What's happened?" Ryuichi asked, his voice alot louder, but he wasn't yelling.
"Go away onii-san! I don't want to talk to you right now! I want to be left alone!"
"Jiji!" Ryuichi announced,
"I ...!"
"Ryu-chan ... Let her be ... She's upset, just ... Let her be ... She's exzactly how I was when I found out about my Okaa-san ... Leave her ..."
Ryuichi wanted to argue, but there was no way to ... Shuichi was probably saying what the right thing to do was. So, he'd just have to follow along with it.
"Shuichi?" Jiji's voice was muffled and sad.
"Yes?"
"Will you please ... Stay back and ... t-talk to me ...?"
"Hm, if that's what you want ... Then sure ... I understand what you're going through ... So all I can do ... Is help you in any way you ask ..."
"Thank you, Onii-san ..." She said quietly,
"I hope you are that to me, one day ... But, that's up to Ryuichi and you ..."
Shuichi's faced burned and he crouched beside Jiji, crouching on her floor.
"Technically ... Since my mind's made up as to what I think about that ... it would be up to Ryu-chan to see if I ever become your Onii-san, or not ..."
Ryuichi's cheeks burned and he left the room, to give his sister and his friend their needed privacy.
"Now, what do you need?"
"Kei-chan has left ..." Jiji sobbed, handing him the note.
"Ahh, I see ..." He said, after reading through the note carefully.
"You know what 'daisuki' means, don't you Jiji-chan?"
"Yes, of course I do ... Anything with the word 'ai' in it means ..."
"That's the point ..." Shuichi cut in,
"So, do you really think she's gone for good? ... After telling you that ...?"
"... No ..."
"Then, don't cry ... Something tells me, she'll be back before you know it ... Just you watch ..."
"Thank you Onii-san ..."
"I'm always here to talk to ... ok?"
"Mmm-hmm..."
"Ok." With that, he left her there to think about what she had just been told.
'Daisuki huh Kei-chan?' She thought silently. She looked to Keiji,
"Well then ... I love you too," she whispered, cuddling the rabbit closely once again.
( A.N: BIG THANKS TO AREKU-CHAN FOR COMING UP THE IDEA OF BRINGING KUMAGORO INTO THIS FF AS A WAY TO CHEER UP RYU-CHAN! ARIGATO GOZIMASU!!! YOU'VE MADE THIS CHAPTER VERRRRRRY LONG AND ME, VERRRRRRY WORN! LOL! THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE THOUGH AREKU-CHAN HIGHLY APPRECIATED! ... it's 3 am ... lol. I'm done the chapter ... I hope you're all happy lol ...! Wasting my life away for you people ... gosh! lol ... REVIEW!!!! RIGHT NOW OR ELSE ... AH MUNNA EAT CHOO!!!!!!!! )