A/N: Things get a little interesting in this chapter… finally!
Disclaimer: I do no own Sasameki Koto.
"Time to wake up, Kazama. You have that meeting with the teachers today right?" Sumika smiled at the bob of pale brown hair that ducked under the covers the moment she mentioned 'wake up'
"I don't wanna go." came the muffled response.
"You have to. Tell you what, I'll follow you there and wait for you to finish. After that, we can go out for some snacks, how does green tea and dango sound?" Sumika knew Ushio had a weakness for sweets and was fully intent on exploiting it.
The mess of hair suddenly revealed a pouting face, "You promise?"
"Of course, now up you get." Sumika sat at the edge of the bed with a fond smile.
Ushio suddenly realised something odd, "Why're you already dressed?" she frowned when she noticed Sumika's laptop on the study desk in their room, "How long have you been up?"
"A couple hours. I received about 10 missed calls from my boss this morning." Sumika sighed.
"What happened?" Ushio sat up, pulling the covers with her for warmth.
"Nothing important. He lost a document and only realised this morning so wanted me to email him a copy. Turns out, it was a last month's finance accounts, so I had to do some digging to find it."
"Every thing's okay now?"
"Nope, you're still not out of bed!" Sumika stood and said over her shoulder as she began walking towards the door, "It's almost 11, what time is your meeting?"
"2 so there's no rush." Ushio fell back into bed and snuggled into the warmth her bed offered. It wasn't the same as if Sumika were there with her, but it would have to do. At least for now. Ushio grinned mischievously, slowly drifting back to sleep.
"KAZAMA USHIO!" Sumika hollered, hands resting on her hips where she stood in the doorway, "Shower. Now."
Ushio grumbled some thing that sounded like 'Meanie Sumi-chan' and reluctantly left the warmth of their bed before striding butt naked to the bathroom. Sumika tore her gaze away but couldn't stop herself from feeling embarrassed as blood rushed up to her cheeks.
Even after last night, and all the other crazy nights, I'm still embarrassed every time I see her naked body. Sumika laughed to herself and headed to the kitchen to finish preparing brunch, which consisted of butter on toast, coffee for herself and tea for Ushio. Same old, same old.
"I don't wanna go." Ushio mumbled under her breath as the couple walked into the secondary school hand in hand, "I just wanna spend my Saturday with you."
"It's only for a couple hours, and we'll be outta here in no time." Sumika leaned down to peck Ushio on her lips before releasing her hand and walking back the way they just came, "I'll be by the car if you need me."
Ushio waved and watched her partner leave, eyeing her every move and loving the way Sumika carried herself - confident yet approachable.
She failed to remember the time, back in high school and middle school, where she hadn't yet realised her feelings for her dear best friend. She couldn't, for the life of her, imagine ever living without Sumika standing right beside her with her handsome smile and caring grey eyes. Or rather, she didn't want to remember her childhood that was filled with pain and suffering before the gentle giant stepped into her life.
"Close your mouth, you're drooling, Ushio-senpai!" a cheeky voice whispered into Ushio's ear, causing the teacher to flinch and snap her mouth shut, hand flying up to wipe her dry chin.
"Geez, you scared me, Minako-san." Ushio wiped her mouth again just to make sure there wasn't any saliva. In the corner of her eye, she saw Sumika turn the corner and a feeling of emptiness settled in her stomach, "And I'm not drooling!"
Sanraku Minako grinned and flashed a peace sign. She was the secondary school's Chemistry teacher, and despite her playful personality, she's a brilliant science teacher.
"So what's with this meeting?" Ushio asked, leading the way to the staff room where many other familiar faces were gathered in the rec. room.
"Some thing about a new employee or something. Remember that old pervert of a P.E. teacher? He was fired last Thursday, that's why he didn't show up this whole week and guess they got a replacement. And I also heard we're getting a new school technician." Minako explained, living up to her name as the biggest gossip queen.
"Oh." Ushio sat down on one of the long sofas with Minako perched on the armrest next to her. The room was full of chatting teachers that all shared the same desire to go home instead of waste time hanging around here.
Ushio rested her chin on her open palm as Minako busied herself conversing with other teachers, most probably gathering more information.
Her thoughts drifted to a certain dark-haired black belt and her lips twitched upwards involuntarily as last night's memories came back. Her hand brushed her collarbone hidden below her light pink turtleneck. She knew it sported red teeth marks, that's why she chose to dress conservatively, just like every other day.
"May I have your attention, teachers."
Every one in the room stopped their conversations and greeted the tall woman wearing a formal business suit with a perpetual scowl embedded on her face.
"I've asked you all to give up your Saturday afternoon to introduce to you our school's new Physical Education teacher, Mr Daniels. He will take over all of Mr Kaito's lessons starting Monday." the Principal announced, gesturing for the blonde foreigner to introduce himself.
"Hi, I'm Jamie Daniels from California. I've worked at many schools all around Japan so I'm quite familiar with the way things work. I'm still mastering the language, so please pardon me if I start spouting nonsense." the man smiled, flashing his pearl white teeth and almost every female in the room blushed when he bowed politely but awkwardly.
Ushio sighed. No matter how handsome or charismatic a man was, Ushio felt nothing besides a slight dislike towards them. But it was men like Jamie Daniels that she could tolerate, he was the kind who sways a woman with his charms instead of forcing himself upon her. She knew, just from his shifty body language and timid blue eyes, that he could take no for an answer, and she respected men like him.
"Very well, I expect you all to work together from now on, but I find it necessary to remind you all," the Principal scowled at the blushing female teachers, "That this is a school. I expect you all to maintain your professionalism."
The men in the room chuckled but one look from the Principal, and they all zipped their lips shut.
"Now then, I will introduce one more new addition to our staff before you all can leave to your own lives. He will be our new technician who is responsible for maintaining all lab equipment from today onwards. Please welcome, Mr Akuma. I know his name means demon, but I assure you, he is not a demon and I expect no childish jokes made about Mr Akuma's name. Am I clear, Ms Minako."
"Y-yes, ma'am!" Minako squeaked.
Ushio was itching to leave the room the moment this 'Mr Akuma' introduces himself, she couldn't wait another second to be with her beloved Sumika.
From outside, a man strolled in with a visible limp in his left leg. He was wearing the school uniform that the lower staff members who were in charged of maintaining school grounds wore. His face was dirty and his black hair was scruffy and unkempt. He had pitch black eyes that darted around the room as if searching for lurking demons. A huge scar marred his face, he had been burnt severely years ago and recovered with minimal damage but had to wear this mark for the rest of his life.
The man named Akuma stood next to the Principal and as his eyes landed on one teacher in particular, his pitch black eyes widened with surprise before his lumpy lips pulled back into a demonic smile, revealing crooked, yellow teeth and silver fillings.
Ushio broke out into a cold sweat. Her palms became sticky as her heart leaped out of her chest and into her mouth. Her body began shivering as memories flooded her very being - memories she had kept hidden from every one, including herself.
She couldn't breath, couldn't speak, couldn't move under his paralysing gaze. The whole room fell silent, they were all wondering what was going on between the two when Akuma took a bold step forward, his sneer growing wider.
Fear overcame Ushio and her survival instincts took over as her conscious mind gave way. She clambered over the back of the sofa and bolted out of the room as if her life depended on it. She sprinted down the corridor without direction, the only coherent thought that repeated itself in her head, was to get as far as was possible away from that dark man.
She ran and ran and ran.
Her muscles never slowed or faltered. Her heart pumped blood faster around her body. Her arms trembled violently with every step. Tears burned down her cheeks as proof of how petrified she was. Her vision blurred and she was forced to wipe them away.
"Woah there." arms caught her and lifted her up into the air to keep her from falling from the sudden change in momentum.
"Let me go! Let me go! You monster, let me go! I hate you! You're a monster! A demon!" Ushio roared, thrashing against the arms wildly, her fingers flying all over, nails at the ready to scratch whatever it came in contact with. Her legs kicked air until it found the person's legs and she assaulted them mercilessly, her adrenaline increasing every second as fear clouded her rational mind completely.
"Kazama! It's me! It's me, Sumika! Stop it, I'm not going to hurt you!" Sumika shouted above Ushio's blood curdling howls, holding the woman tighter in her embrace.
"Go away! I hate you! I hate you!" Ushio cried, not hearing what Sumika had just said as her pounding heart and rushing fear was all she could understand.
"Kazama! Goddamnit, Ushio! Stop this right now." Sumika winced as nails dug into her shoulders. Ignoring the pain, Sumika caught Ushio's wrists and forced them behind her, her other arm wound around Ushio's waist firmly.
"Nooo!" Ushio bellowed, fighting even harder against Sumika. Ushio managed to free her hands from her back and swiped them around desperately.
"Ushio, it's just me. Get a hold of yourse- argh." Sumika released her grip when nails raked across her face, drawing blood that trickled down her right cheek. She fell to the hard road and took deep breaths.
Ushio landed roughly on her bottom and the pain that came with her abrupt landing, snapped her out of her trance. She stared at Sumika's red cheek where tiny droplets of blood bloomed along the ugly pair of red lines, and down to her nails.
Noticing that she had finally calmed down, Sumika carefully inched closer, "Are you alright? What the hell happened in there?"
"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Sumi-chan." Ushio whispered, wide eyes transfixed on Sumika's slowly swelling cheek.
"This? Please. It's not as bad as it looks." Sumika smiled, "Come'ere," she pulled the trembling woman into her arms, "Is it okay if I take you away from here? The Principal isn't going to hunt me down right?"
"No." Ushio shook her head. Gently, Sumika lifted Ushio up and helped her into the passenger seat. Quickly running to the other side, she buckled them both in and drove away.
As she headed down the road in front of the school, she saw a man watching them in the rear view mirror. He was wearing what looked like a uniform and had horrible burn scars across his face. But what made even Sumika shiver, was the look of pure insanity in his eyes and his wide grin that reminded her of a psychotic serial killer. She shook her head and continued driving down the road.
"Does it hurt?" Ushio asked quietly.
They were back home, Sumika sitting at the dining table as Ushio cleaned her wounded cheek tenderly with a wet cloth.
"Not really."
"I'm so sorry." Ushio looked down, staring at the slightly blood-stained cloth in her hands.
"Hey, look at me." Sumika reached for Ushio's chin but she shied away, moving to the sink to clean the cloth, "Kazama." she got up and followed Ushio. When she was close enough, she embraced the woman from behind and rested her head on Ushio's shoulder.
Neither said a word and after a while, Ushio turned around and returned the hug, burying her head in Sumika's chest. Sumika was torn between asking about what happened and simply being here for Ushio.
The latter won and she wrapped her arms around the frail body, holding her lover protectively and whispering comforting words into Ushio's hair.
As Ushio whimpered softly, Sumika's thoughts began to wander.
She looked absolutely terrified. And the way she fought so violently against me... She called me a monster and said she hate- No. She wasn't talking to me. But then... who? Who or what could've scared her that badly? Sumika frowned when the face of the man who had watched them drive away came to mind, I should investigate. Maybe Kazama's colleague would know something.
Hours later, Sumika sat at the edge of their shared bed, caressing Ushio's cheek as the light-haired woman dozed restlessly. Her face would occasionally scrunch up, she twitched in her sleep and cold sweat glistened on her pale skin.
Sumika wiped away her sweat with a dry cloth, worry lined her face and she felt helpless.
"S-Sumi-c-ch-chan." Ushio mumbled, small streams of tears escaped her lidded eyes and Sumika felt like storming into the secondary school Ushio worked in and wreck havoc, demanding whoever did this to Ushio to come out and face her.
But she knew that wouldn't help at all so she laid down next to Ushio and pulled her curled up body under the covers towards her, holding her with steady arms.
"I'm right here." Sumika pressed her lips against Ushio's clammy forehead, "And I'll protect you from whatever it is you're afraid of." she promised and smiled when Ushio relaxed from her foetal position to snuggle closer.
Ushio woke to darkness.
At first, fear sunk in and she curled into a tight ball, quivering as she imagined Akuma some where in the same room as her, but then familiar arms tightened around her and she froze.
"Mornin', beautiful." Sumika's gentle voice whispered from above.
Ushio shook her head and hid her face in Sumika's chest, glad the woman was with her when she woke up. Otherwise... Ushio didn't even want to think what her imagination could've conjured up.
"Are you hungry?" Sumika asked, even though it was killing her to have to remain clueless about Ushio's earlier fit.
"Not really."
"Do you want to get up and walk around a bit?"
"No."
Sumika sighed, at a lost for what to do. The arm that was under Ushio had long since grew numb and she wanted to get some blood flowing back into her limb, but she wouldn't be able to if Ushio refused to get out of bed.
"Please?" Sumika pleaded.
Ushio didn't move and Sumika was afraid she had fallen back to sleep but then Ushio mumbled a muffled, "Okay." and Sumika exhaled in relief.
"Alright, what do you want for dinner? We should probably order something unless you want to go out for dinner?" Sumika asked, sitting up and shaking her agonizing arm as she started feeling from it again.
She was about to stand up when Ushio grabbed her and cried, "D-don't leave me!"
Sumika was shocked that Ushio would say something like that while looking like she was about to burst into tears. She quickly sat back on the bed and held Ushio's face in both hands, "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I won't ever leave you, Kazama." Sumika said with all seriousness, grey eyes boring with determination into fearful brown orbs.
"I-I'm sorry, I just... I'm so scared... Just thinking about him... I don't-" Ushio's tears sprung forth and she dropped her head, sobbing into her hands.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, Kazama, I will never let anyone hurt you." Sumika soothed, stroking Ushio's hair and back comfortingly, "Let's go to the living room, it's brighter there."
Him. Sumika frowned as the image of the black-haired man's marred face came back to grin at her with the same psychotic smile.
As Ushio continued weeping, Sumika gathered her lover into her arms and carried her to the living room where it was indeed brighter. Sumika placed Ushio on the sofa as her eyes adjusted. The shivering woman visibly relaxed as she looked around their illuminated apartment and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"I'll see what's left in the fridge." Sumika waited patiently for Ushio's nod before she walked to the attached kitchen and searched the refrigerator for anything edible. All she saw were cartons of milk, butter, jam, some eggs on the door and raw meats in the freezer.
"We don't have any food." Ushio called from the other room.
Shutting the door while muttering under her breath, Sumika took out her mobile phone and plopped down next to Ushio, "What do you want then? Pizza, chinese, italian, japanese..." Sumika listed as she searched her phone book for take away food.
"Any thing warm." Ushio leaned against Sumika, her head resting on the tall woman's shoulder as she scanned Sumika's list of contacts as well.
"Most ordered food is warm, Kazama." Sumika grinned, turning her head to gaze at Ushio with a wide smirk.
"Ramen, then." Ushio lost herself in Sumika's silver irises, her fears momentarily forgotten.
"Ramen it is!" Sumika dialed the number and placed their orders. When she snapped her phone shut, she noticed Ushio's glazed over eyes and the fair-haired woman was chewing on her lower lip and twiddling her thumbs nervously.
She decided that if Ushio didn't want to tell her, then she'd just have to distract her enough so that she'd be more relaxed and comfortable with talking about some thing that had her shaken up so seriously.
Not wasting any time, Sumika used a finger and tilted Ushio's chin upwards so that they were facing each other, "How about we go on a date tomorrow? Maybe take a drive down to the sea. It may be a little chilly at this time of year, but I'll have you to keep me warm, right? It'll be a nice change from always being huddled up in here. What do you say?"
Ushio went back to her usual self and smiled slightly, "I like the sound of that, but maybe another time. I think I want to... stay at home this weekend."
"Alright. What about your work? You know my salary is more than enough to cover all our expenses."
"I'm okay. Really. If I don't work, I'd be stuck at home all day with nothing to do. I don't want that."
"Can I at least walk you to school on Monday?"
"Don't be silly, Sumi-chan. I'm an adult now, what would my students think when they see you walking me to the gates?"
"That I'm the luckiest woman in the world and they better not come near you because you're all mine." Sumika beamed and leaned down to rest her forehead against Ushio's, "I'll make sure the entire school knows that if they mess with you, I'll beat them up good."
Ushio giggled, closing the distance between them with her lips. They shared an innocent kiss before they parted and Ushio whispered, "I had a feeling you'd say something like that."
Sumika was about to reply when the doorbell sounded, "Ramen's here!"
A/N: Review please? :D