When It Rains, It Pours

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Chapter Six: How Deep Is Too Deep?

Shinji was sure that his intervention during Sousuke's would-be brawl with Tusbaki was the best thing he could have done, but he wasn't sure if Sousuke thought that. It took a lot of effort for the young man to pull the his friend from the front of the cafe, but in the end he managed to drag him to some of the shops around town. None of which managed to cheer him up, and the young Sargent looked even gloomier than usual.

After the embarrassing verbal thrashing done by Kaname just an hour before, Sousuke looked just as pitiful. He had barely said a word during their entire outing. Even when the two boys had meet up with their classmate Ono D, Sousuke remained virtually silent. So much, in fact, that it caused Ono D to leave early. He claimed it was because he had to help his mother with dinner, but Shinji knew better. To any social butterfly such as Ono D, Sousuke just seemed like a wet blanket. Not to mention, ever since the Full Monty Bacteria fiasco Ono D seemed to has his issues with Sousuke.

With a sigh, Shinji glanced over his shoulder to see Sousuke still sulking behind him. He knew the reason behind Sousuke's demeter was Kaname, but where the heck was he supposed to go with him when he was so badly hurt? Come to think of it, at this point Shinji was just aimlessly walking through the city and hadn't even noticed that his feet had absentmindedly lead him to the park. Looking up at the grey sky above, Shinji could not deny that it was not the sort of weather for a visit to the local park. The darken skies above mirrored Sousuke's gloomy mood practically promised rain. Not knowing what else to do and not wanting to leave his friend to suffer alone, he sat on one of the empty bench and was no surprised to see Sousuke follow suit.

During all his months at Jindai High it seemed to Shinji that all Sousuke did was follow someone. If he wasn't following Kaname, he was following a teacher - more often than not to the principal's office - but it was a rarity to see the young man by himself. Perhaps it wasn't distraction that his friend needed, but guidance to be his own person. While Shinji probably wasn't the best candidate for the job, the person who would be was currently no longer speaking to the military misfit. With a shaky voice and a heavy heart, Shinji decided to break the up the awkward silence with an even more awkward cough. When Sousuke was not responding to his cough, he decided to try coughing even louder to gain his friend's attention.

"You should stop by the clinic on your way home, Kazama," Sousuke mumbled as he rested his face in his palms. "It could be a sign of Gastroesophageal reflux disease."

"Gastro-what?"

"Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or better known as GERD," Sosuke rattled from memory as if reading it from a medical dictionary. "Refers to reflux, or backward flow, of stomach acid or other contents into the esophagus. If the acid moves backward up the esophagus, reflexes result in spasm of the airways that can cause shortness of breath and coughing. Some reflux can be so severe that substances can be aspirated into the lungs and cause similar symptoms as well as damage to lung tissue, and symptoms can be nothing more than a simple cough."

"Um...thanks, but I think I'm alright," Shinji said with a nervous laugh, "I just had something stuck in my throat, but you sure know a lot of random information."

"Random information is useless information," Sousuke mumbled quietly, but still loud enough for Shinji to hear.

"That's not true all the time."

"It's true enough," Sousuke said, looking up but still resting his chin in his hands. "I don't know anything."

"Nobody knows anything, that's how the world works."

Sousuke shook his head, "You don't understand."

"Yes I do, and probably more than you know," Shinji crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the bench, "You're all in a rut because of what happened between you and Kaname, right?"

Sosuke was silent, and he took that as a yes.

"You think that it's all your fault because you never do anything right because you're socially inept and alway managed to mess up even the seemingly most simple task Kaname gives you, correct?"

He took the continued silence as another confirmation.

"But most of all, this is about you reading her diary to the entire class the other day," Shinji couldn't help but notice the way Sousuke stiffened at the mention of the incident. Bingo.

"It was never my intention to hurt her!" Sousuke exclaimed, giving Shinji his full attention. "I've been trying to make things right between us, but she was locked in the bathroom and Tokiwa wouldn't allow me entry and afterwards Chidori wouldn't even go to the principal's office to schedule a peer-mediation with me, and then at the cafe she completely ignored my offer for a peace treaty which officially makes us still at war with one another..."

Sousuke then trailed off and his attention was changed to his shoes which were now suddenly extremely interesting.

"I know you've been through a lot, but that's because you not only read Kaname's diary, but you've read an excerpt to the entire class. You really hurt her feelings, Sosuke."

"It was an accident" Sousuke said sadly. "She said I could copy her notes, and it was merely a mistake that the dairy came into my possession in the first place. I thought it was her notes, so I only read the entry dating to the night's homework assignment. If I had known it was a notebook consisting of her private thoughts, I would never had even looked. She should know that, and the way she's behaving during all this is just unreasonable."

"Girls are unreasonable, Sousuke, and we both know that goes double for Kaname," Shinji joked in a sad attempt to lift his friend's spirt, but all Sousuke did was shake his head. "It seems that whatever you read that night and said out loud to the class was extremely sacred to her. Have you ever really thought about what the diary entry would have meant to her?"

Sousuke shook his head, the very idea of that stupid notebook brought nothing but knots in his stomach and had tried his best to forget about the entry altogether. However, perhaps Kazama had a point. If there was one thing Sousuke had learned about the enigma that was Kaname Chidori was that the one thing she feared above all else was vulnerability. Closing his eyes, he tried his best to think back to the lines he has read aloud to the class that doomed morning.

'If there is one thing I have learned from all this, is that there are no better heroes to me than those in the military. I know it sounds strange, but every time I see him in his uniform, I have this strange sense of pride. Because he is protecting me, and no one else. I am his prime concern and my well being is constantly on his mind, and when I remember that I get this wonderful flutter in my heart. Maybe we have some common ground after all, and I am on his mind as often as he is on mine.'

The feeling of clarity was so abrupt, Sousuke didn't know what do to. It was as if someone had switched on the light in the dark depths of his mind and the answer was sitting there, right in front of him, the entire time.

"Sousuke," Shinji asked when he noticed his friend's shocked expression and that he was not moving, "Are you alright?

There was a crash of thunder and Shinji along with the few other occupants of the park quickly looked up at the overcast sky in unison. There was another low rumble from the clouds before big, fat raindrops began to fall from the sky. Shinji quickly stood and told his companion that it was probably time to leave, but Sousuke wouldn't budge. There was another crash and the sprinkling of the drops intensified, drenching them both.

Um...yeah...so it's been a tiny, itsy, bitsy bit of a wait for the this chapter.

BUT I HAVE AN EXCUSE!


I had surgery! Ah...now you all feel really bad for being mad at me, don't you? But yes, I had to get my wisdom teeth removed and it was terrible. Anyone else who has gotten this done will agree with me, because those teeth are friggin' huge and I have yet to hear anyone go to me an say, "Oh I loved getting my wisdom teeth removed! I wish there weren't only four of them!" Because believe me, four was more than enough. But that's all in the past, and for any of you who are in for getting them removed all I have to say is good luck and have plenty of ice cream on hand because you're gonna need it!

But back to this story! So Sousuke's had his "Aha!" moment, and now we're nearing the end to this lovely little fiction. I was hoping to get it finished by now, but life and giant teeth seemed to get in the way of that. But never fear, the last chapter - yes the LAST- should be up...whenever I get to writing it...but sooner or later we'll see what happens.

Thanks again to everyone who reviews, alerts, and favorites this little brain-baby of mine! You make it all worth while!