Chapter Thirteen:

When she opened her eyes, the covers next to her were empty of warmth. Akari ran her hand smoothly along the length of the covers, feeling its coolness caused by the still morning air from the opened window. She propped herself up, feeling goose bumps appear as the covers slid down, pooling at her waist.

Yuuchi was gone... again.

As if by some unfathomable rule, he was usually the first to awake.

Akari dressed in the clothes she had set out the previous night and padded down the hallway to the kitchen. There was a slap of metal against the marble counter top, mugs clinking together, and the background commotion of the stove ventilator whirling. In front of her stood Yuuchi with his back to her.

He was using a ladle to pour batter onto what looked to be the contraption Emma had called a... griddle? Her vocabulary was definitely thriving under her job's daily drama. The shape was not a plain circle either, but another figure, and she quietly walked closer to see.

A heart.

And she couldn't help it; she slipped her arms around him, pressing herself flat against his back.

Yuuchi sucked in his breath. "Akari," he said.

Even without looking, she knew he was grinning. "What are you making?" she asked, conscious of a child-like curiosity growing.

"Be patient. Patience is key."

"I am patient," she retorted.

He flipped the figure onto its backside. Akari watched as the color darkened from a pale yellow to a sandy brown.

"Let go for a minute," he said and she hastily retracted. Using a flattened wooden spoon, Yuuchi moved it to a plate already topped with others of its kind. He took the plate and then looked at her. "Come on, let's go eat." Yuuchi led her to the table.

"They're called pancakes. It's a normal American breakfast."

She watched him pour syrup over his own plate and then mirrored his actions, dipping her forkful into the syrup, tasting the initial sweetness of the syrup and then the foamy substance of the pancake. "They taste good," Akari commented. She picked up her knife to cut another slice.

"Because I made them."

The knife came to a standpoint in the air. She raised her eyes at his arrogance. "Then why did you make them?"

"Why else? For you."

Akari tried to stifle the happiness that was bubbling up and somehow, there was a twisted sensation in her chest that came with the happiness. She had missed this, these talks, these jokes, that safe feeling of being his.

The park was huge.

Or perhaps that was an understatement.

It was much larger than any other park Akari had ever seen. Park benches lined two sides of the clearing they were standing at, with trees tucked away methodically behind every dark green branch. A street lamp was situated here and there, every ten feet or so. And it was pretty too, at this time of the year; the trees had already sprouted peripheral leaves. They were still bare of flowers, of course, but the absence of them only amplified the strange alien twisting beauty of the tree limbs.

They came to a stop in front of a bridge. "Care to take my hand?" Yuuchi asked.

She voluntarily took it and their fingers worked its way to entwine each others naturally.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" he asked.

"What is? The bridge or the scenery?"

"Well..." he stopped, a serious expression crossing his face.

She sought for an answer, wanting to please him. "The bridge."

He didn't pay attention to her answer, instead, bringing her over to the railing where flowers dangled in flower pots in intervals. To her surprise, there were blue roses planted in the flower pots. "Blue roses...?"

Yuuchi deftly picked one.

"Be careful of the thorns," she warned.

Yuuchi held it in his hands, and suddenly, a sly smile played on his face. "If you catch me, I'll give it to you."

"I don't want-"

He started running down the bridge. "You have no choice!" he called out.

"Yuuchi!" She chased him down the bridge, hearing the sound of her shoes colliding with the pavement below, the echoes of laughter, the rushing of the water below the bridge, but also, recognizing Yuuchi's familiar figure. He pivoted on his heel, lurching to his left where the bridge ended.

She nearly stumbled forward, except that he caught her arm and dragged her inside the alcove he was standing in. "What were you thinking?!" she panted, letting a nearby tree support her weight.

"Here," Yuuchi handed the rose to her. She traced the outline of one of its lighter petals gingerly.

"I heard different colors have different meanings. Do you now what a blue rose means?" She looked up, into his eyes that were trained on her.

"Mystery," he answered.

Akari barely heard his answer as he stepped closer to her. The leaves were painting shadows of golden light and black imprints across his body. "Is it okay if I...?"

She faintly remembered nodding. Then, his lips were on hers... gentle, quiet, she forgot this part of Yuuchi. Resolute.

This is right. It's him.

She was aware of a desire burning in the core of her stomach as he broke away from her.

His gaze was on her again. "Mysterious," Akari echoed.

"What?" he asked, his contorted expression clashing with the moment.

"No, it's nothing," Akari waved it away. She didn't want the moment to end.

She took his hand, relieved when he didn't wrench it out of hers. It was okay. Okay to make the first move. Okay to love again.

They continued down the pathway. "Hmm, how is your job?" she asked, wanting to fill in the silence.

"The same as always." And after a few seconds of quiet, he returned the question back to her. "And what about you? How are the kids?"

"The kids!" Akari laughed. "The only trouble is Stefan; he's so hyper about everything. But he doesn't mean the trouble he causes... you can't stay angry at him."

"What about the other kids?"

Akari's expression turned tender and her eyes were soft. "I like them," she said. "There's something about kids... their innocence... or maybe it's their constant movements. Everything is simple for them. If they like something, they continue chasing that thing. If it makes them sad, they move on."

"I know I can make you happy. Will you continue chasing me then?"

"Chasing you...?" She walked on ahead and stopped in front of him, blocking his passage. "But I already have you. Right?" Akari watched his eyes for an answer. His eyes did not betray any emotion, but he did not deny her statement either.

And she cupped his cheek, daring and letting herself to lean in a bit and whisper, "I'll keep coming back, even if it hurts."

It was twilight when they reached the steps in front of their apartment building. It was dark enough outside so that the lights in front were lit, but it was not dark enough to be fully night-time. They took the elevator upstairs to their floor.

Akari fumbled with the key in the keyhole, turning the key one full turn clockwise, hearing the internal shifting of gears grinding. "There's a Grandmother who lives down the hallway. She's from Tokyo too. Did you know that?" She reached in with her left hand to flip the light switches on.

And unexpectedly, Yuuchi's arms were around her waist, pushing her inside the apartment. She hadn't turned on all the lights and the front of the apartment was illuminated in the soft-hued light while the rest of the rooms were dark. Yuuchi removed an arm to shut the door.

But then he was back, wrapping his arms around her again, and she stumbled backwards until her back met solid wall. His pupils were strangely beautiful in the half-illuminated apartment, enveloping her with sudden warmth. The distance between them was taunting her.

No. He was taunting her.

He was so close... why was he this close?

"The answer to your question this afternoon is yes."

And he sliced the distance between them with his mouth, but Akari craved it, craved every moment, relished in his figure fitting hers securely. He was smothering her, his weight pressing against and holding her captive so that only the wall was steadying her. But it was easier now, easier to let loose with all the original distrust evaporating.

It was only his actions that could destroy her as easily as they could fix her, like this day that effortlessly mended all the hurt from before.

Without a doubt, there was nothing that could come so close to being with him, their limbs tangled together in a satisfying kind of mess.

Author's Notes:

Now I'm going to get ready to hide for my life.

I probably killed some dreams out there with this chapter. But this story is alive, it's going to continue changing with every mood I'm in, and of course- every review I receive. So lend me ideas and let me know your thoughts! As always, thank you for reading!

Honestly. I don't think I would be interested in a story that takes this long to get updated, but you guys are. And I don't think I can explain how when you run into problems with writing and life, how reading those reviews always left me in a state of euphoria (the name of this chapter~)... Thank you so much.

I'll admit though; this chapter took a long time to get out simply because I couldn't decide on an proper direction with the story. Stick around though because the next chapter is...

Our [possibly] favorite pair: Tohno and Kanae!