So, I find that I have to apologize once again considering that I spent another few months without updating this story. Part of me honestly wonders if there is anyone out there who is even still reading, which I hope that they are, considering that this actually might be my favorite chapter yet. It feels final in a way, even if there are a few chapters that are still yet to come.
The gang/yakuza stuff will take a serious break for now, since all that was stuff I introduced just for some background for a future chapter, and a future way to lead to an end of this odd tale.
Really, the motivating thing for me to update this chapter was, not only how long it was since the last update, but a dream I had about an ex-girlfriend. We were in her bed together, sitting side by side as we listened to the 'Love Album' of The Beatles (my favorite band, and hers), and we weren't doing anything other than talking, about life, about the future in general. It made me miss her.
Anyways, forget my little dream, and let's walk onward to the story, eh? California is waiting for us.
Quote of the day:
"When the world was at its worst, there you came-fire in your eyes, like something out of a storybook. I'll never forget that."
-Shianni, Dragon Age: Origins
Hikari nodded as she walked with Takeru at her side, the cold Odaiba air frosting her cheeks and reminding her that her conversation with Takeru was probably something that was best done over the phone. Despite the truth in the thought, despite the moments that she shivered from the frigid Northern winds that breezed by them as they walked, she couldn't help but grin whenever Takeru's arm brushed against her own, Hikari all the while hoping that the smiles that only momentarily came across his face had just an inkling to do with her as well.
"So, that's the whole story." Takeru sighed out tiredly, part of him wishing that the comfortable silence that there had been between him and Hikari the past few minutes that they walked together had actually continued to exist.
She nodded again, not really sure what to say beyond the fact that she was glad that Yamato had been able to walk away from all that ugliness without a scratch. It was the first that she had heard of what happened other than the fact that Yamato had been found safe and sound, and she wondered if anyone besides herself and Sora actually knew the truth of what occurred. Her mind was put to ease in knowing that Yamato was perfectly fine, and she was especially glad that she wouldn't have to feel guilty about being proud of the fact that she was the very first person that Takeru had gone to for comfort.
She smiled at an old woman that they passed on the sidewalk as they strode together, Hikari having no doubt that the elderly woman was inwardly commenting to herself about what a cute couple that she and Takeru made, and she couldn't help but glance over at him and appreciate how he looked with the darkness of the night obscuring his face. There was a bit of mystery in the face that was hidden partially by shadows, but even with the dark, even without a sun, he still looked like the boy she had always known. She raised an eyebrow at the thought once she actually pondered on it for a moment, considering how strange it was that no matter how much he changed, no matter how much they changed, his eyes always seemed to shine.
Looking away before he had a chance to notice, Hikari sighed, a little more than doleful that she couldn't be any more of a help than she currently was. "I'm glad that Yamato-san is okay, but I'm honestly not really sure what to say, Takeru."
Takeru's lips pursed as he thought, sounds of his parent's yells still ringing in his ears. He frowned as he then looked up at the sky, at that moment feeling confident that he wouldn't trip over anything as he walked. "I suppose that I don't really want you to say anything, Hikari. It's good enough that you're lending me your ear."
She peered in his direction out of the corner of her eye, and even though she watched as he nodded to himself in self-reassurance, she couldn't help but note the insincere way that Takeru's mouth quivered every now and then as he thought to himself. It was something she couldn't help but wonder about as the two of them walked the streets of Odaiba, the faces of strangers all around them filled with the same kinds of falsehoods, the same kinds of lies.
It was a look she had seen many times in the eyes of shop keeps and merchants who forced smiles on their faces for the customers, even as they struggled with nagging worries in the back of their minds of their uncertainty of whether or not their store was even profitable enough for them to keep it open for another month. It was a look she had seen in the faces of couples that she and Takeru had walked passed earlier that night, each with their own stories and tragedies, their own dreams, and their own unsure wonderings as to whether the person that held their hands was the one who was destined to help them achieve said dreams. It was a look she had seen staring back at herself from her reflection in a mirror on more than one occasion, Hikari constantly telling herself that it was okay to go and dash after the person that she was in love with, only to be stopped by moments of shame when she realized that now there was someone else who was in the picture with them, someone whose job it was to be there for Takeru when he needed it. She didn't know what it was that Takeru was trying to convince himself so hard of in his mind, and even though she felt a pang of guilt as she did it, Hikari ignored her conscience and did the only thing that she thought could comfort Takeru at that very moment.
She grabbed his hand.
Takeru's face reddened as he felt the small and soft hand that was trying to wrap itself around his own, and he cast his eyes off to the side, ashamed of the fact that after only a moment of hesitation, he returned the gesture. They walked hand in hand, faces reddened with both embarrassment and quiet warmth, and the two teenagers refused to met each others gaze, as if keeping their eyes from meeting took away from the intimacy of the moment. It was something that he didn't actually believe though, and for one guilt-ridden moment Takeru imagined Hikari and himself going on the same exact walk five years into the future, under the same Odaiba sky and the very same lights that made the city shine as bright as they did.
The two of them walked silently until the apartment building where Hikari lived came into full view, and they each stopped walking, instead taking that moment to simply look up at her home, each of the teenagers noting in the back of their minds that their hands were still fiercely clutched with one another. It wasn't until Hikari sighed and closed her eyes for a moment that she let herself pull away from Takeru, and walked a few steps towards her home before she turned around to face him once again.
"I should get home, Takeru." the girl offered a genuine smile, part of her unsatisfied that she had been unable to give any valuable insight into Takeru's life, but for the most part glad that she had at least been there to lend the boy her ear.
Takeru still felt her warmth on his hand, and he hesitated for a moment as he thought of what exactly he should say. She continued to smile at him, the cold wind continued to breeze by, and the lights of the city continued to shine on in the brightness that had made itself a home in their lives, and he swallowed whatever fears he had as he then called out to Hikari like so many times he had already done in his life. "Let's never change, Hikari!"
The teenage girl stopped walking, and quirked her eyebrow once more, this not being the first time that Takeru had asked for things between them to never ever change. She quietly made her way back over to him, and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder, feeling the same as he did about the way things were when it came to their relationship, but at the same time knowing how unrealistic it would be for them to cling onto their past for the rest of their lives. "Things change, Takeru." she offered him a smile again, hoping that he wouldn't see this as another rejection from her. "Even us."
"They don't have to." Takeru replied after a moment of silence, casting his eyes away from Hikari all the while.
A gust of wind breezed by the two of them once more, and Hikari shivered again, knowing that she would have to get inside soon enough. She couldn't leave the conversation ending how it would if she left though, and with her hands she grabbed Takeru on each side of his face and forced him to look directly into her own. He was indeed handsome, she admitted herself, in the dark of the night with the only illumination being the lights of the city that never seemed to have an end to their ever-dazzling lives, and part of her wondered why she herself had never seen it. Perhaps it was this same desire that Takeru had for things to never change between them, Hikari more than once turning away his advances whenever he wanted to become something more than the friends she had always promised herself they would be, and she couldn't help but chuckle at the way that their roles had seemingly reversed over the past year.
She leaned forward and brought his head down, Hikari bringing Takeru almost nose to nose with herself. "I hold you very close to my heart, Takeru, closer than I think is safe." She backed away and let go of Takeru's face, instead resting one of her hands on his shoulder again. "There might be a time though where we can't be the same as we are right now, and that's the way that life is. People change, Takeru, even you and I."
She wasn't sure how much she believed her words, or better put, how much she didn't want to, but when he said nothing in response, Hikari just leaned forward and gave Takeru a kiss on his cheek. She turned around again, the night being too cold for her to stand it any longer, and she turned around once more and gave one last wave to Takeru as she walked away from him. "Call your girlfriend, Keru-kun," her eyes lingered on him and her voice spoke his name with more affection than was probably safe for either of their hearts, "She's probably worried about you, and your brother."
Takeru nodded his response as he watched her walk away, and the teenage boy couldn't help but sigh, both his heart and his mind being so very confused that moment. There were times where he wondered if it was okay, the way he was with Ayano at the same time where he would cast his eyes off to the side, pondering how life would have changed if it was Hikari that was there with him instead. He swallowed the guilt that threatened to bubble up every time he let his mind wonder to this particular topic, but deep down he knew that it wasn't fair to any of the parties involved that this was the way that he thought.
He continued watching her direction until Hikari was out of sight, and he continued to stare after her as he thought about just where exactly he was in life. He felt his phone vibrate, and Takeru continued to let it ring, not knowing if it was either his parents or his girlfriend, and at the moment not really caring to find out. His mind was still mulling over what Hikari had said, how the passage of time changes things and how there could possibly come a moment where they wouldn't be the same people that they currently were, and as he watched and thought, fifteen quiet minutes softly passing him by just like that cool nighttime breeze that didn't seem to ever want to leave him, he came to a decision then and there.
A moment later, he ran after Hikari.
Taichi was the one that let him in almost as soon as he had begun to impatiently knock on the door to the Yagami apartment, and after Taichi had stepped aside, not doing anything to hide the annoyed expression on his face, Takeru's eyes raced around the room as they searched for the only person who he would ever be looking for. He grinned when he saw Hikari, the embarrassed teenage girl already changed into her kitty-cat spangled pajamas that perhaps weren't as mature as one would think a girl her age would be wearing.
He was out of breath, running and only stopping the moment he boarded the elevator that led him to her floor, and Takeru stood there, not saying a word, at the same time not having a single clue as to what it was he wanted to say. He knew that he wanted to say something, his soul was warm and the bubbles of emotions inside of him felt like they were going to burst at any moment, but even so, the boy just remained where he was, dumbfounded by his own actions. He remained panting, and everyone else in the living room of the Yagami apartment held their breaths, a game show host on the shining and brightly playing TV being oblivious to the scene that was unfolding before them.
He remembered reading once about a theory that some people had that human beings are instinctive creatures, and they know when moments approach that will change their lives forever. It wasn't typical for him to give such credence to something he had only read once, to something he had heard no one else even talk about, but the instant that he had been standing just in view of Hikari's home, watching her walk away from him, he had been sure that one of those moments was upon them. Even so, he knew that he couldn't be sure that running after Hikari had been the right course of action, had been the thing that would keep their relationship, their friendship, forever safe, but what he did know was that as he dashed after her, as the cold Japan wind chilled his face in response to his burst of speed, that it was something that not only felt right, but necessary.
Seeing that no one else seemed to want to speak, Taichi was the first one to make himself known, the older of the Yagami offspring still standing by the door and still with an annoyed look on his face. "Is there something you need, Takeru-kun?" Taichi had to stop himself from barking that out, considering that any more of Takeru's antics would cause him to miss more of the game show that he had been waiting all day to watch, "If you need a ride somewhere, I'm sure I can give Yamato a call. He seemed fine enough from his 'vacation' when I talked to him earlier."
Takeru's eyes remained on Hikari, and he took in a deep breath, clearly not prepared for what his heart had forced him to do despite the fact that his brain wasn't even ready yet. "I need to speak with Hikari."
Taichi sighed, sending a pained and longing glance to the TV all the while. "I'm sure you guys can talk tomorrow, seeing as how it's late right now. "
"I'll be fast," the teenage boy promised, releasing the nervous air that had built up in his lungs, "I won't take long."
Hikari's and Takeru's respective gazes remained locked on one another, each of them remaining perfectly still as they watched the other. It was something that Yuuko and Susumu, who had been sitting on the couch the entire time to watch their favorite game show, didn't know how to process. The married pair quickly glanced at one another, before looking at the teenage boy who was standing in the middle of their home, staring at their daughter with a burning passion in his eyes.
"Should I," the Yagami patriarch hesitated as he whispered to his wife, "should I kick him out?"
"Not yet," she whispered back, expertly lobbing a piece of popcorn into her mouth as she watched.
As he noticed that everyone was waiting on him, unsure of what he had shown up at this hour of the night to say, Takeru took a step forward, swallowing every bit of guilt, shame, fear, and hesitation that came with the words that were about to roll off his tongue. "I want to stand at your side, Hikari."
The girl in question bit her lip, shaking her head as she sighed. "Takeru, just because things change doesn't mean that that's a bad thing," she paused, taking a deep breath, before going on, "it just means that things are different, for the better or the worse."
"The way I see it," he didn't even wait to respond, "I don't see how my life could be better if you weren't in it."
It was something that both Taichi and Susumu rolled their eyes at, but Hikari instead just stared for a moment, before nodding, knowing how sincere he was, and knowing just exactly where his sentiment came from. She was about to say that she felt the same way, that she wanted to cling to him in the same vein that it appeared he was trying to do to her, before she felt a throb in her chest, her mind drifting to a certain artist girl that lived her life wrapped in what pomp futures and posh dreams could be found in Odaiba, a prize that only the wealthy and the powerful could ever hope to grasp for.
"You have a girlfriend," she said at last, that being enough of an explanation for why she couldn't let Takeru become the guy that Ayano would complain about upon telling stories of her bastard ex-boyfriend.
Everything was silent for more than a moment, and something changed in Takeru as he stood there. His eyes didn't glisten with tears that both he and Hikari had been afraid would make themselves known, and he didn't shake and his lips didn't quiver as he remained standing up straight. He held his head up, proud, and his steely eyes didn't once look away from Hikari. He was a warrior, and he felt that it was about time that he started acting like one.
"I'm not asking to be your boyfriend," he said honestly, the tribal drums of his ancestors surrounding his rapidly beating heart, "I'm just asking that you'll let me be in your life, and that you'll be in mine. Whether it's as a brother, or as a best friend, I don't care. Just promise me that things won't change."
As both teenagers continued to stare at one another, they each knew that it was something that she could never promise him, the gods often having a different plan for how things are meant to turn out. She nodded though, if only to remain in her youthful fancy for just a moment of time longer, Takeru standing next to her as they grasped for the unattainable.
And the two of them smiled, the gods having no idea what they were in for.
I'll try to have the next chapter out soon enough as an apology for me taking so long with this one, and I actually know what I want it to be about. It will take place in one of those karaoke booths that are so popular in Japan these days, and it will involve our two main protagonists, and also a bit of Daisuke and Ayano. Part of me is actually thinking of putting Daisuke up there alongside Hikari and Takeru in the main characters section for the description of this story? I'm not sure and I haven't decided yet, but after them, and I suppose Ayano, he's turned out to be the most prominent character yet.
