I UPDATED! The clouds have parted! Cat's living with Dogs! Things have Changed! I.e, it's Christmas break and I can write what I want to again. HOORAY!
Well, here it is. And yes, the drama really unfolds, so I hope you like it!
Don't forget to Review! Love your encouragement, and I'm so sorry that took so long, hopefully the next update won't ;P
I ran hastily up the road, my vision blurry and my head spinning. It couldn't have been him. I shook my head and picked up the pace, the little town now growing further and further away behind me. My lungs burned as I skidded around the corner, my ranch now in view. I knew I wasn't thinking straight, but all I wanted to do was get home and sort things out mentally. My footing somehow got caught and I fell to the ground, skidding across the dirt path. I lay in a heap, my sobs tearing through my shaking torso; it wasn't from the fresh scrapes that now adorned my arms and legs, but from what I had seen earlier.
I had gone to town to meet Gill for lunch and force him to put down his ledgers long enough to get some nourishment in him. I was about to climb the stairs to city hall when I saw the ferry pull up to the dock. I thought it was Selena, back from visiting her family, so I waited to wave to her. Pascal walked off and lowered the ramp; that's when I saw him. He walked slowly down the ramp, a large green backpack slung around his shoulders, his brown hair spiked up like always, the green camo headband tied tightly around his forehead. I froze, staring in wide eyed disbelief as Kurt's dark brown eyes scanned the town skyline, and landed on me. I felt something in my stomach tighten into a hard knot as he blinked, looking as stunned as I was. A smiled spread slowly across his face and I felt my legs shakily take me backwards, as he reached up to waved at me I turned and bolted, wanting nothing more than to get back to my ranch and sort things out.
He was here.
He had seen me.
I had to deal with this.
I pulled myself off the ground and continued to run shakily down the road, adrenaline the only thing keeping me going. I threw the door to my home opened and stumbled inside, slamming it and locking both locks before leaning against it panting as I gathered my thoughts. My mind was racing. I sank down to sit with my head in my knees, trying desperately to steady my breaths and stop crying.
I sat for what seemed an eternity before I started feeling the stinging of my cuts from the sharp gravel of the pathway. I stood shakily and investigated: there was dirt smeared down my clothing and scrapes on both my knees as well as my forearms. The most unfortunate was the little gash that ran down my cheek. Blood pooled around the torn skin, stinging constantly. I washed my face in the sink, and cleaned the rest slowly with a damp washcloth as I weighed my options.
I didn't want to wait around for Kurt to find me: I needed to tell someone. It had all happened so quickly though, I was hardly sure that what I had seen was indeed him. I changed my clothing quickly, slapping some band-aides over the cuts haphazardly.
He still hadn't come.
I wondered if he was asking people for information about me. I felt my gut tighten again, Would he use his real name? Not if he was smart.
The phone rang, startling me and practically making me jump out of my skin. I walked over to slowly and listened to it ring a few more times before picking it up shakily, my hand brought the phone slowly to my ear as I breathed into it,
"H-hello?" I whispered, my voice shaking,
"Hikari," A familiar voice responded, "Did you forget about me today?"
"Gill!" I let myself relax a little, the tension in my voice still staying; I drew a breath, "Gill, something's happened,"
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" He seemed to hear the distress in my words,
"I'm okay, I just… I need you to come here right away," I said as steadily as I could.
Just as I said that, I heard a knock. I spun around on my heels and stared wide eyed at the door,
"Yeah, Okay, I'm on my way alright?" I couldn't respond. I stared at the door, the phone still pressed to my face, "Hikari? Hikari are you there?"
"Y-yeah," I whispered into the receiver,
"Are you okay?" he sounded panicked,
"Gill,"
"Yes?"
"I think… I think he's here,"
Gill POV
I slammed the phone down on the receiver, my blood boiling. I swore loudly as I tore out of my office, making Elli jump,
"Gill, is everything okay?" She squeaked from behind her desk.
"Elli, have we had any tourists or new residents to the island in the past week?" I asked, walking swiftly to the door, I paused to hear her answer,
"N-no, not that I know of… Although…" she stopped for a moment,
"Although what Elli, this is important!" I shouted at her harshly, I'd have to apologize later,
"Although Pascal did go to the main land today, he returned not that long ago, I haven't had time to process anything he's sent in yet," She said with wide eyes. I swore again and slammed the door open, running out of the building and through the courtyard of city hall. I hurried down the stairs and continued headlong to Hikari's ranch.
I stopped at the foot of the road when I saw a man outside her door. I gritted my teeth as my hands balled into fists. The anger that rippled through my body was making me shake involuntary as I walked closer, each step bringing me towards the man who matched Hikari's description exactly. He was pounding on the door and yelling through the wood,
"Hikari!" Kurt shouted, "Look, I know you're there!"
He paused for a moment not hearing anything,
"Hikari, I'm sorry! I came to tell you I'm so sorry! For everything!"
"You!" I shouted, now only a few yards away. Kurt spun around and met me wide eyed, "What are you doing here?" I gritted the words out, still approaching him,
"Listen buddy, a friend of mine lives here, so if you could just give me a minute—"
"I don't think she's home," I said, glowering at him. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned towards to the door and banged on it again,
"Hikari I know you're in there!"
"I said I don't thinks she's home," I approached him, placing a hand firmly on his shoulder and spinning him around quickly. He was much bigger than I was, and more filled out; his physique matched Luke's and I was even more sure that he was indeed the carpenter from flower bud village Hikari had spoken of.
"Listen buddy," he spat down at me, "You don't want to start something you can't finish," His eyes grew dark, "I'm not looking for a fight—"
"Well, looks like you found one," I shoved him back, "Unless you leave now and never come back,"
He staggered for a moment before smirking, "Or what? Some little blonde kid is going to beat the shit out of me?" he chuckled darkly, "I seriously doubt it,"
"Leave now," I warned, he smirked again,
"Not until I see Hikari. I owe her something," He turned back to the door and my anger took over me. I dived at him, knocking to the ground. We fell together and he pinned me down under him, delivering a swift punch to the side of my face. I moved quickly and flipped him over; straddling him as my fist collided with his jaw, and then the other with the side of his eye. The door of the little house swung open just as he kicked me off, we continued our struggle, wrestling and punching and kicking in a mess on the ground, Hikari screamed down at us,
"Stop!" she shrieked over and over. Kurt pinned me down and brought his fist up for another blow when Hikari seemed to be screaming at someone else. Before I knew what was happening, Kurt was being dragged off of me as he swore and flung his arms around. Hikari ran to my side kneeling beside me and picking me up to rest on my elbows as Yuuki dragged Kurt away, holding his arms behind his back,
"Okay, okay, calm down," Yuuki grunted out as he struggled to control the man,
I sat up, and looked at Hikari, her eyes filled with tears,
"You're an idiot!" She hissed at me, taking in my appearance. I knew I was bruised up pretty badly; I reached up and wiped some blood off of my mouth, still glaring at Kurt who seemed to be calming down now. I was inwardly thankful that my arm had fully healed since the stiches or that could have ended very badly. Hikari brought her hand to my face lightly, and I turned my attention to her,
"Are you okay?" I asked taking her hand from my face and holding it as I sat up all the way. She nodded silently. I noticed a bandage placed on the side of her face, my free hand touched it lightly, "What's this?" I asked, my eyes narrowing and then shooting back to Kurt who Yuuki had released and was awkwardly standing beside as he caught his breath.
"I fell earlier," she murmured, when I glared at her, her eyes turned fierce, "It's true! I was in a hurry to get home." I smiled at her a little,
"I'm glad you're okay then,"
"I wish I could say the same for you," her eyes welled up a little before she pulled me into a tight hug. My arms wrapped around her protectively and I glared over at her Kurt, who was scowling down at us. She released me and help me stand, I was sure I was in worse shape than Kurt, but his eye was already blackening and his lip was bleeding so my sense of accomplishment was sufficient.
"So," Yuuki said, rocking back on his heels awkwardly, "What exactly is going on?"
"This," Hikari said darkly, "Is Kurt," I draped my arm over her shoulders, trying to look casual but really sending a very strong message to the man in front of us. Hikari leaned into me, as Yuuki realized who the man was. Most people on Castanet had heard of Kurt in one way or another, and since Renee knew, Yuuki knew.
"Oh," He said, trying to sound casual,
"I was just having a discussion with Kurt about his leaving. Immediately," My eyes narrowed but Kurt's grew larger,
"N-no!" he said suddenly, stepping towards us, "You don't understand!"
"Kurt," Hikari said evenly, "You need to leave."
"I won't!" He shook his head, "Can we just talk?" He paused and looked up at me then back to Yuuki, "alone?"
"No!" The three of us all said in unison, I dropped my arm off from Hikari's shoulder and took her hand instead,
"No Kurt," Hikari said evenly, "If you have something to say, just say it now,"
"Fine." He kicked the ground a little, "I'm just… I just…" he sighed and shook his head, "I needed to tell you that I'm sorry." Hikari's eyes looked huge as he apologized, "I know I messed up, and I messed up bad. After you left I just couldn't forgive myself. I tried to find you so many times to tell you, but, you were gone. I was stupid, I don't know what I was thinking but I promise I'll never, ever do anything like that again!" He seemed sincere but I didn't trust him at all. I squeezed Hikari's hand; I couldn't really read her surprised expression,
"Kurt I…" She stopped, dropping my hand and taking a few paces over to him. I felt my teeth grit again as she approached him,
"It's okay." He said offering her his hand, "You don't have to ever forgive me or anything like that," She stopped when she saw his hand.
"I don't forgive you," She said evenly, "But you did save me from the fire so, thank you." Yuuki's gaze met mine and we exchanged suspicious expressions as we looked back at Kurt. He took a step closer to her and I gritted my teeth, anxiety gripping me,
"Hikari, there was a time when we…" he trailed off as his hand slowly came up to her face. She slapped it away instantly and I took a few quick strides to stand beside her,
"Never again Kurt, you blew it. You blew it with me, and with Joe and with Blue and everyone on that island! Everyone knows exactly what you're like and I never want to see you again!" She yelled angrily, before slapping him once hard in the face and trudging back into her house, slamming the door behind her. We heard it lock from outside as we all stood in stunned silence. Kurt's expression grew dark as a snarl built at the side of his mouth,
"This is all your fault!" He said turning to me once more, "Hikari would never have treated me like this! And then you come along! Who are you even?" He was shouting in my face, Yuuki put a strong hand on his shoulder to remind him of his presence,
"Let's not do anything regretful, huh?" Yuuki said darkly,
"Regretful?" Kurt suddenly spun to face him, "You don't know the meaning of 'regret', you have no idea what it's like!" He fell to the ground suddenly, his head hung as breathed shallowly, "I'm so stupid," he mumbled as he sniffed; then he started to sob silently to himself. Yuuki looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed before puffing out a breath.
"There there," He said awkwardly, patting the man's shoulder, "it'll… uh… it'll be alright."
"Like Hell it will be," Kurt replied sharply.
"Look, you can't stay here," I finally interjected, "you must understand…"
"Yeah, I'll go." He stood slowly, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, "Sorry,"
Yuuki said he'd walk him down to the inn: the next boat would leave in the morning, so he'd unfortunately have to stay the night. I would have to call Owen and ask him to watch him: Kurt couldn't be trusted no matter how sorry he seemed.
Once I knew he was off the property I knocked lightly at the door or Hikari's house,
"It's me," I said, "He's gone,"
The door swung open and Hikari flew out, collapsing into me and sobbing heavily. I picked her up and carried her inside bridal style, kicking the door shut behind me and she grabbed handfuls of my shirt, still crying heavily. I carried her to the bed and sat down, her still on my lap and buried my face in her hair,
"It's okay," I soothed, "He's gone, he's not going to hurt you anymore, I promise," her crying settled to light sniffles. We sat for a while until she finally spoke,
"Di-did you see me slap him?" She looked up at me and grinned a little, I chuckled,
"Yeah, you did good," I tousled her hair and she laughed quietly, leaning her head into my neck, her warm breath tickling my skin lightly.
"Hey Gill?"
"Mmm?"
"Thank you," she nuzzled me a little and I breathed out a laugh,
"Don't worry," I replied. I swallowed and tasted a little bit of blood, "Um…"
"Yeah?"
"Do you… have any ice?" My eyes burned and my lip was swelling up something brutal. Hikari sat up quickly and inspected my face,
"Oh Gosh… Yes," She scampered off my lap and hurried into the kitchen, opening the freezer "I'm so sorry! You shouldn't have done that; you shouldn't have fought him or anything," she sniffed quickly and piled ice into a bag, I smirked at her,
"Yeah well…" I shrugged as she placed the ice over my face, cooing about my injuries. To be honest, it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.
"Hey, I'm staying here tonight okay?" I said after a while. We had been sitting on her bed talking for a while,
"Yes please!" She chirped quickly. I raised a brow at her teasingly, "N-no! Not like that! I just mean, you know! I – i!"
"I'm kidding, I know," I pulled her into my arms and we feel back into the bed, "I need to make sure you're alright okay?" I kissed the top of her head and let my mouth linger there, smelling her shampoo,
"Thanks," She murmured, leaning up to look me square in the eyes, "I love you," she pulled herself up and brought her lips against mine gently, shutting her eyes slowly as she pulled me closer to her by the shirt, I chuckled against her lips kissing her back,
"Don't get any smart ideas now," I said, teasing her gently with the promise of another kiss. Her eyes shot open and she glared at me stubbornly,
"I wasn't," she said, pulling me into another kiss,
"Okay good," I breathed, "Because otherwise I'll have to leave," she pouted and me and I laughed kissing her again, "Just so you know where we stand," She blinked at me twice before smiling,
"Obviously," she said snuggling into my chest once more, "Goodnight black-eyes," she chuckled when I flicked her forehead,
"Goodnight," I laughed quietly,
YAY! The story is not over though my lovlies! Far from. I hope you keep reading despite my sporadic updates! :3
Don't forget to Review! I really love it when you guys do!
Special awesome thanks to violetfireflies who encouraged me awesomely to update and let me know people still cared about this story! Thank yooou! :D