Here we are at chapter 2 and like I promised, it's longer!

Whisper of the Heart characters (c) Studio Ghibli

Chapter 2: Sleeping Beauty Awakens

"Shizuku, did you fall asleep in your clothes again? It's time to get up; I need you to do the laundry today. I have to run to the university to meet with my professor and your father is at the library." Asako runs around gathering her things and looking for her wallet. "Please Shizuku, listen to me, do the laundry and any studying you need to do. I'll be back before suppertime so no need to make it. I'll see you this evening!" Grabbing her wallet by the phone, she runs out and slams the door behind her. Mothers, sometimes they are worse then siblings.

Shizuku groans and stretches out with a yawn. Wait a minute, what happened to Seiji? Was it all a dream? Rolling over to the wall, she tosses the covers off her with a groan. A dream, of course it was a dream! Why would Seiji tell her that he loves her much less propose to her?? "What is this?" Sitting up, she pulls the jacket she was wearing in her dream out from under her. "This was Seiji's jacket….but it was a dream! But then whose jacket is this? It doesn't look like dads." Turning it all around without finding anything, she finally looks in the pockets and discovers a piece of paper.

Note:

Dear Shizuku,

Imagine my surprise when we got to your house and I find you fast asleep already. I didn't want to disturb you, so I carried you up to your room. Don't worry, no one woke up. I also picked up the umbrellas near the door, messy girl. I don't know if you have plans for this afternoon, but would you like to meet me at the library around 3? I hope to see you then, Sleeping Beauty.

Seiji

"So it wasn't a dream….and he wants to meet at 3:00. Is this a date? No, he must just want his jacket back."

With a sigh, she hugs his jacket before slowly getting out of bed. Changing into some clean clothes, she begins to gather the laundry before getting something to eat. Half way through her bowl of cereal, she drops her spoon. "Three o'clock?? He wants to meet at three and it's already noon! I have to get this laundry done and work on some of my studying that I promised mom I start." Quickly finishing her breakfast/lunch, she digs out her books and begins studying.

Three hours and two loads of laundry later, she prepares herself to leave the apartment. Looking at herself in the mirror, she makes a face as she tries to fix her hair. "Ugh, it's like a wire brush! Oh well, it looks like it does every other day. And why am I worrying about it, I'm just going to see Seiji." Seiji…why does my heart pound when I say his name. Could it be…could I be in love with him? As she daydreams, her eyes stray over to the bathroom clock. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!"

Looking just like her mom earlier, she dashes outside and begins running towards the train. As soon as she gets to the station, she hears her name being called. "SHIZUKU!! Hey, wait up!"

Skidding to a stop, she turns to see who is calling her. "Yuko?? Hi, how are you?"

"Shizuku, where are you going in such a rush? Wait, let me guess, the library. Well, can you spare a few minutes? I really need to talk to you."

Glancing at her watch with a frown, she then looks to Yuko's worried face. I guess Seiji will have to wait. "Sure, I'm always here to listen. What's wrong?"

Walking over to a bench, they sit and Yuko proceeds to tell her how odd Sugimura has been acting towards her. "Like today, I saw him at the store and he just kept staring at me. And every time I caught him, he looked angry." Yuko stares down at her folded hands in her lap, trying to hold back tears. "Do you think he is still mad at me for the other day? I apologized and he seemed fine then. So why is he mad at me now?"

"Oh Yuko, please don't cry. You shouldn't be upset; I don't think he is mad at you. Sugimura can be weird sometimes; maybe he was just having a bad day…" Meanwhile, Shizuku is thinking in her head on how she is going to have a long talk with Sugimura. He shouldn't be taking out his anger of her on poor Yuko. "Listen, if you want, I'll talk to him and see what is going on in his empty head."

Looking up from her lap, she wipes the tears from her eyes and shakes her head. "No, I should talk to him myself today. I don't want him to think that I'm not brave enough to stand up for myself." Standing up, she looks over to the approaching train. "Thank you for listening to me Shizuku; you are such a great friend. I won't keep you from your love any longer, so I'll let you catch your train."

She looks up quickly at Yuko's last sentence. Does she know? How could she, I didn't say anything. Is it written all over my face?

Yuko looks down to her and says teasingly, "You should hurry up before you miss it. The books would never forgive me for keeping you!"

Standing up slowly, she nods with a soft sigh of relief. She doesn't know. "Call me later, okay and let me know how everything goes. And if you still want me to talk with him, I will. Gook luck!!"

Running over to the train, she hops on without a moment to spare and takes a seat. Glancing at her watch with a groan, she slumps in her seat. She wasn't going to make it in time. Seiji is going to think that she stood him up. What will she do now? Glancing out the window with a look of absolute sadness, she suddenly feels a rumbling heavy weight on her lap. "Moon? What are you doing here? Off to see Grandpa again?" Looking down to the aloof cat, she begins to pet him softly as she debates what to do next. "What do you think Moon, should I risk going to the library or should I just go see Grandpa?"

Suddenly, Moon jumps off her lap and runs to the door as the train makes it's stop. Following him has never got her into trouble before, so she quickly follows him out the door and into the street. In the beginning, it seemed that Moon was leading her to the library, but as time went on, he veered away from that direction. "Moon, where are you going?? This isn't the way to the library or Grandpa's!" Without a glance back, Moon continues on his steady pace towards a destination known only to him. But before she knows it, the big cat runs into a large clump of bushes and meows loudly. Thinking that he has been hurt, she dives into the bushes to look for him.

"Moon! Moon, where are you?? Crashing through to the other side of the clump, she runs head long into Seiji and falls flat on him. "Ouch. Moon, you silly cat! What has gotten into you?" Opening her eyes, she sees what has broken her fall. "Oh my gosh! Seiji, are you okay? Did I hurt you??" Jumping off of him, she quickly helps him up, completely embarrassed. I can't believe I did that, he must think I'm a total weirdo.

"Thank you for your help, but are you alright, Shizuku?" Seiji stands up and looks to her worriedly.

"Yes, I'm alright. I'm very sorry for knocking you down. I'm really not that clumsy. I was following Moon from the train station again when he darted into those bushes. And when I came out, I crashed into you." Oh great, now I'm babbling. Can this day get any worse?

Seiji just smiles as he listens to her. "It's okay Shizuku, but I have one question. Why didn't you meet me at the library? I was beginning to think that you didn't want to be seen with me."

They begin walking through the park while she explains Yuko's situation and the reason she was late. "So, we sat at the station for a bit and I had to wait for the next train." She left out the part on how she plans to confront Sugimura about his feelings for her and how he hurt her friend.

"So, you were going to meet me?" Seiji looks over to her with relief written on his face.

Shizuku nods, "Of course I was. So…why did you want to meet?"

Seiji leads her to a park bench and sits. "Well, I just wanted to talk to you and see if you had a change of mind since this morning."

She sits beside him and looks to the ground. "Yes, I have been doing some thinking, but first I want to thank you for carrying me inside. You didn't have to; it would have been fine to wake me up."

"I didn't want to disturb you, you looked so serene and like you needed the sleep so it was no problem for me to carry you inside." He looks to her lowered head. "Is something wrong? Shouldn't I have done that?"

Shizuku looks up to him quickly. "Oh no, it was alright, I'm just saying that I don't want to be a burden to you."

He reaches out tentatively and holds her hand. "You are never a burden to me. When I was in Italy, the thought of you and how I wanted to care for you helped me to study harder and show my skills to my master. I want to care for you, Shizuku, if you will let me?"