Differing Paths...
Chapter Five
Two girls stood on the old stone bridge. Their high school graduation ceremony had ended, and it was one of the rare times they had been alone. The shorter of the two was incredibly awkward, and had been trying to find the words to say since they had met. They were friends, but that wasn't enough for her, and she knew that there was potential. She was teetering on the edge of crying from not being able to think quickly enough. It had been three years, but why couldn't she have said something until now? This was the time. She prepared herself, opened her mouth, and as she was about to spit out the words, the taller of them cut her off. "I know what you're about to say,", she said, her hair blowing lightly in the breeze, "and it's mutual.". The othergirl had no idea what to say. She quivered slightly, and said, "Really? Because...", "I love you.". She finished the other's sentence, and they looked into each other's eyes. The taller of the two grabbed the other, and whispered, "I never knew when to say it...". The embracee was about to freak out from joy, but suddenly, the taller one shut out her cries with a kiss. The wind continued blowing lightly, and they remained in the embrace. The taller of them began unbuttoning the shorter's shirt. "No... Not here...", she whispered, only to be met with a firm, "I don't care who sees.". They began tearing at each other's clothes on the bridge as the sunset. They laid down on the bridge and... Kaorin never made it that far. It was already over by the time she had gotten to the good part, but it was always enough. She was only really waiting for the main event. She was lucky to be able to get an apartment with a decent view of Sakaki's, as well as one with blinds rather than curtains, as to be less suspicious. It was ten PM, fairly late, but Kaorin didn't mind losing sleep. She looked into the binoculars and looked towards the entrance of Sakaki's apartment. Kaorin hadn't been able to tell Sakaki what she felt, and swore that she would one day. She would reveal her presence as 'happening to be a neighbor', and they would fall in love. It was the way it was meant to be. And although she would be willing to do anything for Sakaki, Kaorin had no idea what work Sakaki would be doing that would cause her to be out unt. Suddenly, Sakaki entered her apartment, wearing the same cold expression she spent most of the time, though seemingly more than usual. Kaorin looked on intently, and began thinking about the old stone bridge, hoping Sakaki would take a shower. Suddenly, Sakaki began putting her coat back on, having grabbed a couple things. Kaorin, who spent all of her other spare time following her, ran to her dresser, put on some underwear, grabbed her work-jeans off the floor, put them on, and ran out the door. She sprinted through her apartment, and on the first couple blocks before Sakaki's apartment. She suddenly went into a slower walk, and began sticking near crowds of people in the street. She needed to make sure she had a view of Sakaki, as not to waste her time. She saw that Sakaki was wearing a rather full-looking backpack, and wondered what she was doing with that amount of supplies. It was eleven PM on a Thursday, and Kaorin's life was about to change forever. Sakaki turned down an alleyway, and Kaorin quickly followed, though seeing that Sakaki had stopped in the alleyway, she ducked back out around the corner. She looked over enough that she couldn't be seen. Sakaki first pulled out a strange object from the backpack, black and shiny against the unlit concrete. It was... a wakizashi. Kaorin gasped, but as quietly as she could. Sakaki pulled out a large hood with a mysterious symbol scrawled across the front. Her shock soon turned into one of excitement, of obsession justified. She felt like she could do anything at that moment. Sakaki sheathed the blade and hid it in the hood, then put on the hood. She moved up a fire escape as quick as a flash, and Kaorin chased after her, believing to be able to play herself off as a capable partner in crime. She followed Sakaki, who soon jumped across a rooftop. Kaorin was deadly afraid of heights, but decided to run as quickly as she could to build up momentum. She jumped, and landed on the next roof, feeling like someone completely different. She kept going, following after Sakaki, trying to saty to the roofs with the most shadows and the smallest spaces between them. Sakaki looked back for a second, and Kaorin dove to the ground. She hit her nose on the ground. She felt a snap, and her nostrils began bleeding. She decided that, for Sakaki, she would keep going. What if something bad happened? Kaorin imagined Sakaki falling, only for her to catch her, and smiled, trying to ignore her injury and her lack of breath. Kaorin looked off the side of the rooftops, and saw that they were approaching Shinjuku. She wondered what business Sakaki would have in Shinjuku in the middle of the night. She ran out of breath, but kept running. Suddenly, a few roofs away, Sakaki began to weave erratically. "I wonder what's happeni-". At that moment, Kaorin was nearly shot. She fell, and stared at the ground where the bullet hit. She hadn't been affected, but the adrenaline hit her like a semi-truck. She stared at the hole in the rooftop, and thought that that was what could have happened to her. She just... stared. For another several seconds, she stood there and considered what could have been. She pulled a tissue, noticing that the blood from her nose was pooling around her. The police report said that there was a second robber, who was hit by the first lucky sniper to get a shot in at a miraculous six-hundred meters (the fact he was able to do so helped to get him a raise), and who bled out while trying to keep up with the first robber, and most likely died in the street below, but no body was found. She sat there, and started hearing more gunshots. Kaorin thought about the horrible things happening to Sakaki, and stood up, only to see that most of the snipers were gone, and that Sakaki was on top of the Opera City Art Gallery, with who she was unaware of as Tomo, holding her own with her sword. "Goooo, Sakaki!", Kaorin shouted as loud as she could, not caring if it gives them away or if Sakaki became aware of her presence. She quickly realized that no one could shout that far, and continued watching, cheering to herself. Suddenly, she saw Sakaki make a quick, sweeping slash. She shouted again, "Yeaaah, Sakaki! You can do it!". Suddenly, Sakaki jumped into the skylight. Kaorin began freaking out, and running towards the Opera City Gallery hoping to save her, holding her tissue up to her face. Suddenly, Kaorin heard, "I hope this gets to you, you fucking asshole!", and a helicopter flew over. It suddenly swerved into the skylight in a blaze. Kaorin fell to the ground. She was about to start crying, but a sudden burst of determination caused her to climb down a ladder and run straight there as fast as she could. She felt her nose feeling better, and finally arrived after a few more minutes, only to be passed straight by by Sakaki, running away from the scene, the blood-spattered hood behind her, and sword sheathed to her jeans. A month had passed, and Kaorin was still stalking Sakaki, who had moved in somewhere else, much to her chagrin. Though, it was easier to see Sakaki, who now had all the free time in the world, having sold the near-priceless artifact on the black market for two billion yen. She lived in a penthouse apartment, convieniently placed near a hotel, which Kaorin could use for in-home surveillance, as well as to make her "Oh, I was just in the hotel..." introduction as planned. One would think Kaorin would be put off by the revelation of her object of obsession as a cat-burglar, but that just made it harder to keep from following her. Soon afterwards, dependant on her "Hey, I was just around..." plan, in addition to a sizable savings account she had built up, she quit her job and began following Sakaki 24/7. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), she could never possibly afford the rent in the area Sakaki now lived in, prime real estate near quite a few shopping districts. Kaorin went to bed, laid down, and sighed.
"Sakaki..."