Chapter 18: Confession

How long are they going to keep that up? Nao stood at the back porch and watched the kissing pair with an amused grin on her face.

Mai and the upside down Mikoto had been kissing quite animatedly for a while. They were so engrossed in their oral entanglement, they had no idea they were being watched.

Good God. Mikoto can really use her tongue, she isn't called a catgirl for nothing. Someone is going to have a very satisfying sex life. I guess Mikoto won't be needing my 'guidance' anymore. Feeling strangely lonely, Nao shrugged off the unpleasant emptiness in her chest and left the two lip-locked (tongue-locked) lovebirds to their business.

The stretch of beach was gradually swallowed by the advancing tide. As the tide got higher, the waves grew higher as well. Calm glowing water turned to walls of ghastly cobalt flames as the water surged with the force of the rising tide. The wind was also picking up speed, and in turn the ocean grew more turmoil.

"Hmph. Looks like a typhoon is coming." Natsuki commented. She was only watching the glowing sea from a good distance away because any sensible person wouldn't carelessly get into the salty seawater while having wounds all over one's body.

Speaking of sensibility, Kruger learned that the hard way. She had completely forgotten about the tiny cuts she received from her fight with Miyu earlier that day and jumped head first into the ocean when she saw those pretty blue sparks. Needless to say, she was ushered out of the water by her concerned girlfriend, and straight to the shower they went.

Shizuru was secretly relieved that Natsuki couldn't play with the glowing water. She didn't think she would fare too well seeing blue sparks glittering all around her most beloved person. The Kyoto born still had nightmare of Natsuki greensparking while leaving her all alone. Of course, she never told anyone about her nightmare, but she knew Natsuki understood her unspoken fear. The fact that the biker's soft warm hand was squeezing tightly at her own cold one the whole time was enough indication.

Natsuki is so sweet. How fortunate I am to be allowed to know her as the tender girl she is, instead of the uncaring ice queen she makes others believe her to be. Leaning down, Shizuru wrapped her arms around the raven-haired girl and whispered. "Aishiteru."

Not surprisingly, Natsuki's natural reaction was to blush at her girlfriend's confession of love. For a second there, Shizuru was a little worried that the girl's head might explode. However, the bashful biker didn't yell at the Kyoto girl nor faint from embarrassment. She mumbled something hastily to her girlfriend, and it took Shizuru a few seconds to decipher the barely audible grunt of a reply.

It was 'I love you too', and it was clear that Natsuki didn't mean it as a friend, but as a girlfriend. The light peck on her lips following the reply told her that.

Then it was Shizuru's turn to do a ripe tomato impression.

"Look at those two. No wonder Nao called them 'the Honeymooners'." Chie grinned at the embracing couple, although slightly disappointed that she had left her cameraphone back in the cottage.

"Duh!" Aoi hit her forehead with her palm. "Nao! I totally forgot! We didn't untie her. She is going to be so pissed!"

"Good guess." Nao snickered and cracked her knuckles. Before the duo even had a chance to defend themselves, the redhead had jumped them from behind, and then it's a start of another round of splash fight.

"Girls, it's getting cold, we should all head back to the house. It looks like rain." The only responsible adult waved at everyone in the water to get their attention. As the school nurse, Youko didn't want to see any of them getting sick while in her care.

Most of them complied, but not Haruka.

"We'll be back in a minute." Haruka waved back at the woman. She wanted to spend some alone time with her best friend.

"Haruka-chan?"

The blond puffed her cheeks up. "I went through all that trouble to show YOU the glowing stuff, not them." She was sulking a little. "So? Do you like it?"

"Heh?" Yukino blinked.

Haruka crossed her arms. "The gift, what else. Do you like the gift I got you?"

"What gift?"

Haruka was close to ripping her hair out in frustration. "The glowing dingo... flag thingy of course. Come on, do you like it or not?"

Yukino finally figured out what her friend was trying to say. She smiled shyly and nodded. "I like it very much, Haruka-chan." Tottemo sukidesu, Haruka-chan.

The blond grinned at the reply. "Great, I'm glad you like it. Happy anniversary. Now let's go back before it rains." She took her friend's hand and headed toward the cottage, but Yukino just stood there with her head bowed.

I should tell her. It's wrong to keep lying to her. I have to tell her... I can't tell her. I am so afraid...

"Yukino?" The timid girl's hand was trembling in her own. Haruka's brows knitted together in concern.

"... very much." Came a breathy whimper.

Haruka took a step closer. "I can't hear you."

Yukino's palms were sweating. She took a deep breath and tried again. "I... very much." The sentence was barely louder than a whisper, her wimpy voice was easily drowned out by the sounds of waves crashing against the beach.

Haruka's frown deepened. "What do I always tell you? You've got to speak up, otherwise no one will be able to hear..."

"I like you very much." She felt she might have a panic attack right there and then. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Now I've done it, I've really gone and said it. What do I do now? The timid girl squeezed her eyes shut and waited to be rejected out right. Her face was turning slightly green because she was so scared, she forgot to breathe.

"Yukino..." Haruka sighed and scratched her head. "I know that already."

"Heh?" Yukino shot her head up and stared at her best friend with her mouth hanging open. She knew? "But how... Why..."

"Well, it's pretty obvious, actually. Let's see..." Haruka counted with her fingers. "You always said you were going to marry me back in kindergarten; you doodled in your notebooks about us kissing; you always blush when I hold your hand; you wrote in your diary about how much you like me and your mom read it and told my mom and my mom told me; you made me chocolate every Valentine's Day but left it at home and your mom passed it to my mom and my mom passed it to me and I had to put it back because it's not right to eat it without your permission..."

Yukino plopped down on the sandy beach in defeat. "You... you may stop now. That's enough."

"But I got more..."

"Just stop, please." Spare me the embarrassment...

"Well, if you say so."

Yukino wasn't sure if she should cry or laugh at this point. All those sleepless nights spent suffering over her impossible love, all those frustrated tears shed over the guilt and shame of her sexuality, now they all seemed moronically pointless. She knew. She knew it all along, yet she never said anything... Yukino felt cheated.

"Why didn't you say anything to me?" She asked, her tone slightly more accusing than she had liked. It's not Haruka-chan's fault, I can only blame myself, but... "You are so cruel." Her voice broke, and the tears that were threatening to come out finally did.

"Yu... Yukino..." Haruka knelt down and put her hand on her friend's head awkwardly. She was used to defend a crying Yukino against bullies or flying cockroaches or whatever that might come at them, but she had no idea what to do when she herself was the cause for upsetting the tender girl. "Don't cry. I'm stupid so I don't know what exactly I did wrong, but I know it's all my fault. You can hit me if you like."

"Yukino took off her glasses and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I don't want to hit you." She said and put her glasses back on.

"Come on, just hit me. It will make you feel better." The blond lured.

"I am not going to hit you."

"Come on, hit me."

"I don't..."

"Hit me!"

Yukino clenched her fists and hit her best friend square in the solar plexus. The light but well positioned jab made the blond double over and hiss in pain. "Ah! I'm so sorry, Haruka-chan!. I didn't mean to hit you that hard." She cringed at Haruka's pained expression.

"I'm ok, don't worry about me. How about you? Are you feeling better now?" Haruka asked while rubbing her aching stomach.

The timid girl nodded, her head still bowed, but she was not crying anymore. Instead, she was wearing a dark blush on her cheeks. What should I do now? Yukino's mind was still teetering on the brink of an all out panic.

The bright fullmoon light made the redness on the bashful girl's face easy to see. Haruka wasn't sure if her friend was really alright like she claimed to be. "Are you sure you are alright? I'm pretty sturdy, you know, you can hit me again and again until you are completely satisfied."

Yukino shook her head. "I don't think violence is the solution here." She paused and bit her bottom lip, trying to control her voice so that it wouldn't sound too emotional. "Why did you not tell me about this sooner?"

Haruka crossed her arms and answered. "I thought you didn't want me to know, with all that secrecy and all. So I tried to respect your wish. I figured you must have your reasons. Besides, you are still in high school, much too young to rush into a relationship. Young people nowadays need to have higher moral fatigue like we do."

"You meant 'moral fibre'..."

"That's what I said. You should wait until you are at least eighteen. Don't be like that bubuzuke-onna, corrupting underage youths everywhere she goes..."

Yukino blinked at Haruka's comments. So does that mean Haruka-chan was only opposing Fujino-san and Natsuk-san's relationship because Natsuki-san was too young? No... It can't be just that. Now she was confused, and she had to clear that up. "Haruka-chan, I thought you are homophobic."

"What?" Haruka was appalled by that suggestion. "You thought what? What made you think I'm homophobic? I may be traditional but I am not a gay-hater!"

"But you said 'as a female, having affection toward another female is disgusting' that night when we saw Fujino-san kissing Natsuki-san."

"Well..." Haruka fidgeted while trying to find the right words to explain herself. "I guess I did say something like that, huh... But to be honest, if Fujino were a man, I would still be outraged for what had happened that night. She was the President of the Student Council for crying out loud. And there she went and sexually harassed her best friend in her sleep. I was angry and extremely disappointed, so I chose the worst words to attack her. It's a low blow, I know, but I didn't really mean it, I just wanted to hurt her, like how she had hurt me. What she did was a total let down that was unfitting of being my rival."

Yukino felt her heart might explode with overjoy. "You mean... you are not homophobic?"

Haruka's brow twitched impatiently. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not homophobic. Homophobia is wrong and I'm never wrong."

"So... You don't think I am disgusting?"

"You listen to me." The blond grabbed her best friend's shoulders firmly with both hands and stared straight into her eyes. "Don't you ever think of yourself like that again. Do you hear me? Never. You are a wonderful person, Yukino. A kind, gentle girl whom I adore dearly. I am truly fortunate to be your friend. So don't belittle yourself."

Yukino couldn't hold back anymore. She let out a choked sob and tackled the blond, desperately clinging onto her friend in a fierce embrace. "Haruka-chan... I was so afraid... I love you so much... I thought I would lose you..." She was trembling with too much emotion.

Haruka chuckled. "You will never lose me, Yukino. Didn't I come back from the dead to be with you?" She ruffled her friend's short brown hair lovingly and grinned. "I was planning to wait until you are eighteen, but the hell with that, if this makes you happy." She said, and leaned down to plant a firm kiss on the young girl's agape lips.

Sometimes, breaking the rules IS the right thing to do. Haruka thought, satisfied to hear a tiny muffled moan from her best friend. Imagine that.

Erstin almost passed out from shock when she saw the teal-haired girl standing next to Arika. She is here! She is going to expose me! The blond girl had to cling onto Nina for support because her knees felt like noodles.

"Erstin?" Nina turned her head and frowned slightly at the blond girl, who was obviously frightened and was hiding behind her back.

"Are you alright, miss?" Tomoe asked with a fake smile on her face. "You don't look so well."

"Ers-chan, maybe you should go lie down or something." Arika suggested.

"I am... I am alright. Thank you." Erstin lowered her head and fixed her gaze somewhere on the floor.

Tomoe's smile widened. Interesting. Ers-chan... I see. "So your name is Erstin. What a lovely name. Nice to meet you. I would love to tell you my name and give you a proper self introduction, but I am afraid I have lost my memory. I am so sorry about that."

Erstin shot her head up and stared at the teal-haired girl wide eyes in disbelieve. "You've lost your memory?"

"I'm afraid so." Tomoe sighed.

"She hit her head." Arika explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Erstin mustered a small smile on her pale face, trying hard to appear braver than she really was. "It's nice to meet you too."

TBC

Author's Notes:

1. "I like it very much, Haruka-chan" and "I like you very much, Haruka-chan" sound exactly the same in Japanese. (tottemo sukidesu, Haruka-chan) So basically Yukino confessed straight to Haruka's face when Haruka asked her if she liked the gift. XD

2. I'm not good at writing sticky and sappy romance... Might be a little OOC, but oh well, try to look at it as "character development." :)