Being mad with Haruhi was harder than I had thought.
Well, not the being mad part. It was her own fault that we were at ends with each other. I mean, if she hadn't spoken about Yuki-chan behind her back so harshly, then none of this would even be happening. And I was ready to put it all behind us so long as she apologized. But I forgot how hard-headed Haruhi was.
It had already been a week since our fight (if you can really can it that), and I haven't had so much as a word from Haruhi. She mostly spent the week with the fan girls, arguing over who was the hottest and giggling over forbidden pictures of the Night Class. Whenever we had the same class, she would always sit up front with the others and if we bumped into each other she would simply ignore me and act as if I wasn't even there.
And at the rate things were going, I guess I wasn't. Haruhi had been my only friend at Cross Academy. Now, without her, I was alone. At first I could deal with it. It was actually enjoyable. No more nagging, no unexpected sleepovers, no constant gossip or Night Class news. But as the days went on, I was growing more and more lonesome. Classes held no interest without Haruhi whispering in my ear about how bad the teacher looked that day, lunch was just another meal, and any free time that I would normally spend reading was spent staring into space. I just couldn't focus on anything. I was feeling worse with each day. And the worse part? Haruhi still ignored me.
It was friday when things started looking up. I was sitting in my usual seat in the back of the class, drawing random doodles on my notebook when I heard a chair pull up beside me. Startled (the seats around me were usually empty) I turned to see that it was none other than Yuki-chan.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" Yuki-chan asked me.
"No, go ahead," I said, setting my pencil down. She smiled as she set her books down and took her seat. I looked around and noticed that Yori-chan was nowhere to be seen. "Um, Yuki-chan, where's Yori-chan?" I asked.
"Oh, she's in bed with a cold," Yuki-chan replied. "It's nothing serious, but she's going to take the day off so that she can concentrate on getting better."
I nodded and was about to return to my doodling when I heard an unusual amount of noise. I lifted my head to try and find the source of the sound, and immediatly wished that I hadn't.
A group of girls had just walked into class, Haruhi among them. She was chatting animatedly with another girl and was about to continue when she noticed me sitting in the back. Even from where I sat, I could still see her eyes go wide as she stopped midsentence, probably because she saw me sitting next to Yuki-chan. Haruhi clamped her mouth shut, then turned away from me and sat down in the front, not sparing me another glance. Great.
I sunk into my seat, slightly more miserable than I was a few moments ago. It seemed than things weren't going to get any better any time soon.
"Are you all right, Mitsuki-chan?"
I turned to face a concerned Yuki. "I'm fine," I said as I sat up. "Why do you ask?"
"I just noticed that you've been spending less time with Tsukino-san," she said as she opened a textbook. "Did you two have a fight?"
"Yeah," I said. "It was just a silly little thing, though. I guess Haruhi just needs more time to calm down."
"I see," Yuki-chan said.
We were both quiet for a moment. Yuki-chan began to search for something, lifting books and looking on the floor. Finally, I realised what she was missing. "Here, Yuki-chan," I said as I held out an extra pencil. "You can borrow mine if you want."
Yuki looked relieved. "Thank you Mistuki-chan," she said as she took it. "I think that I'll have to go to town tomorrow and get some more, since they keep disapearing on me." She frowned. "Oh, wait, Yori's still sick," she said, more to herself than me. "I'll have to wait until she's better."
"Why is that?" I asked.
She turned to me. "Oh, um... well, noramlly we always go together," she said. "I don't like going to town alone."
"Oh," I said. Then, "Well, if you don't want to go alone, why don't I go with you?"
"Really?" Yuki-chan said in surprise.
"Yeah," I said. "I needed to go and pick up some stuff anyway. Going together would be more fun."
"Okay then," Yuki-chan said. "Then why don't you meet me at the gate at 11?"
"Sure," I agreed, as the teacher walked in. Yuki-chan smiled and suddenly, things didn't seem so bad. Saturday was going to be a good day.
~,~'~,~'~,~
I was just about to turn the lights out later on that night when I heard tapping on my window. I turned and was delighted to see that it was none other than Tamaki-sempai. I jumped up from bed and ran to open the window.
"Good evening," Tamaki-sempai said as he crawled into my room.
"Hi," I said. "It's good to see you again."
He smiled. "I would have come sooner, but I didn't want to set off the alarm." he said. "You know, make anyone suspicious," he added when he saw my confused look.
"Oh," I said. "That makes sense, I guess."
"So," he said as he sat down on the other bed. "What's new with you?" he asked.
"Nothing much," I said, deciding that I wouldn't bring Haruhi into the conversation. "You?"
He shrugged. "Just the same old Night Class stuff." He glanced at me. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"
"No. Why would you think that?" I asked.
Another shrug. "It just looks like you have something on your mind."
"Well," I said as I sat down on my bed. "It's just that... i'm just friendless at the moment. That's all."
"Friendless?" he asked, clearly confused.
I started fidgeting with my fingers. "I, uh, got into a fight with my only friend," I said. " It's really silly, actually. We were just talking, having a normal conversation. But then Haruhi, my friend, and another girl started saying some stuff that was really nasty and I just... left. The last thing I said to her was that when she had finished growing up she should come find me. She hasn't spoken to me since."
He leaned back as he ran a hand through his hair. "It doesn't seem that silly to me," he said. "I guess it just depends on what was said. What was the 'nasty stuff ' anyway? And how did it all start in the first place?"
"Well, I was just asking them why they disliked Yuki-chan so much..."
"Yuki-chan?" he asked. "Oh! Now I get it."
"You do?"
"Yep. I know how the Day Class girls treat Cross-san, so it's not that hard to imagine what's been said. It's nice of you to stand up for her, though. Not many people would."
My hands turned into fists. "I know, and that's what I don't understand! I mean, what's Yuki-chan ever done to them? They're only jealous of her because she's a Guardian and a good person. I mean, look at Kiryu-sempai! He may be a Guardian be he's so tough that no one would even dare say something about him. So they pick on Yuki-chan instead. Those jerks!"
Tamaki-sempai laughed. "Boy, I never want to be your bad side!" he said. "I don't think I'd be able to handle the heat."
I blushed a little. "Sorry. I guess I was ranting a bit."
"It's okay, it's actually healthy to rant every now and again," he said as he got up and sat down beside me. "Anyway, don't worry about your friend. She'll realise that's she's being silly and when she does she'll be right at your door. Until then, isn't there someone you could hang out with?"
"Well, I'm going to run some errands in town with Yuki-chan tomorrow," I said.
He smiled. "That's great!" he said as he wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders. "You see? Things are getting better already. And don't forget, you'll never be friendless while you're at this school."
"Why's that?" I asked
His eyes softened a little and his smile grew warm. "Because you'll always have me."
At that, I could only smile as I rested my head on his shoulder, my eyes fluttering closed. We stayed like that for a bit, until I had to ruin the moment with a big yawn. He looked down at me. "Am I keeping you up?" he asked me.
"N-no!" I said, trying to keep my eyes open. "I'm fine, really."
He sighed. "You know, it's not good to stay up when it's obvious that you're tired." He got up. "I should go now, let you sleep."
"No!" I jumped up and grabbed his arm. He looked down at me and I blushed again, determined to stare at nothing but my betraying hands. "I mean... don't go yet. I just... you haven't been here long and... well... I don't get to see you often... and, um..." I was struggling to form a complete sentence while trying to get over my embarrasement.
I heard him chuckle. "Okay. How about I stay with you until you fall asleep?"
I looked up at him. "Really?"
He nodded. "Sure. But you have to promise to sleep."
"Alright," I said, letting go of his arm. I went over to the side of my bed and pulled the covers down. As I slipped under them, Tamaki-sempai came up beside me and pulled the covers back over me so that I was all tucked in. I giggled a little.
"What?" he asked as he sat down next to me.
"It's just, the last time I was tucked in like that was when I was living with my mom," I said. "She used to sing to me all the time, or tell me one of her famous bedtime stories."
He looked down at me, something unreadable flashing in his eyes. "Do you miss her?" he asked me.
"Yeah," I said. "But it's okay. She wants me to be happy, and she wants the best for me." I felt my smile slip a bit. "I haven't seen her since I started going her, though. So I get lonely sometimes."
He titled his head. "She does come to visit?" he asked.
I shook my head. "It's not that she doesn't want to, though," I said. "It's just that she doesn't have the money. We had to save up for quite some time so that I could go to the Academy. I go and she her during the holidays, when I can save up enough money for transport fees."
"She must love you a lot," Tamaki-sempai said.
I nodded. "Yeah," I said.
"What's she like?" he asked me.
"Well, she's got short, red hair," I said. "She's kinda short, and she's pretty thin. She doesn't look anything like me. Except for the eyes." I sighed, feeling more and more tired. "I'll have to show you a picture of her sometime." He stayed quiet, as though he were thinking. "What is it?"
He looked at me. "I was just wondering what happened to your dad. I don't mean to pry,it's just..."
I shook my head. "It's okay," I said. "My dad died when I was small."
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Don't be," I told him. "I don't remember him at all, so it doesn't hurt me or anything. At least I know that he loved me." I laughed, though it sounded sad to my ears. "The day that he died, he was coming to my dance recital. I really sucked at dancing though, so I told him not to come. But he came anyway." The memory was faded, and his face was nothing more than a blur. I looked at Tamaki-sempai, who had grown quiet. "What about your parents?"
"What about my parents?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know. What are they like? What do they look like? Do you miss them? Things like that," I said.
He shrugged. "I don't really wanna talk about them. They're pretty much like any other parent, nothing too special," he said. I wondered why he didn't talk about them, but I was losing the war against sleep, and my eyes were closing ever so slowly. "That's enough talk," Tamaki-sempai said, tucking some of my hiar behind my ear. "You promised me you would sleep."
I smiled as my eyes closed completely. "Thank... you... for...stay..."
And as the world went dark as I was lost beneath the waves of sleep, the last thing I felt was a pair of soft, warm lips as they brushed against my forehead.
*puddling sits in the middle of the floor, waving*
Hi guys, sorry about this...one sec...
*turns into NutMaeg*
There we go! Sorry, but this chapter had me absolutely melting! God, those two have such chemistry toghether! And that last bit... KYA!
And Tamaki-sempai is right. Ranting is good for your health!
...well, not in my case. I rant waaaayyyyyyy too much.
*walks away while evilly laughing*
See ya later!
