Chapter 10

Hitomi sighed in annoyance, erasing another answer she wasn't sure of with the eraser on the other end of her pencil. All in all the test wasn't as hard as she imagined it to be, at least in terms of the big questions, but somehow the small ones made it really hard due to them not being discussed in their entirely during lectures.

Taking a deep breath she scribbled her answer, not entirely sure if it was correct this time, but she didn't give a damn now. Time was running out on her.

"Five more minutes." The teacher announced. The brunette took a quick look at the papers in front of her. There were still some unanswered questions, but most of it she was sure she got right. Thinking for a moment she decided on just winging them, writing down what she felt was an appropriate answer to the question. At the very least she was sure she had over 50 percent in the bag, which was a pass and it wasn't a pure Multiple-choice test, so any wrong answer wouldn't bring her into negatives.

She put her pen down exactly in the moment her teacher passed her, taking her paper with a simple "Miss Buchfink." Hitomi felt a trickle of sweat run down her neck. That was a close one.

Taking off her reading glasses she slumped back in her seat, putting away her things and then tilted her head back, closing her eyes. Finally done.

The whole day had been nothing but tests, tests and tests, but she had known what she would get herself into when she entered University so she wouldn't complain.

Opening her eyes she grabbed her bag from the back of the chair and walked out of the lecture room and down the hall, making her way down the stairs and out of the huge double doors.

Once outside a smile crept onto her face, feeling her vigor return with every step she took towards the cafeteria of the University. Inside she decided on the macaroni and cheese and looked for a place to sit. She didn't need to look long, finding Viktor sitting alone at one of the tables, looking worse for the wear and his hair out of place, like he had ruffled through it more than once.

"Hey." She greeted cheerfully, gliding towards the opposite seat from him. He lifted his gaze from his half-eaten food. "You like look hell."

"Yeah semester finals can do that to you. I swear I'll sleep the whole day tomorrow." He yawned in emphasis and took another bite, eyeing her. She smiled at him, starting to eat her own meal.

"So how did you do?" he asked.

"I think I did well, or at least I hope so. I busted my ass over the last weeks to prepare for the finals. Would be a real downer if that was for nothing. And you?"

"I think I lost a few years of my lifespan thinking on some answers. At least feels like it." He blew on the food on his fork to cool it down a bit.

They ate in comfortable silence. Out of the blue Hitomi started humming cheerfully, much to her friend's annoyance.

"And why the hell are you so chipper?"

"Hehe can't you guess?" Hitomi grinned, resting her head on her left hand, wiggling on her seat a little bit.

"Sorry. My capability of guessing has been utterly destroyed for the day, so care to enlighten me?"

"My soon-to-be vacation!"

"Oh yeah. Totally forgot about that one. You wanted me to water your plants again, right?"

"That'll be great, yeah." Hitomi continued to eat, becoming more and more excited by the minute, Viktor noted.

"Jeez," he snickered. "You're acting like some girl that goes on her first date. You sure you there isn't something you wanna tell me?"

"Hey," she narrowed her eyes at him and pursed her lips. "I had a few dates" And a little more than that, she added in her mind. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Are you telling yourself that every day before you sleep-Hey!" He was hit square in the face by a flung macaroni, the cheese dripping onto his glasses. He took the noodle between pointer and thumb and placed it onto the table before proceeding to clean his glasses. "Yeah, I think I deserved that one"

"Good, because you did" she told him simply.

After cleaning his glasses he put them back onto his nose, adjusting them. "Well at least you got yourself a good distraction from anxiously waiting for the test results. So any plans on what you girls are gonna do?"

"Well I suppose she will show me around town, and then we figure it out as we go"

"Good plan" he said dryly.

"We could also go to the beach, I heard they had some."

That got his attention all of a sudden. "Well bring me back a souvenir. Like maybe the number of a hot chick who's preferably fluent in English"

"Sure, anything else?"

He seemed to seriously ponder about this. "I like them with big boobs, a great butt would help too."

Hitomi only rolled her eyes as they resumed eating in silence. After they were finished they separated at the campus gate, Viktor mentioning that he still had something to do, so Hitomi made her way home alone.

Back home she took a quick shower since she didn't have the chance this morning, finished her other, more private hygiene and dressed herself in a simple long T-shirt (one of many she wore in bed) and went ahead to prepare for her upcoming trip, even though it would still be roughly a week away it was better to be prepare. She had already booked and paid her tickets so that only left her with packing.

As she gathered the clothes she would take with her to China she had to confess that Viktor was right though. She was pretty damn nervous and excited by the prospect of visiting her friend and getting a chance to see one of the most prominent cities of all Asia.

Her face flushed a bit and her face spread into a grin. This was gonna be great!

But really, her being like some girl all giddy because of her first date. "Viktor is full of crap sometimes." She murmured, opening a drawer and debating with herself if she should bother taking a jacket. It was still summer and China is usually warmer than Germany by a mile.

In the end she decided not to pack one. And if worse comes to worse I just buy myself one over there.

The brunette checked the calendar on the far wall of her bedroom, just beside the bed. Now that her finals were done she had some time to do other things. She had already told her father she would help him fulltime the week before she went to visit Leifang to compensate for the time she would be away, even though her father had told her it would be fine, but it just seemed fair to her.

Today she would just laze around her apartment though. It's been a while since she just did that, just a nice day by herself on her couch with the TV and maybe the one or two sinfully tasty treats. But before that she would train a little.

Hitomi opened her balcony doors to let some fresh air. She always trained in front of it, simply by the fact that she had the most space in that corner of her apartment.

Going through her katas she wondered what her friend was up to right now. Probably still sleeping if she remembered the time difference right. She punched the air, first with a low, then with a high aimed punch, before spinning around and doing a flying kick.

As she landed she went into the traditional karate pose. "Osu!"

Just in that moment a strong gust of wind blew into the room from the balcony, causing her already slightly raised up T-shirt to expose her lower body. With an "Eep!" she grabbed the shirt and pulled it down, blushing fiercely and just hoping that no one saw that she was going commando.

"Shit!" she swore and slammed the balcony door shut.

"Yes Mother, I'm sure it's fine!" The Chinese sighed into her phone, held between her shoulder and neck. "Really I'm not a teenager anymore. I think I can entertain a guest for a few weeks."

"I wasn't implying that you couldn't. I was just wondering if it wouldn't be better if you two came over and stay with us." Her mother said, soothingly over the line. Leifang rolled her eyes before looking at the two women sitting on each side of her tending to her finger nails.

She was at her most favorite manicurist in Hong Kong, wanting to have a day of absolute 'Me time' before she had to prepare everything for her friend's arrival. But apparently even that wasn't allowed to her these days, because her mother had decided to call and propose her grand idea of them staying over. Yeah right. I don't need someone looking over my shoulder when my friend is visiting.

"I mean we have a bigger place and I'm sure your father wouldn't mind. In fact he would be delighted to meet your friend, as would I."

"Mother, my place is big enough for her and me, I have a guest room after all, " She looked down to the woman who was giving her a pedicure, looking as if she didn't even notice the argument her client was having over the phone. "And I have Zhen, who will be there once a day. So I don't think I need an additional chaperone or two. But I promise you that we will come visit you."

On the other side of the line Zeng sighed, knowing that there wouldn't be any arguing with her daughter. "I suppose that is all I can ask for then."

"Love you, Mother. Bye."

"I love you too. And don't forget to call." Leifang motioned the manicurist to stop for a moment, hung up the phone and laid it back onto the table.

The Chinese took a deep breath and let the woman resume her work, closing her eyes. She felt just tired today and started to doze off a little. In her mind's eye she saw the face of someone who had been on her mind for years upon years, disregarding and beating her every time, showing her no respect until the day she had beaten him. She had noticed that her feelings for the man had changed, from the desire to beat him to a desire of another kind, dare she say love?

A gentle shake on her shoulder got her wide awake again, and she nodded a yes when she was asked if she wanted some nail polish. Nodding she choose clear nail polish, not in the mood for any certain color at the moment.

She went back to dozing off again, this time seeing the grinning face of her friend back when they were on their vacation on Zack Island sharing a cone of ice-cream, and felt the corners of her lips turn upwards.

It was early evening by the time she came back home, dropping her purse on the table and sinking down on the sofa.

"Did you have a nice day, miss?" asked her housekeeper, putting a cup of Oolong tea and a small bowl of almond tofu onto the small table in front of her.

"Yes, thank you." Leifang answered, taking the cup into her hand, inhaling it's aroma before taking a generous sip from it. "I needed that."

The other woman stood beside the table, looking calmly at her. Leifang drank another sip from the tea and put it back onto the table. "We have to do a few things. I will have a visitor for a few weeks, so the guestroom needs to be prepared, and we need to buy more groceries."

"I will take care of it." She said, bowing curtly. A smile made its way across her thin lips. "You seem to be eager for your friend to visit. It has been a while since I saw you like this."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"These past few years you have been so...focused I would say. Like there was something that needed to be done. But ever since you returned you seem more lighthearted again." She bowed again. "I will take care of the preparations." With that she took her leave, leaving Leifang alone in her musings.

Was she really coming off as different?

Unconsciously she lifted her hand up, touching her cheek where Hitomi had kissed her goodbye. When she realized what she had done she chuckled to herself. Spending more time with her friend was probably the cause of that.

It felt good and did keep her mind of more troubling things. Smiling to herself she took another sip of her tea and started to eat her delicious dessert, looking out of the large window and enjoying the view over the city.

The week couldn't pass more quickly.

Hitomi, Hitomi, Hitomi. Haven't you learned a thing?
Germany can be a windy place at times.

Next up the vacation. Dis gun be good.

Until next week, guys.