Chapter 29

Hitomi simply stood there, looking straight ahead at the Chinese standing there in the middle of the rain. She had wished, hoped that she would see her again, but now that she was here she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her eyes focused solely on her, unconsciously running over her body, taking in everything. She was wearing her blue blazer over a white shirt that was starting to turn transparent due to the rain. Under the hem of the shirt she could make out her black shorts that revealed so much of her well shaped legs that had been haunting her fantasies these past weeks.

The Karateka turned her gaze upward and found herself breathless. Her hair was completely undone, flowing freely down her back, soaking wet. The rain caused small droplets of water run down her face and Hitomi found herself following a particular one that passed her lips.

She could see the lips of her friend form the word "Hitomi..." and tore her eyes away from them, else she might be overtaken by the urge to touch them with her own.

Blue eyes met dark brown ones and she knew that it wasn't her imagination, knew that those beautiful eyes, shining with silent tears, were the real deal.

Slowly she took a step forward, then another one, walking towards the other girl in small steps, her eyes never breaking contact.

God, she's so beautiful she thought as she moved closer. She felt something wet hit her face but didn't pay it any mind. The only thing that mattered was Leifang.

Leifang was here. Her heartbeat went faster with every step she took and she felt it skip a beat when the Chinese started to walk towards her as well.

As they reached each other Hitomi noticed that she was getting considerably soaked and realized that she had dropped her umbrella along the way. She didn't really give a damn though as she found herself drowning in those eyes.

They stopped in front of each other and simply stood there, just looking at each other and the German had to think back to their good bye in Hong Kong where neither of them could get themselves to say something either.

In truth Hitomi had wanted to give Leifang a little piece of her mind for leaving just like that, but now that she was actually facing her she just couldn't do it.

Everything inside her body just wanted to grab and kiss her silly. But she couldn't else she might scare her away once more, so she simply stood there, only looking at her friend, hoping for any sign that she was allowed to touch her, her own eyes brimming with silent tears now.

"Hitomi." she heard Leifang say in an almost whisper. They looked at each other for the longest time and then Hitomi took one last step forward and hugged her to herself. She was wet and cold, but when she rested her head on her shoulder it didn't matter.

She held her breath until she felt her friend's arms circle slowly around her and let out a sigh of relief, breathing in the flowery perfume that the Chinese was wearing.

God, it only became clear to her now how much she had actually missed her. They remained that way for...she didn't know nor did she care for how long.

Eventually they let go of each other, looking at one another. It was Leifang who broke eye contact first, dropping her gaze to the ground.

"I'm sorry..." she said, not being able to stop the tears now. Hitomi placed her right hand gently on the taller girl's cheek, brushing away the tears. She touched Leifang's forehead with her own, their noses brushing against each other.

She could feel her breath against her skin and Hitomi had to do all she could not to capture her friend's lips with her own. Instead she gave her friend a smile.

"It's alright. I'm sorry too."

"But I've just run off an-"

"Shh." Hitomi shushed her, placing her index-finger over Leifang's lips. She needed to say this. "I said it's alright. I won't lie to you; it hurt when you just up and left. But I'm also to blame for not having gone after you, for not explaining myself."

She let out a sigh. "I...would've probably lied at the moment anyways. So let's put this behind us, ok? I forgive you. Do you...do you forgive me?" she asked and felt very insecure all of a sudden.

"There's nothing to forgive." Leifang said. Hitomi let out another sigh of relief and stepped away from the Chinese, sliding her hand down to grasp one of her.

"But listen. What happened that night." now came the part she was half-dreading. "It wasn't an accident caused by alcohol. Ever since Hong Kong I wanted to do that, but I was too afraid of admitting it to myself." She shook her head. "Not anymore."

"I want you to know that I'll always be your friend, no matter what. But I also want us to be more. I know this is weird and I've never dated another girl in my whole life." She grasped her other hand as well, holding each between the two of them and gave them a little squeeze. "But I want to try it with you. I want us to be together."

She watched Leifang as she swallowed hard. The Chinese looked down to their hands and Hitomi already prepared herself for being shot down.

"Just let me down ea-" but she was interrupted by Leifang saying: "I want that too."

Hitomi blinked once. Did she just hear right?

"I want to try it with you too." Leifang repeated and gave her a shy smile. The Karateka felt blood rush into her cheeks, then a grin split her face and she hugged Leifang again, even more enthusiastically now, which Leifang returned laughing that beautiful laugh of hers.

"I – oh wow – you don't know how happy I am right now." Hitomi told her as she backed up a little, still having her arms around the other girl's waist.

The smile that Leifang presented her with was absolutely brilliant. "I think I do know. And I don't want to destroy this moment but I think we should go in, or else we'll both end up getting sick and then we have nobody to look after us."

Hitomi chuckled. "Yeah, just let me get my Umbrella."

She pretty much jumped the way to her umbrella and back, then walked let them both in. As they passed the mailbox she made a mental note of checking it later.

Hitomi sat on her sofa, watching the raindrops fall against the window and simply listened to the sound of the shower in the background. She herself had only opted to dry herself and get rid of the wet clothes, putting on some simple jogging clothes.

She fingered the can in her hand absentmindedly, smiling all the while and generally feeling really good right now, like she was walking on clouds.

She had told her friend how she felt and she had responded in kind.

Her smile turned into a silly grin. She knew she was a little overeager but it felt damn good to be in a relationship again, even if it was only a few minutes old.

She heard the water stop and straightened herself, placing the can on the table, brushing off some imaginary dust from the sofa. Soon after the door opened and Leifang stepped out of the bath, clad in that fuzzy, pink bathrobe that the German never used, hair still damp from the shower.

"Hey." she greeted her.

"Hey." Leifang said as she walked around the sofa, sitting down beside the German. Hitomi could only stare at her, smiling the whole time and the other girl started to shift under her gaze, giving her a nervous smile in return.

"What is it?" she asked her and Hitomi only shook her head.

"Nothing." she answered and, not knowing what to say, grabbed the can. "Are you thirsty?"

The Karateka didn't wait for a reply and simply handed the drink over to her friend...no, girlfriend now.

"Uh thanks, but I'm not really thirsty." she said and put it back onto the table. An uneasy silence settled around them, and Hitomi found herself struggling for anything to say. But the she realized something.

"So," she started, rubbing her hands along her pants. "How do we, make this work. You and me I mean. We're not living in the same country after all and, I-I mean I've got no problem with being in a long distance relationship and-damn why can't this be easy?"

She stopped her rambling when Leifang grasped one of her hands, interlacing their fingers slowly, which made her calm down immediately.

"And here I thought that you would ask me why I didn't come back earlier." the Chinese said, looking up from their joined hands right into her eyes. "I'm really sorry, no please let me say this." she added when Hitomi was about to say something.

Leifang said nothing for a moment and Hitomi just sat there patiently, finding herself brushing her thumb across the skin of her girlfriend's hand, caressing it slowly.

"I needed to think, about the kiss and about what it would mean for me, for you and for us. There was also my history with him." she explained. "During those few weeks I just tried to gather my thoughts and when I couldn't do that I traveled all the way to Shanghai to meet with my Sifu."

A small smile came to her face. "He helped me with making a decision. Not only in regards of us, but also about something else that I've neglected for so long now, but I will get to that soon. After having made my decision I made my peace with the past and decided to look to the future." she blushed slightly. "With you."

The Karateka felt her face heat up and she knew that she was blushing bright crimson as well. "And what happened then?"

"I met with my father, and had to make some preparations that took until a few days ago. Most importantly..."

Leifang leaned slightly towards Hitomi, her smile growing wider. 'Had to learn German basics.' she said in rather heavy accented German. The German could only gape at her, and suspected that she gave a very good goldfish performance.

"You see: I've decided to start studying again and I'll do it here. The paperwork is all done and I got a place of my own not far from the university, in fact I moved right in yesterday when I arrived. A present from my father, or so he told me, for my mature decision." Leifang shrugged. "So starting next week I'm an official student at the Albert Ludwigs University."

Oh god, Hitomi could kiss her!

"That's, wow I don't know what to say." she brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and licked her lips absentmindedly. "So you're staying here?"

Leifang nodded.

Hitomi gathered her in another tight hug, and, upon letting go, found herself face to face with the Chinese. She swallowed hard and leaned forward slowly, closing her eyes as she did so. Their lips were only a hair's breadth apart when Leifang suddenly pulled away, causing her to open her eyes again and look at her in confusion.

"Sorry...I'm still new at this, and I know it's silly since we already kissed once, but I might need a bit more time to grow comfortable with this." Leifang said casting her eyes downward. The brunette simply leaned forward and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"It's fine, let's take it slow then." Hitomi smiled. "Your German is pretty good by the way."

"No it's not." Leifang shook her head.

"But it is, considering you only had about a month you sound fine."

"Well I still have my problems, especially when it comes to reading and the grammar, but I guess now it comes in handy that I have a talent for languages."

"Well if you want I can give you some pointers." Hitomi said and caught herself doing so in a rather flirty voice.

"Oh is that so?" Leifang raised an amused eyebrow.

"Mhm. No better way to learn a language than by having someone that speaks it naturally help you."

"Well it's not math so you'd actually make a good tutor." Both of them burst into laughter and Hitomi noticed that she hadn't laughed like that, completely carefree, since Leifang had left six weeks ago.

After calming down Hitomi noticed Leifang stifling a yawn and asked if she was tired.

"Yes, a little bit. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Want to lie down for bit?" Hitomi offered her.

"That would be nice. But only for an hour. I want to spend some more time with you today."

"Just use my bed, I changed the sheets earlier this morning so it's fine. And I won't take no for an answer. In the meantime I'll make us something to eat." Hitomi said and practically shoved her into the bedroom.

"Alright, alright." Leifang conceded "Not a day has passed and I'm already bossed around."

Hitomi simply stuck out her tongue and closed the door. She was just heading into the kitchen when the mail box came back to mind. She had wanted to check it after all.

Oh well she shrugged, put on some slippers and made her way downstairs. As she opened the box a few letter came falling out. Gathering them up she locked the box back shut and walked up the stairs, looking at the envelopes.

Advertising, advertising, oh and another one. She thought, making a mental note of buying one of those stickers that said "No advertisement here" when suddenly another envelope caught her eye. "Huh?"

Using her key to open it she read its content.

"What the-!?" she stopped herself and read it again.

Police notice

Ms. Hitomi Buchfink

You are hereby asked to make your testimony in regards of the investigation against you, on the terms of assault, in two weeks time starting from the day this letter was delivered.

She didn't bother to read all the technical jargon that followed suit again, folded up the letter and blankly stared at the wall.

Oh shit.

Muahahaha. I bet you were thinking they'd suck face here, and here I go and have Leifang want to test the waters first. Go on, call me evil!
Your hatred only makes me more powerful!

But fun stuff aside, don't you worry they'll come along eventually. As for what Anonimiss mention I already have some stuff written up and among that, my dear Logan, is their first time. Though your suggestion will make it's way into my notes.

Now the question is: Are you patient enough dudes (dudettes) to see it through?

And oh my god, am I glad to have the language barrier broken now. No need to jump around languages anymore.

Heh, well until next week. See ya.