Chapter 55

Leifang sat in her seat, her hands gripping her handbag in a vice grip as she chewed on her lower lip, and her eyes were drawn to the field in front of her. The people sitting beside her were likewise on edge. The Chinese breathed deeply, her gaze always on the person dearest to her, as she moved across the field.

Come on, come on. She thought and her grip became harder. Leifang stopped breathing for a second as Hitomi barely dodged an oncoming opponent, but the German remained relatively unfazed and continued onward.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Usually football wasn't her thing, but when it was the team of your girlfriend playing it seemed only natural to her that she would come and cheer her on.

Leifang turned her head a little to watch the other people sitting all around her. They were mostly students like her, but some families were here as well, simply enjoying the game.

At least they show more enthusiasm she chuckled to herself as she watched two boys heartily cheering for the team. She was glad that it was only a university game, else the amount of people would make it impossible for Hitomi to see her.

Not that she had much luck thus far, since she hadn't turned into her direction once. Maybe she should have told her that she would come?

But she didn't have time to ponder that as she saw the referee looking at his watch and putting his whistle into his mouth, ready to whistle to a close.

Leifang looked towards the point-table. It was a draw thus far. If either of the two teams scored now it would decide the game.

Hitomi and two others of her team were closing in on the goal. The German was currently in possession of the ball. Which of course meant that she was getting the most attention from the defenders.

Just before one of them could steal the ball from her Hitomi passed it to her rightmost teammate. Throwing them off that way they reached the goal and her teammate took the shot...

Everyone around Leifang grew silent and she once again held her breath.

...And the ball went into the goal, right past the keeper.

Breathing a sigh a relief Leifang sat back into her seat while around her people got off their seat and cheered loudly as the referee blew into his whistle. It was over and Hitomi's team had won.

As she sat there she only now realized how hard her heart was beating and placed her hand against her chest, watching as Hitomi and her team celebrated their victory. Then the German turned around into her direction and she got up.

"Hitomi!" she shouted and waved into her direction. The Karateka narrowed her eyes to see better in the sunlight. Her face lit up in a smile and she waved back.

"Leifang!" she called. A sudden weight on her back made her nearly lose her balance. Hitomi looked over her shoulder to see Mareike having jumped onto her back and giving her a toothy grin.

"We did it!" Mareike shouted and Hitomi had to pull her head away else she might have busted an eardrum. "Oh...That's your friend over there."

"Yeah." Hitomi felt Mareike slip of her back and turned around to face the other girl. Her hair was pulled into short twin-tails. Mareike smiled at her, but for a second she thought she saw of flicker of something in her eyes. It was probably just because of their victory.

"You were awesome there!" Mareike said and they both walked over to their teammates.

"You weren't too bad either." While Hitomi was in the offense Mareike was positioned in the defense.

"Are you kidding? If I didn't screw up we wouldn't have to sweat buckets over the near draw." she said, referring to being outmaneuvered by the players of the other team and kicking the ball in their own goal. She pouted and let her shoulders slump. "Not gonna live down that one for a while."

"Don't feel bad." Hitomi patted her on the shoulder. "That could've happened to everybody."

"You don't need to cheer me up, you know?" she shrugged. "Guess I just have to do better next time!" she said and grinned. They both walked with the rest of their team into the changing room. "Oh yeah, that fight the other day was awesome by the way. I never knew you had such a cool friend."

Did she just pause a little before saying 'friend'? Hitomi shook her head. She must be more exhausted that she thought. "Leifang and me go back a few years. I met her during the Dead or Alive tournament and we sort of became friends during a shared vacation."

"She's really pretty." Mareike commented.

"I suppose." Hitomi said nonchalantly, even though she wanted to correct her by using words like 'striking' or 'beautiful'.

In the room Hitomi changed out of her jersey, grabbed a towel and headed into the shower to wash off the sweat from the match. That Leifang had been there really surprised her. Sure she had told her of the match of course, but she also knew that the Chinese had no real interest in the sport, so the fact that she was here made her really happy.

Now that they were in the middle of March she found herself wondering what she should get Leifang for her birthday. Sure she still had over a month for it, but it was better to have a present beforehand since it could always happen that something came up and she would be too busy then.

This time no garments though. Hitomi thought and turned off the water. While Leifang had absolutely loved her Christmas present it would be kind of cheap to get her the same kind of gift a second time. It was also her birthday and the German felt that celebrating the day you were born on did merit something better.

Hitomi smiled to herself. It was special to her too. After all if Leifang hadn't been born she couldn't love her. Snickering at her own logic she dried herself and bound the towel around her body, then walked out of the shower towards her locker but was stopped by one of her teammates.

"Hey." she said. She was a pretty brunette, a shade darker than Hitomi's hair and a pretty nice body she had to admit. "That was good work out there."

"Thanks." Hitomi replied cheerfully.

"So I was thinking maybe we could go and celebrate."

"Well I'm kind of-"

"You know, just us two." the other girl said and Hitomi noticed the flirting tone as well as the look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, not interested." Hitomi said quickly as she realized that she was being hit on.

The girl looked at her in confusion. "What? I thought you were into girls."

Hitomi looked at her in shock. How did she... "Who told you about that?"

"Well Mareike said-" before she could continue the German had already walked past her and directly to where the blonde was standing a few feet away from her locker.

"Mareike!" she shouted. The girl backed away and held out her hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she said.

"Could you please explain me what this is about!?"

Well the other day I forgot something in the dojo and went back to get it. I was really surprised that the door was still unlocked, but didn't think too much about it and got my stuff. Then when I was walking out I heard something strange and went to see what was up." she confessed. "AndthenIkindofsawyoutwo!" she finished quickly. "I was so shocked that I just couldn't keep it to myself and told a friend. Who it seems told another friend and so on. I'm really sorry."

The German did the only thing she was capable of doing right now. She turned towards her locker and bashed her forehead against it repeatedly while groaning all the while. Maybe if she knocked herself out this would turn out to just be a dream.

The other girls of the team looked at her, not sure what they should do. Hitomi noticed that and stopped so that she could look at them.

"Yeah it's true. I like girls AND guys. Also I'm in a relationship with another girl. Problems?"

Her teammates just shook their heads dumbly.

"Good." Hitomi said, sighed and looked at Mareike.

"I'm not mad at you." She said. "I'm mad at the situation. Of all the ways for people to learn about it this is probably the worst way."

"I know. And I'm really sorry. If I could take it back I would."

"It's alright. What's done is done now. But now I'll have to explain to her that we aren't a secret anymore." she looked at the blonde.

"If it's any consolation I think you two are a cute couple." the blonde remarked nervously trying to lift the mood.

"Well that's great and all. But I still have to drop the bomb on my girlfriend. We decided that we would wait until we both were ready for it." Hitomi said, bashed her head one final time against her locker and started to change into her regular clothes "Come on now. I meant it when I said I'm not mad."

"I know. I just can't help but feel bad." Mareike said.

"Ok then how about this, how about you buy me some lunch one of these days and call it even?" Hitomi gave her a small grin.

"Ok. Deal." Mareike answered with a weak one of her own.

"But really. It just seems Leifang and I can never do something without being watched or interrupted." Hitomi commented drily.

They left the locker room together and said their goodbyes before going their separate ways. As Hitomi walked ahead she could see Leifang waiting for her at the campus entrance.

Good at least she doesn't seem to know yet. Hitomi thought and eyed her a little. She was wearing the panda sweater that she had gotten her. Leifang said that it went really well with her short black skirt and so she was wearing that combination right now.

"Hey." Leifang called out to her after spotting her, but the smile that formed on her face soon dropped as she noticed Hitomi's serious face. "Did something happen?"

"...Yeah." Hitomi said. "But...let's not talk about it here, ok?"

"Uh, ok. Then let's go somewhere else."

Later the couple was sitting in the Zeitzone café. Leifang watched as Hitomi stared down at her glass of iced tea for five minutes now. Leifang ran her fingernail gently across the edge of the table, waiting patiently for her girlfriend to speak up, though she did start to feel a little worried now.

Then Hitomi finally spoke up. "Our secret's out."

Leifang blinked a few times. Did she really just- Of course she did. The look on Hitomis face said it all.

"How?" she asked. She wasn't really angry and she was sure that Hitomi didn't blabber about.

"You remember Mareike, from the dojo?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Well you see..." Hitomi explained to her what had transpired that day and that Mareike had told some of her friends about it and so on. By the end of it Leifang could only sit back in her seat and let out a deep breath.

"Great." she muttered.

"But," Hitomi said. "While it wasn't the ideal way for it to come out I think it's for the better."

She looked at the Chinese. "Aren't you getting tired of always having to look out if someone might see us? It's been over five months now. I...I'd like for us to be out in the open about our relationship."

Leifang thought about what she said. It was true that it was getting on her nerves to hide their relationship, especially now that they had made so much progress. But was it really...

Her right hand was grasped by the German's and she saw that kind smile that was purely Hitomi's. "I love you Leifang. You're the person that means more than anything else to me. And if someone is starting to talk crap about us or our feelings then they're gonna answer to me."

Oh Hitomi Leifang thought. She was right of course. What good did it bring them to hide their relationship? It was time to look forward, and not only in terms of their relationship. "You mean: answer to us."

"Yeah. You're right." And with that said the two of them shared a kiss over the table, not caring if someone was watching them now.

They were done with hiding.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And we start it right with Hitomi and Leifang deciding not to hide anymore. Well that's it for this week, so see you all next week! :)