The Love Letter Lovelies

by Glee-chan

33.

"I'm sorry that I have to chaperon you." Nori looked embarrassed.

Both Akiyama sisters were present inside Makoto's room. The deal was that Kaede could stay over but Nori had to be in the room with them when they went to sleep. Makoto was against this, but Kaede thought it was very reasonable. If Kaede was a boy, Makoto's parents wouldn't want their daughter to be alone all night with her boyfriend. Even though they already had sex countless times by now, it Kaede understood their reasoning. If they wanted to go at it, it would just have to be at her house.

Kaede finished changing into one of Makoto's sets of pajamas and sat down on the guest futon that was laid out for her on Makoto's floor. "After the way your mother acted I'm surprised your parents let me spend the night at all."

Makoto was blushing, blurting out of nowhere. "I don't mean to gross you out sis, but Kaede-chan in my clothes looks so cute."

"You've got it bad." Nori snickered and pushed her sister playfully.

Makoto giggled. "I can't help it. Everything she does is cute."

Kaede glanced away, feeling like an object in a museum. The Akiyama sisters were staring a hole into her. "I'm not the cute one."

Nori and Makoto both giggled. The bond between sisters was amazing. Kaede had an older brother but he was in college at this point and was hardly ever around. When he was at home he was usually holed up in his room with his rude girlfriend. Kaede didn't like her because she was a slut and she loved teasing Kaede once she found out about her sexual orientation. But Nori and Makoto were in sync with their giggles and often knew what the other was thinking just by a look. The giggling was one of those times, as Kaede was not sure what they found so cute or funny about her.

"I can see why you like her, Mako-chan." Nori grinned. "I might be jealous."

"I'm not sharing, if that's what you think." Makoto gave a pout.

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it." Nori winked at Kaede. "If mom had two lesbian daughters who knows what she'd do."

They both laughed at this, though Kaede didn't think it was all that funny. She just looked from one to the other, not knowing what to say or do. This lack of any input on Kaede's part seemed to send the sisters into another fit of giggles. They were making such a ruckus that Makoto's father peeked his head in the door.

"It's getting late, you three."

"Okay." Nori smiled at him.

He shut the door and Nori got off Makoto's bed and went for the light. Kaede slipped into her futon's blankets as Nori turned off the light. It was almost complete darkness for a moment until their eyes adjusted to the moonlight that was coming though the curtains. Nori had somehow made her way back to Makoto's bed and the two of the fumbled around nosily to get in the covers. They were bickering with each other over who got what side, what pillow belonged to who, and so on. But once they were quiet it felt odd. It seemed way to quiet now.

"Stop squirming!" Nori whispered then giggled. "Hey that tickles."

"Akk!" Makoto laughed then squawked. "That's my boob!"

"Oh that's what that small thing was."

"Shut up!"

And once again there was fumbling around with a series of giggles. They silenced themselves after awhile and it was dead quiet again. Kaede laid with her eyes open, waiting for the next thing. Those sisters were just too cute together. Then a thought came to Kaede. She rolled over and faced the bed. She could barely see them, but Nori was facing her side.

"Mako-chan is ticklish on the back side of her knees."

"Kaede!" Makoto complained, than all at once was squeaking. "HEY!"

Kaede laughed herself. She couldn't see it, but the covers on the bed were rolling around like a violent ocean, with squeaking, laughing, and grunting. All at once, Makoto jumped out of the bed and went to Kaede's futon. Nori was there in a heartbeat, and the two of them were wrestling on top of Kaede who was trying to keep out of the way of the swinging feet and arms.

"Ow!" Kaede shouted as something hard it the side of her head. She saw stars.

"Sorry!" Nori's voice came. "I think I kicked her in the face."

"Oh no!"

"I'm fine." Kaede said up, rubbing the side of head. Then, before she even realized that she thought it, she uttered "If you kiss it, it'll feel better." She didn't know where that came from. She was unguarded for a moment and forgot who she was saying it too and where she was. She wasn't at home alone with Makoto, she was with Nori in Makoto's house!

"Fine." Nori was crawling over to Kaede, reaching with her hands and grabbing Kaede's head. "I kicked you here, right?"

Before Kaede to could correct her, Nori leaned forward and kissed Kaede on the forehead. It was the wrong place, but Kaede wasn't complaining. Makoto on the other hand was sudden pushing her sister away.

"Nori-chan!" Makoto must of been pouting, Kaede couldn't see her face very well. "If I can't kiss you, then you can't either!"

"It's just a game, silly." Nori pushed Makoto, who accidentally toppled forward.

Kaede caught her as she went down and Makoto ended up laying on top of Kaede on the ground. Before Nori could do anything else to Makoto, Kaede impulsively gave Makoto a small soft kiss on the lips and whispered "You were so brave today."

"Kaede-chan…" Makoto breathed in. Kaede could tell she was touched.

"What are you two up too? I leave you alone for one second…" Nori was laughing.

"I was just kissing my girlfriend." Kaede said bluntly.

There was a beat where Makoto and Kaede looked at each other in the dark, then Nori said. "I'll give you a few minutes then we really should get to bed."

"Thanks Nori-chan." Makoto's voice was sweet.

"Yeah, yeah… just get it over with."

Nori was standing up and walking to Makoto's bed. Kaede couldn't see her, she could feel the futon move and hear Nori's movements. But all thoughts of the older sister disappeared as Makoto's face bent over and her mouth accidentally engulfed Kaede's nose. Kaede squeaked and Makoto pulled up apologizing. Then the next moment Makoto's tongue was in Kaede's mouth. Kaede didn't care if her nose was wet now, she wrapped her arms around Makoto and kissed back.

Their making out didn't last nearly as long as Kaede wanted. Nori told them time was up after a few minutes and Makoto had to get up. When the girl left for her own bed, Kaede turned and watched her, wiping her nose. She wanted Makoto so bad after that kiss, it probably was a bad idea for them to have that one moment.

"You two were really into it." Nori whispered with a small laugh. "If I didn't stop you, you'd probably forget I was here."

"Sorry Nori-chan." Makoto whispered back.

"What did you do to her to make her make a cute squeak?" Nori asked.

"Uh…" Makoto dodged the question but not answered and adjusting the covers around her.

Kaede didn't want Makoto to feel embarrassed for accidentally frenching her nose, so she made up something. "She was getting frisky."

"Mako-chan!" Nori laughed and must of pushed her. "Just because I gave you a few minutes doesn't mean you could go and molest her."

"Sorry." Makoto said but Kaede could tell she had a smile on her face.

The night became silent after that as everyone attempted to sleep. Kaede didn't know when she did, but eventually the soft breathing of Nori and Makoto had a rhythmic sound to it that made her relax and pass out as well. Her mind went over the events of the day, about how she liked Nori, about her Makoto's father seemed like a nice guy, and how Makoto's mother might be a problem. But more than that she thought of Makoto and how much at ease she felt on having finally told her family. Even if the mom wasn't into the whole idea they didn't hate her and that was a good thing.

But somewhere along the line, when she dreamed her thoughts drifted away from Makoto to Maria. Always back to Maria. Once again she replayed those images in her mind. Maria looking confused… dazed even. Kaede remembered in vivid detail on how she accidentally stumbled into the road. She had ran with all her might, trying to snap Maria out of the trance she was in. She was screaming at her. Why couldn't she see that there was a bus behind her? At the last second Makoto was tackling Kaede knocking her off her feet on to the pavement. The next image she had of Maria was her souring in the air, flying over a passing car in the other lane, then slamming hard on the ground and rolling like a rag-doll to a stop. Traffic had stopped in moments, and the bus driver had ran out to Maria, fear in his eyes. Kaede didn't remember how Makoto and she made it Maria's side, she just remembered how broken she looked. There were bones visibly poking from her leg… her arm was twisted the wrong way, and she was gargling blood. Later they had found out that what killed her wasn't all those injuries, it was her own rib cage stabbing into her lungs. Maria had drown in her own blood.

"Yui-chan…" Maria was looking at Kaede.

"Maria! You'll be okay… You'll be okay!" Kaede was screaming at her.

"Yui-chan…."

"I'll look after her, I promise… but you have to get better... you have too."

But Kaede remembered Maria looking beyond her, her eyes unfocused. Makoto's face was buried in the bloody body. On instinct, Kaede had taken out her rosary and started praying. She remembered her prayers were more like incoherent ramblings from her choking on her own tears.

"God…God please! God…"

Makoto looked up, her face covered in Maria's blood. "She's dead! Kaede-chan, her heart… she's dead."

"No! God… God please!"

Makoto had clung to Kaede. "She's dead!"

"No…"

But Makoto was wailing into Kaede's shoulder now, and with Makoto's grief, part of Kaede's rational mind returned. She had held Makoto, looking at Maria's eyes staring off into the crowd behind them. Kaede turned around, feeling like something was looking at her. It wasn't weird to think that, they were a crowd of people now. But something else was looking at them. Kaede had clutched her rosary even tighter, holding Makoto, and prayed again. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the words for the prayer of death. Her mind was completely blank. So she prayed the lines that she knew.

"G-God… our Father." Kaede choked out. "Grant eternal rest to your daughter M-Maria….and let Your everlasting light shine upon h-her. May h-her soul, through the m-mercy of God, rest in peace…" But then Kaede had remembered that Maria might not be a Christian and added "Jesus…p-please have mercy on h-her soul. S-She may be forsaken, in purgatory, but please deliver h-her from the … from the torments s-she'll endure. Call h-her and admit h-her into Your sweet embrace in p-p-pparadise. A-Amen."

When she opened her eyes, she had seen Makoto looking at her with an unreadable expression. Even in the midst of all that Kaede remembered thinking that was the first time Makoto had heard her pray to God. This time around Makoto pulled Kaede to her shoulder and held her. Kaede looked over her shoulder and could see paramedics over Maria's body. They had closed her eyes and were preparing to take her off the street. That's when it really sunk in that Maria was dead. Not Makoto crying, not the prayer to God… people moving her body like it was furniture.

"NO!" Kaede screamed and shot up from her futon, drench in sweat. Maria's lifeless face still on her mind. Something was holding her, she didn't know what. Her first instinct was to fight it off, but when she turned around she saw that it was Makoto who was holding her, with a scared look on her face. Nori somehow was still asleep.

"You where having that nightmare again." Makoto whispered.

"I can't stop thinking about her." Kaede whispered back, trying to regain her focus.

"Why? What does it bother you so much?" Makoto asked. She was ignoring the obvious reason, of watching a friend die. Makoto could tell something else was at the root of this. Everyone else was grieving by not having nightmares like Kaede was having.

"S-she died in my arms" Kaede murmured. "I saw her soul leave her body."

"I did too…" Makoto held her still. "I felt her heart stop beating."

"But… But she didn't talk to you… She … she…"

"What is it?"

"Why couldn't I save her?" Kaede asked. That was it. It was stupid. Of course she couldn't save her, but that was the root of the problem. She hadn't realized it up until that point, but when she said it, she realized that was the whole reason she was still freaking out over this. Deep down she felt guilty for not being able to save her.

"Oh, Kaede-chan!" Makoto kissed her cheek. "You couldn't have done anything different." Kaede knew all this but she still felt like she was responsible. "Besides… Y-You did save her."

"What do you mean?"

"You prayed for her…" Makoto spokes softly. "You prayed for her soul."

"B-but… that was just-"

"You saved her Kaede-chan." Makoto interrupted. "No one else thought to do that for her, but you did. And when you prayed, everyone stopped and prayed with you… even I did."

"You're buddhist though…."

"It doesn't matter who or what we were praying too… your prayer reminded us that Maria had a soul that needed to be guided." Makoto sniffed. "Maria is in a better place, Kaede, because of you. I just know it."

Somehow, Makoto saying it made it true in her mind. She felt a peace come over her that she hadn't felt in a long time. It was as if Maria was touching Kaede's heart letting her know she was alright. She didn't picture Maria's mangled body anymore. She pictured her how she was in life. She was wearing a school uniform and had a mischievous smile. She was holding Yui's arm and was laughing, always laughing and making jokes. Kaede closed here eyes and thanked God for relieving her of her guilt, and thanking Him for using Makoto for bringing her heart to rest.