Broken Fragments

Chapter 43: Steamy Winter Morning

Morning came, but the sun still hid behind the winter clouds. The faint light from the sky shone through the pastel blue curtains that covered the windows of Hiroto's room.

Yuuhi turned to her side, snuggling herself next to a warm and comforting body under the thick blanket. Hearing faint breathing noises, Yuuhi slowly opened her eyes to find Hiroto's chin next to her forehead. She looked up to see a sleeping Hiroto with a face so calm and baby-like.

Though Yuuhi had begun living in her boyfriend's house for a while now, her face would still turn as red as a beet when she would wake up to find Hiroto next to her.

"Yuu…hi," Hiroto slept-talk, his eyes still tightly shut.

Yuuhi waited for what Hiroto was going to say in his sleep, propping herself up with her elbows to listen more carefully. Knowing that Yuuhi was in his dreams was enough happiness for her, but she wanted to hear the rest of what he was going to say. However, she felt as if she was eavesdropping on his dreams, which was something she had always considered personal.

"I lo…" he continued after a short pause.

Yuuhi's heart began racing as she gulped down to hear the rest of what Hiroto was going to sleep-talk.

"Lo…?" Yuuhi anticipated even though she already knew what he was going to say.

"Lo…"

"Lo…?"

"Lost."

Yuuhi's elbows gave up on her, causing her head to face-plant on the bed. She felt a little embarrassed to think that he was going to say that he loved her even in his dreams. Rolling to her back, Yuuhi hid her flushed face under the blanket as she looked up at the ceiling to decide whether she should feel offended or blame herself for getting her own hopes up. However, just before she could even start thinking about what Hiroto meant, he started talking in his sleep again.

"I lost…the present I was going to give you the night…of the shrine…festival."

Yuuhi's eyes widened in surprise, her face turning redder when she remembered what happened that night. The flashback in her head was as clear as day, making her feel even worse.

After an exhausting day came to an end, Hiroto offered the auburn-haired idol to go somewhere instead of taking her home like the usual. Yuuhi, after reading about the shrine festival and the fireworks show that was included, excitedly suggested it to her manager.

At the festival, the duo bumped onto Seiji and Fubuki, who also wanted to take a break and enjoy the event after their country-wide tour. The four of them spent the festival together, eating, playing games at the stalls, and trying out masks. The girls were even able to find a stall that offered a sale on yukatas, an essential clothing for women during festivals.

Before the show started, they found a spot on a nearby hill to watch the fireworks without a crowd surrounding them. However, while viewing the flower-like spectacles in the sky, Hiroto expressed his longing emotions for Kirari. Yuuhi heard Hiroto's comment and felt pangs of pain in her heart, not knowing why she felt that way.

"I'm going home!" Yuuhi exclaimed as she ran away from the view of the fireworks.

"Wait!"Hiroto called back as he followed Yuuhi.

Yuuhi didn't listen and kept running away from him.

"No! Stop following me!" she thought, her eyes shut.

The only reason why she didn't want to stop running was because she had tears running down her face. Yuuhi didn't want Hiroto to know that she was crying, especially since she couldn't think of a good lie. To make it worse, she didn't even know the reason for her unwanted tears, herself.

Before the two even knew it, they were already far from the hill they went to for a better view of the fireworks. They didn't even realize that they were near the shrine's long series of stairs. Yuuhi kept running as fast as she could even though her feet were aching because of the wooden sandals she wore. She kept running from Hiroto, hoping he wouldn't catch her.

Suddenly, before she could take another step down the stairs, the strap of the wooden sandal on her right foot snapped, causing her to trip. Yuuhi's eyes opened wide as she realized that she was going to roll down the stairs. She realized that she was going to die from running away.

However, before she could fall, Yuuhi felt a hand grab her wrist to keep her from falling. Her eyes were still as wide as an owl's eyes, her heart thumping faster than she could ever imagine. Yuuhi was slowly pulled away from the stairs, and her feet were on safe grounds again. When she looked up to see whose hand it belonged to, she found Hiroto's worried eyes looking at hers.

"Idiot!"

Yuuhi, confused of what was going on, ended up on Hiroto's chest as he pulled her to him to embrace her. Hiroto held onto Yuuhi as tight as he could, almost to the point where she wouldn't be able to breathe. Yuuhi could hear his fast heartbeat and the fear in his voice. She felt weak and vulnerable to his words, embrace, and the resonating sound of his heart.

"You're an idiot!" Hiroto yelled once again.

"You…you could've died!"

The worried tone in Hiroto's voice made Yuuhi want to keep crying, but she came to her senses and felt as if she was making a big mistake.

"Stop. I'm going home," Yuuhi calmly said as she pushed Hiroto away from her.

"No," he said, pulling her back to his arms.

"I'm going home, okay! Just stop," Yuuhi yelled, pushing him away again.

Yuuhi took off her wooden sandal and carried them as she carefully walked down the stairs. She still had tears on her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them off. She was in a daze, still thinking about what Hiroto just did to her.

"What's your problem?" Hiroto asked, stopping Yuuhi.

"Why?" he continued as he ran down the stairs past Yuuhi to be able to talk to her face to face.

"Why do you hate me? What exactly did I do to you?" Hiroto roared, confronting Yuuhi.

The fireworks' sounds were still booming and the people were still watching the beauty of the show. Yuuhi didn't say anything even though it felt as if her mind and heart were overfilled with thoughts she wanted to verbally throw at her manager.

"I thought we would get along. That night when you helped me out when I got drunk…I really thought…and hoped…that we would get along. You started to distance yourself from me more and more after that night, and I was able to sense it," Hiroto said.

"I allowed you to call me by my first name, but you keep calling me by my last name. Then, I even volunteered to be your manager just so I could get closer to you…but it feels like we're growing further apart."

Yuuhi kept her gaze down, still listening to Hiroto's statements. She could see their shadows dancing around from the bright light that the fireworks and the moon shone on them.

"It's already been two months since we started working with each other…but we haven't made any progress," Hiroto painfully admitted.

"Why, Yuuhi? What have I ever done to you?"

"Nothing, alright!" she yelled right before another firework shot up the sky with a loud boom.

Yuuhi looked at Hiroto straight in the eyes with some hopes that he couldn't see her tears.

"I treasure my career. That's all. I'm sorry, Kazama-san, if you think we aren't getting any closer…but we have to be and act professional," Yuuhi lied.

The auburn-haired idol couldn't think of any other excuse, but thankfully, she had her career to back her up and support her.

"Thank you for today, but I'm going home. I'll just take a cab," she said as she continued to walk down the stairs.

Yuuhi, looking back, felt childish for the tantrum-like behavior she had shown to Hiroto. She began panicking, not knowing how she was going to apologize for it. The idol was too shy to admit her own feelings back then and to escape, she literally ran away from the recipient of the romantic feelings she was having.

"I really hurt you…didn't I?" the sleep-talking Hiroto turned to his back, interrupting Yuuhi's train of thoughts.

Clenching her fist, Yuuhi determinedly sat up and decided on how she was going to make-up for the trouble she caused her former manager. Placing her head over Hiroto, she closed her eyes and puckered up her lips, also keeping stray hair tucked behind her right ear with her fingers. Slowly, she lowered her face onto Hiroto's to give him a secret kiss.

"If I apologize with this, I wouldn't have to be embarrassed by talking about how immature my actions were during that night," Yuuhi thought, her face reaching its reddest point.

Yuuhi's eyes widen as Hiroto pulled her down to his chest and gave her a kiss himself. She wanted to pull out, but her head was a complete mess for she didn't think Hiroto was going to wake up right away.

"I didn't know you were such a naughty girl, Yuuhi-chan," teased Hiroto after he pulled his face away from his girlfriend's.

"Y-y-y-you—" Yuuhi stuttered.

Her face created its new level of red as she just had the most embarrassing moment she had ever had so far. The auburn-haired idol tried to get away from Hiroto, but to no avail as her whole body felt frozen from humiliation.

"It's cute that you would try to give me a secret kiss, but it's not a secret if you were caught, am I right, Ms. Kiss-Stealing-Yuuhi-chan?" Hiroto kept teasing while still holding onto Yuuhi's hand to keep her from escaping.

"Th-th-that's…that's not wh-wh-what I w-w-was going t-t-to do!" she continued to stutter.

"Then what were you going to do?" Hiroto had a mischievous grin on his face.

Yuuhi was able to move fast and sit on the edge of the bed, her feet touching the ground and ready to run away from further humiliation. She placed her fists on her lap, trying to return to the always-composed and cold stature that Yuuhi was known for.

"Th-th-that's…"

Yuuhi felt like crying, but she knew it was just going to make things worse for her. After all, Hiroto had turned into a mischievous devil that only wanted to keep teasing his girlfriend. Crying would make him want to tease her even more, which was exactly what he wanted.

"That's…'cause…" Yuuhi began her sentence of a still-unknown excuse.

Not letting Yuuhi fix the mess in her head, Hiroto kissed her warm shoulder, shocking Yuuhi. Her mouth opened and let out a quiet moan, feeling her lover's lips touch an unexpected part of her body.

"I love this side of you, too, Yuuhi," Hiroto whispered in her ear.

A shiver ran up and down Yuuhi's spine, producing goosebumps all over her body. Her heart began to thump faster when she felt Hiroto's breath by her ear. Again, she wanted to get up, but her body wouldn't listen to her demands, as if they were obeying Hiroto's unconscious orders, instead.

"Naughty or not, I love any side of you," Hiroto spoke in a low voice, sounding manlier than normal, as he kissed Yuuhi's neck.

Not only was her body frozen, but Yuuhi's voice had frozen up, too. The 'Fallen Angel' could feel her libido rising up and she wanted it to stop because it was time for them to start their day. However, as Hiroto's trail of kisses began making its way up her neck, Yuuhi's head began thinking of excuses as to why they should stay in bed longer.

"Today's actually a day-off for Hiroto and I," Yuuhi's devilish conscience said, creating its first excuse.

"No! What are you saying?!" Yuuhi's rational conscience said, trying to block out the other conscience.

"You and your boyfriend haven't done anything further than kissing either," the devilish conscience added.

Yuuhi felt as if she could see two smaller versions of her fighting for what should be done. She had just woken up and she was already starting to feel exhausted.

"Stop it, Yuuhi! What you're thinking is wrong! Besides, you've already done it with ex-boyfriend, right?!" the good conscience tried to convince the idol.

"Isn't that worse? You didn't even have feelings for him!"

"That's actually true—wait! Still! You're just walking into his trap!"

"It's fine, isn't it? Hiroto's your boyfriend and you love him!"

Before the two consciences in Yuuhi's head continue to battle, Hiroto finally delivered the final blow that settled the argument.

"I love you, Yuuhi," seductively, Hiroto whispered again in Yuuhi's ear before he gave it a peck.

Eyes widening, Yuuhi's heart skipped a beat and her good conscience finally gave up. The two small fictional creatures in her head vanished as she turned around and toppled herself over Hiroto's body.

They passionately kissed each other on the bed, not even caring about what was going to happen anymore or even what actually happened before.

For the first time, as they pressed their bodies against each other's, Yuuhi and Hiroto became one during a cold, yet steamy, winter morning.

Author's note:

Well...that's how the cookie crumbled.

Haha! XD

Anyways, hi everyone! I hope you guys liked this little...uhh...I don't really know what to call it. Uh...special? Fluff? I don't even know? *shrugs and glances to the side with a you-can-call-it-whatever-kind-of-chapter-you-want face* It's not really a part of the main plot, but I wanted to write a light-hearted chapter because, y'know, this story's just full of tragic moments and...well...I wanted to kinda show some behind-the-scenes-or-main-plot romance, y'know? Also, I re-read the chapters before creating new ones and just realized that I somehow have to have Hiroto give the present or at least be reminded of the present he bought the night of the shrine festival (see Chapter 19) for Yuuhi, am I right? Okay! Okay, fine! I also included this light-hearted (and an I-tried-to-be-funny-and-comedic) chapter because the upcoming chapters are going to be...well...you know...the usual of this story...but uhh...more tear-jerking (maybe? I'll try to make it to that level or even exceed, I don't even know). But I hope you guys liked it! You already know what was going on at the last line of the chapter, so I'll leave it up to your imaginations to finish their 'steam' morning. Haha! Keep reading my stories, and stay tuned for the next chapters! :3 -Mayumi Selnia-chan