Ariette: I'M SORRY! GOMENE! I SWEAR I DIDN'T WANTED TO DELAY SO MUCH! Now you probably all hate me ToT *Goes to a corner crying*
Yuma: Is she still depressed?
Astral: Seems like it...
Yuma: *Sigh* Well, I suppose we can give a hand then :D
Astral: We could...
Yuma: Good! *Takes a paper out of nowhere* Now... This says that this chapter is dedicated to Durbe the Barian's sister... And it says she's sorry for delaying so much...
Durbe: *Appears of nowhere* I got a sister?
Yuma: Not you! The writer! Now! On with the story!
Astral: Zexal characters do not belong to Ariette
Note Eight: How can I love…?
A new day came. The sun wasn't up yet. Yuma woke up early, not that he wanted to do it. He looked at the corner of the room where the blue alien was. Mismatched eyes crossing with scarlet eyes. Neither of them said a word. Yuma stood and left to the bathroom. He washed his face and brushed his teeth. Then, he took a little shower. He started dressing inside the bathroom. Before he putted his shirt he saw the wounds he still had.
He sighed. "At least they're getting better…" Yuma was being really cautious with them. He didn't let anyone get near him just to make sure no one notice or hurt him more. He didn't take his shirt out unless he was completely alone. That was why he made excuses to skip PE class when there was swimming section. He was sure no one had seen them, not even Astral. And that relieved him; Yuma didn't want anyone to know about them.
Yuma finished dressing and left the bathroom to search for his sister. He found her in the kitchen with his Grandma. It looked like Haru just made breakfast and Akari was helping her. Yuma gave them his good mornings, to which Haru responded with a smile.
"Good morning, honey. Why are you up so early? I thought you were going to stay sleeping since yesterday you went to sleep very late." Haru said a bit surprised.
"Well, I didn't felt like sleeping more, grandma." Yuma answered back.
"Yuma! You know you're supposed to sleep eight hours completely, and I don't think you did it. Go to your room young boy! Or I will force you." Akari demanded to the boy. Yuma just sighed at his sister's attitude.
"Akari… I don't think I would be able to sleep again. Besides, I was planning to go with the others to have fun." Yuma said calmly.
"Oh? Is that so? Well, I think you won't unless you go to sleep some more." Akari pointed the exit telling the boy to leave.
"Akari could be so stubborn sometimes…" Yuma thought. "Akari, I won't go to sleep, I'm not tired. Now, will you please stop ordering me like if I were a little kid? 'Cuz I'm certainly not." Yuma closed his eyes sighing once more.
"So this is how it's going to be… Fine then, I can play this game too." Akari said with a dangerous voice.
"Wha-?" Yuma didn't have the time to ask because his sister took him bridal-style and left to his room.
After what felt like hours to the young boy, Haru was able to talk his granddaughter out of her idea of making Yuma sleep. Of course, Akari didn't made it easy. She fought and pouted like a little kid. But at the end, Akari had to resign and let Yuma do what he wished. Yuma thank his grandmother for helping out and then the three of them went to have breakfast, although Yuma wasn't very happy with the idea.
"Now, now Yuma. Why don't you eat your breakfast? Are you feeling sick again?" Haru asked after seeing her grandson didn't ate his breakfast.
"It's not that grandma. It's just… I can't eat anymore. I think I'm still full with everything I ate yesterday." Yuma said, using the party as an excuse.
"Um… Probably you're right, Dear. Well, then, leave that there, I will clean it up later. You can go now." Haru smiled warmly.
"But-!" Akari was interrupted by Yuma sudden response.
"Thanks grandma! I'll be leaving now!" Yuma stood quickly and left the room and went to the exit.
He left the house in no time and went to the point where Akira and he planned to meet each other. Yuma walked a couple of minutes until he reached the Central Library, where he found Akira waiting for him. After a quick change of words, the two boys left to do something fun. They went to different places and talked a lot along the way. At the end of the day, the two of them were very happy and decided to have a movie night in Yuma's house. When they reached the house Akari was in the living room working on her computers.
"Hi, Akari~ What you doing?~" Yuma jumped in front of his sister to gain his attention.
"Yuma! When did you come?" Akari soon noticed the presence of Akira. "Oh! It seems you're here too Akira. Hi."
"Good afternoon, Akari. I hope you don't mind if I stay for a while…" Akira said bowing a little.
"Hehe, don't worry! I don't mind. I bet Yuma invite you to stay for a while, didn't he?" Akari eyed Yuma who smiled sheepishly.
"Yup, he surely did! We were planning to have a movie night! That doesn't annoy you, right?" Akira asked.
"Of course not. As long as Yuma don't put the volume too high everything's fine, you heard Yuma?" Akari said again eyeing Yuma.
"Hehe, I won't big sis! Now, we take our leave! We'll be in my room!" Yuma ran upstairs with Akira to his room. When they reached his room, they found Yuma's grandmother finishing cleaning the room.
"Oh, Yuma! I didn't see you coming sweetheart." Haru smiled at her grandson and soon noticed the presence of the other boy. "Oh, I see you brought a friend. My! If it is young Akira! How are you today, Honey?"
"I'm very good, Ms. Haru. Thanks for asking." Akira bowed slightly to show some respect.
"Oh! Don't call me like that! Just tell me Grandma. A friend of Yuma is also part of my family." Haru said with a smile.
"O-ok, grandma." Akira replied. Haru smiled warmly at the boys and then left the room.
The boys entered the room and went to the attic, not before closing the door of the room. They turn on the TV and putted some movies they found in there. The majority of the movies were childish and fantasy, but the boys liked them. They were 'spellbound' with the childish movie they were now seeing. It was about a young girl whose father had to go to the war. She didn't want that for her father so she disguised as her father's son and entered the war for him. She was very brave, and saved a lot of people. She also beat a whole army of the evil guys!
At the end of the movie, the boys were touched by the cute scene of the father-daughter reunion. Yuma smiled as he saw the cute ending while Akira looked everywhere searching for something or someone. Yuma soon noticed this and gave a sigh.
"He's not here Akira, if that's what you're searching." Yuma said lowering his head.
"I know." That was the only response Akira gave, his voice suddenly sounding somewhat angry.
"What do you wish? Why are you searching for him?" Yuma asked a bit confused.
"Oh, Yuma-kun~ It's nothing serious~ I was just curious of where could he be~" Akira's voice now sounding completely different from his normal voice. This time his voice sounded cold and teasing.
"…. Fine. As you can already see, Astral's not here. He's probably inside the Key." Yuma looked away, although he didn't admit it, he still was a bit scared about this situation.
"Come on Yuma! Don't tell me you want to pull back~ We made a truce, I would help you and you will help me, didn't we?" Akira looked at Yuma, his eyes now shining in dark-golden light.
"I-I know… And I will fulfill my promise, Akira." Yuma said looking at the boy seated beside him.
"Please, don't use those formalities with me~ How many times have I tell you to call me by my name?" Akira asked with a grin forming in his lips.
"Many times… Black Mist…" Yuma said lowering his head again.
"Good!~ Never forget that Yuma." Akira's grin now transforming into a smugly smile.
"Hai….." Yuma whispered.
After that conversation the two boys didn't talk until it was time for Akira to leave. Yuma escorted Akira to the door and gave him his farewells and a promise of seeing each other the next day. The next day came and the boys did exactly the same thing as the day before, minus the movie part since Akira had stuff to do. Monday came with bright rays of light coming through the window. Yuma woke up… Well, in fact he didn't because he was already awake.
Yuma stood and leaved to change his clothes in the bathroom as he did every morning. He took his usual bath and he brushed his teeth. While brushing his teeth a sudden wave of nausea 'attacked' him. He quickly went to the toilet where he started to throw up. Little tears formed in his eyes as he thrown up his late night snack. He had never experience something like that. He had got sick before and, of course, thrown up but never like this. He felt pain in all his stomach and it was like his ribs were being torn apart. After that powerful ordeal, he took a time to breathe and calm himself.
"What's wrong with me? I don't understand." Yuma shivered a little before flushing the toilet. He sighed and brushed his teeth again. No one liked that kind of savor in his mouth.
He then leaved for school without saying a word. He didn't want anyone to suspect. Class went completely normal, as far as it seemed. Yuma decided not to do any physical contact or challenge in order to keep himself from getting worse. They were in History class; the teacher was talking about something that had to do with the First World War or something like that. Yuma didn't pay attention, still thinking of the events of that morning. A shiver went down his spine just to think about it.
"It's so weird…. I can't understand… Why do I feel like this?" Yuma stayed thinking for a while. He started thinking also of his matter with Akira, or better said: his matter with Black Mist. "I just can't believe this… I thought Black Mist wasn't going to appear until some more time… It seems I was wrong…"
Class finished, and it was time for lunch time. Yuma remained sitting because he never noticed the bell ringing. Kotori, who was about to leave with the others, soon noticed this and got really worried. She told the others to leave and went to Yuma's side. She sat beside him and waited patiently for Yuma to notice her, but Yuma was so deep in thought that he never did. Kotori sighed and clapped her hands near Yuma's ear, making the boy jump scared.
"K-Kotori! You scared me!" Yuma said trying to calm himself.
"Yuma… You got me really worried." Kotori said with worry in her voice. "You've been acting really strange lately, and you're like, out of here. I know something's wrong, why don't you want to tell me?"
"Kotori…." Yuma looked away. He couldn't hide it anymore; he couldn't hide it from Kotori. "Kotori… True is that I-" Yuma was soon interrupted by a jumping boy coming from nowhere.
"Yuma-kun!" The boy landed on top of Yuma and hugged him in a possessive manner.
"A-Akira! You scared me!" Yuma quickly recognized the black haired boy and tried to pull him apart.
Akira laughed. "Sorry Yuma-kun! I won't do it again, I promise." Akira stopped hugging Yuma and stood. "Oh! Hi Kotori! Didn't see you there!"
"You sure?" Kotori said with a cold tone. Yuma stared surprised at Kotori. Wasn't Kotori going to finally accept Akira?
"Um…. Yeah, I'm sure…" It seemed Akira didn't notice the cold tone Kotori gave and responded innocently.
Kotori just looked away and 'humph'. Yuma stared at her strangely and then at Akira who smiled sheepishly. He sighed and took his stuff to leave. Kotori and Akira followed him. Lunch break went great; there were no problems and nothing out of the ordinary. The day passed without anything new. And the day after passed too. And the following day. Now being a new day, were everything seemed also normal. It was getting kind of boring, but they couldn't help it.
In those few last days, there had been raining nonstop. Everyone was bringing their umbrellas to school, but Yuma, as a forgetful person he is, keep forgetting to bring it. So it always resulted on Akira taking Yuma home. Kotori was having enough of this; she couldn't deal with Akira anymore. She tried to understand as Yuma told her, but it was enough. Every time Kotori and Yuma were alone and about to talk seriously Akira appeared out of nowhere and interrupted their conversation. She needed to put a stop to all this and she was going to do it today.
Yuma entered school not feeling very good. He went to his classes and ignored everything the teachers were saying. Luckily for him, no one seemed to notice. Well, almost no one. Of course, Kotori noticed. For some reason Yuma found strange he didn't saw Akira between the classmates. He soon discovered he was absent, what gave Kotori a big smile. Kotori took advantage of this and when she had the chance she started talking to Yuma.
Yuma was in one of the classrooms alone, the guys had just left to take lunch and Yuma was finishing something in his notebook. Yuma was so distracted at class that he started drawing a broken heart on his notebook, something that may sound girlish, but he didn't mind. He wrote a little note inside the broken heart and he read it mentally.
How can I love…?
But Yuma was interrupted when he heard someone entering the room. He closed his notebook really fast and looked at the one who entered. It was Kotori, she sat beside Yuma and started talking to him.
"Now, Yuma. How are you feeling today?" Kotori asked when she sat beside the boy in Lunch time.
"In fact, I'm not feeling that good. I think I need to do something different today… Maybe… Have a time alone, wouldn't you mind?" Yuma asked standing and ready to leave the room.
"Sure, Yuma… Now that Akira's not here, you can hide from me since he's not going to save your neck." Kotori said a bit annoyed and turned her back to him.
"What? Kotori! It's not that! I'm not hiding from you!" Yuma exclaimed. "Great! First Astral and now Kotori! Who's next?"
"Well, if you're not hiding from me, then tell me: What's wrong with you Yuma?" Kotori said looking at him with worry in her eyes.
"Kotori, I…." Yuma looked away ashamed. He was doing it again, he was hiding things from his friends, he was lying.
"I see… Yuma, I'm worried. I don't know what's wrong with you and that makes me feel awful. I want to help you; I want to give you a hand. Because Yuma, you're my best friend and I love you." Kotori said blushing a little.
"Kotori…" Yuma didn't knew what to say, he was out of words.
"As a friend, Yuma. I love you as a friend. Geez, don't let that thought get into your head." Kotori said looking away.
Yuma blushed a little. "How could I think Kotori loves me more than a friend, that's stupid." Yuma laughed at himself and smiled at Kotori. "I know Kotori. I wasn't thinking otherwise. Thanks Kotori, for everything."
Kotori gave him a sincere smile and hugged him. Yuma stayed surprised but after a minute he returned the hug. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes and then draw away from each other's arms. With a final smile the two of them left the room and continued to have lunch together. Day went normally after that conversation. The two were now at 'peace' after such change of words. Yuma invited Kotori to go with him visit Akira to see why he didn't come to school. Kotori agreed, although she didn't wanted to do it, but it was for Yuma after all.
When the bell rang indicating the end of school, the two Youngers left together under the girl's umbrella. It was raining pretty hard and there were many people running from one way to another. After a couple of minutes, where the two Youngers fought to escape from the multitude of running people, they reached the house they were searching. Yuma knocked the door but no one answered, this worried him more. He knocked again and a third time. After seeing no one answered he decided to see if he could enter another way. He was surprised when he discovered the door was unlocked and he could enter. The two of them entered and saw the house was apparently empty. Yuma told Kotori to check the others rooms while he checked upstairs. The girl agreed and soon they were searching simultaneously.
After searching in some rooms, Yuma found the black haired boy in what looked like an abandoned room. The boy was soundly sleeping, but seemed kind of sick. Yuma got near and touched the boy's forehead, only to discover he had a high fever. Yuma immediately left the room and searched for Kotori. He found her in the kitchen and told her about the other boy's fever. She narrowed her eyes and then told him to take her to him. Yuma showed her the room and she entered in it, and then touched the boy's forehead only to confirm Yuma's words. She asked Yuma to bring her a wet towel and if he could find some medicine. Yuma quickly followed her orders and went to search for those things, he soon returned with the towel and left again. Kotori put the wet towel in Akira's forehead and waited for Yuma to return. She didn't notice the boy open his eyes and watch her in silence. When Yuma returned Akira decided to speak to make sure they noticed he was awake.
"G-guys? How did you enter?" Akira said almost in a whisper.
"Akira! You're awake! What happened? Why did you leave your door unlocked?" Yuma asked getting near to Akira as possible.
"I-I left my door unlocked? I don't remember-" Akira gasped suddenly, it seemed he remembered now.
"What? What happened?" Yuma asked again.
"Well, I remember I woke up this morning and I was feeling a bit sick. When I was about to leave I felt dizzy and I decided to stay at home." Akira explained.
"Now, Yuma, let Akira get some rest. He's sick and you're going to make him feel worse." Kotori said closing her eyes.
"'Kay…" Yuma whispered and separated from the black haired boy.
"Now, let me see what you bring." Kotori commanded.
"Here!" Yuma gave her the medicine he found in one of the bathrooms.
"Mmm… This may work…" Kotori opened the medicine and turned to the other boy. "Akira, open up!"
"Wha-?" The boy tried to say something but Kotori took advantage of it and putted the medicine in his mouth.
After a minute Akira grimaced and screamed. "Argh! What the hell was that?!"
"Just medicine, you're supposed to take," Kotori replied in a cold tone.
Yuma looked at them without saying a word. It was obvious how Kotori seemed to dislike Akira way too much, and it seems Akira disliked her too. After that Kotori decided to leave, Yuma was going to leave with her but Akira 'begged' him to stay. He sighed and agreed to stay and escorted Kotori to the exit. Kotori gave her farewell to Yuma and a warning to stay away from Akira as much as he could. He nodded and finally let Kotori leave. Then he returned to Akira's room and watched as the boy looked angrily at the wall.
"Still angry at Kotori for making you drink medicine?" Yuma asked with a smile.
"Hmph! I don't know what the hell that was, but I will never drink that again!" Akira responded with anger in his voice.
Yuma laughed a little. "It's just medicine; we humans drink it to get better when we're sick."
"It sure tasted like hell." Akira said again.
"Yup, sometimes it does…" Yuma laughed again, amaze at how he was taking that. "By the way… How did you got sick? I thought Astral beings don't get sick…"
Akira sighed and soon his voice change again. "We don't. But in this human body I don't possess the abilities as in my true form. Pathetic humans, such weak creatures…"
"Woah! No insults there! I'm a human ya' know? And now you're too." Yuma said a bit offended.
"Only when I want to. And don't worry; I won't insult your race again." Akira turned to see the boy. "Do you still remember our promise, don't you?"
"Yes, I still remember. Why do you ask?" Yuma asked confused.
"Nothing~ I was just making sure you remembered that you promised to help me~" Akira said, now a grin forming in his lips.
"Why do you say that? Of course I remember. I won't forget something like that." Yuma frowned. "Something smells fishy here…"
"That's good~ I knew you would keep your promise Yuma~" Akira's grin turned wider.
"Yes, I will Black Mist." Suddenly Yuma heard a gasp coming from behind. He looked back only to open his eyes wide.
Astral was there, all along, he heard the conversation he was now having with Black Mist. Yuma saw in Astral's eyes how hurt he was. Discovering your best friend is with your worst enemy; that had to hurt. Yuma opened his mouth to try to say something but no words left his throat. Akira definitively seemed to enjoy this.
"Oh look! We had a visitor Yuma~ Don't you want to tell Astral we're 'best buds'?" Akira asked grinning.
"Astral I-" Yuma started but Astral interrupted him
"No Yuma. I have heard enough. I do not need to hear anymore. Now I understand everything Yuma. I think I am going to leave now." Astral said with hurt.
"Astral wait!" But it was too late, Astral had already left the room.
Yuma: *Looks at Ariette* Still depressed?
Astral: Yup
Yuma: *Sigh* It looks like we have to do all the stuff here...
Astral: It seems like it...
Yuma: Great! Now... *Looks at the same paper as before* It says we have to talk to the reviewers... Ok!
To the reviewers:
thor94: Thanks! I suppose... Ok...
Matarra: Ok...
SYF: Here! A cookie! *Gives her a cookie*
Breana: Ok...
Keyshipping-Jenny: Many thanks! Yup, now you discovered! Um... What's Keyshipping? *Tilts head*
Durbe the Barian: (This writer) Ok...
LRH: Here he is!
Don Justice-100: Yup, this is a cruel world ToT
Lime Gap: Woah! Yup n.n I like this one~
Yuma: That's all for the reviewers! So... *Looks at the paper again*
Astral: Yuma, there is a challenge, we are supposed to say the winners
Yuma: 'kay! Let's see... The winners are:
Lime Gap! (The closest one)
Durbe! (Kind of)
Breana! (Kinda kinda)
Thor94! (Kinda kinda too)
Yuma: Congratulations! *Reads the paper again* The conditions are: It must be a Zexal story. No Yaoi/Yuri/Lemon. Please try not to be with OC. It can be an Alternative Universe if you want. It can also be with whoever character you wish. Tell it in your review what you want it to be. Many thanks for participating!
Astral: I think that is all.
Yuma and Astral: See you next time! *Bows*
Ariette: *Still in the corner depressed* ToT
PS: Remember the reviewers part were made by Yuma, don't worry if you don't understand XD Love you guys! And I hope you're not mad at me!
PS2: Who can guess what movie Akira and Yuma were watching? XD