Spring Winds.
A/N: I'm glad I split up these two chapters into two parts because this ended up being 5k words like the first half. Plus, I spent an awful lot of time trying to write this chapter. I almost regretted deciding to add this one in but I think it really helps to show how Sakura feels and interacts with her friends. I don't think I have much humor so I feel like this chapter could've been a lot funnier... If i was funnier? LOL
Chapter 10
part 2
"Over here, Sakura-chan," Tsuna broke my chain of thoughts and lead me over to his family.
"Ah. Good afternoon, Sakura-chan," Tsuna's mom greeted me kindly.
"Good afternoon. Sorry for intruding," I bowed.
"It's okay! You're always welcome. Have a seat and some food, there's plenty to go around," she pushed the basket of onigiris toward me.
"Thank you," I smiled and sat down on the checkered red and white blanket carefully. I greeted Futa, Bianchi, and Reborn who was sitting on Bianchi lap.
"I can truly see why your name is Sakura now," Bianchi smiled and I laughed.
"It's definitely the hair color," Tsuna chimed in. He sat down beside me and grabbed an onigiri. The two kids were running around energetically, laughing and screaming. Futa got up to join them in their carefree fun.
"Where's Kyoko and Haru?" I asked.
"Ah… They said they were busy…" he glanced away as he chewed. "What are you doing later, Sakura-chan?"
"Mm… Takeshi asked me to come over for dinner," I answered as I took a glimpse at new angle of the surroundings. It seemed different than when I was sitting with Hibari.
"We were going to go visit him later too. Do you mind if we all go together?" He asked shyly.
"Of course not! The more the merrier," I smiled. I don't know how long I have with everyone so I will start cherishing every given moment.
I helped them pack everything up including the blanket, the basket, the remaining food.
"Ready to go?" Bianchi asked me.
"Yep," I answered.
Tsuna's mom took Futa, Lambo, and I-Pin home while the four of us headed to Takeshi's restaurant.
"Oh. Hold up, I'll catch up with you guys later," Reborn hopped off Bianchi's shoulder and ran off somewhere.
"What a mysterious kid," I mused. Tsuna only chuckled.
After a few minutes, we reached the sushi restaurant. I reached for the handle and opened it.
"Happy Birthday!" screamed a loud crowd of people. What-
My jaw dropped to the ground and I stared at them bemused. I blinked out of my shock as the poppers bursted.
I scanned the room at all the wonderful people I started to recognize as my friends. I looked at all their faces until it got blurry. I felt bubbly on the inside while my heart melted.
"S-Sakura-chan?" Tsuna asked.
I laughed and covered my mouth as the tears ran down. "T-Thank you, so much. I've never been happier," I wiped my tears.
"I-I told you s-surpries aren't a good idea to the extreme!" Ryohei accused.
"It's okay," I giggled. "These are tears of happiness. It means a lot to me, everyone." I walked closer to them and they all surrounded me in a lot of chatter that I could barely keep up with. It's really nice to have friends.
"Can we eat now?" Gokudera mumbled.
"G-Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna stuttered.
"It's okay. Let's eat," I smiled.
The catering was sushi of course, but there were other meals too. I sat at a table for awhile or walked around to several others to mingle with everyone. I never celebrated my birthday with friends so this was a first to me. I enjoyed the small little conversations that I got to have with people. I willed myself to remember their every word. I even admired the streamers and decorations that were hung around the room. They really tried their best.
"Sakura-chan, come here for a second," Takeshi smiled and I walked over.
"What's up?" I sat down next to him.
He stuck his hand into his pocket to grab something out. "Hold out your arm and close your eyes," he directed and I followed his instructions.
I felt something cool touch my wrist along with his warm touch.
"You can open them now," he chuckled. I looked down at my wrist to see a silver charm bracelet. I gasped at the heart warming present and the cute little sakura charm dangling from it.
"It's beautiful, I love it" I whispered. "Thank you," I laughed as I hugged him.
"I'm glad you liked it," he grinned with a hint of a blush. "I'm ashamed to say I didn't really know what you liked."
"It's okay, I really love this. I'll wear it everyday," I giggled and he nodded happily.
After half an hour, it seemed like everyone was done eating. Takeshi came out from the back with a white cake with strawberries and frosting on top. There was a candle lit on top of it and I grinned as he set it in front of me.
"Happy Birthday, Sakura-chan," he smiled and I felt my body grew warmer.
"Thank you so much," I giggled.
They all broke out into a Happy Birthday song with some clapping. They ended it with loud screaming and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Blow the candle!"
I leaned in and extinguished the candle with a wish.
I wish these moments will last forever.
Takeshi's father cut the cake nicely and Takeshi helped distribute it to everyone. I took a bite of the moist cake and found myself sighing. It was really delicious. It tasted even better than the cake I had in the morning. But I feel like it was partly since I got to eat this with everyone.
"What should we do now?" I mused.
"Then… Let's play the King's game!" Haru clapped.
"King's game?" I asked.
"Ah, I've heard of that!" Kyoko joined in.
"How do you play?" Tsuna wondered.
"Okay so basically you get chopsticks…" Haru walked over to a table and grab a few. "Ah, do you mind, Yamamoto-kun?"
"Nope, go ahead," he chuckled.
"And there should be a chopstick for everyone playing. We'll write the king / osama on one of them. Whoever pulls the one with the word will be king / osama and allowed to command anyone to do anything." She smiled.
"Sounds interesting," Reborn popped up from behind. "Let's do two people to make it more fun."
"Two people.. okay!" Haru said excitedly and pulled a marker out of her bag to write Osama on of the chopsticks.
"Can we avoid uh… intimate… or dirty, sick things?" I asked awkwardly.
"I think that'd be best," Kyoko chimed in.
"I agree," Tsuna joined.
"However, you guys can now use up to the whole town for better dares," Reborn pitched in.
"What do you mean?" I questioned.
"As in you can make people ding dong ditch or run a lap," he smirked.
"To the extreme!" Ryohei yelled, pumped up. Everyone just chuckled lightly.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Tsuna shuddered.
"Well it should be fine," Takeshi laughed and slapped Tsuna on the back.
"Ah, and let's use numbers so that there won't be biases," Haru brought up. Good idea.
"Then how many people are playing?" Gokudera asked.
"Well who's not playing? I clarified. We looked around and no one objected so it should be fine.
Haru counted with her fingers. Herself, Tsuna, Kyoko, Ryohei, Takeshi, Gokudera, Reborn, Bianchi, and me. "Nine people," she smiled and grabbed the appropriate number of chopsticks. She marked the numbers from one through eight since one of the sticks had osama written on it.
When she was done, she gripped the nine chopsticks in her hand. "Okay, everyone pull one."
"Who is King~?" Kyoko and Haru said at the same time once everyone drew a stick. Ah, 3.
"I am King!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Let's see…" he smirked as he looked around the room. "2… and 7. See who can stuff the most sushi in their mouth!" Ryouhei yelled out and Takeshi chuckled. They both showed their chopsticks which revealed a 2 and a 7.
"Ah! Like chubby bunny!" Kyoko clapped.
"Oooh, seems interesting," Takeshi smiled.
"Well get started you two muscle heads," Gokudera smirked.
The two of them piled up 10 california sushi rolls onto each plate and sat down at a table.
"I'll win this to the extreme!"
"Ready….start!" Gokudera yelled.
Ryouhei started stuffing a whole mess of sushi into his mouth at once while Takeshi tried stuffing them in one by one.
"Careful, onii-chan! You're going to choke," Kyoko warned.
Right after she said it, Ryohei started choking and pounding at his chest. Takeshi started coughing after another one. Ryohei started slapping the table and I guess he was done.
Kyoko gave a glass of water to Ryohei and I did the same for Takeshi. The two struggled as they tried to chew the sushi. After they finished, they both exhaled in relief and chugged down the glass.
"Phew, I thought I was going to die there," Takeshi smiled. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."
"I guess that's the end of that," Tsuna chuckled.
"Che. That wasn't very entertaining," Gokudera crossed his arms.
"So who won?" Reborn asked.
We all looked over to the plates. Ryohei had 4 remaining and Takeshi had 6 left.
Takeshi laughed, "You beat me!"
Ryohei yelled out in victory and everyone laughed.
A/N: I'm going to stop writing "Who is King~?" and then the person who got it because ... well you can use your imagination LOL.
"1 tickle 6 for thirty seconds!"
"Hahi!" Haru straightened up and revealed the six.
"Oh," Reborn smirked. He pulled out a gigantic feather without warning and started tickling Haru who was rolling on the floor dying with inaudible laughter.
"S-Stop! I-I'm going… I'm going to die" she said between choking laughs.
Thankfully for her, the thirty seconds were up and she wiped her tears as she stood up. "Oh god, that was terrible," she laughed slightly.
"8 and 1, play the pocky game!" Haru pulled out a box of pocky from her purse.
"Loser has to eat wasabi," Bianchi added for safe measures in case people didn't try.
Gokudera tensed up. "...Do I really have to?"
"Oh, looks like it's me again," Takeshi laughed.
"W-With you?! Hell no! … Hell no to anyone. I refuse." Gokudera crossed his arms. "Just give me the wasabi."
"What's the fun in that?" Reborn spoke up. "Just hurry up and do it," he smirked.
"Reborn-san…" He stared and then sighed before glaring at Takeshi. "Let's just get this over with."
Takeshi grabbed one of the pocky sticks and placed the end in his mouth.
Gokudera tensed up and glared. "You better lose, baseball brain." He muttered something under his breath before putting the other end of the pocky stick in his mouth.
This was getting awkward.
"This is pretty gross.. to the extreme," Ryohei said.
"I can't watch," Tsuna glanced away awkwardly.
They got bite by bite closer and I could feel everyone around me holding their breaths, including myself. It was so suspenseful I almost looked away but I was curious to see how this would end.
Gokudera had a disgusted but focused face on and Takeshi just had a goofy expression.
"Hahi!" Haru squeaked as they were only less than an inch apart now.
They were so close their noses were almost touching.
Oh god. Are they going to-
They got impossibly closer.
They're almost..
I'm pretty sure half of us almost fainted. I blinked several times.
Did they-
Snap.
Snap, went Gokudera.
And the pocky stick.
"I'VE HAD IT!" he yelled.
Reborn squeezed what looked like an entire tube of wasabi into Gokudera's mouth as he was yelling. His eyes widened. His facial expression turned from anger to tortured. He grabbed his throat and coughed. He panicked for water and spilled a whole glass which Haru and Kyoko rushed to clean up.
"G-Gokudera-kun," Tsuna rushed to get him another glass.
"I-Is he okay," I asked the obvious even though he was clearly dying.
"Ma, that was close," Takeshi chuckled.
"Do you need help, Hayato?" Bianchi asked but it seemed to only cause Gokudera to die even more. He clutched his stomach as he fell to the ground.
We all waited for Gokudera to calm down before resuming the game.
"2 and 5, pretend to sell a foot scrub to a random house!"
"Oh boy," I mumbled, looking at the stick with a two on it.
"How am I going to do this?" Tsuna whimpered.
"Well pick a random house, you two," Reborn commanded.
I pointed to a nice looking house. "How about that one?"
Tsuna sighed. "Okay,"
"What are we using as the product?" I asked Takeshi. He thought for awhile and gave us a soy sauce packet.
"Um," I started.
"S-Soy sauce?!" Tsuna questioned.
"That's what makes it funny," he laughed.
Tsuna and I looked at each other before sighing. The group routed us on and we made our miserable steps up to the house. I rung the doorbell and we waited for someone to answer the door. After a moment, a lady greeted us.
"Good evening, we would like to introduce you to a wonderful new foot scrub that our store just developed!" I grinned and turned to Tsuna who tensed up. "Tsuna-kun, show her the foot scrub."
Tsuna sighed as he reached into his pocket and held out the packet in shame.
"This is soy sauce," she frowned.
"No… This smells like soy sauce."
"So you want me to use a foot scrub that smells like soy sauce…"
"N-No-" Tsuna started but I placed a hand over his mouth.
"Yes. It's very popular with our customers. They say it is relaxing since it reminds them of… food."
The lady shook her head. "Look, kids. I'm busy today so…"
"Tsuna, you'll show her. Won't you?"
He widened his eyes. "N-No. No way... "
"Tsuna-kun, show the nice lady how great of a scrub it is or else she'll think we're just here to bother her," I smiled and tore it open a bit. "Here, go ahead. Don't be shy."
The lady raised an eyebrow and watched Tsuna.
Tsuna had the longest staring contest with the soy sauce packet.
He took a huge gulp. He held it up, tilted it over.
And then ran.
"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE AND RIDICULOUS," he yelled as he ran.
I sighed. "Tsuna-kun!" I yelled before running after him.
We grouped up with everyone who were all standing at a safe distance.
"So how'd it go?" Reborn smirked.
"Terrible," Tsuna muttered and turned to me. "Sakura-chan!"
"I couldn't help it, it would have been funny," I giggled.
Haru took out the sticks and held it out.
"I think we should just continue from the location where we left off," I suggested.
"Yeah it'd be easier than to just go back to the restaurant every time," Bianchi agreed.
"Then… 7 go chase 3 around the neighborhood for five minutes. Whoever loses has do whatever the other person wants for a day"
"I'm 7," Bianchi called out.
"Che," Gokudera made a noise and showed us the three.
"This isn't even a dare," Tsuna chuckled softly to himself.
"Ready?" Takeshi looked at both of them. The siblings nodded to him. "Start!"
Gokudera started running at full speed with Bianchi right on his tail. We all jogged behind them to see what would happen. Gokudera slid a corner and looked back, "I think I lost- Onee-san!" He fell to the ground curled up, clutching his stomach.
"Hayato, are you okay?" She got closer and leaned down to check on him but it only caused him to suffer some more.
"I knew that wasn't going to go well," Tsuna sighed and some of us laughed.
"1 and 2 go act like obnoxious little kids in front of Hana!"
Ryohei rung the doorbell to Hana's house and she came out a moment after.
"Kyoko's brother.. and Tsuna?" Hana raised an eyebrow. "So, what do you need?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"I-It's the…" I saw Tsuna tense up. "Choo choo hag!" I couldn't help but laugh. Holy, where did he even get that from?
Hana's eye twitched, "W-What do you think you're doing?"
"Choo choo haaaag!" Tsuna yelled out.
Ryohei stuck his tongue out at her with a "beehhhhh," noise and his hands up at his ears.
"Ryo-"
"Catch me if you can, you old lady!"
"O-Old lady huh…?" Her fist started shaking. "I'm going to kill you two." Her aura turned murderous as Tsuna tensed up. Ryohei didn't seem to react until she started chasing them both. The whole charade went on a for a few minutes till they explained to her what was going on.
"3 write a love letter and stick it in a random locker. 5 write a declaration to fight and stick it in another locker!"
Gokudera, who had to write the love letter, was frustratingly scratching his head. He threw away four papers now and was still working on the fifth. His expression was flustered but he was working hard.
"Someone please read Gokudera's letter out loud," I laughed.
"I'm really interested as to what he is writing…" Takeshi blinked several times, taking a few steps toward him.
"Don't read it, baseball idiot!" Gokudera whipped his head around to glare at him.
Reborn jumped up and grabbed the paper for Gokudera's stunned fingers.
"R-Reborn-san!"
"You are like the dynamite to my heart, the fuel to my desires. Your beauty is a blinding explosion. I am blown away by your looks and captivated by your personality. Your secret admirer."
We all stood there, shocked and speechless. Our mouths hung open. Gokudera was panicking and hiding his head in his hands, clearly flustered and embarrassed.
"Well… that was..uh... poetic," I managed to squeeze out.
"Is blinding explosion a good thing?" Takeshi laughed.
"Good job, Gokudera. I didn't know you had it in you," Reborn smirked.
"LET'S JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS," Gokudera yelled out.
"It's okay, Gokudera-kun. That was really great," Tsuna smiled.
"R-Really?! You think so, juudaime?! It… It wasn't my best work," Gokudera blushed shyly, a quick change in emotion.
Kyoko, on the other hand, was in thought. She was giggling as she was writing. She is the picture of innocence and I can't imagine her trying to provoke people. Haru was standing next to her giving her ideas but I don't want to know what she is saying either.
"I can't imagine what Kyoko is writing right now…" Tsuna chuckled.
"Me neither."
"Kyoko! Don't taint your precious innocent soul!" Ryohei yelled.
"It's okay, onii-san. This is really fun," Kyoko laughed.
"I don't agree with your actions! You want to fight? Fight me! Monday, 4 PM behind the gym!" Reborn read out loud with sarcastic passion.
"Why does that sound like an advertisement…" Tsuna and I sighed.
"That was great Kyoko!" Ryohei yelled. "You should write ads for our boxing club!"
Kyoko giggled, "Thank you, onii-san."
"4 go confess to… Hibari. 6 go pretend to stop the whole affair dramatically," Reborn smirked.
"Ah….." I fidgeted, showing my stick with a 6 on it.
"Hahi!" Haru frowned. "I'm 4… But my only love is for Tsuna-san!" She flung herself at him.
"Haru!" Tsuna exclaimed.
"What if he's not at school?" I asked, it was rather late.
"He's always at school," Gokudera grumbled and we laughed.
"We better hide or he'll come after us for trespassing," Tsuna sighed.
"Men don't need to hide!" Ryohei yelled.
"Idiot!" Gokudera pulled him over behind a wall.
"Haru, go first."
"Ah, mou!" Haru whimpered before walking ahead to the reception room. "Even though I'm already a maiden in love with someone else," she mumbled. We followed quietly after and stayed hidden behind the wall.
"Sakura, you go in after the confession," Reborn commanded. I nodded slowly. This isn't going to be good.
"What do you mean stop the confession?"
"Hm. Like… Be competitive," he answered. Competitive?
"You don't have to, Sakura-chan," Takeshi whispered with a frown, he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"That'd be no fun," I smiled. "It's okay, it'll be…. interesting." I chuckled nervously.
"Shhhh, it's starting," Gokudera hissed.
Haru looked back one more time before giving light knocks on the door. Momentarily, an angry prefect opened the door, glaring at her.
"You're one of those herbivores. What are you doing here at this hour? You're trespassing." Hibari pulled out one of his tonfas.
"Hahi!" Haru straightened up and twiddled with her fingers. "Um…. Hibari-san..." She glanced to the side.
"What is it, herbivore?" He narrowed his eyes.
"I...I um… Have something to tell you," Haru drew a huge breath and looked up at him.
He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.
"Y-you… are really... a-amazing… And really, ...really strong… And… I've," she cleared her throat. "I've a-admired you for a long time…. And…. Uh… Would you… uh…"
Hibari looked at her with a stoic expression and yawned again. Oh man, if this was a real confession...
"This is taking too long. Go, Sakura," Reborn urged but he pushed me anyways so it wasn't like I made my own choice.
I stumbled out from the corner awkwardly. Hibari glanced up at me right away. "S-Stop!" I managed to yell out after an awkward pause. Haru whipped her head to me and stared, probably thankful that she didn't have to say anymore. "Y-You can't…" I muttered weakly. Hibari raised an eyebrow as I walked a bit closer. "Um… Because… Uh. About Hibari.. About Hibari, I…" I, what?
I suddenly felt too shy to even look at him. When I did, he was smirking and stalking closer to me in a rather fast pace. "I… think that I…." I took a gulp. His eyes glinted and he bared his tonfas. "W-what are you…?"
He got dangerously closer and I backed up without thinking. He raised up his tonfa slowly and my flight instinct kicked in. I started running and I was shocked to see him running after me when I turned around.
"Don't run in the hallways!" He called out from behind me.
"Stop chasing me then!"
"You started running."
"Because you ran AT me!"
"For disrupting the peace at namimori by yelling AND for running in the hallway, I will bite you to death."
"That's so bs! You're running too!"
"I have to lay down the law in order to capture my prey."
I ran and skidded into the classroom, blocked by a bunch of desks. "There, now i'm in the classroom and not the hallway." I laughed breathlessly, "How about a truce?"
"Oh?" He smirked and stalked over to me.
"I'll take that as a no," I jumped over a few desks and out the other exit. Apparently I didn't stall too much time because he was back on my trail.
"This is so ridiculous!" I was out of breath as I suddenly turned the corner.
"Get back here!" I heard his shoes skid while he abruptly turned the corner.
"Who in their right minds would actually listen while they're running?!" I found the stairs.
"Stop now and I won't bite you as hard."
"That's not even a good deal!" I jumped down a few steps and landed safely on the next and kept running down. "Crap."
I hit a dead end.
"Now it will be" He took slow steps by steps closer. "This is as far as you go." Oh no.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Whack.
"Ow…" I rubbed my head.
"S-Sakura-chan!" Tsuna ran down.
"Are you okay?!" Takeshi followed in, his expression full of worry.
"Well, at least that was dramatic," Reborn smirked.
"What are you doing, herbivore?" Hibari glared at me and then to the group.
"We're playing a game…" I pouted, rubbing my head.
"It's called the King's game," Reborn stated. "Would you like to join us?"
Hibari glanced at Reborn for a moment and then nodded, "No," putting the tonfas down to his side. I gave out a sigh of relief.
"So why did you run at me?!"
"You looked like an idiot."
"That's it?!" I glared.
"Ah, so." He leaned down closer to me, his lips curving into a smirk. His eyes glinted with humorous malevolence, "Then. Did you want to finish what you were going to say?"
I felt my face grew hot as I remembered the things I was saying and I turned away swiftly. Not like I KNEW what I was going to say. "N-no!" I shoved him as I got up with a hmph noise. "Ow!" I yelped when Hibari chopped my head with his hand again but lightly. My hands went up to cover my head. "What was that for?" I pouted.
"Because you are an idiot." I looked up at him, ready to protest but then my words were lost in my throat. He was standing there with a small smile, not smirking. Smiling. I felt something bubble inside me then I heard the sounds of my own laughter.
After a moment, few more footsteps were audible and I figured that must be the rest of the group. Hibari looked over his shoulder before turning back to me. He grabbed something out of his pocket and tossed it at me. I reacted quickly and struggled to catch it but I managed to somehow grasp it, exhaling in relief. "You forgot it in the office."
I stared at the clip. The clip was like a bobby pin except there was a cherry blossom branch and the flower at the end. It was cute and small. "This isn't mine."
"Who else would it belong to?" His eyebrows furrowed.
Some girl? I tried to think of a girl who would have a business in Hibari's office. I wouldn't know and it was starting to get kind of strange to think about. I tossed the thought out quickly. "I don't know-"
"I'm leaving. I don't like crowds," he mumbled as the rest started walking down the stairs.
I watched his facial expression for awhile. Something tugged at my thoughts and I could be wrong but it was too coincidental to be so. No matter how unbelievable it was.
"Thank you," I whispered and hugged the clip to my chest as I fought the urge to hug him. Hibari probably wouldn't like physical contact. I quickly pinned it on my hair where my bangs stopped and gave him a huge smile. He only looked at me for another moment before going upstairs, forcing the group to move out of his way.
"You herbivores better not stay any longer or I'll bite each of you to death," he threatened before he was no longer in hearing range.
We all grouped up and discussed what we should do next other than leave the school.
"It's getting kind of late, actually." I checked my watch, it was eight and my father probably expected me home soon.
A few people agreed.
"Should we call it a day? What do you think, Sakura-chan?" Takeshi turned to me.
I nodded. "Yeah, it had been really fun," I laughed and everyone chimed in. "Thank you so much for making my day special," I smiled.
"You're welcome," a few replied.
"Anytime!" Haru grinned and Kyoko agreed.
"Let's head home now, Kyoko," Ryohei said and she nodded. "Happy Birthday again," they both told me.
"I'm going to go too," Gokudera mumbled and left after saying something else to Tsuna.
"Do you have a ride home?" Tsuna asked me.
I nodded, "Thanks for asking."
"Looks like we'll leave too then," Tsuna smiled and looked over at Reborn, Bianchi, and Haru.
"Happy Birthday!" They told me one last time before going off their way.
"Would you like to get picked up at the restaurant then?" Takeshi asked.
"That'd be nice," I smiled.
We watched everyone walk their separate ways before turning to walk our own. I looked up at the beautiful dark sky, filled with faraway stars.
"Did you have fun?"
"Yes, an unforgettable memory. I don't usually celebrate my birthday with friends," I admitted.
"I'm glad," he smiled.
"Thank you." I added, "For hosting the party for me."
"It's no problem. Everyone wanted to do it anyways," he chuckled and I smiled.
We walked a bit further in silence except for the sounds of our footsteps.
"That was nice of him."
"Of who?" I looked over at Takeshi.
"Hibari-san," he met my eyes but glanced away. "The present. Very unexpected of him." He noticed?
I returned my attention to the sky ahead of us. "You think so too, huh?" I laughed shortly.
"It must be because you're special to him," Takeshi spoke.
I glanced back quickly to analyze his expression. But I couldn't read it, he just seemed deep in thought. "Please don't say something that could sound misleading," I tried to laugh.
"You two seemed close," he mused but it sounded more like an accusation.
"Depends on what close means.. I guess? But I don't think so." I would really like to drop this conversation.
"Well it doesn't matter," he concluded with a small smile. I exhaled with relief, glad that we can move on from this.
He stopped walking and I waited, staring at him. "What's wrong-"
"You're special to me," Takeshi smiled as he met my eyes.
I opened my mouth to speak but I was unsure what to say. "You're special to me too," I answered truthfully. "You're my closest friend," I smiled.
"Friend, huh," he took a few steps closer to me and I found myself a bit scared of where this was going. I wasn't sure how to reply to what he was saying. Part of me wanted to back up out of hesitation but the other part of me remained planted. "I want to be more than a friend," he smiled gently as he stood in front of me now.
My heart ached at his words.
"What you said last time," he started as he lifted a hand up to brush my face.
"I-I can't. You can't," I grabbed his hand in mine.
"Sakura," he said without the chan. It made it sound so much more serious. "I know the risk of you moving. But I don't care."
My eyebrows furrowed. "I care."
"I want to be with you no matter what."
"You won't really be with me," I remarked.
His smile turned into a frown. "Why don't you want to try?"
"Because I know it won't work!" I yelled frustrated. I took it back immediately when I saw the hurt expression on his face. "Please, Takeshi. It… My dad, I mean if we… He'd even move me to a different country."
"Sakura, you don't have to say so much. You could just say no," he started walking again.
I stood there for awhile, watching him with a bewildered expression. I felt bad for hurting but I also felt something else. Frustration.
"Why are you angry at me?" I heard the offense in my voice as I paced to keep up with him.
"I'm not angry," he said with a stoic expression.
"You're making this difficult," I accused.
"You're making it difficult for yourself," he turned to look at me, his eyebrows furrowing. I felt my eyes widen at his comment.
I never seen Takeshi act this way but then again I suppose he hasn't seen me act this way either.
"You don't understand," I tried.
"I don't."
Why is this so hard? Is this why I never got close to anyone?
I dragged my hand down my face in frustration. We walked a while longer, we were getting closer and closer to his restaurant. I could stay angry for my own selfish and stubborn reasons but I gave up and sighed.
I grabbed his wrist, forcing him to look at me. It seemed like he had calmed down, his facial expression was back to normal.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to end this day on a bad note," I attempted to smile.
"I know, I'm sorry too. I didn't think it'd turn out like this," he chuckled softly and I nodded.
"Please, let me… Let me do some thinking."
"Okay. I shouldn't have tried to rush you," he smiled kindly.
"Thank you," I smiled back. I saw my driver's black car from here. I took a few steps towards him and threw my arms around his neck, tip toed. And gave him a tight hug.
His scent seems to have a calming effect on me even though I felt like a mess inside.
"Sakura-chan," he said as he nuzzled his nose into the side of my head.
"Thank you again, for today. And for everything else," I released him and gave him a smile.
He nodded with a grin and I backed away slowly before turning around and leaving.
I got into the car and my driver greeted me. "I hope you enjoyed your day today, miss."
"I did, thank you," I smiled. I slid into the car, welcomed by the new car scent and the cold touch of black leather. I closed the door soundly and he drove off.
I spent the rest of the car ride staring out the window in silence. I watched the town go by in a blur until there wasn't much else to look at but the night sky.
When I entered the house, I made my way up to my room as quickly as possible, wanting nothing more than to just lie down and breathe.
However, I saw the door to my room open. Suspicious and alert, I entered in cautiously. But I found a guest I didn't normally see.
"Father," I said as I walked closer to him who was sitting at my table. I placed my bag down and waited for him to speak. My room was dim and there was only a lamp in the middle of the glass table illuminating us.
"Sakura," he looked up at me with a small smile. "Have a seat, sweetie."
I reluctantly pulled the chair and sat down. "What is it?" He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.
I didn't think that I wouldn't get a chance to rest today.
I also didn't think that there would be no longer be a point for me to do some thinking.
Because I won't have a choice.
Not anymore.