I sat in my backyard looking up at the stars all by myself. As little lights sparkled against the black velvet sky I felt a soft breeze blow. Haru and Rin had come back from their trip today, but I thought that letting Haru be with his teammates before Nationals was a good idea.
"Kei." As the familiar voice floated through the air with my name I looked over to see Haru standing only a few feet away from me.
"Haru." We stared at each other and no words had formed in either of our throats, so the only thing I could think of was to pat the spot beside me, so Haru knew he could come sit down. Once he did I looked back up at the sky and it almost looked a little different now.
"I have a dream." He said. I looked at the blue-eyed boy and waited for him to continue. "I'm going to swim, Kei. I'm going to start caring about my times and my wins now. I want to swim."
"Good. I know you'll be great, Haru. No one can beat you in the water." I smiled at him.
"I also found something else…" Haru reached for my hand and took it in his. As we continued to stare at each other I began to anticipate what he was about to say. "I want you there. To cheer for me in the crowd. I always want you there." My free hand reached up and gently rested on his cheek as I smiled at him.
"I'll always be there, Haru, because I believe in you."
"Why are these things always so far away?" I complained as I arrived at my seat beside Gou in the stadium.
"Because we don't have stadiums like this in Iwatobi." She said.
"I know, but I have to keep waking up super early to get to these things. I'm losing sleep over this." I sighed as I slouched in my chair.
"Are we not worth it, Kei-chan?" I looked over to see the four boys standing off to the side. Nagisa had his hands on his hips as he smiled at me.
"Nagisa! Rei! Makoto!" I yelled as I jumped out of my seat and went to hug all three of them.
"Does Haru-chan not get a hug?" Nagisa asked.
"Did you two break-up? You can't! You're a beautiful couple!" Rei complained. I laughed and waved my hand.
"No we haven't, I saw him the other night, so it's not a big thing to see him right now, but I haven't seen you three in a while, right, Haru?"
"Right."
"Oh thank God! You gave me a heartache, Kei-san! You can't do that right before our relay." Rei complained.
"Well don't jump to conclusions then." I laughed as Rei calmed down his fast paced heart. "Are you boys ready?"
"Of course we are! We've trained so hard for this moment." Nagisa said as he balled his fists in front of his chest.
"We will put on a beautiful display for everyone to see." Rei added.
"I think we'll do the best we absolutely can." Makoto said.
"Right." Haru ended.
"You four sound like a really bad superhero group." I sighed as my eyebrow raised and my head tilted to the right slightly.
"But superhero's always win, right?" Nagisa poked me.
"I guess they do…"
"So we're going to do great today!" He cheered.
"I know you boys will." I looked over to the clock and looked back at the four in front of me. "Shouldn't you guys get going?"
"Yup! Let's head on out guys." Makoto instructed his teammates to get a move on.
"Good luck!" I cheered as they all turned around and began to walk away. I began to make my way back to my seat until I heard someone yell my name.
"Kei!" I turned around and saw Haru run up to me.
"Is something wrong?" Haru didn't say anything, instead he grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to him and placed his lips on mine. The sounds of Gou and her friends squealing were immediately blocked out by the sensation that ran through my body with that one simple kiss. As he pulled away I was at a loss for words until Haru nodded his head and said,
"I love you too." I was going to say something, but Haru had turned around and left to go catch up with his teammates. I raised my hand in front of me, but closed it and made a fist.
"God damn it! That boy does whatever he wants." I sighed.
I sat at the dinner table for the last time for the next little while. My mom had cooked up my favourite food and placed it as a spread around the table.
"I can't believe you're going, Onee-san!" Kaiya whined as she sat on my right and her twin brother on my left.
"She'll be back in a bit, right?" Kaito asked me.
"Of course I will! I still need to learn all of mom's recipes." I smiled at the pair.
"Precious flower! You can't leave me!" My dad cried from across the table. I sighed as I stuffed more food into my mouth.
"I have to go, dad, I have school." I said.
"But I need you here, with me!"
"No. I need to go be a adult."
"No! Do you know what happens when you go and be an adult! You become deflowered!" A loud whack sound echoed in the air as my mom slammed a wooden spoon onto the top of my fathers head.
"Where did she get that?" Kaiya asked.
"I don't know." Kaito answered.
"I don't think I want to know." I mumbled.
"She's become a young lady and you need to support her in her endeavours or she'll never come home to see me because of you and your constant crying." My mom scolded my father.
"B-B-But wifey!"
"Oh no." Kaiya said.
"Not again." Kaito added.
"Not the pet names again." I mumbled.
"Don't 'wifey' me! You are going to help your daughter move-in tomorrow without any tears, got it?"
"But-"My father stopped his sentence when he saw my mother giving him her signature death glare. As he swallowed the lump in his throat he nodded his head.
"Good, now can we eat, like a normal family?" My mother suggested. It was silent around the table before the twins grabbed onto both of my arms.
"Don't leave us with them, Onee-san!" Kaiya cried.
"Yea! Take us with you!" Kaito complained. I didn't know what to say, so instead I laughed because my family was one of a kind.
I smiled at the last picture that I had to place in my last box. It was a picture from Nationals and it was of Haru and I. When he spontaneously turned me around to kiss him a photo was taken and Gou managed to get her hands onto it. I didn't want to know how she got it.
Haru's right hand held onto my left wrist as my right hand was pressed against his chest. His left hand had positioned itself around my waist. Both of our eyes were closed as our lips touched, but everything else in the picture was blurred out. The focus was on the two of us and I absolutely adored the picture.
My thumb rubbed against the engraving I got done on the bottom of the photo frame – 'When love is not madness, it is not love'. I smiled as I placed it into the box and put the lid on top. I looked around my empty room and smiled.
It was time to move on.
It was time to learn new things.
It was time for new beginnings.
It was time for the future.
Well that's the end of that! I will post up the Epilogue tomorrow (which happens to be my favourite bit!). Tell me what you thought of the sequel or the first story...OR BOTH!
-xoxo