Hello Totenwelt here! Yup, it's been 2 months. I highly apologize for going M.I.A. For close to 2 months, It's been a interesting time for me in my life, I mostly was either busy or burned out from writing as I spent most of my free time writing both my novel I've been working for some time and this chapter that I've done like 3 drafts for at this point, first one got lost in the void of data when my whole application I use for writing got accidentally deleted, and so did like a month of the work on my novel. So that's what I've been trying to do for the last 2 months, trying to get back where I was with my novel before my data got deleted, and this fanfiction took a back seat to it. But to tell you the truth I've got burned out like midway into it, as I realized that I haven't posted a new chapter in over a month. I wrote a whole chapter in a matter of 3 days, but as I've read through it I realized it was subpart, tried to reedit it in the next couple of days, realized it was unsalvageable so I decided to throw it out as it was below my standards as a writer, got burned out completely so I took 3 week hiatus from writing, and now I'm here 3 weeks gone by and I'm excited again to get back in the saddle.

On the other note, I hope you're all doing well in the wake of the pandemic, also because I have a lot of time now I thought I'd give you ladies and gentlemen something special, so I'm officially announcing that I'm gonna work on a another chapter just as this chapter goes live, and I' m gonna make it special since I seriously owe you guys for missing in action for so long, so I'll do a double chapter next time (Hopefully by the end of this week), I wanted to wait a few days and bundle this with the other chapter but I decided against it as it would take time and as times are uncertain now I decided I'd rather upload it as soon as I can to entertain and or to distract people in these tough times for even just a few minutes, but anyways I believe we can make it through! So stay safe, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)

PS: I made a Tumblr account, so if you want to see updates about the story and all be sure to follow me at blog/toten-welt

Shoutouts:

jessy0622

Thank you for enjoying last chapter! I hinted at it a bit in this chapter, but you'll have to wait and see how it turns out :) either way I hope I'll get to hear what you think of this chapter.

Also, thanks for understanding the pain writing sometime takes, don't get me wrong I love doing this, It's just that due to my perfectionist personality I wish to put out only the best content out there and sometimes It's hard to do so.

DeinPxdoxD

Finally, I was waiting so long for a review such as this, I do mean it. I always wanted to hear an actual criticism on my story, don't get me wrong I love hearing people talk nicely about my stories as it's the thing that fuels me to make more. However I want to improve, I admit I am a amateur writer, I'm not a person who's been writing actively for years, but I want to learn how to be a better writer and I'd like to make a living out of it one day. However that's the future, We live in the present, That's why I want to get better, there's a long road ahead of me and for me to get on the top I need to get better.

Anyways, let me address your point. Now you are correct I am not from a country where English is the main language and whilst my English is far greater than anyone that I know of that lives in my country that still doesn't change that yes I don't understand all sentences, words, etc. Properly but I'm trying my best and I hope it doesn't detract from the experience too much, thanks for liking my story and if you got any tips about what should I change or try then let me know in here in reviews on PM me, I would be glad if you could do so.

Dlaclark

I appreciate a lot that you went out your way to review my story! I try to improve as time goes on but I apologize if this chapter isn't as good as the others as I'm a bit rusty. Also thank you for liking my balance between romance and drama, it's one of the things I am truly proud of when it comes to writing this story.

And all of the people who read this story! You rock

Story begins here:

Taiga Aisaka stared upon her best friend Minorin Kushieda with a slight smile as Minorin was still looking nowhere with a empty look on her face, she was thinking about all the things that just transpired, and mainly how was she going to get Taiga to tell her what's wrong, normally she'd tell her all of her problems and issues whenever they happened as that's what kind of friendship, and they had between each other, however this time she didn't tell her how she felt and tried to hide whatever was bothering her as she found out from Takasu that there was something wrong with her, and the worst thing to her was that she didn't even realize that she was suffering herself, which made her feel like she wasn't as good of a friend as she thought she was. And that's why she was determined to help her best friend however she could.

"Minorin!" her train of thoughts got quickly interrupted as Taiga called out to her as she hurried over to her desk she was sitting at with smile across her face, it was hard to tell if it was genuine or not. Kushieda turned over to Aisaka with a shocked expression plastered all across her face as she was still zoning in, as she realized that it was Taiga talking to her that expression turned to that of joy as she began smiling to her friend once again as she always did when Taiga affectionately greeted her.

"Are you ready to head out?" Aisaka asked her best friend cheerfully, still smiling from ear to ear. Kushieda nodded back as she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Yes, let's go" Minorin replied with her usual cheery tone, but behind that facade she was anything but that, there was this indescribable feeling slowly welling inside Minorin, but she decided to ignore it as her priority was helping Takasu figure out whatever issue and or problem Taiga had on her mind not worry about her weird feelings. Minorin stood up from the desk she was sitting at, picked up her blue school bag that was resting at said desk. Taiga silently waited on her as she was carrying her school bag already, Minorin picked up her back and put it over her shoulder as she nodded to Taiga to show her that she was ready to go. They both started to walk to the door that was the exit from the room.

"So where are we heading again?" Taiga asked Minorin, curious as it was Minorin's idea to hang out in the first place, so she expected her to have some idea where they would head to.

"Hmm" Minorin thought about it very hard as she scratched her chin with a focused expression on her face that almost bordered being a parody, because of the events that transpired few minutes ago she completely forgot about the place where they were supposed to hang out, she silently cursed Takasu in her mind. Minorin's hand quickly transitioned from scratching her chin to her raising her hand as she snapped and raised her index finger in the air. Taiga looked upon her with confusion as she raised her eyebrows to what she had planned out. Kushieda turned her head to Taiga with a excitement on her face, she just remembered that they finished building a new mall a few minutes away from the school and that's exactly where she wanted to go hang out.

"Remember how I told you about the new mall they were building some time ago?" Minorin asked Taiga excited beyond words, Taiga nodded back "Yeah, I think I do, why do you ask?" She was still very confused, but she decided to wait for Minorin to just explain it. "Well, they opened it!" She herself almost jumped with excitement as she explained it out loud, Taiga's expression turned from confusion to excitement as she heard the news escape Minorin's mouth.

"Wait, really? When did that happen? I thought they weren't supposed to open until Summer" Aisaka questioned, she was sure that was the case because Ryuuji told her so a few months back. "So did I, but when I was going around it this morning I thought I'd stop and look at the progress they done so far, and to my surprise it was completely done and the sign on the main doors said 'Opening on February 20th at 12:00' Which is today!" Minorin explained to her with a smile still plastered on her face, she was hoping that maybe going shopping to the new mall for a few hours could cheer her up a bit, it was her best bet if nothing else.

" Wow, well let's check it out then! I wanted to go there for ages" Taiga very excitedly exclaimed to Minorin who nodded back in agreement, she had faith that she could make whatever was bothering her go away or at the very least disappear for a while today. As they finished their conversation they finally made their way out of the classroom, onto the streets, and they've started walking towards the mall, on their way there they begun talking about what they were going to buy there, Minorin wanted to buy some new clothes as she couldn't remember the last time she did that, Taiga on the other hand wanted to buy something more specific, A Valentine's Day gift for Ryuuji to be exact. Originally she was going to buy it somewhere else but as she hoped that they would sell the gift that she wanted to give him. They made it to the mall in a few minutes time, there they went to basically every shop in the new mall to see what they had there. At last, a few hours later they made it to the shop where Taiga needed to stop at, it was a gift shop. Normally it'd be filled with boxes, decorations, wish cards and other products for a gift or a party, but because Valentine's Day was just around the corner the theme of the gift shop was Love, and that meant that the usual decorations and wish cards were replaced by Valentine's Day themed decorations, wish cards and other products. As Taiga and Minorin approached the shop it radiated love evem from far away, no other shop in the mall had such a extravagant Love theme.

"So you need to buy what again?" Minorin asked, carrying a few bags in her hands that were filled mostly with clothes from her shopping spree. Taiga turned to her, unlike her best friend she was empty-handed, she needed but two things and both of them were in that shop "Obviously Chocolates, and then I thought I would buy him a photo album of our best moments spent together!" Taiga exclaimed to Minorin, excited, Seeing her be so happy made Minorin happy as well, but something wasn't right, there went that weird strangling feeling again, but now wasn't the time to focus on personal feelings, she finally got Taiga on the right place, so she just decided to ignore it for the time being.

"Ooo, I didn't take you for such a romantic" Minorin chuckled, seemingly as happy as Taiga. "Well, I guess I am" Aisaka smiled back, Be it a year or two ago she would act like the biggest tsundere under god's green, but thanks to none other than Ryuuji she embraced herself and opened up about her feelings, for the most part at least.

The two best friends walked into the love themed shop where a young female cashier set stood behind the counter, as she saw the two girls her she turned to them with a smile "Hello, Welcome to Hiroshi store, how may I help you?" The cashier asked Minorin and Taiga politely, in response Taiga walked up to the counter and began asking around the cashier. "Hello, I wanted to ask do you sell Valentine's Day themed photo albums?" Taiga asked the cashier as she had to look up due to the giant size difference between her and the cashier.

"Oh, of course. Here we have a few here on the display" The cashier turned around and picked up a few photo albums that were on the display on a shelf, she put them on the counter for Taiga to observe. She took them in her hands to see which one she liked the most, there were 3 in total. The first was very over the top, it was pink with a red heart all across the cover, the second was a bit more subtle well actually too subtle for Taiga's liking as it was purely black with only a few small white hearts near the edge of the cover, and then there was the third one, it was entirely made out of brown leather unlike the other two which made out of plastic, and the main decoration in it was a giant heart shaped sowed in with another lay the leather. As Taiga laced her eyes on it she knew that she would take it home with her that day, she nodded to herself as she put all three photo albums back on the counter as she pointed towards the leather one "I'll take that one" Taiga said to the cashier as she reached for her wallet in her school she had in her school bag. The cashier nodded "Okay, do you want something sowed into the heart? It'll cost extra but it could be a nice addition" The cashier prompted her into spending more money on the photo album, that wasn't a problem for Taiga as her funds were basically bottomless, plus she found it were sweet. "Sure" Aisaka nodded back with a smile on her face. "Very well, so what do you want sowed on there?" The cashier asked her. Taiga took a long thought about it, She could simply make the cashier sown her and Ryuuji's first name, but she wanted to do something more romantic.

"Takasu, That's TA-KA-SU" Taiga explained to the cashier, She decided for 'Takasu' as well it was Ryuuji's last name, and eventually it would be Taiga's too. "Ta-ka-su? Okay give me a few minutes to sew it in, in the meantime feel free to look around the shop, see if anything caughts your eyes" The cashier said as she walked into the backroom where the sounds of a sewing machine were heard.

Just as Taiga was told she turned around and noticed Minorin who was standing at a Chocolate stand, there lied many types and varieties of chocolates. As Taiga watched Minorin she remembered that she had to buy chocolates too. Aisaka begun walking towards her friend. "Hey Minorin, something caught your eye?" Taiga said in a friendly tone as she walked up to her best friend, Minorin turned to Taiga with a cheery smile "No, I just got a sweet tooth is all" Minorin laughed it off with her happy-go-lucky facade, It was a bit weird to Taiga that she didn't buy any chocolate before if she had that sweet tooth, but Taiga didn't dwell on it any further. "Oh, I see well which one are you going to buy?" Taiga asked, curious. Minorin picked up a red box of chocolates in response. "I had these a few times already, and they're wonderful!" Kushieda explained with a smile on her face. The box looked really familiar to Taiga, it reminded her of the chocolates Ryuuji's mom used to bring home from work back when they all still lived together, but she couldn't tell if it was the same chocolate company or not, but it could have very well be. "Hmm, they do look really good, I'm probably gonna get these for Ryuuji" Taiga nodded as she examined a box that was the exact same as Minorin's, the box wasn't anything big but it looked very neat and appealing despite not showing off the chocolate that lied underneath. She looked at the flavour, it was Milk Chocolate, Ryuuji's favourite. It was decided, she was going to buy that one for him. Taiga took the box of chocolates she was examining and took it with her, she turned back to Minorin. "Do you want anything else here?" Taiga asked her best friend once more, she shook her head. "No, I'm good Taiga" Minorin simply replied to Taiga. "Let's go pay for the chocolates then" Taiga said to her best friend as she began walking back to the counter where she placed the box of chocolates, Minorin did the same. Eventually the cashier came back with the leather photo album that now spelled 'Takasu' in the middle of the sowned in heart, they paid for the things they bought and continued on their shopping spree, or rather Minorin's shopping spree.

After many hours when Minorin basically dragged out Taiga throughout the many shops in the mall they finally finished shopping. "Finally I got everything I wanted and even what I didn't wanted, and my wallet feels ten times emptier" Minorin cried as she carried or for the better term tried to carry the many bags filled with clothes, food and many miscellaneous and unrelated items, of course Minorin struggled heavily to carry all the bags so Taiga decided to help her out by carrying some of the bags as she bought only two items that could be fitted into just one small bag.

"Well maybe you should have thought twice before buying everything that came into your view that you liked, dummy" She genuinely laughed as she helped carry her bags, they were pretty heavy, but they were just enough for Taiga's frail yet strong body to carry them with quite the ease

The pair walked out of the mall, as they did they realized just how long they spent there by looking at the sky where the sunset ruled, preparing for nightfall. Both of them knew that it was about time to split ways and go on to their separate paths. Taiga turned to Minorin, still carrying the bags "Hey, do you want me to help you carry it home?" She asked her best friend, however she shook her head in the response. "Thanks, but I already called my mom to come pick me up, so don't you worry about me!" Minorin smiled with her eyes closed as she gave Taiga thumbs up when she put the bags to lie by the wall of the mall, upon hearing that Taiga nodded and put the bags she helped to carry to rest on the wall as well just as Minorin did. When she finished she put the bag with the gifts she prepared for Ryuuji on her shoulder as she turned to Minorin once more.

"So, I guess I'll be on my way then, thanks for hanging out with me, I had a blast as always Minorin" Taiga smiled as she looked at Minorin and said her goodbyes. "Yeah, Same! I had a blast too, and see you later alligator" Minorin said her goodbyes as well as she beamed joy at Taiga, in response she nodded, waved off and turned around, and with that she begun walking to her home and her most beloved Ryuuji. Minorin's huge smile quickly turned to a frown as she looked down, despite spending the whole afternoon with her she couldn't achieve the one thing that she sought out to do that day, and that was to find out what issues she had, Minorin decided it was now or never.

She raised her head proudly as she called out to Taiga in a different tone than she normally spoke with "Wait, Taiga! can I ask you something?" She stopped her best friend, as those words pierced her ears she felt a weird sense of deja vu, that tone and overall situation reminded her of something, yet she couldn't put her finger on it. Taiga quickly turned around to see what she wanted to ask, she would answer any of her question, she's her best friend after all... "Taiga, is everything okay? I've noticed you acting a bit off today"

Well, any question but that one. Minorin knew it was bold and risky asking her head on, but she just had to find out the truth anyway possible. Normally Minorin would leave it is if something like this happened, however after hearing Ryuuji's concerns she decided against it, no matter how much she hated putting her best friend on spot like that she decided she just had to do it once for her well-being, well that and because Ryuuji asked her. Taiga looked down, depressed. She tried her best to hide her problem that was slowly eating away at her metaphorically. She was divided over what she should do, on one hand she could just said the problem and get it out of her chest, but then she would drag Minorin into her problems, whilst on the other hand if she stayed silent and bottled it up she wouldn't drag Minorin into her problems. It was time to choose... She looked back up, bearing a new expression.

"Yeah I'm fine, I don't see why I wouldn't be? " She replied to her friend with a lie to her face. Minorin stood there taken a back, she didn't expect that answer. She was conflicted, Taiga never really lied to her so she was sure she wouldn't start now, but Ryuuji on the other hand seemed really sure about it, she couldn't figure it out no matter what. To say Taiga flipped the tables on Minorin with that bluff was a understatement, whatever plan she had was in shambles, and she was left questioning if what she was told was right. However Taiga didn't felt pleasure or joy from it, she wasn't like Ami she actually felt awful for lying to her friend like that, but she had to for her own sake. Minorin tried to word something cohesive as a response but was left without the ability to speak despite having her mouth wide open, in defeat she shook her head and just huffed "Never mind, sorry for asking" with the best attempt at her happy-go-lucky facade she could put up on such a short notice out of nowhere. Taiga just nodded at that.

"Okay, well if that's the case I guess I'll be heading then, thanks for hanging out with me Minorin I enjoyed it a lot, see you tomorrow" She said her goodbyes to her best friend, the still stunned Minorin simply just nodded and replied "Yeah, you too" emotionless. As Taiga heard that she began walking towards her home, however she stopped halfway to give her one last wave, which now recovering Minorin returned but as Taiga turned her back she begun wiping something as drops of liquid fell on the ground. As Minorin noticed those drops it sort of pulled her from the trance. Minorin had so many questions on her mind, like were these tears? And what not, but before she could piece them together let alone put them cohesively into a question Taiga already disappeared behind a corner. Minorin finally recovered, more determined than ever. Yes, whilst Minorin might have lost that day, but she knew she'd succeed eventually given time, she had to.

Taiga after a few minutes made it home at last just in the nick of time as it was just a few minutes away from nightfall, however when she walked in the building she and Ryuuji were residing at she was empty-handed and that was because she hid her presents for Ryuuji at his Mother's place as she was the one who helped her with picking the gift for him. As Taiga opened the door she saw her boyfriend Ryuuji who was stereotypically doing dishes in the kitchen, as he heard her open the door he tried to turn around and greet her, however before he could do that Taiga's small body was wrapped around his. Taken back he recoiled back a bit before realizing what was happening, as he did he looked at the palm top tiger snuggling his lower torso and embraced her in return. "Hey Taiga, so how was it like hanging out with Kushieda?" Ryuuji asked his girlfriend who still continued to snuggle neatly against him. "Hey Ryuuji, It was great but I missed you a lot" Taiga replied as she looked at Ryuuji with perked up lips and puppy eyes. Ryuuji understood exactly that she wanted to make out, however he still needed to finish the dishes because he knew that once they went at it that'd be it for the day. "Hold on let me finish the dishes Taiga" Ryuuji said to the needy tiger. "Okay, I'll be waiting in the bedroom then" She sighed with sadness and disappointment as she let go of her dragon and walked off to the bedroom Ryuuji looked at her with concern in his eyes, he could sense that her issue persevered, he only hoped Kushieda found out whatever was bothering her that day.

After Ryuuji finished cleaning away the dishes he emerged in the bedroom wearing his sleeping clothes he wore whenever he went to sleep, the excitement of her girlfriend who was lying in the King bed waiting for him to lie down was simply contagious, she couldn't wait to snuggle with him like she always did, and that was the case as he turned off the lights in the bedroom and lied down right next to his lover, as soon as he lower his guard he was attacked by a vicious tiger with hugs and cuddles that thirsted after affection and love, which it got as the dragon battled the tiger with hugs and cuddles of his own. Soon enough though Taiga wanted more, so she pulled out the perking lips and puppy eyes combo like she did earlier to get even more love and affection from Ryuuji, which it did as he took the initiative and pressed his lips onto hers, the sweet and warm sensation filled his senses once again as he got reminded how sweet Taiga's lips felt, so much, so he wanted to feel them again, and again. And he did just that, their lips collided time and time again, only taking breaks when both were out of breath, and when they did they continued to hug and cuddle. They continued like this for quite the long time until hours later both of them fell asleep from the exhaustion in each other's arms, hugging. World's cutest couple even in sleep.

Meanwhile, a few kilometres away from them a lonely Minorin Kushieda sat on her bed, thinking. Something just wasn't right, she felt it earlier a few times, there was something slowly strangling her. It was a unpleasant feeling, one that slowly kept on getting worse with time, she hoped it would go away before long. Minorin took good a look at the chocolates she bought earlier before turning off the lights and going to sleep.

End of Chapter 11 - Trouble In Paradise.