I pulled up at the bus stop on my bike on Monday in a much better mood than I been in on Friday morning. I could still smell Amiboshi’s wonderful scent, feeling his warm body holding mine. And there was was, standing in front of me. He smiled at me, “Morning.”
“Morning,” I smiled back, then turned to Akai. I figured everything had been worked out, but I still felt bad for being such a bitch to Akai on Friday. My stupid assuming had screwed everything up, and I was afraid she’d be angry with me for it.
“Akai,” I said apologetically, “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have been such a jerk.” and apologizing didn’t hurt my pride this time because I meant it.
She draped an affectionate arm around my shoulder, “It’s all right. It was his fault anyway,” she jerked a thumb at Amiboshi, who looked bewildered at this accusation.
I turned to Tasuki. He nodded nervously at me and I cocked an eyebrow.
“Nishiko?” he said, guesturing away a bit, meaning he needed to talk. I walked with him till we were out of ear shot of Akai and Amiboshi.
Tasuki took my hand gently and looked down at me, “Nishiko, I’m sorry for...for what I did yesterday. I was mad and it was dumb.”
I didn’t reply for a minute, “It’s just...stuff like that’s happened to me before. I...don’t deal with it well.”
He nodded and wrapped his arms around me in a warm hug, “I’m sorry,” he let go of me and smiled crookedly, “jeez, things just keep gettin’ screwed up with us bein’ friends.”
I laughed and bit my lip, “Yeah, I’ve found that I’m a difficult person to be friends with, and I’m sorry for that. We’ll both try a little harder, okay?”
He smiled and nodded. We went back to the others then.
“I’ll assume everyone’s happy now, right?” I asked warily.
Akai grinned, “Well, we should be. And I’ll assume we’re all going to the dance together?”
“Well, yeah,” I said, then quickly added, “in couples, ya know...”
Akai grinned again, “Moron. That’s what I meant.”
“Oh,” I said, blushing a little.
We heard the bus coming and I turned to the other three, “Let’s try to go home today not hating each other, ‘kay?”
They nodded and we boarded the bus. On the bus, Akai leaned over Tasuki, “So, Nishiko, have you decided what kind of dress you’re going to wear yet?”
A dress. Oh boy, I hadn’t even thought about that. “Dress? I...I don’t really have anything that is, well, you know, prom material.”
Akai waved her hand, “Exactly. That’s why we go dress shopping.”
Tasuki looked nervous, “Shopping?”
I smiled, “Oh right. We have to get tuxs for you two.” I melted inside at the thought of Amiboshi in a tux.
“”Definetly,” Akai agreed, “but they can’t see our dresses till the dance.”
“Why not?” Tasuki protested angrily.
“Because,” I answered simply, then turned to Akai, “we could go today after school, but that would mean leaving them alone together...”
I trailed off, seeing the seishi casting cold glares to each other.
“Well, we can figure that out later,” Akai said, “what color do you think you want to wear?”
I thought, then replied, “I dunno. How about you?”
“Hmmm...I don’t know either. Maybe I should wear red, considering who my date is,” she looked to Tasuki, “right, fangboy?”
Tasuki blushed a bit, then replied, “Whatever.”
Oh, so Tasuki and Akai were going together. I probably should have gathered that., considering all that had gone on. I smiled to myself. Awww, how cute.
“What do you think of all this?” I turned to Amiboshi, curious on his imput.
He smiled slightly and shrugged, “Seems okay to me.”
People began getting on the bus. Kissechi came straight to us, Miyuki at her heels, and they plopped down, staring at Tasuki and me, “All right, what was going on at lunch yesterday no da?”
Tasuki and I had a hot love fling. It’s over now,” I told her causually, being sarcastic, of course. Tasuki’s eyes widened and he stared at me, bewildered, “Tasuki,” I said seriously, “I was joking. Jeez, I gotta quit being sarcastic around you guys.”
Akai smiled and leaned over to whisper something in Tasuki’s ear. He glared at her, “Am not.”
I looked at Akai strangely, but turned straight ahead of me. Amiboshi was gazing out the window again. I wondered what was going on in his head, what he really thought of everything, of...me.
“Hey, Amiboshi?”
He turned to me, “Hmmm?”
“What exactly do you think of the Suzaku shiciseishi?” I asked slowly.
He shifted his weight a little uncomfortably, “Well...I...” he seemed stuck and looked at me helplessly.
“Okay, well, what about in comparrison to the Seiryuu shichiseishi?” I tried again.
He thought about this, “They’re a lot closer than the Seiryuu. I guess maybe they care for each other more.”
I nodded slowly. Wow. For being there only a short time, he sure picked up on thing quickly and was perseptive. But then again, it wasn’t that hard to pick up on. In the time he had been there, there had been many, many occurances that displayed the Suzaku seishi’s love for each other. Sometimes, it didn’t seem like the seishi’s love for each other, but their love for their miko. I wondered how Amiboshi felt, knowing this about both sides.
I heard Akai and Tasuki arguing about something or other, and turned, giving them a smug smirk, “Aw, lover’s quarrel?”
The turned to me in unison. Akai blushed and Tasuki narrowed his amber eyes at me, “No!” and sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. I smirked and turned back around.
We got to the school, and got off the bus, preparing to cross the street between the school and the bus lot. Tasuki suddenly froze, his eyes widening in utter surprise. He slowly breathed, “Miaka...”
I looked to the spot where he was staring. On the grass in the school yard, across the street, was a girl with shortish, reddish brown hair. She did look like Miaka, I noticed, but it was clear that she wasn’t. Tasuki obviously didn’t seem to pick up on this.
“Miaka!” he cried excitedly, beginning to take off across the road.
He, also, didn’t seem to notice the car speeding across the street. It was headed straight for him. Fear rose in my throat and I barely cried out, “Tasuki!”
He stopped in the middle of the dark pavement to look back at us, which only made it worse. I put a hand to my mouth in horror. Oh, God no!
“Tasuki!” Amiboshi cried suddenly and leaped out into the road towards Tasuki.
The car suddenly flashed by and I shut my eyes in horror and fear, a loud, frightened gasp escaping my mouth, little short of a scream. I slowly, unwillingly opened my eyes to see Amiboshi and Tasuki lying on the grass across the street.
Akai and I quickly ran over to them. Amiboshi had his hands on Tasuki’s shoulders and Tasuki was on his back, the wind knocked out of him. After a long while, they both sat up and stared at each other, Tasuki’s eyes surprised and confused as he gazed at the younger boy.
Akai collasped to her knees and hugged Tasuki, “Damnit, you idiot! You scared me half to death! You can’t run in front of cars! What were you thinking?! I thought you were a dead man!”
Tasuki shrugged her off, still staring at Amiboshi wit huge eyes, “Ya...ya saved me.” he said, his voice filled with shock.
Amiboshi looked down and replied quietly, “Perhaps you were wrong about me.”
Tasuki didn’t reply, but I put in quietly, “Maybe you were both wrong about each other.”
Amiboshi looked up at me, a bit surprised. He looked back at Tasuki, his mouth twitched in a bit of a smile. He hesitantly held out his hand a shrugged, “It may sound crazy, but...truce?”
Tasuki grinned and clasped Amiboshi’s hand, shaking it happily. A smile broke out on my face. Oh, finally! They won’t be arguing anymore! Now we can finally be happy as the four of us!
Amiboshi, still clasping hands with Tasuki, looked down, his eyes clouding over, “I cannot say I’m sorry enough. I didn’t really want to kill you guys, not after I got to know you. I...I find it hard to look you in the eyes.”
My eyes widened a little as I remembered when Kaika/Amiboshi is talking to Tamahome and Miaka and he says the exact same thing: “I find it hard to look you in the eyes.” How creepy, I thought, that it would turn out like this.
Tasuki gazed at Amiboshi, then grinned again, “Eh, ferget it. Ya really aren’t such a bad guy, I guess.”
And Amiboshi looked at him with such a grateful, tearful expression, exactly that of the one he’s gotten when Tamahome’s forgiven him. I shook my head. What dajavu.
The bell rang suddenly. “Uh, I guess we’d better get going,” Akai said, guesturing towards the school. They got up, still pretty shaken, I think. We walking into the school and went our seperate ways for classes. Amiboshi and I went off to english.
“That was pretty amazing, what you did for Tasuki,” I said softly, glancing at him.
He turned to me and smiled, “It’s not much. I just sort of did it without thinking.”
“You’ve got a good heart,” I tucked some hair behind my ear shyly, “I always knew that.”
He gazed at me, silent, and I smiled softly at him. He smiled back and we went into my english class. We were almost late, so all the seats were filled except for a couple up front. Amiboshi and I sat down just in the knick of time. The teacher came in and began the lesson. We were in a poetry unit right now.
I was doodling when I heard my name. I jerked my head to see the whole class staring at me.
“Nishiko, I asked you if you’d read a poem for us. Page 347 in our text books,” the teacher said, frowning at me.
“Oh, yeah,” I blushed and flipped to the page in the text book began reading, “’Shall I--”
“Stand up, Nishiko.”
I uncomfortably stood and began again,
“’Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate,” I immediatly recognised the poem as Shakesphere’s 18the sonnet, “rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a date. Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, and often his gold complexion dimmed. And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or nature’s course untrimmed. But thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose possession of that far thou owest. Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade. When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. So long as men can breath, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
I sat back down quickly, and felt Amiboshi watching me. I turned to him and he smiled shyly, a bit of color coming into his cheeks, and he looked away.
“Good, Nishiko. Now, Rukuko, will you read the poem on 354...” the teacher went on, and I was lost in my thoughts again. A smile touched my face. Everything was perfect: Akai and Tasuki were together, Tasuki and Amiboshi were now friends, and I was going to Jr. Prom with Amiboshi. I absolutely couldn’t wait for Friday.
After class, I tossed my back pack on and waited for Amiboshi. He was reading a poem out of the textbook, intently into it.
“Hi, Nishiko.”
I turned around to see Shurui. He smiled that smile at me that made me swoon, his blue eyes shining beautifully.
Shurui was the guy I’d had a crush on for that year. He was a jock, but he was so different from all of them. He’d always been really nice and considerate to me, but I always knew he didn’t like me in that way.
I looked down, smiling softly, “Hi, Shurui.”
I noticed Amiboshi look up and watch us, but Shurui was finally talking to me, and I didn’t want to screw anything up.
“So,” he smiled, “are you going to Jr. Prom?”
Amiboshi flashed in my mind and I replied, “Yeah. Are you?”
“Yeah, it’ll be a lot of fun.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’ll look forward to seeing you there,” he smiled, then winked, “maybe you’ll even save me a dance,” he turned to leave, “bye.”
“Bye,” I smiled, blinking in shock. Save him a dance? Was he kidding? I’d save him two hundred! And he was looking forward to seeing me there? Oh, sigh! He was so sweet--
“Who was that?”
I whirled back around, remembering Amiboshi¹ . I bit my lip, “Oh, just a friend.”
He nodded, closing the textbook. I thought I saw the tiniest bit of envy in his eyes, but I was probably imagining it because I probably wanted him to be jealous. You’re funny, Nishiko, I told myself, so full of yourself.
Amiboshi and I headed down to the band room for my orchestra class. The day before, he’d sat on the couch in the room and listened to the orchestra in awe. He was amazed at the stringed instrument and the sound they produced. He even told Mr. Genkun that, to which Mr. Genkun simply laughed (he thinks we’re pretty bad).
Today he sat on the couch again, writing in the spiral notebook I’d given him, glancing up at the orchestra with a smile every now and then. I was curious to see waht he was writing, but I sat in my spot and had to play, had to put up with Mr. Genkun getting in my face, telling me what I was doing wrong and yelling at me to cut my nails².
After class, I loaded up my violin and headed over to him. He closed the notebook and handed it to me.
“What’s in it?” I asked, looking at it (closed) before shoving into my backpack.
“Stuff. I just have no where to keep it. I need a...uh...knap sack, like yours.” he shrugged.
I smiled, “A backpack. All right,we’ll get you and Tasuki one each. They have ‘em pretty cheap at Payless,” I tsked, “you guys are getting to expensive for us!”
Amiboshi looked ashamed, “I’m sorry. You don’t have to buy me a...back-pack...if you don’t want to...”
“No, I was kidding,” I assured him, patting his arm, “I’d love to buy you a back pack,” I smiled. He smiled in return and we began off to lunch. No one was there yet, so we sat down at our usual table and got out our lunches.
“That poem you read in english,” he started, “who wrote it?”
“Shakesphere,” I smiled, “he’s a very famous author. He wrote plays, mostly.”
“Really?”
“Uh huh. He actually wrote on of the most famous and popular plays of all time: Romeo and Juliet.”
“What’s it about?”
I grinned, being the hopeless romantic I was, “Two-stared crossed lovers from enemy families who’d rather kill themselves than be seperated.”
He looked a little taken aback, “Oh...”
Suddenly, Akai and Tasuki sat down next to us. “So, what are we talking about?” Akai asked, pulling out her lunch.
I looked to her, “Romeo and Juliet.”
“Ah,” she grinned, beginning to recite it, “’Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo?’”
“’Deny thy father and refuse thy name, and thou wilt not but be sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.’” I went on.
Akai continued, “’Tis but thy name that is thy enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What is Montague?”
“It is not hand, nor foor, nor arm, nor face--”
“Nor any other part belonging to a man,” we finished in unison, Akai falling in. We smiled evilly at each other.
Tasuki and Amiboshi stared at us.
“Sorry, we tend to get a little caught up in it,” I couldn’t hide my smile, tucking some hair behind my ear.
“What the hell was that all about?” Tasuki asked us, a highly confused look on his face.
“We’re quoting a play,” Akai explained, “it’s really famous in this world. It’s about two teenagers from enemy familes who fall in love.”
“They end in tragedy because of their love!” I said dramtically.
“Huh?” Tasuki raised an eyebrow.

“They kill themselves so they won’t have to be seperated,” Akai filled in.
“How sad,” Amiboshi commented, shaking his head.
“That’s stupid! Why’d they hafta die fer their families?!” Tasuki exclaimed angrily.
“There was no way they could be together. They went through so much hell trying. They were so in love, they just couldn’t be apart,” I said quietly, giving a quick glance out of the corner of my eye to Amiboshi. He was looking at me, but quickly looked away.
“Actually,” Akai said, “the guy, Romeo, killed himself because he thought the girl, Juliet, was dead, but she really wasn’t. When she woke up, she found Romeo dead and stabbed herself.”
There was a grim silence, and I forced a smile, “How ‘bout a change of subject? How was...whatever classes you guys have?” I asked, turning to Akai and Tasuki.
“Art and geography,” she supplied, “so-so,” she shrugged, “what’d you think, Tasuki?”
Tasuki shrugged also, “Pretty borin,’ if ya ask me.”
I was watching Tasuki as he talked and smiled when he turned to me. I smiled, “I love your accent, Tasuki.”
“Yeah!” Akai agreed, “it’s so cute!”
“Uh, thanks...” Tasuki looked rather embarrassed, “I never really noticed it before...”
“Of course you wouldn’t, it’s your own,” I grinned, “it’s fascinating to listen to you,” I sat up, turning my gaze away from him, “I love any accent, really.”
“Definetly,” Akai agreed, “I’ve always thought accents were really...sexy.”
I smiled at this. Why Akai, I thought, is that perhaps a come on?
Tasuki opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and Akai smiled innocently at him.
The bell rang and we all went to math and science. The classes passed quickly and we were soon on our way home on the bus.
“When are you going shopping?” Akai asked me.
“Oh, after we get home, I guess.” I turned to the guys, “you’ll be okay alone by yourselves? You won’t try to kill each other?”
“You’ll leave the house in tact?” Akai added.
Tasuki grinned, “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
“I’m worried,” she said, “how do I know you won’t try to kill the telephone or something?”
“We could lock his tessen in the closet,” Amiboshi suggested, grinning at Tasuki.
“Like hell!” Tasuki exclaimed, “besides, if my tessen goes, so does that flute of yers!”
Amiboshi’s eyes widened momentarily, then he smirked, “I won’t try to destroy things with it if something startles me.”
“Besides,” Akai put in, “his flute music can’t burn my house down.”
I bit my lip and Amiboshi rubbed the back of his neck, “Actually...it can. IF I put my chi to it.”
Tasuki looked stuck, but crossed his arms over his chest, “I won’t burn anything.”
“Thank you, Tasuki. That’s very nice of you,” Akai sighed.
We got off at the stop and began walking to Akai’s house.
“When are we going to rent their tuxs?” Akai asked suddenly.
“While we’re out there, I guess. We’ll have to get their sizes before we leave.” I replied.
Akai struggled to hide a mischievous grin, “Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Check our sizes?” Amiboshi asked, confused.
“To see what size of clothes you’ll fit into,” I explained.
“How’re ya gonna do that?” Tasuki asked.
“You’ll see when we get home,” Akai smirked, and I fought back a laugh.
When we got into the house and set our backpacks down, Akai turned to Tasuki and said matter o’ factly, “Take off your shirt.”
Tasuki’s eyes grew huge and bewildered, “What?! NO!!”
“Akai!” I scolded, smirking, “are you expecting your own live version of The Full Monty?”
She smacked me, “Pervert, not like that,” she turned to Tasuki, “I need to check your tags.”
Tasuki looked unsure, “Well...what about Amiboshi? Doncha hafta check his tags too?”
I turned to Amiboshi, who suddenly looked like a deer staring into a car’s headlights. “Uh...do I have to?” he stammered.
Akai shrugged, “Tasuki does have a point.”
Both guys looked really reluctant, but finally took off their shirts. I felt the great urge to whistle, but simply held a small, satasfied smile. Two very bishonen guys with very nice chest standing around shirtless in Akai’s living room. What a day.
Amiboshi handed me the shirt and I checked the tag, then handed it back to him. As I did, I shrugged casually and said to him softly, “Yeah, if we really wanted to be accurate, we should you guys take off your pants too.” Amiboshi choked and suddenly paled, “but,” I said, smiling a little at him, “we won’t. We can just make a guess.”
Amiboshi swallowed largely and nodded, and I smiled quickly at him before going over to Akai, who was again commenting on how skinny Tasuki was.
After the guys put their shirts back on, I turned to Akai, “We should get going, right?”
“Yeah,” Akai turned to Amiboshi and Tasuki, “are you sure you’ll be okay be your selves?”
Tasuki grinned, “C’mon, Akai, have a little faith in us.”
Akai sighed, “ Okay, okay. But I’d better have a TV when I get back,” she shook her finger at him.
He grinned again, “See ya.”
I smiled and grabbed Akai’s arm, pulling her to the door, “C’mon,” and to the guys, “bye.”
“We shouldn’t be gone too long,” Akai called over her shoulder, “please don’t burn my house down! Bye!”
We shut the door and headed down the steps. I sighed, “Life does not get much better than this.”
Akai glanced back at the house, “Do you think they’ll be all right?”
I laughed, “Oh, I think so. Tasuki’ll argue,but that’s just him. They need this bonding time.”
Akai smiled, “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she sighed dreamily, “can you believe we’re actually going to Jr. Prom with them? No, wait, let me rephrase that: can you believe this whole situation is happening?”
“No, it...it still seems like a dream,” I said thoughtfully, “except real. Does that make any sense? I almost sometimes think it’s not really Amiboshi, but a guy who looks and acts like him.”
Akai nodded, “I know. It’s so weird to think that these guys we’ve been drooling over for months are actually here. Especially since we didn’t even think they exsisted,” she smiled, “what would the DTFC think if they knew?”
I laughed, “They’d hop a plane to our town with sixty suitcases filled with jello.”
We got to the mall and went to Mariposa. They had gorgeous prom dresses and soon we were ooing and awing and “oh, look at this one!” and “how pretty!”
I suddenly spied a gorgeous blue dress. It was a darkish shade, like a twilight sky, and made of a satiny, silky material. Over the dark, swirls and stars of silver glitter made their way up the skirt all the way to the top. The whole dress was kind of tightish, down to the ankles, and had a lowish cut circle top. The straps were made of thick silver thread wound together in a braid like pattern. It was perfect.
“Oh, Akai! Look at this one!” I breathed, fingering the dark material.
“Go try it on!” she urged me. I gently took it off the rack, after finding it (the only one) just my size, and went to the dressing room. I put in on delicately and looked myself over in the mirror. I so wanted it.
I slowly unlocked the door and stepped out. Trying on stuff always made me nervous, making me feel out of my own atmosphere. Maybe it was just trying on dresses, but I hated feeling I was putting on a show.
“Oh, beautiful!” she ran over to me,”it looks so pretty on you!”
“Thanks,” I smiled, then looked around, “have you found one?”
Akai held up a pretty red one with a tught bodice and a flowing, poofy skirt. It was made of a satin material, had a low cut top and spagetti straps. Akai grinned, “What do you think? Red for Suzaku and blue for Seiryuu?”
I chuckled, “Yeah, pretty fitting. But this time, they won’t be enemies.”
“I’m gonna try it on. Be right back,” she said and hurried off to a dressing room with it. After she was gone, I looked around conspicuously, then, seeing I was alone, began to twirl and sort of dance with my dress.
Akai suddenly came out, and I stopped immediatly and smiled, “How pretty! You look good!”
“You think so?” she asked, “you think Tasuki’ll like it?”
I went up and inspected her, “Uh huh. It’s a very pretty dress.”
“Yes, but will he like it on me? That’s what I’m worried about,” she looked at me, “I hope you’re planning on buying that. It’s beautiful on you.”
I blushed, “Oh, thanks. But yeah, I think he’ll really like it--and you. Very good with your hair.”
Akai laughed, “Then it’s settled. I’m going to change back into my clothes.”
“Yeah, me too,” we went into our dressing rooms and I changed back into my clothes and tried to smooth out my hair in the mirror. It may be just me, but I always feel scruffier when I’ve changed back into my old clothes.
Akai and I paid for the dresses and went to find the guys tuxs. We found a place that rented tuxs and went inside to look. After some searching, and some cracks about Nuriko and ruffles, we both decided on fairly simple classics, nothing really out of the ordinary, and paid for them, then left.
We walked home with armfuls of bags and entered Akai’s house to find the two guys glued to the TV. As we came closer, we found they were watching ‘I Love Lucy.’ Lucy suddenly did something funny and both of them burst out laughing. I smiled and interrupted softly, “We’re back.”
They turned, “Hello,” Tasuki grinned, “see, I told ya. Yer house is still standin.”
“Okay, you win. I believe you now,” Akai turned to me, “we can drop our stuff off in my room.”
We turned and went into Akai’s room. I sighed, setting down the stuff, “I’m really happy for some reason.”
Akai snorted, “I wonder why. You’re only going to the prom with the guys you love.”
I sighed again, flopping down on the bed, “Ah, love. Has it really come to this?”
She smiled, “You said it yourself the other day in choir.”
I sat up, “ Really? I actually said the word ‘love.......’”
I trailed off suddenly, my eyes darting to where Amiboshi stood in the door way. He stepped back a little, “I’m sorry, am I interrupting anything?”
“Nah, we’re just talking about ‘love,’” Akai replied casually and I swallowed largely, looking at the ground. How much had he heard? “c’mon in, Ami-chan.”
Amiboshi didn’t step in any further, “Actually, I wanted to tell you that you’re dad said on the...phone...that your parents will be home late.”
“I looked at him sharply, “You answered the phone?”
He looked rather embarrassed, “Well, no. Tasuki and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it on. His voice was on the other phone, the one where he couldn’t seem to hear us.”
“The one where he couldn’t...oh! You mean the answering machine!” Amiboshi looked blank at Akai’s realization, “the little black box on the table?”
“Oh, yeah,” he replied, then turned to me, “hey, Nishiko, I said I’d play flute for you sometime,” he held up his flute and smiled hopefully.
“Oh, yeah! That’d be great! Uh...where should we...” I glanced around and the window caught my eye. It was almost twilight, “how ‘bout outside? It’s not too dark yet.” Amiboshi nodded and I turned to Akai, “Is that okay? If I...”
She beamed, “Of course. Have fun,” she shooed us out the door.
I led him to the back door, passing Tasuki, who gave us a questioning look. Once Amiboshi was in front of me, I gave the bandit a gleeful smiled, to which he just snorted at and went back to watching ‘I Love Lucy.’
I loved the sunsetting twilight. It was just dim, and the sun casts out these amazing colors all over the sky, like it’s been painting with colors unknown to man. I stood next to Amiboshi, watching it with wistful eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathed. He turned to me and smiled, “Yeah.” I smiled back, and looking at him, I could tell he was the type of guy who loved sunsets. I could picture us, sitting on the soft grass, his arms around me as we watching the sun die for the day, and we just sit, knowing we’re in love and enjoying each other’s company.
I shook the image from my head, telling myself I was silly, and said, “Let’s sit over there.” I pointed to a grassy spot in Akai’s back yard around some trees. We headed over to it and sat down. He held up his flute and asked, almost nervously, “What do you want me to play?”
I smiled, “Whatever you want to play.”
He seemed to think for a moment, bit his lip, then lifted the flute to his lips and began to play. It was a beautiful, serene piece that flowed through my soul like a calm water. I felt over taken by it, captivated and complete in awe at the power he held over me. It made me want to cry and kiss him and just lay and listen to it all at once, and I found myself closing my eyes to not fall over. I could still see his long fingers move quickly in my mind, his eyes shut in sheet concentration, and yet closed to fully recieve the passion that he was putting into the song. It ended and I found myself breathless. I stared at him, then said in a hushed voice, “That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
He stared at me, almost shocked and bewildered at this reaction. He suddenly averted his gaze, blushing, “T-thank you.”
“You’re a wonderful player, Amiboshi,” I breathed sincerly, “not just technically, either. You really feel the music, you put a lot of emotion into it,” I softened my voice, “I’ve never met someone with such a passion for music. It’s wonderful.”
He was quiet, then said, “Thank you, Nishiko. That means a lot to me.”
I looked back up at him, and stared into his light eyes, mezmerized. He slowly reached out and took my hand gently, stroking my hand gently with his fingers. We entwined our fingers together and smiled lightly at each other. I was nervous, yet calm as he held my hand in his, and his eyes shined brightly in the moonlight. It had all ready gotten dark so quickly.
It was then that I noticed his hand was shaking. I looked at him to see a shiny gleam on his face: a tear. It was followed by several others.
“Amiboshi! Are you crying?” I asked, my voice frantic. He didn’t reply, but looked away, his lower lips quivering, “I...I...” he started, his voice trembling, “I miss my brother!”
My heart broke and I shut my eyes as I drew my arms around him, pulling him close. I stroked his hair gently, running my fingers delicately throught the soft, silky green locks. He cried softly against. I almost couldn’t bear to hear him cry like this, to hear his heart broken, and in a way, my own heart broke with him. Amiboshi doesn’t deserve this pain. I held him closer, wanting to telling him everything was going to be all right, but I kept silent, not even sure if it would be.
“It’s all right. I know it hurts,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper and sincere. I laid my head a top of his, “you’ll see him again, I know you will,”
He cried some more, and sniffed, murmuring softly through his tears, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I asked, astonished.
“...That....I’m crying...”
I held him tighter, closing my eyes again, “Don’t ever be sorry for crying. Crying is the best way to get your pain out, and if you never cry, it’ll eat away at you. It’s important to have friends that will comfort you when you’re crying,” I suddenly felt a heavy amount of bitterness towards Akai and Kagami, for the way they’d given me the cold shoulder years ago when I was heart broken and crying about my encounter with Akio. I still hadn’t completely forgiven them³ ...I shook the thoughts of the past from my head and focused my attention on Amiboshi, “and if you’re feeling completely lost and have no one to turn to, please, come to me. Scratch that, come to me first...that is, if you feel comfortable. But my point is, I’m more than happy to listen to you and be your crying shoulder when you need it,” I turned to look at him and smiled weakly, “besides, you’re talking to one of the mother of crybabies.”
He chuckled slightly, then became serious again, “Nishiko...were you crying in the bathroom that day? I thought I heard...”
He trailed off, and I looked down, really not wanting to talk about it, “Well...yeah, I was...”
“Why were you?”
I bit my lip, not sure if I wanted to tell him. If I told him it was because of him, he’d know I liked him, “Basically, it was because Tasuki used to me--acting like we were going out--to make Akai jealous,” I gazed off into my own world, hugging my arms around myself, “I thought he really liked me. But it was all an act.”
I looked up to see a flash of anger go through his eyes, “He did that?”
I forced a smile, waving my palms, “Yeah, but it’s okay now. Everything’s worked out,” I didn’t want to arrise another conflict. I suddenly realized why I was hugging myself; it was getting cold out, “we should probably go inside. It’s getting cold.”
We got up and he started in ahead of me. Before he got to the door, he looked over his shoulder at me, smiling, “It’s okay, Nishi-chan. I know how you feel about Tasuki.”

With that, he went into the house, leaving me stunned. What did he mean? He knew how I felt about Tasuki? Would he kindly tell me, ‘cause I have no idea what he’s talking about. I shook my head, reminding myself how confusing males were and went in after him.
A little after we came in, my parents came to get me, and we shooed the boys back down into the basement, me saying a quick goodbye to them and Akai, then I left.
I was silent, day-dreaming mostly, and my parents were still giving me weird looks.
“I bet she’s thinking about some guy,” commented my dad to my mom. I smiled, thinking, not just any boy. Amiboshi, the wonderful boy in the world (which world? Both! Oh, I see!), and I was going to the prom with him! Yes, now I could agree, it was a wonderful life.

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