31Gomen for making you all wait so long for this! My family's moving right now, so it's hard to update frequently. But I like this story so much that I'm gonna try to make it interesting anyway. Mae hasn't been mentioned for awhile, I know, but I plan on having her in the next chapter.
Thanks to everyone who's put up with my lack of updates! You're all so patient.
Chapter 4
After almost half an hour of having to deal with Rikyu's perverted ways, we finally made it to Naoki's house...er, apartment. It wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting. A guy like Naoki should've had a nice big house with a white fence and a friendly dog outside in the yard.
Not the old run down apartment building that loomed over us.
Rikyu seemed to sense my confusion slash disappointment. "Naoki's family has money, but it all belongs to his grandfather until he croaks. He must send them money for his schooling and stuff."
"Oh." I said feebly.
We went inside and up what felt like a million flights of stairs before reaching door number 608. I read the name Tsukade written next to the door and smiled. Great! Now I could stop Chiaki before she...
Wait...what was she planning to do, exactly?
My thoughts were broken as Rikyu rang the door bell. About a minute passed until someone opened the door.
I could feel my heart beat just a little bit faster at the sight of Naoki. He was wearing a faded denim jacket over a white t-shirt, and jeans that hugged his long legs just right. Golden hair fell in those amazing honey glazed eyes of his.
A sharp whack upside my head was enough to snap me back into the real world. "OWCH!" I yelped in pain, my hands flying to my wounded skull.
"Stop drooling, Minami." Rikyu said curtly. "Remember why we're here?"
Despite the overpowering urge to kill the copper-haired bastard, I forced a pleasant smile. "Rrrrright." My smile wasn't as forced when I looked at the golden-haired angel. "Hi, Naoki! We're sorry to bother you, but is my sister here?"
Naoki frowned in confusion. "Your sister?"
"Uh, yeah. Chiaki? Is a girl named Chiaki here? She's my older sister." I explained.
"Chiaki's your sister?" the boy asked, seeming suddenly shocked. "Are you serious? I can't believe-"
"What can't you believe, Naoki?"
We both turned our attention to Rikyu, who had a mean expression on his face as he glared down at Naoki. I'd never seen him look that way yet, and it frightened me a little. Why was he so mad? I thought he and Naoki were friends.
"That...I mean, they look so different. That's all." Naoki said. I could see the sudden nervousness in his eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rikyu snapped, scaring us both. "Listen, Tsukade, Ayano's way prettier then Chiaki. I hope you realize that."
"I..."
"Hey, what's with all the yelling, Naoki-kun?"
All three of us saw Chiaki step behind Naoki, looking so unrealistically innocent that it made me wanna barf. But seeing her hand gently grip his arm made me focus a glare on her.
"Oh, Chiaki-san, your sister's here for you."
"Really?" Chiaki said. "I thought that you and Rikyu would be 'busy' right now. What a surprise!" She winked at me.
Naoki gave me a questioning glance before looking away. But that was more then enough for me to realize that I was never gonna get Naoki. Chiaki had obviously had time to plant her lies before we'd gotten here. Now she'd take him from me before I ever had a chance.
Numbly, I turned away from them and started wobbling to the stairs. I wanted nothing more then to leave, to go home and cry my ass off until I felt better. If I could feel better anymore. After the way Naoki just looked at me-that awful, betrayed look-it would be impossible for me to ever face him again.
As soon as I was halfway down the long stairwell, my eyes already full of warm tears, I missed a step and lost my balance. "YHAAAA!"
Strong arms encircled my waist, stopping my fall. In an instant one of the arms left me and grabbed onto the railing, keeping us both from falling. I was almost in shock. Who the hell...? Naoki? Was it Naoki here to save me again?
"Hey, green eyes, come on. Snap out of it. You're ok." said a voice soothingly into my ear.
No...that wasn't Naoki's voice. That was-
"R-Rikyu?" I gasped. "What're you..."
I couldn't help it. I burst into tears.
"There, there, you're ok now. It's alright, green eyes."
I winced as Rikyu patted me on the head. I felt embarrassed for crying in front of him, especially for so long. The last thing I'd expected to happen was for Rikyu to stay with me until I was finished crying. He just didn't strike me as that type of guy. More the kind that would sleep with you one night and ditch you the next morning. But he was nothing like that. Rikyu actually cared enough about me to stay with me till my tears stopped. How did I misjudge him so horribly?
"Hey, listen, you don't have to go out with me if you don't want. I can't say I'm gonna try to help you get with Naoki though. He's an ass." Rikyu said.
"What?" I jerked my head up to look at him. We were sitting at the bottom of the stairs, and he was on a step above me. "No he's not!"
"What makes you think he isn't? After the way he acted..." The boy scoffed. "He didn't even come to see if you were ok or not. Some man."
"Uh, he's only sixteen, Rikyu. He's not exactly a man yet."
"Yeah, well if he keeps that shit up he'll never be one either."
"Rikyu..." I sighed. "Look, I'm sure it's not his fault. My sister probably said something to him."
"Like what?"
"I dunno. Evil lies, most likely."
"Ah."
There we sat quietly for a moment, not moving, just thinking. What Rikyu was thinking I have no clue. Me on the other hand, my mind was totally focused on what Chiaki could've told Naoki. I was so absorbed in wondering about Chiaki and Naoki, that I didn't realize that Rikyu was staring at me. At last I turned my head to face his, unconsciously getting lost in his blue gaze.
We stayed like that for awhile.
"Um! S-Sorry..." I said, forcing myself to look away. I attempted to ignore the strange feeling of loss I felt at not staring into his eyes anymore.
Fingers reached for my face and abruptly led it back to his. "For what, green eyes?"
"F-For..." He was looking at me with an expression that was impossible to read. My eyes were once again completely lost in his. "For...uh..."
I didn't even realize what he was doing till he did it. One second we were just sitting there staring at each other like morons, and the next he had his lips on mine in a heart stopping kiss.
My mind went blank as I sat there, my hands limp in my lap. Rikyu pulled away after a moment, the same smirk on his face as the day I met him. Why had I let him do that? Was I on drugs? I liked Naoki, didn't I? Even though he was probably mad at me over something Chiaki said, that didn't mean I should be kissing Rikyu! Did it...?
"Apology accepted!"
"Eh?!" I jerked away from him, surprised by his sudden outburst. He was grinning from ear to ear, which made me feel even worse about the situation.
Rikyu stood and stretched. "Weeelllllllll, I'll walk you back home if you want."
"I, um, uh..." I blushed. "D-Don't you have anything...to, um...say?"
"Say? About what?"
"About that kiss, you idiot!"
He stared down at me nonchalantly. "Yeah, it was a kiss. And?"
"And?!" My temper flared as I rose to my feet, fists clenched. "And that just happened to be my first kiss, you dumbass! Don't just brush it off like it was nothing!"
Rikyu held up his hands in surrender. "Whoa, whoa! Chill out, green eyes. I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was your first time." He let his hands fall to his sides. "Although it was funny how you responded..."
"What do you mean?" I asked guardedly. It was embarrassing enough that I'd let him kiss me, but it would be worse if I sucked the first time.
"Well, you sorta froze up and everything. Like you didn't know what I was doing."
"I...didn't...at first." I admitted.
"That's what I thought."
Neither of us said anything for a time, making eye contact once or twice. Then Rikyu finally spoke up:
"So...does this mean we're going out?"
The question threw me back into the present. "What?"
"I mean, you didn't hit me or anything when I kissed you. So you must be ok with it, right? And that would mean that you like me and I really like you, and..." He made a gesture with his hand.
This certainly required some thought. On the one hand I was still totally into Naoki, no matter what my evil sister had told him. But then on the other hand I'd willingly allowed Rikyu to kiss me. Would I have done that if I really liked Naoki? It was true that I didn't know either of them that well yet, but...
Too much to think about right now.
"Can I think about it?" I asked lamely, looking up at him.
Rikyu shrugged. "Sure. As long as you let me walk you home."
"M'kay."
By the time we got back to my house, I'd almost completely forgotten that I'd left Naoki inChiaki'sclutches.
"See? Didn't I tell you, Naoki?"
"You did, but I still can't believe it." Naoki's eyes were frozen to the floor.
After Ayano had walked off, he'd watched Rikyu go after her. When he had been about to do the same, a firm hand had grabbed his arm, stopping him. For an instant Chiaki had looked like a determined witch, but in a second she was looking at him with the deepest possible concern.
She'd said: "Don't, Naoki-kun. Hasn't she hurt you enough?"
And now he was sitting on his couch wondering if he should've just went after her anyway. It felt so wrong not to. From the first timehe'd caught her falling from that tree like an angel falling from heaven, he had a hard time getting the red head out of his mind.
When a girl had come to his doorstep earlier that day saying she wanted to talk to him, he'd let her in. Now he was regreting it. After what she'd told him...what was he supposed to do?
A new weight was added to the couch beside him. "Naoki?"
No answer.
"Listen, you can't dwell on this. You should-"
"Why didn't you tell me she was your sister?"
Chiaki jerked away from him, but relaxed once again and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Naoki. It's just that...I really don't feel good about telling people that she's related to me, you know? I mean, it's alittle embarrassing."
"I guess..."
"Come on. Let's talk in your room."
"No. Here's fine."
A sigh. "Ok. But what I've told you so far isn't even the half of it!"