Part I: Only when it rains
Chiiary looked over at Ayato, with her head in her hands and elbows on the table. Her shoulder-length, cherry hair pulled loosely behind her ears. "Spanish is such a hard language. I'm glad you're helping me, Aya. That's a really nice thing to do. I know that you are busy from college," Chiiary said, smiling slightly. Her brown eyes didn't seem as dim, and her skin didn't seem as pale, as normal.
Ayato had spiky black hair and the most perfect amber eyes. He was wearing black, leather pants and a thin, black sweater. He looked very good that day; he looked good every day. Ayato looked a little surprised. He smiled back and said, "You have a sweet smile, Cherry-chan. You would be very beautiful if you smiled more often."
Chiiary's smile vanished. "I normally have nothing to smile about, Aya. Most people won't even come near me, let alone do something as nice as this for me. And, you know I don't like it when you call me Cherry-chan," she said. She quickly stood and scooped up her books into her arms.
"Where are you going? You should at least wait for the rain to stop," Ayato said. He began to stand up.
Chiiary,looking away from Ayato, said, "I'm going home. I've taken enough of your time. See you next week, Aya. I'll be fine. Sayonara." With that, Chiiary turned and walked away from the table that her and Ayato were sitting at. Ayato thought about going after her and try to convince her to stay for awhile, but decided against it. His girlfriend was walking over to meet him, and Chiiary being there would upset her.
Chiiary rushed to the library's door and then outside. She walked down the stairs and stood by the lower doors, under the upper ledge. She had no intention of walking through the rain; it should stop in about twenty minutes anyway, and Chiiary knew that Ayato would stay inside the library for at least an hour more.
Chiiary wished that she could be with Ayato. She liked him a lot. He was her only true friend. But he was way out of her reach, and he had a gorgeous girlfriend. She knew what people would say about him if he was with her. She couldn't do that to him. She wouldn't let herself get to close to him; she would only get hurt in the end. After what happened to her mother, she couldn't trust guys completely.
For a long time, Chiiary just stood, holding her two Spanish books and bilingual dictionary close, and watched the rain pour. The Tokyo streets were nearly empty and very wet. Rain had always made Chiiary feel better. The only family she had was her dad, but he never talked to her. He still blamed her and her sister for what happened to their mother, though he would never admit it.
About thirty minutes later, she was just starting to feel comfortable when something behind her bumped hard into her. She stumbled forward, dropped her books, and whirled around. Most of the lose paper in her books fell out onto the ground near them.
"Oh, I'm so very sorry," a girl with long, dark-brown hair and bright, blue eyes said sarcastically. The look on her beautiful face suddenly changed to cruel. "I saw you with my boyfriend today. I'm telling you right now, Rarikawa Chiiary, stay away from Ayato-sempai. He would neverbe interested in a girl like you," the girl said angrily.
Chiiary replied with her soft voice, "Venarie, I'm very sorry if you are so insecure that you have to be worried about your relationship with Aya-kun. But I do not want your boyfriend. He's just helping me with a class, that is all."
Venarie paused. "I'm not insecure about me and Ayato. I just don't want him to be bothered by a irritating, little, fifteen-year-old girl," she said, her voice toughening a little.
"I'm not bothering Aya," Chiiary replied defensively. She continued, "I don't know why you hate me, Venarie. But I don't hate you, you can have Aya. Just get out of my face."
Venarie didn't let up. She continued, "I hate you for the same reason everyone else does. Because of how apathetic you are. Not even your mother could stand you. You're part of the reason that she killed herself."
"That's not true & " Chiiary said, nearly on the brink of tears. Chiiary left her books on the wet ground and walked away from Venarie as fast as she could, towards the parking lot, into the rain.
Venarie looked at her watch. She decided to go back into the library to go to the bathroom and fix her make up. After Venarie went in, Chiiary went back for her books.
"Chiiary?"
Chiiary looked up.
"Hey, why are you still here??" Ayato asked as he knelt down to help pick up her papers. He handed the papers to her. "Here," he said. They both stood up. After a silent pause, Ayato continued, "Do you want a ride home, Cherry-chan? I don't think that the rain will end anytime soon."
Chiiary looked up and asked, "What about Venarie?"
"Venarie? Oh, It takes her forever to get her books. I'm sure she can find a way home on her own, So & what about that ride?" he asked.
"Um & okay," Chiiary replied. She turned and walked towards Ayato's car.
"Daddy, I'm home," Chiiary said as she came in the front door. She lay the key to the front door on a small, red-wood table by the door and turned on a light switch. She glanced around to make sure that her father wasn't home. She walked back to the door. "Come in for awhile, Aya," she said. She stepped back so Aya could come in.
"You have a nice house, Cherry-chan. Are you sure your father won't mind me being here?" Ayato asked.
"Oh, no. Not unless he found out," Chiiary said, walking into the other room. Her house was a two-story, brick house that had a huge fireplace in the den and seemed to have a lot of cherry-wood furniture throughout the house. The lighting was dim, but in a good way. "Hhhmm & if Aya was mine, this setting would be perfect," Chiiary thought. She was almost tempted to forget, for that day, that he wasn't and that she wouldn't get hurt. But, as always, she ignored her feelings.
Meanwhile, Ayato was thinking the same thing. But if he did anything about it, he would feel like he was taking advantage of her because of her young age. He couldn't do that to Chiiary, or any other girl. Ayato never told anyone about the way he felt about Chiiary. It would make him look bad, but he didn't care about that part. He just could not let himself feel like that; Chiiary was his best friend. He sat in a chair with a cup of hot chocolate, across from Chiiary. "When does your father get home?" he asked.
"Whenever he wants to," Chiiary answered.
"Well, I'm leaving in about ten minutes anyway," Ayato said, taking another drink of the hot chocolate.
Chiiary thought about something and laughed lightly, "I bet that Venarie is freaking out right about now."
"Probably," Ayato replied. He thought for a moment and then said, "Actually & I'm thinking about breaking up with her."
Chiiary was surprised. "But & I thought that you liked her a lot," she said.
Ayato started, "She's too &
"Snobby? Bitchy? Evil?" Chiiary offered.
Ayato ignored Chiiary's suggestions and finished, "It's the way she treats people. She knocked your books on the ground and ruined your papers that we worked so hard on, didn't she? She's pretty and all that, but her looks mean nothing if she's gonna be an insensitive jerk. Girls like that are not worth my time."
"Uh & okay," Chiiary replied. Her face turned a deep-red as a thought crossed her mind. She tried to block it out. She had been listening to Soul Decision's song Faded' too much.
Ayato smiled. "What?" he asked.
Chiiari looked up. "Huh?"
"Your face," Ayato commented, "almost matches your hair, Cherry-chan." He paused for a few seconds and then asked, "What are you thinking about?" He kept his gaze held on Chiiary. He felt daring, not as shy as usual.
"Uh, Aya, why are you looking at me like that? What are YOU thinking about!??" Chiiary asked, uncrossing her legs and then crossing them again, this time left over right.
Ayato just continued to smile at Chiiary. "That depends & Do you think that it will be a long time before you father gets home" he asked, raising his left eyebrow.
"Uh & Ayato-sempai, I think that you should be going home right about now," Chiiary said nervously, stressing sempai' to emphasis their age difference. She stood up and walked towards the door. She touched the doorknob and hesitated.
Ayato's smile faded for a moment. But that didn't last. He got up and walked up to Chiiary. "Okay," he said, smiling, "Bye, Cherry-chan. I'll see you next week then." He quickly kissed Chiiary on the cheek before she could react and then left.
Chiiary closed the door behind Ayato and then sat on the couch. She rubbed her cheek where he had kissed her, in a daze. "Oh my god. " she thought, "Why did I make him leave? & stupid."
Chiiary tossed her bath towel into the laundry room and put on her short, nighttime kimono. She walked through the living room, towards the stairs. As she walked past her father, she said, "Hey, dad." He looked up at her without saying a word and then went back to his book. Chiiary rolled her eyes and continued to the stairs. "I know that you blame me, daddy," she thought, "And if you don't want me around, then I don't have to be."
Chiiary lay on her tummy on her old bed. Her room was dimly lit with silver walls and black carpet. Scattered around the room were manga, drawing pads, Japanese cds, a few non-Japanese cds (including Savage Garden, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Letters To Cleo), a fake human squall, and some other stuff. Chiiary reached under her bed and pulled out a yellow booklet. In a few weeks she would have all the money she needed to apply. Chiiary didn't tell anyone of her plans of going to Spain as an exchange student, not even Ayato. She knew that Ayato would try to stop her, that's why she didn't tell him why she was really trying so hard to learn Spanish.
Ayato had been helping her for about three months now, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Chiiary knew Spanish well enough to get by. She had been working towards getting the money since the summer before, while she worked a full time job; the rest of the money, she had been saving since she could remember. She had only two weeks before it was time to apply.
Chiiary paused before putting the book back. She sat up and reached for the lamp, turning it off.
Chiiary put a sucker in her mouth, glanced in her mirror, and shut her locker. She was wearing a little silver shirt and burgandy colored leather pants. Her hair was in French-braided pigtails under a red-camouflage bandanna, and she was wearing pink lipstick and eyeshadow.
The hall was completely empty. Chiiary had to stay late to get some recommendations from some teachers. Chiiary looked at her watch when she got outside; it was 2:57 pm. "Oh noh, I'm going to miss the bus!" she said out loud. She started running. The bus was just beginning to leave when she arrived. She cried, "Hey, stop!" The bus kept going and did not wait for her.
Chiiary leaned against a pole at the bus stop to rest. It was too far for her to walk home, but she could probably make it to the library and wait there for the next bus. It would take her about an hour to get there, and the next bus was at five pm.
Chiiary started walking with her red backpack on her back and her arms crossed. About fifteen later, some one yelled, "Rarikawa Chiiary!" Chiiary stopped walking and turned around. A girl with tummy-length, spiral curled, light-brown hair, and a cute innocent face walked across the street towards Chiiary with her books in her hands. "Miss the bus too? I'm going to the library for the next one. Care if I walk with you?" the girl asked.
"I don't care, do what you want," Chiiary replied. The two girls began walking. "What's your name? And how do you know me?" Chiiary asked awhile later.
"Tuumi Ahviera," the girl answered, smiling, "I am in one of your classes, Craetive Writing. By the way, call me Vie."
The girls talked the rest of the way.
"What are we going to do while we wait?" Ahviera asked as they started up the stairs of the library.
Chiiary sat down on the top step and set her backpack down next to her feet. "I don't know & read?" she said dryly. Ahviera sat down next to her. Chiiary looked behind her at the library. "Looks like it's closed," she said. She looked at Ahviera.
"They're updating the computers, I think," Ahviera said. She took out a pad of drawing paper. "Stay still," she told Chiiary.
Chiiary looked up and asked, "Why?"
"I'm going to draw you, Chiiary," Ahviera replied cheerfully while she got her drawing pencel and eraser.
Chiiary nodded. "Hold on," she said. She opened her backpack and got out a book, Song in the Silence, and began reading. The book was about a girl that left home to find where she belonged, the isle of the dragons. It reminded Chiiary of herself a little. Ahviera began drawing Chiiary, starting with her eyes.
Awhile later, three girls Venarie and two of her friends, one with shoulder-length blonde hair and one with short, black hair passed by. They were wearing their school uniforms, which looked like they were from the snobby school. They were most likely on the way to Ayato's house.
The girl with black hair wispered, "Isn't that Tuumi Ahviera?" She looked at the blonde girl and then at Venarie.
"Yea, and she's with that nappy Chiiary girl," the blonde girl replied.
"Chiinary is trying to take Ayato from me. And that Ahviera girl has her eyes on him too," Venarie said dryly, looking straight ahead of her. "But then again, I can't really blame them. I mean, my boyfriend is a hotty."
Both of her friends burst out laughing. "Chiiary or Ahviera with Ayato-kun? That is funny!!" the black-haired girl cried, purposely loud enough for Chiiary to hear.
Chiiary glanced up from her book. "Bitch & " she muttered under her breath.
Ahviera stopped drawing when Chiiary looked up. Now, she was running her right hand through her hair. "Who were those girls? I know I've seen them somewhere," she said. She looked at Chiiary questionly.
"No one worth knowing," chiinary replied. She went back to her book and Ahviera continued her drawing.
Five PM came quicker then the girls thought it would. The girls got on the bus and exchanged phone numbers. Chiiary got off first. She ran up her long driveway, noticing her father's car. She slowed down and opened the front door. She crept in slowly, hoping her father wouldn't notice.
Chiiary's father looked up from his chair in the dimly-lit living room. "You're late, get dinner ready," he told her as she walked past.
Chiiary dropped her backpack at the kitchen door. She opened the freezer door and got out a box of frozen chicken. She set the box down on the table and preheated the oven. Then she washed out a big pot for rice. She filled the pot with water and put it on the boiler. After she put the chicken in the oven, she got a twenty-ounce coke from the refrigerater and walked into the den. She sat down at the three-glass, plane French window. A Japanese changing wall was at the right corner of the room and an entertainment center was at the left by a couch. She waited until it was time to put in the rice.
She had just put in the rice when the phone rang. She left the kitchen and went into the den. She picked up the cordless phone and lay on the couch. "Hello?"
"Chiiary?" a strong, female voice asked.
"Yea, and who is this?" Chiiary asked.
"It's Amurako," the woman answered.
"Amurako?! Where are you?" Chiiary asked. She sat up.
"I just arrived in Tokyo. Sorry I didn't call for so long. Um, I want to come home for a few days. Is dad there?" Amurako asked.
Chiiary replied, "Uh, yea. Want to talk to him?"
"No, that's okay. Just tell him that I'll be there tommorow night with Mijou. Okay?" Amurako asked, sounding a little sad.
"Okay. Well, I'm in the middle of making dinner. So, I got to go. Bye, Amurako."
"Bye," Amurako replied. She hung up.
Chiiary turned off her phone and put it down. She walked back into the kitchen.
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