Our Story : One Kiss
-----
I don't know exactly when had it happened. I don't know exactly when my feelings for her had changed. It should be during my third year of middle high school. . . From being a mere younger sister. . . Into a feeling that . . . I know I shouldn't be having. . . She's just like my younger sister. . . Or what people thought she is to me. . . That's why, I had . . . -----
"Ai-chan! Let's go home together!" Risa shouted out loud, towards the familiar figure right before her. Ai hesitantly turned over and saw Risa, in her famous pigtails, running towards her at full speed. "Let's go?" Risa cued when she got beside Ai. She took a step forward while Ai stayed still. When Risa realised Ai was not following, she stopped and turned back. "What's wrong?" Risa tilted her head slightly and asked.
"I - I - "Ai stuttered.
"Ai!"
A slight grin came upon Ai's face when she heard a familiar voice calling out her name. "Yukina?' Ai turned away from the eye contact she had with Risa and diverted her attention towards her caller.
"You went off so quickly! You left your - " Yukina huffed as she reached her hand into her sling bag. Before she could even finish her sentence, she was silenced by Ai and pulled away by her, back towards the direction where the taller girl had came from.
"I was waiting for you, Yukina." Ai interrupted. She turned back briefly to Risa and apologised. "Risa-chan, gomen ne. I have some club issues to discuss with Yukina, so I don't think we can go home together. . . I will see you back home?" Ai continued, as a forced smile made its way slowly onto Ai's face. Without waiting any response from Risa, Ai turned away and continued her dragging of Yukina forward and into the building.
A wave of unexplainable sadness washed upon Risa as she watched the two figures retreated away from her. "Ai? Yukina?" Risa mumbled. "Why are they on first name basis without honorifics ?" Risa continued mumbling. She stomped her way around and stamped heavily while making her way out of the campus ground.
It's been ages ever since I took the trip home with Ai-chan. . . Risa pouted.
Why weren't Ai-chan and Kinoshita-senpai using honorifics when they address each other? Are they really that close to drop it? Risa continued in her mind.
-----
Honestly. . . I wish she could do this to me to me too. . . But . . . up till this day. . . She still uses -chan on me. . . I wonder why? It's been 24 years ever since we knew each other. . . It's way more than the mere 2 years she and Kinoshita-senpai had back then . . . -----
"Hadn't we finished the discussion, Ai?" Yukina blank asked when Ai stopped pulling her forward and came to a complete stop.
"Yah. . ." Ai replied quietly.
"Then why did you pull me back then?" Yukina asked rather bluntly.
"It's just . . ." Ai halted her sentence.
"Whatever. By the way, the reason for me to call you back just now is to pass this to you." Yukina pulled the document for her bag and handed it over to Ai. "Your entrance exam application."
"Ah, Thank you. . " Ai took over the documents from Yukina.
"You always act weird around Niigaki-san. . ." Yukina continued, bring Ai into silence again. Sensing the unwillingness to talk from Ai, Yukina continued again, "If you don't wish to talk, it's alright." Yukina smiled gently and firmly, sending a wave of calmness to Ai. "I'm making my move first. . ."
"Bye bye . . ."
-----
"Ai, go over to Yuni-san's house and get Risa over? It's time for dinner!" Ai's mother ordered, sending the rather reluctant daughter over to Risa's house to get the younger girl over for dinner. When Ai reached over to the mansion, she went straight into the bean's room, only to find the younger lying on her stomach on her bed, lips muffled into the soft pillow and humming into a quiet tune.
"Risa-chan, time for dinner." Ai called out, bringing Risa's attention to her. Without waiting for Risa, Ai began to make her way back to her own house. Before she could go far, she was stopped by Risa, but an address the younger girl had never ever used before.
"Ai" Risa blunted out without knowing as she shot up to her knees.
Ai tried to calm racing heart down. She did not want her fluster to be noticed by Risa. Taking a deep breath in, Ai turned around.
"What's up with that address, Risa-chan?" Ai forced a rather big smile on her face, hoping that that smile would mask the blushing that caused growing heat on her cheeks.
"I was just thinking. . . " Risa fell into moments of silence before picking up where she had left off. "I was just thinking. . . how is it like to call someone without honorific." Risa answered honestly. "Nee, Ai-chan. . . We had knew each other for years, isn't that so? Shouldn't it be normal if we just call each other by our first name?" Risa continued without noticing the fact that she had switched back to her usual calling.
"What are you talking about, Risa-chan?" Ai walked about and started to pinch on Risa's cheeks. "It always had been Risa-chan. . . And Risa-chan for life?" Ai tried to giggled. Expecting the younger girl to yelp in pain from her actions, she was surprised that the younger had her eyes narrowed, looking blankly at her. "Not painful?" Ai pulled her hands back as she surprised.
Risa rubbed her cheeks lightly as she looked at Ai with her puppy eyes, shaking her head almost unnoticeably. "Why?" The question was asked. Risa pouted, pressing her lips out like a pair of duck lips. "It's all because of Ai-chan. . ." Risa mumbled under her breath.
"Why is it because of me?" Ai asked, looking as clueless as she could at the claim.
"You have always been pinching it so much that I had lost my sensory neurons on my cheeks. . . " Risa continued mumbling, causing Ai to burst into a huge fit of laughter.
"Really? Then maybe I should change my actions then. . .Something like this. . " As Ai finished, she swiped her hand over the top of Risa's head, slapping a moderate strength smack on the top of the younger's head.
"Pain - " Risa looked up at Ai' face, with no signs of guilt of inflicting the pain on her, yet only with a rather playful smile. "I'm hungry, Let's go!"
-----
The reason for me. . . refusing to call her just only by her first name. . . was because. . . I know. . . My heart will falter more if I do so. . . I can't . . . But I still do . . .-----
"Ai-san?" Risa heard a male voice calling out the name she was so familiar with across the street, making her to look out of her room window rather curiously. There she saw, a relatively tall and skinny male, standing outside the Takahashi Residence, in the familiar uniform of her middle high school.
A senior? Risa wondered silently in her mind.
Isn't Ai-chan going for the entrance exam for high school exam today? Just as Risa thought in her mind, a rather flustered Ai rushed out of her house, with her long black hair raining behind after her, in a huge mess.
"Ah, Kenji-kun, sorry for the wait." Risa barely heard through the closed windows.
"Your hair is in a mess." The vague conversation continued, with Kenji reaching his hand for Ai's hair and pulled it behind Ai's ears.
"Ah, Thank you. " Ai thanked shyly, looking away from Kenji's gaze.
Risa, who had been watching the whole scene, was obviously up on her fires. Her hand clenched into a fist, tightly by her side as she felt an unexplainable sourness and clenching of her heart in her left chest. Her lips pouted as she felt her eyes moistened.
That's why . . . "Ai-chan! Which high school are you intending to go into? Risa too wants to get into the same high school Ai-chan is going into. . ." Risa wrapped her right arm around Ai's left as she cling onto Ai, who was focusing on her books before her.
Ai placed her pen down before turning over to Risa, with a little mischievous grin at the side of her lips. "I'm not telling you!" Ai stuck her tongue out at Risa as she scrunched her face."
"Meanie!" Risa whined.
"Bleh. . "
"Can Risa accompany Ai-chan to your entrance exam tomorrow?"
"Eh? No." Ai rejected the offer immediately, sending Risa straight into her puppy eyes mode.
"Please?" Risa begged again.
"No."
"Eh, Ai-chan is bullying me again!" Risa continued.
"That's always, isn't that so?" Ai chided playfully, sending Risa into total silence. Risa released her grip on Ai's arm and had her tension going into valley low. Sensing the sudden change of Risa's mood, Ai added on quickly "I will tell Risa-chan when I got accepted by the school. . . "
"But why Risa can't go with you?"
"No means no. " Ai patted Risa's forehead gently.
That's why. . . Risa sighed deeply.
Ai-chan is seeing someone now. . . And she didn't want me to know it. . . Risa concluded in her mind. Slopping herself back onto her bed, Risa pulled her blanket up to her face and pressed it down, before letting out a muffled scream.
"AHHHHHH!!!!!!"
-----
"Risa-chan, can you help me to get Ai back? Yui refused to do so." Ai's mama walked into the living, where Risa were seated on the couch and watching the television casually.
"Eh?" Risa stuttered. She didn't want to go. Ever since she witness Ai and Kenji together outside the Takahashi Residence, she had been trying all her best to avoid the former by all means, not knowing what was her reason for her actions. "I - "
" Ai told me that she's going over to the park for a while, and it's been an hour. It looks like it's going to rain soon and Ai had not brought any umbrella with her. " Ai's mama continued explaining, giving Risa no chances to reject the idea. With the Umbrella shoved into her hands, Risa was guided towards the door. "Arigatou ne, Risa-chan." With that, Ai's mama returned back to the kitchen, where Risa's mama was in, and continued with their preparation of the night's dinner.
When she took the first step out, small droplets, light rain began to descend. Risa opened the umbrella and brought it up above her head. Instead of rushing her way to the park, Risa took baby steps, still contemplating whether should she go. Since the rain had started, it's normal for any to just run back to shelter, isn't that so? That was exactly what Risa thought too. Therefore, a part of her heart was telling her that there was no such need to advance toward the park to pick Ai up.
Though the intention, Risa still made her way to the park, all drenched though. During the mist of her journey to the park, she saw an old lady, struggling her way to keep herself out of the rain. Therefore, the younger girl had decided to donate her umbrella to the old lady, saying that it would be fine for her to be in the rain as compared to the old lady herself and ran away before the old lady could reject the offer.
When she reached the park, there she saw, a lonely figure, seated at the swing, legs off the ground, allowing the lightly inertia to bring the figure back and forth lightly. The rain was already pouring down at that moment, and the figure had made no intention to leave the rain. Risa rushed up immediately and stopped behind the figure. Quietly, she called out. "Ai-chan."
Ai scrambled off the swing immediately and turned around, surprised to hear Risa standing behind her.
"Let's go? The rain is getting heavier and heavier." Risa urged and turned around, making her way towards the direction of their house.
However, Ai was not following. Instead, she stayed still at her position as she watched Risa's drenched figure retreated. Ai felt a painful clench within her left chest, as she watched Risa's retreating figure. When Risa realised Ai was not following, she turned back and returned back to Ai's side. Pulling her hands above her forehead to prevent the rain water from getting into her eyes, blurring her vision, Risa asked, "Why aren't you moving? You are going to catch a cold of you don't move. And it's going to be the opening ceremony of your high school soon too. You won't want to be sick on that day, don't you?" Risa rattled.
"You are finally talking to me. . ." Ai blurt out, causing Risa to sink into her guilt.
"That - " Risa was silenced off by the intensity Ai had in her stare. Ai closed herself in really close, reducing all distance between their body. The only distance they had was the palm width distance right between their forehead - from the palms held on Risa's forehead. They could literally feel the breath of each other at their distance. "I - " Risa felt herself silenced again. There was something in Ai's glare that Risa could not explain. Though the cold rain was running down of their drenched bodies, Risa felt a growing heat on her cheeks. Before she knew it, Risa felt a pair of warm lips on hers.
------
And we kissed. . . I didn't know what had came over me that day. . . I could no longer hold back my feelings anymore. The rain made me lose my mind. . . And . . .we kissed. . . It was my first kiss. . . And I know it was hers as well. . . .Thought that. . .I know. . . I -
hehehe. and i did it again
heheh. next shot should be the last of this series already, i guess, so
heheh
de wa, unitl the next time then^.^
thanks for the comments!! I can feel the love for little AiGaki from them . .
Little AiGaki is the most adorable thing on earth :X heheh
PS:The six year old incident is an event that happened to me irl . . SO. . .hehehe