Bright Burning

Pocky

Amy and T.J's apartment was crowded and small, he seemed to spend most of his time online talking to people he'd never meet in real life while raging at his inability to stay alive in a video game. Amy seemed to have become accustomed to it, she hummed songs at her own pace and poured some tea before she sat down beside me. She moved my head away and then onto her lap when I didn't even move. I was probably acting like an immature teenager who just got broken up with but I was hurt.

From the bottom of my heart I felt broken and clueless of what to do next. Luckily my new friend was there to pretend it was normal as she clicked through the channels on her TV. It seemed silly to be there but I couldn't be alone, I couldn't sit up straight and pretend I was ok when my world was turned as sideways as my view of the TV. "Do you think I could move to Tokyo with her?" I said breaking the heavy atmosphere.

"Is your contract up?" I knew she was becoming tired of me but she still patted my back as she took a bite of Pocky.

Sighing at her point I blinked a few times. "Why doesn't she just stay at her grandfathers house? She's an adult."

I felt Amy roll her eyes before she pushed me off of her lap. "Girl the only person that can answer these questions is her. I don't know what to tell you."

"She's leaving in a few days." Shaking my head I relived the moment Akira fell to the floor in front of me, I was so cold and dismissive that there was no way that she would want to talk to me again.

"Bitch I'm about to slap you." Amy put her drink on her side table and looked at me like an irritated mother. "If it's over cry and get over it, if it's not then go get her."

"What about her mother?" T.J slipped his headphones off halfway even though his face was still focused on the war filled screen. "You can't blame her for picking her mom. My mom was insane but I still talk to her."

I thought about that while Amy turned up the volume on the TV. "Because you were a momma's boy scared to do his own laundry."

When his character got killed he turned in his chair. "I still feel like your angry."

They were both right. Chiyoko was insane but she was her own person, everything that happened between Akira and me happened because of us not because of anyone else, I let pride and anger go to my head when she was grieving. How could a girl going through a crack in her life pull herself out of it to control me? My whole focus was on protecting her when I should have just been there.

Getting up from the couch I went over to the bowl where all their spare keys were and shuffled through the painted ends until I found what I was looking for, "Can I take your car?"

Amy waved at me as a go ahead as she turned to face her husband who clearly realized he messed up by talking. I didn't care to stick around and see how it would end up though I wanted to talk to Akira. Even if we ended up fighting or even if she refused to see me I had to at least try, I cared for her to much to just wonder what it could have been. She deserved so much more than an unhappy ending with only a question of what if left on my faded memory.

T.J was right though, her mother was an issue. Akira didn't act like she had told her anything that went down at the bar so I would just have to keep the peace for a while. Not even let her get involved so it could be like it used to, like When it was just me and her on the bridge. But the world did revolve like that, other people would be involved and I needed to learn how to deal with it.

To avoid her mother I decided the best route was to use the darkness as my advantage. This wasn't stalking was it? Was I being weird?

After the quiet drive I pulled off to the side of the road and turned off the engine, the house was dark except for the front and I wondered if she was asleep. Getting out and closing the door as gently as possible I looked around the rice fields hoping no one was out to see me. Of course there wasn't, I was the only psycho running around the countryside at almost midnight to win a young girls heart.

Picking up a few pebbles I went to the side of the house, Tip toeing as an extra precaution, while I heard her mother talking in the kitchen to some man who seemed antsy. He was probably done talking.

The house was only one floor but it was higher up due to the flooding season, so I could barely look in to see if the girl was there. Instead I took a deep breathe and tossed the small rock. It hit the window a little louder than I expected so I froze and let my eyes look around.

When no one came out to investigate I threw another hoping this time I would get her attention. I threw a third and then one more until finally a confused face looked out the glass. My heart jumped with joy as she rubbed her eyes and opened up the window. "What are you doing here Laura?" Her hair covered my view as she looked back inside her room to make sure her mother had heard nothing.

"I had to see you." Peering up at her I put my hands on the frame of the window and smiled. "You can't go to Tokyo Akira, you can't."

She gave a weak smile as she put her hands over mine. "I have too." Her silky pajamas seemed so smooth and cool I wanted to drag her out of the window and hold her with all the night I could

"Why?" The rustling of the fields around us made me look around before I gripped her smaller hands so she couldn't leave before our conversation was done. "Why can't you stay in this house alone?"

"They are selling it." The young girl rolled her eyes. "With no will and three kids it can get messy so they decided to sell everything and just split the money." Her broken English made my heart swoon as her brown eyes looked into mine. "I wish there was something I could do but legally...there is nothing Laura."

"What do you mean there wasn't a will?" The fact confused me because the man wrote everything down, it didn't seem like him at all.

She nodded before leaning slightly more so I could hear. "I know he wrote one, but I have torn this house apart looking for it and I can't find it anywhere."

I shot my head down to give my a aching neck a rest while I tried to think. Something wasn't adding up. I didn't know the man for long but I did know Akira was his first priority just as she became mine, there was no way that he left her to be fed to the wolf's by the zoo that is his own family. Zookeepers know the personalities of their own animals the best. "You don't leave until Friday, keep looking everywhere."

She smiled at my positivity. "Why did you come back after everything Laura?"

That seemed like a silly question to me. "Because... I love you."

Her eyes sparkled as she leaned out the window and placed a kiss on my lips. It wasn't what I had expected to happen when I made the impulse decision to come see her like some ex girlfriend in denial, but I wasn't mad about. As she released our lips from each other she went back inside the square window and put her head in her hand like she was dreaming of me. "This is turning out to be a very white love story Sensei."

Laughing I let my thumb graze her's. "Just don't give up on us yet ok?" My face became serious as I looked up at the sky. "Ojichan is watching."

"If he is watching I think he'd be mad at you for hitting his glass with rocks."

"Pebbles." I corrected letting my hand separate from hers. "And I think he'd understand."

"Since you know him so well then..." she grabbed the top of her window and started pulling down. "Find the will." She blew a kiss before the glass went all the way down. Her and I separated again by something else. This time I wasn't upset though, this time I smiled as I turned and let the rest of the small rocks fall to the ground.

What we had wasn't going to die out as easy as I thought. My intuitions were right and I had a new hope. A hope for a happy ending.