Hana Kimi Fan Fiction ❯ Years Away From What I Need ❯ Buy Her Flowers ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 6

He bounded through his day giddily. He knew he was giddy. He knew that most people would think him… silly at best, girly at worst. But he didn't care. He had a girlfriend. And she had the softest lips. The softest hair. The softest… everything. And what's more, he had a date with her tonight.

With a whistle and a skip in his step, he left the hotel on his way to Ohsaka. The contract was pretty much what he'd expected. The salary was even a bit more than he'd expected. All he needed to do was complete closing down his apartment in Tokyo, complete the transaction on the new house, and he'd be all set. No more living out of a hotel room.

He walked in the front gate of the school, and headed toward the coach's office. As he walked, he smiled, remembering all the good times he'd spent there.

“YOU!”

He jumped and turned around. “Umeda-sensei!” for some reason, he found himself feeling both nostalgic and nervous. He hadn't changed at all. He looked exactly the same - as if he hadn't aged a day. His glasses were a little different, very up-to-date fashion-wise. Other than that, he was still quite obviously self-absorbed, pleasure-seeking, and a pain-in-the-ass. But Nakatsu knew he had a soft-side - that he'd probably kill to keep hidden, but still… it was there. Otherwise, he'd never have left that letter out for him to read - so he could help Sano and Mizuki get together.

“What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out bouncing a ball off your head in Tokyo?” The doctor still had a dislike for anything physical other than sex, apparently.

“Yeah, it's good to see you again, too, Umeda.”

“So are you looking for boys to try to stalk, Nakatsu?”

“That's your gig, not mine. By the way, how fun was it for you back then, watching me freak out thinking I was gay because of Mizuki?”

The doctor smiled slyly. “More fun than you could imagine.”

Nakatsu remembered something and smirked. “That photographer still stalking you?”

“That's none of your business. But I'll tell you this, he could have made a fortune off his photos of you from that shoot if he'd wanted to. He's a pain in my ass, but he's got a really weird sense of morality.”

“And that coming from you!” `I'd forgotten all about that photo shoot!'

“Feh! You still haven't answered my question. Only staff, students, and guests who have signed in are allowed on this campus, and you know it.”

“Like you've ever given a rat's ass about rules. But as it so happens, I'm staff. Or will be as of this afternoon. I'm going to be the new coach.”

“You're kidding.” His face was a dispassionate display of disbelief. “Well. This should be interesting.”

“Yeah. I can't believe you're still here. I thought you'd have been arrested for perversion by now.”

The doctor smiled at him and turned toward his office. As he started walking, he called over his shoulder. “Glad to have you back. This place has been pretty boring these past few years. And you're such an easy mark.”

Nakatsu smiled and continued on his way.

Contract signed, he made his way into town to a local building inspector's office. He'd had several calls with the realtor already that day. Kitayama had responded that 25 Million yen was not enough, but he'd be willing to accept 29. Nakatsu had countered with 27.5. And Kitayama had accepted. Now Nakatsu wanted to meet the inspector before officially hiring him.

The inspector agreed to do a run through for a very reasonable rate, and seemed to know his stuff. Assuming the findings matched the report he'd received from the realtor, he could theoretically be in the house within a week.

As he left the inspector's office, he saw a florist across the street. With a smile that made passers by stop and smile in turn, he crossed the street.

Breakfast again. She knew she'd be assaulted. But she had a boyfriend. They could all go to… their first class knowing that she didn't give a rat's ass what they thought of her. Naoko and Hisa pestered her the whole time, but Midori and Nyoko smiled softly - like they could TELL she was in love, and that nothing could get to her. Sakura was just proud of her.

After classes were done for the day, she invited Sakura to a game of tennis. She knew Sakura would kick her ass - Sakura was practically pro material - but she didn't care. It was fun to be running around with her best friend.

Just before 3pm, Sakura and Kyoumi made their way from the locker room near the tennis courts (after showering, of course) to their room.

“What are you doing on your date tonight?”

“I don't know, he said he wanted to keep it a surprise.”

“How the hell can you dress if you don't know what you're doing?”

“Well, he said that he wanted to take me someplace nicer than Auntie O's. And he said I should wear comfortable shoes.”

Sakura bit her forefinger in thought. “Hmmm. Well. Let's figure a nice dinner - fancy restaurant - and then maybe… dancing? Or a long moonlit walk? Yeah. Let's go with that. We'll have to put you in clothes that look elegant, yet are light and flowing - so that if you're dancing they'll move with your body, of if you're on a walk, a breeze will make the fabric flow. “

Pulling her roommate behind her into the room, she then forced her into a chair as she ran around.

“Geez, Sakura. What are you, my own personal beautician?”

The slender nymph spun to face her and put her hands on her hips. “No. I'm your best friend. And you're in love. And I'm going to do everything in my power to help you realize that he's in love with you, and that you're going to end up being happy together, so that even if I never find a love of my own, I can believe that true love exists and I can live vicariously through you.” Then she stuck out her tongue and got back to work.

This time, she put the girl's hair into a French roll in the back, but she worked in some artistic braids to hold it in place and act as decorative loops. It was quite a work of art. And for make-up, she went a little more dramatic. Still working with colors that were natural, she took the shades more into the extremes so that she looked real, but not so that she looked like she was denying wearing make-up. The eyeshadow was a burgundy brown, a pink, and silver for accent. Eyeliner made her eyes look almost Egyptian, but still almost subtle. Blush was still pink and delicate. Lipstick was a kiss-me red.

Her outfit was composed of a dress that was shaped like something from 1950s America: narrow-waisted, full, mid-calf-length skirt, tight bodice that declared her curves loudly. But the fabric was washable silk, so the flares in the skirt moved with just a breath. It had spaghetti straps holding up the princess-line bodice. With a hunter-green velvet shrug-style jacket that just covered her shoulders and joined at the hollow of the throat with a rhinestone button, the mint-colored dress looked like it had been specially designed just for her. And the focus of anyone looking at her was SURE to be the diamond of exposed flesh between the shrug and the dress. Sakura lent her a rhinestone tennis bracelet-style watch to wear as arm-jewelry. And on her feet were strappy silver sandals with a 1-inch heel.

Looking in her mirror, she almost didn't recognize herself. The entire process had taken a full two hours.

Into a borrowed handbag, she was just placing her phone, her new journal, a pen, and the powder & lipstick that Sakura insisted she bring for touchups, when there was a knock on the door. She opened it up to a gigantic bouquet of every type of flower she could imagine. The vase itself was two feet tall. The bouquet another two above that, and two feet wide. Assuming that someone was holding it, she exclaimed, “OH! Um… Are these for us?”

The flowers wiggled like they were nodding.

“Oh. Gee. Um… Could you bring those in for us?” They nodded again. Kyoumi looked around the room, then ran over to her desk to clear a space. The flowers followed.

Sakura saw the delivery boy wink at her and mouth “Sssh” to her. She grinned from ear to ear. Then moved to block his progress to the desk. “Let's see who they're from!” She reached into the flowers and found a card, opened it. She stood so that she could see the delivery boy and Kyoumi, but Kyoumi could only see her and flowers.

“'Kyoumi-chan, I can't wait to see you tonight. With love, Shuichi.' Well… It looks like he had sweet dreams last night, too.” She winked at the delivery boy in a way that Kyoumi couldn't see.

“Thank you for carrying those. You can set them here,” Kyoumi said.

Looking intently at her roommate, she crossed her arms. “Kyoumi!” she scolded. “He's going to be here any second and you've smeared your lipstick!”

“I did?” She ran to the bathroom as their guest set the flowers down on the table.

As she stepped out of the room, the delivery boy turned to Sakura and whispered, “Thanks. You must be Sakura.”

She smiled at him and shook his hand. “Yeah, and everyone knows who you are. How the hell'd you get in here without being attacked by the raving hordes?”

“The same way we got me past her.”

From the bathroom, Kyoumi called, “Sakuraaa!” and Nakatsu ran to hide behind the bathroom door.

“Yes?”

Kyoumi stepped through the doorway toward her roommate. “I can't see it. My lipstick is really smeared?” She sounded worried.

Sakura made a show of examining her thoroughly. “Hm. It must have been the light. You look beautiful.”

“As always.” The masculine voice made the girl start and spin around, which caused the silk to flare and show off her calves. She stared at the handsome man leaning against the wall of her room.

“Oh,” Sakura said, “by the way, that delivery guy is still here… Maybe he wants something?” Her voice was straight, but you could still hear the laughter in the tone.

“Sh- Shuichi!”

He came forward and took one of her hands, bowed and kissed it. “Are you surprised?”

“Yes, very!” She turned toward the gargantuan bouquet on her desk. “I've… never seen so many flowers in one place that wasn't a flower shop!”

With a sheepish grin, he said, “I didn't know what your favorite was, so I got a little bit of everything.”

Sakura sat on the bed - or more like she somehow gracefully flopped into a sitting position on the bed - and said, “Violets - but they're out of season. Don't worry, you did good. And if you hadn't gotten this many, you never would have been able to hide your face and sneak past the teaming hordes of fangirls. And then I wouldn't have gotten the chance to finally meet you face to face and make sure you're good enough for my girl here.” She cast a speculative, appraising eye over him and he felt like he'd been weighed and measured down to the quarterounce.

She waited for a response from him, but he was just staring at her roommate, with a big dopey grin on his face. Kyoumi was staring back, with a happy, shy smile of her own.

`Oh, man! They've got it BAD! I wonder if they can see how deeply they've both fallen.' Looking back and forth, she realized, `Nah. They're too worried with all the “Is this real?”s and the “Does s/he feel the same?”s and the “Where will this lead?”s.' Internally she laughed. She was going to have so much fun with them.

“Hey, soccer-boy. I have a question for you,” Sakura called. The couple started and both looked at her. “How were you planning to get OUT of here unnoticed?”

A look of D'OH! covered his face for about half a second. Then, he stood up tall. “Why would it matter to me if I'm noticed? I'm just a humble soccer coach. And one who's lucky enough to be accompanied by the most beautiful, most talented writer in Japan.” Kyoumi blushed and looked around the room as if she were looking for a hole to crawl into.

“Don't rub it in, buddy boy. You've gotten to read her stories. You have no idea how envious I am of that.”

“Yeah, well, I'm sure it's just because she didn't want you to get-“

“Nakatsu Shuichi, I swear if you say one more word about that, I will… Well, I don't know what I'll do, but I'll make sure it's something you don't like!”

Sakura turned to her roommate with an expression that was totally shocked. Kyoumi had stomped one foot and had her hands in tight fists by her sides. Slowly turning back to Nakatsu she said, “I have never, EVER, seen her this flummoxed. What's in that book?!?”

He looked at the woman he loved, whose emotions were roiling over her face. She was floundering somewhere between joy at seeing him, fear of her work being exposed, and frustration that the only things she could think of to use as punishment to him would most likely be at least as much of a punishment to herself. Then he turned back to the slender girl and said, “All I'm going to say is this: you're one of her favorite people. But I think you may have guessed that already.”

He turned back to Kyoumi to make sure the answer he'd given was acceptable, and he saw relief on her face. Which was followed soon after with a smile filled with pure love.

`He's HERE! In my room!' Sakura nodded at her roommate. “No,” she was silently saying, “It's not a dream. It's real. This is so frickin' cool!” Out loud, she said, “Well, I think I know a way to get you out of here so that you won't have to bring the horrors of St. Blossom onto your heads.” When she saw that she had their attention, she pointed at her watch. It was 5:20. Dinner had started 20 minutes ago. “You lucked out, boy. It's stir-fry tonight, followed by chocolate cheesecake and brownies for dessert. In 5 minutes, there probably won't be a single girl who isn't already at the cafeteria or on her way.”

They walked out the door five minutes later, Sakura tossing a “Have fun!” over her shoulder before she, too, headed toward dinner. The only two people they passed in the hall were Midori and Nyoko, and when they saw the couple, dressed for a night on the town, holding hands and stealing glances at each other, they just smiled and didn't interrupt. People newly in love… the joy of it can be contagious to the open heart.