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Time passed, and the Tanabata Festival was tomorrow. My friends and I all decided to wear these beautiful yukatas. Yuri and I were walking to school and passed by Haru’s house. That instant, I remembered he invited me to come by his house and study. I never answered his question though.
“Hey you, Sakura Kazama right?” It was Sato and he was wearing his hat as always. He was with his new girlfriend, Rumiko Yamaoka. Yuri and I stopped by the cherry tree and a cool breeze was blowing.
“Haru wants you to meet him here after school. Don’t ask me why, but I’m guessing that kid has a thing for you.” It was weird how he knew my name too. “That’s so sweet! It looks like he has a crush on you! Isn’t that sweet, Sato-Kun?” Rumiko exclaimed. I blushed. Does he really like me? But then I forgot that Yuri-Chan was with me. She heard every word they just said. She must think that Haru and I are together or something! I panicked and blurted out; “Alright I’ll be here, but only if he promises to stop sending me messages like these!” I waved and ran to the school with Yuri behind me. I wonder what she thought of me and how I was associated with a Takei.
“Sakura-Chan, wait up! Why didn’t you tell me about you and Haru?” Yuri-Chan said out of breath. I knew it, she does think we’re together. She couldn’t possibly understand, but I explained to her what happened that day the best I could. Yuri is my best friend and she’s the only person I would tell it to.
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t worry. You were just stuck in a situation you couldn’t get out of. I would have done the same thing. I hope things are going good between you two.” Yuri-Chan was smiling at me and I could tell she could see me blushing.
“I already told you! There’s nothing between us!” I chased her to the school doors and stopped when I saw Haru looking at me from the courtyard. I looked away quickly, so he wouldn’t see me blushing and caught up with Yuri-Chan.
I was nervous the whole day, but at the same time I couldn’t wait to talk to Haru. What would I say to him? At lunch, Asano and Mariko-Chan asked me if something was up. Yuri-Chan saved me from answering and made up a story. I silently thanked her. She is truly a genuine friend.
The bell rang and school was over. I took my time walking out of the classroom. I said bye to Yuri-Chan; told her I would call her later, and then made my way to the tree. I saw Haru and could tell he had been waiting there for a while. He was pacing back and forth. He saw me and smiled. I could feel my face getting hot and I hoped he didn’t see me blushing. I seemed to be doing that a lot today.
“You wanted to talk to me?” I asked.
“Yeah. You got Sato’s message? He didn’t say anything embarrassing, did he?” his face was pretty red too. I just smiled and told him nothing happened. Haru reached for something in his pocket and I took a step back. He noticed what I did and stopped what he was doing.
“What’s the matter? You don’t think I have a knife or something on me, do you?” he pulled out a huge piece of paper. He handed it to me and I saw that it was a poster of tomorrow’s Tanabata Festival. A feeling of relief washed over me, even though I had a feeling Haru wouldn’t try to hurt me in any way.
His eyes were focused on the poster, but he said, “Sakura, do you think maybe we could, you know, go t-together?” his voice got lower and sounded awkward. I never knew he would be the type of person to be shy or anything like this. I smiled and said, “What time should we be there?” He looked up at me and smiled back.
“Meet me here under this tree tomorrow night, alright? Oh, and you never answered my question. Do you still want to come by my house and study sometime?” I burst out laughing and he just looked at me.
The girls and I spent the day at my house preparing for the festival. I was wearing a dark purple yukata, Yuri-Chan was wearing a beautiful blue yukata and her golden hair was left down. Asano-Chan was wearing a cute spring yukata, and Mariko-Chan was wearing an elegant silver yukata. I was jealous. They all looked so beautiful and I looked so ordinary.
I wrote a note to my father telling him where I would be going and left it on the table. Asano, Mariko, and Yuri-Chan left and I told them that I would meet them at the festival later. Yuri-Chan smiled at me and whispered, “Good luck with Haru-Kun!” I blushed. She’s calling him Haru-Kun now? Should I start calling him that?
I stood under the tree, waiting for Haru to come. Then I heard his voice coming from above me. I screamed because I was so startled and he laughed at me.
“Sakura-Chan, come up here! The view is great, you should see it!” he took my hand and I climbed up the tree with him. He was right, it was beautiful. You could see the lights of the festival and even the whole city. I could see the twinkling stars in the distance. Cherry blossoms were floating freely around us in the gentle spring breeze. I felt his arm coming around my shoulder. I blushed and he looked at me. The moon was out, and I saw the shine in his hair. His black hair seemed to be glowing against the pink blossoms. I thought to myself, did he just call me Sakura-Chan? Haru plucked a cherry blossom off a branch and placed it in my hair.
“Sakura-Chan, I envy your long jet-black hair. It’s almost as if your hair is glowing against these cherry blossoms. You look beautiful in your yukata too.” I was beginning to feel flustered and it felt as if my heart skipped a beat.
“I think we should get going to the festival now, Haru-Kun. Let’s get down from here.” I smiled, but then I realized I just called him Haru-Kun and I think he noticed too. We both laughed and then we both heard a scream coming from below. I reached towards a branch to climb down, but Haru took a hold of my arm and told me to stay put.
“Haru, that’s Yuri-Chan’s scream, I can tell! I’ve got to get down from here and help her!”
“Hey, calm down. Just stay here and I’ll go down and see what’s going on.” He released my arm and jumped down. I nearly screamed, watching him like that. He was pretty strong if he could land a jump from this tree. It was at least twenty feet. No way I would listen to him. Yuri is down there and needs my help; I’ve got to do something! When my foot touched the ground, Haru pinned me against the tree. His eyes no longer had that soft look in them.
“Sakura, I told you to stay up there! You have to get away from here; it’s not safe! Take your friend and leave, now!” His voice was different, urgent. I looked behind his shoulder and saw these guys from our rival school-Akamura High. Sato, Reiji, and Koji were here too, blocking off the Akamura guys. I ran over to Yuri, who was trying to get past Sato and the twins. She was crying like I’ve never seen before, her yukata was messed up. I wish I’d never have seen Yuri-Chan cry like that. They were like tears of sadness-anger. I wanted her to be the same old Yuri-Chan I always knew. I grabbed her and held her back. She was struggling to get through.
“Let me go, my brother is hurt! Why are you just standing there!? Help him, what kind of friends are you!?” I looked in the direction where she was looking and saw Hachi. He was beat up bad. The side of his head was bleeding, his face bruised badly. Blood streaming from his nose and mouth. He was holding his arm in close to his body; his arm was messed up badly too. Yuri was screaming at me and at everyone.
“Haru, take your girl and her friend home. They don’t need to be here.” Sato’s voice was calm. It really scared me how he wasn’t even fazed by the sight of his friend beat up like that. It must have scared Yuri too, because she quieted down. Haru took us to my house and kept pushing us quickly along the way. Yuri was crying silently and I didn’t know what to do or say to her. We stopped at the door and stood there awhile.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can make it to the festival. Hachi’s tough, so don’t worry about him. It’ll take more than that to bring him down. I’ll see you at school.” Haru smiled at both of us and left us there standing in the doorway, watching him walk back to the cherry tree. How could he be smiling at a time like this and what was he thinking? Haru left me with more worries than ever before.
Yuri spent the night and the rest of the weekend at my house and we decided not to go to the festival. I asked her what she was doing there in the first place and she told me she had been following Haru and me to see how things were going between us. The Akamura guys had snuck up on her and cornered her in. Hachi and the rest of the Takei gang had happened to be there at the right time and made them back off. Then that was when Haru and I climbed down from the tree. Yuri and I never talked about that day again. It was too scary and painful for both of us to think about it. We eventually fell asleep, but we would never forget what happened.
I woke Yuri up and we got ready for school, neither of us talking about what happened that night. We passed the cherry tree on the way to school and it looked as if nothing had happened. I hoped Hachi and everyone were okay, but I was especially worried about Haru. I don’t think I could look at him without crying if I saw him hurt.
“Yuri-Chan, I’ll meet you at school. I-I want to stay here for awhile.” She looked back at me, sadness in her eyes. I couldn’t bear to see her this way.
“All right, but why do you want to stay here? Is it Haru? Sakura-Chan, I don’t want you hanging out with him, I don’t want you to get hurt too.” She was on the verge of tears.
“It’s all right, just meet me at school okay?” I smiled at her, letting her know that I was all right. She smiled half-heartedly and turned around, making her way to school. I climbed up the tree, the branches poking at me and messing up my hair. To my surprise, Haru was sitting there smiling at me with his soft eyes. His cheek had a deep cut and he had a black eye. He still managed to charm me with his looks. I hugged him hard like I’ve never hugged before.
“Um, I’m sorry about yesterday. I promise to never make you cry ever again.” What he said startled me. I was crying? I didn’t want to talk about yesterday. I was just happy that he was still here with me.
“T-that’s all right. I’m glad that we spent a few happy moments together.” I realized what I just said and felt embarrassed for saying such a dumb thing.
“Uh, w-we should probably get to school now or we’re going to be late.” I reached for a branch and started to climb down the tree, but Haru took my arm and pulled me back up. He held me there in his arms for a long time. He looked into my eyes, and pulled me in closer. Then his lips brushed past mine and it was awkward and clumsy, and it didn’t last but two seconds. He seemed embarrassed by it. I know I was.
“Um, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that. We shouldn’t be seen together.” He was obviously shaken up about the whole thing. I didn’t know what to say. He kissed me, yet he said we shouldn’t see each other.
“Those Akamura guys- If they see you with me, they might come after you. I think you should stay away from me. Please forget about me.” He looked away from me and I didn’t say anything for a while. Is this what he really wanted?
“I can’t do that. I don’t care if something happens to me. As long as you’re here with me, that’s all that matters, right?” I honestly wished it would be so.
“No, Sakura you don’t understand! If they find you they will hurt you! I can’t risk that, so just leave and don’t come back. Please, promise me.”
I escaped from his warm embrace and climbed down from the tree. I walked back to school and never looked back. Did he honestly think that I would forget about him? He is the only guy that makes my heart beat fast, every time I’m near him I lose my breath. I won’t give him up that easily. And besides, I never promised him a single thing.
 Chifuni · Wed May 30, 2007 @ 08:11pm · 1 Comments |
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