-Kuori-
My leg hurt so bad as I ran out of the gym. ‘Why did I even bother coming?’ I thought to myself feeling tears form at the corners of my eyes.
“Kuori!” I heard Miyuki yell from behind me.
I wanted to tell her tonight at the dance, but when I saw her kiss Kenji I panicked and ran out.
“Kuori stop! You’re going to make your leg worse.” Kenji said and I could here him catching up to me quickly.
“Please just leave me alone.” I begged as I kept running.
I felt Kenji grab my wrist and pull me back. My leg gave out and I stumbled back into him. He caught me and kept me up off the ground. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” I said and stood up. “I just want to be alone.”
“But Kuori…” Miyuki looked at me like she was really sorry.
“I just want to be alone.” I commented and walked away from both of them.
“Kuori…” Kenji took my wrist again and this time out of reaction I flipped him over my shoulder and onto the ground in front of me. I didn’t look at Miyuki, all I did was run.
I went to my secret place and sat down in the grass. ‘Miyuki probably hates me now.’ I thought pulling my knees up to my chest and setting my forehead on my cold pants. ‘I’m such an idiot. Why would I think that Miyuki would like me back? Especially if I tell her I’m Zero.’
“Here you are.” I looked up at where her voice was coming from. Even in the cold night the faint light that was coming from the small glimpses of the moon were making her look so beautiful. Sometimes I wished that I never got the curse and could just be a normal teenager.
‘Wait…if she knew about this place then she must know that I’m Zero. Right? I showed this place to her as Zero…but why did she come after me?’ I thought and didn’t say anything to her.
“You had both of us worried.” She said and walked over to me.
“So you figured it out.” I muttered and rested my chin on my arms.
“Figured what out?” She asked confused.
‘But if she hasn’t figured it out then why did she come here?’ I pondered and looked at her. “It’s nothing never mind.” I sighed.
“What is up with you?” She questioned.
“I don’t get what you’re saying.” I responded.
“Why did you run?” I looked away from her.
“You kissed Kenji, I thought that you liked Zero or Taisuke.” I said.
“I don’t know.” She muttered.
“Do you even know what Zero even really looks like?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” She looked at me confused.
“Didn’t you say that he could change his appearance?” I said and stood up.
“Yea but I don’t get what you’re getting at.” She said. “If you’re just trying to push me away then why don’t you just tell me to go away instead of asking me these questions.”
I pulled out the necklace that had the charm of the wings on it. “That looks like Zero’s necklace.”
“Do you know Zero’s real Identity?” I asked once more.
“Of course I don’t he took me home before I could see it.” Miyuki answered.
“The night that he took you home what color were his eyes?” I said standing up slowly.
“Deep blue but…” It seemed to click in her head.
I brushed some of her hair out of her face and gently kissed her soft lips. I could feel her cheeks heat up as I pulled away from her. “You…Kuori, you’re….” She couldn’t get it out.
“I’m the one you’ve been looking for.” I said, “I am Zero.”
“But why didn’t you tell me?” I was surprised with her response to me telling her.
“Because I’m not supposed to tell anyone, not even my best friend.” I looked away.
“Do your parents know?” Was the first of multitude of questions that I knew were going to be thrown at me.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“How long have you been able to do this?” She seemed intrigued.
“Since I was fifteen.” I responded.
“AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME!?” She waved her arms.
It made me laugh a bit. “I already told you that answer.”
“Why do you act so different as Zero?” Mi stated.
“To make sure that no one can figure out who I am.” I said.
“So you have a bad boy side.” She smirked.
“Let me take you home.” I laughed and held out my hand.
She gladly weaved her fingers through mine and we walked into the woods to get back to my back yard. I called Kenji and he came and met us at Miyuki’s street.
“So did you two solve everything out?” He asked with a gentle smile on his face.
“Yea, I think so.” Miyuki smiled.
“I’m sorry about earlier.” I apologized.
“Oh it’s fine, I wasn’t ready for that at all. I’m not hurt though.” He replied.
“Here she’s your date tonight, I think that you should take her home.” I said letting go of Miyuki’s hand.
“But, aren’t you two dating?” He asked.
“It’s alright, I trust you.” I said “Well I’m going to head home then, night you two.” I waved and turned around.
“Wait Kuori…” I turned back to see what Miyuki wanted and she kissed my cheek. “Night, go and get off that leg.” She smiled.
“Alright, I will.” I laughed and went home.
It was quiet in the house when I got home so I just laid down in by bed after getting changed into some shorts and a shirt. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t get to sleep. I looked at the clock and it was about 11:30 at night. ‘I wonder if Miyuki is up.’ I thought sitting up in bed. ‘I’ll just throw on some pants and see what she’s up to.’ I got up and grabbed a change of pants and my shoes then put them on. “I should just fly over.” I muttered to myself.
Right as I was about to go out my bedroom door I heard footsteps on the other side coming down the hall. I sprang into my bed and quickly covered up and turned my back to the door.
“See I told you he would be sleeping.” I heard my father say to my mother.
“I guess that I was just worried about him.” She sighed and then I heard my door click shut.
I laid there for a few more minuets then got up and went out my window. I ran as fast as I could with how my leg was feeling to Miyuki’s her light was still on in her room. So I decided to change into Zero then I jumped up to her window ceil and opened the window quietly and walked into the room. She seemed to be so concentrated on what she was doing that she didn’t even notice me come in. I walked over to her and put my cold fingers on the back of her neck.
She jumped and turned around and looked at me.
“Hey.” I smiled at her.
“Zero?” She said with a bit of shock in her voice.
“Well who else am I?” I questioned kneeling down and kissing her then changing back to myself. When I pulled back her face was pink. “You asked me a whole bunch of questions so can I ask you a couple?” I asked.
She didn’t seem to have any words to answer me so she just nodded. “What are you going to do now that you know who I am?” Was my first question.
“I…I don’t know, maybe find something else to do.” She answered. “Maybe get a job at a store or something like that.”
I took her hand “Will you go out with me?” I asked looking at her in the eyes.
“…Yes.” She laughed and jumped on me and hugged me.
I fell to the ground and hugged her. I don’t know why I felt so much better after asking her that. For some reason I knew that the family secret would be safe no matter what happened.
“Well I should get back home before my parents look in my room and see that I’m not there.” I told her.
“Ok. Night Kuori.” She hugged me tightly one more time and then let me up.
I got up and then went over to her window “Night.” I jumped out the window and landed smoothly on the ground and ran home.
It has been about a week now since Miyuki and I started dating. It was Christmas day and it was also Miyuki’s birthday. I know worse day of the year to have your birthday on right? Well I haven’t given her my gift yet. She was getting two gifts from me one for Christmas and one for her birthday. My parents always gave her a few presents for her birthday slash Christmas presents.
I walked through knee-deep snow cutting through her yard because I was too lazy to walk to her driveway and walk down a nice clean path. It had snowed like mad for the past week. Today was a nice day though it was still snowing but it wasn’t as heavy. I knocked on the door and Miyuki’s mother was the one to answer it.
“Morning Kuori, she’s up in her room.” She answered before I could even say anything.
“Alright, thank you.” I nodded and took off my shoes at the door then tried to get as much snow off my pants as I could before I went through the house. Once I got up to her room I knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Mi yelled from the other side of the door.
“Happy birthday.” I greeted walking into the room.
“Thank you. Marry Christmas.” She laughed a bit.
“Marry Christmas.” I responded and walked over to her bed and sat down next to her. “So, for your first present…” I started then looked at the door and saw her mom peeking in.
“Would you two like some hot chocolate?” She asked.
“We’re good thank you mom.” Miyuki answered.
“Alright, be safe you two.” She said and quickly shut the door.
“Mother.” Miyuki’s face went red, which made me laugh slightly.
“Anyways, what I was saying, your first present is I’ll change my appearance into whatever you want.” I told her.
She looked down at the bed like she was thinking about it. It took her a couple minuets to answer “A bit more muscular then you are now, shorter chestnut brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes.” Mi said.
“Alright then.” I concentrated on the details that she told me and closed my eyes. I heard her get off the bed and lock her door while I was changing. After I was done I opened my eyes and smiled slightly at Miyuki. “So what do you think?” I questioned curious of what she thought.
“You look amazing.” She responded.
“Thanks. I’m glad you like it.” I changed back to myself.
“But I really like the way you look originally.” Miyuki said sitting back down on the bed.
“Is something bothering you?” I asked. Just the way that she was walking around made me think that something was wrong.
“No, I’m fine really.” She smiled.
The rest of the day was mostly calm I stayed with her family for most of the day then I took her out to a movie. It was really dark by the time that we got out of the theater. I took her hand and I walked her home.
“Well I had a good time, thank you so much Kuori.” Miyuki smiled at me as we stopped at her door.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a little box. “Merry Christmas Miyuki.” I said and handed her the box.
She took the box from me gently and opened it. I got her another charm for her bracelet. It was small wings where one was black and one was white.
“Kuori…” She looked up at me with tears filling her eyes.
I kissed her lightly then pulled away “I love you birthday girl.” I told her.
