Hey guys. Sorry if the story seems to get a little slow this chapter. I'm the kinda person that has to string damn near everything together. Therefore, Chapter Four might not seem like much, but it puts stuff in place, which is all I'm worried about. I know its gonna pick back up heavily within the next few chapters though, so keep on reading. Yomi and Tomo sat silently together on a bench at the Train Station. It had been about an hour since Kagura, Sakaki, Chiyo-chan, Kaorin, and Osaka had left for Osaka, the city, for the Ballgame that Tomo and Yomi were supposed to be sitting at, cheering at, having a good time at right now. Right now with their friends. Or at this point, as far as Yomi had convinced herself, their former friends. Tomo had merely broken down and cried in Yomis' arms for quite some time. Yomi, on the other hand, had been analyzing this whole outcome, and not a bit of it made sense to her. Over and over in her head, she went through the scenario, even going so far as to venture into the past, thinking back on her friendships of all the girls. Dating back years and years, she could think of no evidence that would have made her think that any of them would have been discriminatory, or, as in Kaorins case, even somewhat homophobic, suggesting that it could have been her. Yomi sighed. In the past hour, her thoughts and emotions had jumped from that of confusion, to resent, to empathy, to anger, and to sorrow. She could be sure that in one way or another, Tomo was going through the same sort of emotional roller coaster, weather she understood it as well or not had yet to be seen. Either way, neither of them had spoken for quite some time. A bell chimed once, and reflexively, the two young girls looked up. The large, analog clock atop the loading platform read '1:00 PM'. A sigh escaped from Tomos' lips, which marked the first sound outside of natural breathing that either had heard from one another in what seemed like much longer than sixty minutes. Yomi decided it was finally time to break the silence. "Well..." She started, leaving a long pause after those first two words. She was the one that had suggested coming out to her friends, and now she had to tread those general waters again, weather she wanted to or not meant nothing. "I think I know what you're about to get at." Tomo interrupted Yomis train of though. The latter sort of snapped back into reality. There was yet another long pausemas the two simply stared into each others eyes, each noting the hidden beauty. Even though despair and letdown at this point were all over them, each still saw through the other. Another sign of their care for one another. "We have to tell our parents." The two said, in absolute perfect unison. They thought the same way, and the evident knowledge of this fact brought a smile to the faces of the two young lovers. But the thought, though both knew it was something that had to be done. A nod from Yomi was the visible confirmation, but overall it was unnecessary, seeing as how well the girls understood one another at this point. "How do you..." It was Tomos turn to chose her words carefully, but for a moment, she had to stop altogether to think about if this was the time or place for this question. After a few seconds, she decided to ask. "How do you think they'll be?" She finally said, her language a bit chopped up. A few possibilities ran through her mind. Not for her sake, but for Yomis. This was going to be alot easier for Tomo. "I mean, as far as reactions go." "Well, it can't end up being as bad as what happened with the girls. At least, I don't THINK it could." Yomi countered with a point that Tomo had a difficult time arguing. They'd been thrown completely off of their perch, caught so utterly off guard by the reaction of their friends, that shock had gotten to them. After that, Tomo and Yomi had been brought back down to earth. 'Lightning never strikes the same place twice.' Yomi had muttered earlier. She was absolutely right. The lightning had not hit the lightning rod. Rather, it had roasted the fool practicing his golf swing in the middle of the storm. "Especially not for you, no offense." "None taken." Tomo retorted, though in truth, she wished Yomi would have not brought that up. Tomo knew her father, a First Sargent in the Army, would have no problem with the fact that Tomo was a lesbian. Since his wife, Tomos' mother, had died when she was very young, Mr. Takino had always been one to allow Tomo her right to live life to the fullest, so long as it was kept within legalities and common sense. Though Tomo usually had trouble following the latter, she pretty much knew that when it was all said and done, her father would support her in any decision she made, and do everything that was needed of him to help her through it. Even if he was away on work half the time, even getting the occasional call to America or Europe with his Platoon, the bottom line was, he was a father that did his best to make the world right for his daughter. Tomo often thought that if this man was any indication of the woman he'd married, she would have loved to have been able to remember her Mom. Yomi, on the other side of the coin, was just that. The complete opposite. Yomis mother was a religious person who believed in following her values to the book. Her father wasn't exactly the big religion freak that her mother was, but he would almost always give in to her will. Meaning that if Mrs. Mizuhara had a problem with it, Mr. Mizuhara would be no help. And Homosexuality found no place in Mrs. Mizuharas' values. Yomi sighed very heavily as the thought ran through her head. "Maybe I shouldn't say that." Yomi stood up, and Tomo took her hand comfortingly. She saw now that Yomi was the one about to breakdown. Not on the outside, oh no. That was something that never did come to Yomi, and maybe never would, but on the inside, she couldn't even begin to fathom the many different things her mother would have planned to say when she learned of what her daughter had become. "It's okay, Yomi. It'll work out, they'll understand." Tomo tried to sound as caring as she could. For Yomi, it was easy. She cared deeply for her girlfriend, there were no doubts about that. But in such a situation close at hand, Tomo wondered if it really would be okay for her lover. The more she thought about it, the worse the scenario played out in her mind. "They'll love their precious daughter more than whatever God they worship, you-" "I want to believe that, Tomo, I really do." Yomi stated flatly, not even allowing Tomo to finish, though at this point, both understood they were wasting more and more time. "Either way, standing around here does nothing for us. We need to get this over with." Tomo nodded her approval. "It would be that much worse if one of the girls got the message to our parents before we did." Tomos logic actually fitting to a tee this time around, and truth be told, she would have been exactly right. "If anything, I want to go into this with the world knowing that the two of us had nothing to hid." Yomi smiled serenely at Tomo, and a moment later, their lips connected. Not a passionate love kiss, but nothing soft either, as the two held for about ten seconds, each getting a small amount of tounge. "Lets go, honey." Tomo just nodded, and while still holding hands, the two walked out of the Train Station, with smiles on their faces once again. Tomo understood perfectly, as did Yomi. Being around each other made all the pain go away. All the sadness, all the sorrow, all the angst, even so far as physical pain, perhaps, could be conquered by love. Love conquers all. A cheesy cliche to some, but to Tomo and Yomi at that very moment, it emphasized every point of their relationship in correlation to the events that had conspired around it and because of it. Their love could conquer any hardships that attempted to do it harm. At this point in time, Tomo and Yomi were completely assured of that. But can Love conquer even the beast which corrodes it from the inside?
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