Story: The Great Shizuma (chapter 4)

Authors: Chiharu-ronin

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Chapter 4

Title: Blue Moon

[Author's notes: They're almost as rare as true love.]

THE GREAT SHIZUMA

Chapter Four

Blue Moon

"Hey, Nagisa-chan. You here? Hellooooo."

Tamao's hand waving in front of her face made Nagisa surface back to reality. She blinked and looked around, not sure how she got here. Here was the auditorium lobby, milling with students from all three schools. The room hummed with millions of conversations. The people she found herself with - Tamao, Shizuma, and Yaya - added their own conversation to the cacophony.

"Tsubomi-chan left this in my room," said Yaya, holding up a beige sweater. "I wonder if she'll want it back?"

Shizuma snickered. Tamao shook her head, muttering, "Do I want to know?"

"So allow me to apologize for this morning," Shizuma piped up.

Tamao merely grunted. Nagisa brightened and said, "It's okay. No big deal."

The poet could have throttled Nagisa for saying that. Of course it was a big deal! she would have shouted. I'd just told you I love you and we were about to kiss! A very, very big deal!

But the lights in the lobby were dimming on and off. The concert was about to start. Tamao turned away from Nagisa in disgust and stormed off ahead of them. Screw love. Screw Nagisa (she wished). Screw it all. If she wanted to see them as "no big deal," then alright. Let her. Shizuma could probably take care of her just fine anyway. Whatever. Tamao didn't need her.

Someone seized her by the arm and she found herself face to face with Nagisa.

"You're angry, I can see that. What's wrong?"

Tamao's hands trembled at her sides, her thoughts whirling uselessly in her head. "How could you-" She paused. "Nagisa-" Another pause. She brought her unsteady hands up to her head, which was throbbing painfully.

"Tamao-chan…?"

"'No big deal'?" She dropped her hands and glared. "Is that all I am to you? When I'm standing next to Shizuma, is that what I am? No big deal?"

Too many questions. Nagisa felt her head spin dizzily. She leaned her hand on the stairway banister, trying to steady herself.

"Do you even know what I'm talking about?"

"I'm afraid not," the redhead groaned.

"Figures. You're an idiot!"

Nagisa's eyes flashed angrily. "We can't all be straight-A honor roll eggheads, Tamao."

"I'm not asking you to be smart. I just want you to exercise some common sense." Hot tears stung Tamao's eyes. She tried not to blink lest they should fall. "It's not fair," she said miserably. "I took care of you while you were sick. I had homework to do, but no. I had to go and worry about you. And for WHAT?" SHE BARKED, CAUSING Nagisa to step back warily. "God damn it, Nagisa! I can't pamper you and receive nothing in return! I'm not your muh-mother…" There was no stopping the tears now. They came in abundance, spilling from her violet eyes, down her flushed cheeks. Heavy sobs racked her small frame. Her throat felt tight.

Nagisa reached for Tamao, to console her, but the poet turned and ran out of the auditorium. The redhead started to follow her, but was stopped by Shizuma.

"She needs to be alone now," the silver-haired girl said flatly.

Nagisa continued to stare helplessly at the door through which Tamao had run. She was torn.

Shizuma pulled her toward the stairs. "We should go in. The show's about to start."

---

"You want me to look like what?"

"Pragmatic," answered Chikaru patiently. She tapped her pencil lightly against the side of her head. "You know. Practical. Miserly. Greedy. The antonym for it is quixotic."

"I know what 'pragmatic' means!" Shion snapped. "I just don't understand what you're doing. Just yesterday you sketched Hikari looking 'conscientious' and Amane-sama looking 'sentimental.' What's the theme here?"

"Astrology." The Lulim President set down her art supplies and held up the book she had borrowed from the library. "I want to sketch everybody as the symbols of their sun signs. Hikari's birthday is August 29. That makes her a Virgo. The key trait of Virgo is conscientousness. And Amane's birthday is June 22. Cancer, the sign of emotions and intuition."

"That doesn't really sound like Amane-sama."

"Well, this is just for fun. You should only take astrology with a grain of salt."

The Spican President sighed and leaned against Chikaru's dorm window. She gazed out wearily on the courtyard. She had been trying to pose for her girlfriend for the past half hour and she was tired. Chikaru was, too. Shion could tell. It amazed her that even Chikaru - probably the most patient person she knew - was at wit's end.

"That's perfect! Hold it!" Chikaru excitedly grabbed her paper and pencil.

Shion looked at her oddly. "This is what pragmaticism looks like to you?"

"No. This is what Capricorn looks like to me." And having said that, the Lulim President opened her Bristol pad, and her imagination, and began to sketch.

---

Yaya stood alone in the auditorium lobby after the concert. Well, not completely alone. All around her the spectators were meeting with the performers, congratulating them on a good show, a job well done. Nagisa had immediately departed afterward to find Tamao. Shortly afterward, Shizuma followed. Yaya squinted, scanning the crowd for Hikari and Tsubomi.

"Behind you."

Yaya nearly jumped out of her skin. She quickly turned around. There stood Hikari and Tsubomi, the former smiling for it was her own voice which had just startled the raven-haired fourth grader.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, embracing them both. "Good job, guys!"

"Thanks," Hikari whispered, blushing at the praise.

"Did you hear me?" Tsubomi asked animatedly. "Did you hear the solo?"

"I sure did," Yaya responded brightly. She held the second grader's small shoulders. "You sounded beautiful! Absolutely stunning! And that one measure - you hit it perfectly, a full, round fortissimo!"

Tsubomi felt like her heart was singing at a fortissimo dynamic. She seized Yaya's neck in her arms and hugged her mightily, squeezing the breath out of her, nuzzling her cheek fiercely. "Yaya-chan…"

At first Yaya was put off. Since when had Tsubomi become so affectionate? But she was Tsubomi, the girl Yaya liked. She reciprocated the hug, wrapping her arms around Tsubomi's waist. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment, until she realized Hikari was still there. She pulled back and turned awkwardly toward the Étoile.

"When does student government announce the cast for Gatsby?"

"Tomorrow night," Hikari smiled. "Over supper." She tilted her head. "Why do you have a sweater?"

"Oh, that's right!" Yaya turned to Tsubomi. "You forgot this in my room." She held out the sweater.

The second year smiled. "You keep it, Yaya-chan. You might need it more than I do."

---

The buildings, shrubbery, and plants flew by Nagisa in an emerald blur as the redhead ran through Astraea Hill, seeking the poet. She had never seen Tamao so mad. She wasn't the type of person to acknowledge, let alone confront, someone's problems. But she was human; she was allowed to feel angry.

Nagisa checked her watch. 6:11. Past curfew. Couldn't call Tamao's name lest she draw attention to herself and get caught breaking curfew.

There were two places the redhead had yet to check: the dorms and the forest. The dorms were out of the question because of curfew. That left the forest.

She warily approached the outskirts of the forest. She hated the woods at night. They scared her. Tamao-chan had better be out there. I'm not about to get locked out of the dorms and walk around in that spooky forest for nothing.

Frogs croaked and crickets chirped in the darkened forest. Nagisa padded silently down the path, eyes bright with fear. Fireflies were coming out, decorating the woods with an endless string of flashing yellow lights. They lent a mystical quality to the normally oppressive forest.

Nagisa found Tamao at last. The poet was sitting in a clearing, absent-mindedly tossing skipping stones out on the lake.

"Tamao-chan…?"

The poet looked up, seemingly startled, and gazed over her shoulder at Nagisa. Tamao, with her school uniform, sitting alone by the lake with her skipping stones, and those sad opal-colored eyes, was a melancholic sight which made Nagisa think of a Belle & Sebastian song. Perhaps "We Rule the School" or "Mayfly" would best suit this sight.

The redhead sighed with relief. "I've been looking all over for you."

Tamao smiled slightly. "Really?"

Nagisa returned the smile and nodded.

The poet patted the grass next to her, indicating that Nagisa should join her. The redhead accepted the offer. She chuckled as she picked up a skipping stone.

"I remember these. Used to throw them out on lakes myself. Long time ago." She hurled the stone, watched it skip four times before finally sinking.

Tamao grinned. "I'll bet mine skips farther."

"Oh, yeah? What are you willing to bet?"

The poet tapped her chin pensively. She brightened. "Whoever loses does the winner's Japanese Studies homework for a week."

"You're going to have to lay down more than that. Japanese Studies is easy. It's just so long."

"Japanese Studies and French."

"Deal."

Tamao stood and gazed at the smooth surface of the lake, clutching the stone in her knuckles. She aligned her shoulders with the lake, peering at it sideways now. She squinted and her tongue slipped out of the side of her mouth. She raised a knee, did a softball hop-skip, and whipped her arm out, her wrist twisting as she loosed the stone, sending it skipping over the surface. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!

"Dog gone it!" Nagisa exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

Tamao grinned as she sat back down. "I used to play softball when I was little. Did you know that?"

Nagisa shook her head dumbly.

"Well, I did. I was the pitcher, as you can see."

"Now I have to do double French homework," the redhead whined.

"Yep," Tamao laughed, patting her leg. "Have fun conjugating irregular verbs in the conditional tense!"

Nagisa let out another protesting moan and laid on her back. Then she remembered that she had not come out here to make longshot bets with the poet. She had come out for more a important reason.

"Tamao-chan, I need to talk to you about what you said earlier…"

The poet's smile faded and her face returned to that somber expression Nagisa had found her with.

"You were right."

Tamao looked up, then gazed at the redhead, amethyst eyes wide. She shook her head. "No. It wasn't right, what I said. I called you an idiot. I didn't mean it. I was frustrated, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry."

Nagisa lay her hand over Tamao's, both her tone and her expression earnest. "You had every right to feel frustrated with me. It's true that I've neglected to return every favor you've done for me. I owe you a lot. I owe you more than just my love." She sat up and took the poet's hands in both of hers. "But right now love is all I can give. I'm tired of worrying myself over Shizuma. I was an idiot, Tamao. An idiot for getting caught up over an old, useless love when I had a beautiful, sweet, intelligent girl…" She cupped Tamao's face in her hands. "…right here in front of me."

The poet's eyes swam in the silver moonlight. "Nagisa-chan…" she choked out.

Nagisa smiled, her own eyes welling up. She nodded upward, towards the sky. "Look at that."

Her breath shuddering, Tamao looked up and gasped. High in the sky, larger than she had ever seen it before, was the moon. It waxed full with a sapphire tint, bathing the entire forest in a bluish-silvery glow.

"It's a blue moon," Nagisa whispered. "Very rare. Almost as rare as true love itself. Tamao-chan…"

Tamao looked back at her. Nagisa adored how her opalescent eyes sparkled in the moonlight. It was almost magical. Dream-like. What if I am dreaming? The redhead smiled and thought, Then I would do this…

She moved one hand to the back of Tamao's head and pulled her closer. Tamao knew what to do this time. She brought her hands to Nagisa's arms, tilted her head, and, as easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, so they kissed. It was such a kiss. Tamao found herself moaning at just the sheer delight of it. Nagisa was so soft. One kiss turned into two turned into several. It didn't seem like they had been kissing long when Tamao suddenly pulled back and looked around.

"Something wrong?" Nagisa murmured, cheeks flushed, gazing at the poet through half-closed eyes.

"I thought I heard something." She gave one last scan of the clearing and shrugged. "I must have imagined it." She turned back to Nagisa and they resumed kissing with a will.

---

Patent leather shoes pounding the ground, Shizuma darted through the woods toward the main campus. She stopped in the courtyard, gasping for breath, and leaned against a wall. She winced. The shoes she was wearing were not suitable for running.

She looked up, bitterly noting that damn blue moon in the sky. The constellation Aries (the sun sign Shizuma was born under) shone brightly.

"Don't fool yourself, Tamao," she smirked. "Nagisa is but a book. You have not bought her for yourself, but rather checked her out from the library. I've had that book on order - she is mine!"

[End notes:

Hm. I thought metaphors were Kaname's specialty.

Anywho, I read this now and I wonder if Tamao is maybe OOC in calling Nagisa an idiot.

]

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