No Longer 16 (Prologue)

a Strawberry Panic fanfiction by Asakust

It's starts with a lie...

The sun had set quite a few hours ago but all Nanto Yaya wished was that 
time would stop and end her pain. She stared at the button she had 
picked up by the hall this afternoon before she had rescued her best 
friend, Konohana Hikari, from Kenjo Kaname and what could have been one 
the most traumatic experience any girl can experience in her life. 
Kaname's words rang in her head...

"...The only thing that can stop love... is love..."

Those words meant so many meanings to her after hours of pondering... 
and each one made her think of more and different ways to claim Hikari 
for her own, just like Kaname had almost done. But with each new idea 
she wished that time would slow down.

She practiced what she would say and make herself and Hikari believe. 
She was not sad, she was not brooding, that nothing deep was in her 
mind, no troubles and no love...?

"Welcome back! You dropped this!" She said to her reflection on their 
bedroom window. But she saw that it was no good; her pitch was a little 
low, her face slightly contorted and her eyes looked a bit red from not 
blinking enough. How she just wished to the gods that her best friend 
would not open those doors just yet. But sadly... her wish fell on deaf 
ears... Their room's doorknob click and the moving brown wood door swung 
open causing Yaya to suddenly turn around in surprise.

"I'm back!" Hikari called out happily as she rushed towards Yaya.

"Welcome Back." Yaya had managed to say even though it sounded way off 
how she wanted it to be. But that didn't seem too matter as her friend 
was just too happy to notice her dilemma right now.

"Yaya-chan! Thank you so much for today!" The raven haired girl stiffens 
in surprise as the blonde haired apple of her eye wraps her arms around 
her in one of the most grateful though short hugs the girl had given 
her. It was rare that Hikari would be affectionate towards her; it was 
usually her that was showing affections even though they are mostly 
disguised as playful teasing.

"You're welcome." She said trying to sound happy or at least casual so 
that the girl wouldn't suspect that something was wrong. She can't let 
her know... despite the great desire to let her know.

"Listen, Amane-senpai wants to see me again!"

"Oh..." she paused, it hurt... she was defeated but she somehow manages 
to force herself to give even a little encouragement to her best friend. 
"That's great then." She told her as she forces a smile on her face.

"Yeah!" The blonde girl happily nodded before opening her purse and 
looking for something special she had picked up her Yaya.

Yaya recalls that she still had Hikari's button, it would require sewing 
but thought it would be best to get it off her hands as soon as 
possible. She hoped that without it she'd think about the incident with 
Kaname and her words a little lesser. "Hikari, this..."

But before she could finish... Hikari holds up her handkerchief in front 
of her and softly says; "This is a present for you."

"eh?" Yaya's eyes widen in surprise when she heard those words and she 
was sure that her cheeks felt even a few degrees warmer that they were 
before she had said it. In a blink, her eyes darted to the soft sky blue 
fabric that the girl was holding up.

"Here." The blonde girl carefully unwrapped the thing that she had 
safely hidden between the folds of her handkerchief, slowly revealing a 
beautiful Sakura colored sea shell.

"A Sakura shell... for me?" Yaya actually sounded happy when she said 
that just then. She looked at Hikari with happy smile that said volumes.

"Unn." Hikari nodded happily still presenting the shell to her best 
friend.

Yaya didn't know why, but she found her hands rising and holding Hikari 
firmly on her shoulders.

"Eh?!" Hikari looks at her best friend's face in surprise. She 
immediately wondered what was wrong; Yaya's serious face puzzled her, 
despite the raven haired girl's outgoing personality... Yaya's mind was 
an enigma to her and she knew she'd only know what was wrong if she 
asked.

"Yaya-chan?..." She paused, hoping that just calling the girl's name 
would be enough to warrant the other girl's attention. But it didn't. 
She blinked a few times and tried to calm her now accelerating heart 
beat. She decided to try to snap the girl out of her daze again.

"Yaya-chan...What's wrong?" she gently and calmly asked her.

"..." but the raven haired girl remain silent and continued to stare at 
the girl.

'should I?' she kept asking herself as she slowly closed the gap between 
their faces..

'At least if she rejects me... I will hurt but it can all be over...' 
she desperately tired to convince herself to try.

Their lips grew ever closer to each other. Hikari didn't move; the 
surprise, confusion and worry held her in her place aside from Yaya's 
tight hold. 'At least this way, you won't hate yourself for trying! So 
what if you loose her friendship? The two of you will eventually part 
anyway... someday...'

"Ah!" a low and soft sound of a kiss echoed in the room. Hikari's eyes 
grew wide in surprise as Yaya had kissed her forehead.

'I can't do it...' she told herself as she continued to softly kiss the 
blonde girl's forehead. She slowly moves her hands around Hikari and 
wraps her in the warmest hug she could give at the moment. 'I don't 
think I can take knowing that she'll hate me for that. I don't think 
even my best friend status will grant me some pardon for it.'

'I'm sorry, me... I'm sorry.'

It took Hikari a moment to realize what Yaya was doing; she then decides 
to return the raven haired girl's warm hug. It was rare that Yaya showed 
some of her real feelings to her or at least to her knowledge.

'This is enough...' she told herself... there was no desperation, just 
surrender...

But it had been minutes since Yaya had last moved and Hikari grew a 
little worried for her friend; "Yaya-chan? Are you okay?"

'I'll have to be.' She told herself and will the strength to say her 
first lie...

"Yes... I'm fine."

Onwards to Part 1


Back to No Longer 16 Index - Back to Strawberry Panic Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction