How Far Chapter 15: A chance of rain

	The chirping of birds awakens me. I sit up pretty quickly and look outside my open window and, sure enough, a pair of birds have made a nest in our cherry tree. They hop about happily as they build their nest, gathering twigs and stems to contribute to their growing home. It almost makes me want to throw my pillow out the window at them.

	I hold back from the idea though. As tempting as it is… I actually like birds. I know I’m still just being bitter but… Well damn it if I can’t be bitter for a little while.

	I reach beneath my bed to grab my prosthetic legs and my running shorts. I know, I know, summer break is when a lot of people slack off, but apparently I’m not allowed to do that this year. The sun has barely risen, but if I’m going to make the bus back to Yamaku, I gotta get my run in now.

	I get up from the bed and stride over to my dresser and the mirror on top of it. Opening the top dresser drawer, I pull a white t-shirt and black sports bra out. Slipping the sports bra on, I take a moment to admire myself in the mirror. My hair hangs down pretty far now actually… Pinching it in my hand, I can almost reach past my breasts. I don’t remember the last time I let it get this far. It looks pretty nice actually. Maybe I should grow my-

	A flash of golden blonde hair reaching to her waist, and instantly the idea disgusts me. I look at myself in the mirror, short body, short hair…. Small breasts. I glower at my reflection and can practically see myself turning red. I growl and throw my shirt at my bed… and then quickly go and retrieve it, slipping it over my heads. More than a bit angry, I decide against the twin tails today, just wanting to feel the wind in my hair. I’d have to wash it eventually anyways.

	‘Just forget about her. Forget about that stupid tall blonde homewrecker with her stupid Scottish heritage and her stupid…’ The train of thought continues as I exit into the hall. The clacking of my blades is almost background noise at this point as I hop down the stairs. Mom’s already in the kitchen making herself a set of toast and is currently pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

	“I thought I told you to try not to wear those in the house.” She says in a chiding accented voice.

	“Huh, maybe you thought wrong? I’ll try though, thanks for the slice!” I grab a slice of the toast and hurry from the room.

	She laughs and calls “You’re welcome!” after me.

	Exiting my house, I twist my back and stretch my arms as I hold the toast in my mouth.

	“Finally. I was wondering if I’d have to just head back to the school.” Says an airy voice.

	Saki herself is standing at the fence that leads to our small yard, looking extremely bored.

	“Wut da-” I break off, fumbling to catch the toast I dropped from my mouth. I catch it against myself, leaving a fine impression of browned toast and crumbs on my white shirt. I groan. “What do you want, Enomoto?”

	“Oh come on, I’ve rubbed lotion on your leg. You can call me Saki.” She says, righting herself. She’s wearing the gym uniform from school, a pair of red shorts and the pinkish work-out shirt. She stretches her arms over her head. “Anyways, I’m here because the school nurse sent me here. He told me about the nursing class, but said I’d need another member to vouch for me, said if I went running with you maybe you would, then gave me your address and told me to meet you here like… 15 minutes ago. I’ve been here at least a half-hour though. Never really get to watch clouds, so it was alright I guess.” She shrugs indifferently.

	What is that man up to? Vouch for her? We haven’t done anything yet besides get some pamphlets. I swear to god…

	“Well… umm… I mean, I guess it’s okay. Just try to keep up.” I say.

	“Hmm, you don’t have to worry about that. I have at least a few more years before it all starts breaking down.” She says, motioning to herself. I note that she doesn’t seem to have brought her cane, which is slightly worrying, but I mean, she made it here okay…

	I open the wall gate and step through.

	“Did you stretch already?” I ask.

	“Hmm? Well I mean I walked here from the bus. Does that count?”

	I pout at her. This girl has a way of getting on my nerves. “No. It doesn’t count. You have to stretch your legs and arms and your whole body really?” Taking a bite of the scrunched toast, I show her what I mean by bending forwards to grip the edge of my blade. “Like this.”

	She tries to repeat my action, but her form is too relaxed. It takes a few moments to show her how to tense her muscles properly so that they burn whilst stretching, but once she gets it she seems to pick it up pretty quickly.

	“You should do that before and after any workouts. It’ll help your muscles achieve full effect. Okay, you ready?”

	She nods her head and we start along. I hadn’t planned anything heavy, just a brisk jog for about a mile. Saki seems to hold to her word and keeps a good pace… which is actually kinda sorta bothering me.

	I look to my side to see face is a look of determination, with a small grin on it as she breathes lightly through her nose. After about a block I up my pace a little bit. She’s wearing the same smile from when she knocked me over yesterday, and the memory of humiliation bugs me. She ups hers as well though, and once again were nearly shoulder to shoulder. So I up mine further. If this girl thinks she can keep up with me, she’s got no brains! I might just tell the nurse to not let her in! But again, she accelerates, and catches pace. What kind of stubborn-

	Then I notice how hard her breathing is, she’s panting for air between strides while I’m still just breathing through my nose, and I realize suddenly that we’re both nearly in a dead run, and we’ve gone three blocks past where I had intended to turn and head back towards home.

	“Woah woah woah woah woah” I say, doing my best to skid to a slow.

	Saki nearly tumbles, banging into a garden wall with her hip as she tries to stop. She grabs onto the wall and pants heavily, her modest chest rising and falling with each gasp of air. “Ahh… Shit…” She swears, gripping at her side.

	“Hey are you okay?” I run up to her and touch at her sides. She looks up at me and I see that her eyes are way dialated. She shakes her head and puts her arm between us.

	“I’m… *phew* I’m fine. Goodness. This is a light workout to you?” She asks, straightening up with her hands against the small of her back, stretching. Her eyes remain closed as she does, and I can see the beads of sweat trickle down her forehead.

	“Umm… no… it’s… I’m sorry.” I manage. “Here, let’s head back to my house. We’ll walk.”

	She nods and raises a hand. “J-just gimmie a sec. The doctors said my coordination would suffer, but that was not something I was expecting right there.” Her face is red as she breathes heavily, but after a moment she opens her eyes and nods.

	After a moment, we walk back towards my house. “You really have a lot of endurance, don’t you?” Saki asks.

	“Umm… Well… I guess… yea.” I’m still a bit worried about her. She seems alright now, no longer about to fall to pieces at least. Saki seems to notice my hesitations.

	“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine, really.” She says.

	“I-I wasn’t worrying!” She smiles at me in a way that reminds me of mom. It makes me roll my eyes. “Anyways, I wouldn’t bother worrying myself. You were able to beat me after all.”

	“Hahaha~” Her laugh is light and airy, it’s sorta a pleasant sound. “Yes but that was simply catching you unawares. In a true test of strength, I do not hold myself in greater esteem than I hold you.”

	The statement makes me smile. Yea, I am pretty strong!

	“A test of the mind though…” she says with a sly grin.

	“Hey!”
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	“Appologizeeee.” I say teasingly as Saki and I enter the main campus. She’s still wearing her sweaty workout gear, but I’ve changed into a yellow tanktop with and jean shorts. I’ve let my hair stay down though, and it hangs loose over my shoulder.

	“I said nothing wrong.” Saki says, putting her chin out like some sorta rich chick… which she probably is, now that I think about it. Yamaku is a pretty expensive place.

	“Don’t matter. I won’t give Nurse that referral if you don’t.”

	Saki rolls her eyes but looks more amused as a smile quirks her mouth.

	“Very well, Emi. I apologize for calling you dumb.”

	“You never called me dumb…” I say, a little defensive. We walk along together towards the girls dorms.

	“Stupid?”

	“H-hey, you didn’t-”

	“Not all together there?”

	“You aren’t doing yourself any favors, Missy!” I feel a hint of red creep into my face as I know she’s teasing me. It’s kind of weird though… normally I’m the one teasing.

	“Hmmm, no, I’m pretty sure I called you a mental nut.” Saki says, thumping her finger against her chin thoughtfully. We enter into the lobby and I feel the air conditioning blow over us as it chases out the summer heat.

	“You’re mean! I am so not letting you join!” I say.

	“Hmm, we’ll have to continue this conversation in class. I need to change, wait for me here?” She phrases it like a question, but I just know it's a demand.

	I pout at her angrily, but she has this certain air around her… “Whatever… just hurry up.”

	“A lady never rushes.” She says, starting up the stairwell.

	“I will leave you behind!” I shout up, knowing that I won’t.

	After twenty minutes of contemplating taking my legs off and trying to wear them as gauntlets while sprinting around in my running pair, Saki comes down the stairs wearing a black sort of shrug over a flowy white polka dotted shirt. She wears a pair of jean shorts that are frayed at the bottom, as if she cut them herself, but they make the outfit look so much more… unique. With her, she carries a white cane in her right hand, and a red purse over her left shoulder. Her ears sparkle with garnet earrings, and she wears a red ribbon in the front of her hair. She is reaching into her purse as she walks down them.

	“Wow, you got that ready in 20 minutes?”

	“Hmm?” she humms, looking up. Her eyes catch the light and it really makes the amber in them shine in a way I’d never seen before. “Oh, yes, sorry. I had the outfit laid out, but I needed to shower and dry my hair.” She flips it over her shoulder, running a hand through it. I don’t really know why I’m blushing.

	“W-well… Good. Let’s go. It’ll be starting soon.” I say, hoping she hasn’t noticed.
We walk out in to the summer heat and I let out a *phew* more to just make noise than to say anything. Saki taps alongside me, using her cane in tune with her left foot every stride… Come to think of it, that was the one she started stumbling on.

	“If you don’t mind me asking, how advanced is your… condition?”

	Saki shrugs at the question. “Honestly? I dunno really. Only found out about it a year ago when I fell down the stairs at my old school. Just a sudden loss of all feeling in my leg, and the coordination took a dive. Doctors say that new medicine is being developed all the time though, so I’m a bit hopeful. I want to see the world, though. Heck, in ten years, I could be dead… I’d really regret not doing enough while I was alive.”

	“Do you believe there’s an afterlife?”

	Saki laughs into her hand in a very lady like manner. “I certainly hope so. I won’t get to live a full life, I’d at least get to live a full death.”

	I nod. It makes sense. I kind of feel bad for the girl, but what can you do?

	“What about you?” She asks.

	That’s all it took for some reason. A little question, a tingle in my mind, then an itch at the back of my throat. I cough into my hand, trying to distract from last night’s nightmare.

	“Come on, we’re gonna be late!” I say, and start rushing ahead.

	“H-hey, wait up!” Saki calls after me. “If you make me sweaty again, I will so kill you!”
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	A sudden crack of thunder shakes me awake, and my hand flies out to grab a handful of fabric. My eyes are open from being startled awake, but I can’t see. Even knowing that, even knowing it’s just thunder… I’m still afraid.

	This bed is unfamiliar, the pillow is much too soft, and it is very cramped, as my leg slides against another one that radiates heat. I feel cold and nervous and like I’m about to freak out. The touch of his body is calming, as I realize the fabric I’m holding is his shirt. I inch myself closer to him, wishing he’d wrap his arms around me and just hold me.

	“Hisao?” I whisper. If he’s not awake, I do not wish to awaken him.

	“Mmm…” He moans.

	When we’d stayed in the hospital, a few times, I’d woken up to unfamiliar sounds and press up against him as tightly as I could, and he still wouldn’t awaken. I’m not one who really allows for themselves to be uptight… but a part of me has begun to think that trying to relax isn’t exactly helping me relax. It sounds silly, however as Akira told me, most womanly things do.

	He shifts in bed and I feel him lay onto his back. He lifts his left arm up and I pick myself up, moving onto his chest and he wraps his arm around me, stroking my hair. The familiar touch of his hand, the familiar heartbeat… nothing is said between us as we both lay there. Slowly, listening to his heart, the heart I vowed to help keep in health, I feel my muscles relax, and I slowly return to sleep.
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	“Lilly?”

	The word is whispered with care that only Hisao could muster. I don’t want to get up. I feel as if I’ve only just returned to sleep. Still, I know that he knows.

	“Just a little more. You’re so comfortable.” I say. He laughs lightly in a way that I know that he won’t argue against my wish. He pets my hair and I happily hum, pulling myself tighter against him in a hug.

	Eventually, all good things must end, and I force myself to pull my body into a sitting position against the wall. I let out a small yawn and stretch my arms. My neck is cramped.

	Outside the walls of the mansion, I can hear the pitter patter of rain against the window and rooftop. I bite my lip. “It’s going to be hard to use the track in this weather.”

	As if to punctuate the sentence, thunder again booms outside. I don’t feel panic with this one, being much more awake, but at the same time I’m not entirely happy as Hisao stands from the bed. He makes a grunt of effort that I use to assume that he too is stretching.

	“Yea, heh, that’d be a little hard. I mean we could use an umbrella…”

	Again, thunder booms.

	“Oooorrr… not.”

	I smile a rueful smile, and stick my hands out. He grabs hold and pulls me to my feet, which I then wrap him in a hug. “I’m afraid not, my dear.”

	“Haha, well, divine intervention is as good a reason as any to miss a workout.” He says. He twists and sits back on the bed, making me let out a slight gasp of surprise as he pulls me with him. I put my hand up and lightly thump his shoulder. He laughs and pulls me into a kiss, but I thump him again and he lets go, though we’re both breathing a little heavier. I force myself to my feet.

	“Oh, no, mister. You are not going to get out of this that easily. Come on.” I stick my hands out for him to grasp, which he does, and I pull him to his feet. “Get dressed. There’s a lot of ground that this mansion covers, and we’ll be walking it instead of the track.”

	“You were totally ready for this, weren’t you?” he asks.

	I reach up, letting out a breathy giggle. “Two weeks is plenty of time to plan ahead. Now, get dressed. Let’s go.”

	He moves, though he moves closer to me and wraps his arms around me. “God, I love you. You know that?”

	“I believe you may have mentioned it.” I say.

	He groans. “You know what I mean.”

	I playfully wink at him, and reach up to touch his face. He closes his eye as my fingers dance over his face, before pulling him close. “And you know that I love you as well.” I say before kissing him. Our kisses deepen, as I lock my hands around his neck and shoulders and he wraps a hand around my waist and one in my hair. We stand like that for a few minutes, simply enjoying in one another, before I break the kiss.

	“You know… We could do your exercising in here.” I say to him, with what I hope is a suggestive nod towards the bed.
He says nothing for a moment and then his lips lock on mine once more, and I can feel him reaching for the buttons of my pajamas as I pull to get his T-shirt off of his head.

	*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

	The sudden noise startles both of us and my head whips towards the door.

	“Excuse me, but we’d appreciate not being disturbed!” I say loudly. I swear to myself that if it’s Arthur interrupting us.

	“Still?? Come on Lills, it’s nearly noon, you can’t keep him to yourself forever.” Comes Akira’s exasperated voice. Hisao and I are righting ourselves, and he runs his hands through my hair a few times as I fix my buttons. “Lilly?” Akira calls through the thick wooden door.

	“Coming, coming!” I call back. I huff, blowing the hair that’s in my face to the side. I hear Hisao stepping along behind me as I approach the door and reach for the knob.

	“It’s on the other side.” He says.

	I reach over and sure enough… I open the door inwards to greet Akira.

	“Jeez, did you two just wake up now?” she asks.

	“Sort of…” I say.

	“Pretty much.” Hisao adds, very insightfully.

	“Well get dressed. You and I have a lot of unpacking and filing to do, and did you two get to practice English at all?”

	“Well, we only just arrived last night…” I say, feeling like I was being scolded.

	“Yea, but you guys were in the hospital for like two weeks! What were you doing there?” Akira asks incredulously.

	I feel a slight fire in my stomach burning, the same as when I told father Hisao would be staying with me. “Mostly thanking God that we were together and alive.” I say, perhaps with a bit more spite than it needed.

	“If only we could all be so lucky. Well, Hisao, if you’d like to start thanking other people for your wellbeing, join me in my office. It’s the door right through the hall, and I’ll call to you.” Akira turns and storms off, slamming her door behind her.

	“Gah. That was so… so…”

	“Reasonable?” Hisao asks.

	I round on him. “No. It was rude of her to come and wake us up like that.”

	“She didn’t exactly wake us up…” he says. “Come on… If she needs my help, I should go and help her. That was the deal, after all.”

	I inhale sharply and exhale it, trying to calm myself. Hisao is right. Akira is right. I just… I need a moment.

	“What will you be wearing?” I ask.

	“Ummmm…” he retreats into the room and I hear a dresser opening. “A grey dress shirt and black pants?”

	I nod, as the outfit sounds sensible to me. “Okay, you’re right… I’m sorry, I’m still tired I guess.”

	The pitter-patter of the rain has begun to be more of an annoyance than anything at this point. This day is being annoying, and it’s barely begun. Hisao reaches out and touches my arm, going down to my hand and holding it. “Hey, it’ll be okay. I’ll be just across the hall doing mindless work hahaha. It’s what I gotta do.”

	“I know, I know.” I say, relaxing and calming down. “I just… I guess I can be really selfish when it comes to you.”

	“Awee.” Hisao says, pulling me into a tight hug and making me gasp. I can feel his grin on my shoulder. “That was really cute.” He says.

	“Goodness.” I say, giggling as he picks me up and twirls me. “My my, Hisao. I should be selfish with you more often.” I say, and we kiss.

	“Maybe. Not right now though. I gotta go. Have a good day! See you in a bit!” He says, and he rushes out the door and across the hall, where I hear Akira call to him as ‘Romancer.’

	I plop down on the bed and a single thought hits me. What the in the blazes am I supposed to do all day?