Glacier in Japan: Chapter 5 ~ [The Pig Pen]

Glacier in Japan

(Chapter 5)

The cousins were walking home that afternoon. Lost in his thoughts, Rukawa’s mind dimly registered his cousin’s voice. He was confused by the redhead’s actions.

Hanamichi. Why are you still pretending? Aren’t you with that Ryonan smiley now?*

“Rukawa Kaede! You haven’t heard a word I said!” Glacier placed her hands on her hips in mock anger and frowned up at her cousin.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked sheepishly at her and muttered, “Gomen. I was just thinking…”

“…of the redhead we bumped into this morning,” Glacier finished for him. “Oh, don’t give that innocent look. I know you Kaede. You were so obvious! I saw you looking at him during lunch. Come to think of it, he was sneaking looks at you too. Now, wanna talk about it?”

Rukawa was surprised that she could still read him that easily. He thought he had mastered the art of concealing his thoughts. Even Hanamichi often had trouble looking beneath his mask. He shook his head and smiled ruefully at her. What the heck, he knew that his cousin would keep his secret.

“Come on.” He opened the door quickly and pushed Glacier in before him. He led her to the sofa and sat her down. He sat down beside her. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to begin.

He told her everything. How happy he was when Hanamichi finally accepted his proposal, how Hanamichi filled the huge house with his bubbly personality, how content he finally felt when he was with his Hana-kun. Then he came to the sad end. How he had caught Hanamichi with the spiky-haired Sendoh. And finally, the painful breakup just weeks before. “I loved him Glacy. I still do.” He didn’t realize that tears were already streaming down his cheeks. He gave a small jerk of surprise when Glacier hugged him tenderly and said, “Go ahead Kaede, let it all out. It’ll make you feel better.” Holding himself stiffly in her arms, he finally let loose all the emotions he had kept inside. He cried shamelessly on her shoulder while she rubbed his back soothingly. Finally, after a while, his sobs quieted down and Glacier realized that he had fallen asleep. She laid him down gently on the sofa, which was no easy task because he was so much bigger than she was. Rukawa immediately curled up like a small (uh, figuratively speaking) child. She smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. Sometimes she wondered if Kaede was really 2 months older than she was.

~*~*~*~

Locking the door behind her, she prayed that Kaede would understand why she had looked through his things. She had found what she was looking for in a small address book buried in his drawer. Sakuragi Hanamichi’s address. She wrapped her coat tightly around her and made her way quickly towards the direction of Hanamichi’s house. Fortunately, it was in an area that she was still familiar with.

~*~*~*~

“Coming, hold your horses!” yelled Hanamichi as he ran to open the door. “Who could it be,” he muttered to himself. He knew Youhei and the rest of the Sakuragi Gundan had gone to the pachinko arcade. He had declined the invitation to go with them because of what had happened that morning. The doorbell still rang incessantly.

Glacier was shivering from the cold. She wasn’t used to it because it was usually warm and humid in the Philippines. She was praying silently that she would be right in assuming that the redhead still loved her cousin. She has always been able to read others’ thoughts accurately. The expression on the redhead’s face that morning was unmistakably concern. When the door opened, she immediately rushed inside.

Hanamichi almost fell over in surprise when the girl pushed past him and into his house. He closed the door quickly so the cold air outside wouldn’t come in. He then turned to the girl, who was removing her coat and gloves, and said, “Who are you?” His jaw dropped when the girl turned around to face him. *Kitsune’s cousin!*

Glacier smiled at the slack-jawed expression on the redhead’s face. She took a step forward and introduced herself. “Hi! I’m Rukawa Glacier. We met this morning. Well, we bumped into each other but I don’t think you noticed me.” She held out her hand for a handshake.

Hanamichi was staring at her in shock, his mouth still agape. She sighed and proceeded to close his mouth by pushing his chin upwards. She then took a step backward and smiled sweetly up at him. (Up is the right word. He was even taller than her cousin!) Hanamichi shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind then demanded, “Why are you here?”

“Aren’t you even going to ask me to sit down? That’s a very rude way of treating your guest you know,” she teased. Grumbling about unwanted visitors, he led her towards the living room. They say down, facing each other and Hanamichi again demanded, “Why are you here?” Glacier should be feeling nervous about the expression on Hanamichi’s face but oddly enough, she felt safe. She mentally patted herself on the back. She was right! The red-haired baka was still in love with Kaede! She smiled because she was confident that he was the one who could bring back the Kaede she knew.

“You’re going to tell me exactly what happened between you, Kaede and that Sendoh. And you’re going to tell me the truth because I’ll know if you’re lying.” She sat back on the sofa, draped her arms over the back and waited for Hanamichi to start talking.

A blush had spread on Hanamichi’s face and he sputtered indignantly, “Nani?! Why should I tell you such personal stuff, eh?”

“Because Kaede’s in pain and I want to help him. And you too. Because if I’m right, everything was a misunderstanding and both of you are suffering for nothing.” she said softly. Glacier smiled again when his blush turned into an even brighter shade of red. Hanamichi sat back on his chair too and scrutinized her face, searching for signs of malice. When he found none, he sighed and said dejectedly, “It’s over. There’s nothing you can do for Kaede and me. He won’t even talk to me anymore.”

Smiling, Glacier said, “Oh, I think I can do something about that.” Hanamichi looked up and was suddenly very nervous at the evil grin on her face.

Chapter 4

Chapter 6