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#Post#: 655--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Natatorium
By: Mascii Date: June 2, 2013, 2:10 am
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Yukito Maki
"Are you gonna carry me all the way inside?" she asked, giggling
uncontrollably. He had somehow managed to carry her all the way
to her house without stopping, and even he was surprised in
himself. But it wasn't as if they had had many options, and in a
way, she had rested rather easily against him, her arms around
his neck, and leaning into him.. He tried not to focus too much
on any skin that was touching, but she was a very warm creature,
and it was difficult. He sort of wished he could carry her all
the way inside, but he hated even the thought of running into
her parents..especially her father.. If only I wasn't taking
therapy sessions with your dad, this wouldn't be as hard, right?
He thought about it for a moment, then decided it would have
been awkward either way.
Yukito smirked, pulling his thoughts back to the present. "I can
carry you to the door, at the very least."
She gave a little laugh at that, and he wondered if he had said
something amusing. "Whatever..."
"Do you think you need me to?" Yukito considered that perhaps
she really did want him to carry her inside. Perhaps her ankle
was worse off than he thought, and she would fall as soon as he
left her..
But she made a strange expression at that, which he couldn't
read anymore than he could read Braille. "No, I don't think so.
I mean, I'll just be standing at the door. I can stand on one
foot." Yukito could see on her face the look of sudden
remembrance, as a thought seemed to fall from the sky like a
brilliant sky and smack her full on in the face with its
brilliance and importance. "Once in third grade I stood on one
foot for like ten minutes! I think that's the longest I was
still ever..."
Yukito smiled at that. Erin always told the strangest stories..
He wondered why she had decided in third grade that she needed
to stand on one foot for that long. But instead of asking, he
slowly lowered her to her feet, careful not to jar her injury.
Erin slid easily from him, and the first thing he noticed was
how cold the rest of him was compared to where she had been, and
the sudden exposure and realization that he was on her doorstep
in the middle of the night, wearing just a pair of shorts and
sandals. Erin, meanwhile, balanced carefully on the door frame
while she pulled out a spare key. He felt like he was somehow
already intruding on her home, crossing his arms over his bare
chest and looking around at the darkened windows with curiosity.
Yukito noticed her periodically glancing his way, and he
wondered if she was trying to signal that he should leave now,
thank you very much. So he gave a little half-wave, and she
waved back, opening the door.
"Erm...well, thank you again for helping me out." Yukito brushed
the hair out of his eyes, feeling how icy-cool the water had
become. "I...I hope your ankle feels better...sorry about
that.."
"I like swimming with you," she said with a brilliant smile that
Yukito had to return with an accompanied flush of his cheeks.
She had said what he wanted to, as if it really was nothing. How
could she say she'd enjoyed it, after he had scared her like
that, and then let her hurt herself? How was that 'enjoyment'
for Erin Spenser, the one whom everyone seemed to love without
even thinking about it? "And you didn't do anything to be sorry
for. I was the stupid one for running on wet tile. I mean, let's
be honest."
That actually made Yukito chuckle a bit, stepping back once and
looking toward the ground, wanting to leave but not wanting to
leave. True, he could sort of blame her for being too energetic
about retrieving his clothes. "See you later, Yukito. Thank
you."
There was a sudden strike of fear in his heart as he watched her
going inside, and suddenly, something in his chest compelled him
to call out to her, his tone urgent, "Erin, I-" he paused, but
she was already inside and couldn't hear him. He stood there at
her doorstep in the dark, and to the Erin that had so quickly
vanished he whispered, "Thank you. Someday, I won't be so scared
anymore. Someday... I want to pull you close." His hands were
balled into fists at his sides, and he looked down as he slowly
raised his palms up to the dim lamplight. He was freezing cold..
the heat Erin radiated against his skin was so quickly gone, and
he reached into his bag for his shirt. As he pulled it back over
his head, his expression darkened, as if he was pulling back on
armor that worked doubly as a mask for the vulnerability Erin so
quickly had stripped from him and quickly regretted. It wasn't
right, to say the things he said. Much less the millions of
words he felt like saying to her. He kept thinking back to that
image of her face the moment he had regained awareness in the
pool, the wide-eyed look of fear he had caused. And this attack
hadn't been as violent as some..
He was at the sidewalk again now, and he looked back up at the
house, his thoughts returning to the last time he'd spoken with
Dr. Spenser about the panic attacks. "It bothers me. That I
can't control my own mind or body. It's like someone else just
takes over, and I forget myself completely. There's this...this
- moment - ....where I can't remember where I'm at. I'll...I'll
push people and scream things...I hate for people I care about
to see those kinds of things..."
I suppose you have to tear things down before you can rebuild..
But at what expense?
Yukito's jaw set firmly, and he tucked his hands under the
opposite arm, hugging himself for warm as he headed back home.
Erin had accidentally taken the jacket he'd given her earlier
that night, but it didn't matter so much. What hurt was knowing
that he'd left a piece of himself with her that he had never
wanted anyone else to see.
Yukito is finished here!
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