The birds sing their morning song of alarm as a new dawn has arrived. The sun’s rays peak in through Sota’s window and illuminate his face giving depth and complexion to it. His eyes shake as they opened to look at the morning sun welcoming him. He thinks to himself…-



What a dream I had. Who was that strange girl anyway?



-He gets up pulling all the covers off him and looks over to the side of him to see the same girl sleeping next to him, cuddled up for warmth. Like he did last time, almost on instinct, he slowly trembles and gives a good jump off the side into his wall wondering what she was doing there. He points at her, not believing what he was seeing and says out loud…-



“What…what is she doing here!?”



-With that, she stirs slightly and opens her eyes looking at him. Sota shakes a bit, still in shock that it wasn’t a dream, as she gets up and immediately crawls over to Sota on all fours right up to his face. He blushes a bit as she did that. She looks right into his eyes and says cute and low…-



“Good morning Sota. Did you sleep well?”



-Still in the shock of it all, he gets a nod in blushing deeply looking at the loosely fitted clothing she was wearing. He quickly shakes it off and props himself upright looking at her and says…-



“Do you remember anything yet?”



-She looks at him and goes sad a bit shaking her head no.-



“I’m sorry Sota, I’m really trying to remember.”

“It’s ok, but I have an idea to help you get your memory back. Why don’t we give you a name for now and maybe doing so will spark something a memory or something, plus…”



-He begins to laugh at himself at his stupidity for saying this.-



“…it’ll give me a chance to call you something proper than using you all the time.”



-She looks at him and quickly, cutely laughs and nods to that idea.-



“Ok then, I like that idea Sota but…what should I be called I can’t think of any names except Sota…I think I like Sota.”



-She laughs at that actually being serious by her answer, he blushes gently seeing how cute and innocent she was and knowing how serious she really was. He laughed along with her and butted into that.-



“That would get too confusing calling you Sota when I’m all ready Sota. And also, it’s a boy’s name and you are not a boy you’re a girl.”



-Laughing more at his own stupidity as he thought more about a name to give her, then, like a train, it hit him.-



“How about we call you Yukito, it’s a very pretty name and, I believe, it suits you well.”

“Yu…ki…to? Yu…ki…to. Yukito. Yukito.”



-Pondering the name slowly, saying the name a couple of times to see if it fits, in her eyes. After a while, she smiles wide and as a child receiving a gift on Christmas Day, she jumps for joy and hugs Sota hard saying to him…-



“I love it, thank you Sota for now, I’m Yukito cause that’s the name you gave me.”

“You’re very…welcome Yukito.”



-Blushing at her beauty and thinking through his expression that she was really happy just by a name itself.-



“I love you Sota, always and forever.”

“I…I don’t…I don’t know about that but…um…”



KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!



“Must I do this everyday with you Sota!? Get up all ready and come get something to eat!”

“All right mom, I’m coming!”



-Like on cue, she interrupts the conversation, yet again. He takes a sigh of disappointment, not really wanting to see his mom but has to. Turning to her he says to her…-



“I’m going to get some food for you before I head off to school today, so at least you can munch on something while I’m gone, is that all right?”



-She nods but slowly not really wanting him to leave but knows he has too. She lets go of him, smiling a bit and says sweetly…-



“Have a good meal with your mom Sota.”

“I’ll try.”



-He responds back to her, rolling his eyes a little knowing that that will be impossible since almost each morning they fight over nothing. He puts on his school uniform and heads downstairs to eat, but before he does he says to her low…-



“I’m going to be back with some food once I’m done with breakfast so don’t stay here until then. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Okay.”



-With that, he closes the door and heads off into the abyss which was the kitchen. His mom sits there, like she always does, legs crossed looking almost scorned as if he was late for something important. He pulls in his chair and sits down.-



“Thank you for this meal.”



-They said in unison and with that, the meal began. The noise of clinging of chopsticks against bowls as they ate their white rice and ramen was all that was heard in that house, so far…until…-



“Why are you so late coming to breakfast now son?”



-Sota kept on eating with that question put in front as he calmly said to his mom…-



“I’m just sleeping a little bit longer than usual, that’s all, why you have a problem with me sleeping?”

“No, I’m having a problem with you being late to breakfast.”

“And why is that an issue now?”



-He could tell his mom was out all night drinking but this was his usual morning routine with her anyway and he knew how to play it well.-



“Because maybe I don’t want the food to get cold.”



-Muttering under his breath.-



“Maybe cause you’re tired of being alone.”

“What was that Sota!?”

“T’was the wind mom.”

“Yeah…and I suppose wind can talk poop as well can they now.”

“I suppose it can, if the alcohol had set in all ready who knows what could talk poop.”

“What you think I’m going to believe that?”

“Who knows what you believe or not but all I believe is that you are nothing but a drunken whore.”



-She slams her bowl on the table chipping the base of it as it flew off the table onto the floor. She hated when Sota called her a drunken whore, her eyes flared with the flames of hell and blood pumped furiously into every vein she had in her body. She wanted to scream, yell, punch, and do anything damaging she could to Sota. Her fist raised as it quivered and became red with the pumping blood and anger she had towards him now. In her head she counted backwards from 10 to try to cool her nerves down as Sota encouraged this dilemma knowing she could never hit him again like she did before.-



“What, you’re going to hit me now? All because I called you a drunk…”

“That’s enough Sota! I’m tired of you calling me a drunken whore!”

“Well the truth hurts, doesn’t it mother.”



-Looking into her eyes with that cocky tone and the stare in his eyes piercing her mind as she knew herself she was a drunken whore but will never admit it. She cooled down a little after muttering under her breath…-



“You little bastard…”

Why Sota…why are you like this? What happened to the boy that laughed and called me mom? What happened to that…little boy of mine?



-Tears started to swell and fill her eyes, she didn’t cry though and instead wiped them away with the back of her hand and finished eating her cold meal. After another few minutes of eating in silence, Sota thanks for the food and takes whatever left over scraps he had up to his room.-



“What do you think you are dong with those leftovers?”

“I’m bringing them upstairs for me to have later when I get back from school. I’m trying to save at least a little bit of money around here.”



-Continues to go upstairs as he opens his door to his room and sees Yukito on his bed again laying down, almost ready to fall asleep.-



“Here you go Yukito, eat up or it’ll get cold.”



-Even though it was but he said that to make sure she ate it. Almost like she was in a daze, she didn’t really notice he was there. He set the dishes next to her, on the bed, and when she saw that she looked up at him from the bed smiled and said softly…-



“Thanks Sota, I love you.”

“You’re…you’re very welcome Yukito.”



-Blushes a bit.-



“Well I have to go, don’t want to be late for school. bit I’ll see when I get back and remember, no leaving this room under any circumstances, got it?”



-She nods slowly as he grabs his stuff and heads off to school. At school, the teacher is off walking down each aisle of desks with his nose in a book giving them a lecture about Japanese literature, the class, with their books open and listening. Sota has his open but is mainly looking out the window at some cherry blossoms. The leaves swayed with the movements of the wind, dancing to a soft harmonic whistle. He completely stares into them so lost in thought as the teacher hovers right next to him, noticing he was looking at them as he crouched down and decided to play along.-



“Lovely this time of year, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they certainly are. Their so delicate yet…”



-He blinks a bit and turns around to see his teacher smiling at him as Sota gets nervous and blurts…-



“Mr. Ryokogi! I’m terribly sorry for me spacing out like that!”



-He gets up from his seat and bows toward him, embarrassed as hell as the teacher and the rest of the class start to laugh at his foolishness.-



“Why don’t you try staying with the rest of the class here in fact, since you are up and want to make it up to me, why don’t you read page 40?”



-Sota opens his book and quickly flips the pages over to page 40, clearing his throat he begun to read the passage. While he was reading it in his soft melancholy voice his mind wandered a bit.-



I hope I didn’t upset Yuki last night with me walking out on her like that.



-A flashback of her just standing there in the crowd as he ran home and left her behind.-



I have to make it up to her, she does concern about me and is my…fr…



“Mr. Gawa…Mr. Gawa…Mr. Gawa!”



-He shakes his head as Mr. Ruyokogi is screaming at him as he continued to read. He stops as the class laughs a little amongst themselves.-



“Thank you for reading the page Mr. Gawa, you may sit down now.”

“Right, sir.”



-Embarrassed more as he sat down and was glad to not be in the spotlight as he overheard students chit chatter to each other saying…what a loser and what a space shot…but he clearly ignored those comments, it wasn’t like he was called them before nor did he care what they think. He just sat there for the rest of the time, with his face in the book, paying attention so the same mistake wasn’t to happen. School was over and he sat there at the end of his class staring out the window looking at the cherry blossoms fall to the ground. He sits there looking at their glory but gets up, grabbing his bag he walks out of the classroom. He gets to the hallway and looks around to see if Yuki was around but the school was bare and dry of any students. He sighs and comes to the conclusion…-



“She must be mad at me, there’s no other explanation. I’m such a prick sometimes, it’s no wonder I don’t have a…”

“Sota-chan! Over here!”



-Stops dead in his tracks as he hears Yuki’s voice pierced through the darkness as he turns around to see her smiling face a few feet away from him. Her energy gave the school a vibrant feel as she ran to him and said…-



“Going home by yourself again aren’t you Sota-chan?”

“Yes, I can’t put anything past you can’t I.”



-Laughing a little at his own stupid joke as she chuckled along with him and said again…-



“Can I walk you home again Sota-chan and this time for real not what happened last time?”

“Sure you are more than welcome to come, it’s nice to have a talking buddy, it makes the trip feel…whoa!”



-Just like that before he could finish his sentence, Yuki grabs his hand and rushes him out the school. On the street in main street Hiroshima there they stood, again, standing side by side not saying a word like yesterday. But both were thinking the same way, they both felt stupid for the other day and how they reacted. Through their expressions they wanted to apologize for that but felt nervous and stupid if they did. Finally after hearing clutter in the back and hearing some guy yelling about fish at half price today, the both worked their nerves up and said to each in the face at the same time…-



“Yuki, I’m sorry for the other day!”

“Sota, I’m sorry for the other day!”



-Blushing while they looked at each other as they realized the awkwardness that they both said it at the same time they look away for a bit as Sota starts to say…-



“I apologize for yesterday, I was in a hurry to get home and I didn’t…”

“No it was my fault for teasing you like that. I didn’t know you would react like that in that way. It’s just that…”



-She stops in mid-sentence blushing softly to herself as a hint of rouge spread to her cheeks. Sota notices this and gets worried.-



“It’s just that what Yuki?”



-She looks up at him and still in that expression as she pinches his cheek hard. She giggles to herself as Sota says ow to it and asks her holding his face from the pain…-



“What did you do that for Yuki?”

“C’mon, you know you look so cute when you’re mad.”



-Giggling more to herself as he blushes gently to that comment. Yuki sees this and says teasing him a bit...-



“What’s a matter Sota-chan, embarrassed that I said you’re cute?”

“No no it’s just that…that um…you’re pinch…I think it…um…”



-Blushes bright red all over his face as he tried to make an excuse for it but knew he couldn’t. Yuki laughed more as she could see this startling transformation of his and says to him…-



“You get embarrassed over the littlest things don’t you Sota-chan?”

“Yeah…I sort of do.”



-He replies calmly to her, as they left suburbia and entered the housings in the town. They talked a bit since that and began to really open up to each other Sota notices he is getting close to home and how late it was getting for them as he cuts the conversation they had short and says…-



“Um Yuki?”

“Yes Sota-chan?”

“It’s a…getting late and I don’t want you walking this late home so why don’t I walk the rest of the way home so you can go off home too ok?”



-Smiling at her hoping it was a good plan so she wouldn’t see the crap hole place he was stationed at. She hadn’t noticed that it was late, she surveyed the scenery around and agreed.-



“Yeah it is getting pretty late, I better get going.”



-She runs a ways ahead of him before stopping and turning around yelling back at him.-



“Hey Sota-chan!? Let’s do this again tomorrow ok!?”



-He smiles a bit and yells back joking around.-



“It’s a date Yuki!”



-She smiles at him from that distance as she waves goodbye to him and runs off to where the sun set on . Sota watched her go as the sun slowly set and made the afternoon into night. He opens the door to his house as he says out loud…-



“I’m home, sorry if I was late!”



-He takes his shoes off and goes immediately upstairs to see Yukito under his covers what seem to be shivering of some sorts. He walks over to the lump in his bed and pulls back the covers to see her panting a bit and sneezing lightly. Her body was sweating as he quivered for a bit as Yukito noticed he was there and said softly while coughing…-



“Welcome…(coughs)…home Sota…(coughs)...”



-He puts his hand on her forehead and noticed she was burning up he immediately tells her in a worried state…-



“Stay right there, don’t move I’ll be right back.”



-And with that, he quickly heads downstairs to the medicine cabinet in his bathroom to get some medical supplies for her cold. He hurries quickly as he grabs a warm face cloth, some medicine and more blankets and hurries back upstairs to see her in the same place she was before, smiling upon his return as he immediately attended her. He quickly gives her the medicine, puts the warm face cloth over her and piles blankets on top of her as he thinks to himself…-



How did she get a fever like that so quickly?



-He quickly scans the room to see what could have caused it as he noticed his side window was open. After attending to her, he walks over to the window and shuts it.-



“I know I left this window close before I left.”

“I…opened your window Sota. It was getting a little hot…(coughs)…in here so I thought opening a window might help…(coughs)…”

“You shouldn’t have done that Yukito, it gets cold quickly around here at night.”



-He laughs a bit at her innocence and says to her…-



“You stay in bed for the rest of the night ok? That should clear up by tomorrow so you get some sleep ok?”

“Ok Sota, thank you for treating me and I’m sorry for…”

“Don’t apologize you didn’t know besides, it isn’t your fault.”



-As he said this, he put his hand on her head and pets her gently, she blushes a bit at that but smiled and closed her saying softly before heading off to sleep…-



“I love you Sota.”



-And out like a light she goes. Sota continues to soothe her by petting her head till she fell fast asleep. Meanwhile, at the home of Sota’s dad, we see him at his desk filing papers and signing things. What we think it to be divorce settlements and setting on a court date for the final debacle he stops for a minute and grabs a picture on his desk of a family portrait before it all happened as he thought out loud with a soft smile on his face.-



“Look at us back then, we were all so happy. What happen to us all? I miss you honey and I miss you especially Sota, I wonder what you are all doing now? One day soon Sota, I’ll come visit you."

Want to comment on this Short Stories? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Short Stories and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...