The right words

"Yeah… me too."

Ritsu walked the short distance home. The coldness of the night was beginning to take its toll on her as her hands began to get clammy and numb.

Me, too…

She decided she didn't want to go home just yet, so she made a left and walked towards the park and sat down on one of the benches.
Many memories were made in this same park. Some happy, some sad, some unnerving and some never to mentioned ever again. But… all were made together with her best friend.

Mio.

["Mio-chan why are you crying? I'm right here, remember?"]

A small smile made its way onto her mouth.

[Mio-chan, let's build a sand castle as big as your house!"]

Yes, a lot of memories for Ritsu were with Mio. She did her best at being there for the younger girl, for being a good friend to her. And it seemed to work, because that was all she seemed to be for the raven haired beauty.

["Don't worry, Mio-chan, I'll protect you!"]

Yes, she protected Mio very well against the dangers that lurked the park, the dangers that were all around them. But… who protected Ritsu against these dangers? No one told Ritsu just how harmful it might have been for her. For her heart. Unwillingly, tears softly rolled down her cheeks. Making no effort to wipe them off, she tried to concentrate on the tingling sensation of the salty liquid streaming down her face, rather than the growing pain in her heart.

Several hours earlier…

"Where you headed off to, sis?"

"Goin' over to Mio's… Need to tell her something. Why? Did you need me?"

"Nah, never mind. Good luck with that, though!"

And off he was. Satoshi rarely saw his sister in such a weird mood. Almost as if she was… nervous. He laughed, thinking how she finally looked a little girlish.

Ritsu was indeed as her little brother had observed. Nervous as hell!

Okay, tonight's gonna be it! Can't back down now. Mio knows I need to tell her something so… I seriously can't back down now…

She walked down the stairs.

I wonder how she'll take it… I'm hoping… good…

She walked out the door, keys and phone in her pocket, her parents knowing where she was headed and a possible sleep over wasn't ruled out as well.

Mio. The mere thought of her is so… Ritsu fought back the urge to itch out the romantic side of her.
She smiled as she drew closer to Mio's home.
Ever since they knew each other, Ritsu had always had an attraction towards her best friend.

She had wanted to tell her time and time again, but seriously, there was never a right moment to. In middle school Ritsu wanted to tell Mio after they graduated for high school and she did. It's just that Mio was too nervous the night before and before Ritsu confessed, Mio fell asleep…
Then she wanted to tell her during the school's festival during their first year, but Yui messed up the plan by damaging her throat and making Mio sing lead, a job that besides tiring her out, also left her shaking to no end. So instead of being a heartless jerk and put more pressure on her, she was being a selfless best friend and helped her best friend cheer up.
Summer time rolled around, but Mio took summer courses and so Ritsu rarely got to spend any time with her during their free month.
Now, Ritsu wasn't exactly one to believe in fate, but with three failed attempts at telling her childhood crush about her feelings certainly seemed like a sign to her. So she decided to put it off until the night before the publishing of their university choice results.

And so here we are now…

Ritsu was in Mio's room. Her parents had just gone out to a family gathering. They left their only daughter at home so she could get her nerves under control. Now, usually Mio wasn't one who uttered a lot of words, but when she's stressed and when Ritsu's around, she pours her heart out. Double. Actually, make that triple.

"Aren't you nervous, Ritsu? I mean I am. Of course I am. And of course you know I am… I really hope we all pass. Especially you and Yui. I'm not so scared for Mugi, she looked very confident. And myself you wonder? Well, I think I did pretty well… Ooh, no… I just remembered I messed up that extra long sentence! What am I gonna do? I'm so nervous! Are you nervous? Well, I am… Do you think we'll all pass? We will, right? I mean I'm sure Mugi will, she seemed confident about her test… Aren't you nervous?"

"Jeez, relax, Mio… Of course I'm nervous…" Although not for reasons you know… yet…

Finally calming down just a smidge, Mio sighed heavily and sat down on her bed. Ritsu went and sat right down next to her.

"Don't worry… We'll pass… I promise I'd protect you no matter what… Remember?"

"Even in college?"

"Heck yea! I mean, college is just a fancy way of saying school right? It's just the name, Akiyama!"

"Yeah, I guess your right" Mio gave an awkward smile.

"Hey… I'll always be by your side…" Ritsu smiled sincere… and gave her best friend a hug with Mio's head buried in her strong shoulder. She wanted to continue her sentence, this being the sentence she'd wanted to speak out, the sentence she'd been wanting to tell Mio for nearly four years already. But then she felt a slight humming on her shoulder signaling Mio was talking.

"Thank you, Ritsu. I love you…"

Was this it? Mio uttered the words she had been afraid to for the past four years. Those words that seemed to not want to come out of her mouth had been said by her best friend. And she had said them so easily…

"Mio, I… love you, too."

Mio tightened their hug. "You're a good friend, Ritsu. And you always will be… You'll always be my best friend."

Time stood still for the sandy haired girl as those painful words rang in her ears.
A friend… Is all she'll ever be seen as. A friend… is all she would ever be.

A friend, huh…

She unconsciously tightened the embrace and murmured a faint "yeah". They stayed in that awkward hug position for a while.
Ritsu was dumbstruck, her body was too afraid to move. Without her realizing it, her cheeks became damp by some sort of liquid. She realized she had been crying. She quickly wiped the tears off and gently pushed Mio back. She smiled.

"I don't know what I would do without you, Ritsu…"

"Yeah…" her voice was hoarse. "Me, too…"

Quickly after that, Ritsu had excused herself and said her Mom told her to be home early. Mio was reluctant to let Ritsu leave her alone, but let her go anyways.
And so here we are once again, in the park. The pain in her heart was till there. The heart ache was unbearable and yet… yet she was calm.
Ritsu leaned back and watched the moon. She checked her phone's clock. 5.15.
She'd been sitting on that bench the whole night, unsubconsciously.

Heh… I might as well check out the sunset before I go home…

True to her word, Ritsu stayed until 7.00, watching the beautiful sun kiss the horizon, signaling a brand new day. A brand new start. A fresh beginning.

A brand new day…

A brand new day calls for a brand new start. She smiled at the thought. Hey, it might be wrong, but it seemed like a fair thing to do.
She took out her phone and dialed home. Her mother picked up.

"Mom… Change of plans… I… think I'm going to my second choice University…"

Author's depressed note;
It's a pretty sad fic, so I didn't want to say it's for Ritsu's birthday... Although it kinda is

So what did you guys think? Pretty short drabble, but the longer they are, the longer it takes to read em... (That made no sense... blame it on my lack of sleep) Now, I know I know, there are a lot of Mitsu fictions out there that look like this, but something happened and it inspired me to write this. I just finished writing this so if there are any mistakes, please tell me so…
There's a Mio version to this as well, but I don't know if I'll post it. If I do it'll be up in about three days… if not then not… still, I'm labeling it complete….