"Kiss Me"

Umi's heart dropped. She wanted to show her overwhelming love and dedication to her best friend but a kiss, before they were to even go on their first date? It was a tad bit shameless. However, the pleading in Kotori's eyes begged for another answer than she wanted to give.

Taking a step forward to close the gap between them, Umi thought of everything she had learned up this point from Kotori's romance films. Grasping her cheek with her right hand, Umi steadily prepared herself for a life changing moment as her nerves began to build.

Kotori on the other hand was bouncing with enthusiasm. Her knight in shining armor was finally going to be the one to initiate things between them. No more discreet flirting, stolen glances, or even tight outfit suggestions. With the thought of them together at last running through her head, Kotori closed her eyes.

Umi slowly leaned forward to bestow her kiss but suddenly stopped. This was too much, too soon. Her face was flushed as she just stared at an awaiting Kotori. The light blush on her best friend's cheeks stood out from her light skin. While observing her delicate face, Umi had forgotten about her duty. Kotori's patience worn thin as she began to peak her eyes open before saying aloud,

"Umi-chan? What's taking so long?"

As Umi was knocked back into reality, she quickly bowed her head to apologize however with them being so close, it ended with both of them soothing their foreheads Umi had knocked together with full force. The blue-haired immediately forgot about her own pain as her hands went towards Kotori's forehead as she apologized profusely. Kotori however was not going to dwell on it when she knew something that would fix it right up.

"You know, Umi-chan, maybe a little kiss would help soothe the pain."

Kotori flirted with Umi in hopes she would understand her hint. However that went right over Umi's head as she replied back,

"Oh, I can help with your pain!"

Umi then cupped Kotori's cheek again but instead swiftly planted a peck onto Kotori's forehead to ease her pain. Kotori was taken back as this was not what she had planned. It was fool proof yet here she was, lips unkissed with disappointment written all over her face. She couldn't sulk for very long however as Umi was so pleased she could give her what she wanted, a simple kiss. A happy Umi was really all she needed.

Umi embraced Kotori into a hug as she whispered into her ear,

"I think we should be heading home now. It's pretty late."

Kotori held onto her blue-haired friend, feeling her body against her own. As much as she would like this night to end differently, she couldn't ask for such a greedy request from her love. Accepting this, she sighed out,

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The walk back to Umi's house from the trail was silent but now with Umi walking Kotori back to her house, it was painfully awkward. Neither spoke a word as their minds were filled with other things.

As they neared Kotori's street, she knew she couldn't leave them in this awkward tension. She finally broke the silence,

"Hey, Umi-chan, how serious about us are you?"

Umi was taken back from her grey-haired friend's question. Did she just forget her entire confession? Could her heart handle going through that again?

"Umm I would say I'm quite serious. Why do you ask?"

Kotori began to think upon those words. Umi was a girl who was determined and always made things work but they were both young, what if they eventually grew apart from one another? Kotori had big dreams of traveling to learn fashion from all different cultures and she couldn't leave Umi, could she?

"Well I was just curious because you know I love fashion and to understand it I have to know all of it. From everywhere. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Umi stared forward in silence as she contemplated her words. Of course she understood Kotori's hidden meaning but if she said the wrong thing now, it could all blow up in her face. Kotori on the other hand just sighed when she didn't receive response, believing this was a conversation for another day when she had more energy to explain it.

Umi knew her future. She was going to graduate college, take over the dojo, marry somebody she loved, then hopefully continue on until death. Pretty set path. However, she couldn't clip her little bird's wings and force her to stay by her side.

They slowly approached Kotori's door in silence as it was time for their goodbyes. With Kotori looking towards the ground however, Umi walks forward as she stood in front of her best friend with cheeks painted red.

"Kotori, I know you want to travel the world and I won't hold you back from that. I hope that maybe you will still want this to work out. I know I'm going to take over the dojo and remain in Tokyo while you go to travel the world but if you want this, I will be here when you return."

Kotori looked towards the ground, always Umi to say such things and not realize how much they meant her,

"Umi-chan, you always ask me what I want when you know I have trouble making big decisions. Why not do something your own heart desires?"

"Because my heart only wishes for you to be happy."

Umi answered without a second to spare. Kotori decided to say the one thing on her mind,

"Umi-chan, if you love me as much as I do with you, will you wait for me?"

Umi was stuck in silence. There was no doubt that she would wait for her but Kotori hadn't said she loved her before in a non-platonic way. Now, here she was, finally getting her confession but in the form of a test to her loyalty. Kotori however didn't bother waiting for a response as she was already at her door, if Umi were to reject her now, she wouldn't want her to see her. Umi however grabbed Kotori's wrist in an attempt to stop her from entering her house.

With Kotori turned towards Umi, the blue-haired girl pulled her forward gently. As it all turned to slow motion, both girls instinctively closed their eyes as their lips met. Umi's hands going to Kotori's waist as hers went to Umi's jawline, tracing it in just the slightest. It wasn't for very long as not even a moment later their foreheads were resting on one another. Umi softly breathed onto Kotori's lips,

"I'd wait forever for you."

Kotori broke their moment as she stepped back, opening her eyes while letting her hands fall to her best friend's shoulders. Umi opened her eyes as well and for a moment Kotori searched for a lie within her words but found nothing but endearment. Breaking into a smile, Kotori went forward and pecked Umi's lips once more, catching her by surprise. Finally, she rested her head onto Umi's chest, whispering out,

"I'd do the same for you."

Kotori could feel Umi's heart as it felt as if she were running a marathon in that moment. Smiling to herself that she could do this to the young girl, Kotori got up as she became much shyer now.

What do you do after you've just confessed to someone? Don't scenes usually end past this?

With her back towards the door, Kotori shyly called out,

"I guess I'll be going now."

Umi, with a face as red as a tomato, as well became much less confident as she slowly walked backwards, waving and calling out,

"Oh, okay. Goodnight Kotori"

As they both slowly made their way away from one another, all that could be heard were low whispers of "Bye" and "Goodnight" as they timidly left each others sight.

As Kotori finally shut the door, she put her back against it, taking a deep breath. Before she could be questioned in any type of way though, she quickly ran upstairs towards her room, avoiding her mother's calls. Once in her room, she shut her door, running over to her mountain of pillows on her bed. Quickly hugging her favorite yellow pillow, she released everything she was feeling at that moment, yelling out into the soft fabric. Finally turning herself up towards her ceiling, she saw the tiny glow in the dark stars she placed there when she was a child. Finding the moon, she pointed towards it, whispering out while smiling to herself,

"I love you, Umi-chan"

When Umi finally got home, she was drained. Her adrenaline that kept her going faded fast. Here she was now, barely dragging herself inside her house. As her parents greeted her with the usual and wished her a good night, Umi just ignored them as she made her way up to her room. Finally getting there, she landed face first into the bed and just like Kotori, yelled into her pillow with the little strength she had. She flopped over onto her back to look at the ceiling. Usually on nights after her and Kotori would be together, she would find the tiny moon sticker she gave her when they were young. It was as if Kotori was still with her even after everything.

Pointing towards the tiny glowing moon, Umi cracked a small smile as she whispered aloud,

"And I'll always love you, Kotori."