When We Were Young

Chapter 3 of 3

I wanna be your last, first kiss

That you'll ever have

I wanna be your last, first love

Till you're lying here beside me with arms and eyes open wide

I wanna be your last, first kiss for all time

"Inevitable" by Anberlin

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The silent war between Sachie and Eiji has been going on for more than a month. Everyone around them could feel the dark aura emitting from them when they get near. Eiji's new attitude was the most obvious. He has dropped his usual enthusiasm, and his everyday-smiles have been replaced by a gloomy cloud. During class lectures, he would stare at Sachie, who ignores any kind of contacts with him, with an unreadable expression.

Same as any other day, Sachie was looking outside the window with her head propped up by her hand. Today was the second day of the "special days of the month", so her mood was dropped down even lower. Meaning that Sachie was even easier to irritate than usual. Her classmates now see her as a timed bomb with no set time. If anyone approached her at the wrong place and wrong time, she could explode on you.

"Sachie, this is the new cupcake at the new bakery that opened around the corner. My sister said I have to give it to you," Eiji carefully stepped to the side of Sachie's desk, handing a nicely wrapped cupcake to Sachie.

From the corner of her eyes, she observed the sweet-looking cupcake. After pointing at the edge of her desk with a movement of her chin, Sachie looked back out to the window. Eiji comprehended and put the cupcake on her desk, but kept staring at the cool girl.

"How long are you going to keep acting like this?" an unusual serious look was present on the redhead's face.

Sachie turned her head around again, locking gazes with Eiji. The two of them stayed like that for as long as a minute, and in that minute, neither of them said a word. It was silence and silence alone.

"Don't bother me," Sachie said coldly as the minute passed by.

"If you don't answer me, I'll keep bothering you!" Eiji said.

"Suit yourself," Sachie said and looked towards the window yet again.

"………"

It's as if you can smell the fire burning in between the two of them. If either one moved a muscle, a battle might be initiated.

"Shusuke, should we go help them out?" Yukino said softly in the opposite corner of the classroom.

"Outsiders like us shouldn't butt in," Fuji said, his gaze also set on the fighting couple.

After quite a while, Eiji finally began to speak again. "Sachie, do you hate me?"

"Very much." The reply was instantaneous. Without much interest, either, she kept staring at the clouds outside the window.

Hearing that, Eiji's brows furrowed, and a look of anger rose to his face. In an instant, he grabbed the hand that propped up Sachie's head, and with a forceful pull, he pulled her out of her seat.

"What are you doing?!" Sachie yelled as she tried to shake of his gasp.

"Ki…Kikumaru!" The boy who sat in front of Sachie, startled by Eiji's sudden action, exclaimed Eiji's surname. All the students in the classroom were staring at them by now.

"Let go of me!" Sachie screamed.

Ignoring Sachie's screaming and struggling, Eiji pulled her out of the classroom. With rushed footsteps, he pulled her towards Maaya's classroom. Yukino and Fuji followed silently behind. Upon arriving at his destination, Eiji knocked at the door impatiently.

"Can you ask Satou-san to come outside, please?" Eiji asked the boy who answered the door, his hand still tightly gripping Sachie's hand.

The boy was startled at first, but after looking at the locked hands of Eiji and Sachie, he nodded his head furiously. "Satou! Come out here!"

Maaya, who was happily chatting with her friends, turned her head towards the door. Her smile instantly disappeared as she saw Sachie behind Eiji.

"What's wrong?" Maaya asked as she stepped out of the classroom.

"Can we talk?" Eiji asked; his face giving Maaya no choice to refuse.

Maaya nodded, and followed him up to the rooftop. The whole time that they walked was silent, not counting the whispers of the other students.

"So, what is this about?" Maaya asked again as they arrived at the rooftop.

"………" Eiji didn't say a word, but let go of his hand that bounded Sachie's. Glaring at Eiji with great annoyance, Sachie retrieved her hand and rubbed it with her other hand.

"Ma… no, Satou-san," Eiji began. The sudden change of name-calling gave a hard tug at Maaya's heart. "As I thought… I still can't go out with Satou-san."

An unreadable expression was upon Maaya's face. After a deep breath, she nodded lightly, and gave Eiji a smile. "Thank you" was her last words, as a burning hot drop of liquid ran down her cheek. Knowing that she would never replace Sachie in the first place, Maaya laughed at her simple-mindedness. Turning around, she silently walked away from her first love, accepting the painful nature of adolescence.

After a moment of silence, Sachie spoke with a raised eyebrow, "what was the point of that?"

"Stop being ridiculous!"

"I'm not!"

"No, you are!"

Silence.

"I admit I was trying to make you jealous by going out with Satou-san."

Beep. The button on the bomb has been pressed and, "KIKUMARU EIJI!! YOU SET ME UP-----!!"

"Ehh?" Eiji was astonished and backed away three steps, "Nya, Sa-chan! I didn't mean to…"

"IDIOT--! WHO ARE YOU CALLING SA-CHAN?! HUH? DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO CALL ME THAT?!" Sachie's eyes were not lazy and uninterested anymore. Instead, they are replaced by a burning fire of murderous intent. This sudden change of attitude surprised not only Eiji, but also Fuji and Yukino, who were watching behind the door.

"Nya, you're so cute even when you're mad, Sa-chan!" Eiji said, as if he did not realize how dangerous those words were.

"I told you not to call me Sa-chan!!" Sachie growled as she stepped towards Eiji.

Eiji backed away slowly; the smile on his face was mixed with wariness. Finally, Eiji's back touched the cold surface of the cement wall.

"Nya, Sa-chan, it's not good to vandalize school property…" before Eiji could finish his sentence, Sachie already raised her right fist.

"DIE, YOU JERK!!!!" The raised fist came down right towards Eiji's handsome face. With his fast reflexes, Eiji swerved away. Sachie's fist made solid contact with the wall. Although bleeding a little, she definitely made a huge crate within the wall.

"Ahaha, that was close! And I haven't seen Sa-chan this mad for years!" Eiji laughed, obviously not knowing how serious the situation was.

Yukino and Fuji, behind the wall, were shocked.

"Sa… Sa-chan… I didn't know she was so strong!" Yukino gaped at the furious Sachie.

"I remember now!" Fuji said, his smile frozen, "Eiji once told me that the last time Uehara-san got this mad, his house became like the battlefield of World War II!"

"Someone has to stop her!!" Yukino exclaimed.

"What are you guys doing here?" a tall man approached Yukino and Fuji from the back. The two of them turned to find the power player of the tennis club, Kawamura. He also gaped as he opened the door a bit wider, "What's this? World War III?"

Sachie stood, panting heavily, along the edge of the fence. However, the scary was that there was no fence, because she has broken the fence and held it in her hands as a weapon. She held the piece of the fence high above her head, positioned to throw it at Eiji.

"Sa-chan, calm down!" Eiji said worriedly. Not because the fence was about to come at his face, but because the way that Sachie is standing might cause her to fall down.

"Kawamura-san, I think you're the only one that can help!" Fuji said, and shoved a tennis racket into Kawamura's hand.

"Uwooohhh! Burning!!!" Kawamura exclaimed, taking out a tennis ball from his pocket, he hit it towards the berserk Sachie.

As expected from the power player of Seigaku, the ball hit right on Sachie's head. Fortunately, she collapsed toward the floor of the rooftop, with the fence dropped behind her. The extra strength from Kawamura made the injured spot on her head start bleeding. Eiji hurried over to her to find that she has passed out.

"Infirmary!" Yukino shouted, as the three bystanders rushed out finally.

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Sachie's eyes opened slowly as the pain on her head woke her. She perceived the furniture of the infirmary, and as she turned her head she saw the worried expression on Eiji's face.

"You're awake, Sa-chan!" Eiji smiled softly with relief.

"What happened?" Sachie groaned at the throbbing pain at her head. Her memory stopped the scene of Eiji and Maaya's break-up.

Eiji only smiled. Sachie sat up slowly and saw the bandages on her hand.

"Don't tell me I went crazy again," she frowned as she studied her injured hands.

"Nya, this time wasn't as scary as last time! But, you were so cute, Sa-chan!" Eiji smiled brightly. The color of roses appeared on Sachie's cheeks as she turned away. She really disliked herself sometimes for hurting the people around her when she gets angry. And she always forgets about what she's done afterwards, too.

"How's that cute…?"

"Just cute!" Eiji's smile was even wider then.

So bright…

"Ne, Sa-chan?"

"What"

"Let me carry out my promise."

"Ehh?" her eyes widened as she stared at Eiji's enlarged face. All she remembered was that he was so close that he was even a little blurry in her eyes. Only the strange warmth coming from her lips told her what's going on.

"Sa-chan, when I grow up, I'm gonna become a professional tennis player, and you're going to be my wife!"

"Okay, I'll be waiting, Eiji-kun!"

Ah… that was my first kiss…

"Guys… I don't think we should be watching like this," Kawamura's voice came from behind the door.

"I'm just caring for my good friend!" Yukino said as if it was an obvious matter.

"Sure…"

"Do you have some opinion, KAWAMURA-KUN??"

"Ahh! No I don't!"

"Shhh, guys, they're gonna hear us!" Fuji shushed them.

Idiot… we can hear you already, Sachie thought as she savored Eiji's sweet kisses.

Ah… the sky is so blue… the sun is so bright… just like Eiji's smile!

When you're a young girl, time seems to pass so slowly, and the image of being a grown lady and wearing high-heeled shoes like your mother seems so far away. But as you turn into your teenage years, time seems to go much faster. You go to school, hang out with friends after school, do homework, and one day is gone. And you think back to your childhood and wonder why you wanted to get older so badly when you were just a little girl. You start to miss the times when you could sleep all you wanted, when the chubbier you got the more you were liked, when sadness was something you couldn't even comprehend.

And perhaps you miss something else, also.

-------FIN.

A/N: Ahhh it's finally finished! Thanks for those of you who waited to read this! It was fun to write! I hope that I can write more short stories like this. I hope all of you enjoyed this story as much as I did. And lastly, please review!