Eternal Melody

\'Is that a compliment or not?\'

"You don\'t have to understand. I appreciate the thought."

The sentiments are enough. There are many people who claim they care about her. So many of them leave when it becomes too heavy for them. When it becomes a burden, they are quick to leave. Sumire never stops them from leaving. Is it because she doesn\'t care? That isn\'t it. She wants to stop them, she wants them to say.

But does she have the right to do that? If they stay with her, she can\'t promise them anything but endless amounts of pain. That\'s why it is better to let them go, even if she ends up alone.

Yet that person differs from all of them.

Ever since she arrived in Tokyo, she has been nothing but trouble. All she does is cause Yuhi problems. But even then he stays by her side, he does not abandon her. No matter how much she cries and breaks down, he stays right by her side. A truly foolish person, one day he will realize the mistake he made. Sumire tried to convince herself this, but it failed.

...

Yuhi told her to take a nap and so she did, before she knew it she quickly drifted of.

Waking up to Yuhi\'s gentle hands caressing her hair, she was tempted to go back to sleep. Sumire didn\'t because she hears him mumbling. \'Oh…\' Sumire pretends to sleep, knowing that he couldn\'t say it out loud if she were awake, she wonders what he\'s going to say.

"If your sleeping it would be better for me. But if your awake, just listen and don\'t say anything." Yuhi mumbled. "You see you spoke to me about your age and wisdom the other day. I didn\'t reply right away. But that\'s because I wanted to think my answer through. Even if you became old and wrinkly, my feelings won\'t change."

Sumire\'s eyes widened when she heard his words.

"You\'re not old. Rather when I first saw you again. I thought I was looking at a goddess."

Sumire his deep thoughts, as she reached over and strokes his cheek gently with her palm, returning his tender smile with a bright one. "Your still just as handsome Yuhi."

It was clear that comment embarrassed him, since she could see the tint of pink in his cheeks. He really has learned to be more honest now. "Your awake I see."

"I feel wide awake now because you were saying such sweet things. Yuhi, you dummy. Are we going to continue our conversation like this?"

"Yeah, let\'s talk about the piece for the festival."

"No chat about work."

She brushes her fingers tenderly on his lips, tracing them gently. "Then, a terrible seed of desire. What is it to you?"

It seems like he was curious after all huh?

The brunette haired girl doesn\'t say anything for a few minutes. It looked like Yuhi was about to change the topic, yet she spoke up.

"I no longer want to dwell on the past and move on. I want to express everything I am feeling. But this feeling is born from a twisted desire. What can I do about it?" At that she could see his eyes go wide. "However, the rest is a secret."

....

Instead of going home, Yuhi suggested they go shopping. She is half tempted to wear a disguise.

This is the first time she\'s ever going out in public with Yuhi, previous times she had gone shopping he would simply give her money and say, \'It\'s so you can come back.\' or she would sneak off when he\'s fast asleep. But then again, the nature of their relationship has changed now in contrast to then.

Is a hat enough? Maybe she should wear a wig or something. Others seeing her with Atushi is okay due to their respective profession. However Yuhi is another story, if anybody were to catch them together, it would look bad. She can imagine what the tabloids would say, \'caught cheating. \' The mere thought of it was enough to make her barf.

Even if they don\'t do anything touching wise in public. A single picture can easily be twisted and misinterpreted. That is how the media is. With the recent events, Sumire knew what kind of twisted story they would come up with too. But is she supposed to avoid men just because of that? It did not seem right to her.

Her thoughts broke off when Yuhi placed his glasses on her, as well as his scarf. The scarf being too big for her, covered half her face. "Hmmm, looks okay. You can\'t see anything but your pretty eyes now, but I\'m sure nobody can catch that sorta picture."

Oh, he was thinking about it. Her eyes went wide when he grabbed hold of his hand. "And the final touch."

"What are you doing?" Sumire questioned.

"If we act like a natural couple, you won\'t be suspected yeah?"

Well that\'s true.

It didn\'t take them long to reach the convenient store. The only good thing about Yuhi\'s area is, there seems to be stores of any kind in just a small district.

Still Sumire wants to ask him if this is truly okay. Is it fine for her to stand by his side? It felt like she was taking advantage of his good will.

"Hey, you like these right?" Yuhi pointed to one of the shelves.

"Ah yes."

Yuhi put several packets into the trolley and continued to look around. Sumire could not miss how he kept putting her favourite foods into the basket. He must be doing this deliberately. Or rather how come he knows what her favourite foods are? This isn\'t fair at all. If he does things like this, she will only like him more than she already does.

I like him? Yes maybe she did once upon a time. But after Mamoru appeared in her life, everything changed. She liked Yuhi a lot but she never thought it was possible for them to become a couple. He was somebody she respected and aspired to be like and somebody far from her reach. Even when they became friends with one another, Sumire thought the same.

Her thoughts broke off when Yuhi halted, causing her to stop walking. It led to her bumping into his back. "You keep spacing out. Is it that boring, shopping with me?"

"Uh no." Sumire frantically shook her head. "I was just thinking."

"About?"

It\'s awkward getting caught like this. She cant possibly tell him what she just thought. Before Sumire could say a word, a flash of bright coloured hair went past her and clung to Yuhi.

"Yuhi-kun!"

"Hey Asami, shopping?"

"Right, right. I\'m with Aika-chan, but she went of to get her prescription in the pharmacy. Yuhi-kun, it\'s rare to see you shopping."

"I\'m here with someone."