Story: After (chapter 5)

After

Chapter 5

“I’m home!” proclaimed the seventeen year old girl named Tomo as she burst through the door.  She had on her dull pink colored top with white collar and her rust colored skirt, the standard girls’ uniform she had to wear every other school day.  She waited for a moment at the door way.  Despite her loud announcement, there was no response from her mother, grandfather, or little brother, all of whom she knew were roaming about the house somewhere.  “Ok, you can save the celebration for later!”  Tomo shouted.  She then dropped her school bag near the door where it usually remained until the next day, before she sprinted up the stairs and into her bedroom.

No sooner than had she closed the door, her shoes were kicked off, her skirt dropped to the floor, and her top was pulled right off her head to be thrown across the room to the wall.  This only left her pink bra, pink panties, and also pink socks to cover her developed teenage body.  Wasting no time at all, she went over to her dresser and pulled out the middle drawer to find a pair of blue jeans.  She pulled the tight jeans up her slender legs, over her slightly rounded butt, and then zipped up and buttoned the crotch in almost record timing.  Next, she flung open her closet and flipped through all her hanging t-shirts until she found the white one with dark-blue sleeves and the word “Wild” ironed on it.  It was a bit faded now, being almost a year old, but it was still one of her favorites.  She yanked it right off the hanger and then pulled it down over her head of dark, pointy, curved locks, which then snapped right back into their pine tree like formation almost like magic.

Despite seemingly being in a rush, she did find there was time to stop in front of the mirror and marvel at her own perceived beauty.  “I’m one sexy bitch!” she declared before she gave the girl in the mirror a big wink and then pretended to swoon.  She then started searching through all the trash and miscellaneous articles of clothing on the floor, looking for her new, blue jacket.  Finally, she spotted it near the corner.  She picked it up, and slipped her arms inside the sleeves, leaving the front open and unzipped.

She ran out her door, with the intention of bolting down the stairs and straight out of the house.  However, as she reached the first stair down, for some reason she stopped and stepped backwards.  She then walked down to the end of the hallway and stopped in front of a particular, closed door.  She looked at it for a moment before speaking.  “Mom, I’m going over to Yomi’s.”  There was no answer from the other side.  “Hey, I know you’re in there!”  There was still no response.  “Actually, I lied, I’m going to go sell crack on the street corner and then use the proceeds to buy a Walther-P38, so I can assassinate the prime minister…  All right, see ya!” 

Soon Tomo was outdoors and cheerfully marching down the street singing very off key, “La la la la la la laaaa!”  She continued this joyful tune, waving to strangers as she strolled along, until she made it to her destination.  It was a decent sized home, especially for the economic conditions of the neighborhood.  It wasn’t as impressive as Chiyo’s “mansion” of course, but it was much nicer than Tomo’s undeniably. 

However, the only thing that caught her eye was a particular window on the first story.  She went over to it and tapped lightly on it twice.  This was a custom that now held very little meaning since the window was rarely latched shut, and she never waited for a reply anyways.  Immediately, Tomo pushed the pane of glass to the right.  She then proceeded to hop her butt up on the window sill, slip her shoes off her feet which fell to the grass below, and then climb inside the room.

Tomo opened her mouth to greet Koyomi, but closed it again when she saw her laying there.  She was still in her sailor uniform, all sprawled out on her bed, with her eyes closed and her large chest moving up and down in rhythm to her snoring.  Seeing that she wasn’t wearing her glasses, Tomo turned and saw they had been placed on top of her dresser.  They must’ve been the only thing she bothered taking off before she fell into bed.

“Awww, all tuckered out, huh, Yomi?”  The previous night the two had been trying hard to study for an exam.  Well, at least Koyomi had been.  Tomo of course had taken advantage of every opportunity to get distracted from the task at hand by the TV, Koyomi’s magazines, her pencil, or anything else she could find.  She was also doing everything in her power to break Koyomi’s concentration, much to her extreme annoyance.  She must’ve been up all night after she left just to make up for the time she had undoubtedly cost her. 

Instead of feeling any kind of remorse, a barrage of evil thoughts shot into Tomo’s mind as she realized the opportunity that lay before her.  She crept over to her work desk which was still covered with math problem scratch paper from the night before, and pulled out one of drawers underneath it.  From inside she extracted a black, felt-tip marker.   She pulled the cap off of it and then stared at it like she had unsheathed the blade of a sword.  “Should’ve latched your window,” Tomo said before she snickered evilly, but not loudly enough to stir the unsuspecting sleeper.  Tomo then tip toed towards the bed and sat down softly on the edge.  Koyomi’s head lay on a scrunched up pillow towards the corner of the bed furthest away from her, so Tomo had to lie down next to her and then lean over her to get in the right position.

This is going to be hilarious! Tomo thought to herself as her sinister smirk widened even more.  She then gazed down at the completely peaceful and unsuspecting expression on Koyomi’s face.  She was trying to make the tough decision between giving her a simple, Hitler style moustache over her dimples or drawing a more elaborate curly styled moustache that would encompass those round cheeks as well.  However, as she moved in closer with the marker in hand, soon she wasn’t even thinking about that all.  It was almost like she had become hypnotized just by looking at the sleeping girl’s face. 

She would never admit it to her or anyone else, mostly because it would contradict her ruthless teasing which derived her so much pleasure, but she had always thought Koyomi was cute.  Sure most people wouldn’t call her that.  She was tall, had sizeable breasts, and long brown hair, but still most people would’ve described her as average or plain looking at best.  But Tomo didn’t care.  Her standards were the only ones that mattered, and to her Koyomi was undeniably cute.  And while she thought she was cute normally, without her glasses on she looked almost angelic as she laid there, eyes closed, as she continued to emit little snores.  The feeling of Koyomi’s warm breath blowing across Tomo’s face from those snores sent an electric sensation all the way down her spine.  It felt absolutely heavenly. 

Tomo moved her face even closer to get an even better look, and her heart was now pounding wildly.  She looked at her two supple lips, which were slightly parted to allow out her warm breath and now only a few inches away.  Tomo knew what she wanted to do.  She had gotten this urge many times before over the years.  Some how she was able to control it then, but now the temptation seemed even stronger than before.  It would be so easy to kiss her.  Maybe she could do it without her even waking up.  Maybe she could just steal one, little kiss and she would never know.  But then again, what if she did wake up?  How would she react?  Would she hate her?  Would she be glad as she had hoped for years?  She didn’t know the answer. 

She did know that Koyomi was obsessed with controlling her weight.  After taunting her about it, she did specify a few times that she wanted to be thin to attract boys.  But even if she liked boys, could it be possible that she liked girls too, even if it was just one girl?  She didn’t know, but damn she wanted to kiss her.  She hadn’t even had her first kiss yet, and as far back as she could remember, she couldn’t think of anyone other than Koyomi to give it to her. 

Tomo had been tagging along with “Yomi” since they were both little.  They had so many happy, fun times together.  And through out all the years, she had been the person who was there for her.    She was the one she talked to when ever she had a problem.  Although Koyomi claimed otherwise, she seemed to understand her better than anyone.  In fact, she seemed to be the person who genuinely cared for her well-being the most, even more so than her own parents.  And even though she tried her hardest at times to annoy her, Koyomi never left her.  That was something Tomo quietly appreciated immensely. 

In reality, Koyomi seemed to be the only thing that mattered to Tomo at all.  Everything else she laughed off as a joke, but losing her friendship was one of the few things that sometimes frightened her.  She would always fight to keep it, even if that meant continuing to keep her true feelings bottled up.

Tomo pulled her face away from Koyomi’s, and got off the bed.  “Maybe I should go for a walk,” she said to herself, still making sure not to talk loud enough to wake the slumbering girl.  She put the cap back on the marker and dropped it on the ground, before she crawled back out the window.

“I have to stop thinking about Yomi like that, she’s my best friend,” Tomo said trying to straighten herself out as she walked back down the block.  She stopped when she was back in front of her house.  “Neh.”  Instead, she impulsively decided to go wander around downtown to find something to distract her mind. 

She walked past several more houses and apartment complexes on her way to town, until she heard a very peculiar noise.  Very curious, she stopped and walked down an alley in its direction.  As she closed in on the sound, it became clear that it was a girl crying.  Not only that, the voice was extremely familiar.

As she reached the end of the alley, she looked around the corner and saw the girl sitting on a bench.  She was bent over and covering her eyes with her hands.  She was crying so hard that Tomo could make out the accumulated liquid of her tears as it dripped from between her fingers to splash into a small puddle on the concrete below.   

“How could Ms. Sakaki ever love someone like me,” the girl asked herself pathetically.  “I’ll never be good enough for her, never.  Why am I so stupid?”

Oh, Kaorin.

It broke Tomo’s heart to see her like this.  She had figured out Kaori was head over heels for Sakaki years ago, as had most people at school.  She was so obvious, how could anyone not?  Tomo giggled with the rest about it and made a few jokes of her own when she wasn’t around.  It was even funnier that Sakaki was completely oblivious to the whole thing and not really as “cool” as she thought she was.   But even though she laughed about it, she had always been silently rooting for her.  She really hoped she would somehow get her some day.  When ever Kaori talked about “Ms. Sakaki” there was always such pleasure in her eyes.  Even if she went hilariously overboard often, she couldn’t help but feel some of that joy herself when she expressed those completely pure and innocent emotions.  Anyone who would be on the receiving end of a love like that was no doubt a very lucky person.  Tomo never knew that underneath it all lay despair this deep.    

“So stupid,” Kaori scolded herself again in-between sobs.  She stood there and watched as Kaori continued to weep pathetically into her hands, completely unaware to the fact she wasn’t alone. 

Tomo considered going up and sitting next to her.  She imagined she would tap her on the shoulder, and when she looked up with watery eyes and a tear stained face she would greet her with a big smile.  Since it was the only thing she had with her, Tomo would take off the jacket she was wearing, and use its sleeve to pad her tear drenched cheeks dry. 

She wanted to tell her that even if Sakaki didn’t want her that it would be ok.  She would tell her that she was really cute, very nice, and smart to boot.  Finding someone else just as good or better would be a piece of cake.  Kaori would say she didn’t believe her, that she was just being nice.  Tomo then imagined draping her arm over the girl while she continued to tell her that she was wrong, she was all those things and more, and that she really did deserve better than this. 

Despite her efforts, Kaori would continue to cry, but she would combat this by wrapping her other arm around her and pulling her close.  She imagined squeezing Kaori’s small, petite frame against herself to the point where she could feel her heart beating in rhythm with her own.  She would then brush up against one of those soft, cute cheeks before she whispered in her ear that she wouldn’t let go until she was happy again.  Upon hearing that, Kaori would pull her head away to give Tomo a look with those saucer-like eyes, a look she had previously saved only for Sakaki.  She then watched as Kaori curled her lips up into that smile she liked so much, before she puckered them and planted them against Tomo’s.

Suddenly, however, Tomo’s day-dream was shattered by a vision of Koyomi’s glasses wearing face that flashed inside her mind to give her an ominous stare.  Tomo was now firmly back in reality, still standing in the alley, never having approached the bench or the crying girl.  Tomo placed her hand over her chest and realized that her heart was racing madly again.   She felt excited by what she had imagined about her and Kaori, but also very guilty at the same time.

“No, I can’t,” Tomo said as she walked away, back down the alley.  As she left she looked back regretfully in the direction of the girl who had never noticed her presence and was still weeping her heart out.  “I hope you get her some day, Kaorin.  You really deserve it.” 

Tomo kept walking, zigzagging through alleys and streets, a path she had traveled innumerous times over the years.  She tried singing that song again, but she found her heart wasn’t in it at all.  She just didn’t feel right, something she didn’t feel very often.  That guilty, uneasy sensation she felt earlier was still gnawing at her stomach, but she didn’t know why.  She tried hard to ignore it, and soon she partially succeeded by being distracted by the towering glass skyscrapers and crowds of men and women scurrying around in suits that was the commercial district of town. 

After making her way upstream through the mass of suits for several minutes, she finally made it to the strip of smaller buildings she had been searching for.  She passed by many shops and stands, looking at the toys, manga, computer games, and other wares for sale, while smelling the sweet aroma coming from a melon-bun stand ahead. 

She then spotted her favorite arcade.  “Yeah, that’s it!”  Spending an afternoon blasting aliens and bouncing pachinko balls around seemed like the perfect remedy to raise her spirits again.  However, as she neared the entrance, she suddenly felt lonely. “I wish Yomi was here.”  She momentarily thought about calling her and telling her to come down, but she decided to let her sleep.  “I wish anyone was here.”  She then considered trying to find someone else to come with her, but instead she just decided to go it alone.

She pushed through the swinging door.  However, once she stepped inside, she was surprised to see no one was playing the games.  This arcade was a very popular one and was usually packed to the brim with people, but now it was completely abandoned.  Further more, none of the games were even turned on and were instead just sitting there lifeless under the dim lighting. 

“You’re closed?”  Tomo asked very confused.  It was usually open until early in the morning except for a few, select holidays.  The fact that it would be closed so soon after school let out seemed extremely odd, not to mention they hadn’t bothered to lock the doors.

Quite annoyed, Tomo turned to leave but walked face first into a brick wall. 

“The fuck?” she asked while gripping her throbbing forehead.  The door had seemingly vanished from right behind her, leaving nothing but a bare wall.

Tomo turned around to see the shadowy figure of a girl bent over, holding her knees from laughing so hard.  “What a moron!” the girl said in between the laughs.

“Who are you?” Tomo asked extremely suspiciously.

The girl shot up and pointed her index finger in the air victoriously to proclaim, “I’m Tomo Takino!  Being energetic is the one thing I’m better at than anybody else!  The wildcat high school girl!”  A spot light suddenly switched on to shine down on her from above as she continued to hold the same pose, pointing upwards. 

The bright light also revealed the features of this mysterious woman.  She was about Tomo’s height.  She wore baggy jeans and a red sweatshirt, which had a hood that was pulled over her head.  From under the hood several long curved, pointy locks of dark hair crept out around a disturbingly familiar face.  She looked perhaps several years older and much thinner, but otherwise it was like Tomo was looking into a mirror.  However despite the haunting resemblance to her self, there was one huge contrast.  That was her eyes, which shone a disturbingly bright, blood-red light.

“You’re not!  Stop lying!  You can’t be me!”

“I am Tomo, and you’re stupid, stupid, stupid.”  She said perfectly mimicking one of Tomo’s favorite methods of taunting.

“You’re not me!”

“Yes I am!” she retorted cheerfully.  “And you’re still stupid, stupid, stupid!”

“Stop that!”

“Stupid, stuuupid, stupid, stuuupid stupid stuuuupid!”  The hooded Tomo kept taunting as she started dancing around, waving her arms, and shaking her butt, as the spot light followed her everywhere she moved.

“I’ll show you who’s stupid, you bitch!”  Tomo ran forward and swung for her.  However, the punch missed as the hooded Tomo dodged to the side out of the way of her first with uncanny agility.

Tomo just stared at her in complete disbelief, as the double stuck out her tongue and pulled down an eyelid below one of the eerie, glowing orbs.  “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” she taunted yet again.

“I told you to shut the fuck UP!”  Tomo ran for her again and dived with open arms.  But the double avoided the tackle by jumping 10 feet straight up in the air.  She then flipped her body 360 degrees in mid-air and then landed gracefully on both feet on the spot light next to Tomo, who was now groaning in pain on the ground.

Tomo looked up from the floor to see her doppelganger staring down at her with those evil, crimson eyes and a sickening grin, before she cracked up into delirious laughter again. 

“Hey, I got an idea!  I’m going to challenge you, the idiot, to contend against me, the beautiful, magnificent, Tomo, the Great, in a race!”

“Fuck you,” Tomo growled as she finally pulled herself up from the ground.  She then spat out some blood which had been seeping from the gash in her tongue that had been bitten open when she landed on her chin.

“You’re just mad, because you know you can’t catch me.  It’s not my fault that through a miracle of nature and science, I was born with the blood of the mighty cheetah running through these very veins.”

“If I catch you I’m going to stick my foot straight up your ass.”

That comment caused the woman’s disturbing grin to curl up even more and her eyes to glow an even brighter shade of red.  “So does that mean you accept my challenge?”

“Yes!”

“Ok, on the count of 3… 3!”  The red Tomo sped off into the distance, the spot light still following her.

“I’ll make you regret this, you faker!” Tomo yelled as she began a pursuit.  She ran with her eyes centered on the red target, weaving her way in-between derelict video-games and claw machines, through the darkened building.  She got close to snagging her a few times, but each time the red Tomo sped up faster to move just out of the reach of her fingers.  It was almost like she had eyes in the back of her head. 

Also strange was the fact that this arcade was seemingly several times larger than what she remembered.  In fact, it seemed to stretch on forever, like an endless labyrinth.  But just as this fact was beginning to seriously disturb her, she spotted a door ahead under a bright red sign reading, “Exit.” 

Just before they made it to the door, Tomo finally grabbed a hold of the girl’s sweat shirt with a firm grip.   As the doppelganger continued to run forward, Tomo pulled hard backwards.  However, as she did so the sweatshirt ripped off of her body like the old exoskeleton of an insect, leaving another identical, red sweatshirt underneath.  Tomo fell on her ass and then watched as the fabric in her hands shriveled into moth-eaten rags and then disintegrated further into a fine dust.  The dust was blown out of her fingers by a gust of cold wind from the now open door.

“Told ya, you couldn’t catch me!” the other Tomo taunted as she stood in the open door-way.  Her second, blood-red sweatshirt and the crimson glow from her eyes stood out against the apparent sudden darkness outside.  “There can only be one winner.  If you think you can be a runner up, you’re stuuuupid.  If you were smart, you would’ve played a different game.”  She then stuck her tongue out again, before she pushed through the door to the outside.  The spot light switched off as soon as she left.

“I’m not done with you yet!”  Tomo howled as she jumped up and charged through the door. 

Outside, it was not only dark and cold, it was almost a pitch black void.  Tomo couldn’t see anything.  She turned around to go back inside, but couldn’t see or feel the door anymore.  She then heard the crashing roar of thunder.  The lightning strike hit a hill some distance away, but it illuminated the outdoors long enough that she got a glimpse of a path and the red, hooded figure running away from her down that road.  A second later it was dark again, but Tomo decided to blindly chase after her anyways. 

She was sprinting through the darkness in the direction she had seen her, when she heard thunder clash again before another huge lightning bolt struck into the ground even closer to her left.  Again it illuminated the red figure moving ahead.  She was only about 15 feet away now.  It returned back to the black void, and she charged forward as hard as she could.  A few moments later another monstrous lightning bolt shot down from the heavens to split into two and blast the surface to both sides of Tomo.   She now saw that she was right behind her.  She swiped for her neck just as the flash of light ended.  She didn’t feel her neck though, her hand instead impacted something rock solid. 

At that moment in the sky, some of the black clouds drifted away to reveal an unnaturally blue moon.  The rays of this moon shined down on Tomo, to bathe her and her surroundings in a blue light.  Tomo removed her hand from the stone.  She could see now that it was a stone gate, an entrance way.  She passed through it, and thanks to the moon beams, she could see the endless, crowded rows of chiseled stone monuments, in front of tall, pop-sickle shaped wooden boards.  Obviously, she had wandered into a graveyard.  She then heard that voice, eerily similar to her own, laugh again.

“Where are you?”  Tomo asked really starting to get scared.

“Over here moron,” the disturbing voice shouted at her from some distance away.  It then began laughing madly again.  Tomo followed the sound of the laughter as she walked down one of the rows, between the grave markers.  As she walked the laughs became louder and louder, causing her skin to crawl ever more.  It rose in volume to the point that Tomo was sure that it was coming from right behind her.  She turned to see no one there and the laughter suddenly ceased.

“Show your self!” she yelled.  The voice never answered her. 

She looked at the grave in front of her to see if she was hiding behind it.  That’s when she glanced the words on the stone block.  They were the kanji for Takino.  “It’s the family grave,” she realized. 

She then spotted the two sobata, wooden stakes, standing behind it.  “Who died?” she wondered.  Last she remembered the ashes of her grandmother were the only ones to be laid to rest there so far.  She read the characters down the board.  It was a relatively short kaimayo, a Buddhist name given to those who have died to prevent them from returning from the dead.  It was written in kanji that Tomo couldn’t read.  She then leaned down next the tomb to see if the name had been inscribed there.  She only saw her grandmother’s name chiseled in the stone, but then she watched as each character for the name Tomo appeared one by one under it, pulsating a blood-red glow.

“No, you’re wrong, I’m not dead!” she yelled at the tomb as a few rain droplets splashed on her head from above.  They were followed by a heavy, poring rain that quickly drenched Tomo and the graveyard.  Tomo fell to her feet and clutched her knees, still trying to reassure herself, “It can’t be true.  It just can’t.”

She then saw a vision of Kaori in the rain drops.  She was still sitting on that bench all alone and still drowning in her own sorrow.  Seeing that again hurt Tomo like nothing else.

“Kaori, I’m sorry.  I was wrong.  I made a terrible mistake.  I should’ve never left you.  Please forgive me, Kaori.  I beg you, please forgive me,” Tomo cried out into the rain even though she couldn’t see her anymore.  “You’re the one I want.  I know that now.  It’s the truth.  All I want is to be with you.  I just want to see you again, Kaori.  That’s all I want.  I changed my mind, I want to live.  I want to live, god damn it!  You hear me!”

At that moment the rain stopped, and the clouds parted.  Tomo then looked up to see that the sun was creeping up over the horizon.   As it rose, its brilliant rays blanketed her in a warm, yellow light.

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The dark abyss that had surrounded Tomo began to give way to colors.  The colors were very fuzzy and undefined at first.  However, soon they began to become clearer, and their outlines more precise, as they took the shape of the one she loved most.

“Tomo…,” Kaori said as she continued to hold her hand and gaze into her with those incredibly kind eyes, which she had been doing for hours from her chair on the side of Tomo’s hospital bed.

“Kaghhhh…,” Tomo tried to say her name, but the sound that came out of her mouth was hoarse and undecipherable.

“Tomo, Tomo, please don’t,” Kaori said gripping her shoulder.  “The doctor said you’re not supposed to talk for two weeks.  You have to let your throat heal until then.”

Tomo felt around her neck to feel the thick neck-brace that surrounded it.  Not yet deterred, she instead decided to silently move her lips to try to communicate those three words she desperately wanted to say.

“I love you too, Tomo,” Kaori said, before she used her finger to wipe out the tears that were collecting in the corners of her eyes.  “I love you so much.”

Tomo just continued gazing back at Kaori, until she blinked, thinking she was seeing double.  It looked like a second Kaori had just crept up behind the first one.  They both had the same angular hair-cut and those same big eyes.  However, upon closer inspection, the lines on the face of the second woman made her look more than 20 years older.

“Hi, Tomo,” the woman greeted her in a kind and reassuring voice.

“Miithiisss…” Tomo tried to speak again but failed.

“Oh, sweetie, please don’t,” the woman begged as she ran up and also placed a hand on her shoulder.  “It’s ok, Tomo, you don’t have to say anything.  My daughter already explained everything to me.  Even though I could never thank you enough for what you did, standing up for Kaori like that, I still want to say thank you, Tomo.  Thank you so much.  And I must say I’m very glad my daughter found a girl as pretty, young, and upstanding as you to be her girlfriend.  She made a quite a catch, I think.  As far as I’m concerned you’re now part of the family.”  Those words caused the lips on Tomo’s half bruised face to arch up into a wide, contagious smile that seemed to brighten up the entire room. 

Kaori’s mother then looked over at her daughter and saw the tears rolling down both her cheeks.  She then put her hand on her stomach. “Oh my, I think my tummy’s growling.  You know what?  I think I’m going to go down the street to find something to eat.”

“You’re such a ham, mommy,” Kaori said before sniffling a small giggle.

“Oh, am I?” she asked winking at her daughter.  She then got up, slipped on her coat, and grabbed her purse.  “Ok, I’ll be back soon.  You want anything, dear?”

“No, thank you.  I’m still full.”

“Ok, honey.  I’m sorry, I’d bring you something, Tomo, but you have to stick to your I.V. for a while.  But I promise once you’re well, I’m going to have you and Kaori over so I can make you a feast.  Would that be ok?”  Due to the restricting neck brace Tomo couldn’t nod, so she just grinned back in response.

Kaori’s mother smiled back at her.  “Well, all right, Tomo, it’s a date.  Ok, I’m going to go, but I want you two kids to behave while I’m gone now,” she said pointing her finger in a joking manner.   “Not too much funny stuff when I’m not here, now.”

“Just get out of here already, mom,” she said half jokingly, half embarrassed.

“Try not to wake up the other patients.”

“Mom!”

“Oh, all right, dear, I’ll leave you two alone now.  Bye, Tomo.”  Tomo waved to her with the arm that had the I.V. inserted into her the wrist, and Kaori’s mother happily waved back before she left out the door.

As soon as her mother was gone, the emotions Kaori had been holding back finally poured out, and the trickle of tears turned into a fountain.  “Tomo!”  Kaori yelled as she broke down over the hospital bed and buried her head into Tomo’s chest.  She continued sobbing as Tomo draped her arms over her.  After a long while, Kaori finally looked up at her, the tears still pouring out.

“I’m crying because I’m so happy!  Tomo, when you were in surgery I had never been so scared in my life.  The surgeon told me you almost didn’t make it.  He said they lost vital signs from you for 3 seconds, but somehow you came back.  I’m just so glad you did.  I’m so grateful,” she said beginning to break down again.

Tomo just smiled at her and cleared the tears off of her cheeks again.  She then puckered her lips a couple of times.

“Oh, you want me to kiss you, huh?”  Kaori asked now smirking, as she started running her fingers through Tomo’s hair.

Tomo raised her eye brows twice to answer her yes.

“Well, you’re not supposed to use your throat, but I guess your lips would be ok.  Just promise me you’ll take it easy, ok?” 

Tomo raised her eyebrows again to signal agreement. 

“Ok, here I come.”  Still leaning over the bed, Kaori slowly moved in with her lips until they pressed against Tomo’s.  Upon contact, Tomo’s lips parted to let Kaori’s bottom lip slide inside.  Their lips remained that way, interlocked, as they both enjoyed the pleasant, warm, moist sensations of each other’s mouths for what seemed like an eternity.  Some time later, they finally ended the kiss and pulled their lips back apart. 

Kaori not being satisfied yet, however, quickly pressed her lips against Tomo’s again, and they kept on slowly re-entering each other’s mouths, sucking on each other’s lips, and touching tongues for a long string of shorter kisses. 

Tomo then pointed to her one, un-bruised cheek, and Kaori smiled again knowing exactly what she wanted.  First, she planted several wet kisses on Tomo’s cheek.  She then moved over with her own cheek and began nuzzling it against Tomo’s.  Kaori’s cheek slid against the saliva from her kisses until it was evaporated by the friction.  Then the only thing that could be felt was the warm sensation of skin rubbing on skin.

After Tomo finally had her fill of that favorite display of affection, she then took Kaori’s face in her hands and guided it over to her own so that their foreheads and noses were pressing up against each other.  They remained that way for a while, just enjoying each other’s eyes and breath, both of them savoring every moment.

“Oh, I wish I could just crawl into this bed with you.”  Tomo then lifted the covers up and quirked her eye-brows again to welcome her in.

“Oh no, I couldn’t,” she said, more than a bit tempted.

They then heard the sound of the door creaking open.  In walked a young, attractive female.  She wore a white nurse’s uniform which included a cap on top of long, dark hair, a short skirt which showed off much of her trim, panty-hosed thighs, and a low cut top that revealed a decent portion of her large breasts.  In one hand she held a pail of soapy water and in the other a sponge.  “Ok, Tomo, time for your sponge bath,” she said playfully.

“NOT OVER MY DEAD BODY!”

The sound of shrieking could then be heard through out the halls of the hospital as the nurse ran for her life away from the jagged toothed demon.

To Be Continued