The wilting flower...(open)

[Kisara]

Somehow, today, the silver-haired girl was feeling rather sad. Despite all the friends, she gained at the academy. Loneliness still remained in her heart. Is something wrong? Or missing someone, perhaps? Looking at the mirror, she saw a reflection of herself. All ready, for going out. Her shiny silver hair was tied up in two pony tail with white ribbons and a matching white sun dress hugged her petite body.

A big loud sigh escape from her cherry colored lips. She was satisfied with her appearance, really! But something is not right. Her deep silver eyes reflect sadness and no smiles is shown on her porcelain face. It really bother her. The lass didn't want her friends to know she was sad. She rather to keep it all to herself. Well, she was all dress up, might as well go outside. Looking at the mirror for the last time, she tried to smile. But a plain curve form on her lips. A fake smile to be precise.

"You should not smile, if you are giving fakes one."

She remembered her words. Remembering when she told a certain girl named Rosielle.Those words circled her thoughts. Now, she was the one trying to fake a smile. With that, she left the dorm.

Dragging her feet, she went to the North Woods. A place where no one goes. There, she have no worries about her friends seeing her. After a few hour of walking, she finally found a spot. It was a big cherry blossom tree. She sat down on the ground and took out a sketch book and a pencil. She examined her surrounding. Its perfect. A perfect spot to draw. Maybe, drawing something will wash away her sadness. Playing the piano is an option too. But it will attract many people. Drawing is the best choice for now. Eyeing on a wilted flower not far from her, her hand began to move. The wilting flower is the best to describe her feelings right now.

[Xena]

Takara Yuu.

Xena Zatkin had missed her for quite a while now, every moment of her living haunted with the familiar, broken words of a close friend. She had helped the previous Public Relations Officer with her problems, and had managed to end the topic with a satisfying urge to find Xena's crush.

But she won't be appearing any time soon.

The fourteen year old misses her so terribly, that even now, in the North Woods, her body lay on the solid ground, etching in the letters 'Takara' with her fingernail on the soil itself, her friendship bracelet leaving an outline on the soil. She was wearing a casual black jacket over a red blouse and a white skirt with black outlines and a white ribbon with red outlines. Both light colored clothing were marked with dirt when Xena stood up.

She walked absent-mindedly through the forest. It was only then, when she noticed a large cherry blossom tree, that she awoke from her trance. And there, seeing a girl sitted under the said tree, was Kisara Mizuhara. A friend met at her earlier time in the Academy - a friend that, like Takara, she hadn't seen for the most recent time. Xena managed a weak wave and managed to position herself beside the other girl.

[Kisara]

The once blank sheet of paper, is now filled with a roughly sketch of the wilted flower. Even though it was only a sketch but it was beautiful. One of the talents of The Heiress of Mizuhara Inc. Kisara had poured all her feeling into the drawing. Thickening the outline and shading the sketch.

Its almost finish...

Good thing, the sky was not cloudy that day. Or else, she would be soaking wet. Her right hand has stop doing its job. Maybe a little rest won't hurt her. She raise her head up, looking at the cloud as the soft wind blows, making her silver hair sway. The cherry petals dance following the wind rhythm. One of the petals manage to drop on Kisara's head.

Kireiiii.....

Slowly, her eye lids started to close. Her father and mother image appeared on her mind. Smiling at her. Even though, her parents was busy with their job, they manage to spend time with her. She was really grateful having such loving parent. She remembered when she told them about her alice. They were reluctant to let her go but still they gave their blessing.

A sakura petal drops on her nose, in result she opened her eyes. Staring blankly at sky, she began to wonder how's her parent doing. Are they healthy? Do they miss her?Stop, thinking too much Kisara, of course they miss you. You're their daughter Picking her pencil back, she resume her unfinished work.

The silence atmosphere was broken by the sound of foot steps. She stopped her drawing and tilted up. Curious, who's the person that had interrupted the peace. A girl? She eyed the blond girl. Her eyes then fell on the girl hand.A charm bracelet?Only two girls she knew in the academy who wear those. Xena and Takara. Kisara immediately recognize the mysterious blond girl.

Xena Zatkin

So much for running away...Looking at the blond girl, she realize Xena was not genki as she used to be. The girl wave weakly and sat down beside Kisara. Eyeing the girl beside her, she could not help being concern.

"~Ne, Xena, you're feeling sad too?"

[Xena]

"I'm incredibly depressed."

Her head was spinning at the mere thought of Takara. She raised it upward and closed her eyes with a sigh of defeat. She had noticed the sketchbook Kisara had in her hands, but Xena herself was still thinking of whether to ask to look at it or leave it be. She played with her fingers before opening her eyes again. Xena turned towards Kisara.

"Takara. I feel like she's avoiding me."

Since Kisara hadn't asked why she was depressed, Xena couldn't help but think that the words slipped from the back of her mind to her spine, sending a reflex arc to her mouth. Almost immediately, a fresh flood of tears had clouded her blue-green eyes. "How about you?" Xena asked as politely as she could without giving any loud sobs.

[Kisara]

"I'm incredibly depressed."

Those words rang through her head. Depress? The feeling of sadness. Lifting up her sketch book, her silver eyes scanned the art she had drew. Is she depress? Or just missing her parents? Well, isn't it the same? She withdrew her attention to the sad girl beside her. Curious with the reason behind her depression.

"Takara. I feel like she's avoiding me."

Her mouth formed an O shape. Takara Yuu. She knew that girl. She has the same bracelet with Xena. Bestfriends. The perfect words that can describe those two. That's why she did'nt see those two together lately. She can see tears slowly ran down her accompany cheeks as she tried not let out any large sobs.

"How about you?"

Her? What about her? She too feeling depress. Letting out a sigh, she close her eyes. She's missing her parents thats why. Opening her eyes, she look at her sobbing friend. Lifting up her hands, she brush off the tears on Xena's face.

"Well, I'm depress too. I miss my parents so much. But we must not show, we're weak, no?" She said with a smile.

"Maybe Takara is busy with something, thats why she can't be with you. Even though, I'm not that close with Takara. I know she must have a good reason." She continue her words.

[Xena]

A reason, eh?

There's always a reason, as there are always small mercies. But the world has wicked ways, and life's sharing the same pain. Takara made time for Xena, and vice versa. What could be so important for Takara that even made her forget her close friend? At this thought, a sickening feeling came over the girl who can transform her appearance. Her Pacific-blue eyes winced with emotional suffering. At this, Kisara was sensitive enough to brush away the tears.

Yes, she knows that she will find Takara and everything would be a simple misunderstanding. Yet she couldn't help but listen to the nagging thoughts disturbing her very existence - she's gone forever, and it's all your fault. A single tear rolled down her soft cheek to her smooth neck, followed consecutively by numerous of them sliding to her cheeks and neck. Xena gently wiped them off herself, before turning back to Kisara with a melancholic smile on her ever-changing face.

"Good thing you still have parents. My mom died, yet my father..." She could not continue any longer and decided to change the subject for a fleeting moment. "May I see your sketchbook?"

[Kisara]

She didn't know if that's the correct words to sooth Xena feelings. Takara must have reasons with her behavior. Her heart strongly said so. Well, is not like Takara ditches Xena and went off to find another friends, right? Stop, thinking nonsense Kisara! Yeah, even though she's not that close to Takara. She knew Takara is not that type of person.

But this misunderstanding will soon fade. She was sure about it. A true friend never lets their friendship die. She has living proof. For example, this girl beside her. Admiration soon filled the silver-haired girl heart. She was glad to have a friend like her.

"May I see your sketchbook?"

Eh? Xena's sentences broke her own thought. She look at her her sketch book and then to Xena. How long did she space out? Should she give her a look at her sketch or not? She shook her head. Of course, she should. Xena is her friend, isn't she?


"Here." She extend her hand, waiting for Xena to take her sketch book.

[Xena]

The girl took the sketchbook gently, still feeling a heavy ache in her pounding heart when she held the item in her soft and somewhat wet hands. Upon laying her blue-green eyes (this was before she changed them to black) she traced the outlines of the wilting flower.

Examining the image gracefully drawn using pencil, and thoroughly burying herself in the sketchbook to fully transfer her thoughts from worries to simple innocence of fancying a wonderful work of art. At last, after gazing at the beautifully made draft/finished work, the Zatkin raised her head and returned the sketchbook to its owner.

Just after remembering Takara again, the worse came that made her slightly laugh yet sob. There, staring up at her, was the same wilting flower. And then she broke out to abundant giggles that came with soft tears rolling down her cheeks once again - but for the last time that moment. After drying her tears mixed with joy and sadness, Xena looked up at Kisara and started being 'genki' again.

"Didn't you notice how many new students are pouring in the Academy lately? And they're all so nice!"

[Kisara]

She eyed her every movement. Her heart ache seeing her friend was lost in the ocean of depression she had created herself. Sadness and depress. These emotions were supposed to be foreign to Kisara. Knowing her, you never knew she carried a heavy burden. A smile always plastered on her porcelain face, never a frown could be seen. The reasons are simple.

Sad…because she can’t help her friend, whom she really cared.

Depress…because of her longing to see her parents, whom she miss a lot.

Reliving the pain was bearable; it reminded her that she was alive. The emptiness, the feeling of lost. That void seems to be eating her alive. Is she wilting like the flower? Or she was a flower that yet to bloom?

Her dull silver eyes stared as Xena’s hand traced the outlines of the sketch. She had expressed her feelings through the simple art, hoping it could wash away. Away from the void that she had create in her heart. Somehow, she felt it quite funny the wilting flower can represent someone’s feeling so appropriately. But will she remain as a wilting flower?

She extended her hand as the girl gave back her sketch book. Focusing her attention to her companion beside her, that’s having a hard time dealing with her own feelings.

"Didn't you notice how many new students are pouring in the Academy lately? And they're all so nice!"


Fake. Her happiness. It was all fake. She realised it from the beginning. She was keen in observing her surrounding. Her eyes can easily saw through it. It’s not her alice, it’s a natural gift. Looking in those blue-green eyes, make her heart aches more. She was a failure as a friend. Tears started to slide down her cheeks. She needs to do something.

“Xena, please stop. If you want to cry, just cry! If you want to scream, just scream your lungs out! Please do anything that can release your sadness!”

[Xena]

OOC: Change of view, third person to first person.

Did she have to burst out that way, though?

Okay, so I know I don't feel very well. And I'm not feeling the same without Taka, and to top it all off, I don't even know what I'm supposed to be feeling anymore. Happiness at the time of depression? Sadness at the time of fun and excitement? Pfft, I'm not a party-pooper.

So, scratch the last part. Am I really putting on an act on this smile? These muscles that are constantly irritating my face to make another one in a simple mimic of a twitching eye (which is kinda funny, by the way)?

My gaze had never left Kisara, even after this wonderful moment of endless pondering and self-arguing. Now, I would tell her that I'm feeling great again and would look for Takara after we leave the North Woods. As I opened my mouth to speak the words I was supposedly meant to say, a bigger feeling of obscure that melted my insides and probably turned them in and out.

My body fell weakly to the ground, only to be halted before the sudden impact by my hands, shivering as they may be, that could carry my trembling body. My eyes widened with sudden realization and fear if it was right. Without averting my gaze from the soil to Kisara, I whisper those almost unbelievable, almost inaudible words.

"Takara... Something's happened to Takara!"

I shook my head in disbelief, and had pulled myself in a world where the truth is non-existing. Takara is alive, I scolded myself and even laughed at my idiotic thought. I'll see her. Then, another batch of dread engulfed my whole entity, like an ever-lasting burst of flame. I collapsed in a heap on the ground, tears falling inevitably to the soil. "... She's gone... No, no, no!"

And what came from my mouth was a bloodcurdling scream, that ended to a helpless wail, "Taaakaaraa... Taaakaaraaa~!"

[Kisara]

Funny, when someone could fake a smile and you almost can sense it by just looking at it. Sadness. What is it anyway? It’s just a stupid emotion humans experience when something unhappy occurs, even though that’s the emotion she experiencing right now. Humans are fools, easily affected with such nonsense event. But she was one of the fool. She’s human isn’t she?

Her silver eyes never leave those blue-green orbs. She knew the girl was battling with herself. But something unexpected happens, Xena fell down into the ground and she could see her whole body is trembling. The girl must lose her mind when she screams something about Takara. She, Kisara just stood looking at her friend behaviour. ‘Nice move.’ What should she do in the time like this? Call the teachers, no; this is her responsibility as a friend. Step by step, she walked towards her and upon reaching there, she do what a friend should do in the moment of crisis, hug her.

“Yamero yo…Mou takusan...(Stop it…That’s enough…)”

[Xena]

I couldn't move from my position, as if I was paralyzed. I realized I had entered a semi-catatonic state, hearing only the squealing of tires yet seeing the forest. How had I started along that path? With a girl like me, my progress would have begun as an intellectual propostion. At least this way was how I would have rationalized and justified any strange new emotions that invaded the cool sanctuary of my self-control.

We are animals at heart. The self is mere window dressing. A mask, a false front. We hear about "mind over matter." It would be more true to say that the mind doesn't matter. I had the urge to hurt myself, cut myself deeply, as deep as the emotional wound I had felt. It was as if a sixth sense alerted me of a grave happening with a very close friend. I moved my right hand to my heart, clutching the chest area. I fell on my back and looked up to the face of a silver-haired female.

Japanese, Nihonggo, a language I barely understand, spare the simplest words Nani, Doko, Doshte, Dakara, Temo, Watashi, Anata, Baka. Words that cannot construct a sentence with that knowledge alone. I shuddered, giving a final wave of surrender, before uttering a moan. Low, at first, but then it began to grow to a loud sound of despair echoing throughout the forest. Liquid drops fell on my cheek as I clutched my chest even more tightly.

Tears.

[Kisara]

Sadness is a normal feeling for human. If you lost something you love dearly in your life or something sad happened, this feeling will automatically activate. Sabishii…lonely was one ultimate virus to infect people to be sad. Sadness, what an unknown feeling. A beautiful day will turn disastrous and the world may seem dark and you can felt it would collapse any time. Most people said it’s natural to be sad. You’re not normal if you don’t have this feeling and the only cure for this natural illness is to cry. Cry a lot, like the one Xena’s doing right now. That’s the only thing she could afford to help her friend is to let her cry and comfort her.

They said if you cry when you’re sad, you would feel all your burden disappeared. Sometime, she wonders. How could a simple cry can make the sadness go away? It must be natural, perhaps. Kisara never leave her gaze from her friend. She felt useless. But crying is the only chance for the sadness to go away.

[Xena]

Yes, it was the flood of tears that engulfed me in consecutive times today. I let my eyes roll to the back of my head, a creepy action that sent shivers through my spine as I thought of how I looked like; psychotic. Tears streaming, eyes showing white, a mouth curved downward. I stopped, right then and there, to cry. Eyes returned to its normal position. Mouth in neutral. It was all odd and horrifying, but at last I had regained a composure that wasn't about to lose itself to a howl of sorrow.

My body did a half-curl, raising me up, yet still closed myself in a warm huggle that seem to protect me as how I felt. I raised myself even farther up with the help of my legs and arms, for what is the worth of those body-related elements if we do not use them? Then again, if we don't live our life to its fullest, it is also considered worthless, but then again. You don't need to be important to make life matter. Every life matters. It just so happens that one life didn't make it today.

Still, I shuddered. Then, with a melancholic smile to Kisara, I said softly, "Let's go back." Yet, with an even softer whisper, I said goodbye to Takara's silent farewell.