White Day themed fic (involves gender-bender)
Once again she had a hard time sleeping last night. It had been like that for the last few days. Marathons of tossing and turning. Memories of the past reeling in her head and haunting her dreams - or nightmares to be exact. Fai had a mental debate earlier that morning whether she should go to school or not. Then she remembered there would be another lab in chemistry today. She loved chemistry. So it was enough to sway her to drag herself out of bed.
As she walked towards her locker Fai noticed groups of boys clustered together, nervously whispering to each other. Girls always would be in their large groups. So why were the boys like this today?
Fai shrugged it off as she opened her locker and fished out her history textbook. As soon as she slammed it shut, Fai saw a tall girl with black hair hurrying down the hallway.
It was Kurogane.
Quickly breaking into her smiling habit, Fai waved to the other girl. “Good morning, Kuro-chan!”
Kurogane silently eyed her and muttered a response. She scrambled to pick her lock.
“Kuro-chan, you sure are in a hurry.”
“I want to make sure I get to lit class early. You know, that woman…”
Fai grinned. Ichihara-sensei loved to poke fun at serious students, especially if they were late. Kurogane was one of them.
“So, I’ll see you in chem then.”
“Yeah,” Kurogane mumbled, closing her locker and made a dash to her class.
Fai likewise went to her history class. As she entered the room, Sakura ran up to her. “Fai-chan, Fai-chan, look!” she shouted in excitement, holding up a package.
Sakura sure knew how to lighten up anybody’s mood. “What is it, Sakura-chan?”
“I got some chocolate from…from…” Sakura stumbled, heat rising in her face.
“You don’t mean,” Fai said, her eyes lighting up, “from Syaoran-kun?”
Sakura just nodded fervently, blushing too much. Everybody knew she and Syaoran would make a great couple. Yet the two of them were still too shy to admit about their relationship. Fai thought it was adorable.
“So why did he give you some?”
Sakura just looked at Fai with a shocked face. “Oh, Fai-chan, did you forget? Today is White Day!”
Now it was Fai’s turn to be shocked. Of course! It was why the boys were all nervous. “Oh…” it began to sink in Fai, “that makes sense.”
“Did you get anything yet, Fai-chan?”
“No…not yet, Sakura-chan,” Fai said slowly.
“Well, I hope you will,” Sakura cheerfully said.
Fai smiled. “Thanks, Sakura-chan. Oh look, Kinomoto-sensei, your father, is here.” The two girls quickly went to their seats.
After class - as she was making her way to Ichihara-sensei’s class - Fai was thinking about today. A month ago, she had given her own homemade chocolate to Kurogane. Fai stayed up late the night before, madly experimenting with recipes and ingredients. Cooking was something else she loved as much as chemistry. It gave her room to dabble. Plus, it helped distract her mind.
At first, she hesitated to give her hard work to Kurogane. But after a prodding from the other girl at the end of the day, Fai got the initiative to hand it over. Kurogane was irritated that Fai stayed up late and chided her. But Fai knew that the other girl was merely concerned. She knew that Kurogane truly appreciated her chocolate regardless. That was enough to lift her spirits that day a month ago.
Now that today was White Day, Fai had a burning question. Did Kuro-sama have something for her?
The ringing bell brought her back to reality. As she ran into class, Ichihara-sensei peered from her desk, pushing up her glasses and shuffling some paper.
“You’re late,” she said in a half amused, half concerned tone.
“Sorry, Ichihara-sensei,” Fai apologized.
The literature teacher motioned her hand for Fai to come closer to her. She cupped her mouth and softly spoke into Fai’s ears. “By the way, earlier in class Kurogane-chan had the same look on her face as you do.”
“Oh. Thanks, Ichihara-sensei,” Fai responded, wondering what to make out of her words.
Throughout the day, Fai ran into Kurogane unusually often. Every time she tried to wave at her, Kurogane either didn’t see Fai or she briefly made eye contact then headed in a different direction. Was it because Kurogane wasn’t ready to give Fai her gift? Or worse, was it because she didn’t care about returning the favor just as much as she boldly declared that Valentine’s Day was “a conspiracy by the candymakers”? Fai tried so hard not to think it was the latter.
Feeling anxious towards the end of the day, Fai shuffled into chemistry class. “Still,” she reminded herself, “nothing could keep me down in lab. Not even her.” The thought cheered her up. Once again, the two girls’ eyes met briefly then broke away as they split into their lab groups.
Fai felt at home. She eagerly turned on the Bunsen burner after strapping on her lab goggles. One of her lab partners brought back samples of elements for spectroscopic testing. Fai needed to focus on the elements. Not White Day or nervous boys. Or Kurogane.
At the end of the lab, it turned out whichever group yielded the best results would win prizes. To nobody’s surprise, Fai’s group did the best. After the entire class was properly cleaned up, the chemistry teacher congratulated Fai once again for a great job. She then dumped the contents of their prize out of a bag.
It was white chocolate.
Immediately, Fai’s eyes instantly met those of Kurogane’s. The girl with black hair withdrew her gaze and resumed to pack her school bag. Hastily. Kurogane left as soon as she finished packing up.
Fai sighed. She shoved the chocolate into her school bag and darted out of the classroom. Fai was grateful that she didn’t have to go back to her locker today after school, which meant she had a reasonable excuse to avoid Kurogane.
Instead she headed towards the field and glumly sat on the bleachers. Propping her hands under her chin, Fai noticed how dark and menacing the clouds were. Fai embraced the onslaught of rain. Let it reflect how she’s feeling. It was hard to deal with her insomnia and anxiety and…
Raindrops began to fall increasingly hard on her. Fai was fixated on the ambiguous exchange she and Kurogane had at the end of chemistry class. Maybe in the end Kurogane really didn’t intend to return a gift, even after all Fai did to make those really special chocolate.
Rejection shouldn’t be so hard to deal with, right? Or was it?
“Tch, for someone who’s smart enough to win a prize, you sure are an idiot if you’re just sitting in the rain.”
Fai froze. “Kuro-chan?”
The tall girl stood alongside Fai, holding an umbrella to cover her as well. Yet Kurogane was still looking straight ahead with her mouth twitching.
“Listen,” she began and winced. Kurogane sometimes had a hard time with words, Fai noticed, especially if they concerned gentler matters. For inexplicable reasons, Fai found that part of Kurogane charming.
“I, uh…” she paused again and closed her eyes briefly. “Look, don’t think just because I didn’t give you any white chocolate means that I’m the school’s most horrible person.”
Fai was startled by the other girl’s confession. “Oh,” she uttered.
Kurogane seemed pretty impatient. At herself? “The reason was. Fine,” she gave an exasperated sigh. “Basically I don’t cook, I don’t do crafts. Anything else would result me in catering to buying those crappy, silly things, which I refuse to do.” Kurogane shut her mouth, seeming satisfied and relieved that she finally got that out of her way.
Fai scrambled to piece it all together. So Kurogane struggled to come up with a thoughtful gift for her but in the end came up with nothing. It all made sense why Kurogane seemed to avoid and ignore Fai throughout the day. She felt bad for not having anything, especially when she noticed the white chocolates at the end of class. And of course, for someone who struggle to say things gently, she completely abandoned trying to apologize to Fai earlier.
At least she now knew that Kurogane didn’t have an antagonistic agenda. Just hearing what she had to say helped Fai calmed down. Fai looked up and noticed something. She grinned, which the other girl caught.
“What?” she asked, raising her eyebrows alarmingly.
Fai poked under the hood of the umbrella. “Hyuu, that’s very thoughtful of you, Kuro-sama!” Kurogane finally looked up where Fai was poking and it struck her.
The umbrella was white.
Kurogane’s face turned a darker shade. She grumbled and stammered in a small fit. Fai was able to pick up some of her outbursts.
“What, but mine’s red.”
“How the hell?”
“But this is Tomoya’s…”.
But lastly, “I’m going to get him!”
As Kurogane was going on in her fit of bashfulness and small rage, Fai felt surprisingly happy. Sure, Kurogane didn’t specifically provide a gift nor had one in mind, but she did come out to the bleachers area. Fai had a hunch that Kurogane was wondering where she was since she never showed up at the lockers. Kurogane was worried - but she will never admit it to anybody’s face.
And really, for someone who often went through her own, odd ways to show concern, Kurogane’s caring nature was a very special gift.
As she walked towards her locker Fai noticed groups of boys clustered together, nervously whispering to each other. Girls always would be in their large groups. So why were the boys like this today?
Fai shrugged it off as she opened her locker and fished out her history textbook. As soon as she slammed it shut, Fai saw a tall girl with black hair hurrying down the hallway.
It was Kurogane.
Quickly breaking into her smiling habit, Fai waved to the other girl. “Good morning, Kuro-chan!”
Kurogane silently eyed her and muttered a response. She scrambled to pick her lock.
“Kuro-chan, you sure are in a hurry.”
“I want to make sure I get to lit class early. You know, that woman…”
Fai grinned. Ichihara-sensei loved to poke fun at serious students, especially if they were late. Kurogane was one of them.
“So, I’ll see you in chem then.”
“Yeah,” Kurogane mumbled, closing her locker and made a dash to her class.
Fai likewise went to her history class. As she entered the room, Sakura ran up to her. “Fai-chan, Fai-chan, look!” she shouted in excitement, holding up a package.
Sakura sure knew how to lighten up anybody’s mood. “What is it, Sakura-chan?”
“I got some chocolate from…from…” Sakura stumbled, heat rising in her face.
“You don’t mean,” Fai said, her eyes lighting up, “from Syaoran-kun?”
Sakura just nodded fervently, blushing too much. Everybody knew she and Syaoran would make a great couple. Yet the two of them were still too shy to admit about their relationship. Fai thought it was adorable.
“So why did he give you some?”
Sakura just looked at Fai with a shocked face. “Oh, Fai-chan, did you forget? Today is White Day!”
Now it was Fai’s turn to be shocked. Of course! It was why the boys were all nervous. “Oh…” it began to sink in Fai, “that makes sense.”
“Did you get anything yet, Fai-chan?”
“No…not yet, Sakura-chan,” Fai said slowly.
“Well, I hope you will,” Sakura cheerfully said.
Fai smiled. “Thanks, Sakura-chan. Oh look, Kinomoto-sensei, your father, is here.” The two girls quickly went to their seats.
After class - as she was making her way to Ichihara-sensei’s class - Fai was thinking about today. A month ago, she had given her own homemade chocolate to Kurogane. Fai stayed up late the night before, madly experimenting with recipes and ingredients. Cooking was something else she loved as much as chemistry. It gave her room to dabble. Plus, it helped distract her mind.
At first, she hesitated to give her hard work to Kurogane. But after a prodding from the other girl at the end of the day, Fai got the initiative to hand it over. Kurogane was irritated that Fai stayed up late and chided her. But Fai knew that the other girl was merely concerned. She knew that Kurogane truly appreciated her chocolate regardless. That was enough to lift her spirits that day a month ago.
Now that today was White Day, Fai had a burning question. Did Kuro-sama have something for her?
The ringing bell brought her back to reality. As she ran into class, Ichihara-sensei peered from her desk, pushing up her glasses and shuffling some paper.
“You’re late,” she said in a half amused, half concerned tone.
“Sorry, Ichihara-sensei,” Fai apologized.
The literature teacher motioned her hand for Fai to come closer to her. She cupped her mouth and softly spoke into Fai’s ears. “By the way, earlier in class Kurogane-chan had the same look on her face as you do.”
“Oh. Thanks, Ichihara-sensei,” Fai responded, wondering what to make out of her words.
Throughout the day, Fai ran into Kurogane unusually often. Every time she tried to wave at her, Kurogane either didn’t see Fai or she briefly made eye contact then headed in a different direction. Was it because Kurogane wasn’t ready to give Fai her gift? Or worse, was it because she didn’t care about returning the favor just as much as she boldly declared that Valentine’s Day was “a conspiracy by the candymakers”? Fai tried so hard not to think it was the latter.
Feeling anxious towards the end of the day, Fai shuffled into chemistry class. “Still,” she reminded herself, “nothing could keep me down in lab. Not even her.” The thought cheered her up. Once again, the two girls’ eyes met briefly then broke away as they split into their lab groups.
Fai felt at home. She eagerly turned on the Bunsen burner after strapping on her lab goggles. One of her lab partners brought back samples of elements for spectroscopic testing. Fai needed to focus on the elements. Not White Day or nervous boys. Or Kurogane.
At the end of the lab, it turned out whichever group yielded the best results would win prizes. To nobody’s surprise, Fai’s group did the best. After the entire class was properly cleaned up, the chemistry teacher congratulated Fai once again for a great job. She then dumped the contents of their prize out of a bag.
It was white chocolate.
Immediately, Fai’s eyes instantly met those of Kurogane’s. The girl with black hair withdrew her gaze and resumed to pack her school bag. Hastily. Kurogane left as soon as she finished packing up.
Fai sighed. She shoved the chocolate into her school bag and darted out of the classroom. Fai was grateful that she didn’t have to go back to her locker today after school, which meant she had a reasonable excuse to avoid Kurogane.
Instead she headed towards the field and glumly sat on the bleachers. Propping her hands under her chin, Fai noticed how dark and menacing the clouds were. Fai embraced the onslaught of rain. Let it reflect how she’s feeling. It was hard to deal with her insomnia and anxiety and…
Raindrops began to fall increasingly hard on her. Fai was fixated on the ambiguous exchange she and Kurogane had at the end of chemistry class. Maybe in the end Kurogane really didn’t intend to return a gift, even after all Fai did to make those really special chocolate.
Rejection shouldn’t be so hard to deal with, right? Or was it?
“Tch, for someone who’s smart enough to win a prize, you sure are an idiot if you’re just sitting in the rain.”
Fai froze. “Kuro-chan?”
The tall girl stood alongside Fai, holding an umbrella to cover her as well. Yet Kurogane was still looking straight ahead with her mouth twitching.
“Listen,” she began and winced. Kurogane sometimes had a hard time with words, Fai noticed, especially if they concerned gentler matters. For inexplicable reasons, Fai found that part of Kurogane charming.
“I, uh…” she paused again and closed her eyes briefly. “Look, don’t think just because I didn’t give you any white chocolate means that I’m the school’s most horrible person.”
Fai was startled by the other girl’s confession. “Oh,” she uttered.
Kurogane seemed pretty impatient. At herself? “The reason was. Fine,” she gave an exasperated sigh. “Basically I don’t cook, I don’t do crafts. Anything else would result me in catering to buying those crappy, silly things, which I refuse to do.” Kurogane shut her mouth, seeming satisfied and relieved that she finally got that out of her way.
Fai scrambled to piece it all together. So Kurogane struggled to come up with a thoughtful gift for her but in the end came up with nothing. It all made sense why Kurogane seemed to avoid and ignore Fai throughout the day. She felt bad for not having anything, especially when she noticed the white chocolates at the end of class. And of course, for someone who struggle to say things gently, she completely abandoned trying to apologize to Fai earlier.
At least she now knew that Kurogane didn’t have an antagonistic agenda. Just hearing what she had to say helped Fai calmed down. Fai looked up and noticed something. She grinned, which the other girl caught.
“What?” she asked, raising her eyebrows alarmingly.
Fai poked under the hood of the umbrella. “Hyuu, that’s very thoughtful of you, Kuro-sama!” Kurogane finally looked up where Fai was poking and it struck her.
The umbrella was white.
Kurogane’s face turned a darker shade. She grumbled and stammered in a small fit. Fai was able to pick up some of her outbursts.
“What, but mine’s red.”
“How the hell?”
“But this is Tomoya’s…”.
But lastly, “I’m going to get him!”
As Kurogane was going on in her fit of bashfulness and small rage, Fai felt surprisingly happy. Sure, Kurogane didn’t specifically provide a gift nor had one in mind, but she did come out to the bleachers area. Fai had a hunch that Kurogane was wondering where she was since she never showed up at the lockers. Kurogane was worried - but she will never admit it to anybody’s face.
And really, for someone who often went through her own, odd ways to show concern, Kurogane’s caring nature was a very special gift.