Nana Fan Fiction ❯ Just A Moment ❯ More Innocent Times ( One-Shot )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"Takumi..."

A young, singsong kind of voice. It was pretty, though unusual, like nothing I'd hear on any other day.

That's how it would've been, anyway - If she hadn't constantly clung to me like a dryer sheet.

"Do you believe in the red thread, Takumi?"

She asked me again. But, this time, her face was oddly more serious. Turned to me. Her eyes.. why are they so harsh?

I scoffed.

"You mean fate? Not in the slightest."

Her hair fell over her face, I heard her sigh. I would've preferred it stayed like that, but as soon as 'prefer' came across my mind, her head was back up again. A frown. I expected nothing less.

"I hate to disappoint you, Layla.. But I try to invest in things a little more practical."

"But why~~" ... She had a tendency to drag the end of her sentences. Did she think that was cute? Well, alright, I won't lie. It is. But she always managed to make it more unbearable than other girls would when they pulled the same trick.

To be totally honest, I wondered why, too..

She pouted a little more before continuing on. "Really, why not be impractical for a change? Take a risk, it's fun."

I didn't reply to that. Or, more like, I didn't need to, because the look she got on her face was comprised of, "Oh, that's right, I'm talking to the boy who consistently breaks open the school windows and already has sex with unwitting girls in the bathroom."

...Heh, alright, she doesn't know that last one.

I hope not. All those years of sheltering her will have gone to waste.

"Nevermind then." She pouted again, crouching over the concrete barrier. This... thing that seperates man from water. More accurately, it was the side of a bridge, but I like to sound educated.

It got me to thinking. This was where I had my first kiss, wasn't it? And with her, of all people. I guess it couldn't have been avoided. We knew each other from when I was in third grade and she was in second, I always had to save her from the morons who had nothing better to do than torment her and call her a 'half'. What was so bad about being a half, anyway? It was a nice change from the mundane faces I see here all the time.

I remember the day clearly, too. It was just like this one.


"Your singing is really good."
"You think so? I think I wanna be a singer someday.""You can be."

And, as per usual, she'd tell me "I love you", always in English. Her Japanese was pretty bad back then.

But it was different that time. She had a different.. inflection in her voice, and before I knew it I had her lips pressed on mine.

I coughed and spazzed, pushing her away, of course. I was only a grade schooler. Plus, what was I supposed to think? She was like the annoying little sister I never had.

"What-- What was that!?"

"A kiss." She said it with this sweet tone, and again, in english.

"I gathered that much! But really, don't do it again."

"But, but.. back in America, I used to kiss everybody. My mama, and teacher, and the old neighbor lady next door.." She kept trailing on. The old neighbor lady? Was she trying to make me laugh?

"Well, things are different here. In Japan, it's reserved for adults in love."

She pouted at that point. Even back then! How surprising. Again, when I thought about it.. I really didn't know why it was like that. She kept on talking.. I lost track of the conversation, actually. All I paid attention to was her voice. Even when she wasn't singing, it felt like an angel was talking to me. I wanted that to last a long time.

Then...

"I miss my dad."

Dad. Dad. The very word, I came to hate it by that point. My own father was a useless good-for-nothing alchoholic, careless as to his wife, the one sick in the hospital. To his kids, left without any parental figures and to fend for themselves. To his family. To me. I was ashamed to call him a father at all, he might as well not have existed as such. "The drunk in the attic" would've been a more fitting title.

I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time. I just wanted her to stop saying the word "Dad". One more mention of it.. I had enough rage to start swinging that bat again. I didn't want that to happen with her around.

So I looked at her, quickly, and I guess... without thinking kissed her on the cheek.

"Takumi! I Love You~"

I kid you not, no sooner than she said this, I was tackled down with hugs and kisses. She really was a dryer sheet.

I pulled her off - with some effort, she's a strong girl - of course.

"I know, I know. I guess we can kiss. Just not in public, alright?
"Okay!"


A while after we started middle school and she got her uniform, I started cutting her off. We were big kids now, if we wanted to kiss anybody we had to get boyfriends or girlfriends. But she... protested against that. The nerve she had.

"Well.. If that's the way it is.. I guess I'll have to be your girlfriend."

What was she thinking? Girlfriend? I must be like a brother to her. And I doubt she was into incest.

So I had to say something back. I tried to comfort her a little, so as to soften the blow.

"Nope! I already have one. Don't worry, Layla, you're cute enough, guys will start noticing you when we start school. It shouldn't be hard for you to find a boyfrie-"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence as I heard the bedroom door slam.

In retrospect, I guess the blow wasn't softened as much as I liked to think.

But I didn't care that much. I sunk back into my bed, put my headphones back on, and pulled back out that foreign Playboy I had, hidden under the pillow. When she came into the room to show me her uniform earlier, I had to convince her I was hiding a book that'd curse her if she were to touch it. I honestly didn't think she'd believe it, but I had her fooled. It seemed all those years of sheltering had come to fruition.

I pulled back the pages and resumed my reading. Women and their views on sex were intriguing..

I thought about the woman in front of me, laying on that silk bedspread. How could I ever have the same feelings or passion for Layla? They'd muddy up her perfect image. It was like wanting to turn a holy angel into a fallen one. Even if I had that desire, that doesn't mean I'd go through with it. As much as sex and desire come around even when you don't want them to, that was the one urge I knew I'd never have to deal with. Not with her.


A while later, during high school entrance exams, I remember us walking back to our houses together, too.

"I think I'll try to join your high school, Takumi."

She said it as if she hadn't a care in the world. Why did she keep following me like this?

"Fine, do what you want. But I'd prefer you don't talk to me a lot. I'll be busy."

Then, out of nowhere...

"... Takumi, what am I to you?"

There was hurt in her voice. It was funny, for that instant - I stared at her, and now I really didn't know what to say. I thought about her again.. Where did Layla go? The innocent doll of a girl I had to go saving from wreckless idiots? The one that barely knew fluent Japanese? Standing in front of me was an older, freshman girl, almost a woman, the one I'd imagined would form my band someday, the one singing along to hard rock music with her powerful voice. But why was she asking me this? Who was asking me this?

"...Nevermind!" was the last thing I heard, before she turned around and stormed into her house.



We were sitting on the same concrete bridge again, like we were kids. I looked back at her, her hair in her face again.

"I miss my dad."

... I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"You're only saying that so I'll kiss you again. Look, Layla, we aren't kids anymore."

She sighed. "So what if I am? But I guess it doesn't matter. You have a girlfriend now, don't you? You must mess with her all the time.

You're right, I'm not a kid anymore. I know these things. I know what you do on your free time, Takumi. I'd even tell you what I think of it, but you probably wouldn't listen."

And I really wasn't. What did I care if she didn't approve of my dealings with life? It was mine to screw around with, not hers. Brother complex or not, her advice or input was the last thing I needed. What did she know, anyway? I spent most of our lives keeping her from anything that could jade her outlook. She probably still thinks babies are delivered by stork. Layla didn't know anything.

She'd been rambling on and on.. and all I heard was the end of it.

"... so, please. Tell me. What do you feel?"

"Nothing you haven't heard me say already." With that, I got up from the barrier and walked away. I heard another sigh fading into the distance.

As long as I kept her like a bird in a cage, to sing only for me...

That was all that mattered.