Introduction:

Yukio is an awkward teen who's just trying to find acceptance among his fellow peers. He finds it difficult to fit in because of his sexuality, which isolates him from majority. Things began to look up for him slightly when became acquainted with a female peer counselor in his eighth grade year, though dealing with the cruelty of other students still made socialization tough. He looked forward to going to high school, hoping that older teens would be less judgmental of his gender preference. During the summer before his freshman year of high school, he meets an older and intriguing teen named Haru whom he quickly befriends. Much to Yukio's surprise and confusion, Haru true intentions of something more than platonic quickly surface when he initiates a kiss between them on the first day back to school. The two adolescents are plunged into a complicated relationship, surrounded by a group of some unlikely people and occurances. Many obstacles lie ahead these two boys, and both could end up getting a whole lot more than they bargained for. Will they be able to make it through the taunting of homo phobics, interferences of the friends and family around them, dark truths once buried in the past, and their own personal fears of a romantic relationship? Or will they become nothing more than a memory of two teens that were once 'caught up' in each other?

Chapter 1: Nemi’s Stalker

    “Hey, Nemi!” A young teenage girl called out to her friend. She had long dark brown hair tied in a neat braid, big brown eyes, and golden tan skin. Her friend ‘Nemi’ was about the same age, with medium length blond hair, green eyes, and skin the color of ivory. The brunette girl was currently running down a school hallway to reach her. When Nemi spotted her, her eyes grew wide with apprehension, and she waved her hands in the air in an attempt to get the girl to be quiet. The dark haired girl slowly came to a halt as she neared the blond, a look of confusion on her face.

    “What’s wrong, Nemi?”

    “Yame, it’s that guy again!” Nemi whispered while glancing anxiously around the general area. “He keeps following me!”

    “Well maybe he’s got a little crush on you.” Yame giggled with a wink.

    “That’s ridiculous! There are a hundred girls in this school who are prettier and more outgoing than me!” Nemi argued.

    “That’s not true! You’ve got a great personality!”

    “Ha, that might’ve worked when we were kids, but I’m older now, and when people say you ‘have a great personality’, it just means they can’t think of anything else to compliment you with.”

    “How else would you explain it? He’s only been in this school for a couple of weeks.”

    “I don’t know! I keep avoiding him, but he won’t give up! You know how shy I am around guys!” Nemi rasped. As soon as she finished her sentence, she could hear the sound of footsteps around the corner behind her, and nearly jumped out of her skin.

    It’s him! Her mind screamed before she quickly ran off, past Yame, closing her eyes, and not looking back. Before she knew it, she had run into someone, and crashed to the floor, dropping the school papers she had been previously holding. She moaned and rubbed her head, looking through the fluttering papers to see who she had so carelessly mauled into. She gasped as she realized it was the boy she had thought to be stalking her. He was her age, relatively small in size, and had almost-shoulder length, semi-scruffy, periwinkle colored hair, along with deep, aquamarine eyes. He appeared harmless, but the paranoia in Nemi thought otherwise. She sat frozen, gaping at him while he blinked in surprise. After a moment of silence that seemed to last a lifetime, the aqua eyed teen rose to his knees and began scooping up the sheets Nemi clumsily let slip from her hands.

    “I’m so sorry, ma'm.” He apologized politely, embarrassment evident on his face. Nemi winced, jaw still dropped in shock.

    What’s up with this guy? "ma'm"? What am I, forty? She thought in annoyance. As the boy finished neatly piling the papers in his arms, he held them out to Nemi, who glared at him in suspicion. She cautiously took the pile, keeping an eye on his hands.

    “Hey, I know you. You’re Nemi Banshou right?” He asked with a warm smile. Nemi held her papers protectively over her chest.

    Great, he knows my name. I’ll bet the stalker knows my astrological sign and blood type too. What a freak. She thought in disgust. She ignored his question and stood up briskly, beginning to walk away. The boy stood up as well, face puzzled, and he went after her.

    “Wait, don’t go!” He called out to her. Nemi’s steps quickened, and the periwinkle haired teen followed suit. Her pace soon turned into a full blown sprint as she tried to elude her follower, swiftly turning corners, searching for a place to hide. “Miss! Why are you running?! I need to talk to you!” He yelled. The halls were completely empty, for it was after school, and a majority of students had already gone home. Nemi finally saw her way to escape. The door to one of the girls’ bathrooms seemed to glow with a heavenly aura as she approached it. The girl wisped through the entrance and leaned against a sink, catching her breath.

    “Finally, I’m safe.” She sighed.

    “Miss?”

    Nemi slowly raised her head to look up, and then screamed in terror. The boy seemed to have waltzed right in to the restroom without a care. Her mouth went dry, making her unable to speak; not that she would say anything in the first place since her brain function was shut down into panic mode. She backed away until she had hit the cold tile of the bathroom wall. Her follower stood where he was, panting slightly from his recent jog.

    “I don’t know why you were running, but I really need to speak to you.”

    Nemi completely tuned him out with scared thoughts of her own.

    So this is how it ends? Being raped and killed in a middle school bathroom? I don’t think so! I may not be the toughest girl around, but one blow to a very sensitive area will give me plenty of time to escape.

    “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

    Nemi’s head shot up to notice that he was now only about a half a foot away. She squeaked in dismay, but managed not to have a melt down long enough to aim her knee straight for her thought-to-be attacker’s weak spot. The boy saw her prepare for the assault, and evaded the attack in the nick of time, barely avoiding pain that would’ve left him writhing on the floor.

    “What the-what are you trying to do?!” He shouted in confused anger. At last Nemi found her courage to talk.

    “What do you think? I’m protecting myself you pervert!”

    “Pervert? What are you talking about?”

    “You’ve been stalking me for days! You followed me into a girls’ bathroom, and pinned me up against a wall! If that doesn’t suggest you’re a rapist, I don’t know what does!” The blond screamed, her face red from embarrassment and fury. The accused “rapist” had an expression of bewilderment and hurt.

    “I..I wasn’t stalking you…I just heard that you were a peer counselor and wanted some help.” He explained.

    “I don’t have the kind of ‘help’ you need buddy.” Nemi mumbled under her breath.

    “So am I right? Are you a peer counselor?” The boy looked at Nemi with a sort of desperation. She felt extremely awkward, and was reluctant to trust him.

    “Well…yeah. But I’m not sure I can counsel you.” Nemi replied shyly while averting her eyes off to the side.

    “Huh? Why?”

    “…Well…the truth is…it’s physically impossible for me. My mind goes blank, and my tongue gets tied, and I freeze up.”

    “How can you possibly be a counselor then?!”

    “W-Well it usually only happens when I talk to guys.” She murmured, her face turning bright as a tomato.

    The aqua eyed teen stared at her in silence for a while before lightly chortling. Nemi peered at him in surprise.

    “So you’re guy shy? Well I don’t think you’ll have to worry about me then.” He chuckled. Nemi’s eyebrow twitched upward in a dumbfound manner. “You see Miss Banshou…I’m sort of ‘guy shy’ as well.” He hinted with a small smile. Nemi didn’t pick up the vibe of the hidden meaning in the sentence, and the boy soon figured he’d have to spell it out for her. “I guess I’m not what would be considered a ‘normal’ guy. This is what I wanted to talk about in counseling…If I tell you something, will you promise to keep it secret?”

    Nemi nodded reluctantly, and the boy smiled.

    “Great! But first, I think proper introductions are in order. I’m Yukio Shinsei. You?” He asked, despite the fact that he was already aware of her name.

    “N-N-Nemi Banshou.” She stuttered. The boy, now dubbed Yukio, beamed kindly, and held out his hand.

    “Nice to meet you Nemi.” He said sweetly. The blond girl eyed him suspiciously for anything that might have been out of place, but couldn’t find anything wrong. She gingerly grasped his hand, letting him shake it politely. He followed this up with a slight kiss to the top of her hand, causing her to tremble slightly. “Can we talk somewhere else?” Yukio suggested. Nemi nodded quickly, and the two teens left the ladies’ room. Nemi was extremely tempted to just bolt off, but she doubted her stamina would last as long as Yukio’s, and there was obviously no safe place to hide considering he followed her to a place forbidden to boys.

    Maybe I could threaten to tell the principal what he did…Nemi pondered as she walked.

    “Here we are.” Yukio announced as he stopped in front of a wooden door. Nemi nearly bumped into him, distracted by her own thoughts again.

    On second thought, I don’t want to get him angry.

    She was led into a average sized room with a few tables, along with some paintings and other works of art scattered among different areas.

    “This is the room the school uses for art club.” Yukio informed her. The blond looked at him strangely.

    This school has an art club? I’ve been here much longer than him and I’ve never noticed.Nemi thought with intrigue as she gazed about the quaint, slightly messy room. Yukio sat down in a chair at the nearest table, and motioned for Nemi to sit across from him. Nemi complied with an anxious look on her face.

    I really don’t see any point to this. I doubt there’s anything he could tell me to make me feel any less nervous.

    “Look, I really don’t think I can help y-“

    “Wait.” Nemi was interrupted as Yukio leaned forward and placed his index finger over her lips. Nemi stared at his hand with wide, crossed eyes. “You don’t have to say anything yet. Just listen to me a bit, and maybe you’ll become less awkward feeling.” He said as he eased back into his seat. He sighed softly and crosses his arms over his chest. “I haven’t been in this school for long, so people don’t really know me…But there’s something I’ve been trying to hide. Something I’m afraid I’ll be judged for if it gets out. I don’t want to be labeled or looked down upon.”

    He paused for a moment, seeming to reminisce. Nemi observed his face, interested in the mysterious, almost sad, tone that Yukio’s voice had changed to. She was incited to just blurt out “What?! What is it?!”, but bit her tongue. After a short hush of sound, the periwinkle haired teen spoke again.

    “If I tell you something, do you swear you won’t see me any less?” He asked with a serious attitude, his blue-green eyes boring into hers. Nemi looked down at her lap to avoid the intimating stare.

    “Well it’s kinda hard to think less of someone I don’t know….” She mumbled.

    “People find ways.” Yukio muttered.

    “Okay…I promise.”

    “Alright. Now remember, you promised.”

    Yeah, yeah, just get on with it, weirdo.

    “The thing I’m afraid people will discover and shun me for is that…I’m gay.” He whispered almost as if he was forbidden to say it.

    “Wha?!” Nemi exclaimed. “You got to be kidding me!”

    Yukio looked down in shame, quietly wishing that Nemi would lower her volume.

    “Is it that hard to believe?” He mumbled. Nemi peered at him in curiosity of his disgraced demeanor.

    “Well, yeah, you just don’t seem like the type.” She spoke in a softer voice after catching on to the other’s embarrassment. Not that she knew what "type" of people were gay, or if there even was a type. There was a strange mix of feelings inside her. She felt a kind of relief in knowing that he would never think of her as a romantic interest, but was also new and unsure to the whole homosexuality thing. She felt she had to do something though, as she watched him wallow in self pity.

    “Uh…so why do you think people will reject you?” She attempted to use some of her counseling lessons.

    “Because it’s happened before.” He grumbled.

    “Oh…like what?” Her voice had taken on a friendly tone.

    “Well, I had a friend, my best friend actually, and I had known him for years. I told him about it and…well I could tell he was really freaked out. He said we couldn’t be friends anymore. I guess he thought I’d flirt with him or something, but I never liked him that way. He didn’t understand...…”

    Nemi could see water beginning to build up in his eyes, and his lip began to quiver.

    Oh god, he’s not going to cry is he? I really don’t think I can handle that.

    However, the tears were never allowed to flow, for he choked them back, taking in a deep breath through his nose.

    “So…do you feel lonely?” Nemi asked, trying to keep the conversation going. He nodded in response, apparently afraid his voice would crack if he tried to speak yet. “You know Yukio; it’s not your fault. Some people just feel uncomfortable when they find out news like that. Your friend probably thought that your friendship would be soiled if he stayed with you, and he was wrong to believe that. But not everyone’s that way.” The blond explained in the kindest tone she could.

    “It’s just that…I trusted him, you know? And if my best friend couldn’t accept me, how could anyone else?” Yukio wondered aloud.

    “Discriminating you for your sexual orientation is wrong. If people refuse to accept you, then you don’t need them, because their unworthy of your friendship. There’s more to people then the gender they like.” The gentleness and understanding in her voice surprised Yukio immensely. “I don’t know a whole lot about you Yukio, but I swear I’ll never shun you.” She smiled warmly while speaking. It appeared as if Yukio’s spirits had risen, and he gratefully smiled back.

    “Thank you, so much. I really needed to vent.”

    Nemi gazed at the relief sparkling in his aqua eyes, and she felt good knowing she had helped someone.

    “Goodbye Nemi.” He said with a slight bow of his head before he stood up from his chair and left the room. Once he was gone, Nemi ran her hand through her hair and sighed, trying to take in all that had happened.

    “Well…that was weird. Guess that explains him not being so shy about following me into the girls’ restroom. I do feel sort of bad for him though…” She whispered to herself before slowly getting to her feet and making her way out as well.