[ON HIATUS] "Even If It Costs Me My Life..." [Natsuki X Yuri]

Chapter 4, Act 1

"Where have you been?" Natsuki's dad growled, glaring down at his daughter. "You know how I get when I don't know where you are." He started to raise his voice. He smelled strongly of alcohol, but he seemed sober. Natsuki's back was against the front door as she stared up at her menacing father. "Answer me!" He screamed, making himself look taller. "I'm sorry, Daddy..." Natsuki trembled, looking away. "That's no excuse!" He exclaimed, grabbing her jaw to make her face him.
They stood in silence for a few seconds before he let her go. But before she could escape, he slapped her with the back of his hand roughly.
"That's going to leave a mark..."  She thought before running off to her room.
She dived into her bed and immediately started sobbing. She felt a sensr of hopelessness as her damp, pink pillow soaked up her tears. She eventually fell asleep after tiring herself out from crying so much.

The next day, Natsuki woke up without a red spot on her cheek, but a huge bruise that almost took up half of her face.

"How the fuck am I supposed to cover this up now?!"

She opened up her bathroom cupboards and searched for the makeup she bought with Sayori at the mall one day. She found that foundation that she stupidly ended up spending three hundred dollars on and started to apply it to her face. She applied so much, that it was barely noticeable.
As soon as she was dressed, she put on her bag and tiptoed out of the house. She decided to walk to school that day, in order not to wake her father.
It was a gloomy day, yet grey skies and the forecast stating the 80% chance of rain didn't seem to bother Natsuki.
"Hey, Nat!" Sayori met up with her best friend, considering they were only a few blocks away from eachother. "Looks like you woke up early today... Expecting something?" Natsuki questioned, looking at Sayori. "Ahh... Haha... Monika said she had a surprise for me when I got to school, and I promised I would be there early.." She laughed a bit, blushing slightly.
"Bleh lovebirds..." Natsuki stuck her tongue out at the thought of the surprise. Natsuki always felt like the third wheel when it came to Sayori and Monika's relationship, and Yuri didn't seem to help much either.
"Hey! You're just jealous, because you haven't found the perfect person yet!" Sayori whined. "And I never will!!" Natsuki snapped back. Sayori furrowed her eyebrows, surprised by the pinkette's harsh words. Not that she didn't do it all the time, but Natsuki seemed in a worse mood than usual. "I'm.. I'm sorry..."
Natsuki swallowed the urge to cry. "Let's just go..." Her voice trembled.

Once they got to the school, Monika was standing at the entrance, holding a letter with a fancy wax seal on it. Natsuki grinned, nudging Sayori's arm. Sayori dashed to her lover and tackled her into an embrace. Monika prevented herself from falling and started kissing Sayori all over her face. "Uhm do you mind?" A blush tinted across Natsuki's face. Monika giggled, pulling away from Sayori.
"I'll  see you there~" The president winked, before she headed into the campus.
Since Sayori was in the same class as Natsuki's, she was the first one to notice the change in her mood. The entire time, Natsuki either had her head down or facing the desk. Fortunately, she sat in the back of the class, so the teacher did not notice her odd behavior.
Once class ended, the two headed to the clubroom. Sayori didn't ask Natsuki what happened, because of the fear of being yelled at again.
Natsuki took her usual route to the closet to retrieve her box of manga and sit against the wall.
Yuri was sitting at her desk, reading a book. Natsuki suspected it was The Portrait of Markov, but the cover seemed different, so maybe not. Fifteen minutes into reading, Natsuki noticed that Yuri wasn't sitting in her spot anymore, but sitting right next to her.
"Parfait Girls?" Yuri asked, making Natsuki's face turn red. "U-uhm yeah..." She looked away. "Did you finish our poem?"

"Shit! I cried so much that I totally forgot to finish the poem!"

"I... I'm sorry... Yuri..." Her eyes welled with tears. She tried her best to not make it seem obvious. "You didn't finish it... Didn't you?" The violette's eyebrows furrowed. She sighed and smiled warmly. "Do you at least have it with you?"
"Yeah..." Natsuki whimpered as she pulled out the incomplete poem. "Here. I'll finish it for you." Yuri said. "B-but! I was the one who was supposed to finish it!" Natsuki protested.
"Please. I insist." Yuri interrupted. Natsuki sighed in defeat and let Yuri walk off to finish the poem. She felt terrible after letting her do that.

"Yuri would never forgive me for this..." She thought.

"Okay, everyone! Time to read eachother's poems!" Monika announced with her usual catchphrase.

Natsuki shrugged and put her manga away, making her way to the front of the room to exchange the poems.
"Simple and straight to the point... Good job..." Natsuki told Monika and Sayori. "Nice collaboration. You two seem to really finish eachother's senteces." Yuri added.
"You too." Monika said to the girls. Luckily, the pair didn't seem to notice that Yuri did all the work. Well... Monika probably noticed, but Sayori was clueless.
The day ended with Monika's poem advice for the day and going out of her way to make a stupid pun. Natsuki grimaced as she headed out of the classroom, Yuri following after her. The two walked out of the campus together. It seemed as if the two were synchronized, since they were both looking at the ground as they walked.
That's when a water droplet fell onto Natsuki's cheek. She flinched and rubbed it off with her sweater sleeve, not only to see that her foundation had smeared onto her sweater.

"Shit.."

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Oh how I love cliff hangers! It just leaves my readers wanting more! What is Yuri going to say when she sees Natsuki's face? Will she shriek? Will she cover it back up? We will never know until Chapter 5! Until next time!

~ Kanji