Grey Valentine

Chapter 1

"Man, how long has it been? 17, 18 years?" a young man with shining ash-blonde hair said. His bangs hung over his eyes usually, but not today. They were combed over to the side, exposing his pale forehead. His blue eyes reflected off the light in the large room.

"I guess so…" said the girl next to him. Her creamy skin and stunning smile were all that you would be distracted by, besides her flowing black hair and hazel eyes.

-----

Hotaru and Tomo had known each other since they were kids, when they lived right next door to each other.

"Hotaru, say hi to our new neighbors."

"H…hello," said the small timid version of her older self.

"You too, Tomo."

Instead of answering, Tomo looked curiously at the ribbon on top of Hotaru's head.

"Hey, why do you have that strange ribbon in your hair?"

"Oh, this?"

Hotaru looked up.

"Because I like it, that's why."

"Well it makes you look like a dork."

"Hey!" Hotaru fumed.

"HAHAHA!!" Tomo laughed as he ran away.

Since they met, they've done nothing but fight. Through elementary-

"I HATE YOU!!!" Hotaru yelled so that the whole schoolyard could hear.

"Well you're stupid!!" Tomo answered, sticking out his tongue.

Hotaru chased after him.

"Give me back my teddy bear!!!"

Through middle school-

"No, my homework!"

Hotaru watched as all of her papers went floating to the ground from the second floor of the building.

Tomo was laughing next to her.

As hard as she could, she swung at his head, and he had no time to dodge it.

"OW!!!"

He bent to the ground, gripping his head.

Hotaru stood over him, her fist trembling.

"That's what you get."

And when they were moving into their new high school-

"OW!!"

Tomo dropped the box he was carrying and gripped his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" Hotaru yelled from the second story of the apartment.

Tomo looked up at her.

"YOU!!!" they both yelled at the same time.

"What are you doing here?!" Tomo yelled.

"I could ask you the same thing!" she screamed back.

"Well here's your stupid teddy bear!" he shouted as he threw it up at her.

She caught it just as it was about to fall again.

"I still hate you!"

"Well I do too!"

They both marched into their rooms and slammed their doors.

The both of them started their first high school year loathing each other. And what was worse was, they were in all the same classes.

"Okay, next partners for the science project are, Hotaru Tokami and Tomo Asuka."

They both stood up out of their seats.

"WHAT?!"

"Ms. Kazumi, please don't make me work with this idiot!!" Hotaru screamed.

"Hey!" Tomo directed at Hotaru, "But I don't want to work with her either, Ms. Kazumi!"

"Too bad," she answered calmly, "You two will just have to tolerate each other until the project is over."

They both sat down, grumbling.

At the Science Fair-

BOOOM!!!

Tomo and Hotaru stood in front of a smoking pile of ash that used to be their science project.

After a brief silence, the other students started laughing at them.

"Grrr...this is all your fault, Hotaru."

"My fault?! You're the one who measured the chemicals!"

"Well you didn't check if the fire was too hot!"

They said this, glaring at each other with lightning bolts shooting from their eyes.

But in their second year, something began to change.

"Hey guys!"

"Huh?"

Tomo heard Hotaru yell from across the schoolyard, who was running towards her friends.

"Oh, it's just her."

He began to turn around when he noticed something. Tomo turned in her direction again.

"Wait a minute."

"Hahaha!" She laughed with her friends, her long black hair flowing in the slight breeze.

After all the years of knowing her, he had finally come to realize how beautiful she was.

He shook his head in frustration.

"What the hell am I thinking?"

Tomo blushed deep red.

"She…she can't have changed that much, could she?"

Little did he know that with every moment that he laid eyes on her, he fell deeper in love.

"So, you made the soccer team, did you?" Hotaru said out of the blue.

They were walking home together, though they were very distanced across the road.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah"

"Hmph. You know that I'm not going to go to any of your games, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

-Damn it, I thought that she would've gotten over this little feud we've had since we were kids. But, I guess not.-

He sighed heavily.

She didn't realize it, but the same feeling was growing inside of her as well.

Hotaru ran out of the school building, having just put on her street shoes.

She checked her watch to see that it was 5:00.

"Damn, it's so late. I'd better get home if I ever want to finish my homework."

She heard yelling coming from up the road as she slowed down. Hotaru looked to the bottom of a hill, where the soccer team was practicing. Their coach was yelling out supportive comments as they came in from their practice.

"Okay, good job guys. Keep this up and we'll win the championship!"

They all grabbed some towels to wipe off their sweat.

Hotaru noticed Tomo.

"Him again. I should've expected him to be here."

She started to walk away until she perceived something.

"Hm?"

She saw a girl of her age giving a bottle of water to Tomo, smiling and obviously blushing.

"Why that little-"

Hotaru stopped herself.

"Huh?"

She stood there for about a minute, not believing what she did.

"What…why did I-"

A slight redness grew on her cheeks. She was blushing.

"I…I'd better go before he sees me."

Hotaru ran off in embarrassment and self-shame. That she would ever fall in love with the guy she hated most in the world.