An Orange Christmas (An Orange Fan Fiction)

Chapter 2

"Hmm... should we get the apple sparkling cider or the grape? And if we get the grape, should we get red or white?"

Kakeru chuckled nervously and scratched his cheek, "I think they'd be happy with anyone you pick..."

"Taka doesn't like grape, and Hagita doesn't like apple." She continued muttering. "Suwa and Azu like apple and grape, but he only likes red, and she only likes white. Ugh! I just don't know which one to choose!"

Kakeru laughed at her mini panic attack, "Which one is your favorite?"

"Apple." She replied without looking up.

He smiled at her fondly, before reaching over her head and grabbing a bottle of apple off the shelf and putting it in the kart. "Apple it is then."

"What?!" she stared in shock. "We can't get that one just because it's my favorite! Hagita doesn't like apple!"

"Sure, we can." He smiled and patted her on the head. "Your opinion matters too. And Hagita can just deal with it. I'm sure he'll be ok with it. Besides..." he blushed. "It's... my favorite too..."

"Oh..." now she blushed, "Well then... I guess Hagita won't mind too much..." she looked down at her list, "Ok we need a few things from the frozen foods section and some produce, and then we're done!"

As they walked to the other side of the store, Kakeru pushed the kart with one hand and held her hand with the other. "How do you think next semester is going to go?"

She sighed, "Who knows... we're just getting closer and closer to entrance exams and I just don't know if I'm ready..."

Kakeru chuckled, "It sure would have been nice if your future selves could have sent you back the answers for the test. That could have really come in handy."

"Yeah, that would have been nice!" she laughed before smiling sadly over at him. "But... they had something a lot more important that they needed to fix..."

"Yeah... I guess they did..." he spaced out for a moment as they continued walking. "I just... I don't know what's wrong with me. Sometimes, I'll be having a perfectly wonderful day, then all of a sudden, I just feel like I don't deserve to be happy. I know I do, I just don't feel like I do..."

She wrapped him in a tight hug, "There's absolutely nothing wrong with you! As sad as it is, that's just the way your brain works. Any time you here that little voice saying those things you just need to say, "Little Voice go away! I do deserve to be happy!" and then eventually, it'll stop bothering you."

Kakeru smiled and wrapped his own arm around her, "You tell that "Little Voice" who's boss..."

She blushed, "You know what I mean..."

"Yeah... I do." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "My therapist has been saying the same kind of thing. She says that I just need to tell myself every day, that I do deserve to be happy and to be alive."

"And I'm going to remind you of the same thing every day for the rest of my life!" Naho said with determination. "I refuse to have any more regrets!"

He quickly tried to hide himself wiping a tear from his eye, "Thank you Naho... I love you..."

She blushed but squeezed his hand tighter, "I-I love you too..."

~line break~

"Oh look, the love birds are here!"

Kakeru rolled his eyes as Suwa teased them. "Ha ha. Very funny, now will you help me with these bags? They're heavy!"

"Hey Naho! You made it!" Azu greeted.

"Yeah, sorry we're late." She smiled, "We had a big discussion over which flavor of sparkling cider to get." Taka and Suwa shared a glance before breaking out in laughter.

"What?! Apple?!" Hagita exclaimed as he helped unpack the groceries.

"Oh, get over yourself you big baby!" Azu smacked him on the head, and they all started laughing.

"This is abuse and harassment." He glared at her. "I could have you arrested!"

Taka sighed, "And here I thought sending them off to get the tree on their own would have brought them together.

"It seems to have done the exact opposite." Kakeru joked as they watched the fight ensue.

"Ok people," Suwa intervened before things could get too out of hand. "How about we call a truce for just one day this year, so that we can all have a nice Christmas..."

Azu huffed, "There's no way I'm calling a truce with the likes of him!"

"Hell would have to freeze over." He stuck his nose up in the air.

"How about this then..." Taka came up behind them. "Either you both get along for the rest of the evening... Or I beat the two of you within an inch of your life. How does that sound?"

"O-ok ok truce..."

"Y-yeah truce. Or whatever I guess..."

"Good..." she smiled evilly. "Now why don't you two finish putting the gifts out under the tree while we help Naho with dinner." They both quickly ran off to do as they were told.

"Alright Naho, what do you need us all to do?" Suwa smiled.

"Let's see..." she took stock of all her ingredients. "If you and Taka can set the table, I think Kakeru and I should be able to handle dinner."

"Me?!" he said in shock. "I can't cook!"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine." She waved him off.

"I once set the stove on fire trying to boil noodles." He said with a deadpanned expression. "Why do you think you still have to make me lunch..."

"Oh... um ok..." Naho said with concern. "In that case then... we're just going to keep you away from anything flammable... yeah that should work... you can cut up the vegies, and I can do the actual cooking."

"That's probably for the best." He said with a laugh before getting to work.

(A/N - Hey guys! Happy Christmas Eve! Thanks for reading. :) I appreciate it!)