Jellyfish en Vogue - A Kuragehime or Princess Jellyfish Fanfic

Chapter 9 - Moving On

They walked side by side on the sidewalk. No words were uttered the only sound the clip clopping of the soles of their shoes against the pavement. Tsukimi felt so lost. She worried over moving out of Amamizukan. She dreaded both the idea of gathering all her stuff together from her room, and of losing all the friends she had made there. The way Chieko had looked at her the night before... She wasn't even sure she could put it into words but betrayed was at the top of the list.

Tsukimi had to face facts, in ways she did betray the other household members of Amamizukan. If she had been stronger she would have kept Kuranosuke away those early days. But now? Now she wouldn't want that. Losing her friendship with Kuranosuke would be a lot or harder to cope with then losing her friends of Amamizukan, which she feared she already had.

Kuranosuke saw how lost she was. He wanted so badly to pull her against him. To reassure her with not only words, but caresses and a comforting touch. His moves last night were wrong. He should not have pressed up against her like that the night before. He had said too much after she had asked him to sleep in the same bed with her. He could have ground his teeth and attempted to just lay beside her. But he knew the torture he would have been in. He knew that he wouldn't get any sleep if he did that. So he had pushed her too far. Now he feared it would be even more difficult to make her realize how he felt about her. He feared if and when she did feel the same it would take twice the amount of time it would have before his poor choice of actions last night.

It was selfish to worry over these things of course. Kuranosuke should have been worried over helping collect her items and moving her out. He should have been worried over how the other members of Amamizukan would react to him now. Hell, would they even let him in the door to help Tsukimi with her stuff? She didn't have much in her room as way of furniture. He remembered a bookshelf, a bedside table, and the small twin sized bed itself. But he wasn't sure if those were even hers. The room very well could have been furnished.

Both lost in their thoughts they nearly didn't realize the restaurant they were meeting Koizumi was only a block away. Kuranosuke registered it and put his arm out to stop Tsukimi's forward movement. "Are you sure you are up to doing this today?"

Tsukimi took a deep breath and looked directly into his eyes. It was honestly a bold move for her, and it had him gulping back a surge of desire. "Kuranosuke, I...I'm lost today. I admit that. But, our lives have to move forward. We can't take two steps back just because my personal life is a bit wonky right now. Besides, I don't want to do so but since I have to be moving out I want at least a couple days to myself. I want to ask Koizumi sensei to allow me to be excused from class. I would rather do that in person."

Kuranosuke nodded. He honestly was surprised with how calm and mature she sounded. But part of her statements solidified his resolve to woe her. She had said they couldn't take two steps back, granted she was referring to her personal life but in that moment he told himself something similar. I can't take two steps back just because I made a mistake in my pursuit. I have to stop and think before taking any course of action with her. I can't scare her away.

"Tsukimi, I don't want you to focus on it now before this meeting. But after wards we need to discuss our course of action. How we are going to get your stuff. We have to find out the deadline on when you need to be out by. I told you my dad found a possible location for our boutique. I was thinking we could put together a two bedroom apartment if one doesn't already exist. Also, set up an area for our studio maybe? I don't know this is all things I have considered and haven't completely worked out yet. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of what I had swirling on in my own mind right now."