The Perfect Christmas? -One shot story

The Perfect Christmas?

Rin sat in class thinking about what she would do this Christmas. But once again, nothing came through her mind. She did the same thing every year.  Rin never spent time with friends, the only one’s she had were in Japan, pen pals. And here in America, in this school, everyone was so  mean to her, no one appreciated her presence.   Nobody appreciated her.

Everyday in class, she dealt with the same thing. At first, she felt so hurt by the words that they had thrown at her. But, after awhile, she became numbed by those words, by those feelings. She finally stopped crying when they hurt her.

Rin was never the type of person to stick up for herself.  She was always to scared to speak her mind, tell them how she felt.  She knew that this action wouldn’t stop the cruelty made by the students, since they still hurt her when they saw the tears on her cheeks.  It made her feel weak and stupid for  crying and showing them that she cared what they thought of her.

“Ms. Shimizu, can you please give the answer to the equation?” Rin’s teacher, Mr. Ross said.

All heads in the room turned to Rin to stare at her. Not noticing, she sighed and turned her head towards the window.

Slowly, her thoughts drifted off into a dream. One thing she wanted for Christmas was a kiss.  Even if that kiss was made under the mistletoe.  But she still hoped for a specific person to kiss her, someone she saw as special.  One boy whom she will always want.

“Ms.Shimizu.”

Rin jumped in her seat, finally hearing her teacher call her name.

“Y-yes Mr.Ross?”  She asked quietly, her cheeks flaring up in embarrassment.

“Answer the question on the board, please,” the teacher said lightly.

Rin bit her lip and stared at the board.  She twitched a little as she read the problem to herself.  She knew that she could solve the problem, but everyone was watching her, waiting for her.  Soon, she started to play with the hem of her skirt.  She was uncomfortable, knowing that all of those eyes were watching her.  Her stomach clenched as she felt her nervousness get to her.

“I-I don’t kn-know.”

Laughter reached her ears, making her want to curl up and die.  Tears threatened to spill as her teacher gave her a disappointed look.  It made her feel like a failure.

“You’re asian, shouldn’t you be good in math?” Someone asked from across the room.  

She bit her lip trying so hard not to cry.  She knew that voice, the beauty of it always made her want to melt.  She looked up and sighed softly as she stared at him laughing.  The boy of her dreams, but the leader of the pack that had hurt her all these years.  She’s seen him do so many things to help people, he was so kind, and it made her fall for him.  However, he never seemed to acknowledge her for who she is.  But she could never seem to let him go, let her love for him to diminish.

It was four years ago when they first met.  Rin had just transferred from her old school in Tokyo.  She had been assigned a “buddy” for a summer camp so she could adjust to America and to Washington.  She had felt that she would not be able to make any friends at the camp, seeing as to how it was not just for Japanese students, but for students from all over the world.  Then she met him, Kirito Kim.  He was handsome with dark hair and eyes, a Korean and Japanese mix.

Rin and Kirito had become close friends for the three months they were at the camp.  He had told her his mother had forced him to be in the camp because of how fluent he was in Korean and Japanese.  And even though it sometimes seemed as though Kirito did not want to be there, Rin enjoyed his company, his friendship.

But their friendship ended once school started.  Rin and Kirito ended up being in the same classes, the same homeroom, and Kirtio made sure to avoid the young girl.  He didn’t want the girl that barely spoke English to be around him.  He didn’t want to be made fun of as well.  Instead he was the joker.  He’d do whatever he could do hurt her feelings.  To make her feel like she was unwanted.

They were thirteen years old then, but now they were seventeen, and Rin thought the other might change his view on her.  She wanted to know where the boy she fell in love with went.  Was he still existing?  Or did the new personality devour the child he used to be?  She still believed that boy was still there, even if it was deep down inside.

Rin waited for the day to be over.  Once school was finally let out, she got her belongings and walked out into the cold.  It was snowing outside again, the snow that was already on the ground was leveled with the middle of her shin.  She walked home slowly, taking the bike trail that lead a straight route to her street.  At this time of year, it was deserted and allowed her to look at the frozen lake nearby.  In her eyes, it was a beautiful scenery.

“Yo Shimizu,” a honey sweet voice called.

Rin jumped and turned around slowly to see a small group of her classmates.  Some were boys and others were girls.  They all were grinning maliciously at her. Rin’s muscles spazzed in fear as they came close to her.  She backed away, something felt so wrong.

“Aww don’t walk away, Rin.  We only want to give you a Christmas present,”  a tall brunette girl said and pulled a metal bat from behind her back.

Rin began to panic and turned around, starting to run.  Unfortunately, two boys went after her and pinned her down into the snowy ground.  One of the girl’s raised the bat, and everything went black.

Kirito was slowly following his friends.  He wasn’t sure why they wanted to go this route so bad.  For him, it only brought memories for him, memories he wanted to forget.  

He sighed and closed his eyes as an image of a raven haired girl flashed in his mind.  She looked so happy, her teeth so white and her skin so pale against the summer sun.  He sighed as the memory of her laugh rushed into his ears.  He could never hear that laugh or see that smile again.

He opened his eyes again and gasped a little when he saw his friends surrounding what looked like...her.  Rin was covered in bruises and her blood stained the snow.  Her frail body looked lifeless, the blood so bright against her pale skin.

Kirito shoved his friends aside.

“STOP IT!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”  He screamed at them.  They all stepped back, frightened by his reaction.  They hadn’t expected him to act like this, to be so caring for the girl.  But Kirito looked so angry, like he wanted to rip them to pieces.  His dark eyes were almost black, showing the hatred he had for them in that moment.

The group backed away, unsure of what they should do.  In the end, they ran back to the entrance of the trail, leaving Kirito with the broken girl.

With a huff, Kirito leaned down next to Rin.  He touched her cheek and grimaced at how cold her cheek was.  He quickly checked her pulse, sighing in relief when he could feel the gently thumping.  Pulling out his phone, he called an ambulance for her.

Kirito visited Rin’s hospital bed everyday.  He couldn’t shake off the feeling that she got her because of him.  He knew he had made her a victim to the acts of bullying himself.  And that bullying had put her into a coma.  He looked over her bandaged body and took her hand in his.

“Rin-chan…,” he murmured.

The mask on her face made him hate himself even more.  It’s all my fault that she can’t breathe for herself…

Each and every needle in her arm was like a punch to his gut.  He couldn’t even imagine the amount of pain she was put in as she was being beaten.  Tears burned Kirito’s eyes as he continued to look at each wound that flawed her pale skin.  

More and more he would visit her, ditch his so called “friends”, and just sit and watch his old friend.  He was grateful when he noticed the bruises were fading, but the did not disturb the hate he had for himself.  

Soon, it was Christmas time and Kirito still made sure that he went to see Rin.  She had been in the hospital with a coma for almost two weeks.  Finally, her air mask was gone, she was strong enough to breathe for herself, her bruises were healed, and the cuts had formed into mere scars that blended in almost perfectly in with her skin.  He watched her sleeping face and bit his lip.  He would never be able to forgive himself for what he had done to her.  He felt that he had ruined her life, all for some stupid reputation.

She had become so much more quiet than she used to be.  She became so shy that it hurt for him to look at her.  No one really noticed that she was there, so he’d find a way to bring attention to her, so she wouldn’t ever be invisible.  He clenched his jaw, was that really the was that he’d show his love for a girl?  Bully her until she could never really speak her mind?

“I’m sorry Rin...for being an idiot,” he said softly as he d her black hair.  He stared out the window, watching the snow fall outside.  Christmas day and  Rin was spending it with noone.  Not with her parents or even her host family.  Just with the jerk who hurt her for four years straight.

“D-don’t apologize.”

Kirito jumped at the sound of the soft whisper.  He looked down at the beautiful black eyes that stared at him.  The sparkled in...was that happiness?  Kirito gulped, wondering why she had a happy look in her eye.

“Yes, I do Rin,” he said quickly.

“Stop it.  Because you don’t,” Rin coughed lightly.  “It wasn’t your fault...you didn’t tell them to,” her voice was so soft, so sweet.  How could she be so calm, so...forgiving?  Kirito nodded to show that she was right.  He never wanted her to be hurt physically like that.

“So stop it beating yourself up,” she smiled weakly at him and reached her hand out for his.  He smiled back and gently grasped her fingers.  Typical Rin, always knowing his feelings towards things.  That is why he always loved her, because she understood him in ways no other person could.  He frowned, in ways he couldn’t understand himself.

“Mr. Kim, I said stop,” Rin gave a weak laugh, coughing once again from it.

Kirito leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, he couldn’t help it, he had wanted to when they were kids but never got to it.  The kiss made his heart pound against his chest.  Cold fingers squeezed his.  

Rin’s fingers reached up and curled into his shirt to bring him closer.  Just like Kirito, her heart beat hard in her chest, butterflies fluttered in her stomach.  However, the excitement hurt her, making her whine softly.  The noise made Kirito pull away quickly.  He opened his mouth to apologize, only to have it be covered by Rin’s frail hand.

“Do.  Not.  Apologize,” she warned.  Kirito stared at her with wide eyes.  Her cheeks were flushed, bringing color to the paleness of her face.  She traced his jaw line with her finger tips.  “Because, that was something that I’ve always dreamed of...but I wanted it to be on Christmas,” she said sadly.

“It is Christmas,”  Kirito said, fidgeting.  His lips twitched as she pulled him down for another kiss, gladly letting their lips make contact.