That Fateful Day (Peorth)

It was just after classes had ended for day and all was quiet as a young girl made her way to the Music and Theatre building . Kaori had decided to get her homework done and practice her guitar so that she could do other things (ie, listening to music) when she got back to her dorm room. Entering the room, she sat down and pulled her homework out of her bag.

Kaori's best subjects were Biology, Music and History. However today's homework was History, Physics and Chemistry. Kaori completed her history and chemistry homework with relative ease. Then she turned to her Physics homework which was not one of her strong points and had a go at it. After struggling for a while, she gave up, stuffed it back in her bag and set up her electric guitar (a white/cream fender stratocaster).

"Curse physics, I don't see why we have to learn it" Kaori muttered quietly as she adjusted the sound of the speaker to a suitable quiet level. Sunlight filtered through the leaves on the trees outside the window, casting dappled patches of light on the floor. Her irritation at the physics homework was soothed away by the quietness of her surroundings and before long, the young girl was immersed in playing notes and tunes on her guitar.

Classes had ended for the day, and the halls were filled with girls chatting and laughing as they headed either to their dorms or homes in the city. But one girl wasn't heading to her dorms, nor was chatting or laughing. She was walking along, on her own, in a sea of people. But she didn't mind, not really. Mainly because she wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her. Peorth's thoughts were elsewhere.

She was running through her mind what the next page of her doujinshi would look like. Layout, composition, angles, where the sound effects and speech bubbles would be. She managed to do this without bumping into anyone, or anything. Though she did get lost.

She blinked and looked around, suddenly realising that she wasn't outside the dorm building, but the Music and Theatre building. She thought of turning and heading to her dorm, but thought better of it. This was the perfect opportunity for her to draw different scenes and settings, without fear of people seeing her drawing! She glanced around, then quickly entered the building.

She walked thorough the empty halls, glancing into classes, looking for something to draw. But, so far, nothing had caught her attention. Just as she was about to give up and head to her dorm, something did catch her attention. In one of the rooms, was a girl. She was sitting with her back to her, strumming away on a guitar. Before she knew what she was doing, Peorth was sitting at the back of the room, her sketchbook out, drawing the scene before her, the girl playing her guitar, the way the light fell on her. She became so engrossed in her drawing, that nothing else mattered to her right then.

After a while, a movement out of the corner of Kaori's eye caught her attention. Kaori turned her head, her long dark brown hair flowing around her shoulders. The young girl glanced around the room, her eyes eventually coming to rest on the source of movement. That source was another girl, who seemed to be drawing. Blinking momentarily at the girl, Kaori suddenly snapped back to full reality. She panicked slightly as she realised that she was not alone. Blushing, she quickly put down her guitar and made a move to put everything away.

She glanced again at the other girl and recognised her as the girl who was sharing a room with her, she vaguely remembered the girl's name as Peorth. She glanced at the other girl, catching a glimpse of her drawing as the girl moved her hand momentarily. The drawing looked a lot like herself, Kaori thought as she caught another look at it. Glancing at the girl again, Kaori decided to bite the bullet and say hello. Maybe, just maybe they could become friends. Nervously Kaori approached the girl and stuttering slightly, said "H-Hey P-Peorth. M-May I h-have a look at y-your d-drawing."

"Please Please don't hurt me for asking". Kaori thought as she waited for a reply.

The sound of the pencil scratching the surface of the paper echoed through the room, barely heard above the music of the guitar. Her hand flew across the paper, her eyes darting up occasionally to make sure the details were correct. Once the basic structure of the girl was finished, Peorth began to work on the details. As the sketch neared completion, she needed to look up less and less. Soon, she barely glanced up as she worked on the shadows and the highlights. The she heard a voice.

With a gasp, Peorth looked up, her cheeks bright red. She held the sketchbook to her tightly, the top of the book obscuring the bottom of her face. 'S-s-s-s-sorry!' the brunette stammered, not looking at the girl, too embarrassed to even make eye contact. 'I-I should ha-have asked f-for p-p-permission first!' But then she realised something. This girl knew her name! Slowly, ever so slowly, Peorth looked up at the girl. Her eyes widened and her cheeks coloured again as she recognised the other girl. It was her room mate, Kaori. They were room mates, yet they'd hardly said two words to each other. Well, Peorth was going to do something about that. 'S-sure,' she said, swallowing. 'I-it's nearly f-finished.' With that she held the sketch book out for Kaori to take, her entire face bright red. 'H-hope it's o-okay.'

The girl let out a gasp and looked up quickly when Kaori spoke to her, clutching the book to her. "I-I'm s-sorry, I-I didn't mean to m-make you j-jump." Kaori squeaked as the girl looked down at book and then back up at her. So that she did not frighten the girl any further, Kaori quickly sat down next to the girl and took the notebook, being held out her. When Kaori looked down at the drawing that the girl had been doing, she was taken aback. The girl was damn good at drawing. She had managed to capture every tiny detail of Kaori.


When Peorth apologised and said she should have asked her first, Kaori shook her head slightly. "N-No don't apologise. It is fine, r-really. in fact you are really good at drawing." Kaori said blushing slightly. "I only wish I was half as good as you." the girl said softly, looking at Peorth straight, in the face this time. A ray of sunlight fell across Kaori's face, making it look as though she had stepped straight out of a manga scene or something

The girl apologised, stammering, her voice a squeak. 'I-i-it's okay!' Peorth said, shaking her head. 'I-I should h-have been paying m-m-more attention.' She barely suppressed a flinch as the girl took her sketchbook. She was so nervous as the girl looked at the sketch she'd done of her, hoping that she liked it. The fact Kaori wasn't laughing was a good sign, right?

When Kaori complimented her work, Peorth's cheeks burnt. 'N-n-no, I'm n-not that g-good. It's n-n-not even f-finished yet.' She trailed off as she pointed out a few mistakes, though mainly in her head. 'Y-you're g-good with t-the g-guitar.' Peorth pointed to the instrument. 'I-I have no m-musical talent w-whatsoever.' She glanced at Kaori. And her blush spread.

The way the light streaming in through the window lit up Kaori's face, shone in her hair, was like something out of her doujinshi. It was almost exactly like the way the two main characters first met. Peorth couldn't help but stare at Kaori, the entire scene before was captivating. The girl in the light was captivating. Her eyes were drawing her in. 'I'd like to draw you again,' she breathed. 'You have wonderful hair.' She reached out and touched Kaori's hair, running her fingers through it.

When Peorth almost flinched as Kaori took her sketchbook from her, Kaori had to steel herself, to not flinch in return. When Peorth apologised again and said that she really wasn't that good at drawing and that Kaori was really good at playing guitar, Kaori gave her an almost searching look. " You sure do apologise a lot don't you? You are good, don't let anyone ever tell you that you are not. Really? I don't think I am all that good yet." Kaori said in a soft, almost sad tone and blushing further. She was starting to think this girl was just like her, shy and unconfident. Kaori was both of those things, not helped by the fact that she thought herself uncute. It was in fact the opposite, Kaori was cute but numerous things had happened to her and had made her think so lowly of herself, to the point where her family's doctor was seriously concerned about her well being, resulting in counselling.

Looking at Peorth again, their gazes locking, Kaori could not help but think that the shy girl in front of her was cute. In fact Kaori thought that Peorth was damn adorable, but was too frightened to tell her that, in case she suffered as a consequence again. Kaori was also starting to think that this was scene out of a romance manga (yes she reads manga) or something. She briefly glanced around the room , half expecting to see sparkles or flowers floating around the pair of them. However there was nothing but bright sunlight throught the window. Her gaze returning to Peorth as she raised her hand, Kaori stiffened ever so slightly, watching Peorth very warily to see what she was going to do next. However she was surprised when the dark haired girl made no move to hurt her. Instead she had moved to stroke Kaori's hair. Kaori instantly relaxed again, now it had appeared that she was not going to get hurt. When Peorth said that she liked her hair and asked if she could draw her again, Kaori replied softly "Sure and thank you. Hey could I see the drawing when it is finished?" It would be cool to see the complete drawing she thought.

The look in Kaori's eyes made Peorth retreat slightly, though she blushed deeply, especially at her words. 'S-sorry, I d-don't mean t-to.' Her blush deepened as Kaori continued. 'B-but you are good!' she said, ignoring what Kaori said about her own artistic skills, glad not to be the focus, and focusing on Kaori's guitar playing. 'You're r-really good! Far better t-than I could ever h-hope to be!' Peorth took hold of Kaori's hands and looked into her eyes. 'You're really good at the guitar! Don't let a-anyone tell you you're n-not!'

Her blush deepened and spread as she realised that they were looking into each others eyes. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Kaori's. The way her heart beat hard in her chest, the way her breathing was shallow. The way her throat was dry. The way the light fell over the both of them. It was like a scene from one of her doujinshi! If she could, Peorth would have glanced around, looking for sparkles and flowers.

When Kaori agreed to let her draw her again, Peorth was delighted. She'd use almost any excuse to spend more time with the cute girl in front of her. Her cheeks coloured again as her mind went blank. She's just called her room mate cute! Good thing it was in her head. Wasn't it? She hoped it was. 'Of c-course you c-can see it, w-when it's finished.' She swallowed as she felt her pulse quickening, beating harder. You're too cute not to draw, she didn't say.

Or at least she thought she didn't say.