Title: Three Years
Fandom: Gachi Baka!
Pairing: Kouta/Kana
Summary: It takes Kouta three years and some magic to finally go to Africa.
Notes: Even if I don't like Kana that much, I wanted Kouta to get the girl, if only for a little while.


It took him three years to get to this point. To finally say goodbye to Japan and his friends. To say goodbye to her.

It took him three years to get enough money. First for the plane tickets and then to move freely once there in Africa. It would had taken him longer if he had bought the camera he wanted to take with him, but his friends helped him out with that one. He knew Musashi came with the idea and most of the money, but it was a present from them all. Musashi, Hiro and Mikki. Friends even after three years of different lives and not being able to see each other like they did back in their school days, running around, always late to class, always together.

He shared an apartment with Musashi, though, after school ended. His parents didn't want anything to do with him anymore and Musashi's were a lot more forgiving, if only because they still needed a heir. His already had Yuusuke. Once, he asked Musashi if it was OK, to do what his parents told him to do. He said that, until he could find something to be passionate about, like the rest of their friends, he would go along and made them happy, if only until then.

The day he finally told everyone he wanted to go to Africa, they didn't laugh. Well, they laughed a little, but only because he kept it a secret for so long. It took even longer to get enough money for it, but for three years they never allowed him to quit his dream, this thing he was so passionate about.

She was one of them, by then. At the beginning they hardly saw each other. He was working non-stop and she had a new and exciting university life. They got together every few months and she told him she was doing fine, she liked it, and she was good at it. They talked about Hanako and Mikki and about Utsugi being far away. They both missed him. He always thought Utsugi and her were going to try and be together once he returned. He was OK with it, if they all stayed friends. She thought different.

Two years later, she asked him on a date. He didn't understood. He said so out loud. She explained that it had been long enough. She was finally an adult, she was able to leave behind her awful teen memories. He asked if that was the reason she said no to Utsugi so long ago. She responded shaking her head. It was much more than that.

Why him? he insisted. He wasn't complaining, really, but he had given up hope long ago. She said she missed his smile. How he made her saw the world in bright lights and different colors. How he made her feel warm. Utsugi was special to her, always was, always will. But to her...

"It's you." She explained. "It is always you, with me, there in the end."

She took him to ice skate. He didn't fall nearly as much this time.

They had been going out for almost a year when he realized he had enough money saved for his trip. Actually, it was well before the year was completed, but he didn't want to leave anymore. He was backing out.

When his friends found out, they got mad. Musashi said it wasn't fair, giving up his dream when others didn't even have one of their own to treasure. Hiro asked him what the hell had he been working for then, all this time. Mikki wondered about his future, what was he gonna do, keep on like this, without a goal?

Soon after that she confronted him too. She didn't question him, though. She went straight to the point. It was their relationship, right? His reason to stay. She looked sad. He tried to convince her that it was what he wanted, to be together with her, more than anything else.

"Take me to Yatsugatake." She asked, then. "To see the diamond dust."

He had not gone to Nagano since high school. He didn't had the time anymore. To go camping, sight seeing, enjoy the wonders of nature. He needed to work and earn money. Now... Now he could again.

They planned a long weekend out during the New Year festivities. Only the two of them. It was freezing in the mountains this time of the year, but she didn't complain. They just hugged each other more, and stayed awake all night talking about nonsense. She admitted to have read books about it before coming, to understand better what she was about to see. He laughed because it wasn't about science, and she should have known better, but asked her to explain anyway, out of curiosity.

At the crack of dawn they left their cabin, and outside it was more beautiful than he remembered it. Neither of them said anything for a while, too awe-stroke to articulate. She took his freezing hand with hers, and smiled like he had never seen her smile before, her eyes full with the ice crystals' reflection.

"This is you and me, in the end."

"What?"

"You have to go. You have to keep finding places like this, wonders of nature. How can you say no to this?"

And her free hand indicated the horizon, were the sky was shinning with day stars, uncounted lights shaped as diamonds all around them, magical and unbelievable, but all the same real because they were there to prove it.

They made a promise then, that once he returned he would bring her here again. But for that to happen, he had to leave first.

So there he was, a few weeks after that, in the airport, hours from leaving the country. Leaving his friends. Leaving her.

All of them came to say goodbye, his friends and her. He wrote Utsugi about it, but hadn't expect an answer and didn't get one. Yuusuke came too, with excuses from their parents. He didn't care to listen, because it didn't matter. Those who cared about him where there, pushing him to make his dream come true. They mattered.

It took him three years to find the courage to go and fulfill his dream. He found it in the diamond dust in her eyes, and he finally left.

The End