AN: As the summary says, this is a Want for a Nail fic, where the nail is Sora and Taka (not) having their last goodbye before they meet again in high school.

My Name is 'Night Sky'

Mikazuki Yozora, a.k.a. Sora, was hiding at the entrance of the public playground where she and her first and only friend, Hasegawa Kodaka, who calls her by the aforementioned nickname and whom she in turn calls Taka, always met to hang out together. Now, the reason she's hiding at the entrance has a bit of a story behind it, so bear with it please:

The day before, both of the children had told the other that they had something important to tell their friend the next day. Unfortunately, it's less straightforward than it sounds, because Sora had never told Taka her real name, and considering that she prefers to wear boyish clothes due to personal issues, she was fairly certain that her boyishly dumb friend hasn't realized that she is, in fact, a girl. What Taka had to tell her, she wanted to know, but at the moment she was too shy to come out of hiding because she was actually wearing a dress, to showcase her gender. She had no idea how Taka would react to it, or the revelation that his best friend was a girl all along, so she hid behind the wall around the park while her friend was inside at the swing set.

Now, in most timelines, Taka would simply wait fruitlessly for Sora to appear, only to give up and leave, their next reunion being ten years in the future.

This Taka, however, let out his impatience.

"Where is that Sora?!"

Sora jumped at that, and wondered why Taka was shouting.

"I need to be back in an hour, or Pops'll get mad! But I can't go without saying goodbye, I can't!"

...What?

All embarrassment was sucked right out of Sora as she processed Taka's rant.

He's leaving?

He came to say goodbye?

By now, she was under the illusion that her body was going ice cold as she threw caution in the wind and stepped out of her hidey hole, seeing her friend's back turned towards her.

"What do you mean, 'say goodbye'?"

Hearing that, Taka turned around, relieved that his wish came true.

"You're late, So..ra...?"

His eyes widened as his young mind double-checked the sight in front of him. That face was most definitely his friend Sora, minus the usual cap, and the voice matched, too. What didn't match was the pink, frilly dress that had replaced Sora's usual shirt, overshirt and shorts.

"Wha...?"

"What do you mean, 'say goodbye'?!"

The heated repeat of that question did little to bring Taka out of his shock, so Sora marched over to him, grabbed his collar and yanked him over.

"Answer me, Baka-Taka!"

"S-Sora?"

"What!?"

"Why... a dress...?"

"Because I'm a girl, you moron, now answer the question!"

A girl?! This whole time, Sora, that Sora, had been a girl!?

"Ta, ka!"

"Gah, ah, ah, okay, okay! Stop shaking me, Sora!"

She let go, but didn't leave up on her glare, prompting her friend to explain himself.

"My old man, his work, is taking him somewhere else. So we need to move with him."

Looking his female friend properly in the face this time, Taka saw the anger fade a little to reveal...

Betrayal...?

"I-I don't want to! I told him, I don't want to go! But they don't let kids live by themselves! And besides, someone has to watch over Kobato!"

"...Who's Kobato...?"

"My little sister."

The phrase seemed to make Sora, who lowered her head, uncomfortable, so Taka left it at that.

"...back..."

"? What did you say, I didn't hear you?"

"You're coming back!"

Lifting her head again, Sora shouted at Taka, demanding as much.

"Of course I will! I just don't know when..."

"Promise it!"

"What?"

"Give me your pinky!"

Practically jabbing his face with her own digit, she demanded the famous children's promise from him.

The sight of her expression almost made Taka laugh, but he bit it down to a smile as he complied, wrapping his pinky with hers.

"It's a promise. I'll come back as soon as I can...?"

His tone drifted off as Sora's shoulders and eyes began to quiver, her frown turning into an unhappy face as she whimpered: "Please do..."

Not really knowing what else to do, Taka pulled her into a hug, which apparently broke her facade, causing her to wrap her arms around him as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Taka was stumped. He didn't really know what he had expected when he heard that Sora also had something to tell him, nor how his friend would react to his own news, but it certainly wasn't him being a her, though her reaction to the news was actually so very like a girl, yet also so very Sora, to Taka that he accepted that statement for what it is.

Once the waterworks had died down, he decided that it was safe to go from there.

"So...you're a girl?"

"Heh...I knew you didn't notice."

"Kinda hard...you never acted like one before..."

Chuckling, Sora very reluctantly pulled away from Taka, and even then, she didn't take her hands off of him just yet, nor did he let go of her shoulders.

"'Before'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah, well..."

Taka was distracted by the reminder of her new appearance, falling silent for reasons that Sora misinterpreted.

"Does it really look that weird?" she pouted, "Me in a dress, that is?"

"Ah, no, not 'weird', rather" he protested, "it's actually kinda, cute."

Hearing that made her flush.

"Surprisingly."

Hearing that made her angry.

"What do you mean, 'surprisingly'?" she growled.

His eyes widened and his hands waved in front of him, not that she was letting go as he struggled to back away.

"W-Wait, wait! I thought you were a dude this whole time, remember? So I didn't have a reason to think you were cute, or something like that!"

Glaring at him a little more, she huffed, conceding the point.

"Though, maybe you might wanna go with something not-pink, and less frilly? It just doesn't seem to suit you."

Foot, meet mouth.

Face, meet palm.

Head, meet Fist.

"Ow!"

Puffing angrily, Sora still held onto his shirt with her right hand when they both heard an adult man's voice from afar: "Oooii! Kodaka! It's tiime!"

Their eyes met as they realized that their time was up.

"You're really gonna come back?"

"Really."

"Definitely?"

"Definitely."

Sora opened her mouth to ask again, but Taka put his fingers in front, silencing her.

"I'll come back, Sora. I will."

Nodding once, she corrected: "Yozora."

"Hm?"

"My name...is Yozora."

"...That's... a pretty name."

Hearing that made her flush again.

"Until later...Yozora."

Hearing that made her want to cry again.

"Until later...Kodaka."

Feeling his shoulder, then his arm, and then his hand, slip from her fingers made her want to latch back on, and never let go.

She didn't want this.

Just like she didn't want her father to leave.

She didn't want this.

Just like she didn't want her mother to hate her.

She didn't want this.

Just like she didn't want to be alone again.

She didn't want Kodaka to leave.

But as always, the world didn't care what she wanted.

And not even ten minutes later, she said one last thing before heading 'home'.

"*hick*...Taka...hurry...come back...*sniff*...I need...you...*hick*"