Summary: Just take a deep breath. Count to four. Then kiss her, before the moment's gone. [Kitsu/Mikan]
1234
"Hey, Sakura… guess what."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"…I like you."
"…Really? Cool! Um… lets meet up in Central Town this weekend, okay? Bring a picnic basket!"
That was on Thursday. Now it's finally Saturday, classes are over and I'm going to meet her in Central Town. Last night I prepared matching sweetheart-packed-lunches for us. I hope Sakura likes them.
Koko's coming with me to see me off - he's going to hang out with Anna and Nonoko today. He told them he wants to live the life of a Geeky Sister for the day, but I know he's only secretly going there to cheer me on.
Mikan Sakura. Where to begin, besides the fact that I've had a crush on her since she first walked through those doors to Class B? Since I hovered down to her and asked why she was here and who she was?
She was so pretty that day. Even more so now. Would you believe it, at fourteen she's finally began growing breasts? I know, who would've guessed, right? She doesn't wear her hair in those adorable pigtails anymore either, which I have to say is a little disappointing; she looked so cute, you know? Not that I mind too much, cause now she's cut it short it looks even cuter. Especially with her middle school uniform to top it all off.
Who'd have thought Mikan Sakura works the blue tartan so well? I know everybody was thinking it when she swaggered through those middle school dorms on the first day, acting like she owned the place. Even if she didn't realise it, she looked like such a poser it was laughable. Koko was one of the people who actually laughed. He tempted me to join in but my heart wasn't feeling it.
She looked hot, okay? Officer, take me down to the station.
So anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Saturday. Right.
I'm up in the air now, flying to the drop-off point in Central Town. I think she's taking the bus, cause she's not badass like I am. She doesn't skip classes to arrive earlier.
All I can see at the moment is a stretch of trees. It's kind of depressing, actually, how so much land is wasted on Alice Academy. If you think about it, they could probably cut down all the forests and be making dugong reserves by now, if the academy weren't so obsessed with their foresty areas. One day I'm going to be the Student Council President, like the Sakurano guy. And when I do, I'm petitioning for dugong reserves. Who dares stop me?
Even if Jinno tries to stop me, I'm still not giving up. I'll make posters! That'll show him.
Because nobody can argue against the power of posters.
I've arrived now. Just landed in front of a cake shop. The woman at the counter threw me a dirty glance through the main window, so I flipped her off and headed to the drop-off point. Like I'm gonna let some pinch-faced crab ruin my special day.
Checklist:
Picnic basket, complete with blanket to sit on and matching sweetheart-lunch-boxes? Check.
Cool clothes (and not academy uniform, shock-horror)? Check.
Gelled hair? Check.
New contact lenses? Check.
Penknife? Check.
Spare shirt? Check.
Winning smile? Check.
Breath spray? Check.
Okay. I'm good to go.
And now the bus is pulling up and I'm beginning to sweat. Good thing I packed that spare shirt, huh?
Suddenly she's stepping out, and she's wearing this long-sleeved pink shirt and this checked scarf, and hosepipe jeans and those gorgeous trainers. I think I'm in love.
"Kitsu, hi!" she cries, waving. She doesn't actually wave with her whole arm, though. She does that annoying girl thing where they wave with their fingers and don't move their arm. Normally it ticks me off, but with Sakura it just comes so naturally.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Koko step off with Anna and Nonoko, and he's grinning at me, giving me a thumbs up and mouthing, "Good luck, buddy!"
My feet are moving on their own. Crap, what am I doing? I take four steps forward. 1, 2, 3, 4.
"H-Hey, Sakura," I manage to choke out, resisting every urge to stuff my fists in my mouth and take to the sky.
"You got here early? That's so sweet," she smiles, taking hold of my hand. She looks down at my other shaking hand, which is holding onto the picnic basket. "Oh, and you got the picnic together too! That was so thoughtful of you!"
Anything for you, my mandarin orange goddess.
"Lets get going, then! I know a great spot!" She pulls me along as we weave through the streets. It's now I realise she must've been really exploring these past few weeks, cause there's no way any normal student would know all these streets and alleyways so well. I've been at the academy since I was five years old, and I don't know any of these houses we're we're passing a church… when the heck did that get there? I didn't know people at Alice Academy had places of worship.
After running down several more random streets, we finally slow to a halt. Sakura grins and lets go of my hand, gesturing to a dead end. A twisty tree is stood at the end of the street. Is this some kind of joke? When did that get there?"This is my favourite place at Alice Academy!" she cries, beaming happily. "It's where I go when I'm feeling happy or sad or angry. It gives off such a calming vibe, you know?" She grins at me. "Plus, if you look really closely, there are a lotta initial carvings in it. Some from at least twenty years ago."
I grin back.
"Interesting. Reckon we can carve in our initials later?"
She giggles. "We could, but I don't have anything sharp to carve with." I fish out my penknife from my pocket.
"I believe I have something that could help." Good thing I packed the penknife, huh?
"Awesome! How'd you know?" Before I come up with a suitable answer she drops the topic, instead taking the picnic basket from my hands and laying down the blanket. "This is all so sweet. Thanks for doing all of this, Kitsu." She smiles at me and my heart melts a little inside.
Stupid love bug.
"No problem, Sakura. I'm, uh, I'm actually psyched that you invited me out here." She looks up and grins.
"Well, you told me you liked me. If two people like each other they do stuff like this, right?" My heart skips a beat. You like me back?
"Yeah, I guess that's right." I nod, trying to act calm, even though my heart is practically imploding.
"Wow, this is so cute!" I look over to see Sakura opening up both our packed lunches. She has a look of delight on her face that's making me blush. "Aww, they match! That's really sweet!" She giggles at the squid sausages, and I feel a burst of pride. Nobody else really knows this, but I can kinda rock out in home eco.
"Try some, Sakura. I worked hard on them." A small smile is playing across my lips and I tell myself that it looks sexy, not goofy and lovestruck. She picks up some chopsticks and fiddles around with one of the sausages, giggling as she holds it at eye-level.
"Bye bye, Mister Squid." Pet names for squid sausages? Now that's just an overdose of cuteness. "Thank you for the food~" She stuffs the squid sausage into her mouth and chews, her eyes widening. I eagerly await her response.
"Well…?" I'm practically peeing myself in anticipation here.
"…Yummy~!" She smiles, and I can feel the warmth radiating from her face. It's pretty hot if I do say so myself.
"Well, I hate to brag or anything, but… I do sort of kick serious ass in home economics," I grin, beginning to eat myself.
"That's so cool," she sighs. "I used to be good at cooking but since I stopped living with Grandpa I sort of lost the knack. I envy you sooo much for being able to cook this well."
"I'll… I'll cook for you more, if you want." My cheeks feel like they're on fire, so I look away, hoping that she'll not pay attention to my face if I look like I'm mysteriously gazing out at the sky. Seems to do the trick.
"Oh, really? You'd do that? That's so sweet, Kitsu~ You sure know how to treat a girl," she laughs. That's when my hand slips into hers and we both turn away. My heart is practically just a puddle of blood and plasma cells now.
Now is the moment where feelings are all decided; the kiss. You have to turn and kiss the girl, and if she kisses you back, it's settled: you're together. If she pushes you away or makes up some shit like 'it's too soon' or 'I'm not sure if I'm ready' then you know you're as good as dead to them.
Just take a deep breath. Count to four. Then kiss her, before the moment's gone.
Be a man, Kitsu. It's not like you haven't done this before. Well actually, looking back on my life, I can hardly say I have; I'm not exactly the class hearthrob. If I took that title from Natsume no doubt he'd fry my ass until I couldn't even sit on it anymore.
But I can't lose faith in myself. If I wasn't good enough, why would Sakura actually want to go on a date with me? Why would she invite me to this place she's never shown anyone else, unless we were bound by fate?
This sounds mushy, but in all honesty, I could care more about other things right now, like when we're gonna do that 'carving-initials-into-the-tree' thing, or when we're actually going to finish the packed lunches I slaved over last night for two hours making.
Suddenly, I feel a prickle down my neck. You know, the kind of prickle you get when somebody's following you? Or just watching you? I think Sakura feels it too, because she looks around. Then, she leans in close to me and whispers, in such a low voice I can scarcely hear, "…I think Hotaru's watching us."
I'm actually dumbfounded. Since Sakura agreed to go out with me, it seems Hotaru Imai has found a new target; moi.
"You mean, right now?" I hiss back. She nods, face deadly serious.
"Yeah. She's going to start taking pictures, I'm sure of it." She frowns. "…How did she find us…?"
Hey, you're the expert on Imai here. Don't ask me.
"So, she'll probably sell these pictures, right?"
"Yeah."
"And lots of people will buy them."
"Yup."
"So everybody will know?"
"Yeah…" She looked a little worried. "Kitsu… I'm sorry. You're not mad, are you…?"
It's then that I know what to do. Even if she rejects me, this will be a way to keep my first crush preserved forever. The memory will always stay with me.
I lean in and kiss her. I close my eyes and feel the glare of flash-photography on my face, so I wrap my arms around Sakura's waist, drinking in her scent.
More pictures are taken, so eventually I break away from Sakura and turn to glare at Imai's camera.
"Turn it off," I snap. Her eyes twinkle but she retreats, turning on her heels and heading back to… well, wherever the hell she came from.
I turn back to Sakura, who's smiling sheepishly.
"That was, ah… nice," she giggles, hands on pink cheeks. I grin.
"Does that mean we're now an item, Mikan Sakura?"
"Uh huh," she replies happily, picking up her packed lunch again. "And skip the formalities. Call me Mikan from now on, okay? I call you Kitsu, after all."
"Ah, yeah… Mikan…" I test out the name on my tongue; it's adorable to say and even more adorable now I have permission to say it within her presence.
"Great! Now, we're going to have to eat more of these lunches together," she says, launching into a new conversation. "They're too good to miss out on!"
"Uh huh," I say, beginning to eat again. "Y'know, Mikan… I think we're going to be a great couple."
She grins, scooping up some rice. "Yeah… me too."
…And you know what? If you run through winding streets with your arms held high, following your heart as far as it can reach, you can find that twisty tree. Head to the right and reach round the back, and you can feel the grooves of a carving. Peer closer and you'll see the initials of the two of us.
~Mikan x Kitsu~
A/N: Hi! So, here's a little story from me to say, I'll update Kitsu's Journal soon, when I can be bothered to type everything up! XD So for now, enjoy this. I'll update soon. Promise!
KitsuxMikan is sooo cute. Even if it is REALLY cheesy, I like it for some reason. It lacks canon moments, so I felt necessary to put this coupling out there. See if anybody actually cares about it, you know?
Sorry if they both annoy you too much T.T I tried to keep Kitsu with the characteristics he has in Kitsu's Journal, but if you didn't feel that, my bad. And Mikan is… well, annoying. Like she always is in my fanfics. Sorry, Mikan-fans.
Anyway, review, please? It'd really boost mon confidence! :3