Magnets
Author's Notes: This is from my collection, it's something I wrote a while ago, but I figured I'd type it up, and put it here. I got the idea from the movie "The Cutting Edge" if you've ever seen it, so if you recognize the ending, that's why. I don't own the movie, or Tasuki or Kouji. Tokoro and Chirase, however, ARE mine! And so is this story.
Rating: I don't know, PG-13? Doesn't go into anything detailed.
Synopsis: Tasuki has and will always be a woman-hater, right? What happens when his best buddy sets him up with a girl he just can't refuse? Will she get him to admit his feelings for her?
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"I told you already! I hate women! All of 'em—and yes! That includes that one!" Tasuki screamed at his old friend.
"Genrou! Give her a chance! She's your perfect match!" Kouji called after the retreating bandit.
"I knew it, he hates me. I never did anything to him. Tokoro—you said he was perfect for me—and he and I are nothing alike. If he hates me, then I hate him too!" Chirase sputtered and slumped down on her bed.
"Chira! He hates all women—I think it has something to do with his past. It's not like it's just you." Tokoro tried to soothe her friend—even though she'd never been particularly good with words.
"I've been sober way too long." Tasuki grumbled, "I need to go and get piss drunk and forget this whole nightmare." He stomped off to the nearest bar.
"So, he's off to get sloshed, is he?" A sly voice muttered thoughtfully, "Well, I think Chirase needs to go pay him a little visit."
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"You want me to what!" Chirase's voice bellowed out from her room. "You mean you want me to go get drunk out'a my mind and seduce the man who claims to hate every female who walks this planet! Are you kidding me? Where have you people been? He hates me! He isn't going to le me near him!" She screamed.
"No! Listen! I know my buddy! When he said that he didn't like women he didn't have the same hatred he usually has in his voice. He doesn't really hate you. He… he just thinks he does." Kouji almost pleaded with her. Chirase looked at Tokoro who gave her an encouraging look in return; she sighed and agreed reluctantly. "I still don't think this is going to work—the last thing I need is a one-night stand."
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At the bar, Tasuki had already downed four or five bottles of sake and was well over half way through his sixth when Chirase walked in, tentatively.
"Is this seat taken?" she asked smoothly as she could manage. She was nervous, seeing his back from across the room, watching him nurse his drink without noticing her presence. Chirase was sure he'd see what was going on—and she knew he'd put a stop to it—in as rude a way as possible. Tasuki wasn't known for his subtleties.
"No." he answered flatly, paying her no more attention than necessary.
"Good." She said, smiling, a little, "'cause now it is."
Tasuki looked at her sideways, trying to figure out who this woman was, why she looked so familiar and what she could possibly want with him—when a renegade thought passed through his mind; 'she's beautiful…' he shook his head to clear it and he tamped the feeling that rose with it down with a sledge hammer.
"Do you get that drunk often?" the young woman beside him turned suddenly toward him and asked him, a quirk on her lips that made him want to kiss her.
"N—not always, s'just that m'friends are trying to get me and—Uh…this girl together." He tried desperately to conceal the girl's identity.
"What's wrong with that? Don't you like her?" Chirase asked, almost in a whisper.
Hell yeah, I like her—she's beautiful, smart, funny—incredibly sexy—" he lay his head on the bar to conceal his face. He knew that Tokoro and Chirase had talked and he hoped that his drunken tirade hadn't opened her eyes to the fact that he was really talking about her. He was hoping she'd just assume it was some woman he and Kouji had met and she'd leave it be.
Chirase was taken aback by his words and she took a long swig of her drink to hide the flush that covered her cheeks, 'H—have you ever…been with a woman?" she asked the question and immediately wished she hadn't.
Tasuki only smiled, "Sure, lots of 'em. But her… she's different. She carries an air of dignity that I just can't seem to match up to, and besides, if I settle down, I'll ruin my reputation."
Chirase tried to erase the shock that was written all over her face, but it was next to impossible. "And what reputation is that?" she finally managed to ask him.
"The woman-hater." Tasuki cocked his head back and squinted his eyes at her, smiling drunkenly. Chirase slapped him, brow furrowing.
"Oh, and you're proud that you despise every woman you come into contact with?" she asked angrily. Chirase cursed herself, and backed away, willing herself to hear him out.
Recovering, sobering a little, Tasuki stared at her wide-eyed and grinning dumbly for a moment before slyly responding, "Well, that's the thing. I can't hate her. But I guess I can't bring myself to tell her how much she means to me either." He wasn't looking at her when he finished his thought; he'd gone back to nursing his bottle.
Chirase almost laughed at that, "Tasuki, what if I told you that you just told her?" she said, a grin spreading across her face.
Tasuki looked up at her, surprised as he tried to find words to apologize—anything—"Ch—Chirase, I—I don't know how to tell you or… or show you—" he was tripping over the words partially because he was drunk and partially because he was stunned that she had gotten him to admit his feelings for her.
Chirase shhed him and took him by the hand, "Come with me, I'll show you."
Tasuki gulped as he took her hand, knowing what was about to happen, and this time, he knew he was in no position to resist that desire.
Chirase led them out of the bar and back to her room. "Chirase, do you know what yer doin'?" Tasuki asked, still dazed from the liquor and from being so close to the woman he'd been infatuated with for so long.
"I know exactly what I'm doing," she purred in his ear.
"And what is that, exactly?" He breathed back.
She smiled and slid her arms around his neck, "I'm falling in love with you." She whispered kissing him on the cheek.
"Chirase." Tasuki said her name and she knew what words were behind it. But she still needed him to say them.
"Tell me Tasuki." She coaxed, smiling into his hair.
"I love you." He whispered into her neck, sliding his hand down her sides, then back up again; he embraced her and at the same time embraced all the passion that he had held back from the first time he saw her. He kissed her then like he'd never kissed anyone before.
Chirase pulled them both toward the bed, breaking free of his arms and his kiss and looking into his eyes, "How much do you love me, Tasuki?" she breathed.
Tasuki swallowed the last of his drunkenness and looked her straight in the eyes. "This much." He answered back, laying her down on the bed and sliding his body over hers.
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The next morning Chirase turned in Tasuki's arms to find her lover staring her in the face. "Good morning." She whispered, smiling.
"You too." He answered back. "You know—It's funny that that's all it took." The former seishi mused.
"What are you talking about? What was all what took?" Chirase's brow knitted in confusion.
"Have you ever played with magnets?" Tasuki asked suddenly.
"Uh. Yeah. What's that got to do—" But he interrupted her.
"You know you would push them together and they'd push away and you'd push them together again and they'd push away?" Tasuki was motioning with his fingers, and Chirase smiled.
"Y—yeah. I don't get it…"
"All you have to do was flip one of them over and…all of a sudden…" he trailed off, giving her one of his famous fanged grins.
Chirase finally realized just what he was talking about and kissed him even more deeply that before, "Of course, of course…"
Flip.
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The End!
© 2005 The Fairy Tale Mistress