The First (Real) Kiss

Chapter 1

It's my third time, and I'm more excited than I think I've ever been before! I've only been to the beach twice before—one with my brother Soichiro, and another time with my friends to study—but this time he asked me.

Kurosaki cleared his throat roughly, a blush high on his cheeks, "so, since you missed the movie, and it's summer, you're coming with me to the beach."

"B-but, I don't have any money…" I stammered. Until I was stopped almost immediately by Kurosaki's large hand on my mouth, of course.

"Stuuuupid. You're coming; if not by your own free will, then as my servant doing my bidding and acting on my every whim for three days." He grinned hugely with a scary, perverted glint in his blue eyes that I chose to ignore.

My legs snapped together at the same time my hand went to my forehead in a mock salute. "I would be honoured, handsome, cool, kind and bald Kurosaki. But… you'll have to see my belly button," I exclaimed as I lifted my shirt to show him my naval.

As per usual, his face contorted into a mask of rage, destruction and annoyance. A split second before he did, I bolted out of the school's gardens where we were working in up until a minute ago.

"Get back here, you puny A-cup! Girls shouldn't show their belly buttons, you flasher! Stop flashing your nonexistent curves, flasher!"

I stopped, waited until he bumped into me, put my hands on his face and leaned in. He sucked in a quick breath as I put my face close to his. I put my mouth to his ear and whispered, "go bald, Kurosaki" and pulled out a chunk of his bleached blonde hair for each hand. He held his bowed head in his hands, and whimpered, "damned brat" through tears of pain. Before I could respond, the school bell rang, so, with a pat to his soft hair, I bent at the waist and said, "forgive my impudence, oh handsome, hairy, Kurosaki." And with one last grin, I turned around I ran to my class.

I found Riko (Daisy's friend and the guidance counselor at my school) in our shared apartment. She was sitting on the couch sipping coffee, staring at the flowered necklace she had once let me borrow with tears in her eyes. When she heard the door open, Riko lifted her head and flipped her glossy dark brown hair over her shoulder casually. "Teru," she sniffed, in a way that I suppose was supposed to disguise the fact that she was crying, but didn't quite succeed. "How was your day?"

I hesitantly told her about what Kurosaki told me today, unsure whether to address the issue of her tears or not. No, if Riko wanted to tell you what was wrong, she would. It's none of your business, Teru, I told myself insistently.

"Ah, I was wondering when he would ask you about it. He mentioned it about two days ago, but I wanted it to be a surprise for you, so I didn't mention anything." She smiled, nearly all traces of sadness gone from her features, except for her eyes which were still stubbornly clinging to the melancholy I saw.

"Are you coming, Riko? It would be a lot of fun!" I grinned, trying to cheer her up. "We could make Kurosaki buy us ice cream everyday and drive us around to wherever we want to go!"

She laughed and told me, "I think you guys are supposed to leave tomorrow. I'll go ask Kurosaki right now, because I also need to give him a little warning," she threatened. The scary thing about Riko is that when she goes into big sister mode, she gets this frightening killing aura around her. "How about you start packing now? I'll only be a few minutes and then I'll help you." Aaand, she's back to normal, I thought fondly.

About two seconds after our door closed, I heard her yell, "Tasuku!" And open Kurosaki's door (who happens to be our neighbour, as well as my not-so-secret protector, Daisy). I couldn't help but overhear Riko's extremely loud voice while I was getting my book from the coffee table in the living room, and once she said my name, it seemed as if my feet wouldn't move…

"So, Tasuku. You are both leaving tomorrow right?" Riko asked, leaving no time for a response from Kurosaki. "And it's just going to be you two, correct?" Another rhetorical question. "I'm leaving Teru in your care, Tasuku. Don't do anything that would warrant a punch from my fist of justice, you pervert. And don't you even think about sniffing Teru's bathing suit when she's not wearing it, either! Because if I suspect you did anything perverted, you will suffer from my high kick and right hook combo of justice." My ears and just about my entire face grew extremely hot upon hearing "sniff her bathing suit when she's not wearing it" and I started to deeply regret my eaves-dropping. Well, you know what they say about eaves-droppers, Teru. It serves you right. I shook my head frantically, wondering if I misunderstood what Riko said.

As I was walking back to my room to begin packing up, I heard an indistinct reply from Kurosaki and the slam of his door before I sprinted quickly to my room as if I were packing the entire time.

"So," Riko started cheerfully from my door, "let's get you packed up for the beach with Kurosaki tomorrow!"