First of all, I'd like to say my thanks for those who have read and reviewed this story! I truly appreciate and it makes me so happy!
Secondly, I changed the rating from M to T. Frankly, I was about to write something 'Lemonish' but I'm unable :D So I changed some parts in the story and I replaced the original chapter with the revised one. I hope I don't disappoint anyone and you will still read the continuation of this fanfic!
So please, enjoy reading it! And I would truly appreciate honest reviews also from those ones who have reviewed already and let me know if you still like it!
Unknowingly
Chapter 1
"I'll be late! I'll be late!" I squeak loudly and help my mother to paint her face with anxiety.
"If you don't calm down you will destroy your wonderful dress!" My mom places her hands on her waist and shoots a careful glance at me.
"I'll be fine, but my stilettos are so high!" I am wearing a long, light pink silk evening dress with matching high heels. The dress is decorated with white flowers. It doesn't have any sleeves. I already feel embarrassed to reveal my shoulders… " Amou-san will pay for this… why I had to agree to buy this dress?" I clench my fists…
"Come here Kahoko!" I step closer to my mom and she festoons me with a golden necklace. It has a violin pendant on it.
"Wow, it's so beautiful!"
"Yes it is! I saw it in a jeweler's shop and I thought that it would match with your dress." An innocent smile creeps upon her serene face then she heaves a kiss on my cheek.
"Mom, you will ruin my make-up!" I tease her. Anyway, I hardly have make-up on my face… I never liked it.
"Now go, the taxi is waiting for you!"
Briskly, I hop in and give the address to the driver. Awww… these shoes are killing me… I have a sharp pain in my feet…
I don't even have the ability to recall why I said yes to addend to a Halloween party with the Music Department. It is a private party and of course, all of the concours participants are invited, including me, Hino Kahoko.
There are three conditions to be able to participate in the party:
First: costume. Check! I'm a princess! I decorate my face with pride.
Second: A disguise mask. Where is it? Did I put it to my purse? Huh… I sigh in relief. Yes, it is there.
Third: Personal invitation letter. Check!
Of course, the party is not mandatory, but Amou Nami is also invited and she convinced me to enjoy myself once in a lifetime. She pestered me for days until I said yes… So that's how I agreed to attend… Hmmm… Tricky Amou-san…
The party will be held in the principal's mansion, Akihiko Kira's mansion, to be precise.
"Wow, it's really huge and amazing!" I open my mouth when I arrive. It is a modern white building with crystal walls. When I enter by the main door, I eye the floor which is made by also crystal and it has a fish tank in it. Many colorful fish are under my feet. "So refreshing!" A light statement crosses my mind.
"Madam, may I see your invitation?" A butler is standing at the door and it looks that I ignored him…
"Oh yes, wait a minute!" I ransack my minuscule handbag and finally I find it. "There you go." He checks my name on a list.
"Madam, don't forget to put your mask on." He bows his head and shows me the direction. Maybe I could get lost… who knows… It is like a maze of corridors and finally I find myself in an enormous ball room. The chandelier is made by also crystal (probably principal Kira has a mania for crystals) and it fills the room with light orange color. There is a podium where musicians entertain the guests. They beam very pleasant classical music.
"Hino-san" I hear faintly my name… I turn around and I feast my eyes on a girl in a baby blue dress. Her hair is really long and blonde. "Who is she?" I muse.
"Yes…" Skepticism rushes over my voice.
"Don't be silly, it's me, Amou-san."
"Eh, Amou-san! What happened to your hair?" I'm missing her mild chocolate curls.
"Ah… it's a wig." She giggles.
"How did you know that I was Hino?" She rolls her eyes…
"Well, I warned you to disguise yourself better. On the guest list, you are the only one with crimson hair… And you didn't even do anything with your locks…" She shuts her eyes and tries to tint her expression with sadness. I don't buy it… she feigns.
"Anyway… why all of the guys are in the same clothes?" As I look around, all of them are in pitch black mantles… they have the masks on their faces and they also have hoods… Those boys are unrecognizable.
"Hm… it was our wonderful principal's idea… Don't ask me why… " She inhales then exhales. "Whatever… let's enjoy the party." She winks.
"I still don't understand why you are here…" I flinch and observe really carefully the irritation on her posture. The red shade starts to climb up from her neck to her face…
"Because I'm the journalist of Seiso Academy and I have responsibility and duty to report this unique event." She finishes her sentence with a haughty smile.
"Ok… I get it…" I close my eyes and my mind goes blank. "What will I do here?" I twirl around once again and I could witness how people are having fun. They are chatting, dancing, eating…drinking champagne or wine… I'm not in the mood to do anything…
"There you go, girl…" Amou gives me a glass of wine.
"I don't drink…" I intend to protest but I fail… my journalist friend has a killing look and I don't have the frame of mind to fight with her over a glass of wine…
"I should take some picture so be a bad girl and have some fun." She winks again… again? Has it become her habit winking over and over again?
I feel so solitary… I couldn't even find Tsuchiura-kun… this whole black attire was a splendid idea. "Thanks Principal! Now I can enjoy myself… I cannot find my friend because of your idea…" I am angry for a childish reason but I just couldn't go around and ask people: "Are you Tsuchiura-kun?" No… they would think that I'm insane… At least… if I can notice a little glimpse from their hair color…but they are all well covered by that stupid hood.
I am busy my thoughts when I decide to visit the garden… it is obvious where it is located so I just head there.
It is really peaceful and enthralling.
The green garden is a typical Japanese garden with a hint of British style: small ponds, rose bushes, an illuminated fountain and a small wood bridge over a narrow river at the back part of the garden.
The fresh fragrance of the rose is so enchanting. It is carried by the late autumn breeze… the weather is surprisingly mild in spite of the fact that the calendar is at the end of October.
I wander all over the garden and halt at the bridge and glare at the reflection of the moon and stars in the glistening water… "So reassuring…" My thoughts are mesmerized by the sight of the illumination of the sparkling moon when I hear footsteps.
I turn around and it is man… or a boy… who knows under this attire…
"Good evening…" I greet him with my best smiling face… I had to look for this smile really deep to bring it to the surface… I am not in the mood to smile at an unknown person…
He doesn't respond. He just closes our proximity and grabs my hand with a ginger touch. First, he pries into my hands… gently caresses all my fingers. Then he cups my chin and pulls up to meet his gaze. I don't see his eyes… his mask covers his orbs… there are only two tiny holes for him to be able to see… He looks so mysterious.
What. Should. I. DO? Should I scream? Should I… tell him to leave? Should I remove his hood? Should I ask him questions? Should I hold tighter this glass of wine in my hand… and if something happens I can hit him with it?
But his stare continues and keeps our look for some minutes. I am really confused and abashed. I sense my rapidly beating heart and my blood is in fire. The heat is getting more unbearable in my body when he leans closer to me… closer… and closer… he stops exactly at my lips. He hasn't touched me, yet!
"Wh…who are you?" Desperation decorates my trembling voice… my mouth is half opened to pronounce only these words. But he takes advantage of it and gingerly, he presses his lips on mine.
I venture to push him away (not to mention the breaking noise of the glass which has just fallen down and scared me so much that I jerked closer to him)… I try to close my mouth and chase away his fervent tongue but he is unrelenting.
"Do you really want him to stop kissing you?" An annoying voice teasingly asks me… "Sssshhh… Of course I want. I don't even know who he is."
After ignoring him for a while, I couldn't resist anymore and I return the kiss…
Officially, I am kissing a complete stranger. But it feels so right… so tempting…
His right hand is resting on my hip, while his left hand is on my back and starts to fondle my spine up and down…
Unconsciously, I circle my arms around his neck and I pull him even closer to my body. He is so warm and pleasant… "Stupid Kahoko, what are you doing?" An alarm is beeping in my head, makes me remember that I'm going too far… but I disregard it.
He breaks the kiss and I observe a puny smirk is crept upon his lips…
The anonymous man dazes me with tiny butterfly kisses on my lips… he repeats it several times to drive me crazy and probably, he wants to see me begging for another ambrosia kiss. Anytime he caresses my lips with his, I open my mouth to invite him over but he abandons me and continues his ministration.
I intend to ask his name again, but I'm too occupied with the overflowing joy in my body. I'm dizzy. My head is spinning around and my legs are wobbly. My whole body is trembling any time he touches me with his lips…
Then, he entangles his fingers into my hair and caresses it with much care. He inhales its scent…
He stares into my eyes and grins… then he kisses me… it is not gentle; it is impetuous and intense. It makes my blood burn even hotter…
He holds me tightly and ducks his head on my shoulder. I am still speechless… I don't have energy to speak… but I yearn for more information about his identity.
He stares into my eyes once again and heaves a tender kiss on my nose… he gingerly smiles and takes his leave.
I don't even notice that he left… I am just glaring at his direction and watching him walking away… when he is far enough… I realize that his presence has disappeared and I start to run after him.
"Hey, wait!" I shout but he doesn't turn around. When I catch up with him, he's already imbued with the mass of people. Between the same looking attires I don't find him…
Tentatively, I touch my lips… and sigh… "My first kiss…"
I open my eyes for the Monday sun and scoot to school. Of course I'm late like always.
Everything is normal now. The Halloween party madness was over… The results of the party: Aching feet and receiving my first kiss...
"Hino-san… Hello… Hino-san!"
"Eh?" Amou-san and Fuyuumi-chan are calling me…
"You were spacing out, what's wrong?" I look down on my food… it is already lunch time…
"I am… Nothing…" I fake a smile which is not so convincing for the famous journalist.
"Come on Kahoko, you can tell us anything! Right, Fuyuumi-chan?" She pats the shy girl's shoulders…
"Of course…" She is blushing.
"If you don't tell us, I will publish your secret photos!" She has an evil smile on her face. She is not joking.
"It's about the Saturday party…" I start in defeat. I remember my sleeping picture… through my dead body she could publish that photo! I always hated blackmails! By the way, she is a wanton witch and on the top of that, a merciless journalist. "Someone kissed me in the garden..." I blurt out the sentence with shyness in my voice.
"Wow…" Amou-san's eyes are sparkling in happiness. "Go on… I want to know the details… don't be cheap!"
"Well… I don't know who was it… and I just keep thinking of it… He had the same black mantle like the others… his eyes were covered with the mask… I didn't see his hair color or his eyes and he didn't even speak…"
"Did he have something… like… a unique scent or…?"
"No… he tasted like mint… and his perfume was a little bit spicy… that's all…"
"It doesn't help much, but I have a plan." She smirks and starts to detail her crazy plan. "We need to get the 'checked' guest list. With that, we will know who really attended the party. There were like 15 men in the ball room in the same black attire. When we have the list, we highlight the possible names and you just have to kiss all of them to figure out who was your unknown prince."
"Kiss them? " I say in unison with Fuyuumi-chan.
"Would it be a better idea… to ask them?" The clarinetist suggests timidly.
"No way… This boy (or man) had taken advantage of the party and this stupid black hood… I am certain that the person knows Hino-san really well… and mostly, he is in love with her… On the other hand, boys are coward in real life. They would never admit the truth." She frowns.
"Nonsense…" I said with a frosty tone… "That is impossible! How would I kiss them? And…What if there are too many possibilities?" Sure… I'm not going to kiss 15 boys… Not a chance! But this was my first kiss. My first kiss! And it was stolen by an unknown guy…
"Bah… you will find a way to accomplish… or don't you want to know your enigmatic kisser?"
She is teasing me… of course… I am dying to know who he was…
"Another question, Amou-san… how do you think you can get that list?"
"Just trust me! This is an interesting story… we will find out who is the culprit!"
I need to be sure who kissed me… my mind lingers around his touches and kisses… how he held me in his arms… it was so mesmerizing…
Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcome! Please let me know if I exceeded the boundaries of rating T... I hope not...
The next chapter is almost done! I will update this weekend. I know... I know... I'm horrible... I start new stories while I need to update my old ones but I just have too much in mind and I yearn for writing all of my stories at the same time :D Sorry for that :$
You can guess who is the enigmatic kisser... but there is a long way to find that out :P And I don't want to ruin the fun XD
