Seeing in the dark
Kyohei yawned and stretched. He'd spent yet another evening with Sunako watching a horror flick with loads of blood and gore grace. In the flickering light of the rolling credits Kyohei could see that yet again Sunako had dozed off before the movie had ended. She was sitting slouched over in her usual position cushioned on the floor with her face slightly tilted exposing her rarely seen face and neck. Kyohei took a moment to look at her beautiful translucent skin and delicate eyelashes.
When she first arrived at the mansion her skin was oily and spotted and lips dry and cracked. Kyohei knew that the food that the boys demanded each meal of Sunako helped to remedy this and had attributed to her current state. He leaned in closer to study her fine features. For a while now Kyohei had given in to the feelings he had developed for Sunako. Sunako had somehow become the centre of his world. He realized that most events that occurred throughout his days involved Sunako in some way or another. They ate together, went to school together and generally hung out together. They had a silent understanding and trust between each other. They had become best friends and often helped each other out without making a big deal of it.
However, Kyohei had known for some time that what he felt was deeper then friendship. He knew she was a beauty even when she could see nothing of that herself, not that that was the most important thing to him. He was the last person that would worry too much about appearances. His appearance had caused only pain for him through his life.
He was drawn to her for so many reasons. They had both traveled a similar path to be where they were today and he was the only one that could appreciate all that she had been through.
She had started to relax a lot more around him and was not as self conscious anymore; this meant a lot to Kyohei. She had even eased off on her fainting spells and nose bleeds somewhat. Perhaps Sunako was finally getting used to him.
The Landlady had continued with her drop in visits and arranged functions for Sunako to attend in order to become a lady. However, Sunako and Kyohei were not too bothered by them anymore. They would turn up, make an appearance, leave and head back to Sunako's sanctuary and reward themselves with chocolate, green tea ice-cream and horror movie marathons. In fact the Landlady had become quite complacent about the whole matter. She had stopped arranging blind dates for Sunako and had eased off on trying to change Sunako's wardrobe. In fact, the more Kyohei thought on the matter, the boys, the Landlady and Noi had all eased off on their interfering in Sunako's life. They had even stopped pushing Kyohei onto Sunako all the time.
Just then it dawned on Kyohei what had been going on, how obvious they had been. The Landlady, the boys and Noi had all left Kyohei and Sunako alone. They had backed off so much lately that there had been no pressure in weeks for Sunako to become a lady. This was bad. Kyohei knew that this new strategy was possibly leading to some plan that was going to be really big and no doubt involve him.
Kyohei sighed. He stood up and moved to pick up Sunako to carry her to bed, another routine that had developed with them which she always thanked him for by making an extra helping of fried shrimp. He gently lowered her to the bed placing her head onto her black satin covered pillow. He looked again at her face astounded by the contrast that was her dark hair and pale face. She was so beautiful, not just pretty but really naturally beautiful. What on earth was that prick thinking years ago, to say she was 'ugly' was just ridiculous.
Sunako slowly fluttered her lashes and opened her eyes. Kyohei looked slightly alarmed as he was still positioned closely to her.
'S…..'ok' Sunako mumbled sleepily, turning her head to the side facing away from Kyohei. 'I'm not going to kill you. I know what you were doing', she said looking in the direction of the shadowed form of Hiroshi-kun that stood a few feet away.
'I know you wouldn't kill me because you would have done it by now if you really wanted to' Kyohei said jokingly. He noticed her turning her face and assumed Sunako was attempting to combat an oncoming nose bleed.
'Sorry I fell asleep again, how was the ending?' Sunako asked.
'Adequate amounts of blood and deaths to meet our usual criteria' Kyohei replied quietly. He had not moved from his position, hovering close to Sunako. Kyohei was still a little distracted by his previous thoughts which showed on his face.
'What's the matter with you, was the movie too scary for you by yourself? Sunako mocked. She had heard the soft tone used which was uncharacteristic of Kyohei.
Kyohei smirked. 'As if anything you pick could have that effect on me. At least I managed to see the whole thing'.
'Wow, what an achievement. It's not my fault I fell asleep; you know how early I have to wake up to cook the massive volumes of breakfast for you'. Sunako was preparing for a rant to defend herself. In truth she had woken up embarrassed that Kyohei had carried her to her bed. She was still recovering from a slight blush which she had covered from Kyohei by turning her face away from him. She couldn't figure out why the blush had come but no nose bleed or fainting. She had been around Kyohei so much that she knew the effect he had on her had decreased, but at the moment even though he was so close, she hadn't felt the usual stinging sensation in her nose as the blood rushed around.
Sunako considered as her room was dark that it would be safe to sneak a peek at Kyohei. She turned away from Hiroshi-kun and looked up straight into Kyohei's amber eyes. He was still close, and a slight look of surprise crossed his handsome features.
Sunako blushed a deep shade, this time Kyohei caught the beautiful colouring as enough light had projected from the television at that moment to uncover this delight.
Kyohei's expression suddenly changed, the smirk disappeared replaced by something more intense and serious. 'You're so beautiful', Kyohei whispered softly.
Sunako took in a gasp of air. She felt like her heart would fly out of her chest. How could he say something like that, he was surely mocking. 'What do you mean by saying that? It's not true, why say that?' Sunako asked, fearing that only cruelty would follow.
Kyohei took a deep breath, why couldn't she understand he wondered looking deeply into her violet eyes. Well, he decided that if she couldn't understand then now was the time for him to show her and prove to her that there was nothing more to fear. 'Sunako, …. you are beautiful. I know what happened in the past. I can't believe what that little prick said to you. He must be blind, because all I see is a gorgeous woman, regardless of the Landlady and the others trying to convert you to a 'lady'. That sort of thing is pointless and unnecessary. To me you are perfect in all ways. I'm drawn to you in every possible way don't you see. You can't hide your true nature from me. You are my best friend Sunako and I can't hold back any longer'.
With that Kyohei dipped down and captured Sunako's lips with his. Kissing softly, gently at first then grabbing hold of her waist and pulling her body to touch his as the kiss deepened. Sunako had gone semi-rigid and unresponsive with the shock of the passionate assault from Kyohei.
Kyohei then paused from kissing and pulled away slowly. He looked again into Sunako's eyes and whispered 'I'm serious about what I said Sunako. I …..I .love you. I have for a long time'.
Kyohei saw Sunako's eyes widened in surprise and gradually an expression rarely seen on Sunako graced her face. She smiled and whispered back 'You're my best friend and I love you too'.
With that Sunako leaned into Kyohei and kissed him softly on the lips. Kyohei was overjoyed that Sunako had taken this initiative and quickly grabbed her around the shoulders and deepened the kiss. Sunako had reached up and wrapped her arms around Kyohei's neck, her weight pulling him down to lay on top of her. The touch of her body against his along with the body heat was starting to send his brain into meltdown mode. Kyohei was overcome and was falling faster and faster into an uncontrollable state. His kisses became longer and deeper still. Both of them gasping for air in between each kiss. Kyohei reached around and began unbuttoning Sunako's shirt. He started kissing down her neck hearing her soft sighs along the way.
He made was making steady progress towards her bra when he felt Sunako jerk away quickly. Holding her he looked up towards her face to find out the cause of the action. Sunako's nose had commenced a small trickling of blood.
'Sunako, you do believe what I told you don't you?' Kyohei asked pouting and slightly annoyed by the sight of the blood. Didn't she know how earnest he was being before? She reached over for a tissue and began to dab at the blood.
'Don't pout like a baby, god Kyohei, I do believe you. You took me by surprise and I guess I'm not completely immune to you yet. You're lucky my defence reflexes didn't automatically go for the dagger I keep under my pillow'.
'Firstly, I'm not pouting' said Kyohei.
'Yes you are' snickered Sunako.
'Secondly, I'm glad you believe me', Kyohei lips curved in a small smile as he said this.
'I know you well enough to know when you are lying', Sunako responded assuredly.
'Stop interrupting. Thirdly, God how long will it take for you to get over the nose bleeds. Maybe we could increase your Vitamin K intake to help with clotting so that next time maybe I can make it further down your gorgeous body' Kyohei leered at Sunako then smiled seductively.
'Sure, I'll just start adding even more carrots to each meal I cook', Sunako smirked.
'Hmmmm, forget that I mentioned that. Fourthly, what other weapons do you have hidden away that can be used to maim or destroy me?', Kyohei did a quick scan of the room with fear in his eyes.
'Well there are those several torture devices that I purchased recently from that private collector. Do they count?', Sunako asked with an evil glint in her eye.
'YES THEY COUNT!' shouted Kyohei. 'Anyway, like I said before, if you really wanted to kill me you would have done so by now'.
They both smiled and looked into each others eyes. Sunako yawned and snuggled back into her blanket. Kyohei moved closer, wrapping his arms around her tightly, pulling her body closer and allowing her head to fall onto his chest
'I'm too tired to move tonight, so I'm sleeping here!' stated Kyohei defiantly.
'Fine, your gamble', Sunako drowsily mumbled as her eyes shut and she started to doze off.
Kyohei was delighted that Sunako had not threatened him and kicked him out. He wanted to stay by her side and just be there with her. He yawned and shut his eyes.
Kyohei lifted his head and leaned down. He kissed Sunako sweetly on the forehead. 'Goodnight Sunako', he breathed softly into her hair.
'Go to sleep Kyohei before I change my mind', Sunako mumbled.
As sleep started to capture him Kyohei wondered again about why it was the LandLady and the others had stopped pressuring them. He decided that what he had thought was correct indeed. Their new strategy did lead to something really big and it did involve him. They had left them alone long enough to let them things take their course naturally. They figured out that all that was needed was for things to be done in their own time.