Her one love

She opened her eyes. Like large red spider Lillies blossoming in the early spring. Her long ebony hair brushed against her cheeks as she sat up in the futon, the white blanket spilling around her like a white waterfall. Her hair reached down her back, pressing against her snowy white skin as she blinked around the almost empty room, a lonely figure sitting in the corner of the small room, watching the young girl blink around the familiar room, a curious look painted on her face, her rich ruby eyes skimming over the objects, like she was taking the shapes of the room, trying to piece together the reason for her being there.

"Miss, you fainted outside, in the water" said the figure, watching the girl shift her gaze to him. She looked at him, her soft pink lips not moving to pass on an answer to the event that just unfolded. He shrugged, knowing that an answer wouldn't be given, the only time the young miss ever spoke was when she was talking, taunting if you wanted to call it that, her victims, ferrying them to the deepest pit of hell.

"We took inside" he said softly, his mind flashing back to the moment he pulled her from the water, her clothes dripping wet, her face lifeless.

The girl nodded slightly, her eyes turning to her porcelain hands that were knotted into each other, her pale nails facing her.

The figure edged closer to her, his black fringe showing his only exposed eye.

"Miss, are you ok? You seem more quiet than usual" he murmured, edging closer, concern for her in the pit of his stomach.

The girl looked away from her hand to the small window that occupied the top right corner.

"Ai" she said softly, her eyes leaving the light and resting on his face making him smile, even though her voice sounded hollow and distant.

"You know that Ren"

"Yes, I apologise to you miss" he whispered, her ebony hair falling into her eyes. An urge deep inside him wanted to tenderly brush the hair away, let his finger tips touch her smooth skin. It was an urge that he had to push deep inside of himself. There was no way he could show how he felt, or it would win him a ticket to hell.

Ai blinked before looking down at her hands, fidgeting with her slender fingers, studying them, absorbing every inch of the white skin like they were a fantastical creature in their own right.

Ren sighed knowing that a single word from Ai would take a lot of effort and coaxing, to get the precious words to leave her delicate lips.

"You never have to apologise to me Ren" she whispered, the sound barely above the point of hearing it.

"Would you like some cherries miss, Ai?" he asked, correcting himself at last minute, pushing the basket next to him towards her, trying to avoid making the young miss even more uncomfortable.

She looked down at the basket, the red round fruits calling to her. She hesitated, her hand hovering over them, before letting her fingers pluck a single fruit from the collection. She held it up to her face, parting her lips, slipping the fruit delicately between her lips, pulling the small red fruit from the stem, letting the rich ruby fruit disappear behind her pink lips. Ren watched her as she chewed the fruit, her hand unconsciously reaching into the basket again, plucking another ruby red love heart shaped fruit. Was this really what the young miss was like? She never let any emotion leave her, but now it was radiating from her. She lifted the fruit to her mouth.

"Yes" he nodded watching the girl slip the fruit into her mouth, like she had done with the other one before.

"She was like this" he thought, watching the girl eat her cherries. It was a rare glimpse, something that never strayed his mind for long.

She had let her emotional barrier down, for this short time. It was the only time she ever was able to do it, her intimate time that he was witnessing, when she was devouring the red cherries; like she was away from reality and was in a world of her own.

"Well Ai, you seem content, shall I leave you to it?" He asked, getting up from his position on the dark wooded floor heading for the door on the other side of the room, passing her. Even though the yearning to stay with her was strong, pulling at his legs like weights, she was in her own personal world, a world that he had witnessed many times, but today somehow, it seemed inappropriate to stay and watch her. Suddenly something stopped him. His eye glanced down at the thing stopping him from exiting the room. Ai has turned around on the futon, and had grasped a hand full of his jeans, stopping him dead in his tracks, a red cherry sticking out from her mouth.

"Miss?"

Ai glanced up at him, her eyes vacant and tugged on his jeans again, motioning him to sit on the ground next to her. He gave her an inquisitive look, sitting onto the wood again, facing her once more, her snowy face inches from his own, her casual clothing showing her creamy skin of her leg, making him blush slightly.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

Ai blinked, her ruby eyes darting downwards.

"Ai?" he asked softly, trying to seep his eye into hers.

She lifted her hand from her lap and pulled a cherry from the basket, pushing the fruit against his lips, waiting for him to open them. Ren obediently parted his lips, letting her push the small fruit into his mouth with one of her slender white fingers. His teeth broke into the flesh, as he stared into her crimson glass eyes. Her eyes broke from the lock, flickering to the basket beside her, like encouraging him to take one of her most beloved cherries from her. Why would she ask that of him? He knew that the cherries were the one thing she loved more than anything else. Why would she let him have one? But something in her empty blood red eyes edged him to dare and take one. He glanced at the cherries and carefully pulled one away from its family, brushing it against her lips as she obediently parted them and let the red heart disappear, only letting the green stem survive. He blushed slightly as his finger brushed her lip, sending a strange yet more than welcoming sensation throughout his body. She said nothing but plucked another cherry, pushing it against his lips, this time letting her finger tip enter his mouth after the fruit, delicately scrapping against the tip of his tongue, retrieving it slowly, her small finger tip touching his bottom lip teasing him. He smiled slightly pulling a red cherry from the basket that had now found its way between them, and lifted it to her mouth, holding centimetres from her. Instinctively, her mouth opened, the glass like eyes glaring at the ruby cherry, waiting for the small sweet fruit to enter. Ren smiled, but not smugly, more like he understood her craving. He had a weak spot, it was noting to be ashamed of, but something that made her more, alive. The young miss, Ai had been dead for a long time, but lately, she seemed deader, emptier than he had ever seen her. Knowing that this was her weak spot, he didn't have the feeling to explore it, he had the feeling that he needed to protect it. Gently he pushed the fruit into her waiting mouth, his finger lightly touching her pale tongue, pulling it out between her soft pink lips his eye glued to hers, the large rubies watching him carefully. Ren cocked his head to the side slightly, he hadn't noticed how close their faces had become, but now they were almost touching, he could feel her sweet warm breath. A few strands of her long raven hair brushed against his cheek. Her eyes flickered from his, down to her hands, her face vacant and dead.

"Miss?" he asked his voice hardly above a whisper, he lent in closer.

Her ruby eyes looked up his face, and instinctively she leaned in closer to him. Their noses brushed against each other as her breath brushed against his cheek, the tip of their lips grazed against each other as her skin brushed against his. He expected her to be cold, hollow. But no, she was warm, and so, so soft.

"Ai" he whispered

Her eyes flickered up again, her head pulling away, allowing her to sit up straight, and watching him for a second before looking away again. She picked another cherry and pushed it into his mouth, her finger tip crawling up into the middle of his tongue, softly touching it carefully testing the limits, before pulling it out, red cherry juice coating the tip of her finger. Inquisitively, she lifted her finger to her face, studying the red juice before slipping it into her mouth, looking at Ren with her usual blank expression. Ren just smiled. The young miss had always looked innocent, but today she managed to pass it off with such grace, that his urge to brush away the loose strands of hair became stronger. He lent in slightly closer, his lips only centimetres from hers again.

"Miss? Are you ok Ai?" he whispered, feeling her red eyed burning into him.

Ai looked away from him, her finger still in her mouth, her other hand resting in her lap was balled into a fist. Slowly, she pulled her small body to a standing position.

"Ai, what's wrong?" he asked, worry thick in his voice for her.

She looked down at him, a small hint of sadness plagued in her eyes.

"Nothing" she replied softly, her voice tinted with a tiny layer of sadness.

Slowly, she walked across the room, sliding the door and leaving Ren alone in the room with her basket of beloved cherries.