Victorique sat on the steps to the Kujo family home. Her mind wandered as she took in the crash of the nearby waves and the calm of the night.
It had been only six months since Kujo returned from the war. A wonderful, emotionally turbulent six months.
As she sat there listening to the waves, she pondered this. She had spent years waiting for him. She had spent those years in agony, first fleeing from the Sauvillian authorities and then hiding in a foreign land where she did not know the language. All the while she had little to no idea as to his safety.
She spent each day of those years worrying for Kujo's safety and for her own. Every day she worried whether or not Kujo had been killed in the fighting, or whether the Sauvillian police or secret service would follow her all the way to this far away land to apprehend her. Each day during those years made her feel like a prisoner in her own mind. She was stuck in a cycle of worry with no way to escape.
Sixth months during those years would have passed at a snail's pace, but the last six months had breezed by without her noticing. And unlike then, her mind was at peace and she could take the time to enjoy things like the sound of nearby waves.
It was a nice change to the constant worry and fear.
As she sat there studying the stars of the night sky with the same resolute stare she exhibited while reading a book, her mind began to wander elsewhere. She stopped focusing so intently on the unpleasant memories of her experiences during the war and focused on more pleasant memories, her memories of the last half year.
When Kujo returned from the war, he and Victorique had spent a lot of time together. Many years had passed since they met in the great library at Saint Marguerite Academy, but their friendship hadn't skipped a beat.
They were both certainly different people, changed and molded by the horrors of the war, but the Golden Fairy of the High Tower and the Black Reaper were still very much at home at each other's sides.
They spent their time together as they had always done, reading silently in the same room and poking fun at the other's quirks. Much like they had at the academy. It was like that nearly every day.
Every day except for one. A day that continued to repeat itself in Victorique's mind.
It was a normal day. It must have happened a week or two before. She and Kujo were sitting silently in the Kujo family home. She was deep in a Japanese textbook, trying her best to learn the language of the foreign land she now found herself in. She snuck a sweet into her mouth every so often.
Kujo sat next to her, not too close but not too far. A small gap of space sat between them. He was reading a book of his own.
After a bit of reading, Victorique tired of the complicated language that came to Kujo so naturally and set it aside, stretching her arms behind her to get the kinks out.
"Is it making any sense yet?" Kujo asked her in French, motioning to the book.
"Somewhat," she responded, looking pensive as she stretched, "But I think it will be a while before I can speak it at any intelligent level."
Kujo chuckled.
"Well if you practice with me, you'll learn it before you know it. That's how I learned French, and practicing with you has brought my level up quite high."
Flattered, Victorique puffed out her chest.
"Well, of course it did! I am quite an intelligent person, after all."
Kujo chuckled again and shook his head.
"You know, such arrogance is usually looked down upon in this country. You might have gotten away with it in Sauville, but here the people are quite humble."
Victorique closed one of her eyes, winking at him in a playful way.
"But if I stopped being the way I am, you wouldn't care for me any longer, would you?"
"I suppose that's true. I do like you the way you are."
A silence settled upon them.
The two had been getting more and more intimate with each other both in their actions and their speech, moving clumsily in the direction both of them wanted to go.
They had been making progress, but neither of them were sure how to turn a friend into a lover, and what resulted was an incredibly slow, awkward process of steps taken forward and steps taken back.
Perhaps noticing the feelings hidden behind the words they had just shared, Kujo made a bold move. Noticing that Victorique was no longer reading and was staring absentmindedly at the floor, he moved his body in closer to hers. The small gap between them closed, and they sat with their bodies joined together.
Victorique's heart skipped a beat, but she was not sure why. The pair were not unaccustomed to physical closeness. They had sat this closely together in the past. But Victorique could sense something different in Kujo this time.
He brought his hand to Victorique's, placing it on top of hers. She didn't dare to breathe. After a few moments of hesitation, he brought the other hand to her chin, pointing her face towards his.
Victorique's heart came to a grinding halt with the surprise of it all. Not only had Kujo finally worked up the courage to do what she had wanted him to do for months now, but she had not expected him to be so bold about it. The result was near total petrification on her part.
He lightly placed his lips on hers, and the world came to a standstill.
The sensation was not what she had expected. The tactile warmness of Kujo's lips on hers was to be expected, and was actually quite unremarkable, but the reaction in the rest of her body surprised Victorique.
To finally feel the kiss of the man she loved brought a tingling sensation to her stomach. It filled her completely and made her entire body numb. Her face flushed as it filled with the numb, tingly sensation as she began to process exactly what was happening.
The feeling was simply sublime.
And then, she could not keep her stubborn nature at bay amidst the whirlwind of emotions.
Slap
"Ju-Just. Just what do you think you're doing, Kujo?!" she blabbered as she tried to hide the blush that had sprouted upon her face, "You-you can't just do that to people."
Understanding that this was just the way Victorique was, Kujo took her reaction as a necessary consequence of moving their relationship forward.
"My bad. Sorry Victorique," he said.
The rest of that day was slightly awkward, but the two returned to their normal routine the following day, and neither of them had brought it up since.
As she sat there listening to the waves, she pondered that day with great intensity.
Despite her reaction to Kujo kissing her, she wanted more. She didn't know how far she wanted to take it just yet, but she knew she wanted more.
Thinking about how much she wanted him, Victorique could not help but look at the situation in a rational manner. It was all so silly. She and Kujo both knew exactly what they wanted from each other. It was so obvious. They both knew perfectly well that they had wanted each other for a very long time. The desire had been there since their days at the academy. And yet they continued to play this game.
A strange thing, human mating rituals. She thought to herself.
She wanted more from him. She wanted him to be more than her best friend. She wanted to take her best friend and turn him into something else. Something a little more intimate. But she was not sure how to do so.
And then it occurred to her. Kujo had moved their relationship a little bit further by doing one thing, by being bold. He made a bold move and decided to kiss her out of the blue. Doing so had shocked Victorique a bit, but it had moved their lover's dance to the next stage.
Victorique understood now that it was her turn. If she wanted to continue the dance and move their relationship further, she would have to be bold.
Kujo would be inside. She had to go in and see him. She and Kujo were the only ones at the house at the time, and it was the perfect opportunity. If she didn't act soon, who knew when the opportunity would present itself again? She couldn't wait that long. It had to be now.
Pushing the strange paper sliding door to the side, she stepped inside the house. She found Kujo in the next room over, reading a book. The two of them were always reading books.
She sat on the floor next to him, staying silent. Annoyingly, he didn't so much as acknowledge her presence. He was too focused on the book. She began to prod his cheek with a finger to get his attention.
"Hey. You." she commanded in her trademark bossy tone, "Look at me."
"Why, Victorique?" he asked, "Just wait a moment. I'm at a good part right now."
The stubborn, foolish man that was Kujo couldn't catch a hint. He wouldn't put his book down. This infuriated Victorique to the point that she nearly lost her temper, but she managed to maintain her composure for the sake of what she wanted to do.
"Is that book of yours more important than me? Look at me. I want to show you something."
"Okay, okay. Just a moment. Let me finish this page."
It was the last straw. Victorique began to pout. She turned away from him and crossed her arms in indignation. She loved him more than she could express, but his utter stupidity was downright exasperating at times.
"I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT ME SO JUST LOOK YOU IMBELIC FOOL."
Kujo jumped and nearly dropped his book at her sudden outburst.
"Victorique!" he exclaimed, chastising her, "Man… you really can be selfish sometimes. Okay, okay what is it? Honestly, you really ought to learn some-"
Victorique snatched at his collar and pulled him in before he could finish. Before he knew it, Kujo found himself inches away from Victorique's face, his lips resting on hers. Victorique did not close her eyes, and he was caught staring into them, dumbfounded.
It took him a moment to process what had happened, and his eyes widened in a mix of joy and fear. As he looked Victorique in the eyes, part of him delighted in the sensation of her lips on his, but part of him was terrified. For the look in Victorique's eyes was a look he had seen many times before. A look of disappointment, a look that told him he had messed up somehow. He soon realized that he should have put down the book.
After a few moments, Victorique pulled away. She looked him in the eyes, still clutching his collar. Her face showed a mix of embarrassment, annoyance, and just a hint of joy.
"You really are a fool."
Victorique gave a rare, genuine smile. It wasn't the full, bright smile that one might expect to see, it was slight and scarcely noticeable, but it was very genuine and very much like Victorique. In that subtle, alluring smile, Kujo saw something no one but he would have seen. Something reserved for him. Something she usually tried to hide, but that he could see quite clearly.
And that was pure, untainted love.