Greetings, readers… long time has it been… ( not to mention someone had hacked into my account and deleted all of my past stories )

Anyway, now for the plot, and before I begin I would like to say I am in a very interesting position right now ( sitting upside down )

Disclaimer- Having both found a new love in video games, a young couple, Garuru and Elili decide to hang out together. And all is going well... until Elili innocently suggests they play a different kind of game.

Perfect Innocence

I'd just finished setting it up as a light knock came from the opposite side of my bedroom door. Making sure that the last cable was securely connected, I grinned to myself, knowing who it was even before I heard the cheery "Garuru-kun, it's me!" from my visitor.

"Come on in Elili," I called; casting one last panicky glance around my room to ensure it looked respectable. Stupid of me really considering what a neatness freak I am, and as suspected, I found everything tidy and to my satisfaction, just like it was ten minutes ago when I'd last checked. I admit that maybe I was being a little paranoid, but this was my usually private, personal space that she was entering, I didn't want her to think that I was some kind of slob.

The door creaked slightly, and I looked up to see the short Heicho girl poke her head shyly through the gap before coming in properly, her eyes lighting up as she saw the old games console resting on the lacquered floorboards, already wired up to the TV.

"You fixed it!" she cried joyfully, bounding over to where I knelt and giving me a hug, a hug which made all my efforts seem worthwhile, "I can't believe you actually fixed it!"

My grin grew wider as I sat there with her arms wrapped around me, "You didn't doubt me did you?"

She shook her head, the flaps of her helmet swinging from side to side, "Of course not, I just know how busy you are, that's all." Letting go of me (much to my disappointment), she returned her attention to the black brick in front of us, her fingers clearly itching to slot in the ancient cartridge and get started, "You really are amazing Garuru-kun!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I replied teasingly, earning myself a playful dig in the ribs from Elili.

The console really was a stroke of genius though, especially since neither of us was particularly interested in video games before. I found the Sega Megadrive and the box of old games gathering dust in the corner of my attic while cleaning, and out of sheer boredom decided to hook them up to my computer and tinker with them a little. I've never really seen the point in playing video games for hours on end, they just distract from more important inventions. But one day Elili came round, and seeing the strange machine, asked me to show it to her. It only took five minutes to get her hooked - with the game and requested that I teach her how to play. It still had a few glitches though; hence it needed to be fixed.

I felt a gentle prod on my arm; "Can we start?" she asked pleadingly, "Please?"

"Sure thing," I said, wondering if it was possible for anyone to resist her when she went into cute mode, "After all, we've got a score to settle!"

Sitting down on one of the two squishy, lemon yellow bean-bags that I'd put out for us, I motioned for Elili to join me on the other one, which she did eagerly, bringing her favourite controller with her. It only has two controllers, both pretty much identical, but for some reason she always prefers the one on the right… just another of the many unusual traits which make her unique. Like the way she constantly fiddles with the blue ribbon on her dress when she thinks your not looking, or how she tends to go hyper when she eats too many jaffa cakes - a newly discovered favourite of hers. I picked up the remaining D-pad while she reached over and flicked the power switch, illuminating our faces with the glow of the title screen.

She smiled, predictably selecting her own video game counterpart,

"Ok, this time I'm going to win for sure," she said, her voice filled with determination as she pressed the `start' button.

I watched as her brow furrowed slightly with concentration, her eyes never leaving the TV as our characters whizzed along the vividly coloured tracks, one on the top half, one on the bottom. I had to smile at her, I couldn't help it; she just looked so focused and serious. The strange thing was that I actually enjoyed playing with her, were as with anyone else I would have found the dated 16-bit levels a bore. I found this puzzling, and after trying to figure it out for a while I could only conclude that it must be because of how she reacts to every little thing. No matter how many times she played or how familiar she became with the levels, she would still cheer jubilantly if she won, or be mortified when her pixelated miniature died a premature death. I could always count on her to gasp in surprise when my character snuck up on hers from behind, or be shocked or scared if an abnormally freaky enemy popped up to challenge her, and it was these little quirks of her that made her such a joy to play with.

"I won!!" Elili suddenly cheered delightedly down my ear, throwing her hands up in the air.

I snapped back to reality to find the words `You Lose' dominating my half of the screen. Feeling slightly annoyed with myself for allowing my mind to wander, I swiftly selected the `retry' option. "You just got lucky, I want a rematch."

"As you wish," she giggled.

We played four more games in quick succession, neither of us willing to give in. I got my revenge in the second race, only to knocked back again by Elili in the third, an event which she seemed to enjoy immensely. Fortunately, I managed to secure first place in the last two matches, resulting in me being victorious over all. Setting down her controller, my opponent flopped back onto the bean-bag wearily and sighed as I followed her example.

"No fair," she pouted jokingly, "You've obviously been practicing while you were fixing it!"

I laughed at her feigned sulking expression, "You're just thinking up excuses `cause you can't handle that I beat you,"

"The only reason you beat me is because you know my thumbs get tired if I play for too long."

"Excuses, excuses…"

"They're not excuses!" She closed her eyes and spoke more softly, "Besides… I'll win the next game."

I just grinned and lay there quietly, grateful for the break since my own thumbs had started to throb. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, she rolled over to face me, the bean-bag having been quashed into more of a flat bed than the seat shape it started off in.

I chuckled to myself, a mental image of his closest friend pair forming in my mind, "She's probably glomping him!"

"Or you know…" she said, raising a slender eyebrow mischievously, "They could be kissing."

That surprised me; it never even occurred to me that Elili might think of those sorts of things.

"Well it's got to happen sooner or later," she replied knowledgably, "he obviously he likes her, otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to so many dates."

"I guess…" I stared at her, not entirely comfortable with the direction our conversation was taking.

She resumed admiring the patterns on the ceiling, but it appeared as though she was seeing far beyond the white plaster above us. "Besides, grown-ups and teenagers are always talking about kissing, so it must be a pretty good thing, right?"

I lowered my gaze. "You're asking the wrong person there," I murmured, more to myself than anyone, "I've never even been…kissed."

Cream giggled cutely, and I mentally slapped myself for forgetting how sensitive her hearing was. "Well I haven't either," she pointed out as a blush crept across my cheeks. "But I think I'd like to be," she whispered, though still loud enough for me to hear, "just to see how it feels."

That did it. Soon my head was filled with bizarre new thoughts as my untamable curiosity ran riot. I still couldn't believe that me and Elili were talking about this, and that, strangely enough, she didn't seem to find the subject a big deal. I found myself envying her slightly; it must be nice to think of these kinds of things in such a pure a childlike way like she does, that way you don't get embarrassed. "I wonder what actually feels like…" I said under my breath, so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn't realize I'd said it out loud.

She must have heard me though, since she turned towards me again, a sincere smile highlighting her angelic features, "Do you want to try it?"

I jumped back three feet, nearly hitting my head against the wall, "W-what?!!"

"Do you want to try it?" she repeated more slowly.

I could only gawk at the six year old, completely astounded. Elili merely sat there, still smiling sweetly, her face a picture of perfect innocence. And she'd just offered to kiss me. Now. In this room. My mouth suddenly turned to sand paper, and I gaped at her, trying unsuccessfully to say something, anything. Unfortunately when my words eventually returned, they did not come out exactly how I wanted, "Y-you mean kissing? With you?!"

Her bright smile instantly faded, like the sun vanishing behind a cloud, and I watched dismayed as the little bunny dipped her head, utterly crestfallen, "Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, no! Of course not!" I cried, waving my hands in front of me to illustrate my point. "It's just, er…" I trailed off, searching for the right words to explain without upsetting her, "Don't people usually only kiss when they're in love?"

Elili perked up a bit and looked at me, her eyes wide and shining, "Well, we are a couple, aren't we, Garuru-kun."

Once again, she spoke the words as though they were the ordinary, everyday things that you say to a guy, her voice honest and true. And once again I found myself lost for words as I stared at her, my cheeks growing redder by the second.

"And you love me as a couple too, right?" she asked timidly.

I recovered just in time, "Well yeah, of course." I'd never really though of our friendship in that way before, but I guess it's true.

She cocked her head to one side cutely, placing a gloved hand to her cheek in thought, "So what's that word which means when you love someone as a family of friend?"

"Platonic?"

She clapped her hands together in triumph, "Right! So it'll just be a platonic kiss."

"I don't know…" I rubbed the back of my head, unsure of what to do. She obviously didn't understand that friends weren't meant to kiss in that way, a peck on the cheek maybe, but never on the lips. At least not at our age.

"Aw come on Garuru-kun!" she urged, "You want to know what it feels like, and I want to know what it feels like, so what's the problem?"

I desperately rummaged for a decent excuse, "Errrrm…"

"Just think of it as a game."

`A game,' I thought, genuinely considering it, `Maybe if I think of it as a game it won't be so bad...'

Wait a minute, what was I thinking?! I 'm the older one here; I should be putting a stop to this! But it was no good, Elili had planted a seed in my brain from the very moment she started the subject, and now it had grown and blossomed, pushing all other thoughts aside. Try as I might, I simply couldn't dispense of the burning curiosity rising up inside of me, and I cursed my natural inquisitiveness towards the unknown. I battled with it mentally for a while, but in the end I had to except it. Now I didn't just want to know what it was like to be kissed; I wanted to know what it was like to be kissed by Elili.

"Oh all right," I sighed in defeat, making her beam from ear to ear(her flaps). I raised a finger to emphasize my only rule, feeling that I should at least set out some guide lines, "But no tongues."

"What do you mean?" she blinked, completely clueless.

"Er, never mind," I sweatdropped, having forgotten how naïve she could be, "let's just do this."

"Ok!"

My heart started pounding as she slowly edged closer and closer, until she was kneeling right beside me, so near that I could count every fine hair on her head. I could even smell her scent, light and sweet and faintly flowery, something which I'd never noticed until now. Ok I admit it, I was panicking, but I'd never done anything like this before. What if I turned out to be bad at it? Worst still, Elili appeared to be totally at ease with our current situation, as though it really was just a game to her. Seeing my distressed expression, she gave me a shy smile before leaning in further, diminishing the small gap between us so that only a few centimeters remained.

"You nervous?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"No," I lied as my heart threatened to beat its way through my rib cage.

We moved in, our faces hovering uncertainly in front of each other. Unsure what to do next, I impulsively took her hands in my own and closed my eyes.

Our lips connected.

And we were kissing each other, gently, carefully, both of us completely absorbed in the wonderful new experience, oblivious to our surroundings. I felt Elili's grip tighten as we continued, the kiss becoming stronger as we grew more confident. I couldn't believe how good it felt, how nice her soft lips felt on mine, and I realized, to my surprise, that I was actually enjoying kissing her. Yes, wonderful was definitely the right word to use. Eventually we reluctantly pulled apart, panting, and I opened my eyes to see Elili's flushed face mirroring my own. She was trembling slightly, I was too, and for a while all we could do was sit there, still holding hands, still only inches apart.

"Wow…" she murmured, having got her breath back.

I couldn't agree more, "Yeah…"

She smiled adorably, making me appreciate just how pretty she was. Why hadn't I noticed that before? Unfortunately our sweet moment was short lived, as all of a sudden we heard the front door open, let in what sounded like a monsoon, then slam shut below us, signalling that the weather had taken a turn for the worst.

Elili glanced behind her worriedly, "That must be Luna & Samomo, I wonder why they're back so early?"

Releasing my hands, she got to her feet, leaving me lonely on the floor. "Wait, do you really have to go?"

"I have to check that she's ok," she said, bending down and giving me a swift peck on the cheek, before starting towards the door, "Thank you for everything Garuru-kun, that was a fun game!"

"So who won then?" I called after her, making a futile effort to prolong her stay.

She paused, thinking it over. "Well… that depends on how you look at it," she winked cheekily, "but for now I'll say me!"

And with that she vanished through the doorway, while I sat there gazing at the place where she had stood, partly trying to make sense of the afternoon's events and partly whishing that she'd come back. Falling back onto the bean-bag, I gingerly touched my cheek, then my lips, and sighed wistfully. It was going to take me a long time to figure out these feelings, I knew that for certain, but I didn't mind too much. I always enjoyed a challenge. I knew one other thing for certain too.

I wanted to play with Elili again.

A/N- You may have noticed that this was plotted a little before Giroro was born~