And starting to act like a divine Casanova . . .
» : «
Because a thing worse than a boy who hates you—
There's Everything In Nothing
—is a boy who loves you.
» : «
. . . Tsukimori Len decided he'd make Hino Kahoko his.
Hino Kahoko's amber-coloured eyes flashed irritation as she watched—helplessly—the ridiculous thing that Tsukimori Len had been shamelessly doing in front of her house's yard. The redhead could have sworn she nearly cut his irritating head off a few moments ago, had it not been through what little was left of her sanity.
She watched, openly gaping, as the blue-haired Tsukimori pounded heavily with a gigantic hammer the piece of jewellery that she had been presented with a few hours prior. The poor jewellery, Hino could almost faintly hear, was starting to cry for mercy, which, apparently, the male violinist paid no heed.
"Ts — Tsukimori-kun? What are you doing?" demanded Hino, gaping at the man before her. Her nails dug heavily into her palms as she closed her hands into taut fists. "That's a White Day present for me from Hihara-senpai!"
Tsukimori did not even lift his eyes to look at the unmoving and still gaping lass. The cold breeze that whispered March messed with his hair, raking into every cerulean strand tenderly. The boy could feel shivers coming his way, but he stubbornly fought it.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked anyway, rolling his eyes at the woman's obliviousness. "I'm making you mine, idiot."
Hino took the liberty to look appalled—yet at the same time abashed—and hissed, "What?"
"On a lighter note, it's not like I won't be giving you a better White Day present," continued Tsukimori as an afterthought while still pounding on the item he had—"That's freaking stolen!" Hino insisted in her head—with him.
Incredibly, the young man kept an aloof face despite the fact that he had been hitting the poor diamond ring with increasing vigour. A few more seconds rang with hefty worth of eye twitches as gradually, like a hard wall finally starting to crack, Hino and Tsukimori both heard a very audible chink in the object that the latter uncharacteristically pounded on with . . . obsession?
Hino's eyes shut tightly upon the cracking sound . . .
. . . because somewhere in her, she knew that the jewellery cost much.
"It's a fake diamond ring," noted Tsukimori, using the back of his hand to wipe off invisible beads of sweat. He turned around to look at the wavering Hino and threateningly and said, "Next time, don't accept anything coming from Hihara-senpai or any males, all right? Even if it shows appreciation over something you had given him one month prior."
. . . Said the guy who was just a friend.
The red-haired girl could feel heat creeping up her neck as she tried to open and close her mouth, but words failed her and nothing short of idiotic clamouring came from her lips. She could have pummelled the violinist then and there.
"You — You're incorrigible!"
"And genius."
For the first time in her naive affiliation with the blue-haired violinist, Hino showed what anyone could instantly refer to as annoyance (—Because really, Tsukimori-kun is being . . . a ladies' man? Which is so beyond the norm.—).
"Whatever," Hino finally said. She let out a loud huff and spun on her heels, ready to enter her house. "Kami-sama, Tsukimori-kun, what's happening to you?"
The male violinist followed suit and merely hummed, "Hn."
When they entered the empty house, Hino found a rather huge box—such a box that could fit a refrigerator—wrapped white linen paper, a silver ribbon adorning it to complete the look. The object was almost as tall as Hino and as wide as the coffee table not faraway from where it was situated.
Suspiciously, Hino glanced at Tsukimori. "And this . . . ?"
"And that's my gift," answered the Tsukimori, shrugging. "It's more genuine than what senpai gave."
Hino looked at Tsukimori in the eye, fighting the urge to smile.
He thought of me, too.
She shook her head, a small smile betraying her, before turning to the box and examining it. She silently and curiously got the card attached to the huge box and read what was speedily written—
Hino,
Happy White Day.
—Tsukimori
Because of the unbelievable height, Tsukimori had to help her retrieve the item inside. Hino's eyes twitched upon retrieving a much smaller box with another luxurious wrapping.
She silently glowered at the boy who was beside her the whole time and who ignored her and later went to sit on the couch. Hino fought the urge to squirm as she felt Tsukimori's eyes digging into her. So without further ado, Hino unwrapped the smaller box with much more ease and opened it only to find a bunch of scrap papers forced to weigh inside.
"Uh . . . all right. Crumpled papers?" said Hino, inquisitively turning to look at the music prodigy. She thought that the whole thing was incredulous, but then Tsukimori glared at her.
"Why not try and look further?"
Hino huffed and sat on the floor, removing the crumpled pieces of paper from the inside. She did not show it, but her interest was piqued when she found a box about the size of a shoebox inside.
She had a hidden fixation over shoes and she wondered if those were what Tsukimori got for her. So, when Hino lifted the lid off, the sight that she saw disappointed her rather greatly, but equally excited her. Inside the shoebox was a smaller box.
This is it.
She could already feel it. Hino avoided the gaze shot towards her by Tsukimori and placed the item near her ear. She shook the box and heard shuffling inside.
She looked up to Tsukimori who was already smirking down at her.
"Open it," insisted the boy.
"I — Whatever this is, Tsukimori-kun, thank you already," said Hino, already removing the Scotch tape that held the opening of the box. She paused and looked up at him again, narrowing her eyes cutely. "But don't think I've forgiven you over the whole Hihara-senpai's gift issue."
Tsukimori shrugged and Hino peeked inside the container.
Inside was a beautiful, antique white vase. Hino could not fight it, but she let out a disappointed, "Oh."
When the female violinist looked up to the bullion-eyed lad, she thought she saw the man grin. All irritation came back to Hino in a wink. Her murderous eyes narrowed. "A vase? You're giving me a vase after pounding the ring Hihara-senpai gave me into ashes?"
Tsukimori smirked. "Actually, it's an urn that held Mother's deceased dog's ashe—"
"Eek!"
Tsukimori instantly glared when the loud breaking sound reverberated around the empty house. On the floor, broken, lay the gift that was "worth his monthly allowance."
Not really, but still.
"That cost about a hundred thousand yen, Hino," Tsukimori pointed out, looking eerily indifferent. "The one inside that broken vase cost me more than a million yen."
Hino would have retorted, had it not been by the latter statement of the man. "What do you mean inside the broken vase?"
Not waiting for a response, Hino looked down to the floor and her breath hitched upon seeing a velvety box sitting amongst the broken shards. Her eyes shifted to look at the Tsukimori Len who was already smiling dumbly at her and her hands moved up to cover her gaping mouth.
Hino crouched down and reached out for the velvety blue box. She shook out the small shards that sat atop it and pulled the lid open . . .
. . . only to find a small piece of rolled paper.
"Tsukimori-kun . . . ." Hino's quivering voice promised murder.
She could practically hear his eyes roll in annoyance. "Why not open the thing first?"
Hino could have all the time in the world to glare at him after all, so she opted to concede to his words and freed the small piece of paper from the tiny ribbon that held it in place.
My gift is somewhere in my chest.
The young woman shook her head in annoyance as she stood up, threw the box and paper down on the floor really hard, and advanced to the violinist. Without thinking any further, she angrily touched his chest, scanning it for anything remarkably solid, only to have herself frustrated when she could not find anything.
"OK! I can see nothing and I give up," Hino claimed, raising both her hands. She knew. There was nothing, really. Nothing at all.
Only disappointment, she guessed. That was what Tsukimori Len always brought her anyway.
"I always lose when it comes to your sadistic games anyway —"
Tsukimori surprised her when he took one of her hands and placed it on his chest, cutting off whatever she had to say. Hino was rendered silent when he gazed at her softly, his eyes screaming emotions he could never word.
"Of course you would never see it," said Tsukimori, smiling a small smile. Hino's eyes widened, somehow knowing where his words were going. It was not anything material things could compare with. It was not anything better she had after all.
It was the best she could ever have.
"Because you'll feel it, annoying woman," continued Tsukimori in a much lower voice. He pressed her hands harder onto his chest, where Hino could feel his heart beating. "Can you feel that? That's my gift — my heart."
Hino's already flushed face turned even redder when Tsukimori leaned in and pecked on her cheeks in a chaste kiss. And when he pulled away, he said something that he would regret later.
"By the way, you'll have to pay the vase. It was Mother's favourite."
. . . "I thought it was an urn?"
» : «
And without batting an eyelash, she became his.
» : «
Author's Note: Haha, been busy and always tired. :P I didn't really have much time to write, so I decided to make use of my SasuSaku fanfiction entitled "something" for this. :) Of course, I edited and improved it to the best of my abilities. BTW, this is heavily inspired by what my male classmate did for a female classmate during Christmas. :D He did those things, yes—except for the exaggerated big box—but it ended up with a really pretty and cute glass vase that held an expensive necklace. I was being imaginative when I thought of the whole "my heart" thing. :P
Review? :)
Love,
~Aira