The Meaning of Flowers
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His grin turned upside down and formed a distinct frown. Imai didn't like roses. Well, his roses at least. God knew how many men turned at her door with a bouquet of roses. After all, she was stunning, brilliant and beautiful too.
"You don't... Like them?" His heart dropped to his feet. Or at least he felt so.
She narrowed her eyes. "They're red."
"Red, considered the queen of roses. Like you." Ruka read that from an internet site and he perfectly memorized his lines...
"Is that meant to be some sort of pick-up line, Nogi?" She made fun of him.
His face paled. Oh no. He must've done something wrong.
"She probably hates roses," Natsume said, trying to cheer Ruka up. The poor guy seemed to be depressed, and Mikan put too much effort in making him laugh.
"Ridiculous," Ruka blushed. "Don't all women like roses?" It should've been like that. It should've been pretty simple. Then again, she was different from all the other girls.
"Are we still talking about the same person?" Natsume said dryly.
"Natsume," Mikan warned, punching Natsume lightly in the arm.
"She must like them. They're red. Isn't that a symbol of love?" he asked, puzzled.
"Not when the woman in question is a brilliant inventor and my best friend. But... But you're different," Mikan insisted.
"Different? After rejecting those roses, I doubt it."
"But it's perfect. If it was anyone else, she'd put it in a vase. You're special."
Special? He liked the sound of that.
"You really mean that?" His face lit up instantly upon hearing that.
"Of course," Natsume snickered. "She blackmails you, but not anyone else."
Ruka groaned in frustration.
"But it's true. Hotaru expects something different. Everyone probably already gave her red roses. You should've thought of something more unique."
"Something... unique?" He racked his brains for a more creative solution. So Hotaru was bored with the color red. "I'll figure something out," he said with a grin.
"You better. She's going to kill you someday," Natsume said with a grin and hit him hard on the back.
Ruka simply wondered what to give Hotaru next.
"Yellow?" Hotaru asked, raising a brow at the large bouquet of yellow roses at her doorstep.
"I thought it was nice. Friendly."
Friendly. Platonic. Just like the meaning of yellow roses.
He thought he saw her face twist into irritation, until it disappeared and returned to her cool mask of indifference.
"I also gave you... uh, chocolates too."
Mikan must have helped him, Hotaru thought.
"You're nervous," she observed, smirking.
"Well, since you didn't reject my roses, I thought..."
Oh, the roses. She forgot about that. She gave them back to him with an annoyed expression.
"First yellow, then red. Are you trying to say how you've lost your interest in me?" she hissed. The red roses meant love. Yellow meant friendship. It changed in an instant- Nogi was confusing her, and she hated the feeling of being perplexed.
"Huh? They're... They're roses," he replied.
As to be expected. Shouldn't he at least know the meaning of what he's giving before he gave it to her? She was confused, and now she was irked. It was never a good thing, but it seemed to bring some form or amusement. She might as well welcome it.
"But it was different!" Ruka exclaimed. He just couldn't understand why the yellow flowers this time didn't work.
"Maybe she wants the complete opposite of what you're doing," Mikan suggested.
"You mean, something that's not flowers? Or chocolates? That's hard." He frowned and thought. Hard.
"You're taking her too seriously," Natsume told him with a shake of his head.
"I've got it!" He jumped up excitedly, and then he left the room, eager to get the perfect present.
"Nogi, I realize your total ignorance about flowers, but I'm not accepting a cactus."
"I tried to make it different," he started to explain, "it's not elegant and it's thorny. And... Vanilla chocolate."
"You mean white chocolate."
"Ah, yeah, that."
"And you gave me a cactus," she said, straining to keep her voice calm, but the pitch turned higher at the end of the sentence. He gulped. She didn't look too happy.
"That, too," he said. Somehow the memory of what Natsume said made him nervous. 'She's going to kill you someday,' Natsume's voice echoed in his head. He'd better think of a remedy. Fast.
"It's been three flowers already. And since you tell me I'm ignorant, I know what the number three means," he said proudly.
"And?"
"I have three words for you," he said. "Hotaru Imai, I.. l-love you."
"That's five words."
Darn it. He knew this wasn't the right time. He probably shouldn't have said it.
"I'm sorry, I - I take it back."
There it was again. That brief second of blatant irritation that Ruka noticed. Her eyes flashed dangerously.
"Give me three reasons why I shouldn't shoot you," she said, an enormous-looking invention suddenly pulled out. Huh? Why? Wasn't it only minutes ago he gave her chocolates and a cactus, and now she wanted to shoot him? The cactus probably wasn't such a good idea...
"I gave you a red rose!" he cried desperately.
"Which you replaced with a yellow rose.
"Okay, so I gave you a yellow rose. Isn't that reason enough?"
"You said it was friendly."
"I told you I love you!"
"You took it back."
"I gave you chocolates?"
"You gave me white chocolates. Mikan would've told you to choose milk chocolates."
"You wanted the brown ones?" Crap. He must've forgotten that piece of information, only thinking of the opposite of what he did when he gave her the milk chocolates . "But you didn't even eat- ouch!"
"Out," she snapped.
But he let a bird in, a necklace on its beak and dropped in his palm.
"I'm not giving up, Imai. You will always be stunning, brilliant and beautiful to me," he said, a grin spreading across his face. Unexpectedly, he took her hand and kissed it. He dropped it gently on her hand and closed it.
With a sigh, she shut the door. He just never knew when to give up. It was still warm where he placed his lips. Sometimes, it didn't need a genius to work her out.
My first HxR story. Please be gentle ^^ Writing in third-person again feels kinda weird...
I don't know where the idea came from, I was just thinking what if Hotaru refused flowers Ruka gave her... and then I just started writing and then I couldn't stop. xD
Review, anyone?