Our Perfect Little Bliss
It's Just A Little Trick
"What's my name?" A stern-voiced brunette demanded.
"Strawberry?" He blonde-haired boyfriend replied in English.
"No! Who are you, Johnny? What's. My. Name?"
"Amano." The brunette sighed in frustration. How long did you have to be going out with someone for them to call you by your first name? In their case, apparently more than six weeks.
"Mou, Makoto, why is this so hard for you?" But her boyfriend had a cheeky smile plastered on his face.
"Oh, it's not." He replied. Ichigo looked at him expectantly, her hands propped prominently on her hips. He smiled wider, stood from his chair, and kissed her sweetly.
"Special occasions Special occasions only," He whispered in her ear. "Now come on," He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the empty classroom, heading towards the kitchens. "I believe we have a class to attend."
After being dragged into their kitchen classroom, Ichigo flopped down onto her stool at the table. As usual, she was surrounded by the three sweets princes', and as usual, they were bickering about what to bake.
"Something traditional." Andou protested, but he was cut off by Hanabusa's laughter.
"No way. Something sweet and delicate, framed with an array of roses." Kashino sighed and shook his head.
"Something bitter and made of chocolate." They went silent and all eyes went to Ichigo. Their assignment was due in three days; they were to bake a wedding cake, three tiered, any flavour and design they wanted, but sadly, it wasn't going to be a matter of just choosing one thing.
"Why are you looking at me?" She asked curiously. Andou and Hanabusa looked expectantly at Kashino and he let out a breath.
"Come on, help out. Your good at making us agree on things. Please." He said softly, pulling her off of her stool by her hand to come stand beside him. She sighed and looked at the smiling boys.
"Fine." She agreed, feeling Kashino squeeze her hand in thanks.
To be honest, Ichigo didn't mind being asked to help. In fact, she was thrilled. Usually, the decisions were made for the flavour and decorations before she could have much say in it and she simply went along with whatever had been chosen, because, after all, whatever it was, it was a sweet, and she loved sweets. She and Kashino sat in his dorm room on his bed, Hanabusa was nowhere to be found.
"What do you propose we do? The guys dumped it all on us, those meanies." Ichigo said, holding the pencil to her mouth. Kashino laughed.
"What?" Ichigo demanded, looking at her boyfriend.
"Nothing, nothing. Just that your taste in words hasn't changed since I met you." He smiled. Ichigo pouted. "Come on, pull your lip up. Someone's going to trip over it if you don't." He said, pecking her lips softly.
"Ah! I've got it." She said excitedly against his lips. He pulled away, watching her curiously.
"I didn't realize that would help, I should've done it sooner." He teased. But she was busy scribbling a design down. He watched her intetnly as she scribbled away, a cake starting to form on the blank white paper of her sketchbook. She stopped drawing to look up at him and clutched the book to her chest.
"No looking." She teased, poking her tongue out at him.
"Fine, fine. Want me to finish your French homework?" He asked, pointing to her bag that lay on the floor beside the bed.
"How do you know I haven't done it already?" She asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Because I know you. And if you have finished it, I'll probably faint." He mocked, grabbing her French textbook out of her bag.
"Meanie." She grumbled.
"Who's doing your homework?" He reminded her, sitting down at his desk. She laughed nervously.
"Sorry, I love you." She smiled, returning to her sketch.
"I love you too."
"It's done!" Ichigo exclaimed half an hour later, flicking her pencil at Kashino's head. He seemed to have dozed off, but now he sat bolt upright.
"What's done?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.
"My cake design, silly. And hopefully my French homework, that's due monday morning you know." She reminded him. He shook his head and held his hand out.
"Well, show me the design, miss demanding Princess." He said. She walked over to him and sat on his lap, opening her sketchbook. He flung his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, peering over her shoulder to see the design.
"Hmmmm," He mumbled, looking at the intense detail. "Well, explain away." He suggested. She pointed to the bottom tier first.
"Well," She began. "I kept the flavours simple, just vanilla for the tiers and white icing. The bottom tier has little traditional sweets made of mascarpone around it in a sort of ring." She explained.
"Andou?" Kashino asked. Ichigo giggled.
"I thought you might figure it out," She smiled. Then she pointed to the second tier. Little mascarpone roses sat on vines around the middle section of the cake.
"Rose boy?"
"Correct." And then she pointed to the top tier, where the bride and groom figures would usually stand. Instead, it seemed to have a ring of sliced strawberries in the middle with a gap in the very centre of the ring.
A chocolate sculpture of swirls extended out of the gap in the middle of the ring of strawberries and Kashino smiled.
"Me and you. Chocolate and strawberries." He said, kissing her forehead.
"Is it a bit weird?" She asked seriously.
"No. I think it's perfect. You've captured us all very well; a contrast of complication, similarities and just a touch of simplicity. Good job." He smiled again, kissing her nose. She giggled.
"Thanks," She checked the clock on Kashino's desk. 11:49 pm. Hanabusa, oddly, was still nowhere to be found.
"He's probably sleeping next to Rumi." Kashino said, reading her mind word for word. Ichigo smiled sleepily.
"Probably," She curled in against his chest.
"Would it be okay if I slept in here tonight? I don't feel like crossing half the school to get to my dorm room." Kashino knew it wasn't that far, but he didn't complain.
"Of course," He said. She stood up and crawled into his bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. He got in after her and she snuggled up close to him.
"I love you, Makoto." She whispered against his shoulder.
"I love you too."
Yawning, Ichigo covered her mouth so as not to wake Kashino who was sleeping soundly beside her. She stared at him, smiling. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps, so relaxed, so much cuter, Ichigo thought. She looked over to Hanabusa's side of the room and found him sleeping peacefully. And then she remembered that it was Saturday, and that she had booked the kitchen for them to start practising the cake. She jumped to her feet, knocking Kashino to the floor in the process. He groaned and rubbed his head. She grabbed a pillow and went over to Hanabusa's side of the room, whacking him in the head with it.
"Get up! Get up! Get up!" She yelled at him. "Hanabusa!" Hanabusa's eyes opened wearily.
"Ichigo-chan? Why are you in my...Oh, right. Why are you whacking me? I need my beauty sleep." He grumbled, burying his face into his rose-patterned pillow.
"Rose boy's right, what's with all the theatrics?" Kashino's voice spoke up from where he began holding onto his bed frame to drag himself up from the floor.
"We have cooking to do. Now would someone like to go wake Andou-kun? Or am I going to have to do that too?" Ichigo asked, looking between the two, smiling sweetly. Hanabusa groaned and got to his feet.
"I'll do it." He said, walking out of the room.
"Thought so." Ichigo said cherrily, linking arms with Kashino. "Let's go." She smiled. Kashino quirked his eyebrow at her.
"I have to get dressed." Ichigo looked at him, up and down.
"But you slept in your uniform, you are dressed." She stated. Kashino laughed and pushed her towards the open door.
"I'm changing, you should too." He smiled. And before she could protest, the door shut in her face.
Ten minutes later, and the three sweets princes' sat in the kitchens, waiting for Ichigo. She walked in and they all stared. She looked beautiful in her strapless pink sun dress. It had pink lace sheets above a brown buckle belt and was the colour of candyfloss. Her pink jandals matched the dress perfectly. Before Hanabusa could make one of his sugar-coated remarks, Kashino got up and kissed her cheek.
"You look beautiful," He whispered in her ear. She giggled as he led her to the counter.
"You need to feel pretty to make something pretty, that's what my mother used to say." She replied, putting her sketchbook down on the table top, flipped open to the page where the wedding cake was sketched. The boy's marveled around it as Ichigo explained her design. When she had finished, they all smiled brightly at her.
"It's perfect, Ichigo-chan." Hanabusa said, handing her a rose out of nowhere. How on earth does he do that?, Ichigo thought to herself. She laughed and said her thanks. Andou looked at her.
"This cake is us, isn't it?" He smiled softly. Ichigo nodded, her cheeks tinted pink.
"Yeah. I figured that way, everyone would have their little bit included in the cake without having an argument. Do you guys...Like it?" They all nodded eagerly.
"Like it? We love it! It's perfect, Amano-san." Andou said.
"Hurray, hurray for team Ichigo!" Hanabusa cheered. It seemed like another adventure was about to unfold.
"And the winning team is...," The students sat in silence, eagerly awaiting their answer. Team Ichigo had been up late last night, perfecting their cake. Ichigo sat with her hand intertwined in Kashino's, squeezing it tightly, hoping for the win. Kashino winced, poking her thigh.
"Iron...Clad...Grip." He murmured. Ichigo seemed to understand and loosen her hold on his hand.
"Sorry." She smiled, chuckling quietly.
"Team A!" Everyone began clapping and cheering, a few people yelling for a taste test. The teacher agreed and everyone began to dig in and one boy perked up.
"Why does this taste so good, Amano?" He asked, shoving more into his mouth. Ichigo smiled around at her three friends.
"Probably because it was made with love." She giggled. The rest of the class stopped to marvel as the group hugged and laughed. They had won the bake off.
"Honey, don't you want to do anything to celebrate?" Kashino asked as Ichigo pranced around her room, discarding clothes she didn't like onto her bed. He plucked a skirt off his head as she smiled.
"Of course, silly. That's why I'm finding the perfect outfit." She said matter-of-factly. He watched her go through the rest of her closet until she came to the very back. She squealed and then turned to face him, fanning her hands out so that he couldn't see behind her.
"What's wrong?" He asked cautiously; but she was smiling. She closed her closet and grabbed his hand.
"Meet me at the lake in ten minutes, okay." She smiled, kissing his nose. He nodded, curious, but he knew her well enough to know not to ask. She shooed him out of the room and giggled as she closed the door.
"Just you wait, Makoto."
He waited underneath the tree, their tree, for Ichigo. It was cold and crisp, the lake a crystal blue and he watched the trees billow in the wind.
"Close your eyes."He heard Ichigo's voice call from behind him. Quietly, he obeyed and covered his eyes with his hands. A few moments later, he felt his hands being pried from his eyes and he looked up at his girlfriend, his eyes wide.
"W...Woah." He marveled. She wore a strapless pink dress that fell just above her knees and she had matching pink high heels on her feet. Her hair was loose and waving down her back in long, thick chocolate curls. She blushed and laughed nervously.
"Is... Is it too much? She asked quietly.
"No.. No. You look... amazing." He blushed as she sat beside him.
"Hey, you're gonna get your dress dirty." He whispered. She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Doesn't matter, I'll wash it later." She said, staring out at the lake. They were silent for a few minutes.
"I'm guessing you chose our tree for a reason?" He asked, slipping his arm around her shoulder. She laughed.
"I've been waiting for something for a while now," She began. "Something only you can do." He looked at her small figure. He was so happy that she had chosen him, that she was his, so happy that he would marry her right then and now.
"I think I understand what you're getting at," He smiled to himself, using his free hand to turn her face towards him. "I love you, Ichigo." He whispered, his breath tickling her nose as he leaned in to kiss her. She smiled against his lips. That was exactly what she'd hoped for. Her perfect little moment.
Thank you guys so much for reading. I did update this because I really didn't like Kashino calling Ichigo 'baby', so I took that bit out. Anyway, thanks for your support and please R&R
Xx SweetsPrincess-sama