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Chapter Two:
Butterflies and Bagels?
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Shigeru blinked a few times before nodding albeit uncertainly.
"Are you sure? 'Coz you certainly don't look okay to me…" the brunet told him knowingly. "You were being pushed around, weren't you?"
Shigeru raised his hood a bit so that his eyes could be seen. He looked at the teen before him and just answered with a bit of hesitation, "…Well, um yeah… It's sort of like that…"
"You're new here, aren't you? I've been around this town many times before and I haven't seen you once… So you must be new here…"
"Um… Well, kind of…" Shigeru felt somewhat awkward when talking to the other teen but hey, this was the first person that he met who wasn't from the castle or other royal families so it must be usual to be like this…
"Well, let's not talk here in this crowd, were causing quite a holdup here… Is it okay if we go into this shop for a while?" Kazuma (yes, obviously the 'brunet' mentioned is Kazuma, although Shigeru does not know it yet) asked referring to the shop just beside them.
"Okay then…" Shigeru answered back, 'Anywhere is better than this crowd…'
They went inside the shop, which appeared to be a bookshop. There were very few people inside, just about three or four persons besides them. Kazuma then turned towards the person with him and saw the other teen looking around the shop with curiosity; he tilted his head and just watched the other teen.
Shigeru was moderately awed at the sight, of course the Royal Library had more books than this bookshop, but the books here were much, much different from the books in the Royal Library. In the Library, it was all about politics, education, and other stuff related to them, but here there were fiction books, poetry books, cookbooks and loads of other stuff that he hadn't even seen before. But as he was looking through the piles of books he felt that someone was watching him. He quickly looked around and saw the brunet he had met earlier looking at him with an amused look. He couldn't help the blush that spread quickly on his face but he continued to ask, "Um… what-what is it…? Why are you looking at me…?"
Kazuma just smiled, "Nothing… It's just that, well, you're kind of… different… from other people that I've met… And I don't mean 'different' like 'abnormal'… You're well, unique… Are you foreign? Coz you don't seem to be familiar around here…"
"Well, it's sort of like that… I'm really not familiar around this place…" Shigeru said as he turned his attention away from the books and towards the brunet in front of him.
"Really? Well then, if it's okay with you, why don't I show you around the town? I know pretty much every nook and cranny around here… And it'll probably be on my conscience if I just leave you here and you get lost…" Kazuma told him as he extended a hand to the other teen.
"Oh, um… You see I sort of need to do something but since you seem to know this place very well, okay then I'll go with you… Besides I really don't want to get lost here…" Shigeru said as he took the hand of the other teen.
"Well, where do you need to go, anyway?" Kazuma asked the other teen before they went out of the bookshop.
"… I dunno… Why don't you just tour me around the place, so at least I could know it better…" Shigeru said as he adjusted his hood to make sure that it was still covering his head and face properly. He couldn't say 'take me where there are lots of girls' since that has a double meaning and he wasn't referring to those kind of stuff…
"Um, okay then…" was Kazuma's words as he tightened his hold on the other teen's hands and they set out into the crowd to tour the town.
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It was already past four when the two teens decided to rest. They had gone about all around the whole town and they were quite tired from all the walking that they've done. So the brunet brought them to a hill where there was a huge tree on top and a small lake below it.
They were currently resting under the tree, its lush foliage shielding them from the intense heat of the sun. Both of them were dead-tired from walking under the heat of the sun, especially Shigeru who was still wearing the hood making him feel even hotter. Kazuma noticed this and so he said, "You know, you really should take off the hood… Its really already hot, you'll probably get fried if you continue to wear that…"
"No thanks, but I'm… I'm okay… I'm alright…" Shigeru said even though he was really feeling as if he would die from the heat. 'Well, its better to die than to be married… And besides, what would happen if he finds out that I'm the freaking Prince of this kingdom?' was the thought that made him say that.
"Nonsense… Just take it off and you'll feel more comfortable…" Kazuma stated as he tried to remove the hood from the other teen.
"No… Really, I'm okay… Ah!" Shigeru said as he tried to prevent the other teen from taking off his hood but the other teen seemed to be firm in his decision. So he just used his hands and arms to cover his head earning him a questioning look from the other teen.
"Uh... What are you doing…? Why are you covering your head? What? Are you afraid of something?" Kazuma asked as he tried to gently pry the other teen's arms from his head.
Shigeru just nodded but still kept his arms on his head. 'This is not good, this is not good…'
"What are you afraid of? There isn't anything wrong with you… You're not bald or anything so why do you need to cover your head? Come on and don't resist…" Kazuma said as he continued to try. "You don't look that bad, I can tell… So can you please just stop this nonsense…"
"Its not that, its…" Shigeru tried to explain but found that he couldn't so he just gave in and put down his arms. "…Fine…"
Kazuma smiled "You see… It wasn't hard now was it? So can you just lift up your face so that I can see you properly? I really don't know what you look like, you know…"
Shigeru just bit his lip and looked away as he slowly lifted his head. Well, this was it… He tried but, well, maybe it was just meant that he was found out as the Prince… Why was he just so scared at being found out anyway?
However, a different reply came from the other teen. Completely different from what he had expected. The brunet gently placed his hand on his chin and lifted up his face so that the brunet could see his face properly. "Um, is it okay if you looked at me directly?"
So Shigeru had no other choice but to look directly at the brunet, expecting an incredulous look on the brunet's face but instead the brunet was looking at him with a sort of fondness in the other teen's caramel eyes that had caught his attention. And he just found himself looking back at the other teen, as if there was only him and the brunet there… He wasn't taking notice of anything around him. He just found himself somehow 'attracted'… He was quickly memorizing every line and color of the brunet's features… How his hair swayed in the light breeze… How the little light that managed to pass through the thick foliage of leaves magnificently shone on the teen's face… How the other teen's caramel orbs seem to bore into his, as if trying to understand and learn more about him… And somehow, he had the feeling that this brunet didn't know who he really was...
Kazuma just stared at the teen before him; the teen wasn't in anyway deformed so he was wondering why the other teen was so keen in hiding his appearance. But when the other teen looked at him, everything seemed to have stopped, even his own heartbeat. For in his whole life, he had never seen a more beautiful person. He knew that 'beautiful' wasn't the best way to describe a guy but he couldn't find any other word that would fit… Sure he had seen many girls around town that had the looks, but this… this was completely different… He felt his stomach lurch… He felt as if it did a back flip and was now doing gymnastics in his abdomen…
Not really knowing why, both teens slowly leaned towards each other a strange glazed look was mirrored on the their eyes. The gentle breeze and sweet smell of the flowers around them seem to be encouraging them even more. Kazuma's hand moved from holding up the other teen's chin and towards the other teen's cheek. He caressed it softly, feeling the other teen's soft skin under his hand. He continued to lean closer, his eyes never leaving the other teen's face.
Shigeru didn't know why he was moving closer to the other teen; I mean he had been with the said teen the whole afternoon hadn't he? So why was he just feeling so… strange right now…? He felt the brunet touch his cheek lightly and he felt himself blush all of a sudden; what was wrong with him? It was just a simple touch right? But… why did it feel so… different… Shigeru slowly lifted his hand and placed it on top of the brunet's. He continued to shift closer to the other teen making the gap between them smaller and smaller until there was barely enough space between them…
Shigeru stopped since he couldn't move any closer but Kazuma continued to lean closer… It was going to happen any second now… Shigeru didn't know why, but a countdown was beginning in his head…
5…
4…
3…
2…
Kazuma's lips were already brushing against Shigeru's; he was just about to press his lips against the other teen when a butterfly flew directly in front of him. It was small enough to pass through the small gap between him and the other teen, it flew directly in front of his eyes that he couldn't help but follow it… It had such a vividly colored wing pattern of blue-black with rows of white spots above, and charcoal black below that it quickly caught his attention and distracted him…
He turned his head to see where the butterfly went, however it had quickly flew away from him and it was now in the infinitely far sky… He then turned his head back and he immediately flushed to about 8 different shades of red…
Shigeru was quite surprised when the butterfly passed by… He immediately followed it until it flew into the sky; he then turned his head back to where it was before. He found himself staring into huge caramel orbs. It took about three seconds before the situation registered on his brain, his violet eyes widened as far as they could get and he immediately backed away his face skipping the color pink and immediately becoming crimson red…
Kazuma looked away and pointedly avoided meeting the other teen's eyes. He could feel the other teen staring at him and it was making him feel awkward, and since he didn't like feeling awkward, he slowly turned to look at the other teen, "Um… I-I guess I should say sorry…"
Shigeru shifted in his position and began twiddling his thumbs. "It's okay… I, um, I-" however the teen wasn't able to finish his sentence when his stomach suddenly rumbled making him blush lightly.
Kazuma just blinked and then a wry smile formed on his lips. "You haven't eaten anything since lunch now have you? I'm really sorry for forgetting about that… Wait here…" He stood up and walked towards the trunk of the tree where he left the bag that he had been carrying all afternoon, he picked it up and went back to the other teen and plopped down on the grass in front of him. He opened the bag and reached inside whilst the other teen just watched him curiously. He got out a bagel and held it in front of the other teen's face, "Here, take it. I'm really sorry about it; its just bread and I really can't afford anything else so I just baked it at home… It's not really good since I'm not really-" however he stopped when the other teen took the roll from him making him look at the said teen.
"Don't worry its okay… Besides it smells really good…" Shigeru said as he took a bite. His eyes widened, as he tasted the bread, he had never tasted anything like it. Sure he had eaten bread before, mostly the English bread that they usually eat during breakfast, but the taste of this bread was really different and… it was more delicious… no, it was the most delicious bread that he had ever tasted! He took another bite and savored the rich taste of the bread. He swallowed it before saying to the other teen, "Mmmm… Are you kidding? This is really great! I've never tasted anything as good as this before! You made this yourself?"
Kazuma was really happy; this was the first time that someone complimented his work. "Yup. And do you really think so? Coz my stepmother always said that it was inedible… Thanks… This is the first time that someone actually liked what I did…" Kazuma said with a smile on his face.
"Hmm… Your stepmother must be someone who doesn't have a good taste in food… Oh, and by the way won't you eat anything…" Shigeru then stopped as if he had just realized something. "Oh god! I'm so sorry… Here why don't you eat this? I shouldn't have accepted this in the first place… I'm so sorry, I was being selfish and accepted this without even considering if you had any for yourself… I'm really, really sorry, here…" Shigeru said with a sorry tone as he handed back the bread roll.
However Kazuma just pushed it back to him saying, "Don't worry about it… I always make a spare of whatever I make incase I need to give one to other people…" He took out another bagel from his bag as proof. "See? So don't worry and just eat it…"
"Oh… Okay then… And thanks…" Shigeru said before he took another bite. The brunet was really nice and he felt really comfortable with him. They ate in silence and once in a while they looked at each other smiling. However the silence was broken when Shigeru had bitten a fairly large piece of bread and began to choke.
Kazuma was just drinking water from his flask when the other teen began to choke he quickly corked the flask and took action and kneeled behind the other teen, he then recalled what he had learned from his few years of studying in First Aid…
…In the case of choking, a procedure known as the Heimlich maneuver can be used to clear the windpipe of food or other objects. In this procedure quick upward thrusts are applied to the victim's abdomen to eject the object blocking the windpipe. The first-aid provider stands behind the victim with both arms around the victim's waist. One fist is placed slightly above the navel and below the rib cage with the thumb against the victim's body. The other hand is used to hold the fist and apply pressure. The abdomen is then pressed quickly inward and upward, forcing air from the lungs to eject the object from the windpipe. The person performing the maneuver must be careful not to apply pressure on the rib cage to avoid breaking ribs.
He then did what he had to do and within moments the other teen had stopped choking and was taking steadying breaths. He slowly slid to a sitting position. The other teen was leaning on him for support so he didn't dare remove his hold; instead he used one arm to reach for his flask of water. He used his mouth to unscrew the cork since his other hand was unavailable; he then asked the other teen. "Are you okay now?"
Shigeru was still panting a bit as he replied in between breaths, "A-a bit…"
"Here, drink some water… It could do you some good…" Kazuma said as he handed the other teen the flask of water, which the teen took. He then wrapped his arm around the other teen's waist and held the other teen closer but in a gentle and soothing manner.
Shigeru thankfully accepted the flask of water and drank it all up since there was only a little of it left. It felt good to his throat. He suddenly felt the brunet wrap both arms around him and he couldn't help but feel a little awkward about it but after a few seconds he felt himself relax and be more at ease. A feeling of lightheadedness suddenly came over him, he remembered quickly turning about and wrapping his arms around the other teen as though for support and then losing consciousness…
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TBC… R&R please…