"Kirihito-sama! It's gotten so late! Was everything in town okay?!" a familiar asked upon Kirihito's arrival back at the shrine. The sun had set long before his return, and the familiars gathered around to greet him.
"Everything was fine," he assured them, stepping into the shrine without bothering to even spare them a glance. He stumbled oddly into his room, half slipping onto his futon. His chest rose and fell haphazardly, and he tugged at his loose shirt collar as though it was responsible for his lack of breath.
"Kirihito-sama!" He waved them off, glaring at them to keep them from approaching. "Kirihito-sama, if this keeps up, you'll barely last the rest of the week!"
Kirihito sat up and gave a slight smirk. "I'm well aware of this body's weaknesses. Luckily, though, I just may have found a solution."
"A solution? What is it?!" one familiar asked eagerly.
"A human girl."
{{{/}}}
When Kirihito awoke the next day, he felt terribly groggy. He had woken up slightly before he had the previous morning, which was good, even if itwas due to a sudden coughing fit.
Wondering how late he would be out, or how breezy it would get, Kirihito shrugged on a lightweight, black jacket that reached down to his knees. He once again informed the familiars that he would be in town and that he did not wish for any of them to accompany him.
He approached the doors to the café, this time taking the time to glance at the sign. Apparently, it was called Café Tsukino. It took Kirihito a moment before remembering that the girl's name had been Tsukino Ayaka. He wondered if her father owned it.
Kirihito opened the doors, the chime faintly ringing. The same employee glanced up and, slightly surprised, raised his eyebrows. "Back again, son?" he asked.
"Rude again, I see. What if I had decided to give this café just one more chance and you just ruined it?" Kirihito question, annoyance almost visible in the air around him.
"Then you'd probably be gone by now," the employee responded without much thought or emotion.
"You only get so many customers a day. I bet your boss would be rather annoyed to hear that you are scaring customers away." Kirihito leaned against the counter casually, hiding his lack of balance.
"I am the boss," he said matter-of-factly.
Kirihito smirked. It was so easy to get information off of humans. "I thought that girl yesterday called you 'Yamamoto-san'. Isn't the café named after the owner, Tsukino?"
"It was, it was. Until he died in a car accident eight months ago. Now, are you going to order something?" he asked, glancing at the television. Kirihito saw that some show was on and had to assume commercial break had just ended and, with it, Yamamoto's interest in the conversation had faded.
Kirihito ordered a coffee and watched as Yamamoto began to prepare it. "So was it that girl's father, then?" Kirihito questioned. Much to Kirihito's surprise, Yamamoto laughed loudly.
"Ah, so that's it, eh? The reason you're back? Not to mention how much more talkative you are today than yesterday. Taken an interest in Tsukino-chan? Now I feel like I've been used for information." He slid the prepared coffee across the counter.
Kirihito took it and frowned. "Why do you call her 'Tsukino', anyway? I assume you were close to the owner, even if not by blood. Wouldn't you call his daughter by her first name?"
"You're a perceptive kid, y'know that? That's very true. She was close to her father though and, as such, prefers to be called by the name they both shared. I'm afraid that you'll have to ask her if you want any more information, though. You don't seem the most trustworthy fellow, so I feel as though I might be giving information out to a stalker or something," Yamamoto said, smiling. His tone was anything but teasing, though.
Kirihito's eyes narrowed. "Fine," he said simply, taking a seat by the window.
"Are you just gonna wait for her?" Yamamoto suddenly asked. Kirihito turned toward him. "I hate to break this to you, but that's the first time she's visited in two months. Unless you plan on coming here all day, every day until she appears, then I haven't the faintest how you're going to find her."
Kirihito bit his lower lip in annoyance. If there was one thing he didn't have, it was time. He needed her immediately. Then, he realized…
"No, she'll be here today."
Yamamoto was silent a moment, uncomprehending. "Excuse me?"
"She'll be here." Kirihito smirked. "After all, she spent the entire afternoon and evening chasing me around. She tried so hard that she must want to know the results."
Yamamoto laughed. "That's true, huh. Though I do question why you came this early. You do understand she's in high school, right?"
Kirihito looked over at him in silence for a moment. Then he realized that it was Tuesday and there was absolutely no way she would come before three-thirty or so. He gave no other reaction to this but a shrug, as though he had thought of this from the beginning. Come to think of it, he realized. I may need this man's approval.He seems to be something like a father to her now. He smiled up innocently at the man and said lightly, "But for all I know, she could've had an early dismissal."
Yamamoto smiled back. "Perhaps you're not all bad, son." Well, that was simple enough. "It is, however, only one-thirty right now. You might want to find something to do."
Kirihito thought a moment, before something struck him. As he stood, he said calmly, "I might just do that."
{{{/}}}
Kirihito would've never expected flower shopping to be so difficult. He didn't know what girls thought was "sweet", nor did he know any flower symbolism. He was also surprised to find flowers in odd colors. When he had questioned the clerks on where they had found flowers of such color, they snickered and told him that they were "obviously dyed". He was annoyed at hearing this, and found himself practically stomping out of the store.
After this little event, he couldn't easily go back into that store to buy flowers. As such, he found himself wandering much farther than he expected to in order to find another flower shop. When he finally had, he decided to just get a dozen red roses since he knew they were natural.
When he finally arrived back at the café, a now much more interested Yamamoto looked up at him, smiling without a word when he saw the bouquet. Kirihito simply went back to his chair and sat down, relief filling his body at the chance to finally rest from all the walking.
He sniffed the flowers, curious, but then started coughing suddenly. He then realized that, given his current physical health, breathing in pollen and such was far less than a great idea.
He laid them carefully on the other side of the table, in front of the seat opposite him. He walked up to the counter, ordered something light to eat and another coffee, before sitting back down.
A few moments later, he questioned, "So what time is it now?" After all, it might even be good for him to sound impatient at this point.
Yamamoto, as Kirihito had anticipated, laughed. "If you're right about her coming, she should be here in about a half hour. She's pretty consistent with what time she visits at."
"Is that so," Kirihito said thoughtfully, absentmindedly folding up the garbage in his hand and throwing in out.
"There's something I've just gotta ask you, son," Yamamoto said suddenly. Kirihito gave him a sideways glance. "How old are you?"
Kirihito paused a moment, cocking his head to the side. He couldn't very well give his true age, and he wasn't quite sure how old Kirihito was. He did, however, need to make sure it was an age that would be out of high school, yet not too old. "I'm nineteen."
"Oh, okay," Yamamoto said, nodding as though thinking to himself, That ain't so bad.
Kirihito crossed his legs and rested his chin on his palm, again staring out the window. She had better come, he thought, irritated. He was having trouble keeping focus, and felt consciousness slowly drifting away. He drank some more coffee, shaking his head. He needed to focus. Then, at least, he would have something he needed to think about. Or else there wasn't much his mind or body had to do that would keep it awake. Then, finally, he glanced out the window again to see a figure half walking, half skipping toward the café. It was definitely her.
Today, her night-like hair was loosely curled and pulled to the side. She was wearing her school uniform. Kirihito suddenly realized that she must have been the previous day, as well. He just couldn't have been bothered to notice. She wore her skirt a bit longer than most girls, he noted. He figured, smirking, that she must run around so much that it was necessary.
When she entered the café, she began approaching Yamamoto before she noticed Kirihito. "Ah! Kirihito-sama!"
Yamamoto grunted. "What's with the 'sama'?"
Tsukino Ayaka exhaled loudly. "Yamamoto-san! He is a customer! You should treat him with respect!"
"'Sama' is a bit overboard, y'know," Yamamoto replied, tapping his fingers lightly on the countertop.
"That just means that, between the two of us, there's a balance!" she said brightly.
He shrugged. "Works for me." Then, he simply turned back to the television.
Tsukino Ayaka looked at Kirihito. "You came back after all!"
"Eh? Aren't you the one who said we were meant to meet?" he asked, tone teasing, as, without standing, he handed her the bouquet. She took it, but just glanced between it and Kirihito for a moment, comprehension slowing entering her emerald eyes.
"Wait… What?!" Tsukino Ayaka almost yelled. Her face was a ridiculous shade of red that even made Kirihito go silent for a moment. Yamamoto chuckled lightly in the background.
Kirihito smirked. "Ah, you look rather flustered, hmm?"
"I was n-not expecting this…" she said slowly, looking anywhere but at him.
Cute. Kirihito immediately wiped the adjective from his thoughts. This was all just a survival method, after all.
"Do you not like it?" Kirihito asked, frowning and cocking his head in fake disappointment.
"Ah, no, no!" she insisted, looking back at him and smiling. She sniffed the roses. "I've never received a bouquet from a boy before!" she told him happily. Then, bowing, she said, "Thank you, Kirihito-sama."
He smiled at her. It seemed to be going better than expected. He had assumed he would've had to be more persistent to even get her to this point. The point where she acknowledged his "feelings". He doubted most people would've been convinced in approximately five minutes. Another detail about her to add to his list: she seemed to believe people innocent until proven guilty.
"Want to go somewhere?" Kirihito asked.
"Ah, sure!" she responded, curiosity seeping easily into her voice. She gave the flowers to Yamamoto for safekeeping, and walked back over to Kirihito's seat. "Where are we going to go?" she questioned.
Kirihito honestly hadn't expected this to be going so well and, as such, hadn't planned this far. So instead, he responded, "Hmm… I don't know. Where do you want to go?"
"Umm… Want to see a movie?" she asked, her eyes hopeful. He smiled at her in approval.
"Do you have one in mind?" He had never gone to the theater, nor did he know even the titles of modern movies.
"The Fox Yokai."
Kirihito's mind went blank for a moment, wondering why or even how she was mentioning Tomoe. He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
She laughed awkwardly. "It's a historical movie that came out recently. As the title suggest, it's about a fox yokai. He's supposed to have these flame powers and I've heard that the special effects are extremely impressive."
Ah, a movie, Kirihito inwardly gave a sigh of relief. Tomoe's involvement in all of this would not have been appreciated. "Sure, let's go see that."
{{{/}}}
That was ridiculous, Kirihito thought as they left the theater, a fake smile planted on his face. The fire-controlling fox spirit had done various misdeeds before changing his ways due to falling in love with a human woman. Surely, that was a bit far for a coincidence.
"The special effects really were amazing," Tsukino Ayaka sighed in awe. She turned to him. "Thanks for buying my ticket!" Kirihito just shook his head, not quite focused enough to give a verbal response.
When they were about halfway back to the café, Tsukino Ayaka seemed to finally fully come back to reality. She looked at Kirihito and cocked her head. "Did you enjoy it?"
He smiled at her. "Of course," he lied. "Thanks so much for humoring me and going out with me. It must have been odd, given that I've known you for only a day."
"Hmm, that's true. But I truly do believe that we were meant to meet, for whatever reason that may be," she said. Then, suddenly overly excited again, she added, "By the way, I'm going to keep this ticket stub! I keep all my ticket stubs so that I never forget a single movie I've watched."
"Really?" Kirihito asked, making his voice sound much more interested than he really was.
"I do something similar with people, too. Whenever I meet someone, even for the briefest moment, I write about them in a journal. I don't like to forget, you know?" she asked.
His interest was actually piqued now as, even though he had met plenty of irrational humans, he had never heard of someone doing something quite like that. He was going to question her on it, before he began coughing again.
He coughed into his arm, and was relieved that he was in the habit of wearing black. He could tell that a few drops of blood had come out in this coughing fit, and it would've been problematic had Tsukino Ayaka seen it.
She looked at him worriedly as the fit settled down. "Do you still have a cold?"
He smiled, not at all in the mood to continue with his act. "Unfortunately, a bit of it still seems to be present. I believe some of it may simply be allergies, however, so I should be fine soon. Thank you for your concern."
They had finally arrived back at the café. "I'm going to stay here with Yamamoto-san for a bit, would you like to join us?" she asked.
"As much as it would please me, I'm afraid that I really should rest if I want to get better soon. Say, is there any way to contact you?"
She took out a piece of paper and a pen, writing something carefully before giving it to him. "My phone number," she stated.
"Thank you," he said, forcing himself to stay steady as he bowed. She walked back into the store, and as soon as she did, Kirihito frowned. He felt horrid. He knew that, with someone like her, he couldn't rush things any more than he would already have to, so he simply sighed and began walking back to his shrine. It had to have been eight by then which, though it wasn't very late, was tiring for his weak body.
Just a few more days, he thought to himself.
{{{/}}}
A/N Thank you to the kind person who reviewed this! I really appreciated it!
Edit: Okay for some reason I wrote the wrong name three times in a row... I'm so embarrassed *weeps*