Sorry for taking so long! Thank you for waiting! Oh, in case you actually read these things up here, I changed the first chapter. There's a recipe now in the begining thingy.
INVISIBLE COOKIES FOR: kountry, KazuneXKarin, Xinna, lilsana-chan, Aristea, Nakima-chan, and StarriSkys!
Thank you so much for reviewing guys! It means the world to me!
Karin woke up in a daze. She felt something fluttering around her cheeks, and she felt hot air slipping over the back of her neck. The arms resting around her were ones she reconised, and she got up slowly so as to not wake the sleeping platinum-blonde boy. She felt as if having those arms around her was a guilty pleasure, and she was flushed as she raced up that stairs towards the bathroom. She splashed her face with water.
"What were you thinking Karin? You had a fantastic night with Micchi, and then you go and SLEEP with Kazune?" she took a brisk shower, quietly dissproving of her actions last night, but at the same time, she felt this acheing feeling in the marrow of her bones, silently whispering and persueding her to go back downstairs and leap into his arms. When she was wrapped in a towel and heading for her room, she smelled the sweet scent of Himeka's well cooked breakfast, and she caught a glimpse of Kazune in all of his wrinkled-mass-of-clothing glory closeing the door to his room down the hall. She slinked back into her room and lifted her uniform out of the closet, pulling on each article of clothing in a rythmic fashion. Then she spotted the pink rose on her sheets. How she had not noticed it there before was a mystery to her, but she was bubbleing over with anticipation to red the note that was attatched. She read it with shaking hands, but once she finished reading, she stood, puzzled, then threw the note down in frustration.
"Follow the petals. Kazune" was all that Kazune had cared to write on it. What petals? Where? Karin ransaked her room in search of any petals, but even though she went so far as to check under the bed, she found none. Nice, Kazune. Leave me a mysterious note so I can mess up my room.
She bounded down the stairs with the single rose, looking in every nook-and-cranny for any petals. She took a break and plopped down at the table, setting her delicate rose next to her plate. Kazune was already gone, and Himeka was half way through her meal.
"Have you seen any petals?" Karin asked her friend, who was still chewing. Himeka took her time swallowing.
"No. Why?" Himeka pondered, taking another bite. Karin heaved another great sigh. She was all tired out from searching.
"Kazune said in his note to follow the petals, and I have no idea what that means." Karin played with the rose, rubbing her fingers against the tips of the petals until they slipped in deeper towards the bud. Himeka got up and began washing her plate till it sparkled.
"This is pretty brave for Kazune. He usually stears clear of flowers because he's terrified of bugs." Karin shifted her gaze from the pink rose towards Himeka, who kept her eyes down. The sink let the last drips of the water leak out after Himeka turned the spiket off. She caerfully grabbed the stem of Karins rose and placed it in a vase full of refreshing water. Himeka smiled a the rose, fondly brushing her finger against the petals. Eyes still attatched to the rose, she whispered to no one in particular. "You guys are silly to forget that you must nurture it or it'll die."
Karin was silent. It seemed that Himeka was referring to something more than to the health of the rose.
Karins search for the petals lasted all day, and whenever she tried to confront Kazune about it, he would magically dissappear. It was aggravating Karin. Where the flipping potatoes are the petals? Miyon, Himeka, and Yuuki joined the search at lunch when Karin was making them queazy by squirming in her seat to catch a glimpse of every corner of the room. Their efforts fruitless, or petaless, they went their seperate ways by the end of the day. Micchi had been smiling quirkily all day at Karin to attrack her atention and arrose the memory of last night in her, but he had failed miserably and his palms where once again sweating as he walked home.
Karin collapsed on her bed after trudging up the steps with a mewing Shi-chan on her heels. After letting Shi-chan curl up on the bed spread, she lay face down in her pillow and pondered the location of the mysterious path of petals. Shi-chan tried to give hints.
"Maybe it's outside?" She purred, enjoying Karins fingers sifting through her hair. Karin huffed impatiently.
"It wouldn't be outside, because the cherry blossoms are falling of the trees. There's petals every where!"" Karin punched the air. "KYAAA! THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST FRUSTRATING DATE I'LL EVER HAVE!" Karin was electric with anger, then it seemed she lost her spark as she looked out the window at the fading daylight.
"If I don't find the petals, I'll never get my date with Kazune..."
Just then her door opened just a crack. Karin sat upright in a flash, wondering if it was Kazune. She saw a whisp of blode hair and a pale yellow petal drift lazily to the ground in her door way before the door shut again. Karin got dressed in a flurry of accessories and outfits, and she finally decided on letting her hair flow like a stream down her back pinned to the side with a simple butterfly clipthat matched her silver butterfly choker. Then she had on a black tang top that gave her a curvatious outline and some tight blue-jean capries. fully satified, she proceeded to follow the pathway of rainbow petals.
There seemed to be a never ending supply of petals, and when the petals finally came to an end, Kazune was no where in sight. Karin heaved a frustrated sigh and plopped down on the bench in front of her. She was at the entrance to the park, and she was getting cold. She folded her arms over her chest and waited about 15 minutes before any appearance of Kazune.
"Is this some kind of joke? Was he leading me on? Is he snickering with the butler about how he put the wol over my eyes?' She could imagine the scene; Kazune and the mysterious butler haveing a good laugh by the roaring fire over Kazune comment of, 'She totally believed I loved her! As we speak she is letting her stupid womanly bum freeze in the cold!" Another hardy laugh.
Karin didn't find it the least bit funny. Tears slid down her face and to many very small people her pouty lips and slick skin would have been a delightful water slide. She was about to go home whe Kazune threw his jacket ontop of her.
"You didn't really think I stood you up, did you?" He scolded, kneeling in front of her and presenting her with a humungous chocolate chip cookie. "You women take forever to get ready, so I figured I buy you a treat for making it this far."
Karin was about to reply with a curt jest about how Kazune looks very much like a girl and must have taken a while to get ready himself, but she was reprimanded quickly.
"Ah, sorry, I take that back. I don't want to mess my chance up within five minutes." He tore off a chunk of the gooey chocolatey goodness and popped in into Karin's gaping mouth. She chewed and swallowed almost obiediantly, and he nuzzled her head with his hand. "Let's have fun, shall we?" He shimmered in the light of the sunset, making the world seem as if it would lose it's colors if he wasn't there.
Karin was eating the cookie joyfully as she trailed behind Kazune. He was going to take her somplace special to him. She finished off he cookie, smileing in content. Karin pulled Kazune's coat closer to her, wrapping it so tightly around her she felt like she could smell the scent of his dreams. A firetruck abruptly flew past them on the road, heading in the directino they were going. Kazune's whole body became rigid, and his eyes widened in fear. Karin softly settled her hand on his shoulder.
"What's wrong?" She asked, worry dripping from every syllable. Kazune said nothing, sprinting off after teh red truck, beautiful eyes blazing. Karin raced after him, trying to catch up, yearning for the feel of his palm against hers again...
Kazune came to a stop in front of a fiery building. You could tell that even though flames engulfed it now, it once was a grand building. It wasw sad to see the ruin and ash reflected in the boys eyes, when only a few hours before they had been held with delicate love and anticipation. Kazune sat down and watched the ash of the once glorious building float with the cherry blossoms in the last light of the dawn. Karin sat next to him, silently watching the flames being smothered by gallons of water. They sat together forever, watching a legacy burn and the ashes mix with flowers. Karin finally pulled Kazune into her arms and held him there, and Kazune slowly lifted his arms to hug her back. She played with the hair on the back of his neck, not knowing what to say. Kazune was somber and the weight of his words made them sink onto the ground.
"I was going to take you there, Karin. It was the last place I went with my mother; a green house of sorts." Her eyes filled with tear that the boy could not cry, and they leaked down her face and over the back of his shirt. He continued on. "I wanted to show you her favorite topiary piece, which was a lion cub. It reminded me of you because it was fierce, but it could be childish... and cute." Karin held him close, pulling herself up onto his lap, her arms circleing around his neck. His fingers glided through her hair, distracting him from the small gap in his heart.
"It sounds lovely, Kazune." Karin whispered, pulling back to look into his eyes and see him smile. He didn't want to dissappoint, and he felt utterly overjoyed she even liked the idea, so he beamed at her. His hands still entangled in her hair, and her arms pulling him towards her, they enjoyed each others warm breath carressing their skin, before they finally had a perfect kiss. Now there was no bleeding gums or forced anything. It was light. It was warm. And above all, it felt good to be together like this without restraint or worry. They pulled away gasping, finding it hard to breath. Karin looked back at the remaints of the building surounded by caution tape. Was that a bad sign?
Kazune could not believe how wonderful it felt for Karin to press her glossy lips against his. He let his hand leave it's postion on her lower back to touch his lips, as if to see if he could still feel her there. Even though the cold wind blew harshly against his skin, he felt heat likie he never did before.