"That's 6 orders of takoyaki." The vendor handed to bag to Akira as Teru paid the bill.
"I'm going to run these back while they're still hot," Akira told her.
She smiled at his happy exuberance and yelled after his retreating figure. "I'll be right there."
Teru heaved a sigh as she ambled back towards their chairs. She stopped as Kurosaki popped up from beneath the water with a triumphant cry holding a sand dollar. He ran a hand through his wet hair, sleeking it against his skull, then waved as he spotted her on the beach. Her first thought would normally have been to run into the water and join him, but her nerves, already on edge from the lotion incident, jangled again at the sight of a lithe, wet Kurosaki, gleaming in the sunlight.
Turning on her heels, Teru headed back towards the concession stands with her hands on her hot cheeks.
What was wrong with her? Her female friends had pouted with envy at the idea of going to the beach with a boyfriend. They had regaled her with instructions on how to be cute, alluring, and all of the other tools females used to keep their boyfriend besotted while surrounded by other bikini-clad females. She couldn't even remember if she'd seen any other girls on the beach, let alone try to be cute and enticing.
She thought of the night before and their kiss against the door this morning. Enticing him didn't seem to be a problem anyway, she thought with a blush. She just felt clumsy and young, she realized.
Teru had walked past the vendors and into a picnic area. She didn't realize it until she walked past a table full of young men and one of them grabbed her arm, startling her.
"Well, hello there," the handsome teenager said smoothly. "Are you alone? You should join us for a drink."
"No, thank you. I'm not alone." Teru tried to tug out of his grasp without seeming rude. "I have to get back to my friends."
"Now, now. Don't rush off. We don't bite. " He stood up, still holding onto her arm as his friends shouted their invitations. "My name is Orochi. Come on and sit with us. Let me buy you a drink."
"My friends are waiting for me," she said again, getting frustrated. She slapped at his hands, but that only made him laugh. "Leave me alone."
"Don't be like that. What's your name?"
"Her name," said the menacing voice behind Teru. "is none of your business." Kurosaki stared at the hand that was still wrapped around her wrist. "Just how badly do you want your hand broken?"
"Hey, man. Sorry!" Orochi apologized, shaken by the promised threat in the tall, obviously delinquent, man's gaze.
Teru sighed in relief when Orochi snatched his hand back, releasing her wrist. "Thank you Kuros...ack!" She yelped as he swung her up in to his arms and turned away from the subdued young men to stride back towards their place in the sand. "What are you doing?!"
"I can't leave you alone for a second, can I?" He groused as he held her tighter. "Do you want me to start punching out random strangers?"
"That is not fair. That was not my fault." She didn't know where to put her hands, so she laced them together and tried to ignore all the points of contact their skin was making at the moment.
"You wear that suit out in public and it's kinda your fault," earned him a gasp and a thump on the chest. "Why didn't you tell them you had a boyfriend?"
She went perfectly still, her eyes going wide. "I...I forgot I could say that." she admitted, embarrassed.
Kurosaki rolled his eyes and stopped walking. He jerked his head back towards the picnic area. "Are those guys still watching us?"
Teru peeked over his shoulder. "Yeah."
"Good." He turned around so that they were in full view and then he kissed her.
Teru's hands fluttered for a moment as Kurosaki's lips pressed against hers, before they crept around his neck and held on for dear life.
At the touch of her hands Kurosaki angled his head, held her tighter, and deepened the kiss until her nails were leaving marks where she held him tight.
He raised his head when his knees began to wobble and rested his forehead against hers. He felt her breath panting against his lips and locked his knees. "Repeat after me; 'I have a boyfriend'."
"I have a boyfriend," she said breathlessly, her eyes still closed.
"Now say, 'His name is Kurosaki Tasuku'."
"His name is Kurosaki Tasuku," she parroted back weakly as he softly kissed the corner of her mouth.
"Say, 'he's a punk who will kick your ass if you so much as look at me'," he murmured against her lips.
Their spectators forgotten, her hands slid from his shoulders to his hair, trying to hold him closer as he kissed pressed kiss after kiss all over her face. "Kurosaki."
He almost pitched them both into the sand when she moaned his name. He cursed as he lifted his head, taking in her dazed eyes and flushed features. "Are you going to forget again?"
Her hands unclenched from his hair and fell back to his shoulders. "Forget what?" She asked, staring at his mouth.
Absurdly pleased, Kurosaki ignored the temptation of her kiss-swollen mouth and shifted his hold until he could hoist her over his shoulder. "Forget it," he yelled, ignoring her surprised shriek. "I'm just going to tattoo 'property of Kurosaki Tasuku' on your forehead. That should help."
Teru tried to brace her hands on his back as he began walking once again, but her hands kept slipping. "That's not funny," she giggled. "I won't forget." She noticed they were heading for the ocean instead of the beach chairs and started laughing as she wiggling in his hold. "Kurosaki don't! I won't forget, I promise. I have a boyfriend! I have a boyfriend!"
They'd been going out for months, but hearing her say it still brought a stupid smile to his face.
"Quit wiggling," he told her somewhat desperately. He had one hand wrapped around her thighs and his back was awash with sensation at the touch of her hands and the occasional brush of her torso against his skin. A plunge into the water would do them both good. "Take a deep breath!" He warned before he fell backwards with her into an oncoming wave.
They came up, hair in their faces, sputtering, and laughing as they held on to each other in the surf. "You're a bully, Kurosaki!" She giggles as she splashed him.
"A bully, huh? Didn't I just save you?" He asked innocently as he wiped the water out of his eyes. "Carry you off like a princess? You should call me your knight in shining armor." Then he gave her a smile that had her squealing and making an attempt for the shore. He grabbed her from behind and pitched them once again into the waves.
They spent the next hour in the water playing and searching for sand dollars. When he found out she was scared of starfish he searched for one in earnest and then chased her out of the water and around the beach chairs until even Andy told them to cut it out.
"Ah, youth," he intoned from beneath his hat as the two collapsed on to their beach chairs. "Such energy."
Riko opened one eye from where she'd been sunbathing and watched Teru and Kurosaki smile at each other as they dried off. "Actually, I think it's love, not youth," she whispered to Andy.
Andy nodded with a smile and adjusted his hat.
