I pull her over to the blanket and sit down. She sits beside me accepting the plate I offer her. I am giddy with the knowledge that my feelings have not been rejected completely. True I said 'like' instead of 'love' and she won't let me kiss her lips, but this is progress. The sun is setting, making her eyes sparkle with so many shades of golden brown that I am hypnotized. She is happy again and
"Tsuruga-san?" Those mesmerizing eyes are glaring up at me as she holds up her plate. "You should be eating too." To my surprise, she holds a piece of fruit to my mouth for me to take. I gladly accept it careful of her fingers. If I bite her, she might never feed me again like this. "I like this stuff here." She dips a strawberry into some sort of fruit dip and brings it to her lips. I watch the tip of her tongue lick the dip from it.
Kuon urges me to throw her to the ground and have my way with her. I settle for watching her joyously eat the food I supplied for her. Being able to take care of her is one of the best feelings in the world. Another piece of fruit is pressed to my lips, this time with the dip on it. I am less careful than before and catch one of her fingers in my mouth long enough to lick off some dip from it.
"Hmm, that is good." I say to her blushing face.
"Bully." She grumbles under her breath and turns her attention back to the food. There are salads, and cheeses, and an array of vegetables, and some sort of noodle dish. Kyouko piles food onto a plate and hands it to me with a wicked smile.
"Now who's the bully?" I groan but diligently eat the food she has given me. Her pleased smile is more than worth the pain of eating so much.
We sit in silence as the light gradually vanishes. I wonder if I might be imagining this whole scenario. If maybe she ran into the trees scared of my words.
"Eat." She places more vegetables on my plate and I know I can't be dreaming. I finish my meal quickly, not tasting any of it. "It's getting really dark now. I won't be able to see the fish." She pouts taking my plate and putting it with hers in the basket.
"But the night fairies will come out for you to play with, won't they?" I tease enjoying how easy it feels to be with her.
Still pouting she looks up at me, "Are you making fun of me? I thought you said you liked me." We both blush and she quickly looks away from me. I make a move to light the candle I brought but she takes it from me. "I won't be able to see the fairies if you do that." Her blush deepens at her admittance of wanting to see the night fairies.
Without a word, I pack up our meal and the two of us lie down on the blanket. Kyouko looks around, probably wondering when the night fairies will come. I want to reach out and touch her, to hold her in my arms again.
"Look, see there's one." She whispers pointing to a single firefly that has appeared near the water. Eyes alight with wonder she crawls closer and kneels near the water. "Hello." She greets it reaching a hand up and the way it flies closer to kiss her outstretched finger is almost enough to convince me that it must be a real fairy.
"I mean it you know. I really do like you." Her eyes turn to me drawing me in. "Why does that make you sad?" I ask noting the tears brimming her eyes. Her head shakes looking down. "Do you think I'm lying?" Tentatively I move closer to her. She shakes her head more vigorously scooting back further as I advance. "Mogami-san…"
"I told you I'm afraid." She trembles, leaning as far away from me as possible without falling into the water. "There has to be another girl out there. Some beautiful, perfect girl who is better than I am in every aspect of her life."
"There isn't," I lift her chin forcing her teary eyes to look at me. "Not for me. You are the only one for me."
"Promise?" A drop of water lands on her cheek startling both of us. I look up as more drops start to fall lightly over us. "Tsuruga-san?" She pulls on my shirt to regain my attention. I smile pulling her to her feet and shielding her in my arms. "Do you promise that there's no one else?" She leans up almost touching her lips to mine. I nod moving the slightest bit closer.
"I have never loved anyone else, only you." Her eyes go wide at my words but before she can object to them I press my lips to hers.
I feel her hands press against my chest and reluctantly pull away, bracing myself for the onslaught of accusations. For a moment, we stare at each other as the rain drizzles down on us. I lick my lips, nervous about what she could be thinking. It shocks me when she pulls me down, bringing our lips back together. Her arms wrap around my neck and her fingers wind themselves in my hair.
"AHH!" She screams when the rain begins to pour down harder. To my delight she clings tighter to me.
"Come on." I take her hand pull her and we begin to run back to the car.
"Tsuruga-san, the food!" Of course, that's what she would worry about now. Her laughter echoes around the trees as I scoop her into my arms and run faster with her, before she can turn back for the stupid basket. I open the door and quickly help her into the back seat.
In my trunk, there is a bag of extra clothes, courtesy of my thoughtful manager. I pull the bag out and toss it on the seat beside her then get into the front. She thanks me, pulling out one of my shirts. She hands the bag forward and our eyes collide. Golden eyes stare at me through the rearview mirror.
"Go ahead and change. I promise I won't look, I don't want you to catch a cold." I say adjusting the mirror to give her some semblance of privacy. I can hear her peeling her clothes from her body and I fight the urge to turn and stare at her. To distract myself I remove my shirt and pull a sweat shirt out of the bag to wear. By the time I am done, she announces that she is finished and I hear a quiver in her voice.
I turn around to see her in nothing but my oversized shirt. With her wet hair dripping water down her face and her eyes looking down, she looks like a lost kitten. Her hands are busy folding her pants and placing them into a neat pile along with her drenched shirt and bra. My pants aren't as wet, and it would be too much of a hassle to try to change them in this small space so I leave them. She climbs into the front seat giving me a glimpse of her pink cotton panties. They match her bra in color and I can't help but wonder if they also have black lace around the top edge. Blushing she sits down quickly pulling my shirt over her knees.
"Sorry, I should have checked the weather before planning this." I feel guilty for seeing something that she didn't want me to. "Here." There is a blanket and an unopened box of cereal bars in the bag. I hand her both before starting the car.
"Thank you." Shivering she covers her legs with the blanket and checks the date on the box. With the way I eat, I wouldn't be surprised if she expected them to be more than a couple of years old. I'm not so sure they aren't. "Yashiro-san must regularly repack this bag for you." She concludes opening the box and taking out one bar. "We shouldn't have left that basket behind." She probably had plans for those expensive leftovers. I shrug not really caring about the food or the basket.
"Let's get you home." I say turning up the heat and beginning to pull out of my parking spot.
"If you don't mind, I'd rather not walk into the Darumaya like this. Can I stay at your place tonight? That is if you want me to! I mean, I know I shouldn't invite myself…"
"Mogami-san I'm surprised at you!" I gasp interrupting her nervous banter.
"I'm sorry, it was rude of me to ask…"
"On the first date? You really think you're ready for that?" Her embarrassed blush and contrite expression morph into an indignant glare when she sees the mischievous smile on my face.
"Tsuruga-san are you teasing me?" I shrug earning a pretty pout. "You're supposed to be a gentleman. Don't imply," she pauses, either searching for a word or perhaps trying to twist my words to mean something else.
"What?" I ask innocently.
"Nothing, just drive." Her bare feet are tucked underneath her and she is twisted in the chair to face me.
"Seat belt." She obeys my command but does not adjust her sitting position. I'm not sure if the safety features of the car work with her sitting like that. "It got cold fast." I comment turning the heat up. "I don't want you to get sick."
She says nothing and I look over to see her large eyes staring at me. Is she mad?
"You said love." I had hoped she didn't catch that. "No one, besides Corn has ever said that they love me."
"Oh sweetheart." I offer her my hand and she grips it in both of hers. It isn't the safest way to drive but I make it home without incident. I look over at her to find her eyes closed and her breathing deep and steady. When did she fall asleep? "You better not let yourself be this vulnerable around other people. Who knows what they'd do to you."
Opening her door, I lean down and caress her face. If she wakes up while I'm carrying her, she's bound to throw a fit. Throwing caution to the wind I unbuckle her and lift her into my arms. Let her accuse me of being inappropriate. I carry her to my guest room and pull the covers back to set her down. A pair of sleep clouded eyes stare up at me as I tuck her in.
"I promise you, my heart is yours."
A/N So I'm wondering if anyone has any requests or suggestions. I've pretty much figured out that this story is going to be long and if you've read my profile where I list future ideas for stories, a couple of them will be appearing in this story. Since I'll be writing this one for so long I'll need occasional breaks from it and it would be helpful if I could get suggestions for one shots or something for Continuations. Aside from that I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I know this whole story is impossible and we'll probably be stuck in relationship limbo with Ren for five more years but that's sort of the point of fan fiction isn't it?