Kyoya devoured that meal rapidly, with little or no table manners, yet Azumi-san merely looked at him with a fond smile. He wasn't sure if it was more infuriating if she had been impatient, or if she was just like she was now, saintly and smiling.
Azumi-san had a beautiful smile, he realized. With her black hair that seemed like ink, and slender build and blue grey eyes Azumi-san was beautiful. Kurowa was different in only on aspect, she had lighter, honey colored eyes like amber.
"Did you enjoy lunch, Kyoya?" Azumi-san asked him pleasantly. That was when he looked down and realized he had gotten his white shirt dirty during his hurried scarfing. His cheeks burned a dull red as he realized he looked very messy. It was un-Hibari like.
"Yes. Azumi-san. Lunch was very nice." He found himself replying, looking down ant his cleared plate of what used to be a western meal. He confided to himself deep inside that western meals weren't terrible. He would have to get more of it at some point. It had never really occured to him, that a western meal could be enjoyed.
With that he trotted off the the bathroom to fix the stains on his shirt. He couldn't go home like this after all. Besides, there was something else that he still needed to ask Kurowa. Since he had used up most of his morning and afternoon on the task of finding her he would ask.
After he locked himself in the bathroom he realized he was too short to reach the tap. With a sigh he moved over to the bathtub, there were taps he could reach there, and gathering the large towel in his arms he turned the faucet. It was a mere trickle, but it would do. He sponged most of the sauce off of his shirt and face. It was at this point when he realized that he had covered the snowy white towel with dark brown sauce.
He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do about this, so he simply stood there looking at it.
He realized later that he would never be able to live the embarrassment down. He couldn't quite find it within himself to care.
Kyoya moved out of the bathroom and went to find Kurowa. He wandered through several rooms, but in the end she was in a large spacious room with a huge window. He was drawn to the rock garden outside, and then to her easel.
She was painting in ink with long fluid strokes down a white paper. The rocks and the falling water seemed to be given life by the brush that she wielded. She signed her name at the bottom of the sheet, and with a sigh slowly set her brush down.
Emiko squeaked slightly as she noticed that someone else was in the room. She relaxed a little as she noticed it was Hibari. But somehow he had a determined expression on his face that she didn't understand.
"Kurowa?" Was that hesitancy in his voice? Did she do something to make him upset again? But that wasn't right, he wasn't hesitant when he was upset, and he rarely looked so uncomfortable.
"Y-yes?" Was all that she managed. She plunked down onto the floor, face burning. Could she for once talk properly instead of stuttering?
"Are we friends?" Emiko's head jerked up at this.
"Ah...Well..." Hibari stood up quickly and she shivered slightly at how tall he became.
"If we aren't friends just say so." Was his sharp retort and with that he turned to leave the room. "And don't stutter."
"Wait!" For some reason, she knew that if he left the room he wouldn't be coming back. "H-hibari!" He turned around slightly, but at least he had stopped. He was dangerously close to leaving the room now.
"Do you want to be friends?"
Kyoya watched Kurowa stutter with a certain feeling of dismay growing inside of him. Didn't she think that they should be friends too? Maybe he had been too quick to judge. Maybe she didn't want him as a friend.
"If we aren't friends just say so." A completely unjust feeling of anger rose within him. He really shouldn't ache so badly that they weren't friends. I don't think I need friends anymore. The sarcastic thought rose inside of him. "And don't stutter."
With that he stalked towards the door.
"Wait!" the voice was surprisingly loud. And he turned slightly to look into a nearly devastated face. Did Kurowa actually care? "H-hibari!"
"Do you want to be friends?"
The question shocked him, for it was said without stuttering, and Kurowa had been looking him completely in the eye as she asked. The shock was enough that he said the first thing that came to mind.
"I want to be friends."
And across both of their faces a smile blossomed. Although in his case, it was a rather small smile.
"Do you want to go sakura viewing?" Kyoya huffed slightly to himself. It seemed as though ever after the becoming friends incident Kurowa had grown bolder. He didn't dislike sakura, he just didn't particularly love it either.
"Fine." He said as he turned back to his schoolwork. Finally, finally, they had gotten to more interesting things. He thought that his handwriting had become much better. To his surprise, Masu-sensei had finally become demanding in an area.
She had even drilled into them that their writing would be the first thing that their teachers judged them by when they got to a higher grade level, and that if they didn't write well the impression that left would be difficult to erase.
Needless to say he had spent time perfecting his handwriting after that. The Hibari family did not need to leave bad impressions on any teacher, no matter how low the grade level.
Emiko was happy. Ever since becoming friends Hibari didn't seem so intimidating anymore. In fact, their days were mostly happy, even though school had gotten slightly harder.
Nakamura was still a slight pest, but he had become shoved in the back of her brain. He was really sort of sad. Most everyone in the class disliked him now.
She still couldn't talk to anyone besides Hibari and Masu-sensei at school without turning red though, so she still spent most of playtime drawing. Sometimes Hibari would join her, other times he would spend it alone.
So she hummed slightly as she skipped towards the park. Kaa-san would come later, but she was just a street away so she could go alone. Besides, as soon as she got there Endo-san would also be there.
Kyoya watched as Kurowa skipped down the street, sketchbook in hand. She had become positively bouncy. Did she really like sakura that much?
He had something else he needed to say today though.
"Ohayo, Hibari." She chirped as she plopped down on the stretch of grass next to him and immediately began to sketch the delicate sakura blossoms.
"Friends shouldn't refer to each other with their last names." The words were out before he truly thought about them.
"Oh," She tilted her head back and examined his expression. "What should I call you then?"
The words caught him by surprise. What was she supposed to call him?
"Use my first name, Kurowa." Surprisingly enough, this produced a small laugh.
"But you don't use my first name..." He glared. "That is not the point."
"Okay then Kyoya-san..." She stared off into the many pink blossoms. "You should call me Emi though."
"Why?" It was a simple question really, but he still wanted to know the answer anyway.
"Because I don't really like Emiko." And the answer was simple as well.
"By the way, drop the san." By the amount of stuttering it seemed as though Kuro-Emi had a hard time thinking about this. With an amused smile he turned to face her. "Say it. Kyo-ya."
"K-kyo" Was the startled squeak.
He considered this for a moment. "That's fine as well." and with that they turned back to watch the blossoms.
At about mid morning Kyoya fell asleep.
Emiko turned their startling conversation over in her head, berating herself for not even being able to say a name.
It was just a name.
But it was such a hard thing to say. Somehow it became Kyo instead of his full first name.
And the most startling was that he didn't care. She thought about it and smiled. They were really friends after all.
Kyoya woke up as the sun climbed into a mid point into the sky. He yawned and stretched. The grass wasn't particularly pleasant beneath him, slightly prickly. He preferred a flatter surface.
"Do you really not like sakura?" He turned towards Emi.
"I don't dislike them." He stretched again. "I just don't particularly like them either."
"Why?" She was still sketching. He propped himself up on one elbow and glanced at it. The sakura blossoms filled so many pages. It seemed as though she has sketched sakura from dozens of different angles.
"They were always too bright."
"I think sakura is beautiful." Was her quiet reply. "They are always so delicate and bring so much happiness." She gestured towards the pair of teens that were sitting on a bench at the other end of the square. "Happiness is quite beautiful."
He cast a glance at the two older children trying to suck each other's faces off and grimaced. "I don't think that's happiness." With a huff he looked away again. "And if that is happiness I don't want to be happy.
Emiko laughed and they got up to go to lunch.
A. N. Finally, finally, finally I have finished chapter 6. Tell me if they aren't in character this chapter. I truly love it when people review though. It gives me courage to go forward.
I love all of your support. All of it. Every single person who has either reviewed followed or favorited has my undying love forever.
As always tell me what you think!
Leaf.