As always disclaimers apply and constructive criticism is appreciated.
Chapter 9 Water
Its 2:30 Kyoko thought as she sat in her corner hiding. She had a can of silly string in her hand and she was supposed to use it to tag Tsuruga-san and Maria. But first she had to find them. Kyoko slowly moved from her corner and looked around. She had hid in a bedroom. It consisted of a bed, walk-in-closet, a bathroom with its own shower and bathtub, and a bureau. The wallpaper was a bright pink. Why am I not surprised? Kyoko thought to herself as she remembered her work uniform. She walked out of the bedroom into the hallway. There were doors opening to rooms she had yet explored on both sides of her. On one end the hallway ended, on the other it opened up to the large room she and Tsuruga-san had watched Maria-Chan's play. The floors of the house were wood except for the kitchen where it was a white tile. Slowly Kyoko opened the door on the other side of the hallway and looked in. It was identical to the bedroom she'd been hiding in except the walls were a baby blue. Kyoko thought of her character Karu. She calculated all the steps to robbing banks and had never been caught. In this situation she needed to be able to keep a calm head and plan out her strategy. Slowly Karu smirked.
It had been a long time since Ren had played a game like this. Not since he was Kyoun. Then he had played games with his dad all the time. Well up until that point. Currently he had his back to a wall with the silly string can at the ready. He was in a hallway that opened up on both ends into circular mini rooms that then continued on to more hallways. He had no idea to where Maria and Kyoko were. Slowly he advanced through the hallways.
At the opening to the next room he saw a white lacy cloth. Slowly he advanced on his target. He came to the edge of the corner; he could have reached around and touched her. He angled his can in the right direction and sprayed. His head soon turned the corner and he saw what was there. The cloth was part of a decoration on the wall. It was a rug with lace for a border; it was the president's mansion after all. Don't I feel stupid.
"Aha!" Ren felt something soft and stringy on his back. He turned around to see Maria standing there with a look of victory on her face.
"Hehe, you got me Maria," Ren looked at her with a defeated smile.
"Now if big sis gets you then you are out. You have to wait ten seconds so that I can hide again and then you will be back in the game." With that she turned around and scampered off. Slowly Ren counted to ten in his head. Carefully he followed in Maria's direction; he didn't want to get caught off guard again. She had walked down a hallway that headed back in the direction of the room they had been in earlier.
This time when he reached the end of the hallway he did not walk out into the room without inspecting it first. It appeared empty. It was the kitchen, and a rather large one at that. The cabinets were a beautiful mahogany and there was an island that stretched out into the middle of the room. The kitchen itself only consisted of about half the room. The other half was empty and contained the wall that the entrance door was on. The wall directly opposite him was more like a screen, the patio was directly on the other side and so one could see through the screen to what was going on outside. He saw no one out there either. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw something move near the island.
He walked over slowly without making a sound. He was tall enough to be able to reach over the other side of the table and spray the silly string at who ever was there without being seen himself. And he did so.
"Aahh, no!" By the squeal Ren recognized Maria's voice.
"Haha, got you back Maria," The young girl walked out from behind the island and stood there pouting at her favorite male.
"Ren! You got it in my hair." The older male chuckled as he walked over to help the girl get it out of her hair.
"Found you," the next thing they knew they were both covered in silly string. Ren turned to see a calm and collected Kyoko. She had a glint in her eyes that he didn't quite recognize. Maria tugged on his sleeve and when he looked down at her he saw deviant stance and understood the cue. Together they gave Kyoko a deviant look.
She had won. She had managed to find both of them together, which made them easy targets. Shortly after her victory Karu's spirit had left her. Now both Maria and Tsuruga-san were looking at her with challenging expressions. Then she understood. She dropped the can she was holding and bolted for the door that was on the screen wall. Once outside she had to maneuver her way around tables. It was probably the only thing that allowed her to escape. Before when she had tried to outrun Tsuruga-san he had caught up to her walking. Taking a peek behind her she realized he wasn't far behind and Maria was just a little further back. The patio stretched into a dock and went over the lake. There really was no where left to run so she just followed the dock. Once she reached the end she panicked. Her sempai was only a few seconds away from her and was going to catch her. She took a step back in her panic and realized too late that the dock ended. She fell with a loud splash into the water. The dock was a good five feet above the water, why it was so high only the president would ever know.
"Mogami-san!" Ren's run to catch her turned into a desperate dash to dive into the water after her. He misjudged her fall and almost dove right into her. When he came up she was afloat but was coughing up water as the unexpected fall hadn't given her time to close her mouth before she went under. "Mogami-san," he closed the few inch gap separating them and wrapped her in his arms. It took most of his self control not to kiss her on the head. "I'll help you swim to the shore," she just nodded her head without looking at him and together they slowly made their way to the sandy beach as the dock was too high to get back up on.
"Big sis! Ren! Are you all right?" Maria ran up to them and wrapped them both in hugs. "You two need to change fast before you catch colds! Grandfather has some clothes lying around that you guys can wear. I'll go find them."
Kyoko had gone to change in the room she had first hid in. She had her back to the door and her breathing was irregular. She hadn't cared what the child had found for her so long as it would get her away from her sempai. When she had fallen in the lake she had accidentally swallowed water. Then when Tsuruga-san had jumped in after her he was so graceful she had been mesmerized. She had seen several water and light fairies around him as she watched his graceful form. She had been so captivated she almost didn't notice that he would crash into her if she didn't move. The movement and his splash had caused her to swallow even more water. Because of her coughing she didn't hear her sempai call her name and was shocked when she felt his arms around her. She assented without a fight to him leading her to shore.
Once they were out of the water she saw him in full view, wet hair, clothes and all. She had been reminded of just how handsome her superior was. Just looking at him caused her breath to catch in her throat so she had looked down. Then before she realized it Maria had wrapped them each separately in a hug and started talking about getting them dry clothes.
When she looked back up to walk inside, she locked eyes with Tsuruga-san and imagined the wood fairies flying around him. What made the view even worse was that he had his heavenly smile on which almost blinded her. But it was strange, in that moment she had thought to herself Corn. . The sight had rid her of several of her grudge demons. It had been the worst attack on them yet. A heavenly smile coupled with fairies, it was the most dangerous thing they had come across and were having an even harder time recuperating then their master. Tsuruga-san may be the most sought after man in Japan but he is also the most dangerous man in Japan. Walking back into the house to get clothes Kyoko looked to her side at her sempai and saw a horrifying sight. Tsuruga-san was taking off his wet shirt! Kyoko blushed profusely and looked down to avoid being seen under such distress. She couldn't help herself but to take another peek at him. He was toned and because he was wet his body was glistening in the sunlight and she once again thought of Corn. Except her sempai was much more handsome.
She hadn't cared what Maria handed to her she had just grabbed it and ran to the bedroom she currently was in. Why in the world did I compare Tsuruga-san to Corn? Corn is a fairy prince and has gone back to fairy land. And why was I so confused by his appearance? I've seen him wet before, that time he had a cold and had to act that scene out in the rain, he even fell on top of me! But that didn't make me nearly as nervous as what just happened did. Slowly the cogs in her mind turned and she remembered some advice she had given to her sempai when she was Bo, about the first signs of love. NNNOOO! Quickly she dressed and went to go join Maria so that she couldn't be alone and think.
This is taking a lot longer then I meant it too. But that's ok, I like imagining Ren all wet and without a shirt on ~sigh~ Please review and tell me what you think and if you have any special requests for what might happen!
