Chapter 10 – Winter Dance
Oddly, Kisa has been following me almost constantly for almost two weeks now. Our friends just think it's cute, but I'm at a loss. I want her to spend time with her friends but it's rare if she leaves my side! Finally, I decided to visit our friends myself. Kisa, of course, follows me, so she visits too. I'm at a loss for further words.
The winter dance is coming up and after a few more lessons with Yuki, I'm pretty sure that I have mastered the art of the slow dance. Wondering how good Kisa is at it, I glanced over at her. She wasn't really paying attention to me at the moment, so I stood up. Her head shot around and she looked at me. She started to stand up but I held out my hand.
"Restroom…" I said simply. She smiled and sat back down. Wow…
I came back to the table a couple minutes later and sat down next to Kisa again. We were at our usual café with Inoue, Mori, Yoko, and Ichijo. Slowly sipping my soda, I watched the bubbles float to the surface before popping. Yes, I was kind of bored. The dance was bringing anticipation out in everyone, but there was a void before and after it of entertainment. Plus, I hadn't actually ASKED Kisa if she wanted to go with me yet. I was hoping that I already knew the answer, but I wanted to be on the safe side. I laughed then. All I would have to do is stand up and walk around the side of the building. Kisa would instantly follow me, leaving four bewildered people behind and I could ask her behind the building right now. It would seem that I had laughed out loud, though…
"What's so funny, Hiro?" Inoue asked. I noticed everyone was now looking at me.
"Just an amusing picture that floated through my head a few moments ago, nothing really…" I replied.
"Could it be more amusing than you thrashing around locked in a folding chair and umbrella?" Ichijo asked. Mori and Kisa glared at him then, but I just laughed.
"Probably not…" I replied happily. People teasing today didn't really bother me for some reason. On a normal day, the nearest object to me would have went flying at his head for that comment. It would appear he was expecting it, too, because he was now staring at me with rather large eyes. On examination, I noticed that EVERYONE was staring at me then. I just smiled and laid my head down on my arms. Carefree was my personality today.
I started to think about the dance again. There would be a half day of school that day, which left seven hours before the dance. Setting the goal to maximize Kisa's fun that day, I tried to think of what to do with her in between school and the dance. The water park would be fun again, as long as we didn't repeat the last performance there, anyway. The dance was THIS Wednesday, though, and today was Monday. That left two more days for me to get reservations. Should be plenty of time…
"Hiro? How close are you to black belt now?" I heard Yoko ask. This snapped me out of my daze abruptly. Stupidly, I answered before recovering.
"Two days!" I shouted. Oops… Everyone looked confused at me. I shook my head.
"Sorry… I mean I'm half a belt below black right now," I added before anyone said anything.
"Wow… I'm never going to catch up," Yoko said sadly.
"You should spend more time practicing then," I replied. "You would improve soon enough." Yes, it was a little harsh, but it was the truth. He only nodded.
"What's two days, by the way?" Kisa asked curiously.
"That's easy. Hiro's thinking about the winter dance," Inoue teased. I actually felt a little bit of heat enter my face.
"Do you have a date yet, Kisa?" Mori asked. Oh no… My world collapsed on me again. Kisa's eyes widened.
"Well, I had just assumed that I would be going with Hiro…" she spoke hesitantly, looking over at me.
"Haven't you ever thought about dating anyone OTHER than Hiro?" Mori asked playfully. I felt like screaming that I WAS still in the general listening distance!
"NO! I love Hiro and always will!" Kisa exclaimed. I felt slightly better.
"Wow… such devotion," Mori commented. Suddenly I found myself sympathizing with her old boyfriend and I felt bad that I had beat him up.
Standing up before she asked, I walked towards the opening of the fence.
"Hiro?" Kisa asked, standing up and following me. After about a minute of walking, I rounded a corner and out of sight from her friends, with Kisa still following me.
"What's wrong, Hiro? IS it ok if I go to the dance with you?" Kisa asked. Ignoring her question I turned around and faced her.
"Kisa?" I asked then. She looked confused.
"Um… yes?" she hesitantly asked.
"Will you go to the winter dance with me?" I asked then. Her eyes widened.
"Um… but I just asked…" she started.
"Is that a no, then?" I asked, pretending to be slightly hurt.
"Of course I will go with you!" Kisa exclaimed smiling. "Why did you insist on asking me, though? I had just assumed…"
"I felt like I HAD to…" I replied.
"Oh…" she replied. She leaned forward and kissed me then. I smiled.
We walked back to the others holding hands…
Dance
The school hallways were a lot more crowded than usual. Almost every ten minutes I noticed a guy asking a girl to the dance. Stupid people waiting until the last minute, I thought. Every once in a while I saw a girl ask, but it wasn't very often. Listening to the slow "patting" of footsteps directly behind me, I stopped to look into our classroom.
Kisa, not looking at me but the decorations in the hallway instead, bumped into my back. Now I know how Tohru felt. It was exceedingly cute to have Kisa follow you around like a chick, bumping into you every once in a while.
"Oops… sorry, Hiro. I wasn't paying attention again," Kisa spoke quietly.
"It's ok, Kisa. I know how Tohru feels now…" I replied, turning around. Kisa laughed.
"I did follow Sis around a lot, didn't I?" she asked. I nodded.
"You still can if you want to. I used to get so jealous sometimes… but not anymore," I explained.
"Why?" Kisa inquired.
"I used to watch you following your 'Sis' and wished that, just once, you would put that much effort and devotion into me. I was always amazed at how she could keep your solid attention for hours at a time and you would follow every word she said to the letter. It was like everything she said had special meaning to you…" I explained further.
"Everything you say is special too," she answered. "Remember when I was younger? There was not a single drop of confidence in my body at all and I DID follow you around everywhere. You were the only person that I could say anything to. You wouldn't get mad at me or tease me about what I said and you would protect me from everyone else who would." I smiled at her and affectionately patted her head.
"Now you don't need to follow me around anymore, though. You have confidence to walk on your own now." I was somehow happy and sad at the same time and now understood how Kisa could do it all the time.
"Yet I follow you around a lot still," she added.
"As to why is still a mystery to me, but I don't mind if you do."
"That's easy! I shifted from needing emotional support to love," she replied happily.
"When DID that happen, by the way? I think I missed the crossover…" I replied playfully.
"I think it happened rather gradually, but I'm still happy that it did!" she answered. Leaning forward, she placed a small kiss on my cheek. I smiled at her and we entered the classroom…
During the entire class, I was thinking about the dance. Kisa was sitting in the desk to my left and looked like she was in a daze. The teacher was simply reviewing old materials, so she probably knew that most of the class wasn't paying attention. I had managed to get a reservation in the same restaurant that Kisa and I had our first date in. She didn't know about it yet, but we would already be dressed up when we left the dance.
Kisa and I left the class at the same time. She was walking happily to my left. I was simply amazed at the amount of time she was spending with me. It was more than a slight system shock. The group of boys was lingering outside the door of the classroom. Kisa slid closer to me and I wrapped my arm around her waist, glaring at the boys as I walked by. All they did was watch.
Hatsuharu and Momiji caught up with us as we arrived on the bottom floor.
"Guarding her against the boys again?" Momiji asked. I snorted.
"It would be rather amusing when she body-slammed them when they tried to grab her, but I can't bring myself to let them get that close…" I joked. Kisa laughed then. Momiji was quite surprised when I DIDN'T try to kill him after the beach 'accident.' Why would I bother? That was one of the best days I've had in a while. The four of us were quickly joined by Inoue, Mori, and Ichijo. All seven of us walked down to the middle school to pick up Yoko, and then we headed over to the water park. Pretty much our entire group had known about my plans yesterday, so we all had our swimsuits in our backpacks.
Quickly getting changed, I rushed out into the pool area. Kisa was just stepping out of the changing room in that cute yellow bikini of hers. I sighed. Mori was following her in her usual pink bikini. Inoue took slightly longer, but finally emerged wearing her one-piece. By the time Inoue came out, Momiji had already put on his green swimming trunks and was standing beside Kisa and me. I was wearing a gray pair today with black lining. Haru came out wearing a solid black pair. For such a nice guy, he certainly wore a lot of black. Just don't make him mad or his personality will change to fit his clothes! Ichijo was wearing his camouflaged pair again and Yoko, who could join us this time, was wearing a bright red pair.
We all walked towards the pool area as one group. I was watching the pool again. The large one was deserted completely. There were mostly small children at the park today and they weren't allowed to use the big pool. It was probably a good idea as it would be VERY easy to drown in it. Our entire group knew how to swim, however, so there was little risk. If only Kisa would get up enough guts to try the diving board. It was so fun! I floated the thought around in my head for a little bit. Hmm… Almost thirty feet from here to the diving board, the board itself was five feet long, which I could clear. Heh… This would probably be rather foolish, but if it worked out it would be rather fun.
"Kisa?" I said, turning to her and holding out my right hand.
"Hmm?" she asked as she turned towards me. Then she looked down at my hand and casually took it in her left. The trap was sprung… My hand clenched down on hers all of a sudden. Her eyes widened, but it was too late.
I heard a "Hey!" from Kisa as I broke into a run. She was pulled along with me, but managed to start running. When she noticed where my destination was, she started to pull back. I smiled and slid onto the board. The bending of the board sent her with me. She collided with me on the board. Wrapping my arms around her quickly, I leapt. The board sent us both spiraling into the air! Her arms constricted violently around my waist then as she let out a slight yelp. For a few brief moments, we were airborne, and I went spread eagle. Kisa never let go of my waist, though. As we neared the water, I tucked my head down. Kisa closed her eyes. We slipped into the water with barely a splash! Diving to the bottom of the pool, I 'lied' down. Kisa just shook her head at me under water. I reached up and pulled her down on me. Kissing underwater is a very amusing experience. After about twenty seconds or so, our air was running low, so we floated back up and broke through the surface. Kisa was a little pink in the cheeks but smiling at me. I glanced back over at our group. Inoue and Mori were staring in awe at me. Haru was just smiling and nodding at me. Momiji and Yoko had broken into laughter probably quite a while ago. Ichijo was just looking at us sadly. He was being his usual lecherous self, probably wishing that he was in my position.
Slowly swimming towards the ladder, Kisa just lied on my back and let me do the work. Grabbing the ladder, I climbed out of the pool with her still on my back. Reaching behind me, I put my arms under her and supported her against me. This was the first time I had given Kisa a piggyback ride. She just wrapped her arms around and over my shoulders and held on. I walked around the pool to our group. Kisa's head rested on my shoulders then.
"That was amazing, Hiro!" she said.
"I told you to try it…" I commented.
"Yeah… I just need a bit of a push every once in a while," she replied. I laughed. She looked over at the big slide again.
"Wanna try the slide again?" I asked. She nodded against my shoulder.
I walked over to the slide and crouched down. Kisa gingerly stepped off my back and walked towards the ladder. Walking back towards our group, I noticed that Momiji had gotten impatient and was already leaping into the pool. Haru was floating on his back in the pool, looking like he was asleep. Mori and Inoue walked up to me.
"Let's hope a repeat of last time doesn't happen…" Inoue joked. I laughed.
"What did you two do under the water, Hiro?" Ichijo asked all of a sudden. I just stared at him. Didn't he ever give up?
"Did you two kiss? What was it like?" It would seem he didn't… I just raised an eyebrow to him. Mori, who was to his left, rolled her eyes.
"Come on! You can tell me!" he continued. Why did I suddenly feel like flinging him into the pool? Mori was starting to shake.
"Do you ever stop?" she shouted. It was almost like she was reading my mind…
"Um… well, I just wanted to know… No real harm in asking," he replied timidly.
"Fine! You want to know?" she shouted. Stepping into him she pressed her entire mouth over his. I watched in shock as his eyes widened tremendously and she wrapped her arms, kind of violently, around him… His entire face went a bright scarlet and his eyes glazed over slightly. She broke the kiss after about ten seconds and he was just staring, almost through her.
"There! Now will you shut up!" she shouted at him. If he responded, it was with a drool.
Letting out a low growl, she hauled him over to the pool and casually tossed him in. Turning around then, she noticed that both Inoue and I were just staring in shock at her.
"What?" she asked innocently.
I just shook my head and went to get a better view of Kisa. That's when I noticed him. The SAME brat that was here the last time was halfway up the ladder! I felt like ripping him off it and breaking his face! Maybe he would be different today, though. I tried telling myself this, but got under the platform just in case…
Just as I expected he started pushing his way to the front. He finally made it to Kisa and shoved her shoulder again. I prepared to catch her but wasn't quite expecting the results. Kisa lashed out with both hands, grabbing his arm. Ripping him forward, she put him face first into the slide! I heard his screams all the way down the slide and couldn't stop myself from laughing. He almost skipped off the water on his face! After he resurfaced, gasping for air, he broke into tears. It looked truly pathetic as he ran crying out of the park… I just shook my head and looked up at Kisa. She was smiling down at me, so I gave her the thumbs up. She laughed then before turning around and going down the slide…
A half an hour later I was laying in the shade of a mounted umbrella on one of the lounge chairs. This wasn't one of the fancy mechanical ones, so I felt relatively safe. I was trying to rest before the dance so I could store up my energy. Suddenly, I felt the chair start to move, and I was alert almost instantly, ready to spring away from it.
"Don't worry silly, it's not going to attack you this time," I heard Kisa say. I smiled up at her as she lay down on the chair too.
"Decided to take a break?" I asked. She nodded.
Extending her left arm and leg across me, she pulled herself closer. I turned sideways to face her then and wrap my arms around her, too. She smiled at me and put her head against my chest. We must have fallen asleep, because suddenly I was on that hill again! It was a starry night just like then, too. Kisa walked up to me.
"Interesting backdrop… We will have to visit it tonight after the dance," she said. I smiled at her. We were still in our swimwear. My clothes shifted into the ones I was wearing that day. Without taking her eyes off me, her bikini shifted into that beautiful flowing yellow dress. She lay down beside me in the grass and proceeded to cuddle again. We stared up at the night sky until we heard voices.
"Hey, lovebirds! It's almost time for the dance!" we heard. It sounded like Inoue. Both of us sat up. The dream burned away from us and we were in our swimwear again.
"What time is it?" I asked then, without thinking anything about it.
"I thought you were still asleep when I said that! Wow!" Inoue exclaimed. Oops… we HAD been asleep.
"Nah. Only resting," I covered.
"Well, it's six o'clock. We should head back and get ready now," she said.
We quickly changed and headed over to Kisa's place. I could fit all of my things in one backpack, but Kisa, being a female I guess, had all types of things she needed to do before she was ready. Kisa's mother had allowed me to get ready at her house, thankfully. We were supposed to meet the others in front of the school at seven forty-five. I was already fully dressed by the time Kisa came down the stairs. She was wearing my dress again AND my necklace. Surprisingly, she didn't take the beads off her left hand, though? Lovely yellow ribbons were laced to each side of her head. She looked beautiful! After considering for a little bit, I decided that I always thought Kisa looked beautiful… Again, she didn't wear any make-up, but didn't really have to. Feeling very courtly, I escorted Kisa to the door and opened it for her. Kisa's mother gave me a large smile before waving to us. We walked the entire way with her arm casually hooked to mine, talking about random subjects that came to mind.
It was almost ten to seven by the time we got there. Everyone was waiting for us outside the doors. We entered as a group and paid for the tickets. Thankfully, I only had Kisa and myself to worry about this time. Our group hung towards the back, munching on the snacks for the first half an hour or so. I kind of felt sorry for Haru and Momiji. They didn't have anyone to dance with this year. Haru had taken one dance with Kisa last year, but stepped on her foot. She refused to dance for the rest of the night. This time, though, she was all mine, and I made a mental note to let her enjoy herself as much as possible. After we enjoyed the atmosphere for a little bit, a rather slow song started. Kisa almost squealed. I glanced over at her to make sure she was alright. She rushed towards me though and grabbed my hand.
"I love this song! Can we please dance to it?" she pleaded. Showtime, I guess.
Putting on my biggest smile, I replied, "Of course! That's why were here, isn't it?"
"Oh thank you, Hiro!" she exclaimed as we rushed off towards the dance floor. I don't think that Haru or Momiji knew that I had taken lessons, so this might be a surprise. We reached the approximate center of the right side, giving our group in the back an excellent view. Perfect… Eat your heart out, Haru! I was a little nervous, but also really excited. Kisa spun to gaze at me again, smiling.
We moved together then, but started slowly. Flowing smoothly to the right, I made sure to keep the spacing with her feet. Kisa was wearing the sweetest smile I had ever seen. She swirled all of a sudden as if to test me. I went with her though and twirled her in place. Her eyes were slightly wider when she came out of it. HA! We moved to the left again and repeated the patterns to the beat of the music. After a couple of minutes, Kisa started to laugh slightly. I was glad she was enjoying herself.
After about five minutes, Kisa was breathing a little bit harder but smiling at me happily. The song had ended and I had kept up with her perfectly! All of a sudden, a much faster song started! Kisa's eyes widened slightly.
"Um… we can go back and sit down now…" she spoke hesitantly. I gave her a questioning look.
"But we just got here…" I told her. She turned slightly pink before leaning into the side of my head, near my ear.
"Hiro… I don't know how to dance to this type of music…" My eyes widened in surprise, but I kept smiling.
"Then just go with the rhythm…" I explained.
"Hiro!" she pouted.
"Well fine… I will remember this the next time one of your songs comes up," I replied, teasing. Her eyes widened.
"Um… well, I will try, I guess…" She sighed.
For a while, she just watched my movements. I just cut loose and went with the rhythm of the music. I could see Momiji over Kisa's shoulders start to laugh and point out Kisa to Haru. Haru batted him on the side of the head and he shut up. Soon Kisa started to mimic my movements. After only a couple of minutes, she was starting to laugh. Fast music was rather fun, but it was nice to have the regal feeling of slow music every once and a while. Soon, she was matching me move for move on her own and started to close her eyes to lose herself in the beat. I followed, but never lost the feeling of her presence in front of me. After about four minutes, that song came to a stop too. Kisa collapsed against me laughing.
Almost immediately afterwards a waltz started? It was a request, apparently… A few groans sounded from around me and we lost about 50 of the dancing population. A few brave souls decided to cut loose and try to dance to the waltz. Kisa started to pull away but I pulled her closer instead.
"Oh no… We aren't going to try this, are we?" she groaned. I just smiled down at her. She sighed and turned slightly red. "There are so many people watching now…" she whined, but I had already moved closer to the center of the group.
Kisa's left hand locked with my right. Our excess arms wrapped around each other. I gave her a confident smile before leading. After a minute of slowly following the beat, Kisa seemed to pick up on the rhythm, which was a good thing because things were about to speed up. Adding a quick twirl instead of a simple reversal, I sped up considerably. Kisa's eyes widened as the music picked up the pace too. Luckily, she kept up with me, so I poured on the flair. Soon we were spinning and rotating across a rather large pattern. Kisa lost herself again in the rhythm and music, laughing happily as I led her on. As we rotated, I noticed that some of the couples had stopped dancing and were just watching us in awe. When they shifted into my view, I noticed Momiji just gawking at us. Haru was wearing the biggest smile I had seen in a while! I didn't care about anything else, though. The only thing I really cared about was the girl clinging to me and laughing. Kisa looked so happy! Everything suddenly hit me at once. We were in a large circle of couples watching us. Kisa was oblivious to them as she laughed and danced… with me! This crushing feeling washed over me. Had I finally become her prince? She certainly looked like a princess… The room dimmed in my eyes and the only source of light seemed to be Kisa. The crowd disappeared from my vision and it was just Kisa and I dancing through the darkness to music that came from everywhere. Was I hallucinating? I could almost see the flower petals floating around us. For the first time ever… I felt like a prince!
Eventually the song came to an end, and Kisa just flowed into me and planted a tender kiss to my lips. Clapping erupted from all around us all of a sudden. Kisa snapped out of her daze almost instantly and looked around. We were surrounded by a circle of clapping couples. Kisa looked back at me. Her face was bright scarlet. All I could do was smile at her. Yes, Kisa. Everyone likes you now… No more teasing, no more angry words directed at you, just applause and admiration of your unearthly grace and beauty. With help, I have finally managed to reveal your true form and am now blinded in its glory. There isn't any reason for you to be shy anymore. I spoke to her with my eyes instead of my lips. For a while we just gazed into each other's eyes.
"Can we take a break now?" she asked finally. She was still blushing a little bit. I nodded and we returned to Haru and Momiji. I started to sit down in my seat, but Kisa didn't let go of me? I just stared at her for a little bit. She seemed to be lost in thought. She was still breathing heavily, though. I thought she was in better shape than this… Maybe all those kids clapping wasn't the greatest for her. I noted that the color STILL hadn't left her cheeks. Was she ok? Haru came over then and looked down at her with a slight frown. Moving my hand forward I brushed her right cheek. It was like electricity shot though her all of a sudden. She did a little startled jump then. Her eyes came back into focus and she looked back up at me. Her cheeks flushed even more than they had a couple seconds ago, and she stepped back away from me slightly.
"Are you ok, Kisa?" I asked, more than a little concerned.
"Um… sorry. I was distracted…" she apologized quietly, looking away from me.
"It's ok. I was just worried about you," I explained. She smiled, but still didn't look at me. I gave up and sat down in my chair. She took the one beside me then. I hope she isn't angry at me…
After about a half an hour of watching everyone else, I glanced at my watch. Eight-thirty… only a half an hour until my reservations, sadly. I looked over at Kisa, but she was talking with Inoue. I sighed and attempted to glance back at the dancing. My view was interrupted by Momiji's face… I just stared at him. He stared back from about four inches away.
"Do you want something, Momiji?" I asked impatiently. Kisa heard me say Momiji's name and turned to see what was happening.
"You're acting slightly strange. You have something planned, don't you?" he asked then. Kisa gave me a questioning look. Curse him!
"So what if I do?" I asked curiously.
"I was just wondering, really. People acting strange near me draws my attention, that's all," he explained.
"You CAUSE them to act strange, though…" I retorted… He pouted.
"Ask a simple question and I get attacked…" He pouts as he walks off.
"What do you have planned?" Kisa asked almost immediately. Inoue watches intently…
"Are you hungry, Kisa?" I asked then.
"Well, the snacks aren't very filling so yeah," she responds. I smile.
"Want to go get something to eat, then?" I asked.
"Um… sure!" she replies.
We both get up and walk towards the exit of the gym. I open the door for her again and escort her towards the main exit of the school. Someone walks up to us with his hand outstretched?
"Excuse me, but please head back inside. If you leave now, we have no way of knowing if you have paid or not if you decide to return. We aren't allowing anyone to leave until ten," he warns. Kisa looks up at me from my arm.
Thinking as fast as I can, I smile at him then… "Oh please… don't be so stupid." I glance down at Kisa with a slightly wicked grin. "Do you really think that I would want to come back to this boring dance when I have her?" I taunted to him. I pulled her forward then and planted, what I hoped looked like, a very hungry kiss onto her lips. Pretending to take a break for air, I whispered, "Go with it…" before moving in again with another kiss. Kisa started giggling into the kiss then and added a slight moan. Nice…
"Uhg… Just go get a room!" he looked away then. I laughed.
"Will do!" I shouted to him as we left the building. Did that actually work?
We walked outside then. The sun was just slipping below the horizon. Glancing over at Kisa, I noticed she had turned pink again and was smiling at me.
"That worked surprisingly well…" she commented quietly.
"Sorry about that, but it was all I could think of in such short notice. Didn't really think they would try to stop us at the door. He probably gets that all the time anyway…"
"Mmm… it's ok! I didn't mind," she replied. My eyes widened slightly. I decided to continue onward before the heat came to my cheeks.
Interrogation
We walked downtown towards the same restaurant. Kisa recognized it and glanced over at me.
"This place seems familiar…" she added slyly. I smiled.
"It should…" I replied.
We entered through the main doors and I approached the podium. The same guy was working tonight! He turned then and smiled.
"Mr. Sohma wishes to try again?" he asks. I smile and nod.
"Hmm… you do have a reservation. Shall we try not to be hit by a truck after this date?" he asks, laughing.
"You found out about that?" I inquired.
"Oh yes. You saved her by leaping in front of the truck and pushing her out of the way. Our delivery men discovered this from your mother when they dropped the cake off," he explained.
"Figures…" I commented.
"Please follow me, Mr. Sohma," he continues.
Kisa and I follow him in and sit down at the designated table. Kisa is a lot calmer tonight than she was when we first came here. She is actually smiling happily and looking out the window. Then she turns to me again.
"That was a quick bit of thinking back there, Hiro… If it had been up to me, we would still be there in the gym…" she congratulated. Why was she bringing this embarrassing subject up again?
"Well, I debated, but nothing seemed realistic. Then I thought of that and decided that it would look the most real…" I explained.
"You have a point. At least we really didn't have to act…" she commented. I'm so glad I was sitting down. My eyes must have extended by several times because she started to blush. "I meant that we were already a couple…" she said rather quickly.
"Yeah, I know what you meant. It just sounded interesting," I replied.
"Interesting?" she inquired. My turn to blush. Kisa laughed. Then she seemed to think for a while. Waiting for my face to return to normal, I just watched her. She was stirring her water with her finger, which meant she was almost completely lost in thought. I just waited for her to snap out of it. There wasn't really a point to interrupting her thinking if it didn't involve anything important I could add to it. I looked down at the designs on the place mat instead.
"Um… Hiro?" she finally asked hesitantly. Her thought process must have led her up to something she thought I could answer for her…
"Yes, Kisa?" I asked politely.
"Um… Do you remember what you told me when we got out of the school?" she asked. Why did she keep going back to that moment? Did it bother her that much?
"I remember I apologized profusely to you," I replied. That's really all that I remember saying.
"I specifically remember that you said, 'He probably gets that all the time anyway…' and it bugged me," she explained. Why on earth did that bug her?
"Why?" I inquired. Kisa went slightly pink.
"Well, I was curious as to how often it happens. Is it really that normal?" she asked. I was getting a bad feeling.
"Um… well, it probably happens more often than you would think. I was just assuming though," I tried to answer. Where was the waitress when I needed her? I sighed.
"Is it normal though?" she asked. I wanted to scream "Why!" at the top of my lungs, but resisted.
"Fairly normal, I guess…"
She seemed to go back to thinking again so I just let her. At least she wasn't asking any more embarrassing questions. The waitress finally came and we ordered. I just sat there. Kisa was still lost in thought which left me nothing to do. At least my tea was here so I had something to drink besides water. I was so bored! Why did Kisa pick today to ponder tons of questions to herself? It would be so nice to just TALK with her like I usually do. Why was she even asking me these questions?
"Um… Hiro?" I heard her say again. Oh no…
"Yes…?" I asked, a tad of impatience leaking into my voice.
"Did you actually see other couples leaving the party?" she asked. Well that wasn't that bad of a question.
"Yeah. I was watching them as you were talking to Inoue," I replied.
"Um… Did they come back?" Most of them didn't.
"Some did, but not many," I replied.
"Could you tell what grade that they were in?" she asked then. What?
"Well. It's a little hard to tell when nobody's in uniform, but they were fairly mixed," I replied. This was a rather one-sided conversation…
"Could you tell if any were freshman?"
"There were a few that I knew were freshman. The rest I couldn't really tell."
"Really?" she asked then. I picked up disbelief in that question.
"Yeah. They were in some of my classes…"
At this point she goes back to pondering. Again I resist screaming out "Why!" at the top of my lungs. She just sits there staring at her water again. I sigh. This was possibly the worst time I have had with Kisa for a while, possibly ever. I started scratching at the place mat, seeing how many lines I could make in it. The noise seemed to snap Kisa out of her daze and she just watched my finger for a little bit.
"Hiro, are you bored?" she asked.
"No! Not at all…" I replied way too quickly. She frowned.
"I'm sorry that I'm not really talking much… I just got lost in thought," she explained.
"I had noticed. There wasn't a point to me bugging you, though, so I just found other things to distract myself with…" I replied truthfully.
"Sorry…"
"Not a problem, really… The only thing that's kind of bugging me is… oh never mind." There was no point to knowing what she was thinking.
"You can tell me…" she replied softly. Oh fine…
"Was there a point to all of these questions?" I asked. There, I asked it! Her eyes widened slightly and she turned pink again.
"Well… I don't have a lot of experience with being in a relationship, so I was looking to compare, really…" she replied hesitantly. She wanted to COMPARE! My insides grew really cold all of a sudden and my face grew really hot… I almost didn't realize she was still talking… "…so if I looked at other people, I thought that I might know what to do better," she finished explaining. I almost wish I hadn't realized she was still talking. Light-headed was a little bit of an understatement of my current condition.
"So you want to compare our relationship with that of the other high school students?" I asked in disbelief.
"Well… yeah… Then when you said that it was kind of normal, I thought that maybe I wasn't moving fast enough for you and…" she started to explain. No… Light-headed was definitely not a good word for it any more… Dizzy now, and probably starting to bleed again. "…but I was going to ask some of my friends tomorrow in school for their opinions so that I can…" Ask her friends? NO! Wobbly! Head hurts all of a sudden… "…but then it's ultimately up to you, I guess. I was going to wait until…"
WHAM! My head hit the table rather forcefully. Kisa stopped talking then. I had spaced out so much I probably missed most of what she had said anyway.
"Um… Are you ok, Hiro?" she asked. Not bothering to respond, I just decided to sit here for a while.
"Hiro?" she asked more forcefully. She would start panicking in a little bit. Better do something. I looked up at her then.
"Can I ask you a favor?" I asked all of a sudden.
"Um… sure," she said hesitantly.
"Please don't compare our relationship with anyone else's… We are moving at a speed that is comfortable for you, I assume?" I asked.
"Um… Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable with it at the moment. But what about you?" she asked. I shook my head.
"Not important. You being comfortable with it is my priority too, so thus, I'm comfortable with it as well," I explained.
"That's hardly fair to you, Hiro…" she commented. I just shrugged. Thankfully our food came at the moment.
Both of us took about a half an hour to eat. Afterwards, I was pleasantly full and leaning back in my chair, not really desiring to move quite yet.
"Any surprises today?" she asked playfully. I just shook my head. Today I didn't bother to order a cake. I was still trying to cover the cost of the beach.
We sat there for a little bit when I noticed the kitchen door open again. The head chef came out rolling a platter again with two other assistants. What was going on? Kisa watched them roll the platter up to us then and just glared at me!
"Hiro! You said you didn't have any surprises today!" she exclaimed. I just looked confused at her until she mimicked my expression.
"Not his doing today, miss. After we had heard what happened after your last date, we felt really bad, so we decided to make something special!" the head chef stated. He reached behind him and lifted the top off the silver platter. A large, pink cake was inside.
"A single layer chocolate cake with strawberry frosting! On the house!" he exclaimed.
"Wow! Thanks!" Kisa said. I just blinked at it.
"Well, I thank you, but you didn't have to go to all this trouble…" I started to say.
"Well, we wanted to make up for your last time here! We will get you a case to bring it home in!" They walked back into the kitchen. Kisa just looked over at me.
"Well, that was certainly nice of them."
"Now I feel obligated to pay them for it, though."
"But they said you didn't have to…"
"I don't like to owe anything to anyone," I replied.
"Sometimes it's rather nice… Like I owe you my life several fold…" she added. I looked over at her all of a sudden, but she was looking down at the table.
"You don't owe me anything, Kisa…"
"Why not?"
"Because you've already given me so much more."
She looked confused by this. "What?" I just smiled.
"Your friendship, time, love… My life would be a very unhappy place right now if you weren't in it."
"Hiro… Those are so natural feeling… and so easy to give. I still feel like I owe you," she replied sadly. What? You want something that ONLY I will enjoy? Is that possible?
"Well, even if you do feel like you owe me, I'm not asking for anything anyway," I commented.
"Hiro… You NEVER ask for anything," she added sadly. Point…
"That's because you have already given me everything I need." Well, almost, anyway.
"Hiro…" she started, but was silent.
The head chef came back out with a plastic tray and cover. His assistants helped him get the cake onto the tray and they covered it.
"There! Can you get it home ok?" he asked then. I nodded. The waitress came back up and slipped me my remainder. Kisa frowned.
We stood up and headed towards the door. Kisa opened it for me this time because I was carrying the cake out. We walked most of the way home in silence. When we got back to her mother's place, she was waiting in the entry way and greeted us when we came in. It was only ten o'clock, though.
"Another cake! Hiro… you're going to spoil her!" Aunty joked. She put it in the fridge anyway.
"Can I just get changed here?" I asked.
"Certainly!" she said before turning around and walking back into the living room. Kisa and I went upstairs. Kisa walked into the bathroom with her clothes then and I just used Kisa's room. Changing my pants first I quickly switched back over to my normal clothes. Dressing up is nice sometimes, but normal clothes were FAR more comfortable! After I was changed, I crammed my dress clothes back into my backpack and lay down on Kisa's bed. I sighed then. Kisa can be so silly sometimes. She doesn't owe me anything!
Kisa wandered back after a few more minutes and just stopped and looked at me. She sighed and wandered over to the bed and lay down on it as well. We just watched each other for a long time. After a few moments, I realize that her eyes are getting watery.
"What's wrong, Kisa?" I asked gently.
"I don't deserve you, Hiro…" she said at last. This was kind of shocking to me.
"Why is that?" I asked hesitantly.
"You have done so much for me… and I don't really treat you the way you deserve to be treated…" she replied quietly.
"I'm happy with the way you're treating me."
"Of course you would never say anything to me. You're too nice to me, Hiro. You've saved my life twice now and overall, my very existence. If you hadn't entered my life I would probably have been driven permanently mute from teasing by now. I would be a pathetic empty shell," she explains.
"Kisa… I don't like to hear you talk like this. I love you so you DO deserve me," I tried to tell her.
"Hiro…" she replied softly.
I reached out and put my left hand on her right cheek. She smiled at me. Leaning forward, I kissed her on the forehead.
"I should probably be heading home, princess. I hope you had fun today…" I finally said. She nodded.
"I had great fun today, Hiro! But you were far too nice to me… Do you have to leave so soon?" she asked.
"Mother is probably worried by now, so I had better…" I replied. She pouted.
"See you later, princess," I spoke as I walked towards her bedroom door.
"See you tomorrow… my prince," she spoke softly. I stopped, smiled, and then kept walking. I'm Kisa's prince now? I like that…
Chapter 10 – End!
Author's Note:
Mmm... fluff as usual. I guess it will make up for the horrible and gruesome chapter eleven. Just as a warning.-wink- Hope everyone enjoyed the rather cute ending anyway... not to mention Hiro's... creative way of getting out of the dance. Thank you for all of the reviews so far, however! I'm doing a lot better now for those who expressed concern. Thanks.
As a side note, I have started another writing project. It won't be posted online however due to the fact that it's an original writing. Maybe I'll get brave and actually publish it if it's good enough. -whimpers slightly- It's taking a lot of my time as well so I'm not devoting AS much to this story. For anyone that's interested, it's Fantasy/Mecha. Feel free to inquire to my email and I'll send you a couple chapters if you're interested. Talk to you all later.
-A.T.
Individual Review Responses:
Daolon: Ha! You had me worried for a second there! My first thought was, "OH NO! A Flame!" Don't scary me like that. -sticks tongue out- Well I'll try to update faster. Was this fast enough for your liking? -chuckles-
GLeo-Genesis: . . . Oops... Maybe I should put up some kind of spoiler warning? Heh... Terribly sorry if it ruined anything for you but yeah... they don't exactly reveal that until... Volume 15 if I recall. I apologize again. Thanks for liking the story however. It's mostly in Hiro's point of view anyway so you shouldn't have to worry. I've got to show Kisa's side every once in a while however. -winks-
Princess Lady Subaru: HA! I bet Hiro doesn't think it was too 'cute' at the time. Well... Momiji means well I guess. Honestly though, I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote the licking scene. It was MOSTLY done out of pure innocents... really! Thanks for liking the chapter though and reviewing repeatedly. I'm glad you finally got your review problem fixed. Talk to you later.
Syckitty: Thanks! It's great to have new reviewers for the story. Keep up the reading!
rbzodiac612: -chuckles- Really squealed? Well thanks for being understanding anyway. I'm doing a lot better now and the writing is actually keeping my mind off it. The romance will continue strongly of course but the next chapter or so is a little gory. Just a warning. Thanks for reviewing, Astrea!
lightningstrxu: Heh. They won't do anything TOO naughty... yet. -hides from the angry mob- I'm not big into writing the hardcore M and MA type scenes. Thanks for liking the story though and please review again!