Updating this before my other KnB fic because I'm a horrible person and can't get my motivations in the right places.
Now leaving to write my other fic so that I actually update this week and not get killed by others.
Enjoy the chapter as I go hide.
"Kikue-chan, can I please ask where we are going now-ssu?"
"It's Mama's friend's place. She owns an entertainment company." Kikue said, her hand tucked in Kise's pants pocket with his. It was particularly cold that day, even though it was only autumn and winter was still a while away. "She called yesterday to ask me of a favour."
"Is it ok for me to be there-ssu?"
"Well, if I insist, Guren-san shouldn't have a problem about it." Kikue said uncertainly. Then she frowned. "It wasn't as if she gave me a choice about going, so who I bring with me is my choice."
"Kikue-chan is really childish sometimessu." Kise smiled.
"Only in front of certain people." Kikue muttered, slightly embarrassed.
"Does that mean I'm special-ssu?" Kise teased, only to see Kikue blush. "Woah, really-ssu Kikue-chan?"
"I didn't ask you to come with me so you could tease me." Kikue said as she led him into a high-rise building. She made her way to the reception desk and slipped her hand out of Kise's pocket. "Matsui Kikue, I have an appointment with Guren-san."
"Ah yes, I was informed, however, only of your arrival, not an-"
"I know, just ring Guren-san, I will speak to her." Kikue cut of the lady. Kise flashed an apologetic grin to the lady, and with a blush, she dialed the phone for Guren Saki. Kise felt Kikue nudge him slightly, but she said nothing when he looked at her. Seconds later, Kikue was passed the phone.
"Kikue-chan? What's wrong?"
"I brought someone with me, the reception won't let him in."
"Eh, but I-"
"You forced me to come here, so you will let me bring whomever I see fit." Kikue reasoned, well, perhaps more like forced. She heard a chuckle from Guren Saki.
"Sure, bring your company up then."
"She said ok." Kikue told the reception lady as she handed back the receiver. "Also, I would be so embarrassed that I would want to hide in a cave if I was your age and kept blushing at every man I see." With that, Kikue grabbed Kise by his elbow and dragged him to the elevator with her. She spoke again before Kise could ask her the question. "She tried to flirt with Papa before, while Mama was right next to him. So don't go smiling at her."
"Kikue-chan, you're the jealous type-ssu."
"I am not." Kikue replied weakly. That was something everyone seemed to want to point out about her. Though, she could hardly deny it. She couldn't help being territorial.
"I feel like, I'm seeing a lot of different faces of Kikue-chan lately-ssu." Kise chimed.
"It's cold, so lend me you pocket later." Kikue muttered as they arrived at the door of Saki's office.
"Sure-ssu."
"Kikue-chan, I was so scared you wouldn't come!" She was greeted with the over enthusiastic lady she had never been the biggest fan of. Though, Guren Saki was her mother's best friend. Behind Saki on the couch, three boys sat in a row, one of them looking as if he would rather be somewhere else. Kikue could relate to that. And then with a start, she recognised him as the boy she had passed in the hospital a while ago. "Let me introduce you, these three are our newest talents, Takigawa Izumi, Hori Kakeru and Hori Satoru."
Kikue took a seat as she observed the trio, she resisted the urge to reach for the warmth of Kise's hand. She knew nothing good ever came out of associating with Saki. Music related. Definitely.
"I'm Kakeru-"
"And I'm Satoru."
"We are the Hori twins~" The two brunette boys sang.
"Guren-san, if she is someone who you can't even trust to turn up, I don't think she can do anything about our music arrangement." The boy in the middle said. Kikue swallowed a sigh and made sure she didn't frown. She wanted to leave.
"Now, now, Izumi-kun, Kikue-chan isn't a professional, but she is a genius." Besides Kikue, she felt Kise tense up. She wanted to laugh and tell Kise that she should've been the one to tense up. She sent Kise a look that told him she was somewhat ok, and that he could relax. He relaxed, somewhat. "She's not just your idol mahjong girl."
"Guren-san, I want to leave." Kikue said.
"Ah sorry, sorry!"
"I don't see the point of this."
"And I do," Saki said as she passed Kikue a stack of sheet music. Kikue looked at her in confusion. "I want to ask Kikue-chan to help arrange this piece so that it sounds better."
"And you skip all the professionals?" Kikue questioned as she flipped the sheet music. It was a good song, definitely could make a hit. But something seemed lacking.
"Kikue-chan is better than any professional out there!"
"I am not," Kikue muttered lightly as she finished reading the sheet music. She gave Saki a dirty look before she voiced her thoughts. "It's a good song. Something doesn't seem right though."
"Can you fix that?"
"Guren-san, get a professional to do it." Kikue said. But Saki frowned at her, and she knew she was stuck with a job she didn't want. Kikue sighed. "I will get back to you in a week."
"Kikue-chan!"
"I'm not promising anything amazing." Kikue said as she stood up and offered a hand to Kise. Once her fingers were intertwined with Kise's, Kikue picked up the sheet music she had set down. "I will ring once I've got something. For now, we're leaving."
Kise was really happy when Kikue said 'we' and not 'I', when they were leaving. He could tell the older lady whom Kikue had called Guren-san wanted Kikue to stay longer, but he could also tell that Kikue was not overly happy to be there. Well, the only person he needed to worry about was Kikue.
"It looks like it's going to rain." Kikue said, looking up at the sky slightly. "I didn't bring an umbrella. Let's go somewhere to avoid rain."
"Kikue-chan, are you inviting me on a date-ssu?"
"How about a simple outing?" Kikue commented. "I just don't want to go home and face this." Kikue held up the sheet music. "If I can put it off, then I would like to put it off. Plus, it's so quiet at home, its unsettling."
"You can always call me you know, Kikue-chan."
"Thank you Ryōta." Kikue said, leaning in towards Kise. "I feel safe with you."
"Really Kikue-chan?"
"Why not, you make it sound like you don't like that."
"You will understand one day-ssu, Kikue-chan."
"Kikue-chan, hold out your hand-ssu." Kise said to Kikue, who turned her attention to him from a pair of heeled boots. She was greeted with a sakura decorated bag. In confusion, Kikue held out her hand, and Kise took out the contents of the bag. It was a pale orange lip gloss. "I thought it would suit you-ssu."
"If I remember correctly, today is a normal day, so why the gift?"
"Kikue-chan got me shoes before-ssu."
"That was your birthday," Kikue said as she was forced to take the lip gloss. Of course, it was nothing expensive, but Kikue was not sure why Kise out of people got her a lip gloss. "And why does everyone think I suit orange?"
"Before that, Kikue-chan," Kikue noticed that Kise was one, really close to her; and two, they were attracting a lot of attention. Kikue swallowed a sigh, she knew she should've ignored all the interviews. Being famous was not something she enjoyed when she just wanted a simple day out. She ignored how fast her heart was beating from Kise's closeness as he took her hand and they made an escape from attention.
"So Ryōta, why are we, in the change rooms of a shop?" Kikue panted as Kise locked the change room doors behind them. Kikue hoped the staff of the shop didn't judge them too badly, though she suspected Kise knew the staff in the shop, since he had made a beeline for it. "We could've just smiled and dealt with them."
"It would be improper to leave a lady like that-ssu." Kise said with a grin. Kikue also giggled.
"And it's, ah, proper, to lock a lady in a change room together with yourself?" Kikue questioned with a smile on her face. Kise blushed slightly, but the both of them became silent when they heard the crowd from earlier.
"Ah, no, I believe they went further down." Kikue heard the staff say. She saw Kise pale, and then frown. A few seconds later, a knock on the door made Kise rest his head on Kikue's shoulder. "Ryōta~"
"Please pretend nothing happened Ria-nee." Kise muttered. Kikue tentatively reached out her hand and opened the door, then, using the same hand, patted Kise on the head. She was slightly confused about the situation, however, she had a pretty good guess on who the staff was. She shared the same golden eyes as Kise, and the same air of confidence as Erika. Kise did not lift his head. "Why did you open the door-ssu Kikue-chan?"
"I'm Kise Ria," The red-haired girl introduced, then pulled Kise by the back of his shirt collar, away from Kikue. "This idiot's sister."
"I'm Matsui Kikue," Kikue introduced herself with a smile. She could see why Kise was as he was. "I'm sorry we caused trouble."
"I didn't think Ria-nee was working today-ssu." Kise said with a sigh. "Thanks for the help Ria-nee."
"As if I want to help you," Ria said as she took Kikue's hand and pulled Kikue towards her. "Erika-nee talks so much about this cutie, there's no way I would not save her from a pinch." Ria steered Kikue towards the back of the shop, where there was an entrance for the staff. "Ryōta behave, we will be back in a little bit."
"Wait Ria-nee-"
Ria ignored Kise's complaints and closed the door behind them, sitting Kikue down in front of a gigantic mirror. A few seconds later, Ria set what Kikue could only presume to be her makeup pouch next to her. "Even if your skin is good as it is, you really should put some BB cream on."
"I was convinced this morning that I looked fine." Kikue objected weakly. If it was anything she learnt from dealing with Kise Erika, it was to just accept things as Erika said they were. She suspected Ria was the same.
"You do look fine," Ria said, startling Kikue with her reply as she took out a BB cream. "You could just look fine enough to charm all the men out there with a touch of makeup."
"I don't particularly want to." Kikue muttered as Ria spread BB cream on her face.
"Then how about charming Ryōta?" Ria smirked.
"After he did my laundry?" Kikue questioned, suppressing an eye roll. Ria laughed.
"Even your underwear?" Ria asked as she finished up spreading the BB cream and produced an eyeliner. Kikue nodded and Ria shook her head. "How he became so clumsy when dealing with sensitive matters is beyond me."
"He apologised. Recently." Kikue tried. Ria stared at her as if she grew a second head.
"But you are not going out with him." Ria stated. "And he's annoying."
"He's not annoying, at least I don't quite think so." Kikue said, then realised she had just fallen into Ria's trap. She hoped she wasn't blushing, though, from Ria's smirk, she was blushing. "He means well."
"Doll, do pass me the lip gloss." Ria said, as if Kikue's response never happened. Kikue passed Ria the lip gloss she had been holding since Kise forced her to take it. Ria held it up to Kikue's face and studied it for a while. "At least he got the right colour." She said, opened it, and applied some on Kikue's lips. "Ryōta can be pretty bratty, but he does have his serious side."
"I know," Kikue replied after Ria was finished with the lip gloss. Kikue smiled as she was returned the lip gloss. "Just between girls, but he's entrancing on the court."
"Alright then, off you go Doll," Ria announced with a satisfied smile. "I don't need to hear anything flattering about my lame brother."
"At least the rain stopped." Kikue commented as they stepped out of the shopping center. Kise had taken her hand in his again at some point. Kikue decided that she quite liked that. However, since they left the shop Ria worked at, Kise had been unusually quiet. "Let's head back."
"Sure-ssu." Came the short reply. Kikue didn't ask. If he didn't want to tell her, then she wasn't going to ask. The walk was silent, but the silence was not unpleasant. To begin with, silence between the two wasn't unusual.
Kikue wasn't sure at which point they drew attention to themselves again, probably since the beginning. Kise pulled Kikue into an alleyway on the side of the road, pulled his hoodie over his head and leaned his face in dangerously close.
Crowd peeked over slightly, but quickly moved away, searching where else for possible gossip about teenage celebrities.
But even when they were completely out of sight, Kise did not move away.
"Kikue-chan, are you seducing me?"
"I-I'm w-what?" Kikue stuttered, consciously avoiding eye contact with Kise. He was too close, and she had no idea what he was thinking. She felt like a rabbit who was trapped by a wolf.
"Putting this on, just after I got it for you." Kise muttered as his hand touched her cheek. His thumb ran beneath Kikue's lips, and then, without warning, lifted her face up and captured her lips with his.
Kikue had froze when Kise's hand touched her cheek. Her senses seemed to suddenly work so much better. She was acutely aware of how cold his hand was compared to her face. Her brain completely blanked when he leaned in and his lips touched hers.
The feeling was real.
The softness of his lips.
The warmth that she felt despite the cold.
The hunger and longing in that kiss.
The vast gentleness in the same kiss.
Under the guidance of pure instinct, Kikue kissed him back.
The lonely feeling when they broke apart was something Kikue did not want to be accustomed to, but she knew she had fallen too deep.
The two teens looked at each other, their cheeks bright red. Whether it was the kiss, or the weather, they could not say.
"I can already see the riot that would happen if tabloids managed to snoop that." Kikue said as they walked home. Kise laughed softly.
"They would probably make a big deal about me not being good enough-ssu."
"And why do you think that?" Kikue asked.
"Kikue-chan, think about it, you're a world champion," Kise smiled, as if it didn't bother him in the slightest. "Super smart, and talented musician. I'm just a basketball player-ssu."
"Super famous basketball player who is also a model?" Kikue retaliated. "I'm the one who's going to be criticised."
"Well, it's not like we got caught, so we shouldn't worry too much about it-ssu, Kikue-chan."
"Well, as you say Ryōta."
Just realised how slow this story may seem.
Murasaki xx
