Ch. 12: Confessions and Rejections

It's morning and Midori wakes up in the still sleeping arms of Kuro. The sun is shining over their own little paradise with the blue skies being decorated by white fluffy clouds and a cool breeze blowing through the trees and her hair. From the looks of it, it's early morning like maybe about tenish. Midori didn't care what time it was. When she looks up at Kuro's sleeping face, he looks so peaceful, so at ease. She slightly smiles when she remembers how she's with Kuro by her side. She slowly and carefully gets out of his hold to stretch. That was probably the first time that she slept outside without sleeping on the lake. She notices that instead of laying on the grassy ground like she remembers being before she fell asleep, she's under a tree in its shade with lights the shape of diamonds shining on her skin. She didn't care. So long as she's with Kuro she doesn't care. Besides, waking up under a tree is a lot better than sleeping in the open to only see a bad sunburn on your skin first thing in the morning.

Then she suddenly feels arms wrapping around her, catching her by surprise. She yelps and looks over her shoulder to see Kuro smiling at her. Wasn't he asleep not too long ago? He greets, "Good morning, kohakuchou-chan! I had a wonderful time last night." He said the last part with a seductive voice. Midori turns red before whacking him on the top of his head.

Kuro holds his head in pain as Midori yells, "Don't say things like that! Do you have any idea how perverted that sounds when nothing actually happened?!" The animals woke up after hearing that and peak out to see Midori angry and embarrassed from Kuro as Kuro appears to be in pain from the head.

Kuro rubs the bonk on his head as he tries to look hurt – the beady, glossy eyes, and the droopy lips. "I just wanted to hug you, kohakuchou-chan. It's the first thing I want to do every day." Midori is blushing but she's still angry.

She tries to look away, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she says, "You shouldn't tease me like that!"

Kuro just smiles from her spunky attitude. He crawls closer to her, his head now leaning over her shoulder and he asks, "Do you want more practice on your powers after I go get something for us to eat?" Midori didn't say anything right away. She still looks angry.

"Alright," she mumbles, giving in. Kuro grins from her answer.

He gets off her and tells her, "I'll be back okay?" Then he teleports away and Midori watches him leave. After a bit, she lets out a sigh and shakes her head while smiling.

"That crazy alien," she mutters.

"Mama, mama!"

Hearing that, Midori turns to where the animals are she sees a nest full of baby birds and a female bird next to the nest. The chicks echo, "We're hungry! We're hungry!"

"Alright," the mama bird replies.

Midori watches as the mama bird flies to the ground and starts pecking around. In no time, she got a big cockroach in her mouth. She flies back to the nest where her three baby birds await. Usually people would be disgusted when they see a baby bird each a cockroach but Midori didn't flinch. She still watches as the mama bird goes back down to find two more bugs to feed to her other babies.

During that time, Midori's face softens as she starts to think of her own mom. "Mama," she softly speaks.

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Midori blocks the scythe and pushes it away with one Sai. She uses her other sai to try and stab Kuro but he ducks and tries to kick at her knees. She jumps up and starts flying in the air. He looks up and she has on a mocking smile.

"Missed me, missed me!" she yells from high up. "Now you have to kiss me."

Kuro smirks as he tells her, "I will gladly do that, kohakuchou-chan." He flies up to be on the same level as her but he asks, "But shouldn't you do the same since you missed?"

"I claimed it first," she tells him, "so nope."

Midori charges at him, one sai at a time. He blocks both of them at time with the handle of his scythe and he tries to stab her from under. She teleports away and appears behind her. Instead of hitting him, she kisses his cheek. He turns around to her and tells him, "I changed my mind." He stares at her blankly and she smirks. She took that moment to cross her Sais and point it at him. By the time he gained his composure, a blast hits him and he starts falling to the ground. The animals watch him fall and crash into the ground. Kuro's scythe disappears as he sits up. He rubs his head from the impact and the next thing he feels is Midori's Sai at his neck. He looks up at her in surprise as she stands front of him, panting. She asks, "Do you give?"

Kuro lets out a chuckle. "One should know when it times to give up."

Midori smiles and pulls her Sais away. They disappear and she starts jumping up and down in victory. "Yes!!" she cheers. "I beat the teacher! Whahoo!!"

Kuro stands up and tells her, "Congratulations, kohakuchou-chan." She turns to him and calms down as he bows. "I bow to your mastery of your amazing powers." She turns a bit red in happiness as she cheers again.

"Whahoo!!"

That was when the animals started clapping for her. They clap, cheer her name, and even whistle in congratulations for her. She stops jumping to see the animals cheer for her and she smiles from their support. Then she feels arms grab her from behind. She already knows who it is as she looks up to see Kuro smiling at her.

"I'm so proud of you," he tells her.

She turns around to face him completely as she says, "And I should say that you deserve all the credit, sensei!" Then she jumps on him and hugs him with her arms around his neck. He accepts her hug and from her jump, they twirl a bit. When they stop after the second turn, they both have their feet on the ground and just held each other as tight as they can. The animals stayed quiet to watch the cute scene before them as it appeared that both Kuro and Midori held each other for the longest time. To them, the world around them seemed to have disappeared. All that matter was them and the warmth they share.

"Midori," Kuro calls, gently. He has her attention as he asks, "Are you..happy being with me?"

Midori looks a bit confused as she answers, "Yes. I'm very happy." He pulls her back slowly and she looks up at his face. He didn't hesitate to kiss her and she didn't waste time returning the affection. Her hands move from behind his neck to his face and she cups his face with her hands. One of his hands stays behind Midori's back to hold her close as the other rises up to the back of her head to be lost in her pink hair. When that kiss broke, they gave each other one more before stopping.

"Come with me," Kuro told her.

"Eh?" Midori lets out in surprise of the question as her hands slides down for his face.

He pulls his arms off her and only grasps her hands as he continues. "I cannot defy my father, Midori. So by his command, I will continue to destroy the humans of this planet but I want you to be the only human survivor because I cannot not live in this world without you by my side. I love you." Midori's eyes are wide and her heart is pounding fast in her chest. Kuro pulls her towards him and wraps his arms around her. Her arms hang on the side of her body as he holds her closer. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know I will be happy with you and I know I can make you happy."

Midori is happy. There is no doubt about that. Her heart is beating fast and hard in her chest, like it will burst out of her chest and dance for joy but there is something else. Midori wants to hold him and say yes but she can't. Her hands rise up to his body but she pushes him back. Kuro's confused as she's looking down at the ground. She tells him, "I can't, Kuro." He could not believe what he just heard.

"Why?" he asks. "Tell me why, Midori because I know that you ran away. You left your world behind."

She corrects, "I ran away because I was angry at my mom for keeping secrets." Bringing her up made Kuro instantly upset. Midori still wouldn't face him so she continued. "Yes, I was hurt because of her secrecy but she is still my mom, Kuro. I'd watched her all my life and she lived a hard life trying to support the both of us. She could have run away from it but she didn't. She stuck to it. If I keep running because of my own selfishness, then I will never move on with my life. I have to return to her." That was when he got seriously angry.

Kuro grabs her arms and Midori looks up to him in shock of this action. In his sapphire eyes, she sees the fiery flames of anger and hatred burning and it scared her. He asks her, "Are you only saying this because you were using me from the beginning! That you never really cared about me at all?!" She didn't answer. She's shocked by his words and she wants to say something but his eyes scare her and paralyze his throat. Getting impatient, his hold gets tighter and he shakes her. "Answer me!" he commands.

His grip is strong and she winces in pain. She tells him, "You're hurting me." Her voice is weak from the pain and her face reveals that as well. His eyes widen for a moment and most of the fire has died, but not all of it.

Kuro lets her go by pushing her away. She stumbles and takes steps back. She looks at him but he's not looking at her. His voice sounds harsh and cold and he tells her, "See ya, runt." The last word hurt her deeply but not as much as she can see him teleporting away.

"Kuro, wait!!" she screams, but he is already gone. He left before he even heard her.

Moments later, Midori's legs went weak and she collapses to the floor. She stares at the area he was once standing in and her eyes are already leaking out tears. There she starts sobbing.

"WAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" she screams, her heart exploding in pain and her tears never ending.

Some of the animals came down from the trees or out of their holes to approach her. The other stayed away. One squirrel that approaches her goes to her leg and leans her first front paws on her. "Midori-chan, are you okay?" she asks. Kind of a stupid question since she's crying so much but it was her instinct of concern.

Soon rocks and acorns were being thrown at Midori. She stops sobbing when she felt a small rock hit her head. The animals that approach her turn around and they see the other animals throwing rocks and acorns at her. Some hit her while the others missed. Most of them were rats and males.

"You evil human!!" one of them yells.

One sparrow by Midori's side screams, "Stop it!" But she nearly got hit for that.

One rat yells, "She hurt Kuro-chan!"

A squirrel yells, "She chased him away!"

A female rat yells, "She broke his heart!!"

"She's a cold, heartless human!!" they all accuse.

"I didn't reject him because I didn't love him!!" Midori screams. All of the animals looked at her from that as they stopped throwing rocks and acorns at her. Midori takes a moment to sniff and wipe away some of her tears before repeating softer, "I didn't reject him…because I didn't love him. I love him. I love him with all of my heart but why…why can't he understand it?!" She starts crying again and now the animals are looking at her with pity and sympathy. She repeats the three words once again. "I love him."

As she continues to cry her heart out, all of the animals approach her and try to comfort her.