Camellia 13

red-your a flame in my heart

white-You're adorable

1:45

Hakuba residence

Saguru's pov

We entered the lavender queen anne, taking off our shoes and coats before going farther than the entry. Mother and Father were still at work, but Baaya would be here till at least five.

"The library's upstairs," I said taking Bella by the hand.

I led her up to a set of black walnut doors. Inside was the tallest room on the second floor. The room was divided in two in height by a loft that wrapped around the perimeter. On the wall opposite of the doors were three arched windows spaced evenly apart, the rest of the walls had bookshelves set within them spaced 15 centimeters apart. On those strips of wall hung brass and porcelain light fixtures. Four sets of spiral staircases led up to the loft, two in the front two in the back. On the main section of the library there was a floral mint green loveseat with a coffee table in the back right corner, in the back left corner was an antique desk and office chair, the rest of the room was symmetrical with freestanding shelves lined with all kinds of books.

I watched with delight as Bella's face lit up, she ran her fingers over the neatly arranged spines. She gently out pulled a hardcover from the shelf, it was a collection of the brothers grimm. She climbed up the staircase in the front right, slowly she scanned the shelfs until one of the titles caught her attention. She stopped and tried to reach a book on the top shelf, however she fell short of well stature.

"Keep patting it, mabie it'll come closer," I lovingly teased as I began to climb the staircase.

A knock came at the door, Baaya entered,"Young master, I heard you come in,so I wanted to let you know I'm here. Oh I see we have company,"She said shifting her gaze to where princess stood,"Would you like me to bring tea up at the regular time?"

"Ah, yes that will be fine, thank you," I answered with a nod.

Baaya left the room closing the door behind her. I continued up the staircase and walked over to where Bella stood.

"Which one did you want princess?"

"Oh, ah, A study in Scarlet i-it's been awhile since I last read it," She said leaning against the self.

I took the book from the shelf and handed it to her, placing my forehead against hers,"All you had to do was ask."

I could see her face bloom, only making her more alluring. I gently kissed her rosy complection. I scooped her into my arms, in a bridal carry. I made my way down the stairs. We locked eyes for a small fragment of time, her gaze was compelling and delicate, but showed no sign of resentment. She threw her arms around my neck and buried her face in my shoulder. I could butterflies in my stomach, I could tell her everything. 'No it's too early to tell' part of me kept saying, another voice kept nagging 'She already knows, she's waiting for you to tell her'

I set her down next to me on the loveseat. She curled up next to me, leaning her head on my shoulder, I returned the gesture by resting my head on hers.

She sighed,"What do you suppose Kid meant when he said, 'but note my arrival will be that of the outer letter J'?" she asked, opening the book I'd gotten down for her.

"I-I don't know," I said, shifting forward leaning on my arm(kind of like 'the thinker' statue),"Well I guess he could be referring to the letter J's position on the cypher wheel."

"Well if that was the case then it would be in the ten o'clock position, but J is also the tenth letter in the alphabet. So maybe, but if this guy loves codes and such I feel like he would've chosen something harder for the time, or just given it to us strait. Besides we wouldn't know if he was talking about am or pm."

"True," I said, taking the book I had started to read off the coffee table and opened it up to the page I left of on. The book was The Once and Future King by T.H. White, you might of heard of it before, it consists of several parts the most iconic one being The sword in the stone, a classic. (Author's note: If you haven't read it I recommend it, it's quite humorous and is a classic piece of literature).

Isabelle's pov

"What ever, I'm sure keibu-san will figure something out," I said.

"Yeah you're right, Nakamori-san knows kid well enough to figure that out," Saguru said, leaning back.

He acted like he was reading but I knew better than that, he kept glancing nervously at me. He bit his lip, definitely not reading.

"Penny for your thoughts."

He jumped at this phrase,"P-p-p-pardon?"

I produced a playing card and used it as a bookmark,"You look anxious, are you okay?"

His face glowed, not like the other light blushes, this was noticeable. The other times I'd seen him blush looked normal compared to this.

He took a shaky breath. I could see him try to say something but the words didn't come out or were to soft to here. He buried his face in his hands, hiding from me," I-I-I-I . . . . I-I-I-I l-love you," He whispered.

"Sag-"

"Ever since we first met. I'm sorry, I don't really know how to say it, heck I don't know if I'm saying this right. It's just that . . . I want you to be happy, I'd do anything for you, and I'd never want you to get hurt. To me your my precious princess, but if you don't want me I under stand," He continued to gently wispier between tears.

I could feel my heart fluctuate 'he-he said it, I don't believe it'

I placed my hand on his shoulder and scooted closer," I know, I know what you mean," I said offering him my hankie,"It's terrible to see some one you care about deeply get hurt, but for me even more so to see you cry."

Saguru stopped crying and moved his hands away from his face. He looked at the handkerchief I held out to him, he looked back at me and accepted it," I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," He said, drying his eyes.

"But I don't, I love you too," I replied, folding my hands and placing them on my lap.

He looked at me with awe.

A conversation with Saguru's parents, several spine popping hugs, dinner, a game of chess, and a dance later.

Saguru walked me back to my flat. I opened the door and was about to step in when Saguru gently grabbed my hand,"I'm not sure about you, but I'd like to keep this away from the press and the other people at school."

I nodded in agreement,"Good night."

"I'll see you tomorrow, my princess," Saguru cooed, softly tracing my cheekbone with his right hand,"Sweet dreams," He said, kissing my forehead.