There are certain things in ones life, that bring out other things. For
instance, if a small child walked walked up to a person and handed them a
flower that person may smile and remember giving their grandparents on a
farm in Kentucky a flower at that age, or that person may swear loudly and
stomp off, remembering being shoved into a huge garden of bee infected
flowers during middle school.
On average, Kiyone was the a cross between those two types of people. It wasn't that she didn't have the happy memories that the first person did, it was that she didn't want to remember them. Why? Because then it would make her sour, hurtful memories seem twice as bad, remembering what could of lasted forever, but didn't.
An example of this happened to be when Kiyone was sitting on the small cushioned bench fitted to slide in nicely along the side of the small cafe table, staring out of the wide oddly clean windows, waiting for Todd to arrive.
She wasn't quite sure when she had actually except this "date" with Todd. He had always asked her to come along with the "gang" for coffee or drinks, but she had always declined. Most men would of just given up, but Todd took it upon himself to just ask her straight out for a date, just them two. Probably being more surprised than intrigued she had grumbled out an oddly pitched, "yes" and now well, here she was.
Sighing, she flipped her hair back behind her shoulders and remembered the last time she had been on a "date," with her ex. Hmmph, some date that turned out to be, he had brought into some fancy ass French place and "kindly" broke it off with her, and somehow expected her to be all chirppy and pleasant about and, yes still still hadn't ceased to amaze her, he had actually expected her to sit and finish her meal with him, split the bill actually. Of course, she said some, er, select words to him and marched out, but not before giving him a sharp kick in a er, delicate spot.
About to rub her eyes, Kiyone quickly stopped herself, remembering the carefully applied makeup that she had put on earlier that evening, and layed her hands out on the cream colored table top before her, checking her nails for chipped peices.
She was in the midsts of checking over her left thumb nail, when Todd popped out, seemingly out of no where.
"Hello there Kiyone!" His smiled seemed ready to crack his face in half, and he cheerfully sat down on the identical bench across from her, beaming away.
"Hey Todd." She responded easily, giving him a small smile. Now other women may of done this as to not look too eager, but Kiyone merely did this because one, she was exhausted, and two Todd had a really annoying smile.
"What's on your mind?" He asked her, his smile falling a bit, but his eyes were still literally gleeming with joy.
Shrugging her shoulders a bit, Kiyone smiled again lightly and said, "Oh nothing important." She blinked then and tucked a few strands of hair absentmindly behind her ear before continuing. "Have you looked at the menu yet?"
Shaking his head no he answered cascually, "Nope, can I see it? If you're done with it I mean."
"Sure, be my guest." She said and passed it across the table to him. She herself had barely flipped through it, after her eyes scanned across what she had wanted, she put it down, not bothering to explore it's depths any further.
"Hmmm, this looks good." He said, and then pointed to a picture of a seemingly delicous plate of food on the inner pages of the menu.
Nodding her head, Kiyone balanced her chin in her palm and said, "Oh, yeah. That does look good, why don't you try it?"
Licking his bottom lip a bit he nodded and said, "Yes, I think I will." and then shot her a bold smile.
Smiling back, Kiyone settled back in her bench, and crossed her legs lazily at the knee, her black skirt swirling out a bit.
There was a silence between them for a few minutes, with only the sounds of the dieing juke box in the background to keep the company. Glancing across the table at Todd, Kiyone saw that he looked just as content and joyful as he had when he had first arrived. I wonder if he's really having a good time, She thought inwardly and then sighed a bit and decided to make a shoot at a conversation.
"So Todd... er, what do you like to do for hobbies?"
Yes, she realized that it was a painfully tired out topic and usually tended to be quite boring, but it was the first thing that popped into her exhausted mind.
As Todd began to talk about this or that, Kiyone quickly began to realize how little she actually knew about him. Sure, there were the simple things she had picked up from simply being around him in the office, he always wore suits usually in shades of grey, brown, or black, he had pictures of his parents and siblings on his desk, he always wore the watch his grandfather had given him. But now as he babbled on about whatever in the hell he was talking about, Kiyone noticed other things.
Like the little way that he drummed his finger tips against the table as he talked, or the way that he only had a dimple in his left cheek. The way that when he laughed he always stroked his fingers through his honey brown hair, and the way that he would occasionally crack his knuckles as the conversation came to a small pausing point.
She smiled at this, not even realizing she was doing it.
"You have a nice smile, you know." He pipped up, about half way through the date. "When it's not forced I mean." He added that little bit in with a small wink, and she felt the blush tingle in her fair skinned cheeks.
"Forced?" She said naivley, trying to play innocent.
He grinned even bolder at that, and said, "Oh come on now, I could tell at the beginning of this date that you didn't want to be here, but admit you're enjoying yourself now, just admit it!"
As he chuckled a bit again, she couldn't stop herself from smiling again and nodding her head yes.
He laughed even more at her reluctness to tell him that and then tenderly slipped his hand across the table, his finger tips brushing across hers. At first she moved her hand away a bit, surprised but then she glanced up to his smiling face and slowly slid hers back against his, for once not feeling forced or cornerd.
It was later that evening, as the waitress was just walking away with their glasses and plates chinking away on her little tray, and Kiyone was slipping into her jacket, that Todd said suddenly, "I would like to see you again you know."
Looking over at him Kiyone grinned and zippered up her jacket. "Oh of course you will, unless of course I get fired or you quit work."
Smiling at her quirky humor he said, "Kiyone, you know what I mean. I mean outside of work."
The pair of them walked across the small cafe and stepped out of the door, letting it slam back behind them.
"Oh, you would you do?" She said and although she kept her lips tightly locked, she beamed at him through her eyes.
"Yes, I would." He paused and then looked back into her eyes, "Would you?"
Sighing and looking around her as they walked, she let out a deep breath and said, "You know what Todd? I never thought that I'd be saying this, but I would like to see you again, outside of work."
"Really? That's wonderful, how about next Friday night, I can pick you up at about seven."
"Seven is great, will you remember will I live, or should I write it down for you?"
Winking he grinned at her and said, "Oh don't you worry about that, it's forever embedded in my mind."
They laughed and joked around the rest of the way to Kiyone's house, where Todd left her with a small peck on the cheek and a wink. For one of the few times in her life she crawled onto her sofa completly content and happy after a first date.
Later, as she was curled up under her blankets eating some Ben N Jerry ice cream out of the box and playing with her cat, she stretched out her legs and sighed. She had to admit to herself, she was interested in Todd, whether she had expected it to happen or not.
It was an interesting thing, to imagine herself spending the rest of her life with Todd. Sure, maybe she was getting ahead of herself, but really what woman in a budding new relationship didn't? Tossing the empty ice cream carton into the small trash bucket near her bed, Kiyone snuggled down under her blankets, gently stroking her cat's fur. She tried to imagine what it would be like to wake up in the morning and have Todd next to her, and to go to sleep at night and being able to feel his heart beat, to hear him breathe.
She fell asleep for once thinking thoughts about a man that weren't filled with loathe and hate. It had been quite some time, but Kiyone was being to think that maybe, just maybe, she was beginning to fall back into love.
*~I did get several new reviews, and thanks to those of you who reviewed. I forgot to mention my disclaimer in the beginning, I don't own Kiyone or any of the characters that you recognize from the show, although I do own Todd and her cat, teehee. I've decided that if I don't get at least four new reviews then I really doubt I'll continue this story, I barely even added this chapter. I apologize for any spelling or grammer errors because of my stupid computer, and I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Review, please!*~
On average, Kiyone was the a cross between those two types of people. It wasn't that she didn't have the happy memories that the first person did, it was that she didn't want to remember them. Why? Because then it would make her sour, hurtful memories seem twice as bad, remembering what could of lasted forever, but didn't.
An example of this happened to be when Kiyone was sitting on the small cushioned bench fitted to slide in nicely along the side of the small cafe table, staring out of the wide oddly clean windows, waiting for Todd to arrive.
She wasn't quite sure when she had actually except this "date" with Todd. He had always asked her to come along with the "gang" for coffee or drinks, but she had always declined. Most men would of just given up, but Todd took it upon himself to just ask her straight out for a date, just them two. Probably being more surprised than intrigued she had grumbled out an oddly pitched, "yes" and now well, here she was.
Sighing, she flipped her hair back behind her shoulders and remembered the last time she had been on a "date," with her ex. Hmmph, some date that turned out to be, he had brought into some fancy ass French place and "kindly" broke it off with her, and somehow expected her to be all chirppy and pleasant about and, yes still still hadn't ceased to amaze her, he had actually expected her to sit and finish her meal with him, split the bill actually. Of course, she said some, er, select words to him and marched out, but not before giving him a sharp kick in a er, delicate spot.
About to rub her eyes, Kiyone quickly stopped herself, remembering the carefully applied makeup that she had put on earlier that evening, and layed her hands out on the cream colored table top before her, checking her nails for chipped peices.
She was in the midsts of checking over her left thumb nail, when Todd popped out, seemingly out of no where.
"Hello there Kiyone!" His smiled seemed ready to crack his face in half, and he cheerfully sat down on the identical bench across from her, beaming away.
"Hey Todd." She responded easily, giving him a small smile. Now other women may of done this as to not look too eager, but Kiyone merely did this because one, she was exhausted, and two Todd had a really annoying smile.
"What's on your mind?" He asked her, his smile falling a bit, but his eyes were still literally gleeming with joy.
Shrugging her shoulders a bit, Kiyone smiled again lightly and said, "Oh nothing important." She blinked then and tucked a few strands of hair absentmindly behind her ear before continuing. "Have you looked at the menu yet?"
Shaking his head no he answered cascually, "Nope, can I see it? If you're done with it I mean."
"Sure, be my guest." She said and passed it across the table to him. She herself had barely flipped through it, after her eyes scanned across what she had wanted, she put it down, not bothering to explore it's depths any further.
"Hmmm, this looks good." He said, and then pointed to a picture of a seemingly delicous plate of food on the inner pages of the menu.
Nodding her head, Kiyone balanced her chin in her palm and said, "Oh, yeah. That does look good, why don't you try it?"
Licking his bottom lip a bit he nodded and said, "Yes, I think I will." and then shot her a bold smile.
Smiling back, Kiyone settled back in her bench, and crossed her legs lazily at the knee, her black skirt swirling out a bit.
There was a silence between them for a few minutes, with only the sounds of the dieing juke box in the background to keep the company. Glancing across the table at Todd, Kiyone saw that he looked just as content and joyful as he had when he had first arrived. I wonder if he's really having a good time, She thought inwardly and then sighed a bit and decided to make a shoot at a conversation.
"So Todd... er, what do you like to do for hobbies?"
Yes, she realized that it was a painfully tired out topic and usually tended to be quite boring, but it was the first thing that popped into her exhausted mind.
As Todd began to talk about this or that, Kiyone quickly began to realize how little she actually knew about him. Sure, there were the simple things she had picked up from simply being around him in the office, he always wore suits usually in shades of grey, brown, or black, he had pictures of his parents and siblings on his desk, he always wore the watch his grandfather had given him. But now as he babbled on about whatever in the hell he was talking about, Kiyone noticed other things.
Like the little way that he drummed his finger tips against the table as he talked, or the way that he only had a dimple in his left cheek. The way that when he laughed he always stroked his fingers through his honey brown hair, and the way that he would occasionally crack his knuckles as the conversation came to a small pausing point.
She smiled at this, not even realizing she was doing it.
"You have a nice smile, you know." He pipped up, about half way through the date. "When it's not forced I mean." He added that little bit in with a small wink, and she felt the blush tingle in her fair skinned cheeks.
"Forced?" She said naivley, trying to play innocent.
He grinned even bolder at that, and said, "Oh come on now, I could tell at the beginning of this date that you didn't want to be here, but admit you're enjoying yourself now, just admit it!"
As he chuckled a bit again, she couldn't stop herself from smiling again and nodding her head yes.
He laughed even more at her reluctness to tell him that and then tenderly slipped his hand across the table, his finger tips brushing across hers. At first she moved her hand away a bit, surprised but then she glanced up to his smiling face and slowly slid hers back against his, for once not feeling forced or cornerd.
It was later that evening, as the waitress was just walking away with their glasses and plates chinking away on her little tray, and Kiyone was slipping into her jacket, that Todd said suddenly, "I would like to see you again you know."
Looking over at him Kiyone grinned and zippered up her jacket. "Oh of course you will, unless of course I get fired or you quit work."
Smiling at her quirky humor he said, "Kiyone, you know what I mean. I mean outside of work."
The pair of them walked across the small cafe and stepped out of the door, letting it slam back behind them.
"Oh, you would you do?" She said and although she kept her lips tightly locked, she beamed at him through her eyes.
"Yes, I would." He paused and then looked back into her eyes, "Would you?"
Sighing and looking around her as they walked, she let out a deep breath and said, "You know what Todd? I never thought that I'd be saying this, but I would like to see you again, outside of work."
"Really? That's wonderful, how about next Friday night, I can pick you up at about seven."
"Seven is great, will you remember will I live, or should I write it down for you?"
Winking he grinned at her and said, "Oh don't you worry about that, it's forever embedded in my mind."
They laughed and joked around the rest of the way to Kiyone's house, where Todd left her with a small peck on the cheek and a wink. For one of the few times in her life she crawled onto her sofa completly content and happy after a first date.
Later, as she was curled up under her blankets eating some Ben N Jerry ice cream out of the box and playing with her cat, she stretched out her legs and sighed. She had to admit to herself, she was interested in Todd, whether she had expected it to happen or not.
It was an interesting thing, to imagine herself spending the rest of her life with Todd. Sure, maybe she was getting ahead of herself, but really what woman in a budding new relationship didn't? Tossing the empty ice cream carton into the small trash bucket near her bed, Kiyone snuggled down under her blankets, gently stroking her cat's fur. She tried to imagine what it would be like to wake up in the morning and have Todd next to her, and to go to sleep at night and being able to feel his heart beat, to hear him breathe.
She fell asleep for once thinking thoughts about a man that weren't filled with loathe and hate. It had been quite some time, but Kiyone was being to think that maybe, just maybe, she was beginning to fall back into love.
*~I did get several new reviews, and thanks to those of you who reviewed. I forgot to mention my disclaimer in the beginning, I don't own Kiyone or any of the characters that you recognize from the show, although I do own Todd and her cat, teehee. I've decided that if I don't get at least four new reviews then I really doubt I'll continue this story, I barely even added this chapter. I apologize for any spelling or grammer errors because of my stupid computer, and I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Review, please!*~