Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds
By Dixxy
Chapter Ten: In From the Cold
(Kento)
I sighed heavily as I twirled the phone cord around my finger. I bit my lip as I continued to pace in the living room as Sage talked on the other end. "All right, all right, Sage, just stay over there. Don't get back onto the roads. The heavens have opened up and the roads are probably icy like you read about. It's not like you have good snow tires on that bike of yours, and I don't care how many damned ribbons it won- it won those ribbons on a road that had a condition OTHER than icy."
"You don't mind staying home by yourself? Even in the blizzard?" Sage asked. The last of the Flitteree, while normally carrying a light, happy tone of voice, sounded very concerned and serious. "What if something happens over there? You're all alone, Kento. If you loose power or something it'll be a long time before help can get through to you."
"I'll be fine," I said. "I'm a big boy, Sage. I can take care of it."
"Jerk," he said, laughing on the other end of the line. "Even if you have mellowed out a lot, you're still Kento. All right, if you say so, I'll leave you be. But if you see something bad in that crystal ball of yours I want you to find a way to get somewhere safe, you hear me? Good night."
"Night, Sage. Say hi to Cye for me."
"He says hi," said Sage. "See you tomorrow. Just remember where the batteries and candles and the flashlights are. If the phone line goes dead just stay calm and don't do anything stupid. Don't go out into the storm and play it safe- I don't want to find a dead body when I come home tomorrow, okay?"
"Sage! I'm not a little kid. Contrary to popular belief I can handle this all by myself. Rumor has it, I have a brain and I know how to use," I said with a slight hint of an attitude. Okay, so I was obviously giving Sage some lip, but he was asking for it after telling me the same procedure multiple times over. Sage said one final goodbye before hanging up. I hung up the phone myself and fell back onto the couch. I had the entire house to myself that night.
Mike, Cara, and Anubis you already know about. The convention thingy. Sage was at Cye's apartment. They wanted to watch a movie I can't STAND (I'm sorry, Mars Attacks! is a stupid movie any way you slice it) and as a result, Sage was now stranded at the apartment building with the Child of Destiny. Besides, the heater had blown and that was my excuse for staying behind. Sara and Emily were having an 80's cartoon movie marathon that they had invited Sue Lee to see ("This is the stuff that the Senshi and I grew up with when we were your age," Sara had said). As a result, Sue Lee was going to be spending the night there.
I was alone. All alone. . . alas, poor me.
I tried to decide what to do first. Watch a movie? Nah. Without Keisha I'd found myself with a larger amount of free time and I'd seen every movie in the house twice. Listen to music? Nope. Not in the mood for that. What I wanted was to have a good conversation, but I was stuck by myself in a very secluded house, and I didn't know if the phone lines were going to die on me. Cabin fever, here I come!
I stood up, wondering what was in the fridge when I heard a pounding on the door. Looking out the window, I saw that, indeed, it was still snowing, and at that, pretty badly- the snowstorm had finally hit and was going full blast. Who in their right mind was outside in this weather? Relax, Kento, if it's a robber or a psycho or something, you can take them. You can take a Dark Warlord, you can DEFINITELY take some punk serial killer.
I opened the door, wondering what I'd find on the other side. Even though I knew I could TAKE a psycho, that didn't mean I WANTED to. My eyes widened as I saw someone covered head to toe in snow, shivering as they held their arms around themselves as they tried to warm themselves. There was so much snow on them I couldn't see who it was right away. "Good grief, what happened to you?" The person lifted their head, their eyes visible through the snow. I knew those eyes and panicked.
"Keisha?" I asked. The figure nodded. By the Ancient One, what on Earth happened to you, babe? I stared at her in astonishment for several seconds before shaking my head to get a grip. "Keisha? What are you doing out in this weather! There's a blizzard out there? Why are you out of the house at a time like this?"
"Can I come in?" she asked quietly, shivering slightly.
"You'd better get in here," I said, ushering her inside. I took her snow-covered jacket and saw that the orange sweater she wore was just as soaked as the jacket, just like the rest of her. I could've sworn she had icicles in her hair she was so wet and cold. "What were you thinking? Keisha, there's a full blown snowstorm out there! What if you caught a cold or hypothermia or pneumonia or something?" Thinking quickly, I gave her a hug and a kiss. "Don't scare me like that."
"It wasn't my fault," she said. She shivered, her teeth chattering. "I'm cold."
"Then warm up in here," I said, bringing her further into the living room. I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her over. "What happened? How did you get here? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you and all but. . . Keisha, you're a mess. You shouldn't have gone out in this weather- just look at you! You came in here looking like Frosty!"
She looked at me, still shivering. "I'm scared. . ."
I gave her another hug, trying to warm her up. Slowly, she rested her head onto my shoulder, seeming to calm down a little. "It's all right," I said. I hushed her, rocking us gently back and fourth. "Calm down. You're safe now. Just relax and let's get you dried off."
"All right," she said.
"I'll go get some towels and a clean change of clothing for you, all right? Then I'll heat up some water for hot chocolate," I said. I grabbed a dry throw blanket that has been neatly folded across the top of the couch and placed it by her. "Get out of those clothes and wrap this around yourself, okay? I promise you'll be a lot warmer." I put a hand gently to her chin and lifted her face, planting a kiss on her lips. She smiled weakly, still shivering a little. "Are you going to be all right?"
"I'll be okay," she said. I nodded, giving her another kiss as I bolted upstairs to get what I told her I'd get for her. Luckily for Keisha, the Senshi usually kept spare changes of clothing over at Mike's house in case of emergencies. And that was pretty much an emergency.
I returned a minute later to see my partner in arms sitting on the couch with the blanket wrapped around her. The wet clothes were piled by the door, looking like they'd just come out of the washing machine. I handed her a towel and she started to dry her hair off. It wasn't doing much, but at least she was getting a LITTLE drier. "So tell me what happened already," I said. "Why were you out in that snowstorm?"
"Well, Grams sent me out to get some food at the corner store near our house. She's been going psycho ever since my parents were killed and hasn't let us out of the house for so much as a breath of fresh air. Well, for some reason she let me off tonight and sent me to the store like I said. Anyways, on my way to the store all these people dressed in black started to attack me."
My eyes widened in panic. "You were attacked?"
"Yeah!" she said. "They were all screaming 'Get the girl! Don't let her get away!'" She frowned, looking up at me with worry. "Kento, I was frightened for a little while back there. I lost them in the woods, but then the storm picked up to what it is now before I could get back onto the main roads. I eventually saw this house and decided to come here for shelter. Kento, I, I don't know what's going on, but I'm scared."
I gave her another hug. "I won't let them get you," I said.
"I know," she said. She giggled, looking up at me almost playfully. "I know that you wouldn't let that happen, Kento. You'd think I'd learn a little about you after this long- you're protective of those you hold dear and I've always felt safe with you because of that. And besides, what better place to go for safety than into the arms of a big, strong Ronin Warrior?"
I laughed, rustling her hair. "Well, they won't get you here. You're safe, and that's all that matters. If they make their way here, they're going to have ME to deal with, and you've seen how I dealt with Trulpa's soldiers before. They'll retreat with their imaginary tails between their legs as they all start crying for their mommies after I get done with them."
"I know," she said. She sighed heavily, cuddling up to me a little bit closer. I took her hands, trying to warm them between my own. She looked down at them, smiling for the gesture. I gave her a squeeze before I heard her speak up. "Kento, how do you feel about, well, us?"
I knew what she meant. Our races. Nothing would change the fact that I was Chinese and she was African. There would always be people who would look down on us because of that. People like her grandmother. People like the strangers who had given us dirty looks when we went out somewhere because we weren't coinciding with their beliefs, which we naturally didn't give a damn about. But how did I feel about it? Deep down, what did that mean to me? Well THAT'S an easy question!
I hugged her tightly. "I don't care. I still love you, and I always will." I kissed her forehead.
"Me, too," she said.
"It feels so good to hear you say that," I said. I looked into her eyes as she looked into mine. We kissed, letting ourselves go with the kiss. All of the emotions we'd built up that past two weeks were released. We expressed emotions impossible to describe with words with that kiss. It was one of those kisses that goes right up there with airport kisses, wedding kisses, and war hero kisses. The ones that make you want to get to your lover as fast as you can to try and mimic the magic. The ones that remind you just how wonderful a feeling love it.
It was one of those. For too long, we hadn't seen each other. Our love had been persecuted because of our skin colors, but that night, that kiss, we didn't care. The only thing in the world I wanted was Keisha. The only thing in the world she wanted was me. And that feeling felt GOOD. We were in love, we were young, and we knew that there was no way anyone was going to stop us from being together.
"I don't want this to end," Keisha said once the kiss ended.
"I don't, either," I said. I smiled. "I haven't felt this good in a long time."
"Same here," she said. We kissed again, putting more and more into it as it went on. She tasted so good. . . never had she tasted that good. Her lips were sweet like honey and soft like rose petals. It all made me even happier to see her again. To feel her again. To be with her again.
My mind started to play me some suggestive scenes of the two of us together. My body wanted to express my adoration and affection for her in a way we hadn't even discussed yet. I could feel my temperate rise and my palms begin to sweat. My heart was pounding in my ears. Not by any control of my own I felt more ferocity and emotion being poured in the kiss.
No! No, we can't do that!
Yes you can! Who's here to stop you?
But that's not responsible or moral or right!
So?
Anubis and Ria and Mike and Evan and Keisha's grandmother would skin us alive!
Is it any of their business what you two do behind closed doors? No.
I tried to shake the thoughts away, still arguing with myself over what part of me wanted to do but another part of me did NOT want to do. No, I can't do that to her- I don't want to ruin our relationship if something happens. No! I have to have self control! I'm not going to let myself go! I thought. I'm better than that!
Ah, but has ever such an opportunity presented itself to the two of you before? Mike and Cara are at the convention with Anubis, Sue Lee is at Sara and Emily's house, and Sage is stranded at Cye's apartment. It's just you and Keisha. You love her. She loves you. Come on! What's stopping you?
Keisha looked up at me. A deep passion flickered behind her eyes that I had never seen before. "Kento. . ." The way she said my name, I knew what she wanted. It was exactly what I wanted. What we both wanted. Maybe we wouldn't blow our whole relationship if we- but what if- I was so confused I wasn't sure what to think. Was this what we wanted?
I pulled her closer to me. The way she leaned back into me was when I truly knew it for sure. There wasn't any doubting it now. She wanted this. I wanted this. "Are you sure you want. . . this?" I asked, running a hand softly down her cheek. She purred from the movement, making my heart race.
"I've never wanted anything this badly," she said, looking up at me. I nodded, understanding as I slipped an arm under her knees and lifted her up into my arms. My girlfriend laughed, kissing my nose. She wrapped her arms around my neck and smiled at me in a way she'd never smiled at me before. Yes. She wanted this. Badly.
"I love you," I whispered softly.
"I love you, too."
That settled it. Screw her grandmother. Screw our races. Hell, just screw everyone and everything- they didn't matter. Not at that moment. All that mattered to me at that moment was her. Her and me. Me and her. Us together. I kissed her, never pulling away as I started to move towards the stairs and she started to tug at my T-shirt.
I carried her upstairs to my room, where the two of us made love.
