Syao-chan says sorry for her delayed fic updates/ unanswered emails etc. etc. ^^ She is currently addicted to Ragnarok, and that online rpg is the receiver of her financial flow. When she gets her own I-net connection at home, maybe her fic updating will go back to normal.
*goes back to making her cute aco level up*
"Welcome back, Nadeshiko!!!" Tomoyo warmly embraced the young lady when she and JR arrived.
"Hello Auntie!" She hugged her favorite aunt tightly, lovingly. It had been years since she last saw her, and she thought that Hiiragizawa Tomoyo didn't age a day. She was still as strikingly beautiful as she was back when she was eighteen, and it was not because of the wonders of medicine. It was her inner strength and grace, and of course, the love that her husband pampers her with.
"Why, look at you! You are almost as pretty as your aunt back when she was your age!" exclaimed Hiiragizawa Eriol, the mature version of JR. Nadeshiko's eyes twinkled; her uncle was a perfect picture of an old man with a young boy's heart, and not just any young boy, but an eighteen year old boy in love.
She looked at the couple and sighed. She wished she would have the same kind of love the two shares. A love for a lifetime, a love shared till death do them part.
"Come inside so you can rest. I had prepared hearty snacks for you two when Sakura-chan called awhile ago," said Tomoyo, leading the way into the mansion.
"Aunt Sakura knows she's here?" asked JR, frowning.
"I slept in their house last night," Nadeshiko explained.
"T-Then why are you making me carry your suitcases?" he asked. "Don't tell me you're staying with us."
"Why would I sleep here?" she asked, puzzled.
"Well, for one thing, your things are here," he reminded her as he glared at her suitcase.
"I never said that the things inside those are mine," she laughed. "Actually, they contain my souvenirs from Italy for you guys."
"Oh." JR placed her things down. "Mine better be good."
"I would have bought you a life because you most certainly need it, but it wasn't for sale," she teased.
"Pity," he said simply. He opened the suitcase and took out the wrapped packages one after the other until he found the one with his name on it. He lifted it and inspected it curiously. He tried to rock it with his hands, but it didn't make a sound.
Nadeshiko groaned. "Don't worry, it's not a time bomb. Don't panic."
He rolled his eyes. Same old Nadeshiko, always irritating him with her quips. She would be the last person I would imagine to be a nun.
"Besides, you have to open that on Christmas," she explained. "Along with everyone else."
"Well, have you got something that I can open now?" he wanted to know. He set aside the package and rummaged through her things.
She gestured to the door. "That would suffice. Go open it."
"Ha ha!" JR rolled his eyes, then went back to his scavenger hunt. The only thing he spotted was a Rubik's cube.
"Nadeshiko, snack is ready!" announced Tomoyo from the kitchen.
Nadeshiko got up. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving." She sweatdropped when she saw that he was solving it. He was seated on the floor, his dirty soccer uniform still unchanged. His whole attention was on the rotating piece of toy.
Her eyes softened as a mental image of the ten-year-old Eriol Hiiragizawa Junior rushed to her mind, that of JR tinkering with the parts of his Tamiya race car. The same familiar frown, the same thoughtful crease on his forehead, the same JR.
"Nadeshiko!" called Tomoyo again, entering the living room.
This snapped her out of her trance. She embarrassedly got up and cast an apologetic smile to her aunt's way. "Sorry, Auntie. I didn't hear you."
"No, you did," smiled the woman mysteriously. "But you weren't listening."
Eriol, who was standing behind his wife, could sense that the nakoudo mind of his wife was working again. But this time, he wouldn't object.
Who am I to stand and obstruct the path of fate? he mused as he watched Tomoyo turn to him smilingly.
"So what made you consider training to be a nun?" asked Eriol as the four of them shared snacks in the dining room.
Nadeshiko delicately wiped her mouth with the table napkin and looked around the spacious room. It was kind of strange eating in this room without the presence of Yukito and Nakuru, but the two had moved to the city of Tokyo, where the former was working in its university as a librarian.
"You won't find the answers in our kitchen cupboard," said JR, who was silently all ears to what she would have to say.
"Oh, but I did," she said, her eyes on the label of a fiber-rich cereal. "It's good for my heart."
"What do you mean?" asked the Hiiragizawa junior.
"It makes me forget my problems."
"Never thought you were the escapist type."
"Well, you thought wrong."
"Oh boy, did I ever."
Eriol sighed. "Will you two stop that? It's been years since your last meeting, and you should act your age now."
Tomoyo laughed as the two immediately quieted down. JR was still fuming, she knew. He was never the one to accept defeat easily, and his failure to make Nadeshiko change her mind about her vocation was probably getting into him.
"What's so funny?" Her son wanted to know.
"Everything." Tomoyo subtly changed the topic. "Hey Nadeshiko, since you will be spending your Christmas vacation here, maybe you should get started on sightseeing around Tomoeda. You must have missed the town."
"Oh, I did! Very much!" exclaimed Nadeshiko. "I wasn't able to sleep out of excitement nights before I arrived here."
"Pity. You should have prayed so you could sleep," said JR sarcastically.
Nadeshiko groaned. "Uncle Eriol, no offense, but I think your son is an Anti-Christ."
Eriol burst into laughter. "Thanks for the observation. I would look into that theory later on."
"Dad, you're supposed to be on my side! Don't you see the female conspiracy here?" complained the young man.
This time, Tomoyo joined in the laughter.
Rolling his eyes, JR continued his meal.
That night, Nadeshiko was seated in the balcony, reading the bible while JR was outside the house, practicing his soccer skills. Every other moment, he was stealing a glance at the young woman who suddenly decided to become a saint.
"Damn!" he muttered as he slammed the ball on his knee. "Damn her, does she have to rub it on my face that she's… a nun?" He caught the ball then threw it above him as strongly as he could. The ball landed on his target's lap.
"JR!!!" yelled Nadeshiko from the balcony.
He grinned, satisfied. "Sorry!" he yelled insincerely. "So the former star goalie of Tomoeda Elementary School has lost her touch already, huh?"
"I'm reading, do you mind?" Her pretty face appeared from the balcony.
For a moment, he could not reply. He kept staring at the amber eyes that had turned darker, more absorbing, because of the moonlight outlining her face. Her naturally tousled hair, now free of what seemed to him as a ridiculous hairdress, was freely dancing in the night breeze, making her beautifully surreal. Like a dream, perhaps.
"JR, hello? I'm talking to you, in case you haven't noticed!" she said, groaning.
Hands- off! She's a nun, bloody heavens, even your former cousin! He barked to himself. He abruptly turned his back on her. "I bet you are afraid of the ball now," he said instead.
"Well, you'll lose the bet then," said Nadeshiko. "Because I –know- that I still am better than you are."
He turned to her, grinning. "I know a challenge when I hear one."
It was her turn to gasp. That heart-melting boyish grin made her heart ache familiarly…
She pasted a confident smile on her face. "Let's play ball!"
It was quite a sight to see—he and Nadeshiko running up and down the grassy field in their pajamas, trying to take the ball from each other—but he didn't care. He was enjoying too much.
His eyes went to the happily shrieking Nadeshiko. His eyes softened.
She grew lovelier over the years, and he still couldn't get over the fact. He knew she was cute back when they were ten, but her tomboyish appearance hid her loveliness.
And now, like a full-bloomed flower of her namesake, Nadeshiko was beautiful beyond words.
He gulped a little. He had never imagined a woman to be sexy while wearing a plain cotton PJ, but why was he suddenly feeling…well…
Shit! She was your cousin years ago! Stop thinking like this!
JR nearly gasped audibly when Nadeshiko appeared beside him and kicked the ball away from his foot. She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't let your thoughts wander, JR. We are having a ball game!"
It was only a quarter of a second when she stepped so intimately close to him, but the scent of her floral shampoo lingered. His fists clenched. Eriol Hiiragizaw Junior, SNAP OUT OF IT!
"I'm going to get you!!!" JR snapped back into action and dashed for the ball.
He had to admire her footwork though; she was still as tricky as ever with the ball handling.
"You'll have to work for the ball!" she yelled back. She kicked the ball to and fro her feet, her eyes on JR's feet trying to take the ball from her possession. Her concentration was on the ball, so she didn't notice how JR's face changed as he stepped closer to her until it was mere inches that were separating them.
Nadeshiko frowned when JR stopped moving. She looked up, and her heart jumped. How did she and JR get this close?
She tried to bypass him, but his hand grabbed her shoulder.
"J-JR?" she stammered. The trace of amusement on his face was gone. He was so somber, so serious. She silently wondered what was going on in his mind.
"Is something wrong?" she asked gently. Maybe they needed to talk.
"Everything is," he said huskily. "But it feels so right."
"W-What subject matter is the topic of our discussion?" she asked nervously.
"I don't want you to be a nun," he blurted out.
She arched an eyebrow. "It's not the end of the world if I become a nun. You can visit me and I can visit you—"
"You don't understand!" Frustration was visible in his dark, deep-set eyes.
"Then make me!" she shouted back, her patience having reached its end too. She had it with his brattiness—
Oh my! Her eyes flapped wide open in surprise. JR had grabbed her shoulders and kissed her right there and then, under the moonlight, inside the secluded garden.
She tried to pull away, shaking her head. "J-JR, n-no…" But her protest sounded weak, even to her own ears.
"Nadeshiko," he said softly. He cupped her face with his hands and bent his head lower. "Please give me this moment, then you can…you can slap me, or shout at me, or punch me afterwards. Please, Nadeshiko, I beg you…"
Her eyes shook. No, how could she say no, when her heart was crying out that she wanted it too?
His lips touched hers once more, tentatively, gingerly, as if she was made of porcelain.
JR… She felt her hands entwine themselves around his neck. She wanted to kiss him back!
Her mind and her heart battled, but eventually, her heart won (or did she make it win?). She was going to take this one moment of complete insanity.
She wanted this too. She longed for this too.
His kiss deepened, until finally she had no choice but to let go and respond to his fire in wild abandon.
For a moment, time stood still for them. Right and wrong disappeared, circumstances vanished. It was only him, her, and that one special kiss.
They were both lying down on the grass, looking up at the stars. Both were quiet, preoccupied with their thoughts.
Nadeshiko heard him sigh deeply. She did the same.
"Nadeshiko?"
"Hmm?"
"Y-You can start punishing me already," he said quietly.
"Huh?"
He used his arms as his pillow. "I…I kissed you. It was taboo."
"You're not my cousin," she pointed out.
"B-But… you're…"
"Shut up."
"No." He got up determinedly and looked at her. "I don't want you to be mad at me…it will make me feel awful…" His cheeks flushed. "I mean…"
"JR…" She wished with all his heart that he would just stop talking. He was just making her feel worse.
"But I want you to know that I carry no regrets." His eyes twinkled. "I have been meaning to do that since I saved you from the soccer ball in the field awhile ago."
Oh! Her cheeks flamed. "JR…"
He turned serious. "OK, OK, I'm shutting up." He lied down again, and both of them were quiet for some time, looking up at the night sky.
"W-Was I…your first kiss?" he asked out of the blue.
"I'm sorry. Did my inexperienced lips disappoint you?" she asked wryly.
"Not at all." His smile was that of complete, utter delight. "It wasn't bad…for a nun-in-training."
Silence.
"So what now?" Nadeshiko.
"What is now?" JR.
Silence once more.
She turned to face him at the exact moment he looked at her.
"JR…maybe, we just missed each other. We were close when we were young," she said suddenly. "M-Maybe…that was it."
His heart refused, but he didn't speak his thoughts out loud.
"JR…let's forget about this," she said shakily. "I'm going…I'm most definitely going to be a nun."
It sounded like a nuclear bomb to him, but his face remained carefully passive.
"OK," he managed to say. He got up and faced her, eyes shaking. "A…Are you sure you…you won't change your mind? A-Are you really going to be a nun?"
Her fists clenched. "Y-Yes, JR."
"I see." He helped her up, but his touch was not as passionate as it was awhile ago. "Well, oyasumi nasai, cousin."
"Good night too, JR," she bade as she disappeared into the darkness. "Sweet dreams."
But inwardly, they both knew better. No one was getting any sleep tonight.
tsuzuku