Mornings
By Cassandra Sisenta
A/N: The Captain of the Imperial Knights, Akai does not have a girlfriend and I don't see him having one soon since he's the swinging bachelor of the Knights. He stars in this chapter with Josei, Senashenta's Sailor Star Dancer, and I thought it would be kind of nice if they had a brother-sister type of relationship. Tell me what you think. I told you this thing wouldn't be an all out romance. ^^
DISCLAIMER: I only own Akai and Kina, Akai's favorite lady-in-waiting. Josei belongs to Senashenta and the rest belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.
Chapter V
Akai and Josei
There was a big smile on Josei Kou's face as she walked through the castle hallways towards her room. She stretched her arms up over her head and gave out a happy sigh at feeling the slight burn on her muscles.
"That feels so good…" She murmured as she stretched her arms and rose up on tiptoes to stretch her legs up as well.
It was almost time for breakfast and she had just come from a riding session with her favorite Palace steed, Raitei. He was a large, spirited stallion who never let anyone ride him except for very special people such as her and one of the former Imperial Knights, the spiky red-haired Akai Akari.
"HENTAAAAAIIIIII!"
SMACK!!
"Itetete…nice right arm you have there, Kina-san."
Josei sighed, whether it was a dismal or exasperated one was debatable. She rounded on a corner towards the sound and shook her head at the sight that greeted her.
Speaking of Akai…
The tall and powerfully built former Knight was rubbing his right cheek that looked like it was going to get a good bruise come lunch time as he smiled down at a dark violet-haired woman with piercing gray eyes.
Kina, one of Kakyuu-hime's ladies-in-waiting, was one of Akai's usual victims. It didn't help that Kina was quiet the beauty and a well-endowed one at that. She was also one of those that actually fought him for being so affectionate, as he liked to put it, and it was obvious that Akai liked his women spirited.
Kina was his favorite among the ladies he "victimized" within the castle.
The fiery lady-in-waiting glared up at Akai who was smiling down at her but was nowhere near apologizing. So, with the toss of her head and with her nose up in the air, she whirled away and walked off down the hall.
"I'll see you again later, my sweet!" Akai called out after her cheerfully as he rubbed his bruising cheek.
He obviously got no reply as Kina turned the corner at the edge of the hall and completely ignored him.
Josei took it as her cue to enter.
"You'll never get any girl in that fashion, Akai-san." She told him, making her presence known as she approached him, shaking her light purple head.
Akai quickly turned and smiled in a friendly manner over at the Dancer Starlight.
"Ohayou, Josei-chan!" He greeted her, his hand still nursing his cheek.
As a rule, Akai never hit on any of the younger Starlights. He thought of it as a very bad case of cradle robbing, but if any other guy went around flirting with them, he'd punt them to the wall faster than Satsu could say, "Star Icicle Storm!" Well, if she were still a senshi…
Yes, kind of a hypocrite, Akai is, but he just meant well.
Josei winced as she caught sight of his cheek. It looked worse from where she stood a moment before. She reminded herself never to get on Kina-san's bad side.
"What did you do this time, Akai-san?"
"Nothing!" Akai insisted as he frowned and rubbed his cheek even more. "I just said the dress she was wearing today looked great on her. Then she just slapped me out of the blue like I said something disgusting. I didn't even know what was so bad about what I was saying…"
Again, Josei sighed.
Kina probably thought there was a double entendre in Akai's words, which wasn't unusual at all.
"It's probably because of your reputation, Akai-san." She told him so as she watched Akai rub his cheek.
At her statement, Akai stopped what he was doing and looked strangely at her.
"E? My reputation?"
"Never mind." Josei didn't want to explain what others thought of people. Ever. She got a hold of his free hand and tugged at him towards the kitchens. "Come on, let's get some ice on it so that it would stop swelling."
"Mou…" The once Captain of the Imperial Knights whined like a five-year-old as he was dragged away, trailing behind the way shorter Starlight.
There was a short silence between the two of them as they wove through the twisting hallways.
Josei glanced over her shoulder once at Akai to find him absently poking on his bruising cheek. It made her wince again just seeing him do that. Just by the color, she could tell that it had to really hurt.
"Ne Akai-san."
"Hn?" Akai immediately stopped with his poking.
"You get hit awfully a lot by girls because you flirt with them." She turned her head to look up at him. "Why don't you just stop?"
Akai didn't speak for sometime and just stared back at her with his now-solemn gold eyes that it made her turn away.
"Gomen nasai, you don't have to answer my question. It was far too forward of me."
"Do you have a boyfriend, Josei-chan?"
The Dancer Starlight blushed at the question, but quickly recovered from Akai's boldness. She supposed it was only fair, a frank question for another frank question.
She shook her head. "No, no I don't."
Josei heard him chuckle behind her and was relieved to see the red-haired former Knight smiling again. Seeing him actually look serious was kind of unsettling.
"I see. Well, remember this Josei-chan, flirtation is just a game. Never take it seriously." He told her, smiling all the way. "Kina back there just has a tendency to read far too into things and she probably was only defending herself when she slapped me. I guess I deserved it too for all the other things I've said to her, but coming from me, I don't really mean any harm."
"So what you're saying is, I should just let it go when boys flirt with me? Because it's all just a game?"
"No, Josei-chan. Other boys always have questionable motives, never trust them unless you've got a complete background check and you've had them exposed to Kagami for some time." Akai said, not missing a beat.
By this time, Josei was quite confused already, but she did get that last part about Kagami. Kagami was also one of the former Knights and he has the power to read minds. But then again, anyone else who was exposed to Kagami for sometime just tended to stay away right after.
"Boys should know their boundaries, Josei-chan."
"What exactly are we talking about then, Akai-san?" She finally dared to ask the question.
They had arrived by the kitchen door and Josei had turned to fully face the tall former Knight.
In response, Akai grinned and placed a hand over her head like an elder brother would. He leaned forward slightly so that he was at eye-level with her.
"In short, Josei-chan, you could trust yourself with me because I know my boundaries and I'd never go where I'm not wanted. Understand now?"
Josei looked back at him and moments later, smiled and nodded.
Of course she trusted Akai and she always would no matter what other people said.
Akai looked pleased as he patted Josei's head gently and rose up, sighing. He placed his hand on the doorknob.
"All right then, let's get that ice you promised me. Come on, Josei-chan I'll charm Ukon-san into giving you a breakfast you like. What do you want?"
"Anou…you don't have to, Akai-san."
"No, no I insist. Really. What do you want?"
"Er, Greek salad?"
Akai frowned at her request. "You sure you don't want anything else? Pancakes? Bagels? Bacon and eggs?"
"No, it's fine. Actually none is all right as well." She responded, waving her hands in front of her.
"Oh no! I won't have that! Not after our little talk! You're my imouto now and your 'nii-chan says you need to eat. Well Ukon-san! Aren't you pretty this morning?" He opened the kitchen door and flashed a charming smile at the middle-aged woman who was bent over a chopping board.
"Oh stop it, Akai-kun. Now what do you want, dear?"
"Oh you're so nice Ukon-san! Hm, well I'd like some Greek salad for my imouto-chan here and some ice for my cheek."
"My goodness, what happened to you? Was it Kina again?"
"Now don't be so hard on her, Ukon-san. It was my fault."
Josei smiled as she watched the tall red-haired Akai get mothered and fussed over by a chubby, middle-aged woman, Ukon the Castle cook. She sighed as she enjoyed the banter and the cheery, morning atmosphere of the Castle Kitchens.
So she was Akai Akari's proclaimed little sister now e?
She smiled wider at the thought.
The following days would sure prove to be interesting.