Author's Notes: Raimundo and Kimiko finally get together in this chapter, hope you like it.
Disclaimer: On first chapter.
Chapter Five: A Carnival and a Kiss.
Kimiko clutched on tightly to Raimundo's hand, trying hard not to blush as he pulled her through the crowd of people.
"You okay?" She looked up, his face was adorned with a happy smile, one that she couldn't help but return.
"Just a little squished." He chuckled.
"Shall we find something to eat and drink before hitting the games?" She nodded, allowing him to drag her through the crowd. He paused when he spotted a milkshake stand, tugging her over he bought two of the largest chocolate shakes there before going down a side alley. Handing her one of the drinks he flashed her a smile before taking a mouthful of the liquid. Kimiko noticed with a blush that they were still holding hands as they walked side by side through the alleyway. Even though there was hardly anyone around.
"What stall do you wanna hit first?" Raimundo asked as they stepped back into the more lively part of the festival. Her eyes scanned the crowd before landing on a booth that had a darts game on it.
"That one." She declared, dragging him over. She quickly forked over the money and had her go, managing to land one of the three darts dead centre.
"Pfft, that was pitiful. Bet you an idiot could beat that." Most gentlemen would have congratulated her on her attempts and offered to win the best one there for her. Raimundo however was definitely not a gentleman and that's the way she liked him. She didn't want some boy that thought that he was tougher and a better fighter than her. Raimundo only said she was a rubbish fighter to get under her skin; she did the same thing in return. It was part of the fun.
"If you're so good than you do it." She said, gesturing at the dart booth with one hand.
"Don't mind if I do." Handing the owner the money he grabbed his darts, he landed the first two perfectly and was about to throw the second when . . .
"You'll never manage it." He jumped when Kimiko said that, just as he launched the dart. It landed a little to the left of the centre.
"Hey!" He declared, turning round arms crossed. "You did that on purpose."
"Point being?" He rose an eyebrow at her innocent expression.
"I'll beat you this time."
"Not a chance." She said, pulling her own money out again as she stuck her tongue at him. Raimundo landed all three perfectly, while Kimiko's were slightly off but still in the centre.
"Draw?" He said, extending a hand to shake on it.
"Draw." She agreed, shaking his hand.
After collecting their prizes, which happened to be four huge cuddly toys that Raimundo was now stuck carrying. They had headed off in search of some food and by food I mean junk food, the kinda stuff that ends up rotting your teeth. The stuff that's actually nice and non-healthy. Wandering down the streets Kimiko seemed to find something to buy at every stall and as much as Raimundo ended up having to carry, he found it funny to watch her jump up and down like a small child.
"Look Raimundo! Pink earrings!" Raimundo rolled his eyes and came to a stop, looking at the pair of earrings that she was pointing at excitedly.
"Didn't you already buy a pair of pink earrings?" She actually already bought six pairs of earrings, so what was a seventh pair?
"Yeah but they were dark pink these are light pink and would totally go with the outfit I'm gonna wear tomorrow."
"I suppose you want me to carry them after you bought them." She smiled happily at him and was about to go and buy them when someone snatched them up. Looking down the duo realised that that had been the last pair. Kimiko's shoulders slumped; she had so wanted them for her outfit! Seeing her unhappy face, Raimundo quickly scanned the crowd for the culprit. Upon finding the guy at the counter about to pay he was going to go over and demand them back when he remembered he was carrying about ten bags. Therefore unable to kick the guy's butt to the other side of the Carnival. Swearing under his breath, he lightly kicked Kimiko to get her attention.
"The guy over by the counter, go beat him up." Smiling happily she dashed over, a minute later after some threatening and a punch to the face Kimiko happily pranced back, earrings in hand.
"Thanks." She said as she slipped them into one of the many bags.
"No problem." She smiled once again and started off. Raimundo rolled his eyes when he heard her squeak something about a cute fluffy pen. Why had he agreed to carry her stuff?
His hands ached, his arms ached, his shoulder ached and his legs felt like they were about to drop off. Why was he doing this again?
"Thanks so much Rai." Oh yes, that was why. He looked over at Kimiko who was delightedly sorting through her stuff. Or some of it, the rest Raimundo was still trying to find space around their table to put it.
"Can I just throw this all in the bin?" He asked as a bunch of pens fell out a bag and began to roll away.
"You could but that would mean that you would have carried them around all day for nothing." She called as she sat down, her eyes greedily scanning the menu.
Just my luck that she's right. Groaning he dropped the last few bags beside his chair before dropping into it himself. Stretching out he sighed, his muscles were cramped after carrying Kimiko's bags for all this time. A waiter wandered over, which made Raimundo blink, the guy was poshly dressed and seeing as it was a small café in the middle of a carnival it didn't seemed right. He shrugged it off, if the guy wanted to be weird let him.
"What are you having Raimundo?" Kimiko asked, glancing over at the boy. He didn't bother to look up.
"Chips."
"Gotcha, can we have a portion of chips and a mini pizza please?"
"Certainly." He said, bowing to them before disappearing inside. Raimundo watched him leave before allowing his gaze to go back to Kimiko, who was shredding a napkin. Why was she so nervous?
"You okay Kimi?"
"Yeah." Her voice was quiet as if she wasn't completely with him.
"You having fun?" Her face brightened as she quickly thought back on the last few hours. He could tell she had enjoyed herself which made him smile, if she was happy so was he.
"It was great! Thanks for buying me that last necklace."
"It's alright, not your fault you run out of money." She smiled again, lifting any unhappiness that might have descended upon Raimundo at having to spend his afternoon shopping. A plate of chips was placed in front of him, which he dug into, hungrily. He could see Kimiko munch away at her pizza form the corner of his eye. She seemed fine. He frowned when she leaned over and snagged one of his chips. The frown soon turned into a smirk when he leaned across the table and took a bite out of her pizza.
"Hey!"
"You took my chips."
"One chip, Raimundo."
"One chip in exchange for one bite of pizza." He said with a smirk. Growling she snatched another chip off his plate, he took the pizza from her hand and took a bite. She took another chip, he took another bite. She glared at him for a while before bursting into laughter.
"You know we fight over the stupidest things."
"I know." Raimundo said, finishing off the slice of pizza in his hands. "It's more fun that way." She laughed at his words, it was true though, their friendship was one of the more interesting aspects of her life. You never knew what mucked up scheme Raimundo was going to come up with next, he kept you on your toes. Which was probably why she liked him so much, she enjoyed a bit of adventure in her life. Or in Raimundo's case, a lot. Slamming the money down on the table top, Raimundo stood up gathering her bags. She smiled, unable to resist the temptation.
"Since when where you a gentleman?"
She knew that Raimundo would have reacted in someway; she should have been expecting him to leave her to carry all the bags. But even if she had been she wouldn't have expected them to be so heavy. She had nearly crashed into five people after taking a few steps away from the café; Raimundo had taken pity on her and taken over half of the bags off her. So here they were, strolling across a park in the dwindling light, making their way towards the bus which would take them closer to the mountain top where the Temple was.
"Can we miss the bus Raimundo?"
"Isn't that kind of an odd request?" Raimundo said, turning round to give her funny look.
"I suppose, I just want to study the stars."
"It's fine by me but we'll have to walk the whole way back."
"I don't mind." Shrugging he dropped the bags on the floor, flashing Kimiko a smile he looked round for a good spot to star gaze. He spotted a small tree a few metres away, it had hardly any leaves on it and its branches were all curving upwards to the right. Meaning that they could get somewhere to rest as well as being able to see all the stars. Walking over he sat down, pulling his left leg up to his chest he placed his hands behind his head and leaned back. Kimiko joined him in a few seconds, sitting on his right and curling up beside him. Her eyes taking in the velvety sky.
"Can you see Orion?" Raimundo asked, Kimiko looked confused. She was taught how to fight back home but had spent most of her free time with her friends. Star gazing hadn't been something she had ever done before, which is why she had wanted to star gaze tonight.
"What's Orion?" Raimundo smiled slightly, removing one of his arms from behind his head to point at the sky. Unlike Kimiko he had spent a lot of time outdoors, day and night. He could label nearly all the constellations by heart.
"You see that cluster of stars over there? If you look carefully you'll be able to see that it looks like a man." Kimiko leaned forward, her eyes fixed on the bunch of stars that Raimundo had pointed out.
"I see it Rai." She said smiling in delight like a small child might, he chuckled.
"The constellation is called Orion, it's said in Greek Mythology that Orion was a great hunter. He hunted by the river Eridanus and was always accompanied by his two faithful dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor. There were said to also be seven sisters who form the Pleiades and Orion fell in love with one of them; Merope.
"But the lady would not so much as look at him let alone return his love. And one fateful day when he was hunting by the river he trod on a scorpion called Scorpius, he fell ill and sadly enough died. The gods took pity on him so they put him and his dogs in the stars."
"How sad."
"Yeah it is kinda." Raimundo whispered, his eyes slowly tracing Orion's form.
"Rai?" She poked him in the side.
"Yeah?"
"Are there any other stories like that?" He smiled to himself.
"Lots." She sat up, making sure that she was looking him in the eye.
"Promise to take me stargazing when we're back at the temple. Promise to show me all the star constellations and tell me all the stories." He smiled, sitting up, their faces centimetres from each other.
"Promise." Kimiko's breath was coming in short gasps, he was so close that she could feel his breath blowing across her face.
"I'll show you every single star in the whole galaxy and more." Her eyes were a beautiful blue, like that of the sky on a clear day. Her lips were a soft pink and coming closer.
"Rai?" He didn't answer her quiet question, instead his lips and hers suddenly connected. Electricity shot through both their bodies as Raimundo gently curled his fingers round the back of her head. He usually just went with what he felt and never dwelled on it. But he was certain that kissing your best friend was a very bad thing to do. But she didn't seem to be complaining. Instead she seemed to be enjoying it; she wrapped her arms round his neck, pulling him down towards her. Smiling against her lips he wrapped his arms round her waist, tugging her into his lap. He wanted to stay here forever, with her in his arms and her lips against his. But sadly some things can't last for ever and his lungs were demanding oxygen. Dieing now when he was perhaps the happiest he had been in a while seemed rather stupid. Parting he rested his forehead against Kimiko's, a soft smile spreading across his lips.
"So what does this mean?" Kimiko asked quietly, unable to tear her eyes away from Raimundo's face.
"This means that if you aren't busy this Friday then we could go to the cinema."
"Sounds like a plan." She whispered, her eyes sparkling. She couldn't wait to call Keiko and tell her what had happened she thought to herself just as Raimundo's lips descended upon hers once more.
On second thought, Keiko can wait.
To Be Continued . . .
I am putting up an epilogue and then it's finished. Did you like the kissing scene? I'm not so sure of it myself. If anyone has any tips on it I'd be happy to hear them. MM.