Spiked Punch 9:

Conclusion's Revelations

Love had come so easy and slipped by so fast she questioned if it was love indeed. From the moment she first laid eyes on him the day he saved her and Domon from a watery demise, she had known that they would be bound by fate. He had said it was destiny, their destiny that bound them to each other and she knew what he said was true before he even gave voice to it.

Yet now as she sat with her back to the door of her apartment, as she listened to the fading sounds of his court shoes against the pavement outside, and something pulled at her heart. There was an odd fluttering in her stomach and her mind was alight with a revelation she had yet to understand. She knew very well now that she was in love and not afraid to love. The fear to love another was strong in her as he was constantly on her mind, but that was then… now she had other queries on her mind. And the question oddly enough, was in love with who…?

Her evening dress swished around her knees as she walked over to the telephone with the cheap acrylic number pad with gaudy flashing neon colours. In her contemplative mood, they seemed vulgar. Trance-like she dialed the number, his number.

"Moshi-moshi?"

"Can you come by my place? I need to talk…please?"

"Fuuko?"

…the line went dead…

"Fuuko?!"

Half an Hour Later…

                The violent drumming of knuckles against her front door summoned her out of her trance. Blinking slowly, she got up using her feet to clumsily sweep aluminum beer cans out of the way, in the process spilling beer onto her floor. She cursed softly under her breath but continued in her shaky-legged amble towards the door. Leaning heavily against the door because her feet refused to support her any longer, she sluggishly undid the locks and pulled the door open to stumble backwards before gaining her balance at the last possible moment to smile rather sedately at him.

                "Hi… glad you could make it."

                "Fuuko! Are you drunk?!"

                "I dunno I had…" here she turns around to count the beer cans on the floor but that really messed up her sense of balance or at least whatever sense of it she had left in her alcohol-addled brain.

                In a flash of movement, he caught her arm to pull her up and secured an arm around her waist to support her. She continues to tip backwards with her head lolling when she snaps it up to complete her sentence,

                "…5 cans, I kept the last one for you, Mi-chan."

He narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head in disapproval at what she had done. With one foot, he kicked the door close and slowly went about setting things right.

She was slumped over the couch handle watching Mikagami bent over cleaning up the mess of beer all over the floor and putting away the empty cans. His movements were filled with a kind of grace and elegance that was hard to ignore even when he was doing menial work, it was like he was made of a different mould from everybody else, cast in gold and descent from royalty. She watched his back as he moved back into the kitchenette to put away the cleaning apparatus and throw away the rubbish and mess she made.

When he reappeared at the doorway he caught her staring at him very intently. She seemed to see right through him, seemed to see everything hidden in him, he felt naked under the glare of her attention. He blushed and looked away, slowly he moved out of her line of vision and circled the couch to come up from her other side. He knelt beside her when he looked up, he found her watching him very closely again. Swallowing his discomfort, he asked,

"You want to tell me what this is all about?"

"I went out on a blind date tonight." She paused, she looked like she was waiting for him to say something…

"I'd say that hardly cause enough for me to run all the way to your house in the dead of night. What exactly happened that made you so…upset?" At this she flashed him a small smile and continued,

"Recca set me up, it was with Raiha. And I learnt something tonight over dinner," as she spoke she slid further down the couch till she was eye level with Mikagami, "I don't love him." Maintaining a deadpan expression as best as he could, he still could not stop a slight blush from colouring his cheeks, she was so close, when she spoke, he could feel her alcohol scented breath on his face, and it was intoxicating. He had to look away, he no longer trusted himself to do what was right.

"I also found out something else."

She cupped his cheek and directed his face to hers before she kissed him full on the lips. His attempt to remain unaffected crumbled when she ran her tongue over his lips, requesting entry. Before he even realized what was happening, he was kissing her with all the pent up emotion he did not even know he felt towards her. They finally broke for air, panting and blushing. She had a soft smile playing on her lips while he slowly raised his eyes to meet hers. There was a strange sensation building up in his chest. He wanted so badly to scream with joy and yet the tranquility they experienced there and then in the silence and dim lighting of her living room floor was almost sacrilege to defile with any sound louder than their quivering breaths. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead before pulling her forward into an embrace. Her arms encircled his waist as she leaned into him. Slowly he trailed his hand along her back, in a soothing motion he repeated the slight pressure. Rhythmic and calming he stroked along the length of her back the way a mother would a child putting her to bed. It was not long before Fuuko was fast asleep in his embrace.

Slowly he eased himself out of her hold and carried her gently in his arms taking great effort not to disturb his sleeping beauty. He carried her to her bed and tucked her under the covers. It warmed his heart to watch her snuggle deeper into the covers. It had been a long while since he felt so much peace. There was a numbing quietness in his mind that seemed greater than the silence that surrounded him. All fears and doubts, anxieties of any kind had dissipated the moment she kissed him and now as he watched her sleeping he basked in the peace he only felt in her presence.

When he next looked at the clock, timed had moved incredibly fast while he sat by her bedside. It had already passed the early hours of the morning and light of day was fast approaching in a little more than an hour. Bestowing upon his blessed angle another kiss, he made his way to the hall to make himself comfortable on the couch. There will be many more loose ends to tie up in the next few days but for once he was confident that things would fall into place smoothly.

A/N:

I'm terribly sorry if this feels cheesy. And I'm also terribly sorry for the long wait and the unfulfilling chapter. I realized that this chapter does not exactly tie everything up so I'll probably install an epilogue somewhere later on. I realized my writing skills have been on a serious decline since I have not been writing anything at all in like the past almost a year I think and I'm terribly sorry about the sub-standard of the piece. Please forgive.