Review Responses
Ducky06 - I'm not mad. Any review is a good review.
hpdigigal - To some extent it was meant to be confusing. I hope it isn't too confusing though.
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Part Three - Tinder and Sparks
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And then, they met.
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Friction, in every sense of the word.
That, she decided, described her efforts to get her hair to lay flat.
She scrambled through the deserted twilight shrouded sidewalks, heels clicking steadily on the pavement. Evening was rapidly fading into night, and only a few people who were brave enough to weather the cold were still out and about. Another gust of freezing air ruined all her efforts and tossed her hair into her face, just as she spotted the store she was looking for. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear the elements had it in for her today. With a groan, she cut across the street to the opposite corner, and opened the door of the tiny pet store.
Eightyears after her removal from France, Natsuko Takaishi was now sixteen. Short, slender, and not outrageously eye-catching, she would have been a rather unassuming sight on the streets of Paris. In Japan however, she was a rarity, a fact that years of living in Highton View Terrace had taught her well. She spoke the language perfectly now, and even looked slightly Japanese from her father's side of the family. But there would always be the obvious differences that set her apart. Her once radiant head of lush blonde curls had lost some of its splendor over the years and was now an unobtrusive light brown. But her eyes remained blue, a chilling contradiction on her oriental face.
She walked into the small, dimly lit store and analyzed her reflection in the nearest window. It was appallingly bedraggled and windblown, at least in her opinion. Hurriedly, she ran her fingers over her hair, soothing it down and correcting her part. The winter static was threatening to give her tediously straightened curls new life, and the thought alone was horrifying. Deciding that she would have to make do with her hair, she examined the rest of her appearance, being critical of every flaw she came across.
She was in desperate need of some chapstick, and she made a note that her eyebrows would be needing some attention in the future. Her skirt clung tightly to her legs because of the cursed static in the air, and it made crackling noises when she tried to fix it. No matter how hard she tried she could not get the fabric to behave normally, and her attempts to tame it were only making the situation worse. It was regrettable, but luckily she was only in a pet store. It wasn't as if she was appearing at one of the Oikawas' decorative social events.
The noise of someone clearing their throat made her jump.
Hiroaki, for his part was exceedingly bored. He was also exceedingly annoyed, and the combination had given him a deadly temper. There were plenty of better things he could have been doing, but he was stuck here at "Pet Paradise" on a Saturday evening, and the shop was completely deserted. How typical. Takehiro was going to get it the next time he saw him. He slumped into his chair behind the counter and yawned.
His glasses were beginning to slide down his nose again, but he didn't bother with them. He kept telling himself that it was time to get contacts, but somehow, he never seemed to get around to it. Besides, less than perfect sight was nothing compared to what he'd suffered through in his youth. Over the years, he'd been able to correct his physical weaknesses with a strict and dedicated program of exercise. He didn't like to acknowledge it now, but he knew that the only reason he was able to persevere was because he always wanted to be better than his brother, more than anything else, and it drove him. Now, he was almost never out of breath, and he was certain that if he was ever given the chance to prove himself, he could definitely beat Takehiro in any race. But somehow, knowing this wasn't as satisfying as he once thought it would be.
Over the years he had come to a sort of grudging reconciliation with his brother. The old wounds of their youth had turned into the faintest of scars, and he had also become somewhat of a friend to Takehiro, though he wasn't sure how that happened. The only reason he was here in the first place was because his wonderfully responsible, nineteen-year-old brother had suddenly realized he had a huge end of term exam to study for. Looking back on it,Hiroaki decided that he should have been a jerk. He should've refused to fill in for him at the store where he worked, which Takehiro conveniently forgot to mention was a pet store. He didn't much care for pets, and he didn't know what he'd do if someone actually came in needing some advice, but having no customers was getting pretty boring too.
Little did Hiroaki know, but on that day, in a few minutes to be exact, he would fall in love, even though he wouldn't come to realize this until much later. And not just any sort of love. The kind that sneaks up on you, traps you in its tenacious clutches when you're not looking, and refuses to release you from its irresistible hold, til the day you die. Love is completely wonderful, and utterly stupid like that. And like most people who have never loved before, he also couldn't begin to comprehend how Love could bend him, break him, and totally shatter him without remorse.
He was just beginning to doze off when he noticed her. She sailed through the door in a whirl of visibly cold air. It chimed cheerfully to announce her entrance, not that it needed to be announced. She was his first customer in over an hour. And a pretty costumer at that. Very pretty. He sat up straighter in his chair and pushed his glasses back onto his nose. They only verified what he had thought.
She was young. Probably too young for him, but he allowed himself a long look anyway. It was quite possibly this second glance that sealed and locked his fate. Love did not fly headlong into his face, but a spark of attraction can easily start fire if it lands in the right place. Amusingly enough, she was too busy studying her reflection to pay him any notice.
She was short with straight brown hair that fell past her shoulders. Her thick winter coat concealed most of her upper body, but that tiny little skirt she was currently messing with didn't leave much to the imagination. A fact he tried valiantly to ignore almost as soon as he noticed it. She was a customer. Who also happened to be a minor. Who also happened to be wearing that skirt with those legs.
It should be noted here, reader, that while Natsuko was certainly a pretty girl, she wasn't nearly as flawless as she appeared in Hiroaki's eyes. But different people appeal to different tastes, and as far as Hiroaki was concerned Aphrodite herself couldn't compare.
He finally decided that his unknown ogling had gone on long enough and cleared his throat. She jumped and spun away from the window with wide eyes. Eyes that he was not prepared to see. They set sizzling goose bumps over his skin and stirred something within him. It was like looking into the ocean and the heavens at the same time. He decided that they had to be contacts. That notion was easier to swallow.
Natsuko, for her own part, studied this man intently, and found herself paralyzed with embarrassment. Why, of all the people who could have caught her doing something stupid, did it have to be someone good looking? He was the kind of man that any girl could easily have a hopeless crush on, strong build, bronze skin, and the most sincere eyes she'd ever seen. Her heart was suddenly doing a dizzying tapdance, and she was sure that the instant she tried to move, she'd trip over her own feet. She was reminded of all the times she'd found herself with a crush on a teacher. Except this, was much worse.
"It seems that the window washers are doing their jobs well," He flashed her the boyish grin that had won him Fi Ootori's heart in highschool. Of course, this was a whole different playing field, and she was probably still in highschool, but that didn't mean he couldn't tease.
Her cheeks filled with color, and in her embarrassment at being caught in an act of vanity, she forgot to use her second language, "Oui, Monsieur."
Hiroaki blinked dumbly. Maybe his ears were going bad, but he was pretty sure he'd heard her mumble a load of complete gibberish. If she didn't speak Japanese, it was going to make business interactions very cumbersome, a fact that he wasn't entirely unhappy about. She'd be forced to stick around a little longer to get her point across. Takehiro was gonna be so jealous when he heard about this. He was definitely going to stick it to his brother for saddling him with this job.
"I'm sorry," He tilted his head and gave her a puzzled look, "Could you repeat that?"
"My apologies," She blushed again, and this time managed to speak in delicately accented Japanese, "You startled me."
Her voice, like everything else about her, was also completely nerve rattling. It was not high and girlish like any other woman he'd ever heard before. It was a thick alto that caressed every word she spoke. In fact, everything about her was fascinating. If she were only a few years older, oh what he wouldn't do to get to know her better. She didn't even have to be that much older. Maybe just a year or two. Come to think of it, how old was she. She could just be an amazingly young looking college student.
"So . . . um," He cleared his throat, suddenly very aware of how very sinful his thoughts were becoming, "How may I help you this evening?"
"I wish to buy cat food, Monsieur . . ." Her haunting eyes flickered down to the name tag on his shirt, which happened to be his brother's, "Ishida."
"I think we have that," Hiroaki sighed in relief. He wasn't quite sure what Monsieur meant, but it couldn't be anything too complicated. Cat food was so easy, it couldn't possibly make him look like a fool, "Now, I just have to find it. Give me a second."
She gave him a perplexed look, but choose not to comment. He marched purposefully down the first isle and found himself confronted by rows and rows of fish tanks. No problem. She doesn't think you're lost yet, he assured himself. You were born with an innate sense of direction. You can handle this. Just quickly walk down the next aisle as if you were heading there all along.
The next aisle did not yield cat food, but rather a stunning array of care supplies for hamsters and gerbils. He glanced over at her, and found her studying him with an inscrutable look on her face.
"Are you . . . ," She seemed to be choosing her words carefully so as not to offend him, "Are you new here?"
"No," Hiroaki snorted with laughter as if she'd said something completely ridiculous, "Why would you ever think that?"
She arched an eyebrow and gave him a bemused look, as if she wasn't sure quite what to make of him, "Because it seems to me that we wouldn't find cat food in the fish aisle or the rodent aisle, and you seem to be heading toward the bird aisle."
Hiroaki stopped in his tracks, and found that he was indeed about to turn into an aisle filled with cages, bird seed and cuttlebones, "Well yes, this is true," He conceded, but he refused to admit to anything yet, "But of course, by deductive reasoning we will be able to find which aisles do not have cat items, thus leading us to where the cat section would logically be."
"Oh," She began to smile in spite of herself and pointed up at a large red sign suspended above her head, "But wouldn't it be much easier to just follow the signs?"
"Yes," He admitted with a chuckle, "That it would."
From that point onward the girl led the way, and he was perfectly content to follow. He had no idea a pet store could be so confusing. The number different pets people could keep seemed to be endless. He'd lost interest in pets a long time ago, but Takehiro, ever since he was little, always had a strange affinity for animals. Anything beautiful and exotic always ignited his curiosity. Kind of like the girl.
That thought jumped at him out of nowhere, and he quickly attempted to dislodge it. But the more he thought about it, the more his realized it was true. She was exactly the kind of girl his brother would hound. Perfect body. Perfect face. Most definitely foreign. Perhaps he could set them up sometime. Only if it was just to prove to himself that he didn't harbor any sort of deranged fascination with her.
"Do you know which brand I should get Monsieur Ishida?" Her voice brought him sharply out of his revere.
He blinked and saw that somehow, while he was lost in thought, she had found the aisle she was looking for. There had to be a million different types of cat food on the shelves he was now faced with. And she was standing with her hands on her hips, waiting for him to pronounce his selection. It seemed that he had been horribly mistaken when he predicted this would be easy.
"Um . . ." He scanned the selections, looking for something . . . anything, to pop out at him, "That one looks good."
He had pointed to a small purple bag that depicted a cartoon cat licking its lips and holding a fish-shaped kibble in its paw. The bag read, "Kitty Crunchies" in bubble letters. The girl raised that damned eyebrow again, and looked at him with a dubious expression. That eyebrow was really beginning to irritate him. In an irritatingly sexy sort of way. Dammit all.
"Do I look like someone who doesn't know what they're doing?" He demanded with as much seriousness as he could muster, "I mean, who's wearing the name tag, me or you? I think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to cat food," And with that, he thrust the bag into her hands.
Natsuko could only stare in wonder. She wasn't quite sure what to think about this man. She wasn't even sure if he was an actual employee. She was only sure that she needed some type of food, or her new cat was going to starve, and this man did have a name tag. But he was something else. Something horribly alluring, but at the same time it felt superficial. Crushy.
"So what is your cat's name?" He asked casually as he rung up the bag of cat food. Luckily, he was familiar with how to work a cash register.
She shrugged, finding herself absently studying the muscles in his arms as he worked the register, "He doesn't have a name yet. I just got him as a present."
"Oh," Hiroaki set the bag and her receipt in front of her, "Well I wish you and your new cat the best of luck with this food. Good evening."
"Thank you. Maybe I'll come by again sometime for your navigating services," Her voice was a purr that nearly made his jaw drop. She was flirting with him.
His every intention was to tell her the truth. He'd probably never see her again, and it was better that way. But one look into those depthless eyes, and his mouth ran away with him, "Yeah. Maybe you should."
She gave him a hooded grin that was almost innocent, but he saw the dangerous flash in those beautiful eyes. She was laying down a challenge, striking matches and laying them at his feet. She had him and he had her, unescapably. The only question now was who would be burned first. But that didn't even matter, because the fire would kill them both in the end.
She slunk toward the door, hips swaying slightly, and this time, he didn't bother tearing his eyes away.
