A/N: uh, oh.. I forgot the disclaimer in the previous chapter...
Well...this is just an A/K fic,and perhaps some other minor pairings too...let me know what you think...still plenty of possibilities...
Oh, and thank you to Twilight Elf-Maiden, Ardenilia and Hitoezakura for reviewing and giving me that useful tip.
Disclaimer: RK isn't mine...well, Jane & Jim are though..heheh
Chapter II
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The lady was giving her a quizzical look, when she turned around in the direction of Kaoru's eyes and saw what the girl sees.
She laughed a soft, elegant laugh.
"What is that?", Kaoru pointed out, with her deep sea blue orbs shining in her amazement.
"This is what we called Cotton candy", the woman explained. "Well, the machine that you see here spins the cotton-like threads into one of these", she gestured to the stand next to the machine, embedded with so many cotton candy onbamboo sticks, they jutted out, some pink, some white, blue, and yellow in colour. 'A very, very pretty sight to behold indeed', unknowingly, Kaoru smiled her childish smile.
"Wow…those are really cute!", she referred to those blobs of colourful spun clouds with awe.
The sweet vendor came back into the store and walked up to his wife, and squeezed her shoulders lovingly.
Kaoru was blushing again. These people..they are so freely showing their affection, she pondered, feeling a little bit envious. If only I have…
"So, how do you find it, little lady?", the vendor inquiried.
Kaoru woke up from her stupor. "Ah..oh, it is great, yeah, this is such a great place…and smells really nice too"
The lady turned to her husband, her lips tilted up in a little smile.
"I believe this lady would love to try our cotton candy, she's fascinated by it, so it seems", she said to him.
The vendor grinned at her wife, and then at Kaoru. Swiftly he took a big step towards those colourful blobs of 'cotton' and pick one, a pink one, and gave it to Kaoru.
"Have a try at this", he warmly offered.
Kaoru was speechless in return.
"Ah, I..I….it's allright…I was just looking…", she tried to reason.
"Please…we insist.." he was being adamant about it.
"Perhaps then if you like it…you'll be getting back for more", he winked and his wife chuckled softly.
With a rosy coloured blush that suffused her cheeks, she accepted the gift and bowed her thanks as politely as she could.
"I wasn't wrong when I gave you the pink one…it suits you very well", he added, smiling, referring to her pinkened cheeks. Kaoru gasped in embarassment as she touched her rosy cheek in an attempt to cover them up.
"Cut it out, will you Jim", the lady said, saving poor Kaoru from further embarassment. "Don't mind my husband, child, he just can't be helped", she said, her eyes laughing with mischief. Her husband jus grinned in reply.
"Thank you for this, Sir, and madam…"
"Jane…call me Jane, and my husband here is Jim" she offered.
"And what is your name, child?"
"I'm Kamiya Kaoru, you can call me Kaoru…nn…Jane", she replied, awkwardly.
"Great Kaoru…we hope to see you here again soon!", he said as Kaoru was about to take her leave.
She nodded her thanks and smiled at the couple, bringing her pink cotton candy out with her. 'What a nice, compatible couple'.
She managed to ask a couple of people a way out of the district, and she hurriedly made her way to the town to get some groceries.
Some people looked at her strangely as she brought with her a rather big piece of spun cotton candy, but she ignored them all.
As she got home, she can't wait to have a taste of the pink, cute-looking thing that was wrapped in a clear plastic covering. She eagerly opened the wrapping, and pinched a bit of the 'cotton' with her fingers. It feels really soft and smooth..
She brought that little pinch to her mouth, smelling it, then ate it, feeling the melt-in-the-mouth sensation ran through her. "Mmmm….sweet! It tastes like..heaven!"
Closing her eyes, she was smiling as she tucked in another pinch into her mouth, savouring the subtle, rather milky flavour. 'This is very nice!'
She ate about half ot it then slipped it back into the plastic wrapper.
'This is for dessert'…shethought happily.
She proceeded to cook dinner soon after.
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Aoshi was sitting down in his meditative position, but his mind wandered off elsewhere. It was supposed to be purifying, cleaning his mind against all thoughts, and he was meant to contemplate on his life.
But this intrusion keeps coming.
Last week, he came back to Aoiya feeling slightly curious as why Misao was not there to deliver his usual green tea. He didn't reveal his curiousity though, and he didn't need to..for when he came entering Aoiya, a shrilly, ecstatic voice of who-else-but Okina was heard clearly.
"So….My Misao-chan has started dating already! Oh, you're growing Misao…Ah….I'm getting older quite quickly these days", he said in a complaining tone, but there was unmistakably an underlying fervor beneath it.
"Jiya….stop it!" Misao was heard groaning aloud and trying to cover her embarassment.
Aoshi froze on his track. 'What?' He felt a stab of jealousy right through him.
'Hmm..and I thought I wasn't capable of feeling anything anymore'..he pondered.
He took a deep breath as if to ready himself for what's to come.
"Okina, Misao..", he greeted them in his usual cool demeanor.
So, do you expect him to change his attitude now? It might cause heart attack to these 'Aoiyans'.
Both of them turned their heads to Aoshi in surprise.
Misao's face blanched considerably.
Okina noticed this and decided to make fun of her in front of her Aoshi-sama.
"So…heard the latest gossip yet, Aoshi?"
"I'm not into those things, Okina.." he cut him off right away, suddenly his chest felt constricted.
"Well…not usually, but now you've got to hear it…ne, Misao…our Misao's finally grown up and she is dating someone….hmm, Misao-chan?", he smirked annoyingly and nudge her shoulder.
"So who's that someone special, you better tell your guardian here", Okina pointed out.
Misao yelped and beat him out of mortification.
Aoshi pondered, 'So that is who I am, a guardian, a mere guardian to her'…
Misao huffed and puffed, feeling a little bit of satisfaction from seeing the quadriple bumps on Okina's head.
"Don't mind him, Aoshi-sama"
She still calls me Aoshi-sama…
"Is it true, Misao?" he heard himself ask.
He never knew it would be quite nerve-wrecking to ask her such question and wait for her to answer.
She was hesitant. Promptly looking down to hide her heat-infused cheeks, she kept quiet.
It was only less than a minute, but for Aoshi, it felt like three whole hours of silence. He could only wait.
"Ah…er…yeah…yah, it's true Aoshi-sama", she softly mumbled.
He had to restrain his ears to really listen to her. His heart suddenly stopped breathing as he swallowed, making sure that his feeling was still hidden beneath his perfected mask of indifference.
"Aa…sou ka..", was all he said. He nodded as he turned around and ascended the stairs to his room.
Okina observed the whole thing with a keen eye. 'Hmmm..so he does have some feeling'…
Misao was letting out a sad smile. 'He never really cared anyway'…She snuggled closer to her Jiya for comfort. "Why does he have to be so cold and uncaring, Jiya?", rhetorically she asked.
Okina just patted her hair and sighed. 'I don't know, Misao….I really don't know'..
A week has passed. Misao no longer came to bring him his tea. Now, Okon or Omasu would do it. That is why he often returned earlier. He kind of missed her usual cheerful banters, wide grins and childish antics. Childish? Yes, she might be childish, but she is no child…'Get real, Shinomori,…she has matured into one beautiful lady'. He pondered inwardly. A long braided hair, an oval-shaped face, a healthily glowing tanned skin, beautiful emerald eyes, a distinctive Misao smile, all of her features suddenly flooding his mind.
'But she's not yours to have…She belongs to someone else'…
He stood up, suddenly feeling regretful for not asking who she's going out with.
'What a foolish question it would be'…he shook his head, his conscience is performing really poorly these days..
With a sigh, he walked home.