A/N: Gah...finally...this is longer than I expect it to be..heheh...anyway...I hope you enjoyed how this fic flows...crossing my fingers.. uh well...whatever you think, drop me a review or two...and suggest an alternative ending for me too...heheheh..Oh yeah...I'll think about a continuation, as one of the reviews has suggested ... a good idea, actually... but only if you guys like it so far... thank you for your wonderful reviews ( especially: Ardenilia, Valinor's Twilight, animequeen420, juliagulia1017, MEET.A.L.E.X, aisha89 and abubi-chan)
Disclaimer: Cotton candy's plot is mine at least...RK is Watsuki's still...my whole scheme of RK domination plan went down the drain..sobs..
COTTON CANDY VIII
He looked at Kamiya's face, now feigning innocence, taking a bit off her big lump of spun pink cotton and eating it leisurely, her eyes never leaving the heavens.
"What a pretty starry night", she mumbled as she chewed on her candy contently.
He looked up once again…'Well..when she mentioned it, yes…it was such a starry night tonight'…
"What did you do that for?" he couldn't help but ask.
Kaoru had the grace to blush. She met his eyes in a renewed meek demeanor "I…I'm sorry..for doing that.."
"it's just that I want to let you know, that..it really could relieve stress…..nn…it looks like you could use some…" her sentence broke as uncertainty filled her mind. 'Baka, baka Kaoru'…she grimaced.
"…"
"…Believe me…it worked for me", she gave a sheepish smile with quite a comely pinkish cheeks.
….'It really suits her'….He reflected, stunned at seeing her flushed expression..
"….Thank you", Aoshi replied. He was feeling uncomfortable, especially now that he could easily remember her soft, milky toned hand fed the sweet directly to his mouth, directly touching his lips…he groaned inwardly at the reminder.
'What is it with me...she was just trying to help me...relieve stress!' He shook his head slightly.
"Shinomori-san…I was just thinking….I'm sorry if it bothers you…but…is Misao-chan all right?" she softly enquired.
Looking rather dazed, he answered,. "Aa…yeah….she's just…" he stopped.
His face suddenly sported a far-away look.
Kaoru was concerned. 'What has happened to Itachi?' "Here", she thoughtfully offered one more pinch, breaking his train of thoughts once again. He turned his head toward the girl, as she was going to shove the small portion of cotton candy into his hand instead, but suddenly, he snatched her hand and brought it straight to his lips. He took the small lump of cotton candy off her hand, his teeth accidentally grazing the skin of her fingers softly as the tip of his tongue laved at it.
Kaoru felt a jolt of electricity shocked her whole system through and through, as her eyes blinked in a mixture of surprise and shock She felt fine tremors went up and down her spine, purely coincidental, it was quite... indescribeable.. but...nice nevertheless...
"A..ah..Shinomori..-san..", she attempted to take her hand back. He held it still.
"She is going to be engaged and…married soon", he murmured softly against Kaoru's fingers, fanning them with his heated breath.She wanted to faint under that unintentional heavenly sensual onslaught. Or was it intentional? It was rather nerve-wrecking..realizing that this Shinomori Aoshi was capable to heighten her awareness into such an acute level.
Kaoru was confused at her own reaction. A side of her wanted him to repeat his sensuallymurmured words, an expression of disbelief portrayed on her beautifully sculpted face,while another side of her just wanted to savor his gentle ministration to her fingers once again.
'What? Am I crazy? He…needs some consolation.. not some crazy Tanuki..'…
"Shi…shinomori-san…", she started.
"..She will be married off to Soujiro", he mumbled, this time, he pulled her hand toward him, sending her off balance into his embrace.
She froze. Her other hand holding a big piece of pink cotton candy, but the rest of her upper body was tightly embraced by…Shinomori Aoshi?
She breathed in deeply. Her face was right against the hard planes of his broad chest, and his head was resting atop of her head. 'Kami...if Itachi sees this...I swear she's gonna chop me into pieces...'
'Huh? Wait…Itachi is soon to be engaged? Married?'
'Soujiro? Seta Soujiro? the Smiley-face?'
Her thoughts flew around in all directions, unable to focus as she breathed in a deep masculine scent of Shinomori Aoshi and her heart wasn't doing a particularly good job either by pounding at a very fast pace….She gulped nervously..
He is troubled, help him, do something, baka Tanuki!
"…." Still, nothing came out from her lips.
"I don't want to let anyone know…but .. I guess…I told you anyway", he murmured.
"Shi…shinomori-san.." she was going to ask him to let go of her so she could think more clearly, but all that spilled out of her mouth was merely a 'Shinomori-san', it sounded so dumb she wanted to kick herself.
"Ma…Matte….Shinomori-san..", she managed to utter, her breathing shallow as the guy embraced her a bit too tightly...
As if suddenly realizing his bold action, he let go of her body swiftly.
"Gomenasai", he abruptly apologized. 'What was I doing, hugging her?', Aoshi was confused at his own action.
She shook her head in reply, her eyes promptly cast down onto the pebbled footpath as if she suddenly found pebbles were the most fascinating thing in the world to look at. 'Why am I missing the comfortable heat'? She thought.
'Think, brain!' She forced herself to think clearly.
Aoshi threw his gaze elsewhere. He was suddenly quiet once more.
They must've been sitting in an awkward silence for a while, when Kaoru decided to end it once and for all.
She willed herself to touch his shoulder very, very carefully. He looked at her, his gaze plundered into the very depth of her own azzure orbs.. "A…anou…you said…Misao-chan…ah…I'm sorry I asked…" she shamefully ended her sentence half way.
He sighed as he shot her a wry smile "That's all right…you will eventually know anyway…um…I'm…. I apologize…that was uncalled for…I ..Battousai will have my head if he knew.." he tried toshift the topic of theirconversation, but Kaoru didn't budge, nor did she say anything.
She just looked down, hiding her expression beneath her long raven tresses.
Aoshi was getting worried. "Kamiya-san, are you all right?"
No answer.
"Kamiya-san….", he willed himself to reach out and touch her chin, wanting to lift her face up. It was purely coincidental, but then he was surprised as he touched her chin, he felt droplets of warm moisture trickling down his hand.
"Kamiya…Kaoru-san…", he was in an awkward situation. Somehow he felt that he was the one who caused her to cry. His mentioning of Battousai would have something to do with this…he thought grimly.
She said nothing still, her back slightly hunched as she tried to halt her sobbing.
There was no viable option but to pull her once again into his embrace.
As he did so, all of her dams seemed to break loose.
"He…has left..stupid government, mission...atonement...", she uttered in a small squeak amidst her tears She cried out rather un-ladylike-ly on his chest, surprising both him and herself. Her back and shoulder rose up and down as she tried to hold her tears back. She was mortified to be crying on Shinomori's chest, for goodness' sake!
Aoshi understood right away. His usually dormant voice sounded sympathetic for a change "Don't hold back…cry as much as you want", he said as if he just read her mind. He tightened his hold on her, and let her pour out her misery onto his chest. 'Damned stupid Battousai'…he shook his head in disbelief. To think I was actually about to ask him for some tips on Rurouni-ing...
Soon the muffled sobs died down into small sniffles, and she jerked her head as soon as she realized where she was. She was leaning to a wet piece of cloth…that was Shinomori's clothing.
"I…I'm…I'm sorry…Shinomori-san, I..made your shirt…wet…" she stuttered, her deep blue orbs were glittering amidst her unshed tears, her cheeks were rosy, her lips were a pair of tempting, pink and lush lips, and her breath smelled sweet like sugarcane and vanilla…Who says he only drank green tea?…
She's so beautiful…so frail…yet so strong... Aoshi looked at her amusedly, ignoring her squeaks of apologies as she fussed over his wet shirt.
Kaoru realized that Shinomori didn't respond to her apologies, 'He must be very upset!', she looked up only to find an enchanting pair of crystalline blue eyes looking intently at her. His expression undecipherable. 'What does he…'
His face was getting closer to hers.
She didn't realize that she gawked at him, her lush pair of lips slightly ajar…
'He's so close...too close...'…her reflexes and senses were all rendered immobile in all of the sudden.
She closed her eyes, unable to return that piercing gaze he gave her…
Then she felt something sweet…
So undeniably sweet…
Her eyes flew open promptly only to watch his large hand feeding her a little piece of her long-forgotten pink cotton candy that she still gripped tightly in her left hand.
She sighed in relief… her body relaxed considerably. 'Ah, he just wanted to return the favour'…
She closed her eyes again, tasting the sugar sweetness and the nice milky after taste ….Nice…very nice….And a sensation of something soft, something even better than the initial sweetness of…..a mere cotton candy…she gasped 'Oh my goodness!'
His lips were on hers, tasting hers, slowly and very very gently.
Nothing needed to be said..they both just sat there in silence.
Kaoru didn't dare to say anything just yet, fearing that whatever she said would come out sounding stupid.
What the heck, she was still unable to find her voice anyway...
Aoshi sat there..contemplating.. searching for an answer himself...' Two of the most unlikely pair to be found in such situation...
Me...and...her? I can't believe this!'
They must've sat there for a long time, simply gazing at the night sky in silence...but the silence between them was quite bearable even if their situation was rather awkward to begin with...
What shall we do now? Where do we go from here? What do I want?
...What do I want?
He was deep in thought, trying to find the answers of the questions that popped out in his mind.
I... don't know...
What do I really want?
Oddly enough, the smile on Kamiya's face suddenly filled his mind completely.
Well...I know one thing..
I want her smile...
Yeah...I want her to smile by my side..
...
Then, out of the blue, he spoke up..
"You're right…", he said softly. His hands reached out to her and were suddenly on her hair, stroking the long, gleaming tresses fondly. "Thanks, Kaoru..", he added almost absently.
"Huh?", she breathed out, still in a out-of-this-world, euphoria state of mind.
'He called me Kaoru?'
"Cotton candy is quite a stress-reliever", he added, flashing her with a genuine, heart-felt smile that melted her heart right there and then.
She returned his smile whole heartedly,
A burst of an incomprehensible surge of satisfaction and contentment surfaced from within them, consuming them whole.
They kissed once more, entwined in the sweet sugary flavour of cotton candy.
Part I finish here! - Tune in for the next part...or should I make the next part? don't you guys want to know what happen to Okina's letter? and Kenshin's whereabouts...and Yahiko? - author faints of exhaustion...xx!