I.

Mishima Sakura strode down the winding, window-lined halls and towering, marble archways that made up the elegant, and down-right extravagant, building that was the Elite Ten building – or their unofficial 'Headquarters', as some of the more open-minded and childish members lovingly referred to it as.

God forbid if the illustrious, traditional, and prestigious Tootsuki Tea Ceremony and Cooking Academy were to refer to one of their most famous buildings with such a… plebian and sinister title.

It would utterly shatter the refined image that Tootsuki staff and professors worked so diligently to maintain, especially since the whole scandal revolving Erina-sama and her father was still-

Sakura stopped her train of thought immediately.

She would not think about the heartbreak and trauma that scarred the Nakiri clan; to do so would be a completely disservice to them and every single act of kindness and compassion they showered upon the hardworking, dedicated men and women of under their employment.

Shaking her head briefly, Sakura came to a stop outside one of the ten doors that led into the personal offices of the current seated Elite Ten members. She raised a hand and rapped sharply against the polished, mahogany door.

"Excuse me, Yukihira-sama, but I have been sent by the coordinators of this years' opening ceremony to fetch you. You appear to be running behind schedule and were supposed to arrive at the ceremony an hour ago." When the second-year student, didn't respond, the young woman opened the door. "Pardon the intrusion, Yukihira-sama but have you-?"

A delectable and mouth-watering tsunami of aroma and scent immediately engulfed Sakura, and she felt her knees buckle from underneath her body, causing the rest of her to go crumpling to the ground in a boneless, mindless heap.

"Ahhh… H-Hahh…Nnn~~," were all the noises she was coherently able to make, as a spicy, fruity tang filled her senses and muddled her mind.

"Hmm…? Oh! Perfect timing!"

Black dress shoes that were polished to perfection entered Sakura's line of vision as she dragged her blurry vision upwards, past the dark-gray-bordering-on-black dress pants, past the crisp, white button-up shirt with a striped tie that bore Tootsuki's school colors, and into the fervent, frenzied golden-colored eyes of Yukihira Kyou.

"I just put the finishing touches on a new recipe that suddenly inspired me not too long ago! And since you're the first person I've seen since finishing this dish, you get to be the first person to try it!" With a flourish and a wide smile, Kyou thrust a large platter towards Sakura, causing her gaze to drop to the source of the overpowering – but oh so delicious – smell.

Cupcakes.

Cupcakes were what had brought Sakura – a veritable veteran when it came to the students that made up the Elite Ten – to her knees.

"Well?" Kyou prompted, inching the platter closer to the woman. "Are you going to try one?"

With trembling hands, actually… with her entire body shaking in anticipation and want, Sakura gently picked up one of cupcakes – it was a rich, dark, dark, dark brown, topped with a delicate-looking swirl of snow-white frosting, and dotted with a light dusting of glistening, bright green crumbs and pieces – and took a large, most definitely un-ladylike, bite of the dessert.

To hell with her appearance and bearing for this one moment! She'd never get another chance like this – to be the first person to be granted the glorious moment of taste-testing one of Yukihira Kyou's newest creations!

Nine out of ten times, that lucky basta- person was one Kai Koanui; but he wasn't here right now what with the opening ceremony being a mandatory event that all incoming first-years had to attend.

In her mind, Sakura let out a mad cackle. 'Suck on that, Suzuka and Hitomi! That's what you get for being too damned slow to volunteer to pick up the wayward and easily distracted Yukihira Kyou-sama! Now I get the opportunity to try one of his dishes!

At first, the cupcake seemed to be your typical chocolate cupcake, sweet but not overly sweet… but then… an overwhelmingly-yet-not-too-of-an-overwhelming spicy, heat burst across Sakura's taste buds and created a gentle, searing fire that raced the length of her throat and crept up her nose and caused tears to prick the corners of her eyes.

A definitely undignified moan escaped her throat and she closed her eyes in pure bliss and ecstasy.

At Sakura's response, Kyou's smile widened and he stood with a proud look on his face – not that she would be able to see it for she was too far gone to be able to notice much.

"Like it?" Kyou asked glancing at the remaining cupcakes in his hand. "I was talking with Momo-chan the other day and we somehow got onto the topic of utilizing spice in desserts, she obviously didn't want anything to do with spices and ingredients that 'weren't cute' but the idea of combining two opposing flavors into a cohesive dish intrigued me and I couldn't help but think about all the flavor combinations and ingredients I could use to make such a dish. Though… I suppose when we were talking about spices, Momo-chan was most likely referring to seasonings like nutmeg or ginger while I had a much different seasoning in mind."

Kyou paused and held up his dish so that it caught the sunlight better.

"Chocolate and chili peppers is a pretty common combination of sweet and spicy, but I wanted to try something a little bit different. So I began experimenting with chocolate and wasabi! Now, wasabi has a pretty nice kick to it in terms of heat level, but it doesn't linger on the tongue like chili peppers so often do so I thought it'd be a perfect ingredient to use to make a dessert that had just the right amount of heat and kick to it, without overpowering the overall taste and flavor of the chocolate. The cake itself is made with coconut milk, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla, freshly ground ginger and wasabi while the icing is made with heavy cream, butter, powdered sugar, and ginger! Then I candied some wasabi paste in sugar and honey and sprinkled it on top!

"So!" Kyou turned back to face Sakura with an expectant look on his face, "What do you think? Is it good? Is it bad? Is there anything you would change about it? It's not too spicy is it? Or too sweet? Too chocolaty? Not enough chocolate? The cake's not too dense is it? And the icing? Is it heavy on your tongue? Or is it light and airy like I envisioned it to be?"

As Kyou continued to pepper the unresponsive woman with questions, Sakura could feel herself slipping deeper and deeper into the decadent and downright sinful taste of the dessert.

.

.

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II.

The room was stiflingly hot, and caused pearls of sweat to line her hairline and drip down her neck – but her body felt even hotter than the room, than the roaring fire not five feet away from her and the bed.

Her breaths her labored and her chest rose and fell with every inhale and exhale. Her eyes were covered by a length of cool, silk and she strained her ears to pick up even the smallest indication that He was in the room with her.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she felt a hot, hot, hot hand settle on one of her thighs, instantly setting her wired nerves ablaze with energy in anticipation.

A burning ache, a burning need pooled in the pit of her stomach as that fiery hand trailed upwards to rest on the junction of her hip bone.

"… Now, my dear…," His voice was velvet smooth and as deep and rich as chocolate. "Shall we begin…?"

And, like always, Sakura came undone – reduced to a mindless, sobbing, sweating, panting mess like before.

And she loved it.

.

.

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III.

Kyou blinked down at the comatose state that the Tootsuki staff member was in.

"Oh… damn… I forgot that not everyone is as hardy and resilient as Kai and the other members of the Elite Ten… I suppose I'll need to call one of the Nurses' before heading off to the opening ceremony… I bet Soma- oh wait! Kai, Erina, and Soma will all be at the ceremony! I'll head there now and have them give my cupcakes a try and get their opinion!"

With a plan in mind, Kyou hurriedly covered the remaining cupcakes and sped out the door – forgetting all about poor Sakura in his excitement.

(She'd turn out fine though. A scant ten minutes later, and she was up and about, admittedly on unsteady legs, and making her way back to the opening ceremony – the remains of the cupcake she had eaten being lovingly stored away for later.

Totally. Worth it.)

Updates for Forget-Me-Not will be slower and more sporadic than Remember only because I'm not spending as much time on this story like I am with Remember. I have some ideas of where I want this story to be at a certain arc, but getting to that arc is something that I'm still in the middle of creating.

I also don't know if I'm going to have this story be as in depth and detailed as Remember mainly because we still don't know what second year students go through at Tootsuki – though with the Azami arc finally over, we might be given a better glimpse at some of the classes and events that second years do.

And yes, Kyou – in this story is part of the Elite Ten – and I was planning on having him reveal just what seat he is but I want to keep it as a surprise a bit longer.

This chapter is actually completely different than what I had originally wrote months ago but I'm happy with how this chapter turned out.

As always, please let me know what you all thought via PM or Review!