II – Truth
"It's your turn," I gesture at him. "And it'd better not be lame, like your last one."
He wrinkles his nose, as if anything he would ever say could be anything close to lame. "You pick this time," he frowns, trying to think of something. "I'm all out of ideas."
"That's not how the game works," I remind him.
"Oh, come on," he waves his hand in a 'yeah-yeah' gesture. "What do you want to know?"
"Hmm…" I can think of a few things I can try to pry out of him. Although, there is one thing specifically that I'd like to know: "Have you ever kissed anyone before?" He opens his mouth, looking annoyed and I cut him off because I know what he was going to say. "Not that first one in the classroom, dummy. A real kiss, like with tongue and spit and passion."
He wrinkles his nose again. "If I remember correctly, there was some spit-swapping in that one…"
"Just answer the damned question!" I snap.
He rolls his eyes back, recalling, recollecting. "Guy or girl?"
"You mean you've kissed both?" I ask, a little surprised.
"Have you?" he frowns at me.
"Your turn to answer, not mine," I grin triumphantly. He grunts.
"Yeah, I've kissed a guy before…" he glares at me, "besides you…"
"Who?" I ask.
"Which? Guy or girl?"
"You're not gonna tell me both of them?"
"Why should I?"
"Oh, come on!"
"The girl was a client for a mission I'd gone on for three weeks," he shrugged. "She was kinda pretty. She asked me to kiss her, so I did."
"You have no shame!" I laugh. He frowns again.
"So who was it you kissed?" he snaps back.
"You didn't finish," I remind again. "The guy. Who was it?"
He sighs. "You're such an asshole." He rolls his eyes. "If I tell you, I get to ask you the next question."
"Deal. Who?"
"…Neji."
I'm out of my chair. "With tongue!" I screech in glee.
"It was a dare at some stupid after-mission party," he does not look happy.
"With tongue?"I emphasize.
"Shut up, please," he groans, putting his face in his hand like he wants to disappear.
"With tongue?" I'm not even sure I want to know now.
"Yes, dammit!" he sighs in aggravation. "Tongue, spit, the whole works!"
I sit back in my chair, just thinking about this for a second. "Huh," I finally say. "With Neji."
"Yeah," he glowers.
"He's pretty good-looking though, huh?" I tease.
"I hate you," he groans a second time.
"So now it's my turn, right?" I ask, chuckling to myself. "Let's see. I kissed—"
"That's not my question."
I stop and look at him. He's red-faced and ashamed, but there's a hint of vengeance in his eyes. I suddenly swallow hard; maybe I shouldn't have made fun of him like that…
"Then…what's the question?" I ask, feigning apathy but my stomach has started to clench and do some flip-flops. Blackmail material is coming, I can feel it…
"Right now, in this village," he smirks, which promises the question will be good (for him, anyways), "who would you walk up to and kiss? Without reservations, without penalties. Married, single, guy, girl, old, young." The evil smile surfaces. "Who would you pin down and kiss in front of everyone?"
"Not answering," I cross my arms.
"Those are the rules," his eyes are dancing. He's enjoying this. "Truth: who would you kiss right this second?"
I hold my breath. I look at him. Sudden anger flares up and I just want to reach out and slap that shit-eating grin off his face. Who does he think he is"I…" The words catch in my throat—never in my life did I think I'd fall into this kind of predicament! Damned if you do, damned if you don't. There is a third option, though: I could get up and walk away. But, seeing as he answered something really embarrassing, I'd feel like an ass if I didn't somehow return the gesture. It's like he trusted me with that uncomfortable piece of him, and I'm just throwing it back in his face. I could never do that. I let out my breath and take in another one, staring at him, studying him. He's looking back, and the smile is slowly fading from his lips. I must look pissed. I open my mouth. Close it. Clear my throat. Swallow. I try again.
"Anyone at all?" I breathe slowly, trying to calm myself, my heart, it's racing uncontrollably.
"Yeah," he says but that's all. He feels the electricity in the air, the seriousness.
He knows, I think briefly before closing my eyes and leaning forward. I can hear his shallow breathing over the pounding of my heart. I can hear the clicks his suddenly-dry throat as he tries to say something but ends up swallowing back his words. Warm breath washes over my chin, my lips. I part my mouth slightly. My tongue finds his lips. My heart stops.
"You," I murmur before I kiss him. With tongue, with spit, with passion.