Secret.
Kankurou is eating candy.
The soft, silky, orange-flavoured sugar melts under his tongue as he sits, bored, at a table with the white-haired pervert. The man is talking, but Kankurou isn't listening- instead he ponders the making of his candy and thinks about Maren. Too bad she wasn't in the bath house, he finds himself repeating.
"Hey, kid." The man is staring at him now, a suspiscious look of 'you-weren't-listening-how-dare-you-ignore-me' settling in his eyes. "What I just say?"
He tapped his fingers a moment, then shrugged. "Something about rice," he guessed, and stood up without a care as to the man's response. "Look," he continues, "I don't mean to be rude, but I really have to get going."
"Fine, fine, kid- just don't let me catch you sniffing around my ladies again, ya hear?"
Yeah, whatever, he calls back in his thoughts. He walks away from the small restaurant, hands shoved in his pockets. His fingers briefly brush the few pieces of individually-wrapped orange candy and he wonders if, perhaps, he should find Maren and offer them to her- despite how busy she mentioned she'd be.
Bored with nothing to do and a soft spot for wanting to see his chipper blonde friend, he decides to give it a shot. But as he wanders around town beneath the threatening sun in full-black, he loses hope and retreats to their spot by the lake.
The water gleams and glitters playfully before him, soft waves- encouraged by the wind- beckoning for him to join. He does little else but stare.
He wonders why he can't find a lover like the water; soft and gentle, beautiful and playful- but not cruel and manipulative. He really does hate girls, he reminds himself, but if he found one that was just like water, he thinks he could make an exception to love her.
"Show me perfection," he sighs, his breath blowing at the reflected sky. As if on cue, a wavering image of Maren appears- clad in little else but a light green shirt and khaki shorts. Her blonde hair is down, instead of held in an up-do with her headband, and she's grinning mischeviously. He frowns at it. "Maren..?"
It's not a reflection at all, he realizes and whips around to stare at the girl on the cliff behind him. He smiles at her and opens his mouth to speak, but she doesn't allow it- she jumps off the cliff and lands in the water behind him, creating a large splash that coats him in a thick film of liquid.
"Oh, Kankurou," she teases when she sees his shocked expression, "a little water won't kill you!"
"I don't like water," he responds sourly. At least, not as clothing.
She laughs. "You're such a cat!" And he doesn't agree at all. Standing up and leaning over the water towards her a bit, he points his finger and drops his jaw to begin making a point, but she doesn't hear it- only splashes a bit of water into his mouth and grabs his hand, forcing him in with her.
He waves his arms and forces his eyes shut, yelling 'help' repeatedly until she calms him down. It is then she realizes something.
"Kankurou," she begins hesitantly, "you can't swim?"
The movement and noise ceases as he turns his head away from hers, blushing brightly. Purple makeup slips off his face in thin, slow driplets. "Kankurou..?"
"No," he half-snaps, "I can't." She blushes shamefull as they sit together on the soggy, half-drowning sand.
"I'm sorry."
A moment of silence goes by, and when he glances at her, he sighs with the realization that he cannot stay upset when he's got such a face before him. He forces a smile and playfully hits her arm. "Cheer up, kiddo," he grins. She smiles back.
"You really are a cat, though, you know," she mentions, and when he begins to reply, she swims and spashles off the the opposite side of the lake.
"That is cheating!" He calls out, but she doesn't care. She laughs, and he can't help but chuckle as well. "Fine then, stay there," he teases. "But now I won't give you your candy."
The mere mention of the sugary sweet is enough to convince her not to stay away for long, and she swims to the shore to be with her 'cat-like' friend. "You have candy for me?" she asks sweetly, a gleam in her eyes more mischeivious than he'd seen before. The look screams 'mindgame' at him, but he ignores it- after all, it is only candy.
Laughing slightly and shaking his head, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out three pieces of mostly-soaked orange candy. Maren laughs at his flustered explanation; "I-it must've gotten w-wet when I was p-pushed in.." he manages, and begins to put them back in his pocket when she stops him. Her hand takes a piece and slips it into her mouth thoughtfully.
"It tastes amazing this way," she says with an honest tone in her voice. "Much better than it would have dry."
His conscience leaves him and Kankurou leans into her with an admirable gaze. "I'd like to test that theory," he says, and before she can ask how, he pushes himself onto her, staring deep into her eyes with such intensity that she can't continue asking her question. His fingers trace her jawline gently, feeling the soft curves of her face. Her eyes strain to keep open, though fall shut as his lips nuzzle their way onto hers, then pull back to tease her.
He isn't even sure is this is what she wants- if she wants to be doing this with him, but he doesn't care; for now, he decides it's all right to be selfish... and she doesn't seem to mind afterall.
His mouth at last ceases to pull back and collapses onto hers, nearly devouring her with the emotion and general need he realizes he has for her. The fingers that had been touching her face now wander into her hair, twisting around strands of glowing yellow-white beauty as hers slip under his sleeve and pushes it upward. A quick but definite shock flies throughout his body and he nearly pulls away from her again as it simmers into his spine.
This kiss is not like the other, he notes to himself, tasting the lingering orange sugar from her lips. This is more... He struggles to find the word.
But it doesn't come, and though it bothers him, he realizes he doesn't mind as long as he has Maren against himself like this, forever. "I've got a secret," he mutters through the clash of their lips, though he doesn't go on to tell her what it is.
Passion.
Yeah, that's the word. This one is far more passionate.