All I want for Christmas is…
…An Apology From You. [Chapter 4]
"Gin-san, don't you find it strange? Two days have passed since Kagura-chan set her foot outside the Yorozuya office," The straight man said, worried, as he poured some tea for himself. "She barely leaves her cabinet shelf…"
"Wonderous space," the sugarholic corrected as he lied on the couch, flipping to the next page of his JUMP. "Let her be, Shinpachi. Kagura is at the age where it's normal for her to be strange; the red sea of life keeps gushing out from the delicate flower between her legs, after a-"
HIT.
"UGH-!" Gintoki sat up instantly and let out a muffled scream, hand covering his bleeding nose. The one mentioned was standing beside Sakata with her fist clenched, a creepy grin spread across her face.
"Look who's having the red sea of life gushing out of them-aru! GYAHAHAHA~" The Yato laughed unlady-like before turning on her heel.
A girl's mood didn't always have something to do with her period. Who spread that kind of rumor? It was true that mood swings might occur more frequently during those days, however our youngster could also stay agitated for weeks if she wanted to – regardless of her menstrual cycle.
Walking out the door, the teenager left behind a bleeding nose and a shocked pair of glasses.
When Kagura stepped outside, she opened her purple umbrella to shield herself from the beaming sun. It was a lovely afternoon despite the cold winter air. Yoosh~ Imma buy sukonbu-aru! The seaweed lover thought as she walked, her lip corners curled up into a light smile. It felt as if she hadn't been outside in ages.
The blue-eyed alien didn't want to think about that incident anymore. It wasn't like she felt anything special for him in the first place. Feelings? What feelings. Screw Okita, two days were more than enough for her to recover.
Let's just hope I won't meet him again anytime soon, the girl thought as she skipped along the road, twirling her umbrella. Luck wasn't on her side today, though. Before she could celebrate her so-called recovery, that jerk appeared.
…looking dazzling as always.
The emotions she had tried so hard to forget had caught her off guard upon their return. Not only that, but they were even stronger than before. Her chest felt heavy at the sight of him and she had a hard time breathing.
The younger one just stood there, frozen. How was she supposed to react? What was she supposed to say? What was there to say? Or maybe she should just ignore him?
It took a while before the 1st Division Captain noticed her presence. Sougo shifted his gaze away from the shop-window he had been looking at to side-glance at Kagura. He blinked.
"Ah."
A vein popped on the lady's forehead. Ah. AH. Was THAT the only thing he could say? 'Ah'? No hint of guilt. Not even one word of apology. Nothing! Well, of course. He was a sadist; what did she expect?
"Hmph." The vermillion red-haired girl closed her eyes and was about to pass Okita when he grabbed her arm, making her heart skip a beat. She looked up at him with widened eyes hinting of surprise and annoyance, "The hell are you doin-!"
"Come with me," the crimson-eyed male muttered shortly before dragging her with him without any further explanation. The boy just wanted to find a place he could talk to her in peace, because conversing in the middle of the road didn't seem like a good idea.
"S-Stupid sadist!" Kagura shouted while trying to free herself from him by repeatedly hitting his head with her parasol.
"Iteh-" An expression of pain escaped his lips, but he then managed to rip the purple rain canopy out of her grasp and regain his calm composure.
"Let go of me-aru!" The blue-eyed alien continued, still persistent. "I SAID LET GO!"
"And what if I don't."
"I'll make you regret it-aru!"
"I'm so scared," the sandy brown-haired guy stated, all traces of sarcasm hidden beneath his deadpanned tone, "What are you going to do – bite me to deat—?"
BITE.
"NGHH—!" Okita winced in pain as Kagura dug her teeth into the arm which linked them together. He kept pulling the Yato down the street against her will while pushing her head away in an attempt to be saved from discomfort. "O-Oi. Let go."
"Ywo fwirst-awu!"
"G…Gorillas aren't supposed to eat meat," the sadist tried to keep his dry attitude despite the physical suffering he was going through, "Be good now. I'll give you a banana."
"ASH IV I WAN'T DAT, YWU BWASTWURD!" the sukonbu lover screeched as she kept clinging tightly to the police officer. Those two had to endure this uncomfortable situation for 1 minute – or 1 minute and 8 seconds to be exact, – before they arrived at an alley and could start their talk. She tried to run away right after he let go of her and returned the umbrella, however.
"Not so fast," Sougo quickly reached for the alien's shoulder to prevent her from leaving.
"Don't touch me!" Kagura slapped his hand away as tears started to form in her eyes. Dammit… The teenager had been crying her heart out these past few nights and thought she didn't have any tears left to shed.
Apparently, she was wrong.
She might just as well stay on the spot, because there was no point walking around in tears. The young lady leaned against the wall and slid down against it to sit on the ground, hugging her knees. "Don't touch me…" she repeated softly, her voice barely above whisper.
Kagura couldn't believe it. Even after the awful things he had done to her, the strange feeling was still there. The words he said… How close they were… His charming smile… His whispering… His breathing against her skin… His warmth… There was no way she could forget all that.
How he took her up high before letting her fall to her despair…
She couldn't forget that either.
Why…? Of all times, why did he have to show up now? Hadn't he hurt her enough…? Wasn't this much pain enough to satisfy his sadistic needs…? Such thoughts crossed the girl's mind and she felt so insecure about everything…
These confusing feelings messed her up on the inside. As much as she longed to be with him, the Yato didn't want to let Sougo play with her feelings.
No… She wasn't that stupid.
I don't want to get hurt anymore…
There wasn't going to be a second time. Never again.
Sougo watched her sit there silence. "…Oi. When are you going to stop crying? For a Yato, you're such a crybaby."
"Shut up! I don't wanna talk to you, you stupid sadistic bastard!" The red-haired teen sobbed, unsure of what she wanted, "You're really a jerk! Stupidstupidstupid!"
"Yeah, yeah," Okita uttered lazily as he stared blankly at her. "I don't want to talk to you either, but at least explain to me why you're so mad."
His words pierced through her like arrows. Wasn't the reason clear? "Just leave me alone, then…"
"I want to be on good terms with Danna. Now spit it out."
Having this kind of motive…it was so like him. "Isn't it obvious…? I…I-I tried so hard to be good-aru…" her voice started to break, "…b-but now that I've hit you, even Santa won't give me presents…"
"…It's all about the presents, huh," The sadist knelt down on one knee to be on the same height as her. "Look. I didn't think you would take it so seriously… Did you want a kiss that badly?"
"WH-WHAT, are y-you stupid?!" Kagura replied, trying her best to deny the truth. "If we k-kissed, I would have washed my m-mouth with toilet cleaner!"
"So your mouth is a toilet. No wonder why so much shit comes out of it."
"SHUT UP!" Kagura shouted and rubbed her eyes, but tears kept streaming down her face. "I h-hate you-aru! You d-don't understand a g-girl's feelings at all!"
"Of course I don't. I'm a guy," Sougo pointed out bluntly as he got up again. How annoying… the guy thought, but he wasn't the type to ignore a crying girl. Even sadists could be moved by tears from time to time – and even though he didn't show it much, the feeling of guilt had been tugging on his heart since that evening.
As the sandy brown-haired boy wondered what to do with this youngster, a growl was heard from her stomach.
"…"
…No. Nonono. She eats like a mountain gorilla – you'll be broke, Sougo…, the crimson-eyed boy told himself as he ran a hand through strands of sandy-brown.
"Oi. China."
Pause.
"…you hungry?"
His sister's kindness must have rubbed off him or something. Okita sighed inwardly.
"I'm not-aru! J-Just leave me alone!" Kagura's shout was followed by another growl which made her blush brightly and try to cover it up by coughing awkwardly. "I-I'm not hungry at all! Uh-uh!"
"Aa~ah. I thought of treating you…" Sougo stuck hands in his pockets as he turned to walk away, "…but if you don't want to, I guess it can't be helped."
At the word 'treat', Kagura's face brightened up. "W…Wait…" She quickly wiped the tears away with her sleeve and got up. "S…Sadist, you're gonna treat me? R-Really? You're not joking…right? If you are, Imma get mad-aru…!"
"Hn?" Knowing that victory was his, the sadist stopped and glanced over his shoulder, "I thought you weren't hungry?" He sent her a charming grin and started to walk again. "But if you've changed your mind once again, then… I guess that can't be helped either.
"…" The girl balled fists against her chest as she thought about the different options she had in this situation: walk away and be depressed all day, or make him pay back for what he did by following him around…? It only took a few seconds for her to conclude that the latter sounded like a nice idea.
"F-Fine. I'm hungry-aru," She said in defeat and caught up with the sadist to walk beside of him. If Sougo was serious about giving her food, then it would have been a waste if she thanked no, yes? "N…Ne… Y-You better give me lots of food because of what you did-aru…"
"What do you want to eat; Yakiniku? Ramen? Bananas? Dog biscuits?"
"Hey, don't treat me like an animal! I…I want…" She paused to think, "I want everything you said, except for the last ones, uh-uh."
"How demanding can you get, oi."
"But I'm hungry-aru – and seeing your miserable face might make me feel better, so I'll just spend all your mone—"
"Yoosh, time's up. Since you can't choose, we'll go for buffet," Sougo interrupted in a monotone voiced, ignoring everything the other said. "You can eat all you want for a fixed fee without wasting my money – Isn't that great?"
The sukonbu-lover pouted, looking away, "Sou-chan is mean-aru…"
"Don't 'Sou-chan is mean' me, you imbecile. It won't work."
"Shut up, you sadistic bastard."
The red head stayed quiet after this as she walked beside her rival, step for step…
Kagura didn't dare to see this as a date. On his part, she was probably nothing but a nuisance, and it wasn't like she had forgiven him either (no, she would never forgive him for that), but even so…
Okita had offered to buy food as an attempt to apologize to her, and that was enough to cheer her up to some extent. Of course it would have been nicer if he actually said "Sorry" – nevertheless, she knew how hard it was for a sadist to put those feelings into words.
Santa doesn't like needy children-aru, the Yato told herself, feeling genuine happiness for the first time since that incident.
I should be content with this…
[End of Chapter 4]
Author's Note:
Hey guys, thanks for all the wonderful reviews; they encourage me a lot. After the last chapter, some readers looked me up on facebook. I didn't expect that, but it made me happy.