I'm sorry that the last chapter was such a flop!!!! But I'm here to make it up to you all. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY LACK OF ORGANIZATION FROM TWO WEEKS AGO!!!!!!!
Also the information I gathered for this chapter is from first hand experience from me. If I get something wrong, then it's my lack of memory doing me in....
Bisco owns this stuff...I don't....
"Um...Kyoya...not that I'd ever complain about going on a date with you...but why couldn't you have told that you wanted to take me out?"
"Because if I had contacted you directly then my father would have found out and that could have led to a discrepancy between us."
"Oh so dating me is a way for you to go behind your father's back."
"No. The fact that I get to go behind my father's back is an unexpected bonus of going out with you."
Kyoya is a really complicated person...."So where are we anyways?"
"Kamakura."
"Never heard of it."
"Really?"
"Yep. When we studies Japan in seventh grade this...would you call it a town or a city? Anyways, it never came up. The only place we really talked about was Tokyo."
"I see. Did it have anything to do with that retched samurai move Tom Cruise was in?"
Dang...he's on to me. "No...What would make you think that?" Please don't read my mind. Please don't read my mind. Please don't read my mind.
Kyoya didn't answer, but rather he arched his eye brow in skepticism and walked down the street.
"Hey." I followed him. "Where are we going?"
"To a Dango store. It should be nearby." Kyoya scanned the area and soon located the building. It didn't have a door; you could just walk right in, order and sit down. The counter and showcase where on the left and all the stalls were to the right. It was so cute and quaint I just loved it. The place wasn't too crowded...by Japanese standards that is. Kyoya stood next to the showcase and motioned for me to come over. Dango appeared to be those round balls that everyone was eating in those animes I watched as a kid, like Sailor Moon. There were so many different flavors. BBQ, teriyaki, honey, soy, teppanyaki, there were even green ones with green tea flavoring. I wonder what kind Anko from Naruto would like best. They kind of looked like round marshmallows dipped in different colored sauces.
"Are you going to choose or do I have to do it for you?" Kyoya urged making me jump on the inside. I'd forgotten that Kyoya was here too.
"I'll try...the teriyaki flavor." The shop owner handed us a skewer with four balls on it and Kyoya in turn handed him the amount of yen due for the snack. As we walked down the street Kyoya spoke up, "This type of Dango is Mitarashi dango and it comes in the most flavors, but most people prefer Anko Dango or 'An-Dango.'"
"Kyoya...did you learn all that from Tamaki?"
"Yes. I picked it up the last time I came here with him."
"You came here with Tamaki?"
"Yes that was back when we first met and he wanted to see the great Buddha." Kyoya looked at me from the corner of his eye. "So are you going to try it?"
"It almost looks too good to eat."
"Just try it already."
Well someone is being pushy today....I held it up to my mouth and pulled off one with my teeth before chewing it. But it wasn't until the ball was in my mouth did I notice how sweet it was. It wasn't like sugar sweet, but it was enough to make my gag inside. I hid my expression behind my free hand, stunned that Kyoya got me to eat something like that. I couldn't even tell if I liked it or not from the shock of its sweetness.
"What? Too sweet?" Kyoya mocked from behind a smirk that grew across his face.
"You devil, you knew how sweet these were didn't you?" I growled. Kyoya was in for it now!
Kyoya large hand then came out and wrapped around my left hand, which was holding the dango skewer and pulled it towards his mouth and savagely bit off the second one. "Tastes fine to me." He said as he chewed it.
"I thought you hated sweets..." I pointed out, with Kyoya still holding my hand
"It's not that I hate sweets, it's just that I prefer not to eat them often. But I guess I could make an exception for today." Just as he swallowed the last one he went after the third super sweet orb. Kyoya was so cute when he was eating, I almost forgot to ask him if he could let go of my hand.
"Are you going to hold my hand like this all day?" I playfully asked. Silently Kyoya kept the stick pinched between his thumb and index finger but uncurled the rest of his hand to allow mine to go free. My hand felt all tingly from Kyoya holding it. I like that feeling, I wanted it to last for the rest of the day. Kyoya ripped off the last one and tossed the stick into a garbage can. He was so...unlike himself today. But I guess the side of him that he normally shows is for appearances. Did this mean that he didn't care what I thought about him? Or did it mean that he was comfortable enough around me to be himself. Kyoya is a really complex guy. I was so lost in my figuring that I almost left Kyoya alone in the middle of the road when he stopped in front of a second shop.
"What is it?" Without pulling his eyes from the shop's display case Kyoya simple asked,
"Have you ever tried Taiyaki?"
"Come again...?"
"Taiyaki, it's a fish shaped cake that usually have a red bean paste for a filling, but it appears they have other flavors." I looked over at the shop in question. The display case was the width of the shop and was facing towards the open ally. In it was hundreds of those fish shaped cakes that I had seen on Zach Bell and Naruto and other animes. So this was the legendary fish cake......
"This isn't going to be like the Dango where I unknowingly bit into it and it almost kills me with sweetness, is it?"
"Taiyaki isn't sweet per se, but they do have a good flavor."
"All right, but I'm trusting you Kyoya."
We ordered two different Taiyaki. I got a more modern filling in mine, whipped cream and some type of chocolate flavored red bean paste. It wasn't like it tasted anything like chocolate or even like coffee, but it did remind me of chocolate is some weird way. It was like eating a waffle sandwich with whipped cream and red bean paste reminiscent of chocolate. Ha!
Kyoya got something more traditional and just had regular red bean paste in his. I tried a bit of his and it was really good, but I like mine better. It was hard to eat it and not have the filling pour out under the pressure of each bite. But I relished the challenge! I made a note to myself to got back and buy a whole week's worth of the stuff before leaving! But that would cost a lot......I guess Kyoya will have to buy them for me!!!
Kyoya soon lead me down a different ally. All the streets were lined with shops in this area of the city and it still had the rustic feel to it. It was so beautiful. I couldn't believe that this was what some people in Japan got to call home.
"Have you ever tried crepes?" I looked up at Kyoya like he had just spoken German or Russian or...French!
"Crepes.....?" What was he talking about? What ever it was it didn't sound very Japanese.
"Oh, you haven't heard of them. I figured since Canada was part French crepes would be known through out your country, but I guess not."
"Well I'm sure that they are over in the east, that's where most of the French culture really is."
"Well there are big in Japan so if you ever wanted to try them..."
"Okay! Let's go!" I really wanted to know more about these 'crepes.' They sounded good, being French and all. Kyoya grinned and pulled me towards a small shop with a window on the left side of the door, where a young woman was working on something, she was most likely making crepes for customers. Kyoya held the door open for and followed inside. There was a small counter with a cash register to the left and a row of chairs along a wall of an empty room.
"Konnichiwa. What would you like?" And old, withered woman said from behind the counter. Kyoya handed me a menu from beside the cash register to look at the different fillings. They all looked and sounded so good. Strawberry and chocolate, strawberry and cream, strawberry, chocolate and cream. The menu continued to have flavors like this from top to bottom.
"I'll take lemon custard." Kyoya ordered coolly.
"I guess I'll try banana cream, custard." It sounded like something yummy. The girl over by the window went to work swiftly and silently. Since we were the only ones inside the creperie we stood by and watched the woman take the thin pancake-like pastry bread and spread the filling on the middle of it. She then folded it so it was like an open fan and handed it to Kyoya and went strait to work on mine, following the same process. Once mine was delivered to me Kyoya paid the old woman and we walked outside to enjoy our snack in the sunshine. I took a bite, knowing that the French dessert wouldn't be like the Japanese sweets we had earlier. It was sooo good. It was sweet, and creamy, and you could really taste the bananas and custard. It was the best dessert I had ever had.
"It's so good~!"
Kyoya ignored my outburst and went on ripping apart the crepe with his teeth to eat it. Unhappy with the response I got I took another bite of mine, thinking to myself, Kyoya is a really complicated person....How many times have I said that today? As we walked past a store selling all sorts of items and knick-knacks and random stuff I noticed a little bag of what looked like candy done up to look like a bouquet of flowers. I stopped and looked at the different colors of candies. Some were yellow and green, some blue and purple, others pink and purple. It was so cute, there was even a paper left tied to the bag to make it look more like flowers.
"Hey Kyoya."
Kyoya, who had kept walking without me turn around and retraced his steps to me. "What is it?"
I picked up a bag with pink and purple candies and showed it to him. "What's this?" I felt like I had seen these somewhere before. Maybe these were toss candy things from Hamtaro! But I could have sworn hey looked like a gummy treat instead of rock candy on TV.
"Those? They're konpeito. It's a sugar type of candy and they were all the rage a few years ago."
"I see. I'll take them!" I told the shop keeper, pulling my money out of my purse.
Kyoya and I were walking down the main street now after going down all the side streets to get to the sweet shops we had visited. A store to my right had an impressive display of swords and Kunai (throwing knives) and Shuriken (throwing stars). But I noticed on the other side of the display window, there were tons of medieval weapons and armor and such from Europe.
"Odd, why would European weapons be showcased here?" I questioned.
"They are for tourists." Kyoya answered. "Since most people who go traveling within Japan can't afford to go out of the country some places sell pieces like this because of their uniqueness."
"I see. But that doesn't change the fact that it's weird seeing European armor and weapons in Japan." A cold brush of wind swept past me, reminding myself that I was in just a tube top and a skirt. "Did you feel that?"
Kyoya nodded while he looked towards the sky. The clear blue skies had become grey and cloudy, like it was going to rain.
"When do you think the storm will hit?" I asked.
"From the looks of things it should hold off until this evening."
"I hope you're right."
"Come on, there's one more place I want to show you."
Kyoya and I weaved through the streets of the city until was came to a long path with trees down either side of it. It was beautiful. I never thought that so many trees would be in Japan. But then again I had to go through the Yokohama area to get here and there were tones of trees in the suburbs of the city; Buildings popping out of the greenery in random spots. The area had reminded me of the village of Ozette in Tales of Symphonia.
As we walked through the trees I felt a drop of something cold and wet on my bare shoulder. It was enough to direct my eyes skyward to see that it had gotten even darker since the weapon shop. Another drop fell and landed on the crown of my head. Up head Kyoya flinched, signaling that he too had been hit. Then the heavens opened their flood gated and rained their divine 'blessing' upon us. We were going to get soaked! Kyoya was completely calm for the whole thing. Just as the rain was about to begin pounding on us he coolly pulled out a collapsible umbrella and held it over both our heads.
"Kyoya, where did you get that?"
"At the 100 Yen store near the train station. They sell a number of things like this at relatively low prices. I was planning on giving it to Tamaki, but I guess he will have go without a gift this time."
"I see." I moved next to Kyoya and looped my arms around his left arm. With the rain coming down as hard as it was, it made the air very cold and I wasn't dressed for cool weather. Kyoya's arm was so warm; I would never let go of him. Kyoya turned around and guided me down the trail for what felt like forever until we came to a bridge. Past the bridge I could see a Shinto shrine peeking over some tall trees.
"What is this place?" I asked in amazement.
"Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. It's the most important Shinto shrine in Japan. It is also in a very holy location, having the protection of the God's on all four sides."
"Wow. That's incredible."
"Come on, we better get inside before the umbrella gives."
I nodded back at Kyoya. The rain was coming down much harder now and the parasol didn't look like it could take much more abuse. We headed up a huge flight of stairs, which the heavy rains had converted into a waterfall of sorts, and ran to the inner part of the shrine. Once inside I felt like I had gone through the well in InuYasha to the Feudal Era, and someone have cloned Kikyo about a thousand times! Everywhere I looked I saw maidens in red and white kimonos, all doing something for the shrine. There was a huge building that looked like it was intended for ceremonies just in front of us, but it was inaccessible from where we stood. There was also a large bin the measured ten feet from side to side. Kyoya explained that one could pray to Buddha by tossing in a coin and performing specific gestures, but I rebutted with 'I can talk to my God without paying.' We both looked out to the cruel and unforgiving rain that hammered away at the shrine. I pulled out my cross and prayed to God to stop the rain soon while Kyoya tossed a coin into the bin and prayed to Buddha. Hopefully this would be enough to quell the storm.
We were still hanging out in the shrine after five minutes when I realizes how wet and cold my feet were, so like any sensible person, I pulled off my shoes, took off my socks and wrung them out in the middle of a temple, just like that.
"What are you doing?" Kyoya inquired.
"My feet are wet. If I don't dry off my socks, then my feet with get all gross and stuff from the water." I retorted. Once I pulled my socks on a stand to our right (we were facing the stairs we had come up) caught my attention. "What's that?"
"That?" Kyoya looked over in its direction. "It appears to be a fortune house."
"Fortune house?"
"The priestess' will tell you your fortune from a stick you receive from a box."
"Cool! Let's try it!" I grabbed Kyoya's and dragged him over.
The priestess at the hut was so pretty and looked so cute with her chocolaty, caramel brown hair that framed her adorable round face.
"You try for-tune?" She asked in broken English.
"Hai!" She handed me a wooden box with a small slit on the top and told my to turn it over. A small Popsicle stick came out with Japanese written on it, which she took from me and headed down a row of what looked like book shelves and pulled out a box, from which she produced a piece of paper. Coming back she gave the wooden box to Kyoya for his fortune and handed me the paper. It was about seven inches long and was pink. It had the word 'Kichi' written at the top and 'Your Fortune' was just below it. 'Kichi means good luck. Do not waver, and go forward.' Apparently that was my fortune in regards to the word. Below that were six words: Wish, Marriage, Relationship, Illness, Business, and Examination, all with their own fortune for that category. Wish being 'wait for the second wish for a while.' Marriage was 'Be careful to the last.' Relationship 'Be careful not to pursue your benefit.' Illness, 'Consult a better doctor.' Business 'Work hard at your present task even if it is full of suffering.' And Examination, 'Study all the subjects once again from the beginning.' It sounded like something got lost in translation somewhere because none of those really made sense, at lest, not to me at that moment. Once I had finished reading mine the priestess came back with Kyoya's slip of paper.
"So what does it say?" I slid my fortune into my purse to keep it safe from the rain.
Kyoya did the same with smirk over is features. "What makes you think that I want to tell you?"
"I just thought......mmm, never mind."
Kyoya liked seeing Stacy all flustered like this. She was rather cute when her feathers were ruffled. He couldn't help but think about the fortune that the paper had said for relationships, 'Pursue your interests.' He had to admit, Stacy was an...'interest.'
'You are my sweetest love, that love I always want to hug. Because I really love you, the world just has to know!' The sound was coming from Stacy's cell phone.
"What is that song?" Kyoya asked, almost harshly.
"It's the 'Snuggle Bunny'!" Stacy cooed. "I had no idea that those ring tone commercials could make it to Japan!"
'I'll do anything for you, there's nothing I wouldn't do. Just snuggle, cuddle and then hug me! With you I always want to be!'
"Well I hope you realize that I can't understand the lyrics." Kyoya pointed out.
"Oh yeah. You're not that fluent in English. Oh well! I know what the song is about!"
"So you're going to keep that as your ringtone?"
"Yep! It's so cute~!"
"As long as you don't set my phone to play that then I have no problem with what you put on your phone."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "What makes you think that I would want to share this with anyone?" Kyoya is a really complicated guy.
"Let's just drop this conversation." Kyoya pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Why?"
"Because I want you to stay at my house tonight and I don't want you bringing this topic up when my father is around."
"Wait! I'm staying at your house?"
"Yes." Kyoya pushed his glasses up with his finger.
"What about Honey-senpai?"
"I've talked it over with him and he had no problems with it. In fact I've already sent a car out to gather your things."
"So my attendance is mandatory." I slumped over. Kyoya is a really complicated guy. But...."Yeay!! I get to stay at your house!" I sprung out and latched onto him with a hug. I love him....
Ah...how this brings back memories. I missed the foods in Japan. Except Dango! That stuff really is too sweet for me. But I like everything else just fine!!! I wanna eat crepes and Taiyaki again!!!! They are sooo good. The Japanese really know good food!
Also, if I get any flack about the events of this Chapter I just want to point out, I HAVE BEEN TO THIS CITY AND EATEN ITS FOOD and I DID ring my socks out in the Temple mentioned in the story after we got rained on. So if any of you have a problem, remember I did my research!!!