Haha, long time no see everyone. I'm being tortured by the new rule I made for myself (it's on my profile, if you've read it in your spare time). Anyways, I made it so I can't get on FanFic to do ANYTHING, either read FanFics or answer messages or stuff until I was posting something. SELF-TORTURE, I TELL YOU. Anyways, check my profile for a poll on which story I should do!
Hope you'll like this one!
(Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara! in any way)
Chapter 10: Rejection Leading to An Almost Confession
Flashback:
"Alright! Well…see…I have a bunch of fan-girls working up the nerve to ask me to the ball. I heard all their plans. So I thought…if I had someone else I was already going with, then they wouldn't bother me anymore! So—"
"So you're asking me?" I asked accusingly. I could almost imagine his sweat-drop.
"Um…yes. So will you?" he asked. I groaned. Now certainly wasn't the time to talk about this.
"No." I blurted out. There was a moment of silence.
Dang, why did I say that?
The moment those words slipped out of my mouth, I immediately regretted it. It was partially reflexive I guess; I was too used to doing exactly the opposite of what Nagihiko wanted, like during battle plans, I'd run off the opposite direction of what he told us to do or during Guardian meetings, when he asked for my opinion, I'd keep silent and not say a word. So, instinctively, I said no to his offer. Though I seriously regretted it.
"A—alright. Sorry for bothering you then." Nagihiko muttered lowly. I winced. The pain I'd caused him was almost palpable through his voice. I wanted to yell in the phone, "Sorry! I'll go with you!" or "I take back my words!" though my body didn't follow my mind. "It's alright." I said instead, as I mentally crashed my head onto a wall. I rejected him, and I said it was alright he bothered me? How more stupid could I get?
"T—then I guess I'll ask someone else…perhaps Chika…" Nagihiko muttered the second part under his breathe, though my ears picked it up. I mentally growled…out of worry that Chika would hurt him and he was still so stupid to invite her.
"Yeah. I might go with someone else as well." You know what? I take back my words from just then. I've just said something stupider. "Well, I gotta go now. See you tomorrow," I said before I could say something stupider. When I realized that by saying that, I had just said something really stupid again.
"Y—yeah. I'm sorry for bothering you, Ri—Mashiro-san." Nagihiko said, stumbling over his words. I gulped. He had changed back to last-name basis…which definitely wasn't good. That moment, I felt pain. It was a torturous, numbing pain, in a way more painful than a sudden shock. It was like your heart was taken out and being fried slowly over a fire, as the flames just burned and burned and burned and burned your heart, slowly, painfully, torturously…
I then realized that Nagihiko had already hung up, as the doooooooooo sound of the cell phone finally protruded into my ears.
I groaned out loud, tossing the phone towards the side of my bed, letting my hands fall to my two sides. Endlessly, I mentally banged my head on the hardest wall I could imagine: a diamond wall. Though I didn't know how hard it was. I just imagined pain to its limit. Dargh dargh dargh dargh dargh dargh dargh dargh D.A.R.G.H. Curse this world.
I sighed. Nothing could be done, and moping over the past would do me little good. I opened my eyes, sitting up and slightly shaking my head to let my hair settle down. Closing my eyes and taking one last sigh, I opened them and weighed my options.
First, I could randomly find a partner, meet Mama's requirements of an "escort," make Nagihiko mad, but then I can't ditch. And I kinda have to stay with him for the whole day. And I can't think of anyone I'd want to be stuck with for the whole dance.
OR
I can not find a partner, but Mama might nag, Nagihiko would probably point out I was lying and tease me about it, I'd have to watch him dance with his dance partner, but I might be able to ditch, and I don't have to stick with anyone for the whole ball.
I think I'll go with the second one.
"Rima! We're baking today! Come on, let's go!" Amu exclaimed excitedly in the morning when she saw me at the school gates. Great, I just remembered I was baking with her and Nadeshiko and N—Nagihiko today.
Great, I'm stumbling over his name—OOMPH.
And great, I've crashed right into him.
"Rima-chan, crashing right into my embrace huh?" he asked teasingly. I looked up to see the same face I saw almost everyday: his long, purple hair, his large hazel eyes, his pale complexion, the blue Guardian cape, and that smile that always seemed to tick me off. I glared straight at him.
"Why would I want to do that?" I asked, huffing and crossing my arms. He shrugged, that playful smile still stuck on his face.
"Good point. You've rejected me already." He said quite solemnly. I winced, hoping he didn't see me. Amu, however, quite clearly heard his words.
"What? Nagi? You asked Rima to go to the ball? She rejected you? Rima, why'd you do so? Who else do you expect to go with? Do you really want to go with one of your fan-boys? I seriously don't understand why you refused Nagi's—"
"Whatever." I said, shrugging off Amu's words. I wasn't the slightest interested in how much she thought Nagi was nice. In fact, I didn't want to think about it, because all it did was make me guiltier for not accepting his offer. "He's asking Sasaki-san anyways." I said. Amu's eyes widened, as she turned towards Nagihiko.
"Really? You're asking her? That's great! I'm sure I'll be able to play the perfect match-maker, mwahahahahaha…" Amu trailed off.
And great, Amu was being Tadase-fied. Mwahahahahaha.
What was that? Must be the weather.
"Alright, minna! We have a lot of things on our list, so we'd better get started!" Nadeshiko exclaimed. We'd all rolled our sleeves up, tied our hair up, and put on an apron, though Nagihiko left his hair down. Nadeshiko pasted a large list on the wall behind a counter, which seemed to go on forever. And of course, that x100 wasn't quite comforting to see.
"Alright! For the party, we'll be making various desserts! I've already taken the top twenty from surveys passed out to the school. The top voted were white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, triple chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake, frosted cupcakes, white chocolate mousse, fruit tarts, pumpkin pie, and of course, we can't forget apple pies!" Nadeshiko exclaimed enthusiastically. Amu had chara-changed with Suu, so her eyes were blazing with passion as well. Evidently, Nagihiko and I were the only sane ones.
"Alright! Since we have to much, we'll split up the work! Onii-chan and Rima-chan will do these, and Amu-chan and I will do these!" Nadeshiko exclaimed, drawing a line on the middle of the list. I sighed rather audibly, as I flinched afterward. It wasn't quite the thing to do, eh?
"Alright. Let's just get this over with." Nagihiko said gruffly under his breathe. I sighed, agreeing so, as Nagihiko assembled the ingredients. My job was the simplest: mix the mixture, set the temperature, and place the dish in. Thank goodness. Anything more complicated and I'd be responsible for the deaths of the people who got food poisoning at the ball.
It was rather amusing watching Nagihiko bake. Every egg, he cracked the same way: holding it in one hand, crashing it down to the rim of the bowl, and cracking it open, as the white and yellow substance flowed into the bowl. All the butter went through the same process: cut to the amount, weighed, diced up, and mixed. All the sugar was poured into a measuring cup and then poured into a bowl. Watching the whole process, for some reason, was interesting in a way: the way his hands moved from one bowl to another, the way the apron he was wearing twisted and twirled, following his body, the way his hair swished back and forth, as he constantly shook his head so his bangs would get out of the way, the way—
Am I sounding like a stalker? Rather yes.
"Rima-chan?" Nagihiko's voice came from above. I looked up at him annoyingly. "Yes? I'm doing just fine, right? Right?" I added, getting kind of worried I was doing the wrong thing. He smiled.
"Yeah, you're doing fine. We're done with all of them. All we have left is frosting the cupcakes. I'll need your help." Nagihiko said. I nodded, standing up from my stool and looking around. Whoa. When'd we finish so much? Trays and trays of cakes with beautiful layers, pies freshly baked, and cupcakes to-be frosted laid on the counter.
"Onii-chan, Rima-chan? Amu-chan and I forgot the fruits for the tarts. We'll go buy them." Nadeshiko said, grabbing Amu's wrist. Nagihiko laughed.
"Just like with me back then when we were making tarts for Hotori-kun." Nagihiko remarked. "Why are both of you going though?" Nagihiko asked. Nadeshiko rolled her eyes.
"Last time it was one tart, so if it was only you that went, it was fine. This time, it's the amount of fruits for a whole PARTY. Of course, I need an extra hand to help." Nadeshiko said matter-of-factly. "We'll be back shortly. Don't do anything!" Nadeshiko said.
"Like I would!" I yelled after her and Amu's retreating figure. Huffing, I turned back to Nagihiko, who was already preparing the frosting.
"Alright. So, all you need to do is hold the cupcake while I squeeze the frosting on, alright? Cause I don't want to be squeezing the frosting and suddenly, it moves and my genius design is messed up." Nagihiko said sarcastically. I smiled.
"Alright." I said, simple and down to the point. Holding the first cupcake slowly, I watched as Nagihiko's hand moved and squeezed various designs on each cupcake. The first one was a Christmas tree. The next one was two bells. Then, a Christmas ornament. A star. A gift package. And Santa Claus. And various other designs that followed suit. He was about to squeeze the last one when his hands froze. I looked up at him instead of the cupcake this time.
"Nagihiko?" I asked. He looked at me and smiled.
"Rima-chan, do you want to try?" he asked. A smile couldn't help but appear on my face as I greedily took the frosting tube from him. Positioning it at the cupcake, my hand froze too.
"Just squeeze whatever design you want." Nagihiko said reassuringly. I nodded but frowned.
"What design should it be?" I asked. Nagihiko shrugged.
"Whatever you want it to." He said. I glared at him. "Obviously." I said. He laughed.
"Frankly, it doesn't matter now, does it?" he asked rhetorically. I thought about it and realized he was right. It wasn't like someone wasn't gonna eat my cupcake cause the design was horrible…or would they?
Hesitantly, I allowed my hands to move above the cupcake, squeezing the frosting. Unluckily, my first squeeze was inexperienced, so a flow of frosting landed on one spot, making a big white blob there. I didn't stop though as my hand hovered over the cupcake, finally finishing my design. Nagihiko peered at it curiously.
"Umm…nice…white blob?" Nagihiko complimented hesitantly. I wiped my cheeks from the sweat and glared at him.
"It's a heart, Purplehead." I said. Nagihiko looked at the cupcake again, turning angles and finally recognizing my heart.
"O—of course it's a heart! It's a heart…made from a white blob…?" he said doubtingly, as I sighed.
"H—hey." I stuttered. From my peripheral vision, I could tell he didn't look up from the cupcake. "Hmm?" he asked. I gulped.
"Are you really asking Chi—Sasaki-san to the ball?" I asked, completely turning my back to him and pretending to be checking my hands for something. I could hear him turn the spinning chair, the squeaky noise heard, as I gulped.
"Perhaps," he answered vaguely. "Who are you asking?" he asked. I shrugged.
"Someone." I answered as vaguely as he had answered mine. The two of us stood in silence for a while, as the awkwardness started getting the better of me.
"What's taking Nadeshiko and Amu so long?" I asked, looking up towards the clock. They'd already been gone for ten minutes. Was the fruits store so far? I turned around to go out of the door and stalk them down but I found myself standing dangerously close to Nagihiko.
"N—Nagihiko?" I stammered, flushing from the distance between us. A smirk twirled on his lips.
"Yes, Rima-chan?" he asked in a sweet voice, slightly bending down so his head was at the same level as mine. I closed my eyes, willing my blush to fade away, though I couldn't tell if it worked or not.
Suddenly, I felt my wrists being pinned onto the wall behind me. Fearfully, I opened up my eyes to see Nagihiko's arms being the ones who pinned my wrists, and his face slightly looking down on the ground. Ever so slightly, his hands trembled. Caringly, I asked, "Nagi? Something wrong?"
That stopped the shaking as he raised his head and looked at me, his eyes blazing with something I could not read. The normal gentle hazel was replaced by a burning amber color that I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Slowly, his face approached mine as my eyes fearfully grew wide. Was he gonna—
His lips then softly touched mine.
Yes, he kissed me.
It was rather different than the one in the closet. This one was fiercer, more demanding…heating up rather quickly. His tongue soon stuck itself into my mouth. Though just as suddenly he kissed me, he also suddenly drew back.
I opened my mouth, staring into his golden eyes, this time mellow with gentleness, the blaze gone. What seemed like a frown hung on his face as he gently kissed my cheek, licking the frosting I'd gotten on off. He then let go of my wrists and smiled weakly.
"You still taste sweeter than it." He said, turning and going back to the cupcakes. I blinked at his retreating figure.
"What do you mean?" I exclaimed. He stopped moving and turned around, his face scribbled over with the word CARE. "Hmm?" he asked, as I gulped.
"What do you mean? You kiss me and then say I taste sweet and then leave me? If you have something to say, tell me!" I exclaimed. Nagihiko's eyes slightly narrowed down in a gentle way, and the plastered smile dropped into what closely resembled a flat line.
"Do you really wanna know?" he asked, as I flash-backed to the sleepover. He'd said something similar, and in the end, I knew about it. I gulped, curiosity blazing inside of me.
"Yes." That was my answer. Nagihiko sighed, as his hazel eyes locked onto my similar ones.
"Truthfully, I—" he was cut off by a crash outside the door. We turned our heads towards that direction to see Amu and Nadeshiko holding bags of fruits and fallen on the ground.
"Nadeshiko! Great, now they'll discover that we've been eavesdropping all the tim—why hi Nagi, Rima. Ehehehehehe…the weather's nice isn't it?" Amu said with a nervous laugh. I turned towards Nagihiko, who smirked and nodded. I turned back to Amu and Nadeshiko, turning my death glare up to 120%.
"You. Two. Are. Sooooooooo. Dead."
Haha, did I get you? I was gonna cut it off when Nagi said "Truthfully, I--" but I imagined many people would kill me if I wrote in the next chapter that Amu and Nadeshiko interrupted them. :D Haha. So I hope you liked this!
Not much to say here...so see ya! I gotta go to bed. Haha.
~~*Hope-chan*~~
