Disclaimer: I do not own +Anima or any of it's original characters; I do, however, own Sasori, Delia, and Jagger. El-hime belongs to ElouiseVictoria. You should check out her profile. J
Delia growled angrily under her breath, staring at Husky and Nana's table. Cooro, once again, said her name.
"Deeeeliiiaaa-chaaannn?" he dragged it out, trying to get her attention. Finally, she turned to him, a furious expression meeting his gaze, and immediately melting away.
"Sorry, what?"
"What are you staring at?"
"Husky and Nana. Stupid waiter…" she muttered, just loud enough for Cooro to hear.
"Waiter?" he asked, also looking over.
"Yes, waiter. He is obviously ruining their date!" she grumbled, then her eyes widened. In a quick movement, she covered her mouth.
"D-date?" Cooro choked out, trying to swallow his cheese stick.
"Uhhh…" she laughed nervously, and blushed. "Well you see, they obviously need to get together, sooo…."
Cooro looked up thoughtfully.
"True, true. It all makes sense now…" he mused, the teasing and everything with Delia and Husky falling into place at this new revelation. So she doesn't like him, but then, who does she like? Or rather, does she like anyone? Cooro didn't understand the weird fluttering feeling in his stomach when this question was introduced to his mind.
"Yep. This is basically my dating service. Rose and Senri, Nana and Husky…" her voice trailed off, and she sighed in a bored manner. Her pink cheeks faded slowly, and Cooro watched the rosy color drain into a more delicate peach, then her normal cream color.
"Oh… I have an idea." Delia grinned mischievously, then purposefully dropped her fork onto the floor.
Husky watched as Delia called the waiter over, and apologized for something. She stood up, and bent under the table, her short dress riding up too much for comfort. Out of politeness, he turned his head back to Nana. He could hear her ask for another fork.
'I'll have to thank her later for that' he said to himself, noting that she had probably done it purposely. 'wait a second, why thank her?' he mentally slammed his forehead against the table, knocking sense into himself. 'I. Have. No. Feelings. For. Nana.' he shouted in his own mind, the inner voice echoing through his ears.
"Husky?" Nana asked quietly, and he focused on her, smiling.
"Yeah?" he asked nonchalantly. Her cheeks were pink, and her smile wavered.
"Nothing." she said, shaking her head.
"Tell me." he stated, interested now.
"You'll laugh." Nana told him, looking at her food.
"I won't, promise." he meant it.
"Do you really…" she began, turning a slightly darker shade of pink. "Do you really think I'm stupid?" she asked, her eyes meeting anything but his own. The question caught him by surprise, but his face softened.
"Nah. I just say dumb things sometimes." he explained kindly. He really didn't want to let go of this one moment that they were getting along well, even friendly. 'if only it wasn't friendly.' his thoughts wandered again, but instead of stopping them, this time he welcomed them.
'why pretend? There is nothing wrong with…with loving her.' he sighed, and his cheeks began to get warm. Nana looked at him incredulously.
"Are… are you blushing?" she half-gasped. This brought him back to reality.
"W-what? No! it's just warm in here, is all." he lied, though the heat thing was true. But that was because the warmth of his now faded blush still lingered. Husky was reminded of why he was blushing in the first place, and once again his pale face turned a red-ish color.
"You're doing it again!" she said, her green eyes wide with shock and curiosity. "Why?" she wondered aloud. Thankfully, at that moment, El-hime walked over with Pinion.
"Heeeyy~" she said in a sing-song like voice, an expression on her face the teens didn't understand.
"Uh, hi." Nana replied.
"What do you want?" Husky almost sneered, angry that she had ruined the moment.
"I just saw you two getting all cozy over here, and wanted in on the action. El-hime wants some looove, too!" she teased, pulling up two chairs.
"I'm only here to make fun, though." Pinion stated bluntly. Both Husky and Nana went red at these statements, and looked at each other. A grin forced a corner of Husky's mouth upwards a bit when he looked at Nana's expresson, and she smiled lightly back, amused.
Cooro's expression was of nothing Delia had ever seen on him before. Pained, angry, annoyed… and why? Well, she wasn't sure, but a voice in the back of her head told her that the waiter's…friendliness had something to do with it. See, when she had bent over and picked up the fork from under the table, her dress had hiked up a little bit, and as a reaction, the waiter let out a low whistle and had slapped a hand against her ass.
Of course, Delia wouldn't let that go by unnoticed. She stood up and slapped him, hard across the face. Not long after, he was fired for sexually harassing the costumers, and her and Cooro were apologized to multiple times.
"We really are sorry, Ma'am, for disturbing your date." they had said. Of course, Delia had waved her hands, and told them it wasn't a date, and there was nothing to be sorry for. Cooro though, had seemed inexplicably angry with the waiter's behavior. He was big on treating girls with respect - Nana had taught him that - and was disgusted by such behavior from one of the male species.
Even though Delia was concerned about Cooro's obvious anger problem, something lingered in the back of her mind.
'date? Is this a date?' she wondered to herself. A date with Cooro? Huh. Weird. A date with Cooro somehow seemed… strange. She had never thought of all the ways that her and Cooro had been paired were significant that way, but now that she thought about it, ever since she met him a strange pull had always had them next to each other.
'me and Cooro? …Nah…Couldn't be.' she thought for a while, adding things and subtracting things in her head. Soon though, she recognized the symptoms she knew too well in herself and Cooro. A grin spread across her face.
'Do I finally get someone?' she asked herself hopefully. The answer in was clear to herself, and was there immediately.
'yes.' Yes. It seemed right, now stated outright. For the rest of the dinner, Delia never looked at anyone else's table. She stayed focused on Cooro, reveling in his obvious distaste of the flirting waiter, who he didn't mind until he flirted with her. Focusing on the contours of his face, memorizing them, locking them away in her mind for later.
After dinner, Delia paid for all of them. Nana spent a little bit of time wondering how she got the money, but not too long, for some things were better left alone. And anyways, Delia seemed extremely pleased with something, and Nana didn't want to take that away. With a quick glance to Cooro, who looked contempt, and back, she decided she would find out in time why Delia was so happy.
"And so we have another night in the hotel, then we should probably get a move one. We don't have a lot of money." She said to the group. Realizing something, she turned to Sasori, El-hime, and Jagger.
"You guys fit in so naturally, I almost forgot to ask, what are you guys' doing? If you don't have any plans, we don't mind you tagging along." she grinned at them. "In fact, I'm sure we all agree, you guys feel like family now."
El-hime grinned back, but Jagger was too busy holding up a drunk Sasori to smile back. Sasori, though, decided it was her turn to make a speech. She motioned to El-hime to stand buy her, and happily put an arm around her best friend's shoulder.
"Yea -hic- and we -hic- liiikkeee….-hic- feel the -hic- same way! And -hic- never, kiddies, EVUURRR -hic- drink liquor -hic- at a fancy rest-your-ant. -hic-" she slurred her words, and everyone stared. El-hime nodded in agreement, clapping. Jagger sighed.
There was a bit of silence, and then the group broke into a conversation. They began the walk back to the hotel, which was only a few blocks away.
Back at the hotel, everyone decided to sit in the lobby and talk for no real reason. Everyone was in a good mood, and didn't want to go to the beds yet, but Delia was exhausted, and in a giddy mood, so she wanted to rest before they left the next day. Cooro walked with her, saying he was sleepy.
"Cooro?" Delia asked, yawning.
"Huh?" He asked, the sparkle of innocence in his eyes never leaving, not even when he was angry.
"Why are you still so mad?"
"Well obviously-" he began, but Delia cut him off.
"He got fired, and our meal was complimentary. Free food! Didn't that make you happy?"
"Yes, but…" he sighed, seeming to age ten years in ten seconds. Now he actually looked his age for once.
"But what?" she asked, turning to face him. They were now in the darkened room, a half-step away from the light switch.
"I don't know, really. I've felt weird all day!" he whined, immediately turning into the childish Cooro she knew- and loved.
"First I am really hungry, but I can't eat more than usual! Then the food makes my tummy feel weird…then that waiter-man makes me really mad! It's confusing me! I must be sick…" Cooro rambled on and on for a few minutes. Delia smiled despite herself, and sighed. He looked down at her questioningly.
"Wha-" he began, but didn't finish, because at that moment, he was distracted.
Distracted by the fact that Delia's lips were pressed lightly against his own, a warm blush covering her cheeks. He felt his own cheeks warm up, and his mind unraveled. He now understood it all. Not confused anymore, he felt himself lean down to her height, which was surprisingly about five inches shorter than himself. He never noticed how petite she was. He took control, and kissed her more forcefully. Eventually, they needed to pull away for air.
"I love you." Delia beat Cooro to saying it out loud.
"I love you too." he whispered, surprised at how serious and mature his own voice sounded, though only a few seconds before he had been totally oblivious to his own feelings. His arms were still wrapped around her bodice when she looked around him.
"It seems we have an audience." She stated. Cooro turned around, and saw Nana standing in the doorway, blushing madly.
"Uh- err, umm…" she mumbled, obviously embarrassed. But not as embarrassed as Cooro. His face went a deep crimson.
"N-Nana-chan!" he squeaked. She also squeaked something along the lines of 'sorry for interrupting', and ran off.
"Well, it's going to be all over in about two seconds anyway, so why don't we continue what we were doing?" Delia winked at him. Cooro tilted his head, his mind wandering, trying to figure out what she meant. Then it clicked.
'oh.' is all he said in his mind, before his body responded for him, leaning down for another kiss with a fervent need.
A/N: Bawwww... so kewt. Teehee. Huh, Rose and Senri weren't in this chapter... oh well. Hey look, i finally updated! this chapter i wanted really to focus on CooroXDelia, because they haven't really gotten that far. If Delia seems sort of forceful in this chapter, good. There will be an explanation for her desperate-ness later. But oh, don't worry, she isn't just rushing into things. she really does love Cooro. :). R&R? i'll update faster if i get reviews... . . . ...