008. Hands

The Story of Kairi and Yaya

Kairi walked out of the booth, the slightly cold breeze of the morning air whipping his face while he smiled. He had just finished his first performance at the entertainment booth; he would be coming back in a few hours for one more performance of his capabilities in swordsmanship.

He had felt a rush of excitement and eagerness during his performance, his swords slashing the air quickly in a number of different movements that amazed the crowd. He couldn't wait for his next performance.

Currently, he was on his way to invite a certain senpai to come see his next show. His short few hours of break were when she would be working, so she would hopefully be free by the afternoon.

Speaking of Yaya...

"Kairi-kun!" a happy voice screamed from behind him. He was soon glomped from behind by his one-and-only Yaya-senpai.

The said boy turned around to find an excited Yaya smiling widely at him. He stared in confusion. Why wasn't she at work right now? Even after bullying the sweets booth committee into putting her on the job, was she still going to be lazy and back out?

He apparently said this out loud, because Yaya then pouted and whined, "Mou~ You don't have to be that way~" She quickly reverted back to her usual self and exclaimed happily, "I did work today. But after one hour of working, they said I could go already! The committee said I did such a great job that I shouldn't be working and just enjoy the festival!"

Kairi blinked and asked, "What exactly were you doing in there?"

"Oh, I was to watch over the supply of sweets in the back room. But - don't tell them though - I was actually eating some of them too. They were really good~"

Ah, so that was it. "That's nice, Yaya-senpai."

Suddenly, a loud and familiar "EHHHH?" was heard. Even though it came from the distance, Kairi and Yaya could still hear it. Thinking it was just another excited festival-goer, they ignored it and carried on.

"C'mon Kairi! Let's go explore the festival together! People are already having fun without us!" Then she grabbed his hand tightly and dashed for the nearest booth.

The first place they arrived at was one of the entertainment booths. Yaya found a booth that held a prize she claimed was 'something she absolutely needed', but did not want to waste the effort into trying to win it. So she attempted to persuade Kairi, who shook his head and came up with the excuse that he was no good at those kind of games.

Being the baby she was, she gave him the puppy-dog eyes, and Kairi, with a slight blush on his cheeks, finally gave in.

The booth held a game where you use a bow and arrow to hit a target. If you make a bulls-eye, you can get one of the bigger prizes they offered. The prize that Yaya wanted was a cute little Hello Kitty doll wearing all green—a typical choice for someone like her.

After paying the 200 yen fee, Kairi was given three arrows and a bow that was a lot heavier than it looked. Please make it in, he pleaded.

Closing one eye and aiming at the bulls-eye, Kairi pulled back the arrow and fired. Yaya clenched her eyes shut, and when she opened them, the arrow was...

...in the center.

Breaking into a smile, she ran up to Kairi and exclaimed, "Great job, Kairi!"

Proud of the praise Yaya was giving him, he smiled back and gave her the prize, making her squeal in delight and smile even more. She hugged it tightly then said, "Let's go to the next booth!" Once again, she grabbed his hand and raced to another booth in the festival.

Yaya dragged Kairi almost everywhere: they went to more game booths (though strangely Yaya didn't ask for anymore prizes), they fell in line for the tarot card reading, but Yaya freaked at the last minute and instead went to watch some of the stage plays inside the school auditorium, and they wandered into many of the different classrooms.

But what they didn't notice was, as they ran around the festival, was that Yaya's hair ribbons were slowly coming off, and then finally, dropping to the floor, forgotten. Her hair, which was usually in pig-tails, was now straight down and long, making her almost unrecognizable.

Meanwhile, a different pig-tailed girl saw the ribbons, picked them up, and smirked to herself. "I can use these."

Soon enough, hours had passed by, and it was already the afternoon. Kairi had to remind Yaya that he still had to go to his next performance, and she eagerly took him back to the entertainment booth to get ready.

He quickly put on his costume - which looked similar to his character transformation costume - and took a deep breath and went on the stage. His swords at hand, he quickly glanced at the crowd. In the very front, he saw Yaya, who was clearly excited for his performance.

Eager to give her the best show yet, he readied himself and started.

His swords went in this direction and that, simultaneously slashing the air and making clinking noises. Someone then threw a fish onto the stage, and before anyone could blink, the fish was cut into small, delicate pieces. The crowd was amazed at his quickness and accuracy.

Then, after doing a few more tricks, he ended his performance with a steady bow, and exited the stage. As expected, the first one to greet him was Yaya. "You were amazing! I can't believe you can do all that!" she exclaimed.

Kairi smiled. "Thanks Yaya. Now that I'm done, do you want to get some ice cream? It's getting really hot now."

"Yay! Ice Cream~" shouted Yaya. This time, instead of her dragging Kairi there, they walked happily to the ice cream booth, hand in hand.

"Good afternoon Sanjo. Good afternoon Yuiki," the waitress, a girl with short brown hair, greeted them. "What kind of ice cream would you like today?"

"I'll have strawberry." said Kairi.

"And I want vanilla!" Yaya smiled.

"Coming right up," she told them, and left quickly to the back to get the ice cream.

"Hey Kairi," Yaya said, "You called me Yaya today."

"Huh?" Kairi gave a confused look. "When?"

"When you asked me to get ice cream."

"Oh," he gave a sheepish smile and apologized, "Sorry Yaya-senpai. I didn't mean to leave out the honorific."

"No! That's okay! I've been telling you to call me Yaya! Keep calling me Yaya, okay?" she demanded.

"Okay Yaya, I'll keep calling you Yaya. Should I say it like this, Yaya?" he teased.

She giggled. The waitress then came back with their ice cream. "Here you go! Strawberry and vanilla!"

"Thank you!" they said simultaneously.

The waitress just smiled and commented, "Aww, you two make such a cute couple."

Yaya smiled back and said, "Thank you~" The waitress smiled again and left to help the next customer.

Bewildered and confused by what just happened, Kairi asked, "Yaya, why did you say that to the waitress?"

"Say what?"

"Say that, well," he fidgeted a little, slightly blushing at the thought of it, "that we're a couple. Or at least, confirmed her suspicion."

Yaya motioned him to look down to their hands, and she blushed at the sight of it. She grinned, and replied, "Well, because we are a couple, aren't we?"

Hello, one and all! This is the first one-shot in my first one-shot series~

It was inspired by Shugo Chara Encore! I plan on having four one-shots (including this one), and they're all the "canon-ish" couples. I decided I would try to write other couples, just this once, and I really liked this one-shot. :D I hoped to go for a "fluffy/cute/innocent" one-shot.

And also, if you may have noticed, I put Rima and Nagihiko for the characters in the story properties. That's because, even though there's other couples, the last story of the series will end with Rimahiko, and I plan on making it the best (and longest) one-shot in the series!

Since Rimahiko is my favorite~