Disclaimer: Hakuouki is a visual novel game by Idea Factory. (They make a bunch of cute guys! Drools. So I always look up new series just so I can stare at them~) Hakuouki then was adapted into an Anime by Studio DEEN. And today, the Anime series is licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America. (I got this information from Wikipedia and I believe the information is accurate. I wouldn't know though!)
"Forever" will not keep us connected
Chapter 17
Rushing to face to the right side, Sanosuke coughed out tea when he began drinking it. Kyou had to move when the tainted tea almost jumped from Sanosuke's mouth over on Kyou's feet. Standing in the backyard with everyone besides grandpa Fukui and Little Fukui, Kanon had just stated she got free entries to the Blooming Flowers Brothel. "You did what?" Sanosuke wiped his mouth, looking at Kanon with utter shock.
"I won us a free meal and a night's rest over there," Kanon blinked. She raised five papers with written words that had a special red stamp on them. "Any one of you wants to come along?"
While Souji was laughing amusingly, Hajime shook his head in silence. "Oh, Kanon's great," Souji sarcastically said with a smirk.
"Kanon-san!" Saburo blushed, giving her an upset look. "Why and how could you?!"
She frowned, "What did I do wrong? It's free!" She slapped the papers across Saburo's chest and he whined as he shook his head back and forth.
Ryunosuke felt awkward and walked away from the group and Kosuzu followed him closely. "You're not planning on going, are you?" Kosuzu whispered, making an uncertain face.
"Of course not!" Ryunosuke had a small blush. "Besides, I don't have to go in for free to get the food. I can always teleport and sneak the good stuff out." Kosuzu gave him a disapprovingly look and he smiled nervously. "I'm kidding! Don't take me seriously."
The two of them stopped by a small shed and Kosuzu sighed. "Ryunosuke, your power should not be used for your convenience. Or for any of us."
He nodded quickly, "I know. I won't use it unless there's danger." She smiled and had a soft giggle. Now that was the Ryunosuke she loved. He grunted and rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, but he grabbed her hand to hold her close.
Kyou took one of the papers from Kanon to scan it. "I think you guys should go," he said and handed it back to Kanon. "It's not like the paper told you guys to sleep with anyone." Kanon made a strange face when Kyou used the word 'sleep'.
"Arg, but still!" Saburo slapped his face with both hands.
"Then let's go," Souji nodded, taking one of the papers. "It's only for one night. Nothing will happen if someone behaves themselves."
"You're not talking about you, are you?" Sanosuke smirked.
Souji sneered, "…Of course not."
Kanon then hand one to Hajime, who slightly moved his head back. "Here, take one," Kanon smiled. "We can go and eat and sleep over there. I bet it'll be a luxurious experience."
In the background, Souji held in a snicker. Hajime looked at the paper and slowly to Kanon. She was still smiling and was still unaware what takes place Blooming Flowers Brothel. When Hajime did not take the paper, Kanon took his left hand and made him hold it. "K-Kanon-san…" Hajime's face darkened with a bit of red.
When Kanon faced Saburo, he backed away two steps. "No, I don't want to go!" he cried, almost begging. "Please, Kanon-san, don't do this."
"It's just free food," Kanon gave him an annoyed look. "Do you plan on freeloading here with the Fukui family?" Saburo was quiet and played with his fingers. "DO YOU?!"
"No, of course not!" he sighed, giving in. It was like Kyou said; they do not have to do anything and just eat. Everything would be fine, right? At the same time as Kanon tried to get one more paper to either Sanosuke or Kyou, Saburo gazed to her. She almost looked like she was back to her old self. This would possibly be a good thing after all. He rather see her smile than for her to think about Ayumu and Yumeko.
Souji purposely put his elbow on Saburo's shoulder with a heavy weight. He grinned, "So, what should we do when we get there, Saburo-kun?"
"Eat and sleep by ourselves!" Saburo determinedly answered, looking into the distance.
Chuckling, Souji glanced to Kanon, who just threw a punch to Kyou for some reason, but Kyou dodged it easily with a smirk. "Well then, when we get there, I guess I'll be taking Kanon," Souji whispered.
Saburo widened his eyes to him. Souji looked at him in the eye and he seemed serious. With a pout, Saburo pushed Souji's elbow with his arm. "What are you talking about?" Saburo inquired, his silver eyes almost glared into Souji's green eyes. "Kanon-san's not like that."
"Unless she's drunk," Souji remarked.
With a depressed sigh, Saburo cried helplessly, "No, I will not allow her to drink!" Souji snickered and Saburo pouted. "And I saw what you did back there! Holding my Kanon-san like that." And then Saburo started to mumble a bunch of frustrated words, lowering his head as he did so. It sounded like he really disapproved of Souji's action last night.
Souji smirked wider, "Excuse me? Your Kanon? The one who held her was me." Surprisingly, Saburo grabbed Souji's shirt and roughly pulled him closer. "Whoa, hey now," Souji raised his hands, grinning at Saburo. He saw there was a hint of anger in Saburo's eyes.
Before a war was declared, Kanon smacked the back of Souji's head with her fist and Saburo flinched as he let Souji go. "What the hell are you guys doing?" she glared, her hands on her hips. She was still holding two papers in her hand.
"K-Kanon-san," Saburo smiled uneasily. How was he going to say it in front of so many people?
Grunting and rubbing the back behind his head, Souji looked at Kanon with an irritated look, "Why did you hit me for?"
She pointed to Saburo, "Because Saburo never gets aggressive." And then she quickly pointed to Souji accusingly, "And you always like to provoke people. Why do you think I would hit you for?" She saw Saburo grabbing Souji first and all the while Souji had a looking-for-trouble look on his face.
Saburo beamed and jumped to hug her. "You know me best, Kanon-san!" he happily cried.
Souji lightly glared as Kanon patted on Saburo's head and she was giving Souji a flat expression. Saburo continued to hug her and she did not even bother to push him away like the other times. "You little brat," words escaped Souji's lips. Kanon rolled her eyes and gave no response. Ignoring them, Souji walked off by himself to blow up some stream. 'Why in the world did you cry into my arms for?' Souji wanted to ask out loud. 'Why did you hold me so close?'
Watching the scene that just took place, Kyou snickered and Hajime had to sigh a little. Sanosuke was drinking his tea. Though he could barely see what happened, he already figured out what the root of the problem was. "…Shiranui, why don't you go with them to the Blooming Flowers Brothel too?" Sanosuke suggested.
"What, are you kidding me?" Kyou frowned, glancing to him. Kyou had no interest in it or whatsoever.
Sanosuke smiled, "My eyesight won't come back by tomorrow morning… I think. So I want you there just in case."
Kyou begun to understand Sanosuke's concern. "Alright," Kyou sneered a moment after. "Just this once because you're weak right now, Harada."
"That was uncalled for," Sanosuke smirked, shaking his head to himself.
Hajime looked at the paper in his left hand. He felt so uncomfortable, but if it was to keep an eye on Kanon, then there was no choice. Her safety would come first. Not only that, Hajime would not want to impose on the Fukui family as well.
[…^…]
That night, Kanon stepped up to the Blooming Flowers Brothel with a cheerful smile on her face. Behind her were Souji, Hajime, Saburo, and Kyou. They all carried their weapons too. The men watched her walked in first and Saburo sighed more in defeat. He still could not believe they actually came here. Of all places.
"Hello!" the two young women greeted. They were the same women from earlier today, who congratulated Kanon on winning. Kanon smiled to the girls in pink and yellow kimono. "Right this way!"
The four men walked in and Saburo rushed to go closer to Kanon, in case random men attacked her from nowhere. When he heard rowdy voices on their left, Saburo saw men groping giggling women. When Kanon was about to turn her head to the noises, Saburo jumped on her back right away and he twisted her head around. "No looking!" he told her.
Luckily her neck did not crack, but he was rather rough. "Stop it, Saburo!" she elbowed him in the stomach.
Souji was feeling annoyed all over again when Saburo took her hand to drag her off quickly as they followed the two young woman in the yellow kimono and the pink kimono. 'They're too close to each other,' he found himself glaring.
"So, Saito," Kyou spoke with a grin. The two of them were the last in the group and walking side by side. "Should we get everyone drunk tonight?"
"I will have to decline," Hajime said. He had no desire to drink because to him, this was a very important mission.
They both did not look at each other when they talked. Kyou scoffed, "Wow, you're such a bore. I wonder how Amagiri felt when he fought against you back in the day."
Hajime made no comment while they were lead to the third floor. Here on this floor, people were quieter and chatted normally, enjoying sake and the pleasant flower fragrance was in the air. Fire lanterns were hung up according like a firefly guiding them through the darkness. They walked through a long hall and eventually made a turn. It was such a long way.
Finally arriving, the two young women slide the door opened to a large private room. The one in yellow smiled, "Wait here. Your food had already been prepared. We shall sent them to you shortly."
"Great!" Kanon nodded, jogging in with Saburo. As the other three men entered, the two young women closed the sliding door quietly. Kanon jumped up and down on the brown-yellow mat floor. "This place looks promising!"
'If only you knew,' Saburo frowned away. There were five purple seat cushions circled in the center of the room, black lantern stands in all four corners, the imprinted black flowers drawings on the walls, and a faint clean scent in the air. Saburo moved to sit on one of the seat cushions, which was facing a bit to the door they entered. When Kanon sat down, next to him that faced directly at the door, Souji took the seat by her right away. Saburo pouted to Souji, wondering what his intentions were when Souji flashed a devilish smirk.
Kyou sat by Saburo and Hajime took the last seat between Kyou and Souji. "Okay, men," Kyou raised his voice, gesturing with his hand. "Now, we should behave ourselves. Harada's not here, but I shall be the one who will supervise all of you."
After rolling his eyes, Souji grinned, "Why don't you just sit back and enjoy the show?"
"What show?" Saburo frowned, really hoping Souji would not plan to do anything to Kanon.
Hajime was sitting quietly and Kanon spoke, "I want to try drinking those icky sake stuff!"
"No!" Saburo immediately refused, snapping his head to her.
"Just once!" she snickered.
And before Saburo could react even more loudly, Souji said, "Go ahead. Just a sip though."
"Cool!" Kanon smiled to Souji.
[…^…]
"Bleh, this stuff is disgusting!" Kanon almost threw up. She grabbed for the teacup and quickly gulped it all. All the men stared at her when she frowned. "Here, Saburo," she handed her bottle to him.
The food had already arrived. There was a lot, but it was enough for them to consume it all. There was chicken, pork, vegetables and all sorts of dishes laid in front of them. When Saburo took sake bottle from Kanon, Souji narrowed his eyes and said, "Wait a second, you should drink all of it first." And before Saburo drunk the sake just to taste it, Souji quickly demanded, "Saburo-kun, don't you dare drink from that."
Blinking cluelessly, it took a moment for Saburo to realize it. Kyou was only drinking a bit of sake and Hajime was eating quietly again. "Oh?" Saburo grinned to Souji, rubbing his chin. "Could it be, I wonder? You're worried about me drinking from the same bottle as Kanon-san? Eh?"
Souji sneered, "Unless you want me to come right over there and chop your head off?"
"Okay, give it here," Kanon snatched the bottle back, raising her head again.
"Wait, Kanon-san!" Saburo gasped when she drunk it all in one-go. "Geez… you don't have to force yourself."
"I'm a woman!" she retorted, wiping her lips. Disgusted with the aftertaste, she threw the bottle behind her and it landed close to the way without a crack. "Okay, time to eat until I'm full. No more sake for me!"
Kyou snickered at the threesome and Hajime brought his eyes over to them. Saburo and Souji were having their staring contest and Hajime sighed at the sight of them being childishly. 'I do not understand how Kanon-san cannot see this,' Hajime thought to himself. It was so clear, even though he did not know how, that those two men were interested in her.
"Let's have a contest between me and you, Saburo-kun," Souji smiled thinly, not backing down. He did not care what Saburo and Kanon had in the past. He could steal her away if he wanted to, but since Saburo was a kind person, Souji was willingly to let this play out fair.
"You're on, Okita-san!" Saburo held up a fist to him, pouting a bit.
Kanon lifted up her head from chewing on chicken meat and she looked at them back and forth. "Why between the two of you?" she inquired, feeling left out.
"You stay out of this, Kanon-san," Saburo smiled innocently to her. "It's not your battle."
Souji chuckled, "Yeah. Just me and him."
[…^…]
Hajime and Kyou were staring with boredom as Saburo and Souji were ordering a lot of drinks. Yes, it was a drinking contest. The air reeked of sake. Even Kanon had to leave her seat to open the window of a small balcony for the fresh air to come in. Saburo grabbed another bottle when Souji declared another round. Whoever knocked out first would lose. And the winner would get the mysterious, yet obviously, prize.
"Oh," Kyou smirked. Saburo just dropped on his back and seemed unconscious. "Game over for Saburo."
Souji cheered with a sneering grin, "Alrighttttt…! And I'm still sober!"
There was a big, long sigh from Kanon. She turned away from the window and shook her head. "Okay, Saburo can't sleep like that," she walked over to them. "I'll take him to bed."
Souji rushed to move and press his stomach on top of Saburo's own. Kanon stopped in her steps and gave Souji and weird look. "No, don't!" he told her. "I won, remember? You should be taking me to bed."
"…Souji," Hajime stared at him seriously. Kanon walked again and then bent down, smacking the back of Souj's head and he let out a small cry. Hajime blinked, 'Never mind. Kanon-san can take care of him herself.'
"Why don't you drink some tea?" Kanon moved around to get Souji off of Saburo. Souji whined childishly and leaned against her. She picked up Saburo's teacup and handed to him. Souji shook his head away from the cup and she told him, "Drink it, Souji."
"I don't wanna drink from hissssss," he whispered playfully, putting an arm around her shoulders.
Kyou snorted and set his emptied sake bottle down. "No flirting, Okita," Kyou warned first.
"I'm behaving just fine," Souji squinted his eyes over to the Oni.
His breath was too much for Kanon and she had to look away as she brushed his arm off. Souji lost his balance a bit and fell a bit back on his palms behind him. "Hajime, can you take Saburo to a room first?" she requested. "I'm going to stay and make Souji eat something to shake off his drunkenness crap."
Hajime was a bit hesitated at first, but Kanon insisted as she went to help the sleeping Saburo up. "…Alright," he said, moving to his feet.
Souji rubbed his head and tried to stay sane. He watched half tiredly as Kanon helped Hajime pick Saburo up. Hajime put Saburo's arm around his neck and his arm around Saburo's waist and started to walk off toward the door where it was opened. The two young women from before were there and they both lead the way to the bedroom with the two men.
"Kanon, I'm not hungry," Souji reached for her hand and tugged it.
She looked down to him and his head limped. Blinking a couple of times, she lowered her body down and patted his head. "Are you getting sleepy too?" she asked.
"Nah," Souji replied, rubbing his eyes.
"Off to bed you go," she grabbed his arm to put over her shoulder too.
Souji made a pout when her hand went around his waist. "Wait, not yet," he complained babyishly. "It's too early for that!"
Kyou snickered and stood up. He stretched his back as Kanon managed to help Souji on his feet too. When Kyou glanced to the window, he saw a figure standing on the small balcony. He did not blink and the figure disappeared. "…Kanon, I'll be right back," Kyou said, running off to the window.
Puzzled, she looked to him, "Hey, Kyou, I can't carry Souji by myself!" But Kyou leaped out of the window in a flash and disappeared into the night. She frowned, but then, "Gah!" Both Kanon and Souji tilted over. Souji fell on top of her while his palms hit the ground around her head. She glared and tried to push him away. "Souji, you drunken dumbass!"
He refused to get off and rested his head beside hers. "Whaaat?" he mumbled, his right arm going under her waist. He hugged her on purpose, or at least he thought he was, and said, "I'm not thatttt drunk."
His clothes reeked of alcohol and she rolled her eyes. He seemed to be hugging tighter. Her left arm was locked under his right arm that was around her waist, so she was pushing him away with her other hand. "Yes, you are," she kicked around, but their legs were tangled up between each other. Her face felt warm and she felt his left hand grabbing her right hand that pushed his shoulder. "Souji, this is awkward, awkward, awkward! Get off of me!"
"Mmm," he pursed his lips. Moving his head to see her face, he blinked and was in a bit of daze. She blushed and her hand slipped out of his grip and she gave him a good smack on his head once again. "Ow, geez," he glared at her, shaking his head. He grabbed for her hand again and slammed it against the floor. "You shouldn't be so aggressive, Kanon."
"Bah, yousonofabitch," she grumbled, moving her arms around and kicking around once more.
Souji frowned and tried to get his mind working. "Hey, Kanon, I really like you," he blabber out of nowhere. Maybe he was drunk, but he heard himself saying it rather clearly. His heart raced and he stared at her face. She stopped moving, however she seemed pissed. "Wow, you look madddd."
"Of course I am, you drunken—"
"I'm not drunk!" he told her, rising his voice. She rolled her eyes again and did not seemed convinced. "I liked you for a while now… but maybe… but I guess I a bit drunk… but…" Souji had no idea where his mind was taking him.
To her, he seemed drunk enough and he was a bit cute trying to find his words. Kanon snorted, "Okay, seriously, get off. I'm never going to try to take you to bed again, I swear."
He pouted rather childishly. "Kanon…" he frowned. How could she not see it? Maybe he should not have gotten drunk and let the words out. His feelings were actually hurting. "Believe meee…" he rubbed his cheek against her right one.
She blinked and felt a bit ticklish. "H-Hey," she used her right shoulder to push his head away. Tilting her head a little, his head dropped and his forehead touched the floor. "Arg, you smell so bad," she turned her head to the right to breath any fresh air she could get.
"Hm?" he blinked tiredly. "…Really?"
"Yeah!" she told him, a bit upset. "You better take a bath soon!"
Souji's lips curled up into a smile. "Hehe…" he seemed to giggle. And Kanon made a strange, uncomfortable face while she kept her face away from smelling the alcohol. He hugged her a bit, rubbing his cheek on her again. But then she smacked him in the head annoyingly. This time, he pretend not to feel it and suggested, "Then help me take a bath~"
"Oh my god," she made a disgusted face. "You're starting to act like a baby. What a dream come true. How drunk did you get?"
"I don't know," he started to baby talk. "Come on, I'll let you see my white hair again in return. Kayyy?"
Kanon smiled all of the sudden, "Oooo, sounds good."
He laughed a bit and pushed himself up to see her face. She was grinning happily and he felt like he got her to stay a while longer. "Alright," he closed his eyes, smiling widely. "Kanon, go get the bath ready for me."
"Get off first," she snapped.
Souji groaned a bit and rolled off twice. She sat up and he lay on his back with his arm covering his eyes. "I'll be right here," he told her. "Tell me when the bath is ready…"
She patted his chest and he looked at her. "Okay, but if you fall asleep, I'll kill you," she smiled innocently. It would a waste of effort if she came back finding him dozing off.
"No, I'll kill you," he pointed. His finger accidentally touched the tip of her nose and she slapped it away instantly. Before she moved to get up on her feet, he inquired, "Are you really okay seeing me naked?"
Kanon had a short confident laugh, "Ha! You're just a baby right now; of course I'm fine with it. I… just won't directly look at your thing." She snickered to herself as she turned her head away.
"Nah, I want you to look at it," he grinned, taking her hand. He swung her hand back and forth and she rolled her eyes with a smile, looking back at him. He started to wonder why she was so calm about helping him taking bath. Soon he recalled the scene back in the village when Kanon opened the window, which revealed the naked Saburo who was about to take a bath. Souji slowly spoke, "You're so bold, Kanon… have you ever slept with a—"
"Shut up and wait here, you're wasting time," she snatched her hand back. Standing up, she turned to the opened door. "The moon might be full tonight, I have to hurry!" Rushing out, she shut the door so Souji can have his privacy.
Her footstep ran off and softly echoed. 'She rather see my white hair than my thing?' he thought to himself, rubbing his head. Geez. He was really drunk; his head was already beating like a drum. But he really wanted to stay awake since she had already made the effort to go off and prepare his bath. 'Stay awake, Souji,' he told himself, tiredly squinting his eyes. His vision blurred and he tried to sit up.
Time passed slowly to him and Souji kept rolling around the floor. He was absolutely bored to death, but when Kanon do return, the fun will begin. Not that he would do anything to her, but he wanted to see her reactions if he teased her and maybe touched her a little more. He really wanted to grab her hand… and maybe her whole body. Maybe lay a kiss on her or two.
'Ah shit, I'm drunk all right,' he closed his eyes and rolled onto his stomach. He felt crazy about her all of the sudden. Maybe because it was just the alcohol. It had to be.
The door slammed open and he flinched a bit. "Okay, I talked to those pretty women to prepare a bath," Kanon walked in. Kneeling down to him, she grabbed for his right hand first. "Are you still up for it, smelly boy?"
"Yeahhh," he moved to lean against her. She almost missed her step when she got up. "I'm not heavy, am I?" he asked, pressing his cheek to her head. He could not help it since he could barely hold his own head up.
"You're very, very heavy," she dryly answered, making their way out of the room now. She was holding around his waist and her right hand gripping on his hand, which his right arm was around her shoulders.
Souji mumbled a couple of words, but she could not make any sense of them so she said nothing. While they went down the hall, Souji continued to make sure his eyes were open. The two of them kept shifting from side to side because he would stumble a bit. His head limped and he stared down her chest. Her kimono was stretched off to the left and he could make out the shape of her breasts easily. His face darkened with a blush and he shook his head to snap out of it.
"I'm beginning to think this was not a good idea, no matter how much your white hair is worth it," Kanon grumbled, glaring to herself. He was too heavy and it was almost like he would pass out any moment.
"No, no, you won't regret it," he told her, forcing his feet to listen to him.
Just one more door and Kanon turned to the room that was left opened. Two same young women bowed and Kanon waved to them. "Thanks," she told them. "I'll take it from here."
The young women nodded at the same time, as if they were twins. "If you need any more assistance, we'll be outside," the one in a yellow kimono smiled.
The other woman, dressed in pink, giggled, "Don't hesitate to call us."
Kanon nodded and put Souji in a chair nearby. As the two young women walked out and closed the door after a polite bow, Kanon walked off by herself and went behind a screen wall, which was imprinted with cherry blossoms. Souji grunted and looked around slowly. It was a small room. All he could make sense off was the lanterns in the corners and hot steams behind a screen wall. Kanon returned, tying her hair into a messy low ponytail on the right side of her head.
Souji laughed a little, "You still can't tie your hair?"
She put her hands on her lips and he saw she had already tied her sleeves up her arms too. "Shut up, get undress, and get your ass to the tub," she pointed back with her thumb over her shoulder.
"Aw," he smirked. "You're not going to help me undress?"
A moment of silence and she now folded her arms to her chest. "Boy, you must really be drunk," she flattened her face at him. He chuckled and ran his hand into his hair, holding back a yawn. Kanon walked to him, bending her knees and took off his shoes first. Setting them to the side, she moved to help him up. "Okay, come over here…"
He did better to walk a bit this time. They both walked behind the screen wall and he saw a round wooden bathtub that was over three feet tall. A small stepping stair was beside it too. The stand for clothes was a bit to the right next to a table that had small towel. And extra men's clothes. "Did you tell them to get me new clothes?" he inquired, looking at her. Her face was really close and when she looked back at him, he felt a bit weird.
"Yeah, they were free of charge," she smiled. He stared at her blue eyes with a warm feeling in his chest. "As if I let you wear the clothes you have on now. They stink!"
Chuckling, he could not believe she was thinking ahead. Or maybe he was just too drunk to think straight. Yes, he was still debating about how drunk he was. Standing next to the tub, she gestured him to hold himself up by using the tub to stand. He put his hands on the wooden bathtub, noticing white petals in the hot water. The sweet fragrance was nice and eased his mind a little more. His eyes widened a bit when her hands untied his waistband. '…Maybe this was not a good idea,' he thought, lowering his eyes as she slide the kimono off his shoulders. He feared he would grab her and eat her up if he looked at her, so he kept his eyes elsewhere.
When the kimono fully came off through his arms, she went around the tub and first hung his clothes up by the hanger stand. When she turned back, she saw he took off his pants, doing his own adjustments sloppily. Slightly turning her head to the left, she held her hand up in front of her so she would not see his private part. If only the tub was a bit taller. "Ahhh, okay, just throw them on the floor," she dryly pointed to the ground, still keeping her eyes away.
While Souji threw it to the side and moved to step on the stairs, Kanon walked toward the table and avoided looking at him. She reached for the towel on the table and then heard Souji slipped into the water rather loudly. "Ow!" he landed on his bottom safely, but it still hurt. In the tub, he realized he was sitting on a chair so the water reached up to his shoulders.
She laughed and walked up behind him. "You okay?" she leaned forward.
He nodded, "I'll be… fine…"
"See, I knew you were drunk," she grinned. She dipped the towel into the water and it got wet easily. "Wah, the water's hot," she winced, but she did not draw her hand back.
"It feels good," he smiled to himself, glancing to her. Kanon took the towel and begun scrubbing his back. He looked away and let her do it, since that was what they both wanted. She wanted to see his white hair and he wanted to be with her a little longer. "Kanon, why are you so calm about me being naked?"
She blinked, still scrubbing. "I had seen naked men before," she replied indifferently. "They used to take baths by the river all the time."
"Aw, you mean you were peeking at them?" he snickered. He moved further and put his arms out the tub to feel more relaxed.
Kanon adjusted to his movement a bit to reach for his back. "No, it was only one time when I looking for Ayumu," she told him. Souji made a face. "And no, I didn't see Ayumu naked. He wasn't there."
He blinked and glanced back to her, "…Were you shocked to see them naked?"
She raised an eyebrow, "No, they looked normal to me… which made me wonder because Aunt Akiko was always telling me it's a bad thing to see a man naked."
"How old were you then?" he inquired.
"…I was either eight or nine years old?" she shrugged. Her mind went back to cleaning his back thoroughly and he sighed rather happily. "Does it feel good?"
"Mm," he nodded. She moved the towel to scrub his shoulders and the back of his neck. He stared into space and closely paid attention to where she cleaned him. Then she turned her body to meet his face and she flicked his forehead with her middle finger. He winced and turned around on the chair. Then he leaned back on the tub and she cleaned his chest. "…Are you going to reach down there and clean too?" he smirked, tilting his head at her.
Kanon made a face, as if her stomach was turning, "You can do that yourself."
So she still knew about some customs. Here he thought she was completely naïve about a man's body. "I'll let you," his smile spread more.
"Ha, no thank you," she flicked his forehead again.
He grabbed her hand and narrowed his eyes at her, "Stop doing that."
She smiled innocently, "Did that hurt?" He frowned and her hand slipped out of his hand since they were both damped with water. She bent over and patted on the spot where she hit him. "There, there, little one," she chuckled softly. Treating him like a kid was fun. Maybe she would consider turning him into a baby one day.
Souji stared at her when her face was too close. When she moved away, she drenched the towel and squeezed the water back out. While she did it again, Souji's eyes were still on her. The little hairstyle made her a tad cuter. Or was he just seeing things? Water was then splashed to his face and she giggled when he wiped the water away from his eyes. A couple of white petals got on his face too. "What was that for?" he frowned, opening one of his eyes at her.
"You looked perverted when you were staring at me, drunken Souji," she grinned, using the towel to clean his stomach. She reached far and her face was next to his head. Her arm was hurting from scrubbing in that angle and then she blinked when Souji was staring at her yet again. He was quiet and gazed into her eyes like he was drifting off into a sleep. Kanon started to feel uncomfortable and her arm started to leave from the water.
Just above her elbow, he grabbed her arm and her hand remained in the water with the towel. Her eyes opened widely when he moved his head forward and softly planted a kiss on her left cheek. Kanon instantly pulled away harder and the water splashed around them. "K-Kanon?" he looked at her, a bit startled by her alarmed reaction. Kanon's hand was over the cheek he kissed and she stared with glare. Sickened by him, she threw the towel to his face and rushed out of there. Removing he towel she thrown, he called out, "Kanon, wait!" He tried to reach out for her hand, but she had already gone far.
She almost knocked the screen wall down with her foot and hastened her pace. Sliding the door opened, she walked pass the two young women and did not look at them in the eye. 'What the hell did he kiss me for?!' Kanon thought angrily. 'We're not even married! Stupid, drunk, Souji!'
Thanks for reading!