Efflorescence
Chapter Seventeen: The Final Plea
by Autumn Win-Dow
(AoGA House Cup. Words: 500)
He couldn't help cut see Mikan Sakura every time he visited the ochaya to talk to Kurike.
Natsume held the firm belief that she was much more beautiful without her make-up- not that she was unattractive with her make-up.
Three weeks passed since the day when he finally saw her without her make-up, and he was now certain.
While he felt more interested in her as he continued to see her as Kurike, he was even more attracted to her during their many rendezvous in the night- ever since then, they hadn't stopped seeing each other in the midnights, in the same small hut.
Eventually, the atmosphere between the two started to change- a week before his due date for selecting a wife.
He stormed in to the hut while she was combing her fingers through her long brown hair. The man had just left from a panicked rant from his mother in regards to his father's health and the topic of marriage. Alarmed by his sudden entrance, she quickly grabbed her cloth and dried her face, before turning towards him with a confused expression.
"What's the matter, Natsume?" She questioned him, and for some strange reason which he couldn't decipher, her voice sounded sweeter and loving then the many times he had heard her speak.
It was terribly cheesy, yet he couldn't help but admit it to himself.
The feeling with him was starting to grow out of control. He felt like a powder keg- eventually, he was going to explode too.
It was the last day he had at his disposal to find a wife, and of course, he had made absolutely no progress.
His eyes, for the past months, had always been glued on her.
And until that very moment, he didn't think that she was able to look more appealing than she did every day.
Natsume's eyes roamed her figure- slim, pale and wrapped with only a silken robe covering the soft skin above her ankles and wrists. Her hair was wet and loose, as small beads of water clung to the tips and after a weak struggle, soaked into the fabric of her gown. Her moist fringe lightly brushed the space above her angular eyebrows, and Natsume was delighted that not one inch of her skin was covered with the ghastly white powder of a maiko.
"What's the matter, Natsume?"
The only way he could imagine it sounding sweeter was if she was his wife.
At that spilt second moment, he threw all sense of dignity and respect out of the window. The opinions he had on the purpose of women as well as hungry customers no longer made sense to him.
Natsume had stormed forward and pulled her face towards his, capturing her lips in a heated kiss.
She squealed against his lips as he started to walk forward- pushing bee hack against the wall firmly.
The only time when he pulled away was to murmur three words.
"Marry me, goddamnit."
A/N: Yeap. Cheesy. Let me just sink into my hole of misery as I cultivate mushrooms.