Sorry for the long wait but I just don't get to write 'cause my inspiration got lost somewhere inside my head...
Bad inspiration, very bad inspiration.
Well, hope you don't kill me in the near future (or else my tombstone will have 'Killed because she couldn't update fast enough' written on it xP)
5. Encounter
Just like the days before, Itaku walked aggrivated throught the main house of Nura Gumi. And just like the days before his anger was directed towards the Third heir, since he again has skipped training this morning with the apology that he really had to go to school.
'Damn that Rikuo. He was the one who asked me to train him before the fight with Nue,' Itaku thought, cursing the younger yokai.
"Haa~tshi..." Rikuo sneezed and interrupted Kiyotsugu's talk about their next activity, since none of them was able to get some valuable information about the 'Bloodstained girl' and since no new incidents concerning the mysterious girl reached Kiyotsugu's ears, he decided that it was time to continue with their real targets, the yokais.
"Are you alright, Nura-san?" Seika asked her kohai worried.
"Don't worry, Moji-senpai. I'm fine, thank you," Rikuo answered with his usual smile in place.
'Itaku must be mad at me for skipping morning training again,' he thought, mentaly sweatdropping.
"Let's continue from where I was interrupted. I've planned a trip to Shizuoka for this week-end where we will be visiting several temples from Kagutsuchi*, the god of fire," he exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as always.
"Kagutsuchi? I thought that he wanted to hunt yokai and not to study the mythology abbout a god." Maki whispered to Torii and Kana who nodded in agreement.
Seika raised her hand for a question. Kiyotsugu who wasn't used to questions from anyone except Shima, beamed happily at her.
"Yes, Moji-senpai, what do you want to know," he asked.
"Well, I thought that this club was specialized in yokais, I didn't knew that you study gods and such as well," she said, rather than question.
"Good observation, senpai. Indeed, normaly, we do research about yokai of any kind, but we can't just focus on yokais. There are gods who turned evil, too. And although it's just my theory, I think that yokai have roots with these gods**, thus we have to know about them, too," he said proudly.
"And Kagutsuchi is one of those gods?" Kana asked him which earned her a full explanation why he thinks that the god of fire is one of the origin of yokais.
Meanwhile in the mansion, Itaku was starting to tick of the female yokai who had to do their chores. Kejoro was the first one to snap which ended in a one-sided verbal fight with the weasle yokai.
"I know that you're here because Rikuo-sama asked you to train him, but that doesn't mean that you can get in the way of our duties. So if you were so kind as to leave the house for at least three hours, we'll be finish with everything at that time," she ended her 'scolding'.
Itaku, being bored and all, decided that it wouldn't hurt if he were to walk through Ukiyoe town by himself, plus he wouldn't get in the way of the main house staff.
He casually walked out of the gate. During the time he stayed here in the middle of humans, he had learned not to show off to much, things like using the front door instead of jumping over the wall.
Itaku walked through Ukiyoe town without a real destination in mind. He even passed the schoolgates of Ukiyoe Middle School and when he would have glanced inside he would have seen Rikuo with his friends stepping out of the building.
The students talked lively, more accurate, Kiyotsugu was doing all the talk and the rest pretended to listen to him. When they reached the gates, Itaku had already passed the gates in the opposite direction from the way Rikuo used to get home, Seika said goodbye to them.
"I'll see you tomorrow during club activity," she said before going in the opposite direction from everyone else.
Seika lost in her thoughts, walked in the direction of her home. She passed several shops which were still open and remembered that she needed to buy food. She entered the next market and looked for the things she needed.
When she was finish, she exited the building with two bags in hand.
'This should do for a while,' she thought and didn't see that the person in front of her stopped in his tracks. She bumped against him.
"Watch where you're going," that person said.
"So... sorry, I didn't look where I was going," she apologized.
"Oh, it's you," she heard the male voice say.
Turning her face upwards to face the person, she looked into brown eyes. She studied the boy... man in front of her. His hair was messy, short and black in color. He also wore a bandana on his forehead. His height was average but he still was taller than Seika.
"I'm sorry, but... do we know each other?" Seika asked him.
Itaku had walked a lot, since he went out. But even then he didn't even see a single of the young yokai boy he had intended to look for.
'Damn you, Rikuo. Where the heck are you?' He thought furious, though nothing of his emotions could be seen on his face. Then suddenly, something or rather someone bumped into his back.
'Great, I'm that distracted that I can't even sense someone who's approaching.'
He turned around.
"Watch where you're going!" He said.
"So... sorry, I didn't look where I was going," a female voice told him.
Itaku looked down on the shorter girl and recognized her as the girl from THAT night.
"Oh, it's you," he said without thinking.
Itaku could feel how the girl was looking at him as to remember who he was. Then finally, he remembered that Rikuo said something about more personalities and one not knowing what the other does or even if there was an other.
"I'm sorry, but... do we know each other?" The girl asked him.
'Great and what do I say now? It's not like me to not think before acting.'
While Itaku stood there trying to figure something helpful out, a man came running straight at him. They collided and the force caused Itaku to fall over.
'What's wrong with the people bumping into me? Am I a human magnet or something?' He thought unnerved.
While he thought that he didn't notice that the impact had led to him to lose his footing. He fell forward directly onto THAT girl and brought her down to the ground with him.
When he finally realized the change in his position, it was already to late. For him, at least.
He lay on top of a girl, a rather pretty one at that, and for some unknown reason their lips were pressed together.
In this rather embarassing position, he looked her in her purple eyes which showed signs of surprise, shock and embarassment.
When Itaku finally decided to lift himself up, almost everyone near them stared at the two who had kissed just moments ago.
"Sorry," he said before he stood up and helped her up.
Seika took his had in silence and even after she stood on her feet again, she didn't say a word. The boy who laid on top of her just moments ago, turned around and left her standing on the street.
After the first shock, Seika was able to get home without any further accidents. It was already dark outside. She sat in the bathtub and let the hot water sooth her body, though her mind needed it more than anything else. Her right hand moved to her face and her fingers touched her lips softly while dropplets fell back into the tub.
'That was my first kiss...' she thought a little sad that she shared something as precious as her first kiss with a stranger. She dived into the water and stayed there until her lungs cried for oxygen. Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head against the wall behind her and tried to get the pictures of the boy out of her head.
'He looked somewhat familiar but I can't put my finger on where I met him.' Her thoughts cricled around this one question until she decided that it was futile and enjoyed the rest of her bath to the fullest.
The sakura tree weeped in the passing wind which blew some petals past the weasel yokai who stared at the moon. No one could say what the Tono yokai was thinking about but everyone could say that it must be something very important.
* really does exist in japanese mythology
** I made that up, but if there are such theories, I didn't know