I'll Move Into Your House, I'll Move Into Your Heart Also

by CeruleanKiss

Tora enjoys being his rich, stunning self. Of course he fakes his way through most of what he does, but he's learned to live around the lies, absorb himself in the worst of his ways. But this girl... She's something entirely new to him. Michiyo Akari sees through it all, and surprises herself by falling in love with the guy who's been pissing her off ever since she moved in.

41. I'll Move Into Your Heart Also

Chapter Thirty-Nine. I'll Move Into Your Heart Also

"Whoa, look at that Akari-san!"

"..."

"Akari-san?"

"..."

"Eh... Akari... san...?"

*sigh*

"AKARI-SAN!"

Akari nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone grip her wrist and heard a loud voice beside her ear.

"Gah! Wha -" She turned her head to see copper eyes staring at her in wide-eyed concern. "...Yukimura?" Her gaze went to where his hand was gripping her, and she blinked in surprise.

"!" His face attained an immediate blush and he released her wrist, looking ashamed. "S-sorry, for raising my voice at you like that! It's just, you weren't answering..."

"You haven't been responsive for a while now." Kanou suddenly confirmed, appearing directly behind the two of them.

Akari's silver eyes had a weary look in them as she glanced between her friends. "O-oh, oh I haven't?" She chuckled nervously, turning her head away from them. "Ah..." She was trying to look anywhere else, and ended up gazing to her left.

And her eyes abruptly met with Tora's.

She flinched - visibly. The intensity of his golden irises not only startled her, but made her stomach form instant knots of discomfort. He was looking at her... like he didn't care. His expression was blank.

He raised an eyebrow at her, but said absolutely nothing. And before she could even think to start any sort of response, he had looked away, staring off in another direction as if searching for something of more interest.

Akari's mouth dropped open, the inside of it feeling rather dry. Her heart gave a particularly hard 'THUMP' against her chest, and suddenly all she could envision was the last moment the two of them had had a real conversation...

'Lowering his hand as the strands of hair fell onto her shoulder, Tora stepped around Akari and began to walk away. And she could only stand there, like his words had left her paralyzed.

A shock jolted through her entire system when she heard what had just come out of his mouth. Giving up? He was giving up? ...HIM? She shook her head vigorously, her mind occupied with trying to figure out what exactly was transpiring here.

Tora had just said that he was giving up on her.

He had just said that she wasn't his.

What was going on with him?! Was he really just going to contradict everything that he'd been saying to her for the past... however long it's been since they'd become involved in each other's lives? He had told her, very firmly, that she was his and his alone - and he didn't stop there - he had called her his belonging. His prize. He had possessed her with his charm, and she had become his possession. That's just how it was. That's just how he liked it.

So why the hell was he suddenly dropping everything, claiming he was simply going to give up now on pursuing her, or convincing her, or whatever he'd said?

Turning around finally, Akari noticed that he was continuing to walk away from her, as if this was their last goodbye. Wait, was he trying to make this their last goodbye, walking off like that? Or was this just his way of over-dramatizing the situation in order to annoy her? If it was the latter, well, consider her thoroughly annoyed. He had always been so good at being irritating.

"Tora, I really am disappointed to see you leaving so soon." She spoke up, watching as he paused in his next step, and stilled. "I mean, I was under the impression that an Igarashi never backs out of a deal." Somehow she kept her tones perfectly even.

"And what deal would I be backing out on, if I left now?" He barely glanced over his shoulder at her, daring her to say more.

She opened her mouth, then closed it. They'd never really made any sort of deal about it, but hadn't he said before that he was going to convince her of his love? And also make her admit to her own feelings?

"...You gave me your word you would come to the festival today, and spend time with my friends and I." She folded her arms, the grip on her bowl of food tightening when the cold breeze suddenly picked up, though that's not what caused her to shiver. The fact that she was making up excuses to make him stay - that's what made her do it. What was with her, all of the sudden? "Are you actually going back on your word? You - you can't."

"And why can't I?"

She rolled her eyes and huffed - something she did only to cover up the fact that his harsh words had made her heartbeat falter. "First of all, it's against your morals to go back on your word -"

"I have morals?" He mused, posing the question as if he were honestly surprised. He even smirked, a little bit.

"- and second of all, my friends are too entertaining for you to actually want to leave now."

Twisting his body to better face her, Tora allowed the smirk to slip further across his face. He began to list his complaints. "Your friends are hardly the type of company I should be seen with. Didn't I tell you? They're mentally unsound. Completely unworthy of my time. And one of them even threatened to castrate me - do you really think I want to be around those kind of people?"

"So," Akari gave a wobbly smirk of her own. "In other words, they definitely keep you entertained."

He blinked at her twice, and stayed silent for a few seconds. The fact that his eyes seemed to be observing her closely made Akari shudder and wish for a paper bag to cover her face - for she knew that her lower lip was quivering. She bit down on it hard, trying to make it stop.

Just then, Tora started to smile, a very slow and enigmatic grin; and his eyes never once strayed from her. "You're right, I am a man of my word. And I do owe you, after all... I'll stay with you and your uncultured friends until the festival ends."

"Don't call my friends uncultured. It's not like they're barbarians." She growled, her defense mode finally beginning to kick in. With a tug, she pulled her coat collar up around her neck as the wind blew out another strong, cool gust. "Speaking of my friends, we should probably go meet back with them now."

When Tora merely stood there, unaffected by the wind except for the ruffling of his blonde bangs, she began to walk towards him. Her body felt more steady now, and her mind had regained control. She was acting really strange for a few minutes there... but at least now she wasn't. If it weren't for him insulting her friends, she wouldn't have suddenly felt angry and annoyed, which is all apart of her defensive system.

Once she reached him, her free hand took a hold of one of his, and without waiting for his consent or any reply from him she began walking. "I know neither of us really like the concert scene, so let's just pray that it's over by no-"

Unexpectedly, before they had taken more than three steps, Tora's hand slipped away from her grasp.

Akari paused, refusing to turn around and look at him. That action... was definitely done on purpose.

"I am fully capable of walking on my own." His voice sliced through the cold air and startled her with its brutality. It wasn't necessarily cruel, just, unpleasantly firm.

She looked over her shoulder, unable to help herself now.

His face was a mask, completely unreadable. However, she could definitely sense that something was wrong. The mood between them felt dark, and personally she felt as if a deep chasm had just opened up between the two of them, creating a great space of distance. She looked into his eyes... and even though she searched for what he may be feeling, the only thing she could see was the depths of his pupils surrounded by a ring of startling gold. She could see color, but no emotion.

And they say the eyes are the windows to the soul... hah.

Tora maneuvered around her, and she kept her eyes on him, watching him. He walked over to a nearby trash can and dumped his food into it, before placing his hands into his pockets and beginning to walk off again without her, leaving her behind without so much as a glance back in her direction. It seemed he was done conversing with her, and just wanted to move along.

Automatically her legs began to work and she followed after him, but her mind wasn't focusing quite right. She was contemplating why he would reject her like that, it seemed completely out of the ordinary, since he had actually welcomed and allowed it when they were holding hands earlier...

But, that was before he had 'given up' on her. She had to remind herself of that.

Akari hummed to herself quietly. Maybe he was being more serious than she thought. Maybe this really meant something to him, and he was trying to make some sort of point. She suddenly wondered, if he was actually, truly, hurt... or, or even heartbroken?

Her legs became heavy as her thoughts went back to the time when Mrs. Igarashi had spoken to her - telling her to be careful with Tora. Had she... not been careful? Was he really done with her? Where was this going, what would this mean for... them... was there even a 'them' in the first place?

Sure, they knew each other well by now. They'd had sex a couple times, among other things... but nothing was official with them. Nothing was set in stone. In fact, their relationship status wasn't even mentioned aloud. She really had no idea what to label them as, and maybe that's what had Tora so frustrated as well.

Tora stopped walking and looked back at her, his tone neutral as he asked, "Are you coming, or should I not wait for you?"

Still a few feet behind him, Akari sped up and tried to appear as unaffected as he seemed. "I'm following behind you, aren't I?"

"You're walking rather slowly." He announced, waiting for her to catch up to him.

Once she was at his side again, the two of them continued to walk, but in silence. He simply stared straight ahead, and she knew he was consciously aware that she was right there next to him, but he was acting like he wasn't. She allowed herself several peeks up at him, tracing the lines of his face with her eyes carefully, so that she could try to read his thoughts and feelings again.

His was a face that was never open to read from, though - at least not when he didn't want it to be. She studied the line of his lips, the bridge of his nose, the edge of his chin and the look in his eyes. Everything was smooth and perfect - his brow wasn't furrowed, his lips were set in a lazy way, all of his features were completely relaxed.

It was really bothering her. She could not tell anything about him when he masked his features like this, but her heart was telling her that he was serious about what he had said, and thoroughly upset... maybe even disappointed with her.

Had she let him down, in some way? Had he always been expecting something of her?'

Akari clenched her hands into fists, her nails biting deeply into her palms. Since then... he'd been acting different. Distant. They were just out walking around now - herself, Tora, Yukimura, Kanou - and Tora seemed to be robotic and automatic in everything he did. No, actually, it was more fitting to say that he was pretending to be a certain part in a play... he was acting. He was faking his way through the rest of the evening.

Although he did stay by her and her friend's side, Tora might as well have just not been with them anyway. When he wasn't acting invisible, excluding himself from the group as if he weren't there with them, then he was answering questions dully yet politely, with the occasional fake smile added on for show. He never looked at Akari directly anymore - and if their eyes accidentally met, (like just now), he wouldn't stare at her for long.

She grit her teeth, making a sudden 'tch' sound. It irked her.

That infuriating, intoxicating, frustratingly idiotic tiger had her completely baffled, lost in a swirling mess of confusion, and she did not like it one bit. Too many times this had already happened with him - her thoughts would get muddled as he played all sorts of mind games with her - and - and...

And she wasn't going to cave this time! Nope. She was not going to fall for whatever trick this was. If this was all one of his tricks, then, well, she simply refused to risk falling for it.

But then, what if it wasn't? How could it possibly be a trick, when he was reacting so strongly about it?

Reacting strongly by pushing her aside and -

- speaking to other girls, apparently.

Akari stiffened and nearly hissed like a cat when she saw that Tora was currently in the middle of speaking to two girls. When had they approached him?

"Akari...?" Kanou leaned over her, a droplet of sweat forming on his temple when he saw the glare in her eyes. "Uh..."

She ignored her friend, opening up her ears to the conversation between Tora and whoever he was talking to at the moment.

"...I knew it! I just knew I'd seen you somewhere before!" One of the girls squealed happily. It would seem she had an eccentric, excitable type of personality. (She was practically jumping up and down in glee) "So you are him!"

Tora's reply was a simple one. "Yes, I am." He then brought forth his winning smile, definitely putting on the charm. "I must say, it pleases me to know that two lovely women such as yourselves have taken notice of me."

The eccentric one blushed prettily and continued squealing utter nonsense. Meanwhile, her friend returned Tora's smile with a smooth one of her own. She twirled a lock of hair between her fingers as she asked, "Of course we would notice you... you're an Igarashi."

Was it just Akari, or did this girl have an unnecessary sexy note in her voice?! Every word from her had a suggestive undertone to it.

Tora kept up the act. His smile broadened. "Oh? Do you have an interest in my family? Perhaps you know of our business?"

The superficial girl (for that was what Akari was deciding to call her, since she gave off that sort of feeling) raised both eyebrows high. "Know of it? Of course. The Igarashi Foundation is highly successful, anyone with ears would have heard of it somewhere."

"Yep yep~! I've definitely heard of it!" The other girl cut in, raising her hand into the air enthusiastically.

Akari's face started to shade in pink when she watched Tora take a step closer to the excited teen. "Have you now?" His voice was lower than before, his face the definition of handsome as his eyes glinted in amusement. And, as he leaned over the girl a bit more, she squeaked and blushed helplessly, while Akari's face darkened from pink to a deep, burning red.

Tora then gave his most gentlemanly smile, his eyes closing pleasantly as he did so. "I'm glad. We've worked hard to become well-known to the public."

While the excitable girl was catching her breath and trying not to faint, the superficial girl was eyeing Tora like a hungry lioness would eye a piece of meat. Her glossed lips pursed as she watched him with her friend, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, she rested her hand on his upper arm - and then slid her fingers down slowly, until they encircled his wrist. Tora looked back at her, and it appeared as if he had expected such an action.

"You didn't come here with anyone?" She asked in a hopeful tone, eyelids lowering as she met his gaze.

While waiting for Tora's answer, Akari bit her tongue and chewed on it to keep herself from yelling out what she so desperately wanted to - but things like 'Don't touch him so easily!' or 'Back off, he's with me!' immediately came to mind as she watched this little scene play out. She leaned backwards and took hold of the sleeve of Kanou's sweatshirt, needing to ground herself, to tie herself to something. There was an ugly feeling building up inside of her and she didn't like it one bit.

She watched Tora desperately, silently wishing that he'd look at her instead. Yukimura and Kanou pressed closer to her, obviously worried and trying to get her to say something, but she wasn't keen on listening to them.

The Igarashi heir licked his lips and allowed the girl to keep hold of his wrist - he even let her pull him closer to her. "What's your name?" He finally asked, a playful smirk appearing on his face.

---

Familiar old feelings, like boredom and disgust, were beginning to come back to Tora as he spoke with the two strangers who had approached him.

The one was far too excitable - he hated that type, because the squealing hurt his ears. And half of what she was saying didn't even make sense.

And the other...

She was egotistical and shallow, that much was obvious with the way she flaunted her looks and spoke of his family name. She looked at him and saw a choice opportunity, not a man, not a person, but a way to earn something - and for her, any sort of merit would do. Be it sex or money, she just wanted to be satisfied for once in her life. He could tell, because these were the easiest sort of people to read.

She was just like all the women he used to use and throw away in the past, before he met Ayuzawa.

These types of women - it was these types of women that were the cause of his deep sense of boredom, and his constant need to be fully satisfied. They were the reason he had stuck to the belief that money can buy you anything, because they sold themselves to him. They were submissive and allowed him to do as he pleased with them, the temptation of money always pulling them in.

He hated these types of women.

However...

"What's your name?" He smirked, knowing that a certain silver-eyed girl was watching him.

An eccentric girl and an egocentric girl... how did he get so lucky? They were the perfect two to help him to get even further under Akari's skin... Or perhaps, just the egocentric one would do. (He didn't know if he could manage being around the excitable, weird one any more)

"Suzuki Yurina." The girl breathed on him - for they were close enough now that she could do that - and a small, devious smile was planted on her lips.

Tora chanced a glance over at Akari. She was staring at them, her face a dark red, her eyes wide, her whole demeanor completely undone.

Good.

Leaning over the girl currently trying to tempt him, Tora snatched his wrist away from her and placed his hand on her shoulder instead. He pushed in on her, brought his lips close to her ear, and whispered. "Well, Suzuki Yurina, I have a proposition for you... and if you behave and do as I say, I can promise you a reward."

She froze up, not expecting things to go quite like this. But when he said the word 'reward', he knew he had her. She also leaned closer to him, and whispered back, "What kind of reward, hm?"

Tora pulled away and chuckled. Keeping his voice just low enough so that Akari couldn't hear, he replied smoothly. "Exactly how much money can your wallet hold, Suzuki-san?"

The girl's eyes widened. "...Are you saying..."

"Whatever amount it can hold, I'll double it -"

"What do you want me to do."

---

Earlier in the day, when UxMishi had been on their last song of the evening and Tora and Akari had returned to her group of friends, Aika and Ryuunosuke had disappeared into the crowd to find the band members after the concert was over, so that they could initiate what they were calling their 'brilliant scarf plan'.

They still hadn't returned yet.

And presently, Akari deeply regretted ever letting them leave. Because she needed Aika with her right now. She needed that girl's foul language and insults to chase away the newest member of their small group - Yurina.

But if she couldn't have Aika, then God should at least give her Kai, right? Kai, who had also separated from the group after the concert (to once again chase after girls) could help to distract her from Yurina and Tora, by harassing her as he always did.

Damn it! WHY WEREN'T EITHER OF THEM HERE RIGHT NOW?! She needed them! Either one or both would do!

"Oh Tora-kun, you're so funny!" Yurina's perfect laughter passed through both of Akari's ears. She involuntarily twitched as Tora's laughter joined in.

"Thank you, Yurina-san." His voice was all velvety smoothness.

Could this situation be any more annoying?!

"You know," Came a seductive tone in answer. "You can drop the 'san', if you like..."

Akari felt a pang hit deep inside her. He's not really going to -

"Hm. You'd like that, wouldn't you... Yurina?" She peeked over at him in shock, only to find him turned away from her and facing the other girl, and leaning a bit too close to her...

Smacking both of her hands to her cheeks, Akari started shaking her head back and forth rapidly. And she didn't stop. Because maybe, just maybe, she could get rid of that itchy feeling of jealousy this way. A mantra was repeating in her head, 'No, no, no, baka, baka tiger! No, no, no, gaaahhhhhh!'

"Akari-san! Come over here, look at Kanou!" Yukimura suddenly appeared by her side, gently taking both her hands in each of his and pulling her in a certain direction. It snapped her out of it before Tora could see her (thank God) and she blinked as she looked down at Yukimura. His smile was bright but in his eyes she saw his concern for her.

"Some girls from Seika found him and put this cute hat on him - come and see!" He insisted, trying to pull her away from where Tora and Yurina were standing.

Akari tilted her head to the side. Cute hat? 'Yukimura... I don't think that helps your 'manly image' much...'

He led her up to a stall filled with hats and mittens and other winter clothing items. Except they weren't just plain clothes - they had animal designs on them, and the hats themselves were even made to look like animals. They had the faces of animals knitted into them - there were frogs and panda bears, koalas and kitties and -

Her eyes caught sight of a tiger hat - complete with ears on top and fuzzy-looking stripes. A sly smirk crossed over her face as she looked at it. "I know Tora would never wear that in a million years, but I would so love to see that..."

Yukimura suddenly tugged on her coat, pointing at something. "Look, there he is!"

Curiously, Akari looked over to where the boy was pointing, and her eyes slowly widened at the sight she took in.

"Pfft~" She placed a hand to her mouth, trying to withhold her laughter.

Bunnies. The stall also had bunny animal hats, as she could currently see...

A few paces away stood Kanou, awkwardly wearing a bunny on his head. He had his hands placed deep into his sweatshirt pockets and it appeared as if he was trying his best to hide behind his glasses. Three cute girls fluttered around him like little buzzing bees, complimenting him and speaking of how he always looks so good dressed up like a bunny.

And Akari just had to admit it out loud as well.

"Kanou!" She called over to him, and he looked up sharply with a startled, tortured expression in his eyes. She could not withhold her smile. "You're the most adorable bunny rabbit I've ever seen."

There was clear devastation written all over his face at that sweet comment.

Akari just had to laugh now - really, just look at him! Awww.. he looked like such a sad little bunny... but quite adorable indeed. The hat he had on was white in color and looked to be made out of very warm cotton. It slid over his ears in a nice fit, and at the place just above his forehead was the mouth of the bunny, above that, a pink nose, and then two wide eyes. It was very cartoonish and was something you would see a kid, or a girl who has a fetish for cute things, wearing.

The best part of all were the ears. One of them sort of stuck up at a right angle, while the other was drooping and hung low, reflecting Kanou's mood. And while the bunny's face was cute, Kanou's was even cuter - he was blushing profusely, his eyes were bright with an embarrassed look in their blue depths, and he was sweating a little bit.

"Kanou-saaan~" The three girls chimed. "You're soooo KAWAII!"

"Maybe we could put a fluffy tail on you, too!"

"Oooo, do they have those here?!"

Noticing the way he looked at the ground and blushed even further, something of a scowl on his face, Akari stopped her laughing for a moment so that she could pity him. Poor thing, he really was uncomfortable around females. And his pride as a guy was taking a definite hit right now as well.

She jolted when Yukimura suddenly addressed her. "You think you could help him out, Akari-san?" He rubbed a hand behind his head and laughed in an uneasy way. "I was going to try to... but I was afraid they'd dress me up too." He blushed guiltily.

Akari's smile widened and she patted him on the head. "Don't worry, I got this." She turned and walked over to where Kanou stood in the midst of his 'admirers'.

When she broke through the group and stood in front of him, holding onto his arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze, the three girls paused their chit chat about bunny tails in order to look at her oddly. Akari continued smiling (it would seem after seeing Kanou like this, she couldn't quite stop.)

"Sorry, but could you maybe leave my friend alone now?" She asked, as politely as she could. "This sort of attention is making him uncomfortable."

The girls blinked at her, and said nothing.

"Um..." She tried again. "You know, I mean, he does look good in the bunny hat, but since you've seen him in it and had your fun, he can take it off now right?"

The girls remained quiet. And then, one of them looked between her and Kanou, and suddenly frowned.

"Kanoouuu-saaan," She whined. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend..."

Akari and Kanou both went rigid when they heard this.

"Guh -" Was all Kanou could manage to say, sweating even more now.

"There's been some sort of misunderstanding -" Akari tried to explain it in more words than 'Guh', but it wasn't really working any better.

"Awwww and I though this whole time that he was single!" The girl continued to complain, pouting.

"Really? I kind of thought he was... gay..." Another girl giggled, blushing.

"Yeah, me too! I always thought, he and Yukimura would make the sweetest couple!"

"You thought that too?! So did I!"

"I can totally see Yukimura as the uke and Kanou as the seme~!"

"EH?!" Kanou managed another useless syllable, but no words.

As this continued on, with him standing completely frozen and Akari trying to talk some sense into the three girls, things began to look hopeless. When talk of ukes and semes ceased, talk of Kanou's 'girlfriend' once again started up. And the more Akari tried to help out Kanou, the more the girls became convinced that she really was his girlfriend, and then the misunderstanding jumped from girlfriend to lover, for whatever strange reason..

"Tell me, TELL ME!" Akari was being shaken by one of the girls. "Is Kanou-san good in bed? IS HE?!"

"Pah - wah - wh-at?!" Gasping, Akari tried to formulate an answer, but the girl had really gotten a good grip on her shoulders and just wouldn't stop shaking her. "H-how would I kno - wwa - bout th- at?!" The girl shook her back and forth even more vigorously, and Akari felt she might throw up.

"You two are lovers in the night, riiight? So what I'm asking is - is he good in be -"

That question was cut off abruptly when a hand shot out between the two girls, wrapped around Akari's arm, and yanked her away harshly.

She stumbled backwards until her back rested against the chest of whoever saved her from a bad case of whip-lash, and as soon as Akari felt familiar lips on the back of her arm, she realized just who her savior was...

"T-TORA?!" She cried out, a little disoriented, but she was able to notice that his teeth were on her forearm and he was biting her. She squinted uncomfortably, not able to do much more than watch as he bent his head down and bit into her skin, and then his tongue licked over the bite, until he stopped to suck on it lightly. He made a big show of it, too - allowing his tongue to lick out past his lips and across her skin, so that people could clearly see what he was doing.

Again? AGAIN with this?! Again he was giving her a hickey in front of other people?! That lecherous idiot!

When Tora pulled away and straightened up, Kanou and the three girls' eyes all widened, landing on the mark that was left, small and red, on the back of Akari's arm. Taking her arm away from him and jerking out of his grasp, Akari clamped a hand below her elbow, covering where the newly formed hickey was.

"You -" She muttered darkly while glaring at him, but Tora wasn't looking at her.

He raised an eyebrow at the three startled girls, smirking in a daring sort of fashion.

"Uhh..." One of them stepped back, obviously flustered by such a gesture.

"I guess... it's obvious now that we were wrong..." Another said, also stepping back.

"Kanou-san is definitely not her lover.. however, this guy..." The third joined her friends in retreating, and soon, the three of them were gone.

Huffing in disbelief, Akari realized that it was Tora's plan to chase them off like that. She grabbed his arm, since he still wasn't noticing her. "Hey!"

Golden eyes met hers almost immediately, startling her so badly that she released her hold on him.

"Hn?" He responded with a sound of question - nothing more.

Staring at him and looking into his eyes, Akari tried to find the reasoning behind what he'd just done that for, chasing those girls off that way. However, she found no answers - just beautiful, sinister gold.

"Ah... Akari?"

Turning towards the sound of Kanou's voice, she lost all thoughts about Tora's reasoning in an instant when she saw the bunny hat again.

"You really are damn cute in that hat, Kanou." She said honestly before he could thank her, which caused him to clamp his mouth shut and blush vermilion.

Laughing a breath out through her nose, Akari blinked, suddenly remembering Tora. She turned back to confront him -

- but he had already turned around and walked away. She felt anger bubble up in her chest, but a sense of confusion then began to replace it.

"Just why did he feel the need to..." She murmured to herself, eyes narrowing as she watched him walk up to Yurina and rejoin her in conversation. "...if he has given up on me..."

She gripped her arm tighter where he'd left his mark on her, wondering what could possibly be going on inside that head of his.

---

The sky had darkened further as the sun disappeared behind the clouds and started to set, so the only thing that was lighting the way through crowds of people and stalls were the lanterns strung above. The group of five walked here and there; checking out different stalls, buying little gifts, entering small contests and simply enjoying their time at the festival while it lasted.

Akari closed her eyes, letting out a soft breath of air. Occasionally, his voice could be heard almost too clearly inside her head: "I give up."

Okay, that was really gnawing at her nerves, even though she was doing her best to ignore it. But that's not the only thing she was trying to ignore - Yurina was really getting her annoyed - and she couldn't even do anything about it! The woman hung all over Tora, giggling, playing with his hair; and Tora would sometimes lean over and whisper things to her, which drove Akari crazy because she had no idea what he was saying to her, so her imagination was coming up with all sorts of... ideas.

She turned away from the two of them, glancing over her shoulder and seeing Tora allow the girl to rest her head on his arm. Really, it infuriated her how this 'Yurina' person could just leave her sweet (but eccentric) friend alone at the festival, just so she could hang all over Tora instead. Akari would never abandon her friends like that, not even for a hot guy, or money... or even free food! She wouldn't do it for anything.

So why had this woman done so, huh? Akari couldn't understand how someone could be so mindlessly self-absorbed.

"Heeeeyyy Maaanaa-chan~!"

She jumped, feeling a heavy hand land on her shoulder.

Spinning around hopefully, she was met with the sight of Kai's smirking face. "Kai!" She smiled, then suddenly scowled, and thumped him on the head angrily. "Where have you been?"

Laughing a great deal more than usual, he held up the hand he hadn't placed on her shoulder - in it, he held three bottles. "I found alcohol~!" He sang cheerily.

Akari eyed the bottles, wondering where the hell he had gotten them. "Uh, okay, I guess..." She looked at his happy, drunken appearance, and sighed. "it's sad to think, but you've probably been having a better time than me..."

He cocked his head to the side, and then pulled her closer to him, pushing all three bottles against her chest. "D'juwanna drink then?"

She was about to say a very firm 'no' in answer, when behind her she heard Tora sweet-talking Yurina again.

"I already figured out that you must work out," He was saying, and she knew he must be smirking when he announced shamelessly, "You have a nice ass."

Yurina's laugh filled the air. "Oh? You've been looking back there, you naughty boy... but you have a nice one yourself, I've noticed. You must work out too, right? I mean, look at those arm muscles... oh, and I can only imagine what must be beneath that coat..."

Akari forcibly grabbed onto one of the bottles, ripping it from Kai's grasp. "Kai, go find Kanou. I'm going to need someone I trust keeping a close eye on me..."

---

His plans had been running smoothly - until Kai had showed up again... and everyone started drinking, thanks to that dirty blonde idiot.

Tora himself didn't take a sip of alcohol that was offered to him. He wasn't about to accept a drink from someone he didn't like, nor trust, and also - he only ever tasted the finest brands of beverages. He wasn't about to taint his mouth with some cheap beer, and he preferred wine anyway.

After their small group sat done and had some drinks together, the atmosphere changed and everyone started to act differently. Yukimura was quite the sight to see - Kai had gotten the kid to start drinking by saying it wasn't very manly to not accept a drink offered by another man, and now the boy was drunk and acting as if he was a ten-year-old school girl in his intoxicated state; giggling, cuddling, and making comments about cute things. He was also sniffling and whining a great deal as well, which got on Tora's nerves.

Yurina had gotten rather handsy after a few drinks - always grabbing at his ass when he wasn't expecting it, which was another thing that was really beginning to piss him off. Tora didn't want her touching him, he wanted...

He glanced over at Akari right then, who was being stopped from taking another drink by Kanou.

Oh, that's right. Tora and the glasses boy were the only two who where completely sober.

"Tch." Tora faced the other direction, not wishing to see Akari being smothered by other men. He had a hunch the glasses kid was in charge of watching her alcohol intake, but so far he'd done a pretty shitty job of stopping her from sneaking down more beer. Maybe the guy secretly wanted her drunk, since it was easier to flirt with her that way, or take advantage of -

Golden eyes widened, and he pushed off the bench he was sitting on, a drunken Yurina toppling over since she had been leaning on him.

"Eh? Tor -"

"Give me a moment." He hissed, leaving her there as he walked up to the wall Akari was currently leaning against, Kanou (being cuddled by Yukimura) right by her side. She was currently pushing her hands against the taller boy's face, trying to keep him away from the bottle of alcohol tucked under her arm.

When Akari noticed Tora approaching, she gave him a glare that most definitely said 'go away!', and she shouted out those exact words as he grabbed onto the bottle she was about to take a swig from.

Tora ignored her, taking the bottle and chucking it over his shoulder without a care of where it landed or who it may hit. His eyes narrowed and zeroed in on Kanou, who was blinking at him blankly, with one of the lenses of his glasses smeared from Akari's fingers.

"You're supposed to keep her from drinking too much." Tora finally uttered, after having stared for a while. "Could it be you're really so bad at doing that? Or are you clever enough to know that women in drunken states are the easiest targets?"

Kanou's sapphire eyes widened behind his glasses, and he opened his mouth to immediately reject the idea of him ever laying his hands on a vulnerable woman, but Akari quickly cut him off before he could start.

"Oh leave my friends alone! I've only had not much more than half a bottle by now, he's keeping me in check so lay off." She muttered this last part in a quieter tone, "Baka Igarashi..."

Tora felt anger grip him like a cold, metal vice. His brow twitched in annoyance. "Keeping you in check? You're obviously drunk, Michiyo."

"I am not - like I said, I've only had a bit more than half a bottle!" Akari's gaze was burning, along with her rosy cheeks. "Stop ordering us around, Igarashi."

"I will order around whoever I damn well please." Tora griped, taking a step closer and causing Yukimura to hold tighter to Kanou in fear.

"Uhh..." Kanou murmured softly, uncertain about the fight that had taken form out of nowhere. He clamped his mouth shut, feeling as if he were caught between two lions wrestling for dominance in the wild.

"What is your problem?!" Akari shouted, not caring who heard or looked her way. Her attention was completely focused on Tora now. "You've been letting your... Yurina... person, drink as much as she wants, so I don't see why I can't do the same!"

"Unlike you, she can handle herself like a true woman." Tora growled lowly, a sneer in his expression. "It's not her in a drunken state that causes me concern, it's you." His eyes moved between her and Kanou, suspicion easily noted in his gaze. "I don't know what you'd do."

"WHY -" She blurted out, stepping closer to him until they were inches apart. "- would you be worried about me, when you've been hanging all over her for the past few hours! Obviously, I'm the last person on your mind! I suppose it's just like what you said, she's more of a woman than I am. I mean, of course she is, she has a better figure and is good at acting all seductive and -" Akari ground her teeth together and swallowed hard. "- and that's it, I guess. She's the better option than me. So I don't know why you are currently wasting your time and attention on me."

Tora desperately wanted to grab onto her shoulders and shake her back and forth in order to knock some sense into her. Did she not understand that it was all an act? Should he tell her now? Or continue to wait and see how the rest of this would play out? He was finally getting to notice how jealous she had become, he was finally getting the desired reaction out of her - maybe the alcohol had loosened her tongue up a bit. Maybe things would work out in his favor after all.

"Akari -" Tora started, his voice several notes smoother and calmer than before. And just as he was about to ask her a question, something hit him from behind. That something, after colliding with the middle of his spine, fell to the ground, where the sound of shattering glass against pavement made its way through the thick tension in the air.

"There, now we're even." Kai's deep tones sounded from behind. "THAT'S for throwing a half-empty bottle of alcohol at my head. Fuckin' jerk."

Slowly, very slowly, Tora pivoted on his heels and turned to face the nuisance who had dared to throw something at him while his back was turned.

Maybe it was the strong sense of jealousy he had been feeling while watching Akari interact so casually with other boys, or perhaps it was because of the simple fact that her friends thoroughly annoyed him, but right then Tora felt the overwhelming urge to lose all sense of himself and just take out his frustration on somebody.

And Kai was the perfect candidate for that.

"I should warn you," Tora began to unbutton his coat and remove himself from its warm confines. "that now, because of that," His tone was a calm, harsh threat. "I have to wipe that smug smirk off your face."

Kai's smirk widened even more upon hearing that. "Y'know, I never have liked the look on your face, either. Though I know a much better way to bother you than by simply kicking your ass."

With those words, and a surprising amount of speed and accuracy for someone so drunk, the dirty blonde moved past Tora, grabbed hold of Akari's face, and gave her a wet smooch, right on the mouth.

The unpleasant kiss didn't last long because Kanou put a protective hand on Akari's shoulder and helped her to pull away, but it was just enough for Kai to be looking mighty satisfied with himself, and Tora to have his possessive side taking over out of his own control.

"Don't touch me." Kai grumbled in Tora's direction, just as he had his arm caught in a firm grip. Ignoring the other's objections and demands of release, Tora backed the idiot up a few steps and leaned in close, his glare one that could rival any real tiger's.

"Oi, hands off, chump! I said not to touch me!" Kai raised his voice to a shout and repeated in angry, and somewhat frightened, desperation - "I said not to touch me, get off!"

"You just made a mistake." Tora expressed his words in a low, feral growl, his glare deepening and his grip tightening.

"Back off dude!" Kai was huffing and struggling, squirming around in Tora's hold. He lifted up his fist to try to throw a punch, but Tora's free hand came up and caught the fist, grabbing it in such a strong grip that the knuckles began to pop uncomfortably. Kai winced. "Shit man, that hurts! What are you trying to do, cut off my circulation or break my hand or somethin'?!"

Golden eyes had darkened in an almost deadly sort of way. "That would be the least of it."

'Nobody touches what's mine.' His mind growled inside his head. He could allow her friends to be around her, even hug her, but kissing was crossing a line.

"Tora."

Both young men paused upon hearing that voice, that tone. It was almost too quiet to be heard, but the amount of vigor put into that one word, that one name, was enough for them to know how pissed off she was.

Regardless, Tora didn't feel intimidated, therefore he didn't release Kai from his painful grip. He barely cast a bored glance over his shoulder. "Yes? What do you want?" His voice had an edge to it that clearly said not to bother him at the moment.

Of all the things to happen, Akari's mouth dropped open, her jaw hanging loosely. And for once, instead of going into a frenzy, she simply lowered her voice to even quieter, yet scarier levels. "What the hell is wrong with you? Let him go."

Tora swiftly looked her up and down, and sent her a half-smirk. "No need to be so tense. I'm simply having a nice chat with one of your good friends."

When she next spoke, there was a lot more bite to her words. "No, you are hurting one of my good friends. Did you not hear me just now? I said to let him go." When he made no move to comply, her voice went up in volume. "NOW."

Releasing Kai's arm as slowly as possible, Tora straightened up and turned around fully, facing her. He met Akari's icy gaze with a burning one of his own, and the two stared at each other for a solid minute; harsh metallic gold clashing and then melding with strict pewter blue. The look they shared was filled with an intensity that held all sorts of different emotions, but neither of them spoke anything aloud.

He had been watching Akari be surrounded by other men all day, and he had finally reached his limit. She was just lucky he hadn't snapped any necks yet. The worst he'd done just now is given Kai a nice bruise on his arm, and possibly sprained a few of his fingers. If you asked Tora though, he himself wasn't in the wrong here. That multi-personality idiot was the one who decided to aggravate him.

And doesn't everyone know that you should never poke at a tiger with a stick?

"What's your problem?" Were the first words that Akari said to break the steady silence between them.

Tora settled for rolling his eyes. "Well, that disgrace you call your 'friend' has been annoying me throughout this entire day. I've been watching him treat you inappropriately - he hangs all over you. He just kissed you in order to get on my last nerve, and, obviously, it worked very well for him." He kept his tone as emotionless as possible, as if he didn't really care when, in actuality, he did care. He was frustrated and furious and wanted to take Akari with him somewhere private in order to leave his mark everywhere on her body. He wanted the possessive word 'mine' stamped onto her skin. Permanently.

"Really, Tora," Akari shook her head at his words. "you sound like a petulant child. You nearly broke his arm just because he annoys you... what kind of lousy excuse is that?" She sighed, looking away from his gaze and down at the ground. "Get over it, baka. It's not like it's easy for me either - I've been watching you flirt with Yurina, and she hangs all over you. If I can deal with it, then you sure as hell can too, so just get over it already."

When she glanced back up at him after saying all of this, she noticed that he was smiling wryly. "What?" Her voice cracked a little as she spoke, since she was not quite sure what to think of his sudden change in demeanor.

"I know I'm not dealing with it very well, but I don't think you're dealing with it too perfectly either." He explained in a vague sort of way.

Uneasily, Akari met his gaze. "If you're trying to say something, just go ahead and -"

"What you've basically just admitted to me is that, just like I have become jealous of the men around you, you have become jealous of the women around me." As he interrupted her, the wryness of his grin spread to his eyes. He was gazing at her knowingly, as if he knew some sort of secret that he was never supposed to find out about. "Admit it. It bothers you, seeing me with another woman."

Wanting nothing more than to wipe that look off his face, Akari jutted out her chin and made sure her voice was firm when she gave him her answer. "Why are you assuming there's anything to admit? I'll only tell you this once - it doesn't bother me."

Tora cocked his head to the side. "You don't care?" He taunted, eyes gleaming dangerously yellow, then bronze, then yellow again; switching colors underneath the glow of the swaying lanterns above, and appearing as if they were flickering like an amber fire.

In response to that question, Akari seemed to laugh a bit, as if the idea was just too absurd. "Why should I care? You're not my boyfriend or anything, so -"

"That's quite enough," Tora stopped her there, cutting off whatever her next words were going to be by raising a hand. Then, he turned in a different direction and called out with a smooth, beckoning voice. "Yurina."

Moving from her place on the bench where she had so patiently been waiting for him, Yurina Suzuki came sauntering over and quickly wrapped an arm around Tora's back and rested it along his hips, moving in close to him. Her eyes met Akari's and seemed to be challenging her. A tic went off in Akari's clenched jaw, but she said nothing.

Tora's expression was intense and had some kind of hidden meaning behind it as he addressed Akari. "So you really wouldn't mind if I did this, then?"

Before Akari could attempt to figure out the meaning of his expression, or the meaning of his words, Tora made his move. In a swift motion, he grabbed Yurina by the waist, tugged her even closer to him, and -

He scowled into the kiss, tasting beer on his tongue as he moved it around skillfully inside of the girl's mouth - unexpectedly, she grabbed his ass and squeezed, but he ignored that. As he deeply kissed Yurina, allowing her to grope him and smile against his lips, Tora kept his eyes on Akari, gauging her reaction the whole time.

Eyes currently colored amber in the dim lighting, stared meaningfully, as if searching for something. Silver eyes, tinted with blue, returned the gaze... in pure, utter, startled shock.

"Tora... kissing..." Akari felt her heart drop, and her throat begin to close up in disbelief. For a moment it seemed like, in her eyes, the world had come to a standstill and the only two people still moving were Tora and Yurina - with her manicured hands pushing past his shirt and up his arms and back over to grab at his ass - and his lips touching to hers, pressing, biting, licking. "Someone else..."

Satisfied with the broken look in Akari's eyes, since that proved his point, Tora removed Yurina's arms from around himself and broke the kiss. She looked a bit dazed, so he handed her off to Kai - who was still standing by, nursing his badly bruised arm.

When he turned back to face Akari, he saw that glasses boy was already trying to comfort her. Tora frowned as he watched.

"Uh... hey... um..." Kanou placed a hand on the top of her head, and Akari blinked at the soft touch. "Are you okay?" He mumbled in awkward concern.

This time immediately kicking into her defense mode, Akari nodded, moved away from her friend's touch, and kept her stare on Tora. She was glaring in full force at him, and he would have winced had he not seen it coming.

Overly frustrated at the moment, and with pent up rage and other emotions that she had to get out of her system, she grabbed the half-drunk can of beer Yukimura was clutching loosely in his hand, pushed past Tora, and walked away from their small group in a hurry.

Everyone, Yurina included, stared after her in silence, and no one made any sort of move to follow. Realizing how tense his shoulders had become, Tora relaxed his body and smoothly ran a hand through his bangs. He gave a subtle nod to Yurina, telling her without words that her work here was done. He had already payed her in advance, so she returned the nod with a devious sort of grin, knowing she'd done her job... maybe a little too well.

Since that was settled, he addressed Akari's friends in a calm manner. "Why don't you all head towards where they'll be having the bonfire? The sky is dark, so they should be starting that soon enough."

Without waiting to hear anyone's response, Tora grabbed his coat from where it lay, threw it on, and went off in the same direction his prize had gone.

---

Akari huffed in pure irritation as she walked. She just needed some time to herself. And maybe, so did Tora. Yeah, they both needed time alone, they needed to be apart... so that she could really start to think about things - about them.

Not for the first time that evening, his words repeated in her head. "I give up on you."

Well, what the hell did that even mean? Between the time when he had said that and now, everything had gotten really, really confusing. He didn't expand on that 'I give up' thing at all. Saying he was giving up on her should send across a very clear message, but she didn't get it. Either she couldn't come to believe it, or he was being too vague, or both. Also, he wasn't just being vague about it, he was contradicting that statement by worrying about her and acting as if he still cared.

Once you give up on something, you are no longer supposed to care about it.

Akari quickened her pace and took a sip from her can of beer - the bitterness of it tended to burn her throat on the way down, and even though she hated the taste she enjoyed the way it warmed her from deep inside her stomach. Trying to get a grip on herself, she closed and opened her eyes in a slow blink, took a deep breath in, and then tilted her head up to watch as she let the carbon dioxide out of her lungs and into the cold air to create a miniature white cloud.

Well, that helped her to calm down at least, but she still couldn't get a grip on her mind or emotions.

She was starting to over-think everything, wondering why Tora had invited Yurina to hang out with them in the first place. Could it really be that he felt hurt, and was using some random girl to get back at her? She wondered if he was upset with her, and if he were, then maybe that was why he kissed that girl. What kind of emotions was he feeling, that would cause him to do something like that? He had to be jealous, at least that's how she thought he had been acting. Guys - no, people in general do stupid things when they're feeling jealous or threatened.

Just how did Tora feel, about her? Was he upset, with her? As she continued to ask this, Akari also began to pester herself by turning the questions around on her as well. How did she feel, was she upset with him, was she upset with herself?

She took another drink. In her right mind, she knew she had to keep her head and stop freaking out. But her brain was having a long, on-going dispute with her heart, so keeping cool was much harder than just taking a few deep breaths... plus, the alcohol she'd been consuming was starting to loosen her up more and more. She could practically feel the blockage in her heart being unblocked, and the veil over her mind being lifted. Everything was coming to light now, emotions and thoughts and the feelings that linked the two together - but at least the flood gates hadn't opened up yet. She was not in the mood for dealing with tears.

Never did Akari know that alcohol could have this sort of effect. Instead of impairing her judgement, it was clearing it up, in a way. That is to say, it was loosening the parts of her mind that she didn't want loosened and it was opening up her heart. She felt scrambled, and couldn't decide if she liked it or loathed it; because it could either be a very freeing experience, or it could likely end in disaster.

"Dammit..." She muttered, realizing that the beer was almost gone as she went for another sip. "Why did Yukimura have to drink most of it... well, I guess he saved me from further intoxicating myself -"

"Akari -"

Feeling two hands on her shoulders, Akari was half-aware of being pulled out of the way just as she was about to walk into a standing poster of some sort advertising UxMishi merchandise. When she looked behind herself at the person who had called her name, her eyes met with Tora's own.

"I would think you'd at least know how to walk properly on your own." He told her sarcastically, eyebrow raised as if to question her sanity - or walking abilities.

She peered at him, inspecting him more closely to make sure he was really standing there. So... he had followed her. Hm.

Well, maybe it was possible to lose him in the crowd.

"I have nothing to say to you right now." Akari shook away from him, feeling suddenly overwhelmed, and she took to sprinting towards the massive school building, hoping that she could get away just so she could think for a while longer with no disturbances or distractions.

With a sigh, Tora watched her run and grumbled something like 'so damn stubborn' under his breath before following closely behind her.

---

He followed her through the crowds of people, past all the food stalls again, and right up to the very front of the school building. He had expected her to stop there, but then again she did have an unpredictable side to her, and before he could reach her she had entered the school through the front doors. Surprised to know the school wasn't locked up, Tora went in after her, hoping there weren't crowds of people inside the school as well so that he wouldn't lose track of her.

Inside, there were no people. Just lines of empty hallways, once you got past the spacious entryway. All the lights were turned off so everything was dark, but it was easy to see through the darkness because of the many square windows that had the lights from the festival shining through them. In such a large, empty area, Tora could clearly hear the distinct sounds of Akari's footsteps as they echoed along the shadows. Never once breaking his stride, he moved after the footsteps, up a flight of steps and onto the second level of the school.

Akari finished up the last of the beer as she ran, but she was soon finding out that drinking and running do not mix well. Her stomach was churning in sickening ways and she could smell the cheap beer on her breath as she panted, which made her feel nauseous. Her body was unbearably warm from the exercise and alcohol combined - in fact, it was heating up like there was a tiny furnace hiding within the depths of her coat. And in this disconcerted and semi-inebriated state, her composure seemed to be lost, and she became desperate to go outside again and feel the winter air on her skin.

While searching for a door that would lead her back outside again, her mind began to wander, just like she was, all over the place.

It was frustrating her to very great extents that she was getting so worked up about it, about herself and Tora and what they are or what they could be - because she knows that while she does care about him, there are moments when she also cannot stand him (like right now, for example), which means that a part of her should be happy that he's, apparently, finally giving up on her.

Yeah, she should be rejoicing about it, actually!

Because Tora Igarashi is infuriating. He's dominant, lecherous, manipulative, insincere, dastardly, selfish. Pure demon spawn. Evil.

But then... He's also very gentlemanly at times, occasionally sweet, honest when he wants to be, thoughtful, charming, and surprisingly understanding, since he's so knowledgeable.

"...Damn..." Akari panted out a curse. She always came back to this pros and cons list whenever she thought about him, and it was quite irritating, because every con didn't seem so bad once she thought about the pros.

If she were to be completely honest with herself, right here right now in this moment, then she had to say she wanted to be in a relationship with Tora. That sudden realization hit her like a 100 ton weight. She wanted, probably more than anything else, to be in a real relationship with the imbecile tiger.

The one they had now was undefined - and she wanted them to have their own label. All this 'I give up on you' business... had made her come to terms with that. She already knew she loved him, but the word 'girlfriend' seemed so intimidating to her all this time. What if, as their relationship status changed, they themselves did too? What if one of them, or both of them, changed their minds once things got serious?

She supposed the thing that worried her most was the possibility of falling out of love with Tora, or him falling out of love with her. Strange how, without the influence of alcohol, she had never truly realized these deep fears before. Like, she always knew the fear and worries were there, but she never understood them until now.

Oh jeez, her mind was really a whirling mess. She herself was her very own disaster. And... hadn't she just internally admitted that Tora was indeed in love with her? If she was afraid that he would fall out of love with her, then didn't that mean she believed he currently did love her?

Frustration burst through her system - frustration at herself. Why the hell had it taken her this long to consider that his feelings for her were real? Despite all his honesty and the way he opened up to her, she still had doubts for the longest time! Was she really that obstinate? Apparently so. Thinking back on everything now, it was more than apparent that he wanted her. He had provided enough proof, but she had been consistently trying to act blind to it.

But then again, he had also recently told her that he was giving up on her completely. When you love something, do you really let it go so easily? If he loved her, wouldn't he try even harder to win her over instead of giving up after only so many attempts?

When she really got down to seriously analyzing everything though... for him to say he's giving up, must mean that he had been trying in the first place. Giving up implies that there was something to give up - there was something that he was trying to get - and it was her. He wants her as his own, which must mean that he has true feelings for her. Maybe Tora was going by that saying: 'If you love something, set it free; if it comes back it's yours, if it doesn't, it never was.' If that was the case, then it was because he actually did love her, that he was giving up.

Akari felt as if her head was about to explode from thinking too hard, and her body felt fatigued as well; so she rejoiced when she randomly came across a pair of double doors. They appeared to lead out onto a large balcony, which hugged the outer rim of the school on the second floor. Sighing in relief and sweating like a pig, she pushed through the doors and stepped outside - eager to greet the icy breeze that pulled her from her pensive state and slapped her skin like a personified version of reality.

---

Now, Tora wouldn't say that his tracking abilities were sub par, but he also wouldn't go as far as to say that they were superb either.

He had thought he wasn't that far behind Akari, but when the sounds of her footsteps suddenly stopped, he felt the slightest bit unsure of himself. After walking aimlessly on the second floor for a few minutes, he eventually came across a set of double doors that were left wide open - giving away just where it was his prize had run off to.

"Akari..." Tora's words drifted away from him, his eyes widening a fraction when he stepped past the doors and out into the night air.

She was standing there with her back facing him, staring up at the sky and thoughtlessly tracing the railing of the balcony with her index finger. Her head turned in his direction when he called her name, and he slowly took in her appearance, his eyes blinking several times since the state she was in had caught him off guard.

Akari had rid herself of her coat, it lay on the ground somewhere close to Tora's feet. She had also rolled up the sleeves of her sweater, and he noticed with a raised brow that she had now begun to push said-sweater up her stomach, gradually showing more and more of her bare skin. This action, along with the look on her face, made desire build up from deep within him. Her cheeks were heated, her nose was slowly turning red from the cold, and her throat looked extremely appetizing with her hand running across it, pushing her hair back behind her neck. Their eyes met instantaneously, and he admired the way her gaze was shining a bright silver in the darkness of the night.

"Tora." When she spoke, her breath left her body in misty puffs of air. The temperature was definitely cold out. She must be freezing and yet, she had her sweater rolled up her abdomen and the sleeves rolled up her arms, with her skin left bare to the gentle but icy wind. She also had sweat glistening on her forehead as if she had some sort of fever.

Picking her coat up off the ground, he walked over to her as soon as he could re-find his voice. "Making you jealous, seeing you in such a drunken state - I'm glad I came to this festival after all." Tora set the coat over her shoulders and ran a hand down her neck, over the swell of her breasts, and down to her stomach... where he pulled her sweater back down to cover her up properly. He leaned over, and in her ear, whispered; "This is not the stripping festival, it's a winter festival. I suggest keeping your clothes were they belong - on your body."

Akari's breathing had started to even out after much panting, and she slowly began to process his words while he spoke to her in low, slightly amused tones. She felt his fingers gliding down her arms as he pulled the sleeves of her sweater in place, and blushed when he looked directly into her eyes. "Put your arms into your coat." He ordered briskly, holding up one of the sleeves for her to slide her arm into.

She made a light sound of indignation, but slowly obeyed the command anyway.

As Tora began to button up her coat, Akari stopped him by putting a hand on one of his. "Leave it open. It's too constricting when it's buttoned up..."

He smirked. "But what if you catch a cold?"

"What if you catch a cold?" Came the cool response, her face reddening further as she took in the sight of him. "Your coat's not buttoned all the way up - and your shirt collar is loose..."

As the words began to fade away, Tora eyed her carefully for a moment. "On a scale of one to ten, how clearly are you able to think right now?"

"...I'd like to say, seven?"

"I'm rounding down to six." His smirk widened when he saw her scowling. "You were just stripping in the middle of the cold weather season."

"I got hot." She mumbled, and smacked him before turning to face the other way. "Stop being such a dumbass."

Chuckling, he rested his hands against the railing of the balcony, leaning over it but turning his head to stare at her with great interest in his gaze. "You know, I don't believe I've ever seen you drunk before."

Akari looked over at him suspiciously. "You're enjoying this." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"I most certainly am." His tone was playful, but had a suggestive hint on the end of it as the image of her from just a few moments ago appeared in his mind again, and he smiled in approval.

Pointing an accusatory finger at him, Akari began to shout out. "You're thinking perverted thoughts, aren't you?!"

"That sort of thing may have crossed my mind, once or twice." Tora's voice deepened as he thought of running his hands up her bare stomach again. His smirk had an edge to it as he spoke honestly. "I think about it more than I'd like to admit."

"Stop smiling and smirking and - being a dumbass!" Akari's temper always seemed to flare when she saw his smirk.

He raised an eyebrow at her in mild curiosity. "Is that your new favorite word? 'Dumbass'?"

Pressing a hand to her head as she began to feel dizzy and exhausted from conversing with him, Akari leaned over against the railing as well. "Shut up, Igarashi..."

Tora's eyes glimmered in the dark as he stared at her in silence. For some reason, his mouth remained closed upon her request.

Akari sighed peacefully, glad he had actually decided to listen to her. She took to staring out at the black line of the horizon, her eyelids drooping as she observed the view. In a thicker part of the city in the distance, tall shadows of office buildings were outlined as modern mountains, and taillights and headlights from city cars and buses could be seen lighting up the darkened roads; resembling the glowing eyes of moving animals in the night. The wind glided right in front of her face, surprising her into suddenly closing her eyes, and she sighed at the scent that traveled with the breeze. It had definitely come from the man who was standing next to her - the combined smells of the finest brand of laundry detergent money could buy, and expensive cologne.

"You were using Yurina to trick me into admitting something I'm not ready to admit yet, weren't you?" Without thinking, her mouth began to form words on its own. She kept her eyes closed and simply continued to inhale the scent of Tora in the air.

"Hm?" He hummed lazily, eyes meticulously studying her still form. "What would it be that I would want you to admit?"

"Why don't you say it?"

"No. You tell me."

Akari shook her head back and forth, opening her eyes. "You say it! There's no way I'm saying it!"

In an unexpected movement, he shoved his body up against her own, his chest pressing tightly against her back as he leaned over her and the railing to exhale against her ear.

"You are damn stubborn." He breathed hotly.

She shivered at the feeling of him there, pressed so closely to her, and Tora made a sound in the back of his throat that resembled a laugh mixed with a growl.

"You want me to speak my mind, don't you?" He asked her, knowing even before she confirmed it that he was right.

"...Yes." She admitted reluctantly. More than anything she did want to know what he was thinking and feeling. It had been bothering her all evening that he had put on a mask.

"And I want you to speak yours. So I say we make a deal."

Akari instantly groaned at such a suggestion, but he shushed her quickly.

"It's not much, just something to allay us both." Tora's hand moved over one of hers, fingers lightly tracing the small bumps of each of her knuckles. It wasn't much physical contact, but for some reason it was making Akari's heart begin to beat faster. "We each get to ask each other one question, and no matter what it is, we have to give a straight answer."

There was a pause where he waited to see what she thought of this. On the school grounds below them, closer to the east side of the balcony, everyone at the festival had gathered around a huge bonfire. It caught the two teen's attention and they each stared over at it, watching the tall flames lick the air and perform an enticing dance.

"That's all there is to the deal?" When Akari had her voice again, it was quieter than before. Her heart was still racing and she couldn't seem to get it to slow down - it was like the organ itself knew even better than she did that something exciting and important was about to occur.

"Yes." Tora moved away from her then, causing her to instantly miss his proximity and turn around to face him. When their gazes met, his eyes narrowed a bit. "What do you think?"

"I think any deal with you is a mistake." She said bluntly. "So I have one condition. If I agree to this, then there can't be any funny business involved. It can't be some sort of trick."

He nodded, although he didn't appear very serious with a growing smirk on his lips. "Fair enough. And I also have a condition: If I am completely honest with you, then you have to be completely honest with me as well."

"Fair enough."

Behind his gaze, something was waiting, lurking in the depths of gold. Akari could almost see it when he looked at her right then, it almost came out, but she missed it as soon as she blinked. She scowled in annoyance, but he acted ignorant to her frustration.

The smirk was still spreading his lips. "Ladies first," He offered. When he spoke in the cold air, a misshapen cloud of his own breath floated in front of his face. "ask me anything."

Perhaps, it was the alcohol talking. Or the fact that she'd had a sudden epiphany about relationships before she came out onto the balcony. But Akari found that there was only one thing on her mind that she wanted to ask and, unthinkingly, impulsively, she blurted it outright. "Are you in love with me or not?"

Tora looked a bit startled, but it was probably only because she had said it so quickly that it came out as a busy slur of words. He stared at her, as if he was trying to decipher what she had said, but then he sighed and raised both eyebrows. "Could you enunciate?"

She spoke slower and more clearly this time. "Igarashi... do you lo -"

And then stopped herself abruptly.

He placed his hand in the pockets of his coat, striving for patience and waiting for her to finish. She simply stood in front of him quietly though, wearing a contemplative expression.

"Am I what?" Tora finally asked, after so many minutes of silence.

A devious grin appeared out of nowhere on Akari's face. "You just used up your question. We can only ask one question each, remember? So whatever else you wanted to ask me, you can't now."

For a moment, the blonde tiger just stared at his prize, almost in awe. How could someone who was obviously tipsy still have such a sharp mind? He really was beginning to wonder if alcohol had the right effect on her - but then again, everyone reacted differently to it.

After a short pause, he had for her a sly smile, and a well-crafted reply. "What if I don't pose it as a question? What if I were to pose it as a statement?"

"Then I guess I'd have to start calling you a smartass instead." Akari raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I'd like to see you try to pose a question as a statement. You can't just do it with your voice and sound it out differently, it needs to be an actual statement."

They were both aware that she was now just making up random rules, but neither of them bothered to mention it aloud.

"I'm sure I'll figure something out. I always do." Tora's expression turned from scheming into expectant and he demanded, "Now ask me your question."

She frowned her disapproval of his demand. However, her mind was telling her that she did make a deal with him so she had to go through with it, and her heart was adding in that she needed to get this question off her chest, and receive a proper answer to it.

"Do you... I mean, are you..." She began again, choosing to bravely keep his gaze. "Are you in love with me? Yes or no." Akari sighed as she said the last word, and she felt the contradicting mixture from the relief of having said it, and the anticipation of what he would say in return.

"...I don't know what love is."

Tora's velveteen voice met her ears and the words she heard made her breathing literally stop, the air being held tightly within her lungs.

"But whatever I feel for you, that must be it." He continued firmly and clearly, with absolutely no hesitation in his tone or demeanor. The gold of his eyes diminished slightly when he narrowed them and gave her his most serious stare. "So the answer is yes, obviously. I've told you before about my feelings, and I want you to tell me that you love me back."

He leaned closer for better leverage, trying to give her no room for argument or escape. "Because I know that you do. Don't you, Akari?" His voice was low and heady - and definitely, dangerous.

And Akari was now feeling the sudden urge to jump over the balcony.

Tora noticed her glancing at the railing, as if she were calculating her chances of survival, and he gave a derisive snort. "There's no way you'd actually do it, and there's no way I'd let you try."

Her temper flared. "Don't just guess whatever it is I'm thinking!"

"Then don't be so transparent."

"I'm not -"

"Quit stalling in an attempt to avoid answering." His voice was perfectly tuned to that flat, bored tone he acquired whenever he was calm, but becoming impatient.

She stared up at him, mouth open but unmoving. For a moment, she simply looked at him - not really observing anything, just looking. And then she gave him a wobbly grin. "I don't have to answer anything. You already used up your question."

"You said you'd like to see me pose my question as a statement, so I'll do just that."

Her grin disappeared. "Alright, how?"

"Same question."

"...I don't follow."

He neatly folded one arm over the other. "The same question that you asked me. I'm asking that of you."

Akari's eyes appeared to be a shade of even brighter silver as they widened in the dark. For a moment, her heart just may have stopped. There was a wave of cool heat flooding and attacking her whole system while she realized - if he was asking the same question she had asked, then that meant she had to finally describe to him her feelings. She could just say 'yes' or 'no'... but he deserved the whole answer, and he probably wouldn't stop bothering her until she explained her reasoning anyway.

Since she had to respond with honesty, she shyly looked to the ground in order to avoid the piercing color of gold directed her way.

"Fine." Was the first word she said. And then, again. "Fine." Her mouth started to work and move all on its own, and though she knew her brain was forming the words, it felt like she wasn't really the one in control. "You want a love confession? I'll give you one. But don't expect cheesiness and sweet nothings and sentimental - stuff. Don't think I'll leap into your arms, or proclaim to the heavens that you're the one for me, or anything like that." Wow, she really was drunk. Somebody stop her from - "I'm mad at you."

Her eyes narrowed when he made no reply. "I mean, you really piss me off. And you did a damn good job of doing it today. You make me feel things, and you do certain things, and it's all confusing and tricky and thoroughly annoying. It makes me feel like I'm lost and not in control and nobody likes that feeling." She sighed, exasperated. No one could stop her from speaking her mind now, it seemed. "You kissed Yurina, some girl you barely even know... and you've probably had sex with hundreds of women besides me - which doesn't really matter now I guess, because that was the past - but to see you with Yurina, to know that you can still catch any random girl so easily and do whatever you like with her... that bothers me a lot. You're so infuriatingly charming yet disgusting at the same time, and so the truth is -! ...The truth is - the truth..." Her voice ebbed away so that she could catch her breath.

"What's the truth?" He asked, eyebrow cocked at the usual high angle.

"I'm - attracted to you." Akari bit her lip harshly. "But at the same time, I can't stand you."

When she peeked up at him, Tora looked absolutely unfazed. "And why is that?" He asked.

Groaning, she turned so that her back was facing him, and fiddled uncomfortably with the buttons on her sweater. "Do you really have to make me say it?"

"This is a confession, isn't it?"

"You don't know that I'm confessing my love to you! I haven't said something like that."

"I didn't say it was a love confession. From what you've said so far, it actually sounds like you're confessing your hatred of me."

Akari huffed out a long breath, keeping her eyes trained on the wisps of white passing through her lips. "I never said I hated you." She spoke in a hushed tone, her volume barely above a whisper.

And Tora acted like he hadn't heard. A smirk started to light up his eyes however, and he took a step closer to her. "What was that?"

"I said, I never said that I hate you."

"Then that means you don't?"

Even though he couldn't see it, she rolled her eyes. "Baka! Of course I don't hate you."

He took another step closer, which again went unnoticed by her. "Oh, my bad." His tone held subtle hints of sarcasm. "Then I suppose you just can't stand me for some other reason."

"Yeah." She paused. "That's right."

"What's the reason?" All of the sudden, he was whispering in her ear.

Startled, Akari spun around, bumped into his chest, and blinked at his closeness when each one of his strong hands wrapped around her arms and held her in place.

"Tell me." He breathed, the small cloud of air landing on her cheeks and causing her to shiver. He smirked when she refused to look directly at him. "Akari..."

"I don't feel ready to -"

Roughly, he pulled her closer to him, sending her a penetrating glare. "We had a deal. If you don't tell me -"

"If I'm going to tell you then you have to let go of me because I can't say it while facing you!" She shouted, creating a still silence afterwards.

Reluctantly, Tora let go of her arms and allowed her to step back. She glanced up at him once before turning around again and staring over the balcony at the bonfire below.

"The reason that I can't stand you is because I love you." She took a steadying breath. "So it makes it that much harder for me to be around you, because my feelings are always getting in the way of my better judgement. You're a distraction. It's frustrating."

Behind her, she heard him slowly responding. "You can't stand me, because you love me?"

"Yeah."

"You love me?" He repeated, as if to clarify.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Yes."

Unable to help himself, Tora walked forward and pulled her against his chest. Immediately his arms wrapped all the way around her, and he hooked a finger into her collar and pulled it away in order to gingerly kiss the side of her neck. The gesture was affectionate and - adorable - in Akari's personal opinion.

"Say it all at once." He demanded, and she shivered again as his breath caressed her skin. When she became too distracted to answer, he pulled away to rest his chin on her shoulder; and thinking she was refusing him, he muttered in a much softer tone. "...Please."

Akari's eyes went huge - widening to such an extent that they hurt from the strain. "Did you just say please?"

Tora began chuckling at the absurdity of it, and he found her incredulous reaction to be quite fitting. "I did. And I can promise you that I am never again going to use that word for as long as I live, so you had better realize how important this is to me."

"I can't believe the great Igarashi heir is pleading with me! This is too good to be true." Akari started to giggle in fits, much to Tora's chagrin. Once her laughter ceased, he began to speak again, but she cut him off by turning her head around and giving him an appreciative peck on the cheek. "Thank you, Tora. I love you."

A thick quiet enveloped the both of them as he stood there, processing, and she remained in his arms with her back pressed warmly to his chest and her face upturned towards him. She looked pleased with herself; there was relief in her eyes from finally admitting her feelings to him, and his one word of begging only added to that deep sense of satisfaction she felt, making her smile. When Tora seemed to finally regain his senses, he smirked at how happy she appeared to be and leaned down until their mouths were aligned.

"Your breath reeks of alcohol." Came his murmur against her lips. "I'm not entirely sure if I want to kiss you."

She raised a hand and rested it against the side of his face, tracing his cheekbone with the pad of her thumb. "Knowing you, you're gonna kiss me anyway."

"I'm not supposed to be predictable." He announced, one of his canines poking out from behind his lips and giving him the look of a feral cat. "But how could I resist you?" Right as they both closed their eyes and leaned in, he whispered lowly, "You're stunning." Akari's eyes blinked rapidly at the unexpected compliment just as he connected his lips with hers.

It dawned on the both of them in that moment, that neither of them would ever get used to the feeling of kissing one another. To Akari, Tora's lips were warm and supple, able to give the most invigorating of kisses. And to Tora, Akari's lips were teasingly soft and so very bite-able; like fruit that everyone is forbidden from tasting, and he was the only one who got to indulge. They each tempted each other to the greatest extent, pushing the boundaries of how much you can desire something and testing the limits of how deep of a yearning you can create.

"Tora." Akari, whose mind had been in a frenzy, broke the kiss as she suddenly realized something. "Tora." She repeated, but all he did to answer her was grunt, while sliding both his hands past her unbuttoned coat to hold her by the hips. "You've never actually said the words 'I love you' to me." He paused, just as he was about to kiss her again. "The first time you confessed, you didn't actually say it outright... you had said that I almost made you want to say it, and when I asked what it was you almost wanted to say to me, then you said 'I love you'. But you were only answering my question, you weren't actually telling me that you love me."

"This is true." He worked her jeans down the slightest bit with his thumbs rubbing languid circles against her hip bones - his goal was to get some sort of reaction out of her, like a heated moan of approval - but Akari was doing her best to stubbornly focus on the conversation.

"And every time since then, whenever the topic comes up... even tonight actually, you didn't say you loved me. You refer to it as 'your feelings for me' but you never use the word 'love' directly in between the words 'I' and 'you'."

"Also true." He admitted.

She went silent for a moment. And then, loudly enough to make Tora flinch, she announced in exasperation. "SO?"

That wasn't quite the reaction he had wanted. "So I've never met a drunk person who is so unbelievably observant." He mused in a lazy tone.

Trying to wriggle free from his grasp, Akari only succeeded in making him tighten his arms around her and pull her closer to him from behind. She continued struggling, feeling conflicted about the way he was avoiding what she was saying, but immediately stilled upon feeling a pair of lips nibble at her earlobe and whisper; "I love you."

"Wha- what?" Her voice squeaked out into the night air. Those three words were so quiet and fleeting that she was thinking she had imagined them.

Tora moved upwards to graze her cartilage with his teeth, and then stopped to press his lips softly against her skin. With his hot breath blowing into her ear and creating an excited jolt up and down her spine, he repeated the words. "I love you, Akari. Deeply. Intimately." His mouth began to travel more, from her ear, then down along her neck. "...In ways I am not able to and have never loved any other woman." Inclining his head further he bit her collarbone, tongue laving over the bite mark shortly afterwards.

Snow began to fall as he placed a brief kiss against her flushed skin.

It floated in small flurries through the air, escaping the mass of clouds above and landing on the ground, on the building, on the people - it touched everywhere. And Tora and his prize stood there together, alone on the balcony, in the midst of snowflakes spinning soundlessly, landing in their hair, falling by their feet. And just as she tilted her head up to look at the falling crystals, he turned her around to face him from the front and made her look at him instead.

Gold eyes stared into silver with a look they had never relayed before - one of affection, admiration, and lust all combined - a deep and steady gaze that was warm and wanting, passionate and possessive, yet altogether beautiful: Love.

"Y-your mother said it was supposed to snow." Of all the things to say, Akari stuttered out this useless sentence. His eyes were mesmerizing and her mind was barely registering the fresh cold temperature in the atmosphere.

Tora looked unsurprised. "Of course. Like myself, my mother is always right." A smirk appeared on his face, yet again.

Reaching up and brushing away the snow collecting on his head, she scoffed in pretend annoyance at that look of his. In actuality though... she had come to adore his maddening little smirk. It was a part of who he was. "You're not always right, Tora." She told him firmly, not able to help her fingers as they smoothly glided through his stylish blonde locks.

"Hn, what was that?" He raised his brow in a 'oh really?' type of way. "As I recall, all this time I was right about your feelings for me."

She froze in place, hand still in his hair, and they were both a little shocked to see that she had no comeback.

And then, something truly amazing happened. As Akari was gaping like an uncertain deer in the headlights, with her eyes big and her small nose bright red from the chilly air - Tora found the sight to be a bit ridiculous. And since her finally admitting that she loved him had put him in something of a euphoric state, he tilted his head the slightest bit and began laughing as if he had been holding it in for all the years of his life, and he simply couldn't contain it any longer.

His prize watched him as he laughed, at first not seeing the point behind it, and then smiling as she listened to the sound of it. If his kiss was warm and invigorating, then his laugh was inviting and filled with the same kind of warmth. He sounded, for the first time since she had met him, like his inhibitions were released at long last. The laugh he let out then was pure, authentic, lively and, as mentioned before, truly amazing.

He honestly sounded happy.

Akari let her hand slip from where it was tangled in his hair, and he quickly caught it in both of his own. As the laughter subsided, he bent to brush his lips across her fingers - as if to thank her. And it was the first time she had seen him do something gentlemanly, that didn't seem practiced.

Tora Igarashi wasn't acting anymore. Not in this moment. Not with her.

When he looked up at her from where he bent to kiss her hand, their gazes evened out and he smiled at her for no apparent reason. It was almost a cruel sort of smile - but also sly and ridiculously charming - and she realized that he was genuinely in love with her. He must be, because she would bet her life on the fact that he would never, and had never before now, acted this way with anyone else but her.

As Tora straightened up and allowed her to have her hand back, Akari nestled in close to him and breathed deeply into his coat. Closing her eyes, she mumbled words that she now despised herself for not saying earlier. "I am so in love with you." She made a small sound of question in the back of her throat when his hand pulled her chin upwards in a harsh jerk. Tora gazed down at her, trying to appear intimidating but failing because of the undeniable twinkle in his eyes that had never been there before.

"I'm not quite sure if I believe you." He also tried to make his tone sound commanding, but there was just the tiniest amount of pure adoration in his voice that it ruined the full effect. "But I suppose you could... prove it to me?"

No matter what though, there was always that unbelievably sexy, sultry sound that could come out of nowhere whenever he wanted to suggest something. Apparently, even love couldn't ruin the effect of the tones he used for seduction - actually, if anything, it really seemed to amplify his libido.

Deciding to go along with it, Akari sighed and asked him whatever it was he wanted. "What proof do you need, then?"

She suddenly let out a shriek, not realizing that as he had been distracting her with his voice, one of his hands had slid behind her back and down to cup her ass, and the other was up underneath her sweater, fingers splayed across her stomach. Both hands began moving at the same time directly after her question was formed - the left one squeezed and drew an unbidden moan from her lips while and the right hand started to travel inch by inch up her abdomen. It was obvious that both hands had no innocent intent.

Growling a cold puff of breath into the snowy air, Tora explained. "Perhaps, you could prove your love to me in a physical way?"

Akari was actually considering it. She really was because after all, they had both just said they loved each other. Which meant their relationship could finally be defined as something special, something more. The something more they were both searching for. And she wanted to know if the sex would be even better now that they each had more passion to put behind it.

So she was about to pull him to her in a heated kiss... but then she realized where they were. And all at once she could feel the cold and noticed the snow melting onto them and heard the chatter of other festival-goers out on the campus grounds below. In one short second, she became so aware of the environment around them that she could hear the crackle of the bonfire and the hiss of each snowflake meeting with the flames.

"What do you think you're doing, huh?" She pushed Tora away half-heartedly, looking around randomly as if to check for any peeping toms who might be spying on them.

A rumble that was stuck in the back of Tora's throat released through loose lips. "I thought I was being rather obvious. I want to show you that I love you as well." He began reaching out again, wishing to touch her, to feel her body underneath the slow work of his hands.

Pulling each of his hands into her hold, Akari pressed in close to him and snuggled with his warmth. "We can show each other as much 'love' as we want back at the estate, but right now could we just be a normal couple?"

"Normal couples have sex." Tora pointed out, but allowed her to hold his hands anyway.

"Yes, but they have sex a perfectly healthy amount of times. And I'm sure you like to have it... well, all the time." She let out a light laugh as she realized how silly she sounded. "Although, I guess I shouldn't be complaining about that..."

Tora grinned, getting one of his hands free so that he could move an arm around her and tuck her head against his chest. He pressed his nose into her hair, where snow had melted and made it damp. "No, you shouldn't be. And I'd like to say that for the record, you can't always be blaming me, since it's your own fault I can't control my urges." He chuckled as she purposely squeezed his hand too hard. "Lavish temptress that you are... how am I to ever resist?"

Sounding a soft hum, Akari moved her head up to nuzzle the hollow of his throat with her cold nose. He shuddered at the feeling. "I may be a temptress, and a lavish one at that, but you're a perverted tiger."

"Oh am I now?" His tone became playful as he released his other hand from hers and pulled her tightly into his embrace.

Akari gladly accepted the comfort of both of his arms wrapped all the way around her. "Mhm. The most lecherous feline I've ever come across."

"And you're the most tempting woman I've ever laid eyes on." Tora reciprocated in a low tone of voice.

"Well then, what an interesting pair we make."

Pulling back a bit and looking down at her, he gave her a smile that would have made her knees buckle, had he not been holding her so close. "Interesting is never a bad thing." Before gaining a response, he leaned down and kissed her again. Their lips met forcefully and when she proceeded to let him inside her mouth, he moaned deeply to show his appreciation.

As they pulled away from each other, Akari looked absolutely blissful and Tora had a highly satisfied glimmer in his eyes. He breathed in her scent and sighed, the snow seeming like a hazy background, since he only had eyes for her. "Interesting... is what I've always enjoyed most."