After an hour of Touko trying to study, she jumped at the sound of a rough sigh across from her, breaking the silence.
"I shouldn't be here. You are distracting."
"Thanks a lot," she snapped before clamping her lips shut, staring wide eyed.
N also seemed surprised because his own eyes had widened.
"S—sorry, that was rude."
"I should be the one apologizing, I said something out of line. Forgive me."
"Forgiven," Touko sighed ,softly, and closed her book before shoving it in her bag. "I'm going to go now. See 'ya."
"I am sorry, I did not mean to upset you." He frowned and stood up as well, intent to follow.
"I said it was okay, don't worry about it."
"I would like to walk you home."
'I'm going to have heart failure at a young age.' "Maybe that isn't a good idea." Belle's warning words rang at the back of her head but was fading as N got closer.
"Please, I insist. A lady should never walk home alone at night."
"Okay," she said. She could not help it! The guy was a walking hormone generator. Life was cruel to not bless her with such generous genes. It was a surprise he was even paying attention to her at all!
Touko looked over at N from the corner of her eye, paying close attention to his face. 'He doesn't look like a drug user,' she mused silently, trying to pick out exactly what Belle was warning her against. And it was not like she could ask him out right directly, it would seem weird and he would get suspicious.
Did he murder people? Maybe Belle had witnessed him killing someone and that is why she left?
"What is on your mind?"
"Nothing," she answered too quickly and mentally winced at the disbelieving brow raising on his face. "Just curious about you."
"Me?"
"Mhmm." She said nothing more. He did not push.
They were silent all the way to her apartment building, and Touko was once again filled with regrets that he was probably bored out of his mind. She may have felt warm fuzzy feelings when he walked her to the door but the same could not be said for him. He looked the same as usual, nearly emotionless.
"Sorry if you were bored tonight. I'm not exactly 'fun' material if I'm working on homework."
"It is fine."
They stood there awkwardly. Well Touko felt awkward. N looked out of place and not giving a hoot. She decided to bite the bullet and ask the question that would either send her sky high happy or shatter her self esteem completely.
"Would you like to come inside for a bit?"
N just continued to stare at her, giving a slow blink.
She faltered a bit. "To... have a drink or something?"
"Alright."
Sky high happy.
. . .
The next few days Belle was not at school. Touko frowned and considered calling her friend but decided against it. She felt awkward and the blonde's abrupt change in attitude made it all the more worse. Was she perhaps trying to track Natural down without her knowing? To warn him off from her?
She had not seen the beautiful man after she bid him a farewell from her apartment days before. They had a few cups of tea and made small talk of nothing important before he declared that he must head home for the time being. It made Touko curious if he had a curfew. It was definitely hard to think that a grown man still lived with his parents, but it was possible.
An image of N in week old boxer briefs, crusty socks and a stained wife beater came to mind and she inwardly cringed. It would be a surprise if that is how he is in the privacy of his own home, only cleaning up when he goes out.
'I need to stop this infatuation,' Touko thought. She was starting to ignore her homework for the sake of hanging around the market in hopes of running into N. At the time she felt so giddy and girlish, wearing cute dresses and nice flats. But now that she thought about it, she felt a tad disgusted. This wasn't her. She was better than this.
When she left her last class of the day, Touko headed straight to the market, actually needing to pick up some fresh goods for the next few meals. Obviously she still had high hopes of catching a glimpse of N but would scold herself if she ever strayed from her original plan.
Her heart stopped for a nano second before stuttering forward. N was there at the market, at the usual place, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Of course some of the women had decided to hang around, not put off by his cold attitude.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Touko made sure to walk by and catch his eye. She gave a small wave, a big smile and said "Afternoon," before continuing to walk on. She silently congratulated herself, giving an imaginary pat on her back.
She knew whose hand clutched her arm moments later because the electrical current came back in full swing. She gasp and halted her steps, her skin breaking out in goose flesh and her blood chilled and boiled, a mix of winter and summer.
Touko thought she was going to pass out from the overwhelming sensations. Natural had not removed his hand from her and she wondered if he wanted her to throw herself at him, because she very damned well will if he did not release her.
"I... what...," he released her, his fingers lingering a little longer than necessary before fully withdrawing his hand. "Where are you going?"
She turned around to look at him, eyes wide and face flushed. His own eyes were wide open, but he looked wary. "I have to get food."
"What are you."
Touko honestly did not know how to answer that. If anything, she wanted to ask him the exact same question. Without another word she spun on her heel and continued on her way without a backwards glance.
He did not follow. She did not regret her decision to leave.
. . .
"I would like to get to know you more."
Touko jerked in her chair, nearly spilling over her iced coffee all over the newspaper she was reading. Looking up, she spotted Natural standing by the table she occupied at a small cafe, looking between confused and frustrated.
"Uhm," she swallowed and looked around, noticing the few occupants in the place watching the interaction with interest. "How about we walk and talk?"
"That would be better."
He waited patiently for her to finish up her drink and fold up the newspaper before following her out of the joint. They walked down the street in silence. It had only lasted close to ten minutes before he spoke again.
"Why are you so... "
"So...?" N had picked up on how the tone of her voice changed and knew he was treading on dangerous grounds. Females were so confusing.
"So, so... different. I don't understand you."
She barked out in humorous laughter. "The male species were never meant to!"
He frowned, not finding any of this funny.
"Look, N, I don't know what you want me to say. If it's about the weird feeling when we touch, I don't know what it is. I have a silly hunch but it's nothing worth mentioning."
"I would like to hear it."
"Uh, well," she flustered, wringing her hands together. "We could, you know, be like connected of some sorts. Soul mates,doyouseewhatImean."
"Excuse me?"
"Soul mates."
Natural stopped in his tracks and furrowed his brow. He watched Touko stop a few steps ahead, turning around and facing him with a reddened face.
"Soul... mates?"
"Yes. Silly, I know, but it is just a hunch. Have you touched any other women?"
"No, not intentionally." He ignored her sigh of relief, waiting for her to continue.
"Well it's the same for me. When I'm passing guys in the hall way at school and I touch someones arm, nothing happens. But with you... everything does."
She was now staring up at him, giving him a weird look. He did not know what to make of it. If he were to try and explain it, he would say her eye have given off a weird sheen, a bit more of life fueling in them. It gave him a warm feeling and his chest felt a little weird.
"There has to be something behind all this," he murmured, eyelids drooping. 'Ah, that made her face red.'
"We can try to figure out what is causing this... but to do so may mean we have to touch more," she pursed her lips in nervousness and held her hand flat in front of her.
He watched the emotions play on her face with rapt attention, fascinated. He soon followed her action and placed his hand in front of him, pressing it into hers. They both inhaled sharply.
Touko had enough. She used her free hand to grab onto the front of N's shirt, wrinkling it in the process, and pulled him down to her level and placing her lips directly onto his.
Natural froze. Unknown sensations began to flood his system, making him tense further. He did not know what to do anymore. A side of him was saying that this was wrong, yet he felt so compelled to start moving against her. So that's what he did.
He knew she was happy when she relaxed her grip on his shirt and smoothed her hand out to rest on his neck. He did not place his own hand on her, but kept their joined hands together.
How to explain such a feeling? It was like flying, floating and falling at the same time. There was raised hairs, chilled flesh and fluttering butterflies in the stomach. He could go on, but his mind was beginning to fog.
He snapped to attention when he felt Touko rip herself from him. He looked down at her, eyes wide, but she wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was looking towards the ground, hands placed on her reddened cheeks.
"I... I...!"
N watched her escape once again and he had to stop himself from going after her.
For the first time in his life, Natural felt his heart rate accelerate.
. . .
A/N: "A mix of winter and summer." Such cheese, I wanted to die of embarassment from writing that. Big thank you to my beta-reeeader who makes all of this easy to read for you sweet pips!