She chuckled just a bit before she tightened her hold on him .
"Maybe just one thing then ", she whispered before she placed her lips on his and kissed him gently .
She didn't want to but eventually urged on by her lungs crying for oxygen , Chizuru finally pulled away from Kazuya leaving both of them red in the face , embarrassed, gasping but completely happy .
"You're really not hurt , right ? ", Chizuru asked him as Kazuya winced just before starting to get up .
"Yeah , yeah I'm fine ", he assured her before standing up and stretching out his hand to help her up .
Chizuru reached out for his hand and pulled herself up but as she did suddenly something behind Kazuya caught her attention.
From somewhere a glint of pink had presented itself amidst the trees
"What's up ?", Kazuya asked as Chizuru curiously walked past him trying to focus on the pink .
She caught another glimpse of it as she walked towards the trees and after carefully squinting in all directions she finally found it.
Amongst a billion barren brown branches , a singular, delicate flower stood out , the only one of its kind as far as her eyes could see .
It shimmered spectacularly, a brilliant white flower with the slightest pink shadow creeping into its petals .
"Wow ! ", she breathed out loud , prompting Kazuya to search for and arrive at the same place .
"That's amazing !", he too exclaimed , before asking
"That's not a cherry blossom ,is it ?"
She shook her head and answered,
"It's way to early . And cherry blossoms are completely pink " .
The mystery surrounding it only added to its beauty ,capturing the young couple in its ethereal rapture.
Somehow they managed to pull themselves away from it , but not before being sorely tempted to pick the flower and settling for pictures of it .
"Wow !", Chizuru sighed again as they walked away.
"I know ", Kazuya replied in agreement, almost miserable that they had to leave the flower behind.
They made their way back to the entrance after having returned the bicycles and was about to leave when their curiosity over the flower prompted them to tell the woman at the entrance what had happened and show her the pictures .
The second she saw the picture, the woman gasped loudly , grabbed the phone from Chizuru's hand and disappeared into the park ,only to return five minutes later with an old man .
Before they knew what was happening, Kazuya and Chizuru found themselves leading the way back to where they'd found the flower .
"Who is this old man ? ", Kazuya whispered
"She said her Grandfather was the caretaker , it must be him " ,she answered before the old man of seemingly boundless energy yelled at them to go faster.
Soon they reached and after a bit of confusion, Chizuru found the exact spot and pointed out the flower to them .
They gasped in unison before the woman asked ,
"Is it what I think it is , Grandpa ? "
The old man delicately ran his fingers across the flower before nodding,
"You're right , it is a plum blossom " .
"A plum blossom ? ", Chizuru asked .
The old man turned to her and nodded ,
"Yes , you might have only heard of cherry blossoms but this is a plum blossom alright ".
He turned back to the flower ,as an almost youthful wonder filled his face and he spoke ,
"But I've never seen a plum blossom this early, in all my years here . In fact they only grow from late February , and to see one in late January is simply amazing .
Cherry blossoms symbolize new beginnings and the end of winter because it grows at the dawn of spring.
Both Kazuya and Chizuru listened to old man spellbound , as he continued ,
But plum blossoms grow in the winter, in the harsh cold of February. That's why they symbolize resilience and perseverance in the face of extreme adversity
But to grow in January , when it's too cold for any flower , let alone one that's this beautiful, that is special indeed .
Yes , this plum blossom has shown strength that wouldn't be expected of it because it looks so delicate but make no mistake , it is as strong as it is powerful, that is how it can withstand adversity ."
The man suddenly turned around to face Kazuya and Chizuru and asked,
"It cannot be a coincidence that it was found by you two .
Have either of you had any difficult situations in your life recently that you've been able to overcome ? "
In a flash it all flew through their minds . The struggles , the pain , the hopelessness, the despair , the adversity that they had faced separately and together over the past two years .
And they nodded .
The old man smiled before remarking,
"Then I dare say you two are a a couple of resilient and persevering youngsters yourself. And I wouldn't want to be the one standing in your way ".
Chuckling loudly the old man and his granddaughter started to make his way back leaving Kazuya and Chizuru awestruck.
Chizuru leaned back against the subway seat , gingerly stretching her legs , glad to finally be off her feet . Beside her Kazuya mirrored her actions , sighing as he did.
Chizuru sighed too but hers was one of captivation as she gazed at the picture of the flower on her phone.
She stared wordlessly at the picture for a couple of minutes before she pinched the screen inwards , now bringing both her own and Kazuya's smiling faces into focus .
"It's uncanny, isn't it ?" ,she asked quietly.
"What is ?", Kazuya asked before glancing at her phone and nodding with understanding.
"Yeah ", he answered .
"The chances of us finding that flower after everything we've been through , it's..
"Like it was meant to be ", Chizuru finished
Kazuya nodded again and continued,
"But that's impossible right ?"
"I don't know ", she admitted.
"But ... you could say the same about the last two years . Everything that happened , how we were connected, how we stayed connected, it all seems ... impossible.
But it did happen, right ?
We faced so much adversity , so many problems, so many obstacles, but we're here now right ? "
"Yeah ", he answered after a couple of minutes .
"It does seem impossible, that's why , maybe the best thing to do is not worry about how and just be happy that it did happen ".
"You're right ", she agreed before closing her phone and putting it back .
Now that her attention was no longer on her phone , she noticed two guys sitting a couple of seats away from them , staring at her .
She was surprised at herself for not noticing earlier but not surprised by their action itself , it might sound like a boast but she was used to it .
She could hear their not-so-soft whispers, the usual comments about her
She turned away from them , intent on ignoring them but her attention was caught again once she realized the focus of their whispers had shifted to Kazuya.
"That guy? No way ".
"How could she get stuck with trash like him ? "
"He must be blackmailing her or something, there's no other way " .
Chizuru immediately turned back around and stared at them coldly , icey fire dancing in her eyes .
The colour drained out of their faces and they scrambled away from them .
She turned back to see Kazuya chuckling next to her .
She fiddled with her nails for a couple of seconds before muttering,
"I just hate it when people say stuff like that about you " .
"Thank you ", he told her .
He was silent in thought for a few minutes before suddenly stating,
"Chizuru, you actually resemble that flower "
"Huh ? What do you mean ? "
"You know , you're amazingly beautiful , people underestimate you because of your beauty but you're scarily strong and determined and you take down anything that stands in your way " .
"You really think that ? ", she asked softly.
Kazuya nodded passionately .
"Thank you ", she replied
"But .. the only reason I'm like that is because of you ".
"Me ? ", Kazuya asked.
Chizuru nodded and continued ,
"Every single time I was about to give up , every time I had given up , every time I was about to break , you turned up out of nowhere and you gave me your strength.
I was only able to stand up again because you pulled me up .
If I'm the flower , you're the tree , fighting against the cold and the difficulties so that I can shine . You're underappreciated while I'm admired.
But you should never forget that I know your strength, I know how amazing you are , okay ? "
She glanced at his face and found him taken aback by her praise .
"Geez , he's always like this ", Chizuru thought to herself.
"He says the most wonderful things about me. And he says them so easily, so simply from the bottom of his heart.
But the slightest praise from me and he can hardly believe it ".
Kazuya finally recovered enough to stammer out a thanks making Chizuru smile before she became serious again
"We've faced a lot ", she continued,
"But ... there's a lot more to do right ? "
"Yeah ", he agreed .
"Ruka-chan was just the first . Kibe , Kuri , your friends ... "
"And your family ", she completed .
"We still have to tell them everything too .
But ... telling just Ruka-chan itself was just so ... difficult , so taxing , it took so much out of us , it strained our relationship so much .
We can't just go in a line telling everybody "
"To be honest , sometimes I wish we could just get it over with and sometimes I wish we could just avoid it all together ", Kazuya admitted.
"But you're right. We can't do either. We have to take our time , tell each person , and own up to all our lies and mistakes and how we wronged them . "
"Yes we do ", Chizuru agreed
"And we'll get through it together ".
After agreeing to think about how to go about doing exactly that over the next few days , they both fell silent waiting patiently for their fast approaching exit point.
But Chizuru felt that little prick in her mind , a prick she had ignored for a while now .
More than a prick actually. A desire , an innate hunger that she had never felt before in her life .
A hunger , a need that she had only known since she had moved closer to Kazuya.
It had pricked her every once in a while during the last two years but now ... since that cold night at the shrine when she had been enveloped by his warmth ... the hunger had grown .
She glanced down at their seat and frowned at the smallest gap that existed between them , the slightest distance away from her that Kazuya sat at .
It wasn't even a centimeter, it was barely an inch.
The last inch .
The inch that she wanted to obliterate .
She thought to herself,
"Since we told each other how we felt , we've done so much .
We've held hands for real , we've hugged each other, we've even kissed.
We've grown so much together.
But there's one last thing.
One last thing we haven't done yet .
She knew what the hunger was , she knew what she desired , she knew what the heat spreading through her body desired .
It embarrassed her but that didn't take the strength of her desire , the extent of her need , away .
"Before we tell anyone else the truth , we have to strengthen our relationship", she decided.
"And to do that we have to... I want him to ... I want us to have ... "
A/N : A wonderful date ends with what seemed like an intervention of fate with Kazuya and Chizuru happening on a flower that symbolized themselves and their relationship, before Chizuru's desires grow .
I can hardly believe I can say this but its been a year since I published the first chapter of Resonance . I never imagined writing so many chapters or how fun it's been .
I could also have never imagined the amount of support that Resonance has gotten over the past year especially the constant support during the periods when I wasn't writing .
My dearest thanks to you all .
Resonance is not over yet , it is closer towards the end of the story but there are still plenty of chapters to come and I hope you continue to enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.
Next time : Chizuru wants ...