Rin's heart beat faster in her chest as the handsome male lead from her favorite Shoujo manga looked into her eyes. His soft looking, yet delicate lips were subtly curved in a small, sly, knowing smirk and his intense sapphire eyes, the only part of the boy colored in, pierced her soul. Soft bangs fell partially over one of his eyes, giving him a mysterious look. The blonde girl could picture them sparkling breathtakingly in a mysterious, sexy way. The single page panel was drawn as if she was Yuki, the female lead. A small, pale hand carefully flipped the page, knowing she wouldn't forget the boy's intense stare anytime soon.
The first panel on the next page showed the characters in full color against a soft orange background faded to pink at the bottom, although the background was hazy and out of focus. Yuki, a twelve year old girl with short, wavy, black hair stared at the three boys before her with subtly widened, large dark green eyes and a faint pink blush on her soft, round, pale cheeks. Two of the boys — Kouki and Haruki — were sixteen, while Lin — the boy with the simultaneously heart stopping and heart pounding stare — was sightly closer to her age at fourteen.
Yuki's gaze flickered briefly to Lin, her friend since birth. They'd grown apart recently when puberty hit him hard, making him handsome and therefore popular. After that, the cute, quiet girl felt she couldn't compete was his ravenous fangirls and made herself scarce. Her eyes flickered to the older boys, inwardly shivering.
A sense of danger emanated from them, Kouki had recently moved to a small town outside of Tokyo. Rumors followed him that'd he'd murdered a kid and set the house of an unrequited love interest ablaze, watching it burn to the ground gleefully. Haruki had multiple girlfriends at once and was rumored to be the son of a powerful and wealthy Yakuza Boss.
'C'mon Yuki, Rin mentally begged the twelve year old, unknowingly gripping the book tighter, 'you know you're gonna choose Lin!' She gasped out loud as the next panel showed Lin fighting with Haruki, the bruises and thin trails of crimson blood in startingly, vivid detail. The younger accused the older boy of not loving Yuki at all.
"You just want to drag her into your corrupt, disgusting world!" The tall, strong looking Haruki snarled, eyes flashing dangerously. A shiver of fear went down Rin's spine, especially when she noticed Yuki in the distance peeking from behind a tree. Cold fear emanated from the young girl as the dark haired boy threw a well-aimed punch to the jaw that sent Lin crashing the ground.
Rin sighed in relief as the tall boy walked away and Yuki kneeled beside Lin, a faint bruise on his cheek, blood at the corner of a swollen lip and eyes hazy was pain. Rin's heart beat fast once more as a small, pale hand was placed on Lin's uninjured check and both characters smiled at each other before the girl leaned down, lips meeting in a soft, tender, passionate kiss that made Rin squeak.
The excited short haired girl fell back on her warm, soft, comfortable bed, suddenly aware of how tired she was. The book was open on her abdomen as heaviness tugged at her eyelids, slipping closed with her soft pink mouth ajar as Rin slipped into a heavy, dreamless sleep.
"Rin! Rin! RIN!" A dark haired girl around the blonde's age ran down the gray carpeted hall, feet covered in thin, fuzzy, pale pink socks and icy blue eyes bright.
Rin stopped at end of the hall as the girl skidded to a halt before her, practicality bouncing with excitement.
"What is it, Aiko?" The blonde fought a tired sigh at the younger girls enthusiasm, a small, fond smile playing on her lips.
"There's a new person moving in today!" The young girl exclaimed. Rin absorbed the information before blinking owlish in surprise. People rarely moved in to the small, rarely used apartment complex that seemed oddly frozen in time, but not outdated. The sky above was always dark with shimmering storm clouds and it seemed to be always raining or snowing. Never heavily, just enough to be comforting, soothing…..and to the creative people like Rin and Aiko, inspiring!
"And guess what?" The girls voice was a conspiratorial whisper, large, childlike eyes gleaming with mischief.
"What?"
The young, dark haired girl leaned closer, "He looks just like Lin from Sugar, Candy Love!"
Rin blushed fiercely as the girl giggled, scampering away. As Rin continued down the hall, which opened up to a small reading area, she spotted a slender blonde turning toward the stairwell.
'Wow, he really does look like Lin.' Her blush returned as her heart pounded in her chest, large, dark blue eyes watching the boy until he disappeared from view. Rin lingered in the hall, not wanting the handsome newcomer to think she was a stalker. There's no way the fictional character she had a crush on (yea right, more like loved deeply with ALLL her heart) could be based on a real flesh and blood person, right?
'Or maybe it is actually Lin and he's come here looking for you!' Her mind supplied excitedly and Rin could picture a Chibi version of herself bouncing up down happily. The blonde closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, blush fading from her cheeks as crisp, rain cooled air filled her lungs.
She made her way down the hall, quicky arriving to 1227. The door was slightly ajar and she could hear things being softly moved around. She knocked before softly nudging the door opened more.
"Um, h-hi…" She was surprised at how nervous she sounded.
"I'm Rin." After placing an unopened box beside the entertainment center, the blonde boy turned. Rin's heart jumped excitedly, skipping beat as she looked into large, gleaming, dark blue eyes that exactly matched her own. Even down to the shade. The boy crossed the room, an open, welcoming smile on his face that made his eyes gleam before extending an arm.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Len." He said, with the 'appropriate' amount of cheerfulness as Rin took his hand, noticing how warm and soft it was. Rin's cheeks flushed as she stammered, unable to meet Len's gaze.
"I…um…I'm s-sorry to bother you. I couldn't help but notice you look like a character in Sugar, Candy Love and I was wondering if you could…um, actually be him." She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the heat on her face flare as she held the Manga in a vice like grip at her chest. To her horror, she felt a pair of slender hands carefully slip the book from her gasp…shortly followed by the sound of pages being turned.
The silence made Rin open her eyes to see a faint blush on Len's cheeks as he looked at her almost…. guilty.
"Yeah…. Yeah…um, Lin's modeled after me." He admitted, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. Rin looked at him owlishly, feeling vaguely confused and yet as if she were living in a dream.
"The… um… the author," Len began, looking more embarrassed and refusing to meet her gaze, "she's my mom's neighbor and apparently she's got a thing for blondes."
The two shared an awkward laugh and began dating shortly after and were currently walking through a quiet park, the sky dyed a soft orange with late afternoon sun. Small, delicate blossoms fluttered around them from a tall, thick Cherry Blossom tree nearby. Len smirked, cupping Rin's cheek as her heart sped up.
Len's lips met hers, soft and sweet as Rin stiffened from surprise, remembering the scene she'd read of Yuki and Lin sharing a tender, passionate kiss under a Cherry Blossom tree. Rin shivered, wrapping her arms around him as they deepened their kiss.