Authors Notes: Ohayoo Minna-san! This is just a little something I snapped up (if you pardon the pun) at work. I know I really should be working at work and all as it is the end of the month, but dammit it just came to me and I had to quickly type it up. It's a ONESHOT so there is no "to be continued" so I hope you like this little high school story for Aoshi and Misao while I'm going through a dry spell at the moment.
# ENJOY #
Photographic Moment
A young girl pondered over several pictures she'd just recently taken for a photography contest at her school, but it seemed she wasn't satisfied with any of them. She sat on the plush blue carpet in her bedroom dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. She was leafing through the dozen pictures she had randomly taken during the past week.
"No...no...no..." She muttered while scattering her photographs about the place and tugging agonizingly on her long braided hair which draped heavily down her short form and lay against the carpet.
"Misao-chan it's time for dinner." A muffled cry from outside her closed door yelled and the girl that had been pondering over the said photos shot her head up. A pair of glasses sat on the bridge of her nose while she randomly chewed on the end of a pen.
"COMING!" She yelled back while collecting the photos together and taking them downstairs with her. Entering the kitchen and dining area, Misao sat at a table along with another woman sifting through the mail and an elderly man.
"Jiya, which one of these is a good photo?" Misao questioned her grandfather while dropping the photos into his waiting hands. He hummed and hared for a moment before locking his crinkled eyes with hers.
"I think they are all beautiful Misao-chan." He happily replied but watched the young girl smack her head down on the table and mutter 'that doesn't help me'.
"Its time for dinner Misao-chan so put those photos away." She glared at the brown haired woman known as Omasu who was just about to serve them dinner, but did as she asked of her.
"Besides Misao-chan, the competition isn't until tomorrow and you have until noon to drop in your application anyway, so it's not like you won't find something in those stack of photos you take."
"Hai, hai..." Misao grumbled lightly back before placing a piece of curry beef into her mouth. The family of four began to eat until the small chit chatter was broken by a loud clap of thunder and then a flash of lightning.
"SUGOI!" Misao chirped happily as she bolted from her chair and out of the kitchen and dining room.
"MOU, MISAO-CHAN GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" Omasu cried out as she cooked a special meal for the four of them as they hadn't all been home like this in a long time to share an evening together.
"I'll eat when I come back!" Misao spoke while running down the hallway towards the front door, where she pried it open and stepped outside.
The air was cool because of the rain, but this didn't stop the young girl from running down the street to try and find the perfect spot, which also had shelter, to catch some lightning shots. Her cameras weren't state of the art, but they did take some wonderful day and night shots. Misao knew she'd probably miss a lot of lightning shots, but as long as it lit up the clouds in the sky she was happy.
Stopping at a bus stop Misao began unpacking her camera from its water proof bag and sat down knowing she was in for a long night ahead of her. By now the wind had picked up and Misao began to chide herself as she had run out of the house still dressed in her shorts and tank top and just a pair of flip flops. Her hair was damp as were her clothing, but now was not the time to go back as she began counting the seconds of when the thunder rumbled through the sky and when the lightening cracked.
The darkened sky flashed with lightning as Misao searched the clouds for the best one to take and started snapping numerous shots. She knew it was probably pointless, but she always loved being out in the rain with the feel and smell of it all around her.
Lowering her camera once more Misao moved back to the bench and sat down. She had merely a few shots left of this film as she had insanely snapped away at the night sky and wondered whether she should try and find some random flowers in bloom that were now glistening with water droplets. Her thoughts however were distracted when one of the city public transport buses pulled up at the stop to let passengers off. Misao blinked her large blue eyes at the passenger casually moving down the steps on the bus before her eyes met his form and she froze knowing whom it was.
"Shi-Shinomori-sempai!" Misao heard herself squeak out as she stood up from the bench while watching her sempai head quickly for the shelter to get out of the rain. His school backpack made a clanking noise as it was thrown to the metal bench while he shook the water from his navy jacket and his shiny jet black hair. Misao could utter nothing as she eyed the senior in his own little private world of frowning at the rain.
"Ko-Konbanwa..." Misao murmured trying to gain some form of control in her squeaky voice but had no chance of doing so. Every time she saw her sempai he took her breath away. He was the epitome of cool. He was extremely quiet most of the time during the school hours but he had a band of followers after him which Misao found odd since he was never one for much interaction.
"Konbanwa..." And this was another reason Misao felt nervous in his presence. His general attitude towards others seemed to be chipped with ice and yet his voice was deep and sensual and could soothe any uncomfortable moment she felt with him. He was so peculiar that Misao couldn't help but be drawn into his aura of calmness with a side of mysterious as well.
"What are you staring at?" Sucking in her breath Misao quickly darted her large eyes away from her senior and gazed them back onto the street. He'd caught her staring at him and she felt her face flush in utter embarrassment and hoped to all the gods that he couldn't see it.
"Um, nice night huh?" Misao questioned the taller male as she found him standing up as he took of his jacket and laid it over his black school bag. She swallowed the lump in her throat at the sleeveless black shirt he wore beneath his jacket and felt her breath catch when his piercing green eyes locked with her large blue ones.
"It's raining." He bluntly replied as though this would only just now be news to Misao. Clearly he wasn't one for liking the rain and Misao then felt like an idiot for trying to make conversation with him. Instead she decided to remain quiet and wait out the rain in his presence as he didn't seem like he was heading off in a great big hurry either.
The silence drawled on and was only broken by the rumble of thunder and the sound of cars streaming past as men and women headed home from work.
"Why are you so quiet?"
"Eh?" Misao shot her head in the direction of the boy that was sitting just a little way from her on the bench as he rested his chin on one updrawn knee. Taking in a shaky breath Misao watched the male student turn his head slightly towards her, the gaps in his long bangs showing her glimpses of his eyes as he did so.
"You always talk." Misao didn't know what to say to that. It was true after all. She loved talking and especially during school hours as it was hard for her friends to ever get a word in as she randomly jumped from one topic to another. At school she always held a big smile on her face and she practically bounced down the hallways with an energetic behaviour which would out do small children. Misao just generally gathered that with her bossy sisters at home and her ever perverted grandfather, she was pointed the genki one and didn't mind it at all.
"I guess so, but at times like this being quiet is nice you know? Besides..." Misao died off as she darted her eyes back up to the sky and quickly brought out her camera as she stood up to take a shot of some sheet lightning.
"Besides...?" Came the deep voice from behind her and Misao turned her head over her shoulder and gave the senior a sheepish grin.
"I never know what to say in front of you and I would think you'd find me annoying anyway."
"Why?" Misao felt perplexed as the usually "stoic genius" as he was referred to at times through the grades in their high school was asking her a lot of questions.
"Because you don't like talking much...or rather you find the usual chatter at school pointless and don't feel the need to answer. I've seen you around and I've seen you come into the library at times as though to escape the loudness of your followers. So just by your general attitude at school I steer clear because I'm sure I'd grate on your nerves because I just talk non stop and..."
"Like now for instance?" Shinomori Aoshi muttered and watched the junior high girl snap her mouth shut as she bowed her head and pulled uneasily on her plait hanging limply over her right shoulder.
"Ah...yeah..."
"No one gets on my nerves, I just block out pointless chatter." This didn't make Misao feel any better as he practically said he blocked her chatter out of his mind as well. Misao sighed lightly as she sat back down on the bench and hugged her legs to her chest while looking out onto the drenched street.
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"Taking photos of course. I'm in the photography club and there's this competition tomorrow and um...yeah...just taking photos." Misao softly replied as she remembered to cut herself off from "pointless chatter" with her sempai. She had pulled out her camera to show the uninterested senior and realised he was just making conversation for the sheer hell of it and not for the fact he was generally interested in what she was doing.
"In the rain dressed like that?" Aoshi questioned once more.
"I love the rain and I don't care what I wear when I'm in it as all I care for is capturing the right picture that takes my breath away."
"Even when your top is transparent?" He dully contorted once more.
"Ehhhhhhhh?" Misao shrieked as she glanced down at herself as the street light finally turned on and now doused them in a soft golden light.
"Made you look." Misao's heart had been hammering in her chest at this point before she realised that the stoic Shinomori-sempai was trying to crack a joke which had failed to entertain her. Her narrowed ocean blue eyes searched for something and she picked up the plastic film container and threw it at his head. It connected with the side of him where his right temple was and bounced off to drop to the concrete floor. By this time his slightly surprised facial expression was glancing Misao's way as she cracked up laughing, her usual loud and energetic behaviour washing over the quiet senior.
"Just as I thought, quiet does not suit you." He mumbled to himself as Misao had not caught his words as she was now crouched on the ground and searching for the lid to the plastic container as it had popped off when it hit the concrete.
"Stupid damn lid!" She began grumbling to herself not even realising that Aoshi was gazing silently at her bent over form. He still rested his chin against his knee and watched the junior high student fumble on the ground looking for a piece of plastic with her perky butt sticking up in the air, small shorts showing off the band of her underwear. A chuckle broke from his lips and that was instantly followed by a loud thumping noise and a groaning Misao as she mumbled "itai" to herself while coming out from under the bench and rubbing her head all the while.
"Are you okay?" Aoshi remarked, a slight grin on his lips as Misao whimpered like a small child as she sat on the damp concrete floor.
"That freaking hurt and it's your fault Shinomori-sempai!" Blinking silently at her, he watched Misao's sparkling ocean blue orbs catch his semi hidden green ones.
"You chuckled and that was extremely unexpected so I blame you for not being the usual stoic Shinomori-sempai I always see around school." Misao had been pouting up at the senior, but her breath caught in her throat for the umpteenth time this evening when she watched Aoshi's hand reach out to stroke the top of her head.
"You're such a klutz Makimachi." He mumbled before pulling his hand away to continue to rest against his updrawn knee. Misao had to blink numerous times and noticed that his small little grin was still very much spread against his lips. His eyes were closed and his long bangs swayed against his softly chiseled face as a breeze swept through the street.
"Kakkoi..." Misao muttered and leapt for her camera. It wasn't long before there was a flash behind Aoshi's closed eyelids and he snapped them open to see a smiling Misao still sitting on the ground, but with her camera in her lap.
"Arigatou Shinomori-sempai, you just saved me so much trouble! Now I can enter that into the competition!" Misao happily spoke and grinned widely at the blinking senior.
"Why a photo of me?" He softly questioned her and watched as Misao tilted her head trying to think up an answer.
"I needed something that took my breath away and you do just that!" It wasn't long before Misao realised what she had said and her face flushed in embarrassment while her sempai's grin seemed to grow a little against his lips.
"Is that right?"
"Err...um...what I meant was..." Misao began to mumble and fidget on the cold and damp concrete ground as she felt green eyes bore holes into the top of her head as though wanting to hear her voice something like that again.
"Well I can't just let you take my photo without payment."
"Eh?" Misao remarked as she snapped her head up only to jerk slightly back in her seated position as she found her sempai's face extremely close to her own.
"My services aren't a charity after all." Misao's heart hammered in her throat before she felt her eyes widened when lips were pressed lightly to her own. Her sempai...her sempai was kissing her! It ended all too fast as Misao flickered her eyes up into the gentle gaze of Aoshi. She blinked before one hand reached up to caress her moist lips while the other had miraculously moved from her lap to clutch at his shirt.
"Ah, gomen nasai!" Misao squeaked out as she freed her hand from his black shirt and bowed her head. Her sempai...the one that made her feel nervous and warm at the same time had just stolen her first kiss. Misao hadn't a clue how this had come about, but she wasn't upset over it either. In fact she hadn't a clue what to do in such a situation like this. Imagine the uproar that would go around her school if Shinomori-sempai's fan club found out that she had accepted a kiss from him. Though it was mostly in surprise and sheer naiveté as well, but that still counted didn't it? What was going to happen now?
"The rain has eased and you should get home before you freeze to death in clothes like that." Misao lifted her head when she felt a soft cotton weight drape over her shoulders as her sempai had given her his jacket before standing up and walking off with his backpack thrown over one shoulder. Getting to her shaky legs Misao stepped out from under the shelter and watched the senior silently walk away. Her hands brought up her camera as she snapped the shot of Aoshi walking away, his toned arms slightly damp by droplets of rain glistening under the pale street light. At the sound of her camera winding the film back Misao snapped out of her 'Aoshi Shinomori daze' and headed for home.
# Misao's Residence #
"Ah Misao-chan, how did it go?" Misao's Jiya replied, but never received a reply from the 16 year old as she walked straight past him and up the stairs towards her room.
Misao sat on the carpet, now dry and changed into some PJ's while staring at her large white bear she'd gotten from her best friend for her birthday last year. It was congratulations for entering high school and for her birthday, but Misao had not figured out a name for it until one summer morning she'd nearly run into a certain tall senior with a band of followers.
"Ah, Aoshi-sama, Shinomori-sempai kissed me!" Misao shrieked loudly before flinging herself at the large bear and wrapping her arms around it. For the rest of the evening Misao couldn't help but giggle to herself.
# The Next Day – Lunchtime – Misao's High School #
"Misao-chan I love your photo. Who is the mysterious figure? He looks like he goes to our school by that uniform and bag. Ne, tell me please?" Misao walked the hallway with her best friend who was currently tugging at her sleeve of her white school blouse.
"Kaoru-chan, you know me, a photographer never tells." Misao remarked with a smile on her face as she walked past the photo's lining the hallway and eyed the "mysterious figure" walking under the street light. The one she had taken first was such a mesmerizing photo that Misao was being selfish and would not allow anyone to see Shinomori-sempai like that. That soft look, that small grin was just meant for him and her and she'd treasure that moment as well as the stolen kiss for all her high school years.
"Mou, Misao-chan you're so mean!" Chirped Kaoru before she and Misao parted ways as they had different classes to go to.
Casually walking down the hallway Misao gasped loudly when she felt something...or more importantly someone wrap their hand around her wrist and yank her into the stairwell of the school building.
"That photo is different Makimachi." Staring large eyes up at her sempai Misao felt her face redden immediately from last nights events.
"Um...well...you see...I didn't want to share...um...that softness of you...with others." Blinking down at the blushing junior high girl Aoshi felt something within him soften and lifted his fingers to drag them softly down her porcelain cheek.
"You are being selfish then?" Aoshi couldn't help but lean forward, his lips brushing against her yielding ones once more before parting away to observe Misao draw her heavy eyelids back open.
In truth Aoshi had remembered her ever since she nearly knocked into him the first day at school as she was late for orientation. After that day, when others mocked her for seemingly having an attitude much like a young child's, her genkiness though from far away had grown on him over time. He had also been watching her, without others knowing and in fact he went to the library to find her and to also escape from his followers, so she had been half right after all. It appeared that he'd become intrigued and perhaps even addicted to the junior.
"Aoshi...sama..." Misao whispered breathlessly against his lips as she had been drawn into his arms and against his hard body.
"Aoshi-sama...?" Aoshi muttered back at what Misao had called him and watched her flush once more. She was truly adorable when she did this and he couldn't help but smile lightly down at her. No other words could be spoken as the stairwell door was pushed open and a group of girls stared wide eyed at the Aoshi Shinomori hugging an extremely flushed Misao.
"Sumimasen!" They all screeched before slamming the door closed and Misao tensed in Aoshi's arms before feeling a soft vibration against her head as she realised the "stoic genius" was chuckling again!
"A-Aoshi-sama...girls...rumours...your fan club...angry..." Misao muttered to the quietly chuckling senior before catching his smoldering gaze with her larger orbs.
"So be it..." Misao parted her lips to say something, to rebuttal his comment as though wanting to second question him to make sure he was making the right decision but the usually quiet senior decided to interrupt her instead.
"I've been watching you all along as well Misao." Misao felt her heart stop when her name escaped his lips in such a sensual and sincerely spoken way. The way he gazed at her, held her and lightly smiled down at her Misao knew she'd never drop down from cloud nine ever again. Her happy little thoughts were soon interrupted by her Aoshi-sama cupping her face and leaning ever so closely towards her once more.
"How about payment for that second photo ne?"
# # THE END # #