Dress, Ice, Cheek, Flower, Star

AN: I got this idea while replying to a message to AudTheOdd, so I'd like to give my thanks. This is basically a fluff date between Hikari and Kei. I just entitled this "Dress, Ice, Cheek, Flower, Star" because I really suck at naming things. Please forgive me .. Hope you like it! This is the longest chapter/story I have ever submitted at once (so far), I hope it's okay. T for using acronyms for swearing.

Summary: "Well, for your punishment, you have to spend 24 hours with me," he said, as she stared at him, "That's right, 24 hours, not 12, 24 hours." Oneshot.

Lying on her bed, she glanced at her clock. It was 11:59, also known as one minute until Takishima came to pick her up for their "date". Hikari got up, walked to her bathroom, and started to tie her hair up.

59, 58, 57, 56, 55…

At first, she couldn't decide how to do her hair, and was just fiddling around, trying different styles.

54, 53, 52, 51, 50…

She sighed, and then wondered, "How did I even end up in this date?"

**---Flashback---**

She dashed to the board with the results of the end-of-year exams. It was the last day of school and she desperately wanted to win against Takishima. She turned to the board, face looking down, as a faint drum roll was heard in the background. She raised her head with excitement and scanned the S.A. part, bottom to top.

"7th place, Tsuji Ryuu; 6th place, Toudou Akira; 5th place, Karino Tadashi," she thought, "Everything seems to be the usual…NO! This time, I shall be 1st place! I shall triumph!!!" Her eyes scanned the rest of the list. "4th place, Yamamoto Megumi; 3rd place, Yamamoto Jun; and 2nd place… Takishima Kei?!" her expression burst with glee, as she rubbed her eyes, blinked a few times, and took another look at the board. "2nd place, Hanazono Hikari." He cheerfulness was wiped away, and the all-too-familiar "2nd place rock" fell on her head, this time, even without Kei calling her "2nd place".

"Oh… Looks like I win again," he smiled, as he walked up behind her, also looking at the list. "Well, for your punishment you have to spend 24 hours with me," he said, as she stared at him, "That's right, 24 hours, not 12, 24 hours." He picked up her hand, and pressed her fingers to his lips. Hikari's face flushed red, and he withdrew his hold and released her hands. He turned to walk to the greenhouse, but stopped and added, "Oh yeah, and Hikari, I'll pick you up at noon tomorrow. You don't have to wear anything special; I'll bring you to a stylist before we start. I have something in mind for you to wear…" And with that, he left Hikari, still flushing, to comprehend and think about what he just said.

**---End of Flashback---**

3, 2, 1, 0…

"DING-DONG," the doorbell sounded. Hikari just stuck with the casual ponytail, and rushed to get to the door.

She slid the screen door (I remember it was a screen door), and there stood Takishima Kei, smiling brightly at her. He was wearing pretty casual clothes: a white shirt, a tan jacket, and light blue jeans. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm decent. Let's go," replied Hikari, as she stepped outside and shut the screen door behind her. Takishima opened the door to the limousine and Hikari got in. He followed after her.

"First, we are getting you to the stylist and getting you a cute dress to wear." He smiled refreshingly as the limo started moving.

A slight tint of pink rushed to Hikari's cheeks. "Okay, sure."

It was only a 5 minute ride to the stylist, and during the ride, Hikari asked, "What are we doing today?"

"Well, the plan is to first, get you dressed, then head to my family's private skating rink for a bit. After that, we get lunch, and then go to a water park. We can eat dinner outside as well, if you want, and if we still have time, we can either go back to my house, or do something extra." He turned to face Hikari and chuckled at her cheerful and excited expression.

The limousine skidded to a gradual stop, signaling that they arrived at the dressers. Kei slid out of the limo first, and offered his hand to Hikari in a gentlemanly fashion. Hikari took it and mumbled a faint "thanks". They walked a short distance to the door, and upon opening it, they were surrounded by clothes of all different kinds: formal, pretty, cute, revealing XD, casual, cool, and some were extra unique, like a dress that made you look like a snow-globe. Hikari's jaw dropped at the massive amounts of clothes, but then quickly shut it again, trying not to be rude. A young lady that was just a little older than Hikari was, stood before them. She had black hair, which was tied up into a ponytail that was clipped to the back of her head. The end of her ponytail was dangling down. She wore a baby blue shirt with a white dress that had horizontal streaks of silver on them.

She looked at Hikari, and said, "You must be Hanazono-sama. My name is Otomite Hatari. I have the dress chosen by Kei-sama that is waiting for you to try on." She then addressed Kei, "Kei-sama you can have a seat on the sofa to your right if you wish."

She motioned for Hikari to follow her into the dressing area while Kei took a seat. She handed Hikari a dress and slid open the dressing room curtain for Hikari to change in. Then, she left Hikari alone to change.

After she brought some tea for Kei, she went back to the changing room, and from behind the curtains, she asked, "Are you finished yet, Hanazono-sama?"

"Umm… Yeah," Hikari murmured.

"Then please step out for us to see," replied Hatari.

"I-I can't. It's so embarrassing," Hikari stuttered.

Hatari glanced at Kei, who suggested with his hand that she should go and force Hikari out. He face was full of amusement as he motioned. After nodding at Kei, she slid into the dressing room and said, "Gomenasai Hanazono-sama," and pushed her outside.

As Hikari noticed Kei watching them, she let out a small squeal.

Takishima's eyes widened and his cheeks were coloured pink as he saw Hikari in a bright yellow dress that was flowing down to her knees. The dress had straps with small frills on the edges. The chest area was wrapped against Hikari's breast. Right beneath that, there was a row of rhinestones, which separated the breast area and the rest of her body. The rest of the dress wasn't tight like the chest area, but gave the impression of "poofy". Starting from the rhinestones, there were layers of white and yellow, leaving a 10 centimeter margin between each layer. Accompanying the dress, she wore yellow high-heels with a small bow on the front of each shoe. The heels were lower than usual high-heels for convenience, and also because Takishima thought that Hikari would prefer lower heels to high ones. For a lack of a better word, Kei just said, "Cute. I like it." Hikari stepped forward, toward Takishima, lifted her arms to shoulder-height, turned 360 degrees, and asked, "Won't I stand out too much?"

"Don't worry. You look fine." He gave her a reassuring smile, but thought, "Baby, you look much more than 'fine'. *whistles*"

"Okay, if you like it, then it's all right."

"C'mon, let's go." Kei turned to Hatari and said, "Thank you for preparing this dress."

"My pleasure. Have a nice day Kei-sama, Hanazono-sama."

Right after they walked out, Hikari could feel many eyes staring at her. She got nervous, but seeing Takishima smile at her made her forget all her embarrassment, as she got back into the limo.

After the limo started driving again, Hikari began to worry, "Takishima, I've never skated before…"

"Don't worry, I'll teach you." Takishima sat on the seat opposite of Hikari, so they were facing each other. He checked his watch. "We should get there in about 10 minutes, so we will probably be able to arrive at 12:20."

"Okay, 10 minutes. What should we do?"

"How about a contest?" Kei suggested; he grinned.

"Contest?! Sure! Bring it on, Takishima!" The enthusiasm was evident on her face.

"Here are the rules: you sit on my lap, and if you can't get off by the time we arrive at the skating rink, you lose. If you do get off my lap, then you win," he said, and after seeing the enthusiasm on her face mix with a little blush and hesitation, he added, "Are you backing out?"

Hikari's expression suddenly went blank, and then she loudly yelled, "Of course I'm not! I won't run away from a contest!"

A look of victory filled Kei's face, and smoothly said, "Okay then, let's get ready," as he patted his lap with his palms. Hikari stumbled over to him, and tentatively sat down on his lap.

"Ready, set, GO!" And the contest started, as Hikari started struggling from Takishima's steel grip. His arms held her close and kept her on his lap. Hikari resisted futilely and Takishima was having great fun restraining Hikari.

The limousine reached its destination and Hikari was still on Takishima's lap, the same position they were in at the start of the game. She had unquestionably lost, and pouted for a little while, as they got out the limo. It drove off, leaving the two behind.

Hikari was curious, "Why did the limo leave?"

Takishima seemed unsurprised. "The water park is nearby, and the restaurant we are eating at is in between here and the water park, so we're going to walk the rest of the way, unless you would like to ride it there instead. It wouldn't be a problem…"

"Oh no no… I'm fine with it really. It's kind of nerve-wracking that every time we step out of the limo, people start staring at us, or maybe it's just my dress…" She gazed down at her outfit, still wondering how she looked to other people, seeing that she never got a chance to look in a mirror.

…

Hikari slowly stepped onto the ice, careful not to slip or trip on her skates. She held onto the railing, and look forward at Takishima, who was sliding gracefully towards her. He took her hands away from the railing, and Hikari started to panic, "What if I fall?" However, she felt her hands, gripped gently but firmly by his, and she became calm. Kei pulled Hikari around slowly at first, but Hikari was progressing quickly. Within two minutes, she could skate by herself. Ten minutes after that, she could beat the national figure skater hands down. She was having so much fun, sliding around with Takishima. She let out a tiny giggle as they held hands, performing many maneuvers.

…

Takishima looked at his girlfriend lovingly; her laughter had always managed to make him tingly inside. They let go, and she skated to the other end of the rink, while he stopped and waited for her. He watched her turn in circles and make some jumps.

"She's simply amazing," he thought. Her yellow dress was wrapped against her body as she skated quickly towards him and revealed what a slender figure she had. His eyes got lost and couldn't help but just gaze at her fondly.

Hikari thought, "I wonder why he's staring at me like that. He seems like he's half asleep. Maybe I shou-" she stopped mid-thought when her eyes met his and their gazes locked each other. None of them were able to stop staring into each other's eyes, when Hikari suddenly regained her focus- right before she collided with Takishima, and they both rammed against the skating rink wall.

THUD! Hikari landed on her buttocks and Takishima tripped over her legs and fell onto his knees. He turned around and sat down on the ice, after getting his legs out of Hikari's. They both burst out into laughter, and then got up.

"Sorry Takishima." Hikari apologized as she got onto her knees and pushed herself up.

Takishima was already standing. "It's fine. It didn't really hurt."

The same could not be said for Hikari. After she got up, the moment she moved her legs, an ache formed on her butt. She winced, "Ow…"

"Are you okay?" asked Takishima, looking concerned.

"'I'm okay. It's just that I fell harder than I thought," replied Hikari, as she subtly pointed to her behind.

Kei's face showed a hint of amusement. He grinned and picked Hikari up into a princess hold. "Let's go rest that ache and have some lunch." He gently patted her butt twice and Hikari turned red.

"Pervert!"

Takishima Kei just laughed it off and carried a struggling princess into the changing area. He placed Hikari softly onto a bench and started undoing her skates.

"You don't have to; I can do it myself. I didn't hurt my hands when I fell."

"It's fine."

Hikari made a face. "You are spoiling me too much. I'm going to become a bratty little girl at this rate."

Kei smiled at her, "Maybe then, you'll be entirely mine because nobody else can stand you."

She smiled a little in response. There was a minute of silence.

"Thanks," Hikari murmured, as Takishima finished one skate and was starting the other.

"No problem."

…

They were walking down the street, holding hands. People glanced at them when they passed, mainly because a girl in a dress that looked as if it was worth ¥1,000,000 was walking down the sidewalk as if it was "normal".

"Where are we going to eat?" Hikari wondered.

They stopped in front of a nice looking restaurant. "Right here," Takishima replied.

They chose a seat beside the glass wall that separated the restaurant from the outside. Just as they sat down, Kei's cell phone went off.

"Take a seat, I'll be right back."

Hikari sat down, making sure that her underwear wasn't visible. A man that just entered the store approached her.

"Hello. Is this seat taken?" he asked.

"Yes, sorry."

"Oh. Do you have a boyfriend?" he questioned further.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, there he is."

Takishima Kei was walking back to the table, his eyes glaring at the man, as he put away his cell phone. The man quickly left Hikari alone and then sat down at the seat furthest from them, as a precaution. This seemed to satisfy Kei and he sat down in the seat opposite Hikari. They ordered their lunch, as well as ice cream for dessert.

After the waitress left, a show started on a small stage in the restaurant for special entertainment for the guests. The host appeared on stage, to introduce their first act. Hikari and Kei enjoyed the show while eating lunch. There were many different performances, singing, juggling, comedy acts, etc… After Kei and Hikari finished their dessert (ice-cream) the show's last segment began.

"Is there anybody in the audience who would like to perform something for the rest of us to see?" the host announced.

There was silence in the audience, until Hikari stood up and declared, "I would like to present a piano piece."

Kei was pleasantly surprised. He never knew Hikari could play the piano (but then again, he never attended his classes, including music).

There was already a piano on the stage for the previous performances. Hikari went up on stage and said, "The piece I am about to play is written by me, called River Flows in You. It was inspired by and is dedicated to my magnificent boyfriend, Takishima Kei."

Kei's eyes widened and there were doilies spinning around near his head (reference to the anime).

Hikari approached the piano and sat down on the seat. She placed her fingers on the initial notes and after taking a small breath, she started playing. The first notes were smooth and the song started slowly. The melody was sweet and there was a lot of emotion behind the tune. The melody soon became more complicated, but it remained unbearably sweet. The audience listened in awe. They didn't believe that anybody this young could write such a romantic and beautiful piece, especially a girl that was only 15 years old.

When she finished the piece, the audience applauded loudly and even gave her a standing ovation. She was easily the best performance of the show. She gave a polite curtsy and skipped back to Kei.

"Did you like it?" Hikari asked.

"It was beautiful," Takishima replied, "You have no idea how much I love it."

"Thank you," Hikari said, and then admitted, "Actually, I dedicated 3 more songs to you, not just this one."

Takishima was at a lost for words. Hikari smiled, "I'll play it for you at your house. You have a piano in your room don't you?"

Kei nodded as they got their stuff ready and started to leave. As Kei motioned for the bill, the manager approached them

Apparently, the host of the show had one last thing to say before the show ended.

"Takishima Kei, you are one lucky man."

The audience started clapping again, someone even whistled.

After curtsying one last time, Hikari and Kei left the restaurant.

"Where is the water park?" Hikari asked, as they started walking.

"It's just straight-forward; it's about a 5 minute walk," Kei replied, as he took Hikari's tender hands in his.

Hikari blinked twice as she remembered something. "I don't have a swimsuit with me."

"Don't worry. I had this planned out. There is a store that sells swimsuits and other aquatic gear just inside the water park." Takishima answered her question. However, his mind seemed to be something else.

Hikari noticed that. She looked concerned and questioned, "Is there something on your mind?"

"Not really, I was just thinking about how the other piano pieces that you wrote would sound." Takishima watched Hikari's concerned face turn into a cute smile.

"You'll find out soon enough," she said, half-teasing. She put on a fake expression of innocence and looked away, fluttering her eyes, "Or not."

"Hey!"

Just to be on the safe side (to make sure she would play it for him), he proposed a challenge, "Then how about a challenge? Whoever can run to the water park the fastest will get to make the loser obey one command."

Hikari's eyes lit up at the word "challenge", and she answered with enthusiasm, "Of course!"

"Ready, set, GO!"

The couple sprinted through the sidewalk, dodging the people and trees. Hikari was level with Takishima at first, but once the water park was in view, Takishima sped up and beat Hikari by at least 10 seconds. She stopped behind him, gasping. She bent down and rubbed her ankles when she felt some pain.

Takishima looked down at her and said, "I guess that wasn't fair. You were wearing heels and a dress. Are you hurt?"

"Not much. I just twisted my ankle a bit. I'll be fine as long I take it easy." She got back up and faced Kei.

"So, what is your command?"

"Hikari, you don't have to do this. The contest wasn't fair."

"I'll do it. I don't go back on my words." Her eyes held steady as she looked straight into his. He sighed.

"Well, I haven't thought of it yet. I'll tell you later," he said, and then thought, "Hikari's probably going to play the pieces for me anyway, so there's no point in wasting this command…"

"Okay, then let's go!" Hikari scanned the enormous water park. Her eyes were bright, and she pulled Takishima, by the hand, to the entrance gate.

….

Takishima's face was captured by Hikari's body. The bikini was generally white, with silver swirls.

She had a small skirt over the bottom piece and the top had a neck strap instead of shoulder straps. The bikini outlined her slender and lean curves, also revealing most of her back and legs. Her long black hair flowed along her side and back and she reminded him somewhat of a swan. Her expression was one of worry.

She tried to read Kei's expression, and misinterpreted it. "Do I look weird?"

He got out of his daze and scraped some words together, "No…no…beauti-, no…I mean…you…look fine…"

"Oh, thanks," she replied, took Takishima's hands, and added, "C'mon!"

Their first ride was a water slide that covered at least 200 meters with all its turns and bumps and it started 60 meters above ground. Kei went first, followed by Hikari. Once Kei slide out of the end, he stopped and looked at the tremendous water slide he had just been on. A small scream startled him.

"Takishima, move!"

He turned around and saw that Hikari was rushing down the last few meters of the slide and they were bound for collision. The water restrained his movements slightly and he was not able to react fast enough to dodge her.

They closed their eyes and collided with a great splash. Hikari opened her eyes and found that her arms were around Takishima's neck and his arms were around her waist. He chuckled, "We're bumping a lot into each other today," after recalling their skating incident. Hikari joined in is light laughter and giggled as she released his neck.

They stepped out of the pool at the end of the slide, dripping wet.

Kei saw a face paint area nearby, and after a brief flashback of the man and Hikari in the restaurant, he said, "I know what I want for winning the challenge now."

"Sure. What is your command?"

He grabbed her hand and walked her to the face paint station. "I want you to let me paint something on your cheek."

"All right," answered Hikari, as she sat down on a stool.

Takishima walked a few steps to the person in charge, "Can I use these?" He pointed to the face paints.

"Go ahead," she replied.

"Thank you." Kei took the paints and went back to Hikari. He kneeled down and started painting.

After a few minutes, he put down the brush and closed the paint bottles. He leaned back to check on his work.

"I'm done," he declared as he got back on his feet and Hikari stood up. The lady in charge peered over his shoulders and gave out a small chuckle.

"What's wrong?" Hikari asked, curious about what was on her face.

As the lady was about to bring a mirror, Kei said, "Nothing, she was just admiring what wonderful artwork I made."

The lady came back, carrying a mirror. She handed it to Hikari, who eagerly took it and stared at her left cheek. Although it was reflected backward in the mirror, she could tell exactly what it said, and what the picture was.

On her left cheek, the words "THIS IS MY BOYFRIEND" were painted in black, with a small but very accurate and detailed self portrait of Kei under it.

Hikari remained silent as she examined the picture of Kei. Anyone could tell it was Takishima. Mini-Takishima had the same clothes, hair, and even the ear shape was exact. She let out a sigh of relief and faced Kei, "Wow… I thought it would be something like '2nd place', but this is… cool."

She looked at her face one last time in the mirror and burst out laughing. "This… is… going… to… be… so… embarrassing!!!" she said between bursts of laughter.

The couple left the face paint area and continued on their date.

As they strolled through the water park, many faces turned to watch Hikari as she passed by, not just for her attractive body and cute swimsuit, but also for the painting on her cheek. Another teenage couple passed by, glanced at Hikari, and the girl winked at Hikari while the guy praised, "Nicely done," to Kei, who in turn, grinned back.

…

By the time it was 7:00 p.m., the paint had already washed off. The water park was going to be closed in 20 minutes, so Kei and Hikari decided to call it a day and go eat dinner. They ate at a fancy restaurant near the one where they ate lunch.

It was a quiet and calm dinner. They sat in a table so that Kei could see the door and she couldn't.

After half an hour, Takishima finished eating and started tapping his shoe keenly and glancing at the door every so often. "Is something wrong?"Hikari wondered as she observed his body behavior, "Am I eating too slowly? Does his want to leave?" Then, it suddenly hit her, "HE IS LOOKING DOWN ON ME!!!!! He is probably thinking, 'What's with this girl? She so slow… She doesn't deserve to be my rival.'"

Her eyes flashed freakishly and she started wolfing down her food 50 times faster than the average person, while maintaining all table etiquette. "HAHAHAHA!!!!! How's that Takishima?! Fast enough for you?" she thought.

Kei turned back to facing Hikari after glancing at the door again. He had an expression of puzzlement and a drop of sweat hung beside his forehead.

"Hikari, why are you eating so quickly?"

"No reason," she gave a smile that was too sarcastic to be real.

Kei could see that she was clearly lying. "Tell me."

"No," she refused.

"Tell me," he persisted.

Hikari suddenly looked like a ghost (you know, like those ones with the white triangle on their heads) with an evil smirk. "Women's intuition," she cackled.

"WTF??!!" Takishima thought, but said, "That doesn't even make sense."

Hikari was starting to get nervous with the lying and began sweating bullets as she tried to think of a reply. However, she was saved when the bell rang that signaled that a customer just left/entered. Takishima glanced yet again at the door, and said, "I'll be right back." He left his seat and headed for the counter.

A quiet exchange was given at the counter. Hikari couldn't hear what was going on, so she was about to leave her seat and go find out what was happening. However, before she could even get in view of the counter, Takishima stepped out from the corner with a handful of crimson roses. He smiled warmly and walked to Hikari.

"These are for you," he said, as she held the roses for Hikari to take.

She was speechless for a second, and then her entire face turned into an even redder colour than the roses.

Kei watched his girlfriend turn every shade of red there was. She awkwardly took the roses and inaudibly murmured, "Thank you."

Takishima leaned in and kissed her gently. Her eyes were frozen, but then softened, and she kissed him back. Once their lips parted, the customers of the restaurant gave them a round of applause.

"It's the second one today…" Hikari said softly.

"Is that a bad thing?" Takishima replied with a question.

She pondered for a second, "I guess not."

…

After paying for their dinner, they left the restaurant.

"Is there something else you would like to do?" Takishima asked when they exited the building.

Hikari dedicated a second to thinking and replied, "There's this one place I would like to show you, but it's nothing much."

"Okay, sure. Let's go, "Kei replied, and then asked, "Should we take a vehicle there or would you like to walk?"

"It's fairly close, and besides there isn't anywhere to park a vehicle."

"So walking it is," Takishima concluded.

"Okay," she said as she took his hand and led him forward.

…

She was taking Takishima to the place where she and Tadashi went for their date. At first, when they entered the forest, it was very dark, but there was a shimmer of light in the horizon and Hikari knew it would be the lake. Upon reaching it, the beautiful lake was gently glistening in the last few rays of light of the falling sun.

"This is it. It's not much, but I thought it was worth seeing," Hikari said.

"It's beautiful," he agreed.

When they were walking the perimeter of the lake, Hikari found a little frog and they fiddled with it for a while. Once they released it, the sky was already dark.

Kei led Hikari to a big tree, and sat down on the grass, back leaning against the tree trunk. Hikari sat in between his legs, her back leaning against him. She put the roses on the grass beside them. Their knees were bent towards the dark sky, and Takishima wrapped his arms around Hikari and held her close to him.

"Aren't you cold?" he wondered.

"Not really, you're keeping me warm," was her reply. "What about you? Are you cold?"

"No, I'm wearing a jacket. Besides, you're also warming me."

There was a gentle breeze and a period of silence.

Hikari broke the silence, "Takishima, look up. The stars are so bright tonight."

Sure enough, it was a clear night and almost all the stars were visible.

"Nee, Takishima, I made up my own constellation. See those stars?" she said as she pointed to 12 different stars.

"What is it?" he asked, after breathing in the scent of her hair.

"I called it 'Takishima Kei'."

Another period of silence…

"Thanks," he whispered in her ear.

Her eyelids started drooping and she couldn't focus anymore as she fell asleep. Takishima was also sleepy and after he realized that Hikari was already asleep, he decided not to wake her and just stay the night here. Listening to Hikari's even breathing, he let his consciousness fade and he fell asleep. His last thoughts were, "This is a much better day than I expected…"

End

Disclaimer: The piano piece used in this story belongs to Yiruma, entitled "River Flows in You". The characters, Hikari and Kei, belong to Minami Maki.

AN: Thanks so much for reading till the end. I know it's really plotless, but I just wanted to write something where Hikari and Kei are just together being happy. I apologize for any grammar/spelling errors.