Maybe it comes with the fact of death lingering a stone's throw away.

A careless kiss there, she tries to ignore it at first. The second time, she almost spills the tea, sure he was drunk - instead, he coughs and she approaches, trying to help in anyway she can. Chizuru wishes her oni blood could do more - could save him this pain when his body begins to fail him. But it can't. Wishing and wishing did nothing.

So she pats his back feebly, feeling the smooth ripple of muscle beneath the russet-colored kimono. He shifts, a flash of a hidden smirk and he's still quick as lightning.

"Got ya."

She squeaks - tardily, red-faced, annoyed partly as he chuckles beneath his hand, at her expression. Chizuru knows she's been played - for sympathy and now she was sure of it. Okita-san wasn't drunk. He adds with a smirk she shouldn't find charming, "you wouldn't hit a sick man, right, Chizuru-chan?" One brilliant green eye closed in a wink.

Peeved at how he can still joke at a time like this, she doesn't respond and instead takes her leave as soon as possible. Much later on, Chizuru puzzles over why his casualness about it bothers her? Is it because she knows he's just playing? In the darkness of her room, she stared up at the ceiling, surrounded by the familiar creaks and groans of a household settling down for the night.

She wonders at her own feelings - does she wish...there was something of substance to his flirting? Instantly realizing her train of thought, she reddened and buried herself under the light covers. Tomorrow she would resolve it...

...

"Why?" she asks plaintively, anticipation for a response making her linger an arms-length away from the man. He gets real close to her, smirking. The proximity made something flutter like a trapped bird in her stomach. Chizuru held on, stifling the urge to put distance between their faces, meeting his mischievous glint.

"Let's just say...maybe I'm too fond of you, Chizuru-chan." he whispered closely in her ear.

"Ano? What do you mean-" his words confused her even more.

"Nothing less than that." He tapped her on the bridge of her nose, causing her to twist away out of his reach, her blush burning brightly. Chizuru pouted at his expression; silenced when he waved her off. "Go off now. A happy creature like you needs the sun!"

Feeling the dismissal, she scampered up to her feet, almost to the door when he added softer after her.

"Oh and remember, Chizuru-chan. If you breathe a word of this to anyone..."

She risked a glance back.

"I'll have to kill you." Okita-san said with a smile on his face.

She would never understand this paradox of a man.

-Fin-

Disclaimer: do not own HSK.

AN: just something short.

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