Love Blossom

undercover

Haruka constantly glances down at her legs, not used to her standard tights missing. The air is too freeing. She feels exposed.

She once again wonders how she got wrapped up into this mess, but she can only blame herself. After receiving a request from Yakumo, of course she couldn't refuse. It was her nature not to.

And maybe it had a little to do with how the person that was asking is also the one person in the world who can make her cheeks warm in happiness with a single glance.

It was supposed to be an easy undercover operation. Yakumo just had to buddy up with some business executives to uncover hidden motives for the latest case Gotou had him wrapped up in— they'd be in and out of the party, he said.

Yet, here she is, in the richest part of the city during one of the coldest days of the year, posing as the plus one of Tsuraga Ren (Haruka thinks Yakumo could have picked a better name) and wearing a dress she had been saving up for a when any extra special occasion arose. Like a date at a fancy restaurant, perhaps?

Yakumo steps away from the ballroom with a group of men, and the worry of their ruse being uncovered nags at her as stays seated at their table, alone. To her surprise, trouble arises in the form of a tall stranger with too much boyish charm for her to coldly refuse.

"My feet are aching a little right now."

She can see the man wanting to protest, to persist in his pursuance, when a voice interrupts him. "Still got one more round in you?"

Yakumo comes to stand in between her and the stranger, who now looks like he'd ready to run off, and Haruka is somehow led to the dance floor with a gentle hand on her wrist guiding her as much as the slender back she trails behind.

Once they've reached the other end of the ballroom, close to the sides so to avoid attention, she feels his hands trace their way around her shoulders and down her arms, barely touching her, before they settle where they should. Her hand clasping his feels like it's going to start sweating, but Haruka tries to ignore it as Yakumo holds her gaze.

His eyes betray nothing, and Haruka wonders if everyone else is as fooled by their act as she is.

It's a simple waltz, and they are able to keep up with the rest of the crowd, but she stops noticing everything else as time passes and she feels the heat spread everywhere else. His touch is making her skin extra sensitive, especially the part of her exposed back that his fingers are skimming. She can only hope he didn't notice the first few shivers she tried to rein in.

All other thoughts fall away to her when she is brought closer to Yakumo, his lips inching closer to her ear.

"It wasn't supposed to take this long."

Haruka is a little stunned by their proximity. The feeling of the heat of his breath lingering on her ear fades. She now feels it far more intensely on her face as he hovers a little away.

She gives him a slight smile and nods her head, understanding his apology, but is not able to do much more to acknowledge it than hold him a little more firmly as they continue to dance.

A/N: Heads up: for the rest of the month (March of 2014), I'll be posting a short drabble here daily! Wish me luck. They'll be centered around our lovely main two, and will probably be more of a loosely connected series than a collection, but we shall see.

I've wanted to see an undercover scenario play out in the series for awhile, so I decided to write out one of my own. It would be so much fun; there are so many possibilities.