Aspect

Rating: M

Summary: Touko saw him for the first time in the local market. He was not someone she would double-take at, but there is just something about him that draws her in... NxTouko

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Touko struggled to hold onto the lemons she picked up to inspect. She honestly had no idea that with a single glance she would spot someone as attractive as him. The only reason she looked on over in the first place was because of the commotion caused around him, mostly due to females trying to squeal discreetly.

She stared without shame, eyes wide, and lips pursed tightly to prevent her jaw from dropping. The man across the street was leaning casually against an old city building, arms crossed and one leg bent, his foot flat against the wall. He wore a plain black shirt, faded blue jeans and white sneakers. With hair as green as his, and matching eyes to boot, it is no surprise that he would grab some attention, maybe a bit more with such a lax pose, but there was just something about him that screamed for attention.

And it looked as if it was unwanted. From her quick observation, Touko took note of the small twitch of annoyance in the corner of his eye, but he kept his face emotionless, his head turned to look down the road as if waiting for something. Or someone.

One bold girl went up to the mystery man, her face flushed, eyes wide and lashes batting coyly. She was really cute, her red locks flowed almost perfectly down her back, a dark purple tank fitting nicely to her figure and a grey pleated skirt, knee-low, to show off her tanned legs. It made Touko feel like a slob with her own sloppy ponytail, large white t-shirt and boot cut jeans.

'Why would I need to dress up for the market anyways,' she thought a tad bitterly, turning back to her lemon inspecting. There was no point in wishing or fantasizing for the handsome stranger across the road when there was no way she was fit for such strong competition. 'But, still... '

Touko peeked over her shoulder, watching the cute woman try to converse with the beautiful male, hands clasped behind her back, leaning forward and giving the perfect cleavage peek from someone of his height. Or maybe she was just really tiny.

His head finally turned towards the woman in front of him and Touko held her breath, watching the interaction with a sinking heart, as well as every other female in the market. He kept his eyes to her face, showing zero interest. He gave no smile, no indication that her act was having any effect on him.

The bold woman faltered for a moment, her shoulders tensing a little but she gave an award winning smile, flashing pearly whites.

The man only blinked down at her and turned his head to look down the road again. The woman huffed, her face reddened from the embarrassment of being rejected in public and stormed away, but not before flashing a rude hand gesture to the spectators.

'Maybe he bats for his own team,' Touko thought tiredly and finally gave her full attention to her fresh fruit hunting, but not before seeing other women in the market turning away as well, probably coming to the same conclusion as she and had given up.

"You have been holding those for an awfully long time, I do hope you plan on buying them..." The elderly male vendors voice trailed off, arms crossed and a single brow raised.

"Y—yes, of course," Touko swallowed loudly and shakily stuffed the lemons into a plastic market bag. She handed the man the exact change before skittering off, face flushed.

She went to the next stall with various veggies and headed to the cart with sweet carrots. She decided to just try to assess them with her eyes because she felt the back of her neck began to sweat from restraint and that would mean losing her concentration, holding the food longer than usual and making the merchants upset. In no time her hands were clenching and she could bare it no longer.

Taking another peek over her shoulder, she saw that the beautiful male had stuffed his hands into his pocket with slight aggression and spun on the spot, heading in the opposite direction he was looking at.

Touko felt the urge to follow him but recoiled mentally as soon as the idea reached her logical part of her mind. 'I'm not going to stoop myself so low as to stalk some good looking guy! Belle would have a field day if she ever found out,'.

. . .

She pursed her lips and lowered her brows. She had returned to that market the next day because she was so up in the clouds that she had forgotten to get a couple of tomatoes and celery. But the distraction was back in the same spot, same time, same clothes.

'Is he homeless?' Touko questioned herself and before she could stop herself, she felt her feet moving in his direction.

If she had not been staring so intently at his face she would have missed the way his eyes quickly flickered to her, mild annoyance written all over his face with the tugging at the corner of his lips. It almost made her trip.

When she stood in front of the mysterious man, or at least trying to while getting bumped into by other people, she opened her mouth and tried to sound intelligent.

"So, uh, is everything... ah, okay?" She could just die right there.

He had raised his eye brow at her and gave a 'are you stupid' look. She wanted the earth to swallow her whole, right now.

"I mean, I saw you here yesterday and I realized you're still wearing the same clothes. Uhm, what I am getting at is... are you homeless?" Realizing how forward and rude that sounded, Touko waved her hands animatedly around her, panicking. "I—I just thought maybe I could buy you a new set of clothes, not that those are dirty or anything, in fact they look quite clean... but, but I can also buy you a meal and give you some money to help you with food for a few days... unless you plan on buying alcohol with it... " She trailed off and bit the inside of her cheek, willing herself not to cry by how she made a fool of herself.

But her heart fluttered when she saw surprise and amusement in his green eyes yet his mouth did not quirk up in a smile. "I am fine."

"I know you are," Touko grinned then slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

The mans amusement died instantly and he gave her a flat look.

'Great going, White,' Touko mentally scolded herself and her shoulders drooped. "I am so sorry. I'll be honest with you, you are something different, for around here anyways. I'm going to assume you're a foreigner?"

"I am."

She sighed mentally. His voice was smooth, deep, and pleasing to the ears. "Were you waiting for someone?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"... "

"Sorry for prying. Accumula Town isn't very large so there is a lot of familiar faces. Perhaps I can help you find this person?"

"I won't be meeting them for a couple more days. Or something. Our meeting is not set in stone."

"Erm... " Touko frowned and stepped back a bit, arms crossed and head cocked to the side. She could not figure this guy out. And he was utterly confusing. "Well if you are not meeting for a couple more days, did you want me to keep you company?"

His deadpan stare returned to her, absolutely dreary looking, of course.

"N—not like that! I could show you around if you haven't viewed the place yet. It must be boring to be waiting here day after day... after day."

Touko looked in his eyes, trying to decipher what he was feeling or thinking but to no avail. She held back a disappointed sigh and instead gave a wry smile and small wave. "Well, enjoy your stay here and I hope you find the person you're looking for."

Touko stepped away and walked back down the street. 'Screw the vegetables,' she thought dejectedly and was ready to take off in a sprint until she felt fingers touching the middle of her back, sending a sharp shiver down her back. She gasped and whirled around.

The strange man had also recoiled, bringing his hand up to inspect his fingers for any signs of burns. He had not expected such a reaction to touching her and looked passed his fingers to see a light flush rise up on her cheeks. "I am… quite bored." He mumbled quietly. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

"Ah, it's n—no problem." Touko swallowed and smiled with glee at his sudden change of heart. "My name is Touko."

"Touko," he tested, the name rolling smoothly off his tongue and rang in his ears. He resisted the urge to shake his head at the new feeling. "My name is N."

"N? Just N?" She gave an amused smile.

"My full name is Natural, but others find it easier to just say 'N'."

"N it is. So, how about I show you the impressive library first?"

. . .

A/N: I. AM. ALIVE. -jumps off a bridge- The summary is so cheesy ohmyberry but I literally can't think of anything else to.. describe this piece. -sob-

I have been 'working' on it for a little over two years. It originally was going to be a one-shot but then I got really into it and it got too long so yeah.. multi-chapters. I have 14 chapters written so far and I suspect I will finish at 15 or 16 chapters. So yeah... tell me what you think, feel, crave, desire, etc.

A huge thank you to my Beta, BlackRose105 from dA! [Oh God I haven't been on there in a long time either. I'm a shameful human being.]