She scooped another spoon of orange marmalade and spread it on the slice of baguette.
Taking a big bite from it, she enjoyed as the sweet taste of the marmalade with soft tender bread being chewed in her mouth. She recently had found a new taste of orange marmalade—sweet but slightly sour taste—and had become to like it. It was a taste she never tasted before, and will never find anything like it in the future. Well, maybe not never but you still get the point.
She sat under the warm sun, enjoying the light hitting her white skin. The touch of the sun could ever been so soft, though it could cause some pain sometimes. She could already feel the stinging and itching where the skin started to turn red from the heat. Deciding to move into shadowed place, she stood up and moved the white chair she was currently sitting on. Gently laying the white foldable chair under the shadow formed by lushes of green, she looked back at the table still exposed to the sun. God, her orange marmalade was in danger!
She lazily pushed herself up from the chair that slightly creaked. Her bare foot walked on the soft grass which tickled her. Slightly giggling, the girl only picked up the jar, leaving the baguette alone out in the sun. She only cared for this sweet thing anyway, and the baguette was simply something like a side dish. Wait, baguettes are meant for side dishes anyway. Oh well, it didn't matter anyway. All that mattered was her little jar of marmalade was in her hands, safe and clear.
At the same exact time when our orange marmalade lover was enjoying the light breeze, a certain red haired boy was walking down the street with bag of stuff he just bought. Why was he holding a bag of glossaries? He didn't know, but it sure was the punk boy's fault.
You see, they were playing a game…kind of violent game in fact, and the loser needed to go out in this hot sticky weather and buy ice cream. He was so sure he would win along with the black haired cold man, but apparently, he didn't. Their punk friend has won the game. Oh, why was he asleep at that time! Only if he was awake, then he could've won!
'What's wrong?'
'Nothing.'
The boy growled to the voice that rang in his head, slight accusation lingering in his voice. He sighed as he saw the playground far up ahead, just past the old apartment that no one was living now. It was all cracked and those porous walls! It was a miracle that those gray walls could support the building!
Sweat beaded on his forehead, dripping down his chin and falling to the ground. Through his tired blurry sight, he saw a sudden bright light envelop the old apartment, blinding his eyes temporarily. Forcing his eyes to look at the shining apartment, he dropped the white plastic bag in shock. Every tiny crack in the walls was mended, as well as the broken, dirty windows that gave people creepy feelings. Rubbing his eyes, he opened his deep emerald eyes again to see them in their old bad shape, the cracks on every inch of the walls.
"What…?"
Slowly, he reached the abandoned apartment, forgetting about the plastic bag he dropped on the floor. The moment his foot went past the gate, things around him started to shift, causing everything to be a blur of faded turquoise, green, and muddy brown.
Kagome's bright blue eyes flashed with alarm as she felt a tug on her mind. Someone had just entered her garden, a demon at that. She had specially picked this abandoned apartment to be her paradise since no one would've any business here. Who would want to come into some kind of creepy apartment? Though they entered this area, they won't be able to enter her place unless…
"Unless they are related to the Spirit World."
Setting down the jar she was holding onto, she stood up and fixed her kimono. After all, who ever it was from the Reikai, and she had to greet them. It was one of her duty that had been carried out for hundreds of years.
Slipping her feet into the geta, she blushed at the worn out shoes. So she decided to go out greet him (or her) with her bare foot. Did it matter? Yes. Did she care? No. Besides, the little prince won't be able to punish her unless his father, the great King Enma allowed him to. She was required to be fully dressed—with her shoes on—when a messenger or someone from the Spirit World came into her garden, but for countless times, she didn't wear them, and the last time Koenma had visited her, he was slightly angry, thinking she was being rude. However, King Enma didn't care—in fact; he loved to see her being so natural in her garden, her property. It was wrong for the Spirit World to claim the garden as theirs in the first place, anyway.
Kagome slightly smiled at the memory of the little prince's red face, flushed with anger yet with some embarrassment when she simply laughed off his anger and planted a small kiss on his plump cheek.
'D, don't do that!'
'Why, Koenma sama, you look flushed!'
'I, I!!'
'It's okay, just tell me you loved it.'
'It…was okay I guess…'
His face blushed while mumbling on his words.
She gently placed the small jar of marmalade in the sleeves of her kimono before heading off to the entrance to greet the customer.
His eyes cracked open to see clear blue sky with sound of rustling of leaves tickling his ears. He felt the soft grass crushed under him. His bare arm tickled from the movement of grass caused by gentle wind.
'Red? You alright?'
'I… think so…'
'Whoever is the owner of this garden did pretty good job of taking care of them. The plants are really healthy and fresh.'
'I have noticed.'
'Hm… these plants… I thought they were extinct…'
'These plants as in…?'
'The herb you can feel on your right hand.'
Kurama slightly moved his right hand to brush up against something fragile yet not so soft. Slightly turning his head, he saw a plant about tall as his index finger, tints of reddish brown color at the pointy edge of the small leaves.
'What is this? I've never seen it before…'
'That is…'
"That is unnamed, but I can tell you it has been extinct since three hundred years ago."
The red haired boy sat up immediately when he heard a feminine yet strong voice answer his question. He saw that it was a woman, no, a girl around his age smiling softly at him. His observant emerald eyes examined her delicate face, from her blue eyes to perfectly shaped pink lips. She had the whitest skin he ever saw, but not that pale to make her look like a patient. Her skin was… healthily white. She was wearing a furisode meticulously decorated with blooming sakura flowers. On top of that, a cloak that was black with sliver lines here and there. Her tabi was surprisingly brown, and he guessed it was because of the mud.
"Welcome, you have come because of Koenma's orders, have you not?"
"Um, I'm sorry but that's not why I have come…"
"Oh?"
Her brows knitted together as she slightly frowned, tapping her index finger against her chin. Then she simply smiled, stepped right up to his sitting form, and crouched down to his eye level.
"Then be my guest. Whether you have came here accidentally or because of Koenma's orders, you are now in my garden. You work for the Spirit World, right? Then be my guest."
Kurama slightly nodded at the 'working for Spirit World' part. Gladly accepting the hand that was reached out for him to grab, he pulled himself up with the help of this girl. Then with surprising amount of power, she started to drag him to a big tree far up ahead.
It was then he noticed something orange dropped out of her furisode and roll onto the grassy field.
"Wait, miss! You dropped something!"
"Huh?"
Picking up the jar with orange substance in it, he handed it to the girl in front of him who was looking at him gratefully.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
Swallowing the urge to ask what it was, he followed the girl.
Kurama didn't know how much time had passed, but he was so sure the sun would've already set, or it would be just starting to dye the sky with shades of red, orange, yellow, and maybe with some tints of purple outside. The sky in the garden didn't change, but it stayed the same—shades of light blue with sun still high up, shining happily above them. By the position of it, it seemed that it was noon in her little garden.
"If you are worrying about time, then don't. A day here is one minute outside."
"So you mean although I stay here for year, it would be only six hours in real world?"
"Yes. However, there are some things that are quite… bothersome."
"For example…?"
Kagome cleared her throat and took a bite of baguette with her favorite orange marmalade spread out thickly.
"If you stay here long enough and you age here, the moment you step out of this area and step into real world, then although only six hours have past by in your world, you would still be a year older than your age."
"So… You mean if I stay here for one year, become 21 and go back, although only six hours past by in the real world, I would still be 21 instead of 20?"
"Yep, you sure are intelligent. A lot of… never mind. Anyway, tell me about yourself, stranger. Oh my, we don't even know are names yet!"
"I'm Kurama, an avatar of a kitsune youkai."
"Higurashi Kagome, just a girl who hasn't step into the real world for years."
Kagome extended her hand out across the table and smiled, while Kurama grabbed her soft hands and shook it slightly. Then all of sudden, the girl shoot out her left hand, which held a small jar that he had picked up earlier.
"What's the meaning of this?"
"We've become friends, and this is a ritual I go through when I make new friends."
She stressed on the word 'friends' and Kurama slightly chuckled at her childishness. Gently taking the jar, he popped open the cap and he looked up, waiting for next direction.
"Just take a scoop of it and gulp it down!"
"That's it?"
"Yep! Simple and fast. Now hurry up! I hate waiting!"
She pouted, her arms crossed at her chest. Taking the silver teaspoon placed on the table, he scooped a little and put it in his mouth, tasting the marmalade. It was very sweet yet had sour taste that somehow reminded him of the girl sitting in front of him. After setting the jar and the spoon, he licked his lips, hoping to taste more of it. He was not surprised at all when Kagome picked up both of them, scooped some marmalade and placed the spoon in her mouth, twirling it slightly and setting it on the table again.
"You know, that's like… indirect kiss?"
"What's an indirect kiss?"
Kurama's lips tilted upward at the girl's innocent question. He leaned against the white chair and closed his eyes, folding his hands on his chest.
"Well, that's something you have to figure out."
"That's not fair! Come on, please tell me!!"
One of his emerald eyes cracked open ever so slightly, looking at the pouting girl in front of him.
'Ooooh Sexy!'
'Shut up, Youko.'
His eyes slightly swirled with gold before turning back to emerald. His eyes were rather focused on her pink lips than her face, and Kurama blushed and tried to shake the thought out of his head. Damn, Youko was the problem again.
"Kurama?"
"Huh?"
"You are… uh… red."
"Yea, I do have red hair."
"No, I mean, your face is red. Do you have fever or something?"
"Uh…no?"
"You sure?"
Kurama nodded his head fiercely as he closed his eyes, not wanting to see her luscious lips anymore. After all it was those pink adorable lips that were causing him to have bad thoughts… He was surprised when he felt a sudden soft contact on his forehead and he automatically opened his eyes to see cool blue staring right at him. He blushed at the closeness as he gulped, licking his dry lips.
"You don't seem to have fever…"
The smell of orange marmalade tickled his nose as she spoke and he wanted to taste it so badly, the desire to claim those lips piling inside him. Kurama's eyes looked down at her lips and noticed how close it was to his, and he licked his lips again.
"Maybe it's because you stayed here for too long. Your human body can't take it anymore."
"It…"
"Hm?"
Kurama finally managed to speak after noticing the closeness between him and her. He opened and closed his mouth before letting out the words he kept in his mouth.
"It's not because I'm sick."
"Then why are you so red?"
"It's because of… uh…"
"Yes?"
"You."
He blurted it out but soon realized his mistake. His wrong choice of words—she surely won't understand when he said it was because of her. He looked at her guiltily as tears started to form at the rim of her eyes, sliding off her cheek one by one. Reaching his hand up, he wiped off the tears with his thumb, rubbing circles at her back smoothly with his other hand.
"Did, did I do something wrong?"
"No, I didn't mean like that. I, I was blushing…"
"Blushing?"
"Yes, blushing. I'm not sick."
"But, but why would you blush because of me?"
"That's because… uh…"
"Why?"
Kurama was trying to find the right word to explain it the girl. She was so innocent, and surely he couldn't just…taint her… right? Oh my god, he was so frantic to find the word. THE word that could just end this situation without making himself embarrassed.
'Just kiss her.'
'What?'
'Just kiss her.'
Kurama could see Youko shrugging his shoulders while smirking as if enjoying this. The red hair growled inwardly at the kitsune that was obviously enjoying this. But for once, he found Youko could be right—well, he could catch two rabbits at once. He gets to kiss her and escape this awkward situation.
'Go for it, Red!'
'I'm only listening to you this once.'
'Just shut up and kiss her!'
So Kurama did exactly what he was told to do—or rather, what he wanted to do. He brought down his lips to hers, claiming her lips with demand but gently. She gasped due to his unexpected actions, and he took the chance to enter and taste her.
He couldn't believe how sweet she tasted. Every now and then, he could taste the sour and bitter taste of orange marmalade she loved so much and he had tasted earlier. Kurama hoped to taste more of it, but he could already feel the girl in his arms going blue from lack of oxygen. Parting his lips from her, he looked down at the madly blushing girl, who wouldn't dare to look at him in the eye.
Smiling at the shy girl in front of him, he softly tilted her head upward to make her face him. Her eyes were still cast downward, her white skin red from blushing.
"Kagome, look at me."
"I… I don't want to…"
"Why… is it that you hate me now?"
"It's not like that!"
The fox faked being hurt, and our naïve girl automatically jerked her head up, looking in his eyes slightly demandingly, but soon lowered her head, fiddling with her black cloak. He smiled at her cuteness and hugged her tightly, successfully earning a yip from the girl.
"Um…"
"Maybe I should go… my friends would be extremely worried."
Letting go of the petite girl, Kurama pushed himself up from the chair and started to head down the hill when he felt a sudden tug on his t-shirt. He slightly smiled as if he was expecting it, and slowly turned around, facing her. He tried to keep his cool posture as possible, but found himself constantly smiling when looking at the girl.
"Do you have something to say?"
"I, I…"
"Yes?"
"Will… you visit me tomorrow too? I, I mean… if it's okay with you…"
"Fine by me."
He shrugged and looked at her, some kind of emotion that Kagome didn't know swirling in his eyes.
"So… you won't mind visiting me tomorrow?"
"If you want me to."
"Of course!"
She snapped, afraid his mind would change. Before running down the hill, he gave her a soft peck on her cheek, making her blush again. Jumping every now and then, his pace got faster and faster, and before totally exiting from the green garden, the taste of orange marmalade lingered in his mouth before dissolving away.
Sorry if I made your eyes rot because of my low quality one-shot;;