Chapter 1:Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos or anything else that pops up in here.

Red eyes met brown.

Standing there in front of my house was a beautiful girl. With shoulder-length blue hair, dark red eyes, and a heart shaped face, I took in these details as we continued to stare at each other. She looked around my age, maybe a year or so older. My heart jumped a bit when she gave me an amused smile when she caught me staring too long. This caused me to snap out of my trance.

"Ah. Pardon me for staring. I was just surprised that a beautiful girl was standing outside my house."

She gave me another smile with a small hint of pink dusting her cheeks before responding.

"My my, what a flatterer! This Onee-san likes it when boys are honest. You say you live here? That must make you Orimura Ichika-kun then."

A little perturbed that she knew my name before I even told her I said, "I am. Do you have some kind of business with me?"

She shook her head before realizing something.

"Ara ara how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sarashiki Tatenashi." She bowed. "The principal asked me to deliver some time-sensitive documents to Orimura-sensei but it looks like she's not here."

"Nice to meet you. Orimura-sensei? You must attend IS Academy then. Unfortunately, Chifuyu-nee stepped out for some errands earlier and said she won't be back until the afternoon."

"I see. That's unfortunate. "

A pensive look crossed her face as she said this. Realizing that continuing the conversation in front of the house would be rude, I decided to invite her in.

"Would you like to come in? I actually just got done shopping for breakfast. Have you eaten yet?"

Surprised by my offer, she took a moment to respond before saying, "Oh? Inviting me over already? You're not going to have your way with me once the door shuts, are you?"

"Nothing of the sort. I was just being polite. I wouldn't do anything like that unless…you want me to?" Two can play this game.

I quite enjoyed seeing a small blush on her face. It made her look cute.

"W-well I wouldn't want to intrude…" Looks like she gave up. Surprisingly, it looks like she didn't expect me to flirt back. A weakness perhaps?

"It's fine. You need not worry about things like that. C'mon." Ushering her in as I unlocked the gate and held it open for her.

Composing herself, she threw another beautiful smile before bowing and saying, "Pardon me for the intrusion."

"Here's some tea while I prepare breakfast. Feel free to look around; just don't go into Chifuyu-nee's room unless you have a death wish. "I wish I was kidding but that would be a lie.

"Thank you."

Walking back into the kitchen, I started up the stove before proceeding to prepare the ingredients for a simple Japanese breakfast. Letting my mind wander to my guest as I went on auto-pilot, I realized that I had the leader if not heir of the prestigious Sarashiki family sitting in my living room. The Sarashiki family was an old and powerful house that had a hand in many of the world's industries. It was rumored that they also had an army dedicated to preventing terrorist attacks and the like.

It mustn't have been easy being born into that family though…

Finishing breakfast, I quickly set up the table before going to look for Sarashiki-san.

Walking into the living room I spotted her looking at some of the antiques that were spread throughout the room. Most of them were blades.

"Chifuyu-nee brought that home from one of her travels when she was a Representative. Its name is Gae Bolg and was said to belong to a famous Irish hero. It's supposed to be a lance that was able to pierce the target's heart without fail. Sounds kind of farfetched though."

"That must have been quite expensive. I take it Orimura-sensei is a collector of antique blades?"

"I'm actually not too sure how she got it but that's right. Anyway, breakfast is ready so come to the table."

She followed me as we walked to the dining table. It wasn't very large since only Chifuyu-nee and I lived here and we rarely had guests. It only could seat up to six people.

Sitting down, I said, "Sorry that it isn't much. I didn't want to make you wait too long."

"Fufufu It's alright. Itadakimasu!" she said as she smiled at me before digging in.

Saying my own thank you before eating, I proceeded to chow down on the simple fair of rice, fish, and miso soup.

My eating was interrupted by a deep sigh.

Looking over to Sarashiki-san I saw her cupping her left cheek with her hand as she took another bite out of her food. She had a glazed look her eyes as she continued to place food in her mouth.

"Sarashiki-san?"

Another sigh. She seemed to snap out of her daze at this point before staring at me with a look that was a mix between delight and shame.

"This is delicious Ichika-kun! I never knew that something as simple as this could even taste this good! Although, I have this complicated feeling knowing that a man's cooking is better than my own and I'm no slouch either…"

I seem to get this reaction a lot when girls taste my cooking. Especially from Rin and Ran.

"Thank you for the compliment." I smiled. "If there's one thing I'm proud of, it's my cooking. Chifuyu-nee likes to deny it, but I know she always looks forward to eating my cooking when she comes home."

"Ho, Orimura-sensei sounds like a tsundere."

Laughing at her comment, I replied, "She can be but I wouldn't say that to her face…"

"Right… Is there anything else you're good at?" What's this? Does she want to know more about me?

"Well it's nothing special but I like to think I'm good at taking care of the household chores and fixing things up."

"Fufufu, it seems like Ichika-kun has many traits suited for a housewife." Sarashiki-san said as she finished her food.

"I don't think it's a bad thing. My boss tells me the same thing at the daycare." I rubbed the back of my head as I also finished my food.

Sarashiki-san's eyes widened a little bit at that piece of information.

"Daycare?"

"Yeah I work part time at a daycare near here."

"But aren't you too young?"

"I get that a lot. I don't know why she decided to hire me even though I'm too young. One day she just came up to me in the park after I played with some kids and pretty much just hired me on the spot. She wouldn't take no for an answer." I laughed at this point.

Sarashiki-san's features softened before giving me a sweet smile.

"You must be good with kids then."

I blushed a little at her smile.

"What about you Sarashiki-san? What are you good at?"

I was quickly greeted with a pout as I said this.

"Mu, call me Tatenashi Ichika-kun. Sarashiki-san sounds too formal."

"Ah…Tatenashi…-san." We've only just met and she already wants me to call her by her first name? Now that I think about she's been calling me 'Ichika-kun' from the beginning.

"I guess that will have to do for now. Now that I think about it, there really isn't anything that I'm not good at…no thanks to the head maid…" She mumbled at the end.

"What was that last part?"

"Never you mind Ichika-kun. Ah! I know, this Onee-san does like to swim in her free time. I was always first in primary and secondary school."

"Swimming huh? I can't help but feel that suits you…" I trailed off as I imagined Tatenashi-san in a swimsuit. A blush rose on my face before I quickly shook my head to get rid of it.

"Ichika no ecchi. Are you having naughty thoughts of this Onee-san in a swimsuit? Fufufu." She gave me a seductive smile as she leaned forward on the table. It was interesting how her breasts pushed against her arms. I quickly dragged my eyes to hers before saying,

"And if I am? What are you going to do about it?" I returned her teasing with some of my own.

Tatenashi-san blushed once again as she tried to come up with a response.

"Ah...well…"

I guess she really doesn't know how to handle being flirted to. I would think that she would have many guys trying to flirt with her before but then again knowing whose family she belonged to maybe she never had much contact with men? I felt some happiness at this thought.

Getting up from my chair I started grabbing the dishes for me to wash.

"Why don't you go back to the living room while I clean these up? I won't be too long and then we can continue the conversation."

Still blushing, Tatenashi-san responded with an okay before heading off to the living room.

I quickly washed the dishes and dried them before putting them away. I really enjoyed talking with her and couldn't wait to get to know her more.

Walking into the living room I sat across from Tatenashi-san who was no longer blushing.

"So why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

I took no time to get the conversations started again.

"Well I guess I should first start with…."

It was close to one o'clock now and Tatenashi-san and I were still talking about each other before the sound of the front door opening reached us.

"I'm home."

Chifuyu-nee's voice said as she walked through the front door.

"Welcome home Chifuyu-nee."

I said back before walking towards the entrance.

"Ichika. Is there someone else here?"

Tatenashi-san who followed me responded before I could even get the words out.

"Hello Orimura-sensei!"

Turning the corner we were greeted with Chifuyu-nee putting on her indoor slippers before she turned her sharp eyes towards us.

"Sarashiki. What are you doing here?"

"The principal needed you to look at these documents."

At this point, Tatenashi-san took out a manila envelope out of the bag she brought with her and handed it to Chifuyu-nee.

"I see. Thank you."

As this conversation was going on I busied myself with taking Chifuyu-nee bags before asking how her day went.

"Did you get everything Chifuyu-nee? Have you eaten lunch yet?"

Combing a hand through her hair she replied,

"I got everything yes and I haven't eaten lunch yet."

Happy that I got to cook for her I smiled.

"Is there anything specific that you want?"

"Anything is fine."

"It worries me when you say that you know."

Looking in the corner of my eyes I couldn't help but notice that Tatenashi-san was watching our interactions with interest.

"Would you also like to stay for lunch Tatenashi-san?" I asked.

Tatenashi-san took a moment to think before replying in kind.

"I would love to but I have to get going now. I've already stayed longer than I should have and we do have school tomorrow."

"Ah that's right…" I tried to keep the disappointment off my face but it seemed some of it showed.

"Don't worry! If you'll let me, I can visit when I get the chance. Is that okay Orimura-sensei?"

I turned towards Chifuyu-nee at this and she seemed to be staring a hole into Tatenashi-san who confidently stood her ground. Finding whatever she was looking for, she nodded her head before saying,

"That's fine but if you're grades drop because of this then I'll put an end to it. Both of you."

Smiling at Chifuyu-nee's answer I turned to Tatenashi-san who was also smiling back at me.

"Ichika make sure to walk her back to the station."

Chifuyu-nee left us with that last parting order before walking further into the house.

"Alright. Let's get our stuff together and head off shall we?" I said.

Tatenashi-san hummed in agreement as she continued to smile.

The walk to the station was quiet but it was a comfortable silence. I took glances at her from time to time and I could be wrong but I think she was sending me looks as well. Reaching the terminal Tatenashi-san turned to face me.

"Thank you for walking me to the station Ichika-kun. This Onee-san really enjoyed speaking with you today. I'm glad we met." She smiled as she said this.

I couldn't help but agree as I smiled back at her.

"Me too. I can't wait until you can come over next time."

"Fufufu~ me too. Hey, Ichika-kun?" Tatenashi-san seemed to get nervous as she said my name.

"Yes?"

"Would…y-you like to exchange emails?" Her face held a small blush as she said this. Mine too judging by the heat on my face.

"Uh sure!"

Both of us grabbed our cell phones and quickly exchanged contact information.

Tatenashi-san looked like she had a spring in her step as she clutched her phone to her chest.

"Alright, looks like this is my train! Bye bye Ichika-kun!"

"Later Tatenashi-san!"

Tatenashi-san waved before running onto the train which soon closed.

That was my first meeting with Sarashiki Tatenashi and certainly not the last.

Authors note: It's short I know but this is basically a feeler to see how well received this story will be. And it's the prologue. If you didn't already notice there are a lot of different things in this story. Ichika is not dense and won't be weak either. I'll try not to make him super powered or anything but I don't want him to be bossed around. Tatenashi is not the representative of Russia yet nor does she have [Mysterious Lady]. Soon though. Also, this Tatenashi doesn't have the same experience as the one in canon so she's still a little unsure of things. Let me know if you like how I write her.

Improvements? Let me know.

Problems? Tell me.

Questions? Go ahead.

Read and Review

Last Counter is out.