[22] - House of Penguins (2)
"He's gone again." That was the first sentence Ai mumbled when she woke up. It had been months since their marriage and Ai had always awaken up with Risa already out of room. The next time she would see her in the very same day would be roughly an hour before the usual dinner time at the Royal Dining Hall. Dejectedly, Ai dangled her legs off the gigantic bed and got onto her feet
'I really wonder if he is that busy or not. . .' Ai thought sadly in her mind.
'Why am I even feeling sad in the first place ? Isn't him just someone I'm dread to be married to all these while? ' Ai continued wondering in her mind. She pouted sadly, to no one in particular as she changed herself out of her sleeping outfit and began her adventure out around the palace along. That was how she had spent all her time all these while. She thought that Erina would be a perfect accompany when the Penguin was seemingly busy with his life, but it was the total opposite. Apparently Erina had found herself busy with Kanon, with the former leisurely torturing the latter with her common smacks on the younger's head.
And her wandering this day brought her to the southern gardens for the first time in the past three months. She had decided that she should avoid the west wing of the palace as possible as she could, due to the Penguin princess who had always aimed to catch her off guarded by stealing kisses off her lips. Though she thought that the princess was weird, she couldn't help but to enjoy the little attention the younger had tried to give, given the fact that the older brother, her named husband, seemed to have no time to keep her accompany in anyway.
'Ah~~ The air smells fresh!!' Ai thought in her mind as she took in a deep breath. A slow after smell filled her nose cavity which triggered a sense of familiarity within Ai.
'The smell of strawberry plant!' The revelation grew. She set her sight afar and saw a little piece of green field, with tinges of redness embedded within them.
"Strawberry? They have strawberry over here?" Ai mumbled to herself as she paced herself forward at a faster speed. "I never knew they had strawberries here. Kanon lied." Ai continued mumbling. She squatted down onto the ground, pulling her long dress slightly to the side to keep them out of the way as she plucked one of the fruit off the flimsy stem and brought it up to her nose, giving the first a little sniff. "Ah, it smells like the ones I really liked." Ai chipped excitedly to no one in particular. Giving the fruit a little wipe on her garment, Ai brought it back up to her face again, this time round aiming for the mouth, with the intention to taste the fruit, only to be stopped in her actions by her nearby conversation she heard.
"Aika, be careful!"
The familiarity of the voice caused Ai's ears to perk up. Slowly and smoothly, she got up back onto her feet without much difficulty and saw Risa standing roughly 10 metres away from where she stood, supporting a younger girl by her waist with one of his hand and another at her wrist, with his face really close to the younger girls face.
"That was near. Are you alright?" Risa concerned as they maintained the position, eyes locking slightly.
Aika said nothing at first. Instead, she just nodded her head in acknowledgement and wriggled her wrist out of Risa's protective grip. "I tripped on the branch." Aika explained. She pulled her weight away from Risa as she tried to stand on the own, only to stumble again.
"Be careful!" Risa called out. "You are still recovering from that ankle sprain you had last week. " Risa continued. "I shouldn't have asked you in today." Risa finished as he talked to himself.
"I'm all fine, Prince Gaki." Aika replied shyly.
Risa made sure that Aika was standing all firm on the ground before releasing his protective stance around Aika. After which, he shifted his attention ahead only to find something soft hard landing straight at his forehead, followed by a slight splatter and dripping of a pinkish red fluid down that forehead. "A - i?" Risa stuttered.
"So I see. . . This is what you have been busy with, Prince Gaki." Ai articulated rather mercilessly. Without giving Risa a second chance to explain for himself, Ai swift the long ends of her dress aside and turned around before stomping her way away from the garden fields. The initial stomps turned fast, with Ai breaking into a sprint when she reached the polished hallway of the palaces, pulling herself further away from the southern garden.
"Ai!" Risa called out loud and wanted to chase after her, only to be halted in motions by Aika.
"Prince Gaki, you are bleeding!" Aika cried out.
Risa wiped away the sticky red liquid on his forehead with the back of his hands. "It's not blood. . . It's strawberry juice." Risa revaluate silently. "She- she threw strawberry at me. . . " Risa mumbled under his breath.
'She actually threw her favourite fruit at me. . .. She . . . Must be really upset isn't that so? Would that mean that . . . she remembers? ' Risa realised. Once again, he took his stance, with a black bag tied onto his buckle, and began his dash ahead to chase after Ai.
"Wish you good luck, Prince Gaki." Aika smiled gently as she watched the figure of Risa gradually disappeared.
'Please give nee-san happiness and everything she deserve.' -------
'Why am I so angry and agitated?' Ai wondered to herself after she had calmed herself down at a isolated corner of the place she had discovered weeks ago.
'Why am I feeling so sour when I saw that stupid Penguin holding that girl by her waist?' Ai continued in her mind before realising something really family.
'Wait a minute, what had I just called Prince Gaki by in my mind just moments ago? ' Ai thought weirdly in her mind.
'ARGH!' Ai groaned inwardly as she ruffled her hair up into a mess.
"What are you doing alone here?" A clear charming voice echoed from Ai's back, catching Ai off guard as she jumped up in surprise. She turned around swiftly, and saw a young, tall, charming gentleman standing right behind her. He had his long hair tied up in a low ponytail, his hand crossed slightly behind his back as he bowed lightly, politely.
"Who are you?" Ai blurted out without much consideration.
"Maki." Maki simply introduced himself. He paced himself slowly and settled himself on the seat beside Ai politely before continuing. "Mame's older brother."
"Mame?" Ai enquired as she tilted her head slightly.
"Risa." Maki explained shortly, only to receive the same puzzled expression from Ai. "Prince Gaki." Maki explained again, this time round with a term more commonly used by people around the palace.
"Ah- I see . . ." Ai finally understood. She turned her head back and stared straight into the empty space ahead.
"What are you doing alone over here?" Maki asked again.
Ai shook her head stubbornly, refusing to explain the reason for her solitude. She set her sight ahead and kept her mouth hummed.
"Did Mame bully you?" Maki continued concerning as he patted the top of Ai's head lightly, as an act of consolidation.
Ai shook her head lightly in response as she took in a deep breath.
"Angry at Mame for not spending time to accompany you?" Maki continued suggesting, only to receive the same response from Ai once again. Realising that Ai was not willing to talk at all, Maki had decided to remain silent. He sat a little more closer to Ai and decided to just sit silently beside the younger girl, as a form of accompany.
It was until about 10 minutes later that Ai had decided to moisten her lips and begin talking. "I - I'm lost." Ai started off quietly.
"Lost about?"
"Everyone has been telling me that I had knew Prince Gaki and was in a relationship with him before I came into the palace. . ." Ai continued.
"Who's everyone?" Maki asked.
"Erina. . . and Prince Gaki. " Ai answered shortly.
"Ah. . . "
"But. . . I couldn't remember a single thing. Not at all. . . " Ai continued.
'And now, that. He must be lying to me all these while for which we are a couple. Why am I feeling jealousy anyway?' Ai thought in her mind as her vision blurred.
"Don't cry. . ." Maki consoled, causing Ai to tense up a little. She never liked people seeing her tears. Pulling up a strong front, Ai argued.
"I'm not crying. It's just that some sand had managed to get its way into my eyes."
"Really?" Maki leaned in even closer and held the younger girl by her face. "Let me see." With that, Maki leaned into Ai's face as he checked Ai's eyes.
It was so close that Ai could feel Maki's breath on the soft skin of her cheeks. But her heart was not racing. Instead, fear grew. An unexplainable sense of fear. She could feel Maki blowing lightly at her tear stained eyes, as an attempted to remove the said sand from them.
'Why am I feeling like I shouldn't be in this position with another guy?' Ai wondered silently in her mind as she hoped to close her eyes, but failed as the fingers at the corner of her eyes kept them open.
Before Ai knew it, she felt a pair of strong grip on her right hand that was placed behind her back pulling her away from Maki, towards the back of the force. "What are you doing? Nii-sama? Trying to kiss MY strawberry?" Risa shouted. "Don't tell me that you are just helping me to train Strawberry to be a better kisser like what Sayu told me." Risa continued mockingly, still refusing to buy the story his younger sister had gave for the constant kiss attack on Ai.
"My Strawberry?" Ai huffed silently under her breath. The very sentence triggered a precious memory from the bottom of her mind. The memory of her giving Risa his birthday surprise by spending the day out at the mountains. Staring straight at Risa's back view, Ai's eyes shimmered as her voice trembled. "Penguin." Ai whispered.
But that remained unheard by Risa. He was too involved in the conversation with Maki that he had failed to hear Ai's mumbling.
"Why are you thinking in that way, Mame." Maki tried to calm his younger brother down. "Ai said that she had gotten sand into her eyes. I was just trying to help her to remove them." Maki explained.
"For real?" Risa toned down his rude tone.
"That's right." Maki reassured as he patted on Risa's head. "You should have make more time free to spend with your wife, Mame. I heard from Sayu that she had always seen Ai sitting alone at different parts of the palace, staring blankly into the space. I know it's busy to deal with the throne, but, don't forget about your wife. Don't make whatever that had happened to me happen to you. . ." Maki advised. With that, he patted Risa's head once again before he made his way away from the couple.
When Maki was absolutely out of sight, Risa turned around and came face to face with Ai for the first time in the day, only to find light shimmering brightly at her eyes. It was the reflectance of the sunlight against the tears that had formed in Ai's eyes once again. "Don't cry. . ." Risa hushed as he brought up his right fingers and wiped away the tears that are now cascading down Ai's cheeks. "I'm sorry." Risa apologised. "But I hope that you do not get the wrong idea about me and Aika. She's just my helper for my surprise for you."
"Surprise?" Ai asked in a high nasal tone.
"This." Risa unhooked the black bag from his buckle and presented it to Ai. "I know you have been missing eating strawberries a lot. And I know it's difficult to bring them into the palace from the Land of Strawberry. So Aika had gave me a bag of strawberry seeds, in an attempt as a plan to make you remember the past. But after working hard in the gardens for the past 3 months, I realised something really important. It doesn't matters if you remember me or not. We will still be together, even if you can't remember our relationship from the past. Why not let's just start anew, starting a fresh on a new page, writing new milestones together?" Risa confessed.
The tears that grew intensified. She had remembered. She had remembered her penguin. The sweetness, the heartbreak, and can only be grateful that the Prince she was destinated to marry to was indeed the one and only penguin she had love. Yet the whole confession Risa had just presented to her right now is bringing her emotions high up to another level.
'Let's start anew, erasing the heartache that had once happened.' Ai concluded in her mind. And therefore, she had decided to pretend she still could not remember Risa at all, and had only began to accept Risa a little bit by little bit due to the proposition Risa had just gave. With that, Ai nodded her head once.
A childish smile escaped from Risa's lips. He revealed the black bag open and urged Ai to take one of the strawberry. Ai did. She placed the strawberry in her mouth, only to cry out, "Ah! It's so sweet! I miss this taste!" Ai took the black bag over from Risa and sat down on her previous seat, beginning to much on her favourite fruit bit by bit. Remembering that she was suppose to not remember anything about Penguin, she offered the bag to Risa. "Do you want 1?"
Risa hesitated. Not wanting to disappoint Ai, Risa accepted the offer. Picking one red strawberry from the bag, Risa gave the fruit a little bite, only to be awe by the sourness he tasted on his tastebud.
"It's sweet, isn't that so?" Ai chipped excitedly.
"It's sour." Risa honestly replied.
"Eh? Really?" Ai took the remaining of the strawberry from Risa and popped it into her mouth. "Nah, that's sweet." Ai concluded as she chewed up the strawberry into pieces.
Risa stared blankly at Ai's action, shocked that the strawberry girl had made no hesitation and ate the strawberry he had just bitten on.
"Do you want to have another try ?" Ai asked, still chewing on the piece as she offered the black bag to Risa once again.
'The only sweet strawberry I had ever tasted, was the ones you had fed me through your mouth, Strawberry. . .So if I were to eat strawberry again. . . It has to be through your mouth.' Risa thought silently in his mind as he shook his head hesitantly.
Yet before he knew it away, he felt Ai's lips pressing softly on his. The aroma, the sweetness of the strawberry filled his mouth. "It's sweet, isn't that so?" Ai giggled as she pulled her lips away from Risa.
"You - you remembered?" Risa stuttered.
Ai shook her head lightly. "It's just my thank you for your effort to grow the strawberries." Ai grinned. With that, she stood up back onto her feet and took a few steps forward, leaving Risa sitting alone, frozen on stop. "I'm going to share the good news with Erina." Ai continued, shaking the black bag she held on her right hand. "I will see you at the Royal Dining Room at 6, Prince Gaki." Ai finished. With that, Ai skipped away from Risa, slightly exhilarated about the kiss she had just gave Risa.
"I guess, she really don't? Since she's calling me Prince Gaki?" Risa concluded to himself.
'But it's alright. .. because like what I had said, whether or not she remembers, it doesn't matter at all. . .Let's all start the courtship right from the start!'
Part 2 is here!
heheh
Took me longer than expected. Was really busy and was away during the weekend, so. . .yupps
heheheh
@ arisa03 : yupps i agree. . .=X
@ rndmnwierd : well, they are back on terms again. . . Well, Ai's hit is for the one she love
hehehe
@ risa_ai : hehehehe. yupps.
Topic: Strawberry Penguin [ 27- 24th November 2012 ] (Read 34785 times)