[11 ] - Birthday surprise (2)
An unexplainable fear grew within Risa as he was continually being dragged away from the cottage. "Who are you?" Risa kept asking repeatedly through his muffled lips as he was dragged away from the Ikuta's residential area and towards the direction of the mountains, the area where sits the borders between the Land of Strawberry and the Land of Penguin. It was where Risa had came from right at the start, and too, where Risa had met the sisters, or rather, Ai in a rather weird situation.
'Could it be some assassin from the Land of Penguin who had managed to track me all the way from the Land of Penguin to here, the Land of Strawberry?' A worrying thought flashed within Risa's mind.
'I need to try to get away. . . Before my life is endangered. . .' Risa continued in his mind. Before Risa could make his strike back, the hand that were wrapped over his lips released its grip and turned Risa around hastily.
"Happy Birthday, Penguin!" The attacker greeted with a wide smile, sending Risa into a whirl of unexplainable emotions. To think that he had worried about an abductor who may be out for his life, or as a bait in an act to overthrown his father kingdom, it all turn out to be a rather harmless lady (well, she's harmless except for her violence tendencies), surprising him with a genuine wide smile, wishing him a happy birthday.
"It's you?" Risa retorted in a slight harsh tone.
"Who else were you expecting?" Ai tilted her head. She could not understand the reason from Risa's sudden anger.
"You got me there, do you know that? And you could have place yourself in a huge danger by doing that, do you know that?" Risa continued his scolding.
"What danger?" Ai asked.
Risa took a few more deep breath, trying to calm himself down from the burning anger at Ai's reckless behaviour.
Ai waited for a long while, but was still unable to receive her answer from Risa, regarding the type of danger she may had faced from her actions. And when she did not, she pouted. "Not that I had not told you I was going to do that. . . " Ai continued her argument. "Remember that wink that I had gave you at home?" Ai reminded. "I thought you would infer from that it would be a sign for you to prepare yourself for something unexpected. "Ai continued as she crossed her arms slightly. "And look at Ouji. . . " Ai added on. "He did not act offensively to me, which means that the person who cupped your mouth is someone he knew. Baka!"
It was Ai's turn to get angry at the Penguin. She had spent that short amount of time she had between the time she knew about Risa's birthday and the time she had finished changing to think of a birthday surprise for the Penguin, only to be scolded by Risa about her actions. She felt that her actions was not being appreciated. Ai turned around from Risa and attempted to move away from him. That was only until Risa's grip on her wrist tightened and pulled her back that Ai turned to face Risa again.
"I don't mean that, strawberry . . . It's just . . . " Risa tried to explain, but nothing could came out. "I'm sorry. . ." Risa lowered his voice and apologised. "I didn't meant to shout at you like that. . . "
"I'm sorry too. . . " Ai lowered down her tone as well. Risa pulled Ai closely into his embrace, resting his hands on Ai's waist while Ai rested her chin on Risa's shoulder. That was something positive when your partner is just slightly taller that you. "Happy Birthday to you again. . . " Ai continued, whispering into Risa's ears.
"Thank you. . . " Risa whispered back. The tug on the leash broke the hug, pulling Risa all the way forward, causing the poor Penguin to fall forward and landed his nose onto the hand ground. "Ouch . . . " Risa hissed silently, releasing his grip from the leash and rubbed this nose gently.
"Are you alright?" Ai rushed hurriedly forward to Risa as she helped the Penguin up. Risa nodded his head in response before shaking it again, hoping that action would shake away the intriguing pain he felt at the tip of his nose. Ai reached forward to touch Risa's nose, only to have Risa inched back a little, wincing in pain. "You don't look alright to me . ."
"I'm alright. . . " Risa insisted. He supported himself of the ground by pushing himself up onto feet. Ai followed suit immediately.
"Are you sure?" Ai asked again.
"I'm sure." Risa assured.
Once Ai ensured that Risa was fine from the fall, she began to look around her surrounding, only find Ouji missing. "Eh? Where's Ouji?" Ai finally realised. She looked around her surrounding again, but was still unable to find any trace of the ball of brown fur.
"He went for his own walk." Risa answered effortlessly.
"Hmmm?" Ai turned around at looked queerly at Risa.
"He always does that." Risa explained, rubbing his nose lightly again. "He always struggled me off whenever I bring him for his walk." Risa continued. " He will be back when he's satisfied. . . " Risa finished to Ai before continuing silently to himself. "As expected from a selfish prince you see. . . "
"Are you sure?" Ai doubted.
Risa nodded his head firmly. "So. . . Why did you bring me to the mountains?" Risa continued asking, changing the topic.
"Well . . . It's your birthday . . . " Ai trailed off into silence.
"What does my birthday has to do with coming to the mountain?" Risa asked again, not fully understanding Ai's sentence.
"I thought we should spend some time alone. . . I actually thought we can make a visit to the market place. . .But I'm reluctant to leave Erina alone at home when we are out . . .so . . ."Ai attempted to explain, but was silenced off by the finger that pressed on her lips.
"It's alright. . . " Risa interrupted. "This is enough. . . Thank you, strawberry. . ." The unintended word slipped out of Risa's lip.
"Strawberry?" Ai titled her head slightly.
Risa smile mischievously at Ai before making his stance to escape. "Yes, my strawberry." With that, Risa took a step forward made his dash for his life.
"Stupid Penguin!" Ai grunted cutely before she made her chase after the playful Penguin. "I'm going to get you! Since when I am a strawberry and since when do I belong to you?" Ai continued ranting after Risa.
"Since the night you kissed me!" Risa shouted in response.
"You were the one who kissed me!"
"Nope you were!"
"You were!"
"You were!"
And the lovers tiff continued, until the duo reached the waterfall spring where they first met each other. Risa stood running the moment he saw the waterfall, in a rather abrupt way, giving no time for Ai to brake and stop, thus causing Ai to collide into Risa's back.
'That's where I saw her absolutely naked. . .' Risa thought in his mind as he dazed, unaware that Ai had just knocked into him.
"Ita- Warn me before you stop!" Ai cried out loudly. When she realised Risa was not responding to her in anyway, the memory of Risa staring at her naked body came flashing back into her mind. She raised her hand up high. "Stop your perverted thoughts!" Ai pouted and brought her hands down, wanting to give Risa a faithful slap on the top of his head. Before the contact was made, a firm grip made its way around Ai's uprisen wrist.
"Remember our agreement?" Risa smirk slightly. He was brought back to his senses when Ai shouted at his back.
The pout on Ai's face deepens. "Whatever." Ai pretended to be cool about her angry and tried to wriggled her wrist out of Risa's grip as she looked away from Risa's taunting eyes.
Risa changed his gripped to the other hand and slipped his right hand around Ai's left hand. "Once I got hold of this hand, I'm not going to let it go anymore. . . ." Risa said suddenly.
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"I wonder where Ai-nee had gone. . ." Erina grumbled to herself as she was squatted on the ground, removing the weeds that her growing beside the strawberry plant. "I wonder how do one even plant strawberries on the neck. . . " Erina continued. "I wonder if they are edible and whether are they delicious or not. . . " Ridiculous thoughts about Risa's pervious explanation kept ranging in her mind. "I wonder what time will Penguin be coming back from the walk. . ." Erina continued mumbling.
'It's just feels so weird not seeing Penguin working in front of me. . . The way he wipes away his perspire while trying to clear the weeds is the most captivating part of him . . . Erina thought in her mind.
Erina looked up from her work, hoping she would catch a view of Risa returning from the walk with Ouji. But she did not. Instead, she saw a young boy, riding on a horse, slowly advancing towards the direction of her house.
'Who's that?' Erina thought curiously in her mind. She stood up from her squatting position, allowing the young boy to take notice of her. Instead of the house, the young boy started to head towards where Erina stood.
"STOP!" Erina cried out loud immediately!" The young boy tightened his grip on the horse, halting the horse in its galloping. "You are going to kill my harvest by doing that!" Erina continued. She stomped towards where the young man stopped. "Do you understand?"
"I'm sorry for that . . .But I haven't realised about that. . . " The young boy apologised. He climbed off the horseback and came before Erina, only to find the Erina so much taller than him. To be truthful, he felt inferior about it. "My name is Suzuki Kanon and I have a few questions for you . . ." Kanon trailed off.
"What?" Erina answered rather rudely.
"Have you worked with the Takahashi's family who was the chief general of the Land of Penguin?" Kanon questioned.
"What are you talking about? Takahashi? General? Land of Penguin? What are all these?" Erina returned the question. She had not understand any of the single thing mentioned by Kanon.
"Are you sure? We have received news that the family who used to work with general Takahashi lived around in this town. . . " Kanon insisted.
"I don't know what are you talking about. Will you please leave?" Erina became offensive, something her sister had trained her to be, since she was always left alone to work in the fields.
"But -"
Without giving Kanon another chance to explain for himself, Erina picked up the nearest stone to her and began attacking Kanon with it. Without no other choices, Kanon hopped back onto his horse and ride away, escaping from Erina's sudden violence.
'Wait a minute!' Kanon finally realised.
'That girl. . . she looked barely 15. . . how would she know about something that happened more than 23 years ago?' Kanon finally realised the mistake he had made.
"Kanon!" Hitomi, on his horse, came over and met up with Kanon. "Is there any information from your side?"
Kanon shook his head immediately.
'There's no way I can allow General Yoshizawa to know that I had screwed up my interview . . . "Alright. . .let's go down to the next village then . .. "
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"This is the first time I held your hands this way . . ." Risa spoke as he brought Ai's hand to himself and rested their hands on his thigh. The duo were now seated on the down facing the down pouring waterfall, much to Ai's dismay due to the fact that she was dressed in a white short length dress. Though that, Risa still managed to convince Ai to sit down. "For a lady, your hands are definitely big. . . " Risa commented.
"That's for sure. . . I have been working in the strawberry farm ever since I'm 5 years old. . . " Ai explained quietly.
"I heard from Erina that you are 11 years old older than her. . . "Risa continued the conversation. "Is she your real blood sister?"
"What do you mean?" Ai asked, in a slightly offensive way.
"Well . . .You two don't really look alike. . . And the height difference is a little. . .Erina is so much taller than you.. . " Risa explained.
"Of course she is my real blood sister. . . " Ai answered rather quietly. She did not like where the conversation was going. So she had decided to change the topic. "Your hands are really small for a guy. . . And smooth too. . .Are you from a rich family? From the way you react when you first came, you looked like one. . . " Ai continued.
"I - I -" Risa stumbled. His identity could well be exposed.
*Worh Worh*
The yelping from saved Risa from his pinch. Risa felt Ai's hands pulling away from his.
"Ouji! What happened to you?" Ai exclaimed in surprised. There came Ouji running through the plants, all covered with a layer of dark brown mud. "What have you gotten yourself into?" Ai continued to baby talk the little prince.
*Worh Worh*
"Ne, Penguin!" Ai turned over to face Risa. "Give Ouji his bath right now. . ."
"Eh? Now? Like here?"
"Yah? It's not like no one had bathe over here before. . .I -" Before Ai could finish her sentence, a gush of blood came gushing up to her cheeks, flushing her cheeks with a tomato red.
"Oh . Okay . . ." Risa dare not deny Ai's order. So he bent down and picked Ouji up before heading towards the waterfall spring. Believe it or not, the prince Penguin was dealing with hated the water. Getting the dog clean was way more difficult than getting Ai to compromise to quit hitting him for the day. With Ouji running all around the shallow waters, it did not take more than 2 minutes for Risa to be completely drench, with trials of squawky water from the mud off Ouji tracing down his temple.
On the other hand, Ai was totally enjoying what she was seeing - Risa getting drenched from Ouji. To her, it was an amazing thing to witness as Ouji was never that rough with her, when Ai bathe him.
"Can you quit laughing?" Risa retorted in disagreement. "I would rather you give some help over here." Risa shot.
"Nah. . . This will be my birthday present to you instead. . . A bathing session with Ouji." Ai joked.
Risa looked up at Ai. "You must be kidding, are you?"
"No I'm not. . ." Ai giggled.
Risa rolled up his wet sleeves in huge displeasure. "Say it again? I should have a better birthday present that this, shouldn't I?" Risa threatened playfully. He allowed Ouji to get away from him and narrowed her eyes at Ai.
"What are you going to do?" Ai found Risa's nestling his eagle's eyes at her.
"What do you think?" Risa answered. Without giving Ai chance to react, Risa made his dive for Ai. Ai was prepared too. She too had made her way to escape. Though Ai was fast, Risa was determined to get Ai this time round. Ai's waist was the first thing Risa reached for. And when he succeeded, he pulled Ai closed to his drenched clothes and body, transferring some of the water onto Ai's white dress.
"Ah! It's cold!" Ai squeaked, hoping that would get Risa to release her from his grip.
"No way." It seems like Risa had knew Ai's intention and broke the bubble straight. The two of the struggled, with Ai trying to wriggle out of Risa's grip, and Risa tightening his grip on Ai's waist. It took them no time to fall down onto the ground, or rather the shallow waters of the waterfall spring, with Risa falling back first. The water splatter from the impact drenched Ai's white dress, making them translucent under the sun light. Taking the chance of the fall, Risa swift over and hovered over Ai.
"I deserve a better birthday present, shouldn't I?" Risa grunt in a rather low and sexy voice.
"Maybe you do. . . But only after you get off me. . " Ai answered.
Risa shook his head, disagreeing to what Ai had just said. Instead he leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Ai's wet lips. A single drip of water dripped down of Risa's wet hair and onto Ai's face. Risa did not dare to stay long on Ai's face, remembering what had happened from their previous kisses. So he moved towards Ai's neck and planted soft kiss onto Ai's neck. That was when Risa realised the translucency of Ai dress. He broke the contact and look down at Ai's body before turning back into Ai's eyes.
"You look really pretty this way." Risa teased. Ai broke the eye contact and looked away from Risa as she felt a scotching heat growing on her cheeks. "You are embarrassed, aren't you?" Risa teased again. When he realised Ai had no intention to push him away or to scold him, he was beginning to like his birthday more and more. At least he can have more control in the relationship on this day. As Risa bent down again and planted another kiss on Ai's neck, Ai turned her head upright back.
"Happy Birthday, Penguin." Ai whispered into Risa's ears, sending a tickling sensation down Risa's spine.
"Thank you. . . " Risa mumbled against Ai's skin on her neck. Ai wrapped her hands around Risa's waist and traced her fingers slowly up his spine. Risa giggled slightly before planting another kiss on Ai's neck. The two fallen into their own world that they actually forgotten the fact that they are in the wilderness and that there was a third party around. They were enjoying the heated moment though their clothes were pressing cold on them. That was only until the third party had decided to interrupt the fun.
"Hmmmm~~" Came a whining voice echoing into their ears. Ai flunk her eyes wide open and turn around, only to find Ouji seated at a distance away, with traces of water that Ouji had shook off his body absorbed into the ground, shivering in coldness. "Hmmm~~" Ouji whined again.
"Ouji!" Ai pushed Risa off her. "You're cold?" Ai asked the puppy, while Risa sat in the shallow waters, looking at Ouji with displeasure. "Let's get back, shall we?" Ai turned around to Risa and suggested. "Ouji might catch a cold. . . " Ai commented as she hugged Ouji close to a chest.
Risa shot a killer dagger stare at the panting Ouji, who looked really happy that he had interrupted their moment. He stood up from the waters and took off the outer layer of his clothes before wrapping them around Ai's shoulder. "Though they are wet, at least you are more covered up. I don't want to you catch a cold." Risa explained thoughtfully.
'Remind me to slaughter him if I had the chance to .. . Risa reminded himself as they began to move away from the waterfall spring and towards the direction that leads to the Ikuta cottage.
@ risa_ai : I don't mind though. . hehehe
@ rndmnwierd : You read the clues
HEHEHEH hmmmm. . . . i wonder too . . .but. . . he's safe . . . .at least for now
heheh
@ arisa03 : heheheh. Hopefully you had enjoyed this chapter
hehehh
@ alwaysYou : And woah! You finally commented. :)heheheh hahah. and in your debut comment, you had scolded me baka twice . . *Twitch* hahahhahaha You expected this, didn't you?? hehehe. . .and I don't know how difficult it is to comment through phone. . .so i want MOAR ~~ hehehe JkJK. just as and when you feel like it
HEHEH
Yupps. . .I'm moving forward! the plot
heheheh
till the next chapter then
heheh
and YEAH! This made my 100th post
HEHEHEH ^.^