Her Mysterious Smile

[Zach Kaiser]

There are few things more relieving than finding out a disturbing event was nothing more than a dream. When Eld woke up to a dark forest, blanket covering his legs and cute young girl leaning into him, he was at first surprised, but then glad. No wolves, strange savior, no hightailing it out of the woods in a hurry to avoid being eaten.

"You finally woke up," a small voice beside him said with a giggle. He looked over and was surprised to find Akizetsumei awake.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping too?" he asked, blinking his tiredness from his eyes.

Another giggle; it was both innocent and pure, much like the girl herself. "This isn't really the time for sleeping, is it?"

He stared at her blankly. "What do you mean?"

Yet another giggle. With grace that belied her age, in one fluid motion she rolled over so that she was sitting on his lap, facing him. It was at this point that he realized that somehow she'd lost most of her clothing; all that remained were her pink panties and bra. He's also somehow lost clothing, and was clad only in his boxers.

Eld was starting to get an idea of what she had in mind. "S-Shouldn't you put your clothes back on?"

"It's no big deal, right?" she asked, putting a hand on his bare chest and rubbing gently. Her voice never lost its light and naive qualities. "You already saw me like this, more or less."

He couldn't in good conscience deny that, but it seemed like suspect reasoning still. "Well, yes, but-"

"What were you thinking about? When you saw this..." She put her hands on her own chest now, gently rubbing through the material of her bra. "...and this?" she asked, giving the a few quick tugs to the top of her panties.

Eld gulped. This was...not something he'd anticipated. Akizetsumei was so naive and unassuming, he never thought she'd pick up on his attraction. Wait, am I attracted to her? He wanted to desperately deny having those kinds of feelings for a thirteen year old, but the sight before him made even protests to himself rather futile. She might have had a lot of growing to do, but that didn't mean what was already there wasn't pleasant to look at.

"T-That's n-not s-something I should r-really say," he stammered out.

"You can't tell me?" She pouted slightly, but then brightened up as though she had an idea. She leaned forward, not entirely into him but close, and whispered into his ear. "In that case..." Her breath on his neck was rather warm...rather nice. When she took his hands in hers and began to draw them toward her body, he knew he should resist. On some level, he couldn't help but think this was, if not entirely wrong, then not entirely right. But he was powerless to resist; her allure now was as infectious and intoxicating as her cheer earlier.

She pressed his hands to her chest, and he needed no other reason to lightly grab. There wasn't much there yet, but what was there still felt nice, even through the bra. "...can you..." While she held one there, the other she gently dragged down, down her sternum, down her belly, and down a little further...

"...show me?"

******

There were few things more relieving than finding out a disturbing event was nothing more than a dream. This still held true even when Eldridge Tsukimono woke up in his own bed, drenched in sweat that was not at all cold.

It didn't make him feel any less dirty.

"Eld? There's someone at the door for you." His father chose that minute to call at him through the door. He was very glad it was his father; his mother might have just barged in.

"B-Be there in a minute." He got dressed and made himself as presentable as he could in such a short time, and headed for the door.

[Nayt]

The second Eld opened the door, he'd see a familiar face. The face of a smiling girl that he'd just recently had an awkward dream about.

"H-hi, Eldridge!"

Akizetsumei stood before the door, wearing what seemed to be a low cut spaghetti-strap top (though not low cut in an intention way, more like a slight slack in her top that she just hadn't noticed to fix) of an oddly pleasant dark-pink color and a pair of dark shorts that came down to the middle of her thighs. It wouldn't take much from Eld to realize that she smelled pretty decently today. Good, in fact. Her hair was washed and she used some sort of soap with a pleasant fragrance to wash herself this morning. As makeup wasn't quite her thing, perfume was out of the question-- but really this was for the best, anyways. Pleasant scents were great until they were overbearing!

She held her hands behind her back idly and smiled up to Eld.

[Zach Kaiser]

He hadn't thought it would be her. Rather, he'd hoped it wouldn't it be, rationalizing that after such an eventful night she'd surely sleep in much like he would have if he hadn't found his dreams a more frightening concept than facing the morning for once.

But there she was, in all her cuteness. And she was cute to be sure; that was something he couldn't deny now. Also, while her clothing wasn't overtly sensual in any way, it suddenly occurred to him that she was actually showing a fair amount of skin. And she smelled nice too...

I-I'm not ready to deal with this yet! he thought suddenly, his face turning bright red and his eyes widening a bit. But in spite of the part of him that wanted to run inside and hide, he smiled weakly at her and stammered, "H-Hello."

[Nayt]

Truth be told, Akizets had actually slept fairly well last night. She was just a light sleeper was all. She generally went to bed late and woke up early. Never having any reason to sleep in or sleep longer, she simply never did it. There were all kinds of other things she could've been occupying herself with, after all! Like taking a nice, long, and very well needed (and well deserved) bath.

At the door, Eld's appearance was . . . odd. He was a mess like he'd just woken up and he looked flustered and surprised by something. Akizets looked behind her at first, thinking there might have been someone or something behind her. Upon figuring out there was no one else, she looked down to figure out if she looked indecent or anything of the like-- but no, she was just wearing some of her regular clothes. Then it dawned on her.

"I-- I didn't wake you again, did I?" Akizets asked.

Except Eld didn't quite have the opportunity to reply to her. She jumped to that conclusion long before Eld had the chance to convince her otherwise. She pouted her lower lip and furrowed her brow.

"Ohhhh-- I'msorry. I keep doing that . . ."

[Zach Kaiser]

"N-No, I'd actually just gotten up. Just...was kind of a restless sleep." He couldn't even look straight at her, not without it popping into his mind again. And it was still very, very vivid in his mind.

"And I had a strange dream," he mumbled. "Uh, I still need to get cleaned up a bit. Want to come in for a minute?"

[Nayt]

"Oh." Well, that was kind of a drag! Akizets knew plenty of people that just didn't seem like themselves whenever they slept poorly. It was actually kind of common.

She wished she could alleviate whatever plagued Eld's sleep. It was a small wish and a minor want, but really, Eld deserved the best sleep in the world after what he went through last night. Maybe he was still just anxious, though. Maybe he couldn't get to sleep because he was still thinking of the wolf. At least he had a dream, though. That meant his sleep was at least decent! It was something about R-E-M or whatever that meant. Akizets hadn't paid attention in her science class that day. She hadn't actually paid much attention in science on any day.

"U-umm, sure!" the girl exclaimed cheerily, not having expected Eld to invite her into his home for . . . well, a second time in twenty-four hours.

She followed behind him, and seemed to do the same thing as she did before. She looked all around her like she was exploring a new and unfamiliar territory-- and the truth was, Eld's house was still new and unfamiliar to her.

Akizets focused on Eld when she suddenly thought of a conversation piece, though. "So ummmm, what'd you dream about?"

He said it was a strange dream. Akizets liked strange dreams.

[Zach Kaiser]

As Eld led her into the family room once more, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up from the question. "Uh...it's really not something I'd like to discuss," he deflected, hoping that would do it.

It was truthful enough, and telling her even the nature of his dream--let alone that she was the subject--was out of the question.

[Nayt]

It was just a silly dream, nothing to get too worked up over. Akizets didn't think Eld was getting worked up over it--in fact, she didn't think he was being all that serious at all when he said he'd rather not go into it. But then again, he was tired and he sounded anxious. The tone of his voice did not befit one of super seriousness!

"Wha~t?" Akizets said as she issued a pouty-face in Eld's direction.

She tilted her head to the side and lifted her almost bare shoulders-- bare were it not for the thin straps keeping her top up. She even leaned forward with most of her torso, inadvertently sticking her rear out a bit in the process. She was unaware of this and wouldn't have thought much of it even if she was. She was also unaware of the fact that this probably dropped her shirt a bit and show Eld--if he looked--a bit more than she intended when she picked up this shirt. But if she'd known and Eld looked and she knew what he was looking at, she would've just called him weird and felt no different about it.

"You can't tell me?" she asked with something of a fake whine.

But the girl wasn't being serious. She stood up straight again and covered her mouth as she let out an innocent giggle. Really, she was just teasing him a bit. Akizets felt comfortable enough around Eld to do that.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld stared in what started as disbelief. You can't tell me? And combined with the way she leaned forward a bit too far, causing him to be able to see down her shirt suddenly had him more uncomfortable than he could ever recall being.

Then can you...

A look abject panic crossed his face. "I'mgoingtogogetcleanedupnowI'llbebackinafewminutesmakeyourselfathome!" he blurted before turning around and retreating to his room.

This time it took a bit longer for him to come out, as he had to spend a fair amount of time taking deep breaths and forcing himself to calm down, especially as there was no way he could take the easy way out with part of his problem without being thoroughly disgusted with himself.

He didn't return to the living room until he'd entirely composed himself, though part of that composure fled when he saw her again. "S-Sorry for the wait. What brings you here today?"

[Nayt]

When Eld practically darted off with a slur of a sentence, Akizetsumei felt a sudden and bizarre familiarity with him, as if she'd done that before. But no matter-- the very fact that she said or did something that made Eld that nervous and anxious to bolt out like that was . . . well, it didn't make her feel that good about herself, that was for sure. Did she make him uncomfortable? That must've been it. But how? Why? Was it the way she looked? Again the girl checked her figure, and discerned that she didn't look much different than she did yesterday.

Maybe it was the dream. Maybe she wasn't supposed to talk about the dream. Akizets nervously awaited Eld to return from his room. When he did, she practically didn't look at him, simply acknowledged that he was there and felt mildly skittish about making eye contact.

"I-it's okay," Akizets replied. The nervous feeling hadn't yet gone away.

She took a deep breath.

"Ummm, I-- I'm sorry, um, y-you don't gotta tell me about your dream," Akizets squeaked. There was a certain tone of shame in her voice. "I was just messin'."

[Zach Kaiser]

His first impulse was that somehow she figured it out, but then realized that wasn't likely. Despite his dream, she was incredibly naive, and had made similar backpedals when she thought she'd made some kind of mistake. "No, it's not your fault," he reassured her. Well, it kind of was actually, but he didn't mention that.

"It...just kind of weirded me out is all." Which was a grand understatement. "Anyway, you're over early again. What's up?"

[Nayt]

Well . . . if he said so. Akizets believed Eld entirely, though. He wasn't the type to tell her a lie, so if he said it was okay, then it was okay.

"O-oh, um, I-- I didn't think . . . itwasthatearlyactually," Akizets admitted with a nervous laugh.

It was already noon by now. Akizets didn't know anyone that slept this late-- well, she knew Eld, so that was kind of a lie. She didn't know he slept this late regularly, though.

"I just, um, I just-- k-kind of--"

Akizets suddenly felt herself getting nervous again. It was a bit of habit. She felt a lot more comfortable around Eld now, remarkably more comfortable than she did before yesterday, but it was a point of habit to feel nervous whenever asking for anything in particular, even though the only thing she ever asked him for was his time. Akizets took a deep breath and let all that nervousness go, though.

"Do you wanna hang out?" she asked a lot more freely this time. "I-it's fine if you don't wanna. I-- I mean after last night and, um, but, um-- I was just, um--"

Darnit! My palms are getting all sweaty again!

Akizets cleared her throat. "I don't really got a lot to do and I was just wondering if you wanted any company today is all." She said this without pause or break, but actually managed to enunciate it well. She was getting better. Slowly but surely.

[Zach Kaiser]

"A-Ah..."

Just say no. Tell her you're busy, or sore, or tired- The last two were actually true. -or make up some excuse. Spending time with her right now will only be trouble.

"...sure."

Goddammit. He just couldn't resist; Akizetsumei always seemed like she was putting her whole heart on the line every time she talked to him, and turning her down was a near impossibility.

[Nayt]

"R-really?" Akizets asked with the utmost surprise.

It was almost like a repeat of yesterday. She so expected a negative response to her question that she practically convinced herself that Eld wanted nothing to do with her right now-- that he'd spent all the time he wanted to spend with her yesterday and probably wanted a break from seeing her face.

Feeling a twinge of elation, Akizetsumei smiled sheepishly, set her folded hands before her lips, and giggled happily.

Today was going to be a good day, she could feel it!

---

It'd be a week, and Akizetsumei still hadn't explicitly attempted to spend much time with Eld when he was with his friends. There was still something about them that made her feel intimidated. She trusted them and she believed they could really make great friends-- what with them visiting her in the clinic a month or two ago and all --but to her it felt like taking some sort of plunge that was well beyond what she was accustomed to. She'd mostly gotten used to be around Eld and only Eld. It was starting to feel like just coming by, knocking on his door, and hanging out with him for a few hours in the day was just . . . normal.

It almost felt like it'd be ruining a good thing to start hanging out with the rest of his friends-- but it was just a matter of time, really, and they were good people. She had nothing to truly worry about.

And besides, Sarah said she planned to give Akizetsumei riding lessons!

Eldridge and Akizetsumei were together again, but not in Eld's house or Akizetsumei's house. Not even in the woods. They were out to town. Akizetsumei walked closely by Eld's side (closer than she would have a couple of weeks ago) and seemed perfectly comfortable like that. She wore a different spaghetti strap shirt that day and the same skirt from their hike.

Back at Eld's house, Eld's father, Urikuse, seemed to be out of the house for the morning and afternoon. His mother hadn't explained why, but it didn't really seem important.

Hillcrest's marketplace was something of a long street. Hillcrest itself wasn't particularly known for its marketplace, not like the city of Galaens to the south, but there were generally a couple dozen vendors down a long stretch of road that connected the bulk of Hillcrest's commercial "district" and its residences. It was here that most of the townsfolk stocked up on supplies. There were even a few luxuries for sale here and there.

"Tou told me it never used to be like this, you know?" Akizets remarked as she regarded the market they were casually strolling toward.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld nodded. "Yeah, it used to be there was only one store in town, and even then selection was pretty slim. Everyone more or less went to Galaens if they had any shopping to do."

He'd been spending a fair amount of time with Akizetsumei lately, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because, well, he liked spending time with her a lot.

A bad thing because he hadn't forgotten the dream yet; or rather, the dream seemed to have flipped some switch that made him feel strange when she was around sometimes. It wasn't all that time--sometimes he was perfectly comfortable with her--but other times he would get overly conscious of the fact that she was...well...a girl, even if she was a younger one.

"Fortunately for all of us, that isn't the case anymore." He paused, considering something, before adding, "Well, I suppose Sarah would be renting a lot more horses out if we had to Galaens, so maybe not fortunate for her."