꧁ LIFE and DEATH ꧂

TWELVE

"Kako! What did you do?" Akane starred at Nene. She stared back. "You weren't supposed to--"

"Good news, it worked!" Kako announced.

"But . . . but look at her! What will No. 7--" Akane froze. "Oh, no. No. 7 is going to kill you!" He grabbed Nene and dragged her to the bathroom. "You need to explain what happened. I need to deal with Kako. Good luck!" Akane raced off.

Nene blinked. "W-what?" She sighed. "Hanako-kun will know what to do." She pushed open the bathroom door. "Hanako-kun?"

"Yashiro, I--" Hanako glanced up at her. He was sitting on the windowsill. "Yashiro! You're minuscule! What happened?" He floated to his assistant. "Lemme guess: Kako?" Nene nodded miserably.

"Kako wanted to test his control over his power, so he made me be a test subject."

"And how old are you now?" Hanako asked.

"I'm twelve." Hanako did a double-take.

"You're twelve? Seriously?!" Hanako cracked up. "Hey, I'm taller and older than you! And more mature!"

"You're not mature," Nene complained. She hated how she was now eye level with Hanako's collar bone. "A-and this will fix itself soon! But I can't go home . . . my parents will freak!" Hanako's eyes widened.

"You should tell your parents that you're staying the night at your friend Aoi's house, but then stay here! It's perfect!" Nene nodded.

"I guess that's a good idea." She quickly called her parents and explained everything.

"Hey, can I hug you?" Hanako asked once Nene had finished the call. Nene blushed.

"U-um, why? And don't you always hug me?"

"Because, for once, I'm older and taller, and I wanna take advantage of that. And I thought it would be nice to ask." Nene nodded and blushed.

Hanako slid his arms around the girl and smiled. Nene leaned her forehead against his neck.

He's so cold! But . . . it feels nice.

She smells so good and is so warm. Yashiro . . .

"Sorry to interrupt, but--" The two jumped apart, both Hanako and Nene blushing profusely.

"N-no. 5!" Hanako said, trying to adjust his hat. "Do you--"

"Need something?" Tsuchigomori finished. "I wanted to make sure that Yashiro-san is alright. She's fine, so good luck fixing this mess." The teacher left.

Hanako turned back to his assistant. "So . . . umm . . ." Nene blushed.

"Do y-you want to explore the s-school or something?" Nene asked, avoiding eye contact with the ghost.

"Sure, come on!" Hanako grabbed Nene's hand and pulled her towards the door.

But, in doing so, Nene tripped. And when she fell, she managed to pull Hanako down with her.

Nene shut her eyes as she hit the floor. It didn't hurt, per se, but still.

"Y-yashiro?" Nene opened her eyes.

Centimeters away from her own face, Hanako hovered. One hand was placed on either side of Nene.

He had accidentally trapped her in a kabedon.

"H-H-hanako?" Nene exclaimed. Hanako was slowly moving towards her.

And then he kissed her.

The kiss lasted a full thirty seconds or so, but the time felt like an eternity to the poor preteen. When Hanako finally pulled away, Nene was bright red. But then she noticed something else.

"Wait . . . I'm 16 again!" She hugged herself. "Wow, I . . ." Nene spotted Hanako's grinning face. "What?"

"You know what they say: True love's kiss breaks any spell!"

"N-no, that's--" Nene blushed. "I d-don't think--"

"You know it's true!" Hanako laughed over his shoulder and headed for the door. "Don't tell me it's not!"

"Dang it, Hanako-kun!" Nene chased after him.

But she too was laughing.

A/N:

I dunno where this came from . . . I wanted to do something about age for Nene, but I've already done where she ages (Older). And writing about Baby Yashiro is a little overdone. So . . . tada?

I'm running out of ideas-- please give me requests!

Stay safe, healthy, and get vaccinated!

~~ Author-chan ~~