Jellyfish en Vogue - A Kuragehime or Princess Jellyfish Fanfic

Chapter 2 - First Date?

Tsukimi of course knew that Kuranosuke was not a female. She knew that a boy just invited her out to lunch. But she didn't perceive that a boy just asked her out. She didn't acknowledge that this might be perceived as a date. To her it was merely eating lunch with her friend and future work colleague.

Tsukimi had recently ditched her sweats when she went in town. She didn't dress up like Kuranosuke wanted her to. But she also wasn't quite so frumpy looking outside of Amamizukan either. She currently was wearing a pair of black pleated dress slacks and a white chiffon floral top. Her boots weren't overly feminine but they were comfortable.

If she had thought of this as a date she would have first freaked because hello she never really been on a date before. Second, Kuranosuke was member of the 'stylish' she was not. He wouldn't even think of this as a date. She was too plain to be considered a romantic interest, right?

Okay so perhaps the girl was clueless. The boy beside her was definitely more then interested. He kept playing with the idea of grabbing her hand that swung haphazardly to and fro at her side. But he knew that would scare her off.

He never commented on what she wore anymore. Because that would probably scare her off. But he appreciated she ditched the sweats at least when they were in public. He had offered to take her shopping for her own style on several occasions but she always refused. But he triumphantly had managed to sneak a gift card in her purse and in a way he was still to thank for her new wardrobe.

When they had ended up at the same cafe they once went to with the rest of the girls of Amamizukan Tsukimi hesitated. This place was awful fancy and she still felt out of her comfort zone.

"Tsukimi, seriously it's okay. We are just stopping by for a bite to eat, my treat."

Tsukimi nodded but it still never occurred to her that this could be considered a date. She would have to be blind to not admit to herself that Kuranosuke was a handsome young man. His phone used to go off all the time with girls asking him out. But he always refused them and this puzzled Tsukimi.

The staff at the cafe were all 'stylish' and all the waitresses were all beautiful. It made Tsukimi feel out of place and insecure. The waitress that came over to take their order was by far the prettiest of all the staff that she had seen. The cafe didn't have a uniform but they were obviously encouraged to dress in the color motif of the cafe which was plum and hunter green. The waitress wore a knee length plum dress that hugged her generous curves. The top of the dress was v-neck and exposed a nearly obscene amount of cleavage. She thought Kuranosuke would immediately get a nose bleed but for some reason he barely looked her way. He merely smiled at her and asked her to give them a few more minutes while they decided.

The cafe's menu had a western food theme. For lunch they served mostly sandwiches, some soups, and salads. Tsukimi glanced at the menu trying to decide what to order. She couldn't really make up her mind though. She looked at Kuranosuke who was glancing her direction. "Do you already know what you are getting?"

Kuranosuke actually hadn't even glanced at the menu but he didn't really have to. He knew their lunch menu backwards and forwards and already planned on getting the club sandwich and a cup of tomato soup. He nodded at Tsukimi in response. He told her what he planned on ordering and she agreed that sounded good and decided to order the same. She hadn't told him her drink order but when the waitress came back he took care of ordering for the both of them. He got her the ginger tea again which was what she wanted so she didn't feel offended that he didn't ask her. In fact she felt it nice that he knew that much about her and smiled softly.

"Thank you for ordering for us both. You didn't have to do that."

Kuranosuke shrugged. "I guess I should have asked if that was what you wanted to drink."

Tsukimi shook her head. "No, I wanted the ginger tea again it was sweet and I really liked it last time."

Kuranosuke hadn't ordered it because he thought she would want it. He couldn't get over how cute she looked when she blew on her tea last time out of his mind and he wanted to see her do it again. He felt like a jerk for being so selfish until she admitted to wanting the tea. That made him feel better about ordering it.

He knew he couldn't consider this a date but to him it felt like practice for when he actually did ask her out. She didn't seem as shy as she used to today. She didn't necessarily feel open but he felt she had made some sort of breakthrough today. He did momentarily notice her look away from the waitress which that threw him off a bit. He wasn't sure what she was thinking. He knew that at one point she liked his brother so she knew she wasn't crushing on the waitress. Besides, the look wasn't shy she was merely averting her eyes. Like she just didn't want to acknowledge her presence.

Wordlessly Tsukimi got out her sketch book and flipped through it. It was different then her sketch book at home. Her sketch book at home was filled with jellyfish. This one was filled with dresses. Not all of them were completely jellyfish inspired either. She might have gotten the original ideas from jellyfish but the designs also started taking on a shape of their own. They were evolving to more modern designs that Kuranosuke could picture any woman wearing. He had seen almost the entire sketch book but for some reason Tsukimi wouldn't show him what she covertly had drawn on the last page.

It was the first thing she drew in the sketch book and Kuranosuke had thought it unusual that she would draw something at the back of the book. When he asked about it she had turned to face him, and told him it was something she wanted to build up to. He hadn't pressured her to show him. He knew if he did their relationship would sink before it even started to try to float.

When their drinks arrived Kuranosuke grinned at how Tsukimi was blowing at her tea again. He felt like he achieved his greatest life ambition which of course was not the case. But his heart definitely swelled at the act. Other parts of his body were also applauding but he shifted in his seat and attempted to ignore that.

The waitress came back with their food and when she put his plate in front of him she unnecessarily leaned over so he got a good peak down her dress. He didn't want to look but it was kind of hard to avoid doing so when it was right there in front of his face. Once upon a time he might have given in to her obvious flirtations but now he just felt her actions were over the top and quite frankly slutty.

When the waitress walked away Kuranosuke glanced at Tsukimi and the look upon her face surprised him. She looked a mixture of uncomfortable and hurt. But how could he make it right? Almost anything he said would make her realize that he thought of this simple lunch as their first date and she would emotionally run away if he did so.

"I promise the tomato soup is the best. You will love it!" He smiled at her hoping to alleviate the stress that the situation seemed to have caused.

She covertly smiled back and blew at her soup before sampling it. "Mmm, it's delicious!"

"So, tonight I plan on bringing some matsusaka beef over. I know it's not stew pot night but I thought maybe we could do steaks or something more western with it. What do you think?"

"I think the girls would enjoy the beef however it was prepared."

It wasn't really the answer he was looking for but that was just who Tsukimi was. She quietly appreciated things.