"We're home, is that the weather?" Yuki slides the door, we saw Shigure eating cold tofu and watching the weather report, "It's getting ugly out there, saying it's an unexpected typhoon." Shigure takes a sip of his sake, "It's really coming down," I wipe my hair with a towel, Yuki grabs a tarp and heads out, I decide to follow him, "Yuki." I run out with him, "Yuki, it's dangerous out here." He turns around, "Psh, it's nothing, I mean I did live in a tent, last typhoon I had to stay outside my tent to make sure it didn't fly away," I grin, I slipped on the last part, "Yuki, careful!" He grabs my wrist, "Oh, thanks," I avert my eyes, "But where are you going?" I look at him, "This way, remember when I told you about my secret base," He holds my wrist and we walk together, "Woah it's a vegetable patch." I look at it, "Did you grow this all by yourself?" I look at him, he nods, we unfolded the tarp and placed it on top, Yuki began to hammer tent pins into the corner to hold it down, "You're a truely kind person." He says out of the blue, "Huh? Me? You're kidding right, I've been nothing but cold to all my other classmates apart from you, Uo, Hana, Tohru and Kyo. Honestly, I've never really been great at making friends either. I guess that's where my title comes from huh." I stare at the blue tarp, "That's not true, I know plenty of people who adore you. It might be your bashfulness but everyone in the entire school thinks you're the cutest Cold Princess ever." He smiles, I look up and my cheeks turned red, "Shut up." I huff and turn away, "See, right there." He chuckles and hammers the peg, "You know, my mum always told me to believe rather than to doubt, she said human beings aren't born with kindness, that's only something that coms to us later, all we have at first are desires, for things like food and shelter, basically just survival instincts, she said that kindness is our hearts growing inside us, growing like people at different rates and different ways. That's why some person's kindness might look different from another's so it was exciting to know there were different shapes of kindness in the world, like round ones and pointy ones, none are the same this may sound strange but your kindness reminds me of a candle, it lights up, and when I see it, I can't help but smile at the warmth it gives off, I can't tell you one thing phoney about it." I smile, "It was a pretty strange analogy I bet." I giggled and held the tarp tighter, "No, no, not at all, in fact, I'm kind of ashamed, I shouldn't have unloaded all of that on you." He looks down, "Shut up silly. I'm glad you did, the more you tell me about your life and feelings, the better friends we can become, I'm glad and thankful you've let me in," I grin at him, I look back down and I didn't see the flush of pink on his cheeks.
"We did it!" I jumped up and gave him a high ten, "At the low cost of getting half drowned," He folds the tarp back up, "Are there any vegetables ready to harvest?" I look at him, "The chives are ready," He bends down and starts to pull them out, "Yuki, next time I'll play blackjack." He says, "Really, wow that's great." I smile, "But remember, if you don't feel comfortable, you don't have to, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything." I shake my hands, "I guess I didn't play today because everyone was so outgoing. I didn't feel comfortable, but I'll work on that, it may take me a while but I want to learn how to interact with people," He stands back up, "Come on, let's head back, we need to take hot baths or else we'll get a cold." He grabs my wrist, "Yeah, you've got a point," I smile and walk back home with him.
"You're up early," I saw Kyo with a towel over his shoulders, "Not really, it's normal. What are you doing? Starting a riceball business?" He looks at all the riceballs in front of me, "Nah, I'm just experimenting and having some fun before the culture fest, here." I hand him one, he takes a bite but flinches and runs to the sink and takes huge gulps of water, "Is it really that bad?" I furrow my brows, "They have chives in them! I hate chives!" He rinses his mouth and spits the water out, "Oh, I didn't know that," I look at the half eaten riceball, "Why didn't you just stick to normal fillings like salmon or octopus? I'll just make my own." He grabs a scoop of rice and shapes it into a triangle, "Woah, how are you so good at that?" I lean over, "Well I had to make my own food when I was training, nothing special." He grumbles and sits down, I had a realisation, "You know, it's probably because it's on your back!" I snap my fingers, "What?" He turns around, "You know, say if people were riceballs, they always think that they're not special, it's because their pickled plum is on their back so they can't see it. Everyone's is different and unique, but because it's on their backs, they can't see it and they can only see other people's." I sit down next to him, "You said you envy Yuki, but you do realise, it's because you can't see your own, Kyo. You're kind too, don't think that you're only known for your temper and tongue, you're much more than that." I smile and go back to the kitchen, "Yuki." He looks down, "Yeah?" I look up, "What's with your stupid analogy," His ears were red, "Shut up, I was making riceballs so that's all I could think of." I pout, "Well you've got one too." He says, I cock my head, "You've got a plum, on your back too." He takes another bite, I smile, I grab a riceball and sit down, "Kyo, you're very sweet, you know that." I smile and slide a plate over with a sinister smile, "But you took the first bite so you have to finish it." I had an evil grin on my face, "NO! No way in hell am I taking another bite of that chive riceball!" He stands up and was ready to walk off, "Oh, what a shame, I guess now, I'm not letting you ever cuddle up to me, I'm never going to rub your chin, never going to pet your back, never going to ruffle your ears-." He runs back and gulps the chive riceball down in one gulp, "There, now you have to." He runs off, "I promise, I'll always be there for you." I yell after him "Yeah whatever!" He yells back, I smile.
