Chapter 9:

A Tale Told in a Single Night

Anything but Boring!


The white walls and simple furnishings of the apartment transformed into set pieces in the eyes of the excitable couple who'd returned not long ago. That night, with a small paper crown on her head, and a knee-high pink dress, Kimiko became a princess. While a tricorn hat was kept from Halloween, a long dark-grey coat, a white t-shirt, and black pants molded Makoto's spirit into that of a pirate captain.

To her imagination, she was wearing a dress worth its weight in gold, adorned with gorgeous lace and sparkling embellishments. In his mind, he was a swashbuckling rogue with a ship all his own.

Kimiko hid behind the side of the small armchair, which now graciously performed as wooden ship crates. "Psst." She whispered out of character. "I'm a stowaway, okay?" She said, then she ducked her head back down.

Amusement bubbling out in a silent laugh held steady with a smile, he nodded, then let himself drift into character, scanning the area as if he hadn’t just seen her.

The tall and handsome pirate captain looked from left to right before spotting a tuft of orange hair peeking at the top of a wooden crate. "Oi! What do we have 'ere boys?"

The crew laughed as the delicate woman squeaked then tried to run away, only to have the pirate hook his arm around her waist and pull her so her back thumped against his chest as he held her steady. His palm slid to her front, pressed firmly to her abdomen.

"We've a princess in our mits. Should fetch a pretty penny. Especially one as beautiful as she."

With a face flushed red, the princess squirmed in his grasp. "Unhand me, vile pirate!"

"Unhand you? But it is you who have trespassed onto my ship." He said, his forehead pressed against the side of her head and his lips near the shell of her ear.

A clammer diverted the attention of the pair of adventurers from their story. The blame rested on the two stray cats who had stepped onto the open window to eat the food Kimiko had left for them before they began their tale of make-believe.

"Distracted by the sea, princess?" Captain Terada said to her, in their apartment yet also aboard his ship.

"The sea is the reason I left home to begin with. To escape the marriage I must abide by." Princess Nakano explained.

"Freedom, eh?" Captain Terada mused before releasing his grasp of her and flashing her a smirk to match his devil-may-care attitude. She could practically see a golden tooth sparkle at the back of his mouth. "That. I can get behind."

Shadow the cat nabbed a fish out of Flash's bowl and ran over to the couch with the white cat chasing after him. The black cat positioned himself on the far side of the couch. The white feline held a steady stance and narrowed his gaze at his offender from the opposite end.

"Sink me! Beasts on the port side!" The Captain said as he spotted the scene, his eyes returning to his royal stowaway once more. "Ye'd best fasten yer bloomers missy. This is going to get nasty!" He said, and a moment later he ducked behind the couch and brought her down along with him. "We'll have to fire at them with everything we've got!"

"We can't! They'll only attack us next. Those are um…" The princess recollected her memory of the fantastical creatures. "Giga-Catfish! They shouldn't be provoked!"

"Well, we can't just sit here and have my ship be torn asunder. What'll we do?"

"They seem to be fighting over that fish. I can swim out into the sea and distract them!" She exclaimed, then tried to pull away from him, only for him to keep a hold on her arm.

"How do you expect a woman to lure away two Giga-Catfish? It's madness!"

"Well, sometimes madness pays off." Princess Nakano said with confidence that might be confused for daftness. She stepped toward the railing. (The border between their living room and the kitchen sufficed.)

The pirate stood now as he watched her.

"Oh!” She added. “I forgot to say, as I keep it a secret to most… but-" With a mysterious gleam in her eyes, she divulged her truth. "I'm a mermaid."

In a twirl along with a helping hand from their imagination, she entered the water in a splash and transformed into a mermaid (aided by the magic of a blanket she'd acquired to wrap around her legs.).

Her long hair now lay loose around her shoulders as she popped up from the chilled seawater.

"Oh kitties!!~" She enticed them with a wave of two sardines in her fingers, or, rather, a splash of her sparkling tail. "Come over here!"

The vicious creatures sprinted after her all throughout the sea as she swam away. (Zooming through the apartment to and fro with one hand on the blanket as the cats tried to corner their coveted fish.)

"We can't let her sacrifice herself in our name!” Captain Terada proclaimed. “If we allow it, how else can we hold our heads high and call ourselves pirates?! After that woman!" He ordered the nonexistent crew.

Eventually, the princess made her way to the shore of an island, (Frug-Island, the frog-green rug, as it were) where the two monsters were now feasting upon, presumably, a piece of her tail off on the distant mountainside. Exhausted, she lay with the back of her hand to her forehead until she felt someone pick her up and cradle her in their arms.

As she slowly opened her eyes, the pirate captain from before was revealed to her. "You came back for me." The meek gratitude in her voice conveyed just how unexpected it had been for her. “Please tell me your name.” She requested as he gently moved a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Terada, Makoto." He replied humbly.

"Makoto…" She said with a dreamy smile. "I like that name. My name is Nakano, Kimiko or, it was. I'm not sure if I'll pull through with my tail like this..."

"Nonsense. With the medics I’ve got, you'll be alright." Makoto said with kind conviction.

“Oh really? I am so thankful for that.”

"Actually, I have a lot to thank you for. If it weren’t for you, my beloved ship would have sunk to Davy Jone’s Locker. You know, you may be a princess, but you've the instincts of a pirate. Well, with perhaps a bit more honor.” He winked, the playfulness still present in his voice even as his pulse raced from holding her so close.

"I can’t be that honorable if I'm running away from a marriage I gave my word on." She said with some regret.

"It would be different if it was a promise you chose, instead of one chosen for you. That's what being a pirate is all about. Making your own way in the world."

"Is that right?" She mused. "Then perhaps… I can be a pirate princess?"

"Who’s to tell you ye can’t?" Makoto agreed.

"Hmm… but my tail is all messed up. It’ll be hard to swim like this, won’t that hinder me out at sea?" She asked, flipping it about pitifully.

"It might, but that doesn't make you less of a mermaid nor any less of a pirate either. Besides, you also have lovely legs to make up for it." Makoto’s flirt earned him a smack to the chest to scold him, which he smirked through without shame. "What? You expect a pirate not to notice?"

"You'd do well to be a gentleman, Terada. You wouldn't want me falling for you."

"But if I'm a gentleman you'll only fall for me more."

Stripped away from the fantastical setting, from this world they'd created, Makoto saw Kimiko in that moment. The woman who had become such a part of his life so quickly that he could scarcely imagine what it was like before he met her even though he hadn't known her for long.

Her eyes were staring into his own dangerously, two orbs of pure emerald infused with every bit of her resounding starlight spirit, a glimmer of sparkle every night, and a beauty to look forward to every day.

It was frightening, it was exhilarating… but it wouldn't last.

"Makoto…?"

He hadn't realized that he'd cupped her cheek in his hand, the tips of their noses nearly touching as his eyes kept focused on her soft pink lips, the target of his desire. One of his hands held her waist while the other held her head as he cradled her in his lap. The blanket that had been wrapped around her legs to simulate the fake tail she'd been touting had now fallen away along with the paper crown on her head.

This wasn't the first time he'd been in the perfect position to kiss a woman he liked, but this was the first time he felt like this. Electricity buzzed through his body like he'd been magnetized to her. Two colors that were destined to swirl together to make a new one, and it was becoming difficult for him to deny that he felt the same pull that she did.

The only thing that stopped him was the look on her face when she realized that he was about to kiss her. Her pupils dilated, and he could feel her heart racing within her chest behind her pretty pink dress. She didn’t just like him or lust after him, no, her eyes were filled to the brim with intense adoration. A feeling so potent he was sure that the only thing holding her back from letting it mature was his denial.

Makoto pulled back, but she placed her hand on his cheek and pressed closer once more. Her cool breath tempted his lips to linger.

"Makoto… please."

That phrase broke the last ounce of will he had left in him. In one fluid movement, their lips locked together, channeling their passion into soft and subtle urgency. His fingertips lightly twirled the tresses of her auburn hair while her fingers ghosted across his ear and then held his cheek tenderly. Their kiss was a rushing wave of intimacy crashing in deliberately at first then caressing the shore, lips sweeping back just a touch only to return for more, lingering as if they knew they’d been caught borrowing time before finally, reluctantly, returning back to whence they came.

Staring at each other, they caught their breath. Kimiko had a smile on her face, her gaze still locked on to him with fluttering doe eyes. Her expression held the wonder of pure amazement. "You were my first kiss."

Makoto suddenly felt guilty, for many reasons, but at the moment, it was because he hadn't expected that. "I… I was?"

"Mmhm." Kimiko affirmed as she fixed his hair. "And I'm glad it was you."

"Kimiko I-"

She could already hear the backtracking in his voice, but she didn’t care just now.

"It doesn't matter to me if we're a couple or not. I'm still glad it was you. I'm glad it was like this, and I really, truly, couldn’t be happier."

"I… I don't know what came over me, I-"

She interrupted him before he could apologize. She didn't want him to. "All you pirates are the same." She teased, then kissed the side of his head before she stood up using his shoulder to help her, a hand on her hip as she looked down at him. "The least you could do is own up to it."

Makoto laughed in a huff of air with a shake of his head, then stood up to face her with a push on his knee for leverage. "Ah, yes. Well, you are a charming lass, I'll give you that."

Kimiko seemed more pleased with that answer and she giggled. "Just one kiss though. Don't get any ideas now." She decided, bending at the hips with a cheerful point of her finger. A moment later she sashayed off to her room to get ready to take a shower.

She really is the master of turning things around on me isn’t she?  Makoto thought.

It was a pleasant night after that. He'd been a little worried that dinner would be awkward or that he'd hear her cry again at night, but neither of that was the case. She was simply beaming with happiness and it was hard for him to not echo that feeling back. It was her acceptance of their status (or, lack-there-of) and her joy from having him be her first kiss that helped keep any guilt he should have had from settling into his chest as he slept. In fact, all he could think about was the wonderful time he had with her. He even heard her giggling in her room at one point.

One last thing lingered in his mind, though. Something that he probably shouldn't have dwelled on and yet it was persisting even so.

Only one kiss…

tanktrilby
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Katsuhito
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Wortal
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