The Chocolate Orange by Y. Kajitaka

Valentine's Day

The fact was he couldn’t even begin to understand this situation.  That was a fact he disliked very, very much.  As usual, humans were incomprehensible creatures.

His brother’s… follower, love interest, potential mate… whatever she was… was standing nervously in his path.  If he tried to move, her spiritual powers flexed desperately, showing that she actually did need him for some reason or another.  But while she fiddled nervously with something hidden behind her back, he was growing impatient.

The thing, whatever it was, smelled very sweet.  Sickly sweet, almost.  Her mouth worked wordlessly a few times every once in a while, her blue eyes looking at any and everything besides him. But after a while… quite a long while- he’d been quite ready to walk away from her whether she had something to say to him or not- she finally managed to say his name.

“Lord… Sesshoumaru.”  He said nothing.  It didn’t make sense to answer when she’d only made a simple statement.  She fidgeted some more.  “Umm… yeah, I’ve been kind hoping I’d see you today, but now that I’ve found you… I don’t really know how to go about this…”

The question “about what?” was running around in the back of his head, but he didn’t say anything, yet again.  And when she finally, finally met his eyes…

She blushed.  Quite brightly.  Unceremoniously, she whipped a red-colored box out from behind her back and presented it to him.  The sickly sweet smell… mixed with the smell of citrus, now that he thought about it, was drifting from that box.  After a few false starts and stutters, she finally managed what she was trying to say.

“For Valentine’s Day.  It’s yours.”  She wasn’t looking at him again.

He stared at the box, and then stared at the miko presenting it to him with her eyes squeezed shut, as if she expected to meet some horrible fate for her boldness.

“Valentine’s… Day?”  He didn’t like not knowing about some special day.  Didn’t like not knowing something period, on any given subject.  And it was interesting he had to admit, when the young woman’s blush deepened considerably at his question.  The fact that she didn’t even try to answer told him that trying to prompt her to do so would likely fail, unless he decided to force her.

Rather than bother with something so troublesome, he took the box from her hand and examined it critically.  It was perfectly square, wrapped in a shiny red paper with a white ribbon tied around it.  The scent of sweetness and oranges wafted to his canine nose.

“Well- well open it already!”

Her impatience was almost amusing.  For being so fearful, she was putting on a very brave front.  He tugged at the ribbon carefully, and let it go limp across the palm of his hand, before slitting the paper with his claw.  The box was made to unfold, and he did so dexterously, without jostling the contents at all.

Inside that box was a shallow wooden tray, filled with orange slices dipped in an earthy brown substance.  He looked at it curiously.

It wasn’t mud.  It certainly wasn’t dung.  But he’d never really seen such a substance that gave off such a smell as this.  There was a small piece of paper folded in the back of the tray, and he slipped it out to read the hesitant but neat handwriting.

Valentine’s Day: The tradition began in England, celebrating the valor of a man named Valentine.  He continued to marry young couples, despite a law ordering the young men to remain single and serve in the military, and was eventually killed for his transgression.  Today, we celebrate this man’s courage by exchanging gifts between lovers.  In Japan, girls give chocolate to the boys they like- one month later on White Day, the boys return the favor.

It was a very concise dictation of the legend.  His question now answered, the Lord felt more at ease.  He reread the note.

“This… is for Valentine’s Day?”

She nodded jerkily.  A confused frown creased his brow slightly.

“Are these… chocolates… not for your lover?”

“You read the note, didn’t you?”

It irritated him that she was being sarcastic, but he cast a glance back down at the small piece of paper.

In Japan, girls give chocolate to the boys they… like…

The confused frown disappeared.  She chanced a look at him, and noted uneasily that his face was even blanker than it usually was.

“In case you don’t understand or are daring to try and go into denial…  I love you, Sesshoumaru.  I’ll be damned if I know why, but I do.”

“My brother-?”

“Has too much trouble prioritizing the me that’s alive and the me that’s dead, and I always lose out in the end.  I’m not so forgiving that I’ll keep hoping when I’ve got nothing to hope for.”

The nervous tension was coming off her in waves.  The pure spiritual energy that was usually at such a calm minimum was now roiling with unease under the surface.  And before he even knew why, she had her hands on his shoulders, and was pressing a light, trembling kiss against his cheek.  The smell of flowers wafted up from her hair, even though it was winter and patches of snow still lay melting on the ground.  Her breath ghosted up his jaw to his ear, first warm, and then cold as the chill air settled back against his skin.

She ran.

He didn’t really see the point in stopping her.  He certainly could have if he wanted to, but at the moment, he didn’t have any such desire.  The demon was rather… content… to simply stare at her back as she disappeared into the snowy forest.  He glanced back at the box in his hand, and picked up a piece of the… ‘chocolate’ covered fruit.  A taste told him that yes, chocolate was very sweet.  It wasn’t horrible… but he had never been very fond of sweets.  Slowly though, he finished the piece.  And the next.

And the next.

He hadn’t quite realized it, but before he was ready to be done, the treat was gone.  Thoughtfully licking his claws, he glanced back at the forest.

It seemed he had better prepare something in return.

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Originally posted on deviantArt 02/02/2010