She felt his warm hand that felt rough against her own soft fingers as they entwined. Her heart was beating fast even if she was the one who reached for his first. Her eyes lowered while her cheeks blushed a light red. While he could not see her embarrassment smile, she tightened her grip as her face turned away from his. Her footsteps were light, one step at a time she went up the hill and onto the path made by dirt alone. The grass acted like mini fences and flowers of white, purple and blue motioned with the summer breeze. Her blonde hair untied itself as it flowed behind her, barely touching Kenzo's body. With her free hand, she tried as much as she could to place her lovely locks over her shoulder and against her chest.

She was happy he trusted her enough with leading him and truthfully she hoped he will enjoy this area as much as she did. It has been a repeatable thought, but it was just that important to her. Fireflies start to rise as they floated around the nature of beauty.

Hosenka had the most beautiful trees of Sakura and surrounded mainly by red and pink Joyan maple trees. Her face still felt hot all the while her heart beating hard with every minute her hand was touching his. It has been a while since she's been this close to another man - other than sitting at the bar by one. One more hill as they went up even more.

Suddenly, she stopped and warned him, "Watch out, some steps ahead. I-I don't want you to fall." She gulped as she leads him up the stairs and around the railing till they finally went inside the very tall building.


"Y-you can open them now! I hope you like the view.~" She made a blushful smile that was sweet and hopeful. As he opened his eyes he would see they were in an old observatory with the roof part taken off as it slowly broke down due to age. They were high enough to see the stars, moon, and even the skyglow within space that lit the sky up in a lighter color. Her eyes looked at his, waiting for them to open as she stood in front of him. Her brown and blue eyes glistened as she bit her lower lip nervously.

Trailing behind Kurisa, Kenzo wondered where he was taking him. True, his eyes were closed. But he still could see everything in a 5-meter radius. From what he could distinguish of her expression, she was acting rather weird. The mercenary didn’t completely understand the picture after all. Even if his enhanced sight allowed him to see everything physical and magical in nature, this was more in a black and white fashion. As such, he couldn’t see Kurisa blushing, only her facial expressions. As soon as he saw her smile and look away from him, the mercenary felt a chill run down his spine. He was unsure if her face was one of accomplishment over luring him into an ambush or something else. While she led Kenzo up the hill through the mud and dirt road, the warrior started feeling a bit restless. In the end, he simply was that kind of dense man.

However, with every step he took, he started relaxing a bit more. If they wanted to ambush him the perfect time had passed a couple of minutes ago. Instead, he started noticing the scenery changing little by little. Even fireflies popped up here and there inside his field of vision. ”You’re too suspicious of people man…” Kenzo scolded himself internally, trying to reassure himself that Kurisa was not a bad person. She was a Daeva Eye member after all, it was not like she was a criminal or anything right? Once they finally arrived at an area full of cherry blossoms, Kenzo felt ashamed over doubting her. Deciding to not spoil her surprise any longer, he decided to deactivate his eye’s ability. From what he gathered, she was actually bringing him to a special spot, so he decided to just enjoy the surprise. He could feel Kurisa’s warmth flowing through her hand, making Kenzo feel excited as he wondered what their destination would be. Suddenly, she stopped to give him a warning. Kenzo smiled as he heard her sheepish tone. ”I’m in your care” He was still unsure why she was acting that way, but it was cute in a way.

Once he was allowed to open his eyes, Kenzo couldn’t help but feel disoriented a little. It wasn’t that he was dizzy from the alcohol or anything. Rather, it was the fact that was at a loss of words over what he was seeing that he became simply entranced with the sky. Figuratively and quite literally, Kenzo was at a loss of words once he saw the beautiful starry night. Gazing at the stars was one of his favorite pastimes, but he’d never seen a place as incredible to gaze at them at night. From the looks of it, they were at the top of an old abandoned observatory. No wonder the place had been built at this spot.

”Wooah…” Kenzo muttered as he left his breath leave his body. His eyes widened and glistened as the lights from the stars reflected on his aquamarine eyes. For a second, everything around him disappeared. His surprise was genuine after all. Even if had cheated a bit on their way here, there was no way he could have imagined that the thing she wanted to show him was the sky. After the best part of a minute, Kenzo finally regained his senses, turning his head towards the girl that brought her to the place. ”This place is beautiful.” The warrior warmly smiled at her. As his eyes locked with hers, he couldn’t help but feel entranced by her brown and blue gaze once again. From the moment he met her, he knew it was special. Now that it reflected the beauty of the stars shining above, he had to admit it did even more. ”Thank you for sharing this with me”

He seemed to be quiet, was it due to shock of the beauty of the place, or was he disappointed at the fact that it was just someplace that had a view? Kurisa did not know him fully to the point she knew his favorite things or even dislikes for that matter, but she wanted to show him one of hers. Her hands held each other behind herself as they were against her tailbone. Simply, she kicked her right foot anxiously as she waited patiently for him to talk, say anything. Her head turned to look up at the same view he was gazing at - lost for words.

It was silent for a few minutes it seemed, but he spoke at last with a compliment to the sky. She gave a cheesy smile, giggling at this while gazing into his eyes that reminded her of the beautiful waters that reflected this very night sky she loved so much. "It is beautiful, even after the destruction..." She went back to gazing upward. "To be fair, you'd think this place would be more romantic to couples since it now has an open view." She jested, even though this place was half bombed by some people that hated the Joyans. There were buildings here for housing for the scientists back then too, but they were scared off elsewhere.

"I use to love coming here to study the stars." She twirled in the middle of the building. "I'd imagine some goofy stuff like dancing in a ball cause this area was that huge." She giggled with her right hand against her lips, gazing back at him with a bashful smile. Her hand gripped against the rusted railing that leads upwards towards the top. It was an all open area up there. "Come on! We can get a better view.~" She grabbed his hands once more and lead him up the stairs that were swirling in circles. Once they got at the top, they had the view of not only the whole sky but the whole city as well. The platform was ten meters in diameter. Once she saw him secure up there she swirled back to end up having her hands behind her back once more, gazing at the city. "Look at that! Is that not amazing? The whole view of the city lit up by the stars and simple lanterns throughout the street." She just realized something so she swiftly turned towards to look at him. "O-oh, I hope that you're not afraid of heights." She nervously questioned. Her eyes gazed at him with worry while biting her lip. The last thing she needed was to ruin a night of height fright.

Kenzo had grown fond of the woman’s reactions. After she’d brought him to her special spot, every thought of suspicion or lack of trust was blown out of the window. He knew he could trust Kurisa at this point, so he allowed himself to be more relaxed and off guard. As such, he amusingly enjoyed her carefree and cheery attitude. Maybe it was due to his line or work or his general lack of social interactions, but the Daeva Eye woman was the most upbeat person he’d met in a while. This was a good thing of course, even making Kenzo want to let go of his worries and enjoy the moment. As he heard Kurisa speak about her secret place, he noticed he was quite enjoying his evening. Chuckling at her comment, the male nod in agreement. ”Lucky me, we’ve got the place for ourselves tonight~” The male smirked as he rested his back against the rail, both arms extended in a relaxed manner. ”Yeah, this place might actually make for a great dancing hall. Considering the view and all” The mercenary lazily lift his finger to the rail to point at the sky. The only thing this place needed was a bit of money and some hard work to become a gem. It was spacious and perfectly located after all. Kenzo was not much of a dancer, but he sure enjoyed balls. Free booze and food? Count me in.

Before he could say anything else though, Kurisa once again dragged him along to go upstairs. Kenzo willingly complied, yet again excited to see what else she had to show him. As they stood on top of the platform, they were able to have a perfect view of the city. Thousands of lights burst with life and activity in Hosenka, beautifully flickering like the fireflies dancing in the bottom of the hill where they stood. In a sense, it reminded Kenzo of the view he had from Advent World’s guildhall over Oak City. Truthfully, Hosenka was quite a better sight to see, but it reminded him of that, nonetheless. A trail of nostalgia came over him, forming a sad smile on his lips unwillingly. Remaining silent for a second, the warrior finally answered Kurisa’s first question after a short sigh. ”Yeah… I think it’s been a long time since I saw a night sky this perfect.” Kenzo regained his spirits once he heard her preoccupations. Shaking off the previous mood, the male playfully responded, teasing her in the process. ”O-Oh… I co-completely forgot about it… I hate high places…” Kenzo faked his nervous sentence with sarcasm. Getting closer to the woman, he grabbed her gently one of her hands with both of his. ”I-I think I need someone to keep me safe” The male flashed a wink at Kurisa, enjoying himself. She was an entrancingly beautiful woman, and the mood couldn’t be any more perfect. Right?

Kurisa had no clue what was coming. She just felt free and happy at the moment without thinking, but just doing. The guy did not mind with her escorting him to the top as the breeze felt amazing against her face. While waiting for his answer she thought of the ball in her head. The one she went to before due to royalty inviting everyone, she did not get to dance or anything. She had some food, drinks, and then left. She went alone so why will she dance? Suddenly her hand was grasped onto by both of his. Her heart jumped as her hopeless romantic heart started to beat fast and nervously.

Enough

Her aura started to try to break out of this situation as physically she just gazed at Kenzo's blue beautiful eyes with her own brown/blue ones. Her body felt frozen as their bodies became close together by his doing yet for some reason she could not get herself away. Someone was yelling for her to step away, but her heart could not. Was it just this cheesy scenery or perhaps his eyes that made her not want to move? Could possibly be the touch of a man even by simple hand-holding. Her face became pink like the sakura petals that flew within the wind's current. He was afraid of heights, huh? Surely he was jesting, but out of her kindness, she acted as if he was telling the truth. "D-don't worry. I'll make sure you won't fall ... No matter what." She nervously spoke and gazed away. Her beautiful long blonde hair flowed back slowly as the wind gave them a breeze. Her eyes can never leave his with how she was feeling between the warmth of his hands and the closeness of their bodies while standing. When will she ever stop? Her heart will never stop longing for the things that she has always wanted yet never receive. It was at most her curse.

Kenzo’s mind didn’t quite think through his previous advance to be honest. Owing to the booze or some perhaps the scenery, the tipsy male simply went with the mood and joked while closing the distance between them. He found Kurisa quite attractive, and the time they’d spent together had been nothing but enjoyable so far. However, there were sometimes in the mercenary’s life where he’d learned to trust his guts. There was nothing about Kurisa’s reaction that told him about it, but for a reason he could feel as if something about her rejected his being. The warrior had no way of knowing at the moment, but perhaps it had to do with the contradiction between the two of them. Kenzo’s curse, demonic in nature. Kurisa’s Nephilim race, angelic in direct opposition. It was perhaps due to these things that the blue haired male was able to sense something a reaction within the woman as soon as he grabbed her hand.

Despite the physical reaction he was able to bring out of the girl, flattering in every sense for the male. Despite the words of kindness and gentleness of the girl, caring and truthful to the very end. Something inside Kenzo told him that their paths were not meant to cross. The blue haired male dropped his carefree act, looking at Kurisa’s eyes that had entranced him from the very beginning while his lips arched upwards in a half smile. ”It’s alright… I’ll just keep my distance” His words were followed by a full on smile, moved by her good will. Placing one of his hands on top of hers, the male gently squeezed it before moving one away. For a second, he thought about lifting it and planting a kiss on the back of her hand. However, he decided to let her go for now. Kenzo was not a romantic man by any means. He had become a ruthless person after years of work as a mercenary. Killing people for money had a tendency of killing romance for the most part. For that reason, he stopped his advances on the girl with a smile.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. The two of them spoke about many things as they made their way through the bottles of wine they had brought along. It was almost as if they were two old friends catching up. Or at least, that’s how Kenzo would like to have seen it. Eventually, the time to say goodbye came along. The mercenary really enjoyed his time with the woman, so he hoped it wouldn’t be the last time the two of them met. In the end, he would like to think their goodbye wouldn’t be the last time they spoke, but the beginning of a friendship.

-EXIT-

In all truths, the way it ended was possibly for the best as his grasp became undone as well as their distance. The further he went, the calmer her heart became. She gave a genuine smile while deep inside it was hurting, but at the same time she was glad. It was difficult to explain sometimes how one can feel both good and bad about something. Truly, she felt more relaxed than anything. Both of them grabbed their bottles and sat down for the rest of the night. Her eyes gazed at the stars as they talked with deep conversations and questions.

The alcohol felt rather satisfying as she got to know someone better, as more friends could never hurt. She knew that there was only one thing left to do before she decided on her path as slowly she realized something. Once their talk was over they went to their separate paths as their paths were not meant for each other's company as maybe their paths were meant for someone else's. Who you may ask? No one will ever know, or so more than others. Kurisa's path was rather like a puzzle with the last piece hiding in a place where they'll never find it. With a small smile she went home to go to bed to end up waking up to have to do more missions.

-exit-