(D3, LE, Murato's) Something Sweet

[Kitsu Murato]

He takes a bite of the apricot, then sets it back down.

"Well, now you know my secret," he says with a somewhat awkward smile. "That I am happy to be flirtatious and forward, but at the actual occurrence of something I find myself at a loss. Which is probably because I've been plenty flirtatious, but with no actual experiences that such can lead to."

Despite the flush and slight embarrassment, his voice did not shrink or waver. Plus, he was clearly regaining his words.

"I would not object any time you would wish a closer look." He looks to the apricot. "And to clarify, it was actually a dumbstruck observation of what I tasted, rather than asking for the fruit. I very much like the taste of apricot, and likely will even more now." He looks back up to her, offering the apricot he had bitten from once more.

[Kuni Yasu]

There's a sudden chuckle, with a hint of nerves, cut off quickly. "I won't spread the secret. My own ah, experiences, are very few. And I'm not really sure I've ever flirted." Her experiences would make for a very short pillow book, maybe a pillow page, or a tanka.

As she realizes what he means about the taste of apricot, her hand jumps to her lips, not quite touching thanks to long practice. There's a soft smile as it moves to accept the bitten fruit, taste it again. "I see why you like them," she says, passing it back, a bit still left, the skin marked with a bit of red.

[Kitsu Murato]

With each passing moment that she continues not running off and saying she had made a mistake, he feels more and more comfortable and confident. "It's not a secret I really don't mind if people know, but I appreciate that."

With the returned apricot, he looks at the red mark and smiles. "Well, with this," he says, showing the color from her lips, "...you have flirted at least a little bit now."

He gives a small kiss not unlike the one she had given him, but to the remainder of the fruit marked red. He then eats the last bit, pulling it from the pit.

Murato continues holding that pit. He would be saving it. Because the recovering sense of poetry and romance told him that this particular seed could potentially make for a very intimate and important apricot tree someday. The idea of that brought a refreshed smile as his mind begins mixing words far more easily.

"Seed kissed by beauty
finds purchase in fertile home
placing roots in heart."

[Kuni Yasu]

Not running, no. There's that shivery hint of nerves to her movements, to her voice. Out of her element, on unfamiliar ground that textbooks haven't been any help preparing her for. If anyone had asked her 'why?' she wouldn't have an answer yet; would be asking it of herself tonight, and tomorrow too, most likely.

For now, she's glad her mask offers the same faint pink across her cheeks as it did when she sat down, as she feels her cheeks burn, her eyes unable to leave his lips as last of that fruit is eaten. There are several poems in her memory that snap into an entirely new light.

With a calming breath, she returns the smile, eyes bright with a quiet laugh she covers with her fingertips. "It gets everywhere, the makeup. Never would have thought..." her eyes widen just a bit, focused on memory, "oh..maybe I should have though."

The poem catches her by surprise all over again.

"It's lovely. I...will have to owe you the next bit of it when my thoughts slow down enough to arrange it?" Maybe not necessary, but there are forms for trading verses. "At least if that's a sort of thing you'd welcome."

[Kitsu Murato]

His mind bandies about with different responses he might give. It was pretty new territory, being kissed like that when he wasn't expecting it. Honestly, the moment kept revisiting his mind. And that meant his blush was currently perpetual even if receding a little.

"If it gets everywhere does that mean you left a little behind?" he asks covering his lips for a moment without touching them.

"I would welcome it," he says with a nod, his eyes showing more enthusiasm than his movements did. "Clearly we are on to a stage where sharing is happening, so sharing poetry is only natural."

[Kuni Yasu]

She certainly can't see anything as he covers them, and is faintly disappointed that she could be looking so directly and not remember that detail. "hmm..probably? Maybe? Ah...hmm, well. It's protective?" she offers. "Most of the ingredients are blessed before we ever mix them."

One hand loosens a small knife from beneath her obi, as the other picks up a cherry. "I feel like the response comes somehow from tasting blind like that." Her hands are deft, cutting the pit away "Have you done that before? From either side of things?"

[Kitsu Murato]

He grins as he lowers his hand. If there had been any of the paint on his lips it was removed by the apricot when he kissed and ate it.

"Well, I suppose it would be proper to make certain that it is cleaned away, but I think it will probably feel like it's present for a while," he says his own eyes moving to look at her lips. And then without him thinking about it, his eyes wander even farther. It isn't accompanied by some ogling or leering expression, but almost like he is observing her for the first time.

His eyes return to hers once more in a quick motion as he responded again. He nodded about the potential response. "Yes and no. It was a game I use to play with other children. We would sometimes sneak something unpleasant in. Like the time someone got me with a big dollop of wasabi. Or the time I stuffed a mochi with pickled radish for someone else."

He smiles at her. "But I always liked the mystery. And this also felt right, if a bit forward of me. And I would not mind..." He shakes his head. "No, I would like to play again if you are interested, some day in the future."

[Kuni Yasu]

It isn't as if there's much that would really suit the term 'ogle' to be found. Broad shoulders match her height, and her posture holds both that sense of poise warriors maintain, and the slight rounding of shoulders one develops from long periods hunched over scrolls. The braided coils of hair look like it would be quite long when let down. There's little of ostentation anywhere save the ribbon binding her hair, with a rather elaborate pattern woven through it.

And her expression--wonderment and focus in equal measures as she listens, a smile as he describe the game as a child. "Umeboshi mochi? That would be an experience." She holds the cherry a moment, considering, something uncertain wrinkling her brow for a moment. "In the future, yes. I think... I'd like that." Looking up, dark eyes meeting gold, she adds. "I suppose it's not the same game when there's no guessing needed?"

[Kitsu Murato]

Strangely enough, the warrior physique tends to be a common ideal among Lion. During those years when he was gaining an understanding of such things, the majority of women in his age range tended to be bushi. Human nature would make him feel a certain way about certain features on certain women. But his wild imagination in his youth had shaped his mind to see the warrior physique as truly attractive.

Plus, the make-up and hair made her into a living work of art in a way. A very unique one that stood out. Like the brightest or tallest flower.

"It would be different, but not necessarily a game I'd want to miss out on," he says with a smile.

[Kuni Yasu]

The uncertainty firms into a soft resolve, a pleased smile. "Then..." She doesn't ask him to close his eyes, holding them with her own as she reaches across the small space to offer the pitted cherry, held lightly between thumb and forefinger. Her hands were as large as the rest of her, with none of a courtier's delicacy, but they were careful and steady.