The Power within Innocence

Chapter 8 - Surprise Visit!

This chapter is dedicated to Akiko_Ichimaru! Happy reading!

~~~~~~~~~~

Yuki pov:

"Are you ready?" I gave a mischievous grin as I looked at the three people around me.

"Hai hai! We wont get caught nee chan!" Akio stuck his tongue out tesingly and Arata giggled as he ran away from me.

Juo too gave a laugh before running off in another direction along with Akio. I gave them a playful glare and began running after them.

"Oh ho ho ho!! I'm going to get you! I'm going to catch you!" I teased as I changed directions to catch Arata.

We had all gotten together after breakfast to play in the stream just as we had decided yesterday. Juo had joined us soon after we had come near the stream. As always, Arata and Akio were in a pair of shorts as swimwear and I was wearing a crop top and a pair of shorts. Juo was in a pair of pants and a silk shirt but he had taken off his shirt when we played in the water.

We had a lot of fun splashing each other in the stream and after basking in the warm sun to dry our clothes a bit, we were now playing tag.

I was the catcher so I was chasing after the other three. Of course, we had all gotten turns to be the catcher. Whenever Akio or Arata were the catchers, Juo and I would slow our pace and deliberately get caught. And if either Juo or I were catchers, we would deliberately miss catching them.

As we ran around the meadow beside the stream now, I kept switching between the people I tried to catch. At one point, I decided to tag Juo so I ran a little quicker. Just as I was about to touch him, I ran too close to the stream and a bit too fast too. I slipped on the soft mud and gave a yelp as I fell towards the water. I waited to meet the rocky bed of the stream but instead, I felt a tug on my arm and something cushioned my fall.

I heard the splash of water as I fell. There was a gentle yet firm hold on my back and I looked up to see that I had landed on Juo. He had caught me and made sure I didn't get hurt when I fell. But we were both completely soaked thanks to my clumsiness.

We laughed and sat up as my brothers came to us. We were pretty much sprawled out in the water with me sitting between Juo's legs. He still had a hand on my lower back and I moved the wet hair that was sticking to the sides of my face. It wasn't until I stopped laughing that I realized just how close we were to each other.

I could feel the warmth and callousness of Juo's hand on my skin because of the crop top exposing most of my torso. My arms were on his bare chest and being so close to him, I got the scent of a man that I hadn't noticed in Juo until today. He did say he was 21 years old, three years older than me. But all this time, I was always worried about taking care of his injuries, enjoying how innocently he smiled and laughed with us and how he spent time with Akio and Arata.

Now that I was in such close proximity to him when he's half naked, it was very clear that he was nothing less than a handsome grown man. He was the same age as Hiru but I hadn't taken the time to observe him as I did with Hiru.

I continued to stare into his gentle scarlet eyes as he looked at Akio and Arata still laughing. I could feel the heat of a blush on my cheeks. My gaze wandered involuntarily to his nose, his lips, his jaw line, his ears, his wet hair on the nape of his neck. I noticed the slight Adam's Apple of his throat and the smoothness of his skin on a whole.

Seeing that I was starting to get weird, I pushed away from him and put some distance between us. He looked at me curiously as I looked away to hide my embarrassment. I was flustered and I could even feel my heart beating faster than usual. The place where his hand had been on my lower back felt tingly.