|COMPLETED| The Emotion Love - Heisuke x OC

Chapter 24 ~ The Emotion 'Love'

~ Tsukino ~

"So, is there anywhere else you want to take me?" I looked behind me as I walked forward a little. Heisuke grinned as he caught up to me, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward.

"Yep. There's one more place." I nodded my head as I quickened my steps, following after him through the path of lanterns. It was a flash of glowing red.

Where exactly did this path of lanterns go? To another part of this festival? Maybe an exit. It was still early to leave though, the moon not at its highest peak yet. In half an hour it would be. I had spent many nights under the stars, so I knew a bit about the constellation in the night sky.

"Have you had fun tonight?" I looked at Heisuke from the corner of my eye, nodding my head slowly. I was having fun, the festival was very much nice to attend with all the small makeshift stores, there was no doubt about that. But the date itself I did not like. It was what today represented.

"I am enjoying myself," I replied softly, looking ahead. We had slowed down to a walk, both of us side by side. I was occupied with the lanterns that surrounded us, a sight that I found beautiful. If you focused on the small, simple things, that was when you found its true worth in beauty.

It made me remember my younger self. When I was around eight or nine, maybe younger. I was with Kazama at that time, continuing to learn how to wield my katana. Every time there was a festival, he would take me to see the lanterns. And I had grown to love them very much because Kazama had shown me.

A memory so old and so important towards me... I hated it. I hated the way these memories made me feel about Kazama. It made me feel...softer towards him. Like how I once felt about him. I did not want to feel that, he had left me to die like a dog. I could never forget that. That was what kept my hate burning. A very hot, lively and deadly flame that if you got to close to, you'd turn to ash.

Blinking, I focused on what was in front of me. The pathway of lanterns was coming to an end, darkness greeting me at the end. An exit or open field maybe? I think the second choice would be a better option.

As we neared the end, I saw it was an open field. So I was right before. Up ahead was a hill, where I guess was where we were going. There wasn't anyone there from the looks of it, only wind and trees.

"Are we going up there?" Heisuke nodded as I picked up my kimono, walking forward. I did not bother to look back as I could hear Heisuke's shoes against the rocky ground. The hill looked a bit steep, but it would not stop me from going up there.

It took a bit to climb the hill as my dress was dragging me down. Heisuke had offered to help, but I had shaken my head and continued. The main problem was my shoes. There was no firm grip on them and it was hard to keep sturdy. So I had taken them off halfway up the hill.

There was a fallen log sitting near the edge of the hill, where it dropped a bit. I had sat down quickly, proceeding to put on my sandals slowly as I looked up at the sky, a distant wind. The sky was painted a dark blue-black, silver scattered over it for miles, going on beyond my eyesight.

"When do you think the special events gonna happen?" Heisuke asked. I shrugged my shoulders in reply. It was going to happen shortly as the moon was nearly near its highest peak.

"Heisuke," I said. I did not look at him as he replied with a 'yeah'. Sighing, my eyebrows furrowed together as I thought about the question and how to word it. I knew that if you were to blunt, it could scare a person and you would not get the answers you desired. As a saying 'beat around the bush' went, maybe using that would be the most efficient.

"...How do you feel about me?" Heisuke had wide eyes as I studied him from the corner of my eye. He looked down, scratching his cheek with an embarrassed look on his face. What was there to be embarrassed about?

"Well...," he began, scratching the back of his neck. "At first, you were cold towards everyone. I thought you were just some emotionless person. But now, I think..."

I took in a deep breath. "Do you 'love' me Heisuke?" I heard a thud as soon as I finished the sentence. Turning my head to face Heisuke completely, I saw him on the ground. Was he shocked into falling from where he was sitting?

He quickly shot up to his feet and looked at me with wide eyes. "What?!" I looked up at him before turning around, repeating my question. "I asked if you 'love' me?"

He was silent as he sat down. I waited silently, for an answer. "I don't want to come off as some asshole, but what made you think that? I thought-"

I laughed softly. "You thought that I could feel no emotions? It is true, but that does not mean it is also false. I can vaguely remember them, but I can not feel them strongly. Only at the present time am I starting to remember happiness and what it feels like. The same with laughter and joy."

"But what about my question? What made you think that?" I looked away from Heisuke as I thought about how exactly to answer the question.

"Chizuru asked if I had feelings for you," I started off. "I told her I do not know because I don't know anything about this 'love' emotion. Then I asked Sano what 'date' meant, and he explained that if I 'liked' you and you felt the same way, then that was love."

"But how-"

"I want to know what love is and what it feels like," I whispered. "I...I want to know what the emotion 'love' is."

I smiled as I saw a shooting star race across the sky. Soon, a whole heap of them would be. "I never knew you could feel that way, Tsukino."

A/N: Tehee! Hello readers, I'd like to say something/s. Thank you all so soooo much for staying this far, it means so much to me! And 500+ reads... I feel great about that. Anyways, I'm going to give away a spoiler (or a hint) at what's going to happen next. I'm halfway through this book (so it's gonna be coming to an end soon, but not sooon) and so that means... *giggles and laughs*  So yeah! Thank you soo much to everyone who's reading this and plz, if you have the time, comment on this chapter or any other chapter on what you think about it, like feedback so I can improve it. I am gonna be rewriting this when I'm done and I'm gonna need help from my readers so I can improve it to a standard that you all like. Gosh, that was long. Have a lovely day!!!