Mein Licht

Kross eyed Mizuki's body as she walked in front of him and smirked again. He felt extremely happy.
"Thanks," he said as he stepped inside, ripping off his old shirt before Mizuki even left, or even bothered to close the door. Taking advantage of the situation, he gave her a crooked smile "Well jeez, Mizuki... If you wanna watch that badly, why don't you just come in here and join me, huh?" he winked.
Kross, of course, already knew the answer, but seeing her reaction just made it all the more fun. He had only known Mizuki for maybe a total of fifteen minutes, but he could already tell she was going be loads of fun to tease.

At what Kross did, Mizuki's lips momentarily pressed into a tight line, a cruel idea soon forming in her mind though. He seemed to be enjoying himself too much for her liking. So after a moment, she stepped into the bathroom, forming an innocent smile. "Well, if you put it that way," she said sweetly as she walked up to him, pressing her hands against his chest lightly.
A moment later though, she had pushed him through the shower curtain, and he was sprawling in the tub as she turned on the hot water. "Don't forget to leave some for Harry," she called off-handedly over her shoulder as she exited the bathroom, closing the door behind her and heading back towards the kitchen.
She was glad at least to see Harry had some food ready, and it was enough to have her bouncing on the balls of her feet again. "Yum!" she lunged for a tomato, and before he could stop her, she had plopped it in her mouth, smiling triumphantly as she ate it, and then stuck her tongue out at him.

The smile on Kross's face was from ear to ear as she placed her hands on his chest. He bit his lip and started to say something back when, before he knew it, Kross was lying in the bathtub with hot water pouring on his stomach.
As he walked out, he couldn't help but roar with laughter "Clever little bitch," he whispered to himself before standing up and throwing the rest of his clothes off.
After the shower Kross was already beginning to feel better. He lazily dried himself before throwing the clothes on and heading back into the kitchen. "Phew... First time I've had a hot shower in months," he smiled.
Kross sat down next to Mizuki and began picking at the tomatoes whenever Harry would turn around. "So, you guys live here by yourselves?" he asked them, holding a tomato slice over his mouth and letting the juice drip onto his outstretched tongue.

After the first tomato, Mizuki had sat down in her previous seat, and she and Harry were basically having a comfortable silence when Kross came out, plopping down next to her. She didn't really pay him any mind, figuring he probably learned his lesson from what she had done in the bathroom. And if he didn't well... he couldn't be too persistent, could he?
"Just recently," she answered off-handedly to his question, playing with a tomato she had on the counter. It wasn't the baby ones she had been eating, but a real tomato. "I told you I used to live with three guys, didn't I?" she pointed out, nudging him in the side with her elbow without really thinking about it.
She caught Harry's disapproving gaze then and gave him the look right back. When he rolled his eyes, she grinned. "Come on, Har, you didn't really think that would work, did you? I can do anything you can," she said, and glanced at Kross. "In case you haven't caught the resemblance, and most don't, we're twins," she explained.

Kross nodded, "Ah, right. Were they friends or family or...?" he asked, then placed his hand over his heart and bowed his head "If you don't mind my asking, madam,"
He then thought of Mizuki living with the other guys... And the way she nudged him in the side... He didn't know whether or not to feel jealous or turned on.
At the word of them being twins, Kross looked at both of them directly in the face, moving his eyes back and forth "Hmm... Yeah, I guess I can see it. That's pretty cool. I'm an only child,"

Kross nodded, "Ah, right. Were they friends or family or...?" he asked, then placed his hand over his heart and bowed his head "If you don't mind my asking, madam,"
He then thought of Mizuki living with the other guys... And the way she nudged him in the side... He didn't know whether or not to feel jealous or turned on.
At the word of them being twins, Kross looked at both of them directly in the face, moving his eyes back and forth "Hmm... Yeah, I guess I can see it. That's pretty cool. I'm an only child,"

Mizuki's eyebrows raised at his question about the other two guys she lived with, and it took every ounce of self-control not to roll her eyes. She nearly told him to just guess, but an idea came and she simply shrugged softly, almost nonchalantly, casting Harry a quick glance before she spoke. "Oh, just my father -until he died a couple of years ago- and then about a year ago, my boyfriend moved in," she said, popping a tomato in her mouth as she felt eyes on her.
She looked up to meet Harry's gaze, but saw a smile forming at his lips as well. "Oh yeah, Tom's awesome," her brother agreed. The way he used their older brother's name bothered her a bit but she liked that he was supporting her in this little charade to mess with Kross.
She didn't know how they were going to explain the missing guy... she guessed she could just say he went on a trip... that wouldn't be too far from the truth considering it had actually been over a year since they had last seen their brother. The traitor had left them alone while they were still teenagers.
As Kross mentioned he was an only child, she tipped her head a bit. "That's no fun," she finally decided to say. "I enjoy torturing Harry way too much to be able to ever considering being an only child. If anything happened to him, I'm not sure what I'd do."

Kross felt an icy chill sink into his insides at the mention of her boyfriend. He decided it would be best to mention her late father first, though, "Oh, I'm sorry about your dad. My mother died several years ago; I was only eight or nine,"
He felt the corners of his mouth twitch downwards at Harry's praising of this so called 'Tom'. Tom... He just sounds like a dumb ass... That bastard.
"So, you and this Tim guy," he said, purposefully saying his name wrong to play it off like he wasn't really all that interested, "You guys still together? Where's he at now?"
Kross found himself wanting to frown again at her saying that being an only child was 'no fun' "Yeah... Well, my whole childhood wasn't all that fun. I'm kind of thankful I didn't have a sibling to experience it with,"
The image of his father's sharp eyes appeared before him, almost as if he were right there, staring him down. His jaw clenched.

Mizuki nodded softly to the mention of his mother having died. She nearly said their mother died giving birth to her and Harry, but didn't bother. It was kind of obvious their mom wasn't around. When he started talking about 'Tim' who was actually Tom, it was all she could do to keep from laughing. She was glad she and Harry had been able to play it off.
"Tom," she corrected lightly, pulling back from leaning on the counter. "And yeah, we are. He's on a trip; has been for a little while now. It's village stuff, which since you aren't from around here, you wouldn't understand. But he'll be back soon," she said, proud at the confidence she found lingering in her voice.
When he mentioned his childhood, and she saw the change in his demeanor, she frowned a little, becoming slightly thoughtful as she bit on her lip, but finally she just shrugged. "Well, everyone has their haunts. Just have to learn how to deal with them, because most people can't get rid of their ghosts." she stood up, going around the counter and grabbing a sandwich Harry had made, since he was going too slow getting everything ready for her liking.

Kross sat and listened to everything she said and remained silent until she came back with a sandwich, which he swiftly took out of her hands before she could even take a bite.
"Uh huh..." Kross said, chewing on the first bite. "So I'm wearing your boyfriend's clothes right now? That was his room, right?"
He then nodded to her talk of ridding yourselves of your own demons. "Oh yeah, I got rid of them," he said, mostly to himself, as he ripped off a small bite of sandwich and tossed it in his mouth. "Good sandwich by the way, Ginger," he winked at Harry as he chewed.

Mizuki glared at him as he took her sandwich, and she sat down in her seat with a small huff. While he was distracted though, she took it back and then stood up again, retreating in the kitchen with a pointed look as she took a piece off and ate it. "Yeah, that was Tom's room. We haven't bothered changing anything since he'll be coming home soon," she said, chuckling a bit as he called Harry 'Ginger'.
She looked at her brother. "I never knew I had a sister! My dream has finally come true!" She hugged her brother, knowing it would bother him, and laughed as he pushed her off, pouting a little at him. "But, Ginger, I wuv wu!"

"Uh huh... Well, I saw a picture in there. A group of kids, three of 'em... One was you, the other was Ginger here, even though his hair was purple, and the other was another kid... Guessing that was Tom? Said 'Family' Across the top of the frame, ya know..." Kross said. He had seen the picture folded up in the wardrobe... He just hoped his point was right, and that the picture was just put in that frame for some other reason.
He scowled at her as she took her sandwich back and leaped over the counter, so he was on the other side of Harry. "C'mon, hurry it up, Ging... I'm starving over here,"

Mizuki paused as Kross started talking about a picture with three kids in it, cursing softly in her mind though she refused to admit it out loud. "No, Harry and I were taking a portrait with our older cousin, Pein. We aren't especially close to our cousins and uncle, but we wanted a picture since we rarely get to see him," she explained. "And yeah, Harry used to have my hair color. Apparently purple is embarassing for a guy." she cast a look to Harry, who looked as if he had purposely slowed down the process to irritate Kross.

Kross cursed under his breath "I see... Well... Good for you guys then, I guess," he sighed, feeling rather defeated. Though, after a moments thought, he began to cheer up again Hey, I like a challenge. She may just be playing hard to get!
He then groaned at Harry and snatched the unfinished sandwich off the tray, starting to eat it anyways. "How the hell does it take that long to make a sandwich?!" he growled, but after he tasted the first bite, a smile came back onto his face "Ooooh... thank you, Ginger..." and with that Kross walked up and planted a big, sandwich filled, kiss right on the boy's cheek.
Another thing Kross loved to do: make people feel uncomfortable, and shock them in any way possible.

Mizuki barely contained a sigh of relief, knowing she had just deflected a possibly bad situation. And thus done talking, she leaned back against the counter beside Harry, munching on her sandwich until she had finished. "Mmm, that was good, Hair," she smiled at her brother, completely oblivious to the fact that Kross had kissed her brother on the cheek just a few moments ago.
She then waited for everyone else to finish eating as well before she hopped straight on her feet. "Okay, time to head out again!" she declared. "Don't give me that look, Harry! I promised him earlier that we would show him around the festival." She paused then. "Though if you two want to go without me and get some guy time in, that's fine as well," she shrugged, stepping around back to the other side of the counter and sitting in the stool once more.

Kross wiped the sandwich juice (?) off of his hands and nodded, following Mizuki. At the comment of her telling them they could have 'guy time', Kross looked at Harry and gave him an overly dramatic flirtatious look, followed by a pucker of his lips.
Seeing his, pretty much emotionless, reaction was very rewarding. "We can go. I think we've had enough guy time already," he winked. He ran back to Tom's room to put on some of his shoes, then ran back into the kitchen and waited for Mizuki. "Whenever you're ready, madam," he bowed, smirking, though it couldn't be seen from the blanket of black hair falling from his bowed head.

Mizuki shook her head softly at Kross, and then when he left, looked at Harry. "Help me," she murmured quietly, and hearing him start to come back, went and put some shoes on. She blinked at the black-haired boy in front of her for a moment before she went over to her brother, linking her arm with his. "Yep; we're all ready," she said, since Harry hadn't changed or gotten the chance to really and hadn't taken his shoes off. With that, she started to lead the way out of the house, through the forest paths, until they came back to the festival.

And she still brings the boy... he mentally sighed, but took the opportunity to link arms on the other side of Mizuki, so she was in the middle of the two males.
Once they arrived at the festival again, Kross began to feel a little uncomfortable. Since he traveled, he was very rarely in the midst of crowds, and despite how tiny this village was, he still felt like he was drowning in a sea of people. It was hard to breathe, and it brought back memories of the underground lab, where air was hard to get.
He sucked it up though, just as Mizuki had said, you have to get rid of your own ghosts. The past was over and done; there was no sense in bringing it back now.

Mizuki sighed softly when Kross came over on her other side and basically trapped her between the two guys, but didn't bother trying to move. She figured he would just follow her. Really though, how persistent was this guy?
She didn't even really notice how uncomfortable he seemed to be as they got back to the festival, even though they were staying away from the main bulk of people. Mizuki didn't really care for crowds either, and she preferred to stay back. After a little walking around and looking, she looked over to Harry, and then glanced at Kross, shaking her head softly. "So, what do you guys want to do? There's a ton of stuff at this festival; I'm sure there's something."

Kross's smirk suddenly returned, "Welllll... I think you know what I want to do," he said slowly, but replied with a more serious answer before anything else could be said "Uhh... Do they have any games around? I always liked those," he said, suddenly feeling a bit nostalgic.
As a child, when he traveled with Kano, he had taken the young Kross to a festival, where he caught a gold fish and got to take it home...
Kross was now smiling at the memory; not a smirk, but a genuine smile. Though, he didn't even realize he was doing it.