71 Volume 3: A Kiss to Remember Me By (2/2)

”You're not useless!” Little Sister rebutted earnestly. ”I can just wait for him to get back. And what you've been teaching me isn't the same as what I was doing to get rid of that poison. I wasn't absorbing his yang or heat, just passing it along---”

The older woman snapped her fingers. ”Wait... wait...! I wonder if...”

”What?”

”All this leftover yang is still his yang. It's just passive. Uh. It's the difference between being asleep and awake. Maybe... maybe we can 'wake' this passive yang up and then you can just... do the same thing with it that you did with him.”

”Really?! That would be great if we could get it to work!”

With that, they did several experiments, away from the lake at Shuya's insistence, to try and imitate what the Little Sister and Mr. Light had been doing. Passive yang, it turned out, was not easily motivated. It was stubbornly lazy, floating about without a care in the world unless Shuya grabbed it. In the end, Little Sister jokingly tried to tickle it to ”wake it up”. She didn't think it was going to work and was very surprised when it did.

After many failures, they got something close enough to the original that they thought it might work. Little Sister immediately went about getting rid of the poison with this new (imitation) method, while Shuya stood off a distance and watching nervously.

When it worked without anyone coming to harm, they both celebrated. They sang and danced; ate apples and drank water. Then Little Sister felt tired and took a small nap with Shuya watching over her.

When she woke up, Shuya was gone. The world was filled with light and noticeable warmth once again. Mister Light had returned. She immediately sat up, excited.

”Mister Light!” She cried out happily, seeing his familiar form sitting nearby. His head was turned away, looking off in another direction with an air of being perplexed. When she called out to him, he jumped as if a little startled.

His ever serene face turned to face her, showing not the slightest surprise, and he greeted her calmly, ”Good morning.”

Moving over to him, she grinned. ”I'm glad you're back, it feels like you've been gone forever. I really missed you.”

He leaned away ever so slightly, rapidly blinking.

”Ah, oh… is that so? You missed me?”

”Of course!” She frowned, eyebrows furrowed. ”Why wouldn't I? Did you not miss me?”

”I missed you.” His fingers moved nervously. ”Of course I missed you. I just thought… ah, well, I suppose you did get upset the last time I left so… yes, naturally you would be missing me this time… naturally…”

He'd begun muttering to himself nonsensically, still slightly distracted. She couldn't tell what he was feeling, but it seemed like he wasn't quite happy.

She scrunched her nose slightly in disappointment and then raised herself up just enough so that they were eye level. Shuya had said Mr. Light loved her, but his reaction had been odd. Strengthening her resolve, she concentrated on what she needed to do next.

There was an awkwardly long pause as she did so.

”What are you—” Mister Light began to ask, and then stiffened when she leaned forward and kissed him.

When she finally stopped, she giggled happily and whispered, ”Sweet and a little spicy…”

Mr. Light didn't move at all, staying rooted in his spot. She waved a hand in front of his face, but he still didn't move. Puzzled, she tilted her head and kissed him again. This time it burned a little because she hadn't prepared properly.

The second kiss seemed to bring him to himself.

”Y-you—!” He sputtered in astonishment. ”What do you think you're doing?!”

”Kissing you.”

”No, that's obvious… I mean… why?! You know touching me hurts you!”

She plopped back down and brought her knees up to her chin and pouted.

”I thought you loved me so I kissed you. And it only hurt a little the second time..” She explained in a grumble and then glanced up at him. ”Did you not like it?”

His mouth opened and closed several times before he finally stood up and took several steps away from her. Hands behind his back, he began to pace in a circle, occasionally glancing up at her as if to say something before stopping. If this had been in response to anything else, she would have laughed at him. Instead she just continued pouting.

Finally he walked back over and sat down.

”It's true that I do love you…”

Hearing this, she stopped pouting.

”…but you shouldn't have kissed me just for that.”

”What, why?!”

”It's… it's really not safe… and besides that, you view me as a friend, don't you? You shouldn't kiss friends, even if they like you. It should go both ways.”

Furious, she shot up and pointed down at him.

”Do you think I'm stupid AND weak?! Oooooh! See if I ever kiss you again! Meanie! Knucklehead! Shuya was right! Who'd want to kiss a stinky ol' grandpa like you anyway! You're just tough and bland!” With those scathing words, she stomped away in a huff.

Mr. Light was so stunned at being insulted, he didn't move at first.

”W-wait!” He stood up and starting running after her. ”What do you mean a g-grandpa? I'm no one's grandpa—not yet anyway! And I'm tough and bland?! Since when! And who's Shuya???”

Seeing her retreating form, he hastily hurried to catch up to her.

”I don't see why I should tell a punk like you anything. Humph!”

”Punk—!”

He was starting to breath heavily. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up to her. At first he was confused but then he remembered that the world bent to her desires. He couldn't catch up because she didn't want him too.

”Hey, slow down! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, please don't run away! Come back—!”

He stumbled, his elegant appearance crumbling as he started tripping over himself. A nearby tree seemed to maliciously reach out a branch and smack him in the face as he tumbled, stuffing his mouth full of leaves so he couldn't talk.

As he spat out leaf and bits of branch, he realized she'd gotten away. He stood there, looking bedraggled and worse for wear.

If she didn't want to be found, there was no way he could find her. Shoulders slumping slightly, he turned around and went back the way he came.

The world didn't fight him on the way back. He sat down heavily in the exact same spot he'd originally been at when she'd woken up. It happened that it was near the pond, tree, and that stupid little twig she'd somehow brought back—supposedly—from the outside.

”She might be mad, but I'm still here so she definitely doesn't hate me enough to kick me out.” He said to no one in particular, trying to reassure himself.

After several minutes of silence, he started talking to himself again.

”I know I've been gone a while but, seriously, what happened? All she's been doing lately is rebelling against me! I miss her sweet, docile behavior from before… Even if she was dumb as a toddler, at least it was easy to work with her!”

As he was talking, he noticed the twig; which had grown some and now had a respectable branch with several leaves growing on it. He pointed at it accusingly. ”This is all your fault. Ever since she brought you back from who-knows-where, all she's done is argue and fight with me!”

He meant that as a joke, but he paused. There'd been too much going on outside for him to devote the time he should have to this mysteriously acquired twig. But now that he thought about it more seriously, the exact moment she'd become aggressive had been when she'd claimed to go outside. He eyed the twig suspiciously.