User blog:Elhana 4stars/Chapter 2 - The Doll Princess

Chapter 2 – The Doll Princess

As the crowds at the Interstella Tanabata festival continued to grow, one couple was walking along a long bridge arching over a river made up of stars. The girl was clad in a red yukata with purplish lining and as she talked animatedly to the figure beside her, her face, framed by long jet black hair looked like that of a perfect porcelain doll.

“Wow Dai Kun, look! I can see stars flowing below this bridge! They are so pretty!” She clasped her hands together as she glanced at the stream of stars flowing underneath the bridge.

“You know I hate that name, Hina. Why can’t you just call me Odairi?”

Muttered the boyish looking figure beside her. Odairi was wearing a black yukata with snow flakes and stars embossed on it. It was matched by pants that were royal blue in color.

Ohina looked at Odairi and smoothed back a strand of his black hair that had strayed across his face.

“Well, you call me Hina, so why shouldn’t I call you Dai Kun!”

She laughed delightfully in a way that made grown man weak kneed. It was a laugh full of energy, innocence and life.

“But Hina sounds cute! While Dai Kun… sounds weird!” grumbled Odairi.

“Well, I think Dai Kun is a cute name and I love it, naaaah!”

With a light tap, Ohina broke away from Odairi and leapt onto the railing of the bridge balancing on it and stuck out a small pink tongue at Odairi like a mischievous little girl.

“Hina! Come down from there! Its dangerous!”

Odairi’s eyes widened in alarm as he looked at his fiancée balancing on the narrow bridge railing.

“It’s fine, dear. Besides, its much less crowded here and its fun!”

Ohina not only refused to heed his advice, she now proceeded to walk along the narrow bridge railing with her arms spreadout as if she was on a tight rope, laughing with glee.

“Hina, please come down! Wait for me!”

Odairi gritted his teeth in frustration, the bridge itself was also quite crowded, so even though Ohina was walking slowly and gingerly on the railing, she was still starting to pull ahead of him while he tried to fight his way through the crowds.

“Come up here, Dai Kun! Or I will leave you behind!” Ohina called back even as she continued her walk on the railing.

Seeing he had no choice if he wanted to keep up with Ohina, Odairi breathed a sigh of frustration and leapt onto the railing carefully as well. Ohina stole a quick look back and saw her beau now also perched gingerly upon the narrow bridge railing. A strand of hair had fallen across his face again, but he didn’t bother with it as he concentrated on keeping his balance. His deep frown told her volumes about how he felt about the whole situation, but nevertheless, he was making progress and even starting to gain on her from behind.

“Oh! You are so fast! I am not going to let you catch me!”

Ohina squealed gleefully, as she suddenly broke into a run. The anima spirit’s dainty feet tip tapped quickly across the railing and she laughed merrily.

“Hina! Please stop! Its dangerous!” Odari had no choice but to also start running as well. The rest of the crowd on the bridge looked in amazement as the two anima spirits seemed fly across the bridge railing. Then it happened, Ohina slipped and she tottered on only one toe leaning forward as she tried to keep her balance, leaning over dangerously on top of the railing. She over compensated and fell backwards off the railing!

Odairi, still running, leapt forward and quickly caught her up in his arms as he leapt off the railing. He landed on the bridge and heaved a huge sigh of relief. Then he glared down at his doll princess.

“One of these days, you will frighten me to death, Hina! What if you had fallen over on the other side into the river of stars?”

Ohina clasped her arms around Odair and pulled his head closer.

“Thanks for catching me, Dai Kun! I never really think about such things like falling, I guess its because I know you will always be there to catch me!”

Ohina whispered even as she smoothed back the strand of hair across Odairi’s face and kissed his cheek. Odairi had been prepared to scold Ohina further but her words melted him and he found himself unable to offer any reproach. She always had this effect on him. It was why he always put up with whatever antics she did. He just couldn’t find the heart to even be angry with her when she said something sweet like that straight after pulling a naughty stunt.

Then, he had an idea himself, and he smiled. He continued walking along the bridge, with Ohina in his arms.

“Erm, you can put me down now …” Ohina looked around and noticed a lot of people now looking and grinning at the couple. Her face had now gotten red and she struggled a little in Odairi’s arms.

“No, I think I won’t! You are so light, and I love carrying you! Now, don’t struggle or you will cause even more people to stare at us!”

Odairi said with a wicked gleam in his eyes even as he looked at Ohina getting redder and redder. The doll princess was so adorable when she was like that, a heavy flush upon her usually porcelain like face.

“You… meanie! Put me down! Pretty please…”

Ohina entreated as she saw more and more people looking at them and grinning. Now super embarrassed, she hid her hot face in Odairi’s chest.

Odairi smiled and finally put her down on her feet. She looked so adorable like that, and he couldn’t resist her soft plea. Ohina looked up and found that they had reached the end of the bridge.

“So next time, please don’t do such a dangerous thing again Hina!” Odairi admonished.

“It was fun! But alright Dai Kun… spoilsport!” Ohina protested, but finally relented with a pout.

“And please stop calling me Dai Kun! I really much rather prefer Odairi!” He tried to press his luck, thinking he had the upper hand for once.

Ohina laughed merrily and shook her head. She reached out to clasp his face with her fingertips, raised herself on tip toe and whispered into Odairi’s ear.

“No! You will always be my Dai Kun, just like I will always be your Hina…” Then she released him and skipped ahead, leaving him behind to catch up.

Odairi sighed with resignation. He simply doted on Ohina too much.

“I am such a fool…” He muttered.

Ohina turned around and caught him in a surprise hug. Then, she said

“Well, you are, but you are my fool!”

They broke apart smiling at each other and continued on their way, hands and hearts intertwined…