Yuki and the Beast

Chapter 13: An Important Question

Yuki's POV
It had been a day since I had kissed Kira's cheek.

She seemed different around me. How do I describe it...

I guess she was more wary of me? She'd pay attention and treat me even nicer than before.

Now I'm not saying that she didn't treat me nicely before nor am I saying that she didn't pay attention to me. She did, but something about her just seemed different. I suppose she started letting her guard down even more now. Even back when she became nicer to me, she still seemed rather guarded. Not so much now.

Ever since that kiss on the cheek I gave her the other day, I'm going to admit that I think I'm starting to fall for her, and I'm not afraid to admit that.

Remember when Kori told me about the curse and how I replied that I said that I wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon?  I meant it. If I went home, Father would beat me. Shelby would annoy me.

But if I stayed here, I'd be treated better, and I really do like it here.

And besides, there's a human under all that blue fur, and I really am curious to see what Kira looks like if I ever lift this curse. Kori, Neon, and Hamilton will look mostly the same, I'm sure.

Currently, I was walking through the halls but stopped when I saw Neon. 

"Hey Neon, have you seen Kira?" I asked.

Neon looked at me, nodded, and pointed outside.

"Hm? Yeah, I've seen her outside." She said.

"So where is she outside, then? You're pointing to the outside of the castle."

"Well, she was using a tree as a punching bag last time I saw her."

"I think I know what tree you're talking about. Thanks!" I said as I patted her shoulder, turned around, and ran away to the castle. Once outside, and turned to my left.

After about I few minutes, I saw her punching the sides of a tree. Yes, the same tree that she punched a hole in.

"Kira?"

"Oh! Hey, Yuki. What's up?" Kira asked as she stopped punching the tree for a second and looked at me, but then she went right back to punching it.

"Kira, what would you say to a little dance?" I asked, standing next to the tree.

"A dance?" Kira asked, lowering her fist from the tree while she looked at me.

"Yeah." I said with a nod.

Raising her fists up, I noticed Kira started to fidget with her hands while she nodded. Kinda cute. I've never seen her do that before.

"Well....sure, why not? I don't have anything better to do, so why not?" She said as she shrugged. I could tell she was trying to play it cool, but I could see a slight tint of red on her face.

"Alright then."

"Let's do it tomorrow, though. I don't have anything in mind for tomorrow." Kira said.

"Alright! See you on the dance floor tomorrow, miss Kira." I replied, bowing.

"Same goes to you, pretty boy." She said, and then started punching that tree again.

I smiled to myself as I walked back into the castle.
***********
Later that night at dinner, Kira was slurping her soup down from a straw. Neon, Kori, and Hamilton were all sitting with us, but they were all sitting next to each other while Kira and I were on the opposite sides of the table.

"So why are you using a straw?" I asked.

"My paws are too big to lift the bowl up and I don't wanna drop it. Have you seen how small these bowls are?" Kira asked as she pointed to her bowl.