I sometimes wondered what he was doing all those days. It always bugged me as to weather or not he was even happy with the old fart. Sometimes I wished he hadn't wanted to work for Okido-Hakase so badly. I wished... well, it wasn't that important, was it?

Of course it was.

It usually was. Okay, it was every single day of my life and I sometimes cried myself to sleep just thinking of how much I wish Kenji were still traveling with us.
I remember that sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and turn over to see Kenji sleeping silently. I'd reach over and touch his face sometimes, admiring how soft and smooth his skin was. I'd have to quickly turn back and pretend to sleep when he started to swipe his hand at me.
In a way, I almost thought of it to be funny, to bother him like that and the next morning he'd complain about all the bugs when we go camping.
I didn't really like Kenji's cooking as much as Takeshi's. Sometimes I'd end up cooking instead, but it earned me complaints by Satoshi. Kenji never complained. He just ate silently, smiling at Satoshi's quarrels with me. He really was a nice guy. So easy going... sometimes I envied him.
Envy, that is. Not jealousy. I almost loved him for his calm attitude. I never had a calm attitude about anything. I can't help it. It must have been Satoshi bugging me all the time.
Yeah.
That's it.
No, it wasn't. I'm sounding really dense... well, I guess it's just me, but that's beside the point. Where was I?
Oh yes, Kenji. Well, I guess I just spent the rest of our days together hiding it away from him as I always do. Sometimes I'd show him little hints of my affection, but they were unnoticeable. Very unnoticeable.
But I guess there was one period of time when it all changed. Satoshi led Takeshi and me back to Masara for a while. I was hoping to meet Kenji again. Sometimes I could spot him on the telephone when Satoshi was talking to Okido-Hakase and he'd be passing by with chores.
A few days after I had settled into the guest room at Satoshi's house, I took a walk down to the lab just to visit Kenji.
"Excuse me, could I please see Kenji for a moment?" I asked Okido-Hakase.
"Of course, Kasumi," he said. "Kenji! Kenji, there's a visitor for you!"
"Alright, hold on!" a voice called out from inside. I recognized it as Kenji automatically. It had grown a little deeper over the years. Not as much as I had.
Kenji came out holding a gomazou.
"I'll take care of it, Kenji," Okido said.
I stared up at Kenji. He was wearing a lab coat but his regular clothes were under it. He still looked the same as he always had. He wasn't handsome or pretty, but he had a certain charm that just hit me like an arrow. The way he handed Okido-Hakase the gomazou was so gently. Maybe even the same with me?
No, I was thinking. That wasn't the time or place to think of something like that.
"Kasumi? Kasumi, is that you?" he asked me. I flushed. I guess I looked different. I was fourteen now. I believe he was eighteen. I looked up at him and he seemed to almost tower over me like he always did. But no matter his height, I still gazed up at him with reddened cheeks.
"Yes. Hello, Kenji. It's been a while, hasn't it?" I answered, but with a question back.
He nodded with a yes, "But you've kept your... good traits."
Yes, he really was being very nice to me. I hadn't kept anything good about me. I still wore pants all the time and my hair was still up in my ponytail. I'm sure my face was just as roughed up as it was before.
I smiled at him. "I wanted to pay you a visit," I told him.
He smiled back and let me inside the lab. It was very clean inside. There were a few more assistants wandering the halls, doing chores. I sat down on a couch that was in one of the rooms. There was a whole library of books on one of the walls.
"How's Satoshi and Takeshi doing?" he asked me.
I cocked my head a little . "Okay," was all I could say.
"I'm sure Satoshi's only resting for now. He'll be on his way..." he trailed off a little before he could say anymore. I could see him looking at me with a hint of sadness or concern, but he turned his face away quickly. He was a little transparent and I could tell he wanted to show more concern for Satoshi than me.
I didn't know why back then, nor could I really tell that much, but I understood later, and now.
I remembered his cheeks slightly pink when he saw me looking at him intently. I guess it showed now- my affection for him- but when we continued to talk, he never showed that he knew. We talked of various things... some of the times I would flush from a situation. In the middle he brought me a cup of tea and I think I almost giggled when he tripped over the rug, but still managed to regain his balance.
When we ended our conversation, I was about to stand up and say goodbye, but we both heard the rumbling of thunder and rain. So I stayed refrained on the couch across from him and looked from side to side.
"You shouldn't go out there in the rain or you might catch a cold," he told me. I nodded faintly. "You can stay in my room for the night, if you want."
I nodded again. "Thank you, Kenji."
As I was saying before, he really was nice. To offer me his own room like that. It still makes me flush to think of it. I don't know how anybody else would react. Takeshi would...? Maybe he'd give me a ride back to Satoshi's house. And as for Satoshi himself... well, he may have let me sleep on the couch or such. That is, until Hanako would move him out of his room and let me sleep there instead.
Well, I'm getting off the subject again.
He went over to Okido-Hakase to get permission to let me stay for the night and he agreed without trouble.
Kenji led me into his room that he stayed in at the lab. He didn't learn how to drive yet so he just stayed there while all the other assistants drove home. I later learned that Okido-Hakase and Shigeru stayed there all the time as well.
I pressed my hand against the window a little, and looked out at the pouring rain. The window was a little cold from the chill of outside, but the warmth of the room almost made the view... romantic?
I didn't want to think of romance at the time. I tried to think of something else. Anything. Sad, happy, concerning... it was then that I wondered if Togepi was safe with Satoshi back at his house. I'm sure Hanako would have taken it away from him by now and was feeding it or something. Yeah. It was safe. But I couldn't help but wish I had left it with Takeshi. He's more trustworthy about that sort of thing. So would Kenji... no, no, no, I thought, I have to stop thinking of Kenji. Not with him in the room like that, and...
"Are you hungry, Kasumi?" he asked me.
I turned around to face him gingerly. "Please," I said.
He left the room, and brought me back a bowl of soup, and one for himself as well. We both sat at the small table that was to the side of the room.
"I was getting hungry myself," he said and chuckled, "and it was getting to be around dinner time so I asked you."
I smiled. After we finished the small dinner, we both found ourselves sitting around his room. He was sitting on the floor to let me sleep in his bed. I sat quietly with my hands in my lap and my legs tucked under. I kept a poised face and tried not to look Kenji in the eye so I didn't start... thinking again.
"You're being very formal, Kasu-chan," he said.
He called me Kasu-chan, I thought, he never called me that before.
I flushed greatly and scrunched up my legs and torso a little. He tilted his lips into a faint grin and I guess it was then when I found out he could really notice my fiddling. He reached over and kissed my cheek lightly.
"It's not like you to act that way," he whispered.
My mind felt almost paralyzed but my hands still moved to his chest and shoulders as he kissed me again, but on my lips and I kissed back. I can't remember so clearly as to what I was thinking when we embraced ourselves so. I know that he was just as gentle and caring as I thought he was.

I also know that we both heard the rain, trickling down from the sky and onto the melting snow outside.

-End

Lol, I just wanted to try an orangeshippy fic since I never wrote one before. Sorry if it was... well, boring. I couldn't think of a decent plot.