Okay, here's the usual disclaimer stuffies… I don't own any of the characters, they're all property of SNK/Playmore and Capcom. This story's based on IRC rp between me and my boyfriend and we decided to take the usual Mai/Andy relationship and hiptoss it out the window… giving her a man that'd treat her right for a change and Terry a better woman than Blue Mary.. sorry, Blue Mary fans.. I just don't like her. This story is also going to be a collaboration with him, you'll figure out who he is soon enough .
Okay "" indicates dialogue and indicates thoughts.
Chapter One
"Mmmmmm….. this is the life. Too bad Mr I'm-Gonna-Go-Train isn't here to enjoy it." The petite Japanese woman stretches out on the lounger she's sitting on, shading her eyes with a slender hand as she gazes out at the shimmering Pacific Ocean. She was enjoying herself well enough on this Hawaiian vacation, but the fact that Andy had… yet again disappeared with the excuse of training managed to irk the tiny kunoichi beyond words. He'd promised after the whole fiasco in Israel that things would change… and for awhile they had, but after about six months he'd slipped right back into his old habits. Now, more often than not, she heard the phrase that she'd come to hate more than any other… "Do I gotta, Mai?"
"Men! I swear, I just don't understand him…" She looks up as a shadow crosses her slender, buxom form and smiles as her dark chocolate brown eyes come to rest on a cluster of five nervous young men standing around her.
"Aren't you… Mai Shiranui? I mean.. I… ummmmmm.. we…" the apparent leader runs a hand nervously through his short, spiked black hair, a deep blush showing through his tan. The sheepish looks on all their faces was enough to bring out the flirt in her and she stretches slightly before grinning up at them.
"Mai Shiranui of the Shiranui School.. at your service. Now, tell me what I can do for five cuties like you?" She wrinkles her pert little nose as she grins up at them, half expecting for the eager young men to beg her to introduce them to either Terry, Joe, or Andy.
"C…Can we have your autograph please, Miss Shiranui! We're all huge fans of yours and.. that is.. we're awfully sorry to disturb you like this, but we thought that.. well, it'd just mean so much if we could show our friends that we actually met THE Mai Shiranui!"
She blinks for a moment, then erupts into a gale of helpless giggles that sends quivers through all of the boys. "You guys don't know how much I needed to hear something like that. I'd be delighted to sign autographs for all of you!"
She spent the entire afternoon and evening with her young admirers, basking in the attention of the five obviously smitten young men. Wayne, Dave, Steve, Alex, and Justin hung on her every word.. spoiling her outrageously by insisting on buying her lunch and then later dinner. She hadn't had this much attention paid to her in months.. not since her birthday when Terry'd arranged her party. He'd given all the credit to Andy, but she knew that the older Bogard's was the hand that'd been involved. She was soaking up their adoration like a dry sponge.. it was almost intoxicating. It wasn't that she wanted Andy to dote on her the way the boys were.. that just wasn' t him. But a little attention.. some tenderness.. making love in the moonlight and falling asleep in each other's arms. Was it –really- too much to ask of him?
In a strange way it was like Andy had died to her. Everything between them had been wonderful after Israel.. and then he'd just turned cool again, distant. The change in their relationship had been the only good thing to come out of that.. and just at the thought she got a twinge of guilt and pain. Poor Terry had gone through so much.. first losing Lily and then Sulia. She'd never met Lily, but she missed the gentle young Sulia every day.. she didn't have many female friends, and the younger girl's death had hit her hard so she could only imagine what Terry was going through. He deserved so much more.. she knew that if given the chance he'd be totally the opposite of her inattentive Andy and she actually felt a little twinge of jealousy for anyone he'd be willing to risk getting involved with again.
She stretches out in her whirlpool bath, sandalwood scented bubbles shifting around her, "One more day in paradise…. all by myself while Andy hides in the forest training. Hell, I could be alone in Japan just as well… and maybe…." She taps her cheek as an idea starts to come to her. Why not head home a day early, before Andy expects them to be ready to go. When he found her things gone from their room perhaps it'd be just the nudge that he needed to realize how he was treating her… again.
Finishing her bath, she steps out and wraps a huge soft towel around her dripping form before heading into the bedroom and grabbing her bags out of the closet. She scrupulously leaves every last stitch of Andy's clothing and his bags behind.. quickly drying off and then pulling on her clothes. Her jeans were comfortable, but still managed to look as if painted on.. her tshirt was her favorite, the white one with 'Milk' on the front in large black letters, the black leather biker boots that Terry had gotten her for her last birthday.. it didn't really take long to dress and dry her hair, pulling it back into her usual ponytail. Going over the room once she sighs softly, hoping that this little stunt of hers would work as she picks up the phone and dials the front desk, "Hello? This is Miss Shiranui in room four twenty-three. I'm going to be leaving immediately. Could you please send a porter up for my bags and call me a cab for the airport? Hmmmmm? No… Mister Bogard will be leaving as scheduled, so please leave the room in his name… thank you."
She plops into a chair, only having to wait a few minutes before the porter knocks on the door. She gives him a smile, pointing to the pile of bags that were hers as she grabs her favorite black leather jacket.. another present from Terry to match the boots and grabs her purse, a black leather Prada bag that was a present from another friend, Eliza Masters.
In no more than twenty minutes she was standing at the ticket desk of the Honolulu airport, arguing with the ticket agent. "Yes, I realize that this ticket is for tomorrow night.. I just had a call from my Uncle Ryu, my mother is in the hospital and I –have- to leave tonight!" She'd have giggled at the thought of the taciturn martial artist's reaction to suddenly becoming her uncle, but it would have spoiled the effect that she was trying for. Her eyes were red, tears rolling down her cheeks.. the expression of pure sorrow mixed with her own natural beauty was having an effect on the normally heartless man behind the counter and finally he turns to his computer, tapping several keys.
"Well, Miss Shiranui… you're in luck. There's been a last minute cancellation in first class, so… well, I'm really not supposed to do this.. but since there's a family emergency and all, I'm going to transfer your ticket. I hope your mother gets better soon.."
"You wonderful man! Thank you, thank you very much!" The hapless man blinks, finding himself pulled into a breath-taking hug and grinning like an idiot as she plants a kiss on his cheek. He quickly prepares a new ticket for her and hands it over, his eyes following the gentle sway of her hips as she walks off towards the gate. Boarding didn't take long… they started almost as soon as she arrived so she wasn't stuck with the long boring wait and was soon stretched out in her seat "Well, no chance for second thoughts now… let's just hope he takes the hint." A soft sigh escapes her lips as she looks out the window, letting her fingers trail down the glass "Andy… why has it come to this? What happened to us?"