-whimper- I'm at it again...I don't think I'll EVER learn, do you? So, yeah, I got 9 episodes into a new anime called Pretear, and then I went to go take out my contacts and while I was washing my hands I'm just like, "Oh hell! That's a great idea!" And even though it's like, 2 A.M., I still got back on the computer and typed this up. And that's cause I was so pissed at Sasame and his betraying ass (damn you you controller of sound you! Hey, have you noticed that anyone who is related to sound is "evil"? Like, the sound village in Naruto and now Sasame's gotten himself into a fix. o.o weird... Well, anyway, here goes.
Summary:
Thanks to her double-duties as the Pretear - not to mention the increase in activity - it's no wonder Himeno's exhausted. Newly found friends at school become worried when she faints at school, and what's this? Hayate's taken it upon himself to make sure she gets a good night's rest? How's he gonna do that? Sleep with her? Wait, he's serious?!?
---nighty-night----
"Eh? Himeno, you're exhausted!" Yuri, a new exchange student from Germany, exclaimed. It was true; Himeno could barely keep her eyes open. Yuri put her hand lightly on Himeno's forehead and then quickly pulled it back, shocked by how much of a temperature the girl had. "Not to mention you're burning up! Maybe you should go to the nurse..."
"No!" Himeno immediately sat up straight in her seat, feeling a little dizzy afterwards. "I've been studying for these tests for a long time, and I want to take them. If I go to the nurse, she'll send me home, and then I can't take the test!"
"Yes, but as sick as you are, you might not do as well as you would if you were feeling fresh," Yuri tried to explain. "It's better to talk to the teacher about moving the test back a day, so that your grades won't suffer."
"I'll be fine," Himeno said in a final tone, letting her friend know she wasn't going to change her mind. If Yuri wanted to argue more, she didn't have a chance, because the teacher walked into the classroom a moment later, tests in hand.
"Sorry about that class, I had to run copies. Everyone get in your seat and get ready to take the test." Himeno caught Yuri giving her a worried stare, and smiled in the small blonde's direction. Yuri smiled back, but then looked to her test in case the teacher thought she was cheating.
Himeno turned to her own test, immediately tackling the small task of writing her name at the top. If she didn't do that first, she tended to forget to do it all together. Then, reading through the test quickly, Himeno quickly tackled all of the easy questions she was sure she knew. About the 6th question down, however, she had to stare at the question for a while before she could read it clearly. Her vision would come in and out of focus, and she had to squint to make out a few of the letters, even though they were the same size as all of the other letters.
Earning a major headache, Himeno looked up from her test and out the window. Hayate had decided to stick around a few more days as her father's helper, even if it was torture. She wondered what he was doing now, and if he was thinking about her too.
Gah! What am I thinking? Himeno shook her head and found a new determination. Glaring back at her test, she tried reading the same question, but again she became queasy and a headache came again, backed up with dizziness.
"Ms. Awayuki, is everything alright?" the teacher asked, catching the glaze that came over the girl's eyes. Everyone in the room turned to glance in Himeno's direction, and the girl smiled weakly and shook her hands to reassure the teacher.
"Ah! No, I'm fine! Really!" The teacher didn't look convinced, but when Himeno pretended to go back to her test, the teacher gave up. Himeno stared at the questions, and an idea hit her. Maybe she could cover up her sheet with her hand and read one word at a time, taking it slow so that she wouldn't get a headache! Slowly moving her hand across the page, Himeno was able to read the question easily, and she answered with much less trouble. The answer took a while to process in her brain, but it finally made its way onto the awaiting paper. On and on, question after question, until she was pretty much done.
There, she thought. That'll teach them not to underestimate Himeno Awayuki! Himeno stood to take her test up to the front desk, feeling a rush of confidence. Immediately, she regretted her action. Feeling her knees buckle, Himeno grabbed onto her desk to stay standing. She heard her name being called worriedly, and then someone was touching her back, another holding her up by her stomach. Whenever she blinked, her vision would go out of focus and then slowly align, only in time for her to blink again. Several people were talking now, and she heard girls whispering in the back of the room. The teacher was on the phone, talking loudly, telling the nurse to come to the room to pick up an ill student. And then, she couldn't see anymore. The world was blank and dark, though the noises still swirled around in her mind. Someone was informing the teacher that she had passed out, and this made the teacher even more frantic.
Strong arms encircled her, picking her up, completely off the ground. She felt little bumps as someone carried her with striding, purposeful steps, and strong hands held her tightly. The person holding her said nothing, but she felt as though she knew them. It was definitely not the nurse that was carrying her, because the nurse was a frail, elderly woman, who would never be able to carry a teenager almost twice her size. Himeno felt a mumble slip past her lips, and the grip on her clothing tightened.
"Don't worry, Himeno, you'll be home soon." Himeno knew that voice! She knew it! But...she couldn't remember who the voice belonged to. Himeno tried to fight it, but her weary mind was not in the mood to think at the moment, and then all of her senses shut down. She fell into an unrestful sleep, troubled that she could not remember a voice she had heard so many times.
He looked down at the girl in his arms, just as troubled as she was. Himeno, if you were exhausted, you should have let us know. We didn't know we were pushing you so hard. Why? Why didn't you listen to your friend when she asked you to go home. Himeno...
I'll always protect you.
------
Himeno awoke with a start, not entirely sure what had made her wake up in the first place. Looking around the room, she realized that she was in her own bedroom, covered with all of the blankets on her bed. Sheer curtains blew in the small breeze that was coming through the open windows. A full moon shown in the midnight blue sky, and Himeno just had to wonder what time it was.
"I see you're awake." Himeno jumped, startled by the voice coming out of the darkness. Flipping her head around, she felt the crick in her neck and immediately brought a hand up to sooth the aching muscle. "You shouldn't make any sudden actions, you still haven't recovered all the way from your exhaustion."
"Hayate?" Himeno squeaked. Her voice was high and cracky from not being used. "What are you doing here?"
Hayate uncrossed his legs and leaned forward in the chair he had brought up next to Himeno's bed. "Your father told me to look after you while you were asleep. He would have done it himself, but your step-mother had an important meeting to attend to and he had to go along. I was even sent to pick you up from school. Miss Mawata was quite a bit upset when she learned of your state, so I promised I'd come get her once you were feeling better."
"Wait, you picked me up from school?" Himeno asked, suddenly remembering hte voice she had heard. Hayate nodded, and Himeno turned red, glad for the darkness of night. "So it was you that carried me out of the classroom. I was wondering..." Hayate smiled, nodding again. Himeno sighed and pushed the blankets down form her body swinging her legs to the side of the bed. "Well, I suppose I'l go see Mawata then--"
"Where do you think you're going?" Hayate's tone of voice was strong, and Himeno stopped for a moment.
"I'm feeling fine, so I want to go see Mawata and tell her not to worry," Himeno explained, sliding into the slippers sitting next to her bed. She started to stand up, but a hand found its way to her arm, and Himeno turned back to tell off Hayate for stopping her. The older man was stretched out across the bed, staring at her in the eyes, as if pleading with her not to argue.
"I promise, I'll take you to see her in the morning. The nurse ordered you to stay home from school, so as long as you catch her before she leaves to go to school, you'll be able to see your sister." Hayate was very serious, and Himeno considered her options before she gave in and slid back into the bed.
"Fine, but only because it's late at night and I don't want to wake her up," Himeno announced, shaking Hayate's hand off of her arm. Hayate smiled, and both of them sat there in an awkward silence. "Um, aren't you going to leave? I mean, I promised I would go back to sleep and stuff, but I can't do that if you're hovering by my bed."
Hayate sighed, the smiled wiped cleanly off his face. "I would leave, but I was ordered to stay bedside. Believe me, watching you sleep is no great fun for me." Himeno pouted, taking the older man's last sentence as an insult. A completely false insult.
"I'll go back to bed," Himeno finally sighed after a small stare-down. She curled up under the covers, a bit surprised to find that her body reacted to the warm spot where she had been laying before. It was a sure sign that the days were growing colder, because the rest of the sheets and the corners of her pillows were cold. Himeno sighed again, softly, and tried to go to sleep. It was hard, because she usually just stared at the ceiling until drowsy eyes closed themselves and a blank mind kicked in. With Hayate there, however, she was finding it just a tad bit too hard to get past stage one.
Himeno restlessly turned over onto her side, facing the windows with her back to Hayate. She could feel the pair of blue eyes on her back, and she tried to surpress yet another sigh. She tried, but Himeno just couldn't figure out why she was wide awake.
"Can't get to sleep?" a soft, comforting voice asked. If Himeno didn't know better, she would have said there was no way it was Hayate's voice.
"No," she mumbled back. A tentative hand reached up and ran across her hair. Himeno stiffened, and then flipped over slowly to face Hayate. A melancholy aura surrounded the knight, and Himeno blushed at the handsome, peaceful face her crush was making. A sudden thought struck her, and Himeno asked shyly, "Um, Hayate, maybe I could sleep better if...um...if you were in the bed with me!" Himeno closed her eyes and tried to hide under her blanket, afraid that her request would be rejected. She didn't get an answer, but a shift in the mattress and a solid body sliding under the blankets told her enough. Strong arms wrapped around her smaller form, and Himeno unknowingly snuggled closer to the warm body.
"Thank you," she said, and yet again Hayate had no answer for her. Himeno revelled in the silence of her bedroom, and how she could hear and feel Hayate's breathing on the back of her neck. Without even knowing it, her eyelids became heavy, and they began to slip and slide until her eyes were closed in a peaceful slumber.
Hayate, however, was still wide awake. He loved the feeling of having this young lady in his arms. Was it because she comforted him in a way no one else could? No, that was not it. It was because he loved her. Leaning down, Hayate gave the girl a small kiss on the top of her head. Yes, this girl was his, and no one could take her away from him. Not as long as he was around, anyway. And he planned on staying for a long, long time.
Yes, they would stay together, spending sleepless nights in the bedroom.
---night---
KYA! Okay, so, bad ending. Hey, anyone else notice that the little beginning and ending thingies say "nighty-night night" when you put them all together? That's like Himeno saying, "Nighty-night," and Hayate responding, "Night." KAWAII! I didn't even realize that until just now. So, anyway, hope you enjoyed my totally lame story.