One really late night-----
Miho's eyes were fixed on the screen in front of her. No hunts...nothing to do. She clicked open file after file, trying so hard to find a meaningless hunt for the following day, just for something to do around the office.
She could her Michael typing behind her. The drumming of the keys was the only thing she heard on these nights she'd stay so late. It was beginning to take its toll on her ears as her temper began to rise from frustration. She looked over her shoulder.
"Michael..." Her tone was still calm even as he looked up at her "could you maybe take a break from typing?"
He let out a sigh and nodded. She smiled in appreciation then turned her back to him. His eyes remained on her back as he had nothing else to look at now. He shook his gaze away from Miho and out the barred window he'd become accustomed to looking out.
Rain was falling in sheets down the glass and occasionally, the sky would light up with the lightning crashing.
"Yes!" Miho shouted "I may have found a hunt for tomorrow!!"
Michael smiled at her tone and shook his head "Great Ms. Karasuma"
As her name left his mouth, lightning struck again...and the lights went out. The computer flicked off to a black screen and the entire STN-J office was in darkness.
"DAMN IT!" Miho shouted angrily and banged her fist on the desk.
Michael let out another sigh and stood up. He ambled around in the dark and all Miho could do was listen. The strike of a match and a small glow played with her senses. She saw Michael's face illuminated by the candle he was now holding.
"Ms. Karasuma, come and take this so I can light more"
She nodded and stood up from her chair. She'd never seen the STN-J in complete darkness so she was a bit hesitant. She kept her eyes on the light the candle made.
"Watch you're step Ms. Karasuma" Michael said kindly "There's a bunch of cords on the floor right where you are"
Miho smiled in appreciation and gingerly stepped over the cords so that she wouldn't trip. She reached for the candle that Michael was holding. Her fingers brushed his lightly as she went to take it from him.
He shivered slightly, as he hadn't really been touched by anyone in any way unless it was Zaizen teaching him a lesson. He held the candle tight as she tried to take it, just to have her hand stay there.
"Michael, you can let it go now" Miho whispered.
He snapped back into reality, or at least, partly back to it. Shaking his head, he was stunned to find that she was closing the distance between them. Miho's eyes were stuck to his and she may have not even realized it until she felt the impact of his soft lips against hers.
Her head jerked back slightly but Michael's hand caught the back of her head and pressed his lips back against hers. The grip she had on the candle and on Michael's hand tightened as her eyes closed and she gave into it.
A dull sting came to her hands as she wanted to touch him, but she just wouldn't let herself. Her head aching from lack of air, Ms. Karasuma found herself break the kiss and gasp for breath. Michael hadn't had enough and it was evident by what he did next.
He set the candle down on the table nearby and stepped closer to Miho. She knew this was unprofessional and she didn't like to be that way so she backed away from him.
"Ms. Karasuma! Watch the..." Michael tried to warn her about the cords again, but it was too late. She landed on the floor with a thud, her ankles and shoes entangled in the black computer wires. Michael looked down at her. Her skirt had come up and her thigh was showing through the darkness. Gulping back something that showed itself in his head, Michael bent down and sighed. "Are you all right Ms. Karasuma?"
Miho sighed and nodded "Yes, I'm fine..." Her eyes drifted back to his as she realized that he was indeed almost completely pinning her to the floor. Somehow, it didn't bother her. A light laugh came past her lips and she shook her head. Maybe she and Michael didn't have any sense as she'd once claimed.
Gripped by something in his heart and compelled by the somewhat awkward position, Michael found things out of his control. His hands traced up Ms. Karasuma's hips and all the way to her wrists which he pinned down above her head. It was so disrespectful and he knew it in the back of his mind, but nothing could have stopped him.
Michael pressed down hard on her wrists to keep her there and took a long glance at her face before closing his eyes and bending to nuzzle her neck. The heat from his blushing cheeks burned into Miho's chilled skin.
Feeling his lips there on her neck made Miho close her eyes and tilt her face away from him. What the hell was she letting herself get into? She'd never thought about Michael in this fashion, but apparently he'd thought of her. Was it the crushing loneliness that she knew the boy often felt?
Her eyes snapped open as she felt him nip the skin on her neck probably a little harder than he'd intended. He was getting too wrapped up in this...she had to stop him before it got way too out of hand.
"Michael..." Miho's voice was slightly broken as she talked to him. She winced as she received another nip to her neck that sent shivers up her spine "Michael stop"
He shook his head. Miho found herself stunned as she felt his tongue run up her neck. He wasn't going to listen to her. She tried again, telling him to stop, but he didn't listen. Grasping both of her wrists with just one hand, he brought the other down and ran his fingers over her cheek and down her neck all the way to the bottom of her purple blouse.
She turned away again as she felt his hand on her skin beneath the blouse. She couldn't really blame him for his actions. Locked up here for years and years and knowing that everyday he'd never be free of Zaizen's grip or the STN-J. Really though, she had to draw the line somewhere.
Prisoner or not, Michael was a man and she just couldn't let him do this because she pitied him. It wasn't right. Her heart had to be in it, or not at all.
"Michael! Stop!" she found her voice and shouted into the blackness of the office.
As her voice broke the silence, the lights flickered back on and her eyes came to rest on the boy's crushed face. Pity once again wormed into her heart and she let herself wonder if it really was a big sacrifice to just let the boy have one good memory of the STN-J in his life.
She let out a small saddened noise and looked away from him.
"I'm sorry Michael..." her voice was barely above a whisper.
He felt wounded...she'd let him get away with a lot so it puzzled him as to why she'd stopped him. Embarrassment came next into his mind and pushed down the hurt.
"Ms. Karasuma...I'm sorry I..." he trailed off and his cheeks flushed red.
She just nodded and bit her lower lip. She felt guilty for not just letting Michael do what he was going to. Now there was going to be awkwardness between them. Miho had gone off into the depths of her own mind and hadn't realized that Michael had gotten off of her until she suddenly felt cold on the floor.
Miho felt strong hands grip her shoulders and lift her up to her feet, then the feeling of his hands brushing her off. He bent down and began untangling her ankles and her shoes that were wrapped in the cords.
"Ms. Karasuma...I am so sorry" She could hear the embarrassed tears in Michael's voice as he muttered them to her.
She blinked her eyes, trying to recover from the shock to her system she'd just had to take. For some reason, she hated herself right now for stopping him. If they were going to be uncomfortable around each other now anyway, why not go all out? Miho mentally slapped herself for thinking such thoughts.
Michael snapped his fingers in front of her eyes to wake her out of her daze. She wouldn't come back to the land of the living. He balled his sleeve up into his fist and dragged his wrist over his eyes to rid them of their tears.
He stood there a moment, trying to get his cheeks to turn from beet to at least crimson. Miho shook her head and came out of her daze just enough to look alive, but not enough to have gained all her sense back. She looked toward Michael, feeling her pity of the poor soul rising in her and her own self loathing for stopping him.
Without so much as one warning, Miho found herself grab hold of Michael at his jaw line and force her lips to his. It was so rough that it took Michael a minute to realize just what was going on. Letting his eyes closed, Michael found himself blocking out every single sound, every other being except for Ms. Karasuma.
His hand wormed its way around her waist and pressed her as close to him as she could get. Lightning struck once again, and the power flickered off again. Unable to hear or know anything but each other, Michael didn't realize that he'd been trying to push her down, but found simply that she didn't want to fall over again.
With a sudden slam, Miho found herself plastered against the wall near the conference room with Michael so close to her that she could barely breathe and didn't really want to. His hands left her waist and ran up her body just to go down her arms and grasp her hands. Once again, she was pinned.
Michael finally disconnected his lips from hers and simply took a moment to make sure she wasn't going to pull the 'stop it Michael' card again.
"Maybe we aren't the only ones with sense in the office" Miho whispered, her voice half gone from all of this.
The boy chuckled lightly and gave her a warm smile. He let go of just one of her hands and lifted his bronze glasses off his eyes. With a small ting, they landed on the floor and before Miho knew it, he had her wrist and was pressing it to the wall.
He kissed down her neck and nudged the collar of her shirt away from her collarbone. Blocking out everything except the brunette that he had pinned to the wall, Michael didn't hear the sound of the door to the stairwell open and shut. Neither of them heard the footsteps coming ever nearer either.
"Oh my God!" exclaimed a voice that sounded all too familiar. The sound of something dropping to the floor came next.
Michael shook his focus away from Miho and looked up, annoyed at first, then completely embarrassed. The brunette he had pinned to the wall's head was tilted back with her eyes the whole way closed. Her lips moved as she muttered things to herself out of embarrassment.
"Dojima-san!" Michael shouted as he realized that indeed that was who they'd been caught by.
She'd dropped her purse and had covered her mouth in shock "Michael! What are you doing to Miho?!"
"Uh..." the boy backed up away from Ms. Karasuma and looked around the floor frantically for his glasses.
"Michael answer me!" Dojima demanded, stomping her foot in annoyance as she bent to pick her pink purse back up.
"Yurika..." Miho's voice drifted up to Dojima's ears "Why are you here so early?"
Dojima crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her pink high heel on the floor "If I would have known that you two were doing this at this hour, I would never have come in early..."
"Found em!" Michael exclaimed from the floor as he picked up his glasses and examined them carefully.
Dojima made a small noise through her nose to show she was insulted for being interrupted and glared at Michael before returning her gaze to Miho "I came in early today because the boss told me if I didn't start showing up on time, he'd call my father and tell him I was slacking off...Right! Like I need that right now?! The least thing I needed was to see you two up here making out!"
Miho narrowed her eyes and scoffed at Dojima "We weren't doing anything Dojima..." Her eyes went to Michael who was looking fairly crushed "It was just a misunderstanding"
"Yeah OK, well, knock it off. Mr. Amon is coming in soon to try and fix the power problem and convince the boss to get a back up power source" Dojima crashed into a seat and closed her eyes "We can't hunt witches by candlelight"
Michael looked away from Miho and back at his glasses. She watched as a lone tear fell to a cracked lens and her heart was ripped to shreds. The boy stood up, but kept his eyes down so that she couldn't see the tears in his eyes.
Miho took a step forward, reaching out with her hand and opening her mouth to speak, but words failed her. Her hand slowly closed and came back to her side as Michael sat down at his desk again and shoved his earphones into his ears.
The incessant tapping that annoyed Miho into making him take a break was back...he sat there, typing on his computer that had gone to its battery source. She sighed and bit back the tears stinging her eyes.
"Well come on Miho!" Dojima's voice resounded in the near silence "Come back to the world"
They've all lost it
Amon let out a grumble as he was on hold once again with the electric company. He'd used his cell phone to call because apparently, the STN-J was the only building still without power. So far, he'd dealt with the pushy help desk, the hardened on site guy, and now it was the secretary that had better things to do then help him.
The light from outside helped them to at least see around the office. They at least had Michael's lap top that was running off its battery, but that would only last so long. For some reason, the members of the STN-J were acting very strange today.
Sakaki and Dojima weren't really having as many flirty fights today. Both sat kind of quiet and far away from each other. Michael and Karasuma were avoiding each other as often as they could. Every once in a while, Amon would catch a stray glance that would be from Michael to Karasuma. Whenever she'd look up to see him staring, he'd turn his gaze away and blush to a light pink.
Robin was sulking in the corner, and she had a reason to. As far as Amon knew, the other's didn't.
"Excuse me...Mr. Amon? Mr. Amon did you hang up?" The secretary's voice tore Amon out of his silent thoughts.
"No Miss I'm still here" He answered, recovering quickly.
"Ok... Well Mr. Amon, I just talked to my supervisor and he said that we'd send someone down to fix the problem" She seemed to smile as she spoke "Now, just where are you at again?"
"The STN-J, Raven's Flat" as those words spilled over Amon's lips he heard a click then the sound of the dial tone back in his ears. Letting a disgusted noise out and rolling his eyes he too hung up and shoved his cell phone back into his pocket.
He turned to face the others and once again, made it known that he disapproved of their childish behavior.
"What'd they say Mr. Amon?" Sakaki asked.
Amon brought his hand back through his hair "They asked where we were...and hung up"
"So...that means no power?" Dojima spoke up.
Amon nodded and just shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm guessing you can all go home. With no power, and no hunts to begin with, what is there to do?"
Sakaki was first to jump up "Well, it was nice hanging around" he smiled and jogged out of the office "See you guys when they turn the power back on!"
All eyes looked up as the power flickered on for a second or two and a large sound was heard before it all turned off again. They all shook their heads and returned to sulking.
Haruto's steps could be heard on the way back to the office. He leaned on the wall near the office entrance and rubbed the back of his head "Mr. Amon, the door to the stairs won't open"
Amon turned slowly and followed Sakaki to the door. He pushed in his code and the door didn't open. Narrowing his eyes a bit, Amon tried pulling on it as hard as he could. The door still didn't budge.
He sighed and walked back into the office with an annoyed look on his face "Looks like we're stuck here until they turn the power back on" he said "That sound we heard a few minutes ago was the sound of the STN-J's security system locking every single door in the building. It happens every time the power goes out when the alarm systems aren't working"
"Wait...so we're stuck here?" Robin finally spoke up.
Amon nodded "Until we get ahold of someone who will come and fix the power"
All eyes drifted to Michael who gave a small snicker and shook his head "Laptop just died. I can't research another company"
Miho let out a sigh and buried her face into her palms. They were wet with sweat and her eyes felt dry around the edges from not sleeping. The warmth of her palms eased the pain in her eyes temporarily, before she found herself rubbing her eyes as they began to itch.
She sighed and let her arms fall limp over her knees "Well what are we supposed to do?"
"Sit here" Amon said sternly "There's no use in running around in a panic"
Shaking her head, Miho stood up and walked off toward the coffee maker. There was some cold coffee in it from the other day, but it did the job. As she reached for her mug, she felt and saw a hand grasp around hers. Looking up in slight shock, she saw Michael once again.
She closed her eyes and let go of the mug. If he was going to persue her, she'd just ignore it. She found that she kind of couldn't as he put the mug down and his hands went to her shoulders.
Her eyes snapped open and she looked around, hoping that no one could see this. Obviously Michael didn't care if they saw or not. She couldn't suppress a shiver as his hands ran down her arms and caught her wrists loosely. She wanted him to grip her harder, but she never would have let him know that.
Maybe it was just how tired she was, but she found herself leaning into his chest. He must have thought it was an invitation because he lowered his head and nuzzled his lips into her collarbone. Batting his face away with her hands, Karasuma leaned away from him, grabbed the mug and poured herself some coffee. A clearer message to "knock it off" has never before been sent.