Note: Sorry I took so long to post. XD I have no excuse, since the exams was long finished last week. XD Sorry.
to those who reviewed: Thank you! all Reviews were very much appreciated! XD
to those who read: thank you for reading! XD
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mai-hime, Afro Ken and their characters.
Chapter 2
"Attention to all passengers." Came a voice through the speakers. "I am glad to announce to you that we have safely arrived at Fuuka Docks. This is your Captain, Reito Kanzaki, thanking you all for sailing with us. Take care and have a nice day."
After the announcement had been said, eager travelers started to gather their belongings then they headed out towards the exit. The sea of passengers flowed smoothly out of S.S. Fuuka like a stream of water, slowly draining the contents of the majestic ship.
Amongst the crowd was Natsuki with an excited smile painted on her perfect face. Once she has stepped down from the ship, she stopped, looked around and inhaled Fuuka's own fresh breeze. Hell, she sure missed this place. She was glad that nothing changed. And the breeze, oh, the reminiscing breeze of Fuuka! It certainly brings back memories. Sadness washed over her face but as quick as it came, it was gone.
'Duran. Well, I hope that you are happy wherever you are now.' Thought with a content smile.
With one final deep intake of air, she stretched out and went on. "Well, I better be get going now. Mom's waiting"
She started walking under the blazing sun of the afternoon towards the parking lot where a lot of taxi drivers have been anxiously waiting for customers.
"Looking for a ride, Ma'am?" A cab driver with a weird afro hair style called out to her.
She stared at the hair for a while. 'Woah. He reminds me of the bouncy cute dog Afro Ken. Cute!' *dreamy smile
After dreamily thinking for a while of her favorite animated dog whose hair always bounces, she nodded. The driver helped her put her belongings inside the trunk. Once the deed was done, they made their way to their respective places. Natsuki was about to go inside the cab, plated RDR- 265 (A/N: Well, we need to make sure that Natsuki would not be abducted, right? Especially by our car. XD) when her peripheral vision caught a familiar flash of auburn. She looked around frantically but with no luck, she found nothing or specifically, no one with even the slightest color of brown.
"Something the matter Ma'am?" the driver spoke, bringing Natsuki back to reality.
"What? Ah, no, nothing." She went inside the cab, gave him her address and signaled him to go.
Once they have started to move, she looked out of the window taking one last glance around.
'Must be my Imagination.' She sighed.
------On the other side of theLot------
"Reito!"
"Ah! Shizuru dear!"
They met each other in a tight embrace.
"I missed you." Reito said as he pecked Shizuru's cheek with a kiss.
"Ara, I missed you too but, we must go now, Mr. Kanzaki. Everybody's waiting for you and Mai's preparing a karaoke party for you now. Fufu."
He chuckled. "Karaoke. I can't believe I missed karaoke. Come on now. I can't wait to see them."
------ Kuga's Residence ------
Our dark haired goddess paid the fare and then got off the cab. She collected her baggage in the trunk.
'Home at last.' she thought while gazing at their average sized house. It was not that big but it was her home. She loves that place. She went up to their porch then knocked at the door.
"Mooom!!! I'm ho-"
A shiny metallic blue-thing, which was glowing under the sun's light, suddenly caught her eyes.
"Kyaa!!! My Ducati!!!" She childishly ran to where her Ducati was, her eyes big and twinkling.
"Ducati! Ducati! How are you? I missed you so much! Tell me you missed me too!" She exclaimed giddily while pouring hugs and kisses all over her beloved bike.
"Mou, Natsuki, it seems that you miss that metal more than your own mother. How could you?! *sniff" Saeko said, appearing out of nowhere.
"Mom!" Natsuki, again, ran childishly but now towards her beloved mother.
"Of course not! I love my Ducati, but I love you more! I missed you so much." She explained as she pulled her mother in a tight embrace. The sailor's eyes now brimming with tears of happiness.
"There, there Nat-chan. I missed you so much too." Her mom said after she kissed her daughter's forehead affectionately.
"Now, why don't we go inside and eat Nat-chan? You don't want to keep the mayo dishes waiting for you to be greedily devoured, do you?" Saeko teasingly said.
"Yey! Mayo! You're the best mom!" The Mayo- addict exclaimed, now with a drool on the side of her mouth.
------ Next Day ------
'Briiiing! Briiiiing! Briiiiiing!!!'
A single sound resonated throughout the room continuously. The sound belongs to the soon-to-be-dead alarm clock. Ah! What a cruel fate it is to become an alarm clock! Especially if it means to be Natsuki Kuga's.
'Briing! Briiing! Briiiiing!!!'
To its fellow alarm clocks, this annoying sound IS a desperate plea.
Translation: 'OMG! Spare me!! Help meee!!!'
Well, good thing that the deathly force that it is expecting won't be coming. For our grumpy heroine, to the clock's relief, does not destroy anything that disturbs her sleep anymore. We must thank that 5 years of training and working as sailor for that. Hallelujah!
Anyways, back to the story.
'Briiing! Briing!!'
A hand suddenly shot out from beneath the blanket, blindly looking for its prey. The said hand turned the alarm off after locating it.
Natsuki sat up from bed, and then looked at the clock. 11:00 am. It read.
'11? Why am I awake at 11? That's way too early' the sleepy sailor wondered as she flopped back down to bed. Well, some things never change. She still likes her sleep apparently. Very much.
Grumble…
'Gah. I'm hungry.'
"Wait. Hungry. Food. I think I'm forgetting something about food." She mused for a while.
"Food, food, food…"
"Mayo?" *drool
" Nope, I don't think so." *wipes drool
" Something to do with breakfast? Nope. Lunch? Not that either. Dinne-"
Ching! A light bulb above her head suddenly lit up. "That's it! Lunch!" she thought happily, congratulating herself for figuring it out. 'I'm So smart.'
"Oh Shit! Why am I happy? It's lunch at Captain's!" the former confused, then happy and now distressed girl jumped out of bed, "I'm gonna be late! I'm gonna be late." and ran frantically around the room.
Noticing the primary cause of her misfortune, the now angry sailor approached the innocent clock. "Stupid alarm clock! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" she grabbed the poor clock and threw it against the wall. Crash! Springs and screws scattered down the floor. Sigh, I guess its fate to be crushed is truly inevitable. May you rest in peace.
After taking a quick shower, she went down to the living room and looked for her mom.
"Mom?!" she yelled.
"In the kitchen dear!" a voice from the kitchen yelled back.
Natsuki walked into the kitchen. "Mom, I'm going to my captain's house. He invited me to lunch."
"Fufu. Is he your boyfriend?"
"Reito?! The hell not!" she yelled in disbelief.
"No boyfriend yet Nat-chan?" her mom sighed. "You're in a big ship full of handsome young men. I'm not getting younger Nat-chan. I want to see my cute little grandchildren while I'm still breathing; play with them and babysit them and-"
"Oh c'mon mom. Not this kind of talk." She pouted as she cut her mom off. "I'm not interested in any guys."
"If not in any guys, then perhaps in a lady? Fufu" Saeko asked slyly.
Natsuki's head snapped to face her mother's. "W-wha-what?!" her face now covered with a brilliant shade of red.
'Gotcha my little Nat-chan.'
"Fufu." Her mom turned. Her back now faced the younger girl. "Ah. That certain lady might also be the cause of you being a sailor. My, that so sweet of you Nat-chan." the older of the two faced again her daughter while flashing the latter a mischievous wink.
Saeko, seeing the look on Natsuki's face, wanted to burst out laughing. Her daughter's look literally screamed 'How the heck did she know?!' which was accompanied by a full blush with mouth and eyes wide open.
"My, my, Natsuki. It's called Mother's intuition. Have you heard of it?" She answered the not voiced question while giggling.
'The hell! Mother' intuition my face! I doubt it's all just because of that!'
She was about to answer back her mother when she was immediately cut off.
"My, look at the time Nat-chan! It's almost noon! You wouldn't want to have your captain waiting, right?"
At that Natsuki's mind went amok again, making her forget the things that she wanted to say. She ran out of the room shouting 'I'm late!!! I'm late!!!' and poof! she was gone in an instant.
"Fufu. Nat-chan's so easy."
Riding at 150 khp, she miraclely made her way through the busy streets of Fuuka. Now, she was on her way to a seemingly familiar pathway. Serenity washed over her face upon recognizing the said road.
'This is the road that Duran and I took when we went to that park.' she smiled at that thought.
She slowed down, taking in the sight before her. Nothing has changed. A smile appeared in her face as she reminisce the heart-warming events that took place years ago in the park nearby.
'My goddess. I wonder if I'll ever see you again.' She closed her eyes remembering the face of her first love. 'I bet you look outrageously beautiful now.'
Her train of thoughts stopped when she was greeted by a fork in the way.
"Ok. Where to now?" she reached for the card in her jeans' pocket.
"01 Viola St., Kruger Heights." Glancing back at the fork, she muttered.
"Aha! There. Viola Street, right path." She pocketed the card again and made her way to her destination.
What stood before, shocked the life out if her. There, standing before her, was an elegantly built traditional Japanese house twice the size of her house. It was really eye-catchy. It has great design and breathtaking garden at front but that isn't what had shocked her. It was on where the house stood.
She can't be wrong. She knows this place too well, and by heart! It's the very place on where the park she cherishes the most formerly stood. And there! There on the side of the house was the same slide where her goddess slept on. She still remembers that rusty slide very well. Her heart fell on what she has seen. Sure the place has turned into something beautiful but at the process it also tarnished her wonderful memories here. And, oh, what would her goddess think when she sees this place, her sanctuary?
She shook her head. There's nothing she can do now. It was being sold after all in the first place, before she left Fuuka for training. But it confused her though, why on earth would Reito keep that rusty slide? With one last long look, she sighed. 'At least they kept the slide.' She approached the door and knocked.
"Coming!" came a familiar accent from inside.
'Kyoto-ben?' Natsuki thought.
And as if the world was played in slow motion, the door opened albeit little by little. Inch by inch, a face started to slowly appear behind the door. Green eyes widened at the sight before her: Smooth chestnut hair, flawless skin, perfect nose and lips, and those hypnotic ruby red eyes. It was her goddess! Her love! For how long has she been waiting for this day? To finally see her?
Thousands of emotions were running wildly inside her heart; thousands of thoughts in her mind.
She tried to opened her mouth to speak.
"Shizuru, dear, who's at the door? Is it Natsuki?"
Upon hearing Reito's voice, Natsuki froze to where she was standing.
'Shizuru… dear?'
She felt her heart crack. Slowly breaking; shattered pieces falling.
'Oh… God. Can't breathe.'
Never did it cross her mind that the place where she has found her first and only love would also be the very place where her heart will break.
haha. I hope you're ok with this chap. Don't worry, This fic is not angst. XD
Please review if you have time. ^^
Critisism are very much welcome. XD
thanks for reading!
