Disclaimer – I do NOT own Oban Star Racers, I own Hikari OC
This is a Nourasia Aikka X OC fanfiction! DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!
One of a Kind
Chapter Four
Hikari opened her eyes to see the bright rays of sunlight stream through her windows. The noises from the kitchen proved that Satis was bustling through cabinets and drawers to find breakfast. The young girl swung her legs over the side of her dark bed sheets and pulled on her frog slippers. After a five-minute shower, Hikari was ready to fight the day-well almost, she still needed her Wheaties. Hikari had changed her black and white shirt to a pure black one; not ripped, and a black pilot jacket with the same dark jeans and of course her boots. She had told herself that the jacket had nothing to do with the gunner she had met, and was still convinced of that when she sat down with her guardian for breakfast.
"I don't want you to forget about Aikka now, Hikari. Hikari?" but she was too busy gazing at the flying creatures of Oban, sad that they had no creatures as beautiful as this on Alwas.
"My dear, Jordan will be expecting you this morning~" Satis sang, causing the young woman to perk up at the name.
"Oh shut up you old coot," she snarled back, flushing red as she did so.
*Last night*
The two teens jumped down the rocks and towards the light blue of the bay. It was Hikari's choice because of the sunlight available; it was sunset by now. The giant rocks that surrounded them were a charcoal color and Jordan was leaning against one when the sun was gone. After a moment of darkness, Jordan could no longer feel Hikari's presence.
"Hikari?" but he couldn't help but think he was abandoned.
"Give it a minute," was her immediate response and then silence; he guessed that her voice came just to the right of him.
Not a minute later, hundreds of blue lights appeared in the water and swished through the liquid rapidly. Jordan gasped and leaned closer to the water. Hikari had climbed the rocks behind them and was holding her pistol nonchalantly at her side.
"Um, you might want to get up here," she hinted, holding out her hand to help him do so.
He took it, but expected his strength to be too much for her. He gripped the side of the boulder and began to push himself up, when he felt a hard and powerful pull on his left arm. The gunner's momentum was too great and his chest collided with Hikari's. The young woman attempted not to notice, but was as red as a beet, while her companion was no better. The blue colors shimmered under the water and sent a light towards the two. Hikari's grey eyes turned hard as she gripped her plasma gun harder and aimed towards the water.
"Grab your gun and wait for it," she whispered, still blushing from the closeness.
Jordan did as he was told, but was completely confused as to what to do. He opened his mouth to question, but was cut off by the sudden opening in the blue lights. A giant green fish like creature hurled itself from the depths of the waters, and let out a roar or a screech of some kind. Its yellow eyes, all ten of them, widened and narrowed on the two on the rocks. Jordan guessed the creature's size to be as big as Earth teams racer, maybe larger. Its grotesque teeth showed and chomped down on the air. Hikari reacted quickly and the white blast hit the monster in the gills.
"That, Mr. Wilde, is a variation of what citizens of Earth call 'sharks'. But don't worry, the mother won't come along for about thirty minutes," she grinned and motioned for his attention to turn back to the multiple others that had risen from the depths since he had been preoccupied.
"But wait! The mother?!"
"Yeah! She's a least three times bigger than her babies. We're protecting these fish, because their scales are ingredients for medicines. They usually give up after their mom get's her tail handed to her!"
Jordan shot to Hikari's right, and managed to save her from being eaten.
"You're a nice shot. What do you say? Loser buys the other drinks?"
"You're on," Jordan stated smugly, counting off his hits just like his partner was.
Twenty seven minutes later, the mother came. Hikari was right about its size, but forgot to mention its speed. The monster was twice as fast and it seemed to deflect any shots, brass or plasma. But eventually, the monster shark gave in and retreated into the dark abyss after some nice solid shots to the gills and tailfin. Hikari grinned, and took a glance at her partner for the evening. He was wide-eyed and still clutching his weapon. The young woman reached up to lower his weapon with a gentle push of her fingertips. Jordan forced a smile but stammered off his count to her,
"T-twenty-t-two."
"Ha! I hope you have some money with you; Twenty-three," Hikari winked before her body disappeared from the boulder and appeared again at the water's edge.
"Um, Hikari I don't think that's such a good idea. What if it comes back?"
"Oh, she'll be back. Next week after she's had her next school. But I do need to collect some scales off these guys. They're real friendly," but she noticed his hesitation.
"Come on, I promise," and the young woman held out her slender hand again.
Jordan's larger hand surrounded hers and came closer to the kind and beautiful fish. Later at the bar, Hikari and Jordan spoke of weaponry and told each other how to improve their stances and which guns to choose if they were available. The young woman left Jordan in front of his hanger, with a chaste kiss on the cheek and a 'thank you'.
*Team Earth's Hanger*
Hikari was just passing by-well; she was commencing her usual rounds of the team hangers until she noticed that Molly was yelling at Don Wei with the Arrow II in the air. The young security guard stood with her cherry red candy stick in one hand, ready to be eaten at any moment. She slipped her sunglasses down over her grey orbs so that she could see who was piloting the racer. The cherry candy almost fell to the ground after seeing Rick Thunderbolt in the pilot seat. Rick seemed to attract a crowd each time he was in a machine, and this was no different. The stunts he pulled were risky and that was nothing but normal for him; but Hikari noticed that Molly was nervous. Hikari heard footsteps approaching and risked a glance over her shoulder. 'Somehow-not surprising,' she thought and turned her attention back towards the racer skimming the water. It's not that she disliked theNourasian Prince, just that she felt as if he was constantly in her space.
"Busy rounds this morning?" he questioned, watching the competition testing out their old pilot.
"More like evening," the girl edged, hoping that maybe that would end the conversation.
"Oh? Anything I should know about?" Too bad it didn't.
"No, actually-it isn't," and the teen followed the Earth crew into the hanger, watching the Arrow II glide back into its place.
Jordan hopped out of his pit, boots thudding solidly while he dashed to the front of the racer.
"Hey! Great ride Rick!" Jordan shouted over the clapping of the two mechanics.
"Man, Rick's awesome. It's sure great to have a real pro at the controls again!" he continued, Hikari pushing through the patch of people, leaning on Koji's shoulder to watch the scene unfold.
Stan and Koji both snicker, Hikari pointing to the side of the group after Jordan began questioning them. The girl grinned widely when she received a small wink that no one else noticed. Molly edged into his line of sight and the gunner automatically tried to repent and explain his statement.
"Molly, come on! You know what I mean. You're good and all-but this is Rick!" the young man yelled up the stairs as his teammate went to search for Rick.
The two mechanics continued with the maintenance of the star racer so Hikari turned to continue with her sweep of the hangers. The sky had darkened and it was just starting to rain when the girl edged to the opening of the metal building. All of the creatures that had been scurrying on the ground and soaring through the sky had returned to their nests or burrows, and she wished she could do the same. But the planet awaited her scouting. Her fists dug deeper into her pockets and teeth clenched in preparation for the cold rain.
"Hey! Hold up!" Jordan's plea halted her movements and caused a relieved sigh.
The security looked over her shoulder and saw that he had already made his way across the floor. He automatically looked toward the weather and frowned, seeing that Hikari was about to saunter out into the storm.
"You're not really going out in that are you?" to which she grinned and flicked the stubborn hair strands from her face.
"Yeah, well I've still got my rounds and you seem kind of busy," the young girl winked, zipping up her jacket and took a few steps into the pouring rain.
"Wait! So how about we meet up tonight?" in the background, Molly and Don-Wei held an argument which caused the amateur racer to push out ahead of Hikari.
"Hm, I think I'll take you up on that-but I'm paying this time. It's only fair," she continued watching in Molly's direction but noticed Satis bounding in the trees after her.
"Alright, it's a date-Unless you don't-don't want it to be a date. Because then we could-" he stammered with a flushed face, but stopped at her laughter.
"No, that's fine! It's a date then," she confirmed, marching on into the storm to finish her rounds and take place for the next competition to begin.
*Stadium*
"For the third round of pre-selection, I call forth- The Earth Team!"
Hikari Kokuro made her way up the stairs, pleased to see no ill-behaved aliens about in the rainy weather. There was an odd awning just at the top of the stadium; although small it was more comfortable in a cramped dry place than an open damp one.
"And representing the Mong People- Ceres!" the view of spectators was moved to the other opening in the arena, watching as a long and futuristic key like ship floated out.
Its form crept over the rocky earth and prepared for take off, the orange glow from its base the only illumination in the area. Ceres stood upon the racer, with a long staff grasped in his right hand-or whatever that appendage was called. The Mong citizen was a thing metal robot it seemed, the pattern on his form reminding Hikari of a microchip. Lightning flashed and gave an excellent view of Ceres' sharp teeth and four arms as opposed to the original two the young woman thought he had. The black and white hair that was plastered to her face was flashed back by the two's take off. Her attention moved immediately to the large screen flashing atop the finish line, and she cringed at the sight of Jordan's own plasma bullets being shot back at them. 'What the hell is Rick doing?' she worried, placing her thumb nail between her teeth for something to distract her.
After the initial shock of seeing Molly flying through the air and landing harshly on Jordan's dome, the security breathed for a moment while watching Team Earth finally pull together. Up until the last turn of the race it was tied; after the lull of Ceres' music was interrupted by Molly's Diskman, that changed. Hikari squealed as Team Earth smoothed over the finish and kept herself from charging down the stairs. Instead she smoothed down her jacket, and calmly stepped down the seats in the stadium. A medical team was already zipping to the Arrow II, pulling Rick from the hull; most certainly a problem from the first crash of the pilot. Hikari dashed from the field, clomping through muddy holes and streets as she raced to Zhi's medical hut.
*Medical Hut*
"Guess we'll have to reschedule that date, huh?" security asked a pacing Jordan as she made her way towards Zhi's office.
"Yeah, listen Hikari-I'm really sorry. Are you free any time tomorrow?" the gunner asked, extremely nervous and wondering if his chance was gone again.
"Hmmm… it's a possibility. How's it?" the answer to his question was 'yes' and he could tell from the playful nudge she gave.
"That's what we're waiting for," Molly chimed in from against the wall, where Hikari joined.
"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Rick's voice boomed from the office, only separated by a green curtain with a rough sketch design of Zhi.
"I can't be sick!"
"Rick, stop it!" Don-Wei tried to calm the racer, attempting to pry him off of the medical examiner.
Hikari also surged forth with Jordan upon entering, gripping firmly on his shoulder and planting her heels to fly backwards. If was proved to be useless, for Rick's illness intervened as he stumbled away from the alien. His teammate tried to stabilize him and Jordan was harshly shoved from his attempt. Hikari gripped the seventeen year old to bring him from the line of fire and Molly also tried to steer clear. Team Earth's pilot-now former pilot- left the medical hut with no one following. Don-Wei had been right when he declared he needed time, so there was no use pushing the issue. Zhi dusted himself off and was helped by Hikari to straighten his office-luckily not too much was damaged, just a dinged up chair and one panel from his board needing replaced. Team Earth and the security returned to the hanger, Jordan and Hikari staying back a-ways so that they could converse.
"What a day! Nice shooting out there, by the way," the sixteen year-old commented; her hands shoved into her pant pockets.
"Thanks, do you want to stay a while?" Jordan asked as they approached the hanger-he noticed that it was beginning to darken again.
"You don't want to walk in the rain again do you?" and she most certainly didn't.
Jordan proceeded to give a tour of their home on Alwas, skipping over Don-Wei and Rick's rooms. His wasn't extremely organized, but much cleaner than she originally thought. The two made their way into the recesses of the building, where the mechanics originated from. On the blueprint stand was a new, revamped, model of Jordan's pit-weapons included. While the two were conversing over the statistics of the plan, a strong gust of wind blew open a window and the papers were strewn around the room. Jordan rushed to close the glass as Hikari laughed, beginning to gather up the drawings. She had collected about five that were shoved under her left arm. And just as Hikari reached for another paper, Jordan's hand went for the same and they collided heads accidently. Her hands released their hold on the blue prints and went to the top of her cranium. There was a solid 'Umph' from both of the teens when they hit the floor, and they looked around the room to see if anyone had seen the incident. As Jordan saw no one, his blush did not recede as his gaze focused on Hikari-who was laughing at their idiocy.
"You, Mr. Wilde, have a very solid head," she chuckled out, noticing that Jordan had stood to help her.
She grasped his palm in a tight grip and hauled herself up, not knowing that he would bring her upwards with his own strength. The teens collided again, their chests hitting and each one clutching for balance. Jordan's foot slid backwards, and he attempted to steady the girl by wrapping his arm around her waist. This happened as Hikari planted her left hand on the man's shoulder firmly. Everything stopped when they realized what position they were in, and this time not only Jordan blushed.
"W-w-wow we are some really clumsy people," she giggled nervously, not daring to move.
"Uhmm-y-yeah we sure are," and he didn't move either.
Neither remembered how long they stayed that way until both decided it was time to clean up and Hikari was way past "curfew". But Koji and Stan had walked in as they were preoccupied and quietly sneaked back out-deciding to call it a day and plan the new designs tomorrow.