Chapter 4

It was now a half hour after Hibiki Tokai and Barnette Orangello had gotten away from the two way to chatty law enforcement.

And even true they where both quite determined to to get out of this city as fast as possible.

They frankly had least then no luck in locating the stupid library, which was seriously starting to get on both of their nerves.

"Damn it, where is that stupid building, I'm frankly starting to think we should ask somebody for direction!" Barnette growled angrily. Seriously starting to get tired off wasting their time with this.

Yet what she didn't know was that Hibiki had already been considering that for a little while now. But seeing as the only people he could see anywhere near the small Plaza they where presently at, was some of those love freaks.

There was simply no denying the huge part of him. That was highly tempted to suggest that they just continued search for the library on their own.

Yet having noticed early on just how impatience the girl beside him was about getting out of this city. He honestly thought that it was best that he let her decide if they should try asking them.

"Want to try our luck with them?" He asked in a small tone, while nodding a single time in the direction of three uniformity women. That was currently sitting quietly at a small nice looking cafe, obviously eating cake and drinking tea.

Not really certain that she wanted to run the risk of starting a conversation with these people incase they where just like the last once.

If they actually ended up being forced in to listening to something so utterly stupid and mindless again.

She highly doubted that she would be able to keep her temper under control. Without at some point trying to knock one or all three girls out with no other motivation then getting them to shut the hell up.

"I'm not really keen on talking with those girls Hibiki, if they are like the others we met. Those two girls could give even the most down to earth person in the galaxy a nervous breakdown in just five minutes!" She said, highly displeased just thinking about having to talk with anymore people like that.

Also feeling more then a little uncertain about the sanity in talking with these girls. The male pilot slowly reached up with his free hand and scratch his dark blue hair in a thoughtful way.

"Yeah well I too ain't really overly excited about having to talk with them. But I guess as long as we keep holding hands and don't break any so call laws, they should have no excuse to start talking to us like the last two" he said, feeling a light shiver run down his spin, at the mere thought of all the women on this planet behaving just like the last two.

Not giving him any kind of response at first. The emerald haired girl got an expression on her face, that made it pretty obvious to Hibiki that she was giving everything he had just said some very serious thoughts.

But just when it looked like she had made a decision a kind voice suddenly cut in to their small conversation. "Is there anything I can help you young lovers with? The two of you have been standing here for quite some time now looking like you are having trouble figuring out where to go" the voice asked.

Making both of them jump slightly as they immediately turned and looked in the direction of the voice.

Where they each saw a woman with long thick blue haired and a friendly expression on her face, that did not held any kind of hostility towards them, which did serve to make both pirates calm down slightly.

Not that any of them let their guard down completely, seeing as this otherwise kind looking woman was dressed almost exactly like the last two they had ran in to not long ago.

The only major different between them and her was that this one was obviously a high ranking one. And even true there was simply no denying that this woman didn't seem nearly as chatty as the other two.

Both Barnette and Hibiki was more then a little tempted to just hurry up and get out of there. Before this lady had the chance to start talking about who the hell knew what.

Yet seeing the strange gun like weapon this woman was carrying in a holster located near her waist. Made both of them decide that it was most likely best to stay put at least for now.

So after sharing a short look Barnette let out a small breath before she began explaining to the blue haired woman what the problem was. "Well you see Ma'am we where trying to find the library. So we where kinda hoping, that you would point us in the right direction?" The female pirate said in a friendly tone.

While deep inside feeling more then a little annoyed over the fact that she didn't have any of her own weapons with her, on this so call mission.

If this girl was going to be hostile in any way, she really would prefer to at least have something to fight back with just incase. But much to her relief the blue haired girl kept on smiling at them, even when she got a slightly thoughtful look in both of her crystal green orbs eyes.

"Hmmm library...library ohhh you mean the archives! It's located over by the spaceport! But it's pretty funny that you are using that old name for it" the blue haired woman said, now with an even more cheerful look on her face if that was even possible.

Hearing her mentioning the word, spaceport Barnette and Hibiki immediately took yet another glance over at each other. Both pirates seriously wondering if there was a ship there they could use to leave this world and start searching for the others.

Yet even true the thought of leaving this lovesick world was something that was distracting both of them quite a bit right now. It only took a couple of seconds before Hibiki again turned his attention back towards the highly friendly woman.

"So this spaceport where is that exactly?" He asked, while nervously changed his grip on Barnette's hand a bit.

This lady might seem more pleasant to be around then the other two. Yet seeing it as was kinda obvious that it was this love-squadron that was function as the main law enforcement on this planet.

He really didn't think it was wise to trust this woman completely with Barnette and him only pretending to be a real couple.

Not even close to realizing that these people where not what they seemed.

The bluenette tilted her head slightly to the side before she once more began talking to the two pirates. "Well if you guys are going in that direction, you can just come with me, I'm going back there any way!" She offer kindly, while thinking about what a cute and attractive couple these two made.

It was at time such as these that she was truly glad that she had chosen to join the love-squadron in the first place. There was always so incredibly many cute couples to see when working for everybody to have a peaceful life together.

And this young man and woman definitely made one of the most adorable couples, Luna Valentine had seen in a very long time. Yet while the beautiful bluenette was momentarily caught up in trying to decide, just where exactly on her top ten list of couples these two belonged. She saw the man lean over to whisper a few things in the girl's ear, which she also found a tiny bit romantic.

"So do you want to go with this woman or do you want to continue on our own?" Hibiki asked softly in to Barnette's ear, being very careful that the other blue haired woman could not hear what he was saying.

She might not seem nearly as bad as the other two girls they had met not long ago.

But in his eyes there was frankly no reason to run any unnecessary risk. He seriously did not feel like listening to any of those long-winded speechs again anytime soon if there was anyway to avoid it.

Taking a brief glance over at the bluenette's face, Barnette was quick to realize that the girl had almost the same kind of expression on her face as the one Dita would have whenever she was thinking about aliens and UFOs, which honestly made the emerald haired woman wonder just what exactly this girl could be thinking so hard about.

Yet seeing her stand there with that highly dreamy look in both of her eyes, did have a slightly calming effect on the firearms collecting girl.

This girl didn't really seem like the most serious threat they could encounter on this planet. If anything she seemed all the more interested in daydreaming then anything else.

And as long as she didn't start telling Hibiki and her, each and everyone of her thoughts. Barnette honestly did not really mind spending a few minutes accompany this slightly weird girl, to wherever the spaceport and archives was located.

And with that in mind she turned her gazes away from the daydreamer and back towards her male friend. "Lets just go with her Hibiki, I honestly don't think she is nearly as insufferable as the last Love-Squadron members we met" she whispered to him in a low tone.

Then once more looked back at the high ranking Love-Squadron officer where she gave her a small smile. "If it's all right with you Ma'am we will take you up on that offer!" Barnette told the other girl in a friendly tone.

Quite obviously interrupting the other woman in her cheerful daydreams about who knew what. But even then it took a little over a small minute before the somewhat air headed bluenette returned completely back to reality.

Where she slowly blinked a couple of times as she moved her gazes back towards Barnette and Hibiki. Once more getting all giddy over how cute these two looked when they where standing there together.

And even true she was dangerously close to slipping back in to her daydreams. She somehow manage to stay focus on the cute couple in front of her. "Now then are the two of you ready to get going now!" She asked in loud cheerful tone, which made both Hibiki and Barnette nod slowly.

Seeing that, the smile on her face grew even bigger if that was even possible. "Great then please follow me!" The young bluenette said, before she turned around and took a look at the many streets surrounding the plaza.

And finally after what seemed like a small eternity to both of the pirates.

She choose the street closed one to the left and started walking down it. Yet from what the two Nirvana crew members could tell her choice of direction seem kinda random, like she had no idea about where she was going.

Which of course made both Hibiki and Barnette feel more then a little reluctant about following her.

But with neither of them knowing their way around this weird city it did not take long before the emerald haired girl let out a small breath.

Then hesitantly started dragging Hibiki with her after the seemingly puzzled bluenette, that was still acting quite a bit like she had honestly no idea about where exactly she was leading them.

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Hibiki Tokai and Barnette Orangello had been following the bluenette for almost an hour when she finally stopped and pointed at a extremely huge building.

"Here we are now, I just knew that it was around here somewhere!" She happily stated. Not noticing the highly displeased glares both of the Nirvana crew members was currently sending her.

Seeing as one could pretty easily spot the small plaza they had left so many minutes ago a few hundred meters to the left of them.

And just the thought of how long this air headed woman had taken to lead them this short distances from the plaza, was more then enough to make both Barnette and Hibiki feel unbelievable frustrated and exhausted.

And as the bluenette stood there feeling so overly proud about find this place where she usually worked, Hibiki lean over and whispered a few things to the emerald haired girl beside him.

"I'm seriously starting to hate this place, once we are done looking through the library or whatever she call it. I'm never going to set foot in this city ever again" he said doing nothing to hide how much all of this was pissing him off.

Taking a glance away from the bluenetter that had so kindly helped them out and over at the man which hand she was apparently trying to break, Barnette could only nod a few times in agreement.

"Yeah tell me about it! What is it with this dumb world? Why can't we just meet one single person that isn't a total chatterbox or can get lost finding her way out of an escape pod?" The Dread pilot asked, while honestly wondering just how many more scatterbrains they could meet on just a single day.

Knowing precisely what his female friend meant. Hibiki nodded slowly in agreement, while moving his hand around a bit in her extremely tight grip which was actually starting to hurt slightly.

"Hopefully now that we are here, it wouldn't take us very long to find the few books we need. I really don't want to be in this city any longer, I had more then enough of all of this!" Hibiki muttered back to the emerald haired woman, while seriously wondering just how it was possible for them to run in to just about every weird person that lived in this city, couldn't they just meet somebody normal for a change.

Yet while the two pirate stood there wondering, just how many more nut case they where going to meet in this town. Their highly cranky thoughts was loudly brought to a hold by an extremely happy voice from inside the spaceport.

"Luna my dear you are back already! That was fast, I actually thought that you would need a few more hours, to get back here!" A white haired man yelled out as he practically leaped out of the huge building and straight over to the bluenette.

Who by now looked a tiny bit displeased about his small comment concerning her taking so long to find her way back there.

So while instantly brushing his caring hand away from her face. She gave him a deeply grumpy glare. "Hey don't you be mean to me you Keitaro-baka it did not take that long for me to get back here, just ask those two!" She defended herself proudly, while pointing back at Hibiki and Barnette, who that looked quite a bit like they where just about ready to collapse any second now.

Taking a glance at the two people standing behind his beautiful wife.

Keitaro could of course not help but notice how the two of them seemed very much like, they had gone all the way to hell and back, which was a pretty obvious sign to him that they had follow Luna on her long trip back there.

And knowing that, was more then enough to make the young man chuckle loudly. Which immediately earn him a highly displeased glare from the blue haired boy and emerald haired girl.

That however did very little to dim his deep amusement, over all the trouble Luna had most likely lead these young two people in to. "So for what vital reason did the two of you choose to take the risk of following my lovely wife here?" The man asked. Still behaving very much like he was ready to fall down on his knees, and start laughing like a complete lunatic.

And just the sight of that bastard of a man smirking at her like that was almost the last straw. Barnette was just about ready to rush forward, to make absolute certain that this man would not be able to laugh at her or anybody else for the rest of his life.

Fortunately before she could do something that would most likely get them in a huge load of trouble and properly kill in the end.

Hibiki gave her left hand a extremely hard squeeze. Which she instantly return a brief second later, actually succeeding in making a little blood appear from the places where her long nails, was drilling down in to the skin on his hand.

Which to put it lightly hurt like hell, yet thanks to his own deep anger about everything they had been forced to endure today.

The Vanguard pilot was somehow able to disregard the large amount of pain that was currently traveling through his hand, as he too stood there seriously considering beating that damn smirk of that man's face.

But as utterly violent as both of their thoughts was right now. The two of them somehow manage to keep on smiling, at the high command Love-Squadron members and not show them just how completely pissed off they where right now.

And while still feeling highly annoyed and extremely angry at the mere sight of that dumb smirk on the white haired moron's face. Barnette moved slightly forward and asked the one thing Hibiki and her truly wanted answers to.

"So which one of the buildings here is the archives?" She asked in a low grumpy tone, which kinda reminded the Taraak boy of the one she had used just before she had launch her so call revolution against him and the rest of the male crew members on the Nirvana.

And knowing what had happened back then.

Hibiki immediately realized that if one of these people didn't tell his female comrade what she wanted to know, there was a very good chance that one of them would end up getting hurt quite badly, most likely the still smirking man.

And in Hibiki's eyes, it really did seem quite a bit like the emerald haired woman was just about ready to leap full speed over to the smirking imbecile and tear one or two limbs off, then use them to beat him to death a second later.

Yet much to Hibiki's minor relief the bluenette turned and point at the building to the left of them. "It's that one right over there!" She said loudly.

Which instantly made the Taraak boy nodded a single time in understanding, then turned around and started making his way over to the archives, pulling the highly hostile woman along with him.

Making absolutely sure not to release the tight grip he had on her hand. Which was honestly the only way he felt like he could be completely certain that the emerald haired girl would not start a fight with the highly provoking man.

They did however not get very far before he again looked back at the man and woman behind them. "Umm!...Thank you for taking us here Ma'am!" He said, then continued the rest of the way over to the library still holding tightly on to Barnette's hand.

And once over there it took least then a second before the two of them disappeared in to the building.

Seeing that Luna immediately turned her green eyes back at her husband. "Those two where just so unbelievably cute, I kinda wish I had my camera so I could get a nice photo of the two of them standing together!" She said loudly.

Sincerely wanting to add a photo of those two to the many other picture she had of some of the more cute couples she had seen working for the Love-Squadron.

Hearing her say that Keitaro once more turned his attention back towards his wife. "Well perhaps if you are just a bit lucky my dear Luna you will meet them again at some point in time" he told her in a sweet voice.

Before he slowly reached up and brush a few strands of her long blue hair away from her forehead.

Looking at him for a couple of seconds, the blue haired woman tilted her head a bit to the side in a somewhat curious manner. "Do you really think we will meet them again?" She asked hopefully, while looking straight in to her husband's blue eyes.

Getting a sightly thoughtful look on his face. "Yeah I think so Luna, those two didn't seem to know their way around the city yet. So there is a really good chance that we will run in to them soon or later. But never mind that now lets hurry up and get back to work" he gently told her, then slowly wrapped his fingers around her hand and started leading her in to the enormous building not far from them.

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Meanwhile over in the lobby of the library or whatever it was call.

Both Hibiki and Barnette was leaning against wall. Each of them breathing hard as they tried to calm down, after everything they had experienced these last couple of hours, since they had first enter the city.

And as the Vanguard pilot slowly pull his hand away from the emerald haired girl's extremely tight grip. He took a thorough look at all the minor injuries the highly pissed of woman had inflict on it.

And even true the boy realized that he would under normal circumstance already be yelling at Barnette for doing something like this. Right now he honestly didn't feel like it was worth the trouble.

So he just watched the body part a few seconds longer. Then lift his other arm up and used the sleeve to slowly whip away the remaining blood on his hand.

After doing that he once more reached over and took a hold on Barnette's hand, which instantly made the green haired woman turned her worn out gazes away from the well polished floor and over at him.

Where he smiled slightly at her then asked her a single question. "Ready to continued?" Where the few words that left his mouth.

Yet it took a few moment before the girl gave him a reply which sounded more then just a little uncertain about this whole thing. "Well not really, truth be told I would give just about everything to be back on the Nirvana right now. But I guess it doesn't really do much good walking around wishing for something like that. So lets just get in there and get this over with" she said, doing nothing to hide how tired she was right now.

Knowing exactly how she felt after everything that had happened today, Hibiki just gave the girl a short agreeable nod.

So with nothing else to say. Both pilots started slowly making their way towards the main part of the library.

Each of them sincerely hoping, that it would not take long to find somebody who could assist them in locating the books they needed to widen their knowledge about this damn world.

Fortunately for them.

It did not take long before they spotted an old grey haired man sitting all by himself, not that far from the entrance reading in a extremely worn-out looking book that had obvious been through a lot before it had ended up here in the library.

Yet once Hibiki and Barnette started approaching him. He carefully closed the large book and looked right up at them. Now just waiting to hear what these two kids was disturbing him for.

And as much as this old bearded fellow reminded Hibiki about his grandpa back home on Taraak.

He knew that now wasn't really the best time to be thinking about him. So he was quick to shake away the many thoughts of the old guy, that had raised him since he woke up from his cold sleep fourteen years ago.

And asked the obviously somewhat impatient librarian about where they could find the books Barnette and him had pretty much been searching for the entire messed up day.

"Do you know where we can find some books about our planets history?" Hibiki asked, instantly making the decision that it was best to pretend that he and Barnette was from this world.

More then a little taken back hearing the boy asked that. The old fellow lean back in his chair with a deeply surprise expression on his old face.

Usually when young people came in here it was to find more recent wrote books. Like once that contented new recipes the girls was eager to try and make for their boyfriends.

And he might not say it out loud but he honestly thought that searching for something like that was a complete waste of time. It wasn't like there was any males left on this planet, that had yet to be surprise by a home-made meal from their girlfriends.

So if anybody actually bothered ask him. He would honestly say it was about time that the many couples around this neighborhood came up with something new. Instead continuing with something so old fashion as making box lunch.

Unfortunately there was simply noway he could tell anybody what he really thought of that old tradition, without fear of getting punished by those love morons over in the next building.

And what kind of idiotic blockhead would actually want to be thrown in prison for a few month. For bad-mouthing this entire supposably sweet and romantic system their highly foolish government had establish.

He did however not thinking long about how much trouble he could get in to. Should he ever decide voice any of his so call rebellious thoughts about Romanchikku's extremely brain dead government, before he again turned his attention back towards the young man and woman standing not that far from him.

"I know exactly where the books you are looking for is, so if you would come with me I'll show!" He growled out.

Then slowly got up on his somewhat unsteady legs.

And began making his way in the direction of a much more well organized group of bookcases. Behaving very much like it did not really matter all that much to him if the young couple followed him or not.

Taking a brief glance over at each other.

Both Nirvana crew members just couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved. That this old fellow wasn't a complete chatterbox that was almost impossible to listen to. And that he apparently had some idea about where he was going.

So not wanting the cranky old man to get too far ahead. The two overly exhausted teens hurried went off after him before he could disappear completely between the large number of bookcases in there.

Fortunately it didn't really take them long before they spotted the cranky librarian standing over by one of the bookcases. Looking slowly through the many thick and thin books gather there.

Yet even when they stepped up behind him.

The old guy did not once turn his slightly nostalgic look away from the many books there. Which was a pretty obvious sign to the two pirates that he frankly preferred the company of the many worn out books, instead of other human beings.

And it was only when Barnette let out a slight cough sound that he finally stopped messing around with all the books and turned his attention back towards them. "So what are you looking for exactly?" He asked sounding more then a little impatient about getting this task over and done with.

He just hoped that these brats wouldn't ask for something that took a whole lot of time to find.

These two kids might have won a tiny bit of his hard earn respect by asking for something else, other then cookbooks and those overly (sicking) romantic novels some of the girls around these parts, apparently liked to read.

But even true a part of him did kinda like this young couple. It most definitely didn't mean he wanted to spend the rest of the day going through the archives searching for whatever books, they wanted.

Yet much to his minor relief the books they asked for, where pretty easy to locate.

"Well it's definitely important that we get something that tells most of Romanchikku's history, and how exactly our society was made!" Barnette said, while trying hard to figure out if there was anything else they needed now that they where currently there.

If there was anyway they could avoid it, she really would prefer not to visit this so-called nightmare of a city again anytime soon. But while the emerald haired woman was slightly distract thinking about all of that.

Her male comrade decided to ask about something else, they could have a need for at some point in the near future.

"And if you have something about the Love-Squadron! We would like to borrow that too gramps" the Vanguard pilot said. Sincerely believing that if they widen their knowledge about this planet's law enforcement.

It would be so much easier for them to avoid being arrest.

Taking a glance back at the boy, the old man narrowed his eyes slightly. "Finding something about them shouldn't really be that difficult. You can barely go anywhere these days without hearing about them!" He said.

And even true the old guy did his best keep it a secret. It wasn't hard for either of the Nirvana crew members to tell. That this barely standing old guy felt a great deal of hostility towards the Love-Squadron.

Which both teens actually thought was kinda nice.

Seeing as everybody else they had meet up until now. Was either a part of the Love-Squadron or just about ready to start worshiping them. So it was a bit of a relief to find somebody around, that did not like how things where done on this world.

And it really served to make the teens wonder if there was anybody else around like this guy. But before they could really give it much thought, the highly cranky man handed the first of many books over to them.

"Don't drop it now, I want it back intact once you are done reading it!" He said in a bossy tone, that couldn't be described as nothing else but serious.

Having realized a little while ago just how important the many books here was to the old geezer. Both of the space pirates did not hesitate in giving him a short nod to that request, as they continued taking whatever books he handed over to them.

And even true the cranky librarian kept on talking and explaining to them what the books he gave them was about.

Neither Hibiki or Barnette had all that much to say through all of this. Seeing as everything they had experienced throughout the day was really starting to take it's toll on them now, each of them was just about ready to pay a small fortune to be back at either the house or preferable the Nirvana.

Fortunately it did not take much longer, before the old guy was finished digging through the many books there. Which meant that it didn't take long before they where heading in the direction of his desk.

"Now I just need to know you names and where you live, then you can get out of here!" He said. Doing nothing to hide how much he was looking forward to see the two of them disappear out of the door.

And even true neither of the pirates like spreading their names around to much, they quickly decided that this guy didn't really seem like the type of person that would walk around telling everybody he meet that the two of them had been in there to borrow a few books.

And once the old geezer dropped down in to his seat again, Hibiki took a single step towards him. "I'm Hibiki Tokai and she is Barnette Orangello and we live..." the blue haired boy started to say when he was loudly interrupted.

"Hey slow down youngster, these old hands doesn't write as fast as they use to!" He said then muttered out a few minor curses, while he slowly scratched down their names on what seemed mostly like a random piece of paper.

After doing that he again looked up at the two teens.

Still looking just as annoyed by their present as he had when they had first shown up. "There we go! Now I just need to know where you live, then all three of us can get on with our lives!" He told them not once moving his gazes away from the paper.

Taking a brief glance over at other each of the teen felt more then a bit uncertain about telling the man that.

But they realized that if they did not tell him this information it was very unlikely that they would be allowed to leave with the huge stack of books in their arms.

So after giving her low lips a tiny bite, Barnette open her mouth and told the man what he wanted to know. "Well at this current moment in time we are helping out at that huge white mansion just outside of town" she said, while thoroughly studying the cranky geezer's face, for any signs that told her that he would use this information against them in someway.

But as far as she could tell he really didn't seem to care all that much about where they lived.

"Hmfm great that's not overly difficult to find. It has actually been a while now since I have last paid my idiotic older brother a visit" he grumbled out displeased.

Making it sound very much like, he didn't really give a damn about being related to that George guy, which the two space pirates had meet only shortly after they had arrived on this planet.

And once he was done writing down anything he needed, he throw the pen down on the desk, then reached over and picked up the old book he had been reading in when Barnette and Hibiki had first gotten there.

And seeing him do that was a pretty obvious sign that he had nothing else to say to either of them.

So while wondering just how exactly somebody could be so angry and negative all the time. Both of the teenagers, turned around and slowly started making their way towards the exit of the library.

Neither one of them saying anything else to the man. Seeing as that would most likely result in him getting even more angry then he was already. And it was only once they stepped back out in to the lobby that Barnette had something to say.

"Damn it's kinda hard to believe. But that old geezer, was actually the most normal person we have meet since entering the city!" The emerald haired woman said in a far away tone.

Slightly amazed that the most cranky individual on the on the entire planet if not the whole universe, was seemingly the one who took the first place for being the most normal one they had meet today.

Everybody else had either been more then a little crazy or highly provoking. Even now as they where slowly walking together out of the library. Barnette couldn't deny how slightly tempted she was to try and find that man Keitaro, and give the grinning bastard a huge piece of her mind.

Yet the thought of getting back to the house and being away from all the lovesick people here in the city.

Was more then enough to make her ignore those temptation and just concentrate on following her quite blue haired friend. In the direction that would take them back to their temporary home.

Yet after walking for a little while in absolute silence she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit worried about Hibiki's lack of things to say. Usually the Vanguard pilot would be talking almost constantly whenever something was bothering him.

Now however he had barely said one word since they left the library. "Are you ok Hibiki? You are awfully quite over there and that's kinda unlike you" Barnette said with a concerned look in both of her purple eyes.

Hearing her ask that.

Hibiki turned and took a look back at the emerald haired woman walking not that far behind him. "It's nothing you should worry about Barnette. I just have a splitting headache right now. And I could honestly use a ice cold glass of water right about now. But never mind that, what about you Barnette? You do look kinda pale over there" he said, generally concerned about the pale looking Dread pilot.

Smiling slightly at him Barnette increased her speed a bit so she ended up walking not far beside him. "I'm fine Hibiki, I'm just so tired right now. It's been a couple of really stressful days" she said, while forcing back a huge yawn that was treating to leave her mouth.

Not having the least bit of trouble getting what the woman meant.

Hibiki nodded slowly in understanding.

"Yeah tell me about, I don't know about you but I really do think we should take the next couple of days off to rest up and recover our strength, for whatever we are going to do next" he said.

Then yawn so loudly that half the city could properly hear it. But he honestly did not really care all that much about that at the moment, the only thing on his mind right now was getting back to their so call home on this world, and his highly comfortable leather couch.

Not having anything against that idea Barnette smiled slightly at the Vanguard pilot. "Well if nothing comes up, that can get us away from this world. You wouldn't get any complains from me about taking it easy the next few days" the girl said sound very worn out and lazy right now.

Happy to hear that she agreed with him without arguing Hibiki took a glance over at her. Where her slightly pale face instantly turned the small smile on his face in to a small frown instead.

She really didn't look so good right now. And he knew that if he had seen emerald haired girl walk around like this back on the Nirvana he would definitely have told her to go see Duelo so he could take a look at her.

Yet with no idea about where the others was at this moment. Pretty much the only option they had was to hurry home so the girl could get some clearly much needed sleep.

And with that in mind he started walking just a tiny bit faster.

Doing his best not to show the Dread pilot, how concerned he was about her right now. He really did not like the pale expression on her face and the way she sound like she was having a difficult time breathing.

'Damn it I really hope she doesn't collapse now. If she does then I have no idea about how the hell I'm suppose to get her and all of the books home' the Mecha pilot thought.

Only to immediately decide a second later that if something like that where to happen, he would just have to leave the books by the side of the road and carry the girl the rest of the way home.

Yet much to his small amazement the emerald haired Dread pilot seemed completely determined to get back to the house on her own and without his help. And even true her stubbornness and her determination to manage this ordeal on her own did win her a great deal of his respect.

Hibiki just couldn't stop himself from getting more and more worried about the highly stubborn girl's well being with every single second that went by.

She seriously did look awful right now.

And after watching her a short while longer he moved a bit closer to her and pull the few books she was carrying out of her hands. Sincerely hoping that by removing the huge load from her, would make it easier for the woman to handle the short distance they had left to go before they got home.

Not totally sure if she was happy about Hibiki's assistance.

Barnette used the next couple seconds to glare at the man, as she tried to decide if she should complain about his help or just keep his mouth shut. Yet thanks to the minor dizzy spell that went through her.

The prideful girl made the decision to be quiet for now and just concentrate on moving one foot after another.

Fortunately much to both of their relief. It did not take long before both of them could see their temporary home not that far ahead of them. "We are almost there so just hold out a bit longer woman!" Hibiki told her.

Then took yet another another worried glance back at his female comrade.

She however didn't really do anything to show if she had heard him or not.

She just continued walking onward towards the small house with short highly unsteady steps. Which really show Hibiki how much she was in the need of either sitting down somewhere or even get in to a bed, and get some much needed rest.

And once they reached the front porch.

Hibiki immediately placed the huge load of books there and hurried got the door open. Making it so Barnette could get inside, before she actually collapsed out there from whatever was wrong with her.

And when the extremely pale looking woman went right past him.

She quietly mumbled out a small thank you and then a goodnight, as she walked directly past him towards the bedroom. Apparently more then just a little determined to get in to her bed as quickly as possible.

"Hmm I really hope she is feeling better tomorrow, I'm not really keen on reading all of these damn books on my own" the Vanguard pilot whispered to himself. Even true deep inside, he was sincerely hoping that there wasn't anything serious wrong with the highly cranky woman.

Yet after thinking about what could be wrong with Barnette for an unknown number of seconds. The blue haired boy reluctantly realized that it wouldn't really do him much good to keep on standing around out there worrying about his female friend.

So after picking up the many books again. He slowly stepped inside the house and used his left foot to kick the door shut behind him.

To be continued.