Christmas in the Lost Ground
Chapter 10: Kazuma's Present
By Nanaki
Kazuma and Kanami had been quietly watching the Earth for close to a half hour, Kazuma's arms wrapped around Kanami's waist. Suddenly, Kazuma stifled a yawn. "Uh oh. I guess it's about time to head home." He announced.
"Already?" Kanami sounded disappointed. "I could stay up here for days."
"Then I'll be sure to bring you back soon." Kazuma smiled. "Right now though, we need to go. Being up here when fatigue sets in is a bad idea."
Kanami suddenly imagined what would happen if Kazuma fell asleep in the vacuum of space. They would undoubtedly die in a rather grisly fashion before he could re-raise his alter barrier. "Good point." She nodded. She turned around, fastening her arms tightly around Kazuma's back once again. Which gave her a good view of the exhaust jet of some sort of projectile, heading right for them. "Ah, incoming!" She wasn't quite sure if that was the right thing to say, but Kazuma got the message.
"Hoo boy!" Instantly, they were rocketing back toward the planet, and only then did Kazuma turn to look over his shoulder. "Well, that's one of the Alter Killers I was talking about. Looks like it wants a race!" Kazuma's speed increased noticeably. "Good eye, Kanami. You just turned a very unpleasant situation into a mere near-death experience."
"What?!" Kanami gasped. "You mean that thing is actually powerful enough to punch through your barrier?"
"I don't know," Kazuma admitted, "but if my guard was down, probably."
Kanami suddenly felt a little queasy. Now, she wasn't so sure she wanted to come back up here, after all. The next thing she knew, Kazuma's silver alter fire was surrounded by a deep red glow, clearly being generated by heat. "Um... shouldn't we be slowing down?" Kanami wondered.
Kazuma risked another look back over his shoulder. "Yeah... I don't think so." The missile was still clearly in visual range, also beginning to glow red now. "Besides, my fire is more powerful than the atmosphere's! We'll be fine."
Kanami thought that this sounded uncomfortably like a statement nature would be eager to prove wrong, but they continued to hurtle through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, while the missile tailing them began to wobble, then suddenly blew up in a blinding explosion. Even at the speed they were traveling, the concussion from the blast threw them forward, and Kanami was almost jarred out of Kazuma's grasp. Almost, but then Kazuma clamped his arms around her with a strength that made it almost impossible to breathe. A second later, their flight path steadied, and Kazuma slowed down a bit. "Good God." Kanami whispered, looking back at the explosion. "They sent a missile like that to take out a single, human sized target?"
"Well, they know what they're up against." Kazuma smirked.
"But, that looked too big to be a conventional warhead." Kanami shook her head. "Don't tell me that was a nuke!"
"No, they're not willing to risk using nukes. Not yet, anyway." Kazuma grimaced. "The LGDF believes the Alter Killers are experimental matter/antimatter weapons, albeit very small ones. Whoops, hold on." Kazuma had realized they were now plummeting headfirst toward the ground, and reoriented them the other way. The wind was roaring around them again, and they were soon plummeting back through the snow clouds, though Kanami still felt warm. To Kanami's surprise, they had come back down not only above the Lost Ground, but even directly above the right area, as the city lights were a ways away, with only a few sparse lights directly below them. Kazuma adjusted his angle a bit, and soon enough, Kanami could make out the outcropping of rock that shielded their house from view.
Kazuma didn't even slow down as they neared the house, leaving Kanami no time to ask what he thought he was doing. Suddenly, they were simply standing in the street, the silver alter fire exploding outward from them as if IT had somehow absorbed the impact. "Whoah," Kanami gasped, clearly impressed. "Was it a good idea to come down to the house so directly?" She asked, instantly huddling up in her jacket. Without the warmth of Kazuma's power, the freezing air felt even colder than it probably was, and it was probably pretty darn cold.
"I wouldn't have if it wasn't for the cloud cover. But the clouds will make visual tracking impossible, and because they're snow clouds, infra-red and other heat sensors won't work well either." Kazuma said, and Kanami observed that he was breathing heavily. Clearly, the flight had taken some effort.
"But, don't you have to go back and get the van now?" She flashed him an evil grin.
"Well I... crap!" Kazuma clearly hadn't been thinking about that. "I wasn't really thinking about saving energy for a second trip..."
"Well, you could just punch your way over there with your alter's first form. It's only about five miles." Kanami suggested.
Kazuma thought about it for a second. "Nah, not in this weather." He shook his head, and Kanami didn't blame him. It wasn't snowing right now, but the wind had picked up while they were in space, and with the wind chill, it was probably down to near zero degrees fahrenheit. "All right, if I fall asleep right away when I get back, don't be too insulted." He spread his feet apart, muscles tensed.
Quickly, Kanami ran a hand along his jawline. "Try to save SOME energy." She gave him a mischevious grin.
"Heh." Kazuma's grin now mirrored her own. "Don't worry then, I will." Kanami took a few steps back, and Kazuma was surrounded by silver fire once again. He blasted off into the sky, but stayed at a low altitude, so he was out of sight in just a few seconds.
Truth be told, Kanami's biggest concern wasn't the van either, though Cougar would be furious if they left his van sitting out in a field all night, where anyone crazy enough to be out in this weather would find it extremely easy to break into. She was also not real flustered by their near miss with the missile. When you were with Kazuma, if something missed by an inch, it was as good as a mile. However, Kanami was glad that she'd gotten rid of him for a little bit, because this gave her time to change. Again.
At least, she thought so. But as she hurried up the front steps, shivering all the way, she realized that she did not have her keys. She must have left them on her dresser in her hurry to get changed. 'Tell me the side door's open. Tell me the side door's open.' She thought as she went around to the driveway, squinting against the wind. She had to step carefully around the holes she had created during her fight with Kenjo two nights ago, but she was there soon enough. The side door was also locked securely. They did have one of those fake rocks with a spare key inside, but it was around back by the garage, currently buried under a foot of snow. 'The garage!' She realized. There was a door in the rear of the garage that they hardly ever used, since they didn't really have a yard, in the traditional sense.
The snow was even deeper than she'd expected, but Kanami got to the rear door soon enough. She tried it, fingers crossed, and... "Locked!" She groaned out loud. What were the odds that Cougar, of all people, would actually bother to lock every door in the house before he left? Well, she could either huddle up on the front porch until Kazuma got back, or start searching for that fake rock. She started digging in the snow, and her hands started hurting before she'd scooped away more than a few handfuls. Nevertheless, she kept going, and her hands were completely numb within thirty seconds. Now, she was pretty much just bludgeoning the snow out of the way with her forearms. 'This is stupid.' She realized. 'I better just wait until he gets back-' With that, her left arm scraped against something.
She had to hold her hands in her armpits for a while to get the feeling back, and they hurt like hell when she finally could feel something. But, when she picked the object up, she found that it was indeed the fake rock. Either it was some incredible luck, or her alter had subtley helped out. Kanami headed back toward the front, not feeling her toes at all now, and her legs suffering from the same kind of pain that her hands just had. When she got to the door, she got the key out and tossed the rock aside without a second thought. She had to fumble with the door for a while, but she finally got inside and rushed straight for the heater in the kitchen. Instantly, all the powder that had been clinging to her shoes and the bottom of her dress began to melt, and she found that she was fairly soaked. "Well, I feel really sexy NOW." She groaned.
.
Somehow, it had all worked out. Kanami had sat in front of the heater, hands almost touching the grill, for close to ten minutes before she stopped shivering. However, that had given her inspiration for a great deal-closing line. Something along the lines of, "Come on Kazu-kun, warm me up!" Then, when she'd finally been able to tear herself away from the heater, she'd headed for the bathroom, turning on every heater she came across along the way. With an almost grim determination, she'd grabbed her lingerie again, then gone into the bathroom and locked the door.
Her hair was a complete and utter mess, and she realized that two flights through the atmosphere at high speed hadn't done it any favors. Three minutes later, her hair was back to normal, she was back in the lingerie, and she was FREEZING! Really, if she ran her hand along Kazuma's jawline like this, he'd probably just yell out in shock. She quickly went to her closet and looked for a sweater. The first one she found was a charcoal colored number that Cougar had gotten her last Christmas, and that she hardly ever wore, because it was really too big for her. But right now, that was a good thing. She put it on, pulled her hands up into the sleeves, and headed back to the bathroom.
That was when she got another glimpse of herself in the mirror, but this time she thought, 'Hey, not bad.' There were a lot of extra folds and creases in the sweater as it did its best to hug a form that was smaller than it had been designed for, but somehow, the sweater did succeed in hugging that form. Kanami also noticed that the sweater hung down a little bit past the bottom of her butt, then there were several inches of bare skin, before the semi-transparent black nylon that covered her legs ended mid-thigh. 'That's actually...' She moved back and forth in front of the mirror, 'pretty good. Well, go with what works.'
So, she'd taken off everything else under the sweater, and now sat in the middle recliner downstairs, awaiting Kazuma's return. He'd been gone for close to a half hour now, longer than should have been necessary. Kanami had started trying to read a book she'd been working on, but was finding it hard to concentrate, partly because she was worried about Kazuma, partly because the sensation of not wearing any underwear was a new one to her. It was almost nine thirty now.
Suddenly, the front door banged open, and she could hear Kazuma stomp inside. He closed it more softly, then started to take his coat off as he came into the living room. The coat, as well as his pants, was fairly covered with mud. "What happened?" Kanami gasped.
"It was stolen!" Kazuma groaned. "During the maybe forty minutes we left it unattended, some drunken teenagers jacked it. You can probably tell, they didn't want to pull over, either. I think it's safe to say, I'm gonna have to buy this tux." He complained.
"Would that be so terrible?" Kanami raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, you're just loving this, aren't you?" Kazuma half-heartedly complained as he tossed his jacket over by the side door. "But Cougar's gonna be royally..." He trailed off as his eyes finally focused on Kanami. "Uh, Kanami..." That adorable blush colored his face again. "When you changed clothes, did you maybe forget something?"
"Nope." She stood up and stretched her arms out a bit, causing the bottom of the sweater to rise up maybe half an inch higher. Kanami was careful not to stretch her arms up too much though, because she didn't have much leeway between flashing a little more leg and flashing everything. She didn't feel ready for that quite yet. "You like?"
"Well, 'like' hardly does it justice." Kazuma grinned.
Kanami grinned right back. He had gone from angry to happy and astonished in about three seconds, and it was clearly because of her. "I'm glad. Well come on, let's get you out of those muddy clothes." She started heading for the stairs. She had hoped Kazuma would follow close behind, but instead he went into the kitchen first and took his muddy shoes off. Oh well, his loss. She turned the heater on in his room and was sitting on his bed when he got up there. He came into the room a few seconds later, peeling off the clearly damp outermost layer of the tux. Still in a neatly buttoned vest, with buttoned shirt and tie below that, he obviously had a ways to go. "You know, you really do give off a James Bond vibe in those clothes." She told him. "Not that I've seen a whole lot of those movies."
"Oh no? Which ones have you seen?" Kazuma asked, loosening the tie.
"Mainly the originals from the '60s, with Sean Connery." She answered.
"Well, those are the best ones." He smiled. "Though most of the six Daniel Craig did are pretty awesome too." He got the vest off, then started unbuttoning the shirt. "Uh, Kanami..." He turned to look at her, slowly. "You really don't need to be here for this..."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do you WANT me to leave?"
Kazuma frowned. "Why am I getting a vibe that that's a dangerous question for me to answer?"
"I don't know, because the right answer is NO, you doofus." She folded her arms.
"All right, no then." He continued unbuttoning the shirt, revealing a white undershirt beneath. Then he turned around as he took the muddy pants off, revealing striped boxers beneath. No, Kanami realized they were actually those boxer-brief combination things. "Kanami, you know I enjoy your teasing, but I really think-"
"You know Kazu-kun," she interrupted him, "sometimes you think too much, no matter what everyone else says about you." She very carefully laid down on her stomach, making sure to keep the sweater pulled down as far as it would go, which was really not very far. "Now, how do you feel about the idea of rubbing my back?"
"Nervous." Kazuma answered honestly. "But in a good way, I admit." He quickly added. Kanami scooted over a little on the bed, and he sat down on the edge next to her. He tentatively put his hands on her shoulders, and began rubbing gently, slowly working his way down her back.
"Ooh, that's very nice." Kanami said, and meant it. She could hear the wind howling outside, but in here was just the soft whir of the heater, the rhythm of Kazuma's breathing, and the even softer sound of Kazuma's hands moving against the fabric of her sweater. Kanami let out a soft sigh, hardly feeling nervous at all now. "You know, you left me standing outside without my keys, but I've already totally forgiven you."
"I did? How'd you get inside then?" Kazuma wondered, softly kneading her lower back now.
"I had to dig up the fake rock with the spare." She let out a sigh.
"You actually FOUND that?" He sounded amazed. "Without catching frostbite?"
"You tell me." She held out her left hand, and he took hold of it with both of his.
"Whoah, your hands are freezing!" He observed.
"Yes, but you're warming me up nicely, Kazu-kun." She smiled at him.
'Whoah.' Kazuma quickly broke eye contact and went back to rubbing her back. His heartbeat had suddenly started to rise, and it wasn't the only thing.
"How about getting your hands underneath the sweater?" Kanami suggested. She knew that there was no way Kazuma was likely to do this without finding out she wasn't wearing anything BUT the sweater, and made sure to keep her eyes on his face. He was already blushing, but she was sure that blush was about to get even more red. However, when Kazuma actually tugged the edge of the sweater up a little, Kanami found herself reflexively closing her eyes.
Kazuma did manage to get his hands to her lower back without making contact with anything else. What Kanami hadn't counted on was the knuckle guards on Kazuma's glove dragging the sweater along with it. She could feel the cool air of the room on her bare butt, and she could practically feel Kazuma's gaze locked on it at well. "Damn..." She heard him whisper under his breath, as his hands left her back. For a moment she could sense, maybe due to a change in the air current, one of his hands hovering just above, but not quite on, her left cheek. But then, he yanked the hand away, and she felt the sweater being pulled back down. "Kanami..." His voice had a strange quality to it. "Look, I have to warn you... If I keep giving you a massage like this, it's going to turn into a lot more than just a massage."
"That's... pretty much what I was going for." She admitted. Now, she sat up beside him on the bed, looking into his eyes. "So I have to wonder, how did you just manage to make it sound like such a bad thing?"
"Kanami, don't you think it's a little bit early for this?" He asked bluntly.
Kanami thought for a second. "Kazu-kun, that's not the first time lately you've asked me something like that, and I keep saying no. I think you need to ask yourself, what's holding YOU back?"
Kazuma cocked his head a bit, clearly not having thought about it that way. "I don't know. I guess..." He thought about it for a few seconds. "I don't deserve you." He finally whispered.
"Is that all it is?" She let out a sigh of relief. "Here I was worried that you were still hung up on protecting me from yourself."
"Well, that too." He admitted, staring at the floor.
"Kazu-kun..." She ran her hand along his jaw again, forcing him to look at her. "Love isn't about who DESERVES it. It's about who wants who, and I want you."
"And I want you, too." He smiled softly.
"Then why are we borderline-arguing?" She wondered. "Instead of doing something much more enjoyable?"
"Well..." Kazuma scratched the back of his head. "I guess this isn't how I pictured it happening, either."
"Oh? How DID you picture it happening?" She smiled.
"I dunno, I guess I figured you'd be mad at me about something, and I'd try to make it better by cooking a special dinner... But then I'd manage to set the kitchen on fire, and you'd come downstairs to see me using the fire extinguisher, and I dunno... your heart would melt at the sight of me being such an idiot, or something..." Kazuma shrugged.
"Wow, that was pretty involved." Kanami raised an eyebrow. "If you want to get me mad, continuing to question my love for you would probably be a good way to go about it." She smiled. "Although, in the past two days, you've come rushing to my rescue AND taken me up into space, so I still probably won't get mad for a while." Kazuma chuckled, then, to Kanami's amazement, began to loosen his glove. "Whoah, now THIS is a moment." Kanami observed. "Are you sure you're ready for THAT?"
"I'm sure." Kazuma nodded. "Those knuckle guards wouldn't feel pleasant for either of us." He yanked the glove off and let it fall to the floor, frowning at the back of his right hand. Kanami regarded it with curiousity as well, and saw a tattoo there that seemed to be a jagged spiral.
"What... is that?" Kanami wondered.
"Nothing that matters anymore." The smile returned to his face. "It's just a memento of the past, that I'd rather forget."
"But-" Kanami started to ask another question, but Kazuma snaked his right arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. She had already forgotten about it by the time their lips parted. "Kazu-kun..."
"Kanami." He smiled softly. "Do you think you could do me one favor?" He whispered.
"I imagine so." She laid back down on the bed, and Kazuma followed her down, resting his weight on his elbows.
"Stop calling me by that stupid nickname!" He laughed, and Kanami looked surprised. "At least while we're in bed together..."
"All right then." She giggled. "Kazuma..."
The sound of Kanami's sultry voice whispering his ACTUAL name was all the incentive Kazuma needed, and he found his hands inching their way under her sweater again. "Kanami..."
.
At some point later in the night, Kazuma found himself staring up at the dark ceiling, Kanami using his chest as a pillow again, apparently asleep. He had no idea exactly how much later it was, as the clock had been knocked to the floor behind his nightstand, but he knew it was long enough that he was justified in feeling proud of himself. He had turned the light out a while ago, wanting Cougar to assume they were asleep when he got home.
On that thought, Kazuma heard the front door opening, followed by the sound of Cougar and Melissa talking. He felt Kanami stirring a little against his torso. "Mmm..." She let out a happy groan. "Did you like your present, Kazu-kun?" She asked, sounding like she was still mostly asleep.
Kazuma squeezed her shoulder, where his left hand was resting. "You knew just what I wanted."