Disclaimer: The usual. Kozue Amano made Aria and Aqua and all characters encompassing.
XCVIII. Wind
Sometimes when she is rowing out on the ocean and the wind blows across the waterscape, she imagines its Akatsuki instead. He's the one helping to create the elements of the planet after all, so she's sure that some of his essence is mixed in.
She imagines him there, racing with her as she speeds across the ocean backwards. Or when she just lets her boat sit and she waits, she can imagine him there talking to her in whispers and laughing with her, teasing her hair like he usually does and giving her face gentle kisses that keep her cool from summer's heat.
She blushes a little and laughs to herself, thankful there's no one else with her to share in her slight embarrassment as she goes through these little fancies. As she ties up her boat in front of the house she shares with her husband, a door on the second floor balcony opens.
"Oy! You're home Momiko!"
She looks up and sees him smiling, a little bit of wind whipping through his hair and coat. She just grins up at him in a loving way and says "Hahi!".
XCIX. Daybreak
She usually wakes up earlier than he did, and it didn't take long to figure out some way to work with her schedule. But once in a while, he wakes up at 6:00am and finds her already gone. This being one of the stranger things she does, he asks why and she says she goes out rowing. He doesn't understand, so she explains herself.
It's almost like there's a painting forming in his mind as she tells him about it. The sun barely peeking over the horizon, shattering the night sky and spilling forth various oranges and pinks, dusting the clouds with light. Not a soul in sight, not a sound to be heard. It was just her and her gondola. The ocean was hers to tame, hers to claim first as she spread ripples across its surface. One of the only human beings to have Neo-Venezia to herself, she was master of it until everyone else woke up. There was the most indescribable excitement in realizing that one thing, she explained; being the only one to know what things looked like while everyone still dreamt.
Regardless of his love for sleep, he can't help but want to join her.
C. Pride Goeth Before A Fall
The phrase "pride cometh before a fall" came into play perfectly when he was pursuing Alicia. He had a lot of confidence and pride in himself, so sure that his plans would work, only to stutter whenever he was around her. Complimenting her was nearly impossible, because his face would get so red that it would literally block up his brain.
But the phrase altered to "pride goeth before a fall" when dealing with Akari. Before considering her as someone he liked, he'd had no problem talking to her and sifting through what he felt. Well, mostly anyway. After he started realizing he liked her though, what confidence should have been there was completely shattered. It had him second-guessing everything she said, trying to figure out whether she meant something in a friendly manner or in a manner that suggested she felt something for him. He was bending over backwards trying to decipher her words!
He kept wondering why it hadn't been this hard with Alicia, until the day he realized he'd fallen in love with Momiko.
CI. "This Could Be My Moment"
"This could be a big moment," she thinks as she looks at her husband, who is currently lazing in a chair outside, going over a schedule for his work. "This could be a moment that completely falls and doesn't make it. This could be a moment that means everything or nothing. Things will ever be the same again. It's so exciting, but so scary." She looks down at her stomach, placing two hands over it gingerly. Then she looks back up at her husband, who is oblivious because he's concentrating on not messing up the work schedule his trainees will need. "This will be a moment where he won't know what to think and I won't know what to think either. This could be my moment though. No...this IS my moment."
And the next few moments seem to stretch on forever when she opens her mouth to speak, and he stares, and then sweeps her up in a hug so tight and affectionate that she doesn't even have time to think about the tears of relief and happiness that escape her eyes afterward.
I am so late on this but I posted "Death of a Gondola" up a while back. If you'd like to, go ahead and check it out!
So, I'm thinking that I will officially end Acqua e Cielo at Capitolo Trenta/Chapter 30 (or sooner if it comes to that). As much as I like writing all this fluff, I'm afraid if it goes on any longer I won't be able to come up with anything else and that it will start sounding repetitive, even while in Akari mode.
Not much else to say other than that I apologize for the short length of this vignette. XD Your suggestions are still welcome if you have any! Oh, and I figured that "Hill of Hope" needed some sort of prologue, so I wrote "This Could Be My Moment" just for that. (Sorry if "Hill of Hope" wasn't too clear. ^^;)
Special thanks to talkstoangels77 for the review on the previous chapter. Also, thank you talkstoangels77 for the suggestion "Pride Goeth Before A Fall", and Dr. Nusakan for the suggestion "This Could Be My Moment".
Hope you guys had an awesome and yummy Thanksgiving (if that is your custom), and I hope you enjoyed reading these! ^U^