Winds of Destiny: Rising

Chapter Sixteen: Tailspin

*WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME SEXUAL CONTENT. READER DISCRETION ADVISED*

Misaki entered the President's office with her tablet in hand, closing the door behind her before announcing, "I have a new report from Hawks."

The President rose from her desk and walked over to the meeting area where Misaki was setting up the television to mirror her tablet. "Fill me in."

A pyramid diagram with several names and faces filled the television screen and Misaki explained, "He's laid out the hierarchy of the Paranormal Liberation Front."

She zoomed in on the top of the pyramid. "There are four main regiments, led by Shigaraki as a grand commander, of sorts. I expect with him being absent that he's left one or two of his lieutenants in charge of their main base of operations, most likely the former leader of the Meta Liberation Front, Re-Destro, and one other as an assistant. Possibly Skeptic or Trumpet."

The President nodded to her to continue.

She zoomed out on the top of the pyramid and focused in on the middle section. "Within the four regiments, there are seven lieutenants, each with three assistants under their command. It's likely that the League members have been paired with the Meta Liberation leaders to even out the authority of each branch."

She hadn't had very much to go on from Hawks's descriptions. A lot of what she'd put together was inferred from the numbers he'd given her and what he'd used them in reference to throughout his report. She knew all of the current members of the League, and the recording Hawks had slipped her after their first dinner meeting had filled in the names of the Liberation leaders. They'd been able to use voice recognition to match several of them to recordings on the internet, giving them real names to go with their code names. She couldn't say yet for sure who was running which regiment, but she expected that information would be revealed at some point during the next few weeks; once he'd discovered most of the important information, such as the rest of the base locations and the members on hand at each of them.

The image of the pyramid shifted on the screen to focus on the lower portion as Misaki continued, "Given what we already know about the bases we're already aware of, we can deduce that each assistant is likely in charge of overseeing one of them. That would mean that there are at least twenty-one bases, not including the main headquarters at Gunga Mountain. Figuring out where the rest of them are located and who is on staff at each of them is the next task on Hawks's agenda."

The President nodded somberly before asking, "Do you know yet if they've taken the bait with the book?"

Misaki turned off the television and canceled the mirroring on her tablet before turning toward her and nodding. "He mentioned it when we parted. I think they're on the line."

The President inclined her head approvingly. "Good. We'll make sure to have a list of dummy ops ready by this time next week."

She involuntarily dropped her eyes at the President's mention of next week before nodding again in an affirmative response.

"Are you having second thoughts?" The woman asked, clearly having noticed her sudden uneasiness.

Misaki looked up, clutching her tablet to her chest as she shook her head. "No, not at all."

"But next week is Valentine's Day," the President inferred with a knowing tone.

Misaki swallowed uncomfortably and dropped her eyes again, trailing off, "Yeah..."

The President held out her hand and gestured for her to sit, following suit on the other side of the couch as she asked, "How are you doing?"

"Are you asking me personally or professionally?" Misaki asked, keeping her eyes downcast.

"Both, really. This method of espionage is delicate. It's difficult not to get too involved — emotionally," the President's tone was calculating as she spoke.

Misaki considered telling her about the little ice cream detour Hawks had led her on, but she held her tongue. She didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill, especially if it had just been a spur-of-the-moment occurrence. When she'd been able to objectively analyze the situation afterward, she'd become more confident in her inference that it had all been part of the act; to give whoever was watching them the impression that they were getting closer so that she might come to trust him more. Although, that rationalization hadn't made the situation any easier to reflect on after the fact.

She cleared her throat before answering, "In the beginning, I admit, I struggled considering the wisdom behind involving myself with him like this. I wasn't sure if I would be able to separate my feelings from the act."

"Could you?" The President asked, tilting her head to the side inquisitively.

She finally looked up and met the woman's gaze. "It was surprisingly easy to make the distinction. When he came onto me the first time, he did it in a way he knew I wouldn't normally respond to. Since then, it's gotten more comfortable, I guess. Kind of like we've fallen back into just being good friends."

The President offered her a sympathetic look. "That must be hard to reconcile."

Misaki's brow drew together and she looked away as she said, "It helps, actually. I can focus more on the act than whatever lingering feelings might be involved. I know he's doing it on purpose. To maintain a sense of distance."

"I'm sure that doesn't make it any less difficult," the other woman's low, even-toned voice uttered considerately.

The corners of Misaki's lips lifted in a small, despairing smile as she turned her head toward the President and said, "I never thought it was going to be easy."

She rose from the couch, clutching her tablet in both hands, and bowed to the woman before turning to walk out of the office. Somehow, the President's sympathetic words were just making her more melancholy about the situation. She didn't really need a shoulder to cry on, it was just a job. Granted, going on dates with her ex-boyfriend with the intention of passing coded messages back and forth was a bit of an unconventional task, but she could handle it. Now if she could just make it through the next two months without any more ice cream detours, everything would be perfectly fine.

Misaki jumped and looked up sharply as a shadow passed over her computer screen. She gasped and pulled the earbuds from her ears at the sight of a familiar pair of keen, golden eyes staring at her over the top of her monitor.

Hawks shot her a crooked grin and asked, "Workin' late?"

She dropped her eyes to her phone sitting in the charger next to her monitor as she asked, "Did I miss your message?"

He stepped around to her side of the desk, leaning back against the edge and crossing his arms. He turned his head to stare down at her as he said, "Nah. I had a job finish up early so I thought I'd drop in to see ya."

She blinked up at him. "Early? It's almost nine pm."

"Hence my previous question," he quipped, tilting his head to the side, and cocking a wry grin in her direction.

"I guess I didn't realize how late it was," she somewhat sheepishly commented, sliding her gaze toward her computer monitors where she'd been focusing on coding her geographic analysis profiles.

It had been a while since she'd had any time to work on them. She'd been recently focusing more on her work decoding the correspondence from Hawks and her research into the Nomu. Apparently, she'd gotten a little too focused. Her stomach suddenly let out a loud growl to remind her that she hadn't eaten anything since lunch.

Hawks barked out a laugh. "Looks like I showed up at just the right time! Let's go get you something to eat, huh?"

Misaki stood and reached for her coat and bag, trying unsuccessfully to hide her faint blush of embarrassment as she slid her arms into her coat while offhandedly asking, "Is there even anything open this late?"

He shrugged, dropping his hands into his pockets as he followed her out of her office. "I know a couple of places. You have any preferences?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Just as long as it's not too heavy..."

"How do you feel about sushi?" He asked as they made their way toward the elevator.

She cringed slightly as she hesitantly asked, "You're not thinking chain sushi, are you?"

He let out a short laugh as he reached for the button to call the elevator. "Don't worry! I know a good place around here that's open late."

Hawks held open the door for her to exit the building ahead of him after they'd stepped off of the elevator and made their way across the practically empty lobby. She shivered as a particularly frigid gust of wind blew across her unprotected face and she reached up to raise her scarf up around her cheeks just as Hawks stepped up to her side and spread his wing out around her to block the wind.

"Better?" He asked, glancing down at her from the corner of his eye behind his visor.

She slid her gaze to the side to meet his as she asked, "Are you sure this is alright? People might get the wrong idea."

He turned his head toward her, cocking it to the side a bit as he asked, "What idea would that be?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, her tone a bit dry when she replied, "That you and I are more than just acquaintances who occasionally have dinner together."

He tilted his head back onto his shoulders as he leaned back and said, "What? Is that all? I thought we were at least friends by now."

"Friends?" She scoffed. "All we do is eat together sometimes and talk about work. I'd hardly call that friendship."

Hawks stopped walking all of a sudden. "You know what? You're right. Change of plans."

"What?" Misaki asked, turning around to look back at him in curiosity.

She watched him pull a coin out of his pocket and flip it into the air. When he caught it, he flipped it over onto the back of his other hand and looked down at it before announcing, "Heads it is."

She blinked and shook her head in confusion as she asked, "What does that mean?"

He looked up at her with a mischievous grin and said, "Let's go have some fun."

"Wait—!" Her eyes widened as he reached out and grabbed her hand, cutting off her protest as he pulled her into his arms a moment before he took flight.

"But I'm hungry!" She complained, holding her hands over her ears to ward against the bitter, winter air whipping past them as he flew.

"They have food there, don't worry!" He called out to her.

"They have food where?" She grumbled, keeping her mouth shut as much as possible while they were in the air.

It was way too cold for her to try to talk to him while he was flying so fast. She knew he was probably doing so in order to get them to their destination faster, which she appreciated, even though she had no idea where they were going. He dropped down out of the sky a few seconds later and released her to rest her feet back on solid ground. She stepped back from him and turned her head to look up at the sign on the outside of the building they were standing next to.

Her expression fell at the sight of the neon-lit karaoke sign and she said, "You're kidding."

"After you." He smirked as he held out his hand toward the door leading into the karaoke bar.

She grimaced at him as she reluctantly walked toward the building and grumbled, "Do I even wanna know what tails would have been?"

He pulled the handle of the door to open it for her as he said, "We'll save that for next time."

She rolled her eyes before walking in ahead of him. "There might not be a next time after you hear me sing..."

He chuckled as he followed after her and said, "The point of going to a karaoke bar is not to impress people with your singing. Just relax and have fun with it. Trust me! The worse you are the better it is!"

She just shook her head and sighed.

They walked out of the karaoke bar shoulder to shoulder almost two hours later. Hawks tilted his head back and wrapped his arms around his sides as he laughed out loud. "I've never heard someone who was so incredibly tone-deaf singing with so much enthusiasm before! That was great!"

Misaki giggled into the back of her hand before agreeing, "You're not kidding. I thought I was a terrible singer, but man... That guy really put me to shame."

"What terrible singer?" He scoffed, glancing over at her from the side. "After you loosened up a bit you sounded great!"

She ducked her head and smiled, leaning over to knock her shoulder against his as she said, "You weren't too shabby yourself. Thanks for bringing me here. I had fun."

He stepped out ahead and turned to face her, tilting his head to the side as he asked, "So now that we've had an evening out without talking about work, is it safe to call us friends instead of acquaintances?"

She stared at him for a long moment before a small smile tugged at the edges of her lips and she held out her hand to him. "Yeah, alright. Friends."

He grinned back at her as he reached out to take it, just as a booming clap of thunder sounded out from the sky above and heavy, freezing rain suddenly began to pour down over them.

Misaki gasped and immediately lifted her bag up to cover her head. Hawks tightly gripped her hand and pulled her toward him, covering their heads with his wings and quickly moving out of the way of the people running down the street looking for shelter. He stepped into the mouth of the alley next to the karaoke bar and leaned back against the wall, holding Misaki flush against him. She pulled back a little to look up at him and he stared down at her, entranced, as he raised a gloved hand to deftly brush a stray strand of wet hair off her forehead and tuck it behind her ear. He slid his hand down to cup her cheek and she leaned into his touch, sliding her cherry blossom eyes closed as a small sigh escaped her.

His face contorted with longing as he stared down at her and an almost wanton sigh left his lips in the form of her name. She slowly opened her eyes and gazed up at him alluringly from behind hooded lids. He could feel her heart pounding in her chest, its elevated cadence nearly matching his own. The visible steam from their hot, slightly panting breaths mingled between them in the cold, February air as they stood there and stared into each other's eyes in heady anticipation. He wasn't sure if he was leaning in or if she was, but by the time their lips were no more than a hairsbreadth apart, he'd stopped caring, and he swiftly closed the rest of the distance between them to press his lips against hers.

Time slowed to a crawl for what seemed like an eternity before exploding into a frenzy in the next instant.

He pressed a hand against the small of her back to tightly hold her against him as he slid the hand he'd been resting against her cheek back to delve into her hair, cradling her head while he moved his lips over hers with almost bruising intensity. She flicked her tongue out to tease his upper lip and he shivered with barely contained lust as he eagerly parted them for her, rolling his tongue over hers as it slid inside. Her appreciative moan vibrated around his mouth as her arms rose to wrap around his shoulders, bringing their scorching bodies dangerously close together. Hawks felt his feathers ruffle when he shuddered, and he immediately dropped his hand from the small of her back to grip her behind. Her body undulated in response, pressing all of her sinful curves against him, and he was forced to abruptly pull his mouth away from hers to draw in a deep, ragged breath.

Holy fucking hell he deserved a damn medal for the tremendous amount of effort he'd just put into pumping the breaks on that kiss instead of flooring it like he'd wanted to. Swallowing heavily, he lifted his hand from her backside to grip her hip and push her slightly away from him, sliding his other hand out of her hair at the same time to rest against her shoulder as he leaned back as far as he could into the brick wall behind him. He was already half-hard from just one kiss; having her pressed so tightly against him wasn't going to help him regain any control over his rampaging libido at the moment. Misaki slid her hands back to cup around the sides of his neck and rested her forehead against his, pulling the edge of her bottom lip between her teeth before letting out a breathy moan.

He nearly lost all reason.

Luckily for him, the rain had begun to let up enough by that point that people had stopped making a mad dash for cover. Expending a monumental amount of effort, Hawks removed his hands from her hip and shoulder and relaxed his wings back from over their heads.

She stepped back out of his embrace and ducked her head as she reached up to tuck an errant strand of wet hair behind her ear, looking up at him demurely and telling him, "Thanks."

Heaven help him if she didn't stop looking at him like that. He was already half a heartbeat away from pulling her back into his arms and flying them off somewhere to—

Hawks cleared his throat, reaching up to rub the back of his neck and shoving his other hand into his pants pocket as he looked away and somewhat uncomfortably replied, "You're welcome."

"Well, I should head home. It's pretty late," Misaki said while timidly looking out toward the street.

He cringed a bit at the suddenly awkward atmosphere hanging in the air between them and looked down, agreeing, "Yeah. I should probably be getting back too."

She nodded, raising her arms to clutch her bag to her chest as she offered him a tight smile and said, "See you next time."

"Yeah... Next time." He trailed off, his sharp eyes gazing after her as she walked out of the alleyway and hailed a cab on the street. He never took his eyes off of her as she slid into the back seat until the cab had driven completely out of sight. Leaning back, he knocked his head against the brick wall behind him a couple of times before spreading his wings and swiftly taking flight.

Hawks returned to his room at the Liberation Villa in record time and immediately headed for the shower, stripping off his clothes as he walked. He turned the water on as hot as it would go and waited impatiently for the steam to steadily begin filling the room, fogging up the lenses on the micro-cameras affixed to his wings. He dropped his forehead with a thud against the tile wall, thinking back to the kiss he'd just shared with Misaki in the rain outside the karaoke bar.

"Idiot!" He cursed himself under his breath, banging his head against the wall again.

How could he have let himself get so carried away in the moment? He'd been so careful to maintain a safe level of distance in his interactions with her. He didn't want it to seem like he was getting serious or developing feelings for her. He couldn't afford to let the Liberation Front think she was anything more to him than a convenient information source. But at the same time, he had to keep up the appearance that he was interested in having a more personal relationship with her, in the hopes that she'd be comfortable enough to share sensitive information with him about Commission business; or so he wanted them to believe.

It had been a huge mistake, taking her to that karaoke bar. He hadn't taken into consideration how dangerous it was for them to be alone together in an intimate setting. The original idea had been to get her to loosen up a bit and give them the impression that she was opening up to him more. That plan had worked a little too well. All she'd had to do was flash him one genuine little smile and he'd thrown all sense of reason right out the window. His only saving grace was that the heavy rain had likely blocked the cameras from recording his momentary lapse in sanity when he'd kissed her.

Ugh... It had felt just like coming home.

The way she'd fit in his arms, her soft and supple curves melding against him in perfect symmetry born of familiarity. He could still taste her on his tongue, and he felt his body begin to respond to the vivid memory. His quickened heart rate sent a rush of blood to his lower extremities and he felt himself harden almost instantly. He lifted his arm to lean against the wall while his other hand drifted down to wrap around his pulsing shaft.

He consciously let his mind wander, not for the first time since he'd broken up with her at the end of September. Standing in the shower, he was reminded of one of the last times they'd been intimate in the bathroom at his apartment. He'd carried her in there after she'd complained about needing to clean herself up, teasing him with the sight of their combined release slicked over her slender fingers. He'd done a bit of teasing of his own, courtesy of the handheld showerhead, before lifting her up and taking her against the wall.

He could still hear the sounds of her breathy moans and panting sighs reverberating off the tile walls; still feel her hands running up his back to dig her fingernails into his shoulders. A flash of heat raced down his spine and he shuddered, swiftly upping the pace of his strokes. He could already feel the tensing in his scrotum signaling his imminent release, and he gritted his teeth as he leaned forward to rest his head against his arm. In his mind's eye, he stared deeply into Misaki's hooded, pleasure-filled gaze, letting out a trembling sigh as his release began shooting out to coat the wall of the shower in front of him.

Hawks let out a despondent groan, pushing himself away from the wall to stand up straight as he deftly worked out the last few drops of semen, letting the water wash it all down the drain, along with all of his guilt and shame.

Misaki walked through the doorway into her apartment and swiftly shut the door behind her. She reached down to flip the lock, dropping her wet bag onto the floor at her feet before turning to lean back against the door. Squeezing her eyes shut, she lifted her hands to cover her face and let out a disparaging moan, knocking her head back against the metal surface before sliding down to sit on the ground next to her bag.

"Stupid! What were you thinking?" She berated herself as she knocked her head back against the door again.

She hadn't been thinking – that was the problem. She'd let her feelings take control of her in the moment. She had been sliding down a slippery slope ever since their ice cream detour and any sort of reasoning she'd been using to try to comfort herself with had been completely blown away by that kiss. Clearly, she was not able to keep her feelings separate from the job, as she had told the President, and had apparently, mistakenly, convinced herself that she could.

'Ugh, how could you have been so stupid?!'

How many times had she warned herself not to let him get that close to her again? To allow him to drag her into his pace and distract her from the real reason they were even going on these "dates" at all. At least it had appeared from his reaction that she hadn't been the only one feeling guilty about their sudden lapse in judgment when they'd parted ways at the karaoke bar. Not that it really mattered at this point; the damage had already been done.

Misaki lifted herself from the floor, kicking off her shoes and sliding her wet coat off her shoulders to fall in a heap onto the floor behind her. She sulkily stalked toward the bathroom, her sullen eyes staring unfocused ahead of her as she stripped off her clothes while she walked. Tossing her wet garments into the laundry basket next to the washer and dryer, she slid open the bathroom door and trudged inside. Making her way over to the bathtub, she reached out and flipped the handles to turn on the faucet, plugging the drain to let the porcelain soaker begin filling with water.

While that was happening, she walked over to the shower and began washing her hair, concentrating on the monotonous actions involved in the familiar process instead of the kiss that kept persistently playing over and over again in her head. By the time she'd rinsed all of the soap from her hair and body, the tub had sufficiently filled with water. She turned off the faucet and sank down into the steaming liquid with a deep sigh of relief, letting the warmth seep in and relax her tense muscles. It wasn't long before the sense of comfort wrapped her in a swath of contentment and dropped her guard against the memories she'd been trying to avoid since she'd arrived back at her apartment.

It started as a whisper of sensation across the skin of her lips, which parted to draw in a slow, deep breath. Her chest rose, sending the water rippling around her neck and shoulders, and her eyes began to drift closed as her memory reminded her of the touch of Hawks's hand cradling her head while he'd kissed her. She thickly swallowed, the feeling of her tongue pressing against the roof of her mouth calling forth the sensation of his tongue sliding over hers and licking at the inside of her gums.

Misaki let out a deep, involuntary moan.

Her head listed to the side against the lip of the tub as her hands began to wander over her stomach. The memory of how it felt to have his warm body pressed so tightly against her once again wrapped around her senses as every ripple of the water caressed her skin like the hands of a lover. She began to softly pant as she let herself drown in the sensation, trailing a hand over her abdomen and inner thighs as the other drifted upward to gently circle her fingertips over one hardening nipple. She opened her mouth and let out a breathy sigh when her fingers deftly drifted over her lower abdomen, sending a warm wave of pleasure cascading through her loins. Biting the edge of her lower lip, Misaki tightened her fingers around the edges of her nipple and harshly pinched the rosy tip between them.

She sucked in a sharp gasp, tilting her head back and sliding her fingers up the inside of her inner thigh to begin gently caressing her bud. The memory of his hand gripping her behind flashed through her mind and she rolled her hips, applying a bit more pressure to the finger circling her clit. She arched her back and her mouth fell open to release a breathy moan as her other hand drifted down between her legs to run her fingers over her folds and tease the edge of her entrance, slickened by more than just the warm bath water at this point.

The familiar feeling of frustration that usually signaled her to up the pace stilled her hands. She cracked her eyes open and stared up at the ceiling above the bathtub, letting her arms relax and pull her hands away from her core. A sudden feeling of overwhelming emptiness engulfed her, and she drew in a shuddering breath as tears swiftly began to collect in the corners of her bright, cherry blossom colored eyes. All of her denial, all of the pretty lies she'd been telling to convince herself that she was moving past her grief over their breakup, vanished as if blown away by the wind.

Her hands rose to cover her face as she slid her eyes closed and let the tears fall. It had all just been one massive distraction. Accepting the promotion and developing the profiling algorithms had taken up so much of her cognitive mind that she hadn't left herself any room to dwell on her memories of Hawks. Reaching out to help Eri had filled the hole in her heart that the lack of his affection and companionship had left behind. Redecorating her apartment, changing her clothing style – she thought she had done all of that as a way of breaking out of the cocoon of her grief, in order to become who she really wanted to be; but she'd just been running away from who she'd been when she was with him.

'How much of an idiot can you be, Misaki?' She berated herself as she knocked her head back against the edge of the tub.

She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh to calm her racing mind. All of those things had become something meaningful to her as well, regardless of her subconscious intentions in seeking them out. The only way that she could take responsibility for her unintended consequences was to accept all of her reasoning behind creating them. She had to stop ignoring her pain and let herself feel it, or she was just going to end up repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Although now that she'd realized her mistake, she also had to accept that she was going to have to live with the consequences of getting personally involved in Hawks's covert assignment.

"This was such a bad idea..." She groaned behind her hands as she slipped down underneath the water, silently wishing the drain would open up and wash her and her troubles far, far away.

~ Author's Note ~

THE TENSION! THE SUSPENSE! THE ANGST! 😩 For everyone who silently screamed, "JUST KISS ALREADY!" Well, here you go. Bitter or sweet, spicy or salty, tart or bland-no wait, forget that last one (seriously though-why are these analogies all taste themed?😂) ANYway! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always, thank you so so SO very much for reading! Till next week! 😘

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