A/N: Thanks Jue (Faith in a bad guy) for all the funny ideas you inspire me
to think of. Everyone else, please R&R, and tell me if you like it.
Chapter Seven Akeeva Tatumashi
Hanna was comfortable with hot water running down her body. She knew she'd probably end up sleeping in Eienno's room again. She felt secure and cozy being as close to him as she was. She put some shampoo in her hand and lathered it into her hair. Her thoughts drifted, 'I wonder what he thought this morning. He must have thought I was someone else. But then again, it's hard to confuse someone with a blue-haired woman. Funny, he wasn't mad at me.' She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and massaged some conditioner into her hair. 'I mean, he actually looked even a little happy that I was there. Must have been my imagination.'
She finished showering and stepped out. She dried herself, and then put her clothes on. She wore a white shirt with flared blue jeans. She pinned her hair into a messy bun and looked at herself in the mirror. She was slightly flushed as it was and decided not to put makeup on. She brushed her teeth, then flossed and walked out of the bathroom.
She found herself wanting to back to Eienno and snuggle in his arms, but ended up going to the kitchen instead. She wasn't really hungry, but she knew if she'd go anywhere else, she'd only think about him.
Karameki noticed that she was red in the cheeks; more so then usual as well. She smiled gently, knowing the reason for it.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking Hanna in the eye. "You were pretty sick last night."
"Yeah," replied Hanna, "I guess it was just a minute flu."
"I suppose." Karameki noticed that she had been sick only after Eienno shooed her. Then this morning, after sleeping in his bed with him, she was beyond fine. Hanna was going to be a hard person for Karameki to figure out. She handed Hanna to plates of food, before anyone else made their way to breakfast.
"You might just want to hurry before people find out where you'd be," said Karameki quietly. "I can totally see that you would die to be with him again."
"How could you tell?" Hanna wondered. "I mean, how did you know that's where I was?"
"You were sick yesterday, so I tried to find you," replied Karameki. "I looked everywhere to find you and low and behold, there you were."
"Oh, I see," said Hanna, looking more confused then she'd ever been before.
"Well, go on, before someone walks in here."
Hanna excused herself and went back to Eienno's room with breakfast in hand. She was aware that she'd have to lay down beside him, just as well as she knew she'd fall asleep again. She opened the door to find Eienno sleeping, as he usually would do, especially since there was nothing else he could do. She just placed both meals on the bed side table and curled up beside him with her head on his shoulder.
He could feel her lay down her wet head on him. He didn't care that it was wet. He appreciated that she was there. He wasn't really awake, he just knew by the feelings of happiness and content that he had. He hadn't ever felt that way, just because someone snuggled with him.
She snuggled closer, realizing that her whole body fit into his shape perfectly. Where her body moved in, his moved out and where her body moved in, hers moved out. She couldn't help but push her body into his more then she already had. He pulled his arm out from beside her and wrapped it around her back. She rested her head on his arm, then reached her arm over his belly, far below his wound.
He couldn't figure out why she felt so comfortable where she was and why he wasn't angry with her. He didn't even have the usual urge to pick on her. He just enjoyed snuggling with her.
The dream he'd had a couple days ago began to haunt him. He never felt this way about Yukkarie and never felt that he could just lay in bed with her. She always cared about something that made talking to her an agonizing experience. It was only recently that she began to listen to him and the only reason for that was that he wasn't there to talk to about anything anytime. It was true.he had only married Yukkarie because she was good in bed.
There was something else with Hanna, though. The way she yelled at him and treated him after knowing him after only a few days. He couldn't figure her out. At one moment, she seemed to care for him and love him.while at other times it was almost like she hated him and wished he was dead. Was it that she didn't know how to deal with whatever she felt for him? Or did she actually and genuinely hate him? He knew that he was beginning to slowly and progressively like her more and more. He dismissed his thoughts with another. He thought about how just being there with her was perfect. She was perfect. She looked peaceful and happy. He too noticed how snug she fit with him. He rested his hand on hers, granting him a small smile from Hanna. He smiled too and for the first time, since his wedding with Yukkarie.
Karameki knew exactly what Hanna and Eienno were feeling about each other at that moment. She smirked triumphantly knowing that she didn't have to do a thing to get them together. She also despised herself for trying to interfere. Cordelia was right though, they were coming together on their own and becoming a very strange relationship. She dismissed the though, remembered that they needed to repair engines and that they were docked with a station to do so. The little something that disturbed her was that she'd have to get Hanna.
She decided though, that she'd once again take charge and pretend that she was the captain of the ship. She took Tomodachi along.
Chikara was getting anxious. He finally got out of his seat at the flight controls and headed to Hanna's door. He knocked on it lightly and then walked in. He found the room to be empty and began to feel slightly suspicious. He looked throughout the shuttle, bathroom, weight room, ladies room, kitchen and dining room, all leaving him slightly angry that she was avoiding him. He peered over at Eienno's door, noticing it suddenly. He crept up to it trying as hard as he could to be quiet. He reacted his hand out to open the door.
Hanna felt a cold chill run down her spine. She didn't know why, but it made her feel insecure.
Eienno felt this and pulled the covers to her neck, covering himself in the process.
Low and behold.
.Chikara stood shocked in the doorway. He starred, unnoticed by both Hanna and Eienno.
As always, Cordelia was mindlessly heading to where the trouble was. She, unlike others, noticed Chikara in the doorway. He looked paralyzed. She walked over to the room with a mischievous look cursing the features of her face. She peered in, lurking above Chikara's shoulder. Her eyes narrowed. She crawled past Chikara, still unseen by anyone. She stood with her hands on her hips.
"Well, well, well," she chided triumphantly. "What do we have here?" She walked over to the bed. "Little Miss Cheat and Major Boner."
Hanna and Eienno's eyes shot open simultaneously. They looked at Cordelia, who loomed tauntingly over them, then at Chikara who looked as though he was going to choke and die on what he saw.
Eienno looked at Hanna, seeing her hurt regret. Knowing why she was feeling the way she was, he looked at Cordelia and Chikara. "Get the fuck out!" he said.
"Not without an explanation or reason why you and Hanna are naked in bed, snuggled right up to each other," she insisted. "And I want my reason now!"
"No," said Eienno, "Get the fuck out!"
Chikara walked into the room and looked down at Hanna.
"We've only been going out for three days and you're already cheating on me." His eyes were saddened.
She frowned at both the intruders, then stood up, revealing that she was fully dressed and that no piece of clothing was out of place or appeared to be disturbed.
Cordelia looked at Eienno; he too was completely dressed. Not even a pant leg out of place.
Chikara felt both sorry and mad. He was jealous that she would cuddle and sleep in the same bed as Eienno, but she wouldn't do the same for him.
'I'm losing it,' thought Hanna. 'It's been almost a week and I'm already hanging out with the guy who annoys me and hates me.'
She stepped off the bed as gently as she could and left the room. Followed closely by Cordelia and Chikara.
Cordelia was the last to leave and shut the door behind her. She headed to the control room and sat alone in her seat. She was slightly embarrassed with herself, for assuming an assuming wrong. What made it even worse was that she'd been rude to not only her Captain, but her highest ranking commander as well. She was never going to forget that and decided here and there to fully mind her own business.
Karameki and Tomodachi were having much better luck. They had found the person they'd talked to, to get them repaired. And were well on their way back to the shuttle to repair everything.
When they got back to the shuttle the person helping them sighed in discover shock. He starred up at name on the shuttle.
"I've heard that name somewhere," he explained.
"What name?" responded Karameki.
"The name of the ship, 'Descents.'" He thought back to when he had heard it. The infamous Meeko-Bei. She had told him that he was going to be the one whom so kindly would join them team, unbeknownst to the general and the shipmates. He was supposed to take the job of a counselor if needed.
Karameki and Tomodachi had never got the chance to look at the name on the shuttle. No one had told them the name and when they were outside the ship, Meeko-Bei had hurried them so much there wasn't the possibility of them seeing. The name had an effect on both Karameki and Tomodachi's points of view about the mission they were on.
"Question," he said suddenly, "Is there any need of a counselor aboard your fair ship?"
Karameki giggled slightly to herself. "No, us" she remarked sarcastically, "we only need a ton of counseling on the rest of our journey. I have a feeling things will get worse too."
"Do you know someone named Meeko-Bei?" he asked.
"Yeah, she's the nosy and compulsive person who told us what we needed to do," said Tomodachi.
"She told me to join you. I have the visual transmission saved if you need proof." He peered at the two women in front of him.
"I think we'll do that," said Karameki for the purpose of security.
The guy led them to the office, where he slid his card through a lock. "Welcome home, Akeeva," said the machine.
"Does anyone else have access to this room?" asked Tomodachi, knowing that he could have broke in and read the message before anyone else could.
"No," he said. "It's exactly like a private residence, just smaller and you use a card with no information about your place on it."
He showed them his key card and entered his apartment. Tomodachi and Karameki both huddled around the card and studied the little bit of information on it. His name was indeed Akeeva Tatumashi and his picture was a perfect match.
They past the card back to him and entered his rather clean apartment. He pushed the button on the computer. A transmission projector shot light onto the opposite wall, revealing a picture of Meeko-Bei.
"Dear Mister Tatumashi, I have an order straight from General Peters himself, saying that you are to attend the top-secret mission to Earth. They will pick you up from the station you are situated in and will not know you. You will know the shuttle by its name. 'Descents' is painted on the side in bold white writing. Please don't refuse as they will need your help.Sorry about the short notice and trouble. Your Assistant General, Meeko-Bei Takatu."
'Annoying woman,' thought Karameki. 'Assuming that Hanna and Eienno would sleep together, what a hag.'
"I think that clears you," said Tomodachi, looking at Karameki.
"Me too," she responded. "So let's go fix the ship so we can go and get this god forsaken job done."
Akeeva wasn't upset or irritated that he was going, he was a little angry he wasn't given the option. He also hated the fact that the rest of the crew was clueless as to him being picked to help them on their journey. He knew that Meeko-Bei had ordered he go, and not the General, and he was completely right about it.
He quickly helped install the engines on the shuttle, making the autopilot better than before. He had designed an autopilot program that would make sure an accident like the one that happened to the ship could be prevented. He explained how it worked as he installed it.
"I'm not going to ask if this is okay," he started, "I'm just going to tell about it, hoping that you will like the idea. This is a program I designed, called Pilot, that is made to either assist a pilot or be pilot during the part of a trip where the atmosphere is too dangerous for the normal autopilot to fly through. For example, the asteroid belt. It obviously did you guys a lot of damage. If you'd had this program in your ship, that wouldn't have happened. It is a program that uses the radar to find something and maneuver the ship to avoid the ship's getting damaged."
"Nice job," said Tomodachi. She continued to disconnect engines and connect their replacements. She noticed Akeeva stare at her for a few seconds, then get back to what he was doing originally. She smiled at him, knowing that his back was turned. He wasn't near as muscular as Eienno was, but he was still better built the most guys.
'Look at that ass,' she thought looking at him. Usually she didn't think things like that about guys, but he was different. Ever since she was a little girl, she would only say or think things that were true. She didn't like the feels she would feel when she was lying.
Karameki noticed Akeeva and Tomodachi absent mindedly flirt with each other. She concluded then, that there was going to be a relationship between Tomodachi and Akeeva a lot of less hatred than was felt between Hanna and Eienno. And of course, a lot less cheating. She remembered that she'd left Hanna, Eienno, Cordelia and Chikara in the shuttle alone. She also realized that Sebastien was too big an idiot to stop everyone from fighting with anyone else. Darn it, he wouldn't even be around to see anything go on.
"Excuse me for a sec, there's someone I need to check on," she explained to the two people she was working with. She left them to continue flirting with each other.
Hanna didn't know whether to cry or laugh. She was sad that Chikara felt she was more of a girlfriend to Eienno then to him. But the face on Cordelia was priceless, especially when she first say Hanna stand up. It was just too funny for Hanna to keep a strait face and she broke into laughter. She was shortly interrupted by the ever jealous Chikara.
"I had a girlfriend, once," he started. "She cheated on me with possibly the most retarded guy imaginable. She ended up getting pregnant by him and dumping me after almost a year of dating him."
"I promise you," reassured Hanna, "I didn't sleep with him at all. I was just keeping him company because he was having nightmares and they seemed to go away when I was there."
"I'm just saying that, I've been a jealous boyfriend ever since. Just so you know." He walked into the hallway again. She stood from her spot on her bed and headed towards him. She pulled him into her room and closed the door behind him. She sat him down on the bed then climbed over to the wall. He sat and watched her like a hawk would watch his next pray. She grabbed his body and dragged it further onto the bed. She lay him down and snuggled into him, just as she had to Eienno a few hours ago.
He was taken aback by her actions. He didn't know what to think, so decided that he would just go with what she was doing and snuggle with her as well.
She didn't feel nearly as comfortable with Chikara as she did with Eienno, she didn't feel secure at all. She knew that unlike Eienno, Chikara would probably jump at the chance to sleep with her. Eienno on the other hand, was a lot more passionate, gentle and respectable then the man whom now held her. She wished she was with him again. She couldn't even picture herself in his room, as Chikara's body was too different from his. He felt awkward and small against her.
She sighed trying hard to hide her need for Eienno to be with her again, and managed to do so well.
Eienno on the other hand, had much more difficultly understanding why she'd left him. He wasn't telling her to go away, he was telling everyone else. He wanted to be healthy again, only for a minute, so he could walk to her room and lay with her again.
All of a sudden, Karameki poked her head in the door. Upon seeing Eienno's disturbance, she brought her whole self into the room and closed the door.
"What's wrong?" she asked, knowing his problem by the absence of his Hanna.
"I guess that Chikara or Cordelia found Hanna in here," he said. He looked at her nervously, he knew she had some sort of know-how about Hanna's actions. "That little bitch, Cordelia thought we had 'slept' together and got Hanna pissed off, then she left."
"I noticed Hanna was missing." She looked at the empty spot on the bed beside him. He hadn't budged a bit so he could have more room. It was almost as if he was expecting her to return. "I'm pretty such she'll be coming back later. Oh, by the way, we have a new person coming aboard in a few minutes. I think you'll like him. He's the exact opposite of Chikara, except nice. He's got more of a brain than Sebastien and I'm pretty sure he'd be one of those people who lift weights to get built."
"Sounds like I'm going to make a new friend," remarked Eienno with partial sarcasm.
"We're almost done fixing the engines," she said, before walking out to go help Tomodachi again. She closed the door softly behind her.
Tomodachi felt like she needed to talk, but didn't know how. She wanted to ask him about his personal life; things like whether he was single or not, his age, his family, his job and other things like that. She finally decided to speak.
"So, is your profession in counseling or engineering?" she asked.
"I'm more into the engineering thing, but I enjoy helping people with their problems," he looked over at her, then back to his work, "I like the feeling that I'm being trusted."
"Um." she froze before asking the question she longed to ask. "I was wondering if you had." she hesitated again, ".what's your marital status?" She finally got it out in one quick phrase.
"Who wants to know?" he teased, looking at her again, just to see an extremely red face.
"Well," she paused again, "Me."
"I'm single."
"Good, me too."
An Awkward silence made Tomodachi's stomach turn. She rolled her eyes in relief when Karameki came back.
"How's everything out here?" she asked, walking in from the corridors.
"We're almost done," answered Akeeva.
"We will probably be able to go in about ten minutes," added Tomodachi.
"Good job, you guys," she sighed happily, "Great job."
They finished before ten minutes even came close to ending and headed to the control room.
When they got there, Sebastien was chuckling evilly to himself and starring at the computer screen.
"Ha," he said, "I just got myself a first impression." He turned the screen so everyone could see the picture of Akeeva's 'back end' face them. He was bent over, looking directly at the unnoticed camera.
Tomodachi let a small giggle escape her lips. She glared at the picture as though she wanted to stop looking.
"I sent it to Meeko-Bei," said Sebastien with a mischievously annoying smirk.
* * *
Meeko-Bei red her e-mails. She laughed giddily when she saw the e-mail entitled, 'We Found Him.' She opened it and found that Sebastien had sent the picture of Akeeva working engines.
She figured that since the e-mail told her they were close to taking off from the station, she'd finally tell the general about her little behind the scenes scam.
She knocked on his office door lightly, then walked in.
"Excuse me, general, but I need to tell you something." She sat down in the middle of the floor as though she was a little kid getting punished for lying. "I ordered another person to be picked up along the way."
"Who?" said the general kindly.
"His name is Akeeva Tatumashi," she informed, "He's an engineer and counselor. I do have a reason for ordering he join them. Because he's an engineer, he can help Tomodachi with her job and because there have already been traumatic problems on the shuttle that need immediate attention from a counselor."
"I trust you," he said quietly, "You don't need to explain yourself. Just next time, ask or at least tell me first, okay?"
She nodded and dismissed herself, leaving the general to think.
'I wonder what's going on out there that requires a counselor. Is Meeko's prediction about the two head officers true already?' he knew she was right, but knew that it was also too soon. He had watched the little meeting before take off and noticed something about them, just as everyone else had. He knew that Meeko had had a good idea went she suggested putting more rooms in the shuttle. There were certainly going to be more arrivals one the come, but that wasn't the topic for question. Everyone wondered when the arrival would arrive. He decided that he would eat and think on a full stomach. * * *
Hanna all of a sudden felt hungry. She happily accepted that she had a reason to leave Chikara here by himself. He had fallen asleep for some odd reason as it was only two in the afternoon She thanked whatever god there was and headed to the kitchen.
She was greeted by the rest of her friends, not including Cordelia who sat red faced in the corner.
"Hanna," said Karameki. "We have a new crewmate. His name is Akeeva Tatumashi. He was ordered to dock with us. The shuttle is fully repaired and we are just about ready to head off."
Hanna nodded at the realization that Karameki had just told her everything that had happened throughout the day.
"By the way," said Karameki, "How did you sleep?"
Hanna smirked at Karameki, "Fine, thank you." They both peered over at Cordelia, whose red face went from embarrassed red to angry red. She glared at both of them, knowing exactly what they were trying to say.
Hanna ate her meal and then remembered that Eienno was probably starving.
"Is there food left for Eienno?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Karameki, fully aware that the question was bound to be asked. "It's over there on the counter."
Hanna grabbed the preserved dish and headed all the way back to Eienno's room.again.
She left the plate on his bedside table, taking the dirty one from breakfast. She took a quick peek at him and smiled happily. He looked peaceful every time she saw him, maybe it was just her though. She left the room, even though she would've by far preferred to stay there.
She gave him one last glance before she left the room. She was starting to believe what the others had said about them. She could feel the emotions and sensations of happiness and lust around her every minute she spent around him.
She headed to the control room. Just as she sat down, the shuttle took off again, this time with a booking to land on the moon.
Chapter Seven Akeeva Tatumashi
Hanna was comfortable with hot water running down her body. She knew she'd probably end up sleeping in Eienno's room again. She felt secure and cozy being as close to him as she was. She put some shampoo in her hand and lathered it into her hair. Her thoughts drifted, 'I wonder what he thought this morning. He must have thought I was someone else. But then again, it's hard to confuse someone with a blue-haired woman. Funny, he wasn't mad at me.' She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and massaged some conditioner into her hair. 'I mean, he actually looked even a little happy that I was there. Must have been my imagination.'
She finished showering and stepped out. She dried herself, and then put her clothes on. She wore a white shirt with flared blue jeans. She pinned her hair into a messy bun and looked at herself in the mirror. She was slightly flushed as it was and decided not to put makeup on. She brushed her teeth, then flossed and walked out of the bathroom.
She found herself wanting to back to Eienno and snuggle in his arms, but ended up going to the kitchen instead. She wasn't really hungry, but she knew if she'd go anywhere else, she'd only think about him.
Karameki noticed that she was red in the cheeks; more so then usual as well. She smiled gently, knowing the reason for it.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking Hanna in the eye. "You were pretty sick last night."
"Yeah," replied Hanna, "I guess it was just a minute flu."
"I suppose." Karameki noticed that she had been sick only after Eienno shooed her. Then this morning, after sleeping in his bed with him, she was beyond fine. Hanna was going to be a hard person for Karameki to figure out. She handed Hanna to plates of food, before anyone else made their way to breakfast.
"You might just want to hurry before people find out where you'd be," said Karameki quietly. "I can totally see that you would die to be with him again."
"How could you tell?" Hanna wondered. "I mean, how did you know that's where I was?"
"You were sick yesterday, so I tried to find you," replied Karameki. "I looked everywhere to find you and low and behold, there you were."
"Oh, I see," said Hanna, looking more confused then she'd ever been before.
"Well, go on, before someone walks in here."
Hanna excused herself and went back to Eienno's room with breakfast in hand. She was aware that she'd have to lay down beside him, just as well as she knew she'd fall asleep again. She opened the door to find Eienno sleeping, as he usually would do, especially since there was nothing else he could do. She just placed both meals on the bed side table and curled up beside him with her head on his shoulder.
He could feel her lay down her wet head on him. He didn't care that it was wet. He appreciated that she was there. He wasn't really awake, he just knew by the feelings of happiness and content that he had. He hadn't ever felt that way, just because someone snuggled with him.
She snuggled closer, realizing that her whole body fit into his shape perfectly. Where her body moved in, his moved out and where her body moved in, hers moved out. She couldn't help but push her body into his more then she already had. He pulled his arm out from beside her and wrapped it around her back. She rested her head on his arm, then reached her arm over his belly, far below his wound.
He couldn't figure out why she felt so comfortable where she was and why he wasn't angry with her. He didn't even have the usual urge to pick on her. He just enjoyed snuggling with her.
The dream he'd had a couple days ago began to haunt him. He never felt this way about Yukkarie and never felt that he could just lay in bed with her. She always cared about something that made talking to her an agonizing experience. It was only recently that she began to listen to him and the only reason for that was that he wasn't there to talk to about anything anytime. It was true.he had only married Yukkarie because she was good in bed.
There was something else with Hanna, though. The way she yelled at him and treated him after knowing him after only a few days. He couldn't figure her out. At one moment, she seemed to care for him and love him.while at other times it was almost like she hated him and wished he was dead. Was it that she didn't know how to deal with whatever she felt for him? Or did she actually and genuinely hate him? He knew that he was beginning to slowly and progressively like her more and more. He dismissed his thoughts with another. He thought about how just being there with her was perfect. She was perfect. She looked peaceful and happy. He too noticed how snug she fit with him. He rested his hand on hers, granting him a small smile from Hanna. He smiled too and for the first time, since his wedding with Yukkarie.
Karameki knew exactly what Hanna and Eienno were feeling about each other at that moment. She smirked triumphantly knowing that she didn't have to do a thing to get them together. She also despised herself for trying to interfere. Cordelia was right though, they were coming together on their own and becoming a very strange relationship. She dismissed the though, remembered that they needed to repair engines and that they were docked with a station to do so. The little something that disturbed her was that she'd have to get Hanna.
She decided though, that she'd once again take charge and pretend that she was the captain of the ship. She took Tomodachi along.
Chikara was getting anxious. He finally got out of his seat at the flight controls and headed to Hanna's door. He knocked on it lightly and then walked in. He found the room to be empty and began to feel slightly suspicious. He looked throughout the shuttle, bathroom, weight room, ladies room, kitchen and dining room, all leaving him slightly angry that she was avoiding him. He peered over at Eienno's door, noticing it suddenly. He crept up to it trying as hard as he could to be quiet. He reacted his hand out to open the door.
Hanna felt a cold chill run down her spine. She didn't know why, but it made her feel insecure.
Eienno felt this and pulled the covers to her neck, covering himself in the process.
Low and behold.
.Chikara stood shocked in the doorway. He starred, unnoticed by both Hanna and Eienno.
As always, Cordelia was mindlessly heading to where the trouble was. She, unlike others, noticed Chikara in the doorway. He looked paralyzed. She walked over to the room with a mischievous look cursing the features of her face. She peered in, lurking above Chikara's shoulder. Her eyes narrowed. She crawled past Chikara, still unseen by anyone. She stood with her hands on her hips.
"Well, well, well," she chided triumphantly. "What do we have here?" She walked over to the bed. "Little Miss Cheat and Major Boner."
Hanna and Eienno's eyes shot open simultaneously. They looked at Cordelia, who loomed tauntingly over them, then at Chikara who looked as though he was going to choke and die on what he saw.
Eienno looked at Hanna, seeing her hurt regret. Knowing why she was feeling the way she was, he looked at Cordelia and Chikara. "Get the fuck out!" he said.
"Not without an explanation or reason why you and Hanna are naked in bed, snuggled right up to each other," she insisted. "And I want my reason now!"
"No," said Eienno, "Get the fuck out!"
Chikara walked into the room and looked down at Hanna.
"We've only been going out for three days and you're already cheating on me." His eyes were saddened.
She frowned at both the intruders, then stood up, revealing that she was fully dressed and that no piece of clothing was out of place or appeared to be disturbed.
Cordelia looked at Eienno; he too was completely dressed. Not even a pant leg out of place.
Chikara felt both sorry and mad. He was jealous that she would cuddle and sleep in the same bed as Eienno, but she wouldn't do the same for him.
'I'm losing it,' thought Hanna. 'It's been almost a week and I'm already hanging out with the guy who annoys me and hates me.'
She stepped off the bed as gently as she could and left the room. Followed closely by Cordelia and Chikara.
Cordelia was the last to leave and shut the door behind her. She headed to the control room and sat alone in her seat. She was slightly embarrassed with herself, for assuming an assuming wrong. What made it even worse was that she'd been rude to not only her Captain, but her highest ranking commander as well. She was never going to forget that and decided here and there to fully mind her own business.
Karameki and Tomodachi were having much better luck. They had found the person they'd talked to, to get them repaired. And were well on their way back to the shuttle to repair everything.
When they got back to the shuttle the person helping them sighed in discover shock. He starred up at name on the shuttle.
"I've heard that name somewhere," he explained.
"What name?" responded Karameki.
"The name of the ship, 'Descents.'" He thought back to when he had heard it. The infamous Meeko-Bei. She had told him that he was going to be the one whom so kindly would join them team, unbeknownst to the general and the shipmates. He was supposed to take the job of a counselor if needed.
Karameki and Tomodachi had never got the chance to look at the name on the shuttle. No one had told them the name and when they were outside the ship, Meeko-Bei had hurried them so much there wasn't the possibility of them seeing. The name had an effect on both Karameki and Tomodachi's points of view about the mission they were on.
"Question," he said suddenly, "Is there any need of a counselor aboard your fair ship?"
Karameki giggled slightly to herself. "No, us" she remarked sarcastically, "we only need a ton of counseling on the rest of our journey. I have a feeling things will get worse too."
"Do you know someone named Meeko-Bei?" he asked.
"Yeah, she's the nosy and compulsive person who told us what we needed to do," said Tomodachi.
"She told me to join you. I have the visual transmission saved if you need proof." He peered at the two women in front of him.
"I think we'll do that," said Karameki for the purpose of security.
The guy led them to the office, where he slid his card through a lock. "Welcome home, Akeeva," said the machine.
"Does anyone else have access to this room?" asked Tomodachi, knowing that he could have broke in and read the message before anyone else could.
"No," he said. "It's exactly like a private residence, just smaller and you use a card with no information about your place on it."
He showed them his key card and entered his apartment. Tomodachi and Karameki both huddled around the card and studied the little bit of information on it. His name was indeed Akeeva Tatumashi and his picture was a perfect match.
They past the card back to him and entered his rather clean apartment. He pushed the button on the computer. A transmission projector shot light onto the opposite wall, revealing a picture of Meeko-Bei.
"Dear Mister Tatumashi, I have an order straight from General Peters himself, saying that you are to attend the top-secret mission to Earth. They will pick you up from the station you are situated in and will not know you. You will know the shuttle by its name. 'Descents' is painted on the side in bold white writing. Please don't refuse as they will need your help.Sorry about the short notice and trouble. Your Assistant General, Meeko-Bei Takatu."
'Annoying woman,' thought Karameki. 'Assuming that Hanna and Eienno would sleep together, what a hag.'
"I think that clears you," said Tomodachi, looking at Karameki.
"Me too," she responded. "So let's go fix the ship so we can go and get this god forsaken job done."
Akeeva wasn't upset or irritated that he was going, he was a little angry he wasn't given the option. He also hated the fact that the rest of the crew was clueless as to him being picked to help them on their journey. He knew that Meeko-Bei had ordered he go, and not the General, and he was completely right about it.
He quickly helped install the engines on the shuttle, making the autopilot better than before. He had designed an autopilot program that would make sure an accident like the one that happened to the ship could be prevented. He explained how it worked as he installed it.
"I'm not going to ask if this is okay," he started, "I'm just going to tell about it, hoping that you will like the idea. This is a program I designed, called Pilot, that is made to either assist a pilot or be pilot during the part of a trip where the atmosphere is too dangerous for the normal autopilot to fly through. For example, the asteroid belt. It obviously did you guys a lot of damage. If you'd had this program in your ship, that wouldn't have happened. It is a program that uses the radar to find something and maneuver the ship to avoid the ship's getting damaged."
"Nice job," said Tomodachi. She continued to disconnect engines and connect their replacements. She noticed Akeeva stare at her for a few seconds, then get back to what he was doing originally. She smiled at him, knowing that his back was turned. He wasn't near as muscular as Eienno was, but he was still better built the most guys.
'Look at that ass,' she thought looking at him. Usually she didn't think things like that about guys, but he was different. Ever since she was a little girl, she would only say or think things that were true. She didn't like the feels she would feel when she was lying.
Karameki noticed Akeeva and Tomodachi absent mindedly flirt with each other. She concluded then, that there was going to be a relationship between Tomodachi and Akeeva a lot of less hatred than was felt between Hanna and Eienno. And of course, a lot less cheating. She remembered that she'd left Hanna, Eienno, Cordelia and Chikara in the shuttle alone. She also realized that Sebastien was too big an idiot to stop everyone from fighting with anyone else. Darn it, he wouldn't even be around to see anything go on.
"Excuse me for a sec, there's someone I need to check on," she explained to the two people she was working with. She left them to continue flirting with each other.
Hanna didn't know whether to cry or laugh. She was sad that Chikara felt she was more of a girlfriend to Eienno then to him. But the face on Cordelia was priceless, especially when she first say Hanna stand up. It was just too funny for Hanna to keep a strait face and she broke into laughter. She was shortly interrupted by the ever jealous Chikara.
"I had a girlfriend, once," he started. "She cheated on me with possibly the most retarded guy imaginable. She ended up getting pregnant by him and dumping me after almost a year of dating him."
"I promise you," reassured Hanna, "I didn't sleep with him at all. I was just keeping him company because he was having nightmares and they seemed to go away when I was there."
"I'm just saying that, I've been a jealous boyfriend ever since. Just so you know." He walked into the hallway again. She stood from her spot on her bed and headed towards him. She pulled him into her room and closed the door behind him. She sat him down on the bed then climbed over to the wall. He sat and watched her like a hawk would watch his next pray. She grabbed his body and dragged it further onto the bed. She lay him down and snuggled into him, just as she had to Eienno a few hours ago.
He was taken aback by her actions. He didn't know what to think, so decided that he would just go with what she was doing and snuggle with her as well.
She didn't feel nearly as comfortable with Chikara as she did with Eienno, she didn't feel secure at all. She knew that unlike Eienno, Chikara would probably jump at the chance to sleep with her. Eienno on the other hand, was a lot more passionate, gentle and respectable then the man whom now held her. She wished she was with him again. She couldn't even picture herself in his room, as Chikara's body was too different from his. He felt awkward and small against her.
She sighed trying hard to hide her need for Eienno to be with her again, and managed to do so well.
Eienno on the other hand, had much more difficultly understanding why she'd left him. He wasn't telling her to go away, he was telling everyone else. He wanted to be healthy again, only for a minute, so he could walk to her room and lay with her again.
All of a sudden, Karameki poked her head in the door. Upon seeing Eienno's disturbance, she brought her whole self into the room and closed the door.
"What's wrong?" she asked, knowing his problem by the absence of his Hanna.
"I guess that Chikara or Cordelia found Hanna in here," he said. He looked at her nervously, he knew she had some sort of know-how about Hanna's actions. "That little bitch, Cordelia thought we had 'slept' together and got Hanna pissed off, then she left."
"I noticed Hanna was missing." She looked at the empty spot on the bed beside him. He hadn't budged a bit so he could have more room. It was almost as if he was expecting her to return. "I'm pretty such she'll be coming back later. Oh, by the way, we have a new person coming aboard in a few minutes. I think you'll like him. He's the exact opposite of Chikara, except nice. He's got more of a brain than Sebastien and I'm pretty sure he'd be one of those people who lift weights to get built."
"Sounds like I'm going to make a new friend," remarked Eienno with partial sarcasm.
"We're almost done fixing the engines," she said, before walking out to go help Tomodachi again. She closed the door softly behind her.
Tomodachi felt like she needed to talk, but didn't know how. She wanted to ask him about his personal life; things like whether he was single or not, his age, his family, his job and other things like that. She finally decided to speak.
"So, is your profession in counseling or engineering?" she asked.
"I'm more into the engineering thing, but I enjoy helping people with their problems," he looked over at her, then back to his work, "I like the feeling that I'm being trusted."
"Um." she froze before asking the question she longed to ask. "I was wondering if you had." she hesitated again, ".what's your marital status?" She finally got it out in one quick phrase.
"Who wants to know?" he teased, looking at her again, just to see an extremely red face.
"Well," she paused again, "Me."
"I'm single."
"Good, me too."
An Awkward silence made Tomodachi's stomach turn. She rolled her eyes in relief when Karameki came back.
"How's everything out here?" she asked, walking in from the corridors.
"We're almost done," answered Akeeva.
"We will probably be able to go in about ten minutes," added Tomodachi.
"Good job, you guys," she sighed happily, "Great job."
They finished before ten minutes even came close to ending and headed to the control room.
When they got there, Sebastien was chuckling evilly to himself and starring at the computer screen.
"Ha," he said, "I just got myself a first impression." He turned the screen so everyone could see the picture of Akeeva's 'back end' face them. He was bent over, looking directly at the unnoticed camera.
Tomodachi let a small giggle escape her lips. She glared at the picture as though she wanted to stop looking.
"I sent it to Meeko-Bei," said Sebastien with a mischievously annoying smirk.
* * *
Meeko-Bei red her e-mails. She laughed giddily when she saw the e-mail entitled, 'We Found Him.' She opened it and found that Sebastien had sent the picture of Akeeva working engines.
She figured that since the e-mail told her they were close to taking off from the station, she'd finally tell the general about her little behind the scenes scam.
She knocked on his office door lightly, then walked in.
"Excuse me, general, but I need to tell you something." She sat down in the middle of the floor as though she was a little kid getting punished for lying. "I ordered another person to be picked up along the way."
"Who?" said the general kindly.
"His name is Akeeva Tatumashi," she informed, "He's an engineer and counselor. I do have a reason for ordering he join them. Because he's an engineer, he can help Tomodachi with her job and because there have already been traumatic problems on the shuttle that need immediate attention from a counselor."
"I trust you," he said quietly, "You don't need to explain yourself. Just next time, ask or at least tell me first, okay?"
She nodded and dismissed herself, leaving the general to think.
'I wonder what's going on out there that requires a counselor. Is Meeko's prediction about the two head officers true already?' he knew she was right, but knew that it was also too soon. He had watched the little meeting before take off and noticed something about them, just as everyone else had. He knew that Meeko had had a good idea went she suggested putting more rooms in the shuttle. There were certainly going to be more arrivals one the come, but that wasn't the topic for question. Everyone wondered when the arrival would arrive. He decided that he would eat and think on a full stomach. * * *
Hanna all of a sudden felt hungry. She happily accepted that she had a reason to leave Chikara here by himself. He had fallen asleep for some odd reason as it was only two in the afternoon She thanked whatever god there was and headed to the kitchen.
She was greeted by the rest of her friends, not including Cordelia who sat red faced in the corner.
"Hanna," said Karameki. "We have a new crewmate. His name is Akeeva Tatumashi. He was ordered to dock with us. The shuttle is fully repaired and we are just about ready to head off."
Hanna nodded at the realization that Karameki had just told her everything that had happened throughout the day.
"By the way," said Karameki, "How did you sleep?"
Hanna smirked at Karameki, "Fine, thank you." They both peered over at Cordelia, whose red face went from embarrassed red to angry red. She glared at both of them, knowing exactly what they were trying to say.
Hanna ate her meal and then remembered that Eienno was probably starving.
"Is there food left for Eienno?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Karameki, fully aware that the question was bound to be asked. "It's over there on the counter."
Hanna grabbed the preserved dish and headed all the way back to Eienno's room.again.
She left the plate on his bedside table, taking the dirty one from breakfast. She took a quick peek at him and smiled happily. He looked peaceful every time she saw him, maybe it was just her though. She left the room, even though she would've by far preferred to stay there.
She gave him one last glance before she left the room. She was starting to believe what the others had said about them. She could feel the emotions and sensations of happiness and lust around her every minute she spent around him.
She headed to the control room. Just as she sat down, the shuttle took off again, this time with a booking to land on the moon.
