PART THREE

Sudden devastation within

The sky was a perfect color of light blue, and the clouds were white mists swiftly moving with the wind. The birds were floating gloriously over them, soaring high into the endless sky. A soft, cool breeze was blowing gently by, caressing her hair and her face. Everywhere she looked she could see happy faces, beaming, almost leaving a calming and peaceful atmosphere of Christmas. She took a step forward on the wide street, taking in the freshness of the air and the smell of China. She was here. She made it. And she loved it.

But her love itself wasn't here.

"Fuuko!!!"

Or was it?

She squinted farther down the street, and she could almost make out the silhouette of a man, running towards her. She stayed in her place, as she watched the man coming closer, and closer, until he was near enough for her to get a clearer view of his features…

She could see it…long, bluish-silver hair in a ponytail, bouncing up and down as he ran towards her…beautiful, light blue eyes so delighted to see her…and that face…that familiar face she'd been wanting to see all this time…

Oh god, it's—

"Mi-chan!!!"

And she ran towards him as well, tears blurring her eyes, wishing longingly to be in his arms again—

All time seemed to have stopped right there and then, as the two lovers met in a warm embrace in the middle of the street, never wanting to be anywhere else but with each other.

"Oh, Mi-chan…"

"Fuuko…my love, I was a fool to let you go…I miss you so much and I can't live though a single day without you…"

"Mi-chan, I miss you, too, and I don't know if I can ever live without you again…"

"I need you here in my arms, Fuuko, and I love you more than anything else, more than life itself. I'd give everything just to be with you forever. I promise you that I will never ever let you go again, and I promise to love you until the world is through…yes, my love, we will be together forever."

"Oh, Mi-chan…" Fuuko whispered, looking deeply into his eyes. "Kiss me…"

Tokiya smiled the sweetest smile Fuuko had ever seen and cupped her cheek with his gentle fingers, slowly lifting her face. He leaned closer. Fuuko could feel strands of his long hair hanging forward on her face, and his breath, mixing with hers…she looked into his beautiful eyes and got lost just as he closed them…he slightly parted his lips, just as Fuuko closed her eyes…and their noses rubbed…any moment now she would be able to taste his ecstatic lips again…and drown in his mouth that has never failed to make her shiver in pure pleasure…enticing her soul…she would lose herself in his arms…and offer herself to him…with just one touch of his tantalizing, seductive lips…this is it…what she'd been waiting for…she could feel it coming closer…

Closer…

And closer…

Until she couldn't feel the few strands of hair on her face anymore; and she could feel something cold and metallic touching her cheek. It was a…

A…

A nose ring???

She opened her eyes to find that handsome face replaced by an extremely unpleasant one, its eyes closed, its lips puckered, only about an inch away from her face.

"Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A loud wailing of pain followed after the high-pitched scream. An image of a bulky man flew out of his seat.

A commotion immediately arose in the plane. People jerking out of their seats in surprise, snapping wide awake, panicking, and gathering around the now unconscious man on the floor. A burst of murmur spread out all over, and a rush of stewardesses approached the scene immediately.

"What the heck happened? Who screamed?" Recca got up to face Fuuko, who was panting so much in her seat, scared to death, her hand balled into a mighty fist. Recca's eyes fell on the man on the floor. "Domon!" He hurried over to him. "Wake up! Speak to me! Say something!" he shook his shoulders in attempt to bring him back to his senses. Domon uttered something that sounded distinctly like, "very dangerous".

Yanagi came rushing to Fuuko's side, concerned. "What happened, Fuuko…?"

Fuuko pointed a shaking finger at Domon's direction. "Th-that m-monster tried to k-kiss me!!!"

"What???" Recca and Yanagi cried out at the same time. Then after a while, Yanagi cleared her throat and turned to everyone with an apologetic smile on her face. "Honto ni gomen nasai, minna-san, it was just some sort of misunderstanding, really, it's no big deal…please don't mind us…we're really, really sorry for the disturbance…"

One by one, the passengers, frowning, went back to what they were doing. Even the stewardesses went back to their posts, muttering "unbelievable" and "what a pain" in their annoyance.  Yanagi turned back to her friends. Recca shook Domon awake. "What the heck did you try to kiss her for?"

Domon clutched his cheek, where a big, round bruise had formed. "Ugh…well, she was saying 'kiss me' in her sleep, and I thought that, well…"

Yanagi's eyes widened. She turned to face Fuuko. "You were saying 'kiss me' in your sleep???"

Fuuko's face reddened. She felt all the blood rush to her face. "W-well, I was…uh…um…"

"But then again," Domon continued, "she was saying Tokiya's name, not mine…"

"What???" Recca and Yanagi cried out again. Fuuko thought she would die on the spot.

"I just thought that since she was asking for a kiss, and I was the only one around, I might as well give her one. I mean, I'm a really good kisser and I bet I can kiss so much better than Tokiya can and I—"

"Not in a million years, you jerk!!!" Fuuko gave him another powered punch that sent him flying away, Recca after him. Fuuko turned to Yanagi. "Yanagi-chan, please help me!!! He's driving me nuts!!! I can't have a maniac sitting right next to me!!! Please!!!" she cried desperately.

Yanagi smiled. "You can switch places with Recca-kun, then," she offered.

"Oh, thank you!!!" She grabbed her bag and practically jumped into Hanabishi's seat, rubbing her forehead and muttering words to herself. "That stupid jerk! Who does he think he is to just go and try to kiss me like that whenever he wants to? Does he really think he's Mr. Smooth or something? What kind of a busted ego does he have anyway? He's just a no good, downright maniac from god-knows-where! He doesn't even have a good face! Honestly…"

Yanagi looked sideways at her friend. She seemed really pissed off about this. After all, Domon had only told them the truth. That was how Domon always was, even from before. So why was Fuuko taking it so personally? Domon had always been a maniac. So what was it that's bothering Fuuko so much? Unless it had something to do with what Domon said…

"Ne…Fuuko-chan…" Yanagi interrupted Fuuko's burst of emotions. "Why are you so mad, anyway? Domon was only doing what he always does. Haven't you gotten used to that yet?"

Fuuko gave Yanagi a look of death. "He's an unstoppable green-minded jerk!!! Do you honestly think that trying to kiss me is something that he always does??? "

It was more of a statement rather than a question. Yanagi wanted to say yes, but thought better of it. Fuuko seemed to be in a very bad mood.

"Demo…is it true that you were…um…telling Mikagami-sempai to uh…kiss you…in your sleep…?"

Fuuko looked like she was on the verge of exploding. Her face had gone as red as hot sauce and a vein was actually throbbing in her forehead. "NO! I was not saying that!!! That intolerable liar was making it up!!!"

Yanagi actually pressed herself against her seat, afraid that Fuuko might hit her or something. But instead, she abruptly changed the topic, frowning. "Where the heck are we, anyway? When's that food cart going to come? Don't they know that we're all starving to death? What time is it? How long does it take to get to China, anyway? What kind of a stupid pilot flies his plane slower than a snail moves?"

Yanagi sighed and looked out the window, shaking her head. From the looks of it, it was going to be literally and figuratively, a long, long trip.

***

"I thought we'd never get off that lousy plane! I mean, my butt's gotten all numb now…" Recca complained at the Beijing airport, stretching out his arms in the air. "Not to mention a certain someone here kept crying out time after time, therefore ever-so-politely preventing me from getting some beauty sleep!"

"I can't help it if my cheek swells a lot! It stings, you know…" Domon reasoned, clutching his bruised cheek. "I'm just thankful that it hasn't swollen to the size of a basketball yet."

"It's not going to swell like a basketball, baka!" Fuuko rolled her eyes. "It's just a little slap; how bad can it be?" She swung her backpack over her shoulder and sauntered over to where Yanagi was standing near the exit.

"And she calls herself a college graduate," Domon whispered grumpily to Hanabishi. "She can't even tell the difference between 'little' and 'the biggest thing the world has ever seen'," he snorted.

Recca merely shook his head and picked up his own bag, motioning for Domon to follow him to where the girls were standing.

"Domo arigatou gozaimasu," Yanagi bowed to the stranger she was speaking with, who bowed all the same and left. Recca approached her. "Ne, hime, who was that?"

"Luckily, he's Japanese. I asked him if he knew where we could find this apartment," she showed him a small piece of paper with an address on it. "According to the travel agency, this is where Mikagami-sempai is staying. I'm not too sure if he's still staying there, though; it's been a year, you know," she admitted.

"It's worth a shot anyway," Fuuko beamed happily. "After all, we don't really have much of a choice." She couldn't wait to see him. Just the fact that they were already here in Beijing…and that dream she had…was Tokiya going to wrap her in a hug and tell her he missed her? Would he tell her that he made a mistake in breaking up with her and that he would never make the same mistake again? Or would he keep silent, and simply close his eyes and nibble her lips…give her a long, passionate kiss…until she runs out of breath--

"And if Tokiya isn't there--?" Domon asked, interrupting Fuuko's tingling daydream.

All at once Fuuko's smile turned nasty. She glared at him. Domon, who knew better than to mess with Fuuko now, took an apprehensive step backwards.

"If he's not there, then," Fuuko sighed, looking out at the wide, busy streets, "I would search the whole of China just to find him."

***

"I give up."

Fuuko leaned limply against the wall of a ramen house, sliding down to massage her sore legs. Beside her, Yanagi could be seen sitting on the ground, fanning her exhausted self. It was almost 8:30 in the evening now, and although there were still many people walking back and forth on the streetlamp-lighted sidewalk, the gang felt like it was the dead of night and they were about to collapse right into bed. That was, if they ever got to one.

"Darn right we should," Domon panted, holding on to a telephone pole like it suddenly turned into gold and he wouldn't let go "We've been looking for Tokiya ever since we found out that he wasn't at his apartment at the moment, and if you ask me, we haven't had the least bit of luck in doing that."

"Don't you think I'd know that by now, Domon? I'm not as stupid as you are, you know," Fuuko gasped for air. "I can't help it…I just want to see him as soon as possible…" she sighed disappointedly at her friends. "But I guess I wouldn't be able to do that. Honto ni gomen nasai, minna…"

Recca stood up from the trashcan he was sitting on and sighed disapprovingly. "I can't believe you're giving up this easily, Fuuko! I mean, you just told us a few hours back that you'd search the whole of China just to—"

"Daijoubu, Fuuko, I'm sure Mikagami-san's home by this time already. We can head back to the apartment now, if you want," Yanagi cut in, looking at Fuuko sympathetically.

Fuuko smiled weakly at her. "Arigatou, Yanagi-chan…I'm really sorry for being so impatient…we really should have just stayed at our rooms in the apartment and waited until Mi-chan came back…"

"We all have our eagerness in some things," Yanagi giggled and exerted all the effort she could to stand up. Hanabishi rushed at her side to gently hold her arms and help her up. She smiled sweetly at him, and they stared at each other for a moment.

Fuuko let out a long sigh and looked away from the two. There they go again…if only Mi-chan was here to do that to me, too…

Domon sensed this and cleared his throat loudly. Recca and Yanagi jumped instantly away from each other.

"Um…" Domon looked at Fuuko intently. "Why don't we grab a bite to eat at this ramen house?" He suggested to the group, pointing at the store which wall Fuuko was leaning against. "Our stomachs are probably all writhing in pain now, anyway…"

***

Groan.

"I can't move."

"My stomach feels like it's going to explode."

"I can't even lift a finger."

Fuuko was found groaning in her seat at the ramen house an hour later, piles of empty bowls, plates, and cups on the table in front of her and her friends. She just had the best meal she'd ever tasted since she left Japan, but unfortunately, she had a price to pay. Her fully occupied stomach was clearly a proof of that.

"I'm fast approaching becoming a beggar…!" Recca wailed at the bill of his own food that he was looking at.

Okay. So Recca had a price to pay literally. But he was by far the person who earned the most money, so it was probably not a problem for him to pay the cost of a little meal.

"Um, sir," the waiter said in attempt to speak English, "you still have to pay for the service charge." And with that, Hanabishi fainted on the spot.

…okay, okay, so it was a problem to him. A big problem. But, didn't she have much bigger problems than that? Like maybe, seeing her Mi-chan and taking him back? She had to get a move on if she had wanted to get to Tokiya as soon as possible.

But apparently, she wouldn't be able to do that. Because Yanagi was now frantically shaking Recca's shoulders, feeling his pulse to check if he was still alright. "Oh, what do I do, what do I do?"

Fuuko sighed. Hanabishi obviously needed some TLC. The sooner he was given that, the sooner they'd be able to see Tokiya, so she said, "Do you want me to get you an ice bag?"

Yanagi looked at her like she'd just saved her from a burning building. "Oh, Fuuko-chan, that's really nice of you, arigatou…"

And the next thing Fuuko knew, she was walking down the sidewalk, her hands in her pockets, heading for the nearest convenience store. Sometimes, she was just way too nice for her own good.

She paused outside a small store with a blinking sign that said, "Mei Ling's Stop and Shop". It looked the nearest to a convenience store than any of the other stores beside it, so Fuuko decided to give it a shot. She pushed open the glass door with a small 'cling, cling' from the chimes, and squinted a bit at the bright white light in the store. She looked slightly around and felt immediately at home. It was clearly one of those small-comfy-stores-that-don't-have-a-lot-of-people-shopping-in-them-but-have-great-business-anyway types of places.

A pretty young lady with long black hair and Chinese eyes smiled at her as she entered. She smiled back and approached her. "Um, excuse me, do you sell ice bags here?"

The lady simply blinked innocently at her, eyebrows rising in question. Obviously the lady didn't seem to understand her.

Fuuko gulped. "Um…you know…bags…with, um…ice…?" she tried again, making some gestures with her hand. But she was caught in a surprise when the lady suddenly started to giggle. "I know what ice bags are," the lady replied. "I'm just surprised that you don't speak Chinese like everyone else does around here."

"You speak English?" Fuuko wondered out loud. "I mean, you speak English pretty well—"

"As a matter of fact, I speak only English. I'm a pure Chinese because my parents are pureblood, but I was born and raised in California, so I didn't really get to learn to speak Chinese. It's a drag most of the time, because the people here just look at me like I'm some sort of alien whenever I talk to them," she laughed lightly.

"Oh, I see…" Fuuko grinned. "Well, I'm lucky I bumped into you, because I don't know how to speak Chinese, either."

"You're not from America, are you…?" the lady asked. "Because you don't look American."

"I'm from Japan," Fuuko answered. "You don't happen to be Mei Ling…?"

The lady nodded. "My father owns the store, but he's passed it on to me." She smiled. "So, you were asking about ice bags?"

"Oh, right," Fuuko snapped her fingers. "I've got a friend back at the ramen house who's…well…mentally unstable right now, and I need to freshen him up."

"We have ice bags…" Mei Ling reached for one near the counter, "…but we don't sell ice."

"Oh…" Fuuko took the ice bag from her and frowned slightly. "What am I—"

"Why don't you just ask for some ice at that ramen house? I'm sure they'd be happy to give you some," Mei Ling suggested. Fuuko grinned.

That lady sure was nice…Fuuko thought to herself a few minutes later while walking back to the ramen house. I guess the people here aren't so bad; it's just like Japan, she mused. I hope Hanabishi learns from all this, eating so much more than his tummy can handle and not being able to pay his own bill. Maybe he might get—

"Ow!" She screamed out loud and stumbled backwards, almost tripping on the ground. The ice bag flew far away from her hand because of the force of the collision. The nerve of that person she bumped into! Couldn't even mutter a small sorry! Couldn't that person see that she was in a hurry?

Brows twitching in anger, she looked up in a glare. "Can't you bother to watch where the heck you're—" But she stopped dead short. Her breath caught in her throat; her heart practically stopped beating. She felt all the air being sucked out of her chest. She couldn't believe it.

Long, silver-blue hair…tantalizing light blue eyes…that handsome face…a face she had been longing to see again…and that amusing look of total surprise on his face…

Suddenly, her heart was swelling with joy. "Mi-chan!" She jumped at him and flung her arms around his neck, just as Tokiya was pushed backwards, taken aback. Fuuko hugged him tight and closed her eyes. "I missed you so much…" she whispered to him and let go, beaming cheerfully up at him.

Tokiya blinked down at her, obviously still in shock. "Fuuko…" he whispered almost inaudibly. For about a split second, Fuuko could've sworn that she saw his eyes soften with relief and passion at the sight of her.

But then he looked abruptly away and started walking, towards her, past her, away from her.

He was gone.

And Fuuko was left alone in the sidewalk in shock…alone to deal with the pain that was slowly crushing her heart.