Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! *bows*

Part 3
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Dinner, for once, was quiet... strangely quiet. No manga mode. No excessive rants pertaining to furi kuri. No unexpected bathroom runs. Canti was the one who had made dinner that night, despite Haruko's restored employment.... not that she would have made dinner anyway.

Naota noticed this as he lifted another spoonful of soupnotcurry to his mouth. His eyes shifted over to his left, where he could see Haruko -silently- eating her dinner. He fended off a blush as his thoughts returned to the few moments that happened before they went down to dinner. His eyes returned down to his soup bowl in front of him.

The rest of their meal continued like that, save a few short ramblings of Kamon on the progress of his newest zine. After Naota had finished his soupnotcurry, he announced that he was going out for awhile. Catching next to no one's attention, he grabbed a jacket and walked out the door. He had made his way to Mamimi's old spot under the bridge, where the air was slightly chilly in the autumn air, and he could see the steam pass out of his mouth.

There was a reason why Naota was out now, despite the fact that he had slept most of the day away. He had given it some thought during dinner. Normally, after dinner, he would bathe and hang out in his room for the rest of the night until he fell sleep, Haruko present or not. But after the events of the day, he didn't think that he would be ready to have to spend more time alone face to face with Haruko.

They kissed. Well, sure, they had kissed tons of times before, but this time... they had really kissed. Naota's cheeks reddened as he remembered the voices of Mamimi and Gaku asking him Did she put her tongue in?

Haruko had never kissed him like that before. And when she had... he felt... It was incredible. But it scared him. Naota was afraid of what this meant between them now... and he was too afraid to return back to his room to find out yet. What would happen next time? Would there even be a next time?

Then a shiver of cold fear and sadness slid down his back. What if Haruko didn't mean it? Maybe this was just another way she could get what she wanted. But what did she want? Why did she return to Mabase... and to him?

He sighed as he sat down on the ground, and watched the water flow by him.


Back at the Nadaba residence, Haruko sat on the top bunk, tuning her bass. She knew that Naota had stepped out after dinner, and she wasn't complaining. Her unusual silence had continued to that very moment. It was a rare thing for her to be so pensive, her reckless and impulsive behavior usually working things out for her. This time, however, they had seemed to have taken her to a ditch.

Things had been going according to plan. Until then. She hadn't meant to fall asleep again... hadn't meant to lay back down on the bed and whisk Naota off into sleep again... she hadn't meant to kiss him back. And she wasn't doing a very good job at trying to fix things.

Her plans. That morning, that was according to plan. When she attempted to get Naota's lazy ass out of bed -that was fine. But what was going on with everything after that?! She had an agenda for when she returned to Earth. When she was returning to Earth wasn't exactly planned... but that didn't matter.

Haruko's goal was to get Naota to trust her again, which, despite everything that had happened the last time she was there, was all too easy. Maybe too easy. Getting the boy to trust, to want her, that was simple. Although she had a tendency for taking things a little to far... she never really meant for him to fall in love with her in the first place. She also didn't expect him to continue from where they left off so quickly either. And none of this explained why she had deferred from her plans either.

Technically, it shouldn't have been such a big deal -it wasn't that bad of a defer either. If Haruko played her cards right, the whole thing could be to her advantage. Something was wrong with it though. She had enjoyed it... not that she didn't enjoy taunting and teasing Naota about his feelings for her in general, but this was different. This made her happy. Not just the kind of happy she felt when she knew she was about to gain something... more like the kind when you know you have something to loose. That wasn't part of the plan. The feeling was not supposed to be mutual.

Haruko had never questioned her motives for returning in the first place, but this had triggered the one question that she had never asked herself before:

Why did she decide to return in the first place?

Her initial response was that she was waiting for Atomsk, his power -no her power, to return. But what was the point of returning to Mabase, and what made her think that Atomsk would show up in this part of the universe again? Well, there was always Canti and Naota... but there were other heads out there that worked in different parts of the universe.

So, the question still remained. Why was Haruko there, of all the places she could have possibly gone?

The answer ran across her head as the memory of her fingers running through Naota's hair before she had fallen asleep surfaced.

No... that was insanely stupid. Haruhara Haruko would never do something pathetic like that. It was impossible. Was that saying that Atomsk was just an excuse?!

It couldn't have been that the real reason Haruko returned was because she was in love with Naota.


Naota had finally started back on his way home after about an hour and a half of wondering/sulking. He had to go back into his room sometime.


Haruko, teeth clenched, was forcing her self to shake such a stupid notion off. That boy would be back soon anyway. She turned all of her concentration on her bass, well... it could have been considered his bass now, but it was still originally hers.


Naota didn't make an effort to inform anyone that he had come back when he walked through the door, no one was around anyway, except Canti who was cleaning up the kitchen. He sighed as he hung up the jacket. Up those stairs... and he'd have to face her again.


Haruko's ears perked up as she caught the sound of front door being shut. So he was back. Well, she'd be ready. She smirked.


Naota legs felt like lead, his heart pounding in his chest, and his hands clammy as he reached the last step. He took a deep breath as he placed a hand on the door, already deadly aware of her presence behind it. With one last breath, he slid the door open.

Her gaze fell from the bass to the figure entering the room.

He couldn't bring himself to look up at the exact place he knew she would be. Naota took a step into the room, his gaze continuously on the floor. He felt her come down from the top bunk and take a few steps toward him. He kept himself from gasping for a breath. His heart skipped a beat as he felt a hand on his shoulder and a mouth tipped toward his ear.

In a cool, steamy voice, Haruko said Looks like your on your own tonight, I just remembered that I have an appointment with your dad.

Naota's gaze remained on the floor while the hand was removed and she left the room. He blocked out all sound of any other doors being opened down the hallway and any voices as he stomped forward and threw himself onto his bed.

Of course she didn't care. She never cared.

How could he have been so stupid to think that, even for a moment, she could have ever possibly cared about him?!

Yes, Naota was jealous. He was fucking jealous.

He loved her. He loved Haruko. And she fucking knew!

Guard down for a moment, his ears caught a moan from down the hall. And he was pretty damn sure that the man he saw at dinner was his actual father, and that no fucking dolls had been prancing around his house lately. He couldn't stay there.

Running down the stairs, he almost missed his jacket as he slammed the door behind him and took off down the sidewalk. He ended up returning to his previous spot under the bridge, very cold... and very much alone.