Holy macaroni! Picture Perfect and A Song For My Beloved now have 4 chapters each! What?! I promised a lot of things before, like updating each month (Ha! Dream on dementedding…) and stuff like that… This time, the only thing that's definite is that the next chapter will come out after September 11, 2004 (not right after, could be days or weeks…).

Picture Perfect

Chapter 5: An Interlude of Sorts

She was confused by Hayate's behavior. First he treats her to a fine restaurant, dances with her, and then suddenly deserts her. Mou, the jerk left me in the restaurant! Never mind, I still have his wallet anyway.

Himeno left to go back to Hikari Enterprises, where she was sure to find Hayate but was hindered by her phone's familiar ring. "Moshimoshi?" She nearly dropped her cell when she heard a smooth voice say, "It's been a while Hime-chan."

"Sasame…"

"So how's Hayate doing? Did he let you stay at his house? I'm sorry Hime-chan, there was a mix-up so I wasn't able to book you a room in a hotel."

A tiny smile crept on her face as she knew that he was very busy but he still managed to take care of her lodging. "Iee, I'm perfectly fine there. Hayate-san is nice to me. He even treated me to lunch today."

"I see you two are getting along well. It's first name basis now. Yokatta nee, Hime-chan."

Himeno felt her cheeks burn at the mention of that; she didn't feel like telling him the strange circumstances of their first meeting to Sasame on the phone. She decided that the story could wait.

"Hime-chan?" She loved that nickname he had given her. It made her feel special every time he spoke it. Himeno loved being Sasame's 'princess'.

"Hai?"

"I love you."

.

.

After a long presentation, Hayate and a couple of his colleagues were released from the conference room. Finally, Hayate had given Mr. Tanaka a progress report of his exhibit. The company didn't keep Hayate around for nothing. The famous photographer had earned various awards for his works, and almost every company in the business was intent on snagging Ito Hayate. Hikari Enterprises had something all the others didn't: creativity. And of course, a vendo machine that doled out bottles of his favorite bloody mary was installed in Hayate's office.

For his past exhibits, he had always chosen nature as the subject of his artistry. This time, he held an amazingly simple yet effective concept as his brainchild. The image of Himeno flashed in his mind, bringing a smile to his lips. Seeing her with those wings gave him the idea of shooting fairies amongst ordinary people. The busy streets of Tokyo would provide a perfect setting wherein the contrast between fantasy and reality would be greatly heightened.

Himeno changed her mind about venturing back to Hikari Enterprise and decided to go to Hayate's house after Sasame had called. He told her to rest for a while. Sasame sounded pretty concerned when Himeno told him she had a dizzy spell the other day.

"And so the initial shoot is scheduled for Friday. I expect to see you all then." Hayate finished his usual impromptu speech to his crew, a tradition he had introduced to Hikari Enterprise. He was excited because this project was the biggest he had ever had in years. Tanaka-sama had given him a big budget, one that allowed him to reserve the Meiji Jingu shrine near the National Youth Center in Yoyogi. The big intersection near it was a plus. The place was frequented by poker-faced businessmen (who let go of all their reserves once the beer started flowing), schoolgirls in their ridiculously short skirts (even in frigid conditions, they manage to survive), old women paying their respects to the Emperor's grave in their lavish kimonos, and tourists expecting English replies to their queries done in Nihongo.

I really should thank Himeno for giving me that idea. I'm going to love working on this project.

"Speaking of love, perhaps a kiss is in order? A breathtaking evening by the moonlit Yokohama bay sounds wonderful. I'm sure the lovely muse would appreciate a romantic gesture. I shall order the wedding china."

What?!

"Would you like the delicate rose pattern or the marvelous Ming Dynasty's designs?"

Hayate gave himself a mental slap to restore control of his mind, which was being its usual rebellious self. He had to admit though, he didn't mind driving for two hours just to thank her. Hayate, upon thinking of Himeno, realized that he had left her in the restaurant so he ran all the way there. Idiot, how could I have forgotten about her? He leapt over various obstacles, including a manhole cover being lifted up by an unsuspecting worker. The flustered man was sent back into the murky depths of the sewer, and he was left to curse his bad luck.

Upon reaching the restaurant sans Himeno, Hayate saw the waiter who took their order. Hayate grabbed the man while he was flirting with the other employees and demanded, "Where is Himeno-san? Where is she?" Bewildered, the waiter stammered, "Wha-what are you talking about? I didn't do anything! I swear the whole pole-dancing stunt was a joke! I didn't know they were filming it!" I guess their uniform's starting to get to them… Hayate released the confused waiter and turned to the waitress beside him. She asked for a description of the person he was looking for, so Hayate gladly obliged.

"She's in her early twenties, about this tall," he gestured with his hand, "…pink hair, crimson eyes, wearing a white dress…"

"With smooth creamy skin, soft, luscious lips, a great body with all the right curves…"

Yes, that's true… Hey! Stop that!

The waitress, who was starting to get scared by the weird faces Hayate was making, quickly answered, "I'm sorry sir, but the girl you are describing left a few hours ago." Hayate cursed himself, common sense finally kicking in. No girl would wait three hours for him. Hayate decided to call his house in case she was there.

Come on, you have to be there… He knew that she didn't know her way around the city. It certainly didn't help that it was almost sundown, and a lot of shady characters lurked everywhere. A thousand what-ifs flashed through his head, none of them good.

Himeno heard the phone ring for the nth time already, but she was unable to answer it because she didn't have the keys to his house. Hayate had stashed away the extra set of keys Sasame had told her about, with the photographer mumbling something about finding a more secure spot for it. Himeno decided to sit on the front steps and wait for the owner of the house to arrive. It was a good thing there was a post to lean on, for she already felt her eyelids getting heavier… Nemui… Tsukaretta…

Hayate groaned as his calls were not being answered. Where could she be? He retraced their route earlier, hoping to find her somewhere along the way. A glance at his watch told him that it was already past seven, which meant drunks were starting to populate the city, from the usual ramen cart, to the fancy clubs. This cannot be good. Lately, there were a lot of reports on unaccompanied women being mugged, harassed… Hayate wanted to kick himself for leaving her in that restaurant. He couldn't believe he was worrying this much about a girl he had just met, yet he couldn't help it.

Hayate's heart stopped when he heard a scream from a dark alley. His worst fears were confirmed.

To be continued…

I'm not restricting myself to 10 chapters anymore. Yayness. Factoid #1: Picture Perfect's 5 chapters were created in one big notebook composed of paper from my elementary school notebooks. Factoid #2: ASFMB (the prequel) with its 4 chapters were created straight in Microsoft Word! Isn't that weird?

Happy birthday to me! I decided to upload this chapter before FFnet discovers my AN chapter and deletes my account. Hope you guys continue to support Picture Perfect!