Wow! 2 readers have discovered the fifth chapter (which used to be an AN) and I'm glad for it. Thanks to Lyeza and moongirlSelene99. I was so happy coz FFnet doesn't 'up' your story on the list if you replace chapter content… but still these people found it!
Pretear… Just gotta love it. Too bad I don't own it. I would have made a lot of episodes.
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.
Picture Perfect
Chapter 6: Awakening Passions
"Ito Hayate!" Hayate whirled around upon hearing someone scream his name… It was a familiar voice, and what he saw made his blood boil. It was an image he had been dreading, something he never wished to see in his lifetime. In that dark alley was the worst possible scenario he had been dreading…
O god, she's with…
"You! Step away from her," Hayate barked to the person in front of him. His fists were clenched, his mouth set in a scowl. She was caught in the person's grasp, unable to return to Hayate. The photographer was furious at the way the person stroked her, lavishing caress upon caress, as she remained silent throughout the whole affair. Hayate growled and seethed, "Get away from her, right now!"
The captor laughed and freed its hostage, giving her a teasing pinch before leaving her on the side of the road. "You… you… How could you?!" Hayate spluttered, making the assailant laugh heartily for being able to rattle the flustered photographer. "Poor Hayate, who knew you'd be so protective of her?" gesturing to the slick black Ducati on the pavement, "Obviously I still know how to push your buttons."
"I don't care what you say, Lexa is mine, and she's not something you can just kidnap from my house," Hayate grumbled and scooted over to his marvelous bike, scanning it for scratches or dents his ex-girlfriend might have caused. He gasped, pointed to a spot and exclaimed, "You nicked Lexa!" Mikage sighed in defeat and examined the alleged damage before flicking it away with carefully manicured finger. "It's jut a speck of dirt you observed you baka. I can take care of Lexa." She emphasized her statement by flinging her auburn hair away from her eyes, which she was using to shoot daggers at Hayate.
"Whatever you say Mikage. Remember what you did to my precious Flare?" Mikage rolled her eyes, jabbed him in the chest and said, "Would you please stop making up stupid names for your beloved motorcycles? And for your information, it was you who got drunk with beer and crashed that scarlet bike of yours into that Cat's Eye café."
Hayate cringed at the mention of the place he had to refurnish with about 5 months of his salary at that time. Oh yeah… That was me alright… Mikage ranted, "All I did was hold on. Hayate no baka, always chugging down Bloody Mary but can't handle Big Bad Beer." Ouch. An annoyed Hayate retorted, "It's not my fault I'm allergic to it!" "Which proves how much of an idiot you are," countered Mikage, delivering a final jab to his sternum with the sole intention of making him fall backward. It was, however, an exercise of futility as the photographer was taller than Mikage by about a head. She could have tried ramming her stiletto into his skull, as it would have produced the desired effect.
Starting to run out of insults, they held an impromptu staring contest, trying their best not to blink, but in the end, Mikage found herself latched onto Hayate's arm, asking him in a cajoling tone, "Sooo, who's the new girlfriend?" Hayate narrowed his eyes into slits before throwing back a question at his ex, "What new girlfriend? You haven't been spying on me again, have you?" He assumed a defensive stance, steeling himself against a violent fit she might throw… again.
Mikage didn't really take the breakup well. She left him a hundred messages, using such colorful language that was capable of making a person crawl back to where he belonged. Mikage didn't stop at that; she wasn't called persistent for nothing. You forgot stubborn and pigheaded. He had once caught her posing as a window-cleaner, looking into his office for clues. Hayate didn't have to call the police though; Mikage got arrested on her own accord when she pushed her fellow window-cleaner off the platform.
It was a rather good thing his office was located at the second floor at that time. Had that happened after his transfer to Hikari Enterprises, the poor window-cleaner would have definitely ended up wiping the stained glass for God, for Hayate's office was located on the seventh floor. Then again she wouldn't have probably pushed him off if they were at that height.
But still, with Mikage, one could never be too sure when the medication wears off and the mental imbalance takes over…
"Sanity is so overrated."
"Mayune has been keeping me informed, thank you. I haven't been following you around now; it was just impossible to miss that pretty pink-haired girl waiting for you at your house. You know, me, stealing your bike and all?" Mikage waved in front of him, waiting for the horrified expression on his face to disappear so he could carry on the conversation with her. Shimatta! Himeno-san!
It finally dawned on Hayate that he had just completely forgotten all about looking for Himeno because of his ex-girlfriend appearing within 10 feet of his precious Ducati. "Oi, Hayate? Hello? Is anybody there?" Mikage shrugged and gave him some parting words, "Hayate, I hope you don't catch flies with your mouth wide-open like that. I-am-going-now. Do-you-understand?"
She was starting to walk away when she heard him mumble, "She's not my girlfriend." Not yet at least.
"I thought we already decided to skip the girlfriend stage and move on to the marry and live happily ever after part?"
Mikage smiled at the rather interesting face of Hayate and said, "I didn't think you'd find another one that easily; I am rather hard to replace. Jaa! It was nice talking to you again. Please remember to lock your doors, you're making it easier for me to scare you out of your wits. Goodbye, Hayate-poohbear!"
He winced at the way she said that despicable nickname… Hayate-poohbear… "Goodbye Mikage," he said with a decisive tone. It was stupid really; he never did have the guts to tell her how much he hated that term of endearment she gave him. He could face bullets, kungfu masters, rabid dogs… anything but the neurotic Mikage. Hayate wanted to strangle Cupid for shooting that particular arrow that matched him with crazy fashion designer Mikage in the first place.
Hayate waited for her to go round the corner before bursting into a cussing fit. Baka, baka, baka… How could I have forgotten twice?! At least I know Himeno's safe. There was some comfort in that thought. Make that a lot of comfort.
"Man, you really need to get your priorities straight."
I know… Hayate moaned inside his head. It was a reappearance of his bike-itis, a rather mysterious disease that prevented him from having sound relationships. Mikage, the overzealous fashion designer/ex-girlfriend managed to remind him of its symptoms. He decided to put all these aside and go back to his house, so he could finally rescue Himeno, the current damsel in distress.
"You better hurry before somebody else gets a hold of your princess."
You never give up, do you?
"Why Hayate, it took you this long to figure that out?"
She was still leaning on that post, drooling her way to REM when Hayate found her. Himeno stirred as Hayate picked her up and carried her to her room, but still her eyes remained closed.
Gathering her in his arms, he found her very light. She murmured something which Hayate strained his ears to hear. She nestled closer to his chest unexpectedly, making Hayate turn a good shade of crimson.
It was an incredible sense of déjà vu as he tucked her in that same bed and looked at her sleeping face with such longing. At least I know it wasn't the beer…
"It was never the beer, dear boy."
It was as if they had met once again, as if he had been given another moment to steal a kiss from her lips, waiting to be touched, waiting to be caressed with his own…
He couldn't deny that he wanted to caress her creamy skin, stroke her hair, and maybe, just maybe, kiss her under the romantic moon.
But he decided against it, and opted to gaze at her instead. Looking at her is enough. He reached for her hand and let it rest on his, squeezing it gently every once in a while to make sure she was actually there. Hayate forgot everything, from the meeting for his exhibit, to the taxing encounter with his former girlfriend… All that played in his head was that soothing melody, and the precious seconds of a first dance were relived in Hayate's consciousness.
All he could remember was that magnificent instant when he turned around and saw Himeno with all her fairy splendor. All Hayate could recall was the way her hair danced with the wind, the way her eyes sparkled with delight, and the way her cheeks were flushed with excitement.
The words of Shakespeare came to mind: No sooner met but they looked, no sooner looked but they loved, no sooner loved but they sighed, no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason. If there was truth to be found in those words, then there was no doubt that Hayate was already a goner the moment he laid eyes on Himeno.
Hayate murmured, "Gods, you are so beautiful Himeno-san." Moonlight softly bathed two mortals, one who found happiness in the land of pleasant dreams, and one who was perfectly content spending the remaining hours of the night awake.
to be continued…
Yeah! Another chapter done, and this one doesn't have a cliffhanger (which is rather unusual for me, I love cliffies). Hope you enjoyed reading the works of Shakespeare as much as I did. The Great Bard did know how to spin his yarns.
Thanks for the reviews you guys, I really appreciate them. A special shout-out to chinoz, I'll answer your question in the next chapters… I hope.
