At about six thirty Haku stood outside the door to Chihiro and Yenshi's apartment. And boy, was he tired. But he wasn't about to let anyone notice; he had plans tonight.
Yenshi had done her job well. She had changed clothes, hair, everything she could, not to mention throwing out his old clothes—except for the jacket he wouldn't let her touch—and having him buy another entire wardrobe. (Not like he had had much of a wardrobe beforehand.)
He knocked on the door, and when he heard footsteps he was instantly aware of every change he had undergone that day. His black leather shoes, his black slacks, the gray, ribbed v-neck sweater under a sleek black leather jacket. He was all too aware of his new haircut, still below his ears, but layered and untidy—what word did Yenshi describe its state as? Sexy?—and the newly pierced lobe of his left ear that bore a small, dark, metallic-gray stone called Hematite.
Slick, naturally arching brows furrowed in anticipation as he awaited the moment when someone would open the door. Yenshi? Chihiro? What did it matter? The inevitable was on its way.
The gold door handle turned, his breath caught in his throat, and the plastic around the roses in his right hand crinkled in a surprising sound.
His eyes fell upon Chihiro as she took in both his change in appearance and the flowers. Her eyebrows rose in question, and he handed the white, pink-tipped roses to her.
"Haku, what—"
"I'm taking you out." His pearly teeth sparkled in a smile. "As a kind of—just have a night on the town to get away from everything kind of idea." She returned his smile sweetly. "Now get dressed because I want to eat something."
^
"This was really sweet of you, Haku." Chihiro smiled at him across the booth of a restaurant downtown called Odelia's. They had just opened their menus and had begun looking up and down the rows of entrée's, but both paused at her comment, and Haku basked in the moment where her eyes looked into his with deep sincerity.
But it was over all too quickly for him when she glanced down to her menu once again, and he felt as if sunlight had stopped shining on him.
His eyes darted from entrée to entrée, not truly paying any attention, just listening for any sort of sound from Chihiro, and he glanced up so quickly when she took a sip of water he felt exposed.
"Found what you want?" She asked lazily, folding her menu and setting it on the edge of the table.
"I—I, uh…"
"No?" Her brilliant smile made even his stuttering seem to melt within his memory, and he asked her what she had chosen. "Garlic chicken with rice pilaf." Her dark hair shimmered in the light, her lips pouted around the straw, and her long, full lashes blinked slowly.
It was a moment he would care very deeply to keep frozen in time forever, but he knew it couldn't last. Knew that in a moment a conversation would begin with a topic he wouldn't care for as much as this blessed silence in her company. Knew eventually that he would have to say goodnight to an evening that he wished would last forever.
He asked, "What do you recommend?" hoping to start the inevitable conversation himself, if only to shake himself from the blissful moment. She laughed—only for a moment—something a little louder than perfect, perhaps not as clear as a moviestars', but to him it was like the chiming of silver bells. Music to his ears, and a smile of his own spread as he looked to her questioningly.
"Haku," She began, that breathtaking smile aimed at him, and he basked in its light as he had moments before. "You speak so…" She shook her head slightly, as if to figure him out. "With such a vocabulary. I mean, Kenji never would have asked what I 'recommended'. More like, 'hey, what looks good?'" She laughed further, but her comment struck Haku strangely, as if he wasn't sure that was a good or a bad thing.
He hated Kenji, would never want to be like him. However he also wanted to fit in, and perhaps this idea of 'Kenji', was also an idea of the average guy.
"Well," She said pointedly, completely unaware of the mental confusion he was going through. "I like the…" And her voice faded into several different choices that he didn't recall. Paying attention to her glistening hair and sparkling eyes were much more interesting.
He told her to surprise him, and when the waiter came she announced both her choice and Haku's, which was fish, prepared in some special rub she wouldn't convey.
"You're the best, Haku." She said later on in their visit as they poked at the last of their salads. "I'm glad to have you as my friend. Honored, really." She noted the slight blush on his cheeks and poked him on the sleeve with her fork playfully. "I'm serious! You're one in a million.
"You deserve an awesome girl. Really, you do." She said, and his stomach suddenly felt unsteady and hot. He wanted her! Chihiro! But did he deserve her? He wasn't sure.
"Hey," She began as if a wire had connected in her brain. "do you like Yenshi?" She leaned forward, intent on the answer, and every hope he had had for their evening wilted like the last piece of lettuce on his plate.
He shook his head slowly, to which she nodded thoughtfully in return.
"You know, she's seeing someone." He raised a brow. "It's a long-distance relationship. But…" She seemed to consider whether she should continue, and apparently she decided to. "I think she puts more into it than he puts back. Like, she calls, and sends things, etc. And I suppose she does get calls back. It's just that, on the holidays and such, she's always the one to go see him. Never has he come here, except once, and I didn't get the best vibes off of him."
She set her fork down, deciding to finish up the topic, but Haku still listened intently. This other side of Yenshi, this other aspect of her life interested him for a reason he couldn't really place. He liked Yenshi. A lot. She had done a lot of good things for him, from laundry to food to spending afternoons showing him around and helping him with his romantic life, even. She deserved someone good, just like Chihiro said Haku deserved someone good. The problem was that, outside fairy tales, rarely does everything go as well as it should. Rarely do people get what they deserve.
^
Haku and Chihiro walked down the sidewalk. The surface was damp from the earlier rain, but thankfully they didn't encounter any on their way to Fondue, another place downtown Haku suggested for dessert, as Yenshi had suggested it to him in the first place.
"So what's with the new look?" She finally asked, and he shrugged his shoulders, hands in his pockets. But still she looked to him for an answer, a cheery expression on her face, the breeze blowing her hair and the collar of her jacket.
"I just…" He drew it out, and she pulled her lips inward, understanding.
"Just wanted to fit in?" She suggested, and their eyes met. "It's hard to be somewhere new. I know; I've been there. Everyone seems to know what's going on, what you should be doing, how to dress, how to act…" She continued on as they walked. "You're grasping for straws, diving for something familiar." He nodded even as she did while she talked, and before either of them knew it they were standing at the door of Fondue.
"I guess I just want you to know, Haku, that I'm here for ya'. I'll never not be." Her hand that grasped his arm squeezed it lightly. Three million things screamed in Haku's head. First, that he wanted to pause the moment, second, that he was floating on a cloud at her words, and third, the nasty thought in the back of his mind that snapped: "Until another man comes into your life! And then I will have to watch from the sidelines, knowing you're 'there for me' but never 'here with me'".
"So, what kind of dessert fondue are you dying for?" Her eyes widened in excitement for the delicacy that awaited her, the serious moment gone in an instant just like they always were, and he followed her in, his arm still warm from her touch.
^
Yenshi sat on the couch, a bag of chips opened next to her, and an assortment of different shaped crumbs on her thighs, stomach, the couch, and just about every area surrounding her.
She was beat.
Did she realize giving a makeover to a guy was such hard work before she decided to help Haku? Not that she wouldn't have done it if she had known, she just had a second where she questioned her sanity. She had them quite often.
She referred to them as 'momentary lapses of sanity', and they covered brain farts, pure idiot moments when she just didn't know what she was doing, or blonde moments as well fell into the category.
She had flipped through game shows, drama's, sitcoms, talk shows, cooking shows, home decorating shows…she had seen and done it all this evening, and finally had settled on 'Sushi Right – Sushi NOW!'.
She wondered what Haku and Chihiro were up to now. Wondered if they were still at dinner or had wandered to Fondue yet. Fondue was her favorite place. And she meant favorite.
Fondue for dinner, fondue for a snack, dessert fondue's. The place was fondue top to bottom, serving fondue and only fondue for everything except drinks. And, she wagered the best idea would be for Haku to take Chihiro and get some chocolate fondue with fruit for dessert. Man, would she kill for some right now.
She glared at her crumpled bag of chips.
Just then the phone rang, and she, with a forced sigh, made herself go into the kitchen to answer it.
She grasped the phone that was stuck to the side of the fridge and gave a neutral 'hello' into the receiver. A man's voice answered, calm and clear, and her mood brightened.
"Isada!" She exclaimed, glad to hear from her long-distance boyfriend. "Oh, I've missed you! I haven't talked to you in ages—"
"Yenshi," He interrupted, and from there the conversation turned a one-eighty.
^
"Do you like chocolate?" He asked Chihiro after the waiter had set down their fondue tray. They were sitting side-by-side in a funky bar that curved like a snake for the whole length of the room, giving customers, in a weird but surprisingly true way, privacy from others seated at the bar. (Chihiro had pointed this out in awe for quite a while when they had first arrived.)
"Do I like chocolate?" She shot back, her eyebrows showing her shock before she chuckled. "You've got to start knowing me better than that, Haku." She scolded, picking up a bamboo stake and skewering a slice of banana, which she dipped into the pot of chocolate before taking a bite, her face showing pure contentment as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Omigosh, Haku! You have to try this." And she staked another piece of banana, dipping it in chocolate before she held it out for him to taste. He had just had a strawberry, but swallowed quickly before biting off the banana, watching her face glow in anticipation of his comment.
"If's wiwwy goog." She laughed at his full-mouthed reply, and turned her attention to trying something new. "Try this one." He offered, taking another kind of fruit and dipping it into the chocolate.
He offered it with a hand under the selection to keep it from dripping, and her mouth opened without hesitation and she slid the fruit off of the stick, but her hair dragged in the warm chocolate as she pulled her head back.
"Oh, wait." Haku said quickly, picking up a napkin and gesturing for her to get closer. He picked up the strand of hair and gently wiped the chocolate off the end, and only when he felt her leg collide with his did he realize how close they were.
Chihiro either didn't notice or hadn't thought anything of it, because after she thanked him quietly—her eyes truly sparkled, he noticed—she held up some pineapple with gooey chocolate layering it.
The moment it entered his mouth he was struck with instant nirvana. He gave a sound of total content, total peace. And he saw, with satisfaction, the pleased smile that Chihrio gave in return, and his hands groped for the strawberry he knew she'd die for.
He layered it, twice, in chocolate, and held it up for her to try. Her eyes dazzled his, seeming to glitter as dramatically as the stars on a summer night, and when her pink lips closed over the strawberry he saw her brows furrow and she "Mmm'ed", sending strange shocks to his hot stomach.
She drew her mouth back, sliding her lips along the skewer to slip the strawberry off, and her dark hair shimmered in the dim lights of the restaurant. The chatter of the other customers was a distant sound, the clanking of dishes was near obsolete.
If he had the daring he may have grasped her face and kissed her, hard, right then and there. But he didn't. Too many things were screaming at him not to.
When their eyes met, and both realized the closeness of their faces, their bodies, Chihiro let out a quick sigh of surprise, pulling herself more into her own chair, and it was almost like a slap to his face, though she was only…what was she only? She wasn't being rude. She wasn't acting as if it was all him. No, she realized it had been her as well—what had been?—and she was just as much to blame…as much to blame for what? His thoughts were swimming, racing, twisting and turning, and all he saw was her slender fingers combing once through her perfect, dark, thick, breathtaking hair.
They had both been caught in the moment, and they had both pulled back.
"That was amazing, Haku; thank you so much. I definitely can't forget this place. Is this 45th street?" He nodded, lifting his hand to summon a waiter for the bill.
Nothing of significance happened on their way home. Chit chat, everyday conversations, just like at dinner, just like usual. But his stomach was still warm, though not hot and filled with unfamiliar jolts, and he felt shaky, as if his body were on edge.
Everything he said, every question he answered, he felt as if he had to choose his words wisely, and he begged that it didn't sound forced or overly contemplated.
They finally reached the door to their apartment, and he felt he had his feelings in check and back to normal.
Chihiro twisted the key and let them in, but the scene that awaited them wasn't what either had expected.
Both rushed into Yenshi's bedroom where they heard crying, sobbing, and Chihiro nearly leapt onto the bed that Yenshi lied on her stomach, face down on the Sailor Moon pillowcase.
"Yenshi? Yenshi, what's wrong?" Chihiro questioned, smoothing the girls' hair. "What happened?" She seemed to sniffle for a moment, cleared her throat before she looked up to Chihiro. Haku still stood in the doorway.
"Isada called." She said. "He asked me not to call him again, or email. He said he didn't ever want to have contact with me again." Haku blinked in shock, and Chihiro cursed.
"Why, what happened?" She snapped angrily, but Yenshi cried a little more before answering.
"He wouldn't tell me…wouldn't tell me why. He…he—he didn't give me any reason. Nothing at all. He…he merely stated that and hung up." She began to cry again into her pillow, and Chihiro gave Haku a disgusted look.
"I'm going to get you some tea, all right, Yenshi?" She offered sweetly. There wasn't an answer, and Chihiro walked into the kitchen, followed by Haku. "I hate him. Ooh! I've never really liked him—in all honesty. How could…" But she didn't finish her sentence and instead began to heat water in the kettle upon the stove.
"Is there anything—" He began, but she shook her head.
"I'm going to go change into my pajama's and take her this when it's done. I'm sure there's nothing she wants to say tonight, so I'll just go to bed after I take it to her." She sighed. "Thank you, Haku. For now, and tonight, and everything. You're great." She smiled before taking his arm and planting a quick kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you in the morning." And with a quick squeeze to his arm she disappeared into her room.
Haku thought he had had complete control over his emotions and everything when they had arrived to the apartment. And he had.
But now everything was twisting, racing, hot and jolting all over again.
He sighed, his body now on edge again. He was confused, irritated, happy, sad, hopeful…
He sighed again and went to bed.