Disclaimer: My snail crawled out of it's shell... Is that bad? 0.0

Author's Note(s): One reviewer asked if Canti left with Haruko at the end of the series, and no he didn't. At the end of the last episode, Haruko left on her Vespa with Naota's guitar, and left her own guitar. (We know this because at the very end, her guitar is in Naota's room, and it plays one note) Canti stayed with Naota, he is shown on the balcony of their bakery working. I promised someone that I would put a manga scene in this chapter... Sorry, but that has to wait until next chapter. Oops...

Chapter 4:

Go with the flow

"Grab your Vespa," Haruko ordered at Naota.

He looked a bit startled by her unexplained command. "What for?" he responded to her instruction.

"If half of your power is in America..." She smiled at him mischievously. "Then, we're going to go get it."

"I think you should become a solo artist," Kitsurabami suggested to Canti. The show had ended after repeated encores, and Canti and Kitsurabami were back in their shared hotel room in Detroit. They would be flying to Las Vegas, Nevada in the morning for a concert.

Canti gave her a blank look.

"I know you can't talk, but it would still be a good show. To tell you the truth, the Village People are weighting you down!" his manager kept advising him, keeping her voice as low as possible.

Canti seemed shocked, he was grateful to the Village People for giving him his first real gig.

"Now, now. I know that you love the Village People, but you need to find a new band to play with. Either that, or scout members, and create your own band." Canti thought on this, considering her words. "Just think about it! You're already on the cover of tons of American magazines! If you get your own band, you could get more interviews, more concerts, more, more, MORE! You might even get on T.V! Commercials, soap operas, or even your own series!"

"How do you plan on getting your Vespa over there, if we leave it here?" Naota asked her when she jumped on the back of his Vespa, leaving her own vehicle parked by the side of his house. She wrapped her legs around his stomach from behind, pushing her body tightly against his back.

"I have my ways, don't worry about it!" She squeaked out, excited by her idea of a road trip to America. "Besides," she said in a quiet voice, wriggling her arms around his torso, under his shoulders and around to massage on his chest. She hovered her mouth over his outer ear while she spoke in a soft hiss, "I want to be the passenger this time. You're a big boy now Ta-kun, I want you to show me how you can ride."

"Uhh..." He felt a little short of breath, still not completely comfortable with her intimate touches toward him. Not quite sure if she was referring to him riding the Vespa, or himDoing something a bit more erotic, he hastened to start his bike, deciding not to question her further.

"All right! Let's go Ta-kun!" she yelled out when he reved the motor, and the fumes and smoke erupted from the tail-pipe. She threw her arms up into the air in a frenzy when he sped out of the driveway and down the nearest road. He thought back to when he was the passenger on Haruko's vespa, then he tried his very best to impress her. He jumped over a few park benches, made the wheels squeal, did some wheelies, jumped on moving and stationed cars, tried grinding curbs, and even stood up on the moving Vespa, just to show her how much practice he put into it.

"BEEP BEEP!" Haruko warned at passing traffic. After he was finished showing off, and playing around, Naota went to the road on the shore of the Pacific. It reminded him of Haruko. It still looked the same after all those years. The water glistened under the descending sun, the top of the water seemingly smooth, then broken up as it curled when it met the sand. Haruko... she looked harmless, like the calm waves did now, but she had an angry side that resembled the raging rapids, and when she finally broke down, and all her emotions reached the point were she couldn't stand to hold them in any longer, she was like a waterfall. She went with the flow of things, never pausing to think, just letting herself get lifted by a large surfing wave, or not refusing to get pulled down into the deepest depths of the ocean by an undertow. Pushed and driven by her own secret current.

"Haruko?" Naota directed to Haruko. She was snuggled up to his back, her head resting there, her arms wrapped comfortably around his waist. She hadn't spoken for awhile, and he wasn't sure if she was awake.

"Hmmm?" she asked back at him, her eyes closed and relaxed. She rubbed her cheek against his back, her arms getting a tighter hold on him. She slipped her hands inside his shirt, and the ab muscles there instantly contracted. "Geez...you sure are jumpy. Are you sure you're not a virgin?" she teased, a smile spreading across her lips.

"I'm positive," Naota answered her, cursing himself for being so nervous around her.

"Okay..." she brought her head up from his back, and kissed his the back of his neck, with her eyes still shut. "Then we won't have any trouble when we get to where we're going." As she spoke she breathed her hot breath directly against his neck, then kissed the same spot again. Naota sensed the goosebumps return, and had to fight himself from pulling away. When she opened her eyes, and became aware that they had ascended into the sky. The waves danced below them, in a peaceful manner, like mimicking the way Haruko was acting. Then something inside Haruko snapped, and she yelled out, "YOU CAN FLY IT TOO!" He winced at her sudden outburst near his ear.

"UhYeah... i-is there something wrong with that?" he quired. The ocean water below them reacted also. The waves grew ridged and fierce, slamming against each other violently. That's when Naota began to worry.

"ARGH! TA-KUN!" she continued to holler out at him. She took her arms off him, then grabbed his shoulders, and shook him.

"WhaWhyAreYouSo.." he attempted to speak while she shook him, but he could barely get one word out at a time. After more dangerous shaking from Haruko, Naota lost his balance on the bike, and fell from it. "MAD!" he yelped out when he flew off it, and grabbed onto the kickstand to stop from crashing to his demise in the vicious ocean water beneath him.

"Why do you think!" she questioned him in return. She took control of the Vespa, her blood boiling. All this time he was waiting for ME to come and get him... And he had this Vespa!

"I" he swayed, then slammed into the side of the Vespa when she sped up, cutting him off. "Don't know!"

"Well..." she said, then paused. She began to cool herself down, deciding to be nice, and only torture him until they landed. When they find Canti, then she would explain everything to him... she just hoped she didn't lose her temper and knock him off. Then, her rage subsiding, and she replied like a teacher scolding a disobedient pupil, "You can stay down there until you figure it out."

"Huh!" Naota exclaimed out, knowing she stuck to her word when it came to things such as punishment. He continued to dangle, hanging onto the kickstand for dear life. They didn't talk for hours as they crossed the ocean, Haruko driving the Vespa, and Naota grasping the kickstand, swinging in the breeze. The ocean mist condensed on their skin, making their hair and clothing damp. The night over the water was cold, and their damp clothing only made the chilled air cling to them. Somehow, Haruko had made herself comfortable. She sat on the Vespa, the wind blowing in her hair, a blanket that she had pulled from nowhere draped over her shoulders, and she was sipping hot tea. How the hell does she do that? Where'd she get the tea and blanket! It's not fair... Naota thought to himself, his teeth chattering, his arms getting tired.

"Ahh... How I love the ocean," Haruko said softly. She took a deep, soothing breath, and inhaled the warm steam arising from her cup of tea.

"Can I get back on there yet?" he pleaded.

"Did you figure it out yet?" she asked, not looking at him.

"N-No..." Naota stuttered, and shivered from the cold. "But it feels like my arms are going to fall off..." he begged again.

"No."

"Please?"

"No." she repeated.

"Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" he whined, his arms weary and screaming for him to relieve them.

"NO!" she yelled an answer. Then she drank the rest of her tea, threw the cup away, and kicked at him. "Stop begging!" She kicked backward, trying to squish his fingers on the kickstand. "Stop asking! I already told you the terms! You won't be touching this cherry for a long time!"

"Haruko!" he pleaded one last time. She ignored him, and he sighed in defeat. A few more uneventful hours passed. Haruko started to doze off, and set the Vespa to auto-drive. She leaned back, and fell asleep. Naota himself was getting woozy also, but he couldn't go to sleep, or he would fall off into the water. After Haruko was asleep for an hour or so, Naota spotted land. Haruko awoke shortly after his discovery of the shore, and they landed on the coast of California. "Oh... thank god..." Naota muttered when he could finally take his hands off the kickstand, and could relax the muscles in his arms.

"Come on," Haruko instructed. She got off the Vespa, and began to walk up the beach. He followed her, rubbing his sore arm, and rolling his shoulder, trying to stretch it out, so the pain would leave it. "We need to buy some gas, and find a place to stay for the night."

"Okay." He nodded in agreement, pushing the Vespa up the sand, and onto the street. Lucky for him, a gas station was right there. Haruko walked into it. He bought gas, and filled up the tank with fuel at the pump, while she examined the store part of the station. He went in for her after he had filled up.

"Hey, Ta-kun," Haruko called out to him. He went to where he heard her voice, and as he walked down the hallway that led to the bathrooms, he was yanked into the men's bathroom by Haruko.

"Whaaa" He yelped, and staggered to stand up straight. She didn't say anything, and dragged him into a stall, then locked the door behind them. "HARU"

"Shhh..." she said, stopping his words with her lips on his. He fell into the kiss quickly. She pulled her lips away from him, and Naota found that he had sprouted cat ears on his head again.

"What are you doing!" he asked in a harsh whisper. She smirked.

"I'm not taking it off until you" she paused mid-sentence, and reached up to rub his cat ears.

"Ahhhh... Ahhh... D-Don't touch me there..." He moaned, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"Yeah... Ta-kun... Come on," she continued to rub his ears with the tips of her fingers, and Naota moaned again.

"Ahhhhh... Haruko..." His eyes drooped closed, and he embraced the feeling. She took one hand off his ear, and put it on his strong arm.

"Ohhh... It's so hard Ta-kuuunnn," she whispered into his ear. "You have been practicing." She squeezed his bicep gently, and he flexed his arm muscles unintentionally. "Oh yeah... Just like that..."

"Ahhh... Ohhh... Haruko," he moaned out, her fingers doing wonders on his cat ear. The moment was broken by the a toilet flushing in a neighboring stall...

"Huh?..." Haruko asked innocently, withdrawing her hands from him. Naota's eyes widened, and stepped out of the stall when he heard the bathroom door open, then close. The man that had been in the bathroom with them had left.

"Do you think he...?" Naota asked Haruko. She shrugged. She went up to him, kissed him again, and he didn't object. When she broke the kiss, his cat ears had magically disappeared. He sighed in relief and walked out of the bathroom. Haruko silently slipped out behind him. They received strange glances from many of the other customers in the mini mart. With each man that Naota passed, he wondered if it was him that heard them.

Considering all the moans, and kissing noises they were making, the guy that had overheard them probably got the wrong idea. This is what it would have sounded like if you didn't know what was really going on:

"I'm not taking it off until you"

"Ahhhh... Ahhh... D-Don't touch me there..."

"Yeah... Ta-kun... Come on... Ohhh... It's so hard Ta-kuuunnn... Oh yeah... Just like that..."

"Ahhh... Ohhh... Haruko"

"Ta-kun," Haruko called out again, breaking Naota from his thoughts. He went up to her, and she turned around to reveal all the food she was planning on buying. They treaded up to the cashier window together, and bought the food and goodies, Naota's treat of course. "Let's go find a hotel..."

"GONE! Can you believe that!" Tasuku demanded fiercely, once again clueless to how his thoughts affected Mamimi.

"Yeah, they're gone... wow." Mamimi rolled her eyes and sighed. They leave without any warning, and that's all you've been babbling on and on about...

"It's crazy! Naota never leaves home, and Haruko just got here!" He squeezed the last part about Haruko out of his mouth in a dull whine.

"He's left before," Mamimi informed, "Another time, while you were still in America."

"That's not like him... Did he leave all by himself?" Tasuku queried.

"No, he went away somewhere with Haru-San." Mamimi thought back to the depressing time in her life, right after she found out that Naota liked Haruko more than he said he did. It was sad, but it also opened up more possibilities she didn't see at that time.

"And Dad just let him go!" He seemed enraged that Kamon would let Naota out of his sight with an unknown woman. More jealous and disappointed that he wasn't there to go with Haruko instead, than worried about his baby brother's safety.

"I don't know. He ran away with her or something."

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