Sorry, everyone! I was on a Naruto kick and so I had to get some fics up in that section before I got back to Pretear. But now I'm back! No, Mai-chan, you don't want to know about the dancing macaroni…neither does Bara-chan. Leo of the stars…that's so sweet! I'm updating now...I know it's late, though! Sorry! And still thanks to Chelsie, Soyokaze, and Kirakayano for being my inspirations! Yeah…last chapter, Kouri got sick and that makes us sad! But she's better now, so get ready for a LOT of chaos. And I mean a LOT.
"Himeno… I…"
"Yes, Hayate?" Crimson eyes met navy blue and the Knight instantly colored.
"… It's nothing."
Safely hidden in a bush, three soft groans were heard. Five pairs of eyes watched the Pretear look confused, then shrug sadly and walk away. Hayate gazed after her, a distant expression on his face before he also left.
"This is just STUPID!" Kouri exploded once the two of them had vanished from sight, falling out of the shrubbery in her ire. "I mean… why didn't he just say it?"
Mannen shot her a "DUH" glare. "Because he's Hayate, stupid."
"That's not a reason, Cotton Ball! And stop calling me stupid!"
"Then stop calling me Cotton Ball!"
Before the two could launch into yet another hour-long argument, Hajime interceded politely. "The point is that Himeno-neechan and Hayate obviously like each other but they won't say anything."
"Then WE should say something!" Kenjiro piped up.
The look Kouri turned upon her brother was one of loving exasperation. "Kenji, it's not that easy. If WE say it, then it doesn't count. Himeno-neechan and Hayate-san have to say it. Not us."
"But what if we MAKE them say it?" The four-year-old persisted.
"How can you possibly force--"
"No, he's got a point!" Mannen interrupted excitedly. "If we can somehow make them SEE that they love each other, then of course they'll say it! They just need a little push."
Shin nodded, content to listen for now. But he was slightly confused. "If we push them, won't they fall down?"
"Not that kind of push," Kouri assured him. "I think." She stared at Mannen, eyebrows raised. "Right?"
He nodded, running a hand through messy ivory hair. "Look--Hayate KISSED Himeno-neechan when we all thought she was dead and he was crying and stuff… so something must've happened when they were fighting Saihi! If we just REMIND them of that…"
"Then they can tell each other how they feel!" Kouri finished, looking rather amazed. She clapped Mannen on the back. "Good job, Cotton Ball! I take back all the times I've punched you!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"
The Knight of Water spoke up pensively. "Why are we doing this, by the way?"
Instantaneous silence. Kouri looked at Mannen. Mannen looked at Hajime. Hajime looked at Kenjiro. Kenjiro looked at Shin.
Shin sneezed.
"Good enough," they said in unison and set about making their diabolical plans.
Actually, the true reason was that they were all very bored and this seemed the best way to cause utter mayhem. And maybe see Himeno punch Hayate in the face, like she always did.
Time to get to work.
"Tell… you everything?" Sasame peered over the rims of his glasses at the very serious purple-haired girl seated across from him in a red plush armchair.
"All of it," Kouri told him, flipping to a fresh page in her notepad and lifting her sharpened pencil. "What happened up there near the top of the Doom Tree?"
"Great Tree of Fenril," Takako corrected.
The child sighed. "It caused a lot of doom and it's easier to say. Now can you tell me what happened?"
Takako and Sasame exchanged glances. They knew she'd be stubborn enough to keep pestering them until they obliged… so they obliged.
"Well, I was fighting with Hayate after he undid the pret with Himeno…"
The next day, Kei cast the roles. Why Kei? Because Kei was (supposedly) the smartest one of them all and would make the best decisions as to who played what in the reenactment to bring Hayate and Himeno closer together.
However, when he cast Mannen as Hayate and Kouri as Himeno, he met his very first protests.
"Kei-san… you DO know what happens at the end, DON'T YOU?" A pair of steely blue-gray eyes had the poor Knight pinned.
"Yes, I do." Kei remained serenely austere.
"There's no way I'm kissing him!" Kouri yelled, jabbing an accusing finger at Mannen, as he shrieked at the exact same time, "There's no way I'm kissing her!"
They're so alike, it's SCARY, Kei thought to himself, suppressing a smile by coughing into his hand. "You want Hayate and Himeno to get together, don't you?"
They nodded sullenly, glaring at each other.
The Knight of Light rubbed his chin, remarkably straight-faced. "Then you'll both have to go through with it. It's the only way."
"Awwww!"
"But…"
Kei ignored their now futile arguments and turned to Goh. From the heated glare he'd felt at the back of his head, he was surprised that he hadn't gone up into flames yet.
"I suppose you're protesting your part as well," he said wryly.
"Trees don't speak." Goh huffed and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
"You have lines."
The Knight/waiter thrust the script into his face. "I go 'ROOOOOOARRRGH!' and wave my arms around! That's the crappiest part I've ever heard of!"
"YOU don't have to kiss Kouri," Mannen said morosely.
"It's better than kissing a COTTON BALL," she retaliated.
Glares galore.
"What's an usher do?" Kenjiro asked plaintively, tugging on Kei's pant leg. "Pretty Lady, what do me and Shin do?"
The Knight's eye twitched minutely and he had to take a deep, calming breath before he could reply in a manner best befitting his rank and (collapsing) dignity.
"Ushers, Kenjiro, are the people who escort the audience to their seats."
"Oh, you mean the people who look like penguins?"
A pause. "Yes… those people."
"I have too many lines!" Hajime wailed, just as Kei thought he had successfully avoided another crisis. "How come I have to be the narrator, anyway?"
"Because you can talk and make sense," Kei snapped. "Honestly, can't you all be a little bit more like Yayoi-san?"
Kouri, Mannen, Shin, Kenjiro, Goh, and Hajime turned to look at Himeno's best friend, who was currently twirling around in raptures of joy.
"Ohhh, this is so incredibly romantic! The drama! The pain of Himeno being abruptly torn from her lover! The brief bliss of Sasame and Takako's fleeting love! The KISS!"
Mannen tilted his head upwards to smirk at Kei. "CRAZY, you mean?"
"Is she going to be okay?" The smallest Knight inquired, watching the girl concernedly.
"Who knows," Goh muttered, shaking his head. "Let's just get this thing over with."
----Much, MUCH later…----
The fateful day had arrived and the entire cast was in a flurry, struggling into their costumes, firing off last-minute lines to test memorization and just basically…panicking.
"MANNEN, YOU CAN'T COME IN HERE!" Kouri shrieked, when her costar tried to venture into Mawata's bedroom to see how the costuming was going. "It's bad luck!"
"It IS?"
"It WILL be if you turn that doorknob!"
"I FORGOT MY FIRST LINE!" Hajime was hysterically telling Goh. "What is it?"
"Umm…" The Fire Knight consulted his script, already wrapped up in brown construction paper and sporting tree branches in his hair. "It's… 'Hello'."
Needless to say, things were rather hectic and the play was scheduled to start in less than fifteen minutes. It was being held in the Awayuki yard and most everyone in the neighborhood had been invited: Mayune, Kaoru, Natsue, Mawata, Sasame and Takako, Rika, Samui, and Okesa, many other neighbors, and, of course, Hayate and Himeno (although they had no idea what this was about).
Shin and Kenjiro performed their task flawlessly, cheerfully greeting each guest and guiding them to an unoccupied lawn chair. Natsue had an old platform from her college days, which served as the stage, and the velvet curtains that Kaoru had rigged up were now drawn together, hiding the actors from view.
The crowd chatted amiably, then hushed as the curtains rippled and Hajime shyly stepped onto the stage, dressed in a powder-blue tux and matching bowtie.
"Hello," he greeted the audience, managing a small smile. "My name is Hajime and I'll be your narrator today. Welcome to our production of Love Conquers All."
Hayate got a VERY bad feeling…
The orange-head gestured at the curtains and stepped aside as they parted, revealing Kei, wearing a white wig and Sasame's Dark Knight outfit. Glaring at him (and looking rather embarrassed) was Kouri, who had on the Wind Pretear's costume.
"Undo the Pret, Hayate, or Himeno will get hurt!" Kei said grandly, throwing out his cape with a flourish.
"No!" The little girl protested, wrapping her arms about her body in a defensive posture. "Hayate, don't! We can't beat this pretty-boy without combining our powers!"
Kei decided to ignore the 'pretty-boy' jibe and did his most impressive scowl. "But if I win, your precious Himeno will ALSO die." At a nod from Kouri, he called on his power and the stage lit up with a golden brilliance.
"Hayate, you idiot!" Kouri yelled, unseen in the blinding light. "Get back in here!" A yelp. "W-whoa! SIT, boy! STAY!"
Himeno wondered if that would have worked on Hayate if she'd tried that, while Kei was horrified that Kouri seemed to have forgotten her lines.
Then the light cleared and the audience saw why the child had been yelling like that. For not only was Mannen onstage beside her, but Gin-chan, upon seeing his owner, had broken free of Okesa's hold and bounded on the platform to tackle Kouri.
Mannen stared down at the canine. "Uh…"
Clearly flustered, Kouri nevertheless did her best to recover the flow of the play. "You're a brave dog," she solemnly informed Gin-chan, "but even you cannot withstand the awesome power of the doom tr--I mean… the Great Tree of Fenril. Please return to your family."
The dog understood the word "return" well enough, and obediently trotted off the stage to uncertain applause from the puzzled and amused audience.
Mannen cleared his throat and Kouri gave a little jump of surprise, whirling around to face him. "Oh, Hayate!" she dramatically declared. "If only you had stayed within my chest!"
Hayate suddenly choked and turned beet-red, while Himeno slowly began to twitch in her seat beside him.
"What, and let Sasame hurt you? I'm not that much of a stuffy, arrogant, inconsiderate, annoying, stupid--"
Kei coughed into his hand.
"… Knight of Wind," Mannen finished hastily.
His acting partner resisted the urge to sigh and instead glanced off to the side, lowering her eyes. "But… I worry about you, Hayate, even if I don't always show it. Please be careful."
"Of course!" The Ice Knight struck a ridiculous pose and turned to the audience with a big, fake smile plastered on his face. "Hello! I am Hayate, Leafe Knight of Wind, and I love Himeno, the Pretear! But we may die today before I can tell her how I feel! Of course, I don't know WHAT she'd want with me, since MANNEN is so much cooler than I am! In fact, he's my hero! I want to be just like him--"
Kouri may have won the fight against the sigh, but she couldn't win this one, so she gave in and rolled her eyes. Kei shot the boy a glare, mouthing, "THOSE AREN'T YOUR LINES."
Himeno, meanwhile, was laughing her head off.
The rest of the play ran relatively smoothly (although Mannen kept loudly endorsing himself as the true hero and Yayoi, in her role as Takako, launched into a full speech about love and pain and French bullfighters while Kei kept trying to insert his lines to make the whole thing make sense). Goh made an excellent tree, roaring out his lines so fiercely that several children in the audience burst into tears and Kouri kept to her part nicely, playing the role of Himeno with perfect determination and aplomb.
Unfortunately, there was one scene in which the biggest struggle of all commenced. That was the final scene: the "Kiss of Life". And the two young stars were having problems going through with it.
Kouri was nestled comfortably in a bed of flowers in her last costume change, the dress of the White Pretear. Her hands were folded on her chest and her eyes were closed, although there was a definite grimace on her face instead of the peaceful expression that should have been there (as Kei had sternly instructed). Mannen fell to his knees as Yayoi wept convincingly into her palms and Kei kept a bracing hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, Himeno! Please, I beg of you, open your eyes or I will be a sad man forever and I'll go bald and most likely start liking other men to honor your memory!"
"Oh, is that how it was going to be?" Himeno teased her navy-haired companion, who grumbled an unintelligible answer and vowed to make Mannen pay dearly for his inaccurate portrayal and his snide side-comments.
"If there is a miracle called love…" The white-haired Knight said softly, as the audience sighed and giggled to themselves in anticipation. He leaned down, gazing at Kouri's face, now flushed with embarrassment, and gulped audibly.
It's all for Himeno-neechan! He told himself, trying to muster up the gumption to continue. So she can be happy with Hayate! And it's just Kouri…it's not like she's CUTE or anything…
And then he made the mistake of looking down.
With her face and body framed by petals of white, pink, blue, red, and yellow and the blush on her cheeks, his friend looked… somewhat winsome. And, he added to admit it, cute as well.
It's just Kouri, his mind repeated. Just Kouri…
"Kouri…" Mannen echoed, not realizing that he had spoken aloud as he bent down to kiss her…
…And collided foreheads with her as she sat up quickly, having been caught off guard by her name.
"Owwww!" They shrieked simultaneously, clutching their heads and wincing.
The audience started to laugh, and Kouri shook herself out of her pained stupor. "Your kiss has awakened me!" She muttered, glaring at Mannen through narrowed blue-gray eyes. "I love you, Hayate! Let us grow old and ugly together!"
"Of course, my dearest darling," the boy snarled, returning her glare with a defiant smirk.
"And they all lived happily ever after, the end!" Hajime blurted out, desperate to end this before "Himeno" and "Hayate" slaughtered each other.
Kei smoothly maneuvered himself into a position between the two ten-year-olds to avoid further conflicts, and instructed them (with a fixed-on smile) to bow as the audience gave the cast a standing ovation.
"Interesting play, wasn't it?" Himeno remarked, as she and Hayate walked away from the stage and headed for the fountain.
"Interesting?" He said disbelievingly. "Are you kidding? I've never been so embarrassed in my life! Not only did Mannen make me out to be a stubborn bastard, he also had to go and quote me direc--"
Suddenly realizing what he had been about to admit, he stopped himself and the deep red flush reappeared on his face and neck.
Himeno turned the color of her hair. "H… Hayate?"
"I-it's nothing…" He stammered, turning away so she couldn't see his reddened face.
However, five VERY frustrated children were not about to let him get off scot-free.
"We didn't go through that so he could run away!" Kouri whispered fiercely from behind a bush. "Get 'im, Hajime!"
"AND THEN THEY KISSED, BECAUSE THEY LOVED EACH OTHER!" Hajime obediently screamed as loudly as he could.
"What the--" Himeno whirled around to see Shin, Kenjiro, Kouri, Hajime, and Mannen sprinting away in fits of laughter. She would have started after them… if Hayate hadn't chosen that minute to finally give in to his emotions and swept her into his arms, kissing her soundly.
"If we'd only known it would be that easy…!" Goh groaned, still disgustedly plucking stray leaves from his hair. "We wouldn't have had to go through all that crap."
Hajime shrugged, not bothered in the slightest. "I liked it. It was fun."
"Why did you say my name, anyway?" Kouri demanded, rounding on Mannen (who had been hoping that she'd miraculously forgotten his accidental slip-up). "I thought something was wrong, so I sat up!"
"I was saying your name because you looked like you were gonna throw up!" He shot back.
"I was not!"
"You were too!"
"Ah…" Takako regarded them, smiling. "Young love…"
"NO, IT'S NOT!" The children paused in their bickering long enough to scream at her before they resumed their pointless argument.
"Yes, it is!" Yayoi seconded firmly. "But, woe! Someday, a man bearing the mark of a star on his left thigh will appear, riding a giant eagle and he will sweep Kouri away into his big, brawny arms and they will fly away together and raise lots of little babies under the sea!"
Everyone sighed, except for Shin, who pointed out, "But birds and people can't breathe underwater."
And thus concluded the Great Plan.
---OOC---
I'm so sorry that this took so long! And please forgive me for OOC Hayate...Above all, I'd like to thank Soyokaze for finishing her wonderful Pretear fic and inspiring me to update mine! There's one more chapter next! Please review and thank you all for being so patient with me!
Next Chapter… Kouri Gets in a Fight:
"No more," Goh said angrily, gesturing to the quiet child seated on the couch with Mannen's hand still placed on her swelling eye. "This can't go on anymore! Kouri, we're not giving you back!"
Kouri peered at him through one reddened, tear-blotched eye. "Goh-san, you can't…"
"It has to stop," Mannen suddenly put in. "And it's going to. No one's going to hurt you anymore."
Muahahaha! XD Confused yet?