Chapter Three

Hayami was bored. It was going on his fifth hour stuck in the infirmary, and he was sick of twiddling his thumbs waiting. Waiting for what, he wasn't sure. Anything would have been more entertaining than this. He was truly bored. He had even spent the last fifteen minutes glaring at the door, willing some one, preferably a certain stubborn red head, to walk through it. To no avail.

He wondered briefly if this was some sort of cosmic joke being played on him for all the times he had pushed people away, preferring to be alone. Now, he was practically begging for someone to at least show that there was some life still on Blue Six.

He'd been thinking a lot. He'd wondered what Howan was doing (Probably still sleeping, he concluded.), and how the Granpus was fairing with the new mechanic that Iga had picked up somewhere, and even whether Yuri was getting tormented by some of the crazies that lived on the big boat. (The last one was more of wishful thinking) But the thought he kept on returning to was what Kino was up to.

"Damn!" He cursed, knowing no one was around to hear it. She had somehow managed to weasel her way into his thoughts, again. He'd been thinking about her a lot. A lot more than he should have been. But, still, here he was, thinking about her once more.

Kino was amazing. She had dealt with so much, but still somehow managed to deal with one more thing, without complaint. She deserved a good rest. And she had been so kind to him, even when he had been an absolute jerk to her.

When he had been fighting Verg, she had put herself in danger to try and help. She had gone to his side so quickly, and had been so concerned. She was the type of girl Hayami really didn't mind being around.

It helped that she was attractive. Very attractive. Even with her tom-boy attitude and look, she still managed to remind him that she was, indeed, still a woman.

Even from the beginning, he had known it would be hell working with her. When Hayami wanted something, he took it. Waiting for the right moment wasn't something he did. In his book, the right moment was when he wanted it to be right. He had wanted a lot of things. Most of which he had gotten. But right now, he wanted her.

But he wouldn't do that to her. He had actually come to care for her, and she seemed to enjoy his company. She was the first in a while. He wasn't going to push her away. So, he had tried not to think about her. It didn't work.

In the past five hours, Hayami had been thinking of her so much that he had actually managed to complete and re-define a list of questions he had been musing on to ask Kino when she finally came back to pester him. Several of them were simply out of curiosity, while others were more serious.

But that didn't change the fact that he was bored now. He did consider, briefly, just getting up and leaving. But then he would have to deal with the wrath of Kino. She was scary when she was really mad. Really scary. Scary enough that it kept Hayami promptly glued to his bed. He'd also considered bribing the nurses to let him out early. But he didn't for two reasons: The first being that the nurses were twisted, and he really didn't want to have anything to do with them, and the second being that he would still have to deal with Kino.

"Damn," he cursed again. "I wonder what she's doing…?" he mused to himself, before realizing that he was thinking about her again.

Everyone stuck in the infirmary jumped five feet in the air at the sound of a loud yell and curse of frustration.

Kino laughed. Hard. So hard, she had rolled off Freeda's bed, which she was lying on, and was currently holding her stomach for fear of it exploding. Of course, Shiro and Freeda weren't much better off.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Kino coughed and attempted to sober up. Until she made eye contact with her two friends. Which sent them all into a fit of laughter, again.

This is absurd! Kino thought to herself. They didn't even know why they were laughing. For the most part, they were probably laughing because they needed to. None of them had had much to laugh at in the past few months. It felt good. It felt good to just be able to let go and laugh. They weren't worried about the world ending, or getting blown up. For the moment, they weren't "Kino: Granpus Pilot", "Freeda: Planesman", and "Shiro: Fire Arm control". They were Kino, Freeda, and Shiro, three friends enjoy they're time together.

Finally, the three calmed down and Kino looked at the time. It was late, or early, rather. Almost two in the morning. She was about to open her mouth to say something, when Shiro cut her off.

"Kino, you still haven't changed!"

Kino blinked a moment, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"Your clothes!" Freeda provided, waving a hand at Kino.

Looking down, Kino realized that they were right. She was still in her pilot suit. She had meant to get changed into her jumpsuit earlier, but had forgotten and gotten sidetracked. Kino laughed and rested her head in her hand, shaking her head. Oh well, at least it provided an excuse to head back to her room.

Standing up, Kino said goodnight, and made her way back to her room. The walk didn't take long, and the hallways were empty. People were finally getting a chance to rest, and most were taking advantage of it. Finally reaching her room, Kino pushed open the door that was almost always kept unlocked and went inside.

Once inside, she stretched her mussels and slid out of her suit, replacing it with a simple cotton robe. Grabbing her suit, she began to rummage through the almost invisible pockets, looking for the piece of gum she had shoved in right before she and Hayami had left.

For Kino, gum was her addiction. It kept her sane part of the time, and it was a nervous habit of hers to chew it when things got bad. Instead of bringing out the gum she pulled out something smooth, and metal. Bringing it up to the light, she gave a little gasp as she recognized it.

"Hayami's lighter…" she murmured to herself, turning it over in her hands. She had picked it up on the beach when she had gone to the Granpus to get the washcloth. She had meant to give it back to him, but had held onto it for some reason. She needed to give it back…

Hayami was probably still awake. Kino quickly pulled on her blue jumpsuit and left her room, still grasping the lighter, heading for the infirmary.

The lights in the infirmary were dimmed, and most of the people, aside from a skeleton staff, were sleeping. Kino found her way to Hayami's room and peeked in.

Damn… she thought to herself when she saw him. He was sleeping. He was actually kind of cute when he slept. He looked at ease, without worry. It was probably the first real decent sleep he'd had in days. She wouldn't wake him now.

Instead, she walked over and placed the light on the dresser beside his bed. She stood beside his bed for a moment, watching as he softly inhaled and exhaled. It was nice to see him in such a calmed state.

She had checked in with the medical staff earlier to check on his status, and it turned out her hadn't broken anything. He was just bruised. Which meant that they would be able to release him earlier than expected. Hayami didn't know yet, but by now, he had probably of scared the staff so badly that they would be excited to get rid of him.

Reaching out carefully, she placed a hand gently on his cheek, smiling softly as he murmured something, but didn't stir. It was amazing how fast she had come to care for him. In the beginning, she couldn't have cared less what had happened to him, and now she was worried because of a few bruises. It was pathetic…

But still nice in the same way. It showed that she wasn't completely numb to emotion. While she had recognized the feeling of hatred, and fear, and even respect, it had been years since she'd felt love. Sure, she cared for the people on Blue Six, but not like this.

Leaning down, Kino hovered above him. She could feel his breath against her cheek. So soft, warm, and soothing. She flexed her free hand as her eyes slid shut. She felt her knees buckle under her, and had to struggle to hold her balance. She was so close. So close…

She stopped suddenly, and pulled away, making a quick run for the door. After she was safely behind it, with Hayami still sleeping on the other side, she rested her back against the door and attempted to calm her rapid breathing. She could feel the warm flush against her face, and it was hard for her to control her heart.

What just happened? She asked herself, placing a hand over her heart. Calming down a bit, she shook her head and stood up. I need a shower…

Hayami opened his eyes slowly. Rolling onto his side, he glanced at the clock near him. 2:55 in the morning. He'd only been asleep an hour. His eyes fell upon a small, glimmering object resting on the dresser. Sitting up, he grasped the lighter and looked at it in surprise. He hadn't expected to ever see it again. Where had it come from?

He brought it up close to his face, looking it over. He caught a familiar scent then. It had the smallest hint of lavender and jasmine, mixed in with a smell that reminded him of the ocean. Much too feminine for him. But he had smelled this before. He had noticed it a few days earlier.

"Kino…"

So she had found it and brought it to him while he was sleeping. Interesting. He would have to thank her later. He jumped when he heard a knock at the door.

Standing there was, of all people, Iga, with a manila folder tucked under his arm. The captain walked in, taking his time until he came to stop beside the bed.

"So, finally awake, eh?" Iga grinned at him, and Hayami found himself smirking. "Kino was in here a little while ago. Checking up on you, probably. Came out in a rush. It surprised me."

Iga paused, before pulling the manila folder out and looking it over. Clearing his throat, he brought his eyes back up to meet Hayami's questioning ones.

"What's…" Hayami trailed off as he watched Iga.

"Medical report says that, aside from a few bruises, you're fine. And I need to make room for a couple of new patients. So," Iga paused, and jerked his thumb towards the door, silently telling Hayami to get out.

Hayami smirked. Iga could never make it seem like he was doing something nice. He always had to be the "big, bad captain". It was amusing, in some aspects. Hayami nodded, understanding, and Iga stood and left, waving over his shoulder.

It took Hayami a few minutes to get dressed and get out of the infirmary. He knew the staff was only too happy to let him leave. He thought he even heard a few cheers as he made his way down the hall. At this point, he had two options. He could go back to his room and be bored there, or find Kino and thank her for returning his lighter. Of course, in the process of doing the latter, he might wake her up from sleeping.

He thought it over. In the end, he deiced he'd deal with Kino's wrath.

It didn't take him long to reach her room. The door was unlocked, surprisingly. Not that he was complaining. He knocked, waiting for a reply. The metal door echoed down the corridor. But there was no sound other than that. Pausing, Hayami shrugged and pushed open the door, looking in.

"Kino?"

Her room wasn't as neat as Hayami expected. A few shirts were toppled over the floor, as well as tools and a few magazines. A few pictures littered the table beside her bed, which had blue sheets with crescent moons on them. Weird… A single music box sat opened on her bed, which was actually neatly made.

He heard the water running in the bathroom. She was taking a shower, apparently. He heard something mixed in with the sound of the water. Her voice. He had never pegged Kino as the singing in the shower type, but apparently he was wrong. And she didn't sound too bad, either. She had a sweet, soprano voice that was almost a clear as a bell.

He couldn't make out the words of the song, but it was slow, and fairly emotional.

Taking a seat on her bed, he lifted up the music box. Grasping the small handle on the bottom, he began to wind it up. The melody that played saw soothing, and soft. And sad enough that even Hayami was moved in a way. A picture was glued to the underside of the lid. He looked at it carefully.

It was old. Four people stood in it. A small family. A little girl sat on an older one's shoulders, and looked like she was about to fall off. The mother and father stood behind them, both laughing, ready to catch the girl. The mother had dark hair that came down in soft waves. The father's hair was a brown-ish red. The older girl, who looked to be in her mid-teens, had her mother's face, but her father's hair. And the little girl, who couldn't have been more than six years old, seemed to take after both of them.

Was this Kino's family? They looked so happy. And very close. Even though it was just a photo, Hayami could see it in their faces. Judging by their clothes, they weren't the most well off family in the world, but they obviously didn't care. They had each other.

He heard the water shut off, and knew Kino was coming out now. Putting the music box back where he'd found it, the melody having stopped playing a few moments earlier. He waited.

Kino sighed happily, slipping out of the shower stall. A nice soak in the shower had done her good. The room was covered in steam, but it would eventually condense. Now fully awake and back in her own rational mind, she could think clearly. It was a good thing Hayami was still in the infirmary. After what had happened, she didn't think she could face him. At least for a few hours.

Wrapping a towel around her small body, she grasped the doorknob and stepped into the living area of her room.

And let out a little cry. Sitting on her bed, looking up at her was Hayami. A faint blush crept up on his face, as he looked her up and down. She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or offended at his wandering eyes. Either way, she didn't move, giving him a slight deer-in-the-headlights look.

After a minute, he coughed, bringing her back to reality.

"Ah… Hayami?" she murmured, giving the towel a little tug to try and pull it down and cover a bit more of her legs, suddenly very self-conscious. "W-what are you doing in here?"

He broke eye contact with her and stood up. He took a few steps towards her, and she felt her own feet step back involuntarily. After a moment, he raised his eyes to meet hers, and his expression left her breathless. His eyes, while they were still the dark orbs she loved, were bouncing with emotion.

Wanting, lust, hunger, passion… each emotion stared her straight in the eye. She continued to back up, until she felt the cold metal of her door pressing against her back. Looking up at him, almost helplessly, she felt all her will and resolve disappear. He stopped inches away from her. He was so close she could feel his breath on her face. Her own breath came out in small short gasps.

He was leaning closer now. His rough, callused hands gripped her shoulders, and her small fingers tangled in with his jumpsuit for balance. Her eyes closed almost by themselves, and she could almost feel his lips against hers.

There was knock on her door, and he pulled away quickly, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Kino?" A voice called from outside the door. Shiro… Kino thought to herself, cursing her friends terrible timing.

"Y-yeah?" Kino replied, shakily.

"Can I come in?"

Kino's eyes widened, and she turned to Hayami, looking around the room in a panic. "Uh… sure! Hold on a sec!"

Finally finding a place that would work, Kino grabbed Hayami by the collar and shoved him into her closet, closing the door quickly.

"Okay! Come in!" Kino called.

Shiro opened the door and stepped inside. Noticing Kino's towel, she paused. "Oh, I didn't interrupt your shower, did I?"

Kino shook her head and waved her off. "No, no, I just got out. So, what's up?"

Shiro cocked her head to the side, before answering, "Have you got an extra tampon I can borrow? I've still got about a week, but I think I'm cutting it a little close…"

Kino laughed and nodded, wandering off to find her own secret stash of feminine products. Shiro traced a pattern into Kino's floor with her foot.

"Must've been one hot shower…" Shiro murmured.

"Hm?" Kino asked, glancing up as she filled a small bag for Shiro.

"Well, you're all flushed. You look like a tomato…"

Kino coughed, her eyes widening. She shook her head and laughed, though it sounded forced. "Oh, yeah! My water heater's been acting up lately…"

Kino walked over and handed her friend the bag. Shiro smiled and thanked her and then wandered off. Kino sighed. She heard Hayami struggle to find his way out of the closet. She watched as he emerged. He was blushing, and it was rather cute…

Kino sighed, and then clicked a few buttons on the door. The lock slid shut, and she turned to look at him.

"We need to talk."

Author's note: Woah… a lot happened in this chapter… Honestly, I'm making this up as I go. I didn't even realize what I was writing until I wrote it! I really hope I managed to capture the large amount of sexual tension between Hayami and Kino… I love them as a couple, and there aren't enough fics for them.

Man, I'm getting a chapter out almost daily… kinda scary for me… I usually keep people waiting for months. But, then again, it's so unfair to leave an already empty fandom hanging like that. And I'm enjoying this way too much!

Please review you guys! I love to hear from you!

Graywords-girl♥