A walk in the moonlight

Chapter two: a special surprise

Himeno lay curled in a ball on her bed. She was no longer crying having fallen asleep. Still her dreams disturbed her greatly. She saw the leafe knights being killed before her eyes! They had not called for aid because they thought she hated them and when the demon larva struck they tried to fight but it was too strong. Himeno had arrived too late to do anything for them she saw poor gentle Shin begin to fade followed by Hajime and Mannen. She screamed. There was no sign of Goh in the area, Himeno hoped he had not arrived yet but she saw silver collar of the leafe knight lying abandoned on the ground. Goh had already faded. Sasame was closest to her, still locked in the demon larva's grasp he reached out his hand to her saying "Himeno" over and over. Eventually she awoke to find it nearly dark outside and Sasame crouched in front of her calling her name.

"Sasame" she cried and hugged him "your alright, she sobbed, your alright". For the first time in his life Sasame was shocked. He held Himeno close to him as she sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you please don't fight without me. Please…" she broke down in sobs again her chest heaving. He patted her back trying to calm her down. Eventually she stopped crying.

"Don't worry we won't fight without you. Come on I have surprise for you." She looked at him clearly puzzled but followed him to the window. He opened the doors and dragged Himeno out onto the balcony. "Sasame where are we going? Whoa…" he swept her up into his arms and flew off the balcony. He circled once then turned and headed towards the portal to Leafeania.

Mawata watched from the portal. When she saw Sasame take flight she drove through the portal and warned the others they were coming. They leapt into the woods surrounding the clearing where they had set up a huge picnic and it was surrounded with tulips the exact colour of Himeno's hair thanks to Shin; they were entwined on tree trunks and blanketed the floor of the clearing.

Himeno screamed as Sasame dove down at the ground and into the portal at top speed. "Never do that again" she said when they appeared on the other side in Leafeania. He set her down on the ground and, taking her hand in his, dragged her off through the trees. "Sasame where are you taking me?" he did not answer her and simply kept on pulling her trough the dark trees. They finally reached the clearing and Himeno gasped in surprise as all the knights plus Mawata and Takako jumped out and shouted surprise. She was so happy she almost started to cry but she wiped away her tears when Sasame whispered a question in her ear

"Do you like our little surprise?" She was speechless, but Sasame got his answer when she reached up and hugged him. He smiled against her hair and said "I'm glad you like it." Suddenly everyone was around them demanding hugs. Everyone that is except Hayate, he simply stood back away from her and when Mawata got the last hug he spoke

"Hey are you lot just going to stand there hugging all day or are you going to eat something?" he sat down grumpily on the floor and picked up and sandwich. Himeno giggled and they all went and joined Hayate around the food. Somehow Himeno ended up next to him. She looked up to find him intently inspecting his sandwich.

"Umm Hayate is something wrong with your sandwich?"

"I was just trying to tell if Sasame made it cause he can't cook at all" Sasame turned around and from the other side of Himeno snapped

"I heard that and for your information I did not set foot in the kitchen!"

"Oh good I can eat it then" he took a large bit. Himeno laughed. The rest of the picnic passed without a bigger problem than Mannen and Goh arguing over who got to eat the last strawberry tart (Himeno ate it while they were arguing resolving the conflict).

The knights decided that they would all fly up and watch the sunset together. Of course not everyone could fly so Sasame lifted Takako up bridle style while Goh picked up Mawata. Kei, Shin, Mannen and Hajime followed them up leaving Hayate and Himeno the only two left on the ground. Himeno walked nervously over to Hayate who stood stock still as she drew closer. Finally she was right next to him so he placed a hand on her hip and she put her arms around his neck and they took off to join the others in silence. Himeno gazed intently at the sunset trying to ignore what being held by Hayate was doing to all her nerve endings. Hayate on the other hand was starring at Himeno's face looking for a sign that he was affecting her at all. Unfortunately for Hayate the setting sun hid the blush in her cheeks so he had no idea. It was then that he noticed Sasame was looking at him smugly so he turned back to the sunset while Sasame whispered something to Takako while giggled and snuck a glance at Himeno and Hayate.

As darkness fell they headed towards the ground. Hayate whispered to Himeno as they reached the ground

"I want to talk to you later away from everyone else so I'll come see you later ok?" Himeno literally felt her heart flutter as she felt his breath against her ear. She nodded dumb founded. Sasame over heard and told Takako who would tell Mawata who would make sure everything went smoothly later on. Mawata and Himeno waved goodbye to the knights as they stepped through the portal once on the other side Mawata was about to bring up Hayate but Himeno beat her to it.

"Mawata do you think Hayate likes me?" she asked her sister nervously

"Yeah I think he does why?" she said pretending to play dumb for her sister.

"Well he said he wanted to talk to me later alone… Mawata can you keep a secret?"

"Sure I can what's up?"

"I'm in love with Hayate!"

"Well you finally realise Wahoo!" she jumped up and down then hugged Himeno tight. "Come on your gonna look gorgeous tonight"

"Wait … Mawata…" Himeno resigned herself to being dragged back to the house while Mawata chatted away about what she should wear.

x x x x x

Meanwhile in Leafeania Hayate was almost as nervous as Himeno. He stood in front of the only mirror in the house when Takako walked in.

"Well, well, well where are you off to tonight? Hmm?" she said looking down at his tuxedo.

"No where in particular" he replied nervously.

"Ok well say hi to Himeno for me"

"I will" DAMN. He'd fallen for her trap.

"Ah ha I knew it! I knew it!" she screeched then she stopped and whispered in his ear "you look great she wont be able to resist you not that she'd want to any way" she turned and left the room.

Author's note: hey thank you for all the reviews I'll try and finish it soon but with school starting it might take a while please review.