Authors Note : Gomen nasai, minna-san - it was very rude of me to keep all my readers waiting this long! ( is bombarded with tomatoes ) Erm, yes, I suppose I deserved that. School started two weeks ago and it seems they have been loading us down with essays and all sorts of things. So Gomen a thousand times over! I'll be looking forward to Mid-Winter recess when, hopefully, I'll be able to update more frequently. But for now, the next chapter - and this promises to be a decently long one. Enjoy!

Two

"There!" Usagi proudly said to herself as she tightened the buckle around her waist, no more dates with Mr. Plexiglas now. Only problem was, the plane had already landed precisely five minutes before at a Hawaiian airport to stock up on fuel for the remainder of the trip - but Usagi figured she'd be better off safe then sorry.

Beside her, 'Baka - boy'as she so lovingly - did she just think that? - named him was once again asleep, the newspaper that he had previously been reading was strewn on his face. Feeling a little drowsy herself, Usagi decided to take a quick nap … plus by the time she awoke the plane would hopefully already have ascended in the air.

Yawning, she was about to recline on the unusually plush seat when suddenly :

"SNZZZZZ"

An abnormally loud snoring sound came from beside her. And, surprise surprise, it was Baka - boy no less.

"SNZZZZZZZZZZZ"

Came a longer, louder snore that would make the Boogey man himself wet himself in fright. Baka - boy's newspaper literally flew two feet in the air. Usagi, though, was not amused by all means. How dare this arrogant stranger ruin her beauty sleep! She would not stand for it.

With all her strength, she grabbed a magazine ( in which she had previously gotten from Ami-chan, the angel ) rolled it up, and gave 'Mr. All High and Mighty' a good smack on the side of his head. It worked - but at a sad extent. The response Usagi ended up getting was him smacking the magazine out of her hand ( unconsciously of course ), yawning, and turning around so that his back faced Usagi - the newspaper slowly floated down from his face and onto the ground.

Steam came out of Usagi's head and she turned such a shade of red that for a moment she almost resembled a strawberry, minus the whip cream on top. What further irked her is when Baka - boy went … :

"SNZZZZZ"

Resisting the urge not to toss her seat mate from the plane, Usagi took a deep breath in and tried to maintain her composure.

"Ma'am?"

Usagi looked up to see a male flight attendant ( Ami - chan must be taking a break ) with kind, soft brown eyes looking down upon Usagi.

"Mm?" Was all the blond managed to say with her mouth still closed. For some reason, she felt awfully dizzy.

"Ma'am, I was wondering if you would like - Oh my god! Ma'am! Your face … it's all blue! Ma'am, breathe for God's sake! Breathe!"

It was then, when Usagi's eyes started flutter around wildly and she began to imagine little pigs dancing around her head in little ballerina tutus, that she realized if on must hold in their breath - immediately, you must let it out again. Somehow, although, Usagi found herself quite unable to do so and felt continuously fainter and fainter by the minute.

As she felt herself fall back onto the seat, a dazed Usagi wondered if this was the only way she would be able to achieve peace and quiet …

When a familiar noise miraculously sprang her back to life :

"SNZZZZZZZZZZZ"

And, suddenly feeling very motivated to open her mouth, Usagi let out a loud scream.

-----

Time passed and soon the plane was gliding smoothly through the skies. Granted, Usagi didn't want to be awake for the dreaded take off, but, you can't always get what you want in life, right?

As if on cue, Baka - boy promptly arose from his peaceful slumber not to long after the plane settled in the air, all nice and sunny. Usagi, meanwhile, made a mental note to shove corks up his nose later that night.

Lunch was served soon afterwards, much to Usagi's delight. She felt as if she had not eaten in days, and, as cliché as that was it had been exactly twenty - four hours since her last decent meal. You see, being around Baka - boy made her lose her apatite sometimes.

Her mouth watered at the chicken salad displayed before her, and raising her fork she plunged into her meal - ravenously eating. A chuckle was heard from beside her, and Usagi scowled at the person beside her, who, at the current moment was daintily chewing on a sandwich.

"What?" She inquired with a annoyed tone.

"Nothing." He responded with a smirk and went on to eating his meal, ever the gentleman.

With one last suspicious glance, she turned back to her salad and was about to pig out again when …

Another chuckle from Baka - boy.

Did he want to be stabbed with a plastic fork?

With a another deep breath in - and out - Usagi faced her seat mate trying to keep her calm ( Ha! ) demeanor. "Listen," she said a bit shakily, intense blue eyes meeting violet ones. "We're only stuck here together for one more night on this plane, and then we go our separate ways …" for a moment, Usagi thought she sounded quite disappointed when she said that … quickly snapping out of her melodramatic thoughts, she continued, "until then … can you please, please try to get along? I mean, try not to get on each others nerves? Deal?" With that, she managed to crack a little smile and stick out her hand.

He, although, stared at her.

"I get on your nerves, Odango?"

And for a moment, looking into those confident violet eyes, Usagi thought she saw a speck of overwhelming sadness.

Oh no. What had she done? It was like this every time she tried reach a compromise - things would always get ruined in the end, due to her careless choose of words. Why was she always the one to blame?

Quickly Usagi shook her head. "No, no it's nothing like that at all … it's just that … that …"

"Yes?"

What had she got herself into? She was at a loss for words, and if she even tried to say anything now it would just come out as incoherent mumble. Finally, after about a two second pause, Usagi decided to get let it out in the open, the question she'd been wanting to ask since the discussion started. With fierce determined eyes she looked at the stranger, unafraid to express her true feelings opened her mouth and said …

"What were you giggling about before?"

Baka - boy's face faltered for a moment, but then … what do you know? It broke out into a big grin and he said, with what sounded like relief, "I was just thinking how cute you looked eating like that and all. I like a girl with an appetite." And he winked - which made Usagi's face turn crimson red with embarrassment.

"T-thank you …" Usagi said, a little unsure.

"Your welcome." He said, smiling - making Usagi crack a little smile, too.

Perhaps if he acted like this more often …

"You know, Odango," he said swallowing the bite he took from his sandwich.

Usagi faced him once again, though this time she was actually sort of happy to hear him start up a conversation. "Yes?"

"On second thought, losing a couple of pounds wouldn't kill you."

But that was the last Usagi heard of him through the rest of their meal because, the rest of his sandwich was shoved tightly and forcefully in his mouth.

-----

Groggily, she woke up. After her meal that afternoon she had remembered feeling so drowsy, so she had laid down to rest. She promised herself it wouldn't be for long though, just a few minutes … but now …

She looked at the mini TV in front of her, which, if wasn't turned on to a station automatically tuned to the airplane's miniature map of it's destination and, also, the time.

Currently it read : 11:21 PM

"Wah!" Usagi gasped, unusually loudly - causing her to get a few harsh 'Sshs!', from all around her. Blushing furiously she mumbled apologies, then leaned back in her seat. Sighing.

Now I'll never be able to get back to sleep … and just thinking about that made her feel exhausted. Blowing a strand of lose hair from her face, she was decided whether see should go back to sleep or see if Ami-chan was up for a round of gin rummy when a voice came from beside her.

"You couldn't sleep either, huh, Odango?"

She nodded, not bothering to see who it was. It was painfully obvious.

"Neither could I," he shrugged ( Usagi could tell this because she felt his arms brushing up and down, against her … ), "So … I guess we have no other choice but to pass away the time. What do you suppose we do?"

"I…" Usagi began, yet again at a loss for words. "I…don't know."

Baka - boy laughed softly, "Well, that solves everything. Hm." There was a moment's silence when he snapped his fingers, Usagi could picture a little light bulb over his head.

"I got it!"

Usagi turned her head around, "What?" she asked raising her eyebrow suspiciously, while trying to conceal the small smile on her face.

He turned around to face her. "I want you to tell me about yourself, Odango. You're quite the most intriguing girl I've met."

Usagi felt her cheeks getting warm … and quickly she turned away. "Well. Uhm. I don't know what to say exactly … Why don't …" and willing herself not to blush, she turned around and faced the stranger, "Why don't you go first?"

He shrugged and smirked, "If you insist." Facing forward, he reclined further back on the seat and begun :

"Let's see … I grew up in Tokyo, a regular city boy. I loved the city. I still do. Every chance I'd get I used to enjoy watching the scenery from the Tower. The buses and cars filling the streets, the hordes of people bustling to their jobs or to school - they looked like millions of little worker ants. Quite entertaining, especially for the 'run-away' imagination of a boy of seven," Usagi smiled a little, and he continued, "around the time I was ten, my father lost his job. There was no way we could continue living in our apartment so we sold it, and headed off for the country." He turned to Usagi, "Are you sure you want me to keep going?" Usagi blinked, and nodded timidly.

Why in the world would he ask such a strange question?

Usagi didn't have to wait for an answer.

"So we took off. Leaving everything behind us. Family … friends … everything - except for the cloths on our backs and the food my Mother had made for us. It was expected to be a short trip … no longer then a day. Then…" He closed his eyes for a minute, and Usagi saw a single tear fall down his cheek … opening them, he continued again. "There was … there was a wanderer along the side of the road. He looked lost, my Father insisted on helping him … though my Mother was a bit skeptic … Anyway, my Father approached him, rolled down his window and asked if he could be of any assistance. The man nodded…"

Another long pause, Usagi knew the inevitable was coming.

"And shot my Father. Three times, in fact." Another small tear rolled down his cheek.

Usagi gasped, and without even thinking what she was doing, felt herself grasping the stranger's hand. He looked at her in surprise, and she blushed again.

"Gomen nasai …" she said meekly and released her grip putting both her hands in her lap and looking down. "It's just that … how … how can you not be so … calm telling this story to me?"

"So are you implying that I think it's no big deal that my Father's blood splatter all over me and my mother? Are you saying it's I think it's no big deal that I watched him die right in front of my eyes? That it's no big deal that after what that bastard did he made me watch him do some more … terrible things … to my mother? And he nearly killed me had it not been for the fact that the bullet he shot just missed my skull?"

Usagi turned her head down in shame. "I…no…I just meant…"

"What? What did you mean?" He asked in a careless tone.

Usagi looked at him, eyes filled with tears and some rolling freely down her face now. "What I meant to say why, after going through so much sorrow … so much pain … why didn't you do anything about it? Why do you keep it so bottled up inside of you? Why not, scream about it or cry or yell or … I don't know … hit something! How can you lose something so dear to you yet still remain so … so strong?"

Baka - boy looked quite taken aback. He again turned forward and this time he was the one who took Usagi's hand and grasped it. She gasped, but then listened intently on what he had to say.

"Odango, in this world, with so much sorrow in it already … why create more? Believe me, that day even till now … it still haunts me. Many times, I've done the things you mentioned. I have screamed and cryed and yelled - but you know what, it doesn't solve anything. It makes the pain worse it also causes others pain …" He sighed and closed his eyes. "You know, that day, was the worst day of my life … I said some things to my Father before … it happened … and I never got the chance to take those words back …" Usagi felt his hand tense around hers, and she then felt herself gently giving it a soothing rub. He continued, a little more relaxed.

"I still regret those things I said to him. Who knew that a few silly, childish words said out of anger would haunt me for the rest of my life. Odango," he turned around to Usagi, smiling softly, "do you think … do you think that my father forgives for what I said to him that day?"

Usagi stopped rubbing his hand, and looked up at him. Unsure of what to say.

She nodded.

For Baka - boy, although, that was more then enough.

"Arigato, Odango Atama." He said, grinning broadly and giving her hand a soft squeeze.

"Doo itashimashite." She replyed meekly, her cheeks visibly turning a light pink.

With that the two went back to their conversation. Baka - boy discussing his life on the road and Usagi talking about her life up until now. Though every once in awhile one would inquire about this or that, the one listening to the story usually remained perfectly quiet and intent on the other's words. Soon the conversations took a more causal route, discussions about jobs and what - not.

At some point, the two found themselves getting rather tired, and, but decided to continue talking nonetheless. While Baka - boy was rambling on about astrology ( some myth about a rabbit on the moon ) Usagi felt her eyes getting heavy and, leaning her head against the sturdy and soft seat, began to dream away …

----

Chapter Two - Done! I hope you all enjoyed it minna-san! Next chapter will be posted as soon as possible. For now, please R&R. Ja ne!