Chapter 7: Midnight Memories

At the other end of the dark city, an old abounded church that had not been occupied for at least a decade still stood standing looking old and bleak. The flow of the cool night air could be heard from the tall dark tree's that stood outside, the old copper bell in the top tower swayed with a slight gush of wind, and could be heard dangling and moving slowly with the sound echoing all around.

Inside the church, a figure was in the middle. Sitting down on what looked like a large piece of broken stone, with his hands clutching onto his face looking confused and puzzled. Long layers of dark navy hair flicked onto the males face in a casual way, his clothes looked ragged and very creased, and his eyes, which were a usually sparkling blue, looked faint, as the moon shone at the back of him through a broken arched window, the shadows were dark on his face so it was hard to recognise him.

It was Hayate.

He too had spent the day like Himeno. Alone and worried about how their relationship will turn out now.

--

Hayate, early in the day, tried to escape and run after Himeno, after she left him and her father, Kaoru earlier in the day, only to be held back by the clutches of Kaoru to fix his precious Natsue 'sculpture'. He spent two hours helping him glue piece by piece, with no-luck of resembling to sculpture leaving a distraught Kaoru by himself. Hayate had spent the rest of the day walking around Awayuki Town, it seemed that every thing surrounding him reminded him of Himeno. Hayate had walked past a flower shop that had orange coloured tulips in the window, he stopped to look and smiled at them as Himeno's face came into his mind, he carried on walking around the city, passing couples who were hugging and holding hands as they strolled through the city. Hayate wondered what it would be like, him and Himeno, walking around in public on a hot summers day, the sun shining above them, hand in hand smiling at each other lovingly. Hayate continued blocking out these images of his mind as he walked past an ice cream shop to hear a girl near by ordering Himeno's favourite flavour of ice cream, he turned around so fastly, he nearly span around in a circle, thinking Himeno was near by. If she was, would he have the guts or the confidence to walk upto her. Hayate, seemed depressed by the constant reminding of Himeno, he walked away from the main part of town.

Feeling the presence of Himeno everywhere, he seeked solitude in the old abandoned church, he knew was always empty. Thinking how everything had all went wrong, from the first Pretear, Takako.

As Hayate walked towards the church and stood outside the rusted gates, he thought back to when, years ago, Takako once stood outside this church, remembering how she had a shy expression on her face, her dark softly on her shoulders, her lips bright red with a heart warming smile with a look of complete innocence on her face, as she confessed her feelings to him, how much she loved him, cared about him, thought about him of nearly every minute of every hour of every day ever since she met him. Hayate felt the same physical emotions thinking about he felt telling her, they could never be together and he never wanted anything love related to do with her. He felt the pain in his chest of complete guilt once again, the look of pain in Takako's eyes, as they began to water up, the smile disappearing on her face, her hands trembling as she broke down in front of him, begging him to accept her. Hayate suddenly remembered hearing her whimper and her heart break into a million pieces, that began to echo through his mind like his mind was filled with nothing else but bad memories, and never good ones.

Hayate erased the thought of Takako in his mind as he walked in, back on his mind was Himeno. He thought about the alternatives what was going to happen if Himeno loved him back.

'If Himeno accepts my love...' thought Hayate, as he walked further up the path of the church '...surely it will still be difficult, I'd be too protective of her in battle with Demon Lava's, maybe even jealous when she wants to Prêt with another Knight' he said as he pushed the heavy door open, that creaked with a loud noise, and walked up the shatter church aisle, which had broken benches, the wood was old, chipped and the once rich brown colour deteriorating into dark black like coal, old paintings that were once on the windows were smashed and broken, the dim light of the sun shone slightly onto the alter.

Hayate sat down, on a broken piece of grey stone, running his left hand through his long hair and he inhaled deeply and let out a confused sigh.

"Whats going to happen" he said silently to himself as he placed his hands over his face.

Hayate never bothered going to join the other knights for dinner later that evening, he wanted to be alone to gather himself and his thoughts together. Feeling tired and hungry, he still sat alone, still thinking.

He thought about several things, the way all seven of the Leafe Knights struggled before finding Himeno, how everything feel into place when they found her even though the first time he met Himeno, never went all that well.

How she bumped into him, as she innocently said sorry, and he began arguing with her about being stupid. The look of anger on her face as she called him a pervert, as they argued in the middle of a pathway. Hayate remembered the birds singing near by, the sun was shining brightly and the air was warm.

Darkness had grown over and night had fallen, the lonely Leafe Knight sat there alone still. Not satisfied with the way he was thinking of plans to talk to Himeno.

--

Hayate came back to his senses, the day seemed to have gone by so quickly as he looked up and saw the sky was pitch black. The church had gone dark, with only the moon as its light. He still sat there, in the shadows until a noise came closer.

Familiar footsteps began to step towards Hayate, as a shadow stood in front of him. Hayate looked up, his face could now be seen with the reflection of the moon bouncing of his pale and delicate looking face, that looked tired and stress.

"...I thought I'd find you here..." said the figure, as they moved closer into the moon light.

It was Sasame.

His short spiky like silver hair, looked soft and graceful, his glasses sparkled with the moon light, he had grey trousers on, with black shoes, black vest, a very baggy and creased looking shirt over it. He had a fretful look on his face as he looked at his fellow Knight.

Sasame sat down to the left of Hayate, staring at him, Hayate never looked back, only at the ground, as he stayed silent.

"Where have you been all day?" began Sasame, with a questioning tone, as his expression looked so caring and keen for Hayate to answer.

Hayate turned his face slightly, into the darkness of the church as he stood up, Sasame still waiting for him to answer.

"Well..." said Sasame

"Well what?" replied Hayate in a quiet tone.

"Where have you been all day?" repeated Sasame rolling his eyes.

Hayate still never replied. He stood up straight and walked further into the shadows of the church.

"Well if you wont tell me where you were" began Sasame "at least tell me what your problem is..."

Hayate looked at the ground and began to feel tense with discretion of what he was about to say.

"I've...been a fool" began Hayate staying still, as Sasame stood up. His silver hair looked really sleek with the moonlight, as the light bounced on his hair and shoulders.

"Fool? What...I don't understand" said Sasame looking really confused.

"Well of course you don't!" spat Hayate angrily, staying still "you don't know what happened today!"

"Actually..." began Sasame with a guilty expression "...I do".

Hayate turned around. He walked back towards Sasame, and shown himself in the moon light properly.

"What did you...Oh…." began Hayate before stopping. He then realised about Sasame being the Knight of sound.

'Of course! He heard everything!" thought Hayate to himself.

"I wasn't spying on you two, Hayate if that is what your thinking" said Sasame in a reassuring tone "...Your not the only who looks out for Himeno...you just happened to be there, dumping your feelings on her while I was looking out for her."

"Do the others..." began Hayate hesitating "...know?"

"No, no they don't know..." said Sasame as he let out a deep sigh as he moved closer towards Hayate.

"I'm surprised you never told them..." replied Hayate, looking away.

"I wont tell them...only if you two come together I will".

Hayate looked back at Sasame with his deep eyes, Sesame's expression changed from caring to pain. He had been in the same situation before falling for the Pretear. He knew exactly how Hayate felt.

"This is so hard for me" said Hayate confused as he walked past Sasame, staring at the ground kicking a stone away. "I cant just go up to her and be all normal about this...".

"I understand that" said Sasame, turning around facing Hayate, with his eyes sparkling. "You need to take your chance now Hayate, grab it while you can and find out for certain if she feels the same way..."

"Its too late now..." replied Hayate, as he began walking down the aisle about to leave.

Until he was grabbed back by Sasame.

Sasame, turned Hayate around, and grabbed him by his shoulders. He has a look of desperation in his face, his eyes looked in horror and his gentle smile had faded as he bit his lip nervously.

"Don't make the same mistake I did" said Sasame sincerely. "Don't turn your back now, things could change at the last minute, and you..." he continued with a pained expression "...don't want that Hayate. She could be taken away from you like that" said Sasame as he clicked his fingers."...It's never too later..."

Hayate looked on at Sasame. He really did understand the pain and torture of being in love with someone when you are uncertain they love you back or not.

Knowing Sasame was right, Hayate, set out to go and see Himeno, even though it was in the middle of the night. He began walking up the aisle towards the door, when he turned around to see Sasame, looking at the ground, looking heart broken and pained.

Hayate walked back towards him and placed his right hand on Sesames shoulder, he looked up towards Hayate, with an unexpected expression.

"Thank you" said Hayate sensibly. Sasame gave Hayate a smile and nodded.

"Go after her..." he said still smiling back at Hayate.

Hayate let go of his shoulder, he turned around, flicking his dark hair behind him and ran towards the door, and disappeared into the night, leaving Sasame looking lonely as the church seemed to have gone darker.

The night was peaceful and cool, not a sound of disturbance could be heard, not the bark of a dog or the noise of a car, the only noise that could be heard was the sound of crickets in the distance, and the trees blowing slightly with the wind.

Hayate ran out of the church, and along the pavement, his footsteps became heavier as and he ran faster. He took off into the air, heading north towards the Awayuki Mansion. He looked up at the sky, as the cool night air pressed against face, and through his long hair softly, he could see millions of stars out looking like small candles burning brightly in the air.

After flying for 10 minutes in the night sky, Hayate could see the mansion has he became closer and closer to his vision.

Hayate landed on the ground, just out side the mansions silver gates, which stood out more with the reflection of the moon and street lamps near by.

'This is it...' thought Hayate to himself as he inhaled nervously.

He felt very anxious and intense, he had no idea what he was going to say to Himeno, but he would give it his best shot. He pushed the gate with a small force; the gate creaked loudly, until he slipped past. Hayate then began walking up the path, past the crimson rose bushes that smelt strongly, towards Himeno's bedroom window.