Max gives Saori an amazing place for their future escapes together and she gives him something in return...
Chapter 18: Early Birthday Present
As Blaze flew Max and Saori to Blaze's secret place and made the landing, Max allowed Saori to go first being the gentleman he is and both of them slid down and got off of Blaze as they reached the ground with Max holding her hand and when they look at their paws holding together, they can feel the connection between the two of them are growing a little stronger. Both of them smiled at each other and blushed a little as Saori giggled a little bit, but Saori looks at the open space and she was blown away by how amazing it looks, in terms of how much it's secluded and private.
"Pretty impressive, huh?" asked Max, taking off his helmet.
"I'll say. I wonder why you didn't bring me here before." Saori said, blown away by all of majestic beauty.
"Well, I didn't want Akashi to find out where I've been with Blaze and spend most of my time flying with him and as an added bonus, if I took you with me, he'd find you quickly and he wouldn't know about Blaze's hideout and that he'll tell everyone else about it have it discovered." Max replied.
Saori could understand Max's concern about having someone find out about this hangout hideout and that would take the interesting secrets out of having a secret place to hide in and she walks around the scope and majestic of it, from the huge river circled around to the cavern mountains and the tiny scope of it all that's all circled around in a tiny region outside of the Valley of Peace.
"It's enough to take your breath away." Saori said, amazed.
Max followed behind her and he could tell that she's completely awestruck with everything right in front of her eyes and he sits down on a rock and said, "I wanted to show it to you eventually."
"Before you leave?" asked Saori.
That took Max by surprise that she knows they're leaving the Valley of Peace after Musaki's 21'st birthday and of course, that would mean that he wouldn't see Saori again and she sat down as well and he said, "That doesn't mean I'll leave you forever. I'll come by and visit and see how things are going."
"I just hope you don't forget about me." Saori added.
Max puts his paw on her shoulder and said, "Why would I ever forget about this beautiful face right in front of me? Oh, sure...there will be other girls trying to get my attention, but none of them would ever hold a candle to you."
Saori smiled in response to that and she said, "You're so cute when you think of me. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you more...unless you and Akashi make a trek to live in Shanghai Secluded Valley." Max added.
"We'll see what happens." Saori said, trying to be coy.
Just then, Saori unzips something from her satchel and she pulls out something that symbolizes their future together soon and out comes a bandana with a white tiger striped all over it and a heart symbol with a yin-yang form in the center and he puts it on Max's head, much to his surprise. Max touched the texture of that bandana and asked, "What's this?"
"Take a look in the water and see for yourself." Saori replied.
Max got up and looks in the river and sees the reflection of himself with that bandana and he totally sees a different person when he wore it and he said, "Wow...this is so cool!"
"I figured you'd love it. I know I probably should've waited until your birthday, but with your birthday coming in less than five days, I figured I would give you a birthday present earlier before the big day." Saori answered.
Max chuckled at this and he turned to Saori and said, "I love it. Thank you so much."
He comes over to her and he sees that she's got the same exact matching bandana headband, but in a more girly version and both tigers looked at each other in the eye and gave out a tender kiss on the lips towards each other and Blaze was just looking as he covered his eyes with his paw and tail, but took another quick glance with a smile and said to himself, "Next thing you know, they'll have baby cubs of their own."
"We heard that." Max responded.
"How? You couldn't even hear me." Blaze stated.
"We have super-sonic hearing." Saori pointed out.
Blaze grunts in exasperation and just chuckled amusedly and said, "Whatever...so, Saori...what do you think of my hangout?"
"It's amazing. I could see all three of us hanging out here soon." Saori said, happily.
Blaze chuckled softly and said, "When you said three of us, it's really you, Max and your tongues."
Max sighed exasperatedly at this and he turned to Saori and asked, "Wanna get him?"
"Let's do it." Saori agreed.
Both tigers looked at Blaze and went after him as Blaze quickly ran out of their range to chase him all around the circle of the river and he leapt up on top of the roof of the cavern mountain and Blaze shook his tail as if to playfully taunt them by not reaching up the air, but Max and Saori defied the odds as they did leap up to the location right behind Blaze. When Blaze turned around and saw them standing there with their arms folded, they smirked and Blaze groans in response and lowered his ears.
"You were saying?" asked Max, raising his eyebrow.
"You're good." Blaze said.
Just then, both tigers leapt up to Blaze and they engaged in a tickle fight as Blaze started laughing hysterically as he gets tickled and Blaze said, "Stop it, that tickles! Seriously, guys!"
Blaze couldn't stop laughing as his entire body gets tickled by the two tigers and both Max and Saori are just having fun tickling Blaze and kept tickling him until they all chillaxed as they sat down together and looked at the clouds together. There's nothing Blaze, Max and Saori love more than to enjoy each other's company as they look at the sky together.
A very sweet moment to be treasure between two white tiger cubs! Stay tuned for more!