Sorry for the slight delay in the update. I recently damaged my fingers...so I was unable to write anything. They still hurt.

Destiny and Fate Ch 15

The wet rain ceaselessly fell and drenched the world. Though the black clouds kept the world dark, it was no longer night. The ice princess rose up from the bed, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Upon awakening, she realized that she had slept in Takeru's bed instead of hers. She recalled the intense argument last night and worried about it. After such fight, she couldn't think of any way to approach him casually. Hikari remained in the bed, wondering how she should act. However, no good method popped up in her head and she sighed continuously. Soon, she gave up on thinking and decided to get ready for school. She exited Takeru's room and returned to her own to shower and dress up. Once she was done, she began searching the house for the gold haired man. The search didn't take long because she found him sleeping on the living room couch.

"…"

She quietly walked up to him and wondered what action she should take. She knew she had to wake him up, but didn't know what to say when he gets up. However, her ponder and problem was resolved when Takeru got up on his own and greeted Hikari with a warm smile.

"Hey, good morning."

"…Yeah…Hi."

"Why up so early?"

He questioned after yawning.

"We have school today."

"…We do?"

"It's Monday, Ishida."

Takeru sighed heavily and headed to his room.

"I'll be out quick."

Hikari nodded and sat down on the couch while Takeru entered his room. The waiting didn't take long and the pale man spoke.

"What am I driving today?"

"…I don't care. Pick anything."

"Then…let's ride a Porsche."

He grabbed the key and started walking to the elevator. Hikari examined his behavior and found it strange how he can always act normal after an incident. That was one of his amazing talents. Reading minds, playing crude jokes, arguing with snappy comebacks, and acting as if nothing happened were remarkable things that only he could pull off. But thanks to his ability, she could never predict his thoughts or understand his feelings. She found it unfair how she can't read his mind when Takeru could read her mind as if it was his. Drowning into thoughts, she remained silent the whole time until the sapphire eyed man spoke.

"Hikari, put your seatbelt on."

"Huh? Oh…okay."

With that, the blonde began driving Hikari's fancy car to school. It was always silent in the car, but that day, it was particularly quiet. To Hikari, this silence was extremely awkward and disturbing. She expected her fake boyfriend to stir up the atmosphere with crude jokes, but he spoke nothing.

"…"

She tried to speak first, but failed to do so every time. Her mouth would open, and then close slowly. She was afraid to speak and didn't know what to speak. She figured out the difficulty of brightening the awkward atmosphere. She could finally understand the hardship Takeru had to go through whenever they were in an uncomfortable situation. Hikari couldn't understand why and how Takeru was enduring all the burden without showing any discomfort. Her sympathy for the pale giant started to deepen even more. His kindness knew no limits. Her thought was interrupted when Takeru finally decided to speak.

"Hey, Hikari."

"Yeah…?"

"How was it sleeping in my bed?"

"…"

She didn't know what to answer.

"I'm taking the silence as a yes."

Then, she immediately denied it.

"It was terrible, Ishida."

"How so?"

"The bed was messy and it was revolting knowing that I slept on your bed."

"You sure you weren't sniffing the bed for my irresistible allure?"

"I'm not a pervert like you."

"Really? Then, who was the person that had multiple orgasms from kissing?"

"…"

Hikari's face reddened and heart began racing faster than her car. The clever pale man chuckled at seeing her blushing face.

"You look so cute right now, Hikari."

"…Shut up…"

Then, he put on a devious grin on his face and spoke to the blushing ice princess.

"You look so cute that I want to kiss you right now."

"!"

She gasped in reaction to the sudden sentence that he let out. Then, she covered her lips with her right hand.

"We're just stuck at red light too. What a perfect timing. Huh, Hikari?"

"…No…"

"Don't lie. You know you want me."

He looked at Hikari's angelic face and spoke even more deviously.

"…S…stop…"

His face grew closer to Hikari and she could speak no further. She could feel his breath growing stronger with each passing second. The ice princess began panting, unable to keep her rampaging heart under control. Then, very softly, Takeru spoke with seductive voice.

"Are you feeling it, Hikari?"

"…I…I…"

Before she could finish her sentence, the tall prankster pulled his face away and spoke.

"Perhaps later. I gotta drive first."

Then, he grabbed the steering wheel and drove the car. The light turned green by the time he grabbed the wheel. He perfectly calculated the time for signal change and timed the seconds he used to tease Hikari. However, she did not realize this spectacular stunt because she was angry for being teased.

"…"

Still, she couldn't say anything to the prankster since she knew that Takeru saw her blushing face and was likely to use that to tease her further. She kept herself quiet because she didn't want to get teased again. Regardless, the cold princess was teased.

"I'll be available after class, so control yourself until then."

"…"

There was no stopping this man. He was always steps ahead of Hikari's thoughts and his mind was unpredictable. She could never foresee his action or understand a clue of what he thinks about.

"…Shut up…"

A weak reply, that was all she could give at the moment. The pale blonde simply gazed at the embarrassed girl with a grin. Then, without a word, he drove the vehicle to their university. The silence did not break until they reached the classroom. Hikari's friends greeted her while Takeru was busy having conversations with girls who took interests in him. But soon, the commotion died down since the teacher walked in and silenced the students. Everyone returned to their seat and waited for the teacher to start the class. Like always, the class lecture held no significant meaning to Takeru and grew bored. Fortunately, he had a person he could play with next to him.

"Hikari."

He quietly called his desk partner.

"What?"

"I'm bored."

"So? What do you want me to do about it?"

"Let me touch you."

"...What?"

She whispered with a shock in her voice.

"That's my only ticket out of boredom."

"Then, be bored."

"Aww, come on. I'm gonna die of boredom soon."

"Then, why don't you study?"

She whispered with irritated tone.

"English is too easy for me. I don't want to."

"Stay bored, then."

She resumed her studying, leaving Takeru in the endless abyss of boredom. All he could do now was staring at her. For countless minutes, he examined Hikari's lovely face, beautiful skin, and excellent figure. Sadly, he couldn't stare at her much further because Hikari noticed his stare.

"Stop staring at me. It's creepy."

"Well, I can't touch you. This is the only thing that keeps me alive."

"Stare at someone else."

"They're not as pretty as you."

"…"

Hikari still didn't know how to react to his compliments. Her pencil stopped for a short moment. She thought of the responses she can give, but found none. Though no solutions could be found, she continued to think, hoping to find a proper response she can give. However, she was unable to think further because Takeru came closer to her and spoke.

"Is English that hard? Maybe I can help."

Once again, Takeru dragged Hikari out of the awkwardness with ease. He pretended as if he didn't know what she was thinking about. Hikari realized that he was being considerate of her feelings again.

'Just how much nicer can you be?'

A thought passed by in her mind, then, began talking to the pale man.

"Some vocabularies are kinda advanced for me."

"Let's see…"

He looked at the paper and started solving the supposedly difficult English problems with the brunette girl. Because of his excellent skill in English, Hikari threw a question at him.

"Ishida"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you live before coming to Japan?"

"Hmm…"

He gave a few moments of thought and spoke.

"I lived in Japan as far as I can recall."

"That sounds like a lie to me."

"No, really. It's true."

"Then, how come you're so good at English?"

"I don't know. Talent, I guess?"

"It almost looks like English was your first language."

"Maybe it was."

Then, she made a confused expression and questioned him.

"Maybe? What do you mean, maybe?"

Following her question was the tall, pale man's heavy sigh. His face appeared slightly disturbed, but soon changed back to his cheery, bright expression.

"I'll tell you about it later after school."

"Why not now?"

"Saving the fun for later."

He smiled and replied with a joking tone. She said no further and decided to wait until the school was over. She wanted to be considerate of his decision because the change in his facial expression seemed serious. Hikari patiently waited for the clock to indicate the end of school time. Because Takeru never spoke about himself, everything about him was a complete mystery which made Hikari curious. Finally, her patience paid off and school was now over. She immediately urged the blue eyed man to reveal his secrets.

"School's over. Now, tell me."

"Quite eager, aren't you?"

He spoke after a chuckle. Then, his teasing started.

"I don't know. Should I tell you? Or should I just keep it secret forever?"

"Spill it."

"Am I that interesting, Hikari?"

"…No…"

"Then, I guess I don't have to tell you."

He put on a devious grin, which slightly irritated the ice princess. Then, she gave up and ordered him to drive her home.

"Forget it, then. Just drive me home."

"Sure thing."

With that, the two started walking for the parking lot. The two did not speak and kept the silence unbroken. The silence continued until they got in the car.

"Hikari, do you still want to know?"

"…Whatever…"

"I'll take that as a yes."

He gave a brief moment of silence and began revealing his secret.

"It sounds crazy, but I actually don't have many memories from the past."

"…"

She looked at him with a puzzled expression. Still, the pale man continued speaking.

"I only have a handful of memories in my head. That's why I know how to drive. Probably my English skill is the same thing."

"…So, you don't know anything about yourself?"

"Nope. I don't know my parents, siblings, ethnicity, or origin of my birth."

"…Oh…"

She made a sympathetic expression. Then, she asked him a question.

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I didn't think it was something that I needed to share."

"…Well, you should have."

"Sorry. I didn't want to share depressing facts."

"…It's okay, I guess…So, you have no idea of who you were?"

"Nope. And I'm not interested in discovering who I was either."

"What? How come?"

"Because I'm your boyfriend. That's the only identity I need."

"…"

Hikari dived back into the pool of silence. After recovering herself from the strong flattery, she responded quietly.

"…You're not my…boyfriend…"

"Yeah, I know. We're just pretending, right?"

"…"

She simply nodded instead of replying.

"Still, I'm happy regardless."

Then, he started the car engine and began driving the pricey vehicle. While driving, Takeru spoke very powerful words to Hikari.

"There's nothing for you in the past. That's why I don't look back."

"…"

"Hikari, don't let the past hurt you."

To especially someone like Hikari, this sentence had gravely powerful meaning. The words told her to forget the tragedies of the past, the terrible deeds that her father had done, and the dead Takeru Takaishi. The pale driver saw Hikari's faults for clinging to the past. And he saw it correctly. The thing that prevented Hikari from becoming happy was the dreadful murder of her dear ones. This chained her to the past and left her to grieve for many years. He wanted her to find happiness and delivered those words to her. Hikari understood the message Takeru conveyed in his words, but she still couldn't abandon her past. Because of her reluctance, more pain was on its way to Hikari. And unlike what Takeru said, the past had something in its hand for the fake lovers. At this time, the two didn't know that such horrifying catastrophe was waiting for them in the near future.

Yup. A horrible thing is on its way. I hope my fingers will heal quickly and allow me to write more frequently. There will be action in the near future chapters. I hope you would enjoy them.