No spoilers, wow.

Key to Flying
Done for the 30 KISSES challenge
By DarkenedSakura
Themes #6-10 (dreamed to be complete)

6. the space between dream and reality

Lazy afternoons were best spent on tree limbs or under them. Too sluggish to climb up one, Tsubasa lounged against the trunk instead and allowed his hat to slide over his face. Hopefully no one would disturb him today. Hopefully.

--l--

Something caused him to stir slightly. Was he awake? He couldn't even tell, much less process the question. Everything was muddled.

"Geez, such a lazy guy," a voice – her voice? – said. "Already asleep out here and probably skipping class too."

He felt her finger some of the hair that fell on his face and he thought he felt her lips quickly brushing against his, but he really didn't feel like moving or bothering to open his eyes. The warmth of her hand still lingered on his cheek, he thought, as consciousness ebbed away again.

--l--

It was later in the afternoon when he woke up. "…Mmnph…could still make it to the special ability class if I get up…hmm?"

He suddenly remembered the dream that he'd had. Hm…that had been nice… He shrugged closer to the warmth at his side.

Wait, wha…?

He blinked. Misaki was at his side, her head resting against his shoulder. As he studied her sleeping face, he wondered…had it really been a dream?

Closing his eyes again, he put an arm around her. Surely Noda-sensei wouldn't mind if they were just a few minutes late…

7. superstar

The third squeal in a row finally broke Misaki's concentration.

"Tsubasa-kun's just too cool!"

"He's so handsome, isn't he?"

"Yeah! Those blue eyes…"

They all gave a collective sigh.

Twitch.

Sure, she already knew how annoying it was to be that guy's partner, even if he was the easiest guy to get along with out of everyone, but those fangirls of his always hit it home for her. She glanced to her right. He had kicked up his feet on the table and was probably sleeping under that stupid hat that covered his face. Geez.

"But yeah…just look at him! You think he's kissed anyone before?"

"Oh, yeah…probably a lot of girls, too. He's just like the kind of guy who'd have done that, right?"

Twitch.

"And that star tattoo he just got a few days ago? Makes him look even cooler!"

"I know! It makes him look so distinguished!"

She frowned angrily. Did those idiots not know what that star was? Only yesterday she watched him helplessly as he tried to deal with that newfound pain in his head, to no avail.

Wait. That made it sound like she cared for the guy, which she did not. She just cared about his welfare, that was all.

Mumbling to herself, she left the classroom.

He caught up to her outside. "Oi. Oiiiiii. You left without me."

She shrugged him off and continued walking.

"Whaaat?"

"No-thing. You could just go back and hang out with your hanger-ons, Mr. Superstar. It'd be easier."

He sighed as though he was expecting this and merely threw an arm around her shoulders, smirking. "You can be so grumpy sometimes, you know that?"

"Shut up," she said, but did not attempt to shrug him off.

"Man, he's always with her."

"Geez, what's so good about her, anyway?"

"I heard him say that she's just easy to get along with, that's all."

"Mou…he only talks around her. He never says anything or smiles in class, just sleeps and smirks and gets in trouble with the teacher."

Another collective sigh.

8. our own world

The most attractive boy in their class, the nice story went. He's so cool…he has a face like a movie star…his blue eyes are so dreamy…he has such a powerful Alice…one of the few middle school students with a special star ranking…he's so amazing!

A dropout, the whispers went. He skips class whenever he possibly can. He constantly makes wisecracks and smirks at the teachers. Nobody knows anything about him. He's dangerous. Do you know what he can do with his Alice? Do you know what he did last week? Do you know what he could do to you right now if he didn't have that curse seal and that earring, if he felt up to it?

She may have felt daunted at first when she was made his partner, despite her own status, but somehow she managed to see that the rumors weren't everything there was to him. He was more of a person, more of a human being, than that. He was as real as how real felt when she traced the lines of his lips with her finger. So painfully real.

It was part of their kind of real, of their reality. The reality they lived in outside of the school, the whispers, the threats, the lies. One that was safe, that had substance and feeling and life. One that had hope.

It was something the others, the whispers, couldn't take away from them.

9. dash

There are lots of stupid things I've done in my life where the consequences made it all worth it anyway. Well, I think. And then there are just as many things that may or may not be smarter than those things that I haven't done because I'm afraid of what would happen to me if I did them. Really afraid.

And 99 of those things probably involve Misaki, with fearing what her painful retribution would be in one way or another. Well, okay, maybe more than 1 of them involve fearing other powerful people instead, but you know.

Don't get me wrong. She's great and fun to be around, just…willfully oblivious at times. Any kind of hint I drop is too subtle…well, that or she just happened to be not listening to me at that exact moment when I was trying to say something. You know, those convenient "hm, what, Tsubasa? I didn't hear what you said" moments. Things always work like that with her.

I've really considered just kissing her out of the blue or pulling her onto the dance floor without giving her a chance to protest, but right after that I'd have to run far…and fast, too. To avoid her wrath and all.

I know I can be stupid and I've done some stupid things, but I think it'd be worth it. If she doesn't kill me, that is.

10. #10

Within Tsubasa's top ten goals, most of them related to Misaki in one way or another. At the same time, though, he always, always hoped that he wouldn't be injured too badly for whatever it was. The most basic one was to tell her how he felt, as in really telling her and convincing her and getting it into her head that yes, he really was serious and he really didn't care about his fangirls, geez, and what about her fanboys, eh…but he had been trying for a long time already. A very long time, with many tries. Nine tries, and his tenth was sure to be rebuffed as well.

And then there were those goals of being able to kiss her without getting a fractured jaw and of the future and where they would be and evading all of their problems, but…those were indefinitely on hold. For various reasons.

He'd try again today. Maybe the tenth time would be the charm.

Then again, that's what they had said about the third time, too.

--l--

I knew I forgot something last time. Vocab. The –sempai suffix is what a younger student would say to an upperclassman, and –sensei is for a teacher, doctor, or something along those lines. Just for the people who watched the dub and stuff.

And again with my manipulations of canon and making everything dark and gloomy. "Superstar" (7) was inspired by the various moments where I was convinced that the both of them had their own little fangirls and fanboys, and "our own world" (8) by Tsubasa's early comments about how he was once like Natsume. Though, I hate 8 a lot. It caused me so much trouble.

It's my belief that Tsubasa is definitely a special ranking, but some of the same logic in that argument would imply that Misaki is one as well. Definitely not the middle school principal students, though, I don't think. Yes, I've heard the rumor that Tsubasa was a 3-star who got bumped down to 1-star because of something he did. Frankly, I don't care. The Tsubasa running around in my head definitely is a special. I mean, I could believe that Misaki isn't a special pretty easily since some of the reasoning in my head goes to fanon I made up for her, but…hey, bear with me.

Thanks again to Dex for beta'ing, and to the reviewers for…well, reviewing and being supportive. XD And sorry for the slowness.