Storm
Disclaimer: once again I do not own Prêtear wish I did but I don't.
Chapter 2
It was two days after the storm and Himeno had not seen Hayate at all. Probably too embarrassed to show himself she thought to herself as she wondered through the gardens of the Awayuki estate. Himeno was so deep in thought wondering what she was going to do about what happened the other night to realise that she was walking straight towards a particularly large tree. Three steps away. Two steps away. THWACK! Himeno being her usual self had walked straight into the tree and was now flat on her butt staring at the tree and mumbling under her breath.
"You know talking to yourself isn't a very good sign" said I voice from behind her. Himeno turned around and looked up at the handsome young man standing behind her. He had short white hair and gentle amethyst eyes hidden behind clear glasses.
"Oh, hi Sasame." Himeno said as she pulled herself up from the ground and straightened out her clothes. "What's up?"
"I was just wondering if you knew why Hayate has been avoiding this place for the past few days. Did something happen while he was on guard duty the other night?"
Himeno's face turned bright red until it resembled something of an incredibly large tomato with hair and eyes.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" she said, slightly louder than she intended.
"Oh really? Your face says differently."
"Wha-?"
"The shade of your face says that you like Hayate!" Himeno shook her head violently,
"No…no, I don't! Hey? Sasame, where are you going?!" Sasame had started running away towards the house.
"I'm going to tell everyone that you love Hayate!" Sasame yelled back, then seeing the vein protruding from Himeno's forehead, he began to run faster, hoping to evade her anger.
"I DO NOT!" she shouted before running after him. Himeno was gaining on him fast, she jumped and tackled Sasame to the ground and raising her fist above her said in a dangerously clam tone of voice "Take it back."
"No!"
SLAM! Himeno's fist connected with Sasame's gut causing him to groan in pain,
"Himeno loves Hayate." He said again. Himeno was about to punch him again when she was pulled away by two strong pairs of hands. She looked up and saw none other than Goh and Hayate himself holding her back.
"What were you teasing her about this time?" asked Goh coolly while struggling to hold Himeno back.
"Take it back Sasame!" she growled
"Never, it's the truth isn't it? You love Hayate!" Hayate went rigid and Goh froze in shock causing Sasame to smile and thinking Himeno had also frozen got to his feet but Himeno was expecting it and lunged at him while screaming
"Why you little…I'm gonna kill you!" however her opportunity was stolen from her when Hayate snapped back to reality just in time to grab her back. Himeno fought against his grip but he held her firmly "Let me go! Hayate let me go!"
"No, calm down! You're just confirming his suspicions by acting like this." Himeno sighed and nodded. Hayate slowly and reluctantly let go of the small woman wishing he didn't have to but also wishing he could have held her under different circumstances. As soon as she was free of him she ran off towards to main house, slamming the back door behind her so hard a pane of glass fell out. Goh sighed and Hayate disappeared in a gust of wind. Goh turned to Sasame, who was dusting off his clothes, and said
"Do you really think she loves him?" Sasame smiled and replied
"I don't think, I know that she loves him. However, I do think that something happened between them when Hayate was on guard duty during that storm, I just need to find out what."
"Maybe you're right…they have been acting …weird." Sasame nodded and walked off.
Later that evening Himeno was in her room doing her homework, getting very stressed at her chemistry equations. She glanced over at the balcony. The double glass doors were closed with the net curtains drawn across but she could still see the figure standing there, her faithful guard. Himeno went back to staring at her page of enthalpy changes and chemical symbols hoping they would do themselves but alas it was not to be. The peace and quiet was shattered by a muffled sneeze coming from the balcony. Himeno jerked her head up at the sound and glanced up at the door. She sighed, pushed her chair back and walked over to the balcony doors. The metal door handle was cool under her hand as she pressed it down and gently opened the doors. Instantly the cold night air surrounded her and goose bumps covered her bare arms and legs. She looked up at the night sky as stars shimmered down on her and the moon pealed out from behind the tree tops. She heard Hayate sneeze again and pulled a clean white handkerchief from her pocket and offered it to the silent knight of wind. He took it gently from her,
"Thank you Himeno." She shrugged her shoulders, trying to act casual as she turned her back to him about to enter her room again when she looked back over her shoulder and said,
"Come inside, you'll catch a cold if you stay out here much longer and then you won't be a very good guard." Hayate silently followed her into the room and sat down on the couch. Himeno closed the doors again and went back to her work but found she couldn't concentrate properly. She sighed, placed her pen down on the desk and cleared away her books.
"Himeno?" her head shot up as he spoke and she turned her head towards him. Hayate was looking away, a faint pink on his cheeks. Himeno stood up from the desk and walked over to where Hayate was and sat on the chair opposite.
"Yes Hayate?" He glanced over at the young woman; her cherry pink lips were smiling slightly as she looked at him expectantly.
"I …I think that we…need to talk about what happened a few days ago…during the storm." Himeno's face turned slightly pink and she quickly poured herself a glass of water form the pitcher on the coffee table. After taking a sip, she cleared her throat and trying to sound normal said;
"What about it?"
"I'm sorry." Himeno looked up at him with a puzzled look on her face
"About what?"
"I…It shouldn't have happened, it was a mistake to hold you like that…like I was more than just your knight, forgive me." He said it so fast she almost didn't hear him but the word 'mistake' kept echoing in her head like a death sentence, she snapped out of it when she realised that Hayate was holding his breath, waiting for her reply. She quickly slapped on a fake smile and said in an overly cheerful voice
"Oh that, don't worry I'd pretty much forgotten about it anyway." Hayate nodded. There was a knock on the balcony doors and Hayate stood up
"That'll be Sasame, try not to kill him tulip head!" he braced himself for her usual screaming fit at the sound of her nickname but nothing came. She just sat there her eyes downcast, "Are you feeling okay?" Himeno nodded mutely. "Alright…see you Himeno" he opened the door and let Sasame in before leaving.
"Hey Himeno."
The glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor into thousands of tiny shards, 'Just like my heart' she thought bitterly. Sasame rushed over to her and grabbed her hand,
"Are you alright Himeno?" her head was bowed and her hair covered her eyes so he couldn't see her face but the whispered voice made his heart clench in his chest
"What's wrong with me? Aren't I good enough?" her voice was broken, so full of despair. Sasame was still holding on to her hand when he felt the first of her tears hit his smooth skin. She was shaking now so he held her by the shoulders but her sobs wracked her tiny frame and she kept on crying. Sasame lifted her up and carried her over to the bed, where he laid her head on the pillow and pulled the covers up over her small body. She eventually cried herself into a restless sleep, in which she tossed and turned and whispered Hayate's name over and over again. Sasame sighed and walked over to the window, looking up at the diamond encrusted sky he softly asked
"Hayate, what have you done?"
Sasame heard Himeno stir and immediately rushed to the bed. She opened her eyes and looked at his worried face, knowing just how much she had made Sasame suffer during the night caused Himeno to feel very guilty and she tried to smile at him but with the events of the previous few hours she barely managed a grimace. Sasame hugged Himeno close to him and sat on the edge of the bed. "It was Hayate wasn't it?" Himeno screwed her eyes shut against the pain and nodded stiffly, "What happened, Himeno?" She swallowed and tried to force the words out of her lips but every time she tried they seemed to twist and squirm away from her and eventually all she could muster was to repeat that dreaded word Hayate had used. Sasame, knight of sound, had to strain his ears to hear the broken whisper that issued forth from Himeno's lips.
"He said…it was a mistake…I was a fool to think…that…he…loved me" the last of her words were but the tiniest breath of sound so faint he hardly heard them but Sasame knew better than to doubt his hearing and squeezed her shoulders reassuringly.
"Himeno…I know that he loves you but are you sure that he said you were mistaken?" Himeno only nodded and Sasame felt a cold fury building in him like a carefully poised serpent ready to strike. He tried to force himself to remain calm and comforting for Himeno's sake as he spoke again, "Himeno, try and get some sleep. I'm sure you don't want to have to explain yourself to Goh when he gets here. I promise when you wake up I'll have some answers for you, okay?" Himeno nodded and lay down again, easily slipping into a deep, healing sleep. As soon as Goh arrived Sasame gave him a brief explanation of what had occurred during the night and rushed home. He threw the door open and went charging straight up the stairs to the room he shared with Hayate.
"Hayate?!" he yelled as he stormed into the room, the sudden noise woke Hayate from his slumber with a start which subsequently caused him to fall out of bed and whack his head on the low table by his bed.
"Oww, what the hells wrong with you?" he grumbled as he sat up, rubbing the lump that was forming on the back of his skull.
"ME! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Sasame practically yelled, attracting the attention of the other four knights in the house who all congregated at the bottom of the stairs, attempting to listen in on the conversation but remain as far away from a fuming Sasame as possible. "You made Himeno cry!" he stated at the blank look on Hayate's face, his eyes widened and guilt and confusion settled across his features. "I don't know exactly what happened but she seems to think that you don't love her anymore and there's nothing worse than not having your love returned." Hayate immediately stood and ran out of the door, nearly bowling over the group on the stairs in his haste. Sasame calmly left the room and walked down the stairs, he turned to the others, who were staring open mouthed at the front door which was swinging gently in the breeze, and said with a small smile
"Who wants to go and watch Hayate humble himself?" The other four knights shared his smirk and followed Hayate at a more leisurely pace to Himeno's home.
Hayate arrived at the Awayuki mansion, slightly flustered and very out of breath. He followed a maid up to Himeno's room and knocked gently on the door which was opened a moment later by Goh, his usual lively and mischievous face was replaced by a look of sadness and upon seeing Hayate at the door a glare crossed his face. Goh opened the door wider and stepped past Hayate on his way out of the room he muttered darkly under his breath
"You'd better not screw this up Hayate."
Hayate stepped into the room and shut the door gently behind him. It was dark inside and he could just about make put Himeno's figure in the bed, curled up in a foetal position clutching the blankets to her chest as she tossed and turned in some secret nightmare. Hayate walked to her bed and sat down on the edge of it, reaching out a hand he swept away the hair on her forehead which caused her to stop moving as violently in her sleep. He continued to stroke her hair which caused her to stir slightly and she opened her eyes slowly, dark lashes revealing blood-shot red eyes and blotchy cheeks which made his heart clench and guilt wash over him again.
"Hayate?" she asked, her voice was harsh and raw and he could hear the disbelief in it.
"I'm here…" She looked away from him and moved out of his reach, sitting up in the bed.
"Sasame sent you didn't he? Well you can go now, I don't want your pity."
"Himeno please, just listen to me?" He tried to reach out to her again but she hit his hand away
"Just go away! I don't need you, you don't have to be nice to me just because I'm in love with you!" Her voice was rising now, as she became more emotional and frustrated, but Hayate stayed where he was.
"So you do love me then. Himeno what I said last night… I didn't mean it. I said it because I didn't think that you felt the same way I did and you've always had such a generous heart that I didn't want you to try and help me by pretending you loved me."
"Why didn't you just tell me how you felt?" her voice was barely above a whisper
"Because I was frightened, I don't have your courage." She smiled slightly and looked at him, her eyes were soft and glowed in the dark.
"Now I know that you're telling the truth because you never admit that you're frightened of anything." Hayate smiled and her and pulled her into his arms
"I love you, Himeno Awayuki."
"I love you too, Hayate, Knight of Wind." They both heard and great cheer of
"Finally!" emit from beyond the closed balcony doors and started to laugh
"We aren't going to get any peace about this now are we?" Himeno merely smiled and shook her head. "I thought not."
Author's Note
Ok well I wrote this ages back and only just got around to typing it up this weekend. Some people asked for a sequel and I was at school one morning when this just popped into my head. I hope you enjoy and I'd also like to thank all my reviewers for the last part. See you around guys.