Chapter Five: An Innocent Crush?

ZANDi wakes up in Hita's house laying in his bed.

ZANDi: h-huh?

Hita: good morning beautiful.

He walks over to her, holds her chin and kisses her sweetly on the lips

Hita: have a good rest?

ZANDi: …what about the fire?

Hita: what fire::chuckles: the only fire was the candle last night.

ZANDi::thinks to self: 'well I might as well go along with it…' :walks over to Hita and wraps her arms around him but she suddenly begins hearing beeping noises: Hita::the image of Hita begins fading: no! come back!

Beep, beep, beep suddenly she sits upright quickly and looks around and realizes that she's in the hospital, and that it is 9:22 in the morning

Hita's P.O.V.

Hita: poor little girl, I told you not to go in there, your wolves went with your brother

ZANDi begins moving around slightly and she's mumbling something that sounds like his name.

Hita: hey, im right here, you okay?

ZANDi wraps her arms around Hita loosely,

Hita: um, ZANDi? You awake::no answer: apparently not…:pulls away:

ZANDi: Hita? … no! come back!

ZANDi suddenly she sits upright quickly and looks around confused and then looks at the clock.

Hita: ZANDi? Are you okay?

ZANDi: how long have I been here? What happened?

Hita: well, you fell unconscious and a lot of smoke went into your lungs so they had to give you a breathing treatment…you really scared me, you were unconscious for three days, your brother doesn't know, he went to the other town the day before the fire and spent the night at one of his friends houses. How are you feeling?

ZANDi: what happened to the house?

Hita: …im sorry to say this ZANDi but it burned completely down…everything was destroyed, it was a miracle that even you survived.

ZANDi begins sobbing

Hita: hey, hey, Shh, its okay, no one was hurt, well except for you, but you're all right now.

ZANDi: no its not! Larka and Nanook! I couldn't find them! They-

Hita::puts finger on her lips: Shh, your brother took them with him, they're fine too.

ZANDi: but where are we gonna go? Valerie's parents don't like me and all my other friends are guys! Now Otaku's fine but…what happened to my kimono?

Hita: you were holding onto it for dear life but it caught flame and it too was destroyed. But where you were holding it was saved and my friend at the outfitters had material that was the same so I had her make you one just like it.

ZANDi just sits there unsure what to say then a nurse walks in.

Nurse: oh well its good to see your finally awake. How are you feeling?

ZANDi: fine.

Nurse: Do you know where your at?

ZANDi: a hospital

Nurse: good, do you know what today is?

ZANDi: October 22nd 2006

Nurse: very good now whats your name?

ZANDi: ZANDi

Nurse: full name please

ZANDi: that is my full name.

Nurse: oh, I see well then the doctor will be here soon and you can ask him when you can go home.

The nurse leaves the room

Hita: she's a real bitch…she almost didn't let me stay here with you because I wasn't family.

ZANDi: You mean you stayed here the whole time I was here?

Hita: well I couldn't let you stay here by yourself.

ZANDi: oh. Thank you…:blushes:

The doctor walks in.

Doctor: Hello Ms. ZANDi, so your feeling better?

ZANDi: yeah,

Doctor: okay, well im going to write you a prescription for some medicine for your burns and since your feeling better we can take out your IV and you can go home.

Hita: thank you sir.

Doctor: you know ive never seen a more concerned boyfriend in my 25 years working here

ZANDi::blushes: he's not my-

The doctor starts laughing and walks out of the room. Then a different nurse walks in and hands Hita the prescription and takes out ZANDi's IV.

Hita: well, how about I take you back to my house so I can give you your surprise. Sound good?

ZANDi: yeah…

They get into his car and drive off to his house.

Hita: did you know that Otaku changed his mind?

ZANDi: about?

Hita: me teaching him

ZANDi: why?

Hita: he said that he doesn't need any help from any one and that he can take care of himself…and that you guys don't need my…what did he call it? Oh yeah that you guys didn't need my charity. And that's when he left

ZANDi: baka nisan, I don't know why he's like that… meh he's just stubborn I suppose…:smiles: he'll see that your not bad eventually…

Hita: well till then do you still want to take up your part of the proposition?

ZANDi: of course! Im gonna need money to rent a place.

Hita: what do you mean rent a place?

ZANDi: well my house sorta burned down so I have to…

Hita: no you don't

ZANDi: what do you mean?

Hita: they wont let you rent a place…your too young. And anyways, you can think of this as part one of my surprise to you… how would you feel if I let you live with me?

ZANDi: really?

Hita: of course, you have no where to go and I cant let a sweet girl like yourself to live on the streets.

ZANDi::hugs: thank you so much Hita,

Hita: its not a problem, and now for the second part of your surprise…close your eyes.

ZANDi closes her eyes and pictures Hita leaning down and kissing her the way he did in her dream. She lowers her head, beet red from blushing. Hita ties a blindfold around her eyes, grabs her hand and the butterflies in her stomach begin their dancing in her stomach…the way they always do when ever he touches her or looks into her eyes…and leads her into the house.

Hita: keep your eyes closed

ZANDi::laughs: I feel like im about to fall

Hita: Don't worry, I gotcha, I wont let you fall. we're about to go up stairs

ZANDi: oh gosh im gonna fall

Hita: here, grab my neck.

ZANDi: okay, wait what are you doing?

Hita::sing-song voice: you'll see…

ZANDi: no, Hita? Wait… ahh!

Hita picks up ZANDi princess style and carries her up the stairs. Once they reach the top he continues to carry her into the thirteenth room on the right and then finally sets her down and takes of the blindfold.

Hita: here we go…

ZANDi opens her eyes and right in front of her was two closets jam packed with dresses and outfits made just for her. And most of them were green too, except for the many pairs of jeans.

ZANDi::squeals and glomps Hita: thank you thank you thank you!

Hita: but that's not the best one…

ZANDi: best one?

Hita: that's right, turn around and you'll see…

ZANDi turns around slowly and when she stops, right in front of her is a short sleeved emerald green dress with lace around almost every seam, and in the mid section looks like a corset, and from this the sleeves poof out and where the sleeves meet the dress, two ribbons come across where the chest would be and would tie around the neck. More towards the bottom it forms a Cinderella like poof at the bottom and end where her knees would be. ZANDi just stood there in awe.

Hita: so I take it you like it?

ZANDi: like it? I absolutely love it::looks at Hita: I thought I came here to pay YOU back?

Hita: well you cant if you don't have anything to wear.

ZANDi: well, I suppose that's true, but still…

Hita: you will pay it back, in time. Now enough talk of this nonsense and lets get something to eat, the whole ride here I heard your stomach growling.

ZANDi: oh, Hehe heh… okay

Hita: ramen sound good?

ZANDi: Yeah

ZANDi and Hita go into his kitchen and ZANDi sits down at the table while Hita cooks the ramen. Once their done eating Hita started to explain what she is to do around the house.

Hita: well, just keep the house in order, you don't have to fix anything, I have a friend that's a mechanic. Are you good at gardening?

ZANDi: yeah

Hita: okay that's good, I suck at gardening but when I bought the place it had this huge garden in the back.

ZANDi: that sounds like fun!

Hita: Hehehe I suppose so::glances at watch: well you don't start till tomorrow and its not THAT late…wanna watch a movie before bed?

ZANDi: sure! What movie?

Hita: hmm, I dunno what do you wanna see? I have almost every movie out there :laughs:

ZANDi: can I go look?

Hita: I don't see why not.

ZANDi: okay!

She kneels down and begins looking through the movies and pulls out a animated film labeled "Anastasia" and skips back to where Hita is sitting.

Hita: you cant be serious.

ZANDi: oh, im sorry, I thought it looked cool…ill find a different one…

Hita: no, its fine…just, Yusa loved that movie. We can watch it.

ZANDi: okay!

She runs over to the TV and pops in the tape. They're both sitting on the couch, eating popcorn that Hita made ZANDi burnt the first batch . Halfway through the movie, ZANDi fell asleep, and her head fell on his lap.

Hita: ZANDi? Umm…ZANDi? Asleep…how cute…but a little awkward at the same time…:he goes to wake her up but then stops, smiles and looks up: is this some sort of sign Yusa? If your trying to tell me something, you need to keep in mind im male I told you before…we're no good at subtle hints…:looks back down at ZANDi: she has your beauty…but she's so young…but so were you. But that didn't stop anything. But I swore to you that I'd never love anyone but you my love, then why cant I stop myself::sighs: gods I need help, now more than ever…

A light flashes and a glowing figure of Yusa is standing before Hita and she puts her hand on his shoulder.

Hita: y-no it can't be…yusa?

Yusa: surprised to see me?

Hita: is that really you?

Yusa: who else would I be?

Hita: I dunno,

Yusa: well I heard your having problems with my reincarnation…

Hita: well…sorta?

Yusa: didn't exactly sound like 'sorta'…what was it you said? Something like 'I need help, now more than ever'? huh::laughs: I know that you swore to me that you would never love anyone other than me…but now that im gone…I want you to move on, and to share a little secret with you…you're not the only one who feels that way…she is in love with you too…but she's too afraid to admit it because for one, she knows that you were in love with me so she thinks that you wont love her and two…because she's never been in "love" before.

Hita: you still think you know everything don't you?

Yusa: no, I know I know everything! Well at least when it comes to relationships… :winks: now go on…use that brain of yours and think up a way to… not forget about me…but move on, and find some romantic way to show this little one that you feel the same and I know your capable of that okay?

Hita: do I have much of a choice?

Yusa: hmm…nope

Hita: didn't think so…but before you go, can I have one last kiss?

Yusa: if you promise to do what I asked.

Hita::sigh: I promise

Yusa: pinkie promise?

Hita: seal it with a kiss.

And with those final words, they both leaned in for a kiss but when Hita opened his eyes, she was gone

Hita: well I suppose id better get my little friend up to bed…:checks clock: holy crap, its past 2! I better get to bed too…

Hita picks ZANDi up princess style and carries her into her room, puts her under her covers, shuts off the lights and turns into his own room and goes to sleep.

oEnd Chapter 5o