Chapter 7: Pursuing the Stranger, cracking the shell
The event had been fresh in Aisha's mind; she remembered the sweet feeling of her lips against the stranger who'd mysteriously invaded her feelings and her life so short a while ago. She paced in her room a moment, obviously annoyed with not only her for doing something without though, but the fact it was HE that retreated; was he afraid of her and her advances? "Too damn bad…" her mind seemed to settle the thought without much of thinking involved in her decision. She could feel herself pleased with that decision that she just made in her mind, she rose from her bed now and had gone off to find the surprisingly distant feline that she'd felt her connection to; it was about time she found out how he felt.
While she'd set off to find him, it had been a simple fact that he'd made himself distant from her and had been off trying to think about the situation, he had been gazing down at the small pond, in the faux park area that his cousin's ship had. He was still flustered the kiss that had hit him narrowly 3 hours ago, though the color had faded from his cheeks his mind was still stuck on the subject. "Does she really care that much…?" he'd come into the knowledge of her feelings through the kiss, it was like a wildfire the moment their lips touched and he could barely stand it. His blush renewed at the thought of the scorching kiss, he remembered it vividly as if it were happening once more.
"So there you're hiding cuz, I was looking for you, ya know?" he looked up in time to see that his cousin Tomoe had been standing behind him, her hands on her hips and her face lit with a bright grin. "Tomoe, that really…-" He found himself cut off by Tomoe quickly, "It was about time you! Come on, don't tell me you didn't notice that she was jealous and liked you?" her face was lit with a grin and a little giggle afterwards, he made a light frown as she hugged him; though he returned the hug without much thought to it.
"What do you mean she likes me?" he said even when he thought of it as stupid to ask, "Oh don't play dumb with me, I could see it from when we first met and I was hugging you." She laid it on thick and had gotten right to the point of showing him just how oblivious he is towards things. He went back to the thought and it hit him like a ton of bricks "She did growl at her…" his mind repeated the harmless observation which in turn made him smile without him knowing why.
"I bet she's looking for you again and don't you dare even try to run, I won't stand for my cousin being a chicken around his moment obviously she's special to you too." And while he tried to think about it, Tomoe lifted him to the ground and was already pushing him out into the hallway and locking the park door. "Get going and find her already! She's waiting, and we both know how impatient C'tarl C'tarls can be now." She teased him one last time, before finally he'd walked down the hall of his own accord.
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Aisha had growled in frustration and punched the wall, she couldn't find the lost kitten anywhere and now it was starting to piss her off. "Where the hell are you Haomaru!" she yelled in the ship's bay, she had been looking now for a good 10 minutes and was getting tired of it; she figured she'd have found him meditating somewhere now. She gave the wall another good punch and had glared towards the door, "Oh…if he's with HER again, I'm going to rip her spleen out and force feed it back to her." She realized just how irritated she was with Tomoe; his cousin had really gotten under her skin with all of her antics. She made up her mind to go and tear her into little pieces and maybe decide to leave her to heal when she was through.
But as she had started to move herself towards the hall, when she was met with the sight of Haomaru, who had followed her scent to the location and was smiling gently. "Hi Aisha, I was looking for you." Though he didn't get too far, for within moments Aisha had pinned him to the wall by the collar and she was glaring at him in annoyance.
"There you are! Damn it Hao, I was looking for you just where in the hell were you?" her voice indicated just how mad she was; she looked into his eyes which were apologetic and felt her annoyance dissipating a little bit. Though her grip hadn't been gotten to less, she let him down to his feet and drew him into a hug with a little sigh. "You're lucky I'm feeling generous today."
Haomaru gave her a little smile while he'd hugged her back gently and looked into her eyes gently for the moment, offering some speech to her finally. "Yes I'm sorry, I had to think about it…the kiss and all, it had confused me a great deal." His words of truth had brought the annoyance back to her quickly.
"Oh what, do you need me to draw a map? You didn't like being pulled huh? Well that's too bad Haomaru; if you don't get it I like you. You really are something else and I have to find out just how much you mean to me." Her words were spoken in finality, and left him only to give her a light nod; it's not like he was willing to speak against her or that he even disagreed with her.
"The same for me Aisha and I couldn't have said it any better myself." And while this made her smile she wasn't satisfied with just hugging him, she led a finger against his cheek lightly.
"Then you're going to take me out tonight okay? We're landing in port soon and you're going to take me out on a date understand? Well I'm glad there are no questions, be ready by 8 because we're going to have some fun." Her words left him full of questions and she wouldn't have them. "Now I said no questions Hao, don't try to speak." Her words hinted a warning, though of what he hadn't guessed and with that she had let him go to his feet while she stroked his cheek with her fingers.
"But-" "Damn it, I said no buts!" she snapped at him as she pressed her lips to his once more, this kiss easily more bold than her first almost shy attempt to meet his lips. This time she was confident in her motives and had fully explored the soft texture of his lips, while the kiss was demanding it still held a form of tenderness to it. Her eyes had closed as she held him closely to her, and smiled to herself when she felt his arms curl around her waist while the moment was shared. The kiss was a small passage of infinity that danced along the clouds horizon, she instinctually had deepened the kiss and had pressed him to the wall while she began to emit a soft purr and had led her tail to curl against his.
The moment was broken as Tomoe's giggle ran rampant throughout the hangar, Aisha drew back flustered both from how far she had taken the kiss and her anger towards his cousin.
"My, you two are like frisky little kittens." "That's it! I'm going to pull you apart!" Aisha's anger was something that most beings would avoid, but Tomoe seemed to seek it out like a magnet for pain. But she was stopped by Haomaru's gentle squeeze of his hand around her own. Aisha had stopped at the move and looked back at him with a light smile and simply ignored Tomoe.
The two together walked to the Hangar elevator and had stepped onto it, still walking beside each other in their own atmosphere. They disappeared into the elevator much to Tomoe's approval at the action, she nodded and had gone to take care of ship's business while the two had stood at the hall they would part ways for the time being.
"Well Hao, this is where we part for the moment, get ready for tonight I'll be at your room and knocking the door in if your not ready." She mused with him, something that made him give her a cat grin for once; it was faint but it was enough for her to notice.
"As you like Aisha, I will be ready before then and I will await you outside your door." It was Aisha's turn to smile at him while her fingers stroked along his cheek as she started down the hall, she was feeling much lighter on her feet and had grinned to herself a little. "About time…" she was glad she saw something of his thick husk of a shell crack, she was finally starting to get to him; she'd only just begun to dig into that shell of mystery around him.
"I've only just begun Hao, you'd better open up to me…or else." Those lost words uttered in her mind, she looked ahead of her with her goal set straight in mind. It was time to see who he really was; and apparently now…herself as well.