Disclaimers apply

Chapter 2 The Flight

Finally they had arrived at the airport. The drive had been an hour and half. Normally Kyoko would fall asleep during a car ride that long but she was too excited to see Kuu and his wife. Instead she had talked Ren's ear off, not that Ren minded. Secretly he was glad to bring the woman he loved home to meet his parents. Ren parked the car and got out to open the door for Kyoko but she was too excited to sit in the car and wait. She got out herself and pulled her bag with her. Ren chuckled at her enthusiasm and opened the trunk to get his stuff out.

It was still early in the morning so not very many people were at the airport. It had been planned that way. With so few in the building even if they were recognized it would be a single fan coming up to greet them rather than a herd.

"Ren, Kyoko-chan, over here." They turned to look and saw the president waving at them. By his side was Maria-chan. There was no way she was letting her two favorite people escape without saying bye to her first. She ran up to Ren in tears. He reached down and picked her up and she buried her face in his chest.

"Ren I don't want you to leave! Why do you have to go to America? There are plenty of jobs for you here." She was speaking into his chest so her words were muffled but they could all still understand what she said.

"Maria-chan," Kyoko said attempting to calm the little girl down, "Tsuruga-san will come back and you can e-mail him like you do with your father. That way you will still know what is going on with him."

Maria looked at her and fresh tears started as she looked back to Ren. "And why are you taking big-sis with you? Both of you can't leave!" Ren squeezed her in a tight hug to try and comfort her and then put her down but stayed eye level with the girl.

"Maria-chan, going to America is something that I have to do for myself and Mogami-san will be back in a week. She is only staying for a couple days and then returning. If you e-mail me I will reply as soon as I can." He used his hand to brush the tears out of her eyes and then stood up.

"She's right you know, it is unfair for both of you to go away at the same time." The president said looking at both of them. Yeah right. You arranged it so I would be alone with her.

"Boarding for flight 17 starts now." A woman said over the intercom.

"That's us!" Kyoko said excited, she was so close to being able to see her father again. Ren's stomach did a flip. He loved his parents but he was still nervous to see them.

"Shall we go Mogami-san?" Ren held his hand in front of him motioning for her to walk first. She bent down to give the little girl a hug and then was on her way and Ren followed her.

On the plane they found their seats. Ren had no trouble putting his carryon in the slot above them but Kyoko was a little shorter. Even jumping she couldn't reach it. Ren chuckled under his breath and stepped right up behind her. Kyoko was shocked to see a hand reach out above her head to grab her bag. She was even more shocked to feel someone's body pressed right up against hers, she knew who it was but that made her even more embarrassed. "Ts..Tsuruga-san," she said as he managed to put her bag in the slot she had failed to. He was already pulling away and sitting in his seat.

"Hmm…" he responded with little thought. He's completely unaffected by it! Tsuruga-san you can't just lean up against people like that! It's improper!

"Nevermind," she said sitting down next to him. In truth Ren was very affected by it, which was what had prompted him to move away so quickly. He was reminded of how she perfectly fitted to his body and she smelled wonderful. Standing in that position for too much longer would have led to a scene ending with her screaming she never wanted to see him again and getting off the plane.

Ren woke up about seven hours after the plane took off. His brain was a little fuzzy because he had been sleeping hard. Next to him Kyoko was sleeping. He smiled at her and reached his hand out to stroke her face but then pulled back for fear of waking her up. They had talked for a while when the plane first took off. He wasn't sure how long it was before she had passed out but he had shortly followed suit. Ren was glad he had the isle seat, he wouldn't disturb her getting up. He walked to the bathroom both to stretch his legs and to relieve himself. Walking back the plane took a huge lurch and Ren was flung into the seats next to him. Luckily there was no one sitting there or else he would have been in their laps. After the lurch the plane didn't even itself out.

"We're experiencing some turbulence, we should be out of the storm shortly" the captain said over the intercom. Ren saw the seat belt light turn on and headed back to his seat. When he finally managed to sit back down Kyoko was already awake and looking out the window. There wasn't much to see, even though it was day outside the skies were dark due to the storm. The only thing visible was the wing of the plane and rain, a lot of rain.

For the next half hour the plane flew through the storm. Kyoko and Ren weren't sure how much more of it they could take. It didn't sound like the other passengers were handling it to well either. All of a sudden something dropped into their faces form the ceiling. Someone in the room shrieked from surprise. The flight attendants quickly took action and helped people put their masks on. As procedure required they had shown everyone how it was done before the plane took off so most handled it on their own. Everyone was also aware of the life vests under their seat and quickly everyone was sporting orange. Ren and Kyoko could hear a child crying from somewhere in the plane and a man swearing under his breath along with the mutterings of several others. As actors they knew how to keep their composure but they were still frightened and it showed on their faces. They just were not verbal about their fear.

After making sure everyone else was all set the flight attendants took their seats and buckled themselves. "This storm is a bit nastier than expected but we will be reaching the eye in a couple of minutes." The captain said over the intercom and sure enough it wasn't long before all the turbulence ended. Everyone exhaled a breath of relief.

"Are you alright Mogami-san?" Ren turned and asked her. Her face was white and she was slightly shaking.

"Yeah…I'm fine Tsuruga-san. How about you?" She asked with a failed attempt at a smile.

"I'll be alright," he wanted to reach out and hold her but thought it would be best to keep his senses alert, and they wouldn't be if he was holding her.

"If we are in the eye of the storm does that mean it will take just as long to get out of it?" She asked. She wasn't sure if her stomach could handle another ten minutes.

"I'm not sure Mogami-san. I guess it all depends on our direction and that of the storm." Talking was helping him calm his nerves. Truth be told he hadn't been this scared since before he left America. Fitting that fate would make the ride home one I'll want to forget but will never be able to. He grimaced at the thought.

The plane lurched to its side again but this time it was worse than before. Beside him Ren heard Kyoko screech."Tsuruga-san we're going down!" She looked at him with eyes full of terror. Without thinking Ren reached over and pulled her close. He covered her head with his body just before they felt the impact.

"Tsuruga-san…Tsuruga-san!" Ren opened his eyes to see Kyoko shaking him. She was standing and had something orange on. The room they were in had flashing lights and he could vaguely hear other voices. What's going on? Then it hit him all at once. The voices were screams and they were no longer muffled by drowsiness and he felt the full force of his fear. Looking up into Kyoko's eyes he could see that she was just as terrified. "Tsuruga-san, we have to get out of the plane before it sinks." He quickly unbuckled and they made their way to the open door. Most of the passengers were already out but there were a few left inside with them. Standing at the door the wind and rain lashed at their faces. The sound of the violent sea around them was deafening. Ren grabbed Kyoko's hand and nodded his head in her direction. Words would do no good for they would not be heard. Together they jumped.

Dealing with the sea was even more difficult. The waves crashed down on them and with every breath they got a mouth full of water. Ren made sure to never let go of her hand, if he lost her in this storm he might lose her forever. He could feel something pushing on his shoulder and he looked down to see Kyoko's eyes wide in fear. She pointed to their side and Ren understood wide. A juggernaut wave was heading in their direction. Ren wrapped her in a tight embrace so as not to lose his grip on her. When it hit them, it hit with a force neither of them was expecting. The strength of the wave over powered Ren and he let go. In a couple seconds he broke surface due to his life vest. He scanned all around him for the one woman he couldn't bear to lose. "Momami-san! Mogami-san!" He yelled at the top of his voice, he only succeeded in inhaling salt water. After coughing some of it up he looked around him some more, he couldn't find her. "KYOKO!!!"

***

I know what's in the next chapter but I want to make you all suffer in suspense a little so I'm going to wait to write it…. I make myself suffer too by not writing the next part because I'm really excited about it so it may not be too long before I update.