CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Beneath Starry Skies (I)

Saturday arrived faster than he expected. Although Hanabusa had caught up on his sleep after making all the necessary plans, more than anything he was nervous. So badly Hanabusa wanted to make up for his wrongs. The guilt weighed on him and his every thought led him back to ways to apologize to Kaede but he knew that she was not one to hold a grudge. Simply saying that he was forgiven — which she had already done — didn't feel like enough. He needed penance. He needed to make her happier than she had ever been before.

When morning came Hanabusa waited outside the sprawling Cross Academy entrance. A snowy lawn welcomed his sleek Jaguar as he waited by the stairs for Kaede. It was still early enough that the sun had yet to rise — but it was February, and everything was dark. Hanabusa knew that for that reason, Kaede loved winter.

Kaede yawned as she went to him, a duffel bag strapped over her shoulder. She wore her hair up, a sweater beneath a jacket and, fancier than usual, a pair of jeans instead of her ever present sweatpants. He could see the white of her earphones moving down her throat and into her sweater. Her eyes were hazel, he noticed with a smile. He hadn't seen the red lenses on her for a while now.

"Good morning," Hanabusa called out as he held his hand out for her bag. She gave it to him with a curious look as if no one had ever offered her help before.

"What, no chauffeur?" she asked as her eyes skipped to the driver's seat.

He smiled. "Do you think I'm that spoiled, Misane?"

"Yes," she said without a pause as she closed the trunk for him. She moved up along the car, her hands trailing it with an enchanted wariness. "So where are we going?"

"Not telling you," he said as he leaned over her door frame, exhaling noisily. Hanabusa looked down at her light hazel eyes, staring up at him. He wanted to smile and he did not know why. He closed the door for her before circling back to the driver's seat and moved silently onto the seat. "Do you have everything?"

A smile played on her mouth. "I don't know. You only told me to pack for a night." Her head lolled against her knuckles as she propped her arm on the ledge of the side door. "No information on weather, location..."

"Because it's a surprise," he told her again, not for the first time. Kaede had been trying to get him to give her a hint on the location. Although excited to leave, she was reluctant to leave Akira behind. As much as he knew about her attachment to her dog, he did not want Akira around for her to worry about. Eventually he convinced her to let Akira out of his kennel and the door to her room open, free for it to roam.

"Do you mind if I put my feet up?" she asked as she slipped off her shoes. He felt a moment's hesitation but then shrugged.

"Go ahead," he said. He had never been asked that before and although he felt like he should have said no, there was that same easy smile that took him. She slouched so uncomfortable he worried for her back and propped her knees against the glove compartment. Her hair ruffled against the seat as she exhaled. "I can't believe I woke up at seven on a weekend for you."

He grinned. "Don't I feel special."

"You should," she said as she moved so that she was leaning against the crook between the seat and the door. His eyes glanced down. Striped socks, he saw. "Not even the persistent tongue of a carnivorous German Shepherd all over my face can compel me to wake up early and yet…" She gestured around. "Here I am. I hope this surprise would be worth it."

"I hope it will too." At the mention of her fatigue, he felt even more tired. I'm just weak from blood loss, he told himself. I'll be fine with...more blood. Those awful tablets. But it's just for a day. He could feel the lack of energy in his muscles. The exhaustion had passed, and now he just felt empty and void of...well, blood.

The car cruised along the straight open road. On either sides of them were trees and farms that faded into the distance as immediately as they came into sight. They had went the opposite direction from the town which left them in an area of vast fields and small buildings — if he could even call it that. The car drove smoothly at 110 miles per hour over the paved roads. Kaede's eyes were drooping as the minutes passed by in silence, unaware of the speed completely.

At last the sun rose. The car was silent, the expensive leather seats and the latest technology installed into the dashboard forgotten as the car became nothing more than a little space in which they sat together. He glanced over her window where the sun was rising, breaking from the clouds in an disarray of pale yellows and oranges. In molten reds. The horizon was a deep purple gradient to blue and her hair looked like copper on fire as the day rose behind her. Eyes closed, lips yielded, soft breathing.

She is so beautiful.

With one hand on the wheel, and his eyes back and forth between the road and her face, he touched her shoulder. "Wake up," he said softly. She mumbled something and yawned before she looked to her right. She stretched. "Ishstilearly," she mumbled incomprehensibly as she yawned. She rubbed her eyes and pulled off an earbud. "The sunrise looks a lot different on the ground level," she continued. Her hand reached up, opening and closing as if she wanted to grab the sun. She turned to him lazily, staring at him and searching his eyes before a smile broke across her face. "How long was I out?"

"Half an hour," he told her. The trees and farms receded behind them as they reached a slightly more urban area. There were warehouses, old buildings and a mill that fled behind them. "We're almost there." At the speed of his driving, any traces of a small town disappeared and they were driving on grey roads, gated on both sides. And plenty of warehouses. "This seems like a place to get away with murder, huh?" she asked, only half kidding.

"It does," he agreed solemnly, avoiding her eyes. Silence. And then he laughed. "We're going to an airport," he told her.

She straightened up, fumbling with her seat belt and earphones. "What? Really? I didn't bring my passport. Wait. Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," he told her. He kept back his smile. It felt good to know something that she didn't.

"Are you going to stuff me in a bag? They're not going me through without a passport. And don't you think that I won't be able —"

"We're going to an airport, but we're not going to an airport," Hanabusa said cryptically. He kept his eyes on the road in front of him as he slowed down to 90. He could see the glass and white of the airport, and the litter of airplanes on the huge strips. Ignoring them all, he got off the main road and drove straight behind the building.

"Where are we going then?"

"Don't worry about it," he told her. He made a turn back into the strips, but this time farther back from the airport.

"Hanabusa…"

The car did not so much as shudder as it dropped to a measly 20 miles per hour and was quiet as a cat when he stopped in front of a jet. Kaede opened her door, stepping out clumsily as she stared up. "You're kidding."

"Nope." He went to the back and opened the trunk. Kaede still wasn't looking at him as he shoved his keys to the back of his coat and lifted her things out.

"So is this why you have no chauffeur? You were saving up for a jet ride?"

He laughed.

"A ride?" he echoed. He smiled at her as he held her luggage and she gaped at the stairs that descended from Bombardier. He knew exactly how theatrical he was being as he head up in front of her and called out over his shoulder, "You think I don't own a jet?"

"Right," she said but she steadily made her way up the stairs. "I almost forgot. Bruce Wayne."

xxx

"I don't want to leave," Kaede moaned as she grabbed the blanket around her, holding on tight. Hanabusa sighed.

"Don't you want to get off? We've been on the plain for six hours."

And all you've done was walked around for the first thirty minutes, and then watched movies for the rest of the flight. It was safe to say that even if his plan didn't go as exactly as he hoped, Kaede still enjoyed doing nothing and seeing all the small luxuries. She doted over the mini fridge and smiled brightly every time someone offered her freshly brewed coffee. When one of the attendants saw her using her sweater as blanket, they hurried over with a Berkshire cotton blanket and she had fawned over it, petting it and complementing its softness before she wrapped herself into it, pulled up her legs and stared at the screen in front of her as she ran through movies.

After three hours, Hanabusa had asked if she wanted to eat and when the food was served to her directly, Kaede looked more in love with the attendant than she had ever looked with him.

But Hanabusa was fine with all of that. She looked happy. She spoke to him in between movies, laughed at jokes, and made comments every now and then that made him smirk but he was content with reclining back and watching her, looking outside. He was used to the plush leather seats, the shining silver linings, the pristine white cabins and the honey wood that ran along the interior. Kaede liked it, but she seemed much more caught up in how friendly the attendants were than the rest of the luxuries.

It was two in the afternoon where they landed. "Come on, Kaede. I want to get to the...location early." He let his vague sentence hang in the air as she looked at him curiously. At last she sighed and whipped off the blankets. The abruptness of it reminded him of addicts going cold turkey and it made him smile.

"Okay," she said. Her clothing was rumpled up. At one point, she had changed from her jeans to shorts. "I'll just go change —"

His eyes roamed her. "Those shorts are fine," he told her. He had checked the weather while he was planning the trip.

"So we're somewhere warm?" she asked, her hazel eyes lighting up. She had asked frequently where they were going but Hanabusa had advised the crew ahead of time to keep it a secret. Kaede had tried to look out the window but all she saw were clouds.

"We are." She would probably find out in the drive, he suspected.

They landed in the airport fifteen minutes later but it took another ten before they were able to leave and get in the car.

Kaede looked around with a frown. Minutes ago she placed on her red central lenses and now her hands shielded her eyes, along with sunglasses and a cap. The sun was golden and its warmth engulfed each and every inch of her skin. The air was dry, the vegetation lush...and she had absolutely know idea where they were, that much he could tell. "California?" she guessed uncertainly. No one was around and so people and accents did betray them. "Somewhere not European," she said as she got in the car.

"You're right."

She looked at him, and all he saw was a cap whose shade hid the dark sunglasses that covered her eyes. Hints of greenery faded as the background became a blank canvas of pale skies, grey pavement and behind her, trees and earth. The air was warm albeit humid and Kaede was going on about how she could barely believe it that only this morning they were in the snowy campus of Cross Academy.

xxx

Hanabusa was acting strange.

He would look at me for a bit, and then look away for a long, long time. It was the same throughout the jet ride. Something was on his mind, that much was obvious. He looked tired, but his smile and his voice was exactly the same. I blinked. "Oh, no —"

One of Hanabusa's guys opened the door for me. "Thanks." I would never get used to having people help me with the most mundane things. But as I sat in the passenger of the sleek car, Hanabusa's eyes were glued out past the strip and into literal nothing. I had to wear my sunglasses to avoid the blinding sun but there was a comfort in knowing that in my bag were little tablets that would make me able to see everything.

"What's wrong?" I called out. Hanabusa finally reacted. He turned to me, blinking.

"Do you want to drive?"

I laughed. "If you don't mind dying and crashing your car into a pit, sure."

He smiled, coming back to me in bits. His eyes were still far away for a reason I did not know. "Get up, Misane."

"You can't be serious," I said but even so, I was standing up. He threw me his keys, with the chain of Jaguar shining. "I'm going to kill both of us, Hanabusa."

"I'll take my chance." He slid into the passenger seated and leaned across to pat down on the driver. "Get in."

With nervous excitement, I oblige. I slid into the driver's seat and took a deep breath. I put my hands on the steering wheel and stared out the windshield. My hands slid over the leather as I breathed in deeply, trying to take in everything at once. Holy shit. I'm going to drive. In a foreign country. In an expensive car.

"Put the keys into the ignition."

"Right!" I had to turn the key towards me first. "Sorry, sorry," I stammered as I failed at finding where to insert it.

"Turn it right until you hear the engine turn on," Hanabusa continued, laughing. He was looking at me, his eyes bright with amusement. The engine roared alive and I jumped back into the seat.

In two minutes, Hanabusa told me how to adjust the mirror, the seat, the function of the pedals, how to work the gears and then with a proud lick of his lips, he told me to go for it.

And I did.

I took the car off park and with a gentle, gentle, gentle tap of my toe, the car began moving. "Jesus Christ!" The car moved impossibly smooth beneath me and when I glanced — squinted — at the speed, I saw that I was going a measly 25 mph. I put a bit more pressure.

"Turn right," Hanabusa told me. He had a hand on the door, his eyes slightly wide. "Right, right! Slow down!" he shouted as I continued at the same speed — 50 mph? How did it get there? — and drifted over the corner. I laughed out loud. One hand on the wheel, the other on a button bringing the windows down. The wind blew through my hair, through his and I put more pressure on the gas.

"Do you want to kill us?" he demanded. Both his hands grabbed a hold of something as he pressed himself against the seat. But I was having a blast.

The metre was inching towards 90 mph when Hanabusa cried out, "Slow down! We're approaching the lights!"

I admit that I got more nervous when it was no longer a straight road. An intersection was in front of us, but it was an intersection in the middle of no where. Just trees and sand and dunes and grass. "Brake! Brake!"

"Shit, shit, shit," I muttered, flustering. It was the larger pedal, I knew, but my foot fumbled. Oh my God, my ankle was cramping.

"Kaede!"

We were going too fast. Too fast. And yet the brake — despite all the car's perfect engine — was not slowing down enough even as I stamped it down and waited for it to slow from 130 — how did it get there?! — but then all of a sudden Hanabusa was groaning as he reached over and pulled on the emergency brake. The car gutted, throwing everything and lurching into a stop that sent a rattle through me, my head knocking forward.

I slammed into the steering wheel and then back into the seat as Hanabusa pulled into parking the same moment I grabbed the steering wheel to pull into the side.

There were no cars.

And I laugh.

Hanabusa gaped.

"You're trying to kill me."

I drove.

I looked up. "The light. It's red, isn't it?"

He stared at me for a moment before he brought himself to check it. "Yes."

"So I got it right." Who said you needed colour vision to drive? It was bad and reckless driving but I drove and I got it right. Sort of.

Hanabusa exhaled deeply, and ran his fingers back through the windblown mess of his hair after the wind and the near crash. What was that syndrome — Marie Antoinette? When hair turned stark white under stress? Maybe it was the light but his hair looked paler than usual, or perhaps it was my driving. He looked frustrated, his eyes closed.

With the light through the window, everything about him seemed lighter. When he finally opened his eyes to look at me, there was a certain...boldness to it that I couldn't put a finger on. "So...I drove."

He couldn't help it. He laughed. "Sure, you drove."

"I didn't break any major rules?"

He leaned towards the dashboard, his fingers brushing over the windshield as he turned towards me, squinting a bit. "I suppose not. Except for speeding. But next time you want to do something stupid, make sure my hands are the ones on the steering wheel." He frowned. I smiled.

I took my hands off and grabbed his, and placed it firmly on top of the wheel. "Your hands are on the steering wheel," I told him. His frown changed to one of perplexity as he began to pull his hand back but I had already unbuckled my seat belt and stumbled over to his seat to hold his confused face in my hands before I kissed him, feeling like I was high above into the clouds, like I was still driving a hundred and thirty miles per hour.

xxx

She kissed him.

It wasn't like their past kisses where it rushed or passionate or when they were in their highest or lowest moments but it was a sweet, happy kiss.

She straddled him, knees on either side as she leaned down to hold his face in her hands and pressed her mouth against his. Soft, soft lips. He was consumed by them — metaphorically. All he could think about was the way her lips felt, the way her body was warm, the way her hair draped over him. And her hands. Her fingers. Her mouth. Her legs.

Hanabusa wanted her.

His arms circled around Kaede, bringing her down as his mouth left a trail of kisses down her jaw and neck, down to the opening of her sweater and her collarbone. He wanted to taste the skin, taste her and he was not thinking about her blood but Kaede. He felt a shudder go through her and that made him shiver. He didn't remember ever shivering for a kiss before, but her skin was hot as his fingers slid beneath her sweater and over her waist. He wanted to touch every part of her, to explore every part of her with his hands and mouth and —

"Hey! Jaguar!"

And Kaede broke away, laughing softly and breathlessly. She sat back away from him, shaking, and pushing her hair back. The cap had fallen somewhere, the sunglasses discarded. Her eyes were bright, her skin flushed, her lips red. She looked at him before looking out the window where a woman was approaching them.

"Do you guys need any help getting — oh." She stopped and smiled knowingly. Sunkissed hair, tan skin, eyes the colour of the sea.

And she spoke English — with an accent Kaede recognized immediately.

Kaede laughed again. Her hands dropped from his face, down to his neck onto his chest as she fell back into the compartment. She went from Japanese to English that tilted towards a French accent, but the emotion behind it was the same: breathless excitement. "We're in Australia."

So I admit I forgot about this story. Sorry! At this point, this chapter was basically all fluff but it's heading towards an end, at last! Thank you so much for reading after all this time. Reviews would be lovely :)