I My Me!(Ai Mai Mi!) Strawberry Eggs Fan Fiction ❯ Cat and Mouse ❯ Home Sweet Home ( Chapter 2 )

Cat and Mouse
Chapter 1: Home Sweet Home
By: DesuxDecchi
It had been four more days since they had last seen Hibiki, and were now on the plane headed home. Fuko sat next to the window, next to Miho and next to her sat Fujio. Akira, Kyosuke, Shyoichi, and Shiro all sat in the row next to them, with their vice principal on the other side, and Seiko stuck next to her. Poor girl looked miserable. Fuko gripped the arm rest tightly and stared straight ahead. She loved lift off and hated it at the same time. It was like a rollercoaster until they got into the air. Then she was afraid they would crash. However she did enjoy looking out the window.
It was like a rollercoaster physically and emotionally.
Miho laughed and set her hand on the other girls.
‘Calm down. We survived the two planes here, we’ll survive the way back.’ She said with a comforting smile. Fuko nodded, obviously still afraid. She let out a squeak as the plane started moving, then put her hand on Miho’s and gripped it tightly as they took off.
‘Good god child you’re breaking my hand.’ She gasped, trying to pull from the death grip. Fuko jumped and let go, letting out a stream of apologies. Miho shook her hand a little and pinched the ranting girl’s lips shut. ‘It’s fine. Calm down. Look out the window.’ Fuko turned and looked out, instantly relaxing and enjoying the landscape.
Hibiki was in the very back of the plane, in a corner, staring ahead of her. Why, just why did she have to take this plane? Why did that girl get to her every time? She grumbled about stupid puppy eyes and jumped when the stewardess asked what she’d like to drink. She quickly paid for a scotch and watched the woman go down the aisle taking orders. She let out a sigh of relief then squeaked and shot down in her seat as she got to the aisle with her former students. This was not going to be a fun flight.
She jumped again when the stewardess gave her the alcohol and package of peanuts. She took a huge gulp, almost choking, then opened her peanuts and ate them aggressively, pretending they were heads she was crushing between her teeth. Not of any particular person. Just random heads. She gasped as one of them stood up to use the bathroom and quickly ducked down, pretending to dig in her bag for something, letting her hair cover her face. Just as long as Fuko stayed seated she probably wouldn’t be caught.
Why was she hiding from them anyway? She planned to see them all again soon anyway. She assumed she was just nervous of how they’d react to her really being a woman now. And she just didn’t want to be around the vice principal. That was for sure. And Fuko-chan…was standing up.
‘Craaap.’ She muttered quietly, digging in her backpack to find something to cover herself. She looked up and saw her adjusting her skirt, then sitting back down. She let out a sigh and dropped the bag. She had planned to sleep on this flight, but didn’t know how she could without getting caught now. After a minute she sighed and turned to face the window hoping against all odds she wouldn’t be noticed. Slowly her eyes closed and she began to doze.
Fuko sighed as she looked around. The window had gotten boring after a few minutes and it was a two hour flight. Luckily they didn’t have a lay over this time, so they wouldn’t have to worry about getting on and off. The people were boring as well. They were on laptops, reading magazines, or sleeping. Miho was playing games on her phone, and Fujio was reading one of the magazines with random pointless things to buy.
She dug in her purse, looking for something to do, but found nothing. Her phone was almost dead, so there was no chance of playing games on it. She took a sip of her dr. pepper and let out another sigh of boredom, looking around again. Nothing. The guys were playing on their gameboys. Some weird fighting game. She squeaked and grabbed the arm rest again as the plane hit some hard turbulence, then jumped as someone yelped. She turned to see who it was and what was going on, but everyone else seemed to be doing the same. Shrugging she let it go and went back to staring pointlessly out the window.
Hibiki groaned and used a napkin to try to dry the alcohol off her pants leg. She stopped to drink the rest of it, then continued rubbing the spot. After a moment she gave up and sighed as she ate the rest of her peanuts and chanced a peek over the seat in front of her to check on the kids. Seiko was getting a sex Ed speech from the crazed vice principal, and the boys were playing games. Fujio was sleeping, with Miho looking down at something and Fuko was staring out the window.
‘I’m so bored.’ She thought to herself, digging through her backpack for something to do. Finding nothing, she put her forehead to the window again and fell back to sleep. She opened her eyes some time later to find it dark. She yawned and stretched, looking around. Most of the people were asleep. The few who were awake were on laptops or reading still. Peeking over the seat again, she saw the guys had all fallen asleep, as had Reiko, leaving Seiko to read her book. Fujio was still asleep, and Miho had fallen asleep as well. She checked her watch and saw that it had been two hours and they were still in the air.
‘Uhm..Excuse me.’ She said, peeking around the seat in front of her own. The man turned to her. ‘Why are we still in the air? We should be landing, shouldn’t we?’ The man sighed.
‘We had to change course due to an unexpected storm coming towards us. We just got back on course about five minutes ago. They said it’ll be another half hour.’ She sighed and muttered her thanks, leaning back into her seat. She was already bored. Glancing over the seat again, she gasped and shot back down.
Fuko was up and coming down the aisle. Quickly she ducked down and without any other option stuck her head in her bag pretending to be looking for something. She heard the door shut and let out a sigh of relief. Safe for now. She set her forehead back against the window and stared at the darkness. The moon was lovely, but otherwise there was nothing interesting. She went stiff as someone sat down next to her. She had spaced out staring out the window and forgot to listen for them leaving. She turned slowly to see Akira there.
‘Why are you hiding from Fuko?’ He asked. She stared at him for a second.
‘When did you wake up?’ He glared at her. ‘Because I’m not ready to see her yet. I gave up plans of coming back a long time ago because it just isn’t right for us to be in love. I’m really a woman now and she’s so much younger then me.’
‘You realize she never dated anyone else right? She’s stayed single for the last four years. I think she was waiting for you to come back.’ Hibiki stared at him in shock. ‘I gave up on her, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care. Don’t hurt her Amawa-san.’ He said quietly, standing up just as Fuko came out of the bathroom, blocking her view of Hibiki. She stayed completely still until Fuko passed by and he turned to her. ‘Talk to her before we land, or I tell her where you are. She’s earned the right to sit with you at least.’ He said quietly, ignoring her thanks for hiding her before he moved back to his seat.
Hibiki sighed noticed the piece of paper in front of her. It was a note. She quickly read it and snapped to look at Akira who was smirking at her. She looked back at the two words. “Heads up.” Quickly crumpling the note and putting it in her pocket, she shot him a confused look, then saw Fuko stand again out of the corner of her eye. Quickly ducking down and shoving her head back in her backpack, she winced as she felt someone sit down beside her. And this time she knew it wasn’t Akira as they put a hand on her back. Slowly lifting her head, she turned to see the delighted brown eyes of Fuko.
‘Hibiki-sensei!’ She whispered excitedly. ‘Akira-kun sent me a text message saying he saw you on here. So you’re really coming home?’ She continued to whisper, not wanting to wake up the two in front of them. Hibiki just nodded. She let out a quiet squeal and latched on to the woman who turned red and went stiff. She glared at Akira who smiled innocently and looked away. Fuko released her and grinned. ‘How ironic we’d be on the same flight.’
‘I know. I never noticed you guys up there.’ She lied and was instantly hit by a wave of guilt for lying. What was wrong with her? Had the feelings for this girl died? She watched the girl smiling sweetly and couldn’t help but smile back. No…they weren’t gone.
‘So how have you been?’ She asked, deciding to strike up a conversation.
‘Good. School hasn’t been the same since you left though.’ She sighed. ‘We missed you.’
‘So they built a high school?’ She nodded.
‘Some of the kids left, but the majority of them stayed.’ She said trailing off. ‘So are you moving back?’ Hibiki sighed and nodded. She had skipped work and been fired. Apparently they were very strict on employee appearance, and because she’d missed that half day, was let go. She had put her dog on the plane, as well as her few belongings. The apartment threw her out when she couldn’t make rent, so that left her with no choice but to move back or try to find another job and apartment in Tokyo. However she missed obaa-chan and the other two tenants and decided to come back until she figured out what to do. Fuko latched onto her again.
‘I’m so excited! I bet you can get a job at our school again if you wish. They can’t turn you down because you’re a guy, or because you’re disguised because you’re not now.’ She giggled. Hibiki smiled at the giggle, then looked up as the seat belt sign came on.
‘I’m going to go sit back down. I’ll see you when we land.’ She said standing up. However the stewardess walked up behind her.
‘We need you to sit down ma’am.’
‘I was going back to my seat.’
‘You’ll be okay right there. We’ll be on the ground in a moment anyway.’ She said, pointing at the seat where Hibiki was zipping her backpack shut. Fuko hesitated for a moment, then sat back down and put her seat belt on. As they hit the grounded and came to a stop, Hibiki found herself nursing a throbbing hand. When had that girl gotten such a grip?
AN: I finished up this chapter pretty quick, so I decided to go ahead and add it today. Two updates in one day! Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it! Please review!