Pretear Fan Fiction ❯ One and Only ❯ Chapter 12

Chapter 13

 

Author's note: Here's Kei, the Knight of Light from our fanfiction. How's it going, Kei?

 

Kei: Who are you?

 

Me: Why do you guys have to ask that every time I introduce you? Besides Sesame, you guys have all asked that question! I'm the author of this story. Geeze.

 

Kei: Sorry… I guess. *looks around* Why am I here?

 

Me: I interview all the people in the fanfiction in this segment. You wanna say something to the readers?

 

Kei: *looks at reader* Yo.

 

Me: *pauses, then sighs* That was pathetic. This anime's not mine.

 

Kei: You need a life.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

“Hey, Hayate.”

Hearing his name from behind him, Hayate wiped the sweat from his brow and turned towards the person who addressed him. Seeing Brian standing there, he raised his eyebrows and set aside his gardening tools.

“Hey, Brian,” he said. “What brings you here?”

Brian smiled. “Just checkin' to see how you were doing.”

Hayate nodded slowly. “That was nice of you.”

“Well, since it's your first day of work, I wanted to see if everything's going well.”

“Thanks. It's going all right.”

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

There was a pause between them, and Hayate suddenly felt uncomfortable. He just knew there was a reason, besides to check up on him that, for Brian coming. It made him even more uncomfortable.

He turned around and picked up his tools, getting back to trimming the hedges. “Well, I've got work to do. If you want to hang around, go ahead. I don't promise it'll be fun.”

“Oh, I'll be going soon,” Brian said casually. “But I was wondering if you had lunch yet.”

“Yup,” Hayate said. “Got some earlier.”

“Ah, that's good. What did you have?”

“Sandwich.”

“Oh, really?” Brian asked. Hayate looked out of the corner of his eye towards Brian, but didn't move. “You know, that's what Himeno had, too.”

Suddenly, Hayate got an idea of what Brian wanted to talk about.

“Really,” Hayate said without interest in his voice.

“Yeah,” Brain said, leaning his back against a tree. “She and I had a pretty good conversation over lunch.”

“Hmm,” Hayate said, trying not to sound eager to hear what he had to say.

“According to her, you guys haven't been on a date yet,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

Hayate shrugged, but felt his heart plunge to his stomach. Did it bother her? Was she upset that he hadn't actually taken her on a real date? Was she angry with him and just wouldn't tell him? He could never tell with Himeno.

“So, I was thinking,” Brian said suggestively, “that maybe you ought to take her to dinner sometime. You know, have a good American date. Maybe go see a movie or something. It would be fun.”

“Drop a few more hints there, Brian,” Hayate said sarcastically. “I might just be able to get what you're trying to say.”

He felt Brian push him. “You know what a mean. Just… do something special for the girl. I'm sure she'd like it.”

Brian turned and said over his shoulder, “Think about it. I gotta go, but if by next week you guys still haven't gone out on a date, I'm going to have to make you. You guys might be on a mission here, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun.”

Hayate rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. As soon as he was sure Brian was gone, he looked into the distance with a thoughtful expression, pausing in his work. He sighed and said dreadfully, “A… date?”

 

 

Go grinned evilly, ducking behind a wall, watching his prey carefully. He suppressed a chuckle as she made the last step on the stairs. She was right in front of him, but she didn't even know it. He sunk back into the shadows, getting ready to pounce. He waited a beat, getting ready for the right moment. He waited... held his ground… and…

He lunged out of the shadows with a shout. When his eyes landed on her cat ears, he realized that they were pointed towards him, and that was the last thing he saw before he missed his target and landed on the ground with a mouthful of carpet. Confused, he slowly looked up to see Ashlee standing over him with an amused look on her face.

“But…” he said, perplexed. “I… I thought I had you.”

“Don't try to tackle kitties,” she said with a wink. “We've got fast reflexes and can hear anything. You're breathing tipped me off, buddy.” She stood up to her full height and turned on her heal smugly, getting ready to leave. What she hadn't counted on was the fact that his hand was there. It wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down to the carpet with a thud.

His laughter filled her ears, and she growled. She looked behind her to find him slowly getting up, still laughing at her.

“Fast reflexes, huh?” he asked. “Looks like you're only HALF cat, BUDDY.”

She growled, quickly turned around, and pounced on top of him, claws extended. She put them within an inch of his face, and he stared at them, his grin gone.

“I said, don't mess with the kitty,” she said. His eyes went from her claws to her eyes, and then back again. After a while, he grinned. Her ears went back, and he grabbed her arm, still smiling at her. He suddenly lunged up with a great force, throwing her off of him, and rolled to where he was now on top of her.

“You, my dear, are a little bit too cocky,” he said, raising his eyebrow. He leaned in close to where she could feel his breath on her face, and she felt her heart quicken its pace. “But I kinda like that in a chick.”

“I… I'm not a chick,” she said with less force than she wanted. “I'm a cat. There's a difference.”

“Both cute in my opinion,” Go responded. He was barely holding her to the ground now, but she couldn't move for the life of her. Staring into his eyes made her lose all reasonable thought.

Time seemed to stop. She could hear the arguments being tossed about in her head about what was going on. Don't do it; you're independent. Since when have you needed a guy to make you happy? They're all jerks anyway.

But he's different. He's funny, and he's just like me.

He's probably going to use you.

But how am I going to know if I don't take the chance?

Do you want to take that gamble?

I've never been one to be careful.

As she tossed her arguments about in her head, they started to slow down with every millimeter closer Go's face got to hers. She didn't know what to do. She knew that she couldn't do much at all. Right now, even if her will remained against this, she couldn't get up. Her body felt like lead beneath his.

The arguments stopped. Her eyes were closing. His breath was quickening. The air was thickening.

WHAM!

Both jumped, and were jolted back into reality. Ashlee's eyes snapped open, and she frantically threw Go off of her. He rolled away, equally as panicked. What happened? What was that sound?

“Sorry!” came Mannen's voice from down the hall.

“Go train outside, not inside!” Elora's voice resonated.

“I said I'm sorry!”

“You're going to ruin the house!”

Ashlee and Go stared down the hall, wide-eyed, their chests heaving up and down. She slowly looked back at Go, dreading what she'd find. All she saw was him staring back at her, shocked. After a few beats of looking at each other, she suddenly got up and raced down the stairs.

“Ashlee!” his voice followed after her, but she didn't stop. “Ashlee, come back! I… I'm sorry!”

But it was too late for sorry.

 

 

“Hey, Himeno?”

Himeno smiled as she heard Hayate's voice and turned from her work to look at him. He stood behind her, still in his work uniform. She wiped her gardening gloves on her overalls and stood up to look at him in the eye.

“Oh, hi Hayate!”

He looked a little uncomfortable. Her smile disappeared and she wondered what was wrong.

“Hayate…?”

“Himeno, I wanted to ask you a question,” Hayate said quickly.

“Alright, go ahead,” she replied slowly, trying to prepare for anything.

“Well, you see… um… this Friday. I was wondering if you'd want to go to a restaurant or something. It would kind of be just us, you know, since the rest of the guys don't… really know about it. So… would you?”

She stared back at him, trying to process everything. After looking at him and digesting his words, she said slowly, “Hayate… did you just ask me out on a date?”