FicWad

There's a roadblock at the front doors of the school. Naota crashes into the students in front of him as he's hit from behind by a wall of bodies.

"Hey! What's the holdup!" Someone from the back of the group shouts.

"Excuse me...Excuse me!" The students part as an adult pushes through the mass. "What's going on here?"

"It's snowing!" Someone from near the front shouts.

Immediately the emotion of the voices changes from annoyance to excitement. Snowing? This time of year?

"Yeah, it's really coming down, too. Got about a foot already!" Someone else shouts.

Nobody has warm clothes; students are starting to drift away from the doors as they talk with each other, speculating on how they will all get back home.

Naota joins the queue to use the phones, luckily he's near the front of the line but when he dials his number he gets a warped musical tone and a message announcing that the number he's dialed "is not currently available." The phone lines must be down. That's just great.

He pokes around for a few minutes trying to get a ride but is ultimately unsuccessful. He's going to have to walk home, or at least part of the way there, he supposes he can catch a train if he really needs to and at least cut out part of the freezing journey.

Wrapping his sweatshirt as tightly as possible around himself he heads out the door. Man, they weren't kidding, it's snowing really hard, and it comes up past his knees already. After he's gotten out to the street proper his pants are soaked and the inside neck of his sweatshirt is wet, he's starting to shiver. Figures, he thinks angrily, fitting death for him, freezing to death walking home from school.

Nothing's moving out here. The only sound is the curious white noise of snow falling onto itself. If he weren't so damn cold it would be kind of nice. This is always the way he imagined it would feel to be inside a spaceship, surrounded by sound that is not sound, infinite coldness....

Its there she finds him, standing by the side of the road, shuddering and staring blankly at the falling snow.

"Jezuz Christ, Ta-kun! What're you trying to do, turn yourself into a popsicle?" Haruko flings herself off of the Vespa and grabs his shoulders, shaking him hard. Naota blinks at her dully. "Shit, you really must have dropped your fucking brains somewhere." She yanks his backpack off of his shoulders and strips her jacket off, grabbing his arms and threading them through the sleeves. "You coulda' waited for me at the school, ya know. C'mon, lets get you home."

Alright, she's got a twelve year old boy here who's about to be in serious trouble of the hypothermic type. She'd classify these as extreme circumstances. She takes a deep breath then focuses hard on the mental image of the bakery, her fingers tighten around the handlebars (push) and suddenly the world blurs around her as the Vespa snaps for the briefest second out of the world. There's a rushing sensation, a blurring tube of swirling light as she passes in between, then they're back on the snow covered road, the hyper space flight Vespa handling the drifts easily. Her aim is off, though; she's a block away instead of right in front of the door like she wanted. Send her across the galaxy and she can set this thing down on a fucking dime, but try to jump any space less than a couple million miles and she's running totally on guesswork. Probably doesn't help that she's just this side of sober, either.

She hauls Naota to his feet by the collar of her jacket, forcing him out of his crouch between her legs and half carrying him through the door to the house. She pushes him against he wall and undoes his shoes and pulls them off before removing her own sneakers by stepping on the heels, then she's pulling him up the stairs towards the bathroom. Stupid kid, what was he thinking walking home in slacks and a sweatshirt, didn't he know she'd come and fetch him in weather like this? No, she supposes he didn't. He must have tried to call and found out the phones weren't working and just assumed she'd leave him there to fend for himself. Dammit, he's so stupid sometimes.

The water sends clouds of steam into the air as she strips his wet clothes off of him; all of them are soaked through to his skin. She sits him down in front of the faucet and dumps a bucketful of warm water over his head as she starts to fill the tub.

"Here, get in." She tugs at his arm.

"I cant. I'm not clean." He says it flatly. "I've gotta wash my hair and stuff."

"Forget the goddamn hair!" Haruko half shouts, physically grabbing him and forcing him into the water, disturbed by his lack of resistance. Why in the hell did humans have to be so delicate?

The world slowly starts to make sense again after he's been sitting in the hot water for a few minutes. He must have known Haruko is crouching on the bathroom floor beside the tub, her damp hand running in an oddly comforting cycle, into the water, over his hair, down his neck and shoulders, back into the water again. His hands and feet are aching, cold extremities brought back to life with the heat.

He turns to look at her, blinking. "Haruko? What-what happened?"

"Snow got into your head." Haruko says.

Naota wonders if he's starting to hallucinate or something. "What?"

"Nevermind." Haruko grins at him like a coyote. "Ok, stay here until you're warmed up. I'll be downstairs"

Naota nods numbly and leans back in the tub as he watches her leave the room.



Haruko is sitting in front of the TV when he comes downstairs. He's wearing clean pants and a dull red sweatshirt he found in the bottom of one of his drawers-he thinks it might have belonged to his brother at some point but he's not sure. Canti stops him at the entry to the livingroom and seems to peer at him intently, the robot runs his large strangely soft hands-Haruko calls them touchpads- over the boys body before stepping back and letting him through. Naota turns to look at the robot quizzically but its Haruko who answers his unasked question.

"He's a medical robot. Its what he does. Good news, Ta-kun, you're gonna live." She tilts a bottle at him in a mock toast.

"What're you drinking?" Naota asks suspiciously.

"Gay beer." Haruko announces brightly.

Gay beer? He gets a look at the bottle- flavored malt beverage-and feels himself trying to laugh.

Something's wrong with the picture, though. "Hey, where's my dad?"

"Mon-chan? He took off with the old monkey earlier today, something about somebody wanting to syndicate that fuckin 'zene he started. Monkey mummy's got some gal he wants to visit. Old people getting' busy, try that for a mental image." She shrugs and tilts the bottle upwards, clear liquid spiraling down into her mouth.

"You're drunk." Naota says, almost wonderingly.

Haruko lifts a hand, her thumb and forefinger about a quarter of an inch apart-a little- then wrinkles her nose at him with a funny little smile. He stares at her in frank amazement, the expression is...cute. He's seen her look scheming and sexy and downright dangerous but never cute like that. It makes her look suddenly very young, with that little twitch he'd totally buy her nineteen story, maybe even think she's rounding up with the number, like maybe she's not even out of school yet.

"When are they getting back? Naota had the question in his mind before she'd gone all kid on him.

"Who knows. They're not getting through this, that's for sure." She grabs a new bottle out of the cardboard six-pack carrier beside her knees and motions with it to the TV, where a Technicolor satellite photo shows heavy snow showers over the entire area. "At least we've still got power."

Naota fully expects the house to go dark the second she says it, but the lights and heat stay on.

The weather forecast ends, replaced by a pre-recorded street interview in which a young man is complaining about a new Mega-mart shopping center that's about to go up and how its ruining the economy.

Haruko scowls at the set. "Blah blah blah," she points at the screen "Get a job!"

Naota can't help it, he starts to laugh. Haruko looks over at him in surprise, her expression fueling further mirth. She gives him a speculative half smile around the lip of the new bottle then stands up.

"C'mon." She switches the TV off and touches his shoulder as she walks past.

"What?" Naota hesitates.

"Just come on. I'll teach you how to play your guitar." She grabs his sleeve.

"You're sick, ya'know that?" He says, pulling away.

"You're the one making it dirty, I'm serious." She pushes past him.

He stands in the doorway for a minute, he hears the refrigerator door open and shut and bottles clink before her footsteps thump up the stairs.

She fiddles with cords for a few seconds then flops down on his bed and starts tuning the electric guitar, holding it upside down as she messes with it. After a few minutes she motions him over as she swings the instrument off of her lap to make room for him. Naota barely hesitates before sitting down between her legs.

Suddenly she throws her head back and starts to sing, slightly off key. "I got my first real six string, bought it at the five-and-dime. Played it till my fingers bled, it was the summer of sixty-nine." He can feel the air vibrating in her lungs behind his back before she breaks down into a fit of giggles.

Giggles. God, she really must be smashed, he's never heard anything out of her he'd classify as a "giggle". Her hands drop off of his, leaving the Flying V laying across both of their thighs, her arms wrapping instead around his body.

"You speak English, or just sing in it?" Naota asks, mostly just to say something to her.

"I." She points as though she's addressing a room full of people, though the gesture loses any power it might once have had with sloppy over exuberance. "speak more languages than you can count."

"I dunno, I can count pretty high." Naota smiles a little at her.

"Yeah? Well I got time on my side, kid." Her face changes suddenly, dropping into an expression that is almost unreadable, wistful and strange. "Lots and lots of time."

She starts to take another drink and realizes that the bottle is empty, but not until after she's had the lip in her mouth for a second. She blinks, looking surprised, then starts to laugh again, softly at first then harder.

"I'm like the fuckin' Doctor, man!" She gasps.

"Doctor who?" Naota's getting confused again.

"Exactly!" She breaks down totally, her arms still tight around him, shaking his body as well as her own, the guitar slides around on their legs and Naota has to put a hand over its neck to keep it from crashing to the floor.

When she finally regains control of herself he speaks again. "Why' d you come and get me?"

"Aw, can't have you dying on me, Ta-kun." She lets go of him and ruffles his hair. "I need your head. Ok, here, you put your left hand here to fret-that's how you change the pitch- and you use your right hand like this-here, take the pick." Her hands cover his as she positions them.

"Don't I need sheet music or something?" Naota asks, stalling.

"Can you read tab?" Haruko counters.

"Read what?"

"Then it wouldn't do you any good, would it. I'll teach you that stuff later. You gotta handle the thing before you can get any good at it, ya 'know." Naota is pitched forward as Haruko leans over sideways, her incredible flexibility allowing her to snag a bottle from the package on the floor without knocking him off of the bed.

Her arms close around his ribs as Haruko opens the bottle. She drains a quarter of it before setting it on the bed beside herself. She puts her hands over his, her long elegant fingers warm as they press against his own. Her head is over his shoulder as she peers down; her cheek against his disheveled hair, every time she breathes out it blows his hair against his ear.

"Here, you use your left hand to fret-it goes here." She tilts his hand over and closes his fingers around the neck of the guitar with her own.

He feels a funny twitch somewhere inside when she presses his hand against the guitar then. It surprises him, its a really strange thing-in fact, it feels quite a bit like it did when Haruko shoved her hands down into him and touched him that way. He shifts against her, unconsciously pressing against her body as she slides a pick into his right hand and positions it.

He's vaguely aware of her talking, explaining how the instrument works and what notes the strings are, how to use his left hand to change the pitch, but every word she says is bouncing around dully in his head before it dissolves and all that's left is the soft vibration of her voice and the movement of her body behind his. And every time she moves his hands-especially when her fingers brush against the guitar when she does it, it sends that feeling through him again, and its getting stronger.

He eventually becomes aware that Haruko isn't talking anymore, she's just messing around with his hands on the guitar, not even really getting him to try to play it anymore. Not that he'd retain anything, he supposes.

It isn't until she lets go of his hands that it really starts, though.

Its a casual movement, her fingers release his and she turns the electric guitar over, holding it upside down so she can play it. She flattens one hand against the smooth body, the strings pressing into her palm. Naota gasps and shudders, his fingers tightening where they'd fallen against her jeans.

Haruko smiles, small and secret. She's always right about these things. If he's going to start thrashing around she needs to move that bottle or he's gonna knock it over. She doesn't really have anywhere safe to put it- oh well, can't let good alcohol go to waste.

She lets her fingers play along the neck of the guitar as she drains the last of the liquid. Naota's breathing fast against her, she keeps expecting him to pull away but he doesn't. She drops the empty bottle on the floor and repositions the guitar, shifting it so it's pressing flat against Naota's body; he lifts his arms so she's not crushing them with her own.

She's doesn't start playing again, though, just lets her hands drift over the Gibson. Her palms run over the slick sides of the body, tracing the lines of the instrument. She can feel it vibrating in herself as well now as it reacts to her touch. She'd probably better stop-but then again she's never been particularly good at taking her own advice. She flashes a grin and strikes a power chord.

"Ah!" It's halfway between a word and a sharp exhalation. "Ha-Haruko!"

"Hmmm?" She smiles against his neck.

"Stop." The word is barely there, she's still toying with the strings.

"Why?" Haruko nuzzles the hair away from behind Naota's ear.

"Its...its not right." Naota scrabbles for a second then gets his hands over hers and pries them off of his guitar.

"Eh? Why not?" She arches an eyebrow at him.

"You're drunk." He feels himself color.

She snorts through her nose, then starts to laugh, quietly at first then harder. Poor Ta probably feels like he's taking advantage of her. "S-So what?" She manages finally.

"You shouldn't be doing-" he starts, but she twists her hands away from his.

"I'm not doing anything to you." She says gently. "It's your bat, after all."

Naota leans away from her and turns slowly to look at her face. She's to close to him for his eyes to really focus on her, she's just a soft blur with a halo of pinkish hair and bright yellow spots for eyes. Even so he can tell she's got one of those expressions on her face, the ones that he can never quite be sure exactly what they mean

"Is yours the same way?" Naota asks.

Heh, yeah, he acts all innocent but he's disgracing his name, the whole thing is a lie. Well, not a big one, she supposes. She saw the panties, though....

"You wanna find out?" Haruko stretches upward and grabs the shoulder strap of her bass, yanking the guitar down from the top bunk. She almost loses it, there's a frantic moment when she thinks she's not coordinated enough to keep it from crashing onto the floor but then she has it.

Silently she moves the Gibson out of the way and hands Naota her Rickenbacker. He looks surprised, but takes it from her. It makes his hands feel funny, maybe like the way they do when you've been using an electric sander and you shut it off. Haruko must have felt something, too, because she sucks air in through her teeth when he touches it and wiggles against him.

She's holding his guitar again, she flips it over so its back is facing out, the back of her left hand pressing against the neck of her own guitar, keeping the instruments from smacking into each other hard enough to damage them, her right hand against the back of the pale guitar. Haruko is breathing fast behind him, her breasts pressing against his sweatshirt.

She's moving, her thighs tighten against his, her arms tense abruptly as Naota moves his hand against the strings of her bass. Naota half groans, his hips move and the Rickenbacker tilts as his hand goes momentarily slack, its head falling against the blanket, the long curve of the body's top slipping in between his legs.

Naota's thrusting against it, each time the guitar brushes against him he takes a gasping half-breath. Haruko's got her arms tightened around him, her body tense against his, making soft open sounds with each exhalation.

Haruko's watching him, though her eyes keep trying to drift out of focus and this time its not the alcohol's fault. Shit, it feels good-way better than it has any right to. Her body keeps trying to slip out of her control, the muscles across her belly snapping tense, her fingers skittering over the back of Naota's guitar and the only way to stop it is to press her hand down hard, forcing the two of them closer together.

Haruko tilts the Flying V upright and slides her left hand up and down its neck. Naota's body convulses, his shoulders jammed against her chest. She moves it farther up and off her lap, bringing the head close to her mouth. Pink tongue flicks out, Naota shudders harder against her, crying out softly. Her tongue flickers over one of the tuning pegs, sharp taste of metal and Naota's groaning again louder.

His hands fall from her guitar but it doesn't matter anymore, Haruko lets his slide from her hands and throws her arms around Naota instead, clutching him to herself as he heaves against the confines of her body. His hands close around hers; she spreads her fingers and traps his own with them.

She presses her face into his hair, her body jolting as her knees press inward, the Rickenbacker is bumped off of Naota's lap and slides onto the bed, clattering against the Flying V and eliciting a crackle of electricity from them both.

The climax is unexpectedly powerful, the two of them crashing against each other for a frantic moment. Then its over, Naota is panting in her lap.

Haruko lets him have his hands back but keeps her arms around him, hugging him with arms that aren't quite steady. She closes her eyes and lets her head drop against his cheek. Naota snuggles against her and makes a little close-mouthed sighing noise.




Naota has no way of telling how much later it is when he wakes up, Haruko is spooned against him, one arm wrapped around his chest and the other underneath his neck. His alarm clock is blinking midnight and its chilly in the room, they must have lost power and just had it come back on. Haruko shifts, dragging her hand over Naota's body as she rolls over onto her back.

Naota sits up and looks at her. Her face is soft in sleep, her hair falling over one cheek, lips slightly parted revealing a hint of white teeth. The blanket has slipped down to her waist on one side; one of her legs is poking out from the padded blue and white fabric. She's sleeping in her jeans, he's never been able to figure out how she does that but then again if she really is a field investigator like she says then she's probably used to it. She'd taken off her sweatshirt, though, and her T-shirt has been skewed around and pulled up, exposing a long thin stretch of abdomen and-as her left arm slides off of her body-the bottom of one pale breast.

Naota sits up, looking at her. He extends one hand slowly and touches the warm skin beside her navel, running his fingertips across her body and leaving a trail of goose bumps that he can feel but not see in the dim light. He draws the backs of two fingers along the curve of the bottom of her left breast and Haruko shifts in her sleep and catches her breath slightly but doesn't wake up.

Or so he thinks. She'd been back to herself when she felt him put a hand on her the first time but she wants to see what he's going to do before she lets him know.

He slides a hand underneath her white shirt; his fingers find her nipple and circle it lightly. When he pulls up the shirt and his hand is replaced by his tongue, however, Haruko's back arches of its own accord and she can't pretend anymore.

"Hmm. Feels nice." She murmurs

Naota looks up but he can't see her face well in the darkness. He props himself up on one elbow, still caressing her nipple and tracing the line of her breast with his right hand. Haruko untangles her legs from the blanket and begins idly stroking his upper arm and shoulder.

"Where are you from, really?" Naota asks, tilting his head and letting it rest almost on his shoulder.

"Doesn't matter." Her fingers brush against the tips of his hair.

"Why not? I want to know." Something about the way she made that last statement is odd, not like her usual evasion tactics, though she doesn't sound offended or defensive.

"'Snot there anymore." She says softly, pushing the fingers of her other hand underneath Naota's right sleeve.

"What, your house?" He leans forward and closes his mouth over her nipple again.

"No. My planet." Her hands press into his hair. "'S gone."

Naota stops and turns his head to look at the shadow of her face. "What do you mean its gone? How can a planet just be gone?"

"It got destroyed in the war. It started out with just the smaller bits leaving on personal business, but it was hard to find replacements for them and in the end there was nothing left at all." She's made some strange statements before, but this one by far takes the cake.

He stares at her for so long that she wiggles against him impatiently. He doesn't go after her with his lips again, he wants to talk to her, but he does put his hand back against her.

"What war?" It's a whole other ball game now, and he's determined to keep swinging until he connects.

She sounds for a second like she's about to pitch one right into his strike zone, then pulls it at the last second. "You're just a kid, Ta-kun. You don't need to be worrying about stuff like that. It got lost in time, but almost everybody was dead by then anyway."

"Haruko?" His voice is barely above a whisper.

"Hhm?" She strokes the back of his hand with her fingertips, the chain on her shackle pinging against the metal as the bracelet settles against the angle of her wrist.

"I'm sorry." He knows how inadequate the statement is, but its true.

She shifts suddenly. "You're sweet, Ta-kun, you know that?"

She grabs the collar of his sweatshirt and pulls him in, he expects her to clamp her mouth over his but when the kiss comes its soft. When she nudges his lips with her tongue he opens his mouth for her, closing his eyes as she gently explores the inside of his mouth, the backs of his front teeth, finally meeting it with his own.

She shifts sits up and puts a hand against Naota's shoulder, pushing him back against the bed. She swings one leg over him, not quite sitting on his legs just below his hips. She works her hands underneath his shirt and tugs it upward, he arches his back and raises his hands, letting her take it. She nudges his neck gently with her nose, her lips brush over the skin followed by her tongue. Naota gasps softly and wraps his bare arms around her neck, his fingers covered by sleep-warmed hair. Haruko explores the soft line of his neck, first the front then one side, her tongue disappears and she nips him lightly. Naota twitches slightly to the side but doesn't pull away. Her teeth are sharp, but she's not biting hard enough to hurt. It feels good in a strange way, makes him want to move around but not go anywhere.

She slides her hips up, pressing his into the bed, feeling his erection through her jeans she smiles and wiggles gently against him. Natoa's blunt fingernails tighten against the fabric of her shirt, pulling it into his fist and then sliding his hands underneath it. God, she's thin, he can feel her ribs without pressing down, her shoulder blades sharp against his palms, but over all that bone she's still somehow so soft.

His hands stop as he looks at her, feeling as though there's been a strange jump in his mind. She's the woman, the only woman, the archetype that all others were modeled after throughout history. She'd started the Trojan war, he thinks wonderingly, she'd brushed against countless men in history and she's become the woman to them as well. She is eternal and young and beautiful and ethereal, and right now, for this briefest sliver of time, she's his.

She sits up and crosses her arms over her body, grabs the hem of her tee shirt and lifts her elbows. The shirt turns inside out and slides down one arm to the floor. She's wearing a plain bra today, not that weird lacy stuff she always has on when she's stalking a man. Its dark, blazing against the
pale skin of her breasts, visible even in the low light He stares at her, unable to look away from her form sketched in the darkness, the heat of her body almost tangible.

She rests her hands on either side of his shoulders, letting them take some of her weight. Her breath is soft on his chin, then the air is replaced by her lips against his. Her hair falls against his face, making a curtain that blocks away the rest of the world.

He raises his arms when she pulls his T-shirt up, letting her take it off. He threads his arms underneath hers and follows the fabric of her bra around to the clasp, he struggles with it for a second before it releases and falls away. She shakes the shoulder pieces from her arms and tosses the thing away into the darkness. When she lowers her body to kiss him again she's changed position slightly, her breasts brush against Naota's body, rubbing as she breathes and moves against him.

Haruko slides down his body, pushing the covers away as she undoes the snap on his slacks. Naota wiggles out of them as she tugs his pants down. She can see perfectly well in the dark, almost as well as she does during the day. She nips the inside of one of Naota's thighs and he jerks away instinctively. Moving upward she traces the line of his thigh, barely touching him with her nose, following his body upward, over the fabric of his undershorts. She stops for a moment where his hip connects, her teeth barely brush against the cotton then she moves over, rubbing against his erection with the angle of her cheek, her fingers sliding up the outside of his hips and then up to his sides. She closes her fingers under the elastic of his shorts, pulling them down slightly and kissing the skin under the waistband before she lets it go.

Naota feels for the hem of her jeans and finds it, exploring the clasp for a second before he decides its a button and undoes it. They're tight, but he can get his hand into them. His fingers are jammed against her panties; he finds damp heat and works his fingers in between it and the crotch of her pants. It takes a second to figure out the right position but he knows it when he does, Haruko makes a tiny "ah" sound and presses into his hand. The cloth of her underwear is still soaked through from earlier.

He pulls his hand out and she slides back on the bed, hitching her thumbs in the waistband of her jeans she works them over her hips then steps on the crotch and leaves them on the floor. She stands in the darkness for a moment and looks at him, stopping for a second and narrowing her eyes at his face, looking at him carefully. Perhaps sensing her gaze he suddenly feels self-conscious laying there on the bed, he scrabbles for the blanket and yanks it over himself.

Haruko arches an eyebrow at him then a smile flickers over her face.

Naota hears her move in the room, coming back to the bed. There's the weight of her knee on the bed on one side of him, then it lifts and is on the other, warm air rushing over him as she moves. She lifts the covers up and snuggles up to Naota, running her hand slowly from his chest down. Naota turns, reaching for her again, this time he pushes his hand underneath her panties. Warm, soft, two fingers find her clit and press on either side of it, his hand moving gently. Haruko's hands stop moving and press into him, pulling him closer to her.

She slides around on the bed and pulls his shorts down, snagging them with her toes and pushing them from his knees down. She twists on the bed and pulls her own panties off, standing on one knee as she removes them she swings her free leg over Naota and is on her hands and knees on top of him again.

Haruko pins him gently with one hand, he almost has time to wonder where her other hand is when suddenly she's guiding him into herself. She moves her arms, folding them gently beneath herself, her face pressed lightly against Naota's neck. She's moving, slowly and gently even though her breath is sharp and short.

Soft open-mouthed syllables with her drawn breath, her lips brushing Naota's, breathing his air. She wraps her arms around his neck, moving so she's pressing her face against the place where his neck and shoulder meet.

She feels the tug somewhere inside her, a place just beneath her lungs. She can't believe it, but its true, and if she's going up, she's taking him with her dammit. She sits up, slams her hands flat into his chest before he can move. Naota's eyes widen as he realizes her hands aren't on him anymore, they look like they are, but they feel like...like when she yanked that guitar out of him. He can feel them pressing first against his skin and then down through his body. She leans down, gathers herself, her fingers close around something that is nothing and she pulls herself back up hard, flinging her upper body backward. She feels him start to slide but then he hesitates against her grip.

"Ha-Haruko!" Naota gasps. It feels like she's drawing him up, but from what he's not sure.

"S' alright." Haruko whispers. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise."

Naota closes his eyes and lets her take him.

There's nothing now but the two of them. Nothing at all. The rest of the world has simply ceased to exist. She's not moving anymore, just pressing down hard against him. He can feel it in a disconnected way, but another part of him isn't in that body anymore. Its a strange double sensation, he's dimly aware of his body, of her weight on him, at the same time its somehow like watching it all happen somewhere far away from them.

Where he is now, though, that other place.... There's nothing there but Haruko and himself and he can feel her around him, pressing into him and through him, the line between the two of them blurs around the edges. He feels waves crashing against a rocky and eternal shore, whitecaps exploding against slick dark sea rocks and then sliding back into itself. Heavy pulses of sensation driven by two hearts who momentarily beat in tandem. He knows, suddenly, doesn't understand but he knows. He can feel her spanning everything, stars and planets have been born and died and she's been there, she's always been there, she thrashes galaxies into existence, crashes things into life and slams them back into nothingness.

He can feel it too, then, the thing they call the Pirate King, and he knows Amarao was wrong about Atomsk. Atomsk isn't a person, it's not even what he'd called an astral being, Atomsk is a thing and he belongs to this creature, whatever she really is-and he almost knows that as well but it dances away from him.

This epiphany-or vision, or hallucination, or whatever it is-snaps to and from his consciousness so fast he can barely acknowledge it-its a flash, and then its gone, everything is gone. This must be what
it's like to be in the middle of a star that goes supernova.

Awareness fades back into him, he can feel her against him again, they're both struggling to breathe. That strange feeling is fading to a dull buzz as she forces her muscles to cooperate and pushes herself off
of him. He can see her dimly in the soft blue light, her cheeks flushed, her body soft. It doesn't matter anymore who or what she is, or why she's really here. She's here now, and that's all that matters in the world.

Haruko wraps her arms around him again, pulling him to her and kissing him lightly, Naota closes his eyes and lets himself drift, his cheek pressed against her shoulder.

Haruko watches him until she's sure he's asleep. It's not safe for him like this, not now, not if he remembers. She feels a pang of regret for what she's about to do.

furi kuri furi kura "Best if you forget this, Ta-kun. At least for a while."

Naota shifts gently against her, but she can feel the change in his mind clearly.

Silently she slides off of the bed and gathers up her clothes. She dresses him again without waking him, keeping him pressed gently into sleep until she's gotten him back under the covers.

She's about to climb onto the cold top bunk when she hears the first heavy drops of rain. She turns to look out the window, the street lamps reflect off of snow that's being devoured by warmer water. By daylight you'd never know its been snowing unless you'd seen it, and soon everybody will forget it ever happened.

Rain can do that to you sometimes.