Beautiful Disasters- Hawks x OC

Chapter 103

             Weeks passed, and not much else had happened after they'd come back from Sakura's house. They had squared everything away with the lawyer a couple of days later and then had gone back to their usual routine. Not wanting to just laze around the house, both Mariko and Hawks went back to work. Hawks went on patrol and took care of all the work he was backed up in at the agency, and Mariko returned to nursing, taking care of the critically ill and injured in the ICU. Everything had been so blissfully normal, that she had almost forgotten they even had a mission. The brunette wouldn't have remembered at all if it weren't for the nightmares that plagued her sleep.

          They had been especially bad that night, which made sense because time had sped up and they would be leaving on the mission later that day, but knowing why she was having nightmares didn't make them any easier to deal with. After waking up for the fourth time in 2 hours, Mariko decided to give up on sleep entirely.

          Turning over on her side, she instinctively reached out for Keigo, only to find that the blonde was missing. The sheets were messed up, but his side of the bed was cold telling her he had gotten up some time ago. Sitting up, the brunette rubbed her tired eyes and turned on her phone. She squinted at the bright light as she tried to make out the time. "5:17 A.M, lovely."

          Crawling out from beneath the covers, she wandered through the apartment in search of her boyfriend. Since it was such a small space, she found him fairly quickly. Keigo was leaning on the balcony, his vermillion wings spread out, and dragging on the floor slightly- something he only did when he was tired or drunk.

          Coming up behind him, Mariko wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed a kiss into his shoulder. A slight breeze blew past them and Mariko sighed slightly. It was warm- the sign of spring ending and beginning to fade into summer. Immediately, Keigo's hands came to rest on hers, and he leaned back into her touch.

         "Good morning," she greeted.

          "Hey Chickee, sleep well?" he asked, though he already knew the answer seeing as it wasn't even five o'clock in the morning yet.

         "Not at all. You?

         "Not much better probably," he answered.

         Mariko hummed in acknowledgement, and a momentary silence fell over them before Keigo piped up again.

         "Are you ready for today?" he asked.

        "More like I' ready for it to be over," she sighed. "I say we should go on vacation after this," she told him.

          Keigo chuckled slightly, "We just got back from vacation three weeks ago."

         "That doesn't count, that was a safe house. We were technically still on duty," she pointed out.

          "I won't argue with that logic. Where would you like to go? We'll go anywhere you want Chickee. Anywhere."

         "The beach. Let's go to the beach. Okinawa's nice this time of year right?"

           "Yeah, it is."

         "Then let's rent a house there or something. When summer rolls in for real we'll have a getaway."

        The male nodded in agreement but said nothing. Mariko let go of him for a moment to slip around so that she could look at his face. Seeing her, the blonde offered her a small, tired smile, but nothing else.

          "Kei, you know it's gonna be alright, right?" she asked.

        The male nodded, though his expression didn't convince Mariko at all that he felt the same.

          The brunette sighed and reached up, tilting his head down to look at her. "You gotta talk to me Love," she whispered.

        "You're so important to me," he started. "You're all I've got Chickee, you're my everything... and I can't live without you... I don't even wanna try. So you gotta promise me that you're gonna come back or I can't let you go...Please, Mari. Promise me you're gonna come back."

         Mariko wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed deeply. His arms wrapped around her until he had a death grip and was crushing the air out of her, but she didn't mind at all. "I promise," she said, pressing a kiss into the side of his head. "I promise I'm gonna come back. I've got you to come back to after all."

        Keigo sighed and buried his face into her neck. He felt a bit better now. Mariko never broke her promises.

       "It's probably best if we start getting ready now. With Araya it's better to get there early or else he gets antsy and he's an ass when he's nervous," she told him.

          The blonde snorted slightly. "Why am I not surprised," he muttered.

         Pulling away, Mariko took his hand and lead him back into their bedroom where she walked to her bed and pulled out a medium-sized cardboard box out from under it. Inside was a set of clothing: Mariko's uniform from her military days. Grabbing the duffle bag next to it, she tossed the uniform into the bag and zipped it up.

         Hawks, already dressed in his hero suit, looked at her questioningly. "You're not gonna get dressed?" he asked.

        Mariko shook her head and walked back over to her closet where she pulled out a regular white t-shirt and an old set of cargo pants she barely wore. "No, it's too hot and heavy for me to be walking around with that on. I'll just use the locker rooms when we get there. Besides, it'll be a pain to undo and redo all the straps when we get to the security checkpoints."

          He nodded understandingly. "Good point."

         Mariko glanced outside and sighed seeing that the sun was beginning to rise. Throwing her hair into a ponytail she asked: "Ready to go?"

         For a moment, he didn't respond, he just stared at her. Then, before Mariko could question it, he crossed the room to the brunette and crashed his lips into hers in a passionate and deep kiss. In that instant, there was nothing else. He just kissed her, leaning into her so that her back arched against him and her hands wrapped themselves around his neck to keep her balance. His tongue all but forced his way into her mouth, exploring and massaging the spots he knew drove her wild. He kissed her until she was breathless, and even when she tried to pull away, he pushed against her.

         Eventually, he too would need air, so when he finally pulled away they were both panting and gasping for air. Mariko leaned forward and rested her head on his chest, feeling slightly dizzy.

          "Can I ask what the point of getting me hot and bothered right before we had to go was?" she muttered.

         Keigo couldn't help but laugh slightly at the question. "I love you," he stated simply.

         "Yeah, well there's no questioning that one," she quipped, smirking slightly.

         "I know... just wanted to make sure you didn't forget."

           Mariko pulled away and captured his lips in another kiss, this one much gentler than the last. "That is the last thing you'll ever have to worry about. I love you, forever and always," she assured.