The Knight, Kimchi, and Kisses

Author: MoonStarDutchess

Oneshot Request

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretear and make no profit from writing this fanfiction.

AN: I got a request from blue rocker dragon girl for a Hayate/Himeno fiction so here it is. For my very first I wanted to write something a bit humorous. I hope you all like it. I have a lot of ideas for Pretear fictions and I also want to see how accepted it would be in the small but lovely fandom.

Note: I see Himeno as someone that is intelligent but doesn't structure her thoughts very well. I hope I conveyed that well in this piece.

Himeno wasn't sure which was stranger, the city being completely rebuilt in such a short amount of time, or herself for being surprised that it was rebuilt so quickly. Her stepmother, Natsue, wasn't one to procrastinate when it came to her business affairs and wouldn't let the people that worked for her do such either. By the time Himeno had fully recovered from the battle with Fenrir, the city had been restored to new; there were still small nuances that needed to be added. Other than those minute details, things were pretty much back to the way they were before she became Pretear.

She thought for a moment and showed a wide tooth-exposing grin to anyone that was staring. Things weren't the same, but they were similar. Well, no, they weren't similar either. She began laughing hysterically at her contradicting thoughts and mental arguments, getting quite a few odd stares from people she passed by. She was used to people looking at her as if she'd run away from the local asylum, and as long as people didn't try to put her in a straight jacket, they could continue to glance at her in that manner.

Her attitude to the way people thought of her silliness was about the only thing that didn't change at all. The dramatic events with Fenrir made everyone realize things they'd never thought about before. It made concerns float to the surface and prompted important realizations that people seemed to want to deny in the past. She never thought that Fenrir was good, but in the end something did come out of the fight, (though she'd stick with the way things were if it took another event like that to convert people).

She ran the things that had altered through her mind, bit by bit, a tingle of joy running through her body as she thought of each person in her family. Mayune was no longer obsessed with the sole intention of making her look like an unsophisticated idiot. Mawata was no longer the loner she'd once been and was becoming more outgoing. She was closer with her stepmother and father now, and she had great friends in the leafe knights.

She closed her mouth, concealing her teeth but the side of her lips remained quirked upward as she sat down on a park bench, a blush forming under her freckles and nose. Then, there was one more change. It was something she hadn't been looking for, didn't know she longed for, and now would not take the world for it. She was in love.

She looked down at her lap, studying the creases in her skirt, watching the shadows fall in twisted patterns on the garment. Her observations were brought to a halt when a shadow loomed over her. She looked up and to her right to see Hayate standing there, that smile he reserved for her lighting his lips. He didn't smile often, but when he did, Himeno felt like she could take on the world. She looked at the clock tower and laughed inwardly. Hayate was always exactly on time.

"What did you want to see me about?" he questioned, bending down to rest his head next to her face. His voice emerged very smoothly and calmly, sending chills along Himeno's blood and straight to her brain, freezing it, and making her forget why exactly she had asked him to meet her there. She almost forgot that he was the leafe night of wind, not of ice.

She turned her head to look at him to find that their lips were mere centimeters away from each other. She quickly shouted and jumped back, shocked at the proximity. When he looked at her quizzically, she laughed nervously and leaped up from the bench, making sure her skirt didn't fly up and give him a show.

She walked over to stand in front of him, Hayate a good two heads taller than her, and looked up into his face. She brought a fist to her mouth and coughed to clear her throat.

"I want ice cream," she said, after lowering her hand away from her lips.

Hayate quirked an eyebrow at her, "You called me here to tell me that?"

"Noooo, I want to have ice cream with you! More specifically, I am going to test you on your skills as an ice cream taste tester!" She said the second sentence with such excitement that it caused Hayate to take a step back.

"Why?" he asked, when he recovered from his surprise.

She placed her index finger against his chest and pushed slightly. "You tested me with all those little doohickey thingamabobers bird things..."

"Tipis," Hayate stated.

"Then you tempted me with all that good food…"

"And you gave into the temptation," he stated yet again.

"And you gave me that ridiculous kandama!" She said, poking him again.

"Which you won't stop playing with even though you've likely mastered it by now."

Himeno looked surprised at is sentence and took a step back. She lifted her hands in front of her and brought her index fingers to touch each other then pull apart, repeating the action several times. "Well…um…"

Hayate's face fell. "You haven't mastered the entire skills of the kandama yet?"

Himeno gave him a wide smile and grabbed his hand. "That doesn't matter, come on! Let's go!"

"Wait a minute. Answer my question," he protested, as Himeno dragged him out of the park and toward the ice cream stand.

"Kaoru darling, what on Earth are Himeno and Hayate doing?" Natsue questioned as she gazed out the window at her stepdaughter and her boyfriend. Kaoru walked over to stand beside his wife and laughed aloud at the table covered with various types of pint sized ice cream containers from Himeno's favorite ice cream stand. She was currently blindfolding an annoyed but resigned Hayate sitting in a chair at said table.

"Looks like a blind taste test," he said, not shocked in the slightest at the scene before him.

"Why in heavens would she do something like that?"

"You forgot who you are talking about."

Natsue turned her head to the side and laughed, "Yes, I think I did. Please forget I asked."

"Is this really necess-" Hayate started to say, but was cut off by a spoon full of ice cream being shoved in his mouth.

"What flavor is that?" Himeno questioned as she sat down in the chair beside him. She grabbed a glass of water for Hayate so that he could rinse the flavor out once he told her.

"Strawberry," he said with a sigh. He would never tell her but he was quite amused at her dedication to this ice cream testing.

She placed the water in his grasp. "Drink that and we'll get on with the rest of the tasting!" she said.

Hayate took a drink of the water and sat the glass down on the table, the ice clattering slightly against the container. "You never did mention why you wanted to do this."

"Yes I did. It's because you tested me on all those things. I shall test you with ice cream!" she said.

He opened his mouth to speak but didn't get a word out. She shoved another big spoon of ice cream inside it, nearly causing him to choke because it was so cold and the spoon went a bit too far inside his throat. He coughed a few times then told her the flavor. This went on for the next six pints of ice cream. Hayate got all the flavors correct until they were down to the last pint, Himeno frowning deeper and deeper as he proceeded to ace her ice-cream test.

Next is the best ice cream of all time! She took an extra large scoop of the cream and stuck it in his mouth, before pulling the spoon back out. She watched as Hayate froze, not making any movements for a moment before he turned green and rushed over to a bush, leaning over it and gagging, his entire body shuddering. Finally, he torn the blind fold off his eyes and glared at Himeno.

"What in the hell did you feed me? Cow vomit?"

"It is powdered green tea kimchi with soy bean yogurt and chocolate chips," she said, taking a big bite of the sweet treat, an extremely pleasant smile showing on her face. "It's yummy! The best tasting thing in the world!" Her eyes were closed and her eyebrows quirked upward, she had a big smile on her face as she took another bite.

He shook his head, a smile decorating his lips at seeing her pleasant demeanor. He walked closer to her and kneeled in front of her, waiting for her to open her eyes. When her pink colored orbs were finally revealed, he moved his lips to hers and kissed her. Her eyes extended wide at first before closing and kissing him back.

He then pulled away and licked his lips. "Humm, not bad," he said and walked away, heading back to Leafenia.

Himeno sat there staring at Hayate until he walked out of sight. She took another huge bite of ice cream and grinned, the spoon still in her mouth. Green tea kimchi was delicious but it had nothing on a kiss from Hayate.

AN: Reviews are much appreciated but mostly I hope you enjoyed this short fiction.