A Black Dragon followed by a Sabre slowly enters the vicinity of Kabukicho Depot.
A hangar operator spots them on the radar instrument and initiates a transmission.
"This is hangar operator Yamazaki, you have entered Hogosha space, please identify yourself."
Hideki bends his head down a bit and replies back. [color=#FFFFFF]"Konnichiwa brother. This is Hideki, the Sabre which is flying behind me is with me. Please grant us access to dock."
The hangar operator mumbles something but Hideki couldn't make out what he said.
"Are you there?" Hideki asks with a worried tone.
"Oh yes, my apologies. You and your... friend are clear for docking at Hangar 1A."
The two vessels drifts in and gently lands on separate docking pads.
As the exit door slid open from the Sabre a foreign-looking woman with dark-brown hair takes a few steps out before she aborts her walking and starts observing the unfamiliar environment.
Hideki starts hastily moving towards her. "Welcome to Kabukicho Depot, Samantha." He says with a proud voice.
"Sure looks busy."
"Hai. This is basically the area where they manage all incoming vessels as well as a few other things which I'm not allowed to tell you."
"What, you don't trust me Hideki?" She teases him.
"Well I... it's not-"
Samantha giggles and interrupts his sentence. "I'm just fooling around. Now where shall we go?"
"Ah well, I was simply going to show you your room and hand over the keys."
"Why can't I sleep in your room?"
Hideki looks downwards with his eyes. "Well umm... there is only one bed."
Samantha smiles. "Well that's fine with me!"
"But you know, security measures and all that stuff. It's better if you stay in a separate room, mine is attached to the Yakuza compound. It might cause problems for your to be there." Hideki excuses himself.
"Oh... ok." Samantha replies quietly.
Hideki starts moving and signals Samantha to follow him. They go through two check-points and through various narrow corridors. Finally they reach the small residential area for guests. He hands over her a set of keys and a small communications device. "You will stay at room 201, if you require food, water or anything of similar nature simply send me a signal and I will take care of it."
"Okay. But where will you go now?"
"I'm quite tired and the night has soon arrived. I will be heading off to sleep." Hideki turns around and starts walking away.
"Wait, Hideki!" Samantha yells and gives him a hug.
Hideki gets taken by surprise and doesn't manage to utter a single word. A few seconds later Samantha finally releases him from her grip. Hideki stands still for a moment reflecting on what just happened and then resumes his walking, as he is heading towards his private quarters he feels a little embarrassed.
[font=Palatino Linotype]As Hideki walks away, he's dreamingly being stared at by Samantha. Samantha takes a deep breath, and turns around as Hideki leaves her sight. She begins looking around the residential area. Suddenly her face changes to a surprised state, and she whispers something to herself.
" Wait.. I don't even know where room 201 is! "
Samantha loses control over herself and begins to yell.
[color=#FF0000]" OH NOOO! " Samantha screams. Her voice echoes through the multiple hallways connected to the residential area.
A Kusarian man with an annoyed look on his face approaches Samantha
" Hey, Gaijin! What the hell is your problem? Screaming around like that? "
Samantha turns her attention to the man, realizing what she just did. She starts turning a pinkish red on her cheeks.
" Oh.. I-I'm sorry.. I kinda lost myself there... B- " Samantha tries to explain before being interrupted by the man.
" Don't try to explain it, because I don't care this much about it.. Keep your mouth shut, and all will be fine. " The man yells at Samantha. When he turns around and is about to walk away, he gets grabbed by his shoulder and violently turned around.
"Just let me talk.. Please.. It's just that I have no idea where to go here.. The person who brought me here just left, and.. He kinda forgot to tell me where to go! " Samantha says with a trembling voice.
" And who might this person be? " The man asks.
" H-Hideki... He gave me the keys to room 201 but I already said- "
The man interrupts Samantha again. " Ah.. Hideki-sama.." The man turns around and gestures Samantha to follow him. Samantha looks surprised, and hesitates to follow the man for a few seconds before quickly following the man.
Samantha slowly crawls into her bed, pulling the sheets up to her neck as she lies down quietly. She feels how the silken-soft pillow touches her smooth skin, it embraces her body and she suddenly starts smiling silently to herself. The feeling of comfort had almost been forgotten due to the hostilities she had received in Kusari. It is not easy being a foreigner around here and being a woman doesn't make things better.
A few hours passed, but for some reason she was still awake. She squirmed her body in all directions, trying to find a position where she could fall asleep in. Nothing seemed to work. Hideki was on her mind. Ever since she had seen him face-to-face on the landing pads of Kabukicho's hangar, he had left an unforgettable impression.
Finally she lifted her head up and performed a deep sigh. A few seconds later she jumped out of her bed and moved towards the wardrobe where she putted on some light clothes to conceal her figure. She didn't wished to be detected by any Hogoshans at this hour of the night. It could bring unwanted suspicion and potentially even endanger Hideki's life.
But she had to do it, she had to go see him.
Tiptoeing silently across the narrow corridors her pulse suddenly accelerated to imaginable levels as she heard two men laughing across the hall. She thought to herself in a half-childish way that she must become like Hideki, a stealthy nightwalker who remains in the shadows. Surprisingly it proved to work. Trying to desperately recall an earlier conversation she had with Hideki where he had revealed the location of his private quarters, she was certain of that she was on the right floor. After a few failed attempts to remember the exact room-number, she came up with the idea to signal him through the communications device she was given. She would then simply track the source of the sound.
A few repeated beep-like sounds were heard, she carefully listened where it came from and suddenly found herself infront of a door.
"This is his room." She whispered to herself.
As she was ready to knock on the door a strong feeling of regret overwhelmed her.
[color=#FF0000]"Maybe he will hate me for not listening to him?" She asked herself, becoming more anxious as each second passed.
[font=Palatino Linotype] Hideki slowly wakes up as he hears a distant knocking, mixed with vague yelling. The sounds seem to be coming closer by the second. After a minute, Hideki is hearing the sounds from just a few steps away, and realizes someone is knocking on his door. Hideki crawls out of bed, still half asleep, and shuffles to the door.
" Who could be awake at this time.. " Hideki thinks to himself. He rubs in his tired eyes as he reaches the door. He slowly opens it. Because of the darkness, Hideki can't see who is standing at the other side of the door, until he hears a voice.
[color=#FF0000]"Don't be mad at me Hideki, please..." A known voice says in the dark. Hideki recognizes the voice directly.
" Samantha? What are you doing here? You'll get yourself killed by sneaking around like that at midnight!" Hideki whispered with an angry tone. Hideki rubbed his eyes again, trying to get rid of the blurry view he had.
" I-I'm sorry Hideki but.. Something was bothering my mind and... And I needed to tell you something..." Samantha stuttered.
" I hope it's important. " Hideki said with a more relaxed tone. " And get out of that hallway before someone sees you. " Hideki gestures Samantha to come inside his room. Samantha slowly nods as she enters Hideki's room. Hideki closes the door behind her before looking around for a light switch. After a few seconds, a bright light illuminates the entire room. Both Hideki and Samantha cover their eyes as the light stings their eyes.
" Well.. Hideki.. Since we met that time at the Honshu jumpgate in New Tokyo.. "
Samantha says. She withdraws her hands, and looks at Hideki who shortly afterwards gets used to the light as well. She awkwardly stays silent for a while.
" What is it? " Hideki looks worried at Samantha.
" It's just... " Samantha looks down to the ground. " I wanted to say that.. " Samantha's worried look on her face suddenly disappears and a smile appears. Samantha looks back up, at Hideki. " I wanted to say that you forgot to give me a goodnight kiss! "
[font=Palatino Linotype]Hideki felt embarrassed by Samantha's request but at the same time he couldn't find the courage to deny it. He was afraid he would insult her.
On the other hand, he tried to rationalize in his head that he merely did this to honor her request but in reality he had deep feelings for Samantha. Although he tried to hide it to the best of his abilities since the Oyabun clearly wouldn't accept such intimate relationship with a foreigner.
He took a few steps forward, reaching closer towards Samantha. For each step Hideki took it became harder to contain his emotions from taking control over his body. He lifted his right hand and gently ran his fingers through her soft hair. Samantha shivered in excitement but Hideki knew he would have to give Samantha her kiss at this very instant or else he would do something foolish - something that would lead to unimaginable consequences for both of them.
As he bended his head over, Samantha was preparing herself for what was to be a kiss on the lips, but Hideki decided to quickly change his direction and aimed for her left cheek. His lips connected to her smooth skin for only a second before he pulled back.
"Hey! I said a goodnight kiss!" Samantha quickly burst out in anger.
[color=#FFFFFF]"We are not supposed to do this Samantha. And do not shout, if someone finds out you are-"
Samantha interrupted Hideki by slamming the door in as she exited the room.
Hideki remained still for a second and then gave off a deep sigh.