"I-- I understand that," she whined, "B-but . . ."

She trailed off, suddenly feeling extremely awkward. Right. So, Fenix wasn't a bad guy--he was just a guy, and guys had certain wants. Okay. All right. She came to terms with that a long time ago, and that if she found the right guy, she'd have to make sure those wants were fulfilled.

So, maybe he felt like he deserved something for all of his effort? Subconsciously, that is. He hadn't said anything that blunt yet, so she didn't think he was being a sleaze like that, but maybe somewhere deep in the back of his mind, he had some wants or so . . .

Well, she wasn't willing to fulfill all of his wants here, and was certainly going to draw a line if he went too far, but . . . well, he did save her and Emma both, not at the same time, but equally. At least, at the time she was pretty sure Garv was going to kill her, and she was pretty sure that horrible things would've happened to Emma if the rest of the village found out that she was the lunatic arsonist that was trying to light the whole place on fire.

Maybe she did kind of owe him something. Not too much, though. Definitely not too much. Clothes were not going to come off. Well, not too many clothes. Darnit, no clothes were coming off at all! Unless there was the heat of the moment, and . . . Mayako figured she'd just cross that bridge when she got there.

"O-okay, I--," she paused, gulped, wet her lips, and shut her eyes, "G-go ahead, b-but just this once, o-okay . . .?"

He was definitely missing something. While she was responding to him, she kept saying additional things as though answering to someone else. He didn't think she was crazy, so he could only conclude there was piece of the puzzle that he was missing.

"Just this once...what?" he asked quietly. She seemed to be expecting something of him, something he was failing at--which must have been why she thought he was mean, or something. He didn't quite understand, but hopefully she'd fill him in.

This was really mean! He was going to make her say it? Like it was her idea in the first place? Because it totally wasn't. He was the one that implied it so heavily . . .

"Y-you know!" Mayako exclaimed in a whisper that bordered on completely silent, "A- a-- . . . d-don't be so mean about it . . ."

She'd asked him to be nice, too! Maybe he was intentionally teasing her, maybe he wasn't. He probably wasn't. Fenix didn't seem like the type of guy that would intentionally tease a girl when he was making a move on her. He seemed like a pretty straightforward guy, but . . . but maybe he was shy, too? Maybe he was just trying to figure out if she'd really let him?

That'd actually be kind of cute. It was easier to believe that he was teasing her without actually realizing it, though--but she was definitely convinced that he knew what she was talking about, and was making her actually say more about it for one reason or the other . . .

"I-- I already s-sa-said y-you c-c-could k-kiss me, j-just once . . ." she whispered with a pout, clearly nervous about the whole idea, and especially nerve wracked to say it out loud!

In the dark, Mayako wouldn't be able to see Fenix's look of shock. She was talking about a kiss? Now? This didn't seem like a good time, but perhaps since he needed to leave it was now or never for her; after all, he wouldn't be able to return to Hillcrest for quite some time. Had she engineered this whole thing just for that? Maybe she was more devious than he thought, able to set up a situation like this so that by the time he realized it he couldn't do anything about it.

He was about to point out that she hadn't actually said he could kiss her before, but thought better of it. He didn't have much experience with girls, but he had picked up that they didn't like being corrected, even if they were mistaken. And the way she talked, she was making it sound like this was all his doing.

Well, maybe she thought he owed her--and he probably did. She'd spent so much time assisting him, and he doubted his lame attempts at heroics made up for the hours upon hours she'd taken care of him.

It wasn't as though he disliked the idea of kissing her; she was cute, nice, and much braver than she looked, but...was it a good idea, given that he had to leave?

"Sorry, I'm not trying to be mean," he responded at last. Perhaps he'd have to investigate into what signified a girl wanted to be kissed, if he was so oblivious to the signs. "I don't have...much experience with this kind of thing." While he could read others fairly well for combat and business purposes, he'd never been good at reading girls feelings. In fact, all things he considered, he was pretty terrible at it, he reasoned.

Mayako thought back to another time, a time a little happier than this, yet still far from actually happy. She recalled the last time she spent alone with Eldridge Tsukimono, the night just before he left town. She recalled the final request she made of him before he left, how stupid and selfish she felt making it, and how, at the time, she was so convinced that she'd ultimately have no regrets.

All she really did was make things worse for everyone else, and the situation still never wound up becoming better for her, despite the sacrifice of everyone else's interests.

"N-neither do I . . ." Mayako whispered disappointingly.

For a brief moment, Mayako took in a breath with her nose, only to wince soundlessly. Her nose was broken, right; she'd forgotten all about that.

Maybe it was good that this was happening in the dark, in fact; no doubt Mayako wouldn't have been as physically attractive to Fenix as she would on any other day, not right now, not with a bandage over her nose and the vague appearance of two black eyes (indicative of a broken nose). She wasn't in the best of shapes, without a doubt, and doubted that she'd be attractive to even a crazy person that would find a runt like her even remotely pretty or cute or any other term that resounded attraction in some way.

Mayako still kept her eyes shut. For whatever reason, Fenix wanted to kiss her, and he was allowed to--just once, because they were probably never going to see each other again. A second kiss or something beyond a kiss would've made parting difficult for them, or maybe just difficult for her. The girl bit her lower lip as she thought about that. No, Fenix wasn't a bad person; she'd have spent time with him if he were to stay in Hillcrest; she'd have maybe considered a second kiss, but fate was going to take that potential away, as it always did. Mayako was quick to come to terms with this.

Well, I guess it would be odd if she did have any idea what I was thinking. One of the few things he prided himself on was being difficult to read, but now he considered that there were some situations where that was perhaps not a good thing. He had little doubt this would have gone much more smoothly if Mayako could tell what he was thinking.

He didn't like the idea of kissing a girl he was about leave behind, but maybe it would be a good memory for her. His mentor used to comment that girls wanted to have a memory of excitement, and kissing a tall, dark and handsome stranger--

Am I really going to take what he says seriously?

Deciding to forget Zach Kaiser, the idiot, Fenix thought instead about what he wanted. He supposed that if Mayako wanted to, he was fine it. Truthfully, if the situation were different, he would have liked to spend a little more time with her...but even if that wasn't to be...

Ah, I'm thinking too much about it.

Though she couldn't see him, Mayako would be able to feel him bend down, and she'd know he was close by the warmth of his breath...

Mayako only stopped biting her lower lip when she felt the warmth of Fenix's breath upon them. Without realizing it, she leaned forward just a bit, with her head leaned up ever so subtly, and her lips parted by a fraction in invitation of Fenix's lips.

No, she didn't mind the thought of kissing him at all.

But it was never meant to be, perhaps, as they'd be stopped before their lips could ever touch. Mayako suddenly felt the door behind her jiggle slightly. The doorknob had suddenly twisted, only to click when it was stopped short of opening by the lock fixed masterfully by Fenix. The instant she heard the click of a locked doorknob, Mayako stopped breathing and shut her eyes tightly, freezing right where she was, half expecting the inside lock of the closet to actually fail them, for the door to open, and for the rest of their natural lives to fall apart right then and there.

Fortunately, the door did not open, but the doorknob was twisted. No doubt, this would cause Fenix to stop just the same--and even if he did continue, he'd not really find a girl ready to kiss him, but a girl scared stiff all of a sudden.

"Locked," a man said.

"Damn," said another, both outside of the closet, "Does that make the whole clinic?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Let's get back to the others. Bari's still here, right?"

"Yeah, just in case."

"All right. Well, let's go. He can't have covered too much ground . . ."

Fenix, too, froze, and then immediately became embarrassed for it. He'd gotten so caught in the moment that he'd forgotten they were hiding from people, which caused just an instant of worry that they might be caught. Which was stupid, as he'd locked the door himself--he knew they wouldn't be able to get in.

After they cleared out, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He was vaguely irritated and apprehensive, but he couldn't pinpoint why.

So it was a minute or so before he finally spoke up. "I think they're gone now," he observed. Of course, chances were they were still close to the clinic, so it probably wasn't safe to leave just yet, but they were in the clear as far as getting found out goes.

"Y-yeah . . ." Mayako trailed off.

She finally began to breath again. For a second there, she was scared to death that they were going to be caught, but the lock held out. They weren't caught. They were still in the clear, for now . . .

But what if one of the Tsukimonos were to come to the storage closet? They hadn't been there for very long, and no doubt that Tsukimonos had woken up since a bunch of folk came charging in through the house. They were probably extremely upset, too, but considering the situation, it was unlikely that Fenix's veritable lynch mob really cared what the doctors thought about this. If it concerned the doctors, they might have been softer about the situation, but as it was, no amount of help the doctors had given them could evade the fact that, to them, Fenix was a criminal that needed to be transported to a secure prison as soon as humanly possible.

Hillcrest had seen so many maniacs and lunatics in the past that this, a presumable lunatic actually captured, was not an opportunity they were going to let slip by. As much civil liberties of the doctors' that they had broken, the villagers truly had the best intentions.

When Mayako realized that she was clinging to Fenix, she recalled what almost happened between them, and stumbled over the want to speak. She tried, but couldn't think of a single word to say. Every time she opened her mouth, no sound came out.

Perhaps it was best to try and forget about it.

"C-could you unlock the door?" Mayako asked, capable of speaking as soon as she tried to forget about the fact that they nearly kissed, "W-we can't stay in here forever, a-and if we have a way out . . . I-I just need to see if we do or don't, f-for now . . ."

Fenix felt disappointed for reasons he could not express, but he knew she was right. The Tsukimonos would be coming any time now, and once they did they'd be stuck in there all day--assuming that they didn't need supplies from this closet, which was unlikely.

"Sure." He couldn't afford to look to see if it was clear himself, but no one would think twice about seeing Mayako walking around the clinic.

It took significantly longer to unlock the door than it did to lock it, but he after a few minutes there was another click signifying his success. "I'll hold onto the bag," he said, moving as far towards the hinges as he could so she could slip out without him exposing himself to the hall.

"Th-thanks," Mayako whispered, albeit nervously for reasons beyond the situation at hand, as Fenix unlocked the door for her. "I, um, I'll be right back, o-okay?"

When Fenix opened the door, Mayako first checked to see if the coast was absolutely clear. When she was content knowing that there was no one else in the hallway, Mayako slipped out and closed the door behind her as silently as she possibly could.

And time passed.

Minutes would fade together, and perhaps seconds would feel like hours, or perhaps minutes would feel like seconds, locked up in there, in a dark and cramped closet. People reacted to enclosed spaces in all sorts of different ways. Sometimes they went crazy, sometimes they felt at peace.

It wouldn't be long, sometime after there was the distant noise of a bump, or maybe it was a klunk, before there came a very quick, but quiet rapping upon the closet door.

"M-Mister Black, y-you can come out now," whispered the voice on the other side, clearly Mayako's extremely rushed and mildly panicked voice.

There were some people that couldn't stand isolation. Fenix, however, was accustomed to it. He'd spent over a decade in virtual isolation; minutes, hours, even days of it meant nothing to him other than a small breather from troubles. At this point he had to rely entirely on Mayako; the doctors might come and find him or the villagers might barge in again, but there was nothing he could do about it. Having it be out of his hands allowed him to relax, at least for a little bit.

When Mayako interrupted, it was time to take up the burden of being responsible for himself again. Not that he would ever truly wish to be permanently removed from it, but an occasional reprieve now and then was nice.

Fenix cracked the door open, glanced in that direction, opened it a little more, poked his head out to look in the other direction. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that Mayako might have been forced to lead pursuers back to him. But it was just her, so he stepped out into the hall with the bag.

"What's the plan?" he asked. She seemed worried, but she was the only person with knowledge of what it was like out there. He hoped some of his own calm would rub off on her; she was more likely to make a mistake if she was panicked.

The source of Mayako's nervousness would be visible to Fenix right as he left the storage closet. Just across the hall in the next room lay an unconscious blond haired boy about Mayako's age--or, well, that looked like he was about Mayako's age. Most of the time, Mayako looked like she was eleven, after all. He had a disheveled look about him, his glasses were half-off his face, and he was sprawled out upon the bed.

There was a piece of paper on his chest that read "I am so sorry" with a distinct frowning face beneath of it. Bari wasn't a bad person, he just wasn't leaving, and there was just no way around him. It was a little crude, but Mayako was able to sneak up behind him and get him in the back of the head when he wasn't looking; he was probably going to wake up in an hour or so with a horrible headache and wonder why, exactly, he was there--and Mayako was determined to make something up (probably akin to thinking he was an intruder and dealing with him accordingly) while making him the single most delicious apology breakfast she'd ever constructed.

She was probably going to be nervous about that for awhile, at least until she could hopefully convince Bari to forgive her. Really, there were no hard feelings on her end . . .

"M-most everyone's l-looking at my dad's old church," Mayako replied, "W-we, um, we kind of have a straight shot to Galaens, i-if we go now."

Fenix nodded, though he had to roll his eyes; now they thought to check the church. He was ready to go, but he paused as he spotted the boy out cold across the hall. Even he couldn't hide his amusement at the thought of Mayako cold-clocking someone from behind; the note was a dead giveaway for that. "You're a lot more...resourceful than I thought," he whispered with a wry smile, stopping short of using the word "crafty" again. If he had trouble picturing Mayako stealing a set of keys, he definitely couldn't imagine her knocking someone out--he would have paid to see her do it.

"You know, you can you just blame me for it," he pointed out. Given that they were already convinced he was a dangerous criminal, no one would bat an eye at the thought of him knocking out a kid who was in his way. In retrospect, it was lucky that it didn't occur to anyone that he could pick locks.

Regardless, he was ready to follow her lead; she'd done the scouting, so he assumed she knew what route to take to get out of town without being spotted.

"I-- I'll think of something," Mayako replied with a hint of uncertainty.

Because truth be told, she didn't quite want to criminalize Fenix anymore than he already was. Were it not for the fact that she'd have to point the blame at someone if she argued for his defense after he was gone, she'd have done just that. Unfortunately, there was no way to prove Fenix's innocence later without proving another person's guilt, and Mayako felt extremely guilty for making the conscious choice of Emma over Fenix despite the fact that Fenix did nothing but help them.

No, she couldn't bring herself to consciously vilify Fenix. She had to take responsibility for hurting Bari, otherwise an apology breakfast wouldn't mean anything to him at all, and deep down inside she'd have to feel guilty for what she did to him each and every time she looked his way.

"O-okay, th-the clinic door's unlocked now, t-too--l-let's hurry," Mayako whispered as she moved close to Fenix's side, intent to help him along.

Once outside, Fenix would discover that, indeed, the sun was just beginning to rise. When Mayako woke him up, it was still probably dark out. Likewise, if he paid close attention to the church in the distance, he'd see numerous shadows cast all about its perimeter-- but fortunately, they were all too far away to notice even the slightest details. Mayako and Fenix were probably going to blend in and look like one whole body to them.