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RE: Midnight Kisses

A Hayate the Combat Butler Fanfic

By

EvilFuzzy9

"A kiss? The renunciation of the heart when it is no longer alone." – Once More, Another Fortune Cookie

A/N: Reading over the first chapter of this, I noticed two things. One, that a couple of sentences seem to have gotten jumbled up. Two, that holy crap that was some impressive prose on my part, near the end. Seriously, how did I even do that...? *Psyduck*

Content Warning: Once again, references to underage drinking, accidental yuri, and all that good stuff. Standard disclaimers apply, I guess.

Chapter the Third, Chiharu

(a.k.a., "It's About Time")

— – - ō ū ¥

Chiharu Harukaze was a serious person. She took nothing lightly, and applied herself fully in all of her pursuits. To those who knew her, she was an advisor and confidante. Few were as perceptive as she, and even fewer were as adept at keeping secrets. Loose lips sank ships after all, and Chiharu was nothing if not prudent.

This, combined with her excellent listening skills and her reputation for discretion, had made her a natural choice for Hinagiku to confide in on many matters.

Chiharu, as both a consummate professional and a close acquaintance of the student council president, knew more about Miss Katsura and her worries than just about anyone. Thusly, she was also one of the very few people who knew of the pink haired prodigy's deep infatuation–some might even say love–for a certain young manservant of the Sanzen'in family. Yes, Chiharu knew all the gruesome, sordid details of Hinagiku's personal fantasies regarding the blue-haired Ayasaki boy. She was the student council secretary, confidante and assistant to the president–if there was something bothering Hinagiku, she was one of the first to know.

This included matters of romance, apparently, though why the president would think consult her of all people on such matters was beyond Chiharu. She had no experience with matters of the heart, excepting a few particularly mushy shōjo manga she had read back when she was younger, and she was not about to see if those applied to real life.

Nonetheless, Chiharu was one of the very few in whom Hinagiku had confided regarding her feelings for Hayate, and she had done her best to act as moral support. When Hinagiku was upset and angry over some thoughtless word or action on Hayate's part, Chiharu would often be the one to cool the hot tempered girl back down. Chiharu may not have been quite as stoic as she liked others to believe, but she knew how to defuse a situation–dealing with the deceptively brash and tempermental student council president had given plenty of experience in that area.

Though... actually, now that she thought about it, Hinagiku was no longer quite as tomboyish as she used to be, was she?

Chiharu pursed her lips thoughtfully at this observation as she casually sipped at a glass of punch, watching others mingle. 'I wonder...' she thought. Could it be, that Hinagiku's gradual mellowing was in some way related to her crush...? Certainly, it made a good bit of sense on a couple of levels.

Before Hayate, there had been no boys capable of enchanting the student council president, though not for lack of volunteers. Hinagiku may not have been the most... impressive example of femininity among the girls of Hakuō Academy, but nor could she have ever been called unattractive. Her manner may have been an ill fit to the Japanese concept of yamato nadeshiko, the ideal woman who was graceful and domestic with just the slightest hint of steel, but she was untouchable, unreachable. An unattainable thing, a brilliant young woman who had no time for silly games or lovesickness, many a lad had been daunted by her casual dismissal. They had nonetheless dared, however, and many more had dreamed of taming that wild, untouchable beauty. But none had ever suceeded. They had all either been too immature, too crass, or simply just unworthy.

Hinagiku had always been driven. She had been through just about the lowest depths of poverty and hunger as a young child, and now that she had the chance to rise above those inglorious beginnings, she was not about to let herself by dragged down, not by anyone. She was determined to do great things with her life, it seemed, and she had no interest in mere boys.

But Hayate... well, even Chiharu had to admit that the infamously unfortunate butler was no mere boy.

Looking over at the young man in question, who was looking rather sloshed as he cheerfully swayed this way and that, Chiharu suppressed a slight shiver. She remembered, with unnerving clarity, the feeling of the drunken Ayasaki's hand gently caressing the small of her back as he almost incoherently asked her if she wanted a dance, or a massage, or maybe even... Her face burned bright crimson.

Hayate was simply drunk, she told herself, he was just acting on impulse without any sort of judgement or restraint. He did not mean–REALLY mean–those things, those wonderfully tempting things, that he had whispered to her. He was just saying things without knowing, without understanding, the implications. He did not truly wish to do such things to or with her, and she definitely did not want him to, no sir, the very idea was preposterous! Moreover, Hayate was Hinagiku's man, even if she had not yet claimed him, and Chiharu was NOT about to try and steal him from under the other girl, no no no!

... ... ... And yet... If Hinagiku and Ayumu did not take the chance when it came, as they had all three planned together, Chiharu might very well find herself hard pressed to bring herself to turn down the bluenette lad's offer...

Chiharu shook her head. 'No, no, no, don't think like that!' she sternly admonished herself. 'It's not even midnight yet! There's still plenty of time...' As a matter of fact, it was barely a minute until midnight, but as she glanced in the pair's direction, Chiharu saw that they finally seemed to be taking action. 'Good...' she told herself, 'At this rate, they should make it with JUST enough time to spare...'

Chiharu grimaced ever so slightly. While the idea for the midnight confession had originally been proposed by her, she had devised it under the assumption that Hinagiku and Miss Nishizawa would use the time leading up to midnight to talk to the butler, socializing and schmoozing and flirting. Hayate had a reputation for being incredibly dense, after all, and while a sudden attack like the two seemed to have decided on would definitely have the advantage of surprise and some significant shock value, Chiharu would have preferred them to slowly wear down Hayate's defenses with casual conversation and then spring when the clock struck midnight.

Hopefully, this change in tactics would not ruin the plan... She shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking like that! She needed to keep a level head so that, in case things went to pot, she would be able to at least extract Hinagiku from the situation before things became too terribly awkward. ...with that said, from the look of the way Hinagiku was drunkenly feeling up Hayate's chest as the countdown proceeded, it seemed that the student council president was not likely to feel any sort of awkwardness any time soon... Chiharu shook her head again, this time to clear it of any dirty thoughts. Now was not the time to be thinking like that, either!

She was then startled from further berating herself by a loud shout of "HAPPY NEW YEARS!"

Looking up, she saw that Ayumu and Hinagiku were–somehow–both kissing Hayate at the same time. It was a rather lewd display, and the sound of Yukiji making drunken catcalls and wolf whistles did not help matters any. Chiharu felt terribly awkward, watching the three of them vigorously swapping spit, and part of her was at least a little disappointed that they had ended up going through with it after all, but another part of her was relieved that they were FINALLY going through with it and doing something about all the damnable sexual tension that had been building up. Even if they were doing it in such a... public manner.

Chiharu sincerely hoped that none of them were into exhibitionism, because she REALLY did not need to see anything like that, even if

BAM

A door somewhere was slammed shut. Chiharu belatedly realized that someone had yelled something. Quickly scanning the room, she came to the conclusion that it had probably been Na

POW

Someone–her employer, Sakuya Aizawa, she realized in mortification–crashed into her, knocking her off balance and sending her careening into someone else, falling down on top of them. Chiharu, slightly dazed, looked into the surprised eyes of one Izumi Segawa. She felt something pressing against her lips, so she licked at it, trying to pry whatever it was off of her mouth.

After a few seconds of this, it hit her that it was Izumi's lips. She was on top of the Segawa girl, kissing–french kissing–her. Also, it seemed that her hands had somehow found their way onto Izumi's breasts in the confusion of the fall. And, now that she was listening, she heard the laughter and jibes of Miki and Risa.

Fantastic.

A/N: Not much to say 'bout this, I guess. One of the first times in a while that I've had trouble thinking of what to put in an author's note. *Shrug*

[This Reaction Shot uploaded, Saturday, 3/17/2012]

TTFN and R&R!