a secret trip to hawaii: Chapter 4

[tomas_room2]

.............chapter 4: the ghost

                            [the Azure restaurant at the hotel]

toma decided that he would try to enjoy most of his last day in hawaii tomorrow and then tell yamashita the truth at night. he tried to not worry about it too much as he, gakki, and mari walked towards their table in the restaurant.

suddenly mari tripped on something and toma swiftly grabbed her arm and shoulder to keep her from falling. "be careful." toma said, as he let her go. 

"thanks." mari said, a little embarrassed. "it's because i bought new shoes for this trip and they turned out to be a little loose..." 

"yes, she's usually not so clumsy." gakki laughed. 

"gakkiiii" mari whined.

"well, your high heels do look nice though." toma said, as they sat down at the table. 

"complimenting me won't make you like you any better, so you can just forget it." mari coldly replied as she looked at the menu.

"what is wrong with you? you think everything i do has an ulterior motive? next time you trip, i'm just going to let you fall!" toma grumbled.

"fine! because i don't want you to touch me. i don't even want to sit too close to you." mari calmly said, still looking at the menu. she scooted her chair a little farther from toma.

"come on, you guys. please don't argue. let's just order our food, ok?" gakki said.

they ordered their food and soon it arrived. as they started eating, gakki tried to get mari in a good mood by asking about her mysterious guy friend.

"mari, i noticed you've been talking on the phone with someone a lot. is it a guy? did you meet someone here?"

"yes...we met recently at the hotel bar one night. he's gorgeous and i like him a lot." mari sheepishly explained.

"but he is he also a tourist or does he live in hawaii?" gakki asked.

"he lives here, but it doesn't matter, we just want to have a good time together while i'm here." she smiled and took a sip of her glass of water.

the girly, cheerful side of her is cute. toma thought to himself. too bad she's such a jerk to him most of the time. 

"that's my water." toma calmly told mari, pointing to the glass she was holding.

"ewww!! i have to go rinse my mouth!" mari quickly got up and ran off.

toma waited until she was too far away to hear them and laughed. gakki looked at him and then at the glasses.

"toma, that wasn't your glass, that was hers! you tricked her!" 

"shhh!" toma put one finger to his lips and smiled. "i just wanted to get her away from the table so i could ask you something."

"what is it?" gakki asked, leaning closer.

"could i...sleep in your room tonight?" toma whispered nervously.

"huh?" gakki responded with a confused look.

"i'm afraid of the ghost...but please don't let mari know! after my shirt and lotion disappeared, i'm kind of scared to stay in my room at night."

"oh...but how are we going to keep her from knowing? we promised to keep the doors between our rooms open all the time..."

"i'll come over really late, after mari has gone to sleep. i'll be really quiet, you won't even know i'm there! please, gakki. i'll just sleep on the ottoman, i won't bother you at all!" 

toma clasped his hands and had such a cute, desperate expression...gakki couldn't say no. "ok..." she finally said with a sigh.

"yes!!" toma smiled and gave her a quick hug. "thank you, gakki!" 

"you better not have any ero dreams about me and make...weird noises though." gakki muttered, as she noticed mari walking back towards their table.

"if i do, just go ahead and hit me real hard with your pillow!" toma laughed. 

"i'll strangle you instead!" gakki laughed and pretended to strangle him. 

"what's going on? what did i miss?" mari asked, as she sat down. 

"nothing...we were just messing around" gakki smiled at mari and turned around to quickly ruffle toma's hair.

"yeah...we do it all the time." toma put one arm around gakky's shoulder and leaned his head on hers. "oh, sorry, did that sound dirty?" toma laughed.

"you're so bad!" gakky laughed and pushed him away.

mari rolled her eyes and looked elsewhere as toma and gakky laughed and playfully pushed each other. they were both blushing a little.

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toma peeked into gakky's room. "are you sure it's ok for me to come over now?" he whispered.

"yes. come in." gakky gestured for him to come in. "she told me she's going to meet her boyfriend at the bar and she might not come back tonight. even if she comes back, my room will be dark and she won't know you're here. but make sure you wake up early and go back to your room in the morning."

"ok...thanks again." toma turned off the light in his room and carried his blanket over to gakky's room. he lied down on the ottoman and pulled the blanket over him. 

"you're welcome, again." gakky smiled. "it kind of feels like a sleepover, doesn't it?" 

"yeah." toma smiled.

"want to tell ghost stories before we sleep?" gakky asked.

"no!" toma yelled.

gakky laughed. "ok, good night." she plugged in a small night light in the outlet near her bed.

"good night, gakky." toma quietly said, smiling cutely at her.

gakky smiled back at him before turning off the lamp. she got into her bed and curled up under the covers. she forgot how sweet his soft-spoken voice is. right now, he could ask her to do anything with that voice, and she wouldn't be able to say no. she tried to calm down and forget that he's only a few feet away from her bed. "he's got a boyfriend. he's got a boyfriend..." she kept repeating in her head, until she finally drifted off to sleep.

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toma sat up suddenly. a loud noise woke him up. it sounded like it came from his room, like things being knocked over, and a door slamming. "what the hell?!" toma thought, as he rubbed his eyes. "is it a thief?" toma thought. "maybe he took my shirt and lotion!" he checked his watch. it was 3am, only a few hours after he and gakky went to sleep. 

he stood up and was about to go in his room to catch the thief, when he heard a ghostly voice...a girl crying. he immediately got goosebumps and felt a cold chill when he realized the ghost might have caused the loud noise. he was frozen in place for a moment. but soon, there was silence...except for the faint sound of water running. 

"gakky! gakky!" toma rushed over to her bed and patted her shoulder to wake her up. 

"what? what is it? you scared me!" gakky sat up, scratching her head and frowning.

"didn't you hear anything? there was a loud noise, like things falling over in my room, and a door slammed shut! and someone crying...i think it was the ghost!!" toma whispered.

"what? you must have been dreaming." she calmly said. 

"no, i wasn't! you didn't hear anything?"

"i guess i'm a deep sleeper..."

"what should we do now? i...i think i hear the water running in the bathroom!"

gakky slowly walked over to the doorway. "yeah, i think i hear the water running too. we should check it out."

"forget it, i'm not going in there! what if the ghost comes out?" toma said, getting in gakky's bed and hiding under the covers. "let's just close the door and hide in your bed tonight."

"no, we should check to see what happened in your room. and we can't just leave the water running...that's so wasteful! come on...maybe someone was crying in the hallway, it can't really be the ghost..." 

toma peeked out from the covers and shook his head. "i'm not going back until the sun has risen."

"fine, i'll go by myself." gakky said, crossing her arms.

"no! ...ok, ok, i'll go with you." toma grumbled and got out of her bed. "but i'm taking a weapon with me." he grabbed gakky's big flashlight on the table. 

"wait, let me check if mari is back yet," gakky said.

that was when they noticed the door to her room was closed. 

"that's weird...it was open before." gakky said, as she opened the door. 

mari's room was dimly lit with some scented candles and she was making out with a guy on her bed. gakky gasped and immediately shut the door. 

"sorry! i just wanted to check on you because...umm...nevermind. i'll explain tomorrow." gakky said.

"uh...ok." mari awkwardly replied.

"is that her boyfriend? i couldn't get a good look of him." toma said.

"don't be so nosy. come on!" gakky motioned for her to follow her into his room. 

she turned on the light and nothing seemed wrong with the room. the sound must have come from the bathroom. they slowly walked over to the bathroom. the water was running in the shower. gakky opened the door. 

the room was steamy from the hot water that was running in the shower, so gakky turned off the water. toma noticed all his toiletries were knocked over, and the little trashcan on the floor, too. as the steam started to clear up, they saw a message on the mirror. 

it read "why did you leave me for her? come back. or else i'll make you both regret it."

toma and gakky both screamed and ran out of the bathroom, back into gakky's room. 

"what are we going to do? i told you it was the ghost! we're dead!!" toma yelled. 

"shhh!! calm down!" gakky said, covering his mouth. 

they heard some moaning coming from mari's room. 

"unbelievable. a ghost is trying to kill us, and she's having sex. it's like a scary movie or something. i hope it gets her next!" toma muttered.

"calm down...even if this really is a ghost that did this and not some kind of prank by the person who took your things last night, i don't think it would really hurt us. i mean, you've stayed there for several days and it hasn't hurt you."

"yeah, but now i think that ghost thinks i'm her boyfriend, and that i'm cheating on her with you!"

"well, as long as you stay in your room and don't sleep in my room anymore, i guess you should be ok... we'll both be ok." gakky tried to smile and held toma's hand. "don't worry. everything's going to be ok."

"i guess i deserve this for lying to my boyfriend. it's karma." toma sighed and squeezed gakky's hand. "i guess that's the only way...i'm afraid if i ask for another room, it'll only make the ghost angrier... and i want to stay close to you, gakky."

"toma...nothing bad will happen to you." gakky gently said. they looked at each other and toma smiled and nodded before giving her a hug. they hugged each other tightly. 

"ok, we better not make the ghost jealous." gakky let go of him and he quickly let go of her too. 

"yeah. but...gakky, could you sleep next to the doorway? i want to be as close to you as possible, without leaving my room, in case the ghost tries to hurt me, maybe you could help me..." toma sadly said.

"of course!" gakky said. "don't worry, i don't think the ghost could hurt such a sweet and cute guy like you..."

they gathered their blankets and pillows and each laid down next to the open doorway connecting their rooms. 

"you think that this girl ghost, mika, could actually be in love with me? i hope not!" toma laughed. "i'd rather she want to hurt me than wants me to be with her forever!"

"hey, there have been plenty of great love stories about a regular guy or girl that falls in love with a ghost, vampire, etc. what if mika turns out to be your soulmate?" gakky laughed.

"stop it. that's not funny." toma pouted. "i'm really freaked out."

"i know, sorry. i'm just trying to lighten the mood..." gakky said.

"thanks." toma smiled at her and reached over and held her hand. "in case the ghost tries to drag me away, please pull me back." he said, half-jokingly.

"ok. i won't let you go, no matter what." gakky promised.

toma smiled. "i know you won't... but i don't think i can sleep tonight..."

"me either." gakky said.

"what should we do?" toma asked.

mari and her boyfriend were moaning again and their bed was creaking, with mari gasping "yes...more...you're so fucking hot..."

toma and gakky looked at each other for a moment and shared an awkward silence. 

"umm...why don't we talk about my cat, Teddy?" gakky quickly said.

"ok! how's she doing?" toma said. 

"she's fine. she's staying at my friend's house for now. i bought her the cutest toys before i left for hawaii."

"really? what does it look like?"

"they're catnip toys, shaped like sushi!" gakky explained.

and so, they talked about Teddy, tv shows they watched recently, wanting to buy new clothes, and celebrity gossip news, until they eventually fell asleep.

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gakky patted toma's arm to wake him up. "toma, toma, wake up. it's morning."

toma yawned and sat up. "oh, it is. we're safe! nothing happened!" 

"i told you!" gakky smiled and hugged him.

toma smiled too. "thank goodness...we made it." but then he frowned. 

"what is it?" gakky asked.

"even if the ghost doesn't kill me, yamashita is going to, when he finds out i secretly went to hawaii with you. i've got to tell him tonight..." toma sadly said.

"toma..." gakky softly said, pursing her lips. "he'll forgive you. don't worry..."

toma tried to smile at gakky and nodded, letting out a long sigh. 

------------ notes

--wow... it's been over a month since i last worked on this fic!! sorry for the long wait!!!! was this chapter kinda scary? it kinda went faster than i imagined it. lol. oh well...i'm glad i can finally post up a new chapter!!! there should be 2 more chapters, only i guess. whew...

--i've gone back to the "gakky" spelling cuz i am more used to that. lol. and somehow i don't like how "gakki" looks.

--i bought sushi-shaped catnip toys for our cat + 2 stray cats we take care of! lol. i shared some pics of them at my LJ post here: http://kate-firefly.livejournal.com/43533.html