Theme #47: Away
Couple(s): Mikage x Jack
POV: Third
Language: Mild
Maturity: High
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's

She needed to get away.

Mikage gripped the steering-wheel tightly, feeling her eyes burning with oppressed tears. Her vision of the highway blurred briefly from the salty water, and her first instinct was to pull off the road and cry until she felt numb; as a security officer, she knew emotions could be just as dangerous as alcohol on the road. However, she brushed the feeling off and continued onward, convincing herself she was almost there.

And she was.

The woman turned onto a small, dirt road, leaving the view of the city's bright lights behind. She needed to get away, so far away that nobody would find her; that nobody would even bother to look. She brushed her eyes away of her tears, and pressed the brake pedal, easing to the side of the road. She set the car in park and turned the ignition off; she had arrived.

Stepping out of the car, Mikage looked out to the serene lake before her, its waters black from the lack of moonlight that evening. She found herself sighing, and pulling off her shoes as she headed to the shore. She visited this place often; more than most people knew. Her father would take her and her older sister there on Sunday afternoons to play on its beach while he fished. Even after his death, she continued to visit; it was her safe haven, a place that returned her to childhood, a world without mundane cares.

The honey-eyed woman dipped her feet into the water, despite the fact that it was autumn and the temperature was freezing. Mikage instantly relaxed, and she laid back into the tall grass, feeling the green blades tickle her skin like a feather. She closed her eyes and listened; much to her pleasure, all she could hear was the rustling of tall trees, the rippling of the lake water, the chorus of grasshoppers hidden among the foilage. . . the tires of a second car grumbling against the rocky road, coming her way.

"Dammit,"she murmured under breath, sitting up. She had been followed; she didn't expect she would, since virtually no one would know her path of travel. Even so, she had taken extra precautions during her drive, constantly checking her mirror to see if anyone was tailing her, which no one was. Unless. . .

"How did you know where I was?" she asked as the other person exited his vehicle. He stopped in his tracks and hesitated.

"I just had a feeling you'd be here." He then sat beside her, though he kept a respectable distance; any closer, and she would've grown upset. Mikage pressed her lips together, annoyed as the man fixed his dimly-lit violet eyes on her, awaiting her response. She remained silent, however, and once the man sitting opposite her realized she didn't intend to reply, he cleared his throat

"This is where we first made love," he said calmly, almost stupidly as he cast his gaze upward at the seamless sky, its nature untainted by the glamor of the city. "Do you remember?"

How could she forget? To have sex with someone in a place other than a bed was extraordinary for her. But that's just what Jack Atlas did; he lead her to do crazy, extraordinary things, he made her feel extraordinary. But the event was more than just that. That night was the first time he told her he loved her, that night assured her that he actually did have a heart, that night she felt passion in its rawest form.

That night she was convinced she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

"This is also where I first got pregnant," she added with a sarcastic, almost satirical tone. Jack looked guilty for a moment, and then he sighed, "Mikage. . ."

Something inside the older woman broke, and she started to cry again. Had she been stable, she would have been horribly embarrassed that she was sobbing in front of Jack Atlas of all people; but she was much too upset to think about it, or even care. "I d-don't get it," she stammered through the hot tears that spilled from eyes. "It was perfectly healthy. The doctor said so--but then a week later he said that something had gone wrong and I was going to have a miscarriage. I-I just don't get--"

"--I thought you didn't want it." He didn't mean to sound so insensitive, but he did anyway. Mikage bit her lip, trying to calm herself.

"I didn't. It wasn't the right time; I still wasn't settled into my position as chief of special investigations, I didn't have the flexibility, I didn't have the financial stability, I--we weren't even together. . ." She stopped to recollect her thoughts for a brief moment, taking in a deep breath of the sweet, unpolluted air around her. "But all that didn't mean I still didn't love the baby. . ." Jack listened to all of this intently, and once she finished, he leaned closer towards her so that their faces were merely inches apart.

"Do you want another?"

His question struck her; did she? And with him? She looked at him, searching his richly-colored amber eyes that masked what his emotions so well. What about what he felt? Why was he even offering? She suddenly wondered if the loss of the child had affected him too; if it had broke his heart like it had hers. Mikage could feel her mood softening, and before her mind could further pursue the subject, her lips formed the shape of a "yes."

Without any hesitation, Jack tilted his head and kissed her; gently at first, but he deepened it as he pushed her onto the ground. Mikage let out an inaudible gasp as he gripped her shoulders firmly and nipped at her neck. It was just like before; that love, that passion she had felt three months ago when she brought him to her haven. Did that really mean that he--?

"I love you," he said, and she knew that he meant it. Still, it all felt so surreal. Here was the man she had spent years chasing after with little hope of ever catching him; yet, here he was telling her those three precious words that she had longed to hear from the moment she, herself had fallen in love. Mikage embraced him, running her polished, black nails gently down the spine of his back.

"I love you, too," she said before he kissed her again, delaying her question "Does this. . . Does this mean we're together?" He stopped for a moment and flashed his infamous trademark smirk.

"What do you think?"

The clouds finally uncovered the moon, and fireflies decided to make a late performance at the shore. The waves barely grazed the feet of the two lovers, but water's icy touch didn't matter as long as they had the warmth of one another, content under the hum of the trees' branches.

Comments: I liked this one. Sort of. I think my descriptions are improving dramatically. Think, being the key word. I was feeling romantic, therefore, I needed to write something romantic.

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