A/N Summer2017: I’m back! Please enjoy my latest chapter as I plan out some fun and hidden drama in the next one.

Chapter 15: Relationship Blooms at a Day’s End

“Are you sure about doing this, Shirakage?” Danger Mouse asked me again. The Mark IV was hundreds of feet up in the air, hovering over the wild tundra landscape of Alaska. The blackened dusk filled sky had yet to swallow up a small strip of the dimly lit sunset in the distant horizon.

“Admit it, Nezu-San,” I assured him while grasping on to his hand. “You must miss the excitement and thrills of adventure through your usual missions the longer you remain stuck babysitting me in your flat for more than 48 hours. And besides…” I tightened my grip. “I want to do this…and put my trust and life in your hands.”

I was still scared of suggesting to do this heart pounding stunt at the end of our date. I hadn’t gotten over my fear of uninsured sky diving. But I didn’t want DM to get bored of being reassigned from his action packed heroic lifestyle. This was my decision, and I had faith in him.

“Alright, Shira-San,” he agreed with appreciation in his tone. “I promise you that we will land safely together.” He hugged me, savoring a few precious moments of suppressed invigoration between our bonding touch. When he released me, I nodded him the “ok” to engage. Then he spoke to the Danger car.

“Activate Ejector Seats.”

It happened so fast that I couldn’t help but scream, as my body was sprung out of the open roofed car and into the air. As gravity started to drag me down towards the ground, I pinpointed my body in a head first diving position. I fell past the hovering Mark IV at an alarming rate. Seconds later, I felt a pair of arms encircle my waist and held onto me for dear life.

It was him, all right. Just like he promised. He pulled the lever from his parachute pack and we were jerked back upwards suddenly, stopping us from our speedy descent. As we floated downwards at a gentle pace, I placed my arms around his neck, burying my face into his fur out of lingering fright.

“Arigatou,” I told him shakily. “Don’t let go, onegai…!”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” he sighed deeply. “I’m glad you’re safe, Shira-San. I…I was afraid…that I wouldn’t have made it in time to save you from falling from the Frog’s Head Flyer that night.”

I picked my head up at his nervous confession. “You…were actually worried that I would die?”

DM looked like he was about to continue, but we had finally landed in a field of wild dusty cotton grass. They were in full bloom in their white fluffy ball shaped feathers, that our touchdown on Terra Firma shook up the delicate petals from their pollinating pistils.

I laughed at how ridiculous I looked after being covered in the white cloud of cotton. I couldn’t even see my blue and brown skirt properly from all of the pollinated dust. “Sugoi,” I said happily. “I look pretty silly but cute in this white wonderland, ehh, DM-San.”

When he didn’t reply, I tried to find him through the white fog of fluff balls. “Nezu-San…?” Where was he?

“AAHH-CHOOOO!!!” A loud sneeze disturbed a mountain of cotton balls to my left. I turned to see Danger Mouse, who was also covered in the stuff, sniffing sheepishly from his explosion. “Snf. Scuse me.”

I giggled at his silliness and tackled him gently to the ground. I was having a great time. It was just the two of us…alone…in an Alaskan cotton grass field in the wild-

“Ah…WHA-T’CHOO!!” DM sneezed again, and I snapped out of my happy reverie to look at him more closely. He was coughing, but managed to touch his eye patch and coordinated the Mark IV to descend to our location in the field.

“Nezu-Chan…?”

“Ehh-t’choo! Snf. ungh. Sh-Shira-Sadn. Snf. I’bm aller-hih…aller-heh…allergic to-AhCkT’CHOO!!”
My eyes widened as I understood what he was trying to say. But if this was true.... “DM, does anybody in the agency know that you are allergic to cotton flowered plants?” I asked him urgently.

He shook his head and sniffled a congested snort. “I haven’t told a-ah-CHOOO!! Snf. Adnybody. DNone ob bmy colleagues know. Y-yuhh...snfle. You’re the first person to see bme like this.”

I grabbed his shoulders after he released another set of loud sneezes, and looked at him seriously in his eye. “Danger Mouse, the main ingredient that I had used to create my special perfume—which has also been mysteriously making you sneeze your head off—is the cotton flowered material found in the plants of the Alaskan tundra fields. They’re the key to making my perfume smell nice.”

DM’s eye widened for a moment as he took in my scientific explanation over his secret allergen affliction with the connection to my perfume formula. But then his eye teared up and he turned his head away to sneeze into his upper arm. “Heh-heh...HkshhoOOO!!!”

“Bless you,” I helped him get inside the car and the overhanging glass roof sealed us from the pollinated air. “Oh, Nezu-Kun. Why must you be so proud of yourself all the time? I won’t bring up your friends and peers into this matter now. But you should have told me that you were allergic to these kinds of pollinated plants.”

“AahH-Choo!!” He rubbed his runny nose and smiled shyly at me. “Yes, well…snf…if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have objected to laying in that field with you laughing next to me.”

I flushed with an embarrassed and stubborn expression. “Mou…Mattaku…”

DM heard what I said in Japanese and he covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

“Oh, shut up,” I told him, defending my pride.

“But you just said my exasperated catch phrase in your favorite language,” he snickered pleasantly.

“Gee, now I know I want to go back outside and frolic in that field,” I added sardonically and shook my body furiously like an animal drying itself off after coming out of water.

Spores of cotton fluff which had still lingered in my black hair and on my clothes floated around our enclosed space. Danger Mouse’s eye suddenly narrowed and lost focus. His breath shuddered and his nostrils flared.

“Hh-ahh-ahhtcHHhu! Hh-ah-Hh-HhtCHXT! E’chhhhn! Huh…hu’chhoo!!”

I realized what I’d done and giggled cutely. “Oops. Gomen ne, Nezu-kun.”

“H’h’h…h’chhn! E’chhhoo!” My poor date was overwhelmed by the tiny dusts of white pollen in the the air filtered Mark IV that he had to pull out a handkerchief and wait for his sneezing fit to end. “H-h-h-h-h…U’TCHOO!!”

“Bless you,” I told him as he finally started sniffling and exhaling in exhaustion.

“Th-Thank you, snfle…Shirakage,” he answered after a quick blow of his nose. “Why don’t we head…h-home-H’etchooo!”

“Bless you. I agree. It has been a long day for us. Maybe you should have the autopilot take us back to HQ.” I suggested kindly. “You look like you could use some rest.”

DM was blushing slightly from my tender gaze. “Snf. Snfle. Shirakage, I-he’tchhn! Ah-t’chhn! HEH-CHOO!!”
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We had finally returned to DM’s HQ flat at 11pm. The night was quiet and peaceful around the neighborhood as Nezu-chan drove the Mark IV up the ramp of his Pillar box bottom’s garage door. I would miss watching his old self’s earlier flying car from my past life’s childhood, whenever the Mark III would bounce twice onto the ground after descending from the air.

“I had a wonderful time with you, Shirakage,” Nezu-chan said pleasantly with a big smile. “Perhaps on our next date, we could visit a museum; watch a live Football game in the countryside; visit the moon…” He sighed deeply like he was in heaven. “Are you sure you’re not ready for us to kiss like other match made couples?”

I turned away from his gaze, feeling a little unsure of where I was in my relationship with him. Kissing someone on the lips hadn’t always meant the same thing as telling that someone “I love you”.

Demo, I’ve been…always hoping for the day that I would actually find true love for myself. In my past life in the real world, I never wanted to go on dates because I was so shy. And DM had been missing in that old life for some time too.

“Danger Mouse,” I began as I turned back to face him. “I…I must be truthful with you.”

DM’s smile wilted and his eye shimmered with a look of fear and hope for my concluded statement.

“Today was the most fun that I’ve ever had with a guy like you,” I smiled warmly as a couple of tears escaped from my eyes. “I’ve always believed that such fantasy dates with an ideal guy whom I’ve dreamt about often might never come true.

“But you have fulfilled that long forgotten feeling of mine. I am so happy that you had fallen in love with me. Because I think I’m starting to fall in love with you, too.”

His eye widened when I finally admitted my mutual bond with him. I noticed his mouth parting open slightly, and took it as an opportunity to lean in towards his face and kiss him for the first time. I felt him immediately relax into the mood as his lips moved around mine at a more passionate pace.

My first kiss that I’ve ever had with anyone in two lifetimes…and I was grateful that I was sharing this historic moment with someone who had always been special to me.

When his tongue started to lick the teeth guarded entrance of my mouth, I hesitated slightly while slowing down my make out session with him. But once he moaned in protest with a deep tone in his voice, I allowed him to enter and explore the caverns as our lips danced in a flaming tango.

I suddenly began to feel lightheaded and I broke away from him to breathe. “Sorry,” I huffed quietly. “My first kiss doesn’t have the experience of making out for this long yet.”

Danger Mouse chuckled lightly, as he leaned back in his seat to catch his own breath. “You’re…pant…quite forgiven, Shira-San. I must be out of shape if I’m having trouble snogging a girl using this much energy after 23 years of an off duty holiday.”

Seeing him rest tiredly with his chest breathing in and out gave me a wild impulse to lay my head against him and listen to his heart beat. My desired action must have caught DM off guard; his pulse had quickened slightly once my ear pressed gently onto his chest.

“You must be excited,” I giggled softly. “Your heart raced just as fast like this when we were on that roller coaster ride in Blackpool today.”

He laughed nervously. “How could a manly mouse not become excited when a lovely girl is holding onto him in the face of pure peril? You’re placing your life in my hands by doing my favorite pastimes which terrifies you. By fighting your fears to make me happy, I…”

I heard him trail off in an emotional hitch, then I felt his left arm wrap around and hugged me close to his body. “Oi,” I deadpanned irritably. “You’re not crying, are you, Nezu-Chan?”

“No,” he lied before clearing his throat. “As I was saying… Ever since we met and have now come so far with our relationship, I just wanted to tell you that I now feel like I can do anything whenever I’m putting my life on the line for your safety.”

Normally, I would respond sarcastically to any macho guy who would quote that overused clique phrase at me. However, the way Danger Mouse had stated his honorable vow didn’t sound or act so fake as I first thought. I looked up to see him staring deep into my sapphire orbs in stern filled desire.

He took my hands into his, straightened up in his seat and gulped down his nerves. “Shirakage Mouse,” he began boldly with his right eye shimmering brightly in the darkened garage lot. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

I had anticipated this coming sooner or later for me today. In my gut, I knew that his feelings would eventually seek out my heart and request my love life with him. My eyes couldn’t avert themselves away from his sweet face and rear backed mouse ears.

I smiled warmly at both him and this moving event of my life. “Before I reply ‘yes’ to you, Danger Mouse,” I began kindly. He beamed happily, yet stayed silent to let me continue. “The story about how you, Penfold and your agency retrieved the planet Mars from the black hole during the Intergalactic 147 Snooker game crisis 26 years ago is still classified from me and the public’s knowledge, even after you came back, right?”

Nezu-chan smirked dreamily at me with a sigh. “I do love it when my fans research their homework on my successful career. Alas, my Dear Shirakage, I cannot reveal that top secret mission to you. But it was one of the last accomplishments of those times before Squawky’s grandfather placed me and my colleagues in cryogenic stasis for nearly two decades while you were growing up.”

I smiled wryly from the obvious result of my long awaited question. “Yep. I knew that asking you for the truth was a long shot.” I shrugged my shoulders and moved on the main topic. “I promise to be your girlfriend. But only if you do something for me first.”

My smirk widened as the desperation on his face grew. “I’ll do anything for you, Shira-San,” he bowed formerly with an excited grin. “What is it that you fancy from me?”

A small satisfied, tight lipped laugh escaped my throat. “I want you to…”

A/N Summer 2017: I’ll try to be back soon with Chapter 16. Ja ne.