fanfic_name = Next Morning

author = Embittered Flower

Rating = AP15

Type = Romance

fanfic = Summary: During wartime, Hikaru and Misa (Rick and Lisa) found comfort and peace in each other’s arms. But now that the war is over, will Hikaru decide to stay with her?

Disclaimer: Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and its characters are property of Shoji Kawamori, Haruhiko Mikimoto, and the other co-creators. Robotech and its characters are property of Harmony Gold. Sadly, they don't belong to me.

Author's Note: In this fic, I once again chose to use the original Japanese names because I opted to use the storyline from Japan's Macross: Do You Remember Love? rather than the one from the series. (The movie is just so much more romantic!) So, this story takes place in 2012 - the morning after the decisive battle of Space War I in Do You Remember Love? and a couple of months before Flashback 2012.

________________________________________________________

Next Morning

By Embittered Flower

Published January 28, 2005

Misa awakened with a comfortable grin on her face. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept so well and awakened feeling so refreshed. She reached over her head to stretch when suddenly she heard a soft mumble from her side.

Hikaru lay there next to her with his arm around her exposed shoulders, still asleep. He unconsciously cuddled Misa closer to him and softly muttered her name. "Misa..."

Misa smiled again. Hikaru's normally unruly hair was now even more disheveled after last night's... last night's...

Well, she thought to herself with a chuckle, last night's "activities."

Affectionately, she reached up to brush some hair away from his eyes. Her hands traveled down to his cheek, where they lingered. She gazed in awe at the slant of his nose, the smoothness of his skin, the youthful ruggedness of his jaw - every feature of Hikaru's face was enough to make her weak in the knees every time she looked at him.

Misa shuffled closer to Hikaru underneath the blankets and wrapped herself around him. Her smile grew as she thought of the memories that she and Hikaru had made the night before. But something was strangely different from the nights that they had spent together while stranded on the devastated Earth. Hikaru had been pensive and quiet, a polar opposite of the loudmouthed and rock-headed pilot that he usually was. He seemed nervous and uncertain, as if there was something hidden deep in his mind that he wasn't ready to reveal, something that he wasn't quite sure about. Was he starting to doubt his feelings for her?

She quickly rattled her head, forcing the question out of her mind. Her hands slowly made their way downward again as she stroked the firm muscles of his bare chest. Meanwhile, she attempted to assure herself with the words that Hikaru spoke before he went into battle the night before.

"The one who I want by my side forever," Hikaru had said, "is you."

Did he really mean it? Although Hikaru was sincere, he still had never said the three small words her heart ached to hear.

She paused. Misa realized that she had never said those endearing words to him either. Perhaps it was because they had only been seeing each other for a few weeks. Perhaps it was because what she felt wasn’t the real thing yet. Perhaps…

No, she told herself. She knew the truth.

She was simply too afraid.

But there was no doubt in her mind. No one had ever touched her heart the way Hikaru did. Not even Riber, her deceased first love, had this effect on her.

After living so many years hiding away her locked heart, Misa Hayase had fallen in love with Hikaru Ichijyo.

Misa felt water welling up her eyes. She squeezed them shut to hold back her tears once more as she remembered how many that she had shed the night before: tears of a broken heart when she discovered Minmay in Hikaru's quarters, tears of pure happiness after Hikaru declared his affection for Misa, tears of relief when Hikaru reported in safely after defeating Gorg Bodolza…

Suddenly, Hikaru's alarm clock sounded in radio mode, and Lynn Minmay's "Do You Remember Love?" melodically filled the room. Hikaru groaned softly but continued to sleep.

Minmay. Although Misa envied her, she couldn't bring herself to hate the gorgeous singer. She had to admit that Minmay was rather naive and a bit spoiled, but because of her, "Do You Remember Love?", the song that Hikaru and Misa discovered and now cherished as their own, had defeated a gargantuan alien fleet and became an overnight hit.

She reached over to turn off the radio but hesitantly drew back her hand. She closed her eyes, allowing the song to bring back the memories of the days before the war, the days when she lived a lonely life and when Hikaru would bend over backwards for Minmay…

She finally switched the radio off.

It just didn't make sense. How could Hikaru forget his feelings for Minmay so quickly? He had been fawning after her for so long. Minmay was, after all, Miss Macross. She was the world's golden girl, pop princess, beauty queen, and beloved songbird all in one cute little package.

And yet, Misa was the woman that Hikaru chose. Misa was the woman that Hikaru came home to after the war's final battle. Misa was the woman that Hikaru lay next to in his bed.

And Misa still couldn't understand why.

She squeezed her eyes shut. What if this was all a dream? What if none of this was real? If she opened her eyes, would Hikaru still be there next to her? Her heartbeat quickened and her mind flooded with doubt as she worried that her newfound happiness would be taken away from her.

She opened her eyes.

He was still there, sleeping peacefully as ever.

This was real. The light but glorious happiness that was flowing into her heart was real.

So why couldn't she believe it?

"Mmph... Misa?"

Hikaru's voice was faint and still full of sleep. Misa looked at him tenderly. "I'm right here," she assured him, lovingly playing with his ear.

Hikaru drew her nearer. He closed his eyes and kissed Misa's lips gently. Instantly, she melted into his touch and released a small sigh of contentment into his mouth. Reluctantly, the two pulled away from each other. Hikaru buried his nose in her hair. "Good morning," he whispered.

"Good morning."

"It's so nice to wake up with you next to me..."

Misa could only nod.

"How long have you been awake?" he yawned.

"I don't know," she answered him. "Not too long."

"And you've just been laying here?"

"Yes." She laid her head on his chest and listened to the song that his heartbeat sang only for her. "Just thinking... enjoying being next to you."

"Ah." Hikaru stared up at the ceiling as his fingertips lightly tickled Misa's bare back. Just as his eyes were about to close in relaxation, they flew open and he jerked up in bed, almost pushing Misa off.

“Hikaru!” she screamed, scrambling to stay in place. “What’s wrong?”

“N - nothing.” He avoided her eyes and kissed her forehead briskly as he settled back onto the pillow.

Silence. Normally, silence wouldn't bother Misa. The two of them would sometimes spend hours together without words, just enjoying each other's company. But this was a different type of silence – awkward, tense, and full of anxiety. Misa's doubts resurfaced from the back of her mind and returned to consciousness to haunt her.

This was ridiculous. The two of them had become so open and frank with each other. She shouldn't be afraid to ask such a simple question. "Are you okay?"

"Of course. I'm with you.” He made an effort to smile, but his eyes revealed that he was uneasy. “Nothing could be better than that."

"But you've been so anxious lately."

"I'm fine." His voice cracked like that of a child in puberty.

It was now obvious, however, that something was wrong. Hikaru may have been younger than she was, but he was 19 now. Puberty should have disappeared long ago. "There's something you're not telling me, Hikaru..."

He opened his mouth to speak. "Misa, I -"

Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring!

Hikaru's phone broke the quiet from across the room. He sighed thankfully for the distraction.

Misa raised an eyebrow and looked at him peculiarly. "Well?" Misa glared at him. "Aren't you going to answer that?"

Hikaru rolled over, feigning sleepiness. "You're closer to it. You get it."

Misa smacked him with the pillow. "Are you kidding?” She knew that, at this point, her relationship with Hikaru was public knowledge. However, the two of them labored to keep their relationship as private as possible. “If anybody finds out that I’m here, we'd -"

She cut herself off as Hikaru threw off the covers, got out of bed, and walked to the phone. She blushed as she admired the generous view of his naked body that the situation had presented to her.

Hikaru picked up the phone. "Lieutenant Ichijyo," he answered. "… Oh, good morning, Commander LaSalle."

Misa gulped, forgetting about Hikaru’s worrisome behavior. Claudia was calling? Misa hadn't planned on spending the night with Hikaru in his quarters; it just... happened. But if Claudia found out where she was, the teasing would never cease.

"Gone missing? Who? ... Commander Hayase? Oh, no, ma'am. In fact, she's right here."

Misa turned white as she shot up from the bed, clutching the bed sheets to her chest to cover herself. "Why, you..." she mouthed at him silently in anger.

Hikaru brought his finger to his mouth and motioned her to keep quiet. "Yes, ma'am. Will do. See you then." He hung up. "She called from the bridge."

"From the bridge?!" Misa exploded. That meant that Vanessa, Kim, and Shammie heard the entire conversation as well. She fell back onto the pillow and drew the covers over her head. "The girls are going to have a field day now that they know I'm here!" she groaned from underneath the blankets.

"Don't get so comfy, Commander." Hikaru snatched the blankets from Misa, who yelped in surprise now that she was completely exposed. "Captain Global wants us both on the bridge in 45 minutes," he told her.

"Both of us? Why?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I guess we'll find out then."

"I suppose so..." Misa looked at her rumpled clothes on the floor and blushed, remembering how they got there in the first place. She looked shyly at Hikaru. "I need a fresh uniform."

He smirked as he walked into the bathroom. "Well, you better slip out of here before the girls tell the whole ship where the First Officer spent the -"

Click.

Hikaru heard the door shut and turned around. Misa was gone. Apparently, she was already one step ahead of him.

----

Forty minutes later, Commander Misa Hayase and Lieutenant Hikaru Ichijyo, both in freshly pressed uniforms, walked through the halls of the SDF Macross toward the bridge.

First Hikaru's acting strange and now this? Misa kept her head down as she examined her situation. The mysteries just kept coming in, one right after another. She wondered why the captain would need them under short notice since the emergency alarms had not sounded. And why was Hikaru being called to the bridge as well? Had he even ever set foot there before? Perhaps the captain wanted an informal debriefing on the war's concluding battle.

Some of the crew members who passed them by pointed at the couple and whispered excitedly to one another.

“For crying out loud,” Misa griped quietly, not looking at Hikaru. “The girls work faster than I thought. It seems that the word about us has already gotten out.”

“Yeah,” Hikaru murmured.

She finally looked up at him. Sweat was beginning to appear over his brow.

She looked at Hikaru. "Are you okay?" she asked again.

"Yeah," he said, his fingers fumbling nervously as he reached into his pocket. He shakily pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead. "Yeah, I'm okay."

What a lie. She could clearly see that Hikaru was apprehensive about something.

As Hikaru and Misa approached the bridge, they heard Vanessa, Kim, and Shammie chattering excitedly. However, their conversation ended abruptly as the two entered.

Misa could feel their eyes boring into her. Luckily, she had become more than exemplary in hiding her true emotions. Swallowing her embarrassment, she advanced assertively with her head held high toward Captain Global, who was seated in his usual place of power.

"Commander Misa Hayase and Lieutenant Hikaru Ichijyo reporting for duty, sir!" she saluted Global.

If she had looked to her side, she would have noticed Hikaru’s trembling and pale-faced salute.

"At ease," Global smiled and looked at them with a twinkle in his eye. "I assume you both had a well-deserved rest."

The captain knows too? Misa drew her head back in surprise and turned pink in the cheeks. She heard Vanessa, Kim, and Shammie attempt to stifle their giggles in vain.

"Sir, I... that is, we..." She decided to change the subject. "You wanted to see us, Captain?" she asked, regaining her composure.

"Initiate ship-wide communication to all military and civilian links."

Misa was startled. "All of them, sir?"

"Yes, Commander. Get on it."

"Right away, sir." She quickly made her way to her station, flipping switches as she sent out the orders. All of the links? Misa thought to herself in alarm. Earth and its previous population of ten billion people were annihilated by the Zentraedi's main fleet in the war, and the only survivors were those living on the Macross. Even still, it must be one important announcement if the captain wants to reach the civilians, too, she thought.

"Ship-wide communications have been established, sir." Misa flipped on the final switch and turned to face Global, expecting him to rise out of his chair to proclaim whatever urgent announcement he was about to make.

She didn't expect to see, however, that all eyes on the bridge were focused on her.

She also didn't expect to see that the all of the bridge's communication cameras were aimed at her.

Most of all, she definitely didn't expect to see Lieutenant Hikaru Ichijyo on bended knee - not saluting, but on bended knee at her feet.

Every screen on the Macross now displayed the two heroes of what would become known as Space War I, and Misa was well-aware of that she was the center of attention of the coordinated fiasco. Her eyes grew wide in panic. Was she dreaming? She looked around her, searching the eyes of her shipmates for any answer, any explanation, any tiny hint as to what Hikaru was doing. Vanessa threw her a thumbs-up. Kim wore a knowing grin. Shammie gazed at the pair wistfully with clasped hands, as if she was watching a love story unfolding before her.

A love story? Misa's head spun in circles as she tried to orient herself. She turned to Claudia. Surely her best friend would tell her something.

But Claudia simply shook her head and smiled.

Misa could feel the boiling blood rushing to her cheeks once again. "What is – I don't –" she stammered.

It was then that Hikaru finally spoke. "Misa, forgive me in advance. I really don't know how to do this type of thing."

He wouldn't have put this all together unless...

"I know that you and I got off to a rough start. I'd give you some smart-aleck remark, and you'd nag at me for my insubordination. I'd disobey your orders, and you'd threaten me with a court martial." Hikaru laughed nervously.

This can't be what I think it is...

"But when we got stranded together on the Earth, I learned to see past the cold workaholic and ended up discovering the real you - a loving woman with an understanding heart and an incredibly giving soul. And even though we’ve only been together for a couple of weeks, I've thought a lot about you..." Hikaru paused and then added, "And about us too."

Is he really...?

"I guess that I've been scaring you lately, being so anxious and all," he admitted. "I was afraid that... well, I was afraid that maybe I was rushing things. But now… now I know what I want."

Can it be…?

"Like I’ve said before, Misa," he began, "I'm a pilot, so there's no telling how long I'll be around. I don't know how many days I'll be able to wake up to see, but I know that I want to start each one waking up seeing you next to me."

"Awww..." the other girls gushed together.

However, Misa couldn't hear or see them. All she knew at that moment was that the man that she so devotedly loved was about to make what she thought was impossible possible. Misa felt tears returning to her eyes. Oh, God, she thought to herself. Hikaru couldn't really be... ?

Despite Misa's disbelief, Hikaru pulled a small black velvet box out of his pocket, opened it, and raised it to her. Inside it was the most brilliant solitaire diamond ring that Misa had ever seen.

"Misa Hayase, will you marry me?"

That was all it took. Commander Misa Hayase, the always confidently-poised and impeccably professional mastermind of the Daedalus Attack, First Officer and Chief Operator of the SDF Macross, and famed heroine of the war, collapsed to her knees with rivers flowing from her emerald eyes. "Oh, Hikaru, yes!" She threw her arms around him. "Of course, yes! Yes!"

Beaming, Hikaru took Misa's left hand, slipped the ring onto the appropriate finger, and kissed it. He took the still sobbing Misa in his arms tightly and moved his lips to her ear. For the first time, in an almost inaudible whisper, he leaned in to confess the anxious secret that waited patiently in his heart.

And despite all the deafeningly loud cheers and cries of joy that echoed throughout the Macross, his words were the only things that Misa heard.

"I love you."

-End-

State = Fin/The End

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = embitteredflowerATgmail.com