Star Seeker, Oath-Keeper

Chapter Two

All Things Said…

–

The ice swirled around the glass again, urged on by Nino’s straw, pushing the amber liquid around and making small tinkling and splashing sounds. Nino found his eyes glued to the sparkling amber liquid in a strange sense of fascination. If he stared hard enough, he could engross himself in it, and forget that he had been sitting here twenty minutes, waiting for Ohno, who was already fifteen minutes late. It didn’t help that his nerves were already shot and his emotions drop-kicked to hell and back. That’s why he had to keep himself occupied – intently stirring his drink, which – incidentally, was his third already. But he didn’t pay attention to details like that. He was much too focused on listening for the door to open, so he could quickly turn around and see if it was the person he was waiting for.

Unfortunately, this place was lively, and in those twenty minutes the door had opened over sixty times. And half of those times, it was happy couples leaving to do any number of illicit things, most likely, not Ohno coming in. So of course, Nino eventually gave up on looking. And of course, it was when he didn’t, that Ohno came ducking in, looking around for him. The lights were dimmed, so it took him a while, but Ohno finally found him at the table closest to the wall, but also closest to the door. “There you are!” He said, putting a hand on Nino’s shoulder.

Now this was harmless, but Nino was in a wired-up state, and jumped from the sudden voice and contact. “Aaaaugh, d-don’t sneak up on me like that!” Nino scolded, smacking Ohno on the head. Ohno mearly looked at him with an expression of confusion that said ‘but I didn’t?’. “A-Anyway… sit down. We have a lot to talk about and we have aaaaall night to do it!” Nino grinned, offering Ohno the chair next to him and calling over the waiter. It was time for the fourth drink already…

————- badly placed time-place skip ————————

Oh of course Nino just had to have that way of making him feel bad, even when he knew he was right. There was no way he should even be considering this. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he had the curious cat that never died practically sitting on him, trying to eavesdrop on his conversation. “Nino? What’s up? It’s pretty late, isn’t it?” That seemed to calm the eager beaver down, because Aiba backed off a little, a strange look on his face. Sho didn’t have time to worry about that right now though – he had enough trouble just dealing with Nino. “Did you ever think that maybe you relax too much? Someone has to keep-”

Even Aiba knew what Sho was going to say, grinnning. Sho frowned at him, giving him a light kick and pouting. It was bad enough that Nino always said it, but to have Aiba thinking it too was even worse. The worse part was that he knew what was coming. It was only when Nino wanted to drag him somewhere that he would even think to call him at this time of night. Maybe that had something to do with the look on Aiba’s face. It didn’t matter either way. Even if he felt bad, he wasn’t going to ditch Aiba. W-well, not this time. He felt bad enough the last time to last a lifetime. Sho knew he wasn’t kidding, but he just couldn’t. He had been looking forward to this night too, and Nino couldn’t always get his way. Someone else could go watch out for him just this once, right?

“I’m your friend, not your babysitter. A-and besides… I made plans for tonight.” As soon as he said it, he wished he could take it back: take back the little stutter, and the way his voice sounded like a girl getting ready for her first date. In his embarrassment and regret, he didn’t notice Aiba grinning on the other side of the couch, seeming mighty proud of himself, and all jealousy of Nino forgotten.

Well, of course he couldn’t forget the time Sho ditched him for one of Nino’s last minute get-togethers. But he didn’t hold grudges. Not against Sho anyway. And he didn’t have a real problem with Nino, just – he was just jealous of the way he could get people to revolve around him, make, break and change plans for him, when he had to struggle to make his plans a week or two ahead of time. It wasn’t fair, and he had every right to be jealous… and every reason to be happy that it didn’t seem like Sho would be going anywhere tonight.

After all, tonight was supposed to be special, Aiba reminded himself, trying to focus and gather his courage. For a long time he had feelings for this intelligent, sweet, and sometimes utterly fail friend of his, and for a long time, he kept it a secret that he thought he would take to his grave. Eh, well, turns out he didn’t have that kind of patience or dedication… only a saint would, right? Well, anyway, he gave up on trying to hide it, and tonight he had planned to tell Sho. Had Nino ruined this… well, he wouldn’t have been able to be nice about it, that’s for sure. But all that was mere speculation now that Sho shot him down.

It had been a while since Sho said that and yet nothing else was said. Aiba figured it was Nino still attempting to win Sho over, when suddenly Sho shouted, nearly knocking Aiba of the couch from surprise.

“NO! Do you even think about what you say before it comes out of your mouth?!” It happened so quickly that Sho didn’t even have time to think about what he was really doing before he was shouting, hanging up on Nino and completely throwing his phone across the room to land semi-gently on the carpet three feet away. For a moment, all he could do was stare, wide-eyed, at the phone on the floor. Aiba slowly relaxed, his eyes also moving to look at the phone on the floor. For Sho, this silence was uncomfortable and awkward. It didn’t really bother Aiba, instead, he felt like maybe Sho needed some time in silence to calm down. But it didn’t last long.

“Sho? Sho.” Aiba called out to him, again, inching close to him. Whatever daze he had been in, Sho seemed to snap out of it when he heard Aiba’s voice calling for him.

He sighed. “I- I’m sorry.” Now that it was over, Sho was starting to feel calm again. He felt terrible for blowing up like that all of a sudden, and he wasn’t even sure why he had reacted in such a hot-headed manner. But even so, he knew he wasn’t going to change his mind, so… he’d just have to apologize to Nino later. There were often times that Sho regretted what he said to Nino – times when he felt he was too harsh, or said unneccessarily painful things, but even when he did apologize, it was never for what he said – rather, he would apologize for how he said it and then remind Nino that he was only ever scolded for a good reason. And that he only did it because he cared for him.

This time he thought he might just have to apologize for yelling at him for no good reason.

“Earth to Sho-chan~!” Aiba shouted, waving his hand in front of Sho’s face and eyes. “Come on! Forget about Nino! Whatever it was, I’m sure he’ll get over it and so should you.” A mischevious smile crossed Aiba’s face. Sure, he had planned on breaking the news of his crush on Sho a little more subtly, but – seeing Sho a riled up, just barely containing the anger he felt, shouting and screaming so out of character, and now, looking so drained, apologetic and sad had affected him too. It broke his heart to see Sho upset like this. But this emotional Sho had another affect on him. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you forget all about Nino~” he purred softly in Sho’s ear, letting his breath tickle the side of his face.

And he would. He vowed that tonight – Nino would be the farthest thing from their minds.

“W-what are you doing?” Sho gasped. There were fingers on the back of his neck, gently massaging away the tension, and yet, making him tense in a whole other way. Aiba was sitting on his lap now, looking quite comfortable with his arms around Sho, touching him – the one behind his neck, and the other hand sitting gently on Sho’s hip. His mouth wasn’t touching him yet, but he was breathing on him, and the soft breaths on his skin were driving him mad. More than anything, it was teasing – not straight forward at all. And it was making Sho uneasy. Aiba chuckled, kissing Sho on the cheek softly.

He leaned in, letting his whole body rest against Sho’s for a second, as he whispered in his ear. “Sho-chan, I think you know exactly what I’m doing.” He lightly nipped the edge of Sho’s ear, making the nervous rapper jump slightly. “And I think you like it.” Aiba grinned, pressing his cool lips against Sho’s warm neck. He could practically feel the other’s pulse racing through the veins of his neck.

Star Seeker, Oath-Keeper

Chapter One

There Would be Days Like These…

A little obnoxious ray of light came floating in through the slightly open, mostly closed curtains – just enough to annoy him as he tried desperately to sleep. It was on his face and in his eyes, and he groaned, grabbing the covers up with him as he turned on his other side and buried his face in the soft fabric. His dark eyes were sensitive to light, and fond of the darkness, especially when he was sleeping. Even the tiniest amount of light could reach him, no matter how deeply he slept. “Ugh~.” A loud, long, low-pitched groan escaped his lips. It felt like he hadn’t slept at all, but he had this horrible feeling that it was probably already late in the day. He could tell just from the way the light was shining at him. Pulling himself along, using the covers as grips, he grudgingly got up and looked around with bleary, half-sleeping eyes. It felt like just seconds ago he had been saying goodbye to the stars as he dozed off into a dreamless sleep, but now the sky was bright and beaming down at him without a hint of darkness clouding the sky.

Glaring red numbers leered at him as he leaned in, squinting to try and make them out. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” He groaned, as he managed to clear his hazy morning vision just enough to see the time. Today was going to be one of ‘those’ days – he just knew it. Even before he got out of bed, he was sure of it, because he was already asking himself: ‘why bother getting out of bed?’, and that was a sure sign that today was going to be a disaster. Nino didn’t usually have a problem making the most of his days. His work and the people he spent his time with generally made his days fun and interesting. But then there were just some days when it felt like a little black cloud of gloom was following him around, making his whole day feel gray and dreary and infecting him with a powerful sense of pessimism.

Pushing the covers off him almost angrily, he kicked his legs over the side of the bed and stood, albeit somewhat wobbly, as he stumbled around, body still mostly asleep, towards the shower. One look at himself and he wondered why the mirror wasn’t broken – his eyes had black circles under them, and drooped lifelessly, just barely finding the energy to stay open. His hair was pushed in all directions in the front, and completely flat in the back – completely ridiculous. For a second, he slumped down, resting his head against the cool sink. There was hardly any chance of avoiding work, no matter how ill he felt. The only thing left to do was suck it up most days. Groaning, he lift his head and dropped it on the cold, hard sink, flinching from the pain, but feeling slightly more awake. Dragging himself away from the counter, he stripped and made his way to the shower.

Today, the water would have to be cold, if he wanted to have any chance of saving what was left of his day. How much better it made the chances – well, he didn’t want to think about that, because it probably wasn’t much. Letting his hand test the waters, he shivered. It had been a long time since he forced himself to take a cold shower, and god did he hate it. The icy mist seeped straight through his skin and made his whole body feel cold and empty. Pushing himself to ignore the lingering dread, he threw himself head-first into the water, shutting the door quickly behind him. It was like being plunged into a wall of ice needles at first, but the numbness spread fast, leaving only the hollow feeling of being numb all over. If it was just a little stronger, he wouldn’t have to feel the barely noticeable flow of water on his skin, touching him like ghosts and making him shiver more, but this time, not because of the cold.

It was only on these kinds of days that he would think like this, or feel like this. A normal cold shower was just a pain. But when he was like this, it was like it was his heart taking a cold shower, not him – and the feelings were all as cold as ice. Wrapping his arms around himself, he tried smothering himself – trying to recreate the feeling that his heart yearned for the most right now: contact, human interaction and attachment. In the depths of his despair, he found that a desire was born inside of him: a desire for love and affection from someone – people who loved and cared for him… someone who would pull him out of his dark haze-filled day. He longed for his friends, on days like this.

Forcing himself to move forward with the positive prospect of calling his friends later, he let go of himself and grabbed some shampoo. It was nice – the feeling of running his hands through his hair with the shampoo. The suds felt like they were washing away some of the dirty thoughts, same as they soaked away the dirt. It didn’t take him long to get cleaned up after he set his mind to it. His hair was longer than it had been in a while though, so it wasn’t as quick as he might have liked it, but his appearance was everything, especially on filming days, so he took his time anyway. Afterwards, he grabbed up the soap and started rubbing himself down.

The slippery feeling of the soap was surprisingly pleasant. It made it harder for the cold to penetrate his skin, giving him a nice little shield to hide behind. Washing away all the dirt, Nino felt a little better, as he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. The cool air on the water left him shivering as he stumbled to grab his towel and dry off. “Ugh.” He groaned again. He was glad it was over, and yet, it reminded him that the day had just begun and that now – he had to move forward. There was a whole day before him, taunting him mercilessly. Throwing the towel over the top of the shower, he went off to look for something decent to wear.

After all, he still had to live through work… and of course, today was a filming day. No matter what he felt like on the inside, he wasn’t allowed to let that become an issue that would jeopardize his work. And his appearance was an important part of his work – or so people told him, day in and day out. Most days he didn’t mind. Dressing nice felt good.

Making a small effort not to move too terribly slowly, he went over to his closet and started throwing different things in all direction. His mind was all over the place, and so were his decision making skills. There were a lot of silly reasons he rejected different outfits, but the only thing that really matters here is that he found on to wear to work in the end, and did not in fact, go naked, or call the studio and tell them he wasn’t coming in (because he didn’t have anything to wear, of course.) No, that would be much too much like something an obnoxious female diva would do – although Nino couldn’t deny that he had thought about doing just that, even if it was only for a moment.

He tried to make himself look a little more decent – but he didn’t try too hard. After all, that was what the attendants he had at the studio were for. He just… made their jobs more difficult some days, more than others. And today would just have to be one of those days. Oh well, they needed to work for that paycheck anyway, so it might as well be him putting them to the test. Finally seeing nothing else he could do to help himself, he decided it would be best if he got going. Any later and he might not be so easily forgiven… not that he was easily forgiven on any occassion, but he somehow still managed to win everyone over by the end of the day again.

Today, he wasn’t so sure if his charisma was up to that level of a task. Right now, on the pyramid of success, he was at the bottom for today – just trying to survive.

After work, he evaluated the day and decided that he had done a sub-standard job, even in just trying to survive. He threw himself down on the couch, barely resisting the urge to scream and instead, just giving a low moan, as his tired back hit the soft, warm couch. Everything had been a disaster, but he really didn’t want to think back over that just now. If he had to, it would be while complaining to his friends. Which he needed to call. Pronto. Faster than he moved all day, he went scrounging for his phone, not quite sure where he set it in his hurry to relax earlier.

Finally, he found it slightly pressed into the cushions of the couch… where he had been previously sitting – on it. He groaned, grabbing it up and plopping back down on the couch. Who to call first… He figured he should start with the hopeless causes – that meaning MatsuJun.

Being also temperamental, MatsuJun wasn’t someone Nino could say he “counted on”, to be there for him when he was down. Not that he never was, just that it wasn’t something he could count on. Most likely, MatsuJun would either scold him, or not bother picking up. And so he obviously wasn’t surprised when no one answered the phone. He hung up, sighing. “So predictable, Jun.” He didn’t hold it against the other. In fact, he’d rather MatsuJun ignore him, or decline him in this way that come on a day when he would just be temperamental at him if he came.

Next was Aiba… not because he was unreliable, per say, but more like – he was unpredictable. Aiba didn’t make plans often, but did a lot of things on impulse. Finding free time when it was Aiba was almost impossible – the boy was crazy, and would do anything and everything. One time Nino actually called him in the middle of a “bet” with someone… something about being led away from his apartment blind-folded and then being left, to see whether or not he could find his way back on his own… After that, Nino wasn’t sure if anything could surprise him. Although he did get a kick out of refusing to help Aiba when he asked for directions because he was already lost. But this time, something did surprise him. A great deal, in fact.

For the first time ever, Aiba’s phone was actually turned off. No matter what stupid things he had been doing, Aiba never turned his phone off. Rather than be worried, naturally, Nino became suspicious of Aiba. “Jeez, wonder what he’s up to.” He made a mental note to ask Aiba all about it later – not without a good amount of teasing first, mind you.

But next was Sho, and that made Nino feel a little better. He wouldn’t say Sho was a “good” person to call in situations like this – after all, he always got lectured, but Sho was about as ‘good-at-heart’ as a guy can get, and even though he hated Nino’s little last-minute get-together’s he usually ended up agreeing to go anyway. The lectures were getting shorter and more half-hearted now, as Sho started to realize that they weren’t going to make a difference anyway, but he didn’t give up either way, insisting that someone had to set Nino straight. Or something like that.

There was a lot of strange noises at first – whispering, rustling, moving, and then finally, Sho answered. “Nino? What’s up? It’s pretty late, isn’t it?”

Nino rolled his eyes. “It’s. a. weekend. Sho. Even we deserve to relax a little on the weekends.”

“Did you ever think that maybe you relax too much? Someone has to keep-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know: ‘someone has to keep me in line’. You know, you sound like a broken record sometimes. Anyway, that’s not why I called, and I definitely didn’t call to have one of your lectures, as much fun as they are.” He added, sarcastically, smirking. “Do you have time for a few drinks? I have a feeling I might need someone ‘responsible’ there to drag me off before I get too carried away.” He grinned.

As soon as he said it, Sho knew he wasn’t kidding. He didn’t know how he learned, but somehow he had learned to tell the difference between a serious “mood”, and his usual teasing self. It wasn’t like he spoke differently, it just… came across differently. Sho had a hard time saying no to Nino, especially when he put it that way. At the same time, he hated supporting his reckless behavior and ‘do whatever’ attitude. “Nino, you really shouldn’t go out drinking when you’re feeling like that.”

Cue the lecture music~

Nino sat back, rolled his eyes, and prepared himself for another one of Sho’s lectures. He wondered how long this one would last. A simple yes or no would have worked much better, but no – he couldn’t have that, now could he? For now, he figured he’d just listen, rather than try to cut Sho off like he had been earlier. When he was ‘really’ lecutring, Sho hated to be interrupted. Just… not many people got lectured by Sho enough to tell the subtle difference between his mini-lectures and a REAL lecture. Nino was probably the single person who did and could.

“I’m your friend, not your babysitter. A-and besides… I made plans for tonight.”

Nino’s ears perked at that. Sho could forgive him this one interruption… it was much too good to let go. “Oooh, the way you said ‘plans’ just there – who is she? Huh? Is she pretty? Do I know her? Let me guess, you used that innocent, good boy face of yours capture her heart and evilly tricked her into your room – is that it? You sly-”

“NO!” Sho didn’t scream – well, not like that. Not often anyway. It was a scream mixed between horror and embarrassment. “Do you even think about what you say before it comes out of your mouth?! ” And on impulse, he did another thing he rarely ever did – he hung up on him.

It took Nino a while for the whole thing to sink in. Sho… really was mad at him. He screamed and hung up the phone. Nino… really didn’t know how to handle this. There were a lot of times he made people upset and angry, but this was over-the-top. And for it to happen on a day like today… He instinctively drew his legs up against his chest. Phone clutched tightly in his hand, he hugged his knees. Nothing was going right today. Nothing at all. So he just knew… he had to keep going. If he stopped now, who knew what kind of darkness he’d pull himself into. And he did the only thing he could – he dialed another number.

There was one person he could count on no matter what kind of mood he was in or what kinds of situations he got himself in to. There was at least one person he could always count on to be there for him and when he couldn’t be there in person, he would always listen to him. That person was Ohno. It took four rings first, and it felt like a year passed before the clicking sound of the phone being picked up could be heard. “Hello?”

Nino found it was hard to talk, and that was when he realized that he was crying suddenly, out of the blue, just from all the sadness bottled up inside.

“I need you Ohno.”

Notes: Ah, the Aimiya muse… my most active Arashi muse… I don’t know why it’s the most active. Maybe I just like the idea of cute bickering. Aiba the adorably squishy idiot and Nino the bratty gamer – it just works for my muse, I guess. Dedicated to Raine on LJ, b-because I always think of her now when I want to write Aimiya. >___>

ALSO! The game mentioned is the game Disgaea, for the DS. There are little mentions of it’s plot and a little bit about Laharl as well as one of the game signatures: the geoblock. But you don’t need to know anything about it really. I just wanted to make note of it.

I should be shot for this… >____>

Aiba had been watching Nino “fighting to become the greatest Overlord” for over an hour now. It started out as sheer bored, and over time, grew into general interest. The main character was a total jerk, but that kinda suited Nino. However, Nino didn’t notice that his friend had become so interested in the game.

When he did notice it, it was because he was given a not so subtle hint.

“Ooh, ooh! The green block there! You gotta smash it!” There was an arm in his face, and Aiba’s finger was on the screen of his DS.

Nino smacked his forehead. “I know that, stupid! But it’s invincible.” He rolled his eyes. Strategy games would forever be out of Aiba’s leage. “Now get your arm out of my face so I can see.”

For a while it was silent, but Aiba was still looming over him from behind the couch. It was really starting to get on Nino’s nerves. And then…

“Can I play?”

“No, Aiba, you’d just get me killed.”

“No, no, I can do it! See?” He reached for the DS, but Nino dropped onto his side onto the couch, making Aiba miss by a few inches. “Come oooon! I can do it!”

Raising his eyebrows skeptically, Nino said, “You definitely can’t. It’s impossible for you.”

Aiba pursed his lips. Then, he had an idea. He dashed around the couch and pounced on the unsuspecting gamer, making him drop it off the side of the couch. “Idiot! Look what you made me do! You could’a broke it!”

“You should’ve just let me play.”

Nino got an evil smirk on his face. “Oh yeah? You wanna play, do ya? Well I’ve got a game for ya – one that will make you regret doing that just now.”

Shivering, Aiba wondered if he could make it away if he ran as fast as he could. He doubted it. Nino looked scary right now. He could probably catch up to him. “W-what kind of game?”

The boy was caught right where he wanted him now. “Oh, don’t worry Aiba, you know me – I only like fun games.”

‘Yeah, fun for you – but what about me?’ Aiba pouted. “But I thought you said you were going to make me regret it? You can’t do that if the game is fun.”

Smirking, Nino drew the tip of his fingernail down the side of Aiba’s face all the way down to his chin, making the boy shiver again, but this time, a little differently. “Yes I can. I said it would be fun, but I never said it wouldn’t be humiliating.”

Needless to say, Aiba regretted his actions that day. But it didn’t stop him from doing it even more. And Nino was only too happy to punish him.

Notes: Ahh~ when I get bored at work, sometimes things like this happen. It’s horrible, and mushy and bleh. B-but it was a plot bunny I thought was cute and couldn’t let go of it.

Sometimes, on the rare occassion when he wasn’t viewing it as an adventure, there were times when Aiba would hate sleeping away from home. He would toss and turn and pout but it wouldn’t do any good – Aiba wouldn’t be able to sleep. The covers felt wrong and it didn’t matter which way he turned, he would never  be able to get comfortable.

And on this particular night, he was alone, with no one to share his anguish with. “Ehh~” he exhaled heavily. Normally there was at least someone he could complain to. Although, it was usually Nino and he usually moaned and groaned and told him to shut up.

Nino sort of listened though. If it was Ohno, he’d already be off in dream land, carelessly snoring away. Matsujun was too scary when he was trying to sleep for Aiba to even think of attempting to complain to him. Of all of them, Sho was the most understanding, and it was Sho he would go to when he was all alone.

“Sho-chaaaaan~”

He threw himself down on the bed next to Sho, with a big, goofy grin on his face. Bleary eyes peeked out from under the covers at him – at least the part of his eyes that wasn’t covered by his already messy hair.

“Misaki.”

Aiba grinned wider. That was all the welcome he needed. He crawled under the covers and snuggled up against the half-sleeping Sho.

Sho sighed and smiled. “Better now?”

“Yep! Much better!” Aiba chimed comfortably.

“Good. Then no kicking this time, or I’m kicking you out.”

Pouting, Aiba wrapped his arms around Sho. “You wouldn’t do that.” After all, Aiba always kicked, but Sho always let him stay, regardless of what he said.

“No, but I always hope it’ll make you stop.”

“What can I say Sho-chan? I get excited, and when I’m excited, I kick.” Sho elbowed him in the side, rolling his eyes.

“Idiot.”

In the end, Aiba slept better than Sho did, and in the morning, Sho had one more ugly black and blue to explain. But Sho smiled when he woke up first to find Aiba still clinging to his side, still wearing that big, goofy, happy grin of his, and he felt like it had been worth it to be able to give him that smile.

Notes: Also an older submission to 30 Kisses, this time, for Kanda/Allen.

It was annoying, the way he could lose his only help so easily. Not that the other Exorcist had been helping him that much, but it was still annoying. “Oi! Moyashi! The mission’s over!” When he didn’t hear the younger Exorcists annoying chime, he got a little worried. Had the Akuma taken him out while he wasn’t looking? Not that he would be surprised, but still, it wouldn’t be good if the stupid kid got killed before he had a chance to be useful to the Order at least a little.

Kanda sighed, ready to give up and go home without him when he heard the rubble behind him moving. “Over here!” came the annoying voice he had been waiting for. Kanda smirked. So the brat hadn’t died yet after all. Looking at the source of the sounds, he decided it would be easiest to just kick the rubble off and get out of here. This stupid mission was starting to give him a headache. Spending that half an hour looking for the stupid Moyashi had been more than enough trouble for one day.

“Eeeeehhh~” The white haired Exorcist sighed in relief when the rocks were blown off of him. “Thanks Kanda. Although… you could have figured it out a little faster.” he said, standing up on his own two wobbly feet. It was pointless to ask for help from Kanda. Just knowing that the swordsman had stayed to look was a bit surprising. A good thing, though, since Allen wasn’t sure he could’ve moved those boulders on his own.

But the tall, dark haired Exorcist didn’t seem willing to listen to any of it. He was looking in the direction of the train station already. Allen growled and grabbed his chin and forced Kanda to look at him. “Look over HERE! No one over there is talking to you! I am!” This guy was so frustrating.

Kanda blinked. “You’re not saying much of anything either, Moyashi. What you’re saying is wasting my time, let’s go.” He tried to pull the white haired boy along so they could leave, but Allen pulled all his weight into it and grabbed Kanda back, throwing him off of his center of balance and sending him crashing into Allen’s body. Allen laughed and kissed the unguarded swordsman before he could get his wits about him.

“Bet you wish you would have just listened, ne?”

There was so much he could take. Even the seemingly perfect Yunoki Azuma had a limit. He watched her waltz in effortlessly and brainlessly take away everything he had, which wasn’t much surprisingly. No way would he ever consider his popularity a thing worth keeping. To him, it was nothing. But his control, and that one person, were things he could not have taken away.

And yet that girl with her stupid smile just moved the whole world and took and took and took until he didn’t even recognize himself anymore. He didn’t slip. But now he showed himself to her. Azuma had become so enraged that he could no longer stand by. It was so powerful that it should have been obvious. Every time he looked at her he knew the feelings she was instilling in his heart, the witch!

He felt his blood boil and his eyesight go red as he imagined how easy it would be for her to just take him for her own… forever…

“Yunoki!” Hihara shouted, waving his hands in front of his friend’s face. He had never seen Yunoki space out like that before. Even standing right in front of him, it had taken a loud shout to make Yunoki realize that he was even there. And even then, it was a dismal, nearly unseeing look.

Pouting, Hihara leaned down so he was level with the sitting Yunoki and kissed him strongly on the lips, blushing. That got his attention. Hihara laughed nervously. Now that he had his attention, he had acted so strange that he didn’t know what to say. What had possessed him to- oh!

“I got you something! Happy birthday!” It was a… red… ribbon? He eyed it closer and noticed that there was a key on it. Even before he could ask what it was for, he realized that Hihara had left, either embarrassed or just being coy. He wasn’t sure which.

But then he remembered. The color red is associated not only with blood and anger, but also love and passion. Maybe if he could control those intense feelings, he could still turn them around. Yes, that is what he decided he must do.

So that he would never have to be in that kind of situation again, without the things he loved.

For Yunoki, home wasn’t a pleasant place. In fact, it wasn’t someplace he wanted to be very often nor did he feel any obligation to talk about it to his friends and he would never discuss it with his family; almost fearful of the consequences of complaining in his situation. Any other place was fine. So an adventure to help Hihara find furniture for his dorm room sounded like a great way to spend the day. A computer was much less complicated and much nicer than his grandmother any day. Then again, even if he didn’t have anything to avoid, he still probably would have happily gone with his friend simply to get to spend that small amount of time with him. The thought of losing his best friend to some far-off college was a cause of much grief for Yunoki, but for him that wasn’t an acceptable thing to show, so he simply didn’t. Smile and nod like it’s not killing you to do so, he told himself, sighing.

There were a lot of people, but they were all clumped together, so getting around wasn’t a problem. They looked at buying him a mini fridge first, Yunoki knowing well enough that Hihara would need one with a stomach like his. Not that he imagined Hihara would have a problem getting up and going out to get something. But getting him a mini fridge is like a thank you gesture to his grades, Yunoki smiled, helping Hihara get it in the cart. Of course, this wasn’t something he wanted to tell Hihara, but he was a little concerned. When Hihara got into something, he tended to let his grades drop. In college, Yunoki was afraid he couldn’t afford to do that.

And then he saw it. The thing mocked him from it’s position high up on display. Ignoring it wasn’t so easy, but if he turned away quickly enough, then he wouldn’t have long until it was forgotten. But Hihara seemed to tune into his friend’s line of vision, and stopped the annoying item with a much different look on his face. Cold words were aligned along the edges of the rug, taunting and tormenting Yunoki in bright white lettering on the black background. “Home is where the heart is…” He couldn’t count the number of times he had heard the phrase uttered. People thought it was cute. Well, Yunoki thought they were dead wrong, because there were few things further from cute than that stupid, ugly phrase and it’s horrible, dark implications. In that case, he didn’t have a heart, he thought, keeping his home in mind.

“It’s a bit sad.” Hihara sighed. “I’m leaving a lot of homes behind.” Yunoki blinked. Not even Hihara could be dimwitted enough to have missed the contradiction in his words. There is only one place you call ‘home’ and that is the house in which you live. “Kinda makes you wonder if it’s good to put your heart in so many different places.” No, Yunoki sighed, he was fully aware of what he said, and he meant every word of it. And he applied it to that wretched phrase… “But I’m making a new home.” he smiled. “I’m giving another piece of my heart to music and going where it leads me. So, even if I miss all the other homes I’ve made, I know I will come back to them. That includes you!” he said, suddenly growing serious. “My best friend will always have a piece of my heart, so… take care of it until I come home, okay?!”

Yunoki placed a delicate hand over his head and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. “Someday I might return to music too.” He said, thoughtfully. There wasn’t a day he didn’t secretly wonder about what it might have been like without the demon lady making all the decisions for him and his family. His heart was still in the music. It would be a difficult path to follow, thanks to the rules set down for him; he wouldn’t get away without breaking some of them, but he had a feeling that he might still be welcomed ‘home’ even if he was disowned. Maybe, just maybe…

“I’ll be waiting.” Hihara smiled, picking up the rug and throwing it into the cart.

“When did we stop telling each other things?”

The question ceased to be a thought as it started to bother Hihara more and more. Yunoki was his most trusted confidant, and he had been there for Yunoki in countless times of need. So why did it suddenly feel wrong to go to him for help? After all, it was just a girl. Yunoki probably had a lot more experiences with them and they loved him! Hihara figured he could learn a thing or two from him about wooing Kaho-chan.

But that was when Hihara remembered that Yunoki himself, although loved by females everywhere, had never had a girlfriend. It didn’t seem right to just ask. Questions that he thought were harmless suddenly seemed like they would do a lot of damage. Had he just started considering his friend’s feelings now? Or maybe he was just being paranoid. Regardless, he hated this feeling. Yunoki had been the person he trusted above all else. He never wanted to lose that.

He had almost forgotten that he had asked his question out loud. Yunoki seemed to act like he didn’t hear. Hihara was about to repeat it when Yunoki turned and gave him the most heartbroken smile he ever saw. “You don’t remember?” He wished to all the powers in the universe that he could, if it would make Yunoki stop making such a face. But it was a rhetorical question in a sense. Yunoki knew he didn’t remember. “It was when she came.”

She was… Kaho-chan. Hihara gasped. In the end, he had hoped to talk about her. But having her brought up this way, he didn’t think it was a good idea. Smiling, he shook his head. Kaho-chan could wait.

“I’m sorry.” Hihara said, sitting down next to him. “I’ve been a terrible friend, haven’t I?” Yunoki’s eyes widened and he shook his head, brushing it off like it didn’t affect him. If it had been her, he might have considered saying that he didn’t give a damn. But it wasn’t, and Hihara wasn’t someone he ever wanted to show that side of himself to. He felt obligated to protect someone as nice as Hihara from himself. Maybe it was better this way.

Standing up, Yunoki shrugged. “Who could blame you? She’s perfect. Isn’t she?” He paused, smiling at his friend. “If she’s so precious to you, maybe you should go to her.” That girl, without a doubt, was the person capable of widening the space between them. And no one, not even Yunoki, could blame Hihara when he walked away.

“That’s not important right now!” Hihara snapped, standing up angrily. “Not when… when someone precious to me… is breaking… right in front of me.” He had never heard Hihara sound so demanding and yet so sad at the same time. It touched him. Yunoki smiled, wrapping his arms around his friend.

Without realizing it, Yunoki opened his mouth and said something personal; something he never planned to admit. “I wish I was so precious that I could steal your heart and eyes.” It was Hihara’s turn to be surprised. He had never heard Yunoki say anything like this before. The word ‘steal’ was hardly like Yunoki at all. And yet, it sounded like the most honest thing his friend had ever admitted to him. For a moment, he forgot why they were there; he forgot her.

Hihara grinned. “What’s stopping you?”

It wouldn’t work. “You are, stupid.” Yunoki laughed. “You said it yourself: you like her.” Hihara blinked. That was when he remembered. He had been here to ask Yunoki for advice when he got sidetracked onto this discussion.

“I… forgot.” Hihara couldn’t stop laughing. “For a second, I couldn’t even remember her name.” Yunoki blinked in shock, his eyes widening in complete shock. He wasn’t lying; he was laughing about it. “You, Yunoki, are something.” Hihara smiled, wiping away the tears from his outburst of laughter. “Do you think so little of yourself that you’d give up for someone I ‘like’? Because that doesn’t sound like you at all. That’s not like you at all.”

If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought that maybe Hino had actually caused the distance between them to shrink, suddenly. “Fine then.” Yunoki smiled, taking Hihara’s hand and doing something unexpected: kissing it. Hihara blinked, blushing bright red.
“You really are like a prince…”

Yunoki chuckled. “Are you that fond of the idea of becoming my princess?” Hihara blanched.

“N-NO! Don’t say it like that-“ Yunoki couldn’t help but laugh.

It was only natural that Hihara would forget about asking what he should do for Kaho-chan for her birthday, holding Yunoki’s hand; pretending to be disgusted, and still laughing the whole time; failing at acting anything but happy.

Notes: …

Only one week had passed since Hihara had come to live in the college dorms, two hours away from his home and all of his friends. He had lost count of all the times he wished he could be back home, rather than in one of his lectures or eating lunch alone in the park. These feelings bottled up inside of him made his music sound dreadful, because no matter how much it hurt him, he couldn’t fall behind on his work. There were people he wanted to make proud of him at home. If he let himself go, then it all would have been for naught.
He told himself this for the umpteenth time as he ate his bento box alone in the park, under his favorite tree. It was a park near the end of campus, so not many students passed by it, and when they did, most of them didn’t even spare it a glance. So he was shocked when he came there and found one of the art students sitting next to the bench with his sketchbook open, drawing the scenery. His tote bag sat beside him with what appeared to be failed attempts and one, small, unwrinkled piece.
“I didn’t know anyone else came here.” Hihara said softly, hoping he wouldn’t scare the artist. Maybe he liked drawing where nobody would spy on him. But the art student just laughed and waved his pencil around nonchalantly.
“They don’t. That’s why I knew I would find you here. I heard someone say they saw a depressed green-haired boy moping down here with his lunch every day and I thought that, if I remembered correctly, that was you, Hihara Kazuki.” He got up, brushing off his pants and putting his sketch book away. “Hi, I’m Kimimoto Arzei. We’re in the same composition class. That’s why I recognized the description so well. You always seem to wear that face.”
Hihara sighed. “Great, I’m going to be remembered as the depressed freshman. Thanks a lot, Kimimoto-san.” He sighed. “So, that doesn’t tell me why you were looking for me. Was there something you needed?”
Arzei nodded, bending down to pick up the small, rectangular piece of paper Hihara noticed earlier. “Here. A member of the postal crew asked if I could give this to you since he didn’t know you. I tried telling him who you were but he said he knew a lot of depressed freshman. But! Maybe this might just make you feel a little better.” He grinned.
It was an envelope, Hihara realized, taking it from him. “A letter? For me?”
“Yeah. From… Azuma, was it?” Arzei seemed to be trying hard to remember as he picked up his bag and threw his trash away in the nearby bin. “He also told me to tell you that it was “sent with love”. Anyway, see you in class tomorrow! Maybe if you’re feeling better we could talk. You could use some new friends.” He smiled, waving as he left.
Hihara smiled, pressing the cool envelope to his lips. At least now he knew he had something to look forward to. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having new friends. He knew that even so, that wouldn’t make any of his old friends any less precious. Especially not him. Reluctantly pulling the envelope away from his lips, he quickly tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket, right next to his heart and started running with his lunch back to his dorm room to read it.

Notes: Another one. I love Zanna, Don’t! and it made this story so much fun to write.

Hihara peeped his head into Yunoki’s room and looked around. “Hmm, his mom said he should be in here.” He said, looking for any sign of his purple-haired friend. It looked undisturbed; with no signs of being occupied. Then he noticed a pile of books on his study desk, some open and some closed, and Yunoki’s school bag leaning up against the chair on the floor.

“He must have walked out for a bit. Guess there’s nothing to do but sit here and wait.” He said, making himself comfortable in his chair. That was when he noticed the cassette player sitting atop one of the books. The pause button was depressed. “Yunoki must have been listening to some music while he was studying.” Hihara grinned, grabbing up the small device and headphones.

Curious about his friend’s taste in music, he put the headphones on and hit the pause button again to make it play. The sweet tinkling sound of bells played, and then a strong, beautiful male voice chimed in singing softly, lovingly. “Hold on~ the evening’s not quite through! It seems you’ve lost this… let me return it now to you. Tonight your music… meant much more than you could know… and there’s just one thing I’d like to say to you before you go…” ‘A love song’, Hihara thought. ‘Just what I’d expect from Yunoki.’ He chuckled.

Only… the second voice was, although more feminine, definitely also male.

“What are you doing?” Yunoki said, peering over Hihara’s shoulders, taking the headphones from him. Hihara yelped and jumped up, almost knocking over the chair in the process. With the headphones on, he hadn’t even heard Yunoki open or close the door. Why should he be nervous, though? He hadn’t done anything wrong…

Blushing, Hihara laughed. “Ne, just seeing what kind of music you listened to while you studied. It’s really pretty.” He admitted, remembering the beautiful voice he heard. Placing his ear next to the headset, he confirmed how far into the song Hihara had gotten and smirked.

“That’s all you thought?”

Trying to avoid his eyes, he shook his head. “No… I thought… maybe I would have liked to see how it ended. There was dialogue, right? Some sort of musical, perhaps? I wanted to know if… if they…”

“Fell in love? Got their happily ever after?” Yunoki asked, raising an eyebrow. Hihara chuckled and nodded.

“Something like that.”

Yunoki shook his head and sighed. “If you must know…” he took out the cassette and put it into a small radio/cassette player with speakers, so it would play out loud for both of them to hear. He pressed the play button and waited for it to resume.

“I thought I’d spend my life alone because my feelings felt so wrong, but I found the strength to be myself since I heard you sing your song. I’m a sort charming, somewhat handsome, not so princely guy, who wants desperately to be with you, if you’d only let me try, so tell me-”

“Yunoki…” Hihara gaped, looking at the strange, distant face of his friend. He had never seen Yunoki look so… red. A soft smile spread across his face. Maybe he really was just embarrassed about being caught listening to such a song. But Hihara knew that there was usually some truth behind the music people listened to. People enjoy connecting with music. Maybe Yunoki was the same…

“Sometime, do you think we could fall in love? How ’bout this Sunday? Or is tomorrow soon enough? How ’bout tonight then, although I tell you I don’t see how I’m gonna last that long if we don’t fall in love right now!”

Hihara got up, reaching across Yunoki to stop the cassette. Leaning in close, he whispered in Yunoki’s ear… “I’m gonna last that long… cause I’m falling in love right now.”

Imaginary dulcet tones rung in their ears as they kissed: a sweet, reflective melody.