(no subject)
Warmth, Words and Victory, part II
[A tenipuri Kite/Rin fanfiction][R for non-graphic sex, masturbation, the occasional swearword][slash]
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.
Author's Note: Originally for subrosa_tennis.
Summary: Rin, and tennis, Kite Eishirou, love, and family. Set pre- and post-Nationals arc. With a Atobe/Oshitari cameo.
Back in his own room, Rin thinks about telling Kite. Rika’s at a friend’s place and for once the house is silent, but somehow the silence after all the yelling is just a different form of noise. Rika’s taken to avoiding their mother lately, which is buying them all a little quiet, but how long can it last? Something’s got to give, eventually.
Rin sighs and rolls over, and doesn’t want to think about it.
Tennis, then. Sure, they lost Nationals. But there’ll always be a next time, and next time they’ll be even better. The high school division of Higa actually has a tennis club - but according to what Kite’s dug up they’re not exactly fantastic either. Next year. They’ll all graduate middle school together and next year they’ll stand on the green courts again and they’ll work harder and this time, no Saotome and none of his tactics and they’ll play hard and win hard.
He thinks of playing tennis. The slice of the racket, the impact of the ball. The lunges and the stretches, the shikuchihou and whether he can get as good as it as Kite. Kite, with his impeccable balance. When Kite plays on the court he’s amazing, better than any of them. Rin lies there in the cold darkness of his room and thinks about the way Kite moves - the strain of muscles under the skin as he smashes the ball into the return court, the look in his eyes as he takes point after point after point, the way the sweat trails down his neck to pool in his collarbone, the way his shirt rides up to reveal the hard ridges of a hipbone, the glimpses of his stomach. The heat of him after a tennis match, when Rin hands him a water bottle only to have him pour it over his head, and Rin swears he can almost hear the slight sizzle. Rin fantasises about what Kite would look like if he’d just ditch the damned track pants and wear shorts - strong calves and thighs, and damnit -
Rin reaches down and jerks off, quietly in the darkness, hoping his mother won’t hear his muffled breaths and sighs. He thinks of doing this with Kite, in the locker rooms after everyone’s left. Thinks of being held by Kite and Kite’s warmth. His hand moves faster and he rubs the pad of his thumb over the head of his cock, biting his lip. Kite. Kite.
Kite.
Rin comes harder than he’s ever done before, but as he lies there with his own spunk cooling on his belly, the room he no longer thinks of as ‘his’ just seems colder than it ever did.
*
He doesn’t tell Kite. Spring comes and they settle into the rhythms of high school life, the uneasy unfamiliarity of going from being seniors to freshmen, but they soon carve out their own places and tennis continues as usual. He agonizes about it and occasionally Kai will give him an exasperated look but nothing changes, really. Fifteen is not too different from fourteen - except -
Everyone’s more hormonal than ever. Sex becomes another illicit topic in school, the sort of thing that can ruin good reputations, that can make people the butt of cruel jokes about pillow-biting and hairy hands. Rin tries to act unaffected, and he supposes he succeeds, because no one bothers him, but -
He jerks off more than ever now, lying at night in bed restless and unable to sleep, every tendon in his body wound tight like a violin string thrumming to the thought of Kite. It’s taking more and more effort to look Kite in the eye and not blush, and he’s stopped going to Kite’s house. He tells Kite that his family’s quietened down.
Not true. In high school Rika’s ditched her old set of friends and joined up with a new gang. She’s not in the high school division for Higa, she didn’t make the entrance cut-off, and now Rin can’t keep an eye on her either. Her new friends are girls who wear bubble socks and go for fake tans (Rin can’t understand why they don’t just get a real one. This is Okinawa, not Tokyo, for heaven’s sake) and ditch school to go for karaoke. Rika wants to quit school and join a hairdressing course. Their mother is threatening to lock her at home.
Rin doesn’t dare go home. He studies in public libraries, and when it gets late he goes to fast food restaurants, Wendy’s and MacDonalds’ and Burger King, the scent of fries and grease and oil thick in the air, the chatter of people and children all around him. And sickened by the smell of fat and recycled repackaged food, he goes walking under the streetlamps, till it’s midnight and he can trudge, exhausted but not sleepy, back home, to his bed. The nights are getting warmer but he’s still cold.
He’s dreading the emptiness of summer break, but then an unexpected distraction shows up.
*
In between tennis practices, Rin works as a tour guide during summer breaks. The foreigners like the idea of having a native-born tour guide - the only problem at first is that he doesn’t look like one, but his life story’s generally good to interest the women. He earns more in tips than he does in pay, guiding various foreigners around Okinawa’s beaches and bringing them to the snorkel-and-scuba shop that Kai’s mom runs.
Foreign tourists are common, but there are Japanese tourists too, from the mainland, Tokyo people who are completely awed by Okinawa’s natural beauty, which is completely absent from the city.
This particular couple is rather interesting. Rin can swear he’s met them somewhere before, both of them boys, one taller with dark blue hair and frameless glasses, the other one with his eyes shaded by Gucci sunglasses, his voice drawling something about ‘ - why Okinawa, anyway? We could have gone to Greece, you know - not as if I can’t afford it -’
‘Ah!’ Rin snaps his fingers in recognition. Now he knows where he’s seen them before. ‘Oshitari Yuushi! And... what’s your name again?’
Oshitari stifles what seems rather like a snicker. The other boy removes his sunglasses and glares at Rin. ‘Atobe Keigo,’ he declares with a toss of his head. Rin resists the urge to tell him that that kind of gesture only works if you have long hair and breasts. ‘And you are...?’
‘Hirakoba Rin. Tennis Nationals, remember? I’m your tour guide for the week, so, it’s nice to meet you.’
Oshitari nods, stepping forward. ‘Nice to meet you too. Higa Chuu, right?’
‘Higa High, now.’ Rin grins. ‘And you were the one who got your head shaved by Seigaku’s brat, no?’ he directs at Atobe. ‘I see your hair’s grown out.’
Atobe flushes a light pink as Oshitari stifles another chuckle. ‘Yuushi,’ Atobe threatens. ‘If you don’t stop, I swear I’m going home. I don’t even understand why I agreed to come out here at all.’
‘Because you love me?’ Oshitari smirks, slinging an arm around Atobe’s waist. Atobe glares but doesn’t say anything more. Oshitari glances in Rin’s direction and winks. Atobe balls a fist and punches Oshitari in the stomach, before stomping off. Oshitari shoulders the bags (Louis Vuitton) and follows, still grinning.
Rin laughs. This looks to be an interesting week.
*
Watching the two of them on the beach is hilarious. Oshitari flirts with anyone who’s attractive, male or female. And this is Okinawa in summer, gorgeous people are everywhere. Atobe, on the other hand, has brought a book along, and is amazingly unconcerned. Rin flops down on the sand beside him. ‘Is he always like that?’
‘Yes,’ Atobe answers, rolling his eyes and reaching for the sunblock, slathering it all over. ‘I don’t mind. Help with the sunblock, please.’
Well, at least he bothered with saying please, even if he did it after shoving the bottle at Rin and turning. Atobe’s skin is perfectly smooth, warm from the sun beneath Rin’s palms, and he slowly relaxes as Rin works the lotion in, making a small humming noise. ‘You don’t mind your boyfriend flirting with anything that moves?’
‘Hmm?’ Atobe murmurs. ‘It’s fine. I’ve got more self-confidence than that.’
Well, Rin can agree with that. Atobe has enough self-confidence to feed a Third World country, and self-confidence isn’t even edible.
‘If you’re trying to make me jealous, Atobe,’ comes the sudden, amused voice of Oshitari, ‘I assure you I am. Hirakoba-kun, do you mind doing my back too?’
Atobe rolls his eyes and flaps a hand at Oshitari. Rin can only oblige, fighting back laughter as Oshitari leans back exaggeratedly into the touch. ‘Ah, that’s right. You have very talented hands, Hirakoba-kun.’
Atobe’s gray eyes narrow, looking at Rin. ‘He does, doesn’t he, Yuushi.’ Rin sees himself through Atobe’s eyes all of a sudden - attractive, clearly not uncomfortable with all the flirting, and theirs for the next couple of weeks.
And the look in Oshitari’s eyes is just as predatory. ‘Why yes, Keigo, he does.’
Rin looks at the two of them, then shrugs and tosses caution to the winds. ‘I’m done,’ he says, running a hand down Oshitari’s back. ‘Your turn.’
*
Rin didn’t think things would get this far, but with Oshitari’s lips on the nape of his neck and Atobe’s on his mouth, it’s beginning to look like he didn’t think hard enough. Though something’s definitely hard enough - all three of them are, and he’s horny as hell and miserable from thinking about Kite and gnawing at his pillow for months and hell, Oshitari’s a very good kisser. So’s Atobe, for that matter. So he let’s himself be pulled and guided to the massive hotel bed, falling onto it in a sprawl and laughing as Oshitari playfully shoves Atobe down as well.
Atobe rolls over to nibble the edge of Rin’s ear, and Oshitari joins them on the bed, slow, languid fingers sliding over Rin’s stomach, smooth as his drawl. ‘You’re alright with this, Hirakoba-kun?’
‘Mmmm,’ Rin agrees. ‘S’ alright.’ Oshitari and Atobe aren’t serious about him anyway - they’re too serious about each other, but they’re obviously fine with the situation, so there won’t be any emotional baggage. They obviously know what they’re doing, which is more than Rin can say for himself. There are worse ways to lose his virginity, Rin figures.
‘It’s been a while since we’ve had a virgin, haven’t we, Keigo?’ Oshitari comments, reaching down to palm Rin’s cock. Rin gasps and shakes and nearly comes there and then - he hadn’t known it could feel so different, another person’s hand, or maybe it’s just Oshitari and his lazy sexy drawl and the way his dark hair falls over his eyes -
Atobe’s slender fingers tangle in his T-shirt and pull it over his head at the same time as Oshitari yanks his pants off in one smooth move and tosses them halfway across the room. Rin yelps in surprise and then disintegrates into a mindless confusion of pleasure as the two of them start touching him in earnest.
Later, all three of them sated and boneless and fresh from a hot shower, Rin lets Oshitari and Atobe link hands, their arms resting on his body as they fall asleep. He’s too exhausted to think much and far too satisfied to be aroused again, but he wonders, if it was this good with them, what would it be like with Kite? Kite and Kite’s eyes and Kite’s hands and Kite’s cock -
Rin shudders and presses his face into Oshitari’s collarbone. Oshitari looks at him for a moment, sleepy-eyed, then wriggles his other arm free of the press of bodies to stroke Rin’s hair for a moment.
Rin sighs and shuts his eyes determinedly.
*
Rin’s never had very much money.
Atobe Keigo, on the other hand, is used to having a great deal. And used to spending it.
Rin protests, at first, when Atobe buys him things. The tennis racket, yes, because Atobe doesn’t want his opponents ‘handicapped by inferior equipment’. The hair clasp - a slender line of silver and onyx - he let Atobe buy in a moment of weakness, and after Oshitari fixes it in his hair he can’t very well return it. The cell phone and the phone plan is stretching it, but Atobe brushes his objections aside by saying that he’ll want to contact Rin at some point in the future and that would be easier with a phone, and Rin doesn’t know how to refuse him very well. But Atobe’s browsing iPods now, and it doesn’t matter how rich Atobe is, it’s just too much.
Oshitari grabs him before he can actually say anything, though. ‘Don’t,’ he warns, overriding the beginnings of Rin’s protests. ‘You’ll only hurt him if you refuse it. You’re not getting treated any differently from anyone else Atobe considers a friend - except that you’re getting the presents all at one go because he figures he won’t see you too often.
‘And don’t misunderstand. Atobe doesn’t try to buy friends - or sex, for that matter - with money. And he can tell when you’re trying to befriend him for it. Just let him be generous and do what he wants. He’ll do it anyway,’ Oshitari adds wryly.
Rin acquiesces.
*
Atobe and Oshitari are four days from returning to Tokyo when Atobe demands to play tennis. He says, ‘Call that captain of yours.’
They meet at a street court, and Rin does the introductions. Kite’s eyes have that glint that says he’s looking forward to a good match, and Atobe looks just as interested.
Rin offers to referee. Oshitari says he’ll sit out this round. Kite walks to his side, Atobe struts to his, as if he’s hearing the sounds of the Hyotei cheers, fast and furious in his ears. Kite, on the other hand, is poised at the edge of the court, waiting, intense.
‘One set match,’ Rin says. ‘Hyotei’s Atobe to serve.’
The Tannhauser Serve is what Atobe calls it - an intense drive of a serve that slams into the court and plows forward in a straight line, dragging up a line of dust as Rin calls, ‘15-0.’
The second and third are the same, but Rin’s not worried. By the fourth Kite has his measure and the breath catches in Rin’s throat, just a small gasp as Kite blazes forward with the shukuchihou, catching the serve before it hits the ground, sending it richocheting back to Atobe with a force that the other boy doesn’t expect, a grunt escaping him as he sends the ball back, but it wavers and Kite returns it easily, and it’s 40-15 and Rin hasn’t seen Kite play tennis like this in a long, long time.
They play a long, drawn out game, point by point by point. The volleys are to Kite’s advantage, Atobe racing back and forth across the entire length of the courts as he tries to keep up with Kite, but the smashes are Atobe’s specialty, and the game inches forward as the time ticks slowly away, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4, and Kite’s in the lead.
One game. They change courts and as Oshitari hands Atobe a waterbottle, Rin walks over to Kite and grips a sweaty, warm shoulder and wishes him luck. Kite grins and says that luck has nothing to do with it, and Rin’s rather inclined to agree.
Atobe takes his place at the other side of the court, and he’s still smirking. ‘You’re good, Kite. Tezuka said you’d be.’
‘Tezuka?’ Kite asks, but his concentration doesn’t slip in the least, if that’s what Atobe is looking for. But if anything Atobe’s smile only grows a little wider and a little harder, as if Kite’s passed some test.
‘Yes, Tezuka. He mentioned some of your tactics, though,’ Atobe tosses offhandedly across the net, bending low to serve. It’s not a Tannhauser but it’s a powerful serve none the less, and Rin is never going to feed Atobe’s massive ego but it’s true that Atobe is a fantastic player. One of the best, Rin should think, and he feels a surge of pride in Kite, for playing Atobe to this kind of standstill.
‘Those tactics, Atobe-san, are long over. If you will kindly pass a message to Tezuka for me-’ Kite sends the ball right back, low, barely clearing the net, where Atobe struggles to return it, his voice level as he speaks. 15-0 to Kite. ‘Tell him I regret it. The next time he and I play it will be different.’
Atobe laughs delightedly. ‘You’re not that bad after all, Kite Eishirou. Pity this game is mine.’
Koori no Sekai - Atobe’s World of Ice, the one he’d used against Echizen Ryoma a couple of years ago, at Nationals, the one that enabled him to see every possible blind spot. It sounds impossible even now, but watching Atobe take point after point after point, there’s no way Rin can deny it. And there’s no response Kite can give to it. Rin vaguely remembers that Echizen had used the Tezuka Zone, but that’s not a move that’s open to Kite.
Atobe wins 7-5, but as they shake hands across the net, Kite’s lips are turned ever so slightly upwards at the corners, and Rin grins to himself. Atobe’s just going to have a far harder time when Higa meets Hyotei again. But then again, Atobe probably likes the challenge. The low chuckle and eye-roll from Oshitari only confirms his suspicions.
After they part ways with Kite, though, Atobe pins Rin with an unnerving, intense stare. He says, ‘You’re in love with him, aren’t you.’
‘What - how -?’
Atobe snorts at the flabbergasted look on Rin’s face. ‘Please. If you think something as obvious as that would slip past me, you’re stupider than I thought.’
‘You know, Atobe, you could make more of an effort to be tactful,’ Oshitari jabs verbally. ‘What he means, Hirakoba-kun, is: why haven’t you told him?’
Rin tells them everything over dinner. Oshitari makes sympathetic noises in all the right places, while Atobe just listens in simple silence, quiet for once, without the smart remarks that Rin has come to think as characteristic of his behavior.
When he’s finished, Atobe bluntly tells him, ‘Tell him, you fool.’
Oshitari nods slowly.
Rin doesn’t know what to say, or do.
*
He sees them off at the airport with a genuine tinge of regret. Chances are they next time they’ll see each other is at competition, as opponents, and while he’s looking forward to that too, the last two weeks has been absolutely fantastic - heady and genuinely fun. He’d given pleasure received it, and he’ll miss their company.
Rin smiles to himself. Maybe he’ll visit Tokyo one weekend.
*
Summer segues into autumn, and the world turns a rich golden-brown. Club hierarchy means that he can’t be captain till next year, for propriety’s sake, and neither can his entire team be on the Regulars. Kite frowns but accepts it. They make it to Kyushu finals but one of their senpai messes up and loses a crucial match. No matter. There’ll be next year. And next year will be his year, he vows to himself. Next year will be the year he takes Higa to Nationals and then he’ll be able to play Atobe Keigo and Tezuka and all the rest of them, the stars of the tennis circuit.
He knows it’s partially his own fault that he’s not particularly close to the current team, the one that includes some of the second and third years, but for him there’ll only be one Higa team - his own. The team that they’d all built from scratch.
He sits down at his desk, getting ready to clear away the backlog of homework - year-end examinations are drawing close again and he can’t afford to let his grades slip, or else his father might decide that tennis wasn’t worth it. He’s just starting on a chemistry equation when a glint of metal catches his eye.
Rin’s earrings are still with him, Kite realizes.
He picks up a stud. They’re all identical, simple dull silver, and he has no clue which one is the one that he’d taken out of Rin’s ear ages ago. Rin must have left them here by accident, and he’d never noticed until now.
Rin. Kite sets his pencil aside - redox reactions can wait for that much longer - and stares at the earring, wondering. It could just be him, but Rin and he - he feels as if they’ve been growing apart. Rin doesn’t visit as often anymore, and then there was Atobe and Oshitari over the summer, and other tourists to take around the island. Maybe it’s his own fault, for going to Rin’s house that night, for intruding where Rin clearly didn’t want him. Though for a moment there, he’d thought differently.
The comfort that Kite could never give him, when Rin was in his own house, this house - Kite had thought, then, that Rin had taken comfort from Kite’s being there. That Rin had wanted - liked - having Kite there. That Rin had wanted him to be there.
Apparently, though, he had been wrong.
He sighs and sets the earring down, picking up the pencil again. It doesn’t matter. There’ll be tennis next year, and the intensity, the sheer thrill of competition, and the easy camaraderie of being a team. If nothing else, there’ll always be that.
But he doesn’t give the earrings back to Rin, and occasionally, sometimes when he’s doing his homework, sometimes when he’s reading a book, his eyes will flicker to them, and he’ll pick one up and remember the feeling of Rin’s skin, warm against his hands.
He buys Rin a goosedown comforter for Christmas that year, but on impulse swaps it with his own. He doesn’t think too deeply about why he does it - just that this way, maybe, in some roundabout manner, he’s keeping Rin warm.
*
Rin bundles himself in the blanket each night. It might be his imagination - wishful thinking - but he can swear that he can smell Kite on it, a scent that’s musky and warm, and some nights it turns him on, makes him achingly hard, but some nights it makes him want to cry. Damn Atobe and his insight and his straightforward, incisive words, because now whenever Rin looks at Kite the yearning is more intense and more bittersweet and it’s not as easy for Rin to think that it’s enough just to be friends.
Rin lets the tears soak into the fabric and meanders uneasily into slumber.
*
The seasons turn again, and Kite reassumes his rightful position as captain, and Higa is back in action. The buzz of excitement is in the air, the unsaid words hovering like birds - our year, this year, we’re going to win -
They practice till the sun goes down, and then they all troop into the clubroom, chattering about everything and nothing, like excited sparrows. Rin’s laughing about something with Kai when suddenly he freezes.
Rika. Rika.
Fear. Pain, lancing through his nerves, tight and sharp and not his, not the ache of his own muscles but the slicing pain of wounds, an immediate burn, but he’s not hurt, and along with the phantom pain, the panic.
Rika!
‘Rika,’ he gasps out. The team is silent around him but he doesn’t see them. ‘God, it hurts, Rika - Rika-’
They used to have this, this capacity for each other’s pain, but it got rarer and rarer as they got older and older and this is a complete shock to him - but his concern - she’s terrified, panicking, and for all she acts tough Rika’s no match for anything, really - it drives him to his feet, stumbling forward -
He slams into a firm body. Kite grips him by the shoulders and gives him a brutal shake. It rattles all the way down to his bones and clears his head, and he gazes at Kite in wide-eyed panic and blurts, ‘It’s Rika - she’s in trouble, I know it - I have to find her -’
And all the while the pain and the fear and the horror isn’t stopping and his sister is hurting and he tries to push his way past Kite, blindly. Kite grabs him by the arm and it’s the pain of Kite’s grip that brings him back to himself, that and Kite’s dark concerned eyes, and Kite’s words - ‘We’ll go with you.’
*
Rin moves. He heads for the high school Rika attends - and as he gets closer the fear gets stronger, the bile rises in his stomach and Kite holds him as he trembles - Rika, Rika - and they all pour off the bus and Rin lurches into a run, feeling more than seeing Kite easily keeping pace at his side, everything in him focused on finding his sister -
The gates have been locked. Rin clambers upwards, scrambling to find purchase on the vertical iron bars. Kite grips his foot and gives him a boost up, then calmly follows. The rest of the team is somewhere behind them - Tanishi is probably having trouble, but Kite can hear Kai hauling him up and for now the important thing is not to lose sight of Rin, who’s still running, led by some unerring instinct that’s bringing him ever-closer to his sister -
Rin rounds the corner, Kite races to keep up with him - and runs even harder as he hears the sudden impact of a fist meeting flesh.
Kite gets there to see Rin flailing with fists and feet. He’s too furious to remember the martial arts that they’ve all been trained in, but his body remembers - but there’re six of them - and god - the girl cowering in the corner looks heart-wrenchingly like Rin with short hair, tears streaked down her face and her skirt and shirt pushed up and a gag in her mouth and blood all over her thighs and Kite knows just what’s happened -
He jumps in without another thought, blocking a punch that was heading for Rin. He grabs one of them by the back of the neck and slams him head first into the wall - there’s a satisfying crunch of bone and the other guy slumps, unconscious -
And then Kai’s there, Chinen’s there - Aragaki, Shiranui, Tanishi -
It’s over soon enough, and Chinen’s calling the police and an ambulance, and Rin, still alive with rage, is still raining kicks on the downed bodies, a savage, disconnected light in his eyes. Kite lets him do it, they deserve it. He steps over to Rin’s sister - Rika - and plucks the gag from her mouth and carefully helps her to her feet, careful not to spook her. Her eyes are wide and frightened and Kite doesn’t like the look of it, but he says, ‘I’m Kite Eishirou. Rin’s friend. You’re safe now, it’s alright.’ Empty words, of course, but she reacts to her brother’s name, some of the daze clearing from her eyes.
‘Rin,’ Kite says, and then when there’s no reaction, ‘Rin. ’
Rin looks at him, then, and he looks at Rika, and he’s there in a heartbeat, holding his sister and saying, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay.’ The rest of them can only watch.
*
Kite waits for Rin at the police station, waiting for the police to finish taking Rin’s statement. The rest of them have gone home already, various worried parents coming to pick up their children.
He calls his mother and tells her everything. She listens to him and says that she’ll come pick them up, and tells Kite to take care of himself, and of Rin. Kite promises.
Rin stumbles out and sees Kite, and crumbles. He just crumbles, but Kite grabs him, holds him upright and Rin’s sobbing into his shoulder, silent, angry tears, and Kite half-drags half-guides him out of the police station and into the night air, to wait for his mother.
It just seems right to stroke Rin’s hair, to tell him that it’s alright, that Riza will be alright, that he got there in time, that he shouldn’t be guilty about not being able to stop them before they - not being able to stop them earlier - and despite his reassurances, Rin’s sobs continue, unabated, silent, Rin’s whole body shaking against his.
‘It’s okay,’ Kite whispers. ‘I’m here.’ He presses his lips to Rin’s temple, and repeats it. ‘I’m here, Rin.’
And miraculously, it’s as if he’s found the magic words. Rin calms down as Kite repeats the words, and by the time Kite pushes him into the backseat of the car, Rin is composed if still a little pale. Kite laces their fingers together and doesn’t let go.
*
Most of it’s a haze to him. Rika, the pain, the rage, the incoherent statement to the police, and through it all, images of Kite - Kite running by his side, Kite helping him in the fray, Kite guiding him out of the station, Kite holding him, Kite pulling him up the stairs, Kite handing him a change of clothes, Kite pulling the blankets over them -
‘Eishirou?’ his voice cracks a little as he regards the sleeping face beside him. It’s warm again, not unlike the cold fear of yesterday night and the freezing rage, and his eyes feel sore, as if he’s been crying. Maybe he has been.
Kite opens his eyes. ‘Rin,’ he greets. ‘Are you alright?’ he asks, sitting up.
Rin nods. ‘Yeah.’
‘They took Rika to the hospital and they probably called your mother. You should go see them,’ Kite says, running a hand through his hair. ‘Skip school today. I’ll explain to the teachers for you.’
It’s only then that Rin notices that they’ve slept on the same futon. He remembers clearer now, Kite sliding onto the bed beside him, holding him as Rin pressed against him, telling Rin that everything would be alright -
I’m here.
The words echo, still, and Rin flushes horribly. ‘Eishirou- I -’
Now or never. ‘I like you,’ he blurts, and then stammers, ‘I know - if you don’t -’
Kite walks over and kneels down on the futon and kisses him.
Rin leans into it immediately, arms moving to pull Kite that much closer. He’s not about to think this is a dream because he knows he’s awake and no dream is this incredible, this coherent, this real. And besides, if he were dreaming they wouldn’t have morning breath, but it’s kinda wonderful anyway because this is Kite - Eishirou - and everything he’s ever hoped for.
Kite smiles softly at him, and touches Rin’s cheek, and says, ‘I like you too.’
*
He can’t help the retarded, huge grin on his face throughout most of breakfast, but he sobers up fast enough when he heads to the hospital and sees Riza propped up on the bed, their mother by her side, both faces ashen-pale.
He lingers at the door for a moment and watches them. Their mother’s crying - he thinks he can see her lips form the words for ‘I’m sorry’, again and again - but his sister’s saying the same thing, and maybe, maybe there’s some good to be had from all this.
He walks in and slides his arms around both their shoulders.
*
Loving Kite -
He has a place to go now, Rin figures. He no longer feels like an interloper, an outsider, in his own house and Kite’s as well. Kite will be there and he’ll let Rin tuck his legs up and press his toes to Kite’s thighs. Kite’ll hold him and kiss him and each time the kiss turns longer, harder, more demanding and Rin has never wanted anyone so much in his life -
But first, there’s this - Kyushu Regionals, and the team arrayed around them as they step forward - bow to their opponents -
Tanishi and Chinen. Six games to none.
Aragaki and Shiranui. Six games to none.
Rin warms up with Kite, his hands against Rin’s back, pressing Rin forward, and the movement reminds Rin of sex. It makes him think of bending forward, of letting Kite take him - he reaches back and kisses Kite, hard and fast, tongues sliding against each other - a promise of victory.
Someone clears his throat and they break apart, startled.
Oshitari and Atobe, and the glimmer of bright amusement in their eyes. ‘We came to wish you luck,’ Oshitari says. ‘But it looks like you don’t really need it.’
‘In which case, we’re here also to check out the competition,’ Atobe adds. ‘We’ll see you at Nationals, Hirakoba. Kite.’ And without further ado, they walk away, Oshitari’s lazy wink tossed over his shoulder at Rin.
Rin laughs, and kisses Kite again, for luck.
He steps onto the court, already certain they’ll win.
[A tenipuri Kite/Rin fanfiction][R for non-graphic sex, masturbation, the occasional swearword][slash]
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.
Author's Note: Originally for subrosa_tennis.
Summary: Rin, and tennis, Kite Eishirou, love, and family. Set pre- and post-Nationals arc. With a Atobe/Oshitari cameo.
Back in his own room, Rin thinks about telling Kite. Rika’s at a friend’s place and for once the house is silent, but somehow the silence after all the yelling is just a different form of noise. Rika’s taken to avoiding their mother lately, which is buying them all a little quiet, but how long can it last? Something’s got to give, eventually.
Rin sighs and rolls over, and doesn’t want to think about it.
Tennis, then. Sure, they lost Nationals. But there’ll always be a next time, and next time they’ll be even better. The high school division of Higa actually has a tennis club - but according to what Kite’s dug up they’re not exactly fantastic either. Next year. They’ll all graduate middle school together and next year they’ll stand on the green courts again and they’ll work harder and this time, no Saotome and none of his tactics and they’ll play hard and win hard.
He thinks of playing tennis. The slice of the racket, the impact of the ball. The lunges and the stretches, the shikuchihou and whether he can get as good as it as Kite. Kite, with his impeccable balance. When Kite plays on the court he’s amazing, better than any of them. Rin lies there in the cold darkness of his room and thinks about the way Kite moves - the strain of muscles under the skin as he smashes the ball into the return court, the look in his eyes as he takes point after point after point, the way the sweat trails down his neck to pool in his collarbone, the way his shirt rides up to reveal the hard ridges of a hipbone, the glimpses of his stomach. The heat of him after a tennis match, when Rin hands him a water bottle only to have him pour it over his head, and Rin swears he can almost hear the slight sizzle. Rin fantasises about what Kite would look like if he’d just ditch the damned track pants and wear shorts - strong calves and thighs, and damnit -
Rin reaches down and jerks off, quietly in the darkness, hoping his mother won’t hear his muffled breaths and sighs. He thinks of doing this with Kite, in the locker rooms after everyone’s left. Thinks of being held by Kite and Kite’s warmth. His hand moves faster and he rubs the pad of his thumb over the head of his cock, biting his lip. Kite. Kite.
Kite.
Rin comes harder than he’s ever done before, but as he lies there with his own spunk cooling on his belly, the room he no longer thinks of as ‘his’ just seems colder than it ever did.
*
He doesn’t tell Kite. Spring comes and they settle into the rhythms of high school life, the uneasy unfamiliarity of going from being seniors to freshmen, but they soon carve out their own places and tennis continues as usual. He agonizes about it and occasionally Kai will give him an exasperated look but nothing changes, really. Fifteen is not too different from fourteen - except -
Everyone’s more hormonal than ever. Sex becomes another illicit topic in school, the sort of thing that can ruin good reputations, that can make people the butt of cruel jokes about pillow-biting and hairy hands. Rin tries to act unaffected, and he supposes he succeeds, because no one bothers him, but -
He jerks off more than ever now, lying at night in bed restless and unable to sleep, every tendon in his body wound tight like a violin string thrumming to the thought of Kite. It’s taking more and more effort to look Kite in the eye and not blush, and he’s stopped going to Kite’s house. He tells Kite that his family’s quietened down.
Not true. In high school Rika’s ditched her old set of friends and joined up with a new gang. She’s not in the high school division for Higa, she didn’t make the entrance cut-off, and now Rin can’t keep an eye on her either. Her new friends are girls who wear bubble socks and go for fake tans (Rin can’t understand why they don’t just get a real one. This is Okinawa, not Tokyo, for heaven’s sake) and ditch school to go for karaoke. Rika wants to quit school and join a hairdressing course. Their mother is threatening to lock her at home.
Rin doesn’t dare go home. He studies in public libraries, and when it gets late he goes to fast food restaurants, Wendy’s and MacDonalds’ and Burger King, the scent of fries and grease and oil thick in the air, the chatter of people and children all around him. And sickened by the smell of fat and recycled repackaged food, he goes walking under the streetlamps, till it’s midnight and he can trudge, exhausted but not sleepy, back home, to his bed. The nights are getting warmer but he’s still cold.
He’s dreading the emptiness of summer break, but then an unexpected distraction shows up.
*
In between tennis practices, Rin works as a tour guide during summer breaks. The foreigners like the idea of having a native-born tour guide - the only problem at first is that he doesn’t look like one, but his life story’s generally good to interest the women. He earns more in tips than he does in pay, guiding various foreigners around Okinawa’s beaches and bringing them to the snorkel-and-scuba shop that Kai’s mom runs.
Foreign tourists are common, but there are Japanese tourists too, from the mainland, Tokyo people who are completely awed by Okinawa’s natural beauty, which is completely absent from the city.
This particular couple is rather interesting. Rin can swear he’s met them somewhere before, both of them boys, one taller with dark blue hair and frameless glasses, the other one with his eyes shaded by Gucci sunglasses, his voice drawling something about ‘ - why Okinawa, anyway? We could have gone to Greece, you know - not as if I can’t afford it -’
‘Ah!’ Rin snaps his fingers in recognition. Now he knows where he’s seen them before. ‘Oshitari Yuushi! And... what’s your name again?’
Oshitari stifles what seems rather like a snicker. The other boy removes his sunglasses and glares at Rin. ‘Atobe Keigo,’ he declares with a toss of his head. Rin resists the urge to tell him that that kind of gesture only works if you have long hair and breasts. ‘And you are...?’
‘Hirakoba Rin. Tennis Nationals, remember? I’m your tour guide for the week, so, it’s nice to meet you.’
Oshitari nods, stepping forward. ‘Nice to meet you too. Higa Chuu, right?’
‘Higa High, now.’ Rin grins. ‘And you were the one who got your head shaved by Seigaku’s brat, no?’ he directs at Atobe. ‘I see your hair’s grown out.’
Atobe flushes a light pink as Oshitari stifles another chuckle. ‘Yuushi,’ Atobe threatens. ‘If you don’t stop, I swear I’m going home. I don’t even understand why I agreed to come out here at all.’
‘Because you love me?’ Oshitari smirks, slinging an arm around Atobe’s waist. Atobe glares but doesn’t say anything more. Oshitari glances in Rin’s direction and winks. Atobe balls a fist and punches Oshitari in the stomach, before stomping off. Oshitari shoulders the bags (Louis Vuitton) and follows, still grinning.
Rin laughs. This looks to be an interesting week.
*
Watching the two of them on the beach is hilarious. Oshitari flirts with anyone who’s attractive, male or female. And this is Okinawa in summer, gorgeous people are everywhere. Atobe, on the other hand, has brought a book along, and is amazingly unconcerned. Rin flops down on the sand beside him. ‘Is he always like that?’
‘Yes,’ Atobe answers, rolling his eyes and reaching for the sunblock, slathering it all over. ‘I don’t mind. Help with the sunblock, please.’
Well, at least he bothered with saying please, even if he did it after shoving the bottle at Rin and turning. Atobe’s skin is perfectly smooth, warm from the sun beneath Rin’s palms, and he slowly relaxes as Rin works the lotion in, making a small humming noise. ‘You don’t mind your boyfriend flirting with anything that moves?’
‘Hmm?’ Atobe murmurs. ‘It’s fine. I’ve got more self-confidence than that.’
Well, Rin can agree with that. Atobe has enough self-confidence to feed a Third World country, and self-confidence isn’t even edible.
‘If you’re trying to make me jealous, Atobe,’ comes the sudden, amused voice of Oshitari, ‘I assure you I am. Hirakoba-kun, do you mind doing my back too?’
Atobe rolls his eyes and flaps a hand at Oshitari. Rin can only oblige, fighting back laughter as Oshitari leans back exaggeratedly into the touch. ‘Ah, that’s right. You have very talented hands, Hirakoba-kun.’
Atobe’s gray eyes narrow, looking at Rin. ‘He does, doesn’t he, Yuushi.’ Rin sees himself through Atobe’s eyes all of a sudden - attractive, clearly not uncomfortable with all the flirting, and theirs for the next couple of weeks.
And the look in Oshitari’s eyes is just as predatory. ‘Why yes, Keigo, he does.’
Rin looks at the two of them, then shrugs and tosses caution to the winds. ‘I’m done,’ he says, running a hand down Oshitari’s back. ‘Your turn.’
*
Rin didn’t think things would get this far, but with Oshitari’s lips on the nape of his neck and Atobe’s on his mouth, it’s beginning to look like he didn’t think hard enough. Though something’s definitely hard enough - all three of them are, and he’s horny as hell and miserable from thinking about Kite and gnawing at his pillow for months and hell, Oshitari’s a very good kisser. So’s Atobe, for that matter. So he let’s himself be pulled and guided to the massive hotel bed, falling onto it in a sprawl and laughing as Oshitari playfully shoves Atobe down as well.
Atobe rolls over to nibble the edge of Rin’s ear, and Oshitari joins them on the bed, slow, languid fingers sliding over Rin’s stomach, smooth as his drawl. ‘You’re alright with this, Hirakoba-kun?’
‘Mmmm,’ Rin agrees. ‘S’ alright.’ Oshitari and Atobe aren’t serious about him anyway - they’re too serious about each other, but they’re obviously fine with the situation, so there won’t be any emotional baggage. They obviously know what they’re doing, which is more than Rin can say for himself. There are worse ways to lose his virginity, Rin figures.
‘It’s been a while since we’ve had a virgin, haven’t we, Keigo?’ Oshitari comments, reaching down to palm Rin’s cock. Rin gasps and shakes and nearly comes there and then - he hadn’t known it could feel so different, another person’s hand, or maybe it’s just Oshitari and his lazy sexy drawl and the way his dark hair falls over his eyes -
Atobe’s slender fingers tangle in his T-shirt and pull it over his head at the same time as Oshitari yanks his pants off in one smooth move and tosses them halfway across the room. Rin yelps in surprise and then disintegrates into a mindless confusion of pleasure as the two of them start touching him in earnest.
Later, all three of them sated and boneless and fresh from a hot shower, Rin lets Oshitari and Atobe link hands, their arms resting on his body as they fall asleep. He’s too exhausted to think much and far too satisfied to be aroused again, but he wonders, if it was this good with them, what would it be like with Kite? Kite and Kite’s eyes and Kite’s hands and Kite’s cock -
Rin shudders and presses his face into Oshitari’s collarbone. Oshitari looks at him for a moment, sleepy-eyed, then wriggles his other arm free of the press of bodies to stroke Rin’s hair for a moment.
Rin sighs and shuts his eyes determinedly.
*
Rin’s never had very much money.
Atobe Keigo, on the other hand, is used to having a great deal. And used to spending it.
Rin protests, at first, when Atobe buys him things. The tennis racket, yes, because Atobe doesn’t want his opponents ‘handicapped by inferior equipment’. The hair clasp - a slender line of silver and onyx - he let Atobe buy in a moment of weakness, and after Oshitari fixes it in his hair he can’t very well return it. The cell phone and the phone plan is stretching it, but Atobe brushes his objections aside by saying that he’ll want to contact Rin at some point in the future and that would be easier with a phone, and Rin doesn’t know how to refuse him very well. But Atobe’s browsing iPods now, and it doesn’t matter how rich Atobe is, it’s just too much.
Oshitari grabs him before he can actually say anything, though. ‘Don’t,’ he warns, overriding the beginnings of Rin’s protests. ‘You’ll only hurt him if you refuse it. You’re not getting treated any differently from anyone else Atobe considers a friend - except that you’re getting the presents all at one go because he figures he won’t see you too often.
‘And don’t misunderstand. Atobe doesn’t try to buy friends - or sex, for that matter - with money. And he can tell when you’re trying to befriend him for it. Just let him be generous and do what he wants. He’ll do it anyway,’ Oshitari adds wryly.
Rin acquiesces.
*
Atobe and Oshitari are four days from returning to Tokyo when Atobe demands to play tennis. He says, ‘Call that captain of yours.’
They meet at a street court, and Rin does the introductions. Kite’s eyes have that glint that says he’s looking forward to a good match, and Atobe looks just as interested.
Rin offers to referee. Oshitari says he’ll sit out this round. Kite walks to his side, Atobe struts to his, as if he’s hearing the sounds of the Hyotei cheers, fast and furious in his ears. Kite, on the other hand, is poised at the edge of the court, waiting, intense.
‘One set match,’ Rin says. ‘Hyotei’s Atobe to serve.’
The Tannhauser Serve is what Atobe calls it - an intense drive of a serve that slams into the court and plows forward in a straight line, dragging up a line of dust as Rin calls, ‘15-0.’
The second and third are the same, but Rin’s not worried. By the fourth Kite has his measure and the breath catches in Rin’s throat, just a small gasp as Kite blazes forward with the shukuchihou, catching the serve before it hits the ground, sending it richocheting back to Atobe with a force that the other boy doesn’t expect, a grunt escaping him as he sends the ball back, but it wavers and Kite returns it easily, and it’s 40-15 and Rin hasn’t seen Kite play tennis like this in a long, long time.
They play a long, drawn out game, point by point by point. The volleys are to Kite’s advantage, Atobe racing back and forth across the entire length of the courts as he tries to keep up with Kite, but the smashes are Atobe’s specialty, and the game inches forward as the time ticks slowly away, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4, and Kite’s in the lead.
One game. They change courts and as Oshitari hands Atobe a waterbottle, Rin walks over to Kite and grips a sweaty, warm shoulder and wishes him luck. Kite grins and says that luck has nothing to do with it, and Rin’s rather inclined to agree.
Atobe takes his place at the other side of the court, and he’s still smirking. ‘You’re good, Kite. Tezuka said you’d be.’
‘Tezuka?’ Kite asks, but his concentration doesn’t slip in the least, if that’s what Atobe is looking for. But if anything Atobe’s smile only grows a little wider and a little harder, as if Kite’s passed some test.
‘Yes, Tezuka. He mentioned some of your tactics, though,’ Atobe tosses offhandedly across the net, bending low to serve. It’s not a Tannhauser but it’s a powerful serve none the less, and Rin is never going to feed Atobe’s massive ego but it’s true that Atobe is a fantastic player. One of the best, Rin should think, and he feels a surge of pride in Kite, for playing Atobe to this kind of standstill.
‘Those tactics, Atobe-san, are long over. If you will kindly pass a message to Tezuka for me-’ Kite sends the ball right back, low, barely clearing the net, where Atobe struggles to return it, his voice level as he speaks. 15-0 to Kite. ‘Tell him I regret it. The next time he and I play it will be different.’
Atobe laughs delightedly. ‘You’re not that bad after all, Kite Eishirou. Pity this game is mine.’
Koori no Sekai - Atobe’s World of Ice, the one he’d used against Echizen Ryoma a couple of years ago, at Nationals, the one that enabled him to see every possible blind spot. It sounds impossible even now, but watching Atobe take point after point after point, there’s no way Rin can deny it. And there’s no response Kite can give to it. Rin vaguely remembers that Echizen had used the Tezuka Zone, but that’s not a move that’s open to Kite.
Atobe wins 7-5, but as they shake hands across the net, Kite’s lips are turned ever so slightly upwards at the corners, and Rin grins to himself. Atobe’s just going to have a far harder time when Higa meets Hyotei again. But then again, Atobe probably likes the challenge. The low chuckle and eye-roll from Oshitari only confirms his suspicions.
After they part ways with Kite, though, Atobe pins Rin with an unnerving, intense stare. He says, ‘You’re in love with him, aren’t you.’
‘What - how -?’
Atobe snorts at the flabbergasted look on Rin’s face. ‘Please. If you think something as obvious as that would slip past me, you’re stupider than I thought.’
‘You know, Atobe, you could make more of an effort to be tactful,’ Oshitari jabs verbally. ‘What he means, Hirakoba-kun, is: why haven’t you told him?’
Rin tells them everything over dinner. Oshitari makes sympathetic noises in all the right places, while Atobe just listens in simple silence, quiet for once, without the smart remarks that Rin has come to think as characteristic of his behavior.
When he’s finished, Atobe bluntly tells him, ‘Tell him, you fool.’
Oshitari nods slowly.
Rin doesn’t know what to say, or do.
*
He sees them off at the airport with a genuine tinge of regret. Chances are they next time they’ll see each other is at competition, as opponents, and while he’s looking forward to that too, the last two weeks has been absolutely fantastic - heady and genuinely fun. He’d given pleasure received it, and he’ll miss their company.
Rin smiles to himself. Maybe he’ll visit Tokyo one weekend.
*
Summer segues into autumn, and the world turns a rich golden-brown. Club hierarchy means that he can’t be captain till next year, for propriety’s sake, and neither can his entire team be on the Regulars. Kite frowns but accepts it. They make it to Kyushu finals but one of their senpai messes up and loses a crucial match. No matter. There’ll be next year. And next year will be his year, he vows to himself. Next year will be the year he takes Higa to Nationals and then he’ll be able to play Atobe Keigo and Tezuka and all the rest of them, the stars of the tennis circuit.
He knows it’s partially his own fault that he’s not particularly close to the current team, the one that includes some of the second and third years, but for him there’ll only be one Higa team - his own. The team that they’d all built from scratch.
He sits down at his desk, getting ready to clear away the backlog of homework - year-end examinations are drawing close again and he can’t afford to let his grades slip, or else his father might decide that tennis wasn’t worth it. He’s just starting on a chemistry equation when a glint of metal catches his eye.
Rin’s earrings are still with him, Kite realizes.
He picks up a stud. They’re all identical, simple dull silver, and he has no clue which one is the one that he’d taken out of Rin’s ear ages ago. Rin must have left them here by accident, and he’d never noticed until now.
Rin. Kite sets his pencil aside - redox reactions can wait for that much longer - and stares at the earring, wondering. It could just be him, but Rin and he - he feels as if they’ve been growing apart. Rin doesn’t visit as often anymore, and then there was Atobe and Oshitari over the summer, and other tourists to take around the island. Maybe it’s his own fault, for going to Rin’s house that night, for intruding where Rin clearly didn’t want him. Though for a moment there, he’d thought differently.
The comfort that Kite could never give him, when Rin was in his own house, this house - Kite had thought, then, that Rin had taken comfort from Kite’s being there. That Rin had wanted - liked - having Kite there. That Rin had wanted him to be there.
Apparently, though, he had been wrong.
He sighs and sets the earring down, picking up the pencil again. It doesn’t matter. There’ll be tennis next year, and the intensity, the sheer thrill of competition, and the easy camaraderie of being a team. If nothing else, there’ll always be that.
But he doesn’t give the earrings back to Rin, and occasionally, sometimes when he’s doing his homework, sometimes when he’s reading a book, his eyes will flicker to them, and he’ll pick one up and remember the feeling of Rin’s skin, warm against his hands.
He buys Rin a goosedown comforter for Christmas that year, but on impulse swaps it with his own. He doesn’t think too deeply about why he does it - just that this way, maybe, in some roundabout manner, he’s keeping Rin warm.
*
Rin bundles himself in the blanket each night. It might be his imagination - wishful thinking - but he can swear that he can smell Kite on it, a scent that’s musky and warm, and some nights it turns him on, makes him achingly hard, but some nights it makes him want to cry. Damn Atobe and his insight and his straightforward, incisive words, because now whenever Rin looks at Kite the yearning is more intense and more bittersweet and it’s not as easy for Rin to think that it’s enough just to be friends.
Rin lets the tears soak into the fabric and meanders uneasily into slumber.
*
The seasons turn again, and Kite reassumes his rightful position as captain, and Higa is back in action. The buzz of excitement is in the air, the unsaid words hovering like birds - our year, this year, we’re going to win -
They practice till the sun goes down, and then they all troop into the clubroom, chattering about everything and nothing, like excited sparrows. Rin’s laughing about something with Kai when suddenly he freezes.
Rika. Rika.
Fear. Pain, lancing through his nerves, tight and sharp and not his, not the ache of his own muscles but the slicing pain of wounds, an immediate burn, but he’s not hurt, and along with the phantom pain, the panic.
Rika!
‘Rika,’ he gasps out. The team is silent around him but he doesn’t see them. ‘God, it hurts, Rika - Rika-’
They used to have this, this capacity for each other’s pain, but it got rarer and rarer as they got older and older and this is a complete shock to him - but his concern - she’s terrified, panicking, and for all she acts tough Rika’s no match for anything, really - it drives him to his feet, stumbling forward -
He slams into a firm body. Kite grips him by the shoulders and gives him a brutal shake. It rattles all the way down to his bones and clears his head, and he gazes at Kite in wide-eyed panic and blurts, ‘It’s Rika - she’s in trouble, I know it - I have to find her -’
And all the while the pain and the fear and the horror isn’t stopping and his sister is hurting and he tries to push his way past Kite, blindly. Kite grabs him by the arm and it’s the pain of Kite’s grip that brings him back to himself, that and Kite’s dark concerned eyes, and Kite’s words - ‘We’ll go with you.’
*
Rin moves. He heads for the high school Rika attends - and as he gets closer the fear gets stronger, the bile rises in his stomach and Kite holds him as he trembles - Rika, Rika - and they all pour off the bus and Rin lurches into a run, feeling more than seeing Kite easily keeping pace at his side, everything in him focused on finding his sister -
The gates have been locked. Rin clambers upwards, scrambling to find purchase on the vertical iron bars. Kite grips his foot and gives him a boost up, then calmly follows. The rest of the team is somewhere behind them - Tanishi is probably having trouble, but Kite can hear Kai hauling him up and for now the important thing is not to lose sight of Rin, who’s still running, led by some unerring instinct that’s bringing him ever-closer to his sister -
Rin rounds the corner, Kite races to keep up with him - and runs even harder as he hears the sudden impact of a fist meeting flesh.
Kite gets there to see Rin flailing with fists and feet. He’s too furious to remember the martial arts that they’ve all been trained in, but his body remembers - but there’re six of them - and god - the girl cowering in the corner looks heart-wrenchingly like Rin with short hair, tears streaked down her face and her skirt and shirt pushed up and a gag in her mouth and blood all over her thighs and Kite knows just what’s happened -
He jumps in without another thought, blocking a punch that was heading for Rin. He grabs one of them by the back of the neck and slams him head first into the wall - there’s a satisfying crunch of bone and the other guy slumps, unconscious -
And then Kai’s there, Chinen’s there - Aragaki, Shiranui, Tanishi -
It’s over soon enough, and Chinen’s calling the police and an ambulance, and Rin, still alive with rage, is still raining kicks on the downed bodies, a savage, disconnected light in his eyes. Kite lets him do it, they deserve it. He steps over to Rin’s sister - Rika - and plucks the gag from her mouth and carefully helps her to her feet, careful not to spook her. Her eyes are wide and frightened and Kite doesn’t like the look of it, but he says, ‘I’m Kite Eishirou. Rin’s friend. You’re safe now, it’s alright.’ Empty words, of course, but she reacts to her brother’s name, some of the daze clearing from her eyes.
‘Rin,’ Kite says, and then when there’s no reaction, ‘Rin. ’
Rin looks at him, then, and he looks at Rika, and he’s there in a heartbeat, holding his sister and saying, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay.’ The rest of them can only watch.
*
Kite waits for Rin at the police station, waiting for the police to finish taking Rin’s statement. The rest of them have gone home already, various worried parents coming to pick up their children.
He calls his mother and tells her everything. She listens to him and says that she’ll come pick them up, and tells Kite to take care of himself, and of Rin. Kite promises.
Rin stumbles out and sees Kite, and crumbles. He just crumbles, but Kite grabs him, holds him upright and Rin’s sobbing into his shoulder, silent, angry tears, and Kite half-drags half-guides him out of the police station and into the night air, to wait for his mother.
It just seems right to stroke Rin’s hair, to tell him that it’s alright, that Riza will be alright, that he got there in time, that he shouldn’t be guilty about not being able to stop them before they - not being able to stop them earlier - and despite his reassurances, Rin’s sobs continue, unabated, silent, Rin’s whole body shaking against his.
‘It’s okay,’ Kite whispers. ‘I’m here.’ He presses his lips to Rin’s temple, and repeats it. ‘I’m here, Rin.’
And miraculously, it’s as if he’s found the magic words. Rin calms down as Kite repeats the words, and by the time Kite pushes him into the backseat of the car, Rin is composed if still a little pale. Kite laces their fingers together and doesn’t let go.
*
Most of it’s a haze to him. Rika, the pain, the rage, the incoherent statement to the police, and through it all, images of Kite - Kite running by his side, Kite helping him in the fray, Kite guiding him out of the station, Kite holding him, Kite pulling him up the stairs, Kite handing him a change of clothes, Kite pulling the blankets over them -
‘Eishirou?’ his voice cracks a little as he regards the sleeping face beside him. It’s warm again, not unlike the cold fear of yesterday night and the freezing rage, and his eyes feel sore, as if he’s been crying. Maybe he has been.
Kite opens his eyes. ‘Rin,’ he greets. ‘Are you alright?’ he asks, sitting up.
Rin nods. ‘Yeah.’
‘They took Rika to the hospital and they probably called your mother. You should go see them,’ Kite says, running a hand through his hair. ‘Skip school today. I’ll explain to the teachers for you.’
It’s only then that Rin notices that they’ve slept on the same futon. He remembers clearer now, Kite sliding onto the bed beside him, holding him as Rin pressed against him, telling Rin that everything would be alright -
I’m here.
The words echo, still, and Rin flushes horribly. ‘Eishirou- I -’
Now or never. ‘I like you,’ he blurts, and then stammers, ‘I know - if you don’t -’
Kite walks over and kneels down on the futon and kisses him.
Rin leans into it immediately, arms moving to pull Kite that much closer. He’s not about to think this is a dream because he knows he’s awake and no dream is this incredible, this coherent, this real. And besides, if he were dreaming they wouldn’t have morning breath, but it’s kinda wonderful anyway because this is Kite - Eishirou - and everything he’s ever hoped for.
Kite smiles softly at him, and touches Rin’s cheek, and says, ‘I like you too.’
*
He can’t help the retarded, huge grin on his face throughout most of breakfast, but he sobers up fast enough when he heads to the hospital and sees Riza propped up on the bed, their mother by her side, both faces ashen-pale.
He lingers at the door for a moment and watches them. Their mother’s crying - he thinks he can see her lips form the words for ‘I’m sorry’, again and again - but his sister’s saying the same thing, and maybe, maybe there’s some good to be had from all this.
He walks in and slides his arms around both their shoulders.
*
Loving Kite -
He has a place to go now, Rin figures. He no longer feels like an interloper, an outsider, in his own house and Kite’s as well. Kite will be there and he’ll let Rin tuck his legs up and press his toes to Kite’s thighs. Kite’ll hold him and kiss him and each time the kiss turns longer, harder, more demanding and Rin has never wanted anyone so much in his life -
But first, there’s this - Kyushu Regionals, and the team arrayed around them as they step forward - bow to their opponents -
Tanishi and Chinen. Six games to none.
Aragaki and Shiranui. Six games to none.
Rin warms up with Kite, his hands against Rin’s back, pressing Rin forward, and the movement reminds Rin of sex. It makes him think of bending forward, of letting Kite take him - he reaches back and kisses Kite, hard and fast, tongues sliding against each other - a promise of victory.
Someone clears his throat and they break apart, startled.
Oshitari and Atobe, and the glimmer of bright amusement in their eyes. ‘We came to wish you luck,’ Oshitari says. ‘But it looks like you don’t really need it.’
‘In which case, we’re here also to check out the competition,’ Atobe adds. ‘We’ll see you at Nationals, Hirakoba. Kite.’ And without further ado, they walk away, Oshitari’s lazy wink tossed over his shoulder at Rin.
Rin laughs, and kisses Kite again, for luck.
He steps onto the court, already certain they’ll win.