[fic] MEGA-crossover - Jinchi High School 10/?
“Alright, we’re talking about the conservation of momentum.” The teacher turned away from the class, scratching absentmindedly at his short, white, beard as his other hand wrote the physics formula out on the chalkboard. “If there are two objects moving in the same direction at different speeds and they collide but keep moving, stuck together…”
Ken sighed, staring out the window with his chin in his palm. He just couldn’t bring himself to listen to physics that day.
“Ken, you should copy this down. It’s going to be on the test.” Ein whispered to him, pointing at the distracted boy’s blank paper.
Ken rolled his eyes, lifting his pen and beginning to write the equations down. He gave up again after a minute, reverting to scribbling swirls and patches of blue ink all over the margins of the page.
“Ken, did you get an answer?” The teacher looked at his blank, startled, expression expectantly.
“Uh…”
“Here…” Ein murmured, sliding his own sheet discreetly onto the other’s desk.
“Oh, uh, 48?”
Very good.” The teacher smiled, turning back to write the answer on the board.
Ken breathed a sigh of relief, mouthing a ‘thank you’ to the half-German boy as he handed back the completed questions.
“No problem,” Ein chuckled. “But you might want to start following along.”
Ken scrunched up his nose. “Nah, It’s Friday, last period, I’ll just pay attention on Monday.”
Ein laughed, shaking his head as he returned to his work and Ken resumed staring out the window with worry nagging and creasing his brow.
… Tetsu hadn’t shown up at lunch.
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“Okay, find a partner and a wheel. There’s clay in the bins near the back of the room, just take one. We’re not doing anything big anyway.”
The art class was a flurry of movement and noise as the students stood and began parading about, picking their partners for the project and grabbing chunks of plastic wrapped clay for their material.
Hyde looked around at the chaos. Most people had already decided who they would work with, and Hyde didn’t really have any friends in the class… He sighed. This was the hardest part about being new. He wished teachers would make up the pairings themselves. That would make things so much less complicated.
He stood slowly, a small, satisfied, smile appearing on his features as he noticed someone else who looked like he probably agreed with him.
“Hey, Kaz-kun.” Hyde greeted as he moved to stand by the other boy’s desk. Kaz looked up, failing to hide his dejected expression in time. Hyde chuckled. “Want to be my partner?”
Kaz looked like he couldn’t believe his luck. “R-really? Sure! I’d love to!…” He bit his lip, looking embarrassed by his own enthusiasm, and Hyde laughed again.
“Okay. You go save us a pottery wheel, and I’ll get the clay.”
Kaz nodded, an overjoyed smile crossing his face as he watched Hyde go before he too stood and hurried in the opposite direction.
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Tetsu’s teeth were chattering so hard it was painful. How long had it been since Kozi had left him there? An hour? More?
He’d given up trying to move the concrete. His arms felt like they each weighed a ton, wrapped tightly around him in the icy water. The water level had risen considerably, almost completely covering his chest. His head felt too heavy to hold up but he couldn’t let it fall. The metal behind him was freezing against his scalp and to slump forward would probably result in a lungful of water. He closed his eyes -his eyelashes felt frosty- as he tried to stop his shaking, afraid the rattling of his bones would tip over the can.
He froze -luckily, not literally-, eyes opening slowly with a realization he’d been too cold and panicked to see earlier.
Suddenly he began rocking back and forth. It took a minute for the water to begin sloshing with him, tipping the can on its edges. The concrete block above grated eerily on the metal rim and for a second Tetsu worried that he’d only cause it to fall in on top of him. He couldn’t think of that though. He had no other way to get out of the metal cylinder.
Finally, as each rocking movement resulted in a wave of icy water submerging him completely and stealing his breath away, the can stopped dead for a split second, teetering on its edge before crashing down on the pavement.
The concrete block cracked as it hit the ground next to the trashcan’s opening. Water poured out, swishing away the bits of cement and leaving Tetsu limp and shivering, lying in the base of the metal cylinder.
It took him a long moment to round up a bit of strength. Slowly, with shaking limbs, he rolled over and pulled himself up onto his hands and knees. The rain was still pounding down, echoing loudly with each drop that struck the metal above his head. He had to force himself to crawl out under the pelting cold and it took him a couple minutes of struggling before he could stand.
Panting, he began struggling out of the courtyard. His legs wobbled dangerously with every step; his clothes dragging him down with the weight of the water they had soaked up. He stumbled against the brick wall now to his right, leaning on it momentarily before pressing on again. The door he’d come out from was a long ways away and around the corner, and he could see no other entrances ahead of him.
He turned then, going in another direction and finding himself in a grassy patch between two of the school’s connected buildings. He looked up, squinting at the cold water that landed on his face and feeling his head swim as he clenched his teeth to stop the chattering.
Why was it so cold?… This was crazy weather for April…
The buildings were tall, three floors of windows peeking down at him on either side. Tetsu blinked. There were lights in most of these rooms. Maybe someone would see him. He pushed himself away from the wall, staggering out in the middle of the space and continuing to stare up hopefully. He couldn’t yell -he didn’t have the strength-, so he could only hope somebody would look down and catch a glimpse of him.
He let out a short gasp, seeing his breath ghost in front of him as his legs gave out. The grass was wet, totally saturated in the rainwater so that his body sunk down deep in it and it splashed around him. He preferred the stuff falling from the sky to this rain mixed with bits of dirt and the odd sprinkling of cut grass. Such water had sprayed across his face when he landed, and he blinked futilely to get the filth away from his bleary eyes. He couldn’t get up, his efforts were hopeless, and the rain continued to fall.
Tetsu wrapped his arms around himself, his knees drawn up to his chest for warmth leaving him in the fetal position. His breath fogged the lenses of his glasses, obscuring his vision, and so he closed his eyes, a shuddering sigh turning into a sob before he blacked out.
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“Oh no… Sorry, Hyde-san, I think I ruined it again.” Kaz looked down, biting his lip as Hyde set down the bowl of water he’d gone to fetch and grimaced at their art project.
Currently, the ‘vase’ they were supposed to be making was nothing more than a mushy lump on the motionless wheel.
“Um… Yeah, okay, it’s fine. We can still fix it.” Hyde slid his stool closer to the other boy, leaning over him to turn the wheel at a snail’s pace and examine the problem.
Kaz’s cheeks reddened as he leant out of the way. “Okay… but we’re so far behind… And class is almost over.” He sighed.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have time to work on it next week too.” Hyde hummed to himself for a moment before straightening up. “Well, I think maybe we just have to spin it faster.”
“Faster?…” Kaz looked nervous, having already faced great difficulty with the painfully slow pace they’d used before.
Hyde chuckled, pulling the foot pedal towards himself. “I’ll help you, don’t worry about it.”
Kaz nodded uneasily, scrutinizing the clay with a bit lip, raised hands hesitant as though he didn’t know where to start. Hyde laughed at his expression.
“Here. We’ll start near the base and work up.” He took the other boy’s hands, glancing up at the directions written out by the teacher before placing them on the gooey brown material.
Kaz turned bright red, but Hyde didn’t notice. He pressed down on the foot pedal, easing them up to a good speed and keeping his hands over the tattooed boy’s to guide him.
After a minute, Hyde laughed, making Kaz look up in alarm. “You should relax.” Hyde advised with a grin, not taking his eyes off the shape being smoothed and molded beneath their fingers. “Your hands are shaking. You’re going to make it collapse again.”
Kaz’s face was red enough to stop traffic. “I-I… sorry, I will… relax… uhm, yeah…” He stammered, causing Hyde to chuckle again.
The more focused of the two let Kaz’s left hand go, instructing him to keep doing what he was, while he pressed a small hole into the center of the spinning, round, lump. The indentation grew smoothly and Hyde’s fingers guided it until the center of the vase was considerably hollow. Catching on to the instructions they’d been given earlier, Kaz gently moved his hands, directing the clay to rise up on the sides, and Hyde smiled at him. The minutes ticked by as smoothly as the newborn vase’s slick sides.
Soon enough, they found it had grown to a little under a foot and -despite being slightly lopsided- they figured it was done growing. Hyde released his hold on Kaz entirely, and the shy boy carefully lifted his clay-smeared hands from the spinning vase’s sides. He stood and moved to the sink beside them, washing the gooey brown substance off of his palms and watching Hyde with some amount of fascination.
Hyde’s fingers moved confidently around the lip of the vase, curving it a bit to give it a nice, rounded, edge. His tongue poked out from between his lips and his brow was furrowed with concentration as he worked, always careful not to shake or fumble and risk screwing up before the bell rang.
“You’re good at this…”
Hyde smiled, only lifting his gaze for a fraction of a second as he added the finishing touches. “Not really. I lived in Italy for a couple months back in elementary school. There was a little pottery shop across the street and I used to go there sometimes when I was bored. The old man who ran the place let me watch him work, I never tried it myself, but I always admired him for being able to create art like that. Anyway, I guess I’m just going from memory here.”
“Oh…” Kaz blinked. “… I didn’t know you lived in Italy…”
“I traveled a lot. All over the place, really.”
“Wow,” Kaz smiled. “That’s really cool, Hyde-san.”
Hyde chuckled again, letting his foot off the pedal and looking the vase over critically. “What do you think?”
Kaz grinned. “It looks great! I can’t believe we finished…”
“Me neither. We’ll just have to glaze it and catch up with everyone on Monday. Oh!” Hyde looked surprised, laughing as the bell went off and the students around them all rushed to their feet. “We’re just in time.”
“Bring your projects up here. I’ll store them in the back room over the weekend!” The teacher called over the noise in the class.
“I can take it up, if you want.” Kaz offered.
Hyde agreed, grinning to himself as he watched Kaz pick up the plastic bat and carry the soft clay shape across the room with an almost comical amount of care.
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Ken sighed again, unable to find a comfortable position in which to rest his head on his folded arms with the rings of his binder continuing to poke him. He sat up, flipping the cover closed and shoving it in his bag before proceeding to do the same with his textbook and pen.
“Ken, what are you doing?” Ein frowned at him. “There’s still fifteen minutes left of class.”
“I know.” Ken whispered back. “But I’m not doing the work anyway so it won’t make a difference.” He smiled at his logic before crossing his arms and settling back down on the top of his cleared desk.
A minute passed and Ken found his head turned towards the window. He watched in a sort of daze as the rain materialized out of the gray, overcast, sky and plummeted past the Physics class window and towards the Earth. He briefly wondered what it would feel like to be a drop of rain. Nobody cares about them individually -only as a whole-, and nobody ever considers how fleeting and frightening their existences are. It’s a long way down, after all…
Ken’s eyes followed their progress and he sat up taller as they passed the glass, leaning closer to the nearby sill so as to see them hit the ground at the end of the journey.
His attention was diverted, however, by the sight of a still form curled up on the grass below. Ken’s brain stopped functioning for a fraction of a second before it was kicked suddenly into high gear.
That thin boy’s body was too familiar to be mistaken.
Ken cursed, making Ein raise his eyebrows, and then promptly leapt up from his seat.
“Ken!?” Ein exclaimed in shock, watching as Ken ran across the room to the door.
The teacher turned around, frowning. “Ken, class isn’t over yet.”
“I know! Sorry! But it’s an emergency. I have to leave early.” Ken explained, reaching for the door handle despite the teacher’s protests.
“Ken! Wait!” Ein exclaimed, standing.
Ken clenched his teeth, prepared to redefine the word ‘emergency’, but Ein cut him off as the hurried boy turned around.
“Your bag.” The half-German boy grinned, tossing the shoulder bag across the distance between them.
Ken grinned back as he caught it, slinging it over his shoulder as he ripped the door open and then, with a grateful wave, he was gone.
His feet pound over the floor of the empty hall, and he took the stairs to the second floor two at a time and at a breakneck speed. He spun around on the landing and practically leapt the entire second flight of steps, bursting out at the bottom and skidding to a stop on the first level of the building.
Ken turned around from side-to-side, eyes searching for an exit in the long, deserted, corridor. He felt like he was going to start hyperventilating, and the sudden, loud, ringing of the bell that signaled the end of the school day did not help his throbbing pulse.
Classroom doors opened along the length of the hallway and streams of chattering students poured out, all excitedly rushing to head home for the weekend. Ken cursed again, pushing his way through them as they swarmed towards the lockers. If he didn’t find a way out soon, he was going to end up crying from frustration.
Through the crowd, his heart swelled frantically as he caught a glimpse of the red ‘EXIT’ of a fire escape.
It took him a moment to reach it, and lack of use made it stick as he flung himself upon it, but only for a second. A second later he was hurtling down a short flight of narrow cement steps and leaping over the railing to land on the grass.
His feet sank in water as he landed, stumbling to keep from falling. The second he’d left the shelter of the fire escape, the rain had hit him -numbingly cold- and it was already sticking the hair to his head as he ran unsteadily across the squishy, green, space.
Ken fell into a crouched position as he reached the still form he’d been looking for. Tetsu was curled in on himself, his hair and clothing plastered to his skin. Ken reached out, turning the frail, unconscious, boy over on his back and pulling his upper torso into his arms.
“Tetsu! Tetsu! Wake up!” Ken shook him and, when that didn’t work, reached out to tap his cheeks. He froze, the smaller boy’s ghostly pale skin was unnaturally cold to the touch, and Ken noticed with a flood of panic that his lips were tinged blue. “Oh my god…” His voice shook as he hurried to verify that the other boy was indeed breathing -he was- before using one hand to shuffle around in his schoolbag.
Tetsu’s still expression faced towards him as he pulled out his phone, dialing the number for emergency services and then explaining the situation and his location to the woman on the other end of the line. He snapped the phone shut quickly and dropped it back into his increasingly wet bag. Rainwater had collected on Tetsu’s closed eyelids, rolling down his cheeks like tears.
Ken clenched his teeth, shrugging off his jacket with one arm as he supported Tetsu’s weight with the other.
Why had this happened? …
Ken draped his uniform jacket over Tetsu’s upper torso to try and provide some warmth and shelter from the wet. The rain, however, was already soaking through the gray material.
Ken cursed at this, shifting into a better position before hooking his free arm under Tetsu’s legs and struggling to stand with the unconscious boy cradled to his chest.
He made it, though he almost lost his balance twice, and began staggering as fast as he could across the soggy grass towards the closest entrance. The fire escape wasn’t an option. The stairs were too thin and narrow to brave, so Ken made his way along the building’s perimeter, trying to keep beneath the shelter of the roof’s short overhang whenever possible.
Turning the corner, he came to a paved pathway through a small garden type space the school had set up to one side of the main building. Once he’d side-stepped a couple bushes and trampled a lifeless flowerbed, the even ground increased Ken’s pace, and he was able to hurry relatively swiftly towards the garden’s entrance he could see up ahead.
Pushing backwards through the glass double doors, he found himself near the office. A few stragglers, passing by on their way to the lobby’s main exit, gave Ken and the boy in his arms curious glances, but Ken paid them no attention. He rain, almost slipping twice on account of his sopping wet shoes, and burst into the office with a cry of “Quick! Somebody help me!”.
The secretary leapt up in alarm, rushing over to him and yelling for someone to get the school nurse. Ken told her an ambulance was already on its way just as the headmaster same out of his office to see the commotion, eyes almost popping out of their sockets at the scene he saw. The secretary got on the P.A., telling any paramedics on the scene to go to the office immediately.
Ken refused to let the unconscious boy go, hugging him possessively to himself in the hopes that whatever body heat he was radiating would thaw Tetsu’s icy skin and wake him.
A minute later three paramedics in blue uniforms burst into the chaotic office with a gurney. Ken released Tetsu into their care and they lay the frail boy upon the stretcher and wrapped him tightly with thick blankets.
He was whisked away, and Ken ran after them. A crowd had formed around the white emergency vehicle, and scores of wide eyes watched as Tetsu’s small form, buried in the blankets, was wheeled through and hoisted up into the ambulance.
“Don’t worry, kid. You did good, and he’ll be fine.” One of the paramedics consoled him, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before leaping into the passenger seat. The sirens blared and they sped out of the school grounds at high speed, flashing lights whirling as they went.
Ken stared at the place where the ambulance had disappeared from sight, the wail of the sirens echoing in his ears to the point where he couldn’t hear the people saying things to him. He wasn’t even aware of their presences.
“Ken, Ken!” Hyde’s hand shaking him by the shoulder was what brought him out of his trance. Hyde was staring at him with wide, questioning eyes. Yukihiro was just behind him, looking concerned, and Suzuki-san was a few feet behind the both of them, wringing his hands and looking pale with worry. “Ken, let’s go.” Hyde repeated what Ken hadn’t earlier heard.
“Oh…” Ken blinked slowly, swallowing over an unexpected lump in his throat before nodding. He followed behind the other three as they hurried to the nearby waiting limo, and we barely seated before the butler had them speeding towards the hospital.
The ride was spent in silence and all across the city beyond the tinted windows, the rain continued to fall.
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A/N:
Yay! Chapter 10!
Thanks again to everyone who voted in the poll a couple chapters back. :)
Comments make me update faster..... *taunts*
NEXT CHAPTER: Adventures at the hospital! Hyde might run into someone veeeeery familiar.... hmmm......
Stay tuned, folks!
or if you're bored... check out my FIC archive!!! HERE
There's freezing rain and wind outside.... *worries about the power*