I'm probably looking in the wrong place...wistfulmemoryJuly 15 2009, 06:26:40 UTC
I do live in a young family residential area, so that's probably has something to do with the lack of attractive guys my age...
Yes, Yokohama's the capital city of the Kanagawa prefecture.
Living where the dramas take place does cause some random moments of "How is that even possible?" to occur while watching them. I remember watching an episode of Kiina, and there was a touching scene taking place while it was snowing, and all I could think could during the scene was how they were totally lying as it hadn't snowed at all in Tokyo during that time.
I was wondering about Atadan's distances, especially as it only showed a car once, and they never showed any public transportation being used. The only actual vehicle was Takeru's motorcycle. They must be great marathon runners...
Oh, a friend and I are planning on doing a Fangirl Tour of Tokyo next week. Are there any places from random dramas you can think of that might be fun to hunt down?
Good luck with coming to Japan (or Taiwan) to teach. It really is an amazing experience, and I'm so sad that I'm going to be leaving soon, but it feels like it's time for me to go home.
Re: I'm probably looking in the wrong place...calledinvainJuly 15 2009, 06:41:13 UTC
it's all about the atmosphere!
Hmmm....places I could think of from jdramas - actually, all of mine are Atadan based (NEVER LEAVE ME) at the moment, so I can't think of anything else, really. I think the school they film Vampire Boy is in Chiba, anyway. *G* I'm quite afraid that I might have to fic at some point....
that's what i'm looking for, the experience. I've lived abroad, so I know how much fun and enriching it can be to be a part of another culture and how much it enhances the appreciation for the one I left at home - I figure I'd go for a year - two years? Maybe swing by S. Korea? And then come home and finally know what I'm going to be when I grow up. :D
Thanks for keeping me company - I'm about to head to bed, but I've got something for you.....
Yeah, you're probably right...wistfulmemoryJuly 15 2009, 13:10:50 UTC
I'm trying to hunt down the little garden that Takeru and the lawyer met in. I know I accidentally found it a couple of Christmases ago when my friends and I were looking for another garden, but I can't remember what area it was in. Ginza maybe? I know we're going to be hitting up Ebisu Garden and the Ueno Zoo (from HYD). If you think of anywhere else, let me know by Sunday your time as we'll be off fangirling on Monday.
I will totally read your Vampire Boy fic even though I will most likely never watch the show and will only know the plot from your snark.
I'd never left the US before I came to Japan, so it was a completely new experience. However, I didn't experience culture shock or homesickness when I came, which was nice. (I know I'm definitely going to be experiencing reverse culture shock when I go home.) I came thinking I would stay for a year, ended up staying for two, visited S. Korea once when one of my friends was living there, and still have no clue what I want to be when I grow up (which was one of the reasons I came to Japan).
It was my pleasure. I hope you slept well and have a better day at work tomorrow.
EEEE!!!! Thank you for the fic. :D I will do a proper reaction post to it when I'm more awake and shouldn't be working on other things. You made my evening. No worries about wandering from my prompt. It was there to inspire one of your cute little bunnies (though it appears to have spawned a herd of rabbits-though I'm not complaining about that at all). :)
wandering star 1/?calledinvainJuly 15 2009, 06:49:43 UTC
I kind of wandered (heh) off a bit from your gypsy prompt, but I WILL CORRAL THAT BUNNY BACK, oh yes - but here's the first bit I've got.
It'll be up later with better formatting but for now...
Wandering star
When he was little and still living at the orphanage, Sho used to dream about the home he would one day have. One where he would have his own room, and maybe there would even be a dog. Not that he didn't like the orphanage, and being looked after by Shimura-san, but he knew that it would only be temporary. Children arrived and left Yukari no Sono regularly. Then one year, two years, and time seemed to disappear in a blink, and then he was fifteen years old, and everything he owned in the world fit in a backpack.
Shinzo-san was weird, but harmless. He asked Sho what he liked, what his interests were, who his friends at the orphanage were. Sho answered as best as he could: he liked animals, and biology, and the color blue. He was interested in people, and traveling, and he liked everyone at the orphanage, but didn’t have any particularly close friends. The only exception to that was Shimura-san, but he wasn’t really a friend, more of a mentor - someone Sho admired very much.
Shinzo-san had nodded sagely, and said that he had three other sons waiting back at home.
Home - Sho’s heart beat a little faster when he heard the word. He would finally have a home, and brothers, in the bargain.
Except that Trick Heart castle is unlike any home - or house that Sho’s ever been in, or read about. It was a castle, for starters. A thin, weedy looking woman wearing a maid’s uniform and pushing a heavy, ancient looking vacuum cleaner answered the door when Shinzo-san finished speaking into the strange recording device.
“This is Inoue-san,” Shinzo-san introduced the woman, who bobbed her head perfunctorily. “She’s Indonesian, but her Japanese is very good - she’ll help look after you when I’m not here.”
“Hello,” he said politely. “I’m Sho.”
Inoue-san leads him through the labyrinth of corridors and staircases before picking a room, (it seems to Sho, rather randomly) and putting his backpack on the bed inside. “I’ll come collect you for meals, is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Uh no, thank you very much, Inoue-san,” Sho stutters. “I have everything I need right now.”
The first night Sho sleeps in his own real bed - he can’t. He stares up at the ceiling, trying to listen for the familiar chirp of cicadas. The stone of the castle carries sound, but its echoes of water and strange thumps and are those explosions?
His older brothers - Inoue-san informed him there was master Fuu, who was nineteen, and about to turn twenty in a week, and Takeru-kun, who was seventeen and worked in a garage. Takeru tended to come home at odd hours, and Fuu- it was implied that he showed up whenever he felt like it and those instances had been decreasing steadily over the past year. Shinzo-san was distressed about it, but there was so much work to be done at Miracle, that a level of absent-minded ignorance was in place regarding Fuu’s behavior. Then there was Masaru, who was pale and intense looking, and looked at him through huge alarmed eyes, and ate his dinner quickly without saying a word. He was twelve.
Sho starts at a new high school, and learns his schedule and which teachers to avoid within a week. He’s always been good at names, and memorizing routines - a real talent for adaptation, as Shimura-san would say. He’s so busy with homework, club activities, and the weekly memos he gets from Shinzo-san, asking about how he’s doing, that he forgets to be homesick about Yukari no Sono.
He runs into Takeru - literally, one night when he’s coming back from the kitchen, armed with snacks so he can study for his first exam. Takeru is short and stocky, with hair that’s taller than Sho’s, styled in a teased and slick pompadour. His thin eyebrows crease in annoyance, and then he barks, “So you’re the new candidate, eh?”
Re: wandering star 1/?calledinvainJuly 15 2009, 06:50:11 UTC
“So what if I am,” Sho retorts. “And what do you mean the new candidate?”
Takeru rolls his eyes. “Figures, the old man didn’t tell you. Don’t you notice that this castle is swank and full of inventions? He’s a hotshot inventor, and he’s looking for an heir to his company.”
“You mean, didn’t I notice,” Sho corrects Takeru. “Of course I did. I’m not stupid.”
“Are you saying I am?” Takeru says, hotly. “School’s for followers and people who can’t cut it for real society.”
“Right,” Sho says in disbelief. “Anyway, oyaji -“
“He’s not my father,” Takeru scoffs. “I have a father already, even if he’s a deadbeat.”
“I’ve never had parents,” Sho says quietly. “Shinzo-san adopted me from an orphanage.”
Takeru steps back, his face suddenly contrite. “Listen; just forget what I said, okay? Just know - orphan or not, I need this inheritance more than you do, so just stay out of my way.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Sho says irritably. “You’re just contradicting yourself.”
“Whatever, whatever-” Takeru says, and brushes past him. “I’ll treat you to some gyudon sometime.”
Despite the rocky beginning, Sho gets used to Takeru in time. Takeru is sort of a cross between a brother and a big dog, really - fiercely loyal and good natured, and he never fails to make Sho laugh, even if it’s by accident most of the time. The inheritance is a minor sticking point in their friendship, but Sho thinks privately, if he does get the inheritance, he’ll just make sure Takeru is taken care of for the rest of his life, so it didn’t really matter.
He even likes Fuu, the few times their paths crossed. The first time he meets Fuu, the eldest Ohkura son is sprawled out on the front lawn, his long legs crossed at the ankles, with a sketch pad and portable palette next to him. Fuu peers up at him disinterestedly, and then smiles - a knowing, even smile that shows off his brilliant teeth. “Hey, little brother,” he drawls. “You’re Sho, right?”
“Yes, I am. You must be Fuu-san,” Sho says, and Fuu lets out a short laugh. “You’re really polite - not at all like Takeru. Oyaji must like that.”
“I don’t think it makes much difference,” Sho tries to defend Takeru. “Masaru is really polite too.”
“He’s afraid of his own shadow, poor kid,” Fuu sniffs. “I don’t know how growing up in a mausoleum is going to help him there, he needs to be around kids his age. It’ll toughen him up.”
“You might be right about that, but don’t you think we should support him as his brothers?”
Fuu casts an appraising glance over him, and Sho shifts from side to side. “Sho,” and Fuu’s voice is suddenly kind. “You don’t have to impress me; I’m not Shinzo-san. I’m in the same boat as you and Takeru and Masaru are - only,” and Fuu yawns, “I think it’s about time I charted my own course. I feel sorry for you, really.”
“What do you mean?”
“The more well-adjusted you are, the more it hurts later,” Fuu says cryptically, and for a moment, Sho thinks he sees something in Fuu’s carefully aloof gaze. “I’ll see you around, Sho.”
Sho doesn’t really understand what Fuu means until he meets Saki, and falls in love.
Sho likes people, but he really, really likes girl people. His first crush was at five, when he shared strawberries at lunch with Saori-chan. He cried when she got adopted, and then Kyoko-chan wandered by with a toy truck and in a week, he was happy again.
By fifteen, he had three girlfriends, one after another, and he spends his last day before leaving (to a family and a new school) writing a long letter to his current girlfriend explaining why breaking up was a good idea.
Saki is the nineteenth confession Sho makes. Falling in love at seventeen - on the eve of the autumnal equinox, his unofficial birthday - (Shimura-san said he was probably around a month to two months old when he was found during the full moon) makes it even more special when he kisses Saki for the first time.
They kiss in the school gymnasium after hours, fingers fumbling at stubborn buttons and suddenly stifling blazers. Saki misses her swim practice, and he skips out on his apprenticeship at a local business, the first time he’s ever willfully disobeyed Shinzo-san.
Re: wandering star 1/?calledinvainJuly 15 2009, 06:50:35 UTC
Takeru only grins knowingly when Sho comes home late from school, his tie awkwardly tied, the collar of his shirt pulled up to hide the marks Saki leaves behind. “So when are you going to bring your girl back here?”
Saki comes over to help him study - but fifteen minutes into advanced calculus, and all Sho can think about is how good Saki smells, and when her foot brushes against his underneath the table, he highlights a jagged streak off the paper.
Saki’s fingers are cold when she presses them against his cheeks - or maybe it’s just that he’s burning up.
He can’t remember who makes the first move - gets lost in Saki’s kisses and then she’s helping him slip off his tee shirt over his head, their fingers tangling together.
They move in perfect tandem - Sho kissing every inch of pale skin he can, Saki’s fingers running up and down his bare back, the feel of her thighs cradling his hips - it’s all too much for him to focus on one thing, and when it’s over, he collapses with a sigh.
“That was nice,” Saki breathes into his ear, as he tries to catch his breath. “Now when is it my turn?”
He lifts his head with a groan, and says, “Give me a minute, okay?”
Sho flunks his next two math tests, but strangely enough, he isn’t terribly concerned.
It gets better each time - Sho doesn’t know how it’s possible, but it does - and he can’t see anything changing that. He’s in love with the smartest, prettiest, most fantastic girl in the world, and everything’s perfect.
Which is why when Saki announces - via text message - I’m pregnant, Sho feels like the ground has just dropped out from underneath him.
He doesn’t get to talk to her about it until a week later - her parents are answering her cell phone, and she’s been avoiding him at school. He finally corners her at the bus stop near her house.
Saki’s face drains of color when she sees him, and she bites her lower lip. It’s the first time he’s ever seen her distressed in his presence - at his presence, and it stuns him.
“Sho,” she says finally, her voice barely audible.
He thinks his heart might just break, right then. He nods mutely and then blurts out, “Don’t leave me,” and Saki’s eyes fill with tears. She crosses the distance between them, and buries her face into his uniform jacket. He holds onto her and for a little while, they pretend that everything is all right.
Saki sticks her left hand in his right side pocket and rests her head against his shoulder. “What are we going to do,” she murmurs helplessly. “We’re still in school.”
“So I’ll get a job,” Sho says suddenly, his mind racing a mile a minute. “My family can help me out, I’ll get two jobs, and I have less time to go than you do. You can still go to class until you start showing - and we can get your assignments from your classmates -“
“My parents informed the school already,” Saki says, her voice flat. “They suggested that I stay at home until…it’s taken care of.”
“Taken….care of?” Sho says incredulously. “What does that mean?”
Re: wandering star 1/?calledinvainJuly 15 2009, 06:51:11 UTC
“Oh you know - until the baby is born, or I give it up for adoption….or I abort it,” Saki mumbles quickly.
The implication of what she’s saying - what the adults are saying, makes Sho clench his fists and he can feel a headache actually forming behind his eyes.
“I want to have the baby,” Saki says.
“Then we’re going to have the baby,” Sho says, and musters up a smile. “We’re going to do this right and oyaji will help us, I’m sure of it.”
“You think so?” Saki looks up at him hopefully. “Because my parents are furious, and my mother won’t stop crying about where she went wrong.”
Sho shakes his head fiercely. “There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with us,” he adds for emphasis. “Shinzo-san adopted me and my brothers; he knows how…circumstances can change.”
He squeezes her hand, and she smiles tremulously. “This was not what I had in mind for your birthday present.”
Until Saki mentioned it, Sho had not remembered. He was eighteen - and he looked down at his watch, had been eighteen for exactly two hours. Eighteen years ago, the path of his destiny had changed when Shimura-san rescued him, and then Shinzo-san had changed it further. Now it was time for him to be responsible for his own destiny.
“In America, I’d already be an adult,” Sho says. “So I think we should skip class today and go straight to my house, so we can talk to Oyaji.”
“But we’re in Japan,” Saki protests half-heartedly, and then gasps in surprise when Sho lifts her up in a sudden bear hug. “Sho!”
“Come on, Saki - don’t you trust me,” he wheedles. “We’re going to be a family, after all.”
When they arrive at the castle, Inoue-san is bringing in packing boxes, and Masaru is watching her from behind a pillar, a safe distance away. Ever since he entered middle school, Masaru’s been even odder, and Sho makes a mental note to talk to him later. He was his little brother, he needed all the encouragement he could get.
“What’s with the boxes - is someone moving in?” Sho asks him. Masaru shakes his head, and when he spots Saki, makes a startled noise and withdraws further behind the pillar. Sho hauls him back. “It’s okay, she’s my girlfriend.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Saki offers her hand, and Masaru blurts out, “Fuu-san’s moved out completely, Inoue-san is just packing up the rest of his stuff, I’ve got to go, bye---!”
He bows his head hastily and runs off.
Saki looks after his retreating figure in amazement. “Was it something I said?”
"No - Masaru's just....special," Sho says. "I'll talk to him later."
Yes, Yokohama's the capital city of the Kanagawa prefecture.
Living where the dramas take place does cause some random moments of "How is that even possible?" to occur while watching them. I remember watching an episode of Kiina, and there was a touching scene taking place while it was snowing, and all I could think could during the scene was how they were totally lying as it hadn't snowed at all in Tokyo during that time.
I was wondering about Atadan's distances, especially as it only showed a car once, and they never showed any public transportation being used. The only actual vehicle was Takeru's motorcycle. They must be great marathon runners...
Oh, a friend and I are planning on doing a Fangirl Tour of Tokyo next week. Are there any places from random dramas you can think of that might be fun to hunt down?
Good luck with coming to Japan (or Taiwan) to teach. It really is an amazing experience, and I'm so sad that I'm going to be leaving soon, but it feels like it's time for me to go home.
Reply
Hmmm....places I could think of from jdramas - actually, all of mine are Atadan based (NEVER LEAVE ME) at the moment, so I can't think of anything else, really. I think the school they film Vampire Boy is in Chiba, anyway. *G* I'm quite afraid that I might have to fic at some point....
that's what i'm looking for, the experience. I've lived abroad, so I know how much fun and enriching it can be to be a part of another culture and how much it enhances the appreciation for the one I left at home - I figure I'd go for a year - two years? Maybe swing by S. Korea? And then come home and finally know what I'm going to be when I grow up. :D
Thanks for keeping me company - I'm about to head to bed, but I've got something for you.....
Reply
I will totally read your Vampire Boy fic even though I will most likely never watch the show and will only know the plot from your snark.
I'd never left the US before I came to Japan, so it was a completely new experience. However, I didn't experience culture shock or homesickness when I came, which was nice. (I know I'm definitely going to be experiencing reverse culture shock when I go home.) I came thinking I would stay for a year, ended up staying for two, visited S. Korea once when one of my friends was living there, and still have no clue what I want to be when I grow up (which was one of the reasons I came to Japan).
It was my pleasure. I hope you slept well and have a better day at work tomorrow.
EEEE!!!! Thank you for the fic. :D I will do a proper reaction post to it when I'm more awake and shouldn't be working on other things. You made my evening. No worries about wandering from my prompt. It was there to inspire one of your cute little bunnies (though it appears to have spawned a herd of rabbits-though I'm not complaining about that at all). :)
Reply
It'll be up later with better formatting but for now...
Wandering star
When he was little and still living at the orphanage, Sho used to dream about the home he would one day have. One where he would have his own room, and maybe there would even be a dog. Not that he didn't like the orphanage, and being looked after by Shimura-san, but he knew that it would only be temporary. Children arrived and left Yukari no Sono regularly. Then one year, two years, and time seemed to disappear in a blink, and then he was fifteen years old, and everything he owned in the world fit in a backpack.
Shinzo-san was weird, but harmless. He asked Sho what he liked, what his interests were, who his friends at the orphanage were. Sho answered as best as he could: he liked animals, and biology, and the color blue. He was interested in people, and traveling, and he liked everyone at the orphanage, but didn’t have any particularly close friends. The only exception to that was Shimura-san, but he wasn’t really a friend, more of a mentor - someone Sho admired very much.
Shinzo-san had nodded sagely, and said that he had three other sons waiting back at home.
Home - Sho’s heart beat a little faster when he heard the word. He would finally have a home, and brothers, in the bargain.
Except that Trick Heart castle is unlike any home - or house that Sho’s ever been in, or read about. It was a castle, for starters. A thin, weedy looking woman wearing a maid’s uniform and pushing a heavy, ancient looking vacuum cleaner answered the door when Shinzo-san finished speaking into the strange recording device.
“This is Inoue-san,” Shinzo-san introduced the woman, who bobbed her head perfunctorily. “She’s Indonesian, but her Japanese is very good - she’ll help look after you when I’m not here.”
“Hello,” he said politely. “I’m Sho.”
Inoue-san leads him through the labyrinth of corridors and staircases before picking a room, (it seems to Sho, rather randomly) and putting his backpack on the bed inside. “I’ll come collect you for meals, is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Uh no, thank you very much, Inoue-san,” Sho stutters. “I have everything I need right now.”
The first night Sho sleeps in his own real bed - he can’t. He stares up at the ceiling, trying to listen for the familiar chirp of cicadas. The stone of the castle carries sound, but its echoes of water and strange thumps and are those explosions?
His older brothers - Inoue-san informed him there was master Fuu, who was nineteen, and about to turn twenty in a week, and Takeru-kun, who was seventeen and worked in a garage. Takeru tended to come home at odd hours, and Fuu- it was implied that he showed up whenever he felt like it and those instances had been decreasing steadily over the past year. Shinzo-san was distressed about it, but there was so much work to be done at Miracle, that a level of absent-minded ignorance was in place regarding Fuu’s behavior. Then there was Masaru, who was pale and intense looking, and looked at him through huge alarmed eyes, and ate his dinner quickly without saying a word. He was twelve.
Sho starts at a new high school, and learns his schedule and which teachers to avoid within a week. He’s always been good at names, and memorizing routines - a real talent for adaptation, as Shimura-san would say. He’s so busy with homework, club activities, and the weekly memos he gets from Shinzo-san, asking about how he’s doing, that he forgets to be homesick about Yukari no Sono.
He runs into Takeru - literally, one night when he’s coming back from the kitchen, armed with snacks so he can study for his first exam. Takeru is short and stocky, with hair that’s taller than Sho’s, styled in a teased and slick pompadour. His thin eyebrows crease in annoyance, and then he barks, “So you’re the new candidate, eh?”
Reply
Takeru rolls his eyes. “Figures, the old man didn’t tell you. Don’t you notice that this castle is swank and full of inventions? He’s a hotshot inventor, and he’s looking for an heir to his company.”
“You mean, didn’t I notice,” Sho corrects Takeru. “Of course I did. I’m not stupid.”
“Are you saying I am?” Takeru says, hotly. “School’s for followers and people who can’t cut it for real society.”
“Right,” Sho says in disbelief. “Anyway, oyaji -“
“He’s not my father,” Takeru scoffs. “I have a father already, even if he’s a deadbeat.”
“I’ve never had parents,” Sho says quietly. “Shinzo-san adopted me from an orphanage.”
Takeru steps back, his face suddenly contrite. “Listen; just forget what I said, okay? Just know - orphan or not, I need this inheritance more than you do, so just stay out of my way.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Sho says irritably. “You’re just contradicting yourself.”
“Whatever, whatever-” Takeru says, and brushes past him. “I’ll treat you to some gyudon sometime.”
Despite the rocky beginning, Sho gets used to Takeru in time. Takeru is sort of a cross between a brother and a big dog, really - fiercely loyal and good natured, and he never fails to make Sho laugh, even if it’s by accident most of the time. The inheritance is a minor sticking point in their friendship, but Sho thinks privately, if he does get the inheritance, he’ll just make sure Takeru is taken care of for the rest of his life, so it didn’t really matter.
He even likes Fuu, the few times their paths crossed. The first time he meets Fuu, the eldest Ohkura son is sprawled out on the front lawn, his long legs crossed at the ankles, with a sketch pad and portable palette next to him. Fuu peers up at him disinterestedly, and then smiles - a knowing, even smile that shows off his brilliant teeth. “Hey, little brother,” he drawls. “You’re Sho, right?”
“Yes, I am. You must be Fuu-san,” Sho says, and Fuu lets out a short laugh. “You’re really polite - not at all like Takeru. Oyaji must like that.”
“I don’t think it makes much difference,” Sho tries to defend Takeru. “Masaru is really polite too.”
“He’s afraid of his own shadow, poor kid,” Fuu sniffs. “I don’t know how growing up in a mausoleum is going to help him there, he needs to be around kids his age. It’ll toughen him up.”
“You might be right about that, but don’t you think we should support him as his brothers?”
Fuu casts an appraising glance over him, and Sho shifts from side to side. “Sho,” and Fuu’s voice is suddenly kind. “You don’t have to impress me; I’m not Shinzo-san. I’m in the same boat as you and Takeru and Masaru are - only,” and Fuu yawns, “I think it’s about time I charted my own course. I feel sorry for you, really.”
“What do you mean?”
“The more well-adjusted you are, the more it hurts later,” Fuu says cryptically, and for a moment, Sho thinks he sees something in Fuu’s carefully aloof gaze. “I’ll see you around, Sho.”
Sho doesn’t really understand what Fuu means until he meets Saki, and falls in love.
Sho likes people, but he really, really likes girl people. His first crush was at five, when he shared strawberries at lunch with Saori-chan. He cried when she got adopted, and then Kyoko-chan wandered by with a toy truck and in a week, he was happy again.
By fifteen, he had three girlfriends, one after another, and he spends his last day before leaving (to a family and a new school) writing a long letter to his current girlfriend explaining why breaking up was a good idea.
Saki is the nineteenth confession Sho makes. Falling in love at seventeen - on the eve of the autumnal equinox, his unofficial birthday - (Shimura-san said he was probably around a month to two months old when he was found during the full moon) makes it even more special when he kisses Saki for the first time.
They kiss in the school gymnasium after hours, fingers fumbling at stubborn buttons and suddenly stifling blazers. Saki misses her swim practice, and he skips out on his apprenticeship at a local business, the first time he’s ever willfully disobeyed Shinzo-san.
Reply
Saki comes over to help him study - but fifteen minutes into advanced calculus, and all Sho can think about is how good Saki smells, and when her foot brushes against his underneath the table, he highlights a jagged streak off the paper.
Saki’s fingers are cold when she presses them against his cheeks - or maybe it’s just that he’s burning up.
He can’t remember who makes the first move - gets lost in Saki’s kisses and then she’s helping him slip off his tee shirt over his head, their fingers tangling together.
They move in perfect tandem - Sho kissing every inch of pale skin he can, Saki’s fingers running up and down his bare back, the feel of her thighs cradling his hips - it’s all too much for him to focus on one thing, and when it’s over, he collapses with a sigh.
“That was nice,” Saki breathes into his ear, as he tries to catch his breath. “Now when is it my turn?”
He lifts his head with a groan, and says, “Give me a minute, okay?”
Sho flunks his next two math tests, but strangely enough, he isn’t terribly concerned.
It gets better each time - Sho doesn’t know how it’s possible, but it does - and he can’t see anything changing that. He’s in love with the smartest, prettiest, most fantastic girl in the world, and everything’s perfect.
Which is why when Saki announces - via text message - I’m pregnant, Sho feels like the ground has just dropped out from underneath him.
He doesn’t get to talk to her about it until a week later - her parents are answering her cell phone, and she’s been avoiding him at school. He finally corners her at the bus stop near her house.
Saki’s face drains of color when she sees him, and she bites her lower lip. It’s the first time he’s ever seen her distressed in his presence - at his presence, and it stuns him.
“Sho,” she says finally, her voice barely audible.
He thinks his heart might just break, right then. He nods mutely and then blurts out, “Don’t leave me,” and Saki’s eyes fill with tears. She crosses the distance between them, and buries her face into his uniform jacket. He holds onto her and for a little while, they pretend that everything is all right.
Saki sticks her left hand in his right side pocket and rests her head against his shoulder. “What are we going to do,” she murmurs helplessly. “We’re still in school.”
“So I’ll get a job,” Sho says suddenly, his mind racing a mile a minute. “My family can help me out, I’ll get two jobs, and I have less time to go than you do. You can still go to class until you start showing - and we can get your assignments from your classmates -“
“My parents informed the school already,” Saki says, her voice flat. “They suggested that I stay at home until…it’s taken care of.”
“Taken….care of?” Sho says incredulously. “What does that mean?”
Reply
The implication of what she’s saying - what the adults are saying, makes Sho clench his fists and he can feel a headache actually forming behind his eyes.
“I want to have the baby,” Saki says.
“Then we’re going to have the baby,” Sho says, and musters up a smile. “We’re going to do this right and oyaji will help us, I’m sure of it.”
“You think so?” Saki looks up at him hopefully. “Because my parents are furious, and my mother won’t stop crying about where she went wrong.”
Sho shakes his head fiercely. “There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with us,” he adds for emphasis. “Shinzo-san adopted me and my brothers; he knows how…circumstances can change.”
He squeezes her hand, and she smiles tremulously. “This was not what I had in mind for your birthday present.”
Until Saki mentioned it, Sho had not remembered. He was eighteen - and he looked down at his watch, had been eighteen for exactly two hours. Eighteen years ago, the path of his destiny had changed when Shimura-san rescued him, and then Shinzo-san had changed it further. Now it was time for him to be responsible for his own destiny.
“In America, I’d already be an adult,” Sho says. “So I think we should skip class today and go straight to my house, so we can talk to Oyaji.”
“But we’re in Japan,” Saki protests half-heartedly, and then gasps in surprise when Sho lifts her up in a sudden bear hug. “Sho!”
“Come on, Saki - don’t you trust me,” he wheedles. “We’re going to be a family, after all.”
When they arrive at the castle, Inoue-san is bringing in packing boxes, and Masaru is watching her from behind a pillar, a safe distance away. Ever since he entered middle school, Masaru’s been even odder, and Sho makes a mental note to talk to him later. He was his little brother, he needed all the encouragement he could get.
“What’s with the boxes - is someone moving in?” Sho asks him. Masaru shakes his head, and when he spots Saki, makes a startled noise and withdraws further behind the pillar. Sho hauls him back. “It’s okay, she’s my girlfriend.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Saki offers her hand, and Masaru blurts out, “Fuu-san’s moved out completely, Inoue-san is just packing up the rest of his stuff, I’ve got to go, bye---!”
He bows his head hastily and runs off.
Saki looks after his retreating figure in amazement. “Was it something I said?”
"No - Masaru's just....special," Sho says. "I'll talk to him later."
and now, GOOD NIGHT. or afternoon.
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I WILL GET THAT FIC DONE FOR YOU. *pumps fist into air* I just have some RL crap to sweep and I get go back to writing fic and being happy.
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BEING HAPPY - I USED TO REMEMBER THAT. WHERE HAS IT GONE?
*sigh*
Anyway, YAY SIRIFIC. FOR ME. YAAAAAY.
Going to go finish wandering star and NOT WRITE VAMPIRE BOY FIC, OMG.
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