Hanabi 02/?? - ReitaXRuki
Title: Hanabi
Chapter: 02/??
Author: sweetXsweet ( akichuu)
Fandom: JRock, Gazette
Pairings: ReitaXRuki. Some other pairings in the background that you might find later on...
Overall Rating: PG
Genre: Drop dead fluffy.
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Ruki could ignore the irritated mumbles from Reita's classmates and most likely risking himself getting bullied by seniors afterwards...
Comments: Ah... It's a long delay, isn't it? Sorry... I've been busy, as usual. And the writing got stuck coz I've got distracted too often. And it's been heavily raining lately... What's that got to do with anything??? Well, my PC-room leaks from the roof, and I'd rather live longer to write more than to die miserably, electrified to death, which most likely would happen if I forced myself to be in the room while raining.
So here you go, chapter 2. Tell me if it's boring (then I could kill myself :))), 'kay?
Hanabi : 02
"Reitaaa~!!"
When the blonde head pops up on the class' entrance, nobody really gives a shocked reaction, not anymore, neither does Reita--although it was his name being squealed that loudly. It's been almost a habitual thing already now that nobody's really surprised, even though it should be a bother when an insolent first-grader came raiding into a second-graders' class, especially with a such a manner...
But Ruki knows no manner. Yeah well... Reita has known him long enough to memorize that inside his head. Ruki knows no manner neither shame.
The first time Ruki did that, it was the first day of the new term, when Reita was inhabiting his sophomore class for the first time and Ruki was a freshmen in school. Back then, he did receive a reasonable amount of death-glare from everybody that was still left inside the class at that time. He didn't know--or more likely... He didn't care about that. Despite the sparks of threat everybody was sending at him, Ruki even walked in without asking permission to anybody, grinning so wide and strode casually to Reita's desk. Reita couldn't do anything but stare at the little snot. He hardly believed, past the fact that Ruki arrived at his class so impossibly quick right after lunch break's bell rang (two seconds after? How the hell did he run the distance between his class and Reita's??? Did he zap himself or something?), that Ruki could ignore the irritated mumbles from Reita's classmates and most likely risking himself getting bullied by seniors afterwards...
He didn't get bullied, thank God.
It's these sort of things that get into Reita's nerve, that sometimes Reita feels like punching Ruki on his pretty little face. But then again, he knows better that he couldn't.
"Ohha, Reita-chan~!" Ruki drops himself on the already abandoned chair in front of Reita, grinning. "What do we have for lunch today?"
Reita sighs. "You know I'm not obliged to feed you every single day, Ruki."
Ruki tilts his head sideward. "Oh yes you do!" he giggles. "You have to feed me every day, Reita."
"Why is that?" Despite his enormous objection for it seems like he's going to be starving again nearing the end of the day, losing most of his lunch to this brat, Reita retracts a box out of his bag and place it on top of his desk. Without waiting for Reita's agreement, Ruki immediately pulls the box closer to him, anxiously opening the lid. The grin only grows bigger when he finds out what's inside.
"My favorite omelette!" Ruki squeals. "You even brought me my favorite omelette. See? You are obliged to feed me everyday, Reita, because you know exactly what are my favorites. And--" Ruki snatches the pair of chopsticks Reita just pulled out of his bag. Reita can only watch, knowing he can't complain anymore. "--the cooking's always good. So..." The little snot opens his mouth widely and puts in a big chunk of the omelette in.
"But I didn't cook for you," Reita denies. His mother made these this morning. Well... Actually his mother cooked almost every morning for him--and obviously for Ruki too now.
"Off course! Do you think I would eat your cooking? That'll kill me..." his words blurts unclearly because Ruki speaks while chewing. More indecent manners... Reita glares disrespectfully at how the omelette Ruki just put in to his mouth almost jumped right out again. "Anyhow, you know nobody has time to cook for me."
That's true, Reita can't argue that. Even if Ruki said it casually as if it was a normal, acceptable thing, saying it with a careless smile on his lips... But it is actually the other way around. It's not a normal thing, it's not the least acceptable, when your parents won't even spare a little bit of their time to take care of their child. It goes that way with Ruki. Nobody would've guessed how it really was with Ruki's personal life, not when they see this innocent, childish face, grinning and smiling almost all the time. No. By far, only Reita knows.
"Reita, are you going to eat?" Reita snaps back to reality when Ruki pokes on his arm with the chopsticks he's holding... That's gross! He just put the chopsticks into his mouth and now he's poking them on Reita's arm?? "Because if you're not, I'm finishing all this."
Reita moves forward, with one hand he smacks Ruki on his head, and with the other hand he grabs what were really his: the chopsticks. "You're so unbelieavable, Chibi..."
---
Oh dear.
Knowing Ruki for years now should've already made him learn better, that this brat would never ever buy him anything at all if he didn't have something in his mind. Reita should've been suspicious with the takoyaki Ruki suddenly offered him on their way home. There was something weird in Ruki's eyes, the look that Reita should've been noticing for troubles, the look that was indicating: the takoyaki in his stomach would have some cost to pay.
And so now Reita walks this familiar street leading down towards that old inn, the place he and Ruki have been visiting way too often, yet not once they have been decent customers there. They're really there just to get on Aoi-jii-chan's nerves, most likely going to piss him off again, that's what they always do. But repeatedly, they just kept coming back... Well. It's more like... Ruki dragged him there, almost all the time. He kept wanting to visit Aoi-jii-chan, but never wanted to go alone. So... Yeah, Reita knows well Ruki was using him... It's always pointless to argue, though, to complain whenever Ruki asked him to go along. He's never been rewarded with any satisfying result, because just when he started to complain... In the end, those little-puppy-eyes always won.
Like right now, it really didn't take so long for Ruki to pull off his persuasion skill so that Reita compelled, yes those glinting eyes were all that he needed. All along the way, Ruki is grabbing his hand really really tightly, stopping Reita from escaping the torment while his steps got dragged involuntarily by Ruki's quick ones, and now they're only a few meters away from the inn's entrance. "Wait, wait," Ruki stops suddenly, making Reita bump against his lithe body. "Oh watch where you're going, Reita..." he grumbles.
What?? But can Reita argue that? That Ruki was the one who stopped too suddenly and made him bump? No. So he just silences, watching whatever Ruki's doing.
He's pulling out something from inside his bag... Another box of takoyaki?? When did he buy that one?
With a triumphant grin Ruki checks on the box, it's perfectly unmarred, although he had stuffed it inside his overfilled bag. "Good, it's still warm," he grins wider. "Come on!" And as suddenly as before, Reita gets dragged again, one hand being pulled while he complies--half-heartedly--following Ruki's steps entering the inn.
Reita doesn't need to ask, he knows it too well to whom that box of takoyaki Ruki's going to give.
"Aoi-kuuuun~" Ruki walks in through the front entrance, Reita follows slowly right behind him, soon finding an empty lobby, empty hall. It's so quiet... Unlike usual. Where is everybody?
"Aoi-kuuun??" Ruki repeats his call, lurking his head toward the front desk. No one's there. Reita walks toward the lobby. "Jii-chan? Baa-chan?" he calls.
Jii-chan means Aoi-kun. Baa-chan means Kai-kun. So they've got the stingy, stiff grandpa, a highly qualified cook that could be more meddlesome than their own mothers, and they're the two little innocent kids.... Aww... They're just one big happy family. As time moved on, Reita feels more and more adjusted to that, no matter how odd it really is, being a part of such a family...
"Hello?" Ruki walks in even further, nearing the stairs. "A--"
Reita is just about to walk towards Ruki when he sees two figures walking from the right hall, apparently being the same thing that attracted Ruki's attention too. Oh there's Aoi-jii-chan... And... Who is that?
Just like Reita, Ruki stands motionless at where he is, just staring at how Aoi-jii-chan walks with obvious amount of difficulty, propping that stranger by his arm, walking toward their direction. "A? Omaera?" Jii-chan halts a while, realizing who are present in his lobby. "What're you doing here?"
Reita watches the boy Jii-chan's holding--well... His face seems like he's still young, but it's not really clear, since his hair is covering most of it. Quite a tall person... Even taller than Aoi-jii-chan, which makes Reita quite astonished. Who is he? Reita had never seen him before. Is he a guest? A visitor? Why does Jii-chan need to prop him like that? "Who is that?" and before Reita can stop his own mouth, his voice darts out, speaking out loud the question hovering in his head.
But Jii-chan doesn't mind the question, apparently. Unlike... That boy in his hold... He starts flinching as if feeling too uncomfortable being the center of everybody's attention at the moment. Jii-chan's arm stops him from running away, although it seems that running away is the only thing that person wants, looking at how he keeps trying to shove Jii-chan's hands away, and his head keeps facing down to the floor. "It's okay, it's okay..." Jii-chan whispers to the boy, trying to calm him down. Is he a sick person or something? "They're not bad people, trust me..."
No, Reita and Ruki are not bad people... They're just... Acting the way boys their age should act, sometimes... That couldn't be cathegorized as 'bad', ne?
Why does that person need consoling just because of Reita and Ruki's presence? Reita knows it for sure that they don't appear so scary--do they??
"This is..." Jii-chan halts. "I don't know his name. He doesn't know his name..."
Reita knows both himself and Ruki just frowned at that. How can someone not know his own name?
"It seems that he's... Having some kind of amnesia..." Jii-chan continues, one hand busy chafing the boy's arm. "And he was getting bullied when I found him on the street. I had to bring him here. He is pretty badly injured."
Oh so that's why... Yes, that's definitely scary, being unable to remember anything, not even your own name, not to mention where you live, who your family is... Or to remember whether you even have any family or you're all alone. No wonder he's so freaked out, seeing strangers like Ruki and Reita in front of him.
"So you boys don't know him?" Jii-chan's question makes Reita shifts up his gaze that he was pointing at the poor boy toward Jii-chan.
"What... No. No, we don't know him," Reita answers, still quite dazed by the poor boy's presence. "Should we know him?"
"Well... Since he seems to be the same age as you boys, I was thinking that maybe he's from the same school you're in. It's going to be quite helpful if you do know him, but... I guess I shouldn't be hoping too much," Jii-chan sighs. "Kai is on his way to get some more bandages. Apparently this inn's not so prepared for having injured visitors..."
Reita watches the boy again, very carefully this time, trying to explore his memory... Has he ever met anyone who looked like this boy? Tall, slender figure. Light-sandy colored hair. Thin eyes. Full lips. Anyone at school? Reita has never been a popular boy, and he's not planning to be one, but he would at least recognize someone like this if there was really such a person in his school.
"No," Reita shakes his head after a while. "I'd never seen him before, not in school. Ne, Ruki?"
The kid he addressed at startles, hearing his name being called. "What?" Ruki's eyes open wide.
"We'd never seen him before, right? In school?"
Ruki opens his mouth, seems digesting Reita's question. But then, "No. No, I'd never seen him before."
Reita gives Ruki a little questioning look for his temporary mind-absence, before turning his sight back to Jii-chan. "Sorry, Jii-chan," Reita mutters, feeling quite a huge amount of pity, but not exactly knowing too much of what to do to help the poor boy.
"That's fine," Jii-chan looks at the boy, very carefully propping his torso again, asking slowly if the boy could go on walking forward. Reita can see the boy nod. At that, they both walk their difficult journey towards the hall ahead. Maybe Aoi-jii-chan is lending a room for the boy? Reita thinks so. Sometimes Jii-chan could be stingy... Or maybe he was stingy just in front of Reita?? But sometimes, Jii-chan could be a big hero, could be someone that even Reita was proud of, Aoi-jii-chan could have pride as tall as the mountains but could be so humble in time... Yeah, well. Reita admits that he should be honoring Jii-chan a little bit more than he had been...
"Do you need help, Jii-chan?" Reita walks closer. A little afraid that he'd get an abrupt response from the boy, and yes, as he had expected, he does. The boy stares at him--glares, more likely--with eyes so bright and clearly fearful. "Please, I just want to help..." Reita mumbles, trying to be as gentle as he could. Reita halts, thinking it would be wiser if he didn't push himself... If the boy won't accept his help and rather have him miles away from here, that's fine with him. But then... Reita sees the boy nod, weakly. At that, he moves forward, the boy keeping his eyes down, not looking at Reita, flinches when Reita first touches him, but slowly calming down.
Now... What sort of trouble has Aoi-jii-chan brought himself into now? Reita sighs as the three of them walks, the boy in the middle, both Jii-chan and Reita helps him to walk. Somehow.... In his beating heart, Reita gets a funny feeling that this will lead into something... Complicated.
---
"Ruki," for the fourth time now, Reita calls out to the sulking boy walking quickly in front of him.
What the hell is wrong with this brat? He's been so out of it since they left Jii-chan's inn. That's so not like him. Ruki would normally walk out with the biggest grin and the widest expanse of joyful aura around him everytime they left Jii-chan's place. Ruki would normally be so hesitant leaving Aoi-jii-chan's inn, would turn out to be the most stubborn little creature that Reita had to drag home, but... It was Ruki who begged Reita to leave Jii-chan's place this afternoon, after Reita helped Jii-chan to carry the amnesia boy to his room, after Ruki handed the box of takoyaki rushedly. Ruki was the one pulling Reita's hand off his shoulder so that Reita would follow him out through the inn's gate.
"Hey, Chibi!"
That word, successfully, makes Ruki turn around. "DON'T CALL ME CHIBI!!" his face scrunches so much that Reita thinks it might be ten folds.
Ignoring Ruki's objection, Reita walks nearer. "What's wrong with you?" he asks.
Ruki turns his scrunched face away again, and continues walking ahead. They've reached Ruki's block already. "Nothing's wrong with me."
"That's crap, Ruki, I know something's wrong, you won't be all grumpy if there's nothing wrong," Reita insists.
"I said nothing's wrong, Reita!" Ruki glares his little eyes at Reita, persistently. Oh, such a brat. A stubborn brat.
"Yeah, right..."
Ruki speeds up his steps. "There's nothing wrong!" he squeals angrily. "If Aoi-kun wants that stupid, amnesia boy to stay there at the inn, that's not a problem for me! If Aoi-kun wants to take care of that boy, that's fine by me! If Aoi-kun would rather have that boy around, that's fine! There's really nothing wrong!!" After that rapid, breathless explanation, Ruki leaves the last view of his reddening chibi-face for Reita's sight, brief but clear, and dashes the rest of his way to the entrance of his own home.
Under the street lamps already turned on, Reita stunned. Staring at the front gate that swings closed behind Ruki. "Well... That explained it all..." he murmurs to himself.
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