Title: Stargazers
Author:
etoileroseBand: Nightmare
Pairing: Ni~yaxSakito
Rating: PG wut.
Genre: AU (Boarding School)
Disclaimer: All fiction, don't own the hot stuff and I'm not getting any money. Darn.
Notes: Comments are more than appreciated, as always!
Prologue-Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
“Never. Ever. Again.”
Ni~ya collapsed to his knees with a groan, his load of camping equipment splaying out around him and forcing Hitsugi to pick his way around them and Sakito to trip as he ran into the bathroom, mumbling something in which the only comprehensible word was ‘shower’
Sinking further towards the floor on his lumpy half-mattress of bags, Ni~ya looked up, smiling slightly as he looked up to catch a glimpse of Sakito before he disappeared behind the door. Things had been… not awkward since the previous night, but with so many people surrounding them all day, the two had been somewhat subdued, and had not spoken more than a few fragmented words. Despite the lack of communication though, to Ni~ya at least there seemed to be some kind of link stretching between them, a tentative, threadlike link that, for all its cautiousness, instilled an amiable peace in his mind. He instinctively knew that the near future was going to be far from smooth sailing, as he and Sakito alike struggled to understand their emotions with fumbling hands, and veil themselves from potentially disapproving eyes. And yet, if it were that the two had somehow unwittingly taken to the seas on the rickety raft that neither could really decipher, surely however many times the thrashing waves threatened to sweep them to their demise, they would one day sight safe, firm ground upon the horizon?
Ni~ya chuckled soundlessly to himself, laboriously shifting an arm to rest his chin on his knuckles. He was tired, and as always prone to chasing half-born perceptions in circles before finally sinking into unconsciousness. With a considerable gathering of willpower, he pushed himself back upright, vaguely thinking that his muscles were going to hurt like hell the next day. Hitsugi was busily folding clothes into his small cupboard, his eyes sparkling with an energy reserve that Ni~ya wished to God he could possess.
“I may go out for a little bit, after all its only 2, may as well make use of the afternoon off! I need some new shampoo anyway…”
He smiled brightly, unpacking the final few items into the drawer. Despite the mud-spattered state of his two friends, Hitsugi seemed to be as spotless as one can be after traipsing through fields for the good part of the day, and he merely swapped his boots for trainers before grabbing his animal charm laden mobile phone and bouncing back out in an extremely enviable manner, leaving Ni~ya to fight the overwhelming urge to drop back to the floor and haphazardly unload his bags into whatever space he could find.
When Sakito remerged he was dressed in a comfortable pair of sweats and a t-shirt, still dragging a brush through his wet locks with a relaxed expression that seemed to radiate throughout the room. Noticing Hitsugi’s absence, he faltered a little, his nerves suddenly consumed by a nervous anticipation. He moved towards Ni~ya, opening his mouth to say… he didn’t know what, just anything, but his words were stolen as he found himself pulled into a strong, trembling embrace. He sagged forward into the hold, his head falling to rest against Ni~ya’s shoulder as if it had been specifically made to fit that niche, his eyelids fluttering downwards in reassurance and pleasure.
“What is this? What are we going to do?”
Sakito’s whisper was so faint that Ni~ya was barely sure he had not imagined it. His grip tightened slightly, and he inclined his head so that Sakito could feel his every breath fluttering past his ears, making stray strands of his hair tremble in its breeze.
“I think… that is what we are trying to find out.”
Sakito nodded in mute acknowledgement, his damp tresses catching on Ni~ya’s shirt with a light brushing sound. He moved his arms slowly to mirror Ni~ya’s around his waist, leaning in as if he could just sink straight into the form that held him so safely and tenderly. After a moment, he spoke again.
“With Leiko… I think, you should stop seeing her.”
Sakito tilted his face upwards, his eyes meeting Ni~ya’s clouded with uncertainty.
“I… I suppose I should”
He finally answered, but his doubt unsettled the other and a barely perceptible frown fell across his features.
“I mean, you don’t like her anyway, really, and…”
I want you for myself
Sakito dipped his head slowly, biting down on his lip slightly.
“I can’t stand her. But I’m scared to ditch her, as much as she is a total-“
“Bitch.”
The comment elicited a slight smile to Sakito’s face and he chuckled softly.
“As much as she is that, our parents may as well be conjoined at the hips; and when we got together, when she seemed so nice, Mum was overjoyed. She’d be so upset if I did anything like that… and of course she’d be fed stories from Leiko’s family before I even got a look in. I think she thinks we are gonna get married…”
Ni~ya felt his throat souring, and he reminded himself countless times that Sakito did not like her, he hated her, he hated her, he ha-
The door swung open and the two leapt apart in shock, staring dumbly as Yomi trotted in, raising his eyebrows at their awkward postures. Ruka sloped in after him as it seemed recently he was prone to doing, their shared amusement for the torture of Michael Wong quickly binding them into an inseparable friendship. Obviously his earlier reprimand had slipped straight out of the other ear as usual, because he threw an extremely indiscreet wink at Ni~ya, making him cringe instantaneously.
“Hell-o!”
Yomi opened his mouth, oblivious to the duplicate glares he was receiving from the interrupted pair, but Ni~ya cut in before he could make a sound.
“What have you done to him this time?”
Yomi put on a show of being scandalised, whilst Ruka just laughed.
“Excuse me? We just felt like visiting our lovely two friends, what’s wrong with that?”
“The only time you’ve come in here since the switch was to hide from Michael.”
Sakito replied wryly, watching the short boy as he contemplated arguing, before just releasing a snort.
“We filled his bag with grass… and a bit of mud kind of slipped in too. Haha! It was good…”
“Yeah! And he went haywire!”
Ruka chipped in with a smirk, before glancing at the door as it flew open once more, and Hitsugi tumbled in, his face flushed. When he noticed Yomi and Ruka, he straightened himself, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
“Uuuh.. Hey guys!”
They stared at Hitsugi, nonplussed at his behaviour, before Sakito’s eyes grew wide.
“Sugi… why is your bag moving?!”
Cornered, he grinned apologetically, searching for the words to explain, but before he could speak, a whine sounded from said article and a slender, tan muzzle poked out from a gap that had been left in the zip. Only moments later there was a small, terrier-like mongrel chasing itself in circles, its tail wagging so fast that it resounded from its sparsely covered hide with a resounding thud.
“I found her on the way to the shops… oh she must have been thrown out, I couldn’t just leave her!”
Finally dragging his astonished gaze away from the enthusiastic mutt, Sakito looked at Hitsugi with an expression of equal disbelief.
“How exactly are we going to keep that hidden in here?!”
“I know, I know… but if I train her, we can keep her quiet, and smuggle her out for room inspections… I can’t just throw her back out! It’s still literally winter!”
Sakito caught Ni~ya’s eye, but he merely shrugged and after a moment of consideration, Sakito mimicked the gesture, causing Hitsugi to scoop the puppy up in delight.
“You four can help me name her!”
He beamed, but Yomi and Ruka obviously had other ideas, edging towards the door in what they probably deemed an inconspicuous manner.
“Well, we’re gonna go now… Out. Yes.”
Ni~ya eyed the two cynically.
“You mean you’re going to go and get pissed?”
“Duh!! With Ruka, I can actually buy drinks!”
And with that Yomi swung open the portal and they departed, leaving Hitsugi to control the desperately wriggling dog whilst Sakito looked guardedly at her dry, wiry coat.
“She must have so many fleas…”
Hitsugi’s face contorted as he attempted to answer and contain the hyperactive mutt in his arms, until she finally won the battle and dropped to the floor and scampering around the room in a blur of careening tawny, before finally making a flying leap onto Sakito’s bed, leaving dents and paw prints in the neatly-made duvet as she pattered around aimlessly before settling in the middle, tongue lolling out contentedly.
“Awwww! She must like your scent!”
Sakito smiled uneasily, he had to admit the little thing was kind of sweet… in a bedraggled, rat-like kind of way; but his mind was still preoccupied with the image of nameless grotesque insects hopping down onto his bed.
“Why don’t we clean her up a bit?”
Moments later, the dog was slipping and scurrying around in the bottom of their shared bath, and the three stood eyeing her, armed with a bottle of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo that no one would admit to owning. Ni~ya gingerly allowed a flow of water to spill into the basin, causing her frantic excitement to heighten as the lukewarm liquid spread out shallowly beneath her paws.
With a confidence enviable to his two friends, who hung back and watched the liberal amounts of water splashing up over the rim, Hitsugi emptied a generous amount of the soap onto his new pet’s back- though a sizeable portion of it missed as she spun around- and rubbed it into her filthy fur. Cupping the water with his hands to sluice foam from her coat, he still managed to talk nineteen to the dozen.
“I wonder what breed she is, I mean obviously there’s some border collie in there, and her muzzle is quite like a Jack Russell, but I wonder what else is in her… At the weekend we’ll have to buy her a collar, and treats, and toys!”
Sakito and Ni~ya exchanged smiles at their friend’s excitement, but their expressions quickly changed to those of shock as, before they even had time to realise what was happening, they were splattered with foamy, faintly brown water and the restless canine had bounded back out into the main room. With a cry of dismay, Hitsugi leaped up and dashed off in pursuit, to find her once again perched completely at ease on Sakito’s duvet, the material around her slowly becoming soggier and soggier.
“AHH! MY BED!!”
***
Yomi was not a heavy drinker, but only the small amount he had consumed before being uncovered and thrown out of the bar was enough to make him do things that anybody else would have to be completely intoxicated to consider. Allowing Ruka to strap a bra around his head, for example; and having no apparent inclination to remove it as he leaned against a lamppost, singing inanely.
“Sakito and Ni~ya, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Saki with a baby carria- … oh wait, that doesn’t work…”
He paused to dazedly contemplate the predicament, until his thoughts were interrupted as a vaguely familiar face approached him with pursed lips.
“Excuse me? What about Sakito?!”
Yomi hiccupped slightly, a wide grin plastered across his face.
“Hello Laura! Do you like my earmuffs?”
Leiko raised her eyebrows in incredulous irritation and went to repeat her request, but Yomi had already begun talking once more.
“Saki and Ni~ya are in looooooove, like Romeo and Juliet! Only… they aren’t wearing tights, and they don’t talk funny, and Ni~ya’s name isn’t Romeo…. And Saki isn’t a woman, though he does kind of look a bit like one…”
“Oh shut up you drunkard!”
Yomi’s eyes widened and he leaned forward earnestly.
“Nah, it’s true!! They’re gonna get it on, mark my words Lisa, mark my words… hey, I just thought of an even better song!! Sakito and Ni~ya, sitting in a car, are they naked, yes they are!! First comes…”
But Leiko had already left him and his eccentric headgear behind and was storming down the road, her heels thudding heatedly on the unforgiving concrete, each tap a threat that resounded angrily out into the falling night.