Title: Only Once
Author:
Twelf Bell
Type of Fanfic:
Regular fanfic
Summary:
Prequel to The Angel You Were. Ayase is once again involved in one of Kanou-san's business fights. Character death. Implied shonen-ai / yaoi ; as expected of No Money.
----Pairing:
Kanou/Ayase
Disclaimer:
I do not own No Money / Okane ga Nai, but I do own my ideas.

Warning: It's rated T for a reason. There is coarse foul language and boys love. This is also a No Money fanfic after all. You should know how Kanou-san acts.. right?

A/N: I wrote this after writing The Angel You Always Were. I decided to make a prequel in case anyone was wondering what happened. You can read this first or The Angel You Always Were first. Doesn't matter either way. And to all my xxxHOLiC fanfic readers out there, I'm not writing a prequel to Stricken Love. Sorry ~ //;SEi

- - - - - - - - - - - - CHAPTER 1: ONE SPARKLING RING

"Kanou-san, Kanou-san!" Ayase called for the brown-haired man before he reached the boss' office. This little blond boy was surprisingly very energetic today. As he reached out for the doorknob that opened to Kanou's office, he called his lover's name again. "Kanou-san!"

Hearing his name, the man turned his chair around from the window and stood up as Ayase came barging in, past the Kuba twins who were still in the middle of their work – telling Kanou what his schedule was for the day.

"Ayase," he said, calmly. He was actually really quite surprised because Ayase was really never this worked up before – except when it had to do with saving people from life and death... - and this new figure interested him. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

The blond slammed his hands on the desk and yelled, "Is it true that your birthday is next week?!"

Kanou's eyes widened at the sudden outburst of action and the question. My birthday? He thought for a moment, cupping his chin and holding his elbow – his thinking position. Hmm... He glanced at the calendar on his desk. "Come to think of it.. my birthday is next week."

"R-Really?!" Ayase's blue eyes grew wide with anticipation and wonder. It was as if he were a little kid seeing a rainbow for the first time in his life. It was as if his eyes had never turned cold as ice or as sad as the sea.

The brown-haired man smiled at how Ayase was acting. With his smile still plastered on his face, he said, "Yeah."

Ayase stood up from his slamming-of-the-table and stared at Kanou's smile for a few minutes – since it was a rare sight - and then smiled himself. "Then, would it be alright if I got you a present?"

Present? Now that's a word that I haven't heard in a while. "Yeah, but are you sure?"

The blond held his hands behind his back and blushed. "Y-Yes, I am."

"Don't waste too much money on me. I won't like it if you do. No one wastes money on me anyway."

Liar, thought the Kuba twins.

"And um, Kanou-san... do you have anything you specifically like? Dislike? Or... possibly want?"

"Hmm..." The man thought for a moment. What I want...? Isn't the answer obvious. It's that. "I guess I like cute stuff. I don't like sweet things... though it would be fine if it were your lovely juice from sucking y--"

But Ayase was already halfway to the door. He hadn't heard Kanou's last statement after his short pause. He only heard "I like cute stuff" and "I don't like sweet things." He opened the door and stepped out, his head still in view. "Thanks, Kanou-san!" And with that, his head disappeared from view and the door closed.

Kanou stood there looking dumbfounded and as if he were struck by lightning. He collapsed onto his chair and sighed. "What I want the most in the world is for Ayase to tell me he loves me."

Yes, we know that, Boss, thought the Kuba twins.

X O X 5 D A Y S L A T E R ; E V E N I N G X O X

Ayase was quiet. The only sound that was heard in the room was the ticking of the clock that hung on the wall. His mind was a disaster though. It was very noisy, and once in a while, his thinking would get the best of him and he would unconsciously say something aloud. There's two more days until Kanou-san's birthday... and I still can't figure out what to give him! He sighed. Should I get him flowers? Does that count as sweet? Ayase held his head like it was about to burst. He groaned aloud and closed his eyes. Stripes suddenly came into mind and he opened his eyes. "A tie..." How about a tie? A tie with some little chicks on them? He nodded. He said he likes cute things.. but.. He squinted his eyes, thinking. I don't know! He sighed. Maybe I'm thinking too much on this? Yes, that's right. I have to calm myself down and figure it out. There's two days left. It's almost July 24th. I have enough time.. I have enough time.. I have...

"Ayase-san..?"

The voice interrupted Ayase's thoughts. He got up from the living room couch and looked at the intruder who was standing in front of the front door and exclaimed with surprise, "Kuba-san!"

The named-one nodded as a hello, but did not move any closer. Ayase walked up to him and glanced around and asked, "Where's Kuba-san?"

"Yes, uh... the boss told me to tell you that he's busy today and that I should check up on you before you sleep," he paused. Then, he scratched his head and said, "He also said... um... to give you this..." He took something out of his pocket and handed it to the blond. It was a small box that was wrapped and tied with a big bow that was the same color as Ayase's eyes.

How odd. Kanou never gave Ayase anything unless it was an occasion. Oh wait, that's wrong. Kanou usually tried to buy everything for Ayase and the little one would not accept it unless forced to accept, but... the present now was different. It was.. weird. Not like Kanou at all... one would say.

"That is all." Kuba bowed and was heading out the door when he suddenly remembered something. "Ah, he also told me to tell you to send picture text messages (*) so that he won't feel.. um.. lonely."

Ayase smiled. Now that was very much like the Kanou-san he knew. "Okay."

The older man stopped to bow again and to say, "Goodnight." The blond replied back the same.

Kuba nodded his head as a goodbye and shut the door behind him. Ayase was left standing there with the wrapped present in hand. He inspected it and saw that the wrapping paper had little blond angels flying with little dark devils. Ayase didn't wonder where Kanou got it. He only smiled and thought that this was like Kanou-san after all.

He went to the bedroom and sat at his desk. He unwrapped the box carefully – he wanted to keep the wrapping – and opened the box top off, revealing... a lovely silver ring with a large round garnet surrounded with smaller garnet and diamond gems. Garnet was his birthstone (**). Ayase couldn't believe that Kanou-san actually remembered his birthday. But the thing he really couldn't believe was that Kanou-san had bought him a ring. Seeing that Kanou-san was the type that bought expensive things, Ayase thought, the gems are real.

Unbelievable. He shook his head as if something was seriously wrong with Kanou's mind. But he put it on anyway and blushed. It fits perfectly. Suddenly, he remembered what Kanou-san had been doing the past few days. He had been taking Ayase's small hands into his large ones and inspecting them and then kissing them gently. And then he left for work. Ayase had thought it was odd, and now... Ayase couldn't really do much but blush and smile at the same time.

Ah, he also told me to tell you to send picture text messages so that he won't feel.. um.. lonely.

Kuba-san's words came back to him. A picture text message! He ran to the living room and to the couch where he had left his bag and took out his cell phone. He sat on the couch and clicked the buttons that got to the picture message menu and then took a picture of his right hand with the garnet ring that fit perfectly on his ring finger. He had held his hand up to the light to make it sparkle, and as he inspected his picture after typing in "Thank you", he noticed something he hadn't noticed before.

Opposite the side in which the gems were, there were words carved into the silver. It was a bit hard to see but he squinted until he made out the words, "For My Angel."

Ayase blushed once more. He hesitated before clicking the send button, thinking of something else to say. He wanted to say "I love you" but it was too embarrassing. So he clicked the send button and closed his phone. He sat quietly on the couch waiting for a reply, listening to the clock tick-tock all the while.

X AT THE MOMENT ; KANOU X

"Boss, your phone just beeped."

"Hah?" Kanou was busy, as Kuba-san (the one who was sent to check up on Ayase) said, and when he looked at his cellphone, there it was: a single picture text message from Ayase. Kanou chuckled and clicked it open.

It showed Ayase's hand wearing the ring. But he noticed something that Ayase did not see when he took the picture. Ayase had put his hand up to make the ring sparkle in the light but he did not notice the mirror that was a few feet away. Kanou saw Ayase's face in it and though it was a bit of a blur since the photo was focused on the blond's hand, he could tell quite clearly that the teenager's face was red. He smirked to himself and gave a reply - "Of course. And goodnight. I love you. Sleep tight, my angel." He clicked the send button and went back to work. The twins immediately noticed the glittery atmosphere and the grin that stayed on their boss' face the entire time they worked.

X AT THE MOMENT ; AYASE X

The reply was quick. Ayase looked at the text message and sighed. Only eleven words this time. Kanou usually said more than twenty. It seemed that Kanou was quite busy today. He went to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed. He fell asleep sighing sadly to himself, the ring still on his finger.

X O X N E X T D A Y ; M O R N I N G X O X

Ayase woke to the chirps of morning birds and cicadas. The summer heat had rose up during the night and the first thing Ayase noticed was that he was sweating. He got his phone from the bedside table and opened it, since he the second thing he had noticed that morning was that it was blinking. It was a text message from Kanou-san. The third thing that Ayase noticed was stated in the text message.

Sorry, Ayase, but I'm busy today too. I'm sorry I'm wasn't there when you woke up. I came back to get a change of clothes while you were sleeping though. Make yourself some breakfast. Don't worry about me, I ate the leftovers from yesterday. I'll be back for lunch. I love you.

It seemed that almost all of Kanou's text messages ended with "I love you." How was it that he could could say it.. or type it so easily? Was he not embarrassed?

Ayase dragged himself to the kitchen after replying back to Kanou-san, with no "I love you" at the end, like the older man's did. The blond found those simple three words more embarrassing than letting Gion watch him and Kanou-san kiss.. or worse, doing it.

The teenager decided to have cereal for breakfast today. He was too sad and lonely to make himself a full japanese breakfast. He was too lazy to even cook. As he ate, the tick-tock of the clock made the kitchen atmosphere turn more gray and gloomy than it already was. Ayase sighed all the while.

Suddenly, he remembered something. His eyes widened in surprise. Kanou-san's birthday! How did he forget?! It's in three days and I still don't know what to get him! Ayase bit his lip till he tasted blood and then got up from the table. He washed his breakfast dishes quietly and then went to the bedroom. He sat down at his desk, got a blank sheet of writing paper and a pencil, and started writing a letter.

Dear Kanou-san,

Happy Birthday! I (and so on, so forth)

It went on like that for about an hour. At times, he screwed up on writing – making spelling mistakes or thinking that what he wrote was too lame or too sweet or too sour... and at times, he simply just wrote whatever was on his mind. The wastebasket that was under the desk was almost full by the time he stopped. There were about more than thirty wasted and crumpled-up paper balls, wooden shavings from sharpening his pencil, and tiny broken lead pieces from his pencil.

He sighed. He sat idly for a few minutes and then got up and left the apartment. He checked the mail and on one of the envelopes, he noticed one name that cleared every little bit of dark matter and thoughts that were going through his mind.

His own: Yukiya Ayase.


A/N: Since this fanfic got longer as I typed it, I decided to make it into a regular fanfic, with chapters. So, CHAPTER ONE ENDS HERE! There will be three chapters in all. Hope you like it so far!

Ah. If you read The Angel You Always Were before reading this, then... you probably know what will happen.

PLEASE REVIEW. ONE FOR EACH CHAPTER WOULD BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

THANKSHU VERY MUCHES.

//;SEi

Listening To: I Hope You Dance – LeeAnn Womack. It's on the radio right now.. ah. From listening to the radio, I got some more ideas to write. xxxHOLiC fanfics they will be. Sorry, Okane ga Nai fans...

ASTERISKS:

picture text messages (*) : If you read the manga.. I think this was in one of the special extras. It was a very cute and funny extra. I'm not spoiling it for anyone~

Garnet was his birthstone (**) : That's right! If you didn't know, Ayase's birthday is on January 2nd, or so says my resources. And as I stated in the chapter, Kanou's birthday is July 24th. I was about to make that scene be in one of Ayase's university classes... but July 24th is around summer vacation.. so.. yeh :P