If there's no bandage over his face and he didn't has kuudere personality, he would've wore terrified expression now.
"Are you… really positive that you… have never know what a 'bubble' is?"
The boy in front of him tilted his head. A question mark grew bigger on top of his head when he asked, "What is the 'bubble' you're mentioning about?"
While Karu felt like wanted to slap his face instantly, Kurena could just shake her head in pity.
This boy's amnesia grew worst every day.
"Lucky you that you don't have any schedule today—follow me, Kid. I'll show you what a 'bubble' is."
Oo—O—oO
Bubbles for You
Oo—O—oO
Genre: Hurt/Comfort – Friendship
Rate: T
Warning(s): Oneshot, slash hints, grammar mistakes. Result from watching Kanon Wakeshima's 'Suna no Oshiro' music video and saw 'bubble' word when visiting fictionpress. OOC!Ea too, maybe? v(-w-U
Disclaimer: 07 Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya & Yukino Ichihara
Oo—O—oO
In the days that our breath almost runs out, we search for answers and then cry tears
Even now, we are trying to grasp
the one thing that is our only thing
[Shinkokyuu/Deep Breaths © SUPER BEAVER]
Oo—O—oO
Teito Klein's wide, green eyes blinked when he saw Karu mixed a glass of water with soap, shook it for a while, put it aside and making something which was shaped like a spoon (but with hole instead of place to feed someone), and then immersed the spoon-shaped thing into the mixture. When he blew the hole slowly, something came out and flying towards Teito's forehead.
After that 'thing' touched Teito, it disappeared suddenly.
"Is that what you called 'bubble', Karu?" He asked innocently, hands still touching the place where the bubble disappeared. A nod was the answer he got later, followed by, "Wanna try to make some?" while held out the glass that full of the 'mixture' and the 'spoon which couldn't be called spoon' to Teito.
Even though the boy's curiosity about Karu's sudden 'kindness' grew bigger, he still accepted those things and imitating what the man have done.
But no bubble came out.
He frowned, and try to imitate again—with a faster blew than Karu's.
If only Teito wasn't too concentrated on his effort to make a bubble, he would've seen a pure amused smile that appeared on the man's lip.
.
On another place, a tall man who was doing his paperwork getting a headache suddenly.
#
The sun shone too brightly on a windy summer afternoon at the Barsburg Great Church.
Somewhere in the Church's region, a teen with light colored hood over his head widened his eyes in shock when he heard what another teen beside him have said.
"Repeat that again, please?"
The dark-haired one sighed. "I've never play or make bubbles before."
The light-haired one gasped. "Are you serious, Ea?"
"Should I hit you with my scythe to prove my statement, Landkarte?"
Facepalm. "I can see it without any hit landed on my head, thank you very much—but still, you're not joking, aren't you? I mean, 'never play or make bubbles'? Where did you live before, my friend?"
Ea wasn't too surprised when he got that over-dramatic reaction from the other youngest Ghost in this generation. "Somewhere in Earth that people usually called 'Barsburg family residence'."
Landkarte cried in frustration. "You really are a moron, aren't you?!"
A disapproving frown appeared at Ea's face. /Shouldn't I'm the one who say it to him?/ was the Awaking Spirit's thought, but he decided not to say it out loud and made the Extinguishing Spirit became much more frustrated. He had seen an overly frustrated Landkarte before, and he agreed with himself not to see it again—a frustrated Landkarte wasn't the cheerful, childish, and happy-go-lucky Landkarte he knew. A frustrated Landkarte was almost equal to a jealous Landkarte, which could made everyone shivered and got nightmares until a month passed by. /But in a lower degree than the jealous one, of course,/ Ea added mentally.
"Come and follow me, my poor proletariat! I'll show you steps by steps on how to make a bubble immediately!"
"What did you just called me with, loafer?!"
"Shut up and just follow me, will you?!"
One more thing Ea hated the most from a frustrated Landkarte: he became more annoying than the normal Landkarte.
And that made Ea's mood grew worst every seconds he spent his time with him.
.
A glass of water, another glass of soap (yeah, soap—you're not reading it wrong; it really was a glass of soap), a spoon-like thing with hole, and a Landkarte in teacher mode could be seen at the Church's garden (or more accurately, Profe's garden) with Ea, who was sweatdropping heavily in front of him.
"Let's begin the tutorial on how to make cute and beautiful bubbles correctly, my poor comrade!"
"Quit yelling and just start the 'lesson', won't you?"
Landkarte just smiled innocently after that. "First step: pour the pure water with the soap one. Close it and shake it for a while like this."
Ea only saw the way Landkarte did it without any intention of commenting like usual or even ran away before Zehel saw them and teased him until the next season came. Strangely though, he couldn't avert his eyes like he usually did when Landkarte started to act 'strange' again.
"Then, immerse this thing—I don't know its name too, so stop staring at me like that—into the mixture. Blew it slowly and you'll get the bubble you've never made in your life before!" The older ghost said cheerfully. Ea let out a relieved sigh when he saw the smile; that mean the frustrated Landkarte has been gone, and the Extinguishing Spirit has returned to his usual personality. And that mean no more shouting or yelling or ridiculous nickname came out from the light-haired teen's mouth.
/Thank you, God, for shooing away that annoying part of this guy./
Landkarte blew the hole slowly and carefully, and Ea's eyes widened a moment later—a bubble has appeared from that thing!
"See? It appeared, isn't it?"
Ea's amethyst eyes followed the bubbles, just like a child who was having his first time seeing something like that. Just for that time, a thought of Ea becoming a child again and running after the bubble hurriedly made Landkarte almost burst out laughing.
"Wanna try it too, Ea?"
The said Ghost blinked his eyes, and turned to see Landkarte was holding out the mixture and the utensil to him with playful smile on his face.
"No need to hide or lie about that feeling, Ea—I know it by just looking to your eyes."
Ea mentally cursed Landkarte's ability to read his mind by just looking into his eyes. And how did he do it, anyway?
"…fine. Let me try it once."
"Are you sure you just want to try for once~?"
"Shut up."
The dark-robed Ghost grabbed the equipments from the light-robed Ghost's hand, then did it exactly like what the other Ghost had done—but with a faster blew that made the thin, transparent but sparkling layer gone in instant.
Ea stared emotionlessly at the thing he held, while Landkarte tried as hard as he could to restrain himself from laughing out loud.
"…let me try it again."
"Oh-kay~"
The second time was no different from the first time. He asked to try for the third time too, but it was all in vain.
And when Ea failed for the fifth time, Landkarte couldn't himself but pitying his comrade for his inability to make an easy bubble in thirty minutes.
"…it's useless."
"And here you are, breaking down easily like a child."
"I'm not."
"Are you sure? Want me to bring a mirror so you can see your reflection now, Ea?"
Ea sighed softly, Landkarte huffed—still in doubt whether he did it in annoyance or amusement. "You blew it too fast, you know? If you try it slower, maybe you can make it."
The amethyst eyes widened in surprise. "If you do know it then why don't you tell me from the beginning, you loafer?!"
Landkarte just laughed innocently. His trick to make Ea's rare expression came out always worked, no matter what time was it or what kind of mood Ea's in.
"Try it for the sixth time, then."
.
Fest was on his way to the library when he saw the scenery which nobody ever seen before:
Landkarte.
Ea.
The two of them was hugging each other with smile on their face.
Fest rubbed his eyes and cleaned his glasses to make sure that he didn't see the wrong person.
And when he wore his glasses again, the two people who were hugging each other in the garden were really Landkarte and Ea.
He almost fainted on the spot when he saw that scene.
#
Teito almost threw the equipment to make bubbles from Karu when his tenth attempt failed again in that summer afternoon.
"You blew it too fast, Kid. Slow it down and you'll get what you wanted to get."
"WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME SINCE THE BEGINNING?!"
"Well… You didn't ask for it, anyway."
Teito almost slapped himself in annoyance.
/Karu was so damn annoying!/
.
#
.
He was standing alone. Darkness looming around him and caught him in a deadly hug that made him hard to breath. His body shivered from head to toe—trying to stand while your leg couldn't even endure your own weight was annoying, you know?
That, until he saw a bubble—scratch, bubbles—flying towards him and made the darkness around him started to disappear.
Unconsciously, he walked to the place where those bubbles came from. The same scent he smelled from them made his eyes felt like they were burned.
Slow but sure, his speed changed. He ran to the source with tears falling from his eyes, hands clenched, and robe fluttered as he increased his speed. He had to get there before the terrifying darkness tried to 'eat' him again from inside!
Run, run, RUN—
-and there he was; the one who blew away all those bubbles which have guided him to the light.
The guy in dark robe, light colored scarf around his neck, dark hair, and stoic amethyst eyes, which was enjoying the scenery around him. He blew the bubbles casually, like nothing ever happened around him. Ignoring his surrounding while doing something he liked was a part of Ea's personality—and Landkarte knew it the most.
He tried to reach him, whose back was facing him since he came to this place. His scarf was waving from being blown away by the calm breeze around them.
But no matter how hard he tried, it's useless.
The closer he came to Ea, the longer the distance he had to go to hug him from behind again.
The bubbles, which have acted as a guide to get him to Ea's place, started to fade away now.
"No—"
"—look at me—"
His electric lime eyes widened when Ea's figure started to fade away too.
"—Ea—"
The owner of those beautiful amethyst eyes turned his head to see him. Before he really disappeared from Landkarte's sight, the Extinguishing Spirit could see the rare smile on the other Ghost's lip; a smile that can only be seen by him whenever he got depressed. Even though Ea was saying something, he couldn't hear it—
"—don't go—"
-his surrounding became dark again, quiet like in the depth of the river where he lost his life.
"—COLONEL KATSURAGI!"
The said man jerked, surprised by the loud screaming voice that called his name. He opened his eyes slowly, and a worried face of certain blonde-haired teen that wore military uniform came to his sight.
"Are you okay, Colonel? You look exhausted…" Konatsu asked him worriedly. He smiled like usual before replied, "Nah, I'm okay. Did I fall asleep here? Oh my, can't help it since the papers need to be finished soon—"
"Kuroyuri-sama and I will finish it, though. You need to take a rest before you caught a flu, you know?"
"But—"
"I don't want to threat you, but if you became stubborn like Major Hyuuga or Chief Ayanami, I'm afraid that I should ask for some food from Kuroyuri-sama to make you have a good rest on your bed, Colonel."
Checkmate. He didn't want to die yet because of a child's cook.
Not until he finished his 'missions'.
"…you win this time, Konatsu."
Deep sigh. "Glad to hear that. Have a good night, then."
"Ah. It's midnight already?"
"Almost two o'clock, in fact."
"…So I've been fallen asleep for three hours?"
"Never mind that, Colonel. If you don't rest now, you'll have no time to do these papers again."
'Katsuragi' sighed. Konatsu's reason started to make sense. "Well, see you in the morning, Konatsu."
"See you, Colonel."
.
#
.
"Oi, Brat. Go to sleep now, will you? It's… what… two o'clock in the morning?"
Kurena tapped the wooden table twice, confirming the answer of his question as 'yes' tiredly.
But what Karu forgot about children was 'they never give up when it came to games'.
"Five more minutes, please? These bubbles are—"
"—wonderful, I know that. But if you don't go to sleep now, Brat, you'll fell asleep when you do your training tomorrow."
"But—"
"No more 'buts', Kid. Go to sleep now before I forbid you to make those bubbles again."
With a cute pout on his face, Teito put the equipment on the table and bowed his head before ran to his room upstairs. Kurena let out a relieved breath, while Karu just sighed heavily.
"The Orphans at Church were much easier to handle than that Kid," he muttered softly after Kurena went to her room too. After made sure that two of them had fallen into deep sleep, he sighed heavily and went to his room too to sleep.
Not before he grabbed the equipment and blew them away from his room's window, of course.
("Try it for the sixth time, then.")
He smiled faintly.
Blowing away those bubbles had never been more pleasant than that time, when that person was still beside him.
"'Poor proletariat', you say?" He blew one last bubble before he put the equipment on the table beside him and closed the window. "If I'm the 'poor proletariat', then what are you, loafer?"
With a soft 'click', he locked the window and took off his trench coat.
#
Summer was hot, that's true—but he didn't feel it in past, when he still lived at the Church with the other Ghosts.
Especially if the Extinguishing Spirit was there and blew away the bubbles beside him.
.
.
("Let's blow the bubbles together, Landkarte.")
.
.
The End.