Sweet, Gentle Love
(Akira's POV)
One day, out of the blue, when we were talking about the upcoming school festival in which he, as a hime, took part in the opening program, he said this to me…
"Hey, Akira, I like you. Would you please be my lover?"
I could only gazed at his serious face and as if I could only came up with one answer, I said…
(General POV)
It was such a wonderful afternoon. The wind breezed slowly, the golden leaves were falling gracefully like they should be in autumn, the ants in Fujimori Gakuen's little park were stocking up food in their tiny, underground lair, the sun was… well, you got the point. But, somehow, in contrast from that beautiful day, there was one figure sitting desperately, burying his face on the desk, emitting gloomy aura, which said 'I hate this world'. That person happened to be our dearest Kouno Tooru, and his gloomy aura had somehow made a certain someone who unluckily sat right next to him felt a little depressed. Gloomy aura was contagious after all.
"What happened to you?" He asked, trying to perk his fellow hime up.
Tooru reluctantly glanced at his friend for a split second before he buried his face again, muttering something incoherently.
"What?"
"I hate this world!" He repeated his line again, a little annoyed this time.
Yuujirou could only gaze the blue haired princess in amazement. He had been Tooru's classmates-slash-roommate for almost six months now yet he never saw him this… desperate. Something must have happened earlier during hime's chores, something interesting, and he did not have any idea what was it.
"Answer me honestly, Tooru. Did something happen earlier?"
He sighed, face was still buried on the desk, apparently contemplating whether or not he should tell Yuujirou that he had asked Akira to be his lover and got painfully rejected. Okay, so it was his fault to suddenly ask something really important so casually in a not so romantic situation, but seriously… Couldn't Akira think of better words to reject him?!
"Does it have something to do with Akira?" He asked again since obviously Tooru had forgotten about his very existence and got lost in his train of thoughts.
Gasped! Yuujirou statement had successfully draw Tooru's attention, the blue princess even sat straight on his chair while shooting surprised glare to him. "You saw it?!"
Well, seeing one got so depressed to the point he preferred to suffocate himself by gluing his face to a desk and the other was spacing out during the entire class when he's supposed to be the school's model student, it would be weird if he didn't come to that conclusion wouldn't it? "Do you want to tell me?"
He chose not to give an answer. Instead, he fixed his eyes to one area of his desk and stared it quietly. No, he just could not tell anyone about it. It would only be a trouble for Akira since there was a high probability that it would be the school's hottest and latest gossip, thus putting him and the future SC president in the center stage and resulting in them receiving unnecessary attention. And he knew just how much Akira hated unnecessary attention more than he already had thanks to his legendary brother.
Yuujirou still waiting for an answer so patiently until he saw Tooru buried his head on the desk again and emitting even gloomier aura like before and groaned.
"Is that a no?"
Tooru mumbled something incoherently again while Yuujirou leaned closer to catch what was his friend said but failed. When he was about to ask for a rewind, Tooru quickly repeated his words again, "I hate this world." Before he sighed and sat desperately again.
"I'm home.." Akira muttered to no one in specific. He threw his bag aside, changed his shoes to slippers, unbuttoned the first button of his shirt, walked a bit toward the living room then slumped his body on a couch. He still felt a little dizzy and really weak so he really needed a rest. The good thing about him being physically exhausted was it prevented him from bumping his head to the wall (since that action needed a lot energy, which he didn't possess for the time being).
Sighed.
He's so stupid…
Why did he say those things toward Tooru?
Stupid.
Well, partly it was Tooru's fault for popping such question so suddenly. Moreover, the princess demanded him to give an honest answer straightly.
Stupid Tooru.
But that didn't change the fact that he was stupid… Btw, he always ranked in the top ten for every school exams so when he said he's stupid, he only meant it figuratively speaking.
He really was stupid and he blamed it all to his superior intellectuality. Yup, sometimes being smart had its own downside. And no, he wasn't being sarcastic when he said that.
/flashback/
Akira had just finished his morning patrol around the school and decided to check up on his friend at Home Economics. They should be changing for their uniforms right then. Casually, he slid the door quietly while putting on his smiling face. "How are you doing?" He asked and was hoping to get three replies from three different people. But, surprisingly, he only got one reply from one princess.
"Mikoto and Yuujirou had already left for class." Tooru mumbled as he took off his black one-piece dress.
"Oh…" He slid the door again then walked toward the princess. "Need help with that?" He absentmindedly asked when he saw how much effort Tooru put in order to release himself from what Natashou called dress. Tooru was one of the people who enjoyed seeing beautiful dress but it seemed that Natashou's idea of a 'beautiful dress' was different from the universal norm. The senior student thought the more laces and ribbons would make the clothes even more beautiful. Which, at some point, might be true but that didn't change the fact that it would be far more difficult for someone to release himself from Natashou's creation without having their hair tangled with the laces.
"Have you finished your SC business?" Tooru asked, letting Akira helped him got out from the dress.
"Yes. And since I still have a spare time, I thought I'd check the himes' condition. There, it's done."
"Thanks." He took off the dress, grabbed his nearby uniform and put it on.
"Well, I'll be going to SC room now. See you later." Akira was ready to leave the room when suddenly he felt someone grabbed his wrist. Confused, he turned around and found Tooru staring at him seriously. And his grip was just getting tighter every second yet Tooru just stay silent. "That hurts." He pointed but made no effort to release his wrist from Tooru's grasp.
"Hey, Akira…"
He tilted his head, waiting for Tooru to finish his sentence.
He hesitated for a while, but with a shrug he continued, "I like you. Would you please be my lover?"
Blinked. He gazed at Tooru's face then at Tooru's hand on his wrist then at Tooru's face again all the while processing Tooru's words in his brain. And even though the princess didn't say it out loud, Akira knew that he wanted an answer immediately. And as if he could only come up with one answer, he said, "How did a plow(1) relate to your later question?"
/End of flashback/
He's an idiot! How many people would mistook suki (like) with suki (plow) nowadays? Normally they wouldn't, right? Argh, he felt like crawling in to a hole and buried himself there right now…
'I really messed up this morning. What was I thinking, suddenly asking him to be my lover? I'm not even sure Akira looks at me that way. God, I'm stupid… Now things will get awkward between us, it's worst than before…'
Tooru rolled his body over the bed, making a creaking sound as he did so.
'But man, Akira's so good at avoiding me… Our eyes didn't meet even once the entire school hours…'
Rolled again.
'Maybe I should tell him that I'm not serious with my words and end it as a joke? At least Akira won't be avoiding me for the rest of the freshman year…'
Rolled, creaked, rolled.
'Of course that would make it harder for me if I ever want to confess to him again in the future.'
You guessed it, he rolled again. And since he was making a loud sound for the past thirty minutes or so, Yuujirou, who had been sleeping peacefully on his bed, got a liiitle irritated. Because each time Tooru rolled, the creaking sound was getting louder and dust start falling from Tooru's bed down to his face. "Stop rolling over!" Yuujirou hissed in annoyance with eyes half opened.
'AaAh… this is so frustrating…' Tooru pulled the blanket up to his face before he groaned a little louder.
"Someone is trying to get some sleep down here!" Yuujirou reminded. The only thing preventing him from pounding the bottom of Tooru's bed with his hand was because he knew his action would most likely wake the entire dorm residents, and he was trying to be considerate with the other residents.
That and the fact that he was too tired to even move a finger.
Well, it seemed that he was finally able to stop his roommate's effort to make a hole on his bed by repeatedly rolled his body over it. Or at least that was what he thought after he finally got five full minutes of silence. Pleased, Yuujirou tug his blanket, found a comfortable position and was ready to go to his dreamland when suddenly he heard a yell from above.
"I've decided!!" Tooru shouted, making a heavy 'thud' sound as he got up and sat on his bed, causing a local dust-rain under his bed.
Yuujirou, who finally gave up his fruitless effort to stay asleep, decided to get up and scowl his roommate on his face.
"Gomen, Yuujirou." He apologized under the intense glare of a certain blond princess. "Btw, what happened to your face? There's dust all over it."
SLAM! Yuujirou threw his pillow toward Tooru as hard as he could, causing the said person to groan in pain. Normally, it wouldn't hurt so much if one got hit by a pillow on his face, but in this case, it hurt. Badly. Because it turned out that there was this (very) thick Japanese-English-Japanese dictionary inside the pillowcase.
Yuujirou's reaction on the incident that almost resulted in Tooru having a severe nosebleed? "So there's where I put my dictionary!"
Tooru's last night resolution in order to re-attain a normal high school life with Akira: Act uncaring and Indifferent, show Akira that he was only kidding about his confession and try not to be inside two miles radius from Akira for at least a week or until things got better between the two of them. Sounded like an easy thing to do. Right?
WRONG!
He swore that Arisada was planning on something. He didn't have any proof, but he just knew Arisada did plan something. The many 'accidental yet suspiciously planned' encounters with Akira were what made him thought that way. It started when he was doing his hime's chores. Like usual, he walked around the school, smiling sweetly in front of one third desperate teenage male students, breaking up fights when he saw one, cheering on several clubs, etc. The unusual thing was that he kept on meeting Arisada and the SC group at a random place. Akira happened to be one of the SC group.
"Maa, Kouno-kun! What a coincidence meeting you here, isn't that right Sakamoto-sama?" Was what the president said on their first 'accidental yet suspiciously planned' encounter. Tooru was able to act uncaring and indifferent at this point. He quickly slid out from the SC group to avoid eye contact with Akira.
"My, my! We meet again! How's your job going?" Was Arisada's words when they met again not so long after the first encounter.
"Another rendezvous? It must be destiny! Say, how about this, why don't you accompany Sakamoto-sama patrolling around the school? I just remember that I still have a lot of document to be read and signed on." Arisada said, heavily emphasizing the destiny part. Tooru and Akira was about to reject Arisada's offer when the president quickly added, "It's not an offer, it's an order."
Who were they to go against Arisada's words?
So, reluctantly (but happily, nonetheless. He's walking around with Akira alone after all..), Tooru found himself walking in front of Akira silently.
(Akira's POV)
What's the matter with him? He's action is so different from yesterday… It seemed like he is… ignoring me?
I silently followed him, making sure that there's a fine distant between us while trying to calm my heart down. It's really strange for my heart to beat uncontrollable like this. I mean, I have been hanging with him and the other princesses a lot before and not once did it ever beat this fast… Okay, I admit that I'm a little… surprised about what he said. And true that I have been avoiding him all day yesterday because I didn't know how I must react if my eyes met his. But to be ignored like this…
I feel so miserable…
(Tooru's POV)
Oh my God, Oh my God, OMG!!
Okay, heart, you can stop beating ridiculously fast right now before I get a VF(2). I don't want to trouble Akira!
I know that I already made a resolution not to get too close to Akira last night, but now… just by thinking that we're walking around the school, just the two of us, is enough to make me want hold him in my arms. Which was bad. BAD! Akira would hate me forever if I hug him in public places like this. Wait, scratch that. Akira would hate me if I ever hug him. I better keep my distant from him, else I might not be able to control myself.
(General POV)
As the couple continued walking, they could hear a loud noise coming from the field. Faintly, they heard several people calling 'Hime!' and some were yelling, 'Where are you, Hime?". And somehow their mind was thinking about the same thing: Mikoto.
"He's escaping from his duty again…" Tooru whined, shooking his head helplessly.
Akira laughed a little. He knew that he shouldn't be laughing, knowing that one of the princesses was neglecting his duty, but seriously… He felt so relieved to hear Tooru's voice.
The same for Tooru, he got relieved to hear Akira's laugh. Just as he thought, Akira looked best when he laugh. Thinking about it again, he believed Akira's heart warming smile was what made him fall in love to that adorable green haired class president of his in the first place.
Then they stared at each other without exchanging any words whatsoever. They kept staring in silent for quite a while before they both broke in to laughter. And just like that, the awkwardness between them had been swept away.
"Want to look for Mikoto before we get back to SC room?" Tooru asked.
"Sure."
"They're so damn persistent!! It's really annoying!!" Mikoto growled quietly from his hiding place: the big tree in front the gym. Amazing that even until now no one ever found out his hiding place.
He continued waiting patiently, watching a group of people passing by his hiding place as they called his name loudly. After a few minutes, they started looking somewhere else. He quickly exhaled his breath in relief while getting ready to jump down from the tree when suddenly he heard someone calling his name again, making him to refrain doing so.
It turned out that it was Tooru who called his name.
"Mikoto! I know you're up there somewhere, I just don't know which one." Tooru yelled as he looked up around three big trees in front of the gym. "You better get down here this instant." He ordered.
Silence.
Tooru walked closer to the tree on the left then look up, founding no one, then he went to the middle one. Bingo.
"Mikoto, stop running away from your duty." He whined, ordering the pink princess to climb down the tree.
"I don't want to go down! You'll be forcing me to do my job again!" Mikoto pouted.
"Don't force me to go up there then drag you down with me." He threatened, but it seemed that Mikoto was not afraid with Tooru's words. Instead, he climbed even higher. Tooru sighed. It's not that he couldn't climb a tree, he was actually really good at it, but since he was wearing Natashou's dress (the usual frilly skirt with so many laces and ribbons attached) he didn't have that much confident.
"You're really going up with that outfit?" Akira asked in concern.
"No other choice." Was what he said before he started climbing his way up. He could hear Akira saying 'Be careful' as he climbed and couldn't help but to feel even more motivated to climb in a more graceful manner. After all, Akira was watching him, right? Of course he wanted to show his good side in front his crush. Carefully, he grabbed the nearest branch, picking a firm branch he could step on.
Feeling cornered, Mikoto finally gave up and yelled that he didn't need Tooru dragging him down. He'll go down by himself. Satisfied, Tooru began climbing his way down. But when he was still half way down, he slipped. Akira, who had been watching him from under the tree got horrified and quickly ran to catch the princess' body before he hit the ground.
A loud noise was heard a long with dust screen around the two.
"You two okay?" Mikoto yelled as he jumped from the tree and went to check up on his friends' condition. The two were laying still on top one another, Akira's arms were wrapped around Tooru's waist while Tooru's hands were pressing against the ground next to Akira's neck firmly. Slowly, Akira unwrapped his arms and started to rub the back of his head gently.
"My head hurts a little." Akira muttered, feeling his nervousness build up every time he felt Tooru's breath on his neck.
"I'll go get a doctor!" Mikoto stated then quickly ran toward the infirmary, leaving the two behind.
"Are you okay, Tooru?"
He didn't give an answer, which made Akira a little worried. So he asked again, and he was really surprised with what happened afterward.
(Akira's POV)
"Are you okay, Tooru?" I asked for the second time. I'm really afraid that he hit his head and got some amnesia or something. I tapped his back gently couple of times, trying to make sure that he's still conscious, before I felt him placing his hands on my shoulders.
My heart skipped a bit for a while, but then I kept on telling myself that he was only trying to get up. He didn't have any ulterior motive whatsoever toward me. Period.
"Hey, Akira…" I heard him calling my name. And God, I swear I blushed. I don't need a mirror to know that I blushed. Maybe it's because Tooru called me softly right next to my ear, almost whispering, that I feel like I'm losing control of my mind. He was so close to me. Breathing slowly on my neck, putting his hands on my shoulder. My brain told me that I should push him away but my body won't move. It was then that I realize something…
Maybe… I don't want to push him away...
"If I kiss you, will you get angry?"
I could not answer his question. My heart was overflowing with so many emotions that were new to me. These emotions successfully doubled my heart beat, made me unable to breath normally and increased my body temperature. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks…
"Yesterday, when I asked you to be my lover, you didn't… actually… reject me, did you?"
My eyes widen at his statement. I saw him moving his face toward mine and we share a gaze. I have seen his face for so many times yet this time, he looks different. He looks… mesmerizing.
"And now, you also didn't resist me. Does that mean… you… like me?"
I kept silent, taking all of his words in to consideration before I decided what answer would I give to him. I looked at his eyes, letting him stroke my hair a few times before I came to my decision. "Kiss me and we'll find out…"
I've been running around in circle, trying to find an answer.
It turned out that the answer was already there, right in front of me.
It was so simple. Maybe I have liked you all along.
These sweet feelings, which seemed to be overflowing in my heart
I want to feel them forever
-End-
a/n: before I go on with the footnotes, I want to explain about several things. First, what the heck am I thinking, writing another story when my other story had been neglected for a very long time? Simple, because I want to. (Still can't control my mood swings) Tee hee. Second, does Arisada know what's going on between Tooru and Akira? Absolutely. He isn't the almighty Fujimori Gakuen's SC president for nothing. Third, why did I pair Tooru with Akira when I'm TooruxYuujirou fan? Hm… Dunno. At first I wanted to write a story about Akira and his family, then shifted to only Akira and suddenly it's TooruxAkira story. Oh well…
Alright! Footnotes time!
1) For those who read my other story should already be familiar with this. Tooru said 'I like you', which in Japanese: Suki da. Anyway, the words suki had three different meanings: like, plow and gap, depends on the kanji. Oh yeah, I have discussed 'When does Japanese people use the word 'ai' and 'suki' with my senpai some time ago. My senpai said it's very rare for someone to use the word 'aishiteru' nowadays when they're confessing (unless they're feeling poetic and romantic enough, just like they use 'hi' instead of 'taiyou' to say 'sun') So don't complain me for making Tooru said 'I like you' instead of 'I love you' to Akira. :P
2) VF stands for Ventricular Fibrilation. I'm too lazy to explain what a VF is (you're probably already familiar with this term anyway)
Okay, I'm done.
Disclaimer: Not mine.