RenXYamato FF – 2,913 words (about)
A misunderstanding reveals a secret
One-shot
The final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day to its many impatient inhabitants. Before Yankumi could finish explaining the homework assignment, it seemed as though every 3D student of Akadou Gakuen was on their feet and getting ready to leave. Sighing in resignation, she packed up her things and left the room, just missing the significant confrontation that was brewing between two age-old rivals.
From where he stood by his desk, Kazama Ren glared fiercely across the room at his counterpart: Ogata Yamato. Both boys faced each other with a blinding hatred their friends couldn't mistake. To the members of their respective crews, it was like any other day. The class watched in silent anticipation to see who would break the contest first.
It was Ogata Yamato who finally looked away, his expression full of disgust. He picked up his bag roughly and indicated to his two friends that it was time to leave. Walking towards Ren, who was standing in the pathway to the door, Yamato shot him another death glare and prepared to pass him. He was so intently focused on trying to intimidate the other boy that he didn't notice the broken chair leg that was lying on the floor.
As Yamato came up beside Ren, he stepped on the metal leg and slipped slightly as it rolled beneath his foot. Without thinking, he lurched forward and his shoulder shoved roughly against Ren's. Yamato regained his balance so quickly that, to the unobservant classmate, it may have looked like he only slipped past his rival. But the two of them knew the truth.
Still, Yamato continued walking as if nothing had happened, and surprisingly, Ren didn't raise a fuss. Instead, as they had crashed against each other, Yamato had caught the briefest look of shock in Ren's eyes, followed closely by pain. But by the time Yamato had reached the door, Ren's face was inscrutable once again, with no one the wiser.
Shit, thought Yamato. What did you just do to him? He swaggered down the hallway with Honjo and Kamiya close behind him. In his appearance, he was as calm and cold as ever, but inside he was reeling. What's he going to think? I'll have to talk to him about it later… His stomach twisted with guilt at the thought.
Inside the room, Ren had grabbed his own bag, more angrily than usual; not that anyone noticed. With Kuraki and Ichimura in tow, he walked his own way out the back door and down the hall. To anyone who thought they knew him, he appeared as ornery as he usually did, and even his friends detected nothing amiss as they followed him. But inside his head was a chaotic jumble of confusion and hurt.
What did Yamato mean by that? he wondered. Is he trying to tell me something? Ren's heart clenched painfully at the thought, but he quickly suppressed it with anger. I'll make him explain himself later, the thought with conviction. He doesn't know what he's done to me!
It was several hours later that Ren and Yamato met in the park, as they usually did after saying goodbye to their friends. Ogata was the first to arrive and waited for what felt like at least half an hour in silent anguish as he thought about what Ren would say when he arrived. In reality, it was closer to only five minutes before Kazama showed up in a towering rage. Without pausing his approach, he marched up to Yamato, shoving him roughly in the chest with such force that the taller boy was taken off guard and stumbled backwards.
"What the hell was that about today?" Ren shouted. Yamato regained his balance and lowered his head, letting Ren get all of his anger out; it was the only way to deal with him when he got like this.
"What did I do to you, huh?" the frustrated boy continued. "What did I do to deserve you treating me like that?" Yamato looked up as he heard Ren's voice crack, disturbed to see his eyes glitter with unshed tears. He didn't move as the emotional boy grabbed his shirt front, twisting it in his fist. Ren sagged forward into Yamato, pounding his free hand onto the boy's chest as he choked back his sobs.
"Just tell me what I did!" he screamed, beginning to shake. Unable to remain composed any longer, Yamato shoved Ren off of him and backed away looking mad.
"NOTHING! You hear me? NOTHING!" he shouted back at him. Yamato turned away from his shocked classmate in an attempt to hide his sorrowful expression. "You did nothing to make me angry with you," he whispered softly. "I wish I could say the same."
"Then why did you…?" Ren didn't finish. He walked towards the other boy, his frustration turning to confusion as he glimpsed Yamato's face. "Yamato…" he breathed, looking worried. Ogata took in a shuddering breath trying to regain his composure as he turned to face Kazama.
"I just slipped; I didn't mean to hurt you. But it's no excuse," he hurried to say. "I should have been paying more attention to where I was going… and to you." Ren grabbed Yamato by the wrist as the boy began to raise his hand to his face. He had seen Yamato have that look before and he reminded himself to make Yamato clip his fingernails soon.
"Hey, none of that!" he ordered, straightening up to his full height so he could kiss the taller boy on the cheek. "I don't want you marring your beautiful face." Yamato made no comment and continued to stare dejectedly at the ground. Ren gripped him gently by the chin and forced him to meet his gaze.
"Don't, Yamato," he said softly. "Don't be like this. I wasn't hurt at all, only upset because I thought you were showing me that you didn't like me anymore…" He trailed off as Yamato shot him another glare.
"Don't be stupid! I would never do that! And it doesn't matter if I didn't hurt you, I could have," he said. Ren shook his head.
"No, you wouldn't have. No matter what could have happened, I wouldn't have minded." Yamato wrenched his arm angrily from the other boy's grasp and began to walk away. Kazama followed, skipping behind him; he knew that Ogata might be upset for the time being, but that he would get over it soon. For almost twenty minutes they walked in silence together, taking no particular path as they wove their way through the trees.
Ren was in a good mood now that he felt things had been resolved with Yamato. Always full of energy, he ran a few steps ahead of his friend, jumping around enthusiastically. Behind him, Yamato felt himself relax as he watched the other boy carry on. Not fair, he thought. He knows I always forgive him when he acts like that! I can't help it… With a sigh, he smiled and hurried to catch up to his friend. Ahead of him, Ren had obviously gotten bored of skipping around and was now jumping up and down, trying to grab onto tree branches.
"Even if you manage to get one, you're just going to fall and hurt yourself," Yamato warned him, half amused, half truly concerned. He wished the other boy wasn't always so flippant about his safety. It worried him.
"It's just a tree!" he exclaimed indignantly. "Even if I fell, it would only be a few feet!" Yamato shook his head and kept walking. Ren was standing beneath a branch that was slightly lower than the others, trying with all his might to grab it. Finally, he succeeded and swung his body back and forth in excitement. "HA!" he shouted.
Yamato ignored him, not willing to give Ren the satisfaction of being proven right. He didn't even turn around until he heard a sound that made his heart stop dead: the loud cracking of a tree branch as it snapped and the muffled thump of someone hitting the ground. He spun wildly on the spot and saw Ren crumpled in a heap on the ground, looking dazed but unscathed. Above him, the large branch he had been hanging from had split, but not fallen.
Yamato started running towards the fallen boy, watching the unhinged branch sway precariously as he did. When he was only a few meters away, he heard another loud snap. He sprinted as fast as he could as the branch began to fall.
"REN!" he shouted, knowing the boy wouldn't get his warning in time. On the ground, Ren's eyes widened as he looked above him and saw the danger he was in. He threw his arms up over his head at the last second. There was a thunderous crashing sound that reverberated through the park, startling the birds in the nearby trees so that they took off in a panicked flight.
Yamato felt his breath whoosh out of him painfully as the heavy branch made contact with his back. His arms buckled with the weight, but he managed to keep himself propped up enough that he didn't crush Ren, who was curled up underneath him. He coughed violently, gasping for air as pain seared through his body like a brand; he was shaking uncontrollably.
Beneath him, Ren slowly uncovered his head in confusion. I saw the branch falling and I heard the crash… he thought. Why am I not hurt? It was then that he realized there was someone else pressed against him. Shocked, he turned his head and saw Yamato crouched over him protectively and instantly understood. He must have shielded me with his own body! he thought tearfully. Why would he do that?!
He halted that train of thought as he heard the boy above him choke back a whimper and looked up into his face. There was unmistakable pain there.
"YAMATO!" he yelled in panic. Tears dropped down onto him from above.
"Just… crawl out from under me, ok?" Yamato whispered hoarsely. He could feel his strength failing and he didn't want Ren underneath him when he collapsed. Ren hurried to obey, carefully wriggling his way out from beneath his friend. His mind was still in a state of shock. Ogata sighed in relief as soon as Kazama was free and let himself fall forward onto the ground.
"YAMATO!" Ren screamed again as the boy collapsed. Kneeling upright, he was able to fully survey what had happened and was severely shaken. Yamato lay unmoving, pinned to the ground by a large branch that was clearly rotten in some places. There were multiple places where the limb branched off, and several of those branches seemed to have snapped against Yamato's back, their sharp ends digging into his skin. Ren felt his eyes brim with tears.
What have you done?! he yelled at himself. This is all your fault! If he hadn't been so intently focused on helping his friend, Ren probably would have broken down into hysterics. Standing up in order to give himself better leverage, Ren used all his strength to pull the heavy branch off of Yamato, trying his hardest not to injure the boy any worse. He again knelt beside the boy on the ground, this time pulling him up so that he lay with his chest over Ren's lap. Grabbing Yamato by the face, Ren tried to determine how hurt he was, but instead found himself unable to see anything because of the tears that now flowed freely down his cheeks.
Yamato wasn't unconscious, just in a lot of pain. He looked up at Ren and saw him crying; he also saw a small scratch on his cheek that was bleeding minutely. He reached up a hand and rubbed away the droplets of blood gently with his thumb.
"You're hurt," Yamato murmured, his voice thick with emotion. Ren looked at him angrily and swatted his hand away.
"Why did you do that?!" Ren asked, furious. "Why did you hurt yourself for me?! My God Yamato! Look at you now!" The injured boy remained silent as he waited for Ren to calm down a bit. His back was still aching, but he could tell it wasn't too serious.
"Because," he explained in a quiet voice, "I love you. I couldn't bear seeing you hurt…" He reached up with his hand again, this time to wipe Ren's tears away. "Don't cry, ne? You're cuter when you're happy." Ren looked as though he was ready to punch him for his stupidity, but instead he pulled him into a tight embrace, burying his face in Yamato's neck.
"Gomenasai," he sobbed. "This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't…" He was unable to finish his sentence, but Yamato understood. After a few minutes of silence in which they just held each other, Ren released him and began to remove the other boy's jacket.
"What are you doing?" Ogata asked, giving a painful yelp as Kazama slid the heavy cloth off over his back. Ren frowned.
"I'm going to see how badly you're hurt," he explained in a no-nonsense voice. Yamato sighed in acceptance and let himself be flipped over onto his stomach as Ren pulled his shirt up. He cringed as the boy stifled a gasp.
"How bad is it?" he asked, worried. Ren didn't answer; his attention was fully focused on Yamato's marred skin. He felt pain shoot through his own gut at the sight; Yamato's back had already become one big bruise. Thankfully though, it seemed as though his heavy school jacket had protected his skin from being broken. There were a few scratches, but no external bleeding. It looked horrible, but Ren knew it wasn't as bad as some of the injuries they had gotten in fights.
"It could be worse," he said finally. Yamato relaxed, hearing the truth in his voice. Pulling his shirt back down, he sat up and turned so he was facing Ren. Grabbing him by the arm, Yamato dragged the still distressed boy into his lap and held him securely against his chest. It took several minutes, but eventually Ren seemed to calm down a bit. Yamato traced various designs onto the boy's arms as he waited for him to relax.
Leaning down, he kissed the boy's blond-streaked hair. Ren turned around and took Yamato's face in his hands. Pulling them closer together, he closed his eyes as he planted his lips on the other's. Ren smiled into the kiss, feeling happy for what felt like the hundredth time that he was able to touch the gorgeous boy in front of him. Ren had always found Yamato beautiful; his skin was flawless and silky, his eyes were like liquid almonds that melted Ren's heart whenever he gazed into their depths.
"I love you too," Ren breathed. Thank you for loving me back, he thought silently. Wanting more, he deepened the kiss and let his hands roam down Yamato's neck and onto his chest. He could feel muscles hardened from years of fighting beneath his fingertips. Something like jealousy pinched him in his gut briefly. Where Yamato was soft and gently curved, he was hard and angled. …Even if I'm not sure why, he continued his thought from before. The boy opposite paused slightly as he felt Ren tense momentarily beside him.
"What?" he asked, drawing back from their kiss. Ren said nothing, just looked down at his hands as he pulled them back from Yamato's chest. His fist was rough and the skin stretched tightly over bony knuckles. He glanced appraisingly at Yamato's hands and saw that they were of course small, soft, and graceful. He frowned, something his friend didn't miss.
"What's wrong Ren?" he repeated, concerned now. Ren shrugged as though it was no big deal.
"I was just wondering… why you love me," he answered, hurrying to explain over Yamato's protests. "It's just, you're so beautiful, and anyone would be lucky to have you. But I'm not anything like what you deserve." He shook his head dejectedly as Yamato stared at him, completely taken aback. "I'm rough, and sharp. I'm not beautiful." He looked away.
What is he talking about?! Yamato thought, angry to see that Ren thought of himself this way. He IS beautiful to me! Doesn't he know that? This time, Yamato took Ren's face in his hands and forced him to look him in the eyes.
"I love the way that you are, Ren," he explained sincerely. "I love how strong and tough your body is. When you are with me, I always feel safe and protected. And," he continued, lightly kissing him along the cheekbone, "I think you are the most beautiful person I have ever met. Your sharp angles are sexy," he added, blushing. Ren grinned at that last comment.
"Sexy, huh?" he asked, feeling reassured. "How sexy?" He leaned over Yamato slightly and traced a line down his chest from his neck to his waistband; Yamato's lips quivered and he twitched at Ren's suggestive touch. Suddenly, Ren found himself flipped onto his back as Yamato straddled his waist, pinning him to the ground. Bending over his captive, the boy licked along the sharp curve of Ren's exposed neck, eliciting a moan of pleasure. Smiling, Yamato brought his lips up to Ren's sensitive ear.
"Very sexy," he informed him.