Disclaimer: do not own YJapan.

A/N: Drabble fic

"Look, there he is."

"He's a student here?"

"He looks young."

"Twelve years old…"

"A genius…"

I can hear you. He had started out in a slow walk but now broke into a run across the Harvard lawn. Clutching the brown paper bag close to his chest, Kanmuri ran as fast as he could, trying his best to ignore the ever-present stares and the whispers that never seemed to be soft enough to escape his ears.

Dunster House – it looked like any other dorm building other than the white tower that stuck out in the middle. Kanmuri ran in rather ungracefully, not bothering to acknowledge the other lodgers even as they hollered out to him, "Hey what are you doing? Freshmen don't belong here!"

"It's alright," said another lodger, as Kanmuri ran up the stairs. "He comes here often…visits that nerd Kuroyanagi." The lodger was caught by surprise when he was hit in the face with a rock-hard rye bread. Kanmuri sniffed disdainfully at him before continuing towards Kuroyanagi's room.

As the only 12-year old student in Harvard, Kanmuri had no friends. The other students didn't want to admit that a person of his age could be on par with them while some were just too intimidated by him. Other than this, he had no reason to continue on at Harvard.

Kanmuri burst into Kuroyanagi's room unannounced and was glad that the room was not empty; that Kuroyanagi had not left for some fanciful walk around the school without telling him.

Kuroyanagi lifted his head from his books with an annoyed glare. "I thought I told you not to disturb me this week. I have a test in a few days."

Despite the unwelcome words, Kanmuri grinned and placed the brown paper bag on Kuroyanagi's table. "Look what I made today, Kuroyanagi-sempai! Strucla, Vienna bread, nut bread…I'm not sure which one suits your taste most but you like all types of bread, don't you?"

It was comical the way Kuroyanagi had seized the Vienna bread before Kanmuri had even finished speaking. If the black-haired Japanese ever had a fatal weakness, it would be good bread. Much to Kanmuri's dismay, Kuroyanagi spat out the bread with a look of disgust, "What is with this sticky texture?" he demanded. "Vienna bread is supposed to have a crisp and flaky texture! This is garbage!"

Kanmuri stared wordlessly as Kuroyanagi shoved his breads roughly away from him and went back to his studies. Regardless of his efforts not to, tears were starting to gather at the corner of his eyes. Those breads were the fruits of his efforts. It had been his first try, after all. He knew it wouldn't be good but…

"I hate you, Kuroyanagi-sempai!" screamed Kanmuri loudly, shaking the foundations of Dunster House, before fleeing from the building as fast as his skinny legs could bring him.

Kuroyanagi had been his friend. His only friend. No one else had dared approach him even when he was being as friendly as humanly possible. Kanmuri rubbed furiously at his eyes. Forget it! Kuroyanagi was an idiot! Everyone here was an idiot! Idiots – all of them!

//"May I sit with you? All the other benches are full."

Kanmuri looked up from his packed lunch of sandwiches and saw another teenager, much taller and older than him with thick, coke glasses and dark, fine hair. He was the first person to speak to him voluntarily aside from the Harvard teaching staff. Kanmuri nodded dumbly and moved aside to make more space for the other student.

"So you're the much talked about child genius, huh?" asked the teen. "How old are you exactly?"

"Twelve," replied Kanmuri shyly.

"That's really amazing," said the teen with a smile. He opened his lunch box with contained nothing but a plain piece of baguette.

Kanmuri stared. "Is that all you're having for lunch?"

The teen nodded. "This is the last piece of the bread I bought from the out-of-town bakery. They bake the best bread. It's hard to get good-tasting bread in these parts."

"Y-you like bread, that much?"

The teen smiled. "I love bread. If it were possible, I'd eat nothing but bread for the rest of my life. That's what I'm going to do after I graduate from here! I'll be Kuroyanagi Ryo, bread connoisseur!"//

Bread…it was all about bread

Kanmuri sighed. Perhaps it had been a mistake to try and bake bread for Kuroyanagi, after all. He knew that Kuroyanagi was a picky eater when it came to bread. His friend would be especially testy if he ate bad bread. Should he apologize?

The pink-haired boy glared at the ceiling of his dorm room and huffed. Why should he apologize? Kuroyanagi was the unreasonable one? Couldn't he for once…

Then again, what had he expected from Kuroyanagi? That the other Japanese would congratulate him for effort? That he would pat his head and say 'try harder next time'?

His approval. I want his approval. Is that so much to ask?

Kanmuri stretched his arms. This was no good. He couldn't concentrate on his work. He sighed and dived back into his homework, writing digit after digit diligently, patiently solving math problems, until a knock on his door broke his rhythm. He growled under his breath.

But this was truly odd. Nobody ever visited his room. Kanmuri stood up and opened the door. "Yes?"

Outside his room was Kuroyanagi with a brown paper bag of bread in his arm. "Can I come in?"

"O-of course," said Kanmuri, opening the door wider to let the older boy in. "Kuroyanagi-sempai, what…?"

Kuroyanagi sat down on the edge of Kanmuri's bed and patted the space beside him. Kanmuri sat down beside him obediently, wondering what the other teen was up to. Kuroyanagi pinched off some of the bread he brought and fed it to Kanmuri. Kanmuri's lips closed around the bread, clinching it just a scant away from the tips of Kuroyanagi's fingers.

The light crispiness…the flaky texture…

Kanmuri covered his mouth with his hand, unsure of how to react to the deliciousness of the bread.

"This is true Vienna bread," said Kuroyanagi, eating some himself. "Of course, this taste is only average. I've eaten much better-tasting Vienna bread…"

"You mean bread can be tastier than this?" demanded Kanmuri.

Kuroyanagi smiled and nodded. "Now do you see the wonder of delicious bread? It's not something you can cook up in one day. You need to work at it, improve your skills and discover the secrets. It's a wonderful world to study." Kuroyanagi laid a gentle hand on Kanmuri's pink head. "Try harder next time, Shigeru."

Kanmuri turned pink and quickly looked away from Kuroyanagi in embarrassment. Once again, he didn't know how he should react. "Um, where did you get this bread, Kuroyanagi-sempai?"

"This? I made it."

Kanmuri stared at Kuroyanagi with disbelief. "You made this bread yourself, sempai?"

Kuroyanagi nodded. "I'm still lacking in skill. But at least it's better than the ones they sell in bakeries here."

"Teach me!" exclaimed Kanmuri. "Please teach me how to bake bread!"

Kuroyanagi frowned. "What nonsense are you talking about? I have to concentrate on my exams and you…you have your own work to complete."

"But," protested Kanmuri.

"I'll teach you when you're older." Kuroyanagi ruffled his pink hair and stood up. "You can keep the bread."

Kanmuri pouted. "In the end, you taught me nothing. You graduated early and left me all alone in Harvard. When I returned to Japan, you were already an employee in Pantasia and were acting all cold and hoity toity."

"I do not act hoity toity," replied Kuroyanagi hotly, trying hard to pay attention to his clipboard and not Kanmuri.

"And you're more bad-tempered nowadays," continued the pink-haired teen. "Ah, what happened to the Kuroyanagi-sempai I both knew and loved?"

"Gone."

"But there is one improvement thought," said Kanmuri coyly. "At least you don't wear those stupid coke glasses anymore. You look much better without them."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kuroyanagi impatiently, without taking his eyes of the clipboard. "I was always good-looking."

"Hey…" Kanmuri climbed onto the countertop, and stood on his knees so that he towered a little over Kuroyanagi. "After so many years, I have grown, you know…"

Kuroyanagi raised an eyebrow. "What's your point?"

It had always been about bread.

Kanmuri circled his arms around Kuroyanagi's neck and brought their faces close, making Kuroyanagi drop his clipboard in surprise. "I'm no longer twelve and Cathy's not in Japan…" Kanmuri pressed his lips against the older man's and licked them languidly as he pulled away. "…and now, I can make wonderful bread."

It was always about bread. Between him and Kuroyanagi, there was nothing but bread and perhaps…the heat.

A/N: Go kurokan!