Twenty-Four
Disclaimer. I do not own, or ever will, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, or characters from the manga/anime.
Warnings: (implied) character death (as if it wasn't obvious), and a bucket load of angst
Twenty-four had always been Onodera Ritsu's favorite number. Oddly enough, it was the number of hours he had left. It was strange to think that his favored number could be so depressing. The day passed by, with people floating into his room with each disappearing hour.
He knew that his time was coming, and he supposed he had no regrets. Except...
Takano burst into the room, breathing heavily. Their gazes locked, and almost in slow motion he watched as Takano stumbled towards him. Even as he knew he had a few mere hours, he took a glimpse at the clock. Three hours left.
They passed by the time talking about trivial things, remembering memories from the past, and heartbreakingly predicting the future. Onodera supposed it was cruel of him to drop of this on Takano, but as the last minutes fluttered by, he spoke a faint, "I love you."
With that, Takano crushed him into a hug, and kissed him. "I love you too, Ritsu."
The clock struck twelve, and his eyes slid shut.
Twenty-four is such a cruel number.
Author's Notes:
1) This was sparked by the line, "When you know a loved one is going to die, what do you do?" I was floating through fanfics and saw the summary, and that was the first line. And then, the number twenty-four popped into my head, and with all my crazed inspiration with SIH, this was born. It is rather short, but I wanted to post something out there. Shout out to AZ1087653 for the encouragement. :D You rock! (And thank you for listening to all those random PMs about the oneshot on this, you're truly a great friend.)
2) The favorite number part is made up. That's to make sure no one quotes me on that.
3) Right so...you guys can pick how he, uh, died. I left that out. But actually, when I was brainstorming for this piece, I was debating on how to kill him. Yeah. I went with a less violent death.
4) "The clock struck twelve..." sprung from the rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock, but oddly enough, the part where I thought it said twelve actually said one. "At twelve the mouse fell down," was the actual part where I thought it was suppose to be in there. It's not. :c
Any feedback/advice is appreciated. Reviews are lovely.
-Eraser Bitz