Disclaimer: I don't own Chihaya. That's actually a good thing.
One day, Taichi found himself out sick with a dangerously high fever. A cold, which for various reasons, yes he was an idiot, went untreated for a whole week, finally worsened into the flu that left Taichi bedridden and miserable for the first few days of October.
Once his fever broke though, Taichi felt marginally better. Well enough at least to pick up his cell phone and actually be able to understand what he was reading. His inbox was filled with messages from different members of the Mizusawa Team, half of them from Chihaya threatening him with bodily harm if he didn't recover on time for the A-class Yoshino Society Tournament. He might have felt a bit hurt at her disregard of his health if not for the fact the threats were punctured by actual honest well wishes. They were far and few between but nevertheless they were there and he wasn't going to be picky about it.
Taichi sighed dropping his phone on the floor.
"I sometimes don't get why I'm even in love with that girl," Taichi thought to himself.
He sneezed, the force of it leaving him a bit disoriented. After blowing his nose and half-heartedly throwing bunched up tissues into the bin, Taichi leaned down with some difficulty to pick up his phone.
Now, if Taichi's mind wasn't so muddled up by the fever he would have been a bit horrified at how easily his traitorous mind admitted to loving Chihaya. Just because he was past the denial phase didn't mean he could go around thinking stuff like that, you know.
Having said that, he would still find himself daydreaming about dating her, holding her hands, kissing her. That's a given. The thoughts came to him so easily that it scared him. Those same thoughts would leave him feeling guilty the next time he saw her. Saw her smiling at him openly.
Trustingly.
As a friend.
So yes, blame it on the fever. It left his carefully erected defense walls in shambles allowing any of his self control to trickle through the cracks and holes.
Taichi put his phone on the night stand and plopped back down on his bed. He closed his eyes-
–and dreamt.
"Like a boatman adrift at the mouth of Yura,
I do not know where this love will take me."
He was on his back and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the cloudless blue sky. He could smell the sea, and moss and damp wood. He traced his fingers over the rough wooden surface beneath him.
A gust of wind, the sound of waves, seagull cries and finally silence…Taichi closed his eyes. He was alone. But he didn't mind
Taichi's eyes snapped open. He was laying face down on the ground, breathing in the smell of earth, and pine, and dew and…tatami? He pushed himself off the ground, hands unconsciously clenching around a fistful of autumn colored leaves. As the haze cleared before his eyes a gasp escaped his lips.
The scenery around him was on fire. Leaves were falling, burying him in their warm colors, the setting sun illuminating everything in hues of orange, red and yellow.
He recalled what Chihaya told him one time after their karuta practice. They were both sitting outside the club house Chihaya pointing out whenever she spotted a new star appearing in the evening sky. All the other members left ahead of them, Nishida having convinced Komano and Oe-san to put in a few more practice hours at the Suihoku Karuta Society. Tsukuba, not to be outdone by his sempais, exclaimed that he will stop by the Shiranami Karuta Society and dragged a reluctant Hanano-san with him. Chihaya turned off the lights behind the exiting members, leaving the Hyakunin Isshu CD playing on low volume. The two of them sat on the ground, their backs leaning against the glass door of the club house. He could feel his skin tingle where his pinky was nearly, nearly, touching hers. The silence between them was a comfortable one.
"Impassionate gods have never seen…" the first few syllables of the poem by Ariwara no Narihira drifted from the clubhouse.
As he was entertaining the idea of closing the small distance, Chihaya suddenly shifted closer to him.
"You know, Taichi. The Chihaya card, to me, will always look bright red." Her eyes stared straight at him, alight with an inner fire that only he could see.
…The red that is the Tatsuta River."
His skin tingled where their pinkies were now touching, a warmth slowly spreading throughout his whole body. Taichi averted his eyes and thought to himself, "To me, the Chihaya card will always look like you."
"…But I cannot hide my secret love."
His eyes snapped open again even though he didn't recall closing them. He knew right away he was still in a dream. His head was resting on Chihaya's lap. She was gently wiping his forehead with a cool cloth. Bent over, her hair created a curtain above him, slightly obscuring her face from his view. However he could still catch a glimpse of a gentle and kind smile playing at the corner of her lips.
Taichi thought that dreams were worse than his conscious daydreams because he had no control over them. He would always wake up embarrassed after dreaming about Chihaya, no matter how innocent, or not come to think of it, the dream had been. It really was quiet funny how he couldn't even dream about her without blushing in the dream itself. He can't recall how many of them were interrupted because he blushed himself to consciousness, if that even makes sense.
Scratch that. It wasn't funny. It was sad. Really sad.
Taichi blamed it on the fever. His dream self wasn't as self-conscious as usual and before he knew it he found his hand reaching up to tuck a strand of Chihaya's hair behind her ears, his fingers brushing lightly against her cheek. He observed with wonder how she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch-
"What are you doing, Taichi?"
He snapped awake, this time for real, and saw that his hand was out stretched grasping at thin air. What more, Chihaya was sitting next to him clutching a wet towel - hand suspended mid-air - looking at him in confusion.
Taichi blinked. And blinked again. "I must still be dreaming" he muttered to himself. He shook his head trying to clear out the last clouds of sleep haze.
"Dreaming?"Chihaya asked, placing the towel back into a basin next to his bed.
He slowly lowered his arm thinking, "Okay Taichi, one thing at a time." He decided to focus on something decidedly not Chihaya, deliberately ignoring her question. He found an interesting grey spot on his wall.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
Before she could answer though, his mother barged into the room, a tray laden with drinks and light snack in her hands. "Taichi! Chihaya-san."
Chihaya hastily stood up, snapping to attention. "Mrs. Pre-, I mean Mrs. Mashima." Once she noticed the tray she shook her head multiple times. "You really didn't have to!"
"Nonsense, dear." His mother gave a fake laugh while placing down the tray on the coffee table. Despite not liking Chihaya she could never neglect her own duties as a proper host.
"How are you feeling, Taichi?" His mother asked checking his temperature. She tutted. "You still have a fever. If you're not feeling well, maybe Chihaya-san could come back another time?" Here, while tucking the blanket under his chin, his mother sent Chihaya a smile who in turn froze up like a deer caught in headlight. She turned to him mouthing "Help me," pure fear reflecting in her eyes.
Taichi translated his Mother's words to mean something like, "Give me your word and I will kick her ass out of the room."
"No Mother, it's all right. I'm feeling much better." Taichi pushed down his covers a bit, running his hand through his hair. They were damp from sweat and water and frankly felt quiet gross to his touch. He stopped.
"If you say so, Taichi." She gave him one last look, not quiet glared at Chihaya and left.
Chihaya looked at him with wide eyes." Oh man, your Mother is so-"
"Chihaya-san, please leave the door open, all right?" His Mother's voice drifted from outside the room, interrupting Chihaya mid-sentence.
"Yes ma'am!" and Taichi thought she might actually salute to the thin air.
Chihaya peeked out of the door to check whether his Mother wasn't lurking around before heaving a sigh of relief.
She perched herself on his bed again and reached for the basin. He watched as she thoroughly wrenched out the towel and placed it lightly on his forehead. Taichi couldn't help letting a content sound out of his mouth. He closed his eyes missing the fleeting smile Chihaya sent him.
He might have dozed off a bit but he could still feel it when Chihaya started running her fingers through his hair.
"I must be dreaming," he thought to himself. His hair was gross and dirty right now, he knew that. He didn't have the energy to bring himself to care.
Besides, he really didn't want her to stop.
He really, really, really didn't want her to stop.
….
So obviously he had to do something to make her stop.
"What are you doing here?" Taichi asked again, sluggishly grabbing at her wrist.
"What, I can't visit my friend now?" He let go of her hand.
"Chihaya." He wanted to sound exasperated but it came out more as a whine. He blamed it on the fever.
She fidgeted a little bit, clasping her hands on her lap. He looked at them, already missing the feeling of her fingers running through his hair.
"Oh well. I know that you probably don't feel well enough to practice karuta…But… you know there are other things you can do to prepare yourself for the tournament! So I thought -Here! -You could spend this time and listen to the Hyakunin Isshu!"
She rummaged through her bag, finally emerging with a bunch of CDs which she unceremoniously dumped on his chest. One of them managed to wedge itself painfully between his collarbone and shoulder
"Recorded by the best certified readers, you know?"
He brought the CD up to his eyes, a sigh escaping his lip. He didn't have a heart to tell her that whatever CD she gave him, he probably already had it. After all, they both went to get them together.
If he recalled correctly, he asked her out under the pretense of getting the CDs last year. In the store, before she had a chance to object, he promptly paid for both of their sets. Afterwards, he masterfully steered her towards a nearby coffee shop where they ended up spending a better part of the evening chatting over dinner.
Yes, he remembered it now. It felt very much like a date and he hadn't felt that happy in a long while. The next day however, the happiness was overtaken by guilt for having to resolve to cheap tricks to have her go out with him.
Mashima Taichi was a coward.
"Thank you," he managed to smile weakly tearing himself from the memory. Chihaya looked particularly nice on that day.
Chihaya's face lit up with a smile. "You're very welcome."
Chihaya leaned back a bit, her right hand resting briefly on his knee. She was looking around his room with curiosity as if this was her first time seeing it.
He observed her through his lashes. He thought he might fall asleep again. Instead, he struggled to get all her CDs together. Chihaya halted his efforts with a hand and took over the task. Seconds later a pile of CD was formed on his night stand.
Chihaya patted him on his knee, "I will go and change the water in the basin."
As she made to stand up, Chihaya smiled down gently at him,
In that single instance the image from his dream overlapped with reality.
And suddenly he couldn't breathe.
It was like time had stopped. He didn't know why but he suddenly had a strong urge to touch her. To hold her.
To kiss her.
Taichi blamed it on the fever. As he noted before, it pretty much left his defenses in shambles letting his self-control trickle through the cracks. Before he knew it, he was already grabbing at Chihaya's wrist and pulled.
"Ah, time sure flies differently when you do something stupid," Taichi thought.
It must have been only a split second between his spontaneous move and the time Chihaya fell on top of him.
During that time, he could swear he heard the saner part of his psyche screaming bloody murder at him.
He saw Chihaya's face, her eyes widening in shock.
His eyes fell on her slightly parted lips a gasp escaping her.
And perhaps, because he still had some self-control left after all he moved.
And in the end, instead of feeling her soft lips, dammit you traitorous mind, on his he only ended up with an armful of Chihaya on top of him.
His lips landed somewhere between her cheek and temple and he winced when he bit his tongue.
But he didn't care, because all he could feel was Chihaya on top of him, feel her breath next to his ear, the scent of her shampoo overwhelming his senses.
For a split second he thought his life was perfect.
For a split second he thought he never wanted to let her go.
The saner part of his psyche decided to quite down but he could still hear it whimpering and muttering bloody murder at the back of his mind.
As he unconsciously tightened his grip around her, Chihaya suddenly grabbed his shoulders, pushing herself up and away from him. She scrambled to her feet, face red and puffed up in annoyance.
He was glad the fever was still muddling his mind otherwise he would have felt hurt at her reaction. He bets that if Arata hugged she would be blushing from happiness and embarrassment not annoyance and anger. Of course, Arata would never do something like what Taichi just did. Taichi sighed. His tongue was throbbing painfully where he bit it.
"Taichi!" Chihaya shrieked. "What do you think you're doing?"
Here, she made a scene of wiping multiple times at the spot where he accidently kissed her. "What if I get sick from this? You know that the Yoshino Society tournament starts next week! I can't afford to get sick now, germ spreader!"
He looked on blankly as Chihaya went to grab her bag. When the saner part of his psyche returned to shouting obscenities at him he let it run its mouth not having the energy to silence it.
Mashima Taichi. Reduced to being a germ spreader.
He blinked, only now noticing there was a Daddy Bear head peeking out of Chihaya's bag. It looked like it was glaring at him accusingly. He could only do one thing. He glared back.
"I'm going home!" Chihaya took a few steps away just to suddenly turn around and drop to her knees near his bed. She started stuffing her bag with leftover cookies and candies his Mother brought up for them. Taichi couldn't help but chuckle at the scene but promptly shut up when she glared at him. With that she was up and gone.
Tired and more than exhausted, Taichi laid there in silence, running a palm over his face.
"I'm an idiot."
Suddenly something big and soft landed on him snapping him out of depressing thoughts. He looked up at a Daddy Bear plushie on his stomach. Chihaya was standing near the door her face still red.
"Taichi, you better get well soon, got it?! And take good care of Daddy Bear, otherwise I will destroy you." And like that she was gone again stomping down the stairs like an elephant.
There was only one way this could end, he thought. And not a second later he heard a screech and a loud thump as Chihaya tripped over her feet and stumbled down the final few steps.
He heard Chihaya's voice through the door.
"I'm fine! I'm fine. I'm totally fine" followed by his Mother's hushing tone "Chihaya-san, please be quiet!"
He rolled his eyes and plopped himself back down on the bed.
He grabbed the Daddy Bear by its neck and looked critically at it. The bear looked back at him with a smirk.
Taichi blamed it on the fever. He buried his face in the bear and hugged it tightly. Not a second later he was fast asleep, the smell of strawberries and vanilla tickling at his nose.
End
8/7/2013 I realized that so far I've been writing my fics in Present Tense. In my defense, I've been taking Screen-writing classes and scripts require using Present Tense instead of Past.
Anyway, here is another one-shot. Note to self: practice writing scenery descriptions.
Tell me if something isn't working for you. I'll revise it accordingly :D
8/18/2013 Minor edit. I changed April to October. Yoshino Society Tournament is considered a lead up to Meijin/Queen Challenger Qualifiers and takes place some time in October. I've decided to adjust my timeline to match the manga.