Osaki ni
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke
Character(s): Mayuzumi Chihiro, Kuroko Tetsuya
Pairings: Mayuzumi/Kuroko
Notes: Entry for BPS Rarepair Battle 2015. The title お先に (osaki ni) is inspired from Satoshi Kon's farewell. In this context, it meant "I have to go now. I'm leaving this world before you."
Special thanks to my sister who helped me with the title and beta.
The scent of the incense made Chihiro sick. His empty stomach churned and his eyes red and dull with bags under them. The atmosphere had grown heavy with everyone in the room wearing nothing but black.
His gaze settled on the framed picture. It captured the smile so radiant that it could blind anyone. The same smile that would let out a beautiful laugh at his words. The same smile he would never see again.
No need to look around to know how many were pained in the loss of this person. He did change their lives more than they could imagine—saved them. The disbelief written in their expressions, the unacceptance, the quiet cries, Chihiro knew. But he couldn't stay any longer.
He pushed his weary body to stand and slipped out of the room. No one would notice; he didn't care if someone did. He needed to get away—away from the room which had the reminder of the cruel reality.
His legs took him as far as they could, only stopping in front of a sakura tree. The flowers were in full bloom, falling beautiful pink blossoms danced with the wind. The imagery mocked him.
Spring was when life would begin, where everything would start again. But in that season, life took his beloved person away.
If he could, he would spill a laughter at the irony yet no energy remained. His tears dried up and his hand destroyed everything it could touch back at home. Wasting the little energy he had would do nothing.
It won't bring him back.
Chihiro covered his eyes with his arm.
Look at his pathetic self. Love had rendered him like this, and yet it was love that let him have a taste of happiness. Now, that happiness was ripped away from him in an instant.
Life was cruel.
His arm fell down to his side when a flash of blue fell to his line of sight. He turned around to see nothing in a storm of petals.
Except for a butterfly.
Its beautiful black wings fluttered as it circled around, seemingly playing around with the petals. Chihiro found himself being drawn to it, following its movements until settled on his shoulder. A surge of ease filled him. He could still feel the weight of the loss but somehow, that small creature comforted him with a single touch.
Then black butterfly flew away, soaring until he couldn't see it anymore.
—
The first weeks were the most difficult for him.
Tetsuya's belongings and room remained untouched. Chihiro never attempted to move or stepped inside. Not only that, he kept his distance from everyone, his ways of showing that he was fine. But everyone knew how much he was hurting. It wasn't that simple. They kept checking on him out of fear he would have died without anyone knowing. Some would cook food for him, the others would take him out on random trips whenever he refused to go out.
Chihiro grunted. They only cared about him because of Tetsuya. Their constant worrying was bothersome. He was capable of living his own life without them helping.
"Kuroko wouldn't want you to remain like this." A statement he heard over and over.
Of course, Tetsuya wouldn't want him to be like that.
And no matter how he tried, he couldn't forget.
The nagging about his messy desk, the constant pull of his legs to drag him to the breakfast table, the pull of his cheeks whenever they fight over the remote, and the hugs that kept him warm—what replaced them was an empty apartment.
—
Chihiro wasn't aware of its existence.
He was browsing through the shelf to look for a good read and he noticed a book that clearly didn't belong to him: thick, blue and words he didn't bother reading. It wouldn't be difficult to put it away. These past days, Tetsuya's belongings were slowly being moved. Grabbing the spine, he pulled it to see a small box at the end.
Opening it was a mistake. Inside were two rings. Nothing elegant, just simple silver bands.
His world stopped for a second before finally… finally… it shattered. Tears fell down, never stopping. Fingers tightened around the box, unsure if he protect it or throw it out. They were meaningless object that served no purpose. The idiot who was supposed to give was gone.
He didn't need it—the words 'Together Forever' engraved on the ring.
—
For the next years, Chihiro had come around in his life much to the relief of everyone. He had moved out of that old apartment went to a new one that was much smaller. No one knew what happened to Tetsuya's belongings but they believed he had threw them away.
He needed to move on after all.
Soon, he was employed. The path he chose wasn't what he had in mind but it wasn't as bad. Doing work at a publishing company had kept him busy all year round and he became one of its best employees. This meant that people knew about him—much to his chagrin.
One of the things he dreaded was the annual company parties. As much as possible, he would avoid it. Socializing was never his strongest point. Unfortunately, he found an annoying and stubborn colleague who wouldn't leave him alone and drag him to these events despite protests and threats.
Attending one would lead him being bombarded by several questions that made him question these people's priorities.
"Why are you still single?" "Is there someone in your mind?" "A fine man like should get married."
Once the level of annoyance he felt reached its peak, he would drown himself in alcohol to the point he needed help to get home.
Of course, the annoying colleague was the one who volunteered.
They reached the house and Chihiro hoped that he would be left alone so he could rest.
"What's this?"
Even in his haze, his gray eyes widened at recognizing the small box. He lunged forward and grabbed it before finally feeling the after effects of the sudden movement. The colleague panicked when he almost collapsed, helping him lie down on the couch.
When he was finally left alone, he opened the box to see the two silver bands and closed it again.
—
Children played around the park, their innocent laughter filling the air. The adults watched in amusement as they sat from the benches. One of the children walked up to a bench where an old man sat and waved at him, distracting him from his reading.
"Ojiisan!" the kid said with a smile. "What are you reading?"
The old man peeked a bit before returning back to his book. "It is too heavy for your young mind to understand," was his answer.
"But it has pictures!" The kid pointed at the colored cover of a female character in a uniform.
A woman grabbed the kid's left ear. "Masahiro, don't be so noisy," she scolded before turning to the old man with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for my child's behavior."
The old man didn't say anything and simply returned to his reading.
The woman rolled her eyes at the rudeness before a glint caught her eye. She found herself staring at the silver band worn on his finger. The old man had been coming around the park since the beginning of the year but it was her first time seeing him wear a ring.
Before her curiosity could be satisfied, a heated stare from the old man made her stand back and grabbed her child away from him.
—
Chihiro could hear the beating of his heart through the machine. He stared at the white ceiling, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
No one visited him which didn't come as a surprise. He had cut all his relations from the people he knew from all those years. It suited him, a life on his own, no one else to interfere. He didn't expect to live a full life and turn into a grumpy old man who had nothing but books to entertain himself.
His eyes fell on the silver band on his finger.
He was foolish, throwing away all the things relating to Tetsuya. Now that radiant smile was a distant memory and it pained him that he wouldn't get to see it one last time. The only thing left in memory of him was a pair of silver bands, one of which he was wearing.
Too invested in his thoughts, the tickling on his hand alerted him, making him turn to the source.
A black butterfly perched on the ring.
The question on how the insect got inside left him confused. He squinted at it to have a view with his bad eyesight. Even so, it relaxed him. His eyes grew even weary but he tried to fight against it, blinking the sleep away.
A pale hand covered his hand, a silver band glinting against the light. Chihiro looked up to see a smile, taking his breath away. A single tear rolled down his cheeks before finally closing his eyes.
The sound of his heart stopped.
—
The cool breeze woke him up and he felt the surface of the tree against his back. Pink petals fell on him as he tried to make sense where he was.
He then saw Tetsuya reading a thick book.
"It's rude to keep people waiting, Chihiro-san." Tetsuya's voice sounded calm and melodious.
Chihiro frowned. "You're the one who went ahead of me."
Tetsuya closed the book and stood, bright blue eyes settling on Chihiro. A small smile crept on his face as he reached a hand out. "Do you want to go together?"
Grabbing the hand, Chihiro let himself be pulled up and gave a small smile on his own.
"Do you have to ask?"
End.