Title: Don't Want to Lose You
Author: melonmachinery
Day/Prompt: Day 1/Rock & Aiko Desho – Sano Elementary & Lost
Rating: PG
Summary:

The Sano three try to celebrate Sousuke's birthday, but things go a bit awry, and something changes in the days to come.

SouRin Week Day 1

Don't Want to Lose You

Chapter 1

"Pick up your leg, there's a rock," Rin instructed. His arms were wrapped around his friend's side to keep him steady, the boy in his arms following orders despite his verbal protests.

"Just let me see already. This is stupid," Sousuke groaned. Kisumi laughed, arms around Sousuke's other side. "This is taking forever."

"But then you'll see the surprise," Rin argued. His eyes darted back to the ground as Sousuke stubbed his toe on a stray stick. Kisumi was nonstop giggles as they led their friend further into the forest. "We're almost there anyways, just wait a little longer."

"Whatever. Just try not to kill me," he grumbled. His eyes had been blindfolded with a bandana that Rin made sure was extra tight so he wouldn't be able to slip it off.

The three walked quietly after that. Kisumi and Rin took turns telling Sousuke to take a particularly big step, or to watch out for a dip in the ground. They'd slow down so that he had time to pick his feet up and avoid the small twigs on the forest floor.

When they got to the tiny clearing made by a chopped down tree, Rin let go of Sousuke. He ran ahead to clear off the rock he had moved over to the stump the other day. It was smooth, though a little lumpy. Kisumi helped Sousuke walk the rest of the way to it and they sat him down.

"Wait just a minute more," Rin said and he looped his pinky around Sousuke's. Sousuke grunted in surprise as his finger was suddenly take hostage. "Promise you won't peak."

"Yeah, yeah, I promise," Sousuke muttered and Rin smiled before dropping his hand and pulling out the things he had brought from home. Kisumi picked up some of the flowers that had fallen off the stump and placed them back in the center. They had come earlier to decorate with all the natural things, Rin picking as many wild flowers as he could to make a centerpiece, rolling over chunks of wood to make seats for him and Kisumi.

Rin placed the paper plates he had down on their table and dumped the cookies he had out of their plastic bag and onto them. He then got out the box he had had in his backpack, it was a special box his mom had that was made to hold cupcakes, but as he expected, the icing had bumped into the sides a little. It'd still taste the same though its appearance was a little rough, he reasoned.

He brushed aside some of the cookies and slipped the cupcake onto the open spot. He wasn't allowed to have candles or a lighter, but it'd have to do. Once he finished he step backed and looked at their little party table. He and Kisumi sat down in their seats when they were done, each looking at each other with a huge grin on their face.

"Okay, open them!" Rin said and his smile only grew when Sousuke tugged off the bandana and was startled by the display.

"Happy Birthday!" They cheered in unison. Sousuke scoffed, but his lips twitched up into a smile as he observed the plates.

"It was Rin's idea," Kisumi confessed but Rin just leaned closer, watching Sousuke look at all of the goodies on their makeshift table. Sousuke grabbed one of the cans of soda Kisumi had gotten out while Rin was putting the cupcake on Sousuke's plate.

"Do you like it?"

Rin pulled his bottom lip into his mouth and Sousuke looked up at him, the corners of his eyes scrunching up and he chuckled. Kisumi elbowed Sousuke's side, a grin on his own lips.

"Yeah, thanks," Sousuke finally said. "Didn't think you'd go all out. You really are a romantic, aren't you?"

"Shut up," Rin said with no bite to his tone. He picked up a cookie and shoved it in his mouth to give him something to do. Kisumi was just snickering behind his hand.

"Eat the cupcake! It's dark chocolate so you might like it," Kisumi said, turning to Sousuke. "Rin picked it out thinking you might."

Sousuke picked up the cupcake, turning it in his hands before peeling off the aluminum bottom. Rin held his breath as Sousuke took the first bite, he didn't like sweets. Rin didn't like sweets all the time either, but the only thing to eat on your birthday is cake so he wanted to make sure Sousuke at least kind of liked it. Chocolate icing got on top of Sousuke's lip and he licked it off after he finished and shrugged, eyes darting to the side.

"It's pretty good," he admitted.

"It is?" Rin asked, trying to bite down his excitement.

Sousuke held the cupcake out and Rin took a bite from it, not bothering to take it out of his hand. It did taste good, sweet and bitter. Maybe just a bit too bitter, but it wasn't that bad. Sousuke and Kisumi laughed as Sousuke pointed at his own nose. Getting the hint Rin wiped away the chocolate from his face.

"Hey now, no fair. Don't I get to try?" Kisumi asked, a sly smile on his face as he looked at Sousuke. Rin watched as Sousuke huffed and handed him the cupcake. Kisumi took a small bite out of it and returned it, making a face.

"Too bitter?" Rin snickered and Kisumi stuck out his tongue.

The three of them ate their goodies and drank their soda. When they were done Rin pulled out a plastic bag and they dumped all their trash into it and put it back in his backpack. They talked and played games, tag and eye spy and anything else they could think of. Rin lamented the fact that his mother said he couldn't take his bored games out, but they came up with other ideas. No one wanted to leave their secret area in the woods.

It was when they had resorted to stacking rocks and twigs to make little houses that Rin had had enough. He laid down on the grass and sighed. Kisumi and Sousuke looked up from their little buildings and then at each other.

"How about we play hide and seek?" Kisumi suggested suddenly and Rin rolled onto his stomach, excitement in his eyes. They looked at Sousuke and he sat up, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Is it really smart to play that here?" he mumbled and Kisumi laughed.

"That's true. You really get lost easily don't you Sousuke," he mused out loud. Rin got up onto his hands and knees, an idea popping into his head.

"It'll be okay as long as we make sure there's boundaries!" Rin exclaimed, sitting back onto his legs. He waved his arms over behind him and in front of him. "No one can go past the road and the creak!"

"But what are we going to use as boundaries for the other two ways?" Kisumi pondered, looking to his left.

"There's that big bolder down there, right? That one we played king of the mountain with," Rin said, he put his hand on his cheek and leaned into it, humming to himself. "As for the other one, isn't there a tree down over there?"

"The big one that split in half!" Kisumi agreed with a grin. They both looked at Sousuke and he shrugged.

"Sounds good to me."

"Who's going to be it?" Kisumi asked, turning to Rin. Rin held out his fist and Sousuke and Kisumi followed suit.

"One," Rin started.

"Three!" Kisumi cheered and they all threw out their hands. Rin and Kisumi both had paper and Sousuke's hand was still stuck in a fist. He clicked his tongue and glared at Kisumi.

"You did that on purpose!" he accused and Kisumi gave him big doe eyes.

"What are you talking about? Besides, loses are loses Sousuke. Don't try to get out of it," he said pushing himself up off the ground. Rin followed, cackling at Sousuke's misfortune. The other boy just sat there, grumbling about how it was supposed to be his birthday.

"Count to twenty, no, thirty!" Rin ordered and Sousuke closed his eyes.

Rin took one last glance at him and Kisumi before he darted away from their camp and into the woods. Rin went straight for the creak, only stopping when he found an appropriate hiding spot in between a tree and a rock. The rocky bed of the creak was a few feet away from him still, so he wasn't really out of bounds. Besides, with that as the background noise it'd be harder for Sousuke to hear him.

Rin leaned back against the rock and closed his eyes, a gentle breeze pushing around his hair. He looked up at the sky and saw the sun was finally overtop of them. They had left pretty early in the day, so that wasn't a surprise. They'd have to be home before dinner anyways, so they needed to get in as much fun as they could.

He counted the fish he saw nipping at bugs in the water, ten times he saw the ripples left from them. The creak was slow in this area, it was a great place to swim when it was warmer out. He grinned to himself as he thought about how much swimming he, Gou and Sousuke did that summer. Gou couldn't go out very far and she had to have her tube and floaties on, but it was still fun.

The sound of birds in the trees filled the silence and Rin let himself get relaxed. He wondered how long it'd take Sousuke to find him. If he knew him half as well as he said he did, Sousuke would know to come to the water to look for him. The only question was if he was trying to find him or find Kisumi first.

He sat there for a long time, he couldn't even tell how long, but he definitely had taken a nap somewhere in there. When he woke up the sun was sinking to the other side of the creak. His heart started to work up to an uncomfortable beat when he took notice of it. He gave up on his hiding spot and started to walk back to the stump where all their stuff was.

Rin bit at his lip as he got closer and saw one figure standing there, but not another.

"Kisumi?" Rin called, breaking out into a run. "Were you found by Sousuke?"

Kisumi turned to him and that's when he saw that the front of Kisumi's shirt was completely twisted and wrung out. He'd do that when he was getting nervous or antsy about something. Rin stopped breathing for a second and he tried to settle his nerves.

"I've been looking for him," Kisumi said, eyes flickering back to the side of the forest that went down stream. "I didn't find him over there, but I thought you or he might come back here so I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where you were hiding."

"I was by the creak," Rin said turning to look through the woods. "Let's try going up stream then. We won't split up but we'll spread out, I'll take the right you take the left."

Rin made sure to keep Kisumi in sight as he walked through the woods. When the shadows started to stretch out is when he started running, only their voices ringing through the forest. He'd glance back every once and awhile to see that Kisumi was keeping up with him. The darker it got out the more Rin's heart started to pick up speed and the more his stomach started to twist in on itself.

He was in parts of the forest even he didn't remember.

"SOUSUKE!" Rin started to scream, voice ripping out of him, making his throat raw. "WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Tears started pricking at his eyes and his breath became short when he heard Kisumi calling to him. He turned and saw Kisumi's receding back, heading towards the water. Rin's hair whipped against his face painfully as he ran, wind beating it against his cheeks and into his eyes instead of pushing it away from him. He was going so fast that even when he slipped he didn't fall.

When he finally came into view he saw Kisumi and Sousuke standing on the sand of the creak. He slowed down to get down the dip from the forest floor to the beach. He was careful as he stepped down tons of rocks that could easily twist his ankles, barely hearing the voices speaking to him.

"He said he didn't see the fallen tree," Kisumi explained. Sousuke stepped a little closer when Rin jumped down onto the sand and darted towards them.

"I'm sorry, I," Sousuke started, but was cut off when he was tackled to the ground. All of the wind was knocked out of him then, and he had trouble breathing. He tried to push Rin off when Rin's crying turned from quiet to full out wailing.

No one said anything as they both tried to breathe again. Rin kept his face tucked into Sousuke's neck. He didn't even care that his arms were being dug into the sand, or that his knees burned from falling the way he did. He barely recognized that Sousuke had started hugging him back, to busy letting tears and snot out. The only thing he could think was how relieved he was that his friend was okay and they found him.

"It's getting dark," Kisumi finally said, interrupting the silence.

Rin got up onto his knees and wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt. He looked down, mouth open and ready to tell Sousuke just how much an idiot he was, but when he saw him looking back up at him with glossy eyes he shut his mouth and stood up. Sousuke stood up as well and Rin just silently brushed away at Sousuke's back, trying to knock off the sand.

"Let's go home?" Kisumi offered, shifting from foot to foot. Rin looked over at his friend and nodded, grabbing Sousuke by the wrist and tugging him back up to the forest floor. Kisumi followed and they all walked in silence, only the sounds of twigs breaking and leaves rustling to be heard. It was getting darker but Kisumi seemed to know where he was going, walking a bit ahead of them.

Rin's eyes started to water again as he thought about what had happened, what would have happened if they didn't find Sousuke. He should have known better, should have realized it was an awful idea to play hide and seek. He knew Sousuke was bad at directions, sometimes he'd get lost in their own school.

"Sorry," Rin whispered, eyes focused on the ground below them instead of the trail ahead. He didn't see Sousuke's reaction, but he moved a little closer. Rin wrapped his arm around Sousuke's, letting go of his wrist in favor of holding onto his upper arm.

He was warm even though his shirt was cold and damp.