Title: Blind Spot
Pairing: AkaBun taken on Marui's POV Does that make it Maruihara? I'd stick w/ AkaBun.
Words: 2744
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my heart, which is solely beating for AkaBun/Maruihara.
Summary: Marui muses about how much Kirihara's reactions affect his life.
Note: This is by far, the longest fic I have written in my entire life. Yeay to me. And I wish to give a heartfelt Happy Birthday greeting to Marui Bunta. ;;
Completion Date:14 April 2007

Blind Spot
By: Blufox

Marui closed his eyes and began counting in his head. Any second from now he's expecting to hear a loud—

BOOM!

Oh, there it goes. Slowly, he faced the harassed door and let out a long sigh. Leaning against the wall nearby, he began sliding himself towards the tiled floor, allowing his knees to touch his chest. The lavatory isn't exactly the best place for him to crumble down and look like a complete lunatic waiting to be saved by a tall, dark, bald man—no, he's not thinking of Jackal—to defend him from the evil wrath of emotions, but he couldn't help it. Marui felt tired and confused. He is in no position to bitch about his appearance or the location. He'd do that later, but for the time being, he's locked to doing a whole bunch of reflecting.

No matter how hard he tried, Marui couldn't understand what's wrong from wanting to eat the lovely cake that Akutagawa gave him earlier that morning. Nor can he figure out what's wrong with accepting his offer to drop him off school. As much as he's concerned, it saved him a couple of yen, and gave him some time to sleep during the ride; thus causing him to be up during his first class. It's supposed to be a win-win-win decision, but seeing his kohai walk out darting with red, puffy eyes didn't seem to fall under anywhere near the win category.

Remembering his kohai's eyes brought shivers down to his spine, causing him to tighten his hold around his knees. It was usual for him to see Kirihara with red eyes—it even usually goes with a lot of tongue licking and body heating, but the one Marui witnessed today was… different. Sure, Kirihara's eyes were red, but they were puffy too, and not to mention, watery.

Marui had been used with Kirihara's short span of temper, so the walking out scheme was something of common occurrence to him; however, what was uncommon with today's scene was Marui's lack of action to stop Kirihara from running away. Their scenes usually ended before the slamming of the door and lunatic reflecting drama! Burying his head in between his knees, Marui tried to suppress his voice that is in desperate need of letting out a whine.

Thinking about a list more of things to complain about, Marui found himself almost jumping from his feet due to the sound of an alarming bell. Heaving a low sigh, he decided that his bitching can wait 'til club time. For the first time in his life, he felt an unnamable type of happiness regarding Yanagi's love for data, knowing that by the time he reaches the green fields of the tennis courts, he would be able to release all the wiggly feelings crawling inside of him. Yanagi lives for data, and being a generous guy, he's going to make sure that Yanagi would make the most out of his life.

Marui then picked himself up from the ground, and washed his face with cold water to keep him up for the rest of the day. He completely used up his recess, acting like a drama queen; thus leading him to make a mental note of reminding Akutagawa not to hang out too much with Atobe, being a contagious guy that he is. Marui wouldn't want to be the cause of spreading any disease in Rikkai, more so, any disease that can further inflict Yukimura. Dramatic Yukimura will lead to a Grumpy Sanada, which will eventually end up with harsh training. Yup, Marui was sure he didn't want that. He began to sprinkle more water to his face and then finally released a toothy grin when it finally went numb. Today's gonna be a long day, he silently thought.

Going through his classes had been tough for Marui. With his stomach growling, and his head aching, Marui learned that there is nothing worse than sitting up in class and listening about the things you are perfectly aware of. Why his teacher was lecturing them about the properties of logarithms when they can jump ahead and discuss integrals, was left to be a mystery to him. By the time the bell rang, he could hear angels singing Hallelujah at the back of his head. He immediately grabbed his bento and wallet before running out of his classroom.

To say that he was shocked to see a missing figure of Kirihara waiting for him outside his classroom would turn out to be an understatement. It could have been his excellent reflex or his raging emotions, but everything that happened next, all occurred in a flash. By the time he got a hold of his senses, he was already standing on the rooftop, panting with his hand clinging badly on top of his stomach. Lunch time was over—leaving him with an empty stomach, and a hollow feeling inside his chest. He searched for Kirihara all over the campus, yet he is no where to be found. As the second campus bell indicating that class is starting began to ring, Marui dejectedly dragged his feet towards his classroom, eagerly waiting for club time to start—hoping to see Kirihara in there.

By the time all his classes for the day ended, Marui's energy had been totally drained, causing him to faint during their warm-up laps. He assumed that it was Niou who carried him towards the clinic, seeing that he was the one who stayed over. Marui distinctively tried to weigh whether he should thank Niou for carrying him or not, but immediately realized that it was unnecessary after seeing sand-marks all over his body. Scratching the thought of being carried and replacing it with being dragged, plus Niou's constant flirting with the school nurse, who is now completely oblivious about his presence, Marui automatically decided to play the role of an ungrateful bastard, and sneaked out of the clinic.

By the time it was quarter past 4, Marui finally accepted that Kirihara was no longer in campus. He already made two rounds of searching after sneaking out, and yet he found not a single trace of his kohai. From how Marui knew Kirihara, he was sure that the latter would never leave his place until someone gets him. Knowing that there'd be no improvement even if he'd go for his third or fourth round, Marui finally decided to search outside Rikkai in places like the park, public tennis courts, and even playgrounds.

Even though the sun was starting to set and he was sure that his mom is starting to worry about him not being home, Marui cannot bring himself to stop his search for Kirihara. He even rejected the thought of entering his favorite cake house but completely dropped his thoughts after seeing the familiar curly locks peeping from his usual table.

"Yo," Marui casually greeted as he stood a couple of arm lengths away from his kohai. Kirihara slowly looked up and bit his lower lip before finally saying "Senpai" in reply. When Marui settled with the conclusion that Kirihara is no longer in his rage mode, he approached the table and held the top of the chair, opposite to his kohai's.

"Would you hit me if I sit with you?" He asked.

In reply, Kirihara answered, "You know I wouldn't even if I want to."

Marui settled himself on his seat and comfortably leaned his right cheek against his palm. "So you really want to hit me, then?" he good-mannerly asked.

Kirihara made sure he established good eye contact and then released a sincere smile. "Never, senpai. Never." He said.

"Why'd you skip class the whole day, then?" Marui asked. He knew the mood was too good to be ruined, but he didn't skip recess, lunch and club time for nothing.

When he noticed the unsettlement coming from his kohai, he couldn't help but release a silly grin before voicing out his thoughts. "It's Jiroh, isn't it?" he asked.

It wasn't a shock to Marui to receive a violent reaction from Kirihara, but the instant snapping coming from him somehow took Marui off-guard. "It's not just about that Hyotei-boy!" Kirihara almost immediately exclaimed.

If Marui's grin can stretch out any further, Kirihara was sure that it would, but it was at its extent that pushing it to go any wider would tear Marui's lips apart. When Marui replied, Kirihara was sure that there was a thick lining of amusement coming from it.

"He's got a name. It's Ji-roh. Got it?" He said and immediately dragged his chair beside Kirihara's so he can ruffle his kohai's hair. Even though Kirihara started murmuring complaints about how unfair it was for Marui to be addressing Akutagawa by his first name, he could feel his kohai leaning towards his touch, which eventually turned his smile into a softer one.

When their ruffling moment ended up with Kirihara leaning on Marui's shoulder as Marui's hand caressed his curly locks, Kirihara decided to break the silence, and speak out his thoughts.

"Senpai?" he asked. Hearing Marui release a soft hum as acknowledgement, he continued. "Why didn't you run after me? I've been here since ten."

Even though Kirihara didn't voice out his disapproval when Marui gently released his hold and pushed his head away from his shoulder so he can twist his body a little bit and engage to better eye-contact, he knew that his senpai could read his thoughts clearly.

However, if Marui can read Kirihara well, Kirihara knew that he too was doing a good job when he immediately noticed his senpai's unsettlement as he released a goofy grin and scratched the back of his head while giving his response.

"I… I was searching at the wrong place. Sorry." He said, while ending it with an awkward looking peace sign.

"You searched for me the entire day?" Kirihara said in an amused voice that almost caused Marui to release a hearty laugh.

"Well," Marui said once he was sure his composure settled down, "I wasn't practically searching for you the whole day, but I did search for you during lunch and club time."

"Club time?" Kirihara inquired. "Fukobuchou, let you?" he continued as he tried to mask his disbelief, while failing to do so.

"Whaddya think? Of course not!" Marui said in between his laughs. "I was just able to do that 'coz I fainted for skipping recess and lunch, so when I got up, I sneaked out from the clinic and—"

Shoot. Marui knew he said something wrong, but couldn't figure out what. With the way Kirihara was grabbing his shoulder, he tried to analyze which part of his response messed up, but was immediately cut when his kohai spoke.

"You skipped lunch?"

Oh no. Kirihara's voice is shaking as much as his hands. Marui tried to think of ways how to calm his kohai down but couldn't think of one. When he gave up from receiving divine intervention from up above, he decided to let his tongue roll out his words instead.

"I—uh… did I say I skipped lunch? Uh… of course not! You know that lunch had always been my favorite period. I'd never skip lunch." Marui said, while trying to keep his voice straight. He was never good with lying—lying had always been Niou's specialty, not his.

"M'sorry, senpai." Kirihara said as he wrapped his arms around Marui's waist and rested his head on his shoulder. They stayed in that position for quite a while until Kirihara decided to break the silence, again.

"Senpai?" he asked as he unwrapped his arms from Marui's waist and went back to his original position. Sharing Marui's warmth is nice, but Kirihara settled with the idea of staring at his senpai's face as something better. When Marui moved his head slightly to his side, as if telling him to continue. Kirihara obliged and said,

"You didn't answer my question."

"Huh?" Marui dumbly replied.

Kirihara pinched his left thigh to inhibit himself from whining. Feeling that he wouldn't be whining any second from now, he indulged his senpai's dumb reply and said,

"I asked you why you didn't run after me, remember?"

"Oh, right." Marui said as if finally moving out of his trance. "Well, you looked like you were about to break down a while ago and—"

Marui was about to continue when Kirihara slammed both his hands on top of the table and stood up while shouting "Did not!" When he earned an eyebrow arch coming from Marui, he immediately sat down and sheepishly told him to continue while frantically trying to shove his blush away.

"As I was saying…" Marui began. "You looked like you were about to break down that it seemed like you were ready to punch anyone who got in your way… which I assume you did." Marui said as he sadly grabbed his kohai's chin, covered with an ugly looking bruise.

Marui started rummaging his school bag, and then calmly placed it back on the floor when he got a hold of a band-aid. He immediately covered Kirihara's bruise before continuing his talk.

"Sanada hits people so hard that any type of hit may seem to be soft compared to his but the thought of you, hitting me, didn't really appeal to me that—" Marui didn't know why, but his voice started to trail off that he wanted to smack himself for acting like a sissy.

However, when Kirihara not-so-gently snatched his hand from his lap, he couldn't help but release a genuine smile, more so when his kohai began to speak.

"I'll never hurt you, senpai. I promise!" He said while placing his right hand above his chest, while his other hand is busy holding Marui's.

The moment was so nice that Marui felt awkward for not wanting it to end. When his phone began to ring, he immediately wanted to thank the gods for saving him from ruining the moment, but countered the thought when the word 'Mom' flashed from his screen. By the time his phone conversation ended, Kirihara was still holding his hand but reluctantly let it go when Marui stared at it. Releasing a small smile, Marui offered Kirihara dinner.

"My family's having dinner out tonight, you wanna come?" he said casually. If Marui noticed the pink bits forming on Kirihara's cheeks, he didn't voice it out. Seeing his kohai struggle for words, Marui decided to continue instead of waiting for a response.

"It's gonna be by nine so you still have time to go home and change in case you want to come," he said while casually raising his shoulders.

Marui noted that Kirihara further bowed his head and covered his eyes with his bangs. He always did that to hide his blush, and although that method never worked efficiently to accomplish his goal, Marui never told him so.

"…okay. Thank you, senpai." He finally said.

"Cool. So meet you at my house?"

When Kirihara made a small nod, Marui ruffled his head and headed towards the door but was immediately stopped by Kirihara's hand on his arm. Marui turned his head and gently took his kohai's hand off his arm.

"Want something?" he then asked.

Swiftly, Kirihara attacked his bag and held a slim rectangular box towards Marui's face. "Happy Birthday, senpai!" He exclaimed in a shaky voice. Marui masked his shock by letting out an awkward laugh before grabbing the box and ruffling, once again, Kirihara's hair.

"Cool. Thanks." He said, when he felt that he messed his kohai's hair well enough.

"Okayseeyoubye!" Kirihara replied almost instantly, and then gave Marui a quick peck on his cheek. Before he can even react, Kirihara was outside the cake house doing a not-so-subtle congratulatory pose in the air.

Later that day, as they headed towards the restaurant, Marui and Kirihara allowed everybody to walk ahead of them, as they clandestinely entwined their fingers behind their backs, not minding the sound of their paired bracelet brushing against each other.

Marui knew that there'd be a lot of teasing he'd be receiving for wearing that bracelet, but the thought of seeing Kirihara's bright smile when he caught a glance of it on his wrist was priceless. And it was there, in that moment, when Marui knew that there'd be nothing, not even Niou's annoying teasing, that can make him take that simple happiness away from Kirihara—ever.

Fin.

A/N: Yeay. I finally finished it. I have been brainstorming about Bunta's birthday fic for weeks. I actually had another story in mind but I couldn't phrase my thoughts well. Waaah. School's sort of draining my thoughts, so I guess I'll just work on my other thoughts after I finish this term, and my summer semester. sigh At least I get to rest for a bit before Fall Semester.

Sorry for the total fluff. I hate it too. But I can't help it. /cries/