Up in Smoke, a hana-kimi fanfic

Title: Up In Smoke
Series: Hana Kimi
Rating: PG / K+
Pairing: Kujou x Kadoma
Summary: When Kadoma's life is in danger, Kujou risks everything to save him.

Breathing deeply, he let the toxic smoke fill his lungs as he lounged against the cold wall of the hallway. (A/N: This is not Kadoma, Kujou, or any other character we actually met in the series. It's just a random student.) He felt a guilty pleasure, indulging in this cigarette, as it was a terrible idea for an athlete like himself to smoke. He knew his game was suffering as a result, but his addiction left him unable to quit.

Disgusted with himself, he eyed the cigarette with distaste. He had promised himself only one cigarette a day, but he had long broken that, and was currently on his fourth. With one last puff, he tossed the half-finished cigarette aside and returned dolefully to his room, his hands thrust in his pyjama pockets.

As the door closed behind him, the still-lit cigarette rolled into the darkness of a nighttime shadow, where its smoking embers glared out like a fiery, wild eye. For a moment it sat there, a lurking predator, but then a burner ember crumbled away to rest on the floor.

The tatami mats of Dorm 1 flared into life almost immediately, and the tongues of flame spread rapidly across the floor, burning with a newfound vigor.

And as the smoke rose from the fire, the ever-persistent blip of light from the alarm was still. It's batteries had not been checked for a long time, and it had died nearly three months ago. The smoke detector slept on.

Kadoma was rudely jerked from his peaceful slumber by the sudden wail of the fire alarm as a student pulled the manual siren, and he tumbled out of bed in a tangle of sheets. Even through the groggy veil of sleep, he knew immediately something was wrong. The room itself felt as if it were on fire, and as Kadoma squirmed free of his bedcovers, his sweat-soaked pyjamas clung to his skin like a magnet. A thick layer of smoke hung over the room, and he could hear a hungry crackle eminating from outside. In a heartbeat, he realized that the dorm was on fire.

"Wha' going on?" Kadoma's roomate, a lacrosse player by the name of Ishida whom Kadoma had never gotten to know very well, asked drowsily.

Just then a crack like a gunshot tore through the air, making both boys jump.

"What the hell?" Ishida yelped, now thoroughly awake.

Kadoma wouldn't have paused to answer as he rushed to the door, even if he had heard, so profound was the terror that pulsed through his veins. However, the moment his hand fell upon the metal doorknob, he yelped and jumped back, staring in astonishment at his burned palm.

"Eh?" Ishida said, vaulting off his top bunk. "What's wrong?" And before Kadoma could reply, he had already reached out and pulled the doorknob.

His reaction was more or less a reenactment of Kadoma's. "YEOWCH!" he cried, nursing his smarting hand. "What the hell?" (A/N: He says that a lot, doesn't he? XD) He swore once more, then wrapped his shirt around his good hand, and, disregarding every fire safety lesson he'd ever attended, opened the door.

Kadoma gave a cry of a mixture of fear and surprise, leaping backwards from the chaos the open door unveiled. The hallway before him was engulfed in an inferno, flames licking hungrily at the walls and ceiling, and the source of the mysterious crack from earlier was immediately obvious; a fire-weakened rafter had broken and was now hanging in the doorway.

Ishida swore again, but ducked under the still-smoking beam into the hallway without hesitiation. In the flickering firelight, Kadoma could see his dark expression immediately relax and be replaced with a look of utter relief.

"Hey, look!" Ishida said. "We can still get out! Let's go!" But when the normally-optimistic Kadoma did not reply, he turned to see the smaller boy frozen in terror, staring at the fire before him.

"What are you doing?!" Ishida exclaimed, exhasperated. "Come on!"

But Kadoma just shook his head, tears springing up in his wide eyes as he stumbled backwards. He was usually quite brave and sensible in a crisis, but fire was the one thing he could not stand, and now his overwhelming pyrophobia was working against him.

Ishida's eyes were narrowed in frustration, and he glanced around nervously, warily eyeing the growing flames. "Come on!" he urged. "You'll be fine!"

Kadoma swallowed, searching Ishida's eyes for some reassurance or support, but only found impatience. If Kujou-senpai was here . . . but Ishida was right. He couldn't stay here, pyrophobic or not. Taking a deep breath, Kadoma took a tentative step forward.

But at that very moment, the burning rafter gave way with a sickening snap, and crashed to the floor, barring the way with a thick wall of flame. Kadoma's eyes found Ishida's, and immediately both knew that Kadoma's only hope was to get some other help. Without a word, Ishida sprinted down the hallway, nimbly dodging tongues of flame and falling embers. Kadoma watched him go, and even after his roomate was long out of sight, his wide eyes stayed fixed on the place he had seen him last, hoping desperately that this was all a bad dream.

Unlike Kadoma, Kujou awoke early to the heavy smell of smoke that hung in the room, long before the fire got anywhere near him. It had taken him a moment to put two and two together, but then he leapt out of bed, just as someone pounded on his door. "Get up! Fire!"

Dorm 1 was in an uproar. People were running in blind terror and panic, desperate tot reach the exit. Some were yelling, waking those who had yet to realize the danger. Someone pulled the alarm, and immediately the siren blared to life.

Kujou tore out of his room and immediately began to herd the chaos of students towards the exits. The alarm continued to flare, drowning out the yells of his commands, but he still managed to somehow force them into order. The last few doors burst open, and the final stragglers joined the hordes headed to the exit.

Finally, Kujou felt the cool, night breeze rush over him, a welcome relief from the smoke-heave air of the dorm. "Come on, let's go!" he called out. "Away from the building!" Instinctively, he was searching for Kadoma in the crowd around him, but he didn't see the boy. Of course, he was probably just mixed in with the confusion, so Kujou wasn't worried - yet.

Dr. Umeda was already on site, administering inhalers to the students who suffered from asthma and burn salves to those who had experienced close shaves with the fire. The prinicipal was also present, but he seemed too shaken up to be doing much of any help at all.

Kadoma was still nowhere to be found. Kujou's apprehension was mounting, but he forced himself to stay calm as he scanned the area. It was probably fine; there would be nothing to worry about . . .

Suddenly, a second-year boy burst out of the burning dorms, his face streaked with sweat and soot, his eyes wild. In the flickering firelight, Kujou recognized him as Kadoma's roommate, and he felt a wave of relief sweep over him, expecting to see Kadoma following. But when no one else appeared from the building, the relief that had gripped him suddenly slipped away to be replaced with heart-stopping anxiety.

Ishida fell to his knees, gasping, before the principal, and Kujou knew in that instant that his worst fears were about to be confirmed.

"Sir!" Ishida choked out. "My roommate - he, he's been trapped!"

The blood drained from the principal's face, and he swallowed fearfully. He whispered quietly, as if trying to convince himself more than the other, concerned students. "The fire department should be here soon. He will be all right."

But Kujou hadn't heard. He had already burst back into the burning building.

The smoke was getting worse. Kadoma coughed harshly as it irritated his throat and scorched his lungs, and the vigour of the cough brought tears to his eyes. His heart was pounding erratically now; the fear that gripped him seemed to be tightening as the seconds passed.

But just then, his heart stopped as he heard a sound that did not come from the greedy flames and weakening foundations.

"Kadoma!"

And as he recognized the voice, Kadoma felt a calm fall over him, despite his current predicament. "S-senpai?!" he called back, hardly daring to believe it.

Kadoma could have sworn he heard Kujou let out a heavy sigh of relief, and an utterance of "Thank god," but before Kadoma could begin to wonder about it, there was a loud crash from the hallway. Kadoma cried out and jumped a good six inches from the ground in his shock.

Then Kujou was standing right outside the doorway, his unreadable expression illumitated in the dancing firelight, and the only thing separating them was the wall of flame from the burning rafter.

Kadoma could see Kujou calculating the height of the flames and comparing it to the height of his own jump, and a split millisecond before Kujou leapt through the fire, he cried out: "Senpai!"

But then Kujou was over, rolling across the tatami of the dorm room from a shaky landing and extinguishing the small spark that had caught on his pants.

For a moment, Kadoma was frozen in his spot, but then he ran to Kujou's side, concern alight in his face. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and strained, with a note of apology ringing high in it. "Senpai! Are you okay?" He glanced down at his feet in shame. "I'm sorry, this is my fault."

Kujou sat up, meeting the younger boy's eyes with an icy glare. "No," he said curtly, and Kadoma glanced away, stung by the sharp tone. Seeing this, Kujou expression softened. "No," he repeated, and this time his voice was gentle. "Don't blame yourself."

"B-but --" Kadoma stammered, but he was quickly cut off.

"And don't worry about fault now," Kujou continued. "We have to get out of here."

Kadoma swallowed and ducked his head in agreement as Kujou stood and strode to the window. The rubber had melted in the heat, sticking the window shut, but Kujou was not deterred for long. Grabbing a text book, he slammed it against the glass.

The powerful glass buckled, cracks spiderwebbing across the surface. Kujou struck it again, and it fell away in a shower of sparkling fragments.

"Kadoma, come here," Kujou instructed, and the younger boy obeyed silently. "Look." He pointed out the window at a drainpipe bolted to the side of the dorm. "Can you climb that?"

"I think --" Kadoma began, but then Kujou changed his mind.

"Never mind," he said. "Now is not the time to find out. Get on my back." He crouched down.

"Ehh?!" Kadoma cried in surprise.

Kujou glanced at him, confused. "What?"

Kadoma swallowed, shaking his head. "N-nothing," he muttered, and obediently climbed on.

Immediately, he felt his heartbeat erraticate as he wrapped his arms around Kujou's neck, and he was uncomfortably aware of the way Kujou's hands tucked under his legs in order to hoist him up further. He clenched his eyes shut nervously, convinced that Kujou could sense the effect it was having on him.

Unbeknowst to Kadoma, Kujou was actually suffering the same emotions, and was deeply grateful that being on his back made it in possible for Kadoma to see the furious blush that painted his features. But he clenched his teeth in concentration and focused heavily on the drain pipe as he swung himself out the window and onto the cold metal.

The drainpipe creaked ominously under their combined weight, but otherwise held without complaint. Kujou let out out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and carefully started down the wall.

Below them, a student suddenly cried out, "Look! It's Kujou-san!"

A ripple of excitement swept through the onlookers, and several added their cheers of encouragement to the night air, urging the two to come down quickly and safetly.

Kujou grit his teeth, trying not to focus on the burning sensation in his hands, and blocked out the cries of the excited group below them. He had to concentrate on the climb. He wasn't used to such activities with anything on his back the way Kadoma was now, and although he knew he should be able to do it fine, the idea of who was on his back made him feel unsteady and nervous. And being unsteady and nervous was was the last thing he needed right now.

He was focused so hard on the pipe before him that he almost didn't realize how far they'd come until Kadoma was pulled from his back by the eager, waiting hands of the students below. Relieved, but light-headed from the panic that had coursed through him when he felt Kadoma's hands loosen from his neck, Kujou leapt down, almost crushing a first-year in the process.

Immediately, he was surround by students and teachers, all patting him on the back and congratulating him on his astounding rescue, but Kujou didn't care for their comments at the moment. His eyes scanned the surrounding faces for Kadoma, wanting to make sure the boy was all right.

And just then, he was propelled backwards by the sheer force of the boy's embrace as Kadoma wrapped his arms tightly around him, alternately crying "I'm sorry!" and "Thank you!" into his chest.

Surprised, Kujou felt his breath hitch in his throat, and his heart skipped a beat, but then his eyes softened and he returned the embrace, burying his face in Kadoma's hair. "It's all right," he whispered comfortingly, patting his back softly. "Everything will be fine."

And they stayed like that for a long time, relishing in each other's presence even as the first fire truck hurtled around the corner.

Ah, finally done! Tell me whatcha think - good, bad, did you fall asleep?