I know I shouldn't do this...But I' mstaring yet another multi-chapter fic but this one is Silver pair so its ok right? I hope so, because I've already started it and I need to get off my Platinum train for a little while. Speaking of those, "A week of Hell" and "A Womanless Pageant?" Will be updated...eventually when I finally get off my lazy ass and do it. So please be patient on those if you would.
I do not own Prince of Tennis nor do I own "Clear Skies!" I'm merely borrowing the name and a little bit of the plot line.
You will notice that this is a mixture of Rikkai and Hyotei, because I can't do just one school because I suck. Well do enjoy it anyways! Here is Clear Skies! Chapter 1!
He sat in a corner, the early afternoon sunlight highlighting his already pale hair. His candy-hued eyes took in the light as he looked towards the window, but it wasn't clear what he was seeing.
There was nothing unusual about this picture, and the effect had nothing to do with the light. As Shishido Ryou peered at the man's profile, he thought to himself that he was never quite sure what Otori Chotarou was thinking
"Hey, Chotarou, answer me." Shishido said, his voice impatient as he tapped the desk with his fingers, fully aware that Otori wasn't listening.
"Huh?" Otori replied, his chin resting on his hands as he stared blankly out the window. It seemed it seemed that hearing his name had finally made him realized just where he was. "I'm sorry Shishido-san could you say that again?"
"You…" Shishido sighed deeply, bringing his hands to the wrinkles that were lodged between his brows. "How many times are you going to make me repeat myself?
It was a fairly regular occurrence for Shishido to become angry with Otori. Still, Shishido couldn't control his irritation. Ignoring the effect his actions would have on people around him, he hit the desk and cried out loudly his voice rang through the already loud editorial department located by the river in Suidoubashi, right next to Tokyo Dome.
"But look, there's a family of ducks on the river," Otori said as if that was some sort of excuse. The kind tone of his words didn't fit at all with his calm face as he pointed out the window towards the Kanda River.
"Ducks?" Shishido squawked. "Are ducks more important than the first issue of the new magazine?"
"But no matter what I'm told, I don't really understand," Otori replied. "You're the one who puts the schedule together, and I won't remember unless you tell me right before the deadline…"
"Aren't I always telling you to grow up and stop saying things like that?" Shishido clenched his teeth and mussed his overly long brown hair, unsure of where to begin getting angry with this irresponsible writer he was in charge of.
The members of the editorial department tried not to listen as they waited for the yelling to calm down.
Shishido stood up suddenly.
"Don't be angry. I'll listen this time," Otori said, his face calm as he smiled at Shishido.
"Otori wasn't really the type of person to get angry or start yelling. He was a popular author who had single-handedly raised the floundering sales of Asimov, a science fiction magazine. Without Otori this scinc fiction and fantasy editorial room would be a bicycle shop.
And Shishido, currently yelling at Otori, was a young editor who had brought the popular author to the magazine. After only two years of work, he already commanded respect from his co-workers.
No one was quite sure exactly what sort of relationship the two men shared.
"Ugh." like always, Shishido lost the will to fight after his initial outburst. Tearing at his hair, he let out a bitter sigh. He took a highlighter from his pocket. "Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out over lunch. How about soba noodles?"
"Shishido-san," Otori said, not moving from his chair. He grabbed the end of Shishido's shirt and pulled.
"What?"
"Let's eat here. I made lunch. How could you forget?" Otori slowly began opening the purple-wrapped package that Shishido had noticed earlier.
"Uh…"
"I thought we could eat together, so I brought a stacked lunch box," Otori beamed. "Oh, and I brought a thermos of tea from home, since you're so picky about your tea."
Shishido stared dizzily at the lunch box spread out on top of the dirty desk and sat down unsteadily in his chair.
"the rolled omelet is pretty good today. Oshitari-san said it had to be sweet, so I made it pretty sweet," Otori said, properly setting a small dish in front of Shishido and beginning to divide the egg up with chopsticks. Shishido merely held his head and made no move o take up his own chopsticks.
Otori tilted his head to the side and picked up a piece of egg. "What's wrong Shishido-san? Are you too tired to even hold up your chopsticks?" He used his chopsticks to bring a piece of egg near Shishido's mouth and, as if coaxing a child, said "Open wide!"
"I can eat by myself!" Shishido yelled.
Laughter rang from the part-time female university-student workers and the editorial staff. Shishido grabbed the chopsticks and stuffed the food in his mouth.
"How is it?" Good?" Otori asked, his face was as expectant as that of a new wife.
Shishido scowled.
"Too sweet?" Otori inquired further.
"It's fine! Just shut up!" Shishido said, unsure of what else to say to make Otori be quite.
"Okay," Otori said, smiling and beginning to eat his own lunch.
Shishido's brows knitted together and he reluctantly took up his chopstick and began shoving eggs inot his mouth.
At a glance, Otori's calm and collected face as he ate his lunch did not match at all with what he'd said. Shishido sighed, thinking of the huge gap between Otori's cold exterior and what he was really like inside. Perhaps that was why the women nearby couldn't contain their laughter. It made sense that the disparity between Otori's appearance and his personality seemed strange, but Shishido suddenly couldn't stand the laughter pressing down on him from all sides. And it was no wonder that they found it odd that two men were sitting across from each other in the editorial department eating the lunch that one of the had brought.
"Chotarou," Shishido said, putting his chopsticks down. He had been drawn into Otori's world once again. "Why should I calmly sit here and eat a boxed lunch with you at work?"
"I don't see what's calm about it. But what's the big deal?" There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Otori replied, using the end of his chopsticks to play with an octopus-shaped piece of weiner. He smiled. "We're no strangers anymore, you know."
"You!" Shishido said, slamming his hands on the desk so hard the lunch box fell over. "I told you not to talk about that in front of other people! This is my workplace!"
"But we're not unknown to each other anymore," Otori said. He lifted his head to look at Shishido, who had stood up again. "You're my darling little brother."
"I'm going to kill you!" Shishido cried forcefully, his anger due only in part to the short temper he had gained from growing up in the old downtown Tokyo
To find out just how the author and his boss stopped being "strangers," one would have to go back in time twenty days before, to the sweltering evening of Marine Day, a holiday that no one cared very much about.
"Hello!"
Someone pounded on the ground-glass door of the old-fashioned Shishido house, which even now didn't have an intercom.
"Will somebody get that?" Shishido, the eldest of the house, said. Taking advantage of the absence of his older sister Seiichi, a Hanshin Tigers fan, he was stretched out and watching a post-dinner baseball game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Chunichi Dragons.
He turned to his brother Jackal, the third son, who was drinking beer in the corner of the living room as he polished a boxing glove. "Brazilian Beater," his idiotic ring name, was embroidered on the wrist of the glove.
"I'm busy," Jackal said. "Have Oshitari get it!"
Jackal, the tallest member of the household, and with a middle-aged face that id not seem appropriate for a man of only twenty, yelled at his brother Oshitari, who was two years older and currently cleaning the kitchen up after dinner.
"I'm washing," Oshitari said. "I can't go. Marui, you go answer it."
"I'm studying!" Marui, the youngest complained from the dinner table, working on some school worksheets. "Shishido, you're just watching TV. You go answer the door."
Although Marui was the smallest in the house no one else had a louder voice.
"I'm the head of the family," Shishido said. "I can't just go answer the door."
"I'm studying!" Marui retorted. "It's my duty as a student. If you going to bother me, then why don't you just do my homework for me? It's English…"
Shishido, unable to argue with that logic, shook his head.
"And I had work today, a holiday," he muttered. "all because of that stupid novelist."
"No matter what you say, you can't turn Marui down," Jackal said, laughing into his glove.
"Shut up. Besides you're all making it hotter. If you have something to do, go do it on the second floor."
Shishido kicked the side o the table, annoyed as always that everyone was gather here even though Jackal had his own six-tatami-mat-sized room upstairs and Marui and Oshitari an eight-tatami-mat one.
"But it's cooler here," Marui answered cheeks puffing out.
"Don't say 'but'…"
"Besides, the only TV in the house is in here. And grandfather, too!" Marui pointed towards the porch. Bass, the old dog that lived in the yard, was stretched out on the porch watching television.
"Marui. I'll say it again-- Bass isn't your grandfather," Oshitari interjected.
Marui merely continued petting the head of 'grandfather,' who continued watching the night game.
"He's always so lazy," Jackal added.
"It's hot!" Marui complained. "Right, Grandfather? Hey, Shishido, let's buy an air conditioner. Grandfather says e wants one too."
"I told you to cut it out!" Deciding not to bicker with his siblings anymore, Shishido reluctantly got to his feet. He stuck a hand down his sloppy aloha pants and scratched himself between his legs, heading for the entryway. Seiichi had brought the pants from Hawaii ten years ago, but Shishido was the only one who continued to wear them even now.
He walked down the hall past Seiichi's room, which was to the right of the entryway. Shishido's room was to the right of the stairs. Their parents had passed away over ten years ago, and, including the absent Marui, the five of them had lived in the house together ever since.
Suddenly, light footsteps sounded from behind Shishido. Marui, who should have been focused on studying, jumped up and down, and grabbed Shishido's arm.
"Ugh, it's too hot for that," Shishido protested.
"I thought I'd come with you!" Marui said with laugh, sticking a tongue out and peeking up at Shishido.
"Hey, don't hang on to me. You're such a little kid," Shishido said. He grinned and lifted Marui up onto his back.
"Ahh! Stop it, Shishido!" Marui protested.
Jackal had been correct that Shishido was helpless against Marui, the youngest child. Their relationship probably seemed very strange to onlookers.
"Excuse me," a voice called.
"I'm coming! Who could it be at this time of the night?" Shishido wondered with the ease of someone used to the neighborly relationships of the old downtown area.
With Marui still on his back, he opened the door.
"Good evening…" The visitor, smiling with a calmness that seemed totally at odds with the hot weather, made Shishido doubt his eys for a second. "Sorry for showing up so late. I missed my airplane."
The smiling man was holding on to a giant suitcase that was familiar to Shishido, ut this guy should have been in Kyoto.
"C…Chotarou?" Shishido gasped. "What's going on?"
"Like I said, I was late for my plane. I thought I'd arrive in the afternoon, but I had to wait for a cancellation, and here I am. I should have taken the bullet train. Is it summer vacation already?"
"Yea, the students are off starting from today," Shishido replied automatically. "Wait a minute. What are you doing here?"
"Is this your friend, Shishido?" Marui asked, shaking Shishido's back.
"Oh, he was my high school classmate," Shishido said. "I'm in charge of him now…"
"Oh, so 'Chotarou' is 'Otori Chotarou'? The famous author who writes for Shishido's science fiction magazine? That's so cool," Marui said. "Can I have your autograph?"
"Fine, I'll get it for you. Just go over there." Confused, Shishido helped Marui down.
"Hey!" A harsh voice from somewhere called Marui. "A lowly student can't speak to Otori Chotarou like that."
Surprised by the thumping voice that sounded like it belongs in a gang movie, Shishido looked around. A face peered out from behind Otori, belonging to what had to be a yakuza gangster.
"Who…who is that?" Shishido asked.
"I came al the way from Kansai and I'm really tired, so let me in!" The young man had long, bleached hair that tied back into a rat tail, and pierced ears. He looked like he should be sitting on street corner somewhere in Shibuya, and his manner of speaking was definitely that of a yakuza's. "How long are you going to make us stand here?"
"Ah," Marui cried piercingly, hiding behind Shishido. "Jackal! Come here! There's a yakuza!"
"What/ Who are you calling a yakuza, young lady!?" The yakuza-looking man screeched.
"Marui tried to run way. But the so-called yakuza grabbed the collar of the tight shirt Maui was wearing despite the heat. Whether he was a yakuza or not, it was no wonder he felt driven to violence after being called one- probably so many times already.
"hey, cut it out! What are you doing to Marui?" Shishido yelled.
"Stop it, Niou," Otori cried hastily and stopped the so-called yakuza.
"I'm not doing anything," the young man, Niou, said. "I just thought I'd give her a bit of a lesson."
Hearing the noise, Jackal burst from the entry way, crying his gloves.
"Jackal!" Mayumi cried and leaped at Jackal's chest.
Holding on to Marui, Jackal grabbed hold of Niou's shirt collar. "What have you done to Marui?"
Oshitari, still in the middle of washing up, came running in from the kitchen, a ladle brandished in one hand. "What are you guys doing in the entryway? Do you want the whole neighborhood to hear you?"
"Calm down," Otori said. "Just stop it! Niou isn't a yakuza! He's a wholesome young man!"
His teeth clenched, Jackal didn't relinquish his grip on Niou's shirt. "Wholesome? Do you even know what that means?"
"Sop it Jackal," Oshitari said. "You shouldn't judge people by their appearances! I mean, if I looked at you…"
"I'm a boxer. I don't care if I look scary!" Jackal protested
Niou expressed his doubt. "Hmm. So boxers can just people whenever they want to?"
Jackal's face grew even more threatening. "If a robber shows up, I don't care if I kill him!"
"Well, we're neither yakuza nor robbers, so don't set your heart on killing us," Otori said, inserting his thin body between Jackal and Niou, and setting his large suitcase down in the entryway. "Um…so I guess you haven't heard?"
The siblings exchanged blank looks. "Heard what?"
"We're all going to be living here together from now on," Otori said seriously.
The siblings froze. "What do you mean we?"
"Me and Niou," Otori clarified.
"Haven't' heard what? From who?" Totally clueless the siblings glanced at each other again as they kept firing off questions.
"From Seiichi," Otori replied. "Haven't you heard anything?"
Hear his sister's name from Otori's lips, Shishido was shocked and entirely confused. "No…and how do you know Seiichi-nee?"
At a loss, Otori smiled and shook his head.
"I'm her husband."
His impeccable expression and factual statement didn't fit at all with his shy air. Yet the siblings had no comprehension of how shy he really was.
"Huh?" They all gasped.
"We're married. Seiichi and I," Otori said carefully to Shishido, who was frowning like an old man with a hearing problem.
Voices jumbled together it was no longer clear who was saying what as they repeated Otori's words.
"Wha--?"
"Wh…what?"
"Married?"
"So that means…" Otori smiled kindly, facing the group as if unaware of their turmoil. "…You're now my darling little brothers."
Hearing those words from Otori's grinning face, the cries of the four siblings reverberated throughout the downtown Tokyo neighborhood of Ryuuzu-cho Ward 3.
So did I do ok? I hope so, and I hope all of you guys liked it as well! so do review if you would like. I don't really have much to say since this is only the first chapter.
Your faithful authoress,
animeo
