A/N: So, this pairing has such great potential, too much to let go of it. Enjoy!
Warnings: AU (sort of), the whole age difference and the nature of the situation, undertones, the usual; you clicked on this story at your own accord.
Summary: "She had trusted him with her everything because he was older, more experienced, because he couldn't hurt her without wanting to, but he couldn't be the one to take her life and youth away. It was his Hikaru after all, 'was' being the key word in the equation." — Ryo/Hikaru and Ginga/?
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc. are the property of their respective owners. The story and plot are the property of the author. No copyright infringement is intended. The cover is not mine either.
For The Day After Tomorrow
If Ryo regretted anything about the reason he had to take this decision, it was never seeing it earlier.
It was the usual, busy day at the WBBA HQ. People were rushing around, doing and minding their own business when a redhead teenager slipped through the glass double doors at the main entrance. After a few greeting words between him and the woman at the front desk, the boy took the elevator and waited for it to reach the final floor. Once there, a wide smile rose on his face.
There was the person he was looking for.
A tall man in a burgundy suit was seated in front of a computer. His hazel eyes were not fixed on the glowing screen before him but on the many documents his assistant was presenting him, her fingers pointing in different places all over the papers.
The boy decided to make his presence known by yelling a loud, "Hey, Dad! Hikaru!", making the two halt in their actions and turn toward him.
The older redhead grinned. "Hello, Ginga. How nice of you to pay your hard working father a visit."
From beside him the blue haired girl crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. "Yes, Ginga. Don't you see that he has so much work that needs to be done? Isn't that so, Director?"
At her witty remark Ginga laughed while Ryo just grimaced and started to steamer something along the lines yeah and it's nothing really and oh well. Then followed a few minutes of chatting between father and son while the assistant went over to her desk to rearrange the pile of documents for that day. After that she'd be free from work and Hikaru was excited. She had plans for the night and nothing was going to get in their way.
Just as she was about to shut off her laptop, Ginga turned in her direction and opened his mouth, "Say, Hikaru, are you doing anything tonight?"
The question made her hands freeze over the keyboard before she let them rest over her lap.
"Depends on what you mean by tonight, Ginga."
The boy didn't take the hint to drop it and continued, "I was thinking about going out today. To the movies or to have a simple outing between friends. Everyone will come, you know?"
Just as Hikaru was about to decline, the redhead spoke yet again, "Don't worry about food. I am sure Madoka can take care of it. She is, after all, the only one that has some decent cooking skills in our group."
Ryo tried to mask his smile behind his hand because his son's words were so true. It was nice to see Ginga getting along with his assistant, but then his smile vanished as soon as Hikaru responded, this time without interruption.
"I am sorry, but I can't today. There is a student council meeting at the college this evening that I can't miss." Her eyes were shifting from the younger boy to the older man all this time, as in a quick call for help, but Ryo only continued to stare at her from behind Ginga's back.
"School activities? On a Saturday night?" Ginga's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yes, Ginga, on a Saturday night," the young woman accentuated. "You should know by now that I take my work seriously no matter what. You should try it too. Your grades could use some improvement."
"No, thanks." Came his immediate reply. He laughed, hazel eyes closed as he shook with mirth. "You know I am not good at those 'being responsable' things."
Hikaru's serious expresion crumbled into one of light amusement. "I wonder where you got that from." She then turned to look Ryo straight in the eye. "I guess it runs in the family."
The ginger haired man barely raised one eyebrow. If that was the way she liked to play then fine.
"Hikaru, your shift ended about five minutes ago. Shouldn't you be on your way, then?" Ryo spoke as he checked his mail, indifference lacing his words, making it was obvious that he wasn't going to help her out this time.
Hikaru was almost fuming and threw the director a look that could kill. Geez, thank you so much, Ryo.
Ginga, however, was looking ecstatic. "Cool. Let me take you there, then."
Hikaru's bright amethyst eyes widened. "Umm, there is no need for that, Ginga. The director is taking me. I'm calling in a favour for all the paperwork Tsubasa or I have done in his place," she smiled and then winked at the younger Hagane. "And I suppose that you don't have a driving license or a car."
This time it was Ginga's turn to steamer while the other two laughed.
The teen soon regained his composure and turned to leave, bidding farewell over his shoulder. "Dad, I am staying out late tonight. Don't wait for me." His grin wasn't betraying any other emotion than glee.
Ryo, taking a look at Hikaru's daring smirk and raised eyebrows, found himself answering, "Looks like I am doing so too…"
And so the two, director and assistant, were soon out of the building, Ryo's car as their target. He was still dressed in his work clothes, save for the burgundy blazer, but Hikaru had opted for some dark jeans, a light purple off-the-shoulders blouse and a silver belt around her hips – she kept her work heels though. She was radiating. Every coworker in the building had felt her excitement when she had walked past them. Her hand was brushing past the redhead's every once in awhile and Ryo felt like with every single touch of skin more sparks burst between them. He swallowed and focused on the driveway, not if the girl was doing what she did self-consciously or not.
Finally, the duo made it to the car. Hikaru dropped her handbag on the backseat and sat in the front, legs crossed one over the other. Ryo got inside too and, before starting the engine, he dropped the bomb, "You're playing with fire, Hikaru."
He was watching her through the rear-view mirror, not turning his head once her direction.
Her violet eyes flickered to meet his in the mirror, too, before she responded, the grin not leaving her face, "But you know I love to get burned." All formality from her tone was gone, leaving in its place only playfulness, but Ryo didn't look amused at all. She sighed. "Look, I don't know why you're so afraid of this, but we–" Hikaru was interrupted when he said, "That's the problem with you. You're always impatient and so… so stubborn."
"But you don't know until you try," she fired back, her stare burning into his.
The fiery haired man frowned. "Do I really need to treat you like a child?"
Hikaru looked away, fists clenched at her sides. "Do you really want me to answer that question, Ryo?" When she felt a hand covering hers, she continued, "I am an adult. A young one, sure, but still an adult."
She intertwined their fingers and, when he squeezed her hand back, felt warmth rush to the pit of her stomach, stirring the butterflies there back into activity.
"We've talked about this before. There is nothing wrong about it – it's normal for a man and a woman to love each other."
He moved to pull his hand away but Hikaru squeezed his in return, not letting go yet.
"There is no need to be afraid of what other people will say."
Ryo tried to let go of her hand, still, but the young woman turned towards him. "Please, tell me you won't doubt us again." Her gaze was fixed on his profile. "Promise me."
"Hikaru." The man grimaced. His hand was still gripped in hers and he needed, really needed, to pull it free.
"Ryo," she whispered. Her voice was low and had that silky undertone in it that he loved so much. It showed that Hikaru wasn't backing down from it and was ready make a scene in the car if needed.
The older Hagane grunted. "Hikaru, let go of my hand. I need to use the gear shift."
All seriousness left her expression as a her lips formed a small, adorable, "Oh."
Blushing in embarrassment, Hikaru pulled her hand away as if burned, her fingers twining together in her lap. Ryo gave her a gentle smile as a response to her bashful one when he ruffed her icy colored locks, then focused on driving the car.
Soon, the vehicle stopped moving and Hikaru looked around, confused.
"Umm, not that I am ungrateful or anything, but–" her eyebrows furrowed together "–what are we doing in front of Metal University?"
"Didn't you have plans for tonight?" Ryo chuckled and Hikaru felt like pulling off a facepalm.
"You don't really plan on leaving me here now, do you?" Hikaru asked as she uncrossed her legs.
He turned toward her for the first time since they got in the car, after letting his eyes wander over the now dark and empty parking lot. He said, "Depends on what you want to do now."
Hikaru smirked. "Well then, I was thinking," she began as her arms wrapped around his neck. "That we could spend some time together." Her eyes were fixed on his, but her mind was trying to find a way for her body to slide to the other seat and onto his lap without seeming rushed.
"On our own." His fiery locks of hair slipped through her fingers so easily now that she had a sudden urge to bury her head in them. "And I was thinking that after we could go dancing somewhere," she finished with a lingering touch of lips at his jaw line, the same lips then flashing him a coy smile.
Ryo felt a smile of his own tug at the corners of his mouth as he nodded and left the the parking lot. The offer didn't sound bad at all and that was what they ended up doing all evening until late at night.
Like the gentleman he was, Ryo drove Hikaru back to her small apartment and was off to get to his. When he got home, Ginga was waiting for him, a big plate filled with hot pizza beside him.
"How long were you waiting?" the man asked as he took his shoes off.
His son gestured to the plate and answered, "Just a few minutes. Might as well eat together for once."
That had hurt. It was true that after the escapades with Hikaru had started, Ryo didn't get to spend as much time with his son. He had always told him he was working late – sometimes even staying over night. Ryo decided that he couldn't change the past but still hoped that he could somehow make up for it in the future.
He joined his son at the table and they started eating.
There was a comfortable silence in the room, but it was disturbed by Ryo. "So, what's new with you… and your friends?" His bit his tongue for almost saying the word 'kids'. They were not so young anymore, but he couldn't help but feel a little alone now that his son was growing into a nice young man – one that resembled himself in more than one way.
Ginga didn't seem to observe the hesitation and if he did, he hadn't shown it. "Eh, nothing special."
Ryo nodded and took a sip from one of the sodas Ginga brought home.
"Just that Kyouya's father remarried."
The older Hagane choked.
"What!" he shouted, eyes as wide as the plates they were eating on, but it seemed like Ginga dint't pay attention, his mood somehow killed.
"It's nothing, really. I know Kyouya didn't want to get into too many details, but Madoka drew every single particularity up his throat in under one minute…" his expression was one of pure fear as he continued, "It's a little frightening, an angry Madoka I mean…"
Everything screamed to Ryo that Ginga didn't want to talk about what he saw, so instead he decided to find out what he thought about it. "So, how's Kyouya handling it?"
"Oh, he says he's cool with it, but knowing Kyouya, he's cool about a lot of things. Most of things but losing, that's it." He laughed at his own joke while his father smiled.
"What would you do if you were in his place?"
The question surprised Ginga as he stopped mid-laugh to stare at Ryo from across the table. Finally, he managed to stutter, "What do you mean by that, Dad? It's not like…" But the man's eyes didn't betray his inter turmoil.
Ginga spoke again, "Well, I guess I wouldn't have a say in it. I mean, it's not like your life and your decisions are mine to take. You're free to do what you want with your life because when you have found that special someone it's just perfect…" he finished with a somehow distant smile on his face and Ryo knew in that moment that his son was not so young anymore. Deciding against teasing him about his crush, Ryo announced that he would take care of the dishes that night. Without another word Ginga went to get ready for bed.
As he was puting the last plate away, Ryo thought to himself that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to announce his relationship with Hikaru to his son. Ginga's words were encouraging and he knew Hikaru wanted anything but a secret relationship. But nothing could have prepared him for what was going to be discovered that night. Nothing in the world.
He was just checking on Ginga, that's all. He was sleeping so peacefully and Ryo just wanted to spend a few more moments with his son, but then a pice of luscious paper clutched in Ginga's hand caught his attention.
He knew shouldn't have looked, but maybe it would have been much better for everyone if he had done so a long, long time ago. Ryo easily retrieved it from Ginga's fngers and stared in shook at the picture – he realised.
It had been made a few years ago and it featured Ginga and Hikaru. It must have been from one of their group outings, Ryo mussed silently. Hikaru was leaning against a table and Ginga was standing beside her, one arm around her shoulders and making a peace sign. His eyes were closed and his grin was wider than ever, teeth almost shining from the camera's flash. Hikaru, however, had a small smile on her lips and she was watching the redhead with curiosity and amusement as she raised her hand behind his head in the 'bunny ears' style.
Ryo felt like his heart had been pierced by an arrow when he realised that beside most of his locks, Ginga had inherited his taste in women too.
Ginga liked Hikaru too. But Hikaru was with him.
Oh, he should have known. All the frequent visits Ginga made to HQ were not only for him but for his assistant too.
He didn't know what it was that he felt in that moment. Mixed emotions. Too many of them.
Jealousy? No, what in the world would he be jealous of? That he was going to break his son's heart by dating his crush? That he was living what was supposed to be Ginga's love life?
Ryo saw it then: he took Ginga's place and stole Hikaru away. Like that evening. Hikaru could've spent the time with her friends, but she had to distance herself from them (from Ginga) to be with him instead. If she were to ever tell someone that she wanted to spend some time with her employer, most would say something along the lines of why would you need to, don't you see each other almost every day at work or you need a raise or something. It was unacceptable.
What a terrible mess. What was he going to do now? How could they all cope with it? All kinds of questions were running through Ryo's mind when he realised just how young Hikaru was and how much better it would be for her to be with someone her age. He couldn't be the one to take her life away, her youth. He had done enough already; a sin that was unforgivable. He got a small taste and had wanted more.
And Hikaru complied right away.
She had trusted him with her everything because he was older, more experienced – he couldn't hurt her without wanting to. He could make her feel all sorts of different emotions and sick pleasures like nobody else could. It was all she had ever wanted. As a strong woman she would expect nothing less from the man at her side. And that was exactly what she got.
Hikaru loved the way kissing him felt like; the way it felt to run her hands down his shaved cheeks and how strong his jaw felt under her fingertips or how whenever their kiss was deepened, his chin would brush against hers and she'd feel the facial hair there – her toes curling at how rough and good it felt at the same time. It felt so real. So strong. So masculine. So virile.
It was perfect so she didn't feel like something was wrong when her phone rang at one in the morning. Usually, she'd just send anyone who dared wake her up at that hour to the darkest places ever, but hearing the ring tone she had set only for Ryo, Hikaru stumbled out of bed and over her own two feet to respond.
"Hello?" She did her best to sound as if she hadn't been sleeping seconds before and suppressed the yawn that was fighting its way out of her mouth.
"Were you sleeping, Hikaru?" As soon as he asked that, Ryo felt like he had said the stupidest thing ever. Why in the world would she be up anyway?
Hikaru laughed. "Was that a rhetorical question, Ryo?" The sarcasm was clear in her voice.
"Good. I'll be there in five." With no other word, he hung up.
Her amethyst eyes widened. He was coming over, and so fast? Hikaru looked around to see what could she 'tidy up' in a such short period of time. She had decided on straightening her bed covers and barely had any time left to brush her teeth and hair or to wash her face off of sleep.
The bell rang in her small apartment.
Not that Ryo's nerves weren't already down, but when he saw the young woman open the door, dressed in only a pale blue tank top and a pair of boy shorts the only thought that crossed his mind was that it might have been much better if he had waited and talked with Hikaru the day after. And to think that he had called her impatient just a few hours before.
He brushed past her and turned, just in time to see her locking the front door. "I'm sorry for waking you up, but we need to talk."
The girl didn't seem fazed by his words as she raised a single blue eyebrow. Ryo looked more troubled than ever, not knowing what to say now that they were face to face. She walked over to him and gripped his broad shoulders, fingers sliding then down the muscles of his arms. "You're so tense."
He was watching her with calculated eyes, hers staring back up at him. Since her head barely passed his shoulders, Hikaru had to tilt her head back to cath the man's intense gaze. She smiled. "I know what would help you: a massage or even better," she departed from him and made her way to a small cabinet in the room. "A hot and relaxing bath."
She began searching for something inside the cabinet while still talking. "It'll be even better with those new bath salts I bought a few days ago. I never had the chance to try them, but you can tell me if they're any good."
Her tone was warm and Ryo couldn't help smiling – a sad smile unfortunately – at how attentive and thoughtful she was. Such a great assistant she was. He almost thought of dropping his intentions and letting her do as she pleased. Almost.
"Hikaru." He tried stopping her, but the name fell to deaf ears.
"And then you can tell me what's bothering you." She pulled out a multicolored cardboard box and closed the cabinet. "I tell you, now that my neighbor stopped playing the drums at night, everything is enjoyable again."
"Hikaru!" This time she stopped talking and turned around to face him. His dark auburn eyes were burning into hers. "We must stop this at once."
The box fell out of her hands.
"W-what?" She couldn't believe her own ears. What?
"All this has been a big mistake in the first place. I shouldn't have given in to the temptation." He was frowning at her, an ureable expression darkening his features.
Hikaru gulped and felt her any warm feeling in her belly disappear. "You've got to be kidding me. This again and after we've just talked about it earlier? I thought that we were over it."
When his expression didn't change, she tried again. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden? What's wrong?"
"This will never work out the way we it want to." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Have you ever thought about what's going to happen in the future? About what would have to change if we kept doing this?"
She opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out. She then closed it and mentally hit herself for not being able to come up with a good counter attack.
"I have a family, Hikaru. Ginga is my family and I don't want to lose him." He stopped and wondered if mentioning his son was a good idea in the first place.
"No, I don't want it to end like this," Hikaru cried out as her hands balled at her sides. Her eyes were showing so much pain it hurt to look into them, but Ryo managed to do so without blinking. "And what does Ginga have to do with all of this? How can you lose him because of me?"
Ryo furrowed his eyebrows and tried his best to keep his emotion in line. He was after all dealing with a young girl. A girl that had no idea how hard life could be or how much ore it had in store for her.
"Just," her words were shaking in time with her legs, "Just calm down and take one more night to think it over because I can see that you don't want to do this. And… and I don't want you to do this either."
At her words something in him snapped. Just one more night. Was that what she wanted? Was that what he wanted? All common sense left the man the moment she reached out for him, and everything else was a blur of movements, clothes and breathy sounds of intimacy, ending up in tangled legs and arms and mouths, all mingled and wandering.
After, his dread churned in his stomach.
Hikaru had fallen asleep right after she told him her usual words, but he was wide awake, refusing to let sleep win the fight.
"I love you, Ryo. Thank you." The words were filled with so much sincerity and appreciation. It was just as if she was thanking him for letting her show her love and compassion. Those words pained him because now he'd have to leave her for good. He had to make the best of the time they had left so he let his hazel eyes wander over her bedsheet-covered form. As usual she was sleeping on her side, facing him. Hikaru had told him it was best that way because in the morning she'd wake up to him – it had made his heart jump in his throat then and now, remembering that made it go in the opposite direction. It had been the truth when he'd told her he liked that too. It was the truth.
His eyes followed the gentle curve of her lips, the smooth surface of her cheeks, the dark and long lashes that fell over her closed eyes. He followed with his gaze everything to the curls of soft hair that framed her face. One rebel strand had fallen over her forehead, tickling her nose. His fingers were itching to cares her mocha skin and push that lock of beautiful, icy hair behind her ear. His hand was moving on its own accord and Ryo realised it only when his fingers were moments away from touching her. He could feel her warmth radiating of her skin and he wanted it so much, but he pulled his hand away.
He had promised himself that it was over. He had to do the first step out of the relationship whether he liked it or not.
He was sure to miss it – all of it. It had been beautiful and wonderful, but it had to stop.
Ryo spent a few more minutes in the silence of the night, thinking of all he'd lose after he left, and in the end exhaled, took his clothes, locked the front door of the apartment and left the spare key hidden under the mat at the entrance.
It was officially over.
A few hours later, Hikaru stirred awake, violet eyes fluttering open expecting to find the handsome man of her dreams grinning down at her, but instead she found an empty space. A cold, empty space. A pang of dread hit her full force.
Ryo had left her. For good this time.
As she was pulling herself together to start looking for her clothes, a note on the nightstand made her freeze and only after what seemed like decades her slender fingers wrapped around the paper, bringing it closer to her face.
A sob erupted from her throat.
Hikaru. My beautiful, dearest Hikaru.
I am so sorry it had to end this way. You mean a lot to me and I love you so much, but this is wrong. I've been so wrong to delude you with this. You are young and have all life forward. I am just an old single father that has a life full of mistakes behind of him. Don't make me say you're one of them because I really don't want to. You've been so stubborn last night that I saw this as the only way things could work out. We cannot be anything more than employer and employee now, I am sorry.
Maybe in another life, right, Hikaru?
-Ryo Hagane
No, it didn't have to end that way. It was too much for Hikaru to take. It just was.
Tears were flowing from her open eyes, making the writing on the paper unclear.
Another sob echoed in the room.
Her head hurt, her heart ached, her insides burned.
This time, a blood curling scream rang out her apartament's open windows.
She was screaming and crying and gasping for air at the same time. Why; why; why – it was like a mantra. Why couldn't he see that it wasn't helping anyone, that it only hurt them, that everything that they'd done was harmless? Why did he had to even say that he loved her, still? If he did, why did he break her heart?
Hikaru found herself wishing that he had told her it was all a lie, that she was used only for his benefit, that he never loved her – it would have been easier to forget him then, to wash his delicious scent off her clothes, her sheets, her everything and just forget about what happened. But no, he had to break her even more by saying sorry. So Hikaru screamed until her throat went sore, a part of her hoping that the one that caused her hurt would hear from the other side of the town and feel her pain too.
Neither of them knew how much the other suffered.
Ryo didn't know that in the end she was staring aimlessly at the ceiling. Hikaru didn't know that he was crying his own eyes out in front of a framed old photo he had hidden all this time, calloused fingers tugging at fiery locks of spiky hair. Neither did she know that he was whispering what have I done?… what have I done?… what have I done? again and again, on and on, never ending while the glass that covered and protected the picture of a young woman holding a bundle of red hair, smiling widely at the camera, was reflecting the moon's light.
It had been his decision after all. For a better life. For his only child. For Ginga. For Hikaru.
It was over and he shouldn't have been surprised by the message he got from one of the subalterns at the WBBA the next day. He should have expected that when he got inside the building, the woman working at the main desk would show him a paper sheet that contained the words document of resignation and Hikaru Hasama.
It was his Hikaru after all, 'was' being the key word in the equation.
A/N: There, Ryo x Hikaru with a tiny hint of unrequited Ginga x Hikaru. It had to be written, that's all I can say. By the way, has anyone caught any humor in the first half, because if not then I seriously am no good at it.
Any thoughts?
BlackCatNeko999
