Fandom: Viewfinder
Title: not the full extent.
Pairing: Yoh + Fei-Long
Rating: pg-13
Description: If Yoh passes his first assignment, he will be able to enter the group, but will Fei Long allow him to have the chance to?
Disclaimer – Viewfinder belongs to the gorgeous Yamane-sensei. not the full extent.
By Miyamoto Y.
"Damn it, where is that brat?!"
Of course, the ever-quiet Yoh was screaming this in his head as his face continued to look as unaffected as ever. His fists became tighter and tighter as his footsteps on the pavement became faster and faster. Looking left to right and right to left while moving forward, there were no alleyways that were left unseen by his firm glances.
He gulped and pulled on his collar as he ran up the hill near the shopping district of Central station. On the right hand side, the first booth had an old woman selling cheap merchandise like Fu-dogs and bead bracelets. Knowing who he was, pointed her chin up the hill as a couple of tourists looked at her goods. He nodded his head in humble thanks and ran even faster up the hill.
It was his first major assignment for the boss. It was his test of honor.
All he had to do was take care of that long-haired brat and then he would be fully admitted into the group. His loyalty would be proved and then his family could live a bit better than before.
That child was going to be his undoing.
It didn't matter that they were only 2 or 3 years apart in age. Thinking of that only made him more annoyed.
When he got to the first major street, in the corner of his eye, he saw a long braid flowing so he turned left and ran to the next street, seeing the child up the hill. He didn't shout but the child peeked behind him and opened his eyes a little wide, running quicker than before.
However, there was a car passing so the child had to stop and just as his right foot was off the ground, Yoh caught him by the waist and held him with one arm against his body. The child kicked and screamed while the tail of his hair touched the sidewalk cement. "Yoh! Put me down! Put me down now!"
Sighing, Yoh stopped walking and looked down at the red-cheeked child. He blinked at him indifferently.
"I must bring you back to your father."
"You know, the others always shout or give me a Look when they catch me, but you never say anything. Your face doesn't even change. You're like a robot, Yoh! Yeah, you heard me. A robot!" The little charge pouted and averted his head away.
"But I heard from the others that you are not as wild with them as you are with me." Unfazed, Yoh started walking again and stared straight down the hill, passing by the old woman to thank her once more. Other people who knew them just held their breath and kept their eyes away, pretending there was nothing unusual in seeing their silk shirts, a fascination for the tourists but unusual for the locals.
The child's facial expression softened as he caught his eyes looking up at Yoh. He was sweating so much from running that Yoh put him down only after promising he wouldn't run away. At the bottom of the hill, he took out a handkerchief and leaned forward to pat the child's face clean.
The child stubbornly pointed his eyes to his left side and on the tar road before them. "You're no fun, Yoh."
Wiping his cheeks, he gazed straight into the boy's deep eyes. "This isn't supposed to be fun, Fei Long-sama."
Then, he proceeded to dust off his clothes and straightened Fei Long's collar.
Turning around, they proceeded to walk home only after Fei Long pinched Yoh's black sleeve in between his fingers. He was too proud to say thank you.
Without knowing, Yoh smiled and walked calmly ahead of him.
"Your father said that I should accompany you to wherever you want today, but we must be back before sunset. You never go out so he said he would allow it today."
Fei Long didn't know what to say to that. He could only imagine what his older brother would think because he always got picked on for being Father's favorite.
It was strange to be asked what he wanted. He was always given from place to place, told what to do. To have the power of choice and outside of his house was a freedom he never thought of.
It was almost like a dream. Things started to feel a little unreal.
Yoh turned around waiting for his answer, but Fei Long still held onto his sleeve, unable to say anything.
"Is there any place you've always wanted to go to?"
The kindness in Yoh's voice was suffocating him. He kept opening and closing his mouth with his mind going in all different, confused directions and no words to show for it.
"What's wrong?" Becoming worried, Yoh patted the top of his head uncertainly. It was something he was used to doing for his younger siblings, but to the son of his boss?
"I don't know anything outside of our house."
Fei Long realized that he knew absolutely nothing about Hong Kong because he was always kept indoors. There were those occasional "field trips" with his father, but because he didn't go to a regular school and only talked to people inside of his clan, he knew nothing.
The map of the subway was different from the gang boundaries.
This was the first thing he noticed when they both went into Central Station and carefully dissected the map according to their own personal ones. Yoh was buying tickets next to him while Fei Long touched the paper map with his fingers, pushing on the familiar names, reading the Chinese and wondering about the English.
They sat next to one another as they waited for San Wan Ho Station. Fei Long continued to pinch Yoh's sleeve as their eyes wandered around the subway car. There was a girl with a vinyl bag full of white and red hearts and up at the sign that said to beware of pickpockets.
Always being in a car, it felt strange that they were in a public area and treated normally.
Yoh looked at Fei Long's reflection thinking, "Soon, he will never touch this. He will never go inside this ever again."
He recalled his boss's instructions…
Fei Long's father took out a cigarette and looked out the window of his office and out to the street. Without turning his back, he said, "Take out the child to see the world. Soon, he won't ever get to touch those normal things and will forever live in this darkness. He knows now, but not the full extent."
There was sorrow in his boss's voice and because he respected him so much, it made the impact even heavier on him.
He knew exactly what he was protecting: He was assigned with his boss's life. Fei Long's father made it clear to him that that was so.
When they got out, he walked next to Fei Long and quietly strolled on for ten minutes without a word. They went towards white railings that looked out onto the sea with boats going by. There was no beach coast, just an area full of apartments and boats by the ocean.
They sat on a bench and watched the clouds go by.
The water waved back and forth. Fei Long soon got up and leaned over the edge, reaching out to the water in vain. "I want to touch it. I've smelled it, but I've never seen the ocean before!"
"It's too far to lower you down."
"It's pretty." Fei Long looked back at Yoh and smiled.
Yoh just nodded his head, not affirming what his little boss said.
He had never seen Fei Long smile ever since he came to that house.
In fact, he had mistaken him for a girl when he first came. It was a terrible misunderstanding that made everyone laugh at his expense, but it also made him the best candidate to take care of Fei Long. He was the only one that Fei Long ever listened to besides his father.
Even more than his older brother.
Yoh turned away in shame at that thought of thinking his charge was beautiful. It was something he always denied and hated himself for.
Just like his father, he always feared the day Fei Long would lose his innocence completely. That's why today had to be per-
SPLASH!
Fei Long had tumbled off the railing and without thinking, in a split-second, Yoh was right behind him. He jumped in and caught Fei Long with both of his arms. Then, he brought them back to the shore once he found a dock where some of the boats were. It was some meters from where they originally were.
Heaving tiredly, Yoh placed Fei Long to the wooden dock. He held onto to his shoulders and shook him. "What the hell were you doing?! Did you want to kill yourself?!"
Quivering violently, Fei Long coughed and coughed, shaking his head back and forth.
"I'm sorry. *cough cough* I wanted *cough* to touch it. *cough cough*"
At that moment, he hugged Fei Long. "Fei Long-sama…"
Yoh was not a person who said many words but he wasn't one to lie either.
He couldn't finish his sentence: "If anything happened, I…
I would have…
Fei Long looked at the ground as they walked towards the station.
"I've failed my mission," he thought to himself as he walked with Fei Long to the nearest telephone booth since his cel submerged into the ocean.
Soon, a car came to where they were and took them away.
The driver said nothing as they entered the car and there were two dark purple towels in the backseat. When they both sat down, Yoh unbuttoned Fei Long's shirt and wrapped him with one towel in a way that almost looked like he was hugging him again. With the other one, he started to dry Fei Long's hair.
Fei Long looked at him curiously and asked, "Aren't you going to use the other one?"
Yoh shook his head. "I don't matter."
Warmly, Yoh rubbed the top of Fei Long's head, around his ears, and down the tips of his tangled hair. Fei Long stared at him in astonishment as Yoh avoided looking into Fei Long's eyes, making sure that his charge would be dry by the time they came home.
As they got home, Fei Long was taken to the bath to change his clothes and Yoh waited in the hallway for his boss to call him into his room. He looked at the carpeted floor and made out the pattern with his eyes, finally closing them in submission.
How would he support his entire family when they kicked him out for almost killing the possible next heir? He opened his eyes again.
As always, his face conveyed nothing of his inner distress.
The door opened. "You can come in now."
The servant left and he was standing by the doorway with the boss sitting at his leather seat, staring down at him. He gave him a hard look.
No excuses, no tears, no room for mistakes…
This was the policy of their clan and to break them meant instant dismissal (in every sense of it).
Yoh's heart completely stopped as he saw his 'future' completely evaporate with the boss's silence.
"From here on, until you die, you are always to be at Fei Long's side. You are never to let him out of your sight unless otherwise instructed to do so. Do you understand these terms?"
Yoh put his hands over one another and felt a shiver down his body as the water seeped more and more into his clothes and onto his skin.
He bowed his head.
The boss got up and looked out the window, but this time, it was out to the courtyard. There was nothing but the security light looking out into the garden.
Yoh's head rose up and followed his boss's eyes.
"Since I cannot be with my own son, I entrust him to you."
"Yes, Sir."
At that, the boss remained looking out the window. "You are dismissed."
When Yoh stepped out, he closed his eyes again, wanting to cry and was grateful to whatever was looking out for him. The Kwan Yin necklace his mother gave him stuck to his collarbone and he went to his room to change.
Later that night, he was summoned to Fei Long's room. Fei Long sat on one side of his bed and Yoh stood at the doorway.
"Close the door," Fei Long ordered.
Yoh did as he was told and took a step forward, watching Fei Long in his nightwear and was more amazed at how beautiful he looked with his hair unraveled.
Fei Long's eyes looked straight into Yoh's. "Thank you for today."
Losing his resolve, he blushed and looked away.
Yoh looked down and shook his head. Because he had his head down, Fei Long glanced back to find Yoh smiling. He leaned back in surprise.
When Yoh looked up again, he found Fei Long grinning again for the second time that day.
Then, he bowed to excuse himself, but Fei Long stopped him. "Wait."
Fei Long got off the bed and told Yoh to lean forward. Wrapping a blue and white diagonally-striped tie over his neck, he said, "I hope this will be of some use to you from now on."
Yoh recognized it from the old lady's shop that morning and couldn't help smiling more. "Thank you, Fei Long-sama."
Fei Long looked up to him and kept his hands on the tie a little bit longer before putting his hands on Yoh's shoulders, pushing them so that he could whisper in his ear without anyone else hearing, "I've always trusted you."
"Thank you for always being kind to me." Then, he let go and the heat of his hands disappeared and Yoh yearned for them to stay for just a second longer.
He bowed and left the room. Author's notes:
Sitting in the chair beside the door, Yoh knew he wouldn't sleep at all that night and Fei Long touched his hand to the light yellow wall where the chair leaned upon.
Owari.
It was an idea I had in my head for about two years already but only today did I feel it had to come into existence. I always had this image that Fei was a brat when he was little and that Yoh was the type to hold back even when he was a teenager. I thought that that if I put them between the ages of 9 and 13 that it would be very interesting.
Thank you for always reading and supporting me.
Love always,
Yui
12/25/2010 4:19:48 AM
