Summary: Shioiri centric. When Shioiri gets too jealous, he decides to spy on Ritsuka to find out just why Yuiko would want Ritsuka rather than him.
Ok, I haven't really written Loveless before, and so this isn't one of my older plot bunnies. In fact, it just came to me this morning on the school bus. And I do mean this morning. About 7:00 in the morning. On a school day. When my brain was mostly dead. I'm not quite sure of the how or why, but I do know that I just had to write it. So here it is. Hopefully it doesn't suck as much as logic says it should. Than again, logic is highly over rated. I would like to take this time to thank NinjaSquirls and Jane Austen Girl, as they both edited this for me. They are indeed wonderful people. And please please please leave us a review at the end! Please?
Disclaimer: I do not own Yayoi Shioiri, Ritsuka, Seimei, Ritsuka's mom, Yuiko, or anyone else that randomly comes up. Heck, I don't even own my own muse. She owns me and frequently reminds me of such when I ask her to do something. –sigh- where was I going with this? No, I don't know either. On to the story!
Unremarkable
'What's so great about him anyway?' Shioiri thought, as he followed several feet behind Ritsuka after school. He had considered mumbling, but quickly decided that was inappropriate behavior for a stalker. The stalkee might notice something! That would defeat the whole purpose of stalking, which was, on the whole, to follow the stalkee unnoticed. 'He hardly ever says anything, and it's obvious he doesn't like her the same way she likes him. He really doesn't pay enough attention to her. Doesn't he realize how lucky he is?' Shioiri was cut off from his thoughts as he noticed Ritsuka start to turn around. Ducking behind the nearest tree, Shioiri waited for his stalkee to start walking again, and proceeded to stalk his class mate until they came to a large white house, indistinguishable from the rest if not for the large tree growing in the front lawn that reached up and over the wall in front of the house. Shioiri quickly slid in the gate after Ritsuka, making sure to re-close it just as his predecessor had.
Oh yes, he was sneaky. He'd had practice. After all, more than once he had followed Yuiko home after school because… MIND ON TASK! He quickly reprimanded himself and hid under a window where he would have a good vantage point of the living room.
The first thing he saw was Ritsuka taking off his shoes by the door and dropping his backpack in front of the couch.
The second thing he saw was Ritsuka opening the doors to a memorial shrine. He quickly surmised that the shrine was intended for Ritsuka's brother, who had passed away two years ago. He had heard the rumors about it. Most gruesome. So Yuiko went for guys with troubled pasts? He could pull that off. His pet turtle had died only a few days before. He had liked that turtle!
He brought his attention back to the scene in front of him as a woman in a white apron walked into the room carrying a glass vase of blue irises. He had just comprehended that the woman must be Ritsuka's mother before he heard her scream something indiscernible and throw the vase at Ritsuka. His classmate shielded his eyes from the falling glass, but otherwise did nothing to stop it. Shioiri was shocked to see that not only did Ritsuka not try to defend himself or get away, he seemed completely unfazed by the sudden attack, like he was accustomed to this treatment.
Now Shioiri could hear the woman's voice through the glass.
"What are you doing there? You have no right to open that shrine! It's for family members!"
Now he was confused. Wasn't this Ritsuka's house?
"You're not my Ritsuka! You're the Ritsuka that made Seimei leave! Your fault he's dead! You're not my son!"
These words made Ritsuka flinch visibly, in a way the shattered glass had not. In a way that the blood that was now dripping from cuts on his arms and face did not. Was this the reason why Ritsuka was late to school so much? Was this why he reacted so strongly when the other kids teased Yuiko? And why his mother never came to the parent conference?
Shioiri just sat outside the window in a state of shock; any further words spoken were unheard by his ears.
He had been wrong about Ritsuka.
The whole time he had known Ritsuka he had never bothered to really get to know him, seeing him only as a rival.
But now he saw how strong Ritsuka really was, in a way that had no comparison to physical strength, and he couldn't help but admire him.
He watched blindly as Ritsuka's mother left in a fit of tears; saw nothing when Ritsuka slowly stood up and brushed glass fragments off himself and out of his hair and closed the shrine after saying one last short prayer to his deceased brother. He came back to life only after Ritsuka had left and he could feel rain starting to slowly fall on his shoulders. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and stood up to leave again without a word, completely forgetting to shut the black iron gate behind him as he exited the unremarkable yard into the street. He would have never imagined such a stark contrast to his life waited in the house he had just walked away from.
It was then that he silently promised himself to try seeing Ritsuka as a respected friend, rather than a rival for the heart of his beloved. He would never judge someone like that again.
Fin