Title: Falling From
Rating: PG-13
Universe: Air Gear
Theme/Topic: Grace
Character/Pairing/s: SanoxKazu
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers through episode 20 of the anime.
Word Count: 1,900
Time: 1:37 (no edits)
Summary: Falling and flying aren't so far removed from one another.
Dedication: kshi because this is still your fault. FOREVER. And Crysan, who requested this on the other lj.
A/N: Probably another request whose prompt I'm skirting—this isn't really about "grace" I guess. Well, to be fair, the prompt was longer and more involved than that, but I'm a fan of short prompts because they're more open-ended. So I shortened it. Aheh. And then I guess kind of ignored it. OH WELL I TRIED. Also, this makes no sense. NONE. But then again, I'm very slightly feverish.
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

He'd never considered delinquency an art form before, had in fact, experienced it firsthand long ago as a part of his own personality, a part from which he'd later felt the need to wean himself from as quickly and efficiently as possible, to flush every last trace of from his blood.

At the time, it was an undesirable state of existence to him.

As such he spent a good long while calming his volatile temper—cooling his jets, so to speak—so that he wouldn't behave like that anymore, so that he wasn't just another no-name punk who was loud and obnoxious and had no future beyond the trouble his own big mouth and angry fists got him into day by day.

Sano, after some time, taught himself some refinement, some temperance—some self-control. He in short, learned to become a rational, respectable human being.

It lasted for a reasonably long time, all things considered. Lasted precisely until the moment some skinny blond kid tried to keep up with him and almost—almost—did it. A kid who bled all over Sano in the process and even as he'd been defeated, grinned around his bloody lip and just as well told the older boy to fuck off, beaten or no.

That was the moment Yasuyoshi's hard won efforts at making himself respectable all went down the tube—he could remember the very second the spark had lit inside of him and everything was lost.

It had happened precisely at the moment when he slammed his fist into that remarkable kid's stunned face for the last time-- all the taller boy could remember was the sensation, the rush of joy, of victory, of simultaneous wonder and bafflement.

In short, it had felt like ignition.

And for Sano, the flame hadn't gone out since.

Distressing. Unacceptable. Intriguing.

Ultimately, thrilling.

And Sano didn't know if the fact that he felt this way all of a sudden was infuriating or something else altogether, but what he did know was that he'd suddenly fallen off the bandwagon that responsible, respectable young men were supposed to be on when they wanted to make good futures for themselves. Tossed right off before he knew what was happening to him.

And perhaps the worst part of it all was that it seemed like he was in no hurry to get back on that bandwagon anytime soon either.

Maybe because Mikura Kazuma had the rare ability to make everything Sano used to hate about himself seem oddly beautiful.

A loud voice, a determined sense of pride and a fierce, immutable temper, even in defeat. An unpolished edge and beyond that, something thoroughly incorruptible underneath it all.

Indomitable.

Yasuyoshi remembered the smile from that swollen, bloody lip and the "fuck off" that hung in the air between them afterwards, the kid's final blow even when Sano had been the one of the two left standing in the end. That moment was like a photograph in his head, one that he kept picking up over and over again to look at, to marvel at, to see something new in each time.

From that he learned that there was more than one way to win a battle, and when Kazu had shown him that, he'd done it like it was art.

After that, Sano—as the self-proclaimed loser of the match—couldn't help but wonder if the lesson he was meant to learn that day was the fact that some things were most lovely when left in their original state.

Unspoiled. Free. Ultimately undefeatable.

He wasn't sure yet of course, if he really felt that way. The results of that fight—of that day-- could have been a freak accident after all, data so extreme it had to be thrown out as an anomaly. He knew as a scientist that these things happened—that chance was more powerful a force than one might first imagine, no matter how otherwise orderly the universe seemed.

Either way, he had to know more to find out, to decide whether it was worth jumping back on the wagon after all or whether he should try to fly on his own again—unbridled, unchained, unhindered. He had to know if he could be like that again, like the eyes that had laughed at him from the ground that day, the ones that had taken back the battle despite everything and lit a fire beneath him that had yet to go out.

He had to know whether this desire he suddenly felt— definitely not the desire of a respectable, responsibly young man at all-- to chase after that infuriating little canary of his was because he wanted to crush the insolent brat in his hands for reminding him of who he used to be or whether it was because he wanted to try flying alongside that wild creature instead.

What was it about Kazu that was so intrinsically fascinating? What was it about that mere boy that Sano suddenly felt like he could throw away part of who he'd worked hard to become for the possibility of something else, something yet unnamed?

He didn't know.

But what he did know was that there was only one way to find out.

"The hell are you doing here?" Kazu growled indignantly, and approached Sano with irritated caution, eyes blazing with a quiet, wary fire and mouth set in an unreadable sort of line. Sano thought it was absolutely magnificent.

"I'm watching you," Sano responded truthfully, and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

The blond gave a bit of a start at that, eyes widening marginally, breath hitching in surprise. Not a single part of his reaction was shrouded or masked, nothing about it subdued. Pure. Honest.

Lovely.

"Tch. You're some sort of creepy pervert, aren't you?" Kazu sighed, and crossed his arms as he gazed up at the tall college student suspiciously. "You can't just stay here, you know."

Sano watched him for a moment longer. "I can't?"

"Don't you have school or something?"

Sano decided not to tell him that no one in college actually went to their classes. "Not today."

"Well, go hang out somewhere else. You can't stay here."

"Why not?"

Kazu huffed, like the answer should be obvious. "Geez, are you stupid or something?" he demanded, and pointed to the sign behind him. "Middle School. It's a middle school and you're hanging outside the gate like some weirdo hentai pervert! Ton-chan can't even form a sentence without imagining what sorts of dirty things you're planning to do to her when she has to exit the gate to get home later and she keeps trailing off in the middle of her damned sentences."

Sano blinked. "Ton-chan?"

"My teacher, okay? She's…well. Never mind. But you can't stay here. They'll call the police, you know. You're lucky she let me come out here to warn you first."

Not a shred of dishonesty there either—so straightforward. Sano told himself that it was that which he was appreciating, not the other boy's exasperated tone or the high color in his indignant cheeks. "This is a public street," he said, and knew he was just being obnoxious now. But he really did like hearing this little bird sing.

Kazu groaned. "Just what the hell are you doing here anyway? What have you been doing here?" he added, and gave the older boy a significant look that told him "yes, we've noticed you here yesterday too. And the day before that. And maybe the day before that."

Sano looked down intently at the shorter teen. "Research."

Kazu's nose wrinkled at that—rather cutely, if the older boy were forced to attach a descriptor to it. "What the heck kind of research could you possibly be doing at a middle sch…" Pause. "Oh. Damn."

Sano thought Kazuma-kun was rather really sharp for someone of his age too. The thought prompted the corners of his lips to turn upwards just fractionally in pleased amusement. Enough to make the blond take a step backwards, if anything. "You fascinate me," he revealed to Kazu, and adjusted his glasses one more time.

The reaction this time was red then, a faint rise of color just tinging the apples of pale, thin cheeks. "Oi… that's not funny," Kazu stated, and tried to look tough despite the color flushing his face. "Now get the hell out of here, will you? Or they really will call the cops."

Sano smirked. "Worried?"

Kazu scowled. "Irritated."

"Magnificent," Sano laughed.

"Eh?" Kazu blinked.

The older boy stood then, hopped lightly off the top of the school fence and landed in front of the confused blond- close, but not too close.

Kazu took another wary step backwards anyway. "I don't get what you're trying to do."

"I don't either," Sano admitted after a second of looking down at the younger boy. "Yet. I think I'm getting there."

The blond didn't bother to try and hide his annoyance. "Well now you just don't make any goddamned sense. And you're a pervert."

Sano shrugged noncommittally. "You made me fall," he explained, and knew he wasn't really helping in clearing things up any for his companion. "I want to see if you'll take responsibility, is all."

Kazu's brow furrowed, like he was trying to decipher what the other boy was telling him. When he couldn't figure it out, he responded with an instinctive, honest, and wholly intriguing, "fuck you. I don't owe you anything."

Sano's reaction was just another smile. "We'll see," he murmured (perhaps a bit suggestively) and turned to go. "Until tomorrow then, canary."

Kazu frowned and narrowed his eyes. "I ought to kick your ass," he threatened, though his voice was oddly dry when he spoke.

Sano really thought it was something quite inexplicably beautiful.

Without another word he casually jetted off from the front of the school gate then, chuckling to himself in pleased wonderment all the while. It really was marvelous—something fascinating and lovely for all its seeming lack of polish, for its crude exterior. A diamond in the rough, perhaps, or beauty with sharp edges.

"Amazing," Sano murmured as he moved, and felt the fire that Kazu had ignited in him during their cube battle blaze even brighter when he thought about the magnificently fearless glare he'd been gifted with just seconds ago.

Until that very moment he'd never known that anger could have such grace.

The discovery left him feeling oddly… free. He supposed he could conclude safely now, that he was in the process of falling irredeemably from the place he'd previously occupied, from the person he'd worked so hard to be for so long. Respectable. Rational. Responsible.

No longer.

He'd been knocked forcibly off that safe path and was falling now-- with a spark burning bright in his chest and his arms stretched out as far as they could go on either side of him.

And though it had been a little bit disconcerting at first (as falls often are), when he remembered that little bird's bleeding smile and its silent, indomitable "fuck you," Sano couldn't help but smile, couldn't help but try to spread the old wings he'd tried to cut from himself one last time.

Find a new wind.

And when he did, when the falling finally stopped, he had to admit-- it was really nice to be able to fly like this again.

END