Bouncing On the Wings of Song is a Hihara-centric drabble/one-shot collection. The rating will be T/PG-13 overall, but the ratings for individual chapters will vary and are posted accordingly. I plan on updating this at least once every two weeks, alternating with my other drabble collection. If anybody has any plot or pairing requests, then let me know! I'll write anything from het to yaoi to general crack involving the boys and video games (with a few exceptions).

Oh, and just as a warning, I like throwing curveballs. XD

Title: Red
Pairing: Hihara x Hino (How else would I start off this little collection? XD)
Rating: PG/PG-13
Words: 1115 (A bit longer than a drabble...oops!)
Summary: Hihara panics when he receives unexpected attention. What about him, exactly, does Kahoko find so fascinating?
A/N: I play the trumpet, and yes, your lips really do get that red just from playing. And nobody seems to believe me when I say that...

Red

As oblivious as he was when it came to dealing with the opposite sex, even Hihara noticed that for some reason Kahoko could not take her eyes off of him. Perhaps this situation would have inflated the fragile egos of other males he knew. However, it just made the green-haired senior embarrassed, and extremely confused. He was used to having packs of girls swarming around him and his best friend during lunch, but those girls never paid him the slightest amount of attention. He was certain that he was the center of attention this time, though, and Kahoko was not one of those ordinary, smitten fangirls. At least he didn't think she was, so why would she be staring so intently at him? Her eyes were misting over and everything.

"Kaho-chan?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Hihara-sempai!" The redhead jumped, snapping out of her dreamlike state and accidentally knocking her music stand with her bow. Sheets of music flew everywhere, and the stand fell to the ground with a sickening crash. "Crap! Sorry! I'm so clumsy!"

"It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it," Hihara replied casually, bending down to help her clean the mess. Their hands brushed and the boy's face colored slightly, but Kahoko was too busy collecting her music to notice. Hihara frowned, his brain as scattered as the sheets of paper on the floor. He was sure something was up because she had been completely fixated with him just moments before. But now was not the time to worry about it.

"I think that's the last of it. Thanks for the help, Hihara-sempai," she said, stuffing the unused music back into her folder. She placed the piece that the two of them had been practicing together back on her stand. "Now let's pick up where we left off!"

"Awww, the break's over already? My face still hurts from playing so much! You're mean, Kaho-chan!" Hihara whined, playfully pouting like a bratty child, but he raised his horn to his face anyway. For a moment, he thought he saw Hino's eyes linger on his face, but he slapped himself mentally. They had just been talking, so of course she would be looking at him! Why was he getting so worked up over such a small thing anyway?

"I'm still bad at this one part where the violins have the melody. I don't think you have to play much," Kahoko said.

"Just eighth notes. I can do it," Hihara replied cheerfully, grinning around the silver rim of his mouthpiece. Kahoko returned the grin and placed her violin under her chin. She began to play, her fingers stumbling on the difficult pattern of notes. Hearing her mistakes, the trumpet player kept his accompaniment steady so that she could get back on the beat.

"I played this perfectly in club today," Kahoko muttered once they reached the end of the section.

"I know what you mean," Hihara replied, stretching. His hand had worked its way through one of the metal loops so that the horn dangled around his shoulder like an oversized bracelet. "I hate having bad days. I want to play, but my lips don't, and I try to make a sound and it doesn't come out right, and I wonder if the problem is with the way I play or if my horn is broken. And sometimes I practice too much 

and my lips get all red and sore and I can't play anymore! Gah! Sorry, I'm talking too much again! Here, let me play the melody line for you. I have it later in the piece."

The redhead smiled appreciatively, and Hihara put his trumpet to his lips. He played the first few measures easily, but the higher notes were giving him a bit of trouble. On the final note of the section, his lips gave out and he made a loud noise reminiscent of a dying elephant.

"Gaaah, I lost it!" he groaned, lowering his horn. He smacked his forehead with the heel of his palm. "I can't play anymore. I don't know what's wrong with me today. Normally I don't get this tired so quickly! Don't play it like I did, Kaho-chan…Kaho-chan?" Hihara frowned. She was staring at him again. Was it because he messed up? No, because he played fine when she stared at him the last time. Something else had to be wrong, and he had to find out what before the anxiety boiling in him threatened to bubble over. "Kaho-chan!"

"Huh? Oh, I drifted off again! Sorry," she said squeakily. This time, her face was red as well, probably from embarrassment about being caught for the second time, Hihara supposed. But she had been looking at him quite intently. He froze. She couldn't have been thinking about him like that, right? Maybe she looked at Len for those reasons, but certainly not at her awkward, overbearing sempai. The thought alone was almost too much for the green-haired boy's frazzled brain to handle. Then it hit him, a reason so obvious that he was amazed that he didn't think of it sooner.

"Is there something on my face?"

Kahoko laughed, a strange glint in her eye. "I guess you could say that."

"I knew it! I knew I shouldn't have put that much ketchup on my hamburger at lunch! And Yunoki didn't say anything because he was messing with me again! GAH, I am SO stupid!" Hihara began to panic, and when he noticed that the redhead's face was only inches from his, his heart nearly stopped.

"You have something red right…" her voice trailed off briefly as she kissed him on the lips, "here. Maybe we shouldn't have practiced for so long because you were right. Your lips get really red when you're tired. I mean, you look like you've been going at it with someone for hours. If someone saw us walking out of the little practice room together, people could start to get ideas about us…"

Hihara just stood there dazed while Kahoko smiled and put her violin back in its case, as if nothing had happened. But something had definitely happened, he thought, putting his hand to his lips. Somewhere in his confused, sexually-oblivious mind, ideas that had previously been pushed aside began to resurface, and now that he knew what she had been thinking about him all along… His face turned as red as her hair. "Hey, Kaho-chan! Wait! Before you go…um…well…"

"Yes?" Kahoko replied with a smirk. The senior looked like he was going to pass out from the effort of stringing together a coherent sentence.

"If you can stay a little longer…I want to…my lips aren't THAT tired!"