TAISETSUNA MONO
(A Precious Thing)
Summary: Ritsu was feeling betrayed, and she's taking the word 'trespassing' on a whole new level.
Disclaimer: I dont get it, if K-On! was mine, I'd make it all about Mitsu. So does it belongs to me then? HELL NO!
The wind blew hard during one late summer night. All was silent around the neighborhood, most people left their house earlier for a summer festival down on the shrine by the river. The loud clacking of the geta echoed loudly as people wrapped snuggly in their yukata walked by, their laughter drowned all sounds on their surroundings.
It was right here, and now, did she begin to move.
As silent as a mouse, and as agile like a cat, she began to scurry by the bushes, keeping her body bent low to avoid being seen. Every time the bush shook and people's head were turned, she laid flat at the ground and as still as a statue until they moved again.
A sneaky grin appeared on the handsome face, slightly proud that her stealth-mode was unbeatable.
Her eyes moved up and focused on her destination.
She had done this before. No need to worry.
Putting one foot on a low branch of the tree nearest to the window, she heaved herself up, and looked for a footing for her left foot. On and on she climbed, until she reached a place high enough to jump onto the designated second story's balcony.
There was one business she had to finish today.
It was now or never.
She jumped. Her hands expertly caught the handrails of the balcony and her feet pushed up against the wall like a spring as she vaulted over the handrails and landed softly in a crouch on the balcony.
A satisfied smirk and she stood up, brushing her jeans. Her watched beeped as it showed the time; 11 pm at night, half an hour earlier than expected time.
'Well, that was eas-'
"Ritsu."
'Ooooh shiiit.'
Scared amber eyes found themselves staring at a pair of flowery blue flip flops before travelling up and saw a very familiar figure with a beautiful long raven hair and-
Gulp.
A slightly irritated pair of obsidian eyes. Well, more than irritated.
It looked like she's ready to maul somebody.
Akiyama Mio tapped her foot impatiently as she stared down her best friend, arms crossed in front of her chest as she stood outside her bedroom balcony, looking none too pleased to found her best friend trying to sneak in her room burglar-style.
The brunette mentally face-palmed 'I am so screwed.'
~888~
It started 2 weeks ago.
For the first time in a while, Ritsu overslept and Mio went ahead to school without waking her. The bassist usually pokes and prods the brunette awake and grumbled at her for their tardiness as they both rushed to school. But Mio never left Ritsu behind and this was the first sign of more to come.
The brunette also woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day; her mood was the worst she had in a while.
When she finally reached class 8 minutes before homeroom started, she found her childhood best friend (traitor!) huddling with the rest of her band members (along with Azusa) over at Yui's chair, way in the back, not noticing her entrance at all. Since the intense discussion looked interesting, and she loves interesting stuff, the proud drummer sauntered over to them with a large grin all the while ready to ignore her best friend in mock anger.
The response she received however was not something she expected.
Yui screeched 'Ricchan!' so loudly Mugi literally fall off her chair, Azusa's elbow slipped on the table and the girl banged her head and Mio quickly putting her arms on top of something, as though covering it from sight. It was as though they didn't want her there.
Even though she knew it might not be something important, it still hurt her all the while.
Sawa-chan came in then, Azusa left with a hurried bow at the teacher and the other girls left Yui's seat with awkward laughs as they left for their seat. The slightly hurt Ritsu missed the sight of Mio folding piece of paper in two as she walked by her and pocketing it.
The following days had the same pattern. The girls would huddle together and when the drummer comes by they'd all scatter like a blown dandelion. Ritsu had caught them like this oh-so-many times she'd grown so sick of it and whenever she saw them in 'secret-mode' she'd immediately went back to whatever she was doing and ignore them for the whole day.
That was the plan. Yui kept ruining it by being so friendly and it's hard to not join in her infectious happiness.
One thing Ritsu realized was that Mio never walk home with her anymore. Unlike the usual times when they part by the intersection, the bassist had gone along with Mugi, Yui and Azusa to cross the street than walk with Ritsu home.
Mio said she had to get something left at Yui's house and when Ritsu said she'd walk her there, the raven haired girl panicked and insists that Ritsu go home. And they left in a hurry, leaving Ritsu behind to stare at their retreating backs with jumbled emotion.
Was she not wanted anymore?
The drummer had half a mind to stalk her friends, but she felt a bit hurt of their treatment to her from the last few days and stalked home with a bad mood in the end. She kept her phone in silent mode and diverted all calls from her friends in retaliation.
It's childish and she knows it. But she couldn't help herself.
Ritsu then tried to make things easy for her friends. They didn't want her there right? With that in mind, she spent her lunchtime by the roof, munching on the bread she bought from the cafeteria with unnecessary force and glaring at the sky as she sulked. Every club time, she'd plug in her earphone, set the iPod in almost-maximum volume, tilted her chair back on its hind legs and ignore the conversation around her. The earphone was taken off during practice, and even then she tried to limit her interactions to the others.
It was not hard for the other band members to notice this, and that includes Sawa-chan.
Mugi tried to bribe her with cakes to get her talking again. Nice try but she's not taking anymore cakes from her; Ritsu knows she gained weight from that last chocolate cake Mugi gave them.
Azusa tried to get Ritsu to play a duet with her on 'Who Are You' by The Who, that was one of Ritsu's favorite songs by the band. That worked for a while until the guitarist got a bit frustrated with Ritsu's rhythm and ended the session immediately.
Yui, being Yui, acted like nothing had happened and still dragged her partner-in-crime like usual. Ritsu appreciates this, at least someone like her for being there.
To her surprise, however, Mio made no attempt to be in her good books. The bassist evades her even more than necessary to the point Ritsu was nearly going crazy and would either scream at her or threaten the girl with a horror movie to get her to talk about what the fuck was going on.
The drummer chose the latter. It sticks with her badass-drummer image.
Ritsu was hurt and she had her pride, but she would readily get rid of that pride of hers and crawled through bushes, climbed trees and trespass someone's house in the middle of the night to make peace of whatever it was between her and Mio.
Yes, she loved Mio that much.
Oops.
Anyway, that was how she ended up in this predicament in the first place.
Her 'Sneak-in-Mio's-bedroom-at night-and-make-scary-noises-at-her-and-threaten-her-with-horror-movies-until-she-talks' plan failed miserably the moment she saw her best friend waiting by the balcony door.
~888~
The room was tense, as its two inhabitants stared at each other with burning glares.
Well, one of them, actually. The other was busy shifting her eyes around, trying not to look guilty of being caught red-handed climbing up someone's balcony in the middle of the night.
"Ritsu." Mio sounded so, so angry and Ritsu hated the fact that she was in the line of fire like always. If only she didn't found her out! Damn her luck!
"What in the world were you doing?"
The drummer leaned on one arm nonchalantly against the side of her friend's bed, one hand rubbing her swelling head courtesy of the long haired bassist.
"I was coming over for a visit."
"In the middle of the night?" Mio asked incredulously, trying hard not to bang the table "and you even climbed up my house! Why can't you visit by the front door like normal people?"
At this Ritsu pouted and looked away "but if I do that, you might ignore me again. Like what you've been doing to me lately." It was subtle, but the hurt was there. Mio knows her friend like the back of her hand, after all.
The obsidian eyes softened at her friend's words, and the once antagonistic tension was replaced by an awkward pause.
"Did I do anything to make you hate me that much?"
"No!" the reply was instant and frantic. The drummer turned to find her companion's face blanched white in fear in the matter of seconds "no! No! No! Of course not! You didn't- I don't hate-"
A light blush crept on the bassist's face as she struggled to explain. Mio wasn't really one to speak her mind, but she had to do something to get rid of that sad expression on Ritsu's face.
"Ritsu, I- actually, you see-" Mio twiddled her thumbs nervously, her eyes kept flicking to the wall as though trying hard to find an excuse "I-well, we- had to, um-"
But the brunette had enough. She was tired of being kept in the dark, and if Mio didn't really want to talk to her than much, then be it. With a dejected sigh, Ritsu stood up and prepared to scale the wall down and returned home.
Mio looked a bit desperate as she saw her best friend wore her jacket and slung her bag over her shoulder. Should it end like this?
She'd felt guilty enough of hiding it over the past two weeks, she didn't want to hurt Ritsu anymore!
Breaking the awkward silent was Ritsu's watch, beeping loudly to inform them the time which was '12.00 am'.
Mio reacted instantly.
Stretching her left hand out, she caught Ritsu by the wrist before the drummer had the chance to slide open the balcony door. With one great tug, she yanked the brunette towards her and the two of them fell in a heap on the carpeted floor.
Ritsu was greeted by a pair of expressive obsidian eyes swirled with a jumble of emotion and a light blush on its owner's face as she tried not to squash her best friend on the ground.
The drummer was in a very compromising position, lying on top of her attractive best friend in the dead of the night and of all the things Ritsu could say was "you have beautiful eyes, you know that?"
That seems to set off something in Mio, because right after she said that, the usually shy bassist pulled her best friend down by her collar and crushed their lips together in a searing kiss. One that the brunette did not expect at all.
Ritsu was frozen stock still at first, but at the other's gentle urging, began to reciprocate as best as she could until they both had to break apart and took a breathing. Her eyes took in the sight of a very flushed bassist who looked like she want to do nothing but to dig a ground and buried herself under in embarrassment.
The drummer could not help but to let out a smile "what was that for?"
Obsidian eyes moved up to meet hers and Ritsu can see them smiling affectionately at her.
"Happy Birthday, Ritsu." Mio said breathlessly.
And Ritsu went still.
Mio saw hurt flashed across those amber eyes she'd grown to love so much and a hand reached up to cup the drummer's cheek "what's wrong?"
"I thought you'd forgotten"
The raven haired girl looked surprised at the answer and felt her heart stung a little. Her behavior really did hurt Ritsu a lot.
"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry," her hand shook on Ritsu's cheek "I know I wasn't the best friend, these last weeks, but you know that I wouldn't forget your birthday."
"Then why…?"
Hands pushed against the drummer's shoulders to get her up and make space for Mio to sit up. With a soft 'wait here' at Ritsu, she walked over to her closet, and began rummaging for something that was obscured from view. Moments later, the bassist emerged victorious and walked over the staring brunette with a long wrapped package which she handed to over with a smile.
Blinking rapidly, Ritsu took the present with a' soft thanks' and immediately began ripping the wrapping paper apart at which Mio only rolled her eyes. A gasp was heard and the bassist knew she'd made the right choice.
It was a still plastic-covered, brand new, album of The Who that Ritsu had been dying to get her hands on for years. The album was the band's 8th studio album, the last album with Keith Moon as the drummer before his death 3 weeks after the album's released. You won't be recognized as a Keith Moon fan if you didn't have this album in your possession.
Mouth gaping like a goldfish out of her bowl, Ritsu turned to Mio with an expression between shock, confusion and gratitude that looked so hilarious the latter had to hold in her laughter. Mio knew she had to explain sooner or later.
"Remember when I started avoiding you 2 weeks ago?" a slow nod "well it started the day before. Azusa was asking about our birthdays and I remembered that yours was coming up. The others started asking what I'd get you…. and then, I remembered that you wanted that album…so…" the bassist trailed off with a deep blush when she realized Ritsu was holding her hand the whole time she was talking.
"b-but, this was- it's old- this must've cost a fortune!"
"I had to work 2 part time jobs for that one," Mio said sheepishly "that's why I didn't walk home with you much," seeing the brunette about to open her mouth, she interjected quickly "but don't worry. It was all worth it."
It really was. Working 2 jobs every day during those two weeks was worth it to see the radiant smile that light up the drummer face she was seeing right at this moment.
All went down the drain however when a sinister smile took place on the brunette's face.
"Worth…what?"
Ritsu's hand trailed up Mio's thigh painstakingly slow that Mio could feel her breath hitched in anticipation. And to the bassist's dismay, she was currently wearing a very short shorts that left much skin uncovered. The brunette's fingers left goose bumps on her skin as it went higher, teasing every inch they touched.
"My expression at seeing the gift…" Mio felt herself was pushed down against the floor and could watch helplessly as the drummer climbed on top of her with eyes gleaming with mischief "or…that heated kiss you gave me?"
The raven haired girl's face exploded in color, and it was not helping that Ritsu left her hand near a certain place she'd rather not mention. The pressure was too much, and she fidgeted as Mio waited for the laughter that was sure to come…she blinked when there was none.
The bassist had to gasp however when Ritsu wrapped her arms around her and hugged her like there's no tomorrow.
"Thank you."
It was a heartfelt word, spoken directly from the heart. There were too many things Ritsu wanted to say, but it's a lot of hassle to babble them out and she wasn't exactly in the right mind for talking. The drummer was so overwhelmed with everything that had happened tonight, she was afraid she'd break down and cry the moment she opened her mouth.
Right at this moment, she felt multitude of gratitude towards Mio washed over her. To thank her for the awesome gift, to thank her for being so caring towards her, and to thank her for staying by her side throughout the years.
As three words that escaped her lips reached Mio's ears and she begin to feel her shoulder soaked with warm wetness, Ritsu thanked Mio one last time before hearing those same words echoed back to her.
'I thank you…for letting me fall in love with you…and for you loving me back in return.'
A/N: Firstly, the title was something random I come up with on the get go while listening to Ayumi Hamasaki.
Secondly, this fic was buried under heaps of college papers in my pc and would be long forgotten if I didn't see Ryuamakusa4eva's birthday fic for Ricchan. I don't know if you're reading this or not, but thanks for reminding me Ryuamakusa4eva!
So enjoy, review and share the love that is K-On, everyone. Have a nice weekend!