Title: Flower Crowns
Summary: He was nothing but a normal person with a normal job and he liked it just fine. But all this changed when he met a smart adorable young boy with auburn eyes and his extremely good looking dad. Most of all, he certainly was not expecting the roller coaster of feelings and emotions he will suddenly be plunged into because of them. And the worst part is, he had no idea if his poor heart could handle all of it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the characters, which is sad, really.
Warning/s: Probably OOCness.. sorry can't be helped.
A/N: Yay! First multi-chaptered fic for ImaNaru! Please be gentle. And also have fun!
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~Flower Crowns~
Chapter 1
It was a very peaceful morning. The sun was shining brightly, its warm glow embracing everything below as the birds sing their morning song. The gentle breeze rattling the leaves added up to the beauty of the atmosphere. Everything was so poetic…and perhaps a little cliché but the redhead who just woke up from his slumber loves it nonetheless. It was such a nice sunny day and he knew nothing could go wrong…that is until he caught sight of the clock. And surprise! The clock read 9:17 AM. Now there is nothing wrong with that. The clock was just doing its job by telling the right time. The only problem was that said clock was supposed to wake him up two hours ago with its super annoying ringing. But it didn't. Naruko gulped. He turned his head outside the window, yep still sunny…and then back to the clock, the number nine was still glaring at him. He repeated that process a couple of times until everything finally settled in. He was one hour late.
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An ear piercing screech tore throughout the entire neighborhood, effectively ruining the peacefulness just minutes ago. It may have also startled anyone near his apartment but he couldn't care less at the moment. Quickly throwing the covers away, the redhead scrambled out of bed. In his haste, his foot got caught on the tangled sheets and he fell off the bed. He made a very graceful landing on the floor, face first. It seriously hurt, but Naruko thought he had no time to be a baby and whine. Ignoring the pain on his nose and the tiny bump on his forehead, the redhead clumsily got up and rushed to take a quick shower, tripping a couple of times on his way.
In just a very few minutes, the redhead was out of the shower. And without wasting any more time, he quickly grabbed his clothes and basically threw whatever is on top of the pile on himself, not even caring if the shirt wasn't matching his pants. There's no time for fashion when he was already late. He even swore he had set a world record on how quickly he got dressed. Not even bothering to fix his bed, the redhead made a mad dash out of his apartment. He was almost ready to leave when his stomach growled. Naruko groaned, realizing he needed food but at the same time he will be super late. It was a hard decision to make…and he chose food.
Hurrying back to the apartment, he ran straight to his mini kitchen. Once there, he quickly grabbed a piece of bread and placed some jam on it. He finished the bread in two bites and chewed it thrice before swallowing. Afterwards he run out of his apartment, making a mad dash toward his destination with a piece of bread in his mouth. He thought it was like one of those typical TV scenarios and it would have been cute had he not been in real life. Sadly, he was in real life and it was not cute at all. He looks silly, for heaven's sake.
Though looking terrible and silly wasn't his main problem. He was far more worried of getting fired on the first day of his job, all because he failed to wake up on time. Sure the job he got wasn't that cool or extravagant or amazing or any of that. He was just going to be a daycare teacher after all. But to him, that job was special. He was probably one of the few people who love children and genuinely enjoy taking care of them. He figured it must have been because of his little brothers and how he always used to babysit them and find the usually tedious job fun and enjoyable. That's why he will certainly be devastated if he got fired.
Shaking his head, Naruko decided to keep the worst thoughts out of his head for the time being. He can make it, he told himself. He used to be the fastest runner in his class back in his elementary days and he was certain his legs will not fail him now. Not when he was racing against time to not lose the job he so badly wanted.
After running like a madman for who knows how long, the redhead finally skidded to a stop in front of a small building. Taking a deep breath, Naruko slowly opened the door.
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And was greeted by a loud wailing noise followed by what seemed to be strings of supposed to be curses.
"Oh goody! You're finally here!" His friend—who is also the one who helped him land a job—turned to him, face painted with a scowl, though the redhead could detect traces of relief on his narrowed eyes. "Hurry up and help me with him." His friend said, gesturing to the trashing kid in his hands.
"I'm not yet fired?" Naruko asked with genuine shock, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.
"Of course not!" His friend answered, "I said you got hold up due to some emergency and that you'd definitely show up. Now enough questions and help me!"
Naruko's eyes gleamed, happy tears gathering at the corner of his shimmering eyes. At that moment, he thought he was standing in front of a god. He sniffed, clasping his hands in exaggeration, "Ya-san…you're my hero Ya-san. You're so trustworthy and I owe you my life and everyday meal for the days to follow!"
"Don't Ya-san me and stop that, you look like a creep!" Arakita growled, eyes twitching. His younger friend could be a little way too overdramatic at times. He was about to say a few more things when a sharp pain suddenly erupted from his hand where the kid—devil incarnate—who he had forgotten for a moment, bit him. The child's tiny teeth sinking into his skin.
Naruko flinched. That must have hurt.
"OW GOD DA—" Arakita began, but was cut off by the redhead's sharp glare. No cursing in front of the children, the glare says. "DUCKLING! GOD DUCKLING!" Arakita turned to look at the redhead with frustration, finally releasing the child to tend to his hand, cringing when he saw the bite marks. He now officially regret accepting the job as daycare teacher. Children are evil. But he needed the money, so he really had no choice.
Naruko stifled a laugh, he felt bad for his friend, but he's not going to deny that it wasn't funny. But before Arakita catches him, he decided to focus on the problem at hand also known as the little kid in front of him. Shaking his head, he turned to observe the sniffling little boy. The kid looked to be about five years old, the redhead deduced. He was small and brave, definitely brave. Other children would have run away from Arakita, his friend was super scary after all, instead of biting him. Smiling to himself, Naruko kneeled in front of the child.
"Hey," he began, the tone of his voice gentle and kind. "Is something the matter? Why are you crying?"
The child didn't answer. He remained sobbing and sniffling, not even daring to look at the person asking him.
Naruko remained silent as well—he could hear Arakita muttering something inaudible in the background, probably a lot of profanities if Naruko would be guessing—waiting for the child to be ready in answering him. After a while of patient waiting, exactly when Naruko was about to give up, the kid finally spoke up.
"I want…" The kid begun, finally looking up. There were hints of doubt in his eyes, to which Naruko tore away with a tiny encouraging smile. It seemed to have worked as the kid continued, "I want to go home..."
"Why would you want to go home?" Naruko asked, "Do you not like it here?"
The kid shook his head, "I want my daddy."
"Hmm, is that so?" The redhead tilted his head, before his smile widened just a bit more. "But you know, this place is really fun. There are kids about your age that you could talk to and be friends with! Look!"
The child blinked, once then twice before looking around. The four walls of the room are painted with pretty vibrant colors, interesting cut outs, mosaics and some murals were also decorated them as well. It looked really nice. But most of all there were many children around as well and they seemed to be having fun with all the various toys available.
Naruko was grinning now, the kid was no longer crying and he seemed to be in awe which was always a good thing. "See? What do you think?"
"It looked," the kid paused, looking at the other children present before facing the older guy, "…fun."
"I know you'd say that! So do you want to join them?"
"I can?!" The kid asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Of course you can!" Naruko chuckled, flailing his arms childishly. "You're here to make friends and have fun after all!"
"I am?!" The kid inquired, his eyes slowly lighting up. The obvious excitement bubbling inside him seems to flow out through the smile quickly spreading across his previously tear-streaked face and Naruko swore he could see imaginary flowers and sparkles floating around the child.
"You can join them now if you want!" Naruko encouraged, the kid's excitement rubbing off on him so easily. He always found it fun and enjoyable to make friends, so it would be understandable if he too got a bit carried away.
Taking a deep breath, the little boy started walking towards the group of kids in the corner but then he stopped, turned to the redhead and run back towards him. "Uhm…"
"Yes?" Naruko blinked in mild confusion, watching as the kid seemed to shift his weight from one foot to the other.
"May I know your name please?" The young boy blurted out suddenly, an embarrassed blush gracing his cheeks.
Naruko smiled, "My name's Naruko Shoukichi! But you can just call me Shou-chan-sensei!" Then he pointed to a still grumbling Arakita, "And that grumpy guy over there is Ya-san-sensei!"
"It's Yasutomo!" Arakita countered almost instantly, "And don't tell him to call me that silly name!"
The little kid turned to look at the much older guy and bowed, "Sorry for biting you, Ya-san-sensei…"
Arakita just harrumphed before looking away in defeat. Naruko giggled. Such a giant grump.
"May I know your name as well?" Naruko asked, still smiling at kid.
"Shunya!" The kid answered, returning the smile. "My name is Imaizumi Shunya!"
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A/N: And there goes the first chapter.. and frankly I have no idea what I'm doing.. or how long this would be but I still hope you find this one the least bit interesting and yeah, I hope you love Shunya too hahahaha. (One more thing, fanfiction's always messing up my fromatting *sobs*)
And in case you're all wondering why Arakita would be a daycare teacher well.. There's really no reason behind it.. I just want to see him trying not to say any profanities in front of a bunch of children. Come on, that's funny right?
Anyway, Imaizumi appears next chapter (hopefully LOL)
Well, I guess that's all! Thank you for reading!
Stay tuned!