Once upon a time, the sky, the mountain, the river, and the forest became unhappy with each other.
"The humans need to be destroyed!" the sky howled, cold wind and ferocious weather battering the lands. The humans shivered and grew weak underneath its freezing breath. The mountain, the river, and the forest declared war on the sky, for they wanted to protect the humans and nourish them. So the mountain guided the humans; he stood tall and firm in one place, signaling the humans on where to go.
The forest blessed the land around the mountain, letting the humans thrive with its fertile soil to grow their own food and survive. The river, with its clear and soothing water, flowed gently through their village to water their crops and save them from thirst.
The sky became enraged; how dare these three minor gods help such weak and useless beings that soiled the earth they had all created? So he, as being the eldest and therefore the most powerful, decided to curse the three youngest.
The mountain was cursed to stay only in one place, to never be able to move and never gain freedom. He became cold and detached, for the mountain tops became frozen from the sky's constant snow. The forest fell into an eternal sleep, and she wept within her slumber for she knew she could now not bless the land with fertility. The river god was banished, thrown far from his own realm into a place he could not return from.
And yet the humans managed to thrive. They did everything to the best they could, but over time, they lost sight of the deities who brought them to life and nurtured them in the first place. They would never again see the mountain's guiding hand, the forest would never coo them to sleep, and the river's soothing touch was lost to them.
The sky grew lonely as millennia passed, and his once stone cold heart grieved for the presence of his siblings, all of whom he had realized too late were dear to him. Shaken with sorrow, the sky grew silent and gentle yet strong, managing to care for the humans his brothers and sister had loved.
These four gods, once born together and thought to be like that forever, were separated and each of them forgotten.
They would never be able to live wholly again, for they were incomplete without each other and the belief of humans.
XxXxXxXxXxX
"Katsuki Yuuri!"
"Y... Yes!" Yuuri yelped, getting several snickers from his classmates as he was pulled out of his daydream. His cheeks blushed furiously – he hadn't meant to doze off!
"This is your third time this week not paying attention in my class, Katsuki," Hiro-sensei warned. "The next time I call on you, you will be scrubbing every chalkboard in this whole building. Am I clear?"
Yuuri's eyes fell downcast as he could feel his ears turn red from the giggling and snide comments around him. "Yes, Hiro-sensei." He answered quietly.
"Hmph," the teacher scoffed before walking further down the aisle.
Yuuri breathed slowly, his heart still racing from the recent incident. He genuinely didn't mean to stare off into space. He had just been thinking… Of what, he couldn't remember, but –
Yuuri blinked, his ginger eyes gazing emptily at his blank notebook paper, his pencil uselessly sitting on the desk. What had he been thinking of? What had he been so immersed in that he managed to get scolded?
Hiro-sensei was right… It's been happening way too often. Yuuri was generally a good student, yet he lost himself in daydreams he couldn't even remember the subject of.
The school bell rang clearly throughout the school building, students chattering excitedly as they gathered their things and rushed to get out of class and go home already.
Yuuri did not join his peers – instead, the seventeen-year-old was paced and not at all rushing, tucking his books carefully into his bag and fixing his glasses in a habit.
Rushing past Hiro-sensei, Yuuri hurried toward the front where students were taking out their outdoor shoes and placing their school slippers into the lockers.
Yuuri avoided eye contact as he slipped on his shoes and shut the locker.
His fellow students annoyed him. It wasn't anything new; Yuuri wasn't bullied and he wasn't praised. He was just a random student with no special recognition or talents. Yuuri fully believed that aside from his teachers and homeroom classmates, no one knew his full name.
Oh well.
Katsuki Yuuri was alone. Just like he always had been and always will be.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Yuuri lied in his bed, his cover wrapped around him like a cocoon as he scrolled through Instagram with half-lidded eyes.
He didn't follow a lot of people – in fact, they were all either related to food, dogs, or YouTube. He didn't bother to try and follow others he might personally know. All he needed was the internet and katsudon, for he was already used to the dreaded and dull silence in his whole life.
"Yuuri,"
Yuuri blinked, the light switch suddenly turned on. His eyes fluttering rapidly, the teen straightened up in bed to face his older sister.
"Mari-nee…"
"Oka-san said to pack," Mari said nonchalantly, her half-bleached hair tied into a ponytail as she leaned lazily against his doorway.
"Pack?..."
Mari snorted, smirking in amusement at her younger brother. "Don't tell me you already forgot?"
Oh… that's right. They would be going on vacation for a month during break. Why a month, Yuuri didn't know, and he didn't even where they were going.
"Ah, yes, Mari-nee. Do I need to bring anything specific?"
Mari waved her hand carelessly as she started to leave. "Just pack whatever, and be ready to wake up early. We leave for the airport at five in the morning."
"Five in the morning," Yuuri repeated to himself, his groan echoing throughout the now empty room.
Yuuri hated mornings – he much rather preferred the night and the quiet with it, for the morning sun and the groggy feeling of just waking up never would appeal to him.
Yuuri set his phone down (aw, and he was just about to watch that cute poodle video too) and slowly dragged himself out of his bed, swinging open his closet and digging out his barely-used suitcase from the bottom of it.
Yelping slightly because the mountain of clothes on top of it nearly collapsed on him, he proceeded to shove randomly chosen pieces of clothes into the suitcase. It ranged from shorts to jeans to tee shirts – they all were comfortable to him so it didn't really matter what was packed.
Unless they were possibly going to go swimming… No, they wouldn't, Yuuri concluded. His parents knew he was uncomfortable with it and wouldn't go on a vacation that involved it without telling him.
Now suddenly feeling light-hearted for some strange and unknown reason, Yuuri smiled lightly to himself and hummed a half-forgotten tune.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Yes, maybe he can actually spend some quality time with his loving parents and equally wonderful sister. Yuuri grew determined with each thought – he would enjoy this mystery vacation to the fullest and love it with a passion.
The next day, however, dampened his mood just a little. Of course it was expected. He had to wake up at five in the morning and was dragged to the airport half-dead.
The plane ride was okay. The seats were as uncomfortable as ever, but he managed to squeeze in several more hours of sleep.
When they arrived, Yuuri's jaw nearly dropped. Hawaii?
"Are you sure you don't want us to room with you?" His mother asked in a worried tone as she hesitantly handed him the keycard. "Mari-neechan could move over to your room if you want."
"It's okay, oka-san." Yuuri assured her in a soft voice with a small smile. "I'll be fine."
"Mari, could you help me with this?" His father grunted from across the hallway, struggling to carry a rather large suitcase.
As Mari and his mother hurried to help him, Yuuri decided that it was time to maybe go sightsee a little. After all, wasn't Hawaii supposedly an amazing place where dreams came true and people married pineapples?
He held back a giggle at the last thought as he unlocked his room door swiftly. The lack of sleep was getting to him, but he didn't particularly mind at the moment. He just wanted to go and see if there was a decent place to go eat something.
Plugging his bluetooth earbuds in, Yuuri scrolled through his playlist before pausing on a particular song.
Humming lightly to the tune, the young teen shuffled through his suitcase and pulled out a new black v-neck with some dark jeans. Perfect. Comfortable and not skin-tight or anything ridiculous of the sort.
Texting his mother about him going out, Yuuri shoved a couple American bills into his wallet and proceeded to take the elevator down to the main lobby and head out into the boiling heat.
Yuuri squinted his eyes slightly as the blaring sun blasted off heat wave after heat wave above him. He could already feel the back of his shirt stick to his skin, and he grimaced as he realized that perhaps wearing jeans wasn't the best of ideas.
Thinking that he would just suck it up and deal with it, Yuuri started to jog, his steps in time with his music.
This was often something he would do – play some songs, find the rhythm and then run to the beat. It soothed him in a way, and because of doing it so many times, his stamina rose to a point that he could probably go against a pro if he wanted.
Breathing in through his nose, Yuuri took the moment to look around him. Other joggers were listening to their own music, and occasional wave from them causing him to smile awkwardly and wave back. The sun was slowly starting to set, and the breeze carried the smell of the sea to him.
Suddenly he was struck with a strong feeling of homesickness. The ocean scent reminded him of Hatsetsu, and he changed the course of direction, reading signs in English explicitly pointing him to where the sea supposedly was.
Thank kami he had studied extra hard during those English classes for school. They served him well, for he could not only speak the language, but also read and write it. Of course his speaking came with an accent, it was inevitable, but that didn't deter him.
Yuuri's breath was now a little more heavy as his sneakers made first contact with sand, and without thinking too much about it, he bent down and pulled them off along with his socks.
Folding the socks into a ball and stuffing it into his left shoe, he held the sneakers by the strings and began to walk slowly down the sand.
The sky was now orange and mixing beautifully with a rose pink, the last of families with children leaving as they drove off. The whole beach now belonged to Yuuri, and he smiled, because this felt so much like the beach at home and he felt… okay, for once.
Pausing his music, Yuuri took out the earbuds and let them hang in the air as he approached the gentle waved of water.
The liquid tickled his feet, crashing in softly and pulling away with white foam. He wiggled his toes as he dug them in the sand, a silly smile appearing on his lips as the water reached out once more.
"It's nice, isn't it?"
Yuuri let out a loud yelp, his neck nearly cricking as he turned around to see who had just spoken, and holy jesus.
The boy standing just a few feet beside him was – for a lack of better word – gorgeous. What was even better was that he possibly couldn't be much older than Yuuri, at least he only looked around eighteen. Long silver hair the color of moonlight floated gently in the ocean breeze, his long bangs covering the left side of his face and obscuring his eye as well. But the eye that Yuuri could see; it was indescribable. It was so blue and deep and pretty, that Yuuri didn't even realize how close the man had come until he felt his warm breath gently caress his forehead.
"Er… Yes," Yuuri squeaked, avoiding eye contact as much as possible as he answered the former question.
The other teen lightly chuckled. "I like the ocean – he's quite nice, although I rather wish the water wasn't so salty. A river's clean water is much more suited to me."
Yuuri blinked. Had the boy just called the ocean a he? Ah, whatever. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue – because the mystery teen's English was accented, showing that it was not his native language. If Yuuri had to guess, it was probably something European.
"Rivers… Rivers are nice," Yuuri agreed, for he had a lack of better response.
The boy hummed and gently kicked the sand at his bare feet.
They spent a moment in silence – a silence that was absolutely thick and awful and just awkward, but apparently the other teen didn't think so, for he suddenly spoke again in his rich and smooth voice. "What's your name?"
"Oh… Uh…" Yuuri once again avoided eye contact as he stared at the sea, as if glaring at it. "Yuuri Katsuki."
"That's such a nice name~" The boy giggled. "I'm Viktor!"
Yuuri smiled, ignoring the fact that he had not given his last name. Maybe the guy just wanted his privacy, and Yuuri completely respected that. He wouldn't push. "I don't really know about mine… But I like your name."
"Really?" Viktor asked eagerly, his eyes sparkling as he bent down slightly so their noses were parallel.
"Yes – " too close – "I-it's a very pretty name!"
"I don't really like it," Viktor shrugged, although his eyes still shined from Yuuri's praise. "My oldest brother chose it for me…"
Oh.
Viktor's face became suddenly impassive, a cold air surrounding him as eyes that were so vibrant became a dull and rusty blue. His pursed his lips as if angry, yet the tears pricking the corners of his eyes also suggested he was… sorrowful.
Another silence rang through the air, only this time, Yuuri wasn't the only one feeling the tension.
And so he panicked (like he always does) because he suddenly felt so guilty that this random and absolutely beautiful guy looked sad and angry. It so wasn't fair – how could someone still look so incredibly amazing while crying?
So Yuuri blurted out the first words that came to mind.
"Do you wanna go eat somewhere?"
XxXxXxXxXxX
Sooo finished this at 11:19 PM xD
Anyway, yes, I am well aware of the fact I have a different Yuri! On Ice fanfic going on, but whatever. This concept came to mind and I couldn't not write it.
I kept Viktor's hair long because as described by Yuuri, he looks only about eighteen, and while I'm not sure exactly when Viktor cut his hair, I'm sure he didn't cut it before he turned twenty.
That beginning bit with the gods was fun to write – I love anything to do with myths and legends.
Okay, anyway. Updating. I'm a sporadic author. I write when I want to write and I update when I want to update. And considering I have like three other stories than this to update as well as some other fanfics I want to get started on, updating will be slow.
Slow, I say. Not too slow like monthly updates, but maybe a new chapter every two weeks. Depends on how I feel and how hard school is.
I'm done ranting now so xD
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please follow, favorite, and review, for they motivate this poor author.
Until next time!