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6 year old Koori was on one of his exploration on a forest. He was granted independence by his parents just because he never gets lost on his journeys, whether it was a small park or a large forest. Itsuki loved to explore forests, and he was looking forward to this one. With icicles dangling on the branches of the leaf-less trees as if they were crystals, it served as a winter wonderland for the young boy.
As he continued to roam the forest, he saw a hint of a frozen lake from afar. With new found enthusiasm, he rushed to it. As he got closer to the said lake, a figure with a white shirt and matching white pants who seemed to have black hair. Finally arriving to his destination, the tall tan figure who leaned on one of the trees didn't even mind to turn at his sudden appearance.
In young Itsuki's perspective, he could use a hug, he seems to be spacing out. And as the little boy with a proud grin on his face attempted to embrace the black haired boy who dodged all his efforts on sharing his warmth. Thanks to Oujika's smart move, Itsuki received a hard bump on his head rather than a person to hug. "Ouch, what was that for? I was on my exploration and was only trying to make your day with a hug when I saw you! Is that so wrong?" The black eyed boy groaned.
"Look, I'll disappear if a human touches me, alright? I thought the people around this forest knew already, how are you still so persistent to hug me?" He replied, a hint of irritancy hidden in his tone. "It's not my fault my parents didn't tell me that." The younger boy pouted. As awkward silence filled the air, the latter shook it off eventually.
With a stick gripped in his hand, he came up to Koori, poking him. "Come on, let's continue your so-called 'exploration'."
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As the sky grew darker, Kaku, still holding the stick with the young boy skipping happily, brought him to where he came from. "Well hurry home, you'll get a scolding from your parents if you come home late." He said, letting go of their uniting stick. "I'll promise to come back here tomorrow! Oh, I'm Koori Itsuki, and you are?" The young boy cheerfully said, happily clutching the stick. "Oujika. Oujika Kaku." He said as he turned back to the forests and walked away in the sudden mist.
And with that, little Koori skipped back home with a smile on his face. Although he may not be great at expressing it, Oujika tolerated his young companion quite well. Whenever there were people in the forests, no one would mind to come up to him, as he is the spirit wearing white that people are told not to interact with. He didn't mind that much, as long as he doesn't disappear with a human's touch, but Koori was an exception. 'I look forward to it.'
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As months passed, the two have been in better terms. They walked around the forests, but other than exploring, they also swam, had a small picnic, and just lying on one of the hills while pointing at weirdly shaped clouds. Koori had never felt a friendship like this, neither did the lone spirit. It was great for both of them, but occasionally, the boy couldn't attend their usual friendly activities for various reasons as their age became closer to each other.
Oujika was the spirit of a deer who was granted to still live at a certain human age. The only condition is to not share physical contact with any human of any age. And as time passes, Koori ages, while he doesn't. And with the long dark blue haired boy's increasing age comes more responsibility. He now has homework, study sessions and soccer practices. But even with all that, he would still come, even if their activities was set at a limited time.
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"Tada!" Itsuki said, showing his soccer uniform on his junior high, receiving one of the latter's rare smiles. "So you finally made it, huh? I knew you would." He said, as he bitterly stared at the ground. The dark blue haired boy wasn't expecting a sudden change of reaction, which led a concerned mien on his face as he went to sit beside him. "Everything happened so fast, it felt like only yesterday you were trying to hug me so idiotically, and now you're as old as I am." The tanned spirit said as he sighed.
Koori was trying to search for a smart reply, but nothing came out of him. It wasn't like him to be speechless whenever he's concerned of others. "Look Koori, as you get older, I stay this age for as long as I live. I'm just the spirit of a deer who was gratefully granted a second life as a spirit with a certain age, form and also a certain condition to keep living. My existence here doesn't mean anything, so I understand if you no longer visit. Don't sacrifice your success in life only to be here, my existence isn't worth it." Oujika said as he lied down, taking sight of the clear blue sky.
"No, I won't go. I'll still be here, I won't leave. Even in a tight schedule I'll still make time to visit, even only for an hour. I won't let your second life be meaningless, and besides, we've shared too much, I can't let that be a waste. You've been my friend longer and you know me more than anyone, I'm not going to leave you that easily like some jerk." He said, causing the latter to smirk at his persistence. "Still as persistent as the day we first met." The black haired spirit said, causing silence to fill the air.
"If only I could touch you…" The black eyed boy muttered as he hugged his legs, inaudible enough for the light blue eyed spirit to hear him. "What?" "Can't you see how I've been harboring feelings for you!? And now here you are telling me the sad truth about yourself! I don't want to lose you when someone touches you! I don't want to leave you! I want to hug you, hold your hand and cuddle with you in front of the fireplace at home!" Itsuki's sudden outburst shocked him, the words, the tone, his tears, everything.
"When the time comes for me to finally disappear, I can finally touch you. But who knows when that would come. And your sentiments are returned." He replied, avoiding eye contact to hide his embarrassing flushed face. And from that day on, things changed between the two from friendship to something beyond it. Though maybe the black haired spirit might not express it well, he is indeed happy of their change. Saying the cold hard truth when your feelings deny it wasn't as easy as he thought.
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Days after their talk, the forest had other company, a group of little boys who went camping. Although the forest became slightly noisier they didn't mind at all, as long as they still had each other. And at the end of the day, when the two were heading to exit the forest, something dreadful happened. As they walked, a boy came to one of the trees near them, observing it. But little did the boy know, the large tree branch seconds from falling right below him, which can actually risk his life. Seeing this, Kaku rushed to him and pushed him out of the way, resulting him to actually touch a human.
And as his body starts to fade away in midair, he gestures Itsuki to come at him for the hug he hoped. Seeing that, he tackled the fading spirit with tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. Surprisingly to Oujika, Koori's touch wasn't as cold as he thought, despite having the name 'ice', instead his touch was as warm as the morning sunlight. He ended up only clutching to the clothes the spirit wore. Not his default matching white shirt and pants, but a sky blue shirt and matching jeans, a gift from the multicolored haired boy. And as his eyes fluttered open from the tears wetting it, the tan spirit was gone.
The sight of black hair with longer bangs along with light blue eyes and tan skin was no more. 'I'll see you in another life, Kaku.'
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Phew, it's finally done! Some of you may seem to be familiar with this well, turns out the plot I made is similar to an anime movie called Hotarubi no Mori e, but I had no idea until my friend (who usually helps me with story-making) told me that. I made this weeks ago and just asked advice like yesterday (when she told me about the whole thing about this being similar to the movie), and well I didn't even know there were similarities to it. Well even so, I still hope this is decent enough. I'm sure I'm like the only one shipping this but let me spread my love for this pairing =v=
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