"You brat—get back here now before you get a fever!"
"Don't wanna! I still want to enjoy the rain—WAAAH!"
"Gotcha!"
"Put me down, Karu—PUT ME DOWN!"
"And who do you think you're until you think I'll do what you want, you brat?"
Inside the mansion, Kurena could just stare at the male residents of this mansion with sweats hanging behind her head. /Boys will always be boys, won't they?/
Oo—O—oO
Dancing in the Rain
Oo—O—oO
Genre: Friendship – General
Rate: T
Warning: Pointless fluffy oneshot, shonen ai hints, and (perhaps) grammar mistakes. And—oh, a little hints of KaruxKurena here. Ea and Teito brotherly relationship.
Disclaimer: 07-Ghost belongs to Yukino Ichihara and Yuki Amemiya.
Oo—O—oO
The rain calls people and makes them disappear-
A magician stronger than anyone.
[It's Gonna Rain! © Bonnie Pink]
Oo—O—oO
After Karu put him on his bed, Teito felt slightly relieved. Because—really, being carried along the way from the main gate to your room in the second floor with your head on the bottom side was very annoying. It felt like your blood was gathering on your head and made you felt dizzy.
Like, very, very dizzy.
And this wasn't the first time he saw Karu acted this… caring.
In his own way and definition of 'caring', though.
"Now, stay still and let her takes care of you. Don't you ever dare to jump from the your bedroom window again, or I might beat you till you can't do anything but blink your eyes. Understood, Kid?"
Teito could do nothing but nodded. Karu's wet bandaged face was very close to his, and that almost revealed the shape of his eyes. And even though he knew that the man couldn't see anything again, the boy felt like those hidden eyes were glaring fiercely from behind the wet bandage.
/Scary!/
"Take a very good care of him and don't avert your eyes from him, Kurena. And no—I don't need your help. I can take care myself." Even Kurena, who has been living with him for these past years couldn't believe it. As if he knew what kind of face she was making, he sighed deeply and held out his palm to her. "Just give me the bandages and I'll redo it myself. I'm not a growing brat like the one who've been dancing in the rain just now."
If Teito was much, much stronger than the tall man, he would've kick him right on his ribs.
Instead of giving him the bandages as he requested, Kurena wrote something on his palm—something that made him almost shouted, but chose to clam up and made Teito's eyes widened.
Seeing Karu just nodded after Kurena gave him a death glare could be included in one of the Seven Wonders of the World, right?
.
Honestly, Teito thought that it would be better if Karu just let his hair down; just like now, when he's all wet from head to toe and wore nothing but a plain white shirt and his still wet black trouser. He sat calmly on Teito's bed with hands on both knees and didn't say anything after Kurena forced him to stay still and let her changed his bandages.
"Quit staring at me as if you're looking at an alien, Boy."
That made Teito realize that he was sitting right next to the dark-haired man.
Seeing Teito's rather horrified expression, Kurena just smiled gently and kept trying to loosen the bandage carefully from Karu's face.
And when she finished her first task, the thing that they—she and Teito—could do were widened their eyes in shock.
"What? Why did you stop?" He asked casually, like nothing ever happened. Well, in fact, that's true for him—but not for Kurena and Teito, who've never saw his face before.
If only there were no scratches on his eyes, they really sure that he'd be one of what people called 'bishounen' lately.
"Are you still alive, Kurena?"
"…She fainted from fangirling too much, Karu."
Sigh. "Can't be helped. Give me the bandages and let me redo it myself, Kid."
Teito gave him the bandages without asked anything anymore.
#
Rain was falling heavily today.
And that mean that everyone couldn't do their usual jobs; like Profe, who chose to stay inside the Church instead of at the garden like yesterday. Or maybe Fest and the Orphans, who couldn't enjoy the scenery outside since he afraid that they'll fell sick if they got caught in the rain. Ea himself, whose job need nothing but stay indoor and arranging humans' soul number inside the Book of Hades, now stared at the rainy outside with bored eyes.
Somehow, between those peaceful yet boring moments, he suddenly thought about a certain light-haired Ghost who wasn't present at the time.
"His job required him to wander around the world, right?" he mumbled softly to himself, not realizing that a certain blond woman in dark dress was present behind him. She was about to offer him a cup of warm tea when he suddenly spoke his thought out loud. "That loafer… won't he get caught in the rain now?"
She smiled amusedly. /Is he thinking about Landkarte now?/
"But every districts has different climates, right? Where's he now, I wonder?"
He fell too deep into his thought until he didn't realize that Profe was running hurriedly when she saw a light-haired teenager in all white attire passed through the corridor.
After a minute full of whisperings and restrained laughing, Ea was still wandering deeply in his thought. And he kept mumbling softly about the Extinguishing Spirit like he wasn't present there—without realizing that the talked person was standing behind him with wide, amused smile plastered on his lips.
"If the rain falls heavily like now, he'll usually dance in the rain—like the children will do, won't he?"
A nod from behind.
"And laughing childishly without even caring that he'll catch a flu…"
A nod from the same place.
"And spends a week covered in thick blanket inside his room—even though we're Ghost…"
Again, the light-haired Ghost behind him nodded in agreement.
Ea sighed deeply and laid his head on his arms, eyes still staring at the scenery outside boringly. "And why do I suddenly think about him like this, anyway?"
"Because you missed me so much till you can't stop talking to yourself about me these past thirty minutes, maybe?"
The dark-haired ghost almost jumped in surprise. He turned to face the one who stood behind him with wide smile on his lips—and when he realized that the voice was really belonged to the real Landkarte, his face became paler than usual.
And if someone saw him from Landkarte's place, they might see a tint of faint pink blushes appeared on his cheeks.
Landkarte's wide smile transformed into wide grin. "You do miss me, don't you, Ea~?"
"S-since when did—"
"I was here since you talk about my habits when the rain fell; I'm surprised that you know my habits that well, by the way."
Ea was really speechless.
.
"So, Profe's the one who told you that I've spent my time today to keep mumbling about you…"
"Uh-huh. And I'm so flatter—OUCH! That's hurts!"
A huff and Ea walked casually toward his room. Now that the Loafer's here, his boredom was gone in jiffy—but still, he had nothing to do to fill his spare time. He had finished his jobs earlier, anyway.
He was about to ask Landkarte for a tea when the older Ghost suddenly pulled his hands toward the terrace.
"What the—what's wrong with your head today, you Idiot?!"
"Nothing! Since you know my habits better than anyone else, you should be know what'll I do now, don't you?"
"If you want to dance in the rain like usual, don't drag me with you! I don't want to catch a cold!"
"Don't worry! You'll not, since you're warmer than me!"
"What the hell does that supposed to mean?!"
They stopped near the fountain; Landkarte with playful smile on his face and Ea with frown on his. "You know, you should act like someone in your ages sometime—it's bad to keep acting like children all the time," Ea said with annoyed tone in his voice. But Landkarte ignored that; he pulled Ea's hands again, moving him like he's asking a child to dance with him while the rain still fell heavily. "But it's good for you, Ea, since a childish smile from you to yourself will reduce the quantity of frown on your face!"
Twitch. Landkarte had hit the sensitive area of Ea's. "Quit talking about the frown on my face, will you?! You'll have it too someday!"
"I won't, since I always smile like this and keep it always on my lovely face~"
"And stop acting as if you're the most handsome person in this planet!"
Landkarte just laughed freely and keep holding Ea's hand while dancing in the rain like children would do to their friends.
And later that evening, when the rain had given up on watering the Earth since the morning, Ea could be found covering himself inside a thick blanket with red cheeks from fever.
He swore he'll take a revenge on Landkarte for making him fell sick like this.
And what about Landkarte?
Don't worry about that happy-go-lucky Ghost; he was very healthy and gladly took care of the sick Ea while wearing apron and scarf on his head everywhere until Zehel broke out laughing when he saw him passed through the hall.
#
"Um, Karu?"
"What?"
"Your cheeks…"
The dark-haired man touched his forehead. Gosh, it felt like he was touching a stove—"What's wrong with my cheeks?"
"Um… It's growing red."
-was he getting a fever?
"…damn it. And what about you, Kid? Don't you feel you're getting colder than before?"
A shook—wait. Karu couldn't see anything; Teito just remembered it now. "No. I don't feel anything. Kurena had me changed my clothes already, but you… You're still wearing your wet clothes, Karu."
That's the most logical reason for this.
"Thanks for reminding me about it, Kid. Wake her up for me and ask her to give me some aspirin, okay? I'm on my room if she asks you later."
"…I don't think she'll be conscious that early. I'll get the medicine for you—"
"—do you even know what an aspirin is?"
"…nope." And that word was spoken with innocent tone. What an innocent child, this boy.
"Perfect. Just wake her up before my turn to faint come."
"Aye aye, then."
Karu sighed deeply. /If only that loafer is still the loafer I know, he'll gladly take care of me, won't he? And wait a minute—why did I suddenly thinking about him again?/ He shivered slowly. /It must be because of rain—yeah, it must be! There'll be no chance of me thinking about him and his habit about dancing in the rain aga—WAAAAIT!/ That sounds so wrong until Karu frowned deeply. /And why do I suddenly think about it again? Why?/
"Hey, Kid?"
"Yes?"
"If you suddenly start to think about someone who was—yes, was. That means it only happened in past—very close to you after a long time, what kind of 'ill' you're having?"
A blink. "I don't know… But I ever heard a female officer in the military talking about it, and her friend replied only replied with a sentence."
"What is it?"
"Her friend told her that it is called 'falling-in-love syndrome'. And what's 'falling in love' she mentioned here, Karu?"
If his eyes could work properly like in the past, they would've been widened now.
"What… the… hell?"
He couldn't be falling in love with that loafer…
…could he?
.
.
The End.