A/N: PLEASE READ -- OK I know a lot of you are waiting eagerly for Folly and Sin to be updated, and it should be up soon, as soon as I figure out whats so seriously wrong with it. But I thought that another one shot was in order since I've been making you all wait so long. Keep in mind I'm still looking for that lost spark so I'm not sure how well this will turn out. You guys fill me with so much joy with your reviews - In all honesty, I'm not very fond of my writing but you guys keep on flattering me and encouraging me to write more! It means the world to me so thanks!
I couldnt decide between "free fall" and "wind at your back" as a title.. I ended up picking the second one because "free fall" seemed a bit literal, lol.
Warnings: just boys in love, and me wishing I could write this better than it is :( As always, I'm not happy with the way I wrote the ending, and I haven't found my muse just yet, but I HAD to write this for Kitten chan cuz she's been so kind to me.
Dedicated to Kitten chan for drawing me wonderful fanart for my stories and building my confidence! Please, PLEASE go to her devart and leave her your best comments!
(If you go to my page, I've put up the links to the art she drew for me, but please go look at the rest of her stuff as well)
http:// kitten - chan (dot) deviantart (dot) com
Please enjoy my dear!
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Wind At Your Back
a fiction by Crimson Vixen
Ikki x Kazu, of course!
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Sitting on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the area, it made a boy feel like he was already at the top of the world even when he still had a ways to climb. Kazu swung his legs back and forth as they dangled over the side of the building. He had lost his fear of heights when he was younger. Ikki had invited him up into his tree house when they were younger, and they had a fight which ended with Ikki suddenly shoving him hard enough that the Kazu fell out of the fort and onto the hard earth.
Looking back on the memory now, Kazu couldn't help but laugh because even through all these years, Ikki hadn't changed. He was still the abrasive, thick headed crow he would always remember.
A breeze picked up and Kazu tensed his shoulders as he waited for it to die down. He kept a hand on his hat to keep it from falling off.
"It's just a hat," Ikki said from beside him. The other boy was laying on his back, hands behind his head, his legs also hanging over the side of the building by the knees. When he got no response, Ikki lifted a leg and put a foot to Kazu's back, nudging him a little. "Hey."
Kazu's hands flung to the edge of the roof and clutched tightly, trying to keep himself balanced.
"Don't do that," he said quickly, eying concrete about thirty or so stories down. If Ikki had the nerve to push him hard enough, the ground would be painted red before anything could be done about it. "Are you stupid?"
"Hey," Ikki said again, this time with a little more superiority, finally letting his leg fall back over the edge. "Shut up, I wasn't doing it that hard."
"Ok," Kazu said tersely, avoiding the minefield altogether by just agreeing with the other boy. "Just be more careful."
For the next few minutes, neither boy said anything. Kazu's blue eyes glided over the lights down below. Some glowed dimmer than others, and if he stared long enough, they all blended and blurred together. Kazu pursed his lips and lightly hummed. He was just starting to relaxed when he felt Ikki's foot at his back again. He placed the bottom of his shoe just atop the blonde's profound shoulder blade and gave a small push. Even without a fear of high places, with every sway forward Kazu felt a twinge in his stomach.
"Knock it off, I said."
"What, don't trust me?" the crow smiled with a gleam in his eye. His dark brows lowered in a challenging way.
Kazu huffed, not in the mood to humor his friend this way. He gave a rather dirty glare that should have said everything for him, but Ikki only pushed a little harder. Kazu felt like he knew what was going to happen. Push would come to shove, Ikki would underestimate the strength behind his leg and next thing he knew, he would be plummeting to his death and cursing the name of the friend he sometimes hated loving.
Ikki shoved him one more time and it was the last straw. Kazu put on a sour face and twisted his torso to give Ikki a few words here and there but the second he whirled around, Ikki sprang up from his position and crashed his lips against the blonde's. Kazu's eyes widened; he could feel Ikki grinning into the rough kiss, and for a brief moment, thought he felt him laugh.
When they broke apart, Kazu roughly rubbed at his mouth with the back of his sleeve and grumbled; "Stop doing that!"
No sooner that the words were out of his mouth that the wind picked up again; a strong gust that took a hold of Kazu's hat and sent it sailing into the air. On instinct, Kazu extended an arm and lunged forward to catch it but only grasped air when the momentum caused his body to move just a little too much…
The wind was like thunder to his ears as he went free falling, straight and long. It all happened so fast and yet it felt like it was also in slow motion. He looked up as he fell – could see Ikki's head shrinking into the distance as he flew past story after story. Kazu wasn't a wall climber. Hell, right now he wasn't even wearing AT. Ikki had ripped them off when they were wrestling not even thirty minutes prior - ironically enough. Kazu closed his eyes.
Heh, another thing to blame on the crow.
He hadn't noticed that Ikki leapt over the side after him, or that he was reaching out a hand towards him. Or that he was screaming his name. Not until he felt a tug at his sweatshirt.
The blonde opened his eyes just in time to see Ikki's wildly grinning face just inches from his own as he pulled Kazu close to him, into a strong hug and they fell together.
But for some reason, Kazu didn't feel like he was falling anymore. The wind was stinging his cheeks like it would when he was running. And it was just as effortless. And now that Ikki was there with him, the line between falling and flying didn't even seem to exist.
Kazu could have sworn he heard the words 'trust me' when Ikki twisted his body to change their momentum enough for the crow to touch his feet to the side of the building.
He managed to catch an involuntary glimpse of the oncoming ground – too close for comfort – when his head spun as Ikki suddenly changed their direction and started spinning and climbing upwards. He closed his eyes again at that moment, just letting Ikki lead him back towards the sky.
When they safely landed back on the roof, Ikki released him and stepped back.
"Ok, I take part of the blame for that one," he said, still smiling that stupid smile. Kazu tried to see clearly through his rage. He could have died. He could have died and it all would have been Ikki's fault. If the idiot hadn't... distracted him by kissing him like that... He opened his mouth but instead of words, his arms shot out and gave the crow a giant shove on the chest. The blonde was aware that Ikki wasn't the one to actually give him the send off over the edge, but Kazu needed someone to be angry at right now. And if the stupid crow would stop surprising him with kisses, maybe he would have been able to think his actions through a little better when he lost his hat. Yeah, so it was that birdbrain's fault. For kissing him. Yeah...
He wanted to call Ikki a moron. Tell him what a fool he was and how angry he was with him and how he needed to think about what he was doing sometimes! Honestly, playing with someone like that in such a dangerous place.
He took a fistful of Ikki's shirt and yanked him closer.
"You never listen to me!"
Kazu probably should have expected it, but he wasn't ready when Ikki claimed his lips again in a bruising kiss, like it was all just some joke or game and to him it probably was. It only frustrated the boy more because Ikki was doing just what he was before – not listening – but even more frustrating that that was how he was enjoying it too much to complain. For the third time that night, Kazu closed his eyes, and it felt like he was falling all over again.