Balance
by Autumn Win-Dow
Sometimes, their conversations did not involve any words, or gestures. Even if they were not best friends for a period of time which one would consider sentimental enough, they already knew each other more than the usual duo of nine year old boys would - and the reason was definite.
The two had suffered more than the usual boy their age, thus their minds had been naturally adapted to be more rational and realistic.
But it didn't stop them from forming a close friendship with each other, and it was so close that it was comfortable for both of them to stay silent as they sat side by side on a stable tree branch, in peace.
However, it seemed that they were too absorbed in the peace of not being seen by the loons of Alice Academy, as well as the wind which felt much cooler than on level ground in town, to notice a young girl observing them from below.
The eight tear old placed her hands on the rough bark of the tree's trunk as she watched the boys slightly swinging their feet in the air below them. Rather than her very own brother, she kept her eyes on his new friend – the blonde, half-French boy who was also an Alice.
In the eyes of the young girl, he appeared very much like a prince charming – his golden blonde hair and his sea blue eyes were all she needed to see in order to confirm her beliefs – and she herself wished to be the protagonist of a love story from a fairy tale like Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. The concept of a handsome prince saving the princess was something which she dearly wanted to experience for herself – and her innocent mind had devised a plan in order to make it happen, with none other than the foreign prince sitting with her brother in their backyard.
The girl shuffled forward, but she did not account for the stick which had conveniently placed in front of her feet, which led her to fall on her face in the grass with a squeal – thus, her secret location had been given away.
The two boys looked down to see the eight year old wailing in annoyance as she lifted her dirty face from the green grass – the darker haired boy in annoyance, and the blonde in plain confusion.
"Aoi. What are you doing?" Her brother asked with a blank expression, watching Aoi stand up from the ground, brushing the dirt off her dress as she remained unknowing of the beard-like cover on her face.
"Oh, nii-san! I wanted to join you up there!" She called enthusiastically, her small hands cupping the sides of her mouth in a futile attempt to direct her speech even clearer than it needed to be.
"Can you even climb up?" Natsume challenged the hopeful eight year old, as the blonde next to him simply watched the siblings without the slightest intention to intervene.
However, before Aoi could place a hand on the rough bark of the tree's trunk in an attempt to climb, her elder brother pushed himself off the branch holding both him and Ruka, and he landed on the grass – both feet stable on the ground while his hands were stuck in the pockets of his shorts. In a daze – and without a warning from the ebony haired boy – Ruka followed in an attempt to match his new friend's movements, only to slightly lose his balance as his feel hit the grass beneath him. However, Aoi reached over instinctively and pushed his back before he could trip.
The girl was starting to become nervous – it was the first time she had actually contacted him, besides the first time they met when she pulled his hand into a tight handshake, excited about the fact that her brother had finally made a friend.
She felt the sudden absence of his jumper's fabric against her hands, and she finally broke her gaze from her feet, and looked up to meet large aquamarine eyes.
"Let's go, Ru-chan." She could vaguely hear her brother call out to the blonde, and she watched Ruka turn to him with an annoyed expression.
Aoi broke off all her attention to her surroundings – even though Ruka was less than a metre away from her, she had drifted off when he reprimanded Natsume. She guessed – judging from her brother's words previously – that he was once again voicing his irritation at the nickname 'Ru-chan', but her thoughts were quickly vanquished when he turned back, the cue of their second eye contact of the day.
"Thanks, Aoi-chan." He spoke with a relieved smile before running off towards Natsume, who was casually making his way into the house.
The young girl hastily placed her hands on her cheeks upon the sudden heat rising after the blonde's words, and she was confused as to what was happening. However, due to her eventual discovery of the dirt covering the skin around her mouth and nose, she forgot all about the strange occurrence as she immediately brought her white sleeve up to wipe the brown substance off her face.
The heat had faded by the time all the dirt had been transferred to her sleeve, but she hadn't forgotten about the thankful look on her crush's face. Aoi was too young to know what the word meant, but she knew that she was infatuated with her Prince Charming.
"You're nicer than I thought, Natsume." Ruka said with a knowing expression as they entered the raven haired boy's room.
"What are you talking about?" Natsume questioned as he laid on his bed with his hands behind his head, while Ruka sat politely – cross-legged on the floor.
"You didn't want Aoi-chan to get hurt, so you came down before she could come up." The blonde stated, with a hint of smugness in his expression.
Natsume struggled to act nonchalant. Even though he had experienced more than the average nine year old, he still had a pride to maintain – and secretly caring for his sister in the presence of his new trusted friend was not the way to do so.
"I didn't want her to embarrass herself." He corrected, maintaining his composure – but Ruka could still hear the argumentative tone in his voice.
He decided not to dwell on the fact however – they were just nine year old boys, after all.
Natsume, however, decided to turn the tables by challenging Ruka about a fact that he knew about Aoi regarding Ruka.
"Why do you care about Aoi that much?"
Ruka flinched with astonishment at Natsume's blunt question. "Eh?"
"You don't usually speak about my sister like this." The red-eyed Alice boy pointed out, turning his head to face the blonde.
"Well... She is your sister. I'm just pointing out that you care for her more than you show." He defended successfully, and it was the first time that Natsume failed to tease the sensitive Ruka - most likely due to the blonde's cluelessness.
Natsume let out a 'hmph' in response - which in his perspective, ended the conversation.
Ruka had other plans, however. "...but Natsume, I've noticed recently that she's been looking at me a lot."
"Good that you know." Natsume immediately replied as he faced the ceiling once again. "I didn't want to be the one to explain Aoi's mad crush on you."
Despite his belief that Ruka was aware of it all, he was shocked to see the confused expression reappear on the animal lover's face.
"…mad crush? What mad crush? I thought she was just curious about her elder brother's first friend."
It seemed that Ruka was as clueless as Natsume had initially assumed.
"Don't worry about it."
Natsume no longer wanted to involve himself in the small situation – especially when it was regarding an increasingly irritating sister in love as well as the slow comprehensions of his best friend. However, a part of him did worry if Ruka liked his sister.
"I think I should go home now." Ruka noted as he pushed himself off the timber of Natsume's room, and he noticed that strangely enough, Natsume had fallen asleep on his bed. Smiling to himself, he realized that it was the first time seeing the fire caster with a peaceful expression – usually he appeared either annoyed or nonchalant – and for some reason Ruka considered the idea of Natsume having to bite more than he could chew when it came to taking care of his family.
Thus, Ruka chose against waking his friend up, and he took caution in twisting the door knob, exiting silently.
The house was silent, so he assumed that the whole Hyuuga family was asleep.
But when he made his way towards the exit, he suddenly felt a strange presence around him. Instinctively, he turned as swiftly as an active nine year old could, but there was nothing he could see which was even the slightest abnormal.
He turned back towards the door of the Hyuuga home, but he couldn't shake off the strange feeling settling within him.
Ruka tried his best to ignore it in an attempt to convince himself that it was merely 'nothing' but when he continued his journey towards the exit, the sudden sound of wood against wood, followed by a sharp crashing of glass, halted him in his steps.
It took a sharp gasp and a second swift spin on his heel to realise that the cause of his uneasy feelings was a stunned Aoi holding a ukelele.
"...uh oh." Those were the only words she could say, both for breaking the table lamp and giving away her position to her brother's best friend.
"A-Aoi-chan! What are you doing here?" Ruka exclaimed, but maintained his low volume - careful not to wake the others up.
"Ah, well I-" Aoi started to talk, but when she wasn't able to speak any further due to her nerves, she finally opted to holding her blue ukulele in position as she swallowed loudly.
Ruka observed the young girl with confusion as her face started to bloom a shade of deep red, and she fidgeted in her movements. He was shocked by the sudden change of attitude of the youngest Hyuuga – to him, she was usually a sweet, hyperactive girl with a knick for being confident when talking to others, unlike her older brother who usually liked to keep to himself. Seeing Aoi in a state where she was hesitant was something he was definitely not used to.
However, he was able to predict her intentions as her free hand rose to a position above the thin strings of the instrument, even though Ruka was unsure about what to expect.
Aoi started to strum, and due to her lack of knowledge on how to play the instrument, all she was able to do was hold the neck of the ukulele without pressing her fingers on any of the strings – therefore, all that came out of her strumming was a repetitive combination of notes lacking any dynamics. She opened and closed her mouth many times in quick succession – as if she had lost the slim ounce of confidence she barely held on to before setting her fingers on the strings – and her hand began to hesitate in its' movements when she could not choke a single word out.
After thirty seconds of pointless strumming and a muddled Ruka, she was finally able to make a sound. "I-I-I-"
It was no more than a stutter, nonetheless.
She shuffled forward as she continued to absently strum, but as soon as her foot came into contact with the base of the broken lamp lying on the timber, Aoi tumbled in her steps and fell forward – taking down a certain boy with her.
The sound of the lamp stand sliding roughly against the floor due to the sudden pressure of Aoi's foot echoed through the lounge room, followed by the sound of the kids hitting the ground after losing balance. Throughout the brief moment, Aoi still managed to keep hold of her ukulele.
Ruka's breath was knocked out of him as soon as his back hit the floor roughly from the weight of the collapsing girl, and he started to cough from the pressure. Meanwhile, Aoi blankly wondered why the ground was so soft and warm, and after a short moment of keeping her head down, she looked up to see a pale faced Ruka – and upon the realization that she had fallen on him quite unpleasantly, she hurried herself in standing up, her blush returning to her plump cheeks.
"Ah! I'm sorry, Ru-chan!" She wailed as she grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him from the she had spoken the first words after starting what he assumed was some sort of a composition.
"It's okay, but why do have a ukulele?" He questioned, curious to know her reasons.
"W-Well, I kind wanted t-to play you something." Aoi admitted, keeping her head down and constantly brushing the sole of her shoe lightly against the timber.
"I didn't want to be the one to explain Aoi's mad crush on you."
Ruka shook Natsume's previous words out of his head, berating himself for even considering the possibility. Instead of considering the reasons why her face was so red as well as why she seemed so nervous, he simply raised a hand and patted her on the head softly.
"Thank you, Aoi-chan." He sincerely spoke, and he suddenly felt warm inside as he lightly placed his hand on her black hair.
His lips immediately formed a smile as she looked up at him with shock from the sudden contact, just like the time when she caught him from falling when he jumped off the tree.
Aoi was too happy to sulk over her attempt at a serenade, and even though she was only an innocent seven year old, she knew she was falling – as well as stopping him from doing the same.
Even in addition to a very annoyed older brother watching them quietly, she did not lose one ounce of confidence – they were kids, after all.
One day, she would gain the balance which she wished for.
A/N: Hi guys, I'm back from a week long camp with my new school. :) So I decided to post a fic that's been lying in my documents for more than a month. It may be a bit rusty, but I hope you like it. :)