Calamity in Progress
a c a n t h a - c h a n
Authoress' Note & Disclaimer: The main pairing of this one-sentence (self-)challenge is Kousuke & original, the original character (as I scorn all other Spiral pairings unless they are exceptional well-written or involve Hiyono & Ayumu fluff) being a college student named Katsuro Hotaru. Hotaru means "firefly" in Japanese, I believe. This ficlet of mine is set in the post-anime setting, after the characters go their separate ways (although Ryoko stays with Kousuke). According to Wikipedia, Kousuke goes to college afterwards - not much else is said, which ticks me off because I can't be bothered to try and find a rerun of the last Spiral episode to find out what really happens. Kousuke is, after all, my favorite character so I have a right to be biased. Ryoko I don't like as much, though.
Anyway, during said college term is when Kousuke meets the original character Hotaru. None of these sentences are related, but if you look closely and squint you can see some little connections, unintentional as many of them are. Kousuke may seem somewhat out of character because as he grows, he would really mature, and in college, isn't that supposed to be evident? (College being that faint line between being part of society and being a child, if I'm allowed to say it that way.)
...I don't own Spiral, nor Kousuke, but Katsuro Hotaru is mine and mine alone. Don't steal her because I intend to make a one-shot based on this and I'd hate to have people telling me, "You stole that OC from (insert-penname -here), you -----! Go die in a hole for stealing that character because you're not supposed to do that!"
And yes, I most likely did in fact just jinx myself with that comment.
(Bite me.)
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001 - kingdom
Kousuke, Kousuke, Kousuke - her heart beats to his abnormal rhythm, symbolizing the link she wants to share with him - she draws strength from her king, as all pawns on the chessboard must.
002 - architecture
He finds that she knows him too well to trick her, but it's amazing how his voice can still break down her walls every time.
003 - eyes
The boy doesn't know anything about her except that he finds her feline-esque pupils intriguing; it's not nearly enough, so he sets out on a fairy tale quest to find out more.
004 - voice
Hotaru studies psychology, so why shouldn't she know exactly how to tell he's lying?
005 - literature
She trails an ivory finger down the spine of a book and that simple little action is enough to get Kousuke's boxers in a bunch.
006 - communication
The simple click of a button and his voice (raspy, willful, fiery, and exceedingly tempting) is cut off, because it hurts too much to hear it again and she'd rather just erase that once upon a time clean out of her soul than relive it oncemore.
007 - regret
"I never told you want you wanted to hear," she murmurs, tracing writing on a gravestone she knows all too well, "but now it's too late, isn't it, Kousuke-kun?"
008 - symbol
Lithe fingers, prickling nails - barely grazing his back, but the sensation he gets when she draws invisible spirals on his spine sends him into ecstasy.
009 - kiss
He hates the way those angel's lips tempt him, tempt him, tempt him, when she's already someone else's and he doesn't have a chance to make her his.
010 - beach
His skin is the same glowing hue as his hair; she laughs as smears more lotion onto the delicate skin and he basks in the sound at his own expense.
011 - magic
"I don't want to believe," he complains; she replies snidely, "Well, you will, or I'll make sure you're on the bottom tonight."
012 - lies
He always tells her that he loves her; it's the fact that he doesn't really mean it that gets her frustrated.
013 - rebellion
"No," she refuses him, pushes him away and steps back in a graceful retreat.
014 - introduction
Her smile - it's beautiful, so beautiful that when she parts her pale lips to speak, he almost misses it when she introduces herself: "Katsuro Hotaru, Azasuki-sempai. My name...It's Katsuro Hotaru."
015 - lament
It pains her to see him like this, but she always reminds herself afterwards that it is neccessary for him to atone for his sins.
016 - sky
"Hotaru - she's afraid of heights...did you know that?" Ayumu informs Kousuke, to which he responds blandly (distracted, perhaps, by thoughts of her), "She loves the sky too much to be afraid of it, little mouse."
017 - ethereal
Kousuke wonders what he would do if he woke up one day and found that she had never existed.
018 - extortion
How much, Hotaru revels, has he been hurt by other people - to turn out so aggressive and vehement, like a viper trapped in a cage?
019 - music
She is entranced by such things as his fingers' skill, but just as he belongs only to Hiyono, so too does she belong to Kousuke - the boy has nothing to fear from Ayumu.
020 - despicable
Her feet are light and airy, even as she walks out the door for the last time, and Kousuke finds that he is disgusted by the prospect of losing something so perfect.
021 - sequence
Their sex is stationary - from beginning to end, they always know what to do and when to do it: sometimes, Hotaru finds herself wishing for just a little bit more, and to her surprise, he always gives it to her.
022 - twice
He found she was all the better the second time around because he already knew what to do.
023 - natural
Kousuke is her knight in shining armour, but only when the boy's instincts tell him she doesn't need saving.
024 - hospital
The whitewash walls, the silence devoid of emotion, the gleaming metal - Hotaru despises it all, and wonders how Kousuke can really be saved in a place like this.
025 - holy
She is a goddess (his goddess), to be sure; he worships her with the dexterity only a man of realistic limits can achieve.
026 - haunted
When he describes her as a fallen angel, she looks to him with shallow dark eyes and says mournfully, "The angels who have fallen that far are only angels who disobeyed God's will."
027 - because
Hotaru is not the reason Kousuke is willing to risk so much; in fact, she is just the cause of his pain.
028 - hands
"These hands," she whispers, "are not the hands of the person who you love so much; and if only you knew why, then maybe you'd be willing to accept the person they belong to as well."
030 - world
He doesn't bother to lie and tell her that she's his whole, entire world anymore because he has said it so often that even he is beginning to believe it himself.
031 - trust
"Why should I believe the word of a dirty, foul, cheating man like you, Kousuke?"
032 - unintentional
"Because," he informs her (as if Hotaru doesn't already know), "even if you don't want to, you will; and that's what always happens when you give too much of your heart away to someone who's only gonna snap it in two."
033 - novice
A spring sapling, perhaps, or a seedling's version of spring - she is a child with eyes turned outward to the world she has not yet discovered, and he - Kousuke - is her savior: eyes turned not inward into himself, but inward into her, pouring venom into every vein and telling her it's honey through and through.
034 - obsession
Hotaru: she wishes that she knew how to detach herself from him, but Kousuke is the only one who can do so without breaking something precious in the process.
035 - definite
She reads off words from a list she has to learn by Friday, complaining every step of the way, and he's barely listening to what she's saying because he's too busy thinking of how each word applies to her in the most aesthetic of senses.
036 - philosophy
Kousuke automatically tunes her out every time she begins to preach her twisted little morals to him - they're not worth half as much time as she is.
037 - kerosene
The fire has the capacity for both positive and negative effects, but all Kousuke thinks about when he knocks the lamp over is dampening the light so he doesn't have to see the fearful features of the girl beneath him.
038 - birds
"Flight is what she does, Ayumu," he continues in defense of his lady sovereign (birds of a feather flock together, Ayumu thinks vapidly, because he doesn't care about what Kousuke is trying to tell him), "so you shouldn't be trying to worry about a girl that already has someone to take those worries off her mind."
039 - emotion
"Well, at least you feel things like a normal person does," she grumbles, knowing that the facade is only temporary; it won't last very long once the door is closed and the candles are blown out.
040 - betrayal
She calls another man's name in her time of need, and that man doesn't come; but he does, and he resents it with what vestiges of humanity he can drag up from the dregs of his torn and battered soul.
041 - time
Hotaru only protests because she knows that if she stops now she'll never be able to begin again; with her the clock works backward and the hourglass stops so Kousuke is not surprised that she thinks to.
042 - silk
He likes how her hair feels when he brushes a hand through the sandy locks, suave and pristine, but deeply regrets that it's not long enough for him to entwine his fingers through it and tug: it's the sadist in him.
043 - scars
She protests when he decides to pierce his ears for the fifth time, but he stops her by pulling out a piercing gun and saying, "If you mess up the first time, it'll only hurt more."
044 - tyranny
He knows she has no idea what sort of absolute control she could one day have over him, if only she would wait that long.
045 - life
Hotaru, he discovers, has his same birthdate, but was born two hours after him - she has not, in fact, ever truly lived in a world without him.
046 - fall
He catches her before she even falls, lest she be tainted by the earth at it welcomes her embrace.
047 - erudite
They are both learned, scholarly, and intelligent - it's no wonder, then, that they say learning welcomes its own sort of discovery, but never had they been so prompted to look at that saying in a different light.
048 - air
She forgets to breathe on nights when he's not there to remind her, so when that time comes around he promises ever to be too far away - one of many broken oaths to come.
049 - island
It's as if she's never truly seen another boy in the same light - a stranger amongst a lot of familiarities that she doesn't recognize, or perhaps an island surrounded by only open sea on the horizon.
050 - given
What she has, she will offer freely to Kousuke, but because it has already been given to him before she has nothing of worth he can take.