Title: Birdbaths
Rating: Rated T.
Pairings: Mazume (Mamura x Suzume).
Genre: Romance.
Summary: Unlike some things, a gift's meaning was deeper than just its contents.
Regarding Q&A: Any questions regarding the story can be asked via PM or review.
Beta: N/A - Help wanted.
Warnings: None.
Category: Hirunaka no Ryūsei.
Uploaded: December 9th, 2013
(Section Break)
He smells like soap.
She notices this at first, a simple chance where she lingers too long and his scent reaches her after just a few seconds. The smell bubbles off of him, floating up into her nose, and she decides that it is a very...clean smell. It itself is faint, a simple dusting of snow on a cold day in the foreign-to-her city, but it is comforting. Scent is not a priority of hers, but in comparison with the lingering memories filled with cigarette smoke and one-sided-yet-not love, it is a welcome change that is long overdue.
The first time she decides to get her classmate a gift, for his birthday no less, such thoughts do not particularly cross her mind. The excitement and joy of going to Tsukiji overwhelms the haunting images of her former forbidden love, and she debates what to buy him for such a momentous occasion.
It is hard, she decides, and eventually during one of her endeavors to buy food she notices in a shop window a pair of headphones. She inwardly jokes that indeed, soap would be a bad gift choice no matter how good it smells, and taking a glance at the last of the funds in her wallet while wondering why she had even considered it in the first place, she enters the store's entryway with a soft jingle as the bell signaling her arrival rings. Just a while later she presents him with it, and while immediately he does not express feelings about it, she soon discovers he is happy with her present.
With that in mind, that night on her way home and her stomach full of seafood, she sees a storefront displaying little soaps. Despite her intuition telling her no, you just gave him something, it'll get odd, the small and cheerful ring of a door's bell once again enters her hearing. That night, turning the miniature box of fragranced solid over and over again, she decides with a light heart that it would be a nice thank-you present.
The phone call she receives that night from him was unexpected and startling, but the next morning as she brushes her hair and braids it with skilled and delicate fingers, she makes sure to still grab the small bag on her way out the door. Her uncle's gaze lingers on her as she leaves, and as she arrives at school and encounters her classmate, immediately she presses the gift to his chest with an extended arm.
"A thank-you for the outing yesterday," she breathes, leaving as soon as his hands slowly reach up to grasp it. She avoids his eyes that day, even with the awkward and fumble-inducing encounters with her teacher and the peculiar way it is dealt with by him.
The next time they see each other, her braids a bit messier than normal, she notices as she sits down that she smells something different. And she notices that he no longer is looking at her, either. A grin hidden by her hand breaks her face, and soon she discovers that the view outside is much more beautiful than she had ever thought. She could even smell the flowers as if they were right next to her, just feet away.
Perhaps they were.
(Section Break)
*silently adds the word "ryuusei" so this shows up on Google*
This fic will be all my sort-of-almost-long-enough-to-be-standalone fics. So enjoy, hehe.
Send help. Please. I have problems.
Well, if you review, virtual cookies. If not, that's fine too. As long as you like the story, everything's all good!
Shameless advertising: I have another Mazume Hirunaka no Ryūsei fanfiction called Opacity, by the way. And if you're interested, I also have various other one-shots for One Piece and Naruto, most of them parody.