Like Leaves in the Wind
Mira Stone
Chapter One
My name is Miraihito Sora, I'm a first year at Honan. I'm sixteen years old and I'm 153 cm. I enjoy writing and other artistic endeavors. I'm… not really good at cooking. I love doing it, but my mom says I don't have the patience to make a great impression.
I have a little brother who's only seven, but he's really smart. Haruki is probably going to a lot farther than I ever will. My dad works IT at the government as a contractor, so I usually don't see him all that much. My mom decided that she wanted to stay home, to take care of us, so it's not all too bad really.
An arm was suddenly wrapped around my neck and shoulders. "Ooooi, Sora this pocky's really great! You want any?" the words were muffled by the pocky in her mouth.
I laughed. "Ryoko, you know I don't eat that much!" I ducked under her arm and gently shoved the pocky box away.
Ryoko leaned all her weight on me. "Eaaaat the pocky! Eat it!" the pocky was shoved against my cheek so hard that it snapped in half. "Eh?"
We both blinked at the broken piece of candy that lay against the school tile. "Oops." I said, rubbing at my cheek.
Ryoko clutched her red hair inbetween her fingers, pulling. "Aaaahhaa nooo! The pocky!" Tears were dramatically streaming down her face. She didn't need to be a dancer, she could make great money on the big screens.
"Sorry, Ryoko." I apologized, a hand rubbing at the back of my neck.
She picked up the piece of pocky and shoved it into her mouth with out any hesitation. "Ah don' worry 'bout it." She said, a spattering of crumbs flying into the air. I let out a shriek of disgust.
"Ah! Ryoko, don't eat things off the floor!"
"What, five second rule. Gotta keep these floors clean." Ryoko pointed out, her voice entirely sensible. Sensible or not, it was entirely gross.
I shook my head in disgust. If she did it here, where the floors were cleaned until they shined, she would do it anywhere.
My phone vibrated. "Eh?" I patted my pockets, trying to figure out just where it had ended up.
"Moshi moshi?" I asked. Ryoko stopped attempting to shove a pocky stick into my mouth.
"Ah, Sora. Can you pick up Haruki up on your way home? I've got some errands to run and you know how he is." My mother fretted from the other side of the phone.
Hiruki could get distracted by a butterfly flapping its wings in someone's flower bed.
I nodded, despite knowing my mom couldn't see it. "Of course!"
"Sorry to pull you away from your activities, but there's so much that needs to be done-"
"Okaa-san! It's fine, I can pick him up. I'm sure Natsu-sempai will understand the situation." I said cheerfully. Ryoko hovered by my shoulder in curiosity, the previous pocky box having been replaced with some Hello Panda munchies.
I said goodbye to my mother and hung up, glowing with the pride being entrusted with a big responsibility gives you.
"Ah… Sora… you do know the elementary school gets out soon, right?" Ryoko pointed out, having shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation. I looked at the time and panicked as I realized the truth of Ryoko's statements.
It was a thirty minute run from Honan and it was twenty minutes till my little brother was unleashed on the world. Knowing him, he wouldn't wait the ten minutes that it would take for me to get there and just wander the neighborhoods trying to find his own way home. It would be disaster.
"Bye Ryoko see you tomorrow!" I yelled over my shoulder. "Tell Natsu-sempai that I can't come!"
Ryoko's amused expression never changed as she waved me off with her free hand. "Be free, Sora, be free and fly like a bird."
I didn't pay any attention to her witty reply, already running down the stairs. "I'M LAAAAAATE!"
My bag full of books slammed against my back with increasing sharpness, and I knew I'd have to do something about it eventually. But the mantra of late late late and Harruki could be kidnapped or worse was ringing in my head. My feet pounded the tile and I skid around a corner. I had to jump up and kick at the wall to keep from smashing into it, so great was my speed. A green head poped out of the near by door, glasses flashing in the hall light.
"You! You're fast! Joing the Stri-"
I was already five doors past when I heard the faint wail of "Denial by speed!"
I didn't care though, I was LATE.
It was sunset. I ran through the parking lot. Ahead, a dark motorcycle was idling, waiting for the light to turn green. In the fading light, silver hair drew my eye for the briefest of moments.
My feet pounded against the gravel and my chest was filled with shards of glass. But I couldn't slow down. Haruki was waiting for me. Haruki needed me!
My bag jammed into my hip at an odd angle, carrying me forward just one step more. My feet twisted together like my headphones when I leave them in my pockets too long. Before I knew it, my momentum had sent me rolling down into the street and I was eating still warm assphalt.
A screeching honk brought me to my senses and I attempted to scramble out of incomming traffic. By my ankle - it -
I couldn't breathe. The pain was like fire and ice, stabbing my nerves over and over. I couldn't get up. I couldn't get up!
A truck was barreling right for me, it's horn blaring. I was going to die. Haruki would wonder where Mom was, if anyone was going to pick him up. There was the horrific sound of slamming breaks. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes and leaked over. I wouldn't be able to hug my dad. Mom was going to make curry, to celebrate another year of employment…
My name is Miraihito Sora. I'm sixteen years old and I haven't lived at all.
Hands grabbed around my waist. Suddenly, I'm flying backwards and we crash against the sidewalk. The screeching truck goes past the intersection and farther down the road.
"Are you okay!" a muffled yell from underneath a black motorcycle tries to pierce through the veil of shock that's beginning to settle in.
I stare blankly up at my savior, tears silently streaming down my face and making my vision blur. The helmet is ripped off.
"Hey! You okay?" my savior is a boy. His long silver hair falls into grey blue eyes, wide with concern. I blink, and he grows even more panicked. I just feel numb. He gathers me up into his arms and uprights his abandoned motorcycle.
"I'm taking you to a hospital, okay?"
Hospital… why did I feel like… He put me infront, put his helmet on my head and began to drive.
My head was spinning by the time we arrived. He helped me off and the pain of my ankle brushing against the ground brought back the fact that I WAS LATE. "No! I need you to take me back! My little brother's-"
"Hey. It's okay." The silver haired teen soothed, trying to get me to stop struggling in his arms.
"No! It's not okay! My little brother's probably halfway to lost by now and now I'll probably never see him again!" I wailed, hiccuping a sob.
"Hey, hey…" he quietly soothed, taking us both further towards the hospital doors. I was sobbing quite horrifically by this point. "Once we get you settled I'll go get your brother, okay?" he gently proposed. I hiccoughed and peered up at him blearily.
"You promise?"
"I promise." He assured. There was a quiet determination about him that soothed the raging panic inside my chest and I settled down in his arms just as several nurses rushed towards us with varying expressions of motherly rage in what seemed like my defense.
"Help her." The teen ordered the nurses, cutting off whatever tirade they were all cooking up. He then unceremoniously dumped me into an orderly's hands and stalked away to fulfill his promise. I caught a glimpse of his eyes and they looked… sad. Defeated almost.
"That boy." One nurse scoffed in undertone. "Of course he would bring in another of his victims. The same type of injury too…"
It was obvious that I wasn't supposed to hear that.
"But he saved me." I said. "I fell into the street and he saved me."
The nurses around me looked startled. They shook it off and took me further into the hospital proper, muttering about how the shock must have been confusing my memory. I glanced back and saw his silvery white hair fly in the wind just as the doors closed.
"Onee-chan!" Haruki blubbered, launching his tiny body into my lap, causing the bed to dip at the sudden weight. "You're okay! Nii-san said that you were but you're in the hospital and that doesn't mean you're alright!"
Nii-san? I blinked and then looked up to see the back of my rescuer as he slipped out of the room.
"I just had an accident, Haruki." I soothed, smoothing back blond hair that had clumped together strangely from the helmet. "I'm alright. Did you enjoy the motorcycle ride?"
Haruki brightened as he nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Niisan is awesome! Can I ride with him again sometime?"
I let out a considering hum. "Mmm… probably not. I don't even know his name."
"Eeeh? Then why did you get him to pick me up? That's kinda strange, Onee-chan."
I tugged him closer to my side and tickled him mercilessly. "Oh yeah? Well you're kinda strange too!"
"Aiiiiieeee! Noooo! Stop!" Haruki giggled, shrieking as my fingers ghosted up his ribs.
"What're the magic wooords." I cooed.
"Y-You're the bestest s-sister in the woooorrrld?" there was a spattering of breathless giggles spread throughout so I let his questioning tone go. He settled against my side with a relieved sigh and I reflexivly tugged him closer. I settled back into my pillows, soothed by the warmth beside me.
We were both almost asleep when my hospital door slammed open and my mother ran in, hands fluttering in the air with an anxiety I hadn't seen in years.
"Sora! Are you alright? Where did you get hurt?"
"I broke my ankle when I fell." I admitted quietly, hyperaware of how Haruki was blinking sleepily into my side.
"Oh you poor sweetie. Did that foul boy push you or something? At least he has the honor to fix his mistake this time."
"Mom!" I said sharply. "He saved my life! I tripped and couldn't get back up and he saved me!"
My mom's eyes grew wet and she pressed her hands to her lips at my words. "Is this true?" she asked.
I nodded. "He saved me, Okaasan. I thought…" tears welled up in my eyes and I dashed them away angrily. "I thought I wasn't gonna see y-you or Haruki or T-Tou-san…" I sniffed. "And then we were flying. I grabbed me and we were flying."
My mom burst into tears and that set me off which then set Haruki off.
It was several days later that I was finally able to see my tall savior again. In that time, I had learned his name (Kuga Kyoske), that he was a third year, and that he was viewed as the pariah of the entire school.
Despite all that, I was determined to make it up to him some how. The scratches on his motorcycle had somehow sparked up a rumor that he had fought off several gangs at once and the promptly run them over. This, would not do. He had banged up his motorcycle saving me and I wasn't just going to forget the boy who had saved my life because of a nasty reputation.
Kuga-sempai was sitting under a tree, the wind rustling his long white hair. A green leaf falls from the tree and he lifts his head up to the sky. He looks like he's at peace.
But there's a large circle of empty space. People see him under the tree and immediately turn around, as if he'd snap at anything wrong.
"Ooooi! Sora! What are ya lookin' a-?" Ryoko's muffled drawl is cut off as she grabs my arm and whirls me around. "No. No. You are not giving that bento to him. Sora, he took fifteen of his own teammates out for no reason at all! Fifteen! You can't even run away with your leg in a cast like that! What are you going to do, smack him with your crutches if he attempts to molest you?"
I lean on my crutches and bat away Ryoko's hands with my own. "He's not going to mol-Ryoko! I keep telling you, he saved my life!"
"Uh-huh, sure that's what he wants you to say." Ryoko rolls her eyes. "Listen, Sora. I know guys. And Kuga? Feh! He's a total thug! I wouldn't put it past him to be a part of the Yakuza!"
I puff out my cheeks. "You are such a -" I clamp down my mouth and scream. I readjust my grip on the bento and begin to stalk toward the lonely figure of Kuga-sempai. It's a rather dignified thing but in reality, I just hobble awkwardly forward.
He glances at me from his observation of the sky then does a visible doubletake, his eyes wide under his white bangs. I thrust out the bento.
"Kuga-sempai! Thank you for saving my life! I know that this bento can't cover all the trouble you went through but it's all I have!" I bowed, biting my lip.
When I popped back up, Kuga-sempai was still staring at me wide eyed. Hesitantly, he glanced over his right shoulder, then his left, as if I was somehow addressing another person whose last name was Kuga. With a wary hesitance, he took the bento from my trembling fingers. I wasn't scared, my ankle was just screaming at me and I needed to sit down right now. With my bento delivered, I gratefully sank down to sit on the grass, my crutches folded over my lap.
Kuga-sempai stared at me, then hesitantly unwrapped the bento. I nervously twiddled my thumbs at his expression. Like my mom said, I don't have the patience to make something presentable… It always ends up strange and lumpy.
I know how the bento looked… My apple bunnies looked demonic and brown, my onigiri wasn't triangle shaped, my tamago chicks didn't look very much like their inspirations and the hotdog squid and octopus were a little crispy around the edges from when the oil had splatterd over me. The ride to school had also messed up their placements so nothing looked organized at all.
I watched from the corner of my eye as Kuga-sempai took a hesitant bite of an octopus. His eyes widened and the entire aura around him changed from that of loneliness and sorrow to startled joy. I could almost see the sparkles in the air. He quickly sampled other pieces of my bento.
"Ah… This is amazing." Kuga-sempai said, before visibly pausing. I realized with a jolt that I hadn't introduced myself.
"I'm sorry! My name is Miraihito Sora, I'm a first year and I'm sixteen! I'm glad you liked it, Kuga-sempai!" I grinned up at him. He stared down at me, grey eyes wide. Even when we were sitting, he was still taller than me. Then, the smallest of smiles softened the surprise on his face and my heart did a weird swoop into my stomach and almost decided to stay there.
It was then, that I decided that I wanted to be Kuga-sempai's friend.
AN: This is all because I watched episode five and fell head first in love with Kyosuke, then wanted to go and patch his emotional wounds up (despite canon having merely brushed over it with sandpaper). Therefore this fic has been born and is most likely to go really OOC really fast. I will attempt to curb it, but I'm pretty sure I've already failed.