Disclaimer: I do not own X/1999, any of the characters, etc . . . CLAMP does, and I would not have it any other way.
For: satoshisakura/tumblr.
Rating: K+
Summary: AU. Kamui has recently moved to Tokyo from a very small village out in the middle of nowhere. It has been a few months now and he now beginning to get used to the city life, that is until he starts hearing about this thing called Valentine's Day and poor Kamui is having a hard time trying to figure it out. And, the people around here aren't helping matters.
Part 1
To Kamui, Tokyo had been strange since he first stepped off the train a few months ago. The buildings were quite tall that it seem that there was no sky on some days. There were so many people, more than he's ever seen in his first fifteen years of life, and more than he'll ever get the chance to meet.
To say the least, he eventually got used to the unusual sights, but that was only due to a few friends that he made while being lost in Ikebukuro one day and some from school, called CLAMP Academy. And, his so-called friends were much more unusual then the city itself, so it was only natural for him to find the city normal after meeting them.
Well, so he thought, within a few months of his arrival, many of the city's major shopping districts began to show colors of pink, red, white, but mostly pink in late-January. It was not sickening as many other males his age would think, but to him it was very unusual and strange.
As the days passed, he noticed that female population at his school, as well as a majority of the male population itself, began to act strange as more shades of pink covered Tokyo.
It was clear to Kamui that both populations were waiting for something . . . . What exactly it was, however, he had no idea. Besides the floods of pink, the only hint that Kamui managed to get from the shopping district closest to his home was something called 'Valentine's Day.'
And, just like everyone else, curiosity got the best of Kamui as he decided to find out what exactly is this 'Valentine's Day.'
"Yo, Kamui, you look like you're on a mission today, what's up?" asked a semi-close friend of Kamui's, Sorata Arisugawa, while putting on his outside shoes to leave for the day. Sorata was one of the first people who introduced himself to Kamui here at CLAMP Academy, but he was only a 'semi-close' due the fact that Kamui sometimes found him a little too . . . energetic. But, when it comes to the social norm, Sorata was probably the most popular out of his group of friends.
"Say, Sorata, what is Valentine's Day?" Kamui asked Sorata when he got close enough to the taller teen to hear him.
"Eh?" It took a moment for Sorata to process Kamui's question, since it was unusual for a teen in high school to not know one of the biggest social holidays in Japan.
So, with an awkward cough, Sorata straighten up and looked squarely on Kamui's face to see if Kamui was playing a trick on him.
Kamui simply continued to stare at Sorata, waiting patiently for the goof ball to answer.
"Hmm, well, what do you know about Valentine's Day?" asked Sorata cautiously.
Kamui gave an irritate sigh before he answered, "Only that it has to do with the color pink, and makes people act strange."
"That's it?" Sorata blinked.
"I wouldn't be asking, if I knew." answered Kamui.
"Asking what, Kamui?" asked a voice suddenly from behind Sorata, which caused Sorata to jump right next to Kamui, while Kamui continued to give a blank stare.
"Yuzuriha, I thought you already left for the day?" laughed Sorata trying to hide his scare from earlier, however he was continued to be ignored.
"Valentine's Day." Kamui answered Yuzuriha's earlier question.
Yuzuriha's head tilted slightly while blinking at Kamui, "Did they celebrate back in your old village?"
Kamui shook his head.
Yuzuriha then gave both boys, mainly Kamui, a big smile. "Then Sorata and I will have to give a tour!" she exclaimed, quickly grabbing one of each of the boys' arms, pulling them outside where Inuki was sitting obediently by the door.
"Yuzuriha, where are you taking us?" asked Sorata while trying to keep from falling.
"You'll see~"
~*~*~*~*~*~* Time Skip
"So, you brought us to a cafe?"
"Yep~"
"Why?"
"Cause I wanted some sweets!" stated Yuzuriha while looking through the day's specials.
'Of course.' Sorata said to himself before looking through the menu himself.
Within a few minutes, both had finished ordering and their tea was served.
"Are you two going to tell me about Valentine's Day now?" asked Kamui impatiently, which shocked his two friends greatly seeing how Kamui hardly showed any emotions.
"Of course." answered Yuzuriha, quickly recovering from her slight shock and clearing her throat before beginning her history lesson. "Traditionally, Valentine's Day is held on February 14th, and it was brought over by the Americans through commercial advertisement, and it became popular in Japan in recent years."
Kamui nodded as he began to get the basics of it. "What do people usually celebrate on this holiday?"
Yuzuriha gave a quick glance in Sorata's direction, who just shrugged not knowing how to answer Kamui's answer in plain terms, so with a sigh, Yuzuriha continued. "In short, people gives chocolates to the person who made an indentation on their heart. But, people can also give chocolates to close friends and parents."
"Indentation?" repeated Kamui, both Sorata and Yuzuriha nodded with a smile. Which didn't help Kamui at all, he knew what indentation meant, but it being in the same sentence as heart seem awfully odd. Wouldn't someone died if their heart received any damage?
"Kamui, you still look confused, what's the matter?" asked Sorata, quickly putting his hot tea down after burning his tongue.
"By indentation, what do you mean?"
Both Sorata and Yuzuriha stared at Kamui for a moment before turning their heads to face each other, both slightly blushing. As always, Kamui took nothing of the awkward silence and stared on waiting patiently for an answer.
"Good evening, you three!" shouted a voice from across the cafe by the entrance.
Sorata and Yuzuriha gave a sigh of relief knowing that this was probably their only chance to dump this explanation onto someone else.
"Yo, Yuuto, long time no see, how have you been?" asked the ever friendly Sorata.
"Good, good. How has school been for you three?" asked Yuuto as he neared the table that the group was sitting at, "Can I join you?" With a nod, Yuuto sat down at the comfy little table.
"School's been killer!" answered Sorata with a frown.
"For you at least!" counted Yuzuriha with a laugh, which Yuuto joined in.
After a few minutes of useless conversation, Kamui began to get impatient again.
"Yuuto," called out Kamui in a moment of silence between the group.
Yuuto did not bother to look up from his menu, "Yes, Kamui."
"Why exactly do people celebrate Valentine's Day?"
Unlike Sorata and Yuzuriha before him, Yuuto did not find the topic of Valentine's Day awkward, instead he quite enjoyed the holiday and he was not ashamed to explain why.
"Well, it depends on who you ask." started Yuuto, before taking a quick sip from his tea and gently putting down the cup. "Personally, it's the time of the year where there are no strings attached."
"No strings attached?" Kamui repeated.
"Everyone enjoys feeling in love, and being loved." reworded Yuuto.
"So, it's a holiday about 'love'?" asked Kamui slightly disgusted, but none of the people at the table caught the slight change in tone.
"Again, it depends who you ask. I don't believe in love." stated Yuuto before calling over the waitress to place his order to go.
"Then why did you just say that?" asked Yuzuriha.
"I'm speaking from experience, because it's true." Yuuto answered, "Every Valentine's Day I have celebrated, it's usually with someone who I found crying in the park, or in some bar."
"That's disgusting!" fumed Yuzuriha, crossing her arms refusing to look in Yuuto's general direction.
"Tell me then." Yuuto began, "Isn't your relationship as disgusting on the general surface, if not more so? It may even be less accepted than my lack of dedication."
Yuzuriha shot up from sit, quickly positioning herself to slap Yuuto before being stopped by Sorata. "It's not worth it." Sorata stated while shaking his head at Yuzuriha.
"Well, that's that." Yuuto announced noticing the waitress coming back with his order. "I do certainly hope that I helped to answer your question. Until we meet again." With a bow to the waitress, who swayed slightly at the handsome Yuuto, and to the group, he left as suddenly as he came.
With Yuuto gone, the tension at the table quickly dissipated especially since the waitress came with table's orders. Yuzuriha quickly forgot her confrontation with Yuuto and went directly to Heaven with her first bite of her Angel cake and Sorata showed signs of greatly enjoying his own dessert, even going as far to order cake for his other.
However, due to his mission Kamui did not order dessert for himself and excused himself after a few minutes into his friends' meal.
Sadly, the cafe was in the opposite direction of his apartment, so he had a lot more thinking time then he would have liked.
'So, Valentine's Day is about love . . . And, giving chocolates to loved ones?' Kamui silently thought to himself, not really paying attention to his surroundings. 'It's about spending time with significant others . . .' The more Kamui thought about the topic, the more he understood, and the more he did not understand. Both, Yuzuriha and Yuuto's explanations were similar yet very different.
"Maybe I should ask someone else?" Kamui thought out loud to himself coming to a stop at a red light waiting for his turn to cross the road.
"Ask what, Kamui?" Kamui immediately snapped out of his thoughts to look behind only to come face to face with a board chest. With a few blinks, Kamui looked up to see who the chest belonged to . . .
"Fuuma?"
I know I suck, but I love leaving cliffhangers~ And, yes I know I'm doing a SubKa fic, hold your horses! (Which, I encourage you not to since I got bad rope burn once from doing that and I know people who've lost fingers.) Part 2 should be up by tomorrow.