Strawberry Picking

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Waltzing through the forest like there's no tomorrow.

Don't look at me I'm a sinner.

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Chibita let out a tiresome huff as he trekked across the grassy plain. A customer had told him that there were ripening strawberry fields within the outer areas of town, and that they were the best strawberries they've ever eaten. At the time Chibita had humorously dismissed their ravings and said that it was only early March. The outdoor season doesn't start for another two months. How could the summer fruit possibly be growing at such a time? Oddly enough, the customer winked and casually pulled a scarlet strawberry from their leather pouch.

"Try it", they had said. "Just one bite", they had said. "If you don't believe me then go see for yourself." They. Had. Said.

Well, annoyingly enough Chibita had eaten that one pesky strawberry, and now he is completely hooked on trying to locate its original source. Without a doubt, that was the best strawberry Chibita had eaten in all his mediocre life. It was, to put it simply: perfect, and Chibita personally required more perfect things in his world. The sensational fruit reminded him of when he first consumed a delectable oden; one that had been slowly simmering after a long winter day. The sublime experience has been permanently branded into his memory vault; right alongside his flower maiden and the first time he met the sextuplets. While he wasn't entirely sure if this so called strawberry field truly exists, he was definitely determined to find out. The oden enthusiast has been wandering for hours on a stray dirt path as he struggles to remember the vague directions recited to him the previous day. He probably should have called it quits about a mile ago, but he was too stubborn to give up now. What good would surrendering do when he still had plenty of daylight to spare? Besides, it was only around early morning and he was feeling exceptionally capable of walking a few more strides. A little exercise never hurt anyone, right? As this mellow thought glided across Chibita's mind, a slight twitch erupted in his right calf muscle.

Chibita abruptly stopped, wincing slightly at the spasming ligament. "Heh, well I guess I spoke too soon." Crouching down, Chibita decided it was best to take a short break before he actually hurt himself. The petite male gradually stretched out his right leg, taking extra precaution as he carefully lowered his weight against the tendon. "Wouldn't want to pull a hammy." Chibita jokingly thought as he glanced upwards, intrigued by the clear blue sky. It was quite the contrast in the far east. Thick thunderheads stationed themselves above his hometown, successfully creating an immobile aerial barrier. The foreboding clouds casted off strange shadows; polluting the land in a saturated grey tint. It looked almost as if the clouds were black ink blotches, and someone had taken a damaged quill to deliberately paint angry streaks across the sky, but halfway through their chaos they mistakenly knocked over the slick bottle, spilling the remnants onto the Earth. "Good thing I'm where the grass is greener." He satisfyingly contemplated. Chibita swore he could see the rain pour from the heavens as a flash of lightning whipped across the void. It wouldn't have been a very good oden day.

Chibita's vision lowered itself to the ground as he removed his knapsack from his tired shoulders. His hands busily rummaged through his belongings until he brushed against a water bottle. Efficiently unscrewing the cap, Chibita took a long swig of the cool drink. He pleasantly hummed as he felt the soothing liquid slide down his throat and pool within his lower abdomen. The usually working individual felt content with the relaxing breeze; he absorbed the way the gentle caress of sunlight felt against his skin, and how it was warmly coaxing him into a peaceful state of mind. Even if he doesn't find his sought out treasure, today has surely lived up to noteworthy standards.

A sudden gust of wind broke out of its cage and bounded across the grass blades, creating a matted ripple amongst the ground. A young leaf was unexpectedly ripped away from the mother tree branch, getting caught in the swift jet stream. It wasn't its time, still small and fragile, like a newborn kitten being washed away in a flood; its howls of protest being drowned out by nature's windy screams. The angelic leaf floated aimlessly above Chibita, twirling ever so slightly before abruptly jerking to the side, within his line of vision. Chibita observed the tiny green snowflake as it danced midair, captivated by the inevitable freefall until it was yet again swept upwards, like a punch delivered straight into the chest. The leaf spiraled around Chibita in a tribal fashion, almost as if the insignificant being was chanting an old lyric. Chibita began to unknowingly follow the leaf when the wind shifted direction, completely drawn to the fading outlines of where it used to be. The concealed tamer snuck up from behind him, faceless and unforgiving; unflinchingly removing their weapon from its holster and silencing the wind. The whispering exhales brushed past his ears as the wind died down, and so the leaf fell, no longer having a puppeteer to guide its scripted movements.

Chibita snapped out of his enchantment with minor confusion. He assessed his whereabouts with a burning realization that he didn't know where he was. "How…?" Chibita spun around in hopes of retracing his steps, but surprisingly was met with a rock wall. "What?" This didn't make any sense. The nearest mountain was at least three-hundred yards away, and yet here he was, face to face with a cliff side. The oden lover let out a frustrated sigh. "This is absurd. All this for potentially nonexistent strawberries." He once again began to continue his short-lived journey when his foot mercilessly stepped onto something small. Chibita quickly removed his foot, panicking when he saw a red shade beneath his shoes. As he peeled his shoe away from the goop, he realized that the squashed form resembled a strawberry. Relief washed over him when he could conclude that he hadn't kill a small animal, but more importantly, he had just found a strawberry. Yippee-fucking-doo it's about time.

Damn strawberries.

No more games of hide-and-seek. Chibita broke through the light scatter of trees and bushes until his eyes landed upon a wonderful sight: a strawberry patch. He felt like a kid in a candy store, all hyped up on life and giddy as hell.

Chibita excitingly approached the teeming holiday colors, carelessly stepping on the stray fruit as he knelt down. This garden of strawberries wasn't all neat and tidy like how he usually sees them. This particular one was growing wild and thriving at will; no cookie-cutter paths to walk alongside or decoratively trimmed rows for sheer convenience. Chibita plucked a flushed offspring from its stem, thoroughly brushing off the dark soil as he sank his teeth into the fruit. A red trickle squirted from his lips and ran down his chin, hesitantly suspended against the tan skin before recycling back into the dirt.

"These are the ones. The customer wasn't lying." Chibita happily made his way over to his next sweet victim. The bush adjacent to his previous encounter shimmered slightly in the sunlight. Dewy green leaves reflected the day's mood, catching each individual ray before tossing them aside, directly into Chibita's eyes. The smaller male squinted through the white flashes as he gathered a fairly wounded strawberry in his hands. The delicate fruit was terribly bruised on its left side. Blackened blotches accentuated the wrinkled skin and surrounded a rather resentful concaved mush that was turning a deep shade of misery. A blood vessel must have popped. The intricate rotting-yellow seeds reminded him of a strange disease; one that developed through infection and clogged each individual pore from oxygen. Or maybe the discoloration reminded him of mold; the type that grew in damp humid areas which sprouted fertile mushrooms from nature's decomposing life. The tight indentions on the strawberry made Chibita uncomfortable. His thumbnail scraped against the softened texture, grossly carving the dark juices behind his fingernail. Chibita instinctively dropped the soiled fruit onto the ground. He suddenly felt repulsed at the idea of touching the fruit, let alone eating it. What a shame.

Chibita wiped the remnants onto the nearby grass, coating the rough blades in no particular pattern. He decided it was time to call it a day. Maybe Chibita would return to the field next week if he felt up to the journey, and if he fancied the idea of the actual strawberries themselves. The male let out a disappointed sigh as he made his way back to the cliffside. He couldn't help but think that this had all been a waste of his time. Sure, the strawberries were great, but in a sickly sweet kind of way that made his stomach turn in the end.

The tired wanderer walked alongside the steep cliff wall until he could once again see the dirt path he had previously traveled on. Stretching his arm up towards the sky, Chibita noticed how the dark pine needles formed tangled webs against the blue canvas. Random cut-outs of the light pigment twinkled through the shadowed tree leaves and dabbled translucently across his surroundings. The fixated light patterns swayed ever so slightly with the rustle of a breeze skipping from branch to branch. Towards the middle section of the trees however, the breeze tripped and nearly fell through the unusually large opening between the branches. Chibita gazed with wonder at the broken tree limbs, taking notice of how the branches had been abruptly snapped due to a sudden imposing force; the dusted wood awkwardly splitting at the edges like cut rope.

"What…?-"

Chibita suddenly felt his weight falling forward as his foot tripped over a stray tree root. Taken completely off guard, he ungracefully crashed into a scatter of pine needles and old pine cones as he hit the ground with unnecessary force. Chibita hissed in pain as he removed a particularly sharp pine cone from the outstretched palm that had bravely broken his fall. At least it wasn't his face. Chibita glared downwards as he twisted his body around, only to feel himself completely freeze at the sight of a body.

"Oh fuck-"

Chibita's body was moving in an instant and hovering over the still form. The purple mass was directly under where all the tree branches had been snapped and forgotten. Chibita could put two and two together.

"What to do what to do…" Chibita was speaking aloud to himself under breathless pants of panic. It helped him think, and not feel entirely helpless.

He decided that checking the person's pulse was a decent start. As he reached toward the neck of the victim facing downwards he started to notice something cold-bloodedly odd. And recognizable. The dark hair was too similarly ruffled and cut in such a typical fashion. The slender slope of the face connecting to his ears from the sharp jawline tied together too distinctly. Too perfectly. Chibita's eyes briefly outlined the shape of the body before nervously flickering back up toward the purple shirt.

"Oh God Ichimatsu…"

Chibita's mind was reeling. It was only a matter of time really… until the most depressing brother out of the sextuplets acted out… only a matter of time…

But maybe this was all an accident? Perhaps he had fallen, just coincidentally in the middle of nowhere, from the edge of a strange isolated cliff… yeah right. This was no "mistake", but surely it had to be some kind of sick misunderstanding, right?

Chibita brushed his fingertips against the unnaturally cold neck as he hoped, prayed, anything for a pulse. For a sign of life. Something to prove that this isn't completely over and there's still a chance… a chance for a second chance.

He held his breath as he waited; his fingers pressed firmly against the skin where traces of a heartbeat should resonate. The foreboding silence suspended between his stagnant mind and the rest of the revolving world. Even the faint movement of an empty cloud overhead leisurely stalled as it watched the scene below.

…

…

…

…/\/\/…...thump….\/\/\…...

His eyes widened in both shock and relief. The pulse was slow and barely noticeable, but nevertheless there. It's a start. There's still time to change this horrible outcome.

Chibita whipped out his recently acquired cellphone, with the courtesy of Todomatsu's help, and crossed his fingers for a signal. Holding the device toward the heavens as an offering of any sort, he dialed 911. The operator picked up in an instant, meaning that he actually had service in this desolate wasteland of hell. The jumbled conversation lasted only under a minute as the lady consoled him. She hastily reassured Chibita that they were connecting a transmitter to his phone and would be at his far-off location within a maximum of fifteen minutes. A new sense of hope washed over Chibita, spreading through his body like gossamer whispers. He was instructed to just remain calm, keep his phone connected to the line, and to also see if he could try tending to any visible wounds without shifting the damaged body too much.

Chibita crouched beside the motionless figure, mentally noting how the surrounding pine needles were tinted red. He gingerly placed his hands against the lower side of the body's torso when his suspicions were distressingly confirmed. Chibita's heart sank as he removed his hands and stared warily at his open palms. They were carelessly painted in a deep crimson red. Too much red. The fluid was surprisingly fresh, still lethargically seeping out of the devious gash that struggled to clot around the edges. The shirt was covered in crusty dried splotches from various other hibernating cuts; exhausted cuts who had long since sealed themselves closed, patiently waiting for the rest to drain entirely. How had he not already bled out by now? Chibita's hands looked as if he were getting ready to harmlessly finger paint, like during the times when he was in grade school. How nostalgic. Except this time was dismayingly unpleasant with the unwanted addition of his childhood friend's blood. Wait a minute…

He stared back at the off-colored shirt, slowly taking notice of how some areas were stained violet, almost like a dark red, while other sections were… blue? Oh no.

Realization hit Chibita like a freight train; one that completely knocked the air from his lungs, and didn't even have the decency to attempt to use the breaks. At least then the sharp screeches would have given him a fair warning, but no, instead he was hit with the full intensity of the impact; the oxygen refusing to resurface as he choked on his own tongue. With his hand wavering significantly, he hesitantly brushed away blood-stiffened stray hairs as he leaned over the immobile body, reluctantly studying the tilted side of the brother's concealed face. The delicate pale skin stretched over his cheekbone had been stained accordingly and precisely maimed; the uncharacteristic surface appearing sliced and dreadfully bruised, like a fragile strawberry, but the gradual dip underneath the feature was awfully familiar. It further complimented the angular arch of a prominent eyebrow set peacefully above long sleeping lashes. Chibita then anxiously observed the bare arms; arms that were moderately well defined from regular workouts and attentive fitness regimes. The same arms that had been constantly flexed and flaunted in front of him just last week.

"Karamatsu…?"

This wasn't happening.

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Author's Note:

Lol Chibita wasn't even going to be in this fanfic, but due to a comment I've decided to explore alternate possibilities. I really do appreciate all of your feedback and will occasionally take suggestions into consideration((:
Check out that strawberry symbolism though. So deep. So much blood. Ahhhhhh I'm so sorry but not really though, Karamatsu's pain fuels this fandom haha.
Let me know what you guys think~ 3