Hi! Lol! Here's the next chapter! XD And as you read this story, I want all of you to keep in mind one thing; not everything is what it seems. There's an undercurrent going on in this story that I have hinted at... let's see if any of you have caught it, though. And trust me, it's not what you might think. And super duper sparkly thanks to Kitsune55 for beta-ing this chapter! Can't believe I forgot that! ((smacks herself over the head))
Title: For Every Action
Chapter Three: Living in the Briefest of Moments
"Cheetos… Not the Cheetos…"
Ryo blinked down at the young man against his shoulder, listening to the weird murmurings escaping the teen's lips as the older man attempted to correct the pile of papers settled over his lap, reading glasses slipping off the bridge of his nose as he did so.
'Cheetos?' The 23-year-old teacher thought to himself as he blinked once again.
"No… put… put it with the froggie…"
"Froggie? What is Akira-kun actually dreaming about in there?" Obsidian orbs widened in confusion and amusement as Akira continued to mumble incoherent things, snuggling deeper into the teacher's embrace within the confines of his slumber.
Who would have thought the boy was so affectionate?
"I said put it with the damn froggie, you stupid idiot!"
'At least unconsciously… and even then, it seems the boy is prone to severe attacks of anger.' Ryo thought to himself as he brought his attention back to the work he held on his lap.
The young teacher had always been a bit of an insomniac, yet he never understood why. No amount of pills or professional help ever seemed to make the problem go away, so he just dealt with it the best he could, trying to make the most of his sleeping problem and finish any work he deemed worthy enough to push aside. Ryo's attention was just as fickle as his sleeping habits, and that suited him just fine.
Akira, on the other hand…
"Don't forget the guacamole!"
He apparently was a sleep-fanatic.
'Who sleeps for six hours straight without a twitch and then suddenly out of the blue begins a tangent about Cheetos and guacamole whilst still dreaming?' The teacher simply smirked, adding it to the list of quirks the student had about him, wondering once again just who lay behind the angry, yet still so very calm and collective mask this one 16-year-old boy loved to parade.
Ryo put down the stack of tests and homework assignments, placing them on the small table in front of the couch both men laid on as he grabbed the boy once again, relaxing against the cushions of the comfortable cushions underneath him and staring up at his rather plain ceiling.
Akira shifted once more, burying his face deeper against Ryo's chest as a smile bloomed on Ryo's face, ebony eyes dancing in the dim morning light.
He'd have to wake them soon, but that could wait…
Ryo wanted to hold onto this feeling for as long as he could.
Even if it was just for a few more minutes.
"GOOOOOOD MOOOORRRNNNIIIINNNGGG!"
"Huh?"
"GAH!"
CRASH!
"DAMN IT, MIKO!"
Two pairs of eyes, one disoriented, and the other just plain angry, stared up at the cute eight-year-old girl, ponytail completely out of place as her sepia brown eyes twinkled down at the two men tangled across the carpeted floor.
'When did I fall asleep…?' Ryo thought to himself as dazedly blinked, his mind slowly catching up to the pandemonium surrounding it. 'I clearly remember watching Akira sleep… then, it's like everything faded into black.'
Well… that was interesting.
"Thanks for the wake-up call, girlie." Akira snapped, his glare not affecting the young girl at all.
However that probably had more to do with the fact that he was laying underneath another man, not looking uncomfortable in the slightest as his watered down, still not at full effect glare dimmed from being woken up far too early for the poor boy's tastes. If not for the fact that Akira would most likely crush her once he got up from under Ryo, Miko would have had most likely been taunting him about the position he was now in.
Oh, it was so easy to provoke her older brother in the morning. It almost wasn't even a challenge anymore… though still just as hazardous.
'Yet the danger only spurs me all the more.' Miko thought to herself as she grinned, her childish innocence softening her brother's countenance, even if he refused to admit such a thing out loud.
"No problem, Spandex-boy." Miko shot back, not thinking about the other man in the room that had no idea just what she was talking about.
"Spandex?" Both Akira and Miko blushed at the incredulous sound of Ryo's voice, the man looking more disturbed than anything.
"It's… best not knowing, Ryo-san." Miko meekly smiled, knowing her brother would most definitely kill her if she ever told anybody that story…
And she meant that in the 'He would bury me alive somewhere and not be the least bit sorry about it' kind of way.
"This… spandex you speak of…" Ryo glanced down at the teenager still pinned underneath him, his face glowing sporadically as he tried to face away from him.
"It's nothing." Akira coughed as he elbowed the teacher in what he presumed to be his gut-
"AHHHH!"
And missed by a good couple of inches.
Miko gasped.
Akira grimaced.
Ryo just clutched his poor groin in pain.
"Ryo-san!"
"Oops."
"Oh, my poor self-worth…"
Akira quickly detached himself from the heap and began rapidly apologizing, trying to soothe the man anyway he could, not noticing the rapid blinking sent to him by his sister.
"I swear I didn't mean to do that on purpose!" The young boy blushed as he helped the 23-year-old teacher up onto the couch. "Is there anything I can do to make it better?"
"…"
Ryo looked up at the boy with impossibly wide eyes, a faint smirk now lying on his lips as the pain finally receded.
"Oh, you pervert."
"But I did not say a word, Akira-kun."
Midnight black and blonde locks swayed as Akira shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he glared over at Ryo, Miko giggling silently to herself as she watched her two boys fight.
'My two boys…' The small girl thought faintly to herself as Akira continued to shout at the older man, fists balling up at his side as Ryo simply stared at him with a bored expression on his face. 'I like the sound of that.'
Miko could learn to live with the chaos around her, if given the chance.
"You are such an ass."
"I know. You never fail to remind me of this simple fact, Aki-chan."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"
"Aki-chan! That's so kawaii! Ryo-san is such a cool boyfriend to our dear, lovable Aki-chan…"
"NO! Miko-chan, don't you dare-"
"Ryo-and-Ak-i-ra! Sitting-in-a-tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-!"
"STOP IT MIKO! AND I MEAN NOW, MISSY!"
Spurts of laughter were heard from both sides as Miko and Ryo ignored the young man's twitching eye and continued to make jokes, easily switching between each other in terms of just who would make Akira feel uncomfortable next.
The 16-year-old was not amused.
"Are the both of you done now, because we've got to get going." The cinnamon-eyed boy ignored his little sister's blossoming pout as he collected their belongings and stood by the door, back to the two other people residing in the room.
Hordes of giggles still echoed off the room's walls as Akira began to tap his foot against the carpet, the affect ruined by the lack of sound produced.
A pair of arms wrapped themselves around Akira's waist as he then began to blush a vibrant red, glowing quite like a neon sign. "Aki-chan is quite adorable when he's all huffy."
Which is when the struggle began.
"You bastard!" Akira began thrashing about, trying to escape the iron-hold around his person, only to succeed in making the grip even tighter. "Get the hell off of me before I kick your ass."
"Really?" Ryo then lifted the boy up without any difficulty whatsoever and proceeded to lug the enraged teen to the couch, the mass of flying hands and kicking feet hardly affecting him at all as he threw the younger man down and smirked. "I think I would like to see Akira-kun attempt to 'kick my ass'."
"C'mon you guys, don't fight." Long, shadowy locks of hair, still lying in a lopsided ponytail, shook as Miko ran over and stood in between them, her eyes holding a slightly despairing look to them. "We need to get going home, anyways."
Akira halted all movements, his gaze scanning Miko's as the young girl began to fidget a bit, the look very familiar to his eyes.
'Damn it.'
"Sorry…" The student whispered, Ryo blinking at the sudden shift of tension within the room. "We'll get going now."
The high school teacher allowed the younger man to get up, blinking at the abrupt personality change within both brother and sister.
"Alright…" Ryo attempted to reign in the disappointment in his voice, not wanting either person to leave, yet really having no excuse for them to stay. "Would you like me to drive you home?"
"We don't want to cause you anymore trouble than we already ha-"
"Nonsense." Ryo grabbed his keys and put on his raggedy old sneakers, leading the way out the door as both brother and sister put on their own shoes. "Let's go."
Miko smile became even more distant as she nodded, feet flying out of the apartment as the two men watched the young girl run down the stairs. Akira sighed, knowing what was to come once they got home, dreading each and every single moment of it before hand.
"Shall we, Akira-kun?"
The 16-year old simply nodded before walking out of the teacher's humble abode, already counting the minutes until he was able to come back.
"Thank you for the ride, Ryo-san." Miko charmingly bowed as her smile illuminated her innocently cute face. "And thank you for allowing us to spend the night at your house."
Akira looked up at the apartment, seemingly thinking something through before throwing caution in the wind and turning a determined eye towards the man in front of him, the intenseness of Ryo's gaze fuelling him all the more to say what he wanted to say.
"Call you later?"
Ryo grinned.
"Of course."
Both men gazed at each other for a moment longer before Ryo waved a hand and walked back to his car, both siblings watching the vehicle silently drive away from their pseudo-home.
"Akira…" Miko whispered, pushing back a random tuft of hair behind her ear, ponytail long gone as her elongated obsidian locks hung over her shoulders and down her back. "Can I stay in your room for awhile?"
"Sure, Miko-chan. Anytime."
The older brother then grabbed the small girl's hand and began to pull her up towards their newest of temporary homes, an unsettling feeling crawling in his gut as Akira turned away from the car disappearing from their sight, already anticipating when he would be able to call the teacher next.
A door silently squeaked open as two heads popped up from beside the doorframe, the silence of the apartment a welcome, if slightly disturbing, sound.
Akira pulled at Miko's arm, dragging the eight-year-old inside as he carefully inspected the empty apartment, cringing at the mess that lay before his very eyes.
Beer and various liquor bottles lay scattered around the ground as a smell permeated throughout the living space, the distinct musky smell of cigarettes invading his nostrils after a night of non-polluted air. Small bags of what looked like to be random pills were dropped upon their small dining room table as Akira quickly pushed his little sister into his room and closed the door, already anticipating the mess he was going to have to clean in the very, very near future.
"I've gotta start cleaning up, sis." Miko nodded, grabbing the boy's TV remote control and turning the small television on, already plugging out the rest of the world, concentrating on just the screen in front of her and nothing else.
Honey brown eyes gave the zoned-out young girl one last passing glance before shutting the door and turning around once more.
It was a never-ending cycle; one that never disappointed the boy in terms of predictability. All he could really hope for was an evening of peace…
One that didn't include his mother or any Neanderthal she thought well enough for a good fuck-buddy.
After picking up a couple of empty bottles and shoving the foreign substances into a small black box to be kept as faraway from his little sister as possible, Akira decided, if albeit sadly, this was all nothing new.
Ryo sighed as he shut the door of his apartment and shook his shoes, throwing his keys down on top of one of his smaller table before flopping down on the couch with another sigh.
The apartment was quiet.
Too quiet.
Usually, that was a good thing, wasn't it?
'Of course it is.' Ryo thought to himself before going back into his signature crouch and grabbing the papers that had been originally pushed aside and began correcting them once again, attempting to block the small voice in the back of his head telling him to call the young teenager; to come back, if only to chase the silence away.
But he wouldn't.
He couldn't.
'It figures,' Ryo circled a sentence before x-ing it out, his mind already going on auto-pilot. 'That I'm addicted just after one night.'
Childish giggles and snappy murmurs reverberated in the high school teacher's thoughts, trying, if only for a moment, to hold onto his sense of former self. The former person he had been just scant over a month ago, that had not cared about other people and solely thought of two things, (his career and his own problems) had completely disappeared.
One abrupt crash with some 16-year-old punk he still hardly knew, and the old Lowen Ryo was gone?
This was simply unacceptable.
But no matter what he thought, the silence of the apartment, save for his inner-thoughts, continued to choke him, taking whatever Ryo had left to offer and throwing it aside, reminding him just why it is he was always destined to be alone.
After shoving more papers aside and attempting to grasp onto the concentration that seemed to continuously leak through his long, pale fingers, Ryo decided, if albeit morosely, this was all nothing new.
"You sound depressed."
"Why do you say that, Akira-kun?"
"You just do, is all. Kind of weird if you ask me. I didn't think that voice of yours could even register depression into its apathetic monotone."
"Ah, so only one month of knowing each other, and already Aki-chan can sense my moods through my vocals? How adorable. That means we were simply made for each other, Aki-chan."
"You know, when you talk like that, it really creeps me out. That voice of yours just wasn't meant for cutesy-talk… And stop calling me that."
"Hm."
"Aw, did you actually get insulted there? How cute!"
"Now who is sounding 'cutesy'?"
"But I, however, can very much pull it off."
"…"
"What?"
"Akira-kun does not think before he speaks at times."
"What do you-Oh. That's sick. You pervert."
"Am I really such a pervert, Akira-kun?"
"… Do you want an honest answer, or a lie?"
"Forget I asked."
A small chuckle warmed Ryo's ears as the teen laughed the joke away, a rustling in the background catching the older man's attention.
"What is Akira-kun doing?"
"Cleaning up is all."
"And Miko-chan?"
"Watching TV."
Something in the pit of Ryo's stomach quivered as the words he wanted to say attempted to make their way out of his lips.
'You both could be doing that here.'
That was what Ryo wanted to say.
That was what Akira wanted Ryo to say.
"Anything interesting?"
"Of course not, it's television."
But that was a fine line left to cross for another day.
"Miko, if you don't hurry your ass up, I will hurt you… with this!"
Miko sweat dropped.
"With… marshmallows?"
"Er… wrong bag." Akira dropped the bag within his hands and picked up the one next to it. "I meant THIS!"
"You wouldn't!" The small girl grasped at her hair, still not properly done after a good half an hour. "You know I hate those things, Aki-chan!"
"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO NOT CALL ME THAT?!" The boy suddenly exploded, arms flailing in a frenzy of righteous (for him) anger.
"… … … A lot?" Miko squeaked, her face hidden beneath her petite hands. Akira's red faced antics usually inspired nothing but laughter, but when he had that dreaded bag in his hands…
Oh, it was nothing but torture.
"Could you please put those… things away, onii-chan?" The faux-polite voice did nothing to quell Akira's anger, however, as he simply came closer to the young girl, a twitch steady in his right eye.
"Can you please finish getting dressed then… before I am forced to, oh, I don't know… force-feed you these delicious onions?"
"NOOOOOOO! I'LL GO GET MY SOCKS, BUT PLEASE, NO ONIONS!" Without waiting for a reply, the small girl, dressed in the cutest school girl outfit, ran into her room and pulled on her socks before pulling her hair up into two messy pigtails, knowing her brother would first chew his own hand off before allowing her to leave the house with her like that. "Ok, I'm done! Let's get those shoes on, and we'll be-Kyaa!"
Her brother, looking, as always, quite handsome in his own high school uniform, grabbed a brush before pulling out the small barrettes holding her hair up and brushing it out. Before long, two perfectly neat pigtails took their place, her small tie perfectly pinned in place and all other pieces of clothing pulled into place.
Her brother was quite the perfectionist, no matter what anyone else thought.
"You're lucky we're not going to be late, or I'd have to shove you in the garbage disposal."
Miko hummed, bouncing out of the room as her brother grumbled, grabbing both of their book-bags before pushing the small girl out the door, barely allowing her any time to pull her shoes on.
"Thank you, onii-chan."
Akira shrugged out his own acknowledgment.
Miko simply smiled.
Her brother was just too cute.
"Be good, ok?"
Miko grinned before bum-rushing her older brother and hugging him around the middle, an awkward pat on her head the only sign of acceptance her brother resigned himself in showing.
The small girl finally let go, hesitatingly glancing over at her new school before taking a step forward. She gave Akira one last glance, her brown eyes sparkling against the morning sunshine. Akira simply nodded, a small smirk set on his face before he too turned and made an about-face.
"I'll pick you up later, alright? Don't run off anywhere without me knowing."
And with that, her brother swept off, making his way towards his own establishment. Miko took in a deep breath and continued to then walk forward, gaze on the school that would be housing her for the time being.
'Don't make yourself comfortable…' She thought to herself. 'Don't make any friends…'
A fleeting look of darkness encased her face as Miko continued to step forward, her fragile heart holding onto its own strings in acceptance of its fate.
'This is only temporary after all.'