Hana Matsuri – Flower Festival (花祭)
By Hal
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Inoue Takehiko. I do not own them and I won't dare to say the ideas for this novel is purely original. No literature work nowadays are purely original, we all get our inspirations from somewhere.
Kanon-Canon - 50-50 –: Oh, I've listened to Catch Me already, seems like something Sendoh will do, or Rukawa. They are both the type to do that. Hahaha. But oh well, more development of the plot first!
Tensai11: Thanks for the comment on the grammar. As for the usage of "yea", it's my own habit. . I will take note. Thank you!
Rockynboromir: Hmm… It's a little SenHana… but… . Haha. Thanks for your support though.
All readers: Gomen ne, another filler chapter… hohoho. Really busy with things (excuses…) such as work, cosplay and interviews. Darn. I can't even have time to sit down to think through the story properly. x I've re-wrote this chapter's first few chapters more than three times.
NOTE: I changed the time frame to early winter in Chapter 1it used to be early autumn because I realized I made a mistake when calculating the time needed for progress of the story. Hontou gomen nasai! Also, I deleted the original chapter 1 and re-upload a new chapter 1 instead of replacing it so I guess the reviews for chapter 1 are gone. I'm so sorry. x
Chapter 3: Hanamichi Asked
It was slightly more than a week to Christmas and Sakuragi Hanamichi had been living with Sendoh Akira for about two weeks now.
Hanamichi knew little about this young man who was housing him because when Sendoh Akira was around, he always distracted Hanamichi with all his flirting. That made the innocent red head forget all the questions he wanted to ask Sendoh. When he finally remembered again, Sendoh was either out of the house or was "working" in his room. Ever since Hanamichi had moved in, he knew that Sendoh was always working to help him with his situation right now. He did not seem to have any other job but how he was able to afford this house and all their living expenses, Hanamichi did not know. Youhei could not have probably paid Sendoh because he was only doing a part time job.
Hanamichi had not seen Youhei ever since he came to Sendoh's place to stay. Both Sendoh and Youhei thought that it would be best if Youhei did not come to visit, in case someone was following him. He was Hanamichi's best friend after all. Nor had Hanamichi been allowed out of the house so as to minimize the chances of being spotted. Red hair was rare in Japan and would be easy to catch unnecessary attentions. So, other than household chores and cooking (grocery shopping excluded too), Hanamichi had practically nothing to do. He was screaming with boredom after three days of such life and became significantly more violent. Treasuring his life, Sendoh Akira finally agreed to let Hanamichi play basketball at the court behind the house. Even though Hanamichi had spent the first three days exploring inside and around the house, Hanamichi had never noticed there was a court until Sendoh mentioned it that day. It seemed as if the brunette had conjured up the court out of no where.
For all the strange things that Sendoh Akira was, Hanamichi could not deny that he was indeed a nice person. (It would be nicer if Sendoh would just stop wining the one-on-one basketball matches that they sometimes had. Hanamichi was seriously annoyed with Sendoh for playing basketball better than him.) He was easy-going and friendly, always making Hanamichi feel at home and had never once asked him to do something he did not want to. At the thought of this, the image of Sendoh hugging him and licking his right ear while he was washing the dishes last night popped into Hanamichi's head. Hanamichi's face turned beet red. Throwing down the chopsticks he was using to arrange the teriyaki chicken on the plate, he flayed his arms above his head fiercely, in an attempt to wave away the image in his head.
"Teme!(1) Of all things, I have to remember that. That sick perverted hedgehog. &!#&," more gibberish came out of Hanamichi's mouth as he remembered yet another incident of Sendoh slipping his hands underneath his sweater. Stomping up the stairs, red hair seemingly ablaze in the air, he kicked open the second door from the staircase landing, the door that belonged to Sendoh Akira's bedroom.
"Get the hell up, you bastard!" Hanamichi crashed through the poor tortured door. "Wake up wake up!"
In one quick motion, he pulled the blanket off the lump on the bed, successfully exposing the sleeping form to the chilly winter air.
"Hmm… another five minutes," the raven hair young man mumbled as he rolled to the other side of the bed and attempted to pull up the currently non-existing blanket. Another second later, his body "graciously" met the floor with perfect intimacy. He was immediately awake as coldness stung his naked back, causing him to spring up to his feet. Standing tall at 1.91m, Sendoh faced the raging red hair boy in his room.
"How may I be of help to you so early in the morning, my Hana dear? A hand job, perhaps?" Sendoh smiled and gracefully ran his long fingers through his locks of hair that were not spiked up yet.
"…" a vein popped on Hanamichi's forehead. Balling his hands into tight fists and repressing the urge to punch the person in front of him, he said through gritted teeth, "no thank you. Just come down for breakfast already."
"Why are you so annoyed this early in the morning, Hana?" Sendoh frowned.
"I'm not," the younger boy shot back.
"Let's see. Is it sexual frustration?" the taller man asked, trying to sound innocent.
"NO! I said I'm not annoyed already, which part of it do you not understand?" Hanamichi said loudly with a very red and hot face. "And it's not early in the morning; it's ten for your information."
Sendoh winced at the slight ringing in his ears from the loud voice of Hanamichi's. "It's already ten? Oh my god, I have so many things to do today! You should have waked me up earlier!"
"Well, it's not my fault you didn't want to wake up. I did tried at seven but you did not respond at all," Hanamichi crossed his arms and his lips went into a small pout without himself realizing.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Guess I was in a deep sleep. I didn't mean to blame you at all. I only got to sleep at three plus this morning. The next killer is tough as expected. Last night was of no avail as well. I'm sorry that I'm not helping much," Sendoh sighed and sat down on his bed. He rubbed his temples and his eyebrows drew into a knit.
'He looked like shit lately. The dark eye circles are getting worse. He's really doing a lot to help me…' Hanamichi felt guilty and useless at the same time. Neither Sendoh nor Youhei would let him into what they were doing and they did not tell him about anything at all. He walked away from Sendoh and stopped at the doorway. Without turning his head, he said, "Thanks. Please come down for breakfast when you are ready." With that, he walked off quickly, closing the door behind him.
Sendoh stared at the closed door, it was rare for Hanamichi to be this soft and polite to him. Smiling to himself, he saw in his head as he closed his eyes the images of Hanamichi at different activities. Cooking, washing up, doing laundry, playing basketball, falling asleep on the sofa, blushing… Everything about Hanamichi had a pink and warm aura around it.
"You're so cute. I think I'm really falling for you, Hana… But…" Sendoh spoke quietly to the air in front of him. 'But can I? I somehow know that we are impossible.' He completed in his mind, Sendoh could not bring himself to say this aloud.
Hanamichi sat quietly at the breakfast table after setting up the table quickly. Someone out there wanted him dead and he did not know who. Nor was he doing anything to find out. He was not allowed to be involved. Youhei and Sendoh knew something but they were not saying. It was tempting for Hanamichi to do something like going out and hunt down the killer himself, but where could he start? Not to mention if he did that, Youhei would be very angry and worried. Hanamichi did not want to create any more trouble for Youhei, who was not only his best friend but his "father" of some sort.
"This cannot go on. I must do something. I am the target after all," he chewed on his lower lip and pulled at his red locks. "I cannot just sit here and wait for people to protect me. First step will be to interrogate that hentai. I know he know a lot. I will start off with something casual and keep my distance from him. I will not let him distract me this time. Yosh! Ore wa Tensai desu! I can do it!" Hanamichi punch a fist in the air as he grinned at his own plan.
"Do what?" Sendoh appeared behind his chair, startling Hanamichi into jumping out of the chair.
"Waaah, don't sneak up on other people!" Hanamichi huffed and sat back down on the chair. "Sit down and eat your breakfast. It's teriyaki chicken with rice and miso soup."
"Great! I love the Japanese food you made, Hana," Sendoh rubbed his hands as he took a seat at the table. He was sure that Hanamichi was up to something because the red head would not look directly at him and the tips of his ears were red. Those were signs of him hiding some thing or telling lies. Sendoh had noticed that for a while now.
"Erm… Anou(2)…" Hanamichi paused in the middle of a bite. He chewed on his chopsticks and pondered on how to start the conversation.
"Yes?"
"Akira, what is your job? I mean like, what do you do as a living?"
"Well…"
"If you don't want to answer, that's ok!" Hanamichi felt like slapping himself for blurting that out. He needed to get Sendoh to talk, it would not help at all if he personally told that it was ok for Sendoh to not say anything.
"No, just that it's rather hard for me to explain my job," Sendoh put down his chopsticks and rested his chin on his hands which were propped up on the elbows. "You can say that I work for a government."
"EHH?! Really?" Hanamichi stared wide-eyed at Sendoh. "You are only 20 right? And you work for the government? You must be really smart then."
"Yes, it is a little young to work for the government even at the place from where I come from."
"You are not Japanese? But your Japanese is really good, I can't tell."
"I did my best to learn the language, haha," Sendoh smiled.
"So what are you doing in Japan?" Hanamichi probed further.
"To… protect you."
"What?" Hanamichi was again shocked. "You came to Japan just for that? Why would you do that? I don't know you nor do you know me two weeks ago! How on earth did Youhei get to know you? Who are you exactly? What is going on? Everything seems to be so complicated!"
"Hana," Sendoh spoke slowly. "I know things are complicated but I urge you to stay calm and please know that I will do whatever to protect you. Leave it to Youhei and I. We will tell you when time comes."
"When the time comes? So when is that? You never gave me any clear and concrete indication. Look, Sendoh Akira," Hanamichi said firmly. "I am the one they want to kill, I have to right to know why. You know the answer, so tell me. Since you are protecting me, let me know what is going on so that if anything happens, I know how to react. You will tell me right?"
"I…" For the first time, Sendoh was at lost for words.
"Please, Akira," Hanamichi looked at him straight in the eyes, eagerness and curiosity burning.
"I can't," Sendoh sighed. "I'm not in the position to tell you. It's far more complicated than I can tell you verbally. It's too hard… and… this is not the right place…"
"So you can't tell me?" the red head sat in his seat, dejected. "Who can? Youhei? Let me speak to Youhei then."
"No, Youhei can't either. The person who can tell you… you will only be able to meet him four months from now."
"Four MONTHS?" Hanamichi repeated unbelievably. "I would probably die a couple of times by then."
"Don't say that," Sendoh reprimanded. "I won't allow that. Don't you trust me? Don't you trust Youhei?"
"I…" Hanamichi bit his lower lip again. "I don't know. I guess I do… but you are not telling me anything."
"It's to protect you," Sendoh said. "I know it's hard to not know what is going on. But I promise that it is for the best."
"Okay," Hanamichi sighed. He could not explain it but there was something in Sendoh's voice that made him place his faith in this spiky-hair boy.
(1) Teme: Damn
(2) Anou: Well… (as some kind of prompt to start a question)
A/N: Yes, I entitle you the rights to kill me. I made this chapter slightly longer (300 words more- than the previous ones as a compensation to all those waiting. But it's still a filler chapter after all... and... pardon the stupid title. I can't think of any for filler chapters. I will make no promises for the next chapter except that Rukawa is making his appearance. –digs hole and hides-
