Chapter Four
Echizen woke up earlier than usual the next day, cheerful and still holding on to the gift that he received.
Nanako came in the room to check on her cousin, surprised to find him at his desk instead of his bed.
"Ryoma-san?" Echizen lifted his head to face her. "H-how?"
Echizen rolled his eyes, and replied. "I walked, of course."
"It doesn't hurt anymore?"
"No… Not really."
"Do you think you can move around now?"
"Well, it has been three days," he said, looking at his feet before his stomach grumbled loudly. "Um… Can I eat breakfast now?"
Nanako could only giggle at her cousin. "I have to get Kawamura-kun's sushi ready first, if you don't mind having that for breakfast. You can watch TV while you wait," she proceeded out the door, Echizen trailing slowly behind her, still careful not to put too much pressure on his injury.
Breakfast ended fairly quickly. Echizen went straight to the living room where Karupin greeted him happily, setting himself on his owner's lap and falling fast asleep.
The raven-haired boy turned on the TV and flipped through a few channels while petting the cat's head, the plushie sitting by his side.
Finding nothing interesting to watch, he turned off the T.V and carefully removed Karupin from his lap, placing the sleeping cat on the sofa. He started walking towards the kitchen hoping to find a bag of chips, despite just having eaten breakfast, when the doorbell rang. Nanako, who was in the kitchen at the time – cleaning the dishes, peeked into the living room.
"I'll get it," Echizen stated, getting a grateful smile from his cousin.
He opened the door, not bothering to stop by the intercom and check who the visitor is, and made his way to the front gate. Opening the gate, he was slightly surprised to be greeted by a warm smile.
"Good morning, Echizen," his visitor greeted.
"Fuji-sempai," he greeted back, not really believing that his upperclassman would visit him so early in the day.
"Do you want to talk here or do you want to talk inside?" Fuji asked, tilting his head towards the house.
"Oh. Yeah. Come in," Echizen stepped aside to let the other into the house.
"I'm glad that you're feeling better, Echizen," the brown-haired prodigy said after taking off his shoes, facing the younger boy and ruffling his hair.
Echizen only stared at his sempai's eyes and for a moment, there was a comfortable silence enveloping them as their gazes met.
"Who was it, Ryoma-san?" Echizen immediately stepped away from Fuji, and the older boy just chuckled as he placed his hand by his side. Nanako came into the room, still wearing her apron. Her eyes traveled from her cousin to the smiling guest next to him, confused as to why he grew so stiff beside the older male.
"Hi. I'm here again," Fuji waved.
"Hello. Well, I'll leave you two alone. If you need me I'll be in the study room," and with that, she left, taking off her apron and placing it on a hook in the kitchen.
Fuji watched her cheerily walk away, not noticing Echizen pass by him to the living room.
"Sempai! The living room is over here!" Echizen shouted from the sofa, dropping on it and picking the sleeping cat to place on his lap once again. He turned the TV on and flipped through the channels again, still not finding anything interesting. With a sigh, he settled on a channel showing a variety show that was interviewing a popular band.
Fuji chuckled to himself and walked towards the living room. As he got closer to the sofa, he noticed the plushie sitting beside the raven-haired boy.
"Do you like it?" he asked, still standing.
"Hmmm?" Echizen answered, not realizing that he was being spoken to.
Echizen's eyes softened and his lips curved up into a warm smile. Fuji's smile dropped at the sight, taken aback and not expecting such an expression from the younger one.
"I love it. Thank you," the younger one said softly, but enough for Fuji to hear.
He smiled again and sat down next to the boy. "I'm glad you like it, Echizen."
The two boys remained silent for a while. The only sounds heard were the laughter coming from the TV and the soft mewls coming from the sleeping Karupin.
"Do you know when you'll be able to play again?" Fuji asked, finally breaking the silence.
"I dunno. Maybe in a day or two," was Echizen's instant reply.
"I see…" Fuji mumbled to himself and looked back at the TV.
He opened his mouth to ask the younger one another question when – "AAAAANIKIIII!" Fuji Yuuta's voice echoed through the room, startling both Echizen and his cat.
Karupin leaped off of his master's lap and ran to the kitchen, his master too busy staring wide-eyed at Fuji to follow him.
"Is your brother outside? Why doesn't he just use the doorbell?" He stood up and went towards the door, opening it to check the front gate.
"AAAAANIKIIII!" another shout.
"He's not there!" he turned to face Fuji. And when he saw the wide grin on the older boy's face, his eyes narrowed on him. "You."
"Do you like it?" Fuji took his phone out of his pocket.
"AAAAANIKIIII!" the shout only got louder.
"It's his ringtone…" Echizen leaned himself against the doorframe and placed his hand on his forehead.
Fuji's grin only grew wider at the younger one's reaction. "He flipped his phone open and put it next to his ear only to pull it slightly away. Echizen watched as Fuji talked to the person on the line, slightly amused at the slight changes in Fuji's expression.
"ANIKI!" the real Fuji Yuuta was shouting into his ear. "Where are you? I thought you said you were going to Seigaku?"
"Hmm? I don't remember telling you that," Fuji pouted, even though he knew that his brother can't see him.
"But you told aneki that you were going to Seigaku this morning!"
"Oh yeah. That," he glanced over at Echizen, smiling at him as their gazes met for a brief second. "That was so she wouldn't fuss over me. Besides, when I arrived at Seigaku, there was no one there. I didn't want to be alone."
Echizen sat back down on his spot on the sofa and started playing with the plushie. Nanako had come out of the study room with Karupin I her hands, going over to the couch to tell her cousin that she'll be in her room.
"I'm at Echizen's house. No, I'm not forcing him to play with me," Echizen watched as Fuji suddenly shot up from the couch. "Yuuta…" his eyebrow raised as Fuji paused, pulling his phone away from his ear and looking at its screen.
Bursts of laughter came from the TV. Echizen stared at Fuji, confused of what he had just heard. Fuji closed his phone and put it back in his pocket before sitting back down on the sofa with a sigh.
"What was that about?" the younger one asked, settling the plushie on his lap.
"Oishi thinks I'm harassing you. Eiji thinks I'm keeping you all to myself again," another sigh. "Yuuta's just angry."
"Why?"
"Pardon?"
"Why is he angry?"
"Well, I lied to him."Fuji turned to look at him and smiled at him again. "Oh and they told me that they were going to come over."
Echizen's eyes grew wide at the statement. He instantly stood up from his seat and stared at his sempai. "When?"
"Now," just as the brown-haired prodigy said it, the doorbell rang.
A/N: This is soooo overdue… I'm sooo sorry…Yeah… There's been soooo many distractions…. I've finally got P3P and it's really got me hooked to it, enough that I imagine social link ranks when I talk to my friends (I wonder if you'd know what I'm saying… some would probably…) but not enough that my hands are glued to my PSP…. I haven't even finished the game yet…. T^T oh well….. I
Thankyou readers for following this story… there's gonna be more to come… reviewers too~~ You're feedback is greatly appreciated… If you do find any errors, feel free to tell me~
To Lady Queria = hmmm… I'm not even sure who imperial pair is… there's sooo much PoT pairs out there and I'm not really familiar with their names… save for thrill, golden, platinum, and some others…. Please do remind me~~ XD
Again… thanks for reading… reviews would be greatly appreciated~~~ XDD
