An unfamiliar touch. Something unknown to a young boy who was locked away without love nor warmth.
What is this feeling?
It's so warm and fuzzy...
Whose hands are these?
Why are they caressing my hair so gently and lovingly?...
I wish this would last forever...
Teases and Secrets.
Kuroko tried hard to make sure he didn't fall asleep or wake up from this peaceful dream he was having.
He was frightened.
Frightened that he would fall back into his nightmare.
Frightened that he would wake up from this wonderful dream.
Frightened that he would be back in the grasp of 'that' person.
Frightened that all his current happiness would end.
Frightened that all his nightmares would start again...
Kuroko was still so very young, and of course he couldn't balance very well his urge to say the word he yearned all his life – or well, his childhood.
"Ma...ma,".
Kuroko immediately realised his mistake and prayed so hard that this dream wouldn't end so soon.
Suddenly, a soft, voice spoke up.
"Oh?!,"
The familiar voice continued, "Are you awake?".
Kuroko pretended to sleep.
His hands were sweating.
His heart was beating so loud, he wished no one could hear it.
Embarrassed, his face turned beet red. Then he thought,
Wait a minute... Isn't this a dream?...
He cautiously opened his eyes and shouted when he saw a pair of large violet eyes right in front of him.
"AHA! You 'were' awake! You pervert! Lying on my lap even though you were awake!", YuuRin said as he pointed her finger at Kuroko.
Kuroko opened his mouth, ready to argue back but his head fell onto ground, when the accuser suddenly stood up.
"Oww!", Kuroko said as he rubbed his sore head while stumbling to get on his feet.
"I'm not a pervert! Besides," Kuroko continued. "You were the one caressed my hair so gen..tly, YuuRin".
YuuRin blushed and turned around while crossing her arms to hide her face from Kuroko.
"We-Well, you were the one that looked like you were in pain," she stuttered.
The young girl was wearing a matching peach T-shirt that was too big for her and track pants that was folded up to her knees.
A mixture of warmth, embarrassment and uncertainty tingled Kuroko's heart.
"Warmth, because Kuroko was touched that indirectly, YuuRin somehow cared for him.
Embarrassment, because he secretly wanted her caress.
Uncertainty, because he didn't want to open up his scars."
Kuroko thought of something to say to break the awkward, silent atmosphere, so he said,
"What are you doing in here anyways? I didn't see you in bed when I woke up,".
YuuRin turned around and walked to balcony behind Kuroko while saying, " I was playing the piano,".
When she reached the balcony, YuuRin sat down and stared at the sky that gleamed in a light shade of violet and blue.
It was mid-October, a few weeks after Kuroko had just started living there.
The sun had still not risen yet and the scent of morning dewdrops filled the room.
The translucent blinds fluttered in a wave-like motion as Kuroko seated himself next to YuuRin.
Kuroko turned around and gazed at YuuRin's profile as a cool breeze swept their hair aside.
Just then, Kuroko caught a glimpse of YuuRin's eyes.
Kuroko never saw YuuRin look like that before.
She looked lonely, and somehow cold...
"What is a piano?" Kuroko asked as he stared at YuuRin obliviously.
YuuRin stared at him unbelievably and pointed at the large, squarish object in the corner of the room.
"What do you do with it?" Kuroko asked again.
YuuRin sighed and leaned back, on her hands.
"Are you always 'this' random?"
Kuroko shrugged and gestured for her to continue.
He watched as YuuRin rolled her round violet eyes and said,
"You pressed the black and white keys and they make beautiful round sounds. The beautiful round sounds are called music...".
YuuRin's eyes glimmered while she was talking.
She looked as if she really enjoyed herself while she was talking.
It was another side of her he had never seen before compared to the usual annoying YuuRin.
Then Kuroko thought,
Sounds can be round?
Kuroko bit his lips as he tried to hold his humor.
"What?!" YuuRin said, her voice strong and powerful.
Kuroko immediately straightened up and sat like a puppy, his face pale and frightened (in a funny way ;p).
"What?!" YuuRin repeated, clearly annoyed that she was interrupted.
"Nothing," he said. "It's just-"
"Just what?!" YuuRin said impatiently.
A drop of sweat slid down Kuroko's forehead as he gulped.
Kuroko took a deep breathe then chanted quickly,
"JUST HOW CAN SOUNDS BE ROUND?!".
Kuroko breathed heavily like a mad-man as he stared at YuuRin, wide-eyed.
There was a pause.
"They just sound like that! You BAKA!" YuuRin exclaimed.
"But sounds can't be round! Only things that you can see can be round! You're the BAKA!" Kuroko retaliate.
YuuRin exhaled steam through her nose and pulled Kuroko by his ear.
She seated him on the floor behind the piano chair, where she sat.
Kuroko crossed his legs and watched as she lifted up her fingers and head and took a deep deep breath.
As soon as YuuRin fingers landed on the keys, Kuroko felt waves surging through his ears-
HORRIBLE.
DESTRUCTION.
...
RIP. (T0T'')
#$%^&*(beeep!p)NOOOO!(*&^%$# ! #$%^&*(DIEEE!)_+_)(AHHHH!*&^%$# #$%^&*&^NOOOHHHH!%$#$%^&*()(*&^%$#
It was HORRIBLE!
Unlike what Kuroko had heard from before.
Kuroko shut his ears and groaned.
"What is this?! You BAKA!" Kuroko shouted.
"Muahaha! I shall crush you with these banging sounds! Gahahha!" YuuRin laughed wickedly.
''Revenge is SWEEEEETTT~~'', YuuRin thought.
"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry! Now please play properly for meeeeeee!~~" Kuroko begged and pleaded.
YuuRin stopped banging and cleared her throat.
"Ok. Good boy. Heee~", YuuRin grinned.
Kuroko squinted his eyes as he watched her fingers press against the black and white keys once again,
but this time.
It was simply amazing.
He watched as her fingers ran from the left keys to the right. From blacks keys to white.
Like waves surging, the mixtures of continuous sounds clashing together then, breaking through the rocks, a beautiful and graceful melody came through.
It was spectacular. Like millions and dozens of colours crashing and banging and fireflies lighting up the whole place.
So this is called music.
That means the whole world is made of music.
Everything makes beautiful rounds sounds, only each and every one of them is different.
This is... interesting.
Kuroko made a wide silly grin, revealing some missing tooth as he stared in amazement at YuuRin's back.
He was satisfied that he learnt something new about music and secretly, YuuRin too.
When YuuRin ended the piece, she turned around and said,
"Since, you've asked me 2 questions now, it's only fair that you answer mine too,"
Kuroko nodded blankly then said, " What do you want to know?".
YuuRin faced Kuroko then said," Why did you look like you were in so much pain just now?".
Kuroko hesitated but said,
"I had a nightmare,".
Kuroko's brief answer made it clear that he didn't want to go any deeper into the topic, but, YuuRin was a curious and stubborn girl, so she asked,
" What was it about?".
Kuroko looked at YuuRin's eyes.
They looked so honest and bright, like they really needed the answer. – As if, if the answer wasn't given, she would die or be in despair.
Kuroko didn't want to talk about his past.
He didn't want to be reminded of it but, he couldn't stop those pair of violet eyes from pressuring him to tell the truth so he said,
" It was about a big monster that hit a little puppy that was very lonely and sad. ".
The monster is 'that man'... The puppy is me. I'm not lying to her...
YuuRin nodded. She knew Kuroko was lying.
I'll ask him some day. Maybe he'll tell me then, when I get to know him better.
" Well, if I was in that dream I would take the little puppy and run away from the monster," YuuRin said.
YuuRin's words somehow made Kuroko feel glad.
He was glad that she cared for the puppy, but, deep in his heart he was glad that she probably would have cared for him.
Suddenly Kuroko spoke out and said,
"Sorry,".
YuuRin looked at Kuroko questionably and laughed,
"For what? Have you gone out of your mind?".
A nerve popped on Kuroko's head but he resisted and said,
" I always thought you were loud and annoying and well... I misunderstood you. Sorry,".
"Ohhh...," YuuRin said, dragging the word.
"Stop that," Kuroko said, getting annoyed at YuuRin.
"Ohhhhhh..." YuuRin teased again.
Kuroko clenched his teeth and said, " Stop that..!".
YuuRin giggled and said, "Well, I don't know what else to say. You think too much! Like an ojii-san~".
"I'm not," Kuroko replied, as a soft chuckle escape his mouth.
"So you 'do' laugh. I thought you were a stone.
You never laugh or show any other emotions other than anger and annoyance.
You have a bad temper too.
Hm! No good! Papa and mama said we should always be happy and laugh so that good things will come," YuuRin lectured.
"Now you're like an obaa-san~," Kuroko teased back, though YuuRin's words had sting his heart.
Papa. Mama.
Nah.
'That' man will NEVER be my papa.
YuuRin pouted and sticked her tongue out at Kuroko.
"By the way, why don't you know anything about music or piano?" YuuRin asked.
Kuroko's gaze fell to the floor.
He didn't know how to answer her question.
How he doesn't know about music or piano?... This question would have definitely led to 'that man' again...
Somehow, everything she asks keeps leading to 'that'...
Why...
This is too difficult...
I can lie... But, I don't know why I can't lie to her...
Why I can't just answer her questions smoothly like how I answer others...
I just don't feel right if I lied to her... I just-
"I can't answer you," Kuroko said honestly as he smoothed his hands through his hair as if he was piled with stress.
YuuRin was a straight-forward girl whose curiousity could never be satisfied, but she had a kind and loving heart and was understanding, so she said,
"Ok. No problem!".
She wanted to try her best to cheer Kuroko up so she patted his soft blue hair.
Kuroko rest his head on his lap and slightly tilted it to look at her.
He wrinkled his nose from the cold weather ans stared at her with a dull expression as she messed up his hair.
"I'll let you go this time for understanding," Kuroko said and made a helpless expression.
"Ho! Ho! Ho! Acting all mature and grown up now aren't we?" YuuRin teased dramtically.
Kuroko chuckled and felt something warming his cold feet. He looked up, only revealing his eyes from his lap.
YuuRin gasped dramatically as she said, "The sun's rising! The sun's rising!".
It was a beautiful sight. The glowing sun grandly ascended, like a King ascending his throne majestically, as it lit up the sky with flowing colours.
Kuroko sighed and said, "You over-react at such small things.
Stop being so dramatic,".
"I'm not!..." YuuRin argued back and faced Kuroko.
Kuroko blocked his ears as YuuRin continued debating by herself and wagged her tiny finger at Kuroko.
That was when the two started understanding more about each other and grew closer, little by little.
11.10.2000
Note : Helloo :) New chapter and made some changes. I changed their age from 9 to 11 and 7 to 9. And decided to add the dates at the end of each chapter, to make it easier to keep track of the time, so the timeline should not be 3 months anymore unless I change my mind, again. ;p Check it out to catch up :D Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!
PS : I know I'm slow at updating but, I'm busy. And lazy. sometimes :p So, sorry! Teehee~
