AN: I know, I know, I said I thought I could get this chapter up faster than the last, and I'm really sorry. I know how much it bites to have to wait ages to get a new chapter. This one felt like having a baby! I practically had to yank it out. But it's here now, and I have the plan written down for what will happen in the future for Sena. I give full permission for everyone to pull out their figurative sledgehammers and tear me apart.
Without further ado, Chapter 10 of "Nobody Could Know".
And here Sena thought things were going to change. He really, truly thought that he was going to start off in a different way.
But no, that was certainly a foot, tapping him rather roughly in the ribs. His mom wasn't home yet, and she'd never kick her son. So that meant it could only be Hiruma. Hiruma was kicking him to get up.
"Stoppit. I set the alarm." Sena wrapped the blanket tighter, desperately trying to make the floor a little softer. One of his shoulders was going to be permanently damaged, he was sure.
"I hate alarms. Get up." One last 'tap' and Hiruma was gone. Sena debated continued sleep, but decided the punishment was likely to get worse the longer he stayed in bed. Hiruma sounded cranky already, although Sena couldn't really blame him. Looking back on the last few days, Hiruma really had gone through a rollercoaster. Taking care of an emotionally screwed up teenager with a habit of getting pretty sick was no easy task, and to add to it, Hiruma wasn't exactly maternal.
So Sena got up. It took a little struggling to get out of the tangle of blankets and pillows, but he somehow managed. Apparently, the stitches were quite sturdy. He would need the extra fortification.
In the next fifteen minutes, Sena successfully tugged on his rumpled uniform, brushed both hair and teeth, and got his school bag ready. However, to his dismay, he came upon a sizeable stack of printouts, all blank of any form of pencil markings. It was his neglected homework, including the work assigned by his strict math teacher. He tossed the sheets into his bag, groaning. He wouldn't be surprised if they kicked him out of Deimon. Not finishing homework was unacceptable.
He ran downstairs to find Hiruma standing there, looking far more ready than Sena. The captain tossed an apple to Sena without any warning, most likely another one of Hiruma's little tests. Sena caught it with ease, but secretly thanked any higher beings that he didn't make even more of an idiot of himself. Dropping an apple being tossed over a few meters would have been humiliating.
And so the two took Sena's route to school. It took a few minutes of hard glaring by Hiruma before Sena figured out that he was supposed to eat the apple. With a blush, he did so, all while completely avoiding any eye contact with Hiruma. Was the blonde angry that Sena had left so abruptly? Or was this something as simple morning-Hiruma?
With a sigh, Sena added his worries about schoolwork to the pile. He tried to imagine the best possible situation with his teachers, but it still looked pretty dismal. A muscle twinged in Sena's chest. What about football? He wouldn't be able to play if he got kicked out of school. And there would go all the efforts of his parents, all their long hours and weeks away from home. Sena would just waste it all because he didn't remember his homework. Mamori would be so disappointed, because she had truly been happy when Sena passed the entrance exam for Deimon. God, what was he doing?
"Oi. Tiny. Why're you looking so freaked out?" Hiruma's voice cut a swath through Sena's thoughts, surprising him, though it was becoming a common occurrence. Sena carefully glanced up, though he looked at Hiruma's shoulder instead of his face.
"It's noth-" A glare and a growl cut him off before he could repeat the default answer. Instead, he opted towards a more truthful answer. "I forgot about homework." At the feeling of blood heating up his cheeks, he focused his sight on the concrete. It sounded even worse when said aloud.
"Homework? That's it? So that's what was bugging you? Fuck." Hiruma grinned maliciously, and stopped in the middle of the field they were walking through. The football field. He whistled a strange little chord, and pulled something out of his bag. Sena, quite confused, just stood staring.
"Give me whatever you didn't do." Hiruma glared at Sena, impatient with the boy's slow response. Sena hesitantly handed over the work, wondering what in the world Hiruma was planning. Hiruma in turn opened a container and dropped something slimy and red and…
Hiruma dropped a pile of raw meat all over Sena's unfinished work. Raw, bloody pieces of meat. Sena blanched and rushed to grab the work out of Hiruma's hands, but it was too late. The blonde tossed it a few feet away, right onto the grass.
"Hiruma, what, wait – what are you doing?" Sena now had no opportunity to finish any of the homework. He might have even finished off at least one classes' worth of assignments, but now he was completely out of options.
"What, don't you trust me?" With a cackle, Hiruma turned to face the direction he tossed the mixture of paper and dead animal. Sena froze, frantically trying to think of what he could do, but before he could even begin planning, he heard a slight rumble. Slowly getting louder; a whistle and meat, in the football field?
Cerberus came running out of the early morning mist, paws tearing apart the grass as he quickly found his surprise breakfast. In the process of ravaging the meat, he also did quite a number to the paper. It looked like a little murder massacre had occurred on his quadratic equations.
Once the vicious dog had gone a little distance from the paper, Hiruma grabbed the torn pile of ruined paper, shook it out as best he could, and handed the pile over to Sena.
"You were attacked by a rabid beast, and barely managed to get away with some minor flesh wounds, thanks to your stack of homework." With that, Hiruma turned back towards the direction of the school, and left Sena standing there, a pile of bloody homework sheets dripping in his hand.
Sena wandered into each one of his classes filled with dread; pure and utter dread. His (unfinished) homework was a biological hazard! And despite the assurance Hiruma gave, Sena couldn't bring himself to lie again, not about something so petty. The teacher's aged and hard stare didn't exactly encourage him either.
"Ah, you see, Hiruma-" Sena held out the pile to the teacher, trying to think of what to say that could possibly explain everything. However, a light bulb seemed to go off in the teacher's head, and she just nodded fervently.
"Oh, him, I understand!" The expression on her face seemed to match his from moments before. Quietly, she shooed him off to his seat with a pitying glance.
Sena hadn't needed to lie. In fact, it seemed that Hiruma's name alone was a password. Uniform messy? Hiruma. Are those stains blood? Hiruma. Sena hid his smile with a hand as new handouts were passed to him, as well as the ones that had been ruined. It seemed to come a little bit easier, smiling. As long as he didn't think about lying with Hiruma, Hiruma seeing his legs, or anything from the last three days, Sena could smile.
The day seemed to pass well. Apparently the message had spread through the teachers that Sena had a nasty encounter with Hiruma, and even his uptight math teacher gave an acquiescing sigh.
"I suppose that not much can be done in a situation like that. Fine. All work shall be due after Golden week."
Although he didn't quite follow Hiruma's plan, it seemed to have worked in its own way. Now that his panic over the homework had been lifted, he could focus on the next set of worries; everyone else.
Sena wasn't worried about Kurita or Monta. Despite their energetic and brash behaviour, they could be quite sensitive to the needs of others, and would leave Sena alone if he asked for it. Yukimitsu tended to keep judgement to himself, and the huh-huh brothers didn't even bother. Truthfully, Mamori was his biggest concern. She had determination when it came to Sena, especially when others endangered him.
So what would she do if she found out that Sena was the problem; it was Sena endangering himself. Though, Sena thought, if he was never discovered, it would never be a problem. It was as simple as that.
Or as simple as his current living situation was complex. Sena hoped that going to school meant Hiruma was going back to his home. He hated the feeling of being monitored. He liked his privacy, but it had disappeared the second Hiruma stepped in the door.
And now, every time he saw Hiruma, he felt the embarrassment and shame grow inside him. He remembered Hiruma's face when he walked into his house, when he had the bloody tissues in his hand, when Sena clung to him in the doctor's office. Sena wished he could just wipe away all the memories from existence. He hated them. He hated everything that came with them. And he had to prevent them from ever repeating with anyone else.
So he left for the football field. Sena expected nothing less than a grueling practice because of the two days Hiruma missed, and it was Sena's fault, no less. So Sena steeled himself for a very hard afternoon.
After changing, Sena felt rather strange. It was unreal that he was standing here for football practice as if nothing had happened. Though Hiruma had said he wouldn't mention anything about the last few days, who knew what Hiruma would do? It didn't seem that out of character for Hiruma to use blackmail to make Sena practice harder, or do whatever it is that he wished to be done.
Once again, it seemed that the world shouldn't be this normal upon his return. All the chaos and turbulence he had experienced, but there were no rocks falling from the sky, no tidal waves burying Japan. In fact, nothing had changed at all.
"Sena! Hey!" Before Sena had time to turn, someone had already leaped on him. Gangly limbs and overly enthusiastic laugh: it was Monta. "Have you heard? We're going to hot springs! Mamori planned it all as a surprise. Oh Mamori, only she could have done something so generous." Monta trailed off into a sigh, leaving Sena feeling awkward but pleased to be hearing the first normal thing in days.
"Do you know when we're leaving?" As per usual, Sena didn't expect certain emotions to rise up, but what was unusual was the unexpected happiness he felt. Like he had been stuck under water for the last few days and was finally coming up for air.
"Tomorrow morning! Friday is a short day, and Mamori labeled it as an athletic trip, so they're letting us leave early for Golden Week. Have you heard about these hot springs? They have indoor and outdoor baths! And there's so many rooms!" Sena zoned out, completely convinced that the hot springs were indeed great. However, he was still worried about the trip. The baths were mostly public, and even if Mamori secured a private one, he still had to sit there naked with the rest of the team members.
"So Sena, who are you going to bunk with? I know Kurita was saying–" Monta's conversation was interrupted by an ominous presence.
"You'll be bunking with me, unless you fuckers get working. Twenty laps. Now!" Hiruma shoved both of them onto the track and walked over to the office. Sena grimaced alongside Monta, having reasonable doubt that he would not be able to finish them. But he started anyway. After a half hour, Sena felt like he was going to drop, but the end of the twenty laps was coming up. He had managed to keep up with Monta…there was just a bit more…when a hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him off the track.
"Oh no! You didn't finish. Looks like you'll be bunking with the captain. What a shame." Hiruma cackled at no one in particular, and wandered off again, just as he did before. Sena sat stunned. He really had been about to finish the laps. This wasn't fair in the slightest.
"Man, he sure is picking on you. I mean, you're sick and stuff. That's not very nice." Monta walked over, relief showing on his face despite his sympathetic words.
"It's a very Hiruma thing though." Sena muttered, receiving a laugh for his attempts at wit.
"Well, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow! Golden Week, here we come!" Monta skipped off to the change rooms, youthful adoration for Mamori powering his every movement. Sena watched as the others cleared off as well, cheerfully talking about the surprise Mamori had dropped on them. Sena took the time to catch his breath – he was definitely showing signs of the maltreatment of his body.
When he heard his name called from the football office, he wasn't really surprised. Hiruma was at least going to bug him about the bunking thing, if not something else. Sena walked in tired, but he could feel his frustration growing. And it must've shown on his face, once again.
"Pissed at me now? At least say something about it. It's really easy, like, 'I don't want to bunk with you.'" Hiruma grinned, but it seemed halfhearted. Or maybe Sena was reading into things too much? He bit his lip while he thought of a reply, not caring if Hiruma was watching his every move.
"It's just, you're making me stand out. I don't want everyone asking questions." Sena trailed off. He wasn't very good at opposing people.
"Huh. I think I did a pretty good job of hiding the fact that I get a private bath because I'm the captain. In fact, I think I made it seem like a punishment. Is it?" Hiruma smiled wickedly, raising a sharp eyebrow at Sena as the truth dawned on him. Hiruma had been helping Sena, and he was right! He did do a good job. It just looked like he was picking on him. Even Sena fell for it. Sena's cheeks flushed with warmth as the embarrassment came over him. He really was ungrateful. Hiruma just snorted.
"Oh! Thank you, I'll be going then to, uhh, pack and so on." Sena knew he was mumbling, but figured Hiruma would get the gist of it. He usually did, even when nothing was said at all.
"Yeah, I'll be coming in a bit." Hiruma swiveled in the chair, opening up his little leather book. Sena took this as sign that Hiruma was about do something rather illegal, and didn't want Sena incriminated as a witness. Or perhaps he didn't care. Either way, Sena left.
At home, Sena tossed some basic clothing into a bag. Sweatpants and t-shirts and anything moderately comfortable. He was tossing in his shampoo and soap when he wondered about his cuts. He figured he should toss in some of the basics of first aid, like his rather large quantity of gauze he had accumulated from secret trips to late night convenience stores, and the antibiotics, but if someone were to stumble upon that stuff in his bag, would they become curious? It wasn't exactly normal.
So he grabbed an economy-size bottle of ibuprofen and tossed the contents into the garbage, then tucked some gauze and the other stuff into it. Headache pills were normal. No one would wonder then. Sena smiled. He was feeling like things were a bit more under control. A bit more manageable, especially thanks to Hiruma.
It was then that a second, more ominous idea came upon him. Should he take his knife? The logical part of him told him not to take it, that way even if he had the temptation to hurt himself, he couldn't, could he? He heard the door slam in the background, and he knew it had to be either Hiruma or his mum. So he quickly made the decision, and tossed the knife into the bottom of his bag.
Hiruma pushed open the bedroom door without knocking, already carrying a duffel bag, and dropped it on the ground. He gave a short laugh at the organized piles of Sena's clothes getting ready to go in his backpack, and sat down on the bed. It was as if he had lived there for much longer than a few days.
"So are you finally going to relax at the hot springs?" There was no indicative tone that explained why Hiruma was asking the question. Sena paused with a puzzled expression on his face, hoping Hiruma would elaborate, but Hiruma wasn't even looking at him.
"I'd like to. I think not having to share a bath with the rest of the team will make that a bit easier." Sena wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to the question, so he left the answer open for Hiruma to tear apart, but he didn't. He continued to look out the window, with Sena watching him patiently, waiting for any sort of response. Not receiving any, Sena went downstairs to deal with other things. Hiruma must have wanted some alone time.
He dialed the number his mother left for contact, hoping he wasn't interrupting anything. After a dial tone, he heard a soft "Hello," that could only be his mother.
"Hi, mum? No, nothing's wrong…huh, the boss is extending the meetings again? No, mum it's okay. I just thought I should tell you that I'll be gone for a few days. Mamori arranged a small trip to some hot springs for Golden Week. I'll leave her number on the fridge. Yeah, I'll have a great time. Love you too. Bye." Sena hung up and smiled. His mother was always concerned with his well-being. It just made it all the more important that she never know about anything he did behind closed doors.
"Who was that?" Hiruma had come down the stairs quietly, almost startling Sena. He still had a distant look on his face, despite the ever-present scowl.
"That was my mum. I was just telling her where I'd be, so she wouldn't call the police or anything." Hiruma just 'Hnn'ed the response, already wandering into the small living room. Sena stood, unsure on what he was supposed to. Was he missing some subtle cue? So he went and sat down in the living, in the same love seat as he had done a few days ago. He watched the television absently for a few minutes, glancing every now and then to see if Hiruma was showing anything on his face. He wasn't.
"Have I done something to irritate you?" Sena's question sounded weak, but he wasn't sure how to go about it any other way. He had never been one for confrontation, running away or ceding defeat rather than questioning.
"Piss off. If I'm irritated, you will know. Go sleep or something." Hiruma waved him off without looking at him, and as was more per usual, Sena nodded and went upstairs to finish up the homework he missed, and then sleep.
It was bright and early in the morning at Deimon Highschool. There weren't any kids there besides the eclectic group standing around a pile of bags, seeing as it was a quarter to seven in the morning, but the silence was a rare thing. Sena's breath was misting in the cool air, as the soft sunlight hadn't quite warmed anything up yet.
He had woken up that morning like a different person from the day before. Thursday had been almost calm, almost enjoyable. Then he woke up this morning on his own, with no alarm clock, sweating and his heart racing and panicking like someone had been holding a gun to his head, and he wasn't sure why. He was going on a vacation, of all things to panic about. But it had left an imprint on his morning so far.
While rushing through breakfast, he hadn't been able to make eye contact with Hiruma, wondering if he had heard the panicky gasping. He started to feel grateful that he brought his knife, but he stopped the though before it went anywhere. They had a long bus ride ahead of them that Sena had to survive.
"Aw, buses are slow. I wish the hot springs had been near a train line." Monta was complaining loudly, breaking the silence.
"Well, you can stay here if you want. Less money spent, hmm?" Mamori jabbed the poor catcher with an elbow.
"Ahhh, no, that's not what I meant! I would travel anywhere for you, Mamori!" Monta slumped as she laughed and went to talk with the bus driver. Sena hadn't smiled yet. Everyone must've been getting used to it. A smack to the back of the head, along with a few other 'Oww!'s in the background informed him that Hiruma had arrived, as cheerful as ever.
"When the fuck are we leaving?" Hiruma grumbled to no one in particular. Mamori just glared in his general direction before continuing her conversation. Everything else seemed normal besides Sena. Hiruma kicked at the dirt and dropped his bags on the curb like everyone else. Sena still hadn't looked at him directly.
It took a few more minutes for everything to be settled, and Kurita started piling bags into the back of the small bus. Everyone piled on excitedly, whispering in the quiet of the morning. Sena sat by a window somewhere around the middle, and noticed gratefully that there were enough seats that he didn't need to sit right beside anyone. Hiruma flopped down on the seat to the front and right of Sena's, not even glancing in his direction. Sena figured this was intentional. He had underestimated Hiruma's subtlety before, and wouldn't do it again.
Mamori, with a glare, sat right across the aisle from Hiruma, surprising Sena. He figured she would sit across from him. Hiruma seemed to notice to and just snorted in her general direction. She quietly 'hmmphed' but said nothing else. Sena could feel the tension rise. Something bad was sure to happen in this enclosed space. He hoped it was just his raised anxiety misinterpreting signals.
A few hours into the bus ride, and the other members of the team had become restless. Monta had loudly called out his seventh game of Go-Fish with Komusubi, the three brothers looked to have several bruises from pissing each other off, and it appeared to spreading. Sena felt exposed in the bus, with only a cramped little bathroom that he could hardly waste away time in, away from others. He had the sneaking suspicion that Hiruma had been trying to watch him, but had been unable to do so gracefully with Mamori there, as he finally snapped.
"Why the fuck are you sitting so close?" Hiruma snarled at her. A moment's surprise quickly passed from her face, and it quickly turned to anger.
"You can't tell me where to sit!" She folded her arms. Oh dear, she was ticked.
"I sure as hell can! Go sit somewhere else!" Hiruma had finally made the effort to sit up and face her. The rest of the bus had gone silent. Mamori paused gently, then smiled. Sena's anxiety level shot up to an almighty high.
"Sure. I'll go sit somewhere else." Hiruma paused, the twisted expression of rage on his face faltering. "When you tell me what the hell is going on with Sena!"
Sena felt ready to puke. All eyes in the bus turned to him, wondering why he was such a source of contention. Hiruma froze as well. It appears even he hadn't expected this. The look then turned to confusion. Sena was terrified at what Hiruma would do.
"The fucking pipsqueak? Well, I thought he had been sick, but if you have some other information, I'd be glad to hear why else he's been missing practices!" Hiruma glared back, and Sena cheered inside. He had definitely underestimated the blond captain. Mamori stopped in her tirade, and seemed to be almost taken in with the act. Almost.
"You're lying! You skipped school too just because he was sick? A bastard like you wouldn't have that much compassion in his whole life!" Sena winced at the comment. The twisting of his stomach increased tenfold, because Sena knew exactly how wrong she was. Would Hiruma put up with that, or would he finally let out the whole truth?
"Is that what you've been thinking the whole time? That I was taking time off to visit your precious secretary? You're right, I would never do that. 'Course, you can check with the fuckers whose noses I broke that day, I'm sure they'd be happy to confirm." Mamori finally seemed to doubt herself, and Sena grimaced. There could be no good end to this.
"I still think you're lying! This was different!" Mamori's cheeks were flushed, and she wasn't giving up. Hiruma finally stood up, ignoring the bus driver's calls for him to sit his ass back down.
"You know what? If you're so fucking convinced that I'm hiding something from you, maybe you should be wondering why Sena won't tell his beloved Mamori rather than why I won't." With that Hiruma stomped to the back, practically singing the fabric of the seats with his ferocity. Sena swallowed his bile, and sunk into his seat, praying to God that they'd get there soon.
Well, you guys, once again, I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry for how late this is, and I have a thousand reasons (well, more like three, but they're really big!) excuses as to why this is late, but it doesn't really make up for the wait. So I'm really, really sorry. On a brighter note, I am much happier with the ending of this chapter than I thought I'd be. So I hope you're happy too. Any comments or criticisms are welcome!
TheInflictedFinger: I used to have dreams about anime characters, but I had a really sad one with the Weiss Kreuz boys, and from then on, I wished really hard that I'd never have a dream with them again. And then I didn't. I'm pretty sure your dream would've made me sad too, because I can't cook in real life! Thank you for waiting so long! It's been AGES.
crimson_desert: I can certainly tell that it was 3 am when you wrote that. Wowee. (I hope it didn't hit so hard as to leave a bruise! Not the face!)
Nekotsume: Ahh, yes. It made me very happy to finally throw in some real-pissed-off Hiruma. Sort of like I'm nudging him back to his original character mold. I haven't gotten to the Musashi bit in either the manga or the anime. (Sound card died on my computer, and I died with it.) So sad!
BBQwolf: Thank you very much! Here is my encore.
Kailis: I have always found it very strange how an extremely unhappy story can brighten my day. I'm glad I'm not the only one, so thank you!
Werefox Alchemist: Oh dear. After such a long review, I feel incredibly bad for not finishing this chapter sooner. However, do remember that I will not quit this story. I am still very much devoted to it. I started reading your stories, and am currently working on proper reviews on NotePad. Unfortunately, my browser is struggling a wee bit with pop-up windows, but I'll e-mail the reviews if I have to. Thank you for the constant encouragement and faith. It really got me through this miserable chapter.
garlicpotatopie: I'm beginning to wonder if your reviews are sarcastic, although it may just be my dislike for the word 'emo'. Whether or not these two will ever get that far really depends. I'm still not sure. After all, can someone that mentally unstable really focus enough to care for anyone else that much?
Placed_Together: Thank you. It's always good to know that someone thinks I write well. However, if you do see something that throws you off, or any mistakes, I'm happy to hear and fix the inconsistencies in my writing. Sometimes my brain just skips things.
Dragonskin: I used to read every story that had "Angst" as a category, but as I've read more and more, I've become far pickier, so I appreciate this coming from someone who doesn't automatically go for the angst. I hope you continue to read my story, and I'd be happy to hear any critiques you have.
Crimson_Creature_Izumi: My goodness! You definitely made sure I was well aware that I hadn't updated in a while, with so many reviews. If I gave myself too much credit, I would never seek to improve and then I'd be doomed for certain to become a stale, useless writer. And yes, bits of this are based off certain experiences, but I'll never tell! (I could well be a bus driver who's dealt with a grumpy blond!)
Yakurimoe: Ahh, your username just rolls right off the tongue. I haven't searched up its meaning, but I have quite fallen in love with it. Yes, I do believe that I'll have to accept that the Sena in this story deviates quite a bit from the original Sena the author intended, however, I will do my best on making him realistic nonetheless, and at least keep the rest of his characteristics. Even if that means pulling him off Hiruma, who wasn't being very sensitive! Two smacks for that, I say!
Lunapokema: Indeed, I've been shamed into updating by the one and only, Lunapokema. I hope you have been pleased by this chapter! Personally, even I felt worried when I got Mamori and Hiruma fighting, but perhaps this will turn out for the better? Or has Hiruma ruined the entire vacation? Goodness, what have I set up for poor Sena?