Make a vow and devote my days. Let the people say "He's so ambitious". Go ahead and make my day – Grand Slam by Yuki Kaida
Chapter 25: Eavesdropper
"Mommy!"
Groan. What now?
"Yes, Kaida?" I sat up, sleepily peering at the toddler. Kaida, who thankfully possessed the powers of changing clothes on her own, stood awkwardly at the end of my bed. I swung my feet onto the ground and stifled a yawn, "I thought you were asleep." She was when we left her in the spare room, at least.
"Kaida have bad dream." She sniffled, clutching a blanket in her trembling hands. "Kaida wanna sleep with Mommy and Daddy."
By now, I had stopped wondering about these childish antics, and had just accepted them to be. Such as referring to myself as 'Mommy' or speaking in 3rd person. But now this?
"Okay, okay." I moved aside, patting the space beside me. Just let her fall asleep, then I'd go off to the spare room…it's just one night. Kaida frowned, "No. Kaida wanna sleep with Mommy and Daddy."
Sometimes, I wonder if she does these things specifically to rob me of any dignity I'd been able to cling on to.
"Kaida." I complained, lip twitching into a pout. "Even if you pretend we're your parents, we're not. The three of us can't sleep together on one bed."
"Mommy!" She began jumping up and down, stomping her feet as loud as she could. Rubbing my forehead to ward off the oncoming headache, I searched my mind for a way to explain this 'delicate' subject to a three year old.
And came up with nothing.
"Fine." I looked heavenward in exasperation, taking Kaida's hand and leading her out into the hall. A few steps – dragged for me, skipping for her – and we stood before Leorio's door.
I seem to find myself standing before doors a lot lately.
With a reluctant knock, I waited for the door to open. And waited. And waited…and…waited…
"LE-" Knock "-O-" Knock "-RI-" Knock "-O!" Knockknockknock
Stepping back, we waited (again) as the thumping of footsteps got closer. A rather groggy and disoriented looking Leorio flung himself out the door, holding a shoe defensively.
"WHAT?WHO?WHERE?"
"Kaida wants us to sleep together."
The shoe clattered to the floor.
Before he could make some typical Leorio comment, I snatched up the discarded shoe and held it threateningly at his chin. "Don't say something that'll make me want to kill you. We wouldn't want to risk getting blood on the carpet, now would we?"
Kaida giggled, stretching her arms and slipping into the room. Sighing, I followed closely behind, leaving Leorio to wallow in the doorway. Grasping his situation, the teacher closed the door again and immediately sought out the light switch. "H-hold on! You want u-u-" – he seemed to be having trouble with two lettered words – "-us to sleep on the s-same bed? AREYOUINSANE?"
"We did it before." I sweat dropped, lifting an eyebrow at his flustered expression. "And she wants this. Her parents probably let her sleep in their bed. When she falls asleep you can go to the spare room and I'll go to mine. Are you drunk again? You have that faraway expression, like you see my lips moving but you can't hear what I'm saying. Leorio? Hello?"
"Daddy's silly." Kaida explained, climbing onto the bed and ducking beneath the covers. Rolling my eyes, I backtracked to the door and shut off the lights before pulling on his sleeve. "Do you really have to make this such a big deal?"
"S-says the modest one. Are you sure you're awake?" He accused, begrudgingly following me to where Kaida waited as patiently as only a toddler could.
"I'm tired." I whined, "At this point, I don't care where, I just want to sleep."
Though I would never admit it, the thought of cuddling up on the bed was very tempting…
Okay, where did that come from?
I had barely enough time to pull back the covers when a wild echo of ringing filled the house. I jumped, tumbling back to the ground as the doorbell continued to sound. All too eager to escape the confinement of the room, Leorio practically flew out the door and down the hall. Kaida giggled, watching as I slowly got back to my feet.
"Who that?" She asked, sliding off the bed to chase after him. Realizing this would keep me even further from dreamland, I flopped onto the bed and decided they would tell me who it was when they returned. I hadn't been expecting, however, to fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
XXX ~Killua's POV~
It was 1 am. 1 am.
All sane people were now asleep, comfortably snuggling into their blankets. But us? No. We were out in the freaking cold, at night, with slippers on our feet and light sweaters on our backs. Why? Because Gon is a worrywart, that's why.
And to make matters worse, I had accidently grabbed Mito's slippers. I didn't like pink cows with fluffy bells. Especially the kind that go moo when you press the nose.
Yuei peeked from behind our bush, blocking the view of the house. The house currently occupied by our math teacher, along with that blond thing. Stupid blond thing…
"Killua?" Gon whispered, eyebrows knitting together. "Did you just growl?"
Yuei shushed us with a wave of her hand, peering around the leaf growth. I stifled a yawn, annoyed with the fact that I was being deprived of some much needed sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Maybe I could just curl up here, with a nice leaf pillow…
I was brought back from the edges of slumber by approaching footsteps and a familiar high pitched squeal.
The squeal…of doom.
"MAMMA!"
A small body jumped, managing to knock me into the bushes. With a hushed half-yell, I tried to peel off tiny hands from my face. "Oi, I'm no woman!"
Brown curls bounced against her small face as Inuko Kaida giggled. I never liked dogs…
"Pappa, pappa!" Kaida turned her attention towards Gon, smiling widely. "Kaida had fun, fun, fun! Mommy is no funny like Mamma and Daddy smells like Grandpa but they nice." She babbled, ignoring the growing irritation in my expression.
"Auntie Yuei!" She hopped to her feet, jumping in place. "Auntie, Auntie, Kaida wanna go to beach!"
Yuei patted her head, turning towards the sandy-haired man beside us. He was wearing a cop's uniform, along with false identification. Past the cheerful smile and innocent façade, I wasn't sure if I liked what I saw.
"Thanks, Shal." Yuei pointed accusingly. "But tell Aniki to stop babysitting me. I can take care of myself until tomorrow."
He laughed, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I can never decide whose wrath I should be more afraid of." Casually, he gave us a once over before tapping his cheek. "So I'm guessing that's your way of telling me to get lost?"
"Yup."
XXX ~Kurapika's POV~
"…-ka."
Not again…
I curled further into a tight ball, unwilling to open my eyes just yet. I couldn't have been asleep for more than five minutes…since Kaida woke me up.
"…-pika."
Oh, that's right. Kaida woke me up. And she didn't want to sleep all by herself.
"…-apika….Oi."
So we went to find Leorio. And the doorbell rang. And that means…I'm still in his room.
"Kurap- OW!" Leorio stumbled a few paces back, rubbing his throbbing jaw. "What was that for?"
Yawning, I rubbed my eyes childishly, ignoring the weird squish sound it made. Leorio was kneeling on the bed, watching as I sat up. Looking around, I realized there was something missing. Hmm, what was it?
"Thanks for punching me." He grumbled sarcastically. With a tired, lopsided smile, I leaned my head against his shoulder. "No…prob…lem…"
I couldn't recall exactly what, or who, had made the day so tiring. But as the world faded into blissful oblivion and the safety of someone's arms, I decided it could wait until tomorrow.
XXX ~Leorio's POV~
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class, and students reluctantly began drifting towards their first period seats. As more and more desks filled up, an unsettling pit of nervousness grew in my stomach.
I wasn't sure why I was so nervous this morning, it wasn't much different than any other Wednesday, after all. Though I could only guess why.
"Good morning." I began once most everyone had sat down. "You should all have your textbooks. The page numbers are all written up on the board. Are there…" My gaze found familiar blue eyes, drying my mouth and making it harder to finish the sentence. Almost an eternity later, I managed a weak, "…any questions?"
What does this boy have over me to make me feel so inadequate?
Immediately, a hand shot up from the back.
"Yes?"
"What happened to your face?" She asked, giggling.
"I tripped." I lied, clearing my throat. Another voice interrupted, "That looks like a good punch. Who's got the good arm?"
"Any questions not concerning my injury?"
Uncomfortable fidgeting, realizing they might have hit a nerve. Sighing, I slumped back into the soft cushiony goodness of my chair. "Good. Get to work." I was in no mood to crack any jokes this morning.
Pulling out the attendance book, I quickly scanned the faces and wrote for each respectively. Everybody was present today, except for…
"Where is Tsukikumo Yuei?"
"Vacation." Gon piped up. "She left last night for Yorkshiin."
Ah, right.
Speaking of Yorkshiin… My eyes drifted back to the pen flashing through pale fingers, tapping the page and beginning to write. Halfway down the page, it pauses and flips back through those long fingers. The other hand comes up to push golden hair from aqua eyes and, completing its task, drops back to the desk. The pen runs down a few more lines as I put down the attendance book.
Having given out an assignment and taken attendance, I had some time to myself. I decided to use this to my advantage. Sitting down in the empty seat beside the blond, I took in his delicate features and sat in silence. The way soft, golden strands tumbled carelessly over his forehead, those cat-like eyes intent on solving the problems in front of them. His rose-colored lips, so utterly kissable. I tried to banish such thoughts from my mind, but failed instantly.
It wasn't until the page was a few lines short of being full that Kurapika noticed, or decided to acknowledge, my presence.
He continues to watch, impatience and confusion barely concealed. Or perhaps that was done on purpose.
"You're so reckless."
"You're the reckless one." Kurapika defended, tapping the paper with his pen. "You let Kaida, a little girl, go off with some random person off the street."
"I told you, it was a police officer."
"Leorio, there are no police on Whale Island." His eyes narrowed, the pen continuing to tap away. "Anybody can make, or buy, an officer's suit and get false identification. I could do it if I wanted to."
"Why won't you believe me?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice at a whisper. Annoyance had welled up within me, but it then subsided quickly as another emotion replaced it, seeing deep blue eyes glance away. Could it be he was worried about something else?
"You can't be so naïve in this world, you'll get killed." Kurapika explained, voice much calmer than I would have thought. "And if that ever happened, I…"
"You would wh-"
"I know I shouldn't have just left this morning, but the walk to school gave me time to think." He interrupted, setting the pen down. "Think of it as 'adoption' if you want. But those papers you signed were nearly the same as papers you would fill out to buy a house or something. The illegal version, anyways."
"Go and change the subject, why don't you."
"Don't tell the school. If someone finds out you've bought a teenage boy on the black market, you'll lose your job."
"It's adoption! So maybe it wasn't the right set of papers for that but it's not like I'm making you into some sort of slave or-"
"Daddy, stop talking."
The words died in my throat, leaving me gaping like a thirsty fish. Kurapika rolled his eyes, "That was certainly effective."
Taking a glance to ensure there were no eavesdroppers, the blond lowered his voice. "Which brings about my next point. What you said on the beach…" He trailed off. Was that a blush I spied?
"I said a lot on the beach." I reminded him. Though I was pretty sure I knew what he meant, I wanted to hear him say it out loud for a reason beyond me.
"A-about…you know." He hissed, waving a hand in front of his face. "Are you r-really going to make me s-say it?" Receiving a nod, Kurapika continued albeit reluctantly. "The…kissing…thing. If anybody ever finds out what happened between us, you'll lose your job, too."
"Nobody has to know." I offered. "It's our secret." It should be simple to the mind of a 17 year old. You don't kiss and tell and nobody finds out. If only it were that easy.
"I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"It's not right. Legally, morally. No matter which angle you look at it from, it's wrong to involve yourself with me. You'll lose your job and any respect from the people around here. I'm not worth it."
"I know the consequences."
"No, you obviously don't." He hissed, now having trouble with keeping his voice quiet. "Look, in a perfect world I wouldn't be alive and you'd be a doctor already. But it's not. Everything I've been taught is against this and I can't risk what'll happen if anybody ever found out."
"How is love wrong?"
I realized I finally hit the right chord when Kurapika fell silent. Unable to respond, we sat there as he searched for a reasonable answer, though one probably didn't exist. Seeing the determination die off his face, I began to wonder if it had been the wrong thing to say.
With a crestfallen expression, he leaned his elbows on his knees and dropped his head to his hands. "Leorio, don't do this to me."
"Excuse me." A girl stepped up behind me, shyly fidgeting with the edges of her paper. "What do we do when we're done?"
"Just leave it on your desk, I'll get it when everyone leaves." As I watched her nod and leave, I realized that anybody could easily hear our conversation. With an inward sigh, I turned back to the blond. "See me after class."
Licking dry lips, he lifted his head and stiffened his shoulders. "No, we finish this right now." Digging his nails into his palms, Kurapika stood from his seat, "You called this 'love'? Leorio, you should know I've only stuck around to get a free ride to Yorkshiin. You're merely a pawn in my game; I've never loved you and never will."
The bell rung, and the class filed out of the room.
XXX ~Kurapika's POV~
"That was quite a show you put up there~"
"I wasn't acting."
"Oh? So you wouldn't mind me taking him along?" Hisoka giggled creepily, licking his lips. "Though he's not quite as delicious as that short friend of yours, with black hair, nice big brown eyes…"
"Lay a finger on any of them," I shot a glare over my shoulder, "and you'll pay for every glance you ever sent their way."
"As fascinating as this chat is," He stepped in front of me, cornering me against a wall, "what about our little deal?"
"No thanks, Hisoka." I shouldered my way past him, continuing down the hall. "I'll find my own way." Without turning around, I could sense a sick grin twisting across his lips.
"Suit yourself, Kuruta boy."
A chill went down my spine, but by the time I turned around, Hisoka was gone. Alone in the empty hallway, my mind traced back to the classroom. Leorio's hurt expression, and the tearing sensation in my chest.
Turning, I ran for the nearest exit without a glance back, my vision blurring with every step.
TBC…
Yuuki: OMG! (coughs) Ahem…anyways…Surreal Reality is nearing its end DX I didn't get to include everything I wanted to, but I decided I didn't wanna make this too long…Besides…I couldn't get Leorio's POV down right…and my dad was like OAO when I asked him about how an old man thinks...after awhile I stopped trying and just wrote down whatever came to mind...not proofread, btw...
Killua: ._.
Leorio: *A* so it's all Kaida's fault…
Kurapika: no, if anything, she held it off longer *stomps away*
Gon: *song hunting duty* Kinda feel like it don't make sense~ 'Cause you're bringing me in now you're kicking me out again~ Love so strong~ Should you move on?~ Now I'm hung up in suspense~ 'Cause you're bringing me in then you're kicking me out again~
Kaida: C= review pwease! Send Kaida luv! Send Kaida luv!
Everyone: ARIGATOU!