Aquamarine
...
A/N: Every time someone mentions the name Harada Sanosuke, a glass object immediately fogs up from condensation. The man is too irresistible. Inspired by "Water", sung by Kehlani.
…
It has been about a month since the school festival, and Heisuke has been walking to kendo practice at the dojo and home alone with increasing frequency.
The weather was warmer now, he had managed to keep himself out of summer school this semester, and the kendo club was well on its way to finals with the luck of Souji's improving health. By all means, there should be more of a pep in his step.
He frowned at the thought. Something just felt missing, off somehow. His turquoise eyes floated to the figure standing beside him, the different in height forcing his line of sight upwards instead of level.
Souji was quick to notice his stare and raised an eyebrow. "Naa..it's rude to just frown at someone without saying anything, Heisuke-kun."
Heisuke blinked back at him, his mind taking a moment to process the words like he was coming out of the hazy fog. He nodded to himself.
"Huh? A-ah, sorry-I was spacing out."
A snort. "Obviously. Something on your mind?"
"Not really...something just feels strange." He then gave Souji's form a look of consideration. "Maybe it's because you're a weird person to walk to practice with."
Souji's green eyes twinkled with mild irritation. "Maybe I'm starting to regret deciding to walk with you after all." His smile was tight.
Heisuke shook his head absently in response as if displeased with that answer, completely dismissing the warning tone in Souji's voice. He scratched at his chin.
"No...I was just thinking I usually walk with Chizuru, but she's been so busy lately."
Souji's eyes shifted forward as he hummed in agreement. "Hajime-kun did say she needed history tutoring because of her grades-heh, maybe she's a little slow?"
Heisuke glared at him in warning. "Shut up. She's not stupid." He rolled his eyes; Souji always had a way of teasing when he was aiming to be serious. "Besides-Harada-san is a really good teacher. Whatever she doesn't get in class, he'll help her out with. He's pretty nice like that, for a teacher. She won't need help understanding the stuff too much longer."
Heisuke realized they were approaching the entrance to the kendo club already, only the shuffling of Heisuke's dragging sneakers on the gravel echoing. Souji chose to leave a deliberate silence between them for a moment longer.
"Hmm...a very good teacher I suppose." Souji said finally, slowly closing one eye in amusement. "So very diligent of him."
...
It has been about a month or so since the school festival, and Chizuru has now traveled to the shore a total of three times for the first few times of her life, and this weekend will make a fourth journey.
She turned a page in her calendar, and winced at the forgotten inked attention she gave to a certain date, with hearts and all. Chizuru blushed, and then sighed guiltily, absently tracing the pen lines with a single soft finger until the sound of her name snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Oi, Yukimura! We're done with cleaning for the day, are you doing anything after?"
Chizuru nearly jumped in the air as she fumbled quickly with her planner, snapping it shut and tucking it away behind her back as a familiar spiky, long blue haired guy jogged up to where she stood in the hallway. She offered him a tiny, nervous smile. His light eyes were especially bright, she noticed, a sight reserved usually only from when it involved Kosuzu somehow.
He didn't disappoint her theory, mirroring her smile back, with teeth. "Hey...Kosuzu and I are going to the park if you wanna tag along?" Even for as long as they have known each other, her classmate Ibuki has never failed to color slightly just from using his girlfriend's name.
Chizuru was glad to see she wasn't mistaken today either. But, she shook her head negatively.
"Um...I'm sorry Ibuki-san, I can't. I'm going for tutoring again today..."
Ibuki's face fell for a moment but was soon replaced with bewilderment. "O-oh-okay..huh? Again!? Wow...you've been stuck having to seek out extra tutoring an awful lot lately…" He said, scratching behind his head with a frown.
Chizuru felt her palms starting to sweat and took a cautious step backward. "Hm? Ah-well, that's…"
Suddenly, Ibuki's eyes lit up in understanding. He was back to nodding and smiling. "Oh! I guess actually, it does make sense. You're kind of spacey sometimes, so school is probably hard for you too. I get that though, math is still really hard for me...Nagakura-sensei doesn't ever make any sense trying to explain things…" he trailed off while shaking his head in dismay, likely picturing some memory of the track-suited brunette. Chizuru settled for a nervous laugh, unsure of whether or not she should worry about the insult but thankfully Ibuki's flow of thought had already moved past it. The cheer found its way right back onto his face.
"Well, some other time I guess-I'll tell her you said hello for you, okay?" Ibuki patted her on the shoulder brusquely, and she yelped a little at the contact from his heavy hands. Her hands tightened around the spiral plastic He had already started to jog back toward their waiting classmates.
"You know, you're lucky you got Harada-sensei to teach you instead - he's not as bad..." He gave her a brief departing wave from over his shoulder as he left. As Chizuru watched his departing back, she felt the tension in her shoulder slacken gradually.
She nibbled on her bottom lip to hide a smile. Yes, she was pretty lucky.
…
He was watching the clock. Rather obviously, watching the clock.
He knew he shouldn't be. There was a list of rules, this was one of them and he was obnoxiously breaking it. Auburn eyes glanced down from the clock to his restless tapping of his foot against the side of his desk. Waiting for 4:30pm, and still with ten more minutes to go. He was being unreasonably impatient. Too skittish. Excited, even.
But how could he possibly not be?
From beside him, he heard Shinpachi yawn loudly. "Why do we have to stay late with nothing to do all day but grade lousy papers and wait for our idiot-students to show up and ask us for help!?"
"That's the whole-" a long-suffering sigh, "-that's why they're called office hours, Shin."
"Well...yeah! I know! But look, doesn't Hijikata-san know that we have lives too? I mean-!" He scratched at his head frustratingly and rubbed at his eyes. Sanosuke raised an amused eyebrow as the green-clad man swiveled around in his office chair in exaggerated emphasis.
"Why do you care? Students never come looking for you anyway."
The jab went completely ignored. "-And it's only us today! So he knows other people have these things-called lives?"
The sarcastic bite in his friend's voice was enough to finally tear Harada's eyes from away from the hanging wall clock. Finally. And right on time too-his good, reliable Shinpachi. This time he freely grinned mischievously at his long-time best friend.
He did his best to check his growing smile. "Where else do you possibly have to be if not here Shin?"
"I could be anywhere. A bar...the casino. Preferably where there are women. Being around this many men all day is driving me crazy…in fact, I bet there's isn't a single female within 10 miles of this place-" Shinpachi sighed again, and loudly too. Sanosuke's smile was threatening to double in size. It's what makes teasing him so much fun, after all.
"We do have a female student now." Harada reminded him suddenly, with an awkward cough at the end, a little unprepared for the sudden flipping in his chest any mention of her caused.
Thankfully, Shinpachi didn't notice his redheaded friend's sudden fluster at all. "We...huh? Hmm..Oh! Yeah, yeah, we do, sorry. That first year girl-ah, second year now right? Man. I might be getting old because I can't...can't..um..."
The conversation stopped there for a moment. Shinpachi was still nodding and mumbling to himself while Harada was staring a hole into the side of his friend's head like he was contemplating if he should try punching the stupid out of friend someday. Maybe it could help...
"Shin…"
"Hm?"
"You...can't remember Yukimura's name just now could you?"
"...No. I'm pretty sure it's Yukimura, actually."
Harada let more frustrations pass through his lips in expelled air. "...There's only one girl in the entire school, how-"
"Look! Don't give me that, okay?! I'm not that old yet. Chizuru's great, of course we all love her. But...she's got that kind of sweet, kind, blank space kinda personality sometimes you know? It's a little unnerving how agreeable it is. It's kinda forgettable! You could probably make her name her anything you'd like and it would still-"
Golden eyes glanced at the clock again. Two more minutes. Time to speed this conversation along now.
"Alright, alright Shin, I get where you're coming from. How about this then? Why don't you go on ahead and I'll hang back and finish? You obviously don't want to be here and your whining is distracting me." Harada leaned back in his chair with an air of nonchalance, eyes closed. When he opened them, Shinpachi was back mumbling to himself again-probably debating what he wanted and actually morality.
But Shinpachi was to be counted on for situations like this.
"W-Well...if you insist Sano, I guess I can go ahead on first and secure our table while you finish up here-"
Harada nodded with an eye roll and a dismissive wave of the hand, not missing how his friend failed to contain his own excitement; the track-suited man leapt out of his chair and started throwing items into his lapel bag. Things were moving along. It was all becoming background noise to him now, his eyes sliding shut again to hide his satisfied smirk after he glanced at the clock again. Total success.
"Oh and uhh, Sano?...I'll need some money for drinks too, while I wait." The shuffling noises and Shinpachi's pacing stopped immediately, and Harada re-opened his eyes to the brunette who now looked now on the other man-half sheepish and half hopeful.
Almost a total success. He bit back another sigh and just glared at his friend without speaking as he wished for his wallet.
But it would most definitely be worth it.
Every step Chizuru took towards the teacher's lounge was like another butterfly exploding in her stomach. She's still new to it, but she's done it enough times now that she shouldn't still be reacting this nervously.
Anxiously, maybe.
When she rounded the last corner, she saw Shinpachi walk out of the door shouting some goodbye, before he slid the teacher's door lounge shut and started walking in the direction she was currently hiding. There was no way to avoid crossing paths. Plus she had crouched low to peer secretly at who it was he was talking to and missed her opportunity to do something, so all .
thoughts of hiding stood frozen in her mind, like her feet.
"I should check out the races later and-ah! Yukimura-san, speak of the devil!"
Chizuru scrambled to her feet in embarrassment with widened eyes. "D-Devil..?"
Shinpachi furrowed his brow at her pitch, then smiled and waved a dismissive hand. "Ah? A-ah...it's just a saying. Anyway! Here for tutoring again?"
She nodded, blushing. Shinpachi-sensei grinned at her and he patted the top of her head affectionately, much like someone else familiar. She giggled.
"I am. O-oh, and it's okay if you want to use my name after school, Nagakura-sensei. I don't mind at all, and Heisuke-kun always says-."
The mere mention of their turquoise-eyed friend added another thousand watts to his smile with added teeth. "Fine, fine. We are pretty close anyway through him now. But to mention anything Heisuke says is a bad habit waiting to happen. Heisuke's an idiot, Chizuru-chan. You shouldn't listen to rumors; you're already such a good student now….anyways, I'm off. Sayonara, Chizuru-chan!"
She gave his disappearing form a timid wave, and then steeled her nerves while she brushed off invisible dirt from her skirt. Chizuru's hands still trembled when she rapped at the door. Three times.
"Come in-!"
The half amused voice sounded muffled through the door, but it had the same timbre that never failed to make her stomach flip uneasily without warning.
She opened it carefully and stepped inside, her breath hitching in her throat. All he did was look up at her, but it was the way his eyes seemed to triple in fluorescence that stole the breath right from her lungs.
For a moment they just stood there, looking at each other. Amazed. Apprehensive. Available.
...Eager.
After a pregnant pause, she snapped out of her daze with a heated blush.
"…"
He swallowed thickly, fingertips resting on top of a stack of paperwork. "Good afternoon, Yukimura-san. Can I help you with something?"
She fidgeted at the door entrance, looking around and realizing that they were in fact, alone. Anyone who didn't know her like he did would've missed the faintest glimmer of excitement in her features from the sound of his voice.
"Y-yes. Um, are you having history class office hours today? I had a few questions about the homework assignment that's due tomorrow..." Chizuru trailed off, never being fully prepared for this part. For the gentle smile he gave her when their eyes met, stealing the air out of her lungs the minute she entered the room. This little white lie they tiptoe danced around.
"...i-if I'm not already interrupting something!" She added hurriedly, suddenly noticing the nice sized stack of papers on his desk. She faltered slightly.
The sudden change in demeanor made him raise and eyebrow until he followed her line of eyesight and understood. Harada cleared his throat, and moved the hand that was still hovered over his stack of papers and to rest on his lap. Then he sat up a bit straighter and gestured to her to come forward with a slight dip of his head . "Don't worry about this-it's not urgent. Come in; if I can be of some help…"
"O-okay!" It was hard to hide the look of relief in her smile as she shut the door behind her quietly. He almost wanted to laugh-as many times as they've done this, how could she be worried he'd ever say no to her?
It took about ten minutes before Chizuru's mind began to actively betray her and sent her thoughts elsewhere as her red-headed teacher tried to explain to her the samurai hierarchy during the Bakumatsu.
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from pouting. It was almost unfair, really; his profile was much too distracting. He had a lethal combination of smooth skin, a defined jawline and focused eyes when he spoke about something he was interested in. Her heart was doing somersaults in her belly. How much longer until-
"-kimura?" His concerned tone snapped her right out of her thoughts.
She flustered under his gaze. "S-sorry…" Her eyes fell to the wringing hands in her lap as Harada chuckled at her reaction-deep and relaxed. The complete opposite of how she felt on the inside, and not for the first time did she think to herself that eventually he might come to find her immaturity irritating one day.
A purposeful nudge into her knee quickly centered her thoughts back to his face.
He frowned. "Was I going too fast?"
Chizuru winced. "No, it's not that. I mean, I understand enough of it, I think. It's just.."
"-just what? Are you not feeling well?"
She barely had a chance to respond before his oversize hand came to rest on her forehead, heating up her face for an entirely different reason. His frown deepened when he realized her temperature was relatively normal, and opened his mouth to say as much when this time she cut him off quickly."
"N-no, it's-no. I'm fine, I just might be a little distracted…"
Harada's eyes narrowed in understanding. "...Distracted?"
As if the word had suddenly sent a charge of electricity through the air, Harada's hand lowered away from her slowly as he blinked in understanding. Then, he leaned back in his office chair, the creak of it under his weight the only noise in the room as he absently tugged at his tie in thought. She was rushing him probably, she figured. But it was hard not to. It had been a full day of waiting, after all. Chizuru had been patient, as agreed.
But if the meaning behind the brightness in his eyes were any sort of insight into his mind, she couldn't help but read it as something positive-excited, perhaps.
...I understand. This can be a little boring, I can even admit that." He said softly with that charmingly warm smile, succeeding at making her fluster again. She swallowed a whimper of relief trapped in her throat. Her buttons were being pressed-it was so unfair sometimes how good he was as speaking without saying a single word.
No, she concluded, as she took his outstretched hand that suddenly turned into a tight grip, and she was nudged out of her seat opposite of him until she was back to her feet, and then he pulled her close, her small thighs fitting perfectly between his parted thighs.
"This...is a little bit more interesting, right?" He crooked a hand around the back of her neck and squeezed, admiring the pretty shade of red Chizuru's face was turning. She nodded, taking the hint and bringing her face closer to his.
Yes, she thought. Much more interesting.
The most awkward part for Chizuru by far was asking for it. As she slid her hands up Harada's white sleeves to trace the taut muscle underneath, she shivered in excitement. This was all so very new to her-what they were doing, and what they had. If someone had told her a year ago that she'd be straddling her homeroom teacher's lap with her head familiarly tucked into the crook of his neck, she might have fainted.
She might faint now, if his lips dared to press into the space her neck and jaw met. Chizuru made a small noise in her throat, like a squeak.
It made Harada pull back for a moment in hesitation and concern, even in his now wrinkled white dress shirt and tousled hair. He had wasted no time the minute she offered up her lips for a peck. He had made easy work of pulling her towards him and into his lap as a side straddle to rain his kisses over her lips and face. They had done something like this many times before-Harada's kisses always made her inwardly gasp in surprise but they were simultaneously incredibly familiar. It hadn't been that long-maybe a week after the school festival did Chizuru finally admit to herself that she couldn't put aside her feelings any longer.
And neither could he. They were all over each other at any opportunity given to be alone with just silence and each other. Train rides, beach trips, drives home. This wasn't an uncommon thing for them to do at all.
It was the first time in the teacher's lounge however-and as Harada's wide hands came underneath her skirt to both caress and steady her bottom on his lap she made another noise in the back of her throat. He gave a purposeful squeeze this time with a quiet smile, and leaned in for another kiss-but she still flinched slightly on instinct.
It was torture and she knew it; she wrapped her arms around his neck and broad shoulders as if she could pull him in even closer. And didn't he ask her something? "Oh..ah, yes. I think I-no, I am a little nervous, here, after all…"
"What about here?" Harada whispered huskily between the shower of kisses on her hand that he decided would take care of that pain of anticipation.
"What if someone…"
"Hijikata-san and Kondou-san went to the dojo today to give advanced kendo tutoring, so it's just been me and Shin."
And Shinpachi-sensei is-? Oh, right. At that, his eyes seemed to open back up in quick recollection. Then he chuckled at the realization spreading across her features, her lovely face up close and illuminated by the sun. They looked at each other for a silent moment, just admiring. The closeness-the proximity, the smell of his cologne right under her nose. His eyes slide close and he hums lightly, giving her another squeeze. She makes a strange noise in the back of her throat.
What long eyelashes did Harada-sensei have, Chizuru thought. I would love to have them as my own someday,
Harada finished chuckling just to clear his throat before he moved his arms from her bottom to her waist, encircling. He laughed again. "However, Shin's gone gambling out of stress, and he won't come back. Trust me."
She giggled enough for the apprehension in Harada's features to melt-and suddenly the narrowed eyes were open and wet again. He chuckled again and took in both of her hands, appraising and squeezing. Then he nodded to himself and placed a kiss on the back of her hand. Chizuru gasped.
Harada eye's fluttered up, surprised. "Too much?" But his hands did not move.
She blushed under the focused attention of his eyes. The sensation was enough to give her pause yes, but she couldn't tell him no aloud either. Chizuru opted to nod shyly and squirm a bit in anticipation for tonight's cooking meal with Harada by her side. It made her smile to remember the beautiful speech he gave her in homeroom right before the festival when she had so many doubts and worries.
Harada, who had been watching the emotions flicker in her eyes, smiled to himself in silent understanding. He lifted her hands up to his face between them, and learned down to place feather-light kisses on the tips of each finger. She made another involuntary noise at the sensation and the meaning behind it. She could feel it in every soft kiss-a hunger, a need, a deep chasm of love and understanding grew between them before anyone could have guessed it; for her too.
"No...not enough, please." Chizuru said suddenly, firmly. She pulled her hands away from his mouth and instead rested them on either side of his shoulders with the smallest, most genial grin Harada had ever seen.
He laughed. "What?"
"Harada-sensei, please don't tease…" The blush returned. "Oh! I mean… unless you don't want-?"
"Of course I do." Another squeeze. "I just want to be sure..."
"I'm sure. A-and if you say no one will be here for awhile…"
"...Chizuru, you should really think about what you're saying. I'm almost at my limit here." He squeezed at her sides for emphasis, and leaned in closer with an easy smile. Slowly, as to not frighten her off.
Chizuru let out a shaky sigh and drew her eyes closed-a release of tension. Then she nodded to herself firmly. When she looked up, her eyes were wide again. She pouted; it was his favorite look on her, face reddened, honey eyes melted with lustful guilt. He pressed his lips to her warmed cheek.
"Please?" She whispered again, half-pleading and half-demanding. He felt her wriggle on his lap. She was surprisingly impatient-not that he minded this side of her at all.
Harada chuckled again and shifted his wrapped his arms around her, one crooked across her waist possessively and the other moved to rest on her thigh. She parted them just a little.
Shinpachi was about to walk out of the front school doors when he realized he had been careless enough to forget his wallet right there on his desk. Not that there was hardly anything in there to try and steal, but he needed his license-he was driving, after all. With a small frustrated noise he turned heel and picked up his pace to jog back up a flight of stairs.
Harada should still be there so he shouldn't need his keys to the room. As he approached the teacher's lounge he briefly noted a lack of noise-speech, if Harada was still advising students or working on something. Oh, and didn't Chizuru come this way? Maybe her question was rather simple. He put a hand to the door handle and slid it open.
"Ah-Sano? I can't believe I left my stupid-shit."
They were both much too quick on reaction, so Shinpachi had a blink a few times to even believe what he thought he saw. Chizuru straddling his best friend , fingers curled into his shirt and mouth shamelessly open to let the redhead's tongue swallow up her small whines. She had sprung to her feet in a moment; blush fixed in place as she bowed low. Harada was equally as brisk at getting to his face and awkwardly straightening his tie with a cough. The sudden squeaking of the desk moving out of place was the only indication that anything had even happened. Well that, and Harada's icy glare threatening all types of pain.
Shinpachi held up a wilting index finger at the two of them. "Wha…"
"You really are an idiot, Shin." Harada growled at him, with a lack of any other thoughts permeating his mind. Shinpachi would've been more likely to agree with the statement and make a joke, but his friend's tone was betrayed by the flushing of his cheeks. He opened up his mouth-likely to threaten Shinpachi again when Chizuru suddenly shot up back to a stiff erectness, still blushing.
"S-Sorry for intruding, S-Shinpachi-sensei! I am leaving now-thank you Harada-sensei for your help today!" Without waiting for anyone, she snatched up her schoolbag from the ground beside her and rushed straight to the open door, nearly barreling into Shinpachi on her way out if he hadn't gotten out of her way. She turned, bowed again, and tripped over her own feet as she scurried away.
Shinpachi stood there watching her with wide, blinking eyes. Then he turned back to Harada slowly, wilted finger back and accusatory.
"Dude, are you-"
"Shut up Shinpachi," Harada said with an icy glare. He ran a hand through his toussled hair.
Shinpachi kept his wide-eyed pronouncement look, as if he was seeing Harada with two heads for the first time. "I'm sorr-?"
"Idiot." Harada muttered again, cutting him off.
This time Shinpachi's face changed and he looked affronted. "Hey-how was I supposed to know that you'd be-OWWW!" The brunette's words were reduced to whimpers as he cradled the spot on his face Harada's fist just collided with.
Sano sighed at his friendly angrily, an annoyed look on his face in place of the embarrassed flush. He rubbed his sore knuckles.
"Idiot..."
Which one of them was he speaking of, he wondered.
Hiii, that's all I have. I don't think this will turn into anything else but as always I like to post little things I wish I saw more of, just to share with you all. I hope you liked it, leave me a comment! I'm always trying to improve.