Lys: *smack!* You lazy bi-atch!
Owwie... Anyway, since I know next to nothing about Japanese schoolish stuff, this pretty little germ-of-a-fic is set in *gasp!* the continental US Which would kinda sorta make it AU... But that's not important. ~~; Umm, yeah.
Disclaimer(s): As much as I would love it, I don't own FY. And as much as I would love it, I don't own Cici's Pizza (dammit.). Don't own that little lyric-thing at the end either... Any similarities between the Mrs. Cotheimer in this fic and the Mrs. Cotheimer of NSHS are purely coincidental and unintended. Really. ::Firm nod.::
Warning(s): Eventual shounen ai. But not yet. Fattening foods. Baseball. Tasuki-esque language.
This Time Around
[Chapter One: In Which Kourin Eats a Brownie]
Bottom of the ninth. Two outs. Bases loaded, and we're up by one. Full count on the batter.
I blinked. Change-up?! Is he CRAZY?! I ranted mentally. Yes, I decided. Yes, he is.
So, in my best Frankie Muniz impression, I raised on eyebrow at Genrou with an obvious "You're kidding, right?" Look. His shoulders shook, and I knew he was laughing at me behind that stupid catcher's mask of his. I threw him a "Shut-up-and-do-something" look. He chuckled harder, but he did give me another sign.
Breaking ball down and away. Much better. I grinned, winding up and launching the pitch.
"Stee-RIKE three!" Gen-chan crowed gleefully.
"Thanks for the breeze, Kouji-kun!" I called to Kouji, who was still slightly off-balance from his beautiful Barry-Bonds-worthy swing (which, ever-so-unfortunately, hadn't connected).
"Silence, you," he commanded, standing up straight. "I was fucking nice enough to stand in for your pitching practice. Not everyone'll go up against a fuckin All-State pitcher."
"Ah, gomen ne, Kouji-kun," I said, grinning. Kouji shook his head and muttered something. Genrou laughed loudly.
"Whaaaat?" I demanded.
Gen-chan gave a fangy grin. "Nothin, Ryuu-chan. Oi, Kouji, catch some so I can get some fuckin batting in."
"No fuckin way." Kouji snorted. "Ryuu throws fuckin hard."
"Pansy," Genrou shot back.
"Hey, just 'cause you've fucking lost all fucking feeling in you hands--"
"Children, children," I intervened, making my way over from MY pitcher's mound. (Yes, MY mound. Ask anyone in the school. Coach's almost afraid to let anyone else on it.) "I think that's enough baseball for today. We can go to the batting cages later so we all can practice. I understand if Kouji-kun's too scared to catch for me. Kidding, Kouji-kun," I added hastily as Kouji's grip on his bat tightened.
"Fuckin pitching Nazis," he growled, rolling his eyes. "I'm goin' to the movies with some of the guys. Wanna come?"
"Nah, we're meeting Miaka and Taka at Cici's," I declined, though the movies didn't sound too bad. I needed to see "Signs" before it left the theater -- it looked good.
Kouji shrugged. "Suit yourself."
So Gen-chan and I headed over to the best pizza place on the planet, where we found Miaka on her fifth piece of pizza. Taka was watching her exasperatedly.
"I'm so glad this place is all-you-can-eat," Taka said in greeting, glancing warily at his girlfriend. "It's unnatural, I tell you."
Miaka finished chewing, swallowed, stuck her tongue out at Taka, then attached herself to my arm.
"Ryuu-chaaaaaan!! It's so great to see you!!" she squealed, snuggling my elbow. I smiled; you couldn't help but love the girl.
"Miaka-chaaaaaan!! It's good to see you, tooooo!! It's been two whole daaays!!"
She made a face and hugged me one more time, then moved over to give Gen-chan the glomp treatment. ("Gen-chaaaan!!") I settled myself into a chair across from Taka, giving him a look of mock sympathy. "Poor child, paying a whole $5.62 for a hungry girl to eat fifty bucks worth of pizza."
Taka said nothing, but gave me a Look that clearly said he thought I was nuts.
"So," Miaka chirped, "how was baseball?"
Genrou grimaced. "I think Ryuuen throws harder every fuckin year. Soon I won't have any feeling in my hand 'cause he'll have fuckin killed all the fuckin nerve endings."
I smiled to myself. Gen-chan would have never admitted that in front of Kouji.
"Nice to know that All-State arm of yours didn't die in the off-season." Taka grinned.
"What off-season?" Gen-chan and I replied in unison. "And I'm not All-State," I added, blushing. "It was just an honorable mention."
Miaka hugged my arm again. "It's still reallyreallyreallyreally good!!"
I tugged my arm free and tried to control the blood rising in my cheeks. "It's not that great," I muttered, wishing they'd drop the subject. I didn't like being exemplified.
"Awww, lookit, Ryuuen's blushing!" Gen-chan pinched my cheek.
"Stoppit," I growled, pushing his arm away. I crossed my arms, pouting, as Gen-chan started to reach over to bug me more, but Miaka -- God bless her -- came to my rescue.
"Leave Ryuu-chan alone, Gen-chan. Ryuu-chan, you had Cotheimer for 10th grade Spanish, ne?
Taka and I groaned. "Ahhh, the Coathanger. Yeah, me'n Taka had her class together."
She giggled at my none-too-enthusiastic response (But what would you expect? The woman's a monster!), and it struck me that she probably already knew Taka had taken the class, but she wanted to save me from Gen-chan's teasing. I grinned. The girl's smarter than she seems.
"Coathanger?" Miaka giggled again. "Anyway, Ryuu-chan, since you're so smart and all, I was hoping you'd give me some help on how to survive in her class. I'm dying in there. You should have seen what she did to our midterms!!" She heaved an exasperated sigh and fell face-forward on the table. "And Taka won't help meeee."
"Es un secreto," insisted Taka.
"Fuckin glad I didn't take a fuckin foreign language," Gen-chan threw in helpfully. I ignored him.
"Taka won't help you 'cause he doesn't know how," I told Miaka, flicking Taka's arm. "He barely passed 10th grade Spanish."
Taka glared. I smiled innocently. Miaka picked her head up and blinked. "Really? How'd you do, Ryuu-chan?"
I shifted in my seat. "Well enough," I replied evasively.
"Passed with a fuckin 97," muttered Gen-chan. "I remember 'cause Taka fuckin ranted about it for three fuckin days."
Redness invaded my cheeks once again. "Wow, Ryuu-chan!" exclaimed Miaka. "How'd you do it?!"
"Try sitting in the middle of the classroom," I offered, tracing my finger around a stray pepperoni. "She won't pay attention to you, so you'll be able to concentrate more easily."
"Is that all?" Taka demanded. I bobbed my head. "Damn."
"It could just be that he's fuckin Ryuuen Chou," Gen-chan interjected. "Fuckin Saint Ryuuen and all that shit."
"Mm," Taka agreed.
"I'm nooooot Saint Ryuuen," I whined, though I knew it was pointless. Kouji and Gen-chan had come up with that name in the 3rd grade, and it had unfortunately stuck.
"Of course you're not," Miaka said absent-mindedly, finishing off a brownie. "Taka, we should go, before my mother has a fit about--" she rolled her eyes "--'that boyfriend of mine' keeping out late on a school night."
"Gettin on well with the in-laws, eh, Taka?" I winked. He made a face. "Anyway, we should go, too. I promised Kourin a brownie, so I need to get home before she goes to bed. 'Kay, Gen-chan?"
"Whatever," he grunted.
On the way to the car we encountered a gaggle on girls, huddled in a circle, tenaciously counting their money.
"A quarter short!" one girl moaned. "Now how will we eat?" A wave of groans passed through their circle. I dug into my pocket for some change, and dropped 25 cents into the pile of change in one girl's hands. They spun around to stare at me in shock.
'Cause kindness is just so rare nowadays.
"Saint Ryuuen strikes again," Gen-chan whispered in my ear. I pushed him and sprinted for the car.
"I'm leaving you here!" I shouted over my shoulder, fumbling for my keys. The engine sputtered to life and I started to back out slowly.
"Fuck, Ryuuen!!" I heard Gen-chan yelling, and a second later his face was plastered against the passenger's side window. I burst out laughing.
-------
"I'm home!" I called to my mom, dropping Kourin's brownie into her eagerly outstretched hands. She promptly stuffed it in her mouth.
"Ariga'o 'Nii'an!" Kourin exclaimed around a mouthful of the chocolate.
"Yes, yes." I grinned down at my imouto. "But it's late and a school night. Shouldn't you be in bed?"
Kourin made her "I'm-only-18-months-younger-than-you-so-why-should-I-if-you're-not?" face. I tucked a strand of stray hair behind her ear. "I'll be up in a minute," I reassured her.
"Mou..." she half-growled in resignation, licking the last of her brownie off her fingers.
When I passed her room en route for my own bed about 15 minutes later, She was already fast asleep. I smiled and continued to my room.
Nestling into my sheets and covers, I flicked on the radio, fully intending to fall asleep to the soft sounds of whatever the DJ decided to play. Really, I tried. But I couldn't fall asleep. I tossed and turned, knowing fully well I was plenty tired and needed to rest, but I could not fall asleep.
Which is why, 42 songs and five commercial breaks later, I was awake at 2:17 AM when Kourin stumbled into my room.
I sat up.
"Kourin, what's wrong?" I inquired, my brow furrowing in concern.
"Oniichan..." she hiccupped, and I noticed the rivulets of tears down her cheeks.
"Kourin-chan." I welcomed her onto my bed, into my arms. "What happened?"
"Had a bad dream..." Kourin whispered, her voice muffled in my pajama shirt. I ran my fingers through her long, violet hair.
"Wanna talk about it? " I asked gently.
She was quiet for a long time, and I almost thought she had gone back to sleep. But then--
"There was a mountain," said Kourin, her face still buried in my chest. "Lots of snow. Lots on snow... And some of it was white, 'cause snow's s'posed to be white.
"And the rest was... red. Red like blood. 'Cause..." She sniffled. "It was blood. All over the snow. And you were there, and it was... it was all over you, too."
"Me?"
Kourin threw her arms around my neck and started sobbing anew. "You were dead! You were dead and I couldn't help you! And it was just a dream, but it was so real and--"
"Shh, shh..." She was shaking. I rubbed her back comfortingly, quietly shushing her. "It's okay, it was just a dream."
"I had to make sure you were still here," Kourin said softly.
"I'll always be here," I said, kissing the top of her head. "Do you want to stay here, with me, tonight?" I asked gently. Wordlessly, she nodded, and we settled into my bed together.
Kourin fell asleep quickly, her sniffles subsiding into slow, rhythmic breathing. I found myself overcome with exhaustion, so I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep.
Wolf-man, bathed in blood, coming at me, coming at me, need to move, have to kill him, can't die yet, can'tdieyetcan'tdieyet--!
The image flashed through my head in an instant, and I bolted upright.
What the hell...?
"'Niichan?" Kourin's half-asleep voice sounded beside me.
"It's nothing, Kourin-chan."
I slept.
Stand by me nagareru rajio wo mune ni daku
Bokutachi wa doko mademo tooku tooku yukeru hazu
Mada daremo shiranai basho ima mezashi hashirihajimeru...
[With the sound of the radio playing "Stand By Me" in our hearts
We should be able to go anywhere, no matter how far, far away
Aiming for a place no one knows of yet, we start to run...]
[End Chapter One]
Ehhh. Where is this going? I don't know. But I'll figure it out. Yeah. Brownie points to anyone who knows where those lyrics are from :D
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