Kiss Me Not – A Modern Fairytale
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Murakami Maki © and Sony Entertainment (Kimi to Boku Magazine) ©. The fanfiction belongs to me.
Warning: Gravitation is a Yaoi manga. Please don't read if you don't like this pairing. Flamers are retards. Nothing to learn from them, so there! Take that, Reiji! Meow ha! XD
Plot Cockroach: Everyone knows the parable of Windy and the bug. So I decided to make Sakuma-sama suffer the same thing… meow ha! Also, I wanted to write more rare pairings, there seems to be a shortage of them na no da. Hiro x Ryuichi isn't very strange, but I don't see much of it. Even with Murakami-sama's hints on K x Hiro, it's still not a canon pairing… *Sigh* Well, I'll try again! ^__^ I may be retired, but an old boy can still have his fun!
Pairing: Hiroshi x Ryuichi, Yuki + Shuichi + Tohma
Summary: In life, there occur fairytale endings to things that just don't seem so fluffy sometimes. A tragic end isn't always for a tragic tale… some dark roses unfold with magic in their petals, as Hiroshi discovers in this roller coaster ride.
Note: Manga-verse. Whatever I forget, I mix in and laugh ebbilly as I do it. Don't believe it na no ka? Watch me… XD Anyway, I know that Ryuichi's eyes are brown in the manga, but I just HAD to give him blue eyes. It stuck with me, I liked the manga hair color, and his blue eyes in the OVA/Anime. ^^; The classic case of mix and match. Blah. XD
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"Flying, flying high, over the streets where the night don't die!!" Sakuma Ryuichi cheerfully bobbed his head to the beat as he sang along with the foreign song playing over the radio. It was a rare treat to be hearing something American where he was currently staying, namely, Japan, but it was a pleasant one nonetheless. "Yeah baby! Yeah, yeah! Flying, flying high!!"
Oh, and he was flying high then. Apparently Ryuichi had observed the beautiful driving style of the punks in '2 Fast 2 Furious', and boy, was he hooked!
That aside, Ryuichi was on his way to pick Shuichi up for the function they were to attend together, as it would "save Yuki-san a lot of trouble and gas". He had had that quoted a day before. "Hey Kumagorou! Would you like a shake na no ka? You know, they sell those delicious bubble teas too! They're really awesome na no da!!"
"Sounds good," Kumagorou replied.
"Yay!" Ryuichi swung dramatically to the right past the junction, much to the mortification of the systematic but polite Japanese motorists. He hit the brakes and went screeching in a complete, perfect halt in front of the take-out station. He wound down the window. "Hello Miss!! I'd like one of those cool bubble teas na no da!! Uh… that'll be red plum tea please!"
"S-Sakuma-sama!" the girl goggled.
"No, no, red plum, not S-Sakuma-sama," Ryuichi repeated his order, waving his hands as per his usual comical, expressive ways. Not sure if her idol was being genuinely cute or simply mocking her, she continued on her stare fest. Ryuichi waved his hands yet again. "HELLO?? Oh my god! Kumagorou! She's… she's… a zombie! She might spread the plague!! AAAAAAH!!"
Aware that there were no cars behind him at that moment, he did his highly dramatic reverse (learnt from Italian Job), and sped away into the day in a cloud of dust. As soon as the little stop was out of sight, Ryuichi wiped his brow with relief. "That was close Kumagorou-chan!"
"We could have died," the stuffed rabbit nodded. They drove on for a little longer. Kumagorou was about to say something, when he stopped short and stared at Ryuichi, full of horror. "Ryuu-chan…"
"What… What is it?" Ryuichi started to perspire. Images of a white ring forged in black on a TV screen flashed past his mind. It was a creepy feeling, for though it was daylight, the road was deserted and quiet… it made Ryuichi nervous. "Is… is it… the little green girl that was drowned in the well na no ka?"
"No… not that. Something… worse."
Ryuichi looked beside him and saw…
A grasshopper.
An ugly, big, flying grasshopper.
Sitting at the window, right by his head.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Ryuichi batted at it. It flew towards him. He took cover, but as he did, he swung the wheel to the right, stepped on the accelerator, thus causing the car to hit the barrier at the side of the road, crashing into a small ravine.
All had been quiet till then.
Alerted by the screeching of tires, Hiroshi looked up from the lyric sheet he had been reading. He hurried in the general direction of the sounds he had just heard. As he caught a glimpse of the car, he froze. It was Ryuichi's car! He could tell, having seen it countless of times before in NG studios. Hiroshi had been observing him for a while now, the singer had made his head spin when they first met, though he had kept that a secret. Besides, no one on earth (or so Hiroshi thought) would be caught dead driving a bright metallic pink car.
At least he hoped the driver wasn't dead.
"Sakuma-san!" Hiroshi pulled the door open, pausing to drag the half-conscious singer out of the wreck. Well, it wasn't technically a wreck, but the gully had been a steep and rather deep, and he didn't fail to notice that Ryuichi had a nasty bump on his head.
"He must've hit his head as the car toppled forward just now…" Hiroshi muttered under his breath as he laid the young man on the grass. Looking out for someone to drive them to a hospital was impossible – there was not a soul in sight, as it was a mini-sanctuary for wildlife, and waiting might just cause the concussion, if present, to get worse.
Ryuichi opened his eyes to a slit and tugged at Hiroshi's sleeve. "Is Kumagorou-chan okay?"
"I'll look for him," Hiroshi smiled reassuringly at the singer. He hastily returned to the car and pulled out the rabbit strapped in the passenger seat. He made his way back to Ryuichi and knelt down next to the young man. "Here… he's okay, Sakuma-san."
Hiroshi frowned with worry as Ryuichi failed to answer. He shook the young man gently.
"Sakuma-san?"
There was no response. The nasty bump had been worse than he thought it was. Placing Kumagorou on his own head, Hiroshi lifted the singer up, not really surprised that he weighed so little. Ryuichi was a lot like his best friend, the two of them smallish and were slips of men, and Hiroshi briefly wondered if Ryuichi had starved himself like the many other stars out there to keep that figure. He sat the singer up in front of him on his bike, and started the engine. It was a risk, but it was better than not doing anything…
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"How is he how is he how is he??" Shuichi exploded as soon as the doctor came out of the room. The kindly young man smiled down at him, sweetly, yet strangely distant, patting Shuichi's wine colored head.
"Don't worry, dear, your brother's fine," he replied, much to Tohma and Yuki's amusement. While Shuichi skipped around thanking the doctor for treating his idol as well as that compliment of his looking like Ryuichi, Hiroshi remained tense and worried. He hadn't liked the pale face he saw as the singer's, and he had yet to convince Ryuichi that Kumagorou was safe.
"Can I see him?"
"He's asleep," the doctor said in a quiet voice, gesturing towards the room. "But feel free to be there at his side… to be truthful… sirs… he might be sleeping for a very, very long time."
"WHAT!!" Shuichi exploded yet again, this time desperately clinging to the doctor's side. "I thought you said he was fine!!"
"He is… I… this matter is complex," the doctor explained slowly how the situation came to be. "I'm afraid that while the accident may have seemed minor, his sustained injuries are a little serious. We did all we could… there was a clot somewhere in his head, and…" he sighed, trailing off. There was no way these people could understand his detailed medical lingo. "We can only hope for the best now. His life isn't in danger… this is the phase in which we have to wait for him to wake up."
He turned to Hiroshi. "But thanks to you, sir, he was here on time. Any later, and it might have… come to quite a sad conclusion."
"Hiro…" Shuichi started to cry. "I don't… don't want Ryuichi to—"
"He won't," Yuki interjected, his brows knitted in a troubled grimace. "Nothing's going to happen to Ryuichi. Stop saying such nonsense."
"Yuki…"
"Eiri is right," Tohma stood up. He stole a glance at the other blond, as if trying to read his mind. Ryuichi had been very kind to Yuki when the novelist had been younger; perhaps a little feeling had crept back into the blond's heart. "Come now, Shindou-kun… I'm sure he'll be fine. We'll go in and take a look at him."
Tohma took hold of Shuichi's hand, nodding towards the others. He caught a jealous look flashing past Yuki's eyes, but he knew that Shuichi was at that point too distraught to notice anything else. Secretly he smiled as they made their way through the door. Tohma soon regretted his actions as the sight of the comatose singer greeted their eyes.
"RYUU-CHAN!!" Shuichi flung himself by Ryuichi's side. He caught hold of the singer's collar and shook him roughly, trying with all his might to draw a response from the young man. "WAKE UP!! WAKE UP, PLEASE! For me??"
"Shuichi…" Hiroshi pulled the pink-haired singer back. "Come on, Shuichi… let go, you're holding on too hard. Just breathe."
The pink-haired singer started to cry anew. Tohma took the opportunity to sling an arm round the redhead's shoulders while Yuki resumed watching passively from the corner was standing in. Hiroshi sighed. They didn't need this right now.
"Look… the doctor said he'd be fine," he spoke up. "Shuichi, go home with Yuki-san. Seguchi-san, I can look after things from here… you can return to NG and break the news to everyone."
"Thank you, Nakano-san," Tohma bowed and exited, but not before stroking Ryuichi's brow. Shuichi whispered to him that he would be back, and Yuki… Yuki shook his head. The three went out, and Hiroshi closed the door behind them. As soon as their footsteps died down, he sank down onto the chair by the bedside.
"Sakuma-san…" Hiro breathed into clasped hands. "Why did this have to happen now? And most of all, to you?"
Yes, things just had to happen to the nicest people he knew. Ryuichi had been cheerful and kind, even to his rival group. Though, he was sometimes distant and cool, but that was when they tried to steal the limelight that had been rightly his and his alone. But that was the beauty of him; he was complex, in an odd yet likeable way. It kind of balanced his happy aura, so Hiroshi thought. That was what made him shine.
And yet…
"I hope you'll go on shining," Hiroshi couldn't bring himself to look at the singer, whom he knew was pale and lifeless. It wasn't that he didn't like Ayaka; he did. But it… didn't grow as deep as what he thought would be love. It had been infatuation. Ayaka was a nice girl, really, she was, but her heart was with Yuki. Hiroshi didn't want that. He had been going through some turmoil based on that problem, and he had been going to end it.
It had been then when Ryuichi came into the picture. He had been around for some time, but Hiroshi never noticed him that much till then.
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"Hiro-kun!!!" Ryuichi grinned, waving frantically.
"Hey."
"So, how did it go? Did you have fun na no ka?"
Hiroshi smiled, yes, so Ryuichi had caught wind of their selling a million records. He had been elated when Shuichi told him that, which Hiroshi found strange because they were rivals. Ryuichi had also been supportive of Shuichi and Yuki, as well as Hiroshi and Ayaka. Ryuichi thought that it was a good thing to get rewards for hard work!
"Yes we did. Thanks, Sakuma-san," Hiroshi replied politely. Ryuichi scrunched his nose up a little, before grinning widely and thumping Hiroshi hard on his back suddenly. Hiroshi spluttered. "Gah!"
"Sorry!! But you don't have to be that formal na no da!!" Ryuichi winked at him. "You're a star too! So what's another star to you?"
"Well, I haven't reached the stage of galactic bliss as you have yet, Sakuma-san."
"Ryuu-chan! Just call him Ryuu-chan!" Kumagorou corrected him. "What… galactic bliss thingy is that na no ka?"
"It means I'm not as old as you are!" Hiroshi laughed, swiftly ducking as Ryuichi batted at him with his hands. They ceased to goof around as the road came into sight. Ryuichi turned to smile at him.
"Hiro-kun!!"
"Yeah?"
"Good luck in everything na no da!" he hazarded a swift peck at the youth's cheek before skipping off towards the car park, which was situated in the opposite direction, leaving a stunned Hiroshi behind. The young man smiled slightly back, rubbing his cheek.
Amazing.
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"Hiro!!"
"Hey, Shuichi," Hiroshi looked up at his best friend. It had been a week since the accident. Shuichi looked tired. He looked a lot less perky than usual, though that wasn't exactly a surprise. The redhead slumped down on the bed in between Hiroshi and Ryuichi, smiling a small smile that lit his face up a little.
"Has he—"
"No."
"Oh…" Shuichi paused for a moment, then he sat up straight and opened his bag and pulled a large book out. Hiroshi lifted his brow in silent question. The redhead shrugged. "Oh… this? I thought I would come here and read Ryuu-chan stories because I wouldn't know what to talk about to him. Talking about NG would be so boring, and I don't want to hurt his feelings and all that by talking to him about Yuki and Tohma, because he's worried about them and all, and I won't talk about pocky because that would make him feel hungry and he's not able to eat, I can't talk about singing because he might feel sad that he's not able to sing…"
Shuichi's words trailed off.
"Just read it, then," Hiroshi patted his friend's back, gently. "He'd like that."
"Okay," Shuichi forced a grin. Ryuichi didn't smile back, but Hiroshi determinedly tucked Kumagorou beside him. The rabbit felt warm because Hiroshi had been hugging him, so that that warmth brought a little bit of color back to the comatose singer's cheeks. Shuichi looked surprised, but he held his tongue and decided to go on with reading the story. The guitarist leaned back to listen, his eyes darting to the window every now and then.
"Once upon a time, there was a prince called Aya. Aya was a girl's name, but the prince, whose real name was Ran, decided to take that name because his little sister died, as did his family—"
"Shuichi, what sort of whack book is that?" Hiroshi thumped the boy on his head.
"Oww!" the redhead rubbed his head and pouted. "I got it off a bookshop for 50% off. Yuki goes there to get novels sometimes. I tagged along two days ago and this story's cool, okay? The author's the renowned Pocky King Windy! So stop interrupting me already!"
"Fine, fine…" the brunet held up his hands in surrender. Shuichi huffed and read on.
"Ran had a hard time. Every young man in the kingdom wanted to marry him because he was rich and beautiful," Shuichi frowned when he heard a laugh disguised as a loud, ominous cough. "One of the wicked Princes was a prince called Yarou. Now, Yarou was an evil, evil man who slaughtered people to sell organs so that was how he got rich na no da."
"…Na no da?"
Shuichi shrugged helplessly. "They didn't see it when he slipped that in by mistake, I guess. Anyway, on with the story! Aya didn't like him one bit. But he was forced to choose a bride or groom soon, otherwise he might lose his fame, power and property through a war waged by the princes against him. They'd do bad things to him if any of them succeeded in destroying his fortress, like rape him or something—"
"Who's this whack writer anyway?" Hiroshi interrupted, aghast that Shuichi would read something as crude as that to Ryuichi.
"He's Pocky King Windy and he's renowned, not whack," Shuichi growled. "He's my favorite author. Now let me finish my story, please!"
Satisfied that Hiroshi was now silent, he grinned smugly and continued. "So, Aya decided to throw a ball and invite princes from all the kingdoms to come. On that night, he would choose someone to marry. Yarou knew that he would not be chosen, so he got his slave girl Kinue to spike Aya's drink with some sort of monoxide-mix thingy that might make him comatose for life. But Kinue was a good person, so she popped magic sleeping pills into the wine instead. These pills would only wake Aya when he was kissed with true love and not just lust.
Aya drank the mixture and fell asleep on the couch. He didn't wake up when all his guests came, so they were worried.
'Oh my gawd! He's dead!' Prince Ginji pointed accusingly at Prince Akabane. 'What did you do to him, you creepy person?'
'Do I look like I would bother to do such a low-classed thing as that, as to poisoning Prince Aya?' Prince Akabane countered, his quiet voice unnerving. Prince Ginji broke into cold sweat. 'I'd so much more rather do that to you, Ginji-kun, if you would just let me prove it to you…'
'Back off from my partner, you sadistic pervert!'
'He does not belong to you, Midou-san.'
'You—'
'If you do not approve of it, let us duel,' Prince Akabane gracefully tossed his cloak aside. 'I hereby declare war on you.'
The next day, the war was waged between Prince Ban and Prince Akabane. All the princes left to bet on the different sides, and the shares went up at the prospect of good warfare. As for Prince Aya, he was left there to be doomed to eternal rest. Prince MAKUBEX tried manipulating some princes to kiss Prince Aya, but it never worked out. The good fairy Ryo cast a spell on the castle so that everyone there would fall asleep with Prince Aya till the day he woke up. His friend, the good fairy Omi decided to help brush their teeth everyday and give them baths. He fell in love with the servant Yohji and woke him up, and they both did the chores together.
About a hundred years later, a soldier named Ken happened to pass by the town of Tokyo. An old woman told him about the castle Koneko no Sumu Ie, of the strange prince's beauty, and how the people there had been asleep for so many years. A thick growth of rose trees had strung up to protect the castle from bad intruders who wanted to molest Prince Aya in his sleep. Ken decided to pay the forest a visit, so that he might help wake everyone there up.
When he got there, a huge dragon appeared. It was the evil Prince Yarou who had turned into a dragon! Without much trouble, Ken destroyed Dragon Yarou with his trusty bugnuks, and he went up to the tower to find the sleeping prince. When Ken saw him, he fell head over heels in love with the gorgeous Prince Aya. It wasn't just lust, because Ken felt the true will to save the Prince from his plight. So, full of love, he kissed the Prince.
Prince Aya woke up, the magical spell broken. With him, the entire castle awoke. Feeling that love radiate, he too fell in love with Ken. It didn't matter to him that Ken was a commoner, because true love is a blind, yet beautiful thing.
They got married, and lived happily ever after. There is no such thing as fate, nor pain, nor tears or laughter or crying, because, that as it is, it's the Law of 'Love'."
Shuichi sighed while Hiroshi rolled his eyes. It was a sappy whack story. But there was no doubt that the story was what both Shuichi and Ryuichi liked. They liked cute, sappy things. Cute and sappy was in their books. Secretly, though, Hiroshi had found the story entertaining as well. It had been simple, but pretty mind provoking to him, at least, in his situation. "Shuichi…"
"Hmm?"
"I think, Shuichi, that Sakuma-san really enjoyed that," Hiroshi nodded towards the now serene-looking singer. He knew how Shuichi needed that comforting thought at that moment. "You did a great job."
"Thanks," Shuichi smiled, pushing Ryuichi's crimson-brown locks aside from his face. "He'll wake up soon, I believe. I gotta go back to see Yuki, otherwise he'd miss his dinner."
Shuichi got up and began to leave. He paused by the open door. "Oh… and thanks for staying here with Ryuu-chan. You have no idea what a calming effect you have on him."
"You're welcome… what—"
"Nothing, nothing!" Shuichi looked stunned for a moment before blushing furiously. It was as if he had broken an oath and told a secret. "Bye Hiro!"
The door banged shut, leaving the two young men in the sunny room. Hiroshi leaned back on the chair again, stretching to flex his stiff back a little. He trained his eyes on the sleeping singer, his mind going back to the story. It had been a ridiculous one, but it reflected… Prince Aya's plight to Ryuichi's. Were they both doomed to eternal sleep? Never to sing or see the sun again? Hiroshi couldn't bear the thought of that.
"Sakuma-san…" Hiroshi didn't feel shy to touch the singer anymore. He liked the feel of his smooth, warm skin, and soft hair that smelled so enthrallingly of raspberries washed in dew and sunshine. Hiroshi… had been there for the whole week, leaving only now and then. Sometimes when things looked at its worst, Hiroshi would hug Kumagorou briefly before returning him to Ryuichi's side. Yes, things had been pressing for the guitarist. In the duration of that week, he had received a call from Ayaka requesting a break up. She couldn't take lying to him anymore.
Hiroshi hadn't been very upset, for that allowed him a little bit of fresh air. Now, all he needed to do was wait for the singer to wake up.
He thought a little of what Shuichi had said. It puzzled him no end. "Calming effect?"
It suddenly hit him. Could it be…?
Out of all the members of Bad Luck, Ryuichi had been closest to Shuichi. They shared secrets and stuff like that, and Ryuichi was a source of inspiration to his redheaded friend. Sometimes Hiroshi wondered what it was that they talked about. Perhaps, just perhaps, Ryuichi did like him back, even a little. Shuichi had blushed when he squawked that statement out. It was as if he had made a promise not to say anything about it.
Hiroshi didn't know if it were false hope on his part to make him figure that out, but he knew that bravery brought many miracles to be. Shuichi's bravery had gotten him almost hit by a car, but he had found his true love, Yuki. Tohma's bravery had gotten him the empire of music industry. And Ryuichi's bravery…
His bravery made him shining.
He had heard this quote over and over again; it was more of a chant. There is no such thing as fate, nor pain, nor tears or laughter or crying, because, that as it is, it's the Law of "Love". It had been bravery on the soldier's part that had saved the castle. "Heh. Looks like this Pocky King Windy guy isn't so whack after all."
Bravery.
Hiroshi leaned down, slowly, towards the comatose singer. Their breaths touched and entwined into a summery mixture of moist air. He brought his hands up to feel the singer's hair and face, liking the touch and scent of fruit and sun, smooth as silk and soft like swan-down. Healthy pink contacted with pale rose petal, Hiroshi's kiss was chaste, but ultimately… filled with the true love, that love that had developed from a mild fascination to something more.
He pulled away, slightly embarrassed. It was like he was taking advantage of the singer, but he couldn't help himself. Hiroshi smiled down, still dreaming with closed eyes, it had been idle fancy that he might wake Ryuichi up in that classic fairytale way, but… he had hoped. It had been bravery on his part, after all.
The brunet opened his eyes and was met by the wide, wide skies of blue. Surprised, he stared into those azure colored gems. Sakuma Ryuichi smiled up at him.
In life, there occur fairytale endings to things that just don't seem so fluffy sometimes. A tragic end isn't always for a tragic tale, if we willed and worked hard with all our soul and heart for it not to be, because if we didn't, there would be no fairytale endings in this world at all.
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Clearing up some stuff:
This piece was a little hurried. The ups and downs went round too fast, but I do think I managed to keep the characters in character. Well, except for Tohma. I paired him up with Shuichi, though I know he's crazy over our resident novelist. And I didn't explain why that happened either. ^____^
This fanfiction struck me when I was… ashamed to say, taking a bath after the rueful event when I saw The Bug in my car. The fairytale came from Sleepless Beauty. It had been too boring to drill on about Hiroshi's time with Ryuichi, who was comatose, so I decided not to write that. The ending was short, but I thought it fit the setting. There's hope that Ryuichi had accepted True Love's First Kiss (I'm sorry, Shrek fans! I just had to) or maybe he rejected it. Yeah well, so the smile gave me away. Hey, hey! Maybe it was a sadistic smile to say "sorry boy you're too young for me na no da!"
About that story Pocky King Windy wrote, you don't have to know those series because it was just a short story to wake Hiroshi up. Though, if you knew those series, you might find it funnier. As I was told, this fic isn't angsty at all! It was just weird and funny and sappy. Hence the genres.
Thanks everyone for reading!