Memories of Another Day : Chapter 1 : The Rain
...His father said he has already regained consciousness and as far as he knows, Kyousuke has been locked up in the basement the whole morning. It might be good if you and Jirou go check on him...
"Kyousuke? Hey, Kyousuke, open up!"
A series of loud, hurried knocks followed the shout. The door didn't open and no one responded from the inside. Kouya Marino, the young captain of the Tobita gearfighting team, gave the hard surface a few more raps before giving up, sighing as he turned to look up at his taller friend, who was then leaning against one of the walls of the narrow stairway they were in.
"No answer," he announced, shaking his head. "Like always. Guess he'll never change, huh?"
"Don't say that," Jirou chided, making a mess of his hair with one hand.
"Hey, stop that!"
"Besides, I don't think Kyousuke's here..." he trailed off, looking at the closed door doubtfully. He tried it, locked of course.
"Huh? What do you mean? Where else can he be? Of course he's-" Kouya abruptly broke off, eyes going wide as Jirou produced a ring of keys from inside his pocket. A soft 'click' came from the other side moments later. Kouya shook himself awake from his stupor. "Hey, I didn't know you had keys to this place! Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"Why, did you ask me about it?" Jirou retorted, pocketing the keys Lilika had sent with them. He looked back at Kouya curiously when the brunette didn't snap a reply at him. The moment he saw his friend's downcast eyes though, a memory re-surfaced and he felt like kicking himself...
~*~
"...but you see, I thought you dropped out of Gear Fighting a year ago. Don't tell these people managed to convince you to return?" Takeshi asked, ignoring the glares Kouya and Kaoru were giving him.
" I don't owe you an explanation," Kuroudo answered cooly, meeting his gaze calmly.
"You're right," Takeshi replied, turning away from him. He started up the stairs leading to the building where registration for the Asian Cup were being held, taunting Kouya as he passed - "You know, I bet your team can make it to the last slot."
"We're going to be the champions, just wait and see!" Kouya declared angrily. "I swear, Takeshi, we're going to win all the matches in the tournament!"
Takeshi paused, looking at him. "We'll see about that, Marino," he answered, continuing on his way. Kouya glared at his retreating form for awhile, seething, until -
"I'm sorry for being late. I'm Kuroudo Marume, by the way," Kuroudo introduced himself to Lilika, bowing slightly with a gentleman-like air about him. The owner of the Tobita team looked somewhat impressed.
"Don't worry about it, Kuroudo. My name is Lilika Tobita."
Kouya turned around to face them, looking a little sulky. "Hey, Kuroudo! Takeshi tried to convince you to join his team, right? Why didn't you tell us about it?" he asked their newest teammate.
"Why, did you ask me about it?" Kuroudo replied testily.
~*~
Jirou looked at his young friend silently and then cleared his throat, trying to look like he didn't know what was going on inside his head - unfortunately without success. He put on a smile - though it looked absolutely fake - and hit Kouya gently on the back. The brunette stumbled forward, thrusting his arms in front of him to avoid hitting the door face first.
"Jirou!"
"I'm sorry, Kouya," Jirou apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyway, Lilika only lent me the key to Kyousuke's room. She's got everyone's, I think...at least, ours - yours, Kaoru's, mine, Kyousuke's and Kuro..." he trailed off.
"...yeah. Well, open the door already," Kouya told him.
"Yes, sir!" Jirou answered, doing a mock salute before throwing the door open. They entered an empty room.
"Yeah, you were right, he's not here," Kouya said, looking around. There weren't even any tools on Kyousuke's table, it was bare except for two things illuminated by the gearmaster's ever-turned-on desk lamp - the Dino Spartan and Shooting Mirage.
"Where do you think he went off to?" Jirou asked. Although he looked morseful, so he probably already knew.
"Do you even need to ask that?" Kouya answered, sighing.
~*~
Kyousuke Jin sat on the dirty ground, his back against the marker on his best friend's grave, looking up at the sky with a dull, lifeless shade to his usually livid black eyes. He visibly relaxed, allowing the gravestone behind him to support all his weigth, before he curled up into a tight ball, bringing his knees against his chest and burying his head in his arms.
"You just can't be dead," he whispered to no one in a soothing voice, rocking back and forth. "I...just won't have it. It's impossible."
Harsh cold wind blew across the empty cemetery, making him shiver. He shivered again, but this time, of the sobs that were forcing their way out of his small body. A brief war waged inside of him, one that left him shaking, silent tears streaming down his ashen cheeks unchecked as he hugged himself tighter.
"Kuroudo, you can't leave me...please, don't..."
He remained in that position for a few more minutes, crying, his attempts to console himself only ending him up with even more tears. Every word that escaped him pulled him deeper into the pool of his own grief and, as another cold draft passed, he wished even more that his best friend was there beside him, the arms around him not his own but Kuroudo's...
After a long while he finally uncurled, looking up at the sky again. It was beginning to darken.
~*~
It's raining...of course it is...
You loved the rain, didn't you? You said it's because the rain drives the sun away and then I'd be free to come out of the house. When it rains, I can be with you and we can go wherever we want without thinking about the sun. You hate the sun because I hate it. I hate it because it hurts my eyes and I cannot go out and be with you.
It's raining now...I waited for you to come for me...but you didn't...where are you...
Remember that day we went to the park? It was storming and we were the only ones there. It was crazy. If anyone could have seen us, they would have thought we were insane. But the park was beautiful in the rain, and peaceful because there was no one else but us. We sat by the pond, soaking wet but not caring at all, and threw stones at the waters. We didn't speak much but that was okay. The next day, we both got sick and had to miss the Griffon practices. The whole team thought that their most valuable gearfighter and captain, as well as their gearmaster, were both out of their minds.
It's raining now...I don't care if I get sick...or what anyone might think...where are you...
It's raining...of course it is...it always is...it was raining the day I met you, it was raining the best days we were together, it was raining the day you died, it was raining the day we buried you...it's raining now, Kuroudo, and I want you by my side.
The rain is still here, I'm still here...where are you?
I hate the rain, it reminds me so much of you...
I love the rain, because with it I can still feel you.
~TBC~
SDA or Standard Disclaimers Applied - in laymen's terms, I do not own CGT.
Dedication/s: To all my friends at the crushgear community - Kouya, Kaoru, Kyousuke, Kuroudo, Takeshi, Lilika, Wang Hu, everyone. Thanks for all your support. Sorry if this update is late, you know the facts, people. I sure hope it won't take me another light year to get another chapter up...
Note/s: Oh, how I love angst. Not much to be noted, except that this was one hard-to-write chapter. I didn't use MS Word so please excuse any mispelled words and/or some grammatical errors. This one's shorter than the prologue, I think, and I don't suppose I'll be writing any chapter as long as it(the pro). Oh, and yeah, this is no slash fic. I think yaoi hints are appearing here and there in this chapter and the pro, but I assure you that you'll find almost none in the chapters to come.