Behind a Smile: 05: Kimi wo Tsukete
Author's notes: My wallet just disappeared, taken out of my hands with LOTS of money in it at the mall. I'm sorta in a bad mood, and I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in a week. ^^
Anyway, A. Pikachu is now listening yet again to Ice Blue Eyes. Why? I don't know. Let's get on with the fic, shall we? Index cards…
*index cards appear and A. Pikachu places them before her*
All right, let's get started!
Disclaimer: A. Pikachu does not own RK or any of its characters. The plot is taken from a similar plot made by Megori, taken from the fan fic 'For the Sake of Friendship'. Some differences may occur from my fic and from Megori-san's. Arigato gozaimasu.
**
05::Kimi wo Tsukete//Watching You::05
**
The now 18-year-old soccer star leaned on his dark blue pillows, a book and a pen in his hands. His soft, dark hair surrounded his face, shadowing his eyes as he kept his warm, blue orbs locked on the paragraph on his book.
Tapping his pen slightly, Seta Soujiro looked up to the window and shifted his position, so that he will be more comfortable. After adjusting to his current position, his legs stretched before him, Soujiro sighed and took in the lovely sound of the autumn wind whooshing past the bare sakura tree that stood beside his bedroom window.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning, with the lazy autumn sun beaming over the city of Tokyo. Birds chirped by the boy's window, their wonderful songs contrasting to the surroundings, covered by crispy, golden-hued leaves.
Sighing once again, Soujiro adjusted the set of earphones placed on his ears, with the song 'Kimi ni Fureru Dakede' erupting from the contraption. As Soujiro started to do his homework once again, smiling as a smile crept up to his lips.
"…ah kimi ni fureru dakede…" he subconsciously sang, bobbing his head up and down unknowingly as he continued to sing. "…kokoro wa hazunde…ah kimi ni fureru dakede boku wa mitasarete – eh?"
His bedroom door was suddenly opened, with a cheerful-looking Makimachi Misao storming in.
"Ohayooooo!!!!!!" Misao happily greeted, dancing around Soujiro's room as she closed the door behind her. "How are you?" she asked, holding something that…moved…in her arms. It had a huge blue bow and it was wagging its tail.
Soujiro was still unsure of what Misao was holding.
"I'm doing fine, Misao-chan." Soujiro replied with a sheepish smile, pointing at the moving ball of…something in her arms. It squirmed, seemingly excited to get to the ground. "But what are you doing here?"
Misao grinned wider, apparently happy about the reason why she suddenly barged in Soujiro's bedroom. "To give you your birthday present, of course!!!" And with that sentence, she held out the moving thing in her hands, revealing a cute little Beagle, wagging its tail and a huge blue bow resting on its neck. The puppy looked innocently adorable as it locked its strange green eyes on Soujiro's blue ones, as if pleading for him to accept it.
Besides, the puppy looked absolutely cute.
"A dog?" Soujiro asked bluntly, still surprised as the dog continued to look at him with soulful eyes.
"Hai!" Misao said, dropping the puppy on his dark blue bed. "She's been house trained, so don't worry about that. Why, don't you like her?"
The little puppy wadded to Soujiro's lap, placing its front paws on his pant leg, her tail wagging to and fro. Amused, Soujiro took the puppy in his arms and rubbed the puppy behind her ears, making the dog nuzzle him.
"Of course I do, Misao-chan." He said appreciatively as his best friend sat beside him on his bed. "Arigato."
Misao giggled. "I'm happy that you liked it! Jiya had a hard time training that dog yesterday when I was away – Jiya was saying that the dog only got it when I came back…"
Soujiro's head snapped up at the mention of yesterday. His head suddenly filled with memories of his birthday party last night, memories of him talking about love and his friends consoling him about it. And the fact that Misao wasn't there, that she was with Aoshi, swam back to his mind.
"So Misao-chan…" Soujiro managed to say, although it hurt him to ask about their date. "How did your date go yesterday?"
Her emerald eyes suddenly shone with admiration as his set of words were finished. The unnamed puppy looked curiously at the girl, turning its head as Soujiro painfully prepared himself for the series of words his infatuation would say about Shinomori Aoshi.
"Oh my gosh, Sou-chan! I think I love him!!!"
The blue-eyed eighteen-year-old tried to hide his pain and misery as he smiled, leaning once again on his pillows as the short-haired beagle shifted in his arms, wagging its tail against his blue polo shirt.
"Is that so…Misao-chan?" Soujiro painfully asked as his arms started to feel limp, a tingling sensation starting to crawl down to his knees, butterflies seemingly flying around his stomach. "You love Shinomori-san?"
Misao nodded fervently, her locks of ebony black gracing her flushed cheeks. "He was just sooooo sweet yesterday!!! I mean – he picked me up with flowers! I don't really like flowers THAT much, but when he gave it to me they were sooo beautiful!!! And he was sooo handsome yesterday, even though he was just wearing a black polo…gosh, he's so heavenly!!!" She giggled a few times before deciding to continue her rant. "He was just sooo nice, and sooo sweet, and I love him, Sou-chan! I do!!!"
The flabbergasted soccer star only nodded his head, his lips forming an empty smile as he started to rub the dog in his arms behind its ears. Secretly, inside him he wanted to forget about all the things she had just said. He wanted to tell her everything that he'd been keeping inside, from how stupid she could get just for Aoshi to the point that she forgot his birthday because of Aoshi. For him, it seems that Aoshi started to invade Misao's life – with every aspect of her life being filled with him. Being filled to the point that Misao had become dense not to realize what her best friend felt.
But Soujiro wasn't like that. Soujiro would keep everything to himself, hide behind his everlasting smile and say everything's all right, just for her happiness, forgetting about his own.
And so, he did.
Although deep inside him, he really wanted to burst, but he decided that some things should just be kept secret. He heaved out a silent sigh as Misao's ring tone of ½ rang throughout the room.
"Nani yo, Jiya?" Misao asked, looking away for a moment as Okina started to talk on the other line.
"Shinomori's here to see you. Hurry up – he wants to wait for you, my pretty Misao." Okina said, teasing his little girl as Misao heaved a grunt of dissatisfaction and annoyance.
"Jiya!!!" She screamed, making the puppy and Soujiro wince at the loudness of her voice. Pressing a button, Misao dreamily turned to her secretly devastated best friend. "OH MY GOD!!!!"
"Doshita no, Misao-chan?" Soujiro asked, dreading the answer.
"AOSHI-SAMA'S IN MY HOUSE!!!!" Misao wailed, blushing profusely like a fan girl. "Oh my god, oh my god, I can't believe it!!!!! He's visiting me!!! God, Sou-chan, I have to go!! I hope you understand!! I don't want to keep Aoshi-sama waiting!!!" Misao gushed out, running out the door, leaving a confused puppy and a heartbroken Soujiro. She didn't even let Soujiro reply to her.
"Gomen ne…Misao-chan…" Soujiro said, looking down at the puppy who was in turn, looking curiously at him too. As Soujiro stared at the beagle's unusual green eyes, he almost felt that the puppy knew what was going on and what he was feeling. He even had a feeling that the dog was feeling sorry for him. "But I don't understand…"
**
Hours turned to days, days into weeks, weeks into months. After 2 months and three quarters of one, Seta Soujiro had forced himself to push the thoughts of Misao to the back of his mind. The rest of the group got themselves worried over Soujiro's mental state as he kept smiling, as if nothing was happening to his life.
But all of these events have been shadowed by the dreaded periodical exams. These exams come through the school year thrice, for the school had three grading periods.
"Mou…" Misao groaned, plopping her head on the huge conference table Yumi and Shishio reserved for meetings and conferences. Her long braid of hair had been released and put into a messy bun, with strands of stray ebony locks framing her face. "All this studying has to be finished up to Monday," she added with a yawn.
"Don't worry Misao-chan." Soujiro said reassuringly, leaning on the table as he placed his chin on his palm, looking at the beautiful girl before him. He chuckled slightly at the sight of the pen that Misao used to keep her long hair pinned up in that messy bun. "You'll get it all right by Monday."
"But Sou-chaaaan…" she heaved out, lazily looking up at the blue-eyed boy. "There are too many things to memorize! Hmph, only if Aoshi-sama was here…"
Soujiro inwardly winced at the name. Deciding to push the emotion of jealousy out of his mind, he tapped his pen on the table as the chandelier above them illuminated the huge room. "C'mon Misao-chan, don't give up."
No reply came to him except a Misao with her head slumped on the polished table.
"Misao-chan?"
No answer.
"Misao-chan, daijoubu?"
Still, no reply came from the green-eyed girl, making the soccer star look at the girl curiously. Coming to a conclusion, Soujiro stood up from his seat with an amused smile, striding over to Misao.
"Kawaii da ne…kimi wa." Soujiro mused to himself, gently pulling the chair away from the table after he laid Misao back on the chair. After doing so, Soujiro carefully bent down to collect the girl in his arms, carrying Misao away from the conference room with no trouble at all. With a little grunt, Misao in turn nuzzled Soujiro's chest as the soccer star walked up the stairs, the girl sleeping peacefully in his arms.
"What happened to Misao-chan?" Yumi managed to ask the minute she walked out of her room, wearing a purple robe as Soujiro passed her.
"She fell asleep." Soujiro replied quietly, heading towards the guest room of the house. The blue-eyed soccer star managed to open the double doors with his hand, closing it with a nudge of his foot before he went on to the huge, queen-sized bed that was on the center of the room.
He took the slippers off Misao's feet, still carrying her with one arm as he readied the bed with the other. Plopping the girl gently on the soft mattress, Soujiro tucked her in, pulling the sheets over Misao's body and taking the pen off Misao's hair. As he did so, her locks of raven black hair pooled around her form immediately, with Soujiro watching it with interest.
He never saw Misao, in eight years, with her hair down.
Shaking his head, Soujiro placed the pen on the bedside table, sitting on the beige leather couch that stood only a few feet before the bed. Indeed, it was late in the evening, about midnight at that time. As sleep started to come to the blue-eyed boy, Soujiro tried to fight the strong hold of slumber, but in the end he was not successful enough to be freed of its grasp. After watching his best friend for some minutes, Soujiro yawned slightly, his head coming in contact with a velvet pillow beside Misao. And before he knew it – he was sound asleep.
Author's notes: yes, I know, very short, very short. But thank you for your wonderful reviews!!! I just felt that the chapter should end right there, but I felt that it was short and it needed more too. But hey, there are chapters to come.
Special notes for special people!
Midaoru-san: wai! Thank you very much! Buti na nga lang naalala ko pang gumamit ng index cards…^^; Ay sayang, I can't have a Chaos-chan, can I? T.T Anyway, make the story last longer? I'll try. But FIFTY CHAPTERS? @.@ *faints*
White Witch-san: Yeah, oo nga, minsan nakakaasar yung mga ganung tao. ^^ Well, it IS like Soujiro, isn't it? O.O Her Most Beautiful Smile is the like song for all angsty, sappy, sad ficcie out there…helps with the mood to the point it can make you cry. ^^
Lord Cirenmas-san: Well, here it is! I hope you liked it even though it's short.
MoonPhoenix-san: People agree with me that Her Most Beautiful Smile fit the other chapter! Yay! I'm a fan of Aoshi/Misao too, but I'm a larger fan of Sou/Misao. Thank you very much for the compliment…or was it a compliment? Sometimes A. Pikachu just can't understand what people say…^^ Or maybe I just had too much cookies…
Forgotten Memory-san: I like them both!!!! They smile all the time!!!! Kawaii!!! Thank you for finding this story nice. ^^ And yes, I am a Filipino, living here in the Philippines…Metro Manila, to be exact. Why? Thank you very much for reviewing.
NUR525-san: O.O *shocked* WOW. Thank you sooo much!!!! Even though there are typos everywhere…*teary-eyed* Thank you!!!!
Mitchy-san: Nice to see you again! ^^ Yes, I am Filipino, and cool, you too!!! Yes, Misao's being a stupid little weasel here…Uh…where did I learn to speak Japanese? I don't know…I just picked it up from watching too many anime, or with the help of a small but very effective Japanese Dictionary. Sore atashi wo tetsudai dakara ano hon wa kakkoi desu yo. ^^ it helps me that's why that book's cool But sometimes I get the feeling it's wrong or something.
Joan-san: Wai, tuwa!!! Pinoy rin kayo? Cool!!!! Parang punung puno ng Pinoy ang FF.net ngayon ah…tapos twins pa kayo? Cool… Anyway, I hope I can, but I'll try. ^^ Thanks!
Jane-san: Kakakausap ko palang sa twin mo…^^ Anyway, yeah, second name ko yon, my first name being Alexandra…^^; I'd like it if people call me Alex or Pikachu instead. ^^ Everybody seems to think Misao's soooo…wrong, but I think so too. ^^ About the fics – my CCS fics are 'Something Unexpected' [Touya/Nakuru/Yukito] and 'Friends or Closer' [Eriol/Tomoyo], but don't bother reading 'Friends or Closer' since it sucks. A lot.
sophomoric genius-san: Aoshi's OOC alright. ^^ Well, you read Misao-chan's announcement, although it's not really that big as what you thought. ^^ Oh really? ^^ I'm glad that I inspire others to write fics of their own…just as long as they don't copy me. I'll try and read it. ^^
Phoe-chan-san: Thank you very much! It's not that complex, but still, thank you! I'll be looking forward to your Misao/Sou fics!!!
To the rest of my reviewers: AkiRa-san, Cat H-san, sLL-san, Raei & Chaos-Chan-san: Arigato gozaimasu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so grateful you guys reviewed!
And to everyone: Arigato gozaimasu! Onegai, review!
A. Pikachu