Author: Simply Kim
E-Mail: cheng1812@yahoo.com
Title: Little Akira... The Tokyo Terrorist!
Genre/ratings: (Shounen-ai /Yaoi) (Humor / (a bit of) Angst)
Length: (Still undecided) Side Story 1 (Set between part 1 and 2)
Disclaimers: The series I'm referring to obviously do not belong to me, only the story does.
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Side Story 1: Of Bonds and Brothers
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"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Fujima was the first to let out an agonized wail as soon as the smoke cleared.
Everyone just stared stupidly, blinking multiple times as the object of their experiment remained unconscious...
And still an eight year old.
He saw Kogure eyeing the beaker he held in his hand, trying to think of what went wrong with the potion. His bespectacled sempai turned once more to fix his thoughtful eyes at the figure of the boy he had knocked out a while ago with what he knew, even if he did not use too much of his true force, was a painful blow. He winced inwardly, muttering a soft apology, training his eyes at the sleeping figure. He sighed and, once again, turned to watch the outside world through the basement window. He could only see the pavement where shoed feet hustle to and fro on haste, but he found a sense of calm in doing so. The rhythm and regularity were acting like drugs to get his mind off the huge problem.
He closed his eyes as a deep ache started to make tunnel through his gut.
He was the one to blame for all of these...
If only he wasn't such an idiot!
He heard Kogure sigh. "I don't believe this."
Hanagata nodded in assent. "Me either."
Mitsui stared harder, trying to digest the glaring truth. The kid wasn't going to be the annoying porcupine soon. "Tell me about it."
Then, he tuned them out. In the deep chambers of Rukawa's mind, he somehow knew that everything was just a replay of what had happened that before... the only difference was that he was the one who turned into a kid, and Sendoh Akira was the one who did it to him.
Of course he resented the fact that he was powerless to stop such feat, however, he felt glad somehow, because he had the chance to be young again... to feel happiness over simple things... to feel how it was to be loved by people who you never knew cared a shitload for you. He had never felt so much warmth before... and he never knew he would feel so much care from Sendoh himself.
He felt so much from him... and his inner self had managed to warm up quickly to the careful touch.
He remembered the time when he craved for Sendoh's presence last year. Even when he was a kid, he felt the craving. Why?
He did not know.
It was snowing then, and he was so restless and worried that he, in his young form, stole out from Koshino and Jin's shared apartment, heading towards the place, which he knew Sendoh's house would be. It took him a long time before he finally saw the familiar house marker. He did not bring a coat with him, and by that time, he was shivering from the cold.
He wanted to make to the front door, his mind conjuring up images of Sendoh welcoming him with open arms... with them sitting in front of the stone fireplace (which he much doubted the older man had) and drinking hot chocolate... of Sendoh's hands patting his head in a loving gesture... Love... a love he imagined would be the same with the basketball team's resident lovebirds... Hanagata and Fujima. Somehow he hoped all his visions would come true that night... He hoped that he would really see Sendoh again... he was hoping...
But he remembered that he did not make it. All he remembered was the freezing cold penetrating his body, and his legs giving way, making him slump onto the blanket of cottony snow... before everything went black. When he opened his eyes, he saw the familiar features of his Fujima-niichan. The older boy was sleeping with his back curved tiredly, leaning heavily on a plush armchair. He felt warmth then... somewhere under the pale blue thermal blanket covering his body. Carefully folding back the cloth, his eyes misted as he encountered a sight he had never seen before in his own life...
Fujima was holding his hand tightly... as if the other believed he'd slip away in sleep. He remembered looking up; settling his amazed gaze at the youthful features whose brow was knitted in a worried frown. He bit his lip then, wondering how many hours and heaps of worry he had given this man... and the other as well...
Hanagata was also asleep, his hand clutching a hot water pack, the contents probably cold by then, sitting on the other side of the bed. He wasn't holding his hand, but was instead clutching at one end of his blanket. He felt tears fall freely down his pale cheeks. He couldn't take the sights anymore, and what he did was to throw himself at the closest human being he could take a hold on.
He tackled Fujima, crying all the way.
He felt the jolt of surprise that came with the unexpected attack, and then the jolt subsided, warm arms wrapping around him with so much love that he felt so... secure...
FLASHBACK
"Kae-chan, are you alright?"
Rukawa did not say anything. He just burrowed deeper into the warm embrace.
"Are you still cold? Do you want anything? I made soup downstairs... do you want another warm pack? How are your thermal blankets... are they to your liking? I'm sorry for the pajamas... they're Toru's and Oh God... do they fit? I mean..." Fujima babbled on and on, stroking his hair repeatedly – almost desperately. In a level, the pull hurt, but Rukawa did not pay any heed. He was safe... he was secure... he was... loved.
"Enough."
Fujima instantly stopped, the fingers stroking the boy's head and he stared in surprise at the person across him. "Ah... Toru-chan, you're awake!"
There were thuds of heavy footsteps. A huge shadow cast itself upon both him and the boy. Rukawa looked up, his body tense as he waited for what would happen. The look on Hanagata's face was enough to make him think that the older man was actually going to hit him. The gruff tone that voiced out frustrations was no less threatening too.
"What in heaven's name have you been thinking!" Hanagata grated out angrily, looming before him. Rukawa cowered in spite of himself. He couldn't deny that he was indeed an idiot – even surpassing the idiocy of the redheaded baka who went by the name Sakuragi Hanamichi. He shuddered inwardly as the verbal assault continued.
"How could you even think of stealing away in the middle of the night and worrying the brains out of everyone?" The bespectacled boy covered his face with a large hand. His voice was by then shaking – Rukawa wasn't sure if it was because of anger or of... something else. "What if you got lost? Where would we have looked for you?"
"Toru-chan, please... Kae-chan has had enough... let it go..." Fujima's shaky voice pleaded softly, trying to calm the taller man down. However, as Rukawa stared at him with fearful and apologetic eyes, whatever it was Hanagata was feeling overcame him.
He cried.
Hanagata Toru, top student, basketball star, and all-around nice guy... was crying.
He slumped bonelessly on the now-vacant bed, his head buried in his hands, his hair tousled beyond propriety, his body wracked with desperate sobs.
Rukawa did not know what to do...
He wondered silently if an apology would be enough to get his 'niichan' to calm down. He wondered if this man would trust him again. He felt strangely empty at the thought. No, he must do all he could for these two and the others who had been worrying about him to take to him again. He needed them... each and every one of them... and he...
After all these times...
He somehow admitted to himself that he loved them.
He carefully disentangled himself from Fujima's hands and hopped down, feeling the furry carpet tickle the soles of his feet. He padded soundlessly towards the older man and climbed on the bed. He reached out and grasped the other's arm and attached himself to the strong form.
"Toru-niichan...?" He beseeched quietly, his eyes watering again. "Gomen nasai... I did not mean to do it... demo... I was... I was missing... Akira-niichan... and... And..."
"Aren't we enough for now?" The sobbing form he held on to uttered... so lost... "Don't you care about anyone except for Akira? Why did you do that? Do you think that we wouldn't worry about you?" Hanagata finally faced him, tearstains on his face. "Did you somehow feel as if we do not care for you?"
How could he answer?
Rukawa did not know how to answer.
Did he think that?
Or was he just looking for someone with the same kind of warmth Sendoh had?
Or maybe... he was just being selfish.
He looked up into the bottomless pools of pain that were Hanagata's eyes at the moment. He felt something twinge inside him, pulling strings from his psyche... and, after a long while, he understood.
He was being selfish.
"Toru-niichan!" He cried suddenly, the dam holding his concealed emotions finally breaking down, letting the gush sweep him away. "I'm sorry! I will never do it again! I promise! Don't cry anymore... onegai... suki...da... niichan... please..." He sobbed, clutching at the strong arms he was holding on to.
He thought he wouldn't be forgiven...
But he was.
He knew he was.
For Hanagata gathered him into his warm embrace, and Fujima wrapped his arms around both of them.
Safe...
So safe...
END FLASHBACK
A gasp issued out behind him, and he turned in alarm.
Fujima's blue eyes held every emotion possible – however, the most disconcerting was that, the HORROR became the most prominent of them all. From the way Jin stared at Fujima, he knew, he noted this fact, and his mind was now straying to what had happened between the boy and the current vice captain a while ago.
Rukawa deemed the reaction normal – Sendoh, as a child was insufferable! He hoped the others did not think of him that way when he was still a kid.
He sighed.
It's no use thinking about the past...
They're now experiencing a BIG problem.
How do they transform Sendoh back?
* * * * * * * *
He was alone in the kitchen when his mind strayed back to what Koshino and Maki revealed about Sendoh as a kid. Were they true, or are those two spooking them again like they did many time this past year? He sweatdropped as he remembered the Halloween party they had in Maki's condo unit. Koshino came as the Grinch... and Maki came as... Frankenstein.
The frightening part was that they looked so real coming from one of the doors, smoke billowing as they came out...
And yeah... the costumes were so... fitting too.
He sweatdropped.
Ayako-neechan almost had a panic attack.
That was spooky.
Rukawa shuddered.
Sighing, he diverted his thoughts back to what was announced that afternoon. Stirring the pot of stew he was cooking, he paled.
FLASHBACK
"OH NO."
Everyone turned their heads towards their second-time captain.
"What is it Maki-sempai?" Koshino asked curiously, his hand unconsciously clutching Ayako's clammy digits.
"He's turned back to being an eight year old kid." Maki, for the first time was sheet-white[1]. "This is terrible..." His eyes met Koshino's and the latter immediately turned as pale as he was.
"You're not saying that..." He supplied, aghast. "Oh no." His eyes lighted on the boy's peacefully sleeping features.
"Oi, will the both of you cut out the 'Oh no' crap and enlighten the rest of us?" Mitsui glowered, his eyes narrowing expectantly. "You're both making me nervous."
"That makes two of us." Kogure said quietly, beaker still in hand.
"Seconded!" Hikoichi piped up.
"You're the third." Jin couldn't help but mutter.
"Oh, right." The young assistant manager and bench player retracted thoughtfully. "Thirded then!"
"Is there such a word?" Jin sweatdropped.
"Akira's not always easy to get along with." Maki revealed, his face showing a bit of terrifying nostalgia. "He's –"
"Difficult." Koshino finished for him, obviously in the same state as Maki. "He's the... how should I say this... uh... neighborhood terror."
Everyone gaped at them, all except Rukawa who was staring dejectedly out the laboratory's skylight windows peeking a few meters up from ground level.
"Neighborhood terror? Like Shuuichi?" Ayako whispered in disbelief.
"Who's Shuuichi?" Sakuragi asked, raising a perplexed brow.
"Her youngest brother... the bratty little gangster." Maki muttered darkly. "The one who almost set their garden on fire..."
Ayako blushed in embarrassment.
Koshino nodded. "Like him and, sad to say, a bit more."
"So... the brat is a terror, huh?" Sakuragi said, peering at the sleeping face.
"Yes." Koshino repeated.
"Why did you say that?" Ayako asked, still denying what was being said.
Her boyfriend looked at her, his eyes deadly serious. "Remember the crumpled bike in our garage back in Kanagawa?"
Ayako nodded, her curls bouncing as she did.
"He was the one who destroyed it."
END FLASHBACK
He remembered Fujima looking at him then, his eyes clouded with a touch of indecision.
If Sendoh were a neighborhood terror... then what would happen to all of them? He shook his head. Well, he would learn if it WERE the truth... he'd wait until Sendoh wakes up.
Maybe the boy was just feeling cranky after what the gang put him through during basketball practice... Not to mention he knocked him down pretty hard. He sweatdropped. He surely hoped he's not like that all the time...
FLASHBACK
"Come on, don't be like that." Rukawa murmured exasperatedly at the boy who rebelled against being put into sleep. He silently cursed himself for making this 'do'ahoutic' mistake.
He had just proven that he wasn't a Tensai after all. Maybe the do'ahou's stupidity had finally gotten to him. He sighed, giving Sendoh a stern glare.
The boy did not even flinch. He gave him a mean stare right back. Rukawa was the first to divert his stare somewhere else, sighing. He pulled the edge of the blanket up to the boy's chin and touched a gentle hand on the fragile-looking forehead. "Sleep." He whispered tiredly. "Sweet dreams."
"Like hell I will!" The boy countered, sticking his tongue out and shifting his body so that he was facing the other side of the wall. "Go away."
Rukawa had no choice but to do so. Yes, it did hurt to be rejected – it brought out painful memories. Casting a parting glance, he opened the door and slipped wordlessly out.
END FLASHBACK
He turned off the heat and carried the pot away from the stove. Stew's ready! His tummy was aching, and he could sure use Hanagata's baked macaroni right now...
FLASHBACK
"Oi, Kae – erm... Rukawa-kun!"
He turned around as he saw Fujima waving frantically at him. The corners of his mouth turned up, a feeling of excitement ran through his veins as he saw the boy jumping up and down amidst the tall crown.
Fujima could be such a little kid sometimes.
He slowly turned around and waited until the former Shoyo captain reached his side.
"Ah! Rukawa-kun! I finally caught you!" He grinned happily. That particular grin made Rukawa think hentai thoughts... after all; it was his and Hanagata's anniversary yesterday. He shook the thoughts away as he felt a rare occurrence of a nosebleed.
"Ah... Fujima-nii... uh... Fujima-sempai..." He murmured quietly in greeting. "Why were you looking for me?"
"Toru-chan and I would like to have you for dinner!" The youthful face beamed at him.
Rukawa did not get it. His eyes widened as he thought of himself covered with gravy and burnt to a crisp. He took a step back, and would not have stopped if he did not see the hurt in the other's deep blue eyes. Maybe he was thinking of the statement wrong...
"Uh... if you don't want to... we understand..." Fujima's grin faltered, his shoed feet scuffing the dirt on the pavement.
"Uh... actually I would want to spend time with the two of you... but... if you're going to eat me..." Rukawa murmured almost fearfully. "Uh, I'll take a rain check... just eat another for dinner..."
Blue eyes stared incredulously at him, and Rukawa wondered if he indeed made a wrong impression on Fujima's invitation. He was still contemplating on what was wrong when he heard a hysterical burst of laughter. He sweatdropped as he saw the smaller boy laughing his brains out.
"Uh... Fujima-sempai... are you alright?" He asked worriedly. Maybe this guy turned psycho before he turned into a cannibal...
"Ru-Rukawa-kun... Bwahahahaha Hahaha!"
Rukawa took another step back as Fujima looked up at him, laughter dancing in his eyes. "Uh... Sempai...?"
"We're not going to EAT you for dinner, baka!" He laughed, clutching his midsection. "We want to have you OVER for dinner!"
Rukawa blinked.
And blinked again.
Slowly, crimson splotches covered his cheeks.
Oh.
Oh.
"Uh... in that case... umm... I would... I would be happy to join you both..." He murmured, obviously abashed.
"Yay!" Fujima cried out as he pumped a fist into the air happily.
* * *
It was already half past seven when the three of them sat around the dining table.
Rukawa was trying hard not to blush as Fujima recounted what had happened that morning. He had never been so embarrassed in his whole life! His cheeks heated up as Hanagata waggled his eyebrows at him when he met his gaze, amusement in the former's eyes.
"Here!" Fujima grinned happily, spooning a block of baked macaroni on his empty plate. "Eat up!"
Rukawa nodded dutifully, and dug in. I stared at the food in amazement as I got my first forkful.
"Oishi..." I whispered, eating another forkful. It was so delicious! Probably the best I've ever tasted in my entire life! The family chef's cooking could not even compare to what he was eating!
"Toru-chan made that!" Fujima announced proudly, and Rukawa looked up in amazement, his eyes glassy as he caught Hanagata's slight blush of embarrassment. "Oishi, ne?"
Rukawa nodded, eating another forkful as if to testify to his claim.
They ate in companionable silence after that. And then...
"Kae-chan."
Rukawa looked up involuntarily, his eyes seeking out Hanagata. "Toru-niichan?"
When he saw the knowing look in those wise dark eyes, he paled.
"I knew it." Hanagata said simply. "I knew you're not such a normal kid that time."
"Gomen..." Rukawa mumbled.
"No need to be sorry about that." Hanagata smiled warmly. "I just want to ask a few questions..."
Rukawa nodded his assent.
"When did you realize that you're not Kae-chan and you're not Rukawa?"
"I... I woke up as a kid when... when Fujima-sempai was playing with me... you know, when Sendoh was being pummeled by Ayako-san..." He started. "And then... Everything faded into nothingness. I did not know why, but it did. I could feel myself move, but I was being sucked into avoid...and my... other child-like self was emerging."
Rukawa saw Fujima nod, the fork inserted in his mouth bobbing lightly. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "I saw everything... but I couldn't do anything about it. Then I was somehow pushed out into the living world when I had the desire to go see..."
"When you went out to see Akira." Hanagata finished for him, looking all-thoughtful. "I knew it." He nodded once and turned back to him with a small smile. "Go on."
Rukawa too another deep breath and continued. "Then, I woke up and saw you both... then I felt... safe... and then... I was pushed inside again... I saw myself struggle when I was about to be brought back to normal... and then... and then the next thing I knew, I was pushed out completely and was in my own grown up body... I was myself once again..."
He shook his head, shivering slightly as he remembered the feeling of emptiness when he woke up.
He stood up shakily and stared back at Hanagata, his eyes clouded. "I'm sorry for not saying it sooner... but... I... I couldn't stay away, and I... I couldn't help feeling lonely though..."
"That's why you tried getting close to us again – as your true grown up self." Fujima grinned, his eyes misting in happiness. He stood up in his chair and tackled him, smothering his face with kisses. "Ah! Toru-chan! We have our little Kae-chan back!" he cried out in glee.
Rukawa was stunned, tears finally flowing free from the confines of his eyes. His arms clasped around the smaller frame. He stiffened somewhat when he heard a chuckle, and relaxed fully as another pair of arms held both him and Fujima close.
He felt Hanagata smile through his unruly hair. "One condition before we finally accept you." He said, his words muffled by Rukawa's raven strands.
"What is it?" he asked softly.
"Call us niichan again whenever we're alone."
The condition seemed absurd, but for Rukawa, it was everything. He had a family again... a family that he had not been a part of for a long time...
He closed his eyes.
"Hai... Toru-niichan."
END FLASHBACK
Rukawa shook his head in memory as he spooned stew on a glass bowl.
He's so lucky.
Maybe he'd be luckier if Sendoh would return back to normal. He mused as he placed heaps of food on a serving tray. He thought he heard a commotion somewhere in the house, but ignored it when it passed. Damned cats...
Or if he really isn't such a terror as they branded him to be now that he's a kid again.
He grinned softly.
Maybe he could try and appease the boy this morning after... He really thought that Sendoh's just cranky last night.
Carrying a tray filled almost to the brim with food, he made his way towards the room where he let the boy sleep in last night, humming slightly to prevent a breakdown he felt was definitely coming to plague him. He was a bit excited to see the kawaii kiddie again.
However, the minute he stepped inside, he was stunned to immobility as he took in the contents of his room.
Everything was in complete chaos. Papers were literally thrown everywhere and books were vandalized. The walls that he so lovingly painted to a clean shade of pale blue now resembled a doodled notebook page.
He looked around, searching...
No Sendoh Akira.
He dropped the tray in befuddlement and nearly screamed in horror as his azure gaze encountered his most prized possession sitting forlornly at the other end of the room.
Kami-sama...
It was his beautiful basketball, signed by all his playing teammates both in junior and senior high.
The ball was now deflated, and sporting random scribblings made by a permanent black marker...
Dead to the world.
* * * * * * * *
TBC
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A/N: I'm ALIVE! (Though it doesn't seem so for the past month, ne? ^___~) Hope you enjoyed reading this one! ^^ Till the next chapter! ^______^
[1] Is this really possible? Uh… Erm… ^^;;;