Amor Fictus
Written by Sakki-san
Anything you haven't heard of belongs to me.
Anything you HAVE heard of, doesn't.
A soft groan escaped chapped lips as a figure rolled over in bed. Two dark eyes opened and found their vision blocked by strands of brown hair. A smile, a swipe of a graceful hand, and his vision was clear. Hidaka Ken looked out his single window and smiled peacefully.
The window was closed; winter was coming, and it would be cold soon. Ken sat up and stretched. Then he winced. His body hurt. Was it from the game, or from last night? He shivered slightly and rubbed his ribs. Must have been the game.
There were his clothes, lying peacefully on the floor. He pulled himself out of bed and reached for his clothing. He never slept with anything on. Lifting his clothes off the floor, he headed for his bathroom, where he took a quick shower and dressed before heading for the kitchen.
Ken lived with his legal guardian in a rather large apartment. His parents had died years back, when Ken had only been an infant, and he'd had no place to go. One person had come up and volunteered to take care of him, and thus Ken had lived with that person ever since.
But Ken shook away these thoughts. Dwelling on the past was no good. This was the present, here and now! He smiled as he rooted through the fridge for a good breakfast. First it was a shower, then breakfast, then head out for school.
Breakfast consisted of toast and cereal before Ken had to get out the door. He scribbled a note for his guardian, saying that Ken hadn't had time to prepare breakfast, and that there was bread in the bread box and cereal in the cabinets. Then Ken took his backpack and ran out the door.
It was chilly outside, but Ken didn't mind; he was wearing a jacket. It had his name on the back. His coat! He was a star soccer player. Of course he got a personalized jacket. He smiled as the wind brushed the tangles out of his hair.
Ken liked walking to school in the fall. Dead, dry leaves whipped around him in a frenzy while trees showed magnificently bright colors like red and yellow. Ken watched the sun rise in the sapphire sky and smiled. It was a perfect day. He just knew it.
He could even forget the secrets he hid deep within his mind. That's why he liked the fall so much. It was noisy, it was gorgeous, and there was always sunlight. Even when there wasn't, there was noise; thunder or rain. Winds constantly caused the dry leaves to shake and rattle. Ken loved the noise. It made him feel safer and more secure.
As he walked, Ken pondered over the events of yesterday. The early-morning game had been great. They were one behind, with just a few second left on the clock. The enemy forward had been going straight for him! No one could stop him! Ken remembered his fear as that ball headed straight for the net, away from him. So he dived! Oh, how he flew! And the ball had landed in his hands, he'd gotten a firm grip on it, and curled up on it.
They'd won! They'd won the championships!
Everyone had been ecstatic. They were all congratulating him, telling him what a great player he was. He said it had been a team effort; after all, if all his teammates hadn't gotten in the way of trying to stop the other man, who knows what would have happened?
He also remembered his triumphant return to school, and that moment he entered the lunch room from the lunch line. Everyone had been clapping, whistling, and cheering. Everyone except…
Ken frowned as he remembered seeing the redhead on the other side of the lunchroom. If he was correct, the other boy had been staring right at him. It unnerved him, but he refused to let it show.
Ken didn't let a lot of things show.
"Hey, Hidaka!"
Ken blinked, suddenly realizing that he'd arrived at school.
"Hidaka! Great save yesterday!"
"Ah, well, yeah, thanks!" he said, putting a hand to the back of his head. His friends all gathered around him as he walked, congratulating him on yesterday's events.
"Man, everyone will be talking about that save for years!"
"You're the best, Hidaka!"
"You're awesome, Ken!"
Ken smiled and laughed, accepting the congratulations graciously while screaming on the inside.
They went into the school building, the hustle and bustle of everything quickly surrounding and engulfing him. His friends waved and disappeared to their lockers and their other friends, leaving Ken all alone in the mass of bodies. He pushed his way to his locker and twisted open the metal door.
As he put his books away and took out the ones he needed, he heard a loud crash and someone swearing. Not that this was uncommon, but Ken didn't usually pay attention to these, and they therefore didn't register in his mind. So he turned slightly to see who was having the problems.
It was a boy with red hair and black clothing on. His backpack as slung in one elbow as he fought valiantly with his locker. Two eartails swung madly as he jerked and pulled at his locker.
Ken felt a little sorry for him. He seemed to be having such trouble…
So Ken got what he needed, shut his locker, and walked over to the boy, who was a good few inches taller than him.
"Want me to help you?" he asked with a smile.
The redhead looked at him, fixing Ken with an icy glare that Ken found far too familiar for his liking. Still, he kept on smiling.
"…I don't need your help."
Ken blinked, then shrugged and turned away.
"All right. Whatever." He walked off, never noticing that the redhead was looking at him.
As Ken walked the halls, people would congratulate him at random on his amazing save. He always thanked them and walked off smiling. He could never stop smiling. It was just him. Everyone expected Hidaka Ken to be smiling all the time, such a carefree young man with a great future.
Girls would occasionally ask him out. This was such a case; two girls walked up to him, both with seductive smiles.
"Hey, Ken," asked one. "We heard about your great save yesterday…do you think you would want to celebrate it with us?" She leaned over slightly, putting some of her weight onto Ken.
As expected, Ken blushed, and both girls giggled.
"N-no thanks." He smiled again. "I'd really love to, but I can't. My week's full up."
"Aww…well, next time you get a free spot…please come and tell me." They both smiled and walked off, shooting him longing glances at they went to their friends. He continued on to his first class, fighting back the urge to run screaming from the building.
He was so caught up in remembering what he had to do and couldn't do that he hardly remembered that this class was new.
It was German class.
He opened the door and suddenly remembered this. Mostly because there was no teacher sitting in the desk. The German teacher was never on time to class. He was also very popular with most of the students and with many of the teachers as well. Rumor had it he got a great paycheck, better than any of the other teachers.
The German teacher also happened to be the principal's son.
Ken slid into his seat. He'd had German for two quarters last year, and he knew the perils of being late to class. If you were on time, you were like a normal student to the teacher. Should you be late, you were the pinnacle of the class lessons. Some kids loved this, and were purposely late. Others were terrified of it and were always early.
The bell rang, and only two students scrambled to their seats. Then in walked the teacher. He came in with the grace of a cat and sat down on his desk, legs and arms crossed. This teacher was the only one who didn't wear something professional to school and yet somehow managed to look superior. He was wearing white slacks and white shoes, along with a green button up jacket that had a white shirt under it. You could still see some of his chest, though. The girls loved him, the guys thought he was just great.
"Morgen!" he said with a smile. "For those of you who are new to this class, my name is Schuldig. No Mr. or Sir unless I tell you. However, you are free to call me Herr Schuldig." Again he flashed that dazzling smile, and the girls all swooned. "Now then, I'll call your name. Just tell me if you're here, English or German."
He started off, listing off every child's name as though he'd had them for four years instead of one or none. How he could pronounce those names was amazing; he was hardly hindered by his German accent.
"Hidaka, Ken?"
"Here."
Ken blanched when he saw those God-awful jade green eyes land on him. Everybody else loved those eyes; they were always full of laughter and mischief. When they were on Ken, however, it was entirely different.
Ken knew that Schuldig was going to do something to him one day, and Ken knew it would be bad.
The man moved on, his eyes back on the paper. Ken sank into his seat slightly. His stomach was twisting like mad, but he couldn't get out of the class to go to the nurse. Schuldig never let anybody leave the class unless it was a total emergency.
"All right then, class. Since I'm sure those of you that know the basics of German are ready to move on, please take out your books and begin at chapter seven. The rest of you, listen up!"
Ken dutifully pulled out his book and opened it to the respective page. Schuldig and the book taught the children basic German at first, then slowly upped them to much harder things. By the time they left high school, they would know as much German as they could possibly hold.
Ken followed the words he was reading with his fingers, feeling tears well up behind his eyes. He refused to let them fall.
After all, his mask might rust.