Infractus Divum

1

You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?"

G.B.S.


"Nina. Nina Sakura."

The old man quirked an eyebrow at the young man standing on his doorstep. He raised one chubby hand to his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully, pausing for a full minute.

"Who?"

The youth looked exasperated, and he waved the bouquet of flowers threateningly in the old man's face. A glint of irritation passed through his eyes.

"I told you already…I'm here to see Nina, old man!"

Old man!

The resident gardener of the esteemed Sakura family was sixty-eight years old, had greying, thinning hair, and bags underneath his round, brown eyes. He had been experiencing a few back pains now and then, and he was ALMOST eligible for retirement…

But he was NOT old.

"What did you just call me, twerp?" the gardener shot back, putting his hands on his hips.

The young man leaned forward, still clutching the yellow daisies in his right hand, with a mischievous sneer on his face. He whispered the word mockingly, with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Old."

"Why you little punk—"

As the gardener reddened, grabbing the collar of Yuta's shirt roughly, the front door to the Sakura house burst open, revealing none other than Nina Sakura herself.

Both males turned their heads at the sound of wood banging on brick, and simultaneously forgot their squabble. The gardener dropped his victim, and the young man put on a smile, smoothing his clothes gingerly, handing the flowers to the girl.

She smiled shyly at him.

"Hi Yuta."

He grinned in return, loving how she said his name. "Hey."

As Nina hopped off the front steps, she paused to bow before the gardener, who was watching her interaction with Yuta with contempt. An apologetic expression graced her usually jovial face.

"Sorry for the trouble, Alder! Yuta's like that sometimes." Nina looked up to see the old man's reaction.

"Hrm." He huffed, tugging at the brim of his sunhat.

"Just make sure that—punk doesn't wander into my territory again! Why, look what he did to the chrysanthemums! Your grandfather is going to be infuriated!"

At this point, the by standing young man felt obliged to roll his eyes.

The girl held back a giggle. Alder WAS overly compassionate about the flowers. She doubted if Yuta could care less about 'those vermin weeds', as he put it.

She bowed again.

"Arigatou!"

Then, grabbing Yuta's arm with her free hand, (the other one held the daisies) Nina half-dragged, half-walked out with him to the gates of her grandfather's large estate, and into the sun-dappled streets of the Magic Kingdom, or, as Grandfather Sakura liked to call it, Land of Libera Subrisi, or the freedom to smile.

The two childhood friends strolled down the sidewalk, hand in hand, and not afraid to show it. Nina was wearing an enchanting smile, and Yuta, his trademark grin, which had a hint of smugness in it.

After a few moments of nothing but sunshine, breeze and footsteps, Nina broke the silence.

"Where are we going?"

Yuta shrugged. "Well, it's a nice afternoon, so I thought that we could go the park…"he paused, "You know…to, uh…feed the birds?"

At this, the short-haired girl giggled a bit. She raised a brow. "Restraining order from the amusement park again?"

Yuta rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't believe those people. They're the WORST stiffs that I've ever seen. I mean…what's an amusement park if it doesn't amuse you?"

Nina laughed again. "Okay, Yuta. Whatever you say."

The young man just chuckled to himself, green eyes aimed skyward.

.0o0.

The birds looked at each other carefully, each sizing up the competition. There were about twenty-seven grey pigeons in the park today, and only a few scattered bird-feeders. The old lady sitting on the bench had left an hour ago, and from there, it was every bird for himself.

A breadcrumb sailed through the air, all of a sudden, and noiselessly hit the cobbled walk. Instinctively, both birds dove for the morsel, fighting fiercely.

Seated comfortably on the bench beside Yuta, Nina flung the remaining handful of crumbs to the gathering flurry of birds, much to the young man's dismay.

"What'd you do that for? Now we don't get to see them fight." Yuta pouted in a way that the girl found rather cute. She slapped him lightly on the arm.

"You sadist," she laughed.

They watched the birds after, engulfed in comfortable silence. There were not so many people at the park at that time. After all, most of the mystic folk were attending to their work, and other matters. But now that it was summer break for both students in the Earthworld and the Magic Realm, Yuta and Nina had somehow found a bit of time to call their own.

As her honey brown eyes followed the strutting figure of a particularly pompous little pigeon, Nina found herself remembering her best friend, Ayu.

She put a hand on Yuta's, and startled, he looked at her. "What?" Curious green eyes probed her face.

Nina smiled softly. "Nothing. It's just that…Ayu and I used to do this a lot before..." her eyes drifted faraway, "Y'know…when it used to be just the two of us…back then, when she was…"

"Single."

She looked at him; this time she was the one that was startled. Yuta looked away from her, staring at the pigeons.

"It's hard…sometimes. When your best friend suddenly gets a life of her own…without you."

Nina blinked, not really realizing what he really meant.

"Yeah."

.0o0.

"…and that's another HOME RUN! By Shuei High's indispensable Tetsushi Kaji! What a man!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"GO SHUEI!"

Multicoloured drums were beaten happily, as the cheerleaders of the high school went out to do their routine out on the sidelines of the baseball diamond.

The announcer paused for a moment, to let the home team's supporters scream their lungs out for the baseball team's MVP. He took a handkerchief out from his pocket and mopped his sweaty forehead.

Beside him, his fellow commentator took a long drink from his bottle of water.

"That's some crowd out there, eh, Tetsuya?" he remarked, setting the bottle back down on the table. The other man just nodded in agreement.

"Hope Takani High wins though," he said. The other commentator raised a brow.

"Why?"

"Shuei's winning streak has to be broken sometime. And besides, there's no teamwork anymore. They're all relying on that kid, Kaji."

The other man paused, staring at his microphone for a few moments.

"I guess."

.0o0.

"Woohooo! Alright! GO KAJIIIII!"

Rio, decked in full sports regalia, stopped to poke Tsujiai in the arm with his giant Styrofoam #1 hand. The boy slanted his eyes to look at the boy questioningly.

"Come on, Tsujiai! Where's you team spirit? It's your best friend playing out on the field, after all!"

"Hn," grumbled Tsujiai, turning his CD player on full volume.

Ayu Tateishi, nineteen, couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed at the extreme giddiness of the cat-boy seated next to her. Rio, a little more energetic than usual, had begged to go along with Tsujiai and herself to Kaji's game against Takani high, a school known for its prowess in baseball.

The girl frowned a bit at Rio, nudging him. Granted, the crowd was noisy too, so his screaming didn't make that much of a difference, but the problem was that he was changing form every now and then. They were receiving strange looks from several people.

She tried tugging on his silver hair.

"Rio…"

Poof!

She tugged on his ear.

"Rio!" Ayu hissed, "Stop that! People can see you!"

The kitten just stuck its tongue out at her mockingly. "I don't care! Nina's not here to punish me anyway!"

Poof.

"Yeah! You show them Kaji boy! You da man! YOU DA MAN!" Two rows over, an old woman glared at the young boy menacingly. And then, she frowned at Ayu also.

The girl felt herself shrink under the woman's penetrating gaze. Damn, she must think I'm his mother, she thought.

Desperate, Ayu turned to the quiet young man sitting beside Rio. She waved her hands at him frantically.

"Tsujiai! Do something!"

Unfortunately, the dark-haired boy had his set of headphones plugged into his ears, blocking out all outer noise. He hummed a little, cocking his head to one side, staring out into blankness.

"TsUUUjiAAI!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears, however. Beside Ayu, the cat-boy began to stuff popcorn into his mouth happily. Another batter stepped up to the plate. The game was going to get exciting yet again.

The young woman sighed, slouching her back. Someone had definitely given that cat too much sugar.

.0o0.

From where he was, Kaji could barely make out the small figure that was Ayu. She was sitting beside a smaller person, which could only be Rio, and on the other side of the silver-haired boy was his best bud, Tsujiai.

The air smelled of heat, sweat and drying grass. He sniffed and wiped the moisture from his face.

The game was beginning to start. All three pairs of eyes were trained on him, and Kaji saw Ayu motion to him. He grinned.

A flying kiss.

With the hot sun beating down on his back, the sweat drenching the back of his shirt, and the relentless, deafening screams of the crowd, Kaji felt a lot better than he did a few moments ago.

A loud voice cut through the sultry air.

"KAJI YOU PATHETIC IDIOT! GET A MOVE ON!"

The young man looked back and flashed a reassuring grin at the short, angry man standing fiercely in the shade, a little way from the diamond. The coach, Mr. Nakajima, did not hesitate to verbally abuse his team when he felt it was necessary.

The man flashed the finger at him angrily. "HURRY UP!"

Kaji jogged to his spot.

Beside the coach stood a young woman, her dark eyes on the game, hands clutching a clipboard ferociously. Akiho. She had seen that flying kiss that Ayu had given Kaji, and wasn't happy about it. It was widely known throughout campus that after the Ayu-Kaji hook up, the only person in Shuei High that was less than thrilled was her.

Kaji's childhood friend, trusted by his family and manager of the baseball team, Akiho just didn't understand why he had chosen the Tateishi girl over her.

She gripped the board angrily, nails digging into the wood. She glared at that little, brown-haired figure in the audience, waving happily at her darling Kaji.

Jealousy?

Negative feelings?

Pent-up anger due to stress?

Akiho was Akiho, and a grudge was a grudge, no matter what people called it. And in her case, her hatred for Ayu Tateishi would never vanish, regardless of anything that happened between them.

"SHU-EI! SHU-EI! SHU-EI!" The crowd on the left side of the stadium was chanting wildly, waving the school colours in the air, while the right side responded with a passionate cheer of their own.

"TAKA-NI! TAKA-NI!"

Under the pressure of her squeezing, Akiho's clipboard broke in half. Kaji hit the ball all the way across the field, and the runner dashed frantically to the home plate.

Home run. Shuei was the victor, ahead by one point.

The audience erupted, and the noise was deafening. Coach Nakajima jumped up happily, a wide grin on his usually sour face.

"YES!" he pumped a fist into the air wildly. "WE DID IT!"

Akiho smirked, and looked down at half of her clipboard. Slowly, she traced a finger upwards; to the next match they were going to play. It was about a month away.

Sighing, the young woman adjusted her white baseball cap, smiling brightly. The team was doing very well, indeed.

.0o0.

They sat in the shade of the tree in the park for a bit longer, enjoying the warm air. Yuta had bought a couple of ice cream cones from a vendor, and the snacks had long since disappeared.

Nina fingered the piece of tissue paper absentmindedly. The young man beside her just sighed, and folded his hands behind his head, leaning back and closing his eyes.

A few minutes passed in silence.

The mage-girl lifted her honey-brown eyes to the sky. It was a clear, crisp blue, with no clouds. She smiled.

I wonder if the weather is like this at home? I'd like to see Ayu again.

A bird hopped near them, eyeing the white tissue paper in Nina's hand curiously. Its beady little eyes scanned for food. The girl giggled.

"It isn't bread, little bird."

Beside her, Yuta let out a quiet snore. The young woman turned to him with a smile, and fondly brushed some bangs out of his eyes. He murmured something.

"Niaah…"

Nina smiled softly. "Silly Yuta…" The smile vanished in a few seconds. Her eyes took to the sky again, and she let out a wistful sigh.

Ayu…


Author's note: Well. Here I go again, starting another fic, even without finishing the others. (sigh) Baaad me. Oh well. I just have a few things to say about this chapter: Yes, this part of the story will have Yuta/Nina in it, and of course, Kaji/Ayu, but when Akiho is included, interesting things will start to happen. (Demented laughter) Of course, throughout the course of the plot, you readers might find 'other' hidden things that I won't mention. :D Comments appreciated. Please review! And bonus points for the people who are able to translate the title…into Tagalog:P