Title: Three
Series: Kannaduki no Miko
Characters/Pairings: Tsubasa, Souma, and Yukihito, some hints of Yukihito/Souma
Notes: Takes place after the last episode, so in the 'new world'. Um...kind of decided a couple things as I wrote it...one being very strange. 1) Souma and Tsubasa have the exact same backstory that they had 'last time', more or less. 2) Yukihito can for some reason remember what happened 'last time' and knows all about everything. I guess it's just my theory about him being more than he appears to be slipping in again... Also just guessing at a bit of his backstory.
Three
They are walking down the sidewalk together; my brother and his friend. Talking, laughing, smiling, and I wonder if he is always like this, if Souma is always this happy and carefree now, now that his life is better and no longer filled with such constant pain.
Now that I am not there.
They are walking away from me, without ever noticing my presence watching silently from behind. Walking away, walking out of my life once more. My beloved little brother.
I am out with Yukihito today, just walking around town more or less aimlessly and enjoying the nice, sunny day. This morning, leaning in my doorway as usual, he had casually mentioned that it was his birthday. I turned to look at him in surprise from where I was sitting at my desk, asking why he hadn't said anything before, since now I hadn't known to get him anything. With that bright smile of his, he shrugged the question off and instead just insisted that I go out with him today. I didn't ask for a clarification of his meaning of the term 'go out', and just agreed.
I had worried I would regret it, that spending all day with him would drive me insane. He can really be quite annoying when he wants to be, and his teasing can get tiresome. But today he is...fun, just a good friend and I am glad to be here, glad to be spending time with him and finally getting to know him better. He is close to Kazuki-niisan and lives in the same house as me, and yet today, as we talk about such random things that gradually reveal more and more about ourselves, I realize how little I really know him.
We are walking down the street, and when he makes a joke we laugh, but then I feel a strange tingle on my back, the feeling you get when you sense somebody watching you. Turning my head to look back over my shoulder, I make eye contact for just a second with a handsome man with long green hair and piercing red eyes, as if they can see straight into your soul no matter how guarded you are. But then he is turning and disappearing into some alleyway, gone from sight in less than a moment and I'm not even sure if he was ever there at all anymore.
"Souma-san?" I ask, feigning confusion as he turns to look at me again, apologizing and murmuring that he'd thought he had seen something. I nod, before smiling again and changing the subject, moving on and away from things that I feel should be avoided for as long as possible. I saw who he was looking at, saw who was looking at him, but if he can't remember then I'm not going to be the one to jog his memory.
He thinks it's my birthday, and the thought of my little trick almost makes me smile in amusement. It is not my birthday; I don't even know when that is. I just needed some excuse to get him out of the house, to get him to stop moping over that girl from school whom he likes. It ended in sorrow last time and it has ended in sorrow this time as well, for Souma-san at least. And if I can do that and get to spend time with him all in one move, then why not take the chance?
Latching onto his arm, I drag him into a store before he can protest, putting dismal thoughts away and concentrating on enjoying this short time of just the two of us.
