Authoress currently residing before your very eyes.
The plot of this story has changed so much since I started it. Originally, it was going to be a Yuki/Alira pairing, then Shuichi/Alira, then Yuki/Shuichi and Alira as a bystander-houseguest, and then Tatsuha/Alira, and finally, it's Hiroshi/Alira.
And you know what else? PenPusherM mentioned the pun "Hiro the Hero," and I hadn't even thought about that when I was typing that chapter! (giggle) It made my day!
By the by, I do not own Band-aid brand adhesive bandages. Or Gravitation.
START CHAPTER
"You're Teizo Montosuwa's daughter, huh?"
Hiroshi felt her nod into his shoulder.
Alira was seated behind Hiroshi on his motorcycle with her arms looped around his waist so she wouldn't fall off. He hadn't thought to bring his other helmet with, so he was driving very carefully.
Her face was pressed into his hair, and her eyes were closed. "I ran away from home. I'm sorry. I should've told you before."
He shrugged, taking a left turn slower than he normally would have through downtown. "It doesn't matter. I'm sure you had your reasons."
She was silent as he stopped at a red light and put one foot down so the motorcycle didn't tip over.
Keeping his eyes on the light, Hiroshi asked quietly, "Are you okay now?"
"I'm fine. No biggie." She leaned back a little and smiled. "I was just a bit tired before from running, but I'm okay now."
Hiroshi drove off as the light changed, his comment almost being lost in the sound of the engine, "You're a bad liar."
She didn't answer.
Hiroshi swerved slightly to avoid hitting a pothole, and Alira squeezed him tighter around the waist.
"Everything okay back there?"
"Umm...Yeah. This is only the second time I've been on a motorcycle, so I'm not quite used to it yet."
A soft ringing noise from the folds of Hiroshi's jacket distracted him for a second, but he kept his eyes on the road. "Could you get that? It's the phone in my left jacket pocket."
Obeying, Alira carefully extracted the phone from his pocket and answered it. "Hello?"
"Alira? What the hell? Where are you? What's going on?"
"Too many questions, Shuichi," she replied simply. "Didn't you call to talk to Hiroshi?"
"Well...yeah, I did. But you're the one who answered, so I figured Hiro was busy," Shuichi replied reasonably.
"He's driving."
At that point, Shuichi had to smile from the other end. "Really?"
Alira leaned up against Hiroshi as he sped up to pass a stalled car and tightened the grip she still had with her one free arm. "Yeah, and I only have one arm to hang on with. If you have a point, make it quick, okay?"
"Okay, okay. Hurry back. Yuki says you have to do...something."
"I said to clean up the fucking kitchen!" she heard Yuki shout in the background.
Remembering the failed muffins she left on the oven, Alira winced. "Oh. That."
"Okay...well, I have to go...see you when you get back, okay?"
"Yup."
It only took a few minutes for Hiroshi to get to Yuki's house after Alira regained the usage of both arms and could hold on properly. The first thing she went to do was clean up the muffin mess in the kitchen, but Shuichi grabbed her arm when she went past him.
"Your neck has a bruise on it."
Alira tugged away and hurried into the kitchen. "I know."
"From what?" He followed her into the kitchen and observed as she scraped the burnt muffins out of the pan and filled the sink with soapy water.
She rolled her sleeves up and tied her hair back with an elastic band from her pocket. "I don't see why it's important," she replied, scrubbing the pan with a sponge.
A chunk of scorched muffin relentlessly sticking to the pan caused her to grab a knife to chip it off.
From his study, Yuki heard Shuichi say sharply, "You're gonna cut yourself!"
"I am not," she replied calmly. A second later, "Ow!"
"I warned you!"
Yuki sighed as he heard two sets of footsteps coming towards his study. One was hurried, the other was slower and it sounded like the person was being dragged around, not out of their own free will.
"Shuichi, what are you doing?"
Shuichi pushed Alira into Yuki's study, clinging to her arm. He shoved her hand towards Yuki's face where a gash was letting blood slide down her palm.
"I just need a band-aid," she tried to reason. "It's not a big deal."
Yuki stood up and walked over to them. Shuichi dropped her hand and stammered, "Y-Yuki, help her like you helped me when I cut my hand. Well...maybe not like that but she's bleeding and you need to help her and-"
Yuki cut him off by pressing his slightly parted lips firmly to his teenage lover's. Shuichi's eyes slowly closed, and he flitted his tongue into the older man's mouth. Yuki's hands caressed Shuichi's back. It was truly a tender moment.
Alira attempted to sneak out of the room to fetch herself a band-aid for the cut across her palm, but Yuki's eyes were open a crack and he caught her wrist while he and Shuichi embraced. He had already proven once before that he was stronger than her, so she didn't bother to fight back.
When the kiss ended, Yuki hauled Alira to the bathroom and had her sit on the countertop while he searched for bandages. The cut was too large for a normal band-aid, so he would have to get creative and find something else.
"It's just a cut, Yuki," Alira said hesitantly, watching him try to unwrap a fresh roll of bandages. It was in her nature to despise doctors, so even if she had a broken bone, she would insist that it was nothing major.
"And it's deep," he countered, his eyes focused on the plastic package that wouldn't open without a good long fight. "If it got infected, you'd die."
Alira rolled her eyes. "I doubt that would happen."
Yuki didn't answer, but instead caught her wrist abruptly and pushed her hand under warm water from the faucet. She winced as water flowed into the cut and tried to use her other hand to push his off and get free. Soon getting sick of this, Yuki grabbed her other wrist too.
I'm scared.
Alira yelped and jerked away like she had been burned, falling off the countertop and huddling next to the bathtub.
"What the hell?" Yuki looked uncharacteristically perplexed.
"I'm sorry...I don't know what came over me. I just-"
"Shut up and get up," he interrupted, waving a hand at her. "If you're bothered by it, I won't touch your wrists."
Abashed, Alira stood up and stayed still while Yuki washed out the cut.
"There's a bruise around your wrists," Yuki commented a few seconds later, laying the bandages down on the countertop. "Did someone mug you?"
"N-no."
"Then what happened?"
"I've been wondering that myself."
Alira hadn't been aware that Hiroshi was still there until she saw him leaning in the doorway. Rubbing her right wrist, Alira was silent.
Yuki reached for her hand and pulled it from her grasp so he could bandage the cut. As he wrapped the cloth around her hand, he saw her knuckles were bruised too.
Seeing them at the same time as Yuki, Alira was overcome by a feeling of anxiety. I must have hit my hand on the door.
Yuki decided not to comment, and when he had finished wrapping up her hand, simply left her to stand there.
"You never told me what happened."
Alira looked up at Hiroshi for a moment, then let her eyes shift back to her palm. She closed her fist softly, squeezing the bandage. "I know."
Hiroshi approached her, but didn't reach out for her. He had already made the decision to wait to see if she needed comforting before he did anything else.
"Are you going to tell me?"
Alira sighed softly and fidgeted with the bandage. "Well...yes, I suppose."
He waited.
"Some guy on the street attacked me, that's all. I got away, so it doesn't matter."
It was then the he reached forward to brush her hair to the side so it showed the bruise on her neck. She reached up to brush his hand away, and he enclosed her hand in his own. She pulled back so her hair fell from his hand and didn't look at him.
"And you're fine?"
"I got out of the car before..."
She trailed off, but he seemed to understand what she meant. He stepped forward and gently slid his arms around her. Grateful for his caring nature, she allowed herself to sink into his embrace.
"Thanks," she whispered.
He smiled in reply, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Nothing to it."
Alira tilted her head up towards Hiroshi and found that her heart hard started beating faster. Is this real? she found herself wondering.
As if time had slowed its passage, they leaned closer together, their lips daringly close. A loud pounding on the front door caused the two to jump apart before a kiss could occur.
Alira went to see who was at the door with Hiroshi trailing behind her, but Yuki beat her to it and tugged it open. A young man stood before him.
"What do you want?"
"My sister, you son of a bitch."
END CHAPTER
I was watching Tarzan while typing this. Such a cute movie!
"I wanna know, can you show me, I wanna know about the strangers like me. Tell me more, please show me, something familiar about these strangers like me."
Hey, PenPusherM, can I use Tairu in the next chapter?
Authoress shifting out of your line of vision.
