Waiting for you
Disclaimer: If I own Tactics, I would be drawing it, not writing fanfictions about it. :D
Rating: PG or K+ (rating will go up in the future)
Genres: Slightly AU, action/adventure, tragedy, suspense (surprisingly this is my first fic without romance:P )
Pairings: Slight Sugino and Moo
Warning or notes: Slightly AU for Kantaro's background, minor spoilers for both manga and anime, OOC-ness, an original character, grammar or other errors, poor attempt at humor :sweatdrops, 1600 words. Please keep in mind that Sugino does not know that Kantaro still has Haruka's bowl.
I enjoy writing this story so much. I am more than happy that people are reading and continue to do so. Thank you so much and really…I hope you will review to tell me what you think of my story. Reviews make every author happy, do they not:laughs:
Those who are interested to see my fanart of Haruka, you are welcomed to go to http/www(dot)emerald-rei(dot)deviantart(dot)com. :smiles:
This chapter is dedicated to all the kind reviewers. Hope you find this story enjoyable!
: ooo :
Chapter 5-One confusion after another
"I am sorry…That was the best I could do," a familiar voice stated clearly. Yes, it was none other than the white-winged so-called God, or tengu by the name of Sugino. He had returned and went to the house of Sakuya's with help from his beloved 'wife' to break the news to the female demon fox. By the time he arrived, Yoko was already at outside in the dark, waiting for him as if she could foretell his arrival beforehand. Making sure that no one was looking, he landed right in front of her without a noise. Then, he told her what happened between him and the black-winged tengu, Haruka. Moo was watching all the time and it seemed like she was sad about what happened too.
Upon hearing this, the demon fox lowered her head with a mixture of sadness and regret. She was really praying that Sugino would be back, or rather, would arrive at Sakuya's house with the other tengu. Kantaro's condition was still no better than before, only his fever was slightly decreased. She was sure, if Haruka somehow would be there, surely their master would heal faster for some unknown reasons. After all, it did not happen only once. If Haruka was missing or ran away, their master would still wear the usual smile on his face. However, behind those masks he wore, there were great grief and hesitation. The young ghost buster or folklorist would never eat or sleep properly. He would continue like that, until his slave came back, or until he went to confront Haruka.
Now that the annoyed tengu refused to come back, Kantaro would not heal properly in a sense. And this worried Yoko greatly. If Sugino failed to persuade him, she decided. 'I would have to bring him back this time…' She was determined. 'Kan-chan did not break his bowl…,' her mind added. Yes, she accidentally saw Haruka's bowl on the table near the ill and wounded youth's bed. The whole incident suddenly came into her mind. She predicted that Kantaro broke the other similar bowl, and he acted as if it was Haruka's. Although the demon fox did not know what was on their master's mind on that time, or why did he do that, she decided to leave that aside for the moment.
"Sugino-sama, please take care of Kan-chan, will you?" the small framed female demon said, almost like a plea. Her brown eyes looked deep into Sugino's black ones. The tengu let out a deep sigh for he had a good idea why did she suddenly ask him to take care of Kantaro. It was always involved around that folklorist, was it not? He was sure, she wanted to confront and ask Haruka to come back. Yet, he was not sure why did she ask him to take care of that annoying guy while Kantaro could take care of himself in the first place…
"Sorry to disturb you, Yoko-chan. Do you have a visitor?" asked a familiar voice in a sudden. The mentioned female demon turned and was greeted by a motherly smile from the mistress of the house, Sakuya. She could not help but to smile a little in return.
"Yes, he is Kan-chan's friend. His name is Sugino," Yoko quickly said, trying to cover the fact that the person in front of Sakuya was a powerful tengu. The word 'friend' annoyed Sugino immediately.
"Oii! Who is that…," he was going to yell and deny the fact he was that stupid guy's friend when Yoko suddenly covered his mouth with her right palm. The sudden act choked him and he coughed several times. Sakuya could only smile at them.
'It is good to see Yoko-chan is feeling a bit better now…,' her mind secretly said as she continued to watch both of them in amusement. "Please come in then," she invited after a moment, realizing that they were still at outside of the house. Both of them stopped and looked at each other before they followed Sakuya without any doubt.
"By the way, I have yet to introduce myself. I am Tatsumi Sakuya. Nice to meet you, Sugino-san," she turned around after they entered the house and gave a little bow at the tengu in respect.
"Nice to meet you too, Sakuya-san," Sugino replied with full of politeness, which it somehow surprised Yoko. Normally the tengu would act quite bold when Kantaro was around, and she was used to it. Suddenly she saw a little green coloured thing behind Sugino's long silky untied hair. Only then she realized Moo was missing. So, that was it! Moo was hiding in Sugino's hair when Sakuya appeared since even normal people could easily see Moo, and would get frightened if they knew it was a demon, no matter how adorable the little demon was.
They continued walking until Sakuya stopped in front of a room. As expected, it was Kantaro's room, which it was a guest room actually. Sakuya slowly pulled the sliding door and revealed a sleeping youth on a bed. Yoko's eyes saddened and Sugino was in mild bewilderment. Together, they walked into the room. Sakuya tried to initiate a conversation to break off the stiffness existed suddenly around them.
"His fever is gone, thank God. Yet, his physical condition is still weak. It is a pity that no doctor here is available. I will go to find a doctor in town soon. So, please don't worry," she said in a low voice. Somehow, the word 'available' was not the right word to use. The doctors were not 'inavailable', they were 'inconsiderate' of Kantaro. To all of the villagers, Kantaro would only bring disaster. So, none of them would lend a hand to him. Only she would help. It was always only her and her husband if he was still alive.
Sugino shot a questioning look at Yoko and then at Sakuya. She understood the look, and explained Kantaro's situation on behalf of Yoko. The tengu could only listen without replying. It seemed like Kantaro really got the punishment for breaking Haruka's bowl and for chasing him away. However, deep down within him, he did feel some pity for the youth, even though he did not know why he would feel that way. 'Kantaro deserves it, does he not?'
"Oh…I am sorry. How rude of me…I forget to serve you tea. I will go immediately. Please wait here, Sugino-san," Sakuya suddenly said and went away before the tengu could stop her. After her absence, Yoko spoke. Moo decided to come out of her hiding place after Sakuya was gone. She went flying towards the still sleeping youth. This time, Sugino did not attempt to stop her surprisingly.
"I will have a word with Haruka-chan. So, please take care of Kan-chan, Sugino-sama." She requested the same thing as before.
Sugino's eyes softened. It would be likely nothing would change even though she decided to confront Haruka. He was way too stubborn. Yet, he knew, Yoko's stubbornness could match Haruka's in some ways. Thus, he did not try to stop her either. "I…"
A sudden glass breaking stunned both of them. Yoko rushed towards the door and was trying to figure out what was wrong when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You stay here. I will see what's wrong with Sakuya-san," Sugino stated dryly. Hearing this, Yoko nodded without further argument. With that, Sugino went out of the room towards the source of the noise.
Turning back towards Kantaro, her brown eyes widened slightly when she saw Kantaro's was awoken. Indeed, he was smiling weakly at Moo despite the pain on his whole body. "Kan-chan!"
"Yoko…Sugino-sama…is here, is he not? Then…," the red-eyed youth halted. His slave knew very well what he was trying to ask. He was trying to ask whether Haruka was there or not. The first time when he opened his eyes and saw Yoko, he asked the very same thing. After that, he apologized to Yoko for worrying her. She shook her head at that time, tried to shrug the feeling of guilty inside Kantaro.
This time, Yoko had to shake her head as a 'no' sign again. Kantaro could only smile sadly in return as he knew what she meant. "I see…"
"But don't worry, I will find him. You didn't break his bowl. I know that…," Yoko added desperately. She really hated to see such sad and broken face Kantaro wore. No matter how hard Kantaro tried to cover them with a fake mask, she just knew it was false.
To her astonishment, the infamous folklorist stopped her. "No!" he shouted in a sudden, almost jumping up from his lying position. Immediately his left hand went to clutch on his aching torso. Yoko rushed to his side in a jerk.
"Yoko…no…Do not do so…Do not reveal the fact that I did not break his bowl…," Kantaro said, sounded almost begging her, despite the fact he could order her forcefully if he wanted for being her master. The demon fox did not understand. Why? Why would he say so? Did he not the one who felt the pain of Haruka's disappearance? Did he not the one who wished to see Haruka in this condition?
But…how could she say no when Kantaro, who was her master, looked into her huge brown eyes like this? With such desperate look? She had not seen such look showing on his face before. It was so confusing. The youth's behavior was so confusing. Everything was so confusing. Ichinomiya Kantaro was a big confusion, to start with.
"I do not understand…," she admitted finally, ignoring his earlier plea.
Right after that, Kantaro returned to his usual nonchalant face as he was feeling slightly better. "You do not have to understand," he stated a matter of fact, shocking Yoko more. Even his actions shocked the little green creature, Moo.
"No one needs to understand…," his words were inaudible to anyone except himself. "No one…not even him…"
: To be continued :
Edited: To be truthful, I don't know what to edit this chapter…I tried to find some mistakes which I know I did somewhere, but failed as my English level is still…poor, yeah. If anyone finds some mistakes, please tell me so I can edit them to give the best to the readers. Thanks!
Replies:
Kheal-chan: Yeah, I got the inspiration from the manga where Haruka is feeling gloomy about his bowl. It is so cute. XD Thanks for such encouraging review. :hugs: I will update as soon as possible after I edit my own story. :chuckles: You don't handle suspense too well? Actually, neither am I. :laughs: But you will see it soon why Kantaro is acting weird. Hope you will like the story then!
Ruby-dream: Nyu…:laughs: Yes, I think I told a reader that Haruka will be cold-hearted (in other words, mean :P ) in this story for his own reasons. I just can't help to torture Kantaro with Haruka's coldness. XP Thanks for saying my writing skills have improved:hugs: Hai hai :nods, my punishment is fulfilled I guess? XD Opps…another cliffhanger…I wonder what will be my punishment this time:laughs: Anyway, thanks again for the support!
Akai-Akegata: Thanks a million for the review! I guess Haruka is a bit easier to keep in character than the others. :grins: I will try my best to update sooner. :) Hope you like this chapter!
Yummy Yaoi: Aww..thank you for the review. Cliffhanger specialist? Me:chuckles: I guess I just get used to write chapters as cliffhangers for I limit my multi-chapters to be around 1300-1600 words. :laughs: Thanks again for the compliment :blushes:. Hope you enjoy reading though no obvious shonen ai in this story. XD
Mizu: It is okay that you couldn't manage to review it earlier. Thanks for such nice review:hugs: They will meet pretty soon, but maybe it is not the type that others like. :sweatdrops: Anyway, hope you like this chapter!
Kazuha: You think this story is the best…:blushes: Oh my…thank you so much! I promise I will update my next chapter sooner okay…:hugs: You make me smile widely until now whenever I remember your review. Thanks again!