Author's notes: This fic was written for the iyflashfic community on LJ for the September 2005 around for prplpen (who is an amazing writer, by the way). Yeah. I took my time in posting this fic.
Standard fanfiction disclaimer inserted HERE.
Teddies and Bears by dawnsama
Houjou peered closely, and decided that he was in a dilemma.
"Pink," he wondered aloud to himself, "Or blue…"
He squinted at the colored teddy bears on the shelf. What was Kagome's favorite color again? It was a question he had been mentally wrestling with what seemed like eternity, or perhaps the last few minutes.
"Which one do you think is better?" he asked a passing female store employee.
"The pink one!" she answered. "Oh, are you buying a present for your girlfriend?"
"She's just a friend," Houjou confessed, cheeks warming. "It's her fifteenth birthday tomorrow."
"How sweet of you! By the way, you do know that we're having a three for the price of two sale for these products?"
"Oh? How lucky! Thank you very much!"
But a few minutes after she walked away, Houjou found himself wondering which three colors of teddy bears to get. There were many to choose from.
In the end, he decided to get only the green teddy bear, because it matched Kagome's school uniform and he only had enough money for one bear.
The next day, Houjou woke up early so that he could give Kagome the teddy bear before school. He carefully tucked his wrapped present underneath his arm and headed off toward the Higurashi shrine.
Upon arrival, however, Mrs. Higurashi directed him to the well house, telling him that Souta and Kagome had gone there just minutes before his arrival and that he might give his present to Kagome there. After thanking her politely, Houjou headed off to the well house.
Houjou frowned as he approached the well house. The door was closed, but he could still hear thumps and cracks from within it. Mrs. Higurashi had mentioned something about retrieving the cat from the well, but did such a task involve as much effort as the sounds inside suggested?
When Houjou lifted his hand to open the door, there was another scuffle of moving limbs and then a small scream that widened and resounded, as if bouncing off the walls. He clutched the gift in his arm as he hesitated. What exactly was going on in there?
"Nee-chan?"
His hand jumped. It sounded like Souta's voice, except the quiet tremor of fear laced into it immediately made Houjou's fingers twitch in anxiety.
There was something dangerous in the well house, Houjou realized. Had a burglar snuck inside and attacked? Did an escaped criminal take refuge in the well house and threatened their lives if they told anyone about him?
Kagome and her brother were in danger. How could he just stand there while they were no doubt experiencing intense pain? They could be dying for all he knew!
Houjou steeled himself for an attack, knowing that he could well replace the Higurashis as the hypothetical criminal's victim by stepping in, and opened the door.
His body blocked a portion of the outside light that flowed into the darkness of the well house, but Houjou could still clearly see the little boy bending over the well, hands shaking as he gripped the edge. Souta seemed unhurt, with no trace of blood to be seen. The cat Buyo also looked into the well from his seat on Souta's right. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any escaped criminal inside.
"Souta-kun?" Houjou asked quietly.
The boy jerked, straightening rigidly. He turned around slowly, as if expecting to see a sharp sword behind him.
"Oh. Houjou-senpai," Souta said, relaxing in relief.
"Souta-kun, are you all right?" Houjou asked. Then without waiting for an answer, Houjou asked anxiously, "Where's your sister?"
"My sister?"
Houjou looked down at his hand, noticing for the first time the tightness of his hold on the wrapped teddy bear. Forcing himself to loosen his grip, he asked "Wasn't she just here with you? Your mother said so…"
"My sister?" Souta repeated. He glanced at the well. "I don't know."
"What?"
"I don't know."
"Forgive me, but how can you not know? I heard someone scream in there and it sounded a lot like your sister."
Houjou flinched as Souta's eyes widened and lower lip trembled. Even though it was dark, the boy's face looked too pale to be healthy.
"I'm sorry. I just don't know!" Souta picked up Buyo and held the cat close to him. She's just… not here!"
"You mean," Houjou said slowly, "That she just… disappeared? Into thin air?"
Buyo mewed, batting a paw into the air.
Houjou dropped the teddy bear with a soft flop as he walked forward and looked at the well with Souta.
"No," Houjou said flatly. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that to come out so rudely. I mean… it's a just a well, right? And your sister obviously wasn't here before. You had just accidentally dropped Buyo into the well. Buyo cried out, and you called for your sister instinctively. Right?"
Houjou waited for Souta to nod or agree with his theory. He didn't remind himself that the scream he had heard had sounded distinctly human and feminine, and hadn't been animal-like in the least.
"I don't know," Souta murmured. "I don't…"
And then they both bent over and stared down into the blackness of the well.
"Well," Houjou said briskly, straightening. "Nothing in there."
He smiled cheerily at Souta, in hopes that the boy would follow his example. But Souta kept looking.
"Souta-kun?" Houjou asked. "Souta-kun?"
Instead of answering with a positive answer as Houjou hoped, Souta put Buyo onto the ground. Petting the cat fretfully, he said, "There was something there. Something that came out and…"
"You mean Buyo, right?" Houjou offered helpfully.
Souta stopped petting but kept his hand on Buyo's head. "Yeah," he said. "Buyo was in the well. At some point. Yeah."
Houjou nodded happily. "I'm glad that's settled," he told Souta. He patted Souta warmly on the shoulder. He would have been scared out of his wits too if he were Souta. The well house was pretty dark after all.
"So, where is Higurashi-san?" Houjou asked. "I have a… um…"
Blushing in the darkness, Houjou helplessly retrieved the present from the ground and showed it to Souta.
Souta sighed. "Don't worry, Houjou-senpai," he said. "I'm sure she'll like whatever you got her."
"Maybe I should just give it to her at school, since I just missed her," Houjou suggested to himself. He'd woken up early for nothing, but Houjou didn't mind. What would Souta have done if he hadn't come?
"Will you be all right, Souta-kun?"
Souta picked up Buyo. "Yeah," he answered. "I'll be okay."
"Good."
Houjou looked for Kagome at school, but never found her. Even her friends wondered where she was. None of them thought Kagome was the sort of girl to miss school just because of her birthday, so they concluded that she must have gotten sick on the way to school and left to see the doctor.
With no hope of presenting Kagome his birthday wishes, Houjou intercepted Souta on his way home from school and gave him the wrapped teddy bear to pass on to Kagome. In turn, Souta placed the gift on Kagome's desk. But then sometime later, Buyo crawled into Kagome's room and found great entertainment in the wrapping paper. He didn't find the teddy bear as amusing as the wrapping paper, but it occupied Buyo's mind enough for the cat to drag it downstairs and into the wild unknown.
This was where most of Houjou's future gifts to Higurashi Kagome would end up anyway, so Fate did not see fit to change the teddy bear's destiny.
And nobody saw the green teddy bear ever again.