"Damn it," Yoru hissed as they reached Mineki's school just as the bell rang. He quickened his pace, dragging his struggling brother behind him.
"You're gonna pull my arm off!" the dark green-haired sibling finally spoke up, but by then they were in the hall near his classroom.
Surprisingly, it wasn't the teacher standing at the door, but a dark-skinned boy about Mineki's age. The worried look in his deep red eyes brightened into a wide smile as he noticed them.
"Ki-kun!" The greenish-platinum haired child rushed over and nearly barreled into Mineki. "Kaneda-sensei thinks you were picking up something for me today. She'd never yell at me, so it's okay!"
Yoru rolled his eyes as his sibling's face turned deep red. It was nice that Mineki had someone at school looking out for him, but...why did he want to be friends with such a weird kid? Though, at times it seemed that Mineki's interest went deeper than that. He frowned at the thought.
"Th-Thanks, Sage," Mineki stammered, shooting Yoru a nervous glance. It turned into a scowl when he saw the expression on the other's face. What was that look for!
Sage peered around his friend, looking up at Yoru with wide, innocent berry eyes. "Wow...what happened to your hand?"
At the mention of it Yoru glanced down, finding that blood was starting to seep through the cloth. With a hiss of annoyance he slid his hand behind his back, ignoring the question.
"You comin' with me or staying with them?" Yoru asked Mineki while motioning toward Sage. They hadn't had a chance to discuss his after school plans yet, and going home by himself was just not an option...not with Yoru's father around. They had both decided that over a year ago.
Mineki opened his mouth to respond, but Sage beat him to it. "He can stay with me and Thyme!" The boy said brightly. "We'll be at my house today."
Yoru shot a glance at his brother, who just nodded dumbly. That made things easier...there was a certain assistant shopkeeper that Mineki just couldn't get along with.
With a short wave to the two boys Yoru raced off toward his own school. He was very late now...it was a good thing his teacher liked him.
"Fujishima-san?"
"Here."
The teacher looked over her class list, a small frown across her features. One student absent...but it concerned her when that particular student went missing. There was nothing she could do about it now...
With a small sigh she shut the attendance book. "Okay, let's start with--"
Her sentence was interrupted by the sound of the classroom door sliding open much too quickly. Yoru stood in the doorway, panting from his efforts in getting there, while a majority of the class scowled at him in disapproval.
Crimson eyes turned to their teacher, who quickly assessed his appearance before letting out a heavy breath. "Go sit down, she murmured as she turned back to the board.
With a short nod Yoru went for his seat, which earned him more intense glares from his peers. Most days he was late it wasn't exactly his fault...though sometimes he did simply oversleep and had to stand in the hall. Their teacher could somehow tell just by looking, and dealt with him accordingly. Most of his classmates, however, didn't see it that way. It was generally viewed as 'special treatment' and he was shunned for it, among other offenses.
Most of the time he would return their glares with equal intensity, but today he just didn't feel like dealing with it. As he sat down his gaze wearily shifted to his left hand. He'd been running so late he hadn't bothered to stop anywhere to deal with it, though luckily it seemed like the bleeding had finally stopped. Maybe it would be okay until lunchtime...
He pulled out his textbook and was about to look up when something firm but lightweight hit the side of his head. He looked down to find a roll of bandages lying at his feet. He whipped his head around to look at a violet-haired student the next row over and a few seats back, who was glaring at him as well, but with a different expression than the other students wore. The redheaded boy next to her was smirking, but trying hard not to look at him.
"What the hell was that for?" Yoru snapped, forgetting where he was for the moment.
"Why bother coming to class if you're just going to bleed to death?" the girl yelled back as she hopped to her feet.
"You--!"
"OI!"
The whole class's attention was abruptly brought back to the front, where an enraged female student with pigtailed black hair and narrowed blue eyes faced them, hands forcefully set on her hips. "What do you think you're doing! We're in the middle of class! Have some respect for Ichihara-sensei!"
The teacher being referenced, on the other hand, looked much more amused than angered by the chaos. "All right, all right. Thank you, Ramen-san." With a small smile she turned to address the rest of the students. "Yoru-kun, please go take care of your hand before Izumi-chan has a heart attack. Izumi-chan, go with him. We don't want him to bleed to death in the hallway, right?"
Izumi shot a dirty look at the student next to her, who was fighting desperately to suppress a laugh as he hid an amused smile behind his hand. Yoru offered the same; in all probability he had been the one to throw the bandages, even though Izumi was the one that spoke up. He'd have to get Kyosuke back later...
With a an irritated grunt the injured boy picked up the roll of cloth and stomped out of the classroom, with Izumi following behind in a similar manner.
About halfway down the hall Yoru realized his classmate was still trailing after him. He stopped and turned his head to regard her over his shoulder. "You don't have to come, okay? I can take care of myself."
Izumi rolled her eyes at this. "Yeah, I can tell," she returned, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "How many times have I heard that?"
Yoru frowned at her, but didn't respond. There was nothing he could say to that. Considering how often he had come to school injured, there was no reason for anyone to believe him.
Since Izumi insisted on keeping an eye on him, the best place to go was the faucets near the track, he decided. This time of day there weren't any gym classes, so the two of them were alone outside. Izumi pulled herself onto the ledge just above the faucets while Yoru unraveled the towel. She watched him for a moment before speaking. "So what happened this time?"
Yoru cringed slightly as he managed to pry the sticky towel off with minimal pain. The scabs that had formed underneath came off with the towel, and his wounds began bleeding again. He cursed silently as he stuck his hand under the running water. It stung, but not quite as much as the question. There weren't many who actually knew his situation... but nearly all of those who did had to ask. "Threw a vase," he muttered lowly.
Izumi sighed heavily, leaning back on her hands and gazing into the sky. "I don't get you. Why don't you just move out? The shop pays you enough, right?"
A small growl escaped Yoru's throat as he finished drying the arm and began awkwardly wrapping it with one hand. That was one subject he wished she'd stop bringing up. "How many times do I have to tell you? I can't do that."
"Why not?" Out of the corner of her eye she noticed him struggling and slid down to help him. Taking the cloth roll roughly she began tightening the loose bandages he'd already managed to put on. "You can't tell me you're actually attached to those bastards..."
Even though he wasn't, as she so eloquently put it, 'attached to those bastards', her words still lit an anger within him. They were disgusting people who made his and his brother's lives miserable day after day, but they were still his parents. It was a fact he'd been forced to accept a long time ago..the one time had had tried to escape their grasp. "I just can't, okay?" he muttered, then winced as Izumi suddenly pulled the wrap very tight and tied it off. "Watch it!"
She sent him a nasty stare before turning away in a huff. "I figured you must like the pain." She was silent for a moment, and when Yoru didn't offer any reply it just seemed to make her more upset. "Whatever. It isn't my problem if you and the brat you care so much about get yourselves killed!" With that she stormed off in the direction of the class building, not even noticing her classmate walk past in the opposite direction.
As the red haired boy approached Yoru he let out an impressed-sounding whistle. "She looks really mad! What'd you say to her this time?"
Yoru snarled at the other, who settled into the same spot Izumi had just abandoned. "What are you doing out here, Kyosuke?"
Kyosuke shrugged nonchalantly. "Apparently Ichihara-sensei thought I was distracting the class too much..."
"Meaning you were flirting during the lesson again," Yoru grumbled.
Kyosuke seemed to let the comment slide as his gaze shifted to Yoru's bandaged arm. The white-haired student shifted uncomfortably.
Finally Kyosuke's eyes drifted to the path Izumi had taken back to class. "Mi-chan can be kind of harsh, but she really does worry about you. Of course, you know that better than I do, huh?"
Yoru closed his eyes, looking somewhat relieved. That was one thing he actually liked about him...Kyosuke never asked about his injuries. He guessed the other's personal past had something to do with that. "Yeah, well...I wish she'd stop bugging me about things I can't change. It's not like I can just leave like that..."
"Hm." A sad smile crossed the boy's lips. "Because of your brother, right? You're not his guardian, so you probably wouldn't be able to keep him with you."
Yoru blinked up at his classmate, finding it hard to hide his surprise. No one had ever guessed that before...at least, not to his knowledge. His gaze sank back to the ground. "Couldn't afford to take care of him anyway," he murmured, barely loud enough to hear.
"Now that I don't agree with," the other responded, pushing himself off the small ledge. "You've been taking care of him yourself all this time, haven't you?" Kyosuke paused for a moment, seemingly hesitant to state what else was going through his mind. "Besides, without them around, taking care of him wouldn't cost nearly as much."
Yoru shot a look at him, but before he could comment they heard the sound of the school bell ringing.
"Lunch already, huh?" Kyosuke sighed. This topic was so depressing...but it was one that seemed to come up a lot lately. The fact that members of the community were starting to take their fear of the parents out on the children. It wouldn't be long before everyone was against them, for reasons they had no control over.
Shaking the thought from his mind he started walking in the direction of the cafeteria. "C'mon...I'm sure Mi-chan's waiting for us."
Disclaimers: Yoru, Mineki, Sage, (Emiko) Ichihara, Kyosuke – Property of the Bishounen Hunters Group.
Gomen for taking so long to get to the crossover stuff...; It's coming, I swear.
