Chapter 2. Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine

WARNING: AU, later OOC, shounen-ai

PAIRINGS: Oshitari/Mukahi

Chapter 2- Dream

"Daijoubu ka?"

He was seeing things for sure. He was seeing himself, only younger, kneeling next to another boy. He couldn't see the other boy's face, but he could tell that the boy was beaten badly. He could hear sobbing, but whether it was himself or the other boy, he couldn't tell.

"H-hai, daijoubu yo," the other boy replied shakily, which was followed by a sniffle.

"You're bleeding! Come over to my house. I'll bandage you."

"Daijoubu da yo!" the boy yelled getting up too quickly for an injured person. The boy immediately collapsed to the ground.

The scenery suddenly shifted from a streetlight-lighted street to a playground in broad daylight. He saw his younger self again with the same boy, but he still couldn't see his face.

"What's your name?" his younger self asked.

The other boy hesitated before saying, "Houshi. Ore wa Houshi."

"That's your name?"

"Call me Houshi. What about you?"

"Boku wa Tsuki."

"Tsuki? That can't be your name!" the boy protested.

"Houshi is not your name either," his younger self pointed out with a grin. There was a moment of silence before they both started laughing.

The scene shifted again to a dorm of some sorts. In this scene, the atmosphere was heavier and more intense. He could still see his younger self, now perhaps in junior high, and the environment, but the person next to his younger self was a shadow. His younger self was struggling with the shadow.

"Let go! Stop it!"

All the light in the room suddenly went out as he heard more shuffling and then a loud plop before there was more screaming and then, he heard tearing.

The lights seem to return, but he wasn't in the room anymore. It was at a dock of some sort. There were no boats, no men, nothing, except for a lone figure rushing towards the edge.

"Houshi!"

There was a loud splash followed by another splash. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then someone shot out of the water.

Oshitari awoke with a start on his futon. He had another nightmare. They seemed to have started becoming more frequent lately. He had to ask the doctor for some prescription medication on this. He touched his face and was surprised to see a tear on his face. This was strange. He never cried when he had nightmares even when he was young.

Checking his clock, he realized that he should head for school. He went to the bathroom and washed his face as best as he could and combed his hair a bit before putting on his glasses. He then changed into his uniform and brushed his teeth before leaving for school grabbing an apple on the way out. This was a daily routine for him. He would wake up, go through school, go to work, go home, study, and sleep. It was like a checklist that never changes.

Oshitari saw the school ahead and headed through the open iron gates. He went down the hall to class 2-1 where he sat in the third row. He was early, so he pulled out one of his textbooks and began reviewing what he had highlighted. Around him, students began to file in, but he didn't pay them any attention.

He didn't even pay attention to the bell ringing until he noticed that everyone was standing up.

-X-

Class continued to drawl on, but Oshitari was only giving half of his attention to the teacher's lecture. He had studied this last night making sure he could comprehend everything in the textbook and didn't need any details. He kept his head lowered slightly to make it look as though he was reading.

Glancing upward, he noticed that he wasn't the only one nodding off. Mukahi Gakuto. That student certainly was strange. He mouthed off at people and was bouncy. He didn't think much of him, except for the fact that he had a weird knack of annoying him unconsciously. He sometimes couldn't help it. He was only trying to be friendly.

"Mukahi, the answer!"

The redhead immediately shot up. Uh oh, Oshitari knew that their Biology professor was strict about paying attention and students caught not paying attention were forced to stand outside in the hallway. Thinking quickly, he wrote down the page number and the paragraph number and passed it to Mukahi. Mukahi read the paper and scanned the page before reciting the answer. The teacher seemed astounded, but left it alone. Oshitari grinned slightly before returning to his textbook.

He never liked that professor, anyway.

-X-

Class continued on without any further incidents, but when lunchtime came, Oshitari had a problem. He had forgotten to make a sack lunch, and he had left his wallet at home. He didn't like to be a burden to people, but he didn't want to go through the afternoon without lunch. He decided on asking Mukahi Gakuto.

The boy walked over to the redhead and tapped him on the shoulder. Mukahi looked up and said, "What do you want?" Oshitari tried to ask for 300 yen, but the message didn't seem to get across. "I said, 'What do you want'?" He tried again, this time more slowly. "Will you just tell me what you're doing next to my desk already?" the redhead said out of frustration.

Pulling out a piece of paper, he wrote, "Will you lend me 300 yen?"

"Oh, well, why didn't you say so in the first place? You could have just told me, you know," Mukahi said pulling out three 100-yen coins and handing them to Oshitari. He nodded his head in gratitude before heading for the cafeteria.

He made a mental note to bring an extra 300-yen tomorrow. He never enjoyed being a burden.

-X-

School continued on after lunch, but with little excitement. Everyone was relieved when school finally ended, Oshitari included, though he didn't know how he was going to spend the rest of the day. What embarrassed him was that not only had he forgotten his lunch and wallet, but also, he had to be reminded that class was done when he became too engrossed in memorizing instructions on First-Aid.

Not knowing what he was doing, Oshitari let his feet carry him wherever they wanted to go. He wasn't working today, so there was nothing to do. He went past the large buildings of Tokyo, through parks, and across streets, until before he knew it, he had reached the harbor. Oshitari gasped. The sunset was beautiful from here. This was something he only saw in books, and even then, they weren't like this. This is reality.

As he kept walking, he came to an empty dock. He could vaguely make out a lone figure walking around on that particular dock. The other person seemed to be lost in their thoughts, too. The figure walked around the dock for a while. Oshitari didn't care and kept watching the sunset.

Suddenly, he saw the figure trip on something and fall in the water. He tore his eyes towards the water when he saw the shadow go under water. Calculating quickly, he estimated that the figure should be back on the surface within a few seconds. He counted the seconds, but after ten, he started to get worried.

"Houshi!"

Without a word, Oshitari dropped his bag and jacket, kicked off his shoes, and sprinted to the edge of the dock before jumping in. The water was freezing and his glasses were still on, but he didn't care. He had to save the person! Swimming deeper, he could faintly make out a figure that looked human. Grabbing the shadow, he headed back for the surface.

Oshitari gasped for air while holding onto the person. He grabbed onto the edge of the dock and placed the smaller person as gently as he could near the edge before hoisting himself up. Panicking, he rolled the limp body over towards him. Getting a closer look, he realized that it was Mukahi Gakuto from his class. Fearing the worse, Oshitari shook the smaller boy by the shoulders to try to get him awake or at least cough up any water he might have breathed in, but Mukahi remained limp.

Oshitari normally would have left to get help, but he was alone, and if Mukahi had swallowed some water, he had to get it out quickly. He forced his racing heart and mind to calm down and went over everything he knew about CPR in his head.

He tilted Mukahi's head upward to get the airway open and bent his head down to check for the other's breathing. When he didn't get a result, he pinched the nose and leaned down to give air. Then realizing what he was doing, he checked to make sure no one was watching, before leaning down once again and let his lips touch.

He quickly gave Mukahi two breaths before reaching for his radial to check for a pulse. Finding none, Oshitari gave the smaller boy fifteen compressions counting them in his head. Still not finding any results, he once again pinched the nose and gave Mukahi another two breaths.

Blue eyes slowly opened as Mukahi slowly came to. Pulling away, Oshitari breathed a sigh of relief. That is, until a hand slapped him across the face followed by coughing.

TBC…

We had learned about CPR recently in Health class, so I decided to incorporate what I learned. Review kudasai! Oh, by the way, "Tsuki to Houshi" means "Moon and Star".