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Chapter 9

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Age 12

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What... had I done to deserve this?

There was a long, piercing creak, that made a shiver run up my spine and the hairs along my arms stand on end. The body began to sway, pale dress fluttering at the knees, and somehow I knew what was going to happen before I realized it because I inhaled and then she was facing me and staring at me with eyes the color of my own and long hair the same shade and length as mine and she was smiling oh so faintly with too wide irises and too swollen lips and too blue skin and too thin cheeks and—

"Ryō…hei—"

"Onēchan?" I slammed the door shut and turned to face my baby sister and took up as much space of the doorway as possible before she could take a look. My heart was in my throat and pounding against my ears and my chest was tight with too much air and yet too little of it.

Get away. I needed to get us far far away.

"Ne, Kyoko," I breathed, voice cracking in the middle so violently my knees shook harder from the nervousness and fear. "Let's go—" Let's go what? Go where? Go where?! Where the hell are we supposed to go now?! "eat at Takesushi, tonight. I don't want to extremely go home, yet."

She blinked, tilting her head slightly in confusion for a moment. Just a moment. A small, single, second. Then she smiled with a hum of agreement, looking amused and happy. So so happy... "Okay. Let's leave our bags first though—"

"No." I interrupted, maybe a little too quickly I don't know but I definitely didn't care. I stepped forwards and took her handbag, placing it on the same shoulder my own backpack hang from so she wouldn't get any ideas. "It's okay. Your extreme Onechan, will carry it." I forced myself to grin, the edges feeling stiff and so so fake and strangely...heavy.

Everything was so...heavy...

But she smiled anyways, only asking once in concern of the weight pulling at my shoulders, which I quickly brushed off with an, "I can extremely handle it."

I can handle it, I had said.

I can handle it...

Can't I…?

No.

Not if me standing on Kyōya's doorstep several hours later was anything to go by.

He opened the door with an annoyed rush, gracing me with a glare he reserved just for me, one that furrowed his eyebrows and pulled at his lips into an almost scowl. It was such a familiar expression that it had the tension around my shoulders lessen enough for me to slump under Kyōko's weight and have my knees begin to shake with suppressed feelings.

His dad was still overseas, if his relaxed stance and lack of stiffness around his jaw was anything to go by.

Thank god…

"Kyōya…" Whether it was the way I said his name or having Kyoko on my back or us still being in our school uniforms and our school bags in my hands or it being so late at night and being on his doorstep that alerted him to— "Can we—" My voice cracked, but I quickly cleared my throat before continuing, "stay the night?" My shaky smile suddenly made his poker face appear, and he didn't waste any time stepping aside to expose the doorway.

I mumbled a trembling "Thanks," as I walked through the threshold. He immediately took our school bags from my hands and put them I don't know where as I slipped off my shoes; slowly and carefully as to not disturb the happy sighing of the girl on my back.

Kyōya took off Kyōko's shoes and set them beside my own, walking slightly ahead of me even though I knew the way to the guest room. He didn't say anything as I laid her on the bed, or when I layed next to her above the covers, or when I looked at her sleeping face and stroked her cheek slowly and contemplated, what...am I going to do?

How… I could feel various muscles clench and my shoulders begin to shake— What the hell did I do?


The clock read 2:37, when Kyōya appeared at the doorway.

I somehow managed to peel my eyes away from the faint smile tugging at Kyōko's lips in her sleep. The moment our eyes met I gave a heavy sigh that nearly deflated me, and did my best to sit up. I felt heavy and sluggish as I moved, yet I miraculously made it to his side and with freakish strength followed him into the living room.

I sat beside him on the kotatsu, and didn't bother to think of whether the intimacy of the act would bother him or not. I reached out for the cup of tea, and jumped the moment my finger touched the rim because—

—it cracked down the middle.

And that made me hiss a heated, "Fuck!" because this was pure bullshit and I don't think I could take this anymore this is too much for me to take and it all just made me want to really cry

"She committed suicide." I choked, bowing my head and hiding my face in my hands to take deep breaths. "She's... hanging in the kitchen right now...

Hah hah

"I should've known, Kyōya!" I snapped, palms slamming against the kotatsu top, "What with her being this….this way and all, I mean it was extremely obvious it was bound to happen, right? And she even said itterashai this morning, she hadn't done that in years, even if she did just say it to me with Kyōko being right there—!"

My breath hitched; from all of my raging emotions or from not having enough air in my lungs or maybe even as a strange response to being exhausted, I don't know, either way… I turned to the brooding male on my left, hoping that something about him or his face or anything would help clarify something of my situation.

"Kyōya…" I started, immediately hating how the name come off of my lips as a needy whisper, "...what the hell am I going to extremely do…?"

He didn't answer for a moment, he didn't even look at me, just kept on staring at the painting of flora and magnolias on the wall across from us. But when he did, there was a calm, soft look in his eyes, and I watched as he slowly, carefully, lifted a hand and gently, gave a mild tug to a long strand of my fringe—

—just like Sasagawa Akio when expressing affection.

Just like my father.

Just like Pappa.

It was no surprise then that I broke into wails and threw myself at Kyōya's chest and bawled and bawled and bawled as he moderately stroked my back and gave awkward pats as I gasped for air and he mumbled, "I'll take care of you," every time I trembled with tremors of feelings and everything just coming out at once

"Thank you," I found myself breathing, "thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you—"

Kyōya…

Thank you.


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Omake: How it Came to Be

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"Well, Kyōya," I began, shading my eyes from the brilliant sun. "It's our first extreme day of junior high. We're officially middle schoolers now! What do you—hey! What the hell do you think you're extremely doing?!"

The male didn't answer, merely continued to stride confidently towards the building.

"Oi! Kyōya! Kyō—ah, forget it." I sighed, slumping my shoulders in the defeat. "Honestly that guy…" I mumbled, scratching at the bandage on my nose.

Why was I friends with him again...? I think it had something to do with first impressions…

Extreme first impressions…

I sighed heavily. "Oh well, too late to turn back now." I took one step, my first step, on school grounds and flinched back at the screams of bloody murder coming from the pristine white building.

A shiver ran up my spine at the sound, the other students on campus turning blue in fright.

There's no way… "BAKEMONOOOO!"

There was… I found myself correcting.

"Kyōya!" I screamed, horrified at all the possible ways Kyōya could be expressing his dominance in Namimori Middle. "What the hell do you think you're extremely doing?!" I ran towards the entrance, determined to at least lessen the bloodshed.

"Kyōya!"

The little fucker created the Disciplinary Committee that day.


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Special: 3,387th Alternate Universe

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(for reaching 100+ reviews)


"Ryōhei?" Slowly, with heavy eyes and body, I looked up from my staring contest with the floor to look at the hesitant Hana, eyebrows creased into a worried expression. The hands previously placed on the locker room's door frame fell to her sides before being hidden behind her pencil skirt.

"What is it?" I asked, voice rough and dry. I looked away when she didn't answer, rubbing at my face to try to massage the heavy feeling of failure away before letting my elbows fall to knees in defeat.

The bench was suddenly too hard for my deficient of an ass.

"Ryōhei…" she said again, the toeless shoes of her high heels appearing in the limited view of my vision. She kneeled, hands pulling up my head and peeling my fingers away from my face.

I frowned at her, albeit weakly. I was tired and sad and defeated. "It's hard comforting someone when they extremely lose Hana…" Let's see you try, were words left unsaid. I wanted to stop feeling this thickness in my blood, this soul crushing despair of having failed. It was a challenge, and we both knew it.

Hana had always been competitive.

So she frowned and looked annoyed with me, the action making me want to laugh at its familiarity. Then she suddenly leaned in, the closeness taking me by enough surprise for me to think, What the hell is she doing?, while simultaneously noticing the faint freckles along the bridge of her nose.

She hesitated, and it was in that instance that I thought, Holy shit, is she going to?

Yes.

Kurokawa Hana kissed me, so softly and tenderly I forgot about how beaten my lips were. I didn't have the time to be embarrassed of the fact, because the kindling in my belly began to grow hot enough for me to respond in kind. I soon found my calloused fingers wounding around her hair and pulling her towards me and my spine shivering in pleasure as our tongues brushed against each other's and our teeth clacking in our eagerness and her hands tightening around my knees for balance and her breath hot against my face and the groans from her slender throat feeding a feral hunger in my—

Can't breathe.

We pulled away, hearts pounding in breathlessness and cores hot from the excitement. I unconsciously brushed my thumb against her cheek, the action a slap in the face because—

What the hell am I doing?

"Um…" Hana breathed, the first to regain her breath and look away from my face. "I think I'll…" She pulled away from my grip, knees shaking as she tried to stand. "...go find Kyōko…" She finished lamely, turning and walking away as quickly as she could.

I watched her disappear, mind blank and fire dimming in my belly. I didn't understand why Hana kissed me, but I understood my reaction well enough.

"Well fuck," I groaned, hiding my face in my hands. "What the hell do I extremely tell Kyōko?"

That certainly chased any depression away.


Thanks to:


xenocanaan (haha, that took while, huh?), Singular Poisonous Ashes (thank you!), animagirl (haha, sorry that it took a while), Allykrau (you know, you might be right...), YuujouKami (haha, thanks a lot!), New and Old (ah, really? thanks!), Dustflame (haha, that's why his box animal's a hedgehog!), Step1324 (sorry for the long wait! i appreciate your patience~), ChaoticChaosController (haha, right?), cascoli (thank you!), little101 (thank you!), iluvfairytale (i know, right?), Umei no Mai (haha, thanks!), Phoenician Rose (thank you, I have :D), Ahoshi-chan (thank you so much!), MusicOfMadness (i know, but I'm managing :)), Anber (haha, did you really? I wanna say sorry, but making the audience cry is my intention :D), meyinet (thanks a lot!), NobodyJinx (haha, he's in my heart too/tears were my intention), Kuuhaku Particles (hahaha), FluffyRainbows (hahaha, you're reading my mind!), CordiallyYours (haha, just busy with school...), Tech-fi (thanks a lot!/haha, i try/haha that's the reaction I aim for), chinchilla donut (haha, Kusakabe IS adorable~), IsraAl'Attia-Theron (thanks!), Z0mbieMart (haha, i kind of overlooked that...), Merkitten ( is my best friend, and I usually pick the word that sounds the best with the sentence I'm writing out. the sexism will be a prominent thing once canon starts, right now the characters have gotten comfortable with each other enough not to bother with it as much, I would say, their existance I plan to expand the moment canon starts too, since that's when all the good stuff happens, the chapters so far are just glimpses of the most prominent events in that one year, so yes, more Kyōko and Ryōhei interaction in the future, thanks a lot! i love long reviews and enjoyed how in depth it was, i enjoyed responding to it :)), AnimemetSoul (a jealous Hibari is fun to write :)), Rigoudon3 (thanks a lot! here we are!)


Fuck. Sorry for the long wait.

I'll avoid all of the excuses you guys have heard before, but are right most of the time with~

The Special (for reaching 100 reviews! ASDFGHJKL! can you guys believe it?! I love you guys!) would like to remind the audience that Ryōhei and Kyōya aren't a set shipping yet. There are so many possibilities, guys! I mean, who thought of yuri! Honestly?!

When I was actually thinking of what to do for a special, this is the first thing that popped up, for some strange reason. It was after writing it, that chibi-no-baka's review came to mind. Way back then! But honestly, if you guys want something else for a special, don't be afraid to tell me, through review or PM, anything's fine! Really!

I'd also like to mention the title of the special, considering I've been getting a lot of negative comments about it. Look at the title again and please understand that it's an alternate universe, as in not related to this canon.

PLEASE REVIEW~

—prince