Author's Note: Due to popular demand, I decided to finish this second oneshot and post it. Hope you guys enjoy! Let me know what you like and feel free to leave suggestions for future oneshots :D
Rating: K+
Warnings: Slight OOCness, romance, slow NatsumeChikai pairing
Summary: His smile was like a suit of armor and Chiaki wondered why she was allowed to see passed his defenses.
The first time she saw him, he wasn't smiling.
In fact, his face was startlingly blank for an eight year old, and he would've looked painfully lonely if anyone bothered to notice him, standing there by the school gates and shrouded in shadows. She couldn't read him at all, not even a guess to what he was thinking, but she didn't have much time to dwell on him since her mother was calling her so they could go home and she wasn't good at observing others just yet.
The next time she saw him, he was being introduced to the class as a new student, but his expression was just as dead despite the strange smile marring his face.
Natsume Shintaro was his name, if she heard correctly.
He'd just moved to town a few weeks ago and was starting classes late, hence why he'd stopped in a lower level grade for a few days to get aquatinted with the school curriculum, but that's all she could gleam from the teacher before Nene and Aoi started to drag her around the schoolyard to play. As far as she knew, he hadn't made any friends and he was really quiet – almost as quiet as her and she rarely spoke in the first place – but not a bad person despite the scary look he would get on his face when bullies tried to target him. Chiaki tried not to think about those times because she wanted to help, but if she couldn't even speak for herself, how could she stand up for someone else?
It didn't matter anyway. Days later, those same bullies were sent home for a few weeks, recovering from a broken arm and a few skull factures after falling out of a tree. The teacher scolded their recklessness, they never spoke to the quiet boy again, and life went on.
It took Chiaki four years to realize it was a lie, but by that time, Natsume had perfected his smile, and it was as hard and impenetrable as suit of armor made of diamonds.
Despite growing up together from then on, attending the same schools and almost always at least seeing each other everyday in passing, they never really crossed paths. She was busy with the Red Tails as soon as she hit middle school and had to learn how to wield a gun filled with water (each target was a bully that picked on her silence and taunted his smile), and he wandered from group to group, following any person that piqued his curiosity before becoming bored and moving on.
(She sometimes had to wonder why he acted like he was a sheep when he could've been the greatest sheppard of all, but it wasn't really any of her business anyway.)
Even though he fell in with any semi-strong delinquent he could find – now one of Kanzaki's most loyal supporters, and it seemed he was there to stay – he was always more of a loner. The only ones he'd ever held a lingering interest in were Kanzaki and Oga, and even then it was more of a distant acknowledgement of their power that only marginally surpassed his passing curiosity.
So she had to wonder–
"Something on your mind, Tanimura-san?"
–why had he approached her that day only a handful of weeks ago?
Chiaki tilted her head to the side slightly with a subtle, playful curl of her lips, enjoying the understanding and amusement in Natsume's answering huff of laughter. Maybe.
That reaction made her glad they were on hall monitor duty together. "I see. Hm, well, you heard about Hilda-san losing her memories right?"
She answered with a sharp nod. Yes. Her lips pursed in thought, fingers brushing against the high-pressure water guns strapped to her thighs beneath her skirt. It happened after the fight with Akumano High. She twirled a finger in a circle around her temple with a nearly imperceptible, impish grin and shrugged while shaking her head. Oga told us about it and reintroduced us to help jog her memory, but it didn't work.
To her private delight, his smile – small but genuine and comfortable – widened and he brought a hand up to his mouth to smother a fake cough to cover his chuckle. Then it turned devious. "Apparently, in order to get her memories back, her prince charming as to kiss her."
Chiaki brought a hand to her mouth in a silent gasp, eyes sparkling. So romantic.
This time, Natsume couldn't conceal his laughter, eyes closing and head ducking to get himself under control. It wasn't loud and boisterous like Nene, or gentle and elegant like Aoi, or even self-satisfied and obnoxious like other boys, and she cocked her head questioningly to the side in wonder. This was the first time she'd heard that laugh and her face nearly flushed from the unbidden thought of I want to hear it again.
She shook her head slightly before he could notice and silently asked, Is he going to do it?
Natsume shrugged, expression still startling easy and open with echoes of his laughter still in his voice. "Himekawa and Kanzaki-san tried to chase him down for a while but lost him off campus. I'm sure by tomorrow things will be back to normal."
She nearly jerked to a stop.
Normal.
Sneaking a sideways glance at him, she had to wonder what normal meant. Did that mean their short, mostly silent conversations would be coming to an end?
She didn't like how sad that thought made her.
After all, it wasn't everyday that she was able to meet someone who could read her body language so easily, who could interpret what she meant without her needing to use words. Her friends had learned from experience and years of practice and only extremely observant people could completely understand her these days. As much as she loved her friends and the girls in the Red Tails, talking to someone from a different background, different ideas and thoughts and opinions, was…nice. She honestly didn't want to lose that but it wasn't as if she could force him if she'd lost his interest so quickly.
The bell rang, pulling them from the comfortable silence that had settled over them.
Chiaki blinked in surprise – was the school day really over so quickly? – and as if a curtain was closing, she watched as Natsume's content grin slowly hardened and sharpened into the enigmatic, fox-like smirk that students had come to know and be wary of.
She did the same, the small cues that had become more obvious in his presence slowly dissolving into nothing but controlled movements and expression becoming stony and impenetrable as they reached a stairwell that led down from the hallway they were in.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Tanimura-san."
Tomorrow? Chiaki turned to nod politely in return but was startled by the most brilliant, honest smile she'd ever seen, his eyes sparkling in amusement and mysterious shadows disappearing from his face.
She absently realized this wasn't the unreadable, unreachable Natsume Shintaro from the second time she'd seen him as a child nor the slightly reserved teenage loner she'd come to know over the years. She didn't really know who this was, but she wanted to find out, and for a moment, she forgot how to breathe.
Before she could reply he was gone and she was lost in a flood of students.
Chiaki ducked her head to hide her uncomfortably open expression, a confusing mix of awe and surprise and pride because she was the one to put that smile on his face when, as far as she knew, no one else could.
"Oi, Chiaki! Let's go!"
Chiaki's head snapped up to see Nene waving at her from down another hallway with an impassive Aoi at her side, and immediately schooled her features. I'll see you tomorrow, Tanimura-san. Those words shouldn't have made her so inexplicably pleased, but it did and she couldn't help the small skip in her step as she walked towards her two friends, thoughts of what tomorrow would bring fluttering in her stomach.
She didn't notice Natsume's ridiculously happy, almost shy smile as he watched her walk away.
See you tomorrow, Natsume-san.
Author's Note: Fave/follow/review if you liked it! Slow updates but I'll keep this as a side project to work on once in a while. Thank you!
