Disclaimer, you know the drill yadda yadda yadda
Disclaimer, you know the drill yadda yadda yadda
Hajimari: Kage no Shokkou
Green eyes opened up to bleary smudges of color (damn light) and the familiar sting of alcohol. Involuntarily, he squeaked as a cotton ball soaked with the stuff was dabbed onto a huge gash in his stomach.
"So you're awake," Niou-senpai's smooth voice whispered……wait, NIOU-SENPAI!
What the hell is wrong with this picture?
Marui smiled softly at his silver haired friend fussing over the little bundle of fur he had found.
Now this was the Niou he used to know, the boy who cooed over any little thing that had so much as a scratch on it. Really, he could be a vet someday.
Marui turned back to his task of picking out bandages, finally settling on a roll that looked about the right size for a baby bat. Niou meanwhile tried to get it to stay still so as to not reopen its wounds.
That night, Akaya laid on a small pillow under a cotton T-shirt that was far too small for its owner to wear any more. Though he was still in pain, it had subsided somewhat. Turning over (damn that hurt) he looked into a pair of lavender eyes.
"Marui-senpai," he said breathily and cuddled closer to the warm hand. "I'm scared."
"What's wrong Akaya?" Seeing the desperate look in those green eyes almost broke Marui's heart. It wasn't often one saw someone as strong as Kirihara this terrified. It was even worse than his match with Fuji.
"I'm sorry." He nuzzled the palm of the red-head's hands in apology. "I couldn't do anything. Everything was just so bright! I was helpless. I could even turn berserker. Gods, it was so pathetic. If I hadn't been found…"
So that was why. Marui wondered how he could've been hurt so badly. Akaya was after all a master of escaping sticky situations even without his powers (it was one of the qualities Niou valued in the kid since it helped so much with their pranking). But sadly, he was still a baby. And a shade demon blasted with light? No wonder he couldn't do anything.
Then again, Akaya wasn't a normal demon. He was one of those rare ones, a berserker. Why did that not kick in? It wasn't linked to shadows like the rest of the boy's abilities. True, Marui had only seen the berserker form once, but as far as he was concerned, it kicked ass. He just had a feeling that had the berserker been there……
But then, how powerful was this enemy, if it could over ride Akaya's berserker, the very thing that made even full grown demons fearful of the little guy?
"Hush now." Beating those thoughts out of his mind he focused all his attention on comforting Akaya as two large glistening tears slid out of those wide green eyes. "You're still a baby. You can't beat yourself up too badly."
"You know, I'm almost thirty." At least the boy stopped crying. Marui would've sighed in relief if he had the heart to disrupt the moment.
"I know, but ten of those years you were helpless and had people looking after you, the next fifteen you spent as a human being, trying to hide away until you were strong enough to survive any attacks from hostile demons. You've actually only used two years to train yourself on the offensive front."
"I was training before that too."
"But your body didn't hold up." He contradicted softly. "It shouldn't have been able to, and you shouldn't push it. It took me four years to get where I am now, and I'm a tensai. Just go to sleep kay?"
"Usu." Marui smiled and he too got under the covers. "Ne Marui senpai?"
"Yeah?"
"Why is Niou senpai only nice when nobody else is around?"
"That's just how he is Akaya, our Mekashushi no Petenshi." Marui smiled as he closed his eyes. "Niou Masaharu."
Akaya spent five minutes frowning at the ceiling. It still bothered him.
"Are you sure that wasn't an impostor?"
The only thing that replied was Marui's very poorly stifled laughter.
Yukimura nodded as Marui recited Akaya's alibi at morning practice. There was a large frown on his face (gasp!).
"Yukimura, is something the matter?" The blue haired boy turned to his fukubuchou's stony face (sorry girls he only comes in two versions, stony and mad).
"Akaya was bullied yesterday." There was a dangerous glint to his usually nice blue eyes. "Someone had the gall to beat up Rikkai's baby, and quite badly too if Marui wasn't exaggerating. His parents aren't home so he's staying with our resident tensai for the moment."
The entire tennis club shivered due to the very sudden plummet in the surrounding temperature. Several could swear they saw snow falling on their buchou and his vice. But that can't be possible. IT WAS SUMMER DAMN IT!
One person frowned, but he didn't seem quite as shocked as the others. I wonder if he's a demon or like me.
Marui shook his head slightly and went off over to Jackal to see if he could con his doubles partner into buying him a piece of cake. He needed cheering up, and that usually did the job.
"Bunta." Marui looked over at his friend and deskmate. Because of his stupid English teacher he hadn't been able to see Niou all day. He was beginning to regret playing the 'good boy' and not skipping class today. It wasn't as if he didn't know the material.
The red-head bit his lip. Niou didn't often use his first name. The last time had been when Yagyuu left him. Hesitantly, he replied. "What's wrong Masaharu?"
"Did you see who it was?" His voice was soft and gentle but his eyes took the cold calculating sharpness that was heavy with anger. Marui flinched just slightly. He knew what the gaze meant, and he knew that if Niou finds out Marui was withholding information, there'd be hell to pay for later. However he wasn't about to get the spiky haired boy mixed into this crap. "The perpetrators, the ones that attacked Akaya, do you know who they are?"
"Gomen, all I know is that there were blades involved, really sharp ones." Niou began cracking his knuckles, a nervous habit he picked up when they were little. Marui warned him that it was going to give him arthritis one day, but when he was edgy, he absently cracked them again.
Niou's teeth were grinding on themselves and he was shaking in anger. Blades? BLADES?! IF HE EVER FOUND THE CULPRIT THEY'D BETTER HOPE HELL GIVES THEM MERCY, BECAUSE HE CERTAINLY WON'T!
That was until a small hand slipped into his and squeezed just hard enough to get his attention. Niou finally turned his eyes to his best friend, however he sighed and looked away, though he didn't let go of Marui's hand.
Good old Marui, always wanting to keep him out of too much trouble. Those large eyes normally could get him to do anything, but this time……
Marui gave one last squeeze before looking back down at his desk, still not letting go of the hand. He knew it was no use. They both knew. It was too late for Niou to promise anything. But a guy could wish right? "Akaya's staying with me for the moment, since nobody's home at his place. You can drop by if you want."
"Thanks Bunta." The Petenshi's shaking smile did very little to ease Marui's troubled, mind, but it was the thought that counted, right? "So how's the little guy we found yesterday?"
"You found," the red-head corrected relieved for the change of subject. "And he's doing relatively fine, I think. Good thing the cuts were pretty shallow. I'll let him go soon if he doesn't bust out himself."
"That's good to hear." Niou's face relaxed a bit and they both dropped the conversation……and just in time too.
"NIOU MASAHARU!" their harpy-like English teacher grinned smugly down at the two.
She wasn't actually daring to try and humiliate Rikkai's number one prankster right?
"Please read for us your notes on the month's unit on the human body and all its systems." Wow, she actually dared.
Oh well, her funeral.
The silver haired boy returned her gaze steadily and pasted his usual I'm-too-smexy-to-be-associated-with-you-in-any-way smile. Then without skipping a beat, he slipped out of his chair, snagged his notebook and began reading. Within a matter of seconds, most of the class was either giggling uncontrollably, competing viciously with Marui's hair, or passed out with nose bleeds. The symptoms only seem to get worse as the Petenshi continued to read aloud his……very graphic notes (he even showed the possibly TOO accurate hand-drawn diagrams that accompanied the VERY long section on the human reproductive system).
Will teachers never learn?
……Apparently not.
About five or so miles away, a small bat was focusing all of his attention on dragging himself away from his comfy spot under his senpai's window sill. Gingerly, he moved testing his weight on various parts of his body, wincing quite a few times. Once he was finally a safe distance away from the glare of the afternoon sun, he began to coax the growing shadows around his body.
Soon enough, the little vampire bat was no more. In stead there now sat in the otherwise empty room a thirteen-year-old-boy with wildly curly black hair.
Just as the last of the darkness seeped away from him, said senpai materialized in front of his face.
"Mah ne, Niou's coming over tonight. Get some rest so he doesn't kill me." Akaya snorted. As if their infamous trickster would ever lay a finger on a single scarlet hair on Marui's head. Still he allowed the other boy to tuck him into bed and drawn the curtains together. What he protested was the sneaky finger that found his side. "Now don't be like that. Everyone's worried about the team baby."
Marui happily took advantage of the cute 'eep' that spilled from his kouhai's mouth when he poked him, and furiously fought down a laugh at the adorable pout that sprang to the younger boy's face though he was sucking on Marui's last green apple Jolly Rancher. "Sweet dreams my little Shadow Weaver."
And he disappeared before Akaya had completely registered what had happened.
"Wait a minute." The pout deepened as he shouted to the red head, who was already back in school and about to attend tennis practice. "MAAAAAARUUUUUUIIIIII-SEEEEEENPAAAAAAIIIIII! I'M NOT LITTLE DAMMIT!"
SHADOWWEAVERSHADOWWEAVERSHADOWWEAVERSHADOWWEAVER
Ne, I'll leave this up to popular opinion. Should I go with the original, non-sense pairing Maru/Ji/Ato/Ryo? Or create a Niou/Kiri/Maru thing? Originally, I was just going to make Marui more of a big brother to Kirihara, no romantic love involved. Tell me any way ya like.