Alright minna san. The poll is closed.
My original combo Ato/Ryo/Maru/Ji has steam rollered the competition with a GRAND TOTAL OF 9 WHOLE POINTS!!
Am I missing somehtign here? I mean, I am sincerely grateful for the amoutn of reviews I do get and to those who like my fic enough to visit it more than once, but still...why are none of my pols ever sucessful? Maybe i should jsutn to hold polls all together.
Oh, yeah, incase any one wanted to know, Niou?Maru/Kiri only had 5 votes so sorry to those who wanted them. I am also open to other suggestions if you'd like to contribute, just don't disrupt, Silver Pair, SanaYuki and nothing with Muromachi. I got plans for him.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story besides Sai and the unfortunate mascot.
Hajimari: Maou no Mie
"MARUI-KUN!" For once in his life, he was indeed very glad that he had a fanboy as weird as Akutagawa Jirou. It saved him Niou's interrogation session. According to the silver haired boy, Marui had been gone too long last night (hey, he might have stayed to wait until the pictures were developed! He did know the owner!). Only Marui's amazing tensainess (which had led him to ask the nice lady who worked at the photo shop to cover his tracks) stood between him and the wrath of Rikkai's Petenshi.
While it was true that Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi were known as the Three Monsters©, that was mostly in tennis (as far as he was concerned, Renji was not a monster when not on the courts). In normal life in general, this wasn't so.
……Okay, okay, Yukimura was a monster in all aspects and Sanada was most likely a monster in all aspects, but his point stands.
In life, the third monster was none other than his best friend.
He was a true monster. Most people didn't take him as seriously as Yukimura (whom could be just plain old EVIL if he wanted to be. You are looking at the guy who whipped Sanada Genichirou) or Sanada (……does he even need an explanation?). Most people disregard his laid back playful nature and his (mostly) harmless pranks and wrote him off as a small-scale trouble maker.
They were grievously wrong.
Niou's best weapon is his astounding patience. Yes, Niou was patient, perhaps even more than Yagyuu (scary, I know), and that was what made him dangerous. You never really knew just when you crossed the line. However, you'll definitely know if you did.
Marui was sure he hadn't crossed yet (actually, Niou was very lenient with Marui, not that he knew that), but he was in dangerous waters (no not really, but again, he didn't need to know that). Therefore he was thanking every deity in the world for giving him someone like Jirou who was after all from another school and had nothing to do with the conflict. Even if he was angry, Niou did not like innocent bystanders getting caught in the line of fire. There was probably about a 53 chance that Marui was safe for now.
……He has got to stop hanging around Yanagi.
"Hey Akutagawa-kun." He smiled (albeit a bit nervously because Niou's eyes had shifted into another quite unreadable expression) at the blonde who was latched onto him. "How's it going? And why are you here?"
"I'm good." Jirou smiled back. "Actually, Atobe said that he was taking me to the amusement park today. I was wondering if you'd like to come."
Marui was still thanking the gods, up until Jirou said the words 'amusement park'.
"Amusement park? As in place with tons of kettle corn, caramel apples, cotton candy?" He had to confirm it. Junk food, sugar, Marui was practically salivating. Jirou would be willing to pay right? He was rich.
"As in roller coasters and haunted houses?" Akaya had over heard, and looked at Marui with those big green puppy-dog eyes of his. Marui already knew what the out-come was going to be.
"As in tons of unsuspecting people with nary a clue of their environment?" And the trio was complete. Hopefully that they could push the blame onto someone else again (yes, again). Maybe Atobe could cover for them, Marui didn't think that ANYONE would dare sue an Atobe.
"Yep!" Still with that sunny (and though Marui would never say it aloud, he had to admit) almost inhumanly cute smile. "And Keigo's paying!"
"As in my wallet's not going to be drained of money?" Jackal looked to the Hyoutei player as if Jirou was an angel descended from heaven. Wait, when did he get here?
"Yup!" You know, Jackal was very scary when he smiled with delirious joy. "He says it's no problem cuz today's special!"
"Alright Akutagawa-san." The Brazilian doubles player was shaking his hand excitedly. "I leave my doubles partner and charge in your care! If you have any trouble, cakes usually placate Marui, though I'm sure you know that, and here's a handful of chocolate coins to keep Akaya busy. Thank you so much for offering! Oh, and Niou won't be too much trouble, just keep Marui, Akaya, and this bag of practical joke items with you at all times. Oh, Akaya, no high velocity rides lest you reopen those cuts. Sanada will flip if you miss practice again."
And after the huge bag of stuff was shoved into Jirou's arms (that have now been detached from Marui) he rushed off to……wherever Jackal goes when he's not babysitting Akaya or Marui.
"……Okay then." Jirou chirped brightly completely ignoring Akaya's happy shout and Niou's evil cackle. "Keigo's waiting in the parking lot. Let's go!"
And they were sitting comfortably in a sleek black limo a few minutes later with a slightly annoyed Atobe (he had only been expecting Marui, the lesser of the three nuisances), an unresponsive Kabaji, and a Jirou who was practically frothing with joy.
Unnoticed, a pair of dark eyes watched as they drove away.
Akaya was having the time of his life! He was at an amusement park, with all sorts of rides and fun games! He was with two of his favorite senpai (Renji is the third) and tons of junk food (even his favorite, cotton candy!)! He was not being baby sat by Jackal-senpai (for once)! He hadn't been assigned extra laps by Sanada fukubuchou for one thing or another (so many firsts)!
He reached over and snatched up another price of sugary fluff from Marui, ignoring the red-head's indignant yelp, and running ahead so his angry senpai couldn't bop him on the head.
As soon as he rounded the corner of the next game booth, he was pulled into the shadows.
When Marui rounded the corner, his kouhai was no where to be seen.
"OMG NIOU!! CODE RED! CODE RED!"
Akaya was ready to either fight or to bail until he heard a familiar chuckle. "So aggressive Aka-chan? I thought you'd be happy to see me."
"No fucking way, bastard." The Rikkai demon's eyes were beginning to turn red. "So what do you want this time?"
"Want something? Now what makes you……?"
"Why else are you here?" His eyes began to turn red. The other boy's widened.
"I've been gone for so long. Can't I want to see you now and then?" The other boy reached out only to have his hand slapped away.
"If you wanted to see me, why the hell did you leave?" Those piercing green eyes were like daggers to him. The accusing, angry tone was like a sword.
"I-I had to." Akaya's face twisted into a bitter smile.
"Of course you had to. Everybody had to." The boy looked down to hide his tears. "The others would pursue you if you didn't, right?"
"IT WASN'T LIKE THAT!" The sharp voice cut the air. "It was never like that. I didn't know what else to do."
For the first time in a while Kirihara dared to look into the eyes of the one who had left him to fend for himself so many years ago. He gasped.
"Your eyes," Akaya wiped his own clear of tears and looked again. It was true. Those once clear laughing emerald green eyes, now a dark murky shady violet blue nearly black, stared forlornly back at him. He knew that expression so well. That expression of fake bravery, of damming up as many tears as possible, except this time there was no shine in the eyes like there always was and no tears slipping out unintentionally.
"So you recognize these eyes Akaya?" Still disbelieving, he brought one hand up to the other boy's face, "Do you recognize what I've become?"
"And they call me the devil," he tried to joke, but there was no humor in his voice. "So this is why you've been gone for over a decade…...but why? Why did you do it?"
"How could I watch you any other way?" A hand ran through his mop of curly hair. "I wasn't strong enough Akaya. I'm still not strong enough. You know that as well as I do. I'm sorry Akaya. I had to hand that responsibility to somebody else."
The young shade demon, allowed his body to slump against his companions, shivering just slightly. However, make no mistake, he wasn't crying. He was too old, too hardened to really cry.
"I missed you so much niichan."
"Me too Akaya, me too," Mizuki Hajime reached out and pulled his baby brother into a loving embrace.
"But if you're a devil now, why are you in Kantou?" The green-eyed boy asked him. "And why are you pissing off Fuji Shuusuke?"
"I'm here as a distraction, sweetheart. I have Yuuta-kun under my wings, so he'll probably be paying more attention to me. I'm not so high up in the pecking order yet, so obviously, it's not exactly a very important position. " Mizuki's smiled disappeared again. "But you had better be careful even so."
"Me? Why?"
"Akaya, your friend Marui Bunta, isn't normal."
"Marui-senpai? Of course he's not…."
"He's not even natural." Now that shut the younger boy up. If you weren't normal you were an anomaly that was never figured into the equation. If you weren't natural...you were nobody, nothing, just an illusion crafted wrong on purpose to be a playing piece for someone else. "I protected you by pushing you to he who was protected by Lucifer. That is my payment, but it is no longer enough."
"Not enough?" Akaya was confused but he waited for the other boy to continue.
"He wants your involvement too." Mizuki began, but Akaya cut him off once again.
"I KNEW IT!" the junior pointed accusingly at his brother. "You DID want something!"
"Akaya." A pencil thin eye brow rose just slightly. The finger was immediately withdrawn.
"Hehe, yeah, sorry." Mizuki couldn't help smiling anyway. It was so cute.
"It's not too complicated really," the older boy continued. "Stick to Marui-kun as much as possible and protect him if you can. Due to your relationship with him, I trust it won't pose too big of a problem?"
"You can count on me." The little demon smiled and mock-saluted upon accepting his first assignment. The young devil simply had to ruffle that adorably curly hair again.
"I have to get back to Yuuta-kun now, so be good okay?" He kissed Akaya on the left temple. "Ganbatte ne."
"I love you." Akaya burrowed back into his elder brother's arms though they no longer held any of the warmth that he still remembered.
"Me too." And the body faded away into nothingness. Putting his game face back on (the bratty, troublemaking face), he commanded the shadows to deliver him back to the amusement park…….and braced himself for a scolding from his senpai-tachi.
Said senpai-tachi were very near panicking right now, though they didn't show it. Actually, Jirou was the most outwardly frantic one (Atobe was called back by his dad about an hour ago, Naturally Kabaji went with him).
"Sai-Sai!" the blonde asked the park director for the umpteenth time, "Has there been any sign of him yet?"
"I'm sorry master Jirou. I'm afraid we haven't quite found him yet." The man apologized, groaning inwardly as he saw the young master bite his bottom lip worriedly. No Sai, don't feel guilty. It's not your fault the other brat got lost. And it definitely isn't your fault the information was too vague for a proper search.
Niou's description of a crazy trouble making brat trying to be some half-assed sorry excuse for a prankster was not particularly helpful. Master Jirou constantly repeated that the boy was Marui-kun's friend and kouhai, and Rikkai's junior demon (as if he was supposed to know who that was). And the only bit of useful information came from the red-headed boy, but even then, all he got was "a boy 2cm shorter than me with a curly dark mop and eyes greener than boiling acid" (children watched far too many cartoons these days).
Luckily for him, Marui and Niou had taken over and managed to crack a few jokes to ease the blonde boy's anxiousness. It was a good thing there were people like them in the world, those who can joke even when they're worried. It sure saved him a lot of trouble (though they were the ones to cause it in the first place).
Sai was going to check once again (for show because this is an amusement park dammit! There were tons of thirteen-year-old boys with curly black hair wandering around!), when they heard a small crash.
With a shout of "AKAYA!" the two Rikkai boys disappeared followed closely by Jirou.
Sai twitched agitatedly.
……Children these days.
Sai, found a long time ago, and any time spent in the service of young master Jirou is time that he would most like spend twitching. However today he might have just broken the record.
How can one teenage boy, crash through five booths, trip over many a staff member and get himself their mascot hopelessly tangle in a mass of string? He couldn't even penalize the fool for it because Master Jirou let the boy off without a second thought.
Not for the first time, Sai wondered why he was still working here.