Mio x Ritsu
'Mio and Juritsu
A/N: Wow these reviews have really blown my mind! There may be a short bunch but thank you so much for your kind words. I was really nervous about uploading to the Mitsu community as I felt a bit of an amateur, but now I will definitely try my hardest. From now on (since this fic will be long) I'm going to post the artist/song name's that inspire me to write throughout each chapter, so check them out! They might help you come up with your own story too!
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
So I can feel you here with me (tear the flesh)
So I can feel you here with me (break the skin)
So I can feel you near me (tear the flesh)
So I'll make sure you hear me-!
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
Chapter 2 – Soaked in Sin
"Satoshi! What about this one?" Ritsu questioned, tugging at the collar of a white suit jacket with a 'penguin tail.' She grinned in amusement.
The shop clerk looked as if he wanted to say something, but he just stared at Satoshi expectantly instead. Satoshi gave him an apologetic glance, and then smiled at his older sister.
"That looks great, neechan! Although..." Satoshi couldn't think of what it was that seemed so out of place. He wandered over to Ritsu, placing his hands slowly on her yellow hair band, against a defiant Ritsu, he pulled it out of her hair, grinning when her bangs fell onto her face, and her cheeks flushed a little.
This was Ritsu's ONLY weakness when it came to her appearance. "O-Oi, gimme that back!" She whined, tackling Satoshi, who laughed loudly and stumbled back a little, gripping his own black tuxedo jacket tightly so he didn't drop it.
"Excuse me, you two, you've been in this store three hours now, do you think you're ready to pay?" The shop clerk smiled warmly, pearly white teeth against his sun-tanned skin. Ritsu was sure he was acquainted with their teacher Sawako.
"Ah, yeah, sorry about that..." Ritsu smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand as she picked up the white dress pants to match the jacket she had chosen. Next to where she had sat it was a black bow-tie, and a white long-sleeved high-collar shirt. Satoshi picked up his own black tuxedo set with a red bow tie, and they placed them in a heap at the counter, both of them looking as equally un-mature as the other with childish grins on their faces at their own personal thoughts of their friend's reactions.
When they had finished paying the shop clerk quite an insanely high amount of yen just to buy their one night outfits, they both headed out of the store with an easy-going attitude.
"You know, Mom is going to kill you." Satoshi pointed out as they bought two strawberry milkshakes from a man at a stall on their way back home, sipping quietly through their straws. When Satoshi glanced at his sister he noticed she was deep in thought again. The afternoon was drawing on though, so he put it down to exhaustion.
"Things were never simple, were they?" Ritsu looked at Satoshi, and the expression in her eyes told him they were going to talk about that again.
About their Father, about Nawakara, and about the Akiyama's.
"None of those things were your fault, neechan." Satoshi insisted, suddenly feeling put off his milkshake, lowering it from his mouth as they continued the walk home.
"I just wish I could fix everything where it died off." Ritsu fixed her hair band back into her hair.
Satoshi visibly paused; opening is mouth slowly before closing it again when he couldn't think of anything else to say.
Ritsu swung her arm around his shoulders, grinning at him enthusiastically, acting as if she wasn't just about to break down, "Everything will be alright, you'll see!" She reassured him, as they turned the corner to their house.
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
My soul is awry, without asking why,
I said, "te amo, wish somebody'd tell me what she said."
Don't it mean "I love you?"
Think it means "I love you."
Don't it mean "I love you?"
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
"Amazing! This store has so many beautiful dresses..." Azusa stared around in awe, her mouth slightly agape. They had just entered their third dress boutique. The evening was drawing on but the air was a clinging warmth as sunset bore into the sky. Those chilled evenings were the best.
As they wandered to their first rack of dresses, Mio decided that it might be nice to have a conversation about something else that had been dawning on her mind for a while now.
"Hey, Azusa..." She started, the young rhythm guitarist turned her head to look at the bass guitarist, causing said bassist to smile nervously, "What do you think about love?"
Azusa inwardly sighed, this was probably the millionth time her and the bassist had spoken about what seemed to be a confession racked in riddles, but Azusa inwardly reassured herself the confession wasn't towards her.
"Senpai, love is something everyone will experience...If you don't mind me asking, why are you talking about it as if it's a fantasy world?" Azusa had referred to previous conversations she had with Mio, the raven-haired girl continuously asked her what love felt like, what it was all about, what to do if you were in love, all sorts of things. She just wondered why it was her that Mio asked. Azusa was the youngest after all.
"But not all love is accepted, is it?" Mio questioned, turning her attention to the top end of the same rack Azusa was looking through, glancing at dresses of all sorts of designs and colours, but nothing eye-catching, nothing saying "Hey, look at me Ritsu!"
"Are you trying to say..." Azusa glanced about before lowering her voice as a group of girls with faces caked in make-up had moved close by, looking at dresses that didn't even seem their size, gossiping and snickering about other people around the store. The store itself was almost empty, but the customers in it almost all wore school uniforms of different styles and colours– and would be attending the prom THEY would be performing at. She realised she had spaced out.
"Are you trying to say...Gay relationships, senpai?" Azusa looked at her with a thoughtful expression, Mio looked uneasy as Azusa spoke the word 'gay', but she nodded in confirmation.
"I just wonder...Why is it so wrong, Azusa?"
Mio looked utterly sympathetic; Azusa was visibly shocked at the sad-looking expression on the bass guitarist's face. But if it was one thing she learnt in the time she had spent with Ho-Kago Tea Time, it was that Mio hated to see people in distress.
"It's just like what they say about people that dress differently, Mio-senpai, it's different, so people have trouble accepting it." Azusa's parents were pretty open-minded easygoing people, which made Azusa have to be responsible quite a lot for them, and the house. But when it came to the bond they shared – it was pretty strong, even to the point her parents had questioned her sexuality numerously when Yui Hirasawa would visit, barely letting go of Azusa in front of her parents –all because of that easygoing atmosphere.
They had talked for hours about it after Yui had left that one night; her parents were constantly away on work trips and couple holidays, so the time they spent together was mainly talking. And that they did, telling her all about acceptance, denial, being 'in the closet.' The works.
"But why? Why does it have to be so different?"
Parents abandoning their children, people being killed; abused; bullied; tormented; beaten up, just because of that one word.
Gay.
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
I will escape you and I'll
I'll push you closer to the ground
Cause you're the one that's going down
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
"I can't believe this! How can you possibly make yourself look like a proud young woman wearing THAT?" Ritsu's mother bellowed before the drummer could even finish closing the front door behind her as she entered the house.
She had half expected this to happen, and had told Satoshi to go to his room and stay out of the way – and her younger brother – despite how much he wanted to stand up for his older sister – did as he was told, making Ritsu feel more alone, but made her also believe it would save the last relationship of her family members.
"I can't wear a dress, mom-" Ritsu was cut off by a glass smashing, and she ducked to escape the impact of the shower of some of the shards, alarm bells ringing, she wasn't sure how far her mother would go.
"It's that Akiyama girl isn't it? You've been so close for so long, should off assumed you were like...Like...that!" Ritsu's mother looked furious at this point, glaring at Ritsu as if she was the filth of the Earth.
"It's got nothing to do with Mio! I just don't feel comfortable-"Another glass smashed and Ritsu felt her calm demeanour slowly dying, she was already writing a letter of apology in her head to Satoshi.
"I KNOW you, Ritsu Tainaka! I brought you into this world, and by God sometimes I wish I could take you out of it! You're constantly in trouble! Slacking off! Spending a pathetic amount of time with your so called 'band mates'!"
"You know NOTHING about me! You probably don't even know half as much as you think you do about Satoshi either! Ever since Dad left us...Ever since Dad left us, you've turned into him!"
She saw the flash of pain cross her mother's dark eyes, but she had no time for sympathy. She was the happy face of the Light Music Club, the always positive one, the joker. But at home things were different – and Mio was the only one that knew about her Mother and Father. But even Mio still didn't know everything.
Nawakara was a secret that Satoshi and Ritsu swore that they would not break unless it was absolutely necessary, it was coated in danger, and she was so close to finally getting it to end...
"Maybe you should just get out, you...you..."
Now it was Ritsu's turn to cut her off.
"I know what you're going to say, and its fine. I'll pack my bag now and be out by midnight." She replied calmer than she had expected it to be, she was even sure her Mother looked shocked for a second, but she merely nodded and growled a 'good,' before storming out of the room and into the living room instead.
Ritsu didn't follow her, she picked up the suit from the kitchen table, stuffing it back into the bag she had gotten when she purchased it, not ignoring the fact it now stunk of vodka and probably had a few glass shards stuck in the material – she could deal with that later. The way things were looking, she wouldn't even get to prom anyway.
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
These situations are elevating
Where dreams are lost all hope is gone
We can't go on living like this
Manipulated by information
All right is wrong all wrong is right
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
Ritsu had spent all of her time packing talking to her brother for what would be their final time to have a conversation in the same household.
Satoshi promised he would keep in contact with her, and stay out of trouble so he could avoid their mother, and Ritsu constantly apologized for having to leave him with her, to which he shook it off and said it wasn't her fault.
But she wasn't too worried – Satoshi was a good kid with excellent grades and he behaved well all the time – He was the complete opposite of his older sister, but they still got along extremely well.
As she zipped up her second duffle bag, slung her bag-pack onto her back, and picked up another stuffed full duffle bag, she smiled at him apologetically.
She was still wearing her school uniform, since it was a Friday night, and they had went shopping straight from school. She knew if she managed to find somewhere to stay that she would need it – and it kept fond memories of what would be known in no matter of time as the 'easygoing days.'
She smiled weakly when she saw the tips of her drum sticks sticking out of one of the duffle bags, and thanked Satoshi as he held the bedroom door open for her.
She took one last glance around her room – that had been all torn apart in the quest to get her most valuable possessions, and after taking in a deep breath, she jogged down the stairs.
He followed her, and as she opened the front door, she paused.
No goodbye from her Mother. She mentally shrugged and turned to Satoshi as she stood at the doorstep.
"Please, come back and visit once everything calms down, okay?" Satoshi asked, a begging tone in his voice as he hugged his sister tightly.
"As long as you promise to take care of yourself, and not let her push you around." Ritsu smiled weakly, hugging him back the best she could under all of the bags, he nodded, shaking in her arms. She realized he was crying.
"I promise, I'll come back."
"Please don't blame Mio for the battles between our families."
"I promise, I won't."
She knew that wasn't the only thing – when the families had clashed over many things Ritsu was told she was too young to understand.
Her mother shouldn't of tried the affair with Mio's father, after all.
So far Ritsu had tried calling all of the band members, and none of them were answering their phones.
She was starting to panic and get weary as the night sky absorbed the sunset and turned Ritsu's senses themselves into darkness. She was frightened to walk the streets carrying possessions that could possibly be worth money, she didn't want to lose them after all that had already happened.
That's when she walked past the familiar cut next to the candy store, that if you walked through, lead straight to Mio's house as soon as you turned left. It was risky because anyone could be kicking about, but it was two minutes or so away, and Ritsu was feeling a sudden rush of exhilaration.
Mio hadn't answered her phone, but they were childhood best friends, and maybe, just maybe, her parents would be able to treat her as being innocent, even after the events of the past few years. After all, she had no idea what her Mother was trying to do, so it wasn't her fault.
Ritsu Tainaka was oblivious to selfish-ness in the world.
She slipped into the ally-way, hurrying up her pace, and a hand slammed down on her shoulder. The figure stood in the shadows, but Ritsu instantly dropped her bags when he spoke.
"So I finally get to see you face to face after so long, Tainaka-chan."
Nawakara.
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
If I could make this time
If I could make this time
If I could make this time
If I could make this time rewind
I'd make it
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
"Ah yeah, that's no problem Ui! I'll bring it over later." There was a pause as the twin-tailed girl nodded her head, despite the fact the brunette wouldn't be able to see the gesture, "It's no problem, honestly."
"Thank you so much Azusa-chan! I'll make some tea for when you get here, bye!" With that, the call ended before Azusa could reply, she smiled to herself and slipped her phone back into her jacket pocket. She might as well pick up some fresh fruit while her and Mio were in town.
"Are you feeling better now, Mio-senpai?" Azusa smiled towards the bassist, who smiled back – a genuinely warm way. Showing the young rhythm guitarist that she was indeed, feeling much better.
They had finally managed to buy dresses that matched their taste, but when they had left the store, Ui Hirasawa had called asking Azusa to pick some fresh fruit up on their way home. Azusa found no reason to decline.
As they walked slowly in the direction of the fruit and vegetable store on the street corner, Mio still kept her happy tone.
"It's been a great day, hasn't it?"
xxx~Between the events~xxx
"G-Get off me!" Ritsu shouted, pushing at broad shoulders as she heard her drum sticks roll across the pavement that her feet were barely touching now – his fingers were curled around the collar of her shirt, and he was holding her up, his eyes captivating her with a look of insanity.
"I will make you mine!" He hissed.
She was starting to choke, panicking and struggling.
"I don't want you! I don't want anything to do with you!" Her voice raised an octave and she spluttered at how difficult it was getting to breathe – his thumb was pressing harder and harder against her throat.
"You know you love me!"
Still spluttering, she thrashed her legs out, managing to hit him in his most vital area – he fell to the ground, and she did with him, choking as she hit the pavement hard, rubbing her throat, she tried to pull herself to her feet.
He grabbed her ankle with one hand, pulling her down again, she fell on him, but managed to swing her leg down, kneeing him hard in the stomach.
Ritsu knew more about this boy than anyone – he was nothing without his gang behind him, he was the weakest and scrawniest. The only thing he had over the others was his sick mind and twisted orders, and drumming, alongside sport, made her stronger than normal girls.
His hands reached out and she placed her own on his biceps, her arms shaking with the force she used, she pinned his arms down to the ground.
Blood dripped down her forehead and soaked down her eye – making it impossible to see for her left side. He had managed to catch her off guard with a few punches and kicks at the start of their brawl, before he pinned her up.
But Satoshi could tell anyone, Ritsu always exploded when she was held back.
"I won't EVER love you because you're sick!" She bellowed, pushing his arms back down when he tried to wriggle out from under her.
"No, I know why you won't! It's because you're batting for the other team, ehhh Tainaka? We all know it!"
She was so shocked by the accusation that she wasn't prepared at all for what came next.
His face connected with hers, and in the pain of feeling like someone had smashed a hammer into her skull, she cried out, choking herself with the blood that came with his attack.
Everything faded to darkness.
"So you're the infamous Ritsu Tainaka?"
Ritsu stirred, wriggling weakly in the warmth engulfing her, relaxing her. Pain throbbed from all corners and she didn't recognise the voice. She panicked, her right eye snapping open when the left could not follow. It felt stuck.
She met the soft expression of a dark haired boy wearing silver glasses, he seemed to be sweating slightly, she looked around and noticed her bags on his shoulders. She felt terrible.
"Who ...are you?" She questioned.
"My name is Chika Amano...Mugi talks about you a lot." He smiled softly, the same smile she had seen so many times on the features of the blonde girl he spoke about.
"Where are you taking me?" Ritsu's head pounded, she let it drop back against his shoulder.
"Well," He smiled a little sheepishly now, "Mugi told me that she had called your house to ask if you wanted to borrow some new cymbals for your performance. Your brother answered and told her that you had left home, and were probably heading to Mio's.. .So I asked for directions there, and when I called, they said you weren't there. I decided to look around and well...The rest is chance. You see, Nawakara's gang have been muttering on the corners about you, saying that they're looking for you. I guess when I heard it, and the Akiyama's told me you weren't there, I put two and two together and considered he had you. It's a shame I was right. "
"Why won't he leave me alone?" She frowned, but her one open eye now slipped shut.
"I don't know. When I was standing at the door step...I heard shouting. And it sounded like Nawakara...You see..."
She heard the uneasy tone in his voice.
"Where did he go?" She asked, her own voice cracking in anger.
"He was getting up to leave when I got the ally-way, I tried to stop him but he told me he had other plans, and well...I noticed the state you were in. I'm sorry, I thought it was more important to get you to safety."
"...Thank you." She muttered, sincerely, thankful he wasn't asking questions about why Nawakara had his sights so eagerly set on her.
As Chika slipped through the gate to the Akiyama household, he slowly placed Ritsu on her feet.
"I'm sorry but I can't stay with you, there's something I have to do." He smiled and placed her bags down, as he stood straight once more, he turned on his heel and swiftly walked out of the garden, so quickly that Ritsu didn't get time to say goodbye.
She stared at herself in the reflection of the front door's glass. She surely was a mess, bloody and battered.
The brunette decided to take her hair band off, pushing her bangs over her left eye – wincing slightly at the pressure on her new wounds- but it covered the bad sight.
Most of her pain was coming from under her uniform – she would check it later though, the awkward-ness with their families was bad enough, she couldn't allow herself to explain what was going on to the Akiyama's, they would probably stop Mio seeing her altogether.
She pulled up the hood of her jacket and kept her head slightly bowed, holding her bags in front of her knee's.
She knocked.
After a few moments of silence, the door slowly opened.
"Tainaka?" Mio's father questioned, bending down slightly to try and see her face, Ritsu ducked her head.
"I'm sorry...I...I've had an argument with my mom, and I got mugged on the way here, please, can I come inside?" At least she wasn't completely lying.
"Mio is out with the Nakano girl right now, but of course you can," He smiled at her, and stepped aside to let her in.
Ritsu slowly walked inside, slipping her shoes off, "I'm sure that you might want to have some time alone to calm down, so you can wait in Mio's room if you like, I'll make sure to tell her you're here as soon as she gets back. She won't be long."
All the brunette could do was nod, and slowly, limp up the stairs to Mio's room.
Her bags slipped off her arms and she collapsed in a heap on the bedroom floor, the impact making her wounds pour of blood all over again.
She only now took into consideration the wire that had been wrapped around Nawakara's knuckles in their fight.
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
The day the news came, my best friend died
My knees went weak, and you saw me cry
Say I'm still the soldier in your eyes
zZzZzZzZzZzZz
"Ritsu! Ritsu! Please...Please, wake up!"
Panic.
Fear and panic engulfed words that swung around the brunette's head.
This was the way she thought she would end up. Spending so much time protecting Mio – the thing she was most terrified of was watching the raven-haired girl protect her.
It made her body finally react, finally fight, finally not give in. She couldn't, she had to still protect her best friend. She willed up all the strength she had, and forced her right eye to open.
The world spun for a few moments, mixed faces and colours, and when her eye finally fixated, she smiled weakly.
"Can you keep the noise down? My head hurts..."
"Y-You...Idiot!" Mio cried, Ritsu moaned when the bassist's voice rose.
"Mioooo!" She whimpered, making sure to slowly pull herself up, she propped her back against the head board of Mio's bed and glanced down.
She wasn't in her uniform anymore, instead she was wearing a loose tank-top and some small shorts. Bruises covered her legs, a few plasters that were visibly absorbing a lot of blood were stuck on her legs by the dozen, and her left wrist was bandaged. She tried to open her eye but it stung severely, she winced.
"So what's the damage, doc?" Ritsu put on her best brave face.
"W-Well...When I called the doctor over he said your right wrist is sprained, your legs – thankfully – are just cut and bruised, no major damage. As for your face..." Mio visibly paled, "Your left eye-lid has split, and there's a pretty deep gash in your forehead, and they said you were extremely close to a broken nose. Apparently you'll heal up, it's just gonna take time."
Ritsu looked nervous all of a sudden, a horrible feeling of sickness pooling into her stomach.
"I want to talk to you about Nawakara."
Mio's arms shakily wrapped around Ritsu's shoulders. Ritsu struggled to inhale her scent through the pain that seared when she tried to breathe through her nose. Her un-damaged arm reached up to Mio's head, her fingers lacing into the silky black locks as she allowed herself to give Mio a small kiss on the cheek.
"Are you taking anyone to the prom, Ritsu?"
"Mio I don't think now is a good-"
"Will you go with me?"
Ritsu's eye widened.
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END
A/N: Sorry if there's anything that sounds sketchy and dragged on, there's a lot I didn't manage to put in this chapter because I felt it seemed extremely lengthy. I'm a day over my deadline that I set for this chapter, but believe me it's been hard. Multi-tasking between revision and making cosplay is certainly a task. And I also apologise that there is no visible Mitsu yet, please bide your time, I promise to make it worthwhile!
I might off made mistakes here and there, but I'm utterly exhausted and my head is killing me. Anyway, here's the song list, in order of the lyrics appearing.
Bang – Armchair Cynics
Te Amo – Rihanna
Stronger – Trust Company
Die Tomorrow – Coldrain (One of my favourite bands 3)
8AM – Coldrain
I'm Yours – The Script
SPECIAL: I didn't put any of the song lyrics for this in the fic, but it is relative: Face Down – Red Jumpsuit Apparatus