=3=
Normally, a weekend in town meant rushing to Consumer Electronics where Omi would grab the latest video game and proceed to drool over some ridiculously expensive device for the next half-hour; dropping by at the supermarket and sneering at supposedly exotic mass-produced tea-blends while pretending not to notice the truly atrocious amount of sweets Omi never failed to stock upon; getting his hair fixed; wandering to the bookstore and buying more books than he could carry; insisting he could manage just fine till he was about to keel over; letting Omi take the damn bag, guide him to the nearest café and order lunch; strolling lazily around the so-called 'wilderness park' (or, as the days grew colder, the museum of questionably fine arts) arguing about whether the evening should be spent at the cinema or at the concert hall; falling asleep in the bus on the way back to the academy and not remembering getting to bed.
Today, since he had no real interest in video-games and his tea supply was still intact, Kaoru headed straight to the bookstore, where he spent fifteen minutes staring longingly at six fine leather-bound tomes of 'Economic theory' he had no hope even to lift, let alone carry all the way back to the bus stop; after three different shop-assistants wondered whether he needed their help, he reluctantly left the shop, ordered a glass of apple-and-celery fresh from a nearby café, stared down two customers who were smiling at him suggestively, and ended up leaving without touching the juice (or paying for it) when the waiter not only dared to hit on him, but also clearly mistook him for a girl.
For the next ninety minutes Kaoru roamed the town aimlessly, stopping in front of every reflective surface to stare at his darkening roots and remind himself that no, he absolutely couldn't just go back to school and leave it like this.
He had had blond hair for as long as he knew Omi. Literally. His sister had had the hair-dye for ages, determined to get herself a completely new look for her sixteenth birthday; but, as the great day drew nearer, she started wondering exactly what kind of look she was going to get; so Kaoru had volunteered to try it out. Upon seeing the result the sister had shrieked that his hair looked freaking pink and run to drag her numerous girlfriends shopping for a new wardrobe. The next day Kaoru had woken up blissfully hugging the advanced algebra textbook his sister had, as agreed, checked out from her high-school library, and, since it was relatively early, decided to go shock his teachers and antagonize his classmates with his new 'pale mushroom' hairstyle – but found them antagonizing a confused and angry American instead.
Kaoru still liked the exotic look his pinkish hair gave him, even if it didn't seem quite so exotic in BL, where those (exactly three) people who still had their natural dark hair actually stood out (but Kaoru absolutely refused to consider he could be mistaken for Iwai Takuto, whose hair might be actually grey, judging by the air of depression that seemed to be hovering around him constantly). Still, if it meant he had to endure at least four more tedious weekends like this...
At exactly 1 p.m. Kaoru fell into the familiar chair and demanded to have his original hair-colour back.