Hello hello again. Thank you all so much for the reviews and subscriptions! ^_^ and also for your patience with my god awful grammar. On another note, I read a bit of Junjou a few days ago and realized I have been spelling Ijuuin's name wrong -.- (it's two U's not two I's)
Pah.
Oh well, while grammar is not my strong suit, I like to think I can be creative with plots so hopefully you can all fall back on that. Lol.
By the way, great Chiaki insults ;D I might have to use a couple of those. Tee hee. I will update soon!
TBF101
P.s. Hey Chiaki, Colonel Mustard called. He said get a clue.
Always
Chapter Five: Utterly Terrified
It was three weeks before the next deadline and Ijuuin Kyo and his six assistants were starting to feel the pressure. And they had thanked the god/gods many times that they'd chosen to get most of the spare backgrounds done ahead of time, as they'd used almost all of them. Still, they were making progress steadily and their sensei had had only one minor meltdown so far, so it was pretty safe to say that all was going relatively well.
Yuu's eyes traced every careful line that he drew on the background of a cityscape only stopping every so often to glance at his reference picture.
"Araki-kun," Ijuuin called from his drawing table.
Yuu's eyes briefly glanced over as Hisashi got up and took a piece of paper Ijuuin passed to him. The blonde went and sat back down, his stony eyes looking the drawing up and down and making a few light sketches. After a few minutes with the page, he got back up and gave it back to Ijuuin.
Yuu's gaze went back to his drawing, focusing on his work rather than the oddities of his fellow employees, as the mangaka and assistant had been doing this most of the day. Rather than being assigned to grunt duties, as new assistants often were, the curly-haired blonde had worked almost nonstop directly with the shounen mangaka. The other five assistants had noticed but said nothing, especially since the girls had been particularly giggly and squeey today. In order to keep his unruly hair out of his eyes while he drew, Hisashi had pinned back his curls with a couple bobby pins, which made his already doe-eyed face all the more adorable (not that he seemed to notice). So the normally jealous girls were effectively subdued and Yuu couldn't care less, so the day had gone by peacefully and uneventfully.
But Yuu found his eyes glancing up again as a knock came from the door to their workroom.
"Pardon the intrusion, sensei," A voice called. Yuu recognized him as the editor for another shounen mangaka, Kazutaka Hiromi.
"What can I do for you?" Ijuuin asked, not looking up from his table.
"I heard you have a new assistant who specializes in hands. Kazutaka-sensei is stuck on a panel and she refuses to continue until she's satisfied."
"Araki-kun," Ijuuin called. The blonde went over to the man and carefully took the paper, his eyes glancing over it several times.
"Kazutaka-sensei always has difficulties with hands. She says this panel just looks off, but neither of us can figure out why."
The tinniest of smiles flickered across Hisashi's face, and all the girls inwardly clutched at their hearts at the sheer cuteness.
"I can't see why she would think that. The thumb is on the wrong side of the hand."
The editor's eyes went wide.
"Are you sure?"
Hisashi nodded, pointing to a spot on the paper.
"See if the elbow and forearm are angled like this, the thumb would be facing away from the viewer, not towards."
Hisashi set the paper briefly down on his part of the table and started doing a quick reference sketch on another sheet.
"Also, her fingers are a little misaligned. The middle finger is always slightly longer than the forefinger and the ring finger, so that's also probably why it looked awkward. Here." Hisashi said, handing the sketch back to the editor, who looked at it admiringly. He glanced back up at Hisashi, smiling.
"Ijuuin-sensei, we might have to steal your new assistant for a couple of afternoons sometime. Kazutaka-sensei always misses her deadlines because she has such trouble with hands."
Ijuuin chuckled, still focused on his sketch.
"Huh, not on my watch. I need his help with feet. They're my Achilles heel."
The editor laughed in response, then turned back to Hisashi, bowing slightly.
"Thank you very much. This will really help her."
"Oh no," Hisashi replied, staring at the floor. "It was nothing."
"I'm afraid I don't agree with you, Araki-kun. Tell me, where did you acquire such skill with hands? Most artists find hands a challenge."
The blond swallowed, nervously pressing his lips together.
"W—Well…I…."
"Well, if you spend twelve years being personally trained in art by Rurouri Renaka, you're bound to pick up a few tips." Ijuuin commented casually.
All eyes in the room immediately darted to the blonde, who was trying very hard to become invisible but was failing miserably.
"No way!" Yuka exclaimed. "The best-selling fantasy mangaka?"
Ijuuin nodded, still drawing.
"She's a friend of mine who lives in Hokkaido. When I told her I needed a figure specialist, she recommended Araki-kun."
"I'm impressed," The editor spoke. "But it's unfortunate for my authors that you seem to have a knack for finding talented assistants Ijuuin-sensei. First Yanase-kun and now a specialist. You get all the breaks. But Kazutaka-sensei is waiting for me so must go. Thank you once again for your help."
The manga editor left and Hisashi went back to his seat, fully aware that four of the five assistants were staring at him as if he'd just sprouted neko ears and a tail. He'd barely gone back to work before they pounced.
"So do you know Rurouri-sensei personally Araki-kun?" Mitsuki asked, her eyes and face aglow at the mention of the brilliant mangaka.
When Hisashi didn't reply right away, Yuu's eyes briefly lifted again and slid over to the blonde's face, and as composed as he normally was, he was taken aback.
Hisashi's eyes were glued to the table and his teeth were pressed deeply into his lip, as if he were trying to stop them from quivering. His hands were clasped together and his eyes were wide, his entire body language reading like a blood-curdling horror story. He looked so terrible that Yuu was about to intervene in the conversation when Hisashi suddenly spoke.
"S-She was my neighbor…Sh-She t-taught me how to draw." He slowly creaked out.
Yuka titled her head, catching Araki's utterly terrified body language.
"Araki-kun? Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." The blonde quickly stammered, as if to convince himself more than the others. "I'm going to go grab a coffee."
After Hisashi had all but run out of the room, the other assistants exchanged glances.
"What's wrong with Araki-kun?" Ritsuka asked in a hushed tone. "He seemed really upset for some reason."
The three other girls shrugged, not having the foggiest.
"Well, I don't know," Yuu suddenly murmured, lifting his eyes and giving the girls a warning stare. "But leave him be for awhile. We can't afford to have personal things get in the way of our deadline."
The girl's concern briefly flickered to annoyance as Yuu talked down to them (again), but they quickly resumed their work when Ijuuin barked at them to pipe down so he could draw.
The office phone rang a couple minutes later and the mangaka picked up, muttering a few "uh-huhs" before hanging it back on the stand.
"Will one of you run up to the sales department and pick up a stats folder for me?"
"I'll do it sensei," Mitsuki replied, pushing back her chair.
"Thanks. And hurry too, I need it right away."
"Sure thing sensei!" She replied, bolting out of her seat and hurrying towards the door. But as soon as her hand turned the doorknob and flung the door opened she was surprised to see Hisashi right in front of her. She quickly let go of the handle, but the jerking motion made the door swing back towards Hisashi and bump the cold can of coffee he'd gotten from the vending machine. Liquid flew up and splashed against his hoodie, dripping into a large, brown stain in the center of his chest.
Mitsuki's hand flew to her mouth when she saw the stain.
"Oh my! Araki-kun! I'm so sorry! I—I didn't mean—"
Hisashi looked down at the stain, wrinkling his nose briefly but giving the other assistant a casual shrug.
"It's alright. No big deal."
"Are you sure?" She replied worriedly. "If you want I can take it home and get the stain out for you."
Hisashi paused, then finally answered,
"Um, if you wouldn't mind. The washer at my apartment is broken."
"No problem at all." Mitsuki reassured, grateful that she could help to fix her mistake.
"Folder…." Ijuuin muttered from his desk.
"Oh right! Araki-kun just leave it by my chair and I'll be sure to take it home and clean it!" She said in a rush, hurrying back out the door. The blonde sighed quietly as she left and set his coffee on the table before he started pulling off his hoodie (which the other girls subtly watched).
Hisashi carefully folded his sweatshirt and placed it by Mitsuki's chair before returning to his own spot, vaguely aware that he was being spied on again. As this had been the first time they'd seen the assistant without that old hoodie on, the girls couldn't help but eyeball every inch of the cute assistant's uncovered body.
The blonde wore a fitted dark blue shirt, but it looked much looser on him than probably intended. From the way he camped out in that tent of a gray sweatshirt every day, the girls had guess he was thin, but seeing him now without it, he almost looked too thin. (And their mothering instincts quickly took over and they made mental notes to start bringing and offering him homemade bento.)
Other than the shirt, the only other adornment on Hisashi's upper body was a long black chord with a plain, white rock tied to the end. With no other beads, charms, or decorations, it almost looked a little odd.
"Araki-kun," Yuka asked, her curiosity becoming too much. "Your necklace, what is it?"
The hand Hisashi was drawing with froze and they girls once again saw an uncomfortable aura creep into his face. After a couple of seconds, he plainly replied,
"It's just a rock." He said, tucking the long necklace underneath his shirt.
And once again, at the sound of the strange blonde's tone, Yuu felt his garnet eyes slide over to his fellow assistant.