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Air Gear

a fiction by Crimson Vixen

Prologue – The Size of Your Wings

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"Running was something I could never beat you at."

For someone who had so much trouble shifting the spotlight to someone else, every time he said those words, they were filled with an awful lot of pride. And Ikki was saying it more and more lately, it seemed. More than one would think, because Kazu's lack of faith in himself irked the crow that much.

How 'Stealth' the jet could think so little of himself, Ikki just couldn't comprehend it. The blond seemed to have this lust to be seen, noticed, loved, even... yet when all eyes finally fell upon him, he would shy away like he was having second thoughts.

That was why Ikki always felt the need to push him like he did. Because without his occasional reassurances, Kazu would surely plummet into something along the lines of deep self-loathing, because that's just the way he was. He needed to feel useful, and AT's were the only way he knew how.

It was hot, and the sun was beating down on them, yet both boys wore their jackets proudly. Quickly Ikki wiped at his brow and pointed to the school track. It looked almost daunting as the sun cast its heated glare onto the surface.

"Ten more laps! Go!" he called with a giant grin. Kazu's jaw dropped, brows knitting into a firm line.

"Ten more!?"

It wasn't as though it was any trouble for the boy, just that it was so hot outside. The blond gave a short growl and a well practiced glare before taking off with admirable speed, leaving Ikki in a short after-gust. Once his jacket stopped fluttering, he let himself smile.

Because Ikki knew. Kazu would gape and mutter about the crow's training methods and orders, but the reality of it was... he couldn't get enough of it. In fact, Kazu was thrilled by it. He loved the intense work out, the feel that he was getting faster, stronger, better by the day. Ikki's training near intoxicated him.

So as he ran around the track, he was able to relax. Like running the way he did was just second nature, as natural as breathing, and there was no thinking involved. Just the wind against his face and roaring across his ears like an endless roll of thunder.

Ikki crossed his arms as he waited. How in the world could Kazu not be conscious of his own potential? Accelerating and running at a speed so fast it was invisible to the naked eye... It was such an envious and amazing skill; how could Kazu not see it?

Ha, what an idiot.

It didn't take long for Kazu to complete his laps, as expected, giving Ikki a short look and unsuccessfully hiding a smirk that was trying to push its way past his slightly panting lips. Frankly, he just loved getting all sweated up and being pushed to his limits, and both of them knew that underneath all of his complaints, he was grateful.

But regardless, it didn't take very long for Kazu's lips to mold into a frown.

"What?"

But he didn't even need to open his mouth. He could see it clearly in those clouded blue eyes.

They'll never match.

At first, the crows brows furrowed. No doubt, Kazu was thinking about his wings again, comparing them with Ikki's own. This always boiled water over the side with the leader, ruffled him, annoyed him, because after all of this, Kazu was still trying to desperately reach Ikki's altitude, and failing to realize that himself Kazu reached his own height on another path. One that no one, not even Ikki himself, could come close to reaching. Why couldn't he see that? It was always about reaching his level...

But Ikki was ready this time. He'd priorly give it all some thought, because this was a rather fragile subject that came up from time to time. There once was a time where Kazu had found solid ground. Where he had come to the notion that he would find his own way and follow it to the end. But somehow, somewhere, over time, he'd fallen, that realization lost.

"The size of your wings don't matter," Ikki said evenly, grabbing Kazu's eyes with his own powerful gaze. "Or how fast you flap your wings, or how far they spread."

Closing his eyes, feeling both stupid and wise, Ikki lightly pounded his chest with his fist, right over his heart. Kazu watched his friend as intently as he always had, as though he was burning everything Ikki said and did into his mind.

"What matters most is whats in here," he finished off, not wanting to go on and risk having Kazu think he was trying to glorify himself. He wanted to continue saying how it wasn't all about trying to be the better man, but AT in general did center around a lot of competition. It was true there was a great deal of that, but still, there was something more to being a Storm Rider than beating the other guy. Something wild and alive, rebellious, burning and... free.

The moment felt heavy, and for a minute, neither boy attempted to speak. That was when Ikki decided to break the tension.

"Besides!" he spouted, letting a giant grin escape and patting Kazu on the back. "Do you have any idea how awesome that was!?"

Do you have any idea how fast your wings take you?

That caused the jet to blush and he couldn't stop his lips from spreading into Ikki's annoyingly contagious smile, and he even let out a small laugh, even though the crow thought he heard him mumble some doubt underneath his breath.

...which Ikki didn't understand. People were jealous of Kazuma. They longed to be able to run that fast. His alias was 'Stealth', a well earned title that he could easily hold onto. And this much was obvious, it had to be, even to Kazu, right? So then why...?

Why did he belittle himself so much? Just what was it about himself that he hated so much, that there was something he needed to gain? What did he feel the need to prove?

Kazu was like a dragonfly, or a hummingbird, Ikki often mused. A tug at peoples wandering eyes, like he wanted the recognition. But once he captured that gaze he grew into a shy and timid creature that was near impossible to touch. His wings moved so fast it was like they weren't even there, and it was with a natural grace, like he was born to fly like lightning, and that's what was so memorizing about it. Yeah, just like a dragonfly. Just like a humming bird.

There were times Ikki thought himself to be jealous, but over the past year or so, he was quickly able to sort out his feelings, ever since he'd taken up AT, and he'd soon realized that it was more like a swelling pride. That when contained within your own team, there was little to no need to be better than your comrades. Just teamwork and varied skills that when combined properly...

The crow blinked out of his stupor. There he went again, daydreaming about AT... He was ripped out of this thought process by the look on Kazu's face. Lips firmly pressed into a small frown, hat lowered to his lids, just enough to shadow his eyes in the way he did when he was either fighting with his inner demons or when he didn't want anyone to read his face.

But it was always easy to read him when he did that. Anger. Frustration. Disappointment. At himself.

It was exactly the thing Ikki was trying to cure.

His friend's body noticeably tensed under his hand, and Ikki hesitantly slide it off.

"Kazu," he said, authority in his tone. But the blond shrugged him off and quickly shook his head before bolting, knowing full well that Ikki wouldn't - couldn't - chase him. And he was right. Ikki knew full well that although he could reach the moon and break the sky, he could never catch up to the jet. Kazuma.

Teeth grinding, the boy turned heel and slowly wheeled himself into the opposite direction, hands in his pockets and grumbles on his tongue. Sometimes he wished he could get into that thick skull and see what Kazu was thinking half the time. Maybe then it would be a little bit easier to make him see clearly.

It was about then that something caught his eye. Something small, something quick. He stopped and turned to a bush littered with different colored flowers, nose twitching at the lovely scent and eyes searching for whatever it was that he..

There it was!

It was just a dragonfly, green and black in a flawless design, wings not even visible at it hovered in one spot. How ironic, he laughed to himself, to see such a thing after making such a comparison only a few minutes ago.

Ikki smiled as he reached out a hand to touch it, or at least see how close he could get to it. He'd always had a soft spot for these things. But he felt like the wrong end of a magnet, for every time he got a certain distance away from it, the skittish creature would flicked further away, afraid of letting him get too close. It kept an even distance between them, yet never ran away.

Stubborn as he was, the boy kept trying, slowly, to creep his hand to the dragonfly, which now flitted in a nervous manner. In one swift motion Ikki shot his hand out to try to capture it, but only scared it further away, leaving his hand empty.

And when he saw it again, his heart sank. He had frightened it, right to the bush, right into a giant, well crafted spiderweb. It was stilled there for a moment, it's graceful wings now forced to stand still, silky and shimmery in their appearance, one wing folded over on itself. Ikki wasn't sure why he gulped, or why such a tiny thing was so heartbreaking to see, and why he couldn't swallow the guilt he felt... so he reached out once again, not sure what he was planning to do but just like before, when he got close enough the creature started to writhe and struggle, only entangling itself further in the sticky trap.

Ikki's hand recoiled when the spider seemingly came from nowhere, sprinting to it's latest victim and wasting no time in doing it's business. He couldn't take his eyes away from it, in some childish curiosity he wanted to shake but couldn't. Like people slowing down to see the damage of a car crash and counting the casualties before resuming their drive home. He thought about this, eyes glued, even as his hand patted around on the grass around him for a stick. When he found one he poked at the spider, trying to scare him off, or break the web, or something, but it continued to tend to it's target as if he weren't even there and Ikki jumped when he heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"Ikki! Ikki!"

The crow turned his head abruptly, seeing Onigiri in the distance waving his arms wildly over his head in attempt to capture his attention. His neck almost cracked he had turned it so fast...

"Ikki!"

Dreadful and thankful for his friends distraction, Ikki awkwardly stumbled to his feet, giving one last pathetic glance at the bushes and the tragedy it held before skating off. It was such a little, insignificant thing, he kept telling himself. But for some reason, he just couldn't forget it. He just couldn't get that tightening knot out of his chest and the churning out of his stomach and for the life of him, couldn't figure out why... It almost felt like he was abandoning it, in a cruel action that some would classify as betrayal.

TBC