DISCLAIMER: I wish.
Author's Notes: I know I said that this would be up earlier, but I came down with a fever T.T sorry for the delay everyone! Much better now though, although this one is probably going to have a couple of errors since my brain's still wonky. Will stop talking now, so read on, and hope you like it!
2. RED
Red.
That was what people thought when they saw her Ken-chan.
It was the same thing that she thought about her Ken-chan too.
But it wasn't the same – when others said 'red', they meant the colour of blood. She'd heard it many, many times before, even when she was only half-listening; they said he was 'violent' and 'wild' and 'rough' and lots of other things that she hadn't quite understood, because the words were all so long and official. They all seemed to mean the same thing though; she could tell from the way they said it, and the looks on their faces.
She had even heard the scowling girl with the white braids – the one who always petted a black cat when she thought no one else was looking – call him a 'monster' once.
It was fine, though; she knew that none of them had meant what they said, because her Ken-chan was a nice person – in fact, he was the best person she knew. And besides, monsters were the funny things that hid in dark corners and liked to jump out suddenly and try to scare you.
Of course, she was never scared, because her Ken-chan was always around when the real monsters appeared. She didn't honestly think that any of those white-faced things were stronger than him, even though she knew that he always found it fun to fight them.
And then some people – like Baldy, Icchi, or even Maki-Maki – meant to say that her Ken-chan had courage, and was willing to make sacrifices in the face of danger.
She thought she knew what they meant; well, at the very least, she knew what having courage meant – it meant that her Ken-chan was brave, which he definitely was – but she didn't quite understand the second part. Of course, she had asked Baldy about it, but he had just scratched his head and mumbled something about 'fighting'. Which sounded about correct, considering that it was Ken-chan that they were talking about, but she would have liked it if he had been able to explain it better.
But that was why Baldy was called Baldy, not Brainy or anything like that.
Maybe she should ask Byakushi about it one day… wait, she was 'digressing from the topic', as he always called it – Bya-kun, of course, not Ken-chan.
Some people were smart, like Bya-kun – it made doing stuff to them all the more fun, like the last time she had gone to take Bya-kun's pretty little fishes.
Then there were those who didn't seem to have much of a brain, but had more than enough heart to make up for it.
Icchi was one of those people. She didn't think he was very smart – smart people didn't come looking for fights, now did they?
Everyone knew he had a big heart, though, and that was why those people like Shiny Glasses (who definitely didn't look stupid at all) followed him. She thought it was also why Ken-chan found fighting Icchi so fun, other than the fact that he was the only one who was powerful enough to fight him at all.
Her Ken-chan was much better, though. He had all that, and a large shoulder too.
And that wasn't a 'digression', because that was one of the many things that she liked about him. It was one of the important things that made Ken-chan her Ken-chan, and not just some idiot like Maki-Maki or Baldy.
That didn't mean she didn't like Maki-Maki and Baldy – they were actually quite nice people, really. Somehow, though, they couldn't stand being with her for too long; it made them do weird things. She sometimes thought Baldy would have tried to pull his hair if he wasn't already… well, bald.
But everyone else – Maki-Maki, Baldy or even Icchi – was different.
Yes, she knew they were 'courageous' and 'willing to make sacrifices'. Unlike lots of other people, they weren't 'a bunch of cowards' as Ken-chan would have called them. Most of them had a big heart too, even if it was for someone else, not her.
She supposed that made them 'red' too, in other people's eyes.
Her Ken-chan was a special shade of red, though.
It was the same red that she dreamt of every night as she drifted off to sleep, her Ken-chan snoring loudly beside her. The same red that she'd touched on his sword the first time they had met.
The same red she knew that she would see if someone even tried to harm her in front of Ken-chan.
And even if the sky fell down, she knew that he would always be there, a great big shoulder for her to hop on.
He was her Ken-chan, after all.
to be continued...
2nd Author's Note: Again, my first time writing for this set of characters :D by the way, red is the traditional colour for a heroic figure in Japanese culture in case you didn't know that. Interestingly enough, statistics also show that red cars are more likely to be involved in accidents - wonder why?
3rd (and last!) Author's Note: Leave a review and tell me what you think! I always love to hear from you guys. And thanks to all who have read/alerted this story - you guys made the day of the poor ill author :D thanks again!