"Happy birthday!" Confetti popped in his face as family and friends alike wished for him. The horns Hirokazu and Kenta were in charge of blared loudly in the closed bakery area, now repurposed as a party room. Takato brushed the colorful pieces of paper off his head with a laugh.
Jaarin, the Lees' forteen-year-old daughter, smiled at him and helped pick some of the paper he missed. "You're officially nine now. Congrats for surviving our sister for this long."
"Hey!" Shiuchon stomped her foot, affronted.
"Now, now." Jenrya who Takato already knew from the other class chided Shiuchon, the girl sticking her tongue out at their older sister. Rinchei, the oldest brother at sixteen, kneeled down and patted Shiuchon's head as damage control.
Takato laughed and thanked them for their well wishes. What surprised him the most was how Juri herself came despite them not being that close to begin with.
"Yeah, yeah we know. Cut the cake the already, I'm hungry," Hirokazu said and exchanged his horn for a paper plate.
"Hiro, behave," Kenta hissed but not without taking a plate of his own along with a plastic fork. Still, Kenta's poorly disguised excitement was mirrored by everyone in the room. Well, everyone except Hirokazu who looked like he was going to steal Takato's knife to cut it himself.
Takato wasn't one to deny his friends' requests, so with a swift downward motion, he officiated their cake devouring session. Shiuchon took it upon herself to spoonfeed him every last bit of her own slice, so he repaid the gesture by popping the party's various treats into her waiting mouth.
"Here the train comes." He made an "aah" sound as he fed her a spoonful of pudding. On the corner of his eyes, he saw Juri sneakily doing the same to a surprised Rinchei, but it was funnier seeing her moving on to Jenrya next and and having to chase him.
That Takato's friend circles overlapped was one thing, but Juri got along so well with the Lee siblings it seemed. Otherwise he wouldn't get to see Jaarin and Rinchei teaming up to lock their embarrassed brother in place so Juri could feed him.
When it was time for presents, Takato eagerly tore every colorfully wrapped boxes to get to the treasures inside.
Hirokazu and Kenta, shockingly, got him an Omegamon action figure. The way its every limb and joint moved screamed high quality, and it was heavy and comfortable to carry too. Definitely not something he could get for cheap.
He liked it of course, but he so hoped they didn't break their piggy banks to splurge on this. He thanked them with a worried gulp, silently promising to get them a present just as good on their birthdays.
The Lee siblings were more modest. The drawing kit they gave him were something he could find in any other stationary store, but the fact they cared enough to get it in his favorite color was reason enough to appreciate it all the more. More red stuff in his room was always a good thing.
Juri, the angel she was, got him a Digimon deck that he'd actually been eyeing for awhile but hadn't saved enough yet to buy. Shiuchon gave the girl a dark look when he, in his excitement, clasped her hands to thank her for the thoughtful present.
His parents already gave him theirs the night before, so the only thing left to do was to throw them a hug.
"You've been very huggy lately." Dad chuckled when he gave them their due affectionate gesture.
He smiled in their embrace. "I just like it."
Being around Shiuchon definitely made him more drawn towards touch and kisses, mostly because she would happily accept and return them back. He couldn't imagine Hirokazu being as intimate. His friend would punch his face in if he ever tried the same.
A tap on his shoulder pulled his attention towards Shiuchon. She was holding something behind her back, and from her grin he suspected it was another "surprise" she prepared just for him. It wasn't wrapped, so he could clearly see its brown fur and round, stubby paws.
She tried– And failed– to hide her excitement, and any more she'd break her face from grinning too much.
She addressed him in a sing-songy voice. "Takato, guess what I got for you?"
"Another gift?" He tried to contain his chuckle as he said so, looking directly at said gift. Helped that he was a good deal taller than her. It was rather big, enough that it covered her whole back and then some.
She pouted at his answer. "Yes, but what is it?"
Takato humored her. "A teddy bear?"
"Correct!" Shiuchon cheered and showed him the schoolbag-sized plush. For a moment, he saw not his friend standing in front of him. Instead, a blonde woman he'd so often see on billboards stood tall over him while holding out a goose plush.
"I saw you've been eyeing this little guy for awhile. Now you can take it home. My treat," the woman said and bopped his nose with her finger.
He kept his smile and accepted the gift as the memory blurred away towards the edge of his vision.
"Thank you, Shiuchon. I love it." He pecked her on the forehead to show his appreciation. Nothing was as beautiful as her giggle in that moment.
Yet even when his arms wrapped around her and captured her warmth, his thoughts kept returning to the woman that had stolen and broken his heart. Makino Rumiko's ghost stood in silence behind him, her hand clinging to the last, single line of thread chaining them together.
Sometimes when the light turned off and his blanket was the only wall between him and the open air, a sweet voice would whisper in his ears.
"You're my most special person, I'll never leave you," the voice would say before soon fading away. But tonight it overstayed, haunting him in his sleep. "Don't you miss me?"
Takato shifted and rolled on his bed, finding no comfort in any position. Sweat pooled on his forehead against the humid summer night. Even with his blanket thrown away, the night only felt hotter on his naked skin.
A pair of hands crawled to reach for his waist. They trailed down his skin and left electric jitters wherever they touched. With not a shred of cloth on him to guard against the curious hands, his most vulnerable part easily fell into their grasp. His hands, now somehow tied to his bed railings, could only struggle to escape while the phantom of the woman did to him as she pleased.
When she was satisfied pulling at his foreskin and squishing him under her fingers, she turned her head up at him to flash him a grin. She leaned down. And then he he felt it, the feel of cold, hard teeth–
His breath picked up. "No! Please, no!"
He thrashed on his bed, struggling uselessly to stop the woman from sinking her teeth into his flabby length. The ropes pinning him down shrunk the more he tried to escape.
She licked him with her teeth on full display, ignoring his screams and cries. He didn't pull back. Couldn't pull back, much less kick her away. Not with her locking him between her maw. His legs lay useless beside her head, tense and fearful of her hungry gaze–
Takato woke up with sweat dripping down his face. His hands immediately reached between his legs, guarding the place from a ghost that was nowhere to be seen. He squeezed himself just to feel it there, safe and unhurt.
When his breath calmed down enough, he braved himself to look down. He peeled his hands open, revealing the dangling piece of his body safely protected by his foreskin. There were no teethmarks, he already knew that, but seeing it for himself allowed him to release the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
Under the little amount of light in his room, Takato used his lofted bed's railing as a guide and crawled to the ladder. Climbing it down with only one hand proved difficult, but he refused to let go of Koharu, the teddy bear Shiuchon had given him. He hugged it close as he made way for his parents' room. He ignored his closet where a certain other stuffed toy resided, its piercing eyes blocked by the door of its confinement.
The darkness of the hallway was but temporary once he found some light leaking from his parents' room. He carefully slid the door open to find them sound asleep. Gulping, he knocked softly a few times until they shifted. Dad continued to sleep, but from the nightlight, he could see mom's eyes fluttering open.
"Takato, what are you doing up?" she asked with a yawn. She blinked in confusion at his lack of clothing but made no mention of it. Instead, she sat up and smiled at him in her drowsiness "Did you have a nightmare?"
Takato nodded. He hugged Koharu around his waist, looking down nervously on the floor and traced the grooves lining it.
"C-can I... sleep with you?"
When mom didn't answer immediately, he was ready to turn around leave. Of course, what was he thinking? He was nine, old enough that his parents had no time to care about his nightmares...
Yeah, he was a big boy. He could handle his own problems. He could. He should be able to. He–
"Of course you can." In the times he argued with himself, mom had crossed over to the door and pulled him into her arms. "Don't worry about the nightmare. I'm here now, my poor baby."
Takato didn't realize how much he needed to hear those words. With tears pricking in his eyes, he laughed into her chest and glued himself there. He was soon brought to be sandwiched between his parents on their futon. Dad who he thought had been sleeping surprised him by pulling him into a rather sweaty armpit.
"Just stay there and my smelly armpit will chase your nightmares away."
"Ew, dad!" He laughed and pushed the man's shoulder away.
"Honey, don't bother him. He needs his sleep," mom chided. But dad wasn't done yet.
"What boys his age sleep on time during summer holiday? I sure didn't."
"Honey, sleep."
Takato listened to their banter with a smile. Sleeping with three people close together made the air stuffy, but he didn't mind it. As long as he had them watching over him. He hugged Koharu close and let darkness take over again. His parents' arm intertwined over him and drove away any nightmare that came his way.
Morning came with a brush of sunlight and empty futon where his parents had been. Oversleeping wasn't a common occurence in the Matsuda household even during holidays. The bakery had to keep going after all. Though it seemed his parents made an exception for him today if they even let him eat breakfast in their room.
Takato sat himself up and crawled towards the source of smell he could only recognize as tonkatsu. If he didn't brush his teeth or even put on a shred of cloth on his person before devouring his food, his parents didn't have to know. The meat had gone cold, evident from how long he'd slept. But the taste was what mattered in the end.
After carrying his squeeky clean dishes downstairs and getting scolded for walking around the house naked, he returned to his room. At once his gaze landed on his closet. His hands moved first before his mind could, already reaching for its doors to pull out what he'd buried inside. Koharu was safely snuggled on his laps as he perused the goose plush.
"Sorry I left you in there," he said and watched it staring back at him with its beady eyes. Its color was almost unrecognizable from when he first got it. Its matted fur from countless spills and food crumbs he'd made over the last year didn't lessen its ugliness any.
If it were alive, it'd peck him for using it as wiping towel. But because it wasn't, he could stroke its neck and pet the round part that made up its head. He tried pinching its beak with his nails, feeling the cotton inside it give under the force. Absentmindedly, his other hand crawled inside his thighs to do the same to his dick, just with less force. Much less.
"What are you doing?"
Takato jumped at Shiuchon's voice. He turned to see her grinning at him like she didn't just lose him a year's worth of his life. He clutched his thumping chest with a chuckle.
"Where'd you come from?" He smiled and put the goose down. He couldn't help but trail his eyes down her sleeveless shirt. Her collar was even widely open to show her collarbone protruding from under her skin. Her summerwear was fitting for the weather, though it definitely couldn't beat his birthday suit. That said...
"Sorry if you came to play our game. I'm... not sure if I want to right now." He pressed Koharu against his crotch and stared at the floor. Shiuchon didn't seem bothered and only nodded, her attention glued to the goose plush.
"What's that? It's dirty." Despite her unsavory opinion of it, she still grabbed and shoved it into her face to study it. She giggled after awhile at a joke only she was privy too. "It's like a mini-you."
Takato quickly caught her implication and blushed. Behind Koharu, he felt himself growing stiff. It wasn't like he hadn't thought of the correlation either, but still... He watched her nuzzle the goose in amusement, uncaring if the plush wasn't the cleanest of objects in his room. Her toothy grin caught his eyes, and for a moment, he thought of how sharp and scary they were... and how almost invisible and harmless they'd been when he and Shiuchon played together.
"Shiuchon," Takato found himself asking. "I need your help with something."
She nodded, happy to oblige anything he asked. "What is it?"
"Can you... bite my dick?" He asked and felt bugs creeping up his back at his word choice. But he soldered with a gulp. "Not too hard I mean. I just need you to put your teeth on it," he said lowly into Koharu's head to muffle his embarrassing request. It was a strange one and Shiuchon reacted appropriately, replacing her smile with a confused frown.
"I thought you don't like my teeth there."
"I don't..." he looked down and pushed Koharu deeper into his crotch, feeling ever-uncomfortable at every mention of the gnashing machine his friend was equipped with. "But I don't want to keep being afraid of them every time we play."
Shiuchon bit her lips and looked at him guiltily. "You're not afraid of me, right? Cause I bit you once..." she said as her eyes trailed to his neck where a fading bruise mark should be. Takato was glad to say he didn't hesitate at all when he answered.
"Of course not," he said with an assuring smile. "You can bite me anywhere else you want. It's just..." he tried to enunciate his thought with vague hand motions.
"Someone scared me once," he decided to say and reveal the story he'd never told anyone. "She didn't hurt me, but I really thought she would. The scare kinda stayed with me after that. Sometimes I dream about her even when I don't want to. Like last night..."
Shiuchon listened to his story in rapt attention, a rare pensive expression on her face. She wanted explanation for his secret, but she didn't push when he shrunk under her stare.
"I'll help you," she finally said after figuring out she wouldn't be able to get more out of him. She crossed her arms and looked at him straight. "But after this, you have to tell me more about this person that hurt you."
"She didn't hurt me..." he tried to correct her.
"Tell me everything or I won't help," she said, final.
"...alright. I'll tell you. But no one else can know, okay?" He relented and let his eyes wander to the duck plush now lying on its side on the floor.
Shiuchon nodded.
Shiuchon's mop of hair hovered over his crotch. From over Koharu's head, Takato peeked down and watched her slow downward movement onto him. He knew what was about to happen, yet he still flinched when her hard teeth made contact with his skin. Hidden behind the teddy bear's body, the ghost of the woman again took her place and grinned up at him like he was a meal to be devoured on. He hugged Koharu close to his chest, letting its fluffy fur soothe his fear.
"You okay?" Shiuchon's concerned voice drove the ghost away. Even with Koharu in the way, he could see the caring eyes Shiuchon stared at him with. "I'm not hurting you, am I?" She asked with spit splattering out of her gaping lips.
He shook his head but stopped when he realized she couldn't see him. So he reached down and patted her hand. The woman's image faded from his mind.
"I-I'm okay." He took a big gulp of air to ignore the uncomfortable coldness on his delicate part. "Just stay like that. I'll be alright."
"Alright." He could feel the ever so slight movement of her head when she stopped herself from nodding. While her shoulders tensed as she tried to maintain her position, Takato's own body began to relax when he got used to the foreign feeling. The teeth themselves weren't sharp, but the little amount of pressure they put on him slowly increased with his growing erection. She opened her mouth some more in response.
Her muffled voice gave him a much needed laugh. "It's hard to talk like this, you know."
"Then don't talk, you silly." He bumped his leg into her shoulder for her tongue-in-cheek, unable to keep the smile off his face. She only giggled back, her warm breath blowing onto him.
The serious air that was suffocating the room gradually faded away. Takato felt brave enough to remove Koharu from his chest and watch Shiuchon and only her smiling up at him. Rumiko's ghost was nowhere to be seen.
He caressed her hair, feeling it cascade through his fingers. "Can you nibble on it?"
She nodded eagerly before belatedly realizing she had done so. He almost laughed at her widened eyes, but his cheery expression seemed to have assured her that she didn't hurt him in any way.
With said information in mind, she began to make a soft chewing motion that sent good jolts to his spine with every press. Her tongue joined her teeth to make sure he couldn't stay still as long as she had him in her mouth.
"Hey, stop that." He laughed, watching her munching him like a piece of cookie. She even made eating sounds for extra added effect. He laughed harder.
Takato snuggled into Shiuchon's chest, smiling. Unlike his mom who'd smother him in her breasts, his friend lacking them allowed him to press his ear to listen to her body's music directly. Her heartbeat followed a steady rhythm, one he found himself following with his own breathing.
"You're warm," he breathed out.
"Of course I'm warm. You're wearing nothing."
"It's summer. It's hot if I wear clothes," he said with not a shred of embarrassment, grinning like being naked was something to be proud of. He'd always been the more mature one so he figured he could be childish for a bit. Plus, it had been like this that night too, his skin laid bare to the world while the the woman admired it. His grin shrunk and he found himself snuggling deeper into her embrace.
"Her name's Rumiko," he said and shut his eyes, not wanting to see the woman's satisfaction at making him able to mention her name again. "I... liked her. And I like to think she liked me too."
There was a lot of things he wanted to say. But after having kept them to himself for so long, they were all stuck on the way up his throat, blocking his airways and making him breathe through his mouth. Shiuchon didn't interrupt him when he paused too long in his inner-monologue. Instead, her tiny hands began dancing across his hair, tugging at his locks and twirling them between her fingers. He focused on the way her hands felt on his scalp, letting them comfort him and untie his tongue.
"She was nice to me, always made me feel special. I thought she was an angel. We did a lot of fun things. And then she left." He sighed, releasing himself from her embrace and rolling to his back.
The carpeted floor burned his skin, but he couldn't be bothered to change his position since the inflamed sensation faded away almost instantly anyway. The ceiling seemed to be just over his hand's reach if he lifted it up. He grasped it expecting air, but what he felt instead was his friend's hand.
Shiuchon pulled him up and climbed onto his laps, her arms wrapping around his neck. It was a strange feeling having fabric not of his own clothes touching him. Noticing her frown, he smiled and nuzzled his nose with hers.
"Don't worry. You're the only girl I like. I don't care about her anymore."
She nodded, but the frown never left her face. "You said she liked you, so why did she leave?"
He fixed her arms on his shoulders and thought how to answer it. He'd been asking the same question himself and always came to the same disappointing conclusion.
"Cause she was afraid." He frowned, looking down to where his belly and Shiuchon's crotch met, separated only by her shorts. He turned back to her, inexplicable shame building up inside him. "The game we're playing, you know it's dirty, right?"
She bit her lip, the same shame manifesting on her face. Her eyes trailed away from him, as if fearing admitting it would made him judge her. "It's always felt like it. I don't know why."
He pecked her cheek and smiled in reassurance when he got her attention back on him.
"I know we're not supposed to play this game, but I don't want to stop." He cupped her face and leaned down until their forehead touched. "Rumiko-san left because she was afraid people would find out. I'm afraid too, but I don't want to leave you."
Shiuchon mirrored his smile, grasping his hand and squeezing it. "I don't want you to leave either."
Takato looked into her eyes, an unusually serious attitude taking over him. "We have to be careful. Our parents can't find out."
She nodded. "I always lock the door."
"We have to clean up our mess."
"I can keep quiet when we play."
"No deep kissing when there are people around."
They listed their new ground rules. Come lunch time, they had enough plans to escape suspicions and make sure their secret little games stay secret. Their discussion was cut short by a growl originating from Shiuchon's stomach.
She blushed and put on an embarrassed smile. "Lunch is ready, right?"
"Should be." Takato didn't tease her and instead pulled them both up to their feet. Takato scoured through his closet and put on his clothes after hours leaving his butt exposed for the world to see. He offered her a hand. "Come on."
On the way down, Takato thought to himself in wonder.
"Shiuchon, if I were a flower, what flower do you think I could be?" he asked, curious. Image of falling sakura petals emerged in his mind. "Like, do you think I look like I could be sakura?"
"Huh, flower? Why?" she blinked, her shoulder sliding against the wall in her descent. She humored him regardless. "Hm, I don't think you're sakura."
"Why not?"
"Because sakura is cold pretty. But you're warm pretty, like... Sunflower! Yeah, you're like sunflower." She nodded her head sagely at her supposed well thought answer. "Sakura is pretty to look at when it's in the air but it's not fun to pick them up after they fall. But sunflower is always warm and pretty.
"Like you." She looked up at him with a teasing grin.
Takato blushed. Being compared to sunflower was a first. He was a summer child, so it was fitting he supposed.
"Hm, I wonder what flower I am," Shiuchon said to herself. Takato knew the answer immediately but he was curious how she'd see herself. In the end her eyebrows creased in frustration and she just sagged her shoulder with a huff. "You're a meanie, Takato, making me think during summer. Thinking is for school."
He laughed. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry for making your brain work on holidays."
He watched her impulsively let go of his hand and hop down the last few stairs.
"Hup!"
Had she not landed on one foot, she might not have almost tumbled. It was an amusing sight watching her extend her arms and trying to keep her balance. She turned to him and flashed her teeth when she emerged victorious against gravity. He only shook his head at her antics.
"Violets," he finally said. At her confusion, he stepped down the last stair and ruffled her her hair, feeling it flow between the web of his fingers. "That's what you are. You're like a violet that blooms even during summer. You're amazing like that."
And just like the everblooming flower he envisioned in his mind, her smile bloomed in the imaginary meadow that made the house's hallway.
"Come on, I'm getting hungry from all this talking." Like picking a flower, he bent to her height and lifted her into his arms. "Next destination, the kitchen!"
She cheered. "Yay! You talk too much."
He laughed and carried her to where his parents were waiting. As usual, they saw nothing amiss with his and Shiuchon's closeness.
He'd make sure it stay that way.
My creativity when it comes to writing human emotions is horrifyingly poor. I keep reusing "smile, laugh, giggle, etc" and recycle between those like I don't have better ways to describe them
(;;;・_・)
Anywho, Takato has finally gotten over Rumiko huzzah. No more angst... on his side of the story at least. Rumiko is another matter entirely.
Koharu, the name Takato gave the teddy bear, is Shiuchon's name when read in Japanese: 小春 [koharu]
Next chapter will feature the return of Rumiko along with Ruki and Ryo. Look forward to that.
