more HikaGo fic
Aug. 2nd, 2005 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76 "Hikaru, do you want some takoyaki?" Akari asked him as they passed the stand. It smelled good.
"Maybe later," Hikaru answered. "Do you want some?" He felt for his wallet.
"Hikaru, this isn't like you!" she accused, stopping in front of him, hands on her hips. "You haven't had a thing to eat at the festival!"
Hikaru shrugged. "Just not hungry, Akari." Which wasn't true, entirely. "I'm not going to starve to death if I don't get something to eat here."
Her eyes softened a little. "I'm worried about you. Your mother told me you haven't been eating at home recently."
Hikaru rolled his eyes, thinking /Great, they're starting to notice./ "Akari, do I look like I've lost any weight? My schedule's just picked up recently. I've been eating when I can fit it in." He smiled. "So, did you want me to buy you some takoyaki?"
"I can pay for myself," she replied and went over to the booth. He followed and snatched her bag from her hand, holding it out of her reach.
"My treat, Akari," he insisted. "Thanks for worrying about me."
*
Yoshitaka obediently won a water balloon for Shigeko. Her eyes lit up in delight and she bounced it up and down from its string.
Pfeh. Girls and their toys. He sternly ignored the fact that he'd been just as delighted by them until he turned ten and discovered Go.
Yoshitaka raised his eyes to see Touya leaning against one of the booth's support poles, a red matsuri fan held casually in one hand, bright against his dark blue yukata. He watched Shigeko, a half-smile on his face, then his attention was wrenched briefly away by a familiar laugh from further down the aisle.
/Oh crap. If Touya ends up being stuck on Shigeko, Morishita-sensei *will* kill me!/ Yoshitaka panicked momentarily before realizing that Touya hadn't looked back at her since being distracted by Shindou. He stood, vaguely relieved, with an even vaguer background thought that it was bad enough having to compete with Saeki, whom he liked, for Shigeko's time. Adding Touya to the mix would make life downright impossible.
"Shigeko-chan! Come look! You have to see this. They're so cute!" Nase appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Shigeko, dragging her away to a booth selling dolls.
Touya raised his fan briefly to his mouth, then lowered it. "You know," he said quietly, "Fujisaki-san is right."
"Huh?" Yoshitaka didn't follow.
Touya glanced at him in irritation. "You weren't listening when she was trying to get Shindou to eat."
"We're not *all* obsessed with Shindou the way you are," Yoshitaka sniped back.
"A fact which I will never understand," Touya replied sagely. Yoshitaka wanted to hit him. "In any case, she's right. He hasn't 'eaten' in about a week."
Realization slowly dawned on Yoshitaka. "You can't be serious. Not in this crowd!"
Touya's eyes were cool and he shrugged. "There are other, more secluded, areas to this shrine."
Yoshitaka's mouth tightened into a line. "I'm not letting Isumi-san go first," he said. "It's not that I don't trust Shindou, but...."
"The fear of the unknown," said Touya. He glanced sideways at Yoshitaka, blue-green eyes looking through girlishly long, dark lashes. A half-smile hovered on his lips again.
"*What*?!" Yoshitaka demanded, wanting to know just about him Touya Akira found amusing.
Irritatingly, Touya just walked away, still smiling, over to the booth where Nase was exclaiming over miniatures.
*
Akira liked being able to get under Waya's skin. It was gratifying revenge for all the snarky grumblings the other player made about him. Oh, sometimes he found things about the other player tolerable--he set out decent moves on the Go board, and his devotion to his friends was admirable--but for the most part Yoshitaka Waya reminded Akira of too many of the people he'd had to deal with in school.
In school, being different wasn't a good thing.
He supposed he should be above this pettiness, but he, like Waya, was only human. And it was only human to become irritated at the things that hurt you. And it did hurt sometimes, Waya's words and the words of others like them. Thoughts made reality, and sometimes those thoughts made Akira bleed. He couldn't /help/ it that he'd been taught to play Go since he was old enough to hold a stone. He couldn't /help/ it that his father had been the Meijin. When had it become his fault, the love for the game and the fact that he was good at it? When had excellence become a flaw?
Only Shindou had never looked at him that way, in envy or in hate.
Well, perhaps in hate, but not hatred of his skills. Hatred of the fact that Akira refused to wait for him, forced him to run ever-faster to catch up....
Akira found himself smiling more genuinely. Fujisaki had joined the other two girls at the doll booth, cooing delightedly.
"Girls," Shindou opined.
"If they sold PS2 games, you'd be having the exact same reaction," Akira replied.
Shindou swatted at him.
*
When the boys disappeared, Akari didn't notice at first. She and Nase-san and Shigeko-chan were busy looking at a booth that sold cute hair ribbons and clips. Eventually, though, she noticed that her escort was gone and straightened to see if she could spot him. He wasn't to be seen, though, and slowly she realized that Touya and Waya and Isumi were also gone. There was no way they'd been ditched--Hikaru might have done that once upon a time, but not these days, and the other three definitely wouldn't.
"I'm going to find out where the boys went," Akari told Nase. "I'll be back in a bit."
Nase nodded and picked out a new pair of sparkly clips for Shigeko to try on.
Akari wandered the aisles of the festival for a bit. Maybe Hikaru had finally gotten hungry and gone to get some takoyaki after all? But he wasn't at that booth, or anywhere else at all. Not even the Go booth was graced by the presence of the four young pros.
Slowly, she wandered away from the festival itself and deeper into the grounds of the temple. The noise faded to a muted background level as she climbed steps. She took a deep breath, loving the taste of summer plants and the lazy dust floating in the warm air.
She came to an area where tall pines shadowed the ground, needles breaking the light, dappling everything. It was so quiet here.
Hikaru stood with his friends in a clear area. Smiling, Akari started toward them, then stopped.
Something was wrong. Slowly the scene unfolded itself for her. Touya stood watching, the fingers of his left hand brushing the right side of his neck as he leaned casually against a tree trunk. Beyond him, closer to the other two, Isumi stood watching too. His body was much less relaxed than Touya's. In front of him was Waya, eyes closed, neck bared. And behind Waya, head bent over Waya's neck, Hikaru....
Hikaru....
Akari shoved a fist in her mouth to keep from making a sound, and watched with horrified eyes.
Hikaru was /drinking/ his friend's blood.
Her knees trembled and she didn't know whether to collapse or to run.
In the end, running won out. She whirled and fled.
*
Akira stood watching the other three. /He/ knew, if Isumi and Waya didn't, that there was no real need to worry about Shindou taking too much. No, he was here solely as moral support, because despite his brave words, Waya had needed it.
He wondered if it felt the same for Waya as it did for him. That blinding pleasure....
There was a soft sound from behind him, and Akira turned to see a brown-haired girl in a familiar kimono fleeing.
His eyes widened with realization. She'd seen!
He couldn't let her leave. Not like this, thinking that about Shindou--
Before he knew what he was doing, Akira was running after her. And he knew this temple, didn't trip going down the steps like she did, knew the shortcuts to take. He caught up to her in short order. "Fujisaki-san!" he said, catching her by the arm.
Her eyes were wide and wet and frightened.
"Please," Akira said, panting a little, "sit. I can explain to you...."
"You're not like him, are you?" she asked. Demanded. Pleaded.
"No." Akira shook his head. "No, I'm not. But I'm his friend, and I know the whole story."
"He's a monster! Hikaru is--"
"Shindou is /not/ a monster!" Akira cut her off. He calmed himself, though. "Please, Fujisaki-san... just hear me out before you start calling him those things." He looked into her eyes. "He's your friend."
He must have convinced her, because she nodded and sat down on a post behind her, hands folding into her lap. She looked down and away. "He was--Hikaru was--drinking Waya-san's blood. Wasn't he?" She looked up again, challenge in her eyes.
"Yes." Akira saw no reason to lie to her. She'd seen what she had seen, and there was no way to undo that. "He is a vampire, yes. He can't eat normal food now. But what Waya-san was doing was completely voluntary. I swear to it."
"Why?" she asked.
Touya sighed and sat down beside her. "Remember when he was sick last month?"
*
Things were mostly all right with Waya, Hikaru decided. Well, at least their friendship wouldn't end over this. Whether or not Waya would volunteer again to let him drink his blood... that was another thing. But at least Isumi seemed a good deal calmer about the whole matter now.
They were about half the way back to the festival when they came upon Touya and Akari sitting together, talking.
"Akari?" Hikaru asked. "Did you come looking for us?"
She stood, and so did Touya. Hikaru's eyes flicked from one to the other.
"She saw, Shindou," Touya said.
It felt like being kicked in the stomach, those three words.
"Aw, crap," Waya muttered from his right, but to Hikaru it might as well have been a thousand miles away.
Akari... had seen....
She looked up into his eyes. Into his soul, in some ways.
And then she smiled. It was nervous, but it was a real smile. "Hikaru... you should have told me."
"I...."
"How long have we known each other?"
"Seventeen years."
Akari nodded. "Next time something like this happens, I expect you to tell me at once." And then she turned and flounced back to the festival, leaving Hikaru staring in her wake. His gaze slowly wandered to Touya, who looked bemusedly after her.
"Why do I have the feeling," Isumi asked, "that you just worked a minor miracle, Touya-san?"
Touya just smiled softly. "You know, Shindou," he said, "I'm beginning to wonder if you really /deserve/ that girl."
What?!
Hikaru glared at Touya for the mere implication that he might try to steal Akari away, and ran after her. "Akari, wait up!"
Behind him, his three friends looked amusedly at one another and after him.
"Maybe later," Hikaru answered. "Do you want some?" He felt for his wallet.
"Hikaru, this isn't like you!" she accused, stopping in front of him, hands on her hips. "You haven't had a thing to eat at the festival!"
Hikaru shrugged. "Just not hungry, Akari." Which wasn't true, entirely. "I'm not going to starve to death if I don't get something to eat here."
Her eyes softened a little. "I'm worried about you. Your mother told me you haven't been eating at home recently."
Hikaru rolled his eyes, thinking /Great, they're starting to notice./ "Akari, do I look like I've lost any weight? My schedule's just picked up recently. I've been eating when I can fit it in." He smiled. "So, did you want me to buy you some takoyaki?"
"I can pay for myself," she replied and went over to the booth. He followed and snatched her bag from her hand, holding it out of her reach.
"My treat, Akari," he insisted. "Thanks for worrying about me."
Yoshitaka obediently won a water balloon for Shigeko. Her eyes lit up in delight and she bounced it up and down from its string.
Pfeh. Girls and their toys. He sternly ignored the fact that he'd been just as delighted by them until he turned ten and discovered Go.
Yoshitaka raised his eyes to see Touya leaning against one of the booth's support poles, a red matsuri fan held casually in one hand, bright against his dark blue yukata. He watched Shigeko, a half-smile on his face, then his attention was wrenched briefly away by a familiar laugh from further down the aisle.
/Oh crap. If Touya ends up being stuck on Shigeko, Morishita-sensei *will* kill me!/ Yoshitaka panicked momentarily before realizing that Touya hadn't looked back at her since being distracted by Shindou. He stood, vaguely relieved, with an even vaguer background thought that it was bad enough having to compete with Saeki, whom he liked, for Shigeko's time. Adding Touya to the mix would make life downright impossible.
"Shigeko-chan! Come look! You have to see this. They're so cute!" Nase appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Shigeko, dragging her away to a booth selling dolls.
Touya raised his fan briefly to his mouth, then lowered it. "You know," he said quietly, "Fujisaki-san is right."
"Huh?" Yoshitaka didn't follow.
Touya glanced at him in irritation. "You weren't listening when she was trying to get Shindou to eat."
"We're not *all* obsessed with Shindou the way you are," Yoshitaka sniped back.
"A fact which I will never understand," Touya replied sagely. Yoshitaka wanted to hit him. "In any case, she's right. He hasn't 'eaten' in about a week."
Realization slowly dawned on Yoshitaka. "You can't be serious. Not in this crowd!"
Touya's eyes were cool and he shrugged. "There are other, more secluded, areas to this shrine."
Yoshitaka's mouth tightened into a line. "I'm not letting Isumi-san go first," he said. "It's not that I don't trust Shindou, but...."
"The fear of the unknown," said Touya. He glanced sideways at Yoshitaka, blue-green eyes looking through girlishly long, dark lashes. A half-smile hovered on his lips again.
"*What*?!" Yoshitaka demanded, wanting to know just about him Touya Akira found amusing.
Irritatingly, Touya just walked away, still smiling, over to the booth where Nase was exclaiming over miniatures.
Akira liked being able to get under Waya's skin. It was gratifying revenge for all the snarky grumblings the other player made about him. Oh, sometimes he found things about the other player tolerable--he set out decent moves on the Go board, and his devotion to his friends was admirable--but for the most part Yoshitaka Waya reminded Akira of too many of the people he'd had to deal with in school.
In school, being different wasn't a good thing.
He supposed he should be above this pettiness, but he, like Waya, was only human. And it was only human to become irritated at the things that hurt you. And it did hurt sometimes, Waya's words and the words of others like them. Thoughts made reality, and sometimes those thoughts made Akira bleed. He couldn't /help/ it that he'd been taught to play Go since he was old enough to hold a stone. He couldn't /help/ it that his father had been the Meijin. When had it become his fault, the love for the game and the fact that he was good at it? When had excellence become a flaw?
Only Shindou had never looked at him that way, in envy or in hate.
Well, perhaps in hate, but not hatred of his skills. Hatred of the fact that Akira refused to wait for him, forced him to run ever-faster to catch up....
Akira found himself smiling more genuinely. Fujisaki had joined the other two girls at the doll booth, cooing delightedly.
"Girls," Shindou opined.
"If they sold PS2 games, you'd be having the exact same reaction," Akira replied.
Shindou swatted at him.
When the boys disappeared, Akari didn't notice at first. She and Nase-san and Shigeko-chan were busy looking at a booth that sold cute hair ribbons and clips. Eventually, though, she noticed that her escort was gone and straightened to see if she could spot him. He wasn't to be seen, though, and slowly she realized that Touya and Waya and Isumi were also gone. There was no way they'd been ditched--Hikaru might have done that once upon a time, but not these days, and the other three definitely wouldn't.
"I'm going to find out where the boys went," Akari told Nase. "I'll be back in a bit."
Nase nodded and picked out a new pair of sparkly clips for Shigeko to try on.
Akari wandered the aisles of the festival for a bit. Maybe Hikaru had finally gotten hungry and gone to get some takoyaki after all? But he wasn't at that booth, or anywhere else at all. Not even the Go booth was graced by the presence of the four young pros.
Slowly, she wandered away from the festival itself and deeper into the grounds of the temple. The noise faded to a muted background level as she climbed steps. She took a deep breath, loving the taste of summer plants and the lazy dust floating in the warm air.
She came to an area where tall pines shadowed the ground, needles breaking the light, dappling everything. It was so quiet here.
Hikaru stood with his friends in a clear area. Smiling, Akari started toward them, then stopped.
Something was wrong. Slowly the scene unfolded itself for her. Touya stood watching, the fingers of his left hand brushing the right side of his neck as he leaned casually against a tree trunk. Beyond him, closer to the other two, Isumi stood watching too. His body was much less relaxed than Touya's. In front of him was Waya, eyes closed, neck bared. And behind Waya, head bent over Waya's neck, Hikaru....
Hikaru....
Akari shoved a fist in her mouth to keep from making a sound, and watched with horrified eyes.
Hikaru was /drinking/ his friend's blood.
Her knees trembled and she didn't know whether to collapse or to run.
In the end, running won out. She whirled and fled.
Akira stood watching the other three. /He/ knew, if Isumi and Waya didn't, that there was no real need to worry about Shindou taking too much. No, he was here solely as moral support, because despite his brave words, Waya had needed it.
He wondered if it felt the same for Waya as it did for him. That blinding pleasure....
There was a soft sound from behind him, and Akira turned to see a brown-haired girl in a familiar kimono fleeing.
His eyes widened with realization. She'd seen!
He couldn't let her leave. Not like this, thinking that about Shindou--
Before he knew what he was doing, Akira was running after her. And he knew this temple, didn't trip going down the steps like she did, knew the shortcuts to take. He caught up to her in short order. "Fujisaki-san!" he said, catching her by the arm.
Her eyes were wide and wet and frightened.
"Please," Akira said, panting a little, "sit. I can explain to you...."
"You're not like him, are you?" she asked. Demanded. Pleaded.
"No." Akira shook his head. "No, I'm not. But I'm his friend, and I know the whole story."
"He's a monster! Hikaru is--"
"Shindou is /not/ a monster!" Akira cut her off. He calmed himself, though. "Please, Fujisaki-san... just hear me out before you start calling him those things." He looked into her eyes. "He's your friend."
He must have convinced her, because she nodded and sat down on a post behind her, hands folding into her lap. She looked down and away. "He was--Hikaru was--drinking Waya-san's blood. Wasn't he?" She looked up again, challenge in her eyes.
"Yes." Akira saw no reason to lie to her. She'd seen what she had seen, and there was no way to undo that. "He is a vampire, yes. He can't eat normal food now. But what Waya-san was doing was completely voluntary. I swear to it."
"Why?" she asked.
Touya sighed and sat down beside her. "Remember when he was sick last month?"
Things were mostly all right with Waya, Hikaru decided. Well, at least their friendship wouldn't end over this. Whether or not Waya would volunteer again to let him drink his blood... that was another thing. But at least Isumi seemed a good deal calmer about the whole matter now.
They were about half the way back to the festival when they came upon Touya and Akari sitting together, talking.
"Akari?" Hikaru asked. "Did you come looking for us?"
She stood, and so did Touya. Hikaru's eyes flicked from one to the other.
"She saw, Shindou," Touya said.
It felt like being kicked in the stomach, those three words.
"Aw, crap," Waya muttered from his right, but to Hikaru it might as well have been a thousand miles away.
Akari... had seen....
She looked up into his eyes. Into his soul, in some ways.
And then she smiled. It was nervous, but it was a real smile. "Hikaru... you should have told me."
"I...."
"How long have we known each other?"
"Seventeen years."
Akari nodded. "Next time something like this happens, I expect you to tell me at once." And then she turned and flounced back to the festival, leaving Hikaru staring in her wake. His gaze slowly wandered to Touya, who looked bemusedly after her.
"Why do I have the feeling," Isumi asked, "that you just worked a minor miracle, Touya-san?"
Touya just smiled softly. "You know, Shindou," he said, "I'm beginning to wonder if you really /deserve/ that girl."
What?!
Hikaru glared at Touya for the mere implication that he might try to steal Akari away, and ran after her. "Akari, wait up!"
Behind him, his three friends looked amusedly at one another and after him.
