On Names, the Flu, and Other Things
A small FB fic from Oddzilla Productions that was only going to be a
ficlet, but life is like that sometimes.
Chapter 4
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There are few things more glorious than being healthy after you've been
deathly ill.
Kyou hadn't been deathly ill, but he decided that horribly sick was close
enough to it. As it was, he had a newfound appreciation for sun and breeze
and green, green grass beneath a pale blue cloudless sky. It was almost
enough to make him poetic, but not quite.
Instead of the school rooftop, he had chosen the hill behind the athletic
field for lunch. He wasn't sure why he'd decided to do this, but then, he
was often doing certain things for no particular reason. Usually this was
bad, but sometimes, it was good.
Like right now. As he enjoyed the warmth of a fine spring day, having
finally returned to school after a short absence as well as a weekend.
Five days out of school was kind of nice, actually, even with all the
catching up he had to do now.
Presently, a shadow fell over him.
"You're blocking my sun."
"I know. But I wanted to get your attention."
Arisa moved out of the way and sat down next to him, stretching out her
long legs. "This is a good spot," she commented, leaning her head back and
closing her eyes.
"That's why I'm here." He now lay back, folding his hands beneath his head
as a makeshift pillow, glancing at her briefly. This was one of the times
she was very pretty, with the light wind stirring her golden hair around
her face.
His pulse quickened, but he forced it to calm. Not now. No nervousness
here. Enjoy it.
Enjoy being with her.
He liked this new understanding he had with Arisa. They'd taken care of
each other when the other was weak. Only briefly, really, but they did,
and a thing like that usually means something to the people involved.
"So why'd you have to come and bother me, stupid Yankee?"
"Because I felt bored, stupid Carrothead."
Some things were best left unchanged, though.
"Where are Tohru and Hana?"
"Hana's getting some tutoring from a sempai. Tohru's with the Prince."
Kyou snorted. That bastard was always monopolizing Tohru lately. Though he
didn't feel so envious about that today, for some reason.
"Close your eyes and open your mouth."
He stared at her. "Huh?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to stick a clod of
dirt in your mouth. I'm not a grade schooler."
"But you still want me to do something like close my eyes and open my
mouth."
There was a brief silence.
"...all right, I'll do it." And he did, wondering what she was going to
give him.
It was sweet. Juicy. Many little pips that broke easily as he chewed.
"Tohru and Yuki gave me a bunch of 'em. Good, aren't they?"
Kyou opened his eyes, nodded, and swallowed. "Yeah. I wonder where they
got them."
She shrugged. "I don't question free strawberries." She popped a deep red
fruit in her mouth, withdrew another, and held it toward Kyou. He took it,
regarded it thoughtfully, then tossed it up into the air, catching it in
his mouth. She chuckled and set the plastic bowl down between the two of
them.
"Already ate lunch?" Kyou thought about the yet-unopened bentou at his
side.
"Not that hungry. These'll tide me over." She ate another strawberry.
"Guess I can save this for later too." And he ate one as well.
There was contemplative, companionable silence for a while.
"Stop hogging them all."
But it shouldn't have been expected to last.
"Hey, Tohru gave them to me."
"You offered."
"Then give me half your bentou later."
"Tohru gave that to me."
They glared at each other.
They reached for the bowl at the same time.
Their hands collided over the last remaining strawberry. And it was a
large one.
Kyou enjoyed that brief moment of contact, even if their fingers were a
little wet with juice. But that wasn't the point, presently. He eyed her
warily, and she returned the look.
"One left," Arisa said flatly.
"Just one."
And the tension suddenly disappeared. "Well, we can split it. This one's
huge."
He nodded, then frowned. "But how? You got a plastic knife or something on
you?"
"No."
There was a loud click, and his eyes widened.
"What? Don't look so surprised. Former gangster, scary Yankee, a big
switchblade should be part of the image."
"Uh...."
"Oh, stop that. And no, I haven't actually ever used a knife on anyone.
Well, yet."
Kyou bit back his initial response and just shook his head. "Damn. You're
tough enough not to need something like that, I thought."
Arisa shrugged, and held one of the halves out toward him, which he took.
He ate the whole thing at once; she regarded hers thoughtfully and took a
bite, while absently wiping the blade on her skirt. "Well, my usual weapon
was a piece of pipe, actually. But yeah, half the time I didn't even use
that." Then she ate the remainder of the strawberry. It was interesting,
watching a bit of juice trickle down from the corner of her lip, which she
quickly licked up with a flick of her tongue.
His pulse sped up again. And again, he forced it to calm. It was just a
bit harder this time, though.
Then he smiled. "Hey, can I see that knife?"
She blinked, then tossed the closed blade over to him. He studied it,
gingerly pressed the switch, and started slightly as it unfolded. She
sniggered, but he didn't mind. After all....
He got up, looked around, and walked to a nearby tree. He started
scratching something into it, careful not to damage the knife. He heard
her footsteps coming up behind him, and moved carefully to block her view
"What are you...."
"You'll see."
He continued for a while, then stepped aside, closing the blade. There was
an instant of silence, and then he heard her suck in her breath. "Why
you--how'd you--"
Kyou laughed and danced away, careful to keep the knife out of her reach.
"I asked Tohru yesterday."
"You bastard! The hell?! Dammit, that's why I didn't want to be called
Arisa!" She lunged for him, but he easily dodged her.
"Well, the first character, that's common enough. The 'A' of 'Asia'. The
second and third though, I dunno. Jasmine and gossamer for 'ri' and 'sa'?
I don't know if they fit you...."
"No, they don't! That's why I don't want anyone to know--argh! Give me
back that knife so you can be my first stab victim!"
He kept on laughing and dodging and-- "Wow, that's a pretty good punch!"
And also blocking a couple of blows.
And suddenly, she stopped. It took him a couple of moments to realize
this, and his laughter died as he saw her standing rather still, head
bowed, hair covering her face.
Uh oh.
"Um...Arisa?"
She didn't say anything. There was, however, something that sounded like a
sniff.
Very, very uh oh.
He approached her slowly. "Did I...um...damn...." He came closer, but she
still didn't move. He held the knife toward her. "...here you...go?"
One of her hands reached up to her face, and made a swiping motion behind
the curtain of her hair.
Kyou suddenly felt extremely small. "Aw...Arisa, I'm sor--"
There was a blur, and the knife disappeared from his hand. There was also
a hard poke in his stomach, making him grunt in surprise and mild pain.
And Arisa was grinning at him, tossing the switchblade up and down. "What,
you really thought I'd start crying over something like that? I thought
you'd know me better than that, Carrothead."
He stared at her mindlessly for a while, then groaned. "Yeah, yeah. Feh.
You had me worried for a while just now."
She snorted. "You're getting soft," she commented, wandering back toward
the tree.
He followed, not too closely behind. "Huh. Maybe I am." Despite himself,
he smiled a little bit.
She flicked out the blade, looked at her name thoughtfully, then shrugged
and started carving below it. She did not try to hide it from him as she
worked, and he soon saw that she was now scratching the character of his
name in the bark.
He frowned. Wait a minute.
"No, you missed a stroke. Yeah, right there. That's better."
He nodded, now satisfied. Though something else was niggling at the back
of his mind.
Arisa took a step back, looking at their handiwork, and smiled, pleased.
"Well, then."
He only barely dodged the arm that she almost slung around his shoulders.
"Don't--I mean...." Hell. This was going to be difficult.
"What? We aren't sick anymore. I was just...."
He took a deep breath. "It's...complicated. I can't say why. But...you
can't...you can't do that."
"Huh?" She looked completely confused.
"Please...don't ask why. I can't tell you. I...sorry, but please. Just
trust me. You...can't hug me."
The expression on her face grew darker, and he really didn't like that.
"Don't get me wrong, I mean, uh, I think I'd like it if you did, but it
just doesn't...uh...."
The expression on her face had just changed again. "What'd you say?"
"...what did I say?" He paused, ran the words over in his head.
His pulse started racing again. And he might not be able to stop it this
time.
She laughed, that rich, full laugh of hers. "I think I heard you." She
subsided into chuckling, and walked around him, as if studying him
closely. He fidgeted, unsure of how things were supposed to go at this
point.
"Okay. I won't ask. But...." And she stepped up to his side, took one of
his hands.
Heart rate still increasing. He swallowed nervously. She was standing
really near, though keeping her arms clear of his torso.
"Can I do this?" she murmured, lifting her other hand up to touch his
face, and tilted her head, moving even closer.
He went completely rigid. Okay, now he knew what was happening. She was
going to....
Pinch his nose shut.
"GNF!" He flailed wildly, jerked his head back. He stumbled and almost
fell, but for the grip she had on his hand, allowing him to maintain his
balance.
There was that laugh again. "Dammit, why'd you--"
"You were getting all uptight and stiff as a board. Now shut up."
He did, because it was hard to talk through her lips.
It was a fine spring day, a clear blue sky with the sun shining down on
green, green grass, and none of that mattered to Kyou at all because this
time his entire world had been reduced to--
Especially when she...oh....
Tasted like strawberries, yes.
After a while, he said, "Uh...yeah...you can do that...."
"Want...want me to do that again?"
"...okay?"
There was another long silence.
"Let me guess, your first kiss?"
"Mmmyeah."
"You're not bad for a beginner." Arisa looked a little flushed too.
He smiled, a little shakily.
It was really a pity that the bell rang then, announcing the end of
lunchtime. They let out simultaneous curses and rushed to gather up their
items: Kyou and his bentou, Arisa and the plastic bowl. As they started to
move back toward the school, Kyou glanced at the tree with their names on
it. He frowned once more.
"Hey, wait a minute."
"What is it? We gotta hurry!"
"You wrote my name beneath yours! What's that supposed to mean?"
"...oh, gods, no, not your damn male ego right now. Come on, we're going
to be late!"
She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. He managed to match her speed
easily, and--
"Wait a minute--WE'VE GOT OUR NAMES CARVED ONTO A TREE TOGETHER!"
"Wow, you're observant, Kyon-Kyon. Care to tell me what happens if we get
to class after the bell rings again?"
They ran.
End.
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Okay. Er. Now I'm done.
Why yes, that was a reference to another fic of mine....
Tsk, I got Kyou and Arisa to kiss before Yuki and Tohru. Shame on me.
Well, I'll get back to them eventually. And these are indeed in the same
overall continuity, if you were wondering.
This chapter actually was derived from another concept I had for a fic
featuring these two. Was going to be rather angstier, set after they'd
started...well, after they'd reached the understanding. Was going to do
with Kyou realizing that he'd have to face Kagura, and Uo-chan talking the
whole thing over with him. If/when I continue this saga, he is going to
have to deal with Kagura, indeed. Will have to be more serious.
As for Arisa's name in the canon, I believe it is only written in hiragana
and may not have any kanji for it at all, a trend that's appeared in
recent years. So I just made it up.
And that does it for this fic. I'm pretty sure there'll be more someday.
