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From the album : Vitamin C
A Koko wa Greenwood fic by Yen. All characters are owned by Yukie Nasu.
Notes: MAJOR KUDOS TO Mel for helping me write this. Sounding board and idea generator (Mel: *protests* I just sit on the rock of angst and comment!)
And if you got something that you need to say
“Sempai congratulations!” Mitsuru turned around in time to be hit by a pink-haired ball of hyper energy. Shaking his head, he laughed and accepted Shun’s earnest handshake.
“Yes sempai.” Suka rushed up several minutes later, panting slightly from getting through the crowds of people that had been surrounding Mitsuru. “Good luck in your future endeavors.”
“You too Suka. Do well and follow me to Tokyo.” He winked. “Who knows? We might all be in the same dormitory again.”
Shun beamed. “That’s a great idea. By the way, where’s Shinobu-sempai? I wasn’t able to catch him before the ceremony. I want to wish him well as well.”
At this, Mitsuru’s brow darkened imperceptibly. Shrugging, he replied. “I have no idea. He’s probably left already.”
“Nani?!” Both juniors’ mouths dropped open in shock. “Why did he leave so fast?”
Mitsuru shrugged again. “No idea. Probably forgot to tell me about another sudden engagement he had to attend to, like the way he neglected to inform me that he was going to Harvard instead of Tokyo with me.” (Argh.... don’t like this part. Any ideas on how to change it?)
Shun looked up at the glowering boy and turned to Suka who shrugged.
“Erm... sempai?” he asked uncertainly. “Won’t you be seeing him off?”
A brusque shake of the head answered his
question and Shun scratched his head. “Anou... aren’t you going to say
goodbye to him before he leaves?”
Mitsuru’s face tightened.
“But sempai! You can’t just do nothing!”
Mitsuru’s brow tilted upward. “Why not?”
Both juniors goggled at him for several moments before Suka finally exploded.
“Because you’re best friends that’s why! Best friends stay best friends forever! That doesn’t change.” The poor redhead’s arms started waving wildly around as his face turned scarlet and Mitsuru silently started to worry about the rather definite possibility of Suka hitting somebody accidentally.
“Calm down Suka. Besides, you don’t understand the situation at all.” Looking down at his watch, he shook his head. “Sorry about this but I have an appointment. Ja mata!”
Walking off, he waved a backward farewell and his broad back rapidly disappeared into the crowd while the two younger boys stared. By the time they had regained their reasoning though, he had long disappeared.
Meanwhile, Mitsuru strolled slowly through the wooded areas that surrounded Greenwood. Finally settling against the tree, he checked his vantage point to the driveway and smiled. Perfect.
Looking down at his watch, he noted that he still had ten more minutes.
Linking his fingers behind his head he stared up at the sky and sighed.
“Suka no baka.” He muttered half-fondly, half-exasperatedly. “If not, I wouldn’t have had to wait.”
He studied the fluffy white clouds as they drifted across the clear blue sky and waited.
A loud purr suddenly caught his attention and looking at the driveway, he noted a black limousine slowly pulling up. He watched with interest as an old woman and a middle-aged man got out before getting back in again after some intense conversation.
Looking back down at his watch, he nodded. Three more minutes.
Humming a song under his breath, he studied the red-bricked elegant structure, a soft smile crossing his lips.
He glanced down at his watch. Three, two... and a familiar figure walked out of the door, suitcases in hand. He grinned. As predictable as always.
It would be a silent goodbye. He'd said all he wanted to.
But he knew that Shinobu would understand.
That was what friends were for.
Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down
These memories are playing like a film without sound
Mitsuru looked down at the photographs and smiled. Four grainy faces grinned back up at him.
“Where’s Suka and Shun by the way?”
Shinobu leaned over and looked at the smiling faces of their two kouhai, which they had mercilessly “tormented” during their days at Greenwood.
His fingers trailed over the old photo, idly tracing over features that were now older, more mature and more defined.
"I heard that they are entering the new university, Blue Waters next year."
"Really?" One of Shinobu's brows lifted, "Isn't that the new university they're setting up in Tokyo? It's supposed to compete directly with Tokyo University isn't it?"
Mitsuru nodded. "In fact the syllabus is almost the same save for more flexibility and independent study."
"Really?"
"Yes. Sounds quite interesting." Mitsuru grinned,
"Hmm, you don't say," The corners of Shinobu's mouth tilted upwards,
"Why yes." If anything the grin had split his face into two laughing halves, something two particular kouhai would have been horrified to see. "In fact, I was thinking that with its syllabus, we might actually be better off transfering to Blue Waters, And besides, think of how thrilled Suka and Shun would be."
"I am." Shinobu smiled, "I am."
And I keep thinking of that night in June
I didn't know much of love
Mitsuru yawned and entered his room. Casually throwing his coat on the chair, he started taking off his shirt, only to be stopped by a niggling feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
Niggling feeling being in the form of a wriggling female form in Greenwood.
In his room.
On his bed.
Squawking, the senior rapidly buttoned up his shirt and dashed for the door, only to be stopped by a shorter female form that barricaded it.
Blinking up at the terrified boy through long eyelashes, the dark haired girl smiled seductively at him. “Isn’t this nice Mitsu-kun?”
He gulped. “Do I know you?”
“What?” Her large eyes turned wobbly. “You can’t remember me?! I’ve been giving you boxes of chocolate on Valentine’s Day for years! All in a pink heart-shaped box that can hold exactly thirteen heart-shaped candies, all made by me, and wrapped up in purple ribbon with a red heart-shaped tag spelling “To Mitsu-kun, Love Tami.”
Mitsuru smiled wanly, desperation etched on his face. “Oh I see. Erm... well, sorry Tami but this is a boy’s dorm and we don’t allow girls here so if you would just go the same way you got in, I’d be very much obliged.
“I know.” She said before suddenly surprising (and incidentally scaring) him by flinging her arms around him and holding him tight. “But the path of true love never did run smooth! We will triumph in the end! Now kiss me and let our illicit passions rage wildly in this room.”
Torn between a sweatdrop and a bulging vein and silently wondering how many trashy romance novels were being imported into Japan, Mitsuru stared down into her face, screwed up in expectation of his kiss.
“Erm... ano... I don’t think this is a good idea.” He started, his mind racing frantically.
Her eyes opened and she stared inquisitively up into his own scared ones. “Why ever not? Don’t you love me Mitsu-kun?”
Her eyes started to wobble threateningly and his mouth went dry with a man’s innate fear of tears.
“It’s not that... it’s just...”
“Yes?” She looked imploringly up at him.
“I... I don’t know anything about...” Here, he gulped and his face turned red.
“Oh.” Instead of looking taken aback, Mitsuru was dismayed to note that if anything, she looked more excited than ever.
“Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.” She purred.
Mitsuru panicked... “But I don’t WANT to know.”
A voice sounded from behind them. “It might be good for you.”
The girl jumped back, startled.
Shinobu loomed in the doorway and crooked an eyebrow at the scene before him.
“Busy Mitsuru?”
“NO!” “Yes.”
Looking at the scene before him, Shinobu inwardly sighed. To the rescue again.
"Mitsuru, Yui is looking for you."
"Yui?" Both heads swiveled towards him in surprise, Surpressing a long-suffering sigh, Shinobu repeated, "Yes Yui, your girlfriend,"
"Girlfriend?" Mitsuru's startled reaction was nothing compared to his fan's shocked one. Whirling around she turned giant wobbly chibi eyes at him, hugging him tightly. “Mitsu-kun, tell me it’s not true. You have a girlfriend?”
“I.. well... I guess...” Flailing wildly, he stared helplessly at his roommate who sighed again.
“Yes, he does. In fact they just started going out. Here’s a picture if you want.” Reaching casually into his backpocket, he pulled out a photo. “She’s the pink-haired one in front of the red head.”
Tami stared at the photo of Shun and Suka with a quivering lip. “She’s so kawaii... “
Shinobu cleared his throat. “I hear her coming. Perhaps you might want to leave?”
She nodded slowly and her arms around Mitsuru loosened. Unfortunately, just as Mitsuru was about to relax, a determined look set her face and she squeezed him tightly again. “Still I’ll win your love, Mitsu-kun! Just wait and see!” With those words, the perky female grabbed her things and quickly headed for the window. Halfway out however, she turned and smiled coyly at the shell-shocked boy.
“See you soon Mitsu-kun!” Before shimmying down the side of the building and heading for the street. The two of them stared in silence at the departing figure.
Shinobu looked up mildly at his roommate. “You attract the strangest females, Mitsuru.”
Mitsuru grumbled as he raked his hair, trying to get his frazzled nerves to relax after the mad encounter with the crazed fangirl. “Tell me something I don’t know. Come on, let’s get out of here. By the way, next time, anyone of us leaves the room, remember to lock the window as well.”
Shinobu watched in amusement. “Sure, anything you say. By the way, you owe me... Mitsu-kun.” and ducked in time to avoid the flying tissue box that was aimed squarely at his head.
But it came too soon and there was me and you
And then we got real blue
“What’s with the long face?” Mitsuru looked up to see his flatmate standing at the end of the bar, his hands tucked into his greatcoat.
“Nothing.” He mumbled before returning to his fifth bottle of sake.
Shinobu looked on in mild disapproval. While he was aware of his friend’s amazing tolerance for alcohol of any sort, at the rate he was going, it appeared quite likely that even his own apparently limitless capacity would fail.
Sitting down on the stool next to him, he quietly ordered a drink before turning to his friend and studying him in closer detail. Shaking his head, he repeated skeptically. “Nothing? So I assume then there’s a contest on to see who can consume the most sake.”
Looking blearily at his friend, Mitsuru hiccuped slightly. “Go away. Leave me alone.”
Sighing, Shinobu gently but firmly pried the bottle from Mitsuru’s lax fingers. “Sorry but I can’t do that. Part of our rent money’s going into financing this little escapade of yours and I doubt your family will look too kindly on you asking them for money again after you explain that the previous stack went into this alcoholic binge. So I repeat. What’s the problem?”
Mitsuru scowled and lunged successfully for the bottle. “You won’t understand. You’re the cold man. Man of ice.”
An even reply came back. “Try me.”
Silence.
Shinobu sighed and rubbed his face into his hands. Nobody could stonewall better than Mitsuru. Which was surprising actually considering how much more talkative he was compared to him. Trying to pry information from him when he didn't want to give it was normally an exercise in futility. Unfortunately, he already more than had an inkling of what his flat mate’s current problem was.
“When did she do it?”
“Do what?” answered Mitsuru sourly and Shinobu suppressed the urge to whack his friend on the head with a newspaper.
“Dump you.”
Mitsuru groaned and fell face forward onto the polished wooden bar. “Aw man, does *everybody* know?”
“No but everybody could probably guess. There are only so many reasons one drowns their sorrow in alcohol and as far as I know you’re not having problems in school and with money. Therefore definitely your love life.” That and the fact that I saw her clinging onto some other jock yesterday, added Shinobu silently.
“Thank you Sherlock,” muttered Mitsuru bitterly as he lifted the bottle for another swig. “Now just hurry up and tell me ‘I told you so’ and leave. I’m not in the mood for an emotionless lecture.”
Shinobu shrugged. “I’d probably take offence at that if I was actually going to give you a lecture but I’m not.”
This startled the amber-headed boy enough for him to lift his head and stare at his friend who stared back evenly. “Don’t tell me you’re going to give me a shoulder to cry on and sympathetically pat my back while muttering understandingly.”
Shinobu stared at him. “First, you are not crying on my shoulder. I just did my laundry plus I think tears spoil silk. Second, I will not sympathetically pat your back. If anything I should be whacking you on your head for acting so silly. However I will mutter understandingly.”
Mitsuru humphed. “And how can you do that? How can you understand when you don’t have a heart?”
Shinobu sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Mitsuru if you would please refrain casting aspirations about my physiognomy, I would be most grateful. I realize you’re depressed and slightly drunk but insulting me isn’t going to make things better between you and Mizuki.”
Mitsuru shrugged and continued nursing his drink in silence.
Shinobu groaned mentally. He studied his friend for a few minutes before realizing what exactly would be needed to get his friend out of the blue funk he was in. He sighed inwardly. He wasn’t fond of washing dirty laundry in public but...
“Mitsuru.”
“Yeah what?” came back the ungracious reply and Shinobu’s fingers twitched involuntarily.
“You’re not the only one who’s been dumped before you know.”
“Yeah right,” snorted Mitsuru. “If that’s a roundabout way of telling me that you’ve suffered the pangs of love lost as well, forget it. I’ve spent way too many nights comforting your old girlfriends to believe you. You’re just trying to make me feel better.”
Silence.
One interested eye peeked out from over the top of his bottle. “Aren’t you?”
Silence.
The entire head appeared. “Well well well... when did this happen?”
Shinobu’s face turned a little disgruntled. “You suddenly look very genki for someone who was brooding earlier.”
Mitsuru grinned. “Well this is a momentous occasion. Shinobu as dumpee... not dumper. Talk about a major headliner.”
Shinobu muttered in disgust. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Mitsuru quickly sobered up. “Hey, I didn’t mean to be so insensitive. Just that it was a shock, that’s all. What happened?”
Shinobu shrugged. “I was a fool.”
“Yeah well,” snorted Mitsuru, “Aren’t we all?”
A distinctly gray funk settled over the duo.
“So,” asked Mitsuru conversationally after a while. “Does the hurt ever go away?”
Shinobu took a long swig from his own bottle. “Nope.”
“I see.” And they both continued drinking quietly, the quiet strains of a piano filtering on in the background.
We'd get so excited, we'd get so scared
<ring>
Ikeda Residence.
...
Shinobu? Aren't you spending the holidays with your parents?
...
Oh... I see... sure no prob. You can stay with us till your plane’s ready for takeoff. How long will the delay be?
...
“One week?! Wait.... Nagisa's supposed to keep you company in the meantime right?
...
I’ll go prepare your room.
* * *
Tezuka Residence.
...
Mitsuru why are you whispering?
...
No, I don’t know anything about bugs. And how did they find your address?
...
They followed you home? Your fangirls are obssessive aren’t they?
...
Yes I promise not to tell Suka.
...
*sigh* Fine. I swear that I, Tezuka Shinobu, will not tell anybody I know that Ikeda Mitsuru was chased out of his own house by his fans. Happy?
...
Don’t worry about it. You can stay here as long as you want. If your fangirls come a-calling security can always throw them out.
Laughing at our selves thinking life's not fair
And this is how it feels
Mitsuru sank to the ground, next to Shinobu, and looked at his roommate.
“You’re still not mad about the race are you?”
“…”
“Look, there was no possible way that we could have guessed that Suka-chan was such a fast runner.”
“…”
“Or that Kazuhiro would pull the wool over us.”
“…”
Silence.
WHACK!
Shinobu’s head swivelled around to glower at his roommate who had just hit the wall where his head had been resting a moment ago with a newspaper.
“What was that for?” An ominous blue aura surrounded the lavender-haired teenager but Mitsuru stared at him resolutely.
“You will not take revenge on Kazuhiro.”
“And what makes you think I was going to do that?”
“I know that expression on your face Shinobu.” Mitsuru thwacked the wall again emphatically. “Just deal with it and move on. Life isn’t always fair and you can’t keep taking revenge just because things don’t go your way.”
“Besides,” he continued, “we’ve had our way before.”
Shinobu glared steadily at him and Mitsuru sighed. “Look you can’t tell me that you made a worse loss on this than can be offset by our gain on the odds as to when Suka would find out Shun was a guy.”
“Besides,” Mitsuru nudged him. “You gotta admit we had some priceless laughter out of that one. Remember when Shun chased Suka out of the shower, or...”
And as Mitsuru continued reminiscing, the hard expression on Shinobu’s face slowly faded till even he smiled at Suka’s obtuseness, the sting of loss slowly worn away by memories of other triumphs.
comments? Please send them over, kudasai! ^_^
HTMLing done by Jop, 2000.