Seph Lorraine (6 March 2005)
Warning: This starts out at KenAya (by that I mean Ran's sister), but it will not stay that way (RanKen love makes the world a better place). An AU fic, Ran's family is all alive and intact, and Ken was never a pro-soccer player. Do re mi fa so la ti do.
Pst. If sentences just cut off randomly, it just means someone's been cut off/interrupted.
Together
by Seph Lorraine
He stood at the door, leaning on the post, breathing ragged and looking for all like the poor orphan from a classic children's tale. He wore a thin white-cotton shirt and jeans that were faded and ragged with use; his wrinkled green over-shirt, three times two big for him as all of his clothes were, provided little to enhance what could have possibly been a very attractive young man. In addition to all of this, he was soaking wet.
He put on his best smile and bowed respectively at the glaring redheaded man standing just inside of the house. He was a rather sad and pathetic image, worthy of sympathy if nothing else.
But Fujimiya Ran didn't do sympathy.
"You're dripping on the rug."
"Oh!" The stranger's expressive brown eyes widened as he looked down beneath his feet at the rather large wet-stain that was slowly growing on the flowered-mat at his feet. "I thought that's what it was there for."
"It's for wiping your shoes on when they're wet; not absorbing the wetness from the rest of you." The voice held no tone as it accompanied an expressionless gaze.
"Eh! Right... Sorry." The man stepped back from the rug onto the brick-tiling of the small porch-area. Vaguely he wondered what was wrong with the stoic man that had answered the door, "I'm looking for Aya-chan, if"
"Why are you looking for Aya?" The redhead, if it was even possible, seemed even less pleased by this.
"Well, we were supposed to..." He drifted off, taking in the older man with a quick cursory glance. He was tall and lithe, clothed in a simple black sweater and slacks, making his beige-tinted slippers appear somewhat ridiculous. His very stance was formidable, and despite the fact that they were only a few centimetres difference in height, Ken still felt the urge to take a step or two backwards. "Well, you're a very guarded individual, aren't you?" He muttered to himself.
"I beg your pardon." The tone had dropped even lower, now; violet eyes were barely slits peering from a smooth pale face.
"No need to beg." He answered almost automatically, but quickly caught himself before he made the man any worse off on him, "Aya-san and I were supposed to finish a project for the school festival." Inside, he cursed himself. He was a coward, and a horrible liar, but he had been ill-prepared for this. Aya hadn't warned him about the security guard the Fujimiya household seemed to keep handy by the
"Ken-kun!"
He blinked, suddenly finding the girl in question pushing the redhead aside and bounding out the door way to pounce on him, "I was expecting you earlier! You're half an hour late!" She pulled back and frowned, just realising how soaking wet the man she was embracing was, "Oh..."
Ken chuckled lightly and gestured with his head out into the rainy evening where his bike was parked just outside of the small lot on the street-corner, "I got caught in the rain."
"Oh, you poor thing!" She spun on her brother quickly, "Oniichan, get him some towels! Mum will kill me if I have him dripping all over the carpet."
Ran didn't budge, "Who is he and what is this about the school festival?"
Aya paused wiping at the wet-spots on her skirt and blouse with her hands to stare up at her brother with curious and confused eyes, "What school festi"
"The one that we're in charge of." Ken cut in with a cough, subtly nudging her with his shoe.
The redhead threw him a thoroughly unimpressed glance.
"Oh!" Light spun itself around Aya's smile as what he was getting at dawned on her, "Yes, that festival!" She turned back to her brother, "It's just a small thing the school is doing as a sort of fundraiser. Since we're on student council, we're in charge... and stuff."
Ran didn't seem to be buying it.
"Yes, but we must get to work now! So go get him some towels, 'nii-chan!" The grinned brightly, giving him a playful push back inside, but he didn't budge.
"Who is he?"
Ken bowed again quickly, "Hidaka Ken. I am... a senior at... her highschool." He cringed at how lame that sounded.
A red brow quirked in unimpressed amusement, "Her highschool?"
They were all silent."
"Um, our highschool."
"You know, where we go to school..."
"Together."
"Not that we actually go to school together, but like, we both go there..."
"At the same time."
"But we don't walk to school together or anything."
"Together." Ran frowned at the word.
"In fact, we're hardly ever together at all, even at school."
"We just go there. You know... for education and stuff."
"And stuff?"
Ken blinked. He couldn't remember having ever been in a situation like this where the final result was a good one, so he changed tactics, "Gods, it's kind of cold out here, you know..."
Ran frowned, reading the other man's tactics as easily as a bold-printed Dick and Jane volume.
Aya blinked from where she had been watching in sadistic amusement as her beau lied his face off to her brother. Badly. Yet, her brother actually seemed to be just as amused as she, he could see through it without effort, but he was amused none the less. Giving in to her kinder side, which told her that watching the guy she had been daydreaming about non-stop for the past four weeks getting verbally pounded into the ground by her oniichan's scathing wit and over-protective nature would not be a good thing, she gave the redhead a quick shove inside the door, "Towels, Ran. Now."
He glared narrowly at her before seceeding back into the house to find some towels.
When he was gone, she leaned forward and kissed the soaking brunette chastly on the cheek, "You're a horrible liar, Ken-kun."
He frowned, eyeing her wearily, "Well, you didn't warn me about your guard dog."
At that she burst into musical laughter, "Aw, he's a real softy when you get to know him."
A door slammed somewhere with the house and there was a heavy thunk against a wall.
Aya twitched.
The brunett blinked his windened eyes, "Yes. I'm sure he is."
Regaining her composure, she giggled, "So. You go to my school now, do you?" She poked his chest jokingly with her index finger, stepping a little closer, "Isn't twenty years just a little bit old for that?"
"Perhaps..." Ken smirked, leaning closer a little more.
"Towels." A monotoned drawl cut in.
The two jumped apart instantly and looked innocent, Aya smiling sweetly and accepting the materials from her brother. Ken simply coughed into his hand and moved his gaze to some interesting spot on the wall.
The redhead stepped back into the house, leaving the door open, "If you're going into your room, keep the door open."
At that Aya halted from unfolding the towels and tossing them onto her dripping guest and turned to her brother with the beginnings of a scowl on her lips. His same hardened gaze was reflected with her own dark eyes, "No, Ran. It's not like he's going to rape me or something."
Ran's eyes went wide for a split second, causing Aya to mentally berate herself for giving him yet another thing to become paranoid over.
"Keep. Your. Door. Open." He said firmly with an exaggerated glare towards the silent brunett. He stalked off, feet sounded in slight stomps into the cozily lit living room, looking all the while like a pouting, angry child afraid of some baggy sod thieving his imouto's virtue. It was a spectre of amusement despite the semi-rationable reasoning behind it.
The two stood at the doorway in a thoroughly uncomfortable silence for a moment, as Ken dried himself off hastily with the towels. He paused suddenly, while ringing out his green over-shirt and looked up to meet her eyes, his own wide in earnest, "I wouldn't rape you, you know that right?"
She laughed again at that, "I know. Don't let him get to you. If he knows you're afraid of him, he'll only be worse about it. Just don't give in to him, and don't give him reason not to like you."
He quirked an eyebrow absently, completing his task of drying off, "You don't think me being here is reason enough for him not to like me?"
She smiled, pulling him a bit closer, "He's just a bit over-protective. You probably won't have to see him that often, anyway. He goes to Tokyo University, so he's not usually here. He just came back to visit this weekend."
"Aa." He was somewhat surprised when he felt something of a weight lift from his shoulders. He really hated lying to people, even if it was only over small things, and he already felt guilt from this only momentary encounter; he couldn't imagine having to repeat this process everytime he came over. "I just hate lying..."
"Well, sometimes it's just necessary. I'm only seventeen, Ken-kun. He would freak out if he knew I had a boyfriend, especially an older one." She raised her eyebrows mischeviously.
Ken mock-frowned at her, "Yea, you're not even legal yet, are you"
"It's hardly a scandal! Just three years!" Aya slapped him playfully on the arm.
The brunett laughed softly, bunching up the now damp and messy towels in his arms.
"Come inside, it's cold out here." She smiled and took his hand, Ken trailing lightly behind her as they walked inside together.
to be continued
"She makes herself so likable; it's attracting to everybody. But not everybody means well."
Reviews are appreciated.