Title Fairy Tale
Author Uozumi
Genre General/Romance/Slash
Rating PG-13
Summary An innocent childhood question evolves. InuiYanagi aka Data Pair.
Note So Chezzy
offered up comment fic and since she spoiled me with two MomoKai a
while back, I decided to write her whatever she wanted in comment fic.
Well, it kind of turned into an actual fic on us before we knew it oO
So she and Toshi-chan said I should post this up, so yay data pair!
"It's highly illogical a kiss would wake someone up." The astute observation earned glares from all the other children present excect the bespecticaled boy beside him.
"It had to have been CPR," the dark haired boy agreed with his friend.
"Or she did it on purpose."
Inui blinked and looked at Yanagi. "On purpose?" He can't imagine anyone wanting a kiss from anyone. Although girls were weird so maybe Yanagi was right.
"Who would do that on purpose though?" Inui wondered out loud.
Yanagi stayed quiet and opened his eyes to study Inui better. "You never know."
Inui wanted to ask how anyone could possibly not know something. Certainly some data somewhere would point to a person who would want such a thing. Before he could ask though, the teacher scolded them for talking during the movie and Yanagi closed his eyes.
Inui knows kinks. He has a page listing the one thing that turns those around him on most. It ranges from people taking off/putting on Tezuka's glasses for him to a certain spot on Fuji's head and running a finger behind Sanada's left ear. Those one actions are a turn on 100 of the time. He also knows the data of who does it the most and who gets the reaction the fastest.
The only person missing from the list is Yanagi.
Inui hates incomplete data. Even though that means he has more to gather, there are just those pockets of data he will never have. Like why Atushi's nose twitches when Yuuta mentions the word sauce and why Kirihara pokes the top of his ears sometimes when he's thinking on something. If his ears were pointy, Inui might figure it out, but they're prefectly round on the top as is, no assistence required.
Inui looks across the table at Yanagi. Both of them are up well past curfew but all the sensei are asleep and only the ichiens are up and about, and they'll not tell on them. Inui has something on every one of them after all. They would be away in their room but the Internet signal is better in the cafeteria.
Yanagi is watching him. Yanagi is always watching him. Inui looks over his laptop at the other, meeting his eyes through opaque lenses and closed eyelashes. He vaguely remembers Yanagi's eyes being brown, but he needs to double check his data to remember if it was a red or hazel brown. He knows it wasn't golden, and he doubts it was chocolate.
"Who would do that on purpose though?" Inui wondered out loud.
Yanagi stayed quiet and opened his eyes to study Inui better. "You never know."
Sometimes those words come back to him years later. Of course the motivation to have the prince kiss the princess makes sense outside of "it makes for a good story." The princess wants the prince's attentions so she does something overly dramatic. The prince wants her for some outward trait and knows he'll score with her if he plays her game.
"The whole purpose of the kiss is sex."
Yanagi opens his eyes just a bit then closes them again, clearly not expecting Inui to say such a thing. Logically it would be about the senbatsu selection or even the fact Kirihara has been trying to do something weird to Sanada's left ear lately and laughing until he gets whapped in repramand.
Inui continues to watch Yanagi. "That's why she pricked her finger on purpose."
It takes a moment and then Yanagi seems to recall something. "Perhaps."
"Perhaps?" Inui prods after a silence.
"Perhaps the princess only wanted the prince to kiss her."
Again there is silence, neither hidden gaze waivering.
"Renji?"
"Yes, Sadaharu?"
Inui opens his mouth and closes it.
Yanagi could never strike him as a princess.
Even with longish hair, Yanagi was never girly, let alone womanly. He carried himself with as much grace as a fifteen-year-old boy could, which meant that every so often he tripped off court or his voice has a stray crack showing he wasn't quite done growing into the man he would become. Inui was hardly a prince and did not want to be. He wanted to be the evil scientist or if he had to be a good guy, the person who put Snow White into a deep trance so she could escape the dwarves and wait to be rescued. He always figured it was probably a godsend to lapse into a coma so she wouldn't have to be used as their personal maid.
They were going to be in high school soon, tennis season long over. After the nationals they managed to keep running into each other, taking two of the same entrance exams for high school. The first exam together Yanagi was assigned the seat behind him, and the second exam found Yanagi beside him.
Break came between what felt like marathon testing. Inui left the room choosing to look out the window in the hallway. Some students wandered quite far away, but he wanted to go right back into the room when it was time. He felt Yanagi come to stand beside him. He did not stand close or far, keeping a neutral distance.
"How do you think your'e doing?"
"Do you have to ask?"
Yanagi let a small smile curve at his lips. Inui shifted his gaze back to the world outside the window. Inui knew that both of them could chose whatever high school they desired. Taking the entrance exams only put their names in the door in the end.
"Do you think you want to go here?"
The question hung between them, neither willing to volunteer it.
The school Inui chose was the best in the Tokyo area. He had thought about going to Seigaku's sister school but it did not offer the level of courses he desired and even if he went across town, he knew he could still keep his eye on Kaidoh who was blossoming into one of the best tennis players in the district if not the nation just as Inui predicted.
Yanagi went to the sister school to Rikkai. People speculated that Yukimura was a big sway in the descision but he was just as much as Sanada, Jackal, Marui, Nioh, and Yagyuu were. Rikkai did not feel like splitting themselves up to the wind, and Kirihara had already proclaimed quite vehmently he too would join them next year. He had the grades to do it, even though he sometimes had a tendency to choke up during marathon tests.
Yanagi also got a job tutoring elementary students and made decent money. He was saving up to pay for college himself and had been keeping his birthday money in a savings account for just that. He had a tendency to end up on the last shift and the store owner sometimes gave him the privlege of locking up and unlocking in the morning before classes.
Inui's job, to his parents, was high school. He was in a prestigous school where good grades were coveted so they expected him to work his hardest to achieve such goals. He kept in shape by accompanying Kaidoh on runs on Sundays, sometimes getting on trains or busses to run in places they did not normally go, sometimes even the beach for the added difficulty.
Today, however, when they planned to go to Kanagawa, Kaidoh cancelled at the last moment, appologizing profusely. Hazue was sick and his parents were on their second honeymoon so he was stuck at home. Inui had thought about studying all day long for two very crucial tests, but decided to be impulsive and get out. His body was too atuned to spending Sundays being active, and protested the thought of being glued to a desk chair.
So here Inui was outside of a bakery staring into the window like an idiot. He had been wandering around the general Rikkai area since he knew it the best out of the Kanagawa region, and had even ended up in a pickup game with Marui of all people, which ended up turning into something far more serious by the end. They were in a 5-5 tie when Marui's cellphone went off and he had to go home. Something about "babysitting the terror twins."
Inui knew staring through the window of the shop would eventually attract unwanted attention. He knew that with his opaque glasses and wild untamable hair, he looked like a pervert stalker. There was a cashier girl checking the money, and if she looked over here...Well, most would deduce he was watching her. She was pretty in a Namie Amuro way, but her movements were too deliberate and harsh. She was not of intrest though. What was of intrest was the tall boy in an apron of all things cleaning the tables in the bakery.
Inui knew Yanagi was aware of him. It would be too strange if the day younger boy wasn't. He tried to tear his eyes way, tried to turn away and head home. It was growing late. He knew his parents wouldn't mind his tardiness, but he did not want to be away from Tokyo at night without someone with him. Everyone harped on how it was too dangerous to be out and about by yourself for girls and women, but Inui thought the same was true for boys and men as well.
Just as he was convinced he could leave, Inui hear the bell of the door beside him ring, Yanagi stepping out, still in his apron.
"You're scaring Huouji," he said. "Come in." Yanagi held the door open, silent questions passing between them. Yes, Inui could come in. No, Inui's boss would not care. Yes, it was actually the cashier girl's suggestion.
"I'll leave you to lock up, Yanagi." Huouji closed and locked the cash register. "I don't think Father will care if you have your friend in. I do it all the time."
Inui could tell Yanagi came very close to saying "Yeah, I know that quite well."
While the girl started to get her rain coat from a hook in the back room, Yanagi walked over to the last table he typically cleaned and indicated the chairs that were still on the ground. "Have a seat, I won't be long."
Inui wanted to make an excuse and leave. He had not meant to run into Yanagi of all people but after staring hard at him for seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds, he really could not argue any point. Sitting in one of the chairs, he watched Yanagi return to work. They remained silent, even after Huouji called out she was leaving and they heard the employee door close and lock.
Yanagi had two tables to go until he reached Inui's. He always started the soap sprayer at the top right corner of the table, holding it in his left hand, spritzing in a zig zag fashion with three squirts and thn would start the cloth in the center, working his way in a circle to the edges of the table. His eyes stayed closed, and he stacked the four chairs on top of the table, their legs up in the air like a dead animal. He started with the one he was closest to and worked in a clockwise rotation.
Finally he was at Inui's table. "Turn your head," he said. Inui did so, not sure why he was to remain seated. The twighlight gathered outside, the room growing steadily darker. Again Yanagi put the chairs on the table in a clockwise fashion, finally stopping at Inui's chair. Inui went to stand up, but calloused hands pushed his shoulders back down. Yanagi was leaning in close, very close.
Lips hovered just centimeters, maybe milimeters from Inui's before turning and pressing a dry kiss between his lips and cheek where a dimple would be if he had any. Yanagi's lips lingered just a bit too long, but he pulled back and said, "Now get up."
"Who would do that on purpose though?" Inui wondered out loud.
Yanagi stayed quiet and opened his eyes to study Inui better. "You never know."
Inui blinked and stared, his opaque glasses not hiding that his eyes widened from Yanagi.
Yet, still, Yanagi was nothing like a princess and Inui got up out of the chair after a prod just under his third rib.
Class tallent shows were coming up in many schools. Winter was full of slowness and with antiicpation of holidays, students tended to slack ever so slightly. It had been one of the girls ideas, one of those "I know we're in high school, but..." How she talked their stern homeroom teacher into it, he was not sure.
Yet, here Inui was looking at the script in his hands and looking back at the director. "The prince...?" He adjusted his glasses.
The director nodded earnestly and called for the first practice to commence.
Yanagi and Inui had been meeting off and on in areas between their home turfs since running into each other at the bakery.
Yanagi was quiet and said, "There was a high probability."
Inui could not see how. He had tried out for just a simple background part, but somehow ended up the prince. "I think the prince is a stalker pervert."
Yanagi snorted and stopped leaning on the bridge overlooking a local creek. "I doubt it. The princess wouldn't risk physical abuse to dance with someone who will grope her."
"But he can save her from the abusive household," Inui countered.
Yanagi considered that. "She could have gotten together with a duke, it didn't have to be a prince."
Inui studied him then nodded.
"Does the prince kiss the princess?"
Inui raised an eyebrow. "What?" Yanagi only looked down at the water. After a moment, he said, "No, in this one the princess kisses the prince."
"Ah."
They both grew quiet.
"On the cheek."
"I see."
Yanagi had the distinct impression Inui was getting closer. Well he was moving at a rate of three centimeters every ten seconds. Feeling Inui's elbow touch his on the railing, Yanagi looked over at the other first-year.
Shoulders hunched, both boys leaned on the railing, long legs bent at the knees. People passed by, no one sparing them much of a glance. Once a woman and her toddler daughter were out of sight, Inui leaned down and kissed him.
Note A comment fic is a process on LJ where someone writes mini fic in an LJ comment (or more in this case). The prompt was data pair and a kiss. It took a bit of doing to get to the kiss in the end though.