Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Feather Love ❯ Feather Love ( Chapter 1 )

Feather Love.

Disclaimer: Gravitation belongs to Maki Murakami. This is my first Gravitation fic, the inspiration of this fic was the haiku from NittleGrasper.com's Pika Pika contest.

"That one, that one!"

Noriko looks at the hyper ball next to her.

"Are you sure Ryuichi? You want the pink one?"

Ryuichi wrenched his shining eyes from the pink bunny toy he was looking at to give Noriko his best pleading look.

"Nori-chaan..."

Sighing in frustration, the sexy, purple haired woman threw up her hands in defeat and followed Ryuichi into the shop.

"You're too old for toys now Ryuichi, even though you never act your age."

Grumbling she handed the money over to the shop assistant. Glancing at the shelf with the pink usagi* she spotted a blue rabbit which looked exactly the same next to it.

"Hey Ryu-chan, how about we get the blue one instead? Pink is for girls... But don't expect me to get you both."

Ryuichi frowned in thought. Looking from one to the other in concentration he finally made his decision and said,

"No, the pink- he says his name is Kumagorou. He wants me to buy him. Kuma-chan really loves his friend but he says that he'll meet him again later."

Noriko grinned in mirth at Ryuichi's words.

"Kumagorou? That's such a weird name, it's a rabbit not a bear you baka! A guy is it?"

Winking at Ryu-chan she picked up the blue rabbit and eyed it sceptically.

"Hm.. But this one doesn't look like a girl at all; it's definitely a boy rabbit. Are you sure your bunny-"

"Kumagorou na no da!"

Ryuichi pouted as Noriko continued to speak. He had a feeling she was teasing him..

"Fine fine, Kumagorou then. Are you sure he said he -loved- his friend? Or is that koibito?"

Noriko almost split her sides laughing when Ryuichi turned bright red. He looked so cute when he was embarrassed!

"He- Kumagorou said he did love his...friend. And...and..."

Ryuichi took on a deeper shade of red. He whispered to his newly purchased doll while Noriko tried to stifle her laughter without much success. The shop assistants were giving them odd looks but she was having too much fun!

" Kuma-chan said that...Theonewhoboughthisfriendwouldbemylovertoo..."

Going red herself as another bout of giggles threatened to burst from her, Noriko managed with some difficulty to speak with only an undertone of laughter.

"Did Ryuichi say the forbidden word? Ne ne Ryu-chan, are you trying to tell me you're gay?"

At this Ryuichi pouted, made negative noises and hid behind his bunny.

"I didn't!! I'm not-not-not; Kumagorou made me say it! He said he wouldn't follow me home if I didn't!"

Noriko smirked and merely patted Ryuichi's head.

"Okay Ryu-chan, I believe you. So when the two bunnies meet, you'll find someone... You've been reading too many fairy tales. Still, it wouldn't be all bad...You need company... Come on, let's go and show Tohma your Kuma-chan."

She hugged Ryu-chan briefly before adding,

"Oh and happy birthday, you big dummy..."

***

Tatsuha, the sixteen-year-old rabid Nittle Grasper fan, -sensed- something.

Not anything supernatural; he did get a lot of vibes from the underworld being a monk and all…No, this feeling made him shiver up and down his spine, made his heart beat faster, made his-

Damn, he needed a cold shower.

-Knock Knock-

Absentmindedly rubbing his wet hair with a fluffy kumagorou print towel Tatsuha went to get the door,still wondering about his strange sense of foreboding…

And promptly fell flat on the ground.

The keyboardist of Nittle Grasper was standing at the door with her usual trademark lavender curls and wearing a slight frown. Standing beside her was Tatsuha's God.

"How long do you intend to lie there Tatsuha?" Noriko asked impatiently, nudging him slightly with her shoe. Ryuichi looked down at the dazed black head with a perplexed expression.

"Is he dead Noriko-chan? His face is all red and he's not breathing na no da!"

Tatsuha slowly opened his eyes and remembered how to perform the function humans aptly named breathing. Fanning his face with the towel he looked at the face as familiar as his own. Meeting this face had been his dream for so long; but he never intended it to be so -messy-...

"Good, you're alive. I'm so glad I don't have to call an ambulance." Noriko said dryly.

Tatsuha turned his eyes reluctantly to look at the cause of his embarrassing introduction to the object of his life's dedication. Quietly so that Ryuichi wouldn't think him bad-tempered he jumped up and hissed at Noriko.

"What are -you- doing here?! Are you trying to kill me or something? Why is-"

Noriko cut off his potentially long rant by smiling smugly and pushing Ryuichi towards Tatsuha.

"Early Birthday present. You get the wonderful privilege to play with Ryu-chan for the day while I go out shopping with your sister."

Normally Tatsuha would have shouted obscenities at being used in this way...Normally he didn't have Ryuichi standing in front of him looking slightly puzzled but so very cute...

"You...Manipulative old hag..." He muttered half-heartedly. Noriko merely made a V sign of victory and turned her attentions to Ryuichi.

"Now be careful, play nice, try not to get molested-"

"Molested?!" Cried two voices, the first was from Ryuichi with a face which obviously spelled incomprehension, the second from a blushing and very indignant Tatsuha. They both looked towards Noriko but only found an empty space. Running outside Tatsuha saw the sexy woman turn the corner and heard some words about a car coming round later for Ryuichi before she completely disappeared.

Going back into the house, Tatsuha sighed deeply. And stiffened. He was alone with Ryuichi. ALONE. That word ran through his head and he blanched.

"Uwa~ Tatsuha, you're all white now! Are you ill again? Red and white, red and white!!"

Ryuichi laughed childishly as Tatsuha alternated between blushing and going white in nervousness. Bowing his head, he tried to hide his face.

"I-I'm so s-sorry Sak-kuma-san…" He made a stuttering apology to Ryuichi. Miserably, he peeped to look up at the frowning singer.

"Yes! You should be sorry!"

Tatsuha almost cried at these words, desperately he started bowing deeply, muttering incoherent apologies. His body felt completely detached from his brain; and so it took him five minutes of repeated bowing and 'gomen nasai's before he realised his idol wasn't angry at all, he was laughing.

"Silly Tatsuha! You're so funny!"

Tatsuha stopped his bowing and looked at Ryuichi in confusion.

"Eh..? Saku-"

He felt a finger on his mouth. Ryuichi's finger. His body now felt the distinct urge to morph into a puddle..

"There you go again Tatsuha. It's Ryuichi, or Ryu-chan! Repeat after me Tatsuha!"

If it was possible for Tatsuha's eyes to bulge anymore, they would. Did his -GOD- want him to…Speak his name? Like, his -name- name?!!

"Uh..R-Ryuichi." Looking at the older man's delighted face, Tatsuha felt much less uneasy.

"Clever Tatsuha na no da. How about we play hide and seek now!" Without giving the dazed youth anytime to think, Ryuichi sprinted off energetically with Kumagorou dangling from his hand. After staring blankly at the space where the older man had been, Tatsuha blinked slowly, then closing his eyes in slight bemusement, he began to count.

Two hours later..

"Kuso!" A pretty tired and frustrated teenager emerged from the bushes. Two hours he had been searching and he couldn't find Ryuichi at all!

"This is -my- house for Grasper's sake, he hasn't even been here before!" Feeling a bit dejected he decided to look again in the house. A whole two hours of his precious day with Ryuichi was gone! Cursing profusely he opened the door to his room for a quick scan… Only his room should be locked. And bolted like he left it in the morning..Ah ha!

Eagerly he burst into his room. Finally he had found him, though how Ryuichi got into his room was a complete mystery, since his Nittle Grasper collection was in his room he kept it firmly bolted with a very expensive padlock at all times… He wanted his money back.

Grinning he saw his target sitting on his bed staring at the posters. Ryuichi was everywhere in his room; posters on his walls and ceiling, plushies on his desk, keyrings on his bags, cds on his shelf and the real thing on his bed!

"Found you!" He cried waiting for Ryuichi to turn around. That he did, the expression on his face no longer child-like but much more serious.

"I see you're a big fan then Tatsuha-kun…"

A blush threatened to creep over Tatsuha's face again when he realised Ryuichi was looking at the poster with 'ai' written all over it.

"Ano…I-I…" Trailing off miserably, he inspected the ground. Why did he have to see that poster?! Or his room for that matter?

"Hmm? Am I mistaken?" A teasing tone underlined Ryuichi's voice.

Tatsuha's eyes widened at this and looking up he blurted, "No! I mean yes, I am a big fan of yo- Nittle Grasper.." Inadvertedly locking eyes with his idol.

Regarding the younger boy for a few moments, Ryuichi seemed to stop time; Tatsuha felt nothing but the eyes so familiar, those eyes which had looked back at him blankly in all his posters. But these eyes seem to contain the very essence of life and yet hold such overwhelming loneliness.

Suddenly his vision blurred as his face connected with something white and soft. A pillow.

"Tatsuha! Let's play!"

Dimly he heard his name being called. Grabbing the pillow off the floor he looked in slight confusion at the now beaming man sitting on his bed. Funny how many times you could be confused in a day.

Giggling, Ryuichi chucked another pillow in Tatsuha's face. This one was caught deftly by the latter. Clapping and chuckling, Ryuichi spoke the two words that initiated the chaos that followed.

"Pillow Fight!!"

Giving Tatsuha no time to protest, he flung pillows and anything else fluffy that he could reach. Chucking the pillows back at Ryuichi with a huge grin, only part of Tatsuha's mind was screaming 'are you completely mad? This is your God!' which he blocked off in favour of trying to squeeze as many delicious smiles and peals of laughter out of Ryuichi as possible.

After a long period of battling, Tatsuha's once bedroom now looked more like something out of a pigsty. The rest of the house was mostly unscathed, but the corridor, which Tatsuha was crouching in, had odd feathers scattered on the floor. Breathing heavily, the black haired boy eyed his target inside his room. Seeing Ryuichi's back turned, stealthily he crawled into the room, raised his pillow and knocked Ryuichi down. Startled, Ryuichi tried to fight back in vain but Tatsuha had the upper hand. Grabbing the pillow roughly from his opponent's hand he pinned the struggling vocalist down.

Chucking his own torn pillow to the side, more feathers came tumbling out. Grinning at Ryuichi's small pout, he released him to get some of the feathers out of his tousled hair. Seizing this opportunity, Ryuichi tried to squirm away, but Tatsuha was too quick; grabbed at the waist, he fell to the floor again with Tatsuha on top.

Turning his face upwards he gave Tatsuha his best reproachful stare, but he found his mouth pressed into a melting kiss. The soft touch was like the drifting feathers, but all too soon it was relinquished. Slowly raising a hand to touch his lips, he looked at Tatsuha in wonderment.

Reaching a spectrum of red which before was only reserved for Shuichi, Tatsuha's face burned. His mind was overloaded with different opinions; most concluding that he was deranged and had the possibly done one of the stupidest things to date in his life. Turning away he resolutely stared at the wall, his mind replaying the scene over and over.

Somehow, his body had moved in to kiss Ryuichi with no consent from his brain. The rational side of his brain that is; it was close to sacrilege! And yet… This had wiped away any lingering doubts he had.

Tatsuha knew now he loved Ryuichi for being himself, not for his impossibly perfect body. Everyone assumed that lust was his reason for liking Ryuichi and he had let them because he couldn't acknowledge that he had fallen in love with something unattainable. He didn't want to think about the nights spent crying at the inevitable fate of always having a part of his soul missing; Sakuma Ryuichi.

He had deluded himself for so long, telling himself that perhaps it was just an infatuation, perhaps he only loved Ryuichi for his body, for his sexy voice. His foolish action however made the black haired youth face facts; he admitted that he did love Ryuichi's body, but it went so much deeper then that… It was -everything- about Ryuichi from his adorable pout to the pure energy he put into life. The life he so desperately wanted to be part of.

"Tatsuha."

The melodious voice broke into his musings, breaking the spell and commanding him to answer.

"N-nani?" Struggling to keep his emotions in check, he slowly lifted his head.

"Thank you…"

Ryuichi was crying.

Tears flowed ceaselessly down the singer's face. Tatsuha's breath caught in his throat at the sadness projected from Ryuichi's eyes.

"Sorry, I'm so so-" Tatsuha whispered brokenly as he reached out to wipe away the tears, but his hand's journey was stopped short by Ryuichi's, just as his words were cut off by a small shake of head.

Slowly, Ryuichi locked fingers with the hand he was holding and hesitantly placed his mouth over Tatsuha's. Slightly salty from the tears and yet sweet with promise, the lingering touch conveyed emotions that couldn't be spoken; clumsy words were replaced and love was returned with a feather soft kiss.

***

An exhausted birthday boy drowsily fell into bed after a long day of partying. He was about to drift off when he felt a lump beneath him. Rubbing his eyes he pulled it out from under him and inspected it with blurry eyes. It was a clumsily wrapped present with a nametag. Reading the tag Tatsuha's eyes widened in surprise, quickly he ripped it open.

Inside was a blue rabbit doll.

' Happy Birthday Tatsuha! Please accept this present, he's Kumagorou's lover…Long ago when I met Kumagorou he said that whoever got his lover would be mine also… I hope Kuma-chan was right.

Much Love Ryuichi.'

~~~

*Usagi means rabbit/bunny.

*Ai means love (as in ai shiteru) I think that's right but if not, sorry ^^;

*Gomen nasai means sorry.