TITLE: Song of the Gentle Wind

CHAPTER: Five

BY: Simply Kim

GENRE: Yaoi (Angst/Humor)

CAST: The guys from Weiß and Schwarz… who else? ^_^

DISCLAIMERS: The series I'm referring to do not belong to me… ^_^

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CHAPTER 5: The Mystery That Was Fujimiya Ran

"Help me... please..."

The sound of the plea was somehow disconcerting. He had just passed by a closed oaken door when he heard the mournful supplication. Curious, he strained his ears to hear more, and possibly, where the voice was coming from. It seemed to be coming from...

"Help me... please..."

Ah, there it was again... wait - was that a sob?

He was starting to panic, he knew, and he tried to control himself from opening all the doors around... starting with the one standing shut before him. He was sure that it was coming from behind that particular door.

He had heard many painful and suffering voices in his life, and he knew a suicidal one when he hears it - it sounds sort of like - like the one he was hearing right then.

"I... I cannot -"

He winced at the utter desperation the word represented, and was currently internalizing a personal debate, as well as contemplating on many ways on how to barge in and comfort the owner of the mysterious voice, when...

"Yuushi!"

"Kyaa!" He yelped, jumping a hundred meters into the air, and landing smack on his bottom. "OW!" He turned and glared at the owner of the voice who intruded upon his thoughts. "Naru-chan! What the heck are you doing here? You scared me!"

Naru grinned, scratching the back of his head in apology. "I heard some desperate voice coming from this floor, and I decided to investigate..."

Yuushi nodded, his blond hair bobbing from the quick movement, and turned worriedly towards the door again. "It's coming from behind here... I heard it too - when I passed by..."

Naru followed his gaze, his eyes betraying a sudden sense of fright as he thought of something disturbing. "Wait - isn't that the empty room? How come there's someone crying in there?" He whispered thoughtfully.

Yuushi paled.

Slowly, he turned towards his younger friend. "Don't tell me..."

Naru nodded, meeting his gaze. He too was pale - and nervous.

They stood there, unsure of what to do, and very much afraid.

Yuushi's mind was a complete tangle. No. There are no ghosts. There must be some sort of explanation for this...

Naru's mind was also traveling in the same wavelength. Maybe someone's stuck in there, asking for help... there are no such things as ghosts... right?

Maybe...

Maybe...

"Boo."

"Kyaa!"

"Eeyagh!"

A dark-haired man stood behind them, silently laughing.

"Masato-san! Don't scare us like that!" Naru pouted, glaring with al the anger he could muster.

"Masato - one of these days, I'm gonna kill you!" Yuushi waved a threatening fist at the newcomer.

Masato just raised an unperturbed eyebrow and grinned slyly. "I sure gave both of you a scare." He turned his attentions towards the closed door. "I wonder what's wrong..."

"No one lives there now, right, sempai?" Naru asked, in a tiny tone of voice. "There's - someone crying inside..."

"Please..."

Yuushi felt goosebumps rise in his arms at the sound of another desperate plea. Naru shuddered, inching a couple of steps away.

Masato said nothing, but there was grim determination in his eyes that intimidated the blond. He raised a hand and knocked softly on the wooden door.

The other two behind him gaped, shock marring their features. Why was he knocking? There's no one in there!

"Fujimiya, please open the door." He called gently. "It's I, Masato."

Much to their surprise, they heard a shuffle of feet and then the door opened.

"Masato-san." The man Masato called 'Fujimiya' greeted quietly, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. He was wearing a thin white shirt and blue jeans with it, and they were almost rumpled beyond repair.

Yuushi could not keep his eyes off the guy.

God, he is beautiful...

Masato's eyes softened at the sorry sight the boy presented. Fujimiya ran looked so vulnerable, and so... unhappy. Manx had given him a brief background about the boy, since it's his duty to know and take care of the students residing in Sakura as the dorm president. He could not say that he was pleased at the information that had been passed to him.

"Are you alright?" He asked with a bit of apprehensiveness.

Ran took a deep breath and gave his senior a miniscule smile. "Aa... I'm fine... just tired... exhausting classes..."

Masato could tell what a lie is when he hears one.

Ran just lied to him between his teeth.

He took a calming breath, and controlled his disciplining nature. He knew Ran had a row with the Conservatorium's head, and he knew he would not have any classes until after three days. He usually do not allow anyone to lie to him, however, due to the boy's circumstances, he let it go.

"You look tired." Masato smiled, placing a comforting hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Rest. We will just call you dinnertime... I was just asking if you are alright."

Ran nodded, giving another wan smile and prepared to close the door. Suddenly he stopped and looked up, his eyes widening behind the tinted lenses of his sunglasses as he heard the parting words of his senior.

"Try to forget Fujimiya-kun... try to forget and start living your life."

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"Masato!" Yuushi called out when the three of them were out of Ran's hearing range. The dorm president was trying his best to ignore him - that much he knew from the way his senior was responding to Naru's comments and taking no notice of his efforts to ask about the boy they had seen earlier. "Masato! Will you stop doing that? You're pissing me off - big time!"

"Your questions don't merit an answer." The elder man said quietly, stopping before his room and fitting the skeleton key in the lock.

"Eh?" Naru's eyes widened as he heard the steely undertone that the blond obviously did not take notice of. "Sempai?"

"What?" Yuushi protested, his eyes narrowing. "I was just asking why Fujimiya looked so forlorn a while ago! Don't tell me you don't know - I know you do, because I saw your eyes take him in sympathetically! C'mon, chief, speak up!"

"..."

With that, Masato opened his door and got in, slamming the door soundly. The wooden surface struck him smack in the middle of his forehead, at the same time, effectively squishing his nose.

"Itai!" He groaned in pain. "That hurt!"

Naru stood by helplessly, trying to get the blond off from trying to break down the door.

POUND. POUND. POUND.

WHACK. WHACK. WHACK.

"MASATO! OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR - NOW!"

WHACK!

Don't stop me, Naru - I'm gonna pound him to death for what he did to my nose!"

Naru sweatdropped.

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"I'm going out, Alex, keep an eye on my room for me." Crawford said respectfully to his dorm's caretaker, giving him a tired smile before he stepped out through the front door.

He started walking aimlessly, his hands in his pockets and his head bowed down, watching as his black boots crushed the grass growing under his feet.

He was still depressed, that he was sure of. His friends' encouragement did take a chunk of his woes away, but it did not exactly eradicate it completely. Sighing, he stopped and looked up at the dark sky. The stars were twinkling like diamonds on midnight blue velvet, and the moon was almost ghostly as a draft of air pushed feathers of clouds across its pale face.

Pale... Just like Fujimiya Ran.

He closed his eyes and conjured the ever-welcome image in his mind.

Pale skin rivaling that of a moonbeam, hair as rich and thick as flowing blood and eyes as purple as amethysts, sparkling under the canopy of thick, dark lashes.

He was beautiful.

God, he was beautiful.

Suddenly, he heard something.

He strained to hear what it was, and his eyes widened in surprise as he realized that what he had heard is the sound of someone singing.

::Umarete kita kioku wa::::Yawarakana kodou ni tsutsumare::::Haha ni dakarete nemutteta::

Crawford could not distinguish what the song was... but he was sure that it was not English. His feet moved quickly, his mind trying to decipher the location of the haunting melody. He turned right and left, moving towards a random looming dormitory.

:: Nokosareta tamashii wa::::Mezame no nai yami o samayou::::Tsurai koto bakari datta ne::

His mind went on overdrive. He nearly smiled in disbelief as his feet took him farther and farther away from the dormitories - away from the Conservatorium. If he were right with his hunch, then he would quickly know who it was that captured his attention so. He was quite positive that the one singing so exquisitely was within the area he in his mind.

:: Osanai omoide wa::::Egao mo chi no umi ni::::Nido to kaeranu Chichi no nukumori::::Kono inori::::Todokunara::

It was his sanctuary.

As he stepped before a low run-down wall, the singing was louder than ever - and even more haunting. Sighing silently, he placed his hands on the flat top of the wall and vaulted himself towards the other side. He landed with catlike grace on the tall grass, and bounded towards where his ears could practically detect the sound.

He shifted the overgrown leaves of a prickly flowering rose bush, and finally got to look at the source of the haunting song.

:: Aa, mamoritakatta::::Ima mo Hitori de iru no ka::

The voice was perfect... but for him, the person singing was even more perfect.

Crawford finally made up his mind to let his presence be known. He stepped forward and his lips stretched into an admiring smile.

"Good evening, Fujimiya Ran."

* * *

Purple eyes widened in shock.

He could not believe it.

A heavy blush stained his normally pale cheeks.

He had heard him sing... How long had he been standing behind him? How could he have been a total idiot that he did not even feel someone lurking near him?

He wanted to cry as the person whom his eyes focused on sauntered nearer...

He willed himself to move, to scamper away, anything! He wanted to escape... He had been discovered! What would he do now?

"Ran..."

That again... his name.

He had never thought that a voice would make his body shiver that way.

He opened his lips to say something that could somehow turn the events around and make the other feel whatever discomfort he was feeling - something along the lines of invading his newly found sanctuary...

However, instead of the thoughts circulating around his brain cells, his mouth uttered another set of words that mirrored the convivial words the other parts of his body dictated...

"Crawford-san... Ohayo."

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TBC

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A/N: Yeah! Another chapter added! ^_^ Finally! Whew! ^_^ I thought I couldn't update anymore... Ehehe ^_^ anyway, what do you think about this part? ^_^ BTW, the song Ran sung was from "Jesus Christ Love for You" by Koji Nanjo of ZetsuAi/Bronze. ^_^ Gotta love that song! ^_^

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