TITLE: Song of the Gentle Wind

CHAPTER: Seven

BY: Simply Kim

GENRE: Yaoi (Angst/Humor)

CAST: The guys from Weiß and Schwarz… who else? ^_^ (And, Ehehe... yeah, I forgot to mention in the preceding parts... the Crashers too. ^_^;

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

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CHAPTER 7: Friends - Who Could Ever Do Without Them?

"Fujimiya-san!"

He had never seen such energetic person in his whole life.

Chocolate colored locks bobbed up and down as athletic arms waved wildly. He was sure that he did not know who the person was, but he knew that he had seen him before. Ran stopped in his hunt for an unoccupied table in the cafeteria and turned to fully face the bouncy persona who popped suddenly in front of him, making him reel slightly back, making a slight show of juggling with the contents of his lunch tray.

He blinked twice; cheeks stained a faint crimson at the scrutiny of young teal eyes, and the proximity of an athletic build nearly pressed against his own body.

Suddenly, the eyes blinked, and the face leaning in towards his broke into one of the friendliest grins he had ever seen.

"Fujimiya Ran?" The boy inquired, his eyes dancing with sheer happiness that resulted from something Ran could not even understand.

"Aa..." He was still a bit dazed from being caught unaware, and he was trying to dredge up where he had seen the one who assaulted him before...

"Hidaka Ken!" The boy's grin was impossibly wider. Ran swore that if it broadened into another notch, the features would split. "Pleased to meet you!"

Ken bowed almost respectfully, and started pulling him towards who-knows-where. A vein popped from Ran's forehead. It was getting annoying.

"Urusai." He said darkly, giving Ken's back a deadly glare.

Ken turned in surprise, and his hand dropped from the hem of Ran's shirt to his sides. "Oi, don't be mad..."

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't get mad at you... I don't even know who you are, and you're pulling me off somewhere..."

"But I told you already who I am! I'm -"

"Yes, I know you're Hidaka Ken..." Ran grated out, exasperatedly, his dark gaze softening a bit from the look of puzzlement in Ken's teal eyes. "What I don't know is where you came from, and how you knew me."

"Oh." Ken's cheek reddened as he realized his stupidity. "Well, Ehehe... I'm Ken - and you know that already... I'm Omi-chan's friend..."

"Omi-chan?"

"Ah, I mean, Tsukiyono Omi's friend... I live in the Sakura... and umm..." Ken, obviously nervous and trying to calm his nerves after receiving a death glare, stammered.

"And you sound like a chicken."

"And I sound like a chick - Youji!" Ken lost his air of fear and glared at a tall blond man carrying a leather flute case who was sauntering towards them.

The newcomer who Kan had called Youji grinned lazily, his eyes surveying Ran's physique from head to toe, his eyes approving of his choice of clothes. "Fashionable... a bit on the conservative side, but still fashionable... amazing..." He extended his hand in a show of goodwill. "I'm Kudou Youji, at your service. You look much better up close than twenty meters away."

Ran shifted his hold on his tray and took the hand somewhat reluctantly, shaking it slightly before letting go. "Fujimiya Ran." He gave him a small smile. So this is Kudou Youji. It was almost impossible to bear a grudge against this man... he was too much of a charmer that he can coax the skin off a snake - or from what he had heard of him, the panties off a lady. He had heard too much bed action from the few girls who seemed to have dated him to last him a lifetime. "How did you know who I was?"

"Omittchi told us about you, you know, Omi... the boy with the irresistible big watery blue eyes that no one would dare to go against?"

Ran was starting to warm up to Youji. He was somehow soothing, even with the predatory glint that seemed to be a part of his gaze already. "Aa... you're right about that. He's hard to contradict... he's too cute..."

"I'm NOT cute!"

The three who had been standing in the middle of the cafeteria turned and smiled fondly at the sight of a huffing Omi, his lips pouting and his eyes trying its best to give them a glare. Of course, the effect had not been what he expected - it made him look more childish than usual.

"Omi, you're eating that?" Ken asked, obviously aghast as he surveyed the vast array of junk food deposited on the lunch tray. The only item that had some sort of nutritional value was a slice of cheesy and gooey pizza on a white plate.

Omi lost his dark look and immediately beamed as his eyes fell on the huge piles of crackers, Pocky and chocolate bars on his red tray. "Yup, I sure will be eating all of these!"

Youji rolled his eyes and snatched the tray from Omi's hands, holding it high over his head as the boy jumped repeatedly to reach his prized food source. "You're not eating this for lunch." The blond playboy declared firmly, motioning Ran to take the tray from him and place it somewhere else that Omi cannot reach. He readily complied, not approving the boy's meal himself. He stood on his tiptoes and took the tray from Youji.

"Oh no, not you too, Ran-kun!" Omi protested, looking crestfallen now that ran had his food.

Ran was almost moved to pity at the sight of the defeated teen looking at him with pleading blue eyes. Well, as said - ALMOST. He shook his head and fixed Omi with a level gaze. "I'll make a deal with you."

Omi brightened at the prospect of having a chance to get back his food.

"If you eat a healthy batch of food... and I mean a serving of those..." Ran motioned towards a huge plate of mixed vegetables and tofu meat delicacies intended for vegetarians that was sitting on the serving counter, with a flicker of his lavender eyes. "I'll give you your chocolate bars back."

"Only the chocolate bars?" Omi asked with a small voice, gazing at the vegetables as if they were poison.

"Okay, the chocolate bars and the pizza." Ran conceded.

"What about my Pocky?" Omi protested, looking back up at him, seeming near tears.

"I'm putting it on hold." Ken interjected smiling. "You'll get it if you promise to stop drinking cola for a whole week."

"A WHOLE WEEK?" Omi nearly burst into tears. "But I can't -"

"No buts." Ken grinned, his eyes dancing.

Omi groaned, stepping up quickly into the cafeteria line again to get a hold of the vegetable and tofu dishes being served, muttering about the world being unfair to him, and his own friends deserting him.

"Oh, there's Nagi. C'mon, let's go, my hands are cramped from carrying this tray around for too long." Ken said cheerfully, staring towards a long table where a familiar boy sat quietly.

Youji took the tray from Ran with a grin and stood back to let Ran pass.

Reluctantly, but with some measure of excitement, he followed Ken, realizing as he did, that he had somehow accepted them as his company. He smiled to himself as he remembered his father's words when he was young:

You will know who your friends are if your body responds positively towards them. Your friends choose you, and you do not choose them.

He set his tray across Nagi and sat gracefully, smiling as the boy looked up at him and gave him a shy smile.

"Ran - san... ohayo." Nagi greeted him softly.

"Ohayo, Nagi-kun." Ran smiled back. "How are you doing? You okay with Omi and cello?"

Nagi's smiled widened a bit, as he nodded. "I'm getting better in playing the cello... Omi's a great instructor."

Ran nodded, his eyes shifting towards a fast-approaching Omi who looked a bit green as he stared at what his new tray held. "Great to hear that." He scooted sideways, making room for Omi's sickly form.

Nagi frowned, worried over the way his best friend looked, he gave a sideways glance at Ran, who just shrugged, making a show of applying himself to his lunch.

Ran smiled to himself. It was a bit cruel, he knew, but someday, Omi will thank him for it.

"So, Ran." Ken grinned, his eyes sparkling as he took a huge sip of his protein shake. "Tell us something about yourself."

He immediately stiffened, voices shattering his fragile memories into a million tiny pieces...

<FLASHBACK>

"So... Ran... tell me something about yourself..."

He could not stop himself from wincing at the futile attempt of his ravager to make casual conversation. He was still bound by long silk strips to the huge four-poster bed, and blood was literally trickling out of his body from his...

"Aren't you going to answer me?"

All Ran did was glare with overflowing menace. His lavender eyes screamed murder as he gazed with open contempt at the dark beady orbs.

The heavyset man that was Takatori Reiji laughed, taking a drag from his cigarette and blowing a ring of smoke on his pale face, sending him to bouts of coughing. "I pity you Ran, you've got great potential, and yet, here you are... so helpless..."

"No thanks to you." He said scathingly, pulling at the strips of cloth impending his movement.

Laughter.

Cruel laughter.

"Ah... at least now I know something about you..."

"And what would that be?"

Takatori grinned at him evilly, his eyes glittering almost manically.

"That you will love hating me your whole life."

<END FLASHBACK>

"Uh... Ran-kun?" Ken poked his ribs lightly, making him snap out of his reverie. The voice was almost hysterical, he noted, and he knew the boy had every right to be... after all, it's not everyday that one sees a person getting eerie over random things... "Are you alright? Did I say something wrong? Are you mad at me? Did I offend you with my question? I -"

"I'm fine Hidaka-san." Ran said gently, his voice soothing the boy in a small measure.

The boy suddenly stopped his barrage of questioning and his eyes widened into huge plates. "Hidaka-san? Heck, why are you calling me that? I'm not that old! Ken will do!" He grinned boyishly, taking a bite of his foot long hotdog. "Drop the honorific... it doesn't suit me!"

Ran nodded, smiling at such display of careless youth. He noticed Youji's somewhat tender gaze on the hyperactive bundle of youth and smiled inwardly. This is interesting...

"Ah, there they are!" Omi cried out happily, waving to someone behind Ran. "Finally! You're late!"

"Sorry kleiner Junge, Crawfish was late."

That voice is quite familiar... He thought, the hairs on the back of his neck rising.

"We're really sorry... Crawford woke up late and... What in the SEVEN HELLS is that?!"

Ken guffawed at whatever the expression of the newcomer - no, newcomers were.

"Eew Ken... gross!" Youji's nose scrunched up in distaste, his eyes twinkling at the prospect of teasing the boy again.

Ran could almost hear his thoughts...

"You don't have to rub it in."

That single tone of voice rippled through his spine. He recognized the tone... the speed of communication... the...

"Ran..."

The way he says my name...

It was unmistakable.

It was Brad Crawford.

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It was a shock for him to see Ran so soon, after what happened last night. However, he could not deny the coursing excitement and some other emotion he could not name.

"Ran..." he murmured, in his own breathless way. He was rolling the name around his tongue, reveling in its aftertaste. He did not know why he was doing it... it was as if it came naturally.

There was only one empty chair after Schuldig and Farfarello sat down with their grub - and as if heaven was conspiring against the two of them, it was directly in front of his point of obsession.

"Crawford-san..."

Beautiful... simply beautiful. Ran's voice has that haunting quality that leaves every person transfixed.

"How are you doing?" He asked softly, deliberately conversing under his breath, isolating the two of them from the noise around them.

"I - I'm fine... still - "

"Still feeling alone, huh?" Crawford finished thoughtfully. "But did you act on it?"

Ran looked crestfallen, and he felt sorry for him. He did not know of what had why he was crying last night, and still, at that moment, he did not... he desperately wanted to take him away from everything that was bothering him.

He wanted to hear him laugh... he wanted to see a smile on his face every minute... he wanted to hear him talk...

He wanted to hear him sing again.

He was quite sure that the boy Professor De Vry had spoken of during composition class was Ran himself. The boy who wanted to hide his loneliness from the world and deliberately hiding who and what he was from the world... The boy who, even with immerse talents wouldn't sing because of a painful past...

The boy who would not dare sing.

He was so sure that he was the only one outside of the boy's family that had any idea of how beautiful his voice was - and he somehow knew that he was also the first person outside Ran's family who have heard him sing without any form of restraint.

He wanted to hear it again.

There was a tune in his head that beat at the same pace as the character in Ran's golden voice...

"Iya, I did not." Ran spoke quietly after a long moment of silence. "I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter whether you act on it." Crawford smiled softly, his eyes glittering with something akin to tenderness. "As long as you believe that someone will always be there to guide you..."

"Believe..."

"Yes Ran... believe..."

He saw the clearing of the momentary clouds in the boy's eyes. Yes, the boy was starting to believe in himself... and soon, he would unfurl to be one of the best.

He will help him.

He will take away the shadows that plagues Ran's psyche... the darkness in the otherwise untainted soul... protect him...

Until...

Crawford closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He knew it was ridiculous to even think of it that way, but...

He wanted to be the one to put the darkness to an end... the light prevailing... working for it until...

Until he was one with him.

He opened his eyes and met Ran's gaze.

"Are you alright, Crawford-san?" Ran asked, concern marring his brows in a slight frown.

"Yes, I'm fine." Crawford grinned, his chocolate eyes taking in the beauty of the person before him. "Come on, let's eat." He said as he speared a salad green with his fork.

Ran smiled, applying himself to his own lunch.

"Crawford-san..."

He looked up questioningly.

"I will always believe."

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TBC

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A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! ^_^ Sorry for the delay, I had a compre exam and had to study for it... I promise to update real soon! ^_^ Well, how was this part, was it good enough?

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