A New Dawn
by Rikugou
AU-ish Pretty Face X-mas giftfic for Hiku-chan
Notes: God I'm slow. XP Yea erm, I'm really rusty in writing. Not that I believe I was much good before, but back then I could put out a chapter a week at least. -_-;; Eh whatever. In the manga, Rina's parents didn't appear much so I have writer's right of changing whatever I damn well please about them. Besides, it sorta makes sense with the short backstory they gave of Yuna's parents' reaction to the fact that she wanted to be a hair stylist. The same goes for Miki's parents.
Thanks to: Hiku-chan for being so damn patient for this. XD
"WHAAATT??? But...but--!!"
"No buts allowed, Yuna! The agreement was for you to finish all of your assignments before we went to the resort and you failed to even complete one of them!" Rina's mother glared at him.
"Kaasan," Rina tugged on her mother's arm. "It's New Year's Eve. We should let onee-chan come too."
He nodded adamantly. "I promise I'll finish my homework as soon as we come back!"
"I'll make sure onee-chan does it!"
Rina's mother frowned and looked about ready to cave when Miwa walked in carrying a thick stack of papers. "Ne, Yuna-chan, you left this in my room." Frowns. "Is this your homework? The answers are all blank."
Randoh could see his winter resort vacation with Rina [plus family] go down the drain.
And get stomped on...
...into little tiny pieces.
"That's it! You, young lady, are staying home! When I come back, all these assignments better be finished or else you're grounded for until next the New Year!"
Rina winced as her mother stood up and stomped away. When she heard her mother banging away in the kitchen, packing away some food for the trip, the brunette turned to her twin. "You told me you had most of it done."
"Eheheheh..." Randoh laughed nervously and gave her an embarassed smile.
"That's okay though," Rina smiled sweetly at her sister. "I'll stay and help you finish it! It'll be more fun that way."
He gave her puppy dog eyes, sniffling slightly. "Really?" The martial artist launched himself at her, intending on enveloping the girl in a hug.
Miwa popped back in again and grabs a hold on the back of her cousin's shirt, yanking her away. 'Yuna' fell facefirst on the floor. "Sorry Yuna-Chan, Rina's going on this trip whether or not she likes it. It'll be good for you to do it yourself anyway," she said as she proceeded to drag a protesting Rina out the door and manhandle her into the car.
He ran outside just as the car drove away with Rina in it. Randoh could see Rina with her face pressed against the window, waving goodbye.
When the car was no longer in his sight, Randoh went back into the house and indulged himself in a stream of profanity. Sulking, he slumped against the closed door and glared at the offending stack of papers sitting oh so innocently on the coffee table. Resigned to his fate, he grabbed them and stalked back upstairs to his room.
No point in inviting more of his "mother's" wrath. The woman was already annoyed enough at Yuna's less than stellar marks.
***
Several hours later, and a quarter through the stack called 'winter homework', Randoh stretched. He grinned in triumph. No one could say that a determined Randoh couldn't get his work done, even if he hated it. Of course, now he had a persistant headache pounding just behind his eyes and the bedroom had a mess of papers scattered all over the floor. But he couldn't become disheartened by it. Most of his good cheer was due to the Rina's phonecall a few hours before, despite the fact that he was alone...
...and alone...
"ARGH!!" Scrubbing a rough hand across his face, he dismissed the melancholy thoughts. So what if he was alone? Randoh stood up and dusted himself off. He glanced at the phone and made a step towards it. As a side project, he had the doctor track down his parents but he hadn't the heart to call them. They probably didn't want to hear someone claiming to be their dead son after so long. And if he did tell them he was alive, his parents would definitely rush back to see him.
And he was in no position to do so.
But...
Would it hurt just to call them and see how they were doing? It was New Year's Eve after all. Before he could talk himself out of it, he picked up the phone and dialed the number.
A woman picked up the phone, laughing slightly. "Moshi moshi? Masashi residence."
In the background, he could hear the muted chatter of a group of people. One of them gave a loud bark of a laugh. He absently recognized it as Kenji-jisan's. Mumbling a quick, "Wrong number," he hung up. Randoh rubbed his face tiredly. It was pointless to mess up his parents' New Years on account of his own solitary holiday. Bringing up their 'dead' son would definitely make his mother sad and that would not be good. Crying women had always been a sort of weak point for him.
Running a hand through his shoulder length hair, Randoh sighed. He forcibly shook himself out of his dark mood and grabbed his coat. If there was no one to have fun with, he'd have to find it himself. He earned it after the torture the teachers called 'homework'. Shoving his feet into a pair of sneakers, he stalked out of the house, locking the door securely behind him.
No siree...he was not going to stay home and mope like a girl. It was bad enough already that he was playing one!
***
Some time later, Randoh found himself wandering about the city with no destination in mind and bored out of his skull. Then again considering the fact that he had to run twenty city blocks to lose the crazy freshman lesbian chick from his school just a little while ago, the lack of excitement was probably a better choice.
All around him, people were celebrating the coming of a new year. It placed a black cloud firmly over his head. Holidays were meant to be spent with family and friends. At the moment, he had neither. Come to think of it, he usually only had his family during this time of year. It wasn't surprising but it made for a depressing time when the family was taken out of the equation. He looked at his watch--8 PM. He had be walking around the city aimlessly for the past three hours.
Sighing, Randoh kicked at a pebble in his path. The joyful revelry around him was really putting him in a bad mood. Spotting a bus just ahead of him, he hesitated before running after it to get on. The bus was practically empty except for a few who had decided to take their celebration of the eve elsewhere. The driver had given him a weird look when he saw he was alone but said nothing.
He stayed on the bus, staring at the scenery passing by. One by one, the passengers got off until it was only him and bus driver. The bus stopped briefly at a lookout point of some sort before he motioned for the driver to stop and got off.
"Ojou-san, are you sure you want to get off here? It's pretty empty this time of night," the driver said in a worried tone. It was pretty dark outside already and the area was devoid of people. If something should happen out there in the middle of no where, it would be near impossible to get help.
Randoh gave the driver a confident grin. "Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look."
The man gave him another frown and reluctantly closed the door before driving away.
He waved at the driver before shoving his hands into his coat pockets. It was beginning to get just a bit chilly. At least he had his scarf and an appropriate jacket. His little outdoor excursion wouldn't go very well if he ended up with a flu. Not only would that stop him from doing the rest of his holiday assignments, he would meet the wrath of his 'mother'. Randoh winced and quickly cast the thought aside before it could further ruin his night.
Randoh continued on his way to the lookout point, walking away from the road. His eyes warily scanned his surroundings. It was highly unlikely that anyone would be here, seeing as it was New Year's but it couldn't hurt to be careful either way. Even he had to admit that he was easy pickings in such a place. The few lamps on the path failed to pierce deeper into the shadows and so he avoided them. No need to make himself a bigger target.
Despite that, it was a peaceful walk to his destination. The stars twinkled merrily above his head in the clear sky, surrounding the nearly full moon. Every so often, he could see a silhouette of a bird pass briefly across the moon. The gravel path crunched beneath his shoes, making it nigh impossible to be quiet. Not that he cared either way, he was pretty confident he could kick the ass of anyone who dared to touch him. All in all, quite picturesque. He walked up the incline and a set of stairs until he cleared the slope and before him laid the half asleep city of his birth.
The view was quite nice from the higher elevation. It would have been nicer if he had company, preferably of the female Rina-shaped variety. But he didn't have much choice in the matter so there was no use worrying about it. Randoh collapsed in an easy sprawl on a bench that presented the best view and stared out over the distance.
Somewhere out there, the real Yuna was probably celebrating the coming New Years. He still couldn't understand why the girl never even wrote a letter home. From what he had seen in the months he had been staying with Rina's family, he would have expected her to at least write one to her sister.
All the pictures and Rina's attitude towards him all pointed out that they were very close siblings. Did Yuna hate her sister or something? The entire situation failed to add up in his mind and it pissed him off.
He also had to commend the girl on being able to hide away for so long. Japan wasn't that big and he still couldn't find a single clue as to her whereabouts. The perverted doctor's site had plenty of hits but all of them misses. It was quite irritating and a very bad train of thoughts to be following on the eve of a new year.
When the sudden and unexpected sound of footsteps reached his ears. Randoh immediately jumped to his feet to face the origin of the sound. The weak lamplight illuminated little and for a moment he entertained the thought of walking away to avoid the unwanted person but quickly dismissed it. If it was one thing Masashi Randoh wasn't, it was a coward.
"Konban wa. I didn't think anyone would be here, much less you Yuna!" said a disturbingly familiar male voice.
/Crap, it's Miki/ "What do you want?" Randoh growled. Of all the possible people he could bump into, why in hell did he get him?!
"I didn't expect to have any company," Miki said in a slightly apologetic tone. "But it's such a pleasant surprise!" The older boy quailed slightly at the murderous glare 'Yuna' gave him. "Erm, I can leave if you want," he added hesitatingly.
Randoh gave him a mildly surprised look before looking away. "Do whatever you want," he muttered. If he was more honest with himself, he would have admitted to the fact that any company, even his overly clingy sempai, would do.
Miki beamed and nearly bounced over to sit beside him, dumping the big duffle bag he carried on the ground.
The martial artist gave the school president a warning look when he tried to sit closer than a foot away. They sat in awkward silence for several heartbeats before Randoh couldn't stand it anymore and blurted out, "Shouldn't you be celebrating with your family?"
An brief expression of pain crossed Miki's face before it was buried under an avalanche of holiday cheer. "We generally don't celebrate it that often. They're both overseas for business."
"Oh," Randoh said, looking away uncomfortably.
"Don't worry about it Yuna! I like celebrating it by myself!" he said with a big smile.
"I wasn't worrying about you!" Randoh snarled, turning away from the other boy. "What are you doing out here anyway?"
"I come here every New Year's eve. It gets a bit cold at night around this time of year so people usually don't come up here so I'm free to stay up here until the next morning to see the sunrise," he cheerfully explained.
"The entire night?" The second year found it a bit weird for someone to voluntarily go out in the cold when they had a perfectly warm house to stay in.
"Hai! I have blankets and pillows with me and food too!"
As if on cue, Randoh's stomach gave a low rumble to remind him that he hadn't eaten anything since he left the house. He blushed involuntarily in embarassment and stood up to leave.
"Have you eaten dinner yet? I have more than enough food for two," Miki asked. He rummaged through his bag, taking out containers of food and rattling off a long list of what he had.
Randoh was more than tempted to stay. After all, it was a free meal wasn't it? And it couldn't hurt as long as Miki didn't try to hug him. Before he could fully make up his mind a pair of chopsticks was placed in his hand along with a plate in the other. "It's New Year's Eve, ne? Celebrating by yourself is a bit boring, right?" the dark haired boy asked. He gently pushed his unresisting crush back onto the bench before snatching up a plate of his own.
"I guess," he said with a slight frown. /Oh what the hell./ "Itadakimasu."
***
Forty-five minutes later and several empty food containers, Randoh burped and sighed an appreciative, "Gochisousama."
Miki had looked on in stunned silence as Yuna proceeded to plow her way through the food he brought with him. Then again, one had to appreciate a girl who ate healthy and didn't watch her weight as self-consciously as some did. Yet another thing that made him like his Yuna as much as he did. "You would probably get along really well with Yamazaki-san," he mused.
"Eh? Who?" Randoh asked lazily, feeling pleasantly full.
"My housekeeper. She'd probably say you were too skinny and try to feed you till you burst," Miki said. At the statement, he couldn't help but trail his eyes over Yuna's body appreciatively, slender even in winter gear. Luckily for him, his crush was feeling lethargic from the meal and wasn't paying much attention to anything in particular.
"I'd gain 10kg [~20lbs] if I ate like this more than once a year," he protested.
The older teen poked Randoh in the side, making him jump. "She'd also say that you need it."
"I do not," he argued adamantly. The younger boy stopped short at the thought. Why in hell was he suddenly worried about his figure?!? Maybe too much time spent in female company rather than male was finally having its effects. /GAH!! Must. Kick. Perverted doctor. In the balls. Next time I see him./
"Yuna is fine as she is, ne?"
Randoh turned away grumpily, folding his arms over his chest. He had almost forgotten that he was the 'female' in the conversation. He had actually started to enjoy having a conversation without a fight break out or hearing about embarassing female stuff that no guy should ever know about. He shivered at the thought. There was no reason why they should talk about their time of the month or their breast size. Not only was some of it nosebleed inducing, it was also mortifying to actually know about it when he was a guy.
Part of a heavy quilt was draped over his shoulders. Randoh looked up at Miki in confusion and frowned. "What's this for?"
"I saw you shivering," he said cheerfully as he wrapped the other end of it around himself, moving closer to his kouhai.
Now that he mentioned it, Randoh was feeling a bit cold but not really something that warranted a quilt. /Oh whatever, it wouldn't hurt to humor the guy just this once just for the holidays./
They sat in comfortable silence, neither wanting to break the quiet for several moments until Randoh broke out in a nearly jawbreaking yawn and stretched cat-like in his seat. "It's getting late. I should go home."
Miki grabbed onto his wrist, stopping him from leaving. Randoh's instinctive response was to yank his wrist away but after the night of peaceful companionship, he was hard pressed to act violent.
"No one's home right? Or else you wouldn't have been out here," Miki stated. "It wouldn't hurt just to stay out this one night. The view of the city is incredible at dawn." He tugged lightly on 'her' wrist, urging his underclassman to stay out with him.
He hesitated.
On one hand, he had actually enjoyed having a civil conversation for once. On the other, he mightr be encouraging the lech and have yet another burr in his side [not that he wasn't one already]. However, there was nothing but an empty house waiting for him to go home to. And it couldn't hurt to be not alone during the holidays right?
With a quiet grumble of acknowledgement [it wouldn't do to appear happy], he sat back down on the bench and wrapped the quilt around his shoulders again.
Miki beamed some more and silently cheered. This was turning out to be the best New Year's Eve ever!
***
They talked through the night and sometime during their conversation Randoh fell asleep. But Miki didn't mind. [And he definitely didn't mind when 'Yuna' turned in her sleep and snuggled up to his side. Definitely didn't mind whatsoever.]
When the first bright rays of light began to touch the horizon, Miki cracked open a sleepy eye, lifting his head from Yuna's. He yawned and stretched carefully as to not jostle the still sleeping girl on his shoulder. Feeling awake enough, he finally nudged the other to consciousness.
"Mm, jus' fi' mo'min," Randoh murmured sleepily.
"It's time to get up. You said you wanted to watch the dawn with me." The older student began to gently shake his crush to wake her up.
The younger boy grumbled and frowned before opening a reluctant eye to see who dared to irritate him at the ungodly hour. When he saw Miki, he readied a fist to punch the guy's lights out except he was tangled within the numerous blankets piled around him. "What's the big ide'wakin m'up s'early?" he muttered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Look," Miki pointed.
Randoh followed the finger and saw the brilliant shards of the bright sun paint the sky in a million shades of red. "Oh...wow," he said in a awestruck voice. He turned towards Miki with a smile, which faded a bit when he saw how close he was and getting closer.
A pair of soft, semi-dry lips covered his in a chaste kiss. "Consider that a commemoration of a new dawn in a new year ne? And maybe a new rela-"
Randoh punched him and sent the dark haired boy flying. "Who said you could do that?!?!"
And with that, he stomped off.
-END-
A/N: Bleh. As for the snuggling, there's evidence of that with him and Miwa. Granted he was dreaming of Rina when he did this, but let's just suppose he did okay?
Comments? Criticisms?
--Rikugou
Finished: 03.04.04