Post
by Sharp-O » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:14 pm
I didn't expect to get this done so quickly but I think a HanakoxRin story works surprisingly well!
Method and Madness
“Hello.”
The sudden advent of a deep voice behind me almost shocks me into a full-blown panic attack. I grip my chest tight, gasping for breath that my tight throat refuses to allow passage into my starved lungs. I grimace at the explicable thought of dying like this, frightened by an unseen person who is no doubt simply being polite.
Scared to death by a greeting.
“I forget to breath sometimes. Here.” The voice comments and I feel a soft, padded pressure on my backside. The intrusion of my personal space, let alone someone touching me, is enough for the girliest shriek I’ve ever let loose from my body ring out into the halls of the dorm. I collapse to my knees, quivering in shock as latches and doors sound off all along the hall.
Curious eyes are upon me and I could not feel worse. An unwanted touch and now the voyeuristic eyes of my dorm-mates… I almost wish the initial shock had killed me.
“Oi! What the hell are you doing, Tezuka?!” A gruff female voice demands and I manage to peer from my shield of hair to see a class-mate leap to my defence.
“Saying hello.” This Tezuka responds plainly.
“You attacked Hanako! I ought to break your damn legs, space-case!” She growls and I thrust a hand out, pressing against her leg before quickly retracting it.
“Puh-p-please… No… Sh-She r-r-r-really did s-say h-hello a-and I fuh-fuh-freaked…” I struggle with almost every damn word, rushing an explanation as quickly as my anxious mind and spastic throat will allow. The dark-skinned Amazon crouches down and offers her hand out and I shrink from it, glancing quickly at Miki’s sympathetic eyes, wrought with concern for me, before casting my gaze down once more.
“It’s okay, Hanako. I’m going to raise my voice once more, just to clear the halls for you. Okay?” She asks for permission and it takes every ounce of strength for me to muster a nod of compliance. She stands and her voice booms once more. “Alright, losers! Show’s over! Get back in your rooms before I start busting heads!”
The frightened scurrying and locking of doors makes me smile inside. God I wish I could be more like her… “You gonna be good now or do you want me to fetch blondie?”
I shake my head and Miki sighs heavily. “Okay… You, take a walk, will ya?” Her ire now solely focused on the girl behind me but barely raised above her usual cadence.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten her. It’s like tripping over. You never mean to do it but sometimes you do and you can’t help it.” The girl explains and I think I get what she means. It was an accident. She didn’t mean to do it. I finally have the courage to look over my shoulder at the girl behind me and see she’s wearing a boy’s uniform sans shoes, the arms knotted just above the elbows. I look at her face and her eyes catch me instantly. Two gigantic pools of verdant green, curiously staring at me, while her short and dishevelled auburn hair frames her pale face.
“Hello.” She repeats, now that I’m facing her. I flinch a little but she’s clearly harmless so I meekly offer a greeting back.
“H-H-Hello…”
“Can you breath now?” She tilts her with an odd expression, almost of surprise, as she asks.
“Y-Yes… Th-Thank you.”
“Good. I’m pretty sure you need to keep doing that. But don’t think about it, thinking about it makes it harder. Just do it.” She offers what I assume is advice and I nod cautiously. She stands looking at me for a little longer before turning 180° and walking towards the stair well. She disappears from sight and I breath a sigh of relief.
“You gonna be okay?” Miki inquires and I nod, rising steadily and brushing off my leggings.
“I a-am n-now. Thank y-you, Miki.” I bow politely and she waves me off with her right hand.
“No problem, kiddo. You take care and watch out for that one. She’s a weirdo.” Miki chuckles as she pats me on the shoulder. I smile a little and she walks in the opposite direction to me.
-------
Over the next few days, I learned more about my mysterious ‘attacker’. Her full name is Rin Tezuka and she’s best friends and class-mates with Emi Ibarazaki. It’s hard to think of them being friends. If she’s as much of a ‘space-case’ as Miki suggested, then it’s hard to imagine her keeping up with Emi.
Or maybe Emi spends her time chasing Rin around. The irony is pretty funny but not as much as the realisation that she’s much like I am. She’s the oddball friend to the popular one in the limelight. Not that Lilly would frame it that way but it’s hard to escape the thought sometimes…
That thought sticks with me as I watch Rin sit in front of her mural. Twenty minutes pass and I begin to wonder if she’s even awake. I creep closer and see that she certainly has her eyes closed but if she’s…
“A little to the left.” She says, seemingly to me since I’m the only one here and I side-step without a second thought.
“That’s better.” Rin leans backwards and looks at me, her world view undoubtedly upside down as she speaks again.
“You make excellent shade.” She smiles a little up at me and I furrow my brow in confusion before I realise she now sits in my long, slender shadow.
“G-Glad I c-could h-help?” I offer nervously and she returns her gaze to her unfinished mural. I frown at it. I don’t like it.
“You don’t like it, do you?” She asks, as if I’d spoken my inner thoughts out loud. Oh dear. I didn’t actually do that, did I?
“N-Not r-r-really, no…” I say and she nods along. “The t-t-talent behind it is ex-extraordinary but I th-think the imagery is h-horrible…” I critique quietly as the artist takes it in.
“You’re the first. To say that. Not the first to see it.”
“D-Do you think it’ll be d-done for the f-festival.” I ask, curious if one artist, no matter how talented, could accomplish such a thing. The festival is only a few days away after all.
“Hisao has helped. As much as he can anyway.” Hisao? The new boy?
“Th-That’s n-nice of him.” I smile a little. He does seem nice.
“He hasn’t got a problem with his tackle, which is boring.” She offers boldly and my cheeks burn red hot. Has she? Did he? Howwhatwherewhenwhy? “I’m Rin, by the way. Didn’t say it the other day.”
“I’m, uh, H-H-Hanako… N-Nice to m-meet you.”
“Ha-Ha-Hankako. Your name is laughing.” Is she making fun of my stutter? “That’s funny.” She turns her head to look at me with a cheeky grin and I’m sure I’ve turned as red as her hair.
-------
The more I interact with Rin, the more I feel she’s very misunderstood. Which seems par for the course, because I don’t think she even understands herself. I know that feeling. Well, not exactly but something akin to it.
We bumped into each other a bunch of times after the festival. I found her standing out in the rain, offering to share my umbrella with her. It was the closest I’ve been to another person other than Lilly.
Another time, she’d wandered into the library and plopped down in a beanbag beside me. It startled me, but not as much as her peering over my shoulder. It just had to be the day I got curious about that one romance novel in the library that’s supposed to be very lewd. It was and she grinned like the Cheshire Cat as she read over my shoulder, her close proximity and her hot breath on my neck paralysing me. All I could do is turn the page when she asked and feel my entire body burning up. I don’t think I ever wanted an ice cold shower before but it sounded like nirvana in that very moment.
-------
You sad, pathetic loser. Every damn year you do this to yourself. You could be out with the few friends you’ve made since Lilly left but noooo, you wanted to sit and dwell on the past. Hisao offered to hang out, Miki wanted to go watch a movie, even that sarcastic sass-hole Akio offered to do something with you but you pushed them all away so you could cry in your room…
Knock
What was that? Did someone actually come and see me? It’s odd that they only knocked once. Maybe someone just bumped the door. I cautiously slide open my door a crack, only to be met by a giant green eye that startles me, sending me back onto my butt.
“Hey Hanako.” The deep drone of Rin announces as she bumps the door open with her knee and enters without permission, closing the door behind her.
“Wh-what are y-y-you d-d-d-doing?!” I ask, exasperated that she just waltzed in.
“I came to say Happy Birthday. That’s something people do, right? Or have I got that mixed up with Tanabata? It’s hard to keep track of all those.” She furrows her brow at me, but I don’t think she’s even looking at me really. More into the middle distance.
“I d-d-d-didn’t want to s-see a-anybody today…” I grumble, getting to my feet. Rin stands there for minutes on end and I just get angrier that my brooding has been disturbed.
“Why?” She finally speaks and I narrow my eyes at her.
“Why wh-what?”
“Why don’t you want to see any bodies? Everyone has a body, even you. Do you not want to see yourself?”
“Sometimes… Y-Yeah. I think th-that would be easier.” I whisper and Rin continues to look at me quizzically.
“Why?” Again with the impertinent questions.
“Because.” I respond curtly, folding my arms tightly across my chest.
“Because?”
“Because I… B-because it’s h-hard! It’s h-hard every d-day but especially t-today and p-please d-don’t ask m-me why again b-because even if I c-could articulate the st-storm of self-l-loathing and d-depression ch-churning inside m-me right now, I d-d-don’t think you’d even understand!” I stammer and trip over my words as I pace back and forth, getting more frustrated with both myself and having to explain it to someone who just doesn’t understand. Could never understand.
“It’s b-better if I’m a-alone. It’s m-meant to b-be that w-way. I’m a-always alone.” I admit quietly as I come to a stop in front of my bed. “J-just leave m-me aloOOAH!” Somehow, Rin had closed the distance between us and pushed her body against me, sending us both tumbling onto my bed.
“Wh-what are you d-d-doing!?” I ask again, this time with a surprisingly heavy girl resting on top of me, face pressed firmly into my chest. I’d push her off if I wasn’t paralysed by the surprise human contact, yet another of my weaknesses I loathe.
“I’m hugging you, Hanako.” She states, her words slightly muffled by a face full of my night gown. What…?
“WHY!?” I almost scream but think better of it, only raising my voice slightly but still louder than I’m accustomed to.
“How many people are there in the world?” She asks with a curious tone. What?!
“Wha--”
“How many?”
“S-seven billion, give or t-take.” I say, a little bitterly. Just like always, I’m trying to figure out the muddled maze of her mind with little success. Where’s she going with this?
“How many people are in this school?” She asks another question and I think hard.
“A h-hundred or so, p-probably more…” Her thighs grip my waist tight, pulling herself up with her core muscles and straddling me before releasing her grip. She sits on top of me for a minute, peering through the dim lighting with her huge eyes.
“Who is here right now?”
“… You.”
“Are you alone?” Oh. Ohhhhh.
My cheeks burn as I stare up at the arm-less artist straddling me. “No…”
“See?” She smiles down at me and, whether she meant to or not in her own befuddled way, makes me feel more love and care than I’ve felt in a long time… I rise onto my elbows and then sit up, my face mere inches from Rin’s. Her gaze doesn’t falter, not even for a second. No avoidance out of embarrassment, no sly peek at my scars, her eyes are on mine and mine alone.
“R-Rin…” I reach toward her face tentatively and find her face to exude warmth in spite of her pale complexion. She doesn’t flinch at my touch, merely tilting her head into my hand.
I’ve never done this before. Thought about it once or twice, mostly out of curiosity. But right now; as I take her face into my other hand, heart-pounding in my chest and watching for any sign of hesitation on her part, I feel that I can. And I do.
I kiss Rin Tezuka softly and slowly, giving her a chance to pull back but she doesn’t. I break the kiss and lean back. She opens her eyes and stares blankly for a couple seconds before the edges of her mouth tug into a smile.
“Again.” She demands and I oblige with another kiss. Deeper, more passionate. Her short arms rest on my shoulders as my hands slide down her face and chest, wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer to me. She tastes of oranges. Why did I think she’d taste of paint?
Silly Hanako.
We break from the kiss, my breathing laboured, just as much as hers. As cool and composed as she normally is, she’s got a devilish twinkle in those beautiful green eyes now and I follow them down to her shirt and tie.
“It needs to come off.” She says, smirking ever so slightly. She’s right of course. It does need to come off.
Right now.