tomodachi - IV. Mamoritai
~友達~
~tomodachi~
IV. Mamoritai
Ryo found himself instinctively stepping back, backing away from the teacher’s steadily approaching figure.
“My own special lesson, planned especially for you, my little Ryo,” the teacher sneered, as Ryo felt his spine crash against a wall behind him. The teacher had cornered him, like a cat ready to devour its prey.
Disconcerting confusion lurked in Ryo’s mind, warnings alarming him that something was going terribly wrong. A chilling tremor slivered up his spine as the teacher used one hand to throw him roughly down against the wall, and the other to dig his fingers deep into Ryo’s collarbone.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Ryo choked in fear from the burst of violence, wincing from the sharp pain of his teacher’s nails penetrating his flesh. The teacher didn’t answer. He merely smirked again as he loosened his grip on Ryo and, instead, slid his hand down his student’s chest, tracing the boy’s beautifully defined abs before Ryo managed to grasp enough of a grip on the situation from his state of shock to shove the teacher away from him.
“Get your hands off of me!” Ryo’s voice wavered with terror, but his eyes hardened with retaliation.
“Don’t try to fight back, or I might just be forced to hurt you,” the teacher hissed, pinning Ryo back against the wall.
Beneath him, Ryo shuddered in disgust. “You sick bastard, don’t you dare lay a finger on me!” he shouted, kicking his teacher in the gut as he thrashed out his appendages.
“Be a good little boy, Ryo,” his voice purred, smooth like melted ice, as his hands found their way down to the edge of Ryo’s shirt, tickling his exposed belly.
“No! Stop it!” Ryo yelled out, but in a split second, the older man’s hands had found their way up his shirt, the freezing contact leaving behind a trail of tingling goosebumps on his naked skin as the hands explored every inch of his torso.
“Get away!” Ryo protested to no avail. He pushed and kicked with all his strength, and with a splitting rip, his shirt tattered in pieces, lifeless strands of torn cloth hanging from his bare chest, a strip dangled from the teacher’s clenched fist. Ryo collapsed to the floor in agony, panting, a cold sweat breaking out across his trembling body.
“D-Don’t touch me,” he stammered, his mind still having trouble comprehending what was happening; everything was just too sudden. “I’m reporting you to the principal,” Ryo warned, his voice quivered in hesitancy from trying to relieve his panic. “Y-You’re not going to get away with this,” he tried to sound as confident as he felt vulnerable. Biting back salty tears, Ryo gritted his teeth.
He was powerless.
Ryo pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his own body, as if shielding himself from danger. At this, the teacher sounded his booming laughter, echoing hauntingly in Ryo’s helpless mind. He wished he could cover his ears to muffle out the horrifying sound, but it was no use.
“You will never learn, will you, little Ryo?” Even if you tell anyone, no one will believe you. It’ll just be your word against mine. No matter what you say-” he crawled over to where Ryo was crouched pitifully on the floor and loomed over his student as he muttered, “No one will ever listen.” The sneer resurfaced on his malignant smirk. Slowly, he pried Ryo’s arms, now rendered feeble with weakness, away from the boy’s uncovered body.
“Stop… No, don’t….” was all Ryo could plead, his eyes widened as the teacher’s lit with hunger and greed. Within the next second, he lunged for Ryo’s unguarded belt buckle.
“GET OFF OF HIM!” An unfamiliar voice screamed.
Those were the last words that penetrated Ryo’s ears, before his world dyed black.
In the darkness, a firm grip suddenly grabbed onto his arm, jerking him to his feet.
“What’s going on? Who’s there!?” the teacher demanded, bellowing at the top of his lungs.
Crashing desks being knocked out of the way indicated where the unknown boy was blindly clearing the way out for Ryo and himself.
“Who’s there?!” the teacher roared once more, his ire inundating with fury.
Ryo’s eyes widened with amazement as he realized his savior still wasn’t letting go of his hand. “Who-” he began to whisper, but he was stopped by a strangely familiar “Shh!” Ryo didn’t have a chance to remonstrate before his breath was snatched out of him, a sharp gasp escaped from his lips as he tripped over a strewn desk, sprawled across the floor. Only the mere strength of his rescuer’s pull, dragging him through the blackness, saved him from crashing down to the floor. Ryo’s breath hitched, suffocating his lungs, caught in his throat, only to be liberated, screaming free, with the crashing open of the classroom door and the blaring rays of artificial light devastating the darkness within the next second.
But they didn’t stop running.
Shallow pockets of air slammed in and out of their heaving chests, matching the unbridled pounding of their hearts. With a deafening crash, they cleared the building, rushing out into the overcast afternoon, the sun masked by the shadows of sobbing clouds.
But they didn’t stop running.
Heaven’s tears flooded their senses, sheets of rain drenching their bodies with layer after layer of draping waves. Puddles splashed under their feet, the still waters already disturbed by the abiding downpour, soaking their shoes and socks with caking mud.
But they didn’t stop running.
They didn’t stop, not until they reached the dorm.
Rain beat down on their weakening bodies, but neither boy moved to unlock the door. A single light bulb hung over the front step of the building; it dangled feebly in the thundering winds. Finally, the face of Ryo’s savior was exposed in the swaying beam of frail radiance.
“O-Ohkura?” Ryo breathed out heavily, not believing his eyes.
“Ryo,” the younger boy murmured inaudibly.
“O-Ohkura…” Ryo’s world was crumbling down within his mind; his knees gave way and he crumpled wretchedly to the ground, burying his face into his shuddering hands. His thoughts blurred, confusion swirled, and his eyes marred with tears. “Wh-” was all he managed to mumble before tears began rolling from his eyes, blurring with the rain, etching new trails down his cheeks.
“Shh… it’s okay,” Ohkura knelt down beside him, taking off his own jacket to drape over Ryo’s stripped torso. It was already dampened by the rain, but Ryo didn’t care. He tightened his fingers, clenching on the seemingly useless piece of cloth, as if in gratefulness.
Wordlessly, Ohkura closed his eyes, enveloping his warmth around the trembling body before him. Ryo’s sobbing only augmented, his tears swelling with grief.
And for a precious moment, Ryo wept in Ohkura’s arms.
Water began to penetrate every inch of their freezing bodies, but neither boy moved to unlock the door. Their shared warmth was far too priceless.
“Shh… don’t cry. I’ll stay by your side… I won’t let him get away with hurting you, I promise.” Ohkura’s voice was soft, pillowed by pure sincerity. So soft, the sound of his words was comfort in itself. But it was a blind comfort.
“Ohkura, y-you can’t. I-If you tell anyone, he’ll have you expelled. I-I know there’s no hope for me… I’ll be l-lucky if he doesn’t k-kill me after this, but you shouldn’t get involved. I-I don’t want you to be punished for no reason,” Ryo stumbled over his incoherent words.
Ohkura shook his head, “I don’t care if we both get expelled; I don’t care if I lose everything. I want to be with you. I can’t do anything more than this.”
“B-But why?” Ryo asked bewilderedly. “You don’t have to do this to yourself,” he insisted in a muddled murmur.
“I do… Because I… I want to protect you,” Ohkura whispered.
~~
“I meant what I said,” Ohkura sighed, climbing into his bed after he had returned from taking a steaming shower to thaw his senses that had been numbed by the icy rain.
“… About what?” Ryo inquired cautiously, innocently. He turned over in bed so that his back faced the direction of the younger boy; in the dimness, his eyes traced over the cracks lining the wall adjacent to his bed.
“I… I don’t know,” Ohkura admitted uncertainly. “On the way back to the dorm, I just suddenly remembered that we could walk back together if I just waited up for you for a second. I was already halfway there, but I turned back anyway, out of some strange instinct. It was a good thing I did, too.” His last words resounded as barely an audible whisper, but Ryo heard him nevertheless.
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it,” Ryo mumbled, rendered uncomfortable by the subject.
“If you don’t want to, of course I won’t. But I will have to tell the administration tomorrow, as soon as the front office opens,” Ohkura insisted adamantly, sitting up in his bed. “Come with me, please?” He asked, his tone softening with care. “I know you won’t want to talk about it, but I’ll be by your side; you don’t have to fear.”
“…” Ryo couldn’t find a voice to answer. Instead, he buried his face into his pillow, trying not to let the misery blur his judgment.
“Ryo…”
The older boy’s heart skipped a beat under the warm layers of his blankets, taken aback by the sound of Ohkura’s voice breathing so close, whispering his name so tenderly beside his ear.
“Hmph?” Ryo grunted, afraid to lift his face to see Ohkura at his bedside.
“Together… we can get through this. I promise.”
Ryo’s shoulders shook uncontrollably as he felt the moisture welling in his eyes once more. He hated it. He hated acting like a girl, especially in front of a kid that even looked more like a girl than he did. But he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stop crying.
“I-I don’t want you to get hurt,” Ryo stumbled on his tear-stained words.
“I can’t just stand back and watch you face this alone,” Ohkura persisted, defiance radiating from his dark eyes.
Ryo bit his lip; he didn’t want Ohkura to get used to treating him like a submissive crybaby. “You…” He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Turning to lie onto his back to face Ohkura, he propped his torso onto his elbows and masked his tenuous emotions with an apathetic scowl on his lips. “Why do you even care? You shouldn’t. You’re just going to bring trouble onto yourself, and that’s the last thing I would want - to be responsible for you.”
“We’re friends, aren’t we?” Ohkura rolled his eyes, nudging Ryo gently on the shoulder. Ryo threw his head back and shot off a short laugh. “If you’re talking about that meaningless speech I gave to… to him earlier, I only did that because he was being such a jerk. You didn’t have to take that to heart,” he shrugged.
Ohkura cocked his head in questioning, chagrined by the older boy’s indifference. “You seemed pretty passionate about standing up for me in class,” he whispered with a sly smile.
“Well… I mean, I was just-”
“It’s okay,” Ohkura laughed, putting a finger to Ryo’s lips. “You saved me once, and I’ve just returned the favor. There’s not much else you need to explain. I will protect you; I will take care of you. I promise. I can only hope you’ll do the same for me.”
Ryo felt his cheeks imbue with a gentle warmth from the touch, but it wasn’t until Ohkura settled himself down lightly on the edge of Ryo’s bed and grazed his soft lips over Ryo’s forehead did Ryo’s heartbeat begin to race madly.
“Good night,” Ohkura smiled tenderly, and Ryo couldn’t help but feel his heart melting from the sweetness in his low murmur.
“Wait,” Ryo stopped him, sitting upright and putting his hand on Ohkura’s shoulder, just like his had in class that day. “Wait,” he repeated; his expression was emotionless but his nerves panicked with tension.
“You said… You said we’re friends, right? Then as a friend… can I try something…? It’s something I’ve never done with any of my friends before. But I want to try it, with you… will you allow me to?” Ryo’s appeal came in a dark whisper; his eyes focused on Ohkura’s pink lips, outlined just barely in the shadows of the night.
Ohkura nodded, his gaze reflecting a touch of fear, but his consent indicated his trust.
“I would never hurt you,” Ryo reassured him gently. “I just… I just want to try…” Slowly, he placed a hand on Ohkura’s cheek, cupping it tenderly. He could feel the younger once trembling under his touch. “Don’t be afraid,” Ryo murmured. Ohkura merely nodded once more, closing his eyes as he was lulled into an unfamiliar comfort of being held in Ryo’s soft hand. Taking a deep breath, Ryo tilted his head ever so slightly, closing his eyes, too, and began to lean in for those precious lips.
But he stopped.
He stopped just before his lips could discover Ohkura’s gentle touch.
The warmth of Ohkura’s breath collided with his own, in rapid, frantic succession; he yearned to ensnare Ohkura’s lips. They were so close, but… “I can’t,” he conceded softly, opening his eyes to find Ohkura gazing intently back at him. His eyes traced over his features, as if Ryo seemed completely different when he was oh, so close.
“Can I?”
An innocent question, and Ohkura sealed the distance between them.
At first, Ryo found himself only tempting the younger boy, his lips barely brushing, brushing lightly against the other’s. But when he found himself craving to savor Ohkura’s taste even more, Ryo tried deepening his kiss, allowing Ohkura’s seemingly weightless body fall gently onto his, pushing Ryo down into the soft folds of Ryo’s blankets.
But then… the voices flooded from his memories.
…my own special lesson…don’t try to fight back.
GET AWAY! DON’T TOUCH ME!
…you will never learn…
NO! STOP IT!
…no one will ever listen…
Y-You’re not going to get away with this…
…be a good little boy, Ryo…
Ryo…
Ryo…
“Ryo?”
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Ryo shouted at Ohkura, his body convulsing with flashes of images from the scarring recollection… of being pushed down, pushed underneath, submissive, they so close, so intimate, the desire and arousal, now his.
Ryo screamed.
~~
A/N: I realize I must really enjoy hurting the characters in my fics.. >< I'm really sorry Ryo!! ahh does it seem like it's happening too fast? I didn't plan on making this a very long fic, so that may be why... =__= well, now everyone knows why the teacher is so horrible to Ryo (a dangerous repression?) but I really hope I portrayed Ryo's double personality prominently enough (without making him seem too impulsive?), and conveyed both Ryo and Ohkura's emotions passionately... did you understand why he screamed? ^^;; I'm really trying to force myself to focus on studying more *cough* but since there are so many tests, my teachers have given less work during class and for homework.. so then my mind wanders! xD *FAILS* arghhh I wish Ohkura could tutor me in some math like he does for Ryo! (lol) and I'm sure everyone's going to notice the obvious Ohkura solo reference *cough* hahahaa :)