Log.
WHO: Kaidou & Yukimura.
WHEN: 29 June, backdated.
RATED: PG13-R, for attack scenes.
SUMMARY: Kaidou leaves therapy. Kaidou runs into Yukimura. Incidents insue. They get coffee.
---
Kaidou never much liked therapists. Never much liked anything outside his room’s safety. But the promise of that new fountain pen was nearly too much to resist (as was his mother’s forcible dragging). With the appointment over, and the new pen and journal in hand, he now meandered through the city streets, having given an excuse to ‘see who was playing on the courts’ to get away. Hopefully someone was out there?
"Man, you're a cute one..." The men, four of them, had a frail looking youth, almost as beautiful as a girl, cornered at the street tennis court, the four of them standing in a half moon around the boy who had his back pressed up against a tree. The boy was fourteen years old, his name was Yukimura Seiichi, and this was not one of his better days. Really. One of the men reached out and grabbed him forcefully, pressing himself up against the young teenager. "Come on, pretty... Be a little nice, huh? I know you want it..." The boy merely closed his eyes, looking away. Please, somebody...
The court seemed empty at first glance, until Kaidou’s ears perked at a rather sinister noise. Nothing unusual, in this part of town, but... the words were a little squickier than he’d like. Kaidou Kaoru didn’t get involved in other people’s business. Usually. But - maybe it was the therapist’s voice, he wasn’t sure - he suddenly felt compelled to see what was going on. Maybe his growl would be good for something? Carefully, he advanced over to the tree to see what was going on.
"We're doing him here", one man asked the one who was holding Yukimura and was busy pawing all over him. The man looked over at his companion and shook his head.
"What, you're crazy? No way. There's a storagehouse nearby. We'll take him there. Come on, pretty..." Not in the least phased by the boy's youth - in fact it turned them on even more - the four grown men laughed and their leader grabbed the boy by his arm and started to tug him along. Yukimura followed without a word, his eyes on the ground. It seemed like there was no way out of this, didn't it...?
Definitely not a good thing. Kaidou debated calling his mom, but knew it’d probably do more harm than good, and he wasn’t sure where she was anyway. Finally, he caught a glimpse of the person being rather, attacked... that was, oh... Yuki...something. Yukimura? Before he thought much else, still a bit lost in thought, Kaidou hissed one of his usual, angry-but-deep-concentrated hisses.
The men stopped and looked uncertainly over at Kaidou. "Shit man", one said, "you said there would be no one here..." The man holding Yukimura snarled: "Shut up! Hey kid, get lost!"
Crap, crap... um. Kaidou seriously debated following his orders, for a minute. In the dark voice typically reserved for slamming down opponents, Kaidou growled, shuffling in his pocket for his phone. Why not try a scare tactic? “What was the speed dial for the cops...” he mumbled. Aloud, “What the hell are you doing?” If he escaped this alive, his therapist would get a great entry from him.
"That's none of your fucking business, freak", one of the men snarled while their leader released Yukimura. This wasn't what he had planned. He wanted some uncomplicated fun, not something where you actually had to take care of some unwanted witness one way or the other. Damn it... "We're not doing anything, okay? We're going now. See?" He started to back away, and his friends - wide eyed as they were - followed his example. Yukimura shuddered and looked over at the boy whose appearance somehow had managed to save him from some serious trouble. "Tha... thank you."
Kaidou let out a hiss-sigh of relief. “Hn. I think my mom actually took my cell...glad they didn’t try anything.” He paused, looking at Yukimura, convinced that was his name. He was kind of pretty, those guys - sick as they were - were right. “You okay?”
Straightening his hair and clothes, Yukimura looked the other boy over more carefully. He knew him from somewhere... From tennis perhaps? What team then...? "You scared them off before they did", he said softly. "And yes. I'll be fine." That was a lie as good as any, but what was he supposed to say? Really now. "Thank you..."
“You’re Yukimura, right? From, uh, Rikkaidai?” Well, better now to make a fool than later, Kaidou mused. “Kaidou Kaoru, Seigaku. Sometimes.” When he played, really.
Ah, Seigaku. The ones who beat them. How... nice. And now someone from Seigaku was playing his knight in shining armor, was that it? Also... nice. Yukimura frowned, pride and politeness fighting inside of him, before he smiled softly. "How do you do, Kaidou-kun. I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances..."
“Yeah, rather crappy way to meet someone.” Kaidou let off a soft amused sound. “You want to get something to drink? You look a little pale. My treat,” he offered. Not to use him or anything, but his mom would probably fly to the moon with excitement if Kaidou told her he spent the afternoon with a, dare he say it, friend.
Yukimura managed another weak smile towards the younger boy, nodding slowly. He wasn't really used to having people treat him to something without asking for anything in return, and he still wasn't sure the other boy wanted anything from him or not, but for now maybe he should just go with it. He was feeling a bit faint anyway, he needed to sit down for a while. He knew it was stupid of him, being out and about without his wheelchair, but the way people stared at him while sitting in the stupid thing was getting on his nerves. A lot. "That sounds lovely. And I know just the place. Want me to lead the way?"
He gave a nod. "Lead on. I'm always up to go somewhere different, I usually hide at the Starbucks in the back corner, if I go out at all." Kaidou almost smiled, but remained stoic and visually emotionless. "Where is this place? And how good is it?"
Yukimura smiled softly. "It's owned by a lady I've known for quite a while. She makes everything there herself so it's really small, and a little bit more expensive than Starbucks, but's it's well worth it. We'll have to take the subway for a few stations though, are you up for that?"
Ew. People. In Kaidou's experience the subway had been more than slightly hellish (in fact, he'd made his mother walk to the therapist today precisely to avoid the subway). But, No reason Yukimura ought to know that. "Sounds like a pretty good place. I don't...really mind the subway. Hopefully it'll be empty, or something."
Well, subways were always a hassle and people tended to lose whatever common sense they had once they were packed together like that in the dark, but it was better than walking because his body needed at least a little bit of rest. "Good", he smiled. "Let's go then." He lead the way towards the nearest station, limping slightly as he walked.
Kaidou followed slightly behind Yukimura; despite knowing where the station was, if Yukimura was leading, might as well let him walk a few steps ahead. As they walked, the limping caught his attention, and he cleared his throat as they waited to cross a street. "You're limping." Well, state the obvious. "Are you okay? I mean, really..."
The young captain took a deep breath and offered an apologetic smile. "I'll be fine once I get a little rest. I'm sure you heard about my... condition?"
Honestly? "Only a little. But, if you need to sit down or something now, we can take a rest..." It'd give Kaidou a moment to write about this in his journal; he had the impression he'd be doing it on the subway or at this little place to which they were going. "Then again the subway isn't but another block and a half..."
"Yes. I'll be fine until then", Yukimura reassured the younger boy and continued to walk. "So... Kaidou-san? How are things with you?" Yes, talk about the desease. Talk about Kaidou. Talk about anything but the incident at the street tennis court. That was good.
"I had a therapist's appointment today. Mom's dragged me to probably twenty in the past few months, and every one of them thinks I'm sick mentally. They don't understand, they just, they think they know everything and so they know how to fix people." Kaidou spoke with obvious disdain. "Only reason I go is mom bribes me with new fountain pens. I...sort of started to collect them. They're much prettier than pencils or ball point pens. And... elegant." He wondered for half a minute if he sounded like a total fruitcake at that.
Well, that was a lot of information... Yukimura blinked and gave Kaidou a strange look that said "is that really something you ought to be telling someone who's almost a complete stranger?" but he settled for: "I'm sorry to hear that, Kaidou-san... I've never seen a therapist actually, besides the ones at the hospital."
Kaidou, catching the look, shrugged. "Blame my therapist. She insisted I talk to people. And you're the first person who looked remotely worth talking to. You don't seem the kind of person to... judge." He said the last word in a tone referring obviously to his mother, to his therapist, to past therapists. "Sometimes therapists are okay, but I haven't had one who hasn't tried to "fix" me. We are the way we are." Beat. "So what do you do in your non-tennis time?"
"I'm grateful to hear that you could consider talking to me about this", the young captain said, offering a small bow. "Me? I quite enjoy gardening... And I don't play tennis. Not right now at least, I'm still recovering from my condition you see..." Not to mention his father's treatment made recovery something of a hassle, really.
Kaidou nodded. "How...did you get into gardening? That seems such a departure from tennis." Then again, wasn't nearly everything non-athletic a departure? "What's your specialty? I mean, flowers, herbs, greenery...?"
h, talk about hobbies. That was always nice. As they approached the subway sation Yukimura replied: "Ah, flowers mostly. Herbs are interesting, and if you look at it from a biologist point of view, most flowers are herbs actually." He paused, pulling up his subway card from his wallet. "And I don't know... I like green, living things, I suppose. They're comforting. That's why I like them."
Kaidou nodded again. "My mom loves gardening. She tried to get me into it...but about all I've kept alive was this ivy plant I got as a kid. It's huge, but... I'm no good with flowers. Mom is." he paused. "Most flowers are herbs? I didn't know that." Learn something new everyday, he mused, pulling his card out as well.
The two of them stepped into the subway train that waited on the tracks and Yukimura sighed as he leaned against one of the walls, closing his eyes for a second to let a slight wave of vertigo pass. He opened his eyes and commented just as the train started moving: "You talk about your mother a lot...?"
Kaidou hadn't even noticed that before. "I guess I do. I don't talk to much of anyone, and my mom tries to make me talk. So I guess I talk about her. Or I recite poetry or song lyrics. And, uh, pardon me for stepping to conclusions but you don't strike me as one to listen to poetry recitations on a subway. I know I'm not." He almost laughed. "What else do you like besides gardening?"
"That's true", Yukimura smiled softly. "Then again, there's never a wrong time to recite poetry if you ask me. Then again... I'm pretty strange." He eyed a man beside them warily as the man was giving him some rather unsettling looks every now and then. "What? Oh... Well... I guess the usual? I like to spend time with my friends and sing karaoke... And I daydram a lot. I don't know if it's because I enjoy it or not. I just do."
Never a wrong time to recite poetry? If only my other friends thought that, Kaidou sighed. "Karaoke is fun. I haven't done karaoke since...since...a long, long time ago," he finally answered. "My friends...well, the few friends I have...aren't karaoke people. They'd prefer to cut or cry than to sing songs." He only peripherally noticed the guy giving Yukimura looks, and even then wondered if it was his imagination.
The man moved a little closer, giving Kaidou a quick, annoyed look, but other than that did nothing. Yukimura frowned, then nodded slowly. "Cutting is a problem, yes. People shouldn't hurt themselves, really. I don't know what's wrong with people in general nowdays. It seems like all the troubles in the world have decided to come down to haunt people... I don't like it. Doesn't everyone deserve to live a happy life I wonder."
"I don't think I could ever cut. The idea... (shudder) is just too weird. But... I guess everybody's got something -- you have gardening, me, writing." Kaidou smiled, the first genuine smile in a while. "I don't know about you but I don't feel so bad right now. 'S kinda nice to do stuff... even with weird crap trying to get us down." He'd have to write that down later. Maybe. If he remembered. "So how much longer til our stop?"
The pale boy nodded, his voice firm as he said: "It's always nice to do things to widen your horizons or just to get some new good experiences to look back upon when the night comes. It's no crime being happy; people somehow seem to forget that. And hm... Three more stations."
Kaidou nodded at that. "It's sorta weird, though... it seems like everyone, everywhere, who's around our age, has sorta...gotten really down lately. It's a weird trend...have you noticed it, or is it just me?"
"No, I've noticed it alright", the young captain said seriously. "You have it bad over at Seigaku too? I'm sorry to hear that..." And he was sorry that another thing occured as well. He could feel a pair of fingers slowly gliding alongside his thigh and he looked up at the man who was now far too close for his liking. "Please stop that."
Kaidou almost laughed. "I think Ryoma's a drug dealer or something," he mumbled in hushed tones to not alert anyone nearby. "It's weird..." Kaidou stopped and looked at the odd guy beside Yukimura. That was just more than a little creepy, seeing all these people repeatedly trying to, for lack of a better word, molest him.
The man blinked, trying his best to look surprised, obviously. "Ah, sorry about that", he mumbled. "I must have slipped or something." He gave Yukimura a wide grin, glared quickly at Kaidou and then turned around, as if to ignore the two boys. Yukimura flushed furiously, looking away. "I'm... sorry about that. Oh, see! We're nearly there. Just one more stop."
...Right. Slipped. With that glare, Kaidou was certain that man was up to no good. Debating again with himself over whether or not to confront Yukimura about this (since he seemed to just magnetically attract creepy guys), Kaidou coughed and nodded. "Okay, yeah, one more stop. I'm getting kinda thirsty."
"Me too." Yukimura sighed and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. He was feeling pretty worn out and he planned on heading straight home after the cafeteria trip. "So, Kaidou-san... What's your favorite coffee? Latte? Espresso? Plain black?"
"I really like a good mocha latte," Kaidou answered. "The Starbucks' is the best one, but it's not as good as some of the stuff I had when my grandmom visited and made it. She cooks a lot." He looked Yukimura over, licking his lips. "Are you sure you're up for this? You don't look so good." Then again, he mused, he wouldn't feel good if he'd been felt up by some stranger...
"Of course I am", the other boy replied, offering a weak smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I... I really want to do this, okay? Please..."
"Okay." Kaidou smiled again, reaching out and gently squeezing Yukimura's shoulder. "I'm glad I ran into someone today, I wasn't feeling much like moping around alone."
"I'm glad too", Yukimura nodded as the train pulled up to a halt at their station. He carefully started to make his way out the door, keeping his eyes focused on Kaidou. Therefore he didn't notice how the man tha thad felt him up before also exited, hidden away in the crowd. As the two boys started to walk, he quietly followed them, licking his lips in anticipation. This would be fun...
Kaidou, likewise, didn't notice their 'stalker' following them. The strange feeling from the subway hadn't left him, though. "So, which way?" Kaidou asked, pointing ahead of them.
They had two options really. One was taking a short cut over a run down industrial complex - they would get there faster, but there were almost no people around and it could be pretty dangerous - or they could take the crowded route, shoving their way through the rush hour masses towards the coffee shop. Safer, but more tiring. Yukimura was pretty certain he didn't have it in him to take the safer route. The shorter one it was. He pointed down an alley. "That way."
Kaidou gunted a sound of agreement and followed Yukimura's lead. The run-down complex gave Kaidou a bit of a creepy feeling, but, if there were two of them, they'd be okay. Safety in pairs, or something.
The stalker's smile widened as he noticed the way the boys were taking. This fitted his plans perfectly. When he was certain they were all out of plain sight for anyone who would happen by, he charged. He had to get rid of the burly boy first, so he took a swing at him, not really checking how hard he had hit, all that mattered was that the blow had hit the boy in the back of his head. Then he quickly turned his attention to the frail beauty he had felt up earlier. Without saying anything more - he had to work quickly after all - he wrestled the boy down on the ground, tugging at his clothes. "Make one sound pretty", he hissed, "and I'll slit your friend's throat, you hear me?"
Kaidou tumbled to the ground, hitting it with a hard crash. When he would come around, he'd definitely be hurting from not only the hit, but his fall as well.
The man pawed feverously over the frail body underneath him, tearing his shirt open and quickly removing his jeans, stripping him as best as he could. The most important thing was to free the boy's lower parts after all. As he leaned down to kiss the boy deeply, his tongue pushing his way into a mouth that was only very meekly resisting him, he fumbled with one hand to pick himself out from his pants, grunting into the boy's mouth as he rubbed their groins together.
Yukimura had closed his eyes, worry for Kaidou mixing with wave after wave of nausea that crashed over him. He didn't try to fight, didn't try to get away, he knew from experience that it was no idea, people always got what they wanted anyway. They didn't care about him; why should they care about him? He was merely trash anyway, worthless. And he had failed in protecting Kaidou. That was... No. Unacceptable. He probably deserved this.
The man tasted mint.
Kaidou dazedly finally roused from his hit. Rubbing his head gingerly and struggling to his feet, he turned to the side to look for Yukimura and was greeted with the sight of..._shit_. "You bastard," Kaidou hissed, his eyes flashing. Yukimura was being devoured, and Kaidou Kaoru did not let things like that happen. Kneeling, he grabbed a rock and shoved it in his pocket, and walked the short distance to where the guy was. "You bastard!" He nearly screamed, kicking the guy in the side with enough force to knock him over. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Get rid of bastard first, make sure Yukimura was okay was a close second. He reached into his pocket, grabbing the rock. "Get. The. Hell. Away." he glowered, arm raised above his head ready to slam the piece of concrete he'd picked up onto the guy's skull, if possible.
The rapist looked up, dazed from the kick, eyes slowly widening as he realized he had one pissed of teenager standing over him with a fucking piece of concrete in his hand. Not. Good. Since he had no immediate wish to die he scrambled to his feet, quickly trying to straighten his clothes up. "Chill man! Hell, I'm going, I'm going! Fuck man...!!" And he started to run in the opposite direction.
"Asshole!" Kaidou hissed, his attention averted to Yukimura the moment the guy began to run. Calming his voice, he knelt down beside him. "Are you... um, as okay as you can be?" he asked, his own voice a little shaky. Now the immediate danger was past, the slight ache of his head made itself known. But it wasn't as important as making sure Yukimura wasn't going to die.
The young Rikkaidai captain had a hard time trying to re-organize his world; one minute there was this creep all over him, the next he was saved. It didn't make sense. People didn't save him. He didn't understand what was going on, didn't understand the other boy, didn't understand anything. He sat up slowy, his head spinning dangerously. "You... You're mad... You could have gotten hurt... Really hurt... Damn... Are you all right?"
Rubbing his own head, Kaidou nodded with a slight shudder. "I'm okay. I think. Little dizzy." He closed his eyes, willing the headache to go away. Probably in his pocket somewhere was his aspirin his mother made him carry around... heh. "Need to lean on me? Or just sit here a little while, or what...?"
"I just want to sit here for a little bit", Yukimura said quietly, still eyeing Kaidou carefully. "Are you sure you'll be all right though?"
"I'll be fine." Kaidou pursed his lips. "Does this..." his hand waved, indicating the situation, "happen a lot?"
Yukimura shuddered, hugging himself as tight as he could. "Sometimes. I mean... I don't know. I guess there must be something with me that invites... strange urges in people, or something. I hate it. I deserve better, you know?"
Kaidou debated for a minute giving him a hug, but settled on squeezing Yukimura's shoulder. "You do, you don't seem like a person who gets many breaks in life. Seems like the world has it in for you. I think it's stupid. People shouldn't do that to you. You're too nice." He fumbled in his pocket and took out the small aspirin holder, choking one down. "Aspirin?"
"Yes please." He accepted the tiny pill and downed one, glad that his swallowing reflexes worked the way they should right now. He was nice? That was funny, he had never thought of himself as nice before. It felt... comforting to hear that from another person. "I don't know... Maybe? Maybe it's bad karma or something. Either way... Thank you. If you hadn't been here..."
"Let's not think about that." Kaidou shut his eyes, really not wanting to relive the moment he nearly stoned someone. That would make good poetry fodder but that was for another time. "Let's just rest until you're ready, and we'll go get that coffee." Boy, the protective reflex in him was dead, at least he thought; Kaidou never was this nice to people. Well, Yukimura deserved it. And, he was a nice guy.
Yukimura nodded slowly, burying his face in his knees a little while as he waited for his heartbeat to return to normal. When it had, and his body had stopped shaking, maybe five minutes later, he looked up, his face pale but firm. "Let's get going."
Kaidou gave a nod, standing up and offering a hand to assist Yukimura. After he stood and they began to make their way out of the area, Kaidou found himself keeping a close eye on the other boy. "Do you go have coffee with your other friends?" Maybe talking about his friends could help pull him out of his shell a little. A long shot but worth a try.
Yukimura shoved his - still slightly shaking - hands into the pockets of his pants, and slowly walked down the street, minding each step he took so that he wouldn't trip or do anything else to embarrass himself and put poor Kaidou in an awkward position.
"Sometimes. Not so much lately, everyone seems pretty depressed for some reason..."
"I wonder what's gotten into everyone. " Kaidou nodded in some vague form of agreement. "I wish I had some friends. Most of my 'friends' were just my tennis teammates. But outside of that... I'm just sort of there. At least there's coffee."
Yukimura looked up at that, puzzled: "But I thought you guys over at Seigaku had some kind of good relationship to each other? You don't? And if the question is offensive, please feel free to ignore it... My friends are all in the team too, you know." He shrugged, giving Kaidou a weak smile. "Maybe we focus too much on our sport and forget about the humans behind the sport, ne...?"
He paused. "We have a good friendship...but, it really is because of the focus on the sport, as you put it so nicely." Kaidou licked his lips. "I mean, there's people in the team who are really close outside the team sport, but some of us are total loners. Okay, correction, I'm a total loner, because I don't seem to make friends too easily." So embarrassing to admit. Even his therapist hadn't been told that.
"That's strange", Yukimura mused. "Because you seem like an easy enough person to get along with. And you're very brave."
Get along with? Maybe. He had matured and stopped hissing so much at people. And even smiled once in a while, when people could see. "I think they just remember me as when they met me, and I really wasn't someone you'd want to hang out with when they met me. But, I've grown up and maybe they haven't seen it." Kaidou only shrugged. "How do you get along with your teammates? You're the buchou, right?"
Yukimura thought this over. Well, all people changed, and some people had a harder time seeing subtle changes that came slowly over time and never adjusted to them, that was true.
He looked over at Kaidou from underneath blue curls that fell in front of his face as he softly replied: "I am. I think I get along pretty well with most of them... Me and Sanada can have our fights I suppose, but we're also the ones who work together most of the time, so we're close, but there's some strain on our relationship sometimes."
"I'm sorry to hear about a strain like that," Kaidou answered, not quite sure an appropriate response. "My former doubles partner...Inui and I used to be really close. But he and a friend from another school got friendlier...and our doubles game sort of got trounced on. So we went our separate ways and our friendship never mended, really. At least yours seems to still be sort of okay." Since starting therapy, and that meant his first therapist, he'd spent no time outside of tennis with any of his teammates. No one seemed to want to mend fences with him, why should he try?
Unsure of what to say, Yukimura only nodded quietly. He figued that the boy from the other school must be Renji, but he wouldn't jump to any conclusions, or bring the subject up again either, since it seemed to pain the other boy. "Do you think we ought to be there yet?"
The look of pain finally passed Kaidou's face -- Inui was a sore spot, why had he been stupid enough to even mention it? -- and he looked up, nodding. "Yeah, look, there's the street in front of us. You said it was around here right?" Ignore the nagging pain of stupid Inui... stone him to bits... ooh. Coffee. Coffee with Yukimura was good.
"Yes... Over there!" The frail boy pointed towards a small, cozy little shop with a big, happy coffee cup painted on the window. "Come on, let's go inside."
"Yes, Let's," Kaidou smiled happily. Coffee sounded so good about now, and sitting down to let his headache pass sounded even better. "This looks like one of those 'well kept secret' places that has the best stuff."
"It is", the other boy reassured as he took a seat. A petite, pretty little waitress approached their table and took their orders as Yukimura made himself comfortable. He ordered one big cup of plain coffee.
Kaidou ordered a mocha latte, and settled into the chair, resting his chin in his hands, looking over the tired buchou before him. He wasn't one to pry, but Kaidou really found himself concerned with the situation before him. His newest friend had had not one but two attempted rapes in the space of what, maybe two hours? Something wasn't right, but this might not be time or place to ask. And, he didn't want to make Yukimura uncomfortable.
The silence stretched out between them as Yukimura himself wasn't really sure what he was going to say. He felt completely drained, physically and mentally; all he wanted to do was to crawl up somewhere safe and never show his face around people again, but he couldn't really do that, now could he? He sighed and said carefully: "So... What to talk about...?"
"Well," he started, thinking, "we've talked about hobbies, tennis, ... stuff we don't want to talk about. Read any good books lately?" he asked, in an almost joking tone. "Think you'll ever get back to tennis? Or maybe pick up another, less strenuous sport?" Why had things gone quite this way? Made for such awkward situations after.
Yukimura smiled at the joke - lame as it was - then the smile faded from his face as he thought things over. "I said once that tennis is my life. I don't think that's quite true anymore, I do have the gardening, but... Tennis is the one and only sport I have any interest in, and I can't see myself not participating in any sport, so... I don't know."
Yukimura had a really nice smile, when it finally showed. Kaidou relaxed visibly, and let his hands fall to his lap. "You keep up watching the games and rankings, then, I'm sure? You watch the international games? Wimbledon and all that?" Kaidou had been keeping up with that, and was a little disappointed in the show this year. Oh well.
"Of course I do", Yukimura said sternly. "Since we're going to be in those contests one of these days, right? We have to keep up."
A laugh escaped Kaidou, and he nodded. "Good. I hope someday to be up there. I'm not nearly as good as most of them, but granted they've also got more experience on them. Would love to go play the French Open. Have you ever been to an international tennis game?"
"I was at Wimbledon once actually. My..." he paused, furious at himself for having such troubles getting the one simple word over his lips. "... dad brought me. I think I was six or seven years old at the time. I'll never forget it."
His eyes widened, first at the fact he'd gone to Wimbledon, then at the pause. Note to self, 'dad' is sensitive topic. 'Wow, you were lucky to go at such a young age! I'm almost envious," Kaidou grinned.
The other boy chuckled softly at that. "Well, truth to be told, it wasn't all that great. I barely saw anything, all these adults were in the way, but it was fun none the less."
"It's the experience of going, though. Does sort of suck you got stuck behind adults, though." Kaidou pushed his hair out of his face, wondering where his bandana had gone. Probably lost it somewhere... "I think I want to go into writing, if tennis doesn't work out for me."
The waitress arrived with their orders and then left them with a pleasant smile on her lips. Yukimura nodded at her then turned his attention back to Kaidou. "Oh? I'm sure you'll do fine... But writing is a difficult business, you know?"
Giving a nod to the waitress, he wrapped his fingers around the cup and sipped. A lot better than he'd expected. "I've had a few poems published here or there. Nothing big though. It's really difficult to get into the business. They'll drop you for the littlest things. So picky."
"I guess so", the other boy mumbled into his coffee cup, staring down on his own reflection that looked up at him. That ugly, scrawny, disgusting face... Poor, poor Kaidou who had to look at him, look at all that dirt, that filth, that... No. He wouldn't go there, no way. Sighing, he looked up, shaking his head. "At least you have a few dreams, Kaidou-kun. That's good."
Kaidou gave pause. "Yukimura-san, don't you have dreams? Everyone should." If he wasn't mistaken that was a flash of distaste with himself Kaidou noticed in the other boy's eyes. "I dream of having more friends, and you've helped me in that dream, I mean if you don't mind being my friend."
"Of course I don't mind you being my friend, as long as you think you can keep up with me too..." He offered the other boy a smile before taking his first sip on the coffee.
Kaidou nodded. "I wouldn't mind that at all. I can always try... it's worth keeping up with someone as long as it isn't all a one-sided effort." Kaidou took a gulp of the latte. "Where in town do you live?"
Yukimura blinked at that, then smiled, shaking his head. "I don't live in Tokyo at all. I live out in Kanagawa. I only visit here every once in a while."
Kaidou raised an eyebrow. "Really? Kanagawa's nice, the few times I've been out there. My mom's sister lives out in that area, I think. Someone does." Setting down the latte, Kaidou caught his eye. "What brought you up here today?"
"I had to deliver something to a friend of my dad. Work things, really, dad couldn't do it, he was busy at home. And I didn't mind it really."
"Ah. I hope you don't run into trouble like...erm...today often. I can't imagine it's any fun." Kaidou shuddered. "I think this is the first time I've actually been walking around Tokyo alone, now I think I don't ever want to. My head still throbs."
Deciding not to answer the first question - what would he say about that, honestly? - he pressed the other thing Kaidou had said instead. "You should go see someone about that head you know..."
Honestly, he hadn't expected an answer to the first part of that. He did wonder why he mentioned it. "Oh, I think the aspirin just hasn't kicked in," Kaidou finally answered. "It doesn't seem to like me much when I take coffee after the pill. Something about cou...nt...er...ac...ting." He drew out the word as if using it to banish a thought from his brain, shook his head a little, and sat back. "It's cleared up a bit."
"Glad to hear that", Yukimura nodded slowly, settling back in his chair. "And you need to tell me if you think I come across as rude or anything, okay?"
"I will, as long as you do the same." Kaidou sipped the latte again. "You know, this is the most enjoyable time I've had in a while. Except the whole getting whacked on the head part. We should do coffee next time you're in town."
"I'd really love that. But that time, maybe it's best if we meet at the coffee shop immediately? Instead of taking the long way around?"
Kaidou grinned. "Yes, let's just meet here. I think now that I know where it is, I'll be able to find it." Fishing in his pockets, Kaidou produced his fountain pen and some recycled paper. "Should we exchange numbers or something? Or emails? So we'll know we're both in town I mean."
"Numbers are good", Yukimura smiled, took the pen and paper from Kaidou and began scribbling. "And maybe our blogs too? If you have one that is... I do."
"Those blogs...oh yeah." He laughed. "I should probably update mine. Then again I don't usually have much to say." After receiving the pen from Yukimura Kaidou noted his number and his blog name down and offered the paper. "Do you update yours a lot?"
Yukimura shook his head. "I've only just started mine. And it tends to get depressing, so it's really all that much to read, so I don't write there so much, I feel sorry for the poor guys who would happen upon it... But if you would like to take a look at it..."
"I would." Kaidou stopped. "I mean, I don't write much in mine either, but, if you write something meaningful then does it really matter how much or how often you write?" Scribbling that down on the paper, he took another sip of latte, now almost gone. "If you ever just want to sound off to me, you know you're welcome to. It can be good to talk to other people."
"True... I'll remember that." Yukimura sighed, feeling extremely worn out and he closed his eyes. "Not to sound rude or anything, but when you're done, you think you'd mind leaving? I need some time to myself I think..."
He nodded. "Sure. Actually, I probably should get going. It's getting a little late and I didn't tell mom I was stopping anywhere after I left, so she probably's worrying about me." Standing up, Kaidou shoved the pen and paper in his pocket. "Be careful, okay? I'll see ya 'round." Giving a little wave, Kaidou turned from the table, exiting the coffee shop with his brain swimming -- not just from the hit to it earlier.
WHEN: 29 June, backdated.
RATED: PG13-R, for attack scenes.
SUMMARY: Kaidou leaves therapy. Kaidou runs into Yukimura. Incidents insue. They get coffee.
---
Kaidou never much liked therapists. Never much liked anything outside his room’s safety. But the promise of that new fountain pen was nearly too much to resist (as was his mother’s forcible dragging). With the appointment over, and the new pen and journal in hand, he now meandered through the city streets, having given an excuse to ‘see who was playing on the courts’ to get away. Hopefully someone was out there?
"Man, you're a cute one..." The men, four of them, had a frail looking youth, almost as beautiful as a girl, cornered at the street tennis court, the four of them standing in a half moon around the boy who had his back pressed up against a tree. The boy was fourteen years old, his name was Yukimura Seiichi, and this was not one of his better days. Really. One of the men reached out and grabbed him forcefully, pressing himself up against the young teenager. "Come on, pretty... Be a little nice, huh? I know you want it..." The boy merely closed his eyes, looking away. Please, somebody...
The court seemed empty at first glance, until Kaidou’s ears perked at a rather sinister noise. Nothing unusual, in this part of town, but... the words were a little squickier than he’d like. Kaidou Kaoru didn’t get involved in other people’s business. Usually. But - maybe it was the therapist’s voice, he wasn’t sure - he suddenly felt compelled to see what was going on. Maybe his growl would be good for something? Carefully, he advanced over to the tree to see what was going on.
"We're doing him here", one man asked the one who was holding Yukimura and was busy pawing all over him. The man looked over at his companion and shook his head.
"What, you're crazy? No way. There's a storagehouse nearby. We'll take him there. Come on, pretty..." Not in the least phased by the boy's youth - in fact it turned them on even more - the four grown men laughed and their leader grabbed the boy by his arm and started to tug him along. Yukimura followed without a word, his eyes on the ground. It seemed like there was no way out of this, didn't it...?
Definitely not a good thing. Kaidou debated calling his mom, but knew it’d probably do more harm than good, and he wasn’t sure where she was anyway. Finally, he caught a glimpse of the person being rather, attacked... that was, oh... Yuki...something. Yukimura? Before he thought much else, still a bit lost in thought, Kaidou hissed one of his usual, angry-but-deep-concentrated hisses.
The men stopped and looked uncertainly over at Kaidou. "Shit man", one said, "you said there would be no one here..." The man holding Yukimura snarled: "Shut up! Hey kid, get lost!"
Crap, crap... um. Kaidou seriously debated following his orders, for a minute. In the dark voice typically reserved for slamming down opponents, Kaidou growled, shuffling in his pocket for his phone. Why not try a scare tactic? “What was the speed dial for the cops...” he mumbled. Aloud, “What the hell are you doing?” If he escaped this alive, his therapist would get a great entry from him.
"That's none of your fucking business, freak", one of the men snarled while their leader released Yukimura. This wasn't what he had planned. He wanted some uncomplicated fun, not something where you actually had to take care of some unwanted witness one way or the other. Damn it... "We're not doing anything, okay? We're going now. See?" He started to back away, and his friends - wide eyed as they were - followed his example. Yukimura shuddered and looked over at the boy whose appearance somehow had managed to save him from some serious trouble. "Tha... thank you."
Kaidou let out a hiss-sigh of relief. “Hn. I think my mom actually took my cell...glad they didn’t try anything.” He paused, looking at Yukimura, convinced that was his name. He was kind of pretty, those guys - sick as they were - were right. “You okay?”
Straightening his hair and clothes, Yukimura looked the other boy over more carefully. He knew him from somewhere... From tennis perhaps? What team then...? "You scared them off before they did", he said softly. "And yes. I'll be fine." That was a lie as good as any, but what was he supposed to say? Really now. "Thank you..."
“You’re Yukimura, right? From, uh, Rikkaidai?” Well, better now to make a fool than later, Kaidou mused. “Kaidou Kaoru, Seigaku. Sometimes.” When he played, really.
Ah, Seigaku. The ones who beat them. How... nice. And now someone from Seigaku was playing his knight in shining armor, was that it? Also... nice. Yukimura frowned, pride and politeness fighting inside of him, before he smiled softly. "How do you do, Kaidou-kun. I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances..."
“Yeah, rather crappy way to meet someone.” Kaidou let off a soft amused sound. “You want to get something to drink? You look a little pale. My treat,” he offered. Not to use him or anything, but his mom would probably fly to the moon with excitement if Kaidou told her he spent the afternoon with a, dare he say it, friend.
Yukimura managed another weak smile towards the younger boy, nodding slowly. He wasn't really used to having people treat him to something without asking for anything in return, and he still wasn't sure the other boy wanted anything from him or not, but for now maybe he should just go with it. He was feeling a bit faint anyway, he needed to sit down for a while. He knew it was stupid of him, being out and about without his wheelchair, but the way people stared at him while sitting in the stupid thing was getting on his nerves. A lot. "That sounds lovely. And I know just the place. Want me to lead the way?"
He gave a nod. "Lead on. I'm always up to go somewhere different, I usually hide at the Starbucks in the back corner, if I go out at all." Kaidou almost smiled, but remained stoic and visually emotionless. "Where is this place? And how good is it?"
Yukimura smiled softly. "It's owned by a lady I've known for quite a while. She makes everything there herself so it's really small, and a little bit more expensive than Starbucks, but's it's well worth it. We'll have to take the subway for a few stations though, are you up for that?"
Ew. People. In Kaidou's experience the subway had been more than slightly hellish (in fact, he'd made his mother walk to the therapist today precisely to avoid the subway). But, No reason Yukimura ought to know that. "Sounds like a pretty good place. I don't...really mind the subway. Hopefully it'll be empty, or something."
Well, subways were always a hassle and people tended to lose whatever common sense they had once they were packed together like that in the dark, but it was better than walking because his body needed at least a little bit of rest. "Good", he smiled. "Let's go then." He lead the way towards the nearest station, limping slightly as he walked.
Kaidou followed slightly behind Yukimura; despite knowing where the station was, if Yukimura was leading, might as well let him walk a few steps ahead. As they walked, the limping caught his attention, and he cleared his throat as they waited to cross a street. "You're limping." Well, state the obvious. "Are you okay? I mean, really..."
The young captain took a deep breath and offered an apologetic smile. "I'll be fine once I get a little rest. I'm sure you heard about my... condition?"
Honestly? "Only a little. But, if you need to sit down or something now, we can take a rest..." It'd give Kaidou a moment to write about this in his journal; he had the impression he'd be doing it on the subway or at this little place to which they were going. "Then again the subway isn't but another block and a half..."
"Yes. I'll be fine until then", Yukimura reassured the younger boy and continued to walk. "So... Kaidou-san? How are things with you?" Yes, talk about the desease. Talk about Kaidou. Talk about anything but the incident at the street tennis court. That was good.
"I had a therapist's appointment today. Mom's dragged me to probably twenty in the past few months, and every one of them thinks I'm sick mentally. They don't understand, they just, they think they know everything and so they know how to fix people." Kaidou spoke with obvious disdain. "Only reason I go is mom bribes me with new fountain pens. I...sort of started to collect them. They're much prettier than pencils or ball point pens. And... elegant." He wondered for half a minute if he sounded like a total fruitcake at that.
Well, that was a lot of information... Yukimura blinked and gave Kaidou a strange look that said "is that really something you ought to be telling someone who's almost a complete stranger?" but he settled for: "I'm sorry to hear that, Kaidou-san... I've never seen a therapist actually, besides the ones at the hospital."
Kaidou, catching the look, shrugged. "Blame my therapist. She insisted I talk to people. And you're the first person who looked remotely worth talking to. You don't seem the kind of person to... judge." He said the last word in a tone referring obviously to his mother, to his therapist, to past therapists. "Sometimes therapists are okay, but I haven't had one who hasn't tried to "fix" me. We are the way we are." Beat. "So what do you do in your non-tennis time?"
"I'm grateful to hear that you could consider talking to me about this", the young captain said, offering a small bow. "Me? I quite enjoy gardening... And I don't play tennis. Not right now at least, I'm still recovering from my condition you see..." Not to mention his father's treatment made recovery something of a hassle, really.
Kaidou nodded. "How...did you get into gardening? That seems such a departure from tennis." Then again, wasn't nearly everything non-athletic a departure? "What's your specialty? I mean, flowers, herbs, greenery...?"
h, talk about hobbies. That was always nice. As they approached the subway sation Yukimura replied: "Ah, flowers mostly. Herbs are interesting, and if you look at it from a biologist point of view, most flowers are herbs actually." He paused, pulling up his subway card from his wallet. "And I don't know... I like green, living things, I suppose. They're comforting. That's why I like them."
Kaidou nodded again. "My mom loves gardening. She tried to get me into it...but about all I've kept alive was this ivy plant I got as a kid. It's huge, but... I'm no good with flowers. Mom is." he paused. "Most flowers are herbs? I didn't know that." Learn something new everyday, he mused, pulling his card out as well.
The two of them stepped into the subway train that waited on the tracks and Yukimura sighed as he leaned against one of the walls, closing his eyes for a second to let a slight wave of vertigo pass. He opened his eyes and commented just as the train started moving: "You talk about your mother a lot...?"
Kaidou hadn't even noticed that before. "I guess I do. I don't talk to much of anyone, and my mom tries to make me talk. So I guess I talk about her. Or I recite poetry or song lyrics. And, uh, pardon me for stepping to conclusions but you don't strike me as one to listen to poetry recitations on a subway. I know I'm not." He almost laughed. "What else do you like besides gardening?"
"That's true", Yukimura smiled softly. "Then again, there's never a wrong time to recite poetry if you ask me. Then again... I'm pretty strange." He eyed a man beside them warily as the man was giving him some rather unsettling looks every now and then. "What? Oh... Well... I guess the usual? I like to spend time with my friends and sing karaoke... And I daydram a lot. I don't know if it's because I enjoy it or not. I just do."
Never a wrong time to recite poetry? If only my other friends thought that, Kaidou sighed. "Karaoke is fun. I haven't done karaoke since...since...a long, long time ago," he finally answered. "My friends...well, the few friends I have...aren't karaoke people. They'd prefer to cut or cry than to sing songs." He only peripherally noticed the guy giving Yukimura looks, and even then wondered if it was his imagination.
The man moved a little closer, giving Kaidou a quick, annoyed look, but other than that did nothing. Yukimura frowned, then nodded slowly. "Cutting is a problem, yes. People shouldn't hurt themselves, really. I don't know what's wrong with people in general nowdays. It seems like all the troubles in the world have decided to come down to haunt people... I don't like it. Doesn't everyone deserve to live a happy life I wonder."
"I don't think I could ever cut. The idea... (shudder) is just too weird. But... I guess everybody's got something -- you have gardening, me, writing." Kaidou smiled, the first genuine smile in a while. "I don't know about you but I don't feel so bad right now. 'S kinda nice to do stuff... even with weird crap trying to get us down." He'd have to write that down later. Maybe. If he remembered. "So how much longer til our stop?"
The pale boy nodded, his voice firm as he said: "It's always nice to do things to widen your horizons or just to get some new good experiences to look back upon when the night comes. It's no crime being happy; people somehow seem to forget that. And hm... Three more stations."
Kaidou nodded at that. "It's sorta weird, though... it seems like everyone, everywhere, who's around our age, has sorta...gotten really down lately. It's a weird trend...have you noticed it, or is it just me?"
"No, I've noticed it alright", the young captain said seriously. "You have it bad over at Seigaku too? I'm sorry to hear that..." And he was sorry that another thing occured as well. He could feel a pair of fingers slowly gliding alongside his thigh and he looked up at the man who was now far too close for his liking. "Please stop that."
Kaidou almost laughed. "I think Ryoma's a drug dealer or something," he mumbled in hushed tones to not alert anyone nearby. "It's weird..." Kaidou stopped and looked at the odd guy beside Yukimura. That was just more than a little creepy, seeing all these people repeatedly trying to, for lack of a better word, molest him.
The man blinked, trying his best to look surprised, obviously. "Ah, sorry about that", he mumbled. "I must have slipped or something." He gave Yukimura a wide grin, glared quickly at Kaidou and then turned around, as if to ignore the two boys. Yukimura flushed furiously, looking away. "I'm... sorry about that. Oh, see! We're nearly there. Just one more stop."
...Right. Slipped. With that glare, Kaidou was certain that man was up to no good. Debating again with himself over whether or not to confront Yukimura about this (since he seemed to just magnetically attract creepy guys), Kaidou coughed and nodded. "Okay, yeah, one more stop. I'm getting kinda thirsty."
"Me too." Yukimura sighed and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. He was feeling pretty worn out and he planned on heading straight home after the cafeteria trip. "So, Kaidou-san... What's your favorite coffee? Latte? Espresso? Plain black?"
"I really like a good mocha latte," Kaidou answered. "The Starbucks' is the best one, but it's not as good as some of the stuff I had when my grandmom visited and made it. She cooks a lot." He looked Yukimura over, licking his lips. "Are you sure you're up for this? You don't look so good." Then again, he mused, he wouldn't feel good if he'd been felt up by some stranger...
"Of course I am", the other boy replied, offering a weak smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I... I really want to do this, okay? Please..."
"Okay." Kaidou smiled again, reaching out and gently squeezing Yukimura's shoulder. "I'm glad I ran into someone today, I wasn't feeling much like moping around alone."
"I'm glad too", Yukimura nodded as the train pulled up to a halt at their station. He carefully started to make his way out the door, keeping his eyes focused on Kaidou. Therefore he didn't notice how the man tha thad felt him up before also exited, hidden away in the crowd. As the two boys started to walk, he quietly followed them, licking his lips in anticipation. This would be fun...
Kaidou, likewise, didn't notice their 'stalker' following them. The strange feeling from the subway hadn't left him, though. "So, which way?" Kaidou asked, pointing ahead of them.
They had two options really. One was taking a short cut over a run down industrial complex - they would get there faster, but there were almost no people around and it could be pretty dangerous - or they could take the crowded route, shoving their way through the rush hour masses towards the coffee shop. Safer, but more tiring. Yukimura was pretty certain he didn't have it in him to take the safer route. The shorter one it was. He pointed down an alley. "That way."
Kaidou gunted a sound of agreement and followed Yukimura's lead. The run-down complex gave Kaidou a bit of a creepy feeling, but, if there were two of them, they'd be okay. Safety in pairs, or something.
The stalker's smile widened as he noticed the way the boys were taking. This fitted his plans perfectly. When he was certain they were all out of plain sight for anyone who would happen by, he charged. He had to get rid of the burly boy first, so he took a swing at him, not really checking how hard he had hit, all that mattered was that the blow had hit the boy in the back of his head. Then he quickly turned his attention to the frail beauty he had felt up earlier. Without saying anything more - he had to work quickly after all - he wrestled the boy down on the ground, tugging at his clothes. "Make one sound pretty", he hissed, "and I'll slit your friend's throat, you hear me?"
Kaidou tumbled to the ground, hitting it with a hard crash. When he would come around, he'd definitely be hurting from not only the hit, but his fall as well.
The man pawed feverously over the frail body underneath him, tearing his shirt open and quickly removing his jeans, stripping him as best as he could. The most important thing was to free the boy's lower parts after all. As he leaned down to kiss the boy deeply, his tongue pushing his way into a mouth that was only very meekly resisting him, he fumbled with one hand to pick himself out from his pants, grunting into the boy's mouth as he rubbed their groins together.
Yukimura had closed his eyes, worry for Kaidou mixing with wave after wave of nausea that crashed over him. He didn't try to fight, didn't try to get away, he knew from experience that it was no idea, people always got what they wanted anyway. They didn't care about him; why should they care about him? He was merely trash anyway, worthless. And he had failed in protecting Kaidou. That was... No. Unacceptable. He probably deserved this.
The man tasted mint.
Kaidou dazedly finally roused from his hit. Rubbing his head gingerly and struggling to his feet, he turned to the side to look for Yukimura and was greeted with the sight of..._shit_. "You bastard," Kaidou hissed, his eyes flashing. Yukimura was being devoured, and Kaidou Kaoru did not let things like that happen. Kneeling, he grabbed a rock and shoved it in his pocket, and walked the short distance to where the guy was. "You bastard!" He nearly screamed, kicking the guy in the side with enough force to knock him over. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Get rid of bastard first, make sure Yukimura was okay was a close second. He reached into his pocket, grabbing the rock. "Get. The. Hell. Away." he glowered, arm raised above his head ready to slam the piece of concrete he'd picked up onto the guy's skull, if possible.
The rapist looked up, dazed from the kick, eyes slowly widening as he realized he had one pissed of teenager standing over him with a fucking piece of concrete in his hand. Not. Good. Since he had no immediate wish to die he scrambled to his feet, quickly trying to straighten his clothes up. "Chill man! Hell, I'm going, I'm going! Fuck man...!!" And he started to run in the opposite direction.
"Asshole!" Kaidou hissed, his attention averted to Yukimura the moment the guy began to run. Calming his voice, he knelt down beside him. "Are you... um, as okay as you can be?" he asked, his own voice a little shaky. Now the immediate danger was past, the slight ache of his head made itself known. But it wasn't as important as making sure Yukimura wasn't going to die.
The young Rikkaidai captain had a hard time trying to re-organize his world; one minute there was this creep all over him, the next he was saved. It didn't make sense. People didn't save him. He didn't understand what was going on, didn't understand the other boy, didn't understand anything. He sat up slowy, his head spinning dangerously. "You... You're mad... You could have gotten hurt... Really hurt... Damn... Are you all right?"
Rubbing his own head, Kaidou nodded with a slight shudder. "I'm okay. I think. Little dizzy." He closed his eyes, willing the headache to go away. Probably in his pocket somewhere was his aspirin his mother made him carry around... heh. "Need to lean on me? Or just sit here a little while, or what...?"
"I just want to sit here for a little bit", Yukimura said quietly, still eyeing Kaidou carefully. "Are you sure you'll be all right though?"
"I'll be fine." Kaidou pursed his lips. "Does this..." his hand waved, indicating the situation, "happen a lot?"
Yukimura shuddered, hugging himself as tight as he could. "Sometimes. I mean... I don't know. I guess there must be something with me that invites... strange urges in people, or something. I hate it. I deserve better, you know?"
Kaidou debated for a minute giving him a hug, but settled on squeezing Yukimura's shoulder. "You do, you don't seem like a person who gets many breaks in life. Seems like the world has it in for you. I think it's stupid. People shouldn't do that to you. You're too nice." He fumbled in his pocket and took out the small aspirin holder, choking one down. "Aspirin?"
"Yes please." He accepted the tiny pill and downed one, glad that his swallowing reflexes worked the way they should right now. He was nice? That was funny, he had never thought of himself as nice before. It felt... comforting to hear that from another person. "I don't know... Maybe? Maybe it's bad karma or something. Either way... Thank you. If you hadn't been here..."
"Let's not think about that." Kaidou shut his eyes, really not wanting to relive the moment he nearly stoned someone. That would make good poetry fodder but that was for another time. "Let's just rest until you're ready, and we'll go get that coffee." Boy, the protective reflex in him was dead, at least he thought; Kaidou never was this nice to people. Well, Yukimura deserved it. And, he was a nice guy.
Yukimura nodded slowly, burying his face in his knees a little while as he waited for his heartbeat to return to normal. When it had, and his body had stopped shaking, maybe five minutes later, he looked up, his face pale but firm. "Let's get going."
Kaidou gave a nod, standing up and offering a hand to assist Yukimura. After he stood and they began to make their way out of the area, Kaidou found himself keeping a close eye on the other boy. "Do you go have coffee with your other friends?" Maybe talking about his friends could help pull him out of his shell a little. A long shot but worth a try.
Yukimura shoved his - still slightly shaking - hands into the pockets of his pants, and slowly walked down the street, minding each step he took so that he wouldn't trip or do anything else to embarrass himself and put poor Kaidou in an awkward position.
"Sometimes. Not so much lately, everyone seems pretty depressed for some reason..."
"I wonder what's gotten into everyone. " Kaidou nodded in some vague form of agreement. "I wish I had some friends. Most of my 'friends' were just my tennis teammates. But outside of that... I'm just sort of there. At least there's coffee."
Yukimura looked up at that, puzzled: "But I thought you guys over at Seigaku had some kind of good relationship to each other? You don't? And if the question is offensive, please feel free to ignore it... My friends are all in the team too, you know." He shrugged, giving Kaidou a weak smile. "Maybe we focus too much on our sport and forget about the humans behind the sport, ne...?"
He paused. "We have a good friendship...but, it really is because of the focus on the sport, as you put it so nicely." Kaidou licked his lips. "I mean, there's people in the team who are really close outside the team sport, but some of us are total loners. Okay, correction, I'm a total loner, because I don't seem to make friends too easily." So embarrassing to admit. Even his therapist hadn't been told that.
"That's strange", Yukimura mused. "Because you seem like an easy enough person to get along with. And you're very brave."
Get along with? Maybe. He had matured and stopped hissing so much at people. And even smiled once in a while, when people could see. "I think they just remember me as when they met me, and I really wasn't someone you'd want to hang out with when they met me. But, I've grown up and maybe they haven't seen it." Kaidou only shrugged. "How do you get along with your teammates? You're the buchou, right?"
Yukimura thought this over. Well, all people changed, and some people had a harder time seeing subtle changes that came slowly over time and never adjusted to them, that was true.
He looked over at Kaidou from underneath blue curls that fell in front of his face as he softly replied: "I am. I think I get along pretty well with most of them... Me and Sanada can have our fights I suppose, but we're also the ones who work together most of the time, so we're close, but there's some strain on our relationship sometimes."
"I'm sorry to hear about a strain like that," Kaidou answered, not quite sure an appropriate response. "My former doubles partner...Inui and I used to be really close. But he and a friend from another school got friendlier...and our doubles game sort of got trounced on. So we went our separate ways and our friendship never mended, really. At least yours seems to still be sort of okay." Since starting therapy, and that meant his first therapist, he'd spent no time outside of tennis with any of his teammates. No one seemed to want to mend fences with him, why should he try?
Unsure of what to say, Yukimura only nodded quietly. He figued that the boy from the other school must be Renji, but he wouldn't jump to any conclusions, or bring the subject up again either, since it seemed to pain the other boy. "Do you think we ought to be there yet?"
The look of pain finally passed Kaidou's face -- Inui was a sore spot, why had he been stupid enough to even mention it? -- and he looked up, nodding. "Yeah, look, there's the street in front of us. You said it was around here right?" Ignore the nagging pain of stupid Inui... stone him to bits... ooh. Coffee. Coffee with Yukimura was good.
"Yes... Over there!" The frail boy pointed towards a small, cozy little shop with a big, happy coffee cup painted on the window. "Come on, let's go inside."
"Yes, Let's," Kaidou smiled happily. Coffee sounded so good about now, and sitting down to let his headache pass sounded even better. "This looks like one of those 'well kept secret' places that has the best stuff."
"It is", the other boy reassured as he took a seat. A petite, pretty little waitress approached their table and took their orders as Yukimura made himself comfortable. He ordered one big cup of plain coffee.
Kaidou ordered a mocha latte, and settled into the chair, resting his chin in his hands, looking over the tired buchou before him. He wasn't one to pry, but Kaidou really found himself concerned with the situation before him. His newest friend had had not one but two attempted rapes in the space of what, maybe two hours? Something wasn't right, but this might not be time or place to ask. And, he didn't want to make Yukimura uncomfortable.
The silence stretched out between them as Yukimura himself wasn't really sure what he was going to say. He felt completely drained, physically and mentally; all he wanted to do was to crawl up somewhere safe and never show his face around people again, but he couldn't really do that, now could he? He sighed and said carefully: "So... What to talk about...?"
"Well," he started, thinking, "we've talked about hobbies, tennis, ... stuff we don't want to talk about. Read any good books lately?" he asked, in an almost joking tone. "Think you'll ever get back to tennis? Or maybe pick up another, less strenuous sport?" Why had things gone quite this way? Made for such awkward situations after.
Yukimura smiled at the joke - lame as it was - then the smile faded from his face as he thought things over. "I said once that tennis is my life. I don't think that's quite true anymore, I do have the gardening, but... Tennis is the one and only sport I have any interest in, and I can't see myself not participating in any sport, so... I don't know."
Yukimura had a really nice smile, when it finally showed. Kaidou relaxed visibly, and let his hands fall to his lap. "You keep up watching the games and rankings, then, I'm sure? You watch the international games? Wimbledon and all that?" Kaidou had been keeping up with that, and was a little disappointed in the show this year. Oh well.
"Of course I do", Yukimura said sternly. "Since we're going to be in those contests one of these days, right? We have to keep up."
A laugh escaped Kaidou, and he nodded. "Good. I hope someday to be up there. I'm not nearly as good as most of them, but granted they've also got more experience on them. Would love to go play the French Open. Have you ever been to an international tennis game?"
"I was at Wimbledon once actually. My..." he paused, furious at himself for having such troubles getting the one simple word over his lips. "... dad brought me. I think I was six or seven years old at the time. I'll never forget it."
His eyes widened, first at the fact he'd gone to Wimbledon, then at the pause. Note to self, 'dad' is sensitive topic. 'Wow, you were lucky to go at such a young age! I'm almost envious," Kaidou grinned.
The other boy chuckled softly at that. "Well, truth to be told, it wasn't all that great. I barely saw anything, all these adults were in the way, but it was fun none the less."
"It's the experience of going, though. Does sort of suck you got stuck behind adults, though." Kaidou pushed his hair out of his face, wondering where his bandana had gone. Probably lost it somewhere... "I think I want to go into writing, if tennis doesn't work out for me."
The waitress arrived with their orders and then left them with a pleasant smile on her lips. Yukimura nodded at her then turned his attention back to Kaidou. "Oh? I'm sure you'll do fine... But writing is a difficult business, you know?"
Giving a nod to the waitress, he wrapped his fingers around the cup and sipped. A lot better than he'd expected. "I've had a few poems published here or there. Nothing big though. It's really difficult to get into the business. They'll drop you for the littlest things. So picky."
"I guess so", the other boy mumbled into his coffee cup, staring down on his own reflection that looked up at him. That ugly, scrawny, disgusting face... Poor, poor Kaidou who had to look at him, look at all that dirt, that filth, that... No. He wouldn't go there, no way. Sighing, he looked up, shaking his head. "At least you have a few dreams, Kaidou-kun. That's good."
Kaidou gave pause. "Yukimura-san, don't you have dreams? Everyone should." If he wasn't mistaken that was a flash of distaste with himself Kaidou noticed in the other boy's eyes. "I dream of having more friends, and you've helped me in that dream, I mean if you don't mind being my friend."
"Of course I don't mind you being my friend, as long as you think you can keep up with me too..." He offered the other boy a smile before taking his first sip on the coffee.
Kaidou nodded. "I wouldn't mind that at all. I can always try... it's worth keeping up with someone as long as it isn't all a one-sided effort." Kaidou took a gulp of the latte. "Where in town do you live?"
Yukimura blinked at that, then smiled, shaking his head. "I don't live in Tokyo at all. I live out in Kanagawa. I only visit here every once in a while."
Kaidou raised an eyebrow. "Really? Kanagawa's nice, the few times I've been out there. My mom's sister lives out in that area, I think. Someone does." Setting down the latte, Kaidou caught his eye. "What brought you up here today?"
"I had to deliver something to a friend of my dad. Work things, really, dad couldn't do it, he was busy at home. And I didn't mind it really."
"Ah. I hope you don't run into trouble like...erm...today often. I can't imagine it's any fun." Kaidou shuddered. "I think this is the first time I've actually been walking around Tokyo alone, now I think I don't ever want to. My head still throbs."
Deciding not to answer the first question - what would he say about that, honestly? - he pressed the other thing Kaidou had said instead. "You should go see someone about that head you know..."
Honestly, he hadn't expected an answer to the first part of that. He did wonder why he mentioned it. "Oh, I think the aspirin just hasn't kicked in," Kaidou finally answered. "It doesn't seem to like me much when I take coffee after the pill. Something about cou...nt...er...ac...ting." He drew out the word as if using it to banish a thought from his brain, shook his head a little, and sat back. "It's cleared up a bit."
"Glad to hear that", Yukimura nodded slowly, settling back in his chair. "And you need to tell me if you think I come across as rude or anything, okay?"
"I will, as long as you do the same." Kaidou sipped the latte again. "You know, this is the most enjoyable time I've had in a while. Except the whole getting whacked on the head part. We should do coffee next time you're in town."
"I'd really love that. But that time, maybe it's best if we meet at the coffee shop immediately? Instead of taking the long way around?"
Kaidou grinned. "Yes, let's just meet here. I think now that I know where it is, I'll be able to find it." Fishing in his pockets, Kaidou produced his fountain pen and some recycled paper. "Should we exchange numbers or something? Or emails? So we'll know we're both in town I mean."
"Numbers are good", Yukimura smiled, took the pen and paper from Kaidou and began scribbling. "And maybe our blogs too? If you have one that is... I do."
"Those blogs...oh yeah." He laughed. "I should probably update mine. Then again I don't usually have much to say." After receiving the pen from Yukimura Kaidou noted his number and his blog name down and offered the paper. "Do you update yours a lot?"
Yukimura shook his head. "I've only just started mine. And it tends to get depressing, so it's really all that much to read, so I don't write there so much, I feel sorry for the poor guys who would happen upon it... But if you would like to take a look at it..."
"I would." Kaidou stopped. "I mean, I don't write much in mine either, but, if you write something meaningful then does it really matter how much or how often you write?" Scribbling that down on the paper, he took another sip of latte, now almost gone. "If you ever just want to sound off to me, you know you're welcome to. It can be good to talk to other people."
"True... I'll remember that." Yukimura sighed, feeling extremely worn out and he closed his eyes. "Not to sound rude or anything, but when you're done, you think you'd mind leaving? I need some time to myself I think..."
He nodded. "Sure. Actually, I probably should get going. It's getting a little late and I didn't tell mom I was stopping anywhere after I left, so she probably's worrying about me." Standing up, Kaidou shoved the pen and paper in his pocket. "Be careful, okay? I'll see ya 'round." Giving a little wave, Kaidou turned from the table, exiting the coffee shop with his brain swimming -- not just from the hit to it earlier.