Dancing with Secrets Chapter I
Aiba’s body fluently moved around the gym hall letting the heat and music take over his body as his mind was slipping away. He closed his eyes tightly, and thought about nothing else other than the music. That way, he did not notice anyone else enter the gym. The music filled his lungs, blocking out his hearing, and as the unknown guests stood watching the young talented dancer, the sounds and dancing was coming to a close. As Aiba froze in his finishing pose, he heard soft clapping coming from the entrance of the gym. When he turned around, not a single soul was in sight, and only the sound of the door closing filled the room. Aiba looked around in confusion.
“Oh well.” He muttered, as he turned around and started to gather up his stuff, heading to the showers.
After he finished up, he left the gym and walked outside, waiting by the tree for his friend to show up. He lay his head against the tree, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the light wind blowing against his face. That is, until, a voice disturbed his peaceful bliss.
“Aiba-san!” The voice was very loud, and pierced through his ears. Aiba opened his eyes and glared at his friend.
“Thanks Jun. Ruin my peaceful bubble.” He muttered. Jun laughed at his friend.
“Bubble? Sorry I burst it...” he laughed at his own lame pun. Aiba just rolled his eyes and shot Jun his bright smile.
“Whatever, you ready to go?” he asked, eager to get away from their hellish school. Jun chuckled but happily agreed.
The next day came far too quickly for Aiba. The school he went to wasn’t particularly bad, except for the cocky ‘popular’ kids who seemed to think they could rule the school with money and fashion. But, he didn’t like to even think about them, which is why, most of the time; he shut himself in the gym hall and lost himself in the music.
He met Jun at the school gates per usual, and entered the school.
“So… ditching me again at lunch?” Jun said, raising his eyebrow in amusement, knowing the answer already.
“Um… actually no. I’m staying in the cafeteria today.” He stated. Jun stopped smiling.
“What? Why?” he asked. Aiba looked at him both with a confused and amused expression on his face.
“Got a problem with me being there? Cause I can go to the dance hall if you want me to Jun.” he said. Jun shook his head quickly.
“Of course not. It’s just weird that you suddenly want to sit in the cafeteria for lunch. That’s all.” Jun explained, trying to express his happiness towards Aiba’s decision. “I like when you decide to sit beside me.” Aiba just chuckled and walked forward, going to class.
When lunch came, Aiba waited for Jun to come from class. He wasn’t very hungry, so instead he put in his earphones and begun listening to his dance music, visualising the moves in his head. Aiba was humming along to the tune as well, slightly moving his body, until a hand was put on his shoulder which startled him a lot. He looked up to see Jun standing there with a smirk on his face.
“Goddammit Jun!” he shouted a little, trying to calm himself down. Jun, however, just chuckled and sat opposite him.
“Well, you shouldn’t be so distracted then.” He retorted, taking a bite of his own chocolate bar.
“Yeah, well you still shouldn’t sneak up on people.” Aiba said, taking out his earphones and putting his iPod away. “So, how was class?” he started small talk. Jun laughed.
“Well… it was class. We did work.” He smartly remarked, making Aiba roll his eyes.
“See, this is another reason I like going to the hall for lunch. Speaking of, who do you hang with when I’m not here?” Aiba wondered. Jun just smirked.
“None of your business.” He said, making Aiba a lot more curious.
“Fair enough.” He said, making Jun sadden as he wanted Aiba to push the matter further.
“Okay.” They both sat in silence for a couple of minutes, until they heard a ruckus begin near the food area.
“What’s going on?” Aiba asked, not really to Jun but just in general. Jun’s brow furrowed.
“I don’t know. Want to check it out?” he asked, and before Aiba could refuse, he grabbed his friends arm and pulled him over to the circle being created around the situation. When they got there, a person who thought they ruled the school was bullying this other poor kid. Aiba scowled. Jun squeezed his arm.
“Leave it.” He said, noticing how Aiba was tensing up. The ‘leader’ of the school was Jin Akanishi, the son of a very rich man, and one stuck up boy. Aiba hated him the most, always going around pushing people about just because he can. And no one dares to stand up to him because of the fear he creates with his money. Jun sighed as he saw Aiba tense up more as Akanishi hit the small boy before him in the stomach.
“Just… stay there. Don’t get involved when you don’t need to.” Jun tried to calm the other down, he didn’t want him involved.
“When I don’t need to?! He’s freaking beating the boy up!” Aiba quietly shouted. Jun just sighed. Aiba looked over again, and noticed how no-one, absolutely no one was doing a thing. He saw Akanishi’s friends just standing at the side, watching in amusement. It made him angry, furious even. And at that moment, he knew he had to do something, anything. He couldn’t just stand by and let this go on. Jun felt Aiba start to move beside and he feared the worst. He didn’t want his friend put in a terrible situation, like the one he’s about to get into. But he couldn’t stop it, as Aiba had already ran into the middle, and sucker-punched Akanishi directly in the face, forcing him to let go of his smaller victim. Everyone gasped. What Aiba had just done was unthinkable. And dangerous.
“What. The. Fuck.” That voice was definitely Akanishi’s. And it sounded pissed. Aiba froze. He was standing beside the boy who was getting attacked, but the venomous voice startled him. Yet, it didn’t frighten him. It made him want to laugh. Aiba stood beside the victim, ignoring Akanishi’s loud angry voice, and decided to ask if the other was alright.
“Are you okay?” He asked genuinely. The other smiled at him and nodded slightly, although, Aiba could tell the other was in pain.
“That’s good. You should get out of here though.” He whispered, patting the guy’s shoulder that looked up at him in amazement. He quickly nodded though, and ran through the crowd. Aiba sighed in relief, but stopped when he realised, he was now left alone to face Akanishi. He turned around slowly, to face the boy whose anger was basically flowing off of him.
“…Hi.” Aiba said. It wasn’t to be cocky or anything, he just didn’t know what else to say. But that seemed to infuriate Akanishi more.
“Hi?! Who the fuck are you?!” He asked. Aiba shrugged.
“Me? I’m nobody.” He answered quietly, wanting to get out of this situation as fast as he could.
“Damn right your nobody. Especially when I finish with you.” And with those words said, Akanishi ventured forward, towards the unafraid man.
“Oh… great.” He sighed and took a sneak peak over at Jun, who looked more scared than Aiba did. “What to do…” he whispered to himself as he analysed the situation. Sure enough, if he just stood there and let Akanishi come up to him, he would get severely beaten up, no doubt about that. Yet, he didn’t want to run away, especially after his ‘heroic act’. What to do…? Akanishi finally reached him, and took one step backwards, as though he was going into his fighting stance, getting ready to make sure Aiba didn’t look like Aiba anymore.
“Crap.” He muttered, but tried to get his mind and body ready to dodge Akanishi’s attacks. He’d never been in a fight before, but he figured he could probably put some of his dance moves into practice. Maybe. Akanishi made the first move. Swinging his right arm forward, aiming for Aiba’s jaw, he lunged forward at Aiba. Aiba, however, was quick to realise Akanishi’s move and leaned backwards, just enough so that the punch missed him, and nearly made Jin fall over - expressing the power that went into the attack.
“What the-.” Jin muttered as he looked up at the strange boy, whom he had never seen. Aiba smirked him and looked over at his friend Jun, who was looking at him with widened eyes. He just shrugged in reply to the silent question. Akanishi groaned and tried to kick Aiba hard in the leg. However, it didn’t seem to make contact either. Yet, Aiba couldn’t detect the attack so it wasn’t his defence. What had stopped the kick? Just then, Aiba realised that he was now in someone’s arms, as though he was being protected from Jin. He saw the look on Jin’s face grow even angrier, which made him look up to his so called ‘saviour’.
“..No way.” He whispered as he looked up to see Jin’s best friend, Sho Sakurai. In Aiba’s eyes, Sho was just behind Jin in his list of most hated. Sho never done anything to stop Jin, and would even laugh about whoever Jin had beaten up. Jin scowled.
“What the fuck Sho?!” He shouted at his best friend, wondering why sho was even protecting Aiba. Aiba continued to stare up at Sho who was looking at Jin intensely.
“Look, Akanishi. I honestly do not care about anyone you beat up…” he said, and Jin smiled at that fact, however, Sho continued in a more serious manner, “But, if you dare try to touch this guy again, I will seriously hurt you.” He finished, and the venom in his voice made Aiba cower a little. Jin just stared blankly at Sho, as did everyone else in the room. Especially Aiba. But now, he decided, he should really speak up.
“…Do I know you?” he asked. Sho finally looked down at Aiba and stared at him.
“…No.” he replied. Aiba was now definitely confused.
“Okay. So… why?” he asked the next question. Sho continued to stare at him.
“Because.” Was all he replied. Aiba got pissed at that short, unsatisfactory answer.
“Fine.” He pushed himself out of Sho’s arms and stood away from him.
So, there stood Akanishi, who was fuming at his best friend, who was staring at Aiba, who was thinking about this very strange situation and the fact that the whole school was still watching. Time to get out. Now.
“Well, it’s been fun, but, I’m going to go now.” He muttered while walking slowly backwards. Sho looked over at Jin, who was now looking at Aiba retreating.
“You think you can just get away with punching me?!” Jin screamed, walking over to Aiba, but he was soon pushed back by his friend.
“Did you not hear my warning?” Sho asked, glaring into Jin’s eyes directly. Jin stared at him, hoping that’s he’s making a joke.
“You are kidding right?” he said, smirking. Sho just continued to glare at him.
“Want to check?” he dared Akanishi to try something. Jin could feel how serious Sho was.
“You know what? Fuck it. Whatever.” He said, pushing Sho off of him and looking over at Aiba who wasn’t doing anything. He just shook his head and made his way away from the crowd, leaving just Sho and Aiba in the middle.
“So… That’s my cue to leave.” Aiba said, walking away without another word. Sho watched him as he disappeared.
Jun ran over to his best friend in disbelief.
“How the hell did you survive that?!” he asked, wondering about his relationship with Sakurai Sho.
“You know what? I have no, fucking, clue.” He whispered, capturing his head in his hands as he squeezed his eyes tight, trying not to think about anything.
“How does Sho know you?” Jun asked, sitting down opposite him again.
“He doesn’t.” Aiba muttered, already too exhausted to carry on the conversation at all.
“That’s weird. But at least he saved your ass. And! It doesn’t look like Akanishi can hold a grudge anyway.” Jun explained, trying to cheer his friend up, or just reassure himself.
“Yeah…” Aiba replied, not really listening to what Jun said. “Anyway, I’m going to go home.” He said, and without waiting for Jun’s reply, he picked up his bag, put in his earphones and left his friend alone. Jun watched as Aiba left, and shook his head, deciding not to try and figure out this confusing situation, it was just too much work for him.
Aiba walked slowly on the sidewalk, not aiming for his home as he didn’t want to explain why he was ditching, so he was just walking around, without a particular destination, just as long as no one he knew saw him. It was a nice quiet walk, and when he felt that calm and relaxing silence that surrounded him, he felt at peace. His feet led him to a swing park, where he took his seat on one of the swings, and lay his head on the chain, closing his eyes and slightly rocking back and forward. The situation at school flew out of his mind, and he began thinking of nothing at all. This lasted for a couple of hours. Aiba didn’t fall asleep though, he was just relaxing peacefully. He felt his body moving further forward, as though he was getting pushed slightly. The light wind that was flowing past his lightly coloured cheeks calmed him even more, more so that he didn’t look and see what was happening, and he just stayed quietly on the swing. This, he was sure, went on for about an hour. That’s when it started to get dark, which is when he opened his eyes. He looked around, and no one was there, just him. Aiba sighed again, and pushed himself off the swing, and turned in the direction of his own home. He began walked slowly, still not entirely eager to get to his own safe home as fast as he could. Really, he wanted to go as slow as he could. Aiba felt cold, not just outside but inside. The incident at school had bothered him more deeply than he thought. It wasn’t the case that he had hit the most fearsome guy at school, but it was the fact he had come out of it entirely unscathed. And he was saved by someone he had never talked to before, nor interacted with. Someone who was second on his ‘most-hated’ list. ‘Sho…’ Aiba thought. What was he thinking about when he saved Aiba from being kicked? To be honest, Aiba didn’t want anything to do with any of them, but it still confused him a lot. As he was thinking the incident over, he reached his own house rather quickly, which depressed Aiba even more. When he got in, the whole house was covered in silence; his parents were probably watching television and didn’t hear him coming in. At least that helped him become invisible just a little bit longer. He didn’t want to be disturbed so he quietly took the stairs to his room, avoiding his family at all costs, and shut his door as softly as he could. When he got safely in his room, he immediately lay on the bed, taking his earphones out and putting them in, listening to his dance music again, deciding it was best if his mind was focused on something that actually needed to be focused on. His dancing, for instance. Aiba closed his eyes and began to visualise his moves again. Soon enough, he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming about nothing.
“Aiba! Wake up!” That voice (once again) broke his peaceful state of mind and forced him to wake up. Aiba groaned and sat up, turning around to glare at Jun.
“What?!” He screamed, definitely not in the mood to do anything other than sleep.
“Well, you may have forgotten, but it’s not Saturday, it’s Friday… so now what does that mean?” Jun asked mocking the other. Aiba froze and turned his head towards his alarm clock that never seemed to go off.
“…Crap.” He muttered, and without waiting another second he jumped out of his bed, showing Jun his nice colourful boxers, and ran to the cupboard, desperately searching for clothes to wear. Just as he was about to reach out for his normal baggy jeans and top, Jun shouted at him.
“Don’t!” Jun lunged forward and pulled the half-naked Aiba back.
“What?!” Aiba asked, worried he had done something wrong, or there was something wrong with Jun.
“…Can I please choose your outfit?!” he asked, bowing down to Aiba. The other was confused.
“You want to dress me?” Aiba asked, cocking his head to the side to look at Jun.
“Yup.” Jun answered straightforwardly. Aiba just chuckled.
“Fine. But only the clothes in my closet. You weirdo.” Aiba chuckled, but he was starting to feel the draft on his legs. “But hurry up; we’re going to be late.” Jun smiled brightly at Aiba and then dashed to wardrobe, looking through the many clothes, hoping to find ones that he wanted.
“Ah-ha!” he announced after 2 minutes of going through the clothes. Jun brought out a pair white skinny jeans (Aiba never wore them when Jun bought them for him) and a white tank top. He threw them at Aiba who was just trying to figure out why he had agreed to this in the first place.
“Ugh. Fine.” He got changed right there and then, and stopped when Jun kept staring at him.
“Something’s missing.” Jun whispered, analysing Aiba.
“Yeah. Shoes.” Aiba mentioned, looking down at his feet. Jun chuckled and looked around for Aiba’s combat boots.
“Here, put them on.” Once he found them he threw them over to Aiba.
A couple of minutes later and Aiba had finished doing his hair.
“Ready to go?” He asked, and Jun just silently nodded, smiling to himself.
They reached the school, earlier than they had expected to, so they had some time to relax. Jun looked over at his best friend, and smiled when he saw how hot the other actually looked, especially in that black leather jacket Aiba had actually picked out for himself .It was great. They both decided to walk through the school, as they had nothing else to do. As they walked through in comfortable silence, Aiba looked in front and noticed the worst group possible coming closer to them.
Akanishi looked over at Aiba, a bit surprised at how the other looked, but he kept the death glare on. To be honest, this also made Aiba laugh, as he had nothing to worry about. Masaki turned to look at Jin’s best friend, and saw how the other was intensely looking back at him as well.
“Your nose looks well.” Aiba mentioned to Jin, trying to lighten up the situation. Jun chuckled behind his hand.
“Fuck you.” Jin retorted, standing still directly in front of the pair. Jun tensed up, he still didn’t like these odds, and with aiba basically asking for a beating, wasn’t helping him feel any better either.
“No, please don’t.” Aiba replied, making a slight mocking disgusted face. He could hear all of Jin’s friends chuckle behind him, he was obviously embarrassing the man.
“You make me sick.” Jin commented, scowling at Aiba.
“Yeah, likewise.” Aiba retorted. He quickly grabbed Jun and pushed passed them, not bothering to look back at all. He now felt angered. Today was not going to be a good day for Aiba… not at all.
Their first class finally started, and Aiba was actually glad, for the first time ever, to be in maths. It was a miracle, but because he didn’t have any friends in this class he could easily relax, and just think about maths. And nothing else, or Nobody else. The lesson went on for a very long time (In the class’s mind anyway) and it gave Aiba a lot of time to just be calm, and not think about the chaos over yesterday and this morning. He didn’t want to think about Akanishi, and certainly not the creepy guy Sho. Class ended, and Aiba was determined to just skip the next class (Akanishi was in his class) and just chill once again. However, as he was passing the corridors, his next period teacher caught him, and asked Aiba to escort him back to class. Aiba sighed but did as he was told.
When he reached the class, he scouted it, and noticed Akanishi at his normal seat at the back; talking to another friend of his. He took his seat quickly in the middle of the class, and started straight off to work. The teacher decided to interrupt, however, and introduce a new student.
“Everyone, quiet! This is Oguri Shun, he just transferred here, so welcome him.” He finished his speech and then Shun finally made an appearance.
“…Damn.” Aiba muttered. He sighed, Shun looked just like another Jin. Oh great.
“Hey.” Was all Shun said, and then he was directed to his seat, which was, unsurprisingly, next to Jin and his friends. This adds to the fact that Shun will end up as one of Jin’s lackeys no doubt.