Fic: Axel
Title: Axel
Author: Rinny
Fandom: Ryuusei no Kizuna
Word Count: 594
Spoilers: Up to Episode 8
Notes: I really can't remember if Mika's character has a real name. I always think of her as Mika. Edit: Thanks to everyone who corrected me with Sagi.
Disclaimer: I can't speak Japanese, let alone claim ownership of anything there.
"Axel."
Her face was too open, her eyes too bright with the gleam of craziness for Koichi to take her too seriously. She was, perhaps, the only thing in his life he hadn't. There was a freedom in that.
"Axel!" Her mouth slipped into a pout. It wasn't terribly pretty on her.
Koichi had never been good with girls. He got too easily flustered and tripped over his words. It was simpler just not to try and besides, he'd had Shizuna and Taisuke to fill his thoughts while growing up.
Then, all of a sudden, they were grown up and he was still the awkward boy he'd been when their parents had been killed. Shii had moved in with Togami-san and was deliriously happy and Tai-kun was backpacking through Korea and sent emails home that were full of more emoticons than words. His siblings had left him behind without once looking back to see if their older brother was okay.
That was the way with children, though, Koichi had come to learn.
And it wasn’t that he was resentful. He couldn’t be happier for them. Really.
Just… it was unexpectedly lonely.
"Axel! Listen to me!" Sagi's voice was dipping into petulance, and Koichi thought vaguely that she reminded him of Shii. When she was five.
"I'm listening, I'm listening," He waved a hand. "Thought I'm not really sure why," he muttered to himself.
He had a book open on the counter, eyes skimming the words, trying to see if beginning his own restaurant was even a feasible dream. Or if he even wanted to. Was there any point anymore in following his father's footsteps without Shii and Taisuke at his side?
He couldn't name the bitter taste in the back of his throat that twisted his lips into a cold smirk. He just knew he didn't like it.
"Axel~!"
"That's not my name."
The woman blinked, dropping from her tip-toes to land flat on her heels. "It's not?"
"No." He offered nothing further.
Sagi gazed at him, her brow furrowed slightly as she skimmed his face. There was so much unhappiness there, naked and raw, no matter how he tried to shield it.
She knew a thing or two about sorrow.
"I don't need to know your name," she said, something in her voice made Koichi's eyes flicker to her face and stay there. "You're not your name. What's in a name--"
"A rose by any other name."
"..."
"Nevermind," Koichi shook his head, reminded again that there was a reason he never took her seriously. He looked back down at the book, attempting to focus.
Sagi gamely went on, "Axel."
Frustrated more by the reading material than by her, Koichi snapped the book shut and shoved it away. He gave her his full attention, "What?"
"You're not a bunch of characters written on paper. You’re boy and a man and a chef and a brother. You’re complicated, handsome, fascinating and irritating. Plus a thousand things more. You're everything that you are."
Koichi blinked, stunned stupid.
"And if I put a name to that, it has to be Axel."
She landed in his lap at full force, arms snaking around his neck and a hopeful smile curving her lips (and that was terribly pretty on her).
"Oh," he found that it wasn't so awkward as he thought to put his arms around her. His hands found a home on her hips, his lap entirely too welcoming a resting place for her thighs.
Maybe it was time to start taking her seriously after all.