Cool off, Manders!
Recipient: 
polyurethane (Amanda Eileen)
Title: Experiment
Pairing/Characters: Yanagi/Kirihara, Rikkai ensemble.
Beta: U-L-chan.
Disclaimer: The boys belong to each other and to Konomi-sensei. Just borrowing them for a bit.
Rating: T (PG-13) mostly for swearing...
If you are to ask the members of Rikkaidai’s tennis team, almost everyone has their own idea of what has happened that night, but only two people know the truth. It is a regular outing; summer is upon them, Yukimura is finally well and has recovered enough from his surgery for Kirihara to be able and drag him with him to the onsen, to cheer him up as he says. Sanada has followed because he is worried about what Kirihara can do to Yukimura, Yanagi has followed because why pass up a good chance to get data, Niou has followed because he wants to see if there are some fun to be had, Yagyuu has followed to keep an eye on Niou, Marui has followed because he is bored and Jackal has followed because someone needs to keep an eye on everyone.
It’s all supposed to be a regular trip to the onsen. Well, as regular as it can be, with Kirihara being the one instigating the entire trip, and no one knows exactly why things have turned out the way it has. The teachers responsible for each student sit down with them, having a lengthy one on one talk with them. Maybe, just maybe, this can bring some light to the situation…
Yukimura:
I’m not sure where to start… Well, I’ll try. Please be patient with me, as I really don’t know all the details… To begin with, it was Akaya’s idea. The entire team ended up at the onsen and we were having a good time, at least I think we did. And after eating and spending some time in the hot spring, I went for a run. I love to be able to exercise my body again, you know? So I ran. The night was nice, still warm even though the stars were out, and very peaceful. And when I came back, it had already happened. They were gone. But even though we searched high and low for them, we couldn’t find them… And yet they reappeared without as much as a single explanation the following morning. I… really don’t’ know what to think about that.
Sanada:
I have nothing to say.
Please, you need to give me something to work with here…
What do you expect me to say? That they were stupid? I’ll say it. That they should have kept from running off? I’ll say it. That it was good that they weren’t hurt? I won’t say that. As irresponsible as they were, they’ve gotten of the hook far too easily.
But if they were abducted…
Has anyone implied that they were?
Yanagi:
I don’t see why you bother asking me this. Please leave.
I need to know the details…
There are none. …But that can’t be true, and this boy has to know everything… That was what you were planning to say, wasn’t it? Maybe so. Still… That’s only for me to know.
Please leave.
Niou:
Lemme just start by sayin’ that none of it was my fault, ‘kay? I didn’t make ‘em disappear and I didn’t mess up the room either. Wait. You’re not askin’ about that, are you? Crap. Well, forget the room, ‘kay? Ain’t important right now. I’ll tell you what happened. Nada. They just got lost. And the room was a mess when we got there, ‘kay? You’re just tryin’ to find someone to blame because it’s gonna make it easier for you guys. Well, I ain’t helpin’. Puri~
Yagyuu:
Very well, I’ll try to be as thorough as possible. Everything was in order as we arrived at the onsen. We booked a room, went to change into our yukata, and then went down for dinner. I believe they served an assortment of seafood, really delicious. Yukimura-kun, Sanada-kun, Yanagi-kun and Kirihara-kun sat at one long side of the table, Marui-kun, Kuwahara-kun, Niou-kun and me myself sat at the other. We all drank water and I remember Kirihara-kun complaining that there weren’t any soda… Or alcohol for that matter. I believe Sanada-kun snapped at him then, and we all wondered if Kirihara-kun had earned himself a slap now… But that didn’t seem to be the case.
After we finished with the dinner, everyone made their way over to the spring, and the water was wonderful. Of course, Kirihara-kun had to ruin the serenity of the place by splashing around, and he got Marui-kun to start as well. In the end, Sanada-kun had to scold them, and believe me, you don’t want the details.
We were all in all having a good time however, and by the time nightfall came, we wanted to head back to the room for some friendly game of ping-pong and just chatting around. Yukimura-kun – I think that boy is extremely restless, actually – wanted to go for a run however, so he did. The night went by peacefully, and then Yanagi-kun had to go to the bathroom. Nothing wrong with that, most of us had went of course, at some point of the day. What was odd however, was the fact that he took quite a bit of a time at the bathroom. Yanagi-kun is often very quick were such matters are concerned, and still he wasn’t back even though fifteen minutes had passed. Kirihara-kun was certain he had been attacked or murdered, and really, he watches too many criminal shows on TV, or if he reads too much detective manga, I’m not sure… Oh, but I digress. Where was I? Oh, yes. Kirihara-kun. Anyway, he went looking for Yanagi-kun, and I was actually glad that he did. Not that I believed that Yanagi-kun was killed or anything, but he could have slipped and hurt himself. So, someone really should go and look for him.
There was only one problem… Kirihara-kun didn’t come back either. They were both gone. We searched everywhere for them, asked the staff if they had seen them, and when Yukimura-kun came back, he helped looking for them as well. But no matter how much we searched for them… Nothing.
We went to bed with heavy heart, everyone, and I actually doubt that either Yukimura-kun or Sanada-kun slept at all that night… But when morning came, Kirihara-kun and Yanagi-kun reappeared. And the odd thing was that they could offer no explanation as to why and where they were gone. And that’s all I have to say on the matter.
Or wait, maybe not all. Some time before we realized that Yanagi-kun was missing, Niou-kun thought that it’d be fun to put some crackers into the shell of a left over lobster. So… It exploded. I hope you don’t have to pay for cleaning the room up… You do? Oh. Well, of course you do…
Marui:
We came, we saw, we got wet, lost some gained some. Dunno what else to say. Yeah. Got any gum?
Please try and understand that this is serious. Now tell me, what’s going on here?
Ask Kirihara? Or Yanagi? I dunno. Quit bothering me.
Kuwahara:
Course we were worried. I mean, I was worried, I’m sure everyone was. And we went looking for them when they disappeared, you know? But we didn’t find them. They turned up though and they seemed fine, so I don’t really understand why you need to ask us all these questions. No one got hurt, and if they don’t want to say where they were, it’s their business, right? The only one that got hurt was that poor dead lobster. Oh! I shouldn’t have said that, should I? Oh, you already know who did it? Oh, okay then…
Kirihara:
Talk about lame.
Don’t stare at me! I talk if I wanna talk.
And I don’t.
So piss off!
Niou-sempai? How should I know what he’s been up to? Oh, that… Well, doesn’t matter, does it?
Screw this.
*
And the teachers realize they’re not going to get much more out of the boys. Yagyuu-kun has been helpful, but there is still one large gap. What exactly happened to Yanagi-kun and Kirihara-kun? The truth that only two people know, the truth everyone else is itching to know… That truth is here.
***
Well, Yanagi-senpai had to be somewhere, Akaya realized as much. He stopped out on the porch and glanced over towards the lavatory. No sign of Yanagi there. Akaya shrugged to himself, hating to admit it, but he was getting a little bit worried. So maybe he should go and look, just to make sure…
“Yanagi-senpai?”
No reply.
“Yanagi-senpai, are you there?”
Still no reply. Being half a mind to just walk up to the door and pound onto it, Akaya stopped suddenly when he caught a glimpse of something. Footprints. That lead away from the lavatory. Into the forest? Why would Yanagi have made his way into the forest? That didn’t make sense.
Curious, Akaya considered calling the others, but then thought against it, as he wanted the honour of finding Yanagi all to himself. Instead he followed the footsteps deeper and deeper into the forest, until he reached a small brook, where the prints ended. Instead came there a voice from somewhere within the trees.
“I knew you’d come here.”
“Yanagi-senpai?! Hey, what gives?”
Yanagi stepped out from the shadows, his face calm as ever.
“Two things. First of all, an experiment.”
Akaya blinked. “Buwah?”
“Would I be missed? How long would it take for people to miss me? How pivotal to the team’s structure am I? Who would come look for me, would anyone come and look for me?”
Akaya was silent for a moment, his brain slowly processing what it was Yanagi was saying.
“So you like went and made people worry about you purposely? That’s a pretty crappy thing to do, you know!”
“Of course it is. People would never suspect me of doing something like that, therefore I can do it.” Yanagi shrugged. “The other reason… Don’t you want to know what it was?”
“No.” Akaya sulked and was just about to leave when Yanagi’s hand placed itself upon his shoulder and he moved closer to the younger boy, his ever closed eyes hidden in shadows.
“I knew you’d be the one coming to look. And I knew you’d come alone. That’s not difficult to figure out. And since we are alone, I have one more experiment I want to try out.”
“I don’t like experiments, you know? Really don’t like mind fuckery ones like the ones you’re doing. So just let me go! I’m gonna go back to the others.”
“But I think you’ll like this experiment… But you have to promise to keep from telling anyone.”
“Why is that?”
“You’ll see when I’ve done it.” And then he did it. Yanagi leaned forward, lightly catching Akaya’s lips with his, and Akaya could do nothing but stare, his mind slowly coming to the conclusion that it didn’t taste all that bad. Really, it hardly tasted anything. Girls in his class had muttered something about kisses tasting like lemon or something or the other, but it was nothing like that at all. It was just warm and cold and dry and wet and weird. And it was Yanagi-senpai who kissed him. And it was Yanagi-senpai who pulled away from him.
“Wha—What was that about?!”
“The experiment.” Yanagi looked incredibly smug. “I wanted to see what your reaction would be. And how you tasted. If I could get myself to get used to the taste.”
“Why would you want to do that? And what kind of bastard are you anyway? Kissing someone – a guy, me, - as some kind of experiment? That’s lame. Like totally lame! I ain’t no fucking experiment, you know!”
Yanagi shook his head and smiled. “Of course you’re not. The main reason for the experiment is that I’ve considered several times to ask you out, or something along those lines. However, I’m not good at expressing sentimental feelings. I need to make my point clear though, and this seemed like a way as good as anyone.”
Akaya thought for a moment, his mouth wide agape. “So… You’re like saying… You wanna be with me?”
Yanagi nodded, then said with an uncharacteristically swiftness: “But of course I understand that it was a very roundabout way and that you’re probably not interested, but can I please ask you to keep from mentioning this to the others anyway?”
Akaya, never one to really think before he acted, simply walked up to Yanagi, pushed him down onto the ground, straddled him and smirked.
“Shut up. I liked it. I sure as hell don’t understand you but I guess I kinda wanna be with you too. So just shut up.” He leaned down to kiss Yanagi on the lips, then awkwardly tried to push his tongue into the other boy’s mouth, just like he had seen them do in hentai movies, found out that it was wet and slippery and just plain odd, and quickly pulled out again. Ugh.
“I didn’t like that though.” He spat. “I think I have your spit in my mouth!”
Yanagi only looked at him, one eyebrow crooked. Akaya thought there might be the hint of a smile on his lips, but it was too dark to really tell for sure. One little thing tickled him in the back of his mind however, and he had to ask:
“So… Why the not telling?”
“Simple. Prejudice. If it gets known that there is a gay relationship within Rikkaidai, the club’s morale could falter. Our name could be slandered and we could lose whatever dignity we have.”
“We have no dignity. Seigaku took that from us. And besides, if the team knows… Who’s gonna tell, huh?”
“Do you really expect Niou and Marui to be able to keep quiet?”
To that, Akaya had no reply.
“Fine. No telling. So, should we go back?”
“No… I want to spend the night under the stars.” Yanagi paused. “… With you.”
“It’s gonna get cold.”
“I… think we can keep ourselves warm.”
A smile made its way to Akaya’s lips and he nodded, grinning.
“Fine!”
And Akaya found out that the warmth of the summer day spread its way all the way through the night; he wasn’t cold even once.
END
polyurethane (Amanda Eileen)Title: Experiment
Pairing/Characters: Yanagi/Kirihara, Rikkai ensemble.
Beta: U-L-chan.
Disclaimer: The boys belong to each other and to Konomi-sensei. Just borrowing them for a bit.
Rating: T (PG-13) mostly for swearing...
If you are to ask the members of Rikkaidai’s tennis team, almost everyone has their own idea of what has happened that night, but only two people know the truth. It is a regular outing; summer is upon them, Yukimura is finally well and has recovered enough from his surgery for Kirihara to be able and drag him with him to the onsen, to cheer him up as he says. Sanada has followed because he is worried about what Kirihara can do to Yukimura, Yanagi has followed because why pass up a good chance to get data, Niou has followed because he wants to see if there are some fun to be had, Yagyuu has followed to keep an eye on Niou, Marui has followed because he is bored and Jackal has followed because someone needs to keep an eye on everyone.
It’s all supposed to be a regular trip to the onsen. Well, as regular as it can be, with Kirihara being the one instigating the entire trip, and no one knows exactly why things have turned out the way it has. The teachers responsible for each student sit down with them, having a lengthy one on one talk with them. Maybe, just maybe, this can bring some light to the situation…
Yukimura:
I’m not sure where to start… Well, I’ll try. Please be patient with me, as I really don’t know all the details… To begin with, it was Akaya’s idea. The entire team ended up at the onsen and we were having a good time, at least I think we did. And after eating and spending some time in the hot spring, I went for a run. I love to be able to exercise my body again, you know? So I ran. The night was nice, still warm even though the stars were out, and very peaceful. And when I came back, it had already happened. They were gone. But even though we searched high and low for them, we couldn’t find them… And yet they reappeared without as much as a single explanation the following morning. I… really don’t’ know what to think about that.
Sanada:
I have nothing to say.
Please, you need to give me something to work with here…
What do you expect me to say? That they were stupid? I’ll say it. That they should have kept from running off? I’ll say it. That it was good that they weren’t hurt? I won’t say that. As irresponsible as they were, they’ve gotten of the hook far too easily.
But if they were abducted…
Has anyone implied that they were?
Yanagi:
I don’t see why you bother asking me this. Please leave.
I need to know the details…
There are none. …But that can’t be true, and this boy has to know everything… That was what you were planning to say, wasn’t it? Maybe so. Still… That’s only for me to know.
Please leave.
Niou:
Lemme just start by sayin’ that none of it was my fault, ‘kay? I didn’t make ‘em disappear and I didn’t mess up the room either. Wait. You’re not askin’ about that, are you? Crap. Well, forget the room, ‘kay? Ain’t important right now. I’ll tell you what happened. Nada. They just got lost. And the room was a mess when we got there, ‘kay? You’re just tryin’ to find someone to blame because it’s gonna make it easier for you guys. Well, I ain’t helpin’. Puri~
Yagyuu:
Very well, I’ll try to be as thorough as possible. Everything was in order as we arrived at the onsen. We booked a room, went to change into our yukata, and then went down for dinner. I believe they served an assortment of seafood, really delicious. Yukimura-kun, Sanada-kun, Yanagi-kun and Kirihara-kun sat at one long side of the table, Marui-kun, Kuwahara-kun, Niou-kun and me myself sat at the other. We all drank water and I remember Kirihara-kun complaining that there weren’t any soda… Or alcohol for that matter. I believe Sanada-kun snapped at him then, and we all wondered if Kirihara-kun had earned himself a slap now… But that didn’t seem to be the case.
After we finished with the dinner, everyone made their way over to the spring, and the water was wonderful. Of course, Kirihara-kun had to ruin the serenity of the place by splashing around, and he got Marui-kun to start as well. In the end, Sanada-kun had to scold them, and believe me, you don’t want the details.
We were all in all having a good time however, and by the time nightfall came, we wanted to head back to the room for some friendly game of ping-pong and just chatting around. Yukimura-kun – I think that boy is extremely restless, actually – wanted to go for a run however, so he did. The night went by peacefully, and then Yanagi-kun had to go to the bathroom. Nothing wrong with that, most of us had went of course, at some point of the day. What was odd however, was the fact that he took quite a bit of a time at the bathroom. Yanagi-kun is often very quick were such matters are concerned, and still he wasn’t back even though fifteen minutes had passed. Kirihara-kun was certain he had been attacked or murdered, and really, he watches too many criminal shows on TV, or if he reads too much detective manga, I’m not sure… Oh, but I digress. Where was I? Oh, yes. Kirihara-kun. Anyway, he went looking for Yanagi-kun, and I was actually glad that he did. Not that I believed that Yanagi-kun was killed or anything, but he could have slipped and hurt himself. So, someone really should go and look for him.
There was only one problem… Kirihara-kun didn’t come back either. They were both gone. We searched everywhere for them, asked the staff if they had seen them, and when Yukimura-kun came back, he helped looking for them as well. But no matter how much we searched for them… Nothing.
We went to bed with heavy heart, everyone, and I actually doubt that either Yukimura-kun or Sanada-kun slept at all that night… But when morning came, Kirihara-kun and Yanagi-kun reappeared. And the odd thing was that they could offer no explanation as to why and where they were gone. And that’s all I have to say on the matter.
Or wait, maybe not all. Some time before we realized that Yanagi-kun was missing, Niou-kun thought that it’d be fun to put some crackers into the shell of a left over lobster. So… It exploded. I hope you don’t have to pay for cleaning the room up… You do? Oh. Well, of course you do…
Marui:
We came, we saw, we got wet, lost some gained some. Dunno what else to say. Yeah. Got any gum?
Please try and understand that this is serious. Now tell me, what’s going on here?
Ask Kirihara? Or Yanagi? I dunno. Quit bothering me.
Kuwahara:
Course we were worried. I mean, I was worried, I’m sure everyone was. And we went looking for them when they disappeared, you know? But we didn’t find them. They turned up though and they seemed fine, so I don’t really understand why you need to ask us all these questions. No one got hurt, and if they don’t want to say where they were, it’s their business, right? The only one that got hurt was that poor dead lobster. Oh! I shouldn’t have said that, should I? Oh, you already know who did it? Oh, okay then…
Kirihara:
Talk about lame.
Don’t stare at me! I talk if I wanna talk.
And I don’t.
So piss off!
Niou-sempai? How should I know what he’s been up to? Oh, that… Well, doesn’t matter, does it?
Screw this.
And the teachers realize they’re not going to get much more out of the boys. Yagyuu-kun has been helpful, but there is still one large gap. What exactly happened to Yanagi-kun and Kirihara-kun? The truth that only two people know, the truth everyone else is itching to know… That truth is here.
Well, Yanagi-senpai had to be somewhere, Akaya realized as much. He stopped out on the porch and glanced over towards the lavatory. No sign of Yanagi there. Akaya shrugged to himself, hating to admit it, but he was getting a little bit worried. So maybe he should go and look, just to make sure…
“Yanagi-senpai?”
No reply.
“Yanagi-senpai, are you there?”
Still no reply. Being half a mind to just walk up to the door and pound onto it, Akaya stopped suddenly when he caught a glimpse of something. Footprints. That lead away from the lavatory. Into the forest? Why would Yanagi have made his way into the forest? That didn’t make sense.
Curious, Akaya considered calling the others, but then thought against it, as he wanted the honour of finding Yanagi all to himself. Instead he followed the footsteps deeper and deeper into the forest, until he reached a small brook, where the prints ended. Instead came there a voice from somewhere within the trees.
“I knew you’d come here.”
“Yanagi-senpai?! Hey, what gives?”
Yanagi stepped out from the shadows, his face calm as ever.
“Two things. First of all, an experiment.”
Akaya blinked. “Buwah?”
“Would I be missed? How long would it take for people to miss me? How pivotal to the team’s structure am I? Who would come look for me, would anyone come and look for me?”
Akaya was silent for a moment, his brain slowly processing what it was Yanagi was saying.
“So you like went and made people worry about you purposely? That’s a pretty crappy thing to do, you know!”
“Of course it is. People would never suspect me of doing something like that, therefore I can do it.” Yanagi shrugged. “The other reason… Don’t you want to know what it was?”
“No.” Akaya sulked and was just about to leave when Yanagi’s hand placed itself upon his shoulder and he moved closer to the younger boy, his ever closed eyes hidden in shadows.
“I knew you’d be the one coming to look. And I knew you’d come alone. That’s not difficult to figure out. And since we are alone, I have one more experiment I want to try out.”
“I don’t like experiments, you know? Really don’t like mind fuckery ones like the ones you’re doing. So just let me go! I’m gonna go back to the others.”
“But I think you’ll like this experiment… But you have to promise to keep from telling anyone.”
“Why is that?”
“You’ll see when I’ve done it.” And then he did it. Yanagi leaned forward, lightly catching Akaya’s lips with his, and Akaya could do nothing but stare, his mind slowly coming to the conclusion that it didn’t taste all that bad. Really, it hardly tasted anything. Girls in his class had muttered something about kisses tasting like lemon or something or the other, but it was nothing like that at all. It was just warm and cold and dry and wet and weird. And it was Yanagi-senpai who kissed him. And it was Yanagi-senpai who pulled away from him.
“Wha—What was that about?!”
“The experiment.” Yanagi looked incredibly smug. “I wanted to see what your reaction would be. And how you tasted. If I could get myself to get used to the taste.”
“Why would you want to do that? And what kind of bastard are you anyway? Kissing someone – a guy, me, - as some kind of experiment? That’s lame. Like totally lame! I ain’t no fucking experiment, you know!”
Yanagi shook his head and smiled. “Of course you’re not. The main reason for the experiment is that I’ve considered several times to ask you out, or something along those lines. However, I’m not good at expressing sentimental feelings. I need to make my point clear though, and this seemed like a way as good as anyone.”
Akaya thought for a moment, his mouth wide agape. “So… You’re like saying… You wanna be with me?”
Yanagi nodded, then said with an uncharacteristically swiftness: “But of course I understand that it was a very roundabout way and that you’re probably not interested, but can I please ask you to keep from mentioning this to the others anyway?”
Akaya, never one to really think before he acted, simply walked up to Yanagi, pushed him down onto the ground, straddled him and smirked.
“Shut up. I liked it. I sure as hell don’t understand you but I guess I kinda wanna be with you too. So just shut up.” He leaned down to kiss Yanagi on the lips, then awkwardly tried to push his tongue into the other boy’s mouth, just like he had seen them do in hentai movies, found out that it was wet and slippery and just plain odd, and quickly pulled out again. Ugh.
“I didn’t like that though.” He spat. “I think I have your spit in my mouth!”
Yanagi only looked at him, one eyebrow crooked. Akaya thought there might be the hint of a smile on his lips, but it was too dark to really tell for sure. One little thing tickled him in the back of his mind however, and he had to ask:
“So… Why the not telling?”
“Simple. Prejudice. If it gets known that there is a gay relationship within Rikkaidai, the club’s morale could falter. Our name could be slandered and we could lose whatever dignity we have.”
“We have no dignity. Seigaku took that from us. And besides, if the team knows… Who’s gonna tell, huh?”
“Do you really expect Niou and Marui to be able to keep quiet?”
To that, Akaya had no reply.
“Fine. No telling. So, should we go back?”
“No… I want to spend the night under the stars.” Yanagi paused. “… With you.”
“It’s gonna get cold.”
“I… think we can keep ourselves warm.”
A smile made its way to Akaya’s lips and he nodded, grinning.
“Fine!”
And Akaya found out that the warmth of the summer day spread its way all the way through the night; he wasn’t cold even once.
END