Tales of Crack

Rikkai Dai – Sanada Genichirou

Ayu

It had been the start of a perfectly normal day: Sanada had woken up, gone to school to open the practice rooms for his fellow teammates, and practiced his own techniques against the brick wall. Not a thing was out of place. The schoolwork was still fairly tedious, his friends were still moronic (although tolerable to some extent), and the after school tennis practices were still as intense as ever. Everything was fine.

And yet, Sanada had still felt empty inside. Something was amiss; he knew it. The slight paranoia latched onto him the rest of the day, following him even when tennis practice came around. Every thought in the boy’s head revolved around what could have been wrong with the day, though, his concentration wasn’t broken. He couldn’t let students like Niou notice his lack of attention. They’d most likely throw a “Tarundoru” at his face before laughing haughtily—that is, if anyone had the courage to do so.

Sanada brought his hand up to fiddle around with his cap only for his fingertips to be met with his own hair. Sanada blinked, and felt around for his cap again.

His fingers merely touched his seaweed colored locks once more.

“Oi, Fuku-buchou,” the Trickster drawled, a lazy hand pointing the racket to Sanada’s head, “you should keep that hat on at all times. You’ve got horrible hat hair.”

“…Where did it go?” Sanada seethed, although it didn’t seem much too different from his normal tone.

Niou only shrugged in response, “Ask seaweed head. He was talking about some third year girl running around with a yellow baseball cap earlier.”

Sanada was silent. Dear God, of all the places his hat could have been…

“It’s with ,” he deadpanned, resisting any and all urges to slap his forehead.

“Bingo.”

~~~

After Sanada had stormed out of the tennis courts, he immediately began his search for a certain girl: you.  If you weren’t hanging around Niou or Bunta, you had to be at his family’s dojo, as you had enrolled yourself only several weeks beforehand. But currently, your potential seemed to shrink in comparison to his overwhelming desire to wring your neck. He wanted that hat back.

Sanada gathered his things together and lifted his bag.

Funny, it seemed to be lighter.

He paused for a moment and opened up his bag once more. The zipper’s teeth parted slowly, making a quiet “zip” as Sanada cautiously opened the sports bag. If it weren’t out of character, the athlete would have started praying that it was in there.

“!”

Now you had both his hat and precious rock Family Stone in your possession.

~~~

You giggled to yourself as Sanada frantically searched for his things. Although it didn’t seem as if he was perturbed by anything in particular (in fact, he would look quite his normal self if presented to any old student), his hastened footsteps and enraged aura revealed everything. 

Your fingers grasped the edges of “your” hat lightly, pulling the material downwards until it shadowed your face.

“Wait until he finds out what else is missing,” you snickered, twirling one of his two tennis rackets behind the school building.

~~~ 

Sanada trudged into the classroom, his angst over the loss of his hat, his stone, and racket bearing on him harder than the previous day. Oh what he would give to have them all back! Especially his dearest hat.

“Here’s your stuff, Gen-chan,” you suddenly piped up, handing him over the materials he had just been angsting over.

His raised eyebrow showed his suspicion.

“It’s Tuesday, dear Gen-chan. I like you on Tuesdays. And besides, a Sanada is not a complete Sanada without the Sana-hat.”

And with that, you—quite literally—skipped off into your own homeroom. Sanada shook his head, putting away his things as he mentally scolded himself for letting his own girlfriend get the best of him.

…Although, he had to wonder how you found out the name of his hat.

------------------------------

Shitenhouji – Chitose Senri

Mara-chan

“Don’t get involved with him.”

It was the first thing she was told the minute she transferred into class 3-B of Shitenhouji High. She wondered if they always greeted the new transfer students like this. It was different, to say the least. She asked, “Who?”

“Chitose Senri.”

“Why?”

“He’s dangerous.”

Well, of course he is.

“We’re not lying or exaggerating,” said Shima, a sleepy-eyed and practical girl. “Trust me . Your life will be much easier if you just stay away from that delinquent. They say he’s done business with the Yakuza.”

“He’s a gang member?”

“I don’t know. He was the gang leader of this school, but recently he stepped down or something—they say he gave the position to a close friend. I don’t know his friend, but the new leader is supposed to be really scary. They say he has poisonous arms or something.”

They. Who are They?

wasn’t the type to judge others without getting to know them first, and right now she hadn’t even seen this Chitose Senri. She didn’t understand what the big deal was either. If he wasn’t the gang leader anymore, then why should she be wary of him and not his poisonous friend? And how could she avoid someone who already skipped school everyday?

“Oh, you’ll see him soon enough,” assured another girl named Hikari. “In the meantime, wanna go shopping with us? There’s a huge opening sale at the mall and I want to get this one perfume brand. You know that new store, Ever Rain? The accessories are so cute…”

Shopping. That was one thing all girls had in common, and apparently the girls at Shitenhouji were not an exception. Hikari felt relieved. All that talk about gangsters and Yakuza had made her feel almost worried. Perhaps this new school would be normal after all.

~~~

Despite being after school, the mall was not very crowded, and Hikari followed her new friends to the new and popular perfumery called Ever Rain.

“There are so many people here,” Hikari commented, staring at the mass of females gathered in the room-sized store. could recognize a few girls from 3-B. Shima didn’t answer and made a beeline for the armchair in the corner. “, you want to check out the scents with me? We can try out samples or—”

There was a commotion near the heart of the store where it was the most crowded, and there were loud squeals. Hikari craned her neck, “What’s going on?”

A nearby woman explained, “It’s the manager. I heard he’s the one of the founders of Ever Rain.” Hikari became excited.

“Really? The young, hot redhead? He’s called Kin-something. Let’s go see, !” No answer. “? Oh, she disappeared.”

did not disappear. She was being pushed back by a few enthusiastic shoppers heading straight for the young, hot manager. She opened her mouth to tell the girls off but stopped when she realized they were not girls but guys.

Several tall and intimidating guys, to be accurate. They were almost like a gang.

immediately sensed something like a gang fight was going to happen. So she turned to find her friends and leave the store quickly—and bumped into something very hard.

It was a guy. He was tall. Very tall, so much that she tilted her head back to travel up his dark-colored suit and finally stop at his face. He had wild dark hair and sun-kissed skin. His dark eyes knew many secrets and there was the laziest smirk on his lips.

He was different from the previous guys, she realized. He was also very dangerous.

“I’m sorry,” she said. He glanced over her uniform and the lazy smirk grew.

“You’re going the right direction, beautiful.” His dark head inclined to the doorway. “You better leave now ‘cause it’s going to get messy in here.” There was a fierce light in his eyes that made her stare, and as he moved she reached out and caught his sleeve. She didn’t realize her actions until he stopped and turned his head to look down at her.

“You’re going to fight those guys?” she blurted. He raised an eyebrow.

“I told you, it’s going to get messy. If you don’t want to get involved in a gang fight, hurry and go home.” He took her hand away from his arm. She could feel the immense strength in that large warm hand and realized he could easily crush her if he wanted to.

He stepped away and she didn’t reach out again.

“Chitose… Senri.”

He stopped.

She was right. turned to look straight at him. “The guy in the red shirt and the one wearing a hat… they both have knives.” Be careful.

“I see. Thanks.” The tall guy—Chitose Senri—smirked lazily and continued walking. She almost didn’t hear him add quietly after her.

“See you at school.”

~~~

The next day everybody was hushed and fearful. He had come.

Chitose Senri stepped into 3-B and the room fell silent. His dark knowing eyes searched the classroom and stopped on . Everybody was surprised as the feared retired gang leader of Shitenhouji approached the new transfer student, his footsteps echoing quietly.

She looked up when he placed a large hand on her desk.

“Hey. I’m Chitose Senri.”

“I’m . Nice to meet you.”

“Same here.” He straightened. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To eat. I didn’t eat breakfast.”

“Okay.”

They left the shocked classroom. Chitose led her through the hallways and up the staircase, and she followed silently, holding her bag. It was her first time ditching class but she didn’t care. Under these circumstances how could she care about something as trivial as class?

Finally, he broke the silence. “Why did you help me? I know you’ve heard about me from your friends.”

“I don’t care about rumors. I make my own judgments, Chitose-san.”

He suddenly laughed. It echoed in the quiet hall and thought it was a pleasant sound.  “You’re the first girl I’ve met who’s not scared of me. Rumors have some truth to them, you know.” He walked up yet another staircase and she wondered how large this school actually was. “And drop the formalities. I go by just my name.”

She wasn’t about to argue with him. “Okay. Where are we eating?” They walked down a dim hallway and stopped in front of a simple door. “A storage room? For tennis equipment?”

Chitose leaned against the door and smiled at her. She could see an earring glinting through his hair.

“We prepared a welcome party just for you, . The school gang leader prepared, that is.”

She stared at him. “But didn’t you step down from being the gang leader?”

“So you did believe the rumors. But yes, I’m not the leader. Shiraishi Kuranosuke is, and he’s waiting for you inside this room. Along with the rest of the Shitenhouji Gang.”

stepped back a couple feet. “You mean, the whole gang is in there? Right now?” She stepped back again. “Why?”

“Shiraishi wants to recruit you into the gang. You were quite a help yesterday. It saved me a bit of trouble getting rid of those knives first.” He pushed himself away from the door and walked toward her.

She shook her head frantically. She had to clear up this ridiculous misunderstanding before something bad happened. “No, no, you don’t understand, I wasn’t trying to help. I just didn’t want anybody to get killed. That’s all.” She began to turn back down the hall where they came from. “I’m going back to class, Chitose-san. You should too, the lesson probably already started—”

“But gang members don’t go to class, .” His amused voice was very close to her ear. “You already know that, so why bother telling me?”

“You wore your uniform. And you’re at school,” she pointed out, not looking at him. “…Let go of me.”

“The reason I came to school was to welcome you into the gang.” He suddenly tugged her hand and she stumbled into his arms, dropping her bag in the process. She was stunned when he embraced her warmly.

He smelled good, like expensive cologne, she thought. When caught herself inhaling his scent she realized she was in trouble.

“And call me Senri.” He buried his face in her neck, murmuring, “Since you’re my girlfriend.”

She wondered when that had happened, but found she didn’t mind the turn of developments at all.

“Fine. I’ll join your gang. But only because you’re my boyfriend.”

------------------------------

Higa Chuu – Hirakoba Rin

DeVeliCious & A.C.

Introduction: You’re a novice rock star working with a professional – Hirakoba Rin, who is someone that you really despise.

tried not to blink from all the camera flashes that kept snapping in her face. She fidgeted a bit, but then realized that Rin was sitting a little to close to her. Unlike, his usual smiles and mannerism, he seriously did not look like he was in the mood today.

The press conference was held in a hotel hall room and was already filled with the press and sponsors. Sponsor endorsements and logos were all over the place.

Sheesh, he really is popular, thought, glancing at him.

Finally, the master of ceremony (MC) began speaking… “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend our press conference. We’ll keep this short and brief. A press kit is available beneath each chair for all the details and questions will be taken by Hirakoba Rin and once the speech is over,” she announced. Clearing her throat, she picked up the paper and spoke again, “The two will be producing a duo together and…’

’s head almost fell out of boredom. The woman cannot stop talking; didn’t she say it was going to be brief?!!

Half an hour later, she finally stopped and reporters were finally allowed to ask questions.

“Hirakoba-san, why do a duet with a novice?”

Rin grinned, “Because she’s cute.”

[GASPS]

felt blank and wanted to punch him, but held herself because she was so going to be in the headlines tomorrow. I can see it now, novice singer punches superstar… She giggled inwardly. She kept her serious place and was not flattered at all by Rin’s comment. I will not let him intimidate me… All eyes are on us.

More minutes passed and was still bored. At one point, she really felt neglected because everyone’s focus was on Rin instead of her. Who cares about this bastard, let’s just get this over with.

“-san, a question please.”

looked up when she heard her name being called and saw a very beautiful reporter eyeing her suspiciously. “My question is more directed towards the both of you, but rumors are that you two are lovers, is it true?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

and Rin both looked at each other. glared at him because he said yes, while he winked at her. Before anyone could ask anything or she would respond, he pulled her by her wrist and planted a firm kiss on her lips, catching her completely off guard and making everyone gasp.

He pulled away, keeping his grip on her wrist and stood up. “We’re out, folks,” he said, dashing out of the room as he pulled away.

“Wait…”

“Hirakoba-san!”

“-san!”

“Well, I guess this press conference is finally over,” the MC announced as she witnessed half of the press running after the two.

------------------------------

Rikkai Dai – Sanada Genichirou

Songbird

And now, more than ever, did realize--as she stared into a piercing pair of deep chestnut brown eyes--how odd the turn of events had taken the duo of frequent acquaintances. 

"Well, I'm, uh...flattered...really."  She spoke in a slightly awkward, slightly slow tone, finally breaking her eyes from his.  "But I think I should probably go, Mr. Sanada."

Sanada Genichirou, on the other hand, was not amused.  How was this going to look to the other students?  How was this going to look to the other teachers?  This was not his plan, this was actually the farthest thing from his plan.  He had merely meant to quietly talk to this girl--set her down and politely ask her to leave him alone.  So it was obvious that the current image of him standing sprawled out in front of her, the rest of the student body, and the teachers with a brightly colored banner reading "Will you marry me?" waving slightly behind him...wasn't exactly sticking to the plan. 

"No!  It's not what it looks like--" Man, did he think he would be the last person to utter those words.

"Uun, its okay to be embarrassed, I mean--there is that whole age difference thing, and the student-teacher thing...not to mention the fact that there is the matter of the whole "student body-teacher faculty watching you"...thing..." Inwardly, she giggled.

"No, thats really not..." Sanada fought sternly before deciding to give up.  His fearful eyes didn't even dare to glance around the room after he decided to grab the girls wrist and drag her to a place more quiet. 

"Mr. Sanada, really!" She was now trying to suppress a giggle of the physical sorts, and a small bit of it slid out when she felt the force of Sanada Genichiriou let go of the firm grip he had on her wrist.

", this is no laughing matter." He frowned, obviously not amused. 

Sensing his seriousness, her quiet giggling subsided.  "S-Sorry sir, it must be a bout of nervousness from being proposed to." She snickered again.

"You know I did not set up that situation, ." He shook his head, gracing his fore and middle finger upon his temple with a sigh.  "But that is not what this is about." He paused briefly.  "You need to keep your distance from me.  This little game of yours is endangering my career."

"What are you talking about, Mr. Sanada?"

His eyes slightly narrowed.  She knew exactly what this was about.  For the past 2 weeks he had been back at Rikkai Dai after being asked to help some students who were serious about going into the line of business.  Of course, he obliged, being a former student of Rikkai, how could he not?  However, he had not anticipated everything that was to happen after he had done so. 

She seemed innocent, at first, .  She was quiet, always asking for help and was ready to apply any learning he gave to her where needed.  He had never really thought much of her beyond being a good student of his.  That was, until, something in her changed.  She started coming after school, asking him to stay longer to help her with concepts she was only slightly familiar with.  She started to visit his apartment, trying to get help beyond what she could get at school.  She started to talk to him, every moment she could.  And, from what he had heard from a group of bumbling students, she was playing some sort of game to see whether or not she could crack him.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." 

hesitated for a moment, feeling the ice in his voice. 

"Students are snickering pedophile, teachers a crying threats to fire me...I would much rather that you keep a fair distance from me, in and out of school."

"--But I need help with--"

"I know this is all a game to you but it is not to me.  I will not repeat it again, keep a fair distance."

The previous giggles that had been jumping around her insides were long gone as she now found out that the matter was turning much more serious.  "S...sorry Mr. Sanada."  She lowered her head, slight blush resting on her cheeks.  Though she had played it off as a game, the truth was that it was never really a game to her.  The truth was that she was the one who spread the rumor, hoping it to cover up her real motives. 

"I guess I have no choice but to go."

It was all a stupid idea, really.  Thinking that she had a chance with a man 9 years her senior.  Even if something between them had taken place, students and teachers alike would be in an uproar.  It wasn't uncommon for students to have crushes on teachers, however, it was uncommon for both or either partners to actually act on it.  Some part of her thought that--maybe--if she could talk to him enough and keep joking and giggling to large proportions, he would open up to her.  He would accept the bundle of still new feelings squeezing in her chest.  Her eyes closed for a moment, trying to find peace within her inner chaos as she turned around unsurely, almost reluctantly.  "Goodbye, Mr. Sanada."

And with that, walked away, leaving shattered pieces of the past two weeks scattered at the floor of Sanada's feet.

~~~

"This is incredibly odd."

Tezuka looked towards his companion sitting across the table from him while cocking an eyebrow.  "Excuse me, I was unaware you did not like the food here."

"No," Sanada shook his head slightly.  "Not the food.  I was just talking to myself, please pay it no mind."

"Un." The spectacled man confirmed while giving the menu another look over. 

Sanada decided to open his mouth again in order to divert his mind.  "It's nice to be in your presence again, Tezuka."

"Yes"  He gave an awkward pause before he set down his menu.  "I would say the same, if you were all here."

His companion kept a stern face, trying not to visually show his confusion.  "What do you mean by that?"

"Its obvious something's bothering you."

Sanada was slightly disconcerted by this.  How would a man he had not talked to in a long while know anything about his actions.  He was perfectly fine.  He was perfectly and utterly fine.  "There is nothing bothering me."

"It's your decision on wether you believe it or not, I really have no say in the matter.  You and I both were never ones to act on or convey our feelings."

"...Feelings?  What are you getting at Tezuka?"

He straightened the napkin on his lap.  "There's something missing, is there not?"

"..."

"When we had our business dinner last week, you seemed more full of something that you now lack.  Because we are men scarce in the ways of feelings and emotions, we tend to confuse them easily."

"You seem to be rather aware of my emotions for a man who confuses them easily." He replied in a sternly sarcastic tone.

"Again, its your decision Genichirou.  My advice is simply not to get careless."

"What would you know about her?  She's 9 years younger than me for that matter."

"So it is about your feelings."

Sanada made a noise, realizing his fault for speaking out so irrationally.  "I'm quite sure there are no feelings to be problematic."

"Then why, in your fit of rage, did you bring up a specific girl?  And a specific problem with her?"

"...Because thats what I believed you were talking about."

"I assure you that I have no knowledge in the matters of your life."  Lightly, his finger reached up to the bridge of his nose and nudged his lens'.  "You should probably talk to her."

"There is nothing...to talk about..."

Tezuka sighed.  "No, nothing at all."

~~~

The moonlight caressed the hard-faced man in the business suit lightly as he made his way back down to his apartment that night.  He probably could have went with Tezuka, but he felt walking was more appropriate.  That, and he didn't really feel like talking with the equally straight-laced boy after what had happened at dinner that night.  All his assumptions were silly, juvenile...and there was just no way that Tezuka could fully understand the situation.  There was nothing wrong with him, he had taken care of the situation quite a long while ago.  Since then he had not seen her, heard from her or even heard her name uttered in the halls.  It was what he wanted.  Everything was exactly what he wanted.

So what was the jump in his insides when he spotted her taking out the trash that night?

He stood erect, putting on his hardened face when he realized she had not yet seen his previous broken composure.  "." He said in a slightly greeting tone, though it was much past morning.

"M-Mr. Sanada!  Sorry!  I didn't think you'd be here, I'll just run inside."  She bowed slightly, blushing, while making a dash for the door.

A hand snapped over her wrist--like on that day--as Sanada blured out a "Wait!"

She paused, looking back towards him.  "Mr...Sanada?"  Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke, as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

"Oh--well, excuse me."  He quickly released her wrist.  "I wanted to ask you--To talk...apologize for the way I acted towards you a while back.  It was rude, and I should have realized how harsh I was being."

"Don't worry about it, I understand.  I shouldn't have been..." She gulped before diverting her attention from him as she spoke the words "playing games."

A wind blew right between them, seemingly softening Sanada's hardened gaze.

"..." He hesitated for what seemed like a long period of shared insecurity.  "Were you really only...playing games?"

"O-Of course.  I know its stupid for a student to assume that they could be in love with their own teacher!"  She gave a obviously forced laugh.  "Think of what the students would say!  What the teachers would do!"

His eyes moved towards her hand, feeling the missing piece of him slide into his soul when he heard the hurt tone her voice had hidden.  Gently he grabbed both of her hands gingerly, rubbing his thumb into her palms.  "..., you know this is wrong, right?"

She blushed slightly deeper, confused as to what had made him change so suddenly.  "R-Right."

"And you know what people would say if they saw us....right?"

"...Right."

"Hm." He laughed with an almost smile.  "Good." And in what seemed like an instant, he pulled her small self towards his large frame and held her, unafraid of the wall of feelings he had put up to compensate for the fact that the emptiness in his interior was because of the absence of a girl 9 years younger than himself.  And even more importantly, unafraid of feeling love.

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Crack Themes

October 22^nd to October 29^th, 2008