"For as long as I can remember, he's been by my side. Yugi Amane, my little space man... and my best friend."
This is a WIP Hananene fanfic! It has a slow burn, and is filled with fluff but also has some angsty and (perhaps) spicy scenes. I will try...
A bright flash of yellowy-white split the night sky in a brilliantly fantastic way. Dazzling sparks flew from the originating blast and spun, changing colors from yellow, to orange, and at last red. Following the burst of light was an earsplitting crackle that nearly shook the ground Nene was standing on.
Immediately after, Nene hid under a festival table. Her heart pounded as she covered her ears and squeezed her eyes closed until swirls of color danced behind her eyelids. This was the first time she had experienced something so loud, bright, and overwhelming.
Since moving to the city with her parents for her father's new job, she had gotten the chance to experience lots of new things she never was accustomed to in rural japan. One of these things was festivals. Specifically, the Tanabata festival and its terrifyingly close fireworks.
As she sat under the table, she began to cry, not only from the obnoxious fire display but also from the whole situation itself. Nene didn't want to move somewhere new! She never asked to lose all her friends either (Although, how many long-lasting friendships could an eight-year-old really have?).
As her tears fell steadily from her glued-shut eyes she felt a small tapping on her shoulder. The tapping was so slight that, had nene's senses not been on full alert, she probably wouldn't have felt it at all. Before she could think, she was opening her eyes.
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When her eyes were fully opened and adjusted to the shift of scenery, a boy came into view. He was short, although, not any shorter than Nene herself, and had choppy, shiny brown hair. He looked scrappy, not her type of boy at all! Although, that's how most boys were where she lived previously, that didn't stop her daydreams of one day marrying a tall prince. And this boy? He was certainly not a prince.
A soft, but questioning, voice cut through her inner judgments as the kid stood up and held out a hand for Nene to take, "Are you okay?"
Nene opened and shut her mouth like a fish, not really knowing how to respond. Was she okay? Well physically she supposed so, but she didn't feel okay, not with all the commotion outside.
She kept a firm grip over her ears and shook her head 'no' as another flash of light darted across the sky, making her flinch. The boy's golden eyes reflected the blast as they widened in understanding. He lifted the ornate table covering and crawled underneath the table to sit next to her.
Nene stared at the strange boy in bewilderment and hugged her knees close, hands still clamped over her ears and tears flowing. The kid smiled reassuringly at her and grabbed her arms gently, setting down his half-eaten candied apple on the ground. That is so unsanitary... Nene grimaced.
"Hey-!" Nene squeaked as the little boy slowly uncovered her ears. "It's okay, you don't have to cry." Nene's hands balled up into fists as the other kid held her wrists and spoke such soft words.
Her crying began to lessen and she drew her hands away from his grip and to her face to wipe away the clinging tears and sniffled. "The fireworks scared ya', huh?"
Nene nodded, jumping as another firework sounded off nearby.
The little boy looked around for some way to comfort her As she began to panic again, he ended up cupping his hands over her ears. Not fully as to block out all sounds, but enough that only his voice would reach her.
"Hey, it's alright! I know they're loud but that's part of the fun!"
She stared at him incredulously, "Well I don't like them! They're too bright! and annoying!" He would chuckle at that and Nene would feel her face flush with embarrassment. "Hey-! Don't laugh at me!"
He'd pat her head, ignoring her comment and laughing some more, "Come on, you can come play some of the festival games with me, and if you don't like it, I'll let you come back and sit under this table aaaaalll night!"
"Hmph..." Nene sulked, even if that wasn't a bad idea, the fact it was a scrappy little boy who asked and not a handsome prince was enough to make her pout.
But once she saw the dejected look on his face she relented, "Fiine... But you can't leave me behind or try to scare me, okay?"
"Awesome!" The other child's face lit up immediately and he pumped his fists in the air as if he'd just won a tournament. He's so strange... Nene frowned.
Before Nene could begin her rebuke, the little boy grabbed her wrist, picking up his now dirt-covered candied apple and pulling her out from under the table and into the cool night air.
"Eww-!" Nene gasped, "Are you gonna eat that?" she questioned, bringing her knuckles to her mouth in apprehension. The other kid just looked at it as if it was the first time he'd seen it.
"Oh." He didn't look very phased by his ruined snack. If it had been Nene's she would be close to bawling.
But he shrugged it off easily, "I'll let Tsukasa have it later," He chuckled, scrunching up his face in a mischievous smile, "He'll eat anything."
"Tsu...kasa?" Nene said questioningly, having a hard time pronouncing the name. The little boy raised his eyebrows, "Oh! Tsukasa is my little twin brother! And I'm Amane by the way!"
"Oh..." Nene nodded, "I'm Nene Yashiro! I'm eight years old!" Nene recited her introduction as if she'd said it a million times and to be fair, after introducing herself to so many new people, she had. Amane just giggled at her clearly forced introduction.
"I'm seven, but how come I've never seen you around at school or anything?" Amane held her hand (which Nene flusteredly noticed.) and led them over to what Nene assumed was a game about tossing colorful rings onto wooden poles.
Nene answered quickly as Amane began to engross himself in the ringtoss game, "I just moved here with my mom and dad." There was a hint of sadness in her voice that Amane clearly didn't catch onto, "Woah! That's so cool!" He tossed three rings in a row, landing two of the three tries.
Nene watched in awe. He's so good at this game! I wonder if he comes to these festivals a lot.
Amane spoke up before Nene could ask, "I never ever lived anywhere else but here, and I like it here. I bet you will too." He smiled at her in a way that made her heart jump in a weird way.
She smiled back nervously. "Yeah."
"I think I will."
A loud gasp broke Nene's silent smile as she looked up to see Amane clutching a green slip of paper in his hand.
"Nene-Chan look!"
Nene giggled at his willingness to call her by her name so quickly. "What is it, Amane-Kun?" She stepped over and examined the slip.
"It's a Tanabata festival tag!" Amane told her as if saying that was enough of an explanation. Though, Nene's confused expression clued him in that it was not.
"Oh-!" He pulled more of the paper tags from his pockets and showed them to her. Red, green, yellow, and black... She noted. "These are wishing slips you can win at games or from shops. They say that if you collect them all, write a wish on them, and hang them up on that big bamboo tree-"
He gestured a small hand to the festival center, where a giant bamboo tree grew. It's covered in the wishing tags already... Nene mused, wondering how long people had been trying to get all the colors.
"-Your wish will come true!" Nene gaped at him. That wasn't really true, was it? Then again... the world was a strange place. Maybe magical wish-granting bamboo trees could be real. And, maybe, just maybe, Nene could make a wish to marry the prince of her dreams!
