Swans (itafushi)

Chap 4

Yuuji was utterly, and unconditionally in love with Megumi Fushiguro.

At first, his feelings were simply respect for the outcast. Anytime he saw him he felt a sense of pride for knowing who he truly was, that nobody else knew, only him.

But before he knew it, these feelings had sprouted into much, much more.

Like a weed taking root in a crack in the sidewalk. Starting out a small little seed, very soon developing into a large plant, and no matter how many times you plucked it, it came back.

He knew this because he had plucked these little leaves and tugged these roots. Yet, the plant came back bigger and stronger than the previous.

...

Life in his freshman year of high school had turned out to be great, apposed to his middle school thoughts.

He had friends, many girls who wanted him to be their boyfriend, and lots of support from people like his teachers and principal.

On both the basketball and track team he was considered the best athlete in the whole district.

The teachers and student body all liked him, or at least had no ill feeling towards him.

It was a nice and simple thing that he saw himself staying in for a couple of years.

Until it wasnt.

...

"Yuuji, would you mind going to the bathroom and getting the pass, one of the kids from last class left behind? I haven't had the chance to grab it yet." The teacher offered,standing in front of his desk.

He looks up into her eyes, "sure miss, it won't be a problem." He lets out sincerely.

He launches onto his feet, telling his friends crowding around him that he will be back in just a second. As he playfully skips through the doorway he jumps up and hits the frame with his palm.

_______

Turning the corner from the stairs you can see there is a hallway that goes either way, but before yuuji can fully step into the passage he hears quiet mumbles and stops in his tracks. He steps back just a foot and uses the wall to hid his presence. Now unable to get into the bathroom which is on the other side of the corner. Straining his ears he picks up on pleading words.

(A/n: I couldn't really describe it right but image you go up to the top of a staircase and you turn right and walk like 5 steps, after you take these steps you see a hallway that goes both to your left and right. On the right side of this hallway there is a bathroom on the wall closest to the stairwell just past the entrance of the hallway you just stepped into. Idk if that helped but I feel like I needed to explain more.)

Yuuji slowly juts his forehead and eyes out of the cover of the drywall.

"We're genuinely sorry, I'm serious when I say it won't happen again. I, no...we," gesturing to an out of sight body presumably close to him, "don't want to fight, like, come on man, it wasn't that serious!" The voice squeaked out, missing the confidence the words themselves possessed.

"Yeah I guess it wasn't." A monotone but high pitched tone was emitted from possible the coolest man, that yuuji had only gotten a peek at.

Even though he could admit that this guy wasn't the best looking guy, his attention was totally captured by this mysterious boy as he let his fist collide with the faces of these stereotypical popular bullies. He couldn't find it within his morally uncorrupt-self to care that the raven was absolutely decimating these poor students.

As his eyes drifted from one part of the boy to another he realized that they had stopped fighting and now the mystery man was whispering into the ears of the abusers.

Without any hesitation, as soon as the former was done talking, they ran for the hills, sprinting down the hall, not even seeing yuuji crouched down at the wall.

Footsteps pull him out of his daze and yuuji feels a rush of fear condescend in him. Almost frozen in place, he listens to the rhythmic patter only to realize that they got fainter and fainter on the linoleum tiles. He relaxes his body and pulls himself up, looking to both sides of the hallway, seeing nothing but the scuff marks of black shoes.

...