Fic: Kitten
Author: Aja
Archiving: just ask.
Rating: PG.
Pairing: Akira/Hikaru.
Date Written: January 23, 2007
Disclaimer: I only wish I were as talented as Hotta and Obata.
Notes: For Sam. prompt: hikago; kitten. [I'M SORRY].
Hikaru brings it home in a little box. It is a box full of fluff and fur and feathers, because he has lined it with a torn pillow.
He names it Shuusuke, even though it's probably a bad idea.
Shuusuke follows him everywhere, pouncing on his feet when he walks and laying on top of him at every opportunity. He has a bad habit of bounding on top of the goban whenever Hikaru is playing Touya, whose long hair swings indignantly, and whose eyes flash in annoyance.
They always soften when Touya sees how Shuusuke nudges Hikaru's hand with his head, though. Hikaru notices this, and it makes him soften a little towards Touya, too.
When Shuusuke gets out through the back gate of Hikaru's house one Thursday morning, Hikaru skips a title qualifying tournament to look for him, rambling through muddy culverts and chasing across dangerous intersections. Touya and Waya show up later that evening and find him sitting glumly on his front steps beside Shuusuke's scratching post. They don't say a word, just help him look for another hour or so.
Waya has said goodnight and Touya is standing awkwardly on the porch with his hands working by his sides, as if he wants to do more, say more, but doesn't know what he's supposed to offer. Something about the way Touya is standing is somehow the thing that rips open the wound that exists where Sai used to be, and Hikaru is crumpling forward and crying, and crying, and crying.
He knows Touya doesn't know, and that he's getting the suit Touya wore to his match that morning all rumpled, and that he's overreacting. Touya holds on to him anyway.
In the morning, Hikaru finds Shuusuke curled up asleep in his water bowl. He remembers the night before, and pulls Shuusuke to his chest, and promises himself that the next time he sees Touya, he'll be the one holding on.