WILDFLOWER [Ryunosuke Tanaka x OC]

Chapter 9 - The Sleepover

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"What the fuck happened in there?"

Saeko whisper-yelled at her brother, smacking his arm as she drove home in the middle of the night. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward the back seat, where a tear-streaked Kano Abe slept soundly despite Saeko's erratic driving. "The poor girl was in tears, Ryu! Tears! I've hardly ever seen this girl smile, and you made her cry? What the fuck is your problem?" Saeko hissed, slapping her brother's bicep for emphasis as necessary without ever taking her eyes off of the road.

Ryunosuke argued back as quietly as possible. "Hey! I didn't mean to-"

"No!" Saeko blurted, cutting him off, "None of this 'I didn't mean to' bullshit. Because you did. It already happened. You made her cry. That's a fact at this point, idiot."

A long silence fell between them, muted music from the radio filling the gaps. Raking her fingers through her bleached out hair, Saeko sighed and said, "Sorry, I'm... I'm not mad, Ryu. I just want you to be happy. And that girl in the back seat?" Saeko pointed over her shoulder, sure to make aggressive eye contact with her brother as she spoke the next part. "She's your fucking sun. I know that. For a fact. So it frustrates me times a million to see you fucking this up already."

A stone of cold fear sank in Ryunosuke's stomach, sobering and true, at the relentless wisdom Saeko bestowed upon him. "I... we... everything started out fine," he stammered, unsure of where to start or how to explain. Staring out the window took a little heat off of him, like avoiding Saeko's intense gaze always did, and Ryu continued, "I thought things were good. She flirted back at me... called me her best friend, even."

Nodding thoughtfully, Saeko mumbled a supportive, "Good, good."

"And she was telling me about herself, which she never does," Tanaka explained with more emphasis, "But I got all... I don't know, nervous when she got too close? And she thought I was sick, but I was just being a dumbass, and I made a move, and I thought we were gonna kiss and-"

"YOU KISSED HER?!" Saeko screeched, the car swerving dangerously under her excited hands until Ryu reached over and yanked the wheel back toward the proper lane.

He slapped his hand over her mouth and raised his brows in frustration. "If you'd let me finish, you'd know I didn't," he hissed, glancing over his arm to check on Kano, who still slept like a baby in the backseat despite the siblings' shouts and suspicious driving skills. "A second year from the team interrupted us. And when I asked Kano to join us inside, she took off."

Saeko hummed in thought before licking her brother's hand.

Grossed out, Ryunosuke withdrew his hand with a hiss and wiped his hand off on his sister's hoodie. "You're nasty," he grumbled.

"Yeah, but so are you," she teased, easing them onto the highway and back toward home. "Before I dispense any more wisdom... d'you know where Kano lives? I gotta take her home."

Ryunosuke flushed from head to toe, preemptively realizing the consequences of his actions. "N-no... I don't. I've never been to her house."

"Well," Saeko smirked, turning on the cruise control and cracking her back, "Looks like we're having an impromptu sleepover."

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Kano awoke to Ryunosuke's calloused, bandaged hands on her cheeks.

"Come on, Kano, wake-" he pleaded, eyes full of concern, but paused mid-sentence when he realized Kano's eyes were truly open. "Oh thank Buddha," Ryu sighed, his hands falling away from her face as he relaxed into his kneeling position on the floor beside her. He knitted his fingers together at the back of his neck, taking a deep breath of relief now that she'd woken.