Warm Hands [Hiroomi x Akihito fanfic]

Chapter thirty-three: Cold Appearance

Hiroomi Nase

"Mr. Nase, will you please deliver this to the office?" My teacher said while holding out a note. I don't know why she called on me specifically, but I got up anyway. I took the note without examining it and headed out the door. I turned a sharp right and headed to the office. My footsteps echoed loudly against the walls of the empty hallway. A cool breeze rushed from behind me. I shivered and reached for my scarf. Sadly, it wasn't there and I continued to regret giving it away. I rubbed my arms and trudged down the hall.

"Why is the school always so cold?" I asked myself. After my voice hit the walls, I heard something else follow behind. The tapping of someone's feet. The whoosh of someone flying from around the hall. I halt in my step and turn my eyes to see someone. The same presence from earlier except now I knew who it was.

"You're watching me, too. Huh, sis?" Izumi pauses right behind me and sneaks up. A strain of black hair sways over her eye.

"You have improved in your sensing. I didn't expect that." Her staff hangs low in her hand, barely scrapping the floor. I eye it suspiciously. I lift a finger as I narrow my eyes at it.

"What were you planning on doing with that?" She peers down at it and swings it back slowly.

"I am the leader, I have the right to do as I please." She says sternly and glances out the window.

"How do you know for certain he won't lose control?" She mumbles. I frown and watch her staff.

"Because he told me he won't and I trust him." She grips the staff harder and grits her teeth.

"How could you fall for such a lie?" I flinch back at her harsh words. She was making me angry by the minute.

"He's a dangerous threat to this town, why do you care for him? Why do you pick his side over your family's?" Her tone barely changed, but her words meant enough. Her staff had risen. I put my hands in front of me.

"Calm down, Izumi. I'm not against our family, I'm just trying to prove to you that Akihito isn't a threat anymore. I think I found a way to keep him under control." Her staff lingered in the air.

"How can you be so sure?" I start to walk toward her. She doesn't move when I grab her hand and reach it up to my mouth to kiss it.

"Why don't you try trusting me on this one?" I looked up into her blank eyes. Her expression hardly changed. She always kept a straight face and rarely showed expressions. She looked away and jerked her hand away.

"I don't know how you figured I'd stay out of it." She mumbled while fidgeting with her staff.

"You promise you have this under control?" She stared at me this time with bold eyes. It's really hard for her to trust me, huh? I smile lightly and bow down on one knee. I extend my hand out and the other over my heart.

"You can count on your dear brother." And with that, she disappeared into thin air. I stood up and stared blankly at where she once was. I sighed and felt the note still in my hand which reminded me of my mission. I turned and started toward the office. My curiosity about what's on the note started to bubble, but I restrained myself. Probably nothing important for my eyes, I thought. Although, the teacher never said, "don't look at the note." Maybe it really wasn't important. I reached the office and gave them the note and headed back to class without any trouble this time. Until I saw Ayano. She was examining papers she was holding and heard me coming. She peeked up and smiled weakly.

    "Oh, hey Hiroomi." He said lightly. The last time we talked wasn't pleasant so I wondered how this conversation would go.

    "Hello, Ayano." She stopped while I continued. I only thought  we'd just exchange hellos and be on our way. I heard her turn around as I walked passed her.

    "Bye Hiroomi." She said with zero confidence. I stumbled, but kept moving.

    "Um, bye Ayano." Neither of us knew what to say after what happened last time.

"All you ever talk about now is Akihito! It's so annoying!" That's what she said last time. "I'm sorry for not being a better friend." That's all I had said. Friends? Is that what we are? If she still was, then she would be my only friend besides Akihito. Maybe I could try to make amends... I twirl around to see her slowly walk the other way.

    "Wait, Ayano," My voice croaked. She stopped immediately like she was expecting me to say more.

"Um...I'm sorry I can't like you like you like me. Can we still be friends?" I held my breath. I was never good at making friends,
despite my calm composure. She hesitated for a moment and tapped the ground lightly with the top of her toe. Her small fingers twirled her straight, red hair again and again. Answer, I waited patiently, but was getting anxious. Please answer. She smiled and peered up at me.

"Sure, we can be friends." After smiling to myself, we both turned in opposite directions and headed to our destinations. I managed to keep my only friend, I grinned. This day could possibly be one of the best, if only I didn't take so long to get back. Once I entered the room, the teacher glared at me with her hands on her hips.

"Where have you been?" She growled. I froze up as the door slammed closed. She waited for me to reply, but I couldn't come up with an excuse.

     "Uh...um, I was helping a girl in the hallway. She dropped all her papers..." yeah, that works. She eyes me for what felt like a lifetime. She finally gave in and went back to helping one of my peers. I allowed myself to breath again and hurried back to my seat. That was close.

     Thirty minutes later, the bell finally rung. I had to wait for Akihito for a few minutes. I went to tug on my nonexistent scarf and groaned. It was a bit windy today.
Figures, I sighed. Soon enough, Akihito came running over with his cheeks red from the sudden wind. I wonder what took him so long to get here?

    "Ah, sorry I'm late. My teacher had to talk to me." He explained with heavy breaths. His class was on the second floor all the way over. I cocked my head.

     "Mrs. Shizuku?" I asked with some concern. What could she be talking about with Akihito? She knew about Akihito's situation. Whether that was bad or not was questionable. Since Akihito was practically immortal, he had a large bounty on his head. If he was killed, the hunter would become king of the spirit world. I never thought about it once before.

Akihito nodded and took off my scarf from around his neck. He handed it over to me.

"Here, have it back. I can tell you're freezing." He leered and I accepted it back quickly. I wrapped it around my neck and chin and snuggled into the material.

"Thank you. So what did she talk about with you?" I couldn't shake the feeling it was about the bounty. Mrs. Shizuku was loyal, but I don't know her as well as my sisters. Akihito hesitated a little.

    "It was nothing, she was just trying to-uh-help me with my work." He smiled faintly. I watched him and blinked. Did he just lie to me? That's all I could think about on our walk back to the house. Was this his first time lying to me or has he done it before?

Next Update: May 15th