Never Again (Kou x Mitsuba)

-~Chapter 2~-

Mitsuba awoke to a warm breeze filling his little hut. He groaned and stood up, "I guess I forgot to close the door all the way last night." He mumbled and walked outside. Mitsuba took a look at the Sun to guesstimate the time of day. His eyebrows shot up, "I'm going to be late if I don't hurry!" He shouted at himself and went back inside to get clothing.

He made it to school on time and sat in his designated spot. As the school day went on, he noticed that Teru was late, in fact, he didn't come all day! Mitsuba wondered what was going on because he seemed like the person to not even miss a single second of class.

Soon, but not soon enough, the school day ended, and Mitsuba walked out of the old building. He hummed a tune to himself as he walked down the same path with his sleeves covering his hands. All of a sudden a hand grabs his shoulder. Mitsuba screamed, and out of reflex, he slapped whoever grabbed him. But then, he saw Teru.

Mitsuba scrambled for words, but Teru just laughed it off. "I'm sorry I didn't go to school today." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

Mitsuba shakes his head, "You don't have to apologize. It's not like it hurt anyone."

Teru shakes his head and grabs Mitsuba's hand, "Come on. We're going to my house." As Mitsuba gets pulled off he keeps repeating the same things, "What? Why? What's going on? Am I allowed over?" Soon enough Teru had shushed him and they arrived at the big Minka. "This.. this is big." Mitsuba mumbles as he gets pulled inside. Teru pulls him into a smaller room at the back of the house, and Mitsuba sees Kou there. Mitsuba and Kou smile awkwardly at each other as Mitsuba took a seat in front of him. "Hey Mitsuba." Kou said nervously as his crush tilted his head in confusion. "Is there something troubling you Kou? So much that I came to your home?"

Kou opened his mouth but nothing came out. Teru just elbowed him softly in the side, "You don't have to tell him right now, you know.. you still have about 3 years." Kou nodded and Mitsuba sat there in visible confusion. "How about you tell him?" Kou asked his brother. Teru groaned but nodded.

"Our father died while defending our homeland. Soo..... mother asked us to follow in his footsteps and become a samurai. So the reason why I wasn't at school today was because I had to do training. Kou and I have been doing this for about four years now." He finished.

Mitsuba came to a look of understanding, "Ahh... I see! So while I'm going to get my life together, you guys will be somewhere decapitating people?" Kou and Teru nodded in unison. Mitsuba smiled, "That seems pretty cool! I don't think I'd be able to do things like that.. even with years of practice." The brothers laughed and Kou reached over to put his hand on Mitsuba's head, "You can do anything if you try hard enough." Mitsuba grabbed his hand gently and placed it on the chabudai. Teru just smirked and walked out of the room as if he knew something was going to happen.

The two watched as Teru, the oldest of the three of them, walked by without any words. "What's going on with him?" Kou asked and Mitsuba just shrugged. But just at that moment, it came to Mitsuba's realization that he was still holding Kou's hand. His hand swiped up quickly and he used it to cover his rosy cheeks. "S..sorry..." He mumbled and glanced at Kou. Kou smiled, "It's okay. I don't mind it." This made Mitsuba blush furiously. He didn't know why he reacted to this in that way.. Kou is just a friend.... nothing more...

Right?

"Mitsuba? Are you okay? You suddenly got red. Is it possible you have caught a sickness today?" Kou asked as he places a hand on Mitsuba's forehead and moved it to his cheek, checking the temperature of the smaller teen. Mitsuba shook his head and moved it down to the chabudai once again, but was quick to remove his hand. "N-no I'm fine. Anyway... this is all you wanted to tell me? I'll be leaving. Please excuse me." Mitsuba said, stumbling over his words as he stood up and walked out. The sight he saw, through his pink hair, was Teru smiling and chuckling lightly. "So you like him too?" Mitsuba couldn't figure out how Teru knew about his feelings before he even knew his own. But what did Teru mean by, "..too."? That's something for later.

"I'll be taking my leave. See you later." Teru nodded and Mitsuba walked off with his flushed face slowly returning to normal.

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