16Pathway
by: RoyaleDeuce
Disclaimer: TeniPuri is not mine.
Warning: C-R-A-C-K. Super random. Do not take it seriously to enjoy!
Dedicated to: Karu-chan for the I:U Fanfiction Exchange Contest
The idea of getting lost was no surprise when associated with Ryuuzaki Sakuno.
But Ryuuzaki Sakuno getting lost with Echizen Ryoma was like saying Tezuka chicken danced.
Alas, fate was cruel. They had been wandering off in a thicket like lost Hansel and Gretel for God knows how long now. The surrounding tall, dark trees loomed so high that it limited the moonshine lighting their pathway. The eerie shadows and hair-tingling sounds were enough to scare them out of their wits. Such a nightmare had been thought to be purely fiction.
But right now?
Everything was so real.
"Ano… I-Is this my fault?"
"Who else?"
His bluntness made her lips quiver. I'm not going to cry…
"Where did you see the light?" he asked, looking at her over his shoulder.
Sakuno visibly brightened at the question and pointed north.
"Okay." Ryoma began walking south.
She panicked. "R-Ryoma-kun, where are you going?"
"To where the light is," he said as a matter-of-factly.
Her breath hitched at his meanness. He asked her for directions and then he would go the opposite way?!I'm not going to cry… I'm not going to cry… Nevertheless, she quickly got on her feet and followed Ryoma, afraid that if she wandered off alone, she would only bring herself deeper in the forest… said to be infested with monsters.
It was twenty minutes of absently staring at the ceiling before the first yawn came. There was nothing particularly tiresome he did in camp that day, so he did not expect drifting off to dreamland as soon as his head touched his pillow. The only reason he decided to retire for the night was because of his senpai-tachi's dumb ghost stories.
No, Echizen Ryoma was not afraid.
That's Kaidoh-senpai… he thought.
He bid his goodnight, deciding that he did not want to waste his time listening to rubbish. How the Seigaku regulars (well, maybe except for Tezuka) could believe the story of a lost girl and boy feasted by supernatural creatures was beyond him!
Finally closing his eyes to sleep, the last thoughts that crossed Ryoma's mind were tennis… ghost stories… and…
"Karupin…" he snored.
As soon as Ryoma's faint snores rumbled in the night, two mysterious figures tip-toed their way into the room. Hovering over the sleeping tennis prince, the two silhouettes nodded at each other.
"…Meow… Meow…"
The intruders almost bolted when the sleeping boy suddenly sat up from his futon.
"Un… Karupin?" Ryoma muttered with eyes closed.
The two fought the urge to laugh.
At least now they knew they had his attention.
It was when Inui-senpai requested for some snacks when she saw a pajama-clad Ryoma walking outside. It worried her to see the boy surprisingly run into a tree, so she forgot about her previous task and followed him.
"Mou… Where did Ryoma-kun go?" she muttered to herself, trying her best not to cry.
Wasn't she extremely bad at directions? What even made her think she could find Ryoma in the dark? Much less find her way back?! And… what if it wasn't Ryoma she saw, but just some creature like the ones in her senpai-tachi's story?
Sakuno froze when she heard the rustle of leaves behind her.
Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out—
"Ngggg…"
With hands shaking, she collected the pebbles scattered on the ground.
"Nggg…" The sounds grew louder.
Although fiercely terrified of thoughts of becoming food to some tree monster, Sakuno was alert and waited for the opportune moment to attack.
"Nggg…" It was getting nearer.
When she realized the sounds were coming from behind her, Sakuno was quickly on the look out for trees with tentacles and scary eyes. Her blood ran cold when someone— rather, something stepped out of the shadows instead.
It was the boogie man.
Sakuno and the monster blinked at each other before realization struck.
"A—AHHH!"
"Ryuuzaki—"
It knows my name! It knows my name! Sakuno started throwing stones at the walking glob of mud.
Her breathing was ragged even until the monster lay unmoving on the ground. For some unexplainable reasons, she felt a sense of foreboding with what just happened. Gathering enough courage to walk towards her present mystery, Sakuno paled when she just uncovered the thing incognito.
It was no boogie man.
R-Ryoma-kun…
Sakuno thought she was going to faint.
Gradually, his eyes fluttered open.
Blinking in disbelief, it bewildered him why in the world he was in a forest. It did not take long for him to notice his entire body covered in mud. He grimaced when he realized his favorite slippers weren't dirty white anymore… It was just plain dirty.
What happened?
"Ryoma-kun! You're awake!"
Looking up, Echizen Ryoma experienced the fright of his life.
"AHHH!"
The creature dripping with mud and covered in leaves suddenly wrapped its tentacles around his neck and began to scream too.
"AHHH!"
Ryoma freaked out even more and struggled to push away what currently clung to him like a leech.
"Monster!"
"Oh no, it's going to eat us!"
"Get off!"
"But the monster—"
"You're the monster, idiot! Get off!" Ryoma cried while internally asking himself why the heck he was talking to a monster.
Instead of complying with his demand, it laughed hard.
Ryoma could only blink and stare at the entity on his lap. For a monster, it surprisingly had perfect white teeth. Was he missing something here?
"R-Ryoma-kun… it's me… Ryuuzaki."
A look of plain 'what' was on his face… and was soon replaced by annoyance.
"Why do you look like that?"
Ryoma would bet he's see the girl blushing if it weren't for the mud on his face.
"…camouflage."
He only became even more confused.
"F-From the lurking spirits within this forest…"
Ryoma could only stare unbelievingly.
"You see… When you were asleep… I've been hearing strange sounds…" Sakuno whispered, her breath fanning Ryoma's face, and their faces only inches apart. "I-I realized that the only thing that could protect us while looking for our way out is if we hide—"
"Stupid Ryuuzaki."
Ryoma flicked Sakuno's forehead.
"There's no such thing as monsters…"
When he attempted to stand up, Sakuno pushed him right back against the tree trunk he was leaning on and straddled him firmly. Ryoma blushed at the girl's surprising boldness and at their very compromising position.
"Then why did you scream awhile ago?"
Ryoma's eyes narrowed. "Who wouldn't get scared with how you look?" He tried standing up again, but Sakuno's pained voice froze him in place.
"P-Please don't step out of the circle… It's for your own good."
That was the only time Ryoma noticed what surrounded him.
"And what is this for?" he asked, exasperated.
Sakuno looked at Ryoma pleadingly. "The monsters cannot harm you when you stay inside this circle."
"This is stupid," he growled, gently dropping the girl on the ground to stand on both feet. "How the heck do you expect us to get home if we stay in that circle?" He glared at Sakuno who was obviously trying her best not to cry.
Just when he was about to step out of the said circle, Ryoma felt a tug on his hand.
"W-Where are you going?"
"Going home... Let's go, Ryuuzaki."
The tale was about a young girl and boy who got lost in a forest. They wanted to get themselves out of the hellhole because it was rumored to be where all kinds of monsters dwelled. Passing by an oak tree, a river and an abandoned shed, the girl and boy encountered three guardians. These entities required something in exchange for passage, and before the two could even get out of the forest, they unknowingly risked their all in the last point and died.
Sakuno was shaking when she saw the gushing water. She pulled Ryoma's hand when the boy showed intentions of following where the river led to.
"L-Let's pass another way… There's a guardian there," she replied to Ryoma's searching gaze.
"Good. We can ask for directions." Ryoma pulled away from Sakuno and attempted to walk along the riverside again.
But Sakuno was stubborn and pulled him again, too.
"I meant a monster guardian who can ask for our souls…"
Ryoma blinked at the serious-looking Sakuno. "Ah." And then continued on his way.
"R-Ryoma-kun, wait!"
As Sakuno ran after the boy, she accidentally tripped on a rock that caused her to fall sidewards and into the river.
"R-Ryoma-kun!"
Admittedly, he was starting to find Sakuno annoying.
"Ryoma-kun!"
Twitch.
"Ryoma—"
Twitch.
"…"
At the silence, Ryoma turned around… only to find Sakuno being carried away by the strong currents of the river.
It frightened him to see the girl plop up and down from the surface of the water.
Without wasting another moment, he dove into the water and didn't care whether he scrapped himself from the jagged rocks underwater.
After surpassing the river, the two were now on their way to their final destination. Both of them were soaking wet and shivered at the cold of the night.
"Ryoma-kun… I'm so sorry…"
"Hn." Idiot.
"R-Ryoma-kun… Thank you also…"
"Aa." Annoying.
Their footsteps were the only thing heard in the silence.
"Ano… R-Ryoma-kun—"
"What?!" Ryoma snapped, turning to a flushed Sakuno. He softened a bit when he thought he heard her sob. "What?"
"I… I…" Sakuno continued to redden. When the boy glared, she sputtered, "Ineedtopee!"
Ryoma blinked.
Sakuno wasn't so comfortable in doing her business right beside their third point: the shed. It wasn't the thought of the possibility of Ryoma being a pervert that bothered her, but the thought of a monster popping out while she was peeing got to her. If ever the monster that happened to attack her was allergic to human pee, then maybe she was safe.
The random rustle of leaves caused Sakuno to stiffen.
Just as reached for her zipper, a pale Ryoma popped out from behind the bushes.
"Hey, I think the monsters are real…"
Sakuno was shaking that it worried the boy.
"… Ryuuzaki?"
"P-P-PERVERT!"
The two were currently inside the deserted shed, both of them leaning on opposite walls. Ryoma suggested that since their search of a way out was useless when it was dark, it would be best wait to for daybreak and spend the night somewhere. Sakuno was slightly hesitant at first after considering Ryoma a pervert. But when the boy explained that he heard suspicious sounds while waiting for Sakuno to finish her business that's why he came running to her, Sakuno opted to believe him eventually.
"Do you think there really are monsters?"
"No."
"I-I'm sorry if I'm such a scaredy-cat…" Sakuno whispered with her eyes downcast.
There was a fleeting silence.
"Everyone is afraid of something." Thoughts of an earlier happening flooded inside him.
Sakuno was surprised to hear Ryoma respond while looking serious. "Well, you did get surprised when you first saw me this evening…" she smiled.
Ryoma sighed at Sakuno's denseness. "You looked like a monster."
Sakuno blushed, but laughed nevertheless. "It's a good thing you're with me, Ryoma-kun… I-I don't know what might have happened if I were all alone… Thank you…" Her blush darkened when she realized the boy's intense gaze on her.
"Ryuuzaki…" Ryoma breathed.
Sakuno could feel her heart thump. "Y-Yes?"
Silence.
"…Your zipper is open."
Sakuno flushed. "P-P-PERVERT!"
Even if they still didn't find their way back, and there were still mysteries left unsolved, Ryoma and Sakuno managed to open a pathway that could only have been opened with the instance of them getting lost.
Kaidoh yawned and stretched his arms out. He realized he was still leaning on the oak tree he visited last night... and then everything started flooding right back at him.
The first thought that crossed his mind was to get back at Momoshiro for the scary story.
The second was to get a glass of water to quench the thirst that rooted from all his snoring and hissing during his sleep.
And the third was to remind Ryoma to build pathways in his backyard, so people won't get lost.
THE END
A/N: Honestly, I had a hard time writing an entry for this challenge because of the word limit. I actually started three one-shots, and eventually settled for this one because it was the one with the most unique plot. Anywho. Some footnotes for those who may have not gotten some important points:
1. The scary story was told by the senpai-tachi to match Ryoma and Sakuno up.
2. The people who entered Ryoma's room were Momoshiro and Kikumaru.
3. Kaidoh's appearance in the last scene meant that he escaped the ghost story-telling and was the source of the sounds Ryoma and Sakuno heard during the night.
4. Ryoma owns the place the regulars and Sakuno where staying at… so obviously, he should be familiar with the place.
5. Ryoma purposefully did not follow Sakuno's direction in the first scene because he wanted to remain lost with the girl.
6. When Ryoma said, "Everyone is afraid of something," he was reminded of him getting frightened when Sakuno almost drowned.
7. The pathway was Ryoma and Sakuno's realization of affection for each other… which wouldn't have happened if they didn't get lost.
Oh gosh. I'm really sorry if some things were confusing. It's just that my mind really is complicated, and I tend to go over the boundary of weird, you know? (And I had to abide by the word limit!) Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this story even a bit! I tried my best to make this acceptable. Hahaha. Review?
~Royale