lg: ann and kippei

[shattermelt]

Ann had climbed up in her favourite oak tree in the Tachibana backyard and surveyed her tiny empire. It wasn't quite and nice as the grand, old maple in their garden back in Kyushuu, but it was a decent tree for slouching about it. Especially when Oniichan was snoozing in the hammock that was strung out between her tree and the garden shed wall. She had a pocket full of last year's oak nuts, and Oniichan had his mouth partly opened. It was a match made in heaven.

It was perfect!

Grinning like a benevolent imp, Ann leaned a little forward, took careful aim and dropped the nut down at Kippei's mouth.

Kippei was not exactly asleep. He was stretched out with his eyes closed and he had not moved for a very long time, but he was not asleep. Neither was he exactly awake. He wouldn't have called it daydreaming, either, but it was something he did when he was resting or before he went to sleep, or those rare occasions when he had leisure time to close his eyes and nothing else to occupy him. It was, perhaps, more accurate to call it a fantasy, but that sounded more suggestive than most of it actually was.

Not that it was entirely innocent, either. It started with tennis, of course--specifically, this time, and more often lately, tennis with Shinji. Playing a match in his head, the best kind of match, fierce and intense and one where everything went right, because he wanted it to. The way he imagined it could be, the best things all in one game, built out of a hundred pieces of real ones and a few things that had never happened at all, like the decidedly more than suggestive things that could happen at the end of it--or sometimes in the middle, depending on the whim. There were myriad variations and possibilities, and he was following them down a familiar track today, just about to the best part (always debatable, but in any case a really good part) when Ann's nut hit him literally in the teeth.

He started and almost swallowed it in sheer surprise, bolting upright and spitting it out in his hand. He knew where that came from and it was no accident. He craned his neck up, looking for the culprit with a slightly irritated frown.

"Ann-chan! What the hell was that for?" he grumbled, mostly in frustration that he'd been interrupted in playing out his mental scenario.

Giggling, pleased with the reaction and even more pleased with the answer she had readied, Ann beamed devilishly down at Kippei. Hidden in her hand, she had another nutty missile ready to deliver the exclamation mark.

"You were stating to sport quite the boner, Oniichan~ I thought I'd better save you before Obaachan happened by, or you'd never hear the end of it!" There was a source to Ann's endless tricks for teasing her brother and any other hapless male that crossed her path, and that was the collected evil that was the Matriarchy of the Tachibana household. Ann pelted the nut right at his head for emphasis.

Kippei's jaw dropped, and then he clamped it shut firmly as he tried to control the flush climbing his neck. He didn't blush very often, it just wasn't in his personality, but every once in a while, Ann just...

"I was not!" he protested automatically, evidence very much to the contrary. And she wanted him to thank her for 'saving' him? Hell, he was never going to hear the end of it anyway, most likely. Oh god. At least she had no idea exactly what--or who--he'd been thinking about. The tips of his ears were burning now. He rubbed his forehead again, then picked up the nut and threw it back at her.

"You were spying on me?"

Ann easily dodged the nut and laughter that could only come from a very pleased little sister in full cheek rang out merrily. "I wasn't spying, silly niichan~ It was kinda hard to miss, though. Especially from up here." She snickered and let another nut drop. "You're so cute when you're blushing." Yeah, this was definitely Let's Tease Niichan time.

"You were too! What are you doing up there in the first place?" He chose to completely ignore the rest of her comment, as if it might go away. Stop, he told himself mentally. Go away. But his little sister had caught him and oh, god. The heat in his face was doing nothing to alleviate the rest of his problem.

"You had no business..." he began sternly, but he didn't even know what he wanted to say. Interrupting, definitely that, but if he said that he would get all kinds of questions and more teasing that he really could do without. "Saying anything," he finished without much conviction.

Ann was now laughing so hard it was getting difficult to stay in the tree. But she held on to her branch like grim death, because it was the safest place for her to be right now.

"It's my tree!" she explained between laughs. "You know perfectly well that I climb it form time to time. And I was bored and you were a good target for nut-chucking." Because that was also true. The extra dimension provided by his trouser-tent was just a bonus.

She was laughing at him. Kippei frowned and reseated himself in the hammock, tented pants and all. Dammit, now he was uncomfortable and he really wanted to go take care of this elsewhere, but if he did that he would be admitting things and he would just give her more to tease him with.

"It's disrespectful to chuck nuts at people," he grumbled. "You should be more polite to your older brother." And not tease him about bodily reactions he couldn't help when he was thinking about the hopeless crush he had on someone he shouldn't be thinking about, because he couldn't help that either.

Ann almost, almost felt sorry for him, but that definitely wasn't a cigar so he got to suffer. "You're not people," she pointed out instead, loftily. "You're oniichan, and you're fun to chuck nuts at. Who's the lucky guy?"

He wasn't people? What the hell, An-chan. However, that was nothing compared to the shock of her last comment. He sputtered a bit, unable to find words, staring up at her in disbelief.

"What?" he managed finally. She wasn't seriously asking...

Ann blinked down at him like a kitten in a tree, and tilted her head. "Who's the lucky guy," she repeated. "That you were dreaming about just now? Gotta be someone real special if you're interested," she added with complete conviction. Oniichan would never notice anyone who wasn't top of the line, but it also made that person the luckiest one on the planet. (Except Tezuka, but he didn't know that yet. And it had better not be him, or they'd have a problem...)

Kippei just stared at her, his annoyance and frustration draining suddenly away, and he felt tired as he laid back and threw an arm up to cover his eyes. Somebody real special. Yeah. The familiar ache lodged in his chest, deflating his mood along with his pants, and he wondered why she couldn't just leave well enough alone.

"How do you know?" he muttered. "Was just random, nobody in particular." Flat out lying, and he was bad at that, but no way in hell was he telling her the truth, and if she was far enough away and not looking him in the eye, maybe he could get away with it. He so did not want to talk about this with anyone, least of all his sister, who would probably be sympathetic but not really understand.

Silence reigned from on high for a long time while Ann eyed her brother sharply. He was lying through his teeth and he was unhappy. It could be a clever ploy to lure her down from the tree and within punishing distance, but she decided to risk it. At worst, she'd get her revenge later by stuffing his mattress with . . . more nuts!

Ann scrambled down quickly and nimbly, to stand next to the hammock and her droopy -- if you could use that word for someone who was lying down -- niichan. "No, that was not someone random. You wouldn't be moping if it was just random hottie, you'd be up and hosing me or serving wet tennis balls at the tree above my head or something." She gave the hammock a little push, to make it swing very gently with Kippei on board.

Kippei scowled up at her. "Since when are you so smart?" he growled. Go away, he told her mentally, thinking hard at her as if telepathic suggestion might suddenly start working for him. "I am not moping. I am perfectly fine."

Ann snorted, only pretending to take the bait. "Oh, thanks a lot! I guess my IQ pills are working." More softly, she kept on prodding. "You're dreaming about someone special whom you don't appear to be dating, nor are you chasing him down so he can find out how lucky he is. Looks like moping to me. Why? Is he taken?"

Kippei sat up so he could scowl more effectively, bracing his hands on the edges of the hammock. "Leave it alone, An-chan," he growled softly. "I am fine, there is nothing to talk about. Go away." Obviously telepathy wasn't working. And she was totally guessing, she had nothing to go on and she didn't know anything, so he didn't have to tell her anything. Still, she was remarkably good at guessing. He spent a couple of random seconds wondering whether it would be better or worse if Shinji was taken, and decided it didn't matter much. Either way, he was still off limits.

Her eyes widened just a smidge at his words and his tone. This was more serious than she'd thought at first, and worrying. And mysterious, too. "You're not fine," she insisted. "And if you don't tell me about this, I can't help you see how you're probably making a big mistake by hiding out here when you should be chasing him down and giving him ... you!" Pausing for a moment, she decided to add a completely moot disclaimer. "Unless you know the guy's a straight and homophobic jackass, which he isn't because you'd never be interested in someone like that."

Kippei snorted, and ran his fingers through his short hair. Great, just great. An-chan had a clue, now, and she wasn't going to let it go until she'd solved the mystery.

"You can't help," he told her shortly. "I don't know, I don't think he is, but it doesn't matter." It really didn't, because he had no business being interested in Shinji in the first place, and he had tried to stop, but he'd given up on that awhile ago. He was just stuck being crazy about someone who was completely out of his reach.

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[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Usually," Ann said slowly, "Usually, when you're this set on something negative, meaning you want something but refuse to take action, it's because you've convinced yourself that something is true that probably isn't. Like when you wanted that racquet back home, but refused to ask mom for the money, or even tell her, because you had convinced yourself we couldn't afford it." The very same racquet Ann suspected Kippei still slept with under his pillow.

"So you'll just have to forgive me if I don't buy this won't work, is impossible, I can't help and so on."

"An-chan!" he growled. God, why couldn't she just let it go for once? "I am not telling you. There's nothing you can do. And I was perfectly right about that racquet, we couldn't afford it at all. It wasn't fair of me to ask when we needed the money for other things." Just like he couldn't afford to tell Shinji how he felt. He was all wrong for Shinji, completely wrong, and he couldn't let what he wanted mess up someone else's life. Assuming Shinji would even be interested, which was a big if, and Kippei couldn't afford to take the risk either that 'chasing him' as she put it, wouldn't ruin their friendship. He would rather spend the rest of his life single and wanting something he couldn't have than lose what he did have.

"It came out of the tennis/sports fund mom had set up for you, silly! You know that and you still can't accept that mom knows what she's doing, eh?" It was sort of amusing, really, but also really annoying.

Ann eyed him again, sighing inside at his bullheadedness. "It's really disappointing when someone like you gives up before you've even tried. That just doesn't rhyme with the stuff you're always teaching to others -- that everything is possible if you set your mind to it and work hard." She gave the hammock another gentle push. "You should talk to him and tell him. He's the luckiest guy in the world, and you're keeping it from him." Again, Ann added in her mind, luckiest guy in the world right after Tezuka.

Kippei glared at her. "No," he answered sharply. "You don't understand. He's not for me, it's not right, I shouldn't even be thinking about him." He shook his head, frustrated. "You don't get to ask questions about this. Just stop. It's none of your business." Wanting Shinji was none of his business, either, but that didn't seem to be enough to stop him.

"You said you had no right to play tennis again after you hurt that guy, but you still did it and added the impossibility of taking Fudoumine to the Nationals on top of it." If Kippei now said something stupid like it was wrong for him to do all of that, thus belittling the whole achievement, Ann swore to herself she'd slug him right there and then. "The only thing that makes him not for you, is him saying so and meaning it."

He winced. Trust Ann to drag in the big guns. "We are not talking about this," he said firmly. "It's wrong and I'm not going to take advantage of a friend like that for something selfish." It wasn't the same thing at all, even if Shinji had been a big part of the inspiration that had gotten them that far, at least for him personally. Tennis had brought him to Fudomine, but Shinji had been why he stayed.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Have you even considered that the selfishness might lie in you keeping this to yourself, rather than taking the first step?" Ann hugged her arms around herself and looked thoughtfully at Kippei. "So it's a friend, check. And it's not one of your new Rikkai friends, because they're not the kind of people you would be worried about taking advantage of because they're not the kind of people it's possible to take advantage of. At least nor for you. So it's probably someone from around here, someone who looks up to you. Which means one, any fears of ruining the friendship are moot because the guys aren't that shallow and two, the worst he could possibly tell you is 'no'."

"You don't know anything about it," Kippei snapped at her, rather unfairly since he hadn't told her anything and a lot of her guesses were damn near the mark. But god, he did not want to discuss any of this or argue about it or try to explain because she wasn't going to understand, she was his little sister for god's sake, and he couldn't talk to her about this. Just no.

"And both of your points are invalid." Shallow had nothing to do with it; it wasn't like he thought Shinji or any of the others, if it had been one of them, would stop being friends with him because of it, but it would make things awkward and strained and different and that would be just as bad. Secondly, the worst was not 'no'. The worst was 'yes', if it was only because he was who he was and they always said yes to him.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't be running blind and deducting from whatever little crumbs you let slip if you'd just tell me already!" Ann snapped back, with the conviction of a mistress of Perfect Logic. "You don't seriously think any of them would be daft enough to date you without actually wanting to, because you're Tachibana-san? Holy Hell, Kippei! They're not mice, they're men!"

Well, they were getting there anyway, Ann added silently. Besides, if Kippei went and talked to whoever it was, and Ann's list of suspects was all of three names long, he would also deliver a lecture on how saying yes out of obligation was a Bad Thing. Plus, there'd be her attacking from the back with a similar lecture. There would be no obligated yes, there would either be a no or a glorious yes.

"I didn't say any of that!" he retorted, stung because no, he hadn't, and she knew him well enough to guess it anyway and that was just really kind of humiliating. He shook his head; she really didn't get it.

"I think it's possible they would date me just because I asked them to," he muttered, dubiously. Shinji in particular, Kippei couldn't remember Shinji ever saying no to him about anything. That was, however, irrelevant. "But I don't just want to date him. I want him, end of story, for the rest of my.... life." And wow, she'd gotten him upset if he was admitting anything like that. Crap. That sounded... well, serious and stupid all at the same time, because weren't they all way too young to be saying that? Forever?

"Just forget it," he sighed. "Please."

[kementur.livejournal.com]

"Mm." So it was a lot more serious than with Fuji, then. "Can't. This is one of those important and unforgettable things, niichan. I don't understand how you can give up without even having tried." Ann scratched her head. And as for the other concern, "Kippei, none of them is thirteen anymore." Though some of them, like Uchimura and Akira in his more excitable moments made her wonder sometimes...

"Ann," he said warningly. "Drop it. I'm not discussing this with you." Or with anyone, hopefully. Nobody was going to know about this if he had anything to say about it. Better no one else knew and maybe eventually he would forget it. Not bloody likely, but at least there was a chance for it to go away without hurting anyone. Especially Shinji.

"It's not going to happen, the end. I do not want to talk about it, not with you, not with anyone. Leave it alone." He stood up, pushing past her toward the house. His mood was now completely ruined. He'd been fine, really he had, until she'd started poking about it. He couldn't let himself think about it, the possiblilities, couldn't let himself hope there might be a chance because he knew better and it was better for everyone this way. Not happening.

"Kippei!" Ann called after him, pleadingly. "Don't . . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean to . . . damnit." He was marching away, Not Listening. And she had meant to shake him up and make him consider other possibilities than the One Truth According To Tachibana Kippei. "Stupid oniichan," she muttered darkly. Well, if he thought this was the end of it, he'd better think again. She wouldn't bug him for a while, and she wouldn't tell anyone. But she was going to, very carefully, collect intelligence.

The next morning, and for the following two weeks, Ann prepared Kippei's bentos herself, in the traditional ritual of 'I'm sorry I upset you'. And because Ann was Ann, each of those bentos contained a single walnut with its shell on...