On Top of the Clouds
Part One
Theme #2 - JellyBeans
The small plastic pouch in his hand was filled with myriad of bean-shaped sweets.
“What did you bringing this time?” Sanada asked, resisting the urge to snatch the plastic container from his captain’s hands.
Yukimura popped another pale yellow jellybean into his mouth, followed by another, and then a content smile as he chewed. “It’s popcorn flavor this time.”
“I’ve noticed that you’ve been eating the same flavor for three consecutive days already, Seiichi,” Yanagi noted aloud. The three monsters of Rikkai were occupying a bleacher by the courts while watching the rest of the team train.
Yukimura nodded, followed by the motion of digging into his sweets and shooting it carelessly into his mouth. “This flavor reminds me of something important.”
Sanada raised an eyebrow, “Important?” He had never noticed Seiichi ever eating jellybeans after a victorious match.
Another nod, followed by the widening of his smile, “That’s right.”
“Seiichi, by any chance, does this have to do with ?” Yanagi asked, amused.
“What about -senpai?” Kirihara asked as he neared the three seniors. He smiled impishly, “Are you two going out buchou?”
Niou, who was walking right behind the second-year, hit the younger member’s head. “You idiot, they’ve been going out for some time now.”
“Eh?!?!”
Sanada glared at the two, “Go back to practice, Kirihara, Niou.”
The trickster gave an exaggerated sigh, “I’m tired. Give me some time out.”
“Go back -”
“It’s alright Sanada, five minutes won’t hurt,” Yukimura interrupted, patting Kirihara’s head and offering the rookie some of his sweets.
Niou reached out to get as well. His face twisted into a sour expression as the candy touched his tongue, “This is disgusting, buchou.”
“Who told you to get?”
“Does -senpai smell like jellybeans or something buchou?”
Yukimura blinked at Akaya’s question and then laughed, “No, jellybeans smell disgusting.”
Niou smirked, “Does she taste like jellybeans?”
Sanada glared harder, “Stop asking stupid questions.”
Kirihara laughed, ignoring their vice-captain. “Taste like jellybeans?”
“Popcorn to be exact.”
Niou burst out laughing next to Akaya, “I never knew Yukimura liked tasting girls.”
“I kissed her.”
“I didn’t know -senpai tastes like jellybeans!!” Kirihara said between laughs and Yanagi hid a smile behind his fist while Sanada’s face turned red in embarrassment.
Yukimura stood up, picking up his tennis bag and slung it over his shoulder, “Popcorn flavor.”
Yanagi straightened, “Leaving already?”
“Teacher wanted to talk to me,” Yukimura turned back to Sanada, “Give them an extra fifty laps. They’ve had an extended break.”
Niou and Kirihara swore they saw Sanada smirk.
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Theme # 14 – Bite
“What is that?” asked, staring distastefully at the green blob on the plate in front of Yukimura. She picked up the spoon Reiko – Seiichi’s younger sister – had given her and poked the peculiar dish on the table.
Yukimura laughed, “I have no idea. I came down here to wait for you and caught Rei… doing something.”
raised an eyebrow but smiled nevertheless, “You have such an adorable little sister.”
As if on cue, a little girl around eight years of age trudged into the kitchen, smiling widely at the sight of holding the spoon near her creation. “-nee!” she called excitedly jumping into the third year’s lap, “Have you tried it?” she asked.
laughed, despite the dread she felt at the mention of the weird green blob she was supposed to eat, it was impossible not to feel happy around Seiichi’s little sister. She patted Rei’s mass of blue hair – a few shades lighter than Seiichi’s – and wrapped her arms around the small body sitting on her lap to make sure the little girl would fall.
She knew that even if Seiichi loved her, he’d probably have her head if something happened to his sister because of her.
She shook her head, “Seiichi-nii said that he wanted to know how you made this first Rei.”
Yukimura smiled wider, in his mind, he knew despite the love he felt for his sister, dying of food poisoning was not an option. “Did you use gelatin here? Or flour?” he randomly asked, seriously not knowing how the eight year old conjured the green blob.
Rei shook her head, “I promise it tastes good! Why don’t you try it nii-chan? Renji-nii told me that it would be good.”
The two of the third year Rikkai students raised a curious brow at this, “Renji did?”
had an uneasy feeling at the mention of Rikkai’s data man; she turned to Seiichi and whispered, “You don’t think…”
Yukimura shrugged, “Rei, what did Renji-nii tell you?”
Rei blinked innocently at them and furrowed her brows as she thought back to yesterday’s events. “I was asking him what food you like to eat.”
Seiichi’s smile warmed.
“That’s really sweet Rei-chan,” commented.
“Because ‘Haru-nii said that -nee was cooking for you so I wanted to do that for nii-chan too,” Rei continued.
The older Yukimura sneaked a look at the reddening beside him.
“And then, Renji-nii told me that he has a good friend who is a great cook and told me to let you try this,” she pointed at the green blob. “He said that he’d teach me how to make them if you liked it.” She smiled in satisfaction as she finished her story.
A heavy silence settled in the kitchen as both and Seiichi digested this new information. “So this means that, this thing is that horrid juice?” finally said, looking at the not-so-innocent jelly-like thing on the table with new found horror.
Seiichi repressed the urge to call Yanagi at the moment, constantly reminding himself that he didn’t want to upset his sister. He smiled at Rei, a wide sweet smile, “Thank you Rei; we’ll eat it later alright?”
The younger Yukimura nodded and wiggled out of ’s grasp and ran to the living room, leaving the two Rikkai middle school students alone in the kitchen once again.
caught sight of Seiichi’s smile and repressed a smile, “I’ll dispose of this then,” she said in a muted tone, after all who wanted to mess with Yukimura Seiichi while he was thinking of torture plans?
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Theme # 20 – Do you mind?
It didn’t help that he knew she was in love with Yukimura Seiichi, and it only made things harder when he found out that Yukimura himself harbored deep feelings for the said girl.
“What are you thinking about?”
Speak of the devil.
Sanada turned to the girl standing next to the bleacher he occupied. “Nothing,” he answered flatly before returning his attention to the tennis courts. His eyes narrowed, as if he was suddenly remembering that it was Yukimura playing against Yanagi at the moment. His eyes then tentatively turned to look at . Her forehead was glistening with sweat from her own club practice and her eyes were looking at none other than Seiichi as he played gracefully on court.
“Is there something on my face?” asked, successfully shaking his thoughts. Her fingers self-consciously brushed against her cheeks. “Dirt maybe?”
Sanada shook his head. In the eight years he had known this girl, it was only in their second year of middle school that she’d become so conscious of how she looked.
“There’s nothing,” he gave a small – almost bitter – smile and patted her head fondly. “Yukimura would be free after this,” he told her suddenly, feeling his throat constrict as the words spilled from his mouth.
Was he giving up?
Has he given up?
“Is something bothering you Genichirou?” asked, “What’s this about Seiichi all of the sudden?”
Sanada blinked in surprise; sometimes he forgot how well she knew him. “Just so you know…”
looked at him oddly for a moment. “Thank you…” she murmured.
Just as she said this, Yukimura delivered the final smash that landed unmercifully on Yanagi’s court.
“Game set and match, Yukimura Seiichi, six games to four!” a non-regular announced.
Both Yukimura and Yanagi conversed for a moment on court before walking towards where Sanada sat and stood.
“,” the captain gave a small wave. “Do you mind getting me some water?”
smile, “Sure, just a minute,” she answered before making her way to the clubroom.
“Good game,” Sanada commented, watching Yukimura keep his rackets.
The captain chuckled, “In the end, you do mind, don’t you?” he asked out of the blue, earning a baffled look from the vice-captain. “, I mean.”
They stared at each other for a moment before Sanada replied, “No…”
“Are you sure?”
“Would you give her up if I said I did?”
“Of course not,” came Yukimura’s confident reply.
“Then it doesn’t matter.” Sanada inwardly sighed, he had been ready to hit his captain if he had answered otherwise.
“Thank you.”
“Seiichi~ Genichirou!” jogged towards them, holding two jugs of water. “here you go,” she gave one to both of them, who in turn murmured a small ‘thank you’ before downing the water.
Yukimura stepped forward and caught ’s hand in his. “Shall we walk home then?”
“Wait.”
leaned forward, just next to Sanada’s ear as she whispered softly. “If something is still bothering you, tell me alright?”
Sanada nodded wordlessly and watched the couple walk away.
In the end, maybe he didn’t really mind at all.
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Theme # 27 – Café
“There’s a new café that opened near the train station,” smiled up at her boyfriend. “Mai-chan said that they serve really good cakes and milk tea.”
Yukimura Seiichi chuckled as he wiped his sweaty neck with the towel she had given him after practice. “How about we go there this Saturday?” His eyes sparkled quite mischievously, “It’s been a while since we went out on a date,” he said, thinking back to the times when the other regulars would suddenly be popping out every time he went out with her.
blushed – a dark red coloring her pale cheeks – much to the blue-haired’s amusement. “Don’t tease me…”
He chuckled again and took hold of ’s hand as they made their way out of the clubroom and out of the school. “It’s just that you look adorable blushing.”
She huffed indignantly in a futile attempt to cool her cheeks. “I was thinking that maybe we could go with the rest of the regulars.”
“All of them?”
“Obviously. Since Bunta – I know – would definitely want to try the cakes and maybe Sanada-san ad Yagyuu-kun might be interested in trying their tea.”
“And me?”
She looked at him and arched a brow. “You…?”
Yukimura nodded, trying to look serious. “I don’t really like to eat sweets and I definitely prefer the tea that you make for me.”
blushed again – stupid Seiichi – and grasped around her mind for a witty comeback and sighed, defeated as she saw the barely-hidden triumphant look on Seiichi’s face. “Oh fine, I concede,” she sighed again. “We’ll go on a date.” She allowed herself a small smile, though it quickly disappeared before Yukimura could see it and she absently wondered how in the world she could have fallen for such a guy.
Yukimura smiled – a beautiful, heartwarming smile – as if he could read her mind. “I love you too.”
stuck out her tongue at him playfully followed by a sweet, comfortable silence as they continued their walk.
“Did you hear that Akaya? Buchou and -chan are going on a date this Saturday,” a voice whispered behind a bush.
“I’ll go tell, Niou-san.”
“Tell him to drag Sanada along.”
“Ii data…”
“Why the hell are you here?!”
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Author's Note: This are my first four submissions in the community 30_sweets over at Livejournal.