Chapter Text
Himawari (kanji:向日葵, hiragana:ひまわり, katakana:ヒマワリ) is the Japanese word for sunflower.
Teiko Junior High; First Year
It's not like (Name) ever meant to make a habit out of observing Kise Ryouta. It just sort of happened. Like something you can't stop noticing once you start.
And starting is easy. So, so easy when the subject of observation is like the sun-- fiery and golden and so bright, she cannot help but bask in his presence though he will never catch sight of her doing so from across the room where she is safe from the danger of him potentially burning her.
At least she isn't alone. There are many others who throng around the sun, desperate for acknowledgment from something that seems so far away from them. Desperate to be allowed into it's orbit and feel its warmth instead of its fire. At least she is content to never orbit and simply watch.
They are twelve and in their first year at Teiko Junior High when she first catches sight of him.
(Name) believes that there are some people who are simply made to stand out among the rest of them. People who are born different-- special, right from the start as they do not heed to convention. People built to leave their marks on the world.
She is no stranger to such kind of people. Her closest friend happens to be one of them, so (Name) has experience in seeing their promise and natural gravity up close and personal.
From the moment she first sees him at the center of a steadily building group of excited girls (like little asteroids wanting to enter orbit so they may graduate the status of planet), she knows he too is an example of those among then who are special.
Kise Ryouta remains at the center, smiling indulgently at his admirers as they attempt to infiltrate his solar system, pulled in by the gravity he doesn't mean for them. His brightness now is harsh and glaring, like he is projecting to blind them so he may revel alone, but they are moths to a flame and he is unable to fight this law of nature.
The sun is lonely at the center of his own universe, selfish in deeming no one worthy of his gravity and warmth. Nothing orbits him and he burns alone, brighter and higher than anyone else. Untouchable. Tempting.
Arrogant, she decides, her mouth twitching at the sight of his fraying patience as she waits for her best friend to return from the washroom.
It is a little amusing to watch Kise struggle to get to his class even, and she'd feel inclined to stage an intervention and rescue him if she didn't think his poorly hidden egotism warranted this. Kise's eyes begin searching for an escape, darting around the hallway that is rapidly emptying of its previous occupants because the noise from the gaggle of excitable girls makes lunch break significantly less enjoyable and it is easier to admit defeat and migrate elsewhere.
Briefly, desperate golden eyes find hers and it startles (Name) enough to delay her reaction in hastily looking away, her face warming because Kise might not even remember this but it's still embarrassing to get caught staring at someone. She's safe in the knowledge that she probably isn't blushing in spite of the heat in her cheeks, but she doesn't dare chance another glance at the blond and his pool of fangirls so soon.
She only looks back when she hears Kise yell and point at something further down the hall, following his finger just like everyone else in the corridor to see what had caused his loud disruption. (Name) blinks, finding nothing but air and Teiko's familiar interior, and turns back to find that Kise Ryouta has disappeared amidst the confusion.
It clicks in her head just as the other girls begin whining about his getaway and suddenly, (Name) is hiding her laughter behind her hand.
How absurd for a twelve-year-old boy to have to resort to such tactics to ward off the crowd of regular people wanting to become special by virtue of his company.
Apollo sends Icarus hurtling back to the ground when the mortal gets too close, and in a less violent fashion, Kise Ryouta does the same.
He does it quite often too she begins to realize over time, her eyes often straying to him when there is nothing else to occupy her attention in between passing moments.
Kise is effulgent, but he is prideful of his radiance, and therefore, he is lonely. He allows no one in his orbits (though the asteroid belt continues to develop all the same), and though he looks awfully bored when he thinks nobody is watching, he doesn't make attempts to change his existing dynamic with anyone.
Well, (Name) has always known preteen boys are idiots so it shouldn't be surprising at all to her when days become months and Kise continues roaming the halls of Teiko with a sullen face and dull golden eyes that look more hazel when they are darkened so, looking for all the world like he'd rather be literally anywhere else.
In the middle of a warm afternoon, with her friends' amiable chattering ringing in her ears, she studies the downward turn of his mouth and his lack of company from across the cafeteria, and the question arises within her of what he is waiting for.
Kise has kept a few people around in the past, but nothing lasting. He always severs ties with them not too long after, and part of her is curious.
Something about his countenance keeps drawing her gaze to him, and it has begun to grate on her nerves each time she catches her attention wandering to him.
Because Kise is a sun, and whether she likes it or not, his gravitational pull is strong-- so much so that it's difficult to resist. She doesn't get close enough to orbit, and she doesn't want to, but she can't deny that he draws her in and she doesn't have the strength to fight that.
Distant, but reaching.
Kise is the sun and she is one among many sunflowers that his light pulses down upon. He is luminescent and she turns towards him instinctively.
She is unable to fight this law of nature.