Chapter Text
Ren Mihashi was hovering outside in a garden full of sprites and elves, his neighbours for lack of a better word, and the morning sun shined brilliantly on his brown hair, making it a softer shade than it actually was. His nervous expression being the usual sight for all to see, he bade all a good morning, bashfully and full of stutters. A nervous nature he acquired through his discovery of how dangerous some human children could get if not properly monitored at an early age. Still, somehow, that didn't stop the little fairy from venturing out over to the human villages that held troubling persons bigger than he could ever be. A naturally scared fairy gifted with nerves and blunders, little Ren made sure to stubbornly go and watch a particular boy who didn't know of his existence.
It wasn't like fairies were things of myth - it was common knowledge that things otherworldly co-existed with the humans - but when it came to Ren's own personal existence...that was where the issue would end regarding the human boy.
He didn't know of Ren's existence.
But that suited Ren fine, he enjoyed watching the boy rather than speaking with him. Goodness knows a miracle would wash by his tongue and he would utter more than jumbled garbage if given the opportunity to speak to the human boy. No, he was rather complacent with the situation as is since it did no harm to either party present at the time.
"Takaya! Would you like me to drop you off at the Town Square? You’re going to be late at this rate.” A woman dressed in peasant clothes got out of the front door with her hands full of a basket laden with laundry that needed drying. She was calling out to the young male who was busily chopping woods with an oversized axe. At the mention of his potential tardiness Takaya didn’t look all that troubled to be late. He grunted, as way of response, as he went on to finish cutting another block. Ren settled on a leaf, sitting down gently, as he watched Takaya cut into the blocks of wood. He could see Takaya dutifully finishing his task before even thinking of getting ready for anything. His eyes studied Takaya’s muscled biceps and he curiously touched his own skinny ones. He wondered, not for the first time, if he did the things Takaya did would he get muscled like that too? He shook his head at the wishful thinking; he didn’t want to hurt the trees if it meant growing stronger. And the axe looked so big that it would do a better job cutting him than any block of wood if he laid his hands on it. Not to mention he was as tiny as a garden squirrel. Letting out a sigh he continued to watch Takaya, as the boy finally finished his job and went inside his cottage to get changed. His mother, that’s what Ren assumed, was still busily complaining about Takaya but otherwise didn’t pay any other heed to the boy.
Ren got up from his hiding spot and flew over to the cottage window and looked at the inside of the house. Takaya was eating breakfast, a frown on his face as he tried to get everything down into his gullet as fast as possible. The stubborn feature had, at first, terrified Ren when he first spotted the boy – being at the end of that glare would turn Ren into dust; he could feel it in his gut. But now, after watching the boy for a while, he could look past it and see that there was a lot on his mind. That didn’t mean his fear was entirely gone from him glaring fiercely at times, but it was more tolerable. As much as a nervous fairy could tolerate anyway. He smiled to himself but made sure to fly out of view and go watch over Takaya’s mother. The fluttering laundry hanging on the lines with their faded colours made Ren think of clouds and he yawned to himself a little just picturing it. Takaya’s mother was humming a soft tune as she continued hanging all the laundry out and it was a pretty tune. Ren copied her humming, and though his vocals were not as light as hers, it still followed the same tune and he grew shy about it. Even if he was happy about it and no one could see him copying a human female he was still careful enough not to sound too loud above the whistling wind.
“I’m going out now.” Takaya called out. Ren immediately swooped down and followed Takaya. Takaya was giving his mum a back wave goodbye. Seeing this Ren looked over to his mother and she was doing the same. Ren also waved to Takaya’s mother goodbye – but his was more frantic and over-excited compared to Takaya. As they passed by a small downhill pathway his mother was out of sight and Ren’s nervous smile was a pleasant one. Silently he made his way on top of Takaya’s head and crossed his legs as he watched over the scenery of yellow pastures and further away foresting trees filled with life; birds chirping their mornings and insects buzzing under the cool shade of high trees. The morning sun was lighting up a brilliant day that was warm and tender. It was enough to make Ren sleepy on a day not observing Takaya, but, it only seems to make him overexcited at the prospect of another day watching over Takaya and his daily routine. Small specks of fairy dust landed on Takaya’s hair and the glitter danced on the black strands of his hair, riveting back multitudes of colour. Ren’s eyes shined as he moves his wings a little fast to produce more fairy dust to glitter over Takaya’s entire hair. Takaya then sneezed violently because some of it tickled his nose slightly. The sudden jerk had made Ren jump up in fright, his heart beating fast at the scare, but he flew back onto Takaya’s head and settled down his excitement.
Takaya’s grumblings made Ren feel sad, a little, but it was soon forgotten as Takaya stopped making a fuss about hay fever and too much pollen in the air. Ren’s cheeks blushed lightly as he listened intently on his grumblings, wondering if he could ever sound as grouchy as he did. He didn’t think he ever could, too nervous to ever voice out a complaint on anything that was outside his person. As the birds chirped above Takaya’s head, they came to give Ren a little morning greeting which he shyly but politely said back, Takaya finally reached the gates of the Saitama Kingdom. His brown breeches and loose pants blended in well with the crowd of people going about their day. His sheathed sword tied at his waist with a belt was a common sight for most boys of the Saitama Kingdom since they all belonged to one Swords School or another.
The air bustled about with many people and some children were rushing past Takaya, who was skilfully passing by them with practiced ease. A little girl looked up and saw the glitter that stuck to Takaya’s hair and stood still with awe. Soon the rushing children were gathering around Takaya and pointing at his head. Takaya was oblivious to their stares as he continued marching on toward his school, being late surely but not too late. Ren looked back and, thinking back this morning, waved at the little children who saw his head popping out on top of Takaya’s hair. Their screams of shock and surprise made Ren smile and flutter his wings a little. They waved back as they called out to him while the adults around were laughing at their antics. It didn’t take long for Takaya to reach his Sword School. A little plate hanging over a building signed off as Nishiura Sword Academy with two blades crossing over each other. Others were gathering around him and it was then that Takaya finally noticed his hair.
“Takaya good morn-” A usual greeting by a boy named Azusa who was tall and well-built for his age. He scared Ren a lot because he reminded him of another human boy who hadn’t left a good impression of what humans are like when Ren was younger back in the day and less cautious about his surroundings. Takaya was in the middle of stretching, they were out on the courtyard and the other boys have yet to arrive. He looked over to Azusa wondering why he stopped midway greeting him as usual and he could see a slightly sick, slightly sick perplexed expression roaming over his face as he looked, not at face, but, at his hair. Frowning slightly he wonders what’s wrong with the other boy. “Is something the matter Azusa?”
He jerked a finger at his hair. “Your hair…it’s shining; as if the rainbow itself just decided to live in your hair.” His face was turning blue. At this Takaya’s own face drained of colour which interested Ren completely, he flew above Takaya’s face to see the changes of expression.
“Takaya, are you sure you’re not cursed?” Azusa was looking at his friend in concern. That was the deep root of his actions, because every time he saw Takaya something of some sort had to be different with his grouchy friend. The other week he was wearing pink breeches all of a sudden in the middle of sparring! Not only did it throw off his sparring partner but it also threw Takaya off his guard quite a lot. And just yesterday the other boy had become a living bird perch to nest on.
His friend was a level-headed person who had the unfortunate disposition of having a grouchy personality – much like his father from what Azusa’s seen – so seeing blue birds and sparrows come land on him was something that didn’t make sense in anyone’s mind.
Except for one thing; the boy was cursed.
Takaya vainly tried to shake off whatever it was on his hair, unbelieving that he roamed the entire Kingdom like this, but whatever topped his head refused to come off. Ren tilted his head in contemplation as he thought that fairy dust was good luck for Takaya and couldn’t be taken off until he fell asleep. Takaya scowled at the end result but otherwise turned at his friend, embarrassment all over his face.
“I’m not cursed – I don’t even believe in stuff like that. It’s just someone is very good at harassing me with these tasteless pranks.”
He settled on that explanation for he didn’t believe in the unknown. Ren giggled to himself, a blush dusting over his cheeks, as he saw Takaya once again become oblivious to his surroundings. He was rather stubborn and would rather blame on something substantial than on something he didn’t believe in. Most times he would hold himself responsible, and the ignorance he displayed against such antics that Ren would do was quite fascinating to the small fairy.
“If you’re sure Takaya – but if it is a prank then I wonder who you crossed to gain that much unwanted attention.”
Neither boy could answer and neither tried.
Knowing his personality he warranted more enemies than friends and that was enough to blow a migraine right through their heads just trying to pinpoint the culprit. The courtyard gets filled with the other boys of his class as well as the instructor; a young voluptuous woman with the personality of a raging dragon, if not carefully dealt with, and Takaya once again becomes the centre of attention. However the instructor quickly dispels the complexing situation by getting right into their routine morning session.
“Alright everyone – we’re going to be focusing on stamina build-up. 30 laps around the courtyard and after that I want all of you doing 15 sets of lunges. We’ll discuss more after you’ve completed the 2.”
All boys set out to dutifully carry out their current regime and don’t bother to ask Takaya what is up with his hair, all knowing that that was a lost cause all in itself. Ren followed closely, trying not to get any of the build-up dust up in his space. And, as always, the day went by with another gruelling session of training muscles, sparring and youthful yells of “Yes Ma’am.” Just watching it all made Ren rather sleepy, if he ever did any of that he would drop down to the ground and be out in a second. He didn’t want to be a soldier, not like them, he rather liked being who he is; a small fairy of the Evergreen Forest. He had spent another day watching over Takaya and nestled down on top of his head to catch up on a nap that he so needed.
The human boy himself was sweaty and tired as well, it was a hard session that he thought to be productive. Takaya wondered sometimes why there would be some ridiculous things happening to him. They were annoyances, at best, but didn’t seem to be dangerous at all if he really thought about it. It’s just that he wondered what exactly was behind the person’s motive to be doing such acts against him. Remembering Azusa’s concern for him earlier that day did make him worry that may be he was cursed. But considering what pink breeches, glittery hair, chirping birds could do to a person’s daily life – he’d rather say that he was getting off really lightly or that person just sucked casting spells.
Their Kingdom did have a High Mage, but, from what everyone could gather about that person he was rather an intellectual person that would spend hours on researching new things than to even try to socialise, or in this situation, harass some farm-boy peasant that had done nothing against his graces. He steps over a log that hadn’t been there on the pathway beforehand, wondering why children mess up everywhere they play at, and at the same time mentally crosses of the High Mage off of his list of suspects. Considering the antics that has been plaguing his life for as long as he can remember (a few months ago) Takaya could say, with this much confidence; that the person was probably trying to gain his attention. He frowns harshly as he thinks over that. He concluded that the person has a lot of patience to deal with him and wonders, not for the first time, what exactly is the person’s motive for doing so. When he reaches his cottage dusk has already settled and his little brother was chirping brightly at his mother and father’s side. He failed to avoid his gather’s gaze and thus ensued a grumpy confrontation.
“How was school?”
“Fine. We did another regime that focused on muscle build and did some theory practices.” His father nodded in his faded shirt covered with a bloody apron. He was the local butcher but was a fan of Tournaments and such. Having a strategic mind and a sly personality was a trait both elder males of his family seemed to carry. It would also explain their stubborn and aggressive nature. He finally notices the top of his head, as well as everyone else.
“Oh my.” His mother gasps, a hand over her mouth at the sight of her eldest son. Shun looks up from under their mother’s skirt and squeals out delight in his eyes while their father is having trouble trying to handle the situation right now.
“Takaya! Takaya! Your hair is glowing!!” Takaya’s sour mood only went further south at the observation and because he had to see his Father right when he got home just made things worse. At the astonishing squeals going on, but more with the severe mood in Takaya’s aura, Ren woke up startled at the sudden change. He groggily rubbed his eyes awake and peered down sleepily at the ground to see what the cause was. But he only saw Shun and his mum and dad looking at the sudden glowing hair of Takaya. Shun sees Ren and immediately raced up to Takaya, excitedly waving at the fairy.
"I'm taking a bath." he excuses himself.
“Hello Mr. Fairy! Were you the one who made Takaya’s hair shine like that?” Shun jumped up and down, his eyes shining brightly. Ren, still sleepy, flew off Takaya’s head to fly over to Shun’s bubbly face. His aura was happy and healthy to be near and he nodded his head at the younger boy. He came close and kissed him on the nose in greeting and comfortably went over and sat on his shoulder. He was still sleepy and wanted to catch up on more sleep.
“Shun,” Takaya complained “stop talking nonsense. There is no fairy.” But the little boy steadily ignored Takaya and was busily trying to make an effort on not to walk to fast or else the fairy will fall down. But he didn’t need to worry, there was enough space for Ren to sleep on and he wasn’t in any danger of falling off. Seeing as he was being ignored Takaya made his way to the bathroom to have an early shower and get ready for dinner. Hopefully he’d get the damned glitter off his head if he washed it off.
“Son, what did you do to yourself?” His Dad said.
Takaya shrugged before venturing into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. Resignation set in his bones.
“I don’t know.”
Later that night Ren woke up and grew confused from his surroundings. It was pitch black, no midnight bluebell flowers glowing around his small room, and there was no fairy lights glowing to light his way about at night. There was a slight warm breeze nuzzling his back and he turned to look at the younger brother's face sleepily drooling all over his pillow. The sight scared Ren for a moment but he then remembered what had happened when he and Takaya had gotten back home. Shun must've put him carefully next to him to sleep more, and for that kind gesture Ren thought about what to bring the boy tomorrow when he came again to visit. He did like swordplay just like Takaya and their dad did so he could make him a sew him a little emblem of two swords clashing. Ren was sure their mother would patch the little thing on his tunic if Shun showed him the little thing. Getting up he dusted a few of fairy dust on the boy's pillow and kissed him a goodnight farewell. He buzzed through the room, it was clean and some toys with wooden swords lined the far wall. With his little glowing wings Ren had had countless times of looking over Shun's room. The little boy showed him plenty of his things and he enjoyed learning new human things as well.
Passing through the slit of the door he flew over the hallway of the Abe Household. He flew past the furniture and the dining room to come face to face with Takaya's door. Blushing slightly he calmed down his jittery nerves. Remembering his manners he says to the empty night.
"Pardon my intrusion."
And with that said and done he flew up and opened the door with his hands. A little quirky thing that Ren would never do in front of other fairies or humans or anything possessing eyes in general, he always grew embarrassed when it came to looking silly. After a few bursts of struggling he finally gets the door open a bit and goes straight to his next destination. Takaya was lying down on his bed with a calm expression roaming over his face and Ren flew above him to look at his face more closely. Unlike Shun's room Takaya was sparse - only having a desk in one corner and a wardrobe in the other. His bed set under the window sill that let the moon's glow illuminate his face. A small smile came across Ren's face as he stared at Takaya's face.
It was some time before Ren decided to leave. But he flew down to kiss Takaya's cheek, a nightly thing the young fairy always did ever since he could remember. The soft gesture tickled Takaya's cheek and he groggily opened a bleary eye to look at the random fly that came at him. But he only looked up to see a glowing light that held a small boy. His cheeks were flaming and his brown eyes looked about to pop out but...his smile was really cute.
He turned about in his bed to find a comfortable position and drifted off sleeping again. Ren took that moment to leave knowing that Takaya was still sleepy when he looked at Ren.
As he made his way to his abode the crisp night lighted his way safely and he hummed the lovely tune the human mother was singing earlier that day. His parents would wonder what he was doing, coming back so late, but as long as he was safe they didn't pester him too much about it. Though his cousin, Ruri, would be a completely different matter. Just thinking about how angry she would get at him made him shiver in fear at the most likely event. But still, he wouldn't have traded this day or the past days for anything. He liked observing Takaya and his daily antics, it brought excitement to the little fairy that didn't know anything outside of his own home. Those times were gone though and he focused more on what tomorrow would bring.
When he came to Evergreen Forest everyone was asleep but the soft glowing fairy lights lit up the forest beautifully. Dancing rainbows made him think of Takaya's hair and the little dust he left for Shun and had him smiling once more at the thought. But he needed to sleep soon if he wanted to get that small embroidery done for the younger brother.