D A N G E R O U S - T E R R I T O R Y (012/100)
AU: ShakespeareAU or Romeo and Juliet parody dedicated to my friend who helped me and omg I don’t regret it. (also may be continued)
Summary: Haru goes to the market square one afternoon when he comes across another boy around his age. Do these two have a fate more dangerous than just paying for each other’s food? Only the stars can tell…
The market square was crowded, filled with people pushing past each other trying to get home or selling goods to traders. This was a typical afternoon for Haru as he wondered the streets of the village a half mile away from his home. With very few clouds in the sky and almost no sign of the oncoming fall showing itself anytime soon, Haru found it almost impossible to remain indoors the whole day.
His loose white blouse moved with the wind in small ruffles, the leggings holding to the chill as the breeze passed. Haru managed his way through the square to find a trader with fruit of some kind as his throat ached from the heat that clamped up in his home.
The trader was handing off food to multiple people, so caught up with exchanging coins for fish and fruit that he barely even noticed Haru approach. Haru held up an apple to the trader, saying he wanted it but the man ignored with a wave of his hand. This action made Haru glare at the man for just simply ignoring his request.
That was when a male – much to the same number of years as Haru – pushed a pouch of coins into the trader’s hands then grabbed hold of Haru’s wrist and pulled him back out of the crowds of the market square. Haru, baffled at the man, did barely a thing but followed until they reached an alley way where he was guided down and out of to an open road lined with a cobble stone wall.
The man let go of him once they reached the road, going over to the wall and climbing up on it to sit. Haru looked at him confused then down to the apple still in his hand.
“The least you could do is thank me.” The man scoffed, reaching into a satchel that Haru only just now noticed and pulled out a loaf of bread.
Haru eyed his carefully now, “And who are you?” he asked going to lean against the wall that reached the top of his shoulders.
“I’m Haru. Why did you help me?” Haru asked him, biting into the apple he just received for free.
“Because you would’ve been there until dusk if I didn’t help you.” Rei responded and held out a piece of bread to Haru, his own loose white blouse dangling down from his slender arms.
Haru took it and placed the bread in his mouth before making a quick grab at the other’s arm. Rei did wear basically the same thing he did but Rei’s was covered in dirt and grass stains as well as tattered at the ends. Haru took the time to tighten the strings at the cuffs of the shirt without a word.
“What are you doing?” Rei asked, watching him now hunched over from being pulled down to Haru’s level.
Once Haru was satisfied with his work he let the other go. “Fixing your messy excuse of a shirt. Honestly what do you do to get so dirty?” Haru asked him after pulled the piece of bread from his mouth.
“I run errands for the villagers. Helping people is the only thing I’m good at, passing on messages, going shopping for those who can’t go out alone, that kind of stuff.” Rei said and happily ate his own bread.
“Doesn’t your mother have anything to say about that?” Haru asked then climbed up onto the wall himself. Rei scooted over for him and sighed a bit.
“Not really, she doesn’t know. Only my older brother does but he doesn’t tell anyone because he doesn’t like me inside all the time.”
“So you spend your time running about the villages?” Haru asked him looked down at their dangling feet. Rei nodded then turned a head towards Haru.
“What’s your family like?”
“My dad and mom don’t pay attention to me much; they leave it to others to take care of me.” Haru told him with a shrug and finished off his bread then continued on to eating his apple.
“Not really, I have more freedom to do what I wish, unlike you who has to keep it all a secret.”
Rei held a face of fake pain, clutching to his chest over where his heart was. “Haru how could you say such un-beautiful words to me?” He asked with a bit of dramatic flair. Haru laughed lightly at his actions.
They talked on and on for the evening, things that sounded almost meaningless but held so much power to each other. Haru enjoyed his conversations with Rei until he realized that the sun was almost completely gone from the sky. He jumped off the wall, knocking Rei down with him and scrambled to pick the other boy up with mumbled apologies.
“I have to leave now, I’ve been out too late.” Haru said to him in rushed words.
Rei actually took the time to look around him and panic set into his face, “Oh no! I have to get home too.” Both boys straightened each other up, fixing their hair and dusting out their clothes on each other.
Haru stopped short after a moment to look Rei in the eyes. He was suddenly jealous of the beauty he saw in front of him.
“Hey Haru?” Rei asked him.
“Of course, why would you ask such a stupid question.” Haru removed the pair of glasses set on Rei’s face to clean them off on his cleaner shirt, then placed them back on the taller males face.
He froze however, as he found Rei staring back at him with wide eyes. “Do you promise? I don’t have many friends, unfortunately.”
Haru sighed and tilted his head just a bit to place a gentle kiss upon Rei’s cheek. “I promise, now go before someone sees us out.” He told the other. Rei smiled at him before taking off down the road some ways until he came to a stop and hopped the wall. He sat on to the top, looking back to Haru to wave, then disappeared on the other side of it as the day officially turned to night.
Haru waited a moment or two before moving in the opposite direction down the dirt road. His walking quickly turned to running as his house came into sight. Eventually he was inside his house and out of breath when his cousin turned to see him. Sousuke walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Haruka! I was worried about you, your father just informed me of another riot between the house of Ryuugazaki and Nanase broke out in the market square, I was afraid you had become a part of it.”
Haru shrugged off his cousin’s hand and continued on into the house with hushed steps, his cousin right behind him. “No I was just exploring the edges of town is all.”
“You know you should inform me of this next time, what do you think would happen to you if someone from the Ryuugazaki house saw you? The son of the Nanase house?”
“Sousuke, shut up, no one saw me I’m alive aren’t I?”
Sousuke sighed at his cousin, but followed him deeper into the house without a word.
Oh how wrong one could be when the stars are crossed forever…
