Title: The cherry tree (1/?)
Pairing: Ohmiya
Summary: Nino doesn’t believe in spirits, but his opinion changes when he meets a very special person.
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1003
Disclaimer: The plot is mine, and the wrapping is thanks to zazasukie. Thanks a lot to beastlover for betaing this fic!  (Thank you both! ♥)


“But why not Nino? Why not?” Aiba asked frowning at his friend.

“Aiba, those stories are obviously for children. It’s impossible that magical beings exist in the real world.”, Nino sighed tiredly, trying to explain why he didn’t believe in the existence of the spirits of ancient Japanese folklore to his best friend for the umpteenth time.

They had met in the opening ceremony of their high school, a few years ago. It had been friendship at first sight, or that’s what Aiba always said. The truth was that Aiba bumped into Nino, making the younger boy drop the can of juice he had just bought, while he was running to the ceremony. Nino hadn’t been exactly delighted with Aiba at that moment but, when the clumsy boy returned carrying five different juices for Nino, the latter couldn’t help but reconsider his opinion about his new classmate. From then on, their friendship didn't ever stop growing; they had become best friends.

“How could a fox or a raccoon possibly be able to talk or to transform into a person?” he asked exasperated.

“Because they have powers!” the young man replied clearly frustrated by his friend’s disbelief. “And they aren’t raccoons!”

“Yeah, and everybody knows that those fox-ish beings become more and more powerful with each extra tail they grow and blah, blah, blah,” Nino said with a dismissive gesture and unchained his bicycle.

When he turned around, pulling his bicycle, he found Aiba looking at him with a sulky pout.

“But they are real!” he heard him mutter when they were leaving the school grounds.

~~

A few days later, Nino was quietly enjoying his sandwich on the school’s terrace when the sudden bang of the metal entrance door against the wall almost gave him a heart attack.

He looked up, surprised, at his best friend who ran towards him madly waving his arms.

“Have you heard the latest rumors?!” Aiba asked excitedly as soon as he reached his side.

“What rumors?” Nino asked, a bit curious, leaving his half-eaten sandwich aside.

“You know the big old sakura tree in the middle of the park? One of our classmates swears that he saw the spirit of the tree yesterday at dusk!” Aiba exclaimed looking at him delightedly. “I told you, didn’t I? Spirits do exist!”

“Aiba…”

“The whole school is talking about it! Some of our classmates are even planning to go to the park this evening to try to find it!”

Nino sighed, “Aiba, that’s…”

“We’re going to go too, right Nino?” Aiba looked at him with his best puppy eyes.

Nino looked at his best friend’s eager face and sighed again. He knew that he had lost the battle this time.

“O.k.”

“YAY!”

“But I can’t go today,” Nino warned him.

“It’s ok, we can go tomorrow morning!”


~~


The next morning, Aiba and a very grumpy Nino – he had never been a morning person and being woken by his noisy friend two hours earlier than he usually got up hadn’t done anything to improve his mood - arrived at the park’s entrance in search of the famous spirit.

“So where is that damned tree?” asked Nino with a frown, rubbing his hands to warm them in the chilly weather.

“Near the small lake,” Aiba answered smiling excitedly, “Do you think we’ll be able to find him now that there is nobody around?”

“Hmmmff,” Nino didn’t bother to answer him.

Both friends kept walking in silence through the deserted park towards the old sakura tree. They had almost reached the place, when they were surprised by the sudden appearance of a young man dressed in a traditional kimono from behind the broad trunk of the sakura tree.

“Look, there’s a man over there. Hel…mmmppppfff!”

“Shhhh!” Aiba silenced his friend by putting his hand over his mouth and dragged him behind some bushes.

The strange, dark-haired man didn’t seem to notice their presence and sat down facing the lake with his back resting against the trunk of the old tree.

“It’s him! It’s him! The spirit of the sakura tree!” Aiba whispered excitedly taking his hand off of Nino’s mouth.

“Don’t be stupid!” Nino hissed furiously at him trying to stand up.

“Shhhh! Not too loud or he’ll hear you!” Aiba whispered frantically and pulled on Nino’s wrist to keep him hidden behind the bushes. “Let’s observe him!” the young man proposed with a bright glint in his eyes.

“This is idiotic,” Nino shook his head in disbelief but didn’t try to stand up again.

They spent the following minutes carefully observing the stranger from their hideout. The young man didn’t move at all; he simply observed the morning light reflecting on the lake’s surface with a calm face.

After twenty minutes of observation, Nino found himself strangely drawn to the stranger’s blank expression and the peaceful aura that surrounded him. He shook his head to try to clear his thoughts and decided that it was time to end their pointless activity.

“Well, this is really interesting but it’s getting late and we need to be at school on time,” he complained, looking at his friend.

“But… but…” Aiba looked at him with a disappointed expression.

“But nothing! We’ve better things to do than stalk a stranger,” Nino said resolutely and stood up, leaving their hideout.

“Nino!” he heard Aiba gasping behind him.

“What?” he asked turning around.

Aiba was pointing at the small lake with a shocked expression, “Look!”

When Nino looked where Aiba was pointing, he discovered, shocked, that the odd man had disappeared without leaving any trace.

“It can’t be!” he exclaimed, astonished, and ran towards the old sakura tree. He looked around bewildered, trying to find some trace of the young man, but he couldn’t find anything. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

“So the rumor was true. He was the spirit of the sakura tree, after all,” he heard Aiba whispering in awe behind him.

Nino felt a shiver run down his spine.

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