Title: The cherry tree (3/?)
Pairing: Ohmiya
Summary: Nino doesn’t believe in spirits, but his opinion changes when he meets a very special person.
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1336
Disclaimer: Thanks to zazasukie for wrapping this chapter and to beastlover for betaing it!  <3<3

Previous chapter

“See? I told you, didn’t I? He must be the spirit of the sakura tree!” Aiba insisted, munching his sandwich.

Nino averted his eyes from the school grounds and looked at his friend, sighing with exasperation. Since he had told Aiba about his encounter with the strange man in the park, his friend had been pestering him with the same thing over and over like some sort of crazy parrot.

“Aiba, I've told you a million times already that it’s impossible.” For the tenth time that hour, Nino tried to introduce a bit of sanity to his friends mind – and the fact that the previous nine attempts had failed wasn’t going to stop him from trying.

“B-but…”

“Though I must recognize that he behaved quite strangely when I met him, and he seemed a bit odd,” Nino continued with patience.

“But he disappeared and…” Aiba tried to interrupt him.

“Yes, and the fact he had disappeared when I woke up. Those things didn’t mean he had vanished into thin air because he’s a spirit. He probably had to leave while I was asleep and didn’t want to disturb my slumber,” he declared with a frown.

“But we didn’t find anything when we searched around!” the other student protested loudly. “And we didn’t find him either when we returned to the park the next day!”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“And the sakura flower?” Aiba asked persistently. “Don’t you find it strange that there was a sakura flower where he was sitting? It’s still winter and all the trees are leafless, in case you haven’t noticed!”

Nino squirmed uncomfortably leaning on the terrace’s rail, “Hmmmmm. There might be a good explanation for that,” he sighed and took his wallet out of the pocket of his school uniform, “I’m sure there is a rational explanation behind all of this… I only have to find it,” he murmured to himself gazing at the little sakura flower carefully displayed inside the wallet, in front of his student card.

~~


Nino didn’t meet the mysterious man again until half a month later, and it was almost by pure chance. That morning, he had had the intention to wake up earlier than he usually got up to attend Aiba’s last basketball match – his friend had pestered him for the whole week until Nino had finally agreed to go. Nevertheless, he ended waking up later than he wanted – playing video games until three o’clock in the morning didn’t have anything to do with that, seriously – so he had had to hurry to the basketball court.

He was running through the park when he glimpsed a familiar figure in a traditional kimono sitting near the sakura tree. Nino stopped abruptly and after debating with himself for a few minutes, he decided to approach the tree. He moved stealthy behind the bushes with the purpose of spying on what the mysterious man was doing this time.

The young man was sitting seiza-style on the grass, painting something on a big paper situated on a small table in front of him.

“Hello,” Ohno said without averting his eyes from his artwork.

“He-hello!” Nino said, surprised that the man had noticed him. “I was walking around when I glimpsed your kimono. I thought I should drop and say hi.”

Ohno looked at him with a small smile, “You were so silent that I almost didn’t notice you.”

Nino blushed a bit and stuttered, “I wanted to make sure that it was you but I didn’t want to scare you. I-I wasn’t spying on you or anything!” He blushed even more and quickly put his hand over his mouth to stop his blabbering. He looked nervously at Ohno, totally mortified at being caught red handed stalking him.

Ohno laughed heartily at Nino’s ashamed expression, but his laugh was cut short by a round of rough coughs. Nino looked at the man beside him with a worried expression, noticing for the first time his pale face.

“Are you ok?” he asked reaching for the man’s forehead. His hand stopped midway however, when he realized what he was doing. Ohno was almost a stranger after all. Wouldn’t it be too pretentious of him to treat the young man with such familiarity?

Ohno tilted his head, gazing at Nino curiously, like some sort of small puppy waiting for its master command. “So cute!” Nino’s hand continued its way anyway, almost against its owner's will – but only almost.

Once more, the young student felt entranced by the man’s smooth skin, but he frowned with worry when he sensed the unnatural heat. Could it be that Ohno was a bit feverish?

“I think you have a fever… Wouldn’t it be better if you rested a bit at your home?”

“Don’t worry. It’s only a slight cold,” Ohno assured the young student with a small smile, shrugging his shoulders. Like the last time Nino had touched him, he hadn’t make any attempt to get away from Nino.

“But…” Nino was starting to argue when he was interrupted by his cell phone. “Excuse me for a moment...” he said moving a few meters away to answer the call.

“Yes?”

“Nino! The match is about to start! Where are you?”. Nino removed the cell phone from his ear, trying to avoid being deafened by his friend’s excited shouts.

“Aiba? What the hell are you talking abo - Darn, the match!” Nino quickly hung up, turning around to look, embarrassed, at Ohno. “Sorry! I promised my friend I would go to watch his match! I have to leave now!” he hastily apologized, bowing slightly.

“Don’t worry. Tell your friend that I hope he wins, please.” Even though Ohno was smiling the whole time, his smile didn’t seem to reach his soft, brown eyes. It suddenly struck Nino that the young man looked a bit lonely there, surrounded by the leafless trees with his calligraphy work as his sole companion.

“Goodbye.” After bowing apologetically once more, the student ran towards the school as fast as he could, cursing his bad luck. “Now that I had the chance to talk to him again... Damn it!” Besides, Nino felt slightly guilty about leaving Ohno alone when he was feeling unwell, but he couldn’t help it, he had promised Aiba after all. “Anyway, I think that this sort things out, because it’s impossible for a spirit to get sick, right?”

~~

Unfortunately, some days later someone proved to Nino that he was greatly mistaken in his conceptions. The young student was strolling in the park after his school classes, hoping to be lucky enough to met Ohno again, if only by chance, when he saw an old woman praying near the old sakura tree.

Nino, full of curiosity, approached the old woman with a friendly smile.

“You’re asking yourself why this old woman is praying in front of the tree, aren’t you?” she asked him with a kind smile, noticing his curiosity.

“Well… yes!” Nino admitted, a bit embarrassed.

“I’m giving thanks to the spirit of the tree for all these years.”

“The spirit of the tree?”

“Yes, yes, I know young people don’t believe in these things anymore, but my family has always prayed him for help,” she affectionately patted the trunk of the old tree.

The woman sighed sadly, “I wonder how much longer this tree is going to last...”

“Eh?” Nino stared, surprised, at the woman.

“The poor thing is really old, and it hasn’t blossomed for years now,” the woman explained to him. “I suppose it must be ill.”

Suddenly, Nino remembered Ohno’s fever and his pale skin. “The tree is ill?...” he muttered looking closely at the old trunk. “If the tree is ill, the spirit of the tree would be ill too?” he worriedly asked the old woman

“Possibly,” the woman sighed again, shrugging her shoulders.

Nino bit his lower lip looking at the leafless tree, “Is it really a coincidence? Could it be... could it be that Ohno is really the spirit of the tree?”

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