Hana Matsuri: Chapter 1
Hana Matsuri – Flower Festival (花祭)
By Hal
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Inoue Takehiko. I do not own them and I won’t dare to say the ideas for this novel is purely original. No literature work nowadays are purely original, we all get our inspirations from somewhere.
Chapter 1: Nice to Meet You
Throwing the duffle bag over his shoulder, the boy rang the bell before shoving his hand into his jeans pocket. He shuffled his feet as he observed the house. It was a typical looking two-storey bungalow. One could see this type of houses anywhere in Japan. Nothing was out of the ordinary, if one could ignore that strange looking marking on the door, or those rather eccentric carvings on the pillars at the porch. These patterns seem to be on almost every part of the house. The boy could not pinpoint what exactly is wrong with these curly patterns, but they just felt un-Japan-ish, or rather, unearthly. Yes, other than the oddly out of place designs, the house looked normal enough.
“Che, I bet the owner is just as creepy,” trying to rub away the goose bumps on his arms, the red-headed boy decided to start disliking the owner right away. He never had the intention to like the owner anyway. Who would like someone who had just “bought” you off from your best friend?
“Grr… buy…Argh! I’m not a thing or an animal… to think Youhei use the word BUY! Ahh! It’s irritating!” To make his situation worse, the wind started blowing and he shivered in his thin white shirt. Though it was only early autumn, the weather had been turning chillier by the day. He had been standing like an idiot on the porch for five minutes and the door had not had the slightest hint of cracking open a single inch.
“What the!” Getting impatient, he ran his hand through his red hair just as his cell phone rang at the moment.
“Youhei. Yar. I’m here already. No, I didn’t do anything stupid yet… hey wait! I never do anything stupid anyway.”
Paused. Rolling his eyes, he turned to lean against the door.
“I’m telling you I’m leaving already ok! The bloody door didn’t even open! Are you sure that old man’s home? What…? Not an old man? Whatever, I don’t give a damn about his age. The problem is that I’ve been standing here for hours and I haven’t seen anyone. If he needs a statue, get one, not me. I know he won’t be able to find something as handsome as me but… huh? No, I’m not exaggerating…ok, fine! I was here for only five minutes. But that’s not the point, I’m telling yooou… ouuufff! Ouch…” The red head blinked hard, wind knocked out of him, staring at the ceiling. He had just landed on his back.
“Hana? Hana? Are you ok?” A muffled sound came from the speaker of his cell phone. Youhei was still on the phone and he heard the unusual noise his friend had made.
“Huh? Oh yar,” still on the floor, the boy spoke into the phone. “Yar, I’m alright. The door opened and I fell. I’m fine, really. I’ll call you back later. Bye.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know I’ll be receiving a crashing person,” a voice with a hint of laughter floated from above. “If not, I would have prepared my arms to catch you.”
Irritated by the person’s teasing and starting to dislike the owner more, the red hair boy kept quiet, stood up and brushed some dust off his jeans. Then, he just cocked his head and stared at the owner of the voice.
He was a boy not much older than the red hair boy. Tall and lean with a head of gravity-defying spiked up hair, he was fair with blue eyes, unusual for Japanese. His eyes seemed to twinkle even though the sun was not shining at him and a smile was tugging at the corner of his nicely-shaped lips. He had the looks that girls would drool over and guys would die for.
“Hello, are you alright?” The spiky hair boy waved his hand in front of the other boy, his perfectly-shaped brows knitted together.
“Ugh. Yar, I’m ok.”
“Phew. I thought you were knocked silly from the fall. Anyway, you must be Sakuragi Hanamichi, right? I’m Sendoh Akira. Nice to meet you.” His lips curled into a dazzling smile and held out a hand.
“Yup, I’m Hanamichi. Ermz… nice to meet you too, Sen…Sendoh-san,” Uncomfortable with the formality, Hanamichi took Sendoh’s hand in his own nervously, giving a small shake before letting go quickly. He could not help but to notice how elegant and long Sendoh’s fingers were, just like a pianist’s fingers would be. Upon realizing how he was staring at the other person’s fingers, Hanamichi blushed slightly and quickly averted his gaze.
“Called me Akira will do,” Sendoh chuckled upon spotting a hint of pink on the younger boy’s cheeks. “Please come into the house.”
The house looked bigger than it seemed from outside. Maybe it was due to the multiple large mirrors on the different panels of the walls. Sendoh showed him around the house quickly. The living room, the dining room with the small bar and the kitchen were on the first storey. Taking the wooden polished stairs up, there were three bedrooms each with a bathroom attached and a study with a large bookshelf. The storage room was located up in the attic, or rather, the whole attic was the storage room. The house was designed simply and elegantly, revolving around the theme of classic black and white, though white was the majority.
Sendoh left Hanamichi to unpack and freshen up in his room, the third one from the stairs. They would be meeting again in half an hour’s time to discuss about his job. Hanamichi gritted his teeth when he thought of the contract Youhei had signed.
“What’s there to discuss about house cleaning? Che! I’m gonna kill Youhei when I meet him. Fancy asking the Tensai to be a maid! He has betrayed his best friend. I trusted him and he actually sold me off as a maid to this old man and his son.” The self-proclaimed tensai grabbed his clothes out of his duffle bag and threw them angrily into the wardrobe beside the door. The bedroom could be described as big, no, it was large for a “maid’s” living quarter. The wardrobe was white with those strange patterns carved on it, it spanned across half of the wall. The carvings appeared on the bedposts of the queen-sized bed and the small table and chair beside the bed as well. The bed was placed against the wall on the left side of the room. On the right side of the room was the door to the attached toilet. A large window was on the wall facing the door of the room and it let in a generous amount of light and wind.
Hanamichi was rather satisfied with this room arrangement. At least he was not treated like a maid, yet. He quickly washed his face and went down to the living room. Sendoh was already there, sipping a cup of tea.
“Sendoh-san,” Hanamichi greeted unwillingly. ‘Porcupine!’ He thought to himself.
“I said to call me Akira will do,” Sendoh gestured for Hanamichi to sit down.
“A…Akira,” Hanamichi sat down on the sofa facing Sendoh, all the while calling “Porcupine” in his head.
“I believe Youhei has told you of your position in this house.”
“Position? If you mean my job, yar. He said I’m to be a maid of the owner.”
“Maid…Hmm… It’s not exactly correct,” Sendoh smiled that heart melting smile again. Hanamichi only felt a chill running down his spine, that smile was a dangerous one.
“Your position is to be a houseboy (1),” he crossed his legs and sipped at his tea again.
“Houseboy?” Hanamichi had never heard of such a term.
“Yes, you are my houseboy. You will clean the house and cook my meals for me daily. I’m not a picky person, so I’m rather easy to serve. In return, you get a place to live.”
‘…What difference is there from a maid?’ Hanamichi thought to himself. ‘I knew he’s a weirdo. I bet he likes to torture his maid too. Easy to serve, tsk! I don’t believe him.’
“What about your father, do I have to serve him too?”
“My father? Hahaha,” Sendoh laughed uncontrollably, his laughter was manly but yet, sounded like the chimes of the bells. “My dear Hana – please allow me to call you Hana – I live alone.”
“Alone?! But… but… Youhei said I’m going to be a maid for an old man. You are not old!” Hanamichi sputtered.
“I believe Youhei was just teasing you. I am only 20 after all.” Sendoh reached across the sofa and ruffled Hanamichi’s soft hair.
“Don’t do that! I’m not a dog!” Hanamichi pulled at Sendoh’s hand and edged further away from the raven hair boy.
“Ok ok. Don’t get agitated, I promise not to do that until you are ok with it,” Sendoh withdrew his hand and laughed quietly.
“That stupid Youhei! He cheated the Tensai again! I’m going to beat him to pulps when I meet him again,” Hanamichi balled his right hand into a fist and banged on the low table in front of him. The cup of tea that was meant for him clattered noisily on the saucer but did not topple or spill.
“Oh, Hana. One more thing about being my houseboy is that you will be my sex slave.”
(1) Houseboy: A House Boy is a boy that is looking for a position, or career, with love. A houseboy can start at age of 18 years old. The house boy might be the housekeeper, assistant, chief, and many more duties. Houseboy would serve as assistant and some even grow into a life long relationship with their employers. For some that is taboo. Many stable couples today will take in a Houseboy for the household duties and to mentor. *This is taken from HouseboyUSA*
Sendoh’s idea of a houseboy here is more like the one described in the above with a sexual relationship. I have read of such “jobs” existing in various countries.
Author’s Note: Ok, not beta-d. Rushed. Pardon if it sounds childish and such. Please do continue or start to support me. Thank you! ^___^ *love* Next update is… I don’t know when. >.>
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