A/N: This was the first TNKK fanfic I wrote, and I'm still not very happy with it… I feel like everyone's a little OOC, especially Haru, but if I were to change everything that bothered me a bit about this fic, there wouldn't be one left to post. However, given the lack of TNKK fanfics in the world, I figure I'll post it anyway. Please review! I hope you enjoy it!

For the sake of simplicity, I dropped all honorifics and Yamaken calls Shizuku by her first name. I do this because I'm pretty sure I'd make a mistake with the suffixes, and without those, it feels weird to have Yamaken calling her Mizutani (since I'm kind of american-izing the formality). Please assume everyone is using them correctly.

Note: Spoilers through end of manga, contains f-word (since it's rated T I feel I should mention this even though almost every teen has heard it before)

Disclaimer: I do not own Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun.

A two year relationship had fallen apart surprisingly quickly.

Shizuku and Takaya had been out with Haru. Or rather, she and Takaya had been out and Haru had joined them, since he always joined Shizuku everywhere. She hadn't known there was more tension between him and Yuuzan than normal. Yuuzan wasn't normally around them, so Haru didn't act any differently.

But then Yuuzan had passed by and Haru had gotten angry.

They were shouting things at each other, things having to do with family politics and whatnot, and Shizuku just sighed. This happened from time to time. She'd give them another minute before trying to step in.

Takaya glanced up at her. "Haru seems really angry," he said.

Shizuku nodded. "He has a lot of issues with his family." She pulled Takaya a little further away, towards a stone bench. Haru and Yuuzan were circling each other now. Yuuzan was very good at ducking, but not so good at fighting. He was like Yamaken in that way, Shizuku thought. She hadn't seen Yamaken in quite some time, but she saw Yuuzan far more than she'd like. Not anything against Yuuzan, but he just got Haru so angry…

But Yuuzan wasn't that good at ducking, and finally Haru managed to grab him and throw him. "Haru!" Shizuku called, but it was after Yuuzan was in the air. And then Yuuzan hit Takaya, propelling him back into the stone bench.

Shizuku never wanted to hear a sound like that again.

"Takaya!" she screamed. Yuuzan jumped up from the ground, as her little brother had apparently cushioned his fall enough that he was relatively unhurt. He took one look at the blood seeping from Takaya's head, another look at Haru, and bolted. As Shizuku sank to her knees beside her brother, she saw Haru run after him.

"Takaya, Takaya," she chanted, and carefully tried to see what type of injury he had. There was a lot of blood, but head wounds bled a lot, she reminded herself. In the end, she took his pulse and placed a hand in front of his mouth to check that he was breathing. That ascertained, she called an ambulance to come and pick him up.

When she climbed into the back of the ambulance with Takaya, Haru was still nowhere to be seen.

Takaya went to a doctor quickly, due to the amount of blood. They did some tests and Shizuku sat with him the whole time. In the end, it was better than she'd thought. A cut on his head from the bench had bled profusely, but it wasn't actually that deep. He had a concussion, but not that bad. He shouldn't go to school for a few days, the doctor said.

She called her father after they were given Takaya's results and knew that he would be okay. Shizuku told him that they would take a taxi home. It wasn't like that would be much compared to the hospital bill, and she didn't want to try and take Takaya home on the bus.

She helped Takaya out of the cab once they arrived at the stairs, and their father met them there. Takaya could walk well enough with his arm around someone, and her dad immediately relieved Shizuku to help Takaya get up the stairs.

"Shizuku," he said softly. "You might want to deal with that." He nodded his head towards a small mass sitting on the steps that Shizuku hadn't even noticed at first. Takaya and her dad started up the stairs, and Shizuku stared at Haru in silence.

"He got away," Haru said miserably.

Shizuku's heart nearly stopped. Haru didn't always lead events in the right order, she reminded herself. His heart was surely in the right place.

"I think he's going back to the main house for a while too," Haru said. "I won't get to him for a while now."

Shizuku's hands clenched. "Haru," she said, "was there something you wanted to say?"

"I found a gecko on my way here. Must've been someone's pet."

"About Takaya."

Haru gave her an inquisitive look. "What about him? Does he have a gecko?

Shizuku gazed at him. "Haru, you ran off. Didn't you notice he was hurt?"

Haru shrugged. "I figured you'd take care of him. You're better with that stuff anyway."

"It didn't occur to you that I would want some support?"

"What would you need support for?" Haru stared at the stars. "You should let the medics move him if he needs to go to the hospital."

"Haru, I just spent the last five hours at the hospital with Takaya. He was unconscious most of it."

"He seems pretty okay now." Haru glanced over at her. "What are you so upset about?"

Shizuku snapped. "Aren't you going to apologize?" she yelled. "Haru, you hurt Takaya and then abandoned us in the park!"

Haru scowled. "What should I apologize for? I didn't mean to hurt Takaya, okay? It was an accident!"

"That doesn't mean you can just not care about it," Shizuku said. "You need to apologize for these things, at the very least."

"Why?"

"Because it matters to me!"

Haru shrugged. "I'm sick of everyone always wanting me to apologize for everything. And now it's you too. I didn't mean to. Good intentions, right? Isn't that good enough?"

Shizuku took a deep breath and folded her hands in front of her. "Haru, if you refuse to show remorse for your actions, we can't be together."

"What?" Haru stared at her blankly. "You're going to break up with me for your brother?"

"For not acknowledging his importance to me," Shizuku said, "and for not apologizing. If you can't do that, clearly you don't value me enough to be in a relationship with me."

Haru scowled. "If you're going to break up with me for that, clearly you don't value me enough either. Fine."

Shizuku blinked. "Fine what?"

"I'm not apologizing," Haru said.

"Then we're done," Shizuku said quietly. He was going to apologize now, right? She hadn't considered…

Haru's jaw tensed. "Fine. We're done." And he strode off into the bushes.

Shizuku gaped after him. She hadn't even considered that he might… actually not apologize. Give her up that easily.

After a few minutes of standing there in silence, she went up the stairs and made sure that Takaya was settled properly.

The next morning, she called Natsume, who was with Sasayan at the time, and told them about it while she was on speaker phone.

"Mitty…" Natsume's voice said softly. "I know you're angry with Haru, but maybe you could talk to him about it? I'm sure he didn't mean that, it's just that you were both upset."

Shizuku gaped at the phone. "He wouldn't apologize for sending my brother to the emergency room, Natsume. Why should I be the one to apologize?"

"Some guys are prideful about these sort of things," Sasayan said. "He might just not want to be the one to give in."

"I'm not going to apologize!" Shizuku said.

There was silence on the other end. "So you're going to stay separated from Haru?" Natsume asked.

Shizuku bit her lip. "I guess so. But if he would really just leave me alone to go to the emergency room with my brother, is that what I want? He has to support me."

Another long silence. "We'll talk to Haru about it," Natsume said. "Maybe with… maybe with some mediation, you guys can make up."

After that, Shizuku was just counting the minutes until she managed to get off the phone with them. Then she went to teach her dad how to change Takaya's bandages, followed by cooking. It wasn't like she had anything else to do before university started. When she'd cooked everything in the house, she went to go get groceries.

Takaya's trip to the emergency room had cost them more money. Thanks to her mother, they could pay, but she ought to be a bit thriftier than usual in their food shopping. Shizuku picked up an orange that was 75% off. It squished in her hand.

"That looks rotten," a voice said, and Shizuku glanced over her shoulder.

"It is," she replied, and set the orange back down.

Yamaken leaned against the wall beside her as Shizuku set upon looking at the rest of the discount rack. He wore a pair of distressed black jeans and a printed white tank top, with a casual jacket made of some expensive material. Shizuku returned her gaze to the fruit stand.

"Surely you have enough money for something of better quality?" Yamaken sounded incredulous. Then again, Shizuku thought as she inspected an apple and deemed it good enough, he probably couldn't even imagine being on a budget.

"Takaya was hurt," she said. "We have the money, but I just want to decrease costs where I can."

"He was hurt enough you had to go to a doctor?" Yamaken's voice had a faint hint of alarm beneath its usual coolness. "What happened?"

Shizuku sighed. "I don't want to talk about it." She finally glanced at Yamaken in time to see him raise his eyebrows.

"You've never said that about anything not relating to Haru."

"It relates to Haru," she allowed. "But you don't really like to talk about him. And I'd rather not think about what happened."

She turned away to go look at some more food, but Yamaken grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. Shizuku continued to stare at the floor, but flushed as he took her chin with his other hand and pushed lightly up. Shizuku met his eyes then.

"I want to talk about whatever has you upset," he murmured.

Ah yes, Shizuku thought as she gazed into his eyes. This was why she'd been more uncomfortable with Yamaken after he'd confessed to her. He was always so careful and considerate of her. He showed concern for what she wanted and made sure she was safe… and that what she cared about was safe. And objectively, he was more attractive than Haru. Shizuku had been amazed that someone that could get any girl wanted her, of all people. And the way her heart would pound when she was too physically close to him… she had never regretted her choice to be with Haru, but neither did she want to put it to the test.

Haru had taken care of that part.

Shizuku averted her eyes again, glancing at the discounted food. "I'm not that upset," she replied.

Yamaken's hand tightened against her wrist and he pulled her just a little bit closer to him, enough that soon Shizuku thought they would get to receive strange looks.

"Shizuku. Look at me."

Shizuku met his eyes again. She was definitely close enough now for her heart to start pounding and to start flushing. There was a reason that Yamaken was best a friend from a meter away.

"You're drooping more than usual. You're considering rotten fruit. I know you love your brother, and apparently he got hurt really badly. And it has something to do with Haru, who does tend to be the source of drama in your life. You're upset. Tell me about it."

Shizuku held for a moment longer before she sighed. Now she almost felt like being closer to Yamaken. His arms had always felt quite comfortable in those moments where he'd pull her out of danger, or into a confession. "Haru got in a fight with Yuuzan. He hit Takaya really hard, accidentally, but he showed so little remorse that we got into a fight. We broke up."

Yamaken's eyes widened. "You broke up?"

"Yes. Could you let go of me now?"

The hands on her face and arm vanished. Yamaken thrust his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath. His eyes closed for a moment before he opened them to meet hers.

"That was unexpected," he said.

Shizuku shrugged. "You knew it was about Haru."

Yamaken nodded, still seeming to have trouble breathing. "Yeah, but it's been… what, two years since you became official? I'd kind of, well, given up hope of the break up ever happening."

That's right, he would have hoped for this, Shizuku realized blankly. Yamaken had liked her back then, and though he hadn't said anything about it since the second rejection, she rather assumed he still did like her… but no, she wouldn't ask him for that. Maybe when she and Haru had been apart for longer, she'd explore what she could have with Yamaken.

"I need to get groceries," she said instead, and turned away.

Yamaken grabbed her arm again. "Takaya went to a hospital, right? Yamaguchi?"

Shizuku nodded blankly.

"Don't worry about the medical costs," Yamaken said.

Shizuku frowned. "Why not? I should factor it into my budgeting."

Yamaken stared at her for a moment before he smiled slightly. "No, no, no, Shizuku. I don't mean that. I mean, my family owns that hospital. I'll take care of the medical costs."

Her mouth dropped open of its own accord. "N- no, Yamaken, you don't have to do that. I couldn't ever ask you to do that. We have the money to pay, I just thought I would save costs-" Yamaken pressed a finger to her lips and she stopped talking, blushing furiously. He couldn't be serious, could he? This was all some sort of weird joke…

"I'll take care of it," he repeated. "Then you won't need to look at rotten fruit." He withdrew his finger from her mouth with a slight smirk. "Now, come on, I'll treat you to dinner." He let go of Shizuku's arm and pushed off from the wall, heading for the exit to the shop.

Shizuku shook her head violently. "No, it's alright. Both the dinner and the medical costs, I'm fine, really."

Yamaken sighed and turned around. "Shizuku, your family's bill is nothing to my family. I expect the convincing of my father to take about thirty seconds before he moves onto more important matters. And I'm hungry. I'm just asking you for a favor in accompanying me."

Shizuku's eyes widened. She couldn't even imagine having so much money that a sum like that wouldn't make a difference. And if it was just so Yamaken didn't feel lonely, maybe she could go with him… it wasn't like she really had anyone else to eat dinner with. Takaya and her father could eat the leftovers in the refrigerator.

"Okay," she said finally. "But I need to buy this bread first." She held it up so he could see it, intending it to just be a gesture of what bread she was talking about. She didn't expect Yamaken to grab it from her hand.

"Sounds good," he said, and headed to the cash register with her bread. Shizuku hurried after him, but there wasn't a line so by the time she'd overcome her shock and reached the register, the bread was paid for. So Shizuku reached into her purse and pressed the money into Yamaken's palm as she took the bread. He tried to give the money back to her. Shizuku shook her head and put the bread in her bag.

Yamaken sighed and put it in his pocket. "Then I'm carrying the bread."

Before she knew it, the bread bag was in his hand and he was leaving the store. Honestly, how did he manage to grab things from her so fast? Both her arms and her groceries…

"Where are we going?" she asked once she was beside him again.

Yamaken shrugged. "I don't know. What type of food do you want?"

"You're the one who wanted food."

Yamaken paused. "Let's say I'm indifferent. What would you like? I'm treating you. Since I didn't buy the bread."

Shizuku frowned. "The bread was mine in the first place. And I don't care."

Yamaken didn't speak for a moment, but then Shizuku saw him turn to give her a once over. Then he shrugged. "We're somewhat limited by our dress. But you promise you'll let me pay for all of it? Transportation, and your meal?"

Shizuku glanced up at him. "Where are we going?"

"Just agree."

It couldn't hurt, just this once, could it? She was somewhat curious to see where Yamaken chose to go. They hadn't been alone together for an extended period for years now. "I promise."

Fifteen minutes later, they had arrived at a restaurant by cab and Shizuku felt remarkably underdressed. "This is a fancy place," she hissed to Yamaken as they entered the restaurant. The waiters were in tuxes.

Yamaken just smiled. "I know. My family comes here often." He spoke to the waiter quietly so Shizuku didn't hear. The waiter nodded and told them to follow him.

Shizuku already regretted her decision to let Yamaken choose to go wherever he wanted. She was going to spend the entire dinner feeling out of place since she wasn't wearing a ballgown. Why hadn't Yamaken considered this? It wasn't as though he was in a tux either.

"I hope you don't mind, I got us a private room," Yamaken said to her as they followed the waiter.

Shizuku tripped.

"Why are they treating us so nicely?" She asked after the waiter had taken their orders. She'd just taken Yamaken's suggestion since she didn't recognize anything on the menu.

Yamaken shrugged and leaned back in his chair casually. Shizuku didn't look at his figure. She didn't let herself. Long ago, she'd forbidden herself to look at Yamaken's attractiveness. Losing Haru shouldn't make a difference. "I told you," Yamaken answered. "My family comes here often. It's not as though they would treat me with anything less than courtesy and risk losing my family just because I'm not dressed to usual standards."

Shizuku flushed and gazed down at her knees. "Yamaken," she addressed him, "Why am I here?"

"Because I asked a taxi to bring us here?"

Shizuku shook her head. Really, could her face get any hotter? "No, but all of this. You didn't expect to run into me there. But all the sudden you've changed your plans and are footing my medical bill and taking me to the nicest restaurant I've ever been to."

"Look at me, Shizuku," Yamaken said, and Shizuku glanced up. He had leaned forward and now his eyes held hers intensely. "You just broke up with Haru. This implies an assortment of things. First, my bet is you've had no one to really talk to about it. All your other friends probably want you to apologize. I want you to be able to talk about it with someone. Second, what happened to Takaya must have really shaken you. The least I can do to relieve your worries is to relieve your medical bill. Third, and most importantly, I have a chance with you for the first time in years. I don't know how long it will last. So, I want to show you what you've missed out on in rejecting me."

"So this is all a ploy to get me to fall for you?"

"No." Yamaken's voice was firm. "Shizuku, this is the first opportunity I've had to be with you with no fear of Haru killing me. If you chose to be with me, these same events could happen a year from now. Two years. Ten years. I will take care of you. We can go into restaurants under dressed and get private rooms. You'll get the best, and cheapest, medical care that exists." He smirked. "And of course, a man of very high caliber."

Shizuku was silent for a moment. "But you're wrong, Yamaken."

His eyebrows shot up . "Oh?"

"I haven't had anyone to talk to about Haru. But I can't talk about it with you either. You want me to stay away from Haru more than Natsume wants us to get back together."

She almost expected denial, but instead Yamaken just smiled. "But I care more about your well being than them. I mean what I just said. Every word of it. Precisely. I want you to be able to talk about Haru with me. If you want to talk about missing him, we can do that. That is not mutually exclusive with showing you what it's like to be my girlfriend."

Shizuku nodded slowly. That did follow with everything she knew about Yamaken. Before she'd rejected him, he'd always seemed to advise her on Haru while also taking chances to get her for himself at the same time. She supposed that this whole thing was the natural evolution of that two years later.

The waiter arrived with their appetizers and Shizuku used the distraction to think. What would it be like to be Yamaken's girlfriend? She would basically have at her disposal, through Yamaken, all of his family's resources. True, Haru's family was rich, but he wasn't close enough to them for that to matter. She thought of Iyo and the casual invitation to a private mountain resort and the casual use of an expensive bottle of wine in curry. Was that what she would be able to do? It had its own sort of appeal, but she wasn't sure that she actually would want to be that careless with money.

Haru had hated Yamaken. Hated him so much. Of course, Shizuku understood that part of that was the threat that he still thought of Yamaken as possessing. Not wrongfully, she had to admit, given the way her heart kept pounding when she would hold Yamaken's gaze for too long.

The waiter left and Shizuku took a deep breath. "I really miss Haru," she said.

"Try one of the red ones," Yamaken answered, and pointed at one of the appetizer plates.

It was one of the most delicious things Shizuku had ever tasted.

"Do you miss him more than you want to lose his rash behaviors?" Yamaken asked.

Shizuku tried one of the yellow ones. It wasn't as good as the red. "I wish I knew."

"How did it make you feel?" Yamaken asked.

"The yellow one?"

"Breaking up with Haru."

"Oh," Shizuku said. "I don't know. I was so worried about Takaya at the time. All I felt was anger towards him for hurting my brother."

"I can only imagine what I'd feel if someone hurt Iyo," Yamaken said.

"I thought you didn't get along?"

"It's been better lately," Yamaken said as he swirled around the wine in his glass. "Even when we were more distant, I would've killed anyone who tried to hurt her. But how has it felt since you've known Takaya was going to be okay? To be broken up with Haru?"

Shizuku took another red one. "I haven't felt much of anything. I didn't like how Natsume just seemed to be pushing me towards him when I told her. But I wasn't happy when we broke up. I was angry and upset."

"But since then?"

"I don't know." Shizuku took a deep breath and took a plunge into truth. "I've been thinking about what it would be like with you since I met you today. I guess it means I can't be too hung up on Haru."

She expected a witty reply about his charm, but only silence met her mini confession. Shizuku glanced up and saw that a faint blush stained Yamaken's cheeks as he stared blankly at her. She stared back. Yamaken flushed deeper and hurriedly took one of the yellow appetizers.

What, had he not expected that his tactic might work?

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Was today the first time you thought of what it would be like to be with me?" Yamaken finally said.

Shizuku stared at him. "I never allowed myself to think of it. I didn't want to feel any regret."

Yamaken just gazed at her for a moment. Then the entrees arrived.

"So you're going into law?" Yamaken asked once the waiter left.

Shizuku decided not to comment on the subject change.

They got a few looks on their way out of the restaurant, but since Yamaken seemed to ignore it without a problem, Shizuku did too.

"Did you want to go home or…?" Yamaken let the question trail away.

Takaya and Dad were at home. She didn't want to go home. She enjoyed this pretending that everything was okay, while at the same time, discussing that it wasn't. "Not really."

Yamaken opened the door of the taxi that he had asked the restaurant to call for them. "We could watch a movie at my place."

"Sure," Shizuku answered, and took the offered hand to get in the car.

Yamaken gave the driver an address, and Shizuku realized that she didn't know what 'my place' referred to. "Where are we going?" She asked. She seemed to be asking Yamaken that a lot today. Perhaps it referred to multiple questions.

Yamaken glanced at her. "We have an empty house that has an in-home theater." He paused. "Well, empty in that no one is a 'resident' there. There are still staff doing upkeep, but I thought you might not want to run into Iyo or my parents."

Shizuku nearly cringed at that thought. She didn't really want Iyo's glee that Haru was single, nor Iyo's scorn that Shizuku was with her older brother.

"That was a good idea," she answered, and Yamaken smiled at her.

It was a twenty minute car ride to the empty house. Yamaken paid the taxi. Shizuku had forgotten that going to his place first meant that there would be an extra taxi fare. Oh well. She would pay the one to her home.

"You agreed I could pay transportation as well," Yamaken said as the taxi pulled away.

Could he read minds?

The house didn't look like a rich person's house, but then, Shizuku supposed that when you had lots of houses, not every one had to be a mansion. Yamaken fished out a full key ring and ruffled through them until he found the correct key. Shizuku wondered if all of those were keys to properties owned by the Yamaguchi family.

Once inside, Yamaken led her down the stairs into the basement. As promised, there was a room inside with a screen about three quarters of what an average movie theater would have, with couches and easy chairs spread across the room.

Not even his home, Shizuku thought to herself. This is just one of his many houses, that no one is living in and which happens to have a home theater. It was so wasteful.

"What do you want to watch?" Yamaken asked.

"I don't care," Shizuku answered. "I don't watch many movies."

Yamaken placed a DVD inside the player. "This one did well at the box office, but I haven't seen it. Do you want something to eat or drink?"

"We just had dinner."

"The offer stands."

"No, thank you."

"Do you want to sit on a couch with me?"

Shizuku hesitated. "Okay," she answered, and sat on one side of the couch that Yamaken just sat down on. She crossed her arms and folded her legs. Yamaken glanced at her, a slight smile on his lips.

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't touch you if you don't want me to. There's no need to make yourself compact." And he used a remote to turn the lights off.

Shizuku kind of wanted a remote to turn lights off. That sounded like a very efficient use of time, though perhaps not money.

They sat there in silence for a while, watching. After about a half hour, Shizuku felt her eyes drooping.

Well, she thought to herself, he said he wanted to show me what it's like to be his girlfriend.

"Yamaken," she addressed him.

"Yes?"

"Can I use your shoulder as a pillow?"

"Not from the opposite side of the couch."

"If I move over there?"

"Sure."

Shizuku slid across the couch until she felt her hip bump Yamaken's. She flushed, and it felt like the warmth went a little further this time. But no, she didn't want it to go that far.

She paused when she was about to put her head on his shoulder. She hadn't asked to touch anywhere else. Haru, she had always known that he would want her to touch him anywhere, but Yamaken was a bit more difficult to read. Should she just put her head on his shoulder and keep her hands on her lap…?

"I do realize it will be hard for you to sleep on me without holding my arm," Yamaken murmured. "You can rest on me however you want to."

He definitely could read minds.

Nevertheless, Shizuku took his arm and laid her head on his shoulder. He was bonier than Haru. His arms still felt strong, but they were more slender. Of course they were. Haru's strength was getting into fights. Yamaken's strength was dodging punches and getting others to fight for him.

Hadn't she always related more to Yamaken in that way? Even when she was first making friends, Shizuku had thought about how wonderful it was to be able to manipulate a group of people into building the chicken coup, rather than actually doing it. Haru was one of the people doing it. But no, Shizuku had never believed in that particular brand of elitism.

She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but she awoke to Yamaken's voice.

"I'm perfectly well. We will need breakfast, so be sure there is a chef on duty."

"Yes, young master," a quiet voice said.

Shizuku opened her eyes and realized that she was no longer on Yamaken's arm, but on an actual pillow. She was laying on the same couch they'd been watching the movie on, but Yamaken was laying behind her instead of sitting next to her.

Shizuku turned bright red and flipped around towards him, her knee coming up as she propelled herself around. There Yamaken was, laying there, his hair all mussed and in the same clothes and his expression… in pain?

"Owww," Yamaken pronounced slowly. "Did I really deserve that?"

Shizuku blinked. "What?"

Yamaken's eyes flitted to between them, and Shizuku looked down. If it was possible, her face got even redder as she straightened her leg and took her knee away from his groin. "Oh, sorry." She was quiet for a moment before she rounded on him again. "What happened? What did you do?"

"Oi," Yamaken said. "I'm not Haru, Shizuku. Calm down."

Shizuku's eyes flashed. "Haru would never take advantage of me."

His eyes closed for a moment. "You're right. He did know better than that. I'm sorry. Let's sit up and I'll explain."

Shizuku glared at him accusingly, but sat upright and shifted over to give Yamaken room to do the same. He winced as he bent his knees and twisted them around her to sit beside her. "Just one more moment," he said, and got out his cell phone, dialing a number. "This is Kenji. I want breakfast to be brought to the theater. Start making it now. Thanks."

He took a deep breath and turned back to Shizuku. "Okay. It's simple. You fell asleep on me. The movie ended. You were so cute while you were sleeping, and I guessed you didn't sleep so well the other night after breaking up with Haru. So, I texted one of my family's people to place a call to your home telling them that you were safe and not to worry. Then I managed to rearrange you so you were lying down with one of the couch pillows, and I laid down beside you, since I certainly had no intention of waking you, but I also was certainly not going to leave you alone down here. And I was a bit too tired to carry you up the stairs bridal style. When you woke up just now, the morning staff was coming in. They found our shoes and so searched to find us. They've never seen me sleep the night on a couch before, so they were alarmed. They're making us breakfast now. Does that cover everything?"

Shizuku hesitated but then nodded. "I guess so. So nothing else happened?"

"Nothing else." Yamaken's voice was firm. "Shizuku, as much as I like you, showing you what it's like to be my girlfriend doesn't include having sex with you while you're asleep. Since I wouldn't do that to my girlfriend."

Shizuku flushed and nodded. She supposed it had been a bit unfair to suppose that he'd done anything, when both of them were wearing the same clothes as yesterday. But it wasn't as if she'd ever slept next to anyone other than Haru before…

Yamaken's cell phone rang and he sighed as he checked the number. "I have to take this. Yeah, it's Kenji."

As Yamaken answered the phone, Shizuku rummaged beside the couch for her purse. Takaya and her father had probably been worried, even after Yamaken had her house called. Sure enough, she had two voicemails from the home phone, and… a text message. From Haru.

Yamaken tossed his phone aside and moved closer to her, putting a casual arm around her shoulders. "Any news?"

"I have a message from Haru," she said. The arm around her tensed.

"Well, best read it then, I suppose," Yamaken said, and withdrew the arm, moving further away.

Shizuku glanced at him. "Where are you going?"

Yamaken raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you'd want me to read Haru's message over your shoulder."

"You can…" Shizuku paused as she felt her face start to turn red again. "... you can have your arm around my shoulders. I don't mind."

Yamaken froze and his eyes widened as he glanced back at her. "Okay," he said, and shifted back next to her. The arm around her shoulders returned. "What does the message say?"

Shizuku raised her phone back up and tapped on the message. "'Shizuku, I'm really sorry about the other day. I know Takaya's accident was my fault. Can we talk about it? I really miss you.'"

"Sounds like exactly what you wanted to hear," Yamaken said. His voice held a certain evenness that hadn't been there before.

Shizuku glanced up at him. "That's the tone you use when you talk about Haru with me," Shizuku said. "I hadn't noticed before."

Yamaken gave her a sidelong look. "I don't think I know what you mean."

"It's a blank voice. The rest of the time you have more inflections."

"I don't think you'd like the inflections that there would be otherwise."

"Why not?"

Yamaken sighed and covered his face with the hand that wasn't on Shizuku's shoulder. "Because, Shizuku, I would much prefer that that message was not what you wanted to hear. Something about returning your things from his home to you."

"Why?"

He groaned now. "You love making me spell it out, don't you?" His voice acquired a growl. "Because even though I want you to be happy, you meeting up with Haru to 'talk about it' likely means my window of opportunity has already closed."

Shizuku reached up with one of her hands and grasped his hand from the arm around her shoulders. She felt Yamaken jolt from beside her. "I don't think your window is closed yet."

"So you're not going to meet with Haru?"

Shizuku glared up at him. "Don't be like Haru and confuse my feelings with not doing what I want."

"I'm just clarifying. I'm presuming that meeting with Haru is a precursor to getting back together with Haru. If my window is still open…"

Shizuku shook her head. "I truly do intend to meet with Haru to talk about it. And then I'll think about it for a few days. And then maybe your window will close. Or maybe Haru's will."

Yamaken smirked. "It sounds like both my window and Haru's window are half open. That's a change."

"What?"

"During most of high school it seemed that Haru's was 95% open and mine was about 2%. You realized I existed, but that was about it."

Shizuku squirmed. "I realized more than that. But I wasn't going to leave Haru."

"And now?"

"I wouldn't mind having a little more stability than Haru can provide."

Yamaken nodded and squeezed her hand. "I can understand that."

There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," Yamaken called. Three servant like people came in carrying trays of food. One of them bowed slightly to Yamaken.

"Young master Kenji, you didn't request anything in particular, so we prepared an assortment to try to best fit your needs. If you would like more of anything, please call."

Yamaken withdrew the arm around Shizuku's shoulders. "Thank you."

The servants bowed again, having placed the trays on the table in front of the couch, and left.

Yamaken didn't seem to eat much. Shizuku couldn't understand. Everything on the table was so good, and to try all of it! She wasn't sure how she was going to manage to keep it all down.

Once she finished tasting everything, Shizuku surveyed the food again. She was already full, but should she finish anything that was particularly good? She didn't want all of it to go to waste…

"You can come back, you know," Yamaken said, poking her shoulder lightly. "Even if my window closes again. You can come have breakfast again whenever you want."

Shizuku smiled at him. "Thanks. But I don't think Haru would like it."

"At risk of sounding like an advertisement, if you choose to close Haru's window instead, I would have no problem with you having a meal with him."

Shizuku turned towards him. Yamaken raised his eyebrows at her. "I thought you didn't like Haru."

"Primarily because he prevents me from being with you. You'll recall at one point I wanted to rejuvenate my friendship with him. You got in the way of that."

"Sorry."

"It wasn't a complaint." Yamaken shrugged. "Regardless of Haru, you can always slip away here. I'll give you the address of my home, you can give it to a taxi, and I'll pay the cab fare once you arrive." He paused. "You may want to call first though. In case I'm out."

Shizuku frowned. "That's if I choose Haru, right?"

"Obviously. If you choose me, you can call a private car to pick you up if you're willing to wait. And I hope you'll come see me more than to just slip away from your over zealous boyfriend."

Shizuku took a sip of water. "Yamaken, I do like you. I- that's why I've tried to stay a little distant from you while dating Haru." She blushed again. "But I love Haru."

"Do you remember when I first confessed to you?"

"After Mabo tried to give me away?"

"Yes."

"Of course," Shizuku answered. "What about it?"

"I told you that I didn't mind if you didn't love me, because I was confident that you'd fall for me." Yamaken's lips twitched in a sad smile, as if he was fondly thinking of a bad memory. Shizuku could understand how that would be the case. Yamaken leaned back against the couch and moved his legs back up as well, so he was laying reclined as he looked at her. "I can't say my confidence in that didn't waver after multiple rejections, but it still holds."

Shizuku wondered if he was trying to choose an attractive posture to talk to her about this. The way he seemed so lean and beautiful as he leaned against the arm of the couch… it gave her a little confidence that his words about falling for him held merit.

"I don't mind if you love Haru more than me, Shizuku," Yamaken said. "Not if you choose me over him."

Shizuku waited for more, but it didn't come. Yamaken just gazed at her, with an air of some sort of expectancy.

"I can't tell you the answer now," she said. "I don't know."

Yamaken smiled. "Of course not. Text Haru back. Meet with him. Take your days for your decision. You're welcome to stay with me if you'd like to have more experiences to base your decision on. Or spend time together. But choose which of us you want to be with, not which of us you love already."

Shizuku bit her lip. "I don't see how it would be different."

"For such a smart girl, you really are stupid," Yamaken said. "Think about it. You said that you want more stability than Haru gives you. But you're in love with him. I will give you stability. The person who will best fulfill your wish is me, but you love him. Think about it in those terms."

Shizuku nodded slowly and picked up her phone. "Is it alright if I arrange an hour to go back home and get cleaned up? Then meet Haru?"

Yamaken waved a hand. "Whatever. I'm not your keeper. Tell me when you want a car, and you'll have it."

She definitely wanted to be dropped at home first then. Shizuku could only imagine how the conversation with Haru would happen if she was dropped off in a rich person's car with a chauffeur. He would doubtless be able to guess exactly which rich person would be so willing to help her while they were apart.

She glanced at the time. It was eleven. "Eleven thirty?" She asked. "So I can meet him at one."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Shizuku glanced away. "It might be better if you didn't."

Yamaken just nodded and dialed his phone again. "It's Kenji. I need two cars at the Gekijo House at eleven thirty. Yep. Bye."

Shizuku peered at him. "Who's the other car for?"

Yamaken gave her another look. "Me. I don't live here. I'm going back home once you leave."

"Oh," Shizuku said. She forgot that this wasn't even where he lived, just a place that he owned and no one lived in… it was so strange to think of that.

The cars were there at exactly eleven thirty. As they exited the building, Yamaken placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, after I go home I'm going to go to the area where you'll be. I'll stay away, I swear. But if there's trouble, call me. And call me whenever you make your decision."

Shizuku tilted her head as she looked up at him. "What if there's no trouble and I don't make a decision?"

Yamaken blinked. "Well, you can still call me. I'll be around if you want to have dinner or whatever."

"Okay." Yamaken opened the car door for her, and Shizuku paused for a moment. There was a chance, the slightest chance that she would decide to close this window during her meeting with Haru today. She didn't intend to. She meant it when she said to Yamaken that she would take a few days to think it over. But what if this was her last chance to ever kiss him?

Yamaken gave her an inquiring look. "Shizuku?"

She smiled. "Nothing. Thanks for everything."

She watched behind her as the car drove away. As long as she could see him, Yamaken stood there watching.

The conversation with Haru was awkward.

"Never again," Haru swore. "I'll work on it, Shizuku. I'll be more careful next time."

Shizuku sighed. "You refused to apologize."

"I know, but I was still pissed about Yuuzan. I can… Yuuzan owes me. I can get him to get dad to pay Takaya's medical expenses. That would make it better, right? It shows I'm sorry?"

Well, Haru certainly wasn't going to like this. Yamaken's voice rang in her ears: 'I would let you see Haru.' That certainly wasn't on Haru's agenda.

"That's already taken care of," she said.

Haru didn't miss a beat. "We can reimburse you."

"I don't have to pay," Shizuku said.

This time, Haru paused. "What do you mean? I thought he went to the hospital?"

Shizuku held his gaze, her hands fidgeting on her lap. "I ran into Yamaken yesterday." Haru's face immediately darkened. "He was very kind and he… said he'd take care of it. It was at one of his family's hospitals."

"That bastard," Haru muttered, but seemed to get himself back under control. "Well, let him pay. I still won't let him have you."

Shizuku's lips pursed. "Haru, I'm not yours to give right now," she said.

Haru stared at her blankly for a moment before his eyes widened. "But Shizuku, you're going out with me right? I'll do anything, I swear, anything to make it better. I'll try harder, just give me another chance."

"I haven't decided yet," Shizuku replied. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in the chair, looking out at the street. "But until I say that I'll go out with you again, I'm not yours."

As soon as she glanced back to Haru, she almost melted.

He looked so shocked and sad, as if she had locked him in a dark room with no animals or anything to do. As if she were depriving him of his favorite toy. Shizuku's heart ached.

No. She would think about it. "It's not a definite no," she reminded him. "I just- we've been together for years now, Haru. I want to think about if this is really what I want." She took a deep breath and stood up from the table. "I'll call you when I figure it out, okay?"

"No," Haru whimpered. "Shizuku…"

Shizuku bit her lip. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just need to think." She wanted to comfort him. She wanted to walk around the table and hug him, and watch his face light up with happiness. Then they would go for a walk around the market together and none of this would have happened. The only traces would be the bandages on Takaya's head.

"I just need to think," she repeated softly. "Give me some space. I'll call." She put the money for her cup of tea on the table, took a deep breath, and turned around to exit. When she looked back, Haru was staring at her mournfully. Shizuku kept walking.

Once she was about three blocks away and Haru was nowhere in sight, she called Yamaken. "Hey," she said. "Haru's conversation with me was short. Do you want to get something to eat?"

"Can I pay?"

"No. Does that mean you don't?"

"Where are you?"

Shizuku sighed. "Tell me where you are, and I'll find you. I don't want you to get lost."

"I never get lost," Yamaken defended.

Shizuku didn't say anything for a moment.

"I'm at the grocery store a block from your house," Yamaken said glumly.

"You know where my house is?"

"I had the car drop me there, alright? And I'm in a grocery store, and I think I walked about a block."

"Okay," Shizuku said, "I'll find you. I should be there within five minutes."

"Shizuku?"

"What?"

"Why was your conversation with Haru so short?" He had that same even tone that he seemed to use when talking about Haru, but Shizuku could hear that faint note of fear in his voice. He was being silly, Shizuku thought. As if she'd be meeting Yamaken now if she'd gotten back together with Haru right then.

"For someone who's so smart, you sure are stupid," Shizuku said instead. "We'll talk when I get to you." She hung up the phone.

In the grocery store about four blocks from her house, she finally saw the familiar tall frame in an expensive coat, blond hair hiding some of his eyes, leaning against the wall just inside. He was just staring at his cell phone, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world that was giving him odd looks. It wasn't the most high class grocery store, and he didn't even look like he wanted groceries.

"Four blocks," Shizuku announced as she arrived in front of him. "Not one."

"I'm not stupid," Yamaken replied, brushing the hair from in front of his eyes. "How am I supposed to know why your chat with Haru was short?"

"Do you think I rejected him completely? Told him no for sure?" Shizuku turned around and began walking back towards the exit.

Yamaken sighed as he pushed off from the wall. "I wish."

"Then you should know."

Yamaken was silent for a moment.

"Alright. But I'm still not stupid."

"Why can you call me stupid, but I can't call you stupid?"

"Because you are stupid."

Shizuku halted and looked over her shoulder at him. Yamaken smiled sweetly and took a step forward so he was beside her. "I like you anyway," he offered.

Shizuku started walking again. "I don't know if I can fall in love with you," she said.

She supposed she could understand the sharp intake of breath beside her. Perhaps that wasn't very romantic.

"Oh please, you needn't mince your words so carefully," Yamaken said. There was the evenness in his voice, mixed with sarcasm and light heartedness. It was a strange combination.

"The evenness isn't just how you talk about Haru, it's when you're hurt," she said.

Suddenly, Yamaken halted and grabbed her arm, spinning her towards him. "Shizuku, why did you call me?" he asked. His tone had disintegrated into desperation and hope. His face was utterly blank, just like all those times when he'd denied feeling anything for her before finally confessing.

Shizuku stared up at him. "Because I want to know if I can fall in love with you. Because if I can, you're a much better choice than Haru."

Yamaken stared down at her for a moment longer before shoving her away and briskly starting to walk again. "Do you know how many girls have wanted to go out with me?" he asked. "Many. That's probably the least romantic way anyone has ever told me they want to hang out with me. Including Mabo, Joji, and Tomio."

Shizuku fell back into step with him. "Do you want to get ramen?"

Yamaken sighed. "I'm fucking insane," he said. "Of all the girls…"

"Do you want to get ramen?" Shizuku asked again.

"Yeah, sure. Let's get ramen."

Yamaken was staring straight forward, frowning. Shizuku wondered why. If he'd looked at her, he would've gotten to see her smile at him.

Fin