I haven't written for a long while, so it might be a bit rusty. I have omitted some details about the OC's past, but if you read my other one-shots it might help to clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading this!
Disclaimer: Fruits Basket and the song quoted in this story belong to their respective owners.
Jealousy
Watching the brown-haired girl on the stage, his lips curved into a smile. Yukina was in her element as always, rotating between the piano and violin with natural ease, playing soft tinkling music soothing to the ears. Around him, the patrons at Scarlet Café were sipping coffee while unwinding after a long day at work. Of course, there was the occasional chatter, but nothing loud enough to disrupt others from enjoying the music on stage.
"Yo, Hatori!" a hand clapped his shoulder.
Without the need to turn around, Hatori instantly recognised the voice of his friend, Ayumu, who was also the owner of Scarlet Café.
"Hi, Ayumu. Business is as good as usual, I see," Hatori replied, his intent gaze still fixed on the stage, or more accurately, on Yukina who was then playing on the piano.
"Yes…it's all thanks to Yukina, the cute young musician over there, or should I say, your secret lover?" Ayumu grinned wickedly, knowing Hatori's reluctance to talk about the matter in public.
A sixteen-year-old, who was also an amnesiac who found herself outside Hatori's doorstep a few months ago, Yukina had gradually found her place in this town, having an innate talent in music that was soon discovered and put to use by Ayumu. Despite Hatori's numerous attempts to help her recover her memories, Yukina still could not remember anything significant from her past.
After a few events that happened, together with some help from Ayumu, Hatori and Yukina have been sharing a 'more than friends, less than lovers' relationship under the same roof. However, both of them have reached an agreement, that is, not to let others know that they were living together if possible. Therefore, until now, only Ayumu, Shigure, Ayame and most of the Souma family knew that fact. Out of respect for Hatori's wish to keep things private, they also kept the secret from the townspeople.
"Shut up, Ayumu," Hatori replied calmly, raising his eyebrows at Ayumu.
"Hey, it's quite obvious, pal," Ayumu's grin became wider. "How many times have you kissed her?"
Hatori stared at Ayumu, secretly wondering how he guessed what they did in the comfort and privacy of Hatori's house.
"Do you sleep on the same bed?" Ayumu continued, ignoring the look on Hatori's face. "Come on, I'm aching to know…Yukina will not tell me no matter how many times I ask her."
"What we do together is highly confidential," Hatori replied with a small smile. His glance flickered towards the stage and the slight smile turned into a frown. "Who is that?"
Ayumu followed Hatori's slightly annoyed gaze to the stage, where a boy some few years older than Yukina was placing his hands on her shoulders. In fact, both her shoulders. The recorded background music played on as Yukina abandoned the piano and stood up for a duet with the guy. Their voices merged into a perfect harmony as they sang together.
"I was so happy, you were laughing
With a smile that melts everything away
Spring is still far away, inside the cold earth,
Waiting for the time to sprout
For instance, even if today is painful
And yesterday's wounds remain
I want to believe that I can free my heart and go on
I cannot be reborn
But I can change as I go on, so
Let's stay together always
Smile only at me and touch me with those fingers
This simple desire is everlasting
I want things to be simple
Let's finally get across this sea of mournful sorrow
I understand the meaning our living here
It is to know the joy of having been born
Let's stay together always"
"That's my new part-time singer, Evan," Ayumu turned to face Hatori, whose eyes were evidently flaring despite his efforts to remain cool. "He's the son of an acquaintance of mine, and I have been wanting to spruce things up a little in my café so he's going to be here for the duration of his summer holidays. Why, any complaints?"
"Maybe you should tell him keep his hands to himself for a start," Hatori retorted, feeling his temperature rise as Evan hooked an arm around Yukina's shoulders and sang the next song.
"Uh…Hatori, they are doing as any other musician would to make the atmosphere merrier," Ayumu said in a pacifying tone. "They just do it for show anyway."
Hatori remained silent, feeling like a churlish idiot. Yukina and Evan looked innocent enough – two youngsters singing just to entertain the audience. He chided himself silently for acting like a jealous lover, like some hotheaded teenager inexperienced in love. Furthermore, he should not think that he had a claim on Yukina just because they were living together. Firstly, they had never gotten to the point where they promised everlasting love to each other like what people do on television. Secondly, there was still the mystery of her past, which would eventually catch up with her in the future. If she had somebody special in her life before…it was quite unbearable to think of.
It was not the same when he was with Kana, which seemed like a long time ago although it had been just a few years. That time, he refused to believe that the curse could be lifted, and he was young and ignorant. Now, Kana already is happily married to another man, and his grief over erasing her memories faded away until it was just a faint scar on his heart. Then, there was Yuki's homeroom teacher, Masako, whom he had been close with. After going on a trip together, they arrived at a mutual conclusion that they were not suited to be a couple. The last Hatori had heard of her was that she migrated to the States and married an American who was a teacher like herself.
But it was different with Yukina, so different. Even before the curse was lifted from all of them, he did not transform although she had accidentally hugged him. A few days after that, Akito had freed everyone, meaning that Hatori was liberated to love anyone he wanted to. Living together with Yukina has become so natural to him that he did not even, or maybe did not dare to, think of the day where she might have to leave him when her memories came back to her. It seemed that they had been made for each other, existed for each other, and finding Yukina on his doorstep was just the best thing that ever happened to him.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Hatori fixed his gaze back to the stage again, where Yukina was playing the violin while Evan had disappeared.
"Anyway, Hatori, you cannot blame Evan for being attracted to Yukina, even if he is," Ayumu said, receiving a glare from Hatori.
"Why can't I?" Hatori asked, crossing his arms and leaning back into his chair.
"Not many people know that you two are…well…together, in a loose sense of the word," Ayumu replied, a glint of humour in his eyes. "And most of them think that there's no harm in casual dating, especially among teenagers."
This statement had Hatori thinking for quite a while, and he was still thinking about it after he and Yukina arrived home. Until now, only a few knew about Yukina's unusual condition whereas the rest…just like how Ayumu said – they thought she was another normal girl who performed exceptionally well in the music field. And nobody else realised that they were really a couple, except for Shigure, Ayumu and Ayame who had been teasing him mercilessly about the incident where they stumbled upon both of them kissing in his clinic, simply because they have not seen them doing anything suspicious in public.
"Something troubling you, doc?" Throwing her arms around Hatori's neck, Yukina stood on tiptoes to get a better look at his strange expression.
"Mm…nothing," Hatori pressed his lips gently to her temple, stroking her soft brown hair with his fingers.
"Well, if you say so." Disappointment showed in her eyes but she did not pursue the subject. The tension in the air was broken when phone beeped with a text notification. She dug her phone out of her violin case, read the message, grinned, and started punching in a reply.
"Who was that?" Intrigued at the notion of a text cheering her up so quickly, Hatori glanced at Yukina, who shrugged.
"Nothing important, it was just a friend," Yukina diverted her attention long enough from her phone to answer him.
Not wanting to sound like a jealous lover, Hatori supressed his urge to inquire further. Instead, he plopped himself onto the couch, switched on the TV and hoped that the sound would drown out the barrage of notifications from Yukina's phone.
After a while, the beeps from Yukina's phone finally subsided. She sat down next to Hatori and hesitantly opens her mouth.
"Um…Hatori, umm…did you like the song Evan and I sang in the café?"
The phrase 'Evan and I' sent an unpleasant jolt into Hatori's heart, and before he could stop it, his impulsive reply was, "It was okay, I guess."
He regretted his words almost immediately when he saw the downcast expression on Yukina's face.
"I see. Maybe I'm not good enough…Well, I will just have to work harder! I guess I should take a shower now," Yukina forced a cheery tone and flashed him a smile, but not before Hatori caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes.
Hating himself for causing the turn of events, Hatori sighed and ran a hand through his hair, causing them to stand up on ends. Just then, Yukina's phone beeped again, and unable to withstand his curiosity, he peeked at the message flashing on the screen, wishing with all his might not to see anything remotely suggesting romance between Yukina and Evan.
"SUCCESS! I'm bringing Koko out on a date tomorrow! Wish me luck xx"
"If you are done reading the message, perhaps you could tell me what Evan said?"
Hatori hastily tore his gaze away from the phone, to see Yukina staring at him with an unfathomable expression on her face. The corners of her eyes were still a bit red, and Hatori hated himself even more for misunderstanding the whole situation.
"He…he said, um…" The usually calm and composed doctor stuttered. "He's dating someone named Koko tomorrow."
Yukina's face broke into a smile. "Ah, that's great news then! I'll have to ask him how everything went later."
"Yukina," Hatori made a firm inviting gesture, and she reluctantly walked over to the couch. He yanked her onto his lap in a swift motion, and gently kissed the corner of her eyes.
"I'm sorry I wasn't truthful just now, I thought the song was almost perfect," Hatori whispered into her ears, and she started in surprise.
"But you…you said…" Yukina's voice quivered as she brought her gaze to Hatori, only to drop her gaze in embarrassment when she noticed the gentle yet intent look in his eyes.
"Can we call that an error in judgment? I wasn't quite myself today…" Half truthfully, Hatori conceded and tousled Yukina's hair which was still dripping wet from her shower.
"I'm so glad…Evan and I decided that we would sing this song for the people special to us, and you both happened to be in the café so we chose that moment to sing it," Yukina confessed, lifting a load off Hatori's heart as he realised the truth. "I have always wanted for you to hear the song, Hatori."
"Ah, I was really an idiot…" Hatori murmured.
"Huh?" Yukina blinked at his words, which seemed to have no connection to the conversation.
"Nothing important," Hatori mimicked her words from before, and Yukina made a face at him.
After having lived with Hatori for more than half a year, Yukina knew him well enough to know that he would only tell her something if he wished to. As a result of Hatori's reputation as a secretive person, most of her understanding of Hatori came from the other two of the Mabudachi trio, Ayumu, as well as his younger cousins Yuki, Kyou and the others. She had met Tohru and most of the Souma clan who had been possessed by the animal spirits before and knew the story through Hatori.
She still smiled when she thought of the day Hatori told her the story of the Souma clan. It was another hypnosis session where Hatori tried once again to make her remember her past. Somehow, she managed to trip over and fall against Hatori clumsily with both of them practically in each others' arms. According to Hatori, he was so surprised he did not transform into a seahorse that he actually wondered out loud if Yukina was female. Hmph. Then, all of Hatori's pent-up emotions released themselves in a tumble and both of them ended up engaging in a long, sweet kiss.
"Why are you smiling suddenly?" Hatori asked, pulling her from his lap to sit on the couch next to him.
"Hmm…I was just thinking how little faith you have in me, doctor," Yukina smiled brightly, wagging an accusing finger at him.
"What…what do you mean?" Hatori froze in his act of taking off his socks and looked at her, hoping desperately that she did not somehow find out his jealousy over Evan in the café earlier.
"Remember that time that you actually asked me whether I was a female, of all things? How shocking is that?" Yukina continued, giving him a mock punch in the ribs.
Before she could withdraw her hand however, Hatori caught her wrist neatly and yanked her so that she was now sitting on his lap. Heaving an internal sigh of relief, he kissed Yukina squarely on the mouth so that any objections she might have expressed were lost.
"You are so soft…how could I have doubted you for even a second?" Hatori said teasingly and caressed her cheeks. "Thank you for staying with me even after you knew my past, Yukina," he added softly.
She raised her head and found herself looking at a pair of olive green eyes turning dark with passion, making her shiver a little.
"Hatori…It should be me thanking…" she murmured, but her mouth was again taken possession of as he revealed his desire for her in a fervent, passionate kiss.
"Don't get too anxious, I have promised not to do it with you until you are ready," Hatori whispered with just the slightest curve of his lips, making Yukina turned a deep shade of crimson.
"Pervert!" she hissed, and continued. "Um…I mean…I should thank you for letting me stay with you…"
"Only that?" he teased. "I thought I did more than just letting you stay with me, Yukina. I was going to say 'don't mention it', but I changed my mind."
"Oh my" was the only rational thought in Yukina's mind before her knees went weak, her fingers curled on Hatori's white shirt, while her mind dissolved in the heat the kiss brought.