This story has been sitting around for a while in my fanfiction folder... tell me what you think of it, because I honestly don't know. This chapter is non-yaoi, because I couldn't make it yaoi without making it slightly unbelievable... but I do have a yaoi version, if you all want me to post it as a second chapter.
Enjoy. :)
"Godammit, Yuki!" Kyo snarled, thrusting himself away from the rat as he was struck over side of the head – again – none too gently. He sat back with a grimace, glaring daggers. "If you don't stop moving I can't do a damn thing!"
Defensively, Yuki kept his hands where they were, shielding himself from the now hostile cat.
"Stupid cat," he said calmly, though heat was flaring through the cold sweat he'd broken into, his arms shaking. "When I tell you to stop, I mean it."
"Apparently," Kyo muttered dryly. He raked back his wet hair from his forehead, flimsy white tank-top soaked through and muddy as his pants now were from sitting in the mud. He shifted himself off the rock he'd landed on and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he stared at the overreacting rat. The idiot would hardly let Kyo touch him, and distant rumbling in the sky told him that the downpour they'd just been hit by had a much nastier friend.
"Look," He growled, trying to be appeasing. "What do you expect me to do? It's gonna hurt no matter how it comes out."
Yuki's only response was to look away, more specifically down at his ankle, which was painfully wedged between the thick roots of the tree he had his back against. The echo of Kyo's last attempt to remove it throbbed up his leg. His own weight coupled with slippery mud and inappropriate shoes had been what got himself stuck, but it was going to take a little more than insistent tugging for the knobs of the roots to let go of their prize. Hard wood pressed against his bone in the most uncomfortable way, so even experimental shifting was too painful to loosen his foot from its entrapment.
With a hard sigh, he leant back and tried to relax a little, ignoring Kyo and turning his head up to stare at the trees over his head. Drips of water fell on his face, and it had probably started raining again, though the air was still thick with heat and unshed moisture. At least it wasn't pouring – that being the only thing he could be thankful of at the moment. He was totally soaked through and shivering, despite the flush of pain and Kyo's jacket hanging off him like a water-logged towel. They couldn't have been too far from home – Yuki's garden was a fair walk away, but they were halfway at least – yet they were obviously not going to get much help even if Tohru had trudged on ahead before the predicament. The wind was already stilling again, the clouds charged and heavy and dark – no one would head out with such a storm bearing down, and even if Tohru would, they could rely on Shigure to stop her.
All which left them rather stuck.
Grumbling at Yuki's lack of response, Kyo pulled himself back onto his knees and slipped his hands back against Yuki's mud sodden leg. Kyo's wrists were immediately caught in a deadly grip, sharp silver eyes accusing him of his earlier infraction.
"I'm not going to pull." Kyo snapped at him, refusing to acknowledge the ache Yuki was causing in his arms.
Reluctantly, Yuki slackened his hold, but kept his hands on Kyo's forearms in case he needed to wrench them away. Practically hissing with resentment, Kyo moved his fingers along Yuki's Achilles tendon, squeezing his hand between the roots to try and find any sort of vantage point he could use to get the roots to separate without luck. His shoe was already sort of off; they were the soft, bendable kind, completely unfit for walking around in the woods, and the heel of it was crushed beneath Yuki's heel. But hell – Yuki had gotten it lodged in there damn good, and the hard squeeze he got to his arm when he tried to get his fingers to the knob of Yuki's ankle was enough to tell him that it seriously hurt. On the other end, Kyo could only make it past Yuki's toes before the space got too tight.
Trying to concentrate on not hurting the rat – and getting himself hurt – Kyo pushed at the heel of the mud caked shoe, slowly working the material to slide away. Kyo had a few fingernail indents on his arm by the time it finally squelched away, but after a strangled yelp Yuki slumped back against the tree, breathing heavy.
"Better?" Kyo asked, taking his hands away for a few moments to smear the mud from his hands onto his pants.
Yuki gave a weak affirmation before pulling experimentally. He stiffened and stopped. "Barely," he revised. He had a little more room, but there was still no painless way out of this.
Almost as if to mock him, thunder rumbled, this time much closer. A breeze passed, full of warning, chilling down his neck where Kyo's jacket hung away.
Aware of Kyo watching him, Yuki sat up a little straighter and tried to pull his foot free by his own power. He clenched his eyes shut and gripped the mud, grinding it under his fingernails, but there was little give, and when there was, it suddenly slipped the bone of his ankle into a much worse position and he stopped with a barely suppressed cry.
"No," he snapped at Kyo when a hand curled under his heel. He pushed Kyo's arms away by the crooks of his elbows stubbornly.
"You have to let me," Kyo answered, his voice just as harsh. "I'm not sitting through a storm with you, idiot."
"Then leave."
Kyo stood, cursing loudly. Yuki had hit him again.
He stalked away, but not towards home like Yuki almost expected. Instead he stomped around, looking pissed off and raking his wet hair back from his face, pulling at the flimsy white tank top that stuck to his skin. All the while, the air kept feeling thicker and the wind kept picking up and the rumbling got louder and Yuki felt colder. Trying to ignore the cat's persistent pacing, Yuki made another effort to get loose. The most he could manage was a shaky pull, pain shooting through his muscle at the weak attempt. His leg had fallen asleep, as had his butt, from sitting on the hard ground, and had no strength to wrench himself free.
So he waited, setting his head back against the tree trunk with his eyes closed, shuffling the large jacket tighter around his body. After a few minutes, Yuki looked up to watch Kyo yank the tank top off himself in frustration and toss it with the two forgotten baskets of gathered veggies, sick of loosening it from around his neck. He sat in front of Yuki again, looking beyond irritated, pushing back the wet hair that'd fallen into his eyes. Yuki noticed the goosebumps standing out on his skin and reminded himself that Kyo had given him his coat and, more impressively, his patience. Something hard to come by with the short-fused feline.
"…It hurts," he confessed quietly, rather than apologizing.
Kyo looked away from him uncomfortably, his expression souring with empathy for his enemy. "I can do it quick," he muttered, easing forward. "It'll only hurt for a sec."
Yuki grimaced, because that was definitely a lie. There was still a walk home he'd have to deal with before getting any sort of pain killer to ease the torment. "Quick," he affirmed anyway.
Kyo nodded, bending warily over the rat's ankle just in case he changed his mind again. Kyo slipped his hands past mud-slicked skin, once more curling one beneath Yuki's heel, the other under the ball of his foot. This time he took care to make sure his grip was solid, braced and prepared to pull hard as he could. He had a feeling he wouldn't be forgiven again for slipping.
"Ready?" He asked, glancing up to check Yuki's expression, and paused when he saw just how pale he'd gotten. He actually looked a little green around the gills, mouth pressed into a grim line. "You're not gonna throw up, are you?"
Yuki swallowed hard, glaring at him. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Just do it."
Kyo returned the glare, but positioned his knees on either side of Yuki's ankle nonetheless, toes of his shoes digging into the ground. He twitched when the rat's hands rested on his shoulders, but focused on keeping his weight ready to transfer into his legs for the pull.
"On three then," Kyo said, tensing. Yuki tensed with him, holding his breath and keeping his eyes on the curve of Kyo's collar bone. 'Don't look', he told himself, trying not to get psyched out "One…!"
With that, Kyo wrenched upward as hard as he could. Yuki's foot came loose with a sickening, bone-against-wood pop, Kyo's hands not slipping once.
Yuki let out a choked sound before he snapped his mouth shut, teeth gritting audibly in Kyo's ear, head dropping down onto his shoulder. There was silence, moments passing in which Kyo thought the rat may have forgotten to breathe. Then a heavy breath puffed against his bare skin. Yuki's chest heaved as he let out a pained groan.
"I thought," he huffed, barely keeping himself from strangling the boy he leant on. "You said 'on three'."
"Yeah well," Kyo moved away, Yuki's head lifting to give him a half-hearted glare. "It worked, didn't it?"
u "Lucky for you… now – " Thunder cracked suddenly directly above them, making Yuki jump and let out a hiss of pain as he jerked his leg. Quickly following, a loud 'sshhhhh' flushed the air with white noise. Lightening lit the sky, flash-freezing thousands of fat drops mid-fall and making the two boys suddenly realize just how dark it had gotten.
"Wonderful," Kyo muttered, wilting. He stood and shivered, feeling the cold now that his energy was falling again. He reached out a hand to help Yuki up, almost falling over as the rat rose onto one foot and tipped into him.
Tentatively, Yuki put down his hurt leg, catching himself hurriedly when his ankle protested. He sighed angrily to himself, the nerves in his leg and butt prickling back to life doing nothing to make this situation any better.
"Can you walk?" Kyo asked, staying close so as to keep under the tree providing what little protection from the rain there was. He eyed the hard rain falling around them distastefully, but impatiently at the same time. He just wanted to get home and sleep.
"No," Yuki replied, hopping awkwardly on one foot to where the tree trunk could support him. He wondered if his ankle might be broken; it certainly hurt enough for it to be.
Wordlessly, Kyo moved in front of him and knelt down.
Yuki hesitated. "Are you sure you can-"
"Don't underestimate me, damn rat!" Kyo snapped, with effort. "Just get on."
"If you drop me…" Yuki trailed off in warning, leaning himself carefully over Kyo's bent back.
"You'll what? Hobble after me and teach me a lesson?" Yuki glared at the rust red head of hair in front of him, thankful, at least, that Kyo still had it in him to exchange insults. He muttered quiet threats, but was otherwise preoccupied as Kyo grabbed him behind the knees and stood. After stumbling briefly, Kyo hoisted Yuki's weight more easily onto his back and began walking towards home.
Yuki let himself rest fully against Kyo's back, arms loose around his shoulders. For a second time, he noticed the goosebumps standing up on his cousin's shirtless skin. He should have offered his coat back to him before they started off because, honestly, it wasn't doing too much for him right then. Rain drenched his hair, running freely down his back and down his shirt – cold rain, the kind that hinted at a possible hail storm. Only his leg was hot, the pain in his ankle throbbing with renewed blood flow.
Kyo stumbled precariously a few times on the way home, but never tripped or dropped the boy on his back. Not surprisingly, the door was opened for them the second they appeared from the woods, Tohru rushing out with her umbrella to meet two boys.
"Kyo-kun! Yuki-kun! Are you two alright? What happened!" She cried, holding the umbrella up over them instead of herself and walking besides them.
"Idiot – don't give us the umbrella!" Kyo snapped as Yuki pushed the handle back towards her. "We're fine. This damn rat just hurt his ankle."
Reluctantly, Tohru held the umbrella over herself, concern covering her features even as she nearly tripped, not watching where she was going.
"Honda-san, could you call Hatori please?" Yuki asked kindly before Kyo could snap at her again. The desired effect was achieved as Tohru jumped to attention immediately.
"Ah, of course!" She raced off back to the house, leaving the door open for them.
"Oh my," Shigure uttered when they finally made their way in. "What have you two been up to?"
They were quite the sight; Kyo, shirtless, with Yuki on his back in his oversized jacket, both of them soaked to the bone and covered with goosebumps. Yuki held his foot out at an awkward angle, swollen and cleaned of mud from the rain shower they'd walked through. Yuki was flushed, probably with a fever, and Kyo simply looked dead tired, like he'd fall over if he didn't sit in the next few minutes.
Shigure followed them as Yuki directed Kyo to enter the bath so they wouldn't drip all over the place. "Tohru-kun was starting to get frantic," he told them, helpfully standing aside while Kyo let Yuki off to sit on the edge of the tub. The cat grabbed two large towels from the shelf, tossing one at his cousin's face before joining him on the side of the bathtub. "She was about to call for a search party when you two appeared. Did you get into a fight?"
"Does it look like we did?" Yuki asked, offering up his leg as evidence as he rubbed his hair dry.
"Mm, I was wondering why you'd let Kyo-chan carry you," the dog commented, peering down at it.
Not sure if he should feel insulted or not, Kyo merely gave both of them an irritated glance as he wrapped the towel around his shoulders.
Tohru popped through the door then, looking over both boys as she delivered the news; "Hatori-san is on his way."
"Y-Y-Yuki-kun! Your ankle!" She exclaimed a second later, able to do nothing but flutter there uselessly.
"It's not as bad as it looks, Honda-san," Yuki lied, smiling. Both Kyo and Shigure raised an eyebrow at that; it was more than obvious to even Tohru that Yuki was in pain, but she was distracted when Kyo suddenly sneezed loudly into his white towel.
"The both of you should take a bath to warm up," she said firmly, letting Yuki's lie pass so she could help them in ways she was able to. Her diligent eyes didn't miss the way Kyo's teeth nearly chattered, or the way Yuki was huddled inside that water-logged jacket. "Mom always said a hot bath is the best after it rains."
Shigure nodded with approval as Tohru reached over to start the hot water before they could disagree. "The bath is big enough for the both of you – don't bother rinsing off, just get warm," he said. "I'll call for you when Haa-san arrives, Yuki-kun."
The door shut behind them firmly. The two boys sat for a few minutes, staring at the closed door as steam filled the room, before Kyo stood on wobbly legs to take off his pants. Fingers trembling with cold, Yuki unzipped Kyo's sweatshirt. The redhead was slipping into the filling bath before he'd finished unbuttoning his undershirt. His fingers were numb, and fumbled clumsily. He made a small noise of frustration, flexing them in attempt to get the blood flowing. He pulled at the buttons uselessly one more time before giving up and yanking the shirt over his head. His pants had to come off with a bit more care, guiding the pant leg carefully over his injured appendage.
The bath water was hot and cloudy with minerals. It stung as he lowered himself in opposite of Kyo, but he sunk into it gratefully. His skin rapidly heated up, soothing his ankle at the same time it burned his frozen feet and hands back to life.
Across from him, Kyo had his eyes closed, leaning back so he was up to his chin. His hair was wet, falling into his eyes and around his face, which still had a subtle smudge of dirt that colored it brown. He looked really tired, Yuki realized, probably more so than Yuki felt now that he was in the comforting heat of the tub.
Then bright orange eyes opened to look at him. Under hair dark from wetness, the shock of color made Yuki blink.
"Thank you," Yuki said.
Tamed by the weather outside, Kyo only grunted in response, leaning down further so his mouth dipped below the water. His eyes flicked briefly over Yuki's face before shutting again.
Yuki watched Kyo's breath make small ripples on the water's surface and waited to stop shivering.
Want the yaoi version? Review. Also, if you catch any mistakes, go ahead and tell me... the formatting sometimes screws up when i copy-paste a story into an old document (does anyone else do that?).
