The soft shades of gray that colored the sky matched the Rat's icy hues. The condition of the weather went seemingly unnoticed to the Sohma male, for he presumed his position outside in his personal garden like he did every day, rain, shine, sleet or hail. In fact, if the bad weather wasn't enough of an excuse to stay inside, it was definitely a reason to be out. The storm was getting noticeably worse and he had no choice but to put the tarp on his little sanctuary. Without the tarp, his garden would suffer greatly from the strength of the winds and rain, and without his garden, the boy wouldn't have a place to call his own. No place to be alone, and more importantly, no place to run away to.
He found that it was rather difficult to put up the tarp without the help of his little gardening partner, but was able to make due with the two hands he had. Just as he was going to pull the tarp over the last corner of the drapings, he spotted a plethora of oblong shaped red berries. A dejected smile crept across his pale face. 'She had always loved strawberries.'
After he had finished putting a protective barrier over his miniature oasis and his worrisome thoughts, he had planned to stay outside in the rain for a while. The rain seemed more inviting than going home to a moody Cat and a perverted old man, especially in their current condition. When the lighting had became brighter had closer, he had no choice but to return to the forest home, for his own safety, of course. On most occasions, however, it would have been safer to stand out in the lightning, but Yuki knew the resident Neko well enough to know that he just wasn't going to be in the mood to start a fight.
The orange headed teen scratched his head lazily as he snatched the half empty milk carton from the refridgerator. The rain had always made him drowsy, but for once, Kyou had suffered a sleepless afternoon, regardless of the rain. He absolutely despised the feeling of being tired and hated not being able to do anything about it even more. Almost as much as he hated that damned Rat.
"So, you're finally awake? I was assuming that you had pushed Yuki too far and he had killed you in your sleep," The comment was most definitely unwelcome, but Shigure did always have bad timing for his own little jokes. He had been sitting at the kitchen table all morning, pen in hand and papers spewed across the table. For once, he had been working hard, hard enough to even reach his deadlines…maybe. His office seemed a little too dreary for his liking, and since Kyou had been attempting to sleep all day and Yuki had been out attending to his garden, the kitchen was open territory for him to work in peace. Besides, the man was boiling coffee in the machine, and the smell was inviting. Not as inviting as the scent of a certain outsider's cooking, but better than nothing at all.
"Don't fuck with me, old man," The Cat spat out miserably, pulling open the cardboard tab and pressing the carton to his soft lips, letting the cool liquid slip down his throat.
Shigure couldn't help but to snicker, figuring he'd save his don't-drink-from-the-carton lecture for another time. "What, do you miss your little lover boy Yuki already? Or maybe it's something more…" Just as Kyou was going to explode, the door slammed open (due to the wind's strength.), rain spewing in onto the floor. The teen was soaked to the bone, so wet that every strand of his silver hair clung to his scalp and skin. His clothes were moderately muddy, and were just as clingy as his thin strands of hair. He had taken a raincoat with him when he had gone outside, and had been wearing it while attending his garden. It was made obvious that Yuki had taken a nice long walk in the rain, and he had taken his time doing it.
"Speak of the devil," The dog chimed out with half a smile. Yuki and Kyou hadn't even shared half a glance before the more hot-headed of the two had stormed out of the room furiously. It was probably for the best; nobody really felt like listening to the two argue. Yuki didn't let out one word. Instead, he put the carton Kyou had left out so carelessly back in it's rightful place. Yuki wouldn't allow himself and Shigure to go without due to the Cat's negligence. The refrigerator was shut, but the boy's frail body still lingered, looking as if he were deep in thought about something. Shigure knew exactly what, and let out an elongated sigh and stood from his comfortable kitchen chair.
"We're all taking it hard, Yun-kun. But it's not like she's gone for good. She promised to write us and call us whenever she could, and she said she'd come visit on the holidays," Yuki acknowledged Shigure's unusual efforts at offering fatherly support, but wasn't too sure how to respond. Shigure could only offer a sad smile before speaking again.
"You hungry? I could order something," The Rat winced; he had returned to his all-fast food diet so quickly that he was beginning to feel sick. He waved his pale hand and said, "Actually, I'm not hungry. I'll eat at the reunion tonight, if at all," He offered a fake smile to try and get Shigure off his case, and thankfully, he had seemed to buy it. "Anyways, I think I'm gonna go get ready. You probably should, too. Weren't you and Hatori supposed to chaperone…?"
Shigure winked and replied with a simple, "We'll do the best we can to keep you kids under control," Yuki shook his head and made his leave. The idea of Shigure chaperoning a party full of young, perky girls was enough to make him want to shiver with disgust. "Hurry up and dry off. You're getting water all over the floor," He had heard the dog call out.
For a school set-up party, the reunion was quite the get-together. Well, it wasn't really a reunion, seeing as it had only been a few months since they had all graduated, but rather a last chance to say the things they had always wanted to say. A last chance to say their goodbyes. It was simply called a reunion to save the confusion and long name.
Instead of the event being held in the school auditorium like they typically were, it was held in a more refined place, made specifically for fancy events such as this one. Chandeliers decorated the ceilings superfluously, and the walls were trimmed with the finest looking paints, wallpapers, and lace. Not only were the decorations formal, but the music, and even the participants were, too. The entire ballroom had been filled with girls in white dresses and men in beautiful tuxedoes, looking like something right out of a fairytale. The only factor that could be considered different was that each and every face in the room was covered with tasteful masks. The theme of the reunion was decided to be a masquerade ball, and it had been quite a hit.
Yuki hadn't really wanted to go, but as the graduating year's president, he was obligated. He stood at the back with the rest of the student council representatives, feeling particularly clingy to Machi. He remained silent and sipped his punch as he watched everything unfold. 'Too sweet.'
"It's a shame Tohru-kun had to leave for college before she could have come to this, huh, Ha'ri?" Shigure chimed out sweetly, his eyes shut, punch glass lifted to his mouth. "She would've been absolutely adorable in a little ballroom dress,"
The more sophisticated of the two couldn't help but to roll his eyes and cross his arms. He had been thankful that he had taken the offer to chaperone before Ayame had gotten the chance, or who knew what sort of chaos would break down. Shigure alone was bad enough, but when both were combined, there was to be absolutely no hope for the party to survive without something going terribly wrong.
The other male had made a point, regardless of the crude way he had said it. Hatori was sure that Tohru would have had a lot of fun at this little reunion, and Kyou and Yuki would have definitely enjoyed themselves more, if only for her sake. He wasn't sure why she had chosen to go to a college in America, but seeing as Akito and the young protagonist had engaged in a little friendly conversation before she had made her decision, he could have only assumed it was something of her doing. Hatori wasn't really the type to accuse anybody of anything without proof, but he knew that a certain few of the Juunshin were the type, and so he kept this juicy little fact to himself.
"C'mon Haa-san, live a little. This is a party, after all, and even though we weren't the ones to graduate, there's still plenty of things to do," Shigure paused his speech when a certain female teacher walked in front of him with a not-so-happy face. Even behind the mask, he could still recognize her angry face. "Why, hello there, Mayu-chan. You're looking absolutely beautiful tonight," The male teased, a smirk spreading across his face.
The woman pouted. "Wish I could say the same for you. I can't believe they let you, of all people, chaperone. …And don't call me that," She had glanced at Hatori for a moment, and couldn't help but to feel an unrecognizable feeling. He had been so different when he had been with Kana, and after he lost her, he had changed so much. Not only mentally, but also physically. It had taken him a while, but it had seemed as he was slowly seeming to accept that he was growing older. The twenty-nine year old had stopped cutting his hair so short, and had allowed it to grow a little longer. He had also seemed to start wearing his glasses more often. She couldn't help but to smile softly. 'Please, take care of yourself…'
"What're you smiling about? My charm too much for you to handle?" Shigure interrupted her mid-thought, a smile of his own appearing.
The woman rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "You're giving yourself too much credit,"
Hatori was getting a slight headache from the two's constant arguing, and Shigure's desperate attempts to get into her pants again. "I'm going to go get some fresh air," He said in monotone, stepping away from the unfolding scene. The ballroom had a front and back door. The front led to the parking lot, and the back led to the small garden, made simply for decoration. The back door seemed more inviting at the moment.
However, the garden wasn't as comfortable as he had hoped, for as soon as he had stepped out, he watched as two older girls, obviously not there for the party as they weren't dressed up nor were they in masks, beat another, more finely dressed woman. One held the girl back, and the other gave her swift smacks across the face. One of them had muttered something, but it wasn't loud enough for him to hear.
"Break it up," The Dragon had intervened, stepping between the smacker and the smackee. The two other girls, who had white Yankee masks across their faces, had stopped immediately and looked up at the man quizzically. He was pretty tall, so he looked hard to take on…but there were two of them. The obvious leader of the two waved her arm, showing retreat. They must have figured it wasn't worth it.
Hatori offered his hand, a reluctant look upon his face, to the fallen girl, but she had only shot a bloody glare up at the man and swatted the man away. When she had stood for herself, he politely asked, "Are you alright?" The girl hadn't taken the time to respond, but instead, looked up at her savior. Even with his simple black mask across half his face, he still looked quite handsome. He was definitely old, at least in his late twenties, but cute. Hatori had felt nothing towards the girl, rather than her pretty white dress, which looked like something Ayame would have crafted. Before the girl could have said anything, however, the watch on her wrist started beeping, and she cursed a few unheard profanities before turning in the direction of the other two girls. Being a doctor, the Dragon knew that with the blows she took, she needed to get some medical attention. He grabbed her arm before she had been able to run away, but she simply pushed him off. His little grabbed caused her to trip forward slightly, a single white heel falling from one of her feet. She didn't seem to care, as she jumped over the flower beds and the bushes and into the street, just as the other two had left.
"Shigure, I'm moving back to the Main House," The next morning had been filled with nothing but arguments between the Cat and the Rat, and also between the Rat and the Dog.
"Yuki, isn't that a bit of a drastic decision? Why don't you just think about it…?" Shigure had been shocked when both of the two resident teen's had come to him in the same morning, saying they were moving out.
"I have been thinking about it. Ever since Honda-san left. Kyou is moving in with Kazuma, so I'm going back to the Main House," Yuki could tell by the look in Shigure's eyes that he wasn't at all pleased, and Yuki had been right on this feeling. Shigure had grown so accustomed to having his three little lovely teens around the house, and he couldn't help but to think that he'd get lonely by himself like that. However, a man such as Shigure would never admit such a thing, and so he tried to keep a straight face.
"Well, there really isn't anything I can do to stop you," The Dog said with a frown, turning back to his papers. Yuki left him in peace, not quite sure that he would be able to offer any comfort to the old man. Moving back to the Main House had been quite a brave decision for Yuki, especially considering that Akito would be around the premises at most, if not all times. He figured if he played his cards right and looked before he stepped out, he'd avoid most conflict.
Kyou had been gone for a while now; Kazuma and some other kids from the dojo had come and helped him pick up his stuff. He passed by the Cat's empty room and couldn't help but to stop and stare at it for a while. It was noticeably empty without the mop-headed teen and all of his silly belongings. The thoughts of all the arguments had between the two, all the times that door had been slammed shut hard enough to make the house shake, and all the times that room had been completely destroyed made a smile creep across his face. He felt disgusted with himself, but he continued to beam into the empty room. All of those arguments seemed so pointless to him, now that he was older. But Kyou hadn't seemed to have matured enough yet to realize it. 'He'll come around eventually,'
The Sohma family Cow had been the only one who had offered to help him move his things back to his designated place of residence. Shigure had mentioned that he would have loved to help, but he was just too lazy to do anything. Normally, Yuki would think that it was the thought that counted, but in this case, thought didn't help him move the thirty pound boxes to a place at least three miles away. Seeing as neither of them had a car to drive, Hatori was the chauffer for the two boys and the cardboard boxes. And, in the end, he was also pressured to help lift the boxes inside.
Hatori seemed to be too deep in thought about something to be much of a help, however. That girl at the reunion. Was she alright? She seemed pretty beat up. He really only worried out of general concern and out of the good of his doctor heart. He figured that if she were to die on the middle of the street, it would be on the news, and so far, nothing too exciting had happened yet. The Sohma residence and the city they lived in, in general, was a pretty boring place to be.
After he had assured that the Rat boy and his little friend the Ox had taken care of everything, he had returned to his own little abode. It was quiet, small, and pretty much everything a single, solitary person like himself had needed. It hadn't taken him long to wander into his bedroom and hang his white coat in the closet, before plopping onto his side in his small bed. He seemed drowsy, and definitely fatigued, and assumed that it was because he had stayed up pretty late the previous night when he had been chaperoning. He ran a hand through his soft black hair and pushed it from underneath his cheek, allowing the cool fabric of his pillow to comfort him. Just as he was about to doze off, the telephone rang. The caller ID made it clear of who it was.
"Are you feeling sick, Akito-san?" He chimed out without even a simple hello. It wasn't really like him to offer a friendly greeting, and sometimes, it wasn't even like him to talk on the phone at all.
"I'm feeling alright," The male had responded with what sounded like a cheerful tone. With Akito, it was really hard to tell. "Actually, I called to let you know that I've hired a few new maids to clean up all of the houses for you and the others. I gave them the keys to all of the houses, so don't be freaked out if someone's in your house when you get home tomorrow,"
Hatori let out an elongated sigh and had told Akito he had understood, before he had hung up the phone and drifted into a deep sleep.
When he had awoken, there was a woman standing above his bed, and she looked anything but maidly.