Title: Blush…
Author: kira
Rating: G
Word Count: 279
Summary: Ritsu's worst nightmare comes true…
Author's note: Thanks go out to my lovely beta, Jen, for her help in not only polishing this but in getting Aya to talk to me...
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Ritsu looked uncertainly around the room, his nerves on edge. There were too many people here and he was deathly afraid of bumping into someone. Taking a step backwards, his worst nightmare came true when he trod on someone's foot. Face flushing a deep crimson, he turned around to apologize.
"I beg your pardon, I seem to have gotten my foot in your path somehow," Ayame said cheerily, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he waggled his foot at the monkey.
Ritsu was mortified. "I-I-I-I" he stammered. "Imsossorry!!IMSOSORRY!!" he cried his words running together as he bowed deeply to the cousin he idolized. "I'm so sorry!" he repeated a bit more coherently as he straightened up. Unfortunately, Ayame had leaned over to help him and Ritsu, catching the snake off guard, knocked him in the chin. "NOOOOOOOO!" the hapless monkey wailed. "I'M SO SORRY!! I'M SO SORRY, AYAME-NII-SAN!!!"
The snake fingered his jaw, silent for several long, uncharacteristic minutes as Ritsu turned an even deeper shade of red. Ayame frowned. "Ritsu, you're making a scene," he said, breezing past his cousin when he spotted Hatori. "TORI-SAN!!" he boomed, the monkey instantly forgotten as he disappeared into the crowd of Sohmas.
The hapless monkey slowly turned to watch him go. As he did so, he caught sight of himself in one of the room's ornate mirrors. He held a slender hand up to his cheek, blushing prettily at his reflection. Taking a deep breath, he said softly, "I can do this…" Turning neatly on his heel, he walked as calmly as he could into the main banquet room, in order to pay his respects to Akito for the New Year…