Crash Course

Summary: Another visit to Ayame's shop has Yuki storming from the store in anger. But when Ayame pushes him out of the path of a drunk driver, everything changes. Consequences are felt by more than just the two brothers. Tohru struggles with traumatic memories. Kyo must put aside his animosity for Yuki and Ayame. Shigure and Hatori are worried. And Yuki discovers that there's more to his brother than he's ever realized, and that all the laughter and wildness is a mask over something far deeper than he expected. But how will any of them deal with it, when masks are laid aside and old wounds exposed? Can they find their way to peace, and build bridges, or is the damage too deeply ingrained?

Chapter One: Tragedy Strikes

"That's it. I...I can't do this any more." Yuki shoved the door of his brother's shop open and stepped out into the sunlight, seething.

He was tired of this. He wanted to build some sort of relationship between his brother and himself, but it felt impossible. Whenever Ayame was over at the house, he was full of wild stories, talking to Shigure or flirting with Tohru. Or annoying Kyo into shouting the roof off. Whenever he showed up at school, he threw the class and the Student Council into absolute chaos. Even the teacher didn't seem to know how to deal with him. And here at the shop...

It was just too much. No matter how hard he tried to keep calm, no matter how patient he was, invariably his brother did something that was either too crazy to deal with, or just downright rude. And his insane, off the wall, self-interested commentary didn't help. No matter what subject he tried to bring up, Ayame always seemed to turn it back to himself.

He'd had enough. He'd tried, been trying for months now, and he couldn't seem to find any sort of common ground with his elder brother. He couldn't get him to talk to him seriously either, not for more than a few seconds at a time. Not long enough for a meaningful conversation. Ayame always apologized, of course, and he always seemed sincere, but it was so hard to tell, and he certainly never changed his behavior in any way that Yuki could see.

Enough is enough. He'd tried, but this wasn't going anywhere, and he was tired of trying.

"Yuki?" It was the last voice he wanted to hear. "I am sorry about that. I just got caught up in the moment, you know..."

"You're always sorry. But you never change. And I for one am tired of trying to find a common ground when you're clearly not trying at all." Yuki squared his shoulders. "I'm going home. You can tell Miss Honda that I'm leaving. I hope, if she decides to stay, that you'll at least be decent enough to make sure she gets home safely."

"I...you really shouldn't leave a girl like that. It's positively ungentlemanly. Really Yuki..."

"If you're so concerned, you'd better go tell her, because I'm leaving right now." He clenched his fists, trying not to bite his lip in frustration.

"If you insist." There was an odd note in his brother's voice, his tone a little quieter than was normal for him. And he didn't say anything else. There was just the sound of the faint scuff on asphalt as Ayame turned away.

Somehow, that was even more frustrating. Yuki clenched his jaw, then stalked away from the store. He'd wait across the street for Tohru, rather than stand so close to his brother's shop.

A squeal of tires startled him from his thoughts. He looked up, just as a car careened around the corner, going too fast for a pedestrian area, and the wrong way for the street too. What the...

The car swerved, and he realized that the driver was out of control, and not even trying to slow down. And the car was headed straight for him.

Time seemed to slow down as the realization struck him. All his muscles tensed up to run, but he was frozen, not sure which way to jump to escape the car's erratic path. Then several things happened at once.

Tohru shouted his name, her voice high and frightened. The car swerved again, headed right for him, and the tires squealed again as the driver began to brake, far too late. Then something cannoned into him, slammed him sideways out of the vehicles path, and he went crashing to the pavement, winded, his heart still pounding as shock and adrenalin surged through him.

"Yuki! Yuki, are you all right?" Tohru was at his side before he'd even picked himself up, kneeling beside him. "Oh, you're bleeding! Your arm, and your knee...we have to stop it! And you could have broken bones or something..."

"I'm fine. Just scratches. And I had the wind knocked out of me." He'd been training in martial arts long enough to know there was nothing wrong with him that a hard fall to the mat wouldn't have caused. His arm was scraped fairly heavily, and his side ached, but nothing too serious. He blinked, remembering the force that had propelled him out of the way. "Miss Honda...what..."

"Boss! Ayame!" Mine's panicked shout startled both of them.

Tohru's eyes went to the other side of the street, and her eyes widened as she went almost chalk white. "Ayame..."

Yuki followed her gaze, and his stomach clenched. The car had stopped, and Mine was kneeling a few feet in front of it. Kneeling beside...something. It looked like a pile of discarded fabric.

Blue fabric and golden buttons. Silver strands, soaking up crimson stains as a pool of red gathered on the pavement beside one pale hand.

"Ayame!" Tohru was up like a flash, racing to Mine's side.

Yuki shoved himself to his feet and followed, feeling like his brain had frozen and lead weights had settled in his stomach. This can't be happening. That can't be... He stumbled to a stop beside the two girls, and his heart stuttered in shock as unexpected pain knifed through him.

Ayame lay on his side, arms and legs flung haphazardly across the pavement. His clothing was torn in several places. The angle of his legs looked wrong somehow, and his face was bleeding from a gash over one eye, a split lip and a bloody nose. His hair was falling all over the place, the blood soaking into it. His eyes were closed, his face paler than normal, and he wasn't moving. The fingers of one hand were bent oddly, and looked broken.

Yuki stood frozen, staring at his brother's lifeless face. He didn't even hear the panicked shouts around him, as one of the other shop owners called the emergency medical services and Tohru and Mine tried to staunch the bleeding wounds.

Author's Note: And from there we go...well, you'll just have to see. How do you think the other Zodiac members will react?