Title : Yuuri's Secret Life.

Author : Elvina Potter aka Elvina P.

Disclaimer : I do not own Kyou Kara Maou in any way shape or form. No money is made from this. It is purely Fanfictional fun. Any additional characters were created for entertainment and have no ties with the real and living whatsoever.

…...

Chapter 2

The moment the front door opened, Shori smiled. Being able to tell when someone was near — if not who, if they knew the person well — was a very handy ability for the Shibuya siblings.

Speak of the devil.

Yuuri entered the living room, and Shori, sitting at the sofa reading a book titled 'Light in the Dark Ages: Knowledge of the Medieval Europe', looked up and met his younger brother's gaze. His younger brother was casually leaning against the doorway, a hand in one pocket and the other holding his school bag. His uniform was dishevelled, and Shori raised an eyebrow at the contrast to his own perfect clothes. Meanwhile, Yuuri also observed his brother. Shori was wearing a white long sleeve shirt and Denim jeans. All neatly iron. Not a single crumple in sight.

"What happened to you? You look like you just had a run-in with a sand storm, Yuuri," remarked the older brother with an amused smile.

Yuuri just smirked at Shori. He knew he looked nothing like that. "Well, that and a headlong dive to the pavement."

"Okay, little brother... did something happened?"

"Just some guy who was getting it from a couple of amateur gangsters. The kid ran right into me when he got away—hence the pavement. I didn't realised my clothes was that wrinkle."

Shori's eyebrow rose and sensed that there was more to the story. After all, His dear baby brother had that confounded look on his face. Getting bumped should warrant an annoyance, not bemusement. Patting the couch next to himself, Shori smiled. "Okay, Yuuri, what's eating you?"

Yuuri cringed inwardly. ...Sometimes I wish my brother was a little less direct. The man has no tact.

Yuuri stared at his brother, morosely. "Am I that obvious?" He asked blankly.

Shori snorted. "I'm your brother. What do you think?"

Yuuri came over, dropping all his stuff on the coffee table, and sat right next to Shori, partially facing him. "How long have we been here, brother?" asked Yuuri. He had a faraway look in his eyes. "How long since we got back from Italy?"

Shori looked over at Yuuri carefully. Neither of the two talked about Italy when they could help it. While their mother simply pretended as if it hadn't happened while their father had resigned to it. It felt like a taboo to speak of it now — though Shori didn't know why. Edmund's death was, after all, no reason to stay silent about the larger part of their lives. But the contrived chatter left them all feeling awkward – and not for the lack of trying.

"Five months. And you know it took us seven months to finish preparing to return here. Have you changed your mind?" Shori asked casually.

Yuuri shook his head ruefully. "No, no, that's not it. You are studying in the most prestigious universities here, right? While I'm still stuck in school..."

"Yeah..." Shori was rather confused now. His little brother was an expert in beating around the bush once he made up his mind to do so.

"Well, do you get people making lots of assumptions about you, even if they've never met you?"

Shori blinked incredulously and he gaped at his baby brother. So people made some assumptions about his brother. Big deal. That was life; it wasn't as if everyone didn't assume things about others. It was no different now than before. What surprises him was that his brother let the rumour gets to him. "Not as much as you do, apparently. Schools and universities are different. And in truth, I don't let them get to me. Besides, once out of school, no pay to close of attention. Considering that graduates will be busy having fun," Shori explained smiling cheekily.

Yuuri eyes rolled and he snorted. "Lucky for you then. I'm just a bit disgusted at the way people always jump to huge conclusions. And I'm the 'pompous snobbish foreigner'? What on earth did I do to deserve that name..."

Shori sighed. "How did you act in school? We do need to blend in, remember. Did you manage to make any friends?"

"Yes, yes, I remember. And yeah, a few — although I keep to myself and find a quiet spot to think in most of the time."

"Ugh," Shori take off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "How is that blending in?"

Yuuri suddenly turned to his brother with his eyes ablazed. "Fan girls, Shori. Fan girls!" Yuuri said loudly. "Do you know how troublesome they are? Ever since I set foot in school, girls have been eyeing me up like I'm a piece of meat! I got plenty of love letters and I have been confessed to a few times!"

"Mio Dio," Shori groaned. "I can't believe of all the things you have trouble with, it's this. Yuuri, that's everywhere. You even have it back in Italy. You had no problem then? Why not use it to your advantage? You'll good looking, girls like you – deal with it!"

"They're so unrefine!" Yuuri hastily added. "I thought by entering a prestigious school, I could at least avoid that hassel," Yuuri groaned lying back deeper into the sofa.

Shori sniggered mirthily. "Sucks to be you, brother. I feel for you." Shori smirked smugly.

Yuuri glowered petulously at his brother. "You are not helping."

"Wasn't planning to."

"Big Meanie!"

"Love you too," Shori teased, blowing kisses at his baby brother. Yuuri glared intensified. He took a cushion and thwacked his brother on the head. Shori burst out laughing. Yuuri only burrowed himself deeper, sulking.

"There's more actually. Apart from creepy fan girls," Yuuri slowly massaged his temple. Lately, headaches were not uncommon for him. Thanks to his current lack of practice and his building stress, he really needed a break.

"Need a drink, little brother?" asked Shori.

Yuuri peered at Shori. "...Define this drink to me."

Shori looked pointily at Yuuri, his smug-like grin adoning his lips. Yuuri got the hint. "And just where have you been hiding them, Shori? Mum will blow a gasket if she ever finds a bottle in our rooms," Yuuri eyes widened. "Don't tell me you put them in Dad's liquor cabinet?"

"Please, what do you take me for?" Shori nudged upstairs and he motioned for Yuuri to follow him.

In Shori's room, Yuuri sighed and flopped down on his brother's bed, shutting his eyes to block out the colour scheme. It wasn't bad. Just too...pastel. Both of their rooms were like that. It irritated the two almost beyond reason; perhaps because light colours, in all cultures, stand for youth and innocence. Despite being both young and still fairly innocent, having rooms full of sweetness and light was more than a little annoying for someone with their history.

Yuuri raised his head to gazed at Shori. His brother seemed to be searching the wardrobe.

"You hid them in there?" asked Yuuri with a raised eyebrow.

Shori didn't even turn around, but still see fit to explained. "Not 'hid', exactly. My wardrobe has a secret compartment. Be jealous. That is where I hide all the drinks. I had to customly modified this thing. It's just a pity I have to move all my clothes to get to them."

When Shori finally moved away, Yuuri let out a gasp before doubling over in laughter. Secret compartment indeed. The back wall was filled with neatly stacked bottles of liquor, with an additional wall inside to cover it. No wonder their mother was always lamenting that Shori's wardrobe wasn't big enough for his clothes!

"So what shall we have today?" asked Shori, gesturing to the variety of liquor in his wardrobe. "Barolo?"

Yuuri's eyes widened. "Barolo? As in the Piedmont's Barolo?," Seeing Shori's lopsided smirked, Yuuri blurted, "That's vintage!"

Shori nodded cheerfully, holding the bottle in one hand and two wine glasses in the other. When Yuuri saw the bottle, Yuuri instantly jumped off the bed and was by Shori's side in a heart beat, admiring the bottle. When Yuuri saw the year the wine was manifactured, he spluttered. "Where did you get this?"

"That's my secret," said Shori teasingly.

"Secret my ass!" Yuuri huffed, smirking. "You ransacked Edmund's wine cellar, didn't you?"

"Who is going to report me? You?" Shori uncorked the bottle. "As long you don't tell mum, we will not be limited to drinking sake."

Yuuri did the lip sealed motion and accept the filled glass giddily. "You're a doll!," Yuuri cooed.

When Shori finished his first glass and Yuuri his second, Shori continued. "So what the second problem you mentioned?

Yuuri stared at his wine silently. He played with the glass, twirling it lightly by the stem. "I found out something today," Yuuri told him coolly. "Apparently I am the favourite subject of half of the school's population," Yuuri smiled tiredly. "I think I'm loosing it."

Shori studied Yuuri wordlessly. He then sat his glass aside and said to Yuuri firmly. "Yuuri, you're not loosing it – you're just not doing it. You don't want attention – I get that. But with us getting back here after living abroad and transferring half way into the year, we are bound to be put under the spotlight," Shori paused letting his words sinked in. "My advice, is for you to accept it, and conduct yourself like how always do. There's a chance that we might live here permanently. We might as well get use to it."

Yuuri breathe heavily and nodded. He took another sip of his wine. "Anything else?" Shori asked.

"Yeah. Last one," Yuuri murmured. "The student that crashed into me asked me to be a coach for the baseball team."

"Then what's the problem?"

Yuuri's face scrunched up, wondering how to put it into words. "I'm not sure I want to do baseball. I mean, I still like it, but... It just feels like I should be doing something else instead. Something more useful."

"Clearly you have so much time on your hands," Shori scoffed. At Yuuri's depressed look, Shori sighed. "Listen to me, baby brother. We still have a lot of important stuff to do. Edmund didn't take us in for no reason. It's up to you if you want to take up baseball or not. If you do, at least you have something to get your peers of your back."

Yuuri listened to his brother silently. Yeah, he knew he was repeating himself and make a fuss out of nothing. But he just couldn't get his head straight.

Thanking his brother for the wine, Yuuri rose to return to his room. "Oh, and Yuuri?" Shori called out at his brother's back.

Yuuri turned to his brother and saw that he has a tender expression on his face. "It's okay for you to miss him so much. It's okay for you to pining everything we left behind. There is no shame in that. I miss him too."

. . . . . . . . . .

The next morning, Yuuri was walking to school as usual...though it was still too early. An hour before classes started. He had wanted to spend the extra time training, but had not woken up in the mood for it.

A hand reached out of a nearby alley and grabbed Yuuri's collar, dragging him into the dark space. Yuuri grunted as he was slammed against the alley wall, his vision blurring slightly. When he was more focused to his surroundings, Yuuri swore colourfully.

"Well, well. Lookie what we have here," sneered one of the gangsters, using one of the lines in linguistic history that, in any language, mean absolutely nothing good is about to happen.

These are the same guys that were menacing Murata, aren't they? I wonder where the leader is... Yuuri eyes narrowed.

Yuuri quickly scanned the number of people disturbing him. Six tough-looking idiots with red-tipped spiky hair. Yuuri assumed them to be the 'Red Lion Gang'. They had been fairly infamous lately, giving this district of Tokyo a lot of trouble. Yuuri nearly laughed. He had been in a much worst situation than this.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" he asked, smiling politely and using his best British accent.

"And he's babbling in English — damn toffs," growled one of the artificially-red-heads.

Yuuri merely blinked innocently.

"If you value your life, little boy, you will give us your money," said the holding him by his collar.

"And what makes you think I will give it to you," said Yuuri, head turned slightly to the side.

"You retarded? Or do you want to get hurt?" One of the gang sneered while taking out a pocket-knife.

Okay, this was beginning to piss him off. Yuuri's eyes darkened and he slightly lowered his head. Yuuri smiled sharply to himself. It seemed as though he'd be having some exercise this morning after all.

None of the gangsters have time to react when they were pushed away. As the Red Lions blinked in surprise, Yuuri had taken a threatening step forward, unbuttoning his cuffs, all while smiling bloodthirstily at his soon to be victims. The Red Lions looked warily at him. They noticed the air was oppressive and cold around him. They stood their ground, refusing to show how intimidated they were of him. Yuuri's grinned predatorily.

"Well, you're welcome to try..." Yuuri drawled. With a ruthless smirk, Yuuri eyed the so-called 'gang' hungrily. "But you'll be paying a nice visit to your leader first."

. . . . . . . . .

"Shibuya!"

Yuuri was nearly to school when Murata caught up with him. He smiled hugely, a smile that seemed as if it could light up the world, and greeted Murata. "Good morning, Murata. What brings you here?" Ken Murata's house wasn't anywhere near Yuuri's. So it was odd that he was here.

"Eh, just had a feeling I should see you. I passed by an alley this morning, and guess what I saw..."

"What?" asked Yuuri, though he already knew the answer.

"The gang that attacked me yesterday were being taken away in an ambulance. It looks like they got into a horrible fight with something way out of their league — with all those bruises, they're barely recognizable. It looks like they lost a lot of blood, and I'm pretty sure at least two had broken bones."

" And...?"

"And one of the police officers confirmed that they were the same gang that were causing lots of trouble lately. I heard they've all got a one way ticket to prison." Murata whistled. Yuuri inwardly smiled at this. Served them right for messing with him. Yuuri grinned viciously.

"Thanks for the insight Murata — but I gotta go. Classes start soon. And you'll be late, too, if you don't hurry," interjected Yuuri, walking in the direction of school.

Murata walked in step beside him. " Have you decided yet? You know, the baseball..."

"I thought I have a few days to decide?"

Murata shrugged. "Can't hurt asking."

"You mean pestering," Yuuri huffed indignantly.

Murata grinned unrepentently.

Yuuri suddenly stop walking. For a moment, he just stood there, his gaze far away, and his back was facing Murata. Murata waited for Yuuri patiently. There are still a few minutes to spare and they were in no rush. Yuuri suddenly turned slightly so Murata can only see a part of Yuuri's face. His eyes was expressionless.

"Sure, Murata. I'll give it a shot."


Review on your way out.

- Elvina P.