Headlights?
Yuki opened his eyes, unaware they'd ever closed. It seemed somewhat darker now, the clouds turning a color like worn asphalt, but it remained afternoon.
His breathing was still labored and shallow, so he couldn't have fallen asleep… he just wanted to.
Headlights! The realization struck Yuki like a blow to the midsection and he sat flat up against the tree trunk. The pale yellow glow panned across the surrounding trees, creating stretched, black shadows. The lights seemed to freeze on Yuki, then they went out along with the dull rumble of a car engine.
So. Akito had come after him.
Panic welled up in his throat and he tried to get up, to run. His sneaker sole slid wildly across a patch of hard-packed slush. He scraped down the trunk and back onto the ground.
A car door slammed shut.
Hide! Again, he tried to stand, bracing an arm behind him for leverage. But lingering fatigue seamed to weaken all his limbs at once and he collapsed again, panting.
Footsteps crunched through frosted underbrush. Yuki stared helplessly into crowded trees, eyes wide with apprehension.
A black rain boot was stomping over some thick tree roots about ten feet away from him. No, go away!
The tall figure came into view wearing jeans, a long, dark purple trench-coat and an umbrella splashed with rainbow swirls.
Yuki blinked. What the -?
"I thought I saw something red out here!" The woman's face appeared out of the umbrella's shadow and her finger came up to point in mock accusation at his scarf. A boyish grin squinted her eyes nearly shut. She even laughed a little as if they'd been playing hide-and-seek and she'd just won.
Yuki gazed blankly back, every muscle still taught. This person was…
Her grin slackened into a friendly smile and she took a closer look at him. "You live around here or are you hitchhiking?" She pulled off her knitted hat, shaking loose a cloud of strawberry blonde hair that just brushed her shoulders.
If it wasn't Akito then - he still had time to run! If only he could get breathing properly again and get up… he dissolved abruptly into a fit of wet coughs.
"Hey…are you alright, Kiddo? You don't look so good." Iced snow crunched under her boots as she took a step forward.
"Get away!" Yuki yelped before he could swallow it. Then he immediately dropped his gaze, feeling ashamed. He hadn't meant to be so rude. But the last time he'd let someone else near him - in these very woods - the memory still stung sometimes. Every friend he'd ever had… "Please - don't come near me," he amended quietly.
"So, you can talk," she said, triumphant. "My name is Honda Kyoko. What's yours?"
Surprised, he looked back up slowly. "S - Souma… Yuki."
"How old are you, Yuki-kun?"
He felt his jaw drop a little. Hearing a stranger call him so familiarly - what was it? Like bath water over his head, maybe. A soft, melting sensation.
For a moment, he stopped struggling to get up and heard himself reply, "Fifteen."
"Is that so? I have a daughter your age! Don't know why she puts up with me, but I love all her pieces with all my pieces. Couldn't trade her for a cuter model, you know?"
Not really.
Yuki watched some wet snow slip off her umbrella and splatter to the ground as she crouched in front of him.
Her aurora-blue eyes glanced searchingly between his. "But enough with the small talk… what's the story?"
"I - I was just…" How to answer? The words started to flail around like beached fish. "There was - I was running and…because the road was - I didn't see any … I just -"
Kyoko cut him off with a glowing laugh. "Got a little lost, did you?"
He twitched. "Ah - I know where I'm going."
"Where's that?"
Without knowing why, he held out the piece of notepaper still clenched in his fist. The moment she had the edge of it, he let go and dropped the empty hand back to his lap.
"Oh, I know where this is!" she said, scanning the address. "I'm actually headed that general direction. Here, I'll drive you the rest of the way."
She stood up and reached her hand down to him.
Yuki recoiled against the tree, as if afraid of being smacked. He realized a second later how strange this must of looked. She stopped but didn't draw back. She only stood there, mid-reach, head tilted slightly. Concerned.
Humiliation burned his cheeks. "I … I'm sorry," Yuki swallowed hard. "I can't -"
"Can't what?" She was smiling again. "Trust me?"
He looked up. His eyes climbed from her open hand, up her arm and face, to that sparkling smile. Trust?
What was that supposed to mean?
People will always hurt you, it's just their way. Don't trust anyone, Yuki. Understand? You don't need them.
There was the question again. Could Akito be wrong?
"Yuki-kun?"
Because something in him did want to trust her. He wanted to need this women with the rainbow umbrella and the daughter his age.
So what if she didn't want or need him? So what if she didn't really care? Just for a moment, he had something Akito said was impossible. It was like winning. Like standing on his own.
You need me.
She jerked her hand up and down. "C'mon! I promise that if I turn out to be some psychopathic ax-murderer, I'll be the first to call the police on myself."
"Wha - ?"
"Listen, this is probably the most disgusting weather ever to hit Tokyo and it looks like you already have a cough. I can drive you to the hospital instead, but I'm defiantly not leaving you out he -"
"No! N - no hospitals, please, I'm okay." Yuki looked down again, feeling stupid.
But she was laughing. "Whatever you say. Let's get out'a here, shall we?"
Again, she jerked her hand firmly.
"Okay…" His hand seemed to move on its own, reaching up slowly. What was he doing? He hesitated, pulling the fingers back a little.
Kyoko rolled her eyes, snatched his hand and hauled him upright with such surprising strength, Yuki thought he felt his feet momentarily lift off the ground.
"There. Was that so hard?"
Her hand was so warm
And then, as if lying in wait, the infuriating exhaustion promptly vibrated all over him. The ground was like a magnet pulling him forward. He was going to fall…
Kyoko suddenly leaned toward him so he just had time to catch her elbow with his other hand. Startled, Yuki stood slowly upright again, breathing heavily.
He clutched her purple coat sleeve without looking up.
"I'm sorry," he murmured.
"Nonsense."
She waited till he was steady, then started walking. Aside from slowing down over the slick tree roots she gave no sign of thinking he'd done anything unusual.
She started talking about how bad the roads were and how there was no point in buying her new car if it was going to wind up in a stupid snow bank.
Yuki concentrated on walking. With the air still coming in thin and his limbs shuddering over every movement… what if he were to transform? In front of -
Oh, knock it off. If he could just sit down soon and focus on breathing, he'd be fine.
"Cars are such a pain in the winter! There's ice on the roads and hail on the windshield and you're at the mercy of the snowplows if you even want to leave your house in the morning! Haaah!" she moaned. "I miss my motorcycle! But you know, I promised my daughter I'd be more careful and cars are safer, I suppose. Mou…"
The trees abruptly ended and they were standing next to the highway, a few feet from a silver Toyota Fortuner.
"Go ahead and climb in," Kyoko prompted over her shoulder. She dropped his hand and walked around to the driver's side.
Yuki climbed into the imitation-leather passenger seat and closed his door. While waiting for Kyoko to shake the slush off her umbrella, he looked around at the car's interior.
No one could have guessed this was a new car.
The back bench was invisible under a pile of clothes, grocery bags, used Styrofoam cups, and what looked like a guitar case sticking up from the bottom.
There was a long leather jacket draped over the back of his seat, the dashboard was strewn with unopened mail and magazines, and every cup holder contained a different Sanrio bobble head.
He also noticed a photograph in a popsicle-stick frame hanging from the rearview mirror, but all he could make out of the figure was a lot of dark brown hair.
The other door opened and he quickly dropped his gaze.
"Alrighty, then!" Kyoko slid into her seat, tossed the wet umbrella into the hurricane of junk in the back, and slammed the door shut. "Let's get go - oh, here!" she reached across his lap and popped the glove box open. Several empty cigarette boxes fell on the floor as she pulled out a travel-pack of Kleenex and handed it to him.
With a flush of embarrassment, he realized that this whole time, his nose had been dripping down onto his upper lip. He turned away and wiped a Kleenex furiously across his face, then resumed staring at his knees.
"Thanks."
"Hm?" she said distractedly, staring out the rear window as she backed onto the road. The engine rumbled in protest over a frozen puddle, then pulled out and forward.
She spun a little red dial and more heat surged out of the vents. Yuki felt it tingle over his cheeks and begin thawing the tips of his ears.
Dripping gray trees blurred together as and the SUV settled into a comfortable forty five miles an hour.
Kyoko lit into an anecdote about accidentally following a snow plow halfway to Saitama before she realized it was headed the opposite direction from her workplace.
Warm air filled the cluttered car and Yuki eventually took off his scarf, balling it on the crumb-strewn floor by his feet.
"So," said Kyoko. "This place you're headed - you staying with family?"
"Oh - yes, my cousin's house, he lives there."
"I see. Your parents live close by?"
"No, they uh - no. Not… not close.
"Huh. Even so, they didn't give you a ride to your cousin's? In this kind of weather - that seems odd." She glanced at him then back out this windshield. "I'm sorry, I'm being nosy… but really, especially if you're sick -"
"They couldn't drive me," Yuki said suddenly. "They're… they died - last year."
Why on earth had he said that? What an awful lie to tell - after all, he didn't hate them! He didn't consider them dead… but how else could he explain it? He didn't even know where his mother was anymore. For all he knew…
"Oh."
He looked up. Kyoko straightened her arms against the steering wheel, pressing her shoulders into the seat back, and let out a deep, shaky sigh.
"Yuki-kun, I'm… I'm so sorry." Yuki opened his mouth in a guilty panic but couldn't think of any way to take it back. She spoke quietly into the strained silence, "When my husband died…well…"
Yuki mentally kicked himself. She wanted to share her grief with him because he 'understood'. But he couldn't understand! He didn't know what it was like to lose someone like that, to be suddenly alone -
His stomach wrenched inward.
Poor little Yuki. You didn't know? They left you with me because they didn't want you. There was no other reason. Poor thing. I thought they told you…
The car jolted over a piece of tire rubber and skated slowly back to the middle. Yuki tilted his head down so the bangs hid his eyes.
"It's like sleepwalking, isn't it?" Kyoko was gripping the steering wheel as if it were a rollercoaster bar, but her voice was calm, thoughtful. "You walk through nightmares and good dreams - dreams that seem almost real - but you can feel it… that you're not really awake. You can't focus or raise your voice… something's always out of place, you know?"
He nodded, fingernails dug into palms. The used Kleenex squeezed in his right fist grew smaller.
"But then… eventually - and it may seem like forever - but one day, you do wake up." He felt her blue eyes on him as the car began to slow. "It will happen."
Wake up?
He hadn't meant to answer. But he heard his voice anyway, small and humiliatingly desperate.
"When?"
The moment he spoke, the car came to a stop and the shifting park-break drowned out his question.
Kyoko seemed to shake herself. "This is the address, which driveway is it now?"
Yuki made his face relax and looked up. "This is fine, I'll walk the rest."
"Are you sure?" Kyoko leaned toward the windshield as if making sure the house was truly nearby. "Looks like these drives go back a'ways."
"It's not a long walk, really." He tried a polite smile which seemed to work because she nodded.
"Alright, if you're sure."
"I am." He pulled the handle and the door popped open a crack. "Thank you - I'm so sorry for the trouble."
She flicked her hand casually. "Don't be silly, it wasn't any trouble. Plus it makes a great story!"
His smile froze, then vanished into frantic headshaking. "No, please don't! Don't tell anyone about me, it wouldn't… It would be better if…you - you should forget you met me," he finished lamely. Would he ever stop being so rude?
Kyoko looked confused but her sparkling eyes remained steady. "Yuki-kun, I not only can't do that - I wouldn't want to." She studied his tense expression a moment, then said, "But here: I promise not to tell if you don't. There, now it's like an inside joke, nee?"
Yuki loosened his grip on the door and tried smiling again. He gave up halfway through and went for a nod instead. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
He pushed the door all the way open and stepped out onto the gravel cross-drive. The cold wind greeted him with a friendly smack in the face.
He was about to close the door when, "Yuki-kun!"
He turned back, looking down into the car. Kyoko's head cocked a little to the side and she opened and shut her mouth once before saying, "Take care, okay?"
"I will -"
"Really… take care of yourself."
There was something in her face he didn't understand. "Okay."
She just nodded, smiling oddly.
Feeling a little awkward, he turned back to the road and shut the door. Now for the hard part.
Shigure was very proud of his new house. At the last New Year's Celebration, he had told everyone who'd sit still long enough all about it. Yuki was good at sitting still.
"It's the house furthest from the main road with the most beautiful yard surrounded by tall trees…practically the middle of nowhere! It was very expensive, but the landlady couldn't resist my offer." He'd leaned toward Yuki who leaned away slightly. "Nor the mysterious pink roses on her doorstep." He winked. Yuki twitched.
Even in the fading daylight, it was easy to tell that the far left road was the longest; it skirted two other drives and disappeared around ashen tree trunks.
Yuki gulped in some sickly cold air and started walking. The thick clouds had churned the sky into a dismal, colorless mass. Here in the open, it spat rain on him with languid disinterest.
Clutching his coat tighter, Yuki made for the trees where the dripping would be more predictable. Sure enough, as the gravel turned to muddy snow, both the rain and wind died to an easy trickle.
Yuki never looked behind him. Neither did he notice that Kyoko's car didn't back down to the road till long after he was out of sight.
After ten minutes of trudging through the white-brown sludge, Shigure's driveway was starting to feel ludicrously long. Still, Kiabara was technically in walking distance - perhaps he should get a bicycle for days when his bronchitis was acting up like this… at least during the winter.
A bicycle. School. Home.
Yuki watched his feet walk. Maybe it wasn't good to think like that - but he didn't care. He'd come this far, why not assume he would make it the rest of the way?
The house suddenly appeared around a corner of trees and Yuki felt his heart rate spike. Don't stop.
Up the path, the wooden porch steps, fist raised… his knuckle froze over the doorframe. His pants were stained brown from when he'd fallen in the mud and damp bangs clung all over his forehead. He must look a terrible mess.
The sound of boisterous conversation filtered through the thin walls and one of the two voices was definitely Shigure's. He bit his lip -
-and knocked.
And knocked again. And again. Whoever Shigure was talking to was awfully loud.
He knocked hard and at last heard one voice coming closer.
"Yes, poor Mit-chan! I'll probably be the death of -" The door slid open and Shigure stopped mid-laugh. His jaw dropped slightly. "Yu - Yuki-kun?"
There was a flash of a bright red kimono over Shigure's shoulder. "Is that your lovely editor now, Gure-san?"
Yuki went rigid. Ayame appeared several meters from the doorway, took one look at Yuki, and also turned to stone, falling abruptly silent.
Shigure was still staring at him. "Yuki-kun… how did you - ?"
This was no time to hesitate. Without looking at his brother, Yuki snapped forward into what was probably a very awkward bow, and took a deep breath.
"Shigure, I - I've been accepted at Kiabara high school close by and I plan to attend day-after-tomorrow when the first term starts. I have come to ask you if - if you might allow me to… live with you for duration of the school year." His voice vanished momentarily into sharp coughing. Another breath.
"I promise not to be a burden on you and I'll pay my share of the rent once I've finished school and I'll abide by any rules you choose and do my best to be a good student…" he squeezed his eyes shut. One last deep breath, "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"
The last syllable was strangled by a ferocious cough that made Yuki's head spin a little.
He remained bowed toward his filthy shoes and panted. All he could do was wait for Shigure's answer and he refused to move an inch 'til he got it.
The silence was agonizingly long.
Then, softly, Shigure chuckled and Yuki felt a hand spread through his hair and rest heavily on his head. He opened his eyes to the porch-floor.
"All this time… and in the end you acted on your own." Shigure sighed with what sounded like relief. "Well done, Yuki-kun."
His hand dropped and, feeling bewildered, Yuki finally looked up. "Then - I can… stay?"
Shigure smiled warmly. "Of course you can. As long as you need it, you're home is here." His voice rose to it's normal level again. "Besides, it'll be nice to have such a cute boy in the house to distract Mitsuru!" He shot over his shoulder, "Nee, Aya?"
Yuki felt his left eyelid twitch and he straightened up slightly. "Wha - ?"
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure you'll grow out of that face of yours… but in the meantime, you should take advantage of it! You might try introducing yourself as 'Yuki-chan' - especially with girls…"
Yuki went bug-eyed. He opened his mouth to reply and instantly fell to coughing again. The trembling fatigue caught up at last. His knees buckled and he tipped forward, folding over Shigure's waiting arm.
His cousin smiled innocently. "Would 'chin' be better?"
"Why you -" Yuki ground out.
And with a bubbly explosion, he disappeared into a cloud of pink smoke.
TBC
