A/N: Thanks to all of you who have read, alerted or put this story to your favourites! Especially I would like to thank those who reviewed the first chapter; you made me feel like finishing the second chapter faster. ;) Grammatical corrections are still greatly appreciated, so if you note any mistakes, please tell me! Without further talk, I present you:
Of Bets and Butterflies
by eishi © 2007
Chapter Two: About the Prince
During the next two days it came quite clear that approaching the Target (Kyo refused to use the rat boy's real name) was impossible, or at least very hard. He was always surrounded by his fan club, and if not, by Touru or his other friends. The moments when he was alone were sparse, and Kyo was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to accomplish his mission on those moments. He knew it wasn't that wiser to wait for a moment to the Target to be alone, as the rumours of their kiss (the thought made Kyo shiver) would reach the whole school in matter of minutes, but somehow it felt better to think that there wouldn't be so many first-hand witnesses that way. The point was that someone would see them anyway, but Kyo could at least decide, how many some ones there would be.
And the less the better. Even if it didn't matter to anyone else.
The biggest problem, however, was that he couldn't get close enough the Target to… (Kyo shivered) kiss him.
I'm never going to use that verb again. From now on, it's just going to be 'to k him', Kyo quickly decided in his mind to not corrupt the whole idea of kissing by his horrible mental images.
Anyway, to k the Target he had to get close. And how was he supposed to get close, if the Target had the reflexes of a… rat? The only occasion they were close together was when they were fighting, and one couldn't call that very romantic situation.
Why on earth should he care about the place and the romantic nature of the occasion, he had no idea – but somehow it gave professionalism and shield to his "mission". If Souma Kyo did something, he usually did it properly, put his heart and soul into it. And to pretend to be actually interested doing his "mission" well meant that he could avoid the k for a long time under the cover of "preparations".
I can be so smart sometimes, Kyo thought, satisfied with himself. Too bad there's no one to see my best moments.
"Wake up, you dumb cat." Kyo was pulled back to the real world rather rudely. The Target was standing in front of his desk and staring right at him. Touru was on the left side of the Target and looking slightly worried. The arrogant look on the rat boy's face made Kyo snap immediately.
"What do you want, stupid rat?"
"Honda-san has been calling you for five minutes. And stop giving me that look," Target snorted. "The lesson ended ten minutes ago. Whatever you were daydreaming about, stop doing that. You made Honda-san worry over nothing."
"Stop telling me what to do and wh—!"
"Now, now, Kyon-Kyon, do you really want to make Touru upset?" Uo's chilly voice came behind him. Kyo knew very well that tone (that horrible, freezing tone), closed his mouth at once and began to pout. Stupid Yankee just had to ruin his one and only fun.
"If you're finished with your stupidity, how about moving your legs?" Target scoffed. Kyo raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, Kyo-kun, th-that's what I came to tell you!" Touru said happily. "The lessons are over for today, so are you coming home with us?"
"Whatever," Kyo grunted. Hanajima gave him a warning look, so he just took his bag and followed the others. Although he hated to admit that the Target was right, he should stop daydreaming and began paying attention. He had no memories of the last lesson; he had been minding his own business the whole time. No wonder his grades were bad.
The walk home was quiet: Touru was occasionally talking to Hanajima and Uo, made a couple of remarks to the Target, too, but gave just a worried glance to Kyo. Target didn't say anything, and nor did Kyo. The girls were soon the only ones talking, which didn't make the situation any less awkward.
Kyo snorted in his mind, ignored the others and began to stare the sky. It was prettily blue, with few clouds here and there, but Kyo had a feeling that it was going to rain in the evening. Sometimes he wished that his cat instincts wouldn't have worked so well – he could've done well without knowing when it was going to rain and when it wasn't.
He was right, unfortunately. They had just stepped into the living room, which was occupied by Shigure and Ayame (Kyo chose to ignore that man for the sake of his nerves), when the first raindrops fell down and made Kyo feel even worse. Touru blabbered something about making lunch and disappeared into the kitchen. The Target was surrounded by the two most lunatic persons in the world, and Kyo had a nice chance to slip into his room and escape those two.
If there really is a god, he has to have no sense of justice. Just a sense of irony.
The rain was making Kyo feel uneasy, so he decided to take a nap before doing his homework. Although he hated the rain in all its forms, listening to its calm rhythm was something that he liked to do. He fell asleep almost instantly after settling to his bed and listening the raindrops fall.
The cat was hiding something. He was sure of it. He knew there was something wrong with the whole household.
Shigure was constantly cracking jokes about the cat's love life and sometimes even jokes about his sexual orientation – and the worst part was that Honda-san was laughing at those.
Honda-san laughing at Shigure's dirty jokes. Yuki was sure he had to go to a therapist if it didn't stop soon. The last barrier of innocence had been broken, and suddenly the world seemed much more cruel place than it had been yesterday.
Then Ayame had come to visit. Yuki knew perfectly well that Ayame usually preferred to stay at his shop while Shigure visited him – not the other way round, and entirely because Yuki still loathed his brother so much that he had really hard time staying in the same room. Shigure had accepted that fact and rarely let Ayame come for a visit.
But now… now he was trapped between Ayame and Shigure, who were both cracking bad jokes about the cat. And Honda-san, who was serving them tea, was laughing at those.
Well, more like giggling, but still. Honda-san was making fun of someone.
I better call my therapist, Yuki thought sarcastically.
"Yuki-kuuun, could you go and fetch Kyon-Kyon for us?" Shigure asked with gleaming eyes.
"What?" Yuki groaned.
"He's missing the wonderful tea that Touru-kun made for us!"
Yeah, sure. Like that's your only reason.
Yuki got up and hurried to the stairs. Even if it was for only a minute or so, this way he could escape his crazy brother for a while. And his crazy cousin, too. Sometimes he wondered why all the Souma family members were maniacs in one way or another. The craziest family in the history.
He pushed thoughts about his family aside as he noticed that he had reached the top of the stairs. Slowly and unwillingly he went and knocked on the cat's door. There was no answer, so he pushed the door open and immediately barked, rather rudely:
"Get down and drink your tea! You'll hurt Honda-san's feelings if you don't!"
Then he realised that his "friendly invitation" had gone to waste, since the cat was fast asleep. He stared at his cousin from the threshold for a while, unsure of what to do, until the noises of downstairs reached his brain and he decided to do as told, because the humiliation because of waking the cat wasn't as bad as humiliation of not waking him. He tiptoed next to the bed, still a bit worried about waking him, but then grabbed the cat's shoulders and gently shook him.
"Wake up, you. Honda-san has made tea for us."
The cat growled something Yuki couldn't understand and turned his head so that he was facing the darker side. Yuki sighed.
"Wake up. You stupid cat."
The cat groaned, but half-opened his eyes this time. Yuki frowned. "Get up. The tea will get cold."
"Damgrth…"
"What?" The cat had closed his eyes again, and Yuki was starting to lose his patience. What was wrong with the cat, anyway? Normally it was Yuki himself who had trouble waking up, not the ever-energetic cat. Yuki opened his mouth to shout the next command, but right then the sleepyhead moved and seemed to finally wake up. He sat up, and Yuki let his hands drop.
"About time, you stupid cat. Now get downstairs before Ayame decides to come see what's keeping us."
"Damgr…"
"Huh?"
Suddenly the cat was much closer to Yuki than he had been few seconds ago, and the lack of space between them made the alarming bells on Yuki's head ring. The cat's eyes were only half-open, but the red colour and the intensity of his eyes scared Yuki. For some reason he had lost the thought of how to move, and all he could do was wait and stare how the cat got closer… and closer… how very close their lips were…
"SHIT!"
The cat jumped backwards and hit his head on the wall. Yuki crawled away from the bed as fast as he could and stopped at the door. They were both shaking, looking at each other, and both wondering the same thing:
What on earth did just happen?
"Tea."
"What?" The cat's eyes were now completely open and the shade of red was much colder than it had been moment ago. Yuki struggled to find his voice again.
"Tea. That's what I came to tell you." His breathing was finally calming down. "Honda-san made tea for us."
"Oh. Okay." The cat was rubbing his head and didn't seem to know where to look. "I… uh, I'll be down in a minute."
"Ye-yeah…" Yuki swallowed. "Yeah. I'll go tell them."
He escaped from the room and almost ran back to the living room. Shigure and Ayame looked curiously at him when he entered.
"What took you so long, Yuki-kun?" Shigure asked. Yuki shrugged, since he didn't have any witty answer, and took his place. Ayame grinned at him.
"So where is our dear kitty? Weren't you—"
"He's coming."
"Are you sure? Maybe you should go check."
"He was sleeping. I woke him up. Now he's coming. Go check yourself if you don't believe me." He knew he was sounding defensive, but couldn't help but let the words come. The confusing situation was playing itself in his head and he still wasn't sure what had happened… and what could have happened.
I need a therapist. Now, Yuki vaguely thought before quickly thanking for the tea and disappearing from the room just before the cat entered it.
Kyo was pretty sure he was slowly becoming mad. Not only had he dreamt about kissing the Target, he had actually tried to kis… to k the rat when he had woken up. Stupid rat just had had to be there, hadn't he? When Kyo had woken up, the first thing he had seen had been his eyes – the pale, lilac eyes, and he had thought he was still dreaming. That was the only reason why he had tried to k the Target, even without any audience: he had figured that his dream would work as practise.
Then he had started to think. Noises coming from downstairs. The smell of plants in the rat's hands. The drumming of the rain. And suddenly everything had been too clear – he had tried to k the Target in reality. Not in his dream.
His only hope was that the Target wouldn't even bother to think about that strange awakening. He just hoped that the Target was that cold towards him…
Then again, that thought made him feel oddly empty inside.
I'm really, truly, honestly becoming mad, Kyo thought and let out a sigh. He looked at the clock ticking on his table: seven p.m. I've been sleeping for two hours.
He finally jumped to his feet, stretched and went downstairs. He saw a glimpse of Target's shirt before the boy disappeared from the living room, and Kyo could fully understand: Ayame was still there.
"Kyon-Kyon! What took you so long?"
"Not your business," Kyo snapped and sat down. He realised too late that it had been the wrong answer, since Ayame and Shigure exchanged knowing looks. Oh no. Oh no. They couldn't be thinking that…
"Here's your tea, Kyo-kun!" Touru smiled as she poured the liquid into his cup. "I hope Yuki-kun wasn't too rude when he woke you up. You were sleeping, right?"
"Yeah. I was."
Touru nodded, still a huge smile plastered on her face and turned to pour more tea for the perverted pair. Shigure grinned mischievously and leant theatrically onto the table.
"Oh, don't worry, Touru-kun. Yuki-kun can be very gentle when he wants to."
Ayame and Touru both burst into laughter, which made Kyo's hair stand to its end – the sight of Touru laughing at Shigure's pervert jokes was too much for him. Shigure he could endure, Ayame barely but still, but Touru…
"Going somewhere, Kyon-Kyon?"
"To do homework." He had slammed the cup onto the table and was now standing at the door. "I have some better things to do than listen to your stupid jokes. And for your record, all he did was wake me up."
Then he stomped up the stairs and left the furiously laughing trio after him.
The visit of Ayame wasn't as short as usual, and even though Kyo had already known that he would stay as long as he could to torture them all (well, except for Shigure, who was actually enjoying the snake's company), Kyo had hoped to not see Ayame on breakfast the next morning. Kyo wasn't the only one who was outraged because of Ayame: the Target who usually was rather sleepy in the mornings was fully awake and constantly complaining about his brother's unwanted company. Ayame only took this as a challenge to prove "his unyielding brotherly love towards his shy younger sibling" and kept talking melodramatically about the coldness of the family and the poor situation of the poorer families of the poorest countries "who do not even have the slightest change to learn to know the full meaning of the word 'love'".
Kyo managed not to spill his milk while hiding a furious laughter that was about to erupt. The Target gave him a funny look, and Kyo quickly hid his amusement behind his usual "I-couldn't-care-less"-mask. As much as he hated his cousin Ayame, he had to admit that sometimes, on right occasions, on right time, Ayame could be funny. For a second.
"Honda-san, we're leaving." The Target had stood up and was angrily holding his bag. Touru looked confused and began to stammer:
"Bu-but, Yuki-kun, why? Th-the school doesn't—"
"We're leaving," the rat boy repeated, grabbed Touru by hand and fled from the room. Ayame called after them:
"Have a good day, dear brother! And oh, Touru-kun, please make sure to keep him away from cats, you know how much he hates those as mice themselves…"
Shigure snickered from Ayame's left, and Kyo decided that it was time to take his leave, too. He got out of the house quickly, but not quick enough to escape Shigure's obscene comment: "Be a good boy, Kyo-kun! Just remember that Yuki-kun tends to be forceful! …while fighting."
Ayame and Shigure cracked into laughter, and Kyo had to use his every inch of self-control to not tear the house apart. It's just the stupid dog. You know his sense of humour. It's nothing.
The Target and Touru had left a couple of minutes earlier, but he managed to catch them on the way. Touru was nervously blabbering something about the weather and Target's "secret base" (it wasn't much of a secret, if everyone in the family knew what and where it was…) when Kyo approached them.
"Kyo-kun! You're walking with us?"
"Sure."
Nervous silence lingered on a while, until Touru decided to fill the gap again and began to chat something that went unnoticed by Kyo. He was looking at the rat from the corner of his eye and wondering, should he try the k today at lunch break.
"What are you staring at, stupid cat?"
Perhaps another time. The Target was not in a good mood.
Kyo turned his gaze away, and Touru – who had been cut in for a minute – resumed her sentence. They reached the school gates, and Touru spotted Hanajima and Uo somewhere in the crowd. She waved at them and took a step forward. This action left Kyo and the Target standing next to each other, nothing between them. Kyo realised immediately that now there was nothing to save him. The Target needed to take out his anger—
"Stop staring at me, you damn cat!"
— and Kyo would have to serve as a punching bag.
"I wasn't staring at you," he retorted. "Stop being so paranoid."
"Who's being paranoid?" The Target was now almost shouting. "I know there's something going on behind my back! And somehow, I don't know, it's got to be related to you!"
"Why is everything automatically my fault?" Kyo shouted back, his self-control shattered long ago. "It's always my fault! Just blame the cat, will you! Always me! Would you sometimes look in the mirror?"
"I don't need a mirror to know that you're standing behind me!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you're constantly harassing me!"
"I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
Someone from Kyo's behind said loudly: "Hey, the Gay Cousins are fighting again!" This, if none else, made Kyo lose his temper completely. He threw a punch to Target's face, which the other avoided and aimed a kick to his stomach. Suddenly there was no school yard anymore in Kyo's mind, no noises except the huffs and slams they were sharing and no one else but the Target in his eyes. The blows and the cold look in the lilac eyes were everything in his mind right now, there was no place for anything else—
"Stop that! Kyo-kun! Yuki-kun! Please stop!"
"Knock it off, boys!" Uo was suddenly in between them. "RIGHT NOW!"
They lowered their arms at the same time and stared at each other, ignoring Uo. To hell with the bet. To hell with everything. If this was their only way to communicate, then how on earth would there ever be even a slight chance to get close to him?
"Fine!" Kyo spat. "If that's what you want, then I'm not going to be anywhere near you from now on! Is that fine by you?"
"That's excellent!" Target scoffed. "Finally you get the point! That's going to solve my all problems!"
"Go to hell!" Kyo turned, kicked his bag away and ran. He ran from the yard to the street, to the forest, all the way to home… Then he remembered that he couldn't go back, because Shigure and Ayame were still there, and stopped cold. He needed a place to hide. He just needed some place to be by himself. Just some place far away from his stupid life…
"What are doing here, Kyo?"
Oh god. It can't be… please don't let that be…
"Haru."
God must hate me.
"Shouldn't you be at school?"
"Same question to you."
"Good point."
"Lost your way again, did you?"
"No, just my sense of time." Haru scratched his neck. "I need to talk to you."
God must really, really hate me.
TBC
