Machi didn't get up the next morning, convinced she was sick. She was going insane. People didn't just turn into animals. Handsome boys didn't become rats.
There's something not quite right about that girl...
How many times had she heard that? From her parents, her parents' friends, her brother's friends. From everyone. She's just so odd. It's like she doesn't care about anything at all.
She cared; she cared about a lot of things. Right now, one of those things was her sanity. She thought she was sane, but there was one thing hinting that maybe she wasn't. One fact she couldn't ignore. She thought she'd seen a boy turn into a rat.
Her mind was like a broken record, replaying those words over and over again. Boy, rat, Yuki, mouse, rat, Yuki, boy, rat, how?
She lay face first on her bed, and stretched her arm across to the other side, reaching for her phone of her night table. She had to feel around for awhile. There were mugs and papers, and books stacked high, hiding the phone. Eventually she found it. She flipped it open and called the school, telling them she wasn't feeling well and would be absent. That done, she buried her face in her pillow and tried to shut her overheating, overworking mind. It wasn't working.
She lifted her heavy head from the pillow and looked around at her messy room. Maybe she'd clean it.
She let her head fall back down. Nope. Not today. Definitely not today.
She drifted back to sleep. For the rest of the day, she dozed, read, thought, drank tea, and then started tearing her hair out with confusion. She just couldn't understand what was going on. She couldn't make sense of it all.
Around four-thirty in the afternoon, her stomach rumbled loudly. "Augh," she put a hand to her stomach and then threw on a slip on dress that was only mildly stained. At least her coat was clean, and it was a long coat that covered her clothing. She grabbed her wallet and her key to the apartment. She flung open the door, hitting someone who had been lurking outside straight in the face.
"Ow, ow, ow." It was Yuki. Groaning and holding his nose. "Give me some warning, would you?"
Warning? He was the one who hadn't knocked to let her know he was there. She opened her mouth to say as much, but he'd already straightened and was looking at her in a way that made her nervous. He was both kind and nervous and serious. He looked like he had something important to say. Something about him turning into a rat.
No. Boys don't turn into rats, she reminded herself. It's not possible.
"I think," Yuki scratched the back of his head. "I think maybe we should talk about something."
Machi wanted to say, "Yes." She thought, yes. What she actually said was, "I'm hungry."
He held up a bag of groceries. "I brought some pastries and dumplings and meat."
She opened the door again and held it for him to pass through. They cleared a space on the floor so that they'd have somewhere reasonably tidy to eat their meal.
"You really should get a table," he said as he arranged the bags of food on the floor.
She shrugged. The floor worked fine for her. Besides a table would just be another piece of furniture to pile stuff on top. It's not like it would change how she lived.
They ate in silence, then Yuki cleared his throat. "Umm..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "You might be a little confused right now. You might think that something weird happened yesterday in the Student Council office."
So I'm right. Something did happen. It's not just that I'm insane.
"Basically, I'm, well." He groaned. "I don't know how to explain this. Shigure usually manages to do it."
"Shigure?"
"My good-for-nothing older cousin."
"Ah."
"Well, basically, the Sohma family's cursed." He winced. That hadn't come out smooth.
Machi tilted her head, trying to come up with something to say. Nothing came.
"You see, for some reason, whenever we're hugged by someone of the opposite gender we become the animals of the zodiac."
"Oh." Machi wasn't sure what to make of this. It would mean he'd turned into a rat when she'd bumped into him. It'd mean that the boy she had a crush on, actually did turn into a rat. And that was a bit hard to swallow. But it explained a lot. The rumours of him pushing girls away, when he was so obviously gentle. The kind of oddness that surrounded any of the Sohma's in the school. "So, Kyo-san, Hatsuharu-san, and Momiji-san?"
Yuki nodded. "Yep."
"That's... weird."
"It is." He seemed to be waiting for something. He was holding his breath, searching her face. What did he want? What was he looking for? "Machi, what do you think?"
She was thinking a lot of things. I'm not mad! Was a big one. How is such a thing scientifically possible? He really trusted me with this? Then, of course, he had to, I saw him.
"If you want to have nothing to do with me, I totally understand," he continued.
"But we both work on the Council; there's no way to get away from you." She bit her lip. That came out way wrong. "I mean, it's not like I'd want to get away from you," she tried to amend.
Her awkward stammering seemed to be enough for Yuki, who smiled at her. "I told you. I can't believe I told you."
His smile was contagious, and she found herself shyly returning it. "I won't tell anyone, I promise."
"I trust you," he beamed at her, causing her heart to pound a little faster.
"I-I," she tried to think of a way to respond. "I'm glad." In the end, it was the truth. She was glad, and letting him know that felt good. Besides she'd told him about herself- about her brother, about her fear of perfection. It seemed right that now they both held a bit of truth about the other person.
Yuki reached out and fiddled with the laminated maple leaf he'd given her that was lying beside them on the floor. He twirled it in his hands. "Would you like to go to a movie or something?" he asked hesitantly, unaccustomed to asking girls out.
"S-sure."
They grabbed their coats and left the room. There was a good two feet of distance between them as they walked to the theatre.
A Mogeta special was playing, so they decided to watch it. Like many children's shows, they realized as they watched it that it wasn't anywhere near as good as they might remember. But still, at the end, Yuki bought Machi a little Mogeta postcard, that she accepted happily.
"Thank you," he said later, standing at her door. "Thank you." Thank you for not hating me, for not being disgusted. Thank you for knowing the truth.
"You're welcome." She turned the handle and opened the door. She paused, "and thank you."
Yuki walked home on air. He breezed in the door to face Shigure and Kyo and Tohru.
"Where were you?" Shigure asked. "We were almost worried."
"Yes," Tohru said, reached up to touch his forehead. "Are you okay? You look flushed."
"I'm fine, I'm fine. No fever." He just waved them all away and climbed the stairs to his room, where he sat on the futon, still amazed by what had just happened.
A knock on the door interrupted him.
"Yeah?"
Shigure peeked his head in. "Can I come in?"
"I guess. What?"
"Yuki... how do I put this lightly? You went to see a girl didn't you?"
Yuki nodded. "Yes, I did."
"Does she, well, know?"
"As of today, yes."
"You know that I'll need to tell Akito."
"Why?" he jumped up, agitated. "You know what he's like. Let's just... not tell him."
"I can't," Shigure said. "I'd like to, but I... just can't."
"The bond?"
"Call it what you will, it doesn't change the fact."
"What about Nii-san? He didn't tell about his lady, did he?"
"He did. It's just that no one else really cares about him. Akito found him annoying, and didn't see any issue with it. You, on the other hand, are rather precious."
"So you're going to tell." Yuki put his hand in his hands, and groaned. "Of course you will. Akito's little lap dog."
"I told you, I have to." There seemed to be an ounce of apology and sincerity in Shigure's tone.
That night, Yuki didn't sleep well. He was remembering. Remembering the day when all of his new friends had their memories erased. Remembering Kana. Momiji's mother. Rin. Haru. Kisa. Hiro. None of the stories were happy ones. And he knew that when Akito found out, he'd pay a great price. Like Shigure said, he was the rat. He was the 'special' one, meant to be kept by Akito's side, meant to be groomed to become leader of the family.
It didn't take a genius (and, let's face it, Yuki was kind of a genius,) to see that things weren't going to be pretty.