Killer Disco Queen: Always showing your crazy, one review at a time... but I love it xD thank you, thank you! I've always done best with portraying Yuki, I'll admit, but this chapter is... well, I'm very sorry about the major fail that this chapter is. I did my best *cries in a corner* Aw, you don't wanna comment on my man? Tough for you, he's a main. You WILL give him a proper review! And thank you so much, the same goes for you too woman!
James Birdsong: Thank you! This one isn't the best, but I hope you'll overlook it!
MoonlitAtMidnight: I forgot too until i started writing it out. And really? Interesting... I mean, it makes sense, but I never actually thought about it. Well, you'll find that out next chapter... which will hopefully be a lot better. Thank you!
Chapter 3
A Cruel Fate
Tensions were high and patience was wearing thin in the back seat of Hatori's expensive black car. A deep, bitter silence enveloped the two teens, who sat as close to their side's door as physically possible. They even went so far as to hardly even look glance toward the other's general direction, opting to stare down the foliage moving rapidly in and out of view from either side. The city had melted away a half hour ago, revealing a large open field before-you guessed it-a seemingly never-ending forest of large evergreen trees.
Kyo's leg bounced aggressively into the back of the passenger seat, aggravating Yuki to no end since the movement was constant in his peripheral vision. However, since he was ignoring him (or at the very least trying to), he chose to keep his mouth shut, allowing the finicky cat to jiggle the seat in front of him, especially since that was where their mutual enemy sat. Things were looking pretty bad for them right now. At first they hadn't even batted an eyelash at that stupid dog's declaration of vengeance, but now? Now things were a tad concerning.
In the passenger seat the mutt sat, humming to a sunny American pop song that Yuki just barely understood. The smile on his face was enough to worsen the rat's already foul mood. Shigure getting what he wanted, thanks to the ever-serious dragon behind the wheel, sickened him. The man sat straight up, eyes unwavering from the road ahead. If only Hatori didn't had the power to make him pack his bags. There was so much he had to take care of just today, let alone the next few days. Quite frankly he didn't have time for this, and he was positive Hatori didn't either.
Yuki glanced over just as Kyo crossed his arms and glared in front of him, staring down the dog's profile as he twisted to chat up the family doctor that probably wasn't listening. This wasn't fair. His leg had finally ceased its obsessive movement, but he didn't care about that. Maybe if he'd have just kept his face glued to the uneventful outside he'd have been able to keep calm. But not now. This was his fault.
In a voice so light and hushed he was sure Kyo almost hadn't heard him, Yuki accused, "This is all your fault."
"How the hell is that?" Kyo asked a couple seconds later, as loudly as he dared. Wouldn't want Hatori to hear them arguing yet again during this forever-long car ride. Just to be sure, his amethyst orbs darkened to a deep plum with annoyance darted quickly in Hatori's direction, watching the doctor swiftly reach over and cut off the awful music the dog had been (somehow) enjoying the entire time the channel had been on. At first that would have made it harder for Yuki to respond, but the moment the music was off, Shigure kicked up a fuss, whining at the man to turn it back on.
After making sure the two of them weren't being paid any attention, he turned back to Kyo, who was now narrowing his eyes at him. "That fight started because of you," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "so that makes everything that's happening to us your fault."
Kyo scoffed, causing Yuki to attempt to shush him. "No, it's your fault!" Yuki furrowed his brow, challenging the cat with a look that said "oh really?". The light tilting of his head toward the boy was a show of him listening to whatever idiocy he'd be subjected to next. "You're the one that kicked me into everything!" This was whispered so harshly that both of them faced the front to make sure the two were still bickering, then right back glare at one another.
"You're being too loud, you stupid cat." Yuki straightened himself in his seat, turning to place his elbow on the armrest attached to the door. Kyo grunted at him, giving himself a couple seconds of silence so that he didn't yell what he was about to say next.
"Don't call me stupid, you damned rat…"
"In order for that to happen you'd have to stop acting stupid, stupid."
That did it.
"It least I'm not a prissy little girly boy!" Kyo hollered, managing to get the two men to drop their conversation and pay closer attention to them. Yuki pressed his face into his palm, heaving a sigh with a shake of the head. The vindicated smile on Shigure's face spoke more than any words he could possibly think. At least that's what Kyo had thought, until the dog had asked, "Fighting again, are we? Luckily my belongings aren't around to take most of the damage." Hatori's gaze never faltered from the road, even as Shigure said to him with a decorative sigh, "This behavior just proves these boys are in need of this."
"Of what?" Yuki asked coldly, hand falling from his face so he could better fix Shigure with an exasperated glare. "You have yet to even tell us where we're going."
Shigure pretended to ponder this statement for just a second, before a mischievous grin lit up his face. "It'll be a lot more fun if I don't." Kyo clenched his fists. The bastard was enjoying torturing them! Not like he hadn't known from the start, but the mutt could have at least attempted to hide it.
"Yeah, for you!" he said in a biting tone, causing Shigure to smile wider and turn back to sit in his seat. "Huh," he started, "I suppose it is."
The angry grunt that forced itself through Kyo's body was childish enough to make Yuki roll his eyes. The ginger shoved his knees into the back of the dog's seat again; A small bit of revenge, but his pleasure in it was short-lived when the dog snickered. The seat smoothly pulled forward and away from the cat's knees.
"Ugh!" Kyo sounded in frustration, "What the hell did I do to deserve this?!"
"Pick a fight," Yuki supplied, placing his elbow back on the armrest and his chin in the palm of his hand.
"Hey-" Kyo started, only to be promptly interrupted by a stern, monotonous warning: "I suggest you both stop fighting. Wouldn't want you to be gone any longer than you will be."
"How long will we be gone?" Yuki asked, worry shaping his features. Knowing the dog, he'd try to milk this for all it's worth. He just hoped it wouldn't be longer than one or two days. After all, he had responsibilities that just could not be put off.
Shigure looked over at Hatori, saying, "I think they should figure out about the program themselves."
"Program?" asked Kyo. If they'd been signed up for something then chances were that they'd be away from home for an extended period of time. His and Yuki's eyes locked briefly, and in that moment they seemed to realize how bad things were going to be for them.
O
When thick green trees were replaced with vibrant pink prison walls, Kyo's eyes almost popped out of his head. 'There's no way,' he thought, mind racing to brace itself for what might be happening. While turning to look at Hatori to see if he would (hopefully) keep on driving he caught glimpse of Yuki looking at the bubblegum monstrosity with an equal level of terror.
When they pulled into the curved slate driveway the two teens sunk in their seats. Swirly hedges lined the stretch of road before them, fake green grass bright and out of place when lined with the rest of the forest. Silver street lamps with intricate and wavy designs amongst their metal all had two fairly large plastic birds dangling from them, swaying with the breeze. Kyo's eyebrows furrowed while Yuki sucked in a breath. What kind of hell was this?!
"We're finally here!" Shigure stared at the horrid place with loving eyes, while Hatori didn't really pay it too much attention. What HE was worried about was the medium-sized line they joined the end of. Cars of all kinds and colors waited their turns to park or let people out by the gate. Sadly for his younger cousins, they were going to be going it alone and finding out themselves what they'd gotten themselves into.
"Welcome to Love Birds Couples Retreat!" a chirpy young woman greeted at the opened gate to the place.
"Couples what?" Yuki practically bit at her, causing the girl's large smile to waver. "Um," she said, one of her tiny fingers beginning to twirl at her dyed blonde hair. Surprisingly she recovered quickly, clasping her hands together and fixing her friendly smile, regardless of the death glare she now received from Kyo. "Couples Retreat. This is a place where couples come seeking therapy for their…" she sucked in her bottom lip, searching for the right word to use, "... problematic relationships. You are seeking therapy, right?" This skeptical question was met with hollerings of "NO!" from the two boys. Like hell they'd seek anything close to that! Like hell they'd stay for anything like that!
Shigure quickly covered their mouths with his hands, laughing at the situation in its entirety. Oh, how he enjoyed basking in their sorrow, in their rage. They'd surely know not to cross him after this, that was for certain! Hatori would have to thoroughly be thanked later for his participation.
"Sweetheart," he addressed the girl, whom immediately perked up at the pet name. Both the both the boys struggled as hard as they could, but to their own surprise, the man barely budged. Even so, it'd have been easy enough to jab one of their elbows into his ribs had Hatori not been their to scold them if they happened to injure the annoying zodiac dog. "We are from the Sohma family."
The shift in her approach towards them was abrupt. Her brown eyes widened and she made an 'O' with her cherry red lips. "Right! We've been expecting you, Sohma-san," she said respectfully, beckoning them forward with a wave of her hand. Hatori wheeled in the suitcases, Shigure lugged in the boys. Kyo thrashed around wildly, roaring, "No way in HELL am I going to a damn COUPLES RETREAT with him!" This gained quite a bit of attention, the other REAL couples giggling amongst themselves. This was literally the last thing that he'd have even thought to think of about what Shigure would do to them. This had to be the cruelest torture yet, Kagura herself couldn't top it. Well... that wasn't true. If he'd been sent with her then it'd be a million times worse. Like he'd tell the dumb rat that.
"Like I wanna be here with you either, you stupid cat," Yuki spat out, halting in his light twisting and turning. It was never fun to be the center of attention in a large crowd of those you don't know. Already the embarrassment of the situation was burning at his cheeks. Sfought and fussed the entire trip to the main office in the building, where the girl stopped and gestured to the door. "You can check them in here while I show them to their rooms. Should I… Call security?" she asked, glancing over at the still struggling boys.
"That won't be necessary," Hatori assured, casting his deathly serious gaze one the two boys in question. "Listen to me. If you two are good you'll only be here for a week." Yuki deflated with shock and Kyo's mouth fell open. "Keep this up and you'll be here for two. You decide."
The two were silent, weighing out their options, like they really had any. Yuki was numb. This whole thing was too crazy to be true, too bizarre to be believed. How was it possible for them to be at a "Couples" Retreat and they weren't a couple? Maybe if he brought this to the person in charge's attention they could fix this little mix up. But, with the way the woman had recognized their name, he was sure they'd already spoken to someone about this.
"A week?! This is screwed up," Kyo gritted out through clenched teeth, killing the two men a thousand and one ways in his mind. "You guys are sick!" Shigure shrugged his shoulders, shooing them away with the biggest smile they'd seen in a long time.
They may have been especially cruel for this… But, the way Yuki saw it… They didn't have a choice. So he followed the woman as she lead them away, listened as Kyo ranted and raved, ignored him when he tried to start a fight. Instead of engaging the cat, he glanced behind him, and his eyes narrowed as he saw Shigure and Hatori heading into the building. Before he entere, however, the dog turned his gaze upon the rat, his smirk unhindered and content.
Truly, I feel like I've failed everyone and myself with this chapter, but I PROMISE the next will be so much better, I will make sure of it! this was rushed (mostly because I didn't really wanna write it, I wanted to hurry to the fun part) so please don't hate me. Honestly, I wouldn't even be mad if you ignored this chapter and waited for the next, seriously. I'm so sorry T~T
Thanks to those who Followed:
HELLOMello
Killer Disco Queen
MarieHer15
MoonlitAtMidnight
NaraKurai
TMNTlovergirl300
iloveanime1322
tiger56761
Thanks to those who chose this story as a Favorite:
Killer Disco Queen
MoonlitAtMidnight
TMNTlovergirl300
tiger56761
