Clearly

'Tori-san came to see me today.'

'You make that sound like it's a bad thing.' I said, maybe a little too dismissively. I paused a moment- this was Hatori we were talking about. If he was the one doing the visiting, either someone got him to do it, or it was serious. '...was it?'

'He said that Akito saw.'

'Saw what, Aaya?' He was acting a little funny. Only when it came to Hatori, or sometimes Yuki was he this serious, and it worried me... and I'm not one to be worried easily. 'Get talking.'

There was the smallest of sighs as he took a moment to think. 'Gure-san, you already know what I think of Hatori. I wasn't careful enough during the dance, that's all.'

'Aaya, Aaya...' Yes, I did know. Of course I did. In fact, now that it appeared that Akito knew, Hatori himself was probably the only one who didn't. For all his intelligence and logic, it was so easy for him to overlook something as simple to see as emotion. He was one of my best friends, but his distant attitude could be somewhat wearing on a person. Sadly these days, our little Mabudachi Trio… we didn't all see eye-to-eye, and for various reasons. Aaya would confide in me about Hatori, I would talk to Hatori about Ayame, but none of us really knew what the others thought of us, which is usually a destructive force. We were drifting apart...

Though, I'd known what Ayame thought of Hatori since high school- maybe even before Aaya himself knew. Naturally, I had to tease him about it until he realized, and even after. How could I pass up an opportunity like that? It was too tempting not to, I even teased Hatori about it, though to this day he still doesn't quite get it.

But after graduation...

That night was hard to forget. I thought I knew everything about my friends, how they'd react to things, what they'd do in certain situations, but that night defied what I knew about Aaya. I was walking with him, the two of us on our way back to the estate. Hatori had gone back earlier in the evening, not being one to enjoy parties too much, especially since he had difficulty tolerating Ayame and I- it was grad, it was a party, there were drinks… easy to get the picture. I believe it was the most Aaya and I had drank in one go to that point, but even so, I remember it clear as a bell.

'Such a shame you didn't ask Haa-san to dance with you.' Though I was unsteady on my feet, I still somehow managed to elbow Ayame in the side without falling down. 'It would have been beautiful, like when you danced at New Years' in middle school' I kept teasing, oblivious to the look on Ayame's face. 'This would have been an awesome night to confess!'

'Yes, Gure-san.' I was having so much fun, and his unusually blue tone startled me into looking at him. He walked, sort of, and staring ahead like he was trying not to meet my eye. When he didn't say anything else, I stepped closer to him, unable to fathom what the problem could be. He laughed with me those other times I teased him... But before I could get a good look at him, we passed a bench which he stopped in front of for a moment, then he sat a little hard and buried his face in his hands.

Wasted as I was, there was no way I could say anything that would have helped, and I didn't even totally know why he was so upset. It wasn't until the following morning when my headache was drown in a sea of Tylenol that I knew my mistake. He wasn't as able to take hold of his unwanted feelings and stuff them into that box he keeps in a dark, unknown corner of his mind.

He was that way every time he was teased about it, reminded of it… though he was strong enough not to show it. There are few burdens heavier than the weight of unrequited love. I never breathed a word about it again to him unless he was the one who brought the topic around.

Which wasn't often. This was one of those rare, few times. 'Hatori didn't notice at all?'

'No.'

'Honest to god, that man has no eyes. You should tell him.'

'Shigure.' I flinched inwardly. Ayame almost never called anyone by anything but his nickname for them. 'You know I can't. All of the Jyuuniishi have their crosses to bear, this happens to be mine. If I tell Tori-san... I'd only be giving him mine, not getting rid of it.' He was so serious... 'I can't do that to Hatori.'

'Aaya... you need a break from this for a while. You and I can go out somewhere--'

'No, Gure-san, I'll be alright here. I'll just have to be more careful. Besides, I have plans to engage Yuki tomorrow, and kidnap him. I will show him our favorite park, I'll tell him about our favorite spot...'

Already he had moved on to a different topic. This was even hard for me to deal with. It was a pain that Ayame didn't know how to come to terms with, and it was unapproachable. It was almost taboo- he wouldn't do anything about it because he didn't think he could, so everyone else was helpless to do anything for him. And Aaya, being the person he was, would never let me worry about him, or anyone else. He was Aaya, he was invincible… he was almost flawless at keeping up this image, because only myself, Hatori and Mine had ever seen him otherwise. Outward he was all sunshine, and there were many times that even I forgot he had problems of his own.

'Aaya, you have a heart of gold.'

Ayame paused. I had interrupted him in the middle of a sentence, but he replied. 'Why, thank you, Gure-san, but we all only do what we can.' Since he had moved on, he probably misunderstood why I said that.

The conversation continued, without much else of terrible importance, and when I hung up, there was a voice behind me.

'How is he?'

'Worse than he pretends to be. Were you listening the whole time, Yuki-kun?'

'Long enough to know he has a problem.' A pause... 'And long enough to know I'll be seeing him tomorrow.'

'Well, he hasn't given up on you yet,' I said, chuckling at his almost-exasperation. 'Good thing, too, you need something to keep you on your toes. You should humor him tomorrow though. He'd be happy if you went along with him. Don't worry, nothing too strange has happened in that park, that I know of.'

Yuki sighed. 'I'll go, and I'll listen to him, but it had better help whatever mood he's in.' He added, 'I don't think I even want to know what would bother him.'

He thought it was something perverse or eccentric, did he? 'Hearts aren't to be trifled with, Yuki-kun. No one is immune to emotional issues. Don't mistake your brother for someone who can just laugh everything off.'

Yuki looked at me, having not expected my sudden seriousness, but nodded. He stood there for a short while, probably contemplating whether to go, or stay, but chose to stay, because he asked, 'What exactly is his problem, anyway? You said something about hearts?'

'Ah, Yuki-kun. Your brother's love-life is for him to tell you about.'

'I don't want to know.' He said quickly, and turned to go.

'Don't say anything to him about it though, or what you heard.' I pulled out the newspaper after he nodded and left.If left to his own devices, I was sure Aaya would be alright. It was only when his equilibrium of open happiness and boxed darkness was disturbed by some outside force that he would be more likely to crumble. As flamboyant as he was, he was also flighty, fickle at times... If Akito now knew about his feelings for Hatori, things would probably get worse for him. As much as I cared for Akito, I knew she was manipulative, and would twist Aaya every which way until he snapped.

I can't even imagine how Aaya would be if that happened. It was too inconceivable, but it just came several steps closer to being a reality.