Ch4

The curtain fell on the last bow. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, done, finished. They could go back to focusing on the important things in a teenager's lif. Things like cute boys and girls, hanging out with friends, going to movies, playing games, shopping for clothes, eating junk food and in their spare time school work.. Kyou sighed and gave one last glance past the curtain and kind of wished that Minoru was there. He wasn't of course, Kyou had never invited him or even let on that he was in a play. The play book had his real name and picture in it and he had a lot of speaking lines. Even if Minoru hadn't noticed the cast listing, he'd still have heard a distinctly male voice coming from "Hanabi".

On his way to the boy's dressing room Kyou spotted Tohru getting mobbed by her friends. They were praising her for a job well done and she was fretting over one line that she only messed up a little bit. Nothing they were saying was convincing her it was fine. He took a deep breath and held off changing to go fix the problem. He wasn't exactly in a hurry to change–wearing dresses didn't bother him as much as it used to and he'd just be getting in another one sometime soon anyway. Stopping Tohru from worrying herself into a fit was more important.

Normally, he'd let Yuki take care of things but right now the other boy was being gushed on by his fan girls over his performance. He'd be out of commission until he could safely escape them. Kyou was mildly irritated by it, but only because their shill voices hurt his ears. It wasn't like he was jealous of the attention, he would get plenty of that later and from someone he actually wanted it from.

Kyou slipped up behind the three girls and gently bopped Tohru on the head to get her attention. She grabbed onto her cat ears as they slipped from the motion and looked up at him.

"Oh, Kyou-kun! I didn't see you there. I thought you would already be changing."

"It can wait. You did a good job out there. I liked the add lib you did in scene eight. It was better then what was in the script." He ruffled her hair affectionately, hopelessly eschewing the ears. She smiled up at him and pulled the accessories off.

"Do you really think so? I know that wasn't the right line, but I got nervous and forgot the correct wording."

"What you said was fine. It got the point across and the kids loved it. That's all that matters, right?"

"Right!"

"Yeah, besides he's the one that screwed up his lines." Uo jeered devilishly at him as she spoke.

"I did not. You're the one that forgot a whole line. Not me."

"Wanna put your money were your mouth is."

"Fine. Get the script we'll see who's making an ass of themselves."

They were in each others faces at that point and Tohru was fretting again while Hanajima played with the girl's hair.

"You are both making asses out of yourselves. Now shut up and get changed so we can get out of here." They both looked to Yuki in surprise. No one was sure when he had arrived, but he was already in his street clothes and ready to leave.

"Unless you were planning on going home in that get-up. I'm sure Ritsu would love having someone who shares his hobby to talk too." He smirked as he spoke. Kyou huffed and stomped away to the dressing room.

X

Minoru's smile was huge as he finished the final stroke. He looked over at Hanabi, in the fading light of the setting sun, still in position. He had finished just in time too it would seem, the light had shifted from highlighting her hair and was beginning to silhouette her instead.

"You can relax now. I'm all done. Do you want to see?" It was a rhetorical question. He already knew she did and judging by how fast she was at his side, he was right. She stared at the painting critically, making strange faces at it. Minoru couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his throat. She turned to him bewildered by his laugh.

"It's just, you should see your face," he told her. Her expression turned from confused to indifferent irritation.

"I'm not laughing at you," he tried to say. Disbelief cut off his attempt at an excuse.

"Okay, I am. But only a little. I haven't seen anyone look so intent before. It was really cute."

At this she let out a derisive snort that was so unlady like that Minoru started laughing again, this time he didn't try to hold it in.

"What? Hasn't your family ever told you how cute you are?" He meant it as a joke, but the dejected and upset look that flashed though her eyes told him he had hit a soft spot. She looked away from him with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Oh, sorry." He felt a little bad for upsetting her, even if he hadn't meant too.

"They must be blind, so I'll say it for them. Hanabi, you're beautiful!" Whatever response he was expecting, it wasn't to be shoved hard. As he hit the ground he reflected that, at least this time, she hadn't hit him. The bruises from the last time had just faded away and his jaw was still tender.

"Hey! What was that for? Most people would say thank you for the compliment. You on the rag or something?"

Even that didn't get a verbal response. He looked up into an angry face seething above him. What had he done to deserve her ire? This unexplained and unrepentant moodiness was starting to piss him off. All he was doing was trying to cheer her up and she punished him for it. He took a deep breath and decided to try to lighten the mood a bit, but his anger at her slipped though anyway.

"You shouldn't make scary faces like that. It makes you look too masculine. If you cut your hair people would think you were a boy." He stood up, dusting the dirt off the back of his pants.

Something he couldn't identify flashed across her features. Her body started to quiver with what Minoru assumed was rage. Then it dawn on him, perhaps her family often made fun her slightly androgynous features. That might explain why she had taken to dressing in Lolita fashion. From what he could tell her personality certainly didn't match up with the style. Before he could apologize she turned and made to head toward the exit of their little neck of the woods.

Hanabi was running away again, she seemed to do that a lot when he said things that upset her. Okay, so maybe he was being a bit of a jerk, but running away wasn't going to solve anything. Minoru may not be able to understand the meaning of life, but he knew that much about it. Now if only he could understand her as well. Before he could stop himself his hand shot out and took hold of her arm. A familiar jolt ran up his arm as she became completely still in his grasp. It was the same as before, like she was afraid of something bad happening should she resist.

"Hey, I'm not going to hit you, I promise. No need to be scared."

Her silence was, as the norm, her only response. Did she have an injury that he was aggravating?

"I'm not hurting you, am I? I'm sorry if I am." She shook her head in the negative, but didn't turn to face him. He still hadn't let her go and now was becoming more aware of the physical connection he had made. His could feel the soft fabric of her dress's sleeve, the bone structure of her wrist, and now that he was concentrating on it, something else. He blinked as he realized that she was wearing a bracelet of some kind or another and his grip was probably causing it to dig into her skin painfully. He relaxed his hold and she withdrew her hand, bringing it to her chest. He winced internally as he watched her rub it self-consciously while staring blankly at him. At least she was facing him again.

Now that he had her attention he didn't know what to say. Last time this had happened he hadn't had the time to think before he spoke. With his blood calming down he couldn't remember what he had been arguing with her about. He said the only think that would come to mind.

"Is your arm alright? I didn't mean to squeeze so hard. I should have been more careful..." She shook her head fiercely before he could finish his apology. This confused him even more. As much as he could usually decipher her silent language, he couldn't quite figure out this one. She wasn't alright? Was she forgiving him?

Hanabi clutched at her wrist and shook her head wildly once more, then turn and ran. This time he didn't try to stop her. What was he doing wrong? What was she trying to say? It was another mystery. Something had been there and now that he thought about it, the last time he had stopped her it had been there too. He had been so focused on keeping her that he hadn't paid it any mind. But why wear a bracelet if she was just going to hide it under the sleeve of her top, especially one so tight it hurt? Perhaps it was sentimental to her. His sister had a necklace from their grandmother that she always wore, even if it was hidden under her clothes. He put it off as another weirdness of girls and turned back to the lake. Sighing deeply, he began to gather up his supplies. He had more important things to think about then invisible accessories. Like trying to figure out the girl who wore them.

As he stared down at an empty tube of orange he decided to go after her. He'd never figure her out if he let her escape now.

X

Kyou stopped running when he could no longer breathe right and his legs had begun to burn with the effort. Looking around he tried to reorient himself to his surroundings. He was still in the park he knew that much because he didn't recall running past any buildings. That didn't mean he hadn't, he realized. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time he had run farther then he had thought without noticing his surroundings. It didn't help any that he had woken up that morning feeling somewhat light-headed. He tended to loose track of things, like were he was going, when he was starting to get sick.

He leaned one hand against a tree trunk and listened to his heart slow down. When his lungs started to work right again he let himself fall to the ground, using the tree as a backrest.

Why had he gotten so angry? Minoru hadn't meant any harm, Kyou understood that. But for some reason it had really ticked him off. Oh, that's right. He had dragged up them. Like his family had anything good to say about him. Minoru should just butt out of things he didn't understand and not bring the Sohmas into it.

He went to run his hands through his hair only to dislodge the wig, much in the same fashion as he had Tohru's ears the day before. The thought that it had only been a day since then came as a bit of a shock to him. It had seemed so long ago already. He had actually looked forward to today and now he had gone and messed it all up. Damn it all, he had liked Minoru. Now he had pushed him away, just like he always seemed to do with the people that might care about him.

He drew his knees up and rested his head against them, curling into a ball in an attempt to block out the world around him. He felt like shit now and didn't want to have to acknowledge the happy scenery surrounding him. Instead he'd just sink into his own personal pit of misery and stay there until he was hungry enough to return home. Or passed out, which ever came first.

Kyou's eyes were starting to burn. He hated the sensation. He hated being out of control and what happened wasn't worth crying over. Even if Minoru was possibly the first person he'd ever met that didn't base their opinion of him off of the curse. Tohru couldn't even claim that seeing as one of the first things he could remember her telling him was how much she loved the cat.

Now maybe that was something worth crying over after all. A shadow blocked out the red light of the late sun and Kyou looked up to see Minoru standing in front of him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," Minoru said. He was looking at his own shoes and his voice was soft. Finally he inhaled deeply and forged on.

"I don't know what I said to set you off, but I know I'm sorry for getting angry. It's just that... you won't tell me anything. I know nothing about you and then you get mad at me and I don't know why. But that's no excuse and..." Kyou had stopped listening some time ago, around the first 'sorry' actually. He tried to remember anyone, aside from the overly submissive Tohru, ever apologizing to him before and was coming up short. In the Sohma family there was no reason to apologize to the Cat because everything was his fault anyway, or so the general feelings on the matter went.

As Minoru had continued Kyou had let the words lose their meaning and just listened to his voice. It was nice, smooth and calming. He felt much better now and should probably let Minoru know that in some way so he would stop babbling. Kyou stood and flicked him lightly on the forehead. When Minoru looked up, Kyou tried to smile as apologetically as he could. The nervous tension in Minoru's shoulders melted away and he smiled back. Minoru's eyes met his and all of a sudden he felt a little bashful. Minoru reached a hand out towards him, leaning in close and Kyou jerked back at the motion.

"You have a leaf in your hair," Minoru said. Kyou reached up to search for the leaf himself at the same time as Minoru did and their fingers bump. Kyou pull his hand away and let Minoru fish the leaf out.

"There. All better," Minoru said, his voice soft. His hand lingered a bit over Kyou's hair before ghosting down the side of his face and came to rest on his cheek. His thumb brushed faintly over Kyou's bottom lip. It left a warm trail in it's wake that Kyou wasn't sure was unpleasant. Minoru was staring at him in a strange way and Kyou's heart was beginning to race a little. What the heck was going on? This scenario was too similar to ones found in romance manga. Minoru wasn't going to kiss him, was he? What should he do? Better yet, why was he still just standing there letting it happen? Just when Kyou was about to make up his mind to run or do the deed himself and get it over with, Minoru frowned.

"You're really warm. Too warm," he said, leaning forward and pressing their foreheads together. The closeness turned the warmth into a blazing heat and Minoru pulled away hurriedly.

"You're burning up! You shouldn't have come out here if you had a cold. Let's call it a day. Do you need a ride home? You shouldn't walk on your own like this."

Ah, a cold. So that was all it was. What a load off his back and to think for a second there Kyou thought he might be crushing on another boy. Wouldn't that have been riot? Kyou was making a funny face in his relief, he knew because Minoru was staring at him strangely.

"I'm calling a cab and taking you home. You can point the way, right?" Minoru asked as he began dialing on his cell phone. Kyou pulled the device from his hand and shut it, shaking his head to tell Minoru that he would be fine on his own. Minoru didn't seem to believe him and look like he might try to argue to point, but Kyou just shushed him with a finger to his lips and, after slipping the phone into Minoru's shirt pocket, started walking away. He gave a brief wave good bye and headed back to Shigure's. Minoru was still his friend, he was still just his friend, and it was only a cold. Yup, he'd be just fine.

X

Tohru sighed as the smoked cleared. She reached over to the bowl of water that was sitting next to her and changed out the hand towel for a smaller wash rag. The first one wouldn't work now that her patient was ten times smaller then he normally was. She didn't want to suffocate him.

"Really, if you weren't feeling well this morning you should have stayed inside. Going out only made it worse, Kyou-kun."

His response was a groan and mumbling something about unbreakable plans. It was hard to make out. Realizing he wasn't making much sense he waved her away with a half hearted swipe of his paw. 'Oh well', he thought. 'It was worth it.'

Deleted Scenes: This was the original ending to the argument, and the chapter, where Minoru hunts down Kyou to apologize. I thought Kyou came off as too out of character and way too girly, so I changed it and liked the new one much better. The one that made it into the story built more on the blossoming relationship, gave an excuse for Kyou's emotional upheaval and was fleshed out more all around. There were a few other minor adjustments that were involved, such as Minoru actually deciding to go after Kyou, but this was the biggest change. So here you have it. Minoru apologizes, take one.

X

As Minoru had continued the burning in Kyou's eyes had started to get worse and he remembered that he was Hanabi right now. It was okay for her to be emotional. So he let himself forget who he was for the moment and latched onto Minoru for all he was worth. The older boy stopped talking and just held on to him. A gentle hand was placed on his head in a sympathetic gesture, followed by a kiss that was placed at his hairline. It felt good, real good to have someone comfort him. It was okay, it was all okay in Minoru's arms. Such a thing hadn't happened in a long time and if Minoru felt his shirt slowly getting wet, he didn't mention it.

Author's Commentary:

I promised deleted scenes and there's the first one. Pretty terrible, huh? I do quite a bit of editing, but not everything that gets removed is as atrocious as this. Some of it just didn't work or involved a rewrite of a character. Most of my edits are just simple rewording of sentences and basic proofreading. I had already planned the entire story out before I started writing, so there aren't a lot of huge chunks like this that got taken out. I hope you at least got a good laugh out of it. Cheers. - Spina.