(Dances) I'm on R.C. McLachlan's alert list! Truly, I have now achieved all I ever wanted in life, except a trip to Japan. Wella, I think I'm long overdue for addressing individual reviewers, but I love you all. Gomen, this one kept getting put off. Shadow Play demanded attention, and then the research for the House fic...

Hatorispring, you were my most devoted Furuba fanfic fan D You need hugs and chocolate. K-Chan has also read and reviewed all my FB stories, and shall also get hugs and chocolate. Paperclipluver, I'm glad you like it too For Serendipity1, Shigure will be part of it o'course. He's one of the Mabudatchi trio, so absolutely! Z-chan, dun worry about that one review, so long as you got one in. Lavender butterfly, I really do try to keep everyone IC It takes hours and hours of role playing with friends to perfect a chatacter personality, whether original or existing. As for Twill... you know what I think of you man! Slow Motion Runner (love the penname) I dunno what to say for you other than don't stop reviewing Halo Arrowtail also knows what I think of her I'm glad I've got a 'suspense factor' Silverkitsunehiei. I bow for you Souma-Ayame-san, and Ayame must do a bow for everyone too, because this story's about him. Setsuna-san, someday you and I will go to a shonen-ai dessert bar, and be overcome with yum. And R.C. McLachlan! To me, it's almost like having Douglas Adams review my Hitchhiker's Guide story .. You are the goddess of Aaya-Tori. And KuraiHimitsu... most of the funny/weird typos are from the demons that eat some letters when you upload. I've noticed it happens to all my stories, and I go back to revise the original, but there's nothing to revise because it was only an upload error. All the same, thanks for the offer I heart your take on my story, FireChibi XD It rocks my socks. Deathtoallclovers!! You're the final reviewer before this chapter! Feel special!

There. Now, finally, on to the feature presentation!


Foreshadow

All day, I simply dreaded the moment I know would come. How many people can honestly say they blame me...? Aniki was... adopted. Somehow, he just had to be. He was too strange, to different from the rest of the family, and yet...

Of course, what Shigure-san took seriously I should take seriously as well. He and aniki were similar enough, but still different. Shigure-san was definitely more sensible, but again, only to a point. I really have no idea how someone like Hatori-san could get mixed up with them, maybe he was a little looser when he was younger, he would have had to be. I notice though, that the three of them spend less time all together, and more time paired away, talking about each other. Aniki didn't spend as much time with Hatori-san as Shigure-san did, but that's not something unusual; even Hatori-san's patience has it's limits.

Shigure-san being so serious about something though, meant it was a big thing. I wanted to know what he knew, maybe I could understand aniki a little better. And I really want to understand him better. He aggravates me so, and I really have no idea why or how, but if I knew then it may frustrate me less, and he could actually calm down. Winding other people up winds him up. Just about everything else does too... but that's beside the point.

Shigure saying something seriously made me more inclined to believe it, and him saying Ayame was troubled... it was somehow unthinkable. How could anything sway the flamboyant and extravagant Ayame Sohma, former student body president?

'Yuki!' Cried that familiar voice in an excited tone. I managed to sidestep before being toppled over by the too-tall bundle of 'brotherly love'. It didn't matter how tall he was, it was too much all the same. I was fortunate I was off the school grounds and that I wasn't being trailed by any stragglers from that fan club... There was little point in hiding. At least he wouldn't be embarrassing me in front of anyone else, I just had to be embarrassed for the both of us myself.

'Ayame-san.'

'I'm so glad I finally found you, you're a hard person to keep up with! Are you going anywhere in particular? Tohru-kun isn't walking with you? My, where's Tohru-kun?'

'First... I got that feeling this morning when I woke up that I'd be seeing you, so I made an effort to make sure Honda-san didn't have to be involved.'

'Brotherly instincts! I knew we'd see each other when I woke up, too. We both have the very same intuition, I don't see why we don't run into each other more often.' He smiled his cheesy grin as we walked. Brotherly instincts indeed. If there were such thing, I'd use them to avoid his eccentricity when it wasn't appropriate; during school, in company, after school doing homework...

It probably was best to just cut to the chase. Then his problem could be solved more quickly, and so could mine. 'So... something bothering you?'

'Yuki-kun! Brotherly instincts strike again! Yes, yes, there has been something bothering me...' He had that look... he was going to go into one of his absurd stories again. Maybe Shigure was wrong... or maybe he feigned seriousness just to stick me out on a limb, out here with Ayame as a part of some sort of pact the two of them had. It was almost second-nature now, filtering out all the audio rubbish that always seemed to come from him.

Really, deep down, I felt badly for him. Shigure-san was his only close friend in the whole world. Hatori-san put up with him, but that was the extent of that. I even felt bad for not being interested in involving myself with him. If he weren't so strange, obnoxious...

I came out of my thoughts, realizing that silence had fallen. Silence from Ayame, when he was walking with me. Aniki didn't simply run out of things to say. If he couldn't think of anything, he'd find something anyway, commenting on stranger's attire, or the history of a particular building we pass, which always turns out to be utter nonsense.

But he was silent.

'Ayame...?'

'Gure-san made you come today.' He said, quite simply and plainly. I stared, I admit I couldn't really help it. Strangely intuitive... unusually serious. 'How'd he do it? I know you aren't big on doing things with me.'

'I...' I was at a loss. Ayame's internal seriousness rose all by itself as he chattered, and I wasn't even paying enough attention to know what triggered it. 'He told me something was bothering you.'

Ayame smiled. It was a sedate smile, with little of his usual enthusiasm. 'No brotherly instincts then, huh?'

'No, I guess not.' I looked at him carefully... no, I hadn't seen him quite like this. The other times I'd seen him serious, and I could count on one hand, he bounced back up after a few minutes, when he thought of something else interesting to say. I waited for it... but it didn't happen. The only thing that did happen was we got a little closer to Shigure-san's house. The silence between us became somehow oppressing... it felt oddly like drowning, even though I don't know first-hand what that's like, I might have an idea now.

'Erm... weren't we going to a park of some kind?' I figured that even an awkward topic would be better than that looming silence.

'Park?' He echoed vaguely. 'No, I'll just walk you home. I need to talk to Gure-san again, anyhow.'

'Ayame,' I said, my footsteps hesitating. 'What is the matter?'

'Worry, Yuki.' He said, looking a little startled. 'You worry, Tohru-kun worries, Tori-san worries, everyone does.'

He was worried about something? And he was actually showing it? Something that worried him to this extent couldn't be anything at all good. Could this somehow be just another part of the plot to get me to like him...? No, Ayame couldn't fake being this serious. He'd die laughing ten minutes in. 'You're acting very strange. What exactly are you worried about?'

'Nothing that would worry you, Yuki, so it's alright.'

He just brushed me off...? He acts strange, makes me wonder, and pretends it's not important? 'Fine, Ayame, I bite. You really want me to press, or play along or something? If it's something you don't want to tell me then it really must be worth saying for a change, so go ahead and say it.' It didn't occur to me until I was finished that maybe I was being a bit harsh... it really did seem like he was trying me yet again though, but the circumstances were completely different. Somehow the feeling of annoyance was the same, even though I shouldn't just be mad at him for being strangely quiet.

He was shaking his head fairly forcefully. 'No, I don't want you to press, Yuki-kun...'

I relaxed my tone. Agitating him would make things worse. 'You said I worried, a little while ago. Right now, I'm actually worried about you. I'm not allowed to know why?'

Again, he shook his head, and there was another pause... 'But, you know... Yuki? Even though we're not going, I could still tell you about that park...' In a flash, he was himself again, leaving me with a vague feeling of whiplash. 'Ah, the good high school days... you see, Gure-san and myself were planning Tori-san's upcoming birthday...'

And to my shock, he just continued with the nonsense as though nothing at all had happened. His movements were the same, his words as loud as ever, but I knew what I'd seen. It was like some dark storm that followed him, and it rained particularly hard that day. The way he just continued on was flawless, like he'd had practice, or somehow... was used to it, and as inexplicable as it all was, the confusion definitely served only to worsen my worry.


Return to Top