Author's Note: Lo and behold! The prodigal story returns and after a year of absence! I'm sorry about that, guys; sometimes life takes precedent. Enjoy!

Chapter Four

In Which Yuki Tries To Become Less Socially Awkward

The next day of school, Yuki thought seriously about what Tohru had said concerning his lack of social skills. It burned in his brain all day as he considered what people must think of him. Well, he knew they all put him up on a pedestal, but beyond that, what did they think? His only friends, outside of his family, were Tohru, Kakeru and Machi; and, with the exception of Tohru, he didn't even know them that well. God, everyone in school must think of me as a stupid, stuck up, egotistical asshole…well maybe not stupid. Yuki thought to himself in a worried way. Why couldn't he be more like his family members: friendly, adventurous, and easy going? Why did Yuki have to be the reject of the family?

It was in math class – where Yuki did his best thinking – that he decided what must be done. He sighed and stared at his problem sheet. I think I must join an extracurricular activity. He thought, a weight seeming to build up inside him. No wonder no one wanted to hang out with him: he absolutely dreaded social interaction. Granted, he was usually attacked by crazed, psychotic girls whenever he interacted with others…maybe he just needed to make sure that he didn't encounter any crazies whilst searching for the perfect after school activity. That had extreme potential of being quite difficult.

As the school day came to a close, Yuki gained sudden exuberance for his new mission. He left class in a rush, going straight to his locker to stuff his things in there while he debated which club he should try first. Should it be chess club or debate? What about poetry club or the environmental club? So many options, so little time to test them all out. His mind was full with possibilities as he started heading toward the room where the environment club was being held when he remembered he had to meet Tohru and Kyo to walk home. He rolled his eyes and pivoted on his heel, turning back to walk towards whence he came.

Lazily Yuki trekked towards the front of the school. He figured he should probably be nice and pick up the pace for Tohru and Kyo's sake, but would Kyo do the same for them? The answer was he wouldn't. He was never considerate of others, except Tohru. She was everyone's exception. So on Tohru's expense, he picked up the pace and crossed the school in less time than he expected to. He came to the exit doors and looked around the atrium for his house mates. His brow furrowed when he couldn't locate them after a moment. How hard was it to point out Kyo? He could point him out in a crowd of over ten thousand. His hair wasn't like anyone's. However, here he was, with a crowd considerably less than ten thousand, and he couldn't seem to spot him or Tohru. Yuki sighed and started towards the doors leading outside. He wanted to avoid sunlight, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.

He squinted at the sun's immediate attack on his retinas. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the relentless sun, he resumed his search. It took less than a minute to find the cat. His hair was clearly identifiable, more so in the sun. They weren't, however, sitting by the bike rack waiting for him – as he suspected – but they were shying off campus towards home. Yuki's nostrils flared in annoyance for a second as he started towards them. He called their names and they turned, looking for the voice. He caught up to them in no time at all and gave Tohru and faint smile.

"Oh, Yuki, you're ok! I thought you had wandered off somewhere and had gotten lost!" Tohru said with a wide grin of relief. He knew she was being genuine but it was hard to believe that she was truly worried since they were walking home already without him.

"No, I'm quite alright," He responded softly.

"Where's your school bag? Aren't you coming home with us? I didn't think student council was today."

"Oh, it's not. I've decided to stay a little later today."

"Then why did you have to tell us?" Kyo murmured just loud enough for Yuki to hear. Yuki glared at him and raised an eyebrow.

"It's called being polite, cat. Why don't you take some lessons and try it some time," He spat and turned to look at Tohru; her big brown eyes looked curious.

"Well do you want me to stay with you? We can walk home together after," She offered. Yuki opened his mouth to speak but just as he did he heard a different voice speaking instead of his own.

"Don't worry about it, dear Tohru. I'll stay with our Yuki and see to it that he gets home safely," Haru answered as he strolled up to Yuki and placed a confident hand on his shoulder. Kyo's attention was quickly averted to the newcomer of the group. He exhaled sharply and turned around to walk home. What was his freaking deal? Yuki thought to himself in frustration. Tohru turned her brown eyes on Haru and smiled.

"Ok, thank you, Haru!" She said merrily. "I'll see you at home, Yuki. I hope you'll be home by dinner; I'm making salmon," With that, she gave Yuki a pat on the cheek, since she couldn't give him a hug, and skipped after Kyo.

And she was gone, leaving a stunned Yuki alone with Haru. What was with Haru these days, anyways? He was always around. But why though? Yuki shook his head and turned to the cow. He opened his mouth to speak but Haru spoke first. "So why are we staying after school?" Haru asked with a sly smirk on his face.

Yuki's mouth was still open. He immediately flushed at the response he was going to have to give. He didn't want anyone to know he was feeling insecure about his social ineptitude. "I uh…I'm going to…erm," He stuttered. Haru looked at him patiently but the smirk on his face turned into a full on grin, making Yuki blush even more.

"It's ok, Yuki, you can tell me," He chuckled in reply.

Yuki sighed. "I'm going to sign up for an extracurricular activity," He murmured, furrowing his brow and setting his jaw. Haru chuckled even more.

"But why ever would you want to do that, dear Yuki?" The manner in which he spoke reminded Yuki very much of Shigure and that irritated him a little bit. Not wanting to explain himself, Yuki shoved past Haru and entered back into the school. "Wait, Yuki! Did I say something wrong?" Haru asked, grabbing Yuki's wrist and pulling him back around to face him. His eyes had grown soft and confused. Yuki sighed and looked down at his shoes.

"No, you didn't do anything. I just didn't really want anyone to know what I was doing today," He answered apologetically. He looked up into Haru's grey eyes to discover them alight and mischievous.

"Oh! Like a secret? I'm great at keeping secrets!" Haru replied excitedly. "Can I tag along? I was wanting to find a club that I could join, too. Keeps me busy and have less time to wander off and get lost," He added with a sheepish grin. Yuki couldn't help but smile at Haru's enthusiasm. He nodded his head and turned back into the school with the cow. "What club are we attending first?" He asked eagerly.

"I was thinking the environmental club?" Yuki responded thoughtfully. Maybe here he could get a couple of gardening tips. Haru, however, scoffed at the idea saying that the people there probably weren't worth knowing. Yuki punched him in the arm. "Hey now, I happen to like the environment," He said hotly. Haru patted his arm and reluctantly agreed to accompany him wherever he wanted to go. This agreement, to Yuki anyways, seemed more than just a one day agreement. It seemed a little more permanent in a way. Either way, Yuki shrugged this thought off and kept the conversation light with Haru as they searched for the environment club. It was about five minutes of meandering before they both got the sudden idea that maybe the environment club would meet somewhere outside. So the pair traveled outside and searched around the building. They eventually stumbled across the club by the greenhouse. The meeting had already begun, of course, but they were quite excited to get visitors. And Yuki and Haru could only assume why. The club only had five members. Although they looked approachable – and like potential people Yuki could see himself being friends with – Yuki didn't feel that the environment club was the right fit for him – especially after the nagging Haru did just to get out of there.

One down. The next club they went to was the chess club, on Haru's command. He decided that since Yuki picked a lame club that he should do the same. The people in chess club were, again, friendly, but the club was, indeed, lame. Yuki almost fell asleep. He and Haru left before their first match had even ended, saying that they were coming down with the flu, and chose a different club. Yuki thought back to the list he made in math class. After that they went to the school auditorium to try out the theater club. This idea was a bad one as soon as it entered his head, Yuki realized, for once he arrived everyone went crazy and hurried around the room trying to find a dress so he could play the part of Rapunzel. Haru was all for making Yuki stay and endure the humiliation, but his stupid decision earned Yuki's fist in his face. After that Haru hightailed it out of there with Yuki.

Once securely detached from the theater kids Yuki offered another club idea. "Hey, let's try the debate team?" He asked with a small smile. Haru grinned fully back at him and led the way towards the debate team room. Once again, they had interrupted what was going on during the meeting. However, this time they interrupted what appeared to be a heated debate. Yuki and Haru took their seats at the back of room, trying not to cause further disruptions. Now this club was something he could've gotten used to. He and Haru passed notes for the final seven minutes of the debate that they had intruded about their own opinions on the topic being argued. Yet, upon being asked to join in a debate of his own, Yuki found that he faltered. His timidity struck once again. So with a heavy head, Yuki and Haru slunk out of the debate room.

"Have you found anything you liked yet?" Haru asked Yuki once they were securely out of earshot of the debate team.

Yuki sighed and shrugged a shoulder. "Not really. I mean the people are nice, I guess, but the clubs are just…too boring? I mean debate team was fun. Just not when I was asked to put my voice in," He answered with a rueful smile. Haru returned with a smirk and nodded understandingly.

"Well if you're open to it, I have a club that you might like," He replied softly and motioned with his head for Yuki to walk with him once more. The look Haru gave him was so soft and delicate but also rather intrusive. As if he knew Yuki inside and out. This, in a way, was true because Haru did know him better than anyone in his family. Either way, it was still weird that he knew him so well. It scared him, made him blush, and gave him butterflies all at the same time. In any case, Yuki raised an eyebrow and took a step closer to Haru, indicating that he'd follow. Haru grinned tenderly and turned to walk beside Yuki to this unknown room.

In no time at all – or maybe it just seemed that way since Yuki was, once again, lost in his thoughts – the two arrived at another room. Haru walked in like he owned the place leaving Yuki to follow along awkwardly. In this room everyone had their desks set up in a circle. Everyone sat in a desk except one person who stood in the center of the circle. Yuki already didn't like the sight of this. As he realized too much today, being the center of attention did not become him. Haru placed a soft hand on the small of his back and guided him to an open seat. He slid into the seat next to him and listened to the person in the middle of the circle. After a moment, Yuki realized they were in the poetry club – the Poet's Society as they liked to be called. He smiled faintly at Haru's decision because this club was completely perfect for him. It didn't take long for Yuki to figure out why.

After the girl in the center finished and took her seat, the club deliberated their interpretations on what they thought her poem was about. Yuki was okay with poetry, but didn't really excel at it. In fact he didn't even write poetry. His strengths lay with math and history – and sometimes science, depending on what unit they were studying. Haru, on the other hand, was great with poetry, or so became apparent on his own interpretation of her poem. Following everyone's opinions, someone else got to volunteer to read another poem, or so Yuki gathered when none other than Haru stood up to read a poem. The poem was short, sweet, and about grass, of all things. Despite the length, it was perfect. Yuki's jaw dropped in awe at this ability that he never knew he had. How had he known him his whole life and never knew he wrote poetry? The dissection after wasn't necessary, or so Yuki thought. Apparently even when the poem is vague and ambiguous there is still room to talk about other things such as structure. Haru didn't care about what they thought of his poem, though, as if his grabbing Yuki once more by the wrist and dragging his dumbstruck self out there was any indication. They didn't stop to talk after this one; Haru just dragged Yuki around the school for a minute or so.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure you'll really dig this club," Haru said with a beautiful, dazzling grin that went straight to his grey eyes. And with that, he escorted Yuki into the math room. Yuki raised an eyebrow and looked around the room to see about nine people split unevenly on either side of the room, scribbling furiously in their notebooks. Mr. Ajibana, the math teacher, was monitoring the students as they scribbled. "Time!" He called excitedly as the students put down their pencils. Yuki turned to Haru and raised both eyebrows with a bored look on his face.

"Is this a math study hall?" He asked quizzically.

Haru laughed and shook his head. "It's Mathletes. It's like a math competition. I thought you'd enjoy it because you're so good at math," He replaced his hand on the small of Yuki's back and nudged him forward. "Mr. Ajibana, Yuki would like to join Mathletes. Is that okay?" Yuki turned a deep shade of umber as Mr. Ajibana and the rest of the Mathletes turned to look at Haru and himself shuffle down the room.

Mr. Ajibana, however, looked thrilled. He clapped his hands together and stood up from his chair. "Yes, Hatsuharu! That'd be perfect!" He gushed happily to Haru. Yuki could feel Haru chuckle. "And Yuki! It's such a privilege to have you join us! Now we'll finally have an even number on our practice teams!" His manner at this current moment reminded him a lot of a male version of Tohru.

Yuki tried his best to look flattered. He was excited, of course, to be putting his math skills to good use, but the manner in which it happened was definitely not up to par. "Thank you, Mr. Ajibana. I'm quite excited to be here as well," He replied timidly.

"Unfortunately, you came too late. We're about ready to wrap up for the day. But you're more than welcome to join us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday," He said warmly.

Yuki simply nodded and tried to place a smile on his face. "Thank you, I definitely will," He ended and turned around to pull Haru out the room with him. Everything had been perfect until Haru had to make him the center of attention like that. No matter. It didn't make any sense to get riled up over nothing so Yuki simply pushed the thoughts out of his head and looked up at Haru to smile. "Thanks for that, Haru," The ox looked surprised and baffled. Even so, he smiled back questioningly.

"For what?"

"For helping me find an activity to do after school, besides student council, and not make fun of me for it," He said and started walking towards his locker. Luckily it was only a few feet away from the math room.

"Hey, don't mention it," He replied while shadowing Yuki to his locker. "You do realize that this hour and a half wild goose chase made me hungry right? Sushi sounds absolutely delicious," He added in a nonchalant way. Yuki rolled his eyes and shook his eyes, a grin plastered to his lips.

"Haru, you want to come home with me for dinner?" Yuki chuckled.

"Well, it all depends…what are you guys eating?" Haru asked looking innocently at Yuki. This warranted a playful punch from Yuki as he shut his locker door. "Ow! What was that for?" Haru joked while rubbing his bicep for dramatic effect.

"You know what's for dinner, Haru!" Yuki laughed and walked towards the exit. Haru followed and speculated his words, nodding after a second.

"Uh-huh. Right. I was just making sure you knew what was on for dinner,"

"Whatever," Yuki finished and started walking home with the ox in tow. Whilst walking, they ended up talking about if fish had feelings and if they enjoyed being eaten. Yuki brought up the actual act of fishing and if they purposefully took hours to bite because they knew they were going to be caught and killed. They debated this topic the whole twenty minutes it took to get home and entered the house just in time for Tohru to announce it was time for dinner.