Chapter 7. Falling in love

Disclaimer:One, two, three! Who owns VK? Not me!


"Akatsuki?" Ruka hadn't seen him for so long, she'd almost forgotten how fiery his hair was.

Ichijou quickly put the rose back in the jar and greeted him. "Kain-kun, you're back! How was your family reunion?"

"Normal. I came back earlier because I heard Ruka was sick." He touched her forehead. "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm fine, it wasn't anything serious." She didn't want him to worry. "Who told you?"

Ichijou smiled sheepishly. "I did, I thought he should know."

"I still have to thank you for that. Hanabusa didn't even remember to send a message about it, he's so unreliable..."

Ruka's temper flared up slightly. "You shouldn't say that about your cousin. He's the one who took me to the medical room."

Kain was surprised by Ruka's defence of Aidou. "Well, I'll thank him then. Ichijou, can we talk?"

"Sure. Ruka-chan, see you later then. And don't do anything that will cause a relapse."

"Don't worry, Taku-chan. Akatsuki, welcome back." Ruka closed the door behind her.

"Kain-kun, please sit down and we can talk."

Kain simply leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

"Or that." Ichijou sat down behind his desk. "So, talkie talkie, Aka-chan!"

Kain decided to ignore his little nickname. "So, what happened while I was gone?"

"Nothing, really. With the exception of Ruka-chan falling ill, obviously."

Kain asked abruptly. "Since when do you call her 'chan'?"

Ichijou was taken aback by the immediacy of the question, together with the harsh tone. However, it was understandable. "Ever since you asked me to take care of her. I thought it was nice, but if you don't like it, I'll stop."

Kain regretted his immaturity. "You don't have to, I was just curious. So Hanabusa was the one who took her to the medical room?"

"Yep, he even stayed by her side until she woke up. So I guess he became responsible while you were away."

Kain smirked slightly. In his mind, 'Hanabusa' and 'responsible' didn't go together. But something kept annoying him. The scene that he'd witnessed when he entered the room. Ichijou giving Ruka a rose. He knew there had to be a logical reason for it, but it irritated him nonetheless... "So, what were you and Ruka doing when I came in?"

Ichijou knew what he wanted to know. As soon as Kain had entered, he knew the rose would be a topic of conversation. But no way was he going down that slippery slope if he could avoid it. "We and Aidou-kun have to research something for class."

Kain's eyebrows creased. "I was talking about the thing you were giving her..."

"What do you mean, Aka-chan?"

"You know what I mean."

"Oh, of course! I gave Ruka-chan the book about scien..."

Kain slammed his fist violently against the wall. "Stop avoiding it!"

__________________________________________

Aidou closed the door behind him. He saw Shiki lying on the sofa, his head on Rima's lap, while she fed him pocky. Walking towards the other sofa, he let himself fall.

"Careful."

Aidou almost jumped back up. He'd nearly sat on Ruka, who was reading some book. The blond straightened his back immediately. He was furious that Ruka had seen him hesitate. The worst part was that the only explanation he found for his inability was preposterously ridiculous. So ridiculous that he would never think about it again. Ever.

Aidou recognised the book. "Ichijou gave you the book? Where is he?"

Ruka didn't tear her eyes away from the page. "Talking to Akatsuki."

"What?! Akatsuki's here?" Aidou sweat-dropped. Kain was back! He only came back early when there was a problem! Was there a problem? What was he talking to Ichijou about?

Ruka roled her eyes. "If he's talking to Taku-chan, he is obviously here..."

"Will you stop calling him that, it's starting to really annoy me!"

Ruka didn't like his tone. "Taku-chan! Taku-chan! Taku-chan! Taku-chan! Taku-chan!"

"You know, someone with your IQ should have a low voice too."

"Keep talking, someday you'll say something intelligent... or not."

"You're so ugly, you'd make a train take a dirt road!"

Ruka smirked and touched his forehead, making him blush slightly. "Don't you have a terribly empty feeling... in your skull?"

"Well... you... you have more chins than Chinatown!"

Both Rima and Shiki shook their heads. "That was weak..."

"Very weak..."

Ruka turned her attention back to the book. "Really, I'd feel bad to insult you now. You'd have to think and I don't want you to sprain you brain."

"You know what?" Silence. "Shut up, I'm ending this conversation now. Shiki, did you see if Akatsuki was in a good mood?"

Shiki turned his emotionless eyes to Aidou. "He seemed somewhat worried. Why?"

"Well, a thought just crossed my mind..."

Ruka couldn't stop herself from adding something. "That must have been a long and lonely trip..."

Aidou ignored her. "Anyway, he wasn't supposed to come back just now, so something must have happened. What if he thinks I messed up while he was gone? Maybe he's angry that I didn't tell him Ruka was sick!"

Shiki was busy eating, so Rima asked for him. "Why didn't you?"

Aidou turned his eyes away, gazing at the wall. "I... I just didn't want him to worry... I knew he'd come back right away if..." Aidou remembered Ruka was there. Kain would never forgive him if he told her how his cousin felt about her. "...if there was something wrong with any of us." His gaze fell upon the floor as he repeated. "I just didn't want him to worry."

Silence spread around the room. Shiki and Rima looked at each other, while Ruka looked at Aidou thoughtfully. She seriously did have to reconsider her opinion of him. First he'd taken her to the medical room, stayed by her side until he was too exhausted, and then he'd worried about his cousin's feelings. And he always gave her something to do when she was bored. She smiled as that thought crossed her mind.

A barely audible whisper escaped Aidou's lips. "I'm so stupid..."

"Hanabusa, you did the right thing." Ruka surprised Aidou and herself by trying to cheer him up. "You were right not to tell him. And you shouldn't be worried about his reaction. I already told Akatsuki that you're the one who took me to the medical room, and he said that he had to thank you."

His blue eyes shone. "Really? You told him that?"

"Of course."

"Why are you blushing?" Rima and Shiki both asked Aidou the question at the same time.

"Am not!" Aidou stormed up the stairs, fuming.

_______________________________________

Kain sighed. Didn't Ichijou understand that by avoiding the subject he just fed his silly suspicions? He knew nothing could be going on between Ruka and Ichijou, as she lived for Kaname only. But he hadn't seen her for so long. Well, it hadn't been that long, but it sure felt like it. And while he was away, his brain entertained itself by conjuting up the most unbelievable stories.

Ichijou avoided Kain's gaze. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to make a big thing out of it, but ended up doing just that. The rose was a gift to commemorate her well-being."

Kain felt stupid. Very, very stupid. Why had he made such a big deal out of such a silly thing? Ichijou had been such a great help during his absence, and he was accusing him of being sneaky behind his back. "Dammit, I'm just being stupid."

"No, you're not." Ichijou stood up.

"Ichij..."

"Kain-kun, I should have taken into account how you feel about Ruka-chan."

Kain was taken aback by this. Ichijou had never discussed this particular topic with him since their first meeting, when they were still little children. The redhead actually thought that the blond had completely forgotten about it.

"I should know that by deliberately avoiding giving answers like these, especially after you've seen that, is just asking for trouble." Ichijou carefully chose a particular rose from his jar and gave it to Kain. "Here. Give this to Ruka-chan. Tell her you've missed her."

"Why ar..."

"Sorry, Aka-chan, but I have lots of work to do, so bye bye!" Ichijou grinned and closed the door. Listening to the red-haired boy's footsteps, the blond boy's happy grin faded away and his emerald eyes were covered by his fringe.

________________________________________________

Kain passed Aidou, who looked like he was extremely angry and nearly didn't notice him. "Hanabusa."

Aidou almost tripped up the stairs. "Akatsuki. Weren't you talking to Ichijou?"

"I think the conversation's finished. So, did you take care of Ruka while I was gone?"

Aidou pondered what he should say. 'Yeah, of course I took care of her. I also enraged Ruka by trying to suck on her neck, let her go on a date with Ichijou, took her to the medical room, something she already told you, but did you know that I picked her up as if she was my bride? Oh, and then I played with her hair while she slept. Freaky, I know. And now I'm completely incapable of feeding on girls. Why? I don't really know, but the only theory I can think of involves Ruka, which is absolutely ridiculous, hence my earlier resolution of never talking about this again. And I've been blushing way too much around her, besides enjoying her insults. There, that pretty much sums it up.' Aidou snapped out of his daydream and shook his head. He had to stop watching Scrubs.

"Hanabusa?"

"Yeah, of course I did. Easy peasy. Ooh, you brought me a rose!"

"No, it's for Ruka. Ichijou said I should give it to her."

Aidou looked at the rose. Funny, it looked just like the ones on Ruka's bedside table in the medical ro... His eyes widened. He'd heard Ichijou say Kaname had been the one sending them, but what if... No, roses all looked the same. "That's a very good idea. Good luck!" Aidou started going up the stairs again, but Kain grabbed his sleeve. He gave him a look that said 'I need support', at least that's how Aidou interpreted it. "Tell you what, I'll stay here and if I see you're doing something wrong, I'll step in, okay?"

Smiling, Kain continued going down the stairs. "Hey."

He was greeted by three distinct voices. "Hi."

"Ruka, can I talk to you? Alone?"

"Sure..." Ruka got up and walked to him. "What is it?"

"Here." He gave her the rose and scratched his neck, as he always did when he was nervous.

"Thank y... ouch!" Ruka pricked her finger on one of the thorns. She parted her mouth to lick the blood, but Kain beat her to it. Taking her hand, he enveloped her finger with his lips. Ruka blushed violently. "Akatsuki..."

Kain took her finger out of his mouth and gently placed a kiss on it. "I missed you."

She answered, in a daze. "I missed you too..."


Some people asked for Rukain, and who am I to deny them? I always try to incorporate your requests in the story, if I can :)

So, Kain is back, and Aidou watches too much Scrubs, bet you weren't expecting that lol^^

By the way, I've uploaded another VK fanfic (Unfaithful), give it a look if you have the time (yes, I'm shamelessly promoting it lol)

Anyway, PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW ^_^