Chapter Eight: Puzzles

It was about an hour since the breakfast had been finished in the Araki household, but Yuu was in no hurry to go back to Renaka's. Hiroshi (in between his piteous glances at Saki for giving him smaller portions than he would have liked) had talked all through the meal, chatting his son's ear off about all of his most recent business travels. And Yuu, quite fascinated by the stories, had given him more than enough questions to stoke the story telling fire. Hisashi meanwhile, sat silently by, listening to his father and picking at his food, which naturally spawned comments from the hearty man that he still ate like a bird and needed to gain fifty pounds. To which Saki had politely and underlying suggested that Hiroshi should take his own advice about healthy living and lose fifty pounds.

After concluding their meal, the four had vacated to the living room, where Hiroshi continued his tales with much enthusiasm, considering there was a pair of ears in the room that hadn't heard them a dozen times beforehand.

"And so I was with these Christian missionaries in a hut at their base and they bowed their heads to pray, and during the prayer, this giant, hairy Monstrum of a spider falls from the rafters and lands right on my leg. Let me tell you, I screamed so loud every one of 'em just about jumped out of their skins. And instead of doing the smart thing and calmly brushing the spider away, I reacted on pure instinct and terror, brought my palm up, and smacked the thing as hard as I could. However…this turned out to be bad judgment on my part. Instead of being swashed, the spider flat out bit me and walked out like he owned the place. And not three hours later, my leg is the size of a Kuh—er sorry—cow, and as red and purple as a sunset in hell. Took me three weeks just to walk again and the pain was horrific…

"And so that was the last trip I ever took to Africa." Hiroshi finished cheerily, his hands comfortably folded around his mug of coffee.

"…Wow." Yuu remarked, bringing his own mug to his lips. "That's…quite a story Hiroshi-san."

"Yes that spider bite is mightily engraved in my memories," Hiroshi mused with a slight shudder. "Not to mention I had them send some pictures to Hisashi, he was only ten and thought Papa was going to bite the big one… Or rather, had been bitten by the big one."

Yuu's lip curled and he glanced over at the blonde, who was far too engrossed in his cup of Deutsch Espresso to blush, though Yuu did catch a slight eye roll.

"Though then again, there was that time I was in Poland and came face to face with a big, angry, mama bear." Hiroshi spoke, leaning back in his chair and already going off on another digression. He put his empty coffee mug on the end table, and Saki immediately got up to replenish the three men's beverages without a word, even though Hiroshi had asked her (with more foreign exclamations of endearment) to sit down and enjoy herself. While Hisashi had seemed to tune out their interactions, a slightly befuddled Yuu had watched and let the wheels of his head turn.

Even though he was overly familiar with women's roles in Japanese culture, seeing a very traditional display of it in such an unorthodox family was strange, like trying to fit two different puzzles together. Even stranger, it seemed that the Arakis were fully aware of this. Hiroshi constantly purred sweet nothings to his wife that she needn't bustle around, and yet that only seemed to instill her drive further. While this would have seemed like just a miscommunicated service of love, Yuu somehow sensed that it wasn't the case. There was just something too stiff mulling under the surface of this household, and knowing Hisashi as he did, Yuu wondered if any of these contributed to his silence. If Yuu didn't know better, he would almost say that Hisashi was visiting a stranger's home instead of his immediate family's. Having some experience of this with his own family, Yuu knew that there was more to this than met the eye, and it bothered him enough that he decided to ask Renaka about that later, and in private.

Hisashi listened quietly to his father's ramblings, keeping his coffee mug in hand and chewing on his lower lip.

"So, Hiroshi-san," Yuu said after the man had finished his tale of the angry bear. "You work for the Japanese ambassador?"

"Mmm, yes," Hiroshi replied. "I'm essentially the second-in-command, so when he's occupied I'm usually booked solid for years. Barely have time for an afternoon snack."

"…Has it been busy lately dad?" Hisashi asked almost inaudibly. Hiroshi's eyes brightened considerably at his son's inquiry.

"Well yes and no," He replied. "Lately all my attention has been on training my successor. Nice man, though a rather nervous constitution. I imagine he will loosen up once he's been out of the country a few times and seen all the wonders of it."

Yuu nodded a couple times in understanding, but when he glanced over at Hisashi, he found the blonde looking quite a bit more fidgety.

"So Hisashi," Hiroshi smiled enthusiastically. "How is your work at the publishing company? Do tell."

The blonde gave his dad a small smile.

"It's good. Very busy but…I enjoy it."

"Wonderful," Hiroshi beamed. "I'm glad to see you doing so well. I understand you work there too Yuu-san? How did the two of you meet?"

Hisashi's smile slightly fell and he took a long drink of his coffee as Yuu answered his father.

"We work under the same mangaka." Yuu replied coolly. "And as the hours are a bit long, we sort of became friends of circumstance."

"I see." Hiroshi replied. "Well in any case, I'm very happy to see Hisashi with a trustful friend of any sort. I don't know how much you know, but Hisashi lost his best friend Atsushi just a while back and it's nice to see him in good company again."

Yuu was slightly taken aback by the man's words and noticed almost immediately that the air was made even more uncomfortable at the unconscious comparison of Yuu and the late Atsushi. Hisashi didn't say anything in reply, and just from looking at Hiroshi's face, Yuu could tell that the words had not been said with any sort of malice. Even still, it slightly ticked him off. Hisashi could be very emotionally fragile with that subject. Didn't his father realize how hard it was for Hisashi to talk about the past? From what Renaka had said, Hisashi had been sick mind and body when he moved to Tokyo, and one would think that his parents would be a little more cautious in the water they were treading.

"Um, yes," Yuu replied carefully. "Hisashi had told me all about him. By the way, I don't suppose he told you that he won an award a few weeks ago?"

"Yuu…" Hisashi whispered in a murmuring plea.

"What? An award!" Hiroshi exclaimed. "Oh mein Gott! What was it?"

"It was the 'New Assistant's Award,' and is given only to those who have worked for the company a short time but have shown exceptional talent." Yuu enlightened, giving the blonde a proud smile.

"How wonderful!" Hiroshi bellowed, nearly throwing his coffee mug into the air. "We must go out and celebrate!"

Hisashi slightly winced at his dad's characteristically loud tone, and brought a hand up.

"I'd rather not dad, if that's okay. The people at the office celebrated quite enough already…"

"Oh," Hiroshi said, the tinniest bit deflated. "Well, we should at least have dinner in Sapporo while you two are here. I imagine you haven't had French food in a while."

Hisashi's brow wrinkled a bit at his father's insistence, but he reluctantly nodded.

"Okay, I guess that's fine. Just…don't go overboard…"

The hearty man let out a rumbling laugh.

"Oh son, when have I ever gone overboard?"

Yuu glanced to Hisashi and raised an eyebrow as a look of utter weariness overtook the blonde's face. Downing the last of his German coffee, Hisashi silently stood and brushed at something invisible on his striped hoodie.

"We probably should head back to Renaka's, I think she has something planned for us."

"Oh sure, sure." Hiroshi chattered, getting up and enveloping his son in another all-encompassing hug. "Well then, how about we have dinner the night after tomorrow then?"

"Okay," Hisashi replied, his face a blank slate. "Is that all right Yuu?"

"Yes, thank you for the offer." Yuu said, rising and nodding to Saki and Hiroshi. "And thank you again for the meal. It was delicious."

"You are very welcome, Yanase-san." Saki replied courteously. "May I show you two out?"

"That's okay," Hisashi replied, already backing towards the door. "Come on Yuu."

After one more bow to Hisashi's parents, Yuu followed, and it was quite apparent that Hisashi was relieved to be back outside again. The blonde let out a grateful sigh, shoving his hands in his pockets as they headed back to Renaka's.

It was also pretty obvious that Yuu had a lot more questions than answers at the moment, and he intended to have them all answered by one person or another.

"Sorry about my dad," A quiet murmur came from the blonde, though he didn't stop walking. "He means well but…he can be a bit much."

"No, it's all right. His stories were very interesting." Yuu replied.

"…I didn't mean that." Hisashi answered, his chin dipping a bit lower. "I know it's stupid that everyone keeps comparing you to Atsushi…sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Yuu replied. "Hey, is something wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You seem tired. Did you not sleep well last night?"

Hisashi stopped at Renaka's gate, his hand resting on the lock without opening it.

"…Yeah. Kind of."

As Hisashi opened the gate and began to head up the walkway, Yuu strode forward, intending to cut him off and get down to the heart of the matter. However when Hisashi stopped in front of the porch and cursed under his breath, Yuu's drive was sideswiped.

"What is it?"

"I was so focused on getting through breakfast I forgot," The blonde quietly moaned, motioning to the driveway where three brightly colored motorbikes were parked. "Renaka's assistants are here…"

"What's so bad about that?" Yuu asked, raising an eyebrow. But as Hisashi turned around and gave him a look of weary horror, the brunette immediately knew that Hisashi's parents weren't the only strange people he was going to meet today.


Hello Artistica fans and thank you for all your patience with these updates :) Been busy as all heck lately and I finally got some down time, meaning I contact no one through any other mean but the internet and my royal rear doesn't leave the couch. Ah. Heaven.

I know this chapter was mostly dialogue, but I hope you all are still enjoying the story and the characters. Haha, it seems I threw everyone quite a loop with Hisashi's father. Your reactions really made me smile.

Shirasu, HappySunshine29, xMoonlight, JoanIncarnate, Mid Summer Romance, Alexisz, Niji25, and Guests- Thank you all so much for your reviews! You have no idea just how encouraging they are and they never fail to brighten my day! ^_^ Group hug!

Fauchocolat- well it seems I had just as much fun reading your review as you did my chapter :) Thanks a zillion for all the awesome feedback. And let me assure you, Hiroshi and Hisashi's relationship is indeed a complicated and strange one, but it will all be explained in time :)

MioMisaki- Always wonderful to hear from a new reader :) So thrilled you like my stories and I hope to keep seeing you around.

Leigh's Last Laugh- Haha. Glad you find me entertaining :) see world? I'm doing something with my life. Lol. But believe me, I have a couple more wild OCs to introduce so don't get too comfortable ;) Thanks so much for the review!

Kisses to you all!

TBF101