Roses and Regrets
Roses and Regrets
Chapter 08
Beth opened her eyes. Sun was shining in them. She wondered how long she had slept. She tossed back the blanket and swung her feet to the floor. She felt a wave of dizziness, but it passed quickly. She smelled bacon cooking. Had she slept all night? She grabbed her glasses.
She padded into the kitchen expecting to see Yukina or Keiko. The girls were nowhere in sight. Shuichi straightened after finding the eggs in the refrigerator. "Good morning, Beth san. Did you sleep well?" "Yes, thank you. I can't believe I slept all night." She raked a hand through her disheveled hair.
"Did Keiko go home?" "No. She is still sleeping. Your aunt called last night after she saw the news. She agreed you should stay here." Beth frowned. She had not wanted to think about yesterday. It was still too fresh in her mind.
"Are we the only ones up?" "Yusuke and Kuwabara will sleep until someone rolls them out of bed. Keiko will see to that when she wakes up. Genkai and Yukina are outside meditating." "And Hiei?" "He left last night." Shuichi didn't elaborate. "Can I help?" He nodded toward the cabinet to the left of the sink as he turned the bacon in the skillet. "The plates are in there. The glasses are in the next cabinet over."
Beth was thoughtful as she laid out each place setting. Perhaps she had misjudged Shuichi. She had written him off as your typical pretty boy. God knew most of them were a waste of space. He appeared to be highly intelligent. She knew that he genuinely cared for his friends. He had been more than kind to her. Now he was cooking breakfast. He had surprised her at every turn. She was going to have to be nicer to him.
She was jolted from her thoughts by a loud thud coming from the back of the temple followed by yelling. "What was that?" Shuichi just chuckled, showing no concern. "Yusuke's alarm clock in the form of his fiancé. That would have been him hitting the floor, by the way. Yusuke's never been a morning person."
"Does she still act like his mother? I would have thought by now…." She turned back to her task. She wouldn't speculate about her cousin's love life in front of someone else. But she was beginning to suspect that her cousin and her childhood playmate had never really formed a lover like relationship. That did not bode well for her cousin's future happiness.
Shuichi looked over his shoulder at Beth. So he wasn't the only one that thought their relationship was strange. He wondered not for the first time if Yusuke and Keiko were having trouble advancing from friend stage to lover stage. Perhaps that's why the engagement had stretched into two years with no wedding date set. It did not bode well for Yusuke's future happiness.
Yusuke came into the kitchen raking a hand through disheveled hair. He yawned. "Hey, Kurama. Smells good." Kurama blanched. Unfortunately, Yusuke's brain didn't work well in the mornings either. It was too much to hope that Beth had missed the slip. She'd shown too much intelligence.
"Kurama? I thought your name was Shuichi." Yusuke now realized his mistake. "It's just a nickname that his close friends call him." "I see." She took the plate of eggs from Shuichi's hand. "Nicknames are common in America. Beth is a shortened form of Elizabeth. I never thought about them here. Which name would you prefer me to use?"
"Kurama would be fine, Beth san." She was shaking her head. "Just Beth. None of you are formal with each other, so why should you be so formal with me?" Yusuke put an arm around her and moved her over. "Great. Now that that's settled. I'm starved." He straddled a chair and started filling his plate. Kurama and Beth stared at Yusuke and began to laugh.
It felt good to laugh again. And even more to laugh with someone else. Maybe moving had been a good idea. She owed her mother an apology for the argument. It had been a bad one. Probably worse than any they'd ever had. She had accused her mother of wanting to forget the man she claimed to love. Her mother had slapped her then. She'd never struck her that she could remember. There had been tears and slammed doors.
That had been a month after the funeral. When her mother had told her they were moving. Things had been strained between them ever since. Needing space was one of the reasons she had come alone. She shook off her melancholy. She intended to enjoy the day with her new friends. And she did consider them friends even though she'd only met them yesterday.
Beth wandered outside in search of Genkai and Yukina. They had just finished their meditation when she found them. Yukina smiled at her. "Beth san, are you feeling better?" She smiled back at the girl. "I'm much better, thank you. And please just call me Beth. Kurama and I have already agreed. Breakfast is ready." Genkai frowned. "Kurama?" "Yusuke called him by his nickname, and when I asked he said he preferred it." Genkai snorted.
Keiko and Kuwabara were already at the table when they arrived. Yusuke was eating like he hadn't had food in days. Genkai smacked the back of his head. "Ouch, Grandma. What the hell was that for?" "One of these days your luck is going to run out, dimwit." It was curious, but Beth let it slide. She suddenly discovered she was hungry.
Thinking about it, she hadn't had lunch and she had slept through dinner. No wonder her stomach was growling. She would have to be careful, or they'd think she was related to Yusuke instead of Keiko.
To be continued….
