Ripple Twenty

[Chapter 44. Monkey on the roof, 'goings-on' underneath]

Yuki wondered if the world was trying to drive him crazy this week. First had been that strange reference room visit by two sempais which resulted in a dramatic meltdown by one of them. Add on a possible confession during a rather awkward conversation a little later, and the end result was an attempt to let her down gently instead of backing away (his previous modus operandi in those situations). He wasn't sure that he had been entirely successful, but at least this would be her last year of high school.

Two days later Hatsuharu had also gone berserk at school but in a manner that involved property damage. Something had set off the ox for sure, but Black Haru was in no mood to share confidences.

And then, when he finally returned home, it was to discover that his cross-dressing cousin had dropped in out of the blue. It wasn't Ritsu's manner of attire that aggravated him; it was when the visitor extolled the virtues of his idol Ayame and compared the rat to his older brother that Yuki fled for more congenial company.

He gave Tohru only a subdued and platonic greeting; for, although Akito was not that fond of and seldom called for the monkey, who knew what Ritsu would spew out in one of his apologetic fits?

Discovering that the mutt had not properly briefed Tohru on his cousin's gender, he was attempting to explain when an accidental bump revealed the truth to her. Ritsu promptly went into a typical family frenzy when Tohru was cut by broken crockery, and Yuki hurried her away from the fireworks to treat her wound.

He had no sooner finished that and was about to sneak a quick kiss when Ritsu was discovered on the roof, disgorging multiple apologies for Tohru's injury, his attire, and, in general, his own worthlessness. Of course, this got his girlfriend all worked up, and she called encouragement to Ritsu just in time for him to slip and almost fall. With the amazing agility granted him by the curse, he quickly caught himself and fortunately suffered no hurt but a sprained ankle.

Hatori sighed when he arrived to find two patients instead of one. "It's not enough that Akito has me running in circles but now the rest of you?"

Tohru vehemently denied that she needed his services, proudly exhibiting Yuki's sloppily awkward bandage, even cradling the wrapped hand to her chest.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the rat. "So much for warning her to get the hell out of Dodge," he muttered. Fully living up to his expectations, Ritsu was a problematic patient, apologizing constantly and twitching until he wished he could lash him to a chair with duct tape over his mouth so he could finish in a reasonable amount of time. Kicking the ever annoying Shigure out of the room improved matters to some extent.

"Great!" Kyo grunted. "Now that he's on the disabled list, I guess Ritsu's gotta stay the night. Wonder where he'll sleep?"

"Well, considering how feminine he is, I suppose I could share—"

"No!" The cat and rat shouted in unison. Kyo glared then subsided while Yuki continued. "I know there was that time with Momiji, but Ritsu is well past puberty. Plus, no one's quite sure what his sexual orientation is."

"Nothing new about that in this family," Kyo muttered.

"If you're trying to insult me through my brother, it won't work," Yuki warned him. "He's a mystery to me, too."

"Well, all I'm sayin' is that he ain't sleepin' with me!"

"Now, now." Shigure glided into the room and inserted himself into the conversation. "There's no harm in the small monkey."

"Except for the fact that he gets hyperactive as hell over the least little thing," Yuki pointed out.

"I told you," Shigure shook the fan in their direction, "how to take care of that."

"I know," Kyo grinned, "since you're the expert in Ritsu, he's your roommate for the night."

"Ah…" The dog was nonplussed. "Not exactly the direction I was going, but all right. But only on one condition," he warned them in a sing-song tone, "no one tell Aaya about this!"

The next few days involved even more crazy times, with Ritsu aggravating Kyo (Yuki stifled several laughs at that) and Shigure tormenting his long-suffering editor.

One afternoon after school, finding the house calm for a change, Yuki went in search of Tohru. He found her grasping the hands of his weeping cousin, obviously in the middle of a heart-to-heart discussion with the monkey. He smiled and retreated, leaving her to it. She has helped so many Sohmas, he thought. If Akito is our vengeful god, then she must be our merciful and healing goddess.

He straightened his spine. Perhaps she was not the only one who could provide encouragement.

"Whoa, this is a surprise," Hatsuharu commented sarcastically upon his arrival. "It's Yuki's doppelgänger."

"No, it's me," he replied with a bit of a bite. I'm not here to fight, I'm not here to fight, he repeated to himself.

"Yeah," said the ox, "but this is the Sohma compound."

"Well, I snuck in." No way was he going to let Akito know he was here. He wasn't in that good of a mood.

Haru simply tapped on his phone and put an arm around his shoulder. "Selfie time. Gimme the peace sign."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Proof of your visit here after all this time, and that you came to see me."

"Yes," he cleared his throat, "I'm glad to see that you're feeling better."

"'Better'. Well, that's one way of putting it. I'm taking my suspension time to try and figure out what comes next."

"Is that right?" Yuki hesitated. "So, you're okay about your break-up...with Rin?"

Haru gave a short laugh. "'Okay'? I'm not ready to give up just yet. I think she's underestimating how much I love her. I'll do whatever I can to get her back."

"Whatever—?"

"Short of breaking the law, of course."

"With you, there's no 'of course' about it, but I'm glad to hear that. In that case, I'd like to wish you good luck."

"You too, Yuki. Good luck. And maybe sometime before graduation you can start calling Honda-san by her name."

"We don't need to get into that."

"Why not?"

"You don't give up, do you?"

"I already said I wasn't going to, either with Rin or with you."

"Why do you always talk this way?" he moaned.

"Say," he sat up abruptly, "it couldn't be you've been speaking formally so long that you're too embarrassed to call her that after all this time?"

"Maybe a little." He blushed then retracted the statement, "No, mainly, it's just...if I start calling her by her name...I'm afraid I'd slip up in public and then everything would get out. You know how those fangirls are."

"Yeah," Haru snorted. "I think my black side would even be wary of them. In a way, they can be scarier that Akito," he mused.

"No one's scarier than Akito," Yuki averred, "and I don't want to put Honda-san in his target sights."

"Hate to tell you this, but I bet she already is, no matter what name you use. But," he gave him a brotherly punch on the bicep, "I don't see you giving up either, even with all the hell that Akito would raise if he knew."

"I am concerned about that."

"Don't worry," he stretched his arms out, "he won't hear about it from me."

Yuki thought as he slipped out of the complex that he still had a ways to go at being an encourager. Haru helped me more than I did him.

A steady rain was falling when he reached home. The house was silent, with lights on only on the main floor. "Where is everyone?" Yuki asked Tohru as he toweled his hair dry.

"Hatori-san called and said that Akito-sama had a fever. Shigure-san decided to visit him and took Ricchan-san home on the way."

"So, no more monkey business in the house."

"Sohma-kun!" She laughed as she took the towel to the laundry room. "You made a zodiac joke."

"Yes, I guess so." He smiled at her. "Honda-san, do you suppose, only here at home, that you could call me by my name?"

She blushed. "You mean, 'Yuki-kun'?"

"Or just 'Yuki'."

"I'd like that very much." She smiled shyly. "Can you do the same, Yuki-kun?"

Now it was his face's turn to pinken. "I'm going to try, Tohru."

She grasped his hand. "This makes it feel even more real."

"Makes what 'even more real'?"

Tohru ducked her head. "That we are boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean, you are the Prince and I am just a penniless orphan girl."

"Nonsense." He cupped her face. "You are the princess to my prince." His mouth twisted. "After all, Nii-san himself has decreed it, so you must believe it."

"Y-Yuki-kun?" Her eyes dropped.

"Yes?"

"Ricchan-san has gone home, and Shigure-san said that he might not be back until morning."

"He sometimes does that. I only hope it's because he's aggravating Akito instead of Hatori. That man has the patience of a saint to put up with Akito in addition to Shigure and Nii-san."

Tohru took a breath. "And Kyo-kun went to bed early like he always does when it rains."

"I wondered why the place was dead quiet. Tohru?" he asked when he saw her biting her lip. "Is something wrong? Can I do anything?"

She grabbed his collar suddenly and pulled his face close for a kiss then ducked her head. "I'm so wanton!" she wailed. "I thought, with everyone gone—except for Kyo-kun, who might as well be gone when he's sleeping—that we might...do things that other couples do."

"Hon- Tohru," he raised her chin, "you know there are difficulties with the curse."

"Is that the only reason that we haven't done...anything else?"

"Well," he looked away, "I didn't want to scare you off with my inexperience."

She gave him a shove. "And do you think I have experience?"

"Hell, no!" He was startled into profanity. "It's just that," he rubbed the back of his neck, "I know it's going to be a holy mess if we're not careful. You know, transforming, then transforming back…"

"Yuki," she said slowly, as if to a child, "I've seen half the zodiac naked."

"It's my weakness," he admitted. "I don't want you to be disappointed."

"Silly man," she shook her head, "the only way you could disappoint me is if you didn't love me."

"Then," he took a deep breath, "let's try."

Akito had been in a particularly snappish mood, not entirely due to the fever, Shigure suspected. I suppose I shouldn't have made that comment about Kureno, he mused as he sat on the porch smoking a cigarette. Coming home early was definitely the correct decision.

He laughed as another transformation flash of light illuminated the rainy yard. So much more entertainment here, after all! Now, how can I make it even more enjoyable?

"Oh, Kyonkichi!"

Kyo, entering the house after a brisk morning workout in the cool weather following the storm, snarled at Shigure. "How many damn times do I have to tell you guys not to call me that?!"

"Sorry!" Shigure gave him an insincere smile. "Aaya rubs off on me at times."

"Argh! Don't talk about you and Ayame...rubbing, will ya? What do you want?"

"Our flower has overslept this morning, and I am in dire need of food." The dog put on a fake-starving face. "Could you please wake her up for me?"

"Do any of your four feet not work? And besides, why don't you get Rat-boy to wake her up? Wouldn't that be more a job for her boyfriend?"

Shigure opened his fan and blinked at him over it. "Yes, but you know how well the Prince awakens. However, if you would like to attempt it…"

"Never mind!" Kyo stomped up the stairs. Too many times had he been beaten to a pulp by his half-conscious cousin to desire a repetition of that experience. He rapped on the door. "Tohru?" Not hearing any response, he knocked again then opened the door. "Tohru, are you all— Damn it, Shigure! You meant to do this! Again!" he yelled towards the stairway, where baying laughter from the first floor could be heard.

"Huh?" Startled, Tohru blinked her eyes open and attempted to rise.

Even half-asleep, Yuki knew that would be a bad idea and risked yet another transformation to push her back down. "Not in front of the cat," he muttered.

"Oh!" She scuttled underneath until only her eyes and the top of her head were visible.

Yuki turned to his cousin. "Go. Away," he ordered.

"Hey! Do you think I want to be here to see...this?" he hollered in return. "It was that damn dog!"

"I know." Yuki rubbed his eyes. "But you're still not leaving." He sighed and sat up, making sure that Tohru was covered. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and fumbled on the floor for his discarded clothing.

"Ack! You're naked!" Kyo's voice rose to almost soprano levels.

"So loud and annoying first thing in the morning," Yuki muttered as he stood and snapped his jeans. "It's not as if you haven't seen me this way before, as many times as we get transformed these days."

"Yes, but—Tohru!"

"And do you recall who causes most of the transformations?" He raised an eyebrow. "She's seen just as much of all of us by now. She can only turn around so quickly."

Kyo's face flamed brighter than his hair before he spun around and clattered down the stairs. "Shigure!" he shouted. "You'd better run 'cause I'm gonna tie a knot in your tail if I catch you!"

A/N: With the holidays coming up and my Itakiss story calling my name, it may be awhile before I get back to this one. But don't worry, I won't do a 'Rick Riordan' and leave you hanging off this cliff for a full year!