Disclaimer: Takaya Natsuki is the rightful owner. I'm merely borrowing her creations for my own diabolical ideals. No, really.

A/N: The beginning of a story is so much easier to write than the ending (at least to me). That is why I took so long to get this chapter out. (.(bangs head on a table).) T___T

Don't worry though, folks. This isn't the last chapter, but the end is near. XD

Life's Many Indulgences
Chapter 21: The Little Things

"Now that it's truly out in the open I do feel a lot better," Shigure said, sighing in relief. "You're all right with this, Kyo?"

"Yeah." He looked at his Uncle squarely in the face. "It is the truth, isn't it?"

"Well, yes. He must be as shocked as you are about all this."

"More than anything I know just how he exactly reacted." Shigure took on a puzzled look, but Kyo made no further comment on it. "I would have gone to school today if you didn't stop me. And the why the hell did you stop me for?"

"Your mother and father asked me to, as strange as this might sound," Shigure replied. "Tooru also said she was going to check up on Usuda for you. For now, stay home and try to really think about what all this means, okay? We wouldn't want you to have startling afterthoughts."

"Even if you say that," Kyo glanced over his shoulder, "why is Uncle Ritsu here as well?"

Ritsu looked up upon hearing himself being mentioned, eyes growing wide. "Am I a bother? I'm sorry. I'll leave right away. I am really, really sorry."

Kyo sighed and Shigure shook his head at his brother. "We don't want you to leave, Ritsu. It seems you have misunderstood."

"Ah! Have I! I am so sorry! Are you guys mad at me! You are, aren't you!"

"No one's mad."

"Honestly?"

"Yes, honestly, Ritsu."

"We aren't mad. Stop jumping to assumptions so much all the time, will ya?" Kyo said, a bit irritated. This was the main reason why he didn't want his Uncle over here; he tended to put unintentional blame on himself too much. "If it'll brighten your mood I don't mind going to the convenience store or something."

"Really? Can we buy some meat buns?"

"About your proposition, Kyo, I'll have you know people will be wondering why a high schooler like you isn't in school. Best to stay home."

"Shigure, I didn't think about that! I am sorry! Very, very sorry!"

"Oh, geeze . . . You didn't have to say that in front of him!"

"Haha . . ." Shigure shrugged.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Hey, go talk to him, Nao."

Naohito took on a bewildered look, saying, "but why me? He looks like he isn't in a good mood at the moment. I don't want to find out I'm stepping on a land mine."

"You're the one he suspects the least though." Kimi pouted, lower lip sticking out. "Please do it for us just this once. Pretty please?"

"No way. He's going to get mad no matter how I try to approach him about it."

"Kimi, if Nao really doesn't want to, let's not force him, okay?" Kakeru said.

"What are you three whispering about?" Yuki asked. The other three jumped, startled to see their student council president standing there right next to them. "Is it something about me?"

"Of course not! Kakeru, Nao, and I were discussing about what we are going to do during this weekend. Do you want to come to the arcade with us on Saturday?"

"No thank you, Kimi."

"Oh come on, they have a new arcade game out. You should come try it out with us, you know?" Yuki politely declined her again. "I'm just trying to help you lighten your mood, Mr. President. Since this morning you have been looking as if you wanted to crawl into a hole and hide there."

Yuki's eyes widened. ". . . have I?"

"But whatever's troubling you we won't ask, because for once I feel prying isn't such a good thing in this situation," Kimi continued. "If you're willing to share though, feel free to. I'll give you a lending ear and shoulder if need be."

What Kimi had been wanting Naohito to say all along she went ahead and said herself (to some extent since she purposely watered down her words), and now Naohito was a bit miffed she didn't do so sooner instead of asking him. He glanced over at Kakeru only to receive a light shrug as an answer.

"I'll think about that. Thanks." Yuki turned around and went back to his previous station. He hadn't realized he was reflecting his most inner turmoil right onto his face. "Oh yes, you three better finish the remaining papers before leaving."

"Yes, Mr. President!" Kimi chirped. "Come on guys, back to work!"

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Did you guys notice?"

Minami peered over her shoulder, bronze eyes inquiring. "Notice what, Motoko?"

"How Prince Yuki appeared to be troubled about something. I caught glimpse of him this morning - and believe me, it was not intentional - and my heart nearly dropped from my chest."

"Was it that bad?" Mai asked. "Should we do something to try and cheer him up?"

"Well, he and that Mizunashi boy were asked to see the principal just yesterday. Maybe that has something to do with it, since it is already known all around the school that they are seeing each other."

"Too true, Minami, too true." Mio fixed her gaze on her light-brown haired club president. "You did know . . . right, Motoko?"

"I . . . I had no idea! Why didn't you three tell me sooner!"

"Odd. Usually you are the first to know about everything when it comes to Prince Yuki," Mai stated. And this was saying a lot (since they all knew Mai was the most dense when it came to practical things). "Did you just not want to believe it's true?"

"As long as our Prince is happy, I can care less who he is with! But the look he had on this morning . . . It's completely unacceptable! That Mizunashi must be the cause for all of Prince Yuki's sadness!"

"There she goes again . . ." Mio said.

"Jumping to conclusions . . ." Minami finished.

"So, um, are we gonna do something about this, Motoko?" Mai asked.

§BACK AT THE STUDENT COUNCIL CLASSROOM§

"Done at last!" Kimi rose from her seat and grabbed at Kakeru's arm. "Yuki, we're done with the papers, so Kakeru and I are going to leave first, okay?"

"I don't mind."

"All right! Thank you! See you guys later!"

A bubbly Kimi led a bewildered Kakeru out of the classroom. But at the last moment, Kakeru called back, "sorry for leaving so abruptly, but Kimi wanted to go rent the latest Harry Potter movie and watch it!"

Naohito sighed. "Figures. Kimi is a fanatic when it comes to that Harry Potter stuff. Although I can't say it isn't not popular among the students here at school."

"You like Harry Potter too, don't you, Nao?" Yuki asked, coming to stand by his fellow student council member's desk.

"Somewhat. What only really interests me are the books and not the movies. Despite them being as long as they are, and I applaud them for the effort, but I think it just doesn't do the series much justice as the books do. There are too many things they're lacking when pressured with a time crunch." (A/N: This has nothing to do with my views of HP. I like both the movies and books. Let's just say this is Naohito's POV about them. LoL).

"Hm, I suppose you're right."

Naohito dryly laughed. "Sorry. I'm sounding a little too analytical, aren't I? My sisters say that what's mostly annoying about me. A humdrum nerd, they'd sometimes say."

"Humdrum . . .?"

"Oh? You've never heard of that word? It's somewhere along the lines of being dull, boring . . . stuff like that."

"You shouldn't put yourself down so much."

"I can say the same for you, Yuki," Naohito countered. "We're just two boring high school students trying to make ends meet with our own selves. There's no one else that can help us with this; we have to be the ones to free ourselves. Funny how I think this and do nothing about it." He looked up at Yuki and smiled. "But you're different. I'm sure you can get through this without too much trouble."

"Hey, Nao."

"Hm?"

"This might sound kind of sudden, and more so than that, awkward, but do you want to come over to my house?"

"To your house?" Naohito asked, eyes growing wide.

This made Yuki immediately want to rebuke his strange invitation. "Ah, but if you don't want to you don't have to."

"No, I'll come. It's fun talking to you like this. A nice change of pace." What they were talking about appeared to be depressing things, but Naohito found it better to spill out woes to someone other than himself all the time. "I'll give my older sister a call. Narumi's the nicest of the bunch so I'll tell her."

Yuki laughed and was quickly joined in by Naohito.

Coincidentally, or at least to Yuki's suspicions, he saw Kyo's sister standing a little ways away from the student council classroom when he and Naohito exited, and the mild surprise on her face made him stop for a moment. Did she want to say something to him? She carried on the air of something weighing on her shoulders, yet Yuki wasn't sure if he wanted to approach her.

"Isn't that Mizunashi's little sister?" Yuki heard Naohito ask.

"Yes, she is."

"Looks like she wants to talk to you, because she's looking right at us," he continued.

Yuki inwardly sighed, for once not liking Naohito for what he was saying. In his heart of hearts he realized he didn't really want to confront someone who perhaps knew of the evident (forced) break-up.

"Sorry, Nao, it'll only take a moment."

"Oh, it's not a problem. I'll just wait over there by the shoe lockers for you."

"All right."

"Mizunashi," Yuki began, walking towards the small girl, "is something the matter?"

"N-not really! I thought I'd stop by and talk to you for a b-bit, if you d-don't mind!" she said in near nonsensical sense.

Yuki noticed several of his fanatics were giving her (Tooru) the evil eye, and the only solution he could think of was to take her to a empty classroom. "Please come this way. It's probably best if we speak somewhere quiet."

"Ah, yes, please."

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Done already?" Naohito looked to Yuki as he leaned on his haunches, and opened his shoe locker door.

"Did a group of girls happen to approach you, Nao?"

It was a guess; no, mostly a whimsical speculation, but he proved himself to be right, for Naohito combated with, "why do you ask?"

"You look as white as a ghost . . . Did they say something to you?"

"Not anything you'd need to be concerned about." Yuki turned, giving him a pointed look. "Honestly, it's not something you have to worry about, but if you must know, it was merely some of the females from your fan club. They were asking me silly questions, was all."

". . . I see."

"It's not like you to sound so uptight and guarded when you're just around only me. More than anything, I'm finding it a bit unsettling somehow."

Yuki turned back to face his locker, head bowed. Naohito was inching closer and closer to the truth of his uneasiness. "It's understandable. You aren't the only one who's noticed my discomfort. If you won't mind I'll tell you when we get to my house."

A simple, easily said reply. "Okay."

§AT YUKI'S FRONT DOOR§

"Oh, hello," Mrs. Usuda said when she noticed someone was standing beside her son.

"Hello. I am Sakuragi Naohito. I am a member of the student council."

"He's a friend, mother," Yuki supplied, wanting to make sure her mother didn't misunderstand anything. "I asked him over so we could hang out. He's already notified his family and they are fine with him going home a bit later than usual."

"Please . . . Come on in." Mrs. Usuda moved to the side as she widened the door's opening. "I'll prepare some tea and snacks for the both of you."

"Sorry for the intrusion," Naohito said as he stepped foot inside.

The interior of Yuki's home was just like Naohito thought it would be like. It gave off a sort of homely feel, and at the same time had the tastes of an adult's, with a good eye for decoration. However, the only thing which really stood out to Naohito was a painting hanging against the wall opposite him. His eyes were immediately drawn to it, and he found he couldn't stop staring.

Before he even knew it, Yuki was asking him, "you like that painting? It's done by the once famous Mitsuhashi Naritoki. My father bought it from the internet."

Naohito turned his attention to Yuki, a little surprised to hear of where it originated. "Haha, and I was thinking it was probably bought from some auction house somewhere."

"A lot of people have said that," Yuki said, laughing. "I never knew of the painting's value until my father told me he had to bid non-stop until others gave up when the yen was getting too high. I don't know the exact amount, but neither can I say I'd want to know."

"I'm just curious, Yuki, but am I the first of any student council member to come to your home?"

This made Yuki stop for a moment and think, but he clearly knew what the answer was. "Yes, you are the first. If for whatever reason you feel uncomfortable I won't mind if you leave."

"No, no, I wasn't implying about that. It's just that this feels a little strange."

Mrs. Usuda poked her head around the corner and told the boys the snacks and tea were on the table. This drew them there, and it was within a matter of seconds for Naohito to find himself sitting at the dining table, face to face with Yuki.

"Nao, I hope you don't mind, but . . ." Yuki found he couldn't go on until he heard a approval from Naohito.

"What is it?"

"It's about me and Mizunashi's older brother . . . You know . . . About us, don't you?"

"I have. Rumors spread around the school like wild fire these days. I'm surprised--"

"Actually, it's not a rumor. It's true."

Naohito stiffened considerably, but given the grave look on the student council president's face, he found himself impulsively trying to relax. "So you swing that way."

"Does it disgust you?"

"Of course not; I understand human sexuality can take many forms and sides. It's perfectly normal."

"I . . . I see."

"When you and Mizunashi were called into the principal's office, I'm assuming this issue has cropped up?" Yuki nodded. "Dating at school is prohibited and I can see that as the only reason why you'd be called in."

"Precisely, Nao."

"Kimi was fretting about you all this while. I didn't see the situation as she did, but now I know so it is a big deal, isn't it?"

Yuki outwardly frowned, but within he was relieved Naohito didn't slam him down for being who he was. And now the words were itching to come out of his mouth, effortlessly dancing at the tip of his tongue. All in the hopes of confiding in someone his own age, he found it was getting harder and harder to not say it.

"As it turns out, Nao, Mizunashi and I are half-siblings."

Chapter 21: END