Chapter Twenty Four

"Just leave me alone!" Yayoi shut her bedroom door with a snap and locked it for good measure, listening to Nnoitra mutter darkly as he walked back down the stairs. She hadn't meant to be short with him like that but he had been asking her all weekend what had "crawled up her butt" and she was frankly sick of it. As soon as she was sure that he was gone she returned to her desk and threw herself back down in her chair. She sighed deeply and glanced at herself in the mirror, frowning at her messy hair and the dark and puffy circles under her eyes. She'd had trouble sleeping since Friday, and had cried more times than she'd care to admit. All because of stupid Sorin. She frowned at her reflection and snatched up her makeup bag, yanking it open so hard that several pretty pink lip glosses went flying. She dug around for a bit before tossing the bag at her mirror in frustration. All her makeup was plain and neutral. Like her. She wanted to do something wild, daring, to show herself that she could be something other than the sweet, caring girl that everyone saw her as. Yayoi let her head fall back and she closed her eyes with a huff.

She wanted to make Sorin jealous. Wanted him upset and angry and hurt. Why was he being mean to her? Because she kissed his brother, once, a million years ago? Why did he even care? It wasn't like he cared about her like that, right?

She stood up abruptly and left her bedroom, pounding down the stairs. "Oto-chan!" Nnoitra was standing in the middle of the kitchen with an open bag of shredded cheese, frowning at her as she entered calling for her father.

"Oh, now you want somethin'?" She glared at him, she hated men right now, and snapped.

"Where's oto-chan?"

Nnoitra curled his lip at her and wiped his dirty hand on his jeans before he motioned at the backyard. Shinji was in the far corner emptying a can of purple spray paint over a large sheet of metal. She had no idea what it was going to be used for, and she didn't care right that moment either. He noticed her before she reached him and stopped, turning and lifting up the mask he had on so that he could smile at her. She stopped, took a deep breath, looked him straight in the eye and spoke.

"I want to get my hair done. I want better, real makeup, and I want some pants. Tight ones. And cute bras and underwear. And I want to show off my-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there Yo-chan." Shinji held up both hands in front of him as if to ward off the rapid fire demands his daughter was throwing at him. Yayoi crossed her arms and clenched her jaw, giving her father a look that stated clearly that she would not be swayed. She could be just as stubborn as he was sometimes, but it was so rare, she'd always been such an amiable kid, that it threw him off just about every time.

"What brought all this on?"

She tipped her head back a bit, squaring her shoulders. "I'm tired of being treated like a little girl. I'm a woman, oto-chan."

"Okay." He slipped the mask completely off and dropped in on the table that held a few other supplies he had been using that morning, and pulled off the gloves he had been wearing. He turned to give her his full attention. "How about you and me go out for a bit. We can talk about what you want to do with your hair." She knew he'd pepper her with questions at some point, but maybe it was just a good idea to get out of the house, and out of her own head for a while. Yayoi's body seemed to deflate a bit, the rigid set of her shoulders relaxing and her frown not quite as deep.

They were half way to the same salon that they'd late gotten their hair done at before Shinji asked her what was on her mind. Not, "what's wrong?" which she appreciated. She didn't really want to admit that she had a crush on Sorin and that he'd turned his nose up at her at the thought of her kissing his brother, but her lips formed the words before she could even try to stop herself. She cried again, apologizing to Shinji for being gross and liking someone who was practically a cousin to her, not once looking at her father because she expected to see disgust on his face. Maybe she was stupid for demanding they go out, and then falling apart like this. She hadn't even fully admitted anything to Tomoe, she'd been denying it for years even though they both knew it was true.

When Shinji parked the car she looked up and sniffled, wiping at her wet cheeks with both hands but frowning when she noticed that they were at the club and not the salon. She finally looked at him then and saw that he was texting away on his phone.

"Oto-ch-"

"We're picking up Yumichika."

"But-"

Shinji looked at up her and offered her a smirk before he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Yumi is the best person to help you get it right, Sweetheart. We have a boy to impress, don't we?"

She felt her face heat up and pressed her hands to both sides, eyes going wide as she let out a strangled, awkward little noise.

"But… aren't you, ya know, mad at me?"

Shinji chuckled. "Well, sweetie, it was a bit obvious…."

"Nuh-uhn!" She protested, still blushing brightly. Her father had known this entire time and just never said anything? Who else knew? She hadn't been that obvious, had she? Shinji chuckled and sat back as they waited.

"Just don't do anythin' too dramatic, okay? I know it's temptin' to change everythin' when stuff like this happens, but you don't wanna go overboard."

"Oto-chan?" She was still blushing, looking at her fingers twining in her lap as he sat there giving her advise. He hummed in response before she continued. "You're really not mad at me?"

"Of course not. I love you and I want you to be happy. And if he's the one that made ya cry, well then oto-chan is gonna help you make him cry." His grin was wicked and she giggled, sniffling one last time and looking up at her father with her own little conspiratorial smile.

"I love you too. Thank you, oto-chan." It felt weird that she'd told him, that he hadn't freaked out on her, but mostly she felt relieved. Like a weight had been taken off her chest. She let out a much more contented sigh and took out her phone as they waited so that they could get ideas for her hair.

Taichi ran his fingers back through Yayoi's silky smooth hair, oohing and awing at the new style and color. Instead of the inky black she had been born with thanks to her mother, she was not platinum blonde, almost white with a faint purplish hue that changed her pale blue eyes almost violet. And her makeup, a classy smokey eye with an intense pink that faded into a darker brown. He couldn't believe her fathers had let her walk out of the house like that and even asked if Nnoitra had seen her. Despite his surprise, though, he thought she looked amazing. So different than before, but somehow more herself.

They were at lunch on the roof again, just the two of them this time as Tomoe had stayed home not feeling well that day and Sora was off somewhere else. Neither one of them were sure where but they were enjoying their private moment together. He leaned back and popped a tomato into his mouth, chewing slowly. Maybe he should do a makeover, he thought, trying to picture himself with a different hair color, or even a shorter length. He curled his lip at the thought of it shorter and shook his head. He may be an identical twin, but he really didn't want to look more like Sorin than he had to. He curled a finger around a bit of hair that had fallen over his shoulder and tugged gently. Yeah, no cutting. And he honestly really liked the color of his hair, darker than his father's.

"Sora! I thought you wouldn't make it up here today." Yayoi's voice startle him from his thoughts and his gaze snapped up, locking on the form approaching them. He felt heat rise to his face and looked away quickly, clearing his throat and trying to play it off as if it were from the chill that had been in the wind recently and not the ridiculously intimate dream he'd had Saturday night.

Taichi had woken with a start, his body flushed and sweaty, his breath short and his bones feeling like liquid. The dream was quickly fading but he could still see a pair of dark, narrow eyes gazing into his, penetrating his soul as a tongue curled up the arch of his foot. He'd shivered and sighed, closing his eyes again. He'd never really been into feet, certainly not in any sexual way, but that had been… hot. And then he'd moved and realized that for the first time since he was about thirteen he'd had a wet dream. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that it had been Sora in his dream, not after what he had done either that night. But now, seeing him in daylight looking irritable and aloof at the same time, Taichi had to wonder if this would be a one time exception, the erotic dream about a shorter, younger man. Sora wasn't exactly like anyone else Taichi had ever been attracted to, so it wouldn't surprise him if he had just been reacting to the attention and not so much the young man.

"I had time." Sora's deep voice penetrated Taichi's thoughts and he shivered suddenly, directing the conversation anywhere but where his thoughts were.

"Hello, Ishida-kun. What do you think of Yo's new look?"

Sora sat and pulled out a bento that looked suspiciously from home for once, instead of the convenience store one that he usually had. Taichi was curious enough to watch him open it, barely listening as he looked over the messy rice balls and what looked like a pile of scrambled eggs.

"She looks different." He commented and picked up one of the rice balls that almost immediately crumbled to pieces. Sora grumbled and tried again, scooping this time before shoving it into his mouth. The corner of Taichi's mouth twitched and he leaned in, using his chopsticks to gab some of the egg.

"Who made your lunch today?" He asked before shoving the food into his mouth, despite Sora's sudden exclamation for him to stop. Flavor exploded on his tongue and Taichi hummed in surprise, sitting up and canting his head to the side as he tried to figure out what spices had been used.

"It's not very good, you should spit it out." Sora grumbled as Taichi swallowed and shook his head.

"No, it's actually pretty good. A little heavy on flavor, but not bad. Did you," He looked up and gave Sora that slight, crooked smile. "Did you make this yourself?"

The flush to Sora's face was instantaneous and it made Taichi giggle quietly.

"I thought I'd at least try." Sora mumbled and poked at the ruined rice balls.

"Is this your first try?" He asked, reaching with his chopsticks again only to have Sora pull the entire bento away and frown at him.

"Yes." Taichi scooted closer, leaning into Sora, crowding him and flustering him more at the proximity. It made snagging some more food a piece of cake and he popped rice and whatever Sora had stuffed them with into his mouth. This time it was a bit too salty, but not bad at all.

"It's good, especially if this is your first try." He made sure to meet Sora's eyes this time and for a moment he forgot that they weren't alone this time. They were so close, Taichi practically hovering over Sora, their shoulders touching as well as their thighs, their faces a handful of inches apart. "I like it." Had Sora's eyes always been such a pretty dark blue?

The bell rang, startling them both enough they jumped back and away from each other, and Taichi cleared his throat as she stood to gather his things.

"Keep practicing and you'll get those rice balls to stay together." He shoved his chopsticks into his bento box and made sure that he wasn't looking directly at Sora this time. "I want to taste them when you try again, okay?"

Sora sighed and mumbled again, "Okay." and even though Taichi wasn't looking at him he knew he was still blushing and not nearly as irritated as he sounded.

Sorin was still spitting out blood after rinsing three times and he was currently staring at himself in the mirror with his lip pulled down trying to locate the cut. He'd found out earlier that day that any chance he'd had at a scholarship had been revoked because of the fight when Taichi had been attacked, since it had been on school grounds, and he'd been out of focus all day because of it. Well, that and he'd still been reeling over catching a glance of Yayoi's new look. That had thrown him off enough, but when he'd gotten the second bit of news he had been thrown completely off.

"You gonna be okay?" Sorin let go of his lip and turned, catching sight of the freshman with the hard right jab that had managed to draw blood from him for a second time.

"Yeah, it's not that bad." He shrugged and grabbed his water bottle, filling, swishing and spitting again, glad to see that it wasn't quite as bloody as it had been the last time.

"Listen, I know I don't know you very well and all, but you seem kinda off today. Do you… wanna talk about it?"

Sorin frowned at the guy for a moment. No he didn't want to talk about his feelings with a stranger, let alone the stranger that had just punched him in the damn face. Again. He couldn't even remember his name, though honestly that wasn't very surprising. Sorin sucked at names and faces and all that.

"Just one of those days, you know." He tried to shrug it off and turned back towards the mirror, pulling down his lip again just to make sure that the cut had stopped bleeding finally. He could still taste the blood it was definitely fading. A face appeared in the mirror behind him, startling him enough his jumped and turned.

"Ha, sorry." The guy chuckled and smiled at Sorin. "Hey, my dad owns a ring across town. You should come over and spar with me sometime. It'd be nice to have someone outside of school to fight with that doesn't suck at it."

Mostly Sorin just worked out and maybe hit the batting cages outside of school, and he had to admit the idea of having someone to train with on the side sounded pretty good.

"Sorry, what was your name again?" He gave the guy a sheepish smile and turned back, taking one last sip of water to swish and spit.

He laughed and gave Sorin a wide smile. "Itsuo Ida." Itsuo walked to his locker and took out his phone, asking for Sorin's number and texting him the address.

"No pressure, man. But let me know if you wanna meet up to spar. I'm always down if the opponent is worth while."

"Okay, cool." Things were still pretty shitty, but at least now he had a better reason to get some of that aggression out outside of school now. Sorin showered and changed, making his way to the bus stop to head home, and noticed Itsuo standing there, his dark bag slung over one shoulder, his messy curly dark brown hair whipping in the sudden gust of wind. He looked up and smiled at Sorin, pulling out one of his ear buds and nodding in greeting.

"Yo. Where you headed?"

They talked as they waited for the bus, mostly about school and sports, and continued to talk after they got on. Itsuo was an easy going guy, quick to laughter, generous with compliments even though he'd now bested Sorin twice. When they parted ways they agreed to meet later that week and Sorin walked the rest of the way home feeling much lighter than he had since the week before. Maybe he just needed a real friend, to help take his mind off all the things that were just too heavy to dwell on. It'd probably be good for him not to be alone so much anyway. As long as Itsuo could keep up, that is.

A/N I was going to wait til Christmas to post this but here you go, happy early Christmas~~

I'm going to be keeping the chapters short like this for the time being, while I get back into the swing of things. It will make it easier to get them done in a decent amount of time. I'm also going to try and stockpile a few before the next post so that I have a bit of a buffer.

Anywho~~ Thoughts? I'd love to hear what you all are thinking about the newest developments, and of course the newbie Itsuo Ida *suggestive winking*

Much loves and happy holidays Duckies~~

~Penny