It has been a month now since he came back. He
was happy to see his childhood best friend again, but he was also surprised to
discover that the loud-mouthed do-aho was also Youhei's best friend. He sighed.
He knew that he didn't have the right to control who Youhei could be friends
with, but he just didn't understand why Youhei considered that baka to be his
best friend. 'The guy is totally irrational and he hit me for no reason the
first time I saw him.' But he knew that it would be incredibly unfair of
him to make Youhei choose, so he mostly ignored the redhead these days.
Rukawa walked out onto the school roof, skipping
his last class to get some shuteye. 'I'll wake up in time for basketball
practice' he promised himself. He drifted off to sleep in a span of two
seconds.
Sakuragi decided that he needed some fresh air.
Lately he has been restraining himself from beating Rukawa into a bloody pulp
whenever Youhei was present and that was quite often. Ever since that day when
Youhei found them fighting in the gym, Youhei came to practice everyday and
even kept them company when they were stuck together with clean up duty. Akagi
and Ayako were happy and astounded that the juniors stopped fighting and were
therefore grateful for Youhei's presence.
Sakuragi pushed the door to the roof open and
walked out. He immediately spotted a prone figure on the floor of the roof.
Curious, he walked up to it to see who it was. He was surprised to see that it
was Rukawa. He was about to turn around and stomp out of the area when the look
on Rukawa's face stopped him. The fox's face lost its usual icy, blank
expression and was replaced by a more calm and open expression. Sakuragi smiled
and bent down to look at the other boy fully in the face. Rukawa's dark bangs
fell lightly over his eyelids and thick long eyelashes contrasted sharply with
the boy's smooth white skin. Sakuragi sighed. 'No wonder Haruko-chan's so
crazy over him. He's just too cute when he is like this.' Sakuragi mentally
smacked himself. 'What are you thinking about? He's just a stupid fox and he
looks like his face is stuck in a block of ice. Tensai is much more
good-looking than him!'
Sakuragi's thoughts quieted when Rukawa suddenly
opened his eyes. His face was back to its usual cold expression. Sakuragi
sighed mentally in disappointment. The kitsune-eyed boy looked up at Sakuragi
and then quickly sat up. "What are you doing?" Rukawa's voice had an icy hard
edge.
Sakuragi turned slightly red and then
recovering, he let out a big laugh. "HAHAHAHA!!! Tensai can go wherever he
wants and do whatever he wants!"
"Do-aho."
"TEME, KITSUNE! How dare you say that about the
Tensai?" Sakuragi was quickly seeing red as his anger flared.
Rukawa just ignored him and walked through the
door, back into the building.
"How dare you ignore the Tensai, you fox!" Sakuragi
began running after Rukawa. He caught up to Rukawa and was about to pound the
boy to the ground when suddenly Youhei appeared down the hall. Sakuragi
immediately slung an arm on Rukawa's shoulders and smiled brightly at Youhei.
Rukawa looked a bit disgruntled but he allowed Sakuragi's arm to stay on his
shoulders. Youhei walked up to them with a curious expression on his face.
"What were you guys doing?" Youhei asked
suspiciously.
Rukawa gave Youhei a blank look while Sakuragi
smiled nervously at him. Sakuragi replied, "N… Nothing. Just hanging out."
"It's a good thing that I found you guys
together. I have a question for the both of you. You guys won't mind eating
dinner at my house tonight, right?" Youhei asked with an overly sweet smile. "I
already told my mom that you would both come." Youhei held up a hand to stall
any protests that might come from the boys. He turned towards Sakuragi.
"Hanamichi, you already promised my mother that you would come over one of
these days. I know that you don't have any plans tonight and you love my mom's
cooking. Also, today is Friday, which means that there is no school tomorrow.
So why not today?"
Sakuragi thought pensively to himself and then
sighed. "You're right. I did promise and the Tensai never breaks his promises."
Youhei then turned to Rukawa. "My mother really
wants to see how much you've grown up Kaede. Why not come over and have dinner
with us tonight? It'll be like old times."
The kitsune-eyed boy thought silently for a
moment and nodded his acceptance to the proposition.
Youhei smiled. Sakuragi felt a bit uneasy when
he noticed a mischievous glint in his best friend's eyes. "You guys can come
together right after practice." Youhei said. Youhei turned to walk away and
then he stopped. "And you guys better not fight during practice or on the way
to my house, or both me and my mom would be upset." Youhei walked away
whistling cheerfully.
Sakuragi gulped in terror. He still remembered
the last time he saw Youhei's mom get angry. Let's just say that it wasn't
pretty. He still got nightmares of the much-feared spatula that kept hitting
his head.
Rukawa shrugged Sakuragi's arm off and walked
away.
Sakuragi was still off in his own little world
when he finally realized what time it was. He was going to be late for
basketball practice. He frantically started to sprint towards the gym. When he
got there, practice already started and Akagi had an angry expression on his
face. Rukawa had already changed into a T-shirt and shorts and was practicing
his three-pointer.
"Sakuragi!! Why are you late?" Akagi bellowed.
"Gori. I'm just a few minutes late…"
"Who are you calling Gori???"
POW!
"Itee…"
*****
Several hours later, practice ended. Sakuragi
changed quickly in the locker room and walked out of the gym with his bag slung
on his back. He saw Rukawa leaning against the front gate of the school looking
up at the sky. The warm wind was ruffling through Rukawa's hair and his face
looked so serene. Sakuragi's breath hitched in his throat as he walked up to the
kitsune-eyed boy. Suddenly Rukawa glanced in his direction and the blank cold
expression was firmly back in place. Rukawa started to walk away without
even acknowledging his presence. He held a tight rein on his rising temper at
being ignored by reminding himself what Youhei had said, and hurried after
Rukawa. When he caught up to the boy, Rukawa had already fallen asleep. They
walked together silently and Sakuragi glanced at the sleeping boy, amused that
Rukawa didn't get himself killed yet from always sleeping while he was walking
on the streets.
Suddenly Rukawa stepped out onto the street in
front of a car headed in his direction. Sakuragi quickly latched onto Rukawa's
arm pulling him back from the street. Rukawa didn't even wake up. He just
continued to walk. Sakuragi kept a tight grip on Rukawa's arm and mentally
sighed exasperatedly. 'Better not let him bump into anything or Youhei and
his mom might think that I have caused his injuries.' He thought grumpily.
During the course of the trip, he steered Rukawa away from fire hydrants,
telephone polls and many other immobile obstacles. He sighed in relief when
they finally reached Youhei's house. He was about to wake Rukawa up when he
fortunately remembered the consequences of doing such a thing. 'Better let
Youhei handle him.' He rang the doorbell of the house and the door swung
open. After Youhei woke Rukawa up without any mishaps, he ushered them both
into the house.
"Ah, you boys are finally here. We thought that
you both got lost." Youhei's mother said as she walked out of the kitchen.
"No we didn't get lost. Practice just took
longer than usual, Mito-san." Sakuragi explained, giving the plump, cheerful
woman a big smile.
She returned his smile with a big one of her
own. She then turned to Rukawa. "Kaede! You have grown so much! You are so tall
now. You're a little too skinny though. Well, I'll just have to fix that." She
gave Rukawa a warm, motherly smile.
"Thank you for inviting me, Mito-san." Rukawa
said in a low voice while bowing his head slightly in respect.
Sakuragi looked at Rukawa with shock and then
recovering quickly he turned to Youhei's mother. "So what are you cooking for
dinner, Mito-san? Is it your famous casserole? And perhaps your miso soup? I
just love your cooking." Sakuragi asked while rubbing his stomach and licking
his lips.
"Hanamichi, how did you guess? Oh, you guys must
be starving from basketball practice! Why don't you guys help Youhei set up the
table? Dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Youhei's mother bustled back
into the kitchen where delicious smells were wafting to their noses.
Youhei turned towards them. "I see that you guys
behaved." He said with a bright and amused smile on his lips.
Sakuragi glared at his best friend and opened
his mouth to start complaining when Youhei shoved an assortment of utensils at
Sakuragi. He then gave Rukawa a pile of plates. "Mom said that you guys have to
help me set up the table. Just spread those out on the table. I'm going to get
the napkins and soup bowls." Youhei walked out of the room before he could say
anything. He looked at the utensils in his hands and then noticed that Rukawa
was already spacing the plates out evenly on the dinner table. So he walked up
to the table and started to set the appropriate utensils next to each plate.
They worked together in silence.
Sakuragi has never seen Rukawa be polite to
anyone before and seeing him like that towards Youhei's mother almost shocked
him speechless. He gave Rukawa a sidelong glance. The boy was almost finishing
spacing out the plates on the table. After he finished, Rukawa looked up
directly into his eyes. Sakuragi felt himself drowning into the deep blue
depths. Realizing that he was staring, he looked away and blindly put down some
utensils next to a plate.
"You're setting the table wrong, do-aho."
Sakuragi looked up in surprise, which quickly
turned into anger as the fox's words sank in. "Teme, kitsune! Are you saying
the Tensai is wrong? Tensai is NEVER wrong!!"
The dark-haired boy arched an eyebrow at him and
then snorted. He then turned and walked away before Sakuragi could say anything
more.
Still steaming angrily, he closed his eyes and
began to breathe in and out deeply. Slowly he began to calm down. Looking at
the table, he noticed that he placed two forks next to one plate and two spoons
next to the adjacent plate. Flushing wildly in embarrassment, he realized that
he had wrongly yelled at Rukawa. He then started to wonder how he should
apologize to Rukawa. He started to bang his head on the dinner table but stopped
before the noise alerted anyone else in the house. 'Why the hell should I
apologize to that fox? He's my archenemy and I never needed a reason to yell at
that kitsune before!' He blocked out the little voice in his head that
urged him to apologize to Rukawa and focused again on the task of setting up
the table correctly.
*****
Dinner went rather well. All of the boys
profusely and unabashedly complimented her cooking. Hanamichi chattered
incessantly throughout the whole meal and had doubles of all the dishes on the
table. Surprisingly, Kaede was silent for most of the meal, only talking when
asked a direct question. Youhei had told her that Kaede had changed but she did
not realize that it would be so drastic. She also noticed that Kaede and Hanamichi
weren't on the best terms. She mentally made a note to ask her son about it
later. She shooed the boys out of her kitchen, ignoring the offers to help her
with the dishes.
"It's late. You guys should be getting home.
Kaede, where do you live right now?" She asked.
Rukawa told her and she mentally pinpointed the
location in her head. "Hanamichi, Kaede lives on the route that you usually
walk home. So why don't you walk him home?"
Seeing the resistance in the redhead's face, she
sighed and lifted her handy spatula, ready to threaten and beat the boy into
submission.
"That's not necessary." Rukawa's voice cut in.
She turned towards the kitsune-eyed boy with a
warm smile on her face. "Kaede, you have just moved back here and I don't think
that you're that familiar with the streets around here just yet. The times have
changed and the streets are not as safe as they used to be. I'll never forgive
myself if something bad happened to you on your walk home from my house. Please
let Hanamichi walk you home." On the last sentence, she added a pleading note
to her voice.
Rukawa didn't even stand a chance. The
dark-haired boy immediately acquiesced to her suggestion. She secretly smiled
at Rukawa's sudden willingness to do things her way.
She turned and arched an eyebrow at the redhead.
Sakuragi muttered some profanity under his breath and then grumbled an "Okay".
She gave them both a motherly good night kiss on the cheek and then she waved
goodbye at them from the kitchen door. They both thanked her again and then
Youhei walked them out the front door.
She sat on the couch, sipping some tea, waiting
for her son to come in. A few minutes later, Youhei walked in.
"Youhei, sit down." She patted the spot right
next to her.
He plopped down beside her and stretched out.
"What's up, Mom?"
"Tell me what happened between Kaede and
Hanamichi."
Youhei eyed her with surprise and then sighed.
"It's sort of a long story."
"We have time." She poured another cup of tea
and handed it to her son. She waited patiently as Youhei sipped the tea. He
then told her everything.
Rukawa walked slowly, looking up at the
star-filled night sky. He totally ignored the redhead walking beside him and
deeply breathed in the crisp night air. The stars twinkled down on him. 'So
everlasting and beautiful.' He sighed to himself. 'Too bad people are
not the same way.' Not liking his sudden turn of thoughts, he cleared his
mind. He concentrated on the beating of his own heart and found himself lulled
by it. His breathing slowed and he drifted off to sleep.
Sakuragi stared determinedly at his own feet as
he walked beside the kitsune. Rukawa had not said one word about the
table-setting incident all night. The guilt was slowly eating at him, driving
him nuts. That was why he was chattering more than usual during dinner. He was
trying to forget about his guilt. Now that he was alone with the fox, his
conscience came back at him full force.
'Apologize and the guilt will disappear.'
'SHUT UP!'
'It'll make you feel better.' The voice
answered soothingly.
'Tensai will NEVER apologize to that kitsune!'
'Fine! Then suffer the consequences!' The
voice sounded frustrated and angry. Then it became silent.
Slow, soft breaths penetrated the quiet of the
night. Sakuragi glanced cautiously at his companion. The fox-eyed boy was
asleep. 'That baka can really sleep anywhere.' He snorted and curiously
turned to stare fully at the other boy. The moonlight fell lightly on the
sleeping boy, making his features softer and ethereal. His eyes trailed down
the long eyelashes, high cheekbones, smooth white skin, and finally stopped on
pouting red lips. 'Hmm… I wonder if his lips are as soft as they look.'
Sakuragi mentally smacked himself. 'What the hell are you thinking? Rukawa
is a GUY! And he's your natural enemy to boot.' But he couldn't help the
sudden urge within him to reach out and caress Rukawa's cheek.
Suddenly Rukawa stepped out on the street in
front of an oncoming truck. Sakuragi, acting instinctively, grabbed the
fox-eyed boy around the waist and pulled him back to safety. This time,
however, Rukawa woke up. A fist swung unerringly for his face. Sakuragi quickly
stepped back and ducked. But this caused him to be off-balanced. He fell onto
his back pulling Rukawa along for the ride. Maybe it was the work of
mischievous Fates. Rukawa's lips landed on his own as they fell to the ground
together with the fox directly on top of him. Although it was a dry kiss,
something akin to electricity shot through his body. Rukawa immediately jerked
out of his grasp, got up and backed away from him with a wild look in his eyes.
The dark-haired boy's normally unreadable eyes were full of confusion and more
than a little fear. Sakuragi sat up, his hands running through his red locks
nervously.
"Kaede, I…" Sakuragi didn't know what he was
going to say. But he'll never know because at the moment he opened his mouth,
Rukawa high-tailed out of there. Sakuragi was left staring at the spot Rukawa
was standing just seconds before.
As he sat there, many thoughts swirled around in
his mind. When he finally regained his senses, he realized what it was he was
feeling. It was disappointment. 'Why would I be disappointed?' He asked
himself wonderingly.
'You like him.' A voice in his head
replied calmly.
'NO I DON'T!'
'Come on. Think it through.' The voice
persuaded soothingly.
Feelings assaulted him as images of what
happened just before emerged to the fore of his mind. Sakuragi blushed as he
remembered how right it felt to have Rukawa in his arms. He also remembered,
although it was only for a brief moment, how soft Rukawa's lips felt on his
own.
'See.' The voice in his head sounded a
bit smug.
Sakuragi groaned. He was totally taken in by
that fox. Hook, line and sinker. 'So what do I do now?' He asked
mentally.
The voice in his head was silent.
When Sakuragi finally got home that night, it
was already past midnight and he still did not know what to do about Rukawa. He
tossed and turned in his bed through most of the night and when he finally fell
asleep, his dreams were filled with foxes forever running out of his reach.
*****
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