Unexpected Fate: Chapter Two
by Monmon

Disclaimers: Read Chapter 1.


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.

*****