Chapter 11: Issues
"Just add a pinch of salt, like this," Tohru motioned her cooking student Yuki to watch her as she poured seasonings into the chicken broth she was making for Shigure, who was down with influenza for two days already.
"Ok," he said as he watched admiringly how her fingers were able to measure exact amounts of taste that could satisfy even the baka neko.
"Now, Yuki-kun, you add the spices."
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
He scratched his chin. "I-I don't know…I might only destroy the delicious flavor you prepared so well on."
She smilingly clasped his hand. "I'm sure you'll do this just fine, Yuki-kun."
He nodded and took the flavorings. He tried his best to measure them as precisely as he could, and he would often look at Tohru's quietly watching eyes, asking for approval.
Soon, it was time to taste the dish. Tohru smiled at him. "Taste your masterpiece, Yuki-kun!"
He nodded shyly and took a spoonful of the soup. His eyes lit up. "It's…a miracle! I actually made something decently audible!" He took another spoonful and blew it, then looked at Tohru. "Taste it too, Honda-san. This wouldn't have been possible without you teaching me the procedures."
"Oh, but it was just an easy-" Her words were cut when Yuki suddenly but gently tipped her chin up.
"Here you go, Honda-san," he murmured as he spooned the food to her.
Her cheeks flooded with colors. Oh how gentle the Prince' touch was! And at the same time it was sending electric shivers up and down her spine!
Yuki wiped her the corner of her mouth with his thumb. "So..do you like it as much as I do?"
"Very much," she said, smiling brightly.
"Thank you for staying behind to look after me, Tohru-kun," said Shigure gratefully. "I know how important school is to you, but still you chose to look after lil' ol' me instead. You do love me after all!"
Tohru giggled. "Actually, we won't be doing academic stuff today so I opted to stay here with you. You need me more than the school anyway."
"True, true. In fact, Tohru-kun, I need you all the time so I'll appreciate it if you'll stay by me everyday, but every night is not so bad either-" Shigure was saying when a shoe slammed the back of his head.
"You perverted bone eater!" yelled Kyo as he took his other shoe off. "Do you really enjoy freaking young girls in your free time?"
"Why, Kyo-kun! I was just telling her how I appreciate her presence!" said the writer, defending himself.
"Kyo-kun, would you like some snacks?" asked Tohru, eager to please her favorite Juunishi animal.
He looked at her awkwardly. "Er…"
Yuki followed his cousin into the room, eyes burning.
"How about you, Yuki-kun? Would you like to have your snacks?" she asked.
He inhaled shakily then shook his head. "Maybe later, Honda-san. Right now I just want to kill a certain someone who placed my name and the baka neko's name in the list of school play participants."
She frowned. "School play?"
Kyo frowned. "Is the list of the actors out already? I hope I didn't get a sucky role or something."
Shigure, whistling, subtly slid out of the room but froze when Yuki's icy burning eyes stared daggers at him. Stay put.
Yuki turned to the two. "The names were drawn through lottery, and guess who are the leads in the story of Snow White?"
"No," said Kyo, sounding bored.
"The Prince Charming is me," said Yuki through gritted teeth. "And the Snow White is…" He pointedly looked at Kyo.
The neko's eyes bulged. "Y-You're kidding!!!"
Tohru clapped her hands. "Wow, that's cool! That will give you guys a chance to get to know each other better!"
Yuki approached Shigure menacingly. "And I wanted to know who called up the school and asked our names to be included in the list when we specifically didn't register for the play?"
"My, my!" was all Shigure could say as Yuki stared at him darkly.
A second later, the writer sighed. "I was just looking for an opportunity for you and Kyo to share quality cousinly time together."
Kyo groaned. "In other words, he's just looking for an opportunity to be alone with Tohru and share quality time with her. Phooey." He started to walk away when Tohru tugged on his shirt.
"Neko-san…"
"Don't call me by that name, ok?"
"Kyo-kun…"
He nodded.
"I'll be looking forward to that play. It is a challenging role to play onstage," said Tohru gently. "But the real challenge is offstage. If you can get along with Yuki-kun at least until the curtains down of the presentation night, then I'm sure you will feel quite happy with yourself."
He was speechless for a minute, but he recovered just as quickly. "I don't need your advice on this." He jumped back to his favorite spot - the roof.
Tohru sighed. Ever since Kyo knew that she knows about the Sohma secret already, Kyo was distancing himself away from her already.
Why?
"So dear Kyo would play the princess…and my brother, Kyo's prince. Sounds very romantic." A silver-haired man drawled on the phone.
Shigure laughed on the other side of the line. "Will you do their wardrobe?"
"Sure!"
"Good! And then you'll meet the personal attendant of your brother. She's a gem!"
"Oh?" There was interest in the man's voice. "The one you told me about a few nights ago? Then I'll go there tomorrow."
The novelist laughed. "See ya, Aya!"
Tohru was hanging some clothes on the clothesline when a white-haired boy appeared beside her.
"Excuse me?" asked the boy, tapping her arm.
"Yes, can I help you?" she asked helpfully.
"Can you tell me where to find the drugstore? I've been going around the woods for days but I seem to have missed a turn or something."
"Eh?" Her eyebrow shot up. She pointed north. "Go straight ahead."
The boy rubbed his head. "So that's where I went wrong. I went south!"
"Eh?"
The boy clasped her hands gratefully. "Thank you very much. Now I can find Hatori-san. I hope he's still there."
"Hatori-san?"
"You know him?"
"Yes!"
The boy nodded. "Well, you see, I need to ask his permission if I can live in Yuki's house for the meantime to observe a certain girl."
"Eh?" But I'm the only female resident of Shigure's place!
"I think he's with Shigure," she replied.
"So where is Shigure?"
"At home with Yuki-kun."
The boy bowed and trudged north.
"W-Where are you going?" asked a baffled Tohru.
"I will find Yuki's house. It will be a long, dreary journey, but for Yuki's sake, I'm willing to pound a thousand miles of ground and swim oceans after oceans." He waved at her. "Goodbye. I hope we'll meet again someday. I'll never forget you."
"B-But you're standing right in front of the Sohma residence already!" cried Tohru.
The boy did a double take. "I am?" He looked at the house. "Well, what do you know? MY journey won't be so hard after all!"
"I'm sorry if he disturbed your sense of direction, Honda-san," said Yuki, emerging from the house. "He's got issues. One of them is maneuvering his way out of a paper bag."
"Is he a Sohma too?" asked Tohru.
"Hatsuharu Sohma. The Juunishi cow," said Kyo from the rooftop.
Upon seeing Kyo, Tohru noticed that suddenly Haru became more hyper. "Hey, fish-brained neko! Long time no see!"
"Get a life, you loser!" barked Kyo.
Yuki gently pulled Tohru into the house. "The farther we are from them, the safer," he explained. "I'll tell you about the other issue of Haru."
"Huh?"
"The black and white sides of him."
"What! Shigure's gone again?" A woman was on the verge of shredding her hair to pieces. "But the deadline..the deadline…am I suppose to run blank pages? No, my life is ruined. RUINED!!!! Waaaaah!!!"
Tohru knelt before the woman. "H-Hey, are you ok?"
Yuki smiled. "Shigure's editor. He gets a kick out of freaking her out."
"Why didn't I choose a less stressing job like alligator wrestling instead?!!! Waaaaah!!!!!"
Tohru frowned. "But come to think of it, Shigure-san is still down with flu. So where is he now?"
Yuki shrugged. "Frankly, I don't care. But let's get the woman in anyway."
"She knows already."
A diabolical smile formed on the man's lips. "Good."
Shigure looked down at the floor. "I hope you don't do away with her. She's cheering Yuki and Kyo up."
"Yuki?" The name slid from the man's lips savoringly.
"What should I do now, Akito?"
"Nothing…for now."
The fun begins…
tsuzuku