(A/N: WHEE! I'm in a good mood. I just got an interview for a job. *dances, then realizes that a job could affect writing* O_o;;;; Eh. Oh well, I'm happy, so I'm gonna share the happiness with you (in the form of a new chappie)! Thankies for the reviews! ^O^

HXH-YGO-OtAkU: No, you didn't freak me out with the word naughty, and I'm glad that you noticed all the chapters were "that way." And yes, that one was especially that way. O_o;;; And don't worry about the review - I've seen much longer ones. *dies*

And here's the next chappie. ^^

Mahojin: Abee-sama huh? *grins stupidly* D And yes, I thought that line was very fitting - Kai would never think something was cute. O_o;;;; (please read the author's note for Dawn of Terror (chapter 26) and rply to random question *hinthint*) Nevermind me, I'm hyper. ^^;;;;;;

And now, on with the fic!)

Return To Summer

Chapter 7: Commitments

The sun dawned lazily over the world and I stirred awake. Rei was already up - I could hear him pattering about the bathroom. I slid off the futon.

I pattered downstairs, yawning and rubbing sleep from my eyes. Mari greeted me brightly as I walked into the kitchen. "Morning, Kai!"

She turned back to her cooking. A few moments later, Rei joined me at the table. His hair was throughly soaked, the wet tendrils falling over his shoulders. I eyed him passively. "Why don't you cut your hair?"

Rei stuck his tongue out. "I happen to like my hair," he said, crossing his arms and looking away.

Mari set breakfast out on the table. "Nice to see you're feeling better, Rei-chan," she said, smiling brightly at her son.

Rei didn't reply. Instead, he shoveled some of the scrambled eggs into his mouth, almost angrily. I bit back a laugh. Rei was obviously tired of being treated like a little kid - Mari babied him. It was...kawaii. I sighed and looked at breakfast. It looked great - Mari's cooking always did. I knew now where Rei got his flare for cooking. But this morning, I just didn't feel like eating. I had the horrible knotting feeling in my stomach that something bad was going to happen...

I pushed my plate away and put my head down on the table. Mari gave me a sideways glance. "Not hungry Kai?"

"No," I replied blandly.

She didn't say anything more, but seated herself at the table with her own breakfast. She looked at Rei and cleared her throat. "While I was at your aunt's yesterday, I talked with Mao's mother."

Rei glanced up, his eyes denoting something of concern and worry. Mari missed it and smiled brightly at Rei. "She said that they'd be glad to have Mao marry you."

Had I been eating anything, I would have choked. "Nani?!" I asked, quite loudly, looking incredulously at Rei.

Mari seemed startled by my 'outburst', but I ignored her. Rei had gone rather pale. He looked at Mari and smiled weakly. "That's...great, Mum."

She smiled and closed her eyes. "I know. It's going to be so wonderful - "

Rei got up abruptly and fled the room. Mari stared after him. "What in the world -"

I got up silently and followed Rei. I clambered back up the stairs. Cautiously, I opened the door to the bedroom, hoping not to get my eyes scratched out. Rei can be rather volitile and unpredictable. "Rei-chan?" I asked quietly.

The boy was sitting on the bed, his eyes focused on the wall. He looked like he was deep in thought. I took a step into the room, then another and closed the door behind me. I sat down on the bed with him. "Rei-chan?"

He looked up at me. "What am I going to do, Kai? I don't want to get married!"

He waited patiently for an answer. I took a breath and closed my eyes. "I don't know what you're going to do Rei."

He bit his lip and turned away. "Some help you are," he muttered darkly.

He curled up on the bed, sighing dejectedly. "I'm too young to even be thinking about marriage. Especially to Mao."

He shuddered slightly. "She's my friend and...well, she's my sister."

I didn't say anything. He got back up. "You don't marry your sister, Kai!"

I rolled my eyes. "So, how are you going to let her down gently?"

Rei sighed again. "I don't know, Kai. I don't know."

I gave him a re-assuring pat on the shoulder. "We'll figure something out, Rei."

He sighed and was about to say something, when Mari called to us from downstairs. "Boys! Better get going! The threshers are heading out!"

I patted Rei on the shoulder. "Come on," I said and got up.

He followed me.

~*~*~*~*

Lunch-time was hell. Rei sat close to me, but Mao was almost right beside him, batting her eyes and gushing about their engagement. It made me want to be sick. Rei was clearly uncomfortable being lavished in such attention, but Mao didn't seem to notice.

In fact, I think she was the only one who didn't notice that Rei stuttered and glanced at me whenever he answered a question.

Li was currently glaring at me. Gaow continued munching on his food, though he kept saying things like, "Mao, let Rei eat his lunch."

Kiki was watching the couple, with some jealously in his visible eye. He clearly resented the happy couple. The entire air seemed terse and the tension was growing by the second. Something was going to snap, I just knew it....

Rei glanced over at me nervously and Li suddenly stood up, barking at Mao, "Shut up, you idiot! Don't you get it?!"

Everyone stared at him. He was huffing with anger, angry spakrs playing in his slitted eyes. "Don't you get it, Mao?" he asked again. "He doesn't like you!"

Both Mao and Rei looked horribly shocked. Mao, proabably because she thought Rei was hopelessly in love with her and Rei, proabably because he thought that Li knew.

The pink-haired girl huffed and crossed her arms. "Don't you ever accuse my Rei of not loving me!"

Li grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "He doesn't like you Mao! He likes - " Li paused and glared at me. " -Our Japanese friend here," he growled, eyes slitting dangerously.

Mao looked at me, wide-eyed. I snorted and glared at Rei. "You swing that way?" I asked, doing my best to sound disgusted.

I obviously did, because Rei's eyes widened with hurt. Then he caught on and played along. His lip curled upwards in utter horror. "Hell no! That's sick!"

Mao turned and stuck her tongue out at Li. "See?" she asked, smirking triumphantly.

Li gritted his teeth. I could tell he wasn't convinced. We had to do something, fast...

Rei was quick on the comeback. "I bet you're the faggot here," he snarled at me.

I snapped. I'd been insulted and I wouldn't take that sitting down. I decked Rei. He clutched his bloody nose and his eyes got wide. "Why you - "

He pounced on me and the next thing we knew, we were involved in a full-fledged brawl, hitting, clawing, biting, kicking - doing whatever we could do to make sure the other was bruised and battered.

At first, everyone else was startled, then Li and the other boys started cheering Rei on. "Yeah Rei! Kick his ass!"

Mao, on the other hand, was horrified. "Stop! Stop! This isn't right!" she shouted, but nobody listened to her.

Rather abruptly, I found myself on top of Rei, my face just inches apart from his. Instinct took hold and we pressed out lips together, kissing each other passionately.

The 'crowd' went silent. Rei and I parted. Rei's eyes widened with shock and he glanced toward his friends. Mao looked as if she'd been punched in the gut; Kiki's eyes were wide and Li's upper lip was curled upwards in a snarl. Gaow was munching on their forgotten food.

I felt the blood drain from my face. I'd just kissed Rei. In front of everyone. I pushed myself away from him. He sat up, staring at me, wide-eyed. We were waiting for the other shoe to drop and it was agony...