(A/N: Thankies for the review, HXH-YGO-OtAkU. ^_^ I really liked the last chapter. It finally gave me some plot. And don't kill me yet! There's more to come, for sure! *hides guns and daggers* _

Now! On with the fic!)

Return To Summer

Chapter 8: Finding Out

Everyone stood there, as if frozen in time. It was the longest and most draining moment of my life. Mao was the first to move. She ran forward, tears spilling out of her eyes. She struck out, backhanding Rei across the face with as much force as she could. The sound of the slap echoed.

Rei glanced up at her, eyes wide. She wiped a forearm across her eyes angrily. "I hate you!" she shrieked. "You lied to me, you....you...freak!"

She turned and ran, running back towards the village as fast as she could. She was crying hard as she went. Li looked after Mao, then turned back to glare at Rei and I, before he ran after the upset girl. "Mao, wait!" he shouted.

I looked at Kevin and Gaow. Gaow seemed unfazed, but Kiki...Kiki looked angry, and...hurt at the same time. He glared at Rei.His violet gaze narrowed and he hissed out, "Freak."

Rei looked startled. Kiki turned and walked away, following Li and Mao. Gaow finally looked over at us and smiled a bit. It was a genuine smile, which confused me more than anything else. Angry and disgust I could understand, but...A smile?

Gaow smiled at Rei, gently and said comfortingly, in his big, slow voice, "Just give them time."

Rei blinked, and a slow, sad smile spread across his face. "Thanks," he whispered, looking down at the ground, still holding a hand to his injured cheek.

~*~*~*

Rei wouldn't talk to me. He had been pointedly ignoring me all evening and it was starting to get on my nerves. Maro hadn't said much all evening either. She seemed to sense that there was some sort of tension between Rei and I. I just hoped that she couldn't guess what it was and hadn't heard about...

News travels fast in a small village. She was bound to hear about it sooner or later, but if Rei wasn't going to tell her, I wasn't either.

About half-past ten, after hour upon hour of sitting in complete silence, Mari announced she was going to turn in for the night, bid us good night and headed upstairs. As soon as her bedroom door shut and locked, Rei turned to me. His eyes were slitted and his arms were folded across his chest. He did not look happy.

"Why?" he hissed, keeping his voice low.

"Why what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" I grated out, gritting my teeth. I didn't want to play twenty questions.

"You know! Kiss me, in front of...them," he finished weakly, as if he couldn't speak their names.

I shrugged and turned away from his gaze. He hissed. "Why did you have to do it in front of them? Now they know, and they're bound to tell somebody and then -"

I glared at him. "You could have shoved me away, you know! Don't act like this is all my fault!"

What right did he have to accuse me of being at fault? He'd kissed back - it was as much his fault as mine. He laughed bitterly. "Pushed you away? Why? So you could be pissed at me?"

"I would not be -"

"You would so!"

"Stop accusing me -"

"I'll stop accusing when you admit it was all your fault!"

"It was not my fault! If you hadn't of -"

"It was so your fault! You were the one who -"

"You didn't have any objections, now did you?!"

"You shouldn't have done that in the first place -"

"Well, how the fuck did you want to prove to Li you aren't -"

"Just shut up!"

"Why don't you?!"

We stopped suddenly and looked toward the stairwell. Mari was standing there, her eyes wide. She walked into the living room and sat down, glaring pointedly at both of us. "Boys. I want you to tell me what happened."

I glanced at Rei, who glared back, telling me with his eyes to stay silent. Mari glared at her son. "Rei! You're going to tell me what happened today, in whole and in truth."

Rei swallowed, wincing under his mother's harsh gaze. He glanced nervously back at me. I turned away. "We...uh...we kissed," he said softly, lowering his head, as if in shame.

Mari's eyes widened in shock. "You -"

Rei looked back up. "But it was an accident! We didn't mean to -"

I snorted. "It wasn't an accident," I said lowly.

Mari looked bewildered. "You....you two kissed...and it wasn't an accident..."

Rei slapped me across the face. "You!" he hissed. "I hate you!"

He fled the room before anybody could stop him. His footsteps faded away. Mari got to her feet, seeming to have recovered from her shock. She turned and glared at me. "You," she said, her voice trembling with anger. "Get out of my house."

She turned and followed Rei up the stairs. I blinked. I'd just been ordered out of the house? This wasn't good....

[A/N: ....Slightly short, ne? R&R please?]