Side Note - I honestly have no idea why it takes me so long to update anymore. Maybe if we ignore it it'll just go away?
Disclaimer - I've got this feeling. It's so appealing. For us to get together and sing. Sing!
Make Me
Chapter Seven
Kyou became vaguely aware of the sound of footsteps shuffling about upstairs early in the morning, but was far too distracted by his new found mobility to give it any second thoughts. In all honesty, he hadn't thought walking around, supported by two poles, essentially, would be as difficult as it seemed to be. And, honestly some more, he assumed he wouldn't make it downstairs for breakfast, so much as little pieces of him would after they'd collided with various hard objects; namely walls, stairs and-- Shigure as he skipped happily down the stairs, nearly knocking him over.
"Oh, it's good to be moving, isn't it, Kyou?" He sang as he turned the corner at the bottom of the steps.
Kyou came very close to yelling select words and phrases after him, but rebalancing himself became a greater priority. 'What's the difference,' he thought as he steadied himself, 'they're just two extra legs, aren't they? You should have tons of practice with four legs. This should be no different.' Or so was the common theory.
Three more steps to go and then all that Kyou had to worry about was not falling over in a mad rush to the breakfast table, as much as he wanted to.
"Oh, my, Tohru! Look at all the delicious foods you have made! And too bad, Kyou isn't here to enjoy it.." Kyou heard Shigure speaking rather loudly from down the hall. Two more steps.
"Sorry, Shigure, what did you say?" Tohru called back as she peeked down from the top of the stairs, nearly dragging Yuki alongside her. Of course, Kyou didn't see that because he was concentrating too much of finishing the final step so he could get as close to strangling Shigure as soon as possible.
"Oh, nothing, Tohru. I just feel so bad for Kyou, you know, being stuck on the stair case and being able to smell all this deliciousness without being able to partake.. Oh, well.." And then he shouted after a moment of tasting the random assortment of foods, "Oh, but no fear, Kyou! I shall taste each and every bit for you and yell back to you so that you know exactly what it's like! Only because I care, Kyou, just for you.."
And Kyou was off of the steps and limping as quickly as he could before Shigure could shout back to him any sort of descriptions.
Back at the top of the stairs Yuki was ready to turn around give being a hermit a second try the moment he saw Kyou walking- albeit, not very well- around the house. However, he didn't, firstly, because Kyou wasn't given the opportunity to send him any dirty glares and, mostly, because Tohru was tugging on his arm for them to descend and Yuki didn't have the energy to fight her. 'So, would, beaten by a girl, just about cover it, then?' His mind wondered, but Yuki was quick to remind it that Tohru wasn't actually a girl, and was more of a Tohru. 'Oh, right, my mistake, obviously.'
Yuki vaguely wondered if everyone thought in conversations like he did, but quickly forgot ever thinking about it as he and Tohru sat at the table as quietly as they could as to not interrupt Shigure's and Kyou's intimate discussions on just how annoying Shigure could be when he wanted to. In fact, it wasn't until Shigure nudged Kyou back to his end of the table so that he could continue eating, did Shigure notice either one of them and greeted Yuki cheerfully.
"Good thing I sent you, Tohru, or Yuki may have never come down. He can't say no to a pretty girl, you know," Shigure over emphasised the word 'girl' so much that Yuki nearly gave up on the whole idea of being mildly sociable, but decided against it when he saw that Kyou had become too busy picking at his food to notice. Yuki went thru a hundred and one reasons as to why Kyou might be distracted in his mind, but, really, Kyou was steadily becoming just as uncomfortable being able to move around the house as Yuki had been the moment he heard that he was. He concluded that best way to handle any of this was to ignore Yuki as much as possible. Or pick a fight with him. Whichever would make things go back to normal as soon as humanly possible so that Kyou could pretend having never stared at Yuki more than he needed to. He also started wondering if anyone would ever explain to him exactly what happened the day that Yuki spent outside in the pouring rain, but he doubted he was on the Need To Know list, so busied himself once again with his food instead of asking.
Of course, Yuki knew none of what was going thru Kyou's head and eventually admitted grudgingly to this. Soon, he also realized that he never asked exactly how Hatsuharu came about the knowledge of Yuki's secret and tried as long as he could to be patient for Kyou to excuse himself from the table so that he could ask Tohru or Shigure, but, when he never did, Yuki excused himself instead and made his way as casually as he could to the telephone in Shigure's office.
Hesitantly he dialled a few numbers and was greeted by several ring tones before a tired voice answered, "Hello?"
Yuki paused for a moment, beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable and more than a little bit foolish, but greeted Hatsuharu after a few "is anybody there?" on the receiver's part.
"What? Yuki, is that you? How are you doing? Everyone's been worried about you."
Yuki composed himself after the initial shock and wondered how many people knew by now. "Everyone?" Hatsuharu gave an affirmative noise. "..Why, exactly, is that?"
"Shigure told everyone you hadn't left your room in two days. So.." Hatsuharu paused for a moment, "he lied to everyone, then. Does he do that all the time or is it ju--"
"No, no, he didn't lie. I was." Yuki quickly cut in before Hatsuharu had a chance to further think on that note and irritate himself in the slightest.
"You were, what? Lying?"
"No, in my room for two days."
"Oh, okay."
Silence on both ends.
"That's not much better, Yuki."
Yuki heard him say something, but was too busy nervously fiddling with the ends of random papers that were scattered about Shigure's desk to respond. 'Just ask him and be done with it. Honestly.'
"Yuki, are yo--"
"How did--"
"Stop interrupting me when you called to talk to me."
"Sorry." Yuki felt his confidence in the matter waver. 'What confidence do you need? You're not right or wrong, you're just asking a question. Why is it I need to remind you of every detail? You're not so bright, sometimes, you know.' So, to shut up his mind as well as his quickening heart beat, Yuki broke the silence and asked, "how did you know?"
"Know what?"
"You know…"
Hatsuharu let out a yawn. "Do I? Hmm…"
"…About, what you said the other day. How I should have told you. You know?"
"Oh, that."
"Yes, that."
"…What about it, again?"
Yuki was beginning to get ever so slightly frustrated with this whole conversation, or lack thereof. "I wanted to know how you knew. Did someone tell you?"
"Oh, yeah, Shigure did."
Yuki was caught off guard and apologized mentally to Tohru for assuming it was her. "Shigure?"
"Hmm.. He said he wouldn't except that he thought you wouldn't come home otherwise."
Yuki sighed and abandoned wrecking the corners of all the papers in Shigure's office in favour of tugged idly on his hair. "I can't imagine how that could make sense in his mind…"
"Well, you're home, aren't you?"
Yuki paused for a moment, trying to recall exactly why he had come back in the first place, but the memory was far too foggy to delve into in depth, so he settled with asking, "How did he know?"
"I didn't ask."
"Hmm…"
"Hmm…"
"… Why are you 'hmm'-ing?"
"Why are you?"
"I do that when I think."
"Well, I was thinking, too. With you."
Yuki wrapped a few strands of his hair around his finger and wondered if it was going to turn and greyer as he got older. How did that work, exactly? "With me?"
"With. About. Both."
"Hmm…"
"Hmm…"
Yuki hesitated and wondered if he wanted to know, but decided to ask while he was on a sociable roll, "What were you thinking about in relation to me?"
"Your hair." Yuki glanced at his fingers in between his hair and set them down on his lap instead. "Do you think yours will get greyer?"
"Do you think yours will get whiter?"
"And blacker."
"Both?"
"Of course." He thought on it for a moment and then concluded, "only, they'll switch."
"Of course."
"Right."
"Right… And you're not still mad at me, right?"
"Right."
Yuki felt himself instantly relax and a small smile made it's was across his features. "Good."
That evening Yuki had watched his clock for nearly an hour before deciding he had given Kyou enough time to leave the dinner table and get back into his room so that he could talk to Shigure alone and fix everything so that he could sleep comfortably that night. But, to his dismay, an hour wasn't enough for Kyou as he found him sitting downstairs with Shigure, watching television as Tohru sat nearby, concentrating on her various extra work before they all started school again next week.
Shigure and Tohru glanced up as he entered and greeted him, asking him to stay with them, so Yuki sat down and waited for Kyou to get up and get ready for bed by occupying himself with watching everything else in the room, except for Kyou who was trying his best to ignore him himself. Neither of them noticed how uneasy the other one was trying and failing to conceal, but Shigure glanced at both of them, amused, before turning his attention back to the television.
End Chapter 7
Side Note - Why is this chapter longer? Is it because there's more to say? Because I enjoy writing dialogue? Is it an illusion? Of course it's not, dear. Of course it's not.