Ritsu: ::peeks onto the chapter:: … Should I be here? … If I am here and I should not be please forgive me because I'm only going with what I thought was correct and if I got it wrong I'm so SORRY!! AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAA!! I'M SO SORRY THAT I'M HERE AND I SHOULDN'T BE BUT I SIMPLY NEED TO INTRODUCE THE NEXT CHAPTER OH NOOOOOOOOOO AND I'M NOT EVEN DOING MY JOOOOOB!!! ::wails::
Shigure: ::sighs:: Aaah… anyway, here's chapter twelve. SakuraBubbles is giving it to you all early for Thanksgiving and stuff. HAPPY BIRTH—I MEAN THANKSGIVING. GO PILGRIMS. … I know you'll all enjoy it. ::eyes shimmer::
Disclaimer: omFG BBQ.
Hiro had been somewhat tolerable all week despite his attempts to piss everyone off, however, as the week was drawing to a close on Friday, he awaited the teenagers once they got home.
"Hey, Tohru, want to take me somewhere fun or something? This place gets so boring after a while, especially for a kid. Shigure left a while ago with that short-haired lady and didn't bother taking me with him nor giving me anything to do. I mean, you're all practically adults, so I would have hoped that you would have been a little more responsible for a younger child."
Kyo's "anger meter" hit the max as he listened to the ramblings and he chased after the boy, yelling obscenities. Haru sighed and called after him, "You shouldn't be saying those words, Kyo—he's just a little kid."
However, Hiro had something to say to that. He looked to Haru with an expressionless face after Kyo had been halted by Tohru.
"'Just a little kid?'" Hiro repeated. "Might I remind you that I'm only a few years younger than you, heifer, and that I probably know more words than you do. You are kind of stupid, after all."
"That's IT!" yelled Haru before chasing a very fast Hiro relentlessly. Kyo struggled out of Tohru's grip and resumed chasing the lamb around the house. Tohru gave up and decided to stay out of their ways and start on dinner before she had to leave for work.
As they sat down to enjoy their meal, Kyo and Haru were giving Hiro death glares and he was ignoring them, which possibly made them even more annoyed. Tohru looked to Hiro worriedly.
"Hiro-san, you mentioned something about wanting to go out somewhere… I'd love to take you out, but I have to work until past midnight tonight, so I won't be able to…"
"That's all right," Hiro said between mouthfuls. "Maybe these two could take me to a movie or something."
Kyo angrily looked at the boy. "What!? There's no way in hell I'm wasting my money on you!"
"And just why not? I am your guest after all," Hiro replied. Haru sighed.
"I'd rather not be seen together with Kyo in a movie theater."
Kyo seconded his motion. "Yeah! And you probably wanna see some stupid kiddy film."
"Who's to say that?" asked Hiro. Tohru could tell that this wasn't going to go well, so she intervened. "If you would like, Hiro-san, I can call out from work or something—"
"There's no need to do that, Tohru," said Kyo before taking a bite of his food. After swallowing, he looked to Hiro. "You don't want to stay around here, you stupid brat?"
"No. It's boring," Hiro proved his statement with a yawn. Haru glared. "Perhaps you need a nap instead… it's way past your bed time, isn't it?"
"Hmph. It's not even seven o'clock yet, loser," remarked Hiro. Haru quietly fumed, trying not to go black over some stupid kid. Tohru peered at her watch.
"I should get going, then… Hatsuharu-san, would you mind, um…"
"Cleaning up?" Haru finished for her. "That's fine. Go on and get ready for work."
Kyo looked to Hiro fiercely after Tohru was long since out of sight. "You're just trying to make trouble for Tohru, aren't you?"
"Now why would I go and do that?" asked Hiro, passing his plate to Haru nonchalantly. "Are you saying that I'm dishonest?"
"I'm saying that you're a little punk!" Kyo snapped. "Listen, go pick a movie that you want to see and I'll take you to it."
Hiro quickly sped off into Shigure's study to look up movie times and left Haru and Kyo alone in the room. Kyo gave his plate to Haru, sighing. Haru gave him a look before exiting the room. "I don't feel like taking him anywhere."
Kyo stomped after him into the kitchen. "It's not like I want to! I'm just gonna so that he doesn't bug Tohru later! You don't even have to come with us."
"How nice of you, I'm surprised."
"Ahhh! Bye, Kyo!" Tohru squealed, running into the kitchen to snag a kiss on the boy's lips. He spun around as she zoomed back off. Haru chuckled. "You two are so cute."
"Whatever," Kyo tried to hide his blush by yanking one of the towels Haru had in his hand and began to dry one of the dishes. Hiro came back into the room and kicked Kyo in the back of the knees.
"Can we go now?"
"You frigging MORON! I almost dropped this dish!!"
"Yeah, and? You would have the cow do it so that we could leave."
"Hell no! I'd make you do it, you stupid sheep!" Haru barked. For once, Kyo took a mental step back and tried to look at the fight from Tohru's point of view. He noticed that Hiro was just getting on Haru's nerves simply out of boredom and Haru was getting offended by it and slowly turning black. He slammed his hand over Hiro's mouth.
"I said I'm gonna take ya so shut up or I'll tie you to the roof tonight!"
"And I'll help you little punk!" snapped Haru, pushing up his sleeves. Kyo put an arm in front of him. "Calm down, Haru. I'm taking him so why don't you just go… away?"
"Hmph," was all Haru said in response before stomping out of the kitchen, his destination (his room) in mind. Kyo glared down to Hiro.
"Happy now that you've pissed everyone off?"
"Whatever gave you the idea that I was trying to piss anyone off?" asked Hiro innocently. Kyo twitched and grabbed the boy's hand, yanking him through the hall and out the door.
/-/
Kyo was there to pick up Tohru right at one o'clock, no matter how tired he may have been after dealing with Hiro at the movies. Tohru looked to him happily.
"Kyo! I'm so glad to see you!" she bounced cheerfully over and stopped, seeing his tired face. "Kyo? What's wrong?"
"Just a bit tired, is all… Hiro's in bed, thank goodness," Kyo answered sadly. Tohru reached out and touched his face gently. "You took him out to the movies?"
He nodded. "I wanted to spend that money on something for you."
Tohru looked taken aback and blushed deeply. "Y-You don't—"
"Let's just go home, okay?" He took her hand in his and stated off down the street. "He leaves tomorrow, so maybe I can take you out on a date or something. It really has been a while since we've gone out."
"Kyo, it's been six days."
"Long enough!"
"Hee, hee… that would be nice…" Tohru said softly, looking up to him with a smile. "If you want, I can pay for my share."
"No way," Kyo managed a wide smile. "I want to treat you! It'll be fun. We just… can't go out to the movies or do anything else after eating."
He seemed frustrated, so Tohru poked her head up and kissed him gently.
"That's fine. You don't even have to take me out."
"It's the least I can do for the girl I love," Kyo mumbled softly, as if trying to hide the fact that he said it. Tohru smiled cheerfully and they continued on their way home.
/-/
It wasn't long after Hiro left on Saturday when there was a knock on the door. Shigure tiptoed to the door, trying to keep in the mood of the latest novel he was working on, which happened to be a murder mystery. He hummed an imaginary theme as he stealthily crept to the door, ducking behind the walls. Kyo stared blinkingly as he saw Shigure stalk by his perch on the stairs where he waited to take Tohru out on their date.
Once Shigure opened the door, he was greeted with a tall man and a not too much shorter woman. The man had a stone look on his face and was wearing sunglasses even though the sky was darkening above them. The woman had a tight business suit on much like something that Mii would wear, only this woman's outfit was a formal black. Her hair hung down and was dyed bright red.
"Are you Souma Hatsuharu-san?" she asked. Shigure blinked. "No, but he is in fact here. Want me to… uh, go get him for you?"
He felt a little awkward in his yukata under their gaze. He was so traditional and the contrast was almost unbearable.
"Yes please," spoke the woman. Her voice was tight so Shigure did as he was told, for once. He scampered off and up to Yuki's room where Haru resided.
"Haa-kun, there's some scary lady here to see you."
Haru gave a look to the dog yet stood anyway, running a hand through his two-toned hair. He walked tiredly downstairs and into the front hallway and stared at the intruders.
"Uhhh… I'm Souma Hatsuharu…"
"Oh really? Wow! You look even better in person!" shrieked the woman, kicking off her high heels, running over, and shaking his hand. "I'm Mitsumi Kohiko, a representative of the Shinibana Cooperation."
"Shinibana…?"
"The modeling agency, of course."
Haru froze. These were the guys that were sponsoring Ayame's shop with that damn dress. They had tried speaking with him and gave him their card, but he had thrown it out. How did they know he was here? His left eye twitched. Ayame…
"I simply came to inform you that we are still very interested in hiring you as a model. We know you're young and busy with school and all of that, but that just makes you jubilant and high spirited! We need a fresh new model for the magazines and their readers to fawn over," Kohiko spoke. Haru couldn't get a word in with how quickly the woman spoke. Before he could grasp what was going on, he, Kohiko, and Kohiko's bodyguard were at the table, kneeling across from each other.
"Um…" Haru started, "Mitsumi-san—"
"Feel free to call me Kohiko!"
"R-right, Kohiko-san—"
"Kohiko!"
"… Lady, I don't think I'm really model material."
Her eyes flashed and she put her hands on the table and leaned over. She looked murderous as she spookily said, "You are quite possibly the hottest young man I have ever seen and for goodness sake you could look good, no great—NO! FANTASTIC in anything we put you in, be it a dress, skirt, rave outfit, or that delightful getup you're wearing now! Chaps are such a turn on!"
This lady…
"But please, Hatsuharu-san, I beg of you. We are in dire need of youths like yourself. What I mean by that is that we need hot, sexy youths! I saw you at that show that Ayame-san held and I just knew that you could be our next star!!"
… is insane.
"Would you at least think over being the newest model to represent the Shinibana cooperation? I'll leave my card here for you."
She thrust said object in his direction and he took it between his pointer and middle finger. He looked it over. "… So I can call you at this bottom number here?"
"Yep! Feel free to call any time you are interested!"
Though I guess I'm insane, too. I was the idiot who wore the dress in the first place.
After a bit more of trying to persuade the ox boy to join their team, the duo finally left Haru standing in the front hall, staring at the card he held in his hand. Once he turned around, loud laughter echoed through the house as Kyo and Shigure literally fell onto the floor (and Kyo had been on the stairs), laughing hysterically.
"I figured that damn rat would end up with models after that face of his—but yours?! Hahahaha!!!"
"Shut up you damned kitten!!" yelled Haru, reaching for Kyo. Kyo rolled out of his way, jumping to his feet.
"You want a fight, eh pretty boy?"
"Shut the fuck up! I'm not doing the stupid model thing anyway!"
"Yeah, sure, right! I just hope I don't mess up that face of yours—"
"I hope I mess up yours though—Eyyaaaagh!"
While the first part of Haru's sentence was a threat, the second part was him getting hugged by Tohru, who snuck up behind him and grasped the boy in order to stop the fight. Kyo thought he had the last laugh but yelped out when Tohru hugged him, too.
"Please, no fighting!" Tohru pleaded. She must have crept by Kyo while the two boys were yelling blindly at each other. The cow and the cat looked away, each of them angry and ashamed. Shigure decided to speak.
"Haa-kun, I'll give Haa-san a call and maybe he'll let you talk to Yuki-kun on the phone so you can tell him what happened."
The cow looked eagerly at him. "Really?!"
"Let me try it out—you have to be a good little cow though!" he chimed and walked away down the hall. Haru let out a soft moo. The chance that he might be able to speak with Yuki had at least calmed him. He stayed on his best behavior as Tohru picked up Kyo's clothes with him in her arms and rushed upstairs so that he could change into his clothes once he became human once again.
There was a Poof! from the main entrance and Haru was standing there, naked, shivering, and obviously caught in a stupor. He looked down and saw his clothes on the floor, suddenly wondering what Kohiko would do if she came back in. Why the hell am I thinking like that? That woman is crazy. He quickly got dressed.
/-/
Yuki rubbed his neck as he shuffled through the long darkened hallway stretching between his room and Akito's. It was his throat that was bothering him the most but he felt as though massaging his neck would help. He met with Hatori halfway down the hall.
"Come with me," he said and Yuki followed him down the steps to the outside garden and toward Hatori's office. Once there, Hatori commanded the boy to sit.
"You have been allowed a ten minute phone call with Hatsuharu," he told him, gesturing to the phone. Yuki looked to it as though it were made of diamonds.
"R-really?"
"Yes. But this is a privilege and therefore can be taken away. If you keep in the time limit you will be allowed to speak with him over the phone with my permission. Akito is not to know of this. Shigure is on the other line right now."
Hatori knew that the silence from the boy was to keep him from cheering at the top of his lungs. That action might wake up Akito and Yuki had already had a session with him that day.
"Shigure," spoke Hatori into the phone. "I have Yuki here."
Soon enough, the phone was placed into Yuki's hand and Hatori exited the room, sliding the door shut behind him. Yuki mentally thanked him and then brought the phone to his ear. He heard humming coming from the other line and found it almost hard to speak.
"… Haru?"
The humming quickly stopped and his voice came over the phone, "Yuki!!"
Yuki's words halted in his sore throat. Here he was, finally able to speak to the young man he loved and he could hardly talk. Haru sounded breathless.
"Yuki… Yuki, are you all right? I miss you so much—I miss hearing your voice so much!"
Yuki then realized why he couldn't speak—tears were gathering in his eyes and soon were slowly dropping down his face.
"Haru…"
On the other side of the line, Haru twisted his fingers into the phone cord. He could tell that Yuki was crying softly and it was taking all of his will power not to do the same.
"Yuki, I… I need to hear your voice… please, say something."
"Haru… Haru, I love you."
A shaky smile claimed his lips. "I love you, too, Yuki. How are you doing?"
Yuki calmed and wiped at his eyes. The tears had stopped flowing almost as quickly as they came about. I wish I could show you how much I love you…
"… My throat is a little sore—I may be coming down with something," Yuki told him. There was more to the sore throat—Akito and his craving for Yuki's screams—but Yuki said nothing about it. He only had ten minutes and he didn't want to ruin them with his name.
"Careful about being outside then and make sure Hatori is nearby, I guess," Haru offered. One minute had already passed, and although both boys noticed, neither wanted to believe that the clock was even ticking.
"How are you?" Yuki wanted to know. His hand was gripping the phone so tightly that his palm was starting to sweat.
"A lot has happened—it's why I'm allowed to call you in the first place. … It's kind of embarrassing…"
"Oh! Tell me! What happened?"
He sounded so happy, Haru couldn't help but stop feeling ashamed at his possible new job. "Well… remember when we all went to that show that your brother held at his shop?"
"And you found yourself in a dress. Mmhmm, I remember."
"Yeah… the agency that was sponsoring the show stopped by this evening. They want me to be their next model."
"Really?"
"It's kind of awkward," his said awkwardness was turning his face red. "I don't think I'm exactly model material. Plus… they're gonna be putting me in all sorts of outfits, or so they said. Like… dresses… argh…"
"What if I told you that you should do it and it would bring me great happiness if you did?"
"Y-Yuki! I couldn't possibly…" he trailed off and his face flushed. He didn't notice that two and half minutes had already passed.
"Think about it, at least," Yuki told him. He couldn't help but smile. "This way I can brag about dating a model."
Haru stammered and then hushed. A thought crossed his mind and he thought about it, silencing himself.
"Don't stop talking—we've only got seven minutes left," Yuki said sadly.
"I know, I know. I was just thinking about it," replied Haru. "When you get home, I want to take you somewhere… so I've been saving up my allowance. If I take up this modeling thing, I'll get—"
"You don't have to take me out anywhere," Yuki informed him embarrassedly. It was his turn to blush—the two had never really gone out on an official date. They only went out together to go grocery shopping or the like. If they ever went out for dinner, Kyo and Tohru always accompanied them.
"I know I don't have to, but I want to. I love you and I can't wait until you get home. I want to celebrate your return with everything I can do. Plus, it'd be fun to have an 'us' day of sorts."
"Official Cow and Rat day?"
"I prefer ox, but that works, too. I'll get Shigure to write the holiday cards."
Yuki managed a soft and nearly inaudible laugh for the first time since coming to the main house. Haru delighted in the sound. His eyes trailed to clock and noticed that six minutes remained in their phone call. His mind scrambled for things to talk about, trying to stay away from the subject of Akito. It was Yuki who spoke first.
"How are Honda-san and that stupid cat doing?"
"Oh, they're fine," Haru answered. "They're out on a date tonight, actually. Tohru is always worrying about you. The other day, I was helping her cook dinner and we were talking about you. I figured that one of us would end up in tears, but instead we were just talking about all of the things about you that make us happy."
"Ohh…" Yuki blushed. "And the cat?"
"He seems to mope around a bit more than he used to. I think he feels guilty or something, so that's probably why he's been striving to spend so much time with Tohru. He's worse than usual on rainy days."
"He always was," Yuki commented with a chuckle.
"Oh yeah, Hiro was visiting us over the week… and he gave us some hell."
Yuki chuckled once more. "Oh no, what now?"
"He caught the more murderous side of Kyo. Hiro made him take him out to the movies."
"Kyo hates movies…"
"Exactly. And with Hiro of all people. I went black, too, and yelled at him about a thousand times during the week… but other than that, it was okay."
Four minutes remained and Yuki finally asked, "Are you wondering about Akito?"
"… I figured it'd be best to stay away from that subject…" Haru softly replied. He heard Yuki sigh quietly. "If you want to ask, go ahead."
"… Does he know that we're talking to each other right now?"
"Hatori said that he didn't and that I'm to keep it that way."
"And my necklace? Has it given you the strength you need?"
Yuki's reply first caught itself in his throat as his fingers traced the charm. "Agh…" He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I think so. I almost lost it."
"What?"
"Akito saw it and asked about it. I was afraid what he would do to it if he knew that you gave it to me, so I told him that Shigure gave it to me… it was pretty lame but it was all I could think of. He bought it, too."
Haru smiled, happy that Yuki wanted to protect his necklace. "I'm glad you saved it from… doom."
There was a small silence as Yuki and Haru both realized that two minutes remained.
"… It's not fair," Yuki said angrily. "I miss you so much… I've been able to do a lot of thinking lately and… it's so unfair. There's so much I want to tell you now… things I want to do…"
"I'll be here when you get back," Haru promised. Yuki shut his eyes. "I'm freezing lately… and I think it's because I don't have your warmth beside me."
"I miss nuzzling against you… I don't know why I do that—do cows nuzzle?"
Yuki had to laugh at that. "They can if they want."
Nine minutes had passed and Yuki was feeling everything crash around him. He spoke once more, "Haru… would you mind singing for me?"
"If it makes you happy, I can sing you a lullaby," Haru replied before softly singing to him, sliding his eyes shut. Yuki kept his own eyes shut, trying to pretend that Haru was there with him, singing instead of across the phone line. Shigure stood outside of the room, listening and hoping that Hatori didn't notice that their time was up, for he wanted to let Haru finish his song.
He sighed when he heard Haru abruptly stop to bid a rushed farewell to Yuki.
/-/
It was that time of year again—the cultural festival was a mere week and a half away. Yuki was up at the front of the classroom with some of the other committee members, asking for ideas of things to sell at the stall.
"Last year we did a rice ball stand," started a girl in the front row, "so should we do something like that again?"
"Hmm…" Yuki thought on it. "That might be a bit repetitive…"
"Yeah and class C is already doing a rice ball stand! They stole our idea!" yelled Minami. A sound of surprise and slight anger reverberated through the room and the class chattered about it until Yuki quieted them back down.
"Any other things that we could make?"
Kyo raised his hand but before Yuki could call on him, one of the guys in the back of the room asked, "Hey, cat-lover, I bet you want to make stuffed animal kitties!"
"I DO NOT!"
"With all sorts of coats and different kinds of stuffing—"
"Shut up!"
"We need an orange tabby to match your hair, cat-lover."
"This is my natural color and SHUT UP!"
"Aw! That'd be kinda cute, Kyo-Kyo!" cheered Arisa. He glared at her and stood up. "I don't wanna make stuffed animals! Those wouldn't sell well anyway—I can't even knit."
"I can make one for you, Kyo-Kyo," said Saki seriously. Tohru had to hold back her laughter from Kyo's reaction's to her friends' words and instead got him to put the chair that he had picked up and threatened to hit people with back down.
"Um, Souma-san?" another girl asked meekly, raising her hand politely. Yuki nodded her on. "Uh… well, I like the idea of making something… and lately I've been making some wind chimes out of metal and clay… s-so maybe I could teach everybody how to make them, we could sell them at the festival."
"Are they difficult to make?" asked Yuki, intrigued. The girl shook her head. "Not really… the hardest part is carving into the metal."
"That's something different that we could try… what would we do with them?"
"Decorate them!" Mio cried excitedly. The class openly expressed their interest in the idea. Tohru raised her arm.
"We could take requests as to what to paint on the bell part and what to carve onto the metal. That way, we could make the chimes and then give them out when we're finished."
"That's a great idea Honda-san," Yuki replied, smiling. Minami, not wanting to be outdone by Tohru whether Yuki was dating a male or not, stood quickly, putting her hands to the top of her desk. "We should have some pre-made though! Otherwise no one would come to the stand."
"Unless Yuki-kun dressed up again," said Mai, blushing as she daydreamed about her memories of the year prior. Yuki had to stop himself from screaming bloody murder before another girl said, "Class 1-B mentioned something about having a really cute cross dresser in their class—I'm worried that they're going to use him to gain popularity at their stand!"
Class 1-B contained both Momiji and Haru, and even though it had been only a week since Haru signed on with Shinibana, people may have already found out. So the cross dresser that the girl was talking about could have been either of them. That's going to take some time to get used to… thought Yuki.
"Ahh," sighed Mai happily. "It'd be cool if we could combine classes and model off both Yuki-kun and Hatsuharu-kun!" She giggled at Yuki's blush. "You two are dating after all."
Yuki hid his face in his hand while a portion of the girls giggled wildly. Apparently, they do know about Haru's… work… probably thanks to Momiji…
"E-enough about Haru and me—"
"EEE! You have a nickname for him!" cheered some girl in the back of the room.
"Th-that's what we all call him!" Yuki protested as he felt that his face very heated. It wasn't that he didn't like talking about Haru (quite the contrary, actually), it was just because he was in front of his entire class full of peers, staring at him with all sorts of eyes. He calmed, trying to regain composure.
"R-really, enough. Now then, are we all for the wind chime idea?"
"Yeah!" squealed Minami. "You could make one for Hatsuharu-kun!"
Yuki then contemplated jumping out of the window but instead decided to ask, "… Right, well, should we have the customers pay before we make their personalized chimes or when we give the chimes back to them once completed?"
"We need to take the money first," said Kyo. "Otherwise, who knows if the customers will really come back for their chimes or if they'll have money when we try giving it to them?"
"Hmm… makes sense," Yuki replied. He realized that he was being too nice to his "rival" and added, "… I suppose I should set aside a kitty chime for you?"
Kyo was about to yell back at him when Tohru intervened with, "Aww! That'd be sooo cute!" so he instead contented himself with her happiness.
"Are we all comfortable with making and painting them?" asked Yuki. The girl who came up with the idea raised her hand. "I could take care of the painting and carving. If everyone could just mold the bell parts…"
"I think we can all do that, right? We can get clay from the visual art department," Yuki said. The girl nodded. "My dad runs a craft store, so I can take care of the paint and metal."
"Good! This is so great!" Minami cheered. Yuki smiled, agreeing with her. He thought about what she had said about making one for Haru and wondered what he could possibly decorate one with. Perhaps a cow? Or a rat? Hmm… that's too obvious…
He sighed and decided to think more about it later.
/-/
Akito reached outside of the window, trying to touch the tree nearby. It was around this time, or so he had been told, when his mother killed herself. He had found it interesting that his death would be so near his mother's. Interesting, and a little sad.
"Akito."
The man already knew that it was Yuki coming into the room so he didn't turn around. He sighed, leaning his head down near his shoulder and retracting his arm back onto the window frame.
"… Yuki, tell me. I want you to tell me how much you hate me."
Yuki stared at his back. Is he joking? This is a trick question, I bet.
"I… I'd rather not answer that."
Akito didn't move as he spoke. "Hm. You are welcome to, by all means. Anyway, I won't be needing your services today, so go away."
Yuki would have, but there was this strange feeling that kept him back. "… Are you all right?"
"Why should you care? Aren't you glad that I'm too depressed to even have my way with you?"
Yuki found it hard to reply right away. Akito brushed his fingers through a longer lock of his hair aimlessly as Yuki pondered what to reply with. Akito had yet to face the boy.
"… I think—" Yuki began, but he was startled when Akito slumped off of the window frame, leaving one arm resting on it and dropping the other to the floor. It would have looked as though he was hanging had it not been for his legs obviously resting on the floor. Yuki didn't care about the fact that he was staring.
"How…" started Akito. "… How is it that… that girl can feel pity for me?"
"You mean Honda-san?" Yuki confirmed. Akito slowly nodded and Yuki continued, "It's because that's who she is. She doesn't want you to die."
"Everyone else does," Akito grinned, tilting his head up to face the ceiling. "That way she can be safe, right? You're giving yourself to me for her sake. I should thank her…" His eyes trailed downward and over to Yuki's. "… Because of her, I get to spend my dying days with you."
"Why do I mean so much to you?" asked Yuki. He never had really asked before—he had always just taken it. Akito's eyes looked very sad all of a sudden and Yuki found himself walking over and kneeling down in front of him. Akito turned his head to Yuki and leaned over, resting his head under Yuki's chin and against his neck. Yuki was unsure of what to do with this new empathetic Akito, so he just did what he would do with Haru—though not as lovingly—and put his hand to his back.
Akito melded himself into Yuki's body, sighing. Yuki had no choice but to let him and hold him loosely. Yuki watched the wind gently toss the tree's branches outside of the window, taking down a leaf.
"… Maybe if I had done things differently…" Akito started and then silenced himself. Yuki waited for him to finish his sentence but he never did. Yuki sighed and leaned his head back, not minding the mess of body and kimono in his arms, for once.
The funny thing is, I was reading over the chapter and listening to the Fruits Basket soundtrack and Haru's normal theme came on a little before Shigure answered the door… and then Haru's black theme came on right as Kohiko went psycho on him XD.
Uhhh, anyway, just wanted to tell you all… I'M HOLDING A CONTEST! WOO! That's right folks, I'm absolutely STUCK on what Yuki should carve into his bell chime for Haru. Sssooooo I want YOU ::army point:: to choose for me. You can suggest anything at all and I'll pick the one I like best.
Only… try to make it pertain to the couple without having it be so obvious… or something. Especially don't suggest "OMFG CARVE A NAKED LADY INTO THE THINGIE LOL OMG WTF BBQ." Okay? OKAY! ::bows and runs away::