For those of you who hate long chapters, I apologize. This chapter needed to fit a lot in it, and therefore was twenty pages (without the double spacing) in Word. I'm sorry, but really, does anybody care? By all means, read it in steps. It's a lot to take in.
OH right, I have some people to "holler" at. Thank you all, firstly, for the suggestions on the bell chime. I chose to use Peter James' idea along with Jessiegurl43953, Shinzo-no-shibo's and some of my own. Ah, and I liked your original idea, Ember5000 that you told me over IM. Hehe, I believe it to be more fitting, because Yuki likes it when Haru sings.
Sorry if I looked over anybody. Just give me a HOLLER, okay? ::dies::
Also, I like how the manga has Momiji speaking German, so I threw some German in here, too. Also, Kisa now says "oneechan," because as Gysecune rightly said, it's not fangirlish. Booyaka.
Disclaimer: Yeah. More importantly, warnings: Fluff, tight clothing, violence, and blood. Yes, you read right—fluff and blood in the same chapter. Spooky, ain't it?
Tohru happily greeted the men as the Mabudachi Trio returned to Shigure's house, bags plaguing their arms. Shigure smiled brightly to the girl.
"Did you have a good weekend, Tohru-kun?" he asked. She nodded, not bothering to mention the stress of Kagura's conversation. She and Kyo had sorted out everything through soft words and kisses. She had, with Haru's approval, spent the night with Kyo—not doing anything indecent, but rather talking over some things and planning out imaginary futures together.
"I'd like to become a teacher, I think," Tohru had told Kyo. Kyo had her with her back to him as he stroked her hair slowly.
"I wanna do something like that, too. I wanna be like my master… like Kazuma. I wanna teach kids how to fight."
Although they contrasted each other, they complimented one another as well. And beside the fact that Tohru woke up next to a naked (but still sleeping) Kyo, they shared the night together in peace. Tohru came to the conclusion that she hugged him or something while they were sleeping, because she also found some cat hair on her nightshirt that hadn't been there before.
"Haa-kun, were Kyo-kun and Tohru-kun… y'know…" Shigure inquired of Haru as he took Shigure's bags from his hands. Tohru stammered and assured Shigure that nothing happened while Kyo yelled the same sentiments with certain extra words.
"Leave them alone, Shigure," warned Hatori, eying him dangerously. The novelist chuckled and tiptoed away, giving the excuse that he felt faint and needed nutrients to save his dying blood. Hatori looked to Haru, who was listening to Ayame's prattle about the weekend along with Kyo and Tohru. To say that they looked bored would be the understatement of the century.
"Hatsuharu," Hatori caught the boy's attention. "I understand that the school's cultural festival is coming soon."
Haru's shoulders slumped a bit as he was reminded of it. His class had chosen to exploit his new career to help get people to come to the stand, which happened to be a fortune reading stand. Haru decided that he didn't really mind, considering that he was doing it for a living anyway, but also he felt like he finally understood Yuki's pain for being in a heavy dress all day. One of the outfits he once wore for a shoot consisted of more belts than he would ever wear in his entire lifetime and he felt like he was being weighted straight into the floor.
Hatori continued, "I'm giving you permission to talk with Yuki for as much as you would like for the entire day."
"… The entire day?" Haru's reply had almost caught its happy self in his throat. Hatori nodded.
"I can't let Yuki stay here but you're both free from Akito's rule as long as you stay on the school grounds…"
"… Thank you, Hatori," said Haru softly, bowing. "… And I can't call him anymore, right?"
"Akito found out about it and both Yuki and I were punished."
Haru's eyes darkened under his bangs as he flinched, letting his head tilt a bit. "I'm… sorry…"
"It's all right. Akito has a little less than a month to live and then Kagura will—" He quieted himself and upon hearing the name, Tohru looked over from her conversation with Ayame (and unfortunately for him, Kyo).
"Hatori-san… Kagura-san told us everything. I passed it on to Hatsuharu-san and Kyo with her permission."
"Oh… well…" Hatori was unsure of what to say. "I think it's time to go, Ayame."
"Ohhh but Tori-san—"
"No. We're going."
"Haa-san!" cheered Shigure as he ran back into the room and jumped into Hatori's arms for a big hug. "Gimme a call, okay?"
And everyone in the room could hear the obvious "heart symbol" that followed that sentence.
"Kids, would you like to hear the story of a young girl Shigure met in seventh grade?" asked Hatori as his friend squeezed him and rubbed his face into his chest. Upon hearing that, however, Shigure broke away from him, backing into the wall and sliding it down it in fear.
"Y-y… Haa-san… you wouldn't…"
"She had long flowing black hair and it was curled slightly at the end—"
"Haa-san! Please! I've already let goooo…"
Hatori sighed and deemed his torture enough. He pulled Ayame out of the house after another goodbye. He ignored both Ayame and Shigure's whining as he chucked the silver haired nuisance into the car. After watching Hatori drive off, Tohru slid the door shut carefully and looked back to her housemates.
"What would you all like for lunch?"
"Haa-san sandwich!" giggled Shigure, clasping his hands together by the side of his face. "Haa-san is tasty!"
"SHUT UP!" yelled Kyo as he took the suitcase out of Haru's hand and smacked Shigure with it, taking him down. Haru sighed and decided to let Tohru try to calm everyone down as he started lunch for the noisy household.
/-/
Yuki rubbed the back of his wet head with a fluffy white towel after stepping out of the bath, feeling clean and refreshed. He was completely undressed, save for his robe, as his feet padded softly against the wooden floor. He had learned to walk very quietly through the halls at night, because if he stepped too loudly, he might wake Akito. Haru's necklace cord was heavy and wet against Yuki's bare chest but Yuki found that he loved it when he was conscious of it and could feel the necklace on him. It was like Haru was touching him again, warm and soft.
He could never mistake Akito's touch from Haru's. Akito's hands were clammy and although somewhat soft from his delicacy, he used them upon Yuki's skin rather harshly. He could always feel Akito's silky hands used violently on him and it stung.
But Haru's hands were just the opposite. They were a little rough like the rest of his exterior, but he had always carefully touched Yuki, sometimes barely even applying pressure. He could also always feel Haru's rough hands touching him gently and it was… amazing, to say the least.
Yuki gripped the necklace suddenly and slid his eyes shut. Thinking about Haru at night made Yuki want to curl up and sob, as much as he hated to show his weakness. It's only about a month now… that's it… he assured himself. In actuality, Akito hadn't done anything horrid to him lately. Besides punishing him for talking on the phone with Haru—certain areas still throbbed with pain and it hurt to sit too long—Akito had been dismissive of him and almost gentle. Never as gentle as Haru, but…
Yuki looked in the mirror that was on top of his bureau that faced the door to see his own dark face staring back at him. The mirror was somewhat large and round with flower engravings carved into it. He aimlessly studied it as he walked into the room after sliding his door shut and then looked to his desk by his window. He had gotten a head start on his bell chime for Haru and only needed a few more things to complete it.
He walked over to the desk and ran his fingers over the bell, feeling the texture of the long since heated and hardened clay. Attached by fishing wire and hanging from the inside of the bell hung a small chime that clinked against the sides of the bell whenever it was moved enough and once it was finished and hung outside, the wind would catch the light metal and toss it briskly to the side, emitting the pleasant chime from within the bell.
Yuki smiled and felt as though the bell chime signified his relationship with Haru. Yuki was the bell because he could not ring without help and Haru was the carefree metal strip that quaked solely in order for the bell to sound off sweetly. One could not function without the other.
He bit his bottom lip as if to punish himself for thinking of Haru again. It's not that it was bad; it was that he felt like crumbling to the floor without him. He sighed and sat down in his desk's chair, draping the towel on the back of it. He took the chime in his hand, smiled, and ran his fingers over the rectangle, dipping his fingers into the crevices of his carvings and the smooth surface of what he hadn't touched yet.
It needed something else, he determined, staring at it. He leaned back in his chair and looked up. It had to be something that matched the rest of the chime, something that represented Haru or himself in someway. His eyes wandered around the ceiling for ideas and ran all along the paint on the walls until he reached his bookcase. Upon reaching it he noticed a pale pink book binding that seemed to call out to him. He got up and walked over to it, reaching out and grabbing the book tentatively.
It was a flower book, or more correctly, a guide to flowers. He opened the book and aimlessly looked through the pages, remembering that someone had once told him that flowers were bringers of happiness and love. Perhaps the answer he was searching for was hidden in the pages as he flipped through them.
He stopped at one page and stared at the flower depicted. The flower itself was a bit tragic looking but seemed to have beauty attached to its white drooping petals. He whispered the name of the flower and then backed up into his chair, sitting and reading more about the intriguing flower. A smile crossed his lips.
"Perfect."
/-/
Kyo stared forward from his crouched position on the roof, deeming it a worthy time to start getting ready again. He had cut last period in order to come back to the house to prepare for the anniversary dinner he was going to share with Tohru that night. Shigure had suddenly decided (in fact he had left right after dinner the previous night) to spend some time with Hatori and never told the household when he was coming back. As for Haru, he had some modeling business to deal with like he had already told Kyo, so he wouldn't be home until late that night. It was perfect; there would be no interruptions at all, for once.
He had a few minutes until Tohru would be home and they were, as he planned it, going to sit down together with hot cups of cocoa and watch a movie that she had going on about wanting to see. He decided against taking her out to a theater because there would be far too many people there and he just wanted it to be the two of them. After the movie, he was going to prepare her dinner as she relaxed with a book (or "some other girl crap," as Kyo put it) and they could just eat together, enjoying one another's company.
He couldn't get over how perfect it was. He was bursting with joy like a kitten with a new thing to chase after and play with. Tohru was going to be so excited—he hadn't told her a thing, Haru had sworn to secrecy, and Kyo decided that Shigure wasn't trust worthy enough and hadn't told him anything. It was only a matter of time until she would get home to a clean house, clean dishes, clean laundry, clean everything because Kyo wanted to really surprise her.
Unfortunately for Kyo, he was going to be the one who was surprised.
"Kyo-kun!" cheered a voice after Kyo had come inside to wait for Tohru. He froze, however, after hearing the voice. That wasn't Tohru… it almost sounded like—
"Guten tag!" squealed Momiji as he burst into the house loudly. Kyo's jaw clanged to the floor as the blonde nonchalantly took his shoes off as though he didn't have a care in the world. Kyo slammed his jaw back into place and caught Momiji in a fierce headlock, rubbing his knuckles into the back of his head and yelling at him. Oh, but he was crying on the inside.
"You stupid—what the hell are you doing here?! You're gonna ruin everything you stupid damn bunny!! Go play with a ball or something, jeez! This was my time with—"
He silenced himself as he caught Tohru in the corner of his eye. She was looking at him with curiosity and he knew exactly why. The day's plans had been a secret, of course, and he hadn't told her to not make any plans with anybody else for fear that she would figure it out. He slowly released Momiji and became deaf to his wails. I've only got myself to blame, dammit!
"Ah, Kyo, I was worried because you weren't there during last period," said Tohru as she scooted out of her shoes. Momiji grabbed her hand and looked up to her happily after she properly stepped into the house, still looking at Kyo. The cat boy blushed a bit, biting his bottom lip.
"Ah… well, I wasn't feelin' good so I came home instead of wasting my time in that class."
"Kyo-kun is sick?" asked Momiji as though it was actually a good thing. Tohru grew worried.
"You're sick? Do you want me to make you some soup?"
That was the last thing he wanted! He had wanted her to relax all day, not come home with the world's most energetic kid and have to cook something for her "sick" boyfriend!
"No! I'm not sick, I'm fine! I just wanted to come home early, is all!" he yelled, accidentally too angry. Tohru flinched at the volume of his voice and straightened as though she was in front of a military officer.
"R-right! Sorry to—"
"Don't apologize, Tohru-kun! Kyo-kun is just a butt head," said Momiji as he stuck his tongue out. Kyo fumed some more, pissed off that he wasn't able to tell Tohru not to apologize. He felt like the bad guy while Momiji was the superhero. Hell, he was the one dressed up all silly.
"Damn rabbit, shut up!" He had to save this day somehow. "Why don't you go home and leave Tohru and me alone?!"
"'Cause Tohru-kun said I could watch a movie with her!" Momiji whined. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a DVD box. "I bought this so Tohru-kun and I could watch it today."
Kyo's jaw dropped again upon seeing the DVD. It was the one he had bought to watch with Tohru!! He hung his head sadly for a moment (which confused the heck out of Tohru) until his shoulders started to rise and tense up. He straightened again and lunged angrily at Momiji, screaming obscenities. Neither Tohru nor Momiji knew why Kyo was acting so fiercely, but he didn't care. His day with Tohru was being completely ruined!
After Tohru had gone upstairs to change out of her school clothes, Momiji pouted as he sat on the couch with his legs crossed. Kyo was grimacing on a different couch—a loveseat even—because he had decided to watch the movie with them anyway. He sadly looked at the table where he had put the DVD and picked it up without saying anything. Momiji saw him do this but didn't catch the name of it before Kyo slid it under the seat.
Maybe he'll leave after the movie… and then I'll just cook dinner for her. That should be enough… He couldn't sit still. He was too angry with the way things were going to stay put. It was then when Tohru came down, smiling softly.
"Kyo, did you clean the house?"
He turned red and didn't face her. This wasn't the way he had wanted her to find out.
"Y-yeah…"
She knelt on the floor beside the armrest of the loveseat and put her elbows on the rest, leaning forward to kiss Kyo on the cheek. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."
"It was easy," Kyo replied, looking at her from the corner of his eye. She got up and sat down next to him, looking to Momiji.
"Momiji-kun, would you mind putting it in? Or would you like me to?"
"I got it!" cheered Momiji. He jumped up to the occasion and gladly fiddled with the DVD player underneath the TV as Tohru intertwined her hand with Kyo's. He sighed and tilted over to rest his head sadly on her shoulder.
The two stayed like that up until Kyo's neck started to hurt and he sat up. He was both surprised and happy when Tohru leaned over to him and rested her head on his shoulder for the remaining half of the movie. Momiji entertained himself with both the movie and some strange candy that he had brought with him.
Tohru wiped the tears from laughing out of her eyes as Momiji took the DVD out of the player.
"Hehe, what a funny movie! Oh, thank you for coming with it, Momiji-kun!"
Momiji smiled cherubically. "It was nothing, Tohru-kun! I had a great time besides Kyo-kun being a meanie."
Kyo let that slide because Momiji was gathering his things and that could only mean one thing—he was leaving!
"Oh, are you heading home, Momiji-kun?" asked Tohru as she noticed the same thing. He nodded.
"Ja! Papa said that he's taking me out tonight for dinner with Momo-chan, so I can't miss that opportunity. She doesn't know that I'm her brother, but she knows that we're related somehow. I'm very excited."
Tohru giggled gleefully. "Aw, that's awesome! I'm happy for you, Momiji-kun. Do you want me to walk you to the edge of the foundation?"
"No, that's okay Tohru-kun," he answered. The trio headed into the entrance hall, where Momiji put on his shoes and jacket. He smiled to the both of them and waved.
"Auf wiedersehen!" he chimed before sliding the door open. Tohru and Kyo bade their own farewells to the boy until he was out of sight. Tohru carefully slid the door closed and looked back to Kyo.
"Ah, Kyo… why were you so upset earlier?"
He held up one finger to tell her to wait and he stepped into the living room again. She waited and blinked owlishly until he came back, an object in his hand. He held it up so she could see it.
"… Kyo… that was…" she stammered, but she couldn't finish. She looked to his face sadly. "I'm sorry, Kyo… I didn't know that you had gotten it for us to watch. I had just gotten so excited when Momiji offered to watch it with me, th-that I didn't even think—"
"It's okay, it's okay… you didn't know that I had made plans or anything because I didn't tell you. Plus, he didn't buy it for you; it's his copy, so you can have this one. It's fine."
"Is… this for our anniversary? … Is that why you cleaned, too?"
He nodded to both questions. She reached out to touch his hand and he gripped hers tightly and pulled her toward him so they could meet up for a kiss. Luckily, Tohru put her free hand in front of her so that they wouldn't be close enough to make him transform. When they parted, Tohru's sad eyes met with Kyo's.
"I'm sorry…"
"It's okay. Hey, go sit down and relax or something. I'm makin' dinner tonight."
Tohru blinked three times in surprise. "Really?"
"Well unless you hate my cooking! I don't have to! Slave over a stove if you want, jeez!!" Kyo found himself raising his voice again, so he took a deep breath, calmed, and squeezed her hand lightly. "I'd like to cook for you, if that's okay."
Tohru smiled. "I'd love to be able to eat your cooking. You cook very well."
"It's 'cause my master hated cooking."
"Kazuma-san?"
Kyo nodded. "Yeah, he absolutely hated it. When he did cook, whatever he made tasted like crap, so I just did it for him. Damn leech."
Tohru giggled and unlinked her hand from Kyo's. "Ah, is it okay if I relax in the bath for a bit?"
"Go ahead. This shouldn't take more than…" He ran the cooking procedure over in his head. "… Maybe twenty minutes or so?"
She nodded and kissed his cheek before dashing upstairs, leaving Kyo to stand in the hall. He sighed happily and decided that his day wasn't ruined after all. However, as he went to go grab ingredients for the dinner, the doorbell rang. He froze as though a giant block had just landed on his head.
"… What… the… fuck."
He turned on his heels and sped toward the door angrily, hoping it was just someone with a package or something and would go away. However, when he got to the door and opened it, his eyes met with a familiar face. They trailed down to meet with an even more familiar face, partially hidden behind the first person's skirt. Kyo had to keep back a grunt. It was Kisa and her mother.
"Ah, so someone is home. I was worried for a moment there," spoke Kisa's mother. She patted Kisa on the head before urging her forward. "Tell Shigure-san thanks for taking her for the night, as I've got this dinner meeting to attend to and can't take care of Kisa. But you knew that already—I'll be back to pick her up later tonight, okay?"
"Ah?" was all Kyo could manage before the woman bowed and headed back to her car without so much of a goodbye. Kisa looked up to Kyo.
"Where's oneechan?" she asked sweetly. Kyo stared at her.
"In the bath."
"Oh… will she be out soon?"
"She just went in… why are you here?"
Kisa flinched slightly, startled with his tone. He sighed, slapping his forehead. If I wanna marry Tohru one day and have kids, I'm gonna have to learn how to deal with them. Kisa isn't gonna bite me… well, actually, she might.
"Ehhh… listen, Shigure isn't here. I dunno when he'll be back, actually…"
"Oh… mom made plans with Shigure-jisan earlier this week for me to stay until later tonight…"
"Y-You did?" Kyo said through grit teeth. Shigure… you left after making plans and not even telling anyone about it!??! I'll fucking kill you!!!
"Uh-huh…" was all Kisa said in reply. Kyo shook his head and rubbed his hand over his eyes. Deal… deal… just make her dinner, too. It'll mean a lot to Tohru…
"… All right… well, are you hungry? I was just about to make Tohru dinner… and I should have enough ingredients for three people to eat."
Kisa's eyes brightened. "Really? I can eat with Kyo-kun and oneechan?"
"Yeah, as long as you earn your share. You gotta set the table, okay?" Kyo said, feeling very content with himself and how things were going. It wouldn't be just him and Tohru, but that was okay now. Kisa could be like their future daughter—Kyo turned red at the thought.
"Okay, I can do that," replied Kisa. He led her into the kitchen and divided out the ingredients, measuring and gathering utensils in order to cook the meal. Kisa sat on a stool and watched him mix together what needed mixing and heated what needed heating and taste-testing whatever needed to be tried. He let her have a taste as well.
"Mm! Yummy!" she cheered after swallowing. Kyo grinned and went back to the stove without noticing Tohru standing in the doorway watching him until Kisa called out, "Oneechan!" He turned around and said her name. She giggled and hugged Kisa in her arms.
"Kisa-san! What a surprise!" she ruffled the tiger girl's hair and then looked up to Kyo. "Kyo-kun, it smells wonderful in here."
"Th-thanks, I… I'm glad you think so. But Kisa can only eat if she sets the table."
"Oh, right! Sorry… I forgot…" the child said sadly and turned away from Tohru to go to Kyo. He looked down to her with a half smile on his face.
"It's fine. You and Tohru can set the table for me."
Kisa brightened once again at the thought of doing something with Tohru and the two girls headed into the other room. Kyo gazed back at the cooking dinner and sighed. Yeah… everything's all right. I'm still pissed at Shigure for not telling us that he promised Kisa's mom to take her in… when he gets home, he's getting' it…
His thoughts interrupted themselves. … Wait, Kisa's mom is picking her up later… and I think by that time, Haru's gonna be home… that means I'm not gonna have any time alone with Tohru… and tomorrow's the cultural festival and I'll be around ALL of those people…
He glared at the pot below him and stirred the liquid a little faster with the spoon, muttering under his breath.
When the girls came back in, they discovered that dinner was ready and were eager to help Kyo get everything out onto the table. Once everything was ready, they knelt down in their respective spots and graced the meal. Obviously afterwards, they dug in.
"It's so good, Kyo!" said Tohru with a smile. Kisa had similar compliments and Kyo found himself once again the great living tomato face. They ate quietly, mostly talking about Kisa's time at school and what was going to happen at the cultural festival the next day. Kisa was doing much better with making friends and she spent a lot her time with both her few school friends and Hiro.
"I hope Hiro-kun will like them," she said softly, looking a little feeble. "I'd be sad if he didn't like my new friends."
"I'm sure he'll like them a lot, Kisa-san! I bet you have wonderful friends," Tohru said. Kyo simply nodded as he deemed himself not good at those sorts of things.
As for the cultural festival, it sounded to Kyo that with all of the different types of stands, it was just going to be one big noisy mess. Tohru tried to persuade him otherwise, but he seemed to be fixated on that idea. Kisa seemed excited by the fact that so many things were going on. When Kyo informed her in a monotonous voice that Haru was going to be dressed up to bring customers to the stand, her interest in the day grew even more.
"I hear that they bought the outfit at Ayame's shop," said Kyo. "Or at least that's what Momiji told me."
"It sounds exciting," said Kisa happily, her eyes soft. Tohru made a sound and leaned back to peer into the entrance way as someone opened the door. As he greeted the household, they recognized it to be Haru's voice.
"Hatsuharu-san, welcome back!" Tohru called to him. He walked into the room and looked to Kyo. It took him a moment before noticing Kisa.
"Ah, Kisa?" he said quietly, kneeling down near her and pulling her into a hug. "Hey there, what're you doing here?"
"Mommy has a dinner meeting," was her reply. He smiled and then eyed Kyo again. The cat's left eye twitched a bit and Haru guessed that there were a few disturbances in the household that day, not just Kisa.
"Haru-chan," started Kisa, "oneechan says that you're dressing up tomorrow…"
Haru, despite the fact that he had been modeling for a few weeks now and that this was his younger cousin, turned red. "Aah… well, yeah… my classmates went ballistic over the fact that I'm a model and decided to make use of it to gain popularity among the stands."
After a few more minutes of idle chatter, he stood up and Tohru's eyes followed his ascent.
"Ah, Hatsuharu-san, are you hungry? There might be some leftovers…"
"No, I'm not—I ate with Kohiko. Thank you though," he bowed his head a little and told them he was going to head to bed and after some "good nights," he went upstairs to do so. Kisa looked down at her few plates.
"Um… I'm done eating…"
"You did a good job eating all of that," said Tohru with a smile. Kisa nodded and said, "Well… it was yummy…"
"It's not as good as Tohru's cooking," muttered Kyo. Suddenly, the front door burst open and voices clattered through the entrance hall, the first firm and cutting.
"You. Stay."
"But Haa-san—"
"No buts. You're too much of a nuisance. Did you forget that you were supposed to watch over Kisa tonight?"
"… Uh-oh…"
"'Uh-oh' is right, you idiot!" yelled Kyo from the dining room. Obviously, the two who had just arrived were Shigure and Hatori, and Shigure had probably been grating on Hatori's nerves since the previous night. The doctor certainly looked very relieved to be able to dump the man back at his house.
"Kisa, I'm here to take you back to your mother's. I told her that I was able to since I had to drop this mutt off," said Hatori, pushing said man into the hall. With a bit of help from Tohru, Kisa cleaned up her dinner plates and placed them into the sink. Kyo relieved the two of their dish cleaning duties to take care of it himself so that they could say goodbye to each other. Once they had, Hatori and Kisa exited the house.
Shigure got a fierce scolding from Kyo for what he had done and was sent straight to bed like a child who had broken his mother's rules. Tohru giggled as Shigure moped down the hall to his room and leaned her body against the refrigerator.
"Kyo?" she spoke softly as he came back into the room. He looked tired from all of his yelling and his hard work, but he looked up to her attentively anyway.
"Hnn?"
"… I know that you probably wanted today to just be you and me…" she said and he willed himself not to nod furiously. She smiled warmly, her eyes meeting with nothing in particular. "I really appreciate what you did today though, even more than if it had just been the two of us. Thank you for not kicking Momiji-kun or Kisa-san out of the house…"
"The entire thing pissed me off," Kyo said quietly, "but I knew you're happy with those guys. I'm not gonna be a jerk to you just because I want something to do something a certain way."
"Thank you, Kyo, for everything you put up with today," she said as she walked to him. He put his hands to her shoulders and leaned in for a kiss goodnight, breaking apart afterwards. They walked upstairs together and separated once they got to Tohru's room. Once she was inside, Kyo closed the door for her and walked toward his room.
"Hey," came a voice. Kyo looked to the side to see Haru peeking out from Yuki's room.
"What?" Kyo snapped quietly. He was tired and wanted to go to bed, and therefore didn't care about whatever the boy had to say.
"What happened today?"
"Ugh… Momiji came home with Tohru along with the DVD I bought for her."
Haru winced and could only imagine the trouble that caused. "Ah… I'm sorry to hear that…"
"It's okay… I've got my whole life to have Tohru to myself. I'm just glad that she had fun today," Kyo said as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He couldn't see Haru's smile in the darkness.
"Yeah, that's good. Well, good night," he said. Kyo nodded and walked off as the ox boy shut the door to finally go to sleep.
/-/
Kyo was right about at least one thing: the cultural festival was crowded and noisy, but as Tohru had predicted, it was also a lot of fun. The classes were bustling with joy as they sold the pre-made bell chimes and took orders to make other ones. Yuki was probably the happiest person there, however, as he was allowed to talk with Tohru and Kyo and most importantly, Haru. But Haru hadn't shown his face at all, even though the festival was already a little less than two hours into it.
"Don't worry, Souma-kun," said Tohru to her friend. "I'm sure that he's still getting ready for today."
Yuki looked to her and smiled. "Yeah, I know. It's nice to be able to speak with you again, Honda-san. Has that stupid cat been treating you properly?"
Tohru giggled as she heard Kyo mutter something to her side. The only reason he didn't yell at Yuki for what he said was because he was secretly happy for Yuki being able to speak with them again.
"Of course he has," said Tohru softly. She proceeded to tell him the happenings of the day prior until they heard a squeal coming from one of the freshman stands. The three of them looked over with confused looks on their faces until they spotted, at last, Haru. Yuki put his hand in front of his lips and giggled into his fist as he watched the boy standing there with his usual dazed expression as girls (and some boys) squealed around him. Yuki was reminded of his own experience at the festival last year and couldn't help but finally look at it fondly.
It was Momiji who first came to the stand to look for Yuki, since Haru couldn't. He smiled and greeted Yuki with enthusiasm. "Hey, Yuki-kun! Haru-kun says he wants you to come over and rescue him!"
"You are his prince after all," added Tohru with a cheery smile. Yuki ran his fingers lazily over the necklace's charm as he often did and said, "Isn't it the knight's job to save the prince?"
Kyo grimaced at the terms they were using and decided to start taking personalized orders instead of "listen to that damn crap" anymore. Tohru giggled.
"You should go tell him that he's slacking in the knight department then," she suggested and Yuki deemed that a worthy enough excuse. Momiji stayed behind as Yuki went to finally be able to speak with Haru face-to-face after more than three months of silence.
"Eeee! It's Yuki-kun!" squealed some of the first years as he came over. Haru turned and his face brightened upon seeing him. The fact that he was wearing a long leopard print velvet coat with a fluffy black collar didn't faze him any longer. He was too happy to see Yuki. He scampered over and caught him in a tight hug, one that Yuki openly returned.
"Hey," said Haru almost casually. Yuki smiled and ignored the fact that there were people around him and Haru. That warmth was a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time and it was all he needed to keep him content.
"You're tall…" Yuki said as he realized the obvious fact. Haru ceased the embrace in order to point down to his boots.
"It's not real leather, thank goodness," he said. "Ayame picked out the entire outfit… I hope you don't mind."
"No, I like it a lot," said Yuki. His eyes were bright and smiling and it was the only hint that he was bursting with glee on the inside. "What took you so long?"
"Kohiko stopped by—she's my agent—with the excuse of wanting to visit the school. I think she just wanted to see my outfit or something. I'm really sorry it took so long; I was getting kind of angry."
"Is it uncomfortable?"
"Not really. The fuzzy collar is tickling my neck a bit—"
"Yuki-kun, Hatsuharu-kun, may we take a picture of the two of you? It's for the yearbook…" interrupted a short girl with long hair and glasses. They looked at her and saw a digital camera in her hands.
"Uhh… uh…" was all Yuki could say before Haru caught his open mouth in a kiss, knowing full well that Yuki would be too interested in kissing him to get mad about the girl snapping a picture of their first kiss in ages. While that was somewhat true, Yuki put up a bit of a fuss.
"Haru! I… that wasn't fair…" he said. Haru kissed his cheek, trying to get used to being able to kiss Yuki whenever he wanted again.
"I'm sorry… I'll go see if she'll delete the picture."
"N-no… it's okay. I guess I don't really mind," Yuki said as a blush claimed his face. He took Haru's hand in his. "Do you think that your classmates will let you come with me back to my stand for a little while?"
"Well, Momiji was able to go…" said Haru with a bored look on his face.
"Momiji isn't the main attraction of the stand," Yuki reminded him. "But maybe they'll let you anyway."
But before Haru could, the two found themselves surrounded by girls.
"Oh Yuki-kun! We found out that the man who supplied us with the outfit for Hatsuharu-kun is your brother!" said one.
"Yeah, yeah! And so he prepared something special for you, too!" exclaimed another. Yet another squealed, "Now you and Hatsuharu-kun can match!"
"Uh-oh…" was all both Haru and Yuki could say before Yuki was taken away to get redressed. Haru tried to rush off in order to help, but the girls stopped him.
"Hatsuharu-kun, you pervert! You can't see Yuki-kun naked!" giggled some raven haired girl. Haru's face went blank and he decided against telling them that he was way ahead of them.
He waited for Yuki by sitting on a stool next to the stand and aimlessly playing with one of the two belts he had wrapped around his thigh. He saw Tohru walking toward him.
"Hatsuharu-san, where is Souma-kun?" she asked upon reaching him. He tilted his head toward the exit to the boy's bathrooms.
"They're making him get dressed up. I didn't know that they picked an outfit for him, too."
Tohru giggled and said, "You look very nice in what you're wearing, so I'm sure that Souma-kun will look nice, too."
"Well, he looks good in anything," Haru commented. Honestly to Haru, the outfit he was wearing was nothing compared to some of the things Kohiko put him in. The outfit was actually quite simple and consisted of the velvet coat, a tight black shirt, and tight fake leather pants. The only things out of the ordinary were the two belts around his right thigh and the fact that the top button of his pants was undone, exposing a bit of his stomach. That and the shirt was so tight that it rode up to further show off his abdomen, something he was a little uncomfortable with.
He could barely even imagine what they were going to dress Yuki up in. Would it be a dress like they had apparently done last year? He wished he had been there for it. He had just decided to ask Tohru about it when the girls brought Yuki back out. Upon looking at him, both Tohru and Haru blushed absolutely crimson.
Although Yuki was grimacing, he looked wonderfully sexy. To match Haru's coat, the girls had forced him to put on close-fitting leopard print pants that hugged his backside rather tightly and the top consisted of a loose black jacket that was only buttoned from the bottom of the collar to just above his navel. His face was red thanks to being shown off like this and he walked quickly over to Haru.
"I think I liked the dress better," he said rather bitterly. Tohru had nothing to say so she just stood there with her mouth open in surprise. Haru blinked when Yuki held up a small piece of paper between his first and middle finger. It read, Feel free to keep the outfits to yourselves, Haa-kun and my dear brother! With love, Ayame!
"I found it in the coat pocket," Yuki explained. He looked to Tohru's cherry face. "Honda-san, I'm sorry that you have to see me dressed all foolishly… again."
"Aah… ahh… no… um… you look… aah…"
"Sexy," Haru finished as he snaked an arm around Yuki's hip and held him close. Tohru stammered some more and Yuki commented on how he wasn't sure which he disliked more: being called cute or being called sexy.
"You don't like it?" asked Haru, loosening his grip on Yuki. Yuki put his hand to his face.
"Ah… well, it's not that I dislike being called it… it's just embarrassing…"
"But it's me."
Yuki looked up to him with soft and wide eyes. They closed slightly as he nuzzled his crimson face into Haru's neck as if to hide it. Tohru faced Haru with her mouth open and her eyes closed in both amusement and confusion.
"I'm going to head back to our stand, okay, Souma-kun? You do look very n-nice…"
"Sure, it doesn't—oh hey wait a minute! Haru, with all of the commotion, I forgot to have you ask if you could come back to my stand with me…"
Haru looked to one of his classmates who had been drooling over the two and asked her permission to be able to go freely around the festival. She nodded in response and told him that he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. So the three of them walked over to the stand and instantly met with Kyo's comments on how they looked.
"Jeez, don't you two look special," he said. He had a half-eaten rice ball in his hand and half grin on his face. "Did you go shopping together this morning?"
"Shut up you stupid cat," snapped Yuki. "Ayame picked these out for us."
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess," Kyo sighed. Yuki's eye twitched and he raised a fist, eager to connect it with Kyo's face, but Tohru stopped him.
"Ah, Souma-kun, didn't you have something for Hatsuharu-san?" she asked. Haru looked to him.
"Really?" He sounded like a child who had been honored with his very first ice cream. "What is it?"
"… Come with me," Yuki said as he pulled Haru toward the door out to the hallway. For once, no one noticed them and they were able to sneak out. Haru followed closely behind as Yuki led him through the empty halls all the way to the lockers. They stopped there and Yuki put his hand to the lock of one of them, turning it this way and that until it came unlocked. He opened it and reached inside, but didn't retract his hand right away.
"Close your eyes and hold out your hands," he ordered of Haru and once he obliged, Yuki brought out the gift for him and placed it delicately in his palms. As he was told to, Haru opened his eyes and gazed at the object.
"Ah… Yuki, this is…"
He loved it. He absolutely loved it. Yuki had given him a bell chime like he had hoped he would. The bell was painted a glossy black and had small patterns carved in a band around it. Haru's eyes trailed down to the metal rectangular piece and he smiled at the pictures carved into it.
On one side, Yuki had carved (quite nicely, in fact) a cute cow standing alone under a cloud filled sky. Upon further inspection, Haru realized that the clouds were shaped like the ones they saw so long ago outside in August on that first day that Yuki actually went out of his way to spend time with Haru. Haru chuckled softly as he also noticed the musical note next to the cow's head and then turned it over.
Carved into the other side, there was a round, somewhat familiar window and standing upon the frame was a small mouse. Below the window and the mouse, however, were a few groups of a type of flower that Haru didn't recognize. Yuki saw him looking at it and decided to explain.
"They're called 'snowdrops,'" he said. "Apparently they start growing in late winter and in early spring and…" He suddenly grew embarrassed over the flower's symbolism and stuttered, "It's n-not a native flower to Japan… but it…"
"I'm spring, you're winter?" Haru guessed. Yuki nodded and Haru guessed further, "And this flower is what connects us?"
Yuki nodded again, glad that Haru figured it out for himself. He quietly added, "It represents the fact that… we are… one."
Careful of the object, Haru pulled Yuki into a tight hug and closed his eyes, savoring the warmth and feeling of Yuki in his arms. Yuki returned the tight embrace and shut his eyes and saying that he loved him over and over and that he couldn't wait until he returned.
"Yuki," Haru whispered. "Yuki…" He quieted himself and instead occupied his mouth with nibbling lightly on Yuki's ear. Yuki rubbed his face into Haru's neck.
"I never want to leave you," he said. "I'd go crazy without you… I hope you don't mind that when I get back home, I'm never leaving you alone."
Haru shook his head. "I don't mind at all. You… are so important to me."
"Is it okay if I keep your necklace even after I come back?" Yuki asked. Haru lightly pushed Yuki away in order to face him and trail his eyes down to the necklace. He had been worried that Akito had taken it from him because he hadn't noticed it earlier.
"You can keep it for as long as you want me around," he said. Yuki nodded.
"Then I guess I won't ever be giving it back."
"Well, I hope not," Haru added with a light smile. Yuki wrapped his arms around Haru's neck and leaned into him for a kiss, one that Haru delighted in returning. This wasn't like the one that the girl took a photo of; this one was needy and deep until they broke for air. Yuki tilted his head in order to kiss at Haru's neck affectionately, something that they both knew made Haru want to melt right then and there.
"Yuki…?" he said softly.
"Hnn?"
"Did… you mean that?" he asked. "About the necklace, I mean."
Yuki looked a little confused. "Of course I did. … Is everything all right?" His face paled a little. "You're not worried about anything, are you?"
"No, no, not at all," Haru assured him and reached out to stroke Yuki's cheek with his thumb. Yuki's eyelids fluttered and closed halfway.
"I'll never let anything happen to this necklace… I love you too much to let that happen."
"I'm glad to hear that… oh, do you think we should head back?" Haru asked. Yuki shook his head.
"Not yet… there are too many people in there. I want you all to myself," he replied, grabbing a fistful of Haru's velvet coat. Haru took a moment to look at the chime in his hand.
"Can I put this down a sec?"
"Sure—just put it back in my locker for now…"
He did just that before squeezing his arms around Yuki's waist. The only thing that was tighter than this embrace was Yuki's pants, and even that fact was questionable.
"Maybe," Yuki started, "Hatori won't make me go back to the house tonight… maybe he'll let me stay with you…"
"As much as I would like for that to happen, I don't think he will let you…" said Haru sadly. Yuki could only nod, because he found that his throat hurt too much to say what was the truth.
/-/
After the two were finally back into their school clothes, they and Tohru and Kyo decided to spend the last few hours of the festival away from the school. Yuki was worried that this was against Hatori's terms, but Momiji interfered.
"Ah, Ha'ri won't know a thing if you don't tell him," he said with a tilt of his head. "I'll keep Ha'ri distracted if he comes looking for you, Yuki-kun! He won't be here for another two hours, anyway."
"Hmm… I guess you're right…" said Yuki after thinking it over thoroughly. Kyo nodded.
"Good then. Let's go grab some dinner—I'm starving!"
"Momiji-kun, are you going to be upset if you can't come?" asked Tohru. Both Yuki and Kyo somehow knew that she was going to be worried about Momiji's wellbeing and smiled as Momiji assured her that he would be fine. Eventually, she believed him, and the four went off to walk to a restaurant.
"Where should we go?" asked Yuki. Haru shrugged and swung his arm gaily back and forth, and because their hands were intertwined, also swung Yuki's. Tohru and Kyo were holding each other's hands as well and the sun was setting slowly behind the four of them—it was truly a pleasant time for the quartet, something they hadn't all shared in a while.
"We should just go to whatever restaurant we find first," Kyo suggested. "But it can't be too expensive, all right?"
"If it is, I'll cover for us all," said Haru as if it were nothing.
"Oh, no, you can't do that!" Tohru protested with a shake of her head.
"But I want to," was Haru's reply. This time, it was Yuki who shook his head and objected, "Well, let's just avoid the expensive ones altogether, okay? That way no one has to pay for all four of us."
"I'm payin' for Tohru," Kyo claimed and she wasn't even given to chance to oppose the suggestion thanks to Haru stating that he would pay for Yuki's. Eventually, Yuki and Tohru discovered that they had no choice in the matter, and found themselves in a restaurant, sitting next to each other and across from their respective men. The four were all talking happily about the festival and doing everything they could to stay cheerful throughout the dinner. However, as the separate bills came (Tohru and Kyo on one, Yuki and Haru on the other), they knew that their happiness was coming to an end.
They stared up at the window-lit school in sadness and Kyo couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably. Damn friggin' Akito… why can't he just drop dead already?!
"We should… probably head inside…" said Tohru with her eyes downcast. Although Haru was ready to say goodbye (he had been preparing since after dinner), Yuki was not. He stayed still.
"Honda-san, Kyo, you two head inside. Haru will be there shortly."
"But…" began Tohru, thinking of what might happen if Hatori were to find out they had left the school. Yuki smiled lightly.
"It's all right. There's no way that Hatori would know that we went away from the school grounds whether we were standing here or not. Plus… I don't think he would honestly care…"
Nothing else was said on the matter and Tohru bade Yuki a farewell. He said his goodbyes to them and watched them leave. He knew very well that Tohru had tears in her eyes when she said goodbye to him but he also knew that he could no longer do anything about it. He faced Haru.
"… When I come back, I'm going to prove my love to you…" he promised. Haru chuckled softly, smiling lopsidedly.
"I already know that you do, crazy."
"Well, then it's to make up for all of the time that I denied my feelings for you unfairly. I've been able to do a lot of thinking while in my old room and it's always about you and how I treated you back then. If I were you, I would have given up."
Haru reached out and pulled Yuki to him. "… You're not mad that I didn't give up, right?"
"No, of course not. Now you're the crazy one for even thinking that."
"Maybe we're both a little crazy then," Haru determined. Yuki's eyes slid shut and he rested his head on Haru's shoulder.
"I'm crazy… about you."
Haru wasn't able to reply, for a car's headlights could be seen at the edge of the school's parking lot. Hatori was here for both Yuki and Momiji. Despite this, however, Yuki refused to let go of him, grabbing Haru's shirt tightly and gritting his teeth.
"Not yet," he whispered as he opened his eyes. They were brimming with tears. "Not yet. I don't want to go yet."
"Yuki…" said Haru sadly and he opened his mouth to say something else, but Yuki spoke again.
"I bet that this is just another measure to break me down," he muttered, allowing his tears to fall and soak into the fabric of Haru's shirt. "I bet Akito told Hatori to allow me to speak with you and touch you simply to make me say goodbye again."
"I don't… think Hatori would do that… Shigure told me that he regrets what he's done," said Haru positively. He rubbed Yuki's back in order to try to calm him down as Hatori stepped out of the car, pretending to be immune to the hugging figures.
"I'll go get Momiji," he told them as if he were just talking to himself. After he disappeared into the school, Haru continued, "… I think Hatori allowed you to speak with me today because he wanted to help you. He probably thought the opposite of what you're thinking now—that if today hadn't happened, you would have seriously broken down, or something."
He leaned back and stared deeply into Yuki's eyes. "Would you have preferred that today didn't happen?" At Yuki's shaking head, he added, "Would you rather sacrifice an entire day with me so that you wouldn't have to say goodbye to me?"
"Haru… that's not what I meant…"
"I know it isn't. What I was saying was that this goodbye is far from a final goodbye. You know that I'll see you on Monday and the day after and although you won't be able to speak to me, it'll be the same as ever. We've gone all this time and not been able to talk… next week and the week after and the week after that will be no different."
Before Yuki could say anything, Hatori returned outside with Momiji. To say that the blonde looked sad would be the understatement of the century. Yuki sighed and started away from Haru, but Haru grabbed him by the wrist to pull him back into one more kiss. Hatori occupied himself with getting Momiji into the car although Momiji was more interested in watching Haru and Yuki.
At last, they broke apart and Haru gave Yuki's hand one final squeeze before letting go. Yuki was silent, as expected, during the car ride home, and couldn't even bring himself to watch Haru stand alone in the parking lot as they drove away.
/-/
Yuki stepped out of the bath, rubbing his hair with his usual fluffy white towel, feeling clean and refreshed after his relaxing wash. He had nothing but a robe on covering his thin body, but the heat in the house was on, so there wasn't much to worry about. Besides, he was on his way to his room and saw no need to be fully dressed while traveling from one room to another in the dark hallways of the Souma compound.
Once he reached his room, he happened to look into the mirror he kept on his bureau and gasped. This was the same mirror he had looked into just a week ago… and yet Yuki swore he saw Akito in the reflection the glass of the mirror. It startled him. He dropped his towel in surprise when he realized that the reflection was his own and not Akito's at all.
It took him a moment of staring at the mirror before he bent down to pick up the towel and stared at it instead. He convinced himself that it was simply because the lights were out and he had his bathrobe on. The darkness had played this trick on him before, so nothing was stopping it from doing it again.
Arms suddenly slinked around his waist. "Yuki…" His breath was hot on Yuki's neck, his body almost colder than the air that hung in the house. Yuki froze up as Akito scraped his fingers along Yuki's chest, bringing his robe apart slightly.
"How are you doing tonight, my Yuki?" Akito asked. "Mmm… you smell good. And your hair is still wet…"
Yuki shuddered at both the hum Akito made with his comment on Yuki's scent and the feeling of Akito softly kissing his neck, his hands ever roaming on his chest. It had been a long while since Akito took advantage of him like this—he must have something important to say.
There was a bite among the kisses that Akito laid on Yuki's neck and while that wasn't much of a surprise, Yuki still hissed softly at the action, involuntarily tilting his head to give Akito's lips more access. Yuki mentally scolded himself for doing so as Akito quickly used that to his benefit, sucking and kissing almost too gently. His fingers outlined Yuki's collar bone and then slowly wrapped around the cord of Haru's necklace. Yuki's thoughts halted and his eyes flickered down to watch his fingers intensely.
He let out a disgruntled moan as Akito's other hand reached quickly down past his navel, trying to back his hips up as if to get out of Akito's grip but finding that Akito had his own body pressed up firmly against his. He knew better to use his arms to push him away. That would only make things worse. Akito moved his fingers in intimate circles on Yuki's inner thigh, trying to arouse him as he spoke softly.
"Yuki… you are so delicate… I feel as though I may break you."
"You'd… ahhn… you'd probably delight in it…" Yuki responded before biting his lips lower lip, screwing his eyes shut, wishing that there was no heat gathering, wishing that he was completely numb and couldn't feel Akito's fingers or his lips upon his neck…
Yuki's eyes opened quickly, mimicking the sound of the necklace breaking—a loud snap that echoed in Yuki's mind. He looked down, his breath quickly stopping and his eyes wide, to see the necklace dangling from Akito's hand. A bead slid down the cord and fell off. It bounced on the ground, rolling underneath their legs.
"Oh…" started Akito and Yuki could hear the smirk in his tone as he went on, "I'll have to get Shigure to buy you another necklace…" He dropped it to the ground. "Or should I say… Hatsuharu?"
Oh no… no… please—that did not just happen… I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming… Haru's necklace is not broken, it's not… it's not…
Yuki gave a cry when Akito cupped his fingers around Yuki's half-hard arousal, squeezing almost angrily. Akito brought his other hand up to Yuki's neck, forcing his chin up.
"Yuki, I bet you wish my hands were Hatsuharu's…" Akito said dryly, moving his hand slowly up and down Yuki's length, emitting small shivers from the boy. "I bet you want to be in his arms all the time… do you think he'll want you back? After I'm done with you, he probably won't be interested and he'll move on to something better…"
Yuki hissed in response, shutting his eyes again. He had to bite his tongue down hard in order to keep from moaning at Akito's hand motions. Akito dragged the hand he had around Yuki's neck down his chest, rubbing his fingers over an erect nipple.
"My dear sweet Yuki… the outside world brings nothing but pain," Akito told him, emphasizing his words by giving another hard squeeze. Yuki let out another cry and jerked his hips back against Akito's. Akito chuckled at this, continuing his cruel ministrations and adding another by pressing his own hips against Yuki's backside.
"You're whimpering, Yuki," he pointed out and Yuki knew this to be true. He just couldn't hold it back with all of the actions upon him. Akito's voice grew infinitely more harsh as he added, "Whimpering like a little slut…"
"I'm not… like that…" Yuki tried to combat Akito's words. Akito wouldn't back down, of course. He hated losing.
"But Yuki, you are. Think about it… you were with me all of these years and then you fled, wanting the attention of someone else… you found it in Hatsuharu's arms and used him, right? Then you got bored of it and ran back to me."
"That's not true at all!" snapped Yuki before giving a low moan as Akito rubbed his thumb delicately over the head of Yuki's erection. He shuddered again, hating himself for it.
"Of course it is… Hatsuharu doesn't make you cry out the way I do." He demonstrated and got the result he wanted, biting at Yuki's neck fiercely. "See? He doesn't have the same effect on you as I do…"
"Yes he… ahhn… he does… I lo—…" Yuki caught himself before finishing, but knew it was already too late.
"Let me guess… you love him… you want him to touch you all over and fuck you like you deserve to be fucked…" Yuki hated his choice of words but knew nothing could persuade the man to use anything else. Akito went on, moving his hand more quickly up and down, producing more whimpers and moans from Yuki. "You beg him for more, don't you? He's probably bigger than me, isn't he?" Yuki wanted to nod but couldn't. "So it must hurt more, doesn't it?"
When Akito got no response to this question, he turned Yuki around abruptly, slamming him into the wall and holding his wrists tightly together in one hand, holding something else tightly in his other. Yuki gasped his response, shuddering at the intensity of Akito's attention on his arousal.
"It hurts when he fucks you, doesn't it?!" Akito asked again, leaning sultrily against him, his lips on his neck, his hand still pumping. Yuki wasn't sure what to respond with so he still didn't answer, save for more whimpering, and Akito had to content himself with that.
"You know Yuki… you used to beg me to do this to you…"
Yuki opened his eyes, staring at the man. He couldn't believe this; just a bit ago and leading up to this point, Akito was… sweet with him, almost. Yuki thought that in his dying days, Akito had gone through some sort of change. This was a brutal slap in the face for Yuki and he realized that Akito wasn't ever truly being sympathetic. He was, in actuality, waiting until Yuki felt comfortable to finally break him down, to crack the front and get under his skin.
The things he was saying about his relationship with Haru were… unbearable. His mind fled to the necklace and he grew scared, wondering what Haru would do when he found out that his necklace—his favorite, the one Yuki had promised to protect—had been broken. The very thought was squeezing his heart so hard that Yuki thought he would just die right then and there.
"You begged me to go faster," Akito grinned, licking the underside of Yuki's jaw. "You begged me to go harder… you always begged me for more, Yuki…"
"N-no…" Yuki said weakly. He swallowed back a moan and repeated his word more firmly. One of his eyes slid shut involuntarily as he let out a moan, crumpling forward a bit. He knew what was on its way. Akito moved his hand faster, running his teeth along Yuki's neck.
"Yes you did… you begged for more and more like a little slut… ever whimpering… you're doing that now, aren't you? Your words betray your own thoughts, your body…"
Yuki cried out, arching his back away from the wall, his vision almost going completely white. He shuddered back down into a limp standing position, the only thing keeping him still standing being Akito's body against his. He figured that Akito would let his wrists go and leave him there, liquid splattered onto his robe and trickling down his thigh.
But no; Akito had much more in mind.
He used his grip on Yuki's wrists to pull him over to the bed, throwing him down. Yuki had tripped over his own feet on the way over, so he fell rather clumsily, landing on his side. He glared up at Akito as the man got onto the bed. He grabbed Yuki's hair and kissed his neck hungrily, moving his semen covered hand up Yuki's torso. Yuki felt disgusting—not disgusted. He felt like a horrible being used only for sex and pleasure—
… Had Haru used him? No, Haru would never do that. With startled, shaking eyes, Yuki realized that perhaps he had used Haru just like Akito said. His breath turned into worried, scared pants as he remembered telling Haru that he would never use him, and yet… I have… god… Haru… I'm sorry— I promised you—I promised you so much…!
"Do it Yuki…" said Akito softly, breaking his plummeting train of thought. "Tell me that you want me to fuck you…" Yuki kept his eyes shut, keeping silent. He could feel Akito's arousal hot against his thigh. "Tell me that you want me to go faster, Yuki… and harder…"
"Stop it…" Yuki heard himself say, despite his position. He really shouldn't have if he hadn't wanted to get hurt. Instead, he was thrown violently on his stomach, pulled up by his hair so he was on his hands and knees, back curved.
"You pathetic little whore!!" snapped Akito, viciously pulling on Yuki's hair. "You know how much power I have over you, don't you? Do I really have to remind you?!"
"No!" Yuki choked out. Get him off of you… get him off of you! his mind shouted, but Yuki knew better than to do so. He would only use it against him. He might hurt Tohru, or Haru, or anyone else. It was better if Yuki hurt on his own, he determined.
Especially since I've hurt Haru enough… one part of his mind said. He could not hear the voice of reasoning behind the almost booming sound of Akito partially disrobing himself. Yuki took the chance to try to escape. As long as he never hit him back, nothing would happen—if he ran, he might actually be safe…
On second thought, maybe not. Akito managed to grab his ankle as he ran, bringing him down to the wooden floor hard. Yuki had to quickly jerk his head to the side to avoid hitting his chin.
"You worthless… selfish…" Akito muttered, crawling over to him. Yuki tried to scramble away but Akito pinned him firmly down and flipped him over, straddling his stomach. He reached a cold hand to his neck.
"I suppose I was wrong to refer to that pathetic Hatsuharu as a slut when you're the only whore I see…"
"I am not," Yuki said and he tried to make his voice sound stronger, but it was impossible to do so. He reached up to pull on Akito's arm and the older man took the chance to grab his wrist.
"I'm dying, Yuki…" he said, his eyes half-lidded and dark. "I'm in constant pain… the least you could do is stop resisting me. You'd make it much easier for me—or perhaps you enjoy shortening my life?"
I do. I do you cruel son of a bitch…
… or I am the cruel one? His mind was like an ink blotch, unstable and unsure of what it truly was supposed to be, letting others chose it's identity for it.
Yuki hadn't noticed that Akito's other hand was hidden in his kimono. He didn't until Akito flicked the hand out and brought it across Yuki's wrist. At first, Yuki felt only a pinch of pain, but when he realized that there was blood trickling down his arm, his eyes found his wrist and found the cut… Akito had been hiding a razor in his robe.
"I'll take you with me, Yuki…" he said. He looked ready to cut himself as well and all Yuki could do at the moment was stare at his bleeding wrist in slight horror. Slight horror simply because the rest of him was boiling with rage. He was not going to die with Akito. He was not going to die there.
He was going to finish this.
He took his other arm and backhanded Akito across the face, sending him to the floor. The razor went flying off somewhere, clanking faintly against the wood. Akito's hands were pressed against the floorboards, his eyes wide, astonished, looking at them.
"Get off of me," Yuki ordered even though his voice was shaking. When Akito didn't comply, he managed to sneak out from under him and step over him, holding his wrist. He looked back and saw that Akito, although his eyes weren't so wide anymore, hadn't moved. He shuddered and headed through the hallway.
I need to get to Hatori… Yuki thought desperately, staring at the rapidity of his blood flow from his wrist. It wasn't very far from his room to Hatori's office—he would have to cross two hallways separated by an inside garden. It wasn't very far.
Or, at least it hadn't looked very far when Yuki started out. He saw quickly that the hallway was twisting and turning before him, growing longer and longer right before his very eyes. He was surprised when he felt himself slam against the wall nearby, his breathing choked like quick panting. He smeared his own blood on the wall as he slid down it, his strength dwindling.
"Hatori…!" he gasped as he fell completely to the floor, not even able to keep from hitting his chin. It didn't hurt much anyway—he was falling too slowly… and he was also numb. So very numb. He started seeing things flashing before his eyelids and different scenarios racked his mind in no particular order.
—his wide eyes, filling with tears as he looked up to him in disbelief—
—she actually cared about him and wanted to be his friend even if her memory was erased—
—"Nnnnh… feels so good…!! Ha-aaru…I… nng… love you…"—
—why does Ayame always act like that? He would never accept the snake as his brother…—
—anyone else would have been disgusted by Akito's touch, but he was used to it. He was too used to it to be disgusted anymore—
—running his other hand through Haru's hair, surprised to find it soaked with sweat—
—that stupid dress was heavy, but he couldn't go against his upper classmen—
—"I didn't think so…"—
—he couldn't stop himself from pushing into her, knocking her down, and breaking her arm on that fateful day—
—staring at Haru's face and turning him down again after the endurance run and then secretly hating himself for it—
—she pushed Akito. She pushed him. Pushed. Him. He was still grateful—
—"I'll never let anything happen to this necklace… I love you too much to let that happen."—
—Honda-san… her beautiful face… muddy and streaked with tears and rain… she looked so broken that night with Kyo—
—willing to fight Akito—
—"Haru…"—
He laid, still, on the hallway floor, his eyes crashing shut.
Shinikakeru (v): to be dying; to be about to die; to be close to death
It's not over yet. ::bows and runs away::