Love doesn't make you happy. Especially when it's with someone you picked up the second time around- but then, no one in Hatori's life is exactly out to make him "happy". Hatori x Mayuko. Spoilers ch.57
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Mayuko.
Hatori visited her bookstore often. He was used to the action, and yet it felt strange, now. Odd to be crossing that rickety wooden doorway so often when he had no time to read, or money to be out buying. Strange that it made him sad to see the bookstore now.
It used to be a nice old place, to him. When Kana had shown it to him, he felt a little jealous of the girlfriend of Kana's whose parents owned the place. Hatori still thought it must be entirely peaceful and lovely to grow up around books.
Of course, that girlfriend, Mayuko- she was anything but peaceful. Always flying off the handle, seething, giving him dark looks when she didn't get her way… it reminded Hatori of his younger cousins.
As for lovely…well.
She wasn't Kana- Lord knows they had well-established that fact the first time they went out to dinner in two years. Hatori wouldn't have gotten confused, anyway. Mayu was not sweet, not gentle or particularly kind to him, especially when she was annoyed with him (which was often). She didn't take care to dress nicely, and her manner wasn't cute.
Mayuko was sharp and scathing. But like so many other things in his life… Hatori was used to it.
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"You're late," she snapped.
Hatori sighed and ever so slightly, lifted his eyes. "Yes, I am. I told you that I might be late, because my… cousin is sick again, and it's very important that nothing happens to him, because even a cold in this sort of weather-"
"I know!" said Mayu. "I'm not especially irritated, I was just making conversation."
"So… is our table ready?"
"Why yes. It's been ready for the past twenty minutes, and it's a good thing you're here now because the maitre d' was giving me dirty looks."
"You sound irritated to me."
He followed her to the back corner table and automatically started to pull out her chair. Mayu slapped at his hand and pointedly took the chair herself. Hatori made a mental note to try harder to counter his "gentleman reflex".
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I think I'll just have shrimp and rice. Our paychecks are late coming this month."
"You could just let me pay…"
"Hatori, just order for yourself, will you?"
"It was just an offer."
"Shut up and order. I'm starving."
Hatori hailed a waiter to their lunch table and placed an order for lemon cod. When Mayu ordered a fruit blend of drink, he raised an eyebrow. She made a face back, and charged a shot of sake for him.
"I have to drive back to the estate in a few hours, Mayu."
"I'll drive you. I only ordered that for your nerves."
Hatori gave her a look in exasperation. He was fairly sure that she knew exactly what he was saying- and the grim doctor didn't appreciate a schoolteacher telling him to loosen up.
"I don't need you to take care of me."
She grinned. "Obviously you do, since you're completely incapable of taking care of yourself."
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" asked Hatori.
"Rapidly," said Mayu. "You put the health of every single member of that gargantuan family ahead of your own, especially those little cousins who should be healthier than you to begin with. I teach a few of them- they've got more than enough energy."
"Not all of my cousins are like that," said Hatori.
"You still shouldn't throw your health away," said Mayu. "Maybe Shigure and I are the only ones who notice, but that still doesn't make it a good thing that a twenty seven year old man is almost constantly sick and prone to fevers."
"I'm not currently unwell."
"First time in a month, then. Last time we went to dinner, you tried to kiss me and started hacking up your tonsils. It was absolutely disgusting."
Hatori flushed. "I thought you told me it didn't bother you."
"I lied."
"Anything else you've been lying about?"
"Probably everything else about you that bothers me. It's not like I totally idolize you."
Hatori chuckled. "Well, that would be a good thing. Means you're a little smart, anyway."
"Oh?" said Mayu. "Are you implying that Kana wasn't smart? Maybe a little too dim, fixated on you? Kana did almost totally idolize you."
Mayu saw Hatori's mouth open blankly, and close again. She sighed. "Sorry. Crossed the line again."
Hatori nodded stiffly.
Mayu exhaled loudly and stared into her purple-pink glass. "Well. So tell me about this cousin of yours, who's sick. Did I say I was sorry about that?"
"He's lying in bed with a fever of 41.1 degrees."
Mayu winced. "Ouch. Doesn't sound like fun."
"Oh, he's used to it," Hatori said casually. "That's far from the worst I've been called for."
Mayu stared. "You're nice."
"To the child who relieved me of the use of my left eye? I would say that I am very, very, exceptionally nice to him."
"I see," said Mayu. She groaned. "Sorry. I didn't mean that, really."
"I know," said Hatori. He took a loud sip of his sake and waited. The familiar admission always came next.
"Sorry for today, too," his girlfriend continued. "I was just irritable because I waited too long, and then because I didn't want to have to spend the money for lunch and I didn't want you to treat me." Mayu smiled. "You should just slap me when I start annoying you."
"Then I would be jailed for domestic abuse," Hatori said with a straight face.
She tsk-ed. "Hatori! I'm trying to be serious."
Hatori nodded. "And… I would reply, 'so am I', but then you'd start yelling at me and I do recognize that you're trying to be serious."
She patted his hand. "I'm glad."
"So, why don't we… ouch, Mayu!" Hatori stopped and looked down.
Mayu removed her hand sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess I was rubbing a little hard, wasn't I?"
"Just took off a few layers of skin. Nothing to worry about."
"Hatori!"
"Why don't we eat?" he said, changing the subject. "The food's been here for a few minutes, and if we wait any longer it'll get cold."
Mayu nodded, and peered at her shrimp. She poked at one with a chopstick, and made a face. "For some reason, I don't think fully cooked shrimp should be this soft."
"Well, you did order the cheapest dish…"
"Mind your own business."
Hatori sighed, picked up a piece off his own plate and set it on the edge of Mayu's. "Here. You eat that, and we'll share mine too."
"You need to eat your food," Mayu scolded.
"This is a large order," replied Hatori. "I'm not feeling very hungry right now- don't you dare accuse me of not ever feeling hungry, Mayu- and you're obviously very hungry despite the way you're avoiding your shrimp."
"What do you expect me to do, eat out of your hand?"
"I expect you to eat what's on your plate," said Hatori "Don't be so prideful and take my food."
Mayu glared at him, but nevertheless picked up the fish and put it in her mouth. Soon, she had cleaned off her plate and was pretending not to watch Hatori divide up the rest of his meal. The act was somewhat broken when her stomach complained, loudly.
"Let me guess," said Hatori. "Your kitchen is completely bare."
"Not completely," said Mayu.
"It would be much easier if… oh, I don't know, perhaps if you shared a kitchen with me?"
Mayu gave him a look. "Don't turn into Shigure."
"God forbid," Hatori said crisply. "I'll be sure to send over some groceries later."
"Don't."
"Didn't you recognize that I have a pathological need to care for everyone around myself?" asked Hatori. "I'm not going to let you starve, despite that I am a cold and sometimes vengeful bastard."
"Stop talking like that," said Mayu. "You're anything but… the only reason I'll let you do what you want, by the way, is because I know you would go on and do it if I said no."
"It's good that you understand me then," said Hatori.
They chewed together in silence. Finally Mayu swallowed the last of Hatori's cod and continued, matter-of-factly. "Actually, I don't understand you."
"Hm?"
"Never mind. When do you have to be back at the house?"
"Five," said Hatori. "Don't change the subject."
"What subject, again?"
"Mayuko."
"Fine," said Mayu. She rolled her eyes and stirred the ice cub around in her drink. "It was just something I wonder about sometimes."
"And…"
"I don't know," said Mayu. "It just isn't good for you to be around a cranky old maid. Why haven't you gone and found some cute, nice and cheerful girl and leave the ungratefulness and abuse?"
"Nn. I see." Hatori downed the last of his sake, and wrapped his mouth around the bitter taste before giving Mayu a very thin smile. "I suppose because I'm used to it."
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Later that day, Hatori stepped out of his office for precisely fifteen minutes. He walked three blocks away from the Sohma house to the best green grocer on the street, and arranged for a delivered order of a kilo of tomatoes, half a kilo of cucumbers, a bag of potatoes, two heads of leeks, a carton of eggs, a liter of milk and two loaves of bread.
He knew that Mayuko would call him when it was delivered and break the phone with her yelling. But Hatori knew that she would eat it, too.
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Owarii
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:: notes
What can I say, it's the furuba pairing that I'm currently obsessed with. And... gasp... it's het. What am I thinking? Re-reading this, it's very somewhere between stupid and revoltingly dull, but it was fun to try out their bickering, at least. I have a better idea for any chapter fic I might in future do : )