"Be a good boy, Hana while I'm out." Mrs. Sakuragi held his son's cheeks and gave him a quick but real smack on the lips.
It's their own way of saying I-love-you to each other.
"Bye mum!" Hanamichi happily waved a hand to his mother, then closed the door.
Hanamichi hurried to his room to put on his white shirt and denim pants. Then, off he rode his bicycle towards the Rukawas' mansion.
Inside the mansion, Kaede was lying on a sun-bathing chair wearing boxer's shorts and unbuttoned Hawaiian polo. His beautiful eyes were covered by a dark eyewear.
Five men were swimming exuberantly on the pool and one of them was Riko, who soon approached him.
"Kaede." Riko sat on the next chair, beside his cousin.
Kaede's right foot was being massaged by his maid and it relaxed him.
"Are you sure you don't wanna swim with us?" Riko asked him with a concerned look.
Hanamichi was watching them from the huge glass wall of the mansion. He couldn't hear them, but it was apparent that Kaede looked very sullen and Riko was trying to help him.
"Maybe we can call some SEXY girls to come over to heighten up your libido." One of Riko's friends uttered to Kaede.
"My dude here has a very sexy stepmum you can borrow. She'll surely make you a man." Another one said and Kaede was spanked with the word 'mum'.
Kaede stood from his chair, ignoring the lady who was massaging his foot and left them.
"Kaede, wait!" Riko called but his cousin paid no heed of him. "Look what you've done!" He told his friends. "We're here to make my cousin cheer up."
"What did we say?" The first guy queried innocently.
"Guys, you know how he mourns about his mother's death."
"It's been years ago."
"And he hasn't recovered yet." Riko continued the sentence. "Kaede never made friends since then. We're he's only pals."
The four young men on the pool were all silent and guilty. Kaede was extremely in a pathetic condition.
Hanamichi heard everything and it left him in a daze.
"Do'aho." Kaede muttered. "I want to go outside."
Hanamichi turned to face him. "Where?"
"Anywhere."
"You know, if you have no exact place to go, we better go home and rest." Hanamichi suggested with a bit of impatience as he drove the BMW car forward.
"Do'aho." Kaede, who was on the backseat muttered, then put on his earphones and played an r&b CD in his discman.
"Dammit Kitsune!" Hanamichi frowned. He endlessly drove along the streets.
The road was fair and smooth, free of heavy traffic in a Tuesday morning. Hanamichi stepped on the break when the stoplight's green bulb illuminated. His eyes suddenly gazed at the rearwiew mirror and saw Kaede's deep blue eyes staring at his reflection.
"It's a miracle that you're still awake at this time of day." Hanamichi gabbled, not withdrawing his stare at Kaede's reflection.
"My eyes are dry." Kaede murmured while staring at Hanamichi.
It was an instinct for Hanamichi to hastily grab the tissue box from the dash board and threw it against Kaede's face.
Kaede intended to shield his face with his forearms, but the tissue box hit his face first.
"You're an asshole, kitsune!" Hanamichi was frowning as he pushed on the gasoline and drove the car forward.
Hanamichi scratched his head once, twice, thrice. He covered his face with his favorite pillow, laid sidewards in his bed, then turn to the other side... but he still couldn't get to sleep.
Kaede's white-skinned face with fox ears and whiskers kept on multiplying inside his mind like tiny cells in mitosis.
MY EYES ARE DRY. MY EYES ARE DRY. MY EYES ARE DRY.
Kaede's low-toned voice vibrated in his ear, burning his eardrums.
"DAMN YOU! KITSUNE!" Hanamichi finally threw his favorite pillow against his closet and screamed loudly.
Kaede is bugging his sleep, bugging his night and bugging his mind.
"Get out of my mind. Get out of my mind." Hanamichi shook his head like a coin was inserted to it.
Suddenly, someone knocked on his door and opened it. It was his mother with sleepy eyes.
"Hana, are you OK?" She asked with deep concern.
Hanamichi nodded unconsciously. "I'm fine."
Mrs. Sakuragi had been used of witnessing his son screaming at the middle of the night and couldn't get to sleep because of thinking too much about the girl he wants.
"Don't think too much about kitsune, baby." Mrs. Sakuragi had a look of teasing his son. Her eyes said that here-we-go-again-Hana-another-girl-to-love.
Hanamichi almost panicked. "No mom, you're wrong. Kitsune... it's-it's."
Mrs. Sakuragi inched towards his son and perched beside him. She caressed his head gently. "Someday, you'll find the person really meant for you, baby. Just be patient."
Hanamichi's mouth dropped. "But-"
"Sleep now, baby. You'll be fine." And Hanamichi fell asleep as his mother caressed his head lovingly.
When Hanamichi was already asleep, Mrs. Sakuragi kissed him on the cheek then whipered in his ear. "I love you, baby."
tobecontinued
