Jealousy
By: Asagi Tsuki
Byaku: another chapter of the story with the oh-so-cliché title by a crazed maniac beside me
Asagi: did I tell you to say that? (rolls eyes)
Byaku: this sure takes a lot of time as well
Asagi: hope you enjoy
Byaku: she doesn't own Tactics, you know how bad her drawing is
Asagi: basically put, I don't own Tactics (sweatdropped)
Reply to reviewers:
Tora Macaw: yes, he is. I like the name Makoto, so… just kidding. Yes, thank you for the separators, it really helps me. I was really frustrated when the separators disappeared just like that, but the problem's solved. Glad you enjoyed this
Eclipsed Rose: hell yeah, you're very good at guessing stories. Glad you enjoyed this one as well. And hope you enjoyed the third chapter, since it's been a bit hurried in my opinion, well, I've only got several hours to do this one to make up for my one month absence so… anyway, enjoy!
Rubydream: thank you very much! Yeah, I wanna see him as well, but whenever I write about him, I was thinking of Souma Ayame from Fruits Basket. You should check him out, I made Makoto resemble him, so Ayame should give you some images of Makoto. And thank you for reviewing
Chapter Three -- New Roommate
When they left the tea shop, it was still three o'clock in the afternoon. And so, they decided to go on a shopping spree before they went back to their home, wait, to his home, since only one of the two silver haired men owned the house.
"So, what do you plan on having for dinner?" the shorter yet older silver haired man asked his little brother who was currently searching for last week's shopping list that his youkai servant had given him for a who-knows-what reason. "Well?" he asked as he stared at the man before him who was searching for the piece of paper frantically.
"Wait, I'm sure it's somewhere near here," he said as he started to search in his pockets. He took out a piece of paper, finally, and smoothed it before he started reading the list, "First, we'll need turnips, leeks, onions, garlic, beef, tofu, eggs-" he started reading the list.
"Okay, I got it, let's just go now, okay?" the older man stopped the younger one from getting any further. He was sure that if he let him do so, he would have to wait for a good five minutes before he finished reading the list out loud.
"Okay," the younger man nodded his head as he folded the paper, trying to make it as smooth as it could be, before they walked to the center of the marketplace together, trying to find the aforementioned goods.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Meanwhile, in a certain old Japanese house, three people inhabited it. The only male in the house was still in the study, looking out of the window while the two girls started to pick up dried futons from the cloth hanger at the back garden.
"Haruka-chan!" one of the two girl, the one with shoulder length dark brown hair, called for the only male in the house who goes by the name Haruka, a girlish name in fact, but that fact didn't make him hate his name.
He stood up and walked over to the back garden slowly, and coolly. Normally, girls would swoon at the sight and started chasing him around, but since there were no other girls other than the two girls, the horde of girls didn't start chasing him. "What?" he asked when he finally arrived at the back garden.
The girl didn't reply immediately, she let a fox-ish grin grace her feature before she pointed at the pile of futons on the floor. "Help me carry these to your room, my room, and Kan-chan's room," she commanded, more than requested.
"You always do that by yourself before," Haruka stated matter-of-factly. The girl would always do the housework all by herself, but why did she ask for his help now?
"Youko-san is going to take care of Maki-san's room," another girl, a girl with shoulder length light brown hair, interrupted. She held some pillows in her hand before dropping them on top of the futons. "She's staying here," she said, ignoring the strange look Haruka shot at her.
"Yes, what Suzu-chan said is true," Youko nodded her head as she placed her hands on her hips, "And if you wouldn't mind, please bring these futons to Kan-chan's room," she said as she pointed two futons, on with the blue stripe-patterned quilt and the other with black feather-patterned quilt.
"But that one is mine," Haruka stated coldly as his eyes fell on top of the futon with black feather-patterned quilt. He wasn't going to let a stranger use his futon freely.
"I know that is yours," Youko blinked her eyes at Haruka's direction, "What's wrong with that?" she asked, as if she was asking the most obvious question to him.
"I don't want her to use anything that is mine," Haruka rolled his eyes. He hated having to voice out his hatred towards someone, especially when that hatred wasn't really based on anything. The stranger hadn't done anything wrong to him.
"Of course he- she's not going to use your futon," Youko narrowed her eyes at Haruka, before she started laughing, "You're going to sleep in Kan-chan's room, I'll sleep in yours and she'll sleep in mine," she explained. "That okay with you?" she asked, mischief clearly glinting in her eyes.
After thinking for a good two minutes, he finally agreed. At least the stranger wasn't using anything that is his. Youko used his room, not the stranger. And why he kept addressing the stranger as the stranger was still a mystery. Maybe just because he wanted to emphasize the point that he's a stranger, at least to him.
"Now, go get to work," Youko commanded as she shoved the two futons, along with the quilts and the pillows, to Haruka's hands. "Fold them and place them in the wardrobe like I usually do," she instructed before the tall man nodded curtly and walked over to Kantarou's room.
She turned over to the little girl beside her who smiled at her. "Mission one, succeeded," they exclaimed gleefully as they gave each other a high five, before they realized that they still had to take care of the two futons on the floor.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Hm, let's see," the younger silver haired man mumbled as he loomed over the stacks of dirt-covered turnips. They looked like they were just taken out of the ground, but he wasn't so sure since at that time, no turnips had fully bloomed, at least at certain places in the town.
"Just pick the big ones," the older silver haired man stated. They had gone to over three shops just to look for the fresh turnips, which he doubted even existed in this kind of time, and had bought nothing at all from the previous shops.
"Ne, Aniki, do you think these are fresh?" the younger man asked as he looked up at his older brother. "Youko always protests if I don't get the fresh ones," he sighed.
"So that's why," Makoto rolled his eyes. "Kantarou, just pick anything you want, and let's get this over with," he sighed, "She won't notice, I swear," he pointed several turnips and called for the shopkeeper to put them in a plastic bag for them.
They went to the next series of shops to shop for the remaining ingredients for that night's dinner. First, they decided to buy some tofu and eggs, before they continued on buying leeks –which Makoto protested since he doesn't like leeks at all- and onions.
"I think these should be enough," Kantarou mumbled, but stopped when he saw a fishmonger and a butcher. "Are you still allergic to beef and ham?" he asked Makoto who was trying to refrain himself from sneezing and scratching his arms because of the itch. "I think that answered my question," he blinked and walked over to the fishmonger.
Makoto sighed heavily. He was allergic to them since he was a child, and so, he had always eats vegetables and fish, nothing else, other than rice. "I'll be waiting over there, okay?" he shouted as he pointed a snack store.
Kantarou looked over, then nodded. He chose the fresh looking fish from the stack of fishes that started to stink, and accepted them from the fishmonger. He walked over to the snack store, intending on asking Makoto to go home, and to give him the change as well. "Ma-" he started, but was cut off when he noticed that Makoto was staring intensely –if not glaring- at the two bottles of assorted candies.
"Oh, Kan-chan," he looked up and smiled at his little brother when he had acknowledged him, "Which one do you like the best?" he asked as he stepped back a bit to allow Kantarou to take a closer look at the candies.
He stared at the two bottles. The first one contained mostly white-colored confeitos, while the other one contained mostly blood red colored strawberry-like candies. "I like confeitos," he stated with a smile. It had been a while since he last ate candies.
"Alright then," Makoto nodded, "Ojii-san, please get us a bag of confeitos," he requested and the shopkeeper nodded at him. He took a paper bag and shoved some confeitos inside them before handing it to Makoto.
"Arigatou," Kantarou nodded at the shopkeeper after Makoto had paid for the confeitos and before they got out of the shop. "Ne, can I have half of this?" Kantarou asked jokingly.
"Of course, but remember to share it with your boyfriend, and I'll share with Youko-chan," Makoto nodded calmly as they started making their way to Kantarou's house.
"This is the third time I tell you he's not!" Kantarou protested, nearly dropping the bags of groceries in his hand. He humphed and looked away from his brother who only grinned as a reply.
"Tadaima!" Makoto exclaimed as he slid the front door open, feeling the must since he wasn't carrying anything while Kantarou was carrying the groceries.
"Okaeri nasai," Youko greeted them as she was about to iron the dried clothes. "Ah, I see that you've bought things for today's dinner," she said as she noticed the bags of groceries in Kantarou's hands.
"Yes," Kantarou nodded and handed her the bags of groceries, "I'll be in my study if you need me, I need to finish the article before Reiko-san gets mad," he gave them a wistful looking smile before he entered his study.
"Oh, and Makoto-san, we've done what you asked us to do," Youko smiled at the silver haired man in front of her.
"We?" he asked. He didn't remember asking anyone else to do what he had asked Youko to do.
"Yes, me and the girl you met before you went to the tea shop," Youko nodded, "She has gone home, but she said she'll come over tomorrow if you've got the next plan," she explained.
"I see," Makoto nodded his head, "That's good to hear, the more the merrier," he smiled at the youkai servant before him, "Anyway, did he say something when you asked him to move?" he asked.
"Well, I'll just have to tell you that I'll be staying at his room instead, he doesn't seem to like the idea of you staying in his room," Youko sighed, "He's a bit over-protective about his things," she added with a pouty look on her face.
"That's okay with me, Youko-chan," Makoto laughed a bit, "As long as the mission is accomplished," he added, his eyes started gleaming with mischief.
"So, Makoto-san," she started, but was shushed by Makoto who saw Haruka approaching. "So, Maki-san," she repeated, using his false name this time, "What do you want for dinner?" she asked with a sweet smile.
"Ah, I don't see you coming, Haruka-san," Makoto nodded at the other man who looked unhappy.
"What is it, Haruka-chan?" Youko asked.
"Where is my rice bowl?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"At the kitchen, I've just washed it," Youko answered as she pointed the kitchen.
Haruka stared for a while, before he nodded his head and walked off to the kitchen.
Youko sighed when he was out of sight, and turned her attention back to Makoto, "Do you think he knows?" she asked Makoto who was staring at Haruka.
"No, I don't think he knows yet," Makoto smiled at her, "Don't worry about that, anyway, what were you going to say?" he asked kindly.
"Eh? Oh, I was really asking about what do you want for dinner," Youko answered. "I figure that since I know what they dislike, I have to know what you dislike," she added.
"Hm, I'm allergic to beef and ham, but that's about it," Makoto answered, "Well, I'll do a quick survey around the house for now, okay?" he asked and Youko nodded in return. "Oh, and be sure to tell Kantarou about his new roommate," he said one last time before he started to walk through the corridor.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
It was nearly dinner, but the silver haired man hadn't come to the dining room yet. She feared that he didn't know the way to the dining room and was currently stuck somewhere, lost. She decided not to worry about him, and decided to just call the others first, and so, he went to Kantarou's room, which was situated on the second floor.
"Haruka-chan," she called at the man who was staring out of the window, 'He seems to like to stare out of the window now,' she thought to herself, "It's dinner time," she said.
The man nodded and stood up from his sitting spot before he approached the paper door and walked past her, then down to the first floor quietly.
"Strange," she mumbled, "He doesn't do that before," she stared, before she shrugged and decided to let the subject drop. She walked down, and entered Kantarou's study to call for the silver haired exorcist.
"Kan-chan," she called as she slid the paper door open, "Dinner time, Haruka-chan is already there," she said.
"Yes, yes," Kantarou nodded, currently staring at the blank papers in front of him, "Where's Aniki?" he asked, knowing that it was safe to call him Aniki since Haruka wasn't there.
"He's off to take a stroll around the house," Youko answered simply. "Oh, and I need to tell you, since Makoto-san is going to use my room, I'll use Haruka-chan's and he'll be sleeping in your room," she said a bit hastily.
"Okay, okay," Kantarou answered off-handedly as he waved his hand idly, still staring at the blank papers while he looked completely bored.
Youko smirked. She knew full well that Kantarou wasn't listening to her, but that didn't matter. As long as she had informed him of that, it wasn't her fault anymore. She closed the door silently and started walking around the house to search for a trace of the aforementioned Makoto.
When she was at least three meters away from the paper door that led to the study, she heard a very girlish ear-splitting scream coming from the study.
"WHAT?"
End of Chapter Three
Byaku: finally finished
Asagi: I rush things a bit, since I'm going to be off, I made anticipation so that the first day I came back I could upload this one
Byaku: but what about your e-mail account? Won't it be shut down if you don't check it in one month?
Asagi: well, as long as there's MSN messenger and as long as my computer is turned on, I don't need to worry too much, anyway, my cousin will be over every Tuesday, and I think that he'll at least let me sign in first, or I simply could ask him to do that
Byaku: you talk like a crazed paranoid people, you know that?
Asagi: shut up Byaku
Byaku: you really do sound like one
Asagi: I am paranoid
Byaku: so it seems, so it seems