They found themselves wandering the vastness of the Sohma property. They had a short picnic in a Sohma owned gardens, and then visited Sohma owned shops of sorts before stopping off at the Sohma owned onsen for a relaxing bath At the end of the day they went around visiting Shigure's Sohma owned friends. Meaning they had to visit Ayame twice (Much to Yuki and Kyo's displeasure)
And even though having been explained to twice that neither visit was Yuki's will, Ayame still proudly and loudly exclaimed his dedication and perhaps succession in becoming the magnificent elder brother he was always meant to be. Despite all the squabbles, everyone felt liberated to be welcomed and loved.
With a large hug to every member of the Shigure household, Ayame sadly let them depart. He wept large tears and wailed dramatic sobs that all but had Shigure torn to pieces. The novelist was slowly dragged away as two men yelled their love to each other across the street. Their drama production caught the attention of almost every passer-by that wondered if the two were actually or in love or if a hidden camera was filming their reaction.
Tohru was frantically giggling and waving people off with a large smile. Lucent through her animated sweat drop (that's dramatic proportion was perhaps as large as Ayame and Shigure's tears) was the girls pink blush spreading across her cheeks. Yuki had begun to wonder if she meant to be cute all the time.
Then suddenly he and Kyo stumbled forward, empty handed. The looked back to see the man they were once dragging clinging to Ayame as they both wept tears of love and joy. A thought hit Yuki beside the idea of Tohru's intentional adorableness. If Shigure could worm away so easily, what was with the tears? Was the man letting himself be dragged away for the sake of drama?
In the end, Ayame ended up tagging along as the group made their way to Hatori- Shigure knowing all to well that the doctor was taking care of the Juunishi children at that moment. It seemed like nothing could stop the flirty talk between the hebi cursed and the inu cursed, but it suddenly died down on its own. And even through the piercing silence, nezumi and neko alike had irritable emotions growing.
Kyo thought about striking out, but a side-glance to the girl happily smiling to the world in front of her told him it would be stupid. A sigh from Yuki told him he was thinking the same thing. Tohru remained unaware.
"Aya!" Shigure squealed. "I'm bored, bored, bored!" The man beside him cast him a smile before closing his beautiful eyes and in a deep, lustful voice he said…
"Not now, Gure-san. For the eyes of the public and the children are upon us." The men giggled to each other until they finally stopped in a small Café. Ayame looked around the small store, his deep golden eyes searching every face until a pout hit his face and he nudged Shigure sadly.
"He's not here."
"I know." All sets of eyes peered up at Shigure looking confused and interested. (Kyo just looked annoyed.)
Shigure closed his eyes and allowed a sly smirk to play his lips for a moment too long. "You see, Ha-san does not know that we were to be meeting."
Then, with a glorious pose and a mischievous look in his once again open brown eyes, Shigure stabbed his hand in his coat pocket and pulled out a small silver cell phone. He earned a few stares from strangers, one of which pulled their child a little closer while still giving Shigure glances as if to figure out if he was sane, if the child would be safe.
The Sohma clan of course ignored it, being so used to the stares when they went out with Shigure. However, Tohru looked scared, emotions fleeting across her wide eyes. Yuki nudged her shoulder with his, too lazy to take his hands out of his pockets.
"Don't worry, he's used to it."
The other teenage boy allowed his head to drop as he added, "Unfortunately, we are too." And then he threw in a sigh.
Tohru nodded but still looked worried. At this point Shigure was pouting towards the teens. "Ah, how cruel! My heart feels as though it has just cracked." He had enough time to through his a dramatic sob before he was pulled close to Ayame's chest.
The men laughed merrily and more strangers looked scared. It took a couple hard punches from the other boys until Shigure finally dialed the doctors' number and convinced him to meet them at the shop.
They sat at a large table with white metal rims and thick glass. The waitress came to them holding a small notepad with her chubby fingers, took their orders grumpily and then walked off, taking any sort of conversation with her.
A familiar tingle of sadness seemed to touch everyone's spine again, and they thought and pondered why they felt so sad so suddenly but never found a real reason, just excuses or cover-ups for something they didn't really want to think about.
Hatori arrived before their drinks, towing behind him a blonde Momiji. Everyone scooted over to make room for the newly arrived, greeting them happily as they did and still no conversation came. When the waitress came back with a tray of assorted drinks and left again, Kyo was fed up with the silence and roughly slammed his glass on the table.
"What the hell" He growled. "This is starting to piss me off…"
Momiji nodded in agreement. "I have a math test tomorrow!" From their conversations seemed to start until the all parted in front of the Café. The sun was already gone for the night and a few stars were peeking through the internal bleakness of the sky. Momiji hugged everyone goodbye happily, turning into a fluffy rabbit as he parted with Tohru.
Hatori made a grim noise in the back of his throat while glancing at his wristwatch. "It's late…" He commented and then turned to walk off. This time it seemed harder than normal, but he continued to walk and took a chunk the sad fog everyone was consumed in. Ayame skipped beside the doctor adding sadness with annoyance.
By the time the foursome got home yawns were emitted every few seconds. They piled in the house and then flew into their rooms to get ready for bed and a night of no sleep.
Later in the night, Shigure found himself sitting at his computer with a blank expression and tears clouding his eyes but for the life of him, he wouldn't let them fall.
Yuki's frown scraped against his pillow, as it got deeper and he rolled over the thoughts clouding his head over and over. Trying to figure out why he suddenly felt regret and such increasing sadness. He rolled over to face his door, more trivial thoughts making his head ready to burst.
Across the hall Tohru was having just more success with chasing out her inner thoughts as tears, as they streamed down her face. The picture of her mother was pressed against her chest and it occasionally shook with her erratic breathing. She twitched quietly with another sob and closed her eyes lightly and uttered a prayer in her mind.
The orange-headed boy looked out the window at the now full moon. His expression showing what he felt in his heart. The memories running across his eyes were all forced out as a gentle tear that was harshly forced away.
And though he felt lost and confused, he felt no regret, perhaps only confusion by this sudden turmoil.
Not much going on here… Foreshadowing and a little bit of angst! Ah, I know everything has been going slow, but next chapter it will pick up! Until then!
Oh yeah!
The last chapter was part of this one; I was just showing you kids I'm alive.