Challenge: #15; Perfect Blue
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, nor its characters.
Blue Remembrance
The first thing Hatori felt was warmth, the sort of homey warmth that he had only experienced once before, spreading through his blankets and unto his skin. Hatori felt warm for the first time in a long while, his headache blissfully gone for the most part.
Hatori's first instinct was to kick at the warmth, the probability of it being Shigure too great for comfort, even if the presence was probably the thing that had made his throbbing headache disappear. He could live with the headache; the thing he couldn't live with was the possibility of eternal humiliation hanging over his head for having snuggled with the perverted writer.
A low grunt came from the space where he had kicked, sounding suspiciously unlike Shigure for Hatori to worry about who had sneaked in his bed. There really was only one person who he suspected to do that, and that was Ayame. But surely it couldn't be Ayame? He tried prying his eyes open to identify the shadowed figure cuddled up next to him, until an all too familiar voice disturbed the blissful peace.
"Tori-san! Normally I only get the kicking-out-of-the-bed thing after I've turned into a snake… But coming from you, I'll forgive it just this once." Ayame wagged a finger at him, looking quite content to be lying next to the doctor, despite having been kicked a minute ago.
"Ayame…" He breathed, his hand coming up to stroke Ayame's cheek in wonder. By the time he realized what his traitorous hand was doing, Hatori quickly drew it back. Ayame reached at the hand, and pulled it back to his cheek, eyes closing in contentment.
"I missed you, 'Tori-san."
Hatori not being a man of many words settled for hugging his friend tentatively, lying atop of the startlingly skinny man carefully and burying his head in the nape of a pale neck, unwilling to allow Ayame to see his expression. If he had felt awkward over the pose, the feeling faded when the hug was returned eagerly, Ayame's arms wrapping around his neck in a hug no doubt meant bone-crushing, but merely achieving a feel of childish desperation in strength.
All thoughts of happiness being fake lay dormant for a while, conveniently forgotten in delightful warmth and sounds of soft breathing. Neither slept, but knew it to be too hasty to call it reality.
After a while with both men falling in and out of shallow sleep, as if their minds were too scared to wake up to find the other person gone, Ayame moved, trying in vain to struggle out from underneath the doctor with the little strength he had left in his arms.
"Hatori, I have to tell you something."
The doctor grunted, not noticing the mentioning of his real name as he felt his headache coming back. "Not now, Aya." Unwilling for the blissful cocoon of silence to end, he reluctantly allowed the slight frame some more space to breathe. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light, reality inevitably came seeping back in. Ayame became Aya again, his hyperactive cousin, and surely humiliation would follow snuggling with his insane hyper cousin as it would have with his perverted cousin. The pain came back with a vengeance, attacking his eyes until all he could see was white.
"But 'Tori-san! You have to listen to me! I have… I have been horrible to you…" Ayame had the grace to look vaguely ashamed as he spoke the words, but the rare look was missed on a temporarily blinded doctor.
"If you mean you leaving for Paris… everyone deserves a holiday. Members of the Sohma family even more than others…" Hatori trailed off, not being able to think with the sharp pains invading his head.
"No, I mean… causing you to be so ill. I'm sorry… but the good news is; I can fix it!" Ayame did not doubt telling Hatori the truth. It hurt him more than the possibility of rejection to see Hatori so much in pain, and knowing he was the one responsible.
The desperate tone of Ayame's voice startled Hatori more than he cared to admit, and lead him to be momentarily silent. What exactly had happened in Paris, to have Ayame come back so malnourished and changed in demeanour?
Before he got the chance to think, he felt something soft brushing his lips, a vague remembrance of the warmth he'd felt when he'd first woken up. Immediately, Hatori pulled back, startled at his cousin's actions. "Aya, what are you doing?" He tried to remain calm, but he couldn't hide the slight sound of surprise that entered his words.
Ayame sounded slightly amused, at ease, when he spoke next. "Please, 'Tori-san… call me Ayame, like before. Remember?"
And then the warmth was back, more insistent this time, and somehow more familiar than it should have been. Hatori was sure he would be able to fight away the petite body that was undeniably Ayame's pulled flush against him, but he didn't have the energy to fight anymore. Yet, that was not all there was to it… Somehow, he felt something tugging at his head, but not painful like before. It was a sort of tender tug to his memory, much like Ayame's kiss; tender, yet insistent.
Without knowing why, Hatori felt the urge to kiss back, to pay back the warmth and possibly create more warmth between them. Hatori pushed Ayame away before he would give in to this frightening urge, his hands on a heaving chest – had Ayame been naked the entire time he had crawled in Hatori's bed? – panting slightly himself. He felt warmth on his cheeks, and wondered whether it really was from embarrassment. "What are you doing, Aya? Please stop this… this foolishness."
Hatori felt Ayame shaking his head by the way the chest swayed in his hands, and he quickly pulled back his hands, embarrassed at having felt nipples harden under his touch.
"Can't you really remember anything, 'Tori-san?" Ayame was at a loss; how would he have to get the charm off of Hatori? It wasn't like he'd done anything like it before, and even then, it wasn't intended to have such an effect.
"What am I supposed to remember?" Hatori should really have been surprised to find his eyesight returning. Gradually, white transformed into silvery strands in a startling state of disarray, pale skin which had never been that pale before, and pallid yellow eyes which really shouldn't have been so sad. Hatori mused that it was hardly a change from the white he had become accustomed to these last few weeks.
He took in the changes in his usually upbeat cousin, reaching out with two fingers to brush over cracked lips pulled in a forced smile. Suddenly, white hues transformed into perfect blue like the water suddenly lapping at his naked form again like that night, the night sky forming a dark cloud around him as he felt a firm tug on his brain, pulling him away from the ethereal sight in his bedroom and into a pool of forgotten sin and forbidden pleasures.
The feeling of faint kisses on his head woke him up. Ironic, as it had been the last thing it felt when he fell asleep that particular night. Broken blue faded into immaculate white once more. Hatori touched his left eye, rubbing it as if to rub away the memory of a pain long faded into memory.
Or, as Ayame perceived it, as if to rub away the memories of that night.
"I'm sorry, 'Tori-san. I didn't mean to cause such a commotion."
Hatori grunted, not knowing where to look now that he had his eyesight back. At least he knew he didn't want to look at Ayame. The yellow eyes that he had woken up to had been filled with hope, regret, and a plethora of other emotions Hatori didn't know how to deal with now. Didn't want to deal with now.
Not after his best friend had betrayed him.
Ayame kept sprouting forth an endless stream of apologies and explanations, followed by a sentence claiming he understood that there were no explanations, followed by yet another apology.
"Ayame… please leave."
A gasp broke off the rambling. From the corner of his eye, Hatori could see Ayame nod in acceptance.
"I understand… but first I must know: is your pain gone?"
Surprised, Hatori realised that it was. Ayame nodded, understanding Hatori's body language better than anyone. It was all he had to go on most of the times. Smiling the familiar smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, Ayame got up to leave. A smile just like before.
Perhaps it could be just like before.
"I'll see you at the next physical."
Ayame nodded, the smile widening. "I'll be waiting anxiously for that day!" Was the enthusiastic reply, all too familiar and fake in Hatori's ears.
Indeed, perhaps it could be just like before.