Alternate Ending
Let Go
so let go/jump in/well whatcha waiting for/it's alright/cause there's beauty in the breakdown/just get in/its so amazing yeah/it's alright/cause there's beauty in the breakdown Let Go, by Fru-Fru
And there are voices/that want to be heard/So much to mention/but you can't find the words/Listen to your heart/There's nothing else you can do Listen to Your Heart, by D.H.T or Roxette
The nameless emotion in Yuki swelled until he felt like he was going to pop. There was a thundering rush in his ears and it took him a second to realize it was his heart racing in excitement. Jealous. The word shocked him. Was he?
He looked at Tohru, comprehension dawning, and she met his gaze steadily, a gentle smile on her face. Yuki felt his cheeks warm up.
A noise from Machi distracted them all. She had been quiet for a while so they seemed to have forgotten her. She made the noise again and it sounded like she was choking on her own words.
"Why...why would he be jealous?" she cried, her voice cracking. Her eyes were huge and terrified and confused. Yuki knew that look. It was the look of a cornered deer; when Machi knew she was in over her head and no longer had any idea what she was doing, where her emotions, held too long in check, exploded into action and her body did something she wasn't aware of it doing until after—like throwing things, like going berserk. She couldn't help it. It was what she did when she panicked. And the look on her face...it made Yuki's heart wrench, so he had worked and worked to make sure she never had to look that way again.
"Why are you jealous?" Machi yelled wildly, staring at him with those eyes that made his heart ache. She took a step closer to him. "Why do you care? What does it matter to you? Who I kiss? Why do you care!" she shrieked, staring at him with those huge scared eyes.
What was she asking him? Yuki wondered, bewildered. There were questions in her eyes, questions that were begging to be answered, questions that Machi was too scared to ask. What were the questions?
"What are you asking me?" Yuki half-shouted, just as scared as she was. He wanted to answer the questions, make the look go away, make her smile. What were the questions? He didn't know. "I don't know what you're asking me!" He was wild and confused and scared and trying to keep a lid on that suffocating sensation that was fighting it's way up, fighting to be let loose.
Machi was crying now, sobbing and choking and trying to hold it in, and Yuki was vaguely aware that everyone was watching him, silently urging him on. To do what? What do they want? It was terrifying, not knowing. He had to please them, had to make the look in Machi's eyes go away, had to get rid of this feeling, this nagging feeling that he was supposed to know what to say, that he should know what to say...
"What do you want to know?" he asked again, still baffled. It seemed like the right thing to do, but it only made Machi mad. She forced herself to stop crying and wiped the tears off her cheek. She glared at him. Yuki looked up at everyone else, surprised.
He was even more surprised to find that Kyo, Kakeru, and Haru were also glaring at him. Even Tohru, the nicest and most patient person Yuki had ever known, was looking a little exasperated.
He looked back at Machi just in time to see her raise her hand to slap him. He caught it just in time and she struggled for a second until she raised her other hand, but Yuki caught that one too. She clawed at him in vain as he stared at her in shock. Was she trying to hurt him? Why? What had he done?
Machi stopped moving and Yuki let her go cautiously. Mistake.
She tackled him. They flew back and would have kept going had not the wall stopped them. His head cracked against the brick rather badly but he managed to prevent Machi from being hurt.
They sat there for a minute, Machi breathing hard into Yuki's shirtfront, her arms around his middle, straddling his waist. Yuki felt rather dazed and disoriented. He hoped the bump on his head wasn't serious.
He still hadn't recovered when Machi pulled back and glared at him some more.
"What?" he said thickly.
"You're an idiot," she replied clearly. That made Yuki rather angry.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What do you think I meant by that?"
"I don't know what you meant, that's why I asked! It's what people do when they don't know the answers to questions they can't answer!" Distantly Yuki realized that that was probably the concussion talking, but by then he was too angry to care.
"That's what I've been trying to do this entire time!" Machi shrieked at him. "That's why you're an idiot!"
Yuki stared at her, feeling stupid. "I didn't understand what you were asking, is all," he replied meekly. She stared at him.
"Ask it again," ordered Yuki. "Maybe I can answer it now." Somehow he doubted it, seeing as how he was light-headed from his nasty collision with the wall, but Machi didn't need to know that.
Machi looked at him. She blushed a little and swallowed. "W-why would you be jealous?" she half-whispered, sounding slightly embarrassed to be asking it.
Yuki frowned. His head was still swimmy, but something was rising up to the surface again, something he wasn't sure he was ready to face.
He looked up suddenly to find that Haru, Tohru, Kakeru and even Kyo were leaning in to hear his answer. He scowled at them, then looked back at Machi. He opened his mouth to say one thing, but something totally different came out.
Somehow, "I don't know" became "I won't tell you."
Kakeru slapped a hand to his forehead in exasperation, Kyo swore angrily, Tohru sighed, and Haru shook his head, disgusted.
Yuki shook his head stubbornly.
Suddenly Machi gripped him by the collar and pulled him forward. For a dizzying moment, they were close enough to kiss, but then she ruined it by smacking his head into the wall. Stars exploded in front of his eyes, but she wasn't done yet.
"YOU—ARE—SUCH—AN—IDIOT—!" As she said each word she thwacked Yuki's head into the wall.
"Machi—!" yelped Yuki. "STOP STOP STOP STOP!" he yelled, dizzy and half-blind from all the stars and little birds flying around his head.
"NOT—UNTIL—YOU—ANSWER—MY—QUESTION--!"
"WHAT QUESTION!"
"WHY ARE YOU JEALOUS!" she bellowed, giving his head one final crack.
"Because you should be kissing me, not Haru!" Yuki burst out, flustered and in pain, half-crazy with the questions he couldn't answer and the look in Machi's eyes that he couldn't get rid of.
He looked away from her, his face burning. He was angry and miserable and scared and his head hurt like hell and the mystery feeling had broken through and made a mess of everything.
He looked back at Machi and was surprised to see a smile on her face. All traces of rage and the cornered, sad, scared look were gone from her face. Behind her, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Yuki looked from them back to Machi, nonplussed.
Machi only patted his head and said, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"What are you talking abo—" It dawned on him just what he had said, and the implications it carried. Suddenly everything was much clearer. It was as if a dark veil had been lifted from his thoughts, and he felt lighter than he had in ages. He looked at Machi and smiled. She smiled back.
Just then they both realized the position they were in: Machi was practically in his lap, her hands around his collar; his hands had somehow found their way to Machi's waist, probably in an attempt to prevent her from injuring him any further.
Despite all the general yelling and movement that had just taken place a few minutes ago, neither of them had been out of breath until that point.
Machi's face was coming closer and closer...they were so close now, just another mere centimeter more and their lips would...
Machi pulled away. Yuki stared at her, flabbergasted. "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice cracking a little.
"Yeah! What's wrong? Why'd you stop?" called Kakeru from the other side of the courtyard.
Yuki winced. "Oh." There was the sound of a slap, and Machi and Yuki looked over, surprised, to see that Kyo had hit Kakeru on the back of the head and was scowling at him. Haru was looking exasperated, and Tohru was laughing a little to herself.
Yuki chuckled and Machi smiled. She slid off his lap and sat next to him, snuggled into the crook of his arm. She rested her head on his shoulder and he pouted.
"We still haven't kissed yet," Yuki pointed out. Machi laughed and kissed his ear.
"We will," she promised. "Just you wait."
Fin
Author's Notes: So yeah. As I was typing the story...this happened instead of what was supposed to happen, but it turned out to be pretty good so I kept it and decided to use it as an alt. ending. You, the readers, get to decide! Which is better: the original ending or the alternate ending? Vote and I'll post the results in my profile! (If enough people vote, that is...)
Actually, I really don't care. Both endings make me happy, now that I think about it.
Th-th-th-th-that's all folks!
Audley St-st-stutters
PS I AM NOT MAKING FUN OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE SPEECH IMPEDIMENTS! God, you people are SO picky!
