All of the things that I wanna say
Just aren't coming out right
I'm tripping on words
You've got my head spinning
I don't know where to go from here
- Lifehouse -
"You and Me"
-/-
Without You
By Ricchan
-/-
- Chapter 9 -
Yuki coughed.
It was a
rather chilly evening in late November, and he was beginning to close
up the shop with his young, nervous assistant. He coughed a little
more, covering his mouth with his elbow.
"Isshin-kun, you can
go home now," he said, smiling a little at the young man
sweeping up. "I'll finish up and close, okay?"
Isshin
nodded, took off his apron and put on his coat.
"Goodbye,
Boss-san!" he called, going out into the chilly night. Yuki
waved at him, finished sweeping up the various clippings on the
floor, and locked up the shop, driving back home. He was feeling
unbelievably tired, and was more than happy to see the lights on in
his home as he pulled the car into the drive.
"Good evening, Yuki! Welcome home!" Tohru said.
"Evening, Tohru...I'm
going to bed..." he said tiredly, sloughing off his shoes and
getting his slippers on.
"Oh, is something the matter?"
she asked, poking her head out of the kitchen.
"I'm not feeling so
well, you can save dinner for me, if you'd like..." he said
sleepily, and crawled up the stairs.
"All right," Tohru
replied, smiling. "Go get your rest, I'll save dinner for you."
With a thankful smile, he reached his room, changed into his pajamas, and buried himself in the blankets.
The next morning, Tohru
woke up to his rough coughing, and got out of bed to check on him.
Yuki was huddled under the blankets, his face slightly flushed. She
put her hand on his forehead worriedly.
"Aww, Yuki, you have
a fever," she said. "You not feeling very well?"
Yuki
shook his head and coughed.
"You want to stay
home today? I can call your assistant and tell him you're sick,"
Tohru offered. Yuki nodded.
"Yeah I'll...stay home
today...call Isshin and..." he said, coughing between his words,
before stopping altogether.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything, you just need to rest," Tohru said comfortingly. "I'll make you some breakfast and call your assistant."
"Thanks..." Yuki said, and coughed some more. With a smile, Tohru left the room, and he promptly transformed into a rat; he had been holding out for as long as he could, since he was so weak, he couldn't quite control himself. He sighed and coughed a little, wiggling out of his pajamas, thankful he was able to hold out for that long, but it presented a small problem; Tohru could be distracted with breakfast and calling Isshin, but what would he do if she came up with his breakfast and he hadn't changed back yet? He listened closely and heard her comforting his assistant over the phone; well, he had some time left, he supposed, and snuggled up against his pillow, coughing and waiting to change back. However, when he heard her footsteps coming prematurely up the stairs, he panicked. What was he going to do?
In an act of desperation, he jumped out of the bed and scampered to her feet, trying hopefully to scare her.
"Ah!" Tohru
yelped, and Yuki began to scurry away, hoping to find a place to
hide. However, he found himself scooped up into Tohru's
hands.
"Wait, wait, mouse-san! I don't want to hurt you!"
she said worriedly. "Please hold on, don't run away!"
Stopping himself, he
propped himself up on his hind paws and looked at her. She
smiled.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," she
said again. "You must be a pet of Yuki's! I've never seen such
clean wild mice, anyways...would you like a cracker?"
Yuki was slightly
astonished at her behavior; from her normal personality, she would
have run away in fright, and he'd have to sprint for his life to get
back into the bed. Maybe...just maybe...
She began to take him to
the kitchen, and set him on the counter.
"You stay here now,
and don't poo on the counters!" she instructed, and reached into
the cupboard, getting a few saltine crackers and placing them in
front of him.
"There, now you can eat those while I work, okay?" she said, smiling. Yuki, trying to be as mouseish as possible, held one of the crackers in his front paws and prayed desperately that he wouldn't transform there.
"I think it's nice to
have a little friend to talk to," Tohru smiled, rinsing some
leeks in the sink after putting some rice in the pot of water, once
it began to boil. "You must be a domesticated mouse; I figured
Yuki would be the sort of person to have a small animal like a mouse
or a bird as a pet."
Yuki smiled inside, while nibbling on
his cracker, and Tohru began to chop up the leeks.
"I'm a
little worried about Yuki, you know," she said. "His cough
was rather severe-sounding...I should check his temperature when I go
upstairs, shouldn't I?"
Yuki looked at her as if to say "Yes,
you should," and Tohru laughed.
"You certainly seem to
understand me, mouse-san," she said, placing the chopped leeks
into a bowl. "Do you like the crackers?"
Yuki gave her
a cheerful look, and she smiled, laughing a little.
"You're so cute!"
she said. "You know, in a way, you remind me of Yuki. Your fur
is the exact same color as his hair."
Yuki got a little
nervous at this statement and went back to nibbling on his
cracker.
"Oh, but Yuki's not a mouse; he's sleeping
upstairs," Tohru laughed, dumping the leeks into the rice
porridge; Yuki almost sighed in relief, but stopped himself, since he
knew that his voice was fully audible in this state.
"Just a few more minutes..." she said, stirring the porridge and putting the cover on. "Funny, I could almost swear that someone made me rice porridge when I was sick during my second-year exams, but who? My grandfather can't cook at all..."
Yuki looked at her, slightly astonished; could it be she was remembering the day Kyo made her the rice porridge? (Kyo, at that moment, sneezed in his room).
"Oh, I must be imagining things," she said, and smiled at Yuki. "You're a cute little mouse, aren't you? Very tame, too."
Yuki just continued to eat the crackers, thinking. A timer went off.
"Oh, it's done! Time
to go upstairs!" she said cheerily, and went in search of the
oven mitts. As Tohru's back was turned, he jumped off the counter
and ran upstairs, into his room.
"Mouse-san? Where did you
go?" he heard her call, as he took hold of the blankets and
hoisted himself onto the bed. Immediately, he transformed
back.
"Tohru...what's going...on...?" he said, beginning
to cough once more.
"Oh, nothing! Did
you wake up, Yuki?" she replied, her voice coming up the
stairs.
"Yes, I'm awake," he said, and coughed some
more. "Did you find a mouse or something? I heard you scream a
little."
"I found a mouse, do you have one as a pet?"
she said, showing up in his doorway.
"Somewhat; it's a tame
mouse that lives here," he replied, and Tohru began to blush.
"What's wrong?"
"Did you...did you take off...your
clothes...?" she said sheepishly.
"Oh!" Yuki
exclaimed, momentarily forgetting his condition. "Yes, I got a
little too hot."
"You should put them
back on; I'll put your porridge right here and get the
thermometer..." she said, turning around and scuttling out of
the way. Yuki laughed a little, then coughed while he put his
pajamas back on, thinking a little bit on the encounter that had just
happened; Tohru seemed so comfortable in his prescence as a mouse,
and her personality would normally have her screaming and trying to
avoid it. Could it be that she remembered him this way?
As she
came up with the thermometer, he thought for a moment whether or not
to tell her his secret. He sat there in his bed, eating the dish of
porridge, and decided that it was a thing he should reveal to her,
but not for some time.
