Chapter 4 -You'll Be the Death of Me

It was time to drive home. To Yuki, it was only home because Tohru was going to be there. He smiled, imagining her preparing their Thanksgiving meal. She would probably be fretting, all worried that she had to specially make side dishes to please everyone's taste. She always put extra leeks in his soup. Always ask him what he preferred, then soon he'd find it on the table waiting for him. That's Tohru. Always thinking of others. And that was Yuki, always thinking of Tohru. Not Machi.

Machi sat next to him in his clean car sulking. That's all she had been doing for the past few days since he had his lock changed. He wasen't too worried about it. He was just glad that so far she had not smashed his car windows open. He figured she never did because there would probably be witnesses. She never liked people to see her while in the act of trashing shit.

It was going to be a long drive.

Yuki had worked the night before, came home and got four hours of sleep. He was feeling a little too drowsy to be driving such a long distance. He needed a jolt. He pulled into the parking lot of that unhealthy fast food joint from America called McDonalds. He liked their lattes. Just what he needed to sip while he drove and listened to Machi's mumbling.

At the drive thru, Yuki said he'd like a large nonfat, hot, vanilla latte. He felt kind of girly asking for such a thing, but when it came to lattes, he'd put up with the embarrassment. He drove to the end of town before he took a sip.

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" Yuki screamed.

"WHAT!?" Machi barked angrily.

This...this...FUCKING LATTE! THEY DIDN'T PUT ANY VANILLA IN IT. IT TASTES LIKE SHIT!" Yuki howled.

It was strange, but Yuki had become alot more agitated in private. He was still the calm, polite young man in public, but when he was alone or with Machi, he would randomly cuss, somtimes for no apparent reason. It was good for him. He needed to vent somehow.

He didn't even have a plot of land to garden anymore. That was usually his outlet for stress. Cussing was the new thing. He was doing alot of it too.

"We're on the other side of town Yuki. Deal with it. Just keep driving." Machi mumbled.

Yuki gave her a crazy eye.

"This is my car Machi. I paid for it. I will turn around if I want to." Yuki said as he bared his teeth animalistically. It was if the spirit of the rat repossessed him.

Yuki turned the car around safely, and gracefully. Even when he was pissed, he was still a safe driver. He paid too much for the car to have it destroyed. He also had liability only.

He hit a two potholes on the way back. Wonderful. He might just get himself a flat while he goes back to address McDonald's mistake. That would be a good $20000+ yen (author note: I don't know if that's a proper estimate of yen for a tire but whatever).

He parked the car. He looked straight ahead and said "Machi, I"m going in. Don't trash my car while I'm gone. Just sit and wait.
I need my caffiene. It soothes my nerves. Please understand."

He walked in and politely explained the mistake to the cashier. The cashier frowned and acted like a drone. She was covered in very morbid looking tattoes that screamed "I hate my life and I hate you." Yuki understood that customers could be huge assholes,
but with a cashier who acted like this, it was no wonder. People like that only made it worse.

Nonetheless, Yuki kept up his polite demeanor, praying they wouldn't spit in his drink. If he was going to pay 4.00 for a cup of steamed expresso and milk, he wanted it right.

"Thank you" Yuki smiled to the cashier. The cashier stared at him blankly. Didn't say a word.

"Yeah Okay" Yuki thought to himself.

As Yuki got into his car, Machi's face was red, pissier looking than he had ever seen since he met her.

He sighed. "Now what?" Yuki said with his eyes closed.

"This" she hissed.

She held up a book. His book. His secret. His little private savings account book.

In Yuki's tired midnight haze, he had forgotten that he had it in the car. He forgot to stick it in his pocket, or maybe even his underwear, so she wouldn't find it during the long drive. He was always like this since he started working the night shifts. Never on top of things.

Yuki closed his eyes again. He took a deep breath.

"Machi. I work. I earned that money. I have let you spend quite enough of my earnings. I would like some of my money that I earn once in a while. I want to save for the future. I don't have to explain myself. It's mine. You have no right to it."
Yuki said in a reprimanding tone.

He really didn't want to deal with this right now.

Machi started to scream and punch the interior of his car. She punched open his dashboard where he kept his insurance titles,
she knocked over his latte. Then she took it and threw it out the window. She threw her hands over face and made maniacle noises.

"GET OUT!" Yuki screamed.

Yuki knew this would happen if she found the book.

Yuki knew he couldn't just leave her here, so he drove back to her apartment. She was just going to have to take a bus home.
He couldn't handle being in the car with her for so many hours. He was good friends with her brother, and he was little afraid of what he'd say when he found out that Yuki refused to bring her home. But Yuki knew it was dangerous for to drive with her when she was like this.

Machi stormed out the car. She seemed to agree. He drove off without saying a word to her.

He subconsciously reached for his latte. "Oh right" he muttered.

He drove back to McDonald's and got another latte. The cashier looked at him like he was nuts. He took a sip when he got to the stoplight.

They screwed his latte up again.

****I just wanted to say I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I doubt anyone is ever going to even read this story,
but that's okay. This is a joy to write!****