Author's Note: Almost all the other characters decided to take the day off while I wrote this chapter so it's almost entirely Sorata and Yuzuriha with a dash of Kusanagi and Daisuke. (In case you're wondering where the others went, the Aoki family is taking a family vacation to Disneyland. Subaru and Seishirou, well they have locked themselves in their room while Kamui is still out looking for Fuuma, supposing that they don't have to be as quiet then. Kotori is singing along to some of her favorite musical numbers while doing housework. Tooru and Saya are both at their respective homes, pretending to be doing homework but really doodling little hearts with each other's names in them. Yuuto and Satsuki are "swimming". Arashi is ill and Kakyou is asleep, trying to catch up on rest after an exhausting week of touring various fashion shows all over the country. Hokuto, for some unknown reason, is playing tennis. Evidently it's a hobby of hers, which I didn't know, did you?)
Oh and Fuuma's still at the North Pole, but don't worry, barring any polar bear attacks, you'll see him again come Christmastime. :P
But enough about all that, here's Chapter 10: In which Yuzu and Sora eat some skittles!
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Since the weather had been bad last weekend, Yuzuriha and Kusanagi had decided to move their camping trip to this weekend and it had gone really well, Yuzuriha thought. They had pitched a tent last night but wound up sleeping outside in their sleeping bags under the stars, naming all the constellations they could recognize, and making up a few of their own. She had brought Inuki along and he had slept contentedly between them all night long.
Now the puppy was trotting along happily with them, pausing once in a while to sniff at a particularly interesting log or burrow, quickly abandoning his investigations whenever Yuzuriha called for him to catch up. Kusanagi laughed as Inuki raced up to them, bouncing along at their ankles with his tongue lolling happily.
"He really is a good dog, isn't he?"
"He really is! And it's partly thanks to you!" Yuzuriha replied brightly.
"Nah, you two did most of the work." He paused and knelt to pat the dog on its head, giving him a scratch behind the ears for good measure. She beamed up at him as he stood back up.
They decided to sit down and rest for a while when they came to a rocky clearing not far off the path as it would probably be another hour or two before they reached Kusanagi's car and neither of them was in a rush to leave the fresh open air. Yuzuriha giggled as she watched Inuki yip after a sunshine yellow butterfly. She looked over at Kusanagi, enjoying his rumbling laugh as he watched the puppy as well.
"Hey, Kusanagi-san?
"Yeah Yuzu-chan?" he asked, having adopted Sorata's nickname for her.
"I've been… thinking about something for a while."
"Mm, what's that?" He pulled a few leftover crackers out of his backpack to toss toward a squirrel that had climbed partway down its tree to watch them curiously.
"I really like you."
Kusanagi froze, his hand still held out with the cracker in it before he could throw it.
"Is that alright?" She toyed with the drawstrings of her hoodie nervously.
After he didn't move for a moment, the squirrel got tired of waiting and darted forward to snatch away the cracker himself, dashing back to the tree as a barking Inuki noticed him.
"I can't tell you who to like or who not to like." He answered, rubbing the back of his neck.
Yuzuriha felt her heart sinking, knowing what was coming.
"But I'm a little old for you. Maybe you should spend more time with boys your age?" He suggested gently.
Yuzuriha hung her head. "Maybe."
He opened his mouth to say something else but she leapt up with a renewed smile. "Come on, we should get going before the sun sets! We know it gets cold up here when it gets dark remember? And it might be kinda hard to figure out where you parked without much light! So we should keep moving forward!" She shouldered her backpack once more and quickly set off down the path, staying just far enough in front of him that she wouldn't have to see his face. She didn't think she could take the pity or the apologetic looks right now.
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Sorata sighed and picked at his croissant. She was late. And here he had been so excited to see Arashi on the weekend. Just a few more moments with her than those precious couple he got each day at school would be heaven. Anything to help him uncover another hidden layer of that mysterious beauty.
He had asked her to join him at Duklyon to run lines and he was thinking about seeing if he could coax her into seeing a movie with him afterward, or maybe just going for a walk in the park. SOMETHING he could count as a first date.
He was still contemplating what would be the best first date idea to suggest when the door of the bakery opened and Daisuke walked in, looked around and headed straight over for him.
"Hey Sorata-san. I can't stay long cuz I still have duties at the temple to attend to, but Arashi-san wanted me to come apologize."
Sorata straightened up. "Apologize? For what?"
"She said something about you two being supposed to meet up today. But she's really sick right now."
"My beloved has taken ill?" Sorata exclaimed. "Why I must immediately bring her some orange juice and soup!" He leapt up, already mentally making a list of things to take her.
Daisuke shook his head. "No, don't."
"Eh? Why not?"
"I dunno, but she thought you might react that way and said to tell you not to even think about it." The boy shrugged.
Sorata's face fell. "So she just… doesn't want to see me?"
"Kinda seems that way. Sorry."
Sorata shrugged to hide the way his shoulders had begun to slump. "Oh well. You win some, you lose some." He put on a fake smile. "Anyway, with her out of commission you're probably even more needed at the temple huh? Go on kid- go forth and impress your own graceful beauty while you've got the chance!" He ushered Daisuke out of the bakery and waved at him as the boy disappeared into a crowd of passerby. Then he turned, and zipped up his jacket against the sudden chill of the falling evening and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking home alone.
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The drive home was much quieter than the drive there. Yuzuriha tried her very best to keep up a playful banter but kept finding herself staring out the window wistfully. She couldn't decide whether to feel disappointed or relieved when they pulled up in front of her apartment building. She cheerfully thanked Kusanagi for a fun weekend and waved as he drove away then made her way wearily up to her apartment.
When Yuzuriha got inside she saw Sorata lying face down on the couch so she dumped her things by the door and climbed over him to stretch out similarly on the back edge of the couch herself, her feet in the air and one hand dangling by Sorata's head.
"What's wrong?" She asked, tracing the pattern of the pillow sticking out from under Sorata's face.
"Arashi didn't show." His muffled voice came from the pillow. He turned his head so his cheek was pressed to it instead. "Daisuke came instead and said she was si-" He stopped short when he saw Yuzuriha's face. "What? What happened." He suddenly sat up, more alert. "Did Kusanagi do something? Are you hurt?"
Yuzuriha shook her head quickly as best she could against the couch back. "No, no, nothing like that."
"Oh." Sorata relaxed visibly, sinking back down into the cushions. "What then?"
"I told him that I liked him."
"Oh. What did he say?"
"He said that I should spend more time with people my own age." Yuzuriha sniffled slightly as a few tears escaped, dripping down her cheeks onto the upholstery. Sorata reached up and gently wiped a few of them away for her.
"I'm sorry Yuzu-chan. I guess the stars just were not in alignment for romance today." He sighed.
"Oh yeah, you didn't finish telling me about what happened with Arashi-san." She pointed out.
He told her about his afternoon and the two of them lay on the couch for a while, both lost in thoughts about the defeats of the day.
"You know what?" Sorata sat up abruptly. "I know what will make this better."
Yuzuriha pulled herself into a sitting position as well, wiping away the last traces of her tears. "What's that?"
"A Godzilla movie marathon!"
Yuzuriha gasped and covered her mouth. "And popcorn."
"And skittles."
"This sounds like a plan."
He ruffled her hair. "Want me to pop the popcorn while you go get cleaned up?"
She agreed and ran off to shower and change into her favorite pajamas: an oversized nightshirt that she had actually stolen from a set that belonged to Sorata. She loved the bright yellow ducks with their rainbow umbrellas and rain boots that patterned it. She giggled when she walked into the kitchen to find that he had changed into his pajamas as well and was wearing the matching bottoms.
"Popcorn's almost ready." He informed her.
"Okay, I'll go get the movies ready and put some blankets on the floor for us to sleep on!" she announced and dashed off to do so.
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Sorata carried the bowl into the living room and settled on the floor by the couch.
"Hey you remember that game we used to play where you have to catch only certain colored skittles in your mouth and the others you have to catch with your hands?"
He nodded, noticing that she had already dug up their emergency bag of skittles.
"We should do that again tonight. And whoever loses, has to cook dinner tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me!" Sorata enthusiastically popped in the first movie. "Okay, bring on the rainbow!"
They joyfully began tossing skittles into one another's mouths and joking back and forth to distract one another. In the end, they both lost count and decided it was a tie and they would cook dinner together. Not that this was any different from their usual routine, but as it was an activity they both enjoyed, neither really minded. As one movie ended and they put in another ,they began narrating Godzilla's thoughts in funny voices and felt that it thoroughly improved the film. Eventually though the joking died off and they both grew quieter.
"Hey Yuzu-chan?" Sorata asked hesitantly after a few moments of silence save for the sounds of destruction by giant lizard on the television.
"Mm?" Yuzuriha curled up on the floor with Inuki in the little crevice formed by the curve of her stomach.
"You liking Kusanagi… I don't want to… I dunno, accuse you of not really liking him or anything. I believe you that you do. But do you think maybe part of it is because I've been so distracted lately by Onee-san? I mean… have I been leaving you kind of lonely?"
Yuzuriha thoughtfully stroked the sleeping puppy resting against her tummy. "No. I think… I was a little bit lonely at first when you started to focus so much on her. But after spending more time with him, I really like Kusanagi. He's an interesting and kind person. He looks so scary and tough and yet he's so gentle; you really should see him with the animals in his shelter. Something about it makes me go all warm and fuzzy inside."
Sorata smiled. "I think I know what you mean." He leaned back against the edge of the couch. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I think it made him uncomfortable, my liking him. So I'm going to stay back a little more I guess."
"Are you going to actually try to like someone your own age like he said?"
Yuzuriha shook her head. "I don't think liking people works like that."
Sorata nodded. "I think you're right."
"How come you like Arashi-san?"
Sorata thought this over, staring at the ceiling. "Well. She's a mystery. I usually get people." It was true, he felt. He could usually pick up easily what people were thinking and feeling. "But I don't quite understand her and I feel like there's some very deeply hidden emotions that go on under that cold exterior. I want to know what they are."
Yuzuriha stared at him between Inuki's twitching ears. "But does that mean you like her? Or are you just curious about her?"
He hadn't thought about it that way. Sorata considered this question seriously. "I think… that I really like her. Maybe, like with you and Kusanagi, it started out as just curiosity. But there's something about her that draws me in, like a magnet."
Yuzuriha giggled. "And you're iron fillings? It's like those toys where you move the little shavings around to make a beard or a mustache or hair on a guy with a silly face."
Sorata laughed at the mental image. "Yep. I'm a toy beard alright. And Arashi is the pen that moves me around."
"Who's the face then?"
"Hmm. Life? The world perhaps?"
"So you're the beard on the face of the world?"
"It's all very philosophical."
"I see."
After a few moments he realized her breathing had deepened and Yuzuriha had fallen fast asleep. Sorata climbed onto the couch, tossed a throw over his legs and quickly drifted off himself.
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It was raining but the rain didn't smell right. It didn't have that clean, humid scent that rain normally had. It smelled like… like iron.
Iron? Yuzuriha wondered. Then she saw splatters of red on the pavement. No, blood.
She shuddered and pulled the cloak around her shoulders closer. Why was she wearing a cloak anyway? Certainly she had tied blankets around her shoulders and pretended to be a superhero with Sorata before but this was something different… A threadbare, torn and dirty all out cloak. Something was not right here. She tried to call out for Sorata but couldn't.
Then she saw Arashi in the distance and watched Sorata run up to her. She tried again to call out to them but her voice wouldn't work for some reason and she was beginning to get a very bad feeling. Electrical wires shot up out of the ground near Sorata and Arashi and Yuzuriha's voice seemed to return to her as she screamed.
Why is it wrong to kill humans?
She wanted to answer but she couldn't and she watched the wires head straight for Arashi and she drew her sword to go help.
Wait, when did she get a sword? Where did that come from?
Sorata leapt in front of Arashi before Yuzuriha could make it there, the wires ripping straight through him, eliciting another scream from her and one from Arashi as well this time. Yuzuriha held back as Arashi held a dying Sorata in her arms…
"No!" Yuzuriha sat up abruptly, sobs wracking her slender form as Inuki, startled by her sudden movement, jumped aside.
"Wha- what is it?" Sorata blearily looked up from the couch. He noticed her crying and rolled off the couch and made his way over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Yuzu-chan? What's wrong?"
She threw her arms around his neck and cried into his chest. "Don't go Sora-chan! Don't die!"
"What? I'm not going anywhere, and I'm certainly not planning on dying any time soon… It's okay Yuzu-chan, it was just a bad dream." He held her and soothingly rubbed her back as she cried herself back to sleep, the dream already drifting away.
Before it completely claimed her though, she heard a voice distantly echo in the back of her mind.
Why is it wrong to kill humans?"
She nearly jerked back awake until a soothing voice she recognized answered for her.
"Because someone will cry for them like this."
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Sorata felt Yuzuriha go somewhat limp as she fell back asleep and carefully untwined her arms from around his neck to lay her back down on the blankets before climbing back onto the couch himself. He had trouble falling asleep this time though and wound up staring at the ceiling for a long time, wondering what she had dreamed about. Yuzuriha had not cried since the day her parents died, always putting on a brave face and accepting everything that life dealt her with a smile. Tonight she had cried twice. Sorata frown and turned to face the couch cushion, wondering what it meant.
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Author's Note: It means she's pmsing you dunce. :P No, not really, I can't imagine that affecting Yuzuriha that much...