Chapter 8: Coming on Strong

Author's Notes: Why, hello again everyone! Happy New Year! Thank you all so much for your patience in waiting for this chapter. I'm sorry that this chapter is a little late. Life kind of got in the way, you know? But, you guys might be happy to know that this chapter is slightly longer than usual. That's something, right?

Anyways, thanks again to those who have been reading this story, and thanks especially to AliceKat for reviewing the previous chapter—you rock and roll!

As for this chapter—Yuki finally gets to see Aru's room for the first time and tries to test out his new snooping techniques. However, things don't go quite the way as he imagined. Read on to chapter #8 to find out what happens next . . . .

…

Yuki and Aru arrived at Aru's house at around 9 p.m. that night. All the lights had been turned out, save for a dim porch light illuminating the front of the house. However, no sooner had Aru opened the door to his house had Yuki requested that they head straight up to Aru's room. Aru had only given him a slight smile in return, nodding once to his request. Yuki gave a triumphant grin.

Tonight, he was on a mission.

When they made it up the stairs to Aru's room, Yuki marveled at the sight before him. Aru's room . . . it looked spotless. The bed was made, all of Aru's books were stacked and organized neatly on book shelves, there were no posters on the walls, and no clothes or game controllers strung across the floor as they had been in his own room. In fact, it hardly looked lived in. The more he thought about it, Aru's room was exact same layout as his living room, excluding a couch and television set.

Then, his eyes widened.

At the center of the room was a blue flashlight. His eyebrows furrowed. What was a flashlight doing in the middle of the room? Had Aru been trying to look for something?

Or maybe . . . .

His cobalt eyes slowly shifted to the silver-haired boy behind him. Had Aru been expecting him? Aru's eyes shifted to his then, a smile creeping onto his face.

"Something the matter?" he asked.

Yuki shook his head vigorously, turning his head back to the room. What was he thinking? Aru couldn't have been expecting him. After all, Aru did suggest going to his house earlier, right? It wouldn't be possible for Aru to know that he would request to go over to Aru's house instead. He was just being paranoid.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. He stiffened slightly as he felt Aru walk by him. When he opened his eyes, he saw Aru seated on a bed, a small smile still lingering on his lips. Aru's eyes met his.

"Care to join me?" he said, patting the area beside him.

Yuki's eyes darted to the area in question, and then back to Aru's face. "Uh, no thanks," he responded, giving a nervous smile. "I've got a bet to win, remember?"

Aru's smile grew. "Of course," he replied. "Go right ahead, Yukiteru-kun."

Yuki nodded, turning away from him. He could feel Aru's eyes watching his every movement, sending chills down his spine. Can't he keep himself busy doing something else? He thought. He took another deep breath. He had to focus. He was there on a mission. He had to find anything that Aru had been hiding from him. He kept his mind on that.

"Now, where to begin," Yuki muttered to himself as his eyes scanned the room. "If I were Aru, where would I keep my most treasured items?"

"Have you tried asking Aru?" Aru's voice said from the bed behind him.

Yuki frowned, turning back to him. "No way," he replied. "You'd say anything to throw me off the trail."

"Assuming that I have anything to hide," Aru answered. "I am letting you look through my stuff, after all."

"That's because you owe me for looking through my stuff," Yuki argued.

"You're wrong," Aru said. "My debt was repaid the moment you decided to accept my notebook, which contains personal information about me and my family." He smiled. "Of course, that also implies that I'm no longer keeping any secrets from you."

Yuki frowned. "Yeah, I bet."

Aru's smile grew. "By that tone in your voice, I'd say you didn't believe me."

"I don't," Yuki answered. "How can I possibly believe someone who would go behind my back and go through my phone despite me saying no?"

"Ah, so the truth comes out."

Blood rushed to Yuki's cheeks. "Just . . . just shut up, okay?" he stuttered. "You're not allowed to make me feel bad about doing this."

Aru laughed warmly. "Very well, Yukiteru-kun," he responded. He rose from the bed. "If you don't mind, I'll just excuse myself to the bathroom."

"That's fine," Yuki said.

His eyes followed Aru as he exited the room. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was no longer being watched. His eyes lowered to the flashlight on the floor in front of him. Now's my chance. He thought, bending down to pick up the flashlight. However, just as he picked up the flashlight, the lights in the room suddenly went out.

Yuki's eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat.

He was completely enshrouded in darkness.

Panic surged through him. "What the heck?!" he exclaimed, unable to see anything around him. "Is it . . . a power outage?"

His eyes shifted to the flashlight in his hand, the memory of a blue flashlight sitting in the middle of Aru's room passing through his mind. He drew in a sharp intake of air, realization dawning. Could . . . Aru have planned this?

A tiny creak sounded near the doorway.

"W-who's there?! Aru?" Yuki stammered, quickly flicking on the flashlight and shining it at the doorway.

However, the doorway was completely clear. Even from parts of the hallway where the span of the light reached, Yuki saw no one. He heaved a sigh of relief.

Maybe he was being paranoid after all. His eyebrows furrowed.

Still . . . .

To think Aru would've been back by now, he thought. I mean, he hasn't been gone long, but still . . . he should've noticed the power outage by now, right?

He looked around the empty room with the flashlight, and then back to the hallway. Should I wait for him, or should I try to find him? He thought. He glanced back at the room again.

Wasn't the whole point in coming to Aru's house to find answers about Aru's life? Did he really want to pass up such a great opportunity in front of him? Especially when Aru had actually given him permission to go through his stuff?

He rubbed his eyes, the outline of the objects in the room becoming more visible.

He shined the flashlight back at the doorway again, but no one was there. He sighed, turning off the flashlight.

Perhaps he would take a quick look around the room, but . . . he would do it quietly. After all, he still had his reservations about snooping through other people's stuff, despite actually receiving permission to do so. He would do it, but only to quell his curiosity.

With that, he walked around the room, internally grateful that there weren't things on the floor for him to trip over. He checked the closet, turning on his flashlight once more to quickly scan the items inside. Inside, there were purple jackets, black dress pants, white dress shirts, and black ties. He checked behind the clothing, and then breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing how invasive Aru was, he had been half-expecting that he'd stumble across a Yuki tracking device planted on the closet wall, or at least a lock of his hair or his chewed piece of gum . . . or something. Yuki thanked his lucky stars that he didn't find anything of the sort because he didn't know what he'd do then.

Probably run like hell.

He closed the closet door, turning back towards the doorway. Still no sign of Aru.

Yuki gave a small smile. It seems he still had a little more time to snoop.

…

After five minutes, Yuki had already checked all the drawers in Aru's room, and even behind Aru's dresser and nightstand. Still, nothing.

Then, his eyes flickered to the only place he hadn't checked—Aru's bed.

His eyebrows furrowed, slight worry overtaking him. Why hadn't he heard from Aru yet? Did something happen to him? Was he . . . okay? His eyes drifted to the doorway.

Maybe he should stop now and check on him. It had already been about fifteen minutes.

Then again . . . .

Hadn't he, himself, spent that same amount of time in the bathroom about a month ago when he had been hiding from Aru? And Aru hadn't tried looking for him then either. He frowned.

No, how could he forget? Aru had decided to go through his desk drawers and phone instead, despite him specifically warning him not to go through his phone. But Aru didn't care. Oh no. He looked through his phone anyways, and even had the nerve to look into his family history as well without his permission and then tell him he wasn't sorry about it.

Yuki turned away from the doorway, setting his sights back on the bed. No. Aru owed him this much. It didn't matter if Aru gave him his notebook with Aru's personal information in it as payment. It still didn't excuse Aru's behavior, and now, he was going to teach Aru a lesson about going through other people's things.

"Let's see how he likes it when it's his things out in the open," Yuki muttered, bending down to search under the bed. He shined the flashlight under the bed, but only saw through to the other side.

Yuki sighed, standing up. No wonder Aru allowed me to search through his things. He must've anticipated that I'd go directly to his room, and hid all his treasured items in other places.

He sighed again, plopping down on the bed.

"I guess the only thing for me to do now is to g-" he paused as he noticed something yellow sticking out from one of Aru's pillowcases.

He grabbed the pillow, gently shaking it until a yellow sketchbook fell out of it.

He blinked. Could this be a treasured item of Aru's? He thought. Then, he gave a devious grin. Of course! How could it not be?

He opened the sketchbook, shining his flashlight on it as he flipped through the pages.

His eyes grew wide, his body beginning to tremble. What . . . what is this?!

A sudden creak from the staircase caught his attention. In a panic, Yuki quickly stuffed the book back inside the pillowcase. A dark figure shifted in the doorway.

Yuki gasped, rising up from the bed and shining his light at the figure. The light revealed a silver-haired boy with crimson eyes.

Aru blinked once before giving him a warm smile. "Hey," he greeted. "It seems we have a power outage. Sorry about that."

Yuki's lips trembled, incoherent sounds escaping his lips. His mind couldn't stop replaying what he'd just seen.

Aru blinked again. "Come again? I didn't quite catch that," he replied. Then, he frowned. "You're trembling. What's wrong?"

"I- . . . I- . . . I've," Yuki stammered, his entire face pale.

Aru took a step towards him.

Tears rolled down Yuki's cheeks, the flashlight dropping out of his hands.

"AAH!" he screamed, holding both sides of his head. He pushed past Aru and bolted down the staircase.

Aru didn't follow. It was fruitless to stop him.

Instead, Aru walked over to where Yuki had previously been standing and picked up the flashlight on the floor. Then, he walked over to his bed and grabbed the pillow containing the sketchbook, lightly shaking it until a yellow sketchbook fell out. He picked up the sketchbook, flipping through the pages. His eyes widened.

A page was torn from his sketchbook.

"I was right," he said. "I'm not the only one having those dreams after all."

…

Author's Notes: Hm, what kind of dreams was Aru referring to? Was Aru really in the bathroom all that time (burritos possibly lol?)? Did Aru plan for Yuki to find his sketchbook? And what page did Yuki take from Aru's sketchbook? These exciting questions will be answered in the remaining two chapters! Stay tuned!

I'll try to have the next chapter up on either Monday or Tuesday, so be on the lookout!

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated! (Hint, hint! :))

Until next time . . .

Cheers!