Disclaimer: Takaya Natsuki is the rightful owner. I'm merely borrowing her creations for my own diabolical ideals. No, really.

Life's Many Indulgences
Chapter 9: Finally, The Party Begins!

"What's the matter?" Momiji stopped walking when Hatsuharu turned his head to the side, as if glancing around for something.

"I thought I heard voices," Hatsuharu replied.

Momiji giggled - he was starting to like Hatsuharu's suspicious side. It made it look as if they were in some sort of action movie, and they needed to be on the lookout constantly. "Feels just like a movie, doesn't it?" Hatsuharu made no notion to reply, so Momiji continued to ramble. "You make it seem like someone is watching us. Come on, now, we're not that interesting! I'm so ordinary that you'd think it's funny what I've been doing with my life! Oh! There was something I did in the past year that passed as being super, super, super ordinary! Wanna hear about it, Haru?"

Momiji's bubbly-filled life ordinary? Hatsuharu hardly thought so.

The white and black-haired teen was still busy looking around, but he nodded his head nonetheless. That was sign enough that Momiji should go on ahead with his little ordinary story.

"Okay, here goes!"

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Mom, why is it flapping around like that?"

"That's because it needs water to survive," she replied, smiling as she knelt down to pick up the slimy creature. "Tadpoles can't live outside water or else they'll shrivel up and die."

"I find it fascinating how they grow little arms and legs so that they can become frogs! Isn't that cool, mom?" She nodded. "Where are you going to put it? What are we going to feed it?"

"Algae from the pond should do as its food."

"Ah! Rain!" Momiji gazed up at the sky. "The sky was so clear just a minute ago!"

Mrs. Kishida gasped when the tiny critter slipped right out of her hands. It fell onto the now muddied ground and it was hard to see where it had fallen to. "Momiji, make sure you don't step on it. It should be in front of us somewhere." She knelt down on her knees, as she began to search with her hands.

"Let me help!" Momiji was right there beside her in the blink of an eye. He was found the poor tadpole before his mother did, and in his small palm the tad pole squirmed its last squirm and ceased to breathe. The mud choked it to death, apparently. "Mom, its dead. Its not moving anymore!"

"Let me have a look." Mrs. Kishida took the tad pole from her son, a frown coming to her face. "We'll bury it here when the rain stops, and the dirt's dry enough. It would have been nice if we could have taken care of it until it turned into a frog."

"It's okay, mom. He will be happy in heaven."

XOXOXOXOXOX

" . . . yup, as ordinary as any of your stories can get, I see," Hatsuharu concluded. "A little sad there in the end, wasn't it?"

"Well, my mom did cry, but I was a strong little boy and I toughed it out. Wherever he is in heaven right now, I think he is happy and that is all that matters to me."

"Ouch, you stepped on my foot!"

"Sssshhh, they might hear us!"

"I think they already have . . ."

"We have more visitors?" Momiji asked. Momiji was referring to Tooru and her friends as visitors, and now they had more?

"More like stalkers," Hatsuharu corrected, crossing his arms one over the other, "since they've been following us ever since earlier today. My suspicions have been confirmed."

"Waaahhhh, you sounded like a detective just now!" Momiji beamed, much to his friend's distaste. Hatsuharu didn't like detective movies or shows, because he thought they stood for the word 'absolute' when it came to being boring. "You should be called detective Haru! Can I call you that?"

"No." There were simply things Hatsuharu was not going to let his ditzy blonde-haired friend get away with, and this was one of them. Rule number one: know when to keep within one's own boundaries. Seems like Momiji had yet to learn of his own. "Come on out, girls. What's the use of continuing to hide when you've been discovered?"

Four girls appeared from behind a wall, each stacked over one another on the floor when they all tried to move at once. The first to stand was a tall, lanky girl with light-brown hair adorned with navy-blue ribbons on either side. "Ahem." She took the time to dust herself off and straighten her uniform - Hatsuharu quirked an eyebrow up at her. "I am Minagawa Motoko, president of the YFC."

Minagawa Motoko is a headstrong girl, and she usually tends to do whatever she can to obtain whatever she wants. Coming from a well-to-do family, she finds it very bothersome when things don't tend to swing her way. Having been infatuated with Usuda Yuki for as long as she could remember (during her middle school years up until now, most likely), she has driven it to the point as to where a fan club was created for him. However, boy on boy love was another thing she overly enjoyed in her spare time. A true fan girl, indeed . . .

"YFC?" Momiji asked. "What does that mean?"

"Yuki Fan Club," a girl answered. She had large blue eyes and brown-colored hair. "And I am Yamagishi Mio, member number one. Member number two is Goto Mai. And the vice-president is Kinoshita Minami."

The other three members of the Yuki fan club are respectively Yamagishi Mio, Goto Mai, and Kinoshita Minami. They're relatively average in their everyday lives, and were opted to become Minagawa's followers when they got wind of her creating a club for their favorite school prince. Kinoshita was the leader of the pack, before their acquaintance with the almighty Minagawa, and it was she who made leeway for the other two girls to admire Usuda, namely because she was once a member of the student council (of which Yuki wasn't a member himself at the time), but left for academic reasons . . .

"Heeeeyyyyy! All of their names start with an M, isn't that cool, Haru? My name starts with an M, too!" Momiji was looking only at his friend, not caring that the four girls were throwing him angry stares.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mio asked. "And don't ignore us like we're not even here!"

"If you're a fan of this so called Yuki--"

"It's Usuda!" the four girls roared.

"--then why are you following me and my friend?" Hatsuharu finished, unfazed by the girls' intense gazes directed at him.

"We are the YFC, but seeing boy love is another thing we can't let pass by us!" Both Hatsuharu and Momiji exchanged funny glances - they were hoping she wasn't talking about what they were thinking about - boy love? As in love-love? "We were passing by the hallway when we overheard the two of you talking. A gift was exchanged and the words flowed from yours mouths like sweet honey. I was overjoyed to hear them!"

"Has the Gods blessed us today?" Minami asked, adding to the emphasis. "We might have to add on to the YFC! What do you think, Motoko?"

"That will not be possible at the moment, because our glory is all showered towards our prince. These two can wait," she replied. "You guys are Shimazaki Hatsuharu and Kishida Momiji, correct?"

"Yeah . . ." Hatsuharu said.

"I see. I'll make sure to remember. Until next time, my dear lovey-dovey boys. Come, girls. We have a mission to complete today."

"And what's that?" Mio asked.

"I needn't remind you. A YFC member should know the mission already."

Hatsuharu and Momiji watched as the four females walked off down the hall, disappearing from view completely when they turned a corner. The black-and-white-haired teen sighed, slinking down against a wall as he contemplated on what to do.

"What's the matter, Haru?" Momiji squatted down beside his friend, arms coming around the front of his legs. "You look troubled."

"That's because I am." The blonde wasn't understanding what there was to be troubled about, so he stared at his friend questioningly. "She mentioned lovey-dovey boys . . . Doesn't that bother you?"

Momiji thoughtfully poked a finger to his chin, eyes affixing themselves onto the school's ceiling. "Ehmmmm, not really."

"Are you insane?"

"No."

" . . . Then why does the term 'lovey-dovey boys' don't bother you? Are you by any chance," Hatsuharu made sure no one was nearby before continuing with his question, eyes growing wide, "gay, Momiji?"

"Ewwwwwww! That's gross!" Momiji backed away from his friend like he was the most disgusting thing he ever stayed next to. "Where did you get that idea from! I never said I was!" Hatsuharu sweat dropped, thinking his friend couldn't be any more clueless. He was literally inkling, no, oozing with the 'are you gay?' question floating around him to begin with, when he said it didn't bother him. "I mean lovey-dovey boys don't bother me, but I am one-hundred percent straight! Although I had a boy friend in middle school that had a crush on me . . ."

"Interesting . . ."

"I was so scared when he tried to hit on me," Momiji continued, suddenly getting wrapped up with the entire memory of it. "He was looking at me with such pleading eyes, but I wasn't gay so I was a little harsh when it came to turning him down. I think I humiliated him more than necessary."

An announcement started on the speakers, then . . . Thank god, really . . .

"Attention, please! The welcoming party is about to start shortly! Please, will Kishida and Shimazaki come to the gym, so that the both of you may be welcomed warmly by everyone in the school! Come on down and have fun!"

"It's starting already?" Momiji looked at Hatsuharu.

"I guess. Come on, let's go."

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Wow, look at all the people sitting out there! It'd be so embarrassing if one of you guys mess up!"

"Shut up, Kakeru," Yuki and Naohito chorused. Naohito and Kimi have it worse, compared to Yuki, though.

"Ahahaha, I'm just joking! Good luck out there, because you're going to need it! And the script Kimi made for you Yuki, is going to be big."

"What do you mean big?" Yuki asked.

"You'll see." Kakeru sheepishly shrugged. Hey, it wasn't his idea anyway.

"Why did you make me the puppet? I hardly say a word the entire time, and you were saying it was better for me to play the role?" Kakeru smiled and nodded. "You were also babbling that I would need practice with my lines?" Kakeru nodded again, smile never leaving his face. "What is the point when I barely have any?"

"Yuki, we're about to go on," Naohito said. "Now isn't the time to be getting angry. Yell at him all you want after this."

Yuki sighed - Naohito was right. Getting worked up over this was pretty stupid anyway. So what if he has little to no lines? Wasn't that better? Standing out there making poses, while Kimi and Naohito did most of the talking isn't too bad, is it? Well, whatever. The show was seconds from beginning, so Yuki didn't have time to brood.

Kimi entered the stage first (draped in a pink dress), looking worried as she dashed from one end of the stage to the next. "My precious puppet, where can you be?" She ran a full circle around the stage before stopping at the center. "I am exhausted from searching. My precious puppet, please come on out."

"Puppet, did you say?" Now Naohito came onto the stage. He was dressed in a long black robe with a dark pointy hat (kind of like a witch's costume . . .). "I saw a puppet yonder thee bush. Try looking over there."

"Did it have gray hair? Violet eyes? An angry expression?" Kimi asked. "I fear it will be foul-tempered from being stuck all by itself. You see, I must bring him back to my school because it is a very important puppet."

Angry? Yuki was angry all right . . . Was this part of the script, or could it be sheer coincidence that he'd be described so exactly?

"How important of a puppet is it?" Naohito withdrew something from one of his robe sleeves - a wand. "Tell me and I shall bring it here to you."

"It is so important that I even gave it a gender and name. It has become a 'he' and his name is Yuuki."

"Ah, Yuuki, that is a wonderful name. You do not lack what it takes when it comes to tending to his needs and wants? Did you know that your puppet is alive?"

Kimi tried her best to look astonished, but she didn't quite pull it off. The audience thought nothing of it though, since most of the them (mainly comprised of girls) were entranced by Naohito. "I never knew of that. He was created, no?"

"Yes, but I can breathe life into him if you wish it, Kimochi."

"Ah! How do you know my name?"

"I am a wizard. The Great Wizard, Kakeru, to be exact."

Kakeru . . . The conniving bastard had to use his name in the play, even though he wasn't taking a part in it. Ironic, is it not?

"Bring Yuuki to me now. He is very important!" Kimi made as if to beg, going on her hands and knees. "Once he is back safely within my arms, will I feel at ease."

"Yuuki, come."

That was the signal. Yuki strode onto the stage, trying to look as puppet-like as he could. The angry expression part was easy to pull off, since he really was angry. He nearly fell over when Kimi tackled him (a little too roughly).

"Yuuki, you're okay!"

"Tell me. How did he end up where he was? A little puppet cannot move without help. So, how?"

"You told me he was alive," Kimi answered. "So therefore, he'd be able to walk on his own."

"You have a good memory. I shall make him real this very instant, because I was the one to place your puppet yonder there." A loud boom sound ran throughout the stage, literally making the three stage players cover their ears. From backstage Kakeru gave the trio apologetic gestures - it seemed like he didn't think the sound effect would be so loud. "Speak, Yuuki, for you have come to life. Breathe in deep."

"I'm . . . alive." Yuki looked at his hands and feet; several girls in the audience swooned dreamily.

"Yuuki, my precious puppet, have you made him into a real boy, Great Wizard Kakeru?" Kimi rubbed a hand across one of Yuki's cheeks. Girls in the audience snarled. "His skin is so soft, almost like a real humans. No longer do I feel the woody hollowness of his face. You've granted me an miracle. Thank you."

"Alas, take him back with you. He is as real as any human person. Live together happily. Your most precious puppet, Yuuki, shall be with you always."

"Thank you, Great Wizard Kakeru. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for you have cured me of my loneliness as well."

Right as she finished saying that line the curtains closed, covering them from sight. Naohito looked from Kimi and then to Yuki. "Well, that wasn't too bad, was it, guys?"

"Nope!" Kimi readily agreed. "I'll say Kakeru wrote a much better script than mine!"

"How much better, I really wonder," Yuki mused out loud.

Clapping could be heard. "Bravo, bravo! Yuki, you were great out there. Just one line from you made an impact. You're too damn popular. If only I was like you."

"Awwwww, Kakeru is fine just the way Kakeru is. Kimi wouldn't have it any other way." Kimi went towards her boyfriend and embraced him, hugging him as tightly as he could.

"Kimi tends to cause the 'shortness of breath' syndrome, doesn't she?" Naohito asked.

"What kind of syndrome is that?" Yuki surely never heard of it.

"I don't know. I just made it up right now. Maybe we should get it officially named," Naohito suggested. "Something like ToudouKimibreathless."

§BACK TO HATSUHARU AND MOMIJI§

In the audience Hatsuharu and Momiji were sitting in two seats chatting away. The play was over, but there was still the afterward party.

"Wasn't the play great? Did you see how the Great Wizard tried to trick the girl, stating he could bring her puppet to life, and saying that it was alive? I was a little confused!"

"I'm hungry," Hatsuharu said. "When is the after party going to begin?"

"Haru!" Momiji giggled.

When the after party did come rolling alone, Hatsuharu nearly devoured everything he could get his hands on. What a hungry beast! Hehe.

Chapter 9: END