Chapter Five

In Which Yuki Learns Haru's Intentions

Things definitely had changed for the better since Tohru had moved in with the Sohma's. Having a home cooked meal every day? Most people took it for granted, but when take-out is literally ordered for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, home cooked meals seem like heaven. Tohru was unquestionably an angel in disguise, not to sound too cliché. Not only was the cooking phenomenal, but the house was never dirty, as it would have been if she hadn't swooped into their lives. Yuki and Shigure weren't exactly what one would call very cleanly – well except for Yuki's room, of course; the rest of the house was always trashed, however. And both of these positive contributors to Tohru's presence didn't even compare to the sudden change in atmosphere. It seemed as if everywhere Tohru went she carried the most serene and cheerful of spirits that were contagious to be around. Everyone around her appeared to have caught her virally infectious attitude. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Despite all of these positive changes, mornings were still never a very great time of day in the Sohma household. Personalities always clashed in this time of day. Shigure and Tohru were always bright and chipper leaving Kyo and Yuki to get highly infuriated with them – well Shigure, anyway, since it was virtually impossible to get mad at Tohru. And it goes without saying that Kyo and Yuki's personalities clashed as well. Although this happened at any time of the day, it was slightly more intensified in the morning. Neither of them were morning people, making them ten times more irritable. This was definitely one of those mornings.

Luscious scents of bacon and eggs wafted up the stairs and into Yuki's room, making his mouth water and his stomach growl. He slid out of bed and put on his school uniform in a flash, eager to consume his breakfast before it got too cold. Cold breakfast was never a good way to start out the morning – and he had to have everything go swimmingly in the morning or else his whole day would be thrown off. Not only was the delicious food smells making him eager to start the day, but the prospect of what might happen. It was all up in the air, anything could happen. Of course it was like that every day, but Yuki was usually never excited about the unknown parts of his day. He typically enjoyed knowing exactly what was going to happen. But the activities of the day before buzzed around in his brain. The excitement he felt hanging out with Haru was tying his stomach in knots. And also the thrill of the potential friends he could make in Mathletes. He was anxiously anticipating the next meeting so he could socialize and mingle. This feeling seemed foreign, even to himself, because he never looked forward to mingling with other people. Either way, the anticipation for the day's proceedings were so overwhelming that Yuki could barely contain himself. He even felt a grin push itself upon his lips. He had finished getting ready in his room and was thus ready for the appetizing scents that were tickling and teasing his noise, and his stomach. His stomach growled impatiently and he hurried to his door to appease it.

His mind still raced. He thought of Haru and how affectionate he had been lately. It was very curious indeed, but the more he thought about it, the less weird it became to him. He couldn't find himself the least bit repulsed by anything that had happened within the past couple days. While it was rather odd, it seemed to make sense. Then again, Yuki and Haru always made sense together. And as much as he wanted to fight it, it wasn't going to work or change a thing.

Just as these thought were running through his head, his bedroom door swung open and inside the doorway was a very heated looking Kyo. Yuki simply raised an eyebrow at the scowling orange haired teen and nodded expectantly at him. After a second of him not answering, Yuki let out a breath. "Yes? What do you want? And have you ever heard of knocking? It's rather rude to just barge into someone's room without first checking to see if they're decent," He hadn't meant to ramble, but it all just tumbled out. Kyo's face didn't change, not for a second.

"You have a visitor," He murmured.

Yuki's brow furrowed together. He was shocked. It was very uncharacteristic of an angered Kyo not to pick a fight with the even-tempered Yuki. What was his deal now-a-days? Why was it Kyo that always told him things now? Did it have to relate about Kyo asking about him to Tohru? Did they converse about him often? Instead of voicing these concerns, he simply shook his head and shot back to the topic at hand. "Who is it?" He asked, but was too late. Kyo had already turned around and fled his doorway as suddenly as he came. It was the same as the other day: as if the room didn't have enough air for the two of them.

No matter, Yuki grabbed his backpack and shuffled downstairs to see who his surprise guest was. A loud ruckus was happening in the kitchen, much to his surprise, and very chipper voice rang out cheerily – one that wasn't Tohru's.

"Oh, Tohru, your eggs are wonderful! So light and fluffy, it seems they've been cooked in heaven!" Momiji's voice gushed in delight.

A few reactions happened on Yuki's end just then. The first reaction being that his stomach growled louder at the talk about how wonderful the food was. The second was envy that Momiji had already eaten some of his coveted breakfast. And the third was a probing jittery feeling that gave him goose bumps and butterflies. This unnatural feeling was caused by the thought of Haru – for wherever Momiji went, Haru was sure to follow, most of the time anyways. It was strange. Strange that even the thought of Haru now sent his nerves into a tizzy. Yuki couldn't solve this riddle, and it was increasingly frustrating him by the second.

His assumptions were verified as he reached the bottom of the stairs for in the kitchen he saw Haru's perfect figure leaning against the doorway. He was observing Momiji and Tohru as they gushed over each other. "Momiji quit being such a suck up. I doubt Tohru appreciates people like that," Haru said, retreating his attention to his fingernails where, Yuki assumed, he was inspecting for a single imperfection. Yuki just smirked at the white and black haired boy. Of course he had to be the one to ruin happy occasions. Or maybe he didn't. Sometimes it sure did seem that Haru was just trying to stir things up just to look for some interesting conflict.

Momiji and Tohru's faces fell into ones of horror. They looked at each other and clasped hands. "Oh, Tohru, I didn't mean to be a suck up! I hope you never think of me as that!" Momiji exclaimed as Tohru wailed, "I don't think you're a suck up, Momiji! I appreciate your compliments, they certainly are very nice!"

Yuki chuckled at the two of them as well as at Haru's detachedness towards the whole scene. At the sound of Yuki's chuckle, Haru's grey eyes instantly averted themselves to lock on Yuki's amethyst ones. Their gaze was an intense one, to say the least, for Yuki had to stop walking just to keep balance. Butterflies soared all across his stomach and his heart beat faster. He didn't want Haru to know he was feeling this way so he blinked and lifted a corner of his mouth into a smirk. "Ruining breakfast? Isn't it too early for your pessimism?" He reached Haru at the doorway and turned to enter the kitchen, sliding right past him.

Haru snorted. "It's never too early for pessimism. It's always good to start the morning with a healthy dose of it, Yuki," He responded, his voice light and silky. Yuki loved how Haru always personalized their conversations by saying his name every once in a while. It made him feel as if the conversation was meant for the two of them, and not a repeat of other conversations he'd had before.

"Oh yea? And why's that?"

"Well, it's supposed to keep everyone in check."

"What do you mean?"

"It reminds you that at any moment something bad could happen. It keeps you prepared just in case the worst happens."

As much as Yuki tried to understand what Haru meant, he couldn't. Instead he just shook his head. "You're too paranoid, you know that? Just relax and live a little," He said softly as he took a stance against the doorway.

Haru snickered at the rat. "You're one to talk! For a pessimist, you're pretty optimistic," He smirked and gazed at Yuki, making him blush softly. "What's gotten into you?" He asked with glittering eyes.

Yuki shrugged. "I don't know," He replied softly. For he really didn't know what had gotten into him. All he knew was that he woke up feeling hopeful, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. "I just feel like things are changing, you know? And not in a bad way, but in a good way. Like things are really going to start turning around for me," He admitted. It was so easy to be honest with Haru.

Haru raised both his eyebrows and shrugged. "Well that's good, I guess. It's good to see you happy," He replied and pushed himself off the doorway and walked into the kitchen to get some food. Yuki remained leaning against the door, not feeling too hungry. His stomach was too jittery for food. He observed the scene displayed before him: Tohru and Momiji still trying to make sure the other knew how they really felt for one another and Haru eating his mountain of breakfast serenely at the table. It looked like a scene from a movie.

Just then, a thudding came down the stairs and Kyo's red head appeared with a scowl on his face. "We're going to be late to school," He murmured in the same, solemn, lifeless tone he had used with Yuki earlier. When Yuki didn't respond immediately, he began to get agitated. "Well let's go!" He walked towards the kitchen and poked his head through the door. "All of you! Let's go!"

Tohru and Momiji jumped upon hearing Kyo's voice and began to get frantic. Tohru leapt out of her chair and grabbed her dishes. "Late?! But I still need to clean the breakfast dishes! And Yuki and Haru haven't even eaten yet!" She started running around the kitchen like a chicken with its head cut off.

Shigure poked his head into the kitchen to survey the scene Kyo instigated. When Yuki, Haru, and Kyo all raised their eyebrows and stared blankly at him, Shigure decided to dignify his behavior with an explanation. "I just wanted to make sure that Kyo wasn't about to challenge the whole house," He said serenely. After a moment's hesitation he added, "In which case, challenge accepted," With this, he furrowed his brow, tilted his face downwards and kept his eyes even with Kyo's, while his mouth formed into a smirk. He contorted his body into a martial arts pose for dramatic effect. At this, Kyo just shook his head and scoffed. He walked forward past Shigure, pushing him over in the process, and walked out the door.

Yuki and Haru sniggered to each other as Shigure tumbled into the potted plant behind him. They both grabbed their school bags while exchanging baffled looks about Kyo. Momiji and Tohru were still running around the kitchen frantically trying to clean breakfast dishes. The pair of boys glanced at each other and smirked, shaking their heads and walked out the door.

The whole day at school, Yuki's mind wandered from being curious about Kyo to being anxiously excited for the next Mathletes meeting. Unfortunately, in between that time he had to endure another student council meeting in which Kakeru introduced an idea on how to help raise awareness about the baby seal cruelty both he and Tohru were so passionate about. His idea was that in helping spread awareness, the entire school would try to put together an event that would help put a stop to it completely. It was voted and agreed upon that they would pass out flyers informing each student about baby seals. Kakeru added, with a flourish, that he would go to everyone's homeroom and educate them himself if he had to.

As he trudged himself homeward, he dreaded all the homework awaiting for him once he got there. Why was it that students had to work so hard to receive an education? Why was education mandatory? It never used to be that way; education used to be privileged. In fact, information and knowledge was so privileged that information was locked up to be hidden from the general public. The Roman Catholics for sure did that; the priests wouldn't let anyone else read from the Bible. Why was that? Yuki shook his head, trying to shake the thoughts away. He had way too much time on his hands.

When he arrived home, he smelled the fresh aroma of dinner wafting from the kitchen. Yuki took off his shoes and immediately took his backpack to his room to start on some of the homework he hadn't gotten to in homeroom. So besides homework and eating at dinner, was all there to do at night was just to watch movies? That didn't seem like a very particularly fun way to spend his evening, however he couldn't concoct anything else in his head.

Tohru finally called down for dinner. At dinner, Kyo and Shigure were unnaturally quiet while Tohru rambled on and on about Kakeru and his plight to help raise awareness. Yuki talked with her minimally on the subject since he had already been in the meeting that decided the awareness campaign.

"Hey, Yuki and Kyo!" Tohru said suddenly after a moment of silence. "Momiji and some others were planning to go see a movie tonight. Do you guys want to come along?"

Kyo and Yuki looked at each other, grimaced and shrugged. "Sure, why not?" Kyo said plainly and continued to push his peas around on his plate. Yuki agreed as well and finished eating his rice.

After dinner, the two got ready and met Tohru in the living room. The ones going had already congregated in the living room. The group consisted of Yuki, Kyo, Tohru, Kakeru, Uo, Hana, Momiji, Kisa, Hiro, and Hatsuharu. Of course Haru would be going, Yuki thought to himself as he pulled his jacket on. The group filed out the door and began their trek to the movie theater. They were apparently going to see an alien movie that Kakeru was convinced was amazing. Hiro, of course, was making fun of Kakeru the entire way there. No one did anything to stop him, except Kisa; Momiji prattled excitedly to Tohru while Kyo and Yuki walked in single file both with their hands shoved into their pockets. Haru maintained a stroll alongside Yuki, an indecipherable expression splayed across his features. For a few moments, the two said nothing to each other and, as per usual, Haru started the discussion. They chatted amiably on the way to theater, but despite the sweet talks, Yuki wasn't deaf to Kyo's huffs nor blind to his ever frustrated expression.

The movie was truly terrible. Yuki sat between Haru and Kyo, Momiji next to Kyo and Tohru in between Momiji and Kakeru. Uo and Hana were seated comfortably next to Kakeru. Hiro and Kisa were on the other side of Haru. Tohru actually thought parts of the movie were scary and Kakeru had taken liberty to consoling her. Yuki and Kyo looked at her protectively. They were both thankful for Momiji because he too had gotten scared at exactly the same times Tohru did causing the two of them to completely disregard Kakeru's existence and cling onto each other, which was hard to do without hugging each other, mind you. Haru had tried tiptoeing his fingers towards Yuki but Yuki had managed to be completely oblivious to his actions. Hiro and Kisa were happily cuddled together.

"Well that was a complete waste of film," Uo had announced once the movie had finished and the group started to stand up.

Kyo scoffed in agreement. "Sure was. I could shit better movies than that piece of garbage," He added.

Tohru looked at the two of them in amazement. "What?! That movie was so scary! I'm so happy I had Momiji and Kakeru next to me to protect me!"

Hana gave Tohru a loving pat on the shoulder. "Yes, it was very scary," She said sympathetically, with a caring smile on her lips.

Days passed and things were getting weird, to say the least. For starters, Haru had been coming around a lot more to see Yuki; it wasn't that Yuki minded, Haru's company was always welcomed, it was just weird. After years of not associating very often except at family functions, the newfound attention was a little alarming. And it wasn't just that he was coming around, it was that he was doing weird things. For example, he had taken to staring at Yuki in such a way that he found it difficult to return his gaze, a problem he had never had previous. Another thing was the poetry. After Yuki had learned that Haru had written poetry in his spare time, Haru had had a hard time keeping it to himself; it didn't take Yuki to realize why: it seemed that the majority of poems Haru had written had alternate meanings that appeared to be all about Yuki. He wasn't sure how to feel about that one. On one hand, Haru was great and wonderful, on the other hand he didn't know just how he felt back towards Haru, mostly because he had never stopped to give it any thought. Rather, he had given it some thought in the past month or so that this had been going on, but he hadn't given it serious thought.

Maybe it was time to have these thoughts? Yuki wondered to himself while he lay on his back with his head hanging upside down off his bed, a book in his hands. Haru sat comfortably next to him, leaning against his bed and "reading" a book of his own. Yuki decided against the thought. Maybe he was overreacting. He shook his head in hopes it would shake his thoughts away.

"What are you thinking about Yuki?" Haru asked with a slight tilt in his head towards Yuki.

Yuki rolled over on his stomach and placed his book on the floor. "Nothing," He responded.

"Why don't we go for a walk, hmmm?" Yuki smiled kindly and nodded his head.

It was early evening, a little before dinner, when they decided to go for a walk. The sun was pretty deep into the sky, playing with the color spectrum and sending pinks and purples and blues and oranges across the clouds. It was kind of chilly, but Yuki didn't notice yet. He was more concerned with the butterflies collecting his insides into a knot. The boys discussed colors of the sunset and Yuki educated Haru on how the colors in the sky got to be that way. It was questioned that if the colors of the sunset were caused by pollution and dust, were there vivid and vibrant sunsets back in dinosaur times? It was decided upon a definite maybe because of volcanic eruptions and dust and ash from that. It was a completely perfect conversation, nothing too personal, just as Yuki preferred it, at least for now.

They started heading back home for dinner. The sky was almost fully dark by then and Yuki was starting to get chilled. Why hadn't he thought to bring a jacket? He was in the middle of cursing himself for shivering when Haru started taking off his jacket and putting it upon Yuki's shoulders. The mouse's amethyst eyes met the ox's grey ones and for a second Yuki's breath got caught in his throat. He shook his head and smiled.

"Thanks," He said quietly as he turned and started walking again. Maybe I should think about this, he thought as he felt Haru catch up. The two didn't say anything for a few paces and all of a sudden Haru's fingers started creeping towards Yuki's. They weren't too far from home at his point. Yuki was thankful because he wasn't sure his insides could take much more of being knotted. It felt like he had done way too many sit-ups and his abs got a cramp in them. Maybe he needed to go to the doctor. By now, Haru had interlaced all of his fingers with Yuki's so they were now holding hands. Haru continued to say nothing and Yuki kept reminding himself to breathe. When they finally reached Yuki's house, Haru didn't let go of his hand, instead he held onto it and stepped in front of Yuki. There he was, standing before him and looking down at him very intensely. Yuki felt small and weak. His heart was pounding so hard that he was sure Haru could hear it and he was also sure he could see his insides twisting around each other.

"Yuki," Haru started in such a soft, low voice that Yuki leaned forward just slightly enough to hear more clearly what Haru was about to say. But instead of saying something more, Haru slowly began leaning his face down towards Yuki. Yuki froze in place as he noticed Haru's lips softening a little more, relaxing in such a way that made Yuki aware of what was coming next. Yuki tilted his head back a little just as Haru's lips brushed against Yuki's. There was a breath before Haru's lips grew firmer and took Yuki's in his control. It was a nice, slow, massaging kiss that made Yuki lightheaded. Haru pulled away and Yuki stood there in a daze, not sure what to think. Haru smiled down at Yuki and gave his hand a little squeeze. "I'll leave you be tonight. See you tomorrow," He whispered in Yuki's ear as he pulled back again and let go of his hand.

Yuki blinked and turned towards his house. He looked up at the house and saw the figure of the cat looking out his window at him. As soon as the two made eye contact, he disappeared.