Title: 28. sleight of hand and twist of fate

Pairing/Character/s: Yuki/Machi

Word Count: 648 words

Summary: When you're with a Sohma, even getting a haircut is hard to pull off.

A/N: Um, this was kind of a random crazy idea that I had. I took it and ran with it. Why is Yuki so rational here? It will be explained later! Why Machi is OOC cannot be explained.

About two weeks after Machi got the wedding invitation, Yuki finds it tucked into the pocket of his least favorite sweatshirt. He pulls the heavy red card from the brown fabric and reads the elegant gold script.

Manabe Kakeru and Komaki Nakao

invite you

Kuragi Machi and guest

to a very special ceremony

July 18th

"Machi," Yuki begins patiently that night at dinner as his girlfriend pokes at her chicken, unsure if it is done or not.

"Hmmm? Do you think I should re-cook the chicken?"

He pulls out the red card, adding, "I found this-"

Machi immediately snatches it from his hands, eyes wide in panic.

"Where did you get that?!"

"It was in my sweater."

She grits her teeth, sliding out of her chair and dumping the card in the garbage. "I don't want to go." It sounds like a command.

"But your brother's getting married-"

"My mother's going to force me to make myself presentable. I'll have to get a haircut and a dress and a haircut and..." She breaks off in horror, hands reaching up to touch her precious hair. "I'm not going." 'And you can't make me,' Yuki silently adds.

Yuki carefully places his hands on the table, knowing that as he's arguing, the invitation is getting closer and closer to being drenched in the chicken fat Machi dumped an hour ago.

"OK, Machi, are you afraid of getting haircuts?" He silently prays it isn't something about perfection.

Her lips press together in a thin line. She's used to Yuki prying the truth out of her through empathic charm, so she decides to confess right away. "I just like my hair long. It was the one thing my mother didn't try to control. But now she's going to make me get a haircut."

He screws up in face in thought. "But don't you need trims every now and then? There's no reason for you to cut your hair much. Just an inch. Just to make sure your hair doesn't get too long."

She looks doubtful, so Yuki gets up and places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"And don't worry. I'll be with you. We don't have to go to the wedding if you don't want to. Let's just to to the salon," Yuki soothes, surreptitiously reaching into the garbage can for the invitation.

She blushes faintly. "OK."

xXx

"How much do you want me to cut?" the bored stylist asks, holding her scissors against Machi's hair. Brown eyes carefully watch the scissors in the mirror.

"Can I have a few minutes to decide?" Machi panics, wondering why Yuki's late. He stopped at the store to buy a pack of gum and promised to meet her for the appointment.

The stylist's eyebrows snap together in annoyance. "Look, miss, I got a lot of customers-"

She's cut off by the ringing of the salon doorbell as someone walks in. "Machi?" Yuki calls.

There's several screams at once. Machi turns her head to the door and the stylist violently jerks her hand in surprise.

"Yuki?" Machi calls, wondering what's wrong. She can't get a good view, so turns back to the mirror to squint for Yuki's reflection.

It's not easy to miss Yuki. He's being attacked by the receptionists, each grabbing a part of his jacket. "Um, excuse me-" He tries to pry his jacket from his desperate hands, looking more and more uncomfortable at this level of ultimate worship.

"I love you! Please marry me!"

"I'm Mogami Kyoko! Age 24! Blood type A! I can cook the world's best apple pie!"

Machi opens her mouth to protest when she sees her stylist is still holding her hands to her mouth in disbelief. Her eyes fall down to her hair, where a large chunk, about six inches, has been cut off. The right side of her hair now ends below her ear.

"Oops."

Machi screams.

A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers! I'm honored to entertain you all. I love to see all the Yuki/Machi lovers out there! It's so weird to see a canon couple have so little fans, isn't it? ~.^