Title: 31. And it is only my longing

That saturates the colour of apples

That turns a passing scent into form,

Like breaths sculpted in cold weather.

Pairing/Character/s: Yuki/Machi, Kimi, Kakeru, Nao

Word Count: 797 words

Summary: Machi struggles to deal with her new "friendship". Random fluff piece, really.

Dedication: Ch. 103, this neat little section where Machi is shown trying to talk to Yuki and failing. I thought... instant inspiration! All I have to do is fill in the speech/thought bubbles, right? Right?!

A/N: Tudou is Kimi's last name. Chibi is of course Nao . Read Ch. 103 if you get confused. Obviously, I was too lazy to come up with my own idea and ripped this off Takaya-san

Nao has to think of him as a bad guy. Yuki understands this almost instinctively. "The cat is stupid." If he hadn't blamed Kyo, he might have been crushed by self-pity. "So this is retribution," he sighes, pointedly ignoring Kimi and Kakeru's bickering.

"Wow, Chibi's in love with someone," Kakeru muses. Kimi gasps, pointing to herself. "No, Kimi, it's not you."

"But Kimi has seen Nao stare at her last week!" Kimi shouts, cheeks pink with indignation. She fists both hands.

Kakeru makes sure to take a step back before countering with, "He was trying to count the number of volunteers behind you."

Machi is the only one who sees Yuki's face fall from his normal expression; a politely blank smile. His eyes close when he sighs. Her first instinct is to wait for it to pass. He will get over it eventually. Hopefully. Maybe. Machi remembers that Yuki has listened to her story, so she was almost obligated to ask about him.

At the very thought of this her teeth clench. She reaches out a hand, preparing to tap him on the shoulder, and out of his thoughts. Her hand is only a few millimeters away when she realizes it's gross and sweaty. Machi is just about to pull away and swallow all intentions of comforting Yuki when Kimi pushes Machi to the side with a brilliant smile.

"Yuki likes Kimi better, right?" she says happily, ignoring Machi's grunt of pain when she crashes to the floor.

"Machi!" Yuki squeaks loudly, standing up so fast that he knocks his chair backwards.

xXx

"And?" Kakeru's stern glare makes Kimi sulk even further. They are standing outside the nurse's office, trying to corner Kimi into an apology.

She buries her face in her hands, faking a loud sob. "I didn't mean to," she sniffles, shoulders shaking.

"Kimi," Yuki warns, his frown darkening. Standing next to Kakeru, he looks even more menacing. "Go apologize to Machi. She's scraped her hand." Kimi looks away with a pout. "You are going to take over her secretary duties until it heals. Right, Kakeru? Kakeru?"

Except while Yuki was busy being intimidating, Kakeru has slipped into the nurse's office to check up on Machi. "Hey, how are you doing?"

Machi is seated, bandages already wrapped around her cut palm. She looks up at him with an expression that clearly says, 'What do you think?' "I'm fine."

"Good."

Machi stands up when the silence gets too long. "The nurse signed me out. I'm going to go home and rest my hand."

"You know, Yuki is out there being all bossy." Kakeru is only slightly disappointed to see his half-sister's face still blank. "He's trying to get Kimi to apologize to you."

The mention of Kimi makes Machi think of how close she'd come to trying to comfort Yuki... like a friend would. She blushes, turning away.

Kakeru's smirk grows even bigger as he senses his prey weakening. "I think he likes you."

"Kakeru-" Machi begins, spinning around with a furious scowl. "Why do you even care?"

"Machi, Kimi has something to say to you." Yuki comes into the office with a reluctant Kimi trailing behind him.

Kimi twists her fingers together, eyes cast downwards as she mumbles, "Kimi didn't mean to push Machi. Kimi will take the notes at Student Council for you until you are better. But..." She looks up hopefully. "You'll be better in time for Kimi's date Thursday, right?"

Machi doesn't move, which Kimi takes as a yes.

"Okay! Kimi has a date today, see you all tomorrow!"

Kakeru shakes his head. "That's probably the best we can hope for, too. Well, I have work. See you guys tomorrow." As he leaves, he mouths something to Machi behind Yuki's back.

'He likes you! Don't date him!'

Machi has to try her hardest not to throw something at her brother.

"Machi, what were you trying to say before?"

Her entire body freezes in panic. Heart racing, she tries to come up with a plausible lie. "Nothing important. There was a... fly on your shoulder. I was trying to swat it."

"Oh. Thank you?" Yuki does something she doesn't expect; he reaches out and touches her shoulder with a warm smile directed at her. "I'm sorry about Kimi."

Machi starts to melt under his direct gaze. Her thoughts become deranged. "I wanted to thank you," she blurts out. He looks confused, so she adds, "For talking to Tudou-san. And for believing my story," Machi adds silently.

The look on his face tells her that maybe, just maybe, she said it out loud instead.

Yuki nods, his eyes smiling down on her. The hand on her shoulder now seems even hotter, but she realizes that she doesn't want him to take it away, ever.

A/N: I have this very random drabble, which might end up being rewritten because it goes nowhere. I haven't written anything for a while. I was waiting for my Alphasmart 3000 to come in the mail (Because I can't afford a Neo) and finally typed all this on that neat contraption! Google it for pictures and whatever. NaNo is coming up, and I wanted to be prepared for it. Maybe I'll even post up a picture of my new toy on my blog... It has these cute keyboard stickers, which can make typing a pain if I forget where the 'j' button is and I have to hunt for it among all the pictures.

Drabbles Coming Up: (This drabble should have been posted by tomorrow, but I wanted to surprise you all before I went to sleep.)

- Ayame at Kakeru and Komaki's wedding

- Yuki gets stalked

- Yuki and Machi actually taking a walk in the snow...

- The real proposal! The first one was a joke, no way I would leave you guys like that. (I just need a good, romantic way to propose now...)

*****This is very important. I know I say I will respond if you leave a question, comment, or request, but I'm not responding to comments because I can't think of anything to say except thank you, and really, you must all know how grateful a writer is when someone reads their work. So, yeah. I didn't want to seem like some hypocrite.

I'm done. There wasn't even a point in reading this, ha. Thanks, if you actually read my ramblings, though. Good night. I'm tired.