Well, this was written in response to the latest challenge on lovedeeper and the challenge was to have one of the characters make a big announcemnet to the group and to depict how the group would react to said announcemnet. There is a small tiny amount of humour in it (or at least I think there is), but I've never actually tried to write anything funny so I could be wrong...
Warning! There is a spoiler regarding Akira if you do not know what happens in Volume 32!
Disclaimer: (sighs) I don't own, so you no sue!
Standing beside the small lake that they had decided to stop beside today, Akira contemplated on how he was going to inform the rest of the group of his latest decision for his life.
He had been told something once, well not really told, it was more like he had overheard someone else talking about it, but he still had obtained the knowledge. It had been two adults discussing something that his young mind had not quite understood, but he had remembered it anyways. The seriousness of the conversation had caught his attention and, after he had snitched some food from their neglected dishes, he had ducked down to listen in on what they were saying.
The one had been going on and on about how Akane-chan was the sweetest and kindest girl in existence and that he would be truly blessed if she accepted his offer. This had confused him because the only Akane he knew of was anything but sweet and kind. In fact, he had considered her to be the epitome of evil after the last bout he had had with her and her broom.
A chuckle had brought him back from his musings on how he was going to get past Akane into the small inn's kitchen, his attention once again focusing on the men. The second man had asked if the first had everything ready and was met with a look of disdain.
"Of course!" the first had cried. "This is the most important moment of my life! I have everything planned so it will be perfect! Of course, my Akane-chan deserves no less than the perfection that she is."
Those words had stuck in his mind and even now, a dozen years later, they were still there, waiting to be acted upon, waiting for the time when he would finally be ready to start planning that most important question. Only just a few days ago, he had brought all of the plans he had been forming since he had first met her together and gathered the courage to ask her his question. His fear of rejection had surprised him, but it had been short lived when she had smiled and accepted his offer.
Now the only thing clouding his happiness was how they were going to tell the rest of the group. While he was glad that she was supporting him, he was not so sure how the others would take it. He had an idea how each of them might respond, but this group was highly unpredictable. That was why he was standing at the edge of the lake, absently freezing the edges of the water while his mind tried to find a way to divulge his newest secret.
Feeling her step beside him, a small smile touched the corners of his mouth. Their secret, he amended silently as she smiled up at him.
"I think, Akira-san," she said quietly, touching his sleeve gently, "that we need to tell them before it becomes too late."
"I believe you are right, Yuya-san. Are you nervous?"
She smiled at him. "Of course I am, but this is for the best so I'm sure they will understand."
"But have your weapons ready just in case?" he finished teasingly.
She laughed and nodded. "Just in case," she agreed in a low whisper.
"Akira! What are you doing with Yuya-han!"
"Here we go," Yuya murmured, squeezing his arm as they turned to face the irate Tora. "We were talking, Tora," she told the spearman glaring at the now smirking Akira.
"Not that you really needed to know that," Akira added.
"Why wouldn't I need to know what you're doing with Yuya-han!" Tora demanded, advancing on Akira. "Are you trying to corrupt her!"
"Please, Tora," Yuya said quickly, stepping between the two of them as Akira smoothly drew his katana to meet Tora's upraised demon spear. "Don't be like that. We were just talking."
"Yes, Tora," Akira said mockingly from behind Yuya, "be a good boy and behave."
"Akira!" Tora growled, his hands tightening around his spear.
"He didn't mean that, Tora!" Yuya said, shooting a look over her shoulder at Akira. "Please, we need to tell everyone something important and it's going to be hard enough as it is without the two of you fighting."
"If you want, Yuya-han," he said slowly, lowering his guard slightly. "Wait!" he exclaimed. "We! What we!"
Akira smirked at him as he sheathed his blades. "We," he said as he lightly gripped Yuya's elbow to lead her away, "as in her and me."
"What would the two of you have to announce!"
Throwing his smirk over his shoulder, Akira called, "If you'd shut up long enough, we'd be able to tell everyone what it is."
"Akira-san," Yuya chided, "you shouldn't be so mean to him. He only means good."
"If that was true, Yuya-san, why do you have to kick him out of the women's baths more often than not?"
Yuya shot him a look that combined amusement and aggravation before looking to where their friends were lounging. "Everyone?" she called, trying to catch the attention of the strange collection of people.
"My, you and Akira-san are looking quite close, Yuya-san!" Yukimura exclaimed being the only person to really respond to her query. "Is there something you're not telling us?"
"Well, that certainly got their attention," Akira murmured as he felt the entire group focus on them at Yukimura's anything but innocent comment.
"Apparently," Yuya muttered back. Taking a deep breath, she nodded, saying, "You're right, Yukimura-san. There is something that we're not telling you."
Ignoring the noise that came from Akari's direction which sounded suspiciously like a girlish squeal, Akira picked up the announcement when Yuya stopped. "A few days ago, I asked Yuya-san about the future."
"The future?" Tora growled, interrupting Akira.
"Yes, more importantly what she was planning on doing."
"Nee-chan's a bounty hunter," Sasuke supplied from his spot on a tree branch. "She's going to continue with that."
Yuya smiled at the boy and shook her head. "I don't need to do that anymore, Sasuke."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Well, when Akira-san asked me I wasn't sure," she said with a faint smile. "With all that's been going on lately, it's been kind of hard to really focus on anything, let alone the future."
"So to cover the fact that she had absolutely no clue what to do, she asked me what I was planning on doing," Akira said smoothly, taking over once again.
"And?" Akari prompted.
"Since I'm no longer part of the Shiseiten, I had started thinking about what else I could do. There is always the possibility of wandering the country once again, but I had thought of something that was more appealing to me." Tipping his head slightly, Akira smiled down at Yuya, causing several people to stare in shock at the action. "Yuya-san agrees with me that it is a good idea."
"It is a good idea, Akira-san!" she said enthusiastically. "It's a perfect match!"
Akira noted that at that point Kyo was now paying full attention to the conversation and his hand was gripping the hilt of Tenro rather tightly. "Thank you, Yuya-san," he said with another smile, but keeping his attention on the suddenly tense Kyo, "but maybe we should explain a bit more before we talk about how good the pairing is."
"Akira," Tora hissed, anger clearly painted on his face.
"Ah, yes, I can tell that you're anxious to hear about this as well, so I won't waste anymore time. I proposed-" Another growl from the spearman accompanied by several startled jerks passed through the group at that word. "-my future to Yuya and she has agreed to it."
"Yuya-han, how could you!" Tora wailed in despair, but went unnoticed as the others exploded in surprise and excitement. "Akira! I'm going to kill you for tainting my Yuya-han!"
Akari was the first to get to Yuya and she enveloped the girl in a hug. "Oh! I knew this was going to happen! Ever since Akira told me-"
"Didn't think you'd ever get up the nerve to ask her," Bontenmaru said lazily from his spot under a tree, "but it's about time."
Yukimura was next to get to Yuya and he walked around the startled bounty hunter, looking her up and down. "I know the perfect place to get a kimono for the wedding, Yuya-san!" he gushed when he was in front of her again. "And you'll have to let me help with your hair!"
Sasuke had dropped from his spot on the tree branch and was calmly studying Akira from about five paces away. "Hurt nee-chan and I'll hurt you," he said simply, his young voice deadly serious.
"Hey, Hotaru, aren't you going to congratulate them?" Bontenmaru demanded.
Gold eyes blinked as they dropped from where they had been watching the small green caterpillar climbing up the tree Bontenmaru was leaning against. "Eh?"
"Tch, never mind."
Being crowded by Akari, who had now started fussing over him, Akira barely had room to draw his twin katana to stop the savage swing of Tenro. His arms shook slightly as Kyo added more pressure to the blow, but he did not back down.
"You wanted a fight, Akira," Kyo said to him, his teeth bared in a deadly smile, "how about now?"
"Stop! Stop! Stop it!" Yuya cried, batting Yukimura's hands away from her hair and glaring at Kyo. "You didn't even let us finish!"
"What's there to finish, Yuya-san?" Yukimura asked, lifting the golden locks again.
"Akira wanted to open a shop that sold shaved ice and I want to help him with the books, you idiots!"
The silence that fell over the small clearing at this second statement was so sudden it was startling.
"He wants to…what?" Akari said slowly, glancing between Akira and Yuya.
"Open a shop," Akira said shortly, still trying to keep Tenro from removing his head from his shoulders.
"Since I know how to manage books, I offered Akira my help since it would be easier for two people to run a shop than one alone," Yuya explained at the blank looks on the faces in the clearing.
"I knew you liked the stuff," Bontenmaru said in disbelief, "but do you really like it that much?"
Akira ignored him being more focused on the red eyed killer who had locked blades with him.
"Tch," Kyo muttered as he pulled Tenro back and stalked back to his tree. "Who'd want to marry dog-face anyways?"
"I would Yuya-han!"
Yuya flushed angrily at Kyo's comment, but ignored both it and Tora's. "We wanted to tell you as soon as possible," she continued as if nothing had happened, "because we don't know when we might find a place that would work and we didn't want to spring it on you at the last moment."
Both Akari and Yukimura pouted slightly at this news. "Aw, Yuya-san, I even had some great ideas for you," Yukimura said sadly, eyeing her hair once again.
"Shame on you, Akira!" Akari cried, rounding on the young man angrily and brandishing her staff. "Making us think that you're getting married! I should tell everyone about how you-"
"It's not my fault you aren't patient!" Akira cut her off quickly, not wanting anything he had ever had to tell the shaman becoming public knowledge. "If you had let us finish instead of jumping to conclusions you wouldn't have thought that!"
"Yuya-han, I'm so happy you're not marrying him!" Tora cried, trying to embrace her.
Akira tried not to smirk as she pushed the overly enthusiastic, over-grown boy away from her. Sharing a look, he knew she was feeling the same sense of amusement he was and that they apparently had nothing to worry about. Everything was going exactly the way they had expected it to, right down to each person's reaction, except Kyo's. He had not quite expected that violent a response from the man. But, since everything was going so accordingly, Akira figured it was time to set the last ball rolling.
"Actually," he said slowly, his smirk forming on his face as he held his hand out to Yuya, "she is."
They had a brief moment to savour the collective shock that once again rampaged through the group before Yuya's giggle shattered it.
"I guess," she said with a smile, "we forgot to mention that in all the excitement, but aren't you happy for us?"
The clearing exploded a second time as steel clashed on steel when Tora attacked Akira this time and Yuya was trapped by Akari and Yukimura to once again discuss wedding plans.
Hotaru blinked as he watched the scene unfold before him before looking at Bontenmaru. "They're getting married at an ice shaving shop?" he asked, his expression thoroughly confused.
"…Hotaru, you're a dumb ass."
Awww, he's not a dumb ass! He's just...confused? Well, anyways, that was my attempt at humour and I hope you enjoyed!