Hi there. Yes, I am alive. This chapter nearly killed me though. I had to re-write it like 3 times. Sorry it took so long.
Well, same warnings and disclaimers as in previous chapters.
Enjoy!
Yuki groaned. Not audibly though, of course. What, what in the world had he done to deserve this? What stupid malicious demon had cursed him so that so many things just went wrong? And all at the same time?
He felt the last vestiges of his hangover come rushing back, fragments that he thought had been banished by his little meeting with Kyo on the roof. They had merely retreated to the back of this mind, it seemed, as the dull pain of a headache made itself known. And it was all because of that bubbling, crazy, insanely multicoloured blot of energy that was currently giggling behind him. Oh, and did he mention how LOUD Ayame was?
"Dear YUKI-NII!!" The rat cringed. Why did he have to shout?
"Gure-san here told me about your-" he stopped thoughtfully. "What was it again, Gure?"
Shigure, who was positively shining with perverted glee, leaned over and whispered something into Ayame's ear. The snake listened in mock-seriousness, nodding his head after his friend had finished in a very grave manner. Yuki noticed Hatori behind them, arms crossed, leaning against the door-frame. He looked tired out. Poor man.
"Ah YES!" Damn. He was shouting again. Yuki contemplated running for it, but knew he'd be followed. He needed to talk to Kyo.
"Dear Shigure has informed me that you are in need of a Hangover Cure!" There was a barely visible twitch at the corner of Hatori's mouth. Yuki hoped he'd step in soon. "So I have brought my very best! Not that I have ever needed it, no, no, I know these merely for the benefit of others! Right, Gure-san?"
Shigure nodded vigorously, hair bobbing up and down.
"Only the best for you, my little brother! Mon petit frere!"
"Shut up." Yuki snapped. He was sick of this, of his headache, of the mess with Kyo, of his stupid brother's stupid insufferable LOUDNESS.
"But Yuki-kun!" Shigure piped in. "I thought you needed some brotherly guid-" In a couple of short strides, Yuki had grabbed the front of the dog's kimono and lifted him a few centimetres into the air.
"I know what you were doing, Shigure." Yuki said quietly. "Don't ever do it again." The anger was clear in his eyes as he dropped Shigure, turned around swiftly and quickly ascended the stairs.
"Jeez." Shigure said, for once, no hint of a joke in his voice, picking himself up off the ground and brushing off his clothes. "I've never seen Yuki get riled up so easily before." He turned to Ayame, a small, mirthless smile turning his lips. "Maybe I went too far... again." He sighed softly.
There was silence for a couple of minutes before Ayame started to giggle. Shigure shot him a strange look, usually the snake was sharp enough to grasp the graveness of a situation. Usually.
"My, my Gure-san. Did you, perchance, happen to notice what graced the skin of Yuki-kun's neck?" Ayame's golden eyes were alight with cheer again, and his sheet of silver hair shook slightly as he suppressed his laughter.
"No," Shigure said curiously, mirth starting again in his brown eyes too. "What was it?"
"Well... it was a bruise." Ayame stifled another giggle. "A hicky. Several of them, actually."
Shigure grinned a somewhat evil grin, as Ayame started a speech on how his little brother had grown up so fast and blah blah blah.
"Is that so?" he said to himself.
"I wonder who it was..."
Yuki tried to steel himself. He had to do it. He had to apologise.
He recognised that what he had done at school had been wrong. Heck, it had been totally and completely disastrous. Why hadn't he used his stupid brain?
Not only had he pissed off Kyo, he had also hurt Hatsuharu. And that was something Yuki deeply regretted. He wondered how the ox would act next time they met. He winced. Hatsuhau was normally quiet, but some silences were worse than others. And then he would probably go Black on Kyo. Not a nice thought. But back to the main issue.
He had betrayed Kyo. He had destroyed his trust, and he didn't know how he was going to get it back again.
Yuki needed that trust, the confidence he had gained that morning, sitting on the cold tiles of Shigure's kitchen. Just knowing how upset Kyo probably was with him was enough to make something inside of him clench painfully. He knew he had to... say sorry... something...
So why was he standing nervously outside Kyo's bedroom door, left hand grasping his right arm quite hard, teeth biting his lower lip painfully, glaring at the wood in front of him as if trying to force it open with his eyes? And why wasn't it working? Stupid door...
"Damn, damn... DAMN." Yuki thought as the door remained solidly and frustratingly closed. What was is with stupid inanimate objects NOT doing what he told them to do? He reached out, shaking fingers hovering over the handle.. He felt like he was going to burst.
"Just DO it damn... one, two... three." He shoved the door open with a bang, eyes screwed tightly shut, fully expecting an enraged Kyo to yell at him to Go Away, or at the very least, an angry glare. Or mocking of his cowardice. Yeah...
He was the rat for Christ's sake, where was his spine!?
Yuki stood there for a few moments, all his muscles tense, eyes still shut and hand still on the handle. He could feel a slight buzzing in his ears. He wondered vaguely why he was so petrified. Any moment now...
Nothing happened.
He opened stormy grey eyes cautiously.
The room was empty.
Well, damn.
Yuki's tense muscles immediately relaxed and he felt a little shaky. More than a little, actually, he felt exhausted. Like all the energy and adrenaline had suddenly been drained out of him. He leaned against the door-frame and glanced around the room. It was surprisingly tidy, Yuki noted. And it was still empty. No sign of the fiery red-head.
But just as he was about to leave to look for Kyo somewhere else -the woods, maybe?- something caught his eye.
The window was open. Barely, only a couple of centimetres, swinging minutely on its frame, but it was enough to notice. Yuki could have hit himself. Of course. Where else would a cat go to brood?
Sliding open the window, he placed a foot on the sill and, with strength acquired from years of martial arts training, hoisted himself up to grab the edge of the roof. With little effort, he pulled himself up.
He could almost hear the dog's over-dramatic cries of dismay as four or five tiles tumbled down to thud softly on the grass below. The wind was soothing through his hair, and smelled faintly of the forest. He could see why Kyo liked it up here.
Straightening up, he spotted Kyo on the far end of the roof, lying on his back with his hands behind his head, He was gazing at the clouds with his expression blank, tufts of red floating around his face. He didn't show any signs of noticing Yuki but the rat rather doubted this. He had made quite a noisy entrance and god knows the cat had sharp ears.
Yuki's nervousness came back full-force at the sight of the other boy and it was with great difficulty that he forced himself to start walking forward. He felt as if he was wading through thick water, pushing through heavy cloud.
He stumbled clumsily on a loose tile. There was still no reaction from Kyo. Unless a blink could count. Yuki didn't count it.
He stopped when he was around a metre away from the boy. He felt his breath catch in his throat as he noticed, once again, how handsome Kyo was. Stretched out on his back with the breeze lifting his shirt every now and then, the one or two inches of tanned skin showing below the collarbone, eyes far, far away. He looked so... at ease. With himself. But still Yuki knew that he could shoot to his feet in an instant, orangey-red snapping to deep, angry crimson just like that. Kyo was so volatile. It was what made him so attractive. To Yuki, anyway.
Maybe, deep inside, Yuki was a secret danger-junkie. Quite deep inside. It was an amusing notion.
Yuki thought his trains of thought were rather weird. But anyway...
He cautiously dropped to knees, wondering if what he was doing was ok. He felt kind of like he was intruding on Kyo's personal space, his safe haven up here on the roof. He avoided looking at the other boy's eyes, and instead chose to scrutinise his own fingers which were twisting in his lap.
"Er..." He ventured quietly. He hadn't the faintest clue how to start. He knew what he had to convey, but actually saying it seemed a lot more complicated. He tried again, ears straining for some sign that Kyo had heard him.
"L-look, Kyo, about today... well, I-IknowwhatIdidearlierwaswrongandIknowIhurtyouandI'mreallyreallysorrybu-"
His rambling was stopped by a soft chuckle. He looked up, startled, mouth hanging open. Quickly he assessed what had just come pouring out of his mouth, and cursed himself for sounding so stupid. That didn't go so well. He shut his mouth swiftly. But wait, was Kyo laughing?
He was, albeit quietly. He continued to stare at the sky as his chuckles subsided. He grinned slowly.
"Yuki, you..." he stopped and blinked slowly. Yuki decided just then, blinks did count.
"It's ok. It's just... ask me first ok? Next time you decide to go and molest me in public."
"So... you're ok with people knowing?" Yuki felt a smile tugging at his lips. It was going to be all right.
"Well they were gonna find out anyway, I guess. It'd be hard to hide it from Shigure, and then he'd obviously tell Ayame, and thats like broadcasting it on the radio he's so loud..."
Yuki was silent for a while. He was almost vibrating with happiness. His fingers were still twitching, but in a good way.
"You know, by it" Somehow, Yuki suddenly found himself very, very close to Kyo. His arms had been grabbed, and he was now suspended above the boy's body. His heart jumped and he was almost overwhemed by their closeness and the heat that seemed to emanate from Kyo in waves. He swallowed, his mind buzzing with rapid-fire thoughts. He was so close. Their noses were almost touching.
"-I meant this..." And then Kyo kissed him, and he stopped thinking.
Yuki sank into the kiss. God this felt so good... how many times had they done this today? Twice? Eight times? He couldn't find the answer at the moment in the fluffy pink cloud that was currently his brain, so he hastened to return the kiss, licking and biting and- ooh that felt good... what was Kyo doing with his teeth? Ooh...
By now Yuki was lying half on top of Kyo, their upper-bodies touching, pressed together. Kyo didn't seem to mind being squashed like this, in fact, he seemed to be trying to press even closer to Yuki, his back arching up and his hands running up and down his sides.
It wasn't that cold, but somehow. to Yuki, the contrast between the freshness of the air and Kyo's heated skin sent shivers down his spine, especially when Kyo touched right- there. He made a soft sound in the back of his throat. Do that again...
Both of them, in their current states, were oblivious to the fact that they were being spied upon. Approximately thirty centimetres below them, Shigure and Ayame were precariously standing on a box with one of Hatori's handy stethoscopes pressed to the ceiling. Ayame was red with suppressed giggles, while Shigure was rather proud. It had been he, after all, who had stolen -borrowed with intent to keep, stethescopes were fuun- the instrument from his friend's bag. His was genius, and he knew it. He was grinning like a maniac while trying to get closer to the ceiling to hear some more sounds. This was fun.
Downstairs in the kitchen Hatori was sitting at the table, fully aware of what was happening a couple of floors above him. He sipped his tea and decided not to care. Well, he would later, just not right now. This tea was too expensive, and he'd already brewed a cup. Or two.
Yes, Hatori was satisfied with his priorities. Very much so.
Hmm... well then. Hope you liked it, and review please!