Author: merrow - PG-13 - English - Drama - Reviews: 89
There wasn't any more tea. There hadn't been for days. Yuki looked out the door and up at the sky. It was still overcast and gray. The clouds looked laden with rain. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to decide if it looked like the clouds were going to open up again. It had been raining practically non-stop for the past few days. He heard a rustle and turned to glance at the bed by the hearth. Tooru had curled up a little tighter in the sheets, feeling the dampness in the air even in her sleep. Yuki let the sodden curtain over the door drop and walked as silently as he could to the hearth to add more fuel to the fire, noting ruefully that their supply of dry wood was running low as well. He or Kyou would have to bring in some more wood and dry it by the fire before it got too late.
The amount of sleep Tooru seemed to need lately was worrying him. She went to bed earlier and earlier and slept later and later. Both he and Kyou had noticed that the smallest activities seemed to require her to put out more effort than she should. She would pause and brace herself before lifting a full teakettle, she got headaches easily, had to take frequent breaks when doing something detailed like mending and seemed to get distracted easily. He would often find her staring off into space completely forgetting her task at hand.
He moved the curtain aside, sat by the doorframe and looked at the clouds again. That Kyou was still in bed probably meant that it would rain again. Yuki sighed softly and wondered at the novelty of him being the first one to wake. His stomach rumbled in complaint that breakfast had not yet been served. Their stores of rice and other food had been practically emptied. He'd decided to skip breakfast in order to make sure that Tooru had plenty to eat. His little friends had been braving the weather to bring in what little they could while he was trapped inside. It hadn't been much, but it had helped. He heard another rustle, and glanced at the bed. Kyou quickly looked away, their eyes just barely meeting. Yuki tensed and looked out the doorway. That was really getting on his nerves. It seemed every time he looked around Kyou was watching him. It was unnerving. Yuki didn't know how to deal with it.
It wasn't as if he wasn't used to feeling Kyou's eyes on him. Kyou had always been watching him, calculating when to strike the next blow. But this was different. This wasn't an angry, blustery look like he had gotten used to ignoring. For days, every time he looked around Kyou was looking at him with this intense unreadable *look*. It made Yuki just want to turn around, shake him and scream "WHAT?!" He'd catch Kyou peering at him out of the corner of his eye or quickly turning away so that he wouldn't know he'd been watching. Kyou had never been good at being subtle.
The feeling in the little cabin had gotten so strange. Yuki felt like his skin was crawling under Kyou's constant surveillance. He didn't know how to react to it. Kyou had been practically silent as well. Tooru had been concerned, but had taken his assurance that it was just the weather affecting him. Yuki knew it was something more. Kyou may have been watching him for years trying to find his weak point, but it had given Yuki ample opportunities to observe Kyou as well. Ever since the night of his nightmare Kyou had been acting like a sleepwalker. When he wasn't boring holes into Yuki's back with his eyes he was staring off into space with a haunted look on his face. Yuki didn't know how to deal with this quiet, pensive Kyou. He'd never seen him like this before.
Yuki shook his bangs out of his face with a disgusted snap of his head. Why was he wasting all this time thinking about the stupid cat? Let him mope himself to death if he wanted. It wasn't as if he cared. Yuki resolutely tried to banish Kyou's nightmare-ridden, panicked and stricken look out of his mind's eye. He just wished he knew why the cat kept staring at him. He stood abruptly and walked over to the hearth; there was a thin broth they'd been drinking instead of tea. He could use something warm, and he was sure both Tooru and Kyou would appreciate it if he had it warm and ready for them when they woke. The smell of the broth roused the others out of bed, Tooru letting out a stream of apologies for oversleeping. Kyou placed a hand on her head and kindly told her to shut up and eat her breakfast. Yuki tensed as Kyou's hand stayed twined in her hair a moment more than necessary. He'd been doing a lot of that lately as well, touching Tooru. They were innocent, casual touches. A tap on the arm to get her to move to the side, nudges to bring her out of daydreaming, touches like this one, gentle and joking. It was just another thing that set his teeth on edge.
"Yuki-kun isn't eating breakfast?" Tooru asked in concern.
Yuki blinked and focused in on is immediate surroundings. "I already ate." He lied with a gentle smile. Kyou narrowed his eyes at him letting him know in no uncertain terms that he knew the truth. He was already halfway through his own meager bowl and would look stupid if he refused to finish now. Yuki smiled at him too, pleased to see him tense. Tooru, as usual, remained oblivious.
Despite the lingering mushy wetness outside from the past few days of rain they all hurried to get outside. Yuki stood a minute, his arms half full with damp wood, relishing being outside the little shack. Tooru walked past with an armload of laundry in her arms. Yuki followed her with his eyes and was vaguely aware of Kyou, his own arms full of bark, doing the same. She paused and took a deep breath, adjusted her load, seemed to brace herself and continued on to the stream. Yuki frowned.
"She's not getting better. She keeps trying to hide it." Kyou said coming up beside him.
"Un." Yuki agreed. The two had found they could almost have a conversation if they just started talking as if they were already in the middle of one. "We're out of medicine and I haven't been able to find any of the medicinal herbs I know up here."
"We'll be out of rice by tonight. One of us will have to go into town to get more supplies." Kyou adjusted his load to one arm so he could scratch at his nose.
"Baka Neko," hands full Yuki tossed his head to throw his bangs out of his eyes, "that just delays the inevitable. We can't stay here much longer. Honda-san will never get well here and we'll just end up spending all our money trying to survive."
"What do you suggest then, Kuso Nezumi? Where can we go? It's not like Akito is ever going to stop looking for you." Kyou spat, bristling.
The words dropped into the pit of the boy's stomach and he felt his eyes widen in shock against his will. Forcing himself to calm he bit out a reply as he walked back into the shack. "Looking and finding are two separate things. Japan is a big place. And we can keep moving." Yuki dropped the wood by the hearth to dry. He blinked and looked into the flames suddenly realizing that everything he said was true. Japan was a big place; if they picked a spot at random it would take Akito a while to find them. If they were found, they could just leave again. While they were wherever they were Kyou and he could get jobs, make some money and maybe get an apartment. Perhaps Tooru could even go back to school.
He said as much to Kyou. The other laid out his bark to dry, planning to use it to fix the inevitable leaks that had sprung up. He chewed his lip in thought. "Okay...so where do we go?"
"We'll let Honda-san decide. I'll go down into town today and pick up some supplies and get a map."
Tooru was confused when they brought it up to her as she got back from the stream. "Go back to school?" She blinked and looked from the sopping laundry in her hands back to the boys. "But...but we've missed so much time."
"Kyou was gone for four months last time and they let him back in." Yuki pointed out. "We haven't been gone that long." He trailed off in sudden confusion. How long had they been up there? Time on the mountain seemed endless.
"And I didn't have Yuki to help me study for the entrance exam." Kyou added. Then realizing that almost sounded like a compliment, he blustered. "Not that I needed it. You're pretty stupid though." Then cursed himself for insulting her.
Tooru didn't seem to notice. Clutching the wet laundry to her chest she ran into the shack. Kneeling in front of the picture of her mother she babbled, "Did you hear Mother? We're going back to school. I'll be able to finish for you after all!" She turned a tearstained face to Yuki and Kyou who had followed her inside. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you!" Both boys were wordless under the brunt of her expectations. Both felt a stiffening of their resolve to make her happy and keep her well.
* * *
Yuki picked through his clothes to find the least ragged and worn. Tooru was packing him a small lunch in a corner of a towel. Kyou was picking through some rusted nails trying to find ones that weren't too rusted and weren't too bent to use. He glanced up at Yuki.
"It's going to rain again a little later...I think." He had a good sense for weather but it wasn't exact.
"If it does I'll stay in town till it stops. I'll find a place." Yuki didn't look up from his search. Didn't he have one shirt left with out a tear or snag?
"There's a hostel near the park. Lots of campers go there. It's cheap." Kyou offered.
"I'll keep it in mind." Yuki glanced behind him to make sure Tooru wasn't looking and quickly changed his clothes. He looked down at himself and sighed.
Kyou glanced up at him and sweat-dropped. "You can't go like that."
Yuki's clothes had not held up well on the mountain. The silk, light fabrics and designs he favored weren't meant for this kind of rough living. The shirt he had on was spotted with water stains, had snags and tear going up one sleeve. It had been neatly mended but Tooru had only had a small sewing kit in her things, and hadn't been able to find a thread that came close to matching the fabric. He sighed. The pants were worse off, with stains at the knees and more tears and snags. Yuki was looking decidedly un-prince-like. He'd be thrown out of most stores looking like he was. In the day-to-day living up here he hadn't really noticed how ragged he'd become. With his long hair and ragged clothes, he looked like a vagrant.
"So what am I supposed to wear?" He asked in frustration.
"Yuki-kun could wear Kyou-kun's clothes..." Tooru suggested. She shrunk back from the sudden dark aura radiating off of both boys.
"I could go instead." Kyou said.
Yuki shook his head. "You're too distinctive, and you've been there with your Master before. Someone might recognize you."
"Perhaps...maybe...I should go?" Tooru offered.
Yuki and Kyou exchanged wordless glance, both remembering what happened with the local boys last time she'd gone into town. No way in hell.
"I'll wear something of Kyou's."
A few minutes later Yuki stood uncertainly in front of the others. He felt very uncomfortable in the unfamiliar/familiar clothes. Kyou wasn't that much larger than him, but the clothes hung very different on Yuki's slender frame. He adjusted the high neck of the sweatshirt, zipping it and then unzipping it. He ran an annoyed hand through his hair and looked up at the others for their reaction.
"Amazing!" Tooru burbled and clapped her hands, "Yuki-kun looks like an entirely different person!" Something seemed to occur to her and she ran over to the corner. She rummaged a bit and came up with a small piece of ribbon and the hat she'd worn into town. "Yuki-kun's hair has gotten so long." She explained and went behind him and tied back his hair into a small ponytail. She walked back around him and held out the hat. "To complete your disguise."
Yuki pushed his bangs to the side and put the cap on. That's what it felt like, a disguise or a costume. Perhaps it would be easiest if he just thought of it that way. He adjusted the cap and looked out the door. He was getting a later start than he liked and he had more do to than he had originally planned. Besides getting food, he had to get new clothes for himself, and other things they would need to look presentable when they went looking for jobs and a place to live.
"It may take me a while to find everything we need. I'll most likely end up staying overnight in town." He spoke to Kyou, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Be careful." Tooru's eyes were wide with worry as she handed him their cash purse and the lunch.
"I will." He promised and headed down the mountain into town. * * *
