Author: merrow - PG-13 - English - Drama - Reviews: 89
When they finally reached their destination bone weary and ragged, several days later, the three had barely time to wrap themselves in blankets before falling into a dreamless sleep. The journey had been nerve-wracking and long. They had traveled at night; not knowing what kind of alarm had been raised about them. Surely their presence had not only been missed at home. By now they had missed school, and they didn't know what kind of pursuit would be after them. It could be that they only had to worry about being chased by Akito, but the authorities might have been called in as well. They had slept in shifts just a few hours at time and had avoided people whenever possible. Honda hid her hair in a cap and dressed in Yuki's or Kyou's clothes anytime they had to appear in public, and Kyou hid his bright orange hair under the hood of his sweatshirt. It was a relief when they finally were able to let down their guard, and the three slept restfully for the first time in too long.
The next morning Tooru began to set Kyou's mountain hide-away to rights. Little more than a one-room shack haphazardly built it was in shambles after being abandoned for so long. Yuki went out with his mice colonies to see if he could find any food to scrounge and Kyou set to work fixing some of the fallen boards on the outside of the house. The three had barely spoken in their flight except for hushed planning and plotting to move them forwards towards their destination. By now they had gotten used to the companionable silence and kept their minds carefully blank as they went about their work. They would have to talk soon, but all were eager to delay it.
"Watch out!" Kyou called as he tossed a rotten board off the roof. There was a crash and the red-haired boy looked over the edge of the roof. Yuki glared up tubers and nuts scattered around him. The board had crashed right through his hands full of food and the warning had come to late for him to get out of the way.
"Baka Neko" he muttered automatically as he bent to pick up the food. "Clumsy as usual."
"What!? You're the one that wasn't watching where he was going! Why is it my fault, kuso nezumi!" Kyou jumped down from the roof waving the rock he was using as a makeshift hammer. "You're the kind of guy who can't even make a paper crane, lets see you make a house!"
"Some house," Yuki's eyes narrowed and he straightened, "you're the one throwing things about without looking first-" Kyou grabbed at Yuki's shirt, but Yuki continued, "Honda-san can't live in a house that's falling down around her ears."
Kyou's mouth opened to respond when he was interrupted by a giggle.
Tooru stood in the doorway of the house, handkerchief tied around her hair, looking smudged, dirty, and beaming happily. "Now this really feels like "home"." She laughed. "I've made some tea if you'd like some."
Kyou and Yuki stared at her beaming face and felt instantly foolish. Kyou released Yuki's shirt. "Unn," Yuki replied smiling, "We'll be inside in a moment." Tooru went inside to Yuki bent to pick up the food scattered on the ground. Kyou scratched the back of his head and put his hammer rock up against the side of the house then bent to help. They walked inside and placed the nuts, berries and yams on the table.
Tooru poured the tea and admired the bounty, "Amazing Souma-kun! We'll be able to roast yams later." She smiled at Yuki and he blushed and looked away brushing his hair back. Kyou's eyes slid away to look out the doorway, Tooru noticed and turned to him "Kyou-kun is amazing too! It's wonderful that you built this house all by yourself. It even has a hearth to cook on!" Kyou leaned back away from Tooru who leaned in nose-to-nose.
"It-its nothing, the roof leaks and it's drafty. And the hearth smokes." Kyou flushed and looked to the side. He and Yuki's eyes met and they both felt themselves tense.
Seemingly oblivious to the tension, Honda sat down to drink her tea "Souma-kun and Kyou-kun are both so remarkable!" She smiled and spaced out happily as she drank her tea. Yuki and Kyou looked at Tooru and felt themselves relax.
* * *
That night the mood was different. Before they had all been so tired that they more or less slept where they fell not paying much attention to where they lay. Tonight as Tooru lay out her roll, Yuki and Kyou looked about self-consciously. Both tried to calculate how close they could lay out their rolls to Tooru with out the other accusing them of being perverts. Tooru sneezed and shivered as a cold wind blew through the shack.
"Ah, Honda-san," Yuki stepped forward, "You should sleep closer to the fire...where it's warm." He moved her roll closer to the hearth.
"Here." Kyou handed her one of his blankets, "You'll get sick if you're cold. You know how easily you get a fever."
"Oh, no!" Tooru said raising her hands looking back and forth between them, "I couldn't! Don't worry I'm strong!" She straightened as she was hit by a realization, "That's right! We should put our beds together, then we can all be near the fire and be warm. We can share blankets too."
"Ah..." both boys flushed and made to protest, but Tooru re-arranged the beds so that Yuki and Kyou's rolls were on either side of hers. She lay down and spread the blankets across the three bed-rolls. Blushing furiously Kyou lay down on his side, his back to Tooru, and Yuki followed suit. Tooru closed her eyes and pulled the blankets up to her chin. She let out a deep sigh of contentment. The sigh seemed to release the tension in the room and both boys felt their bodies relax though they still were unable to sleep. Soon they heard her breath deepen and knew that she was dreaming.
"So warm..." she whispered in her sleep. Yuki felt the warmth creeping through him and drifted off. Kyou fought it for a while unwilling to let the seeping heat relax his guard but finally he too succumbed to sleep.
* * *
He awoke first his eyes fluttering open. He stared into Tooru's sleeping face, feeling completely at peace. Sometime during the night he'd shifted to his other side and she'd shifted to hers so that she lay facing him. Deep even breaths told him that it would still be a while before she woke. He realized his hand was near her curled hand on the pillow and marveled at how close his knuckles were to brushing against hers. Something caught his attention and he found himself looking into the sleepy eyed Yuki on the other side of Tooru. Something in him knew that the other was not completely awake yet and he couldn't rouse himself to glare, the warmth between them completely undoing him. Yuki's eyes were slitted but he wasn't really conscious or aware yet. Like Kyou he'd shifted to face Tooru in his sleep and now stared at her neck with a fall of hair drifting over it. His attention focused on the strands of hair he grasped in his hand. It was so soft. He rolled it between his thumb and forefinger, enjoying the heavy weight of warmth and contentment flowing through him. His gaze shifted and met Kyou's eyes over her shoulder and could tell the delicious heat was flowing through him too. His eyes fell shut and he couldn't trouble himself to open them again drifting back into sleep.
Something crackled in the fire and Kyou looked at the hearth the fire was almost out. He looked to the side of the hearth and realized they were low on firewood. Slipping out from beneath the blankets he made to go out. He heard a small noise as he slipped out of bed and looked back to see that Tooru had curled up, missing his body heat. A little half smile played around his lips and he tucked the blankets around her.
When he returned Honda was up and brewing tea on the hearth, and cooking the last of the rice they'd brought with them. Yuki was still in bed. Honda had piled the rest of the blankets on his slumbering form. She beamed at him as he dropped the wood by the fire. He sat at the crude table they'd cobbled together of old boards and some tall stones.
"Did you sleep well?" She placed a bowl of rice and a mug of tea in front of him.
He blushed and scratched the back of his head. He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat. "Un," he said around a mouthful of rice. His eyes slid away from her smiling face as he remembered how sweet her unguarded sleeping face had been. His eyes rested on Yuki, still sleeping beneath the mound of blankets. "Kuso Nezumi," He muttered, "How lazy."
Tooru followed his gaze and giggled, "Souma-kun isn't a morning person, is he."
"He's going to sleep through breakfast if he doesn't get up soon." Kyou spat, "Oy, Nezumi, wake up!" Yuki stirred but didn't wake. Cursing, Kyou stood and went over to the bed, and nudged him with his toe. "It's getting cold!"
Yuki moved fast, thrusting his arm out from beneath the blankets, knocking Kyou's feet out from beneath him. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes he looked around. He stood and walked past Kyou prostrate on the floor. Sitting at the table he looked blearily at the mug of tea a white faced Tooru placed before him. "Thank you, Honda-san." He coughed a little and took a sip.
"O-o-y, Oy!" Kyou deftly leapt to his feet. His hair stood on end and his eyes were huge. "What do you think you're doing first thing in the morning? You want to get it on?!"
Yuki tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes and feeling heavy limbed, "Baka Neko," he started but was cut off by more coughing. He looked up to see Tooru's face inches from his own.
"Are you alright? Your face is red." She reached out and laid a cool hand across his forehead. Yuki flinched but forced himself not to retreat. "A-haaa! You have a fever!" She looked over Yuki's head at Kyou. Kyou met her eyes and was surprised that he felt the concern he saw mirrored in her eyes. She dropped her hand to Yuki's. "You should get back in bed, under the blankets."
Blushing more from her touch than the fever, Yuki protested wide-eyed, "Unn...No really Honda-san, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired this morning."
Tooru looked up at Kyou again, worry and concern radiating from her. Kyou closed his eyes, and wanting to ease her anxiety found himself speaking, "Go back to bed stupid!" he spat, causing Yuki to look up at him in shock, "K-kuso Nezumi! What are we supposed to do if you get really sick? We can't very well call Hatori can we?" He flushed and looked away from the both of them. Yuki stared at him wide-eyed.
"Un." He closed his eyes and brushed back his hair. "I understand." He finished his tea and went back to the bed on the hearth. He looked up at Kyou and caught his eye, "I'll leave looking for today's food in your hands."
Kyou's back straightened and he nodded, "I'll take care of it." He wheeled on his heel and stalked out of the room. Honda smiled.
* * *
The next day dawned with Yuki fairing no better. His breathing had worsened, and he didn't even attempt to rise from their bed. Honda bathed his forehead with cool cloths, and fretted. Kyou stalked around alternately annoyed at Yuki for worrying them and at himself for worrying at all for that stupid mouse. There wasn't any more rice, and the tea had run out that morning. Tooru had managed to make a soup but sick youth had been unable to drink much of it. Finally Kyou had come to a decision.
"There's a village, not too far down the mountain. We've got a little money; I could go in get some medicine. And some food."
Yuki struggled to sit up, "No, we can't. You're too distinctive. If someone sees you we'll be found. I'll be fine. I just need to rest. We wouldn't have to buy food if you were better at finding it..."
"We're on a mountain, there isn't that much food to find!" Kyou's hair stood on end and his shoulders tightened.
"I didn't have too much trouble," the pale boy goaded, and then began coughing in earnest. Kyou cut off his response as he watched Yuki struggle to breathe. It wouldn't be long till he would weaken so much that he'd transform. He remembered Hatsuharu saying how it would be worse on Yuki if he were in his mouse form.
"Umn..." Tooru spoke timidly. "I could go." Both boys turned to stare at her. "If I wear Kyou's clothes and my hat, no one would even know I was a girl. I could buy some more rice, tea and get some medicine." She turned and spoke earnestly to Kyou, "You stay here and take care of Souma-kun. You can count on me!" Kyou backed up and looked at Yuki for help. Let her go alone? Impossible!
Yuki was surprised at how easily he read Kyou's panicked look. "Honda-san, you don't even know the way." Yuki protested. He looked up at Kyou; "I'll be fine by myself. You take her down to the village, but stay out of sight." The red-haired boy nodded, and put his hooded sweatshirt on. Tugging the hood up he pulled out some clothes for Tooru.
"But-" Tooru started.
"I'll just stay in bed and sleep. I don't need that Baka Neko to sit here and watch me. I can sleep better without him here." He looked up at Kyou and saw that the boy understood there was no malice behind his words. He wondered to himself when exactly that had happened.
Finally Tooru nodded. "Yes, I understand." She tucked Yuki firmly into bed and made sure that he had water nearby. She turned to Kyou, "Lets go."
