Nekomata

"Maybe some one stole them," Jirou stated, even though he didn't really see how that was possible.

"As if!" Gakuto exclaimed. His voice then dropped down to a conspirational whisper. "You know there's only one way to lose your ears... you know... you have to like, do it."

Gakuto rushed out the last two words of his statement as though it were embarrassing, but Jirou didn't think the other boy looked embarrassed at all. Jirou, on the other hand, thought that he himself might be blushing just a little bit.

"That's crazy!" He whispered back, leaning forward across the cafeteria table. "We're only fourteen! Even sensei still has her ears!"

"Nee-san lost her ears when she was thirteen." Gakuto crossed his arms over his chest, lifting his chin up to appear as wise and knowledgeable as possible. The effect was lost when he started giggling.

Jirou gasped and clutched at his own ears. He couldn't even imagine... even Hazuki still had his ears, and he was in college. "What did your parents do?"

Gakuto's eyes went all big and excited. "They were so mad! They lectured her for hours and then grounded her for a month! But you know..."

Jirou leaned forward even more as Gakuto's voice dropped down lower.

"She said it was totally worth it!" Gakuto broke out giggling again.

"But..." Jirou frowned, moving his hands from his abnormally furry ears to pet his tail. He couldn't imagine what his parents would do if he came home without his tail at this age. They might tell him that they were angry, but more than that they were disappointed, and that would be even worse, and maybe they would even send him off to, like, disciplinary school or something. What if he had to live with juvenile delinquents?

"I wonder what it would be like to lose my ears," Gakuto mumbled, eyes looking off into the distance as he twirled his tail. "I mean, like, Oshitari's an adult now, and he's the same age as us. I feel like a little kid when I look at him."

Jirou blinked. "Who's Oshitari?"

"The new guy!" Gakuto rolled his eyes. "Duh."

Then Gakuto looked off into the distance again, and Jirou wondered if he was thinking of Himiko from class 3-B, who wore pigtails and made really good natto and was even shorter than Gakuto so that they would actually make a really cute couple standing together. Then the bell rang, and Gakuto congratulated him on staying awake through lunch as they scampered back to class.

The Boy Without Ears, as Jirou called him now, stayed at the back of his mind for the rest of the day. Jirou didn't think that he was naïve... he knew that other kids their age were losing their ears all around the world and even in Japan these days... he just didn't think he'd ever see some one at Hyoutei do it. Hyoutei was a good school, with good kids, who came from good families... the whole thing made him a little uncomfortable. Jirou also noticed that wherever Oshitari went, the other students would take a step back and clutch at their ears, and Jirou realized that it was a pretty automatic response... even he did it when he wasn't paying attention, to make sure that they were still safely stuck to the top of his head.

That afternoon at tennis practice Jirou and Gakuto saw Atobe talking to Oshitari through the chain link fence, before the taller boy brushed Atobe off with a hand gesture and walked away. Gakuto ran up to their now-buchou as soon as the earless boy left, Jirou following.

"Atobe! Do you know that guy?"

"Shouldn't you be practicing?" Atobe asked back, bored.

"Come on, Atobe! Tell us! Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Atobe shrugged, though he decided to give Gakuto the information he needed whether than face that incessant whining. "Our families know each other, and I think he might make a good addition to our tennis team."

"That's so not what I wanted to know! The ears, Atobe, why doesn’t he have his ears?"

"I believe that's a personal matter," Atobe responded in an icy, monotonous tone. He never did like gossip. "If you have any questions about that, then I suggest you direct them to Oshitari himself. I also suggest that you get back to practicing before I lose my patience."

Gakuto 'hmmph'ed, but he turned and headed back to the courts. Jirou lingered though, shuffling his feet a little bit as he looked up at Atobe sheepishly.

Atobe sighed, though his tone when he spoke was warmer. "What is it, Jirou?"

"Are you... are you really going to let him on the team? We have enough members."

Atobe raised his eyebrow. This wasn't like Jirou at all. "Jirou, you know we could always use one more, especially when he's so talented. Oshitari has a near-prodigal sense of tennis. You don't have any problems with him, do you?"

Jirou looked down at his feet, and at the racket he was dragging back and forth on the floor. He didn't know how to tell Atobe that Oshitari made him feel... well, uncomfortable, and kind of awkward.

"Jirou, I hope you're not judging him because he doesn't have his ears any more."

Jirou looked up, a little embarrassed, but trying to justify in his head that he wasn't being judgmental, per say. "It's just... never mind... I'm going back to practice now."

Atobe frowned, but he didn't stop Jirou as the other boy headed back to the courts.

That afternoon on the walk home Gakuto couldn't stop talking about Oshitari, and Jirou did his best to drone it out as he daydreamed about tennis and the fact that Atobe said they could play one another tomorrow.

"...I really, really want to talk to him, I mean, I wonder who he like did it with and if it was really good and what it was like and if he was transferred here because he like got some girl pregnant or something and that would be so exciting! Don't you think he's like really really cool and different and..."

It had been awhile since Jirou had gotten to play Atobe, even though Jirou was always asking for a game, because Atobe had his duties and all. It must be hard, Jirou thought, to lead a club with over two hundred members, and try to be fair and encouraging to all of them.

"... wonder what it would be like to lose my ears..."

Jirou stopped and paused. He knew Gakuto had said something like that before, but there was just something about the way he just said it right now... "Gakuto!"

Gakuto stopped in surprise and turned around, noticing that Jirou was almost a whole block behind him. He must have stopped walking awhile ago... Gakuto wondered why he hadn't noticed, but quickly skipped back to where Jirou was.

"You're not..." Jirou was all wide eyed, which meant that something had shocked him, "you're not thinking about losing your ears, are you?"

Gakuto shrugged, wondering why Jirou was making a fuss. "Why not?"

"Why not?" Jirou blinked, confused. What was Gakuto thinking? "Your parents will be sad. And you won't have your ears any more... they'll be gone... forever..."

"Please." Gakuto rolled his eyes. "My parents will be happy I waited a year longer than nee-san. And besides, every one loses their ears eventually."

Jirou didn't like how Gakuto was being so flippant about everything, but there wasn't much more he could say to him about it any way. He hoped Gakuto wouldn't make any rash decisions. The boys said goodbye and Jirou stumbled into his house, kicking his sneakers off as he closed the door.

"Jirou? Is that you? You're just in time to help me set the table."

Jirou frowned. Something about his mother's voice sounded... tense. It was the too polite tone she used with her clients when she was tired and cranky but she still had to be nice. Jirou shuffled into the kitchen, noticing that Azumi was drawing very quietly on the counter, another oddity in his day to day life. When his mother left the room Jirou sidled up to his little sister and whispered to her.

"What's wrong with Mommy?"

Azumi cupped both of her hands around Jirou's left ear and whispered back. "Nothing."

At which point she went back to drawing.

"Why are you being so quiet?" Jirou tried again.

"Mommy told me to. I think she has a headache."

Happy to discover the truth, Jirou made his way to the refrigerator, where he picked out a juice box of artificial orange juice.

"You know," Azumi declared happily, "Hazuki's back home."

That made Jirou smile. "Really?"

"Yup. I think he came to tell us that he's getting married."

Jirou dropped his juice box. "Azumi! How do you know that?"

"It's obvious. He doesn't have his ears any more."

* * *

Jirou stood outside the door to his brother's bedroom. Mostly, he was just shifting from one foot to another, but every so often he would reach out to turn the knob, only to draw his hand back before he could touch it. The dinner they had just eaten had been tense, to say the least. Jirou usually liked it when his brother came home, because dinner would be so much fun, and every one would be happy and talking at the same time, but this time his brother was missing his ears and every one was trying to ignore it and no one was really talking. He guessed his parents weren't going to say anything, since Hazuki was in college now and old enough to make his own decisions, but it must be hard of them to actually know, and he thought they really should at least say something.

Finally, Jirou gathered up enough courage to push the door open, though he still didn't have enough to actually step into the room.

"Umm..." Hazuki was sitting at his desk, and was probably in the middle of studying a textbook, but now he was just looking at Jirou with a curious expression. "Can I help you, Jirou?"

"Well..." Jirou shuffled some more, focusing his eyes on the carpet, because Hazuki just looked really weird without his ears. He didn't look like Hazuki any more. "Azumi thinks you're getting married."

"Jesus." Hazuki tapped his highlighter against the desk, impatient. "Look, Jirou, this is a really awkward thing for me to talk about with you, so what do you say we just don't, okay?"

Hazuki turned back to his work, but Jirou was still standing at the door, looking as though he wanted to come in and close the door.

"Jesus, Jirou, just get the hell in here and close the door."

Grateful, Jirou closed the door and stumbled over to the bed, where he promptly made himself comfortable. "What are you going to tell Azumi?"

Hazuki sighed. "I don't know. Nothing. She'll realize there's no marriage planned soon enough, or she'll forget about it."

"So you're really not getting married?"

"Jirou, you should be old enough that people have sex without any intention of getting married."

Jirou blushed and played with the edge of his brother's pillowcase... he wasn't used to peopled calling It... well... sex. "So... it's like... not that big a deal?"

"Of course n..." Hazuki trailed off, before turning to look at Jirou sharply. "Look, it's not that big a deal for me, because I'm in college and a lot older than you, but it's still a big deal for you, okay? Don't forget that."

Jirou blinked. "Hmm?"

Hazuki eyed him suspiciously, but then just shook his head. "Never mind. It's just that you've got to remember you're young, and you should wait until you're older and completely ready to lose your ears, and when you do lose your ears you have to remember to do it safely."

"Aniki!" Now Jirou was really embarrassed, but he couldn't think as well any more, because being on the bed was making him way too comfortable. "I know that."

"Why so interested, Jirou?"

"It's a big deal." Jirou yawned, then remembered school. "There's a new boy in my class, and he doesn't have any ears either."

Jirou could see Hazuki narrowing his eyes through his eyelashes. "What? At your age?"

"Yeah... I was... sur... prised... ... "

"Jirou." Hazuki stood up and walked towards the bed, reaching a hand down to ruffle Jirou's hair. "Stay away from him, okay?"

"Hmmm."

"Kids like that are trouble. You can't hang out with such a bad influence."

Hazuki rubbed at Jirou's ears, and for a moment missed his own, but the moment passed quickly enough. Jirou was asleep. Hazuki smiled and went back to studying... he knew, at least, that he didn't have to worry about Jirou coming home earless and tailless one day.

The next day Jirou was slightly disturbed to find that Oshitari had in fact decided to join the tennis club, and Mukahi was following him around like he was some kind of idol.

A week later, they were already doubles partners, and had taken to calling one another by their first names.

The tennis season passed uneventfully, except for the part where they actually lost to Seigaku during the tournament. Still, Jirou finally got to meet that prodigy Tezuka was so taken with (Atobe not so much any more, having found some girl named Ann to occupy himself with), and Fuji was, like, super cool and had some really awesome moves. Jirou really wanted to play him again some day. Gakuto and Oshitari got closer, as did Gakuto and Himiko, and Jirou didn't really interact with Oshitari at all. So, in short, things were almost back to normal, and Jirou settled into finishing his third year, and continued to spend the majority of his time falling asleep wherever he could.

Apparently, Jirou was to find out, Rikkai's Kirihara also made a habit of falling asleep in public spaces, though he did it exclusively on buses, trains, and other moving vehicles. Maybe it was the motion, or the constant bumps in the road that lulled him to sleep, but one afternoon as he was on his way to practice (after having skipped classes for a doctor's appointment) he found himself in Tokyo. What’s more, he found himself very near to Hyoutei, and soon saw Akutagawa Jirou walking up the street towards him.

The blond blinked once, then twice, then rubbed his eyes before realizing that it was Kirihara. He shuffled his way up to him, surprised that Kirihara had the patience to wait for him when he looked like he wanted to bolt and run. Maybe Yukimura and Yanagi's tact, or Yagyuu's manners, had rubbed off on him.

"How come you don't have a babysitter today?" Kirihara half-mumbled, more curious than mean. It sounded to Jirou as though Kirihara were almost always half mumbling.

"What about you?"

The two boys stared at each other for a little bit, before Kirihara broke out into a huge grin, eyes squished up into little half circles.

"Saa! You caught me! I came to cause some trouble for Hyoutei."

"But... we're not in the tournaments any more. Seigaku already beat us."

Some awkward staring and a phone call to Marui later, Jirou was holding Kirihara's hand as he dragged him down the street, towards a large shiny building nestled between a Thai restaurant and a toy store.

"I don't need a babysitter," Kirihara kept whining, trying to tug his hand out of Jirou's grasp. "I'm not a baby. Every one always treats me like I'm so little, but I'm only half a year younger than Yukimura-buchou."

"But Yukimura's not always causing trouble like you are."

"It's not my fault things happen when I'm around." Kirihara looked up, trying to read the store sign as Jirou pulled him through the automatic door. The glass closed with a soft buzzing noise the second Kirihara stepped into the store, causing him to jump forward a little and then glare back at the door in annoyance. Content that the door had learned its lesson, Kirihara looked around the room, and the large white machines that littered the floor and walls made it clear exactly where they were. "Why are we at a laundromat?"

Jirou only pulled him further into the store, past the middle-aged women and random college students. He stopped in front of one machine and jiggled part of it, causing the coin compartment to fly open.

Kirihara gasped. He did some pretty bad things sometimes, like purposely trying to hurt others, but he didn't steal. "Are you stealing?"

"Don't worry about it. It's my machine; my parents own this place." Jirou packed handfuls of quarters into his pockets before closing the compartment. Then he gestured to a row of arcade machines in the back that Akaya hadn't seen. "Wanna play?"

"Your family owns the '24 Hour Super Sparkly Clean' laundromats?"

Jirou beamed, though he worried a little about Kirihara's horrible pronunciation of the English words. "Yup."

"Wow." Kirihara was in awe. "When our washing machine's broke we go to the one near our house."

They wasted their quarters on racing and fighting games, more so of the latter, and Kirihara won more than he lost, a fact of which he loved to declare very loudly for the whole store to hear. Jirou was actually having some fun with Rikkai's second year, though something started tugging at the periphery of his senses. Too lost in the colors and motions on the screen in front of him, he didn't actually think anything was different until he became aware of Kirihara tugging on his tail.

"Akutugawa-san, wake up."

Jirou gazed at Kirihara through squinted eyes, wondering why Kirihara had moved so close to him, and why he looked so unnerved and just a little bit scared, and then saw that he was staring at something behind Jirou.

"I said," came a vaguely familiar, thoroughly amused voice, "how nice to run into you here, Jirou."

Jirou looked up to see a pair of glasses and the still very odd sight of a Hyoutei uniform with no ears to match. He wanted to be offended that Oshitari was calling him by his given name, but then every one called him by his given name. He might not have liked Oshitari, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be nice. If it was one thing that Jirou's mother could be proud of, it was that Jirou's report card always had the handwritten words "Plays well with others" scribed next to all those Bs and Cs. "Hey, Oshitari."

"And who's your friend?" Oshitari's eyes flickered over to Kirihara, leaning even closer to the younger boy. He was almost nose to nose with him now, and moved his hand to rest a hand on top of Kirihara's curls. Jirou could see that the fur on the second year's ears and tail were standing straight up. "He's really cute."

Kirihara's eyes snapped open all the way at those words, and he tried to bite at Oshitari's hand even as he grabbed onto Jirou and tried to use him as a shield.

Oshitari only chuckled as he straightened up. "Jirou, what are you doing here with Rikkai's baby?"

"I'm not a baby," Kirihara whined, though it was muffled into Jirou's shoulder.

"I'm..." Jirou stopped, knowing that Kirihara wouldn't like the phrasing he was about to use. "We're hanging out. Just until his parents get off work, and then he's going home."

"Straight home," Jirou said again, sending what he hoped was a rather pointed look Kirihara's way. Kirihara seemed to be beaming though... he was probably grateful that Jirou hadn't said "babysitting" or "taking care of".

"Oh."

To Jirou's chagrin, Oshitari sat down on the bench next to them, stretching out his legs and making himself comfortable.

"I was heading home myself, but it'll be nice to have some company. You know, even though we've been in the same class and the same team for awhile now, Jirou, we've never had a conversation before."

Jirou was about to disagree, but then remembered all the times they had "conversed", and realized that they all consisted of polite greetings and day-to-day comments like "Do you have a pencil?" Really, although Oshitari had started sitting next to him in class, he mostly just listened or slept as Oshitari and Gakuto spoke to each other over his head.

"And I've never had the pleasure of being in Kirihara's lovely company at all."

Kirihara huffed and pouted, not knowing what else to do as Oshitari smirked down at him.

"Kirihara doesn't like the be teased," Jirou said, though he more mumbled than spoke that time.

"Tease?" Oshitari's face effected a 'who, me?' type of expression, before he let go a short chuckle, a warm, full sound that made Jirou want to blush. "I don't tease."

"No?" Jirou raised an eyebrow.

"No. I'm, like, a really nice guy."

"Nice guy my ass..." Kirihara muttered behind Jirou's back.

"Gasp!" Oshitari alliterated, his tone one of shock, though he had that snarky smile plastered onto his face. "You don't believe me? And here I came bearing gifts."

"Gifts?" Kirihara bounded out from behind of Jirou, pushing the blonde into the front of the machine, before coming to stand right in front of Oshitari. He seemed to have completely forgotten his teasing from earlier. "What'd you get me?"

"Well," Oshitari opened his back pack, Kirihara leaning forward more and more in anticipation, "I picked them up because my sister had a craving, but it wouldn't hurt to share."

"Pocky!" Kirihara exclaimed as Oshitari's backpack opened to reveal several boxes of the stuff. Jirou's eyes snapped onto the familiar boxes as well... he loved the stuff.

Oshitari handed a box Kirihara before tossing one to Jirou as well. "Mousse Pocky, right? It's your favorite."

"Uh... yeah." Jirou was about to ask how the other boy knew that, when Oshitari's cell rang, playing a tune Jirou was surprised to recognize as 'My Heart Will Go On' from that awful American movie about the sinking ship.

"Hn." A few moments later Oshitari hung up and gathered his backpack. "Looks like I have to go. I'll see you two later."

Kirihara waved cheerfully as Oshitari left, though Jirou just watched.

"I like him," Kirihara announced after the other boy left. "Even if he does talk with that stupid accent."

"Accent?" Jirou blinked, confused, before remembering all the things Oshitari had said to him in the past. Kirihara was right. He wondered how he didn't notice that Oshitari spoke in Kansai-ben before. "Then there's the fact that he was flirting with you, and that he has no ears."

Kirihara blushed a little at that, and Jirou had to admit he looked pretty cute trying to eat several sticks of Pocky at once with his cheeks tinged pink. "I don't think he was really flirting."

Kirihara opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. When he finally decided to tell Jirou whatever it was that he was deciding to say, his voice came out in a rushed giggle, so Jirou didn't exactly understand what he said.

"Huh?"

Kirihara looked around in both directions before leaning down to whisper it into Jirou's ear. "Yanagi-sempai told me that we could lose our ears together."

Kirihara then stood up and spoke louder, clarifying. "But I think he was only teasing."

Jirou couldn't help noticing that Kirihara looked extremely pleased with himself.

Summer came soon enough, and with summer came summer break, which meant trips out on Atobe's yacht and to the beach. Jirou couldn't have been more relieved... ever since Oshitari's arrival at Hyoutei, all the talk had been about ears, and students who had started showing up without theirs, much to the dismay of the school board. There were also rumors flowing in from other schools, and Jirou was looking forward for a time when they could just fish and relax and play videogames and sleep and not have nightmares about weird cats with Kansai accents trying to chew off his ears.

"Did you hear about Shishido?" Gakuto glomped on to Jirou's arm as they stepped onto Atobe's yacht. Gauging from his excitement, Jirou guessed that either something bad or something really big happened to him.

"No."

"He lost his ears!" Gakuto shouted. "Man, I'm so jealous! I wish I could lose my ears already!"

"Gakuto!" Jirou half-shouted, but Gakuto had started rambling on about ears and Shishido and how Ohtori, who still had his ears, was really depressed about the whole thing. Realizing his best friend forever wouldn't shut up for awhile, Jirou only sighed and shuffled along.

"Mukahi."

All it took was one word from Atobe and Gakuto closed his mouth with a snap.

"Kabaji, my bags?"

"Usu."

Jirou and Gakuto stumbled out of the way as Kabaji walked past them, going to retrieve the bags that Atobe had left on the pier.

"Ne, Atobe," Jirou drawled, grabbing Atobe's arm. Things were always easier when he had something or some one to lean on. "Who's here?"

"Well, besides you two and Kabaji, Tezuka is here. As is Oshitari. And I believe that is every one who will be joining us today."

Jirou clung tighter as they made their way to the main room, knowing that he was dragging his feet and slowing Atobe down. As long as Atobe didn't say anything about it, though, he wasn't going to stop. When they got to the room Tezuka only bowed his head minutely in greeting, while Oshitari smiled at them over the glass of soda he was drinking. Jirou always thought Tezuka looked a lot older than his years, but sitting next to Oshitari with his fuzzy brown ears made him look almost like a kid.

All participants boarded, it didn't take long until they reached a rather isolated section of the river. It was all blue underneath mist, and Jirou couldn't see the shore past the fog. It was, he admitted, a nice place to cast their lines, even if every one did expect him to fall asleep while waiting for the fish to bite. He never shared Atobe's fondness for fly fishing, an interest Atobe had passed on to Tezuka, though he didn't hate it either. He liked the quiet, and the boat as it lulled back and forth, and the snores that came from Gakuto as the redhead sunbathed.

As he fished, the mist gathered in the distance, coming closer and closer, until he swore he could see the condensation right in from of him. Little drops of water, too round and tiny to be rain, but he could see details and colors in every single one of them. One of them was every shade of blue. Another had holes cut out of it in intricate design, like the lace that lined his mother's old wedding dress, shaped into a ball. Another still was a metallic gold, opaque and heavy and struggling to stay afloat, and another kept turning itself inside out and then outside in again, with a loud splash-

"Jirou."

Jirou blinked up at Atobe's voice, then looked down to see his hands clutched around air instead of his fishing pole. He could hear Gakuto snickering, and could see Oshitari smiling behind Atobe.

"Jirou, wake up. Your fishing pole fell into the river."

"Oh." Jirou yawned and stretched out, feeling really guilty. "Sorry."

"It's just a fishing pole," Atobe said, allowing himself to smile at Jirou's antics, even though he didn't want to encourage the boy's bad habits. "It's not as though I can't buy another."

Atobe reached down to help Jirou up and the group of them stumbled back into the yacht, where Jirou could see Kabaji had uncovered the television screen.

"Movies?" Jirou asked, still half asleep and knowing that the next activity did not bode well for his narcolepsy.

"Duh." Marui rolled his eyes. "Yuushi picked some out."

As soon as he touched the sofa, Jirou was out like a light. He woke up to sounds of sniffling, and looked around the room. It was empty except for Oshitari, who was blowing his nose on a tissue. His eyes looked suspiciously wet.

"Are you okay?" Jirou asked, his concern for others far outweighing any antagonistic feelings he had for the earless boy.

"Yeah," Oshitari's voice was shaky, "it's just that this is the part where she finds out that he was in love with her the whole time, except it's too late to do anything about it. I tear up every time I see it."

Jirou frowned. Oshitari was talking about a romance movie? No wonder every one else had left. "It's just a movie."

"Yeah." Oshitari moved his glasses to the top of his head and wiped his eyes. "But it's like, moving, you know? True love and all that. Don't you think so?"

Jirou looked at the screen, where a young actress was clutching a photograph to her chest. "So you really like romance movies."

"I love them." Oshitari shifted closer to Jirou on the couch, right next to him now. "There's just something about love stories that really touch me."

"Really?" Jirou had to lean back against the couch to look up at the Oshitari, they were so close together. "What do you like about them?"

Oshitari moved his arm to rest on the back of the couch, his jacket sleeve just touching Jirou's curls. "Everything. I love the part where the couple gets together, all the trials they have before that. My favorite part is the love confession."

"Confession?"

Oshitari nodded. "Liking some one, and wanting to let that person know it. You understand that much, don't you, Jirou?"

Jirou nodded, thinking back on all the girly romance movies he had managed to stay awake through. Now Oshitari's face was moving toward him, and Jirou thought, what exactly is he doing? Even when Oshitari's lips were pressed against his, Jirou was thinking how big and funny Oshitari's face looked so close up to his. Then, after a moment, what was happening finally registered in his head. They were kissing. Oshitari was stealing his first kiss.

Jirou gasped and pushed Oshitari away, fumbling over the back of the couch to land on the floor.

"Jirou?" Oshitari blinked at him, confused.

"I can't..." Jirou moved his fingers to his lips. "... I can't... I can't believe you just did that!"

Not knowing what else to do, Jirou stood up and ran out of the room. He had to find Atobe.