Kickout
Part Four: How Much More...
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Fruits Basket. --Insert witty comment
here.--
The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Giver, and The Matrix do not
belong to me, nor do I profit from them.
The references in this chapter were, I thought, fitting, and I also
tried to choose movies and books popular enough that their exposure in
darkness, et al.
course you haven’t been reading this story up ‘til now.
absence of late. I hope I can be more
active now...
Part Four
– How Much More...
“You can’t
seriously tell me you thought ‘The Hobbit’ was a better book than the entire
‘Lord Of The Rings’ trilogy.”
“It
mirth even in the
gloom. “Cleaner storyline, more likeable
characters – after all, at least in ‘The Hobbit’, we actually
Kyo shook his
head, leaning back on his elbows on the cold, hard ground, so that he could
look up, directly into Yuki’s eyes.
“What’s so
likeable about dwarves?” he muttered mutinously, just so he could see Yuki’s
face react accordingly. “And since when
don’t you like messy plotlines? When we
saw The Matrix you were all ‘kickass!’” Kyo paused
for a moment, a mock-pensive look on his face.
“Which I think proves your opinions can’t be trusted,” he finally went
on. “That movie made no sense.”
Though it was
too dark for him to be really certain, Kyo could practically
“The Matrix
made perfect sense, stupid cat,” Yuki
muttered, a hint of normalcy in their currently very un-normal world.
an adult, technologically-oriented version of ‘The Giver’-”
“I could trade
places with you.”
Kyo wasn’t
sure what made him say it, but it was worth it, just to see the indescribable
look on Yuki’s face. (
emotions that the face might’ve been marred – had it not been a face so
beautiful that ugliness of all kinds was transformed by it.)
Though he
could’ve happily gone without the almost-yelling that followed.
“Are you out
of your mind?” Yuki hissed
loudly. “Even if Akito would allow it, which he wouldn’t,” a small, vicious-looking not-smile, “I would
A near-growl,
a darkening of those gorgeous, clear eyes.
“
Yuki’s eyes
were shining, now, twin lights in the darkness, paler than his skin but not as
cold. He looked like he might cry.
And his very
vehemence made something in Kyo’s gut clench and freeze.
(
Sometime
during his outburst, Yuki’s hands had risen to wrap around the bars of his
window, strangling them. His knuckles
were white, so white they practically glowed.
And Kyo... was
somehow drawn to them.
As if from far
away Kyo watched his own hand rise, watched his fingers stretch, descend, reach
to touch that tense skin. Two fingertips
glided over the knuckle of Yuki’s pointer finger, traced over the hard bump
with fingers that trembled and shook (with nerves?
What?!)
unexpected contact, but he would never be really sure.
What he knew
was that it was fascinating, sliding
his touch from finger to finger, feeling silky-smooth flesh tense and un-tense
beneath the brush of his own skin. He’d
forgotten how graceful Yuki could make even the smallest of movements; the play
of a soft night breeze in his hair, the tiny gesture of reaching for a pencil
in class, he made each and every one the picture of loveliness and grace...
hated him.
He yanked his
hand away.
Even more,
now, Yuki appeared on the verge of tears.
Kyo couldn’t
take it; couldn’t handle whatever it was this was.
excuse of a goodbye, he left-
Before
And weep.
(
“Kyo.”
“Kyo?”
“Um, Kyo?
“Kyo?”
Tohru knocked
again, quieter this time, a frown she couldn’t suppress crossing her
features. It was the fifth day in a row
of this, Kyo... locked away (hiding;
even she could tell that) in his bedroom, and she was more than a little
worried...
“Dinner’s
ready, if you’re hungry,” she whispered, hoping her voice carried through the
door. No reason why it shouldn’t,
really; the walls were thin, and as ever, no noise could be heard coming from
inside the room...
In a last
ditch effort, she murmured, “or I could bring you something...?”
Silence was
her only response.
So she turned
away, trying hard not to let herself feel too down, lest anyone waste time and
energy worrying over her. (
so full of love and friends, felt suddenly empty, cold as ice and quiet as the
grave that her mother rested in. God,
she still missed her mother.)
And inside the
room, Kyo buried his face in his hands.
That night, as
with the four before, he did not go to see Yuki again.
to lord it over the rat, but that did not mean the cat could watch the rat
slowly drowning.
There were
some things in life that Kyo just could not submit himself
to willingly. Spending
‘quality time’ with that Yankee friend of Tohru’s, Uo.
in the dark with Tohru’s other
friend, Hana. Listening to Shigure
speak... at all.
And...
It was a good
thing, really, that his face was being smothered by his hands.
It was easier
to hide from the world that way.
Footfalls,
light and hesitant, in the hallway outside his door.
Tohru was returning.
He slid down
in his bed, pulled the sheet over his head and tried to block out all the
little ways he could feel her concern.
Oh yes.
Part Four--