Dawn

Yuri wanted to die. Well maybe not die exactly, perhaps it wouldn’t be too terrible to be swallowed alive by the floor. Or perhaps melt away through the floorboards as a pile of goo and reassemble himself later. Or maybe-

“Yuri? Are you going to dance with me or not?” The girl in front of him asked. From the way she was standing with her hands on her hips and the fact that he could hear Murata’s muffled laughter behind him, Yuri had the sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t the first time the girl (Nahoko?) had asked him that question.

“Ahh-Right!” Yuri tried to respond with a smile and enthusiasm. He only hoped that the smile he was forcing didn’t look too much like a grimace.

“Why are you making that face Yuri? Are you going to be sick? Do you need to see the nurse?” the girl asked, her voice sounding loud and shrill in the suddenly quiet gym.
Yuri groaned, he only hoped-no, that thought was dashed as he heard Murata dissolve into gales of uproarious laughter. Maybe death wouldn’t be so bad after all; Murata’s.

“No-no I’m fine Nahoko.” He tried to reassure her.

The girl stepped away abruptly, all but radiating icy displeasure. “My name is Micheiro.” Her voice came as a shrill huff just before she turned to stalk away.

Murata came up along side Yuri to slap him on the shoulder with another bark of laughter. “Oh my, your highness, you really are the charmer!”

“Ken-“ Yuri’s strangled plea came just as the music and noise picked up again inside the gymnasium. Yuri could see the rest of the girls in the planning group gather the remaining boys from their class to again try and demonstrate the dance they were supposed to be learning for their performance. He turned to follow Ken as he led them both towards the back door of the gym for an escape.

Later that night as Yuri lay in bed after having excused himself from the family dinner he thought about how earlier when the girl, Micheiro, had been asking him to dance all he could see was Yozak the first time he had seen him in women’s clothing, standing in front of him on the deck of a ship about to be attacked by pirates asking him to dance. Yuri shook himself. This was crazy. He needed sleep, he needed to stop thinking about them, he needed to-go to the bathroom.

After returning to his room Yuri stretched out under the covers of his bed and stared up at the ceiling overhead. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, picturing himself on the field behind the plate watching the pitcher as he readied his first pitch. He blocked out all thoughts that didn’t pertain to this picture and concentrated solely on it; the field, the smell of sweat and nerves and leather, the heat of the sun as it beat down, the warm-up motions of the pitcher in front of him, the wind-up the toss, the ball coming at him and then-blackness.

He could feel the softness of the sheets under him. The air around his body was cool, not unpleasantly so, just enough to make the warmth at his side comfortable. He shifted and felt the mattress give as he turned to his side. He reached out his hand and felt the silky bunch of lace as he wrapped his arm around the body beside him. He pulled closer and nuzzled his face into the crook where neck meets shoulder as it lay beside him on the pillow.

He breathed in and the familiar scent of cinnamon and evergreen met his nose. He smiled and snuggled closer. His hand drifting down to explore the soft curve of hip as it dipped into waist. He heard the gentle sigh of his bedmate as his fingers slowly stroked up the play of ribs and moved around to glide against the fabric covered chest. Skirting over muscles trapped in satin Yuri’s hand finally found its home against the center of the chest, close enough to feel the reassuring thud of a friendly heartbeat. He smiled and drew the chest back against him sheltering the gentle form in the curve of his own body.

“Mmm-Yuri.” The sleepy rasp of tenor washed over Yuri’s skin.

He jolted awake with a start, his breath coming in great gusts as he looked down finding himself alone in his bed. He looked around the room seeing his closet, desk and the familiar baseball posters lining his walls. He saw form his alarm clock that he only had a few minutes before he needed to dress for school. He shook his head before collapsing back into bad with a groan. He ground the heels of his hands into his eyes as if to try and scrub away the sight of a creamy nape and gilded curls.

As he was still trying to erase his latest dream from his mind the ringing blare of his alarm sounded right next to his ear. In a wave of frustration his hand shot out and slapped the alarm off of the top of his bed stand and across the room. As its cord was ripped from the wall the alarm was silenced and made only a dull thud as it hit the wall and fell to the floor shattered, leaving behind a small dent in the drywall where it had hit.

Yuri looked at the dent dispassionately and then glanced out of his bedroom window. In a distracted part of his mind he belatedly knew that he was looking for the “bad omen” bird to be flying by at any time. After all, it really didn’t bode well for him to leave bed this morning. The day was already starting off on a particularly bad note.

“Yuri! Mama has breakfast ready for you!” his mother’s voice chirped from the hallway.

After jumping into clothes he grabbed his school jacket from the back of the desk chair where it hung and loped across the room to the door. He left his bedroom and made a quick trip to the bathroom to splash some water on his face before heading downstairs to the kitchen. He plopped into an empty chair at the table and watched as his mother, whose back was turned, dished up a plate of breakfast curry. When she turned to set the plate before him he noticed a slight widening of her eyes before she took a seat next to him. ‘Strange,’ he thought, ‘this is the first time in weeks she hasn’t mentioned that my breakfast is fit for a demon king.’

“Yuri, are you okay? You know it’s all right to tell Mama if you’re not feeling well; neh?” Jennifer eyed her son with a worried gaze.

Yuri felt a shock of surprise run through him. “What do you mean? I feel fine. In fact I’m great! Ha-ha. Why do you ask?” Yuri tried to brush off his discomfort with a sickly chuckle.

“Because, idiot, you’re pale as a ghost; you look like you haven’t slept in a week; and you’re dressed in your school uniform.” Shori’s voice sounded right behind Yuri as he stepped up to the table.

“Argh!” Yuri jumped and turned to glare at his brother. “Why do you always have to slink up on me!” he accused. “Besides, why shouldn’t I be dressed?” he tacked on as an afterthought.

“Because it’s Sunday, and Dad made arrangements to take you and I golfing with Bob.”

“Oh! Right.” His hand came up to scrub at the center point in his forehead where he could suddenly feel a pounding ache. “I’ll go and-change then, I guess.” Yuri pushed aside his breakfast and walked back upstairs, leaving the room in a distracted state.

Shori gave his mother a look and seeing her return it with a slight nod, he turned and followed his brother up the stairs. When Yuri entered his room, Shori again followed him through and closed the door behind him. He took a seat in Yuri’s desk chair and watched as his brother started to unbutton his jacket. He took a painful breath and decided he should speak up and let his brother know that he was here before Yuri became too distracted.

“Yuri.”

This time there was no squeak of surprise only a jump as Yuri turned to see him sitting in his room. He sighed and took a seat on the bed facing his brother. “Shori.” He returned.

“What’s wrong Yuri? What’s the problem?”

“I don’t-“

“Cut the crap!” Shori’s voice rose and he pinned his brother with a gimlet glare.

Yuri looked away to stare at the small disfigured knitted plushie that sat in a place of prominence on his bookshelf. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, Shori. I don’t know if I’m back to being me now or if I’m-“ Yuri broke off. “I just-I’m having a hard time figuring out what I should be doing here now that’s all. I fine really.” He looked back at his brother and tried to smile.

“You miss them.” Shori stated.

“Yeah, I miss them.” Yuri gave a shrug and felt the rest our out of him, “I miss everyone. I miss waking up and not hearing traffic outside my window. I miss being able to ride a horse. I miss sailing away and seeing new places and people. I miss waking up and knowing that what I’m doing is making a difference, making things better for people. I just miss it, you know?” Yuri turned pleading eyes to his brother.

“When you were there did you miss us?” Shori gave voice to his secret question and watched as Yuri jerked back with a look of shock.

“Of course I did! Don’t be ridiculous. I missed Mom’s cooking and-“

Shori cut him off with a wave, “Do you miss nearly being killed? Or how about being used in someone else’s political games and intrigue, huh? Do you miss that?” his voice was cold and harsh and accusing.

“Shori-wha-?” Yuri shook his head as if to clear it and then looking gently at his older brother, “Shori, you are my family. Here in this house in this world you are my family. But even in Shin Makoku you were still my family, still my brother. I never forgot that. I never wanted to forget that. I never will forget that. But as king, I also had a country. A country full of people.” He looked up through his eyelashes to give Shori a considering stare.

“I know that Bob is training you to succeed him. Even though it’s something he wants; do you think that it will be easy for him to go from being king, the only one responsible for all the demons here, to merely being Bob? If one day you hand over the rein to someone else; do you think it will be easy for you to do as well? You, the one who doesn’t even like to give up control of your computer long enough to share it so that I can finish my homework? Be honest Shori, it’s a big adjustment.”

Shori considered Yuri’s speech. “Why did you leave if this is how you feel? Knowing that you couldn’t ever go back; what made you walk away from it all?"