Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Black & White Heart ❯ The Cutest Thing ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: The Cutest Thing

"WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?!" screamed Kyo, as Yuki decided jumping out of the bed was probably a bad idea now he had an audience and simply dived back under the covers.

"Sleeping," said Haru calmly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed revealing the fact that he himself was at least not naked, much to everyone's relief. Although Shigure made a mental note to remember for future bribery the black boxer shorts he was wearing with the cartoon style rat print on the front.

"Can everyone please just leave my room?" came a muffled embarrassed voice form under the bed covers.

Haru smiled and leaned back on one elbow, poking the lump under the covers with his other hand, "Aww Yuki, there's no sense in hiding our love anymore."

"Everyone out!" Yuki practically demanded, feeling angry with embarrassment and purposely ignoring Haru's stupid remark!

There was another silent pause before Shigure burst out laughing and ran off down the hallway holding his stomach, followed by Kyo who dragged a stunned Tohru by the wrist away from the scene at the door, her wide eyes not even blinking.

As Yuki's door slowly drifted shut, Haru turned to look back at Yuki, "How is it-"

"That means you too Haru."

Haru blinked.

"Get out."

Okay, so Yuki was angry.

Haru slowly rose from the bed and grabbed his black duffle bag from the floor. Taking one glance back at the top of Yuki's head that was poking out from under the covers, and feeling suddenly guilty for making fun of the situation, walked through the door and shut it behind him.

-----

Tohru knelt polishing the table not quite sure of what to make of Haru, as she watched him sitting on the porch staring out into the surrounding forest. No one had said a word to him when he had walked down the stairs, although Kyo made a point of looking at him revolted for a moment before walking out the door and onto the roof.

Shigure had disappeared as well, to where no one knew but his coat was missing from the stand so Tohru guessed he had just gone for a walk, perhaps to calm down in his case. She looked up as Haru suddenly walked through the porch door and shut it behind him, shivering slightly in the early winter air and headed to the kitchen.

Tohru decided this atmosphere really wasn't comfortable so shot up from her space on the floor, "Haru-"

"Nothing happened." Haru answered the un-asked question. He turned his head to look at her, "I shouldn't worry, I fell asleep and I guess Yuki was just hiding under the covers in his Rat form."

Tohru looked at him shortly then smiled sweetly, "It's okay, it's doesn't matter."

Haru smiled sadly and turned away again. Tohru just watched his back as he stood there looking at nothing in particular. "I didn't mean to make fun of that." He said, lowering his head slightly, "I guess for just one split second my brain wanted to believe that we were actually together, finally telling everyone else about us. I know that sounds really stupid, I guess I annoy myself when I do it. I know very well that Yuki doesn't like me the way I like him, even though he knows exactly how I feel, as does everyone else," he laughed dryly, "Still, I felt so alive when I woke up this morning, I didn't know why Yuki was suddenly there, all I know is that I was really glad he was. I love him. I don't care who knows. I tell him all the time, but I get the feeling he just thinks I'm joking and brushes me aside. It hurts me yes, but I can understand why he does it. I just sometimes wish that, even if he never says it in return, if I say to him 'I love you', if he would just smile at me. He wouldn't have say or do anything, just smile, just to let me know that he knows."

Tohru looked lovingly at Haru now. He must have wanted to say that for so long, and now he's finally been able to tell someone. "I think it's sweet," she said softly, "the way you don't mind what people think of your love." Haru turned around slowly to face her, "If you love someone you should always let them know how you feel. Like my mum, she always said that she loved me, and I always felt so happy when she said it. To know that there was someone out there who would miss me if I went away, or to hug me when I came home, something like that, it's such a nice feeling." Haru watched her closely, listening to every word, "That's what I miss most about my mum," Tohru said, suddenly becoming a little more sombre, "I miss those words, so simple, 'I love you', but to not here it for such a long time, you don't realise until it's gone how much you took that love for granted, how much it affected you at the time, even if you didn't realise it." Tohru stared in a daze at the wall remembering before suddenly snapping out of her trance and looking at Haru right in the eyes, fists clenched in excitement, "So I think it's really good that you like Yuki like that, I just know that he does appreciate it really, even if he won't admit it yet!" she grinned.

Haru simply gazed at her then his rather surprised eyes softened, "They're right you know."

"Hmm?" Tohru blinked.

"There really is something special about you."

Tohru simply blushed in return, "Oh, I don't know about that."

Haru smiled warmly at her, "And you are right, maybe I should keep trying," he said, looking towards the stairs that Yuki still hadn't walked down from this morning. He glanced back at Tohru, "You don't mind do you?"

"Mind?"

"How I feel about Yuki."

Tohru smiled sweetly, "Of course not."

Haru stood there for a moment, before suddenly glaring at her. Walking right up to her he stood only a few inches apart, nose to nose. He looked at her eyes carefully; he didn't like people laughing behind his back. Seeing there was nothing but truth, he smiled, "Good."

Walking away, Haru walked into the kitchen where he was heading in the first place, leaving a blushing Tohru to fall back to the floor and polish the table in a daze.

She only vaguely registered Shigure's camera wasn't lying there anymore.

-----

"Well, I'm off then!" Tohru exclaimed, as she wrapped her scarf around her neck and opened the front door.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Haru offered.

"Oh no, no, I'm fine." She said, waving her hands in front of her, "You stay here to make sure Yuki is okay if he comes down. I do hope he'll come down for dinner though," she added sadly, "I should get him something special while I'm shopping".

With that she smiled pleasantly and walked through the door off to do her shopping for the weekend.

The house was now pretty quiet, with Kyo presumably still on the roof and Yuki presumably still in his room. Haru, with nothing else better to do for the moment, decided to resort to the dreaded time waster that was homework.

-----

It had been nearly an hour since Tohru had left, and Shigure and Kyo still hadn't returned home. Haru sat on the floor with papers spread out over the table looking exceedingly bored. He had debated several times a minute for the past hour whether or not to go up to Yuki and see if he was all right, when suddenly that said person walked off the last few steps of the stairs and into Haru's vision. When Yuki saw Haru sitting there he froze like a deer in headlights, his cheeks reddening in seeing the person he had just spent the last who knows how many hours thinking about.

"Hey," Haru said carefully, only looking at him through the corner of his eye before lowering his head and trying to think of an answer to his homework to distract him.

Yuki stood there with his heart rate going through the roof before walking evidently more rapidly past Haru into the Kitchen not taking a single look at him. Haru stared at his work sheets with not a single educational thought going though his brain. His pen was paused at the beginning of a blank piece of paper but his mind was completely empty.

Something had changed.

This wasn't the comfortable kind of friendship he had always shared with Yuki since that day. Something had changed. If we were just friends, why would he feel embarrassed? Haru sat up straighter and risked a glance into the kitchen. Yuki walked past the door inside the kitchen to the other side and Haru found a small smile curling his lips. You only ever blush if you like someone. You only ever avoid someone if you liked them. That makes no sense. Haru considered this thought for a moment before mentally shrugging and telling his brain to Shutup.

He rose from the floor and walked into the Kitchen. Yuki stood by the stove, staring absent-mindingly at the kettle as he waited for it to boil. His back was turned to him so Haru quietly took a cup from the drying rack and walked up behind him.

"Enough water in there for two?" Yuki turned his head sharply in momentary shock as Haru just stood there a few feet away by the counter next to him smiling, "I presume your making tea?"

"Err, yes." Yuki said, looking back at the kettle with a faint blush on his cheeks.

Haru was about to place his cup on the counter when noticed that there was already two cups there with two tea bags all ready and waiting. Haru could have grinned if not for the awkward situation. Looks like Yuki wasn't mad at him anymore, or at least not as much.

Can't this thing boil any faster? Thought Yuki half angrily, he could have sworn Haru had just nudged a little closer.

Ok Haru admitted, he was enjoying this in some peculiar way, for it just simply proved his point more. He was inching ever so slightly closer to Yuki. Yuki didn't move, but he kept quickly glancing at him through the corner of his eye. Haru now stood right next to him, not saying a word. Yuki had found his eyes were now just staring wide at the kettle, realising he was holding his breath but not attempting to breathe anyway. Haru turned his head slightly and smiled slyly. He knew he probably shouldn't be feeling this right now, he needed to explain to Yuki he didn't know he was in the bed when he went to sleep, but seeing him so jittery around him just made him want to hug him.

Hug him? Haru's sly little smile became a little wider.

The Kettle finally, after what seemed like years of waiting, whistled its conformation of its contents nice and boiled. Yuki grabbed the handle just as Haru decided to wrap his arms around his waist and pull his back right up against him.

"Haru!!"

Yuki spun around to get out of Haru's grasp, unintentionally taking the kettle with him. Flinging that said Kettle right around and finding half way through it was actually very hot, flung it away from him as Haru wrestled him to ground.

"Well I'm back, I got someth-- AHHH!" Shigure, who had just walked through the kitchen door, had an eye line of a kettle flying straight towards him and ducked just in time to have it crash into the wall and spray the boiling hot water all over Shigure's Kimono. "AHH, HOT!" Shigure screamed, running out of the Kitchen stripping down as he went, "HOT! HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT-"

As he reached for the door handle to run outside into the small stream just around the corner, the door was opened as Kyo and Tohru stood there carrying shopping bags. The two stood there wide-eyed at Shigure whose hand just let go of the one remaining piece of cloth that fell to the ground.

……..

……..

……..

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS HOUSE??? EVERYONE'S GOING AROUND NAKED!!!!"

Kyo grabbed Tohru and covered her eyes dragging her into the Kitchen. As he let go of her away from Shigure, they both now found that the kitchen was already occupied….

…By a Black Haru currently trying to strip a struggling Yuki on the Kitchen floor.

"Let go of me!" Yuki shouted, as Haru had him pinned to the floor with a rather insane grin on his face.

"You're not getting away now!!" he laughed maniacally, as he flipped him onto to his front and literally tried to tear off his shirt off his back.

"HOT!!" came Shigure's voice, who seemed to have remember he had boiling water split over him, who Kyo saw run stark naked out the door.

"Ummm…" began Tohru, slowly pointing at the pair in front of them not sure what to do, before Kyo grabbed her again and covered her eyes with his hand, dragging her away from the Kitchen.

"Is there anywhere safe in this damn house!?"

-----

"Well I have to say Haru, I expect Yuki is very glad you don't do that at school."

Now it was Haru's turn to feel extremely embarrassed, as he, Shigure, Tohru and Yuki sat around their table with the nice chilly air filling the room from the huge hole in the paper door. It appeared that by the time Haru had started on Yuki's pants, Yuki had definitely had enough of Haru's behaviour and kicked him straight through the door.

"Yes it does appear that throwing people through my door and onto the porch is one of Yuki's favourite defences." Shigure continued, picking some codfish up with his chopsticks.

Haru didn't say a word. He really didn't want to be there with everyone else at that point, especially not with the person sitting next to him who was…smiling? Haru raised his head to look at Yuki, the winter afternoon sun shining through the hole in the door making his profile seem to glow.

"Haru?"

Haru shook his head slightly and realised that Yuki had turned to look at him and had just asked him something, "Sorry what was that?"

"I said I'm sorry."

Haru blinked. Yuki was sorry?

"No, you shouldn't be the one who's sorry. I went way to far this time and I apologise." Haru said, avoiding Yuki's gaze in guilt, really wishing that he did not have his Black personality.

"Well, I apologise for over reacting this morning." Said Yuki, "When I thought about it afterwards, there was no way you could have known I was in my bed then. Right after I ran out the bathroom I just stayed under the covers, but being so small being in my Rat form you couldn't have known. It wasn't your fault, it was mine for reacting like that."

"No it's my fault." Haru persisted now looking right back at Yuki, Shigure watching rather amused at the apologising tennis match, "I had no excuse at all to do that to you afterwards. I was trying to apologise for this morning but then I turned Black and, I'm just really sorry."

There was a pause where the two just looked each others eyes, silently accepting each other's apology, before Yuki realised this and quickly averted his gaze back to the table, that blush creeping unwillingly back onto his cheeks.

"Awwww, now isn't that just the cutest thing?" said Shigure clasping his hands together by his cheek.

Oh right, he was here, they both thought together.

Tohru just smiled. Things were looking up again for Haru.

To Be Continued…