Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Ebony and Ivory ❯ The Great Pretender ( Chapter 24 )

A/N: You're probably mad at me now… I know I kind of set it up that everything would turn out fine at the end of that last chapter, didn't I? But realistically, Yuki isn't ready to defy Akito to her face. Gomen! *dodges flame-throwers

 

 

CHAPTER 24: The Great Pretender

 

Kyo was worried about Yuki. It had been two days since his meeting with Akito. He had seemed a little distant since then, and hadn't shown much interest in their usual activities. Kyo had convinced him to spar the day before, but Yuki had finished it more quickly than usual, and had been more violent than he normally was. Almost as though he were irritated at something. After that, Kyo had given him his space for the rest of the day. Now Kyo waited for him to wake up, hoping that they might be able to patch things today. He smiled when he saw Yuki come down. “Morning.”

 

“Hi,” Yuki mumbled. He didn't smile back. He probably wasn't awake enough yet.

 

Kyo went to the refrigerator. He looked in the side. He felt a surge of irritation. “There's no milk!” he said.

 

“Oh… I'm sorry,” Tohru said. “I used the rest of it in this recipe… I forgot.”

 

“What kind of stupid recipe requires using up the rest of the milk?” Kyo muttered. “At least we should have back-up.”

 

“Yes… I'm sorry.”

 

“Kyo, will you knock it off?” Yuki said. “Get off her back. She bends over backwards for you half the time, and you're getting upset over a glass of milk? Go to the store and get some if you want it so badly.” He looked away, clearly very irritated.

 

Kyo furrowed his brow in confusion. Yuki didn't usually get this aggravated. “Sheesh, what's with you?” he asked.

 

“What's with me? I'm not doing anything. You're the one who keeps snapping over every little thing.”

 

Kyo put down the glass of water he had poured himself. “You got a problem or something?”

 

“There's nothing wrong with me,” Yuki said, almost primly.

 

“Whatever,” Kyo said, sitting at the table.

 

“Does everyone like breakfast?” Tohru asked, bringing it to the table.

 

“It looks delicious Honda-san,” Yuki said with a smile. “Thank you.” His voice dripped with self-righteousness. Kyo gritted his teeth, but decided to ignore it. Yuki had clearly gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, and if they fought now it would make it that much more difficult to smooth things over in the afternoon.

 

“It does look good,” Kyo agreed. “Thank you.”

 

“Good morning,” Shigure said, coming in. “Ah, I see that Tohru-kun has once again honored us with one of her delicious breakfasts! In that case, itadakimasu.”

 

“Itadakimasu,” the others agreed, and they ate.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Kyo sat by Yuki that afternoon at school. Yuki had seemed a bit distant from everyone during the first half of the day, and Kyo was anxious to try and cheer him up. “How's it going?” he asked.

 

“Fine.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“I'm fine. Stop prying into my business.”

 

Kyo was a little taken aback. “Sorry.”

 

Yuki sighed. “Whatever.” The others began to join them. “I hope you've apologized to Honda-san,” Yuki commented.

 

“What?” Kyo thought. “Oh… about the milk?” Yuki was still on that? “Um, I haven't gotten a chance.” Just then, Tohru sat down. “Hey, sorry for getting upset about the milk this morning,” Kyo said to her.

 

“Oh… it's okay. Thank you!”

 

Kyo smiled back, then tentatively glanced over at Yuki. Yuki rolled his eyes. Kyo raised his eyebrows, and didn't attempt further conversation. Maybe Yuki was still stressed out about Akito. After all, that had been Saturday, and it was only Tuesday now. He decided to give his cousin a little more space. Maybe he was being too clingy lately.

 

Kyo didn't ask to spar that evening. He hoped Yuki would, but he didn't. Kyo shrugged it off. A couple of days, maybe, and things would be back to normal. In the meantime, he would be there if Yuki needed him.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Kyo couldn't believe his ears. “You won't let me go with you? Why?” It was Wednesday and, as usual, he had been looking forward to going to listen to Yuki play all week.

 

“I just don't want you to come this time.”

 

Kyo folded his arms. “You promised you'd give me advanced notice or an explanation.”

 

Yuki sighed heavily, clearly irritated. “I want to be alone. That enough of an explanation for you?”

 

Kyo sighed. “Why have you been acting so weird lately? Did I do something wrong?” Yuki sighed heavily, and began to put on his shoes. “Wait…” Kyo said. “What did I do?”

 

“Kyo, get off my back.”

 

Kyo paused. He didn't want to push Yuki too hard when he was in this mood. “Well… can we hang out when you get back?”

 

“No. I'll need to do my homework.

 

“You want to study together?”

 

“No. I won't have time. And whenever we study, we end up talking.”

 

“Wouldn't be a bad thing. We haven't talked in like four days.”

 

“I have a lot of studying to do.”

 

“Will you spar with me later?”

 

“No, Kyo!” Yuki sighed, rolled his eyes, and walked out the door.

 

“Fine, be that way,” Kyo muttered under his breath. When was Yuki going to get back to normal? He had given Yuki space, and had tried not to shadow him too much, but he had made it clear that he wanted to hang out. Was he putting too much pressure on Yuki? Was Yuki just in a funk? But Yuki didn't seem to be irritated with anyone else.

 

Finally, Kyo decided to do his homework with Tohru. They chatted for a while, and eventually Kyo felt better, though Yuki's strange behavior still nagged at the back of his mind.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

You're going too slowly. Yuki sighed, and sat down on one of the library seats with a few books. For once his excuse was legitimate. You need to be more firm about it. Do something that he'll actually notice. It's been almost a week. You only have three left. “Okay,” Yuki whispered. He tried to focus on the books he was reading, but eventually gave up and just sat for another hour or so, wondering how much time he could spend here without someone growing suspicious.

 

At last he went home, and walked right past Kyo and Honda-san to his room, where he threw himself into homework. He was glad for something to focus on. Glad for problems he could solve.

 

“Yuki-kun?” Shigure said at the door. Had he been lying in wait for Yuki to return?

 

Yuki sighed. “Come in.”

 

Shigure opened the door. “Is something wrong? You don't seem quite yourself lately. Until recently, you and Kyo have been inseparable. Is there a rift between you or something?”

 

Yuki chose his words carefully. “Nothing's wrong, Shigure. It's just that Kyo doesn't seem to understand that some people actually need to apply themselves in order to get good grades.”

 

Shigure looked at him carefully. “Does your teacher really give you that much homework?”

 

“I'm also the class president, Shigure. There are a lot of things I have to do for that role.”

 

“You seemed to have more time before.”

 

“That was when the semester had just started. It gets harder the longer it goes.”

 

Shigure sighed. “If you say so.”

 

“Now, if you don't mind, I need to do my homework.”

 

Shigure shrugged and shut the door. Yuki clenched a fist. That excuse won't work for very long. Then he sighed, and forced himself to focus on his geometry. He had suddenly decided it was his favorite subject.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

“Ne, Yuki-nii, ready to play tennis?” Kyo asked on Friday, after school.

 

Yuki sighed. He did want to play, but this was a perfect opportunity to get Kyo upset. He had planned this conversation already. “No, I don't want to play today.”

 

“What? But you always play.”

 

“I know, but… I don't really want to be on the team anymore. It's weird, with all the people. I don't feel comfortable.” Now, get upset at me for hiding.

 

“Since when? I hope you're not going to start hiding again. Because I'm not going to let you.”

 

Right on cue. Yuki clenched his fists. “Would you get off my back? Like you have any right to `make' me do something or `not let' me do something! I don't want to play anymore, okay? It's none of your business, and I'm getting sick of you pushing me to do things I don't want to do.”

 

“Yuki, just last week you said you liked it.”

 

“Kyo, leave me alone.”

 

“Did something happen? Did someone do something to you or something?”

 

“Quit prying into my business!”

 

“Yuki, I'm trying to help!”

 

“I don't need your help, stupid cat!”

 

Kyo snapped. “Well fine, be like that! See if I care!”

 

“Fine!” Yuki walked off, pressing his lips together. So far so good. That was good. It wasn't enough, but it was good. Keep going in that direction.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Kyo avoided Yuki over the weekend, which wasn't really hard to do, since Yuki seemed to be avoiding him. He didn't get what was wrong. He wasn't doing anything differently. And Yuki hadn't called him a stupid cat in months. Maybe Yuki was trying to say something. Maybe Kyo was doing something wrong, and he was too stupid to figure out what it was. At last, he decided to try and mollify things with his cousin. He found Yuki in his room, with the door half open.

 

“Ne, Yuki-nii?”

 

“I'm studying, Kyo.”

 

“I know. I just want to talk for a minute.”

 

“I don't have time.”

 

“Yes you do. Just listen for a minute.”

 

“Kyo…” Yuki gave a short sigh of exasperation. Kyo had entered the room, and was sitting at the foot of his bed.

 

“Look, can we just talk? I don't know what's been going wrong lately. I'm sorry I yelled at you the other day about the tennis. You're right. If you don't want to play, you shouldn't have to play. It's just kind of weird to see you start not liking something you liked before. I just want to patch things up, okay? I don't like fighting with you, not for real. So whatever's wrong, if it's something I'm doing, please tell me what it is, so I can fix it. I don't always get things like this.”

 

“You never get things like this.”

 

Kyo sighed. “Yuki, please don't turn this into a fight.” Since when was he the rational one?

 

“This isn't a good time to talk.”

 

“I'm asking for five minutes!” Kyo pressed his lips together. “You can't give me five minutes? I'm trying to make things right. I'm not trying to fight. I want to be friends, Yuki.”

 

Yuki closed his eyes, and then abruptly sat up, took his books, and left the room.

 

“Wha… what are you doing?”

 

Yuki said nothing, and went downstairs. Kyo was shell shocked for a moment. That had hurt. Yuki hadn't hurt him in a long time. He sighed, and left Yuki's room to go into his own. He'd ask Haru about it. Haru would know.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Yuki resettled himself in Shigure's office, since Shigure was out for the afternoon. That was stupid, stupid, stupid. He closed his eyes. Although it probably did have its desired effect. But seriously, if you can't get through the earliest stages, if you can't even make it through Kyo saying he wants to be your friend, how do you expect to get through it later? You have to be strong. He sighed, and went back to his work, refusing to think about it.