unrevised.
/ chapter 22 /
"Wow! It's so beautiful! And so wide!" Ichika heard Tohru gush in excitement as she clapped her hands together and stared through the window of the balcony that lead to lake.
"Are lakes really that beautiful?" The dark-haired man beside her, Hatori, had questioned, gazing simply in the direction the brunette was looking.
"Yes! It's my first time seeing one!"
Ichika smiled at her reply as she kept her gaze down at her luggage, folding her clothes and putting them to the side.
It had been a week since Hatori's drunk night and a lot of minor changes have occurred. One major one being that the Doctor had been visiting Dog Spirit's house more often since that night which so happens to bring Shigure much joy, and secretively Ichika as well.
It was Shigure's idea that they all have a much needed getaway at the Sohma lakeside vacation cabin for the long weekend holiday.
"Are you guys going to remain moody? Such as waste for a bright sunny day like this." Shigure sighed, as he glanced back and forth to the orange-haired and grey-haired boys who stood far away from each other as they could. "Go take Tohru-kun for a walk to the lake if you wanna keep acting like that."
The boys ignored him and stared elsewhere silently as Tohru and Ichika could feel the tension rising.
"Ah! I know! I'll call A-ya to come and lighten the mood!" Shigure gleefully sat up from the couch and made his way to the telephone. Just as touched the base of the telephone, he felt two dark, burning energies standing right behind him.
"Call him and you die." Kyo and Yuki said in unison.
Shigure shivered and sweat in fear as he dropped his shoulders in disappointment as he was quite excited to invite his dear friend, Ayame, here.
In the next moment, Tohru, Kyo and Yuki had settled off on a walk to the lake, leaving Ichika, Hatori and Shigure remaining in the cabin.
"Geez, they should've just gone the first time I asked." Shigure folded his arms as he watched the retreating back of the three figures. He then flickered his gaze over to Hatori and Ichika. "Those two have been a bit sown since yesterd—"
"Do you need help, Ichika?" Hatori's deep voice interrupted his sentence half-way. With a hand in his pocket, he came closer to her to watch her fold her clothes satisfyingly.
Ichika shook her head and smiled slightly. "T-That's alright, Hatori-san. I only have a few pieces of clothing left to fold."
Shigure watched the two's interaction closely with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Geez, I feel like I'm third-wheeling. I think it's time to call A-ya." Shigure sighed dramatically.
Ichika blinked before she looked over to Hatori as if to ask him what Shigure meant by third-wheeling. Hatori pretended not to know and shrugged his shoulders.
Shigure ran off with his phone in his hand, in hopes to make a quick call to Ayame before Kyo and Yuki returned to beat him up.
Then there were two. Ichika and Hatori who were left to themselves.
Ichika offered to make tea as she had finished her folding. She retreated to the kitchen area whilst Hatori had taken a seat on the couch, tapping an email on his phone to send for work.
She started boiling the water in the kettle and brought out two white tea cups from the cupboard and a poured a sachet of jasmine tea leave into them. When the water was done boiling, she poured it into the cups and placed them on a tray.
"Ichika-chan." She heard Shigure call, as she turned her attention on him.
Shigure's phone was pressed against his ear with one hand and the other were carrying a few books. She tilted her in curiosity.
"Could you give these to Hatori? Tell him to enjoy a book for once."
Ichika nodded and took the books from him. She settled them on the tray as Shigure retreated back to where he'd come from, talking animatedly to what seems to be Ayame over the phone.
When Ichika returned to the living room, she settled the tray down the coffee table and handed out the tea cups to Hatori, who looked at the books in confusion.
"A-Ah, these were from Shigure-san. He told me to give them to you." She informed, handing one book with a green cover over to him. "He said 'enjoy a book for once.'"
Hatori's eyes widened slightly, and then a ghost of a smile formed on his lips as he gratefully took it and flipped around to read the back. Ichika caught his smile from the corner of her eyes and her heart immediately skipped a beat.
Hatori rarely smiled, but he was very handsome when he did so.
"It has been a while since I could just enjoy a book." He said, with the smile not disappearing from his face.
"Do you like reading, Hatori-san?" Ichika glanced down at the book in his hand.
"Yeah, I guess you could say I'm a bit of a bookworm. I've always liked them as a kid." He answered with a flip of a page.
Ichika's eyes lit up as she felt herself become a bit excited hearing that Hatori also shared her love for books.
"I've always liked books as well," She started. After all, they were the only things that occupied her when she still lived in the darkness. "My favourite is 100 days of a Jinx."
"100 days of a Jinx?" Hatori repeated in awe. "That's funny, because that's my favourite too."
Ichika's eyes sparkled and felt herself grinning widely. "Did you like the ending?"
"I wasn't particularly satisfied with it, but it was still a happy ending. I think my favourite scene out of the entire book was where Ryu was visiting his friend's house drunk and banged on the door—"
"—only for some complete stranger to open it and then he realised he went to the wrong house number!" Ichika completed his sentence.
The two Dragon Spirits looked at each other for a moment before they burst into laughter.
They spent the rest of the hour speaking of their shared interest in the book, drinking tea, speaking on their likes and dislikes of it, their favourite parts of the book and what they thought of it overall.
Ichika's heart felt light as they spoke. A part of her felt like they were growing closer, and it made her happy. She had never expected speaking to someone with the same interests as her would be this much fun.
They had spoken so much that just when Ichika looked up and was about to add more to the subject, she realised Hatori was out like a light.
He lay vulnerably on the couch with a novel still in his hands but his were closed and was breathing deeply.
Hatori was asleep.
She smiled gently as she carefully reached over and slowly took the book from his hand. She closed it and placed it to the side before draping a blanket over him as the warm sunlight settled lightly on his face.
It was this time that Kyo, Tohru and Yuki had returned from the lake, that they noticed Hatori was napping when Ichika hushed them and pointed to him.
"Hatori sleeps?" Kyo questioned, only to be retorted by a smart mouth Shigure, who had came upon the scene.
"Of course he does. He's still human."
"That's not what I meant." Kyo scratched his head. "He just doesn't seem like the type to person to fall asleep in front of others."
Ichika didn't know if she wanted to agree or disagree. She's seen the Doctor fall asleep in front of her quite a few times before.
Shigure glanced to his sleeping friend and leant against the frame of the doorway.
"That's true. It doesn't happen often. He's tired.. and going through a lot." Shigure disclosed.
The bluenette remembered back to a week ago when Hatori had showed up in the middle of the night, drunk. Could Shigure be speaking about that? or was there more to it?
Her thoughts were cut off when a booming voice interrupted.
"Hello all! I have missed you!" Ayame appeared from behind Shigure and had flamboyantly made his way towards the group.
Everyone seemed to have solidified.
"Ayame?!" Kyo sputtered.
Yuki glared over to Shigure who caught his dark look and sweatdropped.
"Hello, Ayame-san!" Tohru greeted gleefully.
"What are you doing here!?" Yuki asked darkly.
Ayame placed a hand over his chest. "I've come to deepen our brotherly bond with you, my dearest brother!"
"I'll drown you in the lake before that happens." Yuki deadpanned.
Within a second of having noticed the blue-haired Sohma, Ayame immediately twirled over to her side and held both of her hands, surprising her.
"Ichika-chan! I have missed you very much!" He said, exuberantly.
Ichika, not knowing how to react, laughed nervously.
She wasn't used to physical contact with anyone else other than Tohru or Hatori. She didn't know how to feel about it and felt guilty for the uncomfortableness she was feeling as Ayame was simply just an overly friendly type of guy, he didn't mean any harm.
It would be rude to shake him off, wouldn't it? What should she do? She was getting more uncomfortable by the minute.
*Pat*
An orange book lightly hit the back of Ayame's head. He turned around, stunned, to meet Hatori's purple orbs.
Saved by Hatori-san once again! Ichika thought as she sighed in relief.
"I told you not to bother people too much, Ayame." Hatori nonchalantly warned.
Ayame was unbothered and beamed happily. "Why, hello, Tori-san! You're awake!"
"How could I sleep with all the ruckus?" The Dcotor expressed, before he glanced down at Ayame and Ichika's joined hands.
He quickly looked away and pulled a chair beside Shigure who was now sitting at a table.
"Well, what are you doing here?" Hatori straightforwardly asked.
"I wanted to visit you all! A vacation house equals fun! Nice invitation, Shigure!" Ayame admitted, finally letting go of Ichika's hands to give the Dog Spirit a thumbs up. "I also thought it was a good time to speak to you about a few things."
"I see." Hatori pondered before glancing at Tohru's figure who retreated upstairs whilst Yuki and Kyo followed after her, bickering about the whole way until the trio disappeared.
"Ne, Ichika-chan," Ichika heard Shigure call for her. "Can you make extra tea for A-ya and I? The tea you make is always so delicious."
The blue-haired Sohma nodded and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.
When Ichika was out of sight, Hatori turned to Ayame and Shigure with a serious look.
"Let's speak outside."