"Heeey! She's not home again! Where did she go?!" Kyo flings the door open early in the morning. I throw a book at him for his unnecessary loudness in the morning.
Wintertime is arriving now, even the cat should be feeling the drowsiness that comes with winter. The snow is coming down heavy outside and I know if I go out I'll end up passing out, wishing for warmer weather, so it's a careful few months to come.
"She said she was going to a friend's house last night, didn't she?" Shigure responds, calmly sipping his tea. This was Tohru we were talking about, of course, off on her own errands.
"You should listen when people are talking to you..." Yuki mutters.
"Well, I'm going to head on over to the Sohma house to check-in today! So don't cause any trouble kids! Nanami-san, you can keep them from fighting, right?" Shigure stands abruptly.
"Of course." She smiles with that evil little face of hers. Again, I wonder to myself, why she's in the house.
"I'll be off, then." He puts on a coat and scarf and heads out.
Nanami keeps that regular smile of hers as we sit around all four sides of the kotatsu. No one moved an inch, but the cat, mouse, and I glare at each other, just daring someone to give anyone a reason to be pissed. The clear tension has Nanami sweating.
"Yuki-kun, let's go on a date!" Nanami says. There was a pause, as the glares shifted to blank looks.
His face flushed bright. "Yu—?"
"Go on a date?! With him?!" I stand up, slamming one hand on the table and pointing with the other at Yuki "You must be crazy!"
"Well, it's something to do."
I flip my head to Yuki, narrowing my eyes and grabbing his collar. "Saying no?"
"Well, I'm considering it, sorry," he says in a low voice.
"No!" I lift him up and drag him outside into the cold. "A pretty, smart girl in your year. You, Prince Yuki, cannot say no! You were her first crush--" I cover my mouth. "I wasn't supposed to let that slip. Whatever, that's old news. She's super pretty, unaware of it, genuine, and extremely smart—that's hard to find! She runs the class with you, and she knows about your curse! And a great personality to top it all off. And she's not making a big deal about it because she's too considerate—but I am!"
He glares. "Fine, I'll do it."
"Fine... Fine? You should be grateful, you will be grovelling at my feet and apologizing for doubting us when you come back! You should be thanking me right now! If she comes back hurt, you'll be the one who ends up dead!" I say, then let go of him. Which also means coming off my tiptoes.
"You're really pushing your luck here. As the house consensus goes, when it comes to girls, you're not one so I'll throw you in the snow."
I raise my brows. "When did that happen? Yuki-nii, so cold hearted!" I cry sarcastically, wrapping my arms around myself in the freezing cold and running inside before he acts on his threat. His eyes narrow at the sarcastic use yet again of calling him older brother.
"Where would you like to go, Yae-san?" Yuki asks after following inside, with a charming smile.
They take their coats and leave, and I'm left to wiggle under the kotatsu with teeth chattering.
Now it's just me and Kyo. Behind him, is the kitchen door. On the counter is onigiri Tohru had wrapped last night. Leftovers from dinner but there is only enough for snacking on, not a full meal.
I glance at him. Everyone has left the two laziest cookers in the house. We make decent meals, but why put in effort when there is enough riceballs for one whole meal? As in one, for just one of us.
I will not lose.
I jump up, running for the kitchen. He grabs my foot, tripping me and starts to run, but I jump up and throw books at him.
"You're way smaller, you don't need this much!" Kyo says, as he dodges my pitches.
"My stomach is the same size! In fact, I need twice as much food because I need to grow!" I say, darting past him. He trips me again by snagging my ankle on his foot, which causes me to hit the tray on my way to a face plant, and it flips... straight into his hands.
He downs the tray in a gulp.
I glare once again, then drop on my back. "I'm too tired to move, let alone cook now! You have to cook for me since you ate it all!"
"What?! Cook for yourself, you know how!" he groans.
I sit up, folding my arms. My saviour, the stomach growl comes along. "See? It hurts and I feel weak. There's no way I can cook without collapsing. The cold weather makes me hungrier!"
He glares. "Fine! Fine... just this time!" He shoves the tray into my hands, which I wash in the sink.
-
Nanami walks side by Yuki. She makes no attempt to do cute things couples do on first dates, she just smiles and walks along. Of course, she wouldn't hug him, but hand-holding? Not even that, despite the cold they walked in. They were friends, she just needed to ease the tension and he was the easiest to talk to as she had been his vice representative for the class.
"Just a simple coffee shop? Are you sure, Yae-san?" Yuki asks.
"Yes, yes, of course. I pulled you away not cause I like you or anything, but to ease the tension in the room. Though I didn't expect a yes." Nanami continues to smile. "Orange Sohma and Kuroi-chan always find some compromise to their clashing personalities, but you all together."
Yuki doesn't respond, just gazing at her with the slightest hint at his surprise as his breath became foggy.
"Oh!" She turns. "I don't mean I don't like you! You are very nice, Yuki-san, and very likeable! Yes, yes! I just mean to say... that I don't like you in that way."
"Yes, I completely understand," Yuki says, and they continue on.
Together, they head into the small coffee shop Nanami requested. It had a cute wooden-wallpapered door but wide windows to see outside. Inside, plush chairs in bright colours awaited, with cute food on display and stuffies on each table. The walls were bricks, painted cool gray and it all tied itself together nicely.
"Of course... I didn't know you were into character cafes," Yuki says.
"Everything is so adorable, isn't it? And this one is a lot more calm than others, I like it," Nanami says, then walks up to the counter. "Could I please have a chai latte? What do you want, Yuki? It's on me—wait."
Nanami does a full pat-down of herself. She peers into her pockets, twists herself enough to look underneath her long skirt (Without permitting anyone else to see), into her scarf, socks, boots, and coat, and even her hair. She looks up with a blank expression.
"Um... how about I run back home... because it looks like I forgot my wallet. Silly me, ahahaha... guess I was so surprised and excited, I forgot?" She knocks her head with her fist lightly. "I'm usually not such an airhead."
"Then I can pay, no worries." He steps forward, pulling out his wallet. "Two medium chai lattes please. And Mouse-shaped Daifuku."
Nanami's face saddens slightly. "That makes this seem too date like. Now I'm just being a burden when I was trying to lighten the mood."
"No, this is fine. All the food here looks very appetizing, but I wanna hold myself back so I don't feel sick after eating too much."
He sat down and they brought over two cups and a plate of the colourful Daifuku. He points to the seat in front of him, and Nanami slowly sits.
"It's a lot more pretentious when you hear someone else say latte. I feel like you are only saying these things to make me happy," Nanami sighs, looking down at her latte with adorable art. "It was Kuroi that made you say yes, wasn't it?"
"Yes, but I am quite enjoying this," Yuki says, drinking his latte. "You become a lot less strict when you are not taking care of us."
"I can hardly say keeping you all out of trouble is enjoyable, but someone must do it. Poor Tohru-kun shouldn't have to deal with all your fighting... and Kuroi is no better than you guys when she gets worked up!" Nanami sighs again. "I'm sorry, it sounds like I'm complaining. I like you all so very much, you feel like family! I'll keep my lips sealed, as I have all these years, I promise." She seals her lips with her finger, throwing away the imaginary key.
"You're welcome over anytime you like, although you've already taken the liberty of doing that yourself. I can see you want to take the burden off Honda-san and everyone there, but you don't have to do this as if to atone for that incident between us... I'm glad you still want to be my friend," he remarks, looking sideways nervously.
Her eyes widen. "Why wouldn't I? It's shocking at first, but why should that make anyone weird? As I kid, I thought it was pretty funny, like you were a prince straight out of a fairy tale. I know it's not really a laughing matter, but I just want to reassure you I think nothing ill of it. And I don't always come by out of guilt, I just have never got along with my family, so Kuroi has always been the stand-in for me."
She suddenly looks up as she notices chopsticks with daifuku in between directly in front of her face. She narrows her eyes as she looks at Yuki. "Now that's way too date like. That's a cute thing a couple does after their seventh date, and I'd still find it cheesy."
Yuki chuckles. "Cheesy, huh? Think of it like this. We met in second grade during the hide and seek game, though formally a year later. That makes it seven years since. Seven dates. You can let me feed you daifuku now."
"I can't even call you Yuki-kun," Nanami says. "We're only distant friends."
"You'd do this with Kuroi. Say 'ah'," he says, and she does as told and he feeds the daifuku into her mouth. "I can't let the dumb cat one up me. Let's become better friends than he and Kuroi."
"That's what this is about?" She chews until swallowing. "There had to be some reason for you to be so open and cheerful."
His eyes narrow as he eats daifuku himself. "Of course."
She smiles. "Theres a condition for becoming my good friend!" She lifts her finger. "You have to be honest about how to you feel, and you can tell me about your anxieties and bliss! The sarcastic Yuki-kun I'm aware of cannot hide from me now, not even at school! No more distance between us!"
He turns red at his name used directly. "Yae-san, I thought you said you couldn't call me that..."
She laughs at him. "You're very true to your colours, you and Kyo-san. Like classic cat and mouse, but I think it would be nice for you two to get along some day. You each have your own set of qualities."
"How very optimistic of you to say," Yuki replies with disinterest.
"Hey!" she snaps, noticing his absence from the subject. "I'm not trying to lecture you or change you, I'm not the kind of person to act so. I think at the end of the day, you're all family no matter how distant and I shouldn't meddle, but for comedic matter you guys really don't get along. Like—Kuroi gone for seven years and the first thing you guys do is what?"
"She flips me–she started it. Ended it, I guess. I was fighting with Kyo. Well, that is when we properly distinguished ourselves as family to Tohru."
Nanami laughs again. "And what about Shigure?"
"She called him a pervert, I think. But rightfully so."
"Kyo?"
Yuki's smile drops as he thinks. "Odd, but, I think they still communicated semi-regularly. They were each others best friend, as in the best they could make, at home. Right up until Kuroi ran away. They came to the house together, when Kyo first arrived back."
"She ran away for seven years to avoid going to America?" Nanami asks, cocking her head.
Yuki looks up in confusion, his frown obvious. "Is that what she told you?" is all he says before changing the subject. "We should head back before it gets too cold. I heard it was supposed to snow today."
"Hey-- don't be too hard on her. I don't know her true reasons for leaving, but besides Kyoko-san's death, I've never seen her worse. She's been admitted to the hospital a lot over the years, I don't want to stress her to the point of going back." Something in her eyes tipped off Yuki, understanding these hospital visits weren't what his first thought was, hiding his faceas he thought.
They bundle up to brave the weather, stepping out into the humid cold, giving her bone chills. Nanami buries her face in her scarf to avoid crystallizing her snot, to be blunt.
The first flakes fell, wet and cold and melting briefly before it began to pack lightly on the ground. The path home through the trees became a little difficult to tread, Nanami waddling in her coat at one point.
"Oh, I'll need to make sure my base is alright!" Yuki exclaims suddenly, heading in an odd direction. Nanami has no choice but to follow, her direction wouldn't be able to take her to the house.
"Hey! Not to be rude but is now the right time to going to a secret base?" she asks, jogging a little to keep up with his valour only for her feet to fly out from under her with a cry of surprise.
Her fall is almost cut short, but the curse of course prevents that and she still hits the ground, a rat plopping on her lap along with Yuki's clothes. "Ouch, gosh I'm so clumsy today," she sighs while rubbing her backside. "I'm really sorry, Sohma-san, for causing you so much trouble. Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm alright, Yae-san. I suppose it would be better to head to the house now," Yuki remarks, shivering in his smaller body.
Quickly, Nanami bundles him up in his clothes and hugs him close to her chest for heat. "That's better, right? I'll hurry back now so you can be in proper climate."
-
I remain awake while Kyo sleeps under the kotatsu. I, of course, want to hear all about it when Nanami and Yuki get home. What are good friends for?
But it is Tohru and Shigure who come home first, and my shoulders visibly slump.
"What's the matter?" Shigure asks right away.
"None of your business. I'll just sleep now." I turn away, snuggling under the kotatsu.
"Where did Nanami and Yuki go?" Shigure asks.
"A date."
"Wha--- a date?! What kind?"
"A coffee date." That clearly doesn't answer his question, but, I turn my head so I can look at Tohru. "Did you have fun?"
"Yes, quite a lot, actually!" She smiles.
"Good." I turn back away, laying on my side. If she doesn't splurge on details right away, it's better I don't ask. "... sorry about the kitchen. We called a repairman."