"Don't you know any shame?!" It is the incessant arguing of Kyo and Yuki that interrupts a casual supermarket scroll. This is Kyo yelling the loudest, of course.
"Yelling outside of a shop... don't you know any shame?" the calm but condescending voice of Yuki replies.
"Let's step outside, you girly type!"
"We already are outside, stupid cat!"
"Aish! Can you guys stop arguing?" I walk outside, holding shopping bags. "I thought we were supposed to be helping Tohru-kun shop? Give our ears a break, we cook for you all the time!"
"Oh, I don't mean it like that... It's fine, it's completely okay I wasn't paying attention.." Tohru says.
I look at Kyo and Yuki from the side with a menacing look before lethargically tripping over my own two feet the moment I start walking, face-first into the snow.
Well, that gets them along for the moment, as they start laughing at me and I lift myself partially to wipe my face and shake out my bangs.
"Are you okay?" someone asks. It's not Tohru, Kyo, or Yuki either but a total stranger in front of me, holding out their hand. Upon further examination, I notice it's a boy with a dark mullet and a warm smile, eyes brighter than my own.
My eyes narrow, and instead of taking his hand with my own, I point at him straight in the face. "You're the kid that ran into me on the first day of school!"
"Oh, so you remember me, huh? Sorry about that, I was in a rush..." the boy says.
"Running so fast that you clip a little girl. You knocked me over!" I stand on my own, dusting off my coat. "Could have been dangerous, ya know!"
"You're Sohma Kuroi, right?"
The damn newspaper club. "Yeah, that's right," I awkwardly reply.
"I see... you're smaller than the photos but you're really cute." The boy smiles, scribbling something on his receipt. "It's like a fun size. I'm Tomoya Kaito. Here's my number."
"Huh?" I snatch the paper from his hand, and in the process, one of my bags rip from moving so violently. All the groceries spill out while I stand there embarrassed, turning red from my head all the way down to my fingertips. My hair isn't the only strawberry... "H-h-hey, I can't accept this, we just met. Why are you giving it to me?"
He looks at me blankly before beginning to chuckle. "Why? To get to know you better, of course. Are you really the sweet dream the newspaper club chalks you up to be? I'm curious."
"It's really nice of you to hit on our little birdbrain, but we have to go..." Yuki puts a hand on my shoulder in a cool manner, picking up the dropped vegetables and putting them in less full bags. He whisks me away.
"See you at school, Kuroi!" Kaito calls.
"Don't call her so casually!" Kyo snaps.
"My hero," I mutter to Yuki.
It isn't that much later that Kyo and Yuki began arguing again.
Tohru looks dismayed as we walked along back to the house. I guess her new years wish didn't come true...
"That's it! I'll fight you with my fists, girly boy!" Kyo drops his groceries, putting up his arms against Yuki.
Yuki shoves leeks into his mouth as a defence. Then he picks up the bags lying about and heads on his way again.
"That's disgusting. Why would we eat that now?" I ask, taking the leaks from him and putting it in one of my bags.
Yuki doesn't protest, not having the chance to as he lets out a cough. Tohru and Kyo don't hear, talking among themselves and I don't have much concern for the kid anyway. If Nanami breaks into my house one more time... But I guess I'll return to the store to be safe.
"Kyo, take the bags, I'm grabbing one more thing," I remark, heading back to grab some basic medicine and whatnot, knowing full well Shigure wouldn't be stocked up on these and someone as weak as Yuki should have them on call.
I return with a bag, running ahead of them before Kyo can pander his off back to me again.
"Yuki! The bath is ready!" Shigure calls.
"I'm not bathing today..." Yuki replies, sounding drowsy.
Shigure gasps, "How unsanitary!"
"No... I think I came down with a cold," Yuki says, throwing Tohru into immediate panic mode.
"Exactly why you should take a bath..." I mutter.
"That's terrible!" Tohru jumps up, placing a hand on Yuki's forehead. "Do you have a fever? Oh... seems you have a slight fever. You should take a break from school tomorrow! Relaxing will be good for you."
"Yep, take some medicine and go to sleep early, that's the best thing to do. If we had medicine at all, hmm..." Shigure looks through the cupboards with a puzzled look.
I rattle the bag I'm carrying. "Oh, indeed. It would suck if you had none. Luckily," I start pulling bottles out, "I have some common sense. And a little more compassion than I'd like you believe."
"It's not that serious, don't worry," Yuki says (I'm not worried). "Plus, tomorrow, we have our endurance run."
"No, you should stay home. It will be cold, and you need to take care of yourself even when you are young," Shigure says.
Kyo appears behind us like an ominous, dark spirit. "Endurance Run? We have an endurance run tomorrow?!"
"Yeah, we've been practicing for a while..." Yuki says.
"Then! A marathon... a bunch of people running... This is a race!" Kyo concludes.
"No, not at all," I say. "Besides, Yuki has a cold."
"A cold?! Only because he never trains so he's weak like a girl so always gets sick!"
"Excuse me? That's not how it works, ya know..."
"Let's compete! If you eat and rest you will feel better in the morning! Don't think you can escape..." Kyo's glare was intense over Yuki.
"Back off. You guys transform when you're stressed, remember? If he goes it could be a problem for all of us." I look towards Shigure and clap my hands together in prayer. "If the representative stays back, can I skip too? An endurance run is basic hell I don't need to endure, I already run tons for baseball."
"She wants to chicken out because that Kaito guy will come looking for her when she doesn't call," Kyo jeers.
"Shut up! I don't like that guy! He's arrogant, thinking he can pick girls up like that, and then he's rude for crashing into them without even a glance back," I snap.
"A love interest for Kuroi! How lucky, a first in the life time! Go on a date with him," Shigure says, mocking me with his fan. "It can't hurt, so you're not the only person in the house who hasn't lead some sort of love life. You won't be as despicable if you can score one date."
"What?! Nanami and Yuki's date was completely platonic! Kyo has basically been forced into marriage and Tohru... are you counting all the times Kyo and Yuki have gone with her somewhere? Those are friendly!"
"Have you been on a friendly date?" Shigure smirks as he looks down at me.
I fold my arms. "...No. But this guy isn't a Sohma, right? Two people know about the curse and that's no good... I don't want any accidents happening with him because I'll put Tohru and Nanami in danger... Besides, I don't like him! Not even at all, not even one bit!"
"What sort of accidents? As long as you don't bring us around him, he's a guy. He can't transform any of us," Yuki remarks with a raised brow. "As long as he isn't causing mayhem with all of us around."
Oh, right. Rarely let that slip. "If me, Tohru, or Nanami mistakenly hug you cause he's too rowdy, it could be an issue. I don't like him, that's enough."
"That's that." Shigure leans back. "Can't fall in love cause of a curse. How sad."
"It's one guy I don't care about. How is that sad?" I remark, folding my arms. "Don't you think I've broken the rules enough times to know? And Yuki-- I bet he'll feel so sick tomorrow running that he'll transform because he's weak and reveal our secret to everyone! All because he doesn't want to seem like a sissy backing down from a fight-- but it's even worse because he still is a big sissy! For not admitting one loss in the face of his hundred win streak!"
"What was that?" Yuki still somehow had the energy to glare at me, with his beautiful eyelashes after all.
I put my hands out. "I'm trying to save you! What's worse, being the sissy who reveals the secret or the sissy who stays home to recover and win another day? You can't lose if you don't show up!"
Kyo laughs. "He's still a sissy either way! His body is all weak because of the girly way he looks--"
I leap up, grabbing a fistful of his hair and shaking him viscously. "Say one more thing about girls, I dare you!" I snap. "Doesn't have anything to do with what he looks like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
In the morning when Kyo waits for his 'race' a.k.a the endurance run to start, he's incredibly annoying. He's like a motorbike raring to go one hundred kilometres an hour in a friendly neighbourhood, full of crosswalks and children. It's ridiculous. I glare him down, with my hands on my hips but he pays no heed. I'm just hoping he crashes on his face somewhere down the line.
Yuki came too. He's all here, probably burning up inside but he doesn't show it. He just nimbly puts on his shoes and goes over to the line to wait for the teachers to call the start. That freaking sissy, I want to punch him too.
I walk over to Nanami, who's just with the rest of the girls. We have to start after the boys just so none of the gross couples sneak away... but they could just meet up anyways considering we know the route. Whatever happens beyond the start line can be kept secret pretty easily.
I sigh, "Nana-chan, don't you think I do enough running already?"
"With what spirit or motivation? Get those legs moving, the endurance run is starting!" Nanami pushes me forward, urging me on from behind. I wonder if she's fallen into the trap of school patriarchy... everything for the school! Defend our name and become sports stars! Goodwill students! A-plus students to build the school's prestige! None of it matters, for christ's sake! No one is ever going to come back, it's just a public school like the rest. Nothing special about it, so why get so involved?
Still, here I'm pandering along with Nanami.
I come to a sudden stop, seeing two people on the hill underneath the bridge. Tohru and...
"Hatsuharu?!" I blurt, seeing him and heading over, acting slightly concerned. He's a monster heigh in comparison to Momiji and I, and had grown-up handsome. "What are you doing here? Did you get lost again? Oh, poor baby, trying to find your way back to your mommy-- AH!"
Hatsuharu punches the back of my head, knocking me down. "Unlike Yuki or Kyo, I'm not afraid to hit a girl!" he snaps. "But I didn't come here to fight you, so lay off or I'll knock you out!"
"Waah!" I cry, holding the giant bump on my head. He's black right now. "He's still so mean to a little girl..."
"You're the same age as me—I was warned by Momiji how mean you are now!" he growls. His expression changes to a smile suddenly at the panic-stricken Tohru. "Sorry, Honda-san. I didn't mean to scare you, this little twerp got on my nerves. Are Yuki and Kyo here too?"
"U-um, yes," Tohru says, then hesitantly reaches out for me. "Are you okay, Kuroi?"
"Me?" I leap up, wobbling but upright. "Just dandy!"
"AH!" I hear the cry of Kyo behind me, toppling over himself. I see the string Haru just held, assuming he pulled that so Kyo tripped... and it worked. Dreams really do come true.
Nanami looks back, rubbing at her eyes. She doesn't have her glasses after all, but she can tell after seeing Haru... Then me... then Kyo all together at once it was a place she didn't want to be. She awkwardly waves before heading off, saving herself.
"Kyo! I've searched for you for three days to duel you!" Haru declares.
"You got lost for three days, you big idiot!" I snap.
"So this is where you were, Sohma-chan! Sneaking away with boys, bad girl..." it's the sudden voice of Kaito, scaring me out of my skin. I turn around to him holding onto the bridge and peeking down into our hiding spot. He smiles gently, his curly hair pulled back by an elastic headband, thin like my will. I wanted to snap his little... sculpted and strangely good-looking legs. Okay, this dude is hot, thinking back to his face again but he is doing in my frickin' head.
"Go away, Toyama-senpai. I'm trying to have--like, a family meeting," I say.
"Senpai—I'm older? I'll leave only if you call me as soon as you get home! You're really cute-- that pony tail makes me see your whole face and I wanna pinch and hold those cheeks!" He sings.
He's also very vague on the cheeks thing, making me pull down my shorts.
"Is this how you pick-up girls? It's disgusting!" I snap, shooing him. "I'll call you as soon as you wash out your gross ideas about me!"
He takes a moment to think, putting a hand to his chin. "This is fair. I'll be back to find you after a delicately crafted sonnet." He waves all friendly and leaves, making me groan with frustration. It would be really bad if Yuki too...
"What are you doing here, Hatsuharu?" Yuki asked, coming down the hill and joining us under the bridge. If some of my divine prayers could go unanswered, please? "If you've come to duel Kyo, I suggest Kyo you follow his suggestion..."
"What?! What-- no way!" Kyo growls.
"Well, can't say I didn't warn you. He seems like the calm type but he's also called Black Haru. When he's angry he's unstoppable..." Yuki remarks. "Just like Kagura."
"That's right! Fight like a real man, little kitty..." Haru says in an intimidating voice, he spins on Yuki handing out the information. He pins him to the wall, shamelessly stroking his chin. "Or maybe you want a piece of me too? It won't be long until I make you mine, Yuki.."
"You're worse than Kagura," Yuki spits.
As soon as Kyo stands, Haru is distracted all over again. They're hurling insults at each other, talking under their breath as they're stuck in a headlock. Nothing me, Tohru, and Yuki can hear.
"This is dumb. Aren't you the one better at breaking up fights with that stupid cat?" Yuki asks, eyeing me.
"I can never beat that guy Haru! He's a raging bull right now, Black Haru. I'll get beat to a pulp, he won't let me off the hook and it's not like he loves me like Kagura loves Kyo, we hate each other!" I whine.
"I think we should leave them then. Don't you think so too, Honda-san?" Yuki smiles at her. Swooning in broad daylight, dirty rat...
"But--But--but..."
I sigh, "I agree. Let's leave these idiots. Maybe we can sneak away and go home..."