[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 8

Yohji almost ran back from the store, pausing only to light one very belated post-coital cigarette. Laden with noodles, ice cream, rice, chocolate (he knew Ran had a weakness for dark chocolate) and a few other bits and pieces that might make a meal, he burst into the kitchen all set to present Ran with his bounty before bending him back over the kitchen table and ravishing him. Or maybe just a hug, Yohji decided. He had to take care, after all, Ran was still recovering...

... and sitting at the table with Aya-chan, who was idly mopping at a pool of tea. Not talking to each other, not even looking at each other, and when Ran raised his eyes to Yohji's there was something there that Yohji didn't like the look of at all.

Yohji was back, and Ran knew that he should greet the man, or at least really meet his eyes. Aya-chan sighed, and Ran felt his shoulders hunch. His stomach felt hollow, and he really wished they'd never left Yohji's room.

"Hey, Princess! Good film?" Yohji wrenched his eyes away from Ran, knowing that if he didn't he'd give too much away.

"It was great," she said, with a bright false smile and without any real enthusiasm. Ran eyed his sister carefully, hunter watching his prey if only the truth would slip out. "What did you get at the store, Yohji-chan? Anything for me?"

Ran stood abruptly, moving to take one of the bags from Yohji's arms. "I'll get started on the noodles," he murmured.

"Isn't it great that Oniichan's got his appetite back?" Aya-chan's smile turned real, and she stuck her nose in the other bag, quickly surveying the contents. "Ooh! You got me ice cream!"

"Of course," said Yohji smoothly. "I think Ken ate yours, so I figured you'd need some more. I know all about girls and ice cream."

Ran's fingers shook, rattling the plastic of the noodle bag. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh or proceed straight to the nervous breakdown. Yohji hadn't gotten the icecream for any reason so innocent.

But Aya-chan gave a little laugh, and touched Yohji's hand, and started spooning sugar into her tea.

Footsteps clattered down the stairs, and Omi appeared.

"Aya-chan, where did you- oh! Yohji-kun... Ran-kun. You're up?"

Yohji kind of laughed, and Ran turned to glare at Omi, fingers tightening on the crinkling plastic and ripping it apart in a swift, assured move. "Came down for something to eat," Ran said flatly, watching Omi never stop watching Aya-chan, as though he didn't think Ran had noticed why the boy had come downstairs.

"Oh, that's great, Ran-kun," said Omi, saucer-eyes brimming with happiness and relief that might have been completely genuine. "I'm so pleased you got your appetite back. We were all so worried-"

"I know." Still angry, or resentful, or he wasn't entirely sure what but couldn't respond any other way to Omi's too-hopeful eyes. "I really am feeling better. You shouldn't worry." Speaking more to Aya-chan now, saw her catch it with a half-hidden grin. Even Yohji seemed to be laughing at him, tolerently and not meaning to hurt, and he snorted (hiding his own smile), turned back to the stove-top.

"You want me to chop some stuff to put in there?" Yohji waggled a paper bag under Ran's nose. "I got chestnuts, and a few secret ingredients..."

His eyes met Ran's for one heated, breathless moment.

Ran looked down quickly, drew in a shaking breath. Aya-chan and Omi were laughing quietly together; they hadn't noticed, he thought. "Secret." Eyes carefully on the slow-boiling water. Yohji's hand brushed his arm, and he nodded.

"Pass me a knife, then," said Yohji.

He'd pulled a carrot out of the bag, his fingers curling suggestively around its slender length as his eyebrows waggled meaningfully at Ran.

Ran nearly choked on a breath, heat flushing through him at the smallest glance toward Yohji's antics, and he was quite certain that Aya-chan and Omi were paying them no mind but couldn't smother the fear. Ran released his end of the knife quickly, nearly too quickly but Yohji managed to catch it by the blade, turning almost wounded eyes on Ran. "Sorry," Ran gasped, aroused and afraid and eyes on counter, couldn't look up again.

"Okay," and Yohji's elbow jostled his, secret reassurance. "Need to work on your reflexes now you're all better."

Ran turned a panicked glare on his (what, friend? lover?) and whispered, "That's not." Bit his lip, swallowed. "Yeah." And now Yohji looked worried, and Ran tried forcing a smile even knowing it would look like a grimace of pain. "I know. Thanks."

"We could, um, do some work together if you like," Yohji offered, and Ran wasn't quite sure whether it was an honest offer, innuendo or a plain-as-day come-on. "Y'know, sparring." With a quick look towards Aya-chan, thankfully mindful of the other secret they had to keep.

Ran took a breath, held it, forced himself to relax into the moment, into Yohji's words and persistent smile. "I could use the exercise," Ran tried, quietly enough that Aya-chan wouldn't hear, glancing over at Yohji from beneath the cover of his fringe.

Yohji melted inside, and wondered why he'd ever thought this might be a bad idea. To have Ran all coy and mischievous and his.

"We could firm up a few things," he suggested, with a wink. "Where d'you want the veggies?"

Ran started back on an unexpected rising lust (either going pale or flushing he couldn't tell which) and very carefully looked down at the cutting board. "Um, the vegetables." Definitely blushing. "In the pot?"

"Okay." Yohji deposited the contents of the chopping board neatly in the pan Ran had indicated. "You look a little flushed," he said, his most infuriatingly innocent expression on his face. "The stove getting you a bit hot?"

"The stove, yes," Ran agreed blandly, forcing himself under some kind of control. Couldn't resist glancing at Yohji, sly eyes and a wicked stare, and went immediately back to stirring.

Also couldn't help a small, private grin.

"So, kids, what was the film?" Yohji grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat at the table, heart pounding, fighting hard to resist the urge to grab Ran and dip-kiss him just for the sheer hell of it.

"Great," said Aya-chan, and at the same time Omi pulled a face.

"Ah, the critics are divided on this one." Yohji ripped the tab off his can and took a gulp. "Too romantic for you, Omi-kun?"

"No!" Omi said, a bit too quickly. Ran glanced up from his careful attendance of the boiling water, the beginning of a suspicion niggling the back of his mind as Omi began a tangential ramble on the film's cinematic realism. Ran frowned. Aya looked captivated. Yohji was grinning.

"Sounds like quite a film." Yohji threw Ran a wink. "Maybe we should go. When you feel up to it."

"I," he began, not sure how to answer. He added the noodles to the boiling water, stirring them in with most of his attention. Yohji had asked him. But a movie was like a date, did that mean. Friends went to the movies, but. "Yes." It had to mean more.

Yohji was smiling, asking did he mean it, but something was. A date. Yohji asked him, but.

He dropped the spoon, darting a glare at Omi where he was chattering at Aya-chan.

Yohji leaned back in his chair, popped a cigarette between his lips. "Next week, maybe."

Still glaring at Omi, Ran murmured, "Yes, next week." Realized what he'd agreed to only several moments later, when the pot boiled over. There was something warm in the realization. Making plans. Like it might last. "The noodles are ready," he noted, almost surprised.

"Great," said Yohji. "I'm starving."

"So what have you been doing to work up such an appetite, Yohji-kun?" asked Omi, eyes big and wide and innocent.

Ran dropped in a few more vegetables, very carefully did not listen to Yohji's response. Wondered fiercely if he should've added tofu.

A long few moments passed. Seconds, possibly. Yohji still hadn't said anything. "We've started training," Ran muttered to the stove.

"That run to the shop," said Yohji, almost at the same time and probably louder. "Fresh air." He lit a cigarette, apparently oblivious to the irony of his action. Aya-chan scowled at him and pointedly waved the smoke away.

"But Ran didn't go to the shop, did he?" Omi murmured, at the same time Aya-chan visibly decided to ignore Yohji and said "You're training again, that's great!"

Ran shook his head, sighed.

"Don't over-encourage," said Yohji, suddenly the world export on the handling of Ran. "You know what he's like, if we all notice he's getting better he'll stop."

Yohji knew he'd gone too far, even as the words were coming out of his mouth, but couldn't stop himself. He was bubbling over with excitement, barely restraining himself from yelling to the whole of Tokyo that he was in love with Fujimiya Ran, and it was clouding his reason.

In love?

Yohji poured a generous slug of beer down his throat, and tried to breathe.

Ran's chin lifted with the words, an automatic scowl shaping his lips. He turned around to glare at Yohji, and began to snarl a response, already forming, but Yohji. Ran paused. Yohji was staring at that beer bottle a bit too closely, and there was something like a smile teasing at the corners of his mouth. Ran felt a helpless smile forming in return.

"I can take care of myself," he muttered, standard phrasing and Yohji was looking at him something like hopefully, something like devilishly. Or anyway, the look made him shiver, once, and glance down.

"I'll get the plates," said Aya-chan, brightly, and scraped back her chair to rise from the table and join Ran at the counter by the stove. She gently touched his arm, looked up at him with shining eyes. "It's so good to see you well again, Oniichan," she said.

Ran smiled down at her. "I am well. For the first time in a while." And he was talking about Yohji, held onto the secret tightly like some treasured thing even while smiling down at his sister. But she was smiling as well, a look almost of pride in her eyes, and it was okay.

*******

They ate quickly. Omi and Aya-chan seemed nervous, or secretive, and something about their giggling put Ran's stomach on edge. His appetite had not been the best lately, in any case. He finished very little of the meal, unable to even though he caught every worried look Yohji shot his way. It felt almost like letting him down.

Which was silly, he told himself. Still finishing everything he could, remembering somewhat wistfully the icecream Yohji had bought.

He was poking idly at the cooling noodles when Aya announced that she and Omi were going to watch some television before bed. Yohji looked pleased, almost relieved but something wouldn't let Ran go upstairs just yet. Without really thinking about it he murmured, "I think I will, too," and it almost confirmed a suspicion when the two looked disappointed.

"Are you sure, Ran-chan?" said Aya. "You're still weak, you shouldn't get over-tired. Should, he, Yohji?"

"No," said Yohji, holding Ran's gaze. "I think he should definitely get to bed."

Ran looked at Yohji for a moment, then back to his sister. Bit his lip. Knew they would want to watch some movie about romance and highschool intrigue, nothing he'd the patience for. "I am tired," he began. He trusted Omi. He did.

"Go on up," said Yohji. "I'll clear the dishes and then bring you some tea, if you like."

Yohji's voice was tender, somehow, yielding, and Ran could only see Yohji smiling beneath him. He glanced down, nodded. "I would like some tea," he murmured, watching Aya-chan and Omi exchange a curious glance from beneath his fringe.

"I'll be up in a minute," said Yohji, scraping his chair back from the table. He began to clatter around with dishes, cigarette waggling in the corner of his mouth, while Omi helped him - with far less fuss and noise.

Aya-chan came over to him and wrapped her arms around him. She'd grown, he realised, startled. When did that happen? How long was it since he'd paid attention when she hugged him like this? Before Schion? How long...

He kissed the top of her head, allowed himself a moment to breathe in the scent, the living breathing presence of her.

"Sleep well, Ran-chan," she whispered. "You'll be well in no time."

She elbowed Yohji playfully out of the way to get a glass of water at the sink, and skipped off to watch TV, Omi following right behind, mumbling something about a blanket.

"Go on," said Yohji with a gentle smile, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows ready to start washing up. "I'll be right up."

"Alright," Ran said quietly in response. Yohji's smile widened, and he turned to the sink with a very satisfied cast to his broad shoulders. Ran smiled to himself, feeling a trace of a similar contentment. "And Yohji?"

"Yeah?" he asked without turning around.

"Bring the icecream."

Yohji chuckled.

"I'll be right up," Yohji said with a wicked look in his eyes. Ran smiled softly to himself, knowing he looked a bit smug as he turned very slowly toward the stairs.

"Hurry, then," he said calmly, and Yohji muffled something, probably a curse, behind him.

"Quick as I can manage, love, promise."

Yohji went back to the dishes, smiling to himself at the little snort the pet name had elicited. A reminder that for all that he may be a little bewildered by the sudden turn their relationship had taken, there was still the old, iron-spined Ran behind the shy smiles and seductive looks.

Which just made it all the hotter, Yohji thought.

He finished the dishes swiftly, and yelled goodnight to Omi and Aya-chan before he ran up the stairs, two at a time.

Omi looked with a frown in the direction of the kitchen. "I can't believe Yohji-kun's gone to bed so early," he said. "It's not like him at all."

"No," said Aya, with a shy half-smile. "But I'm not complaining."

to be continued...