Moth to the Flame

Chapter 11

Ayame took his time in the shower, he had already taken his time with everything else. He stood in the shower for half an hour, merely letting the water pound against hs body and roll off of him. He turned his back to the stream of hot water, his back stinging where Akito\'s nails had punctured him. He winced and braced himself against the opposite wall with his weak arms. He stared down at his feet and watched the water as it gurgled down the drain. He slumped forward, his head connecting painfully with the wall.

“Shit...” He muttered softly. He let out a pained sigh and shut off the water, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist gingerly. He slid open the bathroom door, cool air rushing towards him from his bedroom. He glanced at the clock sitting on his nightstand...it was nearly 1:00. Akito was surely awake by now, and he was probably furious with Ayame. But that wasn\'t the last of this worries...Tohru surely would have been missed by now, and it was only a matter of time before someone came to look for her.

He got dressed as quickly as he could. The hot shower had eased his aching muscles some and he was actually able to move a little more quickly than before. He slipped on a pair of comfortable black pants, completing the look with and elaborately stitched black and gold ao dai top. He stared at himself in the mirror, fiddling with his platinum locks. His skin looked so pale when next to this black fabric, it made him look dead so he never really wore it. But today he felt dead, so how was that any different from looking dead.

He turned away from the mirror, looking towards the sleeping girl on his bed. He felt like he should wake her, but she seemed so content to be there after what had happened. He moved over to her and leaned down, lightly kissing her forehead. She could always let herself out when she woke up, anyway. He left his room and headed for the front door, only to freeze when he saw the handle turning by itself. Damn...he was caught. His feet felt as if they had been glued to the floor, he was nothing but a deer in the headlights as the door swung open to reveal both Hatori and Shigure. His golden eyes darted between the two of them, his heart pounding wildly with anxiety.

“Aya-kun...” Shigure began, his face nearly as surprised as Ayame\'s, “we thought something had happened to you...”

Ayame was still frozen, unable to answer. After all that had happened, he had never even considered what he would tell his friends. Hatori\'s gaze burned into Ayame as he looked him up and down. Everything seemed fine until Ayame raised his hand to push back a lock of his hair nervously. Hatori\'s hand shot out suddenly, latching onto Ayame\'s arm. His golden eyes widened as Hatori pushed back the fabric of Ayame\'s sleeve, revealing the fresh bruising around his wrist. The hassenchi stared the snake right in the eye.

“What else are you hiding...?” Hatori inquired quietly, his voice cool and mixed with concern for his friend. Ayame shifted his weight from one foot to the other, tearing his eyes away from Hatori\'s gaze. Everyone knew that Ayame always listened to Hatori, including the hassenchi himself. Ayame had never lied to Hatori before, but now he felt that he had no choice. However, as he mulled over things in his head, he could feel words tumbling out of his mouth.

“I\'m hiding too many things, Tori-san...” Ayame said softly, immediately clamping his free hand over his mouth. He really hadn\'t meant to say anything, but it had just come out. And now there would be even more questions. Shigure and Hatori briefly exchanged looks.

“Aya...you know you can trust us...” Shigure said with a slight smile as he reached over and took Ayame\'s arm in his own, leading him towards the hebi\'s room. Ayame stared through his open bedroom door, he was really caught and there wasn\'t even time to panic. And then suddenly there was Tohru standing at his door, fully dressed. Ayame stared at her, his mouth gaping open.

“Ah...Hatori-san, Shigure-san...” Tohru beamed at them and bowed, “I found Ayame-san...I was going to call...ano...but I didn\'t get the chance.”

Hatori cocked an eyebrow and looked between the two of them. Tohru seemed normal, but Ayame\'s reaction was very strange. It was as if he had been completely taken by surprise at her presence.

“A...ah! Of course Tohru-kun, I had nearly forgotten you were here!” Ayame exclaimed, his voice returning to it\'s normal state for the first time that day. Tohru smiled up at him, almost as if she were telling him that what happened between them would remain a secret forever. He smiled back gently towards her ,almost forgetting that Shigure and Hatori were standing right there. Hatori placed a hand on Ayame\'s shoulder, smiling at Tohru himself.

“Tohru-kun,” He began, “you had probably better head back to Shigure\'s. Yuki and Kyou are worried about you.”

Tohru blushed slightly, she had completely forgotten about them with everything that happened.

“Ah..hai...” Replied the girl as she stared at her feet. She didn\'t want to leave Ayame, in fact, she had hardly been able to keep him off her mind since she had woken up. She was ripped from her thoughts when she felt Shigure tapping her on the shoulder.

“Ne...Tohru-kun~! Don\'t let those boys eat my share of the food~!” He whined in a characteristic Shigure fashion. She giggled, glancing back towards Ayame one last time before heading towards the front door. Hatori waited for the sound of the front door before focusing on Ayame again.

“Now...” He said gruffly, “What are you hiding from us.”

Ayame stared between the two of them, sighing and finally removing his shirt for them to see. Hatori stared, scanning Ayame\'s fair skin. Shigure snickered.

“An~~ Aaya-kun! I didn\'t know you liked it so rough!” Shigure exclaimed. Ayame stared at him for a moment, then began to beam. Shigure had just given him a way out.

“Of course I do!” Ayame blurted out, his arms stretched out widely. He leaned in towards Shigure and winked, “Perhaps I\'ll sho you sometime, Gure-san~~!”

Hatori\'s cheeks turned a pale pink, but his manner was still cold and gruff.

“You mean this is from...sex, then?” Hatori asked quietly. The subject was always an uncomfortable one for him, as he was probably the only one out of the three of them who had never done \'it\'. He and Kana had come close a couple of time, but he had always been too worried to go all the way. Ayame laughed boisterously.

“Ah, Tori-san~” Ayame boomed, “I think a more appropriate term would be fucking~~!!”

Shigure snickered as Hatori\'s face went from pale pink to crimson red. The hassenchi coughed and cleared his throat.

“And you did this at the main house?” He asked suspiciously, none of Ayame\'s story seemed to be making sense, but the snake had never lied to him before.

“Ah...Indeed I did, Tori-san. It was much closer than my house!” Ayame said in reply, “We were in a hurry.”

Shigure laughed heartily.

“See, Tori-san!” Shigure said with a grin on his face, “There was nothing to worry about after all!”

Hatori frowned, it seemed that Shigure had a point. Everything just pointed to Ayame having a wild night, he sighed before turning back towards the door. Something still felt wrong.

“Shigure...I think we\'re done here.” He said as he quietly placed his hand on the doorknob. Shgure bounded off behing the hassenchi, waving to Ayame.

“You coming, Aaya-kun?” Shigure asked before he cleared the doorway. Ayame shook his head.

“I still have somethings to take care of, Tori-san, Gure-san.” He replied with a smile on his face, “Tell Tohru that I\'ll eat with you all another time.”

Shigure nodded, winked and shuffled out of the door with Hatori. Ayame immediately locked the door behind them, leaning his back against it and sliding down to the floor. He had just lied to his dearest friends for the first time. He sighed. It seemed these past few days had been filled with firsts.


~~Disclaimer~~


This chapter was really a bunch of filler space that I didn\'t want to have to write. But I hope you enjoy it anyway. Sorry it took so long.
I still don\'t own these guys. I wish that I did. Blah blah blah...XD; Next chapter up later tonight? Or tomorrow...>>;

~Shuen