Moth to the Flame

-Chapter 8-

Ayame had woken up early that morning, his muscles screaming at him as he pulled himself out of the bed. He sat on the edge of the bed for quite sometime, unsure of what to do with himself. He had promised Akito that he would stay, and Akito would be furious if he left. However, if someone found him here, he would have to explain the way that he looked. He certainly didn\'t want to do that...it would be utterly humiliating for him, and he didn\'t even want to consider how Akito would react if he told someone. Ayame stared down at his bruised wrists and let out a long, pained sigh. He stood, feeling the pain in his ass and turned to face the bed. His eyes widened at the sight of the bloodstained sheets. It had been his first time with another man, so it wasn\'t so surprising that he would have bled...but now he knew that he needed to get himself home. He would return to his home long enough to clean himself up and cover up the marks that mottled his fair skin, then he would return before Akito even knew the difference.

Before he could go home though, he had to find himself some clothes...that was the tricky part. There weren\'t many people that lived in the honke who were as tall or slender as he was...except for Tori-san. He was nearly the same size as the snake, and Tori-san\'s quarters were right around the corner! Ayame slowly made his way to the door and slid it open a crack. He poked his head out of the door and scanned the halls to make sure that he was alone. Once he had assured himself that no one was around, he quietly slipped out into the hall and made his way to Hatori\'s room. He stood outside of Hatori\'s door for a moment, praying that the hassenchi hadn\'t returned yet.

He slid the door open a crack and peered into the darkness, listening for any signs of Tori-san\'s presence. The room lay dark and quiet before him, so he slipped through the door and quietly made his way towards the bedroom. Ayame paused in front of the closet and flung the doors open, wincing as as the movement affected his wrists. He scanned the closet full of clothes, finally deciding on a simple pair of slacks and a dress shirt. As he put the articles on, he stood in front of a mirror and stared. He couldn\'t think of another time that he had worn clothing like this, and had it been under any other circumstances he would have taken more time to admire his looks. He reached the top button of the dress shirt, noting that parts of his darkened neck could still be seen. He shrugged...it wouldn\'t take him that long to get home, so what was there to worry about?

Ayame turned away from the mirror and re-entered the main room, stopping to listen for the sign of any oncoming footsteps. He was satisfied when he heard nothing and finally slipped out of Hatori\'s quarters and towards the main gate. He shivered and glanced around at the thin layer of snow that covered the estate. He would have to hurry...not only was it cold outside, but he was so weak from the previous night that he could transform at any moment. He walked along as quickly as his sore legs would take him, sliding through the gate and out into the streets of the real world.


-Tohru\'s POV-

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and the fresh snow crunched pleasantly beneath her shoes. It was a shame that she wasn\'t out on better circumstances...Shigure-san had gotten a call this morning from Hatori-san. From what she understood Ayame was nowhere to be found, and he was possibly injured. Tohru had frowned when she heard the news. It didn\'t seem like Ayame-san to just up and dissappear like that, so naturally she was worried. Everyone had seemed worried, including Yuki-kun, who seldom showed any emotion for his brother but rage. Hatori was going to be coming over soon, so Tohru had offered to make a trip to the market. When Hatori came over they were all to leave him and Shigure-san alone, but there was no reason why she couldn\'t make some breakfast to try and ease the tension. As she walked along the road, she knit her brow in thought. She continued to walk along the way to the supermarket staring down at her feet, nearly running into several people on her way. She didn\'t seem to notice when they clicked their tongues at her in disgust as they tried to move out of her way.

As she rounded the corner of the store, she still wasn\'t paying attention and slammed into a man who had been leaning against the building. She cried out as she fell to the ground, the man falling down with her. She heard him choke back a cry of pain before she looked up, her eyes locking with Ayame\'s. Tohru immediately jumped to her feet, offering him a spastic hand to help him up.

“A..Ayame-san!” Tohru exclaimed, “Everyone is worried about you! Hatori-san said he found your clothes and that you may have been hurt! I heard that Mine-san was worried when you didn\'t show up at the shop this morning...”

Ayame offered a weak smile towards the young girl as he painfully raised himself up to his feet. He had hoped that he wouldn\'t run into anyone...especially Tohru. Tohru would make a fuss over him, then she would run off and reassure everyone that he was okay. If he hadn\'t been so weak, then he wouldn\'t have had to stop to rest here...then he wouldn\'t have run into Tohru.

“Ah...Tohru-kun...” Ayame said softly. He didn\'t have the strength to muster up his usually boisterous voice, “I promise you everything is fine...”

Ayame frowned as he noticed the angle of Tohru\'s gaze. She had seen the marks on his neck past the dress shirt and her eyes had gone wide. She took a step forward, her hand reaching up towards his neck. She was thrown off guard when Ayame reached for her arm and tossed it aside. Tohru stared at him, shocked to find her hand flying back towards her own face. Ayame grabbed ahold of her wrist before she hit herself, offering an apologetic look towards her.

“Gomen, Tohru-kun...” Ayame lowered his eyes to the ground, continuing to speak in that soft voice that was laced with desperation, “I\'m sorry, it\'s been a rough morning. Please don\'t take offense...I really have to go...you won\'t tell anyone that you saw me, right? Promise me...”

“Demo...Ayame-san...your neck...” Tohru stared at him with her wide blue eyes.

“Please...Tohru-kun...” Ayame said, his eyes pleading with her. Tohru looked at him in disbelief. Ayame had just asked her to lie to the rest of his family...to lie to her friends. But he seemed so desperate that she couldn\'t refuse him. She nodded slowly, her eyes meeting his. Ayame let a genuine smile spread out across his face.

“Thank you, Tohru-kun.” Ayame planted a small, thankful kiss on her forehead and immediately turned away to continue on his way to his house. Tohru watched as he turned, noticing the small patches of blood that had formed on the back of his shirt. She ran behind him, grabbing onto his shirt sleeve.

“A...Ayame-san! Your shirt!!” Ayame glanced down at her, wishing that he could have run away from her. He reached back to feel his shirt, only to find that parts of it had been stained with dried blood. He sighed, now he knew that he couldn\'t get rid of her. He studied her concerned features and stopped walking as he winced in pain. He was never going to make it home if his ass didn\'t stop hurting. Then an idea struck him. If he couldn\'t get away from her, he may as well put her to use. He scolded himself in his head for wanting to use the sweet girl, but she was always willing to help out a friend.

“Tohru-kun...” He said softly as he gazed down at the girl, “I need you to do me a favour.”

“Hai...?” Tohru responded, her blue eyes shone with curiousity as she looked up at the taller man.

“I need you to carry me...” Ayame said quietly. Tohru nodded hesitantly as she glanced around to make sure that no one was watching. The street was empty, so Tohru gently wrapped her arms around Ayame. With a poof he fell into Tohru\'s arms, his clothes falling to the ground. Tohru knelt down, dutifully picking up his clothes and headed in the direction of his home.

“Thank you, Tohru-kun...” Ayame said as he coiled gently around her neck. He tried to get as comfortable as he possibly could, but even as a snake he was hurting. Tohru gently placed a hand on Ayame\'s little head.

“Anything I can do to help, Ayame-san.” Tohru said with a smile. Ayame could feel her concern through her smile, and he certainly didn\'t blame her. If he had run into himself on the street, he would have been worried too. The trip towards his house was rather uneventful, until Tohru suddenly stopped. She stared straight forward at Hatori\'s car, which was parked directly in front of Ayame\'s home. Hatori was just coming out of the front door when he glanced down the walkway to find a wide-eyed Tohru staring back at him. He turned away for a moment to lock the door and remove his key. Tohru nearly panicked, but still managed to toss the clothing into a bush next to her. Ayame wriggled down the front of her shirt as fast as his aching body could, causing a whole range of expressions to cross Tohru\'s face. Hatori turned back towards her just as a look of discomfort mixed with a light blush rose to her face.

“Tohru-kun, what are you doing out here?” Hatori asked as he began towards her. Tohru froze and let out a nervous laugh.

“I was on my way to the store and I thought may I could find Ayame-san on my own,” Tohru nearly choked on her words she was so nervous. She lowered her head as if she were apologizing for something, “I didn\'t find him, though...”

Hatori let a small smile pass over his usually stoic face and gently patted the young girl on the top of her head.

“It\'s all right, Tohru-kun. We\'ll find him...” Hatori singled out his car key and held them up for Tohru to see, “Did you need a ride back to Shigure-san\'s? I\'m heading over there now...”

Tohru shook her head and smiled slightly.

“No, thank you, Hatori-san.” She bowed respectfully towards him, “I still have to stop by the grocery store...I wouldn\'t want you to be late for your meeting with Shigure-san...”

Hatori opened his car door, stepping into it and closing the door behind him. He rolled down the window and smiled once again towards the girl. He knew she was worried about Ayame, but there was no point in letting her fret about it.

“Ayame is going to be all right, Tohru-kun.” Hatori said as he turned the key in the ignition. He nodded farewell before slowly pulling out of the driveway and heading down the narrow street.