First time for anything.

"Ayame-san!"

Kyou and Yuki flinched at Tohru's exclamation.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why, visiting my dear friends and darling brother of course!" Ayame tried to sidle closer to Yuki who shoved him aside. "Yuki-how are you doing?"

"Go home!"

"But I only just got here!"

Yuki and Kyou turned to Shigure. "Make him go home!"

Shigure smirked. "I can't do that-we're having a meeting!"

"A meeting of what? Perverts anonymous?" Kyou muttered, leaning against the wall.

Tohru was doing some mental calculations. Plus Ayame makes five for tea-I have enough rice but-"I'm sorry, I'll have to make some snacks-"

"Eh?" Ayame stopped annoying Yuki to blink at her. "A beautiful princess like yourself shouldn't trouble herself over cooking for us!"

Yuki twitched. That wasn't what he said last time-

"That's right!" Shigure patted Tohru on the back. "Hatori is bringing the food-he got held up on the way here but he won't be long."

Kyou and Yuki visibly relaxed. "Hatori's going to be here?"

"Is the meeting a reunion of the three friends?" Tohru asked, sitting down.

"That's right!" Shigure said. "It's been so long since the three of us have had a chance to reminisce together that Ayame decided we should have a special meeting."

"How long will this take?" Yuki asked, not bothering to hide his frown.

"Who knows?" Shigure shrugged. "Once we get started we can just go on and on-"

"Why don't you join us?" Ayame suggested, patting the cushion beside his. "Learn more about your amazing older brother-"

The door slammed so quickly Tohru was almost knocked over by the force of its closing.

"Hey, hey!" Shigure called after them. "Be careful with my poor house!"

There was no answer but in the hallway they could hear Kyou and Yuki arguing.

"This is all your fault-if you didn't have such a stupid brother-"

"Why don't you think before you open your mouth sometime, bakaneko-"

Tohru sweatdropped. "Ah-"

Luckily Ayame didn't seem to have noticed. "Tohru-kun, I brought another of our old photo albums with me-you want to see?"

"I'd love to!" Tohru flipped interestedly through the pages as Ayame and Shigure commented on the pictures, recalling past jokes and old stories as they did so.

She paused on one page. "Ah-is this your school ball?"

"Ah! The school ball-Shigure, do you remember?" Ayame smiled, leaning over Tohru's shoulder.

"How could I forget?"

"Wow-Ayame-san looks so handsome!" Tohru exclaimed, as she looked over the pictures. "And Hatori-san looks so distinguished!"

"I made my suit myself!" Ayame proclaimed happily.

"Who is this girl?" Tohru pointed to Hatori's partner, looking charming in a western style evening dress.

"That would be Souma Akiko," Shigure said. "She's not a Juunishi but she's one of the few that knows about the curse. You haven't met her yet."

"She's gorgeous!" Tohru enthused. "And how lucky that Hatori could take a partner that he didn't have to worry about being transformed by!"

"Yes," Shigure said. "We were lucky to be able to attend the ball at all. The adults thought it was far too dangerous but Aya argued and argued and eventually we got to go-"

"Thanks to my stupendous brilliant fool-proof plan!" Ayame struck a pose. "Ha-ha-ha!"

Shigure looked less than delighted. "Well, I wouldn't say it was that great-"

"Oh, Ayame-san!" Tohru gushed, turning the page. "What a cute partner you have! Is she a Souma family member too?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Ayame said. "That's Shigure."

"Shi-" Tohru froze. "Shi-"

"What do you think, Tohru-kun? Does my cousin make a cute girl or what?" Ayame gushed.

"Shi-"

"It was the only way we could both go to the ball," Shigure said. "Obviously taking a girl was out of the question-"

"And if two dazzling specimens of male beauty such as ourselves turned up without a partner, who could stop those poor susceptible females from throwing themselves at us?" The snake shook his head. "Obviously my plan was the only one that would work!"

"I still don't see why I had to be the girl," Shigure muttered as Tohru continued to stutter.

"Shi-"

"Don't complain-after all, you got to go into the women's bathroom, didn't you?"

"Aya-always joking!" Shigure waved frantically, drawing Tohru out of her shock induced daze. "Tohru-kun, all this talking is making me thirsty-"

"I'm so sorry! I'll get you something to drink right away!"

As Tohru shut the door behind her Ayame smirked. "It wasn't that hard to get you into that dress you know."

"Shut up!"

Ayame flicked his long silvery hair over his shoulder. "In fact I'd go so far as to say it was relatively easy-"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We have to go to the ball!"

"Isn't that Cinderella's line?" Shigure wondered.

"Or the ugly stepsister's," Hatori murmured, sotto voce, as he turned the page of his science textbook.

"How-" Ayame struck a dramatic pose, ignoring his cousins-"are we to live life to the fullest if we do not attend an event like this-an event of masterful importance in everyone's life experience?"

Hatori was still ignoring him but he had Shigure's rapt attention.

"How true!"

"The school ball is the pinnacle of our high school social experience-the event that will fuel all our romantic expectations from now on!"

"Well put, Aya!" Shigure was looking teary eyed.

"For the sake of our future romantic liaisons we must attend!" Ayame was crying now. "Nothing must stop us!"

"We'll overcome every obstacle!" Shigure said, also in tears.

"I'm glad you agree, Gure-kun!" Ayame chirped sweetly. "Put this on!"

Shigure flinched. "Aya-that's a girl's dress-"

"What did you expect? How else are we to attend the ball without being transformed by our partners?" Ayame held the dress out towards Shigure. "I made this one specially for you-"

"You look more like a girl-" Shigure said. "If anyone's wearing a dress it should be you!"

"But Guuuuure-a face this distinctive could never be mistaken!" Ayame protested. "Besides I'm the school president-if I'm not there people will think it's odd-"

"Not to mention everyone expects this sort of stunt from Ayame anyway," Hatori finally entered the conversation. "If he turned up in a dress he'd still have girls hanging off him."

"Well why doesn't Hatori wear the dress then?" Shigure demanded. "He's going too, isn't he?"

"I'm having no part in this foolishness," Hatori said, putting his book down and leaving the room.

"Hatori could never pull this off," Ayame continued. "Shigure, it has to be you-"

"I've changed my mind!"

"This is not a moment for weakness, Gure! This is a time to bravely endure and seek our destiny!"

"But not in a dress!"

"It's all right-I even have matching accessories! Ha-ha-ha!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ha-ha-ha!" Ayame laughed at the memory. "The colour of the gown really accentuated your colouring, Gure-kun."

Shigure rolled his eyes, prevented from replying as he would have liked by Tohru's reappearance.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," she said.

"That's no problem at all, Tohru," Shigure smiled at her.

Tohru smiled as she set out glasses. "What are these pictures?" she asked, as she saw the photo album had been turned onto a new page.

"Our high school leaver's party," Shigure smiled. "There's me there-getting dragged away from that group of girls by Hatori. And that's Ayame getting thrown in the river-end of year tradition, to throw the student president into the river." He sighed reminiscently. "Those were fun times, weren't they Aya?"

Ayame was smiling beatifically. "Ah! Remember that night, Gure-kun?"

"Tohru doesn't want to hear that story," a decisive voice said.

"Hatori!" Shigure said, looking up surprised as the last member of their group arrived. "We didn't hear you arrive again."

"Yo Hatori! At last our party is complete!"

Hatori smiled kindly at Tohru who had bowed in greeting. "Don't let me keep you Tohru-san. I'm sure you have a lot of better things to do than listen to these two lunatics spout nonsense."

"I think Ayame-san and Shigure-san's stories are very interesting!" Tohru protested. "But I want to get tea started." She bowed to Ayame and Hatori quickly. "I'll see you later."

"I hope you two haven't been boring her," Hatori said, as he knelt at the foot of the table. "She must have much better things to do then to hang around with us."

"Tohru-kun is a good girl," Shigure said, momentarily serious. "She is genuinely interested in those around her. That's a rare quality." He laughed, suddenly rueful. "One that Yuki-kun and Kyou-kun could do well to learn from."

"I thought they were conspicuous by their absence," Hatori noted, setting out the food he'd brought with him.

"Yuki must have decided to give us some privacy for our meeting," Ayame said. "So, what kept you, Ha-chan?"

While Shigure wolfed the snacks and Ayame listened, Hatori told them. "The first pharmacy was all out so I had to go to another to collect Akito's medicine. The only one that had some in stock was a long way out of my time-"

"Well you're here just in time!" Ayame beamed. "We were just about to recollect the wonderful story of the night of our last day at high-school!"

Hatori blanched. "Not that story-"

"Eh?" Shigure paused mid-gulp.

"Remember, Gure?" Ayame sighed dramatically. "We decided we needed to do something to mark our transition from high-school to the adult world. No longer students, we had to mark this stupendous occasion with a suitably momentous celebration!"

"You're not talking about the night we decided to lose our virginity, are you?" Shigure asked, forgetting the food momentarily.

"Ha-ha-ha!" Ayame struck a dramatic pose, one had pointing towards the ceiling. "Children no more, we could not dismiss the desires of our bodies! To become one with another of the opposite sex, to feel the ultimate closeness known to humans-"

Hatori paled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ha-ha-ha!" Ayame laughed loudly. He still had pondweed through his long hair but despite that seemed unnaturally cheerful. "So we agree we cannot let this momentous occasion depart uncelebrated?"

"But Akito will never let us go to Tomo's party," Shigure sighed. "Not once he knows there's going to be girls there."

"That's no problem," Ayame shrugged, beginning to wring out his hair. "We can just do what we did for the ball!"

"Forget it!" Shigure and Hatori said in unison.

"I'm not wearing that dress ever again!"

"Why not? You have to admit it made the most of your figure-not to mention you had more people wanting to be your partner out of all of us!"

"And they were all boys! That's the problem!"

"We can have our own party," Hatori said, ending that argument. "Or I'm sure Akito will let us go out tonight."

"So what should we do?" Shigure wondered. "A movie?"

"A movie is too mundane for an occasion such as this!" Ayame had a manic gleam in his eye. "Such an event can only be marked by a one of a kind happening!"

Hatori had a bad feeling about this. "You know, I'd rather like to stay in tonight-"

"Tonight we take our place in the adult world of desire-we're going to lose our virginity!"

"Wow Aya!" Shigure looked impressed. And, Hatori thought with a sigh, far too interested. "That's a great idea!"

"No its not," as the only sensible member of the party, Hatori felt obliged to nip this scheme in the bud. "Its impossible-or have you forgotten that you happen to be cursed? Aside from all of the moral reasons, there is no way you two are going to do this without transforming!"

"Not necessarily Ha-san!" Ayame threw an arm around him. "There's always bondage you know. And there's a variety of sexual positions that don't involve hugging-" he elaborated.

"Shut up!" Hatori yelled, blushing furiously. "Is that all you think about?"

"Let me think-yes, yes that's all I think about."

Hatori sighed. He was beginning to feel the onslaught of a headache. "Shigure, you're not seriously thinking about going along with this idiot?

"But Hatori," Shigure said. "How else are we ever going to have girlfriends? Akito won't even hear of us dating-and there aren't enough female Juunishi so what else are we going to do?"

"If you think Akito is going to go along with this madness-"

"Akito's too young," Ayame said. "He doesn't understand the needs of our lonely hearts-"

"Try empty heads-"

"-so we'll just have to sneak out instead! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Of course we got caught before we even left the compound," Shigure sighed. "You know you didn't have to tell Akito what we were doing, Hatori."

"And have you two wandering around the town getting into who-knows-what trouble?" Hatori snorted.

Ayame sighed dramatically. "What cruel fate! Two teenagers, beset by adult passions, denied the chance of fulfilment and locked into one room! What could they do to quench the desires raging within them?" he draped himself over Shigure in the attitude of a languishing tragic hero.

"If you two are just going to sit around and tell dirty jokes I'm going to leave now!"

"Hatori, you can't leave! We've hardly even started!"

"We have tons more dirty jokes to go!"

"That's it! You can give Tohru-kun my apologies!"

"Hatori-you cannot disregard a young girl's wishes so cruelly-Tohru-kun will be devastated if you don't stay for the meal she has made for us."

Forgotten by the other two, Shigure had gone a suspiciously pinkish colour. That night …

~~~~~~~~~

"Hatoriiiiiiii!" Shigure wailed, thumping ineffectually on the locked door. "I can't believe you would do this to us!"

"It's your own fault!" Hatori's reply, somewhat muffled came from the other side of the door. "This is for your own good, you know—"

"Hatooooori!"

There was the sound of footsteps passing down the corridor. "You'll thank me for this one day."

"I doubt that," Shigure sighed, sliding down the door onto the floor. "Eh, Ayame? Aren't you going to yell at him?"

"I have a much better idea!" Ayame said. He was carrying his desk chair over to the window.

The window was far too small for Ayame to fit through—unless he transformed. But—

"Ayame—you haven't forgotten that there are no girls in here? How are you going to transform."

"I've already turned the heaters off," Ayame said. "Once I get cold enough—Poof!"

"Very smart," Shigure said. "So, I guess all we have to do now is wait?"

~~~~~~~

Two hours later . . .

"It figures . . ." Shigure sighed. "This would be the warmest night of the whole damn year." He sighed, looking out the window. "You heard that lecture Akito gave us—we're not going to be allowed out of the compound for ages on our own. It's not fair—"

A dog howled somewhere and he paused to listen.

"Stupid Hatori," he said. "They've even locked the main gate so even if we could get out of your room, we'd have nowhere to go." He jumped down from the window. "I hate this place. Why do they always decide what's best for us—why can't we have some say?"

"They can't decide everything."

Shigure glanced over to where Ayame sat, half covered by shadow. His eyes glowed in the dark. Snakes had excellent night-vision, a trait that had apparently carried over to Ayame's human form, as he preferred sitting in the darkness to having the lights on. "Oh? They seem to have us where they want us."

"Not entirely," Ayame stood and glided over to Shigure. "We can still lose our virginity tonight."

"Eh?" Shigure looked puzzled and then taken back. "Aya—"

"Its no different than between man and woman, really," Ayame said, his gaze fixed on Shigure. "In fact, it has a lot of advantages—the curse would not be a problem and of course there's no chance of you getting pregnant!"

Shigure stared at him until what Ayame had just said sunk in. And then he freaked. "What—who says I would be the girl?"

"Its okay Shigure!" Ayame said, assuming his handsome in-a-brooding-and-mysterious-way pose. "I promise I'll be gentle!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Then there's no problem!"

~~~~~~

Shigure sat on Ayame's bed, watching with some trepidation as the silver haired boy rummaged through his wardrobe looking for who knew what. He wasn't exactly sure why he'd agreed to this—to spite Akito, sure, to prove they could, and because, despite his nervousness about this, he couldn't help the slight feeling of excitement he felt.

"You don't have to wait for me, Gure-kun!" Ayame said, tossing more clothes aside. "You can get undressed now you know."

"I think I'll wait, thanks," Shigure said.

"Ah, you want me to undress you?" Ayame said in his languid voice.

Shigure thought about that and decided he would take his own clothes off. He slipped beneath the covers of Ayame's bed and shrugged out of his clothes. He hesitated over removing his boxers but the suspicion that Ayame might laugh at him, or even worse, remove them himself, decided him.

"Very good Gure," Ayame whispered in his ear. When had he got so close? And—Shigure gulped--when had he got undressed?

"Move over," the silver haired teenager said with a smile. "I have to get in too, you know."

Shigure scrambled over, face a deep pink. Ayame's leg brushed his and he was startled enough to look up.

His mouth felt suddenly dry. Ayame hadn't taken his eyes off him and the intense look in Ayame's eyes made him feel both scared—and kind of flattered.

"Gure-kun," Ayame said, reaching out a hand to brush the hair out of his cousin's eyes. If Shigure was feeling nervous, the only feeling running through his veins was anticipation. He trailed his hand down the side of Shigure's face and then lower, pausing on his shoulder. "Relax," he whispered, pushing Shigure back on to the bed. "I know what I'm doing."

"Eh?" Shigure protested, more out of habit than out of real opposition, Ayame suspected. "Who said that I'm going to be on the bottom?"

"I did! I know more about this than you do anyway," Ayame said, kneeling beside Shigure and slipping his other hand beneath the covers.

Shigure yelped. "What is your hand doing there?"

"Isn't it kind of obvious?" Ayame purred.

"N-no!"

Ayame sighed exasperatedly. "What do you use your head for, Gure-kun? Anything? Or is it just used to prop up your hair?"

"Hey!" Shigure protested. "This doesn't happen to be a situation I've ever thought about much! I mean, sure I thought about it but I always thought this would be with a girl, you know—"

There was just a trace of panic in his voice.

Ayame gently stroked his hair. "Don't worry Gure-kun. You're in good hands. Ha-ha-ha!"

"Let's just get this over with."

~~~~~~~~

"But it's cold!"

"Trust me, you'll want this later."

"But it's cold. And it feels really weird."

"Well, how about this."

"…"

"No good?"

"Actually … if you did that again I wouldn't mind."

"Did what—this?"

"Ah—"

"Was that a yes? Do you want me to do that again?"

"Ah!"

"No? Do you want me to stop now? I wish you'd make up your mind—"

"Ayame!"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Fun as teasing Shigure was, Ayame decided it was time to move on. He set the vaseline aside with a smirk—so lucky he'd decided to keep some in his room—Akito had decreed that they were not to be allowed out of his room for the whole night—not even to go to the bathroom. Of course, he'd had Hatori in mind when he'd done that but he wasn't complaining.

No, he thought as he climbed on to Shigure. He was not complaining at all.

"Ayame?" Shigure asked, a little breathlessly.

Ayame answered him by leaning in for a languid kiss. It was smooth and silky as the perfect ending of a romance novel--at least until Shigure started laughing.

"What?" Ayame said, pulling away annoyed.

"Nothing," Shigure said, trying to calm himself. Unfortunately looking at Ayame's puzzled expression only made him laugh more.

Ayame hissed in exasperation. "What?"

"It's just it feels really odd to be kissing you, Aya-kun," Shigure explained.

"And what we were doing before wasn't odd?"

"Aya, don't be upset. I didn't mean to start laughing," Shigure said hastily. 'I think you're a really good kisser."

"Really?" Ayame allowed himself to be mollified.

"Well, not bad. I mean, if you want kiss me, I don't mind."

Which was as far as Shigure would go towards saying he liked it. Ayame smirked. Even if Shigure wouldn't actually say it he had proof that he did—appeased he leaned in for another kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Shigure howled.

Ayame had never heard him sound so wild before. The cry sounded as though it had been ripped from him, raw and primal, better suited to a wolf than his easy going cousin. A second later Shigure relaxed completely, laying his head on the pillow beside him.

"Aya, that was—" he said, in a voice hushed with amazement—"incredible."

There was a sudden chorus of howls in answer to his own, and he blushed.

"Oops."

Ayame leaned in to kiss Shigure in the middle of his forehead, and to wipe away the hair sticking to his forehead.

"I don't think there's a snake in the neighbourhood that doesn't know what just happened," he said with a smirk. "I hope they haven't gotten into the compound. That would be rather hard to explain."

Shigure laughed. "Can you imagine it? Hatori: Shigure, you want to explain why there are a lot of overly affectionate dogs in our backyard?"

Ayame laughed. "We should tell him! Just to see the look on his face!"

"He'd kill us!" Shigure had to wipe away tears of laughter. He flopped back onto the bed. "If he didn't have a heart attack first."

Ayame smiled and drew closer to Shigure. He was starting to feel the chill of the night air—maybe leaving the window open hadn't been such a great idea.

Shigure slipped an arm around him. "What do we do now?"

Ayame considered. "I suppose we had better keep this a secret. I mean, I love you Gure but I'm not in love with you—although I would not mind doing this again. Of course I don't think the others would react well to this—"

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to have another go."

~~~~~~~~

"Give it a rest Ayame!" Hatori said. "There are children present!"

"Jealous, Ha-chan?" Ayame chirped sweetly.

"You wish."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha—"

Kyou nudged Yuki. "What is he going on about?"

"No idea," Yuki said shortly. "Keep your elbows to yourself bakaneko."

"Why—" Kyou bristled. "Damn mouse!"

"Calm down!" Shigure said. "No fighting at the dinner table!" He shook his finger at them. "Really you two should have learned better respect than that by now. Isn't that right, Hatori?"

There was no reply. Kyou and Yuki looked resigned, Tohru sweatdropped.

"Hatori?" Shigure looked around.

Hatori was apparently trying to strangle Ayame, who was still laughing madly.

"I know you can't keep your hands off me but try and restrain yourself Hatori for the children's sake!"

Shigure sighed. "Hatori, Ayame—we're setting an example here."

"I apologise," Hatori said, but not releasing his death grip on Ayame. "It's been a long afternoon."

"What did they do?" Kyou asked only to be kicked by Yuki who was also curious but knew better than to ask.

Luckily for Hatori the resulting fight and damage to Shigure's furniture was enough of a distraction for his not answering the question to pass unnoticed.

The rest of the evening went quickly. Tohru's cooking was excellent and she and Hatori were able not only to keep Kyou and Yuki's bickering in check, but also to stop Shigure and Ayame from getting out of hand. If Hatori was not sorry that the time had come to leave, than he wasn't relieved either.

Ayame was more sedate than usual on the drive home.

"I think Yuki may be finally warming to me," he said, as Hatori pulled up outside his house. "What do you think?"

"He threw you through the wall."

"But he only threw me through one wall," Ayame said.

"I suppose there's a first time for anything," Hatori said doubtfully. "Goodnight, Ayame."

It was nice to have a chance to finally hear himself think. Hatori smiled as he drove back to the compound. Inspite of his serious attitude, he enjoyed Ayame and Shigure's antics. They were a much needed foil to the curse that overshadowed all of their lives. Of course, they were prone to take things too far . . .

He sighed as he remembered.

~~~~~~~~

"I'll take them in breakfast and see if they're ready to be reasonable," Hatori said. "They're more likely to listen to me."

Akito acknowledged that this was so. "Don't let them fool you into letting them out."

"No problems there," Hatori said. "I'm prepared for all their tricks."

Well, he'd thought he was.

He slid the bolt on the outside of Ayame's door across and opened the door, balancing the tray precariously. "Ayame, Shigure," he said. "I've brought you breakfast."

There was only a half hearted moan as a response. Neither of his cousins were morning people. With a smirk, Hatori flicked the light switch … and almost dropped the tray.

Ayame stirred, sitting up right, the sheet slipping down to reveal the pale white of his bare skin and the warmer shade of Shigure beside him--also bare--

It couldn't be--

Ayame blinked, sleepy confusion turning to an aghast expression as he took in Hatori's stare. "H-hari! This is--we were--"

"Mmm?" Shigure yawned, finally waking up. "Aya, what's . . . ?"

Hatori put down the tray abruptly and turned around and walked out of the room. As he shut the door behind him he sank to the ground. He had not seen--his cousins--they had--

A sound from the room behind him slowly registered in his shock filled mind. Shigure was laughing.

"Did you see his face?"

"We're going to get in so much trouble," Aya said.

"It was worth it!" Shigure sounded as though he might injure himself from laughing so hard. "Just for his expression!"

"I never thought I'd see Hatori so startled," Ayame began to laugh as well. "If only we'd had a camera--"

A joke.

It was one of his cousin's stupid jokes. Probably some sort of revenge for his part in ensuring their plan wasn't carried out--Hatori could have kicked himself. Of course Shigure and Aya wouldn't really have had sex--the very idea was absurd!

Smirking, Hatori locked the door behind him and continued down the hallway. They might have fooled him momentarily, but he still had the key.

~~~~~~~~~

It still chagrined Hatori that the two of them had managed to fool him so completely, if only for a short time. He couldn't believe he'd been taken in by the idea though--honestly, it was so completely improbable--

Aya and Gure . . . as if.

He pulled into his driveway. Instead of going inside the compound immediately, he lingered on the threshold, lighting a cigarette.

To think he'd ever been so stupid--still, there was a first time for anything.

End.