Chapter 13

Like the cat in the tree, getting caught up in the chase can leave us in an awkward place

—Rosicrucian

Akira sighed as he tried to fight the ever growing entropy that had formerly been his apartment. He picked up the tail of a stuffed mouse that had been resting in Karu's water dish and wrinkled his nose in distaste as liquid from its black dyed fur dripped onto his kitchen floor.

Where to put the dang thing?

He couldn't very well leave it in the water where it would just continue to soak Karu's drinking water and yet he couldn't leave it on the carpet where it would be in the way and leave a distinct wet spot to step on. Karu meowed at him, batting at the droplets of water before hissing as one caught her square on the nose. She immediately started to paw at her nose before turning to give herself an impromptu wash. Her brother trotted over to help her with the task.

He sighed again and wondered if he could get away with throwing the awful thing out. He doubted it. Shindo was still in that slightly manic mood (Akira was starting to be very confident in his theory that it was due to lack of sleep) and trying his best to come up with solutions to the Karu problem. Apparently, the earplugs—which had been god sent for him—only caused Shindo's ear to feel sore in the morning and didn't block out the noise fully enough to be of any help. Who would have figured Shindo Hikaru for a light sleeper?

Akira shook his head and made a mental note to get Kira and Karu their own toy box, plastic preferably so it wouldn't matter how wet some of the toys were. In the mean time, he turned to his cabinet and removed a Tupperware to place the dratted thing in there until it dried.

"No more toys in water, Karu." Akira muttered absently. At the sound of her name the kitten paused in her washing and meowed back. He arched an eyebrow at that before moving onto the living room. He still had a whole invasion of cat toys to clean up and this being his only free afternoon for the next two weeks, he had to take the opportunity to get as much done.

Preferably before his rival came home.

For a moment he stared at the room feeling a bit lost. He didn't even know where to start. He sighed and decided that it wouldn't do him any good at pondering that for too long and in the end as long as he started somewhere it would be an improvement. He bent to pick up a pillow and place it back on the sofa but hesitated mid motion. His hands tightened on it for a moment before he sighed again, stuffing it back on one corner more roughly than he would have normally.

Movie nights…had become a regular event in his apartment now. It was…strange. Akira shook his head. Thinking about that for too long wouldn't do him any good either. Still, it didn't stop him from remembering how tired his rival had been last night and how despite his claims that he was fine, it hadn't been long before the idiot had fallen sound asleep against Akira's shoulder. The movie—which had been dull to begin with—had lost any of its appeal right then and there. All he could really remember was his rival's weight pressing against him, the comfortable warmth radiating beside him, and the inevitable loss of feeling in his arm due to lack of blood circulation. The pins and needles that had followed when the movie finally (yet still too soon) ended had not been as pleasant. But at least Shindo had gotten some sleep.

He wondered if that would become part of the ritual as well.

The thought left him a bit perplexed, feeling a bit lost in his living room while his body continued on auto-pilot. He stayed that way for quite awhile until Karu came and successfully climbed up to his shoulder without him intercepting her. She then quite confidently nudged his cheek with her face, demanding his attention.

Apparently, it was dinner time.

He sighed and straightened up, placing his kitten back down on the ground before walking to the kitchen.

…

Hikaru ran the last block to the apartment building, smile tugging at his lips despite his bad luck at having been caught in this god awful downpour. Just as he reached the door, it was opened. The apartment manager looked at him with a downright horrified expression on his wrinkled face.

"Shindo-san," He started and shook his head, letting the door close behind the younger man. The older man shooed away the warm hello Hikaru had been about to say "Please go change into dry clothes at once!"

"Oy! Ojii-san…I'm," fine was what he tried to say but he was shoved from the back towards the stairs. In trying to catch his balance, he had to start climbing the first two steps and he could only give the old man a shocked look over his shoulder.

"And next time, do take an umbrella with you!" The apartment manager managed to bark at him. Hikaru could only swallow his startled laugh and nod before continuing to his apartment. Old people were such hens about some things… He opened the door and poked his head in.

"I'm home!" He called out before stepping carefully inside and removing his shoes the best he could. Wet sneakers with wet socks could be a tricky thing to get off.

"Welcome back." He heard Touya respond from the kitchen. "How was your day?" Kira ran up to him then wanting to be picked up and that distracted him from answering Touya right away. The kitten's enthusiastic gait seemed to slow down as he neared him. The kitten's nose actually wrinkled in what looked to be surprised disgust as Hikaru leaned down and picked him up. He had little luck actually holding onto the suddenly slippery feline. Kira was back on the floor, the disgruntled look on his face resembling more an expression Karu would bear. The black bundle of fur turned its back on Hikaru and started to wash.

"Well I see how it is. So much for animals and unconditional love. Get a little wet and it's to the dog house for me…" He snorted slightly amused.

"Shindo? Is everything al—what in all hells are you doing just standing there?" Touya's calm voice was quick to turn into mortified. "You look like a drowned rat! Where was your umbrella? I told you it was going to rain today!"

"And it was way too early in the morning. I wasn't awake-awake to listen to you about the weather." Hikaru responded, grin still in place. "I'm not that bad…" He shoved a hand through his hair and little drops of water fell to the ground.

"Go." Touya started very slowly, voice straining to stay calm. "Take." He was really trying, Hikaru could tell. "A Shower. Right now! And don't drip everywhere while you're at it! I just cleaned this place!"

"You know," He started as he made his way down the short hallway to his room to get some change of clothing. "I take back the comment about you making a good father, you'd make a better housewife." He ended airily.

"Idiot." Touya muttered. "The rain must have washed out what little IQ you had. Now go!" He made a shooing motion which just made Hikaru laugh all that much harder.

To be continued…

A/N- Short chapter I'm sorry! It just felt like a good place to stop for this one but I promise, I'll do better next time. 