Falling in love with a fox -chapter 3, Ruka/Yomi
Chapter 3
"The picnic"
Yomi had been living with him for the past month and the little man’s mystery was only growing thicker by the minute for Ruka, but so were Ruka’s feelings for him. They had become more than good friends, more like brothers, Ruka thought that day, in front of the computer at his office.
After Hitsugi’s visit that day, Yomi seemed to become sadder, maybe he had realized how much he missed his friends and parts of his old life. Yomi had lost a little bit of his sparkle. Sure, he still had a big smile on his face and he was still curious about the things on the house and that he read or saw on TV, but behind that, when Ruka caught him looking fixedly out the window or lost in thought while doing the dishes, when Ruka would look into his eyes, he saw sadness, hidden sadness. Ruka couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it before.
So the next day he tried to cheer Yomi up. And what better way than shopping? Sure, he wasn’t that fond of shopping normally, what guy was? But if you looked at the situation from a practical point of view too, it needed to be done. Yomi had no proper clothes and Ruka had already decided that he wouldn’t let Yomi go until the little man would specifically ask to leave and be independent. He just seemed so fragile that he just triggered all these emotions in Ruka’s heart: the desire to protect him, to hold him close, to never let him go…
And it seemed unbelievable, even though he had lived it, but the shopping trip had actually been fun. The first time they descended from Ruka’s apartment and climbed into the car Ruka had gotten nervous, remembering some of the “dates” with his ex-girlfriend that had implied shops…bad memories, nightmarish. So Ruka had prepared himself for the worst, he had even took some painkillers with him but, to his great surprise and forever amazement, shopping with Yomi was quite fun. He was delighted by everything he saw, from clothes to cars to people, like he really had lived in a cage until the, Ruka caught himself thinking. Unlike his girlfriend that left him behind or just forced him to tag along and pay after, Yomi never strayed away from him and Ruka was the one that actually had to push him into the changing booth. Yomi had protested and protested about Ruka spending his money on him, but Ruka would have none of that and he was quite enjoying himself too, although he hated to admit it. Yomi was way too pretty for this world, Ruka caught himself thinking. He looked absolutely adorable in anything Ruka had picked for him and not just adorable, plain sexy in tightly fit pants and shirts that outlined his waist or revealed a little bit of skin. Even loose T-shirts and jeans or even costumes fit the man like a glove, although it was hard to find something for his size, Ruka chuckled. More than once he had been amused to see Yomi coming out of the dressing room, stepping on the excess material of the pants, a pout on his face, looking so innocently up at Ruka and saying something like: “Mou, Ruka, these are big too! Why do I have to be so small?!” Yomi’s pouting lips certainly sent shivers down Ruka’s spin but Ruka was decided not to bother analyzing anything that day, just have fun.
Shopping for clothes had took quite a few hours and a reasonable amount of money but Ruka found that he didn’t regret it at all because that day he had seen Yomi smile so brilliantly at him, his mind seemed to stop. And contrary to his girlfriend, Ruka caught himself thinking again, Yomi was quite grateful because he didn’t take it as granted. He had thanked Ruka so many times the man had actually had to pretend to get mad in order to stop him from thanking and apologizing. The moment they had gotten home Yomi had prepared him a nice hot bath and a very delicious dinner and Ruka was more than happy to see Yomi roaming around the apartment. Somehow his home felt cozier now with Yomi in it.
About a week later, he had returned earlier from work than usual, and he had caught Yomi on the balcony, looking out at the sky and the city longingly, the same touch of sadness in his gaze and Ruka got worried again. He had been busy all week at work so he hadn’t quite had time to spend it with Yomi so Ruka thought he really must have felt lonely. Besides, Yomi barely left the apartment without Ruka so that week he had practically spent it locked inside. Ruka devised something to cheer Yomi up again: going out for a picnic in the weekend.
That Saturday turned out to be a perfect day. The sun was shining bright and the wind was blowing slightly. It was the perfect day for a picnic. Yomi had prepared all this delicious food, only looking at it and feeling the smells in the kitchen made Ruka’s stomach growl.
They had gotten into the car. Ruka had special plans for that day. They could have just went to a park but Ruka figured it would be much more fun for Yomi if they went in the countryside, maybe near a forest and a river or something, just out of Tokyo and the people and traffic and noises.
Ruka couldn’t have been more right in his choice because the moment Yomi found himself out of the city and caught sight of the nearing mountains, he had started getting excited and had asked Ruka to go there and even though it was a bit far, Ruka had complied. The ride had been peaceful, listening to music, exchanging light conversation. And then, they had reached their destination. Ruka had forgotten how much he loved the forest himself, feeling life all around him, but he was suddenly reminded of it all. But Yomi’s love for nature certainly surpassed anything Ruka had ever felt. The little man was positively shining with happiness.
The moment they had gotten out of the car he had taken the food and started heading for the woods. They had climbed and climbed, Ruka more like staggering behind Yomi who just didn’t seem fatigued at all until, Ruka couldn’t believe his eyes, and they had gotten to a lovely clearing in the woods. It even had a small waterfall, Ruka noted. But what surprised him most was that Yomi had headed straight for it, as if he knew it was there. He hadn’t stopped once, looked at his left or right, nothing to indicate uncertainty. He had just led them there. Maybe Ruka was just imagining things but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Yomi had known exactly where they were all the time. And seeing Yomi so at peace, sitting down on the cover they had brought, in the middle of a field of flowers, looking happily at the sky, Ruka’s gut feeling just got worse. He loved to see Yomi like that but it was as if he was seeing something he shouldn’t, something he wasn’t allowed to see. Ruka had sworn he had never seen anyone shining brighter than Yomi then and there. And for Ruka the surprises just kept coming that day.
They had almost finished their lunch when Yomi suddenly shot up, looked fixedly into the woods, signed to Ruka to get up too and not talk and then…out of the woods came a deer. Ruka couldn’t believe his eyes. Sure, he had seen plenty of deer in his life. Going to Nara was certainly something he’d remember all his life, but this was a real, wild deer, not accustomed to human presence, and yet it made no signs of being afraid of them. And from then on, for Ruka it was as if entering a dream. Yomi had just moved closer to it, at first so slow as if he wasn’t moving at all but his step growing steadier by the moment and then he was actually petting the animal, offering some left over food from their picnic. Ruka was more than amazed when the deer and Yomi then came towards him, slowly, the animal just following Yomi as if it had been their house pet or something and in a couple of minutes Ruka was actually petting a wild deer, feeling it’s soft fur and it’s delicate curbs, the soft ears, looking into its beautiful eyes. It seemed like a dream and just like a dream, it was soon over because after a few minutes the deer made signs to leave and Yomi just waved it goodbye.
Ruka just stared at Yomi for a minute and then popped the question:
“Am I dreaming? Because what just happened now seems surreal.”
Yomi smiled and replied:
“No, you’re not. It’s all real, Ruka.”
“Then what just happened? How could you get so close to a wild animal? It acted as if it were your pet or something.”
Ruka was actually scared for a bit when he saw the cold look in the man’s eyes when he had said that. It was as if he had a different person before him. But then, the gaze went back to being gentle again so Ruka thought he had imagined everything.
“Animals can feel if you mean them no harm, I guess. It was just friendly and it certainly didn’t act as a pet. We are the ones invading here but she just acted like we were her guests. She was indeed very friendly.”
“She?” Ruka dared.
“Yes, her name is Mei.”
Ok, at that point, Ruka was sure he was hearing things because wild animals did not have names, right? And Yomi had not just implied that he had talked with the deer, right? Yes, it was all an illusion. Ruka didn’t ask anything more after that. He just dismissed it, as being all just one of those miraculous experiences he had heard about and never experienced for himself and decided it was best just to enjoy the afternoon.
And he enjoyed every moment of it, playing in the water, picking up flowers, running around chasing Yomi, pinning him to the ground (Ruka blushed remembering that one; nothing happened, of course), falling asleep for a while, chatting, Yomi’s laughter and his soft gaze. Everything had been pleasant and Ruka almost didn’t want to leave but night was beginning to fall and they had to return home. A short while after the car started Yomi had fallen asleep and didn’t wake up even when they had gotten home, not even when Ruka shook him. So Ruka had to carry him to the apartment bridal style (not that he really resented that).
But after that day it just seemed that Yomi’s mystery became deeper because the strange sleepiness came back. It wasn’t like before when he wouldn’t wake up but he used to sleep for more than 12 hours in a day and even when he woke up he seemed so tired, as if it took so much effort to even keep his eyelids open. Ruka was concerned and even now, sitting at his desk, remembering things that had passed in the last month, Ruka’s concern just grew in intensity because something was definitely strange. He was scared to even think about the fact that today, when he’d go home, he might find Yomi again, sleeping not to wake up…