Chapter 8 - Imbroglio

Imbroglio/imˈbrōlyō/ - (n) an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation

Mayumi had decided to take Kureno outside to explore the city on a little date and Akito, being in a surprisingly amiable mood, allowed them to do so. While they knew this was just the calm before the storm, they wanted to enjoy it anyway.

Mayumi was wearing a casual dark magenta dress that stopped right before her knees with long trumpet sleeves and cream colored sandal heels. Kureno was wearing his typical gray dress shirt tucked into black slacks and his black dress shoes.

She knew that he missed flying when he was still under a curse, so she decided to take him to the opposite spectrum: the aquarium.

Upon arriving, they received many stares, the combined levels of their attractiveness was something rare within the facility. They ignored this of course, unintentionally and intentionally. The only thing that the couple wanted was a peaceful day where they could enjoy some quality time without the immense pressure of the Sohma family weighing down on them.

Looking through the exhibitions, Kureno kept constant contact with Mayumi, whether it be an arm around her waist or interlacing their hands together. This was actually also Mayumi's first time at an aquarium, seeing that Akito never allowed them to go outside of the compound, unless it was for work or something related to the Sohma family.

Their eyes were both wide with a childish twinkle as they went into the room with glass all around them, the diverse marine life swimming in the water high above them, just past the thick glass. They walked around more, exploring the different species of aquatic life from adorable and playful sea otters to the intriguing fluorescent jellyfish.

Next up after their exploration, was the dolphin show. Both of them enjoyed the creative and jubilant display, watching the affable creatures perform stunts and interacting with the crowd. Mayumi had pulled some strings by using the extensive Sohma outreach to allow Mayumi and Kureno some individual time with the dolphins after the show.

One of the dolphins had jumped up and kissed Mayumi on the cheek, eliciting a joyful laugh that felt unrestrained. Kureno watched her fondly, wishing that he could hear the same kind of laugh from her everyday, but that kind of behavior was not exhibited in their solemn Sohma life.

He was shocked out of his thoughts when the more playful dolphin splashed him, swimming away quickly and trilling as the water landed on his hair and face. Luckily, he had shut his eyes so that it wouldn't get into them. Quickly bringing an arm up, he rubs the top of his face and when he lifts it away, he sees Mayumi with a bright smile. She was holding her handkerchief and she chuckled while wiping some of the water away.

"What were you thinking so deeply about, Kureno? I didn't expect you to let your guard down so easily where even the dolphin noticed," she tells him, the bright smile never fading.

He gazes at her lovingly with a small smile of his own. "I was thinking how happy it makes me to hear you laugh so freely."

Mayumi's cheeks turn a pink tint at his tender words, but she doesn't look away. They draw closer to each other until they meet in a soft kiss. Kureno could taste the sweet strawberry juice she was drinking earlier as their lips pressed against each other, the slow kiss turning a little sensual. A sudden series of clicks and whistles startle them, and they pull away to look at the culprit.

The two dolphins squeak in tandem as they swim in circles, almost like they were teasing the young couple. They both let out small laughs at the spirited animals, their exuberant behavior infectious.

Mayumi looks at the time on her phone and realizes their time is coming to an end. The period allotted for the two of them was almost finished and Kureno noticed this as well. Mayumi walks over to the edge of the massive pool and reaches a hand out and the dolphin that had given her a kiss swam to her, pressing its smooth snout to her hand, squeaking. She pets the dolphin and gives a kind smile. "Thank you, for making these memories with us today. We'll cherish them for the rest of our lives. May you remain as joyful in the future as you were today."

Kureno had come over as well when the dolphin that had splashed him also made its way over to say goodbye. He mimics Mayumi's actions, holding a hand out and letting it reach the animal. "Thank you as well. I'll keep today with me forever."

Both of them chirp, almost as if they understood their words. The couple lifts their hands away and the two marine mammals dive into the water before jumping out at an impressive height, facing them. The two humans waved their hands at them and the dolphins fell back into the water gracefully, popping their heads up and waving their fins in a farewell. The couple has identical smiles on their faces and they make their way to the main building of the aquarium.

Since it was already so late, the night sky had made its way up, replacing the bright blue tone of the day. Mayumi just wanted something light so she suggested going to a convenience store. Kureno nods along, even though he has no grasp of the whole concept of convenience stores. She tugs him by the hand into a random one, the cold air from the air conditioning blasts her exposed skin, making her shiver. He notices and rubs his hands along the length of her arms from behind, making her look up to give him a sweet smile. "Why don't we split up? I don't want you to get sick from being exposed to too much cold air right after being outside in the warm temperature."

Mayumi nods, pecking his cheek before going off to pick her own things. She manages to grab a cold bottle of refreshing oolong tea and an onigiri with salmon inside and one with tuna mayo before she hears the sound of many bags falling on the ground and a loud laugh.

Out of curiosity, she follows the laugh and comes upon an amusing sight. Her lover was standing there with his arms in front of him like they were carrying something, which apparently they were, as she saw the row of bags of snacks laying on the ground. One of the workers was laughing and apologizing at the same time.

She makes her presence known when she walks over, her heels clacking against the floor. "What are you doing? Did you not use a basket?" Mayumi asks with a hand raised to her mouth as she chuckles. "I'm sorry, I should've told you." He looks down sheepishly, not wanting her to see this clumsy side of his as often as she does.

Resting on an arm are the handles of a basket and she hands it to him. "Here, we can put what you want in this basket."

As she turns to get the packages of food, she stops upon seeing a familiar face. The teen looks back at her with a shocked expression, not expecting to see a member of the Sohma family here. "Ah, if I recall correctly... you are one of Tohru's friends. I remember at the festival and your class was selling onigiri... Uotani Arisa, is it?"

She nods, surprised that the young woman actually remembered her. "Y-Yes... um, what are you doing here, Sohma-san?"

A closed eye smile appears on her beautiful face. "We were just passing by after we went to an aquarium for the first time. I wanted something light to eat since it's already so late, so I suggested just going to a convenience store."

"Ah, I see."

"Mayumi."

The hazel-eyed lady turns around at her name to see Kureno with the basket full of the things that they had gotten. She looks at him with a playful smile. "Do you need help at the register, or should I go with you?"

Kureno juts his bottom lip out slightly at her tease and huffs. "I can do it. Once you're done talking, you can meet me outside." She gives him a nod in response and turns back to the high schooler as he heads over to the checkout.

"How's Tohru right now?" Mayumi asks her, having not gone over to their house in a while. She would like to visit, but it almost felt like Akito was giving her more work so that she wouldn't get a chance to leave. The main head has also been having more frequent emotional turmoils, exhausting the young woman to the point where her symptoms have become physical as well.

"Oh, Tohru is doing fine right now. The other Sohmas are getting along with her very well," Uotani answers. She was examining her appearance and thought back to the other Sohmas. Is it just in their genetics to be attractive? It seemed like all of them were very good-looking and each had a certain appeal to them.

Mayumi hums at this with a smile. "That's good. Tohru is a good girl so it's great to hear that they have a good relationship with her." Her eyes drift to the clock on the wall before widening. "Ah, sorry, but we have to go now. Thank you and please take care of the Sohma kids and Tohru!" The last of her words trail away as she trots out the automatic door to Kureno. From her spot and through the glass, Uotani could spot the affectionate expressions on their faces when they looked at each other as they left.

"Kureno, do you have time?" Mayumi asks him as she peeks into his room, her hands on the door frame. Pulling away from his work, he spins the chair to look at her with a small smile.

Mayumi steps in and makes her way over, her orchid colored dress hem fluttering around her knees. She kneels down in front of him and rests her head in between her arms on his legs. His hand strokes her long golden locks, feeling the soft and silky texture of her hair.

Mayumi sighs in content and closes her eyes, enjoying the soft and gentle touch he gave her. If only this one moment could last forever. But she needed to come back to the real world, as much as she wished she didn't have to. "If you're not busy anymore, do you want to go out?"

His movement stops and Mayumi lets out a childish whine, making him chuckle and continue. "Outside the estate? Did you already ask for permission?"

"Mm. Akito said only today before we go to the summer house." She reaches for his unoccupied hand, her fingers interlocking with his. They both understood the hidden message behind the main head's words. Enjoy this while you can, before you're locked up for good.

His hand tightens around hers. "Where do you want to go?"

She bites her bottom lip and thinks. "Hmm..." A bright smile appears on her face as she lifts her head up to look at Kureno. "Why not just walk around with no destination in mind? We'll go wherever our feet take us."

He caresses her face and she leans into his touch. "Only you could think of something like that to pass our free time." His comment makes her pout. "What? What do you want to do then?" Kureno shakes his head. "Let's walk around then. As long as I'm with you, then I'm happy." A blush dusts over her cheeks at his sincere words. Mayumi leans up and he meets her halfway, their lips lock together in a deep kiss. After parting, blissful closed eye smiles are reflected on their faces, feeling as if they were the only ones in the world.

Kureno had gone to throw away their drink cans so Mayumi was currently wandering around the area. She didn't spend that much time walking around before she's abruptly yanked back by her wrist. "Wait!" Turning around slowly with a surprised face, she looks down to see one of Tohru's friends. "Uotani... Arisa-san?"

She was currently propping her hands on her knees, her top half bowed down as she panted in the heat. "Yeah. What a coincidence. Who would've thought?"

Mayumi bends down with her handkerchief and pats at the sweat accumulating on her face. "Are you okay? You're pretty out of breath." Her panting still continues, the lungs inside her body expanding to take in more air. "Yeah, I'm okay. I saw you and didn't want to lose you, so I sprinted after you." Mayumi stops wiping Uotani's sweat for a moment before giving her a happy closed eye smile. "Ara? How sweet of you."

Uotani finally straightens up with a sheepish, but large smile, laughing a little. "Insane, huh? Man, it's hot." Her stomach decides to let her know she is hungry right after she talks. Mayumi chuckles a little. "Are you hungry?" She looks down when she remembers. "I haven't eaten lunch yet... Crap, I'll get hangry if I don't eat soon."

Mayumi brightens as thinks of an idea. "Why don't we go somewhere to eat? We haven't eaten either. It's on us." "We?" Uotani is a bit confused. Was she with someone right now? Her question is answered when a deep voice calls out. "Mayumi." The young woman turns around at the call of her name. "Ah, I just invited Uotani-san to eat with us. Is that okay?" He nods at Mayumi with a smile.

Uotani stares. He was the man who acted the same as Tohru upon their first meeting. But at the mention of having free food, her eyes take on a piercing stare with sparkles around her. "Are you serious?" Mayumi turns back to her as Kureno places his arm around her waist. The contrasting aura and the look in her eyes was something she thought fit her personality very well. "Yes, as a thank you for taking care of Tohru and getting along with the Sohma children."

Uotani waves her hands in front of her. "Nah, they're good people so it's natural to get along with them. But... All right! Wait for me, tororo soba! Free food, yay!" Mayumi and Kureno blink at her choice of food. "Uotani-san, are you fine with tororo soba? You don't want something fancier?" Mayumi asks, wondering if she was choosing it for their sake.

The teenager turns around with a bright smile. "I'm really into tororo soba recently. You two better think of what you wanna eat, too." She turns back around, walking away singing, "Tororo~ Tororo~"

Mayumi smiles fondly at the girl and Kureno watches her. "She has a brilliant smile and I can sense her sincerity. I'm grateful someone like her has close bonds with the children." She looks up at him before grabbing his hand and tugging him along. Kureno stares at her before moving his eyes towards their interlaced hands. He then watches as she turns back with a dazzling smile directed at him. "Come on, Kureno!"

"Here's your tororo soba." Uotani's meal is placed in front of her. She sits across from Mayumi with Kureno sitting beside the young woman.

Mayumi perks up a little once she realizes something. "Ah, that's right!" She gestures to the man sitting beside her. "This is Kureno. I just realized that you two have never been formally introduced." He bows his head in acknowledgement. "Hello, nice to meet you." The blonde teen bows back. "I'm Uotani. Uotani Arisa."

She splits her wooden chopsticks while asking the couple. "Ne, Sohma-san, were you two walking around there 'cause you had business in the area?" Mayumi shakes her head with a smile. Kureno answers, a smile on his face as well. "No, we were just wandering around with no destination in mind."

One of the workers comes to their table with their order in hand. "Here's your chicken nanban." She sets it in front of Mayumi. "Thank you." She gives the girl a closed eye smile and the girl turns red before shuffling away bashfully.

Mayumi turns back to Uotani. "It's been a while since we've both had a little time off from work during the same time frame. We didn't really have anything else we needed to do, so I suggested going on a walk together to pass the time." She slides the dish in between her and Kureno, him handing her a pair of the wooden chopsticks before grabbing a pair for himself. They snap them apart and Kureno looks over. "Are you working again today, Uotani-san?"

She looks up with her bowl in hand, nodding. "Oh, yeah. At the cafe. I work there and at the convenience store."

"I'm 26 and Mayumi is 24. You're in high school?" Kureno asks as Mayumi starts eating from their shared bowl.

"I'm in my second year of high school."

Mayumi swallows her bite. "That's amazing for someone so young." Uotani waves it off, her words a little muffled from the food in her mouth. "Nah, not at all." Kureno refutes her answer as he inserts his experience. "You are compared to me, who just had Mayumi take me to a convenience store for the first time. Kind of pathetic, huh? I didn't even know my way around in there."

Uotani's gaze shifts as he shares more, making Mayumi laugh. The teenager stands up abruptly from her spot. "Who are you? Are you actually a foreign king or something?!" The couple laughs at her false accusation. Mayumi waves her hand in front of her, still laughing. "Of course not."

She is still suspicious, her face exposing her thoughts. What he was saying was not something a typical young adult male would say. He was strange for sure, actually both of them were. "How could a man at 26 nowadays never buy anything at a convenience store?!"

Both of their expressions change as they think back to why they could never experience a normal life. Uotani could see it in their eyes, that loneliness, that melancholy, that yearning. Mayumi looks up, the sadness peeking through her practiced smile. "It's not necessary for people like us. It was truly a special circumstance that we went to the convenience store that day. We don't usually get to do things that were deemed unnecessary for us. The lives we live, the work we have, we do it all as we're ordered to."

Uotani stares at them with widened eyes. Unnecessary?

The young woman looks down, closing her eyes, the same smile still on her lips and Kureno continues her explanation. "That's why we didn't know what we should do when we have days off together like today."

"You're happy living as you are?" The question makes the two young adults look at themselves. Mayumi lays her head against Kureno's shoulder, closing her eyes as they both watch her. "I'm happy. After all, I have a loving family and precious friends. I am provided with many things. So I'm happy, more so than anyone else, I imagine." Kureno rests his head against hers, his face tilted towards Mayumi, the smile reflected on his lips. "As long as we have that and each other, I'm happy as well. I'm comfortable and content with this."

"Then why are your smiles so sad?" There was something up with the two adults in front of her. She had thought so earlier and when she had met them before. The smiles they had on their faces were very loving, but there was still that twinge of sadness residing behind that.

Their eyes opened at her question, but they looked down, lacing their hands together in a tight grip. The sorrow swimming in their orbs were telltale enough, that even if they were happy, they would never be able to be happier than they were currently. That was their reality, the fact that kept them in its iron grip, preventing them from escaping.

The smile that Mayumi gave her as a response conveyed her message of helplessness; that even if they wanted to change that inherent aspect, they couldn't. That was the law placed on them, binding them to a contract that guaranteed the loss of freedom.

"So do you like him, Arisa-san?" Megumi, the Hanajima family's youngest, asked her, getting ready to eat the okonomiyaki with the little spatula in his hand.

"I have no idea. He's so mysterious and he doesn't make any sense sometimes. Even if I do, it would be unrequited," she tells him irritatedly.

"Ah, I was right then, Mayumi-san is his lover," Hanajima Saki says, looking up with her little spatula spoon near her chin.

"Ah, whatever. It's clear that he has Sohma-san already..." She looks up, remembering the couple. A sad but content smile appears on her face. "And they did look happy, together. Just for a moment, they looked like the only one in their world was each other. Who am I to ruin that little happiness they share?"

Hanajima smiles at her friend at her mature thoughts. She then feels a hand on her leg and she turns her head to see her little brother looking at her with worry. "Are you lonely?" A smile stretches across her lips and her eyes close. "I'm okay."

"Hanajima!" Her attention turns back to her blonde friend, who was pointing a finger at her. "If Tohru gets a boyfriend, we're definitely gonna interfere with their first date." She points a finger right back at her, on the same wave as her. "Of course."

Now back at the estate, Mayumi was walking alone in the dark halls of the large house. Her hand reaches for the circular dip in the door, sliding it aside to open. She is greeted with the sight of a ruffled up Akito, the clothes not staying on properly. "Welcome home, Mayumi. You didn't get into any trouble while you two were out, did you?"

Mayumi's smile is a bit strained, but Akito couldn't tell. The door is slid open a little more and she steps in. "Don't worry, Akito." The opening is closed as Akito comes closer to cup her face and the room goes dark, the light from the hallway blocked by the shut door.

Walking into Kureno's room and locking the door shut, Mayumi doesn't even turn on the light or ask for permission as she treads over to him. He sits up from his futon on the floor about to ask her how she was feeling after going to Akito, seeing the hollow expression insinuating the psychological torture she just went through.

But before he could have the chance to, she straddles him, grabbing the collar of his sleep shirt to kiss him in a rough manner. His eyes widen before closing and his arms snake around her waist, pulling her flush against his firm body. As she moved in his lap, he could feel her feminine figure all over him. Their kiss turns fervent and needy, the smacking sounds of their lips making contact echoing in the room. When they pull away for a second to catch their breath, Mayumi drops her forehead onto his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him tightly, and he opens his mouth. "Mayumi--" He's interrupted by her soft and pleading voice. "Please. Please help me forget. Even if it's just for now..."

And he did. Over and over, reminding her of his love for her through their passionate session. Making her forget the events that fogged and haunted her mind. Kureno knew that what happened in that room were not of things one can so easily forget, so instead, he brought her temporary relief. It was the only thing he could do for her so he did it with purpose, wishing hopelessly that perhaps this method would soon not be used for this intent, but as a manifestation of solely just their love.

Laying against Kureno's bare chest as he stroked her hair, Mayumi understood and empathized with Uotani's frustration, but there was nothing they could do. The only thing she could do, can do, is to pray. Pray that they can fly in the sky and enjoy the freedom that was taken away from them. But not to their knowledge, the catalyst had already triggered the weakening roots that the curse had on the zodiac, making way for new life. Mayumi was the one who had planted the seeds. They were slowly sprouting, growing from the sun and water that she had entrusted with the responsibility of their development. What they needed wasn't improvement or refinement--- it was revolution.