This hasn't been betaed, so please forgive any errors (or, better yet, point them out!)

Thank you so much to everyone for your interest in this story! This chapter is less slapstick, a little more romance-focused, and not on Tohru/Kyou. Hope you like it, please let me know what you think!

Chapter 3 was here.
Chapter 2 was here.
Chapter 1 was here.


With all the other residents of the house out for dinner and “shopping for the baby”, Yuki had invited Uotani to do their weekly homework at Shigure’s home. Tohru had left them a meal and nervously repeated to Yuki instructions for how not to burn down the kitchen making tea. Uo, laughing, had reminded her friend that she was perfectly capable of making tea, not to worry, and go have fun.

Now, two hours later, with the food eaten and tea drunk, they’d gotten to work. Uo looked blankly down at the small ledger in which she and Yuki kept their household budget, the numbers blurring together after being stared at so long. Even after all her finagling, they were still short for that month, thanks to all her medical expenses. Unless…

“Yuki-san, we’re gonna have to dip into your Sohma money,” she told him, looking up and across the table to where he sat. “I’ve tried everything, but with that special medicine… there’s just no way we can stretch our budget to cover everything.”

His mouth tightened, but he said nothing for a moment. Their challenge last week had been to decide whether or not they would take advantage of a new medication that, while it boasted amazing success, was also horribly expensive. Uo hadn’t wanted to wreck their budget that badly on it, but Yuki had insisted, saying they would use the money that was his Sohma birthright if it came to it.

“Alright,” he said at last, his voice soft as ever, but there was a thread of something… else, underlying it. “It was me who wanted you to have the medicine, so I’ll just deal with what it takes to buy it.”

Uo couldn’t for the life of her understand his reluctance to use his relatives’ money. If she had rich people practically begging her to spend their cash, she’d do it with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. But she’d come to learn that Yuki had a somewhat uncomfortable relationship with his family, and out of respect for him, hadn’t pried more into the matter (even though she was dying to know).

Yuki’s face was still, uncommonly so even for him, and Uo found herself hating that frozen, numb expression.

“So, it’s nice and peaceful here, without Kyon-Kyon and Shigure-san making all that noise,” she commented, looking around them. It was true—without the two most boisterous of its inhabitants, Shigure’s house was fabulously serene.

Uo couldn’t help but compare it to the tiny apartment she shared with her father, when he could be bothered to come home, which wasn’t often. She shoved back the tiny burst of envy and resentment, instead concentrating on being happy that Yuki and Tohru (and even Kyou, if it came to it) had such a nice place to live.

Yuki visibly brightened, his eyes lighting up as he smiled. “Yes, isn’t it?” he said, also gazing around. “Sometimes I wish they wouldn’t come home… not Honda-san, of course, but the other two…”

She grinned. “I know what you mean. My place is the same, without my father. Nice and clean, and quiet. Can’t beat that.”

The words had no sooner left her mouth than an echoing thud told them the front door had been flung open.

“YUUUKIII!” exclaimed a voice. “I have learned JUST THIS VERY MINUTE—well, twenty minutes ago, it took me a while to get here—THAT YOU HAVE PLEDGED YOUR TROTH. I had been SO CERTAIN that your feelings lay with Honda-san, but to learn you are with ANOTHER GIRL, A YANKEE, NO LESS. Why, it made my heart TWIST WITHIN MY CHEST that my brother, my dear and PRECIOUS brother, would commit his life to another at such a TENDER AND IMPRESSIONABLE AGE.”

And into the room swept a most extraordinary figure. He was an almost exact, if older, replica of Yuki, with longer hair and green-gold eyes instead of violet-blue. Behind him was a positive flood of people—mostly Sohmas, though Uo spied Tohru looking anxious and Hana being inscrutable, as always.

At the mention of Yuki marrying Tohru, Uo saw Kyou tense and open his mouth as if to say something, but Tohru took his hand and looked beseechingly up at him. Instantly, his mood defused and he relaxed. He even went so far as to smile down at her, a tiny but reassuring smile that was answered by Tohru’s own.

Uo blinked, filing away that information for later. Right now, she had this… really loud person to contend with.

“Is this my new SISTER-IN-LAW?” the Yuki-alike boomed, gliding to her and grabbing her hands. “Ah, so tall! So statuesque! And what unusual colouring!” He nipped a lock of the blonde hair that lay on her shoulder between his fingers and studied it closely before beaming at her with unbridled joy. “And it’s NATURAL, too!”

“Nii-san, stop it,” Yuki commanded from between gritted teeth. “Leave her alone.”

“Yes, Ayame, leave off,” Shigure said lazily, ambling into the room. “The two lovebirds were clearly doing some—“ his gaze flicked to the ledger on the table – “close calculations before we arrived.”

The man, Ayame, looked near-crazed with delight. “HOW ADORABLE!” he shouted. “Ahahaha! Yes, Yuki dear, be a PRUDENT and careful account-keeper, like your treasured OLDER BROTHER! Why, I spend HOURS A WEEK toiling over my accounts, and—“

He blathered on at length, to everyone’s varying horror and amusement, but Uo couldn’t stop looking at Yuki. Her “husband” looked on the verge of killing his brother, shame and discomfort clear on his beautiful face, and she realized she couldn’t stand seeing it.

Uo stepped up to Ayame, bringing her face very near his own, and glared. They were the same height, and her rangy athleticism made his slender svelteness seem infinitely fragile. Breakable, even. Immediately, he quieted, mouth working silently in surprise.

“Don’t you ever see anything but yourself? You’re embarrassing him,” she growled. “So shut up, or I’ll pound you.” And she stared at him, putting all the menace she could – which was quite a lot, really-- into it, until his mouth shut with an audible click.

Then she was whirled about, and pulled from the room by a hand on her arm; Yuki had grabbed her elbow and was now guiding her out the fusuma door to the garden. Uo’s mind caught up quickly, and she managed to slam the door behind her as she tripped along after him.

“What’re you—where are we going? Yuki?”

But he didn’t answer until they were a good hundred yards from the house, where after a shocked moment of silence, everyone had begun talking at once.

He stopped, his back to her, and her eyes widened in dismay when she saw his shoulders shaking. Oh, crap, she thought. He’s not crying, is he? She just realized that perhaps she’d done something terribly wrong, in confronting Ayame.

“Yuki, I’m sorry—“

He turned to her then, and she was startled into cutting off her words at the sight of his face: there were tears in his eyes, but from the huge smile on his lips, it was clear they were from laughter.

“That—that was the best thing I’ve ever seen,” he wheezed, swiping the back of his hands over his eyes, then giggled some more. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to see someone get Ayame to shut up.”

“You’re not mad?” Uo grinned, then. “I was worried, for a second.”

“Worried?” Yuki huffed, arms around his waist to relieve the laughter-cramps he was starting to get. “I was hoping he’d keep on, so you would pound him.”

“Is he always that awful?” she asked after a moment, curious. “He’s like the total opposite of you.”

That seemed to sober Yuki, and his smile gradually faded. “No,” he said after a bit, “he’s not always like that. Just mostly.”

His eyes were watching her intently, and a current of something a little confusing to Uo passed between them. Her own smile faded in the wake of it, and she suddenly acutely felt the solitude of where they stood in the woods.

“Thank you,” he said suddenly. “For sticking up for me.”

She scoffed and looked away, embarrassed. “It was something anyone would do,” she muttered.

“Except that no one ever has,” Yuki countered. He reached out and touched her arm to get her to look at him, and nodded in response to the look of disbelief she shot him. “No, really. Apart from Hatori, no one has ever been able to shut Ayame up before. When he gets started, nothing stops him. But you did.”

He smiled at her again, his head tilted a little to one side. It transformed his face was handsome to ethereal, and seemed to lift a wealth of some deep sorrow from his features.

And Uo was filled with an enormous amount of pride, because she had done that—she had defended him, she had made him happy, she had put that smile on his face. A true, happy, open smile, for her and no one else. Something trembled inside her, and she felt colour rushing to her cheeks.

Then Tohru crashed through the bushes around them, her hair disheveled and her eyes wide. Behind her, Kyou was frowning and looking disgruntled.

“Oh, good!” she exclaimed. “Are you two okay? I was so worried about you back there!” She fairly vibrated with concern until Kyou placed his hand atop her head, and she visibly calmed, leaning back against him a little.

“We’re fine,” Yuki told her, turning a fainter version of that glorious smile her way. “I was just telling Uotani-san what a good friend she is.” Uo was glad for the darkness of the woods around them as she blushed furiously.

“Yes, isn’t she?” Tohru agreed happily, beaming at them. “Thank you for defending Yuki-san, Uo-chan!” And she bowed to Uo.

“Stop that,” Uo mumbled, staring at the ground.

Kyou gave a little huff of impatience. “You can come back to the house now,” he said. “I made everyone go away.” He grabbed Tohru’s hand and led her away.

“Shall we go finish our assignment?” Yuki asked Uo, and likewise held out his hand, laughing a little.

She nodded, flushing. Then she took his hand and let him guide her through the trees toward the cheerfully lit-up little house.

Chapter 5 is here.