Little Tiger

We're getting along!

I had only come to Shigure's new house to retrieve my stolen tiger and go back to the estate. But three hours later, I was sitting in the living area of his house, listening to the rainfall outside, my tiger protectively rested on my lap, listening to Shigure's explanation of how he ended up in exile. Yuki had gone to bed long ago. I had planned to leave shortly after he had gone upstairs, but I didn't move from my spot in an eager enough fashion and Shigure put on a kettle of tea in his filthy kitchen for the two of us to share. 

Once the tea was prepared and he had poured each of us a cup, he shamelessly admitted to me that he had slept with Ren, Akito's mother, "sometime last year." He was being so nonchalant about it, not even being able to recall the exact time like this wasn't the heaviest, most bizarre piece of information I'd ever been given. 

My mouth formed an exasperated "o" shape, unable to formulate any sort of response for a long moment. "What?" I finally said, leaning forward, my hands slapping against the chabudai [short-legged, traditional Japanese table]. "Ren?" I repeated, dumbstruck. "Ren...Ren?" I couldn't even imagine it. This news was too perplexing to me to grasp that I had (technically, but not) been cheated on with a middle-aged woman who everybody in the estate despised. That part of the news wouldn't kick in until much later and by then it would be utterly irrelevant. My most pressing question was, How? If Shigure couldn't hug Ren, what exactly did their position look like? I knew that inquiring to him about it would inevitably shift our conversation to a more suggestive tone that I wasn't prepared to deal with. 

Shigure nodded, almost proudly. "I'm quite ashamed, really." His expression was hard to read but I could still gather that he was anything but ashamed. "Akito was so mad at me, she forced me right out the moment she caught wind of it. Even sent Tori and Aya in to help me pack up," he explained, a fond smile on his lips. "I was moved out in under twenty minutes, I think." He motioned around the house. "Apparently, the estate has owned this place for decades. The cat lived here. The staircase out front and the woods surrounding it on the other three sides kept him secluded from the world." He pursed his lips into a thin line. "I believe Kyo was intended to live here at one point, until I was sent here after royally fucking things up." He laughed humorously, encouraging me to do the same. I did so without hesitation. It was quite funny, all things considered. 

I sat back on my hands, glancing around the house. "It's not too bad. If you cleaned up, it could be a sanctuary." 

He shrugged his shoulders, following my gaze around the house. His eyes lingered on the trash bags in the kitchen. "I know," he stated nonchalantly. "I'm not used to living alone and Yuki won't pull his weight one bit." He folded his arms, pouting at the ground.

I smiled softly at him, remembering how childish he could be sometimes. I'd never imagined Yuki and Shigure would be living together, it was not a duo I'd been prepared for. "Why is he here, anyway?" 

He unfolded his arms, reaching for his cup of tea. "Haru asked me to take him in. You know how it is for Yuki and Akito...I guess Haru was worried about him." He stopped to drink and then cleared his throat. "He's only been here for a few months. He's not bad company but he's not fun like Aya." 

"Well, they're only brothers, you can't expect them to have identical personalities." I was always ready to defend Yuki to anyone who dared to compare him to Ayame. I used to compare Ayame to myself all the time, it was a crummy feeling to know that I didn't match up to him. I'm sure Yuki felt the same way but even more so because it was assumed that the two brothers would be similar to each other when they were polar opposites. His older brother stole all of his light, I thought. 

"Well, whatever," he replied indifferently. "I wish Aya could live with me instead but he won't leave the estate until Akito forces him. He likes being taken care of too much to live on his own."