By Haruka

What am I doing here? Yaten wondered. He was standing outside the pet shop where Tiger Eye worked, out of view of the front window. Oh yeah, he thought, I'm here to look at the pets, right?
I suppose if that was the only thing I came for, he amended, I could have stayed at the restaurant and stared at Inuyasha some more. What an amazing combination of animal and human he was. Yaten had wanted to finger the fuzzy ears to see if they felt as much like a puppy's as they looked. From the look on Yui's face, she had, too. Fortunately, they'd both restrained themselves - he didn't think Inuyasha would appreciate the gesture. Not this early in their association, anyway. Or maybe he wouldn't have noticed, considering how fascinated he seemed by Haruka.
"Why, hello Yaten, how are you?"
The pretty boy turned to see Zoisite carrying a bag of groceries and smiling at him. "Hi Zoisite."
"How's your mother after last night? I hear her car didn't fare too well."
Not to mention my butt, Yaten thought sourly. "She's over it. I cleaned up the car and it's fine now."
"That's good. You're not grounded?"
"No, thank goodness." Yaten had to admit that was one advantage to his mother's choice of on-the-spot punishment - once it was over, it was over. It didn't drag out for a week or more.
Zoisite glanced toward the pet shop. "Were you going in to visit Tiger Eye?"
"Well, sort of," Yaten said, wishing Haruka's mother wasn't so chatty. "Mostly to see the pets, though." It passed through his mind to mention Inuyasha and the group home moving in, but he decided Haruka and Yui could do that. It wasn't his place to be informant for the neighborhood. "Anyway, I've gotta go. See you later."
"Say hello to your parents for me," Zoisite said and watched the petite blonde enter the pet shop. He looked both ways, then started into the crosswalk to go to his car. A screech of tires to his left nearly made him drop the groceries. A car that hadn't been there a moment earlier had come close to plowing him down in the crosswalk! How fast it must have been going to come out of nowhere like that! Zoisite turned his furious green-eyed gaze on the reckless driver and blinked in shock.
"Haruka!" he cried.
His daughter was wide-eyed herself - no doubt a combination of fright from nearly killing her own mother and being caught behind the wheel of a car during her punishment.
"What did you think you were doing driving like that, young lady?!" Zoisite shouted. "You almost ran me over! And where did you get this car?! Does this belong to one of your race-track buddies?! You knew damned well that when we told you no driving we meant NO driving! How dare you deliberately disobey us?!"
Haruka had recovered from her shock and was now staring at her mother like he was a lunatic. She suddenly threw the car into reverse and swerved back through the parking lot at top speed, leaving Zoisite standing in open-mouthed amazement.

"So there are new people moved in nearby, huh?" Tiger Eye remarked after listening to Yaten's report on what occurred in the restaurant.
"Well, I've only met the one so far," Yaten replied, leaning over to examine some colourful budgies in a cage. As he did so, Tiger Eye found himself admiring Yaten's backside. He may not be the nicest person, Tiger Eye thought, but with his shining blonde hair and wide eyes, Yaten Kou was one of the prettiest. After me, of course, he added.
"So," he said conversationally, "did everything go okay at home or did you and Taiki get nailed for taking your mom's car?"
It was obviously the wrong question to ask. Yaten turned slowly away from the birdcage and gave him a hostile look. "_I_ got punished, not that it's any of your business."
"Sorry," Tiger Eye said, feeling his face colour. "I didn't mean to offend you. I got punished, too."
"Not like I did," Yaten grumbled. "I already know that Seiya saved Fish Eye's butt and all you guys got chores to do. Me, I got spanked _and_ had to clean my mother's car."
Tiger Eye winced. "Gee, I'm sorry about that. Not very fair, huh?" He tried to think of something that might make Yaten feel better and remembered someone saying he liked animals, which was probably why he was in the pet shop. He spoke up brightly, "Hey, I was just going to clean the gerbil cage - do you want to help me move them over?"
The frown left Yaten's pretty face and he looked a little interested. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Tiger Eye went into the back and returned with an empty fish tank. "I have to move all the gerbils into this thing while I clean their cage. Do you mind handling small animals?"
"No," Yaten said. "I like any kind of animals."
Tiger Eye took the gerbil cage and put it on the floor beside the empty tank. There were about eight furry young gerbils darting around inside it. "You start moving them over and I'll go get my bucket and soap. Don't worry about them biting - the hamsters might nip, but the gerbils are pretty friendly."
He left Yaten alone with the job, but couldn't resist peeking out the back door to watch as the other boy reached into the cage. Several of the curious little animals stood on their hind legs, and one actually jumped into his hand before he could try to pick it up. Yaten carefully took the gerbil out of the cage, smiling as its fur-covered tail curled around his hand. He held it up to his face and murmured to it, his expression revealing a softness Tiger Eye wagered few people ever saw. Gently, Yaten put the gerbil down in the tank and then went back into the cage for the next one.

Haruka whistled as she went up Hawk Eye's driveway. Her tune faded a bit as she looked toward Michiru's house. It was going to be a long week without her, she thought. At least her beautiful girlfriend would be able to keep busy with her violin practice and her painting. She made a mental note to put in some piano practice herself that evening - it had been a while. In the meantime, she was going to see if Hawk Eye was ready to 'come out and play'.
The front door opened before she reached it and her pink-haired friend bounded out the door. "Hi!" he greeted her enthusiastically. "Good timing, I just finished up and saw you coming down the street. Is it tough walking instead of riding?"
"I'd rather be driving, that's for sure," Haruka told him. "I spent most of the afternoon hanging out at KC/T. Fish Eye will probably be home pretty soon, by the way. He and Seiya are off-shift, but decided to stay and eat in the restaurant before leaving." She winked. "I think they want more time together without Taiki and Yaten around." "Then Taiki's off-shift, too?" Hawk Eye asked casually as they headed across the street to the Tenous'.
Haruka grinned. "Yeah, he is. Earlier I invited him to come over and join us but he seemed kind of nervous about the idea. I think he's just shy."
"What's to be shy about?" Hawk Eye tried to sound neutral. "We spent the whole evening in the car together."
"Yeah, with six other people!" Haruka laughed, opening the front door. "I still wish I could have been there to watch that comedy of errors!"
"Haruka!" came her mother's voice from the living room. "Get in here _now_!"
Haruka and Hawk Eye exchanged puzzled looks. "What did you do?" he whispered.
"I have no idea," she admitted, but did as her mother said. Hawk Eye followed.
Zoisite was actually pacing when Haruka entered the room - never a good sign where her volatile mother was concerned. "Is something wrong, Mama?" she asked hesitantly.
Zoisite turned to face her so abruptly he nearly smacked himself in the face with his own ponytail. "Is something ...?!" he started to say in an incredulous tone, then shook his head and glared at her. "How can you ask such a stupid question after what you did today?! Did you think I would somehow FORGET nearly being run down by my own daughter?!"
"What?" Haruka said. "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't-"
"Don't try to lie to me! I was there, looking straight into your eyes!" Zoisite yelled. "First you disobey your father and I by driving a borrowed car, then you nearly run me over while I was in a crosswalk and I _did_ look both ways before I stepped into it so you must have been driving at a mighty good clip to reach me so fast!"
Haruka could barely make sense of what Zoisite was saying - it was too much to register at once. "But-" she tried to say.
"THEN after nearly making me street pizza you have the unmitigated GALL to tear off and leave me standing there while I was talking to you! Did you seriously think you would get away with this?!"
"I don't know _what_ to think!" Haruka burst out. "I haven't seen you all day, Mama, and I certainly didn't borrow any car! I was- "
"Didn't I just tell you not to lie to me?! How _dare_ you assume I'm so stupid that I can't recognize my own daughter! We were no further away than the hood of a car and I was looking _right at you_!" Zoisite took a deep breath to calm himself. "Your father will be home soon. In the meantime you go to your room and God help you if you leave it before he gets here."
Hawk Eye saw tears of frustration in Haruka's forest-green eyes before she ran upstairs. "Um, Zoisite," he addressed her irate mother tentatively, "It doesn't sound at all like Haruka to do something like that, and she just told me she spent all day at Captain Chicken/Tacoz. Couldn't there be another explanation?"
"Her father and I will discuss it when he gets home, Hawk Eye," Zoisite said curtly. "I think you should go home yourself now."
"Yes sir," he sighed, and reluctantly left the house. Something weird was going on - but what?

Inuyasha walked into his new home to the smell of fresh paint. He made a face and covered his sensitive nose with his long sleeve. Sometimes having the acute senses of a dog wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
"Hello dere!" greeted Remy, one of the two guardians at the group home. His handsome face had splotches of white paint on it, including one on his nose. Inuyasha suspected he and his sexy mate, Rogue, had been having a paint-fight while they worked on fixing up their bedroom. The young Cajun man regarded Inuyasha with eyes that were even stranger than his own. "An' what have you been doing today, mon chiot?"
"Don't call me that," Inuyasha grumbled, although he knew Remy would again. 'My puppy' was his affectionate pet name for Inuyasha, and if asked under torture the half demon would probably admit he liked it. But only under torture.
"Is Her-Royal-Pain-in-the-Butt home or is she out causing misery and human suffering?" Inuyasha asked, being careful to avoid Remy's paint-splattered clothing as he moved past him.
"She is playing the stand-up in the living room - cannot you hear her?" Remy asked with a smile.
"Now that you mention it, my ears _are_ hurting." Inuyasha headed for the other room, leaving Remy laughing behind him.
He stopped at the doorway to listen for a moment to the music she was coaxing out of the old standup piano. In truth, he liked to listen to her play, even if he wasn't a big fan of classical music. It started to look like this particular piece was going to take a while to get through, however, and he wanted to talk to her. He came up behind her and clapped her hard on the back as he'd done to Haruka earlier. "Hey, brat!"
The girl turned slowly to glare at him with forest-green eyes, a lock of short, tousled blonde hair falling across them. "You mind warning a person when you're going to do that? I was nearly in a car accident earlier and was trying to unwind a little!"
"I had something to tell you and didn't feel like waiting," Inuyasha replied.
"You will have to," came a Russian-accented voice from behind him. "It is her turn to start dinner and high time she was doing so."
Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at the newcomer, a very tall, beautiful girl. Her hair a lighter shade of blonde than the other's, it was nevertheless short, and she too had green eyes, although only one was ever visible. The other was invariably hidden behind a little curtain of silky tresses.
The girl at the piano leapt up, revealing long legs encased in form-fitting denim. "I'm going, Maria." She closed the cover over the piano keys and started out of the room, leaving Inuyasha behind. "Hey, Amara!" he yelled after her.
She stopped and turned. "What is it? You know if dinner isn't ready on time Kanna will start gnawing on the furniture."
Inuyasha opened his mouth to tell her about her doppelganger, Haruka, then suddenly thought better of it. She'd never believe him, and besides, it might be more fun to let her find out on her own. "Never mind." He grinned, pointed fangs showing.

End of chapter 15

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