A/N: So much for my attempt for taking a break from writing. -le sigh-

This story has been laying on my computer since autumn, and I really intended to finish it before Valentine's Day. I really did. The only problem was that I didn't have any inspiration, and suddenly the deadline was way past. This is a very simple story, but I'm afraid it still shows through that I really haven't been into Furuba fandom lately. This is a botched attempt to get me back to writing it, so have mercy on me.

Two obligatory remarks: English is not my native language, so grammatical corrections are appreciated, and thank you for reading in advance!

Pairing: YukiKyo

Warnings: A bit of swearing, nothing major.

Inclusively Blue

by eishi (2008)

"Not freaking again!"

Twelve letters, all in pink envelopes with heart-shaped stamps as a decoration in the corner, fell to the floor from Souma Kyo's locker. He kicked the letters furiously and threw his shoes inside after removing the remaining five letters from the back. His cousin Souma Yuki smirked at him – his own locker was completely empty.

"How many this time?"

Kyo glared at his cousin before giving in to his frustration and shouting back an answer. "Twelve... plus five! Seventeen! Seventeen freaking letters! I can't take it anymore!"

"But, but, Kyo-kun, you should be flattered..." his friend Touru chirped nervously, "someone is thinking about you very much and has been putting a thought into these letters, every one of them...! See?" She picked up one letter from the floor. "Th-they all have different kinds of perfumes in them! And different kinds of heart stamps! You should really be flattered..."

"Well, I'm not!" Kyo shouted. "This chick's stalking me! Look!" He had torn one letter open and was now shoving it to poor Touru's face. "She's described how 'cute I looked yesterday at the lunch when I dropped that one inari sushi piece on my lap'... She's crazy!"

"How do you know that it's a 'she'?" Yuki interrupted. Kyo looked at him, horrified, and this act only made Yuki's smirk widen. "To me, that handwriting seems more—"

"Stop messing with me, rat! Of course it's a girl!" Kyo snapped. "Would a guy pick pink envelopes? Or write in this sickeningly curly way? Or put heart-shaped stamps in the corners?" He snorted. "You've got to be blind if you think it's a guy."

"I don't know about that," the rat sneered, "love can do amazing things to a person. Even the manliest man can turn into a crying baby when faced with the ultimate challenge of 'love'."

"You're sickening me," Kyo shrieked. He collected all the letters, glared at them the last time and put them cruelly into the trash bin. Touru started to stutter:

"Ky-Kyo-kun! You sh-should at least read them—"

"No way in hell! It's just the same crap in every stupid letter!" He kicked the trash can and turned to face them. "Well, are you coming or not?"

Touru looked at the can, disappointed. "That poor girl's going to cry when she sees this..."

"Stuff them deeper if you want. Or hide them with some useless essay. I don't care."

He took his bag and stomped out of the corridor. Touru glanced at Yuki, who was still smirking.

"Stupid cat," he muttered. Touru hesitated a moment, then nodded. Yuki shot an astonished look at her.

"I know... I shouldn't blame him, but really..." she sighed. "He's too harsh towards that poor girl. I can't even begin to imagine what she might feel when she sees these letters."

"Honda-san is always so kind," Yuki smiled, "but if he's really not interested, she has to give up. That's the name of the game."

"I know, I know..." Touru sighed. She startled when Kyo screamed:

"Well, are you two coming or not?"

"Don't worry about it, Honda-san." Yuki gave her an assuring smile. "After all, it's not in our hands."

The next afternoon the same episode happened again: Kyo opened his locker and all the pink letters fell down. Only, this time there were eighteen of them. Kyo picked up the letters, glared at them and threw them into the trash bin. His friends looked horrified.

"Kyon-Kyon, are you crazy? You're missing out a good opportunity!"

"Yeah, at least read those letters!"

"They're all the same!" Kyo sneered. "And besides, if you haven't noticed, she's stalking me!"

"You say it like it was a bad thing," one of his friends snorted. Kyo fisted his hands.

"It IS a bad thing!"

"Aw, Kyon-Kyon, loosen up a bit. At least you have a chance to get laid."

"Shut it!"

After their last lesson – Math – Kyo stomped back to his locker to get his shoes. He sighed in relief when he noticed that there were no more letters in his locker. Apparently that girl had already left or delivered her crazy ramblings only on lunch break...

Then he noticed that there was a letter in the back of his locker, grumbled and took it. He blinked – it wasn't pink like all the others, and there was no heart in the corner. He glanced around; there was no one to witness his humiliation. Out of pure curiosity, he opened the envelope.

Dear Kyo, it read, now that I have your attention, allow me to introduce myself. I apologize for using such a low trick, but you never read any of my other letters.

"They were all the same crap!" Kyo hissed aloud. Then he realised what he was doing, shut his lips firmly and continued reading.

I am someone who is close to you and yet far away. You keep looking at me, but you never see me. I talk to you, but you won't listen. You know me, but you won't pay attention to me. You—

"You finally gave in?"

Kyo jumped when he heard the voice behind him. Trying to hide the letter while blushing in embarrassment he turned to face his cousin.

"Shut up, rat!" he snapped. "Besides, it's none of your business!"

Yuki smirked. "I'm wishing her luck. She'll be needing that when facing someone as stubborn as you."

Kyo opened his mouth, but said nothing. An idea had formed in his head, but he wasn't so sure was he ready for the humiliation. Yuki looked at him strangely.

"What?"

Kyo grumbled. "What do you do with your stupid fan letters?"

Yuki stared at him. "You're asking for my advice?"

"So what if I am?" Kyo snapped. He sighed. "Forget it. It was stupid to even try to ask for your help."

He turned his back to the rat and took out his shoes from his locker. Yuki coughed.

"Well, I usually ignore the letters. But in your case, it might be better to tell straight that person what you really think of her... or him."

"Freak!"

"I'm not. Believe it or not, it has happened to me a couple of times." He grimaced at the memory. "It... it wasn't very nice to try to explain that despite my looks, I'm not... not..."

"Gay," Kyo snorted. "Well, you had me fooled." He continued hastily when Yuki's look turned to disgust: "Your plan has one tiny little flaw. This person is anonymous. How do I tell her anything?"

"Leave your reply at the trash bin. That's where her letters usually end up, anyway," Yuki shrugged. "She might check that every day. Or not. I don't know how a fan girl's mind works."

"Whatever." Kyo rolled his eyes. "Well... thanks... I guess..." His voice had become so silent that if Yuki hadn't been able to read from lips, he couldn't have figured out what Kyo was saying. They both looked at each other with the same confused look.

"You're welcome," Yuki said, taken aback. Kyo turned quickly to close his locker, but in reality to hide the blush of embarrassment that was slowly occupying his cheeks. They were left in an uncomfortable silence, until Touru shattered it few moments later by rushing down the stairs.

"Kyo-kun! Yuki-kun! There you are!" she exclaimed. "I just wanted to tell you that I have to go to work today – I know, this was supposed to be my day off, but they need me – I'm so sorry!" She bowed several times and in such a pace that both Soumas were afraid that she might pass out.

"That's okay, Honda-san," Yuki quickly interrupted, "there's no need to apologize."

"Oh... okay..." Her face lightened up. "Well, I'll be going then! Bye, Yuki-kun! Bye, Kyo-kun! I'll see you at home!"

"See you," they both replied at the same time. Then they glanced at each other, realised that they were suddenly placed in a situation where they would have to walk back together, and grunts returned to their faces.

The walk home was silent as a grave: neither of the boys dared to say a word. They glared at each other occasionally, and when their eyes met, they turned quickly their gazes away. Kyo kicked absently the rock that happened to be on his way. What the hell had he just done? He had asked for the rat's advice and, even worse, thanked him for it.

He stole a quick glance at his cousin. Yuki looked just as indifferent as always – it was impossible to tell what he was thinking right now. Hopefully he still was getting the message that this was a one-time thing and Kyo still wanted to beat him to a pulp so badly that his stomach physically hurt. A couple of bruises or two would've done the pretty boy real good. At least he wouldn't have appeared to be so damn perfect...

"You're staring at me, cat."

"Just trying to decide which part of your face I'm destroying first, you idiot," Kyo replied, his cheeks once again covered with a blush of embarrassment. Yuki glanced at him with surprisingly soft smirk.

"Destroying my face won't make me any less powerful."

"Well, maybe not, but at least your fan girls would abandon you."

What in the freaking name of any freaking god was going on? Why was he joking with the rat? Kyo turned his head away, deciding to shut his flytrap for once and for all. Maybe it was just... just because he was happy to have found a way to get rid of his dangerous stalker! That had to be it.

Sure.

Embarrassing as it was, Kyo did indeed take Yuki's advice and scribbled down an (awfully mean and insulting) answer to the girl's letters as soon as they were home. He read his answer through once, nodded to himself and decided to deliver it the first thing in the morning. That would be a sure-fire way to get rid of her.

"Kyon-Kyon! The food is here!"

Kyo rolled his eyes – when Touru was away, no one dared to cook. Actually he could've cooked them something, but he didn't want to serve that disgusting dog and that imbecile rat. Hence it was better to order some plain ramen, even if it could never match Touru's delicious cooking.

Just as he was opening his door to go downstairs, he felt something brush against his leg. Confused, he took the irritation out of his pocket.

The blue letter.

Out of curiosity Kyo opened it again and resumed his reading – those two idiots could wait for him a moment.

—You look right through me, even if I stare right at you. Maybe you've noticed me; maybe not. Maybe you don't even know I exist; maybe you do. Even if it doesn't make any sense to you, I think you know me better than any of my friends – you see things from a completely different angle, and that's what I respect about you.

I just wish I could be like you, and if that's not possible... be with you.

There was no signature, no picture, nothing. Kyo stared at the letter, fairly confused, only vaguely processing that Shigure was calling him.

Slowly and a bit unsurely, he put the letter back to his pocket, turned around and threw his answer to trash can.

The next morning there were nineteen pink envelopes filling his locker. Kyo merely sighed and put them into the trash can, making Touru and Yuki blink by this unenthusiastic action.

"Um, Kyo-kun?" Touru approached him, soothing look on her face. "Don't be so blue – I'm pretty sure that she'll notice your answer and stops doing that soon." She glanced at the envelopes. "Poor thing, though..."

Kyo didn't answer – he took out his shoes and ignored the Yankee's jokes about giving in to the temptation. Stupid girl didn't know a thing...

Yuki didn't say anything. He was completely indifferent the whole day; Kyo figured that he was hurt when Kyo hadn't taken his advice. Stupid rat could go to hell for all that he cared, but this girl had suddenly started to interest him. Who was that stalker, anyway?

Thursday: nineteen. Friday: twenty. Monday: twenty-one. Tuesday: twenty-two pink envelopes filled with pictures of him eating, snoring during class, passing in the hallway. Kyo was starting to anger again – what right had this stupid little stalker of his take pictures of him, anyway?

Screw the whole thing, he though angrily. She's just messing with me.

"Did you ever send her that answer?" Yuki asked that afternoon, yawning widely after a P.E. class. "If you did, she sure seems persistent."

Kyo grumbled something incoherent, something along the lines of stupid rat keeping his mouth shut and staying the heck away from his life. Yuki shrugged, put his shoes into his locker and left, not bothering to wait for Kyo. This afternoon they were once again left alone, as Touru was working. Kyo kicked his locker angrily and followed Yuki. That was a low trick! Sending me finally an interesting letter and then returning to those stupid ramblings...

"Hey, cat?"

"Ngh?" Kyo suddenly realised that somehow his mind had skipped the part where he and Yuki left the school and scowled at each other for having to walk together, and now they were already in the middle of the forest path. Yuki's face was blank as always.

"Did you or did you not send your answer?"

"Not of your goddamn business," Kyo growled. A quick, soft smirk flashed on Yuki's face.

"So, you didn't," he said. Kyo didn't answer. "Why? Did you finally decide to give in to—"

"The temptation and meet her and then bang her, yeah," Kyo interrupted. Yuki's eyes widened, and Kyo snapped quickly: "No! I just... didn't deliver the answer, that's all." Shrug. "She's started to interest me."

He wasn't quite sure why he was telling the rat this, but then again, he never had anyone to talk with. Any male friend, that was – female friends were nice, but they were sometimes so freaking hard to figure out and too sensitive. His male friends, on the other hand, were a bunch of horny idiots with an I.Q. less than fifty. Maybe he was selfish, maybe he was picky, but he wanted a friend that could actually listen to him and could relate to him. Kyo groaned in his mind – he was asking too much, his present friends were really good at him and he was a selfish bastard.

"Don't fall into that trap."

"Huh?" Kyo turned to look at Yuki, who was stubbornly staring at the road.

"That trap of... of..." He sighed. "Don't get your hopes up. Don't fall in love with the person she is in letters. She might be something completely different in real life."

Kyo was silent for a moment, unsure of was he allowed to say what he was thinking. He decided to take the risk. "Sounds like you're speaking from experience."

Yuki laughed dryly. "Yeah..."

They didn't say anything else on their way home, but Kyo's head was spinning with thoughts. If only... if only he could make Yuki understand what complex process he had every time he told himself that he needed to fight the rat... if only he could tell how ambiguous his feelings and thoughts were and he actually did – or didn't...

He glanced at Yuki.

'Friends'.

Nah, never.

Wednesday morning Kyo was already waiting for twenty-three pink envelopes to fall out of his locker, and was very surprised when there was only one letter – in blue envelope. Eagerly he took it out and hid it to his bag, deciding to read it later. After all, the Yankee's jokes were really getting on his nerves, as were Touru's curious glances and confused questions of his other friends...

At lunch he slipped away from his friends, went to the rooftop to his very own, secluded place and took out the letter. To his dismay, there was only one sentence in it.

Meet me at the lockers tomorrow at 12.

He stared into the space for a long time after that, finding it hard to decide what to do. Eventually he got up, stuffed the letter to his pocket and left.

Yeah, whatever.

The next morning there was no letter in his locker. Kyo was half disappointed, half excited – he would get to meet her in few hours, and then it would be over. The rat's warnings were repeating over and over again in his head the whole day, but he couldn't have cared less.

Don't fall into that trap.
That trap.
Don't fall into it.
Don't.

Kyo brushed his worries aside and told himself that he would just tell her that he just wanted to see what she looked like, and that was all. He really couldn't afford getting closer to anyone right now, with the stupid curse and all.

"Kyo-kun, are you okay?" Touru was eyeing him worriedly, but Kyo just nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Touru looked unconvinced, but didn't say anything. "I just wanted to say that I have a couple things to be taken care of this break – I need to give the class vice president my chocolate, and he's not here – so I'm not joining you for lunch! Is that okay?"

"Sure," Kyo muttered. From the corner of his eye he saw that the clock was already eleven fifty – he would have to leave soon. Touru was already sprinting out of the class room, and he waved after her. When the Yankee and the Freak approached him, he realised that he had to make an excuse to get rid of them.

"Hey, Carrot, care to join us for lunch?"

Actually, no, because you two are in the way of my curiosity.

"Later," Kyo just hissed to them and left. Had he not been so occupied by the thought that he was going to be late, he might've noticed the sly way the Yankee and the Freak glanced at each other.

The corridor was quite deserted, and it didn't take him long to reach the lockers. He looked around, and noted disappointedly that she wasn't there yet. Unfortunately, he had audience. The rat was at his locker, doing whatever the hell he was doing.

"Meeting your stalker?" Kyo startled when he heard the rat's voice. There was a small smirk on Yuki's face, but Kyo chose to ignore that.

"Get lost," he snapped, but it came out with much less force than he had intended. Where was that girl? It was already five past twelve...

"If I do, you won't get to meet that person."

"Huh?" Kyo slowly turned his look back to Yuki, who was now closing the locker. He had heard Yuki, all right, but still was relying on the chance that maybe his ears were betraying him. "What did you say?"

"Happy Valentine's, Kyo," Yuki murmured and handed him a box of chocolate. Kyo stared widely at Yuki. Yuki was still handing him the box, but he didn't move to take it.

There was a long silence. Kyo was staring at Yuki, who in turn was staring at the floor. They were both blushing – Kyo from embarrassment and confusion, Yuki from whatever. He really didn't want to think about that.

"So... it was... you?" he finally stammered. Yuki retreated, sighed and took a tight grip on the chocolate box.

"Yeah," he said. "Maybe it was a bad idea to do this on Valentine's... or at all." Kyo didn't reply; he still didn't know what to say. "But, then again, I figured that I was girly enough to confess," he smirked a bit sadly, "even if this day is originally meant for, well, girls."

Kyo looked closely at Yuki. This wasn't what he had expected, but his expectations hadn't been that great from the start. He reached for the box in Yuki's hands, and after a short confusing moment, Yuki handed him it.

"I'm not—" Kyo started, but stopped then. Yuki had finally lifted his eyes from the floor and was holding his breath. "I'm not... ready. Yet. But I... Uh... It's..."

Yuki took a deep breath. "Friends?"

Kyo smiled, relieved. "Yeah. Friends." He glanced at the box in his hands – it was wrapped in a blue paper, decorated with small orange cat heads and had his name written on it. Yuki had really taken his time with it. A bit hesitantly Kyo opened the box and looked at the chocolates inside: they were all handmade, little pieces of cats, onigiris or rats.

Kyo looked at Yuki, surprised. "You made this yourself?"

"Mmh," Yuki nodded, looking away. He was still apparently embarrassed. "Honda-san helped me a little, though."

Kyo took one and offered the box to Yuki. He silently took one piece.

"It's... good," Kyo muttered as he was chewing the chocolate. Yuki tasted one as well, but there was a grimace on his face. Kyo spit the chocolate out. "Okay, fine, I tried to be nice, but fuck, this tastes horrible."

"I know," Yuki said, unable to keep his amusement hidden. They looked at each other.

"Sushi bar?" Kyo suggested. Yuki nodded.

"You read my thoughts."

End.