Author's Note: Morning everyone. How are you today? I'm delirious, et toi? I just got back from getting my blood drawn, and decided to write a ficlet... wee...! I'm terribly sorry if the beginning bores you, but I'm really trying to stretch out my talents and actually put some thought into these stories. As a result... they're kinda verbose. TO MANY BIG WORDS! GAAAH!

And anyone who can give me a good word that parallels 'sentence' gets extra brownie points and a post card. I used 'word structure' but I'm not even sure if that's anywhere near the same as the word 'sentence'. Until then, you must endure the gruesome "ANDRAIA'S BRAIN THESAURUS," which isn't really trust worthy as a good thesaurus at all.

I own nothing yadda blah blahdy yah.

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Chapter 1: Manipulation

Yuki adjusted on the uncomfortable couch pillows, propping himself up better so as to keep his arm from cramping up. As a result, the jerking movement made him lose his place in the book, the last word that he had read was in the middle of a sentence. He sighed placidly and seized the opportunity to at least get completely comfortable on the couch before locating the beginning of his lost sentence.

When the enshrouded phrase was found, he finally became aware that what he was reading was boring and irksome. The book was too tedious to read at the dreary moment in time. The words would enter through his eyes, but were lost in a chaotic thought process that had nothing to do with the book in the first place. In other words, he was seeing the pages, but he wasn't retaining any of the information that he was reading. He skimmed back through the last few pages of drab, realizing just how much he had 'read' and not remembered. None of the last chapter sounded familiar.

The Prince collapsed himself backwards against the couch, falling loosely and molding into the still acerbic cushions. He knew the cat was home somewhere, although he hadn't actually catalogued in which direction Kyo had gone when surging into the house. Yuki noted the plant near the hallway had had a malicious encounter with some intensified slaughterer, and figured that Kyo had sanguinarily taken his anger out on the house and gone in that direction. He was probably on the roof now, his safe haven in the midst of all things evil.

Yuki snorted. Kyo was evil.

No... Kyo was just angry was all. He wasn't evil. He was... tempestuous... and he riposted viciously at unnecessary times. That was his problem really.

The crimson ball of rage which had been dubbed Kyo Sohma when born, was really just a kitten. He didn't understand everything. Ignorance was one of the most dangerous weapons, and Kyo used it a lot.

Yuki snorted at this. Putting the cat down even in his thoughts was fulfilling in itself. He looked off to the side though, admitting mutely that there was something about Kyo that made his heart pound once in a while. The cat, even after all the put downs Yuki had spat at him, all the jeering and instigating he had done to send Kyo into a seething ball of furry rage, the cat... still had something about him. He had to lament, if the two weren't bitter rivals, they would have made very good friends and partners. They could have worked together like clock work and everything would go right for them.

But...

There would never be any such luxury, for the cat hated the rat, and the rat, in turn, took pleasure in igniting that hate every time they met.

He knew he shouldn't provoke such behavior, but being called such things as 'pretty boy' and 'prince' by the abhorred pussy cat, Yuki felt justified in taunting Kyo, and returning the harassment. Besides, if Yuki didn't torture and repay the felis domesticus, who would? Not that Yuki could emphatically call Kyo a house cat, for even when not in cat form, Kyo was never really domestic in any way, shape, or form. Keeping to the point though, no one ever really dared to challenge the convulsive kitty. Of course there was Haru, who on a regular day of being Black Haru, attempted every now and then to gallantly take out Kyo in a fit of fury which was usually deficient of grace. Haru, when angry to such levels, didn't really keep his calm exterior.

It was not uncommon to observe Kyo lose his poise or what grace he did possess. Kyo in fact lost all seemliness every time something happened to him that didn't involve a fist. As soon as a fight broke out though, Kyo's gracility was at it's peak. He moved like a true cat when engaged in a hostile battle. In normal fights that didn't include Yuki as the opponent, Kyo Sohma was calm, collected, thoughtful, and he never hesitated or changed his mind in mid-move. Yuki watched Kyo fight for reasons other than learning his opponents movements.

Kyo moved like no other. He fought with ease and in turn, this created the most peculiar ora of being better than his opposition. Yuki often admired the fit body and cat-like agility in Kyo. He had never seen anyone fight so beautifully. Maybe it was just a guy thing to admire a well landed blow or an eminent execution of an efficient move. It was a good quality to be dexterous in a fight, and Kyo could move his hands around so fast that his fists could strike at least four times before the victim knew what was going on.

Again, though... not against Yuki. Yuki liked to use a mental sword in his fighting. It was no exaggeration that he was great in martial arts, but then again, the cat had trained just as long and probably harder than Yuki had. Yuki's secret weapon was what held Kyo down. All the Prince had to do was influence him, instigate a mental panic by igniting an angry flame.

Anger was the root of Kyo's failures. Not just in fighting, but in life. He was too angry at everything, and that anger blinded him. It barred his ability to think clearly and rationally while fighting, and as a result all grace, dexterity, efficiency, and even agility was lost in a whirl of emotions. All Yuki had to do was take the opportunity of one hesitant motion and blow him out the window with a single well landed kick, or whatever happened to be left open by the thoughtlessness of the perturbed cat.

And thus, Yuki always won. He knew how to manipulate the pussy cat. Manipulation was his number one best quality, he'd learned from the best after all.

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Author's Note: Too verbose? Eh? I'm in Hawaii right now. So it's hot and my brain is still kinda zombi-fied from the time change. Wee!

Edit note: 9/29/05 - I changed a few words here and there do to some constructive critisism I earned. Thanks for the treviews of Thoughts Pending Chapter 1! More to come very very soon!

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Aimee: Thanks! I did change the words. The 'posterior' thing was my autocorrect, but I was spelling something else wrong so it changed it to 'posterior'. I missed it completely! Funny thing- according to my dictionary, grcility is a word! I have a computerized one that gets updates a lot, maybe it's a brand new word? I didn't think they just radomly decided that though, so maybe it's an outdated word. I'm not sure. Thanks,though! The next few chapters I didn't spend so many brain cells on, so they're more in my league. This was a practice!

Pinksnow: Thanks! It was a first try for the artistic touch!

Mangez-Maltesers: Yes, I went easier on the next few chapters, not so many words. ... I'll send you a post card... because I'm a nerd, too. I like getting into Yuki and Kyo's head. It's simple yet complex all at the same time. I don't make a whole lotta sense most of the time, ya know?

-Aia