Standard Disclaimers Apply.
If I don't own them, I don't own them.
Yaoi ahead so don't you dare say you have not been warned. Also, I'd like to thank my beta reader Koneko for helping me out with this thing. Go ahead people, read her stuff. They're kick ass good. This is KyouxYuki by the way and it's my first time to write under this particular anime series (fruits basket) so it would help if you were gentle with me.
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Somewhere In Between
Chapter One: Palpable Truth
"Love may not make the world go round,
But it's what makes the ride worth it."
-On The Line
There was a dull throbbing pain in his temples, and the darkness behind his closed eyelids was dizzying in itself, but Yuki Sohma chose to ignore this, chose not to heed the nausea reverberating from his stomach and conveying over his whole body, instead he watched with silent detachment as the world around him spun in circles, a sight so disorientating he felt himself on the verge of vomiting.
Still though, Yuki refused to leave the space between reality and dream, and even with the scant coherence registering into his brain in a twisted delirium, he knew for a fact that his body was rigid enough that it felt numb, making him unable to move without the queasy feeling.
He twisted softly in the sheets, groaning as the base of his skull palpitated, felt like it had been hit with a fist but still not opening his eyes at all otherwise, as he allowed the bed sheets to devour him whole.
The bed…
The word formulated itself against Yuki's mind. The strange, almost foreign warmth that the bed offered was slightly different than what Yuki had been so accustomed to, in fact it seemed almost too warm for him. He quickly dismissed the thought, pushed it into a safe corner of his brain while basking himself in the comforting feeling of the arms around him, or at least it felt like it anyway.
The blankets had been drawn down to his waist and in the small space next to him, there was a tangible source of flushed heat and breath, if Yuki hadn't been in the pinnacle of vertigo, he could've sworn he felt his body aligned with someone else's.
The corners of his mouth had gone dry, eyelids swollen shut and his muscles ached with a numbness that made it difficult for him to stand up, even the slightest hint of movement made him uneasy and sick, and a certain heaviness hung over his body, paralyzing him almost completely.
He felt the arm around him tighten; barely believing that it recurred in palpable reality, he acknowledged it, as rough fingers grazed against the skin of his bare stomach before pulling him firmly closer.
Yuki groaned as those very same hands traced gently across the skin of his back, the headachy feeling rendering him in a daze but he enjoyed the slide of fingers against his bareness, he wanted to enclose himself in that heartbreaking embrace forever.
The wind whispered softly against him, and he shivered, the sheen of moisture on his cheeks drying albeit and Yuki moved his head forwards to the source of the tender warmth, very much liking the exquisite sensation as his nose nuzzled the expanse of skin against him.
It felt overwhelming, the quintessential presence of someone being able to share this moment with him, even in the dream-set sense.
It didn't matter if it were real or not, didn't matter if it were a fantasy that would fade away into nothing more than a memory later on, all that seemed to be pertinent was that his sleek want for touch could be satiated.
It was then, that logic hit him hard; it seemed to all too real to be a dream. The ghosting breaths hovering above the top of his head made no mistake of it, the press of skin against skin and the almost possessive warmth that emanated from whoever he was lying with.
It took a few slow seconds for the last thought to disperse the haze in Yuki's mind, clearing all dormant common sense within a few seconds. Yuki pushed himself up, eyes snapping open; harsh sunlight glared back at him, completely worsening his head ache and he blinked several times to bring focus into his vision, drawing his hand up to shield his eyes.
The arms around him slipped in the process and, Yuki, scrutinizing the eerily familiar surroundings, jerked back from the blankets that clung to his slender waist, shock clearly visible in his violet eyes. Next to him, slept Kyou peacefully, outstretched arms emptily waiting for him to crawl back into and the serene, content look plastered against his face made Yuki's nausea sojourn in his stomach.
He pulled back from the sheets that entangled his legs, stumbling backwards and onto the floor, utter horror struggling to hide itself in the dullness of his violet eyes but it had been simply too sheer to conceal.
A small thud ensued as he stared in shock at the stirring orange-haired youth from his sprawled positing on the wooden floor. Kyou was rubbing his eyes, groaning and Yuki could do nothing more but watch with grim dread.
Shortly, Kyou emerged beneath the heap of blankets, blinking dazedly around the room before his range of vision caught Yuki and when he surveyed the slender limbs on his bedroom floor, never mind the fact that Yuki had been nude, his eyebrows knitted together on impulse, deepened into a menacing scowl which made his head throb strangely.
"What are you doing here-" It never finished, as his gaze wandered down to flawless, porcelain skin bare and flushed from embarrassment.
He still glared though, ruby red eyes never wavering from the natural hate it emanated into Yuki's, but the words never left his mouth, instead forming into a lump in his throat.
Their clothes have been discarded and were strewn all over the place, on the floor, desktops-everywhere. The room had been unusually untidier than it had always been and Kyou knew for a fact that something was amiss, that something had happened, although he wasn't ready to admit that to himself, at least not yet.
"What happened?" Yuki's soft slur broke Kyou's train of thought.
Kyou blinked at Yuki.
Silence hung over the room in a blanket of tension as Yuki's headache hammered noiselessly in his head.
His vision danced around, blurring each second and the nausea in his stomach had begun to reach its pinnacle.
Kyou stared down at himself, cursing and hissing as he found himself devoid of any piece of clothing akin to the other occupant of the room who reacted quite indifferently to the situation, or at least it seemed like it. But what was the situation anyway? He asked himself.
What exactly happened, Kyou did not know nor did he want to know, and the feeling of denial swept more strongly than it did the dread of finding himself in the naked presence of his cousin, both of them actually.
It had been obvious that Yuki had been lying in bed with him, the sheets had twisted around his calf and his hair was tousled in fetching knots.
And earlier Kyou was aware of the unnatural warm presence in his arms. Although he wouldn't be too enamored of delving into that topic.
Kyou grumbled to himself. His thoughts were in undefined swirling patterns and there was barely an inch of logic left in him. His body ached, lips too parched to speak and he blamed it solely upon Yuki who looked dazed and sick, staring up at him.
Kyou's eyes traveled down the length of Yuki's bareness, his scowl deepening as he realized how the damned mouse was far too perfect compared to him, and there was yet another tainted emotion lying beneath Kyou's red eyes, something that was not jealousy but instead, something deeper, but it quickly disappeared like shadows in the morning light.
"Get off of my floor, baka nezumi." Kyou struggled not to look as Yuki pulled himself up on his two legs. He stood there, a little wobbly at first that he had to hold on to the wall to stable himself.
"I would gladly oblige, if only my head stopped pounding so much."
Kyou rolled his eyes as he walked over to where his boxers were and threw them on, however he had a difficult time trying not to steal glances at Yuki's milky white skin, his flawless slender thighs-
"Get something on, will you?! " Kyou garbled irritably.
Yuki nodded mutely as he picked up his clothes that had been conveniently thrown at him by Kyou and slipped into them, carelessly, noiselessly.
He felt the drowsy stupor heaving back into his system just as he was about to button up his shirt and so he let the single mismatched button bind the two ends of his shirt, exposing himself to the wandering eyes of Kyou who scowled, cursed at him.
"What happened?" Yuki leaned against the opposite side of the wall, shutting his eyes as sleep started kicking in. "Tell me, just how I ended up here, how we ended up like this-"
Kyou felt the energy drain from his system. "I don't know." The urge to fight had suddenly waned; he was losing any way, just letting reality sink in. He lied; he could remember what happened, very vividly in fact.
"I don't want to see you here ever again, get out!" His voice was a timbre below a yell and he looked away when Yuki stared at him blankly beneath his eyelashes.
"I live here."
"Don't try and be a smart aleck. I meant that you get out of my room, damn it!!!" Kyou threw Yuki's pair of shoes at him and the latter didn't even bother to catch it, instead letting it fall to the floor. "Or I swear I'll beat the crap out of you!"
"Yeah, I'm sure." Yuki was tired, tired of fighting, tired of trying to stay awake. Sleep was a mere step away from him, willing him to draw near, beckoning him to come closer and he felt weary than he'd ever been all of a sudden. His eyes shut slowly.
Kyou marched angrily towards Yuki, eyes blazing in fury. He stopped in front of the mouse, poised to strike the boy any second, but he paused out of confusion when Yuki did not retaliate and instead shut his eyes as if he were being lulled to sleep.
Yuki fell forwards in the arms of sleep, succumbing to the warmth of it offered and Kyou had begrudgingly caught him in his own arms as well. Kyou felt his cheeks flush in both embarrassment and anger, as he watched the baka nezumi snore softly.
"Idiot mouse." He huffed, glaring down at the sleeping form. "I'm not bringing you to your room, if that's what you think!" Kyou quickly reevaluated his words and after an abrupt pause, "And I don't intend to keep you here either!" He shook the boy's shoulders vigorously till the latter was forced out of his stupor.
Yuki blinked rapidly around and pushed himself off Kyou, leaning his back against the wall for support.
"Leave."
Yuki looked up, a stern look on his face. "Not till you tell me what happened last night." Kyou raised his arms up exasperatedly. He sat on the edge of the bed bent down, forehead resting against his hand as he stared at his feet.
"Even if I did tell you, you wouldn't believe me, either." Kyou's voice took an unusual low guise, veiled thinly by trepidation. "Look, let's just forget the whole damn thing all right? Let's live our lives in normally and pretend that nothing's happened, that nothing's changed!"
"How can I forget something I can barely even remember? And what has changed?!"
Kyou looked up, and the red of his eyes blazed into Yuki's violet ones silently.
"What has been done has been done." Kyou looked away, fidgeting with his fingers.
"But what has been done anyway?" A fringe caught in Yuki's eyes but he did not push it back. It made him look almost desperate.
"Tell, me Kyou." Yuki's voice was mild and upon reaching Kyou's ears, brought a rush of memory back. "You used to be honest to me when we were children. Now it feels as if I don't know you any more. There isn't a time that we don't fight; we used to be friends Kyou. We used to-"
"Would you shut up?!" Kyou's reserve almost broke. "This is not the time to be reminiscing of the past! That was a long time ago, Yuki! We were what-six or seven?!"
Kyou stomped over to him, patience stretched so thin. "Do you really want to know what happened last night? We had alcohol induced sex!"
"Why?" Yuki stared at him in shock; the nausea he'd felt earlier hadn't abated the least and he almost doubled over at Kyou's revelation.
"What part of alcohol and sex do you not understand?!" Kyou was on the verge of hitting the damned mouse already. "We had little drinks, eventually ended up dead drunk-"
"Could you elaborate a little more?" Yuki's eyes leveled with Kyou's as Yuki willed his mind to reciprocate facts properly even with the slight throbbing. "I don't drink, I think you know that."
His voice was lined with anger now.
"We had a bet." Kyou blurted. "Or, I betted with you. Whoever consumed the most alcohol would have the forfeiter do whatever he wants for a week."
"Where did the alcohol come from?"
"You really like asking for the details don't you?"
"Just tell me where it came from." Yuki's teeth gritted and he forced himself not to lose the subtlety of his anger.
"I bought it, all right?"
Yuki stared at him, eyes devoid of emotion, dissembling all that Kyou had said and he walked over to him, kneeling in front of the orange haired youth who refused to look at him.
"You planned all of this?"
"Gee, Yuki." Kyou's voice dripped with sarcasm enough to flood the room. "If I had planned this all along, I wouldn't be too disturbed by the idea that we woke up stark naked next to each other, would I?"
"But… you remember it very clearly…" Yuki's brows creased momentarily in thought. "How is it that I don't?"
"That's not my problem anymore." Kyou's brow shot up, the urge of kicking Yuki filtering into his mind and tugging on a light bulb.
"People under the influence of alcohol don't just do that."
Kyou rolled his eyes. "Oh, so they don't? Well, if you think I'd enjoyed doing it with you, of all people, you've got it wrong. I'm mortified you baka nezumi!"
"So you tricked me." It was not a question.
"I did not."
"Who won the bet?"
"It doesn't matter anymore."
There were memories seeping in, he didn't want them but they came anyway, unbidden.
The kiss was feverish as Kyou's unbridled lust and craving burst forth into freedom, hands sliding their way up Yuki's sides, pulling away the clothes and shoes, drowning in the immortal sin of Yuki's taste. Fingers basking themselves at the perfection of smooth porcelain skin, sensuously caressing and kneading, and his wanting tongue, hot and slick tasted the insides of Yuki's bittersweet crevice, sliding between his teeth, scouring, searching. Yuki's arms wound their way around Kyou's neck, drawing them both closer as their groins hummed with a common need to be fulfilled. Kyou's teeth bit down on Yuki's with bruising force, tongue expertly delving deeply into the drunken mouth, Yuki moaning and crying and groaning helplessly as he grabbed at his orange hair. Yuki's hands trailed down Kyou's back, running along the slightly muscled plane pressing softly, lifting the shirt up inch by inch. Kyou raised his arms to allow Yuki to undress him from the waist up, still at all not breaking his heated intrusion into Yuki's mouth. His tongue found a spot below the latter's ear and he nipped tenderly at it, intoxicated by the sight of Yuki's exposed skin alone. There was passion there, lust and undeniable affection. It wasn't a dream; it was real, vivid even in the darkness where the moonlight played across their sweating skin. And Yuki watched with confusion as he allowed himself to be touched by Kyou, ravished by the damned neko.
Yuki looked up, meeting Kyou's eyes. He held his tongue for a moment; bit it back because there was something painful there-hatred, remorse and something else he could not distinguish.
Kyou glared at him, still unaware of Yuki's inner torment and the latter walked back to the door and padded away from Kyou, out of the room—out of his space.
There were still playing in his mind like a broken record, redundant and repetitive in sharp, vague flashes that pierced his mind. The memories cut like a blade and Kyou didn't want them anymore. He hated being reminded of how his primal want—how he had wanted Yuki so much and hated him at the same time.
Funny how his object of affection was both his enemy and his object of scorn.
In Kyou Sohma's world, you can never, ever be favored. No matter who you were and Yuki was no exception.
So the orange haired youth refused to react and tell Yuki what the pale boy had wanted to hear in the first place.
He refused to give him answers.
Left him wondering.
Because he refused to give in.
Because yielding meant losing.
And Kyou was tired of losing. He wanted the nezumi to feel how it was to shatter like glass shards.
"....I hate you."
The voice danced against the wind, Kyou looking down at his feet. There was this slight pang in his heart that told him Yuki meant it this time.
Kyou wished he could say just the same. He really did hate the baka nezumi.
But yet he could not bring himself to say it. He remained silent and wearily shut his eyes.
He felt like vomiting.
Tbc…
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If you're wondering how this fic came to be, listen to Lifehouse's song called 'Somewhere In Between' in their album: No Name Face. It's good music, I tell you. So go buy it… Gee, now I sound like I'm practically endorsing them.
The fic… and what happened to yuki—only I can tell because the next (probable) chapter will tell exactly how or why they ended up that way.
It sucks—so kill me, hate me, strike me, spurn me (whoa, WAY too much Shakespeare going on). I'm not sure if I'd EVER update this. It all depends on whether or not it earns good responses from reviewers like you. Well, I'm off to find my lost gundam wing fanfic chapter.
Until then,
Please Review! And thanks for reading as well.
