Beautiful Sky

In the End
Theme #8: Analysis

Warning: Minor spoilers for later chapters, I think.

Author's Notes: This is the collection of stories I'll be writing for Kyou/Tohru pairing for the 30 Romances LJ community. This is my attempt to break away from the Inuyasha fandom a little bit, so please excuse any characterization faults that may be present. This particular one-shot was inspired by the Kyoru ship manifesto on LJ, and I'm sure those who have read it will see how I was inspired.

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Yuki Sohma was not stupid, and he could see the things that were blind to the other two. He, as the rat, should have won the battle between earning the affection of Tohru Honda. He should have come out victorious, just as the rat always did over the cat. It was written in the stars, many centuries ago, that the rat always outsmarted the cat. The cat was the reject of the zodiac, the scapegoat for the others to regard as something unworthy. The rat was not supposed to lose to the cat. But, perhaps, if he'd stayed, he could have won. If he'd stayed on the path heading towards a romance with Tohru.

It wasn't that he didn't love Tohru. Of course he adored her, for who could not adore Tohru? She was the epitome of kindness, and never had anything bad to say about anyone. She was so understanding and loving, it was impossible not to be drawn to her and adore her for the wonderful person she was.

He did love Tohru, but he'd been looking for a different love. He'd been searching for a mother in her, and while he may have found it, it wasn't fair to Tohru to keep her to himself. Besides, he'd found someone else he loved. Machi wasn't like Tohru, but Machi was the one he wanted to stay with, and that was all that truly mattered.

Sure, he'd tried. Earlier on, before he met Machi and before he saw that budding romance blossoming between the rice ball and cat, he'd showed Tohru affection and was often blessed with a stammer, a blush, or perhaps even a loss of footing, if he was lucky. Tohru Honda was easy to read in that respect.

But something changed. Perhaps it was when he first saw the way Kyou looked at Tohru. Kyou was brash and harsh; he was always fighting, even over the stupidest things. Usually the two would bust out in a full-blown fight over something Yuki said. Kyou was always looking for a way to prove himself to Yuki, looking for a way to finally bring Yuki to his knees and win a fight. But the rat always prevailed. Kyou was easy to read in that respect, too.

Kyou had always been harsh, and explosive. He rarely thought before he acted. He would just jump in and worry about what was at the bottom while he was already half way down. But, when he looked at Tohru, Yuki could see the gentlest of expressions on his face, and the glimmering remnants of emotions half-hidden in his guarded eyes. With Tohru, he was overly cautious, and when he did explode at her, he was quick to retract and act that same awkward self. Kyou was nervous around girls, for obvious reasons, but even Tohru could tame his wild blood.

He'd analyzed the situation drastically, calculating every little look, every tender smile, every stray glance, every accidental brush of fingers against an arm…

Yuki could get Tohru to blush, to stammer, to trip over herself… when he tried.

But Kyou could do it effortlessly. He wasn't even aware of the effect he had on Tohru, and Tohru probably wasn't aware of it herself. Yuki had to work to get her cheeks to turn red. But Kyou could do it with a simple, intense gaze.

He'd lost to Kyou before it had even started, but somehow, it hadn't crushed him like he thought it had. He'd backed away gracefully, so much unlike his rat nature to defeat the cat at all costs. Perhaps, if he'd continued to pursue it, he would have won out eventually, just as the rat always did. But he hadn't. He hadn't wanted to.

He watched them change around one another. Some days it was quiet and gentle. Other days, the atmosphere surrounding them was so intense Yuki had to wonder how the two couldn't notice when it felt like an oversized brute clubbing them over the head.

They were both so ignorant, it was almost charming. He knew that, eventually, they would figure it out, and he would laugh silently to himself because he'd seen it long before they both did. That was the power of being a third party, Yuki reasoned with himself.

Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if he'd continued trying to capture Tohru's attentions. Would she willingly turn to him? The girl didn't seem to realize the inner battle between the two boys when it came to her. In her mind, she loved them both but there was just something about Kyou.

Yuki, upon further investigation, would determine that it was a good thing he'd pulled away. When he'd made an effort to get Tohru to blush, it had almost seemed unnatural. With Kyou and Tohru, it was unnatural for them not to have such a reaction. They were made for one another.

Yuki sat at the table, watching the way Kyou looked to Tohru as she served him food and the way she would smile so brightly, any normal man's heart would burst in his chest. Kyou looked down and Yuki saw the red on his cheeks he tried so fruitlessly to hide.

"Thanks," he muttered to his food and Tohru's smile widened and her cheeks turned pink as she moved on to serve Shigure and then himself.

"Thank you, Honda-San," Yuki said simply, smiling benignly at Tohru as she finished serving him.

Tohru beamed at him, but her cheeks did not turn red nor did she stammer when she spoke, quite clearly, to the rat, "You're welcome!"

He watched as Tohru served herself and sat down to enjoy her meal. He glanced at Kyou to see him sparing glances at Tohru as she sat down to his left. Tohru gave Kyou a hesitant look and they both looked away quickly as their eyes locked, their cheeks turning pink and a flustered smile on Tohru's lips.

He watched them through the entire dinner, ignoring Kyou's mutters of how the rat should stop looking at him, and ignoring Tohru's cheerful attempts at conversation. Shigure made some snide remarks that caused a small glare from Kyou and an eye roll from Yuki. But the prince's eyes always seemed to stray back to the simple and natural interactions between his two housemates.

They seemed to always be touching, if only for a small moment. Tohru's fingers would brush over Kyou's as she passed him the dishes, Kyou's elbow would bump against Tohru's forearm as he ate, and Yuki could swear that at one point Tohru's knee bumped against Kyou's leg accidentally.

But it seemed so incredibly natural.

Yes, Yuki might have been able to win against Kyou if he'd tried harder, if he'd truly tried to grasp that unreachable goal.

But that was not the case. It had never been the case. Yuki was never even in the running. Yuki never stood a chance against the careful, yet explosive, way Kyou cared for Tohru. Yuki never stood a chance against the loving, tender way Tohru cared for Kyou.

Truly, the cat had beaten the rat, in the end.